Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, January 21, 2024
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17 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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I applaud this fleecing of fragile far right, gun toting, snowflake rubes:
Revealed: far-right figures try to create Christian nationalist ‘haven’ in Kentucky
Gee, really? Hoocudanode?
Heh, $88,500 an acre for an unimproved lot? Just so they don’t have to rub elbows with people like me?
My wife and I bought our 12.5 acres of hill and holler for $87,500 back in 2010. It had a house (that needed quite a bit of work), a garage, well, and septic. AFAIK, I am the only Lefty for miles in any direction. They could just move out here for a whole lot less money, but they’d have to tolerate seeing my rolling liberal billboard of a truck every now and again and I guess that might be too much for their precious little hearts to handle.
I am sure there are some of these communities that are honest but the possibility of scamming, as pointed out, is so high. People like Allen Stanford are famous since he made billions off of convincing people he was a fellow Christian but if you follow scandals it’s very common for lesser amounts of money. My long time boss was one of the best Christians I have known and one of the best docs I have known, but OTOH we had docs in our community that were scamming pts who trusted them just because they thought the doc was a Christian and prayed for them. 2 of the worst surgeons I have known always prayed with pts before and after their surgery. Unfortunately, the prayers didnt really work.
Anyway, family used to ask me about this and I always told them to not go to a doc, or any professional, just because they claim to be a Christian. The ones in the MAGA crowd stopped ignoring that advice, with mixed results.
Steve
@OzarkHillbilly: @steve:
When I was a kid, I learned from my father NEVER to trust anyone who bloviated about being a good Christian.
The modern Republican Party is an oligarchy of wealthy funders who want only tax cuts for themselves and an absence of regulation of their businesses. No one would vote for this so they’ve constructed a “populist” facade based on culture issues but giving the populus nothing substantive. Who would support this? Gullibility is the thread that ties Republicanism together. So yes, of course they’re the market for overpriced lots. And gold and NFTs and pillows.
@steve: @CSK: In my experience, the louder one brags about their Christian bona fides, the less Christian they are.
@CSK:
Didn’t a Middle-eastern kid say this a couple of thousand years ago, something about “sackcloth and ashes”? What is that his followers call themselves?
I’d forgotten how crummy a cold can be. The miserable night happened yesterday. I must have awoken five or six times to blow my nose, and to drink water (that’s why I placed a box of tissues on the bed and a big glass of water, with a straw, on the nightstand). The last one, at 3:30 am, I couldn’t get back to sleep.
I tried several times anyway, after being up a bit and doing something else. I finally gave up around 5 and made coffee.
Somehow I managed to make breakfast, go to two stores, then the office to drop off supplies, and I even napped for almost one hour around 11 am. I still have to cook. I was going to make bean soup, rice, and chilaquiles. I think I’ll forego the latter.
Good thing I didn’t catch the strain going around the office during Hell Week. That would have finished me.
@Kathy: Hoping you have a speedy recovery.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Thanks.
But it’s just a cold, not the trump disease. As symptoms started on Tuesday, it will be gone between next Tuesday and Saturday (7 to 10 days, plus margin).
Meantime, the instant pot took some time pressurising, then said it began to count down 15 minutes. I’m skeptical of that time, but all my research says soaked beans should cook that quickly under high pressure. Then 20 more minutes to let the pressure be released “naturally.”
As if there’s anything natural about pressure cookers.
@Kathy: I’m also having a cold. I first started noticing symptoms last Wednesday evening when I had to drink a glass of water before speaking at a meeting. But I think I caught it from a gathering the previous weekend.
I tested negative twice on Covid home tests, and I’m not running a fever–in fact my temperature has been lower than normal for several days, 97 range.
While it’s relatively mild, it’s the biggest sickness I’ve had since 2020.
DeSantis out.
@Kylopod:
I most likely caught mine at the office. It’s been going around, and I’ve relaxed my measures around the 27th time the pandemic was declared over, and, looking back on it, two weeks after I got the latest COVID booster.
On the instant pot, all done! 😀
I neglected some aspects of my recipe, like lentils and adding sausage, so results were a bit suboptimal. But, this is the way to cook beans. All told, not counting soaking, it took under an hour, vs 2-3 hours on regular stove top.
And not just fast, but well. The white beans would have benefitted from another five minutes under pressure (something to think about next time), but they were still better cooked (aka softer) than any other method I’ve used before. All the other varieties were perfect.
About the only major issue I see with pressure cooking is getting the time right. Between the time it takes to pressurize, “naturally” release some pressure, and then unnaturally depressurize. If you find things undercooked, it will take a while to add just a few more minutes cooking. It would possibly be best then to turn to the saute/sear function with the lid on, if the machine doesn’t object.
I haven’t felt this good about a sizeable purchase since I got a Nexus 7 in 2013 (may it rest in peace).
Please get me out of moderation, I feel the walls closing in.
SNL does Alaska (video about 1/3 down the page).
I agree with the commentary on the blog that SNL should have roasted Boeing. But I also thought it was funny, near disaster and all.
It’s not as though I spent any time figuring out how the KC at Buffalo game would go. I do know I never imagined it would end with “wide right.”
I just looked at the Buffalo Bills Wikipedia page.
Under Personnel it lists:
Owner(s): Kansas City Chiefs
President: Patrick Mahomes
(I wonder how long it will stay like that?)
It’s already been changed back.
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s not an insult; it’s a rebuke. Deep down, they know they are shitty people. Being reminded of that is the thing they can’t stand. It’s the grand scale version of reckless, inconsiderate drivers who flip out when people honk at them.