Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, December 22, 2020
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65 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Israel barrels towards fourth election within two years
That was the first thing that popped into my head.
tbh – rip
This made me laugh:
POLITICO Playbook: Trump lines up losses
Beware, the “bloodthirsty, hairy berserkers”.
The military needs to crack down on extremists within the ranks, Pentagon report finds
This issue has been bandied about for at least a decade. It tends to get buried. Talking about right wing extremism in the military or police forces is politically incorrect.
@Scott: Haha…hard to have a “brain trust” when there isn’t one brain between them.
This seems like a completely appropriate response.
@Mikey:
“hard to have a “brain trust” when there isn’t one brain between them.”
And not a lot of trust.
This WaPo piece is…something else. The situation in the White House is deteriorating rapidly as Trump becomes increasingly unhinged and divorced from reality.
The following does not inspire any confidence things will improve:
It doesn’t get any better from there.
Trump assembles a ragtag crew of conspiracy-minded allies in flailing bid to reverse election loss
Brain-dead trust is more like it.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Typical Vikings.
Dedicated to the advancement of China-USA relations.
@Scott:
Magnum Force, Clint Eastwood, 1973.
@sam:
My stomach is heaving.
Speaking of Vikings.
@sam: How is it that I knew exactly what this would be?
Over the past several years I have often quoted the classic Onion piece “‘Iraqi Gandhi’ Preaches Slightly Less Violence” (usually as a metaphor for Republicans).
But now we have this article:
@Mikey: @sam: that can’t be real!
I recall a story, I think on NPR’s Planet Money, about two Chinese-American entrepreneurs who started an Annie’s pretzel franchise in China that initially failed miserably. One major reason: Chinese people don’t typically eat food with their hands. So they came up with a different concept: pretzel bites that could be eaten with chopsticks. I think they had written a book about really understanding new markets before diving in.
The creators of this monstrosity fail all around!
Swan: Trump Turns on Everyone
Trump is now attacking Pence, Meadows, Cipollone, Pompeo, and McConnell. 😛
@Monala: here’s the story: link
@Teve:
This would explain his inability to concede: he’s too scared of what he’d do to himself if he were to betray himself.
@Monala:
That doesn’t make sense. Chinese eat all sorts of food with their hands–especially bread products (bao zi, jian bing, rou jia mo, etc.)
Steven, I know that Tommy Tuberville represents your state, but not you.
@Teve:
Next up: “This country doesn’t deserve me.”
@Scott: The problem with this Scott is that left leaning Service people also participate in groups like BLM. And I can easily see a “fairness” false dichotomy set up where only right wing shitheads are discharged but since no one from BLM, etc was kicked out…now be have to go and find some to boot out.
I can see this being a cluster. Its going nowhere anyway unless the incoming SecDef picks it back up. Pentagon Action Officers can poop out a POA&M for anything with an hour. Until there is an demand signal for an execution/implementation plan this isnt a serious request
@Mu Yixiao: I’m just saying what the story said (I posted a link to it in a follow-up comment).
Trump outlaws ugly buildings
@Teve:
Well, we always knew he’d end up like Captain Ahab, flailing crazily at everyone.
@Mu Yixiao: Starting with his own?
@Mu Yixiao: At least in Shanghai, my recollections is that people ate bao zi and similar foods with chopsticks. Even things like those giant pancake-like Korean breaded pork cutlets were held aloft with chopsticks as people nibbled away.
@Teve: As anyone who has ever been involved in a Trump deal can tell you, it always ends with Trump attacking those that brought him to the dance. In the end his allies always fare far worse than his enemies. Quick, name one business leader who has done more than one deal with Trump. Can’t think of one? There’s a reason for that.
Tesla mania vs. economic reality
………………………..
Ya think?
@Kingdaddy: It is just beyond amazing.
I was talking to two of my sons about the Senate election just the other day and lamented that if the contest had been at all about competence, Doug Jones would have won in a landslide. Alas, partisanship does not take such factors into account.
Our Senator-elect has no clue about the job he now has–this is why I called him recently perhaps the most trumpian politician post-Trump. He is an amateur (no prior political experience), was propelled to office by celebrity, and he has zero clue (and that is not hyperbole) about the job he now has. Plus he won nomination via a rejection of the old guard in the GOP (to Sessions’ chagrin).
As a citizen of Weld County, Colorado, I wish our locality wasn’t fueling both the anti-democratic and anti-vaccination madness simultaneously.
@Steven L. Taylor: And I would add to your excellent list, “Doesn’t care about his ignorance and incompetence” (the Rick Perry standard of poor stewardship of the public good). If this were a Freaky Friday-ish movie, in which a 13 year old swapped bodies with a US senator, we’d see the main character frantically dog-paddling through meetings, floor speeches, and interviews, keenly aware that he or she has zero competence, and therefore zero reason for being there. The truly Trumpian character understands his or her inability to do the job and just does not care, despite obvious damage done.
@OzarkHillbilly:
This shouldn’t be surprise, 22% of the voters think the soon to be ex prez is the greatest ever. The tesla fanatics are simply a different 22%. Delusional, just a different delusion.
While it’s not unusual for a young company’s stock to be over valued, that is usually based on they are the first mover in an emerging industry. EV’s are simply a different method within a well established industry. If EV’s take over the market for personal transportation, it is not difficult to imagine that the established players will eat Musk’s lunch.
@Sleeping Dog: I don’t think a significant number of the Tesla investors are in the same category as Trumpers. I suspect they are subscribing to the “bigger fool” theory of investment. Purveyors of this strategy merely test the winds to see if there is still a bigger fool willing to buy stock at an even higher price. Basically,they are gambling they will be the second to last one off the train.
@CSK: If I were in China right now, I’d probably be trying one. I (amusingly) remember the 10 and 12 can Spam gift sets that Lotte Department Store used to sell at Christmastime and Seolnal (New Year) while I was in Korea, too.
Not available in stores most of the year. That makes it a treat! 😛
“Next up: ‘This country doesn’t deserve me.’”
He’s probably wrong about that, but I’m willing to agree if it means he’s willing to leave. 😀
@Kingdaddy:
Did Donald Trump somehow switch minds with Barron? There’s a lot of petulant 13 year old in him. No recognition of being over his head, but a lot of anger that with the power of the presidency he cannot just make things happen and that has to be the fault of everyone else.
@OzarkHillbilly:
@Sleeping Dog:
I’ve heard some suggestions that the real value of Tesla is in the Li-ion battery “gigafactories”.
Apparently Tesla and its partner Panasaonic, Samsung, and LG, are the remaining major non-Chinese players in that field, the Chinese corporations being CATL and BYD.
Though that might be vulnerable to battery technology change? Dunno.
Also, a major part of the skills of the current auto majors relates to combustion drivetrains (likewise their retailer vehicle servicing skills). So that’s a big relative loss of edge for them, perhaps.
I do suspect though that Tesla is going to find the going a lot harder once as the behemoth that is VAG (Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche/Skoda/SEAT) starts to really move.
Initial reports are that the Porsche Taycan as a proposition is seriously treading on the tail of the Tesla S already, and in some respect betters it.
And their Mii/Citigo/Up trio are among the best small electric cars available; Tesla doesn’t even have a rival in this sector, with the T-3 being about double the price.
The established manufactures problem may be the battery issue. So, points to Tesla. But I’d be wary of betting against the Germans (or the French or Japanese for that matter) when they seriously put their minds to something.
Tesla shares certainly seem overvalued on balance.
@Kingdaddy:
I don’t think that’s right. Projection and Dunning-Kruger. Trump himself is the poster boy for Dunning Kruger. It has often been apparent that Trump thinks Obama behaved just like he himself does: acting on impulse, seeing the office as simply a way to enrich himself, doing foreign policy on the basis of personal feelings toward other leaders, surrounding himself with sycophants. If the only way you know to operate is on emotion, impulse, and gut feeling, you don’t realize other people may be more analytical.
Trump and his ilk think they’re eminently qualified. Do you really think Jared and Junior and Ivanka ever set aside their arrogance and think about who they’d be without their families? And any damage done is an unfortunate side effect, the fault of others, Democrats, the deep state, usually the victims, someone who doesn’t understand their brilliance.
@gVOR08: My assumption is that they believe they hire the little people to do the real work.
@JohnSF:
I worked in the car business several years ago. You couldn’t pay me to buy a Volkswagen or an Audi or any other European car.
(With the exception of Porsche, but that’s more of a romantic, nostalgic thing, and I’d only consider it if I had seven figures in the bank.)
I could tell you horror stories.
Trump’s personal banker, er, money launderer, just abruptly resigned from Deutsche Bank.
@JohnSF:
I’ve heard that as well, that it is the battery factories and the energy storage business that sets Tesla’s value. Sometime ago, I read a comment from a professional investor that the car business is actually a drag on value and that it is really a marketing loss leader.
It seems that Tesla maybe better off just selling power units automotive manufacturers.
@Teve:
Yup, if you really want one, lease it. If you insist on owning, dump it before 100,000 miles, as the electrical gremlins begin emerging.
@Sleeping Dog: That’s basically what I heard from more experienced car people—fine, get a European car, but dump it between 75-100k miles.
LOL one guy told me, “the best reason to buy a European car is if you hate your bank balance and wish there weren’t so many dang numbers in it.”
@Michael Reynolds:
So has his (and Kushner’s) other banker there, Dominic Scalzi.
DB opened its internal investigation into Rosemary Vrablic last August. I guess they found something.
Umm…yes.
@Teve:
My father used to be a paint plant/production manager for AustinRover.
So, horror stories, I heard them.
I can’t find direct equivalent to Consumer Report; closest would probably be Which? and they’re paywalled.
Others give overall figures for brands, or break it down into types, rather than “all models”
But here’s the WhatCar UK new car reliability ratings for 2020
1 Skoda Citigo
2 Toyota Aygo
3 BMW 1 Series diesel
4 Mini Countryman
5 BMW X1 petrol
6 Ford Kuga petrol
7 Tesla Model 3
8 Toyota Yaris
9 BMW 5 Series
10 Porsche Macan
And here Warranty Direct top 10(which is for all cars under warranty, not just new ones
1 Toyota iQ
2 Mitsubishi Lancer
3 Vauxhall Agila
4 Hyundai Getz
5 Honda Jazz
6 Hyundai i10
7 Nissan Almera Tino
8 Hyundai i20
9 Citroen C1
10 Suzuki Alto
Bottom 10:
1 Maserati Granturismo
2 BMW M5
3 BMW M6
4 Nissan GT-R
5 Audi R8
6 Mercedes-Benz GL
7 Aston Martin DB9
8 Bentley Continental GT
9 Mercedes-Benz R-Class
10 Citroen C6
Personally, I’d never buy a new car.
Buy low-mileage “nearly new” second hand, and let the first owner eat the worst of the depreciation, and discover any massive faults.
In this category I’d think about a VW if the price was right.
I’d very definitely consider a Skoda; who are a VAG operation, but with a much better reliability reputation than the the other units.
The strangest thing just happened. I looked up “paper tiger,” and a Steelers logo came up 😉
Seriously, losing against the Bengals playing without their first draft pick starting QB, is not what a top seed team does.
But that’s ok. other years I’d be upset or angry “my” team is losing to, literally, no-name teams. Not this year. this year the winning team were Biden and Harris, and that’s a done deal.
Seen today on Twitter:
(Pence today said Democrats want to make rich people poorer and make poor people more comfortable. Kinda like Mary prayed in Luke chapter 1 that God would use the Messiah she was carrying to do.)
@MarkedMan:
In six years in China, I never saw anyone eating bao zi (or man tou) with chopsticks. I don’t know how you’d eat jianbing with chopsticks (it certainly never happened–neither shandong or lao beijing style).
Meat? Certainly. Buddy Ji Pai came with a skewer rather than chopsticks, but the idea is the same. But bread products? Never.
LOL Trump said he didn’t necessarily want to sign the Covid relief bill because it should have been $2000 instead of $600.
So AOC and Rashida Tlaib wrote an amendment replacing $600 with $2000 and they want a vote.
@Teve: I think that’s a MONTHLY $2,000, too!!! I hope Moscow Mitch has severe heartburn tonight.
@Teve:
Imagine if he had proposed something like that in October, or at least promised to.
@Jax:
Will someone please think of the poor billionaires? They’re having to make do with more money.
@Kathy:
This occurred to me, and I think it points to the fact that his behavior is primarily reactive. He’s not seriously trying to propose this plan, he’s just trying to stake out territory to differentiate himself from the bill he invariably will sign (which is just what he did in 2018 toward the omnibus budget bill). He’s trying to have it both ways, take credit for the bill while also blaming others for any shortcomings it may have.
The amendment is tiny, I counted 89 words, and I didn’t see anything about monthly, but I really don’t have my hopes up that Republicans will abide it.
@Kylopod:
Yeah, more than a populist he’s a panderer.
@Teve: There’s no way Mitch will let it pass. If he even considers it, there will be non-negotiable “strings” attached, cuts elsewhere that Dems will not be able to abide by. And poor widdle Rand Paul’s head might explode at more “free money”, that would be messy.
Birx says she’s retiring at the end of Trump’s term.
ETTD