Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, April 17, 2021
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80 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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Yep. As predicted on Tuesday around 2am, this week sucked.
2am on Friday, and still three hours of shooting left. Fraturday!
Roger Stone by Feds for $2,000,000 in unpaid taxes
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-sues-trump-ally-roger-stone-alleging-millions-unpaid-n1264372
Windsor store posts sign barring those who received the COVID-19 vaccine from shopping inside
This sucks. Where am I going to get my homeopathic organic alkaline cayenne kombucha cleanses now? My chakras are going to be Fucked.
New conservative group would save ‘Anglo-Saxon’ traditions
@Teve: Just goes to show America has no monopoly on imbeciles.
@Teve:
Like many Republicans, Kevin McCarthy seems reluctant to face up to what the Republican Party is.
@gVOR08: ITS THE PARTY OF LINCOLN DAMMIT
@Teve: When you’re freed from committee work, you have plenty of time to write in your daily white supremacist journal.
@Teve:
This isn’t a “dog whistle,” it’s straight-up overt fascism as loud as a locomotive horn.
I don’t know what it is about architecture and fascists, but that goes way back too.
Liberty University sues Falwell for $10 million
https://www.npr.org/2021/04/16/988227908/liberty-university-sues-ex-president-jerry-falwell-jr-seeking-millions-in-damage
@Mikey: “strength, pride, and power”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_architecture
None of your swoopy swervy decadent Gehry bullshit. 😛
@Doug Mataconis:
Junior sullied the good name of Liberty University when he and his wife took up with the pool boy.
Vartan Gregorian Dies at 87.
Heckuva guy.
@Teve:
The obit in the NYTimes is good, too.
Thousands of people in Colorado received “useless” vaccinations
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/04/16/thousands-frustrated-with-lack-of-communication-after-colorado-health-officials-determine-their-first-covid-vaccine-dose-was-useless/
Why Vaccine Passports may be inevitable
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/why-vaccine-passports-may-be-inevitable-in-next-phase-of-covid-19
@CSK: when I get reemployed I’m going to have to reactivate my New York Times subscription, I’m just missing out too much stuff only having a WaPo subscription. The Atlantic digital-only is 50 bucks, I think I might have to do that one too.
@Mikey: Hey, I’ve read The Fountainhead. This architecture business, are they trying to cancel Ayn Rand?
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denounces “Anglo-Saxon” caucus, but will he have the courage to do anything about it?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mccarthy-gop-caucus-platform-promotes-anglo-saxon-political-traditions
@Doug Mataconis: some wag on Twitter called them the KKKaren Party.
40 years ago the Space Shuttle Columbia returns from its first mission. The first time we sent a manned mission into orbit and it returned successfully to be used agsin.
Columbia would continue in service until 2003 when it was destroyed in a horrible accident while returning to Earth
Florida House of Representatives passes bill t h.g that would ban transgender athletes from eom women’s and girl’s sports.
This is based on a combination of bigotry and politics pandering
Among other things this bill would allow genetic testing, testing of testosterone levels, and INSPECTION OF GENITAL ANATOMY.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/04/14/florida-house-passes-bill-banning-transgender-athletes-from-womens-sports/
@Doug Mataconis: that gives me an excuse to repost an excellent piece of long-form journalism:
Columbia’s Last Flight
@Doug Mataconis:
Curious, what does DeSantis do? He has presidential aspirations and these anti-trans bill only speak to the base. Does he satisfy the base and dig himself a hole with the broader voters that do not support these attacks on trans-gendered kids? Inquiring minds want to know.
@Sleeping Dog: I would put money on satisfying the base.
Sleeping Dog:
That’s going to be a quandary for any Republican candidate for national office: Go all-out Trump, make the base happy, alienate everyone else, and lose, or kiss off the base and lose?
On a statewide or municipal level it’s a lot easier. Charlie Baker can make his disdain for Trump obvious, which he has, numerous times, and still win the governorship of Massachusetts if he wants to do so. Charlie Baker for president? Forget it. The Trumpkins loathe him.
@CSK: Correction: Sullied whatever minimal reputation Liberty University possessed when they…
The new BMW M4 looks pretty sweet. That said, the roofline from a-pillar to c-pillar is obviously a poorly-disguised theft from a Porsche 911.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Well, it’s difficult to maintain your reputation as a Godly institution upholding the highest values of faith and family when your chief executive and his wife are having a three-way with the pool boy.
@Sleeping Dog:
Not sure but this bill has to pass the State Senate before DeSantis needs to address it
idiot
@CSK:
Same goes for Phil Scott in Vermont and Larry Hogan in Maryland
The rise of the “America First Caucus” is a further sign that the Trump Cult formerly known as the Republican Party is transforming into a white nativist party.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/gop-s-new-america-first-caucus-follows-some-blatantly-white-n1264361
I wish I could remember the politician or right-wing media commentator who said in 2015 or 16, paraphrasing, ‘we’re not going to nominate Trump. If we nominated Trump that would prove the Liberals were right about us all along.’
@Teve:
Many of my friends who are libertarian leaning conservatives have told me that Trump’s candidacy and nomination was a turning point for them that caused them to realize that all the critics of the GOP are right.
These range from conservative Never Trunpers to people like Max Boot who essentially walked away from conservatism altogetherm
@Teve:
In May 2016, Lindsey Graham said: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…and we will deserve it.”
@Teve:
As long as you always park it so you are approaching it from the rear, you really don’t want to look at that fugly grill. Best advice if you want one, is a dark color, black is best, with the optional black kidneys
@Teve: People on Twitter are having fun with this one. A few samples:
@Teve: Ahhhummm…so what does that “Anglo-Saxon” stuff mean? Obviously pre-Norman invasion (1066 and all that), nothing from Rome or the Roman Catholic Church….
So let’s see…are we going to go back to fifth and sixth century Irish legal traditions? Would be an interesting legal code but you’d better also bone up on your Gaelic….after all, you wouldn’t want any of that nasty Latin influencing you, right?
(Idiots.)
Ivanka Trump gets vaccinated and posts about it on social media.
The Trump Cult responds by attacking her.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/548397-ivanka-trumps-vaccination-sparks-backlash-among
@Sleeping Dog: Before he can run for prez DeUseless has to get re-elected gov next year. Here in FL energizing the base works pretty well. But – last election was close and he may have a better opponent this time. And more U Hauls arrive from the North every day.
@Doug Mataconis: If Falwell had been banging the pool boy’s wife while the pool boy watched instead of the other way around he would have become a right wing hero. Maybe even Trump*/Falwell 2024.
* Senior or junior.
Not too long ago, New York became the biggest state to adopt ranked choice voting. It’s been used in several elections since then but it’s big rollout will come in June with the primary vote for Mayor of New York City. It will be interesting to see how it goes.
@CSK: Lindsey was still running for Prez at that point. He changed his tune just fine when the a new song served his interests.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Actually Graham dropped out of the 2016 race in mid-December 2015.
@Teve: Where’s a sniggering laugh emoji when you really need one?
@Teve:
Actually I think you’re maligning idiots by calling him one. But the words I’d use are unsuitable.
It looks like the “Anglo-Saxon” caucus is already deas
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/17/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-america-first-caucus/index.html
@Doug Mataconis:
She’s now claiming that the draft proposal came “from an outside group I hadn’t read.”
@CSKi
I saw that
@Teve:
Yes, Herb Plus Beadworks is definitely an essential healthcare service.
Also, they should restrict the curbside pickup to electric vehicles only.
@Teve: If a Hollywood dude believes a theory that everyone in Hollywood is raping children and harvesting their adrenal glands… we might want to check out that Hollywood dude. Just sayin’.
@Teve:
911? Looks more reminiscent of a Nissan 300/350 to me, at first glance.
@Gustopher:
The other attendees at this festival of lunacy were Mike Flynn, Mike Lindell, Sidney Powell, and L. in Wood.
@grumpy realist:
And what about Jutes, eh? Eh?
(My local Anglo-Saxon tribe were the Hwicce. One translation of which might be “The Wise Guys”, LOL.)
NASA awards $2.9:billion contract to build the new moon lander for Project Artemos
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/science/spacex-moon-nasa.html
@CSK: He thought he was talking about at the 2016 polls. He was wrong only about the timing of the fall.
@CSK: yeah I’ve heard that Graham quote a lot but the quote I’m thinking of was different and closer to my paraphrase, but damned if I’m drawing a complete blank every time I try to think of who said it.
@JohnSF: the roof line looks so 911 that I can’t find a profile shot of the car, only head-on and quarter profile. I think they’re trying to hide how obvious it is. Or I’ve just been a Porsche nut for 30 years and I’m seeing what I want to see.
@Doug Mataconis:
and sadly, as you noted w/r/t the ‘anglo-saxon caucus’, it’s getting worse. Trump wasn’t a fever dream they’re shaking off, but more like a base camp to party at before resuming the trek onwards and upwards.
@Teve:
Just found this pic and I see what you mean. Oh dear BM.
Personally still take the Jag over either.
Or maybe the Alpine.
@Teve: Another Graham quote from back nearer to 2012 was to the effect that the GOP needed to change because they were running out of “angry old white guys.” Is that what you are thinking of?
@JohnSF: WA! I didn’t even know that Alpines were still being made. And that Renault had purchased Sunbeam (which really shows my age).
No link button so picture goes here: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=uOrLPtrf&id=08CF48BA95AB941D58C0388D6E2032DE4DEFF478&thid=OIP.uOrLPtrf-eMfvy7Hu0ryzQHaE8&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fwikipedia%2fcommons%2fthumb%2fc%2fc7%2f1962_Sunbeam_Alpine_Series_II_Roadster_(12231417954).jpg%2f1200px-1962_Sunbeam_Alpine_Series_II_Roadster_(12231417954).jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fRb8eacb3edadff9e31fbf2ec7bb4af2cd%3frik%3dePTvTd4yIG6NOA%26pid%3dImgRaw&exph=800&expw=1200&q=sunbeam+alpine&simid=608029483565281852&ck=8B795AE587F7782C3239AB24400831C8&selectedIndex=0&FORM=IRPRST&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0
@Teve: the commander thinks aloud by the long winters.
https://youtu.be/kdtIjnpeolE
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Renault revived it some 10 years back IIRC.
But the Renault and the Sunbeam Alpines are different lineages.
The Renault one was French, started with the separate company Auotomobiles Alpines in the 50’s IIRC.
The Sunbeam one was British, a Rootes Group product.
My father had one of these back in the late 60s/early 70’s when he worked for Rootes/Chrysler UK
@JohnSF:
Thinking about it, as Renault now own Alpine, and Peugeot are the legatees of Rootes , so it could be a French Alpine (pronounced Al-peen) vs Alpine (pronounced Al-pyne) fight. LOL.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: no, I have a very clear memory of somebody saying ‘we can’t nominate Trump, if we nominate Trump it’ll prove the liberals were right all along’, but in early November 2016, events conspired such that I entered a two month long bender and I don’t trust my memories, but it feels like it really happened.
Maybe one day Google will direct my memories to the sendero luminoso of truth.
@Teve: (for the record, I mean sendero luminoso literally, not Sendero Luminoso the communist cult nutjobs)
@Teve:
Anyone else noticed that Google search for OTB is not returning results it should before c. 2020?
I call this “the 1990’s”.
I liked the 1990’s.
Probably.
@JohnSF: LOL. I do have some good memories of my 30s. There are also a few bars in downtown Raleigh I could sneak back into at this point. If ownership has changed. 😛
I vaguely remember a line from Peter O’Toole or John Barrymore, “Don’t ask what you did last night. It is better not to know.”
@JohnSF: @Teve:
There was a saying to the effect that if you could remember the sixties, you weren’t really there.
@CSK: I can understand how a former-coke-addict in the pillow business might believe the Q stuff, but Flynn always surprised me — hasn’t he been at a level where he would have been offered child endocrines? Or at least worked with people trying to actively stop it?
He’s a true believer. Does he really believe Trump had meetings on his schedule to break up a globalist pedophile ring? Was he always wondering why none of his classified briefings during his short tenure as National Security Advisor just skipped over US/Globalist-Pedophile-Ring-That-Runs-The-World relations?
@Doug Mataconis:
On the other hand, there are powerful people passing laws to allow genital inspections of teenagers… if that’s not a globalist pedophile ring letting the sheet slip, I don’t know, man.
After spending the lead up to Easter watching every version of Jesus Christ Superstar I could find, and slowly beginning to get used to the “new” song, “Couldn’t We Just Start Again?”…
My Spotify just played AJR’s “Can We Skip To The Good Part?” and if someone wanted to make Jesus Christ Snuff-Film, that would absolutely have to go in there where someone would like to get to crucifying Jesus already.
Thing is, I do remember. Never had the amnesiac thing a lot of people seem to.
Which is a bit cringe inducing at times. Though the exact sequence may be blurry.
Just sometimes more diplomatic to pretend memory failure.
@CSK:
Well, I remember the 90’s (ackshully c.95/05 ) and I’m pretty damn sure I was there. Or thereabouts.
Whether it was on exactly the same planet is another matter.
@Gustopher:
I’d rather have a full bottle in front of me than inspect genital anatomy.
@Teve:
Absolutely. We need to push back against all of that pernicious German, Irish, and Italian influence in America. I mean, they’re starting to expect to be treated the same as real people.
While we’re at it, let’s make the official national language Anglish.