Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, August 26, 2023
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30 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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Simone. ‘Nuff said.
Huh. Who knew vaccines could cause congenital heart defects.
Discovered in the deep: an octopus’s garden in the shade
Kevin Drum: Raw data: Test scores were about the same in states that kept schools open and closed during COVID
So yeah, something was going on, but it would appear that the closing of schools did not have much to do with. Somebody should do a study!
One can find beautiful people in some of the least likely places.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Was it discovered by Eleanor Rigby in a Yellow Submarine?
@OzarkHillbilly:
She is magical.
@Kathy: I didn’t see her name on the research paper. Couldn’t say what color the submersible was.
@CSK: I think of her as “otherworldly”.
eta as in “no human can do that.” except, she can.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think I meant the same thing as you.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Poor Ozark, you have apparently fallen for Octopropoganda. These eight-limbed, beak-mouthed monsters are obviously assembling to plot world domination.
I’m not sure I’ve said this before, but I should have: We’ll know we’re making real progress into space when launching people to orbit gets boring.
SpaceX launched its 11th crewed mission
I think we’re getting there.
Not to derail the feeding frenzy on the other thread, I’m posting this here.
Regarding how people misconceive the rule of law, some years ago an airline, I forget whether it was Aviacsa or TAESA, got their credit for fuel and air services suspended due to large unpaid debts to the government agency responsible for these services.
Rather than pause or end operations, the airline filed a motion before a court, asking for a stay of the suspension of services. This makes eminent sense, as how are they supposed to pay up if they can’t operate flights and sell tickets? Of course, from the government’s perspective, they want to write off what’s owed, maybe get something back from bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings, and not devote more resources to a dying airline.
As both sides have a point, a neutral arbiter like a court is the right place to adjudicate the matter.
At the time, I still had the news on the radio while commuting to work. And this business news guy reporting on the matter, claimed the airline’s filing was a blatant violation of the rule of law.
Think about it. filing a motion as prescribed and indicated by law in the appropriate court, is a blatant violation of the rule of law?
You’d think this man considered “rule of law” to mean “unquestioning obedience and compliance to state orders.” Me, I think that’s dictatorship, not “rule of law.”
whichever airline it was, it ceased operations a short time afterwards. When any airline gets to the point of owing a lot in fuel and air services, it’s only a matter of time before they are liquidated. even a favorable ruling which let them keep flying, probably won’t let them earn enough to pay their debts, nor attract sufficient financing to survive. But it’s easy to see why they would try.
@Kathy: I think that the man in question believed, for whatever reason there would be, that the company’s request was going to have an effect that he did not want to see and that “violation of the rule of law” sounded more principled than “will lead to a result that I don’t like.”
@Kathy: This is the problem I have with all the Musk hate. Not that he doesn’t deserve hate for a lot of things. If I had to describe him I would say “sexually active InCel” which makes no sense but somehow describes him perfectly. But the guy has helmed multiple startups that are changing the world. And yes, he buys his way into them but for chrissakes, most businesses fail and for world changing businesses that is “most” to the power of ten. PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, Tesla Energy (which may gave an even bigger impact than Tesla by agglomerating people who own batteries (EV cars, Power Walls, etc) and giving them negotiating power with utilities), and Starlink. The normal path is for a driven individual to luck/drive into an innovative company, make their fortune, and then every “innovative” thing they do after that is an incredible failure. Musk has had four profoundly important companies. That just doesn’t happen.
Years ago a scientist said to me, “You can judge a scientist by whether they speak or let the data speak.” In a just world, someone as much as an asshole as Musk would be an abysmal failure. But that’s not how the world works.
Adventures in Open Carry Laws–OK division
Bring your gun to the high school football game. What could possibly go wrong there? 🙁
The right wing had found their new small town music hero to follow up Shithead’s “Try That In A Small Town”. Except Anthony Oliver apparently doesn’t like them that much, leading to this:
https://twitter.com/wayotworld/status/1694239312072638822?s=20
I guess it’s like they always say: Never meet your heroes. They might turn out not to be as racist as you hoped they were.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Things like this always remind me of my late fathers comment, some decades back, when I asked him his opinion on the US debate on gun rights (and bearing in mind, Dad had been a rifle club member as a teenager, and taught me to shoot .22 pistol and rifle):
(Dad’s workplace, 1943-44)
@MarkedMan: The management at Space X is setup to keep Musk away from anything of importance. Space X would be just as effective without Musk even existing. This is all based on my interactions with Space X personal and management.
Tesla is supposedly run in a similar manner to keep musk from fcking things up..
A sheriff in Jacksonville has been grossly violating Florida law by calling an ambush murderer at a Dollar General a racist. There is no racism in Florida, and only someone steeped in CRT could make such a woke statement. I have not heard a response from the governor, but I’m sure he reference the power of the Almighty with whom he is on a first name basis.
@Michael Reynolds: one thumbs up (i’d give you 3 or 4 or 5 for the giggle.)
@JohnSF: My old man’s was a very dark cubicle on a B-29. He was a radar operator.
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s been my general experience that the people most acquainted with organised military ultra-violence (and due to family and personal connections, I’ve known a fair few) are the most inclined to laugh in the face of “right to arm bears” types.
BTW, Dad always said he had a serious case of B-29 envy. He flew B-24’s.
@Michael Reynolds:
Octopoid Starry Wisdom Cult press spokesman responds: “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fthagn. So there.”
Defamation suit incoming. 🙂
@Slugger:
He calls her “The”?
@OzarkHillbilly: @JohnSF:
My father fought at Salerno, San Pietro, and the First Battle of Monte Cassino. I don’t think he ever wanted to see a firearm again.
@CSK:
Two of my uncles, and one sorta-unofficial “uncle”, were around those places as well at the same time.
I remember visiting the area some time back, and thinking “soft under-belly of Europe my ass”.
Never seen better defensive terrain.
The Italian campaign gets overlooked a lot for being an utter bastard of a fight.
And of my grandfathers, one was with the KSLI on the Somme; the other at Megiddo. Neither had any illusions about the nature of war.
As I said, I’ve encountered a lot of people who looked like, and in fact were, peaceable old dudes. But in their day had been, of necessity, stone killers.
None of them made much of it, but if I’m any judge, every last one would have laughed in contempt at the current crop of “finger-less gloves, carbine at low-ready alert, special forces stylee” cosplay clowns.
@MarkedMan:
I wrote about how I soured on St, Elon God Emperor etc. a few days ago, and won’t rehash it here. Before that time, he struck me as someone who wanted to do something with his money, rather than just accumulate more money.
I still see this, only now he’s really going largely in the wrong direction. Namely he’s helping the effort to discredit and destroy democracy.
@JohnSF:
Overlooked excellent war movie: Von Ryan’s Express
Patton also spends considerable time on the Sicilian portion of the Italian campaign.
@Kathy:
You think he doesn’t want to do something with his money now?
He’s moved on from being the salesperson for a rocket company and a car company to trying to change the culture of western democracies to promote far right political views including (but not limited to) hatred of “wokeness” and promotion of Russian propaganda.
I do wonder whether the change was his trans kid coming out, or when he was called out for sexual harassment (remember when it was revealed he offered someone a horse for a handjob?*). He does seem to have the antitrans brain worms, but we’ve seen lots of awful men across the political spectrum shift to the right rather than give up being awful (Matt Taibbi leaps to mind).
Anyway, I think he stopped smoking pot and switched to cocaine. He should try ecstasy, or a fistful of fentanyl. Either.
*: is it worse to offer a horse for a handjob, or a handjob for a horse?