Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, June 7, 2025
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38 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).
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“Atlantic Gift”
“Public Notice, Aaron Rupar”
Musk is touting something called the American Party, a Musk vanity brand. Ro Khanna should be the first to join, the last thing Dems need to do is align with Musk. Khanna advocacy of such an alliance shows bad judgement that Dems can no longer afford. Ditching Khanna would be addition by subtraction for Dems.
Sunny Jacobs has passed away. She spent over 15 years in prison for the February 1976 murders of two law enforcement officers in Broward County Florida.
My family and I were visiting*Broward County at the time of the murders. We were staying at a hotel less than five miles away from the crime scene. This was a big news story when it happened and I remember its coverage in the media still today. In addition I went to high school from 1976-1979 just hundreds of yards away from the I-95 rest area** where the murders took place.
Some of the MSM say Jacobs was wrongly imprisoned. I don’t buy it or any of the highly romanticized versions of two murders. I say BS, the only people owed sympathy in the killings are the families of the two officers shot dead.
*- My family moved to Broward County Florida in late June 1976. At the time of the murders, my parents were house hunting.
**- The rest area don’t exist anymore due to a new I-95 interchange.
@charontwo: Along the same lines, from WaPo (gift link):
We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower
On a personal note, 40 years ago today, Luddite and SWMBO exchanged marriage vows. While it’s certainly been a long and strange trip, I can’t imagine a better life or better partner to share it with.
@Flat Earth Luddite: Congrats!
@Flat Earth Luddite: Congratulations. Dear wife and I are just a few years behind you. We have been together 36 years.
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Happy anniversary!
Ben Shrader, prosecutor tapped with the KAG case in Tennessee, has resigned.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/06/kilmar-abrego-garcia-returning-to-us/84075231007/
That’s how a man with real balls does it.
@Flat Earth Luddite: Congratulations, Luddite!
Mrs. Cain and I will have been married for 45 years in August. It’s hard for me to say that. The last time I visited her in memory care she didn’t recognize me at all. She knows that she is married, because the picture of her coming down the aisle in her wedding dress is the staff’s favorite and they keep it out on the shelf in her room. But she no longer has any idea who she married.
@Michael Cain:
I’m so sorry. That must be agonizing for you.
@Flat Earth Luddite: Congrats!!
We celebrate 35 this month and the 40th anniversary of our first date in December.
@Michael Cain: I am so sorry to hear that.
@Michael Cain:
That’s shattering. I know you’re coping, but my sympathies to you and yours
@Flat Earth Luddite:
@Bill Jempty:
@Michael Cain:
The OTB community boasts some incredible professional accomplishments and credentials.
But it’s these personal accomplishments that are all the more impressive.
That may sound cheesy and overly earnest. Doesn’t make it any less true.
ETA: kudos to you too Steven (and others)
@Michael Cain: So sorry to hear that.
@Michael Cain:
So sorry to hear that.
El Taco has ended the prohibition of supersonic travel over land over the US.
This affects exactly -checks notes and does math- zero (0) existing civilian aircraft (military aircraft are allowed to disturb the peace, though usually they do so at designated areas).
I find it hard to even bother to think through the implications. I am pulling for Boom to make it, but chances are really high they won’t, even if they manage to make and sell the Overture.
Oh, it’s obvious it would greatly benefit Boom if they can fly transcontinental routes inside US airspace. For one thing, they can charge a lot more, as many customers on these routes are on business and getting there in something over half the time* would appeal to them. But, IMO, the best Boom can hope for is to earn enough from Overture to develop a second generation SST.
*The Overture’s speed may or may not be twice that of a subsonic jet. Also, acceleration is not instantaneous. Even if allowed to fly supersonic over land, they’ll likely first need to climb to cruising altitude. So the total trip time won’t be half of a subsonic flight, but somewhat more than that.
Sorry, link to the above story
A federal appeals judge has ruled that Trump can bar the Assoc. Press from the White House Oval Office and other restricted areas over its refusal to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
So well said @Mimai.
And @Michael Cain thank you for sharing that. It is heartbreaking.
@Michael Cain:
Sorry to learn this, the best to both you.
The Missus has been putting up with me for going on 43 years. She’s got to wonder what she did to deserve it.
Per NBC, Trump says Musk will face “very serious consequences” if he funds Democrats.
Michael, I have a good idea of what you’re going through. My MIL spent the last years of her life in and out of consciousness of who we were.
@CSK: That’s surely not a 1st Amendment problem, right?
@Joe:
I don’t think Trump is very much bothered by violations of the 1st Amendment rights of his enemies.
Another NIH anecdote:
A few weeks ago, I posted about one of my PhD students who had her NIH training grant (F31) abruptly terminated.
In addition to PhD students, I mentor a lot of early career scholars (eg, Assistant Professors, Research Scientists), helping them to launch their program of research, navigate professional demands, and sundry professional development stuff.
One of them – an Assistant Professor on the tenure track – received a prestigious NIH career development award (https://researchtraining.nih.gov/programs/career-development/K01). In short, this award covers 75% of her salary for 5 years, provides funding for targeted professional development activities (eg, clinical trials training, advanced statistical training), and provides funding for pilot projects that will be the on-ramp for bigger studies. The award also requires one to establish a team of primary and secondary mentors.
She’s coming up on the end of year 1 of the grant and has made stellar progress. And then we got notice on Wed that her grant is terminated, effectively immediately. No reason given.
This shit has got to stop!
ETA: apologies for the ugly link — I messed it up somehow.
@CSK: Will that be Stephan Miller demanding his wife back, I wonder, or perhaps refusing to take her back? Could go either way.
@dazedandconfused:
What a good question. She seems to be in a difficult situation.
Moderators:
I do not think that posting telephone numbers is allowed in comments. Check Area 51 thread.
GB
This may be a hot take, but I think Doctor Who is at its peak when it does not have white actors darkening their skin, squinting their eyes and talking with terrible fake Chinese accents, and does not have anyone playing a mentally disabled character.
Watching “Planet of the Spiders” and it is rough. I’m not saying it’s the worst Doctor Who story with yellow-face, but it’s certainly not the best. That would be “The Talons of Wang Chiang,” which is described as “other than the amazingly offensive racism, a pretty good story.”
Refreshingly little DEI in this story, although the number of times Sarah Jane has been referred to as a woman reporter is excessive.
I’m just assuming the Who Universe England has white people who pretend to be Asian in their day to day lives as a fashion trend. There’s no way in universe that anyone would believe this guy is Asian (just “Asian” as the named branch of Buddhism may suggest a more specific ethnicity, but the startlingly poor depiction of it suggests a lack of familiarity).
Also, there was a car-hovercraft-helicopter-boat chase scene that just dragged on forever. I can see how they were aiming for exciting, but they just missed it.
I keep trying to like the Pertwee era, and I keep not liking it.
Oh, god, this story is six parts. I was hoping it was 4.
@Mister Bluster: Yeah, that commenter was….something else. Imagine being that mentally ill. 😐
@Gustopher:
You might want to skip Peter Sellers’ last movie.
@Jax:..Imagine being that mentally ill.
My mother was diagnosed schizophrenic in 1956 when I was 8 years old. I have a lifetime of dealing with her mental illness. I actually have memories of her before she was stricken with that vile disease. My brother (b. 1953) and my sister (b. 1955) do not.
@Mister Bluster:
I never knew or understood my mother’s drug & mental health issues until long after her death. Still dealing with those echos in the dark corners in my head. My sympathies to you and your siblings. May you all have healing and grace.
El Taco is going full on Gestapo on LA.
@Kathy:
It’s not gonna end well. I’m old enough to remember Kent State. I fully expect something like that to happen in Los Angeles. I fully expect there to be deaths. That’s one of the reasons I’m in the Dominican Republic.
Also, does anyone find it interesting that most of the ICE raids are taking place in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia and Phoenix. While meat packing plants in North Carolina, Texas, Nebraska and Kansas are being ignored. Hmmm…. wonder why…
@Mister Bluster: I never knew people who heard voices in their head until my youngest daughter’s Dad started posting weird shit on Facebook. I have a lot of sympathy for him, but he also doesn’t realize he has a problem. I feel bad for your Mom, and for you. It tears entire families apart.
Me, I’ve got the Head, shoulders knees and toes (background kids) KNEES AND TOES song as an earworm the last 3 days. So fuck my life. 😉