Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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ACLU Challenges Cambridge Tax on Events and Demonstrations in Public Parks
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit against the City of Cambridge on Tuesday, July 3, challenging an ambiguous policy of billing event organizers for police and medical services. The lawsuit — filed on behalf of Massachusetts Peace Action and the Massachusetts Peace Action Education Fund — says the city’s actions are…
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Advocates rally for key immigrant protections in state budget
A group of about 60 protesters gathered outside the Massachusetts State House at noon on Tuesday, July 10, to demand the inclusion of key protections for immigrants in next year’s state budget. The rally was organized by the Unitarian Universalists Mass Action organization, along with the Essex County Community Organization, and was in part a…
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Two women look to fight eviction while most of their older housemates face a similar fate
Judy Burnette and Lydia Eccles, residents of Our Lady’s Guild House, stand in front of housing court. Photo: Seth Rosczewski. Before stepping foot in housing court on the morning of July 12, Lydia Eccles was given support by her neighbor and friend Judy Burnette along with members of City Life/Vida Urbana, who held a press…
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Medical experts weigh in on ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy separating children from parents at the border
Senator Edward Markey spent the morning of June 24 consulting health experts in East Boston about the impacts on children being separated from their families and caretakers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Markey has joined a growing chorus of legislators, civil rights groups and religious leaders who are in strong opposition of Donald Trump’s zero tolerance…
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Melting Pot
As I stood listening to Elizabeth Warren alongside thousands of others at the Families Belong Together rally at Boston City Hall, I started thinking, “How in the hell did we get here?” A question that sadly I ask myself a lot these days. I’ve never really understood the whole hatred against immigrants thing, since the…
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Report: Census Undercount Could Undermine Well-Being of Mass. Children
BOSTON – The latest figures on the well-being of children show Massachusetts remains second in the nation, but child advocates fear trouble ahead. In the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2018 KIDS COUNT Data Book, the Bay State shows improvement in eight of 16 categories covering economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. But Laura…
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Mass. AG to Sessions: Stop Draconian Border Policy
A coalition of state attorneys general, including Maura Healy in Massachusetts, sent a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, demanding that the administration immediately stop putting children in danger by separating them from their families on the nation’s southern border. Healy said the policy not only is inhumane, but also raises serious…
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Baker signs ‘bargain bill’ to raise minimum wage
On the morning of June 28, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill that will raise the state’s minimum wage from $11.00 to $15.00 over the next five years, and raised wages for employees who receive tips from $3.75 to $6.75 over the same time period. The bill also contained several other mandates regarding worker benefits…
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The heartbreaking, life-affirming story of the Street Kids’ World Cup
For three of the nine teenagers in the team from Kenya, playing football in the Street Child World Cup has been liberating in a literal sense; to take part in the event in Moscow the trio were released from a juvenile detention centre in Mombasa, where they are being held after being rounded up on…
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Etan Thomas on the power of activism
The 2018 NBA postseason has just wrapped up. This is the platform that has created historic basketball moments, such as Damian Lillard’s game-winning 3-pointer that advanced the Portland Trail Blazers past the Houston Rockets in the opening round of the 2014 playoffs. It can also be a different platform altogether: If you actually win the…
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