Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, February 7, 2022
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60 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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Where there’s a grift, there’s a way:
http://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/politics/donald-trump-coffee-table-book/index.html
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
The Cook Political Report now forecasts that House Democrats are on track for a narrow net gain of seats from redistricting nationwide, amid a cycle that has proven far more favorable to Democrats than many expected. @CookPolitical
Tooting my own horn – not easy to do when you’re out of shape – we made the NYT:
@Michael Reynolds: Worthy of the self-toot!
@Michael Reynolds:
Well done.
@Michael Reynolds: It’s not often that good deeds get reported on.
@Michael Reynolds:
That is applause you are hearing…well done.
Proud to *kind of* know you.
No where near enough coverage being given to the GOP, or the mainstream media, and their hypocrisy on “Her E-mails” and Trump destroying Presidential Records.
In Clintons case there was no there, there.
https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/final-state-department-review-finds-no-wrongdoing-regarding-clinton-emails/
In Trumps case…it’s already been proven that he broke the law (albeit not in court, yet).
Will this be the thing that brings him down? Of course not.
But drip, drip, drip, drip…..
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Yeah. Not even a peep that they had to go all the way to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve records that LEGALLY should’ve been sent to the archives. Imagine the uproar if a Democrat of any flavor had done that.
@Michael Reynolds:
Well done, you!
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
In case you’ve forgotten – Sandy Berger was fined $50,000 and given two years of probation and 100 hours of community service for removing 4 classified documents from the National Archives. Berger also lost his security clearance and gave up his law license.
One would assume losing security clearance would be be problematic for Trump should he run again,
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Under any normal set of circumstances, Trump would not have been qualified for a security clearance. (Neither would his children.) The President, once elected, is automatically granted access. The President can also grant a security clearance to others who would not normally pass a clearance test.
Nope, even less of a problem if he’s re-elected.
eta @Jen: beat me to it by thiiiissss much.
@JohnSF:
We got a very nice discount, so it wasn’t a huge sacrifice.
Well, as long as Michael started the horn-tooting… and yes I know his was for a selfless act and mine is sheer self-promotion…
…I’m delighted to be able to report that Dream Raider, the series I co-created and wrote for HBO Asia is finally getting its US premiere. It starts airing on HBO Max on February 17 — I’m assuming weekly episodes, but who knows…
@wr:
Congratulations.
From yesterday’s (Sun. Feb. 6) Forum posted early this morning (Mon. Feb. 7):
Cracked this Cracker up!!
But I can’t get the image of Republicans joined at the hip with Trump out of my mind!!!
AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!
————–
Hello EDIT my old friend
It’s nice to see you here again
I’ve only made one mistake not two
And I’m so grateful that you
Will let me change it…
(Apologies to Paul and Art.)
@Sleeping Dog:
If I continue with restoration projects, I might consider it. For now, the Evapo-Rust and wire wheel are doing very nicely. I need to get some tiny wheels for my Dremmel, however, so I can get into some of the tight interior spaces.
My state tax returns came through this morning, so I’m off to Home Depot (or Menard’s, I’ll have to shop around a bit) this weekend to pick up a sanding table and a table-top planer. As well as several LED bench lights to replace the mish-mash of bulbs and tubes I have currently.
I’ve already replaced the wood chisels that someone turned into forks (I had them for 35 years and kept them honed to almost razor sharp). That leaves me about $300 for miscellaneous small tools (or maybe lumber to build an additional work bench for all the new tools).
@CSK: You know a coffee table book is kinda one of the least grifty things he does because it likely delivers exactly what it promises – a big picture book with lots of pictures of Trump.
@wr:
It goes on my list of TV to watch.
I’m doing my first actual Hollywood writing gig. A producer I know had a two word concept – literally, that was it, two words – and asked me to write a treatment. So, first I Googled, treatment. . .
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: I must admit that I would watch the live feed of Trump doing community service
@Michael Reynolds:
Well deserved kudos! Thank you (and your lovely wife) for backing up your words with actual action.
Does anyone have suggestions for alternatives to Spotify? I’m not a huge fan of Pandora. What other services do folks recommend?
@OzarkHillbilly:
@Jen:
Note that I said if he runs…if I was running against him I would hammer it home constantly that he cannot be trusted with secure documents. Perhaps his base wouldn’t care, but I think it would matter to moderate Republicans and Independents.
If he manages to get RE_ELECTED, then yes, it would be moot.
@mattbernius:
I do not stream music – I have all my music on my phone – but a lot of people are talking about Apple Music as an alternative to Spotify
A quick rundown on the Royal Family.
A few interesting tidbits reading through this as a Yank.
I didn’t think that many countries still have her as head of state, and I never knew that the Commonwealth was that big.
And… I find it interesting that Prince Harry’s kids aren’t “prince” and “princess”. I’m guessing that only goes through the line of succession? So until William was born, Anne, Andrew, and Edward were all in line, so they get the titles. Since George was born before any of Harry’s kids, they don’t get the title (unless all of William’s kids die?).
Royalty is weird.
(I am however, very disappointed that there’s no mention of Charles being a lizard-person wearing a skin suit. /s)
@mattbernius:
What are you interested in, music, pod casts? If it is music, my brother swears by Amazon HD as it delivers CD quality audio. Though you will need a streaming device to take full advantage or wireless speakers. Bluetooth compresses the files too much.
@Jay L Gischer:
Well, aside from the fact that everything Trump does is in some way a shady enterprise, you’re probably right.
The book was published by Winning Team, a company co-founded by Trump Junior, apparently with the express purpose of printing Daddy Trump’s tome, since no one else would. It’s an assemblage of photos with his Tweet-like captions appended.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1490732135854096388
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
There’s Audacy (formerly Radio.com). It has local radio stations from around the country, special “featured stations” (essentially curated playlists), and podcasts (including some by big names).
It’s free–but ad supported (basically just like listening to the radio).
@mattbernius:
@Mu Yixiao:
Along the lines of Mu’s suggestion, an internet radio app that provides search and sort capabilities for internet radio broadcasts. Some will be ad supported stations other fall in the public radio world. Lots of interesting variety out there.
@Mu Yixiao:
A lot of it’s very, very marginal. Canada and Australia are still technically under the crown, while being in essentially all meaningful senses totally independent nations.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
It appears destroying documents prevents you from running for office again.
Have a terrific day.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071#:~:text=Whoever%20willfully%20and%20unlawfully%20conceals,United%20States%2C%20or%20in%20any
@Kylopod:
Oh, yeah. I know it’s all ceremonial. I’m just surprised that many countries still go along with the ceremony. (And I’m not entirely unsure that Canada keeps it up just to piss off the Quebeckers.)
@Kylopod:
An Australian friend of mine, long ago, told me that in his country, Elizabeth II had two titles: Queen of Australia and Queen of Queensland, the state named after Queen Victoria.
@Mu Yixiao:
My guess is that it’s a “Why bother?” situation. They’ve just got far more on their plate than to support a final, symbolic separation that would require some political capital, but with very little (if any) practical consequence.
@Mu Yixiao: Another choice is i-Heart radio (which used to be part of radio.com). Same basic deal as Audacity but with some curated sections and a collection of whatever podcasts i-Heart (formerly Clear Channel) carries.
@mattbernius: radio garden is pretty amazing. A Google Earth style interface to grab radio stations around the world.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Ah, gotcha.
However, in that case, the situation would be the following: the sitting President (one assumes Biden) would then be in the unenviable position of having to make the determination to extend the permission to receive the PDB/other information to Trump. The coverage would be centered on Biden refusing to extend the courtesy to Trump, because the sitting president has the discretion to make that determination. I know I certainly wouldn’t care if it was withheld but think it’s entirely possible that most voters would be like “why is Biden being mean, Trump used to have access” etc. The typical voter just doesn’t really zero in on how big a deal this is (too many spy movies maybe).
@wr: I fixed the driver side door on my p/u today. (congrats to you)
It didn’t matter to Republicans* one bit the whole time he was in office and when it comes to Independents, that all depends on how independent they are. It would have to be a really close race in a key state for the very small number of truly independent independents to matter.
*meaning those who still self identify as members of the GOP
@OzarkHillbilly:
Considering that Biden won by ~8M votes, it mattered to someone.
Trump is bleeding support.
Frankly I think it’s all pointless, as I don’t think he will be mentally capable of running in a couple years. There is obvious cognitive decline.
@Michael Reynolds:
I was wondering how that turned out. The treatment was due quickly, right?
@Kylopod:
@Mu Yixiao:
There is quite a history of experienced statesmen, and not just American ones either 🙂 not getting the difference between head of state and actual government.
Due perhaps to experience with heads of state also being chief executive.
During Second World War (and First, for that matter) it often astonished American politicians and commanders, that the British government could NOT give orders to the Dominions’ governments.
The distinction between Dominions and Crown Colonies, Protectorates etc was one a lot of people found difficult to grasp.
I recall reading of some American politicians objecting to the Dominions being separate members of the League of Nations, and later on the UN, on the grounds that they were not “really” independent.
And even in the UK itself, the monarch has become increasingly distant from the workings of politics, largely due to the “democratisation” of the political parties.
Goes more than double in the Dominions, where the Monarch has to operate via the Governor-General, who has less personal prestige and usually relative brief tenure.
@mattbernius: I’m satisfied with Apple Music
It was a turnout election, I think a lot of people voted just because they wanted trump out, where in 2016 they might not have voted because they didn’t want Hillary in. Remember, trump’s vote totals went up too.
And so is Biden. A lot of politically naive people voted for him thinking that once he was president all would be well but they still don’t have their magic pony and they blame him.
TBH, I avoid all videos and audio recordings of him just because I don’t want to clean the vomit off my monitor/dashboard. I will take your word for it. Besides, it’s not really him I worry about, it’s whoever follows the trail trump blazed.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Hence the sudden increase in media concern-trolling about how horrible it is that Democrats haven’t unilaterally disarmed in the gerrymandering debate the way Republicans want them to.
@JohnSF:
Not meaning any offense, but IMO the British monarch is more like a figurehead of state, especially in the Commonwealth.
@JohnSF: What I find interesting is that even though Americans tend to find the idea of figureheads very alien, they don’t seem to realize there are elements of it in our system. And it relates to the discussion the other day about whether Mike Pence had the ability to overturn the election. The way we designate the vp as “President of the Senate” is similar to the way some other countries have a “president” with a purely ceremonial role. (In fact it may be a holdover from the “president” under the Articles of Confederation, who did hold that kind of role.) And it’s worth noting that in 2008, when Sarah Palin kept making appallingly ignorant statements about government, two of them were (a) the Queen of England is the ruler of England (b) the American vp is in charge of the Senate.
@Kurtz:
I did three drafts in five days. I think I have a polish coming up.
It was interesting. It’s like a carpenter using the same tools but with his off-hand. I don’t like outlining, I never outline books, and this was outlining. It was easy at one level because it’s just character and story, stripped down, which is problem solving and some imagination. But I had a hard time taking it seriously – there’s ten different ways to do a scene, why am I committing to anything this early on, this far from a script? The hardest part was hitting the almighty beats and breaks and midpoint and dark night of the soul, blah, blah. So, make it completely predictable, drain all the surprise out of it because the person reading it next won’t recognize it if they don’t see the bones of the structure poking through.
One of the reasons my readership is smart kids is that I refuse to give them a structure to lean on, so I can surprise them, I can get to them. The average smart kid may not be able to articulate the reasons why a book or film feels predictable, but they feel it. They know all the meta rules of TV and movies and books. They know the pace shifts when we hit Act 3. If they suddenly see a previously minor character get a biography and a warm moment they know the fucker’s dead. They know a cough is always cancer. Woman throws up = pregnant. They know the two most attractive people on-screen or in chapter one are going to fall in love. They know the lead isn’t really in danger. I work hard to outwit the readers, then I suddenly had to sing the liturgy.
But all that whining aside, it was fun. Too much of what I write is basically muscle memory. It’s fun to have someone say, ‘but can you do this?’
@Kathy:
No offence taken; I’m only a sorta-monarchist because it upsets fundamentalist democrats 🙂 (and a smidge of traditionalist sentimentalism).
Thing is, you’ll find a lotof heads of state are figureheads.
In Europe almost all, bar France, have non-executive presidents or monarchs.
Quick way to win a bet: ask someone if they can name the President of Germany.
Poor old Frank-Walter “Footnote” Steinmeier 🙂
As for the Commonwealth, some states (about a dozen IIRC) have the Queen as technical HoS, but as said, at even more a remove than in UK due to Governor-General carrying out most functions of the HoS.
(There are also the British Overseas Territories, but lets ignore them for now)
While other Commonwealth countries have no formal internal royal role art all; IIRC the majority are formally republics.
And a minority are monarchies, but with a different monarch!
See e.g. Lesotho, Swaziland, Brunei, and Tonga; and Malaysia (a weird one in its own right, with rotating monarchs: the Yang di-Pertuan Agong).
@Michael Reynolds:
I desperately want to know what the two words were.
@Michael Reynolds: awesome!
@OzarkHillbilly: in hindsight this makes sense. You can gerrymander to strengthen existing Republican seats or to put Democratic seats at risk. But the latter actually requires making safe seats slightly less safe. The former helps individuals while the latter requires them to take on risk for the good of the party. Modern day Republicans are not looking out for anyone’s good but there own.
@de stijl:
First Kiss
Shoe Size
Upstairs Downstairs
Cheese Whiz!
Inside Outside
Participle Decelerator
Sorry, not my info to share.
@Mu Yixiao:
Save big money at Menards!
Jingles get in your head. There is a local one here for a store that sells mostly Carhartt style outerwear:
G and L Clothing /
We’ve got the looks/
We’ve got style!
It’s the stupidest poppy version of a jingle, but Crikey does it get stuck in my head.
It’s actually a good store. I’ve bought things from them. 4.5 stars. Highly recommend.
G&L is super local, but the Lebeda mattress store jingle I think is regional upper Midwest.
Lebeda/
Lebeda/
Everybody knows it’s umm Lebeda
That jingle is like the crack cocaine of ear worms. It will never be unstuck from my brain.
@de stijl:
I never say Menards.
It’s always My Nards.
@de stijl: 😛 I don’t know any guy who shops at Menard’s that doesn’t say it like that!
There was a guy in Boston after their last big snowstorm, his “Boston Accent’ was absolutely wonderful….”My cah! It’s buried up to the tiah’s!” I should’ve saved it for future reference, now I can’t find it.
@Jax:
Menards is a good store. They sell extremely useful shit at a decent price.
They also have a name that reminds me of my dangly bits. Yes, I am eight years old at times.
@Michael Reynolds:
NDAs suck.