Month: August 2025

• Caught between Bondi and Wu’s extreme positions on immigration

  August 21, 2025

  Am I the only one who feels caught between two extreme views on recent local immigration matters, i.e. Pam Bondi’s view and Michelle Wu’s view? The former is easy to condemn. Threatening to withhold federal dollars to Boston and/or the state if officials don’t comply with their ICE-cooperation order, a form of collective punishment one normally associates with a totalitarian mindset, not a democratic one? Message to Pam: Not everyone here agrees 100 percent with Michelle Wu. …

  As for the latter Wu view, it’s harder to condemn, if only at this moment, when the right is behaving so obnoxiously. Standing up to authoritarian Trump bullying is a worthy cause, so give Wu some credit for telling Bondi where to go. But the entire sanctuary-city mindset – you know, the one that led to an open border that Biden refused to close but Trump just did, or the reckless spending of billions of state taxpayer dollars on an insane hotel shelter program – has never been my cup of tea. The left’s past extremes are partly why we’re now caught between two extremes.

  Update – 8.23.25 — From the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld: “Will Bostonians be holding the bag for Michelle Wu’s grandstanding?” … I get where Joe is coming from. Wu’s grandstanding is definitely grating. But who’s the one threatening to withhold funds over this issue? It’s the Trump administration, not the Wu administration.

• Clark walks back her Kinsley ‘genocide’ gaffe

  August 21, 2025

  I’m probably dating myself by citing the old Michael Kinsley definition of a gaffe as being a moment when a politician inadvertently blurts out a truth that wasn’t supposed to be spoken. In the case of Rep. Katherine Clark’s reference to Israel’s actions in Gaza amounting to ‘genocide,’ she didn’t commit a strict Kinsley gaffe per se, in that she blurted out a truth. Instead, her remarks probably reflect what she’s truthfully thinking or close to believing about Israel – and yet shouldn’t have said as the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the U.S. House. I guess that makes her original comment a variation of a Kinsley gaffe. … Anyway, Clark has since, somewhat unconvincingly, walked back her ‘genocide’ remarks, via the JNS and Globe.

• What we can learn from China’s biotech strategy: better, faster, cheaper drugs

  August 18, 2025

  Those concerned about the future of Boston’s biotech sector ought to read this NYT piece by Jacob Dreyer, who sounds the alarm and yet at the same time welcomes what the Chinese are doing to produce better, faster and cheaper drugs. He thinks China’s less expensive drugs will ultimately prove too irresistible for European and American consumers – and so the Chinese competitive threat is not going away. What should American biotech firms competitively do in response? Learn from the Chinese, just as the Chinese are eagerly learning from us, Dreyer says.

  And here’s how not to respond to the Chinese competitive threat, also via the NYT:  “America Is Abandoning One of the Greatest Medical Breakthroughs.”

• Clark’s damaging ‘genocide’ remark

  August 16, 2025

  The biggest political story today in Massachusetts? U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark’s description of Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide,” as reported by the Globe, Axios, Politico and the Hill. As the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House, Clark, D-Revere, is now the highest-ranking congressional Dem to use that highly loaded (and overused) word as applied to Israel. … Whether you agree with her or not, this is a big deal within Democratic circles, locally and nationally, and it could further damage an already strained relationship between Dems and many Jewish-Americans. 

  Suggestion to local news assignment editors: get reactions to Clark’s remarks from other congressional delegation members, all of them Democrats. Is Israel committing genocide or not? 

  Fyi: Do I think Israel has committed genocide? No. I’m not going there. Not even close. But when it comes to Israel’s current action in Gaza (as opposed to its justified initial post-Oct. 7 reaction), I’m a Tom Friedman-like supporter of Israel who loathes what the extreme-right Netanyahu government is doing in Gaza. Read Friedman’s piece. It’s a brutally honest and thorough column about what he’s calling “The War of the Worst.”

  Update — 8.21.25 – Clark has since walked back her genocide comment. Her explanation isn’t exactly convincing. …. And, oh, the political damage (as minor as it may be) is already done. That’s something that can’t be walked back.

• Dems’ pot problems: Tompkins indictment, Beacon Hill insider, CCC dysfunction, etc., etc.

  August 15, 2025

  Let’s see. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, a Democrat, is arrested for allegedly shaking down a cannabis executive. The executive turns out to be a long-time Democratic insider on Beacon Hill (as the Globe reports). Meanwhile, the Democratic-controlled Cannabis Control Commission is a complete dysfunctional mess. … No wonder Gov. Healey and other Dems are ducking for cover these days, as WBUR reports. …

  Update — 8.16.25 – At GBH, Mark Herz and Adam Reilly discuss the Dems’ dilemma when it comes to Tompkins.

  Update II –– 8.16.25 – From Universal Hub: “Pols who demanded Fernandes Anderson quit the day she was indicted are saying, whoa, we need to learn more about Tompkins”

• Higher-ed Civil War: Resistance or Reform?

  August 15, 2025

  The Atlantic’s Rose Horowitch reports that a quiet battle is underway within academia, pitting those who think universities need to stand firm against Trump administration demands and those who believe some campus reforms are long overdue (though not via Trump’s autocratic bullying). … I happen to agree with David Brooks, who, in a slightly different context, advocates a combo resist-and-reform strategy against Trump. In the case of higher-ed, resist the president’s outrageous right-wing demands while embracing reforms that curtail the outrageous antics of the left on campuses. … Fyi: Unlike Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber, Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, is clearly, and admirably, a resist-and-reform leader, as this NYT article makes clear. 

• Short takes: Cape Cod bridges … Hobbit Hotel … Flesh-eating bacteria … Old Thom returns …

  August 15, 2025

  — They’re at the eminent-domain stage? Didn’t know that: “A $2.4 Billion Bridge Is Coming to Cape Cod. Their Homes Will Be Seized to Build It.” (WSJ)

  — But Hobbit homes are so damn cute: “Fantasy or fraud: Viral hobbit hotel startup in Mass. raises $300K — but is it real?” (MassLive)

  — Well, yeah, I guess so, now that you mention it: “Should you be worried about getting flesh-eating bacteria from swimming in Massachusetts?” (GBH)

  — Massachusetts’s millionaire tax is serving as a model for others to copy: “Blue States Hunt for Ways to Wring More Taxes From the Wealthy” (WSJ)

  — A must-read business piece by the Globe’s Larry Edelman: “Why Jon Cronin’s ritzy Seaport condos flopped” (Globe)

  — Let’s hope this finally does the trick for a project that’s taken way too long to finish: “Weymouth’s Naval air station redevelopment gets $32M state boost” (BBJ)

  — They won’t be tagging many more sharks if other Orcas discover the feast they’re missing here: “Legendary killer whale ‘Old Thom’ spotted, shark researchers deploy first-ever camera tag in Cape Cod Bay” (Herald)

  — Knicks beat Celts, fire coach. Celts lose to Knicks, reward coach. Something’s wrong here: “Boston Celtics sign coach Joe Mazzulla to a multi-year contract extension” (ESPN)

  — Landing on the president’s enemies list is actually a point-of-pride fantasy of mine: “Trump lashes out at Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman amid criticism: ‘Deranged BUM’” (Globe)

  — Sure, Andrew Sullivan is excitable and prone to TDS, but he’s largely right: “The Permanent Stain: Trump’s first year has been a triumph for autocracy in America. And it will last.” (AS Substack)

  — We’re going to be seeing more of these sales if current college-demographic trends hold: “Closed Western Mass. college campus attracts potential buyers” (MassLive)

• Peter Wolf: ‘Waiting on the Moon’

  August 13, 2025

  

  
  A Hub Blog reader sends in this very positive mini-review of Peter Wolf’s recently published memoir:

  “I recently stumbled upon Waiting on the Moon by former J.Geils Band singer (and WBCN DJ) Peter Wolf… it is amazing.   The book is a collection of remembrances mainly from the 60s -70s -80s of all of the people whose paths Wolf crossed… from Bob Dylan and Van Morrison to Andy Warhol, Julia Child, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch (roommate during college years!)… a joy and fresh remembrance of amazing times gone by mostly in these parts.”

  David Shiflett at the WSJ also liked the “breezy, boozy and sometimes illuminating memoir. “

  Update — And Robin Young at WBUR had a quick Q&A with Wolf after the book came out earlier this year.

• Grown-ups wrecked college sports. They’re now doing the same with youth sports

  August 13, 2025

  As the multibillion-dollar college football season gets set to start in a few weeks, Scott Hodges, the president emeritus of the Tax Foundation, writes at the Washington Post that’s it’s time to strip the NCAA of its nonprofit, tax-exempt status and call it what it is: a money-making machine. … He’s right. College sports long ago became big business, wrecked by overpaid college administrators, coaches, athletic directors, NCAA honchos, TV executives, athletic-apparel merchants, and, lately, private-equity firms. Amateur athletics at the top collegiate levels is dead. … And now greedy grown-ups are increasingly turning their for-profit eyes to youth sports.  From a recent NYT piece: “Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice.” …

  Among local investor-backed companies mining the youth-sports bonanza: 3 Step Sports. … They’re all making a buck off kids who aren’t paid a dime. You can’t get cheaper labor than youth athletes, right? … Think about this next time you see a Little League tournament playing on ESPN. It’s not NCCA Division 1 level sports. But, hey, if grown-ups can squeeze a buck or two out of these kids, why not? 

• Discrediting housing reforms by going too far

  August 11, 2025

  There’s so much to like about Medford’s recently passed zoning reforms designed to boost housing construction, including making it easier to build multifamily housing in commercial zones. But as B&T’s Steve Adams reports, there’s now intense controversy in Medford surrounding a proposal to make it easier to build multifamily housing in existing single-family districts. … Sounds like the mayor is right: the reform proposals now on the table go too far and city officials need to slow down on making changes. …

  I’ve harped on this general issue before as it relates to recent Cambridge zoning changes. My main concern: if done wrong, housing reforms can create a backlash, discrediting reform efforts and strengthening NIMBY forces in the process. … An example of getting it wrong: allowing developers to knock down existing single-family homes, or knock down small double- or triple-deckers, to build larger multifamily-housing projects in predominantly single-family neighborhoods. It’s a policy sure to ignite controversy, particularly if it happens in historic areas and/or already densely packed urban-like neighborhoods. … Maybe restrict knockdowns? Limit new multifamily projects to only two or three units (i.e. triple-deckers) if they’re in a previously designated single-family district? … Just throwing out ideas.