One example doesn’t make a trend. Still, Steve Adams at Banker & Tradesman reports (sub.) how The Fallon Co. has secured a big construction loan for a new luxury residential tower on Boston’s Fan Pier. Is this the end of Boston’s high-end residential construction drought? I’ll believe it’s part of a trend when work resumes at Suffolk Downs and other sites.

Here are two interesting NYT pieces that play off each other (though I don’t think they were planned to play off each other). One is by David Brooks on how Trump’s right-wing campaign has turned into a left-wing version of identify politics, complete with political victims (conservatives, Christians, etc.) and their evil-doer oppressors (secular liberals). The second is a piece on how Trump is literally profiting off of playing the martyred victim, electorally and financially (selling Bibles, swaths of his mug-shot clothing etc.). 

Btw – Re selling the mug-shot clothing: It reminds me of the hilarious “The Shoe is the Sign” scene from ‘The Life of Brian.’

Maybe President Biden’s letter didn’t work – or at least not with Chuck, Nancy and George. And then there’s the small band of disgruntled Congressional Democrats who think Biden should withdraw from the race. … Re Chuck: It may be, and probably is, a case of him telling nervous donors what they want to hear. But if Drudge is giving it credence, I’ll give it credence! … Re George: You know coup backers are getting desperate when they attribute great importance to what a Hollywood celebrity thinks. … Re Congressional Dems: Among them is U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, who doesn’t have a good track record of backing the right horse during attempted coups.

Boston is leading the nation in year-over-year growth of workers returning to the office, reports the BBJ’s Grant Welker, citing new data from Placer.ai.

Good news, right? Well, yes, and no. An increase is an increase. Demand is demand. But Boston’s office building “foot traffic,” which is a loose way of saying ‘occupancy’ without getting into hybrid-work complications, is still down 32 percent compared to pre-pandemic 2019. So there’s still a one-third oversupply of office buildings. 

One measly letter is all it took for the revolt to collapse. … From NBC: “There’s no way out’: Democrats feel powerless as ‘elites’ fall in line behind Biden.” …

Meanwhile, the Globe’s David Scharfenberg has an excellent piece on why, Biden or no Biden, Dems are in a tough spot. I know Democrats can’t out-populist Trump. But can’t they at least come up with compelling commercials about the economy (low unemployment rate, record high stocks, increased manufacturing jobs — conveniently leaving out inflation) or infrastructure work (showing lots of photos with hard-hat construction workers at outdoor road-and-bridge sites etc.)? Why haven’t I seen any commercials about abortion? Project 2025? January 6? Forget Biden’s age and physical limitations. He’s running a mediocre campaign in almost every regard.

After the letter he just sent, you have to wonder: Will he get booed at the convention? … The letter sounds like it was written by a committee led by Hunter.

France just proved that it’s possible to desperately throw together a last-minute strategy solely aimed at stopping a particular party from obtaining power. The problem is we’re not talking about parliamentary elections in America. We’re talking about a one-on-one presidential matchup. The dynamics are different. But the results in France must still be somewhat intriguing, if not encouraging, for those Dems desperately hoping to replace Biden with another candidate who can stop Donald Trump.

Update — Not that any of this matters.

It’s also high interest rates and construction costs, as the developers of the old Suffolk Downs can attest. … There’s a pipeline of nearly 23,000 residential units already approved for construction in Boston. But they’re not getting built due largely to high costs . The Wu administration deserves criticism for a lot of things, but not this. 

I know HubSpot is more than just a marketing firm. It has a software platform supporting its standard “inbound marketing” strategy that relies on blog posts, newsletters and other channels to drive traffic to desired sites. But it’s still a marketing company. So it’s hard to get your head around the possibility of Google buying the Cambridge-based HubSpot for $30 billion. And an unprofitable marketing firm at that.

The BBJ’s Lucia Maffei has more.

What if the NYT’s Roger Cohen traveled through America’s heartland, not France’s heartland, to give us a similarly honest and elegant account of the attitudes and legitimate complaints of Midwesterners? … This is a terrific look at what’s driving people to support the far-right National Rally party in rural France. It’s all the little things adding up to bigger things – and the National Rally filling political voids while trying to hide its true nature. Sound familiar?

But I doubt we could ever get consistent reporting like this about America’s heartland. The coverage would almost inevitably descend into predictable left-right-paradigm reporting designed to keep base read-to-confirm subscribers happy.