Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, October 15, 2021
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47 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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Boeing pilot indicted for allegedly deceiving US regulators over 737 Max
……………
So the shareholders lost some money, a chief test pilot is the designated scapegoat and my inner cynic says, the system is working as designed. I hope I’m wrong. I hope he rolls and can back it up with receipts. But I’ve seen this play before and the 3rd act is nearly always a disappointment.
Fragile White Syndrome strikes again:
Unintended consequences and all that.
Uhhh…. Clay? Racism is a fact of history that this law requires denying.
If you read the whole damn thing, the only thing that is obvious is that nobody knows exactly what the law requires, and the teachers are the ones in the crosshairs. At this point I think the best anyone can do is get the F out of Texas.
New Zealand council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service
New Zealand is a little different.
@OzarkHillbilly: The Holocaust: Pros and Cons. Discuss.
The answer is that educators and parents have to do something they are not comfortable with. Push back on the bullies and bloody their noses.
It’s official: MTG is trolling us.
No one could be this dense.
The active-duty Army is facing a record suicide rate. Leaders have no idea how to fix it
I’ve been involved with DoD (Air Force) for 40 years now and I don’t have any special insights. I suspect it has to do with society as a whole. Isolation. Social Media. The usual suspects.
@Scott:
In 1992, talk-show host Montel Williams brought Holocaust deniers on his program, then just before the commercial break told viewers to stay tuned to find out whether the Holocaust “is a myth or is it truth.” I am not making this up.
“Hacker X”—the American who built a pro-Trump fake news empire—unmasks himself
@Kylopod:
My father’s older brother participated in the liberation of the concentration camps in 1945. He took photos of the skeletal remains of thousands of victims. On the back of each photo, he printed “This was real.”
Did he anticipate denial?
@Scott: Totally offhand remark, but some synapse connected your statistic with the experience at… UNC?… State University cancelled on-campus classes for a day of reflection after two suicides among students.
As you said, known risk factors piling up.
@CSK:
During WWI there were some bogus stories being circulated about German atrocities, and it created a crying-wolf effect during WWII, leading the American public to be skeptical when what was happening started being reported.
@CSK: My father-in-law was among the liberators of Dachau. He refused to talk about it.
@SC_Birdflyte:
Nor would my uncle. We found the photos after his death.
@Scott:
Scott, you’re right, but that is becoming increasingly tough.
It is getting ugly: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/14/metro/new-hampshire-protests-over-covid-mandates-roil-state-local-governments/
The tin hats intimidated the Governors Council into refusing $27M in federal funds to fight Covid. Since those cost aren’t going away, the R governor is beside himself with frustration. I expect that this will be reversed, but it is not a good sign.
R chickens are coming home to roost.
@OzarkHillbilly:
If I were the teacher, I’d say “Okay Ms. Parent. I’ll go get a copy of Mein Kampf for your little Billy to read. I’m sure you’ll be able to help him understand it, won’t you?”
@Kylopod: In 1992, talk-show host Montel Williams brought Holocaust deniers on his program, then just before the commercial break told viewers to stay tuned to find out whether the Holocaust “is a myth or is it truth.” I am not making this up.
So what was the verdict? Did they have the studio audience vote on it?
@Mu Yixiao: I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that some of these parents already have copies of Mein Kampf.
@Jon:
“…and it’s Springtime for Hitler and Germany…look out, here comes the master race.”
@Sleeping Dog: My husband and I were discussing this the day after the Exec. Council vote. It’s INSANE. Fed Gov: “here’s a pile of money to help you combat this pandemic and its costs.” NH Republicans: “No thanks, we don’t want to be told what’s real.”
I love this state, but wow, this is just the dumbest of dumb moves.
Read the whole thing (it’s short). The last line is hilarious.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-yells-im-not-into-golden-showers-at-elite-gop-donors
@CSK: Something for the grave marker: “I was not into golden showers”
@CSK:
We know when Benito denies something, it serves as confirmation.
@OzarkHillbilly:
There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence and documentation about the holocaust, coming from victims, liberators, and the perpetrators themselves.
So of course it’s a hoax to the diseased mind.
@Kathy: Sometimes it seems that the more evidence there is for something (the Holocaust, biological evolution, the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 election), the more committed some people are to denying it, maybe because they see it as a bigger challenge.
@Kylopod:
It’s “owning the libs” carried to an extreme. We say “up,” they say “down” reflexively.
@Kylopod:
@CSK:
I renew my call for a campaign against seasoning food with ground up glass sprinkled with cyanide.
Sure, it’s delicious and turns even burnt meat into a feast, but it’s bad for the environment and a legacy of the patriarchal slavery system.
@Jen:
Oh yes, NH does stupid things. Since some of that money is to cover costs already incurred, they’ll need to revisit it. The R’s in the state legislature don’t have 27M that can simply be re-appropriated to cover expenses.
What is particularly galling, is that NH is a net contributing state to federal gov, so turning this down only adds to that deficit.
@CSK: Thanks for that little ear worm for my morning.
@Joe:
I’d like to see a kickline of Carroll school board members performing it.
@CSK:
@Joe:
I just had to go watch it on Youtube.
@OzarkHillbilly:
The idea behind limited liability corporations, was to protect investors against financial losses bigger than the amount of their investment in a corporation.
Whatever the merits of that idea, these days limited liability seems more like total immunity, not only against financial matters, but against criminal charges. Regardless of what this test pilot did or did not do, the decision to withhold information on the MCAS was made by several executives at Boeing. Why aren’t they all facing charges?
This is just one case. What about the Sacklers, who demonstrably harmed many more people and unleashed a major social problem we’re still dealing with? They’re getting off free with very little blood money per person killed or harmed.
this needs to stop. People who make decisions to risk the lives of others over money, should face the consequences when their gamble doesn’t quite pay off.
Random notes.
I’m watching The Flight Attendant on HBO Max (because of course I am). It’s not exactly bad, but the plot moves along two lines I call 1) the inability to follow through on what’s literally right in front of you, and 2) the script placed all the clues in plain sight after the protagonist remembers them.
As to the first, the protagonist divulges tons of information in a disjointed, frantic manner, and she’s ignored by her lawyer (and best friend) and the FBI agents investigating her. Thirty minutes of focused questions and follow up would end the first season by the third episode. We can’t have that.
The second involves the event driving the plot having occurred with the protagonist literally being black-out drunk. But as soon as a clue is needed, she remembers it.
It’s only 8 episodes, and Kaley Cuoco does rather well interpreting a rather awful person. Otherwise I’d have stopped watching a while ago.
On other things, I finished a Great Courses lecture series on “understanding the US government.” There was little I didn’t already know, though it brings up some additional historical context and systematic explanation.
I then moved to another lectures series, this on on biology. It had been sitting on the pile for a few months now, though it’s rather relevant in the trump pandemic we’re living through.
Hahahahahaha…..My daughter’s puppy had a dingleberry on her last outside run. She’s running and screaming and yipping and trying to shake it off, constantly turning to see if it’s still there, I’m watching from the window. The big dogs come tearing around the corner to see what’s wrong with the puppy, Roo stopped in his tracks and I swear he was laughing, Boomer goes over to her, sniffs her butt a little, then showed her how to do a butt scoot!!! I about died laughing!!! Puppy dingleberry crisis averted. 😛 😛
And here I thought they hated her!
A little poop humor for your Friday. 😉
@CSK:
I demand an opposing perspective.
@sam:
I haven’t made it through that whole piece. I got sidetracked and looked at some of Hacker X’s writing on his website.
I think I’m going to write a longer piece on it and post it somewhere, because that guy embodies so many things that chap my ass about other people that I think the only way I can resolve all of them is to write about it.
Okay, hive mind–a question. I might need to take a flight relatively soon, so am looking at buying some KN95 masks and am wondering about brands and sizes (I seldom go anywhere of note so have been relying on the surgical masks + a fabric over on the rare occasions that I have to be inside, e.g., when I went to get my flu shot at Walgreens the other day).
On the brands–are there any of note as far as quality? On size–one size does NOT fit all. I’m little. I have a small face and need something that fits and will be comfortable enough for a cross-country flight.
Suggestions? I know @Kathy has posted a bunch about masks–any words of wisdom?
@Kathy:
We’re getting sucked into Squid Game the same way. The actors are so good they sell flimsy characters and plot, over humor so black it would shake heads on a Sopranos set. Special hat-tips to the main character, the young North Korean refugee, and Old Man 001.
@Jen:
Would a child-sized one work for you?
@CSK: That’s part of what brought me here…the reviews on Amazon are so confusing. I looked at the measurements on one of the kids’ mask brands, and think it would work, but apparently there’s an issue with the ear loops being smaller on the kids sizes so maybe not?
There’s also one brand that offers a medium size for adult (rather than full-size, I guess?) but one reviewer posted a picture and there are gaps around the nose and cheek area.
I haven’t seen any N95/KN95 masks at CVS or Walgreens, so I can’t figure out by actually looking at a box. Blargh.
I am thinking of messaging the LPN at my doc’s practice, she’s tiny and might have some insight.
@Jen:
Maybe Tip #2 will work.
http://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/13-mask-hacks-to-make-your-mask-fit-better
@Jen:
If it’s just for the flight, I suggest an original 3M N95 mask. Not only are these of known good quality, but they have straps that go over the back of the head rather than behind the ears, making for a much better seal (which I find too uncomfortable for daily use).
As to fit, one simple hack is to wear the N95 over a surgical mask.
For KN95 and KF94 masks, there is way too much variety for a simple suggestion.
@dazedandconfused:
I think this new fashion of telling the one story per season, and using short seasons, has gotten me to watch things just to see how they would end, even when the show isn’t good or to my liking (like with Titans).
@Scott: Problem for the teachers: The bullies have all the money.
@Kathy: To use your words:
And yet CRT is… Not real? Not to be taught?
The point folks, is that racism is real, the holocaust is real, but people are equally afraid to teach either. Personally, I would love to stand within arms reach of Greg Abbot, Ken Paxton, and What’sisfuck.
And folks, unlike the holocaust, racism is here today. I grew up with it, benefited from it, accepted it as just the way the world is, and found myself expected to abide by it, was eventually disgusted by it, and avowed I would never again accept it as society’s default.
For some reason or other, I’m feeling kind of lonely.
…lonely…
As I’ve said on occasion: “I know this town is full of honkies, I’m just not one of them.”