Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, August 19, 2022
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54 comments
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).
Follow Steven on
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BlueSky.
My first thought was, “Ooooff…” My second thought was, “It’s a prank.” Time will tell. Or not.
There’s never a
copmarine biologist around when you need one.But he is in service to god.
All for the heinous crime of misdemeanor public intoxication.
The job of needlessly slamming people to the ground.
Riiiiiight.
This is weird. Both pilots fell asleep and missed their approach and landing.
This is unusual on a short flight (under two hours), but note the times. the plane departed at 3:30 AM. Without knowing what prior flights the crew operated, it’s hard to say something intelligent about it. Still, odds are they brought in the plane to Khartoum before flying it back to Ethiopia. So maybe it was the end of a long day.
The next anti-vaxxer target.
Polio
@OzarkHillbilly: My kids would have definitely begged to keep it “at least until Dad gets home”. They probably would have made it a bed, and fed it dinner too!
@BugManDan: Pretty sure my sons would have done the same.
@BugManDan: @OzarkHillbilly:
KIds: “Oooh, it’s so cute. Mom and Dad, can we keep it?”
Mom and Dad: “Where? In the bathtub?”
@CSK: Sounds like the first episode of a bad sitcom.
@Kathy:
Pilots of an aircraft falling asleep was one of the possible theories for this aviation happening.
GQP Deplorably Deplorable, Vol. 356, Ch. 59.
Paladino has a history of making controversial and fringe comments. Earlier this year, he praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s ability to rouse “the crowds” and declared Hitler “the kind of leader we need today.” He later said that he does not actually support Hitler.
In 2016, Paladino said that he would like to see then-President Barack Obama die from mad cow disease and first lady Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
BTW, he blew off the comment about Garland by reminding everyone that he was just being factitious.
Make America great, my ass.
H/t HuffPost
@Flat Earth Luddite:
I guess Eric Trump was correct about there being no more Republican Party but a Party of Trump. Just be a violent, ignorant churl, and you’re in!
And after they get done banning and burning books, they’ll move on to actual people.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/moms-liberty-activist-wants-lgbtq-students-separated-special-classes/
@Beth:
And by “special classrooms”, I’m sure she means state-enforced conversion therapy =(
@Stormy Dragon:
I hate to think that, but you’re probably right. 🙁
@Beth: Somebody is in need of remedial edumacatin’.
I don’t like all that tattoo garbage on her arms…why can’t all those people that present themselves in that way be put into special segregated sections of town?
~snark~
@Flat Earth Luddite: Great example of a point James makes in his partisan identification post this morning.
This goes down as, “Oh that Paladino, what a card.” But if a city council candidate in Minneapolis says “defund the police” it’s charged against the whole Democratic Party.
Locally, Val Demings’ ads for senate consist largely of reminders she was a chief of police and denunciations of “defund the police”. I hate to hear that, as there’s a lot of truth buried in the sentiment, but for her it’s necessary. I hope it works. I commented a few days ago that politicians should be made to wear sashes naming their major sponsors. Marco Rubio’s would feature the Koch Bro and sugar growers.
Replying here to a query yesterday from MarkedMan:
In re a Ukrainian defence ministry statement:
It’s Ukrainian trolling.
Russian reports of suspicious fires at depots in Russia repeatedly explained as “accidents caused by careless smoking”.
IIRC something similar was initially said about the “accidental sinking” of the Moskva.
At any rate, it’s become a running joke among Ukrainians, who tend to have a rather mordant sense of humour.
And the double meaning of the statement is plain if you think about it.
For instance a a picture of a burning Russian target captioned “Smoking kills; and here is a smoking kill.”
Or “We hit the target: it was just a Lucky Strike!”
Or photoshopped HIMARS launchers with the missile pods replaced by cigarette packages.
etc etc etc
Donald Trump is very upset because Dr. Oz is going to lose, which of course makes Trump look bad. He endorsed…a loser!
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s so embarrassing. I don’t know which is worse: his outburst or the idea that Sam’s Club sells “luxury” watches.
@OzarkHillbilly: “as it may jeopardize jail security.”
Still, I can see the jail administration’s point. You don’t want the incarcerees learning how to disable the police/corrections personnel by getting the jump on slamming people against the concrete platform.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Safe to say he’s never had breakfast at Tifany’s.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: NO DUCKING ALLOWED!
@Flat Earth Luddite: “He later said that he does not actually support Hitler.”
Makes perfect sense to me. He’s not supporting Hitler; he wants to be Hitler.
@JohnSF: When you see the context, it all makes sense. I’m surprised that anyone remembers Lucky Strike cigarettes anymore, but I see from the innertubes that you can still buy them online and at tobacconists. I haven’t seen the brand anywhere in public for a long as I can remember.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:…I’m surprised that anyone remembers Lucky Strike cigarettes anymore,..
My dad smoked Lucky Strikes. The straights in the short pack. No filters. He quit in the early ’50s when I was 6 0r 7 years old. He would have been in his 30s. He did tell me how
Lucky Strike Green went to war. He had a matchbook collection that included green Lucky Strike matchbook covers but he never saved any green Lucky Cigarette packs.
My mom never smoked. Between the two of them they might have imbibed a whole 6 pack of beer in a year. I can’t blame my bad habits on them. (drunk every day for 30 years and 3 packs a day by the time I quit)
Of course the weed, speed and acid I experimented with didn’t have anything to do with them either.
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s a stumper.
MTG has introduced a bill that makes providing gender-affirming care a felony.
I honestly didn’t think I could detest her any more than I already did, but here we are…
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Still sold in many countries in Europe; including Ukraine IIRC.
What their sales are, dunno.
But it’s a pretty familiar brand.
For anyone interested in the reason it took the DOJ so long to get a search warrant for docs purloined by and ex-POTUS, Emptywheel posted a rather hard to get through but deep dive into the issue.
Seems the legal issues were anything but straight forward and stymied Mueller’s attempts to probe deeply into the executive branch, but the DOJ successfully found a way around those issues. Issues the general press has not done a good job at reporting. Perhaps because it is a very difficult situation to describe.
@Jen: MTG stands no chance of passing the bill in this Congress, or as long as Biden is president. But there’s a real bill banning such care about to go into effect in Florida. This stuff is happening already.
@Kylopod: I know–it’s all so depressing and I’d be willing to bet she’ll be successful fundraising off of it. Makes me ill.
Following up on yesterday’s discussion of some really disgusting drinks, here is a list from the daily peanut of suggestions for the official drink of the summer of 2022.
Really? Wine and kombucha? White port & tonic? I’m going back to drinking grapefruit slash.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
All said and done. what the f’s wrong with a pint of bitter?
Or a nice bottle of Burgundy?
Or a bloody good malt whisky?
Or a gin and tonic?
Why, in short, do some folks feel an unquenchable urge to muck about?
And get off my lawn! You damn kids…
*grumble, grump*
@dazedandconfused: Ouch. May you spend all of eternity listening to Journey on repeat.
@JohnSF:
All said and done. what the f’s wrong with a pint of bitter?
Hurts my stomach something fierce. I can’t drink beer any more.
Or a nice bottle of Burgundy?
Not bad, pretty, pretty, pretty, good
Or a bloody good malt whisky?
Tastes like the peat bogs my ancestors died in.
Or a gin and tonic?
Never again after my tour of the Cambridge University drainage sewers.
however, @Flat Earth Luddite: ‘s Huckleberry vodka with lemonade sounds positively delightful.
@JohnSF: I saw that they are a product of BAT (British and American Tobacco Company) and BAT sells over half of all cigarettes sold in Korea, so I suspect their sales are strong. Not many people bought Luckys in Korea–tho one of my fellow professors did–because the American label meant a premium price (ironically because people thought they were produced outside Korea, but they weren’t).
I often had people ask if I would buy a carton of cigarettes for them when I visited home. I never understood why. Then again, I only smoke cigars and/or a pipe.
@Mister Bluster:
A friend was able to use Acid to stop smoking. Said it worked really well.
@Beth:
Every time they would try to light up, all the cigarettes ran away. 😉
Was it Chantix brand? Cause that stuff was dyn-o-mite! The dreams were out of this world.
@Beth:..Acid…
L.S./M.F.T.
@Beth:
Well, smoking cannabis regularly would certainly work to put me off alcohol.
Whenever I had a puff, anything north of a lemonade shandy tasted absolutely bloody awful.
Except possibly for cider; but especially bitter. Ecch!
One reason I was never that keen on weed/hash: I prefer my trad. alcoholalol 🙂
Also heard it said that MDMA has some success in treating chronic alcoholism.
But if definitely doesn’t reduce urge to smoke (or so they say…)
@Stormy Dragon:
Well, that was a delightful chortle… I needed that.
@OzarkHillbilly:
A pint of carbolic.
You deffo wont be smoking after that.
Well, you might; but in a rather different way.
@OzarkHillbilly:
My sister told me about those once, I never wanted to smoke cigarettes, but the Chantix sounded wonderful.
@JohnSF:
I can’t do cannabis. Too much trauma around that. I won’t smoke anything, so that’s out of the question, but I was going to try one of my partner’s edibles until I smelled it. Brought back a whole bunch of bad memories and I noped out. I’d like a cannabis/alcohol level intoxicant that didn’t have a bunch of trauma surrounding it or have hangovers that make me want to jump off a bridge.
MDMA worked wonders for my PTSD and depression. I mean, so I’ve heard…
@Beth: @JohnSF: I heard from a lot of folks about how freaked out they got over the dreams. Me, I always have to finish my nightmares* just because I want to see how they end, and Chantix turned them all into technicolor Fantasias. Every now and again I will have flashback dreams that are so weird, so out there, that I remember them years later like I just woke up.
* there was one exception, the Docs were certain my eldest had cystic fibrosis (my cousin died of it, not pretty)(my ex was adopted) they kept sodium chloride testing him and he kept coming back right on the edge. At this time I had a dream where I was carrying him into an operating room. I laid him down onto the table and as I let go all the nurses and doctors had their surgical dress change into cowled monks robes and they began circling the operating table and chanting in Latin (I guess… Do I speak Latin? No.) I grabbed my son back up and holding him close to my chest I said to him, “Don’t worry, they won’t get you. I’ll protect you. I’m ready to wake up now… Anytime now… Wake up wakeupwakeupWAKE THE FCK UP!!!!!”
@Beth:
😀
Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I’d declare total war on The Pusher man
I’d cut him if he stands, and I’d shoot him if he’d run
Yes I’d kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun
@OzarkHillbilly:
As Sherlock Holmes said:
“The game’s a foot, Watson”.
🙂
(Sorry; but the angle was perfect)
@Mister Bluster: and remember who wrote that one… Mr. Hee Haw hissownself.
@OzarkHillbilly:
My first (and only) acid trip was when I was the designated driver in HS, and some football jocks thought it’d be funny to slip me several tabs of blotter acid. Never interested in a repeat performance. But that nightmare… Ugh.
The only time I’ve ever found the strength to quit abusive substances (or relationships) is on psychedelics. Something about the God factor, I guess. And by “God” I don’t mean the omnipotent being…..psychedelics make you push down into parts of yourself you never thought you had.
And then….you’re free.