Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, June 28, 2026
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12 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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BlueSky.
Mel Brooks turns 100 today. Mazel tov!
@CSK:
The Guardian has a piece about him.
Most surprising fact I learned, he produced The Elephant Man. As the piece notes, Brooks “took his own name off the credits lest anyone assume this was a comedy.” This is confirmed by the IMDB entry.
This is absurd.
World Cup update: The group stage finished last night. Each of the 48 teams played the three other teams in its group, for a total of 72 matches over 2-1/2 weeks. Twenty of the matches ended in draws, and seven of those were scoreless.
Cape Verde and Iran each finished the stage with three draws—little Cape Verde advanced to the knockout stage, but, in rather dramatic fashion, Iran did not. With Iran idle, DR Congo had a second-half comeback to beat Uzbekistan last night and thereby move ahead of Iran as an at-large qualifier. Then a late-night match between Algeria and Austria still would’ve resulted in Iran advancing if either team had won the match. But after a go-ahead goal by Algeria less than two minutes from time, Austria drew even seconds before the final whistle and so those two teams advanced, making Iran the last of the 16 teams eliminated during the group stage. Quite a change of fortune since Iran had briefly celebrated qualifying for the knockout round after an apparent winning goal in stoppage time the night before, only to have it disallowed after a review for offside (FIFA uses a technologically-enhanced review intended to eliminate doubt about offside calls that are reviewed).
The remaining 32 teams play in the first knockout round, with matches today through Friday. Cape Verde (population about half a million) will play mighty Argentina, which is one of three teams, along with Mexico and France, to win all three of its group matches. Spain, Brazil, and several others have also been playing like contenders. Each remaining match must have a winner, so expect some to go to 30-minute overtime periods, and some of those to be decided by penalty kick shootouts.
About fan enthusiasm…The DR Congo vs Uzbekistan match in Atlanta, for example, appeared to have a capacity crowd with huge sections of fans dressed and made up in the colors of both teams. There were more, I think, for DR Congo, which qualified for its first World Cup tournament in more than 50 years. Despite the unpleasantness coming from FIFA and the administration in the run-up to the WC, there is a huge, enthusiastic audience for this thing.
@Jen:
He wants it to be open for July 4, but that’s not going to happen.
Trump refers to Lafayette Sq. as “the entrance to the White House,” so I suppose he thinks he can do whatever he likes with it, a la the East Wing.
@Eusebio:
I think that the only thing that could ruin this great event would be the in-person, on-site, real time presence of Donald Trump.
@Eusebio: I have been watching the extended highlights on YouTube for a bunch of matches. I found the Cabo Verde – Spain match one of the most exciting 0-0 ties I’ve ever seen! CV clearly has a very, very tough defensive line and a good keeper, too.
@Kathy: “Most surprising fact I learned, he produced The Elephant Man.”
Brooksfilms also produced David Cronenberg’s The Fly, Frances, which made Jessica Lange a star, My Favorite Year (co-written by my late former boss Norman Steinberg, whose first writing job was on Blazing Saddles) and some real oddities like The Doctor and the Devils (a gothic horror about Burke and Hare) and Solarbabies…
Biden re Trump
@wr:
Really not the kinds of movies one associates with Brooks.
From NOTUS, Democratic plans to govern like El Taco in 2029.
We went into DC today to visit the Phillips Collection. Founded in 1921, it was America’s first museum of modern art. There’s an exhibition, Miró and the United States, we wanted to see, and it ends next week. It was our first time visiting the museum. I can’t recommend it enough. Mark Rothko is one of my favorite American artists, and Phillips has the Rothko Room, which Rothko himself helped design. It was fantastic. We will definitely visit again.
The weather was kind of crappy, humid and constant sprinkling rain, but nothing that would keep people home. Sure enough, lots of people out walking around the Dupont Circle area. It was fun and relaxing.
But apparently, the weather was just too severe for Trump’s National State Fair, because it closed this afternoon due to weather. Ridiculous, of course, but attendance has been sparse and they were probably looking for any excuse to close.
Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining…especially when it’s actually raining.