Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Friday, July 11, 2025
·
69 comments
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.
Finally losing weight on my Low Carb, Low Fat, Low Protein diet. Also known as the “Good God, I’d Love a Drink” diet.
@Scott:
Currently on that diet for a number of reasons… It’s amazing how well it works and also how tough it can be in stressful times.
Video podcast recommendation unheard: https://youtu.be/SUUw-UfK64Q?si=u7AHuq_S1vTLGlh1
John Stuart hosts Tony Gilroy (creator of Andor) and Mike Duncan (Revolutions podcast).
Will watch it this evening after work. It may tie in well with the Ancient Geeks three part look at Andor.
WAPO ran an editorial board column this morning whining about Biden’s doctor refusing to testify before theHouse investigation into Biden’s health and how everyone should pretend this might lead to transparency about presidential health, without ever mentioning the current prez. It’d be enough to make me cancel my subscription, if I hadn’t already, tomorrow’s my last day. They got 2,000 comments so far, pretty much all condemnatory. I wouldn’t link to it, but they pulled it from the website front page as I was reading it. So here’s proof they really did that.
The smoldering wreckage of a once valuable newspaper. A monument to the age of Trump.
I will port this over from Thursday’s Forum.
@Fortune:
Tell you what. I won’t formally ban you right here and right now. I will just ask you to go.
I haven’t banned you for reasons that have been addressed before (although if you did in fact attack Beth, that would have been enough).
Jax is right. You don’t contribute anything.
All of my annoyance with you aside, I acknowledge that my various attempts at both sincere interaction and obvious snark to get you to meaningfully engage always fail.
You never make an argument. You never really express an opinion of any complexity. You never, ever actually engage with people. You pretend to want to have a conversation, but either you don’t really want to have one, or you don’t know how.
And you disrupt threads you are on. So yes, this is an invitation to leave, since you offered.
This is a long piece that adds up to not more than a personal anecdote, a little history, a thought piece, and some speculation. But does the fact that it exists say something about today’s zeitgeist?
Is This ‘What They Signed Up For?’ New Military Missions Ignite Interest in Conscientious Objectors
@Scott: Where you go I must soon follow.
Speaking of Beth, I haven’t seen anything from her lately? Maybe she’s just on Signal more? Is she ok?
This is real. I kid you, not.
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1943493150644777199
@Daryl:
To call it tacky would be an insult to tackiness
@Kathy:
Capt Bone Spurs thinks he is Super-human.
@Jay L Gischer:
The last time Beth commented was in the Open Forum on Wednesday, June 18.
@Daryl:
I’ve been reading some atrocious reviews of the latest Superman movie. I’d planned to wait for streaming. But seeing as it’s riling up the bigots, I may just contribute my part to its box office numbers.
@Daryl:
I nearly threw up.
@Kathy: I’m listening to this episode right now. It’s worth your time.
Abut students using AI to cheat on homework, this takes me back a long, long way.
Early 80s, junior high school, my best ever teacher, Mrs. H., who taught history, required all assignments to be handwritten, especially including the long reports on books she assigned. Why? She explained if they were to be typewritten, then some of her students would get their daddy’s secretary to do the work for them.
I’ve no idea if this was something she experienced before (she’d been teaching there for over 15 years by the time I got there), or mere suspicion, or something she’d done herself as a student.
Moving on to the early 2000s, a friend who taught at a high school, caught several students who copied and pasted Wikipedia entries for their assignments.
Now, in my day we often used encyclopedias, textbooks, and assigned reading to do homework and other assignments. So I’d see nothing wrong in principle in using an online encyclopedia. But in my day, we had to read the entries and books, and decide what to include, and whether it required further explanation (say from stuff learned in class that might not be in the entry). According to my friend, these were just cut and paste jobs. Back in the day you might have photocopied parts of the encyclopedia and pasted clippings in your assignment, and gotten a failing grade.
So, I can see how figuring out prompts for ChatGPT to turn out an essay, a book report, or anything else is a lot worse. Especially fi the student doesn’t even check the result in depth. they’d be learning nothing except what prompts to use. Even Biff Tannen should have been better off copying George McFly’s homework.
But the larger point is students have been using any and all means to cheat, and won’t stop merely because the latest one is counterproductive for them.
Disclosure: of course I’ve cheated in several assignments when I could get away with it.
Funny story, though. We were once assigned a book on basic economics. It was the driest reading I’ve ever experienced. I literally could not make any progress reading it. So, I got a classmate to let me see his report, and base my report on his. I read the introduction, decided I already knew the subject, checked the book’s table of contents, and wrote my own report. I got an A.
Too bad it took throwing the baby out with the bath water…
https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx
Good to know the sadists don’t outnumber us, though tragically too late to stop the bleeding.
@Kathy: Then there’s Cliff Notes (Barron Notes, Spark Notes, etc.). That I think of as the ChatGPT of the late 20th century.
@Mike in Arlington:
Thanks. It’s a bit of a relief.
@Kathy: Rotten Tomatoes is saying 82% of critics like the new Superman movie, and 95% of the verified audience, whatever that means.
Since I love Superman, I may actually go into a movie theater, something I haven’t done in many years. (the last few times were just awful, with things like broken air conditioning, the movie in the next theater’s sound bleeding through the walls, too many people, a weird smell… just always at least one really annoying thing)
Fantastic Four also tempts me. Eventually, someone is bound to make a good FF movie, right? Law of averages and all that.
@Gustopher: Superman Returns incredibly gets 72%. I thought that film was aggressively mediocre.
@Gustopher:
I see very few movies, so I always treat myself by going to the VIP/Premium theaters. It’s more expensive, but there’s a reclining seat (with foot rest), better sound, seat-side service (for some reason), and usually people who spend more to watch a movie will behave better. Also, it’s less likely people will bring children.
Good news for Epstein conspiracy theory enthusiasts — the released footage showing no one entered his cell is doctored.
From Wired:
I would assume someone wants to encourage conspiracy theories, given the number of entirely-optional and weirdly suspicious moments (Bondi saying there is no client list, after previously saying that it was sitting on her desk for review, Trump’s weirdly defensive “are people still asking about Epstein? why would anyone be asking about Epstein?”, etc), but I don’t know why this administration would want people to think they are involved in covering up silencing a guy who could expose his pedophile ring.
@Gustopher:
Not sure how the conspiracy theory backlash will play out. Do the people who really, really believe in the conspiracy stick to their guns? Do they stick with Trump, eventually finding another handy conspiracy theory where they can invest their passions?
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/07/epstein-files-trump/683503/
@Kathy: It was one of those fancy theaters that had the weird smell. I don’t know what the smell was, but it was acrid and disgusting.
I’ll assume it was a mix of partially cleaned up vomit and stinky cleaning supplies, and not a rancid dead animal being decomposed by anaerobic bacteria or something.
@Gustopher: The only way I can make sense of (sanewash) this “Epstein list” nonsense is to assume some minion came rushing to Bondi saying they have an Epstein list and Bondi immediately called Trump:
Bondi – I have the Epstein list in my hands.
Trump – Good. Cut me, my buddies, my donors, and any prominent Republicans out of the list.
Bondi – Sir, I did what you said.
Trump – Good girl. Now release it.
Bondi – But sir, there’s nothing left.
@Gustopher:
Imagine that. I’ve never had any issues with smell on theaters that I can recall. Sound bleeding off the adjoining theater, though, is really common in the regular theaters. That’s one reason to add to the above for why I choose the premium ones.
BTW, there’s a ridiculous number of theaters near me. Basically two chains dominate the Mexican market, Cinemex and Cinepolis. There are three complexes of the latter and one of the former within two kilometers of my apartment. So, naturally, I go to one that’s like 8 kilometers away 🙂
There’s a reason for this: it’s in a smaller building that does not require circling the parking lot looking for a spot, nor a fifteen minute walk to the theater. It’s also newer than the others, so it has the latest tech.
@Kathy: With superhero movies, I never expect good reviews. Especially now, as people love to talk about how tired of superhero movies they are.
I have one friend who went and loved it. Of course, “Kelly’s Heroes” is his ideal movie.
@gVOR10: Surely Bill Clinton would be on the list, and Hunter Biden. And if they aren’t, they can be added.
Why would they not just make up a client list? Maybe have fun with it, put it in alphabetical order, and redact a few that would be very guessable.
I would make up a client list. (I would keep Trump off, since MAGA will declare any list with Trump on it to be fake news, even if we added Hunter Biden, but Stephen Miller? He would be on it… maybe with his mother’s maiden name instead of his last name, but get that phone number right, and do that with everyone so it looks like a terrible attempt at security)
@Jay L Gischer: So long as it doesn’t have Ma Kent telling Clark that he doesn’t owe the world anything, or Pa Kent telling him not to save that school bus full of children or himself, and it might be one of the best Superman movies of the century.
Toss in no storyline about him getting someone pregnant, wiping her memory, and fleeing into space for a bunch of years… and I think it could be the best of the century so far. Maybe even no hanging out around her apartment eavesdropping with Super-Hearing.
Bonus points if it has him inspiring more people than Perry White, or if Batman literally sues Superman in a court of law (Batman v. Superman should have gotten a complete rewrite once they settled on a title…)
Hinging a scene on Batman and Superman both having mothers named Martha was genius though — I will credit the Snyder movies with that. That was an idea that would have been at home in the Silver Age.
I just want a Superman movie that is competently executed, and that treats the character with the reverence it deserves. Something that doesn’t undermine the inherently silly aspects (skip over them if they don’t work for the story, sure, but don’t make them the butt of a joke), that presents him as a little corny and very earnest and doesn’t try to make him cool, because he was already cool.
And in such a cynical and dark era as we live in, a little corny and very earnest would be downright subversive.
Or two straight hours of Superdickery. Force Jimmy Olsen to marry an ape.
I would like him to shoot tiny Supermen from his fingers, or grow an eye on the back of his head for 24 hours because of red kryptonite and hide it with increasingly silly hats, but I recognize that I might be an outlier there.
@CSK: As I noted on the other thread, I’m not sure I’d have realized it was supposed to be Trump if the spokesmodel person from the WH hadn’t pointed it out. But I don’t have any strong visceral reactions to the guy. He’s just meaner, stupider, racist Dubya to me.
@Daryl: Correction of the link – Truth, justice, OR the Trump way.
@gVOR10: That’s a workable enough theory/explanation.
@Gustopher: “I may actually go into a movie theater, something I haven’t done in many years. (the last few times were just awful, with things like broken air conditioning, the movie in the next theater’s sound bleeding through the walls, too many people, a weird smell… just always at least one really annoying thing)”
I consider myself lucky that my “neighborhood” theater — actually a mile walk, although most of that is through Central Park — is the AMC Lincoln Square, the flagship of the AMC chain, so it is about as good as exhibition gets…
@Gustopher:
IMO, the best Batman movie was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which was made by the team behind the Batman animated series,
Seeing as how now there is a pretty good Superman animated series, My Adventures with Superman, I think the next logical step in Superman movies is clear.
@wr:
Roger Ebert advised the best theaters were those frequently patronized by movie critics and industry insiders (not necessarily celebrities). He claimed these provided the best quality of picture and sound.
The, too, at the time, late 90s, there was much controversy in his syndicated column, where he often answered readers’ questions, about dim light bulbs in movie projectors* (allegedly to save on electricity costs, and to make the bulbs last longer). In these days of digital movies and specialty sound systems and premium theaters, who knows.
*I did have the impression that several movies, especially those screened in independent theaters, were too dim to make out the action in scenes at night or otherwise with low illumination. So that lends credene to the dim light bulb hypothesis.
Maybe if you are a big dog law firm or a major big time university or a TV channel maybe don’t acceede immediately to threats from Trump’s politicized DoJ. Spurious threats no reasonable judge would uphold. It’s basically a mafia protection scam.
That is you purpose, ffs. But, you folded.
It is your responsibility to uphold civil society. Caving in to the demands of an authoritarian fascist-adjacent current government is bad optics. And just bad. It’s betrayed trust.
Have some balls, some conviction to your primary thesis. Fight to your last breath. This is who we are.
This, too, shall pass. 2029 is nigh. Cowering and acquiescence won’t make it go away sooner. You’ve pegged yourself an easy mark, so of course they will come back for more later. You’re a willing sub.
Resistance to authoritarian pressure is a civic good. Giving in to that pressure harms your institution both now. And in the future. You caved, willingly.
Public servile acquiescence to an idiot like Trump makes you look weak, pathetic, and servile.
As a youth I had a dog that rolled over on his back and urinated on himself when even vaguely stressed. I coped but did not like it. I understood that this behavior arises from maltreatment and abuse from his previous owner.
Please, do not be a cringing dog that pisses on itself to potentially evoke mercy.
Maybe if you are a big dog law firm or a major big time university or a TV channel maybe don’t acceede immediately to threats from Trump’s politicized DoJ. Spurious threats no reasonable judge would uphold. It’s basically a mafia protection scam.
That is you purpose, ffs. But, you folded.
It is your responsibility to uphold civil society. Caving in to the demands of an authoritarian fascist-adjacent current government is bad optics. And just bad. It’s betrayed trust.
Have some balls, some conviction to your primary thesis. Fight to your last breath. This is who we are.
This, too, shall pass. 2029 is nigh. Cowering and acquiescence won’t make it go away sooner. You’ve pegged yourself an easy mark, so of course they will come back for more later. You’re a willing sub.
Resistance to authoritarian pressure is a civic good. Giving in to that pressure harms your institution both now. And in the future. You caved, willingly.
Public servile acquiescence to an idiot like Trump makes you look weak, pathetic, and servile.
As a youth I had a dog that rolled over on his back and urinated on himself when even vaguely stressed. I coped but did not like it. I understood that this behavior arises from maltreatment and abuse from his previous owner.
Please, do not be a cringing dog that pisses on itself.
@Gustopher:
Because someone else has a copy. My guess would be Putin.
Trump occasionally makes noise about defying Putin but does little or nothing. All he’s threatening now is to send Ukraine the Biden package. He could do a great deal more, he could really put an economic hurt on Putin, or he could go far beyond the Biden deal, but he doesn’t. Instead Trump does the absolute minimum he can do without making his subservience so blatant even the MAGAts would see it. From Putin’s point of view he can play his card now, but it wouldn’t stop the arms and might bring on the heavier sanctions. Blackmail requires some finesse.
If Trump released a redacted Epstein list he’d actually be strengthening Putin’s hand since it would mean not just proof of Trump with underage girls, but a cover-up of same.
@CSK:
Please do not track people like that.
I mean, you can if you want to, but it’s creepy.
People are allowed to occasionally post.
Then dip. Then show up later.
Not your problem.
@de stijl: I think you give such entities too much credit. As the chairman of General Motors noted many years ago, such enterprises exist to make money and engage in their chosen efforts toward that particular end.
If civic society wants to be upheld, the members of it must, in the words of at least one text perporting to advise on such matters, “work out [it’s] own salvation with fear and trembling.” Sorry, ETA: but it always comes back to us, who need only a mirror to meet the enemy. 🙁
@Scott:
aka: “The Gandhi Diet”? 100% efficacy rate, or so I’ve heard.
No tin-pot dictator is too small for El Taco to legitimize.
And no dictator of any size is too dim not to try to play him.
TL;DR: El Taco’s tariff form letter to Myanmar de facto recognizes the military junta there. And its head is profusely praising EL Taco and looking for sanctions relief.
@Jay L Gischer:
I’m still around. Just quiet and small. I’ve also stopped reading anytime the trolls popped up. They are insufferable and the response to them has gotten worse. I don’t know what happened yesterday and I don’t want to.
I’ve had nothing to say and it’s not worth it anyway. Also, I’m trying to preserve what little and fading will to live I have left and not spend it fighting with strange little men on the internet.
Instead I made this playlist. It’s an abomination. Fair warning it’s all women having sex and doing drugs and choosing to live their best life. It’s incredibly vulgar. If your kids know who Miss Bashful is, they are cool kids.
If you believe the Krypton home planet origin, then Kal-El is not a human being and concerns about his immigration status evaporate. After all, we don’t consider ducks born in the Northwest territories of Canada that use the Central Flyway as illegal immigrants, although we do to shoot some of them every autumn. Of course, this raises the question of whether Lois Lane is a zoophiliac.
@Slugger:
I think what Lois and Kal do may qualify as rishathra
Though maybe bot, as the man who coined the term claims here.
I won’t claim the second link is completely accurate from a scientific point of view. On the other hand, it contains gems such as “All known forms of kryptonian life have superpowers. The same must hold true of living kryptonian sperm.”
But on the gripping hand, that’s an unwarranted assumption. Have we ever seen Kal’s “equipment” or know whether he even produces sperm?
@de stijl:
Tracking? There was concern over a regular, @CSK checked, her purpose plainly not some form of espionage.
@Beth:
Thanks for checking in and +10,000 to taking whatever steps are needed for your personal health. So long as it’s aligned, just having you pop up to occasional just say “hi.” is great. No pressure though.
Love your list. If you’re open to–dear god–“oldies” (circa 2022/3) I highly recommend Princess Superstar.
@de stijl:
100% this. And I get people’s intent to act out of concern.
For some folks, doing that can be a big help. For others, it can feel like getting tracked. And for some it can feel like being trolled.
My rule of thumb is that acting out of good intent is always a good first choice. And also that if someone tells you to stop, then you should stop.
And that the community can support folks who are taking a break by reminding us of any expressed wishes.
@just nutha:
I am firmly in the belief that non-governmental institutions basically make the nation.
All of the the entities that paid off Trump under threat of prosecution would have been better served long term in saying “fuck off”.
The big dog law firms are seeing mass exits of morally capable partners and staff. Acquiescence doesn’t get you shit. Well, it gets you long term ill will. You caved. To a pathetic toad who will be gone in a few years.
What was Paramount thinking? I know lawyers want to make a thing go away, but ffs $16 million because Trump got pissed is stupid. Have a bit of conviction towards your stated goals.
It’s easy. Trump could have easily done a sit down interview on 60 Minutes. He was invited. He chose not to.
Yeah, I don’t have any sympathy for entities that acquiesce for short term political favor.
@de stijl: I’m firmly of the conviction that nation is a construct individuals use to band into groups for the purposes of self-preservation. At some point, we decide that to not be killed, we must defer killing some, and then, the magic happens, we become “a people.”
@Michael Reynolds:
Yeah, no.
That was pseudo stalking behavior. Uncool. I do not approve of that behavior.
Imagine you posted on an on-line forum because you liked the vibe and community. Imagine then the folks you interacted with developed a parasocial attachment and tracked your behavior.
You dip in and out as you prefer.
But someone notes that.
Everytime a community starts monitoring interaction – that’s bad.
People show up when they will. It’s not our business!
You are not your brother’s keeper in this context. Not your business.
@Beth:
Hey! Post whenever you choose to.
@just nutha: I would agree. And who is in and out is largely arbitrary, contingent on a lot of random history. New Brunswick is them and Maine us. Juneau is us not in British Columbia. English is the common language in Chula Vista, San Diego, Del Mar, Encinitas, San Clemente, etc.
After WWI a serious effort was made to match countries and “nations” based on language, ethnicity, culture, whatever. The result was a bloody disaster. Maybe we should try to mature a little. Didn’t somebody talk about loving thy neighbor?
@Kathy: @Gustopher:
I saw the movie this morning so that Tom and I can record a podcast tomorrow. I plan to have the first part be a spoiler-free review. It will be an extra ep that will come out soon.
In regards to this:
I think that the movie delivers on all of this.
@Beth: Glad to hear from you. And it looks like Fortune has accepted the disinvitation.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I’ll go either tomorrow or Sunday, depending on when I decide to cook for the week.
Spoil away!
@Michael Reynolds:
No.
Monitoring someone’s interaction activity across multiple threads is just wrong. Full stop.
And creepy af.
Not our business.
Mind Police community bullshit.
@de stijl: Please consider the fact that it is easy information to find, and that it comes from a place of concern. That exact concern was how we learned of Teve’s passing.
I get where you are coming from, I really do, but the hostility is unwarranted.
@Michael Reynolds:
Given the Maxwell connection, I’d be tempted to place a small side bet Israeli intelligence might also have a at least some of it.
@Jen:
How am I being hostile? I am disagreeing with what I assume is a small part of the over-all consensus. I’d prefer not to be doxxed. Assume others feel the same.
Being loud doesn’t make you right.
Not. Our. Business.
Seriously bad to do so.
Easy to find? Wtaf? Are you pro-doxxing?
Intruding into someone’s private space? When, if they choose to engage?
Would you be pleased if someone monitored your engagement here? Yeah, probably not. Jen last posted on blahbittiblah on thread X. Would you feel comforted knowing you were being watched and monitored?
I could find it. It’s easily available.
@de stijl: I have often wondered what happened to you. I noticed when Doug and Teve weren’t posting. Turns out they had died, so excuse us for caring about our community.
We were also worried about Beth because of Fortune’s comments, so yes, we keep track of those we love.
@Slugger: I’ve had some time to reflect, and I have wronged Lois Lane by accusing her of zoophilia. It is xenophilia, of course.
The preliminary report on the Air India crash was released today. It states the fuel switches were set to the cutoff position, which stops the flow of fuel to the engines.
There were a few reports that the authorities were looking at the fuel switches, but nothing definite. Just the same, at the link you can see the switches below the throttles. . FYI, they cannot be moved without deliberate intent.
Pretty much you have to pull out the switch and then flip it. It’s not something that can happen by accident, say if a hand slips off the throttle levers. There’s also no flight system that can shut them off automatically.
They are set to RUN to start the engines, and are not touched again until after the aircraft parks at the gate, or remote stand, and the engines are turned off. In flight one may be switched to CUTOFF in case of an engine failure or an engine fire.
For more info I recommend the Mentour Now video on the report.
@Jax:
I have a lovely song I think you might enjoy: Bonny by Prefab Sprout.
@Kathy:
BTW, assuming this is correct and the fuel switches went to CUTOFF, this doesn’t end things. TO begin with, the investigators must determine why the switches were moved, as well as which pilot moved them. The piece says one pilot asked the other why he moved them, but not which pilot was it (captain or first officer).
By all accounts I’ve read from commercial pilots, there’s no way, none, that they moved on their own, accidentally, or automatically. I accept that, but I’m open to the remote possibility that some unknown or unaccounted for factor might be in play.
The natural conclusion is that it was deliberate. This would not be the first time a pilot crashed a plane on purpose. Switching the fuel off right after takeoff, maybe even before the gear were raised, almost assures a crash. There simply isn’t enough time for the engines to restart and provide enough thrust to avoid it.
Another natural conclusion, though less obvious, is that one of the pilots switched them off by mistake, perhaps intending to do something else. I’m at a loss what that could be, as they’re not near other controls that would be handled during normal takeoff, nor do they handle like most other switches.
Then there was an earlier report to the effect the plane took up almost the whole runway for takeoff. Like all early reports, this might be in error (esp. if it was taken from ADS-B data, which is not entirely reliable on the ground). If true, though, it’s not explained by the fuel switches being moved some seconds later.
@Beth:
Hi Beth!
Hope the crazy hot weather in London is not getting you down too much.
It’s still 26 in my living room, and apprently it even warmer in London
Totally nuts.
@JohnSF: We’re on Signal if you want to chat! Apparently it’s good enough for the Secretary of Defense. 😉
Finally locked down a house in Estoril. More of a pain than it should have been – people snatching rentals out from under us. But by sheer good luck, our landlady is a prominent immigration and taxation attorney. My favorite kind of attorney – at this point in my life. A house that comes with its own tax lawyer?
We’ll be ten minutes from a casino which is a tiny fraction of the casino I’m ten minutes from now. You have to show a passport to get into a Portuguese casino – or French. I wasn’t allowed to wear a cap, I don’t know why. Couldn’t carry a bag. It was like the TSA. I don’t think they understand that they’re selling a drug and they want people to have easy access. They have so much to learn, sigh.
I’m thinking of doing a travel podcast with no skiing, no hiking, no biking, a lot of sitting in sidewalk cafés. And also sitting in restaurants and hotel bars. I’d call it Inactive Seniors Abroad. Travel without sweat. It would be riveting.
I’ve moved more than ten normal people, but I still get antsy in the period of time before a move. Decathecting from X and cathecting with Y. And once again, I’m stuck in Las Vegas for the summer. We’ll get the dogs back next week and that means long 5:30 AM dog walks and shorter excursions strictly within the shadow of the buildings.
I’m learning some Portuguese history and geography, getting into wines and music – fado, sure, but metal? Taking stabs at the language, that will be a heavy lift. Looking at everything that’s within a three hour flight from Lisbon – the train links are not good. Furniture and car decisions TK.
@gVOR10: Sure, but isn’t that whole thing part of some scheme to get people to surrender their autonomy to some sort of mind-numbing group think cult or something?