Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, November 18, 2024
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40 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former 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 and/or
BlueSky.
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If we could stack all the cars, trucks, boats, and other vehicles* the Mythbusters wrecked over the years, I think the resulting stack would rival some skyscrapers.
*A few trailers and at least one boom lift. Also one decommissioned DC-9, if memory serves.
Oh, no. There’s trouble in Mar a Lardo
TL;DR, Xlon is clashing with the felon’s other flunkies, largely over cabinet appointments.
They are so out of their league, poor creepy crawlers. Xlon gave the felon massive amounts of money. He may give him more. There’s no way they can compete against that.
For a guy who won the election, Trump comes across as the biggest loser: he wants to go after pollster Ann Seltzer for election fraud.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lb6ftbqde224 I refuse to post Trump’s twitter but here’s Aaron Rupar’s screen shot of the whole thing.
None of my kids were this petulant when they were teething, hungry and had a full diaper. He really is the world’s largest and orangiest toddler.
@Kathy: As I said a few days ago, there’s just not enough room or air for all of the collective egos to peacefully coexist. I expect more of this, and it’s likely going to be very public, at least when Musk is involved. His taking to Twitter to push his choices boxes Trump into a corner. If Trump goes along with Musk, he looks weak, like he’s been bullied into a selection. If he goes against Musk, he risks derailing the gravy train.
I finally got the COVID and flu shots yesterday.
Not the best idea I’ve ever had.
See, last year flu shots were available before the COVID boosters*. So I got the former late in October, and the latter when they became available some weeks alter. But I’d read they can be applied together, and wasn’t Moderna fiddling with a flu/COVID combination shot? Did anything come off it?
What I didn’t count on is each shot goes in a different arm. I tend not to react adversely much to vaccines, except for some dull pain at the injection site. So now both my arms hurt. Not so much that it bothers me, and I cooked yesterday without any trouble. The problem was bedtime.
I sleep on my side. This time, the pressure on the right upper arm (flu shot) was enough to make the dull pain less dull and therefore it kept me up. I rolled over to the other side (COVID shot), and that was worse.
After half an hour not finding a good position, I began to search whether a pain killer was contraindicated after vaccination. The info was all over the place, so I finally latched on to a paper at the NIH saying there’s little effect if you take ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or aspirin, provided you wait at least six hours after an mRNA COVID shot. Well, it was well over 12 hours, so I popped an Advil (I call it the magic pill, because it always works no matter what pains me). A few minutes after that, I fell sound asleep.
Really, the drugstore I get them at is very near my home, the price is the same if you get them together or separately, and even the tiny rebate my debit card has for drugstore purchases is unaltered. So, next year I’ll get the Pfizer shot in October and the flu shot in November.
@Kathy: sorry that doing the right thing (getting both shots) caused you a disturbed nights rest.
My wife and I got both shots injected into the same arm, within a half inch of each other (Walmart), so I wonder if it’s just a local practice or if there is any medical guidance on the “opposing arm” injection sites.
BTW, is an injection in the thigh a no-no?
@Bobert:
I really hadn’t given the matter any thought. The nurse asked about my reaction to prior shots, then whether I was right or left handed. Since flu shots give me the least trouble, she suggested that one go into the right arm.
I then pictured the innate immune system cells going into action at both arms. That might be slightly better, given there will be whole sets of T cells, dendritic cells, etc. for each shot. But who knows. It’s a bit like the argument about delivering respiratory disease vaccines nasally rather than by injection. You’d think there’d be studies in the matter.
I wouldn’t mind an injection in the thigh, though I’ve never had a vaccine there. Also, given my history of thigh cramps (down to very rarely since I started eating several bananas each week), it would be perhaps better to avoid the area.
@Jen:
There’s one thing that is more important to Trump than money, and that’s his ego. Feed it and he will do whatever you want. Try to push him and he’ll strike back. If Musk was good at handling people, Trump would be his to control. Since he’s not, it’s just a matter of time before Trump gets tired of him and kicks him out.
I bet Musk is out of Trump’s orbit before inauguration.
The headline says it all:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/matt-gaetz-accused-of-participating-in-up-to-10-drug-fueled-orgies/
Has KM commented at all since the election? I know it’s been a while since we’ve heard from her, but it seemed like a lot of the regulars were absent during the runup to the election.
I had been of the opinion that Tulsi Gabbard should be opposed because her becoming DNI would cause our allies to ostracize us from joint intelligence gathering. I have come around to the conclusion that merely nominating her is sufficient evidence that this administration is not to be trusted. Even if if Gabbard does not get seated, what responsible nation would take the bet that someone else worse (or at least as bad) would not have access to their intelligence? The nomination signals the Administration’s attitude and that’s really all anyone needs to know.
Only ten? What a loser!
When I was allegedly in college in the ’60s that would have been a slow weekend and the weekend started on Thursday and ran till the next Tuesday.
Of course I have heard that if you remember the ’60s you weren’t really there so I guess none of that counts.
My ex wife was in Law School when I met her so that should make me more qualified for
US Attorney General than Gaetz or any other Republican ambulance chaser Trump might favor.
@Joe: just having Trump in the loop should give all other countries pause. Maybe they can treat him as a double agent and plant misinformation in the Russian intelligence apparatus
@CSK:
Remember the infamous days that end in “y”?
Next term there will be at least twice of those every day, and four on Sunday.
Come to think of it, all these messages left on my voicemail offering me loans of up to $45,000 must mean that I qualify as Secretary of the Treasury.
I may have a future in government yet!
On today’s notable aviation news, a TAP return flight from Ponta Delgada to Lisbon was cancelled due to loose hamsters.
Oh, and Spirit filed for Chapter 11. Yes, that’s far less notable.
@Kathy: Queue a million more Sprit air memes and quips.
“They call it Spirit Air because that’s where you’ll end up.”
“I’m an atheist except when I fly Sprit Airlines.”
“Spirit and Frontier are merging. Hopefully this won’t change the god-awful customer service I’m used to.”
Etc etc.
@Kathy: Weren’t you looking for the four-strain flu shot? Did you find it?
Round here, they’re only giving a trivalent: the fourth strain is not circulating making a quadrivalent vaccine unnecessary, I was told.
@Erik:
I like this reframe.
What if Musk gets Republicans to suddenly change their minds about EV support? One can hope.
@Kathy: Finally, a worthy sequel to Snakes On A Plane.
Sarah Palin is chagrined because Trump hasn’t yet rewarded her loyalty to him with a cabinet post.
Donald Trump political origin story, Clif notes version:
“Auerswald”
@CSK: Apparently it takes more than batshite craziness to get an appointment. Maybe she needs to emphasize what part of government she can fuck up. Most of the appointments have been pretty targeted so far.
@DK:
Airline “bankruptcies” are a dime a dozen, at least since deregulation. No decade passes without several of them. A great many have ended in dissolution, but hardly all of them. Some end in mergers with other airlines (aka they get eaten by a bigger one). The rule of thumb is, since 2001, the larger and older the airline, the better chance it has of emerging smaller but in better shape or being eaten by a larger one. Maybe JetBlue will be allowed to take over Spirit even though the court ruled otherwise.
@DK:
This pharmacy only ever offer the tetravalent shots. I did hear some common strain of flu hasn’t been seen in the wild since 2020 or 2021, and is believed to be extinct. Eradicated accidentally by COVID mitigation measures.
But I read abut it in connection to the strain being take out of the recommended strains to formulate the vaccines for.
@Gustopher:
That was one movie I very much intend never to see. But I’d see hamsters on a plane, as it would feature tons of shoots inside the cargo hold, ducts, and of maintenance procedures.
It appears that even the Liberal Opinionista are on an Apology Self Humiliation Tour.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe’s lead hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzeznski made a trip to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and talk about having a dialogue, blah blah blah, etc.
Keep in mind Trump for years ran with rumors that Joe might be complicit in the death of one of his congressional aides.
I’m not sure if anyone has posted this (The Phantom Campaign) here before, but man is it good:
At another (very anti-Trump) website, Harris is blamed for this for not doing a “long form interview so people could know who she was”. As if anyone reads that.
@CSK: Sarah Palin’s sell by date was at least ten years ago, just about when the starbursts ended.
According to the Sun-Sentinel Ron DeSantis is being pressured to pick Lara Trump to replace Marco Rubio in the United States Senate.
Three quick comments
1 DeSantis won’t make his pick his pick till January. Why a month and a half from now? Won’t democracy suffer in the meantime? DeSantis has moved quickly to announce two special elections for US House seats.
2 In a comment a week ago, James Joyner said DeSantis can’t nominate himself. Yes he can. Will DeSantis go that route? I’m not making predictions at the moment.
3 The photo in the Lara Trump Sun-Sentinel article is weird. You can barely see her behind her two children.
@al Ameda: Money will “trump” integrity for a lot of people. Never watched more than a few minutes of Morning Joe, but now it will be off limits forever. Why would any journalist go to mar-a-lago before Trump takes office? The only reason is to ingratiate themselves with Trump, and the only way to do that is to kiss his ass.
@Not the IT Dept.</a
I noted this yesterday evening. It's not that Trump is only petulant. He's mean and vindictive to a psychopathic degree. The woman made a mistake. He wants her to suffer for it the rest of her life.
Trump’s campaign committee is doubling down on their leader’s choice of Matt Gaetz as A.G.
@CSK:
Yup. The only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner.
I had hoped to give a review of “Dune Legacy” today but can’t. Fell asleep somewhere in the first half hour or so. Only impression that survived was that the scoring was ridiculous. When every little action is accompanied by a ponderous dark thunder-dirge it loses effect rather quickly.
Maybe tomorrow…
Migrant Refugee hero Jose Ibarra demonized by Trump as a rapist and murderer being tried for murder of Laken Riley for rejecting his Latin Passion.
-Felony Murder x 3
-Malice Murder
-False Imprisonment
-Kidnapping
-Aggravated Assault with Intent to Rape
-Hindering a 911 call
-Peeping Tom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3Q0Diu474
For your viewing pleasure.
@Paul L.:
And he’s your hero? What’s wrong with you?
I’m trying something new tonight. Roasted butternut squash, roasted brussels sprouts, smoked sausage and farfalle pasta in a garlic butter sauce. Smells pretty damn good, so far! I plan on adding some balsamic vinegar and feta cheese to mine. The kiddo refuses cheese of any sort. 😉
I’m really, really terrible at cooking for two, though, it adds up fast! We’ll be eating this for days.
@Kathy:
common sense rock control.
Guns cause mass shootings so a rock caused the murder of Laken Riley.
@Paul L.: Thank you for reminding everyone here how nice it is now that our hosts have banned several of our most noxious trolls.
@Paul L.:
Not only that, I’ve heard, and many people are reporting, that a gang of MAGA youth outfitted only with used Tanning Beds attacked strip malls in towns along the south Texas Border.
Finally, ‘The West Wasn’t Won With A Registered Rock’
(or Tanning Bed for that matter)’
And there you have it.