Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, May 29, 2022
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32 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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For your entertainment:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/06/02/the-100-greatest-descriptions-of-donald-trumps-hair-ever-written/
This is why high speed rail will not replace commercial aviation in the US any time soon.
It’s not as though this is a burning question. But trains are being pushed as a lower emissions alternative to short haul air travel. In the case of LA to SF, an effective train trip of 3 hours, counting stops and time at the departing station, would be about as fast as flying. Nominal flight time is around 90 minutes, but adding time at the departing airport for check-in (if any) and going through security, makes the whole endeavor take about 150-200 minutes.
Before you can make comparisons, though, a rail system needs to be built.
@Kathy:
The US can no longer build anything, forget high speed rail, forget light rail in urban areas, forget transitioning to renewable sources of energy. Between the balkanization of approving authorities and the reflexive partisan bickering, nothing gets done. Except maybe highways in TX.
Another reality is that if your trip is less than 250 mi, door-to-door, you can drive it faster than you can fly.
Of course, the bloggers here and almost all commenters bought this particularly stupid story hook, line and sinker. Many a keystroke was wasted. People of sounder mind saw the utter silliness early on. And John Solomon and Sara Carter had the general contours of the nonsense for anyone honest enough to actually listen. Its as big a blackeye for this site as the so called journalists who dishonestly peddled it, and the institutions like the FBI who participated in it. And yet, I suspect the Bulwark will be quoted here liberally this week. Some things you just can’t fix.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/shouldnt-hillary-clinton-be-banned?s=r
@Drew:
Both verified liars. Solomon has so little credibility even Fox gave him the boot.
All you have on your side are liars, starting at Liar-in-Chief Trump.
@Drew: Tim Miller did a nice rundown on this for you over at the Bulwark. š
Shorter Drew: BENGHAZI!!!! because he knows who the real criminal is.
@Drew: Imagine citing a delusional Hillary Derangement Syndrome lunatic like Matt Taibbi (last seen insisting Putin would never wage war on Kyiv — what a moron) lol
Trump colluded and is a Putin stooge. He publicly called for Russia to steal emails, he lied about his Russian business deals, his scampaign met with Russian operatives in Trump Tower to exchange election meddling for ending sanctions and lied about it, his scampaign removed support for Russian sanctions from the GQP platform, and both Trump’s white supremacist advisor Steve Bannon and Trump’s Russian spy campaign manager Paul Manafort (who helped Putin rig elections in Ukraine) used the stolen data to help Cambridge Analytica and Wikileaks coordinate propaganda cyberattacks with the Kremlin.
Then Drama Queen Donnie was impeached for illegally denying Ukraine military aid to blackmail Zelensky and weaken NATO on Putin’s behalf. Treason Trump has since repeatedly praised Putin’s warmongering in Ukraine.
The misdirections of useful idiot Russian assets like you, Taibbi, Trump, Greenwald, Tracey and the rest cannot explain away or change any of that. Dry your bitter MAGA Tears and get over it, boo. It’s 2022.
āThe truth is out thereā – Drew invokes The X-Files as his credible source.
TURLEY!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahaha… hee.
@Drew:
You show up here and throw out the names of known liars as your sources and then have the gall to tell me this? Hahahahahahaha! Irony is well and truly dead.
@Drew: Oh, look, Drew’s lying again. And attempting to buttress his position by quoting some of the most loathesome people in media. Oh, and birds fly.
Drew… Ah, Drew. You’re almost as entertaining as the cartoons I watched as a child 60 years ago. And you make almost as much sense as the gadgets from the Acme catalog. Beep beep!
āThe truth is out thereā
The X-Files aka Science Fiction.
To which I reply:
“Side by side with the nonsense.”
@DK: āscampaignā is a brilliant branding word. It should be used by Democrat politicians from Biden to the local dog catcher when describing Trumper candidatesā¦particularly Ron Desantis
A British tabloid, the Mirror, quoting an unnamed (of course) FSB officer, is claiming that Putin is losing his sight and has only 2-3 years left to live.
ETA: So is The Independent.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Strike One: Matt Taibbi
Strike Two: Jonathan Turley lol
Dear Lord. Any bets on who’ll be dragged up from the pundit gutter to complete the trifecta of half-baked hot takes? My money’s on Andrew “Trig Truther” Sullivan.
@Jim Brown 32: I’d trademark it if I wasn’t sure someone else somewhere wasn’t already using it first.
@Mikey:
Not to mention The Hill had to investigate him and found serious issues with his editorializing on Ukriane (which they ran as editorials verus reporting because of historic issues with his brand of activist journalism).
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/19/hill-john-solomon-failed-disclose-details-115976
Heck, he set up his own news service to avoid oversight.
But Drew loves deciding his position first and then finding the people to back him up. Trying to seriously consider different views clearly trigers his deep intellectual insecurity. I’m just waiting until he eventually posts a long screed about how Dinesh D’Souza was right all along.
@DK: “Dear Lord. Any bets on whoāll be dragged up from the pundit gutter to complete the trifecta of half-baked hot takes?”
Dibs on Greenwald.
I think there are some lawyers here. How is this Suporeme Court decision not getting coverage? You can use your personal money to get elected then after you are elected you can use donations to pay back that loan. At that point they arent running for office they are in office. It is license to give money in return for favors.
Steve
Oops
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/16/supreme-court-finance-regulation-ted-cruz-00032692
The gods hate me.
Water Street Brewery has been closed for a year. The Scotch egg has gone extinct in the Midwest.
Apparently this item was published five days before the carnage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde TX. I’m guessing it was not required reading for Texas law enforcement.
@Mu Yixiao:
Perhaps you can lay hands on some bangers and mash, or a nice spotted dick.
@Mu Yixiao:
Not quite. Thereās a place here in Chicago that has good scotch eggs.
https://www.pleasanthousepub.com/
Great food. Which is wild to say about British cuisine.
@Kathy:
Another barrier, aside from those others have mentioned, is the right of way needed across private lands. A process that, in CA, would be billions of dollars worth of land and and an incalculable amount, possibly exceeding a year’s national GDP, in legal fees. The days when Uncle Sam could just wave a wand and move people and take land for public works have largely past.
On the theme of “oh my merciful f*kng JHNC,” I present the following, courtesy of Gizmodo:
Obviously, Mssr. Jones is continuing in his effort to out-vile the Orange One.
https://gizmodo.com/infowars-alex-jones-crypto-donation-sandy-hook-lawsuits-1848985979
@Flat Earth Luddite: On the plus side, every crypto dollar shoved into his wallet is currently losing value on the daily. Not sure where the bottom’s gonna be, but it’s not gonna be where it was 9 months ago. š
@Jax:
It’s true, and I’m always appreciative of the hamster wheel of karma rolling over the deserving ones. I’m just sick of the anonymous supporters of vile excuses like M. Jones. Really, dude/dudette, stand up and be counted! Don’t cower behind Jones’ impressive bulk.
@Flat Earth Luddite: I used to think we needed a good plague…Now I just wish we could put all the anti whatever’s on a deserted planet and let them Ayn Rand themselves to death.
@Beth:
Nope. All others are pale imitations. Scotch eggs *must* come from the Water Street Brewery–with seasoned waffle fries and a pint of whatever the special beer is (unless it’s fruity).