Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, December 3, 2021
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98 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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The closing paragraph of Sidney Powell filed false incorporation papers for non-profit, grand jury finds:
The woman has issues, not the least of which is delusion.
@OzarkHillbilly: IMHO, not delusion. She’s just another GQP liar and fraud.
‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over
“He is not and never has been a member of al-Qaida, but as long as we are fighting anybody who call themselves al-Qaida, we have to hold him as an enemy combatant.”
Oh yeah, for the record, “Zubaydah, a Palestinian aged 50 whose name at birth was Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, was the first terror suspect to be captured by the CIA months after 9/11.”
Considering the fact that one doesn’t have to actually have been a member of al-Qaida to continue to be held as an al-Qaida member, I have to wonder if being involved in “terrorism” is a prerequisite for being held as a “terror suspect”.
Details, details.
@Barry: Considering the fact that Powell thought a board made up of herself, Linn Wood; and Brannon Castleberry were the makings of an “elite strike force”, I think deluded is a bit of an understatement. That she is a “GQP liar and fraud” is also true.
eta: Wow, I’ve hit the trifecta this AM. 3 posts, 3 edit functions. Sadly, I haven’t needed any of them.
Australia is the drunkest country in the world, survey finds
Sometimes I just can’t resist.
New Hampshire is now first in the country for covid case rates. Sigh. Live free *and* die, I guess.
Also, we’re dealing with this type of lunacy…these idiot legislators would do best to stay out of directing what teachers teach.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Dammit, man! I’m doing my part. The rest of y’all need to step it up.
USA #1 !!!
Final Account review – German war testimonies chill the blood
‘It became crystal clear they were lying’: the man who made Germans admit complicity in the Holocaust
@Mu Yixiao: Sacrifices must be made!
We were told there was a turkey shortage this Thanksgiving. I made a brief foray into Wally World on Wednesday and what did I see? Hundreds!, nay thousands! of left over turkeys stacked to the rafters, priced to move at 87 cents a pound.
That Biden guy really screwed the poor turkey farmers this year.
@OzarkHillbilly:
But Lin Wood has now accused Sidney Powell of being part of the Deep State, and Stop the Steal and her of being grifters.
A lot of “hot takes” from the media over the November jobs report, out this morning.
210,000 jobs created last month is “worrisome” and “sluggish” FFS.
Some frigging perspective; 210K jobs is about 23,000 more jobs than Trump’s average month PRE_PANDEMIC. And Trumps average month, for the 37 months pre-pandemic, 186,784, was about 35,000 LESS than Obama’s average of his last 37 months, 222,676.
And I’ve got $20 says Biden’s November number will be adjusted up significantly, just like the last couple months have been.
The 4th Estate is failing this country, miserably.
@CSK: Unlike sharks, Lin Wood does not extend professional courtesy to his fellow…. I’m not sure what to call Powell, lawyer seems to be a bit of a stretch.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Introspection is not one of their strengths.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Well, Powell, Wood, and the other Kraken shysters have been ordered by a federal judge to pay $175,000 in legal fees to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan over their idiotic election fraud suit.
Wow, for only $10,000 you too can purchase an invitation to THE Christmas party of the year: “An Evening of Merrymaking with Donald Trump” in Naples, Florida.
Ten grand will get you cocktails, dinner, and a photo with TFG.
Melania’s name is absent from the invite.
@OzarkHillbilly:
How about Krakenhead?
@CSK:
Or at least with TFG’s standee.
@CSK:
Naples??? Why not WPB?
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Larger facilities to hold all the marks.
@Kathy:
Yes; I was wondering if it would be a cardboard figure of Trump, just like the one offered by Trump University.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Beats me. I know there’s a very active Trump Club in Naples, and Rick Scott has a large house there. If this is the party, it’s today: http://www.napleswinterchristmas.com
And you thought too many guns were bad.
Military explosives vanish, emerge in the civilian world
Arizona police officer who fatally shot man in a wheelchair is fired
Yes after politely asking the man to stop, his only choice was to shoot the man in a wheelchair.
@OzarkHillbilly:
@CSK:
The invitation says you get 1 picture with the President, so I guess Biden will be there?
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Hmmm…. Nah. trump hates sharing the suckers.
US rejects calls for regulating or banning ‘killer robots’
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Because “non-binding codes of conduct” are so effective here in the US.
@OzarkHillbilly: Probably reflecting Pentagon opinion that we’d be giving up an advantage because our Terminators will be better than Chinese Terminators.
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s getting to seem like a person of conscience should not call the police, unless they think the crime they’re witnessing merits summary execution.
@Scott:
Extremist infiltration of the military and law enforcement is certainly something we need to do more about, but whenever you see an article about the military having “lost” something, 99 out of a 100 it was either used for legitimate purposes or is still in the military possession and there was just a paperwork problem.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: @OzarkHillbilly:
The location of Trump’s Naples Christmas bash is undisclosed, though presumably if you fork over the minimum of $10,000, you’ll be instructed where to appear for the event.
@CSK: Does Four Seasons Total Landscaping have a branch in Naples?
@Mikey:
No, but it does have a mobile home community called “Naples Land Yacht Harbor.”
A trailer park would do nicely for this event, I think.
I am really starting to detest DeSantis.
DeSantis proposes a new civilian military force in Florida that he would control
What could POSSIBLY go wrong? JFC.
Have you noticed most of the good news in the pandemic are about the vaccines and the new antiviral drugs?
Case in point, boosters are effective.
My impulse is to follow this up with such astonishing finds like fire is hot, water is wet, and ice is ice-cold. Instead, i should point out the notable fact this latest study also looked at T cells. Boosters also increase T cells, not just antibodies.
This is important, because T cells may be the factor that protects vaccinated patients from severe disease and death. It was also found T cells were quite effective against the Beta and Delta variants, which gives hope they’ll remain effective against Omicron.
My advice, take the booster as soon as possible. If an Omicron specific vaccine is rolled out later, get that too.
@Jen:
How is that different than a National Guard branch?
The thin blue line can be breached.
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/minnesota-sheriff-bashes-mpd-disgusted-by-officers-actions
@Neil J Hudelson: It would be independent of the feds. DeSantis would have his own para-military.
Donald Trump’s self-publishing company, Winning Team, claims it’s sold over 70,000 copies of his picture book, priced between $74.99 and $229.99 (autographed). Winning Team claims to have made one million bucks the first day of sales.
Either Trump’s bought the copies himself, or there really is a sucker born every minute.
@CSK: I wonder how many sales are by groups wanting to curry favor with him buying large quantities.
@gVOR08:
Ok, so a State Guard branch.
From the article Jen provided:
“States have the power to create defense forces separate from the national guard, though not all of them use it. If Florida moves ahead with DeSantis’ plan to reestablish the civilian force, it would become the 23rd active state guard in the country, DeSantis’ office said in a press release, joining California, Texas and New York. These guards are little-known auxiliary forces with origins dating back to the advent of state militias in the 18th century. ”
DeSantis is playing a rhetorical trick to make him look super tough and a leader. He’s good at these tricks, like when he announced that Florida’s ports are open to take all the overflow ships that couldn’t be unloaded in Los Angeles. Florida’s ports were always open. That journey is a hell of a lot longer for for ships on the Pacific coast, and the large ships that L.A.’s ports handle can’t go to Florida’s ports.
You state something that already exists as if it was your original idea or your leadership that made it happen. It’s an effective trick.
@Neil J Hudelson: It would be a civilian force solely under his control.
State National Guards have shared control with the Department of Defense.
The details are in the CNN piece:
It would give him an additional force to control.
@OzarkHillbilly: just like with COVID, people need mandates. In my county, immunization rates hit 50% in June and stayed there until October, when the governor issued a vaccination mandate. Now it’s up to 65%.
Meanwhile, however, we’ve had ongoing mask mandates, and people in my county have been really good about masking up.
@Mike in Arlington:
I would imagine bulk sales, especially if there’s a discount, make up most if the sales.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford school shooter, have had involuntary manslaughter charges filed against them.
NFL just suspended 3 players for violating COVID protocols.
Aaron Rodgers was not suspended for violating COVID protocols.
Bet you can’t guess the skin color of the 3 suspended players.
There is a hearty and heated on-line discussion about Sid Vicious’ version of My Way. (Cover of Frank Sinatra)
(You might have heard a snippet as the outro to Good Fellas.)
Is it shit? Is it genius?
I def lean towards genius. Sid was taking a piss on everything. Pitch, song construction, intent, resolution… Sid just pisses on it all. It’s all shit.
He mocks the very concept of song. That’s hardcore.
And Sid had almost no talent at all. They had him on stage pretending to play bass because he looked like Sid. That was a punk move.
The concept that Sid Vicious cover a Frank Sinatra song is brilliant. That Sid takes a piss on everything is brillianter and epic.
Can you imagine the stress that accompanied Sid pretending to be Sid for those short years?
The original is melodramatic self indulgent egoism. Treacly crap. Deserves to be mocked. Sinatra was an asshole and a prick.
Sid’s version was a slap in the face. True punk. Shitty and poorly done. Genius.
@Jen:
Texas already has this: Texas State Guard
They are considered a bit of a joke. They are the ones called to monitor Jade Helm
Maybe DeSantis has Abbott envy.
@Jen:
I’d ask DeSantis what the difference is between this new force and state cops, hell, all the state’s cops. What would they be empowered to do that the existing police forces can not?
@Scott: Yep, the CNN piece notes that 23 other states have something similar.
I recognize this isn’t a new idea, what is questionable/alarming to me is the suggestion that it’s needed now. Had this come on the heels of hurricane recovery, I probably wouldn’t have had the same visceral reaction. It seems pretty clear to me that what he’s signalling here has to do with vaccines. It’s creepy and strange and doesn’t Florida have other priorities that money could be better spent on??
@de stijl:
I forgot to mention; Sid’s album was a blatant cash grab after the Sex Pistols imploded.
Good on him. Milk the stupid. Mock the system.
@OzarkHillbilly: Gee, I dunno. Last year’s clearance price in my area was 39 cents.
@OzarkHillbilly: Shoplifter? Shooting? Motorized wheelchair?
W? T? F?
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Green? Aquamarine? Lilac?
No? I guess you’re right. I can’t.
@CSK: I worry that they are overcharging — less based on law than what juries will deliver.
Are there lesser charges buried under the headline, like child endangerment?
@de stijl: “There is a hearty and heated on-line discussion about Sid Vicious’ version of My Way.”
He recorded it in 1979. He died in 1980. What possible point is there to get into a “heated” discussion of the song? It’s existed for almost half a century. Like it or don’t. how can it possibly be important enough to get “heated” about?
Does being connected have to turn everyone into a moron?
@dazedandconfused: “I’d ask DeSantis what the difference is between this new force and state cops,”
I believe it’s going to be called the DeStasi.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Poor Kraken, the depth charges just keep on coming.
@Kathy:
And yet US police manage to make on the order of 20,000 arrests every day that occur without problems or complications.
@wr:
Yes.
Eh, people have passions. This seems like a perfectly fine, reasonable and normal thing to be passionate about. It can’t all be weighty questions like “are women people, or incubators?”
@wr:
I disagree strongly. We still talk about Plato, yes? Banter about the ideas. Lay newer concepts atop.
Talking about what is acceptable and what constitutes a song is pretty fucking salient in my figurative neck of the woods.
You’re a film guy – is current day discussion of Citizen Cane or Apocalypse Now meaningless and unfruitful?
Your take annoys me. Old is not meaningless.
@de stijl:
Can you imagine what a complete shithead he would have become if he was pretending to be Sid for another decade? Sometimes the herd culls itself.
Johnny Rotten is basically a Nazi now.
@wr:
Should people not discuss David Lynch movies anymore because they are old? Your take was very stupid.
Fuck you. Respectfully, btw. I really like your input and insight, but for that comment alone, fuck you.
Tomorrow we will be fine. I am not a grudge holder. Continue to ding me if you want to.
@Gustopher:
This is true. Lydon has become a parody of his younger self and it is galling. Morrissey, too. Fuck them.
World Destruction is still a good song, though.
It is easy to cast away heroes when the people who taught you to do so said it when they were young.
@CSK:
The HS shooter didn’t steal his parent’s gun, it was his xmas present.
Oh and there are reports that the parents are now on the lam.
@Gustopher:
In 1980 something me and my partner went to the Halloween party as Sid and Nancy. (After the movie came out.)
That was fun. I enjoyed it immensely. My friend just fucking killed as Chloe Webb as Nancy. She did that voice – the real Spungen was from Philly, but S did her voice like Chloe Webb did. Kinda Lawn Giland.
S and me had a grand old time playing the roles. We insulted everyone and we were very rude. (I ostentatiously winked every now and again to show I was not being serious. That drove S nuts at the time. “Stay in the role!”)
After an hour or so the RP played out and wore off and we reverted to ourselves, just in strange costume. It was great fun while it lasted. Exhausting in a way – courting antipathy on purpose takes a lot of purposeful attention.
I am very glad to not be that way irl. Sid did not care, but I do.
@Gustopher:
No further charges so far. The Crumbleys’ layer says that they left town for their own safety; I don’t know if they’ve been located yet. Law enforcement is looking for them.
The gun was James’s Christmas gift to his son. At their meeting with the school, the parents were shown a drawing Ethan made of him shooting people.
Also, the school had called to inform the parents that Ethan had used his phone to search for ammunition suppliers. Jennifer texted her son to tell him not to get caught next time. Swell parents.
@Sleeping Dog:..there are reports that the parents are now on the lam.
@Mister Bluster:
They still haven’t turned themselves in.
@CSK:..They still haven’t turned themselves in.
I’ll believe that they are in custody when they do the perp walk.
Moderation snagged my typo in the name field.
@CSK:..They still haven’t turned themselves in.
I’ll believe that they are in custody when I see them do the perp walk.
Does the Michigan prison system have a family unit?
@CSK:
This is why you do not open Christmas presents early.
I do wonder if the parents are running afoul of straw-buyer laws.
@Sleeping Dog: getting away from his parents is about the only chance that kid has.
@Mister Bluster:
Yeah, me too. Still no sign of them.
@Gustopher:
The kid went with his father to pick out the gift.
I happened to be looking at some old notes a minute ago and came across a tweet from a James K. A. Smith that I think is a better explanation of Trump’s hold on the base.
I think that’s right. The base voters really don’t understand how any of this works. I started saying in 2015 that Trump was the perfect candidate for people who had no idea what the president does, which included Trump. And after four years as prez he still didn’t understand. And since he never understood it, he could promise that he’d build a wall and it would magically stop all the illegals. And since the base understand none of this stuff, they weren’t likely to ask how a wall was going to stop people from overstaying visas.
WWJ AM 950 Newsradio Detroit is currently reporting that the FBI, US Marshals Service and Oakland County Sheriff Dept. are searching for Crumblys. Sherrif reports that Lawyer who originally stated that Crumblys were returning to surrender is now stating that she has tried to reach them by phone but has not received a return call or text.
Nowhere to Run. Nowhere to Hide.
@gVOR08:
This is true, and I think he also appealed to them because he was a crude, stupid oaf, i.e., their idea of a real American.
@Mister Bluster:
I wonder if they’ll be found dead in what the press always describes as “an apparent murder-suicide.”
@CSK:..found dead…
I can not predict the future and I’m not even going to try.
@gVOR08: Whoops. Wrong thread. I’m going to copy this to James Phony-Tough thread.
@de stijl: “Your take annoys me. Old is not meaningless.”
No, old is not meaningless, and there is always plenty to talk about. It’s the “heated” that gets me…
@de stijl: “Should people not discuss David Lynch movies anymore because they are old? Your take was very stupid.”
Didn’t meant to ding you — sorry if it sounded like that.
I have been known to discuss David Lynch movies. But I’m not going to start ranting heatedly if someone else thinks that, I don’t know, The Elephant man was Lynch selling out.
@gVOR08:
Neither does trump.
@CSK: @Mister Bluster: Based on what their lawyers actually said, it would appear that they have agreed to appear at their arraignment. They don’t need to be in custody to do that (but I won’t believe that they’re going to appear until I actually see them in court).
Also, they’ll make bail no problems. I don’t foresee any perp walking in their future unless it’s defined differently than I understand it–under escort and wearing handcuffs at a minimum.
@Gustopher: “getting away from his parents is about the only chance that kid has.”
I think that horse has already jumped the fence. He may end up separated from his parents, but it won’t be in a salutary or beneficial way.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Their lawyer says she hasn’t heard from them by phone or text and is unable to get in touch with them.
@wr:
No worries! Everybody has an weird-ass day every now and again. Not a problem.
Stay cool!
Without known problems or complications.
Nobody would have known there was a problem with the Willard Scott shooting if a bystander hadn’t filmed the cop planting evidence.
The Chicago police buried the Laquan McDonald shooting pretty deep, just not quite deep enough.
etc etc etc
If they put the gun into his sole possession, I would say yes. But IANAL.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Yeah… Prison is separation.
Definitely not gonna weigh in on the charges on the parents.
Here is the deal: super emo boy did not have the balls to off himself and wanted to take half the school down too just so a random cop would be forced to shoot his sorry lame ass dead. Then he got cold feet and gave up.
I have zero sympathy. You go to prison forever now and fuck you.
Mom and Dad were extremely shitty parents. Made a gun available to an obviously troubled teen. Above fuckhead pulled the trigger many times.
IANAL, mom and dad were crap, but fuckhead pulled the trigger. Accessories to…? No idea. Above my paygrade.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
At this point, the Crumbleys are fugitives. And I think a perp walk could be defined as being brought back in cuffs under escort. Which they will be, unless they’re dead.
@OzarkHillbilly:
If I understand correctly, young fuckhead snagged the pistol out of the parents’ closet before going to school.
As I currently understand they did not give it to him as his sole property to hold and keep.
Remarkably bad parenting, oh my god yes.
Culpable? I lack the knowledge to say.
Which is where the involuntary manslaughter would come into play. Tho IM would apply if they put the pistol into the boy’s sole possession too. But again, IANAL.
@de stijl:
My assumption is that the prosecutor is probably a lawyer, and she’s found a law the parents can be charged under.
@wr:
Season two of Twin Peaks was crap. Boring, obvious, unearned oddness. Just flat out garbage.
I am a David Lynch freak and I just stopped watching after the third episode. I felt insulted by it.
Season 1 wasn’t perfect, but it was pure Lynch. Plus, it had a ghastly beginning, a surreal middle, and a wtf end. The log lady was stupid, though. Gotta admit.
Season 2 was just a boring pastiche with unearned shards of oddness thrust in randomly. What I saw of it anyway. Per contemporaneous critical notes it sorta stalled there.
I have some issues with Fire Walk With Me. It was acceptable I guess. I didn’t hate it. There were good things in it.
Season 2 Twin Peaks – I noped out after 3 episodes. It was making me angry. I tried to erase it from my mind because I thoroughly enjoyed S1 so much.
Anybody else concerned about the reports of 175,000 Russian troops poised to apparently invade Ukraine? I’d like to hear from some of our resident military folks on this.
Police have found the Crumbleys’ car in Detroit. No sign of the Crumbleys themselves, though.
@CSK: Is there a bet on whether they’ll have a shoot-out with police or end up at Mar-a-Lago yet?
@Jax:
They’ve been found, hiding in a basement near where they abandoned their car.
Crumbley’s ex-girlfriend, and the mother of his 18-year-old son, called Crumbley “a piece of shit.”