Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, June 17, 2023
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26 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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“A dream for some, a nightmare for others!”
Another one for the “To read” pile.
Will add second book to my list. The article is well written. I must confess that I didnt know that the UK had paid reparations, but it went to the slaveholders and not the former slaves. It was such a large amount of money it took until 2015 to pay it off.
Steve
Worth the read.
This is really something to behold.
https://twitter.com/michaelharriot/status/1669915356524163073?s=20
@OzarkHillbilly: I swear I was here five minutes ago and didn’t see you had already beat me to this…lol…great minds think alike.
@OzarkHillbilly: +100 for quoting Excalibur
The strangely parallel paths of politics in the US & the UK continue to amaze.
Just saw that Boris Johnson’s “private notebooks” are being withheld from him by the British Intelligence folks because they contain national secrets.
@JohnMc:
Well, TFG did call Johnson “the Donald Trump of Great Britain,” so….
In the 7 Basic plots book, the author, Booker, comes up with a rule of 3. Illustrating that often characters or events come in threes.
Like, the three little pigs, Cinderella goes to the ball 3 times, Kathy gives three examples, etc.
It does show up a lot. Also in daily life, like having three attempts to log in before your account is blocked, or the popular belief that third time’s the charm, or the Mythbusters always counting down from three, etc.
To me, this is conclusive proof. Humans do have Minbari souls 🙂
@Mikey: Heh, I’m usually the slower one. As far as great minds and all that, I’m not so sure you shouldn’t be a little worried. 😉
@Jay L Gischer: Hey! Somebody caught it! I thought it might fly right by everybody. You’ve made my day. That movie has so many great lines:
“Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you’ve tasted it what do you really know? And then, of course, it’s too late.”
“Too late.”
eta: of course, Merlin had all the best lines.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Or:
“Arthur is coming..”
“How do you know?”
“Listen…”
[cue faint Carmina Burana music]
@OzarkHillbilly: I’d never be able to pick up on an Excalibur reference. Never seen it. But pop culture references are always tricky that way.
In the West those nightmare katydids are known as “Mormon Crickets” because they played hell with crops planted in Utah during the LDS colonization around the Great Salt Lake. The seagull is the Utah state bird because seagulls ate them.
TFG says that Fox News needs “Trump” in order to survive and flourish. (I love how he refers to himself in the third person.) He is also saying “Long live the King” in reference to himself.
Oh, and Sarah Palin is bitching to Newsmax about being canceled by Fox News.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: It’s a unique film, a combination of fantasy and action with comedic moments throughout. Definitely not going to attract all eyes but to my mind, it has aged well. I really didn’t think anybody would catch it, so hats off to Jay.
This is a history of Trump’s dealings with lawyers. It’s quite interesting:
http://www.npr.org/2023/06/17/1182758035/donald-trump-lawyer-roy-cohn
At first I thought this was a parody…JFC what is wrong with these people?
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/16/texas-heat-wave-water-break-construction-workers/
Me too.
@Daryl: In my 35 years in construction we always had a water cooler on the job site* which was refilled whenever necessary and anytime somebody needed a drink they could go get one and anytime somebody showed early signs of heat stroke they could go to the job site trailer to cool down. Most guys had a personal water jug too, I always did. We took that shit seriously.
*pretty sure that was an OSHA reg but it was enforced by the shop steward. If I am correct (been a couple decades since I took my OSHA 30 course) Abbot is not gonna get far with this BS.
ETA: Now read the piece and I see the AFL/CIO weighing in so I am probably misremembering. Anyway, one more reason to go with the union label.
@Daryl: Times have changed, for sure. Years ago, I was working for a display service company setting up display tents and tables at a local drag race (automobiles, to be clear) site. My supervisor came by to ask if I’d taken a water break. When I replied that I wasn’t thirsty he replied that he didn’t care, he wanted me to go to the break tent to get out of the sun and drink some water and took over my task so that I could go.
ETA: I see the problem now:
[channeling my inner Texan] 1) She’s a woman; what would she know about “man’s work?” 2) Human rights are only for humans, not construction workers.*
*Yes, I know. That WAS harsh. 🙁 MY inner Texan is a little deficient in some qualities. But I did edit from what I was originally going to say.
@steve:
It was because under Common Law precedent, horrible as it was, slave owners had a property right that they could claim compensation for infringement of in court. The alternative was to pass a statute abrogating such rights.
In the 1830’s that might have been difficult to pass obstruction in the House of Lords, and the remnant “plantation interest” in the Commons.
The other thing that worried London was the possibility that West Indian slaveowners would appeal to the US for protection of their “rights” if they were not compensated.
All in all, a vile business.
If there was anything worse than the Southern cotton plantations, it was the West Indian sugar plantations.
Richard S. Dunn’s Sugar and Slaves is worth reading on the topic; but you may need a strong stomach. Parts of it are utterly horrifying.
There is an ongoing campaign for a reparations fund to be set up to fund development in the West Indies. Seems like the least we can do.
@JohnMc:
@CSK:
Have I mentioned recently that Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP?
Because Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP!
🙂
@JohnSF:
I believe you may have alluded to it.
@JohnSF:
“Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
@Kathy:
“Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
And I for one am inclined to dance a jig on his grave.
🙂