Outside the Beltway

Tuesday’s Forum

· Tuesday, January 20, 2026 · 11 comments

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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 Twitter and/or BlueSky.

Comments

  1. Scott says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:11

    Dow down 760 points thanks to guess who?

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  2. CSK says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:13

    Well, it’s about time. Sheesh

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  3. Scott says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:14

    The Chinese are not dumb. Unlike a certain President. It is why we got rid of the Iowa-class battleships in the first place.

    China calls Trump battleship ‘easier target’ amid mixed US reception

    U.S. President Donald Trump calls the vessel a new class of “battleship” graced by his own name, but China just calls the U.S. Navy’s latest concept a larger and “easier target” for its growing array of anti-ship drones and missiles.

    A day after Trump’s Dec. 22 announcement at Mar-a-Lago that he had ordered the construction of a “Trump class” of possibly 20 to 25 battleships, China’s Global Times, a state media outlet, carried an interview with naval researcher Zhang Junshe stating that the type of warship envisioned by Trump would be a ripe target for China’s anti-ship weapons, including the so-called “carrier killer” DF-21D ballistic missile.

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  4. Scott says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:20

    A little history.

    Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95

    Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away Saturday, surrounded by her loving family. She was 95.

    Her story began far from satellites and supercomputers. Born into poverty on a Virginia farm during the Jim Crow era, West grew up in a segregated South where opportunity was scarce. Through determination and extraordinary academic talent, she graduated first in her high school class and earned a scholarship to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). She received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1952 and went on to earn a master’s degree in 1955.

    In 1956, West began working as a mathematician at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia. She was only the second African American woman hired at the base and one of just four African American employees at the time. What followed was a career that would quietly change the world.

    At Dahlgren, West devoted herself to solving one of science’s most complex challenges: accurately modeling the shape of the Earth. Her painstaking calculations and programming helped transform raw satellite data into precise geodetic models, enabling reliable satellite-based navigation. That work ultimately became the backbone of the Global Positioning System (GPS) — now essential to aviation, shipping, emergency response, smartphones, and daily life worldwide.

    BTW, FYI, Dr West was not one of the mathematicians memorialized in the film Hidden Figures. Those women worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.

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  5. Kathy says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:21

    @CSK:

    Being stuck on Monday is just like being stuck in a nightmare, but with more Monday in it (shudder).

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  6. Neil Hudelson says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 10:29

    It’s girl scout cookie season! (It always is somewhere.) I’m sure many of you have daughters, grand daughters, nieces, and neighbors who are selling them, but for those who do not and who want some refreshing thin mints or scrumptious samoas, here is my daughter’s cookie sale page:

    https://digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/cecilia648139

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  7. EddieInCA says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 11:04

    @Neil Hudelson:

    Just bought four boxes to be donated locally. Best of luck to your daughter!

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  8. Neil Hudelson says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 11:11

    @EddieInCA:

    Thanks so much, Eddie!

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  9. Michael Reynolds says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 11:20

    @Neil Hudelson:
    i would, but customs coming into Portugal would be a nightmare.

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  10. Neil Hudelson says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 11:22

    @Michael Reynolds:

    I am personally tarrifing Portugal until they remove these ridiculous trade barriers!

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  11. CSK says:
    Tuesday, 20 January 2026 at 11:44

    @Neil Hudelson:

    Michael, I see that a Socialist (Seguro) and a far-rightist (Ventura) will face each other Feb. 8 in a run-off for the presidency of Portugal. What are your views on this? If Ventura won, would you and Katherine leave?

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