Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, July 23, 2024
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63 comments
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).
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I am flying today for the first time since COVID lockdowns started. My foolish personage just realized that I did not pack a face mask. I haven’t worn them in day to day life for a couple of years, at least, but a confined metal tube with recirculated air… Heh.
@Grommit Gunn: How long can you hold your breath?
The headline of the day- Florida sheriff’s office warns against taking selfies with ‘depressed’ bear
Haysoos chrispo:
That last bit… Sound familiar?
PFAS widely added to US pesticides despite EPA denial, study finds
The more I read of the EPA*, the more I think it is fundamentally broken. Regulatory capture run amok.
*OSHA too. Over the years I saw more than enough to demonstrate that.
‘Dark oxygen’ in depths of Pacific Ocean could force rethink about origins of life
Talk about a “EUREKA!” moment.
Indeed.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Florida Senator Rick Scott?
The headline of the day- Bodycam video shows deputy fatally shoot woman who called 911 for help
@Grommit Gunn: I first flew without a mask about 18 months ago, and have not had one on since that time.
Unless you are struggling with auto-immune disease, or come in close contact with somebody who does, you’re probably just fine – as evidenced by the lack of masks everywhere on planes these days.
Have a great flight!
‘Maybe I lived a naive life’: New Orleans archbishop denies knowledge of widespread child sex abuse in 1970s
I was gonna go with “Naive, stupid, willfully ignorant, or a lying sack of sht.”
@Bill Jempty: I don’t want to watch that video, but I understand the officer involved moved between 6 different police departments in 4½ years, presumably due to being unfit. There should be a way to permanently flag someone like that.
I’m generally not much of a pedant but I do expect headline writers to do better than this:
Could robot weedkillers replace the need for pesticides?
C’mon, Really?
@Franklin:
The police union is very, very strong.
@CSK:
While I have issues with police unions, the lack of tracking of officer discipline and dismissal records across jurisdiction is the broader issue here.
If you are fired or forced out of one department, it’s very easy to move elsewhere in a State to find work.
@mattbernius:
Again, that may well be the strength of the union. It’s very hard to expel a bad cop. Sometimes the best you can do is transfer him or her to a place where he or she will do the least harm.
@DrDaveT:
Don’t overlook the biological wizardry.
For the trip portions, the organic robots would hibernate and consume minimal resources. While in a system, they’d make use of other organic robots, which we call plants, to extract nutrients from a variety of native soils.
It’s a story idea, not a serious scientific proposal. It doesn’t have to be possible, just sound possible.
@mattbernius: I dunno…in most careers having a record of that many different employers in that short of a time period waves huge ones. Even in car sales it would be.
Locally we had an example of rational, public friendly law enforcement. After a woman took a shot at her ex-boyfriend, the local LEO’s talked her into surrendering the weapon, rather than shoot her when she walked out of her apartment, pistol in hand.
@Tony W: Thank you. I am attempting to get myself and my elderly mom (I’m the primary caregiver) out of Texas. Somehow she finally agreed to move, much to my delighted surprise.
Continuing with AR/VR from yesterday, I’ve never really experienced it past some early stuff in the 90s. I wasn’t impressed.
I’ve seen a number of Apple goggles videos, and I am impressed. What I don’t see is a regular use for such things, much less at the prices Apple charges. And one highly unimpressive feature is the virtual keyboard. I don’t think I could use a keyboard I can’t touch.
Now, regular use I don’t mean wearing them all day, or even using them every day. Just enough times a week to be worth it.
One possible case use is the ability to link or sync the goggles with a Mac, and both 1) see the monitor on the laptop, and 2) see other windows floating around. I could use that. But 1) not at that price, and 2) not with a Mac. Make it for Windows PCs, including desktops, lower the price to something reasonable, and I’m in.
But then that would be a peripheral accessory, and the Apple goggles intend to be a “spatial computer.” hence the price.
@Sleeping Dog: Nice! Sounds like they’ve actually heard of the concept of de-escalation.
@Tony W: I didn’t have any issues in October of last year either, but I was flying out of the People’s Democratic Republic of Portland enroute to Incheon Airport in Korea, so that may have made a difference. Either way, safe trip, Grommit!
Greetings from boot camp, i.e. rehab. I was kicked out of the hospital yesterday and sent to a place called The Country (cute) for a bit of physical therapy. Nice place, but the cuisine is appalling.
@CSK:
“Transfer” suggests a level of connection between police departments and sheriff offices that doesn’t exist. The fragmented nature of law enforcement in the US (~18,000 disconnected arresting agencies) means that Department X doesn’t talk to Department Y about personnel issues.
So, yes, unions can make it very difficult to fire troubled officers. But the movement of officers from jurisdiction to jurisdiction is something different. And that includes officers who were fired in one jurisdiction getting hired in another.
For examples of this see: https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/more-than-300-wisconsin-officers-back-in-law-enforcement-agencies-after-being-fired-or-forced-out/
@Matt Bernius:
Yes, I agree. I think I was suffering from a coffee insufficiency when I first replied to you.:)
@Franklin:
The details are a bit sketchy, as the reporting is based solely on the PD press release and the local press is pretty weak. It appears that the cops have had prior interactions with the woman, including one earlier that night, before she took the shot at her ex’s apartment door.
I’ve a nodding acquaintance with the local chief, who seems like a good guy and a consummate professional, glad for him and the department that they aren’t going through the trauma of killing a civilian or burying one of their own.
Breaking from NBC: The director of the Secret Service has resigned.
@CSK:
Good. Yesterday’s hearings were a rare example of well-deserved bipartisan outrage.
@CSK:
No worries at all… I do that all the time.
@Matt Bernius: I didn’t watch the hearings and I have no objection to the resignation, but I expect it was a “performative” change unless she had a direct hand inn the outrageously poor decision making at the Trump rally. It happened on her watch so I don’t object to her taking the hit.
@Matt Bernius:
Her resignation will “fix” anything, like staffing, resources, and judgement of field commanders?
@CSK:
It seemed inevitable after her interview with ABC two days after the shooting. At least a couple of her answers were obvious BS–that it was decided not to put personnel on a sloped roof because it was a safety issue, and that the local law enforcement was responsible for the outer perimeter. She later took back those answers.
And good grief, now Comer is taking credit for her resignation. I wonder if she finally realized she had to go, or if Mayorkas or Biden told her to resign or be fired, or something in between.
@Bobert: Her resignation is likely a start to improving those things. Also, shortly after the shooting Biden directed that there be an independent investigation, but that will take some time.
I saw a good meme today:
“I don’t care who dies in the movie as long as the dog lives.”
@CSK: Tom Hanks attributed the box office failure of Turner and Hooch to killing the dog (Hooch).
I never got over Old Yeller myself.
@CSK:
True, but they can’t force a dept to hire someone. The union ((if any -not all cops are unionized) couldn’t or decided not to protect this POS from being fired multiple times either. I would guess the problem is the oft reported current lack of LE officers in general. Somebody is learning the hard way the risk and the expense of a bad officer.
@Eusebio: You think that her resignation will increase staffing? You think that her resignation will cause more money to flow into SS? You think that her resignation will improve the field command judgement?
My point is that she is the scapegoat, and how we desperately need to find a scapegoat.
May I suggest a maximum security cell in Leavenworth?
@Sleeping Dog: Hmmmm… Let me guess: She was white.
Same thing happened a while ago in South Carolina. I forget the details but it was bad, I think they chased her for miles with shots fired and yet they managed to not shoot her.
@CSK: When my mother was in and out of ICU and rehab during her long goodbye, I would always stop at Ted Drewes and get her a Concrete (frozen custard).
It was much appreciated.
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m sure it was. The assistant noticed I hadn’t eaten but a few bites of the atrocious lunch and said she’d speak to the kitchen about getting me sandwiches. We’ll see.
@CSK: That’s a common problem is rehab facilities according to older friends and associates of mine who have been in rehab a lot (cascading joint replacement issues–one friend is about to get his final natural shoulder replaced). From my experience in wholesale food service, a lot of the problem centers on budgetary restraints that shape menu planning. And no, it doesn’t have to be that way, but hiring people who can actually cook from recipes rather than merely reheat the cheapest sh!t they can buys is also cost prohibitive, even if only falsely economical. 🙁
@dazedandconfused: Years ago in Washington State, it was common for teachers dismissed for sexually abusing children to simply move from one district to another (or even in more outrageous situations move to administrative positions in the same district). Part of the problem was that districts were inclined to not elaborate on the reasons for dismissal (some of which was driven by union influence but a significant amount was simply HR policy designed to shield districts from litigation as most such dismissals were entirely in house–no arrest report or other police involvement), but another part of the problem was that there were no administrative procedures requiring surrendering teaching licenses. The combination of effects became so problematical that not only did the state start requiring administrators to suspend the certificates of teachers dismissed for criminal cause but also the state started requiring teachers who transferred to another district to be investigated for sexual misconduct every time they changed jobs or contracts. As a substitute, I needed to fill out investigation authorization forms every year for each district I worked in (as many as 4 some years) for 6 years before I left for Korea and 6 more when I returned.
My guess would be that law enforcement may well be plagued by similar problems and for similar reasons. I’m not intending to excuse the problem, merely to note that it may be more complex than “unions are bad and RTW is the solution to every HR problem.”
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Yes, it is a false economy, though this place doesn’t appear to skimp on anything else. The dining room looks like the Ritz-Carlton. Pity the food isn’t the same.
@OzarkHillbilly: My preference is general population in a state correctional facility, but I’m a flaming A$$ h0)3 and probably shouldn’t be deciding policy on matters such as this one.
@CSK: Table linens and such are easy to accommodate in settings where there’s lots of daily laundry to do. It really doesn’t cost more to add table cloths and napkins to the sheets and towels laundry already being done. And other elements of the care are closely monitored by the requisite state agencies because they are pretty thoroughly compensated.
Mike Lee, senator from Utah, must be a special kind of stupid:
He fell for a hoax falsely announcing the death of Jimmy Carter. This was from the fourth paragraph of the announcement:
Despite these successes as President, all his life President Carter considered his marriage to former First Lady Rosalynn Carter his life’s greatest achievement. At her passing last November President Carter said, “Rosalynn was a baddie. Jill, Melania, even throat goat Nancy Reagan had nothing on Rosalynn. She was the original Brat. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.” They were married for 77 years.
Throat goat Nancy Reagan, LOL
The article says if you are unfamiliar about that reference, google it.
@Bobert: The answer to your questions is “no”. If the shooter had been successful, then she probably would’ve had to go regardless of the post-incident stuff. In this case, she should’ve at least had a draft briefing to work from, including whatever relevant information her team could assemble, so that she could explain the facts surrounding the incident. Being so unprepared for the House hearing was just too much.
As the senior leader, she was always going to be the one to go if there were serious issues with the SS protection, so yes, she’s the scapegoat.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Bing, bing, bing. But this is NH and the fact that she was white would go without saying.
@CSK: Ask tor cans of Ensure.
@Bobert:
It’s the right thing to do. Takes the wind out of the sails of the political hacks. With a head on a plate they can say they did their job and are likely to be more prone towards observing the pros sort this out, as opposed to actively “helping” them.
Reluctantly, here’s a link to another note that Bob Menendez will resign his Senate seat… a month from now.
He still appears set to run an independent bid, which might simply lose his seat to the GQP.
More telling is this at the end: “Waiting until August before going allows Menendez to receive another month of his Senate salary and health insurance, the New York Times reported, seen as crucial income sources at a time when his personal finances are in a state of collapse and his wife is undergoing cancer treatment.”
If he’s hurting that badly for money, not minimizing his wife’s medical bills would be tough to pay without insurance, he may as well walk back his resignation and force an expulsion vote, to get paid a few extra days.
It seems some AIs are overly sensitive to politics.
I asked Copilot why Biden didn’t run in 2016, and got the “time to move on to a new subject”. I tried the same with Gemini (Google), and got a response that it is still learning to handle politics and won’t discuss the subject. At least that’s more polite.
But, hey, I was asking a factual question.
Later I asked Copilot what the salaries are for US senators, and again I got the gatekeeper lockout.
@Kathy: Menendez must be eligible to receive retirement pay and keep his health insurance while still paying his premium portion. It’s just that he makes more money while still an active senator.
@Kathy:
I tried to engage chatGPT on the race last night and it was pretty much a waste of time. All it did was refer me to resources I already know about.
Acchh, you’re right of course.
@Kathy: I’m sure the good folks at Obama Care can help him.
@Kathy: One thing that has really stuck in my mind from all the Apple Vision reviews I’ve read is pretty trivial but perception shifting. It’s based on the fact that the device is spatially aware and not just a 3D projector. So you can, for example, pin a spreadsheet to a particular place on your wall or desk. Turn away or walk away and it stays there. Leave the room and when you com3 back it’s still there. So this one reviewer had a habit that annoyed him. He would start a load of laundry, intending to switch it out to the dryer and start another one, but he usually forgot and never got back to it. So he pinned a giant countdown timer to the entrance to his kitchen. Whenever he got up from his desk and went to get a cup of coffee or a snack, he couldn’t miss this giant reminder. Like I said, trivial, but I find it fascinating for some reason.
@Eusebio:
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still on the take.
@anjin-san:
I haven’t used the ChatGPT at the official website for a while. As I recall, it’s stuck on sources up to 2022 and doesn’t search the web. Copilot, which is based on ChatGPT, does search the web.
The generative part of generative AI is still lacking. The bots don’t have ay imagination as far as I know. And they lack some critical skills. The other day Copilot claimed the copyright to Asimov’s works was held by an AI developed accidentally in the mid 90s.
I followed the source link, and found a humorous, satirical post saying just that.
I’ve noticed a fair amount of, um, skepticism about AI expressed around here. I don’t have a problem with that, per se.
I do, however, want to note that in my little corner (basic and clinical science at the intersection of neurophysiology, psychology, and social factors), AI is accelerating and enhancing our work.
I’ve been using such tools for well over a decade, before the latest bonanza. So I do feel like I had a head start of sorts. Even still, this has been a great few years for our work.
Also, I’ve been co-leading a summer seminar/workshop on AI use cases for a group of PhD students, postdocs, and early career scholars. As part of this, each participant develops a use case to implement in their own work. We then share these amongst the group, show them off, and stress test them.
The use cases thus far have been super cool and, more importantly, value added. They’ve inspired new ideas and helped me (and others) to solve problems we’ve been experiencing separately in our own work.
I just wanted to provide that n=1 perspective. That is all.
Oh, and if you’re looking for a beginner’s guide that is thoughtful and [antonym for condescending], I recommend Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick.
John Mayall 90
RIP
Steppin’ Out
1966
That was more Clapton than Mayall.
Here is Medicine Man.
@Mimai:
I’m not down on AI, I’ve been using it at work every day for over a year now. That being said, I am also running into the limitatations of an immature technology on a regular basis.
The book looks good, I will pick up a copy.
@anjin-san:
Limitations of immature technology meet limitations of “immature” users.*
Progress on the former is outpacing (to put it kindly) progress on the latter.
*You and me excepting, of course.