Monday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Monday, May 4, 2026
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15 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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BlueSky.
US will issue commemorative passports with Trump’s picture for America’s 250th birthday
By now, I’m sure, most have heard of this. Glad I renewed our passports earlier this year.
But, some for reason, Trump’s face and name being plastered like bad graffitti all over the place, led me to remember this true crime mockumentary from 2017:
American Vandal
Which tried to discover “who painted the dicks” on 27 faculty members cars.
One can dream of the dicks painted over Trump’s face all across the country.
I’m so ashamed to have thought of this.
Happy Star Wars Day!
More Trump failures. As predicted?
US to close its flagship Gaza mission as Trump plan stalls
Straightforward laymen’s read
A history of the War Powers Resolution and what it means for the Iran war
The reason for Congressional approval:
Early violations:
Modern reality and results:
Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalized in Florida in critical but stable condition.
Trump says this is the fault of the radical left lunatics.
@CSK:
Anyone who’s uncomfortable speaking ill of the dead should hurry.
Here’s Brett Snyder’s take on the dissolution of Spirit Airlines.
Two things of note:
1) JetBlue is also in a precarious position financially. Maybe a merger with Spirit would have helped, but that’s far from certain. For one thing, it was clear JetBlue’s offer overpaid for Spirit’s assets. They might have wound up with too much debt and too little income.
2) After the JetBlue merger failed, Frontier made an offer again that Spirit refused.
@Kathy:
Pity. They could have called themselves “Frontier Spirit.”
@CSK:
That was the joke since the first merger offer.
On other things, the seismic alert kind of went off while I wrote the line above. I say kind of, because it was barely audible from the pole-mounted speakers, and the cell phone alert didn’t go off. It may have been a malfunction in the system. In any case, we’re all ok.
@Scott:
Gosh, I hope this doesn’t mean a delay for the Trump Gaza Resort and Golf Course.
May 4, 1970
Four Dead in Ohio
Allison Krause, 19
Jeffrey Miller, 20
Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20
William Schroeder, 19
RIP
@Scott:
“I pledge allegiance to the Trump of the United States of America, and to the Tyranny for which He stands, one Nation under Trump, indivisible, unless He splits it between Junior, Eric, and Ivanka in His will, with liberty and justice for Trumps…”
There was a quake. News reports indicate a 5.6 quake centered in Oaxaca. The cell phone alerts didn’t go off, according to reports, because the system was down for maintenance in preparation for Wednesday’s national earthquake drill (oh, the irony). No damage or injuries were reported.
On other things, I tried the pulverized breadcrumbs. I made chicken milanesas in chipotle sauce. Even so, the texture was different. I made rice to mix in with the milanesas, and a side of refried beans with turkey chorizo.
I think for next week I’ll make plain beef milanesas with potatoes on the side. When I make them plain, I eat them with a little green salsa and mustard. Sometimes I’ll use Worcestershire instead of salsa.
This habit drove all my dogs crazy. They could smell the meat, either chicken or beef, but the added sour smell of the mustard really turned them off. I had to make sure to reserve a portion for them, sans condiments, before eating the rest my way.
I aim to take the next week off. Hell Week seems to have paused. I’d really like two weeks off, but some projects will undoubtedly drop by the third week of May.
@Kathy:
I hope not. I hope Rudy has a long, lingering life. Obviously he should never be healthy enough to leave the hospital, just healthy enough to be very aware of how things are going.
Marge Green, of all people, sounding plausible. Going to be an “interesting” campaign season.