Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, December 12, 2025
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34 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.
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The Florida headline of the day- DeSantis admin diverted child welfare and medical funds for consultants, ads
The headline of the day- Hundreds Quarantined in South Carolina as Measles Spreads
My auto mechanic Eddie has gotten the parts to repair the driver side door of my Toyota Matrix. He’ll be over this afternoon to take care of my car.
Eddie says getting replacement parts for Matrixs are becoming increasingly difficult because Toyota don’t make them anymore. I like the car and I don’t do much driving. Getting another car still don’t rank on my priority list.
Back on Tuesday there was a special election for the State House seat I live in. A Democrat named Rob Long won. The House seat had been previously held by a Democrat.
For the first 6 years I have lived in my present home, Dear Wife and I could cast our election polling place was the West Clubhouse for the retirement community we live in. In most cases I’d walk there. The trek is only 1/4-1/3 of the mile. Curiosity- There is another polling place across the street from the condo I live in.
We’re not voting at the West Clubhouse anymore. Nor am I or DW voting at the polling place across the street. Our polling place is now on Seacrest Blvd* south of Gateway Blvd and just about 2 miles from where we live.
DW doesn’t like the move. She vows to do absentee ballots from now on.
No early bedtime for me today. Lea Salonga will be performing at the Kravis Center tonight.
*- In the 6 years and 8 months I have been living in Boynton, I can count the times on one hand that I have driven Seacrest Blvd south of Gateway.
In the comments at the Beast someone suggests it’s a different but similar med. Dr. Steve?
I was late to accept the armchair diagnosis of dementia, largely because I never thought Trump’s brain worked properly, but I think all signs point to Alzheimer’s or some other dementia, and what’s more, I think Trump knows it. It explains the manic obsession with slapping his name on everything and his ludicrous pursuit of a Nobel.
So. . . now what? His hold over the GOP is weakening rapidly, MAGA may be fracturing, his cabinet are either corrupt or incompetent, or incompetently corrupt. Kim Don Il is ill. The king is mad. And I don’t think anyone doubts that JD Vance would love to invoke the 25th Amendment if he thought he could get away with it.
But when I read the amendment it has the look of a clusterfuck, with VP saying POTUS is incapable, the President Pro Tem is Senator Grassley, age 92 weighing in, POTUS able to claim on social media that MY BRAIN IS PERFECT I HAVE THE BEST BRAIN etc…, cabinet members divided, Congress divided, a corrupt and partisan Supreme Court. . .
What do we want? Is it better to have a senile imbecile (to be clear, the imbecility is a pre-existing condition) rage-tweeting and ordering wars and announcing he’s having his face carved on Mount Rushmore, and leering at his harem, manipulated by anyone who can give him a trophy, and renaming every ship in the Navy the USS Best President Ever? Or do we want that reptile Vance? What’s better for the country? What’s better for Democrats?
What’s better for comedians?
And is there any more damning evidence of a nation in decline than having one senile president replaced by a worse senile president and decisions perhaps falling to a senile President Pro Tem and a largely senile Congress?
@Michael Reynolds:
This was never going to end well. So… You’re the fancy writer of fiction :), spin us a tale to comfort us in our misery.
Answering Kathy’s comment late into yesterday’s thread regarding A4 size paper:
@Kathy:
It appears we are very lonely in our abstinence from A4.
@Michael Reynolds: The recent push back (like the vote in Indiana yesterday) has a feel like there are rumors circulating within Republican political circles. All of the fracturing seems to be people scrambling to figure out who to align with, like any good royal court intrigue.
Donanemab and lecanemab have different administration cycles, I think (one is monthly the other is every two weeks), but similar risks of swelling/brain bleeds so both require MRI checks. Not sure it matters which one, as they are both Alzheimer’s treatments…if he’s on either one, it feels like we’re headed to 25A territory.
@Sleeping Dog:
A quote I have seen attributed to Tom Clancy. “The difference between reality and fiction- Fiction has to make sense.”
Apparently the author of that quote never read anything in the subgenre I write in.
@Neil Hudelson:
Now figure that vast swath of A4 with printers configured for letter paper.
I wondered the other day whether coming in on weekends was any use at all.
Proposals were due on the 10th and 12th. this means they have to be uploaded the day before. You can keep uploading until the deadline, but the ideal is to finish as early as possible. TL;DR: both proposals wound up uploaded at around 6 am on the due day. Both times I left by 10 or 10:30 PM.
Ok, yeah, there’s something massively wrong in thinking that leaving that late is a good thing, but the alternative is far worse.
@Bill Jempty:
I dealt with this misattribution a while back. Short answer is that Clancy never said it or anything similar, and it’s been said in different forms by a variety of writers with Mark Twain being the apparent originator, though in his case it went “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
The site Quote Investigator is great for questions like this. I also read a book by the person who created the site. When you get into the realm of examining famous quotes, you often find them attributed to the wrong people, sometimes attributed to people who did say it but weren’t the first, and one very glaring point I’ve noticed that doesn’t get much attention is that the original version of a quote is typically a lot less snappy and witty than in its best-remembered form.
@Kylopod:
As time passes, reiterations get further and further from what was said. Like-
A space ship crashed in a Iowa cornfield. One injured alien emerged waving a white flag
15th reiteration-
Thousands of space ships have safely landed all over the world. Millions of grotesque creatures are disembarking and threatening mankind with extinction
Out of the two tellings, the second is certainly more interesting or memorable.
One of my books opens with a Kansas policeman making first contact with aliens who crashlanded just outside Wichita. Sgt. Bowman had a body camera on which recorded the event. A television news crew also arrived a few minutes later.
@Kylopod:
“That’s exactly what I would have said, had I only thought of it.” Kathy.
There! I now own all witty aphorisms 😀
Now and then I come across one, or a snarky pun, or phrase, that sounds a lot like something I’d say, and I wonder why I didn’t think of it.
@Kylopod:..Mark Twain…
Apparently the saying “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” was not from Twain.
I lived in San Francisco for a year ending in June of 1975. The Sunset district was foggy and cold in the summer and I do remember turning on the heat at night.
However if I had a big sack full of cash I might still be living there.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown: AND, the marine layer affects more than Sunset which does get it pretty hard.
The microclimates are such that it can be 95 degrees in Livermore, and 65 degrees in the City. That’s gonna get your attention.
Not to mention though, that there’s a form of cold you experience that seems to have a psychological side to it. It’s a subjective cold. 65 degrees isn’t that cold in the grand scheme of things, but it feels really, really cold at night. I’m from northern climes. The temperature does not scare me or even impress me.
AND, it feels really cold sometimes. I don’t get it.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown: At least in my head canon, Twain did say that. He stayed in SF for a while, and I expect he said it in conversation with other residents of the City By The Bay. It stuck. It stuck hard. But he didn’t put it out for general use, because nobody who hadn’t lived through a summer in SF would understand it or find it funny.
I never heard it at all until I moved here. Because it wouldn’t make sense. It would sound like “Oh those wimpy Californians, can’t handle 65 degrees!”
@Jay L. Gischer:
Now and then in winter, when cloudy, temps go as low as -2 or -4 C. It’s cold, but I swear it felt colder when I visited NYC in early Spring in 83 or 84, when it was sunny and around 7-10 C.
It also depends what you’re dressed for. In Vegas if you dress for the hot climate, you’ll feel chilly after less than an hour in an air conditioned casino. I often had to take a break to warm up under the hot sun.
Can any of our legal types comment on this… “development“?
It seems pretty fishy to me that a 10-year-old jury verdict would be “adjusted” due to a “scrivener’s error” like this.
@Sleeping Dog:
The thing is the only way to write this whole era is as dark comedy.
People, watch Pluribus on Apple TV. It’s from Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.
I am not easily impressed by writers, usually I can see all their tricks. But god damn, that man can write.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
It’s probably a wash who has had more witticisms incorrectly attributed to him, Twain or Wilde.
Or as Yogi Berra once (allegedly) put it, “I didn’t say everything I said.”
@Bill Jempty: “A quote I have seen attributed to Tom Clancy. “The difference between reality and fiction- Fiction has to make sense.””
I heard it attributed to Mark Twain.
@Michael Reynolds: I meant to chime in when Becca recommended Pluribus the other day–we are really enjoying the show.
Now, if I could only get my husband to stop* calling the show “Plur-one-bus” (the way it’s spelled in the opening credits, Plur1bus). (*He’s doing it to irritate me.)
Earlier this week, Kylopod noted that grapefruit juice d0es not mix well with certain medications. So I looked up other toxic food and drug combos. This website is useful:
http://www.commonspirit.org/blog/taking-medications-you-may-need-avoid-these-foods
@Michael Reynolds:
I started it last week, then decided I’m too tired from Hell Week labors to invest time in a new show. So I cancelled Apple until at least next March. What I saw looked good.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine:
In Kupyansk, which Russia declared under Russian control back in late November, and claimed “large numbers of Ukrainians encircled.
December 2, Putin: “We invite foreign media to Kupiansk”
December 12: President Zelensky pays a visit; and it it seems a UAF counter-attack has actually encircled a sizable number of Russian forces.
It has to be said, Zelensky is very adept at political ju-jitsu against Putin.
And Trump, for that matter.
See also the recent Ukrainian statements on elections, which Trump and Putin have both tried playing as a propaganda card.
Effectively: Certainly, we’re prepared to hold them. Now, what are the agrrements for a cease-fire to enable them, the practical security gurantees, and the procedures for observed elections in the Russian occupied areas?
Or on the “Donbas economic zone” concept Russia has floated (likely to lure the cupidity of the Trumpkins, and Trumps default that “it’s all about dollar deals, y’all”):
Interesting concept. Now, how will that actually be policed, and have the security needed to attract investment? Will the investments be guaranteed, and if so by whom?
Territorial concessions? Negotiable, but will require an all-Ukraine referendum, including observed voting in the occupied areas.
The same messaging is being coordinated out of European capitals.
It aapears to be concerted diplomatic push to point out to the sane in Washington that the entire US/Russia “peace proposals” are founded on sand.
And Europe announces that Russian assets are to be impounded “indefinitely”.
Russian threats of retaliation are actually playing into the hands of the “coalition”.
If Russia does so, it removes the motivations of the more nervous (mainly Belgium) to block full expropriation.
@Kathy:
Or vice versa.
Out of curiosity, I checked before leaving work.
Our MFD printers (which I grant are quite sohisticated buggers) can be modified to take Letter instead of A4 by a simple adjustment in the paper inputs, and switching the printer defaults for one (or all) input trays.
Then if you send a Letter format document to the printer, it can switch accordingly.
Nobody ever does, though.
(I don’t think we’ve even got any paper except A4 and A3. Apart from over in the College of Art, which has all sort of exotic sizes, for reasons best known to themselves, lol)
@Michael Reynolds:
A mind-virus that makes everyone peaceful and content?
That might serve to shift me to “just mildly grumpy”, lol.
Seeing as humans have spent a lot of time over millenia trying to achieve such states via various chemicals, I think the aliens might have their work cut out improving on our amateur efforts. 😉
I wonder what the supposed communication/coordination mode for an operative “hive mind” is supposed to be?
And also if they’ve considered that known “hive” species are often inclined to hostility to other hives?
Interesting concept, but I doubt they’ve worked through all the implications.
But having a massive aversion to subscribing to any media services whatsoever, I’ll likely never discover, one way or the other.
@CSK:
Interestingly, “long life” non-refrigerated grapefruit juice is no longer available in UK supermarkets.
But “fresh” refrigerated still is.
A bit odd, but there you go.
@Jay L. Gischer:
Might it have to do with relative humidity?
iirc at lower tempreatures, high humidity makes it fell colder, while at high temprratures it makes it feel hotter.
Also if you have high humidity and an appreciable breeze, that’s likely to really drop the perceived temp. Still more if absent sunshine.
Certainly in the UK even in summer, a cloudy day at the seaside at about 17C with an onshore breeze can feel quite cool.
@JohnSF:
Over time we’ve had Ricoh, HP, Xerox, and now Lanier printers (actually large multifunction printer/scanner/copier things). My take is they all have problems, but never the same problems. At every change of supplier, the issue is mostly getting used to new ways they will disappoint and exasperate you. It’s the Law of Conservation of Annoyance.
Overall I rank HP at the top, and Xerox at the bottom.
@Kathy:
Ours are also, now, all large MFD.
What manufacturer, I confess I know not.
Personally, I’m still hoping we get the specialist scanner we have (unused) at one site moved over to ours, because the MFD are not really suited to input of book, as opposed to “flat paper” scans, and are really annoying in having to to be reset to required inputs.
(TIFF not PDF; 600 dps; high quality; and ftlog DO I HAVE TO SPECIFY THIS EVERY DAMN TIME!)
Also MFD won’t accept arbitrary scan dimensions, but only presets, and so then require editing the images, dammit.
For our sins, we are now signed up to an international inter-library content-sharing scheme.
Which in the abstract is wonderful, but in the implementation, absent a proper scanner and a docked laptop with the required RAM, is a monumental PITA.
And our currently unused scanner can’t get moved because “whose budget is that?” and the RAM can’t be upgraded because IT policy is “high grade laptops are only for senior management and academics” even if they don’t actually need them, because reasons.
Bah!
*drinks*
@JohnSF:
Watch it and be amazed. I don’t praise spec fiction lightly. It’s brilliant.
Getting Machado to Oslo, wow. Note, NPR. Despite the bluster of the Trump Administration the reality is the Norwegian’s selected Machado for this year’s award because the Chavez/Maduro regime is just so awful. I am sure the Dutch were involved (ABC Islands).
I have family friends that are Venezuelan (Medical doctor displaced by imported Cuban doctors (about the level of a LPN is the USA), US MD degree so suspect).