Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, January 29, 2024
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49 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a 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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Texas attorney general requests transgender youths’ patient records from Georgia clinic
OK, it is clear I’m not a lawyer but why is the response of these out of state organizations to sue the [adulterous, indicted but not yet convicted, impeached but not convicted] AG Paxton in return? Why is the response not “go f— yourself” or “go pound sand”.
Only the very best.
White House medical unit handed out pills to ineligible patients
Medical fraud:
Financial fraud:
Who ran the unit? Oh, yes!:
Who is to blame?
@Scott: This just adds to the list of circumstantial evidence that Trump is a long term abuser of prescription drugs. There is a belief amongst the general public that circumstantial evidence is inadmissible but a) that’s incorrect and b) this isn’t a courtroom, it’s an election.
For almost three quarters, it seemed the Lions would triumph ver the 49ers.
IMO, the worst way to lose a points-based contest is to be ahead for most of the game, only to see the opponent first catch up and then take the lead.
For the Super Bowl, I really don’t care who wins. Sometimes that makes watching the game more enjoyable. When I want both teams to lose, as I did when the Patriots played the Falcons, I don’t really bother watching the game.
@Scott:
To generate caselaw that tells Future AG Paxtons “Go Fk Yourself.”
@Kathy:
Tom Brady is my lifelong sports hero, and the Falcons are my hometown team. I’ve never been more interested in or satisfied with a Super Bowl.
I’ll have a full report after lunch. But so far I’ve learned I’ve more to learn about slow cookers, or at least the slow cooker function in a multifunction pot.
On the one hand, after about 6 hours of slow cooking on “high,” the beef came out fall apart tender. That’s good. But despite using less liquid and leaving the steam valve on “release,” the sauce didn’t thicken, which means it didn’t reduce.
This may be due to the hermetic seal on the multi pot lid. I did some reading later, and found there are glass lids, with an open vent, available for the multi pot. That’s nice, although the thing already had two lids (the air fry lid and the pressure lid; the former being non-detachable from the whole). I shudder at getting it another one. I’ll see if one of the many glass pot and pan lids I already have fits it.
It also would be nice to see what’s going on inside the pot as it slow cooks.
I also tried air fryer potatoes, doing two batches of slices in two ways. The first one, I brushed oil on the potatoes and sprinkled some seasoning (pepper and garlic powder) before air frying. The second batch I tossed in oil and then seasoned after cooking.
Both were ok, but not as golden or crispy as I’d hoped. I may need more oil. In any case, next week I’ll attempt twice baked potatoes. For the main dish, it will be chilaquiles with shredded chicken.
@Scott:
@MarkedMan:
The problem was likely worse in the Trump administration, but this isn’t new news. Anecdotal but relevant: a friend of mine worked in the WH in a prior administration, and noted that for overseas trips, the medical office handed out sleeping aids to anyone who wanted them.
@Scott:
IANAL, but I assume it’s because failure to comply because “go f— yourself” wouldn’t really hold up in court, but pro-actively seeking to establish the illegality of the order gives one a basis for non-compliance, at least if the judge so agrees while the case is pending or underway.
@Jen:
Jackson served as WH physician for President Obama, didn’t he? The Obamas seem to have liked him.
@MarkedMan: I guess I’m very ignorant on interstate legal rules. Under what rules is an out of state legal official allowed to demand information of an entity. Why can’t all 50 AGs just willy nilly cause chaos across the nation.
I didnt care that much about the AFC game, but I found out later that many people were opposing the Chiefs because Travis Kielce supports vaccinations. Now makes me hope they win again against SF. I do wonder if the anti-vaxxer people are going to be able to bring themselves to cheer for the team from the city of the gay people.
Steve
@steve: A lot of anti-vaxxers are brain dead leftists from Marin County. No conflict there.
@Scott:
I’d be interested in a lawyer’s take, but my layman’s reaction is that state lines are not borders with hostile countries. I would think that it is normal for state officials to request response from people and entities outside of the state all the time.
There’s an odd battle forming over, of all things, AM radio. Auto manufacturers have been contemplating dropping it from future cars, since their data shows less and less usage every year. An odd coalition has developed to generate push back on this. (The original article is in the WSJ, so I’ve linked to a Jalopnik summary. It’s the 3rd item.) I’ve read a fair number of articles over this and one thing that seems to be missing is the motivation of the broadcasters. After all, if the usage is so low the automakers don’t think dropping it will reflect sales, why aren’t AM radio stations shutting down all over the country? I suspect at least a partial answer is the other uses the stations can make of their allowed bandwidth, as long as they continue to operate as a radio station. While I don’t know anything specific about AM radio, I know someone who is working on this technology for broadcast television stations. According to him, the broadcasters are well aware that they are facing a cliff in terms of viewership and are searching for other ways to make money. They are deploying their bandwidth and antenna network to provide radio connections for everything from meter reading to updating automobile firmware to comply with recalls. There is enough interest in this that my source is on the road all over the country and all over the world, giving overviews of the technology, 3-6 times a month.
@Scott:
More like all of them.
@MarkedMan:
How often do states that forbid gambling request info from Nevada or its casinos about their residents’ activities?
@Kathy: I would think that if they were investigating them for tax fraud and had reason to suspect that they were falsely claiming gambling losses, they wouldn’t hesitate to request records and subpoena them if necessary.
But as I said, a lawyer would be able to answer better.
Numbers are out from Nielsen as regards streaming.
The piece compares the number of eps from older network shows and newer streaming ones, pointing out network shows have like tons of eps in comparison. Then concludes people prefer older shows they’ve seen before.
I don’t think it’s that simple, but maybe people prefer the older format. Meaning lots of eps.
TV is a daily activity. You want something to watch every day. An older show, whether you’ve seen it before or not, provides daily viewing of 1-2 eps for weeks. newer shows at best may manage a week and a half, if you don’t binge or if you catch the eps as they get released weekly.
I’d say I’m pretty sure we’ll see non-arc shows go to longer seasons soon, but there are many variables to that simple formula. For one thing, it’s more expensive to shoot a new 20-25 ep show, than it is to license several seasons of an older one. On the other hand, some older show have aged rather poorly.
@MarkedMan:
That would be far different than asking about every resident who went to Vegas to gamble.
@Kathy:
I talked about this a few days ago. TV execs have forgotten what TV is supposed to be. A movie is a date. A TV series is a relationship. One is bound by formal rules of behavior – quiet, don’t look at your phone, sit til the end. The other is informal, up to the audience/consumer to decide how and when to watch. One comes in a neat three act structure, the other is horizontal, not driven by the need to get to a sky beam at the 90 minute mark.
But they continue to take concepts that should be movies and stretch them into eight eps in order to feed their money-losing streamers. Or take eight episode limited series and, if they see ratings, extend them despite there being nothing left to extend. And then there are the ideas that would never work in any format but get greenlit anyway.
And, as always, the problem of not enough good writers. 500 scripted shows is – accounting for Taylor Sheridan and writers who may do more than one show in a season – we’re talking what, a minimum of 2500 to 3000 writers? There are not 3000 good writers. There may be 300, but even that is probably too generous. And in order to replicate something like the old 22 eps per season you’d need not just good writers, but good writers with extraordinary creative stamina. Those people can’t just be ordered from Amazon.
@Kathy: “I don’t think it’s that simple, but maybe people prefer the older format. Meaning lots of eps.”
Streaming ratings are measuring minutes watched. Wednesday was a really big hit for Netflix, but there were only eight or ten episodes. Reruns of Suits were also big on the streamer, but there are 134 episodes. Guess which one gets more minutes viewed?
@Kathy:
Assumed fact not in evidence. Maybe they didn’t watch the show back when it originally aired.
@MarkedMan: the officials of the other state can demand as much as they want, but unless there’s some sort of agreement between the states, the officials of the state they’re requesting info from can tell them to pound sand.
(Witness: every single time California tries to tax “foreign corporations” on ex-California activity.)
@Kathy: Believe me, I’m not trying to justify Texas’ ghoulish behavior. I’m just responding to Scott’s question, “Under what rules is an out of state legal official allowed to demand information of an entity?”
@Grumpy realist:
That went over my head. Can “foreign corporations” mean US based but not California? And what does “ex-California” mean?
@Grumpy realist:
So, state officials can use the “f*ck off” defense. Can private entities?
@CSK: Yes, he did. My friend worked in an earlier WH, though. It’s worth bearing in mind that people who work in the WH don’t have much of a normal schedule, and they work insane hours. Popping out to go to doctor’s appointments, dealing with pharmacy hours, etc. all get a bit harder to manage when you work 12 hour days, travel extensively, and so on.
@Kathy: I suspect “Friends”, “Suits” and “90102” (or whatever that CA zip code show was called) fill a very different niche, one that streamers haven’t invested in. Admittedly, I never watched them, but I occasionally get into a mode where I watch “The Black List” and “Madame Secretary” and I do so on the treadmill where I don’t want something that captures my attention to much or I’ll start to slow down, or while cooking or maybe folding laundry. When I think of the streaming shows I watch, even when they are nonsense they require attention. “The Witcher”, “Severance”, etc.
I can watch ten episodes of my treadmill shows for every one of the streamers
@steve: Still, SF is the team that fired that ugly-tempered colored kid who was disrespectful to the flag. That’s gotta count for something. I suppose that fans will do what we all do when confronted with cognitive dissonance–ignore the dissonance and support what we want to.
@Jen: The problem was that those WH employees were getting free, taxpayer supported healthcare and pharmaceuticals without any authorization (or appropriation). It’s called misappropriation of funds. Which, I believe, is a felony.
@wr:
The (plausibly) good news is that ratings will come back in fashion.
Streamers used to make money by the number of active subscriptions. Now that they are showing ads, they’re making money from that, too. So a show that gets people to sign up or stayed subscribed is good. But one that gets them to watch more minutes, and more ads, is better.
So, longer shows, probably.
@Michael Reynolds:
Kathy’s First Law states that in a long TV season, there are bound to be 2 or 3 good eps, regardless of the general crappyness of the show.
Before streaming, I followed 3 or 4 shows at a time, most of which aired on different days. Si I’d watch a CSI incarnation, Body of Proof, The Big Bang Theory, House, etc. on different days, often catching missed eps off season.
Even in the early days of streaming, it was like an occasional things when there was nothing else on (aka Saturday), or to see a movie I missed in theaters (meaning most movies).
These day the channels I used to watch have very little I find appealing.
@charontwo:
NCIS has been on for 20 years and you have all its spin-offs also. How many of these episodes have I watched willingly*?
Less than five.
*- When getting chemo, the television I and other patients were sitting in on had on reruns of shows like NCIS, CSI, and X Files.
@charontwo: I stream old shows. Usually, they’re shows that I didn’t watch in the first place during their regular runs for various reasons. Beyond that, they’re shows that I probably haven’t watched in 30 or more years. I’m not just some geezer longing for the haze of nostalgia. I’m that, too, 😉 but far more.
@Scott: And my only point is that it’s likely been going on for a loooooong time. Probably not to the extent that Trump’s administration did, for sure.
@charontwo:
There are many, many, many TV shows I never watched on their original run, and still wouldn’t watch if they were now on streaming.
@Jen: Got it.
More of the Donald Trump fashion news you can’t live without!
And that’s the rest of the story. Good day? (Apologies to the late Paul Harvey)
Well, the very thin sauce is a mejor letdown. I need a deeper dive into slow cookers. Maybe they can do with even less liquid. Ah, the joys of modern cooking…
The texture and flavor of the beef, though, was much better than anything I’ve done before, be it on the stove or the oven.
@Scott: Unless I misunderstand, they were getting drugs without a prescription. If correct, that’s a hell of a thing.
@Kathy: I think your Spanish autocorrect got you.
@MarkedMan: I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. There’s a physician on staff, who can write prescriptions. The issue is that that doctor wouldn’t have the full medical records of all staff members, so is (potentially) writing prescriptions without full case history, which can be quite dangerous.
Edit to add: the surgery aspect is interesting to me, more so than the pills.
@Joe:
It does that more often than I let it.
Back to streaming, I wonder which old(er) shows would you all find of interest today.
As best I can recall, I’ve seen two that qualify, and one just barely. That would be The Expanse, which finished production not too long before I began streaming it. The other is Farscape.
There are plenty of shows I saw in their original run which I wouldn’t want to rewatch, at least not in their entirety. Like all the Trek shows. There are some eps worth watching again, but not that many.
Or Babylon 5. I saw it on first run. I rewatched the whole thing on DVD some years ago, and then again when it was briefly available on HBO Max. Each time was good, but I think I’ve had enough of it.
Way back in 2007, pre-streaming, we had no cable or satellite where we moved, and over the air reception sucked. I got by renting full seasons on DVD from Blockbuster (really). One I enjoyed were two or three seasons of the original Mission: Impossible series.
Eventually we got cable.
AND is dating Taylor Swift who is Delilah to his Samson. It’s always misogyny.
@OzarkHillbilly:
It’s actually a Deep State plot to get Biden re-elected.
@Jen: On the issue of drugs and the White House, I have been trying to get into a pain management clinic for 3 or 4 years now, maybe more. I don’t want much, I just want to take the edge off of it. After 35 years of construction I think I’ve earned that much. A few weeks ago I finally had one call me for info (after my 3rd or 4th referral from my regular NP). TBH I had no idea what he was talking about. He asked if I was open to the idea of “Injection therapy”. I said “WTF is that?” He told me it was injections into my spine.
I didn’t even ask, “Injections of what?” Just replied “No.” because w/o thorough explanations of what and where and the howtos, that just weren’t happening. Never heard back from him.
I am beginning to think that “Pain Management Clinic” is nothing more than “Voo Doo.”
So, I will continue to horde my vicodins from my last shoulder surgery* 2 years ago, using them only when I am truly desperate while knowing that if I was on the WH press team I could get damned near anything I wanted by simply asking for it.
*which I think I am going to have a 4th soon. sucks to be me.
@CSK: Yep. Dawg I am tired of the fragile white males among us.
@OzarkHillbilly:
They may want to avoid American’s flight AA1989 from KC to Las Vegas, then.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I would not call myself a misogynist, but I must suspect that somehow the coverage got into some corner of my brain and affected it badly, although for now I’m blaming the pizza which was loaded with pepperoni.
Ate a bit too much if it yesterday and had a terrible dream. I dreamt KC won the super bowl and Kelce was awarded the MVP. On the podium he knelt with the trophy and proposed to Swift, who yelled “HOW DARE YOU PUT ME IN THIS POSITION!!” and kicked him square in the nuts. Then the rest of the KC O-line started beating the crap out of him, with Steven A Smith providing blow by blow commentary.
I’m not sure what the meaning of this is, but I am pretty sure it’s not good.