Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, July 13, 2024
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79 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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.
Welp, they really screwed the pooch on this one: ‘A botched prosecution’: Alec Baldwin’s trial gets shock ending fit for Hollywood
JetBlue plane had a double diversion over two days.
Specifics aside, this is a risk when an airline runs a limited service to a destination. Also, who knows what codeshares JetBlue has with other airlines.
BTW the EU 261 compensation applies, as the flight originated in Paris. I wonder, though, whether one could claim this event consisted of two flights, not one, as it happened twice, and whether compensation ought to be paid for both.
More Biden stuff:
https://x.com/argellastone/status/1808947783640232085
If we get a new thread on this topic, I will also post this there.
(via BJ, of course)
I am considering adopting this as my standard response.
The story of a heat death: David went to work in his new job on a French building site. By the end of the day he was dead
Things are better on a union jobsite than a non-union jobsite. Much better. Texas hates it when construction workers are treated like human beings, which is why they’ve taken away a city’s ability to protect them.
@Jen: Love it.
Fever’s Caitlin Clark makes history with 13-assist night in win over Mercury
Clark equals franchise record with 13 assists in 95-86 win
Indiana rookie registers fifth consecutive double-double
It was always only a matter of time, but she seems to have found her comfort zone, and done so a lot sooner than I thought she would.
Yesterday @Just nutha ignint cracker asked:
I was thinking more about the inclusion of ads in streaming, which seems to generate more revenue than subscription fees. This brings them closer to the network TV model. Then, too, there are free streaming options that rely on ads. For now, these have mostly B grade shows and movies that are not that popular, but are free. Some of these streamers dont provide programming on demand, but justs tream different channels, like a cable company.
The thing is that streaming had kind of evolved into more complex threads, carrying a story each season. This is what I think is at risk of disappearing if streaming winds up as a different delivery method for the old broadcast model.
@Kathy:
There are hidden gems on some of those free services. Years ago, I watched Bad Lieutenant (the original with Keitel, not the Herzog one with Cage) on Crackle. Currently, Margin Call is on Amazon’s Freevee.
Both are excellent.
@Kurtz: Broadchurch is very good. It’s a Brit show, about the murder of a child. Watching it on ROKU, I think.
@Kurtz: I use services such as Roku, Tubi, and Pluto exclusively. I only watch trash, and only for the mind numbing, though. Why pay under those circumstances?
Heh: ‘His skincare regime alone would bankrupt you’: Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman bring banter and bromance to London
@Jen:
Quoting one of the commenters over at BJ:
And now for something completely different…
Legendary rock and roll band The Zombies have canceled upcoming tour dates after founding member Rod Argent suffered a stroke.
Argent, the keyboardist and primary songwriter for the “Time of the Season” group, was hospitalized with a stroke after celebrating his 79th birthday in London with his wife of 52 years. He was released the next day, but doctors advised he will need several months of rest and recuperation, The Zombies’ management said.
Belated congratulations on your 52nd anniversary, Mr. & Mrs. Argent, and hopes for a speedy recovery.
ETA, these guys look pretty freaking good for a buncha geezers, don’t they Cracker?
https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2024/07/legendary-rock-band-cancels-tour-after-founding-member-suffers-stroke.html
Dr. Ruth Westheimer has died at age 96.
@Flat Earth Luddite: The Zombies are fantastic, I hope they get back on the road soon.
@DK:
I remember hearing that keyboard riff on my 9v transistor radio and having my mind blown.
ETA sounds like this was already planned as a farewell tour. That, and a way to get a write-off on a nice vacation with the wife and band mates. Wishing them all well, they’ve had a heck of a ride.
This is really long, TL:DR so I did not finish, but opening paragraphs really concerning:
Christian nationalism, specifically Seven Mountains Mandate stuff:
“Ziklag”
snip
snip
Trump is their stalking horse. Once Trump is out of the picture, the Handmaid’s Tale takes over. Which would not be long considering how fast the Trump dementia is progressing.
@Flat Earth Luddite: Indeed! But 79??? When does the time come for us to get off the stage and let someone else’s mom be proud?
Trump has a “short list” of VP candidates, which includes: Rubio, Vance, Tim Scott, and Doug Burgum.
Does anyone else here think he’s likely to name someone who is NOT on that list?
Rubio would be a dumb pick from an electoral college perspective unless Trump plans on changing his voter registration to another state (again). Vance…maybe. I just sort of get the feeling that this is a lead up to more Apprentice-like showmanship, and that there will be A! Surprise! Reveal! at the convention.
@Jen: Like maybe Youngkin? He’ll have just a year left in his term and won’t be eligible to run for a consecutive term. And he’s got money, and presumably connections to other wealthy people.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott Jets Off to Asia as Hurricane Beryl Lashes His State (The Daily Beast)
Parts of Texas have been without power for a week since the hurricane, as the deregulated, isolationist Texas power grid is failing yet again.
How old is Greg Abbott? He should step down, maybe, for someone older who can handle the job.
On other aviation news, a Sukhoi “Superjet” crashed while conducting a ferry flight, killing all three crew onboard. Fortunately it wasn’t carrying passengers.
Reportedly, it had just come out from maintenance…
If you saw the headline in The Aviation Herald, you wouldn’t assume it was that bad: Gazpromavia SU95 near Moscow on Jul 12th 2024, lost height coming out of maintenance
That sounds even less worrisome than “controlled flight into terrain.”
@OzarkHillbilly:
Faster that most thought, but I doubt she would describe her status as “comfortable”. Still a long way to go on the other end of the floor and the competition is taking full advantage for the moment. It’s a huge step up from being able ball-pressure 18 year-old point guards to experienced pro point guards.
@Jen:
Jen, Trump said yesterday he wants to run the selection process like a “highly sophisticated” version of The Apprentice.
Kristen Welker’s instant karma…
@Jen: I can’t imagine even Trump doesn’t realize Vance would put a shiv in Trump’s back first time he thought he’d get away with it.
Bernie Sanders: Joe Biden for President
Fitness icon Richard Simmons has died, age 76.
@Jen: Yeah. A! Surprise! Reveal! is my bet for the convention, too. Fortunately, one of the advantages of streaming without using the major services is that it’s easy for me to ignore opportunities to stream the RNC for free. There’s only so many heartfelt stories I can stand about someone’s “salad days” when ‘we had to sell part of his portfolio to buy a coop in Manhattan while we attended grad school.’ I reached my limit a decade ago. [eyeroll]
@gVOR10: Meh… I don’t think Vance has got the stones to pull something like that off. He likes to believe he does, though; I’d agree with that.
@Eusebio: Yes, someone like Youngkin. Someone not already mentioned, not too flashy, but would add substance without overshadowing Trump.
@CSK: That’s makes sense, it’s all he really knows or understands, how to run a flim-flam show. Not sure about the “sophisticated” part though.
@gVOR10: Vance is smarmy and creepy. I’m concerned having him as a VP would be a bad idea, given Trump’s girth and propensity to consume junk food.
TFG’s vp will be Josh Hawley. White male Christian nationalist and insurrectionist, racist sympathizer. Trump fanboy extraidinaire. Also young. Odds on fav in my book.
@Jen: I’m pretty sure Trump never forgets that he is NOT permitted to grab that one. Ever again.
@charontwo:
FTFY, Ziklag.
@just nutha:
In my case (and yours) a while back. But then again, we never sought fame, fortune, or the song making machinery behind the popular song.
@gVOR10: @Just nutha ignint cracker:
Well, this is why neither one of us is getting a call inquiring about our willingness to step into the pocket, as it were. Let’s face it, while your health is significantly better than Drump, you’re unwilling, and this sociopathic Luddite is flat out of the running, despite my qualification of being part of the first “President/Vice Present Are BOTH Convicted Felons” (™) ticket!!!!!
Q: How many generative AIs does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Just one. But it needs to see one million examples of light bulbs being changed before it can do it.
@Kathy:
No, that’s supervised learning. The reinforcement learning AI deliberately breaks the light bulb so that it can’t burn out, and the Generative AI version watches a million videos of home repairs and then screws a light bulb into the toaster.
Trump was hit by a projectile at his Pennsylvania rally and removed from the stage by the Secret Service. His ear was “bleeding profusely.
The rally was canceled.
@DK: Yep, and while he’s been off doing that, he left his main political rival, the Lt. Gov., in charge. So Dan Patrick has been getting free live TV spots for the past week parading himself around as Governor Solve Your Problems on the evening news every night, Abbott is off somewhere doing something with some foreign folks actively not caring about the immediate problem facing his state.
@CSK:
Democrats have been trying to get someone to take a shot at Trump and now you’ve succeeded. After all in your propaganda Trump is Literal Hitler.
@JKB:
I really have nothing but pity for you and how you continually choose fear, hate, and victimhood.
It’s a really sad way to go through life.
@JKB: Fuck off.
@JKB: And yet, not even a wish for the health and well-being of the Former President from you as his supporter.
What a pile of self-loving filth you are.
@JKB: Trump is a vile, racist, rapist hate-monger who demonizes half the country. His rhetoric and actions are making a lot of people unsafe. If he reaps what he sows, I will shed no tears.
Hey, if it was a gun, maybe this is a good time to discuss gun control and background checks?
@JKB: Oh, so NOW you understand that stochastic terrorism and easy access to guns is a bad thing?
Go away, hypocrite.
I 100% what Orin Kerr just tweeted:
I would also remind that most high profile political attacks and assassination attempts in the US have involved attackers with serious mental health issues.
False flag by the deep state. /s
Glad he is okay.
Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation:
Just seems relevant to this thread as well as the tabs thread.
You don’t go around encouraging white supremacists and talking about armed revolution complete with bloodshed and then get to act like the victim. Fuck Trump. I hope he gets an infection from this wound (or any other wound — he can cut himself shaving, whatever) and dies.
In more distressing news, a 14 year old trans girl was dismembered in Pennsylvania. I’m not going to pretend to care about anything bad that happens to Trump — other, better people get far worse, and while compassion is not a finite resource… fuck Trump.
This is an absolute disaster.
I thought such language was “beyond the pale” after the Democrat mouthpieces went after Sarah Palin in the wake the Gabby Giffords shooting. Must have come back around for Democrats to use.
Biden on Monday:
Gunman and one rally attendee dead in PA Trump rally.
Trump whisked off with blood on his face.
Maybe other people injured?
By initial appearance, Trump injuries do not appear serious.
@Michael Reynolds:
Yeah, it is. Trump’s going to be a hero-martyr.
On the plus side we’re going to be seeing less about Biden’s age.
How the fuck did the Secret Service not see a guy on a fucking roof? And who the hell tries a shot at that distance without a bipod, or at least from a prone position.
@JKB:
So now you agree that this sort of language doesn’t have any place in the politics of an open society? I only recall defenses of Palin coming from the right.
@JKB: “Democrats have been trying to get someone to take a shot at Trump and now you’ve succeeded. After all in your propaganda Trump is Literal Hitler.”
Maybe this would be a good time for you to repost all your gloating messages about how Paul Pelosi deserved to be attacked by a crazy person with a hammer?
Ok, folks. Calm?
You create vitriol, you get this. Trump is Hitler. Trump is a rapist. Trump is a criminal (heh, anyone see the HRC ruling? Heh). You argue like juvenile and crazed lunatics, you get the loonies to act. You all have culpability.
I know you won’t admit it. Means justifies ends etc.
Let’s see what they learn about the shooters(s).
Trump may have just won the election. The ads write themselves.
@Jack:
Like on January 6? I don’t recall you buying that argument then…
Have you actually listened to any Trump speeches. You cannot possibly win an argument that the rhetoric of Trump’s opponents is more inflammatory than Trump’s own, or less grounded in fact.
And yes, Trump is a rapist (according to the courts, and by televised boasting admission). Yes, Trump is a felon (with most of his most serious indictments yet to be adjudicated). Trump isn’t smart enough to be Hitler, but he admires Hitler, and Putin, and Orban, and Kim, and has publicly declared his ambition to be a fascist dictator like them. Americans don’t need to demonize Trump — he’s self-demonizing. He’s proud of what he is, as you seem to be.
@Jack:
“Remember before Trump, when America was normal? Pepperidge Farm Remembers.”
Violence and the threat of violence has been part and parcel of Trumpism and the Republican Party as a whole since Trump reared his ugly head. I think it’s entirely possible that people will see this and think “oh, fuck no, no more of this shit, I’ll just vote for the boring sleepy guy and hope Trump goes away.”
His base will rally to him, but they were already rallied to him. Everyone else… they might actually want to make America great again and close off this stupid chapter of Trumpism.
Squeaky Fromme didn’t ensure we got another term of President Ford.
Hmm
What pray tell is in their ads?
Man, if only gun control was a thing……
@JKB: This is a normal procedure. Just like pulling down PILOT Pen ads when there are air accidents.
Standard communications procedure.
It’s probably over. It’s telling how mindless the Democrats are in responding to Trump nearly being killed. The governor of Texas pardoned a guy who went to a rally hoping to murder somebody, and this all they have. Violence bad, etcetera. If Trump had been actually killed we would be far better off and everybody knows it. The GOP has only losers and betas behind him. Just mooks and little guys all the way back. And the idea of a Trump funeral, as if he were a real person who meant something to anybody, would be an abject spectacle. It would have been worse than Biden at the debate.
Instead, the Democrats put all their stock behind an infirm man who eats ice cream and abhors violence, except when it’s against Palestinians, and loves democracy he didn’t do squat against an actual opponent of it.
Also, the Secret Service seems as deskilled as everything else. How did they miss a guy on a roof with a rifle?
Trump’s Reichstag Fire.
I would be unsurprised to learn that this was all staged.
Staged
Yeah. Like those kids at Sandy Hook.
Today’s victims are crisis actors.
I haven’t seen pictures of corpses yet. Have you?
@Kurtz: Hmmm…
I’m more ambivalent that he’s okay myself. Guess I need to work on that empathy thing still.
@JKB: Or it might be one of those “goes around comes around” things because some people are fatigued with always being the ones who are responsible.
News Item
Trump shot in “mostly peaceful” assassination attempt.
Idiots immediately blame guns, that magically positioned themselves on a rooftop. And fired themselves. Excuses for the gun manipulator to follow.
@Jack: Oh please. That doesn’t even get up to “meh…” level. You’re gonna have to fake outrage better than that.
Interesting. Some people are all butthurt because Trump’s violent rhetoric gets turned on himself.
@just nutha:
What you won’t find out in the polls or in this comment section, is how many people wish the shooter hadn’t missed.
guns
Of course the killer could have used a screwdriver or a kitchen knife or a hammer. All weapons that are just like guns since they can be used to kill people. All you have to do throw them far enough and fast enough.
@Jen:
Standard like this from the Biden-Harris HQ on July 4th
@Kathy: I mean, we all saw what happened with President Snow.
May the odds be ever in his….favor.
Man, this was a big shortcoming on the shooter’s part. He hadn’t named a VP yet, so allllll that campaign cash…. Who would take over as the nominee?
Game it out!!
@JKB:
Trump doesn’t need to have Dems say it, he said it himself. Or was it an AI deep fake?
You and @Jack both seem to have a problem accepting the reality of the person you support even though people’s perceptions are based on what Trump himself has said and done.
What was the description opponents and supporters alike used for a while? His opponents take him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.
Guess what? Trump is the one who constantly spoke ill of anyone who voted against him. Why would you expect anyone that he calls vermin or criminal or treasonous to do anything but push back? But his supporters blame Biden, and before him, Obama, for being divisive.
And Jack had the gall to call Bernius a fake intellectual and a partisan hack. Have either of you ever once explained why you support Trump? Have either of you made a case, hell, ever expressed a world view? No, you haven’t. Maybe away from here, but you certainly have explained nothing in any of these threads.
Do I agree with how everyone here has responded to today’s events? No. But I do understand it. @Beth has real reason to fear for her safety. @DK, @EddieInCA, and @DeD, and others cannot navigate the world in the same way that the rest of us can simply because of the color of their skin and texture of their hair.
Yet it’s you and Jack who feel aggrieved.
I try to avoid saying shit like this, when I do it’s mostly to people on my side of the aisle, but at this point, there is nothing left to say.
Fuck you. Your side is the one who expects everyone else to fall in line and kowtow to their views. Your side is the one who threatens the safety of others. Your side is the one who divides your fellow citizens into real America and threats. Your side is the one who sees boogiemen around every corner. Your side is the one who tries to root out dissenters and then claims to be marginalized.
You have never once expressed an original thought or idea. You have never shown a shred of empathy or shown the ability to understand anyone else’s point of view or experience. You never respond to substantive criticisms.
So, you know what? Fuck you. You add nothing to the discussion except grievance. You are an empty vessel, parroting things others have said that feel right to you.
And you know what? Unlike some here, I don’t like what took place today but not for the reasons others have expressed. I’m not even thinking about the election, I’m thinking of my principles. Why? Because as loathesome and malignant as I think Trump is, things I thought long before he entered the political arena, he didn’t deserve to be shot.
Why? Because I believe in pluralism and democratic principles. That’s something you have shown nothing but antipathy toward. So tell me something, which one of us actually shows a commitment to American ideals?
You know the answer.
Do you have enough self awareness and honesty to man up and admit it? I doubt it; but I have hope. Well, you caught me, I indulge in a little bit of irrationality too, I guess. Prove me wrong. Show you’re better and more than you have shown in your posts here.
@Kathy: Trump’s certainly the poster child for karma in many ways for sure. Makes for a problem that goes both ways.
ETA: No one deserves to be shot, but some situations create problems generating sympathy for the assaulted person. Trump is at the focal point of that problem unfortunately.
@JKB: Look, I can’t explain it to you if you are resistant to information as always, but I can assure you that it is SOP for campaigns to pull ads, halt fundraising, and pause campaigning when events happen. It’s done when candidates are in accidents. It was done when Carnahan’s plane crashed.
Hmm. I seem to recall it was the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina who said in a speech that “some folks need killing.” Don’t recall any of our resident Trumpies here having any problems with that.