League of Women Voters (LWV)… racist event?
To most Boomers and Gen X, brown bagging meant bringing your lunch to school or work versus buying a meal. I was blessed to have a mom, who made very good peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Wonder bread. Unfortunately, our snack was Fig Newtons or Nilla wafers while privileged friends had Twinkies and Ring Dings. Anyways, I digress. What is the outrage? Well, as Belmont’s award-winning journalist, the LWV’s poor choice of nomenclature needs to be called out.
The League of Women Voters is hosting a “Brown Bag event” this Friday to discuss the MBTA Communities Act which forces housing density on Towns ill equipped to support it and takes zoning power away from local communities. According to woke sources… it is grossly improper to use the term “brown bag” as it alludes to the Brown Paper Bag test which according to Wikipedia is a racist and colorist practice of comparing a person’s skin color to the color of a brown paper bag. Those whose skin color was darker than the bag would be denied privileges afforded to White people.
Now I am not comparing the LWV to Mayor Michelle Wu who openly had a reverse brown bag test to attend a holiday party as I believe the LWV is just not aware of how insane “cancel culture” has become where Wu thrives on racism. We do however live in a Town that fed into and amplified Mendelian thinking (Wellington mascot replacement) and a Town that officially denigrated Columbus Day by applying modern day revisionism to 15th Century Life. So, it would be a missed opportunity not to point out the insanity of wokeness.
Senior Center/REC and COA
The pow-wow with Donelan, Dionne, Garvin and Senior Citizens turned out to not be the picnic hoped for. (BTW, pow-wow and picnic are also cancelled words). There is a follow up meeting scheduled for today and an odd twist has developed still being vetted on my end. The COA has one job and that is to look out for the best interests of Seniors which is at odds with the Town Admins current consolidation plan of the Senior Center and Rec department.
We have been down this path before of different goals between appointed boards and Town leaders…. as in the Claypit path. The Conservation Commission had negotiated with the BHSMS building committee that they could use 1/3rd of the Claypit walking path to stage materials during construction under the condition the path was fully restored at the finish. The conservation commission was treated like bilge at a meeting in which they were bullied to not only accept the work wouldn’t be done as promised but also to accept there was no commitment to prioritize or find funding to restore it. Imagine these folks volunteered to be treated this way.
Belmont High Boys Soccer
The BHS Boys soccer team entered the week ranked in the Top 20 in eastern MA. The Girls are also on path for post season play. The girls recently topped Arlington 1-0 while the boys got spanked by Arlington.
Belmont Rumor…
Four residents are interested in challenging Roy Epstein for his seat on the Select Board this April. TownieTalk02478 has been looking into the backgrounds of all 4 before the scrubbing begins. There is a possibility that an additional seat will be added depending on Town Meeting. Obviously, there is mutual agreement that the Town is on the wrong track and there may be agreement on the need for a new Town Admin. Belmont Government always had a large role for residents willing to volunteer their expertise/services, but the current board seems to see residents with opinions as counterproductive to their goals and the TA as a tool to silence them.
Town Hall for early in person voting.
In person voting is the only 100% certain way to know your vote is counted. Mail in ballots can get lost and or have signature challenges.
The November Election Questions…
Question 1 asks voters whether the auditor should be allowed to investigate the state legislature, overseeing and evaluating at least some of its activities
Polling indicates a large majority of voters are voting YES to allow the State Auditor to audit the State Budget. Somewhat shocking that this isn’t already being done and makes you wonder what they are hiding. YES, seem reasonable
Question 2 Eliminating the MCAS graduation requirement.
Currently, prior to graduating, High School Seniors need to pass the 10th grade MCAS. A YES vote would eliminate the requirement but not the test itself. 700 out of approximately 73,000 students did not graduate due to the inability to pass the 10th grade level test.
I am a NO on this one. A HS degree must have some value. Get rid of the graduation requirement and Teachers will likely focus even more of their time on the educational haves at the expense of the have nots.
Question 3 A Union for Uber and Lyft Drivers
Not easy on its face. A YES vote could be counterproductive as the cost of Uber and Lyft is getting to the point that consumers may stop tipping which could have a more adverse impact on drivers than any benefits it derives. At the same time there is not enough transparency for Drivers in what users are paying.
I’ll flip a coin on this one.
Question 4 would allow a group of naturally occurring psychedelic drugs — psilocybin, psilocyn, mescaline, DMT, and ibogaine — to be grown, shared, used at home, and offered by licensed professionals in a more clinical setting.
A simple No.
Question 5 The minimum wage for tipped workers
Tipped workers can make as little as $6.75 an hour minimum wage versus the $15 minimum wage. A YES vote would force restaurant owners to increase that wage to $15 an hour by 2029.
This is an easy NO. President Trump has promised to eliminate income tax on tips for those in the service industry. Most tipped workers make far more than $15 on average per hour in tips. Increasing the wage leads to an increase in menu prices, a decrease in customers, and a threat that consumers will stop tipping (tipping is somewhat of an American tradition but give someone a reason and it will go away quickly).
Question #6 non-binding vote in support of Single Payer healthcare.
100% NO. If you want single payer healthcare, then join the armed services. You see they have single payer healthcare as in the VA system. The VA is known for horrendous quality of care. Not convinced then move to Canada. You will get good treatment if you can live in pain long enough to receive it. Need an MRI (a year or so). Surgery after the MRI (another year or so).
Our healthcare system is already in tatters after Obamacare added millions to the healthcare rolls. I literally watched a woman with a hole in her neck in which her trachea was visible wait an hour in the emergency room to be seen. This is what happens when you increase demand with a shrinking supply of medical professionals to serve them.
Massachusetts news of note….
Drake Maye debuts…
He wasn’t great and he wasn’t awful. With a better team he may be a top 20 QB. Time will tell.
Secretary Galvin…
When you are the Secretary of State and responsible for election integrity you shouldn’t withhold voter roll information. Not only is it against the law… it raises legitimate concern over what you are hiding.
US News of note
FBI lays an egg…
The FBI tried to hide a recent revision to its 2022 violent crime statistics in the footnotes. The agency previously reported violent crime fell by 2.1% in 2022. In fact, violent crime rose by 4.5% in 2022. This is a major revision which like the faulty Bureau of Labor Statistics downward jobs revision of 818,000 screams of election interference. These are just two of the examples why trust in Government is at an all-time low. Either it’s intentional or incompetent but the result is the same.
Reparations…
Kamala Harris was pressed on reparations and passed. Townie Talk supports reparations involving any current owners of slaves being forced to compensate those slaves they benefited from. So, if you held Nike or Apple stock we are coming after you. Inconvenient truth is slavery may have ended in the United States 160 years ago, but it is alive and well in other Countries as you read this, and most people are benefiting from it. This is a great reason to bring back manufacturing to the USA that has worker protection laws.
2024 Election Update
As of press time, I have the election as Trump 296 to Harris 226 with Nevada and Wisconsin to close to call. 270 is needed to win. Trump is winning the online betting platform at 54.9%.
Another bad week for Kamala Harris. Interestingly, Harris is not putting on an act with her hard to follow word salad answers. Her Howard University yearbook quote was:
“The thing that Howard taught me is that you can do any collection of things, and not one thing to the exclusion of the other. You could be homecoming queen and valedictorian. There are no false choices at Howard.”
Week in review….
President Trump
Survived the week without being shot at.
Gave multiple two-hour campaign speeches.
Announced he would move to eliminate Federal Taxes on Social Security income.
His VP Vance called out Martha Raddatz for implying it is no big deal that Venezuelan gangs were occupying a handful of apartment complexes in Colorado.
Actor Dennis Quaid endorses Trump citing illegal immigration and increasing crime as reasons California is becoming unlivable.
NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick endorses Trump
VP Kamala Harris
“Wouldn’t change anything” about the last four years in office, The View Sonny Hostin
Proposed tax cuts/incentives for Black people.
Posed for a 2nd Vogue cover while Hurricanes ravaged the South.
Proposed giving first time home buyers $25,000 (Seriously… everyone can now increase their ask price)
Proxy, Bill Clinton says that Lakin Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia, would be alive today if the illegal immigrant who entered the Country in 2022 had been vetted.
Barack Obama tells Black men not to think and just vote for Kamala. Implying they are misogynists.
Actress Jennifer Garner says men who vote for Kamala are sexy.
VP candidate Walz went Pheasant hunting but didn’t know how to load his rifle.
President Joe Biden praises Governor DeSantis on cooperation in Hurricane planning.
US House Rep. Raskin (D) refuses to say he will certify the 2024 election results if Trump wins.
FWIW…
Massachusetts will vote for Kamala Harris by a fair margin. Don’t waste your breath arguing with friends and neighbors in a State that has no impact on this election unless you are doing it for sport. Upset over Harris or Trump signs… Why? They don’t matter. I see Massachusetts as Harris at 60%, Trump at 29% and third party at a whopping 11% (mainly protest votes against Biden/Harris for GAZA policy).