Tag: massachusetts

More fallout in Boston from the slow-motion collapse of Big Wind.

Put not your faith in politically-subsidized energy projects:

The [Deval] Patrick [D, MA] administration’s $113 million New Bedford marine terminal, built as a Cape Wind construction staging area, has become a taxpayer-funded boondoggle now that the controversial offshore wind farm project is virtually dead in the water.

The South Coast Marine Commerce Terminal, which is still under construction and sits empty, is also running $10 million over budget and months behind schedule.

Baker administration officials are trying to lease out the terminal, but they now expect to fetch a lower return on the taxpayers’ investment after executives behind Cape Wind pulled out of a two-year deal to rent the 28-acre facility for $4.5 million.

Continue reading More fallout in Boston from the slow-motion collapse of Big Wind.

I don’t know how to explain to the Boston Globe how irrelevant the MA Congressional delegation is.

Oh, wait, I do.  This bit?

[Rep Joe] Kennedy’s vexation at the lack of congressional debate on what he called “another military conflict in another Middle Eastern country mired in yet another civil war” was aired by other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation who are assigned to key committees with oversight of foreign policy and the military.

…As far as I can tell, there isn’t a Ranking Member to a full committee in either the House or the Senate Massachusetts delegation.  Looking over that delegation, in fact, and I’m struck by how utterly bland and forgettable it is. Elizabeth Warren is the best of a sad and sorry lot, and she’s not really that impressive. She’s also not on any of the particularly good Senate committees, which shows a remarkably clear-headed view of her utility to Democrats.  Perhaps too clear-headed: I prefer my Democratic establishment types to be half-asleep.

So, yeah, the MA Congressional delegation can keep shaking their fists in the air.  Their own party doesn’t want to give them a better platform than that; why should the rest of us?

So MoveOn wants to draft Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination.

Or so says Mary Katherine over at Hot Air. Two thoughts, here.

  1. I don’t really see what the victory condition is here for running an underperforming first-term progressive Senator from Massachusetts.
  2. I don’t really see what the victory condition is here for running an underperforming first-term progressive Senator from Massachusetts.

Yes, I know.  To quote Kryten from Red Dwarf: “I realize that, technically speaking, that’s only one [thought]; but I thought it was such a big one, it was worth mentioning twice.”

Moe Lane

PS: OK, a second thought: I really don’t ‘get’ drafting a candidate.  If you have to nag him or her into running, what makes you think that s/he will be interested enough to you know, win?

So. Over/under on when Seth Moulton starts gay-baiting Richard Tisei in #ma06 race?

Look, we all know it’s going to happen. John Tierney could maybe avoid that because he’s been in office for so long and had the incumbency advantage. But Tierney will not be the Democratic nominee for MA-06:

Seth Moulton, a Harvard University graduate and Marine veteran, became the first Massachusetts Democrat in 22 years to oust a sitting congressman from his own party, edging aside embattled nine-term US Representative John F. Tierney.

The veteran North Shore congressman conceded shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, as Moulton maintained an 11 percentage point lead with 27 percent of the vote counted.

Moulton doesn’t have the incumbency option, he doesn’t have Tierney’s support network… and he also doesn’t have the cash. Politico notes: Continue reading So. Over/under on when Seth Moulton starts gay-baiting Richard Tisei in #ma06 race?

Boston Globe finds Charlie Baker ahead of Martha Coakley in MA-GOV. …Huh.

Keep a real close eye on the Baker-Coakley Massachusett’s governor’s race, assuming that Martha Coakley and Charlie Baker win their respective nominations in a couple of weeks*. If the general election is going to cook off, the first warning signs would start appearing right about now:

coakley-baker

Continue reading Boston Globe finds Charlie Baker ahead of Martha Coakley in MA-GOV. …Huh.

Massachusetts sheriff squawks over Bristol County being used as illegal immigrant dumping ground

(H/T Instapundit) I honestly do not get what the administration thinks that it is doing, here.

Illegal immigrants are being secretly flown to Massachusetts and kept in local lockups in an under-the-radar operation that has alarmed lawmen who are raising health and security concerns amid recent spikes in detainees coming up from Texas during the latest border crisis.

“We’re all becoming border sheriffs now with these people being carted all over the country,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson.

“The blame goes all the way up. It’s a travesty and people ought to be upset,” Hodgson said. “This is un-American and has raised the stakes to the public health and public safety threat.”

Continue reading Massachusetts sheriff squawks over Bristol County being used as illegal immigrant dumping ground

#Obamacare kills Romneycare in Massachusetts.

Tell me again how brilliant the current administration is.  No, go ahead: I always enjoy a good dose of cathartic laughter.

Massachusetts plans to completely scrap the state’s dysfunctional online health insurance website, deciding that it would be too expensive and time-consuming to fix the overwhelming number of flaws.

Instead, officials will buy an off-the-shelf product used by several other states to enroll residents in health plans, while simultaneously preparing to join the federal HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace if that product fails.

Via David Freddoso, who also noted that this means that Massachusetts traded a statewide universal healthcare system that actually more or less worked, arguably, with a statewide healthcare system that burned down, fell over, and fell into the swamp.  I’m shaking my head with equal fervor, let me tell you – especially since I know that there’s a non-trivial chance that the USSC will tell the government that they can’t actually offer tax subsidies on federal Obamacare policies.  And won’t that just set the cat among the pigeons…

Moe Lane

You know, it’s not as if I *wanted* to catalog the state #obamacare Litanies Of Failure. #massachusetts

It just seems to be working out that way: Mass. may cancel payments for botched Obamacare website

Yesterday’s nine-hour shutdown of the state’s Obamacare website was a waste of time, Health Connector executive director Jean Yang said during this morning’s Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority Board meeting — the latest debacle that has the state considering whether to cancel payments due to the contractor.

“The vendor told us about early evening yesterday that the deployment was not going as scheduled so we decided to stop that,” Yang said. The shutdown during the key enrollment week — designed to implement a series of upgrades and fixes — was originally scheduled for 15 hours.

The CGI-built website and database system has “consistently” underperformed, state health connector officials said, and the state may seek to cancel the remainder of the money due to the contractor. Canada-based CGI also built the problem-plagued national Obamacare website.

Continue reading You know, it’s not as if I *wanted* to catalog the state #obamacare Litanies Of Failure. #massachusetts

Scott Brown, you *damned* well better be just making buzz for a MA-GOV run.

Seriously. This is not the time.

Former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown told Iowa State Fair visitors on Sunday that he is “exploring a possible run” for president in 2016, according to reports.

According to WBZ Channel 4, Brown, a Republican, told a CBS affiliate that he is measuring interest in his “brand of politics.” The Iowa State Fair is a frequent stop for possible Oval Office contenders.

Now, if he is just making buzz for his MA-GOV run, that’s cool. Good strategy, in fact. Gets his name in the local Massachusetts papers for free.  But this is not something that should happen for real.