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)

New England This Morning — September 28, 2026

Fog settled in overnight, and Monday’s webcams are telling the story before most of us have finished the first cup.

Marblehead Harbor is soft and gray under a low ceiling — boats quiet on the moorings, a light ripple on the water, kayaks and paddleboards still racked on the BYC dock while the far shore fades into mist. Up on Mount Washington the North View is a white-out: raindrops and condensation plastered on the lens, summit gone for the morning. Over in Waitsfield the Great Eddy covered bridge looks steadier — Mad River almost glass, early fall gold and orange on the trees, that little American flag still hanging on the bridge like it owns the place.

Coastal Massachusetts is waking up foggy and a bit breezy. Inland Vermont looks calmer so far. If you’re headed for the docks or the hills, give the visibility a second look before you commit.

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

MOAM Out.

Fog settled in overnight, and Monday’s webcams are telling the story before most of us have finished the first cup.

Marblehead Harbor is soft and gray under a low ceiling — boats quiet on the moorings, a light ripple on the water, kayaks and paddleboards still racked on the BYC dock while the far shore fades into mist. Up on Mount Washington the North View is a white-out: raindrops and condensation plastered on the lens, summit gone for the morning. Over in Waitsfield the Great Eddy covered bridge looks steadier — Mad River almost glass, early fall gold and orange on the trees, that little American flag still hanging on the bridge like it owns the place.

Coastal Massachusetts is waking up foggy and a bit breezy. Inland Vermont looks calmer so far. If you’re headed for the docks or the hills, give the visibility a second look before you commit.

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 27

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. Saturday night I flagged Trump’s public rejection of Iran’s seven-day Hormuz pitch. Twenty-four hours later he tells Axios he still expects more talks this week. Rejected — and still on the calendar. Same act. New lighting.

Where things stood
On Saturday the president said out loud what the Wall Street Journal had already whispered: Iran’s seven-day reopen-Hormuz plan is a no. Tehran wanted the blockade lifted, oil sanctions waived, frozen funds released, and a regional ceasefire before the strait opens and nukes get discussed. A senior Iranian official had already locked the vault — no nuclear concessions even if Washington said yes. That was the score in my September 26 update on “Still the Same Act” — and the April trail goes back to “The Act is Getting Old.”

What’s new today

1. Trump: more talks this week — “they overplayed their hand”
Sunday, in a phone interview with Axios, President Trump said he expects U.S. negotiators to engage Iran again this week even after Saturday’s rejection. Quote: “They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand.” So the public no stands. The door stays cracked.
Sources: Axios, Sep 27, 2026; Al-Monitor (Reuters), Sep 27, 2026

2. Qatar’s shuttle aims for Monday
Axios, citing a U.S. official and two regional sources, says Qatari mediators kept working the text over the weekend and are expected to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff separately as early as Monday, Sep 28. Another round of indirect talks is on the board. Bridging the gap is another story.
Source: Axios, Sep 27, 2026

3. Tehran still waits for the “official” no
Araghchi posted Sunday that Iran’s conditions are clear, Hormuz reopening depends on them being met, and “only a negotiated solution” ends the deadlock. He acknowledged Trump’s public rejection but says mediators have not yet delivered a definitive U.S. answer — so Tehran will “make a decision based on them.” On CNN’s State of the Union, U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz put the rejection in plain English: Iran wanted sanctions lifted and frozen assets released up front “with a promise that they would then talk.” President Pezeshkian, on CBS’s Face the Nation, said Tehran is ready for nuclear talks but won’t accept “bullying or coercion.”
Sources: Al-Monitor (Reuters), Sep 27, 2026; BBC, Sep 27, 2026; Axios / NBC (Araghchi Sunday)

4. Wright’s Hormuz numbers — and Tehran’s premium jab
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News Sunday that oil flows through the strait are averaging nearly 13 million barrels a day, with one day last week above 20 million — more than pre-conflict on that single day. He pointed more at refining capacity than raw Hormuz volume for price pressure. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf fired back on X, citing a market premium of about $35 over pre-invasion (and ~$50 on dated/actual) to challenge the U.S. claim that Iran doesn’t control the waterway. Same strait. Two scoreboards.
Sources: Iran International, Sep 27, 2026; Iran International, Sep 27, 2026

MOAM’s take
Same act, Sunday matinee. Trump rejects the pitch on Saturday, then tells Axios on Sunday the talks are still coming — because Tehran “overplayed their hand.” Araghchi pretends the public no doesn’t count until a mediator whispers it. Waltz says they wanted the whole candy store first and a promise to talk later. Wright says tankers are moving; Ghalibaf says look at the premium. Down here on the North Shore we know when somebody asks for everything up front and calls it a deal. Strength still wins. Clocks, shuttles, and Telegram posts don’t change the sequencing.

What to watch
Whether Monday’s Qatar meetings produce a revised text or just more theater; whether Araghchi ever admits the rejection without the mediator script; whether Wright’s flow numbers hold and prices follow; and whether the Houthi/Red Sea track keeps pulling Saudi Arabia deeper while the diplomats argue about day six vs. day seven.

MOAM Out.

TDS Watch: Inquirer columnist calls Trump a “mad king” and “Caligula”

<

p>Not for nuthin'…. But….. when a big-city columnist needs a whole piece just to “find the words” for the president — and the words he finds are Caligula, mad king, and a wink at 1938 Germany — we are no longer in the opinion section. We are in the ward.

What was said

On Sunday, Sep 27, 2026, Pulitzer-winning Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch published “We need to find the words for Trump’s madness before things blow up.” The column reacts to President Trump’s recent U.N. speech, taxpayer-funded messaging ads, and the broader midterms fight.

Exact words from the column:

“A demagogue who hijacked American democracy, just as the nation’s founders feared would happen, is devolving into a mad king before our eyes.”

He also frames Trump as:

“21st-century Caligula”

And compares how the New York Times covered the U.N. speech to:

“1938 sanewashing of a certain German dictator’s foreign policy.”

Bunch quotes indie journalist Dan Froomkin approvingly:

“It’s not so much correction that he lacks. It’s a functional brain.”

Then he runs through three “explanations” the media supposedly won’t discuss — dementia, unrepentant narcissism, or “crazy…like a fox” — and adds that Trump “could have grounds for an insanity defense.”

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sep 27, 2026

Context (not spin)

Disagree with the U.N. speech? Argue it. Hate the taxpayer-funded ads? Take that to Congress and the GAO — CNBC, CBS, AP, and the Washington Post are already covering the legal fight over “publicity or propaganda” rules. That’s journalism.

What that is not: a Roman-emperor costume party with a side of Weimar. Calling a sitting president “Caligula,” a “mad king,” and nodding at 1938 Germany while floating an insanity defense isn’t holding power to account — it’s the rhetorical equivalent of calling every nor’easter the Fall of Rome. When every policy fight has to be dementia-or-dictator, people stop hearing the real arguments. The syndrome isn’t “criticism.” It’s the inability to criticize without checking the patient into ancient history and a psych ward in the same lede.

MOAM’s diagnosis

Severity: TERMINAL.

You can hammer the ads. You can hammer the U.N. tone. You can vote the other way in November. What you don’t get to do — not if you want anybody outside Center City to keep listening — is stack Caligula, mad king, and 1938 Germany in one column and call it the missing vocabulary of democracy. That’s not finding the right words. That’s raiding the costume shop. Down here in Marblehead we still know the difference between a tough president and a toga party. Save Caligula for Caligula. Save the rest for the actual case file.

MOAM Out.

Woodworking Tip of the Day: Winding Sticks — Finding Twist Before You Plane It Worse

Before you chase a board flat with another shaving, stop — twist hides until the winding sticks show it….. A board that rocks on three corners, a sole that won’t sit, a glue-up that walks — that’s wind. Today’s tip: a pair of winding sticks, and how to read them before you plane a good board worse.

Why it matters: Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking both treat winding sticks as essential layout tools — not museum pieces. Two matched straightedges at opposite ends of the stock amplify twist so your eye can see what a square never will. On a Marblehead gunning dory sole blank or a wide thwart blank, that magnification keeps you from removing wood from the wrong corner.

Materials

• Pair of winding sticks — shop-made from quartersawn hardwood, 18″–24″ long (Popular Woodworking), or two lengths of aluminum L-bar (Fine Woodworking tip)
• Contrast on one stick’s top edge — dark inlay, tape, or permanent marker so the far edge reads clearly
• Center marks on both sticks (pencil, marker, or brass pin)
• Chalk or pencil to mark high corners on the board

Tools

• Jack / scrub / jointer plane (or jointer) for removing the high spots
• Straightedge check — one winding stick doubles as a straightedge for cup and bow
• Optional: calipers or a fingertip feel-check to confirm the two sticks match before you trust them

Steps

1. Make (or grab) a matched pair. Quartersawn hardwood stays truer than flatsawn. Aim for 18″–24″ — longer sticks magnify more and still fit a toolbox. Plane both edges straight and parallel. Narrower top edge (trapezoid profile) is easier to sight. Or skip the millwork: two aluminum L-bars, centers marked, one top edge contrasted (Fine Woodworking #316).
2. Check the sticks against each other first. Hold the top edges together and look for light; set both on a known-flat surface and feel the tops. Australian Wood Review’s point: if the sticks disagree with each other, every board you “fix” is a lie.
3. Place at opposite ends. Center each stick on the face (use the mid marks). Sticks should sit at right angles to the board’s length. For a long sole or panel, also check mid-span by moving the far stick while leaving the near one put.
4. Sight across the tops. Crouch so your eye is level with the near stick’s top edge. Look toward the far stick’s contrasting edge. Parallel = no wind. A wedge means twist — the high corners are the diagonal pair where the far stick rides up.
5. Mark high corners, plane those first. Chalk the high spots. Take shavings off those corners (scrub or jack). Drop the sticks back, re-sight, and watch the wedge close. Don’t full-length plane until the sticks line up — otherwise you’re chasing twist around the board.
6. Convert measured gap to actual twist if you need a number. Lee Valley’s formula: Ta = Tm × (W / L) — actual twist equals the gap you see at the stick ends, times board width over stick length. Example: 1/4″ measured on 18″ sticks across an 8″ board → about 7/64″ of real corner-to-corner wind. Amplification is roughly L / W (300 mm sticks on a 150 mm board ≈ 2×).
7. Finish flat after the wind is gone. Once the sticks are parallel, switch to full-length passes until the face is clean. Same sighting trick works across gunwales or sheer clamps when you’re checking a hull for twist on the strongback — longer sticks, same parallel read.

MOAM’s shop note: Don’t trust a single glance with the sticks swapped. End-for-end / side-for-side like you’d check a level — if the wedge follows the board, the board is twisted; if it follows the sticks, your sticks are. And don’t celebrate parallel sticks as “done.” Parallel only means the twist is out — you may still have cup or hollow to plane off before that sole lands flat in the boat.

MOAM Out.

Fake News Watch: Newsom Didn’t “Force” Your Gas Prices

Not for nuthin'…. But….. before you blame Gavin Newsom for every painful fill-up from Marblehead to Montana, check the receipt on that “four forced California refinery closures” post.

The claim

Through mid-to-late September 2026, Facebook and X posts have been insisting U.S. gas prices aren’t high because of the Iran war — they’re high because California Gov. Gavin Newsom “forced” the shutdown of four oil refineries. One Sep 17 Facebook post from a Connecticut Republican candidate put it bluntly: the blame “lies with Newsom.” Snopes readers wrote in asking the same question.

What actually happened

Snopes (Sep 25) rated the rumor Mostly False. Count first: only two California refineries stopped processing crude in the past year — Phillips 66’s Los Angeles Refinery (October 2025) and Valero’s Benicia plant (April 2026). The other two names often tossed into the pile (Marathon Martinez, Phillips 66 Rodeo) quit crude years earlier for renewable-fuel conversions, not a 2026 Newsom edict.

“Forced” doesn’t hold either. Phillips 66 executives cited high production costs and “very low” earnings; a company spokesperson said a Newsom regulatory bill signing wasn’t a factor. Valero’s CEO did call California’s regulatory climate the toughest in North America — and noted Benicia costs more to maintain — but GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told Snopes those were business decisions, not a policy change that forced the plants dark.

On the nationwide spike: U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly price data show retail gas jumping hard in the weeks after the Iran war began in late February / early March 2026 — the same pattern as after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Phillips 66 and Valero earnings calls this spring pointed to Strait of Hormuz closures and Middle East geopolitics. Closer to home, WBUR (Sep 22) and AAA Northeast tied Massachusetts’ seasonal-high average (~$4.41/gal) to the ongoing Middle East conflict and supply volatility — not a Sacramento shutdown order.

More: Snopes · EIA retail gasoline prices · WBUR / AAA Northeast · California Energy Commission FAQ

MOAM take

Pain at the pump is real up here — nobody filling a truck in Essex County needs a lecture. What we don’t need is a four-refinery fairy tale that skips the war and the shipping lanes. Argue California regs all day if you want. Don’t rewrite the price chart.

Verdict: FALSE — two closures by company choice, not four forced by Newsom; the nationwide spike tracks the Iran war.

MOAM Out.

Boston Sports Morning Report — Sunday, Sep. 27

This is catching the MOAM’s attention today….. Sunday football in Jacksonville, Sox finale at Tropicana, and the B’s two nights from Opening Night. Let’s run it down.

Short version: Pats @ Jags at 1 on CBS; Sox close the regular season vs the Cubs at 3:05 in St. Pete (storm move); Bruins open Tuesday vs the Rangers; Celtics still on the preseason clock.

New England Patriots

• Yesterday: No game
• Today: Sun, Sept. 27 — 1:00 PM ET — @ Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS)
• Next: Sun, Oct. 4 — 1:00 PM ET — @ Buffalo Bills (CBS)
• Standings: 1-1 · 2nd in AFC East (tied with the Jets), 1 GB of Buffalo

Road test in Jacksonville. Maye and the defense get another look against a 1-1 Jaguar club. Kick at 1 on CBS.

Boston Red Sox

• Yesterday: No game (Sat. finale moved to today)
• Today: Sun, Sept. 27 — 3:05 PM ET — vs Chicago Cubs at Tropicana Field (neutral; NESN)
• Next: Regular-season finale — then AL Wild Card series
• Standings: 87-74 · 3rd in AL East, 11 GB · Wild Card #5 (clinched)

Storm pushed the series wrap to St. Pete. One more game, then October. Stay loud wherever you’re watching.

Boston Celtics

• Yesterday / Today: No games
• Next (preseason): Thu, Oct. 8 — 7:00 PM ET — @ Cleveland Cavaliers
• Regular-season opener: Tue, Oct. 20 — @ Detroit Pistons
• 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 Fri.)
• Next (regular-season opener): Tue, Sept. 29 — 8:00 PM ET — vs New York Rangers (ESPN)
• Status: Preseason 2-1-1. Season opens Tuesday vs the Rangers at TD Garden.

Exhibition book closed. Real hockey starts Tuesday night — Rangers at the Garden on ESPN.

That’s the Sunday board, folks. Pats early, Sox late afternoon, B’s on deck Tuesday. Stay loud.

MOAM Out.

New England This Morning — September 27, 2026

This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. Day two of this fall nor’easter, and New England’s putting on three different faces before breakfast.

Marblehead Harbor is steel-gray under a solid overcast — boats swung tight on the moorings, a little chop on the water, paddleboards still racked on the BYC dock. Up on Mount Washington the North View is socked right in: fog and raindrops plastered on the lens, summit vanished for the morning. Over in Waitsfield the Great Eddy covered bridge is quieter — Mad River almost glass-calm, early fall gold and rust on the trees, that little American flag hanging on the bridge like nothing’s wrong with the world.

Coastal Massachusetts is still dealing with the leftover wind and showers from this storm. Inland Vermont looks calmer so far. If you’re headed out near the shore, give the docks and decks another look before the next band rolls through.

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 26

Not for nuthin'…. But….. Thursday night I put up the first evening update on “Still the Same Act” — Araghchi’s seven-day Hormuz clock, Houthi missiles toward Saudi oil country, hardliners chewing their own diplomats. Forty-eight hours later Washington finally answered the pitch out loud. Spoiler: it wasn’t a handshake.

Where things stood
Iran’s foreign minister floated a seven-day reopen of the Strait of Hormuz tied to a restart of broader war talks. Houthis lobbed at Saudi targets Thursday; Brent settled at $106.60. Tehran’s hardliners went after Araghchi for sitting too close to Witkoff. Same act I flagged Thursday morning — and back in April in “The Act is Getting Old.”

What’s new today

1. Trump rejects Iran’s seven-day Hormuz pitch — out loud
Saturday, President Trump told reporters at the White House: “I reject their proposal. … I rejected their deal.” He said Tehran wants Hormuz opened immediately “because they’re losing so badly,” added “We’re winning tremendously,” and — per AP — that he’d like a deal too, “But that deal would not be acceptable.” The Wall Street Journal had already reported a private rejection, with officials saying Trump is skeptical Iran will meet his demands and sees a renewed bombing campaign as likely after the November midterms. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later said Tehran is still waiting for mediators to convey a definitive U.S. answer — and that only a negotiated solution ends the deadlock.
Sources: Reuters, Sep 26, 2026; PBS / AP, Sep 26, 2026 · 11:53 AM EDT; CNA (Reuters), Sep 26, 2026

2. Tehran’s ask gets spelled out — still Iran-first sequencing
Friday at the U.N., Araghchi said the choice “now rests with the United States” on a “concrete” seven-day plan. Reporting from Al Jazeera, Reuters, and AP fills in the order: stop fighting on all fronts including Lebanon; the U.S. lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, waives oil sanctions, and releases frozen funds; then Hormuz reopens around day six or seven; then talks on the nuclear file. That’s not a compromise. That’s the June MoU in a faster costume — and Washington already walked away from that once.
Sources: Reuters, Sep 25, 2026; Al Jazeera, Sep 25, 2026; PBS / AP, Sep 26, 2026

3. Iran draws a hard nuclear line before the ink is dry
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that even if Washington accepted the Hormuz proposal, Tehran would show no flexibility on its nuclear program — no concessions on enriching uranium or shipping highly enriched uranium out of the country. The strait stays shut, the official said, until “all of Iran’s conditions are met.” So the seven-day “peace” clock starts with a nuclear lock already bolted.
Source: Reuters, Sep 25, 2026 · 4:36 PM UTC

4. Pezeshkian leaves New York; Houthis keep lobbing
Iranian media say President Masoud Pezeshkian left New York for Tehran after UNGA week. State media quoted him saying Iran hasn’t walked away from the table but “no longer trusts the United States.” Separately, Saudi Arabia said early Saturday it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Khamis Mushait — another Saturday reminder that the proxy soundtrack doesn’t pause for diplomacy theater.
Sources: PBS / AP, Sep 26, 2026; CNA, Sep 26, 2026

MOAM’s take
Same act, new scene. Tehran sells a seven-day clock that starts with Washington lifting the blockade, waiving oil sanctions, freeing cash, and freezing the Lebanon front — then maybe, maybe, opens Hormuz, then says the nukes are off-limits anyway. Trump’s answer was four words and a shrug: deal rejected. Down here on the North Shore we know a one-way street when we see one. Strength still wins. Clocks with locked vaults behind them aren’t deals — they’re leverage theater with better lighting for UNGA week.

What to watch
Whether mediators deliver a formal rejection Araghchi will admit to; whether Friday’s oil dip holds or reverses after Saturday’s no; whether the midterm calendar really pushes any renewed campaign talk into November; and whether the Houthis keep testing Saudi air defenses while the diplomats argue about day six vs. day seven.

MOAM Out.

TDS Watch: The Nation says Trump’s UN speech was “Hitler updated for the digital age”

Look, I’ll give the columnist this much: when you put “Hitler” in the headline and mean it, nobody’s gonna accuse you of understatement. Down here on the North Shore we call that a five-alarm rhetorical nor’easter — and The Nation just rang every bell.

What was said

On Friday, Sep 25, 2026, journalist Sasha Abramsky published a column in The Nation under the headline “Trump Impersonated Hitler at the United Nations.” The piece reacts to President Trump’s Sep 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly and to the White House’s fight with CNN, MS NOW, and Politico over press credentials.

Exact words from the column:

“This was, quite simply, Hitler updated for the digital age. I challenge you to find one sentence in that monstrosity of a UN speech that the German Führer would have wanted to distance himself from.”

And the closer:

“We had a choice in 2024; as a country, we chose the fascists.”

Along the way Abramsky also labels Trump “America’s wannabe king” and folds the press-access dispute into a Nazi/Stalin media-control frame.

Sources: The Nation, Sep 25, 2026 · Alto syndication stamp (Sep 25, 2026, 9:30 AM)

Context (not spin)

Disagree with the U.N. speech? Fine. Argue the Iran lines, the ICC shots, the tone, the policy — that’s what a free press is for. Argue the First Amendment fight over White House credentials in court, which is already happening.

What that is not: a Weimar cosplay. Calling a U.N. podium performance “Hitler updated for the digital age,” then telling readers America “chose the fascists,” isn’t analysis — it’s the rhetorical equivalent of calling every Marblehead fog bank the Blitz. When every Trump speech has to be 1933, people stop hearing the real arguments. The syndrome isn’t “criticism.” It’s the inability to criticize without hauling in the worst crime in modern history as the first draft of the lede.

MOAM’s diagnosis

Severity: TERMINAL.

You can hate the speech. You can sue over press access. You can vote the other way in November. What you don’t get to do — not if you want anybody outside the choir to keep listening — is stamp “Hitler” on the headline and “fascists” on the ballot box and call it journalism. That’s not holding power to account. That’s the ward talking over the story. Save Hitler for Hitler. Save the rest for the actual case file. Marblehead didn’t send boys to Europe so cable-era columnists could use that word as a lazy synonym for “guy I don’t like.”

MOAM Out.