Sunday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. OzarkHillbilly says:

    The US is now actively aiding and abetting illegal immigrants to the point of providing seats on special flights to America.

    You laugh, but just you wait. It will be the lead story on Tucker Carlson’s show every night this week.

    1
  2. OzarkHillbilly says:

    The Delta variant has caused a third COVID-19 surge in Texas, with the highest hospitalization numbers since March. The Houston region alone had more COVID-19 patients admitted than 47 states.

    2
  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    It’s a problem that, a century ago, anyone on a ship in the Arctic Circle just didn’t have to worry about: where is all the ice? Yet this was the unexpected stumbling block faced by the film-makers of a forthcoming BBC thriller set in the Arctic in the 1850s.

    The North Water is an epic five-part adventure about an ill-fated 19th-century whaling expedition into the Arctic. In the pursuit of realism, its producers realised that they could not rely on special effects. Nor would shooting it in a studio tank or off the coast of Britain achieve the authenticity of filming in the Arctic, however extreme the conditions and challenges.

    But, in travelling north to shoot the drama in a wilderness of pack ice, they ended up – thanks to the effects of global heating – just 22 miles away from the north pole.

    Those Chinese are taking this global warming hoax just a little too far.

    5
  4. Teve says:

    Apple Yanks Anti-Vax Version of Tinder From the App Store

    Besides being a dating and friendship app for anti-vaxxers, Unjected also falsely claims that being near vaccinated people can have adverse effects.

    3
  5. Kurtz says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It may be too far. But let’s be honest, how diabolical is it, really? It can’t be that hard to push a glacier off the edge of the Earth. The trickiest part is NASA’s military wing.

  6. Paine says:

    The Daily Show put together a good clip of Fox hosts downplaying the threat of Covid when – wait for it – trump was president; and then exaggerating its threat when – wait for it – Biden is president and illegal immigrants are the possible vector. These people really have no shame.

    4
  7. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Teve: Unjected also falsely claims that being near vaccinated people can have adverse effects.

    Must disagree. If I have my pick handle handy…

    4
  8. charon says:

    https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1421616784034127876

    This never had to happen = failure to mount coordinated US Govt opposition vs antiscience disinformation empire. We know who caused this: Far right extremists, elected members US Congress and news outlets, the “disinformation dozen” NGOs, Russian weaponized health communication

    3
  9. charon says:

    I have no idea if this is true or not:

    https://twitter.com/dmbtrivia2/status/1421643446104719367

    We should be pushing people to use the most effective vaccine. The mRNA vaccines are NOT the same. Moderna’s is ~3x the dose amount and per various studies that are finally coming out, Moderna does better producing an immune response.

    Pfizer is a PR/media powerhouse.

  10. charon says:

    https://twitter.com/dmbtrivia2/status/1421643027655716865

    Do you think it’s time we admit that the 100mcg that Moderna went w/ for their vaccine is significantly better than the 30mcg that Pfizer used?

    It’s anecdotal, but if you read through the Reddit groups (for ex: https://reddit.com/r/COVID19positive/) there are WAY more Pfizer breakthroughs.

  11. Michael Cain says:

    @charon:

    Pfizer is a PR/media powerhouse.

    Yep. Pfizer put up money to conduct the expensive clinical trials, and marketed like crazy. The vaccine itself is pure BioNTech.

    Announced yesterday, the FDA is juggling resources and putting off some of their other work in order to speed up the process to fully license (or not) the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

  12. Teve says:

    @zeynep

    Every piece of data from real-life shows the vaccines work very, very well— yes, even against Delta. Just checked US vaccine breakthrough hospitalizations. It’s 6,587 people among the ~163,000,000 vaccinated: or 0.004%. Three fourths are elderly— as happens with other diseases.

  13. Teve says:

    Business Insider
    Kevin McCarthy reportedly joked about hitting Nancy Pelosi with a speaker’s gavel during a GOP fundraising dinner

    House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joked about casual violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a glitzy fundraising dinner in Tennessee on Saturday night, according to several reporters who were at the event.

    During a speech to around 1,400 GOP donors, McCarthy reportedly spoke optimistically about the Republicans’ chances for retaking the majority in the House following the 2022 midterm elections.

    McCarthy went on to say that, should the GOP manage to flip the House in 2022 and if he were to become the speaker, he would find it difficult to resist hitting Pelosi with the speaker’s gavel, The Washington Post’s Michael Scherer said on Twitter.

    “It will be hard not to hit her with it but I will bang it down,” McCarthy joked, according to Scherer.

    “What a moron.”

    1
  14. CSK says:

    Sarah Palin told a conservative Christian crowd in Pasadena that if God wants her to do so, she’ll run for the senate in 2022.

    I suppose there’s always room for one more clown in the circus, but I think all the former Palinistas have long since transferred their allegiance to Trump.

    2
  15. Sleeping Dog says:

    @CSK:

    Saw that she is mulling over a run for Murkowski’s seat, the primary attack ads write themselves; Didn’t know that Tucson (or wherever she lives in AZ) was a community in Alaska.

    2
  16. Stormy Dragon says:

    @Teve:

    Unjected also falsely claims that being near vaccinated people can have adverse effects.

    Being the target of public ridicule is an adverse effect!

  17. CSK says:

    @Sleeping Dog:
    I’m sure she’s just marketing her brand, to whatever extent there’s a market for it. According to the Anchorage Daily News, she lives mostly in the family homestead on Lake Lucille in Wasilla, and for the low, low price of $199, she’ll make a Cameo video wishing your grandma or spouse or whoever a happy birthday or happy anniversary.

    I think the house in Arizona was sold before she even lived in it.

    1
  18. Kylopod says:

    @CSK:

    I suppose there’s always room for one more clown in the circus, but I think all the former Palinistas have long since transferred their allegiance to Trump.

    But she isn’t challenging Trump, she’s hoping to get on the Trump train and score an endorsement from him.

    The larger question is whether she’s simply thought of as old news. And I hate to say it, but part of her appeal in the first place was her youthful good looks; I remember Palinista men being interviewed in 2008 and gushing over how she was “hot.” With her pushing 60, that’s going to be harder to achieve.

  19. Kylopod says:

    @Sleeping Dog: Additionally, her endorsement of Joe Miller against Murkowski in 2010 was notable as one of the big failures to knock out a Republican incumbent.

  20. CSK says:

    @Kylopod:
    I never said that she was challenging Trump–that would be suicide–but that many of her former acolytes have moved on from her to Trump.

    She’d be challenging Lisa Murkowski, an issue complicated by the fact that Trump has already endorsed Murkowski’s other Republican opponent.

    I doubt she’ll run. The past few years have brought her only bad publicity: various out-of-wedlock pregnancies by her eldest daughter, her oldest son’s multiple arrests for domestic violence, the whole family’s participation in a drunken brawl…

    This is just a grift.

    4
  21. Kylopod says:

    @CSK:

    Trump has already endorsed Murkowski’s other Republican opponent.

    I didn’t realize that. If that’s the case, she would be effectively challenging Trump by entering the race.

  22. CSK says:

    @Kylopod:
    Yes, but it’s very likely moot. How many times has Palin teased the possibility of running for something.

  23. Gustopher says:

    @Teve:

    Apple Yanks Anti-Vax Version of Tinder From the App Store

    Big mistake. Apple should be working to help the untaxed segregate themselves into a covid ghetto to protect the rest of us.

    1
  24. JDM says:

    60% of White-Tailed Deer, in Michigan, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

    https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/one_health/downloads/qa-covid-white-tailed-deer-study.pdf

    Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 were detected in 33 percent of the 481 samples collected from January 2020 through 2021 in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania.

    The results varied by State;
    Illinois = 7 percent of samples contained antibodies
    Michigan = 60 percent
    New York =18 percent
    Pennsylvania = 34 percent

    1
  25. Stormy Dragon says:

    For the 40th anniversary of MTV:

    And @MTV gave Andy Warhol his own show, which resulted in Ian McKellen reciting a Shakespeare sonnet backed by The Fleshtones https://t.co/Ht8l90UOiN— Michael Lobel (@mlobelart) August 1, 2021

    1
  26. dazedandconfused says:

    @CSK:
    Palin has a practically insurmountable mountain to climb. The press has Greene, Boebert, Gaetz, not to mention Trump Himself, to turn to for entertaining batshit nuts material these days.

    3
  27. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: The past few years have brought her only bad publicity: various out-of-wedlock pregnancies by her eldest daughter, her oldest son’s multiple arrests for domestic violence, the whole family’s participation in a drunken brawl…

    In today’s GOP those incidents will only serve to endear her to the base even more.

    2
  28. CSK says:

    @dazedandconfused:
    True. She looks almost normal beside that crew.

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    You may well be right.

  29. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: Pretty sure a fair percentage of the trumpsters around here have records. I can easily see them claiming her as one of their own.

  30. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Back in 2014, shortly after the Palins’ epic party-crashing/drunken brawl escapade, I encountered a Palin fan and made some mildly critical comment about these latest hijinks. The Palin fan immediately flared up and said: “Just because you come from a boring family is no reason to criticize Sarah’s.”

    I confess I had never before heard “boring” equated with “non-criminal.”

    4
  31. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: Rednecks and hillbillies are proud of getting their asses kicked by cops. First thing they do after getting out on bail is brag about how many cops it took to take them down. I never had much patience for such folks. One guy, I pulled out of several situations not knowing wtf set ’em off. And then I finally saw it. Thought I was gonna die. Literally.

    Super nice guy, you’d never guess it but a stupid belligerent drunk. A Marine, he was gonna take on the world. Not with my help, I was done after that.

    3
  32. OzarkHillbilly says:

    ChapmanHorse racing Retweeted
    Rex ChapmanHorse racing
    @RexChapman

    In case you needed a happy cry today. Take a minute…

    Four leaf cloverFlag of IrelandShamrockWat_the_dueceShamrockFlag of IrelandFour leaf clover
    @Wat_the_deuce
    · Jul 31
    Amazing, one of the best videos I’ve ever seen

    2
  33. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I love the way she raises her face and smiles that lovely, joyous smile at the end.

  34. Bob@Youngstown says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: makes my day!

  35. Teve says:

    @davidmweissman

    In a country full of Kevin McCarthys, Matt Gaetzs and Marjorie Taylor Greenes, be a Dolly Parton.

    1
  36. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: (Probably late, but…) It’s probably even better than you imagine. If we hadn’t done it, Tucker would say we should have, but if rightwing nut jobs start acting antisocially toward the people we rescued (an isolated proposition at best, I’m sure [eyeroll emoji]), Tucker can criticize the Democrats for bringing “those people” into “a society that they can’t understand” and note that they should have been left at refugee camps.

    1
  37. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @charon: This can be the new anti-vaxx pitch–Pfizer DELIBERATELY shorted the concentration of vaccine in their shots to make a third jab essential.

    1
  38. Teve says:

    @Just nutha ignint cracker: there Was some Republican diptard who said we should leave all the Afghanis who helped us there, so they can fight for their own country.

    1
  39. Teve says:

    Ron Filipkowski
    @RonFilipkowski
    Joseph Flynn, social media troll, disinformation spreader, and brother of Michael Flynn, now has covid. He was suspended by twitter last night after he posted that he went to a farm supply store and bought a drug used to kill parasites in animals to treat himself.

    The drug he is taking, ivermectin, was featured on a Tucker Carlson show as a covid treatment. The FDA strongly recommends against taking this drug for covid. Oddly enough, Flynn got covid after attending this event at the “DeltaPlex” arena, where he was a featured speaker.

  40. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: Wa! That means they don’t need me to help them write this sh!t. I’m soooooooo disappointed. 🙁 Another retirement job opportunity lost. [weeping emoji]

  41. Just nutha ignint cracker says:

    @Teve: At least Karma is still on our side.