Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, December 22, 2024
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53 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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Just saw “A Complete Unknown,” with Timothee Chalamet as the young Bob Dylan. Not usually one for musical biopics, but I loved every minute of this. Some critics have complained that it doesn’t get “inside” Dylan and doesn’t explain him. But I thought this was kind of the point — he’s presented as someone who is incapable of serious attachments because other people aren’t real or meaningful to him, except possibly in the moment. There’s a great moment where Dylan is complaining that people just won’t let him be, and Bobby Neuwirth asks “be what?” and Dylan has no idea how to answer…
Hypocrites want to record public officials with open complete access to police body cameras and video recordings of trials refuse to allow the government to surveil them in return to keep us safe.
@Paul L: Police are using body cameras in the course of doing their jobs as public servants. Also, they are as beneficial to police (particularly in court) as they are to those on the other side of the camera.
@Paul L:
Safety verses freedom.
Freedom from safety
Safety from freedom.
Everybody has a different calculus.
Who gets to choose for us all?
In a liberal democracy everyone gets input.
But if illiberals marshal enough resources within the framework of political process to gain sufficient power to then truncate the functions of democracy, how is that an acceptable outcome for the rational brain?
@Jen:
Also, in theory, the police work for us. We do not exist for them.
Having said that, omnipresent surveillance is now a fact of life. Cheap technology has ensured that.
So many moving parts:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/21/curtis-yarvin-trump
@Paul L:
Seriously, get help. You’re going increasingly over the edge into what might be a scary abyss. I’m sure you’ve got family and maybe even friends; don’t cut yourself off completely before it’s too late.
Trump threatens to retake Panama Canal
Some frustrated shipper was probably complaining about transit fees for the canal at Mar a Lago the other night and the orange chaos monkey reacted.
For what it’s worth, the transit fees are scaled, from approx $0.50 to $300K, depending on the size of the vessel and type of cargo. Given the amount and value of the cargo on those ships, even $300K seems reasonable.
@Rob1: Thanks for that link. It’s a must-read.
@Sleeping Dog: Kevin Drum cites higher numbers, with some explanation, but your point remains valid. Also, too, it’s a valuable and scarce resource. According to Drum, Panama is auctioning off transit slots. Ain’t that a market, which GOPs are supposed to regard as sacred?* And obviously the winning bidders regard the fees as acceptable. On the other hand, Panama must be making out like bandits. On the other, other hand, Panama spent a lot of money expanding the canal to handle “post-Panamax” size ships.
* Side issue. I find it increasingly hard to critique conservative beliefs, because they no longer seem to know what they believe. I’m seeing new ideology that strikes me as after the fact efforts to rationalize Trump’s whims.
Tim Miller’s account of the Turning Point USA conference echoes something I wrote several weeks ago: die-hard MAGA adherents want to maintain their outrage, regardless of circumstances (like, say, controlling the White House and Congress, and having a supportive Supreme Court). They want to continue to be on war footing. They want to believe in tortuous conspiracy theories that sustain their militancy. And no amount of liberal democratic niceties, in their minds, should get in their way.
In spite of of their victory, the Jacobinism will deepen.
@gVOR10:
The numbers that I noted, came from a different article on trump’s threats.
Regarding the canal, the canal zone has been enduring a long drought that has shrunk Gatun Lake, the artificial body of water that comprises the canal. This shrinkage has reduced the number and size of ships that can enter the canal.
Avoiding the canal, shippers going east and west have 2 choices. Off loading the cargo and shipping by rail across the continent and then perhaps, loading it again on a different ship. Or transiting Cape Horn via the Drake Passage, a journey not for the faint of heart. Given the choices, the transit fee is chump change.
My big question here is why, as someone that follows the news pretty closely, am I only just now hearing that a congress woman apparently disappeared for six months, because that seems like it should have been a bigger story…
‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Kay Granger found living in Texas assisted living facility for dementia patients
I made chocolate rugelach and honey walnut date rugelach yesterday. The chocolate is okay, but the date filled is perfection. The dough is easy to work with and versatile.
I also made Linzer cookies that I have yet to fill and assemble. The filling will be Nutella and/or raspberry jam. I doubt I will make these again. It’s not that the recipe is difficult, although the dough was tricky. It’s just kinda tedious.
I’m not one for fancy piping and uniformity when I bake. Mary Berry would toss me out of the tent on the Great British Baking Show. I also don’t like to have to spend a lot of time sweating over something that is ephemeral. Give me a rustic galette over petit fours every time.
I have threatened for years to write The Too Lazy to Cook Book for people who love to cook, but are easily daunted.
One thing I would like to see from the senate dems once the majority flips is calls for the Republicans to do away with the filibuster. This would show confidence in the proposition that the country would in fact be better off without the senate filibuster gumming legislation up. So they either get rid of it (a good thing in the long term) or stick with it and demonstrate once and for all that it is the Republicans who value it as a tool of gridlock.
It would be a ballsy move, which is why I doubt the dems would ever do such a thing…
Paine
@Stormy Dragon:
What I found curious about that story, is that the employees at the facility, readily acknowledged to the reporter that she was there. So much for patient privacy.
@Paine: I’m not sure I understand your thinking here. The filibuster isn’t in the constitution, it’s not even a law. It’s simply part of the rules that the Senate majority imposes at the start of their term. It’s a rule that benefits the out party. What is the benefit of the Democrats not filibustering Republican laws they disagree with, if the Republicans have adapted that rule? The Dems are free to drop it when they resume power.
As an example from a different venue, I think the Designated Hitter Rule has changed baseball for the worse, but it’s the rule. A manager that makes his pitchers hit simply because he doesn’t like the rule puts his team at a disadvantage to no gain. He’s an idiot.
@becca:
Would have to be Prue Leith now.
@Sleeping Dog: I honestly don’t know whether it’s part of HIPAA or not to not give out where someone is residing. I believe it is ok to acknowledge that someone is in your hospital, but not to reveal anything about their condition or treatment. If I’m correct on that (and the ACLU seems to agree, unless the patient specifically tells them not to), then it would also seem to apply.
In general, your residence is part of the public record. As far as I know, your place of residence has never been protected under privacy laws.
@Kingdaddy:
This is sad. Christmas is a really nice time of year. Sad feels are a part of the season too, but how can one angry and bitter 24/7 amidst egg nog and holly?
But Trumpers are miserable. Their lives suck. They know Musk and Trump’s billionaires will do nothing to improve their crappy lives. Scapegoating trans people and migrants will not help. MAGAs are congenitally incapable of being happy and positive. We see this malaise with the MAGA trolls around here. It’s unfortunate.
Maybe they’ll feel better in the spring. These shortened daylight hours are rough; thankfully the solstice has passed. I’ve wondered if we wouldn’t get better election results were the vote held in the early fall instead of post-DST.
@Kingdaddy:
This is entirely expected from a fascist movement. As Eco states in Ur-Fascism: “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle. Thus pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. It is bad because life is permanent warfare.“
@Mikey: Exactly.
@Stormy Dragon:
IOKIYAR. And she is, unlike 81 year old!!! Joe Biden.
ETA – somebody fixed bold. I haven’t used it in years because it was barely noticeable, but I saw in a comment a few days ago actual bold.
@MarkedMan:..As far as I know, your place of residence has never been protected under privacy laws.
If you get mail delivered to your home or where you work the Post Office has your address. I have a PO Box at the Post Office.
When I worked in the landline telephone industry and could not find an address I would go to the local Post Office. Sometimes they would give me directions and other times they would not. I would have called the customer but most times the reason that I was looking for them was because their phone was OOS (out of service) and they could not be reached. I remember one time I was able to reach a customer whose complaint was noise on the line, he wanted me to fix it but he wouldn’t give me directions to his residence. He said that I was supposed to know where he lived because I worked for the Phone Company. It took me a little longer to repair his trouble. Prick.
How old do you have to be to remember when most people had their Name, Phone Number and Address listed in the free Local Telephone Directory available at homes, businesses and every phone booth? Privacy? What a joke!
@DK:
Perhaps related is a column from NYT this morning. (Gift Link.) The upshot is that, based on bones of a pre-human small child seeming to indicate canabilism, anthropologists have pictured us evolving as brave, ferocious meat eating apex hunters. Recent examination has shown the supposed weapon or tool marks were really from a giant eagle’s claws. This leads to a view that we evolved not as bold meat hunters but as frightened meat prey. Fear does seem to be a motivation for so many people. Fear of change, fear of “other”, fear of one’s neighbors, fear of the government (although, oddly, seldom fear of ginormous corporations, who really do spy on us every day). Fear seems particularly to motivate conservatives, hence the need for a strong daddy.
@Kingdaddy:
I’m not surprised, These are angry ‘lost cause’ characters. Rage isn’t a symptom, it’s a lifestyle. But this:
will be their undoing. The rage-o-holics are a subset, not the whole set.
Good to see Trump in his Time Magazine profile interview admitted he is all about Project2025 and only tried to distance himself from it because he has always known exactly how bad it is.
@Michael Reynolds: Haven’t kept up, I admit.
My youngest granddaughter introduced me to Is It Cake? on Netflix. Making a cake that looks just like a pair of work boots is not on my bucket list, but I admire the talent and gumption those bakers put into it.
In Honor Of OzarkHillbilly (Ozark and His Beloved 4-Footed Friends)
h/t balloon juice
@Mister Bluster:
One time my work PC couldn’t access the corporate WiFi. I called tech support. Half an hour later and no change, I called again. They said “we sent you an email with the fix.”
What I wonder is if there was really an instruction VHS tape on how to hook up a VCR.
becca- I have been working on making monkey bread which has turned out pretty well but trying to get more cinnamon into it. Planning on doing it with the grandkids since I think they will like rolling up all of the little balls. I love rugelach and always assumed it would be difficult to make so have avoided it as my baking skills arent as good as cooking skills. Anyway, is it worth trying if your baking skills are intermediate? (Daughter makes a wonderful galette and totally agree on preferring one. Maybe it’s the influence of the baking shows but I think decorating has become overvalued compared with how stuff actually tastes.)
Steve
@Jon:
Thank you for this. I suggest we all raise a glass to our friends Ozark and Teve. They are sorely missed.
@CSK: Indeed.
Rhymes with Project 2025:
“Project Russia,” Reveals Putin’s Playbook | Washington Spectator
https://washingtonspectator.org/project-russia-reveals-putins-playbook/
@Paine: Alas, the ability to achieve gridlock is equally valuable to conservatives and liberals. In other late breaking news, God makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the just and the unjust alike.
Some nuance on the hydroxychloroquine study retraction.
This is one very good reason why one study, one result, one paper, is absolutely meaningless. Unless the results can be replicated and reproduced, at best it only points to an area of research.
There’s some difference in studies of treatments for a specific disease or condition. If there is clear and consistent improvement, and assuming no major methodological errors or flaws*, then the treatment might be rushed out to patients who need it. This paper wasn’t clear at all.
*And a few other caveats like sample size, side effects, etc.
@DK: Has it ever occurred to anyone that elections may have been scheduled in the winter specifically because it would be more daunting for transportation-challenged people to vote? I don’t think that the current “more democracy is better” notion has been the norm for as long as we sometimes imagine. Even near-contemporary history argues to the contrary.
@steve: Rugelach is easy. The possibilities are endless. Bet your grandkids would have fun with it. My daughter does the monkey bread at Christmas. And sausage balls and cheese balls and all kinds of delicious carb and cholesterol bombs. I make the hollandaise, though. I am a legend when it comes to hollandaise .
@just nutha:
Right now liberals want to halt Trump’s worst inclinations. But in general there’s an asymmetry that makes constant obstruction, the Hastert rule, filibusters, etc. more valuable to conservatives. Oversimplifying, big government liberals want the government to do things, glibertarian conservatives want the government to not do things. More concretely, liberals want to expand and protect the social safety net, slow global warming, address rising wealth inequality, support NATO and Ukraine, etc. Conservatives, or more accurately the donors who control Republicanism, are content to impede regulation and maybe get more tax cuts.
@Sleeping Dog:
I wonder if he believes he just needs to send a Xitt and the canal will be moved to Mar A Lardo or something.
Gulf War I quickly overshadowed Bush the elder’s invasion of Panama to nab Noriega, and he had the excuse of an annulled election to give him some cover.
Many nations depend on the canal. Some to ship goods to both US coasts. IMO, most would rather have a low income country that relies on the canal’s income run it, than a capricious overgrown toddler with a penchant for chaotic acts for the sake of the chaos he can cause.
@gVOR10: And creating gridlock affects either outcome equally well. The advantage goes to the right in that it’s always easier to do nothing than something. Impediment to regulation and continuing tax relief for the economically besieged 0.01% finds its strongest aid in the inertia of gridlock.
@becca:
This last season of GBBO was a little weak be cause the cast was too good and not very TV. But earlier seasons have been great.
I don’t like baking myself. Too precise, too scientific, too prone to failure.
@Jon: delightful! Ozark and his unique style are so missed.
I’m at the office with a lot of Hell Week work. So I’m picking long background music videos. I found one with a lot of Bach’s works.
@wr:
Bob Neuwirth was the better Bob. Or perhaps I just like sidekick energy. Or have no taste. Or suffered some head injury. I recognize that I am almost completely alone in this assessment.
I’ve listened to Neuwirth’s relatively tiny musical catalog far more than Dylan’s. It’s so much more … human?
(Dylan does get better with age, and I love Love And Theft and Modern Times)
@Michael Reynolds: Utilitarian baking is really easy. Stir ingredients together gather it into a ball. Throw it in the oven. Pull out bread 30 minutes later.
Contest baking is hard. But contest anything is hard. That’s why they’re called “contests.”
@Michael Reynolds:
As someone once said:
“Cooking is art, baking is engineering.”
I’m a fairly good cook; but hopeless at baking.
Cooking, you can wing it; baking requires disciplined precision.
@Stormy Dragon: I saw that today for the first time and of course in the comments I saw people blaming the democrats for hiding it all…
@JohnSF:
@Michael Reynolds:
@just nutha:
I love to cook, and am damn good at it. But I REALLY love to bake. Today alone I’ve made a pumpkin pie, a loaf of Rosemary Thyme Garlic bread (made completely from scratch and not in a bread machine), and a Dutch Apple pie. My pie crusts are amazing because I use a special ingredient – Vodka.
https://cheflindseyfarr.com/vodka-all-butter-pie-crust/
NFL football on in the background, and the oven going all day. That’s a great Sunday for me.
@Gustopher: “I’ve listened to Neuwirth’s relatively tiny musical catalog far more than Dylan’s. It’s so much more … human?”
In the movie Neuwirth definitely comes across as human. Dylan maybe not so much. Everything he sees or hears or experiences — including people — just becomes part of whatever is producing those songs. I’ve never met the man, have no idea if this is accurate at all, but it’s a fascinating characterization, and it does fit with most of what I’ve read about the man.
As for my own taste, I’ve somehow never really managed to warm to those later albums. I go with the amazing series from the mid-60s — Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding — and then the 70s stretch of Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, Desire and Street Legal. (I know I’m an outlier on that last one, but Changing of the Guard is one of my favorite songs…)
@just nutha: “But contest anything is hard. That’s why they’re called “contests.”
Which brings to mind one of my favorite David Mamet lines from Heist: “Everyone wants money. That’s why it’s called money.”
Scroll down a bit here for a photo of a nose-first landing. No major injuries reported.
@Kathy: A 35 degree crosswind gusting to 38knts is a no-go. Or a no-no. Same either way.