Wednesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Wednesday, February 4, 2026
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21 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
Twitter and/or
BlueSky.
There will be a reckoning of the monstrosity occurring under this administration. Can’t come too soon.
After El Paso’s ME ruled migrant’s death a homicide, ICE sent the next body to an Army hospital
This is so surprising. /s
Hannah Neeleman’s Ballerina Farm Halts Sale of Raw Milk Due to Bacteria Concerns: Report
For those (luckily/blissfully) unaware, this is one of the influencers who started the whole “tradwife” movement. The wife is a Julliard-trained ballerina, and the husband is the son of JetBlue founder David Neeleman (so, a multi-millionaire). They have eight children, and are now making money off of “content” and, apparently, poop-laced raw milk.
Statement from the brand, emphasis mine/added:
I cannot even with these people.
ICE should adopt the Ronald Reagan mantra…
”We are from the Government and we are here to help.”
@Jen:
I’ve heard raw milk described by scientists as Russian Roulette with five bullets in the revolver.
Cows milk is for baby cows.
@Jen: One has to laugh when the raw milk crowd belatedly discovers there’s a reason pasteurization came into being in the first place. This is the same crew that preaches organic this and non-processed that, but avoids doctors and throws money at herbal supplements and other snake oil. In other words, RFK Jr. fans.
I am hoping Steve or James will cover Trump’s trying to nationalize the vote, taking it away from the states or at least the states who dont vote for him. I think this is clearly unconstitutional isn’t it?
As I recall the incidence of illness from drinking raw milk is pretty low, it’s just that the risk/reward ratio is nearly infinite as there is essentially no advantage to drinking raw milk. Some people claims it tastes better and as that is totally subjective I guess you cant really dispute it. For myself having spent some time living on a farm and working on one growing up and having milked cows, so of course you drank some, I couldn’t tell any difference. Of note, we still went to the store and got pasteurized milk like everyone else.
Steve
@Jen:
I’d never heard of Hannah till I read your comment, so I looked her up. Yowza. Didn’t sh, her husband,and their eight kids decamp to Ireland last year so Hannah and hubby could attend cooking school?
@steve222:
Yes, I’d like to read about nationalizing the vote.
@CSK: Yes, over to Ballymaloe cooking school. The 12-week course is around 17,500 euros per person. Assuming they both attended, that’s around $41K. No idea what they did with the 8 kids while taking classes, but I guess if you have the cash to splash out for the course, you have enough to find babysitters.
I still find all of the tradwife stuff so weird and unsettling, but like many influencers, she’s selling a facade/Potemkin village of half-truths.
@Jen:
Daniel, the hubby, is said to dislike nannies. I don’t know how he feels about babysitters. Maybe they brought the kids with them to school to let them run wild and free amidst the Ballymaloe organic farm.
@steve222:
My question would be, “Better than what?” We used to buy a local/regional brand of grass fed milk (organic and pasteurized). It tasted better–I would say richer–than standard supermarket milk having the same fat content.
Apparently Citizen Noem thinks that people who bear arms without an ID are subject to summary execution much like her dog Cricket.
Then California Governor Ronald Reagan reacted: “It’s just too bad we can’t have an epidemic of botulism.”
Source
Looks like the Fixer Court is broken.
Seriously, someone should check on Uncle Thomas and Beer Kavanaugh, and Judge Covid, and the other white men whose nicknames escape me. Something must be wrong with all of them.
TL;DR:
Whether they’re ok or not, they should avoid high floors with windows until 2029.
@Kathy:
Being judges, even this Court may have issues in ruling for a plea that obviously has no merit.
The “conservatives” on the bench will obviously stretch things to the limit to accomodate eecutive privilge and “conservative” interests.
But limits probably remain.
@JohnSF:
I guess they couldn’t come up with a rationalization that didn’t threaten to kill them with their own laughter.
Thing is, Fixer Court Rulings are final and can’t be appealed. To reverse them or strike them down, one needs to pass legislation or even amend the constitution.
Oh, they’d been savaged in the press, even from some on their side who for some reason retain a scintilla of intellectual integrity (and of working intellect). But the bribes -sorry, tips- woulda have flowed like the Nile on flood on steroids, and El Taco would have threatened a 1500% tariff on the Vatican for not canonizing the Perfidious Six right away.
Sure, maybe they’re not the caricature I make them out to be. But what are the chances of that?
@Jen: That which does not kill us makes us stronger?
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
So, so excellent!
@Rob1:
To quote the Jafar Principle*: You’d be surprised what you can live through.
That which won’t kill you may make you stronger. Or give you diarrhea, or permanent paralysis, or kidney failure (not lethal with a transplant and dialysis), or some other organ failure (see previous parenthesis), or blind you, or any of several other unpleasant, non-strengthening possibilities.
*I’m ashamed I saw that direct to video movie, but that part was instructive.
“Don Colossus” statue about to be unveiled.
(snip)
A massive golden statue of President Donald Trump will soon loom over the grounds of his golf complex in Doral, Florida, the site of this year’s annual G20 Summit.
The gaudy effigy stands 15 feet tall — 22 feet when affixed upon a 7,000-pound concrete pedestal — and is coated in gold leaf. It depicts Trump with a raised fist in the moments after he survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
Pigeons, earn your keep!
11 years on, we’re still doing 11 years on Monday morning head coaching.
Last Seahawks vs Patriots Super Bowl featured a crucial interception on 2nd and goal. I’m sure you all remember it.
I’ll reiterate what I said at the time: it made sense to assume the New England Bradys would be expecting a run by Marshawn Lynch, therefore it also made sense to try something else. Perhaps not exactly that play, but that is largely hindsight.
Also, no one really ever plans for an interception. They’re unpredictable, like fumbles. You plan for an incomplete pass, or for the receiver to be stopped out of the end zone, or even for a sack. For that, Seattle still had two more plays.
I see it a a good illustration there are no guarantees in life. So, as Captain Picard put it, you can do everything right and still lose.