Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, August 23, 2024
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63 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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Botswana diamond could be second-largest gem-quality example ever found
Pretty damned impressive rock, safe to say you aren’t going to ever see that one on a woman’s finger.
I’m having a MRI done this morning. A recent scan showed something on both one of my kidneys and my pancreas*. They could, and I hope, that they are, just cysts. Malignant melanoma mostly metastasizes to the lungs, brain, or liver. I have experience with the first two. Kidney or pancreas metastasis are not common. Of course they could be another form of cancer or totally benign.
On a writing note, I have found a co-writer to help me finish a long unfinished book of mine.
‘Casualties of War’ is about some American soldiers in WW II Philippines. Not the PI again, somebody asks. The surviving members of a platoon hide out in the mountains and fight a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese. Shortly after finding one of those alien boxes seen in some of my stories, a Japanese patrol comes perilously close to the soldiers hideout. What do the soldiers do? Anyway, my co-writer Tony will help me with the book’s military elements. He’s written WW II fiction. I’ll handle the Sci-Fi and LGBT stuff.
The book is half written already. So I will have another book or three for my publisher in 2025. If I’m still alive. My medical issues have me growing increasingly depressed.
*- Dear wife just had a Filipina friend die of pancreatic cancer. The funeral is tomorrow.
@Bill Jempty: Fingers crossed for the best outcome.
NSW judge faces ban after scathing report criticises his handling of sexual assault trial
I mean, WTF?
@Kingdaddy: Same here.
Josh Marshall points out something important about this week in Chicago:
“What I took from this is a sense of focus and discipline from the people running Harris’ convention and campaign — not getting lost in glitz or stagecraft but defining a specific list of critical deliverables and then methodically checking them off the list. This was going on in the midst of what was unquestionably a high-powered and high-energy event. There was a mix of discipline and ability there that could not fail to have an impact but was also, in the intensity of the final day of a convention, easy to miss. The other nights had some of this too. But it came through to me most clearly tonight.”
Source: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/thoughts-on-the-final-night
I think he’s right and that tight organization is the main reason the DNC convention had a strong feeling of forward motion and building momentum to Walz’s and Harris’s speeches during their nomination nights. The contrast to the Trump campaign is pretty stark.
@Kingdaddy: ditto.
Elizabeth Warren during her remarks to the DNC yesterday:
“Trust Donald Trump and J. D. Vance to look out for your family? Shoot, I wouldn’t trust them to move my couch.”
LOL
Trump appointed judge rules that federal restrictions on the possession of machine guns are unconstitutional:
https://amp.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article291318960.html
@Bill Jempty: Will be thinking of you today and hoping for the best for you and your wife.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Ditto.
@Not the IT Dept.: Funny, as one who had the convention on in the background most of the time (while doing other chores), I thought just the opposite. It had too many people on and it rambled like a Bill Clinton speech of yore.
@Scott: And it showed that Democrats don’t know the lyrics to “Born in the USA” either.
@Scott: Disagree. They know the lyrics, and they’re making a point about taking care of our fellow Americans.
Hitler phones Harris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3A-ubUIX6s
With things looking up for the Harris campaign my major worry now is a significant win in the electoral college paired with the Republicans narrowly controlling the Senate and blocking pretty much everything. That would be a completely demoralizing outcome for all the voters who went to bat for Harris. Like, why bother?
@Paine:
President Harris won’t be a fascist authoritarian who sets about dismantling American democracy and arrogating all power to himself.
These are the people who support private citizen, convicted felon, mature Republican male Donald Trump.
I’m sure that they all have this posted on their living room wall:
Hey, I think I missed the 1964-style riots at the DNC that certain people were wishcasting. Did they happen, and did the media cover it up?
Also, what about the replacement of the VP I was promised? Or Biden renominating himself?
Don’t tell me the online right was fever dreaming again?
In the unlikely case someone’s seen a preseason NFL game, I’d be interested to know your thoughts on the new kick off rules.
In typical NFL fashion, they’re as simple as a rather complex law. You can read the new rules here.
IMO, it was necessary to change the rules so that kick offs would be more than a formality. Like they did with the extra point. The very peculiar alignment prevents players from achieving high speeds when meeting the ball carrier, thereby reducing the severity of hits*.
My one big problem is this alignment prevents onside kicks, as everyone but the kicker is already farther forward than ten yards from the kick off spot.
From now on, onside kicks will be allowed only in the fourth quarter, only by the team trailing in the scoreboard, and they must be declared in advance. The last provision kills the surprise aspect. The others prevent the high risk move of doing an onside kick when one is not necessary (see what new Orleans did in a Super Bowl to open the third quarter).
Besides, from reading the rules, I’m not sure how one would work.
*I still think removing the down by contact rule would help eliminate hard hits more. I conceive that in order to down a player, the tackler would need to remain in contact with the ball carrier until the latter’s knee or elbow touches the ground.
@Mister Bluster: These people are the lowest pieces of shit. Truly garbage humans.
@Mikey:..the lowest…
And convicted felon, private citizen, mature Republican male Donald Trump is their hero.
@Matt Bernius: I try to restrain this inner pedant, but — 1968. The intervening 4 years saw my evolution from a Goldwater backing high school kid to a veteran terribly conflicted by the war. So, important for me.
My best wishes to you, Bill Jempty.
A quick scan of the headlines around the web finds a sense of disappointment that the DNC in Chicago failed to produce riots, insurrections, and other televisable video moments. I blame this generation; in 1968 we knew what we were doing. Where is today’s answer to “Time has come Today” ?
@Stormy Dragon: Another fine mess Clarence thomas has gotten us into. Shouldn’t there be an underlying principle of law and jurisprudence that says – Don’t Do Anything Stupid.
@Paine:
Mikey has already replied, so ditto to what he said and also, there have been many administration’s where the winning party (GOP or Democratic) to take the White House does not end up with a clear majority advantage in Congress.
My way of saying that Republicans or Democrats not controlling all the levers of power is pretty much business as usual and is far from a reason why Democrats would lose their enthusiasm to vote for Harris.
If Trump keeps insisting that he has a “right” to call Harris names he is doing more than half the work needed to install Harris in the White House this November.
I guess that is a thing a lot of Democrats like to do, throw up lots of hypotheticals that are rather depressing to consider, kind of a bit of the Democratic Circular Firing Squad, or living up to the saying that Democrats like to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Let’s not do that please.
Paine, not trying to be combative, and I am actually a bit concerned as you seem kind of bummed out today? If there are family issues you are dealing with or something like that I understand but hope you have a chance to have some fun this weekend.
Last weekend I had the worst sharp headache until I had a chance to face time with my brother and mom who was admitted to a hospital last Friday (she fainted, paramedics determined she was in afib). Some important test are still pending, but she was released the next day, and even went shopping with my brother (in a wheelchair, she shakes and has other health issues other than just a wonky heart) and enjoyed some good eats.
For a brief period my mind went right to the worst case scenario, but reality intruded to show me my Mom is a tough old bird who will not go quietly into the night if she can avoid it.
Also, as much as I hate that us Americans are bombarded with commercials encouraging us to take a pill for whatever ails us, I am obviously very happy that pills like Eliquis exist.
Happy Friday folks, and I do hope that everyone on this great blog gets a chance to relax this weekend.
@JohnMc:
1968 was one of the most turbulent years in U.S. history: Khe Sanh, the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy…
The Daily Show showed a few of Trump’s tweets during last night. Wow. (Starts at about 6:20)
Also, “WHERE’S HUNTER?”.
Wow.
My Lai massacre
March 16,1968
@inhumans99:
First of all, I’m sorry for the difficulties you’ve been facing in your personal life, and I wish your family the best and hope all goes well.
With regard to the issue of divided government, the level of polarization was very different in the past. For example, in the 60+ years when Dems almost continuously controlled Congress, presidents like Nixon and Reagan never enjoyed a trifecta yet weren’t considered to be effective lame ducks. That was because a lot of those congressional Dems were very conservative and supported significant parts of the Republican agenda. And the party leadership didn’t do much to stop them from going along. There simply isn’t any comparison with a situation in which Harris wins the presidency without the Dems controlling both chambers; in that scenario we know the GOP would be fully committed to blocking Harris from doing practically anything, even stuff that in theory they might support, as evidenced by the sinking of the border bill earlier this year.
Pix, TFG at southern border
https://x.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1826805115816219132
Not looking good.
@Jay L Gischer:
Trump is no Bobby De Niro, but he’s definitely crazier than Travis Bickle.
@Mikey: Coattails, hopefully enough to give DEMs a majority in bot the H and the S.
On Threads, people have been taking fact checkers to task for their rather bizarre conclusions regarding the DNC. A frequent line has been to proclaim a Democratic speaker’s statement about Trump as “false,” because although he did or attempted to do what the Democrat claimed he did, he at some point denied it.
Today, Politfact had the biggest fact checking doozy: saying that the DNC’s biggest “lie” was that a surprise guest would appear on Thursday. Except no one from the DNC said that; it was a rumor that started on the internet. So now Democrats are liars if they state things that Trump has actually said and done if he ever denied it, and they’re also liars if someone else made a claim about them that isn’t true.
@inhumans99:..pills…
My mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1956 when I was 8 years old. Before medication was developed to manage this vile disease she spent years at a time in State Hospitals including electroshock therapy.
Without the pills that she took and the support from family she would not have been able to live a reasonably normal life. She lived at home until the day before she died in the hospital at 88.
Beulah Esther Brown
1920-2008
RIP
——-
I saw Dr. Frederick Frese on Nightline several years ago.
@Jay L Gischer:
Oh man, I bet even half the GOP groaned when Trump said Where’s Hunter?
I am sure the GOP for the most part agrees that Trump needs to stop trying to have intimate relations with that chicken.
Why would Hunter Biden take center stage at a Democratic Convention that is all about generating excitement for Kamal Harris and Tim Walz, the folks actually running for President/VP.
I am going to copy/paste the last paragraph from Kevin Drum’s latest post on his blog:
“It’s long past time to rid ourselves of self-serving bellyachers like Trump and focus instead on the abundant strengths that make us, by a good bit, the best place to live in the world and the country with the brightest future.” (end copy/paste)
I honestly believe that quite a few in the GOP agree, serial bellyachers like Trump are becoming a real drag on the party. Between Trump’s constant doom and gloom proclamations, and his unwillingness to let go of Biden and Hunter, it is just dragging the GOP to the bottom of the ocean, and they know it.
Trump, technically, you did defeat Biden, he is no longer competing against you, you helped take him off the board, take the win dude and move on.
Just counted 10+ cycles of the Anti-Crawler Spam Bot pain in the ass after I clicked on the Tabs Thread. Tried closing and reopening the OTB site. Still there. Shut down my Chrome browser and the pest was gone when I went back to the OTB site.
Does anyone know if this page is actually combatting spam?
@Mister Bluster:
I’ve gotten it several times today.
@inhumans99:..I honestly believe that quite a few in the GOP agree, serial bellyachers like Trump are becoming a real drag on the party. Between Trump’s constant doom and gloom proclamations, and his unwillingness to let go of Biden and Hunter, it is just dragging the GOP to the bottom of the ocean, and they know it.
These spineless Republican legislators fear the MAGA crowd so muchly that they would rather ride the Titan submersible to implosion and join the Titanic rather than stand up to Trump .
@Mister Bluster: I only got it once.
@Bill Jempty:
Best of luck.
In the interest of trying to figure out what’s going on, just now Anti Spammy Whammy appeared again when I clicked on the Tabs Thread. Instead of hitting the “reload page” function I hit the back arrow which I have never tried before. Went right back to Tabs Thread and after some clicks the Crawler has crawled back into it’s hole for now.
Can’t wait to see if the back arrow will be a remedy next time.
Well now.
I said in yesterday’s forum:
I think I may have spoken too soon. Vice-President Harris’s speech yesterday was up there with the best.
Very impressive.
Perhaps she could give Keir Starmer lessons? Sir Keir is a man of many virtues, but inspirational speaking is not prominent among them.
For what it’s worth, I just wait out the annoying spam checker, and it always ends and puts me where I want to be.
I mean, yes, that’s a challenge, and no, I do not have the patience of a saint. I have just explored options, and the one that gets me there the fastest is, in fact, waiting.
@Jay L Gischer:
Same here.
Is it done yet? Is it done yet?
RFK Jr. dropped out, endorsing Trump. Like everyone expected he would. I’m sure there will be suitable pundits wringing their hands and wailing about how this obviously dooms Harris, but Josh over at TPM has a nice little article as to how the movement of the needle anywhere should be less than half a percent, if that.
@Jay L Gischer:
I wait it out twice. If it begins a third countdown, I reload.
@Grumpy realist:
He’d fit right in the Felon’s Weirdo campaign. He’s a narcissistic whiner who blames others for his shortcomings, he’s delusional, and he has an overblown view of his likability.
Best part of this is that all future trans rights cases in Austrailia are going to have to spend time discussing the Tickle v. Giggle precedent: https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/23/roxanne-tickle-v-giggle-for-girls-transgender-woman-wins-discrimination-case-against-women-female-only-app-ntwnfb
@Kathy:
I suspect the new rules will also fail to provide much excitement. The early result is the kickers wind up having to make a lot more tackles and nobody has spare kickers. I believe the coaches will start ordering them to kick it out of the endzone and be done with it. Just give it to the other team on the 30 and eliminate the risks of an injured kicker, a return for a TD, and anyone else getting hurt.
@Kathy:
@dazedandconfused:
Just be sensible and switch to playing rugby instead. 😉
@CSK: Ah yes, I remember it well.
@dazedandconfused:
There have been lots of kick returns on the few games I catched. But if they do as you suggest, then the rule can easily be revised to make the kick off the 30 rather than 35 yard line, or even further back.
On non-election news, the DOJ and some states have filed an antitrust suit against RealPage.
About time
Trump said today that he’ll be “great” for women’s reproductive rights.
@Matt Bernius:
To be fair, I almost started a one woman vs cops riot when I couldn’t get on Lake Shore Drive from my house and thought that the City had walled off the Southside like the jerks on the Northside want to do. But, I got around them, so no riot.
@Bill Jempty: Typically when I tell someone I hope they don’t have pancreatic cancer, it is disturbingly over specific and out of context and somewhat off-putting.
But, I hope you don’t have pancreatic cancer. Just old man cysts or something basically benign.
@Kathy:
Maybe, but they evaluate talent in the preseason. Have to wait and see what goes down in real games.
@dazedandconfused:
Well, yes. That’s true for all rules. remember the early days of replay review? The rules for it were so bad, the review was eliminated entirely.
On other things, I’m looking for a very quick recipe with minimal prep. So I’m aiming for bean and chicken stew in the pressure cooker, and plain white rice for mixing. I need some off time to finish writing a story.
I will then give myself next week to come up with a quick, under 2,000 words, science fiction story in a historical setting for a contest. the rules state it has to be set fifty or more years ago. Alternate history is ok, but time travel isn’t allowed.
How about this: some time in early antiquity, two aliens crash land in some remote place on Earth, near to a large village. The natives (us) are incredibly glad to see them, because they’re obviously gods. And, BTW, the volcano near town is erupting.
They’re not gods, and they can’t keep a volcano from erupting and wiping off the village and most people in it. Fortunately their ship has a stasis field, so they can cram as many humans as will fit, and turn it on.
Unfortunately, the pyroclastic flow covers them and the humans just short of the ship.
Thousands of years later, a small band of poorly financed archaeologists find a preserved village under layers of sediment (the region was never repopulated), including the preserved remains of a lot of people bunched together, as well as what seems to be two anthropomorphic cats with four arms and two legs*, also preserved.
And a ship that looks brand new…
I didn’t think so. It would work as a so-so SciFi story, but does very little as historical fiction. And the most interesting part is the perfectly preserved interstellar spaceship in near mint condition.
The problem is that I’ve read precious little historical fiction that is not alternate history.
*I couldn’t help myself.
Late to the game but let me add my best wishes to Bill
Always worth remembering that it was the Chicago Police who rioted in 1968, not the hippies.
I just want to go on the record as saying Real Clear Politics is a f*****g cesspool.
On good news for all Weird Orange Convicted Felons who’ve written love letters to Kim Jong-un, North Korea has reopened to international tourism.
I rate it as a slightly less dangerous place to visit than Russia, as regards the odds of being arrested and imprisoned for a minor violation that wouldn’t even qualify as a misdemeanor in any country other than Venezuela. Remember Otto Warmbier.
I do know a bit about what it takes to travel there. Why? Because North Korea is a favorite for many commercial aviation enthusiasts. It’s about the only place where one can fly on several different Soviet era Soviet-made jets. No, I’m not even a little bit interested in that (I’m odd an eccentric, but sane). As I recall, it’s difficult, not cheap, and requires flying from Russia or China.
But any Weird Orange Convicted Felon with his own private jet, should be able to fly there more easily.