Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, April 13, 2025
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60 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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).
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BlueSky.
So last night my friend Ricky had a pedal powered bus. It was like a regular sized bus, but the drive pedaled to make it go. So I was driving my friends to the mall and we hung out there for a bit. Then Reynolds was there and I made fun of him for paying 65 USD for breakfast. He was all crabby but he got on the bus with us. We drove down a highway frontage road and through some construction to get to the taco superstore. A giant Costco sized store that sold nothing but taco related things.
Then my friend Eman told me it was getting ridiculous and I should wake up.
Reposting a comment I put at the tail end of yesterday’s forum:
People do gravitate toward reading or hearing stuff that makes them feel good, away from stuff that upsets them.
The people around “strong men” style leaders like Putin and Trump act on knowing this, which explains the New Republic piece I recently quoted. The people around Trump want to preserve their access, so they tell him stuff that makes him feel good. For example, tell him the voters like his tariffs (based on polling his core supporters), avoid the bad news so many voters are pissed off and/or frightened by them.
“HeatherCoxRichardson”
“Krugman”
https://x.com/ArmandDoma/status/1911083347599905044
https://x.com/JosephPolitano/status/1911073375432085744
https://x.com/JosephPolitano/status/1911074434867228947
@Beth:
lol, guess I wasn’t awake enough to proofread. That should have started with last night I dreamt that…
@charontwo:
I know this situation continues to change rapidly, but I thought medications–so far–were exempt from tariffs?
ETA: Ah, I just read about it. Apparently, this is still in the “threats about tariffs” phase.
So i was sitting down to a delicious if overpriced breakfast when @Beth rode by on a penny-farthing and asked for my Costco card. . .
@Beth:
Well, it’s better than what I dreamed.
@JohnSF, from yesterday
Must have filtering and sorting stimuli by relevance. With each addition of machinery to perceive a new variety of stimuli, there must also be a process to focus on relevant information.
In some pictures, Waldo’s glasses matter more than the red stripes on his shirt. In others, it’s the scarf. Or hair color.
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong – faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it’s too late.” Frank Herbert – Dune
I excerpted a lot out of this to make my point: Anti-abortion extremists are also anti-woman extremists. And it comes out of the Christian Nationalist movement which has infiltrated our politics.
An emboldened anti-abortion faction wants women who have abortions to face criminal charges
…
…
@Beth:..In Your Dreams…
Bike Bus
I wonder if they would let Reynolds smoke his cigar as he pedaled?
@Beth: Well, it was a bit disorienting, but I figured it out, and I think it is much more interesting and entertaining the way it is.
One of the links Steven posted yesterday had this quote:
I found myself wondering how well Cheung matches up with Baghdad Bob for outlandish hyperbolic statements. I think Cheung is winning, but I could be mistaken.
I think the important thing to remember here is that if you remember dreaming at all, it means something interrupted your sleep cycle last night
@Stormy Dragon:
😀 Good one.
@Beth: The way it was written, I figured out it was a dream sequence after about five sentences. I enjoy hearing what people’s subconscious is processing!
@Franklin: I paused and reread the first sentence and then I caught on.
@Beth: I assumed that was a deliberate choice, and I approve. “Last night I dreamed…” is such a dreary opening, all but commanding people to stop reading. Your way in, simply to tell the story, was much better. I stared at the mention of the pedal bus, trying to imagine such a thing and whether they have them in Mexico. And even when you met up with MR, there was a moment of wondering how that could have worked. Then of course it became obvious, but by then I had been engaged and entertained.
So well done to you!
@Scott: I often think about the conservative evangelical churches I was involved in earlier in my life, especially given their alliance with the current administration. One of the key obsessions was sex, and it was ultimately and clearly about control, most especially of women.
They also get sooo concerned with the afterlife that they reduce it all down to rules. Do this or that and you go to Hell! So they then convince themselves that all they are doing is saving souls for eternity. Meanwhile, they largely ignore the “love one another as I have loved you” stuff, at least when it pertains to anyone who isn’t following their rules.
“Love the sinner, hate the sin” seems to always translate into not loving the sinner at all, and that is why they deserve to be sent to CECOT (to mix topics a bit).
@wr: I briefly thought she was referring to one of those pedal-bus bars you see in cities.
@Mister Bluster:
Looks more like a tram.
@Steven L. Taylor: Like this one I saw in Atlanta. Note the police car and all the cans and such on the road behind it-they had taken the corner on a hill too steeply and had a little problem. Imagine that!
Hopefully Beth and MR weren’t on that one, as I would have stopped to say hello.
@wr:
I assumed the same, and agree. Well-written.
I assume you’re watching The Studio? Or as I think of it, The Bear for Hollywood.
A breakdown of the tariff news, by level of crazy.
@Michael Reynolds: We started The Studio this weekend and have gotten through the first two. Great stuff. I love the second episode.
@Steven L. Taylor: @Michael Reynolds: I watched the first episode of The Studio. It was OK and I usually give shows about 3 episodes before giving up. I think I’m cool on it because Seth Rogan just always irritates me for some reason.
On the other hand, “The Pitt” was just great. I recommend it highly. Our feel-good show is “Call the Midwife”.
@Steven L. Taylor:
That was such an ambitious episode, especially so early in a series. A oner about a oner. With a winking reference to ‘no whip-pans’ which of course Rogan/Goldberg used several times for their own oner.
Highly debatable. And suspect.
Definitely morally unfit.
@Michael Reynolds: And the bookend. Everyone loves a bookend.
@Scott: “The Pitt” is on our list as well.
I am looking forward to the new season of “Hacks” as well.
@Jen:
approximately 60% of the heparin supply is sourced from China. That is to say, China ships the active ingredient to US manufacturers who then “finish” (dilute and process) the raw heparin that you see in IV bags.
Now, here’s the rub. Finished pharmaceuticals are exempted from the “trump tariff”, but unfinished or bulk pharms are NOT exempted. (as best as I can discern today).
Of course this can change at the whim of the President.
It seems to me that the only way to tell what the situation is hour by hour is to ask Customs.
Great way to run a country !
@charontwo: Given that heparin is synthesized from pig intestines, the US should be able to produce heparin if it chooses to. All industrial start up and re-onshoring warnings do apply, however.
If ANYONE has the right to sue the Trump administration on its deportation policies, it’s THIS guy.
Considering he already has the backing of the Supreme Court, I hope two things:
1) he and his family never have to work another day in their life, and
2) All hearing events are televised so that people get to see how deeply fascist the Trump administration is at its core.
Imagine:
“On what grounds was Kilmar Abrego deported?”
“Well… Just LOOK at him! He looks like he needed deporting!”
@Beth: No problem. The ending filled in the details just fine. (And even in your dream, MR has nothing on my sister-in-law who paid $85 US each for American-style breakfast buffet for 3 of us one morning in Korea.*)
*She decided she wanted some scrambled eggs. Koreans don’t make scrambled eggs. They do scramble them but only make them into steamed eggs cooked in a ramekin and an egg loaf that is cut into strips for kimbap (sushi roll) and side dishes.
@just nutha:
Makes you wonder if US domestic pig farmers are willing to work for the same profit as Chinese pig farmers.
What a great opportunity !
@Scott:
Hmmm… I see this as white nationalist/bigotry-based politics having (long ago) infiltrated Christianity. Perspective plays a role.
@Stormy Dragon: If that is the case, my sleep cycle gets interrupted almost every night.
@Scott: Maybe because Seth Rogan isn’t funny? (Just my take.) Haven’t managed to find the appeal of Call the Midwife. Then again, don’t have children, either.
Like socialism that works, the oligarchy is always just around the corner for Bernie
Of course, DOGE has revealed that what we got was a NGOarchy. Rule by government funded non-governmental organizations doing what the technocrats and bureaucrats were prohibited by law from doing so they doled money out to private contractors with a wink and a nod
@Liberal Capitalist:
Which was such a resounding success with the Jan 6 hearings that the voters never elected anyone like him again.
@JKB:
Only a fool would look at a billionaire making decisions by fiat, and empowered by a billionaire cabinet and whatever Trump is, and say: “No oligarchy here. Nope! It is those damn bureaucrats at NGOs who rule.”
When some NGO dude can fire Musk, get back to me.
I picked up a piece of asphalt earlier today. I like it. It’s got chunky aggregate visible.
It’s roughly the size of 2.5 acorns. I know this because it is sitting directly next to my acorn on my window sill.
(I love my acorn. It’s so cool and chill. Sitting there, being super awesome. Always.)
Every few years there is a drought up in Minnesota or upstream and the river that runs through my city dries up a bit and narrows. I love walking the now exposed parts. Looking at what is now dry.
It’s mostly bottle caps and pennies. But you can spot some weird shit, too. Why would someone throw a condom in the river?
And then, every few years, the river can overrun the banks entirely and flood a fairly large portion of downtown.
When a river rises fifteen feet above normal, well, that’s a fuckton of water!
On the subject of vision yesterday, most mammals have only two types of cone cell pigments, while humans and I think great apes have three.
Birds have four, and their extra one strays into ultraviolet. they also have much sharper vision than we do, which is useful for creatures that fly in the day time.
As to how the brain interprets vision, it’s really complicated. For one thing, your field of vision is far narrower than what you see. Your eyes shift constantly, and the brain stitches several “takes” into one, it also incorporates things seen peripherally.
@Michael Reynolds: “I assume you’re watching The Studio?”
I am, but I’m not really hooked for some reason.
@Michael Reynolds: “I assumed the same, and agree. Well-written.”
I realized after I posted that I had just given notes on a blog comment. I think I may be teaching too much this term…
I don’t think I’ve linked to this one yet: The Planets, by Gustav Holst.
On other things, I’m on ep 2 of season 2 of Severance. I’m not sure what to make of it, and I find the timeline stated to be confusing.
Saw this comment on an old Reason piece:
Sure, we all make predictions that turn out to be wrong. But reasonable people do not make predictions based on paranoid fantasy.
I do wonder if Mr. H. Christ is currently crediting Trump with saving us from the 401k nationalization scheme.
“Steve M.”
@Kurtz:
At work in the late seventies there was a group conversation over lunch. The conversation turned to the then new idea that credit cards were becoming more common and would eventually replace cash. One guy suggested the government would then track all our transactions and added, “And you know who the government will be by then.” “Umh, no. Who?” “Satan.” Everybody suddenly had something urgent they needed to get back to. Paranoid fantasy? Sure. But lately it seems he was pretty close to right.
@JKB: hey, you’re alive! I was beginning to worry that you were snatched up by ICE and deported to a El Salvadoran concentration camp with no due process, since you haven’t been by to defend the Trump administration deporting people to an El Salvadoran concentration camp with no due process.
Glad you’re ok.
Did you see that an immigration judge ruled that the government can deport someone for their existing or expected political views? Crazy, eh?
Hope you don’t have measles and that your job isn’t imperiled by a rapidly fluctuating tariff policy.
@wr:
@Michael Reynolds:
Thank you guys. That means a lot to me. I really enjoy writing even if it’s just silliness on the internet. But I’ve come to understand that I’m not particularly clear. Lol, that understanding has also helped me with my legal writing. Lol, I like the idea that I inadvertently made a little bit of art today and that actual writers enjoyed it.
Oh, and when I told my partner about the dream she was like, “who? OH! yeah, the guy you fight with on the internet.”
Per the NYT, someone did an arson job on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s house. No one was injured, but part of the residence was badly damaged.
@Beth:
Probably not a great habit for most of what a lawyer writes, but when in doubt an easy trick is to read your writing back out loud. Your ear will catch what your eye misses.
Today’s bumper sticker:
Only Gay Cops
Pull Me Over
@Michael Reynolds:
No, see. That doesn’t work. My idiot goblin brain gleefully fills in all the leaps of logic and weird buried assumptions my brain used to spit out the right answer. I mean, the answer is right but people want to see the work and I can’t show the work. But the answer is is right. And then people get pissed and don’t believe me.
Anyway, my brains just cleans up the gibberish with a smile on its idiot face like a Zamboni on ice.
I figured this out because my partner’s face has the same problem my mouth does: it talks too much. I started to figure out when she was struggling to figure out what I was trying to say and I was losing her. Then I figured out that everyone makes the same basic face when I start to lose them. That’s when I have to strictly point out that I’m right and my math/logic is an Eldritch horror that will eat your brain and leave you stupider.
And this idiot meat brain just keeps smiling.
So, yeah, no, I can’t proofread myself.
@Michael Reynolds:
I’ve recommended that to students in my classes over the years. The one downside is that it only works to the extent that you only read what you actually wrote rather than what you think you did. But it’s still better than nothing.
ETA (to Beth): Yeah. Sorry it doesn’t work for you. My second-best trick only works on stuff that you can postpone rereading for a week or more. (Some people, separated from the writing for long enough, will read what they actually wrote rather than what they intended to. Editing and proofreading improves in efficiency quite a bit.)
@Michael Reynolds:
@Beth:
And @Just nutha ignint cracker:
Yup. That’s the main reason I’ve trouble proofreading my own work. Not just writing, but assembling price and product listings, and petty cash. I’d hate to calculate how much time I’ve spent chasing down a significant error in the latter, or how many times when there’s a fe cents difference I just say “F**k it!”
It will turn out I wrote 634 when the price was 643, and I literally don’t see the difference. Yet if I’m checking someone else’s work, I spot such things without trouble.
That, too. It’s one reason I use generative AI to summarize my writing when I can’t stop for a week to look for major narrative errors.
BTW, an unspotted error in a samples list nearly got me fired once. It wasn’t until the boss realized the sample list consolidated from seven different requirements lists, not in the same order, wasn’t something I could be expected to check on my own.
This is sometimes a marker for dyslexia (some research I’ve read claims dyslexia as more common than we realize because this phenom is pretty common). I’m not accusing either you or me of being dyslexic, but it’s why I check numbers I write 3 times. And once more before I hit “send” or “print.”