Posts Tagged ‘Humor’
Stars, stripes and a shrug
What a difference five decades make. Those who were around in 1976 remember that the nation’s Bicentennial was a big, big deal. Everywhere you looked, there was something to remind you of our nation’s 200th birthday. Bicentennial logos appeared on everything from cereal boxes to beverage bottles and cans. Everything had a red, white and […]
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Tags: 1976, America, America 250, American flags, anti-Americanism, Bicentennial, culture, History, Humor, Independence Day, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, No Kings, Opinion, patriotism, Politics, self-loathing, Town Meeting, United States, Vietnam War, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Weekend Insurrectionists
The recurring revolution
There’s an old song by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks called, How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? I believe we have reached that point with the “No Kings/Indivisible” movement. Shoppers, businesses and drivers have been subjected to the weekly harangues of these “protesters” for over a year now. We get […]
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Tags: Boomers, capitalism, Dan Hicks, Donald J. Trump, free speech, Humor, Indivisible, Mark Sardella, No Kings, Opinion, Pledge of Allegiance, Politics, President of the United States, protesters, protests, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
Call me Nostradamus
I would like to thank the voters of Wakefield – or should I say, the non-voters – for making a prophet out of me. Two weeks ago in this space, I boldly predicted that you would stay away from the polls in droves on Election Day. You didn’t let me down. Fully 90 percent of […]
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Tags: apathy, AWOL, Brian Fox, budget, deficit, election, FY2027, high school, Humor, knitting, Mark Sardella, Nostradamus, Opinion, Politics, prophet, taxes, Town Councilm Ami Wall, Town Meeting, voters, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Public Schools
Minority rule
Tuesday is Town Election Day, and if past is prologue, fully 10-15 percent of Wakefield’s registered voters will exercise the right that President Jimmy Carter called, “the foundation of our democracy.” The remaining 85-90 percent of you will be on social media railing about the condition of the roads, overdevelopment and wondering how we ended […]
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Tags: Ami Ruehrwein Wall, bicycle lanes, Brian Fox, children, COVID, democracy, development, Donald Trump, Election Day, Facebook, Humor, James Cerone, Jimmy Carter, Mark Sardella, No Kings, Opinion, overdevelopment, Politics, President, Rada Frohlchstein, roads, School Committee, social media, Town Election, Town Meeting, vote, Voter ID, voters, voting, voting age, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Youth Council, Warrior logo
The king of comedy
This has to be the most entertaining administration in American history, at least for anyone with a sense of humor. The reaction to the President’s recent answer to a question posed by a Japanese reporter is a case in point. The reporter asked Trump why he didn’t give America’s European and Asian allies a heads […]
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Tags: Americans, Bill Maher, boys, comedians, comedy, Donald J. Trump, entertainment, girls, History, Humor, illegal aliens, Iran, Japan, Japanese, Jon Stewart, Mark Sardella, military, Opinion, Pearl Harbor, Politics, President of the United States, schools, slavery, stolen land, surprise, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, war, World War II
Political football
Fans around the country and especially in New England were puzzled and outraged by the recent exclusion of former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. What, people wondered, could be the reason that the Hall of Fame Selection Committee would deny one of the […]
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Tags: America, Bad Bunny, Bill Belichick, Bob Kraft, Deflategate, football, gambling, Grammy Awards, Humor, jealousy, Mark Sardella, media, new england patriots, Opinion, patriotism, Politics, President, Pro Football Hall of Fame, sports, Spygate, United States, USA, wager, Wakefield Daily Item, WakefieldMA
Future tense
If you thought 2025 brought a lot of troubling changes, you ain’t seen nothing yet! But as the old saying goes, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” So, for my first column of the New Year, here are some bold predictions for 2026. The town can reconfigure all the intersections it […]
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Tags: 2025, 2026, Christmas, crystal ball, development, Donald Wong, driving, Edgewater Park, election, English, Fence Viewers, forecast, Forest Glade Cemetery, Hamas, housing, Humor, intersection, Israel, Jason Lewis, Jonathan Chines, Juneteenth, Kate Lipper-Garabedian, land acknowledgement, Mark Sardella, Moby Dick, New Year, No Kings, Opinion, Pleasure Island, Pledge of Allegiance, Politics, predictions, Pride, protest, radical chic, Sachem, Saugus MA, stop sign, Town Meeting, voting age, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA change, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield School Committee, William Carroll, wreaths, Youth Council
Minor party
I’m here to provide your periodic update on the effort to allow children to vote in local elections. The Wakefield Youth Council had planned to get an article on the Nov. 8 Regular Town Meeting warrant, but there “wasn’t enough time.” Too much homework, I guess. But after listening to a recent Youth Council meeting, […]
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Tags: children, Columbia University, cursive, elections, Humor, legislature, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Opinion, petition, Tom Mullen, Town Counsel, Town Meeting, vote, voting, voting age, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Youth Council, Zohran Mamdani
Lost in translation
Lots of professions have languages all their own, filled with terms and jargon that are foreign to the average human. Nowhere is that truer than in the field of public education. Even when “educators” are creating presentations for public consumption, their primary goal is to impress other educators, who are the only ones who can […]
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Tags: align, aligned, alignment, curriculum, Douglas Lyons, education, educator. teacher, eduspeak, Fahey's Tire Center, frameworks, goals, Google Translate, Humor, instruction, jargon, language, Mark Sardella, Opinion, School Superintendent, schools, space, stakeholder, teaching, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Public Schools, Wakefield Tire Center, WPS
War of words
The move to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War has been met with predictable shrieks of horror from those who have never liked the military for defending a country they deem unworthy of protection. The idea of the name change, as I understand it, is to project a more reality-based, warrior […]
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Tags: America, chickadee, Department of Defense, Department of War, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Galvin Middle School, George Washington, Humor, Indian, John R. Galvin, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Native American, Opinion, Politics, presidents, School Committee, State Seal, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, War Department, warrior, Warriors
Mark Sardella 