Packed like sardines: the crowded Commonwealth

Via the Boston board on Reddit: MA Ballot 7 Small Lot — https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1x1sj9g/ma_ballot_7_small_lot/

Am not advocating for forcing people to depart Massachusetts. Perchance we might strongly encourage the MAGA folk to seek out some locale more amenable to their politics, but I digress, for such a measure would be neither lawful nor terribly democratic. Nor is there, I suppose, a great deal that may presently be done about the root problem at hand. Nevertheless, we have simply far too many individuals living within this geographically diminutive state, most especially in and around Boston. In truth, throughout this entire region of the country, we have too many people occupying too little space.

image generated via ChatGPT

The older I get, the less I am able to abide being packed together like sardines; yet I am in no position to leave, and whither, in any case, doth one go? The whole blasted country is falling apart, whilst neither Canada nor Europe appears especially eager to receive an influx of Americans, for which, frankly, they cannot be blamed.

But there it is: overpopulation lieth at the root of all of the world’s miseries. More people, more problems; thus hath it ever been. It is why seemingly every remaining inch of land in Eastern Massachusetts is being devoured, and why getting from Point A to Point B proves a wretched ordeal each time one ventures forth. Why, even getting around my town at present is a royal pain in the arse, with so many streets closed off for roadwork. More cars and more people mean more congestion, greater wear upon infrastructure, and ever more demands upon the roads themselves. I never want to leave my abode anymore, and I am stressed to the gills every single time I am compelled to do so. Thankfully — in a sense, at least — my health and circumstances allow me to remain at home most of the time, yet I do not envy those who must be out there as a matter of daily necessity (most people). This is torture, and not exactly how human beings are hardwired to live.

Overpopulation is a nightmare, and its consequences manifest themselves everywhere upon this beleaguered planet: from climate change, to crime, to chronic housing shortages, and unto every manner of societal ill. More people, more problems.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The Massachusetts GOP 2026 Ballot Guide: ‘No Stance’ on Q8

A bunch of gutless cowards who cannot bring themselves to take a position on a matter of individual liberty, to say nothing of the tax revenue at stake. I have known individuals who despise marijuana and never wanted it legalised, and yet even one such person regards this particular ballot question as a waste of everyone’s time, given the majority of marijuana users are going to consume it regardless. I say ‘the majority’, for crossing the border into Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Vermont proves neither especially practical nor easy for most individuals who do not reside in immediate proximity to those states — especially if they are disabled, as myself am. Ten minutes behind the wheel, and my nerves are shot. Also, and only speaking for myself, I am never going back to having to rely on shady dealers, and being sold Lord only knows what. Spent too many years and endured too many headaches, and I am pushing fifty. Never — but a lot of folks will, of course.

One August poll found fifty-five per cent of registered voters opposed to repeal, yet I am offended that this question ever found its way onto the ballot in the first place. Nine statewide ballot questions, furthermore, constitute an absurdity in its own right. With voters obliged to work their way through that many measures — upon ballots expected to run two or three pages in length — one can scarcely pretend that voter fatigue is not a legitimate concern. Or diminished literacy and shortened attention spans. I’ve not yet made up my mind on every question, but how many of these measures are truly necessary, anyway? Q8 sure as hell is not.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The plague of Summer 2026

image generated via ChatGPT

E-bike and e-scooter injuries dubbed ‘the plague of Summer 2026’ by a leading paediatric trauma surgeon. {Boston 25 8 September}

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/25-investigates-pediatric-trauma-surgeon-calls-e-bike-e-scooter-injuries-plague-summer-2026/676GWX24UFCAFC3VGZKEV5A3OI/

Not at liberty to divulge details, but I can confirm that the younger siblings of one of the deceased children mentioned in the article continue to terrorise our community, and their pitiful excuses for parents have not shown the slightest remorse. Belligerent fools who behave as though they were living on an isolated ranch rather than in suburban Boston. Ban the bloody bikes altogether.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The machinery of compliance

image generated via ChatGPT

Sci-fi dystopia comes to life: ICE to deploy robot dogs, ostensibly only for operations deemed unsafe for human agents. {WCVB 29 August}

https://www.wcvb.com/article/ice-boston-dynamics-robot-dogs/73559827

Perhaps such once-futuristic technology is reasonable enough on the surface: if we are speaking of apprehending genuinely violent criminals, or deploying these robotic canines within search-and-rescue operations. But can we trust anything this regime puts forth? Should present trends prove any reliable indication, these shall, in due course, be weaponised against non-violent offenders, innocent civilians, and the wider public alike.

FTA: BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to deploy a new tool in its mass deportation campaign: a fleet of "robot dogs" that were made in Massachusetts.

The Spot robots were created by Boston Dynamics and will be used in operations deemed unsafe for human agents, like hazardous gas detection, search and rescue, as well as suspicious package investigations.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Boston Dynamics said in part:

"Boston Dynamics sells to many government agencies and public safety organizations and the robots are used to keep people out of harm's way and aid first responders in assessing dangerous situations... any attempted weaponization of Boston Dynamics' robots is strictly prohibited."

ICE put in a $2 million order for the robots, but it's unclear when the agency plans to deploy them.

The technology is also used by the Secret Service.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Threshold of golden light

image generated via ChatGPT

Welcome tidings, for once: Massachusetts native and former Marine Robert Gilman is released from Russian custody. {AP 12 August}

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/12/g-s1-138323/former-us-marine-russia

Am grateful the gentleman is being returned home, though he shall, without doubt, bear the scars of this ordeal for the remainder of his life. Nor does he stand alone as the sole American unjustly detained within that wretched country. Any United States citizen insane enough to contemplate travel to Russia would be well advised to exercise the utmost caution. —

FTA: Arrests of Americans have become increasingly common in Russia in recent years. Concern has risen that Russia could be targeting U.S. nationals to use later as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and Europe. Five other Americans remain imprisoned in Russia with deteriorating medical issues, according to a news release from Global Reach, a group that's been working to free them.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a photo on social media of a gaunt-looking Gilman draped in an American flag and surrounded by his family aboard an airplane.

"While we appreciate this positive step, we are still seeking the immediate return of all other unjustly detained Americans," Rubio stated.

Whilst you are about it, Mr Rubio, you might prevail upon your Russian friends to stop kidnapping Ukrainian children — though that, I suppose, constitutes a separate grievance for another occasion entirely. Welcome home, Robert Gilman. May the years that lie ahead furnish you with some measure of peace, in recompense for all that has been so grievously taken from you.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

A Marine left behind

image generated via ChatGPT

Massachusetts-born US Marine held captive by Russia since 2022 said to be near death. {WCVB 10 August}

https://www.wcvb.com/article/us-marine-veteran-from-lowell-detained-in-russia-is-near-death-advocates-say/73387211

The details are harrowing, and it is accounts such as this one that make me question whether worshipping God serves any purpose apart from the mere avoidance of eternal perdition, for He is manifestly not on the side of millions of innocent people and creatures subjected daily to tyranny and slaughter. He does, however, seem to protect the wicked. At an exceptionally old forty-eight years, I have grown thoroughly tired of feeling compelled to venerate a deity out of fear of damnation, and yet I know, in the very marrow of my being, that if I cease fearing Him and cease believing in Hell then I am going to end up there. In all likelihood, I shall end up there in any case, in the company of ninety-nine per cent of the rest of you besides. Verily, this is NOT a loving God that we are forced to mind, and forgive me for my rapidly deepening resentment towards Him. Nonetheless, I pray for Robert Gilman and his family.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Empty cupboards, heavy hearts

image generated via ChatGPT

#Murica: consumers adapt to the largest hike in grocery prices in fifty years by cutting back, sometimes drastically. {AP 25 July}

https://apnews.com/article/grocery-shopping-prices-food-affordability-8468c1d6532ca762bbcfa17e3c7707d1

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Render unto Caesar everything: the Christian faith held hostage in #Murica

image generated via ChatGPT

Few ever dare to defect, but those who have left #MAGA/Christian Nationalism behind shine a spotlight on the perverted, tyrannical disgrace American Christianity hath become. {Huffington Post 25 July}

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maga-christianity-leaving-stories-goog_l_6a63a519e4b0c6ebcf31edf8

If Jesus approves of #MAGA — and maybe He does, I know not — then I want nothing to do with Him. Some, of course, are reading this and saying that He is a fictional character, no more real than Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. I seriously doubt we would ever be so fortunate as to escape this life and not have to answer to a higher power; that we would be as lucky as to walk away and have eternal peace without a reckoning. At this stage of my life, I do not make any bones about it: I believe Jesus is the son of God and saviour of Mankind predominantly out of fear of going to Hell, a lack of any certainty whatsoever concerning alternative beliefs, and a certain fondness for a brand of non-intrusive, mainline Christianity — Yankee Protestantism — that hath almost completely gone the way of the dinosaurs (and actual Yankees) by now. I was baptised as an Episcopalian in 1978, once among the leading faith traditions in New England but now just about extinct. The church in which I was baptised is now controlled by another congregation (a Korean Adventist sect, if memory serves), and other Episcopal churches in the area are gone. Protestant Christianity in this country hath been swallowed up whole by the evangelicals and fundamentalists, and their political allies in the Republican Party. What even is ‘mainline’ Christianity anymore? 

Should He indeed be real, we know not His political affiliations, only that He is allowing this nation-killing regime to destroy a realm that hath long regarded itself as Christian. America is mentioned nowhere in the Bible — though some interpret the Babylon in the Book of Revelation as America, which would start to explain a lot of things to my mind — and God will still be in control long after the political unit that is still technically known as the United States of America (Trumpistan) hath been dissolved and lost to history. I know not if Jesus and His Father have blessed American Christian Nationalists, or whether They are merely enabling them and their reprobate leader to teach us some sort of lesson, or whatever the case. 

I am merely grateful to have the freedom to think for myself; and to not be enslaved to a vicious cult that — among a number of other odious beliefs and practices — requires fealty to a wayward political party — to any political faction, period — and to the world’s most obnoxious and obvious conman and swindler. I am also grateful to be in Massachusetts Bay Colony, where relative sanity still reigns, and not living in one of the thousands of Trumpvilles all around ‘red state’ #Murica. Those are not truly free societies, and they shall remain deeply illiberal so long as the majority of their denizens fear a genuinely free and diverse world. Simply put, they shall give lip service to ‘freedumb’ all day and night, but their idea of genuine liberty is absurdly complicated and profoundly compromised.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

An empty parsonage, an unanswered prayer

generated via ChatGPT

‘A beloved 54-year-old Massachusetts priest is said to have died by suicide after being forced to return to his home country of Nigeria’. {Irish Star 20 July}

https://www.irishstar.com/news/boston-news/massachusetts-devastated-after-priest-dies-37451659

Jesus was nowhere to be found for this servant of the Lord. FTA:

Under U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations, Madu had to leave the country to renew his religious worker visa, known as an R-1 visa, according to church officials. While the department recently eliminated the requirement for R-1 recipients to wait a full year before applying for a renewal, options for the church to keep Madu legally in the U.S. were limited because the federal government has suspended processing of certain immigration cases for 75 countries, including Nigeria.

According to the US-Nigeria Civil Society Coalition, Madu suffered from intense emotional distress regarding his anticipated return to Nigeria, where there has been a rise in the kidnappings and killings of Catholic clergy.

Shortly before he passed away, he told parishioners and stated in a farewell message on the parish website that leaving the country was completely out of his hands. He wrote, "Sincerely, it is not my wish to return home right now, but circumstances beyond my control have warranted that my time in the United States come to an end. My heart is broken, yet my joy remains," he wrote, adding that he'd gladly return to minister and will miss the community.

The Boston Globe reported that Madu received emergency room treatment at a hospital after experiencing a panic attack on the Sunday prior to his death, which occurred as he was driving to celebrate Mass.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Strip both names from it, for neither merits the honour: a reflection upon the ‘Trump–Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

{WP 19 December} ‘Kennedy Center adds Trump’s name to building, despite legal concerns’

The Trump–Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: I confess I indulged in no small measure of sentimental reverence for the Kennedy dynasty over many years, but it is time—well past time, in truth—for such nostalgia to be laid to rest. Howsoever towering John F. Kennedy may appear when set beside the present holder of the office—and I do freely acknowledge his true heroism in war—we must at last reckon with the full measure of the man: he was corrupt; his fumbling hand brought the United States perilously close to the brink of a third world war (albeit he was not the architect of that crisis); and he behaved appallingly toward Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, toward Marilyn Monroe, and toward Heaven knoweth how many other women.

The dynasty’s moral deficiencies did not begin nor end with him. Joseph Kennedy, the family patriarch, held an admiration for Hitler. Ted Kennedy, lionised by many, bore responsibility for a woman’s death. And today we behold Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dragging American public health discourse back unto the intellectual standard of the colonial age—an erstwhile advanced medical system now obliged to genuflect before a man whose understanding is, at best, mediæval.

For generations there hath existed an almost tribal fealty toward the Kennedys within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, most especially among the predominantly Irish Catholic working class. Yet these have never been my people. As a nominal Protestant of largely English and German descent, I understood from childhood—keenly and unforgettably—that I did not belong, nor was I welcome, within my overwhelmingly Catholic community situated scarcely ten miles north of Boston. (Think somewhere in the vicinity of Spot Pond). It was no phantom of my imagination; I was told so in the plainest, most wounding terms on countless occasions—most vehemently by the Irish kids, and, to a lesser but still palpable degree, by the Italian ones. Why, then, have I spent so many years idealising the Kennedys, a clan whose mythology I was never invited to share? Only Jacqueline ever embodied genuine grace or dignity.

So let us say it plainly: enough of the Kennedys, and curse the cult built around them. And as for Trump—his name, and that of his brood, deserveth no sanctified place in the public square. Strip both names from the façade. We are not the Soviet Union, and no civilised republic ought to plaster the monuments of its cultural life with the surnames of dubious dynasties.

—Arthur Newhook (pen name), somewhere in the vicinity of the Middlesex Fells and severely pissed-off, 19 December 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook.

The death of journalism in Trump’s #Murica: veteran political analyst Jon Keller laid off from CBS Boston

Boston Globe

{Boston Herald 30 October} ‘WBZ’s Jon Keller and other employees let go by Boston TV station’

Jon Keller is one of the last practitioners of a vanishing art—an authentic television/radio news reporter, genuinely ‘fair and balanced’, whose broadcasts were marked by actual fairness, discernment and intellectual depth. And now, inevitably, he too hath been cast aside as the tide of mediocrity and fealty swells.

It is a sombre augury of our times: CBS/Paramount have plainly capitulated to the Trump regime in their corporate cowardice—as is elsewhere abundantly chronicled—and their news division is now sliding headlong into that sordid morass of spectacle and distraction wherein the regime would fain see all public discourse entombed. The less we think, the more we watch; servitude made palatable through the sugar of sensation.

I do hope Mr Keller finds another pulpit from which to speak, but he is not a young man and I would not begrudge him if he were to seek repose now. In either case, much gratitude to Jon Keller for all he hath done to better inform New England citizens, and I am now even less inclined to bother watching local television news given how every station is now but a hollow echo of its former self. —Arthur Newhook, 30 October 2025.

Extortion assumes its latest guise in #Murica: ever more vexatious intrusions of advertising upon ‘smart’ devices, from refrigerators to car consoles—designed to weary the user into paying tribute in order to silence said insolent devices that were already bought and paid for. {Ted Gioia 29 October}

The former United States is on track to lose a potential war against China. {The Atlantic 28 October}

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook.

Teenager charged with setting fire, unlawful entry, at a Beverly, MA, church

Wangkun Jia/Alamy

{NBC Boston 29 September} Pilgrim Cumberland Presbyterian Church fire

At this very moment, something especially grievous is unfolding within the psyches of adolescent boys and young men, and the consequences for society are already revealing themselves in forms ever more grotesque and alarming. Merely observe who their role models are, and it is scarcely surprising that juvenile delinquency—among boys especially—is soaring within this decaying nation. It shall grow yet more grievous with every passing day, and I shall persist in chronicling this decay until, at last and mercifully, I am released from this wretched planet and its denizens.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. On X-TWITTER: @DollsFallen and @Sunking278. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/user/SiberianKhatru278/. FULL LIST OF LINKS - linktr.ee/arthurnewhook. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED on Cash App ($ANewhook) and at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

Thank you, Canada—for standing firm against the new Nazism, for this victory of reason, and for honouring my great-uncle’s sacrifice

Carney leads the Liberals to victory: a triumph of sanity—and a resounding rejection of Trumpism. {AP 29 April} 

Canada holds profound significance for my family—from sheltering Loyalist ancestors (17th-century Puritan stock) post-Revolution, to my Yorkshire-bred 5th great-grandfather fleeing industrial upheaval in early 1800s England. It also protected a portion of my German forebears (most of my Germanic ancestry comes through my paternal grandmother—God rest her soul—who was fully German and Danish. Yet my grandfather's lineage proves equally fascinating—originating from the same region of modern Baden-Württemberg as my great-grandfather, my grandmother's father who settled in New Jersey with his family as a young boy in the 1890s; somehow, I doubt my grandparents ever knew this, a strange twist of fate).

Canada is in my blood. Though I've only visited Quebec and Ontario, I pray to someday muster the energy and wherewithal for that ten-hour drive to Prince Edward Island—to finally walk my ancestors' homeland, that is if average Americans will even be permitted to visit Canada going forward. Not a given, but I digress.

My great-grandfather, Oswald, born in 1903 near Dundas, Kings County, PEI, left for Boston in 1920—joining family and countrymen who'd settled in Lower Mills since the 1870s. Thus explains my now-unfortunate residence behind enemy lines in these former United States. From all accounts I ever heard, Oswald died a miserable and probably abusive drunk in 1965 (and his son, my grandfather, the same in 1989). I knew his widow, my dear great-grandmother Caroline, d.1988, and the primary source of my Puritan/Loyalist lineage, God rest her soul. But it would be Oswald’s younger brother—whom he'd only known as an infant and likely never recalled—that gave his blood for Canada. The family's profoundly unsentimental nature—the whole lot were/are bipolar, myself included—meant I uncovered my great-uncle's wartime deeds through research, not relatives. Precious few survive today, and neither knew nor cared—nor ever will.

My great-uncle Sidney Ulysses (b.1918, Kings County, PEI; pictured above, full name withheld for privacy), a lieutenant corporal, fell on Normandy's shores with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, 9th Infantry Brigade, in the fight against Nazism on 7 June 1944 (click here for an excellent documentation of the unit’s actions on 6 June, and of their specific mission in the massive invasion). He rests at Reviers Canadian War Cemetery, having given his life for our freedom.

Any embrace of right-wing totalitarianism anywhere dishonours his sacrifice. Thank you, Canada, for honouring his memory and rejecting Fascism's resurgence from across your southern border.

Arthur Newhook, 29 April 2025, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

P.S. Go Maple Leafs, Go Oilers. First all Canadian Cup final in 36 years, this is the year to make it happen. The Bruins are not in the playoffs, and #Murica does not deserve a Stanley Cup this year.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-Twitter, and at the same handle on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

One in three NCAA men's and women's basketball players faced abuse from bettors, including death threats, during this year’s tournaments

Angel Reese. Photo: Getty Images

NCAA: 1 in 3 star athletes receive abuse, threats by bettors {ESPN 5/18}

Methinks I am not sufficient of a constitutional scholar to know if the federal government hath any legitimate authority to regulate gambling, and I generally do despise any nanny state tendencies I detect in others. All said, I really do hate gambling. Years ago, I laboured in gas station convenience stores and felt like a glorified drug pusher with all the scratch tickets I did sell to Massholes. Most of the folk buying them were downright pathetic, but I digress. Furthermore, I have long turned a blind eye to gambling in my waning enthusiasm for horse racing, knowing that it hath always been the lifeblood of the industry. Yet, for the life of me, I shall never understand why any individual would desire to play with money. It maketh absolutely no sense.

Absolutely nothing of goodly import is emerging from the explosion of legalised sports betting currently taking place. When combined with the endemic, regressive, and all-pervading hatred raging in the United States at this time, it doth create a deadly combination. The ESPN article notes that female collegiate basketball players are about thrice more likely than their male counterparts to receive abuse. One day, somebody is going to get killed, but it will not matter to the puissant interests invested in the commons casting away coin they cannot afford to lose. It ought to go without saying, this is beyond shameful and yet another sign, among thousands, that the people of #Murica are, in laymen’s terms, losing their s**t.

Alito J6 controversy ‘another blow for Supreme Court under fire’ - Lifetime tenure for Justices was a huge error of foresight by our nation’s founders. {AP 5/17}

President Biden signs a significant aviation safety and airline reform bill into law. {Reuters 5/16}

Cost of living crisis. Suze Orman warns ‘If you don’t have at least $5 million or $10 million, don’t retire early’. {Yahoo! 5/16}

Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social, and @arthurnewhook on POST. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.

What the bloody hell is happening here?

Believe it or not, in these suburban outskirts of Boston, a family of Trump supporters and rustic folk hath taken up residence. Moreover, they have chosen the high school's driveway situated behind my dwelling as the ideal locale for their two young lads to heedlessly navigate their motor bikes. On this very day, I found myself outdoors indulging in a cigarette, and these two youths descended the gentle incline behind my home, mere feet away from where I was standing, seemingly intent on demonstrating their skills before me. Without a second thought, I raised my voice to them: "Gentlemen, be careful! Be careful!” They gazed upon me with vacant countenances, as if never before having received admonishment in their young lives (which may very well be the case). Following this, I loudly urged them to depart, saying and with an almost demonic gleam in my eyes, "go, go!" And indeed, they did depart without a word. Never did I explicitly forbid them from riding their scooters - though such a notion was implied - but only sought to instill in them the importance of circumspection and an end to their ostentatious displays. I derive some satisfaction from the notion that perchance, I succeeded in instilling a modicum of fear in these young scamps, and their rustic father can disregard my sentiments. Yes, good people, even here in Massachusetts, we find ourselves in the company of the unsophisticated. To them, I say, may they be cast aside, for they are the scourge of society.

Visit Stop the Idiocracy, @Sunking278 on FACEBOOK and TWITTER; @arthurnewhook on POST and THREADS. And @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world.

‘A Massachusetts father and son were sentenced Monday in federal court to prison time after being found guilty of what prosecutors called a "ten-percenting" scheme involving dozens of convenience stores’

Jesse Costa/WBUR

As one who used to sell lottery tickets, the Massachusetts State Lottery is far more trouble than it has ever been worth. Sure, the schools get extra money, yadda yadda yadda, but the Lottery creates enough crime and addiction to offset whatever positive benefits it brings. Gambling ruin lives, and I saw and heard of some horror stories. The same, of course, can be said of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, television, pornography, and so forth, and we all (should) know that just banning things has never been a feasible solution. Yet while the state government regulates those other vices, the Lottery is unique in that it is a wholly state-run ‘sin stock’ enterprise. State and local governments have no place policing the morals of private individuals and enterprising, but what legitimate place do they have in actively promoting vice and enabling people to recklessly burn money? {WCVB 5/22}

MORE

Fulton County, GA: Inmate digs hole into wall; not to escape but to assault another inmate in a separate cell, using a makeshift weapon ‘from parts of the dilapidated building infrastructure.’ {ABC News 5/22}

Startup venture to give away 500,000 ‘free’ TVs, with a second screen that displays non-stop advertising and cannot be disabled by the user - It has long been a chore in the United States to avoid advertising, and soon it will be rendered unlawful for anyone to opt out of being advertised to. That is where we are heading. {Variety 5/15}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

School avoidance: Students refusing to go to school a growing crisis post-COVID

AI generated image via Hotpot API

'School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day. Several mental health experts told USA TODAY it has become a crisis that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic.' The only reason I was not one of these kids was out of extreme fear of authority (most of all, my parents), along with outright ignorance that I even had any option of opting out. Back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s - at least in my area - even the most rotten kids still did not dare cut classes on any sort of regular basis. One time, late in senior year, we took off in some kid’s car to eat lunch at a local pizza joint, and were relieved that we didn’t get caught. I may have snuck out of a pep rally or two, but that was about the extent that I would ever dare ‘play hooky.’ In retrospect, I should have just said ‘f**k it’ and not have cared. For all the good earning decent grades, dutifully following the rules, and dealing with my a**hole peers ultimately did me; I may have even turned out a more healthy person than the one I became. Still, I would not want to be a kid today for anything, and I do not blame these ones for pushing back against the hellscape they were born into. {USA Today 5/15}

MORE

Colorado man attempted to evade DUI arrest by switching seats with his dog. {BBC 5/16}

Total jackasses caught on camera riding their bicycles inside Boston’s Tip O’Neill tunnel during Friday rush hour, forcing drivers to slam on their brakes. {WHDH 5/16} 

Self-checkout kiosks are now asking customers for tips, prompting some to ask if ‘tipping culture’ has gone too far. {Deseret News 5/16}

Twenty percent of Canadians polled say medically-assisted suicide should be legal to any adult, for any reason. {National Post 5/16}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

NYT report: ‘Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira may have begun leaking classified documents less than 48 hours after Russia invaded Ukraine’

Lock him up, throw away the key. {Boston 25 4/22}

Copyright 2023, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on TWITTER, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, and POST - @arthurnewhook.

If only the British had maintained control of the colonies. 4th of July #Murica 2022: Mass shooting at parade in Illinois, the Supreme Court continues its assault on sanity, Russia claims control of key Ukrainian province, and COVID rises again

Another night of idiots who can't hear us over the sound of them exercising their 'freedom.' Bombs going off everywhere, the dog was about to have a heart attack. Upon many years of experience, reflection, and logical examination, this is a really stupid country on so many levels. This is a country for Darwinian bullies and psychopaths. Sorry, just not feeling this whole #Murica thing anymore.

Lynn Sweet/Chicago Sun-Times/AP

Mass shooting at 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois - Turn out the lights and end this s**t show already. (AP 7/04)

Lowlife scum identified as the person of interest in the Highland Park shooting ‘left a long trail of tributes to mass shootings and public killings on social media platforms’ - A real winner here. Performed as a white-boy rapper under the alias ‘Awake,’ and is the son of a failed mayoral candidate. (NBC News 7/04)

AP/Salon

GOP gubernatorial candidate in Illinois, not even hours after the mass shooting that has devastated his state and the nation: Let’s move on and celebrate - How do we ever reconcile with people of this mindset, which represents a good percentage of the country? We’re f**ked. Sorry, folks, we’re f**ked. {And I am sorry, I know the Raw Story site loads like crap and slows down any device one is using, I'm just too pissed to even try to find a better source at the moment. F**king bulls**t to all Hades.} (Raw Story 7/04)

Going back to Nixon’s ‘Southern Strategy,’ and accelerating greatly during Barack Obama’s presidency and the rise of Donald Trump, Republicans have appealed to confirmation biases to hoodwink millions of (mostly white, ‘working-class’) Americans into supporting their nation-killing, undemocratic policies. The Republican Party must now die; not in the way innocent victims of mass gun violence have, because we know that isn’t happening and the rest of us are not barbarians. No, because their individual consciences finally catch up with them. But, who are we kidding? They are going to sweep the mid-terms and win the presidency in 2024. We all know it, we all know most of our fellow citizens are awful people who would laugh while watching their neighbors being dragged off to death camps. We know the Democratic Party must really suck to have allowed things to progress to this dire stage, where attending a 4th of July parade - or, literally, any event or any place at all, even being in one’s own home - means risks being shot to death, and nobody is allowed to complain about it because ‘freedom.’

Very funny that #Cult45 proclaims to be so anti-socialist, yet they worship Trump with the same fervor as if he were Joseph Stalin, demanding the same of the rest of us. And they worship the United States itself as if it were the very (perverted) ideal the Soviet Union spent 70 years trying to impose upon its citizens. So, screw ‘em, because they’ve ruined the idea of patriotism in America. The flag has become nothing more than a fashion statement, courtesy of those jackasses who never stop bellowing about their ostensible love of country while s**ting on everything it is supposed to stand for. The Founding Fathers would never have fought had they known it would come to this (and, yes, I asked them.) #Murica

‘What accounts for the blithe dismissal of potentially cataclysmic threats?’ Sen. Mitt Romney calls out the American people for being in denial about the pathetic state of the republic - Says a return to Trump ‘would feed the sickness, probably rendering it incurable.’ Agreed, but he and the few remaining sane Republicans need to disavow themselves of any illusion that the GOP can be saved - or is worth saving - and declare themselves independents. (Mediate 7/04)

Fascist outlet Patriot Front demonstrates in Boston on Saturday, and there is violence - One {African-American} man is injured in an altercation with these white supremacist goons. (WCVB 7/03)

Supreme Court issues ruling limiting the EPA’s authority to regulate climate standards at power plants - For the longest time, I didn’t buy into climate change. Until, as with a lot of crap I used to believe, the reality couldn’t be denied any longer. Even now it’s not my area of expertise. Considering that this court is apparently trying to destroy the nation as it currently stands, what would be a few more carbon emissions into the environment? Once the right of women to drive is rescinded and two-thirds of the population have either been eliminated or have fled the country, there will be fewer cars on the road. Christofascists and their allies tend to hate cities, so destroying those should also help clean the air. Hmmm, perhaps the extreme right are onto something after all, and are not the anti-environmentalists they’re often mistaken for. Just as they defend freedom of speech by constantly belittling and threatening anyone with differing points of view. Just as how they support science by rejecting vaccines and facemasks in the middle of the largest global pandemic in over a century. Really, not too surprising that Fascists would love Mother Earth, in their own unique way. Hitler was quite the environmentalist by the standards of his time. (John Sutter, CNN 6/30)

Russia claims control over Luhansk province, Ukrainian forces withdraw from the pivotal city of Lysychansk - God willing, Ukraine will restore authority over its territory, and liberate the residents of these regions from Russian aggression. A setback, not a defeat. (AP 7/03)

Several people dead in mass shooting at Copenhagen shopping mall - America’s sickness is spreading. (AP 7/03)

‘Two Omicron subvariants are now causing more than half of new coronavirus infections in the United States—and both are very good at dodging antibodies in people who have been vaccinated and boosted, as well as in people who had a previous COVID-19 infection.’ (National Geographic 7/01)

Ohio: 14-year-old tiger dies at Columbus Zoo from pneumonia caused by COVID-19 - Rest in Peace, Jupiter. (WLWT 6/30)

USC and UCLA to the Big Ten? - What the f**k!? Geographically this is stupid, obviously, but at the highest levels of college sports geography is simply no longer a concern. No conspiracy theories needed: The SEC, Big Ten, and their broadcast partners (chiefly, ESPN) are boldly and deliberately consolidating their power and ensuring no other schools or conferences will ever again be competitive with them, on the field and off. The few remaining major powers outside those two conferences will be absorbed within the next few years, and we’ll never see even an ACC, Big 12, or Pac 12 school win another national championship.  Or if they do, it’ll be at a new level between FBS and FCS, as those three conferences and the five current mid-majors will be entirely frozen out of FBS (now only consisting of the SEC and Big Ten) and compelled to form their own, secondary division. We may even see FBS split into three, with ACC/Big 12/Pac 12 being the second division, and the current mid-majors being third division. FCS would now be Division IV, the current Division II becomes Division V, and the current Division III will become Division VI. All of this is so bloody ridiculous, and it’s part of what is slowly killing my interest in this sport. Even the pretense of these players being student-athletes is disappearing, (FanNation 6/30)

A little history on how musicians were routinely pressed into service by municipalities as first responders in medieval Europe. (Ted Gioia 7/02)

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CDC: Nearly 60 percent of Americans have been infected with COVID-19. Plus, Rand Paul is an idiot and traitor

CNN

CDC: Nearly 60 percent of Americans have been infected with COVID-19 - Remember when people cared about trying to stop this thing? Really wasn’t that long ago. What I feel we are witnessing in the United States right now is that most people are just giving up. On most everything. (Boston Globe 4/26)

Al Drago/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul, while questioning the Secretary of States, declares that Ukraine historically belongs to Russia; blames NATO for the actions of Putin - By this logic, the Southwestern U.S. should be returned to Mexico, but I don’t imagine the Senator would be in favor of that. Would he? And why would anyone elect or listen to this idiot and traitor? (Business Insider 4/26)

Vladimir Astapkovich/Sputnik/Kremlin/AP

Russia suspends natural gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria after they refuse to accede to Putin’s demands they pay in worthless rubles - Poland has also announced they will be selling weaponry to the Ukrainians, while Bulgaria was a Russian ally until recently when a new Western-friendly government was elected. Thankfully, both countries apparently have been anticipating this move and are prepared. Putin - never a ‘good man,’ but once a rational actor at least - continues his descent into pure madness and irrationality. Assuming Putin doesn’t plunge the world into nuclear armageddon, what is going to become of Russia? I don’t see them ever redeeming themselves the way the Germans and Japanese did after World War II. Generalizing, but the Russian people just do not possess the character traits those cultures needed to rebuild and restore. They just don’t. (AP 4/26)

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