Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, July 16, 2023
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27 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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Florida rocked by home insurance crisis: ‘I may have to sell up and move’
The time to sell is already past.
Sorry Phil, he’s too busy measuring for the drapes in the White House.
Donald Trump suggested yesterday that he might have underestimated Joe Biden: “Maybe he’s less sleepy than we thought.”
https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/
Graphing world overall temperature.
@charontwo:
I was blasted out of bed at 8:15 a.m. by a tornado warning on my cell phone. I’m in the most northeastern part of Mass.
@CSK:
We just had one in the Philly suburbs. No damage done.
A job well done Idaho GOP, congrats.
@CSK:
The first person plural seems to be his way of avoiding admitting he, personally, made a mistake. Is this the beginning of a personal reckoning?
“Maybe Mexico paid less for the wall than we thought.”
“Maybe we didn’t build a wall at all.”
“Maybe Covid was worse than we said it was.”
“Maybe the badger carcass sitting on our head does not make us look more distinguished.”
@Moosebreath:
Good to know.
@Kylopod:
I had the exact same thought. He never takes sole responsibility, as in “Who knew healthcare could be so complicated? Who? Well, me, for one.
@CSK:
That is actually a common misquote of what he said, and I find it interesting it’s so often misquoted in this way, because what he did say is even wilder. The exact quote was:
“Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.”
This statement is so utterly insane that I think most people were unable to digest the reality that any grown adult, let alone someone who became president of the US, actually said it. It’s like if he were shown a grand piano, he sat down and tried to punch a few notes, then announced that “Nobody knew piano-playing could be this difficult.” He isn’t expressing personal disbelief that the topic is more complicated than he thought it was, he’s making the affirmative statement that he is literally the first human being in all of world history to have made this discovery. He is implying that literally every person before him (including the millions of individuals who have ever worked in health care) thought it was a simple subject until he, Donald J. Trump, singlehandedly figured out otherwise. It’s a level of refusal to acknowledge any limitations—and attempt to spin those limitations as a triumph—that’s downright psychotic. That I think is why the quote is so often misremembered as a rhetorical question rather than a statement—it’s a way of subtly distancing ourselves from the sheer insanity of Trump’s narcissism.
h/t Balloon Juice: story and GoFundMe link for Ozark’s brother’s widow
And a direct link to the GoFundMe.
@Kylopod:
Here’s something interesting: The NYTimes and the Politico quote have him saying “Nobody knew…” The WaPo and and The Guardian quote him saying “Who could…”
I can just see the thought bubble over the reporters’ heads: “Did he say that? Did he actually say that?”
And speaking of asinine pronouncements from Trump, he told Maria Bartiromo last night that he would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours by telling Putin and Zelensky to make a deal.
@Jon:
That’s a wonderful picture of Dave and Renee. This is heartbreaking. Again, you have my deepest sympathy, Ozark.
@CSK:
That is interesting. I’ve been hearing the misquoted version for years, but I didn’t know it was reported that way in actual news articles. Here’s the clip where he says it:
https://youtu.be/b_8UFNQqk7k
@CSK: For sure, a great picture and such a great looking couple. Such a tragic loss and much love to the grieving family/families.
@CSK:
I have often disagreed with the comparisons some people make between Trump and Ross Perot, but this is very reminiscent of Perot’s promise to get the experts into a room to hash out an answer.
@Jon: Thank you for that reminder. Just contributed anonymously.
@CSK: Yeah. If only we all realized that telling them to settle was all it takes. 😐
@CSK: Sending my deepest condolences as well.
@Kylopod: I hope that I’m not unduly cynical, but why would the US want to end that war? Nato is bigger and stronger. The price of oil is stable. We have not needed to expend any blood. Is ending this war with Putin remaining in charge in our national interest? I can end the war in five minutes; stand Putin against a wall in a basement in Yekaterinburg.
As usual these days, I’m a day late. Sharing here for that reason.
I just read Steven’s article about history, and thought about one of my comments on his first article about Tulsa. I mentioned that in my pre-desegregation all-black elementary school, we had weekly black history lessons, usually focused on the lives of famous black historical figures. I don’t remember much about those lessons, but two stories stuck with me: when Harriet Tubman was a child, she was struck in the head with an iron weight by her master, and suffered lifelong headaches and dizzy spells as a result. And Frederick Douglass used to bribe poor white boys with sandwiches so they would teach him how to read.
Why did those two factoids stick with me? I assume because those were things that occurred in the lives of Tubman and Douglass as children, and I was a child at the time. In other words, I could identify with them.
I read somewhere, perhaps even here, that white Americans need better heroes, that we should do more to teach about the lives of white abolitionists, civil rights activists, etc. In other words, give white folks some heroes that are flawed, certainly, but more on the right side of history to identify with.
Likewise, as Hamilton showed us, many of the founding fathers were in their teen or college years. And the focus on MLK and Rosa Parks as standard bearers for the Civil Rights Movement obscures the fact that many, many of the activists were also teenagers or college students. Knowing more about that might help high school students identify with those stories.
@Jon: I went to donate, but for some reason donation is currently disabled.
They have a little over $13K at.this point. Maybe that’s what they needed? I’ll check back later.
In yesterday’s thread pummeling George Will, commenter Scott at 13:52 posted a link to the July 8, 1986 offering of Trudeau’s Doonesbury.
Just for fun I clicked the arrow to advance to July 9, 1986 and found commentary that might apply to an OTB contributor known only by three initials.
@Mikey: Yah, they closed it because the initial plan was somewhere between 5 and 10K and the 13K gets you there after taxes. I think they’re checking with OzarkHillbilly to see if he wants to re-open it to go above the initial goal.
Here’s the comment at BJ clarifying that.
@Jon: @CSK: @Just nutha ignint cracker: @Monala: @Mikey:
Going into moderation, but just want to say thanx to all, even if it was only for the thought. These have been hard weeks, even if I was not surprised.
@OzarkHillbilly:
We’re with you.
Good vibes to all you fools.