Monday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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

Comments

  1. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Granddaughters day, y’all are just gonna have to entertain yourselves without me.

    6
  2. DK says:

    The Republican Party is the Defund Law Enforcement party.

    2
  3. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @DK: Could be attack politics gold if played correctly (i.e. ‘Wonder why Trumpers would want to defund the biggest threat to pedophiles and terrorists?”)

    2
  4. Jim Brown 32 says:

    Just saw a few Val Demings ads this weekend… simply not going to cut it. I know its early in the ad window but I’m used to Florida Democrats showing up late to the party with a half-drank 40oz bottle of PBR.

    Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, their most vocal Party member is horrible on both radio and TV.

    Charlie Christ? Gawd, they don’t even try anymore.

    2
  5. MWLib says:

    I’m looking for a little help from the commentariat here.
    There used to be a guy, some retired military guy named Flim (or maybe Flam) who was all over the airways for a couple of years talking about Hilary Clinton’s private email server quite a bit. He always had an interesting take on national security measures, but I haven’t seen any comments from him about the Mar-A-Lago kerfuffle.
    Can any of you point me to a link with his comments about the Trump administration’s document handling procedures? I would be really interested in getting his take on the whole situation.
    /s/

    1
  6. MarkedMan says:

    While it gives me some relief to know that most donations nominally to Trump are just going to scammers, and the ones going to Trump and his family are dollars down a black hole that will never be used to fund other Republicans and therefore likely take money away from them, it’s also important to remember this affects Dems too. If you want to donate to a specific candidate go to their official website and use the link there. If you don’t want to hunt down the official site or just want to donate to a wider variety of Dems go to ActBlue.com

    3
  7. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    That will be difficult, but I’m sure we’ll manage.

  8. gVOR08 says:

    I’ll scratch an itch by linking to a column about Marco Rubio by Sean Wilentz in WAPO. I feel there should be a distinction between bottom up populism, aimed at helping people economically, and admittedly more common faux populism aimed at maintaining an elite by pandering to popular prejudice. Wilentz consistently refers to what the GOPs are doing as “fake populism”.

    1
  9. Jen says:

    The Associated Press is reporting that Kansas will be conducting a hand recount of the votes from the abortion rights amendment vote.

    A hand recount. In a vote where the No votes won by a huge margin–18 percentage points. Unsurprisingly, there’s an online website raising money for the recount, because Kansas law requires a posted bond that covers the entire amount of the recount.

    1
  10. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @Jen:
    I am actually okay with this. The idea that people are going to spend their money funding a nonsensical recount instead of supporting gqp candidates is heartening to this Luddite.

    6
  11. CSK says:

    @Jen:
    They haven’t started yet. The state’s election direction gave the woman calling for the recount till 5 p.m. today to come up with the $229,000.

    1
  12. Jen says:

    @CSK: Ah, gotcha. The AP article made it sound like it was going forward, they’re probably guessing the Gofundme will hit that number or something.

    If anyone wants a Monday laugh, Dr. Oz decided to do a social media thing and…people are having fun with it.

    1
  13. CSK says:

    @Jen:
    This was breaking news. Some guy has offered to foot the bill, but he hasn’t done so so far.

    As for Oz, people shouldn’t pretend to be folksy when they aren’t.

    1
  14. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Have a good time! We’ll save a seat for you tomorrow.

    1
  15. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Jen:

    Two points:
    1. As far as I know, there’s no such thing as a “Wegner’s” and he seems to be mushing “Wegman’s” and “Redner’s” together.
    2. Nothing says “I never actually go grocery shopping” like carrying around a pile of unbagged produce in your arms without either produce bags nor a shopping basket/cart.

    2
  16. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Jim Brown 32: I’ve live in the “we’re the only ones standing for the truth” camp (I was born and raised in it). But if you only want/need to peel of a few less crazies, it may be worth the effort. I still think it’s a generational battle and liberals may not have the stamina for that. Fundies and evangelicals lost almost every round for 50 years–right up until a month or two ago. Ya up for that?

    3
  17. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Stormy Dragon: I don’t know about other people, but I’ve never put guacamole, salsa, and asparagus on my crudité tray. (And I don’t buy FRESH SALSA either–it doesn’t store long enough.)

    Still, he can’t make his point with a head of broccoli, 3 or 4 loose carrots (okay, a one-pound bag), a bunch of radishes, and a celery. It won’t resonate enough.

  18. Sleeping Dog says:

    To no one’s surprise, Rudy G is an official target of the Atlanta DA’s probe.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/us/graham-georgia-investigation-trump.html

    2
  19. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker:

    I think “is asparagus out of place here?” is the defining question to distinguish a veggie tray or a crudite spread.

    A veggie tray: plastic tray, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower florets, radishes, and maybe strips of bell pepper. White ranch.

    A crudite spread: metal tray, cherry tomatoes, multicolor baby carrots, celery, broccoli and cauliflower florets, radishes (but only a few, and they are carved to look like something), julienned bell pepper, and perhaps some raw or blanched asparagus. Green ranch.

    For the blanched asparagus, green ranch, and metal serving tray, you’ll be paying $50 more.

    On both trays, only the carrots and baby tomatoes will be gone by the end of the night.

    3
  20. Lost in Quebec says:

    @Jim Brown 32:

    Charlie Christ? Gawd, they don’t even try anymore.

    Yes and major Florida newspapers are endorsing Crist and not his opponent the Agriculture Commissioner.

  21. Mister Bluster says:

    @Neil Hudelson:..On both trays, only the carrots and baby tomatoes will be gone by the end of the night.
    My ex used to rag on me about taking the last of the radishes, wrapping them in a napkin and sticking them in my pocket to take home.
    The hell with her…

    3
  22. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    Apparently the ginormous, rapacious, evil disorganized laboristas are scaring the poor capitalists:

    Starbucks is asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt all mail-ballot elections nationwide as workers in many U.S. Starbucks stores weigh forming unions. The coffee giant says the federal agency has been unfairly helping workers unionize.

    h/t Seattle Times

    https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1961/05/06

    2
  23. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @Jen: @Stormy Dragon: @Just nutha ignint cracker:
    Oh jeeze, thanks everyone, I REALLY needed this laugh today!

    @Neil Hudelson:
    Probably explains why this Luddite doesn’t even own a Crudite tray. Or a veggie platter, for that matter. That’s why Dawg invented Tupperware lids.

    @Mister Bluster:
    What? No baby snow peas? How can you possibly have a veggie tray without the baby snow peas? SWMBO always nags me to not take ALL the baby snow pea pods off the Tupperware lid.

    2
  24. Jen says:

    Hahahaha Fetterman’s wife posted this:

    https://twitter.com/giselefetterman/status/1559221342699929600

  25. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @MarkedMan: All the DEMs I have contributed to these last few cycles, had their websites link to ActBlue.

    1
  26. OzarkHillbilly says:

    My lovely and very loving wife was telling me at the end of this day how, as an only child and the mother of an only child, she just doesn’t understand the behaviors between siblings. The elder of these 2 girls is having attention deficit issues (jealousy) with her still less than a year old sister. She acts out in all kinds of ways and does things to little Sis which appear to my wife to be just plain mean but in reality are really quite harmless. (the truly mean shit is a few years down the road yet) As 1 of 6, I am well versed in sibling rivalry but can’t even begin to explain it to her.

    And then I stumbled across this:

    Peanuts: Ups and Downs of Having Siblings

    It’s a light hearted look at it but like me, these strips don’t explain it, they just put it out there. Serendipity is a thing I guess.

    2
  27. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Neil Hudelson: Is blanched asparagus really a crudité though? Wikipedia tells me that they are raw vegetables, but also includes asparagus spears, so I guess blanched asparagus counts.

    (But the caterer I worked for NEVER put out asparagus spears and none of the caterers we sold to when I worked in wholesale produce could AFFORD asparagus at our broken lot prices. 😉 I do think the little Persian cucumbers will catch on over time, though.)

    1