Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, July 28, 2025
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33 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.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s happening to people arrested in the LA anti-ICE protests.
Out of nine “assault” and “impeding” felony cases the justice department filed immediately after the start of the protests and promoted by the attorney general, Pam Bondi, prosecutors dismissed seven of them soon after filing the charges.
In reports that led to the detention and prosecution of at least five demonstrators, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents made false statements about the sequence of events and misrepresented incidents captured on video.
One DHS agent accused a protester of shoving an officer, when footage appeared to show the opposite: the officer forcefully pushed the protester.
One indictment named the wrong defendant, a stunning error that has jeopardized one of the government’s most high-profile cases.
The article goes on to say that a few people have pled guilty for things like spitting on officers and throwing bottles at them. But if the police as an institution are this bad, why shouldn’t we be spitting on them and throwing bottles? It’s not a few bad apples. It’s a few good apples and the rest are rotten and dysfunctional.
There’s something insane about the fact that politicians just don’t care that the police routinely lie and do so in a way that could get you–a person assaulted by a cop–imprisoned for assaulting a cop. Nobody gets punished. There are no repurcussions. In fact, lying and targeting the innocent seems to build solidarity amongst the police, until they rise all the way to the top and become like Eric Adams, where They are out to get you for your numerous acts of corruptions.
Same goes with Trump, obviously. The more he lies, the more his supporters come together because of his lies.
Let’s start the day with a slice of history…
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
I see what you did there.
In recent OTB discussion of the use of the term “genocide” some comments expressed strong criticism of that word’s use in respect to Gaza. One commenter made a distinction, favoring their phrasing, “petite genocide.” But I suggest that the use of the modifier “genocidal” in place of the noun form of the word, is entirely appropriate here.
The adjective form, “genocidal” speaks to the characteristics of the Israeli actions, as in: similar to, or on the path to genocide, without expressing fait accompli.
Why this is important, is that the global community is now required to draw a red line. To do otherwise is complicity. Israel needs to know, outside its own worldview, another perspective on its actions. We do the same in personal interventions. e.g “if you keep using drugs you will become an addict.”
The actions of Israel towards the Palestinians are bound up in their own generations long trauma. Humans, individually and in group, retain the memory of trauma. PTSD is not just confined to individual subjects.
In reaction to the widely viewed horror of 9/11, the United States reacted as one people traumatized en mass, and engaged in a series of extreme actions that were irrational, destructive, and conducive to further traumatization of other communities (as well as further traumatizing of our own citizen soldiers and their families).
Human induced trauma cascades into more trauma with unknown endpoint.
Israelis and Palestinians have been mired in a spiraling dynamic of self perpetuating trauma with no end in sight.
As our shared existence on a finite planet becomes evermore challenging, our human community must find a way to evolve past our destructive behavior of violent mass retribution and war-like behaviors. The League of Nations and subsequently the UN, were/are aspirational attempts to generate an enlightened human response to our capacity for large scale violence through intervention.
Regardless of a perceived lack of success by these organizations (although a case can be made otherwise), we must continue on the path towards building a rational framework for humans to live together without generating spasms of mass trauma, that undermine our ability to cooperatively solve other big issues like water resources, food security, energy, economic sustainability etc.
Humans have made significant progress on so many fronts, including addressing our capacity for violence. But, the degree to which we are still deficient in working our our conflicts, stands as a huge impediment to our continued existence on a planet that grows smaller by the nanosecond.
@Rob1:
Yes, of course, everything must be turned up to 11, even when 10 is more than sufficiently horrifying. Can’t be something as trivial as, ‘they’re starving children, for Christ’s sake,’ it has to be the inaccurate word anti-semites love best. Whatever. But when yelling, ‘genocide’ doesn’t solve the problem we’re going to need a word that turns it up to 12. We may need to deploy a neologism. That always works.
Obviously, the devil is in the details, but it sounds like the EU did some serious rolling over in the trade deal as reported. It will be interesting to see what the final package looks like, but the comments from people like the French PM certainly aren’t positive. Going from a 2.5% average tariff to an across-the-board 15% tariff doesn’t sound like a win for the EU.
@Lucys Football:
I see it like the joke of the guy who hits himself on the head with a hammer.
A 15% broad tariff is bad, but at least, they think, EL Taco stopped hitting them over the head with a hammer and that feels good.
Until he starts hammering again, which he undoubtedly will.
I recommend listening to Prof. Taylor’s guest appearance on the American Angst podcast, on the phrase “we’re a republic, not a democracy.”
My impression, from the podcast as well as experience and observation, is that everything done by Republiqans that’s unfair, unrepresentative, involves minority tule, etc., is ok because “we’re a republic, not a democracy.”
I heard a joke some years ago the Americans are pissed off because taxation with representation isn’t so hot, either. Along this line, I find that the tyranny of the minority is not any better than the tyranny of the majority.
We can’t do without taxes, but we should be able to do just fine without tyranny.
@Michael Reynolds:
So now word policing — heretofore one of the progressive left’s most horrible transgressions — is suddenly good? Consistency goes out the window when we need to defend the indefensible.
Screaming “But the antisemitism” is just a deflection to shut down debate. The play is tired.
Israel has abandoned the hostages and is committing genocide against Palestinians. Some of us committed to an outdated view of Israel as a plucky liberal democracy just didn’t like hearing the latter, because we didn’t want to deal with the reality of Israel’s moral collapse under Netanyahu’s far right leadership. But the rest of the world does not have to bite their tongues to help us feel better in our their denial. It’s just time for those of us who have been in denial to start telling the truth: it’s a genocide.
And denialists are going to have an increasingly tough time lecturing folks like former prime minister Ehud Barak and serious, thorough, detailed Israeli humanitarian orgs like B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights about word choice and antisemtism. Desperate times, desperate measures I guess.
@Michael Reynolds:
You literally cannot stop the tide of popular word usage.
@Lucys Football:
Obviously, the situation is not great from the EU’s perspective.
However, a 15% tariff on, let’s say, European cars perhaps isn’t so bad if US manufacturers face a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican auto parts plus a 50% tariff on all imported steel and aluminum. Considering the fact that many car components cross the Canadian or Mexican border repeatedly before being finally installed (and are taxed every time when this happens), the flat 15% is almost certainly the far better deal.
Also, it seems likely that other countries, e.g., China, will have to deal with even higher tariffs.
So perhaps there was less rolling over than it seems.
But we’ll see, I guess.
@drj: It seems like in the short run this is actually a win for Trump. In the long run, I assume there will be a global re-alignment in trade, and you will see trade pacts with the express purpose of minimizing the US as a trade partner since we are led by someone who is willing to break signed agreements.
@Michael Reynolds:
Genocidal. The word is genocidal. Adjective. A modifier as to degree within context.
But continue to work at your comfort level; like referencing “antisemitism” when people disagree with you.
Michael, you’re hung up on a word that is being used to describe the magnitude of this event that has been folding before our very eyes over the past 18 months. Man, forget the word, look at the magnitude of killing and suffering, and the degree of callousness exhibited by the Israeli leadership. Then come up with an expression that doesn’t downplay that.
Interesting piece at link on rural house pricing. There has been a lot written about housing costs increasing focusing on urban areas and largely blaming the NIMBYs who are largely assumed to be lefties. However, rural rents and housing costs are also well ahead of income increases. For example, since 2000 the income of rural homeowners has increased by about 12% while owning a home has increased by about 76%. So without the effects of urban crowding and not a lot of NIMBYs, the costs in rural areas have also gone up. It suggests that there are other causes other than NIMBYism driving up prices.
Steve
@steve222: Does the rural increase take in to account that rural not only means dying towns in North Dakota but also areas close to scenic areas with retirees moving in and also the purchase of second homes and short term rentals in those areas?
I wonder how far away we are from El Taco’s regime offering an apology to Germany for defeating them in WWII.
I find it depressing that the supposedly liberal MSM fails to recognize that Trump is following a well trodden path. But there are small exceptions. NYT has a Guest Essay (gift) noting that the CIA used to have a program for smuggling banned books into the Soviet Bloc, using 1984 as the exemplar. Now the GOPs are restricting* access to books, including many of the same titles, like 1984. Can’t have the little ‘uns exposed to dangerous ideas, like Big Brother might lie.
* I hesitate to say “banning” because, like certain words in OTB comment threads, someone always pops up to object, saying it’s not a ban, we’re not burning every copy in the state.
@drj:
I read something similar in a Bluesky thread yesterday, only about the 15% tariff on Japan. The gist that it might be cheaper for Toyota to export cars to the US than to make them there, and imported Japanese cars might be cheaper than GM or Ford made in America.
Sounds about right for an impulsive idiot without shame or access to trade experts.
@Kathy:
One thing is certain: none if this tariff stuff is thought through.
@drj:
Well, it would have to be thought first in order to be thought through…
@steve222: I bought my first house in 1977. The initial purchase price is always just the start; things break and houses require maintenance. I know someone who bought a place in an economically depressed part of a rural state. Low purchase price, but roots grew into his pipes, the roof needed replacement, paint jobs don’t last forever, etc. That inevitable work is not cheaper in some sparsely populated place. Taxes were lower, but the grocery store was 18 miles away. Medical services also require more effort and money. My impression is that in the big picture he didn’t save much money.
@steve222:
I suspect that lot of Boomers from expensive areas, upon retirement, look to take advantage of the fact they can sell their basic house in LA, SF, or NYC, purchase a comparative mansion in Akron OH or someplace like that, and still have several hundreds of thousands in cash left over.
Their bidding has driven up the house prices of Podunk, USofA in general over the last decade or two.
The Trek rewatch proceeds slowly (long tedious story). Meantime, I did manage to see ep. 1 season 3 of Foundation. I was very intrigued that Demerzel finally got around to telling someone (namely the audience) how robots and humans wound up at war. I hope there will be more.
Speaking of robots, there’s a piece in The Guardian about the ChatGPT logs of three students in the UK. It’s obviously not representative, but it is revelaing.
One thing I have long suspected is that using an LLM to do an essay, or a story, or novel, etc. is that it would take more work than actually writing the things yourself. So:
I had an odd idea for chilaquiles yesterday: add beans to the sauce.
I’ve added beans to other things before, liquefying whole cooked beans in the blender. I wasn’t in the mood to go that route this weekend. Instead I sauteed some onions and garlic, added canned salsa, tomato sauce, and a small can of refired beans.
Liquefied beans would have worked better, but the refried ones worked well enough.
Sometimes a dominant chimp will perform simulated mating with a subservient one. It’s not sexual and there is no penetration, but the status of each in the tribe is quite clear to the rest.
On a completely unrelated matter, El Taco has blocked Taiwan’s president from stopping in New York en route to Central America, at the request of the Chinese government.
The President of the United States is a fellow traveler.
Trump’s new deadline announcement for Russia to end its war in Ukraine makes me wonder if he thought it through, or consulted with anyone who did think it through, or knew before his previous 50-day announcement that Ukraine was being terrorized daily by swarms of dozens to hundreds of attack drones directed at their civilian population and infrastructure.
The new deadline for Russia to end the war is “10 or 12 days” from today. It’s kind of a peculiar range of days for a deadline.
@dazedandconfused:
Probably everything suggested above has been driving up rural housing prices: retirees moving to scenic areas, boomers moving to lower cost parts of the country. And throw in remote employees moving to wherever they want to enjoy their chosen lifestyle.
Add.: In the case of ND, oil extraction from the Bakken shale in the western part of the state resulted in skyrocketing housing prices beginning a couple of decades ago. Not something that will happen in most rural areas, but it must’ve bent the housing statistics in that state.
@Kathy:
Been catching some of those Trek episodes while channel surfing late. Seems to me that first year had some truly good science fiction. Seems to get spotty after that though. I caught one that really grabbed me from TNG though, “The Inner Light”. It’s the one where Picard must live a whole new unwanted, undreamed for life…but got used to it.
Yes, there are big opportunities for housing arbitrage. Most of these do not involve retirees moving to rural areas, though I’m sure some do.
Akron, for instance, is not a rural area. It might be way cheaper though. And so would be Memphis, or Spokane, or Billings, or Biloxi, I would guess. None of which are “rural”. None of which have the poor services issues of the very rural areas.
On the other hand Shasta, where my neighbor moved after he sold his house in Mountain View, literally a quarter mile from Google HQ, IS a rural area. I haven’t heard from him, I hope he’s doing well.
Given that there are so fewer houses in rural areas, I guess it won’t take many doing what he’s doing to have an impact.
But there are also inequality issues. Real estate prices in ski resorts in Wyoming, etc, have boomed. Not from retirees moving, but from second houses and condos.
@dazedandconfused:
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all the TOS eps, but some I don’t remember well. This can cause problems. take the first production ep, The Man Trap. The way it began was completely unfamiliar, then a crewman, wearing a blue shirt!, is found dead, and I remembered much of the rest of the ep….
I did see all the TNG eps. Ds9 and Voyager I know I missed a few (boring story). And Enterprise I missed a lot.
@Modulo Myself:
It’s the “leopards eating people’s faces” psychology — it is entirely inconceivable to them that this unchecked power could ever be used against them or people like them. They are the “good guys” and of course the authorities will always be on their side… Morons.
Ryne Sandberg 65
RIP