What is it about the Healey administration and big-bucks state contracts? First it was the MassPike service plaza debacle. Now it’s the ugly Springfield courthouse development/lease mess involving none other than Conan Harris, the ex-convict-turned-consultant hubby of U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and John Barros, the interim executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority and former economic development czar for the city of Boston. Their joint partnership, CoJo Partners, has somehow — surprise, surprise! — latched onto Liberty Junction’s winning bid for the nearly $2 billion regional justice center contract, as the BBJ reports. … I don’t know which is more depressing. The Harris/Baros political connections or the fact Gov. Maura Healey is dismissing the controversy, as the Herald reports.

As I read this WSJ piece (“The Hard-line Activists Ramping Up for the War With AI”) my mind kept drifting back to long-ago controversies during the early years of the biotech industry in Boston. Sure enough, I found this Harvard Crimson piece on initial activist fears of Recombinant DNA research, as summed up by a 1976 headline in the Boston Phoenix: “BIOHAZARDS AT HARVARD.” … Well, as we now know, those and related fears were more than a little overwrought, considering all the medical advances produced by biotech firms over the past half century and all the jobs and companies biotech has produced since the controversies of the ‘70s.

Then again, the subtitle of that Phoenix headline reads, as the Crimson article notes: “Scientists are on the brink of undertaking revolutionary genetic research which creates new life forms …” Hmmm. I suppose “mirror technology” and genetically altered human babies kind of fall into that new-life-forms-concern category, right? 

Just pointing all this out as I follow the old Hub Blog thought process, from dismissing overwrought crazies to conceding they may have a cautionary point or two. … 

Update — I forgot to mention that I stumbled upon this Atlantic article during my quick research for this post: “When People Feared Computers.” … No mention of Hal, in case you’re wondering.

John Judis and Paul Krugman have dueling posts that try to answer the seemingly simple question: What is modern ‘democratic socialism’ in America? The two left-of-center pundits basically agree it’s not the ‘socialism’ of old, i.e. a movement favoring government control of the means of production. Instead, today’s democratic socialism is more akin to the European social democracy movement that advocates living with heavily regulated capitalism while providing generous social and safety-net programs to citizens, as Judis and Krugman argue. … So where do the two disagree? On how young people view today’s ‘democratic socialism’ and why they’ve embraced it. On this point alone, I tend to agree more with Judis, who argues it’s mostly about young voters’ limited post-Cold War perspective of history, politics and an economy that isn’t working so well for them. I’ll let Judis explain.

But here’s my problem with both of their analyses, setting aside my strong objections to many of the far left’s pie-in-the-sky economic policies: Where’s the detailed discussion of radical identity politics, Critical Race Theory and woke-ism that course through modern democratic socialism and the progressive left in general? Modern democratic socialism isn’t exclusively about economics and ‘affordability’ issues. It’s also about hot-button social issues – and far out social views that often directly contradict the left’s stated economic goals and turn off the vast majority of working-class voters and other Americans. It’s also about radical views on foreign policy and Israel in particular. Are young people embracing these clearly stated radical views when they embrace democratic socialism? John Judis, who now considers himself a democratic socialist, does address some of these thorny matters in a NYT interview and admits they’re a huge problem for the left. … Btw: If Judis is a democratic socialist, then he’s a moderate democratic socialist, one who used to regularly write for the common-sense Liberal  Patriot that opposed Dems’ drift to the far left.

Some off-the-beaten-path stories you may have missed this past week:

— It’s become a competitive necessity, locally and nationally: “U.S. Biotechs Are Keeping More Secrets to Beat Copycats in China” (WSJ)

— More proof of our widespread ‘Abundance’ problem: “The MBTA’s plan to replace 1940s-era Mattapan trolleys is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years away, if ever, from completion” (Contrarian Boston)

— When Howie Carr focuses on local news, such as lambasting ‘Mr. Frosty,’ he can be hard to resist: “Ed Markey, 80 years old and nothing to show for it.” (Boston Herald)

— This is good news: “A year after the public media apocalypse, Boston’s two major outlets are holding their own” (Dan Kennedy)

— FIFA’s neo-colonial history, explained: “African teams are making World Cup history, 60 years after boycotting” (GBH)

— If you’re a regular blueberry, raspberry, strawberry buyer, etc., you’ll recognize the name: “Why Are Berries Everywhere, in Every Season? Driscoll’s” (NYT)

— Speaking of fruits: a coming banana apocalypse? “The banana as we know it is in trouble” (WBUR)

— One of the truly great products of the Internet is under pressure from all directions: “Wikipedia Is Battling for the Soul of the Internet” (NYT)

— It’s more complicated than it looks, but you still gotta love it: “The Company Founder Who Got Fired for Ignoring His Own Return-to-Office Rules” (WSJ)

— Here’s hoping Jeff Jacoby gets well soon: “A note to readers from a longtime columnist” (Boston Globe))

As a PE-backed group prepares to open an ‘elite student athletes’ boarding school in Stow (BBJ), Norway’s taken the complete opposite approach to nurturing youth athletes, according to this piece at the WSJ. … Don’t get me going about the growing corporatization of youth sports in America. Not content with running for-profit youth sports leagues, venues and merchandise, the new youth sports profiteers are now actually trying to make a buck off of kids and their deluded rich parents by launching 24/7 boarding schools? Too true. … I have a feeling Sen. Chris Murphy won’t be sending his son to Stow this fall.

First, establishment Dems. Now progressive Dems. Once again Dems have been caught clinging to a failing candidate until it’s too late to find a good replacement, as a friend noted to me last night. … But Dems reeling from the Platner debacle can take some solace in knowing that, sooner or later, even Republicans will have to answer the same question: ‘Why did they cover for … ?’ And we all know who they’ll be talking about. 

Btw — Gov. Maura Healey definitely has some explaining to do. … At least Elizabeth Warren and other Dems can say their endorsements came early in the process, i.e. before all the damning disclosures. Not so the governor.

Btw II — ‘Why did they cover’ question via the WSJ, which applied it to Platner in this case..

Update – A coming “Why did they cover for (fill in the blank)” controversy in Massachusetts? From the Globe: “At 81, she doesn’t think she can ‘vote for an 80-year-old’ for US Senate. She’s not alone.” …

Update II –– 7.10.26 – From George Will at WaPo: “Democrats’ extremism and stupidity is catching up with the GOP’s.”

Despite what it thinks, Cumberland Farms has never reached the cultural icon status achieved by other local firms in New England, like Dunkies or LL Bean, etc. But last decade the Westborough-based convenience-store chain did produce one of the all-time worst TV commercials in history, starring David Hasselhoff, and it long-ago ran an ad campaign with jingles written by Brad Delp (scroll down) of later Boston band fame, and it recently partnered up on some promotional campaign with rapper Sammy Adams, who I never heard of until a few hours ago. So I guess all of this elevates tired old Cumberland Farms, aka Cumbys, to a level worthy of reporting here that its U.K. owner, EG Group, which is half owned by a U.K private equity firm (of course), has filed to take Cumberland Farms public, in case you missed the news that broke just prior to the Fourth holiday. And, yes, Cumberland Farms owners are clearly rushing to cash in on the hot AI-driven Wall Street market, as Reuters reports. … The BBJ and Convenience Store News have more.

Btw — I guess CF and Dunkies don’t have enough ‘classic aesthetic’ to make this august list.

Politicizing the nation’s 250th Anniversary one day. Politicizing the World Cup the next. What else can he spoil this week? The annual Girl Scout Cookie sale ended in April. So it will have to be something else.

The Bennington Flag above is a revolutionary era flag that reportedly flew at the Battle of Bennington in 1777. Via Wikipedia.