Woodworking Tip of the Day: Cambered Clamping Cauls

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. a flat caul looks honest until you clamp both ends — then the middle bows up and your dado, scarf, or panel joint starves….. Today’s tip: make a cambered clamping caul so end clamps drive pressure where clamps can’t reach.

Why it matters: Fine Woodworking (Gary Rogowski) spells it out — ordinary flat stock bows when you load the ends; a slight crown (camber) flattens under those same clamps and pushes into the middle. Asa Christiana’s case work uses the same trick across shelf dadoes in case sides. On a Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory, that same caul keeps scarf joints and laminated stems / keel stock flat while epoxy cures. One stick of fir, two clamps, even glue-line pressure.

Materials

• Ordinary fir construction lumber (less likely to mar hardwood than dense hardwood cauls)
• A 2×4, ripped roughly in half for caul stock
• Useful lengths about 16″ and 24″ for most cabinet / case work; cut longer for wide panels
• Optional: wax or packing tape on the caul face so glue doesn’t stick

Tools

• Tablesaw or bandsaw (rip the 2×4; cut to length)
• Handplane (blend the camber; knock off sharp corners)
• Bar or pipe clamps — one at each end of the caul
• Straightedge or dry-fit scrap to check pressure before glue

Steps

1. Rip and cut stock. Rip a fir 2×4 roughly in half. Cut cauls about 16″ or 24″ long for typical case work; go longer when the panel or joint spans wider (Rogowski).
2. Lay out the camber. Mark the midpoint as the high spot. From that center, taper each end down about ⅛″ to ¼″ — that drop at the ends is the camber (Rogowski).
3. Plane the blend. Handplane a smooth crown from the high middle down to both ends. Knock off sharp corners that could dig into the work.
4. Orient the face. Put the convex (high) face toward the workpiece. Flat or concave face down is the common miss — you’ll recreate the flat-caul bow problem.
5. Clamp the ends only. Set clamps at both ends of the caul. As they close, the camber flattens and drives pressure into the middle — across a mid-case dado, a scarf glue-up, or a panel that needs to stay flat.
6. Dry-fit, then glue. Test pressure on a dry joint first. Too much curve → plane the middle flatter. Not enough mid-span squeeze → increase the end taper a hair and try again (Rogowski). Then glue for real.

MOAM’s shop note: Biggest mistake is putting the flat face down — then you’re back to a bowing bar that lifts in the middle. Second mistake is over-cambering: a monster crown can dent soft stock or refuse to flatten before you over-clamp. Start in the ⅛″–¼″ end-drop range, dry-fit, and sneak up on it. Wax or tape the caul face so tomorrow’s cleanup isn’t chiseling fir off your case side.

MOAM Out.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Tuesday, Sept. 29

 

Not for nuthin'…. But….. October just showed up on Causeway and in the Bronx on the same night.

Short version: Sox open the Wild Card in Yankee Stadium at 8; Bruins drop the puck on Opening Night at the Garden at 8; Pats lick wounds and look at Buffalo; Celtics still on the preseason clock.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 4 — 1:00 PM ET — @ Buffalo Bills (CBS)
• Standings: 1-2 · 3rd in AFC East (Jets also 1-2 sit 2nd on tiebreak); Buffalo 3-0 leads by two

Quiet after that Jacksonville beatdown. The next test is Orchard Park next Sunday at 1 on CBS — 3-0 Bills waiting.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday: No game — regular season finished 87-75
• Today: Tue, Sept. 29 — 8:00 PM ET — @ New York Yankees, AL Wild Card Game 1 (NBC / Peacock)
• Next: Wed, Sept. 30 — 8:00 PM ET — WC Game 2 at Yankee Stadium (NBC / Peacock); Game 3 Thu Oct. 1 if necessary
• Standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · AL Wild Card #5

Playoff baseball is back, and it’s the Yankees again — best-of-three, all in the Bronx. Payton Tolle gets the ball in Game 1. Stay loud.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday / Today: No games
• Next (preseason): Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Cleveland Cavaliers
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons
• Status: Preseason / 2026-27 not started. Last season: 56-26, 2nd in the East.

Still quiet on the parquet. Preseason tip is a little over a week out.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday: No game
• Today (regular-season opener): Tue, Sept. 29 — 8:00 PM ET — vs New York Rangers (ESPN)
• Next: Fri, Oct. 2 — 8:00 PM ET — @ Winnipeg Jets
• Status: Opening Night. Last season: 45-27-10.

Real hockey is here. Rangers at TD Garden, 8 on ESPN. Don’t miss Opening Night.

That’s the Tuesday board, folks. Sox and B’s both under the lights at 8. Stay loud.

MOAM Out.

Canada Import Ban: Real Leverage or Midterm Theater?

This is catching the MOAM's attention today…..

At 12:01 a.m. this morning, the United States slammed the door on nearly $1 billion of Canadian imports. Beer, wine, whisky, cider and the rest of the liquor cabinet. Whey and other dairy byproducts. Molasses. And motorcycles, including those Can-Am three-wheelers you see on summer roads.

How did we get here? Over the summer, the White House dusted off a Great Depression-era law to slap 50% tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods. Ottawa answered dollar for dollar. Today's ban is the punishment for answering back.

Let's be fair to the President's side of the ledger. Canada's dairy walls are real. Ottawa has fenced out American milk with quotas and sky-high over-quota tariffs for decades. And when most provinces yanked American bourbon and wine off their liquor store shelves, that wasn't a tariff. That was a boycott. You don't have to love this fight to admit Canada threw punches too.

The numbers, though, tell you what kind of fight this is. The American Action Forum pegs the ban at about $967 million, based on 2025 imports. Roughly 87% of that is alcohol. Against $880 billion in yearly two-way trade, the AP calls it "barely a ripple." One Holland & Knight trade lawyer says the 50% tariffs were already acting as a "de facto ban" on most of this stuff.

So who feels it? Not Ottawa. Canada's trade office shrugged this morning and said it's focused on "diversifying our partnerships abroad." Prime Minister Carney is courting the European Union, India and even China. And BRP says most of this season's Can-Am Spyders and Canyons already shipped, so the real pinch lands next year, on American dealers.

Meanwhile, the President told reporters Monday the Canadians are "gonna come in and they're gonna say, 'Sir, we are sorry.'" Maybe. That same trade lawyer expects the standoff to run months, not weeks. And renewing USMCA, the deal Trump himself once called the most balanced in history, just slid further onto thin ice.

Here's where it gets local. Canada is New England's largest trading partner. Massachusetts brings in roughly $10.6 billion of Canadian goods a year, about a quarter of all our imports. Vermont's governor says the summer tariffs "immediately shut down" the stream of Canadian visitors. Our package stores, cafés and small shops don't get a vote in Washington or Ottawa. They just get a thinner shelf and a higher invoice.

And timing matters. Massachusetts heating oil just hit $6.15 a gallon, up 74% from a year ago. The head of the state's fuel dealers' group says truckers are "up in arms" over diesel at $8-plus. Banning Canadian beer and protein-powder whey doesn't take a dime off those bills. Energy, by the way, was left off the tariff list. That tells you Washington knows exactly where the real pain would be.

So the MOAM's question: leverage, or midterm theater? Leverage means the other side has a reason to fold. Five weeks before Election Day, a ban the numbers call a ripple, aimed at a neighbor busy lining up new customers, looks more like a show for the cameras than a win you'll feel at the register.

Stand up to Canada on dairy? Sure. But bring home a deal. North Shore voters will judge this at the checkout line, not the podium.

MOAM Out.

Sources

• AP via Boston Globe: "From motorcycles to booze, US ban on $1 billion worth of Canadian imports goes into effect" (Sept. 29, 2026)
• American Action Forum: "U.S.-Canada Trade Interdependence"
• CBC News: U.S. bans on Canadian motorcycle, dairy, alcohol products take effect (Sept. 29, 2026)
• Proclamation 11061 (alcohol import ban), American Presidency Project
• Globe and Mail: "BRP to feel hit from U.S. ban on Canadian motorcycles"
• Boston Globe: "Canada tariffs: Massachusetts will feel effect" (Aug. 24, 2026)
• Boston Globe: Massachusetts imports $10.6B in Canadian goods annually (Nov. 24, 2025)
• Boston Globe: Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on Canadian visitors (Aug. 10, 2026)
• GBH News: "Expect high heating prices and volatility this winter" (Sept. 23, 2026)

New England This Morning — September 29, 2026

Not for nuthin'…. But….. that nor’easter finally shuffled offshore, and Tuesday’s webcams are still wearing the leftovers.

Marblehead Harbor is flat-calm under a solid gray lid — boats lined up on the moorings, kayaks and paddleboards racked on the BYC dock, the far shore soft in the mist. Mount Washington’s North View is a full white-out, raindrops plastered across the lens and the summit nowhere to be found. Down in Waitsfield the Great Eddy covered bridge is putting on a show — Mad River like glass, fall orange and gold finally lighting up the banks, that little American flag still hanging in there.

Coastal Massachusetts woke up cloudy and quiet after the storm. Vermont’s already showing the foliage payoff. Pack a light jacket if you’re headed out — highs only mid-60s.

Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television.

MOAM Out.

Still the Same Act: Update — September 28

 

Monday the shuttle finally rolled — and Tehran packed for the airport. Same act. New boarding pass.

Where things stood
Sunday night I flagged Trump’s Axios line: the seven-day Hormuz pitch is still a public no, but he expects more talks this week because Tehran “overplayed their hand.” Qatar’s mediators were supposed to meet Araghchi and Witkoff as early as Monday. Araghchi was still waiting for an “official” rejection through the mediator channel.

That was the score in my September 27 update on “Still the Same Act” — trail back to “The Act is Getting Old.”

What’s new today

1. Monday’s shuttle actually happened — amended text on the table
Reuters reports U.S. and Iranian officials spoke separately with mediators on Monday in a fresh push to end seven months of war. Further talks are expected to focus on an amended version of Iran’s seven-day proposal from UNGA week. President Trump told reporters at the White House that U.S. officials spoke with mediators Monday, without giving details. The calendar moved. The sequencing fight didn’t vanish.
Source: Al-Monitor (Reuters), Sep 28, 2026

2. Araghchi: Qatar has “ideas” — then he’s on a plane
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media a Qatari mediator met Iran’s delegation again Monday to discuss ideas on how Iran’s conditions could be met. Quote: “They had some ideas, and we held discussions that they will also raise with the US side.” Qatar would then convey Washington’s final response — which he hoped by Tuesday. He said he would fly back to Tehran within hours rather than wait in New York: “The Qataris know how to reach us whenever they have the response.” Meeting held. Suitcase packed. Answer still pending.
Sources: Iran International, Sep 28, 2026; Anadolu Agency, Sep 28–29, 2026

3. AP: no official U.S. rejection yet — “slight progress”
Three regional officials and a senior U.S. official told the Associated Press mediators are still working the file even after Trump’s Saturday rejection. Despite the public comments, they said the U.S. has not officially rejected the current proposal — which some read as a negotiating tactic. One official reported positive signals; another “slight progress” over the weekend; a third said mediators are still trying “to soften” both sides.

Draft talk includes reopening the strait and lifting the blockade, then removing sanctions, plus an Oman-side shipping management track with no tolls. Conflict enters its eighth month; AP notes Brent above $108.
Source: PBS / AP, Sep 28, 2026 · 1:23 PM EDT

4. Same wishlist, softer packaging
Araghchi’s Monday line still frames the ask as Iran’s conditions first: “If the Americans claim they are seeking an agreement or a peaceful solution, we have presented that solution.” The seven-day plan still runs through ending hostilities (including Lebanon), unfreezing assets, ending oil sanctions, and lifting the U.S. blockade — then Hormuz and nuclear talks. Qatar is floating “ideas” on how those conditions get met. That’s not Washington writing the terms. That’s Tehran asking for a prettier envelope.
Sources: Al-Monitor (Reuters), Sep 28, 2026; Iran International, Sep 28, 2026

MOAM’s take
Same act, Monday night flight. The shuttle finally rolled — separate meetings, amended text, “ideas” for how Iran gets what Iran already demanded. Trump said the public no on Saturday and still sent negotiators to the mediators on Monday. Araghchi won’t treat the rejection as real until a Qatari whispers it, then boards a plane and hopes for Tuesday’s answer. AP hears “slight progress.” Down here on the North Shore we call that rearranging the chairs on the same stage. Strength still wins. Ideas that start with Iran’s wishlist and end with Washington paying up aren’t a deal — they’re a boarding announcement for the same flight.

What to watch
Whether Qatar delivers a real U.S. response by Tuesday or more theater; whether the “amended” seven-day text changes sequencing or just the adjectives; whether Araghchi’s return to Tehran hardens the hardliners or buys time; and whether oil / Hormuz flows follow the diplomacy or keep writing their own scoreboard.

MOAM Out.

TDS Watch: Chuck Lorre turns charity night into Trump bathroom comedy

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. when a sitcom legend accepts a charity founders award and spends the microphone wishing the president a heart attack on the toilet, we have left the gala and checked into the ward.

What was said

On Saturday, Sep 26, 2026, producer Chuck Lorre — the “King of Sitcoms” behind The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men — accepted a rare founders award at Project Angel Food’s Angel Awards in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter covered the speech. Fair game to thank donors, plug meals, even needle both parties. Lorre went somewhere else.

Exact words, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter:

“Sure, I’d love to stand here and talk about my deep yearning for a more compassionate government, one that prioritizes the health and welfare of its citizens. But the burden of my profession demands that I take this opportunity to say a few words about that bloated orange piece of s--t in the White House.”

Then the morning ritual:

“I’d love to express my gratitude to all the people who’ve devoted their lives to making Project Angel Food an oasis for those in need. That would be my preference. But because I’m a comedy writer, I have no choice but to explain how I wake up every morning to turn on CNN to see if the president of the United States had a heart attack while straining to take a dump.”

He also unloaded a crude personal attack on First Lady Melania Trump (comparing her unfavorably to Michelle Obama in terms too nasty to reprint here), jabbed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and closed with a rewritten “serenity prayer” calling Trump a “Russian asset who traded teenagers with Jeffrey Epstein” — asserted as a joke, with no evidence offered on stage.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter · The Daily Beast, Sep 28, 2026

Context (not spin)

Project Angel Food does real work — medically tailored meals for people facing critical illness. The night raised over a million dollars. Lorre’s philanthropy on that campus is substantial. None of that requires a charity microphone to become a bathroom-comedy open mic about hoping the sitting president dies on the toilet.

You can dislike Trump. You can dislike Melania. You can dislike RFK Jr.’s vaccine views. Argue the policy. Write the op-ed. Vote in November. What you don’t get — not if you still want anybody outside the parking-lot stage to take the “compassion” pitch seriously — is to dress up a daily death-wish as the burden of comedy writing. That’s not holding power to account. That’s the syndrome with a laugh track.

MOAM’s diagnosis

Severity: TERMINAL.

When the punchline is “I check CNN every morning to see if he had a heart attack on the can,” we are past sharp satire and into the ward cafeteria. Comedy can punch up. Charity nights can raise money. Neither needs a scatological assassination fantasy as the gratitude speech. Down here in Marblehead we still know the difference between a roast and a diagnosis. Save the toilet jokes for the writers’ room. Save the gala for the people who need the meals.

MOAM Out.

 

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Cutting a Tight Half-Lap Without a Dado Stack

Not for nuthin'…. But….. a dado stack is nice — until you need one tight lap for a cleat or frame and the stack’s still in the drawer….. Today’s tip: cut a tight half-lap with a marking gauge, backsaw, and chisel — no dado required.

Why it matters: Fine Woodworking (Chris Gochnour) and Popular Woodworking both treat the half-lap as joinery school — layout first, then saw and pare to the lines. On a Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory or in the GC shop, that same half-thickness cheek shows up on frames, cleats, and coaming / thwart crossings. Flush faces, long-grain glue, no waiting for a stack setup.

Materials

• Two parts of matching thickness (plane them together first — Schwarz’s point: sizing after cutting loosens the fit)
• Glue for the cheeks (and a light smear on the shoulders to seal gaps)
• Optional fasteners for corner laps under load

Tools

• Marking gauge (or calipers + gauge)
• Try / combination square + marking knife
• Backsaw or panel saw
• Wide bench chisel + mallet
• Optional: router plane or shoulder plane for a dead-flat floor; ruler to check for humps
• Table-saw alternative: regular blade + stop block (kerf spacer if you want perfect T/cross width)

Steps

1. Match thickness, mark show faces. Plane both parts to the same thickness. Label show faces — one cheek comes off the show face, the other off the back, so the assembled faces land flush (Katz-Moses).
2. Knife the shoulders. Shoulder location = width of the mating part. Square + knife for a clean, deep cut (~1⁄16″ — Gochnour). Wrap the knife line halfway down each edge. For a T or cross lap, mark both shoulders from the mating piece itself (Schwarz / Gochnour).
3. Gauge the cheek at half thickness. Set the marking gauge to half the stock thickness (T/2). Scribe from the show face of each part so faces stay flush even if the setting isn’t dead-center. Wrap onto end grain for corner laps; between shoulders for T/cross laps. Shade the waste.
4. Cut the shoulder on the waste side. Chisel a shallow angled notch ~1⁄16″ from the knife line to guide the saw (Gochnour). Saw so the teeth kiss the knifewall; stop at the cheek gauge line. Prefer leaving about 1 mm of waste to pare later (Estlea) rather than overshooting.
5. Clear the cheek. Corner lap: rip in stages (end-grain kerf → diagonal down one edge → flip → finish). T/cross lap: cut both shoulders, then add relief kerfs every 3⁄8″–1⁄2 in the waste and chisel out toward the middle, working up from both edges (Gochnour). Pare the floor to the gauge line — edges toward middle — or skim with a router plane.
6. Table-saw path (no dado). Set blade height to the cheek line (just shy if you’ll plane the floor). Shoulder cut against a stop; clear waste with multiple passes. For perfect T/cross width, use a kerf spacer matching your blade (~3⁄32″ thin / ~⅛ full) so the mating board sets the second shoulder (Katz-Moses).
7. Dry-fit, then glue. Ruler across the cheek — both edges should touch (no middle hump). Pare high spots. Glue cheeks (and shoulders lightly), clamp, check square. Flush plane after cure if anything stands proud.

MOAM’s shop note: Don’t gauge one board from the face and the other from the back — you’ll stack the error and the faces won’t flush. Same gauge setting, show face both times. And don’t celebrate a “tight” joint that only seats with a mallet blow — that usually means a hump in the middle of the cheek. Pare until hand pressure closes it, then clamp.

MOAM Out.

Fake News Watch: That “54% of NC CDLs” Claim

This is catching the MOAM’s attention today….. a midterm-season number that sounds like half the truck drivers in North Carolina got illegal commercial licenses. Spoiler: that isn’t what the books say.

The claim

On September 2, 2026, the Republican National Committee Research account posted that “54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals,” tying the figure to former Gov. Roy Cooper as he runs for U.S. Senate. The post has kept circulating into late September as the NC race heats up.

What actually happened

PolitiFact (Sep 24) rated the claim False. The 54% figure comes from a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sample of 50 noncitizen CDL records — 27 of those 50 failed federal compliance checks — not from a count of all North Carolina commercial licenses.

When the North Carolina DMV reviewed the full file, it reported 325,114 active CDLs. About 8,540 (roughly 2.6%) belonged to noncitizens. Of those, 1,149 — about 0.35% of all active CDLs — had administrative errors (mostly expiration dates that didn’t match work-authorization dates). The DMV told PolitiFact none of those drivers were in the country illegally. The state downgraded problem licenses, and by July 21 the FMCSA had approved North Carolina’s corrective plan.

Real compliance problems showed up in that federal sample. Stretching a 27-of-50 audit into “54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses” is a different claim — and a false one.

More: PolitiFact · FMCSA Jan 8, 2026 letter (PDF) · Herald-Sun / NC DMV review

MOAM take

Truck licensing rules matter — nobody wants shortcuts on the highway. What doesn’t help is turning a small audit sample into “half the CDLs in the state.” If the argument needs a bigger number than the full DMV file will give you, the argument’s the problem.

Verdict: FALSE — 54% was a sample of 50 noncitizen records, not half of all NC CDLs; full review found about 0.35% with errors, none issued to people in the country illegally.

MOAM Out.

Rates Back Over 7%, Marblehead Still Tight: North Shore Real Estate Weekly

Not for nuthin'…. But….. the 30-year mortgage rate just poked its head back over 7%. The last time Freddie Mac's weekly number read seven-anything was January 2025. So the MOAM is starting something new: a short weekly video with the real numbers for Marblehead and the North Shore, plus one practical tip from a guy who sells houses and builds things. No hype, no made-up stats. If I can't source a number, you won't see it.

Here's this week's episode (about 2:37).

This week's numbers

Mortgage rates (Freddie Mac PMMS®, U.S. weekly averages as of Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026)

• 30-year fixed: 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before. A year ago it was 6.30%.
• 15-year fixed: 6.42%, up from 6.26%. A year ago it was 5.49%.

Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey

A quick reality check: on a $600,000 30-year loan, principal and interest runs about $3,714 a month at 6.30% and about $4,004 at 7.03%. That's roughly $290 more a month than a year ago, before taxes and insurance. (That's my own arithmetic at the Freddie Mac average rates. Your actual rate depends on your lender and your loan.) If you're buying, get pre-approved with a lender you trust and ask about rate locks before you start falling in love with houses.

Marblehead, single-family, August 2026 (Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®)

• Median sale price: $998,000, up 0.6% from August 2025
• Homes for sale: 20 (down from 28 a year ago)
• Months of supply: 1.5. Anything under about six months favors sellers, and we're nowhere near it.

Source: MAR Local Market Update, Marblehead, August 2026 (MLS PIN data, provided by MAR)

North Shore REALTORS® area, single-family, August 2026 (MAR)

• New listings: 410, up 25.8% from August 2025
• Median sale price: $750,000, down 1.6% year over year

Source: MAR Market Data, August 2026 Boards report

So what does it mean? Marblehead is still a tight little town with more buyers than houses. Across the wider North Shore, though, sellers are finally listing, and that gives buyers a few more choices heading into the fall.

The broker-who-builds tip: three spots to check in an old New England house

I spend a lot of time in old houses, and here's what I tell every buyer. Before you fall for the fireplace and the wide pine floors, look down, then look up.

1. The basement sill. That's the big timber sitting right on top of the foundation, and it holds up the whole house. Press a screwdriver into it in a few spots, especially near the outside doors, downspouts and any low corners. If it sinks in soft, that's rot, and sill work is not a weekend project.
2. The attic. Look for daylight coming through the roof boards, water stains on the rafters and sheathing, and old knob-and-tube wiring. Any one of those is a conversation to have before you sign, not after.
3. The chimney. Have the flashing and the liner checked. A lot of the old chimneys around here were never lined, or the liner gave up years ago.

None of that replaces a licensed home inspector. But if you walk through with someone who knows how these houses go together, you'll know which questions to ask. That's the whole reason I do both jobs.

Buying, selling, or fixing up?

• Search North Shore homes
• Thinking of selling? Get a free estimate
• Renovations and pre-sale fix-ups
• The 29 North Shore towns we serve
• About John · Contact

Or call or text me at 781-727-6516. I'm available seven days a week.

New episode every week. Tell me what you want me to dig into next.

John Nestor, Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. #136995-RE-B · 328 West Shore Drive, Marblehead, MA 01945 · 781-727-6516 · nanepashemet.com. Renovations: John Nestor, MA Construction Supervisor License CS-047636. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Photos in the video: Waters House, Marblehead (1934), Arthur C. Haskell, Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress. Public domain.

MOAM Out.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Monday, Sept. 28

 

Sunday left a few bruises and one October rematch on the board. Here’s the Monday look.

Short version: Pats got rolled in Jacksonville; Sox locked WC #5 and head to the Bronx Tuesday; Bruins open the real season tomorrow night; Celtics still warming up the preseason clock.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: L 6–35 at Jacksonville Jaguars
• Today: No game
• Next: Sun, Oct. 4 — 1:00 PM ET — @ Buffalo Bills (CBS)
• Standings: 1-2 · 3rd in AFC East (Jets 1-2 sit 2nd on tiebreak), Buffalo 3-0 leads

Tough one in Jax — Maye and company couldn’t get out of their own way. Bye week isn’t until Week 11, so the reset is a road trip to Buffalo next Sunday at 1 on CBS.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday: L 26 vs Chicago Cubs (regular-season finale at Tropicana Field)
• Today: No game — regular season finished 87-75
• Next: Tue, Sept. 29 — 8:00 PM ET — @ New York Yankees, AL Wild Card Game 1 (NBC / Peacock)
• After that: Wed, Sept. 30 — 8:00 PM ET — WC Game 2 at Yankee Stadium (NBC / Peacock); Game 3 Thu Oct. 1 if necessary
• Standings: 87-75 · 3rd in AL East · AL Wild Card #5

Season’s over; October’s on. Same Yankees rematch as last year, best-of-three in the Bronx. Stay loud.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday / Today: No games
• Next (preseason): Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Cleveland Cavaliers
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — 3:00 PM ET — @ Detroit Pistons (NBC / Peacock)
• Status: Preseason / 2026-27 not started. Last season: 56-26, 2nd in the East.

Quiet on Causeway. Preseason tip is still a couple weeks out.

Boston Bruins

• Yesterday / Today: No games (preseason finished)
• Next (regular-season opener): Tue, Sept. 29 — 8:00 PM ET — vs New York Rangers (ESPN)
• After that: Fri, Oct. 2 — 8:00 PM ET — @ Winnipeg Jets
• Status: Preseason 2-1-1. Season opens tomorrow vs the Rangers at TD Garden.

Exhibition book’s closed. Real hockey starts tomorrow night — Rangers at the Garden on ESPN. Don’t miss it.

That’s the Monday board, folks. Pats licking wounds, Sox packing for the Bronx, B’s on Opening Night eve. Stay loud.

MOAM Out.

Who Was Here Before the Deed?

For a long time I've been working on something I haven't talked about much. It started with a question about this town: who was here before the deed, and what happened to them?

In 1684 the men of Marblehead paid sixteen pounds for this land to the heirs of a sachem named Nanepashemet. I wanted to know about the people on the other side of that paper.

I wrote a novel about them. More soon.

Diesel Export Ban: Relief for the North Shore, or Just Moving the Bill Around?

Not for nuthin'…. But….. if

you heat with oil on the North Shore, you already know what's coming. The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources put home heating oil at $6.15 a gallon the week of Sept. 21. That's a record, and it's up nearly 75% from $3.52 a year ago. Diesel at Massachusetts pumps averaged about $6.39 this morning, per AAA. Nationally it's $6.45, just off the all-time high of $6.53 set on Sept. 22.

So when President Trump says the White House is "thinking about it very seriously" (a ban, or tight limits, on U.S. diesel exports), I get the appeal. Keep our diesel here. Sounds like common sense. Sounds like strength.

What's Actually on the Table

Nobody knows yet, including, it seems, Washington. Politico reported a 90-day ban was being prepared. The White House denied that. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says he's looking at restrictions, not a ban, and has reportedly asked refiners about "voluntary" restraint. Nothing has been announced.

Even the President hedged on Sunday: "That can oftentimes lead to a little bit of an increase on gasoline for cars, so we're looking at it very seriously. We may do it."

The Catch: Refineries Don't Just Make Diesel

One barrel of crude gives you diesel, gasoline and jet fuel all at once. If refiners can't ship diesel overseas, their tanks fill up and they cut back on everything. Wood Mackenzie figures Gulf Coast diesel storage would max out in just over a month, forcing crude run cuts of more than 2 million barrels a day. Their estimate for the East Coast is gasoline up about 26 cents a gallon.

Wright said it himself: "The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn't work." More than 30 business and energy groups, API and AFPM among them, have warned it means "less fuel production, tighter supplies, and rising costs."

Sure, Big Oil has a dog in this fight. But when the President's own Energy Secretary, the industry and independent analysts all say the same thing, it's worth listening.

Why New England Is Different

We don't refine fuel around here. According to Wood Mackenzie, the Northeast is the region that leans hardest on imported diesel; the East Coast brought in about 120,000 barrels a day last year. A U.S. export ban pushes world prices up, and Wood Mackenzie says that "would put upward pressure on the cost of diesel in the North-East." Translation: the Gulf Coast could get the cheap diesel while we get the bill.

The Essex County Trucker and the Oil-Heat Homeowner

Diesel in Massachusetts is up about $2.54 a gallon from a year ago ($3.84 to $6.39). For a trucker, that works out to roughly $254 more on every 100 gallons. For a homeowner, a 200-gallon oil delivery at $6.15 comes to about $1,230, compared with about $704 last year.

A short ban might knock diesel down for a few weeks, right around the Nov. 3 midterms. After that, gasoline could climb and heating oil, which is basically the same distillate, isn't clearly any cheaper here. That doesn't cut the bill. It just moves it around.

Strength or Theater?

To be fair, the pain is real and the pressure to do something is real. Looking at every option isn't crazy. But a 90-day clamp timed to an election, one that risks pricier gas by the holidays, looks more like theater than strength. Real strength is more supply getting to the Northeast, plus real help for folks who can't afford the fill.

In the meantime, call your oil dealer about budget or pre-buy plans, check whether you qualify for fuel assistance, and ask every candidate on your ballot what they'd actually do about the price of a gallon.

MOAM Out.

Sources

• CNBC: Trump 'very seriously' considering diesel export ban (Sept. 28, 2026)
• AAA: National average fuel prices (as of 9/28/26)
• AAA: Massachusetts average fuel prices (as of 9/28/26)
• Mass. DOER: Home heating fuels prices (week of 9/21/26)
• Boston.com: Record heating oil prices in Mass. (Sept. 25, 2026)
• Wood Mackenzie: US considers diesel export restrictions (Sept. 25, 2026)
• Wood Mackenzie: Press release on diesel export ban impacts (Sept. 24, 2026)
• AFPM: 30+ groups urge President Trump to reject fuel export restrictions (Sept. 23, 2026)
• FreightWaves: Export ban talk sinks diesel, boosts gasoline (Sept. 24, 2026)
• Reuters (via SRN News): Talk of US diesel export ban deepens crude discount (Sept. 25, 2026)