Jon Keller

French train network sabotaged…10,000 soldiers, massive police presence turn Paris into armed camp…estimated cost overruns for 2024 Summer Olympics hit 115%. — News items        “Oh what could have been, Boston.” — Boston Globe columnist Shirley Leung Shouldn’t that read: Oy, what could have been? The flood of revisionist commentary on the mercy killing of Boston’s bid for […]

In politics, timing is everything. Just ask the local Republican pols who recently gathered (warning: press release cliche alert) “in the shadow of Bourne’s 89-year-old bridge” to “lambast” [sic] Democrats for “failing to secure” major funding for badly-needed repairs of the Sagamore and Bourne bridges. This outraged shadow theater surely seemed like a good idea. […]

“There’s no ignoring reality,” says Secretary of State Bill Galvin. And the reality is, American democracy — or at least the public trust that makes it work — is on the banana peel. “I’ve talked to my colleagues in other states, both Democrats and Republicans, and many of us share the same concerns,” Galvin told […]

Fifty years since Judge W. Arthur Garrity’s ruling that ripped the scab off Boston’s most egregious social and political wounds? Yours truly spent some time outside South Boston High School back then, and the memory of grandmothers screaming some of the most vile racial slurs known to man at terrified black teenagers is still revoltingly […]

We had to laugh at the outpouring of support among Louisiana pols for a new law requiring display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Hey Draft Kings, what’s the over on the number of solons voting for this affront to the Constitution who have violated one or more of those commandments on a […]

“Deeply, deeply disturbing.” A thumbnail review of the forthcoming horror movie “All My Friends Are Dead”? That TikTok video of some ghoul making tacos by boiling beef, cheese and eggs in a bagful of Doritos? Four dollars an oyster? That’s stiff competition, but for State Auditor Diana DiZoglio it’s none of the above. The quote […]

Q: How will Massachusetts voters react to having a duly-elected female governor? Sixteen months into the Maura Healey era, some interesting answers are starting to emerge. In spite of all the preemptive finger wagging when Healey took office about avoiding sexist frames for reporting on Healey, we can’t recall a single reference in the press […]

You have to be excessively hostile toward public servants to not like Rich Davey, the former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary who’s returning to the state to head up the Massachusetts Port Authority. He’s smart, affable, and was always accessible to the media during his time here. But Davey returns with some sketchy baggage in tow. And […]

Massachusetts GOP Chair Amy Carnevale is one of the more appealing figures the party has produced in recent years, well-spoken and presentable. Judging from the slander she endures from the bottom-of-the-barrel local right-wingers who ran the party off a cliff before her, she must be doing something right. So when we sat down to talk […]

News item: Boston Globe launches new series — “No Stupid Questions” — offering advice to new residents on “navigating adult life in the Boston area.” Cute idea! Kudos to the Globe, which we’re sure won’t mind if a lifelong Bostonian joins the fun: First of all — bleep off! Don’t get offended. That’s our way […]