Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, July 8, 2025
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98 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus 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
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BlueSky.
I have paid very little attention to the Epstein matter, so I may be completely mistaken, but is it not the case that Trump, with a complicit DoJ, could have sanitized the evidence to remove himself? If so, then why didn’t he? Supposition piled on supposition here, but if you can’t fiddle the evidence, might it be that someone else has the same evidence and can call you on it?
@Michael Reynolds: The whole thing is weird. “We have it, and will release it soon! It’s on Pam Bondi’s desk!” to “we have no idea what you are talking about, there is no list” is quite the 180, even for this crew of professional gaslighters.
Could there be some international names on the list that are being protected, maybe?
@Michael Reynolds: “but is it not the case that Trump, with a complicit DoJ, could have sanitized the evidence to remove himself? If so, then why didn’t he? ”
That’d be dangerous, since it would be in the hands of a large number of people examining it.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu, over dinner, told Trump that he was nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.
@Michael Reynolds:
Occum’s answer? It was all bullshit meant to stir up the numbskulls, like Drew and Fortune, and then their bluff got called.
@Michael Reynolds:
Or maybe there isn’t any evidence. Perhaps just MAGAts promising the gullible to “blow the entire thing open” who are now getting caught in their lie.
Pretty hilarious, IMO.
Epstein may very well have realized at the time that taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy isn’t the brightest idea.
Streaming recommendation: Mo. On Netflix.
Part comedy, part drama about a thoroughly Americanized Palestinian refugee winding (with his mother and brother) through the immigration system in Houston. Filmed in urban/suburban Houston, mostly lower middle income areas. Created and stars Mo Amer, a Palestinian-American comedian.
My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Two seasons.
In yesterday’s thread Thoughts on the Politics of the Texas Floods commenter Eusebio noted that Kerrville Manager Rice stated that “we don’t want to cry wolf” when asked about evacuations.
Just how much slack should I give this public official?
Has Manager Rice never heard of FIRE DRILLS?
When I was in college I had friends who lived in dormitories that were occupied by as many as 600 residents. There were three such 17 story high rise buildings in a cluster on the east side of campus.
My friends told me of Fire Drills that evacuated the buildings while elevators were out of service in the middle of the night.
Cry Wolf?
@Daryl:
@drj:
This is my default position; but there’s one thing that niggles at the back of my mind.
Ghislaine Maxwell.
Father Bob Maxwell had a long-standing position in the London rumour mill as being “intelligence connected”. It seems a curious coincidence that his daughter turns up in the middle of a situation that’s a blackmail/influence goldmine.
And if that is the case, (large IF) there are lots of possible reasons for the evidence quietly going away.
See the hat I’m wearing in the thumbnail? If you added up all the compliments I’ve received in 70 years on my sartorial choices you’d not have as many compliments as I’ve gotten for that hat. Strangers on the street stop me to compliment the hat. So now I’m troubled because, as I’ve mentioned before, I follow the David Mitchell rule on clothing:
“One of the codes I live my life by, is that my appearance should be in no way, noteworthy. Then again, not so un-noteworthy as to be in itself, noteworthy.”
I have the identical hat in brown and in gray, which I expect will reduce my noteworthiness to an acceptable degree.
@Michael Reynolds:
But if you are Trump, do you trust your people to sanitize your name right out and not to keep a copy? He may not be a genius but he is certainly aware enough of character to know his people don’t have any. He knows that in the same position he would certainly hold on to possible extortion material. Add in the laziness/illiteracy and he is certainly not going to verify their work himself. Just denying the report existed is easier even if it looks stupid.
How not to make latkes:
The way I tried to make them last Sunday. I grated 4 potatoes and one onion*, added two eggs and 1/4 cup flour, then mixed everything. I couldn’t form anything close to a patty with this mixture. So I just spread it out evenly on aluminum foil at the bottom of the air fryer.
While these are not latkes, they taste like latkes. I’ve no idea what to even call them. Nor exactly what went wrong.
On the other hand, the cast iron pan roast chicken thighs came out even better than I expected. My first thought was to brown the skin on the stove, then transfer the pan to the oven to finish cooking. Instead, I preheated the pan in the oven, melted some butter in it, and placed the thighs skin side down. then it went in the oven. I seasoned the thigs on both sides with a mix of paprika, garlic powder, ground black pepper, and crushed dry oregano.
Between the butte and drippings, it was a simple matter to let the chicken rest a bit, then remove it and make gravy in the stove. In addition to flour and chicken broth, I added some dried garlic flakes and peanut butter (because of course I did).
I also learned why the cast iron pan came with a silicon cover for the handle.
*I used a Presto salad shooter to grate the potatoes and onion. Raw potatoes are far from ideal for this method, but it works with enough pressure. The onion, though grates easily at first, but then clogs the holes instead of passing though them.
@Daryl: When did I comment about Epstein?
@Fortune:
One remembers the taste and the way the light refracts through a glass of fine red wine.
One tries not to remember the taste of a bottle of blue raspberry mad dog 2020 chugged at an ICP show.
@Jen:
Given that UK’s Prince Andrew, nicknamed “Randy Andy” in his youth, is reputed to have been a friend of and visitor to various Epstein domiciles over the years, the possibility is there, yes.
The other day I compared Musk’s third-party proposal to Andrew Yang’s Forward Party (or whatever it was called) last year. Apparently I spoke too soon.
To reiterate what I posted over at Political Wire, I think one of the key problems with most proposed third parties–besides the fact that our current system is not well-equipped to deal with them–is that they never do anything to set themselves on a path to electoral success. They’re always coming up with vague platitudes about Americans’ dissatisfaction with the two major parties, overlooking the possibility that people are dissatisfied for many different reasons and therefore are unlikely to unify under a single new party. “Neither of the above” isn’t a compelling message, even for people who dislike both of the above.
Relatively established third parties like the Green Party and the Libertarian Party are heavily ideological and don’t seem much interested in taking the steps necessary to build a viable coalition. And when they adopt positions which differ from both of the two major parties, they’re usually far outside the mainstream of public opinion (such as the LP’s stated goal of eliminating Social Security and Medicare altogether). Those who try to appeal to a vague centrism, like Elon Musk currently, or Yang and Lieberman last year, are usually overestimating the popularity of a type of elite opinion based largely on wagging their fingers about ballooning deficits. And it’s really rich to hear this coming from a guy like Musk who is mostly sore about the lack of Tesla subsidies he was promised, which makes him come off as just as corrupt, phony, and hypocritical as the Republicans he now criticizes. He’s a poor messenger for an already stupid message.
@Daryl: That’s another possibility, indeed. It also coordinates to assertions that Randy Andy/Epstein links are BS. Lots of directions to run with this story.
My personal choice is none of it matters because no one rich enough to have mattered as far as an “Epstein List” goes was ever going to prosecuted for anything related to sex crimes against minors. My parallel theory is that many/most MAGAts probably lust after being rich enough to do the same things (pun intended).
@Neil Hudelson: If one doesn’t remember a thing, one shouldn’t accuse someone of the thing.
@drj:
My observation from yesterday.
@Fortune:
I hardly keep up with your myriad logical fallacies.
I merely referred to you as a numbskull that the cult feeds bullshit to so as to keep you stirred up on your daily dopamine fix.
@Kylopod:
See Steven’s post today on the costs of reactionary policies. The GQP, and the Taco base (if there’s a difference), hate renewables and EVs. If it were all about Texla tax credits, the chief nazi ought to have campaigned tooth and nail and donated billions to Biden or Harris.
I’m at a loss what he expected from the Big Bucks for Billionaires Bill Act. Or from El Taco.
BTW, does XpaceS still have the contract for the Fantasy Ballistic Missile Obliteration Dome? It could clear a dozen billion or so over the next four years alone.
@Michael Reynolds: It is a good look. Particularly with the beard. As to the compliments factor, I’m getting lots of compliments on my style, too, and I’m 6 foot nothing, weigh 280-290, look like Hayseed Buddha with the Perry suspenders I clip to the belt of my jeans and wear a processed paper “straw” fedora or scally cap to disguise the fact that I no longer have hair.
Given that most of the compliments are from millennials, I assume they represent deference to an obvious elder.
@Daryl: It’s true you said numbskulls like me would be stirred up by the Epstein story, not me in particular. Were you implying I was stirred up by it?
@Fortune: The fact that you haven’t so far (giving you the benefit of the doubt) doesn’t eliminate that it’s exactly the kind of thing you both DO comment on (the content/context of the statement in question).
But the Bondi on thin ice with MAGAt base sound bite from yesterday may qualify, thinking longer about it. Either way, mark your scorecard if you wish.
ETA: (@Daryl) Mark yours, too, if you’re keeping score. He responded, twice.
@just nutha: I’m not interested in making anyone think about me, other than pointing out their lies or abuse toward me reflects a problem in their thinking. I’m happy I was able to tell the Outside the Beltway regulars something they probably didn’t know about the reaction to Pam Bondi. If you’d passed along something informative wouldn’t you be happy about it?
@Neil Hudelson (via @Fortune): You get a point, too. (This keeping score thing could transform trolling. [Chin scratching emoji])
ETA: And take a bonus point for the false allusion. Your comment didn’t accuse anyone of anything.
@just nutha: This is simple, I have no respect for most of the Outside the Beltway commenters, so I get no value out of getting replies from them. I only hope to make some of you think a little bit outside your box, or bubble. If you want to keep the “score” thing going to troll me, let’s agree I’m interested in politics and policy and you’re interested in trolling.
@Fortune: Score one for Cracker now, too!
@Fortune:
I regularly think outside my box.
I find a few glasses of red wine help admirably in this regard.
@Michael Reynolds:..
Nice hat!
@Fortune:
It’s clear many numbskulls like you, your fellow travelers, were stirred up.
Alex Jones friggin’ cried.
I do not track your daily dopamine “rewards.”
@just nutha:
Or in both our cases it may just be that people are relieved not to be exposed our baldness.
@Michael Reynolds: People like to give compliments on hats, or so I find as well.
@Michael Reynolds:
@just nutha:
Or our balding pates to the potential for sunburn.
I have also taken to hat wearing in this rather hot summer.
@JohnSF:
On this most recent trip abroad you people infected us (as in my wife and me) with a particularly indefensible habit: McVities brand digestive biscuits, by which you of course mean, cookies.
I do not exaggerate or misrepresent when I say that McVities Digestives have exactly the same recipe as particle board, taste like off-brand dog biscuits – which are neither biscuits nor cookies – and must be consumed with a large volume of tea or coffee or they’ll solidify in your throat and choke the life from you.
I always hear the phrase “the cruelty is the point” with regard to Trump policies. It may be trite, but I really believe that its true. The Alligator Alcatraz joke is a great example. In case people forgot, we are actually talking about human beings that will be “housed” there. Some of those sent there will be people who lived in the US under TPS, and many of those were here legally for several years, until suddenly one day they were illegal. It is disgusting to see the apparent joy that many of Trump’s followers seem to have that people will be sent to a concentration camp*. A concentration camp located in the United States, something I truly never thought would happen.
* As to whether the Florida camp is a concentration camp I will take the word of Andrea Pitzer, an actual expert on concentration camps over such intellectual giants as Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and Tom Homan.
@Michael Reynolds: A very real possibility. Yes.
@Lucysfootball:
Why did you think the term “illegal aliens” was coined in the first place if not to dehumanize? It’s always about dehumanization.
@just nutha: I looked up the origin of the term illegal alien, and AI came up with tbis:
The term “illegal alien” has its roots in legal and historical contexts, evolving from the broader concept of “alien” as a non-citizen. The term “alien” itself has been used in US law since the Naturalization Act of 1790, and its usage expanded with the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.
I worked in insurance, and an “alien insurer” is one operating outside of the country. A foreign insurer is one operating outside of the state.
Obviously in the last few decades the main use of the term illegal alien is to dehumanize people.
Ted cruising thru the Parthenon, comes to “know thyself” and it confirms what we all already knew.
@Kathy:
I was under the impression he was trying to gain an advantage over other EV companies to establish a monopoly on the product. But yeah, it was always absurd the Tesla guy was allying himself with the guy who talks about sharks vs. electric boats and windmill cancer.
I’ve heard a lot of people suggest that in the past few years he’s been revealing who he always was, with his roots as a white guy in apartheid S. Africa, rather than being someone who started normal then went off the deep end. My opinion is that it’s likely a mix of the two; I do think he’s been increasingly radicalized, in part due to the experience of a trans daughter he refuses to accept for who she is.
Also, one point that often gets missed when it comes to radicalization is that it’s not just a matter of evolving beliefs, it’s also the type of people you surround yourself with and how that influences you and the alliances you build. He’s pushed himself more and more into far-right spaces, probably losing old friends and gaining new ones, as well as spending an inordinate amount of time online among the most toxic people imaginable. It’s a space where ideological coherence isn’t really what’s being attempted. It’s about wallowing in grievance and sharing in it with other entitled people who see themselves as victims against things that annoy them which they confuse with oppression. It’s out of that world that you find the strangest of bedfellows, because what it ultimately boils down to is powerful people joining together to gain more power, not just in terms of wealth and political muscle, but in terms of their insatiable egos.
@Michael Reynolds:
The only valid use-case for digestive biscuits is to put stilton on them, and consume with a large glass of port. 😉
@just nutha:
Indeed. Anti-Black racism has become less powerful and there are a lot of Blacks in the county. Jews are well accepted in society, GOP claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Gay bashing worked until it didn’t. There are too few trans to really be an issue, although GOPs keep trying. They need an “other”, and it needs to be a group that can’t effectively fight back. “Illegals” was actually rather clever, in an evil way.
Let’s be honest and recognize that this whole immigration thing is for Trump what Jews were for Hitler. Jews were less than 1% of the late 30s population of Germany. “Illegals” are maybe 3%, but they have little wealth and can’t vote. But Latino Americans are about 20% of the population, have wealth, and can vote. Can Trump maintain the largely fictional distinction between anti-“illegal” and plain, old fashioned, anti-Latino racism? Can Democrats help Latinos see the connection?
@Lucysfootball:
And it’s not even accurate. Simply being in the country without documentation without other offense, as are about half of so-called “illegals”, is a misdemeanor. We don’t label speeders and jay walkers “illegals”.
@drj:
If the criminal conspiracy is blackmail, taking notes is pretty unavoidable.
And even if it just involves giving people what they want without them having to ask and there are more than a few people you need to keep records. John Podesta likes pizza with extra cheese, and Donald J. Trump likes 14 year old girls with bleach blonde hair and big noses who will answer to the name Ivanka — that sort of stuff.
@gVOR10:
I hear it’s poised to make a huge comeback!
@gVOR10:
While I don’t entirely disagree with this, I think it underappreciates how they use coded appeals to the more traditional bigotries as a kind of gateway to keeping them alive. They’re just as anti-gay as they were 20 years ago, they just know it isn’t as socially acceptable to say so outright. In some ways they’re doing things that are even worse, like the “Don’t say gay” bills and their bizarre fixation on drag, which is particularly notable since that did not get so much attention during the height of gay panic decades ago. In the ’90s, as I recall, they were far more triggered by Ellen than RuPaul. And I don’t remember a single complaint about Mrs. Doubtfire, maybe because the subject was presented in a relatively heteronormative fashion even if it was the gay brother played by Harvey Fierstein who creates the costume. It’s hard for me to imagine heads not exploding over a movie like that today, and you kind of wonder if even Peter Pan would, um, fly with that crowd.
When it comes to so-called illegals, it’s not just anti-Latino (don’t forget “They’re eating the cats and dogs”), it’s basically against anyone non-white. It’s about putting them in their place so that even when they’re not being deported, they have to live every day in fear they might be. That’s the real trick, to get the message across without directly saying it.
To share an anecdote, I live in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood in New York. In previous years I’d hear a ton of fireworks through the entire month of June up until the holiday. This year it was much reduced. When I went to the post office to renew my passport, the family in front of me were doing the same thing, and the person just before that was trying to update his residency status.
Cowen linked to day to what I think is pretty good piece on civilian-military relations. The quote sums up what he sees as the basis of the relationship.
“the military agrees not to insert itself into (internal) politics broadly construed and in exchange the civilian authorities agree not to use the military in internal politics and finally in turn the military occupies an elevated place of trust in the citizenry.”
While he points out, correctly I believe, that this has been eroding due to the inactivity of Congress and the assumption of largely unchecked power by POTUS, it has clearly been accelerating under Trump. The firing of general staff for political reasons makes it clear that those chosen were picked because they had actual leanings which Trump and co could ascertain. The recent speech where only soldiers known to support Trump would be allowed on stage should never have happened if the officers present had behaved appropriately. However, it’s now clear, more than ever, that specific political beliefs and actions result in advancement.
All along it’s largely been norms that have kept this bargain intact and it will continue to fail as norms are ignored.
https://acoup.blog/2025/07/04/collections-the-american-civil-military-relationship/
Steve
@Kylopod:
Maybe he failed to notice Biden’s tariffs on Chinese EVs, which kept them firmly out of the market. One such is BYD. Here they’re beginning to proliferate more than the swastikars. I know at least two people who picked one over a Texla due to the latter having a lower quality feel and reputation.
But, really, if there’s demand for EVs, they will come. And there are many domestic manufacturers in America who can make them.
The executive summary for the planning of Operation Excalibur, this past weekend’s invasion of a park in LA, has leaked:
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-operation-excalibur-in
There’s lots of good stuff about how the “intent at MacArthur Park is to demonstrate, through a show of presence, the capacity and freedom of maneuver of federal law enforcement within the Los Angeles Joint Operations Area (JOA),” which really reads like “show of force” and “showing local government we’re the boss”
The park had emptied out beforehand (leaked plans, or effective spotters? It’s hard to hide that many military vehicles moving through a city) and so it was just dudes dressed for war, with massive weapons (a sniper’s position!), and horseys marching in formation across empty soccer fields.
9 agencies involved in planning, and notifying LAPD 2 hours ahead of time.
Why was one of those agencies the IRS? Is this some other IRS that I don’t know about?
Anyway, it’s all perfectly normal, and when the mayor dropped by to tell them to fuck off, they promptly fucked off. Totally normal.
@Lucysfootball: Being more cynical than others by nature, I’m inclined to think legal jargon/terminology is, by nature, intended to reduce decisions to matters of abstract law by removing human elements and transmogrifying moral decisions into mere “legal” ones.
@Daryl:
Do you have a point, or is the bullshit that fills you overflowing, causing you to have to fling some? You are a real zero, aren’t you?
@Lucysfootball: It’s an old term so why would you say it’s being used now to dehumanize people?
@Fortune:
Amen. And it’s too bad. This site could be better. It used to be better.
@Gustopher: You make a good point. I need to add that to yesterday’s formula.
@Connor: Was it better? Did the better people leave or the regulars lose their way? It’s hard to picture most of them being able to carry on a conversation, but the last few years have been hard on the left.
@Connor:
I thought you are Connor? You’re Drew?!? WTF is up with that nonsense? And why does the truth wound you so, whoever you are???
@Connor: While you’re here, any comment on how the markets keep reacting negatively to the tariffs, in accordance with the posts that you either did not understand or lied about?
Breaking;
The AG Secretary suggests that the 34M people on Medicaid be indentured to replace those who are deported.
I shit you not.
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1942586137572233347
@Connor: @Fortune:
Hey Wally…
Yeah Beeve…
The kids at this school really suck. They’re like so much smarter than us–even the black kids.
Yeah, I get tired of getting my ass handed to me too Beeve. Maybe we should leave em alone and find a school with dumb kids like us.
Naah– Say Wally, you wanna go watch the Orange tan milkman bang Mom while Dad’s at work? He says lots of cool stuff to Mom during that we can use on these kids.
Great Idea Beeve! That’ll show em’
@Connor:
Maybe figure out who YOU are before you criticize others?
@Daryl: He can’t quit us.
@Daryl: “why does the truth wound you?” 8 minutes later, posts a fake story.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Like characters in a really bad country tune!!!
The “hook?”
@Fortune:
Yes, it was a fake with her exact quote.
I’m a f’ing AI wizard.
@Daryl: She implies putting Medicaid recipients to work in the fields. She doesn’t use the word “indentured,” which I suspect is the point of contention.
It’s a strange and problematic statement, don’t get me wrong, but if she had used that word, it would be on another level.
By an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court allowed Trump to go ahead with his firing plans.
Jackson was the lone dissenter.
@Steven L. Taylor: You need to ask? Really?
@Daryl: Just when I think it can’t get more absurd, someone shouts “Hold muh beer; ah’ll show ‘um.”
@CSK: That’s discouraging. Nothing particularly surprises me anymore about any of this, but it’s still discouraging. Oh well…
Tesla shares drop 7% after Musk unveils plans for new U.S. political party (UPI)
Elon Musk’s empire at risk as Trump fallout deepens (Axios)
Tesla is in deeper trouble than you think (CNN)
Musk should never’ve alienated his left-leaning consumer base by tying his Swasticar company to Epstein’s best friend. Go antiwoke, go broke.
Ignore indentured if you like, moving 34M people off Medicaid and into “the fields” is a radical f’ing idea. From another member of the Cabinet of Dunces.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: It really is more a rhetorical question at this point, I suppose.
Even with new data to support the hypothesis.
@Daryl: I agree, and the statement was gross for any number of reasons. And I understand your point, but people like Fortune will glom onto the embellishment and ignore that underlying issue.
@DK: Elon can afford the loss.
But, yes, it was a dumb move to alienate his customer base.
Minnesota lawmaker released from ICU following politically motivated shooting in June (CNN)
Godspeed, senator.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I wonder sometimes. How much cash-on-hand do these billionaires actually have? It fascinates me that there are folks whose net worth can swing so wildly from week-to-week. Musk’s panicked reaction to the Tesla protests makes me wonder, it looked like fear.
@Daryl: Her exact quote! But, ignore the word you highlighted which she didn’t say, if you like.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Doubtful. Drew/Connor/Sybil and Co. are too busy whining and crying about this site they’re addicted to stalking with impotent rage, anger, and bitter jealousy.
But Murdoch and his investor class mouthpiece are not happy.
‘Tariff Man’ Is Back for More ‘Liberation’ (WSJ)
Geez, apparently even flagship conservative institutions can’t acknowledge all the good Trump economic news about jobs, stocks, and tariff revenue aka higher price and higher taxes on small businesses and the middle class. All that Trump Dickriding Syndrome, just to lose money and healthcare coverage, while gaining trillions more in deficits, more war, and no Epstein files.
Trump Calls Questions About Epstein Investigation A ‘Desecration’ Amid Pushback From Right-Wing Base (Forbes)
‘Desecration’: Trump lashes out at reporter for asking about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (USA Today)
Creep? That’s new:
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” – President Trumpflation, 2002
The desecration is a) whatever Epstein and his “closest friend” Trump were doing with minors in the 90s, and b) what’s happening to the office of the presidency, filled as it is with a Hitlerian pedo who incited a terror attack on Congress and who repeatedly, publicly sexualized his then-underage daughter.
People are right to want details, as to whether Trump ever acted on his pederastic impulses. It should’ve been a major campaign issue, because that shit is gross. Yet another data point in Trump’s amorality and unfitness for office.
@Fortune:
So if your Ma and Pa were moved off Medicare into the fields they wouldn’t have been indentured? You would make them go willingly?
Explain the mechanism your party foresees?
@DK:
I wonder that, too. A lot.
My guess is “far more money than most people will ever make.” But that runs a wide interval from a few thousand dollars to several million.
Let’s say tomorrow the Taco regime nationalizes Texla and XpaceS, and chooses to compensate the chief nazi with not rendering him to some trumphole prison for life. How much wealth would the nazi still have? How much of it would be cash?
A lot of Texla’s value is the hype around the nazi’s wild promises of robot cars that will take on and wipe out ride hailing services and bankrupt every other car company in the universe for the rest of time*. Kind of like what Theranos might have been, had Liz come up with one blood analysis machine that was better, faster, or more convenient than those already in use.
If/when the larger investors get tired of the nazi’s empty, baseless promises, the share price could crash. That’s not as bas as having the company ripped off his grubby paws, but it’s the next best thing. How much would he have left?
@JohnSF: I believe you mean drink out of a box.
@Daryl:
Many if not most of the people who will be booted off Medicaid have jobs. Will they have to work in the fields in addition to their jobs in order to get health insurance, or will the rural employers provide the insurance?
It’s not just cruel, it’s massively dumb.
@Daryl: @Steven L. Taylor:
Note that Fortune responded by describing the story as “fake” rather than merely pointing out the embellishment.
I agree with the limited criticism—using the word “indentured” is inappropriate. But to use that one word—intentional or not—as a reason to dismiss the story as fake is unjustified.
The question I have, are these jobs going to raise their wages enough so that Americans will take those jobs? If the labor market is subject to supply and demand, that is how it is supposed to work if those positions remain unfilled.
Moreover, risk is a significant price input for investment vehicles. Labor, not so much.
ETA: see my other comment below. The admin has not explained what “move the workforce” means. Given that the subject of the sentence is “we” it implies that market forces are not the preferred mechanism.
Maybe they plan on using incarcerated Americans like they do in Louisiana.
@Daryl:
Indeed, this is the question.
Also, I find it curious how intent that person is on holding OTB commenters accountable, but abide blatant lies spoken by elected officials as long as the lies support policy preferences.
@DK:
There’s been a lot of recent OTB discussion about terminology (eg, fascism, concentration camps). Curious what folks think about the two phrasings above that were used in the CNN story.
I quickly skimmed the article and didn’t see “attempted assassination” or similar variant. An observation, not a critique.
@Kurtz: It is an excellent point and underscores the degree to which people like Fortune, who claim to be evangelist for The Truth would prefer to play word games than actually deal with said truth. He holds us to a far higher standard than he holds himself or the administration that he does not support, but instead defends on a basically daily basis at a web site he does not like written primarily by someone he does not respect.
Cool, isn’t it?
@Daryl: I’m reminded of the Cambodian experiment to have city people work on the farms. It didn’t go well, if I remember my history.
Madicaid is 40% infants, if memory serves, and a whole lot of disabled folks and elderly. I don’t want to be ableist or ageist, but these are not groups that I would expect to do particularly well on farm work. There are undoubtably a few single mothers on it, and a few loaf-about slackers, and they may do better, although the single mothers likely have jobs.
I expect that someone will realize the difficulties involved, and find some other solution. They could lease out ICE detainees, or prisoners, or maybe call up the national guard.
@Connor:
He’s a real zero, but not a real zerohedge, amirite?
I do think that the tariffs are brilliant, though. Raise tax revenue in the most regressive way possible, as part of a long term strategy to transfer obligations down and rewards up. And telling people that the United States is getting ripped off because we buy so much vanilla from Madagascar, but the lemurs buy nothing from us — he’s got the rubes cheering.
@Mimai:
I’d prefer more thoughtful folk respond to you, because my own beat-the-head-horse views on this are often expressed.
The recent anti-semitic, politically motivated Colorado shooting was rightly, correctly, and immediately labeled a targeted terror attack.
What’s so different about the Minnesota shootings? Vance Boelter is a terrorist, but you’d never know from the coverage.
Why is Trump’s Jan 6 terror attack still not widely called a terror attack? At Trump’s behest, violent thugs attacked the Capitol screaming for assassination. If they were brown people named Muhammad they would have been immediately (and, again, correctly) recognized as terrorists post haste. Instead these traitors have been pardoned and released.
Our society’s collective refusal to confront these stubborn double standards is flaw needing improvement.
@Kathy:
Those faux latkes sound good to me, as does the spice mix you used for the chicken. I’ve got to try that.
Musk’s AI has gone full Hitler.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hf7ezrajxadu7v3tzcyij424/post/3lti5duymvc2i
Now, lest someone think that this is an exaggeration, it’s is literally calling itself MechaHitler.
“Jews will not replace us,” the White Supremacists call out, as they are replaced by AI.
@al Ameda:
Thanks. I still want to make patties, though. I like latkes a lot, but they are always deep fried, which means a lot of extra calories, and a greasy texture. Having though more about it, I should bake them in the oven first, than crisp them in the air fryer.
That will have to wait. For next week I’m thinking a stir fry of onions, bell pepper, snow peas, and soybean sprouts, maybe also cabbage, to pair with well browned ground beef* in an orange and peanut sauce (makes sense when I think about it).
*I found ground beef at Costco is about 20-25% cheaper than at the supermarket, but comes in 3.2 kilo packages. Fortunately it can be kept frozen for latter use.
@DK: I can’t imagine he doesn’t have enough cash in hand/safe money-earning investments that he could lose 99.9% of the paper value and still be able to live better than almost all of us.
This week I learned… Former congressman and hotel magnate Conrad Hilton had three sons.
Their names were: Jr., Barron, and Eric.
@Kathy:
LOL … I’m convinced that 27% of Americans would get hip-and/or-knee-replacement surgery(s) at Costco as long as they could get the $1.50 hot dog while they waited.
Also … Pretty sure the air fryer is the way to go.