Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
By MARK SARDELLA GLOUCESTER — Imagine, if you can, an oligarchic takeover of a state led by a “Palinesque” Manchurian candidate with only a hapless, dying, Occupy-style activist standing in the way of her establishing a totalitarian regime. Forget trying to imagine it. It’s been done for you! Playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s over-the-top, absurdist, dark […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, theater | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alex Portenko, Amanda Collins, Breean Julian, campaign, elections, Gloucester Stage, Howard Zinn, Jeff Zinn, Lewis D. Wheeler, Mark Sardella, Occupy, Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, play, Politics, radical, review, Sarah Palin, The Totalitarians, theater, theatre, vote, Wakefield Daily Item
Let’s be clear
To paraphrase the late, great Dan Hicks, “How can we miss them when they won’t go away?” Just when you thought it was safe to go to the Post Office on Saturday morning, they’re back like a bad penny – or three or four of them. The Wakefield Civic League, those guardians of our local […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Albion Cultural Exchange, Board of Selectmen, Boston Globe Spotlight Team, correspondence, Dan Hicks, Gov. Charlie Baker, government, Hallmark Health, Humor, information, Jean Nicholson, KENO, letters, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Lottery Commission, News, Opinion, Paul DiNocco, Politics, post office, Rep. Donald Wong, Rep. Paul Brodeur, town hall, Town of Wakefield, transparency, Wakefield Civic League, Zoning Board of Appeals
Summer checklist
Have you looked at a calendar lately? It’s Aug. 18 already! Wasn’t the July Fourth Parade was just last weekend? Summer’s slipping away, and we are rapidly approaching the point where even Daylight Saving Time will not be able to stave off the encroaching night. Even Saturday’s Festival Italia will conclude in darkness. But if […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: balloon, bicycle, Brightview Senior Living, calendar, camping, concert, crane, cycling, Daylight Saving Time, drive-in movie, drought, farmers' market, Festival Italia, fireflies, fracking, gasoline price, grass, hiking, Humor, July Fourth, Labor Day, Marco Polo, Mark Sardella summer, Martha Stewart, Mazda, mosquitoes, Olympics, Opinion, plastic bags, Politics, rain, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Words with Friends
Fine print
Lately, I don’t feel like my week is complete until I’ve been lectured by a millennial about one thing or another. Usually it’s about the evil of plastic bags or how many genders there are or how the Founding Fathers all smoked hemp, dude. The usual venue for these sermons is social media, where I’m […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Baby Boomers, citizenship, civics, education, Facebook, First Amendment, Founding Fathers, Freedom of the Press, Great Depression, Greatest Generation, hippies, Invasion of Normandy, Mark Sardella, media, millenials, mosquito, News, newspapers, Olympics, peace movement, Politics, press, schools, social media, Stephen Colbert, Twitter, Wakefield Daily Item, Zika
Where’s the Money?
Now that July 19 is behind us, can we finally admit that all the hand-wringing over the Special Election had nothing to do with it costing the town $10,000 and everything to do with politics and the person who filed for the Special Election? After Phyllis Hull collected the 200 signatures needed to force the […]
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Tags: Ally Houghton, Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidates, Chris Callanan, Dan Benjamin, election, Galvin Middle School, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Mehreen Butt, money, Nate Gayman, Phyllis Hull, Politics, schools, special election, taxes, vote, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA
Hot fun in the summertime
As of this writing, we have eight people (and counting) running for Selectman in the July 19 Special Election to fill the nine months left on former selectman Betsy Sheeran’s term. This sudden surge of interest in public service is truly a wonderful thing to behold. My only question is, where were some of these […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 2 Comments
Tags: Betsy Sheeran, Board of Selectmen, candidates, election, July, Mark Sardella, Mass., Massachusetts, Phyllis Hull, Politics, selectman, special election, summer, Town Election, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, Walter Schofield
Special effects
If you are one of those who thought last week’s election meant that you could finally count Phyllis Hull out, a) You don’t know Phyllis Hull very well and, b) you might want to cork the Champagne, at least for now. Hull was defeated in her bid to be re-elected to the Board of Selectmen […]
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Tags: Board of Selectmen, campaign, candidate, debt exclusion, dissent, election, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, money, Opinion, override, Phyllis Hull, politicians, Politics, Proposition 2 1/2, special election, taxes, taxpayers, veterans, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, World War II
Debatable questions
The recent candidates debates at WCAT once again proved to be a valuable tool in informing the voters about the candidates and issues in advance of the April 26 Town Election. I was happy once again to have had the privilege of serving on the press panel that posed questions, in two separate debates, to […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics, Television, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ann McGonigle Santos, Board of Selectmen, Bronwyn Della-Volpe, cable, candidates, Dan Benjamin, David Watts Jr., debate, election, Mark Sardella, Peter May, Phyllis Hull, Politics, Television, Tony Longo, Town Clerk, TV, Wakefield Civic League, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA, WCAT, William Carroll
Now’s Your Chance!
We’ve arrived at the Put Up or Shut Up Season. Monday, Jan. 4 was the first day that you could pull nomination papers to run in the April 26 Town Election. For those who for the past year have been have been telling anyone who would listen that you could do a better job running […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Board of Selectmen, campaign, City Hall, Conservation Commission, election, Facebook, government, Mark Sardella, nomination papers, Planning Board, Politics, public hearing, public office, School Committee, social media, town, town hall, Town Meeting, Town Planner, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield MA
The Spirit of Giving
‘Tis the Christmas season, and Mr. Paid Reporter Man is filled with the spirit of giving toward the naughtiest and the nicest in Wakefield. He’s made his list and checked it twice. If you don’t find your name on his list, perhaps you haven’t been sufficiently naughty or nice. To the Lake Quannapowitt Water Quality […]
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Tags: Alison Simcox, Brian McGrail, Bronwyn Dell-Volpe, Christmas, Colonial Point Apartments, Conservation Commission, Dan Lieber, Dennis Cloherty Heron Pond, Douglas Heath, Fred Rich, Humor, Lake Quannapowitt, MBTA, Michael Collins, Pat Bruno, Politics, Richard Stinson, Robert McLaughlin, Robert Mitchell, Seth Moulton, Shaw's, Stephen P. Maio, Thomas Mullen, Wakefield Civic League, Wakefield Human Rights Commission, Wakefield MA, Wakefield School Committee, ZBA
Mark Sardella 