Jeff Kanne, chief executive of National Real Estate Advisors, tells the Globe’s Shirley Leung why his pension fund has hit the brakes on financing big development projects in Boston: Mayor Wu’s affordability set-asides and energy efficiency requirements as well as the prospect of rent control becoming law in Massachusetts. … Yes, high construction costs and interest rates are also factors when firms consider building in Boston. But those same conditions exist in other cities – and yet those cities are seeing construction, Kanne notes. … It’s a good column by Shirley.

Some things never change. The same rationales. The same rhetoric. The same early-war boasting of success. And one other thing about the ongoing Iran War compared to the start of the Iraq War in 2003: the same contradictory feelings, i.e. an intense dislike about how we got into this war and at same time rooting for U.S. military success. … I’ll bet there’s more than a few people with similar contradictory feelings. 

Update – Speaking of contradictory feelings and views, from Tom Friedman at the NYT: “To think clearly about Middle East wars, you need to hold multiple thoughts in your head at the same time. It’s a complicated, kaleidoscopic region where religion, oil, tribal politics and great power politics interweave in every major story. If you are looking for a black-and-white narrative, you might want to take up checkers.”

Update II – It seems many Dems and Republicans prefer playing checkers. Via NYT and NBC, respectively.

Update III — 3.3.26 – The Herald’s Joe Battenfeld is blasting the all-Dem Massachusetts congressional delegation’s extreme preference for checkers.

Update IV– 3.3.26 – As military veterans, these local Republicans aren’t following a black-and-white narrative. Via GBH: “Mass. GOP candidates call for Trump to talk to Congress about Iran strikes”

Update V – 3.4.26 – This is the type of success I’m talking about now that we’re in this war. From the Globe’s Jeff Jacoby: “When a tyrant dies, decent people rejoice.” … But decent people also want leaders to follow the constitution and most want this unwanted war to end ASAP.

If Congress won’t stop the war with Iran, maybe a shortage of munitions will. The WSJ has the details on the behind-the-scenes concerns of the Pentagon brass. Just terrific reporting.

Update. — 3.3.26 — The Atlantic is also warning of a munitions shortage.

Update II — 3.4.26 – The WSJ’s editorial board thinks the munition-shortage concern is overblown.

They’ll once again get around the constitution by saying we’re not really at “war,” just conducting an “assault,” therefore there was no need for Congressional authorization before we attacked Iran last evening. … Another war. More bogus claims of WMDs (see debunkings here and here by the WSJ, not exactly an America-hating lefty newspaper of record, it should be noted). … 

Is Massachusetts about to get the full “war on fraud” treatment from the Trump administration? You have to wonder after President Trump’s SOTU assertion that welfare fraud in Massachusetts, Maine and California is “even worse” than what’s been found in Minnesota. … Gov. Healey is pushing back against the president’s claims, as the Herald reports. …  Vice President Vance sure looks like he’s raring to go as Trump’s new fraud-buster in chief, withholding Medicaid funds from Minnesota until, well, who knows.  … I can see it now: withholding federal bucks from Massachusetts, similar to what the administration has done to Harvard. Think of all the ga-ga MAGA praise Vance would get!

GBH’s Adam Reilly looks at the president’s “even worse” claims and finds they don’t exactly pass muster, though he does raise the prospect of potentially huge amounts of welfare “leakage” in Massachusetts. He explains… I could be wrong but I don’t think this administration, not known for its strict adherence to the truth, is going to differentiate much between fraud and ‘leakage.’

The Herald has been all over the fraud-is-everywhere story/hysteria, even running a long piece Sunday about an anonymous whistleblower’s claims of ‘rampant’ fraud within the state’s SNAP program. I have my qualms about the one-source piece, mainly that’s it’s a one-source piece. But the source sounded credible at points — and never forget this is the state that recklessly spent billions on the right-to-shelter fiasco, etc. Do you really think the Trump administration will differentiate between fraud and really bad fiscal policy? 

Update –A reader notes that John L. Micek at MassLive was already looking at how the “fraud furor” might impact the Massachusetts governor’s race — even before President Trump poured more fuel on it on Tuesday.

Update II – 3.1.26 – Is this fraud, ‘leakage,’ or a combination of the two? From the Herald: “Biden Admin urged Healey to clean up state SNAP program, 2024 letter shows.”

Update III — 3.3.26 – As a reader notes, never forget all the multibillion-dollar problems the state has had with it Unemployment Insurance fund.

Update IV — 3.11.26 — The Globe’s on the story.

— Another very promising (and simple) clean-energy technology: “Small-scale solar panels could see a breakout year in New England” (Globe)

— Nearly 4,000 units have been proposed so far on these sprawling properties: “Housing Starts to Fill Up Office Parks” (B&T)

— The non-health care numbers are pretty scary, as Larry Edelman notes: “Without health care, the Massachusetts job market would be dead in the water” (Globe)

— He’s taking a page from Michelle Wu’s alarmist /blame-others playbook: “Mamdani Warns of Nearly 10% Property-Tax Boost if No Tax on Wealthy” (WSJ)

— It will chill the market, not ‘could’ chill the market – and it’s what they wanted: “State’s top health official: FDA’s reversal on Moderna’s flu vaccine could ‘chill the market’” (GBH)

— No surprise here. They’ve been doing it for decades: “UMass Amherst likely violated suspended student’s First Amendment rights, Massachusetts judge rules” (Herald)

— I love this company. Is it the commercials? “After rough start to last year, SharkNinja cleans up on Wall Street” (Globe)

— As the article notes, PE is on academic probation: “The Ivies Are Having Second Thoughts About Investing in Private Equity” (WSJ)

— And Ed Markey is on his case too: “Ring’s Founder Knows You Hated That Super Bowl Ad” (NYT)

— A good summary of conservative thoughts on the Old World: “What the American Right Wants From Europe” (NYT)

Not content with barring military officers from taking courses at Harvard, Pete Hegseth is now considering canceling other local and national universities. From CNN:

A preliminary list of at-risk schools compiled by the Army for troops enrolling in law school and reviewed by CNN characterizes the following schools as being at “moderate to high risk” of being banned: American University, Boston College, Boston University, Brown University, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western University, Columbia University, College of William and Mary, Cornell University, Duke, Emory, Florida Institute of Technology, Fordham, Georgetown, George Washington University, Harvard, Hawaii Pacific University, Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, MIT, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, New York University, Pepperdine, Princeton, Stanford, Tufts, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Washington University in St Louis, and Yale.

As noted last week: what a small, ignorant man. … CNN piece via Universal Hub.

Update – 2.19.26 – Yet another example of right-wing thought policing. From Jill Abramson at the Globe: “How Trump’s attempts at cancel culture could backfire, fueling Talarico’s rise”

From a WSJ piece headlined “When AI Bots Start Bullying Humans, Even Silicon Valley Gets Rattled”:

Scott Shambaugh woke up early Wednesday morning to learn that an artificial intelligence bot had written a blog post accusing him of hypocrisy and prejudice.

The 1,100-word screed called the Denver-based engineer insecure and biased against AI—all because he had rejected a few lines of code that the apparently autonomous bot had submitted to a popular open-source project Shambaugh helps maintain.

The unexpected AI aggression is part of a rising wave of warnings that fast-accelerating AI capabilities can create real-world harms. 

If it can turn on its boss, who’s next? What’s next? … Amazing. And disturbing.

Amid my recent anti-Trump posts (which, I hope, stopped short of TDS), I did squirrel away some Dem-related items that I’ve been meaning to post about for a while now. Here goes:

— I loved the headline on this Politico piece: “Democrats Confront the Party’s Questionnaire-Industrial Complex.” It seems some moderates are urging moderate-liberal primary candidates NOT to fill out questionnaires from far-left special interest groups – or they’ll regret it later. It’s wise advice for those hoping to later win general elections … 

— Definitely check out Mark Leibovich’s long two-cups-of-coffee (at least) article at the Atlantic about all that’s wrong with modern Dems, from “land acknowledgment” rituals before DNC meetings to how many progressive say they want rough-and-tough anti-Trump fighters but wimp out when it comes to possibly committing even the slightest microaggression against an aggrieved group du jour. …

— Both Time magazine (yes, Time) and the Atlantic (again) have good pieces on the ongoing brawls in the Texas Senate primary races. The latter focuses on the Dems’ bitter contest – and the identity-politics fissures that are damaging both candidates. …

 — Once again, it’s about political language – and the mindset behind the jargon. From the WSJ: “The Democrats Have an ‘Abolish ICE’ Conundrum.” … The article is a little old, by today’s frenzied news-cycle standards, but still relevant.…

— Here’s another somewhat old item that I set aside till I had time to post on it, i.e. Siddhu Pachipala’s Globe column about the left’s overreliance on protests, particularly campus protests. He’s right. And it’s something liberal stalwarts, like Barney Frank, have long complained about – prioritizing weekend protests over less glamorous political-grunt organizing.

And that about empties my Dems dysfunction cubbard.

— It almost sounds too good to be true: “Boston is piloting a new type of heat pump that’s as easy to install as a window AC” (WBUR)

— Chicago’s Blizzard of ’79. Mayor Wu, you’ve been warned: “Residents are steaming about snowbanks — and some neighborhoods are angrier than others” (Globe)

— If he wins the primary, he’s going to be a formidable general-election candidate: “Money talks for GOP’s Minogue as candidate carries more cash than Healey” (Herald)

— Jon Keller makes the case why NH should be stripped of its first-in-nation presidential primary status: “Ken Burns’ naïve politics” (MassterList)

— Just a mere preview of the crypto-financial meltdown to come: “A Bitcoin Blunder for the Ages: $40 Billion Accidentally Given Away” (WSJ)

— Horatio Alger stories, D.C. style: “Massachusetts Dems join Pelosi school of get rich quick schemes” (Herald)

— I hadn’t heard of this pivot. Interesting: “Merrimack College opens $17M lecture hall as it pivots from liberal arts to research” (BBJ)

— Beacon Hill tries to fix a problem created in Washington: “Penny’s demise triggers rounding legislation for cash transactions” (Yahoo)

— As the article notes, ideology has crashed into reality: “Mamdani Reverses Campaign Promise to Expand Rental Assistance” (NYT)

— Via Ukraine, this is the same futuristic technology the Pentagon was experimenting with in El Paso earlier this week: “The New Laser That Can Take Down Aircraft” (The Atlantic)