Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Residents Rally Against Federal Cuts, Call for Affordable Homes
Hundreds of residents from across Massachusetts gathered in front of Faneuil Hall on Monday, July 31 to take a stand against President Trump’s proposed cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and to make a plea to Congress to increase funding for affordable homes. The Trump Administration is looking to cut the…
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Bill Aims to Regulate Out-of-state Inmate Labor
The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security heard testimony on Senate Bill 1279, An Act Protecting Inmate Safety and Expenditure of State Funds, on July 19 at the Massachusetts State House. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael Barrett (D-Lexington), would establish guidelines for shipping inmates out of state to perform labor. The bill…
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Cranston Demonstrators Fined for Violating Anti-Panhandling Ordinance, Lose Argument in Court
A month after the city of Cranston, Rhode Island, passed an anti-solicitation ordinance, housing advocates and demonstrators were fined $85 for violating that law to protest its enactment. Those fined lost a battle in court recently on the grounds that they deliberately violated the ordinance to distribute fliers at the intersection of Sockanosset Crossroads and…
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Massachusetts Moving Up in Providing Summer Meals to Kids
The number of lower-income children with access to free summer meals is down nationwide, but New England states are doing better than most. Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school-time programs at the Food Research and Action Center, which tracks summer meal programs across the country, said one reason more Massachusetts children received summer meals…
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Cape Downwinders Oppose House Plan to Revive Nuke Dump Plan
A bill reviving plans to ship thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste thousands of miles by road, rail and barge may come up for a vote in the House this month. HR 3053 passed the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee last week, breathing new life into cancelled plans for a controversial nuclear waste repository…
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Climate Change-Poverty-Migration: The New, Inhuman ‘Bermuda Triangle’
The world’s poor have been sent spiraling into a cycle of poverty and displacement triggered by myriad factors. But climate change has become the most prominent match sparking this chain of events. Those who have the power and resources to halt it are being urged to play more of a part. Baher Kamal World organizations,…
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Ex-priest convicted of child sexual abuse to be released Friday, alleged victims express concerns and outrage
Rodney Ford speaks at the podium as Mitchell Garabedian, right, looks on. Photo: Nathanael King. “Paul Shanley is evil. He destroyed my son’s life, my family’s life, and many other victim’s lives,” Rodney Ford said, holding back tears. Shanley, the ex-priest who allegedly sexually abused Ford’s son from ages six to 12 in the 80s,…
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The Gold Medalist at the Giveaway: Aly Raisman visits Dorchester family shelter for mattress donation event
From left: Pearl, age four, shelter resident, Aly Raisman, and David Wolfe, CEO of Leesa Sleep. Photo: Samson Amore. Olympic gold medalist and 2016 women’s gymnastics team captain Alexandra “Aly” Raisman visited Heading Home’s Dorchester shelter on July 20, to help the families living there unbox their seven new mattresses from her partner company, Leesa…
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A Day in the Life
Last Friday I got up—or rather, tried to get up—after a rather sleepless night. Like my favorite fictional superhero and his arch enemy, I suffer from insomnia, but unlike them, I struggle to do the whole rise-and-shine thing the next morning. But this was a little different. I’d been tossing and turning all night because…
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