Kevin MacKenzie 🌱

Brookline, through a vote at Town Meeting last night, will now join Boston and communities around the nation in recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S. Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.

79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.

He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.

www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...

Who is Wilson? She does not own a car. She lives in a rented 600-square-foot apartment with her husband and two-year-old daughter. By her own account, she depends on checks from her parents back east to cover expenses. To let them off the hook, she seeks to force residents of Seattle to pay for “free” child care and other goodies.

You guys realize that taxing people to pay for services isn't socialism, right? This is just how governments work.

Testimony: Cities and Towns Want the Right to Rank. Thursday, November 13, 2025 Chair Keenan, Chair Hunt, and Members of the Joint Committee on Election Laws: My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I’m the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, a...

"Cities and towns across Massachusetts are doing just that. By passing home rule petitions for ranked choice voting, they are embracing a time-tested reform that makes our elections both more competitive and more collegial."

#mapoli

www.progressivemass.com/testimony-ci...

Black students remain overrepresented in special education in Brookline, state says - Brookline.News State education regulators issued a "Significant Disproportionality Designation," after finding that Brookline hasn't made progress since the disparity was first noted five years ago.

State education regulators say Brookline hasn't done enough to respond to a problem that's existed for five years: Black students in the district are disproportionately being identified as having learning disabilities.

brookline.news/black-studen...

The Shutdown Is Over. SNAP’s Struggles Aren’t. - The American Prospect Turning off the logistically complicated SNAP system—which relies on the federal government, states, and private companies to function in concert—and then trying to turn it back on quickly is no easy ...

“Lots of people have had to eat without SNAP, so they’ve used their rent money and their utility money, [so] we are likely to see a wave of evictions and utility shutoffs. I think we’re going to see a lot of disruptions in people’s lives for months to come.” prospect.org/2025/11/14/s...

Hey so “underage girls” are…children. The word you’re looking for is children. They’re not like, women-in-waiting or women-lite or whatever. They’re children. I think some of you are very uncomfortable with what that means for you but it is still true.

Saying this & willing to get cancelled for it professionally: not everyone is special. Being good at math isn’t special. Especially when you attend a school where 96% of everyone is good at math compared to the rest of the state.

Know what is special? Being a good person. That is special. Do good!

Today the Supreme Court decided they wanted Congress to remain the most hated branch of government, instead of taking the title for themselves.

Do you think they just wanted to make it to longest shutdown in history so it had to go on “his” record? And then that’s it they stopped caring?

Tracks with their general performative nonsense.

The state of Brookline’s pedestrian infrastructure :/

the harris campaign said the “they/them” ad didn’t sway the election.

one of the trump campaign’s top strategists this week said trans rights isn’t in the top five issues for swing voters.

when will the press stop talking about us like we’re a liability and start looking itself in the mirror

SNAP UPDATE: I’m directing SNAP benefits to be processed today — and paid IN FULL starting tomorrow.

Americans are going hungry because President Trump chose to play politics with their lives.

People need to eat. We’re making sure they do.

Is a $100,000 salary enough to raise a family in Massachusetts? For some local parents, it isn’t. - The Boston Globe The rising costs of everything from diapers to day care are hitting local families hard. Tariffs and inflation are partly to blame.

Massachusetts is the most expensive state in which to raise kids, and while I know @massgovernor.bsky.social is trying, the MA Legislature is not doing nearly enough to help parents across the income spectrum. Housing & childcare are brutal. #mapoli

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/30/b...

sure is looking like if you ran against trans kids yesterday, you lost.

Let us take this lesson, please.

STOP PICKING ON TRANS KIDS

Merrick Garland: your inaction and cowardice will be remembered for generations.

The Gilded Age vs State Sponsored Terror Trump partied like its 1928, but Chicago remained on high alert after roving caravans of federal agents used chemical agents, pummeled people and threatened to shoot bystanders.

It's impossible to overstate how grotesque this Halloween 2025 split screen is: Trump parties like its 1928 while here in Chicago, we endured yet another day of federal agents pummeling people, spraying chemical agents & pointing weapons at bystanders. My latest:

open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...

One of the many reasons I hate this is that it takes advantage of the fact that people won't do the math.

$4,200 is $11.50/day. For a family of four, that's 96¢ per meal.

A few quotes from last night on Flock:

"Do we want to be North Korea?"

"We should not be aiding and abetting the expansion of a nationwide surveillance network by what is obviously a bad actor."

"We live in a scary time, and this is a scary technology that can be accessed by scary people."

That guy is such an annoying contrarian. His subreddits explain why.

Please join me in supporting the Brookline Food Pantry.

When I was a Brookline paraprofessional, I relied on SNAP benefits to fill the gaps my salary left.

Our neighbors need our help as the federal government waged war against them. Please don’t forget them.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu calls for state to repeal Prop 2½ law limiting annual increases in property tax collection - The Boston Globe The law allows municipalities to increase the total amount they collect in property taxes every year only by 2.5 percent, not including tax revenue from new developments.

Agreed! We should be empowering our cities and towns to take action to address local challenges, not hobbling them. #mapoli

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/24/m...

Trump’s goons are using chemical weapons against the public.

Border patrol agents deployed tear gas on the 3700 block of North Kildare where residents say a landscape worker, a resident, and a woman on a bike were detained. Video from a resident.

A friend of mine in Chicago just shared a video on IG of an ICE operation near her house. The operation happened just minutes before the neighborhood Halloween parade. ICE used tear gas and multiple parents had to wash their kids' (including toddlers) eyes out.

Either this ends with some sort of truth and reconciliation process where a very large number of people go to prison for a very long time or we will take a short pause and then start doing it again, but worse.

Imagine being 17, your little brother by your side, begging to speak to your dad as he’s dragged away. You may never see him again. And this is every day. Soul shattering, nightmarish stuff, never to be forgiven.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu calls for state to repeal Prop 2½ law limiting annual increases in property tax collection - The Boston Globe The law allows municipalities to increase the total amount they collect in property taxes every year only by 2.5 percent, not including tax revenue from new developments.

Prop 2 1/2 was bad when it was created, it's even worse now, and it should be relegated to the dustbin of history.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/24/m...

MA Needs Same Day Registration Tuesday, September 16, is National Voter Registration Day, the country’s largest single-day voter registration drive. It also happens to be the date for a State House hearing on various voting right...

Maine has Same Day Registration.
New Hampshire has Same Day Registration.
Vermont has Same Day Registration.
Maine has Same Day Registration.

It's long overdue for MA to join them.

#mapoli #SameDayinMA

actionnetwork.org/letters/ma-n...

US Marshal shot during immigration enforcement operation in LA, reports say A U.S. Marshal was shot while assisting an immigration enforcement operation, according to several reports.

"US Marshal shot during immigration enforcement in LA"

* article explains he was shot by an ICE officer whose weapon discharged when he used it to smash a car window