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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

MASSterList: Alt-right founder, not | Minimum wage battle | Foggy Bottom update




By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan
11/23/2016

Alt-right founder, not | Minimum wage battle | Foggy Bottom update




Happening Today
 
Health Care for the Homeless
 
U.S. Sen. Edward Markey joins addiction and treatment specialists at the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program to call on Congress to provide funding to deal with the prescription drug, heroin and fentanyl crisis, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, 780 Albany St., Boston, 10:30 a.m.
 
 
Prouty Garden hearing
 
A Superior Court hearing is scheduled to hear an injunction request filed by supporters of the Prouty Garden seeking to halt destruction of the popular healing garden at Boston Children's Hospital, Suffolk Superior Court, Room 817, 11 a.m.
 
 
MassDevelopment meeting
 
MassDevelopment will meet to consider a proposal by UMass Memorial Medical Center and UMass Memorial Health Care Inc. for a $125 million financing plan for the acquisition of an electronic medical record and information management system, 89 Shrewsbury St., Worcester, 11:30 a.m.
 
 
Leaders join in ‘Thanks-for-Giving’
 
Gov. Charlie Baker, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, Attorney General Maura Healey, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Auditor Suzanne Bump, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and others participate in the Goodwill Thanks-for-Giving Dinner, Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries, 1010 Harrison Avenue, Roxbury, 11:30 a.m.
 
 
Thanksgiving gathering
 
Gov. Baker, Mayor Walsh, Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry and Department of Mental Health Commissioner Joan Mikula attend the Thanksgiving event hosted by Friends of Metro Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Florian Hall, 55 Hallet Street, Dorchester, 12:30 p.m.
 
 
Capuano on the air
 
U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano is a scheduled guest on Boston Public Radio, WGBH-FM, 89.7, 1 p.m.
 
 
Cahill hosts 'Nightside'
 
Former state Treasurer Tim Cahill is scheduled to guest-host ‘NightSide with Dan Rea,’ WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.

Today's News
 
Welcome home, Sal
 
He’s still a disgraced former speaker of the house. He will always have to live with his conviction on corruption charges. But Sal DiMasi paid his dues by serving time in prison and now he’s finally home in Boston, thanks to an early prison release, just in time for Thanksgiving. You can’t help but wish him and his family well. Here’s theGlobe’s version of the ailing DiMasi’s “very emotional” return home yesterday. Here’s the Herald’s version.
 
 
Globe’s Matt Viser: I am not an alt-right founder who questions if Jews are people
 
The Globe’s Matt Viser got the full viral treatment after he appeared on CNN with a scroll caption at the bottom reading “ALT-RIGHT FOUNDER QUESTIONS IF JEWS ARE PEOPLE.” Er, um, well, it was wrong. Matt describes the cyber odyssey that ensued. If you’re thinking something like ‘there but for the grace of God go I,’ you’re not alone.
Boston Globe
 
 
DeLeo sees minimum-wage battle next year
 
The state’s record-low unemployment rate and a spate of job-creation news could put another increase in the state’s minimum wage on the legislative table next year, says House Speaker Robert DeLeo. According to a report by Mike Deehan of WGBH, DeLeo said he expects to meet before the end of the year with advocates who want to push the rate as high as $15, at least in certain sectors. “I'm sure that will be one issue that will be up for debate next year," DeLeo said. 
WGBH
 
 
Gaming Commission: So what if people start lighting up joints at casinos?
 
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is asking the state treasurer’s office to clarify how the newly passed law legalizing recreational marijuana will impact the state’s burgeoning casino industry, Jordan Graham of the Herald reports. Questions include how casinos should handle pot use among workers and whether marijuana consumption would be allowed in casino smoking areas and adjacent hotels.
Boston Herald
 
 
Newton’s Warren raising funds for 2018 gubernatorial run
 
Newton Mayor Setti Warren has begun making fundraising calls to Democratic donors, in the clearest sign yet that he’s weighing a challenge to Gov. Charlie Baker in 2018, Jim O’Sullivan of the Globe reports. Warren, who announced earlier this month he would not seek re-election in Newton, has scheduled a Dec. 6 fundraising event at a Boston law firm, after hiring former Deval Patrick adviser John Walsh.
Boston Globe

A police chief’s nightmare: Her husband, a cop, charged with raping man in broom closet
 
This is ugly stuff, as reported by the Herald’s Jordan Frias: “A veteran Salem cop — and husband of the city’s police chief — resigned from the department two days after he was arrested for allegedly raping a male inmate in a station broom closet on Halloween, the city’s solicitor said yesterday. Brian Butler, the spouse of Police Chief Mary E. Butler, resigned Nov. 10, Salem City Solicitor Beth Rennard told the Herald.”
From Dustin Lucas at the Salem News: “In a statement on Nov. 9, Mayor Kim Driscoll said the city had expected ‘to immediately commence termination proceedings, pursuant to civil service statutes’ in light of the circumstances. Police Chief Mary Butler, who had taken vacation time after the incident, returned to duty Thursday.  ‘She’s back and we’re glad to have her,’ Driscoll said Monday.”
 
 
Trump ‘inclined’ to tap Mitt, if only to attract other Republicans
 
It’s looking more likely that President-elect Donald Trump may appoint former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney his secretary of state, but not necessarily because of Mitt’s expertise in foreign policy, as reported by the Herald Jack Encarnacao. It’s more about using Mitt to attract other hesitant Republicans to join the administration. TheHerald’s Adriana Cohen says Trump appears to be following Lincoln’s ‘team of rivals’ approach toward building a cabinet.
Fyi: Trump reportedly is leaning toward Mitt for State, but there’s an apparent tug of war among Trump’s advisers over the move, the WSJ reports.
Fyi II: Meanwhile, Trump has selected South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was reportedly a contender for the State post, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, CBS News is reporting, citing sources. If true, it’s yet another indication the State choice is narrowing down to Mitt.
 
 
Patrick joins Obama Foundation board overseeing presidential library
 
From David Harris at the BBJ: ”Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick was tapped to serve on the board of directors of the Obama Foundation, which is building President Barack Obama’s future presidential library in Chicago. Patrick, a Chicago native who is a managing director of Bain Capital, will join other board members such as former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and Democratic political fundraiser Julianna Smoot.”
BBJ
 
 
Plainridge says slots performing well
 
The owners of Plainridge Park Casino say its 1,250 slot machines are among the highest revenue producers nationwide,  Colin A. Young of State House News Service reports at CommonWealth magazine. Each machine brought in average of $346 daily in the third quarter, a number the casino’s manager called “very robust” and “the highest in the country.” 
CommonWealth
 
 
‘Cod Cape’
 
Maybe someone had cod cakes on their mind when the sign went up? In any event, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has taken down, and apologized for, a green highway sign in Dartmouth that directed drivers to “Cod Cape,” not “Cape Cod.”
CBS Boston

Brockton mayor’s flower power questioned
 
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter acknowledges operating in a legal ‘gray’ area by using city tax dollars to purchase flowers for funerals and other occasions from a florist operated by a member of the city council, Marc Larocque of the Enterprise reports. Carpenter says he has since stopped the practice and separately said he would use campaign funds to reimburse the city for a $585 expense related to a Creole language course he took at a local community college.
Enterprise
 
 
Fast growing Shire gobbles up Genzyme building
 
One of the fastest growing employers in the state? Ireland’s Shire plc, which has grown from about 300 employees in the Boston area a decade ago to more than 3,000 today. Now the pharmaceutical giant is leasing the iconic 343,000-square-foot Genzyme building in Kendall Square and plans to hire 400 more people, reports the BBJ’s Don Seiffert. One word: Impressive.
BBJ
 
 
‘I’m proud of our city’s leadership in civil rights’
 
Mayor Marty Walsh pens a column in the Boston Herald tied to the ‘Boston Talks about Racism’ initiative that was launched on Saturday following the tumultuous presidential election. “I’m proud of our city’s leadership in civil rights,” Walsh proclaims. “But we are no strangers to inequality or racism, from Colonial times, to the busing crisis of the 1970s, to this very day. On Saturday our speakers made that journey come heartbreakingly and hopefully to life.” As they say, read the whole thing.
Boston Herald
 
 
Next year's budget battle begins: Advocates push funding for people with disabilities
 
As Gov. Charlie Baker’s team struggles to plug current budget gaps and prepares for next fiscal year’s tight budget, advocates for people with developmental disabilities yesterday called on the governor to boost funding for day services and work programs for adults, reports State House News Service’s Katie Lannan. "Don't we think that all people with disabilities should have the opportunity to work in this state?" Jeff Gentry, director of youth services and community relations for Triangle Inc., said to advocates at a State House rally. "We can get people to work, but we need the funding to do it.”
SHNS (pay wall)
 
 
Past due: MBTA fails to collect $1.8M in bills, half of them a decade old
 
More than $1.8 million is due to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in various bills, with approximately half of the accounts more than a decade old, according to an audit released by Suzanne Bump’s office yesterday, reports Michelle Williams at MassLive. “The MBTA should take all appropriate steps to collect funds that are due to the agency, but should also realistically write-off balances that are not likely to be recouped,” Bump said. “This ensures an accurate picture of the financial status of the entity."
MassLive
 
 
‘I Read Tom Friedman So You Don’t Have To’
 
In our latest installment of “I Read Tom Friedman So You Don’t Have To,” not to be confused with our “I Read Andrew Sullivan So You Don’t Have To” segments, here are excerpts from a MASSterList reader who writes in about Tom’s latest NYT column:
“Faithful servant reporting for duty to summarize/recap ‘Dancing in a Hurricane,’ stardate 20th November 2016 AD:
“- Brexit Vote and Donald Trump Election ‘constitute a single giant political event.’
“- Tom has been writing a book for 3 years that he thinks contains the beginning of the answer to what happened in 2016. The answer is... 2007, for that was the year in which: - The iPhone, Google Android, Kindle were all introduced, and Facebook was rolled out to the public. ...
“Or in other words ‘2007 was the year that connectivity and computing got so fast, cheap, ubiquitous and leveraged that they changed three forms of power — in really differentiated ways — all at once: the power of one, the power of machines and the power of ideas.’ As a consequence, Donald Trump can tweet his way to the Presidency ... 
“- But then we make a sudden shift, and Tom starts to worry about Trump Voters (he doesn't call them that) who feel ‘unmoored’ when they go into a grocery store and the clerk is wearing a headscarf... or ‘go into the men’s room and there is someone next to them who looks to be of a different gender.’ (ed. note, it's an unanswerable question but I wonder how often this actually happened in America in 2016). ...
“- Tom acknowledges change is happening too fast for many people, but the answer isn't to build walls; it's to ‘stand in the eye of the hurricane’ ideally while listening to/humming/singing this song by Brandi Carlile. Tom promises details later.
“- PS #1: Tom thinks we didn't notice 2007 because of 2008 Great Recession.”
So there you have it: A handy-dandy summary of a Tom Friedman column, without you having to actually  read the unbearable.
 
 
Have a great holiday weekend – and see you on Monday
 
MASSterList will be taking tomorrow and Friday off for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, so we’ll see you first thing Monday morning. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Today's Headlines
 
Metro
 
 
Massachusetts
 

 
Nation
 






 


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