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Lawyer best known for Republican efforts joins race to replace Josh Zakim on the Boston City Council
By adamg on Mon, 05/06/2019 - 6:28pm
Jennifer Nassour of the Back Bay today announced her candidacy for the District 8 (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill, West End) City Council seat that Josh Zakim is giving up.
Boston city-council elections are officially non-partisan, but Nassour is particularly notable for her past Republican efforts: She was Republican State Committee chair when Scott Brown was elected to the US Senate and helped increase the number of Republicans in the state legislature. If elected, she might be the first city councilor to publicly identify as a Republican since John Sears left in 1981, depending on how Althea Garrison - who has run for various offices as a Republican, a Democrat and an independent - is feeling on any particular day.
Nassour also founded a group called Conservative Women for a Better Future, but on her campaign Web site, though, Nassour says she's conservative only on the economic side of things:
I describe myself as a social progressive and fiscal conservative. I’m pro-choice, pro-women, I am committed to equality and fight passionately for the causes I believe in.
On other issues, she comes out in favor of good education - and neighborhood schools - decent housing and making it easier for businesses to set up shop in Boston.
Other candidates who have said they are running for the two-year seat: Kenzie Bok, Robert Couture, Montez Haywood, Landon Lemoine and Kristen Mobilia, Helene Vincent.
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Comments
Finally!
a Rand acolyte to better represent Stevil and the rest of the wealth creators of the Back Bay and claw back all the money we're stealing from them by living farther from downtown and using city services.
Don't know about Rand
But you can look forward to the referendum cutting you loose.
Come on, now...
Oh yes you do. Don't play dumb.
OK
Pretty much everything I know about her I read here on Uhub, because if you are right of Bernie Sanders on Uhub you get accused of being a Rand acolyte.
So unfair!
It must be terrible having to play the victim all the time. Why do you hang out here, if you're so mistreated? You know there are plenty of little corners of the internet where you can't play with folks who won't have the audacity to call out your beliefs.
More fun
Calling out yours
Now you're just showing you're level of maturity...
Or lack there of. You're also showing you're probably a young-un with lots of life experience to learn.
Oh trust me
Been around the block a few times and then some. Which is why it's so easy to push your buttons.
Or didn't you see what I did there?
Redistricting... Names of Neighborhoods in each District 1 - 9 ?
Boston City Council Redistricting changes... What are the Names of the Neighborhoods in each District 1 - 9 currently?
City Council
I hope she wins just for the sake of diversity of thought.
"I describe myself as a
"I describe myself as a social progressive and fiscal conservative"
Ah, i see, a proponent for funding social services via Thoughts And Prayers! Fascinating concept. Are we sending the Prayers to Department of Transitional Assistance and the Thoughts to WIC, or some other arrangement?
Seriously...
She states all the ways she's "socially progressive" but none of the ways she's "fiscally conservative". In other words, she doesn't say how she'll be this social progressive while still maintaining the "everyone has the right to succeed in life or starve" mentality that so many of her ilk believe.
Yeah. Seriously
Every one has a right to the fruits of their own hard work, and everyone has a right to the fruits of their failures. Government does not exist to take the ouch out of every poor decision and bit of bad luck.
Wow...
It's like you were able to sniff out my comment. Is there a little alarm that goes for you whenever someone posts something that might trigger your over-simplified libertarian logic? Listen, I have no desire to get into a back and forth with someone whose M.O. is to eventually bore people to death with their overly verbose, pseudo-intellectual rants about...what is it types like you actually believe in? It's certainly not compassion for your fellow human, that much is for sure.
I will say this: it's incredibly sad that you seem to believe that anyone who doesn't live up to your standard of "success" is simply a victim of their own bad decisions, and nothing more. It really shows your utter callousness and lack of understanding of humanity in general. What a pity.
"Callousness" is leftie for something like respect or tough love
My standard of success is quite straightforward and simple: on the whole, be able to stand on your own two feet through your own efforts. Nearly everyone is capable of that, and society as a whole benefits when most people do exactly that. But although nearly everyone is capable, a large enough number will slack off if given the chance to do so. To everyone's detriment, not least their own.
I haven't lived that long, but I've lived long enough to have some grey in my beard and some understanding that:
Giving the guy who stands at Route 2 and Alewife Brook Parkway a dollar today only keeps him standing there tomorrow.
Cancelling student loan debt spent on useless degrees will only push more people to take on "education" debt they can't pay back.
Giving "low-level" offenders a pass on shoplifting will only mean more shoplifting.
Telling fencehoppers today that the fence is immoral will invite more fencehoppers tomorrow.
Subsidizing any kind of stupid will surely result in an oversupply of stupid.
Crooks of all kinds are good at playing on the heartstrings of gullible people.
My dad tells a great story
Hyper liberal college student was chatting with him about how we should have a basic living stipend or some such. She couldn't understand why he didn't think.that was a great idea.
He explained it this way:
Do you work hard in class, he asks
Of course she replies.
And you get lots of A's?
Of course she replies again
And are there kids that skate by with C's because they don't work so hard.
We have lots of those, the college kid says.
So my dad says, tell your teacher you'll make your next A a B if she gives the C student a B also.
No way, I earned that A she exclaims.
And he closes with ,So you're only liberal with what others earn, not what you earn?
End of discussion.
And he repeated it so many times...
...you actually turned into a broken record and started to believe life is actually that simple. Congratulations on not having an original thought of your own, and being an adult who depends on your dad for your stories about conversations that actually never happened.
Respect your elders
Comes a time when you realize your parents don't know everything, but they do know some things.
And I assure you that happened. Actually, I rarely agree with my dad's politics, hut thought that comeback was brilliant.
No, life is not that simple. But that is a two way street. Sorry my anecdote craahes your worldview.
Can you please spell out something?
What "worldview" is this, exactly?
Let me clear this up for you...
What your dad told you happened was just a reworded version of that tired old supposed conversation that also probably never happened, the one where the daughter, who also happens to be a college student, is "set straight" and instantly turned into a Republican when the dad tells her some "poor people are lazy and should just find work already, welcome to the Republican party, etc." story. There are multiple versions of it. One thing that stands out is the common theme of "college students". It's like you all think they're all one bad day away from becoming card cowering Maoists...
I can assure you
I know the girl. She will never be a Republican.
Maybe she won't....
I don't care about political parties. Maybe you're wrapped up in party loyalty, but I'm not. I was responding to her stating that she was socially progressive, yet fiscally conservative, without commenting at all on the latter. I seriously don't give a shit what party she claims to pledge loyalty to.
???
You know we're talking about the hyper-liberal kid that my dad schooled here, right? Keep up.
As for my political party - I'll readily share my politics with you. My last 5 presidential votes:
Bush, Kerry, McCain, Obama, Johnson - and there's a giant U after my name in the election rolls.
Quick - what's my party affiliation?
Whatever...
Typical troll douche bag. First, you're dad never schooled anyone. As multiple people have "schooled" you on, that story has been around for a while in one variation or another. So you either made it up, or your dad lied to you. Second...well, there is no second. You're a moron you refuses to listen to anyone.
Except that conversation never happened.
It's something you pulled off some idiot friend's Facebook page.
Yup...
You can find a version of that fake conversation written in different ways all over the nets.
Stevil's Dad
Why do so many doubt this story? It seems to me perfectly likely that Stevil's dad is a vaporous blowhard, like him. Maybe it's a revered family tradition.
It could perfectly well have been the dad that lifted the story off of the Internet.
And then everybody clapped
That student's name? Albert Einstein.
There it is...
You keep turning your nose up at the less fortunate, and pretending they're invisible, and I'll keeping giving that dollar to "the guy" who needs it (because I have plenty of them and I actually see "the guy" you think is insignificant). Try a little compassion sometime. The ice might actually start to thaw on that little black heart of yours.
For the record, I stopped reading at your "that guy". You did exactly what I knew you'd do with your droning screed.
He needs your dollar the way I need your dollar
That is to say, he's perfectly capable of earning his own damn dollar without leeching off of people who don't think work is beneath them.
What about?
You mean the 1%?
You see, Roman? I think we're all on the same page. But we just have a disagreement about the scale of damage being done by who is leeching off of whom.
The beggar may be encouraged by every dollar he gets out a car window, but at the end of the day, he probably barely makes enough for rent and booze.
The overpaid CEO is encouraged by every dollar he gets from your blood, sweat, and tears working for his company, but he barely makes enough to also have the laws changed so he can get more dollars off your blood, sweat, and tears in the name of fiscal conservatism.
I'm more concerned about the latter than how much booze or drugs the beggar buys. We can help the beggar, but only after we've addressed the CEO's ability to corrupt the system in his favor and not everyone's.
That beggar...Albert Einstein.
We do agree, it seems,
But where we don't see eye to eye is that for me, a little bit of corporate graft is OK if true free-market capitalism is allowed to exist. The invisible hand will give a very visible finger to people who try to warp reality to their own benefit. My contention is that government exacerbates this problem when it starts playing favorites, and the only thing it is structurally capable of doing is uniformly enforcing monopoly and securities laws. The fact that it doesn't is the bigger scandal than the fact that somebody's making money off of it. Just like the fact that the guy stands on the corner and asks for a dollar is not the bigger scandal than the fact that people keep on giving it to him.
I'd prefer to err on the side of freedom. You'd prefer to err on the side of your conception of fairness. If we talk past eachother, the leeches and the socialists and the crony capitalists will just keep on taking.
So you know the guy?
No, of course you don't, because you don't see people as individuals with their own stories. You just see someone you think is trying to take what's yours. Except they're not. It's you that's the problem, with your disdain for your fellow human. Who stole your lunch money, dude? Is that where this all started?
Amen brother
A plethora of anything usually results in it being devalued.Sort of like the virtue signaling after your comments.
What's the virtue?
Can you tell me what the virtue is that they're "signaling?"
All by themselves
And to the extent that society has made their success possible, by providing schooling, infrastructure, police protection, etc, etc, they should share some of that success with society. One way to do that is (gasp) taxes.
And to the extent that society has made their failure more likely, by not rewarding them with home plate because they weren't born on third base, society should help them out. This is not stealing from the more fortunate.
Libertarians are uniformly deluded as to the reasons they are comfortable and as to the function of government.
Tell me about myself some more
I was not born on third base. Neither was anyone in my family. We got comfortable and stayed there because of hard work I saw with my own two eyes or did with my own two hands. Ditto for the wife and her family.
Complain less. Work more.
But here's the deal
We wouldn't think any less of you if you were the one begging on the street instead.
To be honest, it's pretty hard to think any less of you than we do now.
That's not true. You would think less
If you knew I was able bodied, able minded, and perfectly capable of supporting myself but instead was out on the street mooching, you would think less of me.
Pick your favorite cousin or nephew or uncle or aunt. The one with the cool job and everything going their way. The world is theirs for the taking. You've glimpsed the heights they can reach. What would you think if after losing touch for a few years, you one day see that person were standing outside Dunkies with a cup in their hand?
A lot of the people standing outside Dunkies or at the end of Route 2 or on the jughandle ramp by the BU bridge...they're somebody's family member. And someone is sorely dissappointed in the way they let their life turn out.
No, Roman, /you/ would think
No, Roman, /you/ would think less of you, because you're a judgmental person. Not everyone is like that. Some of us see a beggar and don't immediately think about the best way to discourage people from begging.
I wouldn't think less of you...
First, because you're a fellow human sharing this planet with me. Second, my first inclination wouldn't be to shake my head at you and judge you. It'd be to try to help you. That's the difference between you and those calling you out here. We don't use the misfortune of others as a rationalization for closed minded views on humanity.
You think because things are good for you at the present moment, that your place in life is cemented in perpetuity. How wrong you are. I truly hope you're never "the guy" you mentioned. But if you are, you can have my dollar.
That's your story...
Not everyone else's. Also, there's no need to get so defensive. No one is coming for your cheese. You earned it, so it's yours. Just don't use your own success as a reason to hate other people who didn't have your experience.
Rand 101
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win - Ayn Rand
She is no Rand acolyte. She is just your run-of-the-mill Massachusetts politician.
A future UN Ambassador pick?
Probably by next week?
If I had a vote for that district...
It would definitely go to Kenzie Bok. But I don't. Hopefully the voters over there will send Bok to the city council anyway.
The more the better!
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Sears once in 2009 when I ran for his ex-office, House of Representatives Third Suffolk state representative. (He's now dead so he can't prove me wrong.)
If you want to learn more about him, here's his Wikipedia entry. Interesting that his political experience involved what appears to be single terms and his candidacies seem to have been somewhat unsuccessful. Not that that matters, lol.
We should be so lucky to have candidates of his caliber.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Sears
City Council. So far 65 Candidates for At-Large & Districts 1-9
Ranked Choice Voting please!
As of Tuesday 14 May 2019 Boston City Council... 65 Candidates for At-Large and for Districts 1-9
List
https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/bkpf5z/so_far_61_candidates_for...
• More Candidates for District 6 please!... West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Roxbury, Back of the Hill.
• A corrupt Office of Boston City Council President didn't make available online a better Redistricting Map more clearly delineating with emphasis on the Names of the Bordering Streets between adjacent neighboring Districts for folks nearby Bordering Streets, for all folks. The Map with all streets' names obscures Names of Bordering Streets. Better, more up to date technology/software can improve communities' civic engagement.
• A corrupt Office of Boston City Council President withholds the Stenographic Record of Public Meetings of City Council from hard of hearing folks, from all folks... A more complete Document than Minutes, more accurate than erroneous video captions. Scroll to bottom at https://www.boston.gov/public-notices/53521 Better, more up to date technology/software can improve communities' civic engagement.
Ranked Choice Voting?
You should work with your city councilors to get that in the Charter.
I've got to laugh
People are getting all bent out of shape because a Republican is running for City Council.
So much for toleration, I suppose.
I describe myself as a social
You can't be "fiscally conservative" and "committed to equality". If you're actually committed to equality, you will eventually learn how fiscal conservatism is designed to create inequality.
Um, no
Unless you are insistent that there should be equality of result.
In any event, she meant that she supports LGBT rights or civil rights overall. There are a lot of Bostonians who would support civil rights while hoping to keep taxes low and government limited. I don’t happen to be one of them, but I know they are out there.