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

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• Beacon Hill transparency and tech activism--is there an "in"?

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  By 📝 massandra on September 06, 2025
  Massachusetts legislature is notoriously opaque. It’s a subject that’s sparked a lot of buzz lately, which I don’t need to retread. Connecting with policy directors and activists in Massachusetts, ... (Read more)
  tags: legislature transparency activism civics data

• The Constitution: Sacred text, political crutch

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  By 📝 massandra on September 05, 2025
  Every four years, the US votes for a new president, and 70-80 million people on each side of the election decide whether this is a “respect the Constitution” president, or if this is an “amend the ... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric critical thinking constitution authority consistency

• The Massachusetts medical firewall (and how to support it)

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  By 📝 massandra on September 04, 2025
  Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a legal firewall around reproductive and gender-affirming care: locking down health data, blocking cooperation with out-of-state crackdowns, shielding providers... (Read more)
  tags: action lgbtq healthcare women privacy

• The outrage-to-action gap

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  By 📝 massandra on September 03, 2025
  Donald Trump is dying! The left can’t stop The Storm from coming! Biden, Clinton, and Fauci are going to be arrested! Trump is going to be taken down in court! Every day, I see the rabid masses of ... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric politics critical thinking outrage deception

• Boston has fallen to crime. I know because the news said so.

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  By 📝 massandra on September 02, 2025
  If you’ve tuned into the news recently, you may have noticed that seemingly every single city has, at once, experienced an epidemic of crime, illegal immigration, and corruption. The president depl... (Read more)
  tags: boston strategy outrage crime militarization

• Is "Don't Say Gay" coming to MA?

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  By 📝 massandra on September 01, 2025
  Massachusetts bill H.551 isn’t exactly a repeat of Florida’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, but it does rhyme. These types of bills follow the “if you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist” school ... (Read more)
  tags: politics activism lgbtq censorship education

• How gerrymandered is Massachusetts, really?

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  By 📝 massandra on August 31, 2025
  With the Texas redistricting debacle unfolding, where Trump pressured Texas to redraw its district map to flip congressional seats from Democrat to Republican, the nation has turned its eyes to the... (Read more)
  tags: gerrymandering redistricting texas voting congress

• Do we need to count illegal immigrants on the census?

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  By 📝 massandra on August 30, 2025
  The push to exclude undocumented immigrants from the US census strikes at the intersection of constitutionality, dehumanization, and political maneuvering. The Massachusetts Republican party has re... (Read more)
  tags: politics census undocumented constitution immigration

• Why do we need steel-men?

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  By 📝 massandra on August 28, 2025
  In conversation and in civic life, people misrepresent the stances of their opponents, whether by accident or on purpose. This is called a “straw-man”, because it’s like making a cheap imitation of... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric engagement debate steel man critical thinking

• Defend Boston's criminals and pariahs

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  By 📝 massandra on August 27, 2025
  With the National Guard deployed to DC, and preparing to mobilize across 19 states, the threat of Boston falling to federal capture looms over Massachusetts. The Democrat party has vocally opposed ... (Read more)
  tags: boston strategy hypocrisy national guard labels

• Power over principles

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  By 📝 massandra on August 26, 2025
  I previously wrote about the allure sheer power held when I held more conservative views, and how I think this shapes modern party discourse. The White House recently issued an executive order (EO)... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric conservative speech hypocrisy power

• Prolonging problems via alignment theater

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  By 📝 massandra on August 25, 2025
  When a political coalition stalls trying to find the most in-character way to accomplish something instead of pursuing a path based on its own foundational goals, I call that “alignment theater”. S... (Read more)
  tags: rhetoric strategy signaling branding principles

• I attended a Progressive Massachusetts potluck—here are my takeaways

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  By 📝 massandra on August 24, 2025
  Yesterday, I attended a potluck hosted by Progressive Massachusetts in Watertown. I didn’t know anybody, I went by myself, and it was my first time going to a progressive event like this. It was da... (Read more)
  tags: activism local engagement progressivemass potluck

• ⚔️ Across the aisle: ICE and overreach

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  By 📝 massandra on August 23, 2025
  I have a number of people in my life who sit at the far opposite end of the political spectrum, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to collect some real opinions on current events to avoid straw-... (Read more)
  tags: conservatism argument ice overreach loyalty

• “I’m from the government and I’m here to [flood the zone].”

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  By 📝 massandra on August 22, 2025
  Republican icon Ronald Reagan once struck a fear of government interference into the hearts of red-blooded patriots everywhere when he famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English ... (Read more)
  tags: boston wu massgop ice sanctuary

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