Thursday, December 28, 2017

A State Commission is recommending Changes to

The Commonwealth's Byzantine Liquor Laws.  My main initial takeaway seems to be the commission will be recommending revisions to the fee structure in a way that'll bring in some extra state revenue from liquor sales. If implemented, the fee increase would quietly skirt the wholesale repeal of the liquor tax accomplished by ballot initiative a few years ago, but then again, thats how the legislature rolls in Massachusetts.
My other big takeway is that there seems some impetus to simplying the liquor laws in Massachusetts but then that is a fraught word here in the Commonwealth..."simplify" I mean.
Fee increases aside I could get behind all this mishaugas if it allows smaller independent outfits like the Somerville Theatre access to a "full bar" as part of their concession offerings. Currently said venue gets by with beer and wine while phat corporate venues like the Superlux Theater has a full bar  on offer. Movie theaters live and die on the profit margin provided by concessions so anything that expands options for the independent operator is fine by me.
But remember this is all conjecture, the legislature hasn't acted on any of the commission recommendations yet...but it requires watching to be sure.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Jeff Jacoby has finally found His Big Crush in the Trump Admin

and predictably he has found it in US Ambassador Nikki Haley who has wholeheartedly embraced the whole "Jerusalem as Israel's Eternal Capitol" jazz.  Christmas is the season of grievances & hardcore American Zionist Wingnuts like Jeff have always nursed a grudge against the U.N. For its real & imagined anti Israeli Bias.
I'm sure Jeff has Presidential Fantasies about Haley but for the moment those can be tabled, allegedly she is on the short list to succeed Rex Tillerson at the State Department next year, if she is smart (and she strikes me as very smart) she'll steer clear of Foggy Bottom. In New York she has virtual free reign, but proximity to Trump's White House automatically imposes costs and potential legal exposure.
Why risk it? She can ride out all the storms incurred by the President's pathological tweetage and the Special Counsel's Investigation in Manhattan sans worry or woe and still be a mere ninety minutes from New Hampshire via plane.
Besides, sooner or later we are likely gonna stumble into a succession crisis and when we do, Haley is gonna want some distance from Mike Pence as well.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Nikki Haley Kicks Ass and Takes Names at the UN

threatening vague retaliation for the UN's refusal to endorse the USA's unilateral decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's "Eternal Capitol".
I'm gonna posit something, when Donald Trump's patently empty threats are amplified by one of his appointees, said threats gain nothing in credence.  Nikki Haley looks like a Mafia Princess trying to stare down the MilkMan and the UN spins out of control to the merriment and benefit of Moscow and Peking and Pyongyang etc etc.
And of course, today, having threaten and insulted the UN Ambassador Haley has to somehow put togther a coalition to increase sanctions of North Korea.
Good Luck with That, Nikki is all I can tell ya.
This cringeworthy incident full of vague ominious and never realized promises of retaliation are the Trump Admin's idea of "success" and may well put Nikki Haley on the short list for Secretary of State once the blundering jobbers that surround the President figure out how to heave Tillerson over the side on the first go, a simple trick that these numbskulls have yet to master.
But if and when it goes down, I wish Ms Haley the sweet christian joy of her new job...if she gets it, if she retains it.

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Bernard Law once Cardinal Archbishop of Boston

Up and died, seemingly alone and friendless in Rome.  He was compelled to flee his flock at the full flood of the local Clerical Sex Abuse Scandal and lived out his days the rector of a Basilica in Rome an exile and a prisoner in all but name.
Catholics are taught that God Forgiveness is freely granted to those that sincerely seek it, regardless of the magnitude of their crimes, so who knows maybe Law repented his complicity in an awful series of molestation cases perpetrated by local Catholic Clergy...who knows?
But let the record show Law never betrayed any real public contrition over what he did wrong, the most he ever copped to, and that was under pressure, was that he regretted the pain wrought by his "mistakes".
THAT is all the mercy & justice he ever offered the victims.
And then having cost the Dioceses of Boston 80 million large in damages & at last forced the closure of dozens of sub marginal parishes...he jetted off to the safety of Rome.
The irony is, the local big money Catholics, the "Parish Council Types" forced his ouster they refused to continue to fundraise for an outright Patron of Pederasts, and when you've lost that lot, its over for you mah friend.
Cardinal Law was lucky he had clerical protectors above him just he he protected the priestly pederasts, otherwise a Prince of the Church would've heard the crash of iron for sure.
And likely he should have...
The Vatican is going the Full Dress Route for Law's Funeral, but from their perspective, they've buried bigger scoundrels with far more pomp & circumstance.


Monday, December 18, 2017

On Sovereignty...

Sovereignty is Destiny.

It is also at once, intangible and ineffable and vitally necessary to the success of the American Experiment.
"I am born in freedom therefore I intend to remain free."
Sovereignty therefore is our innate will to self governance, we govern no one but ourselves either as individuals or as citizens in the aggregate.
Sovereignty is expressed constitutionally, legally and with full knowledge of all obligations & rights as citizens.
We have chosen to express sovereignty via a somewhat convoluted but sturdy matrix of representative government, federalism, deeded to said institutions via frequent elections, carefully administered to ensure complete legitimacy of outcomes.
Representative government is never direct government by the electorate over the electorate, at best its a hazy rhetorical compromise that The Elected will in some fashion reflect the Electorate's Interests once they pass into the public sphere.
That can lead to all kinds of confusion, a condition better known as "politics".
There is therefore, a natural, ongoing and expected "gap" between that deed of sovereignty and the act of representation.  But, due to its inalienable nature, the act of "deeding" sovereignty does not compromise  sovereignty in any way. It goes its merry way regardless of the malevolence and or hackwork of it's representatives, said deed is entirely temporary and is subject to revocation of a constitutional type when necessary.
But, if the inherent disconnect becomes too vast or becomes tinged with gruesome intentions or outright corruption, if the deed of sovereignty is repudiated or rankly manipulated by The Elected, then the Sovereign Electorate has recourse to correction & stern measures.
The most obvious recourse is at the ballot box, nothing so humbles the mighty as the sudden deprivation of office, the light that plays about the great and the mighty is snuffed out completely.
There are also the courts, plotters and cabalists all hate the courtroom, the current administration in Washington exhibits all the symptoms of an ongoing judicial-phobia, the reasons for that fear is simple courtrooms are great humblers of the proud and the pathologically proud have but one goal to stoke their pride to an everlasting expansion.
These are relatively slow moving options by our digital age, they have the virtues of legitimacy and irresistible "weight" when they hit, they hit hard.
But that measured pace is alas, a drawback, the proud, the criminal and the elected have the advantage of speed and surprise when they seek to undermine or abolish  our rights & our sovereignty.
Even so, The Electorate has Recourse, pressure can be brought to bear in a number of ways, some of it quite rough, sufficiently ignored the wrath of the citizenry can be a terrible thing indeed.  Frankly only a fool or a gambler in the full flood of their mania would ever risk it.
We are in the USA at one of those critical moments when the gap between the Elected and the Electorate is wide and getting wider, with many self evident indications of criminality being perpetuated in the name of that "deed of sovereignty".
Steps may have to be taken over the short term.  We are "in between" the standard "accountability moments" better known as elections, the issues at hand from retention of our rights, the despoliation of certain classes of citizen, the prospect of a foreign despot's intervention in our sacred electoral process...are all distressing to contemplate.
We must resist the emotion that tells us our options are shrinking, we are losing advantages and are overmatched, that is panic, panic helps the enemy. Refrain from panic and you deny him an important weapon.
At the moment we must move on two fronts, where action is moving forward, encourage further action, support & engage where the activity is felicitous.  Where inactivity reigns or worse action is retrograde, thats where all due legal transparency with protest and pressure must be brought to bear.
The Sovereign Electorate has the advantage of "size and weight" in all these matters, If We Lean, the Elected Must Bend, but the pressure must be inexorable...only that weight, will make them panic - when the time comes.
If certain malevolent personalities on the other side of this lamentable gap, seek to aggrandize themselves and make a play for tyranny then matters must escalate and escalate swiftly. Sovereignty can, will and must reclaim its legacy & centrality in this republic. The power to act in this regard is entirely inalienable in all citizens of these United States, such is self governance, such is sovereignty.






Mary Anne Stewart....

Former Chair of the Lexington School Committee, has apparently pulled papers to challenge State Representative Jay Kaufman in next year's primary.  Stewart was last seen impressing exactly no one in the fourth middlesex special state senate primary last year.  Why she has opted for a very long shot primary challenge to Jay Kaufman remains a mystery to me, I do know some very disgruntled democrats in Arlington all backers of Sean Garballey's failed state senate last year are all "hell yeah" with it.
So that makes me wonder, as best I can I'll try and keep an eye on this one. I don't even know if Stewart has started gathering the necessary signatures or what her fundraising profile looks like (it costs oughly 50,000.00 vigorish to make a credible state rep's race in Massachusetts, more likely if you are a primary challenger) but I'll look into it all the same.
The ironic thing is, Mary Anne Stewart was a problematic candidate for state senate last year, but given the primary dynamics in the state democratic party she could easily be running high wide and handsome for the Lieutenant Governor's nomination.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Matthew S. Petersen...

A Trump nominee for a Federal Judgeship, apparently does not understand basis jurisprudence of a type one could easily learn from binge watching "Perry Mason" on Decades TV.

I swear to Ghod, Don Junior had to troll Homeless Shelters to Find this Poor Slob, he has the addled beaten look of a man who can hardly remember his favorite panhandling spot.  Look at this guy, he is positively...seedy.

The Fall of Omarosa....

Omarosa Manigault Stallsworth whozis a "Top White House Aide", under circumstances mysterious and therefore no doubt hilarious was abruptly fired by the Trump Admin last week.  We read delightful rumors of cringeworthy "exit interviews" with Chief of Staff John Kelly as well as the image of Omarosa being dragged off the premises by the White House Uniformed Police Detail.
Who knows what happened...it all waits on TMZ I am sure.
Black Conservatives (yes that is a thing) are all disquieted because one of the few non white voices in the White House has been heaved over the side....but that just illustrates black conservatism's thin bench. Let's face it, Omarosa is an ideological eunuch, she started out working for then Vice President Al Gore after all, she segued into reality television via "The Apprentice" and her drift into conservative politics is pretty much a precise function of Trump's journey into wingnuttery over the last decade. Trump demands complete ideological fealty from his employees and Omarosa is very much a paid member of the President's personal pool of "celebrities".
Her sudden fall from grace cuts her off from a 180K public salary and likely leaves her wa-ay off the GOP Reservation, no doubt she'll trudge off to the left and peddle her personal staff of administration gossip to the highest bidder...again we wait on TMZ one and all.
I just think its hilarious is a very reality show sort of way, we all want Donald Trump out of office and instead we get his token black lackey tossed into the street.


Thursday, December 14, 2017

The Damn Tax Bill Edges Closer to Passage

dropping the corporate tax rate to 21% sans any reciprocal obligations only incentivizes US Corporates to accelerate exporting US Jobs to low wage offshore providers. A generation ago, the process began under Ronald Reagan with the wholesale decimation of the manufacturing sector (in part to destroy "the tyranny of the closed shop") now that same "ship em' out" ethos is denuding the financial sector of thousands of mid level jobs.  A 21% corporate tax rate is nothing but a bright clear blood red signal for one last apocalyptic impoverishment of the working & middle classes in the USA and once the dust settles pull up the ladders lock the doors and shoot anyone who dares cross the moat without a signed pass.
A Cheeful Little Earful, Happy Holidays to All.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Congrats to Senator Elect Doug Jones of Alabama!

A pro-choice democrat elected to the US Senate last night over an alleged pervy wingnut...oh how Justice Grinds Slow But Pure.
Frankly I had my doubts which I freely shared with all seven of you out there, so this is as good a christmas gift as one could have hoped for since Trump's election.
Social media is of course awhirl with malign revisionism asserting Jones won simply because Roy Moore's alleged perversity was too much for the famously conservative Alabama electorate. That is likely the primary factor behind the win, it will be conceded, BUT you don't pull off upset wins like with without a massive GOTV campaign, party unity, a positive message and candidate prepared to fight to the last ballot and the last voter.
THAT is Doug Jones in a nutshell he made a magnificent fight and reaped the benefit. And while we are at it, kudos to Former Governor Patrick, Former President Obama, Charles Barkley (a sonorous baritone seemingly made for public life) & Senator Booker all of them made time resource or their very selves available and can rightly share in the victory.
I don't know how long Jones can stay in the US Senate, he was elected to serve out Jeff Sessions term which I believe runs out ioon 2020, there is likely already a daunting fundraising challenge for Jones should he opt for reelection. Moreover the local GOP seems pretty well schooled in the pitfalls of nominating an alleged pederast for a High Public Trust....but all that in God's Good Time.
Hoepefully Jones can use his new venue to press for fair voting laws and easier ballot access initiatives, there is no point in not staying in their faces, he has nothing to lose believe me.

But let us take a moment, to fall to our knees and humbly raise our eyes to a Just and Almighty God & Gloat.....

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Good Luck to Doug Jones today

Down in Alabama, I still think he faces long odds, but he has made a brave and honorable fight of it right down to the Last Ballot and in the very best democratic tradition.
Whatever happens tonight or tomorrow let us all remember that sometimes morality and human rights intersect and when they do, we must not compromise or permit retreat.
And as always, "We Must Be Equal to Our Times".

Monday, December 11, 2017

The Boston Herald Rides Off into the Sunset...

as the Boston Daily files for Bankruptcy and is summarily sold to Gatehouse Media for a mere 4.5 million dollars.
Shee-it I coulda raised that kind of money had I but known.
But lets face it, newspapers are all but dead and buried...the nurses won't perform CPR the next time they "code" believe me.  If the Herald does manage to stay in business once they run the gamut of lawsuits on the union contracts & pension obligations they are officially disowning, I doubt it'll be little more than a louder version of the Boston Metro.  Thin with nothing but sports comics and Howie Carr...and I doubt even that can be viable in today's market.
I've made vicious fun of the Herald and it's "wingnut fan fiction" editorial mandate but this story does make me sad, for a long time the Hub was a "two newspaper town" with ideologically opposed daily's as well, its something that pretty much ceased to exist all over the USA decades but Boston contrarian to the bitter end, kept it up for decades past the expiration date.
And as someone who has been laid off several times and will be again one of these days, I feel very bad that the Herald will unload another fifty plus employees by next February....journalists are clogging up the unemployment offices that is a bad thing of itself...the End is Truly Nigh.
In other words,  We've never been poorer in the midst of plenty.

Friday, December 08, 2017

Kudos to Former Governor Patrick

He is apparently going down to Alabama to campaign for Doug Jones this weekend, rallies and get out the vote type events so I read. This is exactly the right thing to do, in a campaign like Jones v. The Political Pederast the last weekend before the Big Show has to be given over to high energy GOTV efforts, turning out African Americans is the key to any conceivable victory.
So win or lose its the right thing for Patrick to be doing...I just hope he doesn't have any "Big Plans" down the road but the fact that he is electioneering in Alabama is a source of disquiet in that regards.
On the other hand, if Ed Markey were to retire (the word on the street is thats an unlikely eventuality) I'd be bangin' the pots 24-7 for "Deval for the US Senate" race.
Anyhow Good Luck Governor ...

Thursday, December 07, 2017

If Jerusalem is now official by US Presidential Fiat

Israel's "Eternal Capital" then when does Dublin become the "Eternal Capital of a United Ireland" 26+6=1 or...thirty two or some damn thing.
We all know the answer to that, some Eternal Capitals are More Equal Than Others and for the exactly nothing in return Trump gave away an important concession in Israel, Putin and Netanyahu must be laughing their asses off at our Amateur Manchild President.
The only real short term cost will be in the lives of outraged Muslims in the Region but thats of little account to us these days, until some fellow citizen in endangered or killed.  This is otherwise a dumb fan service sort of a move from Trump it restricts our options in a region where we've never had a greater presence and less influence.
But it makes the Jeff Jacoby's of this world happy but thats all who are happy with it believe me.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Alleged Pederast Roy Moore

Candidate for Senate and not sadly, maximum security, is currently Up in the Polls in Alabama's Special Senate Race.
That is to be expected sad to say, the myth of grievance is pretty strong down there right now, Alabama will apparently vote for any loudmouth sonovabitch who promises a few asses to kick.
Doug Jones is running the best campaign he can, not sure what the right move is right now, my original advice was to "Give Em' Heaven" but now I'm wondering if his campaign slogan should be "Doug Jones for Senate: One Less Predatory Freak in Washington".
Meanwhile Steve Bannon is ranting and raving like a real life "Fred Van Ackerman" so all in all, I'd advise Senator McConnell to quietly keep the female interns and pages a nice safe distance from Roy Moore, if necessary get a restraining order.
But then this is Mitch McConnell we are taking about, courage is not his strong suit...

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Of course the new tax bill is economic cannibalism on a national scale

you don't need me to tell you that...it was largely written by libertarian onanists who've been fantasizing about satiating their dark grievances since the empire days of Friedrich Hayek now at last they have a window of opportunity to destroy that pesky link to reality and force us all to live inside their cozy dream world.
What is means in reality is that the upper class will feast upon the middle class and the working class indeed all below them on the economic ladder...and when that food source is exhausted they'll starve or else start roasting one another over charcoal pits.
Now before you succumb to despair, delusion is not a super power, it is a illness and a burden and sooner or later our opponents will start making pathology driven errors that we must be organized and prepared to exploit.
As always we must stand by the constitution and the facts of the world the rest of us live in.

Monday, December 04, 2017

Stan Rosenberg steps down as Ma State Senate President

amidst sexual harassment allegations centering on his spouse Byron Hefner.  I hate to say this but, thats pretty much the minimum that good judgement and the needs of justice would require.  The optics in this situation are perfectly toxic, to say nothing of the looming legalities, I speak from some small experience no one ever emerges vindicated in the eyes of the public in an entirely avoidable situation like this.  Whether or not Rosenberg stays in the State Senate, to be fair, ought to wait on the promised independent investigation, but no matter the outocome the Senate President seems fatally compromised which would imply that the upper house ought to start looking for new long term leadership.
It kills me to write this, I knew Stan Rosenberg years ago when he was a freshman state rep and I a graduate student at UMass Amherst. He was nothing but a decent upstanding reliable individual in every way that he has come to this pretty pass is appalling to watch even from the distant remove of many years.
There is no way this doesn't end badly, at times like this as democrats, liberals or even fellow citizens we should orient ourselves towards only the lawful & transparent execution of justice.
No More, No Less & No Excuses.

Saturday, December 02, 2017

It is thanks to my Gray Haired Old Irish Mother

and My Late Father, who were both exposed to the matchless Oratory of the late James Michael Curley, that I in turn can use the word "orotund" in a sentence with confidence. In the early 1940's the Former Mayor of Boston, Governor of Massachusetts & Incumbent Congressman was yet prowling Cambridge ceaselessly plotting his return to Boston City Hall...so they say him speak and speak...and speak.