Nahant Democrat

10/15/2026

There's a lot of controversy around Prop 9... one wonders what explains these statistics...https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier

10/04/2026

Let me mention Ezra Klein's podcast (which also appears on YouTube). He recently interviewed Abdul El-Sayed who is running for the Senate seat in Michigan. The interview was an opportunity to see and hear an excellent candidate and a physician, who provided a detailed and persuasive look at what is wrong with our health care system. I had read about him previously but hadn’t heard him speak. If we are lucky, he will become a strong public, progressive voice and actor. Klein also had an informative interview with Bill Gates on the difficult topic of AI and its dangers. Both questions and answers were the best one could hope for on this topic.

Real conversations. Ideas that matter. So many book recommendations.

09/22/2026

Back in 1962, when I was given the opportunity to go to college, my goal was to become a high school history teacher. History classes were pretty much the only classes I really enjoyed in high school. Well, that never happened but the enjoyment of reading the history of the United States and other countries, continents and peoples has never left me.

A few years ago, I came across a book by the historian James M. Banner Jr., The Ever-Changing Past: Why all History Is Revisionist History. As a scholar Banner has spent his professional life trying to understand how we, as humans, record and understand the roots of our current day. As we look back at previous decades and centuries, what can we learn? How does what we’ve learned change when we get new information? How is the past intentionally distorted into propaganda which serves the narrow interests of a person or a group? I never became a “scholar” but I’ve always appreciated the work that they do. Instead, I think it’s fair to say that I’m a pretty literate guy and, especially in the present day, I’m a worried literate fellow.

The essay that is attached was printed in today’s Lynn Item, a paper I’ve been reading for more than fifty years. From time to time, especially in the last few years, they’ve given me the opportunity to think out loud in writing, to be shared with “the public” and with my friends and neighbors. So…here you go!

https://itemlive.com/2026/09/21/jim-walsh-founding-thoughts/

And please feel free to respond via email… [email protected]

In Washington D.C., one can follow a path from the Capitol of the United States to the Washington Monument and then along the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln… Related posts: Hickey: Yes, I read my grandma’s diary Commentary: Israel can no longer deny the shift in U.S. politics Da...

09/02/2026

Democratic Primary
Primary Election Results

Markey 395
Moulton 390

Koh 356
Tram 209
Belsito 41
Beccia 100
Andres-Beck 21

Kennedy 316
Baylis 350

09/01/2026

At around 3:45 this afternoon about 800 folks had voted. It is important that we take advantage of this basic American right that is becoming increasingly threatened. I voted for Dan Koh and Seth Moulton. I think I had good reasons to do so. It's possible that there are those may vote differently. Just maybe... But that doesn't matter. I find myself thinking of a wonderful Nahant guy, Richie Adamo, who left us in 2013. There was never a better citizen than he. Richie voted and when the results showed what his fellow Nahanters desired, he worked to make those desires a reality.

Voting maintains our democratic republic

08/27/2026

Great turn out at the Courthouse this morning. DAN KOH, Coco Alinsug, (City Council President) Brian LaPierre Lynn At-Large Councillor, as well as Natasha Megie-Maddrey, Esq. City Councilor Ward 4-Lynn and, oh yeah...Jared Nicholson who also holds a prominent place somewhere in City Government. As so much of the country's state and local leaders do not seriously resist the intrusion of unauthorized masked men in their midst...the leadership of Lynn steps up, joined by folks from Nahant, Swampscott and Marblehead!

08/27/2026

OMMORROW…at the Lynn courthouse from 8am to 10am – a large standout to protest the court’s policy on peaceful transfers to ICE custody. The courts are allowing ICE agents to use court employee parking and have given them access to the basement door/employee entrance. If there is an ICE detain order on file for anyone in custody, they are turned over to ICE agents. But…if some people show up and have cases dismissed, ICE is grabbing them right outside the Courthouse. Lynn police are also cooperating with the so-called peaceful transfers and in the case of people that post bail, they are being grabbed outside and detained leaving the family out the money posted for bail because ICE does not bring detainees to court appearances. None of these people have been found guilty of anything and in most cases, they have work permits.

08/16/2026

I spend most of my days reading and writing, one of them potentially upsetting and the other potentially therapeutic. Look at this story. How can this be happening in our country? After spending time reading Robert Hughes' "Rome," I did a quick check of my emails and found this story. How could this happen here?

With the case of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, the U.S. has broken its own record for holding a journalist in custody.

07/03/2026

There was a great story in the Boston Globe this morning on bald eagles. I wrote a comment:

“Fifty-three years ago, I drove to Nova Scotia to go camping. As I crossed the bridge onto Cape Breton Island, off to the left, on multiple trees, were what seemed to be a hundred bald eagles. I had never seen an eagle before in my life. I was blown away!

A couple of days later, walking along table land on the north coast near Inverness, an eagle swooped by at shoulder level.

Shoulder level for me...but that bird flew along an escarpment a hundred fee above the coastal waters where swam its prey.

We've now seen eagles flying above Nahant.

Making sure they and their like will continue to be welcome here has been central to our fight against Northeastern University and its attempt to build a conference center...where eagles fly.”

Devoted fans from all over Vermont — and around the world, as well — are watching a live stream of the nest.

07/01/2026

ICE JUST ARRESTED A NUN

Hey...the Berrigan Brothers, two anti-war priests, were arrested too. But not on their way to Mass!

Diocese officials in south Texas say a nun was released after members of Congress intervened