Idrees Kahlook at the Atlantic has a good primer on how our politics got so crazy in America. A minor quibble: Grievance politics resides on both the left and right, not just the right. The modern left’s grievances are historical in nature. The modern right’s grievances are more personal and immediate in nature …
Month: September 2025
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Left-wing and Right-wing Wokeness, 101
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Flag flap: It’s not supposed to blow left (or right), folks
If we have to change the state flag, can we please agree a new one shouldn’t reflect one faction’s ideological belief system? Yeah, we’re taking about you, Karen Spilka. … And you too, Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve. … My suggested new state motto: Deus nos ab stultis servet. … Joan Vennochi has more on the Great Flag Flap 2025.
Btw: I still think a variation of the current flag, minus the pilgrim sword hanging over the Native American’s head, is a good compromise. But no one is obviously listening to me. …
Update — 9.30.25 – A reader sent in this Globe piece — and I’m 100 percent with the Globe’s Billy Baker: the state has come up with a great looking license plate commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution (see below). It’s handsome, simple and eye-catching. Maybe we can do the same with a new flag.
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Wu tames the business community
Mayor Michelle Wu basically redefined the definition of business competitiveness last week at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event, telling business leaders that higher corporate taxes are actually good for them, as the Globe reports. And how did business leaders respond to Wu’s rather novel definition of business competitiveness? They gave her three standing ovations. And did we mention that this was Wu’s first appearance at a major business event since trouncing Josh Kraft, supported by many chamber members in the room, in the Sept. 9 preliminary electon? … I knew the business community was going to suddenly suck up to Wu following her landslide victory. But I wasn’t expecting three standing ovations.
Update — 9.29.25 – At the Globe, David D’Alessandro is doing the ultimate suck-up: lecturing other business people to suck up to Wu. …
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Sox Blackout: Thanks for nothing, MLB
Remember those old TV blackouts, when they wouldn’t broadcast sporting events in home markets if games weren’t sold out in advance at stadiums? Well, it was sort of back to the future Friday night, with the dramatic Red Sox–Tigers game streamed exclusively on Apple TV+ and blacked out for all those who don’t subscribe to the Apple service. Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy bandwagon fan. Others were upset as well. As Tom Carson lamented before the game: “I think MLB is doing a massive disservice to fans by having a game like this behind a paywall. At the least they shouldn’t allow games in September to be streaming only.” … I ended up listening to the game on the radio, yet another back to the future moment. It wasn’t bad. It also helped clarify in my mind: time to cut the cable cord. Why am I paying so much money a month only to have corporate American tell me I need to pay more for what I want? -
Short takes: Another billionaire sports owner … Triple-decker warp speed … Fishy plaza deal … Wu targets media … Hegseth’s mystery meeting
— What they’ve done to collegiate sports is awful: “Fenway sports agent sues client for breaking deal; client is a college freshman” (UH)
— At least he’s a billionaire with some local roots: “Who is Dean Metropoulos, the Patriots’ newest minority owner? Here are five things to know about him” (Globe)
— Yes, 90 days (though not time-lapsed): “WATCH: Building a Triple-Decker in 90 Days” (B&T)
— They need to investigate this. Something’s indeed fishy here: “Calls for transportation secretary to resign come after service plaza bid fails” (Herald)
— More CK fallout: “Renée Graham quits Globe editorial board over Charlie Kirk editorial but will remain as a columnist” (Dan Kennedy)
— This is so typical of an incumbent pol fresh off a big win: “With election victory assured, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu takes aim at the media” (Globe)
— You know we live in constitutionally tense times when something like this sets off alarms: “Hegseth Orders Top U.S. Military Officers to Washington for Mystery Meeting” (WSJ)
— They’re aiming to cripple Russia’s energy sector, not just pinprick it: “Ukraine’s Plan to Starve the Russian War Machine” (The Atlantic)
— The Chinese have more economic woes than people realize: “The New Buzzword That’s Scaring China” (NYT)
— I don’t like this whole gleaming-towers craze, but here’s the photos anyway: “Decades in the making, the South Station tower is ready for move-in. Take a look inside” (Globe)
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Free-speech tidbits: Right-wing vs left-wing cancel culture hypocrisy …and more
There’s so much happening on the free-speech front that I figured I might as well throw them all into one basket. So here goes. … Re the Peabody teacher who has lost a job over Charlie Kirk online comments: wrong, wrong, wrong. And I don’t even know what was said. … My favorite headline summarizing what’s really going on? Via Ezra Klein at the Times: “Trump Is Building the Blue Scare.” And that’s what this current Conservative Cancel Culture (CCC) wave is ultimately about: demonizing the left to justify current and future crackdowns. I was going to compare current CCC actions to Woodrow Wilson’s infamous backing of the Sedition Act of 1918, but I like the Blue Scare better. … The Globe’s Carine Hajjar continues to impress. … And the Globe’s Joan Vennochi typically impresses, rounding up all the good and bad news of late. … Think I’ve forgotten about PCC (Progressive Cancel Culture)? Nope. And neither has Megan McArdle at the Post, Bret Stephens at the NYT and the WSJ’s editorial board, which, by the way, has been on righteous fire of late. … But right now the real threat is coming from the right. So we’ll end it with Andrew Sullivan’s recent post: “The Woke Right Comes of Age.” And it has.
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Zoning reforms: What Cambridge and other towns can learn from Manchester, NH
I have a piece in the Warren Group’s Registry Review, New Hampshire’s real estate newspaper, about the city of Manchester’s push to rewrite its zoning rules to boost construction of new housing. But unlike in Cambridge, Mass. (and now Medford), Manchester isn’t shooting for the YIMBY moon with its zoning reforms. Its proposed changes are more modest – and thus probably more realistic in what might be achieved. Basically, city planners discovered via extensive surveys that residents didn’t really mind small-scale multifamily housing in their neighborhoods, such as two-unit duplexes or triple-deckers. But they did mind large multifamily apartment complexes in mostly single-family districts. So the final draft ordinance mostly reflected that sentiment – and, if approved, the city’s new rules would allow more “missing middle” duplexes (and occasionally triple-deckers and small four-unit apartment buildings) to be built in many (though not all) previously exclusive single-family districts. Larger and larger apartment buildings are to be allowed the closer one gets to the city’s core downtown commercial area. … The bottom line: city planners listened to residents and found they were slightly more open to reforms than one might think. The result will probably be hundreds, if not thousands, of new housing units in Manchester over coming years due to the common-sense zoning changes. ….
Compare that to the early-stage fights now breaking out in Cambridge over its landmark zoning-reform ordinance that allows four- to six-story multifamily housing buildings to be constructed as a right in all residential areas. It’s a policy almost guaranteed to generate controversy – and it risks a backlash that could harm future reform efforts. There’s also a part of me who wonders whether some newfound YIMBY zealots are looking for a fight.
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‘A Lament for the Intellectual Conservative’
Allison P. Farrell is going places if this Crimson opinion piece is any indication. The Harvard undergrad explains the difference between intellectual conservatism and confrontational showboat conservatism – and how it applies to the late Charlie Kirk. … I know, I know. The next William F. Buckley Jr. isn’t walking through that door, folks. But it’s a nice to dream.
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Moulton’s mistake, potentially
He isn’t wrong to consider challenging U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, as the Globe reports. But Seth Moulton would be wrong if he decides to actually go for it, for all the reasons I thought it would be a mistake for Jake Auchincloss to challenge Ed Markey, i.e. he’d lose in a primary system favoring the incumbent progressive candidate, even if that incumbent progressive candidate will be 80 years old next year. … But will Moulton, a moderate liberal, nevertheless go for it? Well, he’s already shown he wants to move up the political ladder, and look how that ended. I.e., Moulton isn’t the type who lets a likely outcome get in the way of his ambitions.
Update — 9.26.25 – The Herald’s Peter Lucas agrees that Markey will be hard to beat. … Btw: Has anyone corned Ayanna Pressley yet about her intentions? Just wondering.
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Headline Short Takes: CEOs’ private thoughts … … More AI firms, please … Redford’s masterpiece … Gulf of Tonkin Watch
— They’re so two-faced, cravenly praising the president in public while blasting his policies in private: “Inside the Room Where CEOs Say What They Really Think of Trump’s Policies” (WSJ)
— Self-censorship may be running rampant these days, but Dan Kennedy praises those few who are forcefully speaking out: “Media commentators are struggling to deal honestly with Charlie Kirk’s words and deeds” (Media Nation)
— First Hasbro. Now this. The downtown office market slowly recovers: “KKR Inks 133K SF Lease at International Place” (B&T)
— Gulf of Tonkin Alert: “Draft Bill Would Authorize Trump to Wage Drug Trafficking War” (NYT)
— We’re talking hundreds of students leaving the system. Where are they going?: “Chelsea school enrollment drops as ICE cracks down on Mass.” (WBUR)
— Joan Vennochi has some sound advice for the latest businessman mulling a challenge to an incumbent pol: “‘It takes more than money’: Running for governor would be an uphill climb for Alan Leventhal.” (Globe)
— We need many more AI startups like this one if we’re going to be a major player in the field: “Mass. ‘superintelligence’ startup Lila Sciences speeds from stealth to ‘unicorn’.”( BBJ)
— Speaking of AI: “Who needs elections? Google AI declares winners in Somerville preliminary mayor’s race – a day before the election” (Universal Hub)
— About time: “Treasurer abandons appeal to keep pot boss off the job” (Herald)
— Hint: It’s about a winter sport. And the movie is now high up on my movies-to-watch list: “Robert Redford Made a Sports Movie Masterpiece—but It’s Not ‘The Natural’” (WSJ)
Hub Blog 