Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
·
39 comments
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.
********************@
More attacks that weaken America.
Pam Bondi Dismissed Charges Against a Surgeon Who Falsified Vaccine Cards. It Emboldened Others With Similar Cases.
More Reporting Highlights:
“Medical freedom” is the underpinning of Make Measles Great Again, as the United States slides into a backward, isolated, and corrupt country ruled by a demented octogenarian and his cadre of asshats. Pass the bourbon, please.
Trump is apparently suing the Pulitzer Board since they have refused to rescind prizes they gave out to reporting about ties to Russia. They have responded with an incredibly…thorough discovery request. Basically, they are asking for everything. Medical records, financial records, tax records, all of it.
So FU, Greg Abbott
San Antonio to remove rainbow crosswalk after state denial; will install rainbow sidewalks instead
Am I out of touch or missing something? It seems as though Trump’s speech tonight is getting zero coverage. Seem ad hoc and of no importance.
@Scott: Given his outburst about Venezuela on Truth Social yesterday, my money is on his announcing going to war with them, but maybe it’ll just be gaslighting us all on affordability or jobs.
The hideous post potus put out on the tragic Reiner murders did some serious damage. Spitting in the face of decency for all to see. The stench will follow the admin.
All the perfumes of Arabia…
@Charley in Cleveland:
“…cadre of asshats…” Beautiful! I love it.
@becca:
Well said.
@Scott: @Jen:
I was thinking about this last night and this morning–the lack of any reaction from media or people to the signs that we are about to launch a war against Venezuela. I, too, don’t have much of a reaction, because I don’t believe it will actually happen. That is, sure, Trump may announce a war. There may even be kinectic actions or wtf the word was from the Iraq war. But I just don’t believe Trump has the fortitude to stick it out. After a week of headlines, good or bad, he’ll TACO as he always does, and Venezuela will just be another short chapter in this very bizarre era.
Yesterday was Jane Austen’s 250th birthday.
@Scott: @Jen: Trump has demanded network time to issue another 3-D speech: Dumb, Dishonest, Divisive. And of course no Trump speech is complete without a sentence or two blaming Joe Biden for the problems that were created after 12:01 PM on January 20, 2025.
Thinking back on it, the ending of The Good Place was wrong. They should have let the Judge reboot the Earth.
I found this AP item on Trump’s speech tonight.
A Google search Trump Speech turns up posts by national and local news outlets.
Count me in on the Venezuela war announcement. That’s still consistent with what @Gregory Lawrence Brown: link suggests.
I suspect either way the idiot is going to get on TV and manage to really piss people off. It’s not like he’s gonna say sorry or some shit. He’ll get on tv, tell us we’re all idiot assholes for not kissing his ass and then he’ll unleash more stupid crap that no one wants.
Given that the speech is set for 9pm Eastern, I’m hoping we either get some good ol’ fashion sundowning or idiot so hopped up on stimulants he’s climbing out of his skin. Anyone know when his last infusion was?
@Neil Hudelson:
I’m guessing the only thing stopping him from sending in the Military is that some small part of him knows that when the body bags start showing up people are going to be pissed and blame him.
Eventually some other voice is going to win out or he’s gonna slink away. What a time to be alive.
@Scott:
@Jen:
@Neil Hudelson:
@Beth:
All radio stations in Mexico have to broadcast a government produced program called the National Hour on Sunday evenings. It used to be ponderous propaganda and pronouncements by high officials. Very boring. I’m told it’s changed.
The joke in the 70s was the National Hour is the time all Mexicans come together and switch off their radios.
So, El Taco’s live primetime address should be when all Americans turn off their TVs.
Sounds like Jack Smith fired some effective opening remarks at Gymbo.
https://apnews.com/article/jack-smith-congress-justice-department-d35557d525fcfe51a20d08c6abb7f71d?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share
How long can Speaker Johnson stay on as Speaker?
Frustrated GOP moderates join Democrats to force Obamacare extension vote
What is RealID all about? The law was passed in 2005, and it is now getting around to being enforced. If we could wait twenty years, maybe it is superfluous at best. I stepped up to a selfcheck booth crossing the Canadian border, and it scanned my face for a biometric identification ( there is an opt out available). I would think that biometric identification would obviate any need for a state issued paper. I don’t fear malign government intentions so much, but I think that stupidity, ignorance, and foul ups are common. I have told you guys previously that one of my friends has a very common Spanish name that he shares with a narcotrafficante. This caused him many delays until he added the Jr. suffix. Government regulations always create these snafus. A law that waited twenty years is unnecessary.
@Slugger: I have a friend with a very Irish name, shared with someone on an IRA list. The first few flights after lists were developed after 9/11 were frustrating, to put it mildly.
RealID, IIRC, is more about adding information to an accessible database rather than collecting anything new or different. It’s similar to what I pointed out during Musk’s rampage through the government’s computer infrastructure: it’s very hard and expensive to switch technologies, given the number of legacy systems. RealID? *That’s* an example of how long this stuff really takes, when done correctly.
@Jen: My name was on a watch list for a few years. It’s a very common Scandinavian name. It took a couple years before I didn’t have to go to the ticket counter and show my passport for domestic flights.
@Slugger:
We have used the kiosks at the airport returning to Toronto but it used the facial scan and a scan of our Nexus card. I think that card works as real ID?
Hegseth overhauling chaplain corps, targeting ‘new age’ concepts
Now I believe the Chaplain Corps is a relic of an earlier time but it is designed to meet the spiritual needs of all service people and their families regardless of their religious beliefs. This goes against that idea.
Now just wait for the current Secretary of the VA, the very conservative former AF Chaplain finds out (if he hasn’t already) about the available Emblems of Belief available for the headstones in VA cemeteries.
@Jen: If you want to throw the conservatives into a tizzy when they complain about Real ID, just suggest we have a national ID card instead.
@Scott: I don’t think that this is so much Mike Johnson’s failure so much as there is no living person (or person from history) that could navigate this situation successfully.
The House Republican Caucus is ungovernable. Its majority is razor-thin. “Every man for himself” is kind of a common Republican (not to say American) idea. Trump in the White House makes it harder, not easier.
I have been using Nitter to follow the X conversation about two events: the Brown University shooting and an acid attack in a Savannah park on Dec. 10th.
The latter is far less ridiculous, except for one thing. On Dec. 11th, a surveillance photo from the park showing someone they deemed a person of interest (this designation is important). Yesterday, one outlet provided an update posted at 5:12 PM. Police announced:
I cannot tell when police announced that the individual in the photo appeared for the interview. It seems to have been in the early afternoon yesterday.
Here is why I am posting. Yesterday, at 12:40 Eastern time, a Chattanooga local media outlet posted to X the following with the previously circulated photo of the man:
First, the outlet identified this man as the attacker even though the police never identified him as such.
Second, that post is still live today. And I have yet to see any other WTCV post about the case nor an update appended to the erroneous post. Nitter shows one reply, but I cannot see it. I am guessing because the person protects their tweets. If WTCV replied to clarify, I should be able to see it.
The fact is, the initial report was not merely misleading, it was a falsehood. And it could conceivably put an innocent man in danger. If it was a mistake, fine. It should be updated. But it is still live ~24 hours after the announcement that the man is not even a suspect.
WTCV is owned by Sinclair.
—
I will save the Brown shooting conversation for a forthcoming post. It is batshit.
Today the Senate passed a defense bill that rescinds the 1991 and 2992 AUMF. It always demands boat bombing videos and there’s money for Ukraine.
Trump is expected to sign it.
The House defied Pastor Mike and forced a vote on a 3 year extension of ACA subsidies.
There’s blood in the water.
@becca:
The ACA subsidies are like the stupidest matter in Congress. Clearly it will be devastating to millions if the subsidies expire. Clearly this will damage the party in power. And even more clearly they’ve nothing to replace the subsidies with.
The obvious thing to do is to extend the subsidies for at least one more year, while they come up with some other plan that will benefit insurance companies and make people think they will still have health coverage.
It’s like as long as there’s no huge outcry over loss of coverage, Republiqans just can’t think or act on healthcare policy, beyond deriding the ACA and Obama. They’re like a child boasting they could do it a million times better, but don’t want to.
@Kathy:
Exactly. A couple of points:
(1) They’re very fortunate that the midterms are about 10 months out.
(2) No outcry yet? I believe they think they’ve got that covered by comandeering the newscycle … every … fricken … day – “we’re blockading Venezuela, we’re not going to tell you about bombing narco-boats, we’re taking Jack Smith down, we’re trashing Hollywood losers like Rob Reiner” … and on and on.
Distraction, deflection, rinse repeat.
There’s a long way to go.
I paired the Brown shooting with the Savannah thing, because something similar is happening. The Chattanooga outlet that posted the irresponsible tweet is local. But it’s a media outlet, so it introduces additional elements to think about.
The Brown shooting is being driven by lunatics on X. Fortunately for all of you, I don’t need to meander through all the shit that I saw, because a few outlets have described most of it.
MoJo has a rundown:
The conversation on X consists of:
-repeating the “allahu akbar” claim that no one seems to have evidence for other than claiming they heard some student say it.
-claiming Brown knows who the shooter is but is protecting them
-that the student who they are accusing took down his social media and Brown deleted his online student profile. “Why would they do that?”
I dunno, maybe because a bunch of unhinged lunatics are accusing the guy of murder?
-apparently, to these people walking with one’s hands clasped behind one’s back is ‘uncommon’ and indicative of ‘middle eastern culture.’ The former is untrue and the latter is hardly unique to one culture.
-I saw one or two comments expressing the opinion that the enhanced video was edited specifically to make the subject look lighter skinned.
Oh, that’s right! The accused student does not have dark brown skin. It’s olive. The subject of the ring camera videos looks like a stereotypical pear-shaped Caucasian American. Granted, the videos and images may not be indicative of the subject’s actual skin tone. But that’s kind of the point.
We are surrounded by moronic, paranoid maniacs all egging each other, holding hands deeper into their alternate reality.
May be time for me to start drinking.
@Kathy:
I’ve suggested in the past that if Congress were paying attention, when many of those millions drop their health insurance coverage because they can’t afford it, that’s a many billion dollar hit to the insurance companies. Millions of individuals suffer; the insurance companies suffer; the health care providers suffer. Other than some GOP politicians privately celebrating “look at all the suffering!”, no one wins.
@Michael Cain: To say nothing of the big increase to emergency room visits which won’t be reimbursed.
@Kurtz: At some point the Kash Patel Bureau of Investigation will announce that some previously anonymous Middle Eastern individual has been killed in a shootout with G-men. Trump will bomb the guys home country. All will be well.
@Kathy:
In Washington State, Republicans have basically stopped trying to compete either in Seattle or on a statewide level. They have no ideas on how to solve the problems the region is facing — a statewide homelessness crisis that gets funneled into Seattle, crime, housing policy, economic growth outside of the big metro, micro-aggressions against/by baristas, etc.
Instead they have grievances for imagined slights, complaints about taxes, and bigotry. Things that don’t appeal to a majority. And “Seattle is dying.”
For a while I wondered if they didn’t have policies because they just don’t have any policies, or whether they didn’t bother because they know they will never be elected because their base demands they hate trans people as priority number one.
Based on the national party, I assume they have no policies because they just have no policies.
It’s not great when a major party just opts out completely on policy.
I mean, sure, they’re pro-authoritarian, but what do they even want to use that authority for if they aren’t interested in health care? White Supremacy? This is Washington Fucking State! Everyone is White! Time to move onto the second and third priorities.
We recently had a mayoral election between a failed moderate liberal incumbent and a not-conventionally-qualified lefty*. Had Republicans fielded a candidate who could conceivably be called a Seattle Bloomberg, they would have been a decent chance. But then they might have had to deal with housing policy, and they can’t do that. We have a jungle primary, so there isn’t even the “we can’t get a normal person through a primary” excuse. We don’t even have party labels.
(I have a similar rant about Mamdani in NYC — he won because mainstream Dems pushed a sex-pest former governor who resigned in disgrace, and the Republicans nominated Curtis Sliwa. NYC isn’t that lefty, they just looked at the other choices and recoiled in horror)
*: maybe she will be great, but there’s not a lot of track record to suggest that she can implement a policy in an intransigeant organization. Whether or not her policy proposals and priorities are good (they are at least different bad ideas, so we won’t just be repeating the same bad ideas…. And maybe they’re good ideas!)
@Michael Cain: If I wanted to make an authoritarian government I would want to nationalize health care. I don’t see why Republicans haven’t realized that.
Politically motivated prosecutions are easy to spot, but politically motivated denial of coverage?
Not to mention it would make it so much easier to make the lives of every trans person a living hell. And denying PrEP coverage can get a large chunk of the garden variety homosexuals.
And making people show proof of citizenship for care… they should be salivating at the prospect.
Want to punish people who have had abortions? You need access to the medical records.
And Ivermectin for everyone!
I’m offended by the lack of ambition.
James and Steven, my Patreon payment didn’t go through because my card was canceled.
Tuesday I got a call from my bank’s fraud detection unit asking about certain charge. I didn’t make that charge. They told me the only solution was to cancel my card and send me a new one. 7 – 10 days. I’ll have to edit or reestablish several accounts.
I’m back to using cash for a while. Can’t even get cash from the ATM. Have to get to the bank when it’s open. Feels like 1980.
Judging by the general comments on Bluesky, the infamous primetime address was some nazi diatribes against immigrants, and more lies about the economy.
Switch off the TV indeed.
@becca: I feel like this – the discharge petition to force a vote on ACA subsidies – is the clearest possible evidence that many, if not most, Members consider donors and primaries more important than general elections.
I would guess that Mike Johnson thinks cancelling out ACA subsidies is bad for Republican electoral prospects. I would never think him stupid. I would also guess that he does not wish be seen to be advancing that over the desires (as opposed to the interests) of a majority of his caucus.
Meanwhile, we have a defense bill that has several positives.
@Kathy: Wow, does this mean that we have got to the point where Trump is boring? Really? Just the same-old, same-old?