RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

Seen & Heard: Vol. 28

A weekly report on things I’ve read, heard and seen since last Wednesday. 

Book Review: This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History, by Beverly Gage (2026). A professor of American history at Yale, Gage won the Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for her biography of J. Edgar Hoover (G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century) which I own but have yet to read. I recently watched an interview of Gage which, like most author interviews I consume, was fascinating. She explained that the Hoover book took her a decade to write so as a follow up she was looking for something simpler and more streamlined. With this being the Semiquincentennial and given her fascination with historical sites, she decided to do something that combined the two. She organized it in 13 chapters, one for each of the original colonies. The places she chose were eclectic and her observations combined historical context, current day information about the sites, and a personal journal of her travel experiences. Given my interest in historic sites, I’ve always enjoyed this type of book. Here are the places she visited:  

1. Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and the Declaration of Independence; Valley Forge; Brandywine)
2. Virginia (Slavery and the Virginia Presidents; Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings; Colonial Williamsburg)
3. Tennessee (Andrew Jackson; Indian Removal; the Trail of Tears)
4. Texas (The Alamo; Davey Crockett; Mexican-American War)
5. New York State (Frederick Douglass and Rochester; Seneca Falls and women’s suffrage; The “Burned Over” District; Erie Canal)
6. South Carolina (Fort Sumter; John Calhoun; Beaufort and Reconstruction)
7. Mountain West (Custer and Little Big Horn; Chinese exclusion; Teddy Roosevelt and the strenuous life; Mount Rushmore)
8. Chicago (George Pullman; “The Jungle”, Eugene Debs)
9. Atlanta (Coca-Cola and the New South; Confederate Memorial Day)
10. Detroit (Henry Ford and the auto industry)
11. New Mexico (Oppenheimer and Los Alamos; Death Valley)
12. Alabama (Martin Luther King; Rosa Parks; Selma; Civil Rights Trail)
13. California (Disneyland;  Orange County; Nixon and Reagan)

Article: “After landing Brown, Sixers are a legitimate threat in the East” by Tony Jones, The Athletic/NYT, July 3, 2026. I’m still ambivalent about sports these days, but I have been a fan of Jaylen Brown of the Celtics and was sorry to see him traded away although it seemed there were irreconcilable differences between him and the team. I’m highlighting this article rather than something from the Boston press (which unanimously sees the trade as awful). This writer says this one move has transformed the Philadelphia 76ers from a team on the playoff periphery to a legitimate contender for the championship next year. Here’s what he wrote about the player the Celtics gave up: “Brown is durable. He is a three-level scorer. He is someone who has been an NBA finals MVP and a champion. He is also polarizing, thoughtful well spoken, outspoken, expensive and had apparently fallen so out of favor with Brad Stevens and the rest of Boston’s front office that he was traded for relative pennies on the dollar.” I remember Brown once posing for a picture with Bill Nye The Science guy and being thrilled to have met his “childhood hero.” Brown also funds STEM organizations in Boston (aka Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Not your typical pro athlete profile. Maybe he said some odd or off putting things but he was a smart, durable, dependable player while he was here so it’s baffling that he’s now gone. 

Article: “All EV bet unraveled for Honda” by River Akira Davis, New York Times, July 2, 2026. Five years ago, Honda’ chief executive, Toshihiro Mibe, pivoted the company towards all electric vehicles, saying that his vision was to completely eliminate any gasoline-engine Hondas by 2040. This article says that plan has fallen apart, in large part because the US EV market has substantially retrenched. That’s partly due to the regime’s elimination of EV tax credits which cut on average $7500 of the cost of a car, but also because American car buyers seem more interested in hybrids than all electric vehicles. Perhaps that’s because of the still limited range – relatively speaking – of EV batteries. I tend to keep a car until it wears out so I’m not in the market and even though I rarely take long roadtrips, here’s my calculation: If I wanted to drive from Lowell to NYC say (why anyone would drive to NYC rather than take other types of transport is another issue), if I had an EV, would I be able to make it all the way without recharging? I think the answer is no. However, since most of my driving is local, a hybrid would seem to be the best option for me. Maybe some day recharging stations will be as fast and ubiquitous as gas pumping service stations but until then I think many people will be hesitant to go all in on EVs.  

Watch: Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, July 4, 2026, on Channel 7 in Boston. For the past decade, my traditional Independence Day observance includes a quiet day at home with a special meal of summer food favorites capped by watching the Boston Pops show from the Esplanade on TV. Shortly before this year’s show was supposed to begin, my newsfeed said they were evacuating the Esplanade due to a coming storm. The TV broadcast started promptly at 7pm, but it was the recording of the previous day’s rehearsal intercut with past performances. The musical performers were pretty good. Among the performers were Trombone Shorty, Su Yavuz, Chance the Rapper, Megan Hilty, and Lainy Wilson. Additional performers included the Boston Children’s Chorus, Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Chorus, Middlesex County Volunteers Drums and Fifes, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the USS Constitution Color Guard. Massachusetts Poet Laureate Regie Gibson premiered his “Song of Massachusetts” poem and Emmy-award winning actress Jane Lynch was the host. One thing that seemed unusual this year was that no uniformed personnel of the U.S. military seemed to be present in the crowd. Usually some active duty sailors in uniform line the front row and are prominently displayed on camera but not this year. However, the Massachusetts Army National Guard did provide a battery of 105mm howitzers to boom off some rounds during the 1812 Overture. One of the highlights for me was the drone show which lit up the sky with images of Paul Revere, Old Ironsides, Bunker Hill Monument, and other Patriotic Images. The evening ended with fireworks which are not my things so I called it a night at that point.  

Newsletter: Jared Bernstein on Substack. “Grocery Prices: If Not An Emergency, Then a Pretty Big Headache.” This writer is an economist who was an advisor in the Biden Administration. He writes several times each week on the Substack newsletter app on  economic matters (and doesn’t charge for it). A regular topic is grocery prices. I think he and the Biden people got burned in the 2024 election by repeatedly going on TV and saying inflation had stabilized for groceries but then having regular people say they were full of sh** and vote for Trump. Bernstein is now mildly amused because the Trump people are doing the same thing and getting the same negative backlash. He’s spent the past 18 months trying to understand why this all is so and now offers an explanation. The economists all look at the rate of increase of prices. When those increases stop or stabilize, economists declare victory. But shoppers recall what groceries used to cost before the pandemic and they’re a lot higher now and are even a bit higher thanks to Trump’s tariffs and war with Iran. People might not expect the prices to roll back but they do expect government officials to understand how high prices are and why that’s a concern to people. I can attest to this phenomenon from personal experience. I’m the one in our household who does the food shopping which has been the case for more than 30 years. I recall in the summer and fall of 2024 coming home from the store each time and saying, “the prices are very high” but then hear a high government official say prices had stabilized which made them seem out of touch and not caring. The prices have certainly stayed up there and I’ve recently noticed them bump up even more. Bernstein didn’t offer a strategy to reduce prices which is unlikely to ever happen, but he suggests people running for office do a better job of talking about affordability if they want to win over voters.

2026 FIFA World Cup – Fans, Feelings and Facts

2026 FIFA World Cup – Fans, Feelings and Facts

By Louise Peloquin

Soccer field

Even the most indifferent to the world’s most popular sport have been caught up, at least for a few moments, by some of the many viral images around the 2026 FIFA World Cup competition. It runs from June 11 to 19, features 48 teams, 104 matches and 16 stadiums spread across North America. That is 40 more marches than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The United States participated in its first World Cup in 1930, organized and won by Uruguay.

On June 16, we reported on Les Bleus. (1) The French team is very happy to be based in Boston, the town their compatriot LaFayette knew and loved so well. (2) Boston is indeed a World Cup hub drawing many media outlets to highlight the city and offer the world unprecedented images. Who hasn’t smiled at seeing the kilt-clad, bagpipe-playing Tartan Army parade through the streets? Maybe some of you have shared a pint or two with them and participated in emptying kegs all around town. Sam Adams had never gone dry before but did a couple of weeks ago. One cannot underestimate the Caledonians whose most populous town, Glasgow, officially became Boston’s sister city. “We are one” said a Scotsman interviewed by local media.

World Cup coverage has included spectacular stadium scenes of Norwegian fans chanting “ro” (Norwegian for “row”) as they mimicked rowing a Viking ship together.

Each national team has its own chant or signature song. Team USA has adopted John Denver’s “Country Roads.” (3)

Team USA fans

    The French team cheers with Allez les Bleus (Go the Blues) and is aiming at singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions” for the third time on July 19th. (4)

     En Argentina nací, tierra de Diego y Lionel (I was born in Argentina, land of Diego and Lionel), from Muchachos, a song tweaked to pay homage to legendary Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona and living legend Lionel Messi, became Argentina’s anthem during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Samurai Blue fans chant “Vamos Nippon!”, an amalgamation of Japanese and Spanish. ”Vamos Nippon!” keeps the formal pronunciation of Japan, “Nippon,” combined with a twist from Spanish-language chants from other countries.

    Fans from 48 countries passionately cheering on their team – that alone is quite exciting to watch.

Some scenes from the last couple of weeks have been very touching. For example, Kylian Mbappé’s bearhug with his coach after scoring his first goal in the June 30 match  against Sweden. Coach Didier Deschamps had lost his 90-year-old mother on June 23, returned to France to attend the funeral and missed the June 26 France-Norway 4 to 1 victory for Les Bleus. An emotional Deschamps, Les Bleus coach since 2012, told reporters that French team captain Mbappé’s gesture had “moved him deeply.” France won 3 to 0 against Sweden that day.

Mbappé & Deschamps

The competition is in the knockout stage where every match is win or go home. As we write this piece, Morocco, France, Norway and England have already qualified for the quarter finals. No one knows who will hoist, on July 19, the $713,000 trophy made of gold plated sterling silver with a lapis lazuli base. But we observe that the sport has gained media momentum and made new followers.

Although it will never replace basketball, baseball, football and hockey in American hearts, soccer does have its share of arresting stories and anyone can find a trivia item or two of interest.

To close, who were the 10 youngest World Cup goalscorers?

1. Brazil’s Pelé – 17 years and 239 days.
2. Mexico’s Manuel Rosas – 18 years and 93 days.
3. Spain’s Gavi – 18 years and 110 days.
4. Senegal’s Ibrahim Mbaye – 18 years and 143 days.
5. England’s Michael Owen – 18 years and 190 days.
6. Romania’s Nicolae Kovàcs – 18 years and 197 days.
7. Russia’s Dimitry Sychev – 18 years and 231 days.
8. Spain’s Lamine Yamal – 18 years and 343 days.
9. Argentina’s Lionel Messi – 18 years and 357 days.
10. The United States’s Julian Green – 19 years and 25 days.

****

1. Link for “Les Bleus in Boston.” https://richardhowe.com/2026/06/16/les-bleus-in-boston/
2. Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was a skillful military leader who served as a diplomat and advised the French government to channel aid to American colonial forces. He earned his reputation as a war hero and became a symbol of the Revolutionary War generation who helped create the United States. LaFayette stayed in Boston in 1778, 1784, 1824 and 1895 to support the American Revolutionary cause and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of American independence. His strong ties to Boston contributed to the city’s longstanding American-French relationship.
3. “Country Roads,” written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver was released as a single on April 12, 1971. It was immediately a success, became one of Denver’s most popular songs and has continued to sell, with over 1.8 million digital copies sold in the United States.

“We Are the Champions,” a song by the British rock band Queen and written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, was a worldwide success and has become an anthem for sporting event victories including those of the FIFA World Cup.

Iran: a tale of arrogance, self-delusion and unforced blunders by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson is a spellbinding journalistic revelation of the innermost thinking and maneuvering of key players in Iran and the United States leading up to the 1979 American Embassy seizure of hostages that would change the course of world events. Anderson deftly gives us the back story to the event that shaped global affairs for the last half century.  The key players are not just those in the headlines but also lesser-known individuals who were impactful behind the scenes – for good and for evil.

King of Kings is a brilliant accounting of the decades-long history of the United States’ relationship with the Middle East’s most consequential country, from FDR’s snubbing of the Shah at the Tehran Conference in WWII, to our indifference to its rich cultural past, to our 1953 Cold War overthrow of its democratically elected government, replacing its president Mohammad Mossadegh with our government’s pawn, Shah Reza Pahlevi.  We learn more about how the Shah spent much of his time on our doorstep, begging for armaments, again feeling humiliated when the United States capped what they were willing to sell, valuing Iran primarily as a presumed buffer against Russian communism. Until oil.

Oil has been central to the U.S. Iran relationship for more than 50 years, with periodic oil crises deepening American involvement there and cementing Iran’s role as a preeminent regional power. In 1972, with Nixon and Kissinger removing any limits to the arms Iran  could buy, the shahanshah, (king of kings) intensified his building the largest army in the Middle East. This military muscle was in addition to the threat of Savak, the national security agency that the CIA helped to grow in the late fifties.

The underclasses struggled economically and lived in constant fear of political imprisonment or death at the hands of the all-seeing Savak. It seems inevitable that they would turn increasingly to the religious leaders, mullahs who included Ruhollah Khomeini, whom the Shah had arrested back in 1963.  As the aging cleric’s popularity grew, the Shah exiled him. He remained abroad from 1964-1979, largely in France.  From there, Khomeini sent home tape cassettes of his rants against the Shah’s regime and the American “satans” who had installed the Shah on the throne and kept him there.

With market manipulation and oil revenues exploding in the 1970s, Iran’s military and upper classes became progressively more corrupt. The shah was indecisive about reform, and his inner circle – fearing falling out of favor – told him only what he wanted to hear. (Sound familiar?) He thought he was beloved by his people, but his grip on power was becoming more precarious.

In 1977, Kissinger and successor-President Gerald Ford were replaced by a well-meaning Jimmy Carter, honest but naïve.  He got elected by promising the American people he would never lie to them; his inner circle lied to him about Iran. CIA chief Stansfield Turner, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, and national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski were all certain that moderates among the revolutionaries would prevail.  None of them had ever heard Khomeini’s calls for action because secretly-acquired cassettes of his fiery speeches were never translated by either the CIA or State Department.

So the American government was unprepared for the growing turmoil in Iran, ignorant of the truth on the ground. 50,000 Americans lived in Iran, but the CIA, military and foreign service operatives knew nothing of the 2500-year history, culture, and dramatically different mindset for negotiation of the country in which they were stationed. They never bothered to learn the language or connect with people in the streets. They lived in a bubble, convincing themselves and those to whom they reported in Washington that their pawn, Shah Pahlevi, was on solid ground.

If there is a single hero in Anderson’s vibrant account, it would be Michael Metrinko, who, in his youth, had gone to Iran in the Peace Corps and later ended up working for the State Department. He walked the streets, knew the people, and spoke Farsi.  His oft-repeated warnings about the growing instability of the Shah’s regime earned him rebukes and demotion. He eventually would be one of the 52 hostages held for 444 days. Ironically, he was often kept in isolation because the revolutionaries inferred from his speaking Farsi that he was CIA!

Anderson goes into great detail about the hours and days leading up to the toppling of the Shah, the institutionalizing of the arch-conservative theocratic state, the hostage negotiations, and the impact on the 1980 American election. Did these events influence the worldwide rise of militant religious fundamentalism – of all shades? While no definitive answer can be given today, there are enough examples that give credence to this.

As Donald Trump tries to negotiate us out of a losing hand of his own making in Iran,  King of Kings enriches today’s readers with an appreciation of Iran’s multiple historic complexities.  Trump, if he read books, would recognize himself as one in a line of powerful people whose hubris allowed them to be played by the Iranians. On this, Iran’s day of national mourning for the Ayatollah, Anderson’s book is a valuable reminder of the futility of the path chosen by our willfully obtuse and imperious President.

Graham Platner: the last straw by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

About a month ago I wrote a blog asserting that, unless some new major scandal erupted causing Graham Platner to leave the race, Maine voters would be faced in November with two bad US Senate choices—but for different reasons.

Monday’s apparently credible rape allegation has proven the tipping point for his top Democratic supporters, who had previously downplayed repeated examples of Platner’s egregious behavior in favor of realpolitik, the need to wrest Republican control of the Senate from Trump-worshipping Republicans. The latest revelation was also too much for my own already strained and heavily qualified endorsement.

Now we are told that Platner appears to be holding the Democratic Party hostage — refusing to drop out unless he gets to approve his successor to run for the Senate. Seriously?

Apparently, Platner and his “cabinet” want the party to choose former state Senate president Troy Jackson, who recently came in third in the gubernatorial primary and has now filed papers for a Senate exploratory committee.  In a July 4^th– 6th poll, he was the only candidate ahead of Collins by more than the margin of error.  But this early snapshot has been matched by previous challengers who have ultimately lost to Collins. While Jackson may be the best option for keeping Platner’s rural working-class/progressive supporters from feeling betrayed, he may not reassure moderates (or Portland liberals) or the state’s plurality of independent voters as much as other alternatives.  His profile, especially after a nasty heavily PAC-funded negative campaign, could cost him support in the more conservative 2^nd District despite having previously done well in some communities there under Maine’s ranked-choice system.

The strongest replacement on paper is probably Janet Mills. As a two-term governor, she is known to Maine voters and can credibly run against Susan Collins as a pragmatic Democrat—and not be attacked as a DSA insurgent. She was margin-of-error ahead of Collins in the last two-way poll before she dropped out. But Mills was Chuck Schumer’s choice in the primary and carries that baggage along with her own 53% unfavorability rating.  Most significantly, if elected, she’d be 79 on taking office  and pledged to serve only one term—not an asset in a Senate where seniority (which Collins has) means power.

If Democrats want a replacement who feels serious, competent and less factional, Nirav Shah may be the best non-Mills option. Shah is the former deputy director of the Maine CDC and principal deputy director (and acting director) of the U. S. CDC. His public-health leadership can project steadiness, and he has statewide visibility from his well-regarded role during the pandemic and having finished second in the gubernatorial primary.

Shah could appeal to suburban, college-educated, and moderate voters—and independents. Offering a clean contrast with Platner’s scandals, he is less burdened by old intraparty fights and newer ideological ones. But he has less obvious electoral muscle than Mills or Collins,  and he would need to re-introduce himself fast.

Maine’s first female Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is also reportedly receiving encouragement. She’s a capable communicator, has statewide visibility and political experience and could energize Democratic activists, but she may be easier for Republicans to nationalize as partisan or ideological—and she lost to Collins by a landslide in 2014. Against Collins, Democrats need someone who can win independents, not just consolidate Democrats.

Maine’s second district Congressman Jared Golden might have been a natural, a Democrat re-elected in a district that heavily favored Donald Trump.  But increasing incivility in politics and threats to elected officials and their families have led him to retire after 11 years, swearing off politics altogether. His retirement announcement was poignant and attests to why the electoral process is facing so many losses of good people.

Maine is a real pickup opportunity because Susan Collins is vulnerable but still personally resilient. Platner’s scandals have given Collins an obvious contrast: stability vs chaos, character vs risk.

The clock is ticking. Platner must exit by July 13 at 5 p.m. ET for Democrats to have until July 27 to select a replacement nominee.  The right choice by him would give Collins less reason to present herself as the adult in the room. It would restore the race to being about Collins, and that means about Bret Kavanaugh, abortion rights, health care and Donald Trump.

In the wake of the most recent sexual assault charges, which Platner claims are untrue, he said he would make a decision about withdrawing from the race in terms of what was “the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”  If he means what he said, he will withdraw quickly, giving Maine’s Democrats enough days to sort it all out and increase the odds of retiring a longtime Senator who has been a reliable vote for Trump, his nominees and most of his policies.

There’s a need for speed, but also for transparency that is authentic, not just performative. Doing that in just two weeks is a tall order, but it is essential to validate the party’s ultimate decision. This could include some sort of caucus system, a convention, along with candidate debates. A messy backroom replacement could worsen the problem. One hopes that party leaders are already working out an approach that rationalizes the process and validates the party’s next nominee to defeat Susan Collins.