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27 Jul 2011 22:53

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Culture: Massachusetts politicians cut “It Gets Better” clip

  • If you thought this was the last time you’d get to see United States lawmakers in an “It Gets Better” video, think again! John Kerry, who was absent from the previous effort, has made up for it by posting an IGB clip of his own, where he appears alongside a bunch of other Massachusetts politicians to help comfort LGBT youth. The gang’s all here—and by “gang,” we mean “Massachusetts congressional delegation”—except for Scott Brown, who’s afraid of getting primaried from the right in his re-election campaign busy focusing on jobs and the economy. Regardless, it’s nice to see more lawmakers stepping up to the plate here.  source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Mar 2011 21:17

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U.S.: Don’t freak out: Increased radiation found in Massachusetts rainwater

  • The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation.
  • Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach • Discussing the “OMG OMG WE GONNA DIE” revelation that there is radiation in some Massachusetts rainwater resulting from the Fukushima crisis. Friends, this is not Chernobyl. Ain’t nothing to be afraid of. Auerbach knows the deal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Feb 2011 15:39

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Politics: Sen. Scott Brown revisits childhood physical, sexual abuse

  • Hats off to Scott Brown: Discussing traumatic events from one’s life is never easy, especially to a large, disparate public. Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is doing just that. An upcoming 60 Minutes interview will touch on his sexual abuse at the hands of a camp counselor when he was ten, as well as physical abuse by multiple stepfathers. Brown, a moderate GOP senator who has earned much respect during his year in office, deserves an immense amount of credit for this, hopefully giving an example to youth in the same position to report abuse. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Nov 2010 11:07

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Politics: On “It Gets Better” and general, non-anti-gay bullying

  • Clip of the day: We mentioned on Tumblr that we were saddened by the story of a 29-year-old Gloucester, Massachusetts man so broken down by high school bullying that he never went to college and lives in fear of conflict. We made the suggestion that there needs to be a more general “It Gets Better” campaign for guys like him, but it appears Washington Post super-blogging policy wonk Ezra Klein beat us to the punch with this well-thought-out piece on how growing older gives you control over your own destiny. Some good debate has come from Klein’s video, too. Good thing he did it, because we don’t have an animation budget to create a clip of Julius talking about how he got bullied when he was in the factory. (Hat tip fuckyeahcoolquotes) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2010 21:55

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U.S.: Don’t !*&@ with Frank: Barney Frank easily re-elected to House

Yeah, Frank’s doing alright. He may have had a somewhat tough re-election campaign, but he’ll spend another day chillin’ in the House. 16 terms, folks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

29 Oct 2010 11:25

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Politics: Barney Frank all uncomfortable ’cause his House race is close

  • 49% the share for the “left-handed gay Jew” in his House race in Mass.
  • 37% the share hard-campaigning Iraq vet Sean Bielat has – it’s the closest anyone’s polled to Frank in years
  • 12% could prove spoilers for our personal favorite member of Congress source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Sep 2010 11:27

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U.S.: Hurricane Earl is a pretty massive storm. Here’s proof.

  • 166,000 the number of square miles Hurricane Earl covers
  • 160,000 the number of square miles California covers source
  • » It’s going to nail a lot of places: The Outer Banks of North Carolina will get hit first by the Category 4 storm, but there are watches and warnings as far up the coast as Maine, and it looks like it’s on a relatively direct path towards Massachusetts, which just filed a hurricane warning.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Jul 2010 12:11

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U.S.: Key votes in the Senate’s passage of finance reform

  • 60-38 the initial vote to allow the real vote
  • didThe three more moderate East-coast members of the GOP – Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
  • didn’tRuss Feingold, that scallion of Wisconsin, felt the bill didn’t go far enough. Oh, and Robert Byrd just died. source
  • » So, what’s next? Well, in a couple of hours, the bill will go through the real vote, at which point it will head to Obama. Then, ta-da! It becomes law.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

29 Mar 2010 20:42

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U.S.: Here’s what bullying can lead to, guys (it’s very sad, trust us)

  • three good, solid months of bullying some girl from another country you don’t like
  • one teenager’s suicide; Phoebe Prince killed herself due to the constant bullying
  • nine Massachusetts teens charged in the wake of her death – two with statutory rape source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

25 Mar 2010 20:36

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U.S.: Teenagers learn that that killer party wasn’t really worth it

  • There was blood, urine, food, all over the floors. I’ve never seen anything like it in my career.
  • East Bridgewater, Mass. Police Detective Michael Jenkins • Regarding the killer party that some punk kids threw while another kid’s parents were on vacation in Paris. They caused $45,000 in damages, got arrested, and somehow managed to top this shirtless Australian pro. From the sound of the story, this situation was a nightmare – laptops were stolen, cars were damaged, mattresses were urinated on, and walls were severely damaged. Or in other words, just another average Saturday night for the 14,000 residents of sleepy East Bridgewater, Mass. Kegger next week! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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