Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, April 4, 2025
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92 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
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BlueSky.
South Korea doing what we could not.
Jubilation and despair as South Korea president removed from office
As far as I can tell there is no official DoD announcement for the 4 soldiers killed by accident in Lithuania. However, here are a few news stories:
Honoring the Heroes: Military identifies all 4 Fort Stewart soldiers killed in Lithuania
Lithuanians bid farewell to 4 US soldiers who died during training exercise
When American Soldiers Were in Trouble, Our Allies Showed Up
China is set to impose a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports.
I’m going to point out again the cruelty and stupidity of firing the LIHEAP team.
Everyone likes this program, especially ENERGY COMPANIES. Why? Because it helps people who are on the bubble. People who can normally eek by and pay their utility bills, but get surprised by a huge spike during freezes, or, more frequently now, extended heat waves. It literally saves lives, and no one from an energy company wants to shut off someone’s heating or electricity.
This program is what conservatives USED to say they wanted government to do–help people get past unexpected expenses so they won’t need additional services.
Where will Trump be when these soldiers arrive in the United States?
DOW Futures down 1,400. Was down 1,000 when I checked 40 minutes ago. I would say even Connor/Drew/Susy/WorldsGreatestRVSalesman could find a way to defend this but that would mean he’d have an ounce of intellectual integrity.
@Scott:
Scott, re: our soldiers, this story is also telling:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-picks-golf-dinner-over-dignified-transfer-of-troops/
While I will admit that this is rage-bait, it is deserved.
@Mister Bluster: Playing golf:
Trump Picks Golf Dinner Over Dignified Transfer of U.S. Troops’ Bodies
ETA: I see Liberal Capitalist got there first!
@Mister Bluster:
The article above is clear where Trump will be.
Golfing.
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-american-age-is-over
There are a lot of links within the Bulwark post, blockquoting edits them out.
@Liberal Capitalist:
Rage-bait or clarity?
@Scott:
President 4x draft deferment “likes people who weren’t captured” and views fallen soldiers as “suckers and losers.” So golfing it is.
@charontwo: On Facebook this morning, I ran across full-throated defenses of Trump, in spite of the stock market crashing, allies starting to move away from the US economically, and programs that will help the economy, like support for research and development, continuing to be mutilated. Since it’s a social media platform, Facebook makes you ask, how many of these people are sincere? How many are trolls or bots? Whatever it is, it’s tornado of delusion, Whataboutism, wishful thinking, ignorance, tribalism, crackpot notions of economics, and hypocrisy.
This is the worst time in America since the Civil War.
Dan Nixon at LGM quotes a paywalled WSJ story that I think buries the lede. It talks of advisors trying to square conflicting theories of tariffs. The real story is lack of a decision making process in the WH. It sounds a lot like Trump mumbling that everybody oughta pay him a 10% tariff and Bessent et al going, “No, Mein Fuhrer, 20%!” The Signal leak stories did the same thing, downplaying that the boys seemed not quite sure they actually had a presidential order to kill Houthis.
We are in mad king territory.
@Liberal Capitalist: Don’t worry, he’ll be back later to piss on their graves.
@Kingdaddy: Yesterday, a local television station profiled a small business owner who owns a shop that sells European “stuff”–some imported foods, sweaters, soaps, etc. Basically Nordic-region nick-knacks that you buy for your friends who had a blast on their Nordic cruise, or your aunt who revels in her Swedish heritage, etc. The owner was concerned about how the tariffs were going to impact sales, her prices, and whether or not she could even stay in business.
The comments on the article were something else. The number of people saying this will force the owner to buy American…to stock her Nordic-themed store–were extensive. I keep wondering if people are really this dumb, or if social media has an amplifying effect for the stupidest among us.
BOOM! $2 Trillion! Trump is running ahead of GW Bush’s Iraq War “self-own.” It took much of that war to hit the $1 trillion mark (on the way to an estimated $3 trillion.)
The “rank-and-file” working class Trump voters are likely disconnected from the immediate undulations in the equities market, but like the pandemic, consequences of bad policy will be felt in by-and-by. Will they make the connection, or will they continue to fixate on “consequential” issues like “woke,” transgender bathrooms, and bird-killing windmills?
In 2009, my retired 75 year old neighbor had to go back to work when her retirement portfolio crashed. She still had a mortgage to pay.
So, do we want a retirement system based entirely on the equities casino? Or do we want a retirement system that includes “the full faith of the United States government”? —- assuming that an axe wielding nutjob and his axe wielding mob aren’t in the White House destroying 250 years of real human progress.
@Jen:
At this point its pretty clear that there exists a synergy between the two: the magnitude of stupid and the magnification of stupid.
About yesterday’s post on techno-dystopian wet dreams, there’s some rumblings among investors about the lack of a payoff from investments in AI.
I gather this is mostly about generative AI large language models like ChatGPT and such, and not AI overall. The public widely regards LLMs as all of AI.
Maybe that bubble is about to burst. Great thing of a bubble bursting in a bear market, I suppose, is that it may pass unnoticed. Nvidia is already down quite a bit from the felon tariffs alone.
@Jen:
Good example how silly and pointless and harmful most of these tariffs are.
The U.S. is becoming a pretty unattractive place for the rest of the world to trade with.
Like Brexit on steroids, Americans have FA and will now FO the U.S. is now no longer exceptional.
“We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every 4 years,” says Benjamin Haddad, France’s Minister Delegate to Europe.
gVOR10, from yesterday:
The wealthy don’t necessarily have a stronger voice in politics. Wealth can help but it’s not essential. The billionaire can run for president, but get wildly outspent, but win. Power doesn’t apply to politics – by which I mean power outside of politics doesn’t translate to power within politics. The old lady can order around National Guardsmen, and the judge can block presidential actions.
If the wealthy and powerful “them” can’t be distinguished, there’s no meaning to the “us”. It’s not even stated what commodity “they” are allowing “us” to have. Wealth? Power? There are a lot of non-political ways to acquire them or negotiate for them. So none of this works as a definition of politics. There are a dozen at least equal ways to define politics, in terms national shared assumptions or cooperation or alliances.
Alternatively, this might not be meant as a definition or description of politics at all. There’s a chance these terms are being used because they’re imprecise, and the intention is to include everything under the banner of politics. “The personal is political.” But that’s like saying everything is love, or everything is God, or art, or whatever. It’s not a definition, it’s a suggestion of how to look at things.
Found this at Yahoo Finance:
Today at 5:59 AM MST
Brett LoGiurato
This is America’s initial experience of a Mad King, something other countries understand from experience. Does that Truth Social post look like someone in his right mind?
@Fortune:
Money is considered political speech (Buckley v. Valeo). The wealthy have more money, so by definition they have a stronger voice in politics. The caveat word “necessarily” is enough to soften the overall argument (because yes, sometimes–as Musk recently learned–money doesn’t always mean a win), but everything on a campaign costs money. Staff. Offices. Media buys. Ad buys. Travel. Food on the road. Yard signs. Gas money. Campaigns are really f*cking expensive.
This is why I am not a fan of Democrats calling for candidates to forego big donations. Until the playing field is leveled, they need to take as much as is offered by corporations because you can’t do anything if you don’t win first.
@Fortune:
No, they absolutely do have stronger voice and representation.
You aren’t a Jedi, so your attempt at Jedi mind tricks won’t work.
@Kathy: is it just American ai tanking cuz of cheaper, smaller Chinese versions or is the whole shebang getting the side eye?
Why is crypto taking such a hit? I am not a fan, but I know some decent folks who are getting hit hard.
Yesterday I had to drive down to the Miami area from Deerfield Beach during rush hour. For those who don’t know the area, that is a very unpleasant trip (it does help to pay to take the express lanes). I had time to listen to Lutnick’s press conference about the tariffs. It was surreal listening to him gush over Trump’s economic genius. According to Lutnick, just about every problem in the US is because other countries have been cheating us, and now Trump will fix all that. I also learned that the US economy is in shambles. He pretty much sneered at the questions asked, and his answer to all was that Trump will fix everything. It was like listening to an episode of South Park, I was waiting for Lutnick to do a Cartman and just shout “suck my balls”. It is scary that Trump has managed to fill his entire cabinet with spineless yes men and women who act like he is God’s gift to humanity.
On Truth Social this morning, Trump advised Americans to “Hank Tough.
Hank Tough? Must be a wrestler.
I am watching A Hard Day’s Night (1964).
@Mister Bluster: As opposed to making a right turn at Albequerque.
@Jen:
I’m certain this is not an either/or question.
@Kathy:
Wait? How long could they have reasonably been investing in this crap? 5ish years? Even if it’s 10 years, did they really think they were just gonna clap their grubby little mitts and the money machine was going to turn on?
Now might be a good time to remind people that (notwithstanding nervous denials by Republican legislators and officials) privatizing Social Security is on the table.
That would entail moving from a system where Social Security trust funds are conservatively invested in guaranteed Treasury securities, to a system where each person is responsible to invest their social security funds.
Currently many middle class people have 401Ks retirement monies invested in equities on Wall Street (Vanguard estimates that in 2024, it was $16 Trillion.) The past 2+ days probably close to $1 Trillion dollars of that value has, for the time being, been vaporized.
Not so long ago, in 2008, we went through a version of this meltdown, and for many people it took as long as 4-5 years for their portfolios to recover. Some people ‘unretired’ and went back to work.
Has anyone seen any serious commentary on why ICE agents are wearing plain clothes and masks? I suppose plain clothes help them sneak up on their targets, but why do duly authorized federal agents inside the US need to wear masks? Do they think their targets will recognize them? Who is coming after them? I cannot think of any purpose other than striking terror in the public and looking like fascist henchman, but sometimes I lack creativity.
It is essentially impossible to fly a pug to the UK without serious risk of death. For the dog, not for us. (She’s too fat to go in cabin and brachiocephalic dogs tend to die in cargo). We have a rez with Bark Air but their earliest opening is October 9. So we looked into what it costs to fly a private jet. The answer is: a lot. Teterboro to Stansted is ~85,000. We are fond of the dog, but Jesus. So we are imposing on relatives.
@Joe:
It’s shame. At some level they know they are tearing families apart on the whim of a villain.
@Mister Bluster: “He’s very clean isn’t he”
@Joe: @Michael Reynolds:
My working assumption since I first saw videos of this is that they know that “I was just following orders” is not a legal defense, and many of these arrests are not legal. I guess the decision to wear a mask is a good tell about how confident an ICE agent is that Trumpism will continue long into the future.
@becca:
There was mention of Deep Seek. But no details were given.
@Beth:
Beats me. AI has been around a while, I’d say back to “expert systems” and “deep learning” popular in the early years of this century. Some is in wide use, like facial recognition software, and lots of automated image processing tools.
So it may be about LLMs and related “prompt technology” stuff like ChatGPT and various image and even video generators that work off prompts. Still, five years seems like a short time. investors have been burning tons of cash on Uber, delivery apps, and the like for far longer, and profits, fi any, have been few and small, as I understand such things.
Probably they expected an IPO that lets them cash out and let others deal with the mess left behind.
Oil-garchy
@Michael Reynolds:
Michael, if the pugster needs a home, I can talk with my wife. We already have one of those snorting rodents that demands lap time. Another won’t be a problem.
You can reach me at jfm_stlATyahooDOTcom
@Sleeping Dog:
That is a very sweet offer. Thank you.
Fortunately (?) my younger sister’s husband is getting by on half salary after losing his job at Amazon in Seattle. So they are in some economic distress. I’ll pay her and kill two birds with one stone. Although we haven’t actually asked her, yet.
@Pete S:
It’s interesting, because the MAGAs violently objected to wearing Covid masks.
@Mister Bluster: A hard Day’s Night is a wonderful movie, just the right mixture of humor and cynicism. Interesting piece of trivia is that there is a scene where Ringo turns on the radio and there is a very loud guitar playing. An old man sitting across from him tells him to turn it off. the guitarist playing is Jimmy Page. This was before he was Jimmy Page, when he was just a session musician.
There’s also a scene where they are playing in front of a crowd, and one of the extras was 13 year old Phil Collins.
Everybody who wanted a Dem Shadow Cabinet should be happy. The DNC has announced a “People’s Cabinet“, details to follow. I await its functioning, hopeful they can get the supposedly liberal MSM to pay attention.
I had an odd story idea while listening to Katie Mack’s book about the end of the universe, The End of Everything (surprisingly cheerful for such a subject).
Would you buy a being who lives for billions of years and knows literally everything about the universe (literally) being platonically infatuated with a short lived human trans woman?
@Jen: @Rob1: You both locked in on the easy one, wealth. We agree wealth exists and it can influence politics. It’s the one word in gVOR10’s sentence with meaning. You’d have to show wealth has more influence in politics than it does in other walks of life to make it belong in a definition of politics though.
Huh.
Felon Freed by Trump Is Sent Back to Prison After Child Assault Charge
ETA: “It was the fifth time Mr. Braun had been arrested since Mr. Trump commuted a 10-year sentence just before leaving office in 2021. It was among a raft of last-minute clemencies granted to those with connections to the president.”
@Fortune: Well, having worked in campaigns, I can say without equivocation that yes, money is a pretty dang good indicator of who gets a say in things.
This sentence doesn’t make sense, or more precisely, having “more influence in politics than […] in other walks of life” to make it “belong in a definition of politics” is too circular.
A straight dictionary definition of politics is the activities of governing an area, country, or subdivision. There are many ways, direct and indirect, that wealth influences “the activities of governing an area.” We have direct political contributions, of course. We also have the implicit influence of money, like when a well-known CEO gets a warning instead of a ticket for, say, doing 50 in a 35 zone.
@Kingdaddy: No, no, no. It was a “left toin at Alba-koi-kee”.
@Jen: “Marvel movies are always and everywhere bad movies.”
“But some are good.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“They’re not even worse than most movies.”
“That’s circular.”
For some reason I’m reminded of Niven’s Law: If you’ve nothing to say, say it any way you like…. If what you have to say is important and/or difficult to follow, use the simplest language possible. If the reader doesn’t get it, then let it not be your fault.
(Stylistic examples omitted for clarity)
@Michael Reynolds:
If that doesn’t work out, let me know.
I discussed it with our pug and he lifted his ears, cocked his head, eyes got bigger and he snorted, seems to be alright with the idea.
@Fortune: Explain what you mean if you think I’ve misinterpreted your statement.
@Beth:
Yes. That’s exactly what they thought.
My AI techbro rant feels tired, so I’ll give it a rest. But, most VCs are looking for results well within a 5 year timeframe. And they’re followers — if VC A is investing in floofs, then VC B wants to add floofs to their portfolio to hedge their bets, and then VC C sees A and B betting on floofs, so they’re going to go in…
@Jen: gVOR10 said “Politics, everywhere and always, is at root about how much the wealthy and powerful will allow the rest of the country to have.” I replied with a few criticisms, among them I didn’t think money was necessarily influential in politics. You and Rob1 replied to that, saying it is influential.
OK, but not necessarily, and not even uniquely. Wealth is going to give you advantage in your health care, your housing, your vacation, whatever. Wealth is going to give you less of an advantage in politics though. It was easy for Harvey Weinstein to buy an Oscar, but harder for him to buy political influence, and when things got serious for him he had no influence whatsoever. Wealth matters some in politics, but it’s not decisive. So why bring it up. Why use it as the key to defining politics.
@Michael Reynolds:
It cost us 4k to fly our idiot cat here. I couldn’t bring him here on the plane cause he screams every time he goes in a crate. Non-stop screaming.
Now we’re stuck in a Travelodge and I just got to watch my little moron climb into the litter box, turn around, and shit on the floor. I love him so much, but he is so stupid.
@Jen: Additionally, if circular thinking bothers you, consider gVOR10’s idea that politics is where powerful people exercise power. If by powerful people he means “people who also have power elsewhere”, then it’s no different than saying that basketball is where tall people are tall. If by powerful people he means “people who do not necessarily have power elsewhere”, then his idea would be interesting if sloppily worded, but lead to a very different and richer understanding of politics.
@Jen:
Both. Yes, people are really this dumb AND social media amplifies the effect by showing the stupidest among us unending validation that they really are the smartest people in the (relentlessly dumb) room.
@Kingdaddy: And we have to admit, he does have a point.
Speaking of generative AI, today I got a notification of new features on my mid-market phone. One was that Gemini (Google’s ChatGPT) can get info from and give commands to other apps. Not all apps, only certain ones listed in a Gemini app menu.
This required downloading the Gemini App to my phone (I try to keep such crap off the office issued work phone). I’m not impressed with the list of apps, nor with much of what it says it can do. I expect I’ll try it just to see what it’s like, then uninstall the app.
@Kathy:
This plan still works, at least occasionally, for the initial IPO purchasers, but you have to sell the stock to make the gain. The second purchaser never comes out unless it’s a “buy to hold” decision.
@gVOR10: Glad to hear this. I’m
anxiousinterested in seeing if it will work. The greatest political minds of our little community have been advocating for it.The worm really made a number on him: RFK Jr says 20% of Doge’s health agency job cuts were mistakes
Get a load of this (emphasis added):
No, Junior. You are going to make mistakes, you got that right. We all make mistakes. So you plan how to minimize them. then you plan how to spot them. And last you plan how to correct them. You do not effing plan TO MAKE MISTAKES!
It’s like we’re living in the Mirror Universe version of Idiocracy.
@Michael Reynolds:
Private jet travel is my poster child for the line between actually rich and merely well-off. Private jet travel is vastly more comfortable and convenient than commercial air travel, for nearly all purposes. One could be quite wealthy by world standards, and in the top few percent by wealth even in the US, and yet not be able to afford to switch from commercial to private jet travel. This service is reserved to the 0.1%ers, even more than Elmer J. Fudd’s mansion and yacht.
My apologies to EVERYONE HERE for encouraging Fortune to elaborate on his/her cryptic posts. As a composition teacher for many years, I should have realized that nothing good could come from encouraging such lines of thought (or lack thereof). I should have known better–as wr pointed out last week sometime.
I am truly sorry.
@Michael Reynolds:
Go to England via the Queen Mary II? Pets are allowed on board.
@DrDaveT:
There are options like shared jet ownership, and membership in charter fleets with limited travel at a somewhat lower cost. the big expenses are the cost of the jet, the maintenance, and the crew (and there’s insurance, fuel, catering, maintenance of the interiors, etc.) Spreading the costs among many people makes it a more realistic option.
Then, too, many big corporations own or lease business jets for executive travel. Given a large need for travel, it might be cheaper for a big company to won jets than to pay air fares.
I’ll agree that for an individual to own a jet is a sign of too much money, or too many suckers who help them pay for it.
Taylor Swift owns two.
@dazedandconfused:
Their kennels are booked all the way through 2026. We’d been counting on the QM2.
@DrDaveT:
It’s one of those things we could theoretically pay for, but not something we could rationalize to ourselves. God knows I’ll spend money, but sometimes it’s just so absurd or so egregious it triggers a fuck you reaction.
@Michael Reynolds:
That’s how I feel when I contemplate paying for business class, never mind first class, on even a long flight. I’m not saying it’s wrong or unwise to pay such fares, especially as sometimes they can be had relatively cheap. And some people have enough money that paying such fares bothers them not at all.
But, to me, at the end of the day I will arrive at the same destination, and have better things on which to spend that kind of money.
Not that I’m in a position to afford them. But I do the thought experiment from time to time. I could afford premium economy, and I feel about the same.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: That’s what I expected.
@Fortune:
You mistake your word games and flimsy rationalizations for reasoned argument. They are not.
Of course wealth has an outsized influence on our politics. Even more so since Citizens vs FEC. We wouldn’t have a thoroughly moronic Republican administration supported by a thoroughly moronic Republican Congress if this was not the case. Your deflections on this topic are an expression of how little you support a liberal democracy and civil rights.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I must say, I think I prefer the old days of 48 hours ago when we could expect vague, short posts to whatever the hell it is going on in this thread.
News that may have been missed:
Marco Rubio rocks up in Brussels, demanding the Europeans must spend 5% of GDP on defence.
Which is, be it noted, way more than the US spends.
And is ludicrous without getting the infrastructure in place.
At the same time as other US sources are complaining about Europe planning to “buy European”.
Well, the reaction to that tends to be along the lines of carnal activity with the Secretary and his horse.
If we go to 5% it will be on our terms, and from our manufacturers, not those of the US.
If Europe is obliged to become a Power, it’s rather unlikely to defer to US desires for its writ to run in the Middle East.
Or even to automatically follow its lead regarding China.
Being a hegemon has costs.
Not being a hegemon ALSO has costs.
A historical truism a lot of Americans seem to have difficulty grasping.
@Rob1:
@Fortune:
Politics varies.
Even relatively recently, the British aristocracy/gentry had enormously more effective political
power in the UK than they do now.
Thy remain, on the whole, very well off.
In some cases very, very rich indeed.
But the limits on party donations and, above all, political advertising, limit the ability of wealth to direct politics.
While the former gentry control on local Tory party associations has also declined.
Wealth and social status still opens a lot of doors, naturally enough.
It does in all countries.
But the US is something of an outlier among democracies in this regard.
@JohnSF:
Remember what I said about Americans lacking a sophisticated theory of power?
To be honest, I’m not sure that I understand what that person’s position is.
It may be on me. I only get occasional days of full brain engagement. That was yesterday. Today, all my neurons are expending energy fighting each other. No bandwidth for anything else.
@JohnSF:
How about all of the EU and the UK agree on a 700% tariff on select US weapons?
Why not? Won’t the Yanks pay for it? 😀
@Kurtz:
A sensible power elite, imho, knows when it is fairly well off, and not to play chemistry in the kitchen.
The problem with an arrogant desire for autocratic power is, if you achieve it, you are riding the tiger.
Getting down can be tricky.
The fortune of Europe since WW2 has been that the frameworks of the European institutions and NATO have provided a scaffolding for former elites to dismount, and for democratic parties open to reconciliation to assume control.
See Spain, Greece, and Portugal (though it was touch-and-go there, briefly).
And also the post-communist polities in central/eastern Europe.
Prosperity salves a lot of wounds, as does a basic concept of national coherence.
The US now, as in a very different way Russia, seems to have a section of both the wealthy AND the disgruntled middle class who, in rather different ways, are inclined to let ambition on the one hand, and resentment on the other, lead them into a zero-sum politics that obviates national cohesion, and leads to a logic of pure power.
A tale of some steely-eyed missilemen.
Wilmore shares his story of just how hairy the docking maneuver of the malfunctioning Starliner got. Which, he says, explains why he appears so overjoyed on the tape of him entering the Space Station.
@Kathy:
No point.
Defence procurement has always been outside the scope of operation of the “open market”, and a matter of national, not EU, competence.
On that basis, some US weapons systems have been cheaper.
Or attractive for other reasons.
For instance, the European F-16s, which were (surprisingly to some) more attractive to several countries than the French Mirage alternative, because the deal had them assembled in Belgium and the Netherlands, the P&W F100 engines manufactured in Belgium, and later in Poland, etc.
Plus lots of other local components.
The UK produces a lot of components for the F-35.
The rear fuselage sections for all F-35s are produced at BAE Samlesbury, Lancashire.
If the US is no longer a reliable ally or production partner, Europe can step up in a lot of sectors.
For instance, the SAMP/T is regarded as on a par with Patriot.
UK and French SSN submarines on a par with the US equivalent.
There are 6th generation fighter projects under way.
etc
The real absence is a common European procurement and logistic support system.
That can be remedied by simply reviving the tabled European Defence Community project of the 1950’s (aborted because the French right and communists joined forces to block it as enabling German re-armament, lol)
If that gets revived: here comes the Juggernaut.
The other aspect is European militaries have been accustomed to “plug in” to NATO where US has formed an integrated part of SACEUR re intelligence, sensors, and key logistics.
None of that is inherently irreplaceable, given the will, the resulting money, and a little time.
For instance: Arianespace may not be as capable in lift capacity now as SpaceX.
But a few tens of billions solves a lot of problems.
In terms of wealth, technology, and manufacturing capacity, Europe (including UK) is easily capable of becoming a peer-Power of the US and China, and of dwarfing Russia by order of magnitude.
It is the will that has been absent.
(An absence of will, that contra some American mythology, was actually desired by the US)
The combination of Russian reckless ambition and US folly is an excellent spur to change.
@Fortune:
Is your argument that wealth is neither necessary nor sufficient for political power so there is, at most, a tenuous link between the two?
@dazedandconfused:
Thanks for posting this. I’d love to hear the take from mission control for the whole debacle.
@Kurtz: For this venue, my teaching philosophy has two shortfalls: First, our course curriculum was centered on skill building and function–the essays were not as important topically as they were structurally. A well-written essay on an unimportant topic was “better” than a poorly-written one on an important topic.*
Secondly, my grading philosophy and practice held that I was required to be fascinated by whatever topic the student was writing about for the length of time it took to read the essay. That doesn’t work here. My mistake.
*This is the same flaw that early versions of the SAT writing test had. It’s very easy to write nonsense that holds together well and tags all the rhetorical/stylistic bases. There are situations where style overrules substance. Teaching “style” is one of them.
@JohnSF: Well of course Europeans are looking to buy European. It’s foolish to buy stuff from people who may in the near future become enemies. Particularly important stuff like weapons systems.
@JohnSF:
XpaceS does it cheaper. I’m sure the ESA can come up with a reusable first stage, in a decade or two.
One thing, ESA has the best launch site in the planet for launching to normal Earth orbit. It’s only a few degrees north of the Equator, meaning it gets a substantial boost from the Earth’s rotation.
@Kathy:
“Cheap” is very relative, when strategic imperatives are in play, and your total budget is over half a trillion.
And what SpaceX can do, so can Arianespace.
Given a few tens of billions, and a teensy bit of industrial espionage.
😉
“IPR? What is this thing you speak of, yankee?”
@Just nutha ignint cracker: It is a trap many of us have fallen into. We get sucked in by the possibility of an actual conversation, and some hope of a real argument. But then it all goes to crap.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: “I should have known better–as wr pointed out last week sometime.”
I actually think you did a good thing here. You pushed it enough that it finally felt compelled to give a lengthy answer, and proved itself to be completely incapable of coherent thought.
Was it Lincoln who said “better to remain silent and be proved a fool than to speak and prove it”? Well, it was Fortune who gave us such a powerful demonstration.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Same. Sorry, all!