Massachusetts-centric commentary, activism, and calls to action.

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• Transparency as a civic duty and mechanism of community trust

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  By 📝 massandra on October 23, 2025
  Elections aren’t just about policies; they’re also about trust and consent to lead. When candidates hide what they believe to fit the district they’re running in, voters lose the ability to make an... (Read more)
  tags: transparency local newton elections lgbtq

• I created a Beacon Hill legislative compliance dashboard. What does responsible use look like?

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  By 📝 massandra on October 22, 2025
  I created a Beacon Hill compliance tracker to track legislative compliance in Massachusetts state government! You can view it at https://BeaconHillTracker.org/. I’ve been wanting to contribute to t... (Read more)
  tags: legislature transparency activism watchdog compliance

• Partial arguments do not justify placebo policies

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  By 📝 massandra on October 21, 2025
  Policies don’t work in fragments. When considering the impact of a bill, it’s important to take all its aspects into account, not just the appealing pieces. More than that, we have to be honest abo... (Read more)
  tags: local newton parking nimby housing

• Journalistic preemptive discrediting in the absence of substance

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  By 📝 massandra on October 20, 2025
  Sometimes, journalists can’t challenge a protest’s ideals, so they poison the well before the first step. Last week, I talked about my experience at the “No Kings” rally in Boston—specifically, how... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric civics protest herald framing

• How does "No Kings" make sense in light of the fact the president was elected?

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  By 📝 massandra on October 19, 2025
  Yesterday, I attended the “No Kings” protest in Boston. Though I don’t support the current administration, I had to grapple with a critical question: Why attend a “No Kings” protest when Trump won ... (Read more)
  tags: activism overreach constitution protest resist

• You, the reader, are closer in status to an illegal immigrant than to a billionaire president

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  By 📝 massandra on October 17, 2025
  John Bolton’s surrender to the Justice Department should be a warning to Republicans everywhere: you’re only on “the inside” until you’re not, and if John Bolton can be ousted from “the inside”, no... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric ice immigration john bolton justice

• The impossible choice faced by Mass health orgs: Help some, or help none

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  By 📝 massandra on October 15, 2025
  ErinInTheMorning, a trans rights blog, recently posted about Fenway Health (Boston-based non-profit LGBTQ health center) kowtowing to the demands of the executive branch: In a move that shocked fam... (Read more)
  tags: boston lgbtq healthcare federal harvard

• Massachusetts legislature transparency: Don't just flip the seat, fix the problem

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  By 📝 massandra on October 12, 2025
  Massachusetts State Committeewoman Kathleen Lynch (R) recently sent out an email to constituents hammering the transparency issue on Beacon Hill. I myself have written a few posts here about some o... (Read more)
  tags: legislature politics strategy transparency beacon hill

• A quick look at Howie Carr's formula for hitting word limits

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  By 📝 massandra on October 11, 2025
  Today, I stumbled across an opinion article on the Boston Herald by right-wing Massachusetts commentator Howie Carr about a person who punched a cop during a protest. The Boston Police report detai... (Read more)
  tags: outrage distraction howie car boston herald incite

• Law and order! Wait, no, not like that!

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  By 📝 massandra on October 10, 2025
  This week, the town council in Burlington (where the Massachusetts ICE facility resides) passed a resolution condemning the detention center. In short, the detention center, which sits just across ... (Read more)
  tags: ice immigration housing burlington resistance

• Here's how I've dodged pitfalls and broken through to "casual MAGA"

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  By 📝 massandra on October 06, 2025
  As someone with a lot of MAGA-supporting family, I know all too well how quick GOP quips can be casually injected into conversations, yet using that opportunity to have a serious conversation about... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric unity division maga conversation

• The weaponization of the word "bias" against non-neutral takes

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  By 📝 massandra on October 05, 2025
  “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the law on your side, pound the law; if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table.” - Old anonymous lawyer adage Whil... (Read more)
  tags: argument bias masspoliticsprofs prejudice reasoning

• Elect a clown, expect a Carnevale: Examining the MassGOP strategy

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  By 📝 massandra on October 04, 2025
  MassGOP chair Amy Carnevale recently took issue with the enforcement of the MBTA Communities Act: “The MBTA Communities Act was never intended to be a stick-first approach by the Commonwealth. What... (Read more)
  tags: massgop healey mbta carnevale campbell

• If you have the facts, pound the facts; if you don't, pound the table

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  By 📝 massandra on October 03, 2025
  Following up on an earlier post about Newton’s overnight winter parking ban–a seemingly low-stakes bill with surprisingly far-reaching consequences–I got a pamphlet in the mail today giving the arg... (Read more)
  tags: newton parking nimby election housing

• Splinter Division between the two can be the choice of the one

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  By 📝 massandra on October 02, 2025
  I wholeheartedly agree that, as a nation, we are too divided, and a lot of our issues stem from our inability to engage with the people around us who are different. We all need to strive to appeal ... (Read more)
  tags: states rights funding climate change division distraction

• MAGA megadonor sets sights on Massachusetts gubernatorial race

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  By 📝 massandra on October 01, 2025
  A veteran venture capitalist is aiming to dismantle the “one-party system” in Massachusetts by adopting the national veteran-disrespecting, fiscally disastrous, three-branch-controlling platform of... (Read more)
  tags: politics massgop governor election minogue

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