Tabs for Thursday

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Steven L. Taylor
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). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Kingdaddy says:

    Because of Americans’ disproportionate attention paid to national politics, we often miss stories like the Prattville one. At a local level, nearly everything we care about is an issue, and we often face very dumb arguments like, “We can’t let gay people have a parade float because someone might attack them.”

    In Colorado, a school board just approved an AP African American studies class after hearing objections like this one:

    A grandparent of Douglas County students opposed the course, saying “some of the developers of this course have expressed in videos very biased political pro-Marxist and communist beliefs, negative perceptions of charter schools, our elections systems, electoral college, being racists and much more.”

    Internet arguments and editorials in national media outlets are of limited value if they don’t touch on the debates in your own backyard.

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  2. gVOR10 says:

    Re Krugman. A couple weeks ago WAPO did a week plus long paean to George Will for reaching a 25 year anniversary at age 83 and soldiering on into his dotage, which I believe started in the 1970s. This week Krugman left the Times and has started up his old newsletter, but on Substack, as linked above. But neither he nor the Times has said anything about why he left the Times, or was pushed. He’s 71 and entitled to retire from deadlines, if he wished. Anybody seen anything more on what happened?

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  3. Gavin says:

    Biden created more than 16 million new jobs, the most in any four-year presidential term in U.S. history.
    And these chucklefluckers constantly assert Biden’s economy was not good.
    Who wants to bet Trump won’t approach that number?

    Also, @Kingdaddy: It’s always fun to note that the people making stupid objections like that are themselves biased. One of the “assumptions” that frustratingly isn’t challenged frequently enough is the concept that Republicans magically drape themselves in the flag of patriotism because reasons.
    Facts over feelings: Republicans simply aren’t the only patriots.

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  4. Sleeping Dog says:

    @gVOR10:

    There was a report the day after Krugman’s announcement that he didn’t see eye to eye with editing decisions being made by the new Times opinion editor.

    Leaving rather than constantly arguing makes sense for a 70 something. Besides Substack and other venues provide plenty of opportunities for him to share his thoughts.

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  5. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Sleeping Dog:

    The reality is that people like Krugman are brands unto themselves and the need for platforms like the Times is small.

    When Ezra Klein was a twenty something at the WaPo, he was publically humiliated by one of the Posts senior editor and grinned and bear it. As a sympathetic commentator put it, Klein was a talented nobody and his career could have been buried by the Post. Krugman and Klein aren’t in that situation now.

  6. CSK says:
  7. CSK says:

    @gVOR10:

    The above link about Krugman is also for you.

  8. Scott says:

    @Gavin: Exactly. The key word is “constantly”. When is it going to get through Democrat’s thick heads that it isn’t facts that are going to win elections, it is propaganda. Every sentence should have included “failed Trump administration”, “weak Trump economy”, “hugely successful Biden economy”, etc.

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  9. gVOR10 says:

    @CSK: @Sleeping Dog: I saw that earlier. I didn’t see it in the paper, somebody linked to it. I can’t find it with NYT’s search function. Was it ever in the paper or is it a press release or something?

    It just says Krugman “has decided to retire from The Times”. It was written by the Opinion Editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, who as far as I can find has been Opinion Editor for a few years. And Krugman didn’t add any explanation in his final column. It all smells like there’s an NDA in place.

    It may just be Krugman wants to semi-retire. Or maybe he felt he could make more money on Substack with less pressure. But I can’t help but wonder, given WAPO and LAT, whether they had issues over some creeping Quislingism (Quislingitis?).

  10. Jay L Gischer says:

    You know, I’ve had some conversations lately where people asserted that “nobody cares about same-sex marriage any more”. This story about Prattville and the Pride float needing a court order demonstrates that, oh yes, people still care about it.

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  11. Sleeping Dog says:

    @gVOR10:

    The article that detailed Krugman’s clashes with the editor, wasn’t in the Times, but on a blog/substack of someone that follows the media. I probably saw the initial link at Memeorandum and likely it went first to Mediagazer, an affiliate.

  12. Sleeping Dog says:
  13. gVOR10 says:

    @Sleeping Dog: Thanks. Paywalled after the first few paragraphs and I failed to find an archive copy that wasn’t paywalled. The first graphs say vaguely conflict with Kingsbury but not the nature of it. If there’s a paragraph or couple that explain more, I’d appreciate you sharing, if it isn’t inconvenient.

  14. Sleeping Dog says:

    @gVOR10:

    When I saw it, it either wasn’t paywalled or it was a different source. To find it today I just googled kurgman’s reason for retiring.

  15. gVOR10 says:

    @Sleeping Dog: Thanks.