The difference between reasonable and unreasonable analysis or argument can very often be found in the treatment of context. The University of Iowa Law Professor who wrote the NYT op-ed published yesterday arguing that “Democrats have been shameless about your presidential vote too” clearly understood that he was playing fast and loose with context. He…
DeLeo’s Tenure Reflects the Bay State’s Political Exceptionalism
The contrast between American national government and politics and Massachusetts government and politics has long been dramatic. Washington has become a hotbed of partisan, ideological, and institutional warfare while political and policy negotiations between the Bay State’s “Big Three” at the Massachusetts State House almost always suffice. Presently, the issues of police reform and abortion…
Shirley Leung’s Massachusetts Miracle Depends on Immigrants
Shirley Leung has a fascinating piece in the Boston Globe today, The Massachusetts Miracle is alive and well. ‘There are a lot of potential Modernas’. Those potential Modernas depend upon the brain power of immigrants. Ms. Leung’s piece is about how area firms built on Boston brains are leading the way in the fight against…
The Perfect Gift: Books
Once again it’s almost Christmas and you haven’t yet found that perfect gift for a loved on. The gift that will make their heart skip several beats, make them swoon and go weak at the knees, cause them to realize how lucky they are to have you, to end this awful year with the reassurance…
ProfessorU is not happy with changes to Route 6 on Cape Cod
Warning: the author is suffering from pandemic fatigue and seasonal disorder, which, for a Cape Codder, means missing the sun, sand between your toes, lobster stew, and sparking tonic with your gin. Still, as I recently travelled Route 6 on the Cape, I found myself shaking my head in resignation at the absurdity of our…
Desrosiers v. The Governor: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Body Slams Charles Koch
Today the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled for Governor Charlie Baker in a lawsuit underwritten by Charles Koch and sponsored by Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance/Fiscal Alliance Foundation in which MFA sought to undo the governor’s emergency public health powers—just as Covid-19 is raging across the land. It wasn’t close. This was really a case about conflicting ideologies….
The Billionaire Backers of Ranked Choice: To Save the Village, We Must Destroy the Village
Lucky you, Massachusetts! Texas billionaire John Arnold is going to save democracy in the Bay State! Unfortunately he is helping to destroy democracy in the process. That is the upshot of today’s outstanding Matt Stout story in The Boston Globe, Who Are The Out-of-State Billionaires Backing Ranked Choice Voting in Massachusetts? According to the story…
I apologize to Sen. Mike Lee. He’s Right, America’s isn’t a Democracy.
I apologize to Republican Senator Mike Lee. Yesterday Sen. Lee tweeted out that America isn’t a democracy at all, and I made fun of him. I’m embarrassed because Sen. Lee is right. American is not a democracy. It’s an oligarchy. Here’s the tweet from Sen. Lee (R-Quarantine) that set off Twitter: True Sen…
GOP Senate Candidate Misunderstands Mass Voters
Republican Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Kevin O’Connor criticized Senator Markey in a tweet for not opposing outright the idea of a Democratic senate packing the Supreme Court next year. Clearly, O’Conner thinks Bay State voters might be turned off by brazen partisanship enough to hold this against Markey. Though I haven’t seen polling data on…
GOP: The Party of Property Sovereignty, Not the Party of Lincoln
In 1859 Abraham Lincoln was invited to Boston for a speaking engagement, but could not come. Instead, he wrote a Letter to H.L. Pierce and the Boston Republicans in which he mused upon how the political parties had switched positions over the years on the questions of liberty and property. The Democrats had been the…