Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, February 28, 2025
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135 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.
This will piss off us old folks:
‘Be worried, be very worried’: Lines show chaos at Big Bend National Park
Big Bend, BTW, because of its isolation, is one of the biggest but least visited national parks.
@Scott:
Do you mean the ones who are wearing flip flops before going on a 10-mile hike and who ask where the restrooms are and inquire if they can pet the bears?
Popovich is one of the greats. It is hard to convey how important he is to the San Antonio community.
Gregg Popovich tells San Antonio Spurs he is not returning this season
I suspect he won’t be returning to coach but will be involved in some other capacity with the Spurs.
@Bill Jempty: I suspect those are the Instagram influencers.
CDC report adds to evidence that HPV vaccine is preventing cervical cancer in US women
If you’re looking for a new deity, it turns out Julia Maesa was deified after her death.
The reason to recommend her is she carried out two (2) successful coups in the Roman empire, leading to the reign of two of her grandchildren (granted neither was any good at governing). Somehow she seems like the deity to offer sacrifices, prayers, and offerings to in the times we’re living.
@Scott: Pop has always been a genius at bringing new stars along. With Wembanyama out for the rest of the season, not so much pressure for Pop to be back this year.
@Bill Jempty:
Wow, that’s some serious Senior shaming!
As someone who has hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and out in the same day and pedaled up Mt. Washington 4 times and ridden my motorcycle the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway multiple times, I’ve never once questioned anyone else’s right to enjoy our Natl Parks and Forests.
@Daryl: Oh, I didn’t take that personally. My wife and I are also hikers and bikers. All I know is that we have our Lifetime Senior Passes and want to not have impediments to our enjoyment of National Parks, Forest, Wildlife Refuges, Monuments, etc.
I will continue to fight off the leopards.
@Scott:
I had been thinking about a motorcycle trip out west and visiting Glacier and Yellowstone. Going to the Sun Road is a long time goal. Now I’m worried it’ll be too big of a shit-show.
What sort of ammo do you use on these leopards?
RFK Jr says measles deaths are not unusual. Having children die is bad. Maybe we should do something to stop the spread of this disease. Our agriculture sec is talking about a vaccine program for chickens. Our children deserve the same consideration.
@Slugger:
It seems people in west Texas who were previously anti-vaccines are now hustling to get their kids vaxxed against measles. I guess it took the completely unnecessary death of a child to get them to take the threat seriously.
@Scott:
When “they” reject the data, it isn’t about the data, it’s about “their” malicious agenda.
“Pro-life” is actually pro-power grabbing immorality. This mindset has no place in community with fellow humans, as it rejects the basic concern for well-being of all. Truly despicable.
@Rob1: Reminds me of one of the objections to Gardasil from the right: It would encourage sexual immorality. The implication being that cervical cancer should be a punishment from God. I got my 11 year old daughter and son the vaccine but I do not think they even knew it since it was just part of the annual physicals.
@Slugger:
In order to make them seem “not unusual” he lied about the data. MAGA is nothing without their lies.
I gotta tell ya, I’ve really been enjoying a couple of phone conversations I’ve had with fellow ranchers this last week. Our local fertilizer salesman is in a rush to get everybody’s fertilizer on order before the expected tariffs hit. I make sure to let them all know that’s what’s going to happen, and there’s always a short pause, and I can tell it’s finally clicking in their heads that their beloved Trump is, indeed, going to make things more expensive for them.
Several of them also recently got told by Forest Service and BLM personnel that handle all our grazing leases that the expected road and fencing improvements are now cancelled, and we’re on our own. Some of these are projects that have been in the works for years as far as planning and procurement of supplies, contracts worked up with other agencies to share the cost, and it’s all gone in an instant.
Another microcosm in the malpractice of DOGE-MAGA
@CSK:
That’s actually good. We’re not seeing stories* about how the child “died with measles and not of measles,” or that some other children died from the vaccine, or other idiot nonsense form the peak of COVID in 2021.
And if enough children get vaccinated, the outbreak should end sooner.
BTW, among the least stupid opposition to vaccines, is a theory that hygiene is what has driven infectious diseases down.
The problem is this is partly true. A lot of intestinal diseases are waterborne, and modern sanitation has helped in driving down their spread. The same goes for lots of other things. In particular, the habit of washing one’s hands after using the toilet.
Where this notion fails, is that if a virus or bacterium that spreads little does enter your body, you will get sick no matter how clean everything is, nor how unlikely the infection was. Unless you are protected from that by a vaccine.
*At least I haven’t.
The juxtaposition of (1) alleged sex traffickers and professional creeps Andrew and Tristan Tate arriving in the US, courtesy of help from the current occupant, with (2) the MAGA outrage over not getting from the incumbent regime all the deets about sex trafficker and professional creep Jeffrey Epstein, is…really something.
Former World Chess Champion Spassky has passed away. He was 88.
I could write a long piece about Spassky, but I’ll keep it to reasonable length instead.
Like many people in the early to mid 7o’s I got hooked* on chess thanks to Spassky’s match against Bobby Fischer in 1972. I watched its coverage on PBS and took up competitive chess within a year or so.
I admired Spassky’s play and style. In 1986 I got to face off against in a Southern California simultaneous exhibition**. Using a pet variation U frequently played and is known to be drawish, I held out longer than most players that day, but I lost in 43. Spassky, who was publicly known as a complete, autographed my scoresheet*** and briefly discussed with me our game after it was finished.
One of my books has a chess theme. While I mention or have cameos in it by Fischer, Anatoly Karpov, Annad, Vasily Smyslov, the Polgar sisters, among great chess players, I failed to do the same for Spassky. You deserved better Boris and RIP.
*- Unlike others, I stayed hooked on chess and continued to play competitive correspondence chess till 2009. My peak rating was a tad over 2200 and that made me a master. My honest strength was expert level 2000-2199,
**- When a Chess Grandmaster will play many players all at once. I think there were around 75 of us that day in 1986.
***- I might have posted the game but I can’t find the scoresheet. Not too much of my chess stuff survived my house foreclosure in 2015 but some did. Unfortunately I think I may have thrown it away by accident. The game was a QGD Lasker Defense and with me playing black, opened 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 0-0 6 Nf3 h6 7 Bh4 Ne4 8 Bxe7 Qxe7 9 cxd5 Nxc3 10 bxc3 exd5. As I said, this variation was a pet favorite of mine.
Nice review article at link. It looks at all measles inpatient admissions from 2002-2016. It also reviews historical data. Numbers of note follow and some surprised me.
Overall mortality about 1 in 1000, with the very young and people over the age of 40 most affected. About 1 in 4 cases require hospitalization with diarrhea, dehydration and pneumonia the most common complications. Encephalitis complication is rare but hard to quantify as it can occur years after the primary infection. Absent vaccinations we would expect over 1800 deaths and over 400,000 hospitalizations per year. As noted above, this would be tilted towards the very young ie 0-1 years of age.
I was surprised to find that it was spread pretty equally across all income groups and across all racial groups with a slightly higher rate among Asian/Pacific. Over 80% of cases occur in the unvaccinated. I believe measles is often portrayed as a mild inconsequential disease and mostly afflicts poor people, clearly not true. Some of that perception probably relates to the measles epidemic of 1989-1991. That was when Reagan cut funds to public health and vaccination rates dropped due to lack of access and an outbreak of vaccine fears. (Sound familiar?)
Finally, let’s not forget that the country was declared measles free in 2000. That was at a time when rates were very low and vaccination rates were higher.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7188204/
Steve
Inflation Update from Sleepytown
My Panera breakfast sandwich, Sausage, Egg and Cheese on Ciabatta, increased
40¢ to $6.99 (+tax) today. A 6% increase over the former price of $6.59 (+tax) if my arithmetic is correct.
In other news the price of Kroger 1liter Big K Diet Cola that was 99¢ (+tax) about 18 months ago and has worked it’s way up to a regular price of $1.50/liter (+tax) over that time has dropped to a regular price of $1.oo (+tax). Just last week that 1liter bottle of soda was on sale for $1.25 (+tax).
I’m sure Chump doesn’t know about the 33.3% drop in the price of soda or he would be all over Fox News taking credit for it.
@steve: don’t forget side effects of deafness, male sterility, and other problems.
I had an uncle who was left with mental retardation after catching measles when he was 6 and soon after institutionalized by my grandparents.
@Grumpy realist: Yes, the list of complications and sequelae is quite long so I only offered the most common ones (though I forgot hyponatremia).
Steve
@Grumpy realist:
I remember Michelle Bachmann claiming that vaccines caused mental retardation. I think she was taking the older claim that it causes autism, and calling it retardation because she didn’t know the difference. Which was ironic because it was a retarded thing to say.
February is Black History Month
Seems like the meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump is going well
-.-
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1895530448811434232?s=46
I’ve been slowly transitioning to a mediterranean/flexatarian diet (ie fish once or twice a week, animal protein when dining out or at friends houses), and I’ve been frustrated at my inability to make perfectly fluffy, smooth, not-at-all pasty hummus. Every recipe I read that GUARANTEED perfect hummus always ended up thick and pasty, oily, or waterlogged. After weeks of experimentation, shoving together many of the different techniques to see what works best, I have come up with an almost-fool-proof method. It still fails about 5% of the time, but I’m coming to realize that’s likely due to just variations in the chickpeas I’m using.
So, I thought I’d take a break from political posts and share my hummus technique. This is a double-recipe, since now I eat quite a bit of it at a time.
The tl/dr main technique: start with already cooked (canned) chickpeas. Boil the ever loving shit out of them along with a half teaspoon of baking soda to soften skins, then process in a food processor for five full minutes, maybe more. Set a timer, walk away. Oh also you’ll probably need to add more water or aquafaba despite how long you cooked them previously.
The actual recipe.
1. Start with two cans of chickpeas. Reserve aquafaba from one can, dump all the rest in a pot. Cover by 2 inches of water (they’ll cook for quite awhile and even with a lid on a lot of this water’s gonna evaporate). Add in a half-teaspoon of baking soda.
2. Bring to a soft boil and cook for a good 35 minutes, maybe more. You want fairly waterlogged chickpeas. Just slight pressure should crush them pretty easily. Depending on brand, sometimes cook time has been 40-45 minutes. The baking soda softens the skins, which is also key.
4. While this is cooking, throw two cloves of garlic in the food processor and blitz until minced. 5. Add in 6 Tablespoons each of tahini and lemon juice. IMPORTANT: If you want strong garlic flavor, add in 6 tablespoons of tahini first. The oils will coat the garlic, protecting it from the tempering effects of lemon juice. If you want milder garlic, add 6 tablespoons of lemon juice first. The longer the garlic sits in the lemon juice before adding tahini, the milder the garlic flavor.
6. Blitz a bit, the tahini and lemon juice will bind together and form a very stiff, thick paste.
7. Add in a few tablespoons of the reserved aquafaba and blitz, breaking up this paste.
8. Once chickpeas are finished cooking, drain and add to food processor. Process the lemon juice-tahini mixture and the chickpeas for five full minutes. About 30 seconds in you’ll be able to tell how thick your hummus is, and it will likely need more of the aquafaba you reserved. Add in a tablespoon at a time until the hummus seems ‘loose’ enough for you. Continue processing until the five minutes is up. During this time add salt, pepper, and any flavorings. I like a couple large pinches of lemon zest, a little cumin, and a little sumac (especially if I’m out of lemon zest). Taste and adjust as needed.
Note: some people claim making hummus out of hot chickpeas will result in a thicker, pastier product once it cools down. Supposedly the chickpea starches will absorb more water as it cools. This has not been my experience; warm chickpeas have more often resulted in a fluffier and smoother end product. Your miles may vary though!
9. Once the five minutes are up you should have a very smooth, very fluffy hummus. If it’s not, if it’s thick and pasty, you probably need to add some aquafaba or water and process for another minute or two. Notice there’s no olive oil in this recipe. If you want to add it, add it near the end. It’s purely for flavor, it’s not needed for smoothness. Adding it in the beginning and blitzing it for 5 minutes can make the olive oil have a pronounced bitterness. Anymore I just add a splash on top before I serve or eat it.
@Mister Bluster:..
1liter…Inflation Update…Correction
Should read 2liter not 1liter.
A guy named Jack Lifton, a metals expert, says that there are no mineable rare earths in Ukraine. I Googled the dude and he seems like the real thing, though I have no capacity to judge his expertise. Would love if anyone here does have that knowledge.
So. . . Yep, I am baffled. Did Trump just get some magic beans?
@Min:
Bravo to Zelensky for standing up to the sad excuse for US Leaders. No where do Doughboy or Bowman talk about defending Democracy. It’s just another transaction.
@Michael Reynolds:
I’m shocked – shocked to find out Doughboy is an idiot.
@Michael Reynolds:
I have not listened to your link yet, but please note that the term “rare Earth” in chemistry is applied to a particular group of transition elements that are not a Ukrainian resource. What Ukraine has is various minerals such as lithium that are rare, referring to them as “rare earths” is misleading.
@Min: I think it’s direspectful, JD, to piss on me and tell me it’s raining, in front of media.
Trump has a bunch of media training that has helped him. But Zelensky is better at that game than Trump is. And he can run circles around Vance.
@Neil Hudelson:
Thank you for sharing that! I’m curious, have your tried ATK’s “Restaurant Style Hummus”?
I’m interested in trying your twice-cooked chickpea approach.
@Daryl:
Paging Dr Howard, Dr Fine, Dr Howard. OTB commenter needs a sense of humor transplant.
The joke I said earlier originates from this audio horror story I stumbled into 2 weeks ago while flying home from India. In it, a person paid to take people on hikes was comparing notes with a park employee.
@Michael Reynolds:
No, the Brooklyn Bridge.
@Kathy: The black plague (bacterium) transitioned from fleas to rats to human pneumococcal pandemic. Once infection is airborne, hand sanitation is less of the factor in spread. But none-the-less, it is recommended to avoid physical contact with DefSec Hegseth. Probably for a number of reasons.
@Neil Hudelson: Wow. I’m very impressed with your dedication to perfecting hummus, and you have now convinced me to add it permanently to that list of things that I will buy pre-made rather than attempt to make, like puff pastry and croissants.
@Neil Hudelson: One tip to smooth hummus is removing the chickpea skins before pureeing. It is annoying and time consuming, but does yield a very smooth product!
@Daryl:
It’s really shocking to see how far the gap is between the previous US administration and this one. They are letting the world know, every single day. I hope this is the push Europe needs.
@Jay L Gischer:
Yes. And Zelensky is not cowering and I admire him for it.
I wonder how the MAGAs will spin this though.
Ps: This clip though, made me mad. These ppl think it’s appropriate to discuss Zelensky’s lack of a suit when there’s so many more important things?
They were all trying to ‘humble’ him, weren’t they?
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1895539133608763857
And this part:
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1895531921456972130
@Min: Funny, I don’t remember anybody complaining about Musk’s lack of a suit at a cabinet meeting.
Also, I expect Zelensky to gain 20 points in his domestic approval after this.
In contrast, I have no clue how this will play in US opnion.
@Matt Bernius:
I have not yet. There was another ATK recipe that called for 5-minutes of processing, the source for that particular part of my technique.
Reading through this recipe, they don’t do anything to address the chickpea skins. In my experience if you don’t peel the chickpeas (pain in the ass) or cook them for at least a few minutes in alkaline water, the skins will inevitably make the hummus thick and pasty.
That said, the great thing about all this experimenting with hummus is that the ingredients cost like $1.50 total. I’ll try this recipe this weekend and see how it goes!
@wr:
Haha, that’s fair. I will say the total active time in my recipe is like 1 minute–putting things in a pot, and putting things in the food processor. The rest of the time is just waiting for the chickpeas to finish cooking.
@Jen:
I used to do that but it was such a pain. The baking soda trick softens them enough you don’t need to peel them.
@charontwo:
Now back from my walk and listened to the guy who is indeed talking about a group of high atomic number elements that are adjacent on the periodic table. So, as I suspected, this derives from a bunch of journalists, politicians etc. who do not remember any chemistry they may have taken referring to the various rare mineral resources in Ukraine as “rare earths” while being clueless as to what that term actually means.
Is it a cost-cutting measure by the nazi in chief to have Russia and China pay the unemployment of fired federal workers?
Note what Gabbard says. TL;DR: we will do as we want and there will be no adverse consequences, and if you try to prevent them you’re a traitor.
@Rob1:
Sure, but keeping sewage largely underground, containing garbage and burying it, and other sanitation measures, keep rats and their fleas away from people
Get ready for the next News Cycle Bomb.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-zelensky-world-war-minerals-deal-080bbf90
Soon to be aired on various blogs …
As you will see from various newsfeed clips, Trump and Vance completely disgraced themselves in their White House meeting with Zelensky.
Anyone still doubt that Trump is trying to get even with Zelensky for that 1st impeachment?
@charontwo:
For all the talk of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, as if it were the Incan Empire’s gold, it hasn’t been shown that Ukraine has particularly large deposits of the minerals. The largest known rare earth mineral reserves happen to be in the BRICS countries, plus Vietnam, Australia, and Canada.
Ukraine is large country and it does have lithium and natural gas reserves that are among the largest in Europe. And it has some rare earth minerals, about half of which are in the parts of eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia. Not an expert, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Ukrainian rare earth deposits are not practically mineable.
The Ukrainian government began shopping around rights to their minerals to the US and Europe, in exchange for support, last fall, and it somehow turned into the recent negotiation over $500B worth of their mineral rights. I’d been kinda waiting to hear the brass tacks part of that negotiation where access to mineral deposits is an incentive to see that Ukraine takes back some of its eastern territory. But that negotiation was never going to happen.
@Kathy: US adversaries may try to use this as an opportunity to gather human intelligence on individuals, but it’s not like they’re going to find a lightly-secured database describing what every government employee worked on for a week.
@al Ameda: I’m waiting for the latest excuses, apologias, defenses of Trump/Vance from my Senators and Representative. Like I wrote yesterday, I’m not good at calling and yelling without sounding like a madman but….
@Scott:
They already started. Apparently, Zelensky’s the one who conducted himself in an atrocious way.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1895560728255611140
@Min:
Linds needs to stop huffing paint.
Just got an email from Sen. Cornyn’s office in response to an email last week. The bold highlights are mine:
It is too bad the Cornyn is such a coward and will not say such thing in public or directly to Trump.
The authoritarian script is “you must not contradict The Fuhrer in front of the media”. That’s what JD is saying. The shorter version is “You must not contradict The Fuhrer ever”.
@Eusebio:
I imagine more like a one time deal, where some of those fired provide details on internal workings, budgets, names of undercover agents here and there, procedures, sources, trivial stuff like that.
@Scott:
The leaders of the Free World, heads of state of France, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Lithuania, etc., are very supportive of Zelensky.
The felon may take this chance to end US support for Ukraine, which will greatly please his master. the question then is how hard a fight can Ukraine keep up with only European support (which is larger, but not by much, than US support has been).
It would be great if by 2028 Zelensky won the Nobel Peace Prize. he certainly has been trying to end the war from day one.
@Jay L Gischer:
Kind of Amazing seeing that Zelenskyy is also speaking a foreign language.
@Beth:
Is that what most of these Senators are doing??
I just think they all wanted this ‘show’ to have proof of how Zelensky needs to go. How he’s not “serious” about peace.
@Jay L Gischer:
@Gustopher:
Zelensky was a successful comedian and actor before he ran for office. I expect he’s good at playing to an audience, whatever it happens to be.
@Bill Jempty:
Thank you for sharing that anecdote. I played when younger, but just not very well. That game had to be an exhilarating moment. Salute.
@Michael Reynolds:
They have considerable deposits of iron ore, manganese, titanium……
Strategically, they have lithium,
And rare earths Read: batteries.
And I’m sure you know they have grains.
@Jay L Gischer:
Don’t you think the more sober interpretation is that vigorous debates of this import, however acrimonious, are conducted in closed rooms? Zelensky picked a fight in the wrong venue, with the wrong audience, the wrong guy, with, as pointed out, no cards to play. Was it a Hail Mary?
I basically negotiate for a living. Zelenskyy tried a rookie move. I personally think he shot his dirk off.
Zelensky’s ingratitude.
@charontwo:
I don’t know about chemistry, but I’m convinced there’s a J school admissions test with a math section. Failing the math section being required for acceptance to J school.
The last Ukraine aid bill passed the House and the Senate with very large majorities. It passed because Speaker Johnson supported it over the objections of MAGA.
I don’t know what these Senators and leaders think they might do about this particular power grab. It’s clear it isn’t what they want, though. They didn’t have a sudden change of heart. They didn’t get struck blind and suddenly think, “Oh wow, I’ve been wrong about Ukraine all these years, but now I see the truth: This is all Zelensky’s fault. Putin HAD to invade him.”
No, I don’t know where this is going.
@Connor: I viewed as more as standing up to a bully. Trump, like all MAGA, is a punch down, suck up type of guy. A basic coward. Which is why he is always obsequious when faced with a Putin or Xi.
@Connor: What was said, to his face, on television, was that the invasion was his fault, not Putins. Or the equivalent of it.
If he did not challenge that, he would be disloyal to his own country.
Or don’t you understand the phrase, “don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining”. That’s a diplomatic principle, not just an international principle.
So, if Trump wants to make this argument, he should make it in private, according to your principle. That’s not what happened, is it?
@Connor:
I’ve watched 3 video clips of this ‘incident’ and it is quite clear that JD Vance instigated the fight, and it is clear that Zelensky was defending his nation and himself from Vance’s allegations and misinformation.
Speaking of a ‘Hail Mary; by now Zelensky is very likely hoping that Trump doesn’t sell out Ukraine to Russian agression and Russian interests, and is probably having track 2 discussions with European allies regarding a future where America cannot be counted on, certainly not with this White House.
My diplomatic self says the Trump has misinterpreted the term “bully” pulpit.
He and Vance demonstrated again the worst of American values.
BTW, I am ashamed to admit that I live in Ohio, the state that spawned Vance.
My question, why is Vance even there? Why is there always a crutch? Musk, Vance….etc…
@Jen:
Jen – I feel the need to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have invoked the “high school” bullshitt. I apologize.
But it came on the heals of “show your work.” Well, show your work. You made strange charges, really just opinions. Show your work.
There are plenty of idiot commenters here. In no way, shape or form do I find you one of them. We just disagree. Best.
The US’s bottom line: “You must agree to the Russian demands now on the table and give us half your mineral resources* or roll the dice of war with EU support alone.”
*The resources are performative only. We both know this agreement, as written, has more holes in it than a 40 ft truck load of Cheerios.
@Scott:
Stupid.
@Connor:
Remind me to never hire you to negotiate anything.
Vance, without doubt, instigated the exchange. And like a rookie he left Zelensky no option but to answer him.
Zelensky has held off Russia’s aggression for 3 f’ing years. Vance was a PR flak who never left the Green Zone. (Not to even mention President Bone Spurs.)
JFC, you really get paid actual money to negotiate???
@Jay L Gischer:
Fine, whether you are right or wrong.
In private. You should stop defending the Ukrainian amateur hour. This is kindergarten stuff.
@Daryl:
I don’t need your money. I’m a wealthy man.
Remind me not to read your comments, I come out less intelligent. You are an idiot.
@Connor:
People who have to tell you that they’re wealthy, ain’t.
@Connor:
Right sooo wealthy, but instead of chillin on the beach in Saint-Tropez, you have nothing better to do but stalk this comments section — angry, triggered, and screaming into the wind to bootlick incompetent Putin-puppet traitor and Epstein-bestie rapist Trump. Sure Jan lol
Ha. From a dumb, bootlicking MAGA simp who defends reckless, indiscriminate DOGE firings — including of nuclear bomb safety workers and bird flu experts — then DOGE leaking classified info on its slapdash, hacked website before editing its sloppy, false claims of billions saved.
This what passes for competence and professionalism, according to the America-hating Putin slaves of the modern right.
It’s a wonder you can breathe, with all that feces in your mouth and sinuses. Amoral, pathological lying fake.
All four of the top stories on LGM are spot on about this day of national self-humiliation.
@Daryl:
As the late, great Patrick Dennis once remarked, “In America, money is like sex. People who really have it don’t talk about it.”
@Daryl:
Doubtful. Probably just played Monopoly with his multiple personalities. Drew, Connor, whatever other low IQ lunatic extremist and stalker is in there, etc.
@Min:
No spin is needed when they hate America and love Putin.
Trump supporters are happy the President Musk administration is voting with North Korea, Iran, Russia, and China. Modern Republicans are inhumane, indecent, deplorable morons who despise Western democracy and aspire to authoritarianism and fascism. That’s why they simp for rapist and pedophile Trump, a criminal and thug who called fallen US soldiers losers and suckers, and who said he needed Hitlerian generals.
Today’s scumbag conservatives are tough on Ukraine and Europe but soft on Russia and China because they have no ethics and no patriotism. Obedient rightwing beta men are 100% dedicated to doing, saying, and believing whatever Trump and Putin require them to do.
Traitors gonna trait.
@al Ameda:
You mean Connor/Drew lied and made up a fake Putin propaganda scenario in his empty head — in order to keep licking the orange makeup off the rear end of his rapist daddy Trump, who he slavishly defends like a good little brownshirt?
Shocked, shocked!
@Connor:
Vance orchestrated this, it was an ambush. Vance has not supported any assistance for Ukraine, and just used this opportunity to humiliate a beleaguered victim of Russian aggression.
Quick editorial at The Guardian.
Snippet: ““This is going to be great television,” Donald Trump (sic) remarked at the end. Sure. And as they slipped into the icy depths, the captain of the Titanic probably assured his passengers that this would make a great movie some day.”
I thought oval office meetings in front of the media were supposed to be mostly staged, with little more than a letter from the British Queen as a surprise. So, WTF?
@DK:
Wondered if he was Drew/Guarnari?
Remember…the worlds greatest businessman.
Charlie Sykes’ Substack post today is your one-stop shop for all the depravity: the Tate brothers, the deaths that will happen because of USAID cuts (thanks, Party Of Life!), the Trump Gaza video.
If anyone is so befuddled as to think we’re going to return to normal American politics, imagine any of these stories happening 10 years ago. Then, it would have been met with disgust and consequences. Now, each is met with applause from a substantial part of the country, and encouragement for continued rampaging.
@DK</a@Daryl: >:
Yeah I had him pegged for Drew pretty much immediately. Conservatives (see: Fortune) believe that its bad feelings associated with their name, and not their dog shit ideas, that get them flack.
@Kathy:
Normally sausage makers keep the doors to the shop floor shut and the windows well-shaded. Have to give Trump a back-handed tribute, it’s somehow refreshing to have the bloody mess out for all to see.
@Kingdaddy:
This.
X 1,000.
What can possibly break the fever???
A lot of other cults haven’t ended well. I can only think of one cult of personality nearly this size.
@Kathy:
TBH that really would be a surprise.
@Connor:
1) You know who else has all those things? Canada and Australia, two countries laughing their asses off right now at the baboon you helped put in the White House.
2) Not only was today’s disgrace not diplomacy it wasn’t even deal-making. It was two fascist gutter-dwellers attacking this generation’s Winston Churchill.
3) You’re a liar and a bootlick and have no business dissing anyone’s intelligence, because you really are in the intellectual basement.
4) The whole fucking world is laughing at us.
@Michael Reynolds:
Clever repartee, Michael.
@Michael Reynolds:
Rare Earths recoverable depends a lot on the price of such.
They tend to be very marginal deposits (see “rare”); so extraction costs a lot.
If other sources are cheaper (which they are at present, due to higher concentrations, etc) then they are not economically viable.
@Bobert:
Well, to invoke a phrase often used here. Show your work.
Or is it just wild eyed speculation?
@Michael Reynolds:
And some Trumpians were lately trying to bully Canada by suggesting they be cut out of “5 eyes”
That might not work out as they might wish, seeing as who the other three are.
@Michael Reynolds:
Just trying to picture Churchill fronted up by Vance in that way.
I’d lay odds he’d have decked him.
@JohnSF:
Please tell me this was a joke. They are not “rare.” Its a misnomer. They are widely available for mining. Quite abundant. Its a fact.
The level of commentary on this blog continues to amuse.
Let me ask you a question: the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) is the predominant extraction methodology for steelmaking. Do you think its name is because its a fundamental, or basic, process?
@DK:
Are you OK? Can I get you a lemonade? You seem out of sorts.
I am who I am. I’m no Oracle. But clearly more experienced, successful and insightful (although with the scars that come from a career; you might want to consider that) than you. Keep trying.
@Connor:
I think you forgot to mention that you’re a stable genius.
I’m just simply laughing at some of the commentary here today re: Ukraine.
Zelensky pulled a stunt. Period. Full stop. He should have expressed all his issues behind closed doors. Thats the way real hard nosed negotiations are done. And its perfectly legitimate. This was amateurish, and I don’t know who is advising him. But a guy who is dependent, has pilfered huge sums of money, and has no where to turn ought to think twice about a high school stunt.
So.
It looks like Europe may have to stand alone.
We are going to need to play for time.
Next up is Merz.
Thing is, he’s not known for suffering fools gladly.
Meanwhile, Xi gets Russia as a dependent, and being wrecked economically and militarily.
And Russia so consumed with resentment against the US and Europe it can’t consider not being stupid.
And the opportunity to play off Russia against US and Europe, Europe against US, etc.
Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan thinking if US alliance is at all reliable.
Trump is blowing up the entire basis of US global dominance, and is to dim-witted to realise it.
Even more hilarious, his paleocon and alt-right enablers.
“Obviously the architects of the post-war NSC-68 system that cemented the US as THE Super Power are nowhere near as smart as us! Let’s just enable Russia, and give Europe cause to re-arm, and give China a free hand! What could POSSIBLY go wrong?”
If they’re not cracking the champagne in Beijing, I’ll be very surprised.
@Connor:
And your evidence for this is?
Because, if that were the case, you may be sure that the European nations would not be supporting him, and Ukraine.
Yet, we are.
Because it’s all a load of MAGA/tankie/alt-right/campist/neo-fash/Russian propaganda bollocks.
@Jay L Gischer:
I doubt your context. However, If we stipulate that you are correct, I agree with your observation that we should be able to do better.
@JohnSF:
That’s just dumb. Carry on.
@Jay L Gischer:
I doubt your context. However, If we stipulate that you are correct, I agree with your observation that we should be able to do better.
@Connor:
It depends upon the concentration, and what other minerals they are mixed with.
Therefore, the economics of extraction from any given deposit depend upon the price of the product, and the extraction technology and its varying costs.
And please, do not try to lecture me about steel making processes.
I’ve spent time watching a Bessemer convertor blowing, and pig iron flowing, rolling mills working, forges hot, and pouring into moulds, and all that.
I’m from the West Midlands: metals and engineering are us, kiddo.
@Connor:
Is it indeed?
In what way, precisely?
@Connor:
I’m fine, I don’t need to stalk pro-Trump blogs. You, on the other hand, come here daily to hate read and have angry meltdowns over anti-Trump truthisms, pretending like any conservative of means and wealth would so waste their time. Phony af.
You have no money and no life. That’s why you have nothing to do with your empty time but come here to tantrum over your inability to propagandize.
You are clearly a dumb pretender and a liar totally brainwashed by Putin-puppet rapist and pedophile Trump. You could never be defined as a success: because you have no morals, no honesty, and no ethics. Just like your masters Trump and Putin.
But keep embarrassing yourself.
@Connor:
You are a patholgical liar. Period. Full stop.
You have to attack Zelensky with lies and misrepresent what we all saw happen, because you are incapable of doing anything but slavishly excusing everything your rapist, criminal owner Trump says or does — no matter how vile.
You will never, ever utter one word of criticism about Trump’s immature, narrcisstic traitorism or his incompetent, clown car officials. Because you are a dumb unpatriotic cultist, totally controlled by rightwing media. Yikes.
Zelensky is a heroic defender of democracy. Trump, Musk, and Vance are corrupt, greedy, selfish, fascist traitors. MAGA will be remembered in history the same way we remember the Nazis: as shameful human garbage.
@Connor:
What’s laughable is that I’m sure you believe that Churchill would have cowered before this diplomatic juggernaut as well.
@Daryl:
Churchill would have had a reply so rhetorically devastating, he’d have to slap the felon hard as the latter wouldn’t comprehend a word Sir Winston said to him.
@Connor:
You want to know how fucking stupid you are? You’re so fucking dumb you pop up here with one pseudonym after another, and you are always immediately unmasked. You are that dumb.
Not only can’t you write or debate, you’re so weak you can’t hide your inferiority complex with me – Dave Schuler was right, he knew. You can’t pull off an alias in a political blog, FFS. I pulled off five aliases IRL for two decades. You know how many people ever caught on? Zero people. I did for 22 years what you lack the brainpower to manage for twenty-two minutes.
To this day I’ve written more books as a woman than I have as a man, and how many people caught on? That’d be zero people. See, now, that takes skill. That takes intelligence. Getting outed every time? That takes dumb.
No wonder you worship Trump, he’s a needy, insecure weakling like you. You’d spend serious cash just to get a pat on the head from me, you mediocrity.
@Michael Reynolds:
Laughing AND making plans. They’re making plans to treat the USA as they do Russia and North Korea. At least that’s what the main news radio stations in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Columbia, Ecuador, and too many other countries to list are saying.
I listen to an app on my phone called Radio Garden.. It allows you to listen, in real time, to radio station from, literally, around the world. With my VPN, I use it to listen to Premiere League Football matches that are not available in the USA and DR. I also use it to listen to news from London, Edinburgh, Barcelona, and other countries. Today I spent the day listening to news stations from around the world after the Trump/Vance ambush of Zelensky.
It was pretty unanimous that the USA is losing respect globally. Europe is going to band together to make sure Ukraine has the military assets it needs. That much is clear.
But I wonder what happens when Trump starts providing military aid to Russia, because that’s what will happen when Europe steps up and Ukraine gains the upper hand on Russia.
I also wonder what it would take for Fortune, Paul L, Connor, JKB and the rest of MAGA to admit that there is a problem and the USA is totally screwed going forward.
@EddieInDR:
And here again I am forced to preemptively praise Herr Trump. This, should it happen, will be Trump’s greatest achievement, however inadvertent. (And I still think Europe’s most powerful countries are too feckless and decadent to follow through, but I will dance in the streets if proven wrong.)
Too bad he didn’t do it positively, with an affirmatively-realized, carefully considered plan. Rather than his usual reckless incompetence, rightwing depravity, and treason — permanently weakening America and thus making the world less safe.
Ever seen Jordan Peele’s Get Out?
Shield of the Republic podcast on today’s disgrace.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shield-of-the-republic/id1589548143
@EddieInDR:
“…what will happen when Europe steps up…”
I’ve said before, re various things:
The post-war US strategic planners of NSC-68 were not fools.
They aimed at the US being able to deny a rival control of multiple key industrial/technological centres, and alliance with those that were amenable, ie (at that time) W. Europe, Japan.
So, now Trump/MAGA wish to say “screw you”.
Not realizing that that compliment might be repaid in kind.
If Europe becomes a Power, its interests might well not be perfectly aligned to those of the US.
@DK:
Macron is in no respect either feckless or decadent.
Nor is Merz.
Nor is Starmer.
Nor is Tusk.
Nor etc etc.
Europe has problems: primarily not being a federal state authority: defence and such are national, not Union, areas of competence.
But emergency has its own imperatives.
Trump could end up creating what the US since 1945 wished to avoid: a consolidated Europe separated from the US as a hegemon.
Oops.
We haven’t seen much of JD since the election. Maybe today will have a tiny silver lining and they’ll go back to keeping him out of sight.
You know, it’s a times like this I have to wonder whether the Internet Research Agency pays by the post.
@JohnSF:
I hope you’re right. We set up NATO to keep western Europe anti-Russian and secure our place as hegemon. We were hardly being charitable. But, a few spectacular failures aside, we’ve been an OK hegemon. I fear the needed level of cooperation requires an accepted leader. Who emerges to replace us in Europe? Can either Germany or France allow the other to take the lead?
Tim Snyder has an excellent take on this, with a video: Five Failures In The Oval Office
My summary of what Dr. Snyder said :
1. Failure of Hospitality. Hosts should be welcoming and gentle.
2. Failure of Decency. It is normal to have different opinions about how to end the war. What is indecent is to yell at someone about their opinion, when they have suffered things you have not.
3. Failure of Democracy. Zelensky was elected with a 73% majority. He cannot allow himself to be bullied.
4. Failure of Strategy. Trump is trying to ally the US with Russia. Russia is tiny. It’s economy is smaller than Canada. It mostly engages with us by trying to sabotage infrastructure and steal technological secrets. Why would we abandon other allies for the sake of Russia?
5. Failure of Independence. Everything both Trump and Vance said has been said by Russians before. This is not independent thinking.
@Jay L Gischer: Dr. Snyder or an arrogant, pseudonymous sock puppet… who to believe?
@JohnSF:
France is now the Leader of the Free World. Followed by UK, Germany, Japan and Poland. We’ll see about Turkey.
If China is as afraid economically as they should be, they should move on Taiwan ASAP while we have a weak fool in the WH. It would rally their people against whatever economic shitstorm is coming.
@gVOR10:
You hope.
I fear.
Europe has not an unblemished record in the exercise of Power.
By and large, and allowing for folly, the US was not a predatory hegemon.
It did foolish things; but generally as mistakes, not out of an ambition for dominion.
If Europe becomes a Power, then there are imperatives that follow, willy-nilly.
Regarding North Africa, the Middle East, etc.
As for who leads in Europe, the obvious solution is a supra-national consolidated authority.
This can seem impossible; but it is not, if you consider European history, and its reactions to external challenges.
Even UK public opinion is currently inclining in this direction.
@JohnSF:
@DK:
Exactly my point. Americans have the sad belief that the world doesn’t work without them. I spent the day listening to news radio stations across the globe, and they were pretty damn united in a few facts:
1. Trump/Vance tried to bully Zelensky in a completely scripted ambush – even starting with the comment (by Marjorie Taylor Green’s boyfriend) regarding the suit.
2. Europe WILL step. up. The UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland have all already said so, and they’re starting to make plans.
3. Europeans and the Nordic Countries have a better sense of history than Americans and they do not want to go back to 1944, or even 1984.
4. Also, there was talk on several UK radio stations of a rejoining of the EU by the British. Starmer said, during his campaign that they would not rejoin, but he’s going to an EU meeting this week – first time a British PM has attended an EU meeting since. The focus of that EU meeting? The Ukraine war and the election of Donald Trump, per the BBC.. How real is this sentiment, JohnSF?
@Michael Reynolds:
The issue is now will Macron get Europe to, at the end, and including the UK, to follow the de Gaulle path.
The UK must now consider France as a source of tritium for our nukes.
And etc re nukes.
Plus our own plutonium reserve.
See also the recent statements of Merz, who was, for most of his career, a hard-core “Atlanticist”
The Poles, like us Brits, hoped that the US was reliable.
Adjusting to the failure of that assumption is going to be painful.
I know it pains me.
That that the United States of America that I, and many other British, and Europeans, respected, even revered, has just … gone.
Family history, and world history, intersecting.
But, hey, if you be Xi, look on the bright side!
Russia is reduced to an appendage, and can’t escape because its elite hates the US for its diminution, and obviously wants to dominate Europe in revanche, and to escape the supremacy of China.
As if China cannot see that.
Ans now the idiot Trump offers China the perfect position to play off Russia vs Europe vs the US.
All the idiot “realists” like Mearsheimer and Walz should be put in the stocks and pelted with rotten fruit for being utter fools.
The remaining question is: how exactly will a Europe obliged to be a Power act?
The US may find its ability to dominate the Med and Middle East a diminishing asset.
@Connor:
“Zelensky pulled a stunt. Period. Full stop. He should have expressed all his issues behind closed doors. Thats the way real hard nosed negotiations are done. And its perfectly legitimate. This was amateurish, and I don’t know who is advising him. But a guy who is dependent, has pilfered huge sums of money, and has no where to turn ought to think twice about a high school stunt.”
When every single word you wrote is entirely false, you probably should stop digging. This was an attempt at a stunt by Vance and Trump, to get back at Zelensky for failing to back Trump’s attempt to smear Biden last time Trump was in office. They were trying to get Zelensky to beg for their help in front of the world’s news cameras. And it totally failed.
@EddieInDR:
Putin invaded Ukraine twelve years ago. America elected Trump eight years ago.
What’s the hold up? Europeans have been threatening those of us who love and admire them with this good time for years. I hope we see a little less talk, a little more do.
@EddieInDR:
We have no intention of abandoning Ukraine.
Rejoining the EU as such is probably not on.
A European Defence Community may well be another matter.
The UK is certainly NOT going to accept a Russian ascendancy in Europe; nor will France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Sweden, etc etc.
If the US under Trump is willing to sell us out: fuck the US (I’m sorry to say)
The problem is going to be how fast we can set up a conventional force entirely separated from US-in-NATO (SHAPE/SACEUR)
A lot of basic military/strategic assumptions are being overturned.
Russia is reduced to an appendage, and can’t escape because its elite hates the US for its diminution, and obviously wants to dominate Europe in revanche, and to escape the supremacy of China.@JohnSF:
For whatever hindsight is worth, Russia under Putin chose to be diminished. The West was ready to accept Russia, the loser in the Cold War, back into the fold of nations, as it did with Germany, the loser of WWII. While there might not have been a Marshall Plan, since Russia had not been leveled by its loss, there was a lot of support for whatever kind of economic integration and support might be possible, if Russia wanted it. Russia was part of the G8 until the first phase of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
But Putin didn’t want it. Resentment won the day. So did fever dreams of a revived Russian empire. And here we are.
@Kingdaddy:
I’ve said before: Russia had a choice.
To be an equal partner in Europe, or to to nurse resentments at its diminution, attempt to pursue a delusion of domination.
And end up as a client state of China.
Putin made his choice; much joy may he have of it.
Mini-me to Xi.
And entirely failing to see that China realises this.
And that Russia’s only escape from this trap is to dominate Europe.
Which is also obvious; and which neither Europe nor (and this is the funny part) China will permit.
And the idiots in the US administration hope this means they can get Russia as an ally: but they can’t because the Russian elite hates the US and Europe, and are trapped into an economic relation with China.
Putin was trying to escape this dilemma by military force; but has failed.
And even the Trumpian fools cannot rescue him from that failure.
Just to be clear, Connor/Drew is sorta correct about it being a stunt. He just blamed the wrong side.
Look at it this way: a man speaking his *third* language had clear, calm, concise answers to two bullies yelling over him in their *only* language (which Trump isn’t even proficient in!).
Zelensky is a man. The only one in that exchange.
@Franklin: Zelensky is a LEADER. And the only leader in that room.
@Connor:
Again? So, you didn’t watch the incident
I believe what I watched, what I witnessed, and not the subsequent attempts by Administration apologists to gaslight the American public.
@Jax: Agreed.
If you didn’t like my usage of “man”, I meant more the adult than the gender. But I also know that Trump and Vance and their serfs think they are masculine in some positive sense, and I was pointing out the reality that they aren’t even that.