Tuesday’s Forum

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FILED UNDER: Open Forum
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. Scott says:

    Another perfect Memorial Day message:

    Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for “DEFAMATION.” She didn’t know when the so-called event took place – sometime in the 1990’s – never filed a police report, didn’t have to produce the “dress” that she threatened me with (it showed negative!), & sung my praises in the first half of her CNN Interview with Alison Cooper, but changed her tune in the second half – Gee, I wonder why (UNDER APPEAL!)? The Rape charge was dropped by a jury! Or Arthur Engoron, the N.Y. State Wacko Judge who fined me almost 500 Million Dollars (UNDER APPEAL) for DOING NOTHING WRONG, used a Statute that has never been used before, gave me NO JURY, Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 – Now for Merchan!

    Trump is a classless pig, always has been, always will be.

    6
  2. Scott says:

    Younger troops get more vasectomies after Dobbs decision, study finds

    Younger, unmarried troops were more likely to get vasectomies following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that struck down nationwide abortion rights, according to a new study in the International Journal of Impotence Research published on May 18 .

    Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences looked at vasectomies of male active-duty, retirees and dependents across all military branches within the military’s health system. Service members aged 18 to 64 had 96,617 vasectomies covered by the system from 2018 to 2022, including a large increase in the months following to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which put reproductive healthcare laws in the hands of state lawmakers.

    The number of vasectomies before the Dobbs decision remained relatively consistent, minus the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic when the number of vasectomies decreased, according to researchers. In the months following the Dobbs decision beginning in June 2022, though, men receiving vasectomies trended younger, unmarried and of a more junior rank than before the Dobbs decision.

    I don’t know. Correlation does not mean causation. Suspect the waning of the pandemic had more impact.

    3
  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Florida’s LGBTQ+ residents relieved after easing of DeSantis’s anti-gay laws

    That is being felt at the grassroots level. A year ago this month, Kristina Bozanich reluctantly canceled an adults-only event at a gym in the central Florida town of St Cloud that would have featured a drag show. The appearance of a road sign in the neighboring community of Lake Nona that read “kill all gays” in the days leading up to the show had prompted the withdrawal of the four drag show performers who had agreed to appear at the event. That put an end to the 2023 Pride month celebrations that had been scheduled to take place in St Cloud on 10 June.

    A year later, the Proud in the Cloud program of events scheduled for 8 June has already received thousands of dollars in corporate contributions. A city council member and lifelong resident of St Cloud named Shawn Fletcher recently issued a proclamation declaring June 2024 to be Pride month in the community of approximately 67,000 people.

    “The drag ban is no longer enforced, and we have so much more backing, including from local law enforcement,” marvels the 32-year-old Bozanich. “I’ve been shocked – but in a good way.”

    Longtime observers of Florida politics point to the collapse of DeSantis’s quest for the Republican party’s presidential nomination after just one contest – the Iowa caucuses – as a sobering experience for the 45-year-old governor and possible catalyst for the sea change.

    “He wasn’t pushing the more radical elements of his agenda through the state legislature in 2024 as he did one year ago because they didn’t bring him the presidency,” notes Charles Zelden, a professor of history and politics at Nova Southeastern University in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Davie. “He is thinking about his future as a politician and what comes next after the governorship – and he seems to be trying to moderate some of his harsher stances.”

    Can you say “roadkill”? Pretty soon he’ll be hawking gold on TV alongside Flynn, Lindell, and trump.

    5
  4. Kathy says:

    In today’s “I’m sorry, WTF” segment:

    I ordered a bunch of satchels for spices. The shipping options were around $4.50 for next day delivery, or $5.50 for delivery on June 3rd.

    Who pays more for a later delivery?

    3
  5. OzarkHillbilly says:

    “I’m surprised at Lord Goldsmith, who I don’t think I’ve spoken to in a very long time, has some intimate knowledge of my family’s arrangements,” Sunak said. “Of course not. My kids are at school, this is my home, and as I said earlier, my football team just got promoted to the Premier League.”

    Sunak later told ITV that he would stay in the UK “for years” to come.

    I wonder what the over/under is on his moving after the election.

    1
  6. Scott says:

    At Texas GOP convention, Republicans call for spiritual warfare

    Delegates approved rules that ban Republican candidates — as well as judges — who are censured by the party from appearing on primary ballots for two years, a move that would give a small group of Republicans the ability to block people from running for office, should it survive expected legal challenges. The party’s proposed platform also included planks that would effectively lock Democrats out of statewide office by requiring candidates to win a majority of Texas’ 254 counties, many of which are dark-red but sparsely populated, and called for laws requiring the Bible to be taught in public schools.

    Those moves, delegates and leaders agreed, were necessary amid what they say is an existential fight with a host of perceived enemies, be it liberals trying to indoctrinate their children through “gender ideology” and Critical Race Theory, or globalists waging a war on Christianity through migration.

    4
  7. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said he believes he has been chosen by God, as the multi-stage Indian election nears its completion.

    “I am convinced that ‘Parmatma’ (God) sent me for a purpose. Once the purpose is achieved, my work will be one done. This is why I have completely dedicated myself to God,” he told NDTV news channel on Sunday.

    Modi, who is hoping to win a third term when the results of the general election are announced on 4 June, said that while God guided him to do a lot of his work, he did so without revealing a larger scheme.

    “He does not reveal his cards, just keeps making me do things. And I cannot dial him directly to ask what’s next,” he said.

    So when everything goes to shit, don’t blame me. God made me do it.

    4
  8. CSK says:

    @Scott:

    Eric Trump’s message was worse:

    http://www.rawstory.com/eric-trump-disgusting-memorial-day-weekend/

    He claims the Trump family “gave up everything to save America.”

    3
  9. DrDaveT says:

    @Scott:

    globalists waging a war on Christianity through migration.

    There you have it — an influx of people who are overwhelmingly devout Christians constitutes “a war on Christianity.”

    Jesus wept.

    5
  10. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @CSK: Well sure, last I heard he was sleeping under an I-95 bridge now.

    1
  11. Kathy says:

    @DrDaveT:

    Something wrong with your doublethink? Obviously brown and black Catholics are a weapon of war against WHITE (real) Christians. Doubleplusungood.

    Ok. I think I need to take a shower now.

    5
  12. Michael Reynolds says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I’m getting the impression – vague, multiple sources, tea leaves – that Brits think Sunak just wants to be done with it all, that he is giving himself a quick ‘out’ rather than letting it drag on.

    1
  13. CSK says:

    Pope Francis slurred gay men while in a closed door conference with some bishops.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pope-francis-used-offensive-slur-gay-men-discussion-bishops-gay-men-rcna154236

    1
  14. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Ivanka, Tiffany, and Barron are missing from Eric’s accompanying family photo.

  15. Mister Bluster says:

    Here is a Scripps News video report on the apology issued by the Vatican about the Pope’s reported slur against gay men. For fun turn on the Closed Caption to see how many different ways “pope” is butchered by the captioning. While it appears that this mea culpa is about the language used by papa it would appear there is no retraction about a directive to exclude gay men from the priesthood.
    Gotta’ love the spin that since his first language is Spanish maybe he did not realize how offensive his choice of words might be.

    Holy Father. For complete absolution, repeat after me.
    Hail Mary full of grace
    Notre Dame’s in second place

    1
  16. Michael Reynolds says:

    Coming up on one year in Vegas. We’re still liking it, certainly more than we thought we would. But the big drawback to Vegas is medical care. No one who can avoid it has serious medical work done in Vegas. So when the wife gets her second bionic hip, we have to stay in a hotel in LA so she can get the work done at Cedars. I fly to LA tomorrow to see a doctor at UCLA.

    There is also the fact that it’s now hitting the hundred degree zone. But it’s a dry and very well air conditioned heat. Drink water, wear a hat.

    One thing you can do here that you cannot do in LA? I can drive a surface street (an odd LA-ism, since we don’t yet have either floating or subterranean streets) like Sahara or Desert Inn Road for miles without being even slowed, let alone stopped, by traffic.

    We don’t move as often as we used to, so I’d guess we’ll do two, maybe three years more here. Probably end up back in California eventually, but still looking for a way to make Spain or Portugal work.

    2
  17. dazedandconfused says:

    @CSK:

    The choice of words reflects an awareness his inheritance is melting away like snow in July.

  18. MarkedMan says:

    @dazedandconfused: Donny Jr and Eric were the stooges Trump sent to create the Russian backchannel. Who knows what other criminal (seemingly) activity he had them put their names on? If their father goes down, what chance do these two chumps have of weathering a criminal investigation?

    3
  19. CSK says:

    @dazedandconfused: @MarkedMan:

    Hey, Trump says he’s worth ten billion. What’s a mere half-billion in judgments to him? Chump change. Right? Right?

    As for Prince Eric the Half-Wit and his coke-addled older brother…

  20. dazedandconfused says:

    @MarkedMan:

    With the old man gone I have difficulty imagining them worth a criminal investigation. That estate looks to be a hot slimy mess the sorting out of which will likely take over a decade.

  21. Kathy says:

    Pending availability, I want to try turkey thighs next week.

    The breasts I made on the weekend are really good, by far better than any turkey I’ve ever had before (and even though I’m eating them cold, as the microwave went out for repairs*).

    Also, I think the stock would benefit with more bones. I want to try doing it in the slow cooker. Online tips indicate slow cook on low for 12-18 hours. Who has time for that? So I’m thinking on high for 6 hours to begin with, and budgeting 4 more if needed.

    For ice cream, I’m looking into mint this time. I think I should mix it with something, like chocolate, but I’ve done too many versions of chocolate ice cream already (plain, mocha, cinnamon). So I’l be thinking about it.

    1
  22. JohnSF says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    @Michael Reynolds:
    My personal bet is Sunak will be across the Big Pond so fast after the election it’ll be loke Concorde’s back in operation.
    OTOH, he doesn’t really need to move there to make money; he (or rather his family, via his wife) is phenomenally wealthy already.
    First PM for to be richer than the Monarch (privte wealth of the Monarch that is, not the Crown Estates, which are to all intents state property, with revenues going to the Treasury, not the Household).
    Though a few Lords probably came close, back in the 19th century. Derby, Salisbury, Melbourne perhaps.

    But I think he’ll want to just avoid the sniggering.
    I don’t think he wants to lose and depart, in such humiliating circumstances.
    But I suspect he realises he’s got no chance of winning.
    The Conservative campaign looks to me, at the moment, to be in “stop-loss” mode: putting up policies (compulsory military “national service for 18 year olds; tax threshold increase for pensioners; etc) aimed at shoring up their core vote, namely less educated property-owning retirees who are showing dangerous signs of drifting towards voting for Reform UK (= UKIP rebadged).

    Tricky tactically, given other factors.
    But if they can hold the core vote, then at least the Tories might be in recoverable position post-election, rather than facing an extinction-level event.

    2
  23. Kathy says:

    @dazedandconfused:

    Yes, the one worth a criminal investigation is Ivanka. She seems to have inherited a few more functional neurons than the average Orange spawn.

    1
  24. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Michael Reynolds: Same here.

  25. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Mister Bluster: While it appears that this mea culpa is about the language used by papa it would appear there is no retraction about a directive to exclude gay men from the priesthood.

    So… He’s banning 1/2 the priests?

    full disclosure: I knew a man back in the early 70’s who had a fast track career wise, a home in the suburbs, a beautiful fiance, etc etc etc. Then one day he said, “I want to be a priest.” Nobody could figure out why. I was 12 or 13 at the time and just thought, “Well, that’s weird.” shrugged my shoulders and didn’t think much more about it.

    10 or 15 years later my gaydar was fully developed and the light bulb lit up in my head. “Oh, I get it.” and hoped he was happy.

    Never told my folks, he was their friend, but I suspect Ma had guessed it a long time before. Her favorite cousin was living in connubial bliss with another woman (in Dallas TX) and while the family would have nothing to do with her, Ma said, “Fck that shit, I love her like a sister.”

    3
  26. Michael Reynolds says:

    Six miles off China’s coast. Interesting.

    Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) on Thursday confirmed that U.S. Army Special Forces personnel are stationed on Taiwan’s outlying islands and said their presence was part of an exchange and was meant to be a “learning opportunity” for Taiwan’s armed forces.

    The defense minister made the remarks after he was asked by reporters on the sidelines of a legislative hearing to comment on recent media reports that American Army Special Forces, commonly known as the “Green Berets,” are training Taiwanese troops in Kinmen and Penghu.

    3
  27. dazedandconfused says:

    And now for something completely different…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwMepJgbDAs

    1
  28. Kathy says:

    I just had a thought:

    How would the dog react if you begged her for food while she’s eating?

    Judging by my dogs, all three of them over the years, they probably wouldn’t even notice.

    2
  29. Jax says:

    @Kathy: We tried that once, she was like…..are you fucking kidding me? Took the bone and ran away. 😉

    1
  30. Jen says:

    @Kathy: Our dog is a rescue and had serious food guarding issues when we first got her at ~6 months old. If we even got near her, she’d stop eating and growl. I had to hand feed her for a little over a week, with occasional reminder “training days” every so often for the first few months we had her to correct that behavior.

    She is much better about it now.

    1
  31. Franklin says:

    @dazedandconfused: Someone at work posted that yesterday and I am deceased

  32. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @dazedandconfused:
    @Franklin:

    Well of course the necromancer spell didn’t work. Any competent wizard/necromancer knows the spell uses gold dust, not glitter. Pagh!

    2
  33. Matt says:

    @dazedandconfused: Here’s the link to the original video by the original creator.
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0q-qPLyN16Q

    That dude has some brilliant shorts. That one is still my favorite.