Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Monday, February 27, 2023
·
53 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
Wowsers, everyone else must be busy. Morning, all!
A little good news to begin the work week: The Boston Globe reports that small, independent bookstores are booming, with four new ones opened recently.
I hope this trend is being replicated elsewhere in the country, and the world.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Hi, Lud.
Two Utah teens have spent the last four months barricaded in a bedroom after Judge orders them to be sent back to the father accused of sexually abusing them so that he can force them to go to a brainwashing camp:
Barricaded Siblings Turn to TikTok While Defying Court Order to Return to Father They Say Abused Them
@Stormy Dragon:
Now I’m interested in what other abuse cases have appeared before that judge, and his response.
And in Not Good News, ‘Far from justice’: why are nearly half of US murders going unsolved?
Geeez, it’s almost like we’re a 3rd world country.
Plenty more at the link.
@OzarkHillbilly:
About 25 years ago, a detective told me that “there are more murderers walking the streets than there are behind bars.”
@OzarkHillbilly:
When you consider the high number of “business” killings, the accessibility of guns, etc. the low closure rate isn’t that surprising. The murders that get closed are of the friends and family variety. One drug dealer killing another results in few, if any witnesses and none that will talk, due to intimidation.
@CSK: I suspect that the cop could probably name several that they know committed specific murders, but don’t have the proof.
@Sleeping Dog: An occupying army doesn’t make routine police work to protect the subject population a priority.
Oh, swell:
http://www.wcvb.com/article/uk-students-stuck-new-hampshire-hotel-passports-22623/43093510
How does a hotel destroy 41 passports?????
@CSK:
How does it even get their passports?
One rule of travel is not to let your passport out of your sight. I do hand it over when checking into a hotel, as ID. It’s checked and sometimes scanned, but given back right away. Then I put it in the room safe or a reception/casino safe deposit box for the trip’s duration.
I suppose the hotel might have offered, or been asked, to hold their passports in a safe place. Then something bad or stupid happened.
Getting a replacement passport should involve a visit to a UK consulate. I don’t know which is nearest to NH.
@Kathy:
The article explains that the hotel, as a matter of policy, has chaperones collect the passports of student groups and then puts them in a “safety deposit box” for safe-keeping.
However… if it’s a safety deposit box, it should require 2 keys–one of which is held by a chaperone.
But, you’re right. I would never let someone hold onto my passport for me. Hell… For most of my time in China, I only carried it when I was going to be staying in a hotel. Otherwise, I had a photo of the main page and the visa page on my phone. That worked perfectly well until my last year when things started getting more strict.
Odds and ends.
I’m reading “Forever Peace*” by Joe Haldeman. I’m trying to post some thoughts related to it without spoilers. It’s not easy.
I’m not particularly excited for my upcoming trip. I want to take the time off and go to the Maya sites, but don’t feel any strong urge to do so. This is exactly how I felt about going to Vegas the first time in 2008, and that turned into an annual trip until 2015.
Also, there are like seven million hotels in Cancun. It’s hard to pick one. For Vegas the first time, I picked one connected to the monorail, as I planned to move around that way. This time, I’ve no idea.
All I know is I want one with direct access to the beach. I plan to arrive mid-afternoon, get settled, and hit the beach for a while. The next two days will be day trips to Tulum and Chichen Itza. The fourth day I return home. I won’t even bring my laptop along.
I discovered that streaming a series I’ve already seen, or don’t care about, works even better for background noise while web surfing than cable does now. I’ve done it with Seinfeld on Netflix and The Big Bang Theory on HBO.
*Not part of the Forever War series.
Florida has an approved books list.
Note the spelling of “nineth” and “twelth” grades (sic).
WT actual F?
https://twitter.com/TheJFreakinC/status/1629541745359765507/photo/1
Florida – just like Germany in the ’30’s, only humid.
@Mu Yixiao:
I’ve the suspicion that any bank or hotel can open a safety deposit box without the second key.
In this case, though, most likely, they were kept in a box or drawer, maybe even locked, and got mistaken for something else. One time I nearly ruined a batch of lab analyses thinking they were used pages to be recycled. I just noticed the date was that same week.
President Biden has his first primary challenger.
Please Lord, let there be DNC rules that allow him to not feeling obligated to hold debates with her.
@daryl and his brother darryl: They are allowing children to read the Letter from Birmingham Jail? Isn’t that bound to make them woke? Birmingham is not that far from Tallahassee.
It looks like there is some kind of agreement about Brexit and Ireland. My initial impression is that they have just agreed to pretend that paperwork can keep goods from taking a little trip between the two Irelands, so there is no need for a border.
@daryl and his brother darryl:
Billy Budd made the list. I guess no one told them the source of Claggart’s obsession with Billy.
The presence of Heart of Darkness prompted a scan to see if Things Fall Apart made it. Nope.
@Kathy:
The nearest British Consulate General is in Boston, but the kids and their teachers went to New York to get this straightened out.
Remember this the next time some Republican touts his party as “the party of small government and free enterprise.”
DeSantis signs law stripping Disney World of Reedy Creek control
Of course it’s a bunch of right-wing nutcases.
The sole purpose of this move is to punish Disney for being “woke,” so in addition to being contrary to the GOP’s stated principles of “small government and free enterprise,” it also shits all over the right to free speech.
@Mikey:
The fact that Disney’s lawyers have sat back silently makes me think that they know what’s going to happen–it’s going to blow up in DeSantis’ face big time. Of the top of my head, I’m thinking about the billion or so dollars in bonds that the state is now liable for. Not to mention all the infrastructure that is now state responsibility.
From last week’s threads on streaming, I began to wonder: how many people run a particular streaming service each day?
Me, I usually watch one or two eps of something one at least one service. On weekends I may see a movie or two. If I get into a series with a backlog of eps, I’ll see them more often. Daily, even,
sometimes two eps per day. Say about an hour to an hour and a half on average daily on a regular basis, more when on vacation.
What I wonder is how much of a daily audience each service has, and how much could they sell ads for.
Don’t wince. It’s already started with Netflix, and word is many services are losing money. They will all be showing ads eventually, as the paid premium cable channels eventually did in their day.
How long before Elon Musk officially joins the Proud Boys? Other than the extra $150 billion there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference.
@Mu Yixiao:
The funny thing is all those new board members think they have day jobs in addition to what they are going to do to “punish” Disney. Watch the mouse just drown them in paperwork.
After visiting Disney last year I think the tax benefits, while real, are minimal compared to all the other stuff they do. Building permits, elevator inspections, road work, blah blah blah. A billion mundane things Disney used to be able to do itself, relatively frictionlessly. Now subject to the whims of morons.
@CSK:
One of my rules is NEVER be rude to the concierge. Yes, I am fully aware they are professionally prepared to deal with rude people…and deal with them daily. What I fear, knowing how much they must put up with…is being the last lb of PSI which causes a very big, very strong boiler to blow. It contains decades of accumulated bile, there’s no telling what it might do.
@MarkedMan:
It looks like Sunak and the EU have come to a sensible compromise to enable smoother operation of the issue of Northern Ireland having “minimal border”goods movement both re. the Republic of Ireland (=EU) and the rest of the UK.
The problems:
– The ERG are always inclined to throw the toys out of the pram over anything the words “EU” and “sensible compromise” in proximity.
– Johnson is weaselling away trying to undermine Sunak (I suspect he may have screwed himself this time; being to obvious about it)
– The DUP are always inclined to say “NO!”, whatever the question may be. IMO an influential faction want an excuse not to return to Stormont now that Sinn Fein and not them are the largest party; and at least some would like to see a return to a border within Ireland.
But, if Sunak has the nerve he can dish the ERG and the DUP.
Labour has promised to vote for the government on this if need be; the ERG then have to decide if the want to precipitate a general election on this = “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
And the treat to the DUP is of invoking provision for direct rule with consultation with the Republic, and (maybe) giving Sinn Fein, Alliance etc a “consultative committee” or some such.
IOW: bypassing the NI Assembly and setting up a “consultative” sorta-assembly and “consultative” sorta-executive “advisers” excluding DUP.
Plus cutting off the DUP from all funding.
(Please note: this is just me speculating here; and it is a “nuclear option”)
@dazedandconfused:
I follow the same rule as you. But I’m curious to know how the hotel managed to destroy 41 passports that were supposedly locked up for safekeeping.
@Beth:
I can see the political cartoon in my head. Disney lawyers handing a leashed Mickey Mouse to DeSantis. Next panel pulls back to see that it’s a Mickey Mouse toy hanging from the collar of a giant tiger.
@Mu Yixiao:
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Disney’s giving him and his band of merry morons all the rope they need to hang themselves.
I hope they all end up holding the shitty end of the stick. This kind of fascist abuse of power needs to stop, and painfully.
@Mu Yixiao: While I was in Korea, I checked into hotels in Seoul a couple of times on only a photocopy of my passport front page–and an only so-so one with folds on the page at unfortunate places for legibility purposes.
I read the NH hotel/British passports destroyed article earlier this morning and it’s dumbfounding. I understand the “hotel holds the passports and puts them in a safe” logic. Teenagers are notorious for misplacing things and I’m sure that before this incident, it made some form of sense to keep the passports. (I lived overseas and was always taught not to hand over my passport, ever, but that was definitely a different existence from the usual kids-on-group-holiday thing.)
What I don’t understand is how the passports could have been destroyed. Did someone mistake the woodstove for a safe? How does this even happen? I truly do not get it.
And, the WMUR report indicated that the group was running out of money…what? THE HOTEL THAT HAS F*&^ED THEM OVER SHOULD BE PAYING FOR EVERYTHING. LITERALLY EVERYTHING.
@JohnSF:
Your politics are as messed up as ours are. That’s saying something.
Tomorrow the DOJ is going to brief the Congressional “Gang of Eight” on the documents cases including Mar-a-Lago, Biden, and Pence.
Members of both parties had asked to see documents. It could just be that.
Or, based on absolutely nothing, I wonder if this is a harbinger of an indictment?
It’s a fairly cut-and-dried case. I don’t know what could be holding them up.
And certainly you would notify Congressional leaders if you were about to indict a former POTUS.
Still, probably wishful thinking…
@CSK:
@Jen:
Human stupidity knows no bounds.
I’ve had to shred tons of documents from time to time. It’s neither easy nor quick with an office shredder, even a cross-cut one with large capacity (ie 10 sheets of paper at a time). A passport would jam in a shredder and get damaged. So that’s out, unless it was very deliberate.
A stove, a wood chipper, a tank of water, a vat of acid, a fireplace, would be more suited to the purpose.
Any other ideas?
And, yes, the hotel should be liable for every last penny these people spend getting their passports replaced, including money for additional lodging and/or extras for changed flights back home.
Today, I have abandoned Twitter.
Between the destruction of the “followed” feed, the unavoidable injection of individuals and groups via forced algorithm that I would never follow in my regular feed (GOP??? seriously?!?), and the insane comments of the South African family-funded wunderkind, it’s over for me.
I will no longer create free content for Twitter, nor will I be eyeballs for their advertisements.
As my real name is my brand in the business world, I choose to no longer associate nor leave any of my past information there. I do not wish for my name to be associate with what twitter has become.
For housekeeping, I chose to use this site to erase my tweets and likes. And it did it well. It is all gone. Nearly 10 years.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…
As a twitter alternative, I have chosen to go over to POST.
@Kathy: Ads don’t bother me too much. They provide breaks to use the toilet, get coffee or tea, remember to take meds, etc. Additionally, if it wasn’t for TV ads, I’d know almost nothing about the world I live in. Without ads, I’d have never known to go to Carl’s for a Philly cheesesteak breakfast burrito last week. (It was pretty good, too! Not as good as the ranchero breakfast burrito at the taqueria, but what is?)
@Jen: @Jen:
I cannot understand how allegedly locked-up passports could be “destroyed,” since other hoteliers in the area claim they do this regularly with student groups. Passports are highly visible objects. They say “PASSPORT” on the cover. Did someone heave them into the trash/incinerator/whatever without noticing that?
@daryl and his brother darryl:
The briefing is by ODNI, not the DOJ.
@CSK: The question I’m addressing is why.
Seriously though, it would not shock me if hotels routinely shredded docs before putting them in the trash. Likely the whole batch was placed in a single box. Simple case of mis-filing.
@JohnSF: I hope you are right, very sincerely. I guess my real worry is just practical. Mainland UK imports goods into Northern Ireland duty free and goods into Europe with duties (eventually? Already?). Europe can import goods into ROI duty free, and into mainland UK with duties. How long until the smart lads figure out that Shanahan’s barn that happens to straddle the border is just a wonderful magic tunnel that allows duty free everywhere? If all it took to stop people from smuggling was a bit of paperwork then it would have ended with the invention of papyrus.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
With me, ads on TV, newspapers, and magazines, were great tools in teaching me to ignore ads.
With streaming, I use the pause button when I want a break, or the off button (it remembers where you left it hours or days later).
Now, ads in Youtube videos often cut in at inopportune times. Not at the end of an act as on TV. I think streaming ads will be like that, likely playing after a set number of minutes played, or minutes into a TV ep or movie. I mean like cutting off the action, cutting off dialogue in the middle of a word, things like that.
We’ll see.
I predict we’ll see all services, or most of them, offer a cheaper option with ads, and eventually push ads, albeit fewer, in the more expensive erstwhile ad-free version.
@Jen:
Have to admit, as soon as I read this I thought, “we’ve only heard the one side of this story so far. I wonder what the hotel would say if they were willing to let the story run a bit longer?” But I suspect they want to keep it their name off as many web searches as possible, which means letting this story run its course.
@Mu Yixiao: I wonder how many of the 7000 layoffs that Iger announced are now going to be state employees.
@Kathy:
I wouldn’t know. I only use YouTube when I’m at school and all interruptions on videos are at inopportune times there.
@Scott: Oooh! Good question!
@MarkedMan: I think there’s a darn good chance that the only reason we’ve only heard one side is because the other side is populated by idiots. Passports look, feel, and are important. You cannot “oops” your way into destroying them, it takes work.
@MarkedMan: In reading another story about this, there was the line that “minors are involved.” This could be taken two ways–one, the obvious, the kids on the trip are minors. Two, somehow, minors were involved in the destruction of the passports.
Youthful hi-jinks?
@OzarkHillbilly:
Except, we don’t know how many homicides police solve. We only know how many convictions are handed down. And all of the evidence suggests that getting convicted in 1980 was a lot less correlated with being guilty than getting convicted today is.
It’s sad, but that 21 percentage point difference could easily just be bogus convictions.
@Kathy: Commercials on streaming systems aren’t particularly intrusive tho. A typical break is 30 to 90 seconds compared to the 3 to 5 minutes I usually saw on network TV.
Sad news…
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/28/no-further-hope-for-tom-sizemore-after-brain-aneurysm-actors-family-says
@DrDaveT: You had exactly the same thoughts I had. Just look at all the people on death row that have been exonerated thanks to DNA evidence. It got so bad Illinois straight up got rid of the death penalty.