Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, August 18, 2024
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72 comments
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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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I wag, therefore I am: the philosophy of dogs
@OzarkHillbilly: “The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” — Albert Camus
Is anyone else getting a notice such as:
“Anti Crawler Protection is checking your browser and this website for spam bots …..”
While moving from topic to topic on OTB ?
@Bobert:
No, but site seems very slow to load new topics.
@Bobert: Yes. And it’s super-irritating because it happens whenever I refresh the page, which I have to do each time I want to see new comments.
I’m using Firefox.
@Bobert: I have been getting that notification sporadically on each of the devices I use to access.
@Bobert: Every now and again, but it’s pretty rare, like maybe once or twice a week.
@Bobert:
Yes, at least once each time I am on the site. I am on Chrome.
@Bobert: Occasionally between events onsite, but mostly before first entrance to the site. But still not every visit. Usually once or twice a day.
@OzarkHillbilly: I suspect that the difference between the typical human imagining himself as Sisyphus and Shadow is that Shadow sees his daily “ritual” as meaningful or important or necessary. (And that Shadow hasn’t read Camus.)
Big week for Democrats. Four days and all they have to do is not be weird.
It is interesting that the media who wholesale ignored the protestors in Milwaukie for the RNC are getting some air time in anticipation of Chicago and the DNC. Media heads waxing nostalgic for ’68.
It is a last hurrah for those born before 1952 and likely have memory of the 1968 presidential run. Really, by 2028, the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Bernie Sanders will have at least started to drop off precipitously being over 80. A bit of trivia, Nancy Pelosi doesn’t crack the top five oldest members of the House.
@Bobert: And since people seem to think it important, only on my phone, which runs whatever Android phones using T Mobile run, but not on my desktop where I’m one of the mindless drones who surf on Windows (still 10) using Bing.
@just nutha: I think Shadow is just expressing his absolute delight at the opportunity to once again be chasing the iguanas. We could all do with appreciating the everyday moments of our lives just a little more.
I ran across the Mythbusters ep where they test airplane boarding methods. (warning, the B story is about using teeth as ammunition; it’s gross).
As I recalled, the fastest is random boarding and no assigned seats. What I didn’t recall was that the complex methods, like window/middle/aisle, also worked rather well.
Still, as I’ve observed before, the test used volunteers who were paying attention, not regular travelers with a myriad distractions and other complicating factors.
Their results were interesting, but not definitive. This is typical of this type of myth in the show. For really good data, they should first run each boarding method a few dozen times, with different groups of volunteers. Not something that’s possible or desirable in a TV show.
And then each method would need to be tested, dozens of times as well, in an actual airport with actual passengers who come along with actual issues. By the last I mean the urge to grab overhead bin space, not to get a middle seat (for unassigned seating), distractions, people who don’t pay attention, people who begin to look for their boarding pass only when they reach the scanner, etc.
The bad news is I’ve pretty much gone through all the available eps on Youtube. I wonder if I can get the whole show on DVD.
@JKB: Fortunately given the sort of dog’s dinner the RNC was, your bar for the DNC isn’t very high.
Still, I assume that someone somewhere is breathlessly awaiting your cogent analysis and hope that you, finally and at long last, find that audience. Wherever it may be–Truth Social, X, National Review Online, WorldNet Daily…
Sometime within the past year that notice appeared when I visited OTB and occasionally would not go away unless I restarted my computer. Then I never saw it for a long time. More recently it has popped up since the Great Migration. Some sessions with OTB I never see it. Other times it shows up now and then. On my MacBook Air and less frequently on my iPhone.
A while back it was suggested that to reach OTB readers should create an account with a password and log on. I decided to wait to see how that turned out. I never did the account/password routine. I don’t know if that would enhance my OTB experience or just cause more problems so I’ll continue to pass on that drill.
@JKB:
Are you trying to co-0pt “weird?” Sorry, dude, but when your party does this, you have no leg to stand on whatsoever. Don’t even try.
@OzarkHillbilly: I have higher hopes for Shadow than that he’s just a bully, but I should possibly consider that both Shadow and the iguana community see the daily event as a game that they play daily.
Maybe responding to JKB has similar properties. It does for me, but only at times, not daily as for Shadow and the iguanas.
@Bobert:
Ayup. Annoyed am I.
@just nutha:
Ditto. Almost annoyed enough to go ask the T-Mobile folks wtf.
@Kathy:
Window/middle/aisle works only if there are no children, families, couples or people needing carers. IOW, it’s the kind of thing that might work well in theory, but has no chance of working IRL.
I favor a compulsory unit in high school that teaches idiots, er, average Americans how to get on and off a plane, how to form a line, how to ride an escalator (stand on the right), and how to get the fk outta the way at the end of a moving sidewalk. We could import Brits as teachers.
@just nutha: I’ve had it show on my desktop, WIN10, Chrome, and my iPad, Safari. But I’ve noticed it, albeit rarely, back way before the last OTB updates.
@Michael Reynolds: The other problem, arguably the bigger problem, with window/middle/aisle is that it leaves the boarding process sadly under-monetized.
Before Biden dropped out he gave a speech and forgot what state he was in. Another sign that he had to exit the race. We wouldn’t a politician who couldn’t remember what state he or she was in. That might be a sign of serious cognitive decline.
Oh wait, it was Trump: Donald Trump on Saturday shouted out North Carolina from the stage while speaking at his rally in Pennsylvania, leading some observers to ask if the former president simply forgot where he was.
No problem, that’s just Trump being Trump. The media doesn’t even have to mention it.
…the media who wholesale ignored the protestors in Milwaukie for the RNC…
I did a Google search: republican national convention 2024 press coverage of demonstrations
The results yielded items from PBS, Reuters, AP News, NPR, The Guardian, Wisconsin Examiner, New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Chicago Tribune, Washington State Standard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Fox6 News Milwaukee, Haaretz, WSJ, WNDU, Xinhua,
The Daily Cardinal, C-Span, Fox News, NBC News, Michigan Advance, The Cap Times,
The Bloomingtonian, Source New Mexico, MSNBC News, TMJ4 News, NewsNation, WDBJ…and more.
@Bobert:
Not every time, but often, regardless of what I do: load the site, moving to another post, reload to refresh comments, etc. Sometimes the countdown from 3 reaches zero, and then starts over.
From TPM:
Sound familiar? I’m sure the credulous “serious pundits” Will rationalize it away, just as they did with this:
@just nutha:
Trust me, the media will hold the Democrats to a much higher standard than they held the Republicans.
@Michael Reynolds:
How to get into an elevator*, how to get into a subway car**, etc.
But we’d all need to take refresher courses.
As to escalators and moving sidewalks, I’d be satisfied with just one thing: when you reach the top/bottom/end, DO NOT STOP FOR ANY REASON.
* Wait for the people inside to get out. Two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
** Ditto.
Yeah, the anti-crawler protection is super annoying, and I’m now getting it more frequently across all devices (including lap and desktop).
Apparently (but not in my expertise), this is a WordPress product, so it may be more associated with the OTB site than with individual users.
On a completely different topic….
When the Harris campaign refers to price gouging, and the R’s counter that new laws regarding that would be communistic or socialistic and should be rejected by patriotic Americans, seems to me that there is a fundamental knowledge gap.
I don’t consider a creep of price increases by single digits necessarily to be classic price gouging, but over a longer term a price increase of 20-50 percent over a two to three year period while the manufacturers/producers/marketers/distributers are simultaneously reporting significant profit increases to be problematic.
But what can be done about it?
Can we (at OTB) have a discussion on this?
No, it’s not that hard to pre-board such people and GET THEM SEATED with their baggage stowed before anyone else tries. On a large plane, it’s not a problem. And yet…
…this is correct, because (1) Americans are not willing to comply with whatever rules you set, and (2) American carriers are not willing to enforce them. Oh, and (0) the monetization mentioned above. It is vastly preferable to most carriers to make a lot of money on first/business and paid boarding priority upgrades than to take off on time. I half suspect that the trend toward “not enough overhead space for everyone’s carry-on” is deliberate, to encourage such upgrades.
@JKB:
LOL, nice try.
You forget that Republicans are basically the school bullies who have been calling us weird for forever. It’s an asymmetrical jab. Y’all are wigging out about it, because you all think stuff like the JD Vance “family kit” Mikey linked to above is clever when it’s just really, truly, bizarre.
BTW, JKB, since you’re always bleating about the “Democrat (sic) civil war,” what are your thoughts on this?
Far-right influencers turn against Trump campaign
Meanwhile in Israel’s ongoing “unprecedented efforts to avoid civilian casualties”:
Report: Israelis using Gaza civilians as human shields
@DrDaveT:
When I used to fly with children, we boarded together. If we were given priority boarding it would have irritated childless cat ladies. Now, I board with my wife because: wife, and also because she needs help dealing with bags. There is already a lot of suppressed anger – especially toward United – for their endless ‘pre-boarding’ categories. Pre-boarding everyone with kids of all ages, spouses or carers would cause a riot.
I don’t pay for business in order to board early, I pay for leg and shoulder room – 6’2″, 215. In fact it makes no sense to board business first since one then endures the resentful looks of the peasants as they bang their oversized bags against your seat. Makes it hard to enjoy the Champagne. I’d be happy to remain seated at the gate, if there were seats enough.
Back to front could work, assuming families, spouses, etc… were able to get seats together. No parent ever is going to board before their kids, or let their kids go ahead alone.
I’m at the point where I won’t fly in coach, period. There’s nowhere I need to go badly enough to be treated that way.
@Bobert:
I don’t think it matters much, practically, because I think, just like the ‘no tax on tips’ thing, this is never going to happen. Presidents do not control inflation, but since American voters are ignoramuses, presidents have to pretend to control inflation. So politicians make soothing sounds at election time. It’s all a show we have to endure because our educational systems are useless at explaining government to people.
@Mister Bluster: Of course they ignored protesters in Milwaukie (sic). Milwaukie is in Oregon and far from the RNC site.
@Michael Reynolds:
The only reason I wanted to be boarded first in business is that most planes don’t have enough carry on storage and if we got on last, all the bins would already be full
@Michael Reynolds:
Last May and June I flew round trip to Australia. It was the first time for me on an airplane in 22 years. Security and pre boarding were totally different from what I recalled them being in Jan 2002*. They probably were or I’m going senile.
My trip to Australia was AA First Class and Qantas BC. Before I stopped flying, I was a Northwest Airlines Platinum Frequent Flyer. I haven’t flown coach in over 25 years and I won’t again if I can help it.
*- The reasons I stopped flying are long and complicated. I’ve written about here before and the regular posters may remember them. Cancer, bad finances, my wife not being interested in traveling fearing I’d have a medical relapse far from home or when she is far from home. She still fears the former and I’m soon to do two book signing tours.
I see the edit feature now gives us 20 minutes to fix a post. Oh goody, I have more time to put in missing words or clarify my sometimes crazy thinking.
@Michael Cain: The fact of the media having one standard for Trump and another for serious people is not something for which I can control. I’m only commenting on JKB’s caution to “not be weird.” Simply not passing out “Full Family Kits” will go a long way on clearing his bar.
@Stormy Dragon:
I have always taken advantage of early boarding when flying Business or FC for the same reason.
@Michael Reynolds: Good idea. We can add that to the mandatory courses on saving and money management, correct thinking about government and voting, rhetoric and verbal communication analysis, smart shopping and effective home economics, and Gustopher’s new course on psychology. My students in Clatskanie, OR, who lived roughly 2000 miles away from the nearest subway system would have been champing at the bit to take their, probably, first ever airplane ride (50-some % of my students qualified for free lunches) for the field trip.
@Bobert: I find it intriguing that people find the 3 second feature an annoying interruption more than anything. Then again back in the day, I found it amusing that people were willing to pay money for a software feature the sped up the download of a webpage by 20 or so nanoseconds, too. So there we are.
@Bill Jempty: Still not seeing edit for my posts but glad some people are just the same.
Did the DNC really have to give both CLintons their own speaking slots? HIllary ran a lousy campaign that gave us Trump and having Bill up there undercuts our efforts at painting Trump as a lecherous pig. I’d greatly prefer the party jettison them both so we can move on.
@MarkedMan:
IIRC Howell is also where the “militia” group that spawned 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombers Terry Nichols and Tim McVeigh was based.
@just nutha:
Actually, as a formerly poor kid, I could have really profited from a class in money management. I didn’t have any to manage then, but I had hope. Shouldn’t we educate prospectively? The poor teachers who tried to cram math into my head surely thought – wrongly as it turned out – that while I had no use for math then, I might in the future.
@just nutha:
I’d not be as bothered by a single 3 second delay as I am with the three seconds counting down and then restarting again. Very occasionally the crawler protection has restarted 3-4 times.
But my immediate question is: Is it checking my device(s) or checking that OTB is legit or something else.
@Paine:
Agreed. Enough with the Clintons. Bill used to be a great verbal manipulator, but last speech I saw him give he did not seem to have his fastball.
Was it really that bad? It wasn’t perfect but one would have to ignore 20+ years of rat fucking by the GOP (not to mention ‘butter emails’), Russian hacking, and Comey’s violation of long time FBI policy because he could not control the FBI field office in NY, to hang it all on her campaign.
@Michael Reynolds: I’m not against education, but I don’t have any dreams about how mandatory courses enhance student lives after 30 or so years in various settings. Everything after about grade 5 in discretionary in my mind (and the schools I went to did have classes in money management, both jr. and sr. high level as well as civics, and consumer economics).
@Bobert: I’ve given up asking questions about functions where I have no control over the function or entity identified to ask the questions to. I fully accept my role as product in online issues. Products don’t get to ask.
I think a losing candidate always has to take some responsibility.
And the fact that she even ran in the first place deserves some criticism. Given that the GOP had been running against her for years and with all the baggage her husband brought along. We could have won that election.
@Paine:
OMG so this. Nothing about having the Clintons or the Obama’s speaking individually says “we’re looking to the future.” Frankly the only one of those four I would have programmed would have been Michelle (and even then I don’t think it’s needed). This feels like a return to the past.
I wish they had used this as an opportunity to show future leadership at all levels (and reinforce the importance of elections at all levels). Also highlight people who make up the big tent that is the party.
@Mikey: I didn’t know exactly why MAGA morons were carrying around fake containers of Vance’s semen (and really, it isn’t even necessary to know why to understand how disturbingly weird it is).
But I’ve just learned why: it’s to mock couples who can’t conceive naturally and need to use IVF.
So not just weird, it’s also profoundly cruel and utterly disgusting.
@Mikey: The cruelty is the point. It always has been. I bet JKB, RyGuy, Slitherin Paul L and Jack won’t show up to brag about this weird-as-fuck shit.
No Edit button for Jax. Poor Jax. 😉
@OzarkHillbilly:
Anybody know? Did those Giuliani associate asshats ever get assigned to the Anchorage field office or anything? Or did GOP Wray and Milquetoast Garland leave them in NY to ratfrack another day?
@Mikey: This release from the Harris campaign is apparently real,
Blame Luddite’s frequent wandering into the aether, but picking through my ignored emails for the last few days, I found this from Sinocism very, very disturbing.
West Pacific/South China Sea/Whatever you want to call it is continuing to look like a flashpoint that Americans seem uninformed and ignorant about.
IMO, not a good luck for the world’s 650# gorilla.
https://sinocism.com/p/bond-market-struggle-prc-views-of?open=false#%C2%A7sabina-shoal-the-next-philippines-prc-flashpoint
@Jax:
Edit? Edit? Jax and Luddite don’t need no stinking edits!
but at least the 3…2…1 3…2…1… 3…2…1… has disappeared from my feeds for the moment. Knocking on my head in lieu of a chunk of wood.
Sure, but even more so the electorate who nominated her.
The Trump campaign is spreading the rumor that Harris is an alcoholic.
@CSK: Time to put out the campaign smearing trump as a smack addict.
@Paine: Hillary Clinton would have made a great president. She lost because of feckless whiner Dems who refused to rally behind her, and I don’t just mean the Bernie Bros. Is the fact that Democratic Party needed a Trump victory before they could remotely get their shit together really her fault?
@Matt Bernius: Fer chrissakes, it’s a frickin’ four day convention. Virtually everyone who ever existed in the party will have a chance to speak
@OzarkHillbilly: Trump has those two strange-as-f*ck doctors that we know of, one of which, a military doctor, was retroactively downgraded a level post-retirement due to his habit of handing out pills like candy. Trump has long exhibited signs of prescription drug abuse. Bring it on!
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought Trump was an adderall junky.
@OzarkHillbilly:
There is also a fake video of Harris shaming people for saying “Merry Christmas”…
@MarkedMan:
Things might have been different had she not started her victory lap during the 4th quarter…
@MarkedMan:
It’s amusing but not surprising that Hillary-hating men still are bashing and blaming her, when they and this are the reason she lost.
The Clintons and the Obamas are still popular with the base of the Democratic Party, folks whose turnout and votes will be crucial. Hillary haters are not the base of the party.
@Michael Reynolds: @Kathy: @<a href="#comment-
I appreciate it if on domestic flights passengers were NOT permitted to carry on luggage the size of a mini-fridge or stacked washer-dryer unit. Can’t tell you how many times on disembarkation the lines get held up while someone is trying to extricate their mini-fridge from the overhead bin.
European airlines are much stricter about carry-on.
@DK:
It’s neither amusing nor suprising that you keep trying to reduce people who disagree with you as “haters”.
Clearly you like to think of yourself as a sophisticed guy. Do you realize how adolescent talking about how other people “amuse” you sounds? My little brother used to do that all the time when he was in high school, it was embarassing coming from a 16 year old. From an adult, its just sad.