Back from the long T-Day weekend, here’s some random thoughts and mini-rants etc.

The next big issue to go nowhere on Beacon Hill: A ban on renter-paid broker fees

They should ban them. But they won’t ban them. We’re talking apartment broker fees that landlords are forcing already stressed-out renters to pay on top of ridiculously high monthly rents. The New York City Council recently passed a ban on renter-paid brokers fees. And now pols in Cambridge and Boston are looking to emulate NYC’s ban. But it will require approval from the folks on Beacon Hill. And we know what that means. GBH and B&T have more.

Unsustainable: Greater Boston homes prices now exceed $750K 

Speaking of ridiculously high real estate prices, Greater Boston’s medium single-family home price surpassed $750,000 in 3Q, the BBJ reports. …. At least it’s a nice round number. … And, yes, the paper’s headline is inaccurate. 

Seaport’s ugliness? Is that what we’re talking about? 

The Globe has a profile on Kairos Shen, who’s returning to City Hall as Mayor Wu’s development chief. But it seems Shen won’t talk about the “things we got wrong” during the build-out of the Seaport District during his first run with the BRA under Mayor Tom Menino. The Globe doesn’t exactly explain what “things we got wrong” means. Is it all the broken promises to community groups? Is it Seaport’s ugly, monotonous array of glass-covered buildings? Maybe it’s all of the above and everyone kind of assumes it.

Biden shows he’s no Gerry Ford 

Instead of pardoning just his son, Biden could have and probably should have, for the good of the nation, pulled a Gerry Ford by pardoning both former president Trump as well as Hunter Biden, arguing both were ultimately targets of politicized prosecutions. … Unfortunately, Biden chose the selfish option, issuing a partisan pardon that makes it easier for Trump’s to issue his own partisan pardons. … A lot of Biden supporters are angry at him – and rightly so. … What’s the opposite of a Profile in Courage Award? Whatever it is, Biden just won it.

Furious at MSNBC for not giving them what they didn’t want

A lot of left-of-center types, many of them obviously suffering from acute Trump Detachment Syndrome, have been tuning out MSNBC since the Nov. 5 election, with many going into a sort of news-blackout trance to escape the trauma of a Trump’s victory. But I’ve also found that some TDS sufferers actually feel betrayed by MSNBC for not better preparing them for a Trump win. It’s strange. They’re furious at MSNBC for being biased before the election, even though they knew full well before the election that Rachel Maddow et gang were merely giving them exactly what they wanted, i.e. news that confirmed their own political biases. Now they’re angry? … Never forget: Fox News, the king of 24/7 confirmation news, went through a similar viewership revolt after Donald Trump’s loss in 2020. Technically, Fox viewers were furious at Fox for not being biased enough four years ago. But it still came down to a sense of betrayal by their preferred confirmation-news site. 

‘Googling Is for Old People’

It is? … Once again, I’m on the wrong side of hip. …

Healey seeks middle ground on shelters – sort of

The Globe’s Joan Vennochi has a good column on how Gov. Maura Healey has sought to carve out middle ground on providing shelters to the needy, phasing out the use of costly hotels as shelters and limiting the days people can stay in shelters. … But, as I noted the other week, Healey isn’t addressing the main cause for the recent surge in demand for state-funded shelters: migrants. … One can say Healey is admirably striving for the middle ground, but she’s clearly not there yet.

Moulton: I’m getting a lot of behind-the-scenes support for trans-athlete stand

In a Washington Post op-ed, Seth Moulton says he’s privately getting a lot of  support from fellow Dems concerning his post-election trans-athletes remarks. … I believe him. And that support probably explains why, in the same Post column, he’s broadening his criticisms of Dem policy positions and attitudes toward voters. 

Today’s semi-random thoughts — Even though it’s not clear why she’s resisting the resistance, I kind of admire Gov. Maura Healey’s initial decision not to join the new Governors Safeguarding Democracy, launched by the Democratic governors of Illinois and Colorado to confront the “dangers of authoritarianism” posed by a second Trump administration. … It sounds so dramatic. Too dramatic. And maybe that’s why Healey, a fellow Democrat who’s tangled with Trump in the past, hasn’t joined Governors Safeguarding Democracy, perhaps figuring the political theatrics are a bit too ham-handed even for a proven Trump critic. Or maybe it’s just pure political survival instincts on Healey’s part, considering the slight rightward shift of the Mass. electorate on Nov. 5. Or maybe she meant it when she struck a conciliatory tone after last week’s big election win by Trump, calling it a “time to come together” and promising to be a voice for everyone, including Trump supporters, etc, etc.. … Whatever her reasons, a more balanced, deliberate opposition to Trump this time around might be in order. Reject Trump’s crazy cabinet picks? Definitely. Make principled stands against onerous policy proposals? Of course. Steadfastly defend democratic norms? Without hesitation. But running around with your hair on fire screaming “fascist” every time he says or does something outrageous? Been there, done that. Doesn’t work. … I’m with Peggy Noonan, who’s more than a little gobsmacked by the appallingly awful quality of Trump’s nominees. But she’s also not buying into U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s call to crank up the outrage machine. … I don’t agree with Conor Friedersdorf ‘s call for “treating Trump like a normal president.” He’s anything but normal. He’s abnormal. And he loves smashing the norms. But I do like the sentiments behind this Friedersdorf line: “Unaligned Americans who don’t even like Trump are tired of being browbeaten for not hating him enough.” … The NYT has a piece on why the resistance movement in New York just won’t be the same as it was during the first Trump term. … Back to Healey, she’s emerging as more of a pragmatic progressive, not a purist-driven progressive, and that’s fine with me. It’s a topic I touched upon just prior to the election

Single-issue Dems go after Moulton 

On one hand, proponents of trans-athlete rights say biological boys playing girls sports isn’t a big deal, since there are so few instances of it happening. On the other hand, they go berserk when someone questions trans-athlete polices and vow to find a challenger to run against him in the 2026. … So it really is a big deal to them. 

Et tu, Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch?

Two other members of the state’s Congressional delegation are questioning the Democratic Party’s stands on various cultural issues. Good for them. … To stress: the  economy was indeed the top issue last week. But there were other issues at play too.

Trump’s ‘drone attack’ picks

A friend of mine had an interesting way to describe Trump’s bizarre nominee picks of late (Gaetz, Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr. etc.), and I’m paraphrasing him: Trump’s flurry of picks is like a massive drone attack. Trump would love it if all of them hit their target, but he knows some of them will get shot down. That’s OK. They’re expendable. Just as long as some of them get approved. Then he can later browbeat the Senate for shooting down some of his nominees, wearing down their defenses for the second wave attack to come. … The Globe’s James Pindell tries to come up with rational explanations for the irrational nominations. … I’m sticking with the drone-attack theory. … I liked Scot Lehigh’s line: “Only the real Trump would have nominated Matt Gaetz for attorney general.”

Stop & Shop’s empty shelves

Stop & Shop is sucking wind these days, closing stores and losing market share. And now many of its store shelves are empty due to a recent cyberattack that disrupted its supply-chain operations. WBUR has the details. … The company can’t get a break these days, it seems. 

Housing market collapse?

Contrarian Boston’s Scott Van Voorhis this past week hosted one of the best discussions I’ve heard yet on the housing crisis in Massachusetts, led by Cabot Cabot & Forbes’s Jay Doherty, who warned that the housing crisis has actually risen to the level of an emergency that will only get worse, in terms of home prices and rents, over the next few years. … He also warned of an industry collapse in terms of fewer workers entering the trades due to lack of construction work. … As I told Scott after his conference, I wish key state leaders would watch a video copy of the conference. It really conveyed how much more support the state needs to provide in order to move the needle on new housing.

Bruce Mohl’s legacy 

James Aloisi praises Bruce Mohl’s long tenure as editor of CommonWealth Beacon. And Mohl, who retired earlier this month, richly deserves that praise and more. His journalistic legacy: turning an obscure, wonkish, nonprofit print magazine into a highly respected and widely read publication covering mostly state and local politics and public-policy issues. … Not a bad journalistic legacy. Not bad at all. … P.S. – As a former energy reporter at the Boston Herald, I can say no one covered local energy issues better than Bruce. He wasn’t just a top-notch editor. He was a top-notch reporter too.