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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



Tuesday, January 31, 2017

I'm sorry if you're dumb enough...





to believe this makes sense or even works. 

Those intercepted at airports are legal residents - green card holders. 

Many are professors, engineers, workers, small business owners, students. 

Are Trump Supporters even listening to the Un-Constitutional Arguments? 



The US is a nation of laws, not dictatorship. 

More Americans have been killed by gun violence and WHITE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS than this hysteria will solve. 



STUPID is incurable!




Sent from a friend:

I’m glad they place the “silent” majority (almost all Republicans) in yellow.  That’s what they are.

 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hSGjyWJZIQJpGz4V2ftX_qioCgBtL59oJkkhx146nFE/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0

CounterCurrents: The Fake News Inquiry: Old Wine In New Bottles




Dear Friend,

With a reference to the Saturday Night Massacre that took place during the Watergate scandal under President Richard Nixon, the hashtag #MondayNightMassacre came alive on Monday night after President Donald Trump fired acting Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and accused her of "betrayal" for refusing to enforce a controversial immigration order targeting Muslims and refugees.

The gasolinazo protests, which erupted in Mexico early this month over the slashing of gasoline subsidies, continue throughout the country.

In an effort to distract public attention from the corruption probe that could force his resignation and bring down his government Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has given the go-ahead for building 2,500 new homes in settlements in the West Bank, the largest construction scheme of its kind since 2013-14, saying, “We are building, and will continue to build.”

"Fake News" is in the news once again. In the United Kingdom, the Culture, Media and Sports Committee has made an announcement that it will investigate claims about the public being persuaded by untruths and the dazzling influence of propaganda. Dr. Binoy Kampmark asks a pertinent question, is "Fake News" really a new phenomenon? Haven't we heard about Saddam's WMDs, Niger Yellow Cakes, Saddam Hussain hitting London in 45 minutes? Dr. Kampmark asks who is to decide what's true and what's false? 

Romi Mahajan walks into a London book store and sees an entire section dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill, the chief architect of the Bengal famine but finds only 13 books on India. What does that speak of London? of UK in General?

The Cauvery Delta in Tamil Nadu going through one of the most severe droughts in history. Listen to people's woes. 

And also more stories from around the world. 

If you don't mind, and if you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word. It's time for humanity to come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter herehttp://www.countercurrents.org/news-letter/. 

In Solidarity

Binu Mathew
Editor
www.countercurrents.org




Trump Fires Acting Attorney General, Pushes Ahead With Ban On Refugees
by Patrick Martin 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/trump-fires-acting-attorney-general-pushes-ahead-with-ban-on-refugees/

US President Donald Trump fired the acting attorney general, Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, after she defied instructions to defend Trump’s executive order banning the entry of refugees and visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.





Lawsuits Filed Challenging Trump’s Muslim Ban
by Abdus Sattar Ghazali 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/lawsuits-filed-challenging-trumps-muslim-ban/

At least two lawsuits were filed Monday (Jan. 30) against against President’s Trump’s Friday’s “Muslim ban” executive order. In Seattle, Washington, State Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced that he is challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Muslim immigrants and refugees, calling it unconstitutional and asking for a temporary restraining order. In Washington DC, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of more than 20 “John Doe” individuals who say President Donald Trump’s unilateral “Muslim ban” action is unconstitutional.






A Bully Pulpit or A Bully’s Pulpit
by Dr Arshad M Khan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/a-bully-pulpit-or-a-bullys-pulpit/

Such a flurry of activity in the first week as executive orders poured out of the Oval Office at a fast and furious pace.  To what end …






Trump’s Entry Ban: Linked To The Neo-Con Agenda?
by Dr Chandra Muzaffar 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/trumps-entry-ban-linked-to-the-neo-con-agenda/

President Donald Trump’s ban on nationals from 7 Muslim majority countries in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) entering the United States of America for a period of 90 days has brought to the fore the role and influence of some of the forces that shape US foreign policy in the region. With the exception of one country, the Trump list is similar to a purported list of 7 countries that the US planned to attack “in 5 years” that a Pentagon official had allegedly revealed to former US General Wesley Clark in 2001, a little more than 7 weeks after the 9-11 tragedy. The list had all the countries in Trump’s list except Yemen. Instead of Yemen, there was Lebanon.






Protests In Mexico Continue Against Gas Price Hike, Water Privatization
by Clodomiro Puentes

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/protests-in-mexico-continue-against-gas-price-hike-water-privatization/

The gasolinazo protests, which erupted in Mexico early this month over the slashing of gasoline subsidies, continue throughout the country. In Baja California, these protests have coincided with enormous social anger over PAN (National Action Party) state Governor Francisco Vega’s attempt to ram through legislation that would privatize water services and implement severe rate increases, a measure backed by the ostensibly “center-left” PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) and Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizens’ Movement).






Netanyahu Steps Up Settlement Construction
by Jean Shaoul 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/netanyahu-steps-up-settlement-construction/

Netanyahu has given the go-ahead for building 2,500 new homes in settlements in the West Bank, the largest construction scheme of its kind since 2013-14, saying, “We are building, and will continue to build.”






The Fake News Inquiry: Old Wine In New Bottles
by Dr Binoy Kampmark  

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/the-fake-news-inquiry-old-wine-in-new-bottles/

In the United Kingdom, the Culture, Media and Sports Committee has made an announcement that it will investigate claims about the public being persuaded by untruths and the dazzling influence of propaganda. Invited submissions are to consider, among others, such questions as to what fake news is and where “biased but legitimate commentary shade into propaganda and lies”; the impact of such news on “public understanding of the world, and also on the public response to traditional journalism”





India Diminished
by Romi Mahajan 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/india-diminished/

England does love its “Last Lion.”    Churchill, whose bust now sits in Trump’s Oval Office, is still the cynosure of all hearts, souls, and minds of the English.    Go to any London bookstore and you’ll find entire sections devoted to Sir Winston.  In a particularly charming bookstore in Piccadilly- perhaps one of the most beautiful stores in the whole country—an entire section is devoted to Churchill.  Shocking? Perhaps not until you stroll by the Asia “section” and the, count them, 13 books on India.






Sardar Sarovar Rehabilitation: Supreme Court To appoint High Level Expert Committee
by National Alliance of People’s Movements 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/sardar-sarovar-rehabilitation-supreme-court-to-appoint-high-level-expert-committee/

The committee will look into the market value of land & other properties under 2013 Act & also see whether rehabilitation is completed or otherwise. The budget required may be depicted with the apex court, the Hon. Court indicated.






Modus Operandi And Modus Vivendi In Bangladesh
by Fazal M. Kamal 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/modus-operandi-and-modus-vivendi-in-bangladesh/

Let’s take as an instance the plea of some police officials, as enunciated to the prime minister of Bangladesh, that laws restricting their ability to exercise the option of torture or inhuman treatment or similar actions on citizens in their control—most often as alleged criminals and sometimes not even that–-be eliminated. It’s logical to assume that such an appeal must’ve seemed like a bewildering embarrassment to the head of government.





The Cauvery Delta Withers
by Prema Revati 

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/the-cauvery-delta-withers/

For many decades now, the delta farmers have been at the receiving end of the water dispute between the two riparian neighborsTamilnadu and Karnataka. This year, along with Cauvery the monsoon also failed them. More than 250 farmers have died over the last three months – some committed suicide while many died of shock and pent-up trauma, according to media reports and farmers associations. There are other issues too: In many villages ground water is already salinated due to the sea water inversion and there is acute scarcity of drinking water. Fodder and water for livestock are meagre, which means that one may not hope to access that line of survival as well.






Restore The Rule Of Law In Bastar, Demand Concerned Citizens

http://www.countercurrents.org/2017/01/31/restore-the-rule-of-law-in-bastar-demand-concerned-citizens/

This is an appeal for restoration of the rule of law in Bastar (Chhattisgarh), assured access without interference to any persons concerned with human rights abuses in the area, and action against those guilty of harassing such persons or other violations of human rights.




RSN: Trump Crashes on Take-Off





It's Live on the HomePage Now: 
Reader Supported News

FOCUS: William Boardman | Trump Crashes on Take-Off 
President Donald Trump celebrates after his speech during the presidential inauguration. (photo: Saul Loeb/AP) 
William Boardman, Reader Supported News 
Boardman writes: "Our current constitutional crisis began the moment Donald Trump was sworn in as president without resolving his unaddressed conflicts of interest around the globe. This failure put him into immediate, apparent violation of the Constitution's Article I, Section 9 'Emoluments Clause.'" 
READ MORE

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Become a Fan of RSN on Facebook and Twitter



RSN: Message From Sally Yates to Justice Department Lawyers Before She Was Fired




It's Live on the HomePage Now: 
Reader Supported News

Message From Sally Yates to Justice Department Lawyers Before She Was Fired 
Sally Yates. (photo: AP) 
Los Angeles Times 
Excerpt: "Acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates ordered Justice Department attorneys not to defend President Trump's executive order on travel and refugees in court. Hours later, Trump fired her." 
READ MORE
NAACP Protesters Arrested for Occupying Sessions Office, Hours After Charges Dropped in Last Sit-In 
John Sharp, AL.com 
Excerpt: "Carolyn Shields, attorney for some of the protestors, said she was disappointed with the outcome, saying that her clients had arrived to Mobile Municipal Court 'prepared to accept responsibility.'" 
READ MORE
Suspect in Quebec Mosque Attack Quickly Depicted as a Moroccan Muslim. He's a White Nationalist. 
Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept 
Excerpt: "A mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque last night left six people dead and eight wounded. ... Almost immediately, various news outlets and political figures depicted the shooter as Muslim." 
READ MORE
Trump's Voter Fraud Expert Registered in 3 States 
Garance Burke, Associated Press 
Burke writes: "Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states." 
READ MORE
Forget Protest. Trump's Actions Warrant a General National Strike 
Francine Prose, Guardian UK 
Prose writes: "Since Trump's election, we've seen dozens of demonstrations - most notably, the Women's March on Washington - that have reinforced our sense of solidarity and provided encouraging evidence of how many Americans oppose our government's fundamentally anti-American agenda. But the trouble is that these protests are too easily ignored and forgotten by those who wish to ignore and forget them." 
READ MORE
Bangladesh Pushes On With Plan to Relocate Rohingya Muslims to Low-Lying Island 
Agence France-Presse 
Excerpt: "Bangladesh is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to a remote island, despite warnings it is uninhabitable and prone to flooding." 
READ MORE
Free Range Is a Con. There's No Such Thing as an Ethical Egg 
Chas Newkey-Burden, Guardian UK 
Newkey-Burden writes: "Meat eaters may think vegans look down on them - but actually no one is more scornful of carnivores than the meat industry that feeds them." 
READ MORE

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Can you say Republican Liars?



The Thin Skinned Bully is so busy finding excuses for losing the popular vote, he'll create any bogus claim. 

Try checking your own closet for WHITE Republicans registered in more than one state first. 

Of course the mindless followers will believe anything without question.

How about votes not counted? voter purges? electronic voting machine tampering? vote tallies that exceed population such as Wisconsin?  

Donald Trump's voter fraud expert registered in 3 states, AP finds




In this undated file photo, Gregg Phillips is seen in Austin, Texas. Phillips, who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud, was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned. (Erich Schlegel/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)


January 30, 2017

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned.
Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show.
In a post earlier this month, Phillips described "an amazing effort" by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found "thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people."
Trump has made an issue of people who are registered to vote in more than one state, using it as one of the bedrocks of his overall contention that voter fraud is rampant in the U.S. and that voting by 3 to 5 million immigrants illegally in the country cost him the popular vote in November.

The AP found that Phillips was registered in Alabama and Texas under the name Gregg Allen Phillips, with the identical Social Security number. Mississippi records list him under the name Gregg A. Phillips, and that record includes the final four digits of Phillips' Social Security number, his correct date of birth and a prior address matching one once attached to Gregg Allen Phillips. He has lived in all three states.
At the time of November's presidential election, Phillips' status was "inactive" in Mississippi and suspended in Texas. Officials in both states told the AP that Phillips could have voted, however, by producing identification and updating his address at the polls.
Citing concerns about voters registered in several states, the president last week called for a major investigation into his claim of voter fraud, despite his campaign lawyer's conclusion that the 2016 election was "not tainted."
"When you look at the people that are registered, dead, illegal and two states, and some cases maybe three states, we have a lot to look into," Trump said in an ABC interview.
Reached by telephone Monday, Phillips said he was unaware of his multiple registrations but asked, "Why would I know or care?"

"Doesn't that just demonstrate how broken the system is?" he asked. "That is not fraud -- that is a broken system. We need a national ID that travels with people."
Phillips has been in the national spotlight since Nov. 11, when he tweeted without evidence that his completed analysis of voter registrations concluded the "number of non-citizen votes exceeded 3 million."
Thousands of people liked and retweeted the claim, which led to a viral article three days later on InfoWars.com, a site known to traffic in conspiracy theories.
Phillips also has previously tweeted about the dangers of "inactive voters" being able to vote in U.S. elections. "There is already law that compels states to remove inactive voters. Many don't," Phillips tweeted Nov. 29.
According to media reports, five Trump family members or top administration officials also were registered to vote in two states during the 2016 election -- chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon; Press Secretary Sean Spicer; Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin; Tiffany Trump, the president's youngest daughter; and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser.
The Houston-based True the Vote has challenged the validity of voter rolls in numerous states. On Friday, Phillips tweeted that the conservative group "will lead the analysis" of widespread voter fraud, and suggested in a CNN interview that it might release the underlying data in a few months.
Shortly after Phillips appeared on CNN on Friday, Trump tweeted: "Look forward to seeing the final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!"



MASSterList: ‘Emotionally, quickly, impetuously’ | Healey to act | Staking his ground




By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan
01/31/2017

‘Emotionally, quickly, impetuously’ | Healey to act | Staking his ground




Happening Today
 
New England Council service-sector report
 
New England Council releases its service industry impact report today, Wilmer Hale, 60 State Street, 26th Floor, 8:30 a.m.
 
 
PRIM investment committee
 
Pension Reserves Investment Management Board's Investment Committee meets with members slated to vote on asset allocation recommendations and with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg scheduled to attend, 84 State St. - 2nd floor, Boston, 9:30 a.m.
 
 
Faith leaders on Trump’s order
 
Faith leaders and advocates hold a press conference to discuss President Donald Trump's executive orders regarding refugees and immigration, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont St., Boston, 10 a.m.
 
 
Raise up Massachusetts
 
The Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition hosts a briefing to discuss legislation dealing with a $15 minimum wage and paid family and medical leave, as well as a constitutional amendment that would establish a 4 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million, Massachusetts Teachers Association, 6th floor, 20 Ashburton Place, Boston, 10:30 a.m.
 
 
‘Commonwealth Conversations'
 
Massachusetts Senate kicks off its ‘Commonwealth Conversations’ tour of regional town-hall meetings with Sens. Joe Boncore, Will Brownsberger, Linda Dorcena Forry, Pat Jehlen, Sonia Chang-Diaz, and President Stanley Rosenberg scheduled to participate. Senators visit Suffolk County House of Correction, 20 Bradston St., Boston, at 10 a.m. and hold a public forum on transportation at 1:30 p.m. in Assembly Square, 15 Middlesex Ave. - 1st floor conference room, Somerville. A town-hall forum is planned at Suffolk Law School, Sargent Hall - 1st floor, 120 Tremont St., 6 p.m. 
 
 
‘Ask the Commish’
 
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans is a scheduled guest on ‘Boston Public Radio,’ WGBH-FM 89.7, 12 p.m.
 
 
Solar incentive program
 
Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Judith Judson presents the final program design of the state's next solar incentive program, Federal Reserve Building - Morris Auditorium, 600 Atlantic Ave., Boston, 1 p.m.
 
 
Boston housing chief on the air
 
Boston's chief of housing and director or Neighborhood Development Sheila Dillon is a scheduled guest on ‘Radio Boston,’ WBUR-FM 90.9, 3 p.m.
 
 
'Future of News’
 
Harvard University, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy host a conversation titled "The Future of News: Journalism in a Post-Truth Era," with scheduled speakers including Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, Weekly Standard editor at large William Kristol, Boston Globe digital managing editor Kathleen Kingsbury, Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker, Huffington Post editor in chief Lydia Polgreen, New York Times op-ed columnist David Leonhardt and others, Harvard University Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, 4 p.m .
 
 
NRC meeting on Plymouth nuclear station
 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff hold a public question-and-answer session about the recent inspection of Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station, Hotel 1620 at Plymouth Harbor - Grand Ballroom, 180 Water St., Plymouth, 6:30 p.m.

Today's News
 
Healey to file lawsuit with other AG’s over Trump immigration order
 
From the Globe’s Milton Valencia: “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is set to become one of the first states to join a federal lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven countries and refugees, according to a spokesman for Attorney General Maura Healey. ... ‘What he did was unconstitutional & harmful to MA,’ Healey said in a tweet Monday evening.”
Boston Globe
 
 
‘Emotionally, quickly, impetuously, not particularly well vetted’
 
For the time being, forget the political reactions of the usual suspects to President Trump’s highly controversial immigration order. Let’s look instead to the reaction of the business community, which until recently was almost giddy at the prospects of a Trump presidency. The local corporate responses have been varied, but the salient reaction has been roughly this: Shock and bewilderment, as the Globe’s Beth Healy reports. “People are starting to wonder,’’ said Brian Conway, partner at Boston’s TA Associates, “Is the country that was the most predictable on earth becoming unpredictable? ... It was the process, and the way the decision was made — emotionally, quickly, impetuously, not particularly well vetted — that’s got people nervous.”
BostInno’s Dylan Martin has more on the business community reaction, from the tech and venture capital angle. It’s not all process-driven shock. There’s some genuine humanitarian shock. Meanwhile, the BBJ has a slide-show package on various CEO responses. And the BBJ’s Max Stendahl has a separate piece on how individual biotech companies are jumping for cover, but the industry association’s leader, Bob Coughlin, is openly blasting Trump’s actions. Finally, Louise Kennedy at WBUR takes a look at higher education officials’ reactions at UMass Dartmouth, Boston University, Emerson College, MIT.
 
 
The inevitable Nazi comparison
 
Back to the usual suspects, in this case Senate President Stan Rosenberg, who is linking Trump’s action to Nazi Germany, as reported by Shira Schoenberg at Mass Live and SHNS’s Andy Metzger at CommonWealth magazine. You knew it was coming. So far, the Nazi comparisons are not flying as fast and furious as they were, say, during the lead up to the Iraq War (“Munich” and “appeasement” and tons and tons of Churchill quotes etc.) But give it time.
 
 
Here’s a novel argument: ‘How Obama Caused the Trump Refugee Debacle’
 
Here’s a usual-suspect reaction from the right, via Ira Stoll at New Boston Post, who clears his voice first on how Donald Trump’s immigration order has been “at least in part justifiably criticized and condemned,” before getting to his real point: It’s Obama’s fault. “After all, why are there Syrian refugees in the first place?” One banned country down, six more to explain, but he never gets that far, veering off onto the subjects of Obama’s Syrian policy and past executive edicts, etc. etc.
New Boston Post
 
 
‘What’s Baker’s true north?’
 
  Once again, some critics of Gov. Baker want him to behave and respond to events just like liberal Democrats, this time in regards to Donald Trump’s highly controversial immigration executive order. But Baker, a Republican, is taking roughly the same course with the immigration furor as he did with the recent Boston Women’s March: He’s being cautious, walking a tightrope and distancing himself both from Trump and Trump’s most ardent critics, as the Globe’s Jim O’Sullivan reports. Granted, his message this time around is definitely more convoluted, with the governor on WGBH rhetorically asking in the third person ‘What’s Baker’s true north?’ As they say, if you have to ask the question ...Tori Bedford at WGBH has more on the governor’s twisted-like-a-pretzel response.

Gonzalez stakes out his ground
 
No one can say Jay Gonzalez isn’t staking out his ground clearly, announcing yesterday he’s running for governor as a liberal’s liberal in favor of raising taxes, a $15 minimum wage and directly taking on Gov. Charlie Baker and President Trump at every turn, according to reports by the Herald's Matt Stout andSHNS’s Matt Murphy at Wicked Local. It’s a safe and smart political strategy meant to win, first and foremost, the Dem primary.
 
 
Baker to Gonzalez: ‘Hop in,’ the political waters are fine
 
If Gov. Baker is nervous about the new gubernatorial candidacy of Jay Gonzalez, a Democrat and former budget chief under Gov. Deval Patrick, he wasn’t showing it yesterday, telling Gonzalez to go ahead and “hop in” the race. "If you have something to say and a message to deliver and you believe in what you might be able to do to make this state better, by all means hop in," Baker said on WGBH yesterday, as reported by Shira Schoenberg at MassLive. 
MassLive
 
 
Bay State native on Trump’s SCOTUS short list
 
President Trump tonight plans to name his Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia and it appears a Massachusetts native, Thomas Hardiman, a Winchester-born federal judge who grew up in Waltham, is still on the president’s shortlist, according to published reports. Here’s a Washington Post profile of Hardiman, whose father ran a local taxi and school-transportation business and who paid for his education via driving a taxi.
Washington Post
 
 
Lawmakers to GOP sheriff: Inmates won’t be leaving prison walls to build Donald’s wall
 
Two Democrats on Beacon Hill aren’t thrilled with Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s offer to use inmate labor to help build President Trump’s planned anti-immigrant wall along the Mexican border, reports SHNS’s Katie Lannan at the Fall River Herald News: “Sen. Michael Barrett filed a bill that would require sheriffs sending anyone in their custody out of Massachusetts to first receive approval from state officials. A separate bill, filed by Rep. Antonio Cabral, would outright prohibit Massachusetts inmates or prisoners from laboring out-of-state.”
Herald News
 
 
No silencing them: Gun owners push to end ban on silencers
 
From Christian Wade at the Salem News: “Gun enthusiasts are aiming to lift a ban on silencers, saying the devices long associated by Hollywood with gangsters and assassins have practical uses such as protecting hearing and reducing the noise at shooting ranges. ... A proposal on Beacon Hill would legalize private ownership of silencers while preventing those with criminal backgrounds from purchasing them.”
Salem News

Healey’s hate hotline: Apparently a lot of hate to go around
 
From the Herald: “Contrary to expectations, state Attorney General Maura Healey’s hate crime hotline drew nearly as many complaints from backers of President Trump as it did from Hillary Clinton supporters in the first two weeks after the election, a Herald review found — with some using the phone number to troll Healey about her proposed assault weapons ban.”
Boston Herald
 
 
Maybe a shotgun marriage is in order: Beth Israel and Lahey in merger talks – again
 
They’re obviously attracted to each other, but they just couldn’t find a way to commit in the past. Maybe the fourth time is the charm, as Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health are once again in merger talks, reports both the BBJ and the Globe. News of the merger talks come less than a week after Partners Health and Massachusetts Eye & Ear announced their own big merger.
BBJ
 
 
Brockton found guilty of hiring discrimination – and it’s going to cost the city
 
The city of Brockton could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages after being found guilty of racially discriminatory hiring practices in its Department of Public Works, Marc Larocque of the Brockton Enterprise reports. The verdict came after a six-day trial that focused on the emails of the city’s personnel director, which lawyers said proved she tried to help white applicants land positions. 
Enterprise
 
 
Galvin’s office wins $3.7M settlement against LPL Financial
 
Score one for Bill Galvin, via the BBJ: “LPL Financial will pay $3.7 million to settle claims from Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin that one of its advisers sold financial products to senior citizens that were unsuitable for that demographic.The Boston-based broker-dealer (Nasdaq: LPLA) failed to properly supervise adviser Rober Zullo while he sold illiquid, high-commission variable annuities to retirees and older investors, many of them in the health care industry.”
BBJ
 
 
Turbulence for heliport takeoff
 
Both nearby businesses and community advocates were among those taking sharp aim at a proposal to build a helicopter landing pad in South Boston, while mayoral candidate Tito Jackson made it clear he would be a vocal critic of the proposal, Dan Atkinson of the Herald reports. Jackson drew applause when he slammed the idea at the first meeting of a task force set up to identify potential landing sites for the facility the city and state promised to pursue to help lure GE to Boston. 
Boston Herald

GE’s Southie footprint grows, a little
 
Meanwhile, GE and MassDevelopment have acquired additional land in the Fort Point neighborhood, purchasing a sliver of land from Procter & Gamble that will help GE’s headquarters meet space requirements for a state waterfront permit, Jon Chesto of the Globe reports.
Boston Globe
 
 
Wampanoag Tribe, hit hard by opioids, plots response
 
The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is mobilizing to create its own response to the opioid crisis after losing 17 of its 2,5000 members to overdose deaths over the past 18 months, Chris Lindahl reports in the Cape Cod Times. The tribe plans to erect two halfway homes on tribal property, hiring its own human services case manager and creating a 24-hour hotline for those seeking help.
Cape Cod Times
 
 
Voters clean house in Shirley
 
Two sitting members of the Board of Selectmen were recalled and replaced Monday by voters irate over the board’s apparent effort to increase the town administrator’s compensation package after town meeting voted down a pay increase, Anne O’Connor of the Lowell Sun reports. Two new board members were installed by a margin of nearly two-to-one. 
Lowell Sun
 
 
Boston’s Absurd Luxury Condo Boom, Summed up in One Video’
 
‘After checking out Tory Bullock’s interview with “brand spanking new mayoral candidate” Tito Jackson (nothing especially newsworthy said), check out Tory’s Facebook video rant against all the luxury apartments being built in Boston, viaKyle Scott Clauss at Boston Magazine. The video has now been seen by more than 400,000 people. That’s a lot of pent-up frustration over housing costs in Boston.
Facebook (Bullock)

Today's Headlines
 
Metro
 
 
Massachusetts
 
 
Nation