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.

— 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)

I almost feel sorry for the four state troopers now facing involuntary manslaughter charges over the training-academy death of police cadet Enrique Delgado-Garcia. They’re paying the price for decades, if not generations, of institutional rot and resistance to any common-sense reforms at the academy and throughout the agency. They’re part of a broken system that’s long valued macho brawn over brains. But I’ve covered this topic before here and here and here.

Hopefully, these indictments will indeed lead to some meaningful change at State Police, as the Delgado-Garcia family and the Globe are urging. Unfortunately, the push for real reform won’t come from within. The current corrupt culture at State Police is too deeply embedded. It’s going to have to come from a legislature that itself has proven resistant to institutional change. So don’t get your hopes up too high.

Update — 2.12.26 –– Howie Carr has a brutal takedown of one of the four indicted troopers. … If the other allegation proves true, she deserves zero sympathy.

Thank you, Chris Schad. I’ve been thinking the same thing. Move Will Campbell to guard. He seems too small for tackle, as shown last evening in the Pats’ semi-blowout loss to Seattle. … How bad was Will? From Nick Goss at NBC Boston: “He allowed 14 pressures in the Super Bowl, per Next Gen Stats, which is the most by any offensive lineman in a game this season.” That’s any lineman in all NFL regular season and playoff games. … So Drake had an injection for his shoulder before the game. But a HB reader writes: “Forget the shoulder. Maye had to run for his life because his team couldn’t protect him. It was hard to watch.” At the Globe, Dan Shaughnessey agrees. But … I respectfully disagree. Drake’s performance throughout the playoffs wasn’t overly impressive. So this rang true to yours truly this morning, via CBS Sports: “Drake Maye’s superstar rise hits speed bump.” … Carlton Davis is still confident – and has a hunch the Pats will be back next year, as the Herald reports. I’m not as confident. But they’re already running 2026-2027 power rankings over at ESPN. And guess what? The Pats remain at No. 2. … And, finally, there’s always the NYT. The screenshot below is from its website an hour or so ago. Three of five highlighted Super Bowl stories are on Bad Bunny. Well, I guess they know their readers!

Update — 2.10.26 — From Karen Guregian at MassLive: “Solving the Will Campbell conundrum top priority for Patriots.” … And the Globe’s Joan Vennochi has her own post-Super Bowl thoughts, including her reaction to Bad Donny’s typically obnoxious reaction to Bad Bunny.

Update II — 2.12.26 –– From the Globe: “Mike Vrabel shut the door on moving Will Campbell from left tackle to guard, but shouldn’t he consider it?”