politics Archives

ON MAKERSPACES AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Making can be cool, but conscious making is cooler December 19, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS For many of us living in and around Boston in recent years, it has become common to see lots of communications from makerspaces around holiday time. Which is totally understandable. Such

JASON PRAMAS December 19, 2017

TOWNIE: CORPORATE TAX FABLES AND COMMUNITARIAN KIDDIE TABLES

December 12, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Big local corps quiet about huge profits to come from Repub tax scheme… except GE An interesting WBUR article, “Largest Mass. Companies Are Mostly Silent On GOP Tax Plans,” asked the top 12 corporations in the Commonwealth to comment on the

JASON PRAMAS December 12, 2017

EVERSOURCE SCREWS MASS CONSUMERS

With a little help from its friends, the “regulators” at the Department of Public Utilities December 5, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS It is perhaps understandable that one of the most important Massachusetts news stories of the year was buried in the avalanche of reports coming out

JASON PRAMAS December 5, 2017

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

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

A PROTEST BY ANY OTHER NAME…

The best way to defeat the ultra right is to stop playing their game August 15, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Street protest is a vital part of any genuinely democratic political system. But how and when people choose to demonstrate (or counterdemonstrate) determines the tactic’s relative success or failure.

JASON PRAMAS August 15, 2017

THE LONG GAME: SANCTUARY CITIES FIGHT POINTS TO NEED FOR GLOBAL LABOR PROTECTIONS

Original flag image by Adbusters. Or Betsy Ross, depending on who you ask March 7, 2017 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government. Yet Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related federal agencies often rely on local police to help round up undocumented immigrants

JASON PRAMAS March 7, 2017