Tuesday’s Forum

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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. Mikey says:

    The Special Counsel report on Jan. 6 is out.

    “The department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a president is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind,” Mr. Smith wrote.

    He continued: “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”

    Instead, he gets away with all of it. Fucking disgusting.

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  2. Kathy says:

    @Mikey:

    I still blame Merrick Garland. He should have used all resources of the DOJ available to investigate and prosecute the felon from day one, not two years alter and only after another blatant felony came to light.

    Some defenses of Garland I’ve seen mention the DOJ was investigating the felon’s associates, and that he instructed investigators and prosecutors to follow the evidence even if it led to the felon himself.

    Do I need to explain what’s wrong with this?

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  3. CSK says:

    According to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, a witness claims he saw Pete Hegseth order three gin and tonics for breakfast one morning in 2023.

    Talk about breakfast of champions.

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  4. Kathy says:

    On other things, I got a new laptop at work.

    I’m still unclear why the 2021 vintage laptop needed to be replaced. The last time IT replaced a perfectly good PC with a new one, it was a disaster*.

    Things aren’t that bad with this one, but it’s beginning to bug me. Part might be that it updated Windows at the end of the day. This morning I had to change back the taskbar configuration, and resize all windows again. We’ll see if this happens again tomorrow.

    *Really. The new one was so slow it was comical.

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  5. Rob1 says:

    @CSK: I still can’t get past Hegseth’s claim of not washing his hands in ten years. He gets “Pig Pen’s” Award of Excellence. Should be easy to track his paper trail.

    Hegseth and Gabbard are such utter “lightweights.” Experientially, they shouldn’t be anywhere near management/leadership levels in government.

    Their candidacies for DEFSEC and DNI are beyond absurd and could only be the product of an absurd, dysfunctional mind. Or, someone with sabotage in mind.

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  6. CSK says:

    @Rob1:

    Trump thinks they look good on TV. What other qualification is necessary?

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  7. Scott says:

    WRT the Hegseth hearing, I fear these hearings are just a Kabuki dance unless some info bombshell happens. This is not an independent Senate gravely pondering the fitness of this nominee. Roles will be played out and then voted on.

    Hegseth wants to be a “change agent”. How vacuous.

    ” it’s time to “give someone with dust on his boots the helm.”

    I guess Gens Mattis and Austin were not sufficiently warrior like.

    This whole charade just discourages me.

    As I’ve mentioned before, I have far more experience in DoD and am far more qualified than Hegseth and I am not qualified at all.

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  8. Scott says:

    Oh, joy.

    Trump’s Pick for Top Pentagon Health Care Job Was Fired by CI

    Keith Bass, President-elect Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon’s sprawling health care systems, was effectively fired by the CIA in 2021 for his poor management of the spy agency’s Office of Medical Services.

    As a military retiree who depends on the Defense healthcare system, this doesn’t warm the cockles of my heart.

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  9. Rob1 says:

    Tuberville says California doesn’t ‘deserve’ funding after wildfires unless it makes ‘some changes’

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Monday that California doesn’t “deserve” funding after wildfires unless they “make some changes.”

    “If you go to California, you run into a lot of Republicans, a lot of good people, and I hate it for them, but they are just overwhelmed by, by these inner-city woke policies with the people that vote for them,”

    Tuberville is not the lone voice on this.

    I’m not aware of Democrats ever withholding disaster aid over political differences. We really are at war with ourselves. There’s no benefit to punching one’s own face.

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  10. Not the IT Dept. says:

    What kind of a moron makes this comment, surely knowing the *bleep*-storm he’s going to bring down on himself?

    “National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir admitted in a post on X/Twitter on Tuesday that his party had prevented a hostage deal from being achieved on numerous occasions.”

    And of course there was immediate damage control: “An Israeli official said in response to Ben Gvir’s comments, “Contrary to Minister Ben-Gvir’s claims, the only party that has managed to prevent a hostage release deal since November 2023 is the Hamas terror organization…”

    Source: https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-837448

    Seriously, read the article; it’s not behind a paywall and is pretty succinct. This guy is dumb enough to be a Trump voter.

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  11. Fortune says:

    Monala (from monday) –

    No one that I’ve ever seen has bowed down to a golden Obama statue, like a bunch of Trump supporters did at CPAC during his first administration; or made Obama superhero or holy man fan art, the way Trump fans regularly do;

    Do you remember the HOPE poster? The songs and tributes? You couldn’t walk down the street without seeing pictures of the dear leader. The Trump memes are half-parody of Obama worship.

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  12. Franklin says:

    @Fortune: Oh, there was definitely some cult of personality around Obama. I think it wore off when people realized he was more of an establishment progressive than they had initially imagined.

    But if you’re honest, the cult around Trump is way more over-the-top. There’s no comparison.

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  13. Paul L. says:

    This is the normal prosecutor bullshit of scream the indictment on the courthouse steps, maybe a small press release months later when the charges are dropped.

    Claims that dismissal of his criminal cases signifies Mr. Ted Stevens’ “complete exoneration.” That is false . As the Office explained in its dismissal motions and in the Report, the Department’s view that prosecutorial misconduct is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution-all of which the Office stands fully behind.

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  14. Mikey says:

    @Franklin:

    But if you’re honest

    Narrator: He was, in fact, not honest.

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  15. CSK says:

    @Franklin:

    I always think of the photo of an elderly woman with long straggly white hair, wearing a Stetson, cowboy boots, short shorts, and a halter.

    Also a sign on her abdomen with “TRUMP BONER GARAGE” printed on it and an arrow pointing to her crotch.

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  16. Mike in Arlington says:

    @CSK: Honestly, I wish I could erase that image from my memory.

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  17. Fortune says:

    @CSK: You don’t think that was tongue-in-cheek?

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  18. CSK says:

    @Fortune:

    No, I think it was boner-in-pussy.

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  19. CSK says:

    @Fortune:

    No, I think it was boner-in-pussy.

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  20. DK says:

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    What kind of a moron makes this comment, surely knowing the *bleep*-storm he’s going to bring down on himself?

    Storm from where? Not from the Israeli electorate.

    Netanyahu’s government is responsible for the one of worst security failures ever in 7 Oct. Since, they have repeatedly chosen to leave the hostages they failed that day to rot and die.

    But Netanyahu is as popular in Israel as he has ever been. While hostage families are branded traitors and attacked.

    There’s no sign Ben-Gvir will pay any price for stating plainly what every honest person already said. He was already convicted in Israeli courts of terrorism. And yet there he is, platformed and powerful.

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  21. Beth says:

    @CSK:
    @CSK:

    Bravo. Standing ovation. no notes. This is evocative and hilarious. I love it.

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  22. DK says:

    @Rob1:

    We really are at war with ourselves. There’s no benefit to punching one’s own face.

    Republicans are declaring war on Democratic states, because they hate liberal Americans. California, Oregon, and Washington should publicly explore secession, and open talks with Canada to potentially join.

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  23. Scott says:

    @Rob1: Keep this nonsense in a file for when a hurricane its Alabama’s Gulf Coast resorts.

    BTW, time for my periodic reminder to you all about what a POS Tommy Tuberville is.

    Tommy Tuberville Ditched Texas Tech Recruits at Dinner to Take Cincinnati Gig

    Tommy Tuberville pretty much just dined and dashed on Texas Tech recruits so he could take the job at Cincinnati.

    Texas Tech’s blog (h/t Big Lead) reports their former head coach is kind of a jerk.

    OK, they didn’t exactly say those words. They pretty much reported on a story of their coach being disrespectful to some recruits and I filled in the blanks, as you will soon do yourself.

    Apparently a group of recruits, including linemen Devonte Danzey and Sunny Odogwu and receiver Javess Blue, went with a bunch of Red Raiders coaches and Tuberville to the 50-Yard Line Restaurant during their official visit.

    As with any visit, you don’t expect a red carpet to be rolled out but you also don’t expect to be stood up at dinner by the head coach either.

    We will let Danzey tell the story which starts with him asking coach Tuberville how long he planned to stay with the team.

    “I asked Coach (Charlie) Weis at KU and Coach (Dana) Holgorsen at West Virginia (the same question), just so I know my relationship with them…(Tuberville) was just telling me he coached at Miami and Auburn, he coached 10 years and recruited Ray Lewis and kind of blew the question off I didn’t even realize.

    The waitress brought our food out, and we thought (Tuberville) went to the bathroom, but he never came back to dinner. Then next thing I know, the next day, he made an announcement that he’s going to Cincinnati.”

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  24. CSK says:

    @Beth:

    Thank you. OTB brings it out in me.

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  25. Ha Nguyen says:

    @Franklin: on Reddit, someone claimed to have broken up with her boyfriend after he started praying to Trump because he was the anointed one which was proven when he survived his assassination attempt. You are just like this boyfriend.

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  26. joe says:

    @Rob1:

    Republicans have no problem giving aid. It’s just that they want to limit how much your party steals.

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  27. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @Fortune: Oh look! The typing Ape is triggered by Obama. Stay mad bro!

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  28. Not the IT Dept. says:

    @joe:

    Still skipping those meds, are you? Tsk, tsk, tsk. See what happens – you start projecting your fantasies onto others.

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  29. Jim Brown 32 says:

    @CSK: Or boner-in-cheek as a consolation—

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  30. Gustopher says:

    @Fortune:

    Do you remember the HOPE poster?

    It was a really good poster. I would put it up with the “Morning in America” and the Willie Horton ad in terms of effectiveness and capturing the moment.

    It’s a very accidental piece — the Obama campaign rejected an earlier version with “Progress” instead of “Hope”, and there is no way that the Progress poster would have worked nearly as well. (And I like that “hope” could either be a noun (Obama is hope) or a command (you will hope now)

    The photo it was based on was perfectly decent. The AP photographer got a very well composed shot of Obama.

    The changes were simple, but transformative*. And the message was clear: America had become a country where a Black man could be president without everyone freaking the fuck out (this message was wrong).

    The art is evocative of a famous Che portrait, as well as Soviet propaganda. Fairey is also responsible for the Obey clothing, with the logo of a black and white face (André The Giant, I believe) over the word “OBEY” in red all-caps, which itself takes a lot of inspiration from the John Carpenter movie “They Live”. There’s also a lesser influence of Andy Warhol.

    Also, the inversion of red, white and blue to be blue, white and red shows that Obama was going to make America into France. Baguettes for everyone! This was probably meant as a “Democrats are blue, so they go first”, but it can also be interpreted as an inversion of America, for various definitions of America.

    I don’t think it would be so powerful if it was not mass produced or part of the campaign — this moves it from being a static image to a bit of performance art. Art is a dialog between the artist and the viewer and the culture and conditions. There’s something deeply subversive about a political campaign reproducing a piece based on Soviet propaganda (and more direct influences that were also influenced by Soviet propaganda)

    And a piece of art with countless creators, with Shepard Fairey mostly just collecting and composing elements.

    I non-ironically think it is one of the greatest pieces of art in the 21st century.

    The songs and tributes?

    “Barack The Magic Negro” was a song, but not actually a tribute. If you listen closely to the lyrics, or even just the title, you will note tones of contempt.

    ——
    *: apparently not in a legal way, however, which is a mistake. Art should be in direct communication with other art — it’s how most of our folk music came about, for instance.

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  31. CSK says:

    @Jim Brown 32:

    Depends on the location of the cheek.

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  32. DK says:

    @joe:

    Republicans have no problem giving aid.

    …to greedy billionaires and corporate welfare queens like Elon Musk. When it comes to helping the struggling and suffering, it’s then that conservatives suddenly remember they supposedly think socialism is bad.

    It’s just that they want to limit how much your party steals.

    ~9 of the 10 poorest states are Republican.
    ~95 of the 100 poorest counties are Republican.

    California is the world’s 4th largest economy by itself, the #1 contributer in federal taxes to the nation’s coffers by far.

    Red states have been stealing from California for decades. Maybe it’s time for a California tax revolt, to get our money back from these MAGA ingrates.

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  33. Gustopher says:

    I thought a version of the Hope Poster with Biden might be very funny. A Google image search brought me to the main picture on this article.

    https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/11/20/yale-students-on-the-right-and-left-offer-mixed-feelings-about-biden-presidency/

    I love it. I think it really captures Biden, overshadowed by Obama.

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  34. al Ameda says:

    @Rob1:

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Monday that California doesn’t “deserve” funding after wildfires unless they “make some changes.”

    “If you go to California, you run into a lot of Republicans, a lot of good people, and I hate it for them, but they are just overwhelmed by, by these inner-city woke policies with the people that vote for them,”

    Republicans are full of themselves right now, and it’s very intentional. It’s part of a larger plan to turn Calfornia red in the 2026 mid-terms. This is a political war on California. I do not believe that Democrats are ready for this onslaught

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  35. Fortune says:

    @DK: Yes, pick a fight with the people who control the flow of the Colorado River.

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  36. Kathy says:

    Not entirely by coincidence, I finished a book about the history of the afterlife right after finishing the re-watch of The Good Place.

    History of the afterlife here means how the conception of the afterlife changed over time among Christians.

    There’s some mention of Greek ideas of the afterlife and the soul, and naturally some about Jewish ideas of it. Unfortunately, the author didn’t see fit to bring up Egyptian ideas, which changed over time in a rather similar fashion.

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  37. wr says:

    @al Ameda: “It’s part of a larger plan to turn Calfornia red in the 2026 mid-terms.”

    Got to say, I’m not sure that “Hey, you all ponied up big time for disasters in Florida and North Carolina, but because we hate Democrats, we’re not going to help you out recovering from the biggest natural disaster since 1906 — Vote for Republicans and maybe we’ll throw you a crumb someday” is really going to be a winning campaign platform.

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  38. dazedandconfused says:

    @CSK:

    Trying to start an urk-war? Here’s my entry:

    “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” – Henry Kissinger.

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  39. Kathy says:

    The next four years are going to be a very long decade.

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  40. just nutha says:

    @Gustopher:

    Baguettes for everyone!

    Beignets are better!

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  41. Rob1 says:

    @joe:

    Republicans have no problem giving aid. It’s just that they want to limit how much your party steals.

    Aside from the obvious and thick history of Republican fiscal malfeasance, there are the hard facts of “per capita balance of payments” by the states.

    Red states predominate the list of “takers” —- they take more than they contibute to the funding for running this country.

    Notably, California is one of the top net contributors, giving more than it takes to make your life better than the average person on this planet.

    It is immoral and boneheaded to politicize disaster funding to Californians. Tuberville is a bonehead. Don’t throw your lot in with boneheads. It’s not a good look, and reality will come back to bite you.

    We all have to face our natural disasters together. That’s what communities do. That’s especially what “Christians” are supposed to do.

    Who Gives and Who Gets?
    Explore the Balance of Payments between States and the Federal Government

    https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/

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