Saturday’s Forum

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FILED UNDER: Open Forum,
Steven L. Taylor
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.

Comments

  1. Kathy says:

    Drug manufacturing in orbit.

    I remember this was predicted as a major use for things like the shuttle or a space station, forty five years ago.

  2. Kathy says:

    This is almost too good. The Taco Mobile website, where the tacky Taco phone (not) made in America are peddled, had a data breach.

    And:

    Trump(sic) Mobile said customers should remain alert for any suspicious emails, calls or text messages regarding their orders,

    Maybe like an email saying the terms of the $100 deposit changed to something completely different?

    3
  3. Kathy says:

    Video on the XpaceS IPO (the first 15 minutes or so).

    TL;DW: Money furnace. For Adolf fanboys.

    2
  4. CSK says:

    Citing Iran, Trump has abandoned his plan to spend the weekend golfing at Bedminster. I guess he really, really, really didn’t want to attend Junior’s wedding.

    2
  5. Michael Reynolds says:

    @CSK:
    The father of the groom often gives a speech at the rehearsal dinner, so that’s a missed opportunity. We could have heard about Biden and Obama and tariffs and DEI and the ballroom and the triumphal arch and many long, incoherent rambles into sharks vs. electricity, and magnets, and the great Al Capone. We could have made a bet on Kalshi betting that Don Jr. was never even mentioned.

    6
  6. Sleeping Dog says:

    @CSK:

    Do we know if the felon was even invited?

    3
  7. Kathy says:

    Since it came up yesterday, I went looking for what Kranz told the mission control personnel after the Apollo 1 fire. I think it’s worth quoting in whole these days:

    It’s now known as the Krantz Dictum. (emphasis added):

    Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, “Dammit, stop!” I don’t know what Thompson’s committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job. We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did.

    From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: “Tough” and “Competent”. Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write “Tough and Competent” on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.

    2
  8. Slugger says:

    It is a shame that Mr. Trump can’t make it to Junior’s ceremony today. I bet he sent a real nice present though.

    2
  9. CSK says:

    @Michael Reynolds:

    You forgot cancer-causing windmills.

    @Sleeping Dog:

    Who needs an invitation?

    @Slugger:

    A gift certificate to McDonald’s.

  10. Kathy says:

    More on Adolf’s IPO. The link starts well into the video, on the section discussing corporate governance. Patrick Boyle describes it as corporate dictatorship. TL;DR: Adolf has permanent control of the company, and the board has sharp limits on what it can do.

    We’re moving on from shareholder value, to borligarch share value.

    All money to the oligarchs!

  11. CSK says:

    Per the NYT, Trump says an Iran peace deal is “near.”

  12. Gustopher says:

    20-30 gunshots near the White House. Meh.

    Try to live your life so people aren’t trying to kill you over and over, I guess. Or don’t. I’m not the boss of anyone.

    2
  13. Gustopher says:

    @CSK:

    Per the NYT, Trump says an Iran peace deal is “near.”

    per the Guardian, the Iranians say Trump is lying about a deal.

    1
  14. CSK says:

    @Gustopher:

    I’ll take Iran for $500, Alex.

    2
  15. Scott F. says:

    @Gustopher:
    Maybe time travel is possible and the people of the future sent back to rid the world of Hitler were thwarted by The SS.