politics Archives

PARTY POOPERS: BLUE AND RED STALWARTS SHOULD STOP ATTACKING MINOR PARTY SUPPORTERS

July 30, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Blue and Red stalwarts should stop attacking minor party supporters for remaining independent—and start debating ideas The quadrennial whinefest has already begun. The RNC and DNC pageants are barely over, the presidential election is still over three months off, and yet major party

JASON PRAMAS July 30, 2016

MASSROOTS

Photos via Boston For Bernie unless otherwise noted | Graphic by Kent Buckley The relatively short but nonetheless inspirational history of Boston for Bernie Ed. note: I commissioned this recorded narrative, compiled by a journalist-supporter of Bernie Sanders who peripherally volunteered for Boston For Bernie, not out of political motivation

PATRICK COCHRAN July 28, 2016

MEDICINE FOR A MENDICANT MEDIA: Government support can revive American journalism

July 25, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS [Note: This is the full version of this article. A shorter version ran in the print edition of DigBoston— also dated July 25, 2016.] Journalism is in a tough spot. There are tens of thousands of trained journalists in the United States, but a dearth

JASON PRAMAS July 25, 2016

KILL SHOT 2: MASS PUBLIC HIGHER ED STILL ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK

UMass President’s Office at One Beacon Street in Boston Overlooking the Massachusetts State House July 12, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Will campus advocates spark a rebellion for proper funding or cling to failed politics as usual? Hot on the heels of the UMass Boston administration issuing pink slips to

JASON PRAMAS July 12, 2016

HOW MASS BECAME GROUND-ZERO FOR CORPORATE ED REFORM

With a statewide referendum looming in November, Massachusetts voters will have to decide just how much school privatization they’re willing to bear. What happens when charter schools begin to proliferate in traditional public school districts? In Massachusetts, where K-12 alternatives have had more than two decades to metastasize, it means

CHRIS FARAONE July 5, 2016

WELFARE KINGS: BAKER MOVES TO MAKE CORPORATE GIVEAWAYS EVEN SWEETER

June 28, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS If you think that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the City of Boston lavishing $270 million in tax breaks and direct aid on General Electric in exchange for moving their world headquarters to the Hubis unconscionable, you should realize that the deal is

JASON PRAMAS June 28, 2016

GE BOSTON DEAL: THE MISSING MANUAL, PART 8

Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2016 Jason Pramas. June 21, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Problems with GE Fort Point arrangement show need for democratic economic development planning A new wrinkle surfaced earlier this month in the plan to use a big chunk of the $270 million in public aid and

JASON PRAMAS June 21, 2016

KILL SHOT: YEARS OF STATE AUSTERITY BUDGETS PUT UMASS BOSTON IN JEOPARDY

June 10, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS Community needs to join Faculty Staff Union movement for a return to full funding There is only one appropriate response to the looming layoff of 400 unionized non-tenure track faculty at UMass Boston. Rebellion. We are well past the era of shots across

JASON PRAMAS June 10, 2016

AUSTERITY BUDGET, PART 4

June 6, 2016 BY JASON PRAMAS @JASONPRAMAS The Worst of the Senate FY 2017 State Budget Proposal Continuing to track the worst proposed cuts at different stages of the vicious and dispiriting annual Massachusetts state budget process, it’s time for a look at the full Senate budget proposal. As with

JASON PRAMAS June 6, 2016

SPECIAL REJECTION

Election officials can’t stop this East Boston activist from running for State Senate When nine-year First Suffolk and Middlesex State Sen. Anthony Petruccelli announced his resignation last December, Latino voters in the lawmaker’s disjointed district — which includes slices of Chinatown, East Boston, and the North End in the Hub, as well as

CHRIS FARAONE June 5, 2016