Uncategorized

TOWNIE: UMB DRUBBING, PAWSOX GRUBBING

University cuts and a (possible) corporate scam just in time for the holidays November 27, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS UMass Boston admin lays off more staff, unions push back The neoliberal war on public higher education continues unabated in Massachusetts as the UMass Boston administration announced

JASON PRAMAS November 27, 2017

GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL

Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief November 15, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if

JASON PRAMAS November 15, 2017

TOWNIE: TAX DELINQUENT, TAX GIVEAWAY

Crutchfield sues Mass over online taxes, unions protest Siemens Online retailer tries to duck sales taxes For a long time, the internet was like the Wild West for online sales. Companies sold products to consumers all over the US, and the feds and many states were slow to

JASON PRAMAS November 2, 2017

THE VERTEX SHELL GAME

Vertex Headquarters. Photo ©2015 Derek Kouyoumjian Pharma’s Donation to Boston, Other Cities Converts Public Funds to PR Gold October 24, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Vertex Pharmaceuticals made a big PR splash last week with an announcement of a significant donation to Boston and other cities where it does

JASON PRAMAS October 24, 2017

TOWNIE: A WORM’S EYE VIEW OF THE MASS POWER STRUCTURE+

Students at rally at Boston City Hall by NewtonCourt (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons From the guy that brings you Apparent Horizon October 18, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The rich and powerful interests that control Massachusetts politics and the state economy have their fingers in

JASON PRAMAS October 18, 2017

AMAZON OCTAGON

Mass pols stand ready to fight each other for the right to bribe a multinational October 10, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS At least 17 Massachusetts cities and towns are now preparing to do battle with each other—and hundreds more municipalities nationwide—for the dubious “honor” of “winning” the right to

JASON PRAMAS October 10, 2017

AN AMAZON NORTH ANDOVER DEAL?

Sketch of the Merrimack Valley Works plant at North Andover while under construction in 1955 Merrimack Valley pols courting the tech behemoth have forgotten recent history Sept 26, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS A couple of weeks ago, I criticized the possibility of an Amazon Boston deal—on the grounds that most

JASON PRAMAS September 26, 2017

KEEP CALM AND LADIESCON

Women of Comicazi return with second Somerville summit About five or six years ago, four friends came together for a summer mini-golf tournament. Later on they got to playing around in close proximity to busts of various comic book characters on a shelf, imagining ridiculous melodramas with statues of Batman

STEPHANIE YANG September 13, 2017

STOP THE AMAZON BOSTON DEAL

Locals have until Oct 19 to say ‘No Public Bribes to Corporate Scofflaws’ Sept. 12, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Fresh off of throwing tens of millions of dollars at General Electric, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker are now planning to enter the international horse race to convince

JASON PRAMAS September 12, 2017

THAT ‘FREE SPEECH’ THING

Photo by Kori Feener Mayor Walsh and various police agencies were no friends of civil liberties at Boston’s monster protests against the ultra right August 22, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Despite the “mission accomplished” happy talk in most of the news media, Saturday’s 40,000-strong Boston protests against extremism — and the tiny ultra-right rally that

JASON PRAMAS August 22, 2017