If you’re like me, you prefer to read columns made up of short subjects. In fact, it’s been more than six months since I’ve dedicated my allotted space to that type of column. Here it is with 13 opinions I have concerning recent events:
I firmly believe the majority of the writers of the letters to the editor of this newspaper purposely skew facts in order to roil residents in their communities. I first thought they were simply ignorant of the actual facts when mocking town managers, town administrators and Attleboro’s mayor. It’s now obvious they are copying a tactic perfected by the three prime time hosts on Fox News.
The texts made public as part of Dominion Voting’s lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s cable news network (and I use that the word “news” loosely) prove Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham care more about their ratings than the people tuning in. Traitors to their country would be the words I would use to describe the lying trio.
Speaking of gullible, I was going through some old magazines last week and found an article in the March 2021 edition of Rolling Stone. A 2020 poll, during the height of the pandemic, found that 50 percent of regular viewers of Fox News believed Bill Gates wanted “to use a mass vaccination campaign against Covid-19 to implant microchips in people.” To steal a line from the movie “Forrest Gump,” “Are you crazy or just plain stupid?”
Let’s hope the Massachusetts Republican Party bounces back after the defeat of their party chairman’s bid for a third term as GOP state chair. Our state is better when Republicans are challenging Democrats for seats at every level of state government.
I believe the listing of a candidate’s party affiliation is important because it helps readers understand the reasoning behind some of the endorsements leading up to an election. Charlie Baker, Karen Polito and Kevin Dumas throwing their support behind Jay DiLisio, for example, made sense after I read the former acting mayor is a registered Republican.
The Foxboro School Committee is long overdue in retiring the high school’s Warrior mascot. The school uses the same likeness of a Native American the Washington Redskins had on their helmets for years before rebranding to the Commanders name. The former Coyle-Cassidy High School was a model in keeping the name Warriors while changing the mascot from a Native American to a Viking.
The Diocese of Fall River’s education office is to blame for the demise of Coyle-Cassidy and Bishop Connolly high schools. Bishop Feehan High School is prospering because of the leadership Chris Servant provided. The decision to hire Tim Sullivan assured the school will thrive for years to come. Shame on the diocese for not hiring the same type of leaders for their Taunton and Fall River high schools.
Big banks like Santander showed their true colors when they announced they were “consolidating” their 16 Park St. location with their Plainville branch at routes 106 and 152. Their marketing makes it looks like they “care” about the community, but pulling out of a city’s downtown is the exact opposite. Bank of America did the same to Attleboro years ago when they moved out of the Bronson Building.
Attleboro needs to copy North Attleboro’s model by filling vacancies on the city council by automatically filling it with the runner-up in the previous election. I have to believe the money the city is about to spend on a second special election within a couple of months could be put to better use.
I have a suggestion on how the state could use its record surplus. Knowing our elected leaders won’t return it to the taxpayers, how about providing funding to mandate CPR in all high schools?
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission needs to come down hard on officials at Plainridge Park Casino and Encore Boston by assessing fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating the sports betting rules they agreed to in the licenses. While I’m aware the two casinos reported the violations themselves, a clear message needs to be sent to the powers that be that it will never happen again.
In defense of the casinos, I shook my head when I read a letter to the editor of this paper critical of a photo of elected officials “gleefully” placing bets at Plainridge after the ribbon cutting ceremony marking the start of sports betting. A scene from the 1981 movies “Stripes,” starring Bill Murray is my response to that reader. You might remember the line, “Lighten up, Francis!”