Winter Solstice Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Sunday, December 21, 2025
·
9 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.
********************@
Because Lincoln won the war (think about that big picture)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbsKx3skgtM
(I knew Alice Stewart, as in audience, went to her memorial service. )
Once upon a time there was an airline much loved by many of its customers, which made a profit every year for 47 years, until the trump pandemic hit all airlines in the world. Too be sure, this airline had some odd practices that limited its prospects and growth. They had to buy another airline merely to be abe to offer international travel (really), and in 2022 their outdated systems crashed and led to massive flight cancellations over several days.
Then along came the gallant knights of Elliot Investment Management, who were very concerned over the poor, battered airline’s stock price. So they bought large amounts of stock, enough to get seats at the airline’s board where they could work their magic financial tools and fore changes to the airline’s operations to help the pitiful stock to rise.
The airline resisted the knights’ wisdom, but the pressure was too much to bear. Eventually they began to fleece their customers with fees for seat assignments, and then with fees for luggage, something the airline had avoided doing for many, many years, bucking industry trends.
Bu the knights of Elliot proved right, and the stock rose in price.
And so, the knights of Elliot began to sell their shares at a profit. Not all of them, and not all at once, but their mission of predatory equity is nearing an end, and soon they’ll leave Southwest changed beyond recognition to fend for itself.
Yes, we are already in a police state.
A mysterious Texas surveillance network told police to search his truck. Watch how it went wrong.
It’s a long article but describes the surveillance system, the dishonesty of local police, and basic abuse of any laws, rules, or procedures.
Happy Sunday.
Don’t believe that immigration courts are run impartially. Makes a mockery of our judicial system.
Military lawyer swiftly fired after defying Trump deportation push
For something positive, I suggest you you say, Alexa, play Pentatonix Christmas. Fantastic A Capella group. That they are mostly gay isn’t a factor to me except for the current BS, their music is great. Enjoy.
After 2 months out of political headlines, Elon’s back, baby!
Elon will spend millions on every conservative midterm candidate
Please continue, Elon.
The world’s richest man thinks everyone already forgot how much they hate him. This is the best news Democrats could have ever received.
You know work has gotten really, really bad when I’ve begun thinking seriously about buying lottery tickets. And I’m even inviting others in the office to participate.
I’ve also decided 1 chance in 100,000 is not that different from 20 chances in 100,000. Not in any meaningful, non-mathematical sense.
BTW a lot of Southwest’s problems are a lack of small aircraft and too many larger ones.
This sounds paradoxical, but it’s all Boeing’s fault (naturally).
the explanation is rather involved, but the backbone of Southwest’s fleet was the 737-700. They also operate the 737-800, but for fewer routes because it’s bigger and therefore uses more fuel.
The follow on models are the MAX7 and the MAX8. The former is yet to be certified, so Boeing has produced none, past test aircraft, and Southwest can’t replace its aging -700s. Older aircraft cost more to maintain, because they require more frequent maintenance. they’ve also had to use the -800s and the MAX8 on routes where they don’t get a full load factor, but do use up more fuel due to their higher weight.
Their troubles never were a lack of bag fees, seat assignment fees, first class seating, or a lounge for premium passengers. to be fair, Southwest has had trouble adapting to the delay of the MAX7. Stopgap measure like acquiring older -700s or even Airbus A-319s would cost them more. The latter in particular would require retraining pilots and maintenance personnel.
Even so, they weren’t losing money. Just making less money than they could have.
@Scott: Ignoring all the surveillance state aspects of this… Surely, the police dash cam footage shows the car crossing the double yellow line?
Oh, they turned off the dash cam specifically for the duration of the interdiction?
We need a clear exception to qualified immunity when the cameras are off. It wouldn’t solve every problem, and qualified immunity causes more problems than it solves by virtue of not being qualified*, but we should be adding qualifications.
Also, the surveillance network and the people who run it should be smashed and the remains dumped into an ocean.
——
*: In theory, I support some form a qualified immunity — police are a necessary evil, and they have to be held on a tight leash, but we need to ensure that good faith errors don’t destroy their lives or even their careers. The current unqualified immunity regime does little to ensure that these are good faith errors.