Blog news

Ron Newman reports Jonathan Monsarrat's lawyer has filed a motion to dismiss Monsarrat's lawsuit against him, former Somerville Journal editor Deb Filcman and 100 unnamed people with prejudice, which basically means Monsarrat can't file it again.

Pursuant to the provisions of Mass. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(i), the Plaintiff, Jonathan Graves Monsarrat, in the above-captioned matter, hereby files and gives notice of dismissal, with prejudice and without costs to either party, as to Deb Filcman, Ron Newman, the Doe Defendant identified as Doe Defendant "srakkt" in paragraph 51 of the Amended Complaint, whose real name is Richard James Scheffler of Somerville, Massachusetts, and John and Jane Does 1-99, as defendants in the Amended Complaint.

Monsarrat had sued Newman, Filcman and 100 "John and Jane Does" over online comments about the way he was arrested in 2010 after a wild party involving underage teens; the charges against him were eventually dismissed.

The Jamaica Plain Gazette reports the erstwhile Roxbury city councilor expects to finish his federal bribery sentence in a Boston halfway house, starting in July.

The Gazette adds Turner is now also blogging, at Chuck Turner Analysis, where he focuses on national economics through a Boston lens:

Given the Pac Man like quality of gentrification, if Boston is to be a city affordable not only for all races but also all incomes, we have to have a strategy to mitigate the gentrifying effect of development. To provide an historical context for considering this question, this reflection will focus on the 1%'s manipulation of Boston’s political process after WW II and the creation of its development tool, Boston Redevelopment Authority.

A Somerville man's lawsuit over posts on the local LiveJournal and on the local newspaper Web site went national today, in a request for legal help for Ron Newman, named in the suit.

Meanwhile, lawsuit bringer Johnny Monsarrat has been busy digging up the names behind comments he doesn't like and sending them letters warning them to take down their comments or be officially named in the lawsuit, rather than as one of the "John and Jane Does, 1-100."

One person says Monsarrat actually visited his mother's house, "in a large black trench coat, blond hair, asking all sorts of questions about me, my whereabouts, et cetera."

Update: Ye ed. should have checked the date.

Food blogger (and attorney) Richard Auffrey says he's given a local chef an ultimatum: Move out of town or he'll post details about how the guy is using meat from "large scale, out of state farms" instead of the little locally sourced purveyors his restaurant's reputation is staked on.

If nothing changes this week, then next Monday's Rant will identify the chef and restaurant, providing the evidence I possess. I received much support on both Facebook and Twitter for outing the chef if I possessed sufficient evidence of his deception. My outing will not be without repercussion, but I am willing to take on those consequences to expose this fraud. Once I identify the chef and restaurant, the restaurant owner will have the ability to verify this matter on their own. All they will have to do will be to analyze the invoices for the local meat producers and determine there was an insufficient amount to have fed all of the restaurant's patrons.

Join Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders at our annual Summer Party held outside in the heart of Provincetown, MA on Saturday, July 27 from 4:00-7:00PM. Enjoy the view of the harbor, mingle with other GLAD supporters and learn more about our ground-breaking cases.

Tickets are $75 online | $85 on site | $30 student
Purchase at www.glad.org/events.

Don't miss our amazing auction and celebrity auctioneer Kate Clinton. You don't have to be present to win. Travel packages, restaurants, massages, and much more - something for everyone!

Children are welcome to attend (at no charge) and will enjoy a range of fun activities.

Delicious summer fare and refreshing cocktails provided.

More information, tickets and sponsorships are available at www.glad.org/events.

A Sharon obstetrician yesterday filed suit against an Illinois blogger with whom she's been engaged in an increasingly nasty flamewar over home births.

In her suit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Dr. Amy Tuteur of the Skeptical OB, charges that Gina Crosley-Corcoran, who writes the Feminist Breeder, is abusing a federal online copyright law to try to shut her down.

Tuteur, a former professor at Harvard Medical School, says she uses her blog in part to wage war on proponents of home birthing:

The MBTA Ruined My Life.

There is a community meeting tonight regarding the proposed demolition and new construction of both the St. Augustine's Church and School in South Boston. Please attend the meeting to voice your opinion: 6:30 pm, Boys and Girls Club of South Boston, 230 W. 6th Street. Please see Caught in Southie for more information.

No, not this one, alas. Open Media Boston has a couple of openings for stringers with some journalism experience.

We know $50 [per article] isn't much money. So we're looking for people that can crank out news content fast. People that don't mind having their work edited, but whose work doesn't need much editing. Because they know what they're doing. Which is, like, a virtuous circle. We want people who can take an assignment - or offer one of their own - go out in the field, cover something, go home, do follow-up work, write up a story, and submit it.

The Globe reports: State prods Amazon to collect sales taxes.

Steve Garfield notes that every time Amazon agrees (after kicking and screaming) to collect sales tax on purchases from specific states, one of the first thing it does is block people in those state from making commissions on Amazon sales through their sites. So? He says the measure would hurt small businesses that rely on Amazon sales - and which are required to pay taxes on that income.

Ed. note: I sell stuff via Amazon (and other sources). It's never brought in much (except for the three months after the 2004 World Series, when, for some reason, one of my sites was one of the top three Google results for "Red Sox clothing"), so the impact on me would be more the pain of having to remove all those Amazon links.

Boston Sports Media Watch dissects the latest column by a Globe sportswriter about how those damn kids have no respect at all, not like in his day.

Last week:
The Globe writer who hates bloggers.

Daniel Wagner surveys Kevin Paul Dupont's hatred of bloggers, counters that Dupont is just a bitter old ink-stained wretch unable to research his assertions.

The Swellesley Report reports.

Autism Intervention Specialists of Worcester and principal Nassim Aoude today filed a federal libel suit against a New Hampshire man who says it peddles "horseshit" because it refuses to accept his theory that autism is caused by mercury in vaccines.

In its suit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Autism Intervention Specialists wants John Best's blog posts about it replaced with retractions and a suitably large, if unspecified, amount of damages.

The concern pointed to two specific blog posts by Best, one in which he called it pure bullshit, the other in which he calls its employees pure jackasses, and accused Aoude of profiteering on the backs of autism patients:

Big Red & Shiny is coming back and is using Kickstarter to raise funds to create "a bigger and bolder Blog devoted to New England art & artists and a monthly web-based Journal with perceptive and incisive writing from around the globe." With art/music/dance in the South End on Sept. 29 and panel discussions on art writing and community at MIT on Oct. 27.

Earlier:
We Love Beantown gets ready to launch.

The Washington City Paper reports the founders of a site called We Love DC are heading north next week with a new site called We Love Beantown. Think Bostonist (remember them?) but with better design and no icky crime news (don't worry, that's what we're here for).

ClevelandCircle.org is a new news site for the neighborhood.

Boston from the Red Line is a site that only posts photos of Boston from the Red Line.

Via BostInno.

The state court system today opened up registration for bloggers who want the same ability as mainstream-media reporters and photographers to record and report in courtrooms.

The court system's new access rule, which goes into effect Sept. 17, will, for the first time, grant citizen journalists the ability to record trials, arraignments and certain other proceedings on a routine basis:

When MBTA Transit Police see something now, they blog something - but so far with fewer puns than their counterparts at BPD.

The ever present, always hilarious Southie Yuppy/Local feud erupted again last week over at Caught in Southie's Facebook page with an anonymous letter to the editor from a wayward, misunderstood yuppy. As expected, the ensuing comments erupted into spirited vitriol from both sides, eventually breaking the 200 comment line.

Perhaps the most entertaining post of the thread was fittingly the last, where self proclaimed South Boston local and member of the Boston Sports Club's Welcoming Team, Bridget Lee, chimed in with her opinion of the socio-economic forces at play in South Boston's gentrification:

They've shut off the ovens and hung up the toques at Public Radio Kitchen.

The Fenway Recordings Sessions Presents:

The Drive Tour @ Brighton Music Hall
Featuring College, Anoraak & Drive, from the soundtrack to the movie Drive.

July 22, 2012
18+
Tickets on sale Friday, June 8 @ 12 noon.
http://bit.ly/Mf50dN

The Supreme Judicial Court today announced it was postponing a rule that would let bloggers photograph and video trials and other proceedings until Sept. 17, to give court personnel more time to prepare for its implementation.

David Bernstein at the Phoenix has a new side project: Compiling photos of our politicians posed with animals, from Coolidge with a dog to Joe Kennedy with a cow.