Joe Walsh

They are pretty good, but I like the clarity and brevity of the layout used for Champions Begins as well.

We recently subscribed to HBOMax, so we found a lot we enjoy. It's like starting all over with Netflix again! Doom Patrol is awesome. We're about half a dozen episodes into the first season. It's got a good story and good characters, plus moments of absolute hilarity. Harley Quinn, the adult-oriented animated TV show, is good as well. We're about halfway through the second season. They're poking fun at the gamergate types as well as the "women are always victims / all men are predators" types. The Suicide Squad was so, so much better than the previous movies. Worth a month's subscription all by itself. Made for Love is kind of an extended Black Mirror episode and it's pretty great. And it's the only thing I've enjoyed seeing Ray Romano in. Hoping it doesn't all fall apart in season 2. Hacks is...just ok. It starts out kinda meh, but after a few episodes it's gotten funnier. The Flight Attendant was freaking awesome. Really good characters, great use of humor, and lots of thrills. Looking forward to season 2.

Lots of things suck right now, but I'm happy my state is re-instituting the indoor mask mandate. Too bad the Dem governor waited until a 20-county region was at 3% ICU capacity, but at least it got done.

I'm not an epidemiologist and don't play one on TV, so definitely do what you think is right! That said, I was just relaying what a segment on our local NBC TV news was saying last night. Unfortunately I can't find that segment on their crappy website, and most google search results on the topic seem to be from back in the beginning of the pandemic when we didn't know as much. Personally, I've been treating surface transmission with a lot less fear than I did at the beginning. I don't wipe down my groceries or delivered packages any more. I still wash my hands after being out, and I don't touch my face while I'm out, tho. Heck, I still use hand sanitizer before I get in my car in the parking lot, so I don't contaminate its surfaces. So I'm not exactly being consistent! But I am trying to be less paranoid than I used to be, since epidemiologists have been saying surface transmission is possible but appears to be somewhat rare.

Could just leave it in a paper bag for a few days until any virus clinging to it is dead/no longer a threat.

When schools start up, it's going to be a train wreck. Either they do it all onsite and everyone gets sick, or they do it all remote and parents of younger or special needs children will have to choose between taking care of their kids and earning and income.

Schools: Students must abide by our dress code. Also schools: It would be wrong for us to tell kids they have to wear masks.

There are so many great episodes, it'd be hard to pick just one. But I can say my favorite episode as a kid was Shore Leave.

CDC Says US has ‘way too much virus’ to control pandemic as cases surge across country: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/cdc-says-us-has-way-too-much-virus-to-control-pandemic-as-cases-surge-across-country.html

Yeah, they're being pretty cute about it, but they're making it obvious they're fascists. They're "populists" in the same way the Nazi party was "socialist." Meaning, not at all.

Remember that time you rolled 88d6? Well, that's what created this shitty reality. Thanks a lot!

Me, too. And it's remarkable to me that there have been terrible failures of leadership in both parties. De Blasio telling people to go out on the town one last time before lockdown. Cuomo cutting medicaid during a pandemic. Democrats in the House not using their leverage to make the Senate bill better. And on and on. Maybe we're just not very good at picking leaders.

Another good sign, via an AP poll out today: https://apnews.com/3562b5a082a27221e532075de509a36c Also, most Americans support wearing facemasks....including most Republicans....according to this huffpost/yougov poll. https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5ec584fcc5b642a7d150e103#comments Both polls are consistent with what I've been seeing right along. Common sense survives!

At the same time, essential workers should be paid accordingly and given every reasonable protection.

Which is so strange to me. We allow "free speech zones," libel laws, and all kinds of restrictions on other rights. But somehow guns rights are supposed to be absolute. The only difference I can see is that guns are a product, and there's an industry that wants no restrictions on its ability to sell its products.

There are definitely a lot of people hurting out there, financially, emotionally, physically, psychologically. Not to mention vaccinations are down, cancer patients are having to forego treatment, and on and on. As you say, it's a good sign not many are wanting to go too fast. The national surveys I've seen (e.g. https://navigatorresearch.org/navigating-coronavirus/) have shown a consistent preference for being safe when lifting stay-at-home orders. Most people seem satisfied with what the pace of their states' transition, with the remainder having a plurality in favor of going more slowly vs. more quickly. In my state specifically, out of a population of more than 12 million only a few hundred have come out to protest. A few businesses have reopened in defiance of the order (and then were shut down). Some politicians are suing, seemingly to make a name for themselves/grandstand. Which, again, isn't to say people aren't hurting. It's outrageous how small businesses are being treated by the federal government, for example. And social isolation is seriously damaging to some, particularly seniors. Thankfully the state's unemployment filing backlog is being worked through, making things better for people who lost their jobs (thanks substantially to the extra $600). If only we'd done what most other countries did, and just pick up the payroll tab so as to avoid all this dislocation and swamping of the state unemployment machinery! I'm just hoping we will all be ready to go back under stay-at-home orders as the inevitable second wave begins (as it already has in France and Iran). That's why I'm thankful my state's plan is based on metrics, and has mechanisms for moving regions back and forth between phases as indicated by conditions on the ground within each region. I'm happy to let the data do the talking rather than letting politics decide what's best.

That's the impression news reports are giving, but the truth is the vast majority of people are complying. Something like 90% are either fine with what's going on or worried that we'll move too quickly.

Yikes. That's really bad.

It does sometimes seem like our options are a quick slide or a slow walk.

I have family members with pre-existing conditions and totally understand! I'm glad you were able to get coverage. But I'd love it if everyone could have health care like in other industrialized nations.

It's absolutely true that socially we have had real progress. Not uniformly across the country, and there is still resistance to all of it -- widespread resistance, even. But the support ratio has definitely flipped on a lot of things. And that is unqualifiedly good. But on the issues that the wealthy care the most about, the movement is ever in their favor. Sure, after they get a large tax cut, the D's may come in there and give them a tiny tax increase, but then the next R will just give them another large cut. The D's may do a little regulation here and there to clean up the environment or some such, but the R's will just undo that and more. And so on. And all the while things that would do the most to help people move up the ladder are off the table. At best, we get funhouse mirror versions of those things, like the Heritage Foundation inspired ACA. Or we fight like hell, finally get a small win on some issue legislatively, and then it's undone by the courts. To be clear, I'm not saying everything is terrible and hopeless. I'm not saying Biden will be uniformly bad. He will probably do what he can, within the limits of what his campaign donors (insurance companies, banks, wall street, etc.) will allow. Which is better than we're getting now, and will be critically important for some people. Which is why I always vote for the lesser evil...making me complicit in evil.

Sadly, yes. Ugh. So creepy.

I appreciate your perspective, but I've had this conversation too many times already. Besides: not the point.

Great point. That GM screen and the booklet in it were golden.

I'm struggling with this election as well On the one hand, I've been voting for the lesser of two evils since 1988, and things have just gotten worse and worse. In each election we're told that next time we'll have a better choice, but right now, we have to choose one of these two, so choose the lesser evil. But the next time it's always the same story. Every time someone even mildly progressive starts to gain traction in the presidential race, the party elites and media unite to put and end to their campaign. On the other hand, the evidence suggests Trump could be an existential threat to American democracy. One that our sociopolitical system seems unable to deal with. Do I want us to end up like Hungary or Russia? Absolutely not. Coming back from that costs blood, not votes...and may not be possible with today's surveillance technology. I'll be voting for down-ballot progressives where possible (and giving what I can to down-ballot progressives in other districts). I know the weight of the party will be against them in every case, but sometimes it works. And that gives me hope. And I suppose I will reluctantly vote for Biden. But goddamn, I can't help but feel that's part of the problem. Every time we vote for the lesser of two evils, we move the center further right. Voting for the lesser of two evils made Trump's rise possible. What was crazy right-wing stuff when I was a kid is now mainstream. And it's partly my fault.