The moderate U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, who faces a primary challenge from the left next year in the Democratic primary, got an earful from constituents in Milton last week, some of whom demanded to know what’s he doing to do to oppose President Trump, reports Mike Deehan at WGBH. "You are in a very safe district,” one constituent told Lynch. “We have a strong history of liberal causes and fighting tyranny. ... Be out there, and we want to see you. Take this guy and hold this guy's feet to the fire.”
WGBH
| ‘Journalists can’t run around with their hair on fire for the next four years’ |
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Medic critic Dan Kennedy has been following the harsh criticism of Donald Trump by conservative Tom Nichols, a professor at the Naval War College and Harvard Extension School, and thinks he’s earned the right to also criticize the media’s often over-the-top coverage of Trump. Dan: “There are multiple reasons to think that Trump represents a unique threat to democracy. But journalists can’t run around with their hair on fire for the next four years. The best way to cover Trump is with calm, fact-based reporting — not with hyperbole that does not hold up to scrutiny.”
Fyi: Here’s a Washington Post piece by Nichols on the overreactions to Trump’s policies and how they’re playing into the hands of Trump’s base. |
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| Watertown historian: Bannon not only thrives on crisis, he firmly believes in its historic inevitability |
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Instead of running around with their hair on fire, maybe members of the media can slow down to actually try to understand what makes Trump’s supporters tick. Dana Forsythe at Wicked Local has done just that by interviewing Watertown historian David Kaiser, who discusses how he once talked with current White House aide Steve Bannon for Bannon’s documentary “Generation Zero,” which basically follows a theory by amateur historians that says America is hit about every 80 years with some sort of catastrophic crisis. The idea is key to understanding Bannon, Kaiser says.
Here’s a recent Time column by Kaiser, who has taught at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and the Naval War College, and a YouTube link to Bannon’s “Generation Zero.”
Wicked Local |
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| Connecticut lawmakers can relax: Aetna talks cooling down |
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Gov. Charlie Baker’s attempt to lure Aetna to Boston from Hartford seems to be stalling, at least for the time being. The Herald’s Matt Stout explains why a possible corporate relocation is no sure thing, which should come as a relief to Connecticut lawmakers afraid they’re about to lose another major company to the Bay State.
Boston Herald |
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| Vocational schools: Their time has come |
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Former Senate President Tom Birmingham, in an op-ed at CommonWealth magazine, rightly touts the huge success story of vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts and is urging increased funding to reduce the waiting list to attend the schools.
CommonWealth |
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| House Dems may act to block inmate work on Trump’s wall |
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Massachusetts House Democrats are planning to caucus later this week to discuss what they can, and can’t, do about Republican President Donald Trump, according to a report at MassLive. "Folks really want to talk about this and want to talk about what we could do as a commonwealth, how we could express our displeasure," said House Speaker Robert DeLeo. One idea beyond talk, SHNS reports (pay wall), is taking legislative steps to block Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson's offer to send prisoners to the southern border to help build President Trump's proposed border wall. |
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| Carbon pricing gaining support on Beacon Hill |
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From Matt Murphy at SHNS: “More than a third of state lawmakers have signed onto legislation that would put a price on carbon emissions as a way to address global warming, a sign of growing support for a policy that Gov. Charlie Baker has seemed cool to in the past.” Meanwhile, SHNS (pay wall) is also reporting how the power industry is warning about the side effects of the administration’s own greenhouse gas plan. |
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| Plymouth station may to be sold to the nuclear-industry equivalent of a scrap metal company |
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From Christin Legere at the Cape Cod Times: “Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station may be sold to a company whose sole focus is the efficient decommissioning of nuclear power plants. That could mean the difference between the old retired reactor and accompanying buildings sitting abandoned on a contaminated site for another 60 years - the likely scenario under its current owner Entergy Corp. - or the property being cleaned up and ready for reuse about a dozen years after the plant closes.” Reuse? Well, if it’s possible, we suppose.
Wicked Local
| There will be repercussions |
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Many lawmakers may be whistling past the graveyard in thinking there won’t be repercussions for their recent votes in favor of pay raises. But the Globe’s Joan Vennochi says it’s only matter of time when, not if, repercussions come – although what triggers those repercussions isn’t clear yet.
Boston Globe |
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| Bill would raise juvenile court age from 18 to 21 |
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How they’ll square this with 18 year olds having the right to vote and forced to fight in wars, we don’t know. From Shira Schoenberg at MassLive: “Massachusetts lawmakers this session will consider raising the age of offenders sent to juvenile court from 18 to 21. ... It is one of a series of reforms to the state's criminal justice system that lawmakers will consider this year. Massachusetts would be the first state to make this change, although Vermont, Illinois and Connecticut are considering it.”
MassLive |
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| Harvard's looming administration-versus-faculty battle |
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Civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate, writing at WGBH, says there’s a tentative truce in place between Harvard’s administrators and faculty members, but it may not last for long. Some faculty members are pushing back against a recent unilateral move by University President Drew Faust and Dean Rakesh Khurana to bar undergraduate members of private single-gender social clubs from eligibility for campus leadership positions and Rhodes and Marshall scholarships. Silverglate makes clear he’s rooting for the faculty in this and other campus power struggles.
WGBH |
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| Gorsuch’s Harvard pro bono claims go unverified |
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Journalists are having a hard time finding anyone who can actually remember whether Supreme Court nominee Neil Grouch [sic] actually did the pro bono work while at Harvard Law School that he listed in his official biography, Spencer Buell of Boston Magazine reports.
Boston Magazine |
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| Northbridge blasts DCR on clear-cut |
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Selectmen in Northbridge gave Department of Conservation and Recreation officials an earful for what they say was lax oversight of a massive clear-cut of a hillside that resulted in at least three violations of the state’s Wetlands Protection Act, Susan Spencer of the Telegram reports.
Telegram |
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| Don’t forget Doug Flutie’s Miracle Pass of '84 – and, sigh, we got the Harvard-Yale score wrong |
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A couple of astute MASSterList readers responded to our post yesterday boldly asserting that the New England Patriots’ stunning come-from-behind Super Bowl victory ranks right up there with other iconic moments in Boston sports history, such as Carlton Fisk’s Game 6 World Series home run and Bobby Orr’s flying goal to win the Stanley Cup, etc. But one reader notes: “You forgot the Flutie pass game.” And we did forget Flutie’s iconic Hail Mary pass against the University of Miami in 1984. Sorry. It ranks up there too.
And, worse, as reader BM notes, there was an inaccuracy in our mention of the famous Harvard-Yale game: “Harvard was victorious (at least in the Crimson) over Yale in a 29-29 football game. But maybe there was a long-forgotten, but sloppy victory achieved over Yale in Bright Arena by a 10-10 margin years ago.” Actually, the score of the 1968 game was indeed 29-29, not 10-10. Hey, we stayed up late the previous night. That’s our lame excuse.
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