Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, January 10, 2026
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14 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.
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This is what one of the things that needs to happen even if results take a lot of time. Flood the zone with lawsuits.
Feds pay $125K after Border Patrol agent pointed gun at Portland hotel worker
First Saturday off since November 15th.
I think I’ll take a long nap.
As predicted.
Houston oil CEO calls Venezuela ‘uninvestable’ in White House meeting with Trump
@Scott: it’s cute that the oil execs are asking the lawbreaker in chief for legal protections.
@Scott: Well, it has been a long time since I’ve felt happy with something an oil exec does/says.
@becca: I watched a chunk of that meeting, and here’s how I see it: They’re asking him for money. As is all too typical of American corporate wealth, they want to be able to socialize their losses, but privatize their gains. They aren’t going to burn their cash trying to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, but they’ll be more than happy to burn ours, and if it all falls apart, the American taxpayer will be left holding the bag.
@becca:
Adorable’
After 55 years, the Washington National Opera is leaving the Kennedy Center, citing concerns about decreasing attendance and donations during the Trump reign.
@Mikey: that’s the gop mantra. “Privatize the gains, socialize the losses”.
@CSK:
It is, unfortunately, not the Kennedy Center for the next three years — one of the many casualties of this destructive administration.
@Eusebio:
Spending bill still refers to the ‘Kennedy Center’
It’s the Kennedy Center until officially renamed by an act of Congress. Absent that, no need for normal, decent Americans to obey in advance.
Trump and his minions issuing a decree reading “1+1 = 3 now,” does not make it so.
@Eusebio:
It will always be the Kennedy Center to me.
@DK:
@CSK:
I agree with each of you — of course it’s the Kennedy Center. What I meant is that, for the next three years, it will not be used as the Kennedy Center was meant to be used, but as a GOP/maga clubhouse and venue for right-wing performers (in addition to some others willing to perform there). The impact on the livelihoods of Kennedy Center staff and performers is real, as it is with so many due to this job-killing administration.
@Mikey: That and the high probability there’s going to be a snap-back to Trumpism resulting in a completely different political situation vis a vis Venezuela. Since the oil isn’t sweet crude it’s an investment that’s unlikely, if not impossible, to recoup in only three years -tops. Congress might be extremely anti-Trump in just one.