Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

“woke” is the new caravan.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Enhanced Protest Techniques / Open Thread: Best April Fool Prank in… Well, Forever

Open Thread: Best April Fool Prank in… Well, Forever

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Per the Hollywood Reporter:

The actor tweeted that he will be running for a seat in Congress before posting another tweet hours later indicating that it was just a joke.

Actor George Takei, best known for his role as Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek television series, got in on the April Fools’ Day action early, posting on Twitter late Friday night Pacific Time (but after midnight on the East Coast) that he was running for Congress…

This news from io9 sounds very cool, also:

George Takei’s recounts of his time at a Japanese-American internment camp have been put to page and brought to the stage. Now, he’s signed a book detail with IDW Publishing to create a graphic novel about what it was like for those imprisoned because of their heritage.

According to a press release, the graphic novel will dive into President Roosevelt’s unconscionable Executive Order 9066, which authorized the internment of over 100,000 people, most of them American citizens, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Takei was 5 years old when he was taken to a camp, and the graphic novel will dive into his story and show how his experiences helped him become who he is today.

Takei has been extremely vocal about violations of civil liberties in the United States, especially in the wake of President Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric and thinly veiled threats against, among many others, Mexican Americans and Muslim Americans. Takei made headlines in 2015 when he left a seat open for Trump during the Broadway run of Allegiance, the musical also based on his life story. Trump never took him up on his offer…

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  2. 2.

    Joyce H

    I can’t call it “best” to get my hopes up like that. When I read the Buzzfeed article, I was all “Awe. Some.” but then noted the date. But it sounded so… real!

    I wanted it to be real.

  3. 3.

    Emerald

    What? Twitler turned down free tickets?? Maybe Takei should offer him a private audience for only the best people.

    I’m sad that it was an April Fools joke. Would love to have him in Congress!

  4. 4.

    opiejeanne

    @Major Major Major Major: Considering that he posted it online on Friday, it was very weird and convinced a lot of people because it wasn’t April 1st yet..
    His post surprised me, but then I looked up his age (79) and considered him and his husband moving to Tulare County and I thought, “nope”. I mean, Takei moving to Fresno?

  6. 6.

    opiejeanne

    My niece’s husband posted an ultrasound of their supposed pregnancy on Facebook but it looked to me like a dog. My sister thought it was two ducks. Whatever it was, we saw her last night and this thing was very large and well-developed. I’ll swear it had a tail in the ultrasound . They got lots of congratulations from gullible friends and relatives. I told him he is a smart-ass.

    On the other hand, some wise-acre in NZ announced that the pope was going to make Martin Luther a saint. That was pretty amusing but not convincing, and yet people were buying it.

  11. 11.

    Ruckus

    @badsanta:
    Think of it as him fucking with a politician who needs to be fucked with. A lot.
    Does that make it better?
    At some point you have to laugh or you can go crazy way too fucking easily. It should have been pretty obvious that a 79 yr old gay man would not be running for office in a reddish district. Not even in CA.

  16. 16.

    stibbert

    Mr. Takei has a good rep for advocacy, but his joke diminishes the clout he could give to serious Dem candidates.

  17. 17.

    Anne Laurie

    @stibbert:

    Mr. Takei has a good rep for advocacy, but his joke diminishes the clout he could give to serious Dem candidates.

    Or he gave Devin Nunes — who does not seem like the sharpest crayon in the box — a serious case of agita, before someone smarter explained the improbability for him.

    And the responses to Mr. Takei’s tweet make it clear that there would be support for a challenger in Nunes’ district. Even if such a contender doesn’t arise, it’ll make Nunes that much more uncomfortable… a worthy goal, IMO.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @stibbert: Bullshit. It.was.a.joke. Maybe you thought it was funny or maybe you didn’t. Either way it has NOTHING, ZERO, ZIP, NADA to do with his advocacy work.

  19. 19.

    akryan

    This is my experience with Trump inspiring people to be openly racist: The school I teach at is literally the 2nd most diverse school in the nation. People don’t realize the north side of Anchorage is the most diverse place in the country; we’re 2nd and the other two high schools in north Anchorage are 1st and 3rd. Anyway, I was at a football game in North Pole, AK (think the most racist town in the south but with snow) and there was a group of kids right outside of the stadium waving confederate flags and holding giant Trump signs shouting horrible racial slurs at our JV and freshmen who were walking around. We had our backs to it on the sidelines or we would have stopped it. No one in their stands, or on their coaching staff, who were looking right at it, did anything though. Those were teenagers, so they must be hearing that at home. It was disgusting and it only happened because of the change that Trump has had on the country. On a side note, those guys are really lucky our varsity kids didn’t hear that. We couldn’t have held 60 teenage boys, 30 of whom are 250lb+ Polynesians. That would have been ugly.

  22. 22.

    MattF

    Ugh. The big Barnes & Noble bookstore in my (Bethesda) neighborhood is closing at the end of the year. Pretty much the last big bookstore in DC or Maryland. Don’t know about VA, but I don’t expect there’s one in VA either.

  23. 23.

    stibbert

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sure, it was a joke – but it was also a very visible public challenge. I don’t mind that George Takei shoots a shot at Nunes, the prob arises if he misses (ref Hamsher v. Lieberman).

  29. 29.

    satby

    @stibbert: I’ll just say you’re really over thinking this. It got enough play to be a great gotcha, it accomplished what Anne Laurie said, and most people will react just as Ozark said. Perpetually waiting for perfection in all things is not the path to success either electorally or in life.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Raven: Yes, tho if they are as flimsy as I suspect, you’ll need a couple 2x4s as stiffeners (should be holes for mounting 2x4s at end of arms)

  36. 36.

    amk

    @Anne Laurie:

    Yup, expose the useless treasonous tool to the usually useless & clueless dem voters about the consequences of elections, with the (mostly) futile hope they will turn out.

    Bitching about rethugs and twitler voters is of no value when the dem base itself can’t move their lazy asses to all the polls. The rethugs, both the racists and ‘moderates’, do so in all cycles and hence they win.

  37. 37.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: Flimsy? The jack or the 4×8 panels. I did our sun porch and screened porch by myself with just a t-brace 15 years ago. I know I can’t do that but I was hoping the jack would allow me to do so.

    Plywood Siding Plybead Panel (Common: 11/32 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft.; Actual: 0.313 in. x 48 in. x 96 in.)

  38. 38.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @MattF: Haven’t lived in MD in many years, but the one we used to go to most often was on Rockville Pike near Twinbrook Metro. Is that one still there?

    When we’re in DC we often make a pilgrimage to Politics & Prose, an independent. As far as I know they’re going strong.

    B&N website lists several in VA.

  39. 39.

    bystander

    Some April Fool’s joke. Thanks, Takei.

    When the newsreader said Takei and his husband were moving to Visalia, I knew he must have been ROFLHAO.

    WaPo has an article written by some former employee of Pence. She tells us being female was no hindrance while she was working for him. I pointed out that Leni Riefenstahl’s career was helped by her mentor as well. I hate these people. Other commenters wondered at the purity and holiness of anyone working for Trump.

  40. 40.

    MattF

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Don’t know about one near Twinbrook, but I’ll check. Of course Politics and Prose is still sitting on upper Connecticut Ave., and Kramerbooks is still sitting on lower Connecticut Ave…. and Second Story Books near Dupont Circle… But it’s impoverished compared to how it was when I first arrived in the DC area. And NYC used to have a string of excellent stores on 5th Ave., now entirely Trumpified. I guess one can lament the vanished snows of yesteryear, but they’re gone, baby, gone.

  41. 41.

    Patricia Kayden

    Good one, George. Love that he’s still kicking it at age 79 and is so outspoken about civil rights issues. California is pretty hardcore blue so getting rid of a douche like Nunes isn’t impossible. The odious car thief recently almost lost his seat, after all.

  44. 44.

    Splitting Image

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Wow, did Watterson actually collaborate on that?

    I assume so, since his signature is on it, but Watterson never talks and Breathed probably thinks its funnier to leave everyone hanging. We might never know.

  45. 45.

    Raoul

    I went to Whistler, B.C., last week and while there the Vancouver paper had an op-ed story about how Canada also seized Japanese-Canadians, 21,460 of them, stole their land and possessions and never compensated them for what was taken.

    I had never known that Canada fell under the same terrible racist spell as the US. The failure of their high court to offer any protection after the fact was also pretty shocking. I think Canada is certainly in a better position than the US these days, but there are still open and unresolved claims from this, and it seems shockingly shitty for our northern neighbors who we are looking up to now.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I was speaking of the panels. Some are 1/4″ and flop around like a soccer player. That one is 3/8″, should be stiff enough.

  47. 47.

    RealityBites

    @MattF: Barnes and Noble have a bunch of locations in VA. Two in Roanoke, at least 3 in Richmond. VA Beach, Chesapeake, Lynchburg, Farmville. Not as familiar with northern VA. You could Google it. But sorry yours has closed. I hope you can find another that is within a reasonable distance. But maybe your store was extra, extra large and I’ve missed your point! ?

  48. 48.

    MattF

    @RealityBites: Yeah, it’s a big one– three stories. Although, to be blunt, I have to say that I rarely found a book I was looking for there, so I ended up doing most of my book buying from bn.com.

  49. 49.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    It’s a pity but doesn’t Takai have some medical condition lthat really slows him down? Otherwise, it be great if Takai took Nune’s seat.

  50. 50.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @MattF: Oh dear, is that the big one in Bethesda Row? Although, I have to admit, I spent most of my time there waiting for a film to start across the street. My local one, at the Washingtonian Center, seems to still be safe.

  52. 52.

    The Lodger

    @bystander: True story about Visalia:
    We had to stay overnight there and got in late. The only restaurant was a pretentious Italian place with two parties. We were all really hungry and ordered dishes that could be cooked quickly. It still took us 45 minutes to get served.
    We were on the plane out of Fresno the day after and there was a woman with a petition trying to get Olive Garden into Visalia. I told her the average quality of Italian restaurants would go up about 500 percent and my whole family signed it.

  54. 54.

    sdhays

    @RealityBites: There’s one in Arlington, one in Falls Church, one in Tysons Corner, and that’s just off the top of my head. But if the one in Bethesda’s closing, that doesn’t bode well for the others…

  55. 55.

    SmallAxe

    As good as Takei’s prank is P0rnhub easily won April Fools with their savage prank, it’s not even close.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @Splitting Image:

    Apparently Waterston did a quiet collaboration with Pearls Before Swine last year, so he’s not a total recluse. He still likes to talk to and work with other artists, he just has no time for anyone else.

  57. 57.

    J R in WV

    @Raven:

    Yes. But depending on the weight of the bead-board panels. Given that 3/4 inch sheetrock is pretty heavy, it would take a thick panel of bead-board to outweigh the 3/4 inch drywall. But you should check the material’s weight out against the stated capacity of the jack machine…

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