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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

Our Free Society is at Risk

I’m a double Jumbo. For those who don’t know, that means I have two degrees from Tufts University; in my case, a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. A half-century separates our years on campus; still last week’s detention of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk hit me harder than other recent ICE actions. As I viewed the footage of her arrest, I realized that Ozturk and I had walked the same school paths, studied in the same library, attended class in the same buildings. We even gathered with friends in the same area where she, a Turkish citizen with a valid visa, was grabbed forcibly by masked ICE agents before being incarcerated in a facility in Louisiana. Her crime is still ill-defined, but apparently she co-wrote an op-ed for the school newspaper criticizing the university for not divesting its holdings in Israeli companies, and she participated in a protest about Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

The Truth About DEI

The destruction of DEI initiatives in schools and businesses throughout the country has left people scrambling to understand what it all means for those most affected and for all of us. We have come to understand that DEI programs and policies are not just for people of color, but also for the physically and cognitively challenged. That not only those on the right have criticisms but also some on the left.

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Government, Action Britney Achin Government, Action Britney Achin

Anne Frank Got It Wrong

Thirteen-year-old Anne Frank, hiding from the Nazis with her family in an attic in Amsterdam, wrote, “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” When I first read her words, I remember being filled with admiration for this young girl — for her courage, her ability to find joy in life as her world grew smaller and her future more bleak.

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

A Tale of Two Redheads

As we listened  to the president’s plan to take over Greenland – to wrest it from Denmark and annex it to the United States – we started wondering if perhaps the president thinks Greenland is actually green. We thought maybe he believes this massive arctic ice cube is the perfect spot for a new golf course or three. Is he envisioning an entire greenway from coast to coast, catering to the elite golfers of the world?

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Government, Action Britney Achin Government, Action Britney Achin

Will Anything We Do Matter?

We find ourselves almost speechless as we watch the news and hear the heartless response of our president to the deaths of children on an airplane; to the deportation of immigrants; to the dismantling of programs meant to combat centuries of inequality; and to the dissolution of international alliances that protect our worldwide community.

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Government, Healthcare Britney Achin Government, Healthcare Britney Achin

Over Easy, Please

Last weekend, when one of our adult sons returned from doing his family’s weekly grocery shopping, he unpacked the usual items: fruits and vegetables, milk, cereal, yogurt, bagels, bread, cheese, snacks for the first grader, chicken and fish for dinners, and pasta. One regular item, however, was missing: eggs. Not because prices were so low as a result of President Trump making good on his campaign promise. And not because the prices were so high they were unaffordable.

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

The First Blizzard of 2025

For those of us who like metaphors, there was nothing like the raging snow storm followed by bone-chilling cold that accompanied Monday’s inauguration. As we dug out from many inches of the white stuff, and negotiated carefully to avoid the black ice, we felt vulnerable, a bit unprotected, and worried about neighbors and families who might be stranded without heat or food.

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Government, Resources Britney Achin Government, Resources Britney Achin

Is the Sky Falling?

January 6 has come and gone. No storming the Capitol with the more than tacit consent of the president. No killing of law enforcement officials. No threats to the lives of senators and congressmen. No conspiracy theories or accusations of stolen votes. Without mobs or disruption, without protests about the legitimacy of his right to the presidency, Congress certified that Donald J. Trump won the 2024 presidential election and will take office in 12 more days.

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Government, Healthcare Britney Achin Government, Healthcare Britney Achin

Who Gets the Shots

Does anyone else remember standing in line in elementary school in the ’50s to receive the first polio vaccine shot? Those were the ones developed by Jonas Salk before a liquid drop form came into use a few years later. My parents were particularly excited after having watched with fear as my brother was hospitalized with polio a decade earlier.

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

Trump Keeps Some Promises

President-elect Trump may be a liar, but he clearly keeps some promises. His cabinet and staff choices show that he keeps promises to some of his friends and some promises to all Americans. He promised a new way of doing business and that’s just what he plans to do. If you’ve missed what’s to come, here it is, all in one frightening array of appointments.

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Government, Action Britney Achin Government, Action Britney Achin

Keep On Keeping On

Some of us are still licking our wounds. Some are still shocked and in disbelief. All of us are horrified that more than half the voters in our country chose for their leader a man who speaks vulgarly about women and veterans and immigrants and so many others. Horrified that the most powerful head of state in the world is a convicted felon who wants to rule with impunity, overrun the system of checks and balances in our federal system, and deny basic rights to many law-abiding citizens.

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

Thanks for your help

Thank you for being part of our postcard campaign and ordering our Art as Activism cards to send to reluctant voters. Because of you and others, more than 3,000 of our cards have been sent in the last two months!

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

From Swift Boats to Swifties

The most consequential outcome of last week’s debate may have been the endorsement of Kamala Harris by Taylor Swift. To quote President Biden, “I mean it. That’s not hyperbole. I really mean it.”

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Government Britney Achin Government Britney Achin

Holding Their Feet to the Fire

Two weeks ago we were wringing our hands with despair that the November elections might be upended by threats to voter certification in several states including Georgia, where recent rulings by a newly appointed pro-Trump majority state election board passed new rules that purport to legalize the blockage of certification of votes.

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