Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, November 26, 2024
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29 comments
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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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And now there’s this:
This is what happens when you start making headlines of your own and picking fights with Elon Musk, I guess.
@Jen: Shocker! Corruption in a Trump administration? How many people had to resign for corruption in the first Trump administration? It was the worst since Warren G. Harding.
A detailed run-down of how Alex Jones is fighting the sale of InfoWars to The Onion.
At long last I’m done.
Well, I may add a small bit or two, and I’m sure any feedback I may get will engender more changes. In particular I think I went too minimalist in the last scene. I find it satisfying, but can’t help but think it should contain more. After all, it’s where the story’s title makes sense.
I’d appreciate any volunteers willing to subject themselves to my attempts at prose. It will be a password protected PDF that does not allow changes. I just need to figure out how to distribute the link for downloading it from my shared folder on Onedrive, and how to distribute the password…
The story’s title is “Ours.” Short premise: a transgender woman in the year 2159 finds herself in a parallel universe only slightly different from her own. It’s about 15,000 words long.
More as I figure things out. I may rant about titles in the meantime….
@Kathy:
I’d be happy to take a look.
@Kathy: I may not be a literary critic, but would love to see what you’ve put together!
Martin Longman re Bluesky:
https://progresspond.com/2024/11/25/can-bluesky-help-lead-a-left-wing-comeback/
This is one of the links in the piece, a list of Bluesky users:
https://bsky.app/starter-pack/booman23.bsky.social/3lbat5qqiha2v
snip
This, BTW, is me on Bluesky. I very seldom post, but I do frequently repost others.
https://bsky.app/profile/charontwo.bsky.social
@Beth:
Thank you! I was hoping you would.
@Franklin:
Thanks!
As soon as I hear from James I’ll post the link and password here. Otherwise it’ll have to be through Bluesky or Fakebook.
Meantime I need to decide what to work on next. One is an interstellar political thriller in a setting I made up that has only humans but not Earth humans (it’s a long complex backstory). The other is another exploration story about finding the perfectly preserved remnants of an extinct alien civilization.
Both feature a transgender woman as protagonist.
From the ‘It takes all sorts of people to make up the world and if you live long enough you will meet every single one of them’ department
I was just at the eye doctor. The waiting room I was in was crowded and cramped. It is not hard to hear what somebody is saying on their cell phone.
The man across from me, maybe around my age, was talking religion on the phone. What the gospel says, sometimes the Jews etc. Nothing noteworthy till…
He said anyone who asks you to pray for them is a Satan worshiper.
I told my devout Roman Catholic Filipina wife who works at a church office this. Her reply-
OMG
@charontwo: A small thing, I have an X account that I normally look at only occasionally when there’s a notification I have something from someone I follow. I never followed Musk, but I kept seeing crap from him, so I unfollowed him. Then I kept getting the same crap from “Not Elon Musk” with a picture of Musk. So I had to unfollow him again. I expect Musk thought Not Musk was really clever. I’ll look for you on Bluesky.
To me, worse than all the other bilge coming out of Trump’s mouth, this is the most dangerous.
I don’t know whether this will rise to the level of a constitutional crisis but Trump and his Schutzstaffel plan to challenge the constitutionality of the Impoundment Act:
How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse From Congress
How Trump wants to cut spending.
Vought is a far right radical of the worst kind, a Christian Nationalist
“Hem your blessings with gratitude lest they unravel.” Unknown author.
I’ll be taking a break from the world over Thanksgiving. Yesterday the election and its aftermath–and perhaps events since 2016–just became too overwhelming. I’m okay. Just need to relax, regroup, and refocus on small joys and how best to help future generations of all of Life’s children.
One of my small joys is creating a garden for backyard wildlife. It’s been humbling to see the diversity of lifeforms that come to visit when an ecological web takes hold. Also I’m slowly gathering information for a family history. With the exception of one Swiss branch, all of my ancestors were European colonists from the 1600s, and my research gives me much to ponder upon.
Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from my small place mark in the story of the United States of America.
Gee, and I was gonna give everyone I know a Lauren Boebert pep talk for Christmas. 🙁
http://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert-cameo-2670011211/
@Beth:
@Franklin:
Ok, here it is: link to the story
Once you go there, you need a password to open the file, This is it: G7#kL9!vQ2@wX5
Many thanks to all for your feedback and for taking the time.
@CSK:
You’re giving everyone you know a Lauren Boebert Pep Talk?
I’ve been waiting for someone else to make a crude joke, since they might hit the right tone, but it’s a slow day and no one has stepped up, so all I have to say is: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
Also, I just flew in from wherever, and boy are my arms tired.
Put Natalie Harp into google, some current stories at The Cut, The New Republic, Yahoo and NYT.
And this at Digby:
https://digbysblog.net/2024/11/26/the-trump-gossip-train-has-left-the-station/
The NYT link in the Digby piece to the Natale Harp story looks like a gift link.
@gVOR10:
First thing I did when Xlon bought Xitter was block him.
I never used the late Twitter much. After the sale, I would sometimes follow embedded Xitts, and look at notifications if I had any.
On other things, I got a large bag or russet potatoes last week. I roasted some for this week’s lunch, but still have plenty left. I had thought to make twice air fried potatoes again (had good results last time), but I’m thinking of something else.
I’ve seen a few short videos on the subjects “why it tastes better at a restaurant.” Most boil down to “use more salt/butter, cheese, fat, sugar.” Now and then, though, there’s something on technique. I caught one advising to roast the potatoes rather than boiling them (it’s supposed to preserve more of the potato flavor, which does make sense). Then instead of mashing them or using a potato ricer, to press them through a fine mesh sieve (allegedly a creamier, finer texture).
The last looked like a lot of work, but I’ve plenty of mesh sieves and a potato ricer. So I’m willing to give that a try.
The video showed the skins coming off easily. I’m not so sure about that. In any case I plan to scoop out most of the potato, and leave some clinging to the skins. Then I can make potato skin snacks as well.
Now I just need to figure out an entree.
@charontwo: Ah. That. Is. Weird.
I can’t decide if she’s a cultie or auditioning to be Wife #4, but that is so strange.
@charontwo:
@Jen:
Sounds like a stalker.
Do Trump Republicans actually think tariffs are magical make money buttons with zero blowback? Surely, they can’t be that foolish.
I’m pretty sure the US exports stuff. Do they honestly believe that big tariffs are a solution? And won’t increase prices / goose inflation?
It’s so dumb I honestly believe they believe that.
@de stijl:
Kathy’s first law: no matter how stupid you think the felon is, you’re probably overestimating him.
@Gustopher:
Her arm got tired.
@Kathy:
Okay, personal bias, but roasted potatoes are 1000% better than boiled. I use boiled as filler carbs in curries. That’s about it.
Instead of using roasted potatoes as a carb filler, use it as a side dish. Roasted potatoes, well seasoned, you can’t go wrong.
@de stijl:
For simplicity, I parboil my potatoes before roasting them when I make roasted potatoes. They’re ok, but pure roasting does taste better (it just takes too long). So I’m excited to try roasted mashed potatoes.
@Jen:
So this is who types his Truth Social posts as he dictates them, which explains the spelling getting cleaned up etc.
On the upside, Rudy’s been squirming a lot in the courtroom.
The linked piece notes “Giuliani’s fall has been spectacular.”
I thought, get a photo of Rudy right after the 9/11 attacks and label it “this is your brain.” Then next to it get any recent image (the one in the piece, the hair dye river, the Borat movie scene), and label it “this is your brain on trump.”
I think I mentioned before if you see Rudy when he was US Attorney, or Mayor of NYC, or even when he was going around on consulting gigs, and you compare him with his present self, you’d be forgiving for thin king present day Rudy is like past Rudy’s drunk uncle.
As a rule I don’t enjoy seeing people suffer, even when I hate them. But Rudy definitely deserves it.
@Scott: I read this bit about impoundment and thought, “Hmm, didn’t Nixon get in a fight with Congress about this?” I was right.
Fun quote:
This so much strikes me as a sort of “Hell yes, we want a line-item veto” (I remember Republicans constantly beating this drum) except not when a Democratic President uses it very deftly and deliberately. Then we don’t want it at all, and we will sue to stop it.
That’s human beings for ya.
@Kathy: Got it. Way too late to read tonight, so feedback might not come back for a couple days. Thank you for sharing!
@Franklin:
Thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope you like it.