Sunday’s Forum
A prologue to the new week.
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, March 15, 2020
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43 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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NYT:
It’s the End Times: Sarah Palin stuns TV viewers by rapping Baby Got Back dressed as a bear
The wife and I have decided to defer our vacation. We planned to leave Wednesday for about a 3 week driving trip along the east coast, ending in Atlanta where we would visit friends.
While we regularly complain about no longer living in a city, under the current circumstances it is easier to practice “social distancing” here at the beach, as we can still get out of the house for walks without running into people. And with this March’s weather being so mild and dry, the yard work may even get done by a record date.
Crowding people together for hours at immigration is not a god idea.
Even FOX has it’s limits, but I’m not surprised that contributing to the death of thousands of it’s core audience is where they draw the line.
@OzarkHillbilly: Thank you (I assume Steven) for fixing my screw up. 🙂
@Kathy:
When Tiny banned Europeans from the US and many US citizens began to rush home, a random thought floated up that one might have been better off to simply hunker down in Europe till the rush ended.
It’s not surprising that immigration is a mess, under the best of conditions, clearing US Customs is a far more arduous process than most anywhere else in the first world.
@Sleeping Dog: It has been awhile since my wife and I have traveled to MSP to visit my sister and her family. We had tentatively decided to go this summer, then all this came up. Talked to Sister last night and we set a date for early July…. Depending on where things stand at that point.
@OzarkHillbilly:
And gigabytes of new furry porn suddenly burst into existence….
So, this is a real thing that happened yesterday .
Are you going to be totally shocked when I tell you Katie Williams is a Trumper?
From ‘Putting us out on the streets’: Seniors face eviction amid deadly outbreak:
Eviction moratoriums are spreading like wild fire in California, because
@Teve:
Our epitaph.
The corona virus scare has gone too far
My Florida Panthers hockey season has been postponed (probably cancelled)
The Masters golf tournament is postponed
Weekly bingo where I live has been cancelled for 3 weeks
and the final straw
The Kentucky Fried Chicken a 1/16 of a mile from my wife’s work is closed!
Now back to our unscheduled pandemic*
*- You can turn the sarcasm off
NYT:
My little brother and his wife both work in the restaurant industry. They just bought a house.
My NOLA son and his wife also work in the restaurant industry. They are currently housing her mother who recently lost her job as a hotel manager, an industry she has worked in all her life.
I have some savings. I suddenly feel like I don’t have enough.
@Teve:
I hear this and realize that at this historical moment liberal democracy (of which America is the avatar) is having an argument with authoritarianism (of which China is the avatar) about how best to govern. Who feels that we are winning?
In the home of the free, liberty can no longer be distinguished from licence. Historians will be spoiled with examples.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ll believe that they have real limits when do anything to Lou Dobbs or Sean Hannity.
@Mikey: on South Park, when Cartman became even more of an out-of-control shit than normal, he ran around saying “I do what I want!”
Yesterday, I predicted it would be a week before all domestic air travel is halted.
As a foreshadowing, American Air just announced the suspension of nearly all long haul international flights beginning Mar 16.
In Colorado, Gov Polis has closed all ski resorts. Vail Ski Co has responded by suspending all ski resort business internationally (39 resorts)
America is a Sham.
Good article about how policy changes for coronavirus reveal how much policy is just arbitrary bullshit.
@mattbernius: They can’t sacrifice their sacred cash cows.
@OzarkHillbilly:
The sweetest part of this is that one of the celebrity judges guessed that it was Tina Fey behind the mask…
@OzarkHillbilly:
I am. They do that every day with their positions on health care and climate change; why should this be any different?
Some people say Florida is all screwed up. I say not entirely. The voters in my state rejected this man of poor judgment who wanted to be our Governor.
CNN’s Andrew Gillum found ‘inebriated’ in Miami Beach hotel room; cops recover meth
@DrDaveT: In my defense, I have actually never watched FOX news, and haven’t even seen any clips of their biggest stars in at least a decade because, ignorance really is bliss.
@Bill: Are you trying to say that a state that voted for trump was applying high moral standards when they chose Ron “Trumpelstiltskin” De Santis over the black man?
@Mu Yixiao:
On the porn front, PornHub has announced that all of their premium content will be free for the people locked down in Italy.
A coronavirus baby boom?
A deeper dive into how we got into the coronavirus mess.
@Teve:
Because otherwise the terrorists win? What?
Need some help. A few weeks ago there was an article that quoted a junior Republican Senator or Rep who felt that it was a waste of his valuable time to serve on a committee. I went down the google hole but couldn’t find. Does anyone have a link?
We were set to meet family and friends at a condo next week for several days of skiing, boardgaming, and socializing. We were on the cusp of calling it off before the governor ordered the closing of ski resorts here in Colorado. Both of us had travelled in the last two weeks, one of us getting home yesterday. Two of our guests were among the gaggle of Americans returning from Europe. (Don’t know yet how customs at the Denver airport compare to O’Hare.) A co-worker showed up sick to work last week because he is a complete idiot, apparently. We don’t want to be vectors, so we’re going to spend the time playing games, reading books, watching movies, playing with the pets, and organizing the house. Not a bad time, though I don’t know if I’ll be able to re-schedule the condo or get my money back. Still, first world problems.
What’s really disturbing is feeling the uncertainty about what is or isn’t a reasonable risk. I want to support my local restaurants, but how? If it’s not feasible for my colleagues and I to completely telecommute, how much of a risk is it for a few of us to meet in person once per week? Do our recent risk factors — travel, sick colleague — mean we should consider more aggressively isolating ourselves? When is it OK to visit my grandchildren? We’re blessed with experts who can provide this kind of guidance, and the general advice, once you get past the noise, is helpful. But they can’t customize the advice to every circumstance.
That’s why we need clear, simple, and firm guidelines. Millions of Americans can’t do this kind of risk analysis, and it’s not a function of education or intelligence. There’s just too much ambiguity and complexity. So, it’s OK that Governor Polis closed the ski resorts.
I just read the following in The New Yorker: What Would a Proper Coronavirus Stimulus Plan Look Like?
Every time I’ve read similar words it has meant: get used to a lot more of this.
@Michael Cain:
There is a God, and he is both merciful and generous!
@Kingdaddy:
If your local restaurants offer it, get take-out. Pay with a card (no cross-handling of cash). It’s still cold enough out to wear light gloves (no skin-to-card-machine contact). Use a payment app if possible (no contact). The transaction takes a minute or less, and you don’t have to stand close to people (the card reader can be placed appropriately far from the hostess).
Add on a tip and request that it go to one of the servers.
If you’re friendly with your neighbors, do a group take-out. Have them pay you via app, require that they include a tip, tell the restaurant to split the tips between the servers, drop off the food at the neighbors’ doors and let them know it’s there.
Hell… you can make a game of it. If you’ve got a group of neighbors willing to do “take out nights”, whomever does the order/pick-up gets to add one (cheap) food that randomly gets put in someone’s order. The “victim” must try it (excluding dietary restrictions) and have a photo/video of the tasting.
When this is all over, you can get together at the restaurant and have a “buffet of victim orders”, and have a great time.
@gVOR08: sending mamaw to the ICU to own the libs.
Oh yeah? I bet you won’t lick the floor. I dare you.
Both of the grocery stores in this county are out of eggs. Guess this is my time to shine, ain’t it! Better go have a pep talk with my chickens. 😉
@Teve:
As Michael said: Washing your hands is heresy.
@Kit:
I don’t believe I have ever seen a more perfect example of Cleek’s Law.
Gary Leff at View From the Wing makes a good case against bailing out the airlines.
It’s obvious the airlines will get hurt financially, and some may even go bankrupt. But this downturn is going to affect everyone, not just airlines or even the travel industry. Let’s worry about everyone else first, then see if there’s anything left for the airlines.
A documented indictment of 3 months of inaction, misdirection and failure:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
Conservative country girl at work today: “i was looking forward to 2020, but all it is, is the fires and the plague.”
Thank God. After that last week, the new week just has to be better, right? I mean, can it possibly be worse?
(Is it really tempting fate when you know it’s going to be worse?)