Roslindale gathers to find the path forward
![At peace and unity rally in Roslindale](https://www.universalhub.com/files/styles/main_image/public/images/2016/rosrally-ground_0.jpg?itok=7PlNHzob)
About 200 Roslindale residents gathered in a blustery wind at Adams Park this afternoon to comfort each other and begin to figure out what comes next after this month's election.
Rabbi Matt Soffer of Temple Israel - and a Roslindale resident - cited the story of Abraham, who, on seeing strangers outside his tent, rushed to bring them in and comfort them, in calling on residents to protect each other.
"Roslindale, do we stand idly by?" Soffer asked. The crowd answered "No!"
"Roslindale, do we build walls to divide us?" he asked. Again, the crowd answered "No!"
Soffer:
![Soffer in Roslindale](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2016/rosrally-rabbi.jpg)
At-large City Councilor Ayanna Pressley first said "it's good to be back with the tribe," before exhorting people to dust themselves off and move forward.
"Don't worry - work!" she said, calling on people to follow the words and example of former state Rep. Mel King to organize to move forward.
Pressley:
![Pressley in Roslindale](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2016/rosrally-pressley.jpg)
Soffer ended the gathering by leading people in "This Land Is Your Land" - after first singing the verse that was left off the recordings made during the McCarthy era:
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me. The sign was painted, said "Private Property." But on the backside, it didn't say nothing. This land was made for you and me.
![People in Roslindale](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2016/rosrally-2.jpg)
![People in Roslindale](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2016/rosrally-heart.jpg)
![People in Roslindale](http://www.universalhub.com/images/2016/rosrally-line.jpg)
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Comments
My first thought
is that this is a good demonstration of where the line is between "comforting" and "fearmongering for political gain."
Free people don't need to be organized. But self-aggrandizing politicians sure do like to make people think they have to hang together or else they hang separately.
So you weren't there ...
Except for Pressley, none of the speakers were elected officials. A local minister and an imam from Mattapan (all of ten minutes away) also spoke. There was also a social worker who told people how they really need to get back to eating and sleeping regularly - and doing things that bring them joy (she was also from Roslindale, so she specifically mentioned talking walks in the Arboretum).
Given that your side won and based on your comment about "free people don't need no stinkin' leadership," I suspect you have some Randian leanings (apologies if wrong), but a lot of people like coming together after a loss to console each other and figure out what to do next. Sorry if it's not he-manly enough, but, then, you can stay at home for the next rally or organizing session (speaking of which, there's a gathering for Roslindale folks at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Congregational Church).
Oh, and thanks for reminding me: Yes, there was another overtly political thing that happened (besides Pressley speaking, that is): People were asked to call Gov. Baker's office and ask that he declared Massachusetts a safe place for immigrants, if not an outright sanctuary for them.
You're right, I'm reading about it here
because I wasn't there.
I'm also coming to understand history a little better by reading about it here. I've always wondered how it could have been possible for the big city political machines to take root in the 19th century. How something so different from the mainstream political tradition could have popped up?
And I fear that I'm learning how right in front of my eyes. Your side losing isn't just politics doing its thing; y'all have convinced yourselves that it's a tragedy that merits candlelight vigils and the language of imminent crisis.
You say it's necessary consolation. I'm not going to tell you what's going on in your own mind, but I will point out that this sort of public grieving (over an election) is ripe for the picking by opportunistic political types that can make the most reassuring sounds and promise the staunchest defense of Us against Them. Because They aren't just the other side, They are the Enemy and they're coming for you.
I'll take my quasi Randian thinking over that sort of bunker mentality any day of the week, even if it means I have to I miss out on the chance to schmooze with a bunch of shell shocked liberals who feel the need to impart their fear and their loathing of the other half of the country onto their kids.
I'll leave you with one last disconcerting thought. You say there were requests to call on the governor to declare Massachusetts a sanctuary state. That's understandable. But how confident are you that not a single person present believes that immigration laws ought to apply equally to all and/or that undocumented immigrants aren't breaking the law? Or do you simply take it for granted that no moral person can be in favor of border enforcement?
Hmm
I know this was directed at Adam, but I'll answer this part.
To answer your last line..
Only the people who are intelligent enough to understand immigration know that border enforcement is a waste of time and money. I hate to pop your bubble, but undocumented immigrants are not walking across the border. That stopped a long time ago. Sure there's some that still do that but not as many as people think. And certainly not enough to warrant a wall. (which I'll discuss this later) Most now come over in cars and on tourist visas and never leave. How are you going to stop that? You can't.
Realistically it would be better to *change* the way the immigration process so its easier to come here. Guess what happens? People become documented and the undocumented reason go away because people have no reason to come here undocumented. The process becomes easy. It should not take a few hundred dollars, a lawyer, his hefty retainer, hearings, and enough paperwork to kill a small forest to become a legal resident.
Once we change this, we take all the wasted money trying to play ICE police to deport people and sink it back into our own country.
Do I believe we need to protect ourselves from terrorist groups or other criminals by enforcing immigration. Absolutely. But it goes back to my point about making it easier to come here and be documented. Once people are documented, they get automatically put into a database, then finger printed and photographed. That information can be checked against other databases (Interpol, FBI, etc) to be cross checked. *poof* Problem solved
(And btw, anyone who applies for citizenship or a green card already has to do this, so the databases are already in place, we just have to expand it and make it easier to do so)
I also do not believe that even doing this will stop all terrorists or criminals. But its a good start to preventing that. Sure people will always try ways around the system and that ISIL/ISIS will send people who are not known as terrorists in databases yet. They also might start recruiting state side too. So there's lots of ways around this, and there is no fool proof way to prevent this.
But as far as the main point of immigration, this plan would work out very nicely for people. No longer will people have to hide in fear, most can now report taxes properly, get jobs where they aren't exploited, and many other issues that would be resolved for them. Plus crime in immigrant neighborhoods would go down because the fear and intimidation would go away. It really is a win win for everyone.
I just believe that our country is based on immigrants. For 200+ years, we have allowed them to come. It's apart our history and our culture. And I don't feel its right to stop that now. We are the land of the free.. for everyone. And by stopping people who really want to be here, we're preventing them from being free. And THIS goes against everything the United States is about.
And as far as trump and his silly wall. I read an article earlier that said that it would cost upwards of 20k PER PERSON to try to capture and deport people. And at his estimate of 2 million people.. that means it would cost us 40 BILLION dollars to try to do this. Think about what we could use that 40 billion for? And then take that 40 billion and add that wall he wants to built.
Which btw.. already exists in either as a very high wall (in SoCal) to a tall fence that runs most of the way to El Paso Texas. The wall exists. Its working (see above).
And then we take that 40 Bil + The wall + Extra expenses (because you know 40B is a conservative estimate), plus all the economic losses that would happen when we start to ship all the low end workers back to wherever they came from, and you'll very quickly see how very bad his.. and many GOP's immigration plans just do not work and will end up hurting us far worse than the alternatives.
And yeah I could argue immigration even further. But what do I know? I only see the effects of undocumented immigrants by standing on my front door in Chelsea.
PS - if anyone replies with "but the immigrants are stealing our jobs". Please stop with that argument. Its untrue because I invite any unemployed white person to head over to your local home depot at 5am to get picked for day laborers. Yeah I bet you won't get picked because you're white (because you cannot be exploited because you aren't undocumented). I also invite you to go apply at any hotel as a cleaning service person. I bet you wont get hired either. So the immigrants aren't the problem. The people EXPLOITING them are. They are the reason why the jobs go to them. Go be angry at employers, not the people getting hired.
PPS - And please spare me the 'immigrant welfare momma' argument also. It's as dead as Hoover right now. I am MORE than happy to take a field trip to a WalMart in New Hampshire on the first of the month. I'm sure you'll see the same thing happen there as you do at the Chelsea Market Basket on the first.. the only difference. They are white. And I'll leave you one tid bit of info.. the state who has the largest number of food stamps recipients.. I'll give you a hint. It's not a state with a high Latino population like Texas or California.. it's Mississippi. One of the reddest states in our country. How about them apples?
This is beautiful. May I
This is beautiful. May I quote you?
Sure
Not to bad for something I wrote at 1:45am off the cuff. (I just fixed two mistakes in the post which is why it now says 9:50am). Truthfully with it being so cold yesterday I ended up staying in and debating people on Facebook all day about politics so this post was just a culmination of debates I had had all day.
Truthfully, I'm so tired of seeing the misinformation about immigrants online. I want to set the record straight. It really is a bunch of misinformation by politicians to garner votes and have people turn their hatred toward immigrants, when in reality, their hatred should be directed other people.
And this spread across all topics.. A big discussion yesterday was manufacturing and other jobs going away, and how "Trump will bring that back". He won't. And his entire argument is trade agreements, immigrants, china, and on and on on. One thing I don't hear out of his mouth is "corporations are the cause" because in the end it is the cause. Sure you can try to say a trade agreement made it easier to off shore jobs, however, that decision is made by the corporation and its board members at the end of the day. It's also the same group of people who make the decision to streamline their work process and replace people with machines too. Yet little is said about that and people's anger is not directed at corporations. But yet all I hear is how politicians did this and trade agreement are bad and china is taking our jobs. Helloooooo none of those would happen if corps decided that people were more important than dividends and kept jobs here.
Anyways I digress... far too much for Uhub (since it's not a local thing). I'm just tired of people's lack of common sense and logic when it comes to issues like this. Think about any issue longer than talking points and you'll see the logic and how the talking points are wrong.
Three points
1. Illegal immigrant != immigrant.
If the first thing you do when you get here is ignore the immigration process because "it's too complicated" then the whole "rule of law thing" might not be a good match. There are mechanisms by which all sorts of people can and do come here, and for the most part do well. And it usually doesn't start with hopping the fence and assuming they're entitled to whatever's on the other side.
2. America is a nice place, but we can't be open to anyone and everyone all the time. We need to pick and choose because we can't absorb everyone at the same time. That's not against our values, that's recognizing the limits in our ability to meet the aspirations of our values.
3. Assume you're right and everyone gets their papers, no questions asked. Do you really think the black market for cheap labor will go poof, especially with 15/hr min wage laws? Do you really think crime and exploitation will go down? Are you going to cite our black neighborhoods as an example of crime and exploitation going down because the cops aren't legally required to hassle the residents any more?
I'm going to let you slide on zeroing in on "build the wall" when I said "border enforcement." I ought to have said "immigration enforcement." Though I don't think your answer would really change.
But I will take you to task on the corporations thing. Trump actually did run on a platform of changing and renegotiating treaties and trade agreements to make outsourcing less attractive to corporations, and he didn't shy away from admitting that he took advantage of the loopholes and perverse incentives on the grounds that he'd have been stupid to leave money on the table. Maybe in Berniestan people act altruistically, but in the real world, the bottom line matters and if the law incentivizes off-shoring and outsourcing, it will happen.
Rebuttle
1.
Let me make this easier for you. You really missed what I was saying.
Have you known someone who has gone thru the immigration process? I have.. many, many, many, many, many people. They all say the same thing. The process is EXPENSIVE and CONVOLUTED. And favors lawyers who are the only people who really benefit from the process. It also favors people who have the MONEY and know how to become one. Many do not.
To someone who is making minimum wage or worse (because they are exploited) does not have the means to file the 200 dollar application, and the 1500 or MORE retainer fees. That alone is cost prohibited.
I don't think undocumented immigrants are thumbing their nose at the law. At least not all of them. The process is long, very hard, and very expensive. Its PROHIBITING people from doing so.
So I say.. make it easier, and cheaper. It should be like going to the RMV to get a drivers license. Very easy and simple to do. No hefty fees, no lawyers. Just you in a line at the immigration office.
2.
Okay good, so are you going to be the first to go home to whatever European country you're from? I mean we can't be open to everyone, so you can go first. See how that works?
So who gets to decide who stays who goes and who can come? That's not fair. Just because who is well off and can afford to come vs a poor immigrant who is trying to get away from tyranny and doesn't have a dime to their name. How is that fair? It's not. We are a nation of equality, let's not forget that. We are not a nation of the rich and powerful. We seem to forget that alot these days.
I'll repeat our country is based in immigrants. Until the mid 20th century, we had allowed everyone to come. Remember Ellis Island? Remember the Potato Famine. Remember people fleeing Europe before WWII? Yeah they all came, without a blink of an eye.
I'll side with history thanks. History speaks for itself. Our country is based on immigration. Hell, we are ALL immigrants if you want to go down that argument.
And I'll quote what is on the bottom of the Statue of Liberty.. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
3.
You skipped over the key point... EXPLOITATION. Once people are legally able to work without being exploited, cheap labor will go way down. Because those same people now will be able to get a job that isn't cash based, and probably better themselves. And no, I don't think it will go away entirely, but far better than what is going on now.
I also never said "no questions asked" please re-read the paragraph about being finger printed, photographed, and being run thru multiple databases to see if you are a criminal. That doesn't sound like "no questions asked"
Yes. Because immigrants will no longer feel like they could be deported by going to police.
As I said before, I live in Chelsea. I also live in the Latino part of Chelsea. I see crime every day. I attend community meetings at CPD about the state of crime in my neighborhood. I know all about crime in immigrant neighborhoods. Maybe more than you, and probably more than most.
You know what? Most crime in Chelsea, where an undocumented immigrant is a victim is directed at them. Why? Because the criminals know the immigrants will not go to police so they are a very easy target. Its very well known and documented that it happens. Removing this barrier would stop alot of crime as now documented immigrants would feel like they have a voice. (this reason, and this reason alone is why Chelsea is a sanctuary city.)
Don't believe me? Feel free to dial Chief Kyes at CPD and he will be more than happy to regurgitate what I just told you.
No because we're not talking about black neighborhoods, we're talking about undocumented immigrants. And since most of my opinion is formed based on where I live, I'll even go further and say we're talking about Latino neighborhoods.
Nope, probably not. But ya know, considering immigration is a hot topic and how we have a president candidate say he was gonna built a wall and "do more" to fight this than Obama. Which is false anyways. I was trying to point out that his plan would fail miserably and bankrupt this country trying to do so.
Of course he did. He has many products, including clothing lines by him and his daughter made in.. guess where.. CHINA! If you believe he's going to close loop holes to make it HARDER for TrumpCo to do business outside the US, you're sadly mistaken. No he's going to make it EASIER for him and other companies to outsource. That stance was nothing more to pander the poor working class who has seen their jobs vanish due to corporate greed.
No, trade agreements or not.. off shore would have happened regardless. Cheap labor and high profits always dictate this. Businesses are really to blame for this.
---
There's a whole lot more I want to say about this subject. Not just to you, but in my main post. There's alot to talk about and alot to say. I know I didn't complete many thoughts as I wanted to. It's just a very complex subject. But I digress, because Uhub is not the platform for this discussion.
One other thing I did want to make clear. Even though my posts sounds like I am.. I am not a big liberal immigrant hugger. I base my opinion on logic and common sense. Trust me because of where I live, I have my own opinions about the subject and my own complaints (trash being one), however...
I see alot of GOOD things here too. Big Families, Close Knit community, Friendly People, Hard working people, but people who are struggling to make ends meet. I just believe that if you want to work hard at being here and make it work for you, why shouldn't they have the same opportunity as you and I? I'd like to think we can give people opportunities to succeed.
But whatever. I'm not going to continue to debate this topic here. It's irrelevant to Uhub, and frankly.. I've got shit to do this afternoon as I am going away for the holiday tomorrow.
Rebuttal^2
1. Yes. My whole family went through the immigration process. Including the part where we waited for our papers to arrive for about a year after going to the US embassy to plead our case, the part where all of us of working age got the F off of welfare and got jobs the moment we could string two words together in English, and the part where we filed all of our paperwork and got our citizenship. Repeated times twenty if I count all of my extended family that came over. No we weren't filthy rich.
Yes, we availed ourselves of the resources (both public and private) that were available to us. No, I don't think it's too much to expect of everyone else who wants to come here.
2. That's where I'm just going to disagree with you. You grow up here, you live among civilized, hard-working people and you have no reason to assume the rest of the world is any different. Well, it is. Even in parts of Europe they were shooting at each other as little as twenty years ago. There's nothing in the water over there that makes it happen, it's the information content in the people's heads that makes it happen. You want to be real careful about who and how many you let in, lest that nonsense find its way over here and upset the whole apple cart.
3. I understand what you're saying. I just don't share your optimism. Especially if linguistic barriers, cultural inertia, and economic pressures to keep legit wages artificially high conspire to keep people isolated, exploitable, and economically primed for that exploitation.
Have a good Thanksgiving.
Gotta love it
Rand devotee on welfare.
Get this: most people are on welfare only as long as they have to be. You aren't special in that regard.
Funny how you were willing to take some help, but want to screw over everyone else. Kind of like Paul Ryan going to college on Social Security, but now trying to kill disabled and elderly people by looting it.
Rebuttal 3
I'll reply just because i have few minutes while my clothes are drying.
So if your whole family did, why don't you sympathize with immigrants then. Its one in the same. What was good for your family, is good for other people to. You had an opportunity, others should have that opportunity.
That's right and maybe if these same people who are being exploited could get jobs that paid more with benefits, maybe they wouldn't need assistance either. The street works both ways.
(I was really avoiding that whole argument because of talking about welfare is another hot topic I didn't want to approach)
You're right. I was born and raised in New England. Maybe I don't. But I think I've made it clear that I do know enough about the subject to have an educated opinion about it. I don't live my life with my head in the sand and saying "is it dark in here". I know the calamity the United States has is not shared around the world. However, people flee these countries to get the calamity the US has to better themselves. I think that is my point for all of this.
I'll disagree with this because I can apply this argument to many American Citizens too. Maybe we should start deporting bad Americans too. I mean if we're talking about bring crime down. I just don't think the argument is exclusive to immigrants.
Simply put, crazies are everywhere. And I just think its unfair to chastise one group of people when we're not that much better ourselves.
That's EXACTLY why I'm for easier immigration. It would stop all of this. These issues just would not happen anymore. There would be no need for it. And again, it's not a hole in one solution, but I think it would make a significant dent in these problems.
----
Anyways, thanks for the civil debate. Appreciated. You have a good thanksgiving yourself, Roman.
Bravo, Cybah
Bravo!
The central philosophy of Zen
is not EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!
Who convinced the people?
"y'all have convinced yourselves that it's a tragedy that merits candlelight vigils and the language of imminent crisis."
On day one after the election, he said he would pull out of the Paris Climate Accords and trash the Iran nuclear deal. That, on top of his belligerent campaign rhetoric, and the hatemongers he is assembling his team with, pretty much indicates a crisis for anyone concerned about the future of this country and the world.
"promise the staunchest defense of Us against Them."
You mean like Trump vilifying various ethnicities and religions? This sounds like projection to me.
None of us are free
"None of us are free until all of us are free." And freedom without the responsibility of organizing is spitting on the grave of those who fought tirelessly for our freedom. America is still a work-in-progress, and it falls upon each generation to deliver on the promise of our forbearers-- to inch our society ever closer to becoming a society of "WE the people," devoted to enabling all to pursue "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
The Israelites were free after passing through the Reed Sea. But Sinai only came later. And even then, there was the journey toward the Promised land, which, as we know, humanity has yet to realize.
The most hilarious thing
This is a guy who came here as a refugee, and now feeds off the Homeland Terror Tantrum Teat.
If we didn't have a strong federal government, he wouldn't be here.
Utter horseshit
This could not be more wrong. The only people who are free are part of some organized group or society. If the government stops actively protecting the freedom of a group, they will certainly lose their freedom, if they are not organized. When the government actively plans to remove a group's freedom, as Trump wants to do with Muslims, that group is screwed if they don't have organized support from others.
I once commented here that the anti-Trump protests seemed pointless. He and his cronies have changed my mind. I had been trying not to listen to his disgusting pronouncements, but now, even after his election, he and his surrogates are still pursuing programs of discrimination. If the rest of us don't help them, Muslims are going to lose their freedoms, and they won't be the only ones.
Meanwhile, on the Common ...
Greg Cook attended the more directly political Love Trumps Hate rally this afternoon.
c'mon man
Trump is a total donkey, but the election was two weeks ago. We've mourned, we've been bummed out, but now it's time to move on and give him a chance to govern. This country can't move forward if we can't accept the results and attempt to come together.
Just because you didn't support Trump, does not make you a bad person for wanting to see the country come together and give it our best shot.
To each his own
Republicans spent eight years fighting Obama. If you want to give up now, before Trump's even taken office, that's certainly your right.
You see, Adam...
I told you the anon trolls would be back! Wow, that was fast, if unsurprising. And you're right, eight years of obstruction, government shutdowns and lectures and now we're supposed to sit back and be docile observers? No thank you.
You don't need a weatherman...
When Trump picked Bannon, he told us how it's gonna go down. If you want to wait around to see how that one plays out, be my guest. My take is that now is the time to organize against the shit show that Trump has clearly indicated he plans to hand us.
Yeah, let's all give him a
Yeah, let's all give him a chance to set up his Muslim registries and bring back waterboarding. You belong in the Weimar Republic.
500 days
He's had more than five hundred days of chances to slow how he would govern. Conclusion: he would govern as a sexist (see: himself), racist (see: Bannon), homophobic (see: Pence), intolerant (see: himself), corrupt (see: The Trump Organization, the leadership thereof, the use of renting his property to curry favor, the lack of a blind trust, etc etc etc; see Trump University; see the cronyism in his tradition team (his children and their spouses), whiny (see: twitter), and globally dangerous (see: climate regulations plans in hundred days plan) president.
He's had five hundred days of chance.
Republicans spent eight years fighting Obama? Haha!
Republicans spent eight years fighting Obama?
No, that's why Trump won and all 16 establishment Republican presidential candidates got wiped out. Obama only used his VETO pen once in eight years as the establishment played along, despite a Republican majority.
It's borderline child-abuse to be coaching small children that their new Republican President is bad. There are many great Boston Police officers in Roslindale. I would encourage the use of form 51-A. Start a file.
Do it!
Yes, call Boston Police right now and report child abuse in Roslindale. You don't have the guts. Or maybe, just maybe, you realize how, even with professional courtesy and all, you'd be laughed off the phone.
And, yeah, Republicans not once ever protested Obama after he was elected. Not a single time. Nope.
On a side note.
I'd love to be able to see the IP addresses of the 20+ other 'people' who read this article and upvoted Fish's comment.......All between 4:30am and 8:00am.
I always thought Fish was a weirdo but not SO weird as to falsely up voting his own stupid posts.
At least he's not wearing a badge anymore, I guess?
Thanks for the demonstration
In case anybody still wondered whether fascists really want to take away American freedoms, Fishy is here to demonstrate they are.
Fishy and others of his ilk would like to see neighbor turn on neighbor, Stasi-style, and use an agency created to help children as a tool of political punishment against those who disagree with his views.
Hmm.
Maybe Fishy thinks a youth group would better indoctrinate our children? I don't know, something with uniforms and marches? Perhaps a common hand gesture?
Even better
Give him time. I'm sure he'll get around to training the little moppets to inform on their parents.
You've got some memory issues, Fish.
First, a 2 second Google search proves Obama vetoed legislature 12 times.
Second, If you can say (with a straight face) that Obama wasn't fought on every single thing......well, I don't know. Maybe early Alzheimers?
And I urge you to call Tooty, or Muldoon or whoever you know 'on the force' and let them not have anymore doubt as to your sanity.
More like Trump won because
More like Trump won because when most of the votes started coming in after 5:00 p.m., it was because all the Republicans were getting out of work to come home and vote.
Hate to spoil your narrative
I hate to spoil your "Republicans are responsible people with jobs" narrative, but the earliest polls closed at 8 pm eastern time, and there was no record of when votes were cast. But you keep right on huffing that glue.
You want abusive indoctrination?
Look no further than this, to better calibrate your sense of what REALLY is abusive indoctrination: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jesus_camp/
As if parents smacking kids at a pro-life rally for crying because it was so cold that their hands hurt holding up their gory little signs wasn't enough evidence of what abuse really is.
Oh, speaking of 51-A ...
Back in 2010, I published this photo of a young lad at a Sarah Palin rally on the Common on a weekday. Did you call child services then?
I used to love this site
Because it covers real local news that many major outlets overlook or don't bother to address.
I used to love this site because it was a straightforward source of news and facts and MBTA rhyming puns.
Now, Adam, your personal political views and bitterness have infected the entire website and alienated a good portion of your readership. I'm a local teacher and Democrat and voted Hillary and hate Trump and most of what he represents. But this site has turned into some extremely annoying leftist nonsense. You will lap up everything having to do with anti-Trump and run with it. You are a perfect example of a soft-minded, whiny liberal that gives all of us Democrats a bad name. Get back to reporting MBTA updates, BRA hearings and odd daily news like turkey sightings and such. It's all you're good at.
Oh, my heart, it aches!
Somebody get the nitro tablets, quick! You know how us whiny, mushy liberals just hate the thought of somebody hating us!
Fortunately, my anonymous friend, I have the answer:
Whitebread Boston News: Guaranteed nothing related to the 2016 elections!
And since I'm a whiny, mushy liberal, I won't even point out how much stuff I've posted since 11/8 that has nothing at all to do with the election, and I would never dreams of suggesting you're letting your own bias turn you into a frothing hater who only sees what you want to see. Because that would be mean, and a little obnoxious, and I would never, ever want to be either of those.
Whitebread Boston News
.. hilarious! While we're customizing the site, can I request a version that removes the comments on all posts about bikes, cars, pedestrians, or the interaction thereof?
Heh, that would be a bit tougher
I'm able to create "No" versions of the site (I think the first one I did was for people who were tired reading about the Olympics) because I'm kind of obsessive about tagging posts. Comments, though, don't have tags. I might be able to set up a filter that goes through each post looking for certain keywords ("bicycles," say) but that might be fairly database intensive and make the site even more unreliable than it already is.
It's not extremely annoying
It's not extremely annoying leftist to be concerned that YOU'RE NEXT after he's no longer getting sufficient bang for his buck blaming Muslims, Mexicans, and immigrants in general.
What do you think the rhetoric will be when the economy doesn't come roaring back due to his policies?
It'll be the fault of the Chinese, perhaps the Irish or the Japanese. I mean those groups have never been systematically discriminated or excluded in this country.
You're next. That's not leftist. That's remembering our (read: American) history.
Of course we could take a stand now but that would be inappropriate as we should give him a chance to further marginalize someone as long as it's not you right now.
I have a friend from the
I have a friend from the Dominican Republic who just became an American citizen. He was so happy because his official citizenship made it easier for him to get a job and find housing. He is not a criminal, drug dealer, rapist, gang member, or murderer. No need for him to worry about The Trumpster coming to get him!
No worry...
...as long as he's white enough and doesn't have an accent. If he isn't, if he looks "foreign" to some peckerwood, he's in for some brown-shirt extrajudicial punishment.
If this "friend" really exists, and if you really are his friend, don't blind yourself to the danger he's in.
HAHAHAHA
I'm independent, I don't vote on party lines and I don't vote this clown in.
This is frigging ridiculous. If these were a bunch of republicans crying, holding vigils, etc they'd be labeled racists, homophobes, etc and ridiculed. I'm not even sure the City of Boston would be so accommodating.
Time to move on. You don't like the president elect, great. Next time up, make sure your party nominates a candidate w/ a platform that is more encompassing to all.
Sounds like somebody needs a laxative
Whiny Republicans have had any number of demonstrations in Boston since Obama was elected (see my answer to the Fish above). And they had no problems, because we're a city that still respects the First Amendment. Which is, perhaps, a bit more than one could say about the Vulgar Talking Yam.
Alright, alright, that's
Alright, alright, that's enough everyone. Let's play nice.
Vulgar Talking Yam!
That is brilliant.
Wish I could take credit
But Charles Pierce has been using it for months.
I like Charlie's other epithet...
..."El Caudillo del Mar-A-Lago"
Everyone knows Obama's record on deportation, right?
While I do understand people's apprehension about Trump's stated plans to deport what at times feels like half the country, people do realize that he's basically promising to follow in the footsteps of Obama, the president who deported more people than any other president in history (~2.5M)?
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-deportation-policy-numbers/story?i...
http://www.snopes.com/obama-deported-more-people/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/21/donald-tr...
Gov Patrick took an admirable stand on allowing refugees into MA, and Gov Baker should do the same.
Governor Patrick took an admirable stand...
Hold the wedding there!
If I remember that "admirable stand" correctly, he offered two sites (Chicopee and Bourne) without taking a few moments to consult or gather input from the residents of either town. Who read about the proposed plan in the newspapers... And were more than a little pissed, deplorables that they are.
Two places that he didn't offer: Milton (where his in town Manse was located) and Richmond (where is country Manse was located.)
If he had offered either place, or both, okay. But as usual with Deval, he was being "virtuous" at someone else's expense.