Some off-the-beaten-path stories you may have missed this past week:

— It confirms an earlier survey showing the race tightening: “Moulton closes in on Markey in new Mass. Senate poll” (MassLive)

— Strip out AI and the rest of the economy isn’t so hot: “Uneven Expansion and Emerging Headwinds: Massachusetts’ Economy Continues to Navigate Divergent Trends” (Mass Benchmarks)

— She’s trying to have it both ways on the issue: “Healey vows to protect Mass. from nonexistent data center threat” (Contrarian Boston)

— Raising the bottle bill to 10 cents per container isn’t going to do much good – and neither is this boycott: “Environmental groups launch boycott of Worcester-based Polar Beverages” (GBH)

— Bottom. line: America has too much air conditioning, Europe doesn’t have enough: “The Overlooked Reason Europe Doesn’t Have AC” (The Atlantic)

— I assume Old Spice Classic isn’t among the scents: “Luxury Buildings Add Signature Fragrances as Differentiators” (Banker & Tradesman)

— What it says is simple: what an embarrassing end: “What Jack Schlossberg’s Loss Says About the Kennedy Dynasty” (WSJ)

— They’re effectively taking out huge loans to fund big AI bets: “The Trillion-Dollar Borrowing Binge Lifting the Stock Market to Risky Heights” (WSJ)

— A sad end to an historic Boston firm: “Peabody & Arnold joins Harris Beach Murtha, ending 127-year law firm brand” (BBJ)

— The Barstool Sports founder shills away from the confines of his $47M estate on Nantucket: “Dave Portnoy Has One Rule for Success: Hire Great People and ‘Let Them Run Wild’”

— A true simplistic view of history – good-bad, north-south, red-blue, Plymouth v Jamestown, etc.: “The ‘Two Ships’ Theory of American History” (The Atlantic)

As bad as the Jaylen Brown-Paul George trade looks on the surface, there’s something telling me that it was the right move under the circumstances, that the two-stars Brown-Tatum match wasn’t working and that something needed to change. I wish that change included trading Brown for Giannis Antetokounmpo. But that deal wasn’t meant to be. … I get Dan Shaughnessy, Gary Washburn, Zack Kram and Sam Quinn’s harsh criticisms of the trade. Jaylen Brown for 36-year-old Paul George and a slew of draft picks? That’s all they could get? But Hardwood Houdini is on to something when it writes:

It’s sad to see it go down like this, but it’s also exciting in a sense. It’s a new day in Boston. The Jays era is over. Now it’s just the Jayson Tatum era. And maybe that’s the way it should have been all along

Now if we can only get rid of Stubborn Joe. He’s the real problem on this team. I get depressed at the thought of another 3-point bombs-away season. But Brad is sticking with him… A Hub Blog reader on the Brown trade:

– Damn (and I was all in on the Giannis swap)

– Brown didn’t request a trade? 

– The 76ers kicked our ass in the playoffs without Brown and with Paul George… though we didn’t have Mitchell Robinson.

– Adding two late 30s guys and a big man with injury history says WIN NOW for new ownership.

– Cue the full-page Boston Globe farewell ad. Or save the $ and put it on Instagram?

— Paging Bill Simmons… and Jackie McMullan…

His supporters will try to change the subject, perhaps yet again to Hunter Biden’s pathetic get-rich-quick schemes. But they know this is bad. Really bad. … And nearly half the money came from an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates. …

Update – 7.2.26 – The WSJ is comparing the Trump family’s brazen money grab to Tammany Hall boss George Washington Plunkitt’s “honest graft” view of government.

I loved the original headline (see above) on Thomas Edsall’s latest piece at the NYT, but they’ve since changed it. Too bad. The original one perfectly summed up the DSA Party, whose membership is overwhelmingly made up of college-grad professionals completely out of touch with working-class people they say they represent, as Edsall notes and shows. … Sociology and gender-studies majors of the world, unite! 

Fyi – I’m thinking of starting a regular feature on Hub Blog: ‘Red Menace Rising Update,’ focusing on everything socialist, socialist, socialist, from overreactions to socialists to hypocrisy of socialists. It’s so exciting! 

In the end, I didn’t wait to stream it. Instead, at the invitation of a friend, I saw ‘Pressure’ yesterday at the classic Dedham Community Theatre. My verdict: thumbs up. The Atlantic’s David Sims had it right: it’s hard at instill real tension in a D-Day story that’s been told many times before, but director Anthony Maras managed to pull it off in ‘Pressure,’ via the tale of a meteorologist’s weather forecast, of all things. … Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower? It took some getting used to it, I admit. But he gives a surprisingly good performance. Andrew Scott (of Ripley fame) was typically excellent as Captain James Stagg, the meteorologist. … The movie has its share of flaws (among them frequent corniness), but it’s definitely a solid “dad-bait” flick, perfect for Father’s Day. It’s playing today at Dedham Community Theatre at 12 and 4:30. … Btw: There were more than a few buffoonish characters in the movie who reminded me of know-it-all Pete Hegseth (see below), but I won’t get into that here.

In his book ‘An Army at Dawn,’ Rick Atkinson writes how Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ruthlessly cashiered a number of military officers who had shown battlefield incompetence during America’s initial humiliating defeats in WW II. I thought of Eisenhower after reading this WSJ piece on how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has effectively cashiered a four-star general who has consistently exhibited exactly what Eisenhower sought in officers: battlefield competence. … Hegseth may have a point that there’s way too many four- and three-star chiefs strutting around the Pentagon. But we all know there’s more to it than that when it comes to this loyalty-obsessed administration. From the WSJ: 

During his years as a Fox News broadcaster, Hegseth decried what he called a “war on warriors,” insisting that stringent rules of engagement and the push for diversity have hurt the military’s ability to fight wars effectively. 

Central to Hegseth’s campaign is a small circle of senior advisers, including Ricky Buria, a retired Marine colonel and Hegseth’s chief of staff, as well as Tim Parlatore, his personal lawyer, according to current and former officials with knowledge of the internal deliberations. Those advisers informally evaluate (officer) candidates based on a number of subjective factors, including their loyalty to the president and their association with the previous administration’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies, the people said.

Re Hegseth’s “warrior spirt” obsession: the Hub Blog mind hippity hops to the French general staff’s obsessive “élan vital” ethos that repeatedly sent troops over the top to slaughter with no gain in WW I. … But, hey, I’m just a lowly Boston blogger. Who am I to question the brilliance of a former Fox News commentator?

Update — 6.28.26 – The NYT’s David French thinks he’s found the moment when Gen. Christopher Donahue probably sealed his own fate with Hegseth. It had nothing to do with battlefield competence, everything to do with anti-woke politics.

Some slightly off-the-beaten-path stories that you may have missed over the past week:

— If accurate, this is a very solid number: “Massachusetts Added Over 34K Homes in 2025” (Banker & Tradesman)

— And more good economic news: “Boston Dynamics plans $100 million, 1,250-job Waltham expansion” (BBJ)

— Make it a good-news threefer: “Metal manufacturer to build $1.3B ‘gigafactory’ in Mass., add 1,000 jobs” (BBJ)

— I’m surprised this op-ed hasn’t generated more attention: “Rollins has yet to prove she deserves a second chance” (Globe)

— Find British politics confusing? This is a good explainer piece: “Burnham Is Britain’s Last Chance Before Farage” (The Atlantic)

— In the sense he thought it reflected reality, he also got Atlas Shrugged wrong: “Greenspan got the economy right. He got Wall Street wrong” (Globe)

— It isn’t what they deserve. It’s what they can grab: “Top-Paid CEOs Smash the $200 Million Payday” (WSJ)

— It’s about ego, vanity, control, etc.: “The Real Reason Bosses Want You Back in the Office Full Time (It’s Not Productivity)” (NYT)

— The only thing scarier than an AI tech bubble is AI tech itself: “Anthropic’s Mythos AI Model Reportedly Breached NSA Classified Systems in Hours” (Cybersecurity News)

— Military history-buff alert: “This Futuristic Japanese Warship Is on the Market and Winning Fans” (WSJ)

— Another military history-buff alert: “For Heirs of Custer and Sitting Bull, a 150-year-old battle is personal” (NYT)

Fyi — I modified the headline blurbs a bit since originally posting this, in case you noticed, largely for succinctness, accuracy and clarity’s sake.

Zohran Mamdani has definitely established himself as a political kingmaker in New York, as the NYT reports. But I’ll believe Democratic Socialists are on the verge of taking over the Democratic Party when they start routinely winning elections in non-deep blue states. I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Still, I get Joe Battenfeld’s point: the far left’s recent successes within the Democratic Party are “mirroring how MAGA has seized control of the Republican Party.” … 

The failure of our two-party primary system is one of the reasons I support the elimination of party primaries in Massachusetts.  

Re calls to take the compromise rent-control deal before it was too late: On second thought, never mind. … Yes, the state Supreme Judicial Court has struck down the proposed rent-control ballot initiative, the second major referendum proposal rejected by the court in as many weeks. This time it’s not AG Andrea Campbell’s fault per se, though her bumbling office did certify the rent-control measure and she’s now saying she’s “surprised” by the SJC’s ruling, as reported at Boston.com. … Anyway, it appears proponents themselves added a religious exemption to the ballot question’s wording – and that was enough for the high court to nix the initiative on constitutional grounds. Well, good riddance. Rent control is a bad idea, religious exemption or not.

Needless to say, this is a huge win for those in the real estate community who balked at any compromise rent-control deal until after the court had rendered a decision. They stuck to their guns – and won. And needless to say, it’s a huge loss for housing “advocates,” some of whom are now hoping a compromise plan may yet be struck on Beacon Hill, as Banker & Tradesman reports. Forget it. They just lost all their negotiating leverage. There ain’t going to be a compromise deal.

Other passing thoughts — Did rent-control proponents sense this ruling was coming? In retrospect, they seemed awfully eager to strike a compromise deal. … The bigwig developers who negotiated a compromise rent-control agreement don’t look so smart today. Nor for that matter does Hub Blog. But we won’t get into that. … The SJC deserves credit for being consistent with both the tax-cut and rent-control measures: the wording of ballot questions matter. … I guess you can say the business community is now 1-1 when it comes to ballot-question rulings by the high court. …

Update – 6.24.26 – AG Campbell is having it both ways: owning up to the referendum blunders while downplaying them. The Globe, which has temporarily set aside its pat-a-cake coverage of the AG, has the details.

Update II — 6.25.26 –– I missed this one from GBH’s Adam Reilly: “‘We made a mistake’: After court tosses 2 ballot questions, attorney general defends her record.” … And then, of course, she proceeds to downplay the mistake.

Update III — 6.25.26 — From the Globe: “Rent control’s survival on Beacon Hill ‘diminished’ after high court tosses ballot question.” But as Scott Van Voorhis bluntly notes (scroll to Quick Hits at bottom): “Let’s not mince words here: It’s not ‘diminished,’ it’s dead.”

Update IV — 6.28.26 – From the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld: “AG Andrea Campbell’s errors sting Massachusetts voters.”

Let Miami have Giannis Antetokounmpo. He isn’t worth what Miami paid, according to the ridiculous terms reported by the Globe. … The Celts made a very solid offer. But now it’s on to Plan B, which in an ideal world would include landing both a new center and new head coach. 

Yet, an HB reader wonders if the Celts’ offer was indeed solid enough, if keeping Hugo Gonzalez was a possible deal killer (scroll down): “Really, worrying about Hugo Gonzalez when you can get Giannis? It’s like worrying about Ryan Gomes when you can get Kevin Garnett!!!  (And I like Hugo, and I liked Ryan).”

Update –– It looks like the Celts refused to trade both Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman. From Hardwood Houdini:

Those are two promising youngsters who had very solid seasons for the Celtics, but ironically, they were two of the players that Joe Mazzulla was bizarrely hesitant to trust during the playoffs.

So, Celtics fans have gone from watching in frustration as Mazzulla refused to play Gonzalez and Scheierman, to now watching as Brad Stevens has refused to include them in a trade for the two-time MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Celts are not going to reach their full potential with Joe M at the helm. No way.

Update II — 6.24.26 – A very uninspiring draft pick by the Celts. We don’t need another young player who requires a couple of years to develop his potential, as the Herald reports (scroll down to analysts’ less-than-awed views of Cenac.)

Update III — 6.24.26 – From Hardwood Houdini: “It’s a worthy shot on upside at the end of the first round, but make no mistake about it: Cenac is a project. He’s an incredible athlete, but for now, most of his upside is hypothetical.”