The NYT’s Ezra Klein talks at length with U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss about a number of issues, including what ails the Democratic Party, starting a new city at Fort Devens or Union Point to meet the housing crisis, a new social-media ‘attention tax,’ and how foreign governments will inevitably try to enrich and bribe Donald Trump by buying up his cryptocurrency coin.

The NYT’s Peter Baker has a good analysis of the Orwellian-like revisionism coming out of the White House these days regarding Ukraine.  … I can barely read about the subject without feeling sadness – sadness for both Ukraine and America. … Ukraine may soon lose much, if not all, of its sovereign independence. Meanwhile, an American leader has clearly broken with the ideals that have guided, if imperfectly at times, U.S. foreign policy since World War II. I grew up with those proud ideals. They’re now in shambles.

Fyi – For those who agree that Zelensky is a “dictator,” please note that Britain’s Parliament suspended general elections during WWII, only resuming them in 1945, two months after VE Day. I guess that made Winston Churchill a “dictator” too, right? … I shouldn’t even have to point this out. But there it is.

MassLive reports that they’re back, though packaged differently for today’s young ones, i.e. ‘whippets,’ or cannisters of whipped cream beloved by many for their quickie nitrous-oxide hits. … Brands include “Doodlez,” “Exotic Whip” and “Galaxy Gas,” legally available at some local convenience stores. … They don’t miss a beat, do they? … More on the whippets trend here.

I’m obviously not a regular visitor to NECN.com, since I only recently learned NECN.com no longer exists. The web site now directs viewers to NBC Boston. … And the slow phase out of NECN’s identity continues under current ownership. At any given hour of the day, when I click on NECN on cable, I don’t know if I’m going to get NECN, NBC Boston, NBC network, or infomercial programming etc. …

So Herb Chambers is cashing out. He’s not the first local auto mogul to sell off a dealership and he won’t be the last. … The underlying story here is that the car dealership business is changing fast due to a number of factors — the rise of online car buying, the economies of scale that work against family-owned dealerships, succession and tax issues, etc. etc. The result: Rapid dealership consolidation. 

More corporate spinelessness. The BBJ has the details. … At a later date, there’s a good argument to be made about why certain types of DEI programs, as opposed to the ideals of DEI, should be eliminated. But for now I want to stay focused on how so many people and institutions are shamelessly kowtowing to the White House.

Again, notice how they’re no longer citing waste, fraud and DEI etc. when making these chaotic, slash-first-ask-questions-later budget cuts. … Here are the stories on the temporary JFK library closure, the Trump administration’s scramble to rehire fired nuclear safety workers, and the layoffs of desperately needed immigration judges. 

First a proposed candy tax. Now a proposed pharmacy tax, as the Herald reports? … If I didn’t know better, I’d swear Massachusetts lawmakers are deliberately trying to provoke a crazed MAGA-like revolt over the size of government. See post immediately below – and see posts strewn throughout on President Trump’s reckless budget slashing at the federal level.

The Globe’s Matt Stout has an excellent story on the 50 percent growth of the state budget over the past 7 years – and how the heck that happened. … Basically, the state spent most of the new pandemic-era funds and tax revenues that came its way and never looked back. And yet Gov. Healey is asking for yet more revenue, via a new tax on candy and other items. Even a top Beacon Hill Democrat is warning that spending can’t continue at its current pace: “It’s not sustainable growth.”

My gut tells me something is bubbling out there among voters. People are upset with rising costs of everything.  State House Dems better realize this.

From Bloomberg: ‘Former Staffers Say India’s IT Firm Was Gaming the US Visa System.’ … Well, of course they were gaming the H-1B system – and it was often done in cahoots with U.S. firms that wanted to replace their higher-paid IT staffs with lower-paid H-1B tech workers. And that’s happened right here in Massachusetts, folks … Listen, I support the H-1B program in general. But the system has been abused by U.S. firms, many of them non-tech firms, who just want to outsource their IT jobs to foreign consulting companies who employ H-1B workers. It’s a shell game. The system needs reform.