After yesterday’s part anti-establishment and part anti-boomer election results in NYC, you’d think Sen. Ed Markey, 78, might have waited a bit before unveiling a re-election endorsement from a fellow near-octogenarian, establishment, boomer pol, i.e., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 76. But, nope, Markey probably sees the progressive wind at his back due to 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani’s primary win yesterday in New York. … And establishment Dems sleep walk yet again toward another Original Sin-like moment. … It’s going to be interesting next year to see how Mass. progressives, who have lately been touting the need for younger party leaders, handle the Markey candidacy. My assumption is that, of course, they’ll conclude that objections to “overripe baby-boomers in or near their eighties who insist on hanging around” apply only to non-progressive incumbents.
Fyi: Obviously, Mamdani’s impressive win yesterday in NY wasn’t only about anti-establishment and anti-boomer sentiments. It was also about young voters pushing the party to the left and common-decency opposition to a sexual predator. See “Confession of a moderate NY Democrat” below. … Fyi, II: yet another overripe baby boomer who insists on hanging around is running again for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, as the Herald reports.
I feel a little guilty. Kristaps Porzingis is indeed a classy guy. But, unlike Jrue Holiday, I’m not going to miss Porzingis after last night’s trade. He was too injury prone and a second-apron drag on the Celts’ payroll, so Brad reluctantly needed to get rid of him. … I’m not so sure the Celts got top value for the move. But Brad Quinn, who gave the Celts’ Holiday trade an ‘A’ grade, is giving the KP deal a ‘B+’. … The Globe has more on the trade.
Update – 6.26.25 – This is a big gamble by Brad. From the Globe: “Celtics select Real Madrid’s Hugo González with first-round pick.” … At NBC Sports Boston, experts’ grades for the Gonzalez pick are mixed: A and C+ and A- and B and B-. … But the Celts could still nab Maxime Raynaud with their second pick of today’s second round.
Update II – 6.27.25 – I’m a little disappointed the Celts didn’t take Maxime Raynaud, but they did select a center in the second round, Amari Williams, and he sounds like a potential brute. So good. The Globe has more on last night’s moves. And NBC Boston has more on Amari Williams.
Zohran Mamdani, a little-known democratic socialist, has won the Democratic Party nomination for mayor of New York, defeating perhaps the most perfectly unfit establishment candidate the establishment could have supported, as the Post and Times report. From a Hub Blog reader in the Big Apple:
“Confession of a moderate NY Democrat. I voted Commy today, not Cuomo, or was it yesterday? I did not rank Cuomo. I voted Lander, Adreinne Adams, Stringer, Mamdani. I could not bring myself to vote for Cuomo with his faux tough guy persona, Octogenarian Democratic endorsements and 11 (or is it 13?) sexual harassment accusations which he disdainfully denies. … I really wanted to vote more moderate but he is such a creep. And then Biden-like all the Democrats closed ranks and endorsed him. It’s the same mistake over and over again. Cuomo is like Trump. He is on a vindication crusade defending his family honor. This is all about him. What message does it send to young women when Bill Clinton and Cuomo team up for the final push?”
Bonus election lament: “I’m dismayed by society page articles about Democratic ‘royalty’ attending Huma Abedin and Ales Soro’s wedding. Sorry boomers, it’s time to hand the keys over to the next generation.”
Speaking of Huma Abedin, I’m sure Hub Blog readers are anxious to know that her ex-husband’s dramaticcomeback bid has apparently failed. It would have been so much fun. Think of all the potential headlines, now gone, forever unsplashed.
How do you deal with a man like Donald Trump? He’s rude one day, gracious the next. Fearless in the morning, TACO in the evening. He’s so mercurial. For that reason alone, I don’t envy Harvard’s attempt to broker a deal with the totally unpredictable president, as the NYT and Globe report . But reading the Globe story in particular, it kind of hit me: Harvard’s strategy may come down to the university convincing Trump that he’s already won on many issues – and that he can declare a great and glorious victory as a result. Bottom line: they may need to stroke his gigantic ego a bit. The Globe provides a pretty solid list of the changes Harvard has already made that align, sort of, with some of the president’s demands. Harvard should also point out to the president another key change that it made last year: dumping its obscene ideological litmus test for new faculty hires. That change was implemented well before Trump won election. But it doesn’t matter. Give him credit anyway! He’ll love it. … Maybe Harvard president Alan Garber can present this list of changes in a personal letter to the president?
… Don’t get me wrong. I hate what the president is doing to Harvard, as I’ve emphasized here, here and here. I don’t want Harvard to cave. But there’s a difference between appeasement and strategic use of flattery. And the man-child president has repeatedly shown he loves the latter more than the former.
I’m sad to see Jrue go. But if he had to go, this ain’t a bad trade by the Celtics. The Globe has more on Brad Stevens’s first move in the partial dismantling/rebuilding of the team. … Sam Quinn at CBS Sports is giving the Celts an ‘A’ grade and the Trail Blazers a lowly ‘C-‘ for the trade. … Next up: Kristaps Porzingis. The Kristaps rumors are swirling all about. Even the Times of India is getting into the act. …
Update– The Globe’s Gary Washburn has the Celtics picking Stanford center Maxime Raynaud in Wednesday’s NBA draft. That would be another smart move — and another sign of Kristaps’s imminent departure.
I’m siding with the NIMBY types on this one, i.e. Boston’s proposed zoning rules that would make it easier to build new residential skyscrapers in Downtown Crossing, as the Herald and Contrarian Boston report. I know we need more housing. But enough with these banal glass-covered monstrosities. They’re harming the city’s historic quaintness. Aesthetics matter. … Past rants on this subject here and here.
Update – From the BBJ: “‘This is not New York City:’ Proposed downtown building guidelines face opposition.”
This is one of those stories that makes you stop in your tracks and think: ‘Did he just say what I think he said? I think this is important.’ … And it is important. Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy is not saying AI may soon eliminate lots of corporate jobs. He’s saying it will eliminate lots of corporate jobs, reports the AP. And AI is going to create a lot of career turmoil in general. … The question is: Whose career turmoil? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that white-collar workers are about to find out what blue-collar workers have been enduring for more than a generation now: massive outsourcing of their jobs. Except the jobs won’t be outsourced to workers in other countries. The jobs will be outsourced to AI. … What new jobs might be created in the process is the great unknown. But lots of career disruption is indeed coming.
Update – 6.23.25 – From the WSJ’s Allysia Finley: “When new technologies made manufacturing more efficient, many workers lost jobs and dropped out of the labor force. … College-educated young people face the same risk if they don’t develop intellectual vigor, curiosity and grit.”
For a number of reasons, I’m starting to get worried about the new Juneteenth holiday: 1.) After reading this Globe story, the holiday celebration seems to have become a little unfocused, too diffuse, too much of an overlap with MLK Jr. Day and Black History Month. 2.) After reading this WSR article about how Plano, Illinois is backing off of Juneteenth celebrations due to nervous businesses pulling sponsorships amid ideological tensions, it seems the holiday is already getting politicized and 3.) related to the second point, I’m starting to hear some white people mocking the holiday’s name in a racist way, feigning a Black accent when pronouncing ‘Juneteenth,’ etc. … But I do think there’s a simple way to address the three points above, via a greater emphasis on the historic origins of Juneteenth while simultaneously shoving the word “Emancipation” in the faces of ugly critics. … Though I absolutely support a holiday celebrating the end of slavery in America (and believe there should have been one long before 2021), I’ve always thought the “Juneteenth” holiday was misnamed. Did you know its official name is “Juneteenth National Independence Day,” even though it’s directly tied to the emancipation of slaves during the U.S. Civil War? Somewhat incredibly, there’s not one mention of “emancipation” in the Congressional legislation creating the holiday. …
There’s a way to correct the problem: At minimum, change the official holiday name to “Juneteenth National Emancipation Day,” so there’s absolutely no doubt about the intent of the celebration. I’d even go a step further, officially calling the holiday “Emancipation Day,” with “Juneteenth’” acknowledged as a co-name, similar to how “Independence Day” is widely known as “July 4th” or “Fourth of July.” With such a blunt (and highly honorable) official name, one could counter neo-Confederates and other critics of the holiday with lines like, “Oh, so you oppose the emancipation of slaves? Do you think slavery shouldn’t have been abolished? Are you pro-slavery?” … Imagine how the business owners in Plano, Illinois would have responded to such retorts.
Btw: There are plenty of precedents of Congress tweaking the names, focus and timing of federal holidays, so my idea isn’t exactly radical.
Update — The Globe’s James Pindell explores why the Trump administration et gang hasn’t acted to repeal Juneteenth. The reason: It’s too popular. Or put another way: a repeal effort would be too politically risky even for critics. And, as the WSJ article shows, there are indeed critics of the holiday out there.
Update II – 6.22.25 – And the Globe’s Jeff Jacoby blasts President Trump’s honoring of those who openly fought against Emancipation: “Fort Lee and the fraud of Confederate rehabilitation.”
Thanks to the WSJ, I can now impress my friends with all sorts of stats and tidbits about the GBU-57, the 30,000-pound ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator,’ aka the ‘Bunker Buster’ bomb. … And use of the GBU-57, not to be confused with the GBU-28C, is considered only the ‘best chance’ of destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities. … More GBU-57 stats, including total AFX-757 and PBXN-114 polymer-bonded explosive payloads, at Wikipedia.
Update — 6.20.25 – Via the Guardian, here’s more on whether the Bunker Buster would even work or not.
Update II— 6.23.25 – Two days after the U.S. attack on Fordow, there’s apparently little doubt the Bunker Buster’s inflicted heavy damage on the facilities, but it’s not clear whether the facilities were completely destroyed, the NYT reports. … Meanwhile, it appears Iran was rushing to evacuate materials out of Fordow in the days before the bombings, as CNBC reports.
A Hub Blog reader sent me a link to this NYT editorial on the New York mayoral race with the message: “This is extraordinary. … The Times trashes the progressive candidate. They are moving to the center very fast.” … They’re specifically trashing Zohran Mamdani, rather brutally so, saying the democratic socialist is running on an “agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges.” Along the way, the Times also trashes the progressive urban policies of former NY Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and past leaders of San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore. …
… Ah, what the hell. While I’m at it, I might as well throw in Joan Vennochi’s column in the Globe on progressive meanies and Sabrina Joy Stevens’s piece in the Globe on progressive blues. … Don’t worry. I’ll be back to bashing Trump soon. I just needed a break from the president and thought a few rounds on the progressive punching bag would help. It did. I feel better.
Update — 6.18.25 — From the NY Post’s Michael Goodman: “Cuomo should thank Mamdani for making him look like the safe, stable choice for NYC mayor.”.
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