WASHINGTON — Catharsis on the Mall, a three-day event that seeks to bring a small slice of the famed Burning Man festival, a raucous festival in the Nevada desert that draws thousands each year and offers outlandish costumes and the burning of a massive wooden figure, to the foot of the Washington Monument, started Friday afternoon and will continue round-the-clock through Sunday with seminars, events, and performances.
However, they say the Catharsis event is designed to be more of a political protest and spiritual vigil than the controlled chaos of Burning Man.
Forgive me for saying so, but it seems a bit inflammatory and very frightening for men everywhere.
‘‘There’s a deeply spiritual side to what we’re trying to do,’’ said Adam Eidinger, a local activist who has helped organize Catharsis events in Washington for the past three years. ‘‘Having sacred fire on the mall is a very religious thing.’’
Now you are starting to creep me out. Looks Pagan and Satanic to me even if the pre$$ won't say it.
This year, the event carries feminist themes and a focus on women’s issues in general.
Then who could argue with it, right?
Where my print ended.
The massive metal dragon, known as Abraxas, is itself a Burning Man veteran and will roll through the streets around the Capitol during a protest march at dawn Sunday. On Saturday night, a small wooden temple will be set ablaze under the close eye of fire marshals.
The burning of the temple is at the heart of the catharsis concept that provides the event’s name. Visitors will be encouraged to leave notes or pictures in the temple that symbolize traumas or pains — the burn will symbolize the release of that trauma.
One emphasis will be on the Equal Rights Amendment, the proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal treatment under the law regardless of gender. It was approved by Congress in 1972, but never ratified by the necessary 38 states. The ratification deadline expired in 1982, but activists hope to revive it.
One aspect that won’t be part of the event is R-Evolution, a 47-foot-high sculpture of a nude woman in a yoga pose that was featured at this year’s Burning Man. Organizers worked with the National Park Service on the issue for months and in September received permission to erect the sculpture and leave it up for about four months.
However, the Interior Department abruptly reversed course and in an Oct. 25 letter the Park Service rejected the sculpture, saying the permission had been ‘‘issued to you in error.’’
The rejection letter said the sculpture could damage the National Mall’s grass and was ‘‘likely to have an adverse effect on the aesthetics, including the cultural identity, of the area.’’
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Makes you wonder who really has the Good Life, huh?
Were they not burning torches in Virginia a few months ago?
Take good look in mirror and tell me what do you see.
"Head of State Police retires amid questions about altered arrest report" by Andrea Estes Globe Staff November 10, 2017
Colonel Richard McKeon, the superintendent of the State Police, announced he is retiring next week amid disclosures that he ordered a state trooper to remove embarrassing information from an arrest report about the daughter of a judge. He also punished the trooper for including the information in his report.
“I have today decided that putting the greater good of the Massachusetts state police first necessitates my decision to retire after 35 years of proud service,” wrote McKeon, 61, in an e-mail to 2,200 state troopers late on Friday afternoon.
Yes, this scandal must be quickly buried.
McKeon suggested that he was just trying to treat a victim of opioid addiction with sensitivity and respect. He also said he has told troopers “more times than I can remember” to focus their reports only on the charges against the individual.
“In our law enforcement role, our first duty is to enforce the law and protect the public, but that doesn’t preclude us from being empathetic toward those in need,” he wrote in a separate resignation letter to Public Safety Secretary Daniel Bennett.....
Wow, my head is spinning.
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"Olympic gold medalist and onetime Needham resident Aly Raisman has accused Larry Nassar, the US national gymnastic team’s former doctor, of sexual abuse, joining more than 130 other women who have said the doctor sexually assaulted them....."
I wonder what she would look like in a wet T-shirt.
(FLIP)
Sox prospect’s rapid decline so soon after diagnosis surprises cancer doctors
Dead man, but at least it wasn't by the gun.
"Schools struggle to explain MCAS changes as parents receive scores" by James Vaznis Globe Staff November 11, 2017
NORTH ANDOVER — Kittredge Elementary School is adjusting to a new reality: School administrators are stuck with the complicated job of trying to explain to parents why the new MCAS has in many cases delivered dramatically lower scores — and why this should not be perceived as a reflection of diminishing school quality.
I suppose the administrators will have to earn their pay.
They can be especially sensitive conversations in the ultra-competitive climate of the suburbs, where families have often used MCAS scores in deciding where to buy a house.
State education officials have been billing this year’s MCAS results as a “reset.” The state redesigned the MCAS so it can be taken on computers. Officials also wanted more questions to gauge whether students at each grade level are on track to be ready for college and the workplace.
Consequently, the state has advised against comparing them against the old test. But many school officials statewide argue that is tough, if not impossible, to do. The old results are the lens through which many parents and communities have viewed their schools.
“The state is trying to spin it and say don’t think about the past — this is a new start and we are moving forward,” said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.
Complicating matters further: The state has repeatedly contradicted its own advice by comparing the new results against the old MCAS scores and to other exams.....
Any wonder why the kids are tuning them out?
Kids early on recognize do as I say not as I do hypocrisy.
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Part of the problem, forgive me for saying it, could be the state's status as a sanctuary for non-English speakers, although that is not why your DACA application got rejected.
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"Providence police defend use of deadly force after I-95 shooting" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff November 10, 2017
Providence and Rhode Island State Police who fatally shot a man Thursday on a crowded highway near the Providence Place Mall fired more than 40 rounds at the victim’s truck after he refused to stop and instead used his vehicle as “a weapon,” authorities said Friday.
Speaking during an afternoon briefing, Providence Police Colonel Hugh T. Clements Jr. identified the victim as Joseph Santos, 32. Santos’s passenger in the truck, Christine Demers, 37, was also shot and remained hospitalized Friday after undergoing surgery.
Her condition wasn’t known. Family members of Santos, who police said had two open warrants including one for a possible domestic incident, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
In another harrowing incident that Rhode Island authorities said may or may not be related to the fatal shooting, police said a suspect stole a police cruiser on Thursday and then spent more than a day on the lam.
Donald Morgan, 35, of Providence, was caught by the state’s violent fugitive task force in Cumberland, R.I., Friday night.
Officials said they were still investigating whether Morgan had any ties to Santos and Demers.
It is related, but not in the way you think.
Morgan was held overnight pending his arraignment on Saturday, Rhode Island State Police said in a statement.
Clements and Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré both defended the officers who fired at the truck, insisting that the officers felt Santos presented an imminent danger to the public with his reckless driving and his ramming of at least one other vehicle on the highway.
Clements noted that one Providence officer “heroically” pulled a woman out of a car that Santos had struck with his pickup.
Authorities released dramatic video footage of the pursuit and the final, deadly encounter on an on-ramp to Interstate 95 by the mall. The footage was captured by state Department of Transportation cameras and a police body camera.
In the footage, Santos’s truck is seen speeding on Route 10 and darting across two lanes of traffic, trailed by multiple cruisers. He continues onto the ramp to I-95 North, darting around other cars as the cruisers continue to give chase.
Then, Santos becomes boxed in by vehicles on the ramp, and a number of officers are seen rushing toward the truck on foot with guns drawn. Authorities said officers loudly ordered Santos to stop; the footage shows the truck instead reversing into one vehicle and then striking two others as it moves forward.
All told, Clements said, Providence officers shot approximately 20 of the more than 40 rounds that both police agencies fired at the truck in an effort to stop it.
The shooting remains under investigation, but Clements said authorities believe the footage shows the officers “doing exactly what we would want them to do in stopping an imminent and significant threat in that moment, for the people around that vehicle.”
Asked by a reporter what officials would say to the family of Santos, who the reporter said described him as a “scared young man” with a suspended license, Paré was sympathetic.
“We understand that perspective, and our sympathies go out to [Santos’s] family,” Paré said. “But when there’s an imminent threat with a weapon by way of that vehicle, judgments and decisions have to be made.”
He said investigators “have not determined whether” there was a gun in the white truck.
Law enforcement officials laid out a timeline for the events leading up to the fatal shooting.
Things were set in motion around 9 a.m., officials said, when a handcuffed suspect identified as Morgan, stole a State Police cruiser after a trooper who was taking him to a court appearance stopped the vehicle to check out a crash scene.
Providence police were alerted to the theft and were told that the cruiser contained a firearm, Clements said. Soon after, he said, police recovered the abandoned cruiser in the city’s Elmwood section on Vineyard Street. He said the gun was still in the cruiser, but Morgan was nowhere to be found.
About an hour later, a witness told a Providence officer that someone matching Morgan’s description was seen trying to get into a white pickup truck, prompting police to stop multiple white trucks in the area, Clements said.
And there you go. It was all confusion and miscommunication.
Around 10:35 a.m., Cranston police informed Providence officers that a white pickup truck had refused to stop on Silver Lake Avenue near the city line, and Providence police eventually picked up the pursuit, leading to the fatal encounter.
The officials could not provide information on the relationship between Santos and Demers.
Morgan, who had been arrested Wednesday night on charges of obstruction and receiving a stolen vehicle, was arrested Friday evening.
Court records show Morgan has a lengthy criminal record with prior no-contest pleas for shoplifting, simple assault, conspiracy, obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct, and breaking and entering.
Cranston Police Colonel Michael J. Winquist said that neither Santos nor Morgan had any known ties to his city.
Santos was driving the white truck “in an erratic manner prior to the motor vehicle stop” in Cranston, Winquist said in a statement Friday. “Prior to the stop, the officer was also aware of an earlier police broadcast that a suspect had stolen a State Police cruiser and may have fled by jumping in the bed of a white pickup. When my officer exited his vehicle and approached the pickup, the vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed.”
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Related:
"A man was shot and another man stabbed during a span of five hours in two different neighborhoods in Boston, officials said Friday. No arrests have been made, but both cases are being actively investigated, police said....."
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"Prosecutors to meet with alleged victim of Kevin Spacey" by Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff November 10, 2017
NANTUCKET — The Cape and Islands district attorney said Friday he has scheduled a meeting with the teenage son of Heather Unruh, a former Boston television news anchor, who has accused actor Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him at a downtown bar here in July 2016.
District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the meeting will occur soon and said he is interested in “everything that’s relevant and material” to the alleged assault. At a news conference Wednesday, Unruh said Spacey plied her 18-year-old son with alcohol, then thrust his hand inside the young man’s pants and grabbed his genitals.
The investigation “will proceed from there after we have a chance to speak with the person who made the allegation,” O’Keefe said.
The teenager’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said he is searching for “any possible documented evidence” about any encounter between Spacey and the teenager, now a college sophomore.
Garabedian, who has represented hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse, said he is also investigating Spacey’s history on Nantucket, where several residents said he is a frequent visitor.
“The question always remains whether there are other victims of Kevin Spacey,” Garabedian said.
Unruh said her son immediately told his sister what had happened but was too embarrassed and afraid to report the alleged crime at the time. Unruh’s son has since met with Nantucket police about the incident. Citing confidentiality in sexual-assault cases, Nantucket authorities have declined to comment on the case.
A bartender at The Club Car, which has changed ownership since summer 2016, declined to answer questions.
The alleged assault, involving one of the many celebrities who flock here during the summer, has caused an off-season buzz on the island. Nearly a dozen islanders said in interviews that Spacey is seen often on Nantucket.
Marilyn Vaughn, a year-round resident, said she believes she spotted Spacey at the Cisco Brewery around the time of the alleged incident, wearing distinctive Nantucket Reds pants and a blue blazer.
“I feel bad for her son,” Vaughn said of Unruh, a longtime summer visitor who hosted the Boston Pops concert here in 2016. “It’s sad that it takes one person to come out” with an allegation “before they all feel they can come out.”
Staff at the Cisco Brewery said Friday that Spacey easily could have blended in with the big crowds that frequent the brewery in summer and said celebrities are a common sight across Nantucket.
One islander who asked that his last name not be used said high-wattage star power is expected. In that environment, even a two-time Academy Award winner such as Spacey might not cause much of a stir on the streets.
“You’ve got the celebrities here,” Roger said, raising his hand to his shoulder. “And then you’ve got the crazy rich people here,” he added, lifting his hand high above his head.
“Nobody pays much attention. They go about their business,” Roger said.
It has not been business as usual for Spacey. Netflix has shut down production of “House of Cards,” the political drama he starred in, and Spacey’s role has been cut from a Ridley Scott film set to hit theaters in just over a month.....
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"Dartmouth president defends handling of allegations" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff November 11, 2017
Dartmouth College students and New Hampshire law enforcement authorities learned that three psychology professors were under investigation for sexual misconduct only after a seven-sentence article appeared in the college newspaper last month, drawing criticism that the Ivy League school had mishandled the case.
On Friday, Dartmouth president Phil Hanlon defended the college’s response and reason for keeping the matter confidential.
In an e-mail to the Dartmouth community, Hanlon said college officials encourage anyone making allegations of sexual misconduct to notify law enforcement. But if they opt against going to the police, the college must respect their confidentiality, unless there is an imminent danger, Hanlon said.
“If they decline to pursue that option, we take very seriously our legal and ethical obligation to respect their wishes,” Hanlon said. “We are deeply troubled by these allegations. We take these investigations seriously.”
Dartmouth brain scientists Todd Heatherton, Paul Whalen, and Bill Kelley are at the center of a criminal probe launched two weeks ago by the New Hampshire attorney general’s office. New Hampshire authorities opened the investigation after reading a story about the allegations of “serious misconduct” against the professors in the college newspaper, The Dartmouth. Law enforcement officials at the time said since the allegations involved potentially criminal behavior, they needed to get involved.
That was when the drip-drip began before things turned really rotten and nasty.
So far, neither law enforcement officials nor the college has specified what the allegations against the professors are. The college has placed Whalen and Kelley on paid leave. Heatherton is on long-scheduled sabbatical. Dartmouth has restricted their access to campus. Whalen and Kelley are allowed to have contact with students by electronic means, although it is subject to oversight by college administrators, a Dartmouth spokeswoman said. Heatherton has continued to work with and meet with his current graduate students.
Heatherton was spending his sabbatical as a visiting scholar at New York University, beginning in July. But the day after the story appeared in The Dartmouth, NYU and Heatherton “by mutual agreement,” ended the relationship, said John Beckman, a NYU spokesman.
Dartmouth officials have said that they have received multiple, separate allegations of sexual misconduct by the three professors but have released few details about its own investigation into the complaints, but the lack of information has spurred rumors on and off campus.
On Friday, Hanlon said that while the professors were in the same department and collaborated on their research, there is no indication that they violated legal requirements or ethical standards in their treatment of human study subjects. Among the research the professors did were studies on the failure of self-control and its links to impulsive sexual behavior.
This is also getting damn creepy.
Hanlon said that the college has hired an outside investigator to conduct its own review of the allegations. Dartmouth officials declined to name the independent investigator it had hired.
“We are determined to complete these investigations, wherever they may lead, and the entire process as quickly as possible,” Hanlon said. “But we will not sacrifice fairness or rigor for speed.”
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One wonders how they can still stand by them.
The Washington ComPost tells me Democracy Dies in Darkness....
.... as it puts up a pay wall!
See: Operation Mockingbird
Yeah, wave goodbye, WaPo.
State Street CEO-designate tells employees in email law school plagiarism was a ‘big mistake’
Or not. He worked his way through Fidelity and is now CEO of a too-big-to-jail bank.
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"Health bill momentum slows at State House" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff November 11, 2017
A sweeping health care bill that aims to control the rising costs of medical care and prescription drugs sailed through the Massachusetts Senate, but it could be months before the measure moves forward.
The overwhelmingly Democratic Senate approved the bill by a 33-6 margin at midnight Thursday after two days of debate and much last-minute wrangling over the language, but momentum on the legislation now slows, as lawmakers will be on break for much of the next several weeks and House leaders have not specified when they plan to take up the measure.
The bill also would need approval from Governor Charlie Baker before it can become law. Baker this week said the effort fell short because it would do nothing to help the state deal with a significant challenge: the rising costs of the state Medicaid program, called MassHealth.
The Senate approved several measures requiring pharmaceutical companies to submit to scrutiny from state officials.
Senators adopted an amendment late Thursday that requires drug companies to provide even more detailed information about drug prices than in the original bill, drawing a rebuke from a big pharmaceutical industry trade group.
“We are deeply troubled that the Senate has adopted such a harmful amendment,” said Caitlin Carroll, spokeswoman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA.
“Unfortunately, [the bill] no longer adheres to the goals of affordability, access and collaboration, and we can no longer support this bill,” she said in a statement.
Opponents and skeptics of the Senate effort say now is not the time for sweeping health care legislation, given the ongoing uncertainty around health care in Washington and the fact that Massachusetts passed a health care cost control bill in 2012.
Senate Republicans also criticized the legislation for creating too much “bureaucracy” and for failing to seriously deal with the growing MassHealth budget.....
Now let the tax loot checks roll for GE, Amazon, Hollywood, Siemans, Buffett, and don't forget that debt interest payments come first.
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You know, all things being Equifax.....
"So that’s what a losing streak feels like. Stocks fell for the second day in a row Friday, which hadn’t happened in a month, as Amazon put a scare into yet another industry: medical device and health care equipment companies. Those companies slumped after an analyst for Citi Investment Research said Amazon might be on the verge of shaking up their industry by speeding up distribution and cutting prices. Energy companies gave up some of their recent gains while retailers, media companies, and household goods companies moved higher. One factor in those losses was uncertainty over the Republican plan to cut taxes....."
Oh, yeah, that.
It's either a quantum leap forward or a last-ditch effort to toy around with the tax code.
