Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, March 23, 2026
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23 comments
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).
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Uh-oh.
This seems – not good.
“WaPo Gift”
I have no words.
It’s hard keeping up, this just posted:
“WaPo”
@charontwo: Um, who is he talking to, and what power does that person/entity have to commit Iran?
@charontwo:
It sure is!
With Trump, the only certainty is the grift:
@Charley in Cleveland:
Good question. Iran has been denying they are willing to negotiate, has that changed? I have seen no such reports.
I am going out for a morning walk now, will post some stuff when I get back, including something from an Israeli journalist.
Meanwhile stock markets are (predictably) rallying, they always take Trump’s words seriously.
An Israeli assessment, very worth a read:
“Nadav Eyal“
Study shows that employees who believe in corporate BS are likely to be bad at their jobs.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/23/corporate-speak-study
No word on whether there will be a follow-up study about gullibility and citizenship.
Krugman is skeptical, video and transcript, 6 minutes:
“Krugman”
An Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia airport.
The flight crew died in the crash, and there were a number of serious injuries.
Of note, reports say at the time of the accident, only one air traffic controller was working the tower and handling ground traffic.
@charontwo: Well, if Trump is creating a narrative that supports him winding down and caving while talking like he won, that’s fine with me.
Here is a piece about how decisions get made in Trump’s management style. This includes what sort of issues get paid attention to vs. issues that are ignored and neglected. It’s about how Trump’s behavior shapes the way all the underlings function, how they get Trump to pay attention to whatever.
“Henry Farrell Programmable Mutter“
Valerie Perrine 82
RIP
I remember her for the role of Honey.
The wife of Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman) in the film Lenny.
@charontwo:
Most interesting tidbit in this article is the note that the IDF is concerned with the escalating settler terrorism in the WB.
You may have read El Taco’s so-called administration lifted sanctions on Iranian oil already at sea (yes, Iranian oil*)
Remember the “pallets of cash” Obama was accused of giving Iran? That was part of the JCPOA, and was simply returning Iran’s money, with interest. It amounted to about $1.7 billion.
The unsanctioned oil means El Taco is letting Iran have an estimated $14 billion once it’s sold.
This beyond who the bloody hell lifts sanctions on a country they’re at war with?
*Just to clarify, the sanctions were lifted on oil produced by Iran.
@Kathy:..who the bloody hell lifts sanctions on a country they’re at war with?
A traitor?
@Kathy:
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
Not to mention it totally undercuts the mooted “seize Kharg Island” play the adminstration has been peddling.
But then, believing multiple incompatible things at once is this administrations default.
I doubt Trump can even grasp that they are contradictory.
This is devilishly clever: Iran is launching ballistic missiles armed with cluster bombs.
@JohnSF:
You know, the secret talks El Taco had with Iran were so secret– “How secret were they?” They were so secret, he didn’t even invite Iran to attend them.
@Kathy:
Not that new.
Russian tactical ballistics have had cluster munitions warheads for a long time.
I’d assume the tricky bit is to engineer the fusing and separation timing at high incoming velocity.
@Kathy:
I initially thought that highly unlikely, LGA down to one controller in the tower? As busy as that airspace is??
But the tape being played in the web right how has the same voice handling Ground telling flights to go around after the incident. One guy seems to have been handling both. Perhaps it was two-man but somebody had a bathroom break. The investigation will tell the tale.
Chilling to think of someone who has made that kind of mistake having to “keep it together” immediately to get all the planes in approach going around, which involves hand-off communications in a big fat hurry with the over-lying Departure controllers. His job to get the recue trucks rolling too. His work-load went right through the roof in the midst of a moment that typically renders people stunned and inoperative.
@JohnSF:
What I got from the story, is that it’s harder for interceptors to stop cluster submunitions if they are released high enough.
Custer bombs are nasty weapons. I mean, nasty even for weapons.
@dazedandconfused:
One of the aviation blogs yesterday noted there are about 6 flights total in the period when the sole controller was on duty. There’s been buzz for over a year about a shortage of controllers.
So I can believe it.
Provisionally, because early reports are often wrong.
On lighter topics, the office microwave was sent to the shop today. At long last, it was the magnetron (that’s what I always suspect, so with enough breakdowns I was bound to be “right” eventually).
This is the third repair. Each has been quick, and each has cost less than a new microwave would have. I’m not sure whether all three combined add up to still less than a new one or not.
The two prior repairs included a control circuit and a sensor. Now with a new magnetron, the appliance should be good for another several years, one hopes. or something else might go wrong with it next week or next month.
@dazedandconfused: I read that his workload was already high because a flight had just rejected takeoff for a “bad smell” in the aft galley that was sickening the flight attendants seated there, but there was no gate immediately available so the flight declared an emergency. That’s why the fire truck that was hit was moving-they were responding to the emergency call. So in addition the the airplane that crashed he still was dealing with the other declared emergency too. I hope he gets the support and mental health care he will need to deal with this. It’s got to be a terrible feeling of guilt even if he was set up for failure.