Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

No one could have predicted…

Shut up, hissy kitty!

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Repub Venality Open Thread: Jeebus Forgives You, Mr. Erickson, But I Don’t

Late Night Repub Venality Open Thread: Jeebus Forgives You, Mr. Erickson, But I Don’t

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The Voice of the GOP Gated Community reverts to his mean…

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162Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    If only people would stop treating Erickson as though he has something of value to say….

  2. 2.

    Raoul

    He also flipped out today when Reuter’s truthfully noted that Herman Cain eschewed masks, and died of Covid. He threatened to doxx the Reuters employees!

    He’s an absolute moral crevasse. That seminary in Atlanta should demand his masters degree back.

  3. 3.

    laura

    How do you even attempt to diagram that sentence? Eric son of Eric can please to be eating a bottomless bag of salted dicks. Forever.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    trying to imagine first a Republican calling for the expansion and protection of the voting rights of all Americans, and second why reporters would find that “divisive”

    @Omnes Omnibus: are we making a list? can we add Greenwald?

  5. 5.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Note that even at the funeral of someone who devoted his life to civil rights these people think it’s divisive to talk about civil rights, and ask yourself why any decent or thinking person should ever care what they think as they slouch towards history’s sewer.

    No kidding. Erik bin Erik is a fascist piece of shit

  8. 8.

    waspuppet

    Yeah c’mon; it’s not like John Lewis was a political guy. Must be why the audience was so offended.

  9. 9.

    Mai naem mobile

    Lumpy couldn’t wait to tweet about Cain’s death but waited for most of the day until he tweeted about John Lewis. Fuck Eric Son of Eric.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    Never before in the history of humanity has a politician used a eulogy or memorial to make a political point. Well, hardly ever.

    Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
    I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
    The evil that men do lives after them;
    The good is oft interrèd with their bones.
    So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
    Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
    If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
    And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
    Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest
    (For Brutus is an honorable man;
    So are they all, all honorable men),

    Or, if you’d rather something a bit more …Republican,

    Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

    Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

    But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

  11. 11.

    Raoul

    The RW saw how millions of Americans experienced Obama’s speech as both a balm and a gentle, loving kick in the pants, and it’s freaked them out. They’ll try to Wellstone funeral pearl-clutch it, but with the worst possible person in the WH tweeting garbage, it ain’t gonna stick.

    (Also that nursing comment sort of ruins EbinE’s argument, don’tcha think)

  13. 13.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So how long before for one of these Conseratwit Pundits reveals to the world Lewis was secretly a conservative all along?

  14. 14.

    Cacti

    Whoever predicted earlier that the Repukes would go this route, collect your prize.

    But seriously, fuck the pearl clutchers in the ear.  John Lewis lived and died a political activist over 6-decades of public life.

    His funeral service is a wholly appropriate forum for political activism.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    Struck a nerve, I see. Every word Obama said was true- rigorously accurate, as usual. They can’t dispute any of it, so we’re going to get the sad faces and hurt feelings.
    Republicans suppressing the vote with “surgical precision”? Obama pulled that right out of the opinion in the North Carolina case where the court found they deliberately targeted AA voters.

  16. 16.

    Raoul

    @dmsilev: Also, with the Ghislaine grisly details released tonight, I’m not sure he should be talking about nurses and erections right now.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    NEW: Trump campaign temporarily halts ad spending for review of messaging strategy

    Watching the Tucker Carlson clip where he’s spitting out venom at Obama you realize Fox news hosts now speak directly to Donald Trump. Their shows are just messages to Trump, then he responds on Twitter. A closed circle.

  19. 19.

    jl

    I haven’t had time to listen to all of Obama’s remarks yet. But I do think it was extremely disrespectful of him to plug for passing laws that the deceased wrote, sponsored, or supported

    Edit: I wonder why the outraged spirit of Lewis did not rise from casket and condemn Obama right then and there.

  20. 20.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Saw this shit shared on my dash on Tumblr:

    As much as I agree Biden would still be less godawful than Trump, he would be easier to bully if we get our shit together like we are now (Yes, that includes riots & rabble-rousing), that voting downballot is even more important, and that voting is important overall…

    …Y’all who crow about that really need to understand why so many people are so burnt out on voting as a solution, especially from the people who talk the loudest about it.

    Like, you keep victim-blaming us leftists who feel under-represented by saying it’s our fault our candidates fail, when the primary system is designed to fuck us via direct voter-suppression and party shenanigans; as we most recently saw with Bernie.

    We’ve seen people crowing about the atrocities under Trump who were silent when they were done under Obama, because at least he had some class when he expanded the security state, and drone strikes, and bailed out the banks, and who’s most major policy achievement was a watered-down compromise of a watered-down compromise.

    Beyond voter suppression, non-voters don’t vote because they feel like their voices don’t matter and that the non-fascist party does not care, and the actions of so many people who say “Vote Blue No Matter Who” speak louder than words.

    If there is one thing you’re going to take away from this, it is thus:

    If you’re going to advocate for people to vote Blue, put up or shut up.

    Show that you will support us when the centrist Dems inevitably backstab us and we have to fight back for the sake of a better world, or stop blaming people who see through your transparent bad faith for not buying it.

    Jesus fucking Christ. So much bullshit to unpack here. The Bernie wuz robbed shit is the worst bit

  22. 22.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    This about school reopening in my local area. We are so fucked:

    Going Back To School. But How?

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — With the start of the school year just a few weeks away, only now are plans beginning to take shape for many of the school districts. One thing is clear: Back to school will be anything but back to normal.

    Guidelines published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Association of Pediatrics and state departments of health and education have been required reading. Over the last few months, districts have sought the advice of local health departments and other health professionals, as well as education service centers, to better understand the documents and how to apply the guidelines to their plans.

    Some schools have released draft plans and will review them with teachers, staff and parents before publishing the final versions, some of which may not come until later this month.

    Whatever the final plans look like, they should be flexible to allow for a quick change to online learning should the coronavirus pandemic take a turn for the worse, says the health commissioner for Columbiana County, Wesley Vins.

    “The COVID-19 virus is community spread. We need to acknowledge that,” Vins says. “We need to understand that there is a risk for all of us to contract the virus in school or out of school.”

    Since May, the Columbiana County General Health District and the Columbiana County Education Service Center have worked with district superintendents to tailor their plans to their specific needs. Vins expects many variables to be taken into consideration with each plan.

    Economic barriers that prevent the purchase of another bus or to alter routes, for example, can affect the more rural schools with populations that are more spread out. Modern school buildings with air-conditioning units will benefit from air filtration compared to buildings without. Principals of older buildings with dead-end hallways will need to think more about patterns of foot traffic than newer schools with hallways that loop.

    “Density of school is important,” he says. “Some of our biggest barriers are related to transportation and physical obstacles in school.”

    Some, like Columbiana Exempted Village School District, are planning to open for 100% capacity, but still offering parents the option to keep their children home for online learning.

    In Mahoning County, Poland Local Schools and Canfield Local School District have the same approach. Youngstown City School District, on the other hand, will be 100% online with no option for in-class education.

    Few plans are set in concrete, however, and are subject to change per any new orders from Gov. Mike DeWine or state and local health departments. For the most part, administrators looking to reopen seem confident they can do so safely while abiding by local, state and federal guidelines.

    Currently, Columbiana County is in the lowest risk level of the state’s Public Health Advisory System. Data from the county’s health department show that “a vast majority” of COVID-positive cases in the county come from congregate settings, such as the FCI Elkton prison, says Don Mook, superintendent of Columbiana Exempted Village School District.

    “As of today, there were two cases of school-aged kids in the county. That’s extremely low and that sets us up for a good start,” he says.

    That’s not to say plans won’t change should things worsen, Mook adds. While Mook wants to avoid switching back to all online – “We had some kids who didn’t do work when that happened,” he notes – should Columbiana County reach the red or purple levels, where the risk of exposure is at its highest, administrators are “looking at remote learning.

    “We may have to stop on a dime in a building where there might be a hot spot and have a pause when they have to go remote,” he says.

    Getting students back in school requires mitigation efforts. For Columbiana, it all begins with hygiene, Mook says. The district bought two hand-washing stations for its high school and middle school and is acquiring funding to get one for the elementary school, he says. Students will be expected to wash their hands upon entering the schools, before and after lunch, and as they leave, he says.

    Hand sanitizer stations are installed throughout the building and Columbiana is acquiring thermoscanning equipment for each building to monitor students’ temperatures as they walk in.

    “We won’t introduce them to a classroom when they appear to have a higher than reasonable temperature when entering the building,” Mook says.

    Facemasks are the hot button issue. And faculty are incorporating them in reopening plans.

    In their draft plans, Poland and Canfield schools are requiring all staff to wear masks and requiring students to wear them in specific situations, such as riding the buses or walking the hallways in school buildings.

    All students are expected to wear a mask in the classroom except when exempted by the teacher. The exception is Canfield High School students, who are required to wear them while in the building – no exemptions.

    According to Canfield’s draft posted on its website, Canfield.access-k12.org, a final version will be released this month following feedback from teachers, parents and the community. A group of nine local physicians who have children enrolled in the district worked with administrators to better understand the coronavirus based on the best available science, say Drs. Mike Scolieri and Ray Bernat, two members of the group.

    The goal is to analyze the science for the district, not present their opinions, Scolieri says.

    To that end, the group advised the district to open the school to full capacity, saying that keeping students out of school via online learning would pose greater harm to their emotional and mental development, Scolieri says.

    “Overall, from our perspectives, the greater good is for kids to be in school,” Scolieri says. “You mitigate the best you can. But you don’t prevent students from getting into the school.”

    The physicians advised the district to adhere to state guidelines and those presented by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school,” according to its COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-entry.

    All possibilities for school were considered, including fully online and a blended model, Scolieri says.

    A blended model was the initial plan in an effort to limit exposure, he says. But, he and Bernat argue, current available data show “overwhelmingly that otherwise healthy children rarely get severe symptoms, rarely spread to others [child or adult], and rarely die from COVID-19.”

    “I feel like the public is getting bombarded with information. And a lot of it’s false or sensationalized,” Scolieri says.

    At press time, numbers show that about 30 children in the United States have died because of COVID-19, compared to 180 children last year who died from the common flu, Bernat says. During the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, 288 juveniles died from the virus, “and we had none of this hysteria,” Scolieri says.

    “I think there’s just a lot of hysteria with the virus and how that virus affects the kids and adults,” Bernat adds. “We’re just trying to get them to understand the numbers” and base their decision on factual information.

    Regarding facemasks, while the group encourages the district to abide by state guidelines, it contends situations where it’s not possible or appropriate to wear a face covering should not discourage in-school attendance.

    In its report “Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings” published in May, the CDC analyzed studies that report on the effectiveness of facemasks in reducing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infections in the community from literature published between 1946 to July 2018.

    “In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks,” the CDC writes.

    “You try to enforce the rule as best you can,” Bernat says. “We’re recommending that everything is followed. We’re just trying to help them to understand the science so they can make the best decisions they can.”

    For instance, with social distancing, the Canfield district is requiring at least three feet between students. “But if they have to be 2.5 feet so you can get everyone back in school, then you do that,” Scolieri says. “Some of the parents will elect to do everything completely online. So they will reduce the number of kids in school anyway.

    “I have school-aged children and I am highly motivated to keep them safe,” Scolieri added. “If there were any credible data that supported the assertion that going back to school would be dangerous to students or teachers, I would not recommend schools reopening.”

    Other mitigation efforts, such as Plexiglas dividers and sneeze guards, are also being considered and installed as needed, notes Columbiana’s Mook. The challenge, he says, is the cost.

    Funding for the district was cut by $213,000 from May to June, and by another $300,000 in July, Mook says. And while the Ohio Controlling Board approved $300 million in federal funding to help schools, “It’s not like we’re going to get a slush fund from the state,” Mook says.

    “We’re trying to do it on a budget,” Mook says. “Any money we get from the Cares Act will be appreciated, believe me. But right now, I have positions I’m holding on hiring at the moment to see what our numbers are.”

    Anything Columbiana County receives from the $300 million won’t be enough “to address all of the needs” for the districts, agrees the ESC’s superintendent, Anna Marie Vaughn.

    “Even trying to get PPE at this point is getting more and more difficult,” she says. “It will certainly help. But I don’t think it will be enough.”

  23. 23.

    jl

    @Kay: The messaging strategy Trump’s flunkies are using to hoodwink him while they steal all the campaign money is probably the real issue. As I’ve noted before, the intertubes are flooded with the same four or five goofy Trump approval poll come-ones, all with the same music.

    Hope that they get that messaging strategy ironed out so that they can keep stealing the money and help doom the Trump campaign.

  25. 25.

    jl

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): As a local doctor here who specializes in viral disease and public health is saying over and over in recent interviews on local media: can’t do much of anything until we get prevalence down way lower than it is now. Too many covid-19 transmission explosions going on all the time all over the place. Can’t do anything but hunker down.

    Like down to 10 or 20 percent of what it is now even in areas with lowest prevalence. Then, you can do a lot. Like open schools, if you plan carefully.

    We are in a miserable mess.

  26. 26.

    patrick II

    The NBA restarted tonight after five months off. I watched parts of two games. They are all in on Black Lives Matter — ads, halftime show, public service announcements, players, coaches; everyone was saying things have got to change.

  27. 27.

    Kay

    @jl:

    I keep hoping they try a “The Trumps are Loveable” approach because that would be both horrifying and riveting. They won’t though- it’s all mean all the time. Too bad. I would have liked to see that.

  29. 29.

    Bill Arnold

    Thread (ugly). B. Clinton, Prince Andrew and Dershowitz are mentioned. I don’t know how much of it is true.
    @James E Powell:

    NEW:The judge orders the parties to "proceed with unsealing the relevant materials," rejecting Ghislaine Maxwell's new bid."The Court is troubled–but not surprised–that Ms. Maxwell has yet again sought to muddy the waters as the clock ticks closer to midnight," she adds. pic.twitter.com/hjtdv7ZJx9— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 30, 2020

    also
    https://www.courthousenews.com/newly-released-records-in-ghislaine-maxwell-case-reveal-correspondence-with-jeffrey-epstein/

  30. 30.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @jl:

    Yeah. We have to get the epidemic under control first. What scares me is that school districts in my area are actually listening to Scolieri and Bernat. They’re on a physician group that’s advising schools and are completely disregarding established science on COVID-19 from the CDC and WHO as “hysteria” and “misinformation”. This is fucking insane!

  32. 32.

    Anne Laurie

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Because I’m an Old, I think of Tumblr as the place where teenagers share their latest fan-fic faves and gaming strategies.

    The person you’re quoting falls squarely in that descriptor.  I just wish they’d decided to stick with Harry Potter or Twilight or Warhammer, instead of mapping that mindset over to real-world politics!

  33. 33.

    Richard

    Yeah, pretty weird. Tiny Hands started it. I never heard of Eric Erickson before but now i know all i need.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    IMO you just don’t have time for that, Goku. I can’t believe I skimmed the whole thing let alone engage with it. The person will sort out their feelings about the election or they won’t, and no amount of “understanding” on your part will persuade them. They’re demanding some kind of group response from “Democrats” – it’s an impossible ask. Democratic voters are just not a defined enough group to respond en masse to “the Left” – who is supposed to “have their back”? Me? You? Every D voter?  I don’t even know what he wants. Who is he negotiating with?

  36. 36.

    jl

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): in Northern California, some districts are talking about a Denmark style approach. Blended in-person and distance learning. Separate the students and teachers into small pods, distribute in-person teaching to separate locations, some on school campus, some in libraries, rec centers, community centers, to keep them totally separate from each other. Not sure if that would work every place. Need enough large community spaces separate from each other for  one or two pods at a time.

    School campuses open but only as resource centers. Families make appointments to get IT help and equipment, pick up meals for those in meal program, etc.

    We’ll see if that works.

  37. 37.

    matt

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): oUr VoTes weRe sUpprEssed!Weird thing is black votes are the ones most suppressed and those voters went for Biden at like a 5-1 clip. I guess the bernie bros have to say something, they can’t actually face reality or stop being dumbfucks or anything.

  47. 47.

    Anne Laurie

    @matt: Erickson seems really comfortable policing the behavior of the press. Creepy.

    Have you seen the Geico commercials where an overzealous HOA president gleefully snoops through peoples’ garbage and destroys ‘non-compliant’ plants & mailboxes?  That’s what Erickson wants to do to Tha Lie-bral Media.

    (Well, he wants to do it to everyone, but he’ll start with the press.)

    That’s why I’ve nicknamed him ‘Voice of the GOP Gated Community’.  He’s all in favor of evil & oppression, but he always presents his attacks as a defense of property values and community standards…

  53. 53.

    Raoul

    Ummmmm

    Frank Rich @frankrichny

    Bill Barr’s father, the soon-to-be-canned headmaster Donald Barr, hired Jeffrey Epstein to teach teenagers at NY’s Dalton School in 1970s. Even though Epstein had no college diploma.

    Aug 10, 2019

  55. 55.

    smike

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    “Like people don’t remember, nobody ever heard of it until I came along, nobody remembered it for a long time, or they didn’t use it at least, I use it all the time: Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. You know you say that and people say, ‘I didn’t know that’, but he was Republican, so we’re doing a great job.”

    Spoken by some random backup guy.

  56. 56.

    FlyingToaster

    @jl:

    Like down to 10 or 20 percent of what it is now even in areas with lowest prevalence. Then, you can do a lot. Like open schools, if you plan carefully.

    That’s the problem we’ve got up here in Massachusetts.  We were doing fine with phase 1 and then phase 2.  But we really needed to wait several months to get to phase 3, and we didn’t.  So we have cases on the rise again, and students about to return for university, and kids are supposed to go back to school.

    The Governor is blaming it on people being selfish assholes, and guess what, Charlie?  27% of the electorate is fucking stupid or nuts or both.  And they’re the ones going to churches and taking Party Boats on the Harbor and not quarantining when they arrive on the Cape.  But Charlie Baker HAD to open the casinos and restaurants and gyms.  Deal with the consequences of these stupid decisions.

    I’m now assuming that WarriorGirl’s Middle School will be virtual for September, to be revisited in October.

  58. 58.

    Redshift

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Definitely one of the worst things to come out of the 2016 primaries was the closed information loop of “we’re certain that our ideas and candidates are wildly popular, so if we don’t win, it can only be because we were cheated,” which exactly mirrors what right-wing media have been telling their base for decades.

    Considering that Biden has extremely high approval from people who say Bernie was their first choice, I think it’s safe to ignore people who belligerently demand that you convince them while stipulating that they’ve already rejected all rational arguments.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Redshift: apparently Nina Turner and some her fellow travelers are stirring up shit at yet another reconciliation meeting that I, as a political junkie, twitter junkie, Democratic donor, on more email lists than I can count or comprehend, did not know was happening.

  64. 64.

    Redshift

    I’m addition to the fine points others have made, I’ll note that Ewick doesn’t seem to realize how badly it reflects on his side of the aisle to declare advocating for civil rights “divisive and partisan,” much like those who insist that Democrats pleading for people to follow public health recommendations are “politicizing the virus” just because Republicans tell them not to.

  65. 65.

    jl

    @FlyingToaster: I don’t think there is any place in the US where shut downs drove down prevalence like they did in some other parts of the world. Public health people in SF Bay are certainly complaining about it repeatedly in interviews around here “Gee, our shutdown didn’t work as well as we expected. Oh well, everyone get back under the bed!!” . As I noted in previous thread, I think the gutted and very weak regulatory apparatus has something to do with it. Fact that most of the victims are poor, minority, mostly essential workers has serious implications for effective control as well as equity.

    CA seems to be finally doing something about it, or at least saying they will, after endless outbreaks that produce 30, 40, 50 cases at a time. Let along the disaster in prisons. Outbreak studies show that infectious among co-workers is big source of clusters of large outbreaks that spread widely.

    Can the US deal with actually protecting workers, for just this once? Seems hard even if our very social and economic existence depends on it.

    Anyway, protection of essential workforce much better in countries with successful shutdowns that got prevalence low enough to maneuver a safe and robust reopening.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @jl:

    I don’t think any place in the US where shut downs drove down prevalence like they did in other parts of the world.

    Shutdowns simply weren’t enforced as strictly in the US as they were in Asia. I’ve seen videos comparing the US idea of shutdown with, um, Malaysia’s. Big difference.

  69. 69.

    piratedan

    @Major Major Major Major:

    well, I’ll just stick to anime themes here, but imho it kind of depends on mood for me… my favorite…from FLCL

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtOUlhL0WQ

    and as awesome as Tank is, the variety and quality of the theme music by Yoko Kanno is such an outstanding example of setting mood thru the entire series that its simply awesome

    but as for anime themes, some are kicky.. Love Hina

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9z3_fYEuys

    and others have a certain quality or plaintiveness that strikes a chord (Kare Kano or Azumanga Daioh) and some just plain fun because they don’t sound like every other anime opening (Bleach OP season 9)

    but if I was going to “regular TV”, hard to beat Mission Impossible imho…

  70. 70.

    jl

    A problem with very prolonged shutdowns, strict and total, or partial and weak, or on again off again, is that it gives time for people to adjust their way around them and evade the public health tools that officials take for granted as effective.

    News reports around SF Bay that personal service professions are tired of waiting for their offices to open up, and are doing house calls on black market, taking money under the table. So, hair stylists, pet groomers, physical trainers and coaches, etc. I heard one hair stylist say he’s never going to open his office again, makes more money going to houses and cutting whole family’s hair.

    We can say that is bad, but people need to eat. And if the state governments are going to put on endless shutdowns that are ineffective because they can’t protect essential workers and big workplace outbreaks keep popping off, and workers take infections home, what they hell are people going to do? They can hide under the bed forever, or at least until they get evicted or starve, and prevalence still won’t be low enough.

    We are in a real effing mess. CA may muddle through, since big campaign to clean up sloppy essential worker safety in ag and large workplaces. Finally, after months since it was clear it was a big problem. CA Dept of Public Health actually put out a statement that said essentially ‘Hey workplace safety aren’t our gig. Talk to Cal/OSHA’. Fer gawds sake. As if pandemic disease control was ever Cal/OSHA’s gig or they had expertise. Supposedly they are on the same page and working together now, Newsom claims. I’ll hope for the best.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @Major Major Major Major

    Purely subjective and random initial responses which immediately came to what’s left of the mind, in no particular sequence:

    The Prisoner
    The Munsters
    The Outer Limits
    I Dream of Jeannie
    Rawhide
    Babylon 5
    The Flintstones
    Branded
    T.H.E. Cat
    Adventures of Superman
    .

  75. 75.

    jl

    @Amir Khalid: general population compliance in SF Bay was very good, mobility measures say almost as good as NYC. But for a long time, almost every day, news of big outbreaks at large workplaces, constructions sites, public agencies. Edit: IIRC, the private large ag, construction, light industrial, distribution workplace outbreaks just exploded as soon as they were allowed to reopen, at least that was my impression.

    I’d say over 90 percent of population I see are wearing masks or have them outside. Never seen a person not complying with mask orders inside a business.

    Haven’t heard of big workplace outbreaks for a few weeks. I hope the state and counties are cracking down on them, but maybe media just got tired of covering them. I’ll have to hope it’s the former.

  76. 76.

    joel hanes

    @Kay:

    Republicans suppressing the vote with “surgical precision”? Obama pulled that right out of the opinion in the North Carolina case where the court found they deliberately targeted AA voters.

    Yes.  Obama spoke the words “surgical precision”, but what he was saying was “fuck you, John Roberts”

    So say we all.

  80. 80.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:@Redshift: apparently Nina Turner and some her fellow travelers are stirring up shit at yet another reconciliation meeting that I, as a political junkie, twitter junkie, Democratic donor, on more email lists than I can count or comprehend, did not know was happening.

    Why are they even bothering?  Reconciliation?  Sheesh.  Nina Turner can go beg the Biden campaign for a job and promise to be good, or she can fuck off.   She’s not relevant anymore.  The whole Black Lives Matter movement made the Sandernistas irrelevant in 2 weeks time.  Their moment is already passed and Bernie’s whole economic message that the 1% are at the root of all evil is just tone deaf when we are talking about racism and systematic violence.

  82. 82.

    daryljfontaine

    @piratedan: I understand what you mean about the particular audio quality of an OP that grabs you, I felt the same thing with KareKano while watching it. Similarly, Golden Time OP 2, or last year’s Kawaki wo Ameku from Domestic Girlfriend, which sent me down an enjoyably poignant rabbit hole of other tracks by Minami. Always know the song has me hooked when I never choose Skip Credits.

    Winter’s Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! OP is a jam, and also a visual delight.

    D

  83. 83.

    Kent

    @joel hanes:

    Prediction:

    Every school that opens for in-person instruction will close again within six weeks in the wake of an outbreak.

    Parents and teachers will die.

    Our district here in Vancouver WA just announced yesterday that they are scrapping their hybrid platoon-style approach to re-opening and going 100% virtual to start the school year.  And our numbers are better than 95% of the country.  Positive test rates are about 5% and new cases are dropping.

    Hopefully they will be able to move to a hybrid approach by October or so if the MAGA filth don’t ruin it for us.  We shall see.

  84. 84.

    joel hanes

    @jl:

    Never seen a person not complying with mask orders inside a business [in NorCal]

    Boy, I have.

    My local groceries have been like 95%, but I’ve spotted a couple employees (stockers, not customer-facing) that have pushed the mask off their nose.

    But liquor stores!    Employees stocking with no masks.  Clerks with the mask off their nose.  Customers with no mask at all (and an attitude), or masks used as chinstraps.  Many customers with the mask off their nose.     I’ve switched to buying beer at 7/11, because they are rigidly complying, clerks always masked and maskless customers ejected.

  85. 85.

    jl

    @joel hanes: “Parents and teachers will die.”

    If they don’t have a good plan to protect the staff, whole thing will crumble when a dozen or so have to go into two week quarantine. May be as likely to be brought in by adult staff as through the students. But, good chance big holes get blown through the schemes at one feel swoop long before anyone goes to the hospital, though that will happen later.

  86. 86.

    jl

    @joel hanes: Where are you? That is not what I see in SF and peninsula.

    Edit: oops, I may have typed Northern California, instead of SF Bay. I’ve gone to see family in San Joaquin Valley, and there, yeah, a substantial minority of anti-maskers. The great metropolis of Atwater has blown off the whole disease prevention thing.

    Edit: nope, I typed SF Bay. So where is SF Bay are people being idiots? I wouldn’t be astonished that there are  some.

  87. 87.

    Kent

    @Amir Khalid:Shutdowns simply weren’t enforced as strictly in the US as they were in Asia. I’ve seen videos comparing the US idea of shutdown with, um, Malaysia’s. Big difference.

    We have a lot of family in Santiago Chile.  They aren’t even allowed outside their homes without special passes and only for 1 hour.  Police will stop you and fine you if you are out of compliance.  Not for failure to wear masks.  But for even being outdoors without the right pass and at the right time that your pass allows.

    Chile is now down to under 2000 new cases/day for a country of 19 million.  They still have a long ways to go but are way off their peak of 8000/day in early June.

  88. 88.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @jl: he intertubes are flooded with the same four or five goofy Trump approval poll come-ones, all with the same music.

    I’ve seen those, my take is those are the “polls” that Trump keeps on saying he is up in. I wonder if this is really the “fraud” Trump is trying to delay the election over, that is own staff is scamming him.

  90. 90.

    jl

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I get a lot, I mean a whole lot of Trump ads.

    But then, I get a lot of ads for old fat, balding, broke ass bad credit couch potatoes. As BillinGlendaleCA is fond of reminding me from time to time.

  91. 91.

    joel hanes

    @jl:

    I’m in Santa Clara.

    Low-information people around me are getting tired of restrictions, and are gradually dropping compliance.  The bulk of the population is still being very careful — but the clientele at my two customary liquor stores are a slice of the populace with very different ideas and behaviors.

  92. 92.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @jl: My personal experiance in North Cal is I got food poisoning and the boss insisted I get tested.  Had to go downtown to get the test  and I was surprised to see people walking on the streets alone wearing masks.

  93. 93.

    prostratedragon

    @NotMax:  I thought of The Prisoner, which I recently watched again and highly recommend. It’s on Prime, and most or all episodes are also free on the ‘tube. The short course: 1, 3, 4, 10, 16, 17.

  94. 94.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Anne Laurie:

    Oh, there’s that and all sorts of crazy politics on Tumblr, believe me. Right-wingers also use Tumblr, go figure

    @Kay:

    Everything you say is true. I was just fucking gobsmacked by the stupidity of it. They have a lot to learn about politics, but I see this sentiment every once in awhile there and it’s maddening. Some have learned nothing in the past 4 years

    @matt:

    I actually sent them an anonymous ask to that effect

    @Redshift:

    Considering that Biden has extremely high approval from people who say Bernie was their first choice, I think it’s safe to ignore people who belligerently demand that you convince them while stipulating that they’ve already rejected all rational arguments.

    That’s encouraging and why I’m going to try to ignore these idiots

    @joel hanes:

    Prediction:

    Every school that opens for in-person instruction will close again within six weeks in the wake of an outbreak.

    Parents and teachers will die.

    Sadly, probably what’s going to happen. Then again, most parents should be on the younger and healthier side

    @jl:

    My understanding of a Denmark-style plan is that prevalence has to be kept very low.

  95. 95.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Major Major Major Major:

    The best? Honestly? I can’t really pick one I like best out of all the ones I’ve heard, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the Japanese (and translated English versions) for the original Dragon Ball anime. They really embody the spirit of the manga/show and get you pumped up

    I especially liked this closing theme

    As an aside, I’ve never liked how people tend to skip over DB to Z. You miss out a lot of story

  98. 98.

    piratedan

    @NotMax: kind of surprised not to see The Avengers on that list from the Emma Peel years, while everyone was entranced by Ms. Rigg in her Latex wardrobe, I was always moved by the feel of the theme (not to imply that I didn’t notice Ms. Rigg, just saying the music was spiffy)

  99. 99.

    smike

    @jl:

    Edit: nope, I typed SF Bay. So where is SF Bay are people being idiots? I wouldn’t be astonished that there are some.

    You know, even some people from the bay area may have voted for the backup-otus.

  100. 100.

    piratedan

    @Llelldorin: I hear ya, its kind of weird, some of my favorite anime’s have totally forgettable themes but some really do a great job of capturing the spirit of the series (regardless of home much I actually like the series…) that points me back to items like Azumanga Daioh and even Beck/Mongolian Chop Squad, but in both cases kind of prep you for what’s coming (like Baccano and Durarara)

  101. 101.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: “I’m not balding.”

    OK. I thought I only communicated that you have reminded me that I am a loser who has confessed to receiving ads for losers. Wasn’t saying anything about you (ha, as if I needed to).

    But, hey, thanks for the TMI!

  102. 102.

    jl

    @smike: From what I’ve seen, mostly among from the very self-proclaimed very hyper rational SF Bay libertarian set, whose strict geometrical logic always seems to lead to only sensible policy is whatever is best for them.

    And miscellaneous drunks I’ve run into around convenience stores.

  104. 104.

    joel hanes

    @smike:

    I’m sure there are some Trump voters on my street.

    No yard signs for any candidate, ever, though.  We’re all very circumspect  — but I suspect that if I put up a Biden sign, I might get my car keyed.   The people I lived with in this house (my family and some close friends) are variously black, white, Mexican-heritage, and mixed, and some of our white neighbors are a bit more than standoffish.

  109. 109.

    Sally

    Haven’t read your comments yet so I’m probably reiterating what many have said. Are Republicans suggesting human rights are a partisan issue? Is one party in favour, while the other is opposed? Do I understand correctly? One party is saying, out very very loud, we don’t believe American citizens should have access to human rights. Ok then.

  110. 110.

    frosty

    @joel hanes: My liquor store in Maryland is 100%. They have a sign on the door: “In appreciation of our essential employees who have worked at risk of COVID-19, everyone entering will wear a face covering.” It seems to have worked.

    The PA wine and spirits store is 100%. The beer distributor sucks. I’m buying beer in MD.

  112. 112.

    aliasofwestgate

    I have two One Piece  opening themes that are in my current favorites list.  Hands Up!  and Hope

    Best viewed with the openings. I wish teh first one was translated because it’s so much a part of the show that the themes feel so upbeat, even in the angstiest plotlines. The latter song, Hope is one of those. Mostly because it’s about the male blond in the opening and his actual character growth (FINALLY GODDAMMIT). He gets put through the wringer, and Whole Cake Island arc is the trippiest shit Oda-sensei ever wrote, and not the best of his arcs. Still a damned good story and that opening pretty much exemplifies the whole feel of that part of the story. Even the least of OP arcs are fun as hell, which is why i keep watching. XD The musician and music nerd in me meanwhile, drools over the openings and the ending themes from teh beginning of the show in the 90s and a bit afterwards.

  113. 113.

    frosty

    @joel hanes: Here in Confederate Pennsylvania, in my half-mile loop to the Post Office and back there are 10 Trump signs and flags. And I’m with you, nothing goes on my lawn because I don’t want my car keyed.

  114. 114.

    Joey Maloney

    @James E Powell: A stoner question should include the word “man”

    Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion. Man.

    Dammit! Beaten to the punch. Man.

  120. 120.

    smike

    @joel hanes:

    …and some of our white neighbors are a bit more than standoffish.

    Yeah, I’ve even felt the vibe at some family reunions, sad to say.

  123. 123.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    In 1973, Donald Barr [Bill Barr’s father] published Space Relations, a science-fiction novel about a planet ruled by oligarchs who perform child sex slavery. It has been noted that the plot of the novel reflects the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.[13]

    Always projection with these slobs

  128. 128.

    LeftCoastYankee

    I think we’re beyond the point where knowing what the Cons are saying is useful for preparing counter-arguments.

    I think hearing people like Erickson is like having a mini-stroke.  His words inflict stupidity on all listeners.

  129. 129.

    rikyrah

    The central tenet of American democracy is the right to vote. Trump is a threat to the ballot box. He is setting the preconditions to dispute the election. Many assume it’s only a diversion from a disastrous 1/3 drop in GNP. I don’t. He’s Mussolini. https://t.co/Skzuwbtrdc— Barry R McCaffrey (@mccaffreyr3) July 31, 2020

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    Our school district ordered PPE supplies and Clorox wipes in the 1000s. We are a large district. FEMA confiscated what they wanted and sold it to private vendors and THEY sold them back to us for double the price!!!— Bye Bye Birdy (@criscre123) July 29, 2020

  132. 132.

    Sister Golden Bear

    In the Palo Alto-area of the SF Bay Area, people have generally been good about masking and social distancing—although it’s gotten laxer on time. Definitely seen teens not being great about it, but I think that’s probably a universal constant.

    Biggest problem I’ve seen is restaurants with outdoor dining who are putting tables to close — and these always seem to be the more crowded ones, natch. OTOH, others actually are trying to respect the spirit of the rules. I did actually have a coffee at one this morning, but the tables were 10 feet apart and I was able to get the one that was upwind of the others.

    I did get a pedicure (feet were starting to crack) and had nails done (they were damaged and cracking) and the nail salon was taking things seriously. Don’t enter until invited in, only 1 manicure customer and 1 pedicure customer at a time (max two customers in a large salon), with protective screens everywhere, and the nail tech double masked with a face shield. Pretty close to the level of protection used when I went to the dentist.

    But yeah, quarantine fatigue is definitely a thing. It looks like San Mateo County, which was the only Bay Area county that wasn’t required to rollback loosened restrictions will be forced to do so this weekend. I’m really pissed that after all the hard work we’ve done, we seem to be heading back to square one because of a minority of assholes.

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    Thread

    Fascism. Authoritarianism. The question has always been, could it happen here? Because the answer has been NO does not mean that it will always be so. It is happening here. It is happening right now. Trump crossed the rubicon this morning. For the first time in American 1/— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) July 30, 2020

  135. 135.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Major Major Major Major:

    My favorite anime ever, Rozen Maiden, has a fantastic opening score and animation that represents the messed up and goth tone of the show well.

    @Bill Arnold:

    Clinton certainly seems to have visited Epstein’s island, but even the accuser quoted specifically does not accuse him of having sex with a minor.  If he did, I want his head like the rest, but so far it’s all at ‘schmoozed with Epstein like Clinton schmoozed with everyone.’

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    (ALERT) Mike Pompeo just testified under oath that *Barr* will decide if Trump—despite having no constitutional authority to do so—can *announce* he's moving the election.Read that sentence multiple times and then retweet this. We're witnessing a historic threat to rule of law.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 30, 2020

  137. 137.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    Trump will dispute the election.  Who gives a shit?  He can’t do anything but whine as the country moves on without him.  He will also ask every national armed service for a coup, or at least hint strongly to his aides, when he loses.  He won’t get it.  Unless the election is recount level close, the Supreme Court won’t get involved, and they are his only hope.

    Trump’s refusal to accept the election is inevitable and irrelevant.

  138. 138.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @rikyrah:

    Barr has even less ability to delay the election than Trump.  Ditto Pompeo.  They’re just sucking up to the boss’s WATB ranting.

  140. 140.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    FEMA confiscated what they wanted and sold it to private vendors and THEY sold them back to us for double the price!!! 

    Mobster shitpiles gonna mobster shitpile.

    Fucking mobster shitpiles.

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    TV show themes:

    Danger Man, which later became

    Secret Agent

    Route 66

    Peter Gunn

    T.H.E. Cat

    Foyle’s War

    The Beverly Hillbillies

    Mission: Impossible

    The Saint

    Cowboy Bebop

    Rawhide

    The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

     

  144. 144.

    DMcK

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Yep. Tossing around yet another hot potato gurved up by vomitmouth until it shrivels up and goes away. Seems to be a major preoccupation for the participants in this maladministration. Unfortunately the media can’t distinguish these doomed tubers from the main course at a five-star restaurant.

  146. 146.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    (ALERT) Mike Pompeo just testified under oath that *Barr* will decide if Trump—despite having no constitutional authority to do so—can *announce* he’s moving the election.Read that sentence multiple times and then retweet this. We’re witnessing a historic threat to rule of law.— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 30, 2020

    Not that I think it would happen, but I think it would be good if Speaker Pelosi et al. announced Barr impeachment hearings, were Barr to say anything other than “no delay.”

  147. 147.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NotMax: We could do quality differential between the credits and the show. A lot of the action-adventure shows of the 1970s-80s were really quite boring most of the time, but had fantastic opening credit sequences to hook you at the start. Knight Rider, for instance. Really a pretty bad show but you can’t beat that theme music and narration. “A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist!”

  148. 148.

    Matt McIrvin

    @rikyrah: Trump is so far past the Rubicon that all these shocked statements from conservatives seem a little ridiculous. But I’m not going to turn these people down if they offer alliance.

  149. 149.

    Central Planning

    @rikyrah: In a few years, some right wing hack will claim Dolt45 was playing 523 dimension chess by ensuring everyone voted Democrat to herald in a new era of justice and equality. It was the only way he could get rid of the Republicans.

  151. 151.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The anti-Democratic-Party far left still thinks they have some kind of leverage here, even though there seems to be a center-left wave building and the main concern is whether the election system itself will break/be sabotaged. I’ve been watching this… Elsewhere… and it just seems sad.

  152. 152.

    Matt McIrvin

    (apparently the latest thing is that the Bros are pissed off that Bill Clinton said something nice about Jim Clyburn during Lewis’s funeral, and this will somehow be Biden’s downfall because the people are all about how Bernie was robbed)

  153. 153.

    Ken

    @SFAW: I think it would be good if Speaker Pelosi et al. announced Barr impeachment hearings, were Barr to say anything other than “no delay.”

    I think it’d be even better if she just announced the impeachment hearings, no conditional.

  155. 155.

    PPCLI

    @Central Planning:

    everyone voted Democrat

    People “vote Democratic”, they don’t “vote Democrat”. The Republicans have invested insane amounts of energy into normalizing their ugly neologisms “Democrat Party”, etc. Please don’t help them.

  156. 156.

    UttBugly

    A very good outro ditty: https://youtu.be/shvEXtn9GR8

    ”Three String Serenade”

  157. 157.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Redshift: Yeah, a lot of people do not understand that politics is hard work, it takes time and sweat,  and you have to work with a lot of different people with different ideas for how to get the goals accomplished.  Add that to the fact that sometimes people do NOT want to deal with the fact that if you want to get your candidates involved you have to start/work at all levels, from local boards of Aldermen and state senates to House and Senate seats.  Put forward a candidate for  every seat, do not let any Republican run for a seat unopposed.   It does not matter if you hold the Presidency if the other branches of Government and the State governments are controlled by the Republicans.

    You can’t just vote every 4 years, for the Presidency and expect things to change.  (I really hate the Cult of Personality thing, 1 charismatic person can not , by themselves fix everything)

    And we need to support voter protection groups and groups to fight voter suppression.

    Stacey Abrams – Fair Fight

    Run For Something

    Onward Together

  158. 158.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Baud: It was pretty clear  a couple years ago where Trump started parroting the idea from.  But I don’t want to re-fight that fight.  Life is already too exhausting and I am already mad at too many people around me.  The only way I can currently have a civil conversation with my only child is to avoid entire topics of conversation.  I’m just hoping her decisions don’t end up killing her.

  159. 159.

    Dmbeaster

    @joel hanes: Right now as to WJC, its stink by association since he was on pedophile isle, apparently multiple times.  If that is true, it sure looks bad, and his defense would apparently be that he prefers MILFs, not Lolitas.  Plus why would he involve himself with Epstein anyway?  I can understand perhaps being on that isle once because of naivete, but never returning.

  160. 160.

    artem1s

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    apparently Nina Turner and some her fellow travelers are stirring up shit at yet another reconciliation meeting

    Nina Turner and her ilk want to be the Tea Party of the Democratic Party.  They think they can bully their way in the door and take over the way that Gohmert did the GOP.  They are all in favor of limiting federal government as long as the power comes under their control and they are the only ones who get to wield it.  The problem isn’t what she is doing in DC, it’s what they and their fake Green Party pals are doing at the state level that has all but killed any chance that the Dems will be able to take back Ohio for at least a decade. Right now she has a foot in the door because she has them convinced she can bring them Ohio. But in reality, most people in Ohio have no clue who she is and would be less likely to vote for someone she is endorsing if they do know who she is.

    Her only power here is to continue to disrupt at the state level so the national party can’t rely on winning Ohio. And if they don’t spend any time or money here (honestly, money spent in Ohio is wasted right now) then the story becomes “Hillary didn’t visit Wisconsin enough”. It’s a no win situation because her goal is to get the Democratic Party to waste time and money on unwinnable districts.  And then they start the disrupting, grifting cycle all over again as soon as the election is over.

  161. 161.

    Miss Bianca

    @dmsilev: “How dare Lincoln politicize the Battle of Gettysburg! If a Democrat had tried to do that, you’d hear the howling all the way out to California!” – said some 19thC dipshit, probably.

  162. 162.

    dww44

    @PPCLI: That has always bugged the living heck out of me.  I think to counter it we should start using something as nonsensical by calling the Republic party.  Seriously, everytime we go to say or write Republican replace it with Republic party.

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