If we learned anything about the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, it’s that it is dangerous to be in liberal controlled areas, even more so if you don’t practice OPSEC. For that reason, I try to edit out any identifying information or anything that telegraphs my future movements. By the time you read this, I will be home, so security is not an issue for this post.
I have been in Boston at a conference for the past few days. The number of people who knew where I was can be counted on my fingers. We stayed at a nice hotel near Boston Common. We sampled plenty of local restaurants: Saltie Girl Seafood, Lucca Italian, Mike’s Pastries, M.J. O’Connor’s Irish Pub, and others. I spent a day riding the hop on/hop off bus to see some sights, and then it was time to come home.
Some of the things I wanted to see were closed because of the government shutdown: I couldn’t get in to the Bunker Hill memorial, the old Boston Naval Yard, the USS Constitution, or the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty because they were all closed. Shame.
9 Comments
William Wallace · November 9, 2025 at 2:01 pm
My wife is descended from the Moultons who settled on Moulton Point, which is where the USS Constitution is docked.
One of my ancestors is Mary Dyer. A visit to Boston didn’t go well for her.
Divemedic · November 9, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Ha. Thats because, like most women, she didnt know when to be quiet.
Sailor Paul · November 10, 2025 at 5:29 am
Having grown up there, and lived there, had kids and build a commercial fishing business there until I was in my 30’s… Boston is mostly awful. Both cradle and grave of American liberty.
Those iconic restaurants you mentioned, only one of them existed 15 years ago. I will say I miss the health care and access to the world’s highest density of hospitals. I used to be able to get everything short of invasive surgery all in one building. Chemo, see a shrink, lance a boil, MRI, pediatrics, gerontology, gastro, all in one place, and the surgical and ER docs were walking distance. I do miss that.
Other than that, F that place.
Irish · November 11, 2025 at 7:23 am
+1 Paul.
I grew up on the North Shore, attended college in Boston, currently work mostly in
assachusetts and hate that state. Too much traffic, lots of idiots and way over rated.
So far I have escaped to SNH. It’s becoming more and more like assachusetts-lite.
6-8 years left to retire. Then try to find a better local, maybe further North.
Lemmy · November 9, 2025 at 5:14 pm
I worked in Boston twice as a consultant in the 2007-2010 range. What was jarring for me was how you could go from MIT campus (fairytale land), walk a block and have homeless sleeping in the park. I’d seen the transition in New Orleans between the big houses on St. Charles, and the old slave quarters (shotgun houses) right behind them that were total ass. I just didn’t see it happen that quickly in the heart of uppity metro areas. That, and while listening to local radio walking to work, in some districts you had to pay MORE fees for every kid that rode the school bus from the same address. I saw a lot of New Hampshire license plates.
One of those trips, I forgot to pack undershirts, and had to take a cab to the closest Target to buy some. The entrance to the Target was mobbed by “youths” implicitly intimidating everyone that walked in. This is a decade prior to Saint Floyd, and nobody saw a problem with it. No police presence, no manager asking them to disperse, etc. There was nothing within 200 yards that would constitute an interest for teens. They just hangin’ out.
mike.fink1969@gmail.com · November 9, 2025 at 8:52 pm
“I couldn’t get in to the Bunker Hill memorial, the old Boston Naval Yard, the USS Constitution, or the meeting place of the Sons of Liberty because they were all closed. ”
National Park Service accounts for the Navy Yard and Bunker Hill. Still, the hill is just an Obelisk where the American redoubt was. You should have been able to walk around there even of the obelisk was closed. Same with the Navy Yard. The frigate and the NPS shipyard visitor center were probably closed, but you should have been able to walk within viewing distance of the ship and visit the nonprofit run Constitution Museum within the yard. Most of the former Navy Yard is wide open and has been redeveloped for various private enterprises. The only security exclusion zone is immediately around USS Constitution at Pier 1.
The Sons of Liberty used to meet at various places, the Green Dragon near Fanuel Hall being one of them. It is a recreation and is privately owned, you should have been able to get in. The Warren Tavern is another such tavern with a SOL connection. It was burned with the town in the battle and was the first building rebuilt after the British evacuation. It is very authentic to its history and is also privately owned.
I don’t recommend people travel to Boston anymore, the whole state of Massachusetts has become an enemy camp. It is not Seatle or Chicago yet. but it is working overtime on it. God willing, some of the American Heritage shrines will survive the war and you will get another chance to visit them. I wouldn’t count on it though.
SiG · November 10, 2025 at 8:43 am
You’re good at OpSec, DM. I’ve been reading you since about 2010 and still don’t have much of an idea of where you are in the state or other details.
That said, my Boston story is that I took a trip up to New England, for an annual conference held in Vermont for serious geeks called Stellafane, and counting the hours spent in the airport, may have spent as much as 48 hours in the city. One day was to wander around the bookstores at Harvard, MIT and that area. We took home a large bag of books that the airline didn’t charge extra for in those days. I bought an MIT tee shirt that I still wear, 30 years later.
All that setup for my running joke: people will sometimes see that shirt and say, “did you go to MIT?” My answer is, “yeah – just like how I went to the Grand Canyon. It was on summer vacation.”
WDS · November 10, 2025 at 11:42 am
Having lived in a few Massachusetts towns with the last one being Plymouth I can tell you this, although I miss hitting the waterfront for FRESH seafood or going to Fenway for a night game, the multiple music venues etc, I wouldn’t go back for a million bucks now. After self-deporting in 1990 for family reasons, I’m spoiled living in a quiet, rural setting here in SC. Those images brought back some sweet memories though.
shreck · November 15, 2025 at 6:16 pm
Sad actually that our country has become a place where that would even be a concern. I venture to Raleigh occasionally to meet friends in a gaming bar. I break the law every time I’m there because I refuse to go about unarmed.
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