Month: November 2024

• Bernie’s brand | ‘The Politically Homeless’ | Markey vs Kennedy – again | Teachers’ pyrrhic victory

  November 27, 2024

  Would Bernie Have Won? Answer: No

  Bernie Sanders hit a political nerve when he rightly argued that Democrats lost the November elections largely because they long ago abandoned the working-class in America. But, sorry, just because Bernie has correctly identified a problem doesn’t mean he has the solutions to the problem, as I’ve previously noted. But now Ezra Klein’s podcast (‘Would Bernie Have Won?’) is asking whether Bernie and his policies would have prevailed on November 5 – and/or whether Dems should adopt Bernie’s solutions moving forward. … Answers: No. … Here’s a suggestion: Instead of listening to a socialist senator from a lily-white blue state like Vermont, Democrats might want to listen a little more to people like U.S.  Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a real working-class stiff who has managed to win in a rural, solidly Republican district in Washington, as the NYT’s Michell Goldberg reports. … Or maybe Dems should listen more to U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, a former undercover CIA officer, and Mikie Sherrill, an Annapolis grad and former Navy helicopter pilot, two moderate liberals not known for associating with the Bernie/AOC wing of the party. … Listen, I admire Bernie. I’m glad he’s pushing Dems to focus more on economic issues of importance to working-class voters — and less on identity-politics issues so beloved by today’s college-educated progressives. But Bernie’s ‘30s nostalgia, pie-in-the-sky, London School of Economics brand of socialism isn’t what Dems need today. They need more common sense.

    

  ‘The politically homeless’

  Tired of the MAGA and modern-progressive extremes? Join the club. Eliot Cohen has more at The Atlantic.

  Tariffs: the ‘greatest thing ever invented’ or ‘disruptive as hell’? 

  Some Massachusetts manufacturers beg to differ with Donald Trump’s assertion that tariffs are the “greatest thing ever invented.” … ‘Disruptive as hell’ indeed. Mexico is vowing retaliation if Trump pushes ahead with draconian tariffs.

  Markey takes on another Kennedy

  First, he dispatched Joe Kennedy III. Now Ed Markey is taking aim at RFK Jr. … There’s a pattern forming here. … Then again, some of RFK Jr.’s positions do line up with the long-time views of some of Trump’s most ardent critics, as the NYT reports.

  Teacher unions’ pyrrhic victory

  They’ve finally reached a deal to end the two remaining teacher strikes in Beverly and Marblehead. … I like Scott Van Voorhis’s reaction to the deals (see ‘Quick Hits’): “If it triggers a backlash, these strikes could prove to be a pyrrhic victory for the teachers’ union.”

  Believe it or not: Old brick-and-mortar retail makes a comeback 

  They were supposed to go the way of Dodo birds, i.e. retail properties in the post-Covid age of Amazon and online shopping. But retail is actually making a big comeback, the BBJ’s Greg Ryan reports. … Granted, the numbers are partly skewed by the fact that so many retail malls and shops were simply shuttered and/or converted to other uses, lowering vacancy rates via reducing supply. But still …

  There’s only one problem with Wu’s new ADU initiative …

  It sure sounds great in a press release: the city of Boston and five local banks have launched a new loan program to promote construction of new Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Only one problem: the city’s ordinances aren’t exactly in sync with pro-ADU development. B&T’s James Sanna explains.

  From wetlands to cranberry bogs to wetlands

  It’s kind of sad to see an old New England tradition slowly pass into history. But it’s good to know that at least some centuries-old cranberry bogs are being converted back to their original natural states. 

  Greg Bialecki’s big ideas

  The Globe’s Jon Chesto has a good piece on the late Greg Bialecki, the former head of economic development under Gov. Deval Patrick. The list of Greg’s accomplishments is mighty impressive, to say the least.

• Favored firms | Fixing Baker’s blunder | ‘Moulton Hullabaloo’ | Globe’s stall

  November 26, 2024

  Sorry for not posting much lately. I’ve been recovering from a medium-bad cold. Anyway, here goes with my various posts and musings:

  Firms falling over themselves to win favored tariff status

  No reports yet of specific Massachusetts companies sucking up to Donald Trump now that it seems likely a full-scale tariff war will break out on Day 1 of the second Trump administration. But you know some Bay State firms are joining others in lobbying Trump for special tariff exemptions. … I can think of more than a few high-profile area businessmen with import/export concerns and with close ties to Trump. Can you name one? … Btw: Trump now wants to use tariffs to crack down on illegal drugs and migrants flowing into the country? It’s apparently no longer about saving U.S. industrial jobs. …

  Going after Elizabeth Warren’s consumer-bureau baby

  The incoming Trump folks have set their sights on “vast changes” at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. …Strangely, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has long championed the bureau, doesn’t sound too alarmed. In fact, she seems rather confident the agency can withstand the challenges.

  Fixing Charlie Baker’s bookkeeping blunder 

  The Globe’s Larry Edelman has a good Trendsline piece on how the Healey administration is scrambling to clean up a $2.5 billion jobless-claims mess left behind by the previous Baker administration. The goal: Secure a deal with the feds before President Biden leaves office in January. … Without a deal, state employers could be on the hook for huge increases in their unemployment-insurance payments.

  ‘The Moulton Hullabaloo’: Is a truce near? 

  U.S. Seth Moulton keeps giving interviews elaborating on his controversial trans-athlete comments in the days immediately following the election, suggesting he’s not overly concerned about the political consequences of his remarks. … And maybe he’s right. The NYT reports that some transgender activists are starting to question the aggressive “all-or-nothing tactics” used to isolate and punish those who disagree with trans-rights dogma. … My very humble suggestion: start differentiating between the rights of trans adults versus trans-right issues tied to children. That seems to be the political fault line dividing Dems (and most Americans in general, I’d add). …  That and pronouns.

  Is your local college alma mater providing free tuition?

  The Globe has a handy-dandy list of local colleges that are providing free tuition to at least some of their incoming students. There’s a surprising number of schools on the list. … While the trend is welcome, it does suggest that higher-ed institutions, along with health-care institutions, are in their own funny-money universe, where tuition prices are just targets on a dart board and expenses are treated as credits etc. etc.

  School strikes: Saying ‘enough’ isn’t enough 

  Gov. Maura Healey isn’t exactly saying “enough is enough” when it comes to the two remaining school-teacher strikes on the North Shore. But that’s what she’s generally trying to convey in addition to calling the ongoing strikes “unacceptable.” … The Globe has a piece on what can be done to avert illegal teacher strikes in the future. The issue of higher fines inevitably comes up. But higher fines are not going to work as long as judges behave like they’re appointed arbitrators and offer fine forgiveness if both sides reach a deal quickly. … Strikes are all about money. So focus on making strikes too costly for unions to contemplate. That’s the answer. … That and jail. But let’s stick with tougher fines for now.

  Globe’s subscription growth stalls. Will Trump II help? 

  The BBJ’s Don Seiffert reports the Globe’s recent growth in online subscriptions has stalled. … But here’s a thought: Subscription salvation may be just around the corner for the Globe with the second Trump administration coming into office in January. Recall that the last great subscription surge for the Globe happened during Trump’s first term. So all the Globe has to do now is find its inner MSNBC and – presto! – increased clicks and subs. … The Washington Post could use a badly needed Trump II bounce too, but that would take Jeff Bezos showing a journalistic spine. And that’s not going to happen.

• Nukes now | Needham’s NIMBY-ism | Shelter changes | Not so awful 

  November 23, 2024

  Embracing nuclear power? In Massachusetts?

  This might be the surprise story of the week in Massachusetts: State officials in this bluest of blue states are embracing nuclear energy as a tool to fight climate change. It’s right there in the new climate bill signed into law this past week by Gov. Maura Healey. The Globe’s Jon Chesto explains. …. Oliver Stone, take a bow. His movie “Nuclear Now” has helped make it politically safe for some (though not all) environmentalists to support what was unthinkable only a few years ago.  

  Needham set to revert back to anti-housing norm

  You knew it was too good to be true. A month after Needham town-meeting voters approved a new transit-oriented housing plan that could, theoretically, lead to construction of thousands of new housing units in town, opponents have gathered enough signatures to force a repeal referendum, as CB’s Scott Van Voorhis reports. … A similar housing plan in Milton was rejected by voters earlier this year, as the Globe note. 

  Healey outlines changes to shelter program, but not the most needed changes

  Gov. Maura Healey is proposing changes to the state’s right-to-shelter programs that are now costing the state more than $1 billion a year. Among the major changes: phasing out the use of costly hotels as shelters and limiting the days people can stay in shelters. … But Healey’s proposals aren’t addressing the main cause for the recent surge in demand for state-funded shelters: migrants. … A shelter program that was first started decades ago to assist the state’s poor, particularly women with children, has somehow morphed into a migrant shelter program as well.

  America can laugh again: Anthony Weiner mulls a comeback 

  There really is a tabloid god in the sky. Yes, former congressman and convicted pervert Anthony Weiner is out of prison and now mulling a possible run for a City Council seat in NY. … The headline on the New Republic’s Weiner story: “Nobody Asked For This: An Anthony Weiner Political Comeback.” The subhead: “My dude, now is just not the time for this!”… Fyi: the NY Post had the story a few weeks ago. Strangely, no wiener jokes in the headline or lede.

  Trump’s latest picks: Not so awful

  There’s still an unconventional air to most of the cabinet nominees that Donald Trump announced yesterday – including nominees for U.S. treasurer and Labor secretary and FDA/CDC. But they’re not nearly as awful as the earlier Gaetz (now gone), RFK Jr., Gabbi, and Hegseth picks. I guess that’s a little encouraging, somewhat. … 

  ‘Trump Detachment Syndrome’

  I know of two anti-Trump friends who went through exactly what Beth Teitell describes in her great Globe story about “acute-onset Trump Detachment Syndrome.” The syndrome’s immediate post-election symptoms: “not watching, listening to, reading about, or discussing you-know-who. It’s perhaps the final, fatal, stage of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” … It’s a form of shock that lasts about a week. 

  Dems finally discover effective way to oppose Trump: silence

  As the NYT noted the other day, anti-Trumpers are only now realizing that “protests, petitions, hashtag campaigns or other tools of mass dissent” aren’t effective against Trump.  But Senate Democrats have recently discovered there’s one highly effective tool to oppose Trump: shutting up while he’s in the process of screwing up. The NYT’s Carl Hulse explains.

  One illegal strike down, two illegal strikes to go 

  They’ve struck a deal to end the illegal teachers strike in Gloucester. Now there’s only two ongoing illegal teacher strikes in Massachusetts, in Beverly and Marblehead.

• Co-President Musk – 11.21.24 – Josh Kraft, local man of mystery

  November 21, 2024

  Co-President-elect Musk slams Massachusetts

  It’s déjà vu all over again with local officials, this time led by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Trump officials once again battling over immigration, sanctuary cities, deportations, ICE arrests, non-local-cooperation etc. etc. It’s as if the Biden years never existed and we’re back where we left off in 2020. … But this time we now have Elon Musk blasting Massachusetts pols’ policies, saying we’re protecting child rapists, blah, blah, blah. … He sure is acting like a co-president these days

  Musk Downfall Watch 

  Speaking of the co-president, how long can Elon Musk last with a political master who doesn’t like sharing the limelight with others? I loved these lines from the NYT’s Maureen Dowd: “The first time that self-described “first buddy” Elon is on a magazine cover described as a younger, taller, better looking “co-president,” it will be over. Elon is probably already on thin ice because, like Trump, he has been getting standing ovations when he enters the Mar-a-Lago dining room.” … So the Musk Downfall Watch begins. 

  Resistance exhaustion

  They’re only now realizing that the “protests, petitions, hashtag campaigns or other tools of mass dissent” didn’t work in the first term. … 

  Economic development, Massachusetts style

  Gov. Maura Healey yesterday signed the $4 billion state economic development package that served as this year’s legislative Christmas Tree bill, stuffed with all sorts of goodies for favored interests, such as Ticketmaster and BlueHub Capital and trade unions etc. etc..

  Western Mass.’s multibillion-dollar data center win

  OK, I’ve been a little too cynical (though not that cynical) about some of the items in the giant economic development bill. In fact, there were some very good measures in in the legislation. Among them: a provision clearing the way for a massive new data-center project in Westfield, just west of Springfield, as the Globe’s Jon Chesto reports. … The tax incentives have been talked about since last spring.

  Jettisoning MSNBC and Chrome

  Here’s some more business news of general interest: Comcast is splitting off its cable channel holdings, such as its MSNBC, CNBC and the USA networks, and it could lead to MSNBC having to change its name. … The Drudge Report ran a hilarious photo of Rachel Maddow allegedly looking shocked by the spin-off news. … Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department wants to force Google to jettison its popular Chrome browser as part of any anti-trust settlement. … I assume Google is going to try to run out the Biden-administration clock, awaiting possible rescue by the incoming Trump administration.

  ‘The political mystery of Josh Kraft’

  During the U.S. Senate race in 1962, Edward McCormack Jr. famously said that if Ted Kennedy’s last name was Moore, not Kennedy, his candidacy “would be a joke.” … I was thinking of that line while reading Joan Vennochi’s column on the political mystery of Josh Kraft, who’s the son of you-know-who and who’s considering a run for mayor. … 

  Herring Pond Wampanoags win state recognition

  No sooner do I finish reading this book on King Philip’s War than I read that Gov. Healey has signed an executive order granting the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe official state recognition, as WBUR reports. … It’s sort of hundreds of years late, but it’s deserved. … Btw: I liked the King Philip’s book by Daniel Mandell. It was a quick, informative read. The Wampanoags figured heavily in the war – and thus the book.

  Frontline and NOVA writers vote to authorize strike

  I love both shows. So this definitely caught my attention: PBS writers, including those at the locally produced NOVA and Frontline programs, are threatening to go on strike, the Globe reports.

  Teacher strikes: Raise the fines!

  Speaking of strikes, the Globe has an editorial this morning pointing out something we’ve also pointed out (see ‘Aren’t teacher strikes supposed to be illegal?’): the court fines slapped on teacher unions for holding illegal strikes are obviously not working. The fines need to be raised if they’re going to be truly effective in upholding current low. 

  Condemned buildings trend?

  First we learn, via Scott Van Voorhis, that severe structural problems have forced residents to move out of the 80-unit Riverview Condominiums in Cambridge. … Next we learn, via B&T’s Steve Adams, that an auction has been scheduled for two condemned residential high-rises in Revere. … A trend? Maybe. But the Revere woes sound more like a management problem than a structural problem. … Yes, the Revere buildings were actually condemned in August, but I only learned of the public-health action via Steve’s article.

• BU suspends PhD admissions  – 11-20-24 – Trusting Ticketmaster?

  November 20, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts:

  BU’s post-strike PhD move: A coincidence?

  Boston University isn’t officially confirming that the two issues are connected, i.e. the recent strike by BU graduate students that led to a new contract and the sudden move by the university to stop admitting PhD students in the humanities and social sciences. But Inside Higher Education is confirming that the two are connected. … Universal Hub has more.

  Higher-ed in the crosshairs, Part 2

  Speaking of higher-education, the Globe has a somewhat tardy piece on how the incoming Trump administration may well declare jihad on higher-ed. … I had a post last week on this issue.

  Launching a new higher-ed pub

  Here’s a truly random thought, sparked by the two items above: Why doesn’t the Globe, the hometown paper for so many local colleges and universities, buy Inside Higher Ed? Or start its own higher-ed digital publication, similar to how it played off of Boston’s strength as a life-science mecca to start STAT? Just thinking aloud.

  Blame Bill Clinton (and NAFTA)

  Writing at Contrarian Boston, Mark Pickering thinks you need to go way back in time to find an explanation for the Dems’ devastating election defeat earlier this month – way back to the ‘90s when President Bill Clinton first embraced NAFTA. … Until Mark reminded me, I had completely forgotten Ross Perot’s famous “giant sucking sound” quote about factory jobs shifting to Mexico if NAFTA passed. … It’s a good post by Mark.

  Lawrence’s Latino voters go Trump

  Donald Trump didn’t win a majority of Latino votes in Lawrence. But he sure made big electoral inroads with Latino voters in Lawrence. The main reason: the economy, of course.

  Further empowering Ticketmaster?

  Tucked in the just-passed $4 billion state economic development bill is a provision that consumer groups say will give an already monopolistic Ticketmaster even more monopolistic powers over ticket sales – and they’re urging Gov. Healey to put the kibosh to the measure. … I hope the critics are wrong. But I suspect their concerns are legit, based on recent notable controversies involving Ticketmaster.

  Farmer markets get OK to sell craft beer and spirits

  Here’s another provision tucked into the huge state economic development bill – a measure allowing farmer markets to sell craft beers and craft spirits. … Does Somerville’s Cossack Vodka fall into the craft spirits category? Maybe in the craft rotgut category?

  Nuclear threats, today and 40 years ago 

  With all the news about long-range missiles in Ukraine and Putin once again playing the nuclear card and with Nordic countries issuing advice on how to prepare for war, I’m reminded of the early ‘80s, when NATO moved to deploy new U.S. missiles in Europe, sparking threats from the Soviet Union, massive protests in Europe, the launch of the nuclear-freeze movement and the famous “The Day After” anti-nukes movie. … The fears 40 years ago turned out to be misplaced. Hopefully, they’re misplaced today as well. … Hopefully. … 

• Return-to-office distrust – 11-19-24 – Physicians of the world, unite! 

  November 19, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – It’s more like semi-semi-random thoughts today. Here goes:

  Is distrust driving return-to-office orders?

  Employers like to say they want workers to return to work because productivity and teamwork have suffered as a result of remote work. But what some employers are not saying is that they also flat-out don’t trust their employees to put in a solid day’s worth of work without bosses watching them like hawks. … At least for some, it’s a control-freak thing as well as a productivity and teamwork thing. … The Globe’s Jon Chesto has more.

  MGB physicians want to unionize

  The strongest evidence yet that our health care system is totally dysfunctional: MGB primary care physicians want to join a union. Yes, physicians. You know, the types who way back when belonged to exclusive country clubs, drove tacky yellow Mercedes, lived in affluent Peyton Place-like towns and neighborhoods, tended to vote Republican, and were preyed upon by stock brokers who sensed their complete ignorance of finances.

  It’s the working-class, stupid

  Another story, this time via the NYT, on how Dems have really blown it with the working-class, particularly the minority working-class.

  A national emergency?

  Do you feel like there’s a national emergency out there requiring the intervention of the U.S. military in domestic affairs? I didn’t think so. … But Trump confirms he’s going to declare an emergency anyway due to the hordes of illegal aliens mowing our lawns, stocking our supermarket shelves, driving our delivery trucks and, unforgivably, opening one too many hair salons. It’s an emergency!

  Healey is acting like a governor, not an AG

  Anthony Brooks at ‘BUR reports how Maura Healey’s more tempered response to Trump II may be tied to the nature of her new job as governor. I suspected roughly the same thing a few weeks ago (see ‘Maura Healey, the non-heretic’), but Brooks says it better.

  Misguided missile decision

  It’s a bad decision. Needlessly provocative. That’s my armchair-general take on Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike deeper inside Russia. How much of a difference can the new policy make if Trump likely reverses the decision in January? … A reader writes “WTF!” in response to a WSJ report that Ukraine has already launched a missile attack against a Russian ammo depot.

  Trump’s ‘flood-the-zone’ tactic

  The other day I wrote about the ‘drone-attack’ theory of Trump’s awful wave of cabinet picks. The Times is referring to it as the “flood-the-zone approach.” Same difference. 

  BlueHub Capital’s ‘get out of jail free’ card

  Bruce Marks is blasting the legislature’s nicey-nice provision tucked into the massive economic development bill that effectively gives BlueHub Capital, a community development company accused of being as predatory as they come, an exemption from the state consumer protection statutes. It’s essentially a “get out of jail free” card for the firm, Marks argues. … The politically wired BlueHub Capital is putting Gov. Healey in an uncomfortable spot.

  The mystery of a WWI doughboy’s death

  The best feature story of the week. Very sad, very moving.

  Thomas Alperin and Greg Bialecki, RIP

  The Boston business community suffered a double blow last week with the deaths of Thomas Alperin, the co-founder of National Development, and Greg Bialecki, the former economic and housing chief under Gov. Deval Patrick. They’ve both left a truly lasting impact on the development industry in Massachusetts. … B&T’s Steve Adams and the BBJ’s Greg Ryan have the sad details.

• How to thwart Trump’s patronage grab – 11-18-24 – Moulton vs Healey

  November 18, 2024

  As thousands of area federal workers worry about their jobs under a second Trump term, here’s one possible way to thwart right-wing plans to change civil service rules to give the president more leeway to hire and fire government employees: Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois. … I’ll get to the significance of that legal ruling in a minute. But first, let’s be clear: Trump’s determination to control who’s hired and fired within the federal bureaucracy may be immediately driven by a combination of control-freak and ideological factors. But when you get right down to it, it’s also a blatant patronage grab that, if successful, will extend political patronage deep into the federal workforce for years to come, long after Trump has left the scene. … As for Rutan v. Republican Party, I was a Statehouse reporter in Illinois when news of the anti-patronage ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court came down – and it hit like a thunderclap. Most everyone who thinks of patronage in Illinois thinks of Chicago, as in the “Chicago way” of dispensing the spoils of government (patronage jobs, no-bid government contracts to campaign donors etc.). But what most people don’t realize is that the suburban/downstate Republican patronage machine was just as bad, if not worse, as anything in Chicago. Patronage was so blatant in the GOP-controlled state government that SCOTUS ruled that the vast system of hiring, firing, promoting and demoting state workers based on their party affiliation and loyalties violated their constitutional First Amendment rights. The Rutan ruling allowed incoming elected officials to make top management-level changes at agencies in order to influence policy direction. But non-policy-making employees were protected. … The 5-4 Rutan ruling was controversial at the time. But as far as I know, it’s still the law of the land, although a much-ignored law of the land. It could be an important legal tool to combat the truly awful bad-government plan to cripple the federal civil-service system. … Fyi: I was co-author of a book – Illinois for Sale: Do Campaign Contributions Buy Influence? – that was based on years of reporting on Illinois government by journalists at the State Journal-Register. Among other awards, we won a George Polk Award for best political reporting in the nation for our “Cash Transactions” series on hundreds of millions of dollars in Illinois contracts going to political cronies.

  Moulton: Healey ‘out of step’ with most Americans

  U.S, Rep. Seth Moulton and Gov. Maura Healey are trading minor broadsides against each other over Moulton’s post-election trans-athletes comments. … I hadn’t known Healey weighed in on the matter till I read the NYT piece. Her “playing politics with people” comments can be found here. … The Washington Post is backing Moulton, btw. … Jake Auchincloss does and doesn’t have Moulton’s back, it seems.

  Boxing’s new low

  I didn’t think the sport of boxing could sink any lower. But it did over the weekend with the pathetic Jake Paul-Mike Tyson “fight” in Texas. … What did booing fans expect? A true fight involving a 58-year-old has-been? …  Fyi: George Foreman was 38 when he made his historic boxing comeback. 

  A retail vacancy tax?

  I’m not sure those pushing the idea of a local ‘vacancy tax’ on landlords with long-empty storefronts, as the Globe reports, should point to San Francisco as a city that Boston should be emulating. Bay Area voters are pretty angry these days. … Still, some landlords really do need a kick in the butt. Too many of them have given up on the neighborhoods where they own property, becoming zombie landlords in the process.

  Massachusetts ‘exurbs’

  Does Massachusetts have its own ‘exurbs,’ similar to what’s described in this interesting AP story ? Not exactly. But the state does have variations of exurbs – or areas just outside or in between major metro areas where people have recently flocked for affordability reasons – in central and southeast Massachusetts, based on this list of fast-growing communities in the state. … I recently drove through Lancaster for the first time – and I was pleasantly surprised by its rural beauty so close to 495. … By pure coincidence, a friend emailed me the other day on housing-related matters in general: “I am not sure how my young colleagues deal with cost of living but know that flexible work policies have enabled them to move even further out than they were doing a decade ago (Worcester, Southeastern Mass communities like Easton), i.e. out of Massachusetts.” … Hmm. Maybe everything outside Massachusetts is our equivalent of exurbs.

• Healey’s balancing act – 11-16-24 – Trump’s ‘drone attack’ picks

  November 16, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts — Even though it’s not clear why she’s resisting the resistance, I kind of admire Gov. Maura Healey’s initial decision not to join the new Governors Safeguarding Democracy, launched by the Democratic governors of Illinois and Colorado to confront the “dangers of authoritarianism” posed by a second Trump administration. … It sounds so dramatic. Too dramatic. And maybe that’s why Healey, a fellow Democrat who’s tangled with Trump in the past, hasn’t joined Governors Safeguarding Democracy, perhaps figuring the political theatrics are a bit too ham-handed even for a proven Trump critic. Or maybe it’s just pure political survival instincts on Healey’s part, considering the slight rightward shift of the Mass. electorate on Nov. 5. Or maybe she meant it when she struck a conciliatory tone after last week’s big election win by Trump, calling it a “time to come together” and promising to be a voice for everyone, including Trump supporters, etc, etc.. … Whatever her reasons, a more balanced, deliberate opposition to Trump this time around might be in order. Reject Trump’s crazy cabinet picks? Definitely. Make principled stands against onerous policy proposals? Of course. Steadfastly defend democratic norms? Without hesitation. But running around with your hair on fire screaming “fascist” every time he says or does something outrageous? Been there, done that. Doesn’t work. … I’m with Peggy Noonan, who’s more than a little gobsmacked by the appallingly awful quality of Trump’s nominees. But she’s also not buying into U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s call to crank up the outrage machine. … I don’t agree with Conor Friedersdorf ‘s call for “treating Trump like a normal president.” He’s anything but normal. He’s abnormal. And he loves smashing the norms. But I do like the sentiments behind this Friedersdorf line: “Unaligned Americans who don’t even like Trump are tired of being browbeaten for not hating him enough.” … The NYT has a piece on why the resistance movement in New York just won’t be the same as it was during the first Trump term. … Back to Healey, she’s emerging as more of a pragmatic progressive, not a purist-driven progressive, and that’s fine with me. It’s a topic I touched upon just prior to the election

  Single-issue Dems go after Moulton 

  On one hand, proponents of trans-athlete rights say biological boys playing girls sports isn’t a big deal, since there are so few instances of it happening. On the other hand, they go berserk when someone questions trans-athlete polices and vow to find a challenger to run against him in the 2026. … So it really is a big deal to them. 

  Et tu, Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch?

  Two other members of the state’s Congressional delegation are questioning the Democratic Party’s stands on various cultural issues. Good for them. … To stress: the  economy was indeed the top issue last week. But there were other issues at play too.

  Trump’s ‘drone attack’ picks

  A friend of mine had an interesting way to describe Trump’s bizarre nominee picks of late (Gaetz, Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr. etc.), and I’m paraphrasing him: Trump’s flurry of picks is like a massive drone attack. Trump would love it if all of them hit their target, but he knows some of them will get shot down. That’s OK. They’re expendable. Just as long as some of them get approved. Then he can later browbeat the Senate for shooting down some of his nominees, wearing down their defenses for the second wave attack to come. … The Globe’s James Pindell tries to come up with rational explanations for the irrational nominations. … I’m sticking with the drone-attack theory. … I liked Scot Lehigh’s line: “Only the real Trump would have nominated Matt Gaetz for attorney general.”

  Stop & Shop’s empty shelves

  Stop & Shop is sucking wind these days, closing stores and losing market share. And now many of its store shelves are empty due to a recent cyberattack that disrupted its supply-chain operations. WBUR has the details. … The company can’t get a break these days, it seems. 

  Housing market collapse?

  Contrarian Boston’s Scott Van Voorhis this past week hosted one of the best discussions I’ve heard yet on the housing crisis in Massachusetts, led by Cabot Cabot & Forbes’s Jay Doherty, who warned that the housing crisis has actually risen to the level of an emergency that will only get worse, in terms of home prices and rents, over the next few years. … He also warned of an industry collapse in terms of fewer workers entering the trades due to lack of construction work. … As I told Scott after his conference, I wish key state leaders would watch a video copy of the conference. It really conveyed how much more support the state needs to provide in order to move the needle on new housing.

  Bruce Mohl’s legacy 

  James Aloisi praises Bruce Mohl’s long tenure as editor of CommonWealth Beacon. And Mohl, who retired earlier this month, richly deserves that praise and more. His journalistic legacy: turning an obscure, wonkish, nonprofit print magazine into a highly respected and widely read publication covering mostly state and local politics and public-policy issues. … Not a bad journalistic legacy. Not bad at all. … P.S. – As a former energy reporter at the Boston Herald, I can say no one covered local energy issues better than Bruce. He wasn’t just a top-notch editor. He was a top-notch reporter too. 

• Higher-ed in the crosshairs – 11-14-24 – Wu vulnerable? — ‘Blanket extension’

  November 14, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – Now is probably not a good time for a university official to be picking a fight with a member of Congress, particularly a Congressman who’s normally on their side, for higher-ed is soon going to need all the help it can get. The NYT has a big story on how higher-ed institutions, which have an outsized presence here in Massachusetts, are bracing for a possible all-out GOP assault on colleges and universities – with potential battles over student-loan policies, endowment taxes, DEI initiatives, research grants, lack of campus ideological diversity, trans-athletes, student protests, etc., etc.  The Chronicle of Higher Education has even dedicated an entire section to what might happen to colleges and universities under a second Trump term. … And what’s David Art, head of Tufts University’s political science department, doing? Playing to type as the out-of-touch Ivory Tower ideologue, he’s threatening to block student internships with U.S. Seth Moulton because the Democratic Moulton dared to criticize trans-athlete policies. Art and Tufts are now in full retreat, thanks to the Globe’s Carine Hajjar’s dogged pursuit of a good story that should never have been a story. … Art’s antics are not exactly the type of academic atonement that David W. Blight’s talking about in this NYT op-ed (“Universities Like Yale Need a Reckoning”) … Blight sort of undercuts his credibility by referring to “alleged leftist ideological purity” on campuses. Alleged? Maybe someone should email Hajjar’s column to him. … But let’s end this post on a positive note about Tufts, i.e. Tufts math professor Loring Tu’s generous gift to the university, as the Globe’s Jon Chesto reports.

  Pete Hegseth – the latest Ivy League populist

  Speaking of academia, did you know that the rough-and-tough, man-of-the-people Pete Hegseth, the Fox News blabbermouth who Trump has picked to head DoD, graduated from Princeton and got a grad degree from Harvard JFK? … You just knew there had to be a Massachusetts angle. … U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the former Harvard Law School professor, is vowing to go after the Harvard grad. … Donald Trump, JD Vance, Ted Cruz, etc. All of them Ivy League populists. … A graduate of St. George’s School, Tucker Carlson is more of a preppy populist, fyi. 

  Connecting the Trump and Wu dots

  Speaking of finding a Massachusetts angle to a national story, the Globe’s Shirley Leung assesses whether last week’s presidential race might have an impact on … the Boston mayoral race? Really? The Boston mayoral race? … I know there was a rightward shift in Boston voting last week. But not that big of a shift. … I suppose I could be wrong. I did predict Kamala Harris would win last week , after all.

  Reporters in their elements 

  These are golden days for reporters who love hectic news days. Check out this Globe story on all the crazy news breaking yesterday in Washington D.C. Great reporting. They’re in their element. … Matt Gaetz as AG? Yeah, that Matt Gaetz. He resigned from the House one step ahead of the ethics committee posse. … Hopefully, a committee staff member has a copy of the report in case the GOP tries to bury it. 

  Mass. economy doing just fine

  The jobs picture is a little concerning. But a new Mass Benchmarks report, via the UMass Donahue Institute, nevertheless says the state’s economy continues to grow at a decent clip and should continue to do so in the fourth quarter.

  Developers win ‘blanket extension’ 

  I don’t recall ever seeing something like this before. The BBJ’s Greg Ryan reports that tucked into the $4 billion state economic development bill is a provision that extends approvals for building projects and other permits by two years statewide. Ryan refers to it as a “blanket extension” designed to give developers more time to line up financing now that interest rates are starting to fall. … I guess it’s a good idea. It’s streamling the process. It’s definitely interesting.

• Buttigieg: Back to basics – 11-13-24 –  The Generals Purge — ‘BlueAnon’

  November 13, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – He sounds like a former mayor –- and that’s a good thing. He also sounds like a presidential candidate – and that’s not so good for those still recovering from last week’s election. We’re talking, of course, about Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana mayor, ex-presidential candidate and current Biden administration cabinet member who was back at Harvard yesterday to give his own views on last week’s election debacle for Dems. Basically, he talked about Democrats getting back to the basics, focusing on issues that really matter to voters, or “politics of the everyday,” as he put, sounding like a former mayor who has actually had to deliver basic services to constituents. … Buttigieg definitely has an appealing, down-to-earth way of talking to people, though it’s a little ironic his call for a more common-sense approach to politics was made at the most elite of all elite institutions. … I liked grad student Hannah Wang’s reaction to Buttigieg’s talk. It’s dawned on her, post-election, that she really has been living in an academic bubble. … OK, now that we’re on the subject of post-election lessons for Dems, I might as well unload here some of my favorite post-election headlines of late, all of them shamelessly reflecting my pre-conceived notions of what the hell happened last week. From The Atlantic: “The HR-ification of the Democratic Party.” … That’s a good headline. But this one’s better, from Rolling Stone via Yahoo: “BlueAnon conspiracy theories explode as libs confront another Trump term.”  Note: There’s not nearly as many BlueAnons out there as QAnons. But still … Back to The Atlantic, where Tim Miller, a GOP strategist, gives his views on why Dems lost. His main observation: “The Democratic message is not landing outside” it’s demographic bubble of “middle- to upper-income, college-educated, not particularly religious, urban- and suburban-dwelling white Americans.”

  Purging the generals?

  No sooner do I downplay Donald Trump’s threats to retaliate against his political enemies (see my comments today over at Contrarian Boston), along comes news that Trump may be angling to purge U.S. military generals he deems unfit for duty. The purge is still only a proposed executive order, as reported by the WSJ, and the president, as commander in chief, does have the authority to promote and dismiss generals. But Trump has also made clear he opposes the alleged “woke” attitude at the Pentagon and he’s talked of using the military to put down domestic disturbances, and so all of this is rather unnerving talk.

  Update – Trump’s pick as the new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, only deeps concerns of a coming purge.

  Rushing ammo to Ukraine, ASAP

  Speaking of military matters, Anne Applebaum raises a good point: Before Trump is sworn in, the Biden administration has only a few weeks to deliver critical military supplies that Ukraine desperately needs to keep fighting. … She also notes that Trump’s team may find it harder than they think to broker a cease fire in Ukraine. The reason: Putin wants a clear victory on his terms. 

  That old ‘surplus land’ solution 

  The Boston Foundation is the latest entity to propose that surplus government land be used for future housing. … It’s a nice idea. But it’s an old idea that seems to work only on paper. The fact is the old ‘surplus land’ idea usually faces a number of obstacles, not least that old nemesis of new housing: local governments.

  Everett soccer stadium

  The legislature is poised to pass a $4 billion economic development package that includes a provision that clears a path for a new soccer stadium for the New England Revolution across the street from the Encore Boston Harbor casino in Everett. But there’s a catch: the Kraft family, owner of the Revs, must still negotiate community impact agreements with Everett and Boston. I.e., it’s legal shakedown time. Details at GBH and the Globe.

  Aren’t teacher strikes supposed to be illegal? 

  Yes, they are. But teacher unions know they’ll only get slapped on the wrist with fines they they can afford. So they’re increasingly resorting to strikes these days, such as the current teacher strikes in Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead. … Mary Bourque and Glenn Koocher are no fans of the illegal strikes, that’s for sure.