From Dorchester, I moved to Cambridge, then Somerville, then somewhere else in Somerville, then Lexington, then Cambridge, then Somerville then Somerville then …. and so on. The entire time I either worked for, was a student at, or taught at Harvard, which is in Cambridge.

Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, Alltson, etc. are all mushed together as one big urban zone around and including Boston. And, historically, the smaller cities around Boston have been absorbed into the Beantown Borg over time. Charlestown, where the Battle of Bunker Hill happened (on nearby Breed’s Hill) used to be separate. South Boston was created out of neighboring communities in 1804. East Boston was annexed in 1855, Roxbury in 1867. Then Dorchester, West Roxbury, Brighton, Charleston, and Hyde Park by 1913. Over historical time, a lot of people grew up outside of Boston in a community that, by the time they died, was in Boston.

So it is tradition for people to say “I lived in Boston” or “I am flying to Boston next week” and really they hardly step foot in Boston proper, which is both a place and an attitude, because that is how we talk about Boston. Back when I lived there, I had the five-five rule to remember the demographics. About 500K people live in Boston, and 5 million live in the GBA (Greater Boston Area). Meanwhile, all those people crammed into the urban zone commonly use the term “Boston” to refer to where they live or once did.

I now live in Minnesota. When people ask about my background, I say, “I’m from New York, but I lived in Boston many years before coming to Minnesota, except when I was in the Congo or Milwaukee.” However, the truth is, I grew up in New York State, not New York City (a distinction lost on most Minnesotans), lived mostly in Somerville, and 9 of those 12 months in Milwaukee were actually in Shorewood, which is to Milwaukee what Somerville is to Cambridge/Boston. Crammed in there, where many people who live there actually live.

The reason I mention all this is to warm up the part of your brain that has to do with geographical identity, especially vis-a-vis Beantown.

(For completeness, I’ve lived in the Twin Cities ever since moving to Minnesota. But really, I’ve lived in Falcon Heights, the home of the Saint Paul Campus of UMN, New Brighton, Fridley, Minneapolis, Coon Rapids, and Plymouth.)

Anyway, I have something for those of you who understand and know something about Boston, sensu large. You will ROFLYAO, most likely. There is a moment in this presentation of Lawrence O’Donnell’s when you think, “oh, listen, he’s slipping into his old accent,” but really, he’s just having fun with the audience. If you don’t have any connections with Boston, this may not be worth watching, so I’ll give you the key meaningful point below. But if you have that Boston connection, watch and enjoy!

The key point: Fox News Lies!!!!!! (Secondary point: Tucker Carlson is an asshole.)

Here’s the graph:

Here’s the analysis.

Most of that time has been on, of course, “Fox and Friends” but he’s actually spread himself fairly evenly across a range of shows. His time on non-Fox cable includes six appearances, including two on This Week, one on Meet the Press, one on Morning Joe, and two others.

I guess he knows what side of his toast is buttered on.

Muslims must take the blame for all things done by anyone linked to an extreme Islamic group or ideology. Christians have nothing to do with anything, they were just standing there minding their own beeswax.

The video below was fixed by Media Matters for America thusly:

In a notably hypocritical segment on Fox & Friends, the hosts and their guest, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, attacked media outlets that called on Christian leaders to denounce white supremacy and the recent violence in Charlottesville, VA. Fox & Friends highlighted articles that noted that many white evangelical leaders have been silent since white supremacists in Charlottesville attacked counter-protesters on August 12 and that historically many Christians and Christian organizations have enabled systemic racism, from slavery to Jim Crow and into the current era. Co-host Pete Hegseth asked why the articles were “trying to make that link” and “rush[ing] to say” that “pastors or churches … are to blame.” Fellow co-host Abby Huntsman said that “people are pointing fingers” and “you have some journalists that are blaming white Christians.” And Brody claimed that “the fix is in, if you will, against evangelical Christians, white evangelical Christians in this country.”

President Obama made mention of this problem yesterday in his Commencement Address at the National Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Then, according to the watchdog organization Media Matters for America, “Fox personalities criticized President Obama for calling climate change ‘an immediate risk to our national security’ during his U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement address. But security experts agree with the president that global climate change does threaten U.S. national security.”

FOX’s Lou Dobbs in what was labeled as a “news alert” but amounts to little more than editorial Koch sucking-up-to:

FOX’s Charles Krauthammer substituted scare mongering over North Korea for addressing the existential issue of our time, climate change:

FOX’s Eric Bolling dismisses global climate change as a threat, despite what the military says. Another commenter asks if Bill Nye and President Obama are the same person. Bolling misses the point that ISIS as a phenomenon arose largely because of climate change:

And it goes on. What does the Department of Defense say? From Media Matters:

“Climate Change Will Affect The DOD’s Ability To Defend The Nation And Poses Immediate Risks To U.S. National Security.” The Department of Defense’s 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap warned that “a warming climate ‘poses immediate risks to U.S. national security’ and could trigger anything from ‘infectious disease to terrorism.'” As Mic noted, this was not the first time those in the military community have sounded the alarm on climate change:

A May report by 11 retired commanders cautioned that installations in Virginia could experience up to 7 feet of sea rise by the end of the century. The Pacific Institute’s Peter Gleick argued earlier in 2014 that “water and climatic conditions have played a direct role in the deterioration of Syria’s economic conditions,” helping aggravate the country’s political divisions and spawn the ongoing civil war that now involves U.S. bombing runs. And Retired Navy Rear Adm. David Titley argued that climate change will be “one of the driving forces in the 21st century” and says that inaction could result in massive and lethal extreme weather events that do damage on the level of major wars.

“Water shortages in the Middle East could benefit terrorist organizations, who can exploit hunger and unrest to tighten their grip on locals,” McDonnell wrote. “Increased shipping traffic in the melting Arctic could spark political tension between polar nations. Increasing prevalence and severity of natural disasters worldwide will become a more significant burden for military-led relief efforts.”

Retired Army Brig. Gen. Chris King told Responding to Climate Change that the threat posed by a rapidly changing planet “is like getting embroiled in a war that lasts 100 years” with “no exit strategy.” He pointed to poor countries like Afghanistan, Haiti, Chad and Somalia as likely participants in climate-triggered conflict. [source]

FOX and the right wing: Bad for America.

But I saw two other things: 1) A person who should be running for office just because of her ability to stay on message; and 2) a person who should be mayor or governor or something because she seems quite willing to push back against the constant, incremental, creep towards a police state every time some thing or another happens.

FOX13 News, WHBQ FOX 13

This is in reference to this.

Clearly, someone is gonna get fired. But enjoy it for now.

There is a full report on this amazing event (Fox News getting something mostly right, not the super storms) by Shuana Theel, here.

VL Baker has more here.

And now, also from Media Matters, this fun infographic. Share it around!

Here is a graph from Media Matters that you should post on your Facebook page and elsewhere:

Spread the word!

Raped too much? Is there a good amount of being raped? They want to be victims? WTF?

There is a petition you can sign to urge Fox News to fire Liz Trotta.