Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, October 11, 2020
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99 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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Oh-O Two Sunday forums
Today’s headline
Coyote found and removed from boat at yacht club in Lynn
Lindsey Graham says Black people can ‘go anywhere’ in South Carolina if conservative
It sounds even worse in context, because if they ever did, Republicans have no values anymore.
@Sleeping Dog: Hmmmm… 2 legged or 4 legged coyote?
Even the RW press will be beaten by the police.
Daily Caller reporters say cops beat them with nightsticks during Wauwatosa protest
@OzarkHillbilly:
Just a kit
@Sleeping Dog: Yep, the law and order Daily Caller who was cheering on the beatings of all those left wing BLM/antifa activists now finds it abhorrent that they would be subject to the same treatment.
The headline of the day-
Woman goes into labor and gives birth in the middle of taking the bar exam
The Florida headline of the day-
Coronavirus Florida: No daily case update on Saturday from DOH
Something tells me the eminent and world renowned physicians Doctors Fine, Howard, and Fine are among the signatories.
@Sleeping Dog:
Ah, well, you know the old ditty:
Lynn, Lynn,
City of sin.
They don’t go out
The way they came in.
Quote of the day:
“I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.”
-Martin Luther King in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize
source.
Arwa Mahdawi is, again, not mincing words:
Trump’s doctor Sean Conley, an individual whom I don’t regard as one wedded to the truth, says Trump is no longer contagious, according to ABC News.
@CSK:
Lynn, the Lawrence of the North Shore. My best friend grew up in Lynn a couple of blocks from the water, a few years ago we drove through that area and it was a slum. Lynn can’t even gentrify waterfront property and areas where you can stroll to the beach using a walker in 5 minutes.
You know those quality of life rankings that Massachusetts does so well with? Just imagine if the legislature ceded Lynn, Lawrence and probably Springfield to Mississippi or Alabama, how high the state would rank.
the Swamp that Trump Built
Worth posting again because this shows simply the most corrupt president in modern history.
I need a pair of dress shoes, and I’m feeling typically cheeky, so after not owning any Doc Martens in 20 years, and despite being 44, I just ordered a pair of 8053’s yesterday.
@Sleeping Dog:
Amazing, isn’t? Other than those three towns, Essex County is a great place to live. It certainly is one of the most beautiful.
It’s not impossible to improve once-deteriorating cities. Look at Lowell, particularly the downtown area. Personally, I think they ought to erect a statue to Paul Tsongas on every street corner. He really brought the place back from the dead. RIP, Paul.
This is interesting:
http://www.thebulwark.com/the-trumpist-death-cult/
@Teve:
Well, those ought to last you for the next, oh, 25 years.
The Bulwark has a bumper crop of good stuff today:
http://www.thebulwark.com/trumps-captain-queeg-crackup/
Note the photo of a masked Trump. He has the eyes of a feral pig.
@CSK: yeah i just need to learn how to take care of the leather. Mink oil? Leather conditioner? Got some learning to do.
Walking up and down the shore of the lake where I’m vacationing, Biden signs overwhelm Trump signs by about 20:1. The clear winner is the guy whose lawn features the following:
I still haven’t seen the one I want, which is “Trump/Putin 2020” — see who reads carefully.
The 50 Richest Americans Are Worth as Much as the Poorest 165 Million
More at the link.
@Teve:
Huberd’s Shoe Grease.
@DrDaveT: Should be “Putin/trump 2020” to reflect who the top dog really is.
@OzarkHillbilly:
As horrible as that is, it is a slight improvement over recent times. In 2011, the bottom 50% held 0.3% of the wealth. Within my lifetime, the median wealth in the US has been a negative number.
The raw stats are available at the Fed website.
@CSK:There is a test that explicitly establishes a patient is not contagious???
If not, the best Conley can say is that he thinks that Trump is not contagious.
Trust but don’t verify.
@CSK:
Here is a link with some really nice helpful graphics that I can’t embed:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/09/what-we-know-about-timeline-white-house-coronavirus-cluster-and-what-we-dont/
I think we can put Trump as symptomatic on Oct. 1, or perhaps Sep 30, less likely.
(Note: the timeline has contagious at Day 3, symptoms start Day 5).
@CSK:
I’m not as familiar with Springfield, but I chalk up the issues in Lynn and Lawrence to poor public and private leadership. I was in college and grad school during the Tsongas era and long after he was mayor he continued to have a positive influence on the Lowell, not only by being congress critter and senator, but more importantly, the people he brought into government in the city. Both as part of the bureaucracy and elected officials.
During that period both Lawrence and Lowell completed 25(?) year plans, as an assignment we were instructed to write a comparative critique of the plans, I can’t remember the details, but my recollection was Lowell’s plan had reasonable goals, clear objectives and a plan to meet them. Lawrence? You’re familiar with the gnome underpants business plan aren’t you.
Lowell had leaders dedicated to it and Lawrence had a bunch of public and private grifters. For Lawrence, that has continued into the 21st century. While the current mayor seems to be tending to the needs of the citizenry, how long was the city held in receivership by the state before he arrived?
The other Essex Cty city that gets forgotten in this comparison, is Haverhill. Its economic bottom was never as low as Lawrence or Lowell, the mills abandoned that city as well, but it continued to struggle along. It helped that its leadership after WWII was percipient enough to annex the townships that surrounded it thereby capturing the tax base of what became the suburbs.
@charon:
As long as I am posting linkies, here is the other I really like:
https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/covid-19-symptoms-progress-death-3536264/
@Teve:
Avoid petroleum based leather treatments, they actually contribute to the drying of the leather. Use saddle soap and a soft brush to dislodge grime and clean the leather followed up by a good leather treatment. The truth is that even if you do nothing but wear them, you’ll be able to will them to your grand daughter and maybe great grand daughter.
@Sleeping Dog:
I’ve seen a lot of contradictory info on this. Any suggestions about the leather treatment?
@Sleeping Dog:
Dan Rivera in Lawrence seems to be trying. Good luck to him.
What people always said about Tsongas was that he really, truly understood the importance of small businesses in bringing about urban renaissance, and it’s true–he did. Also, people actually live in downtown Lowell now, in old department store and mill buildings that have been converted to really gorgeous condos, so they have a vested interest in seeing the area improve.
Haverhill seems to be trying its best to imitate Lowell. I hope they succeed. By the way, if you’re ever on Washington St., have breakfast at The Artist Cafe there.
@Bob@Youngstown:
That’s why I say that I don’t have a great deal of faith in Conley’s pronunciamentos. He’s cowed by Trump.
@charon:
Good info.
God is a woman: ‘Smart’ male chastity device can be controlled by hackers, users warned
And She has a wicked sense of humor.
@Teve:
I’ve been using something called Boot Guard that I picked up a LL Bean and that seems to work well. Red Wing Shoes has something called Natural Leather Conditioner that is similar. A consideration in the choice of leather treatments is whether the leather is smooth or rough, typically on the label it will say if it is not recommended for rough out boots.
@CSK:
On the list for post-covid.
@Teve:
I own three pairs. The nice black ones. The beat to hell black ones. And the oxblood ones.
Oh, and the mid calf black boots too. Which I rarely wear anymore.
I picked up some US Navy recruit boots decades back with a steel box toe and steel sole plate. They weigh a ton, but worth every ounce. I clean them, but never shine them – scuffed is better. Those are good-ass Nazi kicking boots.
@Sleeping Dog:
Oh, boy, I just found out that The Artist Cafe is permanently closed. Damn, damn, damn. In addition to providing wonderful breakfasts–the chef would also make things to order–the owner-operator would display the work of local artists.
The food was fantastic.
@Teve:
Were it me, I’d get two pairs. Keep one pair fancy and pretty and buffed. The other to get scuffed and stay that way and get more scuffed through the years.
It’s good you are getting the ones with the padded collar. My oxbloods don’t and they chafe my ankles.
Just when you think Trump’s behavior couldn’t get any more ludicrously unbelievable:
According to the NYTimes, he wanted to appear frail when leaving Walter Reed. Then, after arriving at the White House and ascending the staircase, he would rip off his shirt to reveal, beneath it….a Superman t-shirt.
A Superman t-shirt.
He was dissuaded from doing this. The Trumpkins would have loved it. Talk about owning the libs, and all those dumb doctors.
I have a brown belt and brown shoes, but in practice I almost never wear them.
Black is a choice. Brown is a compromise.
@de stijl: The last pair I owned, 20 years ago, didn’t have that rolled collar, and they destroyed the skin over my achilles tendons.
@CSK: I would have liked to see how that actually went over, considering his difficulty breathing after ascending a short flight of stairs. Somehow I don’t think “Superman” and “obvious respiratory distress” really match up well.
@Mikey:
Maybe he figured that standing there saluting nothing for several minutes on end would convey a similar message without the unnecessary exertion of ripping open his shirt.
It occurred to me that the Superman t-shirt might be appropriate, if you think of Trump as the Man of Steal.
@CSK:
Toxic masculinity, tough guy dominates, defeats sissy virus. It’s why it’s more men that are aggressively anti-mask.
Of course, a living Ben Garrison cartoon.
The Trumpers are really into patriarchal sexism which, together with authoritarianism, is mostly what fundamentalist religiosity revolves around.
@OzarkHillbilly: case in point: Walker Bragman, who penned “The Progressive Case for Donald Trump” back in 2016, who tweeted about economic conditions are what led to the Michigan plot against the governor. He’s been thoroughly ratioed on Twitter, with this link as an example of an excellent takedown (including screenshots of Bragman’s original tweets).
@CSK:
Every villain thinks he is the superhero.
@charon:
I, too, thought of Ben Garrison when I read this. If he hasn’t already done a Trump-as-Superman cartoon, he must be hard at work on one now.
@Teve:
My friend Jenny had the mid calf boots in red. She was a total bad-ass.
@de stijl:..Black is a choice. Brown is a compromise.
Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Absolutely Free
This opus is so NOT suitable for even this blog I shall not provide a link. If you want to review this depravity you are on your own.
However just in case Donald Trump is reading OTB today I share this passage from the libretto.
@de stijl: when i was young i wore the typical 1460, but I’m going for an older and more professional look now.
Yo! @JohnSF , another ’90s band:
Aztec Camera
The Crying Scene (I’m saving up my tears)
Good Morning, Britain (ft. Mick Jones)
They do a solid-ass cover of True Colors.
I own The Crying Scene on 12 inch vinyl.
@Monala:
Dr Taber owns Mr. Bragman (interesting name), that leaves me wondering how large a corn cob she will use on him.
@Teve: If you’re not going to use Kiwi (and it may not be a good idea–I can’t see the finish on the leather) neatsfoot, mink or some other oil will work fine. I used to use saddle soap to clean shoes that I didn’t put polish on, but my shoes were buck and oil discolored the leather.
@Teve:
Screw that!
Maybe this is just me, but I really do not want to be in business with someone who is too professional, too polished.
When I changed banks, they initially set set me up with a personal banker who was slick as ice and a Wharton graduate. He might be a fine dude, but that level of polish is a solid turn-off to me when it comes to money.
I went with the scrappy young woman with a BA from St. Kate’s with visible tattoos. She had pink roots. I want someone who does not view money as a game; someone who knows what next month’s rent feels like personally. Plus, she’s funny and really smart.
I know I am well outside the norm on this.
Be polished and professional, but not too much so. I am telling you what to do, which is very bad. Be you.
@CSK: Yeah! I could see the label on the can in my mind’s eye but couldn’t see the name. 🙁 Used in on work boots and hiking boots back when I could still hike.
@Teve: Also, if you really intend to have them last for decades, have you figured out where you’ll take/send them to be resoled? I ask because the nearest cobbler to me is about 80 miles away and didn’t do a good job the last time–the sole came apart almost immediately. 🙁
@Bob@Youngstown: In this case, distrust and do verify would probably be more prudent. 😉
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Have you seen the soles on Doc Martin’s?
It would take you centuries to wear them down.
@de stijl: Get a pair of heel cup inserts for your oxblood shoes. Not enough lift to change your gait, but enough to lift your ankle out of the chafing zone. I put them in my bowling shoes. Bought mail order, but it was the only way to get 2-tone ones like bowling alleys have. 🙂
(Bowling in shoes that aren’t two-toned is just wrong. 🙁 )
@CSK: I wish he’d done it. That would have been hilarious! That would have broken the internet!
@de stijl: Brown shoes harken back to when I was a teenager and businessmen still wore brown or olive suits. Haven’t seen an olive suit in about 50 or 60 years.
I bought a sixer of Pilsner Urquell last time at the store.
The bottles are brown.
Didn’t they used to be green? I swear they used to be green. Am I misremembering?
@de stijl:
About 15 years ago I went from being a black shoe guy to being a brown shoe guy. I’ve been happier — more open, more comfortable with myself, less trying to be something I’m not.
Brown shoes have a warmer, friendlier look, and look better beaten up.
@de stijl: Now, the peppermint green… that’s a choice.
https://www.drmartens.com/us/en/p/26069983
I think it would be a very good choice.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I have a summer suit in light olive and a winter suit in dark olive with black stripes.
I can look sharp as shit when I put my mind to it.
Always with black belt and shoes. Blue or white shirt and a burgundy or gold tie.
@de stijl: I’ve routinely worn out the soles on even hiking boots in about a year-18 months. But I used to wear the same shoes almost every day and was on my feet for 10-14 hours at a go, so ymmv. The soles on my work shoes were always heavy enough that I used to change shoes to drive so that I was sure I was feeling the gas and brake pedals accurately.
Even now, I have only two or 3 pairs of shoes–including my winter boot with lug soles in case it snows. I’ve almost never owned more than 2 pairs of shoes at a time.
@Gustopher:
Be you. Not judging you at all. (Well, maybe a tiny bit.)
I feel way more comfortable and me in black.
@de stijl: No. I sometimes drank Pilsner Urquell when I was in Korea and I remember green bottles too.
@Gustopher: It’s of no use and no interest to anyone, I bet, which makes it a perfect memory item in my odd brain, but there is an interesting intramural split in the US Navy between the Aviators (the ‘brown shoe navy’) who favor khakis and Surface Warfare Officers who wear the black shoes and dress uniforms.
Quiz on Tuesday!
Help! Moderation done got me!
@de stijl: I’d have to see it, but to my sense, the light olive with black shoes and belt would not coordinate well. But I am pretty provincial. If the dark olive looks good with the black stripe–and I assume it must or the mill wouldn’t make the fabric–the black belt and shoes may be the only good combination. Black will overrule all other considerations–again, in my provincialism.
I can’t remember the last time I saw suitings in anything other than charcoal, blue or grey. Then again, I haven’t looked for suits since I had some made while I was in Korea, either. (One charcoal, a blue banker stripe, and a grey hopsack for summer wear.)
I see guys in navy or gray suits sporting a brown belt and brown shoes.
Part of me says “Not your business. Pay attention to what he says and how he acts.”
Part of me also says “That is SO wrong.”
We are all shallow in our own ways. I usually am pretty non-judgey about looks and hair and clothes, but in certain contexts I am judgey. In no way is that absolute. A brown shoe fella can also be really good at his job.
I was always more comfortable with women. My first real office job was me, 27 women and one other guy. I lack the knowledge to judge their attire.
@Gustopher:
I lean towards the yellow. Who has yellow boots? You see yellowish wellies in the UK sometimes.
Nobody in the US wears wellies except dairy farmers and those are usually black or dark green.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I wore bowling shoes for years. Black and burgundy. Really good for dancing, btw.
Not good on pavement. I wore a hole in the sole in front of the instep.
Loved those shoes. Do not wear when it is raining.
Theoretically, one could wear down a Doc Martin’s sole. It would take you decades or longer.
@de stijl:
Half of all humans in the 1980s Transformers cartoon.
@de stijl: navy can work with brown. Usually doesn’t, though. But with a chocolate brown, totally doable. Add a light blue and chocolate brown tie.
I stick to olives and browns in my suits, and I haven’t worn a suit in ages. Plaid brown pants and a brown suit jacket is as formal as I go these days.
@Gustopher:
Solid point.
There was a Saturday morning show. There was a pink girl, a blue boy, a somebody green, and a red one (ostensibly not a Communist).
Not Go-Bots. That was a Transformers rip-off.
When I search “Pink girl Japan cartoon” Google suggests salacious sites.
The action scenes were just ripped from the Japan version but they substituted Western actors for the talky bits in between.
I cannot recall the name for the life of me.
Btw, best Saturday morning show ever was Pee Wee’s Playhouse. IFC sometimes does a late night run. Cowboy Carl is Lawrence Fishburn who has a monster crush on Miss Yvonne. Captain Carl. Chairy. Globey.
There should be a word for not being able to search because you lack the terms.
You stare blankly at the search box flummoxed.
The Germans probably already have this one covered. Lacking the terms to do a proper search.
I come in sideways all the time. Who was that actor in that one movie?
If I can recall one name I can go to imdb and scroll down their CV and find it and use that to find what I was after.
@Teve:
For every 2008 there is a a 2010.
R voters are better at showing up in off-year elections.
Reaction is a strong motivator.
@Teve:
Article at Politico on the future of the R’s and how Gen Z could be the death of Trumpism.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/11/gen-z-fall-trumpism-gop-realignment-424171
Certainly, upcoming generations that are diverse and happy about it and not religious will drive a stake through the R stool of warmongers, bigots and fundamentalists. They can’t continue to be competitive and keep advocating for that coalition.
Seems the NFL isn’t handling covid any better than the WH.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/10/11/sports/postponing-patriots-broncos-game-was-necessary-avoid-an-nfl-player-revolt/
@de stijl: Do you mean Power Rangers?
@wr:
Yes! Thank you!
Seen on Facebook:
13 = I am the worst number.
666 = No, I am the worst number.
2020 = Bitches, please.
And on a Boston theater marquee:
“I think we can stop bragging about having been through the Blizzard of 78.
2020 wins.”
Aztec Camera do a slow tempo slightly off-key version of Van Halen’s Jump.
It is so different that it takes people a minute or two to realize that this is that song.
All respect to Eddie. RIP
An excerpt from The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War — a Tragedy in Three Acts
By Scott Anderson
This was 1984.
Not that long ago I would not think anything like this could happen in the United States in my lifetime. But then it struck me it already has.
@Monala: Walker Bragman should live where I live. White trash don’t live among trash because they are poor, (I’ve been poor, I know poor, I also know trash, and the 2 don’t mix without a healthy dose of LAZY) they live among trash because they are TOO FUCKING GAWD DAMNED LAZY TO PICK IT UP!!! And there is a difference between trash and junk. Junk, which the poor also accumulate is stuff that might actually be useful someday. Trash… is just trash. Some people can’t tell the difference (usually better off folks but some who just don’t want to) but live out here in the hills and hollers for a while, and you can soon tell the difference.
Also, I wonder if mr. bragman has priced the cost of ammo lately. Even if one reloads, it ain’t cheap. And from the sound of the firefights coming from the local shooting range, these idiots have more than enough money.
@de stijl: I wear wellies.
@Mister Bluster: Yep.
I was just now watching highlights from tonight’s NBA game on YouTube, when an ad interjected, and in the split second before I could hit mute, I heard, “President Trump will protect preexisting conditions from the Big Government libera-”
Trump ads are aimed at the most clueless people we have.
@Teve: Saw a Trump ad yesterday.
As far as I’m aware all he’s ever done on SS and Medicare is to talk about cutting the payroll tax. But then, as you note, his ads aren’t targeted at me.
@Teve: “Trump’s ads are aimed at the most clueless people we have”…. Well, you’re watching them….
‘Course I see ’em too on the sports pages. But I bet we’re both noticed they’re remarkably outspent by the DNC/Biden ads…
@OzarkHillbilly:
You are a practical person.
Remember galoshes? Stupidest thing ever. Protect dress shoes from water in the clumsiest way. A smart person would wear practical footwear during the getting there part and then switch out to dress shoes if that were required.
The deformalization of dress codes during my lifetime has been remarkable.
No one needs a suit to be professional. The concept is stupid. It harkens back to an age where only rich people could afford the money to buy one.
I have worn a suit three times in the last ten years. I’ve worn a tie once in that same span; I was surprised my hands remembered how to tie a half Windsor knot.
I spent a lot of money on clothes I never wear anymore. (I have some bitchin’ great ties)
This trend is to the good. And way overdue.
The thought that clothes make the person is fundamentally flawed. It takes surplus money to buy needlessly expensive and impractical clothing. That means that only the relatively wealthy are allowed those positions.
Away with all of that classist idiocy.
I prefer the now where wearing a suit and tie is seen as grasping and pretentious.
When I was a kid fashion had gone insane and thought that ludicrously over wide lapels and stupidly fat ties should be the norm. Let’s not even talk about leisure suits in pastels. There is a lot to hate about the 70s.
Away with all of that nonsense.
@de stijl:
Missed this (maybe past my bedtime!): yep, Aztec Camera Stray excellent album.
Get Outta London!
I’ve heard some other good stuff, but Stray wins for my money.
1990 was an excellent year for music! Lets see:
Nowhere
Bossanova
Heaven or Las Vegas
Violator
I Don Not Want What I Cannot Have
Ragged Glory
Aion
She Hangs Brightly
Behaviour
This Is Our Music
Facelift
Time’s Up
Black Sheets of Rain
Little Fluffy Clouds single
Vision Thing
En-Tact
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Some Friendly
One hell of a year!
(Souixsie’s Peepshow and Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden both a couple of years prior, but still feels 1990 to me! Cause I was listening to them a lot!)