Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, January 2, 2021
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68 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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My healthcare brother and his healthcare wife have both tested positive for Covid.
Happy fucking new year.
Hundreds of thousands more US Covid deaths possible amid vaccine chaos
Misery hasn’t even begun.
My Bing facepage informs me that today is Isaac Asimov’s 100th Birthday. I thought some of our neighbors here would find that interesting.
And Ozark, most amazing thoughts and prayer for your brother and sis-in-law. My family is overrun with Doc and Nurses and we know the anxiety of wishing them health.
Hehee, as somebody else said, accurate as fuck.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Damn. Sorry to hear this.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Damn
Plato vindicated.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ouch! Sorry to hear that.
Immigrant Neighborhoods Shifted Red as the Country Chose Blue
Right after the election, I wondered what drove the disparate results in FL & TX v. AZ & CA. One point I noted, was that in AZ & CA, past or current R led state governments had singled out the Latino communities for harsh treatment and that wasn’t the case in FL & TX, plus R’s actively sought Latino support in FL & TX. While in FL a large part of the Latino community came as refugees from places like Cuba, Venezuela etc. Latin American countries that were dictatorships hiding behind proclaimed socialism, making those ripe for attacks on Dems as socialists.
On its face, the Times analysis of voting patterns should be good news for Rs and a cautious tale for progressive Dems. There is likely truth to the R contention that socially conservative communities of color maybe more comfortable as Rs than Dems, that also should include the reality that most immigrants come to the US for economic opportunity and if Dems are seen as stifling that, we’ll lose those voters as well.
Except among activists, the whole discussion about Intersectionality maybe lost on the broader community of minority voters who don’t necessarily see their interests and concerns lining up with the interest in concerns of other groups. The Bernie argument that Dems should lead with economic issues is likely correct, as economics is a common concern of all.
The analysis of this data over the coming years will be interesting and whether Dems adjust their positioning to reflect the new information. Though I suspect, much like the Rs have doubled down on white supremacy after the analysis of Romney’s loss in 2012 recommended the party broaden its outreach, progressive Dems will double down on social justice sloganeering.
A Monster Wind Turbine Is Upending an Industry
One of these puppies could power our community that has about ~12,000 residences and given that it is a resort community about a third are short term rentals or second homes.
Also saw an article that claimed that there are no bidders for the Arctic Wildlife Refuge drilling leases, with the article speculating that the speed of growth in renewables along with more efficient production from existing wells, makes the finances of exploration and development, daunting.
@CSK: @Sleeping Dog: One of my oldest friends just died of the Covid on the 21st, so I’m not feeling so sanguine about it.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I don’t blame you. My best wishes to your brother and sil both.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Understand, this is a horrible time.
Just canceled NYT and subscribed to WaPo.
After four years, it’s only on his way out that the GOP found the b*lls to override a Trump veto.
@Teve: Prediction: by the end of 2021 WaPo will be completely back to bothsiderism and “Republicans say up is down. Some Democrats disagree”.
@MarkedMan:
The Trump Fan Club refers to the Post and the Times as “the WaPoo” and the “NYSlimes.”
@MarkedMan: I’ve read NYT for 25+ years and there are many things I love about it. But their idiot political editors are soaked in Both Sides much worse than WaPo lately. I’ve taken opinions on this for weeks. I’ll try them for a year. If I weren’t currently jobless and cautious with cash I’d have them both.
In the battle for the Supreme Court, media call Republican hypocrisy savvy while treating Democrats as extremists
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m so sorry. Hoping they recover well.
Another Republican politician has died of Covid, this time VA state Senator Ben Chafin.
@Teve:
True. I struggle to understand NYT. They profess to be struggling to understand what they got wrong in 2016 (while scrupulously avoiding any mea culpas over HER EMAILS!!!). My best theory is that they see themselves as the voice of the Eastern Establishment (“socially liberal and fiscally conservative”, i.e., conservative) and they’re unable or unwilling to see the extent to which the Establishment really has screwed up and screwed over most of the country. They don’t want to call Trump voters racist and they can’t admit they have legit grievances, so to them it’s a puzzle. But apparently their business model is working, so what do I know?
@Monala: when that news broke Parler went frantic with hypotheses about how Democrats are murdering Republicans with the virus. There’s no other possible explanation.
@gVOR08:
ok, your first ‘they’ is probably NYT, but who are the second and third ‘they’s?
@Monala:
Harking back to James post of a day or two ago https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-nasty-politicization-of-covid/, how dare you dance on the grave to politicize the unfortunate man’s death? /s
Is there any word yet on why Steven Brandenburg deliberately left the Covid vaccine out to be rendered useless? He’s admitted he did it knowingly, but not what his “reasoning” was for so doing.
@Teve: Sorry, NYT and Trump voters respectively. People have been screwed over by our establishment. Endless, pointless, wars. Recessions. Gross wealth disparity and lack of opportunity. Lousy health care. Opioid addiction for profit. Mismanagement of a pandemic. Trump voters, and the rest of us, have legitimate beefs. How voting for a lying sack of spit Manhattan “billionaire” fixes any of that escapes me, but they do have legit grievances against the Establishment. And I don’t think NYT wants to admit it. But I’m open to other explanations for NYT’s pathology.
@CSK: not yet
@Teve:
Thanks. I looked, but I thought I might not have looked hard enough.
@CSK:
The police say he has admitted that left the vaccine out to become ineffective and then injected people with it, because he wanted people who thought they were vaccinated to get COVID19 and make people think the vaccine didn’t work.
@Stormy Dragon: I generally stand firmly against stringing people up by their thumbs, but in this case I’m persuadable.
@Stormy Dragon:
Sweet Jesus. Why did he want people to think the vaccine doesn’t work?
@Stormy Dragon: that’s insane. The numbers would be too small to work.
@Stormy Dragon:
Where did you find this? Everything I’m looking at says Brandenburg’s motive is still unknown.
@OzarkHillbilly: I hope for the best for your brother and sister-in-law.
@Sleeping Dog: The large turbines sound great but I noticed the authors lightly skimmed their use in areas of “rough weather.” What do you think would happen to one of these in the Gulf of Mexico or along the Eastern Seaboard?
@CSK: I read it today on the NPR news site.
@Mr. Prosser:
Given that there are multiple wind farms in the North Sea, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and British Columbia, I suspect they’d be just fine off the East Coast and the Gulf. Their are preliminary discussions about a wind farm off the town I live in to replace the local nuke plant that’s 40+ years old.
I’m not an engineer, but I would expect that would be in the design criteria.
@Mr. Prosser:
Yes I read the same piece (I think) as you, in which Brandenburg is quoted as saying that he knew people would think they were vaccinated when in fact they weren’t, but that doesn’t tell me why he did this. Did he want people to get sick and possibly die? What?
Ted Cruz and Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).
To oppose Biden’s election certification.
@Sleeping Dog: I hope they become common I was just curious how they can stand up to a hurricane. Maybe they can be locked in place with two arms acting like aircraft wings and the other parallel to the support post which can rotate into the wind.
@CSK: Ah, I see what you meant. Maybe he’ll say at some point but I imagine it only makes sense to himself.
@Mr. Prosser:
You’d think that if he had some history of screwing up prescriptions, deliberately or inadvertently, he’d have been caught before this.
@OzarkHillbilly: Ow! Sorry to hear that. I wish them a full and speedy recovery.
@Teve: Yet another Republican has died, PA State Rep Mike Reese, at 42 of a brain aneurysm. He tested positive for Covid last month, and Covid does cause vascular issues. It’s unknown at this point whether his aneurysm is related to Covid.
@OzarkHillbilly:
My best wishes for them.
@CSK:
Rogue Pharmacist Arrested After 57 People Get Compromised Vaccine
Lotta people on Parler excited about murdering us Libs in a new Civil War.
Clearly Libs like myself need to empathize and relate to them more.
@Teve: Those fools don’t know this particular lib is a military qualified expert marksman on both rifle and pistol, along with considerable experience on several different personal and crew-served weapons.
I’m also a marathon runner, so maybe they can run, but I can run longer, although looking at most of them I’d wager the furthest they run is to the fridge to get a beer.
@Mikey: i missed rifle marksman by one goddam point! And I just left the gym. I think I’ll be ok against Meal Team Six. 😛
@Teve:
@Mikey:
That let’s us know where to set up the sniper blinds, eh?
Although as I commented a couple of days ago about the Proud Boys, I suspect they’re all going to be really, really surprised when they roll into ANY inner city USA and discover themselves , outmanned, outgunned, and generally on the losing end… again.
@Stormy Dragon:
I know. Mr. Prosser and I talked about that above. But why? Why did he do it?
I know what result he wanted. But why? Was he an anti-vaxxer? Psychotic? Evil? What?
Boston Dynamics’ newest robots dancing. Fourteen years and a couple of weeks ago, Honda’s little humanoid robot screwed up walking slowly up a small set of steps at a press conference.
https://hothardware.com/news/boston-dynamics-robots-will-do-fortnite-victory-dances
@flat earth luddite: We’ll all be up against the Elite Stroke Force.
@Michael Cain:
I still have a weird idea re. public transport a.k.a mass transit.
If you’ve ever tried to travel a long distance by train with luggage the real b@tch is when you want to transfer between e.g. Euston and St. Pancras in London, or between Gare du Nord and Gare du Lyon and hump you luggage along.
Take a look at a railway station photographs from the Victorian era; in a lot you may see large numbers of porters and carriages to handle the luggage of (wealthier) passengers.
If robotics/AV’s plus standardised “mini-containers” could handle luggage, it could make mass transit a lot more convenient than it is now relative to automobiles.
I watched the most recent episode of Star Trek Discovery, and just wanted to share two things:
1. Michael Burnam did not make the same exact mistake she has made over and over and over again. I would say that it was character growth, but it really just seemed out of character.
2. There was an excellent line about someone else: “There may be more to her than she appears to be, but she is also exactly who she appear to be.”
Also watched the New Years Special for Doctor Who, and it was very mediocre. Which I think made it one of the best outings for the Jodie Wittaker Doctor — she has not been well served by the writers.
I kind of miss the Christmas specials, when they would awkwardly and painfully shoehorn in as much Christmas stuff as possible — murderous Santas, Christmas Trees Of Doom, angels throwing their halos to decapitate people, etc. I get the desire to be a bit more inclusive, but couldn’t they achieve the same goals by making other pseudo-religious traditions into preposterous weapons? Menorah battles, and maybe a sound weapon based off the islamic call to prayer? Explore the planets that Mormons are supposed to get when they die? At least highlight the simple truth that Hanukkah is a celebration of miraculous fuel efficiency?
Ok, that sounds offensive and terrible when applied to non-dominant religions. But, isn’t that more reason to call the Christmas Special (often featuring the Doctor committing genocide) inclusive? We can all point and laugh at Christmas symbolism being twisted like this.
YouTube’s algorithms have decided that what I want to see next is fun, catchy songs with ridiculous over-the-top moments. It’s wonderful. I look up an exercise for my bad knee, and then watch twenty minutes of videos with songs about how “I just came to the party for the drugs (drugs) drugs (drugs) drugs (drugs)”, or how “I’m sorry you have to have a body”, or “Space Girl, I saw a lunar eclipse, looked like how I feel about your lips”.
A little research has shown that there are songs beloved by the Tik Tok Teens.
Are these being recommended to everyone, everywhere, or has Youtube somehow decided a 50 year old man looking up physical therapy videos for 50 year old man problems is obviously a 15 year old who spends their days on Tik Tok?
I’m not complaining, I’m just confused. And I want to share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1601-CSKyL4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPGP4x1tYDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_LNMiSqpMU&has_verified=1
There are so many bad YouTube recommendation spirals to fall down. I am delighted that YouTube picked this one for me.
“Fascism has indeed come to America, and, as once predicted, it is wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
-Steve Schmidt
Appeals court just told Gohmert to get lost.
I changed my sentence to ‘lost’ to be family friendly.
@Teve:
Why? All the little kids have probably been tucked in bed by now.
@CSK: i was just funnin’.
Anyway the funny thing is, The appeals court basically said, the lower court took the same position as the Department of Justice and we agree.
@SteveSchmidtSES
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1345533164102541315.html
@Gustopher: I didn’t get it either, but the Space Girl group had really good balance between the lead and back up singers considering that I didn’t see any mics for the back ups. WA!
The third link wouldn’t let me in because I don’t have a Google account. What kind of trash are you linking up to on the intertubes?