Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
·
71 comments
OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.
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.
Greetings from Paraguay. We have been here most of a week now and have really enjoyed visiting my wife’s son, who is working here in the Pearce Corp. As a result of his stay, we have been feted by his two different host families and therefore gotten a lot of local education and culture. It has been great to see what was his marginal Spanish blossom into a pretty useful skill that another year will hone even more. An interesting element of Paraguayan culture is the widespread use of the indigenous language, Guarani, which is pretty widely spoken even in the cities. Educated Paraguayans are expected to speak both languages. I understand that in the most rural parts of Paraguay the Spanish can be a little shaky.
Today, to Iguazú Fallls.
Oh, great. Just fired up the laptop. And as is normal, just pulled up Memeorandum to get a visual of all the headlines and what do we get? Musk’s Grok Chatbot Goes Full Nazi, Calls Itself ‘MechaHitler’
and
Elon Musk’s Grok Is Calling for a New Holocaust
Is Skynet far behind?
How badly could the explosive growth of ICE go? Very badly.
https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/four-fears-about-ice-trump-s-new-masked-monster-bf1f7205365d4b27
Trump has a new baseball cap. The legend printed on it reads: TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.
…EVERYTHING.
Everything includes “you can grab them by the pussy”.
Will MAGA go nuts? Will they scream DEI?
Will Pam Bondi file a civil rights lawsuit?
Barbie with Type 1 Diabetes Makes Her Debut, Comes with Pink Glucose Monitor and Insulin Pump
End of an era.
The Army has realized that horses are no longer good for ‘warfighting’
Side note: My daughter learned to ride at Fort Sam Houston where they had a number of horses and substantial stables for recreational purposes.
The 50% tariffs on copper don’t make sense to me. Copper is very important in a great many industrial applications. The US imports about 50% of its needs. Won’t a tariff drive up the costs of making and using just about everything from computers and housing to machine tools and automobiles? How does this help? Chile is an important source of copper. We have no reason that I can see to want to punish Chile. Making the US a less attractive customer for Chilean copper makes other customers (i.e. China) more attractive.
The bizarre tariffs on pharmaceuticals are not scheduled as yet, and I will ignore them for now.
Like food, car prices are something people really pay attention to.
US used car prices surge as tariffs drive market volatility
@CSK:
That’s the hat Musk was wearing a few months ago when he was trump’s doge angel of destruction. Maybe wearing it now is a message to Musk.
@Slugger:
You’re right, a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals is bizarre. Or stupid. Or deliberately malign. Or all of the above. And it’s more than just the inane idea that, if you think drug prices are too high, you’ll fix the problem by making them higher.
These tariffs would likely kill pharmaceutical innovation in the United States, which is already reeling under the blows from slashing the funding of the FDA and other agencies. Small biotech companies are the places where new treatments are first researched and developed. They don’t operate with the massive bank accounts of an Eli Lilly (think razor-thin margins and constant investor fundraising), so a major increase in their material costs jeopardizes their whole enterprise. That would, on top of the cuts to government agencies on whom they depend for approvals and guidance, and university researchers with whom they partner, might put an end to pharmaceutical innovation in the already struggling biotech world.
An interesting post (It says its blocked, but then it isn’t) by a right-winger about Epstein:
Obama, a horrible fuck. Some of us knew this all along. Slick tongue. Evil man. Everything that people accuse Trump of, on steroids.
https://thefederalist.com/2025/07/07/cia-review-reveals-obama-pushed-intel-community-to-launch-trump-russia-witch-hunt/
Found this in another comment section:
Another quote, which kind of warms my heart:
The juxtaposition of keffiyehs, English swearing, and Spanish swearing pleases me as an illustration of the cosmopolitan nature of California. We had this fight during the Pete Wilson era, and we won. We like having people from all over here.
@Connor: A CIA review published by people Trump put there to do this very thing and you are willing to believe it wholly?
@Connor:
From the irritatingly breathless article:
Of course he put a f*cking timeline to the task. He knew that if there had been interference, it’d be buried by the incoming administration.
NO ONE IS THIS DUMB, to not understand why there would be a timeline. JFC.
There is a bunch of other stuff in that article that leads me to believe the author doesn’t understand the IC or its processes, but I am on a deadline myself and don’t have the energy to waste on this today.
@Jay L Gischer:
It doesn’t mean bitch.
It’s a very derogatory term for a gay man.
@Connor: Click.
@Connor:
https://adfontesmedia.com/federalist-bias-and-reliability/
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-federalist/
Hmm, not a particularly neutral source. I would reserve judgement, personally.
Biden yesterday; Obama today.
Anything to avoid acknowledging the nature of the shitshow in front of them.
FYI: the link is unhinged.
Our resident genius economist appears to be one of the people who cannot tell the difference between reporting and opinion. Or he’s just dishonest.
@Eusebio:
Somehow I missed that.
Also, everyone:
Here is the actual doc.
Compare this to Ratcliffe’s description. Compare this to the op-ed linked.
I did a quick count:
Number of times Obama is mentioned in Connor’s link: 18
Number of times Obama is specifically mentioned in the CIA report: 1
Unhinged. Delusional. Obsessed. Pathetic.
@Jen:
So, Obama not only failed to support El Taco’s criminal activity, but took measures to ensure he’d be held accountable in a timely manner. That’s the very worst crime there is. It makes El taco look worse.
Connor comes along to remind everyone that Obama, while not perfect, was pretty decent at his job.
@Kurtz:
I know of some emails that might be of interest.
@Connor:
It’s not a “witch hunt” when the facts prove it true.
@Scott: we just bought a used 2006 Honda Accord from our mechanic. Low miles, standard transmission. Our ancient Subaru has developed an electrical issue and become unreliable.
We are not big into cars and drive little. We just wanted a puddle jumper with as little computerization as possible and a clutch. Hard to find because we are like one of the 12 people in the world who want these features.
Our guy has rued all the tech going into cars, making them so much harder to fix and so expensive. More expensive to insure, more stuff to go wrong.
The good news is standard transmissions are cheaper to insure. And so few people know how to work a clutch these days, these cars are seldom stolen.
We paid the blue book price our guy set for it last fall, so I am feeling lucky we dodged the tariffs.
Question for all you sci-fi nerds: In all the stories about robot rebellions, was there ever one in which it was an army of racist trolls?
You can be pretty sure he didn’t read the actual report, just what the reporter(propagandist) said. I would also note that if you read the whole thing the focus is on Russian influence. Seems like something we ought to investigate, unless you think Putin is the good guy.
Steve
@Kylopod: Maybe there was one about people who panicked because they found out two people disagreed with them.
@Daryl:
Not one mention in that sad piece of propaganda that THERE WAS WIDESPREAD ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!
Again, for idjits named Connor and/or Drew, Trump asked for Russia’s help, he welcomed the help he received, and he then lied about the entire affair.
This is described in detail by the Mueller Report, the Bi-Partisan Senate Report, and testimony in the Roger Stone trial. In addition Manafort has admitted as much, publicly.
Get your head out of your ass. Or I guess it’s asses, since you have so many names.
@Jen:
You know who you’re replying to, right?
@becca:
I have now a 2013 Accord with pretty much all the tech bells and whistles (for it’s time). A lot of it is plain unnecessary and, sometimes, inconvenient to use. But I love the rearview camera. I historically have a hell of a time backing into a parking space, now I do it all the time.
I still miss my slightly older Corolla, though.
I learned to drive on standard transmission*, then drove automatic transmission cars the rest of my life. In theory I still know how to drive a standard. In practice, I stalled one several times driving it two blocks last time I tried, which must have been around 2007.
*Given how automatic transmissions are far more common now, shouldn’t standard refer to these rather than manual transmissions?
It seems the chief nazi’s trial balloon on Xitter went over like a lead balloon
@Kathy: Manual* transmission is more like it, you’re right.
We have had a 1959 Morris Minor 3 speed, a 1963 Dodge Dart station wagon with a slant six and three on the tree, a 1971 BMW 5 speed, a 1980 GMC short bed pickup (also three on the tree) and there’s a Datsun in there somewhere.
My muscle memory is strong when it comes to clutching. I had to move a friend’s car once and about gave myself whiplash treating the brakes like a clutch.
*autocorrect went with Manuel, not manual. Must be woke, or something.
Of course the tragic events on the Guadalupe river are in no way comparable to a game; football is only a game. However, the governor of Texas decided to go there, so let’s take a look. https://www.newsweek.com/greg-abbott-texas-flooding-blame-missing-people-2096350
My high school had a pretty intense football program not Texas intense, but it got a lot of attention. They filmed the whole game, and every Monday they looked at every play. Coach provided commentary, and sarcasm, belittling, and downgrading were definitely in his quiver. In view of this, I find it bizarre, crazy, and off putting to ignore criticism of an event that resulted in genuine tragic deaths. You can’t just blow it off and say we’ll try again.
@Fortune:
My apologies, I respectfully disagree with the proposition that people with Jewish names are plotting to destroy the white race.
@Kylopod: Oh, the white race. Yeah, Democrats would let you say that without rioting. Do you think anyone here disagrees with you?
@Scott:
Linda Yaccarino has just “stepped down” as chair of X.
@Kylopod:
Two options:
That person mistook OP as a shot at the two most active apologists;
That person sees OTB as some dystopian hellscape.
Both raise questions.
Aaaaaaaand, it’s a third option I did not consider.
Lost ball; tall grass
@Slugger:
Even if it were like football, Abbott’s would be the losing team.
After disasters happen, the most important thing is to determine how and why they happened, and how to prevent them in the future. This usually is not done, largely because a lot of people are trying to find someone to blame for it.
@becca:
Down here manual transmissions are called “standard” too (or rather estándar).
We’re getting to the point where language changes out of inertia. To begin with, it was all manual transmission. then automatic transmissions came out, and I suppose the term “standard” became the norm for manuals. Fair enough. I recall, not that long ago, when most car models came either with standard or automatic transmission.
At some point automatics became the norm. they’re usually not even advertised as a feature. Kind of like other extras or luxuries that became the norm, like power steering, anti-lock brakes, etc.
So we’ll keep calling manual transmission standard even if most cars don’t have them, because that’s the path of least resistance.
@becca: My first car was a 65 Mercury Comet with 3 on the tree. Then, in order, 73 AMC Hornet with 3 sp shift, 78 Ford Ranger with 4 sp shift, 80 Fiat Spider, 91 Honda Civic SI with 5 speed. Then came family and the automatics. I kept a shift with 2 Mazda 3s. The kids all learned to drive with a clutch. My daughter got rid of the last one just a few months ago.
It was interesting that the oil change places today sometimes had young workers who don’t know how to use a clutch.
@Fortune: Serious Q: Did you even click on the link or otherwise read the story about the self-identifying Nazi chatbot on X the other day? That was the context of my question about robot rebellion books.
@Jen: I find it easier and less stressful to just ignore him. But I also suspect that lurkers on partisan political comment sites aren’t any less partisan (and thus, not any more malleable) than the rest of us, so “responding for the lurkers” isn’t on my radar very much.
@Steven L. Taylor: I finally remember what “click” was about. Thanks for the memory.
@Slugger: As a serious football fan my entire life, I know that losing teams that never figure out why they lost continue to lose.
@Slugger: As a serious football fan my entire life, I know that losing teams that never figure out why they lost continue to lose.
@just nutha: I was beginning to think no one clicked 😉 or that I was being too glib.
@Daryl: I think he’s more in the “you have facts and we have alternate facts” camp.
@Kylopod: A bot isn’t an army of trolls, so I assumed it was unrelated. There were comments complaining about Connor and, indirectly, me though. Also you weren’t replying to a particular comment.
@Connor: Well, that’s a credible source! (not)
When examining Trump’s career and decisions, him being in hock to Russia is the only thing which makes sense.
@Fortune: I was just commenting on whether all the predictions about AI in sci-fi over the past century ever saw this sort of thing coming. It needn’t be literally an army, it could just be HAL 1488 killing all non-Aryans on board, same idea.
@Kylopod: I shouldn’t even try to explain the difference between a bot and a troll. No one on Outside the Beltway can understand that.
@Steven L. Taylor: That explains the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl record the last 25 years.
I think comparing the tragedy to football is insulting and dismissive. Actually, I think football is stupid, and that’s what I like about. It is a chance to look at something that doesn’t matter as a relief from everything serious.
https://bsky.app/profile/thebulwark.com/post/3ltkdyk3tys2w
Trump asks the President of Liberia where he learned to speak English so well…
@Barry:
What about him desperately and pathetically wanting to be loved by Putin, since Putin is a great man?
@Fortune: Do you smell toast? None of your posts follow from what you’re replying to.
@Kylopod: One of the Isaac Asimov robot stories hinges upon getting around the Three Laws of Robotics (cannot harm human, cannot allow human to be harmed through inaction, and —um— don’t go swimming for half an hour after eating) by redefining what a human is.
Similar things have been a trope in science fiction ever since (and probably before)
@Connor:
Prolly too worked up by this piece of obvious propaganda, but did a shallow dive into Ratcliffe. He’s the ultimate Trump toady and this drivel is just part of that. His entire reason for being appears to be the whitewashing of Trump’s sordid history.
It’s embarrassing that this guy is Director of the CIA. If we do need the CIA at some point, to keep us safe, then we’re going to be in big trouble. That’s the least of Ratcliffe’s concerns.
@Fortune:
No problem, I’ll take it up: Bots are mechanical men that fire lasers at those who do not follow their digital commands, trolls are those dolls with hair to make any ’80s metal singer weep.
What’d I win?
@Steven L. Taylor:
And overspend on the first available superstar QB that this time will surely, certainly, positively, absolutely go on to win every Super Bowl for the next fifteen years.
I often imagine after Super Bowl XXXIII, Dan Reeves should have approached John Elway and demanded “Now you win a Super Bowl, John? Now?”
To which Elway would have replied “Now I have a running game, coach.”
@Gustopher:
That would be the novel Robots and Empire.
The third law is A robot musta have three laws because having only two laws would be just stupid, even if the third law is so common sense and so implicit it makes little sense to even have it. 😀
@Connor: “Obama, a horrible fuck. ”
You mean a president finds out that a Russian tool may be about to assume the presidency and start to destroy the country from within and he suggests the intelligence agencies do something about it?
The horror! The horror!
Not that I believe a word of this screed, which is all screechy accusations and no facts. But if it’s true, then we should be showering Obama with medals.
Tell me, when did you decide to support treason?
Trump praised Pres. Joseph Boakai of Liberia for speaking “such good English.”
English is the official language of Liberia.
What an embarrassment this horse’s ass is.
A rare case where the headline is descriptive of the opinion piece: Small screen, big investment: TV episodes have become way too long
Much of the piece is a list of which shows are running long or at erratic lengths. Still, it makes the point that when eps run too long, many of us lack the time to see them through.
I often have just two hours total between getting home and bedtime, sometimes even less. Playing the latest unwatched “For All Mankind”* means at least one hour. I won’t say the show has too much filler, but it does have some. And this even when it’s making a good point or developing a plot point.
For a much better take on filler, listen to the Ancient Geeks ep on the first Trek movie. They nail it. I’ll only add I dislike extended sequences, usually set to music, showing everyday activities, like a character walking to the bakery and then to the newsstand (seriously).
My point is some shows that run 65-75 minutes could have run only 55-65 and been as good.
* It’s what I’m watching daily now, until I run out season 4 by this weekend. I’ve found it a bit disappointing and almost totally unrealistic. I can buy extending the space race. I can’t buy funding NASA to the levels it would have required for all that gets shown, much less the Soviets managing to keep up.
And I think the show’s creators/writers realized this at some point. In season 3, I think, Margo or Ellen casually mention NASA is “self-funding.” Whoever it was, she never says why that is.
I do like how many women reach high places in NASA and elsewhere.
Chill pill, people’. The world is not ending.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XToQUS3HsLM
AI surgery robot?
Nope. No. I opt out in perpetuity.
this is weird. I’m a technophile from way, way back, as far as having gotten into computers in the early 80s, long before there was an internet, and even before dialup Bulletin Board Systems were a thing.
So you’d think I’d be all in for the latest developments. Only that’s not what it feels we have now. It’s more like hubris and half-baked products like ChatGPT. What happens if robodoc hallucinates your aorta is something it can cut? What if it’s hacked?
And what’s not hubris and/or half-baked is rapidly becoming enshitified. See most social media.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Bosses tend to have a difficult time suspecting themselves to be even some, let alone the major, part of the problem.
@becca:
Haven’t had a car with a manual transmission since the turn of the century, and I sometimes miss them. Two of our post-2000 cars had starter problems in the last couple of years; one of them was in a commercial parking lot, could not be coaxed to start with the normal tricks, and had to be towed to a shop. Back in the days of manual transmissions, I was never stranded by a starter problem—when there was a hint of a problem, I just made sure to park with enough space for a roll start.