That's a pretty cogent explanation of the situation.

And why doesn't Batman DANCE anymore?

Well, really, they don't even like his name. But still, you get a like.

And the weirdest part is, with Bruce Banner and Ben Grimm and Peter Parker, Marvel Comics are really the ones who brought a good brood into the super hero lexicon.

Not really. It fits some of Zinn's proteges like Dave Zirin (Who I love, but I'll concede), but PHotUS, while it doesn't shy away from America's very real problems, keeps coming back to the people who kept trying to fix them, even after they get their heads kicked in. In that, it's inspiring and aspirational.

Yup, the dagger must have a point.

So, we're just gonna continue the trend of making Superman movies without really liking Superman, huh?

I think there's some wisdom to that. I'd also point out that in LBJ's case, there were some scandals of conduct that were quasi-understood (his personal finances, Gulf of Tonken) but never really litigated. The agita over Viet Nam- while well deserved in and of itself- also became a proxy for all of his other…

And being too lax on the financial industry following the collapse in 2007-2008. But I also understand not really defining those as "scandals"- they're really just an over-acceptance of the status quo, and I'm fine considering that a different sort of sin than actual malfeasance.

That's kinda what I'm thinking.

Well, I don't necessarily disagree, I just…don't know that I care? Inspiration has to come from somewhere, and Levine doesn't seem mad about it, nor does there seem like a high probability of brand confusion or anything.

I dunno…I dislike Fox News quite a bit, but this seems like a nothingburger. If you're going for strength-and-patriotism imagery, you only have so much to choose from, y'know?

The real shame of it is, I'd be interested in an Alternate History about a world without the United States, or one where George Washington was assassinated early.

Have you read much of the history of that election? It's interesting stuff. There hadn't been an election for 10 years, the Tories ran a poor campaign, Labour fully embraced a "rebuild the country" posture while the Tories stayed on war-footing…I dunno, for a political nerd, it's quite something.

That is when the True Patriots would let their guard down. It's a good strategy.

It would be kinda awesome if O'Reilly adopted "We're doing it live!" as his tagline. He doesn't really do that, right?

"A fucking great run" may overstate things (or may not, I dunno, who the fuck cares anymore), but he objectively has had an unusually scandal-free Presidency.

"To begin his attack on Howard Zinn for collecting various indictments into a single narrative of American shame"

Billable hours are positive!

The worst part about the end of Season 3 was Mycroft's line about how they couldn't send Sherlock to prison because he'd be running any prison they had within a week. GODDAMMIT THAT'S A GREAT PLOTLINE WHY WOULDN'T YOU DO THAT?!