Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, September 28, 2025
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25 comments
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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Businesses in South Florida brace as Canadian tourism declines (CBS)
Seem on Threads: BREAKING: Kash Patel says FBI found bullets in Comey’s possession that had, “I knowingly made false statement under oath during a congressional hearing on September 30, 2020.” etched in them.
Big if true.
@DK:
If FLA experiences a similar drop in tourism that New England did this summer, expect tourism to be off ~30%.
INFLATION ALERT!
The Dine In price of a toasted bagel and two butters at Panera has increased from $2.22 (tax included*) to $2.45 (tax inc.). The cost of the all the mud I can drink Sip Club, $16.75 (tax inc.) every 30 days is posted on the Panera web site as unchanged through December 2025.
*The sales tax for To Go orders is a few cents lower. I have considered making my bagel order
To Go however that would be a waste of a paper bag. I would also be cheating the City out of tax revenue. I don’t want to do that. They need the money to fill in all potholes in the streets.
RIP
@DK:
Nice.
Everyday it just keeps getting weirder and dumber and creepier…
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-posts-an-absolutely-bonkers-ai-video-in-which-he-promotes-a-magic-med-bed-that-can-cure-any-disease/
@becca:
El Taco probably believed such things ar real and he had made that announcement, until someone pointed out how crazy it is.
@Kathy: it’s straight up qanon moron fodder circa 2022, according to various outlets. Some conspiracies tie it to that ancient alien claptrap my maga neighbor brought up yesterday when we met up.
Maybe MrT and Herr Miller hope this will take the sting out of the lose of Medicaid and disability payments so many rural maga rely on, knowing there’s a medbed waiting for them right over the horizon.
Is this at the heart of MAGA? Not the churches per se, but their closure.
It seems, re other sources, that this is particularly acute in the Bible Belt. These people are seeing facts on the ground that are normally invisible to someone like me. And those facts cannot help but be disturbing. It’s like a horror movie where people keep being eaten by aliens and the size of the crew keeps shrinking. You notice when your church is becoming roomier with each passing week.
I suspect this phenomenon is a major contributor to MAGA. If religion is failing, where do you turn for help? Politics. Politicians will be happy to name scapegoats responsible for the decline, racists gleefully exploit the fear, media feeds the fear and helps build the rage for clicks and ratings. You don’t see kids in your church anymore? It’s because liberals are turning girls into boys, and supporting all manner of godlessness, tune into Fox News to be shocked and horrified on the hour! The fact that the downturn was accelerated by a pandemic is just more proof that Covid is some sort of liberal plot.
@Michael Reynolds: I am on record, circa 2016, as saying that one big trend that was fueling MAGA was that the number of people in the US identifying as white Christians had just dropped, or was just about to drop, below 50 percent of the US.
(I recall reading a piece by an evangelical at the time who was more spiritually-minded than politically minded. He made the point that the world was changing and he and his fellow travelers should try to figure out how to live in the new world, but most of them were resisting and trying to bring back the old one. I liked this take.)
The trend stalled for a little bit during the first Trump run, even though surging attendance fueled many a congregation’s turn to a more political rather than spiritual focus. (The church version of clickbait).
But covid got in the way. I don’t think that’s the only factor either. This reactionary movement may be losing steam. Of course, that could be my wishful thinking, too.
It’s sweet that MTG has bigger balls than a large majority of her male brethren.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mtg-trump-rift-epstein-files-b2835279.html
@becca:
They’re VERY upset with her in MAGAville.
ETA: Eric Adams is dropping out of the NYC mayoral race.
@CSK: apparently she is in the “ if anything should happen to me…” stage in her relationship with the WH.
@becca:
I guess she doesn’t assume/trust her boyfriend to protect her.
@becca:
I guess she doesn’t assume/trust her boyfriend to protect her.
@becca:
I guess she doesn’t assume/trust her boyfriend to protect her.
@CSK: “ETA: Eric Adams is dropping out of the NYC mayoral race.”
Guess someone finally figured out his price.
Kara Cooney has an interesting take on Egyptian mummies and their exhibition in museums.
TL;DR:
The controversy remined me of the (in)famous “Bodies: The Exhibition,” which was popular for a while early in this century, and taken on tour all over the world.
A coworker very much wanted to see it when it was displayed here. I’m afraid I spoiled it for her. Talking about it one day she marveled at how realistic they looked. I said “You know those are real dead bodies preserved using plastic, right?” She was horrified at the idea.
I never found out whether she went to see it anyway or not.
I tried to trip a couple of LLMs by asking them what took place in Europe on Oct. 6th. 1582.
They didn’t quite get it wrong. Both claimed that was the day the Gregorian calendar was implemented, which is close. Actually the calendar goes from Oct. 4th to Oct. 15th, deleting the day numbers in between. So there was no Oct. 6th. 1582. But it did happen that week.
If it were a question in a test I was grading, the right answer would be “there was no Oct. 6th. 1582.” That would get a point. Explaining why would get a bonus half point. Knowing when the Gregorian calendar was implemented but not saying the day in question didn’t exist, would rate a half point.
@Kathy: I wonder how the Egyptian Pharaohs whose souls have residence in those beautifully non-decaying bodies are are enjoying their afterlife in the British museum?
Is it all a big adventure where they get to see the world and all the other artifacts the Brits have gathered, or are they just a little chilly and want some privacy.
@becca: Isn’t is really on brand for Republicans to court the votes of lunatics with a wink and a nod to the rest of their base to say that they won’t really be beholden to the lunatics, and then a few years later be very annoyed that the lunatics are getting elected?
The story only ends one way. The lunatics take over the party, and then 80% of the rest decide to be lunatics to protect their careers. Professional lunatics, as it were.
I’m surprised that MAGA has kept QAnon at bay for so long. I expect they will keep them mostly at bay while Trump is alive, and then it will be all about making the FDA ban adrenochrome in childhood vaccines. They’re already banning chemtrails in various states.
(Should Democrats add banning chemtrails to their demands regarding the government shutdown? Try to split the Republicans on an issue that doesn’t matter since chemtrails don’t even exist?)
@Kathy: That “bodies the exhibition” seemed creepy to me. If it was artificial I might be interested in seeing it. But actual people dissected and put on display, count me out.
@Gustopher:
They may be thinking, “I should have gotten a Ka statue instead.”
I think the belief is they’d be resurrected in the next world, not in this one.
There were some mummies in one or more of the Night at the Museum movies. Maybe it was addressed there.
@Scott O:
Same.
On the other hand, I did see the Guanajuato mummies (careful clicking on that). Their origin is disturbing. In my defense, I was about ten, and it was on a family trip to the area.
@Gustopher:
They should demand a ban on GMO unicorn poop for use as fertilizer. And add the administrative procedure for testing unicorn manure for GMO, as the natural kind could still be used.
QAnon Shaman says he’s rightful president, sues Trump for $40 trillion
In a rambling complaint, Jacob Chansley claims DJs are spies, that the NSA stole his work for a Batman movie and more.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-qanon-shaman-files-40-trillion-lawsuit-against-trump-22763479
The TRVTH is out there? Really out there.
When you’ve lost the QANON shaman…