Category: Political

  • Healthcare Advocates Slam Proposed Insurance Rule

    The federal Department of Labor is proposing a rule that critics say would allow the sale of what some call “junk” health insurance. Published in the Federal Register last week, the rule would loosen restrictions on Association Health Plans, offered by professional groups or other associations to their members. The Labor Department said the purpose…

  • No More “Free and Open” Internet? Party-Line Vote at FCC Scuttles Net Neutrality

    No More “Free and Open” Internet? Party-Line Vote at FCC Scuttles Net Neutrality

    The Federal Communications Commission has voted to repeal net neutrality rules. In a party-line vote on Thursday, the FCC approved a proposal to end regulations that prohibit Internet service providers from blocking or slowing down access or prioritizing their own content. Commission Chair Ajit Pai said repealing the Obama-era rules will help consumers and promote…

  • Ai Weiwei: “The Only Conclusion is That There is a Lot of Inhumanity in Us”

    Ai Weiwei: “The Only Conclusion is That There is a Lot of Inhumanity in Us”

    Ai Weiwei, the Chinese activist, dissident, artist and exile’s new film “Human Flow” focuses on the people the world would rather forget: refugees. The film spans the globe, following stories from Afghanistan to Greece to Mexico. Interviewer: How did people become scared of refugees? Ai Weiwei: There is no one who willingly leaves their home.…

  • Freedom for Francisco and Siham: Kids Protest Against ICE Arrests

    Freedom for Francisco and Siham: Kids Protest Against ICE Arrests

    The sounds of musical instruments, singing and chanting burst through the cold, silent and stiff air outside the South Bay House of Correction on a Sunday afternoon. A bunch of fifth graders from the Boston Workmen’s Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice Sunday School rallied on Dec. 10 to demand the U.S. Immigration…

  • Cambridge Opioid Working Group’s Report Proposes Solutions to Crisis

    In late November the Cambridge Opioid Working Group released a report detailing the impact of the opioid epidemic on the city and offering local solutions to the crisis. The report, titled “Addressing the Opioid Epidemic in Cambridge,” also recommended nine steps for local leadership to follow, highlighting a need to reduce stigma, reduce harm and…

  • Activists to Dorchester Planners: We’re Not For Sale

    Activists to Dorchester Planners: We’re Not For Sale

    A City-led community meeting in Dorchester on the ongoing plan to redevelop Glover’s Corner took an unexpected turn on Wednesday night when local anti-gentrification activists interrupted the proceedings. But responses from a key city official and City Councilor Frank Baker following the protest provided some mixed signals in terms of how the group’s demands are…

  • Economic Development vs. Climate Action: Rebutting Deniers and Wafflers

    Economic Development vs. Climate Action: Rebutting Deniers and Wafflers

    President Trump, probably telling President Xi Jinping of China that he was totally kidding about climate change being a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Photo by Thomas Peter, Courtesy of Reuters As negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, to put together a deal to implement the Paris Agreement, John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at…

  • Bay State Takes a Step Toward Single Payer

    Bay State Takes a Step Toward Single Payer

    State senators have approved an amendment to a bill that could help pave the way to a single-payer health-care system in Massachusetts. The amendment, now attached to a larger health-care reform bill in the legislature, directs the state’s nonpartisan Health Policy Commission to compare three years of actual health care costs in the state to…

  • LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Face Higher Hurdles Despite Widespread Oppression

    Cambridge’s LGBTQ+ Commission and the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship co-hosted an event on Thursday, November 9, to highlight the struggles faced by those seeking refuge from queerphobia and the oppression it breeds. The event, titled Challenges, Experiences, Freedom: LGBTQ+ Immigrants and Asylum Seekers, featured speakers who have faced this grueling asylum process, and…

  • From Recovery to Revolution: Russell Brand talks addiction and recovery

    From Recovery to Revolution: Russell Brand talks addiction and recovery

    Photo by Louise Haywood-Schiefer The Big Issues of the United Kingdom and Australia have gone Russell Brand daft in recent issues. In this conversation from a church in central London, the eccentric actor, writer, comedian and activist talks with a group of Big Issue vendors about what drives their addictions and how they overcame them.…