Month: November 2024

• The latest anti-housing tactics – 11-12-24 – A Ground Round comeback

  November 12, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – We’re reaching the whack-a-mole stage of the housing debate in Massachusetts, to wit: no matter what the state does to promote new housing, towns will find a way to get around it. Two stories this morning make this point. At Banker & Tradesman, Steve Adams reports some towns are now deliberately selecting “undesirable parcels” of land for future development, knowing full well the properties are unfit for future development. The maneuver allows towns to say they’re technically complying with the state’s pro-housing MBTA Communities law while obviously not complying with it in spirit. “We have tried to put forward a plan that is not going to add housing in the near term: five years, 10 years, 15 years, even 20,” Hopkinton Planning Board Chair Robert Benson boasted at a recent public hearing on new zoning districts tied to the MBTA Communities Act, as Adams reports. … Meanwhile, there’s this from Contrarian Boston’s Scott Van Voorhis: “More than a dozen towns have shelled out a total of more than $50 million to buy up dilapidated buildings and other properties in order to head off plans for new housing development, a new report by the Boston Foundation finds.” … And so it goes. The relentless game of whack-a-mole. 

  Btw: Check out Lew Sichelman’s piece at B&T about the millions of “zombie homes” that are still sitting vacant long after the 2008 financial crisis.

  The Moulton Affair

  In a Globe op-ed, critics of U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s recent trans-athletes comments make an excellent point: Don’t lose track of the fact that it was primarily the economy and working-class discontent that led to Donald Trump’s big win last week. … And I admit: I’m guilty of lately of losing track of that central fact. My bad. … But (and you knew a ‘but’ was coming) the suggestion that trans-related issues had little or no impact on the election is simply ludicrous. We saw what we saw, i.e. Trump’s anti-trans ads. The NYT reports the ads “shifted the race 2.7 percentage points in Mr. Trump’s favor.” And as the Globe’s Joan Vennochi notes, data from an AP VoteCast survey found that half of American voters overall, and eight in 10 Trump voters, “said support for transgender rights in government and society had gone ‘too far.’” … Speaking of Vennochi, the headline on her latest column: “Seth Moulton is right about need to talk about trans rights.” … Meanwhile, from the non-right-wing The Atlantic: “The Democrats Need an Honest Conversation on Gender Identity.” … Bottom line: there’s simply a lot of non-right-wing people who happen to agree with Moulton’s concerns about trans-athletes. …  Enough. I’m getting tired of the subject. I must sound like a broken record. 

  ‘The Politics of Inflation’

  Speaking of the economy and last week’s election, the New Yorker’s John Cassidy reviews what the Biden administration could and couldn’t do about inflation, by far voters’ biggest gripe last week. One thing is clear: the Biden folks consistently underestimated how much Americans hate inflation. Biden’s team was thinking in terms of jobs, jobs, jobs, as Cassidy notes. But it was actually prices, prices, prices on the minds of Americans. … As for Dems losing the economic argument in general, a friend of mine noted after the election that Biden’s age and health clearly limited his ability to barnstorm the country to tout his economic achievements. A president’s greatest communications tool, the bully pulpit, was rendered useless under Biden, my friend noted.

  ‘The Politics of Inflation,’ Part 2 – A reader sent in the following: “From Blueprint2024, a Democratic pollster group, a detailed and interesting chart on Reasons Voters Did Not Choose Harris: Why America Chose Trump: Inflation, Immigration, and the Democratic Brand – Blueprint. Very strong consistency on top 2 reasons – Inflation and Immigration – across several demographics. More variation on Reason 3 – cultural issues – with Swing Voters resonating the most.”   

  Ground Round, the ultimate comeback?

  They’re bringing back the old Ground Round restaurant after 20 years, MassLive reports. … We’re talking serious nostalgia here. … Now if they can only bring back Route 9’s Mr. Hamburg. 

  Northeastern stands up for legacy preferences

  This is interesting. From Universal Hub: “California now has a law that bans colleges from giving prospective students any sort of legacy preference. But the Huntington News reports Northeastern is continuing to consider legacy status as part of a ‘holistic’  view of applicants because it’s based in Massachusetts.” … I’m not opposed to non-monetary forms of legacy preferences. Schools should value family loyalties to an institution, as long as kids are academically qualified to get into institutions. But when it comes to throwing millions of dollars at a school to get dumb-as-rocks Johnny admitted, well, that’s a different matter.

• The Healey model for Dems? – 11-11-24 – Military anxieties

  November 11, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – Before jumping into politics, business and other topics, don’t forget today is Veterans Day, a state and national holiday, and here’s a fitting Globe story on Shirley’s Joe Landry, a WWII veteran who just recently celebrated his 100^th birthday. … It’s still hard to believe there are so few WWII vets left. They were so much a part of my Baby Boomer youth, with many of my friends’ fathers having served in the war. … Speaking of the military, this is a very disturbing story about how some in the military are quietly discussing amongst themselves what they can and should do if Trump orders them to put down any domestic disturbances he deems a threat. … Potential military interference in internal domestic affairs was precisely why the Founding Fathers wanted a small standing army in America. Now Trump may ask the military to do just that — interfere in internal domestic affairs. Something to think about on this Veterans Day… And here’s an excellent WSJ story about how Ukraine’s tech nerds are changing the face of warfare via drones, which can now literally hunt down enemies hiding in outhouses or gathering in abandoned school auditoriums. Remember that Israeli drone video of the last moments of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s life? That’s what’s happening each and every day and hour in Ukraine — to much deadlier and gruesome effects. The WSJ piece (sub. required) is one of the most up-close, graphic articles I’ve read about the war in Ukraine. … Yes, this isn’t a day to contemplate the deeds and sacrifices of the Ukrainian military. But the Ukrainians are fighting the good fight, and so …. 

  Healey’s approach

  The Herald’s Howie Carr and Peter Lucas have pulled out their old and tired conservative punditry playbooks for beating up liberals, this time going after Gov. Maura Healey over her I-won’t-cooperate-with-Trump stance on future immigration matters and other issues. But I much prefer  Liam Kerr’s take at CommonWealth Beacon on how Healey has actually tried to steer away from far-left purity tests since 2022 and how Dems might learn from that approach after this past week’s election debacle. … Healey seems to understand, unlike many of today’s progressives, that politics is about addition, not subtraction, and that purity tests actually hurt more than they help party interests, as Kerr notes.

  Making Moulton’s point

  Speaking of purity tests, it’s pretty amazing to watch the Dem IP establishment in Massachusetts rising up against U.S. Rep.  Seth Moulton, who had the gall to say he didn’t agree with the new trans-athlete orthodoxy of the party. … His former office interns are lining up against him? What next? High-school student protests (organized by the purist adults, of course)? … Question: Is Steve Kerrigan chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party or the Massachusetts Progressive Democratic Party? He’s acting like the latter, i.e. an enforcer of purity tests. Not exactly a big-tent approach to building the party amid a slight rightward shift in the state electorate. … Heretic alert! From Maureen Dowd : “Democrats learned the hard way in this election that mothers care both about abortion rights and having their daughters compete fairly and safely on the playing field.” … Oh, no. Another heretic! Nicholas Kristof, shame on you. … Maybe Kerrigan can organize a local boycott of the NYT.

  Bernie leaves something out

  You may have seen this call-to-arms Globe op-ed over the weekend by Bernie Sanders, who, rightly, says Dems need to focus more on the concerns of the working-class. But something’s missing in the op-ed. Can you spot its absence? … There’s no mention of “identity politics,” in contrast to his prior criticism of IP politics in the same NYT story that’s gotten Moulton in so much trouble with the purist police. … Fearless Bernie? Not really.

  NIH cuts in his sights

  I wrote over the weekend about how Trump’s tariff policies might impact Massachusetts manufacturers (see post immediately below). And the Globe had a good piece on how future Trump policies could negatively hit the state’s emerging clean-energy sector. And now along comes STAT with a timely article on the widespread nervousness among medical researchers about probable coming budget cuts at the National Institutes of Health. … Needless to say, major NIH cuts would have a major impact on Boston-area  teaching hospitals and other medical researchers.

• Coming tariff wars – 11-9-25 – ‘It’s a nice idea on paper’

  November 9, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts – Enough with politics! Let’s talk about the … political economy? Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to slap tariffs (i.e. taxes) on imported goods from overseas, in an attempt to protect and promote manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. Believe it or not, this is going to be a big deal in Massachusetts. Manufacturing has been in decline for a long time in the Bay State, but it’s still a critical part of our economy, employing nearly a quarter of a million people and accounting for just under 10 percent of the total state output. If Trump’s tariffs work as planned (and that’s a big ‘if’), it could help firms that produce products here by making their prices more competitive against imported goods. … But tariffs could hurt local companies that have factories overseas, increasing their costs of shipping products back to the U.S. No news (yet) on local Massachusetts companies scrambling in anticipation of likely tariff hits. But Bloomberg and the NYT report some tariff-sensitive firms around the country are already making plans to exit China. …

  Here’s the thing: Exiting a country targeted for tariffs is easier said than done, or, as one business person told the Times: ‘‘It’s a nice idea on paper.” The problem is supply chains. Relocating an overseas factory is an expensive and complicated undertaking in and of itself. But it also has to be done in close coordination with plant suppliers. No suppliers, no functioning factories. … And there’s no guarantee U.S. manufacturers will bring jobs back to America. They may opt to move from one low-cost country to another, such as from China to Vietnam. … The guy to watch in all of this: Protectionist guru Robert Lighthizer, who may or may not return as trade chief in a second Trump administration. Btw: He’s a lawyer, not an economist. Make of that what you will. … The local organization to watch re tariffs: Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state’s most powerful business group and whose membership has historically been dominated by manufacturers.

  Seth Moulton, the heretic, Part II 

  He’s not backing down from his criticism of identity politics and trans athletes, blasting ‘purity test’ politics, etc. And the IP establishment in Massachusetts is politically doing what it does best: denouncing and trying to silence the heretic. … 

  Maura Healey, the non-heretic

  She kind of had to say it, if only to be consistent on State Police not cooperating with fed arrests of immigrants. But she doesn’t sound too excited about saying it. That’s just my impression. … Don’t forget her GOP predecessor, Charlie Baker, also had to walk a fine line between his duties as governor and dislike of Trump. A governor has to keep the lines open to the White House while opposing many White House policies. … Joe Battenfeld previews the tired back-to-the-future immigrant arguments we’ll be hearing a lot in coming years. … It already feels like Trump never left the White House, doesn’t it? …

  ‘Preconceived notions’ of blame 

  I’m guilty. I admit it. As you might have guessed, I’m definitely one of those people whose analysis of what went wrong for Dems on Tuesday – and how they can win moving forward — just so happens to “fit neatly into their preconceived notions,” as a NYT article recently put it. … So with full acknowledgment of my preconceived notions of who is to blame for Tuesday, I can honestly say I absolutely loved the headlines on the following pieces. From The Atlantic: “What the Left Keeps Getting Wrong.” … From the NYT: “‘It’s Time to Resist the Resistance.” … From the Washington Post: “Democrats’ three big mistakes.” ‘

  ‘Biden’s legacy is Trump II’

  Still on the subject of blame: Nancy Pelosi is partly blaming Harris’s big loss on Biden’s tardy exit from the race. But a friend of mine said it better in an email the morning after the election: “Biden’s legacy is Trump II: ‘The Revenge Tour!’” … Don’t miss Andrew Sullivan’s brutal takedown of Biden.

• 11 – 8 – 24 – Did Americans embrace or overlook Trump’s authoritarianism? 

  November 8, 2024

  Today’s semi-random thoughts: … I get it. Donald Trump is authoritarian. And I believe he has fascist-like instincts and desires. January 6 was unforgettable and unforgiveable. He’s a natural strongman who loves other strongmen. All of this and more is why I voted against him. As a result, I agree with Thomas Edsall and Scot Lehigh and others concerned about the threat to democracy that a second Trump administration poses. But I’m not so sure about their assertion/presumption that many Americans on Tuesday embraced Trump’s authoritarianism, as if that was their first and primary goal on election day. Some of Trump’s supporters clearly favor strongman government. But Damon Linker at the Times lays out a convincing case why other issues, primarily economic issues, played key roles in Trump’s triumph this week. And they’re issues dating back years, long before Trump famously descended the escalator at Trump Tower in 2015, suggesting many voters on Tuesday were mostly tolerating and/or overlooking Trump’s authoritarianism in order to address longstanding complaints ignored and dismissed by GOP and Dem establishment types.  … A true tangenital random thought: ever since armchair historians repeatedly cited Munich 1938 as a rationale for going to war against Iraq in 2003, I’ve generally despised Hitler analogies. But Adolf analogies are back in vogue these days. So here’s my own Hitler analogy to counter Hitler analogies: His rise to power was propelled by the economic unrest and chaos caused by the Great Depression. … I.e.: It’s the economy, stupid. … Maybe BC’s Heather Cox Richardson can address this historical fascist fact in a future newsletter, as a sort of follow-up to her excellent post on fascism in late October. … Bottom line: Dems need to focus on the underlying issues that have made Donald Trump’s rise to power possible. And it’s primarily economic issues. Dems can and should warn people about fascism. But just screaming “fascism” isn’t enough. …

  Bernie vs Identity Politics

  And speaking of economic issues, Bernie Sanders is openly taking on progressives of the identity-politics persuasion. From Bernie, via the NYT, on the causes of Tuesday’s Dem defeat: “It’s not just Kamala. …. It’s a Democratic Party which increasingly has become a party of identity politics, rather than understanding that the vast majority of people in this country are working class. This trend of workers leaving the Democratic Party started with whites, and it has accelerated to Latinos and Blacks.” … And count David Brooks among those (including yours truly) with a newfound respect for some of Bernie’s views: “I’m a moderate. I like it when Democratic candidates run to the center. But I have to confess that Harris did that pretty effectively and it didn’t work. Maybe the Democrats have to embrace a Bernie Sanders-style disruption — something that will make people like me feel uncomfortable.” … Again, I’m no big fan of Bernie’s socialist solutions. But he’s on the right track by focusing on issues of importance to the working-class (and middle-class, for that matter). … Here’s more evidence that the identity-politics approach to elections — i.e. oppressed ethnic and gender minority groups banding together in a glorious monolithic voting bloc to defeat the unrighteous — is in shambles today. It seems a lot of bloc members bolted the bloc. 

  Update – Ruy Teixeira on the ‘shattering of the Democratic coalition.’

  Seth Moulton, heretic

  And speaking of identity politics, Rep. Seth Moulton has dared to question a party orthodoxy related to trans people participating in women’s sports. And the IP establishment is hitting back. No dissension can be tolerated! … Believe it or not, there really is room for compromise on some trans-rights issues, as the The Atlantic recently reported. … File under: ‘Social extremism’? 

  Update – Identity-politics ideologues in the Democratic Party currently have power. And they’re not going to give it up easily. Exhibit A: The counter-pushback to U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s post-election pushback against trans athletes and assertions Dems need to change tack on social issues. … They really are treating Moulton like a heretic.

  Cool energy technology

  Bruce Mohl’s latest off-the-beaten-track energy story at CommonWealth Beacon: “Wellesley battery expected to save town $8m a year.” … The battery is owned by Citizens Energy Corp. Yeah, that Citizens Energy Corp. Good for Joe.

  Is the MBTA Communities housing law working?

  In terms of generating interest and proposals for new housing projects, the MBTA Communities law seems to be working. But in terms of actual housing being built, the jury is still out. Local governments are still local governments, after all. The BBJ’s Greg Ryan has more.  … Btw: Scott Van Voorhis’s excellent Contrarian Boston will be soon hosting an online housing conference. Check it out. I’ve already signed up to digitally attend.

• And don’t forget ‘social extremism’

  November 7, 2024

  Yes, it was mostly about the economy, stupid. But Lisa Selin Davis writes at the Globe that there was a lot of moderate-left dissension over other issues on Tuesday, such as ‘social extremism’ and the intraparty silence surrounding it: “Just like the spineless Republicans who found Trump dangerous and distracting but didn’t oppose him, there are Democratic politicians who don’t support the party line on social issues and toed it anyway.”

• Blue-state bubble blues … 11-7-24 … Post-election thoughts

  November 7, 2024

  Random post-election thoughts: … Still a little numb after Tuesday’s drubbing. And still can’t believe I got my Kamala-victory prediction so wrong. I really do live in a blue-state bubble. … Yesterday’s local blue-state-bubble of all bubbles: GBH’s Boston Public Radio show with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan. In one segment (and not the Doris Kearns Goodwin segment) there was little or no conceding that the Trumpsters might have some valid points. No conceding that bubble inhabitants might be wrong here and there. It was mostly about Trumpster racisim/misogyny/fascism etc. etc. … Then again, it’s hard not to find fault with those who think Trump  and Tony Hinchcliffe’s racist/misogynist/authoritarian appeals and jokes are actually funny. … So many contradictions and nuances to sort out! … Gov. Maura Healey has at least one foot outside the bubble: “Economic Concerns Drove Shift to Trump, Healey says.” … My thoughts exactly, via Shirley Leung:  “I thought women would save us from another Trump presidency. I was wrong.” …  

  Newfound respect: Bernie Sanders

  As I’ve previously noted (see posts below), Bernie Sanders is more of a classical progressive who believes class matters in politics, unlike the more modern identity-politics/woke progressives whose ideological theory that race/gender/sexual orientation ultimately glom together into an single, unstoppable and righteous voting bloc just got blown out of the water Tuesday. … What percentage of Latinos voted for Trump on Tuesday? Oh, that’s right. 45 percent. … They can’t all be upset with ‘Latinx,’ can they? …  Back to Bernie: Still don’t agree with many of socialist Bernie’s solutions to Dems’ working-class-voter woes. But he’s on the right track in identifying the working-class-voter problem. …

  Do I dare?

  Hmm. Should I or shouldn’t I? Re: re-subscribe to Andrew Sullivan’s newsletter. He did call Tuesday’s general results in a Sunday London Times column. It’s a devastating piece on ultimately Biden’s (not Harris’s) political miscalculations. …

  No surprise: Fox News was insufferable yesterday

  The folks at Fox News yesterday were actually complaining that Harris took too long to concede the election. You see, it wasn’t good form. It lacked class, blah, blah, blah. All this from shameless network backers of a certain presidential candidate who spent the past four years refusing to concede the 2020 election. …

  I’m blaming Ann Selzer

  After writing the post below on the Ann Selzer/Iowa poll, I wondered: Was she, consciously or unconsciously, trying to gin up last-minute momentum and enthusiasm for Harris with the surprise last-minute poll results? Hidden biases work in wonderous ways, after all. … Hey, I gotta find someone to blame for my lousy Harris-wins prediction.

  Switching to state political news

  Massachusetts Republicans made a handful of gains yesterday? Really? Massachusetts Republicans? It’ not exactly a political tsunami, but it’s probably enough to justify a small GOP victory lap. … Question 2 passed – and you have to wonder why referendum opponents didn’t start airing ads earlier. The pro-Question 2 commercials were quite powerful and needed a response, pronto. But there was no major anti-Question 2 response for weeks on end. … What will the legislature do with the Q2 results? Perhaps require MCAS graduation tests to proceed as usual, but not use the results to ban anyone from graduating? If legally possible, it might be a clever way of abiding by Tuesday’s referendum results while still using MCAS graduation tests as ways to measure school and individual performances. … Re MCAS tests in general: I could be wrong, but I sense a backlash about the sheer number of different student tests, not with the principle behind student tests. … With the rejection of Question 5 and with Trump promising to cut taxes for restaurant workers, it might be a good time to nab a restaurant gig. Hell, I wouldn’t mind doing a no-taxes bartending shift now and then. I enjoyed bartending way back when at my old Kenmore Square and Central Square haunts. They were true dives to remember! 

• Another big election loser: The Iowa-Selzer poll

  November 6, 2024

  That Ann Selzer-Iowa poll showing Harris surging in the last days of the election? It was a little off. Like by 14 points. … The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is having a field day with the poll – and with those (similar to yours truly) who bought into its results hook, line and sinker.

• Poor Ukraine

  November 6, 2024

  Yesterday’s biggest loser: Ukraine. … Biden had his Afghan-retreat debacle. Will Trump share a similar fate with Ukraine?

• Class-oriented progressives vs identity-politics progressives

  November 6, 2024

  Thinking a little more about the same WSJ article that I linked to immediately below, the coming intraparty debate among Dems, in the wake of yesterday’s disastrous election results for the party, will eventually come down to a struggle between what type of progressive politics will prevail within the Democratic Party: old-fashioned class-oriented progressive politics, as advocated by people like Bernie Sanders, who think Dems need to stress economic issues that appeal more to working-class voters, versus identity-politics progressives, as advocated by many in academia and other college-educated/suburban types, who mostly view politics through the lens of race, gender and sexual-orientation, etc. etc. …

  Neither side is 100 percent right or wrong. It’s not a case of one or the other. But yesterday’s results clearly show that the corniest of all corny lines is true: It’s the economy, stupid, and that means a greater emphasis on economic/class issues and de-emphasis of the more radical aspects of identity-politics/cultural issues. … When you get down to it, moderate-liberals and Bernie progressives have more in common than they realize: Dems really do need to focus more on economic and class issues.

• For Dems: The soul-searching (and recriminations) begin

  November 6, 2024

  It’s begun. …