"‘Are you ready to bring change to Washington?’ Pressley stuns Capuano on historic night" by Michael Levenson Globe Staff September 04, 2018
The national wave of insurgent energy that is reshaping Democratic politics crashed into Massachusetts on Tuesday as Ayanna Pressley, the first African-American woman elected to the Boston City Council, made history again, defeating Representative Michael Capuano, a 10-term incumbent heavily backed by the political establishment.
With no Republican in the race, Pressley, 44, is poised to become the first woman of color from Massachusetts to serve in the US House, in a storied district that, although reconfigured, was once represented by John F. Kennedy and the legendary speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr.
She now has a shot to run her own show.
Her victory was the most high-profile upset on a night of sweeping change in Boston politics. Two members of the Massachusetts House leadership were defeated by political newcomers: Byron Rushing, a 28-year state representative, lost to Jon Santiago; and Jeffrey Sánchez, the House budget chief, lost to Nika Elugardo. In the Suffolk district attorney’s race, Rachael Rollins is poised to become the first woman of color to serve as Boston’s top prosecutor, topping a field that included a sitting prosecutor backed by the law enforcement establishment.
See: Two longtime state representatives ousted in primary upsets
Also see: Rachael Rollins bests crowded field to win Democratic primary for Suffolk DA
Pressley’s victory over Capuano, a 66-year-old down-the-line liberal first elected to Congress in 1998, represents a generational, gender, and racial shift in Boston politics, and an upending of the wait-your-turn ethos that has pervaded the Democratic Party locally and statewide. With about 99 percent of precincts reporting, she had captured 59 percent of the vote to Capuano’s 41 percent.
Really gave him a whipping.
Her success demonstrates the power of the party’s restive grass roots, which have buoyed a host of younger, nonwhite, and female candidates nationwide such as Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor in Florida, Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political newcomer who won a New York congressional primary in June.
For Pressley, the victory in the Seventh Congressional District opens a new chapter in a remarkable personal journey. She was raised in Chicago by her mother, Sandra, a community organizer, while her father, Martin, struggled with drug use and was incarcerated. She survived sexual assault as a child and then again as a student at Boston University, before going on to serve as an aide to Representative Joseph P. Kennedy II and Senator John F. Kerry.
In 2009, she broke racial barriers when she became the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council, a victory that announced her arrival as a rising star in the party. Her win on Tuesday signaled the falling of another barrier in Boston, a city with a painful racial history that still bears the scars of the busing crisis.
See:
Early Morning Cla$$
Late For School Today
Last Day of School
It is of primary concern and, oh, sorry, wrong bus.
When she takes office in January, Pressley will represent the only congressional district in Massachusetts where a majority of residents are nonwhite.
“It’s a new day,” said Alfreda Harris, a veteran African-American activist and former Boston School Committee member from Roxbury. “Younger people are getting involved in politics, and particularly black women. It’s good for the country and it’s good for the state of Massachusetts.”
In her race against Capuano, Pressley faced formidable opposition in a state known for entrenched politics that protects incumbents.
Capuano, drawing on his deep connections, marshaled support from the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the building trades unions, and mayors across the district, including Martin J. Walsh of Boston, who activated his field operation to help the congressman push his supporters to the polls.
Capuano also raised nearly twice as much money as Pressley, and outspent her by a 2-to-1 margin, allowing him to advertise heavily on broadcast and cable television, while she was limited to a small ad buy on two Spanish-language stations.
All you have to do is hustle a few texts and campaign videos now.
Many prominent black leaders, including Representative John Lewis, a civil rights icon, and Deval Patrick, the state’s first black governor, snubbed Pressley and endorsed Capuano, calling him a friend and steadfast ally.
Pressley, however, mobilized a coalition of liberal, younger, and nonwhite voters by promising a new approach to the job.
While Pressley and Capuano agreed on most issues, she argued that it was “not a profile in courage” to have a progressive record in a deep-blue district. She vowed to bring “activist leadership” that reflected the take-it-to-the-streets mood of voters who are marching for gun control, immigrant rights, and women’s rights in the Trump era.
She also talked about issues that Capuano, a former Somerville mayor known for delivering federal funding to the district, has not made as prominent.
She promised to address violence against women, structural racism, and gun violence, as well as the wide racial and economic disparities in the district, which stretches from Randolph to Everett and includes the biotech offices of Kendall Square and the bodegas and barber shops of Roxbury.
With her refrain that, “the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power,” she evoked the #MeToo movement as well as her own history as a survivor of sexual assault.
That would also apply to Palestinians, right?
Related: "President Trump on Tuesday, in a tweet, called the NBC network ‘‘FAKE NEWS.’’ Trump’s tweet took aim at NBC’s handling of journalist Ronan Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein. Farrow and the news network have been at odds over whether NBC hindered his investigative reporting on Weinstein’s misconduct....."
The New York Times sat on it for over a decade, and it's nice to know she has a friend in the White House.
In June, after Ocasio-Cortez stunned the political world by defeating Representative Joe Crowley, another 10-term white incumbent, it gave Pressley a flood of national attention that cast her as the next gate-crasher to challenge the party establishment.
Still, the comparisons were, in some ways, overdrawn.
While Crowley was criticized for not living in New York and taking his race for granted — even skipping a debate with Ocasio-Cortez — Capuano took Pressley’s challenge seriously, debated her three times, and emphasized that he still lives in Somerville, near where he grew up.
There truly is no place like home.
He campaigned vigorously on his unwavering liberal record and staunch opposition to President Trump’s agenda. He argued that since he and Pressley agreed on most issues, his seniority and relationships in Congress would allow him to be more effective.
Yeah, they just lost that.
She goes to the back of the bus, so to speak.
Still, there were few policy differences in the race. Pressley supported the growing movement to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Capuano argued the agency could be reformed.
She rejected corporate PAC money; he had accepted more than $700,000 from corporate political action committees since 2017, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Despite broad support from major political figures, Capuano was unable to secure endorsements from the state’s two US senators, Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, who remained publicly neutral. Attorney General Maura T. Healey backed Pressley.
As soon as Pressley’s victory was announced at the electrical workers’ union hall in Dorchester, her supporters broke into tears and sobs. Challenging an incumbent, “I knew I would be demonized as entitled and what no one woman can ever be — ambitious. But change can’t wait,” she said, echoing her campaign slogan.
Capuano delivered a two-minute concession speech to his supporters at the Somerville Holiday Inn.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but this is life, and this is OK,” he said. “America is going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman and Massachusetts will be well served.”
Starting to feel lonely yet?
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The roof fell in on him, and it looks like the last stand of the political old guard.
It's back to a blue wave, or so the Washington ComPost says.
Further down ballot:
Gonzalez defeats Massie in Democratic gubernatorial primary
Third District race remains too close to call
"Beth Lindstrom, 57, a former state Cabinet official who managed Scott Brown’s upset Senate victory in 2010, is a small-business owner and longtime GOP activist who was the first female director of the Massachusetts Republican Party and served in former Governor Mitt Romney’s Cabinet. Though she picked up many endorsements from the Republican establishment, she was unable to attract the party’s rank-and-file activists..... "
Must have been why she got my vote.
Heated secretary of state primary ends with Galvin topping Zakim
I wonder if Janelle Bynum won.
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Kavanaugh hearings begin, and controversy happens fast
Mueller says he’d accept written responses from Trump
Trump says, “This thing’s a goddamn hoax, [and] I don’t really want to testify.”
EPA audit finds no evidence ex-administrator Pruitt needed costly 24-hour security detail
So much fake news being swung at you it feels like I've been concussed.
"US factories grew at a faster pace in August as American industry continues to show robust health. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Tuesday that sixteen of 18 manufacturing industries expanded in August, led by makers of electronic equipment, clothing, textiles and paper products....."
"President Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, revealed assets worth a maximum of $2 million, far less than his predecessor, according to his financial disclosure obtained from the White House. Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, disclosed income of $820,203 in 2017 and the first months of 2018. His biggest holding was a stake worth between $500,000 and $1 million in State Street Corporation’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF, the document shows. The statement nonetheless portrays personal wealth on a much smaller scale than other key economic players in the administration, such as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross or Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Kudlow’s predecessor, Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president listed assets of at least $254 million in his initial filing, and had a minimum income of $48.3 million. Kudlow, appointed by Trump in March, has been an active voice in the White House for a second phase of tax cuts, and he’s urged the president to allow more time to resolve an ongoing trade dispute with China. According to the disclosure, Kudlow worked for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, a group launched by former Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, economist Arthur Laffer, and Stephen Moore, the founder of the Club for Growth and a top economic adviser to the Trump campaign. The group pushes for low taxes, deregulation, and free trade. Kudlow also provided consulting services for five investment firms, including Guggenheim Partners LLC and Neuberger Berman, according to the disclosure, which requires government officials to list sources of compensation exceeding $5,000 in a year. He also listed CNBC, where he was a senior contributor before joining the White House, and Westwood One, where he hosted a radio show. Kudlow’s largest source of income — $782,000 — was from his company, Kudlow & Co., LLC, for personal services, including television and radio work, consulting, writing and paid speeches. His company made a total of $620,500 from his speeches and participation in conference calls. More than 30 organizations paid to hear from him, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch, and the National Retail Federation....."
Poor Larry Kudlow, and as for Gary Cohn:
"In a new book, Bob Woodward describes Trump’s White House as ‘crazytown’" by Mark Landler and Maggie Haberman New York Times September 04, 2018
WASHINGTON — Bob Woodward’s reporting adds new details to a recurring theme in the Trump White House: frustrated aides who sometimes resort to extraordinary measures to thwart the president’s decisions — a situation the author describes as “an administrative coup d’état.”
Gary Cohn, the chief economic adviser, told a colleague he had removed a letter from the president’s desk authorizing the withdrawal of the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea, Woodward said.
Cohn told an associate that Trump never realized it was missing, and that looks like a crime to me.
Later, when the president ordered a similar letter authorizing the departure of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement, Woodward said, Cohn and other aides plotted how to prevent him from going ahead with a move they feared would be deeply destabilizing.
“I can stop this,” Cohn said to the White House staff secretary at the time, Rob Porter, according to the book. “I’ll just take the paper off his desk.”
I'm glad he is gone, because look what is happening now:
"Investors didn’t commit to many big moves as trading resumed after the Labor Day holiday. They are likely to focus on trade this week, as the United States is scheduled to resume trade talks with Canada on Wednesday and could announce new tariffs on Chinese imports later in the week. Amazon briefly brought its market value to $1 trillion, banks rose as interest rates climbed, and Nike slumped after it gave a major endorsement deal to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, known for his protests of police brutality and racial injustice....."
Yup, Nike just did it, handing the president a winning issue heading into football season.
Woodward reported new details about Cohn’s well-documented clash with the president over his equivocal response to the white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017. Cohn, who threatened to resign over the episode, was particularly shaken after one of his daughters discovered a swastika in her college dorm.
Looks like another self-inflicted false flag for the obvious purposes, and that's why Cohn spilled his guts to Woodward. He never got over Charlottesville.
Cohn, Woodward said, concluded that Trump was a “professional liar.”
I think we just found his source for the book.
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Among other things from a book that will soon be on the shelves gathering dust with Wolff's and Omarosa's, I'm told "President Trump so alarmed his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, during a discussion last January of the nuclear standoff with North Korea, [when] Trump questioned Mattis about why the United States keeps a military presence on the Korean Peninsula, and in April 2017 [when] Trump called Mattis and told him by phone that he wanted the United States to assassinate President Bashar Assad of Syria, adding a string of expletives, while in the words of the chief of staff, John Kelly and his predecessor, Reince Priebus, whose clashes with Trump have been reported elsewhere [and who] found a sympathetic ear in Kelly, another retired Marine general, who frequently vented his frustration to colleagues about the president, describing the White House as a Hobbesian world, in which officials delight in sticking knives into one another. Some of the freshest details in the 448-page book involve Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who has been viewed as a stable anchor in Trump’s Cabinet. The White House dismissed the book, describing it in a statement as “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the president look bad.”
The washed-up Woodward has long been a deep state MIC operative, cashing in on his long ago fame, and he wrote about a president who is a scapeGOAT.
Speaking of Deep State MIC operatives:
Former Arizona senator Jon Kyl to replace John McCain, for now He retired from the Senate in 2012 to become a lobbyist and spend more time with his family, [and] is currently shepherding President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.
So much for ‘bipartisanship,’ 'eh?
Put me on the warpath!
"The US Naval Academy is allowing female midshipmen to wear ponytails and other longer hairstyles. The policy was announced during a Board of Visitors meeting Monday. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson first announced the Navy’s changes in July, saying they make the Navy more inclusive. The academy conducted its own review before accepting the changes. The regulation allows braids and ponytails in service, working, and physical training uniforms. The width or diameter of hair buns can’t extend beyond the width of the back of the head. The academy is stipulating that ponytails cannot be seen from the front. Vice Admiral Ted Carter, the superintendent, said the incoming class is one of the academy’s most diverse. He said the class of 2022 is about 28 percent female."
Anchors away, ladies!
"Facing a wide field of challengers and bruising critiques over Chicago’s history of troubled relations between the police and black residents, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday he would not be seeking reelection. The news stunned residents of Chicago, where mayors have sometimes held office for decades and where Emanuel had been amassing campaign money at a rate that made it feel as though another race was already underway. The announcement also upended the political landscape: No clear front-runner has emerged among a dozen candidates who have already indicated they plan to run in the election, set for February. The race had largely been shaping up as a referendum on Emanuel’s record. Emanuel was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff before returning to Chicago to run for mayor....."
He was also Mossad's mole in the Clinton White House.
Where do you think the Lewinsky leaks came from?
"A father and mother were arrested in Wisconsin after their teenage son died and another child was hospitalized following what the father described as a weekslong religious fast. The father walked to the Reedsburg police station Sunday to report the death of his 15-year-old son, according to Police Chief Timothy Becker. When police arrived at the family’s home they found the dead teen and an extremely emaciated 11-year-old boy. The mother was also found to be emaciated. Becker said the father told police he was a minister affiliated with Cornerstone Reformation Ministries and that the family had started a religious fast on July 19. Investigators do not believe the father is a minister and made up the name of the ministry, Becker said. The younger boy and his mother were brought to the hospital. The mother refused treatment, citing religious reasons, and was taken to the Sauk County Jail....."
The Planet X people or another New Mexico thing?
"Gordon may hit Gulf Coast as hurricane after nightfall Tuesday" by Stacey Plaisance and Kevin McGill Associated Press September 04, 2018
GULFPORT, Miss. — Families filled sandbags, took patio furniture inside, and stocked up on batteries and bottled water as the Gulf Coast prepared Tuesday for Tropical Storm Gordon, which could strengthen and become the second hurricane to hit the region in less than a year.
Just hours before the storm was expected to come ashore, a few people remained on the beach, soaking in the sun before the tropical rain bands became more numerous. Others did their familiar pre-storm preparation rituals, including the staff at The Hotel Whiskey in Pass Christian, Mississippi, only about a block from the Gulf of Mexico. The hotel restaurant planned to stay open Tuesday evening, fortified by sandbags to keep out torrential rains, the manager said.
‘‘All the outside furniture has to come in, but honestly it’s not even a freak-out kind of hurricane, so we’re not super-stressed right now,’’ Ashley Peeples said midday Tuesday.....
Already weakening after strengthening when it first hit land(?).
Just meant to be a soaker, or is that the net result of whatever?
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Has FEMA arrived yet?
"FEMA ‘overwhelmed’ by natural disasters in 2017" by Joel Achenbach and Arelis R. Hernández Washington Post September 04, 2018
WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency was stretched thin and overwhelmed in 2017 by the sequence of major hurricanes and wildfires that caused disasters across the country, according to a massive Government Accountability Office ‘‘performance audit’’ released Tuesday.
Those have been out for weeks now.
The GAO report concludes that FEMA generally carried out its duties as expected when responding within the continental United States — to hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the California wildfires — but it found that FEMA was not ready for what Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico.
See: Powering Through Puerto Rico
‘‘They were completely overwhelmed from a workforce standpoint,’’ Chris Currie, the GAO director for emergency management issues and leader of the audit, said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. ‘‘Once Maria hit, their staff resources were pretty exhausted. Their other commodities and resources were exhausted.’’
Some of the FEMA staff deployed to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands ‘‘were not physically able to handle the extreme or austere environment of the territories, which detracted from mission needs,’’ according to the report. FEMA officials told the auditors that ‘‘the physical fitness of staff could be assessed’’ before future deployments.
And many staffers couldn’t speak Spanish, something that hindered efforts in Puerto Rico: ‘‘FEMA did not have enough bilingual employees to communicate with local residents or translate documents,’’ the report said.
The report, titled ‘‘2017 Hurricanes and Wildfires: Initial Observations on the Federal Response and Key Recovery Challenges,’’ makes no specific recommendations, but says the GAO is conducting a review of how the US government plans for and responds to disasters.
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Taliban say founder of Haqqani militant group is dead
Has been for at least three years.
Amid ire, UK’s Labour Party alters anti-Semitism definition
If you had any doubt about raw Zionist power.....
US Embassy bombing attempt in Cairo misfires
Super lame!
South Sudan accused of killings, torture, squalor in jails
Bush's creation!
And these were his friends:
Saudis threaten prison time for satire ‘disturbing public order’
Spain cancels bombs sale to Saudi Arabia amid Yemen concerns
Poll shows French tiring of Macron faster than of Hollande
That was fast!
Duterte orders arrest of Philippine senator, one of his top critics
Rather odd thing for him to do considering where he has been recently, handshake and all.
"Chinese delegation to visit North Korea as US tries to make progress on denuclearization" by Choe Sang-Hun and Jane Perlez New York Times September 04, 2018
SEOUL — President Xi Jinping of China will send a top official to North Korea this weekend to attend major national celebrations there, state-controlled media in both countries reported on Tuesday.
North Korea plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its government on Sunday with celebrations, including a military parade.
Globe hates a parade.
With North Korea and the United States deadlocked over how to proceed on denuclearization talks, there did not appear to be much China could do to resolve the issue, said Yang Xiyu, a former Chinese official who was involved with diplomatic talks involving China, North Korea, the United States, and other nations over the North’s nuclear weapons development in the mid-2000s.
Xi might have been put in an embarrassing position if the military parade had shown off nuclear-capable weaponry while he and Kim looked on. China has supported many proposals for encouraging the North to give up nuclear arms, and it expressed satisfaction after Kim made a vague commitment to denuclearization at his June meeting with President Donald Trump in Singapore. A visit to Pyongyang by Xi might also have risked annoying the United States.
China has joined efforts to impose tough sanctions on the North but remains the country’s single largest trading partner, accounting for more than 90 percent of its external trade. As the two countries’ relationship has improved this year following Kim’s meetings with Xi, US officials have worried that China is easing up on sanctions.
Last month, Trump canceled a trip to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in the denuclearization talks. At the time, he said the negotiations had been hindered by a lack of support from China, for which he blamed Beijing’s bitter trade dispute with the United States.
Last Wednesday, Trump accused China of shipping “money, fuel, fertilizer, and various other commodities” to North Korea. US officials have said that China is largely enforcing the sanctions, but has been allowing some relatively minor infringements.
Meanwhile, South Korea is pursuing its own path of engagement with the North. A special envoy from President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is expected to make a day trip to North Korea Wednesday, hoping to set a date and agenda for a meeting between Moon and Kim this month in Pyongyang.
On Tuesday, Moon briefed Trump by phone about his plan to meet with Kim, the South Korean presidential office said. He told him that South Korea’s efforts to improve ties with the North would also help to bring about denuclearization.
When Trump met with Kim in Singapore, they pledged to establish new bilateral relations and “work toward complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, but negotiations have since become bogged down in differences over how to implement the vaguely worded agreement.....
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I wonder if Pompeo will wait to arrive until after the storm has passed:
"Typhoon slams into western Japan, leaving 8 dead and transportation disrupted" by Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press September 04, 2018
TOKYO — A powerful typhoon slammed into western Japan Tuesday, inundating the region’s main international airport, blowing a tanker into a bridge, disrupting land and air travel, and leaving thousands stranded. At least eight people died, and scores were injured.
Jebi, reportedly the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 1993, headed north across the main island of Honshu toward the Sea of Japan. More than 1.6 million households were without power in Osaka, Kyoto, and four nearby prefectures late Tuesday, according to Kansai Electric Power Co.
High seas poured into Kansai International Airport, built on artificial islands in Osaka Bay, flooding one of its two runways, cargo storage, and other facilities, forcing it to close. A 2,591-ton tanker slammed into the side of a bridge connecting the airport to the mainland, making the bridge unusable and leaving 3,000 passengers stranded at the airport, the transport ministry said.
NHK public television showed passengers sitting and lying on the floor in the airport terminal in the dark without air conditioning.
A man in his 70s died, apparently after being blown to the ground from his apartment in Osaka prefecture. Police said five others died elsewhere in the prefecture after being hit by flying objects or falling from their apartments. In Shiga prefecture, a 71-year-old died when a building collapsed on him, and a man in his 70s died after falling from a roof in Mie.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 150 people were injured.
Daihatsu Motor Co. stopped production at its Kyoto and Osaka factories, and Panasonic halted work at its air conditioning and refrigerator factory in Shiga. Kirin Co. suspended production at its brewery in Kobe, according to Kyodo News.
Then it must be serious for the Japanese to do that.
Elsewhere in Osaka, the Universal Studios Japan theme park and US Consulate were both closed.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe canceled a trip to Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, so that he could oversee the government’s response to the typhoon, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
In nearby Nishinomiya in Hyogo prefecture, about 100 cars at a seaside dealership were in flames after their electrical systems were shorted out by seawater, fire officials and news reports said.
You guys are lucky you didn't sink.
Tokyo escaped relatively unscathed, with some intermittent squalls.....
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The Globe put the Brazilian fire out quick, and I see the press is no longer worried about the reporters in Myanmar, either. For all we know they have landed on the moon.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
"Bus drivers blame Boston schools and contractor for delays, missed routes" by James Vaznis Globe Staff September 04, 2018
The Boston bus drivers union, locked in protracted negotiations over a new contract, blasted School Department officials and their transportation contractor in a flier, blaming them for last week’s late buses and uncovered routes that plagued schools that began the year early.
“We are an ‘old school’ union, living the motto that ‘If we can’t get our justice at the table, we will damn sure get it on the picket line!” the flier stated.
Doesn't violence come with that?
Officials for the union could not be reached for comment.
Interim Superintendent Laura Perille declined an interview request. “Negotiations between parties are active and ongoing,” the school system said in a statement.” It is always a top priority of the Boston Public Schools to ensure that students are safely transported to and from school.”
Meanwhile, families are becoming fed up with being caught in the middle of the contract dispute and bus service problems that tend to mar the start of every school year.
More schools experienced bus problems on Tuesday, although the school system would not release specific details.....
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And look what happens when you have to drive the kids to school.
Neighbors mourn Lawrence man killed in drive-by shooting “As soon as I heard the shots, his mother came rushing out, screaming, ‘They killed my son. They killed my son,’ ” said the neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous. “It was like something out of a movie. Everyone was just standing there in shock.”
Try to be gentle with her, and this is also shocking:
"Emerson College professor found dead had been suspended for sexual harassment" by Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff September 04, 2018
An Emerson College professor and noted filmmaker who was found dead in a Jamaica Plain park in mid-August had been suspended for the fall semester for sexual harassment, the school’s president notified faculty Tuesday.
Robert Todd, 54, was an associate chair of Emerson’s Department of Visual & Media Arts and had worked at Emerson for more than 18 years when he died. He had been reported missing Aug. 16 and was last seen entering Franklin Park, where his body was later discovered.
Immediately after, colleagues and former students took to social media to mourn Todd’s death and reflect on his influence, but there have also been misleading and false statements surrounding the circumstances of his death “promulgated with the sad patina of truth,” said Lee Pelton, Emerson College’s president, in an emotional speech that was posted on the college’s website.
Those rumors compelled Emerson to publicly address the personnel matter, Pelton said.
Todd was suspended without pay for the semester and required to work with a professional coach after he was “found responsible for engaging in sexual harassment,” Pelton said.
In December 2017, an Emerson staff member alleged that Todd in multiple, linked incidents had violated the school’s sexual misconduct policy. Emerson brought in an outside investigator who conducted a monthslong study, ultimately finding that Todd had “engaged in sexual harassment,” Pelton said.
During the investigation, Emerson administrators also received additional third-party reports of inappropriate behavior and potential violations of the college’s sexual harassment policy, but “there was insufficient evidence to support additional claims,” Pelton said.
Emerson is providing support to the staff member who brought the complaint against Todd, Pelton said.
Todd was described as a “lyrical filmmaker” as well as a sound and visual artist on his Emerson biography page. He produced a series of films that were exhibited at venues and festivals around the world.
Can we talk for a moment?
Todd also taught film production at other schools, including Boston College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, according to Emerson. He also had worked as an editor, sound designer, and as a producer on broadcast and theatrically released media programs.
According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website, family and friends of Todd’s are planning to participate in the Out of the Darkness walk in Boston in his memory. The fund-raising page describes Todd as “an extraordinary person: caring, conscientious, funny, energetic, and uniquely brilliant. His untimely death has left a jagged tear in the fabric of his community, and many people reeling in shock and profound confusion.”
Looks like we have reached a #MeToo turning point. Sympathy for the devils now.
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Didn't mean to bring you down.
"Brandeis sanctions officials in wake of report on handling of complaints against former coach" by John Hilliard Globe Correspondent September 05, 2018
A Brandeis University vice president resigned and two top administrators were placed on probation Tuesday after an independent investigation criticized the school’s handling of complaints against a former basketball coach accused of racially biased harassment.
On April 6, Brandeis fired its head men’s basketball coach, Brian Meehan, over complaints of discrimination and unprofessional behavior, including allegations of racially biased harassment, according to university officials.
The independent investigation, which began the day after Meehan was fired, concluded that “over a number of years, there was inadequate supervision of Coach Meehan and a failure to address his unacceptable conduct, especially toward his players,” according to a university report released Tuesday.
The review also found that a previous university investigation into a complaint against Meehan by six current and former Brandeis basketball players was marred by signs of favoritism and concern for protecting the school’s reputation.
“In the months leading up to the ultimate decision to terminate Meehan’s employment, the interests of the student-athletes appear to have been subordinated to the goals of having a winning basketball team and protecting the institution (or a long-term colleague) from harmful accusations,” the report stated.
In a statement Tuesday, university president Ron Liebowitz apologized to “students who brought the complaints forward, to any other students who may have been harmed and didn’t come forward, and to our entire community.”
The outside report said that a group of students met with Liebowitz in April and “spoke candidly about feelings of alienation, lack of representation and lack of full participation in the life of the university, especially with respect to students of color.”
Racism?
At a Jewish university located in Bo$ton?
Surely you jest!
The university plans to release a second report later this semester that will include a “broader examination” of campus climate, Liebowitz said.
On Tuesday, the school’s vice president of human resources, Robin Nelson-Bailey, and former athletic director, Lynne Dempsey, were demoted, relieved of leadership and supervisory responsibilities, and placed on probation, Liebowitz said.
Now they will know what it is like to be black.
Dempsey had already been placed on administrative leave in the spring, Liebowitz said.
Sheryl Sousa, the university’s vice president for student affairs, resigned Tuesday, Liebowitz said. All three have been replaced with interim appointments, Liebowitz said.
The investigation was conducted by Walter Prince, a partner with the Boston law firm Prince Lobel and a former Massachusetts assistant US attorney, as well as R. Malcolm Graham, a retired state appeals court judge.
Meehan, who was hired in 2003, found early success as coach, and seemed to become “untouchable” and above the rules, even to his superiors, the report found.
The program took a downturn in 2010 and he “gradually became ‘pissed off at everything Brandeis,’ ” an unnamed source told investigators.
The Brandeis version of Bobby Knight.
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Meanwhile, authorities sprang into action Monday morning in Maine:
"A Montreal man who admitted smuggling about 100 handguns into Canada from Vermont and upstate New York, including some that were left in the bathroom of a library built on the border between the two countries, was sentenced Tuesday to more than 4 years in prison. Since Vlachos has served about 3 ½ years in prison since his February 2015 arrest in Canada and he is expected to receive some time off his sentence for good behavior. It’s unclear how much additional time he will spend in prison. “I view this as a very serious offense,” said U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions during the sentencing hearing in federal court in Burlington. Most of the guns that were smuggled into Canada via Vermont and upstate New York have not been recovered, said Kraig LaPorte, spokesman for the Vermont office of the United States Attorney, which prosecuted Vlachos. He did not know if any had been used in crimes in Canada. Vlachos pleaded guilty in January to the smuggling that occurred in 2010 and 2011. Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions to sentence Vlachos to nearly 9 months in prison. Vlachos’ attorney had asked for a sentence of time served....."
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"Amazon, following Apple, reaches $1 trillion in value" by David Streitfeld September 04, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO — Behind the drama is a relentless and sometimes scary ambition. Amazon is the Jay Gatsby of American companies, believing that tomorrow it will run faster, stretch its arms out farther, fulfill the desires of consumers in ways that no other business possibly could. You will live in Amazon’s world, it says, and you will like it.
The retailer has retained this futuristic luster even as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, which touted their own versions of technoparadise, have become suspect. It has retained its allure even as many of its ventures have tanked. Remember Kindle Singles? They were electronic articles hailed as the virtual reinvention of nonfiction. No one even noticed when the program fizzled.
“We like to go down unexplored alleys and see what’s at the end. Sometimes they’re dead ends,” founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in 2009. “Sometimes they open up into broad avenues and we find something really exciting.”
One of the great benefits for Amazon of this approach is that it is impossible to tell where reality ends and hype — or perhaps even madness — begins.
Usually just after 6 in the morning as I start reading a Globe.
Take Amazon’s drone program, which it first announced on “60 Minutes.” “I know this looks like science fiction,” Bezos said, as he showed a film of an unmanned vehicle delivering a package. “It’s not.” He said there were “years of additional work” to be done, but declared himself an optimist. Drone delivery, he predicted, would be a reality in “four, five years.”
That was December 2013. Roughly a million features were written about Amazon and its drones, nearly all with the subtext: Isn’t this the coolest thing ever?
Over the years, the company kept raising the stakes, as if they were not already high enough. Amazon applied a few years ago for a patent for an “aerial fulfillment center” that would float at 45,000 feet. Drones would fly out of it with your order and then glide down to your backyard.
What delivery could possibly be important enough to merit such a crazy system? The patent has a suggestion: “Prepared hot food.” We wanted flying cars, but we got flying burritos instead.
Meet Liu Qiangdong!
His boy Elroy!
Even if the drones do not pan out, they have kept attention focused on the company, fulfilling a different part of the business plan. There is scarcely any oxygen left to discuss the more contentious aspects of Amazon, like its scorn for taxes or its plans to capture much of local government purchasing.
“There is no doubt anymore,” said Ron Nussbaum, who runs an investment management fund called Maverick Value in Los Angeles. “The stock always goes up and no one doubts it will keep going up.”
Nussbaum, who stresses that overall his investments are profitable, might be the last Amazon skeptic. “It’s an honor,” he said.
And an expensive one. Last year, when Amazon crossed $1,000 a share, he started buying “put” options — bets that the stock would decline. One of his puts has dropped 85 percent; another, 92 percent. To get to the $1 trillion valuation, Amazon’s stock crossed the $2,050.27 per share mark in morning trading Tuesday.
Does the name Buzzy Krongard ring a bell, readers?
Maybe a waterboarding session will help drive you to remember?
Nussbaum is planning to buy more. He thinks people are confusing their impressions of Amazon the company with Amazon as an investment.
“If I fill up your gas tank for $1 but it costs me $2, you can say it’s a great product but it doesn’t make any sense as a company,” he said.
Apple had profits of $48 billion last year. Amazon’s were less than a tenth of that. If profits were all that mattered, Amazon should be worth about $100 billion, the size of United Technologies or Texas Instruments. That is nothing to sneeze at, but nothing to get people excited either.
If I could get just a $lice of that.
Even before Amazon hit $1 trillion, the milestone was old news. There was a poll on Facebook run by a group of young Wall Street investors. The question: Would Amazon or Apple be the first to hit $2 trillion?
The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of Amazon. Dreams will always triumph over devices.....
Look on the bright side: you won't need as big an office.
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