Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

A consequence of cucumbers

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

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

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Evening Open Thread

Late Evening Open Thread

by | 98 Comments

This post is in: 

It looks like we need a new thread. I guess it’s in my wheelhouse to comment on the value of injecting disinfectant or swallowing lightbulbs, but that seems to have been discussed already, and I just don’t feel up to it.

And here are a couple of cats doing yin and yang to balance us all out.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    It looks like we need a new thread. I guess it’s in my wheelhouse to comment on the value of injecting disinfectant or swallowing lightbulbs, but that seems to have been discussed already, and I just don’t feel up to it.

    And so you put up pictures of clowns?

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  We warned people. No one listened. “Oooh, they’re afraid of clowns! How funny.” Let’s see who’s laughing when they start eating people. Fuckers.

  8. 8.

    cain

    What’s there to discuss, if people want to drink disinfectant and bleah, I say they should and tell us how it goes. We need to both sides it. I’m sure the New York Times can hep.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    See, Trump is doing something that Obama apparently was unable to do. Next up, “Playing in traffic will cure you of the virus”, followed by “licking live power outlets will get this country open again!”.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    I guess it’s in my wheelhouse to comment on the value of injecting disinfectant or swallowing lightbulbs, but that seems to have been discussed already, and I just don’t feel up to it.

    I noted in an earlier thread that the most idiotic and obnoxious conspiracy theories about the virus are popping up, many in service of the idea that the pandemic is no big deal, and so we should just open up.

    One of the things I find worrisome was an interview on CBS radio. The hosts of the show wanted to believe that just because a potential has been mentioned in the news, it must be potentially effective and the main question is how soon it might be available. Fortunately, the guest, who was an actual expert on infectious diseases, tried to shut this nonsense down and argued for a measured approach, including clinical trials. Still, I was amazed at how quickly even veteran reporters wanted to seize on the idea that “if it’s in the news, it must be a potentially valid cure.”

    In times like these a recent story about Carl Sagan and his “Baloney Detection Kit” is appropriate. It should be applied liberally when idiots try to insist that pseudoscience and ideologically driven nonsense are appropriate remedies.

    A few principles:

    But the kit, Sagan argues, isn’t merely a tool of science — rather, it contains invaluable tools of healthy skepticism that apply just as elegantly, and just as necessarily, to everyday life. By adopting the kit, we can all shield ourselves against clueless guile and deliberate manipulation. Sagan shares nine of these tools:

    1. Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.”
    2. Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view.
    3. Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. They will do so again in the future. Perhaps a better way to say it is that in science there are no authorities; at most, there are experts.

    Also, I notice that some people, even folks who otherwise are pretty good critical thinkers, keep trying to ride the Correlation Express to prove an idea. Don’t buy a ticket for that train! It always takes you to Fallacy Land.

    confusion of correlation and causation (e.g., A survey shows that more college graduates are homosexual than those with lesser education; therefore education makes people gay. Or: Andean earthquakes are correlated with closest approaches of the planet Uranus; therefore — despite the absence of any such correlation for the nearer, more massive planet Jupiter — the latter causes the former)

  15. 15.

    HumboldtBlue

    Gonna try out some Covid-related pickup lines in the coming days.

    Hey, if the virus doesn’t take you out can I?

    You can’t spell virus without a U and an I!

    Do you need some toilet paper, cuz if so I’m your Prince Charmin!

  18. 18.

    smedley the uncertain

    Anybody else notice a dramatic reduction in Robo Calls?  Must be non-essential.

  19. 19.

    Jinchi

    @cain: What’s there to discuss, if people want to drink disinfectant and bleach

    Has anyone measured the overlap of people selling snake oil cures and antivaxxers? I expect it’s distubingly high.

    Seriously people, if you want to ingest a proven coronavirus killer just eat a bar of soap.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    (Slightly) more seriously, from what I read this afternoon, the whole bleach thing comes out of the fringe vaccines-cause-autism movement, so uh yeah.

    Has anyone talked to Trump to try to sell him on the benefits of colloidal silver? If nothing else, the blue base layer mixed with the orange bronzer ought to result in the discovery of brand new skin tones.

  22. 22.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    For the 1-2 punch, Obama should announce that people should not inject bleach, nor should they shove blacklights up their ass.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    Mick Jagger in good voice, and plays harmonica too. Video — just a camera sweeping through deserted city spaces — is on point.

    I liked the lyric,

    If I wanna party, it’s a party of one

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: The issue with the injecting disinfectant is that the President has been marinating in vaccines cause autism conspiracy theories for years. And injecting or drinking disinfectant is a staple in that community for reversing autism caused by vaccinations.

    Here’s Trump on vaccines and autism:

    And here’s the explainer on the anti-vaccine/autism conspiracist promotion and use of disinfectant as a “cure”:

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    I ventured out to Target today. It was a little stressful, but I guess I’ll know how it went in about 14 days. It was my first time shopping in person in over a month.

  28. 28.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Adam L Silverman: We all joked about how we could take care of the insane conservative problem (big overlap) by having Obama go on national TV and say that drinking bleach was a bad.

    And now they just did it to themselves without any prompting.

    We truly live in the worst of evil stupid clown timelines.

  29. 29.

    Patricia Kayden

    I strongly disagree with the takes that Trump's covid briefings shouldn't be aired. People need to see what he says, not just read or watch a cleaned up news story that creates a logical account without the insanity.— Amy Fried (@ASFried) April 24, 2020

  32. 32.

    FlyingToaster

    @smedley the uncertain:

    Anybody else notice a dramatic reduction in Robo Calls? Must be non-essential.

    Nope, if anything, it’s an increase.

    We’re getting a Lisa from Chase Bank call on the landline every day around noon, a “Computer Maintenance Company” every day around dinner time,  and ~3 spoofed returns on all 3 of our mobiles (that’s an average of 11 a day, for 4 lines).  Plus a weekly Watertown PD advisory and Kathy Clark telephone town hall invitations.

    Whoever picks up the phone for the computer phonespam gets to abuse them; even the 12-year-old knows more about computers than those asshats.

  33. 33.

    khead

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I have been saying this repeatedly on social media. People REALLY need to see this shit and most folks are home with nothing better to do.  Bring your kids too so they can ask “What the hell is wrong with this guy?”

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: Other than the fact that no matter how many lectures, papers, and blogposts I write on the topic, Americans cannot tell the difference between a civil war, a rebellion, and an insurgency, this is pretty accurate. 

    Late Evening Open Thread 3

  37. 37.

    Jinchi

    @Adam L Silverman: And injecting or drinking disinfectant is a staple in that community for reversing autism caused by vaccinations.

    I’m confused. Aren’t anti-vaxxers always talking about the hazards of injecting foreign substances into your body? How do they make an exception for bleach?

    I say this knowing a few anti-vaxxers myself, and yet as soon as I heard Trump suggest it, I immediately thought that they’d be the ones most likely to try it.

  38. 38.

    FlyingToaster

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Americans cannot tell the difference between a civil war, a rebellion, and an insurgency

    LMAO.  ?

    I assume calling what we’ve got “fascist suicidal cosplay” is not too far off the mark?

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    I’ll just leave this here:

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

  47. 47.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: Does it count if someone isn’t, technically, selling the products but instead is ‘just asking questions’? What about if someone’s son-in-law just happens to have acquired stock in companies that do sell the stuff?

    You know, hypothetically speaking.

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    Here’s the alternative explanation. Apparently he watched The Man With Two Brains recently.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The issue with the injecting disinfectant is that the President has been marinating in vaccines cause autism conspiracy theories for years.

    The issue is that the president is an idiot. His supporters believe him and the GOP leadership backs him up and will not call him out.

    I just saw a clip of Trump talking about light and heat and disinfectant. Every appearance at these briefings simply confirms that Trump doesn’t have the reasoning ability of an ignorant pre-teen.

    Trump consistently chooses to believe nonsense and woo, which is to be expected from a guy who thought that Obama was not born in the US.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    @Adam L Silverman: 

    Reviewing her life choices.

    I truly believe that Fauci and Birx are staying on to try to prevent an even worse outcome. What do you do with a problem like the Donald, though?

  62. 62.

    JaySinWA

    @cain:New York Times can hep

    They can help by telling everyone not to do it. The usual suspects will decry their interference in radical attempts to control the virus. OTOH they might just both sider it to have an equal oportunity death toll.

  65. 65.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ian R: You know it’s too much when even Floriduh! bans it:

    Dragon’s breath rounds are banned by law in four American states (California, Florida, Illinois and Iowa[4]), due to their inherent fire hazard.

  69. 69.

    Yutsano

    @debbie: Nah. She’s a Pence hire. She’ll go down with Team Drumpf because her evangelical soul demands it. Remember the Indiana HIV outbreak? She had her hands in that too.

  72. 72.

    Jean

    I almost never watch and listen to Trump’s comments after others speak.  Tonight, his musings about bombarding the inside of the body with ultra violet light and injecting disinfectant to the lungs–was so CRAZY that I couldn’t believe I even heard that.  So the experts just sit there??  They don’t even try to correct him even in a diplomatic way?  They let that insanity hang there in the air like a virus?  What’s the point of being near the podium in the capacity of a health expert if you just freaking SIT THERE?

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    I ventured out to Target today. It was a little stressful, but I guess I’ll know how it went in about 14 days. It was my first time shopping in person in over a month.

    Amazon Prime and I have become good friends. Apart from paper products, which are consistently unavailable, I have been able to get a lot of necessary items.

    Does Target have social distance protocols, etc.?

  75. 75.

    Mary G

    Watching this clip of Dr. Birx, five of my own observations after serving in the Trump administration:

    1. You can’t stay above crazy: On any issue, the crazy will catch up to you

    2. There’s no policy: You’re always a Tweet away from all going sideways https://t.co/GmWvO5Pkzs
    — Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) April 24, 2020

    3. You can’t speak credibly: Since there’s no policy, nobody speaks credibly for our country

    4. Diplomacy is impossible: Foreign parties know that only Trump counts and he changes on a whim

    5. You may need to resign: In any senior role, your integrity will be tested
    — Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) April 24, 2020

  77. 77.

    patrick II

    I don’t think they are going to start drinking bleach. I think they will find it much easier to force it on their autistic children than to drink themselves.

  79. 79.

    Yutsano

    @Mary G: @Adam L Silverman: 

    I do not know how anyone serving in this administration will be able to work after it ends. They are damaged goods. How cab they have any credibility after defending a deranged narcissist like him? I know there’s always wingnut welfare, but when Fox heel turns on Dolt45 why would they need his sycophants?

  81. 81.

    Emma from FL

    @burnspbesq: The end times, I tell you! The end times!

    Ahem. Sorry. Today was my first time out of the house other than to my backyard for five weeks. It was… disorienting. In every possible way.

  82. 82.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Yutsano: I don’t know about that. CNN had Brownie on as an expert during some hurricane after Katrina, after Dubbya’s administration was over.

    The people I want really shunned here are the Trumpovs and the Kushners. Partly because they seem very concerned with status and being seen at the right places. I want the enablers shunned and prosecuted for whatever crimes they’ve committed if they’ve committed them. No plea deals with a slap on the wrist either.

  83. 83.

    Mai naem mobile

    I guarantee you ERs are going to see goobers coming in with uv flashlights up their asses and idiots who’ve swallowed bleach. I knew somebody who tried committing suicide by swallowing bleach. Definitely not the route to use for suicide. This is an ugly way of fucking up your esophagus.

  84. 84.

    FlyingToaster

    @Brachiator:

    Does Target have social distance protocols, etc.?

    I suspect it varies from state to state and store to store.

    Here in Watertown, MA, we have a medium size Target; they have someone by the outside door and another by the Mall door w/walkie-talkies enforcing the “40% of capacity” per order of the Commonwealth.  I’ve been going once every other week for the necessaries (TP, shampoo, kleenex, ziplocs, school stuff), and all of the normal protocols of masking and social distancing are in place.  The in-house Starbucks and PizzaHut are closed.  Stuff is in stock, if in smaller quantities than we’re used to buying them (no 30-packs of Charmin Ultra Soft, just 12-packs).

    HomeDepot, across the street at Arsenal Mall, is much sketchier.  About 10% of the customers are maskless, and frankly, just dickbats about every damn thing.  The floor staff helps me find stuff (in my St.Pat’s inifinty scarf cinched up over my nose) and looks up on their handhelds for out-of-stock stuff (“its on-shelf in Waltham, but not Dedham!”), while ignoring the fuck out of those he-men.

    There’s a lot of weirdness with the box stores.  Some are playing it very straight, either online-order pick-up at door (Best Buy), online or instore with # limits and masks (Target), and just trying to keep a lid on shit (HomeDepot).  I don’t belong to any of the membership stores, but the parking lot at the nearby BJs is rather scant.

  86. 86.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    BTW, has anything new been found out about why Alain sadly passed away, yet?

    It’s always tragic and confusing when somebody so young passes away for seemingly no reason

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    Fox News story claims that “public health officials” back Trump.

     

    President Trump and public health officials argued on Thursday that higher temperatures and humidity, as well as direct exposure to sunlight, quickly kills the coronavirus, leading to hopes that the threat of the contagion could drastically recede during the summer months.

    Bill Bryan, the head of the science and technology directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, said that solar light along with high temperatures and humidity have a “powerful effect” of creating environments less favorable for the virus to survive.

    Bryan is not a doctor or expert on infectious diseases. He is a military veteran.

    Mr. Bryan holds a Master of Science in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College in Washington, D.C. He also graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in logistics systems management from Colorado Technical University in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

    It is amazing to see the degree to which right wing media will go to back Trump, even to the degree of killing some of their own viewers.

  88. 88.

    TS (the original)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Dr. Birx’s reaction when President Trump asks his science advisor to study using UV light on the human body and injecting disinfectant to fight the coronavirus.

    Then she should stop working for him and say WHY. Enough of medical people & scientists who support him at these daily campaign rallies.

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    Ragga-fragga hands won’t stop sympathetic trembling after carpentering and using power tools out back this afternoon. Arthritis acting up so much that had to ask a neighbor to remove the battery pack from the sawzall am using as I was completely unable to grip it strongly enough to release and remove it for recharging. But the second of three originally crappily constructed walls which went bye-bye in heavy winds and rain now has had the original framing (of course neither square nor plumb) reinforced and new exterior materials attached for the hot water heater shed.

    Third wall is the tricky part, as that’s the entrance. Maybe will replenish the gumption required by sometime next week.Then a new roof (easier job than the walls), some caulking and it’ll be done , albeit a bit at a time.

  92. 92.

    Yutsano

    @Mai naem mobile:

    The people I want really shunned here are the Trumpovs and the Kushners. Partly because they seem very concerned with status and being seen at the right places. I want the enablers shunned and prosecuted for whatever crimes they’ve committed if they’ve committed them. No plea deals with a slap on the wrist either.

    Come sit six feet away from me.

  95. 95.

    Mai naem mobile

    I got a text from Rep David Schweikert(not my rep – was redistricted years ago.Hasn’t been my rep with this phone number) yesterday asking if I wanted to be put on an email list for COVID19 updates. I replied no and that I was all set with the hydroquinone like the President had instructed with smiley, prayer hands and thumbs up emojis to make it look authentic.  I know it was a mass text etc. but the only reply I got was okay, call the office if you have any questions.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    I went to what we refer to as the mini Target, which is a smaller “city Target” built into what used to be a long, narrow, one-story office building. They were only allowing a certain number of people into the store at a time, had big red dots on the sidewalk showing where you should stand for social distancing, and wiped down the checkouts after each customer. I felt pretty good about their procedures.

    To me, the best part was that they put a signboard out front with the 6 or 7 most-wanted items to say if they were in stock or out of stock. It was definitely useful to know that they did have some paper towels in stock before I waited it in.

  97. 97.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @smedley the uncertain: Hand raised here. The spam checker on my Caller ID (probably should rename it Culler ID) is going stir-crazy for lack of junk calls to screen.

    (Pro tip for when these arseholes start up again: Robocalls generally ring a bunch of numbers simultaneously & drop all but the first that hits a live human voice. The longer your outgoing message on voicemail, the more likely you’ll be dropped & never have your answering machine cluttered with their shit. So be creative! Wax prosaic!)

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    @Yutsano: You’re mixing things up.  Birx isn’t one of Pence’s Indiana people.

    https://www.state.gov/biographies/deborah-l-birx-md/

    In 1985, Ambassador Birx began her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a military-trained clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. From 1985-1989, she served as an Assistant Chief of the Hospital Immunology Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Through her professionalism and leadership in the field, she progressed to serve as the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996-2005. Ambassador Birx helped lead one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history (known as RV 144 or the Thai trial), which provided the first supporting evidence of any vaccine’s potential effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. During this time, she also rose to the rank of Colonel, bringing together the Navy, Army, and Air Force in a new model of cooperation – increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Military’s HIV/AIDS efforts through inter- and intra-agency collaboration. Then known as Colonel Birx, she was awarded two prestigious U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award for her groundbreaking research, leadership, and management skills during her tenure at DOD.

    From 2005-2014, Ambassador Birx served successfully as the Director of CDC’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), which is part of the agency’s Center for Global Health. As DGHA Director, she utilized her leadership ability, superior technical skills, and infectious passion to achieve tremendous public health impact. She successfully led the implementation of CDC’s PEPFAR programs around the world and managed an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. Ambassador Birx was responsible for all of the agency’s global HIV/AIDS activities, including providing oversight to more than 400 staff at headquarters, over 1,500 staff in the field, and more than 45 country and regional offices in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America. Recognized for her distinguished and dedicated commitment to building local capacity and strengthening quality laboratory health services and systems in Africa, in 2011, Ambassador Birx received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine. In 2014, CDC honored her leadership in advancing the agency’s HIV/AIDS response with the highly prestigious William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence.

    I don’t know why she doesn’t speak out more forcefully, but she’s not a kook.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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