John Adams and Thomas Jefferson resumed and enhanced their friendship by setting politics aside. We can learn something from them.
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Quote of the day:
“Trump can take anything from the left that the right hates and make it cool. Call it ‘Trump housing’ and the right will like it.”
– From Michigan roofer Bryan DeHenau, who has some ideas on how to build more housing across the country.
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Some headlines:
‘Milk Street building to be sold, turned into 100-plus apartments’
More please. And hopefully it’s not Christopher Kimball’s building.
‘Former Fidelity exec lands as head of new Vanguard division.’
Ouch.
‘Paul Krugman retires as Times columnist’
One of my all-time favorite columnists, even when you disagreed with him. …
‘New State ADU Rules Restrict Towns’ Ability to Block’
They’ll find a way around them.
‘Boston Globe Media is looking to buy Boston magazine’
Dan Kennedy has the scoop. … The Globe should be looking at buying and/or starting a higher-ed publication instead. It’s a natural for Boston.
‘Return-to-work mandates are an invisible pay cut’
True. … Look for even more return-to-work mandates if/when the economy turns south.
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Wu’s weakness | DiZoglio’s zealousness | Mitt bids farewell
Michelle Wu: wrong, wronged and weak
Where to begin? Mayor Michelle Wu committed her share of wrongs in the run-up to the current tax-hike debate on Beacon Hill, from not pushing for budget cuts before asking for tax hikes to not providing lawmakers with timely tax revenue estimates. Yet, she’s also seemingly been wronged by a state senator with his own personal political agenda at the State House and wronged by business groups too eager to renege on a tax deal they made with the mayor. …. Wrong or wronged, the net result: Wu looks weak. Very weak.
City councilor Fernandes Anderson accused of job-kickback scheme
She allegedly split the loot in a City Hall bathroom. … WCVB has video of her arrest, not the money exchange. … I know they were pressed for time, but I’m surprised the Herald didn’t get the bathroom-angle into the lead. … Update – The Globe got the bathroom in the lead.
Diana DiZoglio: Admirably zealous or just zealous?
Is it just me or is state Auditor Diana DiZoglio coming across as a little too zealous about auditing the books of lawmakers on Beacon Hill? … The current debate is about the effective date of her new voter-approved powers to audit the legislature, not whether she has the right to audit the legislature. And we’re talking about an effective-date difference of only a month or so. What’s the hurry? … I know DiZoglio is probably fed up with all the legislative antics to block, delay and limit her audits. But she’s also coming across as a one-issue pol trying to squeeze every last drop of publicity out of the showdown. … Btw: Along with the vast majority of voters in Massachusetts, I voted in favor of giving the auditor the power to audit the legislature.
Why Biden’s pardon was wrong: it didn’t include one for Trump
Here’s the line in President Biden’s pardon of his son that jumps out at me: “People are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.” … Substitute the word “business” for “gun” in the previous sentence and you have a nearly identical argument against the charges that brought Donald Trump to trial in New York. … I know most partisans won’t acknowledge this, but both Hunter Biden and Donald Trump were targets of highly politicized prosecutions – and they were ultimately convicted on very dubious charges. President Biden could have shown magnanimity and courage by pardoning the two of them, effectively saying enough is enough when it comes to political prosecutions. Even if Trump declined such a pardon, Biden could say he tried and proceed to issue a pardon for his son. But he didn’t do that. … I get it: Biden showed admirable parental love for his son by pardoning Hunter. But he could have done it in a way that showed admirable presidential fairness at the same time. … Btw: I’m not the only one pointing out the similarities between the Hunter and Trump cases. The BBC is doing so too. …
Uber and Lyft drivers push to unionize: Is it even possible?
Those pushing to unionize Uber and Lyft drivers in Massachusetts are soon going to discover it’s like herding cats. It’s not going to be easy. And even if they’re successful, they’ll face the daunting task of trying to maintain strength and unity in a profession known for its come-and-go employees, most of whom view driving as a short-term gig till they get something better.
Can’t blame him. Choice to lead embattled CCC has second thoughts
The guy who was chosen to head the most dysfunctional agency in all of state government has decided he really doesn’t want the job. … WBUR and the BBJ have more on the latest Cannabis Control Commission embarrassment.
Bingo! Romney’s Senate farewell
Mitt Romney, our former Massachusetts governor, bid farewell to the U.S. Senate earlier this week, urging unity and bipartisanship amid widespread disunity and hyper-partisanship. … I liked Mitch McConnel’s remarks: “On the Bingo cards of American politics, the governor-of-Massachusetts-senator-from-Utah combination isn’t known to be hit very often. (But) Mitt Romney’s repeated success in public office is a testament to his transcendent appeal of his character.”
Putin: Stalin’s long-dead victims really were guilty
I read this depressing article at the Atlantic and thought of David Remnick’s classic “Lenin’s Tomb.” … Russia will never come to grips with the ghosts of Lenin and Stalin as long as people like Putin rule. …
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Trump’s teetering picks | Wu vs. Collins | The real cause of ‘food deserts’ | Ukraine’s top need
The Constitution is working: Trump’s teetering picks
Now Pete Hegseth’s nomination is in peril, following the failed picks of Matt Gaetz and Chad Chronister. … Something is working. And it’s not Donald Trump’s judgement or conscience. It’s the checks and balances of our constitutional system. They still work. … Hmm. Who’s next? Tulsi Gabbard or RFK Jr.? I’m betting Tulsi. She’s arguably a worse pick than Kennedy.
The city power struggle behind Wu’s property-tax plan
Gintautas Dumcius has an excellent piece on the power struggle between Mayor Wu and state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Dem, over her proposed property-tax bill that’s being held up in the Senate. … Collins, who reportedly has his eye on a higher office, is clearly out to harass/embarrass Wu. But he better be careful. He could end up getting blamed for rising residential tax rates if Wu’s bill ultimately fails. … My hunch is the legislation will pass tomorrow. But we’ll see. … Btw: State Sen. Michael Rodrigues’s comments at the end of the story are pretty funny.
Some actual good news on the housing front
They’re not going to matter much in the big housing-market scheme of things. But there are some morsels of good news out there regarding desperately needed new housing. … From the Globe: “In Lexington, the state’s housing law is on track to produce nearly 1,000 new homes.” … But always remember Milton and Needham. What passes one day can be reversed the next. … Meanwhile, from B&T’s Steve Adams: “90-Unit Conversion Proposed in Downtown Crossing.” … And then there’s this encouraging national home-builder story. I used to be an anti-modular-home snob. No longer. They’ve come a long way in terms of quality and affordability.
About those renter-paid broker fees
One last real estate item (and, no, this isn’t a real estate blog): the Globe has an editorial backing a ban on renter-paid broker fees. It’s well argued piece. … Fyi: In the end, all broker fees, whether for rentals or purchases, are ultimately paid by the buyers. That’s where the money flows from in all deals. But there’s something unfair, bordering on fraudulent, when a landlord who hires a broker suddenly demands that tenants pay the broker fees.
‘Modern food deserts’: how they were created by deregulation
The Atlantic has an interesting story on how the demise of the federal Robinson-Patman Act has led to the closures of small grocery stores and supermarkets in urban and rural areas, creating so-called ‘food deserts’ across the country. … Stacy Mitchell provides convincing evidence that monopolistic practices are at the heart of the somewhat recent ‘food desert’ phenomenon.
Re Biden’s pardon: Spare us the right-wing indignation
President Biden’s pardon of his son stinks. No doubt about it. But spare me the righteous indignation on the right over the pardon. Here’s a partial list of of the politically motivated pardons Donald Trump dished out in the final days of his first-term presidency: Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn. … And the list goes on. … A certain state senator and convicted fraudster wants a pardon too, the Herald reports. … Here’s perhaps the lamest story out there about Biden’s pardon, via the Globe: “Biden’s pardon of his son exudes ‘white privilege,’ local advocates say.” … Got to find that ideological narrative! … Building a news story around the very predictable things an ideologue will say is almost by definition not news. … Btw: who appoints ‘advocates’? … At the Atlantic, Jonathan Chait and Tom Nichols have slightly more sophisticated takes on the pardon.
What Ukraine needs most: More men, not arms
The Biden administration is rightly rushing deliveries of arms to Ukraine before you-know-who becomes president next month. But the U.S. and European allies are also pressing Ukraine to lower its draft age from 25 to 18, citing Ukraine’s desperate need for more soldiers. … It seems inconceivable that, with the nation’s very survival at stake, Ukraine hasn’t taken this step yet. And you can be sure the incoming Trump administration will use this lapse as an excuse to deny future arms aid to Ukraine.
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Broker fee ban | Biden’s no Gerry Ford | Seaport’s ugliness | Fury at MSNBC
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.
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Bernie’s brand | ‘The Politically Homeless’ | Markey vs Kennedy – again | Teachers’ pyrrhic victory
Would Bernie Have Won? Answer: No
Bernie Sanders hit a political nerve when he rightly argued that Democrats lost the November elections largely because they long ago abandoned the working-class in America. But, sorry, just because Bernie has correctly identified a problem doesn’t mean he has the solutions to the problem, as I’ve previously noted. But now Ezra Klein’s podcast (‘Would Bernie Have Won?’) is asking whether Bernie and his policies would have prevailed on November 5 – and/or whether Dems should adopt Bernie’s solutions moving forward. … Answers: No. … Here’s a suggestion: Instead of listening to a socialist senator from a lily-white blue state like Vermont, Democrats might want to listen a little more to people like U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a real working-class stiff who has managed to win in a rural, solidly Republican district in Washington, as the NYT’s Michell Goldberg reports. … Or maybe Dems should listen more to U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, a former undercover CIA officer, and Mikie Sherrill, an Annapolis grad and former Navy helicopter pilot, two moderate liberals not known for associating with the Bernie/AOC wing of the party. … Listen, I admire Bernie. I’m glad he’s pushing Dems to focus more on economic issues of importance to working-class voters — and less on identity-politics issues so beloved by today’s college-educated progressives. But Bernie’s ‘30s nostalgia, pie-in-the-sky, London School of Economics brand of socialism isn’t what Dems need today. They need more common sense.
‘The politically homeless’
Tired of the MAGA and modern-progressive extremes? Join the club. Eliot Cohen has more at The Atlantic.
Tariffs: the ‘greatest thing ever invented’ or ‘disruptive as hell’?
Some Massachusetts manufacturers beg to differ with Donald Trump’s assertion that tariffs are the “greatest thing ever invented.” … ‘Disruptive as hell’ indeed. Mexico is vowing retaliation if Trump pushes ahead with draconian tariffs.
Markey takes on another Kennedy
First, he dispatched Joe Kennedy III. Now Ed Markey is taking aim at RFK Jr. … There’s a pattern forming here. … Then again, some of RFK Jr.’s positions do line up with the long-time views of some of Trump’s most ardent critics, as the NYT reports.
Teacher unions’ pyrrhic victory
They’ve finally reached a deal to end the two remaining teacher strikes in Beverly and Marblehead. … I like Scott Van Voorhis’s reaction to the deals (see ‘Quick Hits’): “If it triggers a backlash, these strikes could prove to be a pyrrhic victory for the teachers’ union.”
Believe it or not: Old brick-and-mortar retail makes a comeback
They were supposed to go the way of Dodo birds, i.e. retail properties in the post-Covid age of Amazon and online shopping. But retail is actually making a big comeback, the BBJ’s Greg Ryan reports. … Granted, the numbers are partly skewed by the fact that so many retail malls and shops were simply shuttered and/or converted to other uses, lowering vacancy rates via reducing supply. But still …
There’s only one problem with Wu’s new ADU initiative …
It sure sounds great in a press release: the city of Boston and five local banks have launched a new loan program to promote construction of new Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Only one problem: the city’s ordinances aren’t exactly in sync with pro-ADU development. B&T’s James Sanna explains.
From wetlands to cranberry bogs to wetlands
It’s kind of sad to see an old New England tradition slowly pass into history. But it’s good to know that at least some centuries-old cranberry bogs are being converted back to their original natural states.
Greg Bialecki’s big ideas
The Globe’s Jon Chesto has a good piece on the late Greg Bialecki, the former head of economic development under Gov. Deval Patrick. The list of Greg’s accomplishments is mighty impressive, to say the least.
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Favored firms | Fixing Baker’s blunder | ‘Moulton Hullabaloo’ | Globe’s stall
Sorry for not posting much lately. I’ve been recovering from a medium-bad cold. Anyway, here goes with my various posts and musings:
Firms falling over themselves to win favored tariff status
No reports yet of specific Massachusetts companies sucking up to Donald Trump now that it seems likely a full-scale tariff war will break out on Day 1 of the second Trump administration. But you know some Bay State firms are joining others in lobbying Trump for special tariff exemptions. … I can think of more than a few high-profile area businessmen with import/export concerns and with close ties to Trump. Can you name one? … Btw: Trump now wants to use tariffs to crack down on illegal drugs and migrants flowing into the country? It’s apparently no longer about saving U.S. industrial jobs. …
Going after Elizabeth Warren’s consumer-bureau baby
The incoming Trump folks have set their sights on “vast changes” at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. …Strangely, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has long championed the bureau, doesn’t sound too alarmed. In fact, she seems rather confident the agency can withstand the challenges.
Fixing Charlie Baker’s bookkeeping blunder
The Globe’s Larry Edelman has a good Trendsline piece on how the Healey administration is scrambling to clean up a $2.5 billion jobless-claims mess left behind by the previous Baker administration. The goal: Secure a deal with the feds before President Biden leaves office in January. … Without a deal, state employers could be on the hook for huge increases in their unemployment-insurance payments.
‘The Moulton Hullabaloo’: Is a truce near?
U.S. Seth Moulton keeps giving interviews elaborating on his controversial trans-athlete comments in the days immediately following the election, suggesting he’s not overly concerned about the political consequences of his remarks. … And maybe he’s right. The NYT reports that some transgender activists are starting to question the aggressive “all-or-nothing tactics” used to isolate and punish those who disagree with trans-rights dogma. … My very humble suggestion: start differentiating between the rights of trans adults versus trans-right issues tied to children. That seems to be the political fault line dividing Dems (and most Americans in general, I’d add). … That and pronouns.
Is your local college alma mater providing free tuition?
The Globe has a handy-dandy list of local colleges that are providing free tuition to at least some of their incoming students. There’s a surprising number of schools on the list. … While the trend is welcome, it does suggest that higher-ed institutions, along with health-care institutions, are in their own funny-money universe, where tuition prices are just targets on a dart board and expenses are treated as credits etc. etc.
School strikes: Saying ‘enough’ isn’t enough
Gov. Maura Healey isn’t exactly saying “enough is enough” when it comes to the two remaining school-teacher strikes on the North Shore. But that’s what she’s generally trying to convey in addition to calling the ongoing strikes “unacceptable.” … The Globe has a piece on what can be done to avert illegal teacher strikes in the future. The issue of higher fines inevitably comes up. But higher fines are not going to work as long as judges behave like they’re appointed arbitrators and offer fine forgiveness if both sides reach a deal quickly. … Strikes are all about money. So focus on making strikes too costly for unions to contemplate. That’s the answer. … That and jail. But let’s stick with tougher fines for now.
Globe’s subscription growth stalls. Will Trump II help?
The BBJ’s Don Seiffert reports the Globe’s recent growth in online subscriptions has stalled. … But here’s a thought: Subscription salvation may be just around the corner for the Globe with the second Trump administration coming into office in January. Recall that the last great subscription surge for the Globe happened during Trump’s first term. So all the Globe has to do now is find its inner MSNBC and – presto! – increased clicks and subs. … The Washington Post could use a badly needed Trump II bounce too, but that would take Jeff Bezos showing a journalistic spine. And that’s not going to happen.
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Nukes now | Needham’s NIMBY-ism | Shelter changes | Not so awful
Embracing nuclear power? In Massachusetts?
This might be the surprise story of the week in Massachusetts: State officials in this bluest of blue states are embracing nuclear energy as a tool to fight climate change. It’s right there in the new climate bill signed into law this past week by Gov. Maura Healey. The Globe’s Jon Chesto explains. …. Oliver Stone, take a bow. His movie “Nuclear Now” has helped make it politically safe for some (though not all) environmentalists to support what was unthinkable only a few years ago.
Needham set to revert back to anti-housing norm
You knew it was too good to be true. A month after Needham town-meeting voters approved a new transit-oriented housing plan that could, theoretically, lead to construction of thousands of new housing units in town, opponents have gathered enough signatures to force a repeal referendum, as CB’s Scott Van Voorhis reports. … A similar housing plan in Milton was rejected by voters earlier this year, as the Globe note.
Healey outlines changes to shelter program, but not the most needed changes
Gov. Maura Healey is proposing changes to the state’s right-to-shelter programs that are now costing the state more than $1 billion a year. Among the major changes: phasing out the use of costly hotels as shelters and limiting the days people can stay in shelters. … But Healey’s proposals aren’t addressing the main cause for the recent surge in demand for state-funded shelters: migrants. … A shelter program that was first started decades ago to assist the state’s poor, particularly women with children, has somehow morphed into a migrant shelter program as well.
America can laugh again: Anthony Weiner mulls a comeback
There really is a tabloid god in the sky. Yes, former congressman and convicted pervert Anthony Weiner is out of prison and now mulling a possible run for a City Council seat in NY. … The headline on the New Republic’s Weiner story: “Nobody Asked For This: An Anthony Weiner Political Comeback.” The subhead: “My dude, now is just not the time for this!”… Fyi: the NY Post had the story a few weeks ago. Strangely, no wiener jokes in the headline or lede.
Trump’s latest picks: Not so awful
There’s still an unconventional air to most of the cabinet nominees that Donald Trump announced yesterday – including nominees for U.S. treasurer and Labor secretary and FDA/CDC. But they’re not nearly as awful as the earlier Gaetz (now gone), RFK Jr., Gabbi, and Hegseth picks. I guess that’s a little encouraging, somewhat. …
‘Trump Detachment Syndrome’
I know of two anti-Trump friends who went through exactly what Beth Teitell describes in her great Globe story about “acute-onset Trump Detachment Syndrome.” The syndrome’s immediate post-election symptoms: “not watching, listening to, reading about, or discussing you-know-who. It’s perhaps the final, fatal, stage of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” … It’s a form of shock that lasts about a week.
Dems finally discover effective way to oppose Trump: silence
As the NYT noted the other day, anti-Trumpers are only now realizing that “protests, petitions, hashtag campaigns or other tools of mass dissent” aren’t effective against Trump. But Senate Democrats have recently discovered there’s one highly effective tool to oppose Trump: shutting up while he’s in the process of screwing up. The NYT’s Carl Hulse explains.
One illegal strike down, two illegal strikes to go
They’ve struck a deal to end the illegal teachers strike in Gloucester. Now there’s only two ongoing illegal teacher strikes in Massachusetts, in Beverly and Marblehead.
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Co-President Musk – 11.21.24 – Josh Kraft, local man of mystery
Co-President-elect Musk slams Massachusetts
It’s déjà vu all over again with local officials, this time led by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and Trump officials once again battling over immigration, sanctuary cities, deportations, ICE arrests, non-local-cooperation etc. etc. It’s as if the Biden years never existed and we’re back where we left off in 2020. … But this time we now have Elon Musk blasting Massachusetts pols’ policies, saying we’re protecting child rapists, blah, blah, blah. … He sure is acting like a co-president these days
Musk Downfall Watch
Speaking of the co-president, how long can Elon Musk last with a political master who doesn’t like sharing the limelight with others? I loved these lines from the NYT’s Maureen Dowd: “The first time that self-described “first buddy” Elon is on a magazine cover described as a younger, taller, better looking “co-president,” it will be over. Elon is probably already on thin ice because, like Trump, he has been getting standing ovations when he enters the Mar-a-Lago dining room.” … So the Musk Downfall Watch begins.
Resistance exhaustion
They’re only now realizing that the “protests, petitions, hashtag campaigns or other tools of mass dissent” didn’t work in the first term. …
Economic development, Massachusetts style
Gov. Maura Healey yesterday signed the $4 billion state economic development package that served as this year’s legislative Christmas Tree bill, stuffed with all sorts of goodies for favored interests, such as Ticketmaster and BlueHub Capital and trade unions etc. etc..
Western Mass.’s multibillion-dollar data center win
OK, I’ve been a little too cynical (though not that cynical) about some of the items in the giant economic development bill. In fact, there were some very good measures in in the legislation. Among them: a provision clearing the way for a massive new data-center project in Westfield, just west of Springfield, as the Globe’s Jon Chesto reports. … The tax incentives have been talked about since last spring.
Jettisoning MSNBC and Chrome
Here’s some more business news of general interest: Comcast is splitting off its cable channel holdings, such as its MSNBC, CNBC and the USA networks, and it could lead to MSNBC having to change its name. … The Drudge Report ran a hilarious photo of Rachel Maddow allegedly looking shocked by the spin-off news. … Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department wants to force Google to jettison its popular Chrome browser as part of any anti-trust settlement. … I assume Google is going to try to run out the Biden-administration clock, awaiting possible rescue by the incoming Trump administration.
‘The political mystery of Josh Kraft’
During the U.S. Senate race in 1962, Edward McCormack Jr. famously said that if Ted Kennedy’s last name was Moore, not Kennedy, his candidacy “would be a joke.” … I was thinking of that line while reading Joan Vennochi’s column on the political mystery of Josh Kraft, who’s the son of you-know-who and who’s considering a run for mayor. …
Herring Pond Wampanoags win state recognition
No sooner do I finish reading this book on King Philip’s War than I read that Gov. Healey has signed an executive order granting the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe official state recognition, as WBUR reports. … It’s sort of hundreds of years late, but it’s deserved. … Btw: I liked the King Philip’s book by Daniel Mandell. It was a quick, informative read. The Wampanoags figured heavily in the war – and thus the book.
Frontline and NOVA writers vote to authorize strike
I love both shows. So this definitely caught my attention: PBS writers, including those at the locally produced NOVA and Frontline programs, are threatening to go on strike, the Globe reports.
Teacher strikes: Raise the fines!
Speaking of strikes, the Globe has an editorial this morning pointing out something we’ve also pointed out (see ‘Aren’t teacher strikes supposed to be illegal?’): the court fines slapped on teacher unions for holding illegal strikes are obviously not working. The fines need to be raised if they’re going to be truly effective in upholding current low.
Condemned buildings trend?
First we learn, via Scott Van Voorhis, that severe structural problems have forced residents to move out of the 80-unit Riverview Condominiums in Cambridge. … Next we learn, via B&T’s Steve Adams, that an auction has been scheduled for two condemned residential high-rises in Revere. … A trend? Maybe. But the Revere woes sound more like a management problem than a structural problem. … Yes, the Revere buildings were actually condemned in August, but I only learned of the public-health action via Steve’s article.
Hub Blog 