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Kramer: SJC ruling gives bum’s rush to public civility

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

Many citizens in towns throughout the commonwealth volunteer on local boards and committees. Most are uncompensated and contribute considerable time and energy to their communities.However, due to the polarized climate in local, state and national government, municipalities have found it increasingly difficult to attract qualified individuals to serve, especially on boards and committees which interact directly with citizens.Many towns have now adopted either oral or written rules of conduct and civility for participation in public meetings. The town of Southboro has adopted a policy and one particular paragraph reads as follows:“All remarks and dialogue in public meetings must be respectful and courteous, free of rude, personal or slanderous remarks. Inappropriate language and/or shouting will not be tolerated”.I served for eight years, two as chairman, on the Medfield School Committee.  Each meeting had a “public participation” agenda item when citizens could ask questions, commen...

Rising music star Caye comes full circle with Boston show

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

How does a steel-drum street player from Boston become one of the fastest-rising artist/producers in alternative pop and R&B? In the case of the artist Caye, it involved a lot of traveling and exploring, both personally and musically.Now LA-based, Caye had his first viral hit with the jazz/rap single “Coma” in 2015, and has since explored a wide range of sounds; also becoming a hit producer for Meghan Trainor and Wiz Khalifa. This year brings his first full-length album “We Love,” which he’s been rolling out one song at a time; along with a tour that hits Brighton Music Hall on Saturday.But it all began in Boston, where Caye grew up and absorbed all the music he could, taking classes both at Berklee and New England Conservatory. For a time he performed on steel drum, one of his first instruments; but also began honing skills as a producer. And he adopted his name as a nod to “Kaya”, a favorite Bob Marley album.“I started on piano when I was really young. I had a few mentors incl...

Lowry: Second Trump presidency would be bonkers

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

If Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts about his supposedly impending arrest make it feel like our politics are about to reach another level of insanity, just wait.The potential Alvin Bragg prosecution offers a taste of what our national politics will be like post-November 2024 if Donald Trump wins the presidency again.If Trump wins again via the Electoral College while losing the popular vote, it will be considered a damning indictment of our constitutional system, and there will be a new reason — some equivalent of Russian election interference in 2017 — for progressives to deny the legitimacy of his victory.There will be large-scale street protests, making good on the threat that had cities around the country boarding up prior to the 2020 election.The atmosphere will be fevered, and however much people lost perspective in 2017, the reflex will be to lose it even more.The notion of national divorce, already a topic on the fringes of the right, will gain more tracti...

Editorial: China not credible peacemaker in Ukraine war

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

Whatever else it produced, this week’s visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow did not advance the cause of a just peace in Ukraine. If anything, Xi’s cordial courtship of Vladimir Putin provided the Russian president with a publicity coup days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Putin and a key minister alleging they committed war crimes.Under Xi, the People’s Republic of China has asserted itself on the international stage. For example, leveraging its economic influence, China recently brokered a resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a potentially positive development for peace and stability in the Middle East. But given its ever-closer relationship with Russia, China cannot credibly play the role of peacemaker in Ukraine.Its 12-point peace plan — which Putin praised on Tuesday — says that the “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld.” But its call for a “compr...

Homes torched in Scituate fire on Minot Beach

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

The morning will show that multiple homes have burned to the ground in Scituate after flames jumped from house to house in the Minot Beach area.Scituate, Hanover, Hull, Duxbury, Rockland, Plymouth and Hanson firefighters all responded.MEMA’s Plymouth County coordinator was on scene and the plume from the blazes could be seen on radar.Scituate fire Chief John Murphy estimated that the fire started sometime between 7:30 p.m. and when first responders were notified just after 7:50 p.m. Friday. “Upon arrival, we had three homes well underway with flames,” Murphy told WCVB. “Everybody was evacuated.”Homes burn along the Glades section of Minot beach at a multi alarm fire on March 24, 2023 in , Scituate, MA. . (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Homes burn along the Glades section of Minot beach at a multi alarm fire on March 24, 2023 in , Scituate, MA. . (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)Homes burn along the Glades section of Minot beach at a multi alarm fire on March 2...

Dear Abby: Daughter wrecks marriage & moves on

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

Dear Abby: My daughter, “Maddie,” 34, just left what I thought was a great marriage. After only five years, she cheated on her husband, “Glenn.” Their 6-year-old son is crushed. I know there are two sides to every story, but our entire family loves Glenn. He’s a hard worker, but quiet and kind of a homebody.I think poor communication and lack of excitement were her issues with him. (She refuses to talk with me about the situation, so I’m surmising based on what I know of them both.) This was their first marriage, but ever since high school, Maddie had a long string of boyfriends. Most of them seemed to be nice guys (she’s had a few duds), but when Maddie’s dad and I got to know them and became fond of them, she’d dump them.I think Maddie is upset with me because I can’t warm up to her newest guy. When she started cheating with him, he was also married. (He’s now divorced.) He’s a good bit older than she is, and ...

Bank failures and rescue test Yellen’s decades of experience

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Working against the clock to stop a developing banking crisis, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had until sunset on Sunday, March 12, to come up with a plan to calm the U.S. economy. She quickly turned to someone who had been through the fire before, and on a much larger scale: Hank Paulson. Paulson, who ran the Treasury Department during the financial crisis in 2008, counseled immediate government action. “It’s really hard to stop or even slow down a bank run. And to do that requires a powerful and quick government response,” Paulson said, recounting what he told Yellen. A bank run on Silicon Valley Bank had begun earlier in the week. Regulators took it over by that Friday afternoon. The move panicked shareholders and depositors, stirring stark reminders of earlier failures that triggered the Great Recession. Perhaps no treasury secretary has come to the office with Yellen’s ample resume, including service as the chair of the Federal Reserve and a lifetime of...

Trump rallying supporters in Waco ahead of possible charges

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

WACO, Texas (AP) — Staring down a possible indictment, a defiant Donald Trump is hoping to put on a show of force Saturday as he holds the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.The former president will gather with supporters at an airport in Waco, which will mark the 30th anniversary of the Waco massacre next month. In 1993, an attempted raid by law enforcement of a compound belonging to the Branch Davidians, a religious cult, resulted in a shootout that led to a 51-day siege, ending in a blaze that left dozens dead.The rally comes as Trump has berated prosecutors, encouraged protests and raised the prospect of possible violence should he become the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges. Some of his recent rhetoric has echoed language he used before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters seeking to stop the transfer of power.“What kind of perso...

Bolsonaro’s legal woes deepen with undeclared diamond gifts

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Undeclared diamond jewelry brought into Brazil from Saudi Arabia has deepened the legal jeopardy of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. An investigation into two sets of jewels reportedly worth millions is only the latest scandal threatening the far-right politician. But an extensive paper trail and even videos could make the case particularly daunting for Bolsonaro.WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE DIAMONDS?Federal police and prosecutors are investigating whether Bolsonaro tried to sneak two sets of expensive diamond jewelry into Brazil without paying taxes — and whether he improperly sought to prevent the items from being incorporated into the presidency’s public collection. Authorities are also looking into whether he enlisted public officials to try to bypass customs.The first set of jewels, composed of earrings, a necklace, a ring and a watch by Swiss brand Chopard, arrived in Brazil in October 2021 through Sao Paulo’s international airport with an adviser to ...

Greene’s DC jail visit pulls GOP closer to Jan. 6 rioters

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 16:50:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene swept into the District of Columbia jail to check on conditions for the Jan. 6 defendants, with Republican lawmakers handshaking and high-fiving the prisoners, who chanted “Let’s Go Brandon!” — a coded vulgarity against President Joe Biden — as the group left.A day earlier Speaker Kevin McCarthy met with the mother of slain rioter Ashli Babbitt, a Navy veteran who was shot and killed by police as she tried to climb through a broken window during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.And the House Republican leader recently gave Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to a trove of Jan. 6 surveillance tapes despite the conservative commentator’s airing of conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack.Taken together, the House Republicans can be seen as working steadily but intently to distort the facts of the deadly riot, which played out for the world to see when Donald Trump’s supporters laid siege to the Capitol, and in t...