Month: July 2025

• Short takes: Mediocre design sketches … Potential Markey challengers. … Two bubbles in one

  July 6, 2025

  — Rule of thumb: when a design sketch looks mediocre at best, it’s going to look far worse in reality: “Long a drug store, this key spot on Beacon Hill could soon be apartments” (Globe)

  — It’s a smart contrarian analysis of last week’s jobs report: “American Companies Hit the Brakes on Hiring” (WSJ)

  — Two bubbles in one? “Crypto Reserve Secures Construction Bond for Chelsea Development” (B&T)

  — If Markey is successfully challenged in a primary, it’s going to come from his left, not his right: “Locked shampoo and woke politics: Will Auchincloss take on Markey?” (Globe)

  — Critics of the millionaires’ tax warned that lawmakers would eventually divert its funds to other purposes — and that process has begun: “Supplementing or supplanting? Surtax spending gets ‘complicated’” (Commonwealth Beacon)

  — If they do, they’re fools: “Will Dems re-embrace Musk now that he’s feuding with Trump?” (Herald)

  — Couldn’t agree more: “NBA’s punitive CBA has killed the thrill of the championship climb” (Globe) 

  — A Hollywood legend finds his roots: “Actor Kurt Russell visits MA home of ancestor who played a pivotal role in the American Revolution” (7News Boston)

  — The world needs to know: “Why Krispy Kreme Broke Up With McDonald’s” (WSJ)

  –Give the attorneys a pay raise: “SJC rules Mass. must begin releasing unrepresented defendants from custody” (WBUR)

   

• Democrats and immigration: ‘A decades-long story of political failures, missteps, misreadings and misplaced bets’

  July 6, 2025

  The NYT takes a tough look at Democrats’ inept handling of immigration matters in recent years – and how it “arguably laid the groundwork” for Trump’s egregious policies today. … Newton’s Third Law pops to mind in situations like this.

  Update — 7.7.25 — See ‘Democrats and immigration: Part II: Healey on the defensive.’

• Move over, Bruce Springsteen. Ken Casey has a thing or two to say too

  July 5, 2025

  
  The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg talks with Boston’s very own Ken Casey, the front man for the Dropkick Murphys and frequent Trump critic. … I’m not a big fan of the Dropkick Murphys. But I guess you can say I’m now a fan of Ken Casey. Check out the video above of Casey dealing (politely so) with a MAGA fan at one of his concerts. It’s pretty funny. Goldberg references the video in his piece.

• The other spell: ‘Wokeness will always be with us’

  July 5, 2025

  John McWhorter at the NYT explains why wokeness will never truly go away, particularly its most virulent strain, i.e. ‘High Wokeness.’ … It’s depressing. But I have to agree. Unfortunately, there’s no stake-through-the-heart cure. It’s too much like a religion, providing a complete moralistic world-view mixed with old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone warnings of heretics lurking amongst us. … In other words: wokeness is also a spell. 

• The spell: Trump’s undeniable hot streak

  July 5, 2025

  Give credit where credit is due: Donald Trump has been on an incredible geopolitical, legal and legislative roll of late, as the Hill, NY Post and NYT rightly point out. I wish it wasn’t true. But there it is. And all of it aided and abetted by many people who deep-down know better. …

  … Btw: I was talking to some friends the other day, all of us moderate-liberal boomers, and we wondered how long it would take before Trump’s spell over Republicans/conservatives was broken. We estimated about 20 years. We arrived at that number by calculating how long it took for a majority of Republicans/conservatives to finally admit the Iraq War didn’t exactly turn out as planned, i.e. 13 years. An extra 7 years was tacked onto the Trump-spell calculation due to the obvious blind devotion quotient that’s going to make it far more difficult and embarrassing for many to admit past mistakes.

• Short takes: Budget miracles … biotech cuts … transparency theater etc., etc.

  July 2, 2025

  Instead of daily posts this holiday week, I’ve decided instead to provide some periodic headline short takes. I might have another blast of short takes later this week or on Monday. We’ll see. Enjoy the holiday week, everyone. … J.F.

  Short takes: 

  — Miracles do happen: “Massachusetts passes first on-time budget in nearly a decade, includes fare-free transit and end to broker fees” (Boston Globe)

  — Maybe this is something Massachusetts should consider: “California Dismantles Landmark Environmental Law to Tackle Housing Crisis” (WSJ)

  — And here’s why Massachusetts needs to more aggressively tackle the housing crisis: “Prospective Boston Buyers Need Nearly $80K Raise to Afford Down Payment” (B&T)

  — More evidence that all is not well in the local life-science sector: “Biotech layoff tracker: 18 companies cut 1,300 jobs in Q2 2025” (BBJ)

  — Fusion’s exciting promise is becoming a reality: “Google commits to buy 200MW from Mass. fusion company” (BBJ)

  — This is partly tied to a certain president’s asinine comments about Canada: “Summer Hotel Demand In Cape Cod Cools As Travelers Cut Spending” (BisNow)

  — Meanwhile, one of the most fiscally foolish and reckless state programs in memory is coming to an end: “Healey administration shutters hotels, transfers families through HomeBASE program.” (GBH)

  — This is a pretty impressive town-by-town list of local Fourth celebrations: “Mass. fireworks guide: Where to watch Fourth of July shows in your city, town” (MassLive)

  — This is so sad. It didn’t have to happen: “The Washington Post’s web traffic, once competitive with The New York Times’, is collapsing” (Dan Kennedy)

  — The federal government’s loss is our gain: “Many of the 58,000-plus laid-off federal workers are looking to move to Boston” (Globe)

  — Trump is threatening Harvard again and Universal Hub is cutting through the BS again: “Hate Harvard: The game every regimista can play” (UH)

  — She’s partly to blame but not entirely to blame: “Amid housing crisis, Boston’s building boom has gone cold. How much of that is due to Mayor Wu?” (Globe)

  — He thinks we may have met our evolutionary match: “‘Sapiens’ Author Yuval Noah Harari on the Promise and Peril of AI” (WSJ)

  — It’s always ‘trust but verify’ with these guys: “Beacon Hill’s transparency theater” (Globe)