0 The Trumpcare Battle Was A Win For The People, By the People

Please consider the following your public service announcement if you have never read my blog or met me! Though I am primarily an optimist, because of my years of experience in politics, especially since so much corporate money has been allowed to buy our elections, I am, sadly, somewhat jaded now. I'm also *that lady,* you know, the one who will get in people's faces, mostly figuratively, and will say what no one else dares to say and tells it like it is. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka "Obamacare" absolutely needs fixing, but we also must examine why health insurers and pharmaceutical companies are allowed to continue gouging people...

0 It's Not About Bathrooms or Terrorists: It's About Distraction

It's not about bathrooms for Transgender people. It's not about the likelihood (or lack thereof) that people from certain nations may be terrorists. Also, it's not about how many "bad dudes" may be in our country from Mexico or other countries. (I would argue that the baddest dudes I've seen recently are actually from the USA.) All of the above, every last one of them, are important in and of themselves and we should not ignore addressing these issues by pushing back on Trump's decisions. However, what all of these issues have in common is that they play to fear, ignorance and prejudice and for Donald Trump, that is his base. They also lead...

1 #Resist, Rest, Repeat: Viva la Resistance America

Trump Presidency Day 6 Note: This was originally posted in a political action group per a request that I elaborate on a reply to someone feeling overwhelmed and drained. Now I am sharing this in the hope of helping everyone - especially those who are newer to political action- combat the inevitable feelings you may be experiencing due to the past few days onslaught of Trump's executive orders and alternate perceptions (as they are NOT facts.)  After such an amazingly uplifting experience at the Women's Marches, we must not become so disheartened that we give up. I hope others who have been doing this for awhile will share their advice...

0 Boston City Council Hearing FY17 Budget Testimony

Below is the transcript of my prepared testimony for the June 27th, 2016 Boston City Council (BCC) Ways & Means Hearing on the Boston Public Schools' FY17 Budget Amendment which will add $4.68M to the previously submitted BPS budget for FY17. This was the last hearing prior to the City Council vote on the FY17 city budget on Wednesday, June 29, 2016.  Please note that I was testifying in both my role as one of the Co-Chairs of the Boston Citywide Parent Council (CPC) and as a BPS, public and special education advocate and extremely proud parent. The first part of the testimony is from the email sent by the CPC Executive...

0 Boston City Council Members - Reject Mayor Walsh's FY17 Budget

UPDATE: According to Boston City Council President Michelle Wu: No BPS or General Boston budget vote today. Budget version 2 will go to committee and there will be a hearing on revisions Monday, June 27 at 11:00 a.m. (Boston City Hall 5th floor). The final vote will be on June 29th. What does this mean?  More time to spread the word and ask family, friends, neighbors, groups and everyone you know to email, call, visit and use social media to demand that our Boston Public Schools be, at the least, level funded!  Time to plan our next steps for Monday and next Wednesday! Because this will now only allow one vote prior to...

0 Walsh's Woe: Boston Public Schools Families Protesting State of the City 2016

Well, if you are a resident of Boston or a Boston Public School community member you may have heard that there is going to be a protest tomorrow afternoon before Mayor Walsh's State of the City address. The protest, already making news on Twitter using the hashtags #SotcProtest #SOTC16, has been getting a bit of news coverage.  Why are the #handfulofparents protesting? Short answer: BPS budget "shortfalls*." Bet you are thinking, I heard Mayor Walsh has said he did not cut the budget and in fact is generously giving BPS another $14M to bring the BPS budget to a whopping $127B total! And rumors are that Mayor Walsh will be announcing...