I know I know, PINK TOADS, especially when there’s two of them. But I do go and regularly look at Dan Chmielewski’s Liberal OC as well as Matt Cunningham’s two blogs, just because I need some kind of foil, and when I see how the former (which is supposed to be a “liberal” blog) is totally dominated now by HB rightwing bomb-thrower Charles Keeler “Chuck” Johnson (writing as “Bob”), I think… “When did Chuck Johnson last totally dominate the Liberal OC?”
And I’ve got it, it was spring of 2018, we wrote about it at the time! (Priceless comments section too.)
Do you even remember the name Hans Kierstead, seven years later? As the 2018 pre-“Blue Wave” primary approached, OC Democrats were evenly divided on which Dem candidate could best take out nutty 30-year incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. Some, like this blog, preferred Harley Rouda, while some, including the Liberal OC, preferred Kierstead. The rivalry grew bitter and ugly.
Meanwhile far-right “hate vessel” Chuck Johnson, who then had his own blog, the “HB Sledgehammer,” and who loved him some Dana Rohrabacher, decided to secretly enter the Dem-on-Dem fray. Like us (and correctly) Chuck believed Harley had the best chance of beating Dana, so, thinking himself very clever, Chuck decided to put all his time and energy into discrediting Harley among Democrats. (So that Dana could face the weaker Hans in November, you understand. Chuck admitted all this elsewhere.)
And Dan let his “Liberal OC” become Chuck’s dirty playpen – as long as they were both trashing Harley Rouda it was all good. Chuck commented under lots of different names, mostly pretending to be a Democrat disgusted with Harley. He created a fake anti-Harley liberal woman called Kristen Sullivan, full of righteous outrage at Harley and his friends. He sent off obscene, slanderous e-mails to the whole DPOC under the fake name “Henry Lipton,” and got them reprinted on Dan’s blog. It was hard to find anything credible to throw at straight-arrow Harley, so Chuck tried hard to tie Harley to folks he hated in HB like Gina and Victor, about whom he could invent and exaggerate dirty stories.
None of it worked, LOL. Harley beat Hans in the primary, and went on to gloriously take out Dana in November! Remember this:
The influence of Chuck Johnson on Chmielewski was lasting, however, and as late as 2022 Dan was telling folks NOT to vote for the HB Democrats that Chuck hated – if I thought the Liberal OC had any influence at all, I’d blame that blog for the MAGA takeover of Surf City’s Council.
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Fast forward to Trump’s tragic victory last November, and suddenly there was a new, obnoxious troll commenter on both my blog and Dan’s, calling itself “BOB.” It was clearly Chuck Johnson, either back from another controlled-substance sentence or suddenly energized by Trump’s reign of destruction. I printed a couple of his comments and then blocked him – this isn’t the kind of person you can have a conversation with, not at all interested in facts, only interested in gleefully rubbing everyone’s face in the latest Trump depredations.
But on The Liberal OC, it’s gotten to where Chuck Johnson writes more than Dan himself – he gets dozens of comments a week published there, each one hateful and of ZERO value. They get published because Chuck knows how to manipulate Dan – all it takes is to, once a week, write “You’re a smart guy, Dan.” And if any comment of his doesn’t show up, scream bloody censorship! And the “Bob” show has probably increased Dan’s hits by a lot. But Dan isn’t capable of answering Chuck’s ravings – he doesn’t have the energy or wit. (He shouldn’t even be printing his comments, Chuck should go restart “HB Sledgehammer” if he can’t keep quiet.)
Some of Dan’s readers do a little better at responding to Chuck, like one “Ken Cooper” responding to Chuck blaming his 2008 job loss on Democrats:
Lol. It is obvious you lost your job in 2008 because you were not considered valuable enough to keep.
All of the things you are wanting will do nothing to improve your life. You just want to make others as miserable as you.
The problem with just about every fanatic like yourself. And most are too self unaware to recognize it. Regardless of their ideology. Is they are too inept to get by in the world. So their only recourse is to try and curtail the enjoyment of others.
You only have two or three brain cells left. And they are both fighting for third place. Have a good day. This was fun.
And it was this “Ken Cooper” who also turned us all onto the new Reddit thread “Leopards Ate My Face.” Yes, all of the above was an intro to “Leopards Ate My Face” on Reddit. You’ve heard the expression maybe, referring to folks who vote for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party so they can watch the leopards eating other people’s faces, and are then dismayed and righteously pissed and shocked when the leopards begin to eat THEIR face. Or as the Reddit thread description explains,
“Revel in the schadenfreude anytime someone has a sad because they’re suffering consequences from something they voted for or supported or wanted to impose on other people.”
And there’s new material there all day every day. If you need a daily or hourly dose of politically charged schadenfreude, bookmark “Leopards Ate My Face” on Reddit! It’ll help get you through these 2-4 coming years of hell.
Have I blathered on enough to introduce a new open thread for the Mad Month of March? I think we are missing one thing – and of course that is Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, donating her Tesla (festooned “Elon Sux”) to NPR!
https://www.tiktok.com/@therealelvira/video/7476664890879397162
NOW you are ready to Open-thread:
HAVE AT IT, my pretties!
Why? Why on Earth. You not only touched the Pink Toad, you licked its venomous excretions. This is seriously and literally toxic. For the LOVE OF BABY JESUS cut it out.
Some American Jewish Zionist leaders are awful scary.
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/prominent-st-louis-rabbis-genocidal-anti-palestinian-statements-reflect-the-broader-jewish-community/
More scary American Jewish Zionists. They shoot each other and then curse Arabs!! Nice look.
https://www.972mag.com/miami-shooting-mizrahi-jews-arab/
Israeli consul general rallies at uci with American Jewish Zionists including Dean Gillman.
https://x.com/IsraelinLA/status/1895640361298727111?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
In other news, Melahat[] has new counsel.
02/28/2025 ORDER GRANTING REQUEST TO SUBSTITUTE ATTORNEY JENNIFER J. WIRSCHING in place of attorney ALALEH KAMRAN granting REQUEST for Approval of Substitution of Attorney Attorney Jennifer J. Wirsching as to defendant Melahat Rafiei (1) 61 by Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha.
And if you’re keeping count, 26 days until Sidhu finally gets sentenced! 3/28/2025.
Wikipedia credits Adrian Bott with a viral tweet in 2015, which read: “‘I never thought leopards would eat my face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” As I recall, Paul Krugman did a whole lot to popularizing it.
It hadn’t really struck me until rewatching that song parody how completely the portions of Dana’s agenda you address (which left out cannabis reforms), with the prominent exception of policy regarding China, has been adopted by Trump and Musk.
Chumley denies that Bob is Chuck Johnson, which “Bob” sheepishly doesn’t. Dan is so dense he probably can’t even tell Bob is Chuck. Chumley’s proof that Bob isn’t Chuck?
1. The IP’s addresses don’t “add up,” LOL.
2. Chuck told him a year ago he’s fed up with politics.
3. He’s never met Chuck in person.
“Bob” is Chuck Johnson, and the main writer on the Liberal OC.
More pink toad touching.
“Bob” is Chuck Johnson, and the main writer on the Liberal OC.”
What does that make Eric here??
It makes Eric not the main writer. The main writer here is clearly me. I was saying “Bob” contributes more than Dan, over there.
To continue the distinction, not all of Eric’s comments get published here (unlike “Bob’s” at LibOC.) Some get very repetitious, some are offensive, some are actually interesting and valuable. I publish about half of them, and then Greg comes along… Also if Eric says something that needs a good rebuttal, that happens here, from one of us.
Thanks for asking!
Good response. I thought that the commenter might have be trying to get me to say “herpes,” but I wouldn’t say that.
I remember when that fat fuck had to conduct a forensic investigation only to find out that Henry Lipton was someone other than me. It was hilarious watching him have to admit that in front of the whole DPOC central committee.
Paul.
You are half right. But it was Jeff LeTourneau who initiated that talk with Ada confirming.
Thus was in response a domestic violence accusation against a board member and baselessly published by Dan.
Jeff’s drama had the desired effect, everyone was talking about Henry Lipton and not the accusations.
None of this makes Dan any less of an asshole, rather it exposed the TRUE nature of insular party politics.
Dems are talking about Kluwe and not about how a whole slew of mayors like Ashleigh in the assembly district next up for grabs endorsed Avelino and not Ada. Nothing to see here except the shiny object.
?
Avelino’s running for state senate.
If Ashleigh hasn’t endorsed Ada yet for assembly I’m sure she will.
And the rest of the slew. There’s such a slew already for Ada, I hadn’t noticed any mayors missing.
https://www.adabriceno.com/endorsements
Who’s running against her anyway? Artesia Mayor Ali Taj had announced in September, probably before he knew Ada was gonna announce in January. We’d thought of inviting Ali to our Club but we don’t even know how to get a hold of him. After six months he doesn’t even have a website.
It’s funny that you pick and choose which posts of mine to publish.
They didn’t give Ada her early endorsement yet did they?
And you know she is pining for all the help she can get to ward of potential criminal liability form Melahat fallout as being a political hit job because of the pending election.
Eric, here’s the breakdown.
Sometimes your comment is a boon to this website. Those get published.
Sometimes your comment is a drag on this website. Those usually get published, but sometimes I redact the worst parts out of them.
Sometimes your comment deeply undercuts this website. Those get held, if our system is working, and tossed out belatedly if not.
You’re right that this involves picking and choosing — although the technical term for that action is “editing.”
Can you elaborate on this? I wasn’t even remotely aware of the whole situation until that night when fat fuck had to admit to the whole body that Lipton was NOT Me. And no one ever offered me an apology for suspecting me.
Finally getting around to recording all ten of my “Songs of the OC Homeless” in a studio with good singers: Here’s the first one, with my son Gabriel singing; Luiz Zuniga on percussion and produced by Jake Cohen. NINE TO GO!
Vern, what a touching tribute to Valenzuela. Yes, Gabriel does sing well.
Yes, Pam, I agree, Gabriel has a beautiful voice. I was blessed with the opportunity to play percussions alongside him and his dad, the extremely talented Vern Nelson. That was one spectacular concert!
Just to clarify, that wasn’t me playing along with Vern in the video, that was actually our friend, Luis Zuniga. Also, the concert I mentioned in my previous comment took place at the Unitarian Church sometime last year.
How come the Judge Ferguson trial is deadlocked and stuck?
Pam: It may or may not be “stuck” — Friday afternoon is a prime time for juries to reach verdicts — but we can presume it’s because two factions on the jury honestly believe that the facts either do or do not allow for a guilty verdict. That’s not unusual, but it is difficult for anyone outside of that room to explain.
I don’t know (because I haven’t been following the trial) whether the DA put forth lesser-included charges such as manslaughter, criminal negligence, etc. as options for the jury or whether they were holding out for the strongest murder conviction. From what I recall, it would be difficult to find first-degree murder here (not because it didn’t happen, but because it would be hard to prove) and difficult not to find negligent homicide. With a hung jury (and a likely retrial), I’m usually of the “include the lesser included charge” persuasion, because the judge is able to impose a steeper sentence within the allowed range.
Here, though, this judge might be going up against the weight of strong opinion of many of his colleagues if he came down hard on this defendant, because they can so easily empathize with him and perhaps would like to think that being a member of the local bench does provide them with some shielding against a criminal conviction. I hope that they ride it out and retry if need be. That’s one reason that I find it almost insane that this trial took place in Orange County, presided over by a judge who is (IIRC) junior to Ferguson from the same bench. Maybe there would be no peer pressure for him if he failed to show great leniency, but the risk that he’d feel some is too great.
The jury asked to go home early.
High burden of proof. Good defense team. Need to decide first charge before they can consider lesser charges. It’s Orange County. Shady shit happens.