Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Friday, October 29, 2021
·
51 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).
Follow Steven on
Twitter
Huge restored mosaic unveiled in Jericho desert castle
All you see on the news is the hand-wringing and protest, not the actual results.
“About 97% of active-duty troops have received at least one dose of the vaccine” (Military Times)
“United Airlines, where only 300 of 67,000 employees refused shots” (Roll Call)
“Raytheon Technologies Chairman and CEO Greg Hayes told CNBC on Tuesday that he expects 3 percent of his company’s 125,000 employees working in the United States to refuse vaccines, while another 3 percent are already seeking religious or medical exemptions.” (Reuters)
” United Food and Commercial Workers, the union which represents 26,000 workers at Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N), said on Tuesday over 96% employees were now vaccinated.” (Reuters)
Man goes on trial in Germany accused of castrating men on kitchen table
This timeline really blows.
2021 European wildlife photographer of the year – winners
Impossible to pick a favorite but this has to be up there. So does this.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Stunning. I gasped when I saw the Spanish moon moths.
Begun the fishing wars have 😀
@HarvardLaw92:
I was living in Scotland during the final years of the Cod War.
Words cannot express how sad I am that Jim Caviezel is apparently crazy like a Q. Person of Interest ranked right up there in my top 3 “shows I wish didn’t end”, along with Revolution and Fringe. 😐
@Jax:
Cavaziel’s apparently making a movie in which he plays a guy who rescues children from the Deep State globalist Satanists who torture children to death and then drink their adenochrome.
@CSK: The thing about this present moment is that I cannot tell if you are joking or not.
@Steven L. Taylor:
No joke. The movie is called called The Sound of Freedom.
And…it’s Caviezel. Jim Caviezel. I keep screwing up this guy’s name.
Well, I suppose this was inevitable after the way his district was redrawn, but anti-Trumper GOP representative Adam Kinzinger has announced that after 12 years in the House, he’s not going to run for reelection.
@Jax: I don’t mean to engage in guilt by association, but Caviezel did play Christ in Mel Gibson’s The Passion. I would never assume from that fact alone that he was a far-right loon, but it wouldn’t strike me as especially surprising either. It comes with the territory.
@CSK:
That’s ok. he’s already f***d up his name worse than that.
A couple days ago I referred to the Baldwin shooting as a product of late-stage capitalism. Over at Balloon Juice Tom Levenson has considerable detail.
But it’s mostly one more example of how the 1% avoid taxes. And don’t tell me they’re only taking advantage of the law. They collectively put a hell of a lot of money into writing those laws.
@Jen:
They’ll be jumping for joy over at all the right-wing loon websites at this news.
I do hope Kinzinger resolves to get Trump at all costs. Actually, I’m pretty sure he had before this, but he absolutely nothing to lose now.
NYT quotes lawyers for the armorer on the Rust set,
A couple days ago I referred to the Baldwin shooting as a product of late-stage capitalism. Over at Balloon Juice Tom Levenson has considerable detail.
But it’s mostly one more example of how the 1% avoid taxes. And don’t tell me they’re only taking advantage of the law. They collectively put a hell of a lot of money into writing those laws.
Sorry about the double post. My iPad kept saying it hadn’t posted, something about header too large on request. Dr. T (or per recent commentary about the BBC style book, Dr T), please delete one.
Not my day. I can’t trick the system into an Edit function. Delete the first, shorter, post. I added a quote after the first time it told me it hadn’t submitted. Earlier today the iPad wouldn’t let me open OTB at all, claimed I had no internet connection, although I had a connection to anything else and the phone and laptop had no problem. I fear it’s time for a new iPad.
@CSK:
He apparently went deep-end hyper religious at some point along the way. He may have been that way all along and none of us noticed it. We’re definitely noticing it now.
@CSK:
That one was fun. Who knew little Iceland was so ballsy?
“Back off, or we’ll just leave NATO entirely. Hey Britain, you’re gonna need a much larger Navy if we do”. The Brits have a tendency to (IMO) think that the whole world is theirs to do in as they please and everybody else should just stop complaining about it. Iceland kicked their ass. 😀
@HarvardLaw92:
The Cod War went on almost as log as the Cold War.
@HarvardLaw92:
He must have been beyond hyper-religious to have signed up to play Jesus in in a movie such as The Passion of the Christ, which I never saw. The descriptions of it were sufficiently off-putting, to put it mildly.
@CSK:
I’ve never seen it either, but I’ve heard some anecdotal horror stories too. Scary
@CSK:
Truthfully it went on for the better part of 500 years, in spats. It just got really nasty around the end of the 19th century. Hubris…
@HarvardLaw92:
A squabble over fishing rights that got way out of hand.
@gVOR08: It’s all very well and good, but I would like the answer to a very simple question: Why was there live ammunition on site, let alone in the gun?
I’ve been to a couple of martial arts things where we worked with real guns (doing gun takeaways) as opposed to the rubber things or AirSoft that we usually practice with.
Live ammunition was not allowed on site. Not in cars. You would be sent home if you brought any.
So. Why was live ammunition on site, let alone in the gun?
Truth Social Violated Mastodon’s ToS; Trump’s Entire Platform Might Now Be DOA
Mastadon is an open-source social media platform.
@sam: And what happens then is that someone has to go to court to get a restraining order, and Truth Social will stonewall and throw massive lawyer resources at it, figuring that open source pencilnecks don’t have what it takes to win a street fight.
They might be right.
Thing is, non technical people constantly underestimate the resolve of techies, and there’s plenty of resources available to enforce this point, which is dear to the hearts of lots of people, some of whom have really big bags of cash.
@Jay L Gischer: The only reason I’ve been able to come up with is because the crew can’t “plink” at the cacti, sagebrush, and whatever else if there’s no live ammo. Maybe it was one of those “creative work incentives” that MOU types come up with.
@gVOR08:
I did a $4M movie 26 years ago. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $7M today. You can find it here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119012/
If you have the right script, you can certainly make a good movie for this much money. However, it has to start with a script that is realistic for the budget, and then get people experienced enough to do it properly. In that little movie, we had multiple gunfights, we have two stuntmen fighting while both were on fire. Literally fighting while both fully engulfed in flames. We had sniper rifles, semi-auto handguns, revolvers. This was before CG was a good or prevalent as it is today.
We had zero injuries, nor accidents. Why? Because we were freaking professionals who took safety seriously. Other than a catastrophic mechanical failure of some sort with a piece of equipment, all movie and TV injuries and deaths are caused by human laziness, human inattention, human exhaustion, or just plain old human error.
Quick anecdote from yesterday’s shooting: We had our Alexa camera set up on a small techno crane (10ft). The crane grip is NEVER supposed to leave the crane arm unattended… UNLESS the camera and camera head are placed on padded box or held up with a padded stand. There is a locking brake mechanism on the crane that should also be locked at all times the crane’s moving. Well, the crane grip didn’t set the padded box under the camera and camera head, nor did he put a stand in place between setups because “It was just going to be 45 seconds”. He thought the locking brake was engaged. He let the crane go to check his phone… CRASH!!!! Camera and camera head smashed into concrete before he could save it. Took less than two seconds. That two seconds cost no one their life, and no one got injured, but it cost the show $50,000, which is our insurance deductible required to cover the $130,000 in damage. Two seconds. That’s all it took. Human error.
@Jay L Gischer:
Nope.
You’re making the same mistake that you’re accusing Truth Social of–the idea that “open source” is a social club for geeks.
Open source includes:
* Red Hat–owned by IBM
* Mozilla Foundation
* WordPress (runs 40% of all websites)
* Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation
* Oh… and this lesser known product “Android” created by a silly-sounding tech start-up called “Google”–but they’ll probably never amount to much.
Open source licenses are backed by US (and international) copyright, patent, and trademark laws. They’re a license–just like your copy of Windows or Mac. And it’s in the interest of all the above to make sure that those licenses are backed by strong ownership.
If Trump goes up against Mastadon and the AGPL, he’s not going up against some neckbeard who tossed something together in his basement. He’s going up against the financial interests of some of the biggest, richest, and most powerful corporations in the world.
And… considering the legal showing Trump’s lawyers have had in the “stolen election” law suits, Silicon Valley could send their summer interns into court and paint the floor with him.
@Jax: The QAnon Anonymous Podcast had an episode about him. He was basically crazy during the filming, and the more you learn, the more amazing it is that they were able to make a decent show with a guy who is stark raving mad.
My favorite detail is that he is quite convinced he knows more languages than he does, and gets annoyed when people pretend to not understand him.
He’s more of a nut who got into QAnon than a QAnon nut.
@gVOR08:
Yeah. Not sure the “I was just following orders” defense works for someone directly responsible for safety. Some times you have a professional obligation to quit.
@Mu Yixiao: I guess you didn’t catch the tone of voice I was going for with that.
I was attempting to portray my estimate of the mindset of the Truth Social leadership. That’s not a mindset I share. Not in the least.
@CSK:
@HarvardLaw92:
Amusingly enough, this iteration might see the French in the role of the British, and the Jèrriais playing the part of the Icelanders.
Albeit with a different outcome; and depending on the legalities, which I suspect may get very twisty indeed.
It might be a mistake to think the Government/Gouvernement of Jersey/Jerri is necessarily prepared to hop to London’s command.
The Channel Islands are constitutional oddities: the last remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, and direct Crown Dependencies, technically not ever part of the UK, the Commonwealth or the EU.
Though I suspect they would bend to Johnson’s will in reality.
As the Jersey side of the issue only relates to some twenty to fifty boats, depending on accounts, but local Jersey politics are in play re. fishing rights/protection.
And the other (rather distinct legally) issue, the boat the French detained?
Another oddity.
The Cornelis-Gert Jan.
Belgian built, formerly Dutch (name is a big clue there LOL), registry transferred to a Scottish port, now owned by a Scotland based business that is the subsidiary of a Canadian corporation, with a Dutch captain, apparently an international crew, fishing in French inshore waters, and landing the catch in European port.
Apparently Scottish records show it licensed for French water, French say they have no record.
I may be mistaken, but I suspect someone is trying to make use of arguable transferred rights to claim a right to fish in French waters.
@Jay L Gischer:
Given America’s fetishization of Christianity and guns, maybe they were needed for daily sacraments.
@JohnSF:
I was too young to have paid a great deal of attention to the Cod War. But I have to say that the cod and haddock brought in through Leith were superb. Among the best I’ve ever eaten. Almost still flopping when you slid them under the broiler.*
*A broiler is a grill, in Brit speak. 😀
I guess Dave Chappelle has decided that attacking the trans community is the gift that keeps on giving (from a show front of a crowd of 17,000 in New Orleans):
During the show, Chappelle “lit up one cigarette after another as he mounted a defense — and gleefully tossed more fuel on the fire,” in the form of more trans jokes, according to NOLA.com.
The outlet ticked them off, starting with a moment in the show where an audience member offered Chappelle a sip of beer and he declined — for fear it might contain “transgender formula.”
Another was after the audience booed one of his jokes about football. He responded, “Don’t go all trans on me.
“Go all trans on me”? That sounds like the old “that’s so gay” that was big in middle schools abut 40 years ago. So much for the edgy Dave Chappelle.
But on a genuinely happier note, this is my 10th cancerversary. On this date in 2011, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. I have been in remission for 6 years.
My oncologist tells me that I am in the 1% of colon cancer patients who have lived this long after diagnosis.
At the risk of tooting my own horn, happy anniversary to me, and thanks again to Drs Atchison, Wolf, Whiteford, and everyone on their teams.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
I’ts nice to know that once in a while it’s cancer that gets f***d.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Delighted to hear this.
@JohnSF:
The thing is, the fisheries business in and of itself, is trivial, and likely easily solvable.
But it is being subsumed into much bigger issues: the Northern Ireland Protocol and the authority of the European Court of Justice, the madhouse politics of the Brexit ultras and their SM (catch the double meaning) base audience, and the lobbyists, and the role of Lord Frost.
And Frost’s (I suspect it’s his play) folly in attempting a diplomatic link-up with the Poles, and Hungarians.
And I think Johnson has, for once, made a massive tactical error (due to his strategic laziness) in letting Frost become the pet of the ERG/DUP.
While the EU has made proposals re. NIP but stated :
The NIP Article 16 games are nearly set to explode, unless Frost/Johnson back down; but they are still insisting ECJ oversight in NIP must go, and therefore renegotiation is demanded.
IMO blow-up planned by Frost for later in November post COP19, but Macron may be deciding to pre-empt and force the pace.
Oh, and meanwhile, Russia is squeezing Moldova re. gas supplies.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
At least there’s some things worth celebrating.
Congrats to you.
And all the best to Enoch. 🙂
@Flat Earth Luddite: Yeah, I remember you’re wife sending me an email. Two words. The shortest one she ever sent. Congratulations and many more happy anniversaries!
@Flat Earth Luddite: Great news! Congrats.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
As the sort of happy-go-lucky old man I am, the kind of guy who wakes up every day with Pink Floyd’s one day closer to death lyrics running through my head, I want to thank you for that piece of triumphant good news.
@Michael Reynolds:
If it’s any consolation, in addition to my First Dog On The Moon and Opus tshirts, I’m ordering one that says “no colon, no rectum, still an asshole.” In addition, I’m the guy who saunters into my day gig singing off key “welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends.”. Or else a Tom Lehrer/Zappa/Second medley.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Be well my friend! I am happy for you. Be healthy, be good, be wonderful!
Good Halloween song – Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus.
Seriously creepy tick tock descending guitar chords on top of a disturbing tape hiss and a background discordant drone.
The birth of goth rock in a huge way. God, what an opening salvo! Bravo! For it’s time it was jarring and very new.
Undead Undead Undead
Wow!
Next Halloween I am going to loop this song out on to my porch to spook the kiddies coming to snag free candy.
My favorite bit about Halloween is we are explicitly trying to get little tiny kids to experience fear.
It sounds effed up on the surface, but it is really practical. You are going to experience fear in the future – we your parents / guardians are here to guide you through this. It is okay. You are safe now. This was pretend. (Also, you will encounter this going forward. Sorry!)
It is an eminently practical holiday for child-rearing. You get to teach a hard lesson to your wee kiddos for free based upon a cultural tradition. Plus free candy! Win-win!