The Herald reports that Boston Globe chief executive Linda Pizzuti Henry is backing out as an investor in Boston Unity Soccer Partners, the group that wants a women’s soccer team to play at a rebuilt White Stadium in Franklin Park. … This changes the political dynamics of the White Stadium controversy. How much it changes it, I don’t know. But the women’s soccer team partnership appears to have lost a key ally in its quest to have BOS Nation play at a new White Stadium. And Mayor Wu has lost a key ally just as the battle over the ridiculously expensive White Stadium project heats up in the Boston mayoral race. …
Month: February 2025
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White Stadium update: Globe’s Linda Henry pulls out as investor in BOS Nation soccer team
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Healey housing panel: Eliminate minimum lot sizes, legalize two-family home construction across state
OK, now we’re talking real reforms. Banker & Tradesman’s Steve Adams reports that Gov. Healey’s housing panel is recommending major changes to spur construction of new housing across Massachusetts, including eliminating local minimum lot sizes for homes; allowing two-family home construction across the state; and permitting up to four housing units on lots with water and sewer service. … Contrarian Boston’s Scott Van Voorhis is calling the panel’s report “the most ambitious set of (housing) recommendations proposed by any governor in recent decades.” … Needless to say, local officials are going to go bonkers over this. No doubt about it.
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Cheering and jeering the DOGE cuts at the same time
Believe it or not, it is possible to simultaneously hate and love the DOGE cuts. Once again, Peggy Noonan explains. … I’ve definitely been a harsh critic of the cuts, probably crossing the line into a brief bout of TDS. But I’m a harsh critic largely due to the sloppy, chaotic, dishonest and arguably unconstitutional way they’ve been implemented. USAID desperately needed change, but not an effective closure that raises constitutional questions about which branch of government controls the power of the purse. The NIH and CDC cuts make no sense to me at all. But the IRS cuts sort of make sense if you view them in the context of the recent funding and hiring surge at the agency under Biden. …
Bottom line: I get what Noonan says when she notes there’s something exhilarating about seeing someone finally cutting federal spending. But there’s also something profoundly foolish, reckless and insane about the way they’re doing it.
Update – Here we go again, another highly questionable power grab, via the Post: “Trump expected to take control of USPS, fire postal board, officials say.”
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Passing the solid gold phone around the table, Part II
The Globe’s Larry Edelman is right: Wall Street investors are a rare check-and-balance against Trump policies should the economy turn south. But we’re talking about investors here, not necessarily individual corporations and capitalists. We know where they stand. … Side note: I can’t get Peggy Noonan’s brilliant Godfather II image out of mind:
“As I watched (the tech titans) at the inauguration I abstracted. It was like Elon is passing the solid gold phone to Mark Zuckerberg, who nods and passes it to Jeff Bezos, who passes it to Sam Altman, who marvels at its weight and shine.”
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‘Diet Coke theory of the Democratic Party’
The NYT’s Ezra Klein talks at length with U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss about a number of issues, including what ails the Democratic Party, starting a new city at Fort Devens or Union Point to meet the housing crisis, a new social-media ‘attention tax,’ and how foreign governments will inevitably try to enrich and bribe Donald Trump by buying up his cryptocurrency coin.
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Orwellian revisionism– and the heartbreaking betrayal of Ukraine
The NYT’s Peter Baker has a good analysis of the Orwellian-like revisionism coming out of the White House these days regarding Ukraine. … I can barely read about the subject without feeling sadness – sadness for both Ukraine and America. … Ukraine may soon lose much, if not all, of its sovereign independence. Meanwhile, an American leader has clearly broken with the ideals that have guided, if imperfectly at times, U.S. foreign policy since World War II. I grew up with those proud ideals. They’re now in shambles.
Fyi – For those who agree that Zelensky is a “dictator,” please note that Britain’s Parliament suspended general elections during WWII, only resuming them in 1945, two months after VE Day. I guess that made Winston Churchill a “dictator” too, right? … I shouldn’t even have to point this out. But there it is.
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‘Whippets’ – Flavored nitrous oxide products: now available at your local convenience stores
MassLive reports that they’re back, though packaged differently for today’s young ones, i.e. ‘whippets,’ or cannisters of whipped cream beloved by many for their quickie nitrous-oxide hits. … Brands include “Doodlez,” “Exotic Whip” and “Galaxy Gas,” legally available at some local convenience stores. … They don’t miss a beat, do they? … More on the whippets trend here.
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NBC Boston: ‘We’ve said goodbye to NECN.com’
I’m obviously not a regular visitor to NECN.com, since I only recently learned NECN.com no longer exists. The web site now directs viewers to NBC Boston. … And the slow phase out of NECN’s identity continues under current ownership. At any given hour of the day, when I click on NECN on cable, I don’t know if I’m going to get NECN, NBC Boston, NBC network, or infomercial programming etc. …
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First Ernie Boch … Now Herb Chambers … Expect more dealership changes ahead
So Herb Chambers is cashing out. He’s not the first local auto mogul to sell off a dealership and he won’t be the last. … The underlying story here is that the car dealership business is changing fast due to a number of factors — the rise of online car buying, the economies of scale that work against family-owned dealerships, succession and tax issues, etc. etc. The result: Rapid dealership consolidation.
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Biogen, CVS, RTX Corp. banish ‘diversity’ from annual filings
More corporate spinelessness. The BBJ has the details. … At a later date, there’s a good argument to be made about why certain types of DEI programs, as opposed to the ideals of DEI, should be eliminated. But for now I want to stay focused on how so many people and institutions are shamelessly kowtowing to the White House.
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