Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, April 6, 2025
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27 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.
Sorry, did not realize this would be paywalled.
“Krugman”
snip
It was amazing to join ~10-15,000 other humans on the streets of downtown San Diego yesterday and learn that there are still so many like-minded people here in America.
We are still fighting, we are still showing up to protest, we are still energetic and patriotic enough to push back.
Estimates are now north of 5 million protesters nationwide yesterday. That’s a number that Trump might ignore, but Congress won’t. Elon doesn’t have enough money to fight that many of us.
Well Done America!
@Tony W: Indeed and well said. The day before, my dad proudly sent our family groupchat a pic of the sign he had prepared, and was the first to send us pics from the rally he attended a bit up north. We then made our way to one of the bigger rallies in the East Bay.
My oldest was a bit reluctant to come out but said later that when we got there she almost started crying because she was so happy and proud to see so many people. It made her feel hope and energy. My youngest was enthusiastic from the get go but admitted she was also surprised to see so many. And my wife, who was the most reluctant of the crew (she’s originally from a country where historically it’s been best to keep your head down when it comes to politics) came back a bit less of a skeptic. Yesterday provided a much needed dose of courage for what lies ahead.
We talked afterwards about the importance of sustained action and how my grandparents had done their part marching, volunteering, organizing, and otherwise showing up in far worse circumstances to make change; my parents had done the same and still are doing so; and now once again it’s our turn to continue that work.
It was certainly not a one and done that will change the trajectory of things, but it was a very much needed part of the ongoing campaign we’ll need to organize, get energized, and fight back against this latest tide of greedy stupid hate driven destruction and power grabs.
Next stop ruin Social Security:
“Moynihan”
So much horror story in the piece, too many to cite.
“WaPo Gift”
Too many horror stories at WaPo to cite, just read the piece.
Warning, paywalled:
“John Ganz”
There will not be any shortage of people the Trump flacks can use to show (i.e., imply) lots of people like the new tariffs.
It is interesting to read the analysis of why Trump did this or that, and what the motivations are. But most of it really is Occam’s Razor. He is a malevolent, ignorant man who has almost unlimited power. And for Trump 2.0 he surrounded himself with toadies, mostly unqualified. He is so drunk with power and so stupid that he can’t fathom that the EU is not going to roll over for him. I assume that there will be a realignment of trading partners throughout the world, with the US watching from the sidelines.
Per NBC, a second child has died in the Texas measles outbreak.
RFK Jr. plans to attend the funeral. If I were the kid’s parents, I’d have him forcibly ejected from there.
@CSK:
I’d strap him onto a gurney, hook him up to an intravenous measles vaccination drip, and wheel him over to the funeral services site.
The Treasury Department has just issued a second round of Fork in the
EyeRoad — Deferred Resignation Program 2.0. The email went out to all Treasury employees at 7:05 PM on a Saturday, from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management. As with the earlier version, employees who take DRP 2.0 will be placed on paid administrative leave through September 30.Non-US travelers entering U.S. through airports:
“JPEG”
https://bsky.app/profile/jeffasher.bsky.social/post/3lm2zcbmpwc2x
@charontwo:
I’ve noticed that heirs of wealthy families are the most virulent, vocal advocates of leech economics.
They don’t worry about street violence, because their goon squads do the fighting for them. A bunch of Roman Roys sans charisma.
Tommy Tuberville, what the ever lovin’ heck is he talking about here?
@Jen:
Woke globalists are pushing kids to become trans.
@Jen: The statement is clear as day, at least in the maga world. You probably don’t even believe that a boy goes to school one day and returns home a girl. You must be woke, or DEI, or whatever flavor of the day that we are supposed to hate.
Teabaggers. I hope Trump doesn’t do a Trudeau and freeze the bank accounts of the protesters using the Constitution being suspended during the covid pandemic.
@charontwo:
Re: There will not be any shortage of people the Trump flacks can use to show (i.e., imply) lots of people like the new tariffs.
I saw a shrimp fisherman in Nola being interviewed in CNN a couple days ago that was one. Seems imported shrimp has taken a hell of a bite out of that industry. However, his other comments I thought a bit more disturbing.
What he said, essentially, was we need a dictator (he did not use that word) because Congress has become so dysfunctional and partisan they can’t get anything done. What disturbed me most was that I have to acknowledge there is some truth to that, and the howls of outrage over now having a dictator are not effective on people who’ve become open to the idea of having one.
Is the best hope for this democratic republic Trump’s incompetence as a dictator?
Paul L – If they park their trucks in front of people’s businesses and home illegally for weeks I hope they do get their accounts put on hold.
Also of note, they just closed the CDC lab on sexual diseases. Now if you have illicit sex you get VD and you are forced to carry to term. Guess we were facing a critical shortage of infants with sexually transmitted diseases.
Steve
@dazedandconfused:
That is the unstated implication of the NAR notion of “Seven Mountains” controlled by “godly men.” In reality, pretty much the entire GOP has given up on democracy, prefers a strong daddy like their current cult idol.
@Steve:
Give them time. See Occupy Wall Street. So when were occupy’s bank accounts frozen?
I know someone who died because of narcotics. Who in the government should I blame?
@Paul L.:
The person who took the drugs is to blame. And if you agree with that statement, explain why the fuck we’re threatening Mexico for supplying the needs of our drug-hungry population. Willing buyer, willing seller, free market 101.
If Americans stop demanding, they’ll stop supplying. As usual, the fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves. And that’s why you want to see the government spend much more on education and treatment of addicts. Right?
@Jen: @CSK: Doonesbury this morning quotes the President of the NCAA saying there are less than ten in college sports. I checked, he did say he’s aware of less than ten.
This could have nicely been left to schools and athletic associations, but that wouldn’t have helped Trump get elected.
@Paul L.:
Bill Clinton.
He might not be related to it in any way, but that doesn’t stop people from blaming him for everything to the point where any crimes he did commit are buried under a massive pile of false claims and will never be unearthed. Just toss another on the pile.
Reagan might be another good option.
There have been so many failures in the US drug policies, that this someone you claim to have known may have interacted with any number of them. The odds that this person wasn’t affected by any of them is vanishingly small.
I suppose he might have found his grand-pappy’s stash of Bayer Brand Heroin (it’s like Morphine, but for children!) from before the First World War under a floorboard, and then overdosed, but odds are it was the result of some situation the government had a hand in creating.
Dangerous and addictive drugs is a hard problem.
There was a special episode of Star Trek: TNG about it where Wesley said he couldn’t understand, and Tasha Yar explained that it was the only release — even temporary release — she had from living on her home planet being hunted by the rape gangs. Even there, we might say that restraining the rape gangs was a responsibility of the local government that they had failed at.
Random thought: if Wesley Crusher grew up on Tasha Yar’s Rape Gang Planet, would he have been in a rape gang, been targeted by a rape gang, both or neither? This very special episode really shied away from the hard questions.
I also wonder how Tasha went from strung out on drugs on the Rape Gang Planet to serving on the flagship of the United Federation of Planets. Was she traded as property until one day she woke up from her drugged stupor in an admiral’s office getting her lieutenant pips? Is she as baffled by this turn of events as I am?
Has she bypassed controls on her replicator to create drugs? Does she go into the holodeck to get holographic drugs whose effects end when you turn off the program?
These are all questions that would never be answered because her character was killed off. Shame really. Or blessing. One of those.
@Paul L.: What homes and businesses did Occupy block off? Just for the record I saw the encampments in NYC, Philly and Pittsburgh. Ambulances could easily get around them. Traffic still moved. There were a couple of protests that closed a street or two during the day but they camped out in Zucotti park in NYC. That is a private park and people arent supposed to stay overnight but it didnt close the city. So both groups engaged in illegal protests but only the truckers put people at risk by denying freedom of movement. In the ideal, all of those trucks would have been towed but many would likely have been damaged and other truckers refused. Besides, I cant really figure out what they do in Canada should affect what we do.
Steve
As of 8:52pm local time Sunday night, the Nikkei stock maker is down almost 8% and Dow futures are down 1600+ and the nasdaq futures are down 1000+.
Tomorrow is going to be a bloodbath on Wall Street. I’m thinking Black Monday, 1987.
You were warned. I really hope you’re all out of the market by now.
Hey Andy, is it OK for people to freak out now? Or are we still waiting for the actual bad stuff to happen? Asking for a friend.
@Gustopher:
There’s a TNG book, Survivors by Jean Lorrah, that contains Tasha’s backstory. She was rescued by a Starfleet crew and eventually enrolled in Starfleet academy. All very proper. None of it is canon.
Jay North 73
RIP
@Gustopher: Well thanks to her character we know how fully functional DATA really is….