Monday, September 28, 2026

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

TDS Watch graphic

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

Half-lap joint illustration

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)
Half-lap cutting plan

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

Fake News Watch graphic

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?

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?

The Wing book cover

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

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.

Sunday, September 27, 2026

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.