Outside the Beltway

Weekend Tabs

James Joyner
16

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Michigan Advance, “A presidential nominee drops out. What happens to states’ ballots?” A useful state-by-state breakdown of ballot deadlines. BLUF: We vote for Electors, not candidates, and Electors are committed party loyalists. And there will be lawyers, with SCOTUS likely weighing in.

Yahoo Entertainment, “Alec Baldwin ‘Rust’ case suddenly dismissed over withheld evidence. It’s a ‘complete embarrassment’ to the prosecutors, expert says.” -I would have preferred this case thrown out on the merits rather than prosecutorial misconduct but the result is correct.

The Big Picture, “Breaking Down Project 2025.” An issue-by-issue look at a Heritage Foundation plan that may or not be a blueprint for a second Trump presidency through a highly partisan (Democratic) lens.

NOTUS, “Biden’s Call With Hispanic Lawmakers Goes Off the Rails.” Yet more calls for POTUS to stand aside.

WBUR, “How New England split with America over hot dog buns.” I clicked because I missed “New” in the original headline and thought this was some weird transatlantic fight. It’s about top- vs side-sliced buns and why the former hasn’t caught on outside the region.

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16 responses to “Weekend Tabs”

  1. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    And there will be lawyers, with SCOTUS likely weighing in.

    This is the part that I think most people who want a change are ignoring.

    8
  2. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    I prefer the slice-sided buns, lightly toasted, myself.

    2
  3. Flat Earth Luddite Avatar
    Flat Earth Luddite

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    If by SCOTUS weighing in, you mean Thomas et al standing on the scales of justice while holding a bag of anvils, I completely agree

    6
  4. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    I do a lot of baking and made homemade hot dog buns one summer a few years ago. Sliced them sideways, went on my merry way.

    Got an earful later that day when my husband, who grew up in Maine, didn’t notice the side cut and made a second cut from the top…”why are all of the buns cut WRONG??!!”

    2
  5. Neil Hudelson Avatar
    Neil Hudelson

    Side split buns are easier to griddle/grill. Top split buns have better bread balance on each side, and hold the hotdog and toppings upright.

    Here’s my favorite way to use the top split buns:
    Combine butter poached lobster with a just a bit of mayo and some finely chopped celery. Squirt with fresh lemon juice. Throw away hot dog, then top bun with lobster mix.

    4
  6. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    @Flat Earth Luddite:

    Easier just to slow walk, a proven technique that works well – justice denied.

    The lazy way – no need to work crafting an opinion before the issue becomes moot.

    2
  7. Kurtz Avatar
    Kurtz

    The Big Picture, “Breaking Down Project 2025.” An issue-by-issue look at a Heritage Foundation plan that may or not be a blueprint for a second Trump presidency through a highly partisan (Democratic) lens.

    James, there is virtually no way to criticize Project 2025 without being painted as partisan or ideological, because the document itself advocates policies that are

    Here is the 900+ page policy book.

    First, given that few people are going to read that thing, I find it helpful to look at two things: the list of organizations that comprise the Advisory Board and the list of authors.

    The organizations: the ones I recognize are firmly right wing. The uniformity is such that it is more than fair to infer that they are all well past center-right/conservative.

    The authors: it is entirely composed of former Trump Administration officials and/or people within Heritage. They include Peter Navarro and Stephen Moore (lol x2). Hans von Spakovsky wrote the chapter on the FEC (!!!). Oh, and Michael Anton is among the lengthy list of contributors. That last one, a scholar of Machiavelli, appears to see The Prince as a blueprint.

    (emphasis mine)

    Second, Kevin Roberts, the editor of the document is the President of both the Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action. The latter is the lobbying arm of Heritage.

    Third, here (archived) is an NYT interview with Roberts.

    I recommend reading that interview in full. He is of the coterie of authoritarians who simp for Orban.

    Orban has become this darling of the right. You yourself have met with him. You’ve praised him on social media.

    He’s a very impressive leader.

    At CPAC last year, he said Hungary is “the place where we didn’t just talk about defeating the progressives and liberals and causing a conservative Christian political turn, but we actually did it.”

    It’s all true. It should be celebrated.

    Roberts told me that he views Heritage’s role today as “institutionalizing Trumpism.” This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump’s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that “the Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.”

    What does “recruit and vet” mean?

    In a recent podcast episode, you were speaking with Jesse Kelly, the right-wing radio host, and the episode was about, and I’m quoting here, “the secret Communist movement inside America.” And you were not talking about Chinese government infiltration. You said about those employed in the U.S. government, “These men and women, these Communists, really, are in positions where they’re dictating with the power, the authority of law, what other Americans do.” You use the word “Communist” a lot to describe those you might disagree with politically inside this country.

    Well, at least a few of them must be Communists. I think there are far more Chinese Communists who’ve infiltrated our government than American Communists, but at the very least, they’re socialists. So if I were to revise that, I would say they were socialists, not Communists.

    Note that his revision makes the initial quote even worse by expanding his targets from communists to socialists. He’s smart enough to know that few Americans can define either term, that many conflate the two, and that conflation is weaponized to engender fear.

    Most of all, note that he isn’t merely concerned about potential espionage, but he explicitly targets Americans as well. One of the cornerstones of a functional modern state is a non-partisan civil service.

    This is Red Scare Redux–Bircher, Skousen paranoid delusion.

    Lastly, this piece of work may hold a PhD, but he has never been a professional scholar. He taught at a few colleges and universities before being appointed as President of Wyoming Catholic College. This is an institution that limits internet access to sites it approves for coursework. Or should I say, censors the internet. Sounds downright ‘communist’ to me.

    Maybe the biggest issue he has with the CCP is he sees pieces of himself when he looks at it.

    Is my criticism too partisan?

    ETA: I have to add one more thing:

    Consolidation of power to the executive branch, specifically, giving the President the authority to dismiss government workers at will, is hardly conservative. It replaces competence and expertise with a political litmus test. There is no way to see it as anything but right wing authoritarianism. Pointing that out is not partisan or ideological–it is criticism rooted in reality.

    11
  8. Moosebreath Avatar
    Moosebreath

    @Kurtz:

    The same Kevin Roberts who gave another interview earlier this month:

    “Roberts then declared himself an insurrectionist who is open to violence: “We are in the process of the second American Revolution,” he said, “which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.””

    3
  9. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    @Moosebreath:

    “We are in the process of the second American Revolution,”

    We had the first American Revolution to get out from under a king, now these MAGA chucklefucks want a second American Revolution to bring the king back.

    7
  10. Moosebreath Avatar
    Moosebreath

    @Mikey:

    Yes, they are fine with a king as long as they choose who the king is.

    4
  11. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Flat Earth Luddite: Why only one bag of anvils? Six justices standing on the scale can easily hold as many as 12 bags of anvils.

    2
  12. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @Neil Hudelson: In the primitive wilds of the PNW in which I grew up, we solved the hot dog and toppings upright by compounding the crime, holding the bun sideways (cut side up) to begin with.

    Your overall solution to the problem has merit, but I’m allergic to lobster. (I have the, supposedly, rare condition being allergic to most fish with fins and scales rather than ones that live in RVs (shells). Lobster is my only shellfish allergy.)

  13. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    @just nutha: For the common crustacean allergy, consider eating clam rolls or scallop rolls while our dining companions have the typical New England lobster rolls, all made with top-sliced buns. At least for those of us allergic to arthropods but not molluscs.

  14. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Eusebio: Not really a seafood roll fan that much. Mostly I was being snarky. But go ahead and have a scallop roll if you want. I’ll have clam fries or oysters with fries instead.

    1
  15. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    @Eusebio: Are there really that many people allergic to crustaceans but not mollusks? I thought the most common allergy was “shellfish” — including both…

  16. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @DrDaveT: Yeah, that’s my understanding. Shellfish more common than fish with scales, too. That’s what I was always told as a seafood allergy patient, also. Apparently, exposure to preservatives (mostly sulfites??) is a factor, too, but I don’t think anyone understands how yet.

    1

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