Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, May 24, 2026
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13 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).
Follow Steven on
Twitter and/or
BlueSky.
As an early Covid (Alpha) survivor, I’m glad this has reappeared officially. I was in a cluster of friends with Covid symptoms in January 2020 before it existed – supposedly. Sickest I’ve been as an an adult, and Flu (NO, Covid) and The West Coast blood donations in the month before Covid had a 1.4% positive rate https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7799215/ Anyway, i have minor heart issues from this (was major May 2020) – now clear.
But this info was intentionally disappeared. Why?
Important to note that both of those issues arose, DIRECTLY, out of Fatso’s incompetence. Without Fatso none of this would have happened. No closed Strait to re-open. No highly enriched uranium to get rid of. In addition the unconditional surrender that Fatso “demanded” will not happen.
@Richard Gardner:
This is intriguing. I had “the flu” in late Jan. / early Feb. of 2020. Spent two nights in the Hospital.
I have subsequently had heart issues.
Has anyone heard from Jax or Beth?
@Daryl: We will see. This probably the 5th time he has announced deal that didnt exist. He supposedly spent hours on the phone with every country except Iran. I think at the very best what we get is an agreement to open the strait with Iran in control and charging for transit. I would also expect Iran to drag it out a bit longer.
Steve
@steve222:
No doubt he will make claims with no basis. Why would that change?
@Daryl:
I had some nasty respiratory thing in the second half of Jan 2020. Coughing bad enough to cause muscle spasms in my back, and for the doc at Kaiser same-day care to send me to imaging for a chest x-ray. After listening with a stethoscope he didn’t believe I could cough like that while my lungs sounded completely clear. That doctor told me that the “going around” respiratory crude was particularly bad that month.
Multiple groups of the right sort of statistician have worked backwards from early case frequencies in different locations to try to determine “when did this start spreading here” and all got consistent answers pointing at December, 2019 or even earlier. One group in Colorado reached that conclusion as soon as early 2021. The Colorado group pointed out that even if it was in Colorado earlier than the official first case, the chances that it had reached “going around” levels were vanishingly small.
I think that Trump Sr has been taking too much crap for not attending Jr’s wedding. It’s not his first wedding, odds are it’s not his last, and travelling as an old man is hard. Why go?
Here’s a short 5 minute video that explains how El Taco’s negotiation with Iran is playing out.
@CSK:
Last I heard from jax, I think it was spring season with cattle. Busy busy busy.
I hope Beth is doing well, although iirc she’s largely backed away from the interwebs.
Seriously, best kind thoughts to both. Can I get a thumbs up on that?
@Flat Earth Luddite:
You certainly may.
@CSK:
@Flat Earth Luddite:
Beth posted this link today on the Signal channel. Things are really bad in the UK.
@Kathy:
Oh jeeze. Ugh. And all seven of the seven words…
https://youtu.be/x9IDwUeODEE?si=jCjilZc_ocssV7AP
Beth, my condolences and support.