Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, November 25, 2024
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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.
Work and son-in-law dr appointments today, so lots of lurking and few comments until late for all the east coasters here. Hope everyone has a good day.
Barbara Taylor Bradford has died, age 91. RIP.
Ah, the promise of a well run administration:
Trump team barred from agencies amid legal standoff
All because of trifles like ethics and transparency agreements.
Russia is allied with Iran and now the Houthi. Both support Russia in its war with Ukraine. Both Iran and Houthi are enemies of Israel. The incoming Trump regime is fully backing Israel but not Ukraine. How does this make sense?
Report: Russia recruiting Yemeni men via Houthi-linked company to fight in Ukraine
A third woman has died as a result of the Texas abortion ban. Porsha Nguzemi, RIP.
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty defends Pete Hegseth:
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1860694080696557800
No. The Republican political strategy has been more focused on “pronouns” than “lethality.” Six months blocking military aid to Ukraine, and Tuberville’s months long obstruction of military promotion/appointments is proof.
Republicans are not serious about governing this country. They knowingly elevate sexual predators to leadership positions and then gaslight the country about it.
Clearly Republicans at the State and National level want American Citizens to lift their skirts and pull down their pants so that Republicans can see if people have the approved genitalia.
See Arkansas Republican state Sen. Matt McKee: “Do you have a penis?”
Fearmonger South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace has convinced Speaker of the House
Weasel WillieMike Johnson, R-La., to oppose the use of restrooms by transgender citizens.I suspect Matt Gaetz is on the top of “You can grab them by the pussy!”, convicted felon,
President-elect Donald Trump’s list of candidates to head the Federal Department of Crotch Inspection.
I’m convinced it’s November 9 2016 and I’ve yet to wake up. Everything since then has been part of a long, elaborate nightmare, and I should eventually wake up.
It’s ridiculous, ludicrous, and even unpossible, but it’s the one thing that makes logical sense.
Seriously, if you went back in time to 2014 and presented history from November 8 2016 to today, you’d be locked up in a psychiatric hospital like Sarah Connor was.
@CSK: Here’s the ProPublica article:
A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments.
In the “Best government is that which governs least” category:
State Board of Education says it wants more control over public school library books
@Scott:
I know; I read it. Awful, awful, awful. Totally preventable tragedy. Now there’s a widower and two motherless little boys.
@Kathy:
Apparently a large segment of our electorate voted for Make America Groundhog-Day Again.
@Scott:
Let the lawsuits begin.
It will probably be difficult to win a lawsuit since it’s likely the local prosecutors and judges will not be sympathetic. After all, what they are doing is the new standard of care in the state. If they are in a more blue part fo the state it will be appealed. Regardless, hospitals will still prefer to pay out a few million for a case like this than pay out millions for what is deemed an abortion AND face jail time.
As an aside I did have a discussion online about this with a couple of people who claimed to be lawyers. In states without Texas laws a D&C would be the standard of care. In Texas, giving misprostol is becoming the standard of care.Will judges let local standards of care prevail even if they are based upon poorly written laws and fears or will they enforce older standards that were universal before the anti-abortion laws.
Steve
Following up my comment yesterday that WAPO has done four tribute column to George Will in three days, this morning they added two more. WTF?
@Scott: A breakthrough move in human trafficking. Impressive, Vladi (you don’t mind if I call you “Vladi,” right?).
@CSK: But is it a white middle to upper class widower? Remember, you’re appealing to Republican senses of morality here.
@gVOR10:
As far as I can determine, Will is still alive. And he hasn’t announced his retirement.
@just nutha:
The Nguzemis were Black, educated, and at least middle class.
Ok, so I entered two expense reports into the Bluescreen ][ system on Friday. Monday I get an email saying one was rejected, with “lack of justification” as a reason. Now, what does “lack of justification” even mean? typically you open the rejected report and there’s a note on one item or two. This time there wasn’t, but there was a note saying “no action is required.”
WTF?
So I just resubmitted it, expecting it to be rejected again but with more specifics. Or at least that the person rejecting it might call or send a message.
It just came back approved.
Seriously, WTF?
On other things, I hit the mark I expected with the air fryer burgers. I probably won’t do them like this often, but it’s good to know they kind of work.
Of course, I made some kind of blunder. It’s me, after all.
By burgers I mean only the patties. I eat them with a topping. Last time I made balsamic onions with ketchup and paprika. This time I thought it would be nice to add a julienne bell pepper to the mix, and caramelize the lot before adding the balsamic vinegar. Also I wanted to try tomato paste instead of ketchup.
Well, today while getting my lunch out of the fridge in the morning, I saw a bell pepper just lying there. It was only then I remembered I had meant to use it for the topping…
Mise en place. It’s not just a good idea. It’s the LAW.
Or should be.
@CSK: [CRT TRIGGER WARNING!!]
Lemme try again: but is it a WHITE middle to upper…
@just nutha:
I thought I made it clear the Nguzemis are Black.
Jack Smith has filed a motion to drop the Jan 6 charges against Trump.
@Scott:
Since when did MAGA policies ever need to make sense?
It’s about the feels.
@CSK:
I fully expect something similar with the documents case, should a court ever resolve the insane special prosecutor ruling from the felon’s court advocate in Florida (where else, really?)
Still, the trickle of information says Smith filed a dismissal without prejudice, and the convicted felon’s attorneys have no objections. Per some hasty web searches, this menas the charges can be filed again in the future, so long as it’s done before the statute of limitations expires. I’ve no idea what the latter is.
I am sure the felon will have his pet fixer do cartwheels in order to kill the whole thing.
What happens in the New York and Georgia cases remains to be seen.
Oh, and damn Merrick garland. Had he moved on this in a timely manner, there may have been a disposition of the case by late 2023.
@CSK: I was trying to make the case that Republican Texans don’t give a flying flingaburger about what happens in a black family of any economic level. This particular family tragedy is a price they’re willing to pay to Make America Great Again. As many times as it takes. F#&k, gun nuts didn’t care about 30 white middle class preschoolers. MAGAts are light years more evil than gun nuts.
Wake up. This is America we’re talking about. Nothing is ever a problem unless/until it impacts “me.”
@just nutha:
No argument there.
@Kathy:
Yes, the charges can be refiled, but do you really think they ever will be?
The documents charges have also been dropped.
@CSK:
They might be, if the felon is still alive in 2029, depending who wins the election and whom they appoint as AG.
But no, I don’t expect them to be.
Does anyone have any experience running Alexa in the Audible phone app? I’m considering activating mine for various reasons. It’s clear it can pause, play, rewind, fast forward, and time out. but can it control the output volume? The latter is a physical button on the side of the phone and not part of the app.
@steve:
I’m a halfway decent litigator and I’d take that case. Regardless of what the exact standards of care are, to my knowledge there are none that allow for a patient to bleed out and die.
These hospitals and drs should be sued like crazy over this stuff. Make them pay and pay and pay. Eventually enough drs will leave and hospitals will close. Maybe then the laws will change.
@Beth:
I’m totally with you. This is revolting.
Guess the state:
Via NBC, Trump is preening over Jack Smith’s dismissal of federal charges against him.
@Kingdaddy:
Gee, let me guess. Massachusetts?????
Ok. I think I managed to end my story.
I’ll review the ending at home in a couple of hours. Overall I think I’m done.
I’d appreciate volunteers who’d care to provide feedback, as soon as I can figure out how to stash the file somewhere it can be downloaded.
Brief, misleading premise: a transgender woman in the year 2159 is accidentally transferred to a parallel universe where things are only slightly different from her own.
The title is “Ours.” It’s about 15,000 words long. You may find it reads a lot like a Star Trek episode. It’s set on a science survey ship, exploring various worlds in the galaxy.
Let me admit I made limited use of AI while writing it. From time to time, I’d take scenes or scene fragments, and asked Copilot for a summary. This was to make sure I had conveyed what I meant to convey. I never once asked for descriptions or dialogue, nor for a change in tone or anything else that could even remotely be considered creative.