Anonymous's blog

West Roxbury Patch reports:

Connolly to Lead Council's Review of Student Assignment Process

City Councilor John Connolly will lead the Council's review of the Boston Public Schools student assignment plan. His announcement comes days after Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's State of the City Address in which the Mayor called for "a radically different student assignment plan."

Connolly's order will be introduced during tomorrow's City Council meeting. No dates have been set yet for the City Council hearings, but Connolly wants to give parents an opportunity to weigh in on what makes a quality school, the challenges parents face with the current assignment process, and changes parents would like to see.

Read More...

Menino’s spokeswoman Dot Joyce, initially said yesterday that the city has “no plans at this point” to evacuate the Occupy Boston encampment. Looks like that changed fast.

Read more here from author Brad Johnson, a Boston native, who writes about climate and public policy for ThinkProgress.

As a resident of Boston for twenty-eight years, I’ve had Stephen Lynch as my representative in Congress for ten. During that time:

Rise Up! We Are The 99%!!
with permission © Charles Bivona
1. We know that U.S. society has become fundamentally unequal. We know, though we may not all know the exact numbers, that the top 1 percent of income recipients receives almost 25 percent of all income in the society (including capital gains), and the top 10 percent receives almost 50 percent.
2. We know, though we might not be able to quote the figures precisely, that between 1950 and 1970, for every additional dollar made by those in the bottom 90 percent of income earners, those in the top one hundredth of one percent received $162 dollars. But that was back when things were more equal! Between 1990 and 2002 for every added dollar made by those in the bottom 90 percent of the population, those in the top one hundredth of one percent made an additional $18,000.

If you agree, please call and be nice. Agree or disagree, your comments are welcome below.

Boston Police Department Supports Peaceful Protests – BPD Also Obligated to Maintain Order and Ensure a Safe Environment

Posted by MediaRelations on October 11, 2011

Since October 1, 2011 the Boston Police Department has been working closely with the leadership of Occupy Boston to accommodate their request for peaceful demonstration. The City of Boston, at the request of the organizers, designated the area of Dewey Square on the Greenway where protestors have been provided the opportunity to create an encampment and protest peacefully. Read More

[View the story "Paul Pierce Goes To China" on Storify]

by Jason A. Stephany, August 8, 2011

Since he took office February 4, 2010, US Senator Scott Brown has yet to host a public town hall or open forum. His schedule has included more than 250 stops for ribbon cuttings, groundbreaking ceremonies and photo opportunities – even a slew of book signings to market his autobiography. But Brown has yet to offer a single opportunity for Massachusetts taxpayers to gather in an open, public setting and ask questions of their senator.

So when aides to Brown announced he would tour the state to share his agenda and interact with constituents on job creation and economic development issues, it made headlines. After 18 months of private, scripted events, the commonwealth’s junior senator was finally coming out of his shell to discuss important issues at the forefront of everyone’s mind – or so we thought. READ MORE

RT @realdealneal: Boston Globe front page tomorrow http://tinypic.com/r/2dch1ts/7 #whitey #bulger

Boston gangster surrenders quietly in Calif. after 16 years on run: Fugitive mobster James “Whitey" Bulger was arrested last night at a house in Santa Monica after 16 years on the run, police said early this morning. The 81-year-old Bulger, charged with 19 murders, did not put up any resistance.

The announcement came two days after the FBI unveiled a new television ad blitz to help find the fugitive couple. A tipster who saw the public service announcement urging the public to be on the lookout for Bulger’s girlfriend, Catherine Greig, alerted the FBI yesterday that Bulger and Greig were staying at a house in Santa Monica, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

So does the tipster get the $2,000,000 reward?

No one should get arrested for this.

Boston police arrested Simon Glik, a young attorney, on charges that sound pretty serious at first: illegal wiretapping, aiding the escape of a prisoner, and disturbing the peace. But all Simon did was hold up his cell phone and openly record Boston police officers making a rough arrest on Boston Common.

Watch our interview with Simon--including video he made of police.

Donald Trump’s racist birther accusations have been debunked, again, the White House has released the president’s “long form” birth certificate.

As the president said, “We do not have time for this kind of silliness.” Thank you, Mr. President, for being, once again, the adult in this national conversation.

As Think Progress reports, “acclaimed historian and author Douglas Brinkley pinned the blame for the reemergence of birtherism on NBC Entertainment for giving real estate mogul Donald Trump a primetime platform.”

Americans United TV Ad

Come watch live performances, participate in a BUNCH of other good stuff we’ve got in the pipeline, and protest the fact that the largest bank in the US doesn’t pay their taxes!

When: 12pm - 2pm

Where: Bank of America, 540 Commonwealth Ave (Kenmore Square) Boston, MA

Why Bank of America? Bank of America received $45 billion in government bailout funds while funneling its books into 115 offshore tax havens.

Photo of the Day from FokNewsChannel. Also, an open thread to talk about the Red Sox or "whatever".

If you oppose the politics of making public sector workers and middle class Americans pay the costs of the fiscal crisis that was born of Wall Street greed and fraud and which caused the great recession, or if you oppose the corporate political agenda for America that wants to cut services for the American people including education, school loans, research, Planned Parenthood, Medicare and Social Security while continuing to pay $40 BILLION in corporate welfare to the most profitable company in the history of the world, ExxonMobil, or if you oppose corporate tax loopholes that allow extremely profitable American-registered multinational corporations to pay $0 in US income tax, then come join us at an event to Defend The American Dream Tuesday, Mar 15, at 5:30 PM, registration required.

]Bank of America, the largest bank in the US, pockets Billions in profits and bailouts but pays $0 in American taxes. If Bank of America and the 2/3 of US corporations that pay NO taxes here would pay up, just like everyone else, America would not need to cut $100 Billion in college grants. If this one company pays a tax bill, millions of kids could go to college.

The solution is simple: make them pay their fair share so we don’t need to cut this valuable public service.

"We won't pay for your crisis"

If you have $3 in your wallet, you have more money than Bank of America paid in corporate taxes last year. On Saturday, USuncut took peaceful action against the Bank of America branch in Harvard Square by protesting the unfair tax code and drawing attention to that fact this ginourmous Bank of America happily profits from taxpayer-funded bailouts and banking business but avoids paying almost anything in Federal taxes.

If you appreciated Kendrick Perkins in Celtic green, feel free to tell him why below.

In Wisconsin and around our country, the American Dream is under fierce attack. Instead of creating jobs, Republicans are giving tax breaks to corporations and the very rich—and then cutting funding for education, police, emergency response, and vital human services.

The crowd chanted "They say cut back, We say fight back" before the speakers came to the podium.

Congressman Ed Markey addressed the crowd to remind them what caused the financial crisis (and it wasn't public public sector workers.) Next, Congressman Mike Capuano announced, "I am a cheesehead" to communicate his solidarity with the working people of Wisconsin fighting for the right to bargain collectively for wages, benefits and work conditions. Mike foretold of similar attacks on worker rights by Republicans soon to come in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. He said it was a fight for the middle class.

Rick Santorum to speak to Catholic Citizenship Tuesday Feb 1, 2011 at Hotel Indigo, 399 Grove Street in Newton MA on the topic "Faith, Conservatism & Politics in the 21st Century."  The brochure promotes his talk this way:

Verbatim from BPDnews.com

WHEN TOLD TO GET OUT OF THE STREET … WHY NOT DO IT???

Posted by MediaRelations on January 29, 2011

Timothy Robertson at the Dedham Patch takes the stenography:

"A downside of Rush’s deployment: no vote will be cast for the district he represents..."

Downside indeed. Is it too much to ask the reporter to pose the obvious question: Might citizens reasonably expect to have a voting Senator represent their interests? After all, a revolution was fought for that right on the premise, no taxation without representation.

A leader would put the interest of his constituents ahead of his own.

NSFW profane language