Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, June 20, 2026
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10 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).
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Just a note that the family is heading out for a two-week beach vacation this morning. I’ll be away from the computer all day. I do expect to do some blogging in the early mornings.
The new site design is pretty close to being ready. I expect to launch it in the next few days.
Enjoy your vacation and the family! Recommend tuning out altogether. We’ll still be here when you get back.
The history of Resurrection City will make you even more want the Reflecting Pool restored from the current fiasco.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/resurrection-city.htm
Also, some background on the contractor. To the surprise of no one, he’s a Trump donor and felon convicted of bribery.
https://newrepublic.com/post/212109/contractor-reflecting-pool-renovation
https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-j-cafaro-felon-trump-pal-behind-green-slime-fiasco-exposed/
@James Joyner: Enjoy.
Qantas non-stop flights to London and NYC are set to launch next year.
Over 20 hours on a plane in an economy seat, even with decent legroom, strikes me more as torture than travel. It’s also a really good case for supersonic aircraft.
@Kathy: I’ve done NYC to Singapore nonstop — around 18 hours, at the time the longest non-stop ever. Granted, I was in biz class (thank you HBO!) and it was a pretty terrific experience, but from what I read at the time Singapore Airlines had redesigned the coach cabin to make it more comfortable, understanding that it would simply be impossible to have passengers sit in standard economy for that long. Don’t know what Qantas is doing…
I read today that Trump is blaming the reflection pool problem on vandals and has ordered investigation. The investigators will be drawn from a crack OJ Simpson squad of finding the real culprit fame.
MAGA
Make Algae Grow Again.
@wr:
Singapore’s original A340 nonstop flights to Newark were configured with business class and premium economy, then later changed to an all business class configuration. These flights ended in 2013
The current nonstop flights to JFK in an A350, relaunched in 2018, are also business and premium economy.
Qantas will have first class, business class, premium economy, and plain economy seats. The latter offer between 32″ and 34″ seat pitch, which is somewhat better than the standard international economy seat. But these will be in a 3-3-3 configuration, meaning the same width as any other flight in any airline.
@James Joyner:
Pack the sun screen! Enjoy! And be assured that the mice will play while the cat’s away.