Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, October 17, 2022
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31 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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May he never know a moment’s peace again.
Just in time for Halloween.
A Texas high school football stadium was built on a graveyard in 1935. Bones are still turning up.
Whelp. That’s…interesting.
Kanye West Agrees to Buy Parler, Company Says
Comment on political “debates” :
Candidates say they want to discuss the issues, however seem to spend most of their allotted time to disparage their opponents.
Traditional debate rules would not tolerate this behavior if the intention is to debate an issue under discussion.
Alas, today’s political “debate” is merely an extension of political negative advertising that most voters dislike.
IMO, Hobbes is justified in rejecting a debate with Lake. Lake reminds me of Kelly Ann Conway, fast talking interrupter who won’t stay on topic in favor of spewing nonsense.
I wonder what the market is for a satire book called King Donnie, in which everything His Majesty touches turns to pig excrement.
Salient bit:
To quote Adam Savage, “There’s your problem!”
You’d think if Benito had a gold mine, he’d sell gilded lead instead and claim everyonedoesit. And he has the best gold, manypeoplesaythat.
Working for Putin seems to be a hazardous job.
Putin’s head of Ukraine mobilisation campaign found dead in ‘suspicious circumstances’
The DOJ is recommending that Steve Bannon get 6 months in prison and a $200,000 fine for contempt of Congress.
More form Fiona Hill on the war on Ukraine and Mad Vlad.
Manhattan congressional candidate publishes a porn video to highlight his sex positive platform
Umm…. Okay.
Of course Trump charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates to stay at his properties. What else would you expect him to do? Let them stay for free?
http://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/politics/trump-secret-service-hotel-rates/index.html
@Bob@Youngstown: While Hobbes may well be justified in refusing to debate, because conventional wisdom is that the “debates” serve a useful electoral function, ducking the debate (because that’s what it looks like) is mostly a negative. Hobbes’ team isn’t big enough to shake off the negative effect on “independent” voters.
@Mu Yixiao:
Hey, it’s Manhattan. Think of it as the NYC version of sending a Christmas pic of your family holding assault rifles.
@Bob@Youngstown:
For an example of how to handle that kind of debating tactic, sometimes referred to as the gish-gallop, see Joe Biden debating Ryan. Interrupt right back and laugh at the silly parts.
@just nutha:
My issue is with that “useful electoral function”.
Think about NASCAR races, how many attend to see a contest between Ford and Chevy (or driver A and B) and those that attend to hopefully witness a spectacular crash.*
Political debates have become a performance, not an educational and informational event.
*have attended plenty, and the crowd seems generally dissatisfied and disappointed then the crash trucks are not called out. But YMMV.
@Jen: we aren’t through the Muskrat-Twitter fiasco yet, there’s no reason to start trotting out the parodies.
I eagerly await a KanyeKar though.
Also, will no one buy Truth?
@Scott:
They moved the tombstones but left the bodies.
As anyone who has seen a certain classic horror film can attest to, that was mistake Numero Uno by the developers of the land.
@inhumans99:
That was the first thing that sprang to my mind.
@Mu Yixiao: I just thank God it wasn’t Jerry Nadler.
Not that this guy is exactly an Adonis…
@wr:
Now where did I leave that jug of mind bleach….
I get my new teeth implant crowns and bridge tomorrow, I am soooo excited!!! It’s been the longest six months of my life, wearing that stupid little partial fake front teeth thing anytime I wanted to go anywhere, and not being able to eat in public unless I took it out….in public.
There are so many things I want to eat! I think I’ll start with a nice, juicy patty melt. 😛 😛
Interesting little item re. Russian railways:
Estimated total of Russian non-passenger rail cars/wagons of various sort c 1.2 million.
Reports are that shortages of specialist bearing cassettes, formerly supplied by SKF of Sweden, and American firms Timken. and Amsted, have alrady laid up around 10,000 heavy duty wagons, and could lay up 200,000, almost 20% of the wagon fleet, and even more of the general goods tonnage capacity.
Question now is can Russia produce replacements at home, and if so, given Russian engineering standars, how long will be their mean time to failure?
Or can imports be obtained from China or possibly India?
Potentially a massive problem for Russian millitary supply, and industrial operations.
A really fascinating first person account from a Russian conscript sent to the front lines within days and wounded.
Also in Russia, some may recall reports over the weekend of a mass shooting at a barracks that left 30 dead.
First point: a lot of citizens from other countries work in Russia, especially in the construction trades and other semi-casual labour.
Some have indeterminate citizenship status, or dual-citizenship, and in some cases should not be liable to Russian draft/mobilization, but are being virtually press-ganged.
Some summary reports:
– It started with a Dagestani, an Azeri & an Adyghe saying ‘this is not our war’
– Lt. Lapin said “this is a holy war”
– 3 Tajiks stated “Holy Wars are only between Muslims and infidels”
– Lt. Lapin called Allah a coward
– 1.5 hours later at the gun range, the three Tajiks used their automatic rifles to shoot Lt Lapin and all other ethnic Russian soldiers in the vicinity.
As I’ve said before, it can be terminally unwise to sufficiently provoke a Daghestani or a Tajik.
@Bob@Youngstown: I don’t think you’re wrong, just that because of the lie we tell ourselves about candidate debates, refusing to participate may be counterproductive.
Roger Stone is saying that he supported the second impeachment of Trump, and that if Trump runs in 2024, he’ll “get his fucking brains beat in.”
@Jax: Congratulations! And enjoy your patty melt!
@CSK:
I think he’s lying on the first count, and wrong in the second.
I mean, what brains?
@Kathy:
“Truthful hyperbole,” as Don himself would say.
@just nutha: Thanks! Then I’m gonna have a philly cheese steak sammich, and then….just every goddamn thing I haven’t been able to bite into for the last 6 months. Pizza. Doughnuts. Noodles in public (because I don’t have any front teeth to bite them off properly)….the list goes on and on.
My Mom did the same thing, only she did all her teeth, and she’s still struggling with them. I hope it’s not like that for me.
@Jax: I never eat noodles in public. My tremor is too bad. I always end up with more soup/sauce on my shirt than in my mouth. :-(+
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Me neither, as far as noodles….but I can’t even eat noodles at home without my kids making fun of me. (eyeroll emoji) 😛