Sorry Folks

but you can't compromise Ann Coulter's First Amendment Rights without Compromising Your Own. Listen, I hate the bitch as much as the rest of you, she is particularly detestable since she makes such good money being a "controvore" (ergo a deliberate exuder of mental excrement)....but be that as it may, she has a right to speak on the Campus of UC Berkeley.  I realize college students think they have so much more to lose in the current political environment, and indeed they do, but shutting her event down doesn't effect Coulter in the slightest...only rigorous peaceful engagement Can alter that equation...And that is what has gone missing here.

Trump got schooled this week

He tried to force the democrats to help fund his "AntiMexican Wall" with the threat of a Government Shutdown, Pelosi & Schumer didn't fall for it, and predictably Trump folded.
Kudos for the democrats for hanging together in face of adversity, we could all use more of that I am sure.  Otherwise this yet another historic lesson, Congress can Blackmail a US President if that body is sufficiently determined or the issue is important enough, but it remains difficult for a sitting US President to do likewise and the same to Congress...even the so called much buffetted minority party.
Trump doesn't get that, because he has almost no discernable political skills and he isn't gonna develop any either if I am any judge.
No, he'll retaliate by ramping up enforcement in cities and localities, more round ups,  more punishment of those what can't fight back, more mayhem and maybe a nice tasty stand off with a sanctuary city. In that way, he will build his wall and it'll be a nasty one, look for it.

I can infer from Today's News

That the Governor put 78 million in the current budget to help fix UMass Boston's dangerously dilapidated underground garage as proof positive he is gonna track back to the Center in Campaign 2018. A mere year ago news that The Boston Campus had a public safety danger that put coeds in mortal peril of plunging thru the Earth's crust would have ellicited no reaction from Charlie Potatoes other than the admonition that UMass "slender down" and "live within its' means" etc.
But that was pre-Trump and the Governor wants to run as a split-the-difference moderate so badly he is practically lactating the milk of human kindness....
So pay heed though, Baker is never going to be much of an anti-Trump factor in the National GOP, but he'll play the centrist card to the last deal of the deck.  As democrats we need to remember how much of this is truly a feckless pose as we go forward into Campaign 2018.

If I read the rags rightly

Rep Lombardo (GOP Billerica) is not running for State Senate in the 4th Middlesex Special Election, all that money spent on a push poll fer nothing...is Charlie Potatoes gonna give this one a pass? If I was the GOP I would not, the potential for mischief on the cheap seems too tempting. Then again the State Senate is getting to be a costly venue for a two year term on Beacon Hill, there are those who can't raise the money or simply don't want the mishaugas.
Will the General Election be contested ? Stay tuned folks!
Meanwhile CIndy Friedman (The late Ken Donnelly's redoubtable Chief of Staff) has piled in for sure and racked up the endorsement of Lexington's State Rep Jay Kaufman...thats important because with the democratic vote seemingly divided in Arlington the importance of racking up good totals in Lexington Burlington, Woburn & Billerica becomes paramount. Normally sweeping the democratic vote in Arlington & Lexington is tantamount to nomination and theoretically sufficient turnout in Arlington alone can get you the State Senate Nomination, but that likely won't be the case in this go round....like I said, stay tuned!

Marine Le Pen

an alleged blonde and pronounced falangist, has made to the Presidential Run Off in France come June on a platform calling for a public ban on hejabs and yarmulkes. Apparently the yarmulke must go because everyone must make sacrifices in the our common apocalyptic death struggle with "Islamic Terrorism".
So I'm wondering, is she gonna ban the Nun's Habit as well? Commonality of Sacrifice and all, and what about turbans, the Papal Mitre or will she force Shaolin Monks to start growing their hair again? So if the Pope visits the Elysee Palace "President Le Pen" will snatch the white skullcap off his noggin eh?
I know I'm going for laughs here but it's sort of inevitable, the one thing serious authoritarian populists always lack is a sense of humor...remember that.

The rumor is....

That Cindy Friedman Ken Donnelly's uber - able Chief of Staff is about to pile into the Middlesex Four Special State Senate Election. This is per State House News and thus a rumor (til some one calls me  at least). This would be Friedman's first campaign "out front" after years of either managing campaigns or assisting governance in the State House so she at once, fresh and yet experienced as well.  She is also "in good" with the local PUMAs who are still growling around their fires and sharpening their assegais looking for a fight to win.  Eight years ago the quote I heard on a State Senate Fight was 110K, likely that has gone up and if Friedman is a serious candidate it comes with a mute indication that she too can raise the cash and quickly for this race....key word their quickly since the timeline terminates on all this next summer.  This also means that the fabled "Arlington Vote" will likely be divided on primary day, which in turn may embolden potential democratic candidates from Lexington-Burlington-Billerica-Woburn.

Let the games begin!

Scott Brown cashes in his Chips

and gets nominated US Ambassador to New Zealand....Initially I guffawed because I just knew that the famously unintelligent Scott Brown probably needed an embassy that didn't require him to hire translators or perish-the-thought, learn a new language.
But then I thought supposedly there is a mute trend among the overclass to secure real estate in New Zealand due to its relative distance from notional radioactive fallout should nuclear war break out.  Who knows maybe Scott knows something we don't....and if he does can he please take his best and most loyal local apologist, Howie Carr with him....and let me go down with the ship with dignity while they cower in the Murdoch Family's palacial bunker?

O'Reilly Outski at Fox News

for apparently being far too salacious a bully for a conservative "news" network built and administered by salacious bullies who select their leggy newsreaders on the basis of their photographs.
As I' ve said before hypocrisy is a cumbersome unreliable weapon indeed, especially in these post hypocritical times we live in....but O'Reilly has been driven out and largely because he preached patriarchy and puritanism and lived prurience and perversion 24-7, so yay us.
Nonetheless, discourse and debate are dead in this country (and whats worse they died before this internet thingie got big as well) so rest assured "the din will continue"....with different voices but even louder to be sure.

Something worth remembering in respect of the Middlesex #4 Special State Senate Election...

Arlington State Rep Sean Garballey has had the advantage of occupying the safest seat in the Great & General Court, but he hasn't had to fight a seriously contested general election at all for the span of his incumbency.  But then I can say that about almost any other democrat currently tempted to pile into the race....so all and sundry are hereby admonished to drop any notions that "nomination is tantamount to election".
That push poll yesterday (via phone) was a clear early warning to democrats that the GOP plans to drop some money and effort into this race, indeed its the only game in town at the moment, Charlie Baker has plenty of money on hand and knows where to find more. Flipping  a State Senate Seat is a way to get toned up for 2018...don't laugh Scott Brown got in thru a special election...it very certainly can happen here.

An outfit called "MRC" has started push polling

the 4th Middlesex State Senate District not even 2 hours after democrat and Arlington State Rep Sean Garballey announced for the Late Ken Donnelly's vacant seat!  Said poll heavily trafficked Garballey's name and cited an alleged vote to make Massachusetts a "sanctuary state" (which it has been since the Revolutionary War as far as I am concerned) as well as his supposed support of the recent legislative pay raise.
Wow that was quick...This isn't the first time the Fourth Middlesex was push-polled on behalf of the GOP, the Late Ken Donnelly was similarly trafficked last fall on the road to an Easy Win in November.
In sum is it possible the GOP or any of it's outliers think they can do business in one of the democratic party's allegedly safest seats?
Maybe they do, or maybe they just have no other outlet for their mischief this year, either way local democrats should take heed.

I can personally attest that

That the BPD, the Commonwealth & da Feds take elaborate precautions to ensure a safe & secure Boston Marathon, never moreso than in the aftermath of 2013's tragedy.
I should know, I'm sitting in cafe a bare fifty yards from the Finish Line and I am basically surrounded by police officers including a large contingent of motorcycle cops.
All that is fine....but the flyover this morning of fighter jets is pure Terrorist Porn and only served to remind me that the granite and steel behemonth I work in, likely designed to resist Luftwaffe Bombardment...probably couldn't stand up to today's ordinance....
But thats a fanciful ideation indeed....but we live in fanciful times yo.

I see Governor Baker

To a seventy five percent approval rating.  This in the teeth of an intractable opioid crisis, our increasingly dilapidated state infrastructure, and MBTA held together by luck & chicken wire, the usual unimpressive appointments and Baker's own intangible status as a political mule with no natural constituency within the GOP to speak of.
But Charlie Baker is good at framing the debate in terms of a low set bar, there he is truly a genius, people expect little of him, he delivers still less and his polling skyrockets.
Sooner or later though, that low bar gets raised, suddenly, and then politicians like Baker are in trouble...but that requires events to take a hand, and so far, events have favored Baker. Again that can change in an instant, the MBTA could have a catastrophic foul-up, Donald Trump could decide to make an example of him...any number of things. And keep in mind...things are not quite going Charlie's way despite his polling, I think for example The Governor would Piss on a Live Sparkplug to keep Geoff Diehl OFF the GOP senatorial primary ballot....he must have legit nightmares of Trump coming to campaign for his favorite local apologist maybe a nice campaign event on campus somewheres....
But we as democrats and liberals can't let events dictate our decisions we must make the best fight we can polls or no polls with a united integrated effort everywhere....strength in numbers, strength in depth is the only way forward.

Of course Passengers are being beaten bloody and bodily dragged off US Airline Flights,

They are consumers not citizens in the eyes of United Airlines, and core concept of the rigid and heirarchical consumer producer relationship is "caveat emptor". The consumer - producer relationship furthermore is entirely undemocratic in character and will always remain so.
For a generation now, our status as citizens has been overtly degraded into mere consumerism in both the public and private spheres, it colonizes political rights and obligations and even degrades our political discourse (expl "Brand Romney") to an appalling degree.  I take the Radical Jeffersonian View that "inalienable rights" take precedence in all relationships, they must be respected when one is voting, buying an airline ticket or being vetted as Cabinet Secretary. Granted this is a retrograde notion with heavy tinges of William Jennings Bryan to it, but without this most necessary Jeffersonian infusion aggreived passengers on our airlines can look forward summary execution if they don't obey an officer's orders.
Just remember, we didn't get to this pretty pass because the Institutions are so Powerful, Irresistible and Corrupt, we let them do it, OUR PASSIVITY ALONE incited them to degrade us all to the status of cattle-with-credit-cards.
As far as I am concerned this passenger "stood his ground" he wasn't armed and he doesn't have a million wingnuts at his back, but he was asserting himself as a citizen while the airline simply treated him like a consumer with all the abuse and violence that entails.

Let the record show

that the Ex Governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley MD (R)....that pathetic philanderer, that tepid rake...that guy was the Alabama Christian Coalitions "Statesman of the Year"!!??
Will he at least have the decency to send the damn thing back?
Because we are officially in the "Hypocrisy is Dead" era, and if we are, then at least we should grant refunds!
I mean the guy's politics was crude xian dominionism even for Alabama...doesn't anyone think there is a necessary link between his repressive politics and his stunted withered gruesome libido....??

A Clintonesque Cruise Missile Cannonade

on Syria, undertaken for the usual feckless impulsive reasons by President Trump....all on behalf of a benighted and oppressed people he has been trying to exclude from the USA since he was sworn in.
Why else would Assad use nerve gas on those poor bastards? Hell we practically waved him in, last week Trump said we were resigned to The Supreme Opthalmolocrat's Hold on Power in Damascus...after all Assad is only nerve gasing people the US President hates and fears.  I myself can't believe this atrocity was undertaken without Russian connivance and tacit approval...because for the moment it'll bolster the Q Rating of their Mark in the White House and make Assad all the more dependent on Moscow...if such a thing is possible, advantage, Putin, IMHO.
Hell we daintily warned the Russians the missiles were coming via the hotline and their response was entirely Macchiavellian, they are now gonna help strengthen Syrian defense to prevent such attacks in the future.
Again, advantage Putin he must be laughing at us right now.

Bannon Out at the NSC...

although supposedly Trump can let him tag along down in the situation room when and if it comes time to Empty the Missile Silos.  From what I've read this is a pretty big coup for General McMaster who also get the JCS, the CIA back to the table and routed a few cabinet departments to his "in tray". Pretty deft move but I'm sure Bannon had some legal exposure on several fronts so McMaster just wanted him far out of the room when the Work Boot Drops.

Bill O'Reilly

is finally coming under some serious advertising pressure after seemingly years of alleged sexual harrassment allegations.  Mercedes Benz has dumped his ass on Fox News and some other outfits have similarly bailed.  "Weaponizing Shame" is always a cumbersome and time consuming option when it comes to an odious hypocrite especially one who preaches patriarchy & puritanism and practices insolent licentiousness...as has been alleged with regards to O'Reilly. In fact, its a shaming process that usually only works when a great deal of money is either taken off the table or is profligately spent to crush a target in the court of public opinion.
Left unaddressed is the larger issue that Fox News is clearly a sort of a wingnut wet-tee-shirt contest run by gruesome old oinkers who use leggy news readers as cannon fodder to hook in an aging & belligerant audience. Which is only the physical manifestation of an even larger issue that  a captioned wingnut can preach puritanism and live debauchery for years and get paid for it and never get called to account unless someone is willing to devout time and money to shaming them.
Meanwhile the rest of the hypocrite disport like Satyrs loose among the virgins....color me unimpressed and weary of the whole farce. If O'Reilly goes down great, but there is a worse sexist twerp waiting in the wings for his "big chance"...

State Senator Donnelly's wake...

will be this Friday, April 7th, 4 to 8pm in the Auditorium of Arlington Town Hall 700 Massachusetts Ave .  Undoubtedly this will be a well attended wake, with many notables within and without politics paying their respects, the Man Made Friends in his public career, I can think of no better epitaph.
It'll be a political wake of the old school, but let us foremost recall that The Family is Mired in Sorrow, bring comfort one and all.

Sad News from the Fourth Middlesex,

Of the untimely death of State Senator Kenneth Donnelly of Arlington after a long battle with cancer.  In life he was a loud unreconstructed Hubert Humphrey style democrat, unabashedly liberal, fond of labor unions, a tireless advocate for every dispossessed and downtrodden citizen on the map and a "gem of a man" or so it was said up and down Arlington.  He will be missed very dearly, he was a former firefighter and cancer that pitiless slayer of firemen finally got him.  If some good comes of this tragedy then if might issue from an increased awareness of the special carcinogenic risks run by firefighters nationwide.
He was a friendly man, avuncular, never anything but honest and aboveboard in all his personal dealings with me, his staff rendered yeoman service to my family when my late father needed full time care outside the home.  Would that fate had been more discriminating.

VP Mike Pence...won't dine alone with any woman other than his own wife

Its a sense of ethics that died out roughly about the time Teddy Roosevelt left office in 1909...but geez what a way for the Veep to rebuke His Own Mother Eh?

Well what of it? Given his 10th century approach to gender issues what woman would ever want to dine with him other than that sky-grifting wife he's got?