Tag Archives: massachusetts

Grinch Charlie Baker takes away food from hungry children for Christmas

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Imagine being a child at home on Christmas.

"Freedom From Want" - NARA - 513539

What if there wasn’t any food in your house, how would you feel? How would you feel when you found out the governor doesn’t think you’re important enough to feed?

For Christmas this year, Grinch Charlie Baker, in a dazzling display of cold-heartedness, cut a grant of $110,000 from the state budget that funds Food For Free’s Cambridge Weekend Backpack emergency food program for children. The Cambridge Weekend Backpack program provides 500 of the city’s poorest kids food on weekends because, without it, they’d go hungry. (You can donate to help them out!)

Charlie Baker, is this how you lead the state—by taking food from the mouths of hungry children? I want better from my governor. So last Thursday I called his office and spoke with one of his aides to ask when Governor Baker plans to reinstate the funding.

Here’s a script you can use to call, too! It’s easy: just call (617) 725-4005.

Hello, how are you? My name is Joshua Reyes and I live in Cambridge, MA. I read in the Cambridge Chronicle that Governor Baker recently cut state funding for a program called Food for Free. Have you heard about that program?

I just want to remind you that Food for Free provides food to poor children on the weekends who would otherwise go hungry. They serve about 500 kids where I live in Cambridge.

Having food to eat is a basic dignity and these kids should not be expected to provide for themselves. Taking away food from poor kids is an especially horrible Christmas present from the governor. Can you tell me when Governor Baker plans to reinstate funding for Food for Free?

Thank you and have a good day!

Carry the giving spirit of Christmas all year round. Please call Charlie Baker’s office today to tell him to give back the food food he took away from hungry kids. Please let me know how it goes!

What does Charlie Baker like about Jeff Sessions?

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To celebrate Rosa Parks Day this year, I called the Governor’s office to follow-up on his thoughts about Trump’s appointees. A few weeks ago, Baker told the press that he didn’t want to “pre-judge” the appointments. Instead he said:

Trump “has made clear he wants to unify the country post-election, and I said that, based on some of Bannon’s previous remarks and activities, that was a concern to me,” Baker said of the pick. “But I’m going to take a page from President Obama’s book on this one, who said the other day that he thinks the Trump administration’s team should be judged on the totality of his appointments. Let’s see what else happens.”

Time has passed and Trump has named more people to his cabinet. In fact, so far Trump has selected individuals who control a combined eleven billion dollars in personal wealth. So much for draining the swamp.

Because the office of the Governor represents me and my interests, I want to know what Charlie Baker thinks about Trump’s appointments. So yesterday I called again, for the third time, to ask. And once again, his aide Shauna greeted me on the other end of the line. We’re starting to get familiar with one another. And I like her a lot. Our conversation went something like this:

Hi, Shauna! Good morning. How are you? First of all, I’d like to wish you a very happy Rosa Parks Day!

Shauna seemed very happy to have been wished a happy Rosa Parks Day. I continued.

I know I’ve called before to ask this. Governor Baker said that he didn’t want to pre-judge Trump’s appointments until we had a clearer view of his whole administration. Now that a few weeks have passed and we know more of his appointments, can you tell me which of Trump’s appointments the Governor likes and supports?

Regrettably, Shauna told me that she is not authorized to make statements on the subject other than what has already been released to the public. So I asked the only natural next question.

Can I speak with someone who is authorized to tell me what the Governor thinks on the matter?

Even though she wasn’t sure whether her supervisor had the proper authorization to tell me my governor’s opinion on matters of public governance, she forwarded my call to her supervisor John anyway. Once John picked up the phone, I started over.

Hi, John. Good morning. How are you today? First of all, I’d like to wish you a very happy Rosa Parks Day!

I paused for his response and half-heartedly hoped that he’d wish me a happy Rosa Parks Day in return. Instead, the line fell silent. So I pressed on.

I’ve called a few times before to find out what Charlie Baker thinks of Trump’s appointments to the cabinet. A few weeks ago he told the Globe that he wanted to wait to judge the administration on the totality of Trump’s appointments. Now that he has appointed more people to his cabinet, can you tell me which of Trump’s appointments does Governor Baker support and why?

John reminded me that Baker has already said that he is concerned by Bannon’s appointment. But that was not my question.

I appreciate that he is concerned about Bannon. But there have been several over appointments. For instance, Trump has named Jeff Sessions to run the Department of Justice. Jeff Sessions is a man who was too racist to be confirmed as a federal judge. I do not support racism in my government officials. I’d like to know does Charlie Baker support racism in his government officials? I’d like to know which of Trump’s appointments the Governor agrees with and supports and why.

John then told me that he’d pass my request onto the Governor.

Charlie Baker, please have the dignity and the courage to continue the public conversation you began a few weeks ago. Please tell me which of Trump’s cabinet appointments you support. I ask you as one of your constituents and as a voter.

Please call Baker’s office and ask him the same. The number is (617) 725-4005. #makeAmericaGreatAgain #drainTheSwamp

Charity Spotlight: Massachusetts Bail Fund

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I recently donated to the Massachusetts Bail Fund. I love them. Here’s why:

Would you like to go to jail without receiving a trial? Nope. Me, neither. But that’s how the justice system works.

When you are suspected of a crime and due in court, you usually have two options: wait for the trial in jail or fork over money as bail. If you don’t show up to court, you lose the money. If you do, you get it back once the case is closed.

When the type of justice you get depends on how much money you have, the wealthy always win out. If you can afford to drop $500, you get to go home, go to work the next day, and continue with your life.

But what if you couldn’t afford bail? We lock you up to wait for your turn in court. Taxpayers pay $125 each night we force you to stay there. You have no control over how long it’ll take for a date in court to open up. You could wait weeks, months, and sometimes years, for a trial. Those bills add up. Meanwhile, you don’t show up to work because you’re behind bars. You lose your job. You can’t pay your bills. Your life is ruined before you even make it to court, just because you couldn’t post as little as $50 for bail.

The Massachusetts Bail Fund fronts the bail for clients who can’t afford it themselves. When a case closes, the fund gets the money back. Last month, they posted bail for 382 people.

And it works: half of the cases were dismissed. That means the judges decided that it wasn’t worth the time to finish these cases. No harm, no foul. Without help from the bail fund, nearly two hundred people would have sat in jail just to wait in line to go back home. In October, they lost only 4 bails. That’s a 99% success rate. Imagine if everything worked 99% of the time. That’s a world I’d like to live in.

Since the money goes back to the bail fund after each case closes, your donation can be re-used to help more people. That’s good for the clients, that’s good for their families, that’s good for the community, that’s good for law enforcement, and that’s good for you, the taxpayers. What a smart investment!

I love this fund because I’m cheap. Instead of shelling out $4,000 a month to lock someone up just to hang out, I’d rather the state spend it on something that I use, like the MBTA. I’m just selfish like that. Charlie Baker, fix the T.

Look up bail funds in your state! Or donate to the Massachusetts Bail Fund.

Thankful to live in Massachusetts

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’m going to take today and following few days to slow down and relax, look around me with a careful and thankful eye, and reflect on what I have to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my friends and family—for their love, loyalty, and support. I am thankful for where I live. I am thankful for a warm, dry home, access to good, healthy food, clean water, and a fuzzy, sometimes-affectionate cat named Donut.

I am thankful for my community. Cambridge is a great place to live. We have wonderful public and social services, a thoughtful municipal government, a vibrant and diverse population of interesting and often friendly people, good jobs, good bars—here’s looking at you, the Abbey— fun when you want it, quiet when you need it, tall trees, wild turkeys, fluffy bunnies, and four full seasons. I’m thankful for all of it.

And I am thankful for my state. I am both proud and horrified to say that Massachusetts was the only state in the lower forty-eight to vote Democrat everywhere on the county-level in the last presidential election. (Apparently, Hawaii did, too.)

As all parts of the country, folks in Massachusetts are hurting, too. I am thankful that my neighbors across the state voted against solutions that promote finger pointing, blame, and hate to ease their pain. I am thankful that in Massachusetts we voted to protect our environment, to fight for women’s rights, black rights, immigrant rights, Muslim rights, gay rights, and general civil rights, and to dignify people with the basic rights to health care, equal pay for equal work, and higher wages.

Are you thankful for you local and state governments?

On this day of thanksgiving, I hope you are, too!