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.’

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.

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. 

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.

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)

It’s almost as if the developer is deliberately picking a fight with neighbors. In what Cambridge Day is describing as the first development controversy following the city’s adoption of a landmark housing reform measure, a developer is proposing to knock down an existing four-unit brick structure and replace it with a more modern, six-story, 29-unit housing building in the middle of an historic area of the city. … No surprise, neighbors aren’t happy. … And I can’t believe I’m going to side with the NIMBYs yet again, but here goes: I’m siding with the NIMBYs on this one. I really like the fact that the city is trying to sweep away zoning rules that were deliberately designed to make new housing construction almost impossible. The city’s recently passed zoning rule is clearly a good-intentioned effort at such reform. But the city went overboard by allowing four- to six-story multifamily housing buildings to be constructed as a right in all residential areas. It was almost inviting controversy, particularly in historic neighborhoods. And now there’s indeed controversy, right out of the reform starting gate. …

What to do? I’m not quite sure. But leaving a flawed reform in place is just asking for trouble. Maybe tweak the law to allow only three-story structures by right? Prohibit tear-downs in some circumstances? … Housing reformers need to find more of a common-sense balance moving forward. They can’t cave to NIMBYs, but they can’t entirely ignore them either.

Btw: Below is a Google Street View photo of the existing four-unit residential building at 60 Ellery Street in Cambridge that a developer wants to replace with a six-story, 29-unit housing building. As you can see, it’s a somewhat handsome building. Does it make sense to tear down an already existing multifamily structure in the name of new housing? Is this what the new law is about?

WSJ’s Peggy Noonan notes how two of the most talked about pols in America today both hail from Peggy’s hometown, New York: “We are the city of dreams, of fantasias, and have our own winsome ways plus a marked tendency toward widespread sociopathy. We invented Donald Trump. Zohran Mamdani has a Trumpian feel for politics.” … And, if anything, Mamdani has a ‘cleverer, funnier, more modern’ feel for the media and politics, she says.

When I read this Globe story on a conservative group targeting Smith College over admitting transgender women and not transgender men (yes, they really went there), my mind drifted to the sadly humorous opening lines of Jonathan Chait’s recent piece in the Atlantic about Democrats getting so tangled up in their identity-politics language and policies. … Conservatives have become so obsessed with the left that they’re now getting tangled up in their own reverse identity-politics language and policies. …  And our culture wars keep getting stranger and stranger.

Note: Sometimes I don’t have time or enough to say to write a full post on a subject that I might find interesting, so I’ve decided to experiment over coming weeks with occasional ‘Short takes’ posts, similar to what other bloggers do. Anyway, here’s my inaugural ‘Short takes’:

— We still need to get to the bottom of why the state went with a financially inferior bid: “Healey: Nothing ‘untoward’ about MassDOT plaza contract award’ (BBJ)

— And we need to get to the bottom of this too: “Legal Group Wants Probe of Boston ‘Hidden Real Estate Tax’” (B&T)

— Sorry, I’m not convinced: “Wu Rejects Claim of Retaliation on Assessments” (B&T)

— The answer to Larry’s question: No. “Trump mulls a ‘shadow’ Fed chair as he rips Powell on rate cuts. Is the president right?” (Globe)

— Good idea, bad execution: “Online university UMass Global could spell financial trouble for the state” (Globe)

— We didn’t even make the list: “The 50 best airports in America, ranked” (Washington Post)

— Maybe a national millionaire’s tax isn’t such a bad idea: “A Family Spent $500,000 on Built-In Cabinets for Those Costco Runs” (WSJ)

— Tom Brady loves this elite beautiful-people stuff: “Jeff Bezos is getting married in Venice. Here’s who made the guest list.” (Globe)

I’m not wild about a socialist becoming  mayor of NYC – or mayor of any city for that matter. But I loved the WSJ headline above. Let ‘em panic. The moderate establishment types need a good kick in the butt for having lined up behind a disgraced sexual predator.

Update – 6.26.25 — The WSJ has another follow-up piece on the NY mayoral election: “The Young College Grads Who Propelled Zohran Mamdini’s Victory in NY.” … I know of more than a few of such voters in New York. They’re in love with socialism now. The disillusionment will come later.

Update II – 6.27.25 — More freakout news from NY, via the WSJ: “NYC Developers Gripped by Hysteria After Mamdani’s Sudden Rise”