Ok, one more DSA rant and then I’ll ease up on the subject. … I don’t agree with everything Bill Maher says about democratic socialism. But he’s closer to the truth than many MSM descriptions of modern democratic socialism, such as this soft-pedaling NYT piece or this fawning Globe article that describes Zohran Mamdani as merely a “die-in-the-wool” progressive with no mention that he considers himself a democratic socialist. … Here’s the DSA’s party platform, btw. You decide.
Month: August 2026
-
Democratic Socialism, explained (again and again)
-
Jeff Conolly, the Lyres, RIP
Sad news for those who remember the late ‘70s/early ‘80s Boston rock scene: Jeff Conolly of the Lyres has died, as the Globe reports. … A friend sent along a couple of classics from Conolly et gang, here and here, and even one going back to Jeff’s DMZ days. He adds:I knew (Jeff) was not well and there was an epic fundraiser in the spring. Boston Groupie News coverage here. He went through a lot of bandmates… as the Kinks song goes, he was “not like everybody else” …
DMZ got to make an album on Sire Records which should have been a friendly environment but with the extraordinary exception of the Cars, Rat-era Boston bands struggled with major labels. Nervous Eaters, Atlantics, Robin Lane. Here’s a great remembrance of MonoMan/Connolly from Thrills guitarist Johnny Angel.
-
Pressley’s husband still awaiting that big courthouse payday
John Barros may have “divested” himself from the controversial $2 billion courthouse development deal in Springfield, as the Herald and SHNS (WBUR) report. But U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s ex-convict husband, Conan Harris, is apparently still in line for the big taxpayer-funded payout tied to the state contract. … Can someone please explain what exactly the husband of a sitting U.S. congresswoman did to earn a slice of the taxpayers’ money for this project? The optics stink, especially when you consider Harris’s familiarity with courthouses is limited to his past legal woes that brought him before the bench once too many times.
The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is bashing Gov. Healey’s handling of the courthouse controversy (and other matters):
The state awards a massive courthouse contract to two incredibly politically connected bidders and she says the process was totally above board? How could she not anticipate questions about this contract? And what does Barros know that we don’t know that caused him to jump ship from a lucrative pay day?…
Hub Blog 