Happy New Year! Forum
Welcome to 2021--may it be better than 2020.
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, January 1, 2021
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62 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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Just 20 days away from a very special day: the day I turn 44.
No, seriously. I was born on Inauguration Day 1977, the day Carter took office–in DC no less.
Happy 2021, everybody!
Thanks for making 2020 more tolerable than it otherwise would have been.
Blech.
Good riddance 2020.
@Kathy: Good riddance to bad rubbish.
The most notable US athletes of 2020: No 1 – LeBron James, a man for all seasons
In a year of enforced isolation, and other tribulations I won’t bother to mention, I’ve been very grateful for the intelligent, amusing, knowledgeable, and literate companionship here. My best to you all for a happier 2021.
I already received my latest stimulus check via direct deposit. Year is off to a good start. Happy new year everyone!
Happy New Year, everybody!
@Kathy:
2020 is hindsight, just as it should be. First time in a quite a while, I was happy to see a year slip by. Hello 2021!
@Paine: Ours shows as a pending transaction. E-mail from our bank says the Treasury has told them the funds won’t actually be available until Jan 4, maybe later.
Keep an eye out for Robin’s Wish.
@OzarkHillbilly: LeBron is simply remarkable. His athletic talent is a gift but he’s put in an unfathomable effort to hone his craft and take care of his body. Much more so than Jordan did, and his effort was extraordinary. That he’s handled even more pressure than Jordan had (both in terms of expectations and the scrutiny of social media) with neither three years at an elite university or a middle-class upbringing, which Jordan had, is really unfathomable.
@Teve: Heh.
@James Joyner: I’ve seen LeBron’s core workouts on YouTube, they’re bananas.
@Teve:
Me: A really big bird, like an eagle.
@Kathy: an ostrich.
The pharmacist who deliberately left the vials of Covid-19 vaccine out to spoil is Steven Brandenburg, aged 46. His motive is unknown, or hasn’t been made public.
@James Joyner: He’s one hell of a dude, someone worthy of admiration.
@CSK: I’m glad they figured this out, my concern now are situations where other lunatics/assholes do this and don’t get caught. Unless there are multiple safeguards in place, it’d be easy enough to leave them out overnight, render them useless, and then put them back in the fridge before anyone notices, leaving hundreds of people thinking they were vaccinated with effective product.
The whole thing is just so crazy and psychotic.
@Jen: This vaccine sabotage sounds like a unique event. We don’t yet know what this guys motive was, but we can be pretty sure it’s nuts. How many looney toon pharmacists and technicians are there? Well, how many with a flavor of looney toon that would lead to this?
I don’t know that we need to spend a ton of money and effort on preventing recurrence of what is a very low probability event. But I’m pretty sure we will. I haven’t traveled for awhile, but I believe we’re still taking off shoes in airports. I also expect someone is working furiously on a telltale, a label that will change color permanently above -X degrees.
I don’t often dive into the RW morass. Is there a theory out there maybe along the lines that it’s really Bill Gates’ trackers that require the low temp storage?
@gVOR08:
The latest crackpot “theory” I saw is that “they” are protecting this person’s identity because his name is Muhammed.
I am not making this up.
@CSK: his name has been released and it’s not Mohammed.
@Teve: Steven Brandenburg.
@Teve:
I know. I mentioned that fact further up the thread. See @CSK:
I get the impression the Trumpkins aren’t too interested in this.
Whoops CSK got it while I was at brunch 😀
According to Law & Crime and The Daily Beast, Lin Wood has told his former law partners that he “might” be the Second Coming of Christ.
@Teve:
Slacker.
@CSK: STOP TYPING WORDS I’M ABOUT TO TYPE JERK
@Teve:
Now listen up, whippersnappper: There will be no commenting for you, young man, till you’ve done your homework and finished your chores.
A lot more than you’d be comfortable knowing about, and I speak from personal experience.
@James Joyner:
They are very different. Jordan and James had significantly different basketball histories. Jordon grew up with no idea of any special talent. He was even cut from his high school team. LBJ, on the other hand, had been by a massive amount the best player on the court since he was just a tyke.
They exhibited very different behaviors on the court in their early years. Jordan was the kid with an enormous chip, but LBJ very early discovered the isolation of superiority. Posting up low and demolishing his opponent on every possession was entirely in the cards, but that ruins the game for everybody. He played defense and passed the ball, he went Superman in short bursts most of the time.
Some miss this, as during his first stint at Cleveland he was strongly encouraged to be the next Jordan. As a very young adult he did what they asked. However he fled that bad coaching, and his first year at Miami was frustrating to watch. What was the world’s best one-on-one player doing trying to be the next Magic??, thought many. However he was just returning to what he had always really been.
IMO his innate character saved him from a horror. I can not imagine what it would be like to grow up ALWAYS a ton better than everyone around myself. I wonder if that could have led to egomania, if that’s the right word. Being an insufferable a-hole is perhaps a more accurate way to put it. LBJ, as far as anyone can tell, dodged that bullet and it doesn’t appear to have been a near-miss.
What a headline…
With Trump a no-show, Mar-a-Lago guests left to party maskless with Rudy Giuliani and Vanilla Ice
Cringe-worthy.
Making sense of the Facebook menace
@Jen:
Odd. Assuming all the guests were uber-sycophants of Trump’s, you’d think he’d revel in swanning around among them, being constantly assured of his wonderfulness.
@gVOR08:
Given all the logistical issues with the vaccine, and the potential for accidental spoilage, that would be a really good idea.
@CSK: The early departure thing is weird. I’ve seen varying suggestions–he apparently didn’t like the renovations that Melania had done to their personal quarters at Mar-a-Lago, so there’s that. (This feeds somewhat into the dementia stuff, people with dementia get very unsettled in unfamiliar surroundings…but, this might be just a fit of pique because he realizes that it signals the end of his run as Pres.)
The Iran thing is concerning, I can fully see him getting the US into a quagmire in an attempt to hobble Biden. He (Trump) is apparently not informing the Biden team about anything, which is incredibly poor form. (I recall an episode of the West Wing where President Bartlet went so far as to inform both *candidates* during the campaign that it looked like a use of force would be necessary–he wanted them both to be prepared. No such grace with this lot.)
Being trapped in a maskless party with Rudy Giuliani and Vanilla Ice sounds just bloody awful.
“May all your futures be pleasant ones, not like our present ones.” (Okay, I’ve been waiting a long time to quote from Fiddler on the Roof).
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/us/politics/senate-override-trump-defense-bill.html
The Senate just overrode Trump’s veto of the defense bill.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Report: 750,000 Americans Die Each Year During First Attempt To Get Back In Shape
(The Onion)
@Jen:
A I recall, when the Russo-Georgian war broke out in 2008, Bush/43 had both Obama and McCain briefed, so that they had the same information he did.
This incident showed, if you hadn’t already come to the conclusion, that McCain didn’t have the temperament to be president.
@Jen:
Ok, now I’ve got the image in my head of Rudy G. lip-synching “Ice Ice Baby.” Ugh. Need brain floss. And a scotch…
Thanks, Jen, for the laugh. Happy 2021!
@Jen:
Yes, it does sound like one of the circles of Dante’s hell, doesn’t it?
I suppose Trump might not have wanted to be in close contact with a bunch of people who, however much they might fawn over him publicly, are fully aware that he’s a…loser.
I saw a clip of vanilla ice at Mar-a-Lago. Sad to say, it’s not even 1992 vanilla ice, it’s bad compared to that.
@Teve:
As some wag on Twitter put it, the difference between Vanilla Ice and Trump is that Vanilla Ice knows he’s a joke.
@Teve:
Okay, a straitjacket is now required for this guy.
@Paine:..I already received my latest stimulus check via direct deposit.
Me too!
I’m going to donate it all to the Liars Club in the name of Donald Trump and the Republican Party!
(I’m lying…)
@Teve:
That made me laugh out loud.
@SC_Birdflyte: L’chaim!
Fortunately, we’re not asking the year to do anything hard. Happy New Year, y’all!
@Teve: Very sad! 🙁 The most pathetic New Year’s Eve party–and venue–that I’ve ever seen. WA!
Gohmert’s case just got tossed.
@Teve: Those dipshit pharmacists who refused to fill birth control prescriptions were *exactly* the cohort I thought of when I posted the item above about the potential for others to do what that one did. While I HOPE it was a one-off, I have read waaaaaaay too many stories about pharmacists refusing to fill pill and plan B prescriptions to have much faith overall anymore.
Our local (35 miles to the next one) pharmacist is an anti-masker. The one before that refused to fill Plan B, and finally was encouraged towards retirement when she messed up deadly medications for epileptics and heart patients. She’s still currently on Facebook declaring COVID a hoax.
Maybe I’ve watched too many Criminal Minds and Law & Order episodes, but I hope someone is doing a deep dive into any previous “mistakes” made by this guy.
@Jen: that whole ‘I refuse to do my job because of my religion’ bullshit has pissed me off for 20 years.
20 years ago in Durham I had lost my car and was taking the bus everywhere. One day I had been grocery shopping and was about 2 mi from home with a few bags of groceries, and I was catching the last bus back to my apartment. The bus stops, I get on and sit down. Before the bus starts again the driver turns to me and says
I don’t have to let you on.
I said what?
I don’t have to let you on. You got alcohol.
Yeah it’s a bottle of wine I was grocery shopping at Harris Teeter.
Well I don’t have to let you on this bus.
It’s not open. I haven’t been drinking. I bought it at the grocery store.
Yeah well I’ll allow it this time but I don’t have to do it.
He was obviously some fundy minister making ends meet driving a bus. I was so mad at that asshole I can still see his face 20 years later. If he’d been some Fundy pharmacist trying to deny me birth control I probably would have gone to jail.