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This blog will pay for itself.

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

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

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Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: It’s Not Lying If You Believe Your Own BS

Open Thread: It’s Not Lying If You Believe Your Own BS

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Okay, okay, pedants: The proper spelling would be Psych!

Oliva Nuzzi, in the Daily Beast, “Golden Hair, Meet Tinfoil Hat”:

… If you were “reading the tea leaves,” as Alex Jones might say, you would’ve felt deeply in your bones that it was just a matter of time before Trump’s courting of the nation’s foremost crackpots and conspiracy theorists went mainstream. The dog whistles would transform into shouts, the winking and nodding into bear hugs…

Alex Jones is the Hulk Hogan of conspiracy theorists. A Texas native, he is big and loud and the color of a ripe tomato. He thinks the government was involved in the Oklahoma City Bombing, the New World Order is being run by “clockwork elves,” and shrimp are suicidal because of Prozac poisoning the water supply. He is the founder of Infowars.com, the sort of publication that peddles 9/11 truther propaganda and runs headlines like, “Subliminal Super Bowl Illuminati Secrets Revealed.”

“I’ve got so many questions,” Jones, who in October endorsed Rand Paul, told Trump. “But you are vindicated—this has gotta be the 50th time the last six months—on the radical Muslims celebrating, not just in New Jersey, but in New York, Palestine, all over! What do you have to say? They’re still attacking you!” (Jones didn’t reply when asked if he was switching his allegiance from Paul to Trump.)

From the unfortunate angle of Trump’s webcam, his neck disappeared into the collar of his shirt and his head looked sunburned and misshapen, like a wad of Silly Putty that had recently been set on fire.

“Well, I took a lot of heat and I was very strong on it and I held my line and then all of a sudden hundreds of people were calling up my office,” Trump said…

A few hours later, Jones had moved off the topics on which he and Trump see eye to eye—Muslims cheering on 9/11, the Iraq War—and on to promoting the idea that the mass shooting at a San Bernardino, California, center for the disabled on Wednesday afternoon was “highly suspicious” and seemingly “geared to elicit widespread public outrage,” much like the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School had been…

The storied meeting was arranged by Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Trump’s who left the campaign, where he had served as an adviser, in August amid infighting.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, as Trump and Jones were still chatting, Stone said that he had “recommended” the interview to Trump after he had been a guest on Jones’ show himself on Nov. 9 to promote his new book, The Clintons’ War on Women.

Stone was adamant that he wasn’t working for Trump again, not in a “formal or informal” capacity, despite recommending interviews to him during their conversations and supporting his candidacy with the frequent employment of the Twitter hashtag #YUGE…

The thrust of Trump’s case for his candidacy is this: The system is broken, the powerful (including himself) are exploiting it to their advantage behind the scenes with the help of a corrupt and complicit media that is concerned only with protecting the establishment and the status quo. Just what your average bros populating a comment thread on a YouTube video about false-flag operations suspect, but Trump may not know the full extent to which this new base of supporters he has tapped into has gone off the deep end. It’s one thing to suggest, as Trump does, that the government and the media are rigged to screw over the Everyman—lots of politicians say that. It’s something else entirely to say government actors are pretending to be the family members of slain Americans who never existed in the first place.

Then again, Trump has been making shit up for longer than he has been a candidate. It would be unwise to underestimate him…

Eric Levitz, at NYMag:

Last night, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly proved himself to be the Hannibal Lecter of right-wing demagoguery. Just as Dr. Lecter used his insights as a cannibal killer to help police get inside the minds of murderers, so O’Reilly drew on his experience as a serial liar to help America get inside the mind of Donald Trump…

“Here’s what happens,” O’Reilly said. “Sometimes, when you’re up there, you get overly excited and you’re speaking extemporaneously. And then you say things, as anybody would, because the crowd is cheering and everything is going wild, that you don’t know to be true but you believe to be true.”

Trenchant insight and the absence of self-awareness have never been so neatly bound.

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  4. 4.

    JMG

    @efgoldman: Surely you jest and I don’t call you surely. The hitting in the lousiest game on the NFL card tomorrow will exceed anything tonight. That these games are competitive and desperate doesn’t mean the players are as strong, fast and insane as NFL benchwarmers. I’ve stood on the sidelines of college and pro games (not as a participant thank God) and there’s no comparison.
    To quote ’60s Packers Hall of Famer Dave Robinson “That man’s running down the street with my children’s food in his hands.”

  5. 5.

    Germy

    Holy shit.

    I followed the link to NYMag, and then wandered into an article about gene editing. (I’d read an article about CRISPR in the New Yorker, but the NYMag article mentions Chinese scientists editing the genes of dogs). Out of curiosity, I googled CRISPR dogs, and saw the before/after photo of a skinny whippet turned muscular super dog.

    So does this mean the end of all disease? Or is it like an ’80s sci-fi film, where something goes…. horribly wrong?

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    For the longest time I’ve just laughed and laughed at this stuff, but no more. It’s getting scary out there.*

    (For efgoldman: It’s getting fucking scary out there.)

    Edit: I hope you will be as amused as I was that fuck you auto correct tried to change “efgoldman” to “ef old man.” Yes, I laughed. Laughed hard. I’m a terrible person.

  10. 10.

    Germy

    With the recent human embryo editing news, CRISPR has been getting a lot of coverage as a future medical treatment. But focusing on medicine alone is narrow-minded. Precise genome engineering has the potential to alter not just us, but the entire world and all its ecosystems.

  12. 12.

    Germy

    @Baud:

    I could use some gene editing.

    The first pseudonymous, genetically-altered presidential candidate. Are you sure you’re not from the future?

  13. 13.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Baud: I studiously avoided “Manimal”, as did many Americans, for the 10 weeks it was,on NBC. If elected, do you promise a reboot?

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @Germy:

    Maybe I’m condemned to go back in time and repeat my presidency over and over again until I get it right.

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    I made that mistake the first time through the time loop. America was not pleased.

  15. 15.

    Howard Beale IV

    @srv: Nice try, but it won’t work.. Obama can kick that can down the road via Section 4 as long as he wants as the whole procedure would loop. The only way for Obama to be removed is Impeachment and Senate trial & conviction.

    You’re like a railroad signal-dumbdumbdumbdumdumbdumbdumbdumbdumbdumb…..

  17. 17.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @efgoldman: Sometimes, you just need to hit the ‘Big Red Switch’*.

    * The original IBM PC’s had a Big Red (power) Switch on the right back side of the cabinet.

  19. 19.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    The Trees are driving the bus into the end-zone repeatable, and the backing up over some Trojies after they’re done.

  20. 20.

    Glidwrith

    @Germy: Nah, no cures for a while. The major problem with CRISPR is there is off-target editing which can occur. Same problem happens with siRNA knockdown constructs. Slicing and dicing bits of genome is a good way to get cancer or lose vital bits you need to survive. However, good algorithms have been created to generate on-target effects for siRNA, I expect given some time to play with the technology, we will start getting applications in humans, sooner with critters/plants/bugs.

  23. 23.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @efgoldman: Nader promises us “The New Adventures of Supertrain”. I’m not a “lesser of two evils” voter, but I’d pick Baud.

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack (tablet): I was given swords. My dad has a Solomon Islander war club that his uncle who fought in the Pacific gave him when he was a kid. My family survived to adulthood relatively unscarred.

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Many old-fashioned data centers have a big red switch by the door that dumps the Halon (a fire suppression gas.) It’s by the door so the humans hit the switch as they are leaving, because they can’t stay once the Halon dumps.

  35. 35.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: One of the reasons I hike with a walkin’ stick is for protection. Of course, half the time I end up leaving it in the car; like when I found the rattler in the trail.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I feel that weapons should be given only by close family members, who realize what they might be getting into. Great-uncle is a little distant.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @raven:

    If she’s a jewelry kind of kid, there are a lot of nice sterling silver Irish themed things you can get for not much $$$.

    I was prevented from giving an archery set to my niece, so I feel your pain. It had suction cups, it was perfectly safe!

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: I was probably on kp that day. I had it a lot. View was, since I was going to OCS, I should get a good idea of the shitty side of army life and let the people for whom basic is a big deal get the interesting experiences there.

  52. 52.

    p.a.

    @raven: In the ’80’s I used to go with some coworkers to Church Hall Irish Music nights. $3 Bud & Bud Light the only beer offered. No matter the musicians, they always played a song that mentioned all the Irish counties. When your native county got mentioned, you stood up & finished your drink. Have a feeling any profits went to the IRA. I was there for cheap beer and hot ceili dancers.

  56. 56.

    p.a.

    @efgoldman: Marine friend walked out of Full Metal Jacket during basic part of movie. Too many bad memories.

    I always thought DIs were lifers, but another friend’s dad was a Marine DI, and through him I found out they usually weren’t.

  57. 57.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    I don’t need the Fox play-by-play guy getting hysterical to let me know what’s important.

  58. 58.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: I got kp on a number of “fun” days and on graduation day. I didn’t care. My most memorable basic experience was refusing to be a part of a blanket party and having my platoon try to pull one on me the next night – like I didn’t expect it….

  59. 59.

    raven

    @p.a.: There was a fat dude in my basic outfit that looked just like D’Nofrio. He got recycled cuz he couldn’t cut it.

  63. 63.

    JPL

    This has been a heck of a season for Michigan State fans. There is still 22 seconds left so anything can happen but it appears that Iowa is going down.

  64. 64.

    Roger Moore

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    feel that weapons should be given only by close family members, who realize what they might be getting into.

    So a safety razor wouldn’t count, right? I’m getting my nephew one for Christmas- he’s just about the age to need one- and don’t want to screw up too badly.

  66. 66.

    Matt McIrvin

    I googled to figure out what the hell srv was talking about up at the top and found only stupidity. More fool I.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @p.a.:

    You know who was a drill sergeant in the Air Force? Bob Ross. Yes, the “let’s paint a happy tree”guy. It’s on Military.com.

    I had a yoga instructor who was a former Marine DI. He was really good, but that rasp never left his voice, so I kept expecting him to growl, “Drop and give me downward dog, maggot!”

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    In a Lonely Place coming up on TCM at midnight EST. Pretty good Bogart movie with the underrated Gloria Grahame. Awesome title.

  71. 71.

    p.a.

    @raven: Two of my fishing partners were Marines, one Air Force. All early-mid 1960’s. When they compare notes on boot camp/basic training the Marines just look at the AF guy and shake their heads.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:
    Maine friend told me that FMJ boot camp was as realistic as it gets. He was in 66-69, spent his entire time in country at Da Nang as a company clerk because he could type, although he was an AE.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You know who got his start as an artillery officer? Yep, the guy on the ten-dollar bill.

    One of his claims to fame was stealing 10 British cannons during a battle in NYC. It was one of the things that brought him to George Washington’s attention.

  78. 78.

    gian

    @efgoldman:
    To be honest the pros with the longest seasons mail it in all the time (the San Antonio spurs don’t even try to hide it)
    But you see it in baseball and to a lesser extent hockey too.
    The line between elite college players and the NFL is there and visible but it’s more akin to an A grade compared to a B+
    Really motivated B+ players mixed with some A players who will get drafted and play on Sunday is a great game… When you get past the brain damage guilt.

  79. 79.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:
    Navy boot camp here, a chain link fence separating us from Marine boot camp in San Diego. When ever someone would complain about how tough or bad it was I’d take them out to the fence and show them the Marines double timing over broken ground in formation with full packs and 10 lb rifles while we were just getting up. They were about a mile away from their barracks and had already eaten and run a couple of miles, while we were brushing our teeth. And then remind them that most of the guys they saw were going to Vietnam, while maybe 20% of us would end up there.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Howard Beale IV: As a political mechanism to depose the President, Section 4 of the 25th wouldn’t even get that far. It requires the cooperation of the Vice-President and a majority of Cabinet members. Congress could in principle waive the Cabinet requirement by designating some other body instead, but only by passing a law, which they’d presumably have to get over a presidential veto.

    As far as I can tell, the reason srv brought it up is that three or four wingnut writers started claiming over the past couple of days that Obama is unfit for office because ISIS.

  81. 81.

    PurpleGirl

    @raven: How about a claddagh pendant. Not a ring because those were exchanged between people in a relationship (engagement rings). Perhaps you can find a pendant with the symbol. Or a Celtic knot pendant.

  83. 83.

    PurpleGirl

    @Gin & Tonic: I once worked in a corporate legal office and the file room where they kept certain corporate records had a Halon system and a red switch. It was explained to me what it was and never to be in the room when the switch was hit or to hit myself. (Being a temp secretary I didn’t have the authorization to hit the switch.)

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    The fire suppression system in the vaults at my workplace uses inergen — we have artworks on paper to protect. We’ve never had to use it, but I believe it also has a warning system before it turns on automatically, and you have to hold the button down for 20 seconds before it will deploy.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @redshirt: Given Verhoeven’s background, the satire is obvious. Were you trying to say anything else? “Soldier of Orange” was a brilliant movie.

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @redshirt: Dear god, it is one of the best WWII movies ever. Also, one can’t really understand Verhoeven’s work without that as an example.

  92. 92.

    sharl

    @Germy: Chris†wire’s science correspondent was onto Chinese genetic engineering years ago; Abe blew the lid off the pandagator story here, and exposed the creation of tiger dogs here.

  93. 93.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Yeah, Inergen is a more modern replacement for Halon, which hasn’t been manufactured for over 20 years, as it is a chloroflourocarbon (one of the types of gas that dmages the ozone layer.) There’s still a market in recycled Halon for systems that are still operational, taken out of systems that have been removed from service, but the cost is very high. Halon, in addition to displacing oxygen also has effects on human nervous systems; Inergen is just inert gases, so it displaces the oxygen. If you’re inside when it triggers you’ll lose consciousness, but if you are removed quickly enough you probably won’t die. The fire suppression takes longer, though.

  96. 96.

    sharl

    @jl: I just HAD to check that out. There seems to be a significant cluster of online sites devoted to this…uh, thing.

    I love tracking crap like that down waaay too much. My FOMO Syndrome is killing my living and workplace efficiency, which I never had in abundance in the first place.
    Le Sigh…

  98. 98.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    Put a link to the online store and ended up in moderation. Lovell Designs has beautiful jewelry and ornaments made in Maine. The Labyrinth earrings are beautiful as is the pendant. I’ve purchased a number of their things over the years and they are beautifully made. Your wife might enjoy one of the ornaments. Lots of nature themes.

  99. 99.

    sharl

    @Steeplejack (tablet): That wouldn’t be a surprise. And beyond Urban Dictionary, there are a few youngsters I follow on Twitter who are quite prolific meme generators, and seem to have some innate ‘gift’ – if that’s the word – to catapult those into popular use among their cohort, from where they sometimes go mainstream.

  100. 100.

    ruemara

    @Glidwrith: You’ve totally ruined my plans to have flight powers. I hope you are happy.

    I’m glad I missed whatever is up, because it’s disappointing how stupid the world still is. On the plus side though, I’ve baked most of my cookies, my candied bacon and the last of the stout challah dough. This may sound like heresy, but the turkey bacon is infinitely better right off the bat than the pork bacon. It’s meaty, stays very neat and is quite delicious without all the fatty drips.

  101. 101.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): There are some awesome fire suppression systems I’ve worked with. My favorite are the ones for jet hangars that use a high-expansion foam to smother jet fuel fires. Fuckin’ awesome. The pumps are usually the size of a house.

  102. 102.

    Suzanne

    Spawn the Elder is about to turn twelve. She is having a mediocre time in middle school, because middle school sucks. I bought her a bunch of piano sheet music for her birthday….she wants to have some impressive classical pieces in her repertoire to show off, but she also loves the pop stuff. So I got “Moonlight Sonata” and “Clair de Lune”, but also a book of Coldplay (even though EHHHHH) and a Taylor Swift song. I also got her the theme from that movie “The a Piano”. Man, that is a beautiful piece. And what a great and weird movie.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @ruemara:

    What happened is that Erick Erickson said something stupid. IOW, it was a day that ends in “Y.”

    @Suzanne:

    Ours is pretty low-key since it only needs to protect paper and we don’t have anything explosive on-site. I’m assuming our gasoline generator outside has some kind of fire suppression system, but I’m not sure what it is.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Suzanne:

    My BFF’s daughter first picked the cello, then apparently decided that wasn’t bulky enough and switched to the double bass. This is actually better for future college applications, though — every kid and their brother plays violin, but there aren’t that many who pick double bass. If she keeps it up, she’ll probably be able to get a music scholarship even if she doesn’t want to pursue it professionally, because the school probably won’t have many double bassists applying.

  105. 105.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): I’m nerdy for some of this stuff. The systems in archives and museums are awesome, but the AFFF and high-expansion foam systems are just the shit. I’ve seen video of accidental discharge, and it looks like a foam party. FUN!

  107. 107.

    sharl

    @Suzanne: It sounds like you’ve seen those in action; very jealous here.

    Navy has a humongous concern about fires on ships, and one system they have for certain critical areas of ships is AFFF – aqueous fire-fighting foam – which sounds similar to what you are talking about. Turns out there are a lot of different types of fire-fighting foams.

    Apparently Navy’s AFFF does a real number on ordinary pedestrian floor coating systems, so they use something special that – last I heard – costs a fortune per square foot.

    ETA: I see you mentioned AFFF while I was typing away…

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Suzanne:

    Trumpet is also good for future scholarships — make her keep up on that. Violin and flute are the default instruments that everyone makes their kid take up so they’re “well-rounded,” so stay away from those. Efgoldman probably has additional advice.

  110. 110.

    Suzanne

    @sharl: I have worked on airline hangars (I’m an architect), and some of them have had AFFF. The newer ones have high-ex, which is a foam that’s even more expansive than AFFF. Here’s a video of a planned test—one of the hangars I worked on had an accidental discharge that didn’t get shut off until it was waist-deep. And this was a hangar big enough for four 737-700s. So that must have been a fuck-ton of foam. GOD SO COOL.

  113. 113.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): She switched to trumpet because she has a crush on Jacob, who also plays trumpet. And she already switched from flute. I don’t think horn would sound any better. Brass instruments just sound obnoxious to me.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Suzanne:

    Could be worse — my BFF almost fainted when she found out that V wanted to play an instrument that’s 6 feet tall. They can’t transport it, so they have one at home that she practices on there and one at school.

  116. 116.

    Suzanne

    @redshirt: Well, we’ll see. I think “Clocks” probably has the funnest piano part.

    I feel badly for her. She’s at the worst age. Junior high/middle school was just hell, and it hasn’t gotten any better. Lord.

  118. 118.

    sharl

    @Suzanne: Wow, that’s a lotta foam! Do you know how they cleaned it up? I’m assuming they knocked the foam down with a non-corrosive salt (or salt water) or alcohol solution, or maybe just blew it out of the hangar doors with big fans.

  119. 119.

    Suzanne

    @sharl: At the one I worked on where this happened, they deflated the foam with water from the regular sprinkler system and from hoses, and both the hangar floor and the ramp outside were very slightly sloped to a large trench drain that filtered it, then released it into the sewer. It took hours.

  124. 124.

    ruemara

    I have a question for the SoCal juicers. I have an interview in San Bernardino. However a friend said it was “a dump” and wondered if I would be happy there. Mind you, I’m from NYC. I knoweth not what is a dump, unless it is very dumpy. Is San Bernardino a dump?

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suzanne:

    Depending on how your school system is set up, high school may be better. Ours was set up so there were multiple “feeder school” junior high schools that fed into the high school, so it broke up the cliques. If she’ll go straight from junior high to high school with the exact same kids, then that’s gonna suck.

    High school was definitely better than junior high — a lot fewer people messed with me. Of course, I now realize in retrospect that it probably helped that I fought back and won against a girl who tried to mess with me freshman year. Poor thing didn’t realize that although I was short and wore glasses, I also had four older brothers, so my response when she slapped me was to push her against the lockers with my hand around her throat. Just good clean fun at my house, but she and her friends left me alone after that.

    So I guess I’m saying that martial arts might not be a bad idea for Spawn the Elder.

  126. 126.

    redshirt

    @Suzanne: Your daughter’s love of Coldplay is clearly some karmic debt you’re paying off.

    Or maybe you could learn to love Coldplay and appreciate your daughter’s musical interests?

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    San Bernardino county is the meth capital of Southern California. More to the point, it’s a pretty depressed area economically, so I would worry that you’d end up trapped there like you are in your current location.

  129. 129.

    sharl

    @Mnemosyne: I haven’t done that since New Employee Orientation, which was a long time ago. Fortunately I’ve avoided fires in the lab too, except maybe that one time I put a small one out by covering the beaker with a watch glass.
    IMO better to not have to explain to Fire Safety why you had to use their equipment…

  130. 130.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne: It’s the same here—three middle schools feed into the high school. She’s just avant-garde, and middle school is not typically kind to those people.

    @redshirt: I already listen to a shitload of T Swizzle and Meghan Trainor. I just think Coldplay is not that good, and yet ubiquitous. Like, why?

  133. 133.

    Brachiator

    @ruemara: Oh, you would recognize San Bernardino as dumpy in a heartbeat. It is light years away from anything remotely like the life of New York city. You could not even really call it suburban. Take a ratty area of South Jersey, put it in a desert and stretch it out for a 100 square miles and you might get something close to San Bernardino. With meth. Obviously there are nice places and good people, but the pace and lifestyle is nothing like NYC.

  134. 134.

    Joel

    @Germy: CRISPR won’t end all disease — or even most — but the significance will be that heritable, single origin diseases could be eliminated.. Forever.

  135. 135.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Omnes Omnibus: It is a bit interesting for being a really nascent absurd wingnut meme that only a few people are talking about right now. If it spreads I can say I saw the birth.

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Money, I don’t know, but it seems like bands are always short on French horn players. On top of the band she’s normally in, my wife frequently plays as a substitute with various school and amateur ensembles, though not for pay.

  137. 137.

    Matt McIrvin

    …So this got me wondering, why are Ben Stein and a bunch of the usual idiots specifically tossing around the idea of using Section 4 of the 25th amendment to remove the President for being insufficiently macho after a terrorist attack? It makes no sense.

    Turns out it was in an episode of 24. That explains everything, I think.

  138. 138.

    Peale

    @Matt McIrvin: yep. That’s tge top hit when I search “25th amendment” on google. I thought I was clicking on a Wikipedia article. Christ, they really are morons, hoping for a crisis that would for all intents and purposes end the presidency as we know it because ISIS attacked successfully in France and 14 people died in San Bernadino who may have been ISIS inspired or had an in law who was. The historians in the future, if there are any left, will scratch their heads wondering how ten shooters can destroy the federal government of a country with trillions of weaponry. Sun Tzu is revising his manual in heaven as I write this.

  139. 139.

    Suzanne

    @redshirt: Um, popularity is never even closely correlated to quality. As Mom to Suzanne always says, “Half of everybody is below average.”

    Coldplay are art rock for people with mediocre taste. Radiohead for those who thought “Forrest Gump” was deep and penetrating cultural analysis.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Matt McIrvin:

    “Money” as in potential college scholarship money, not really cash money. At some schools, if you play an unusual or unpopular instrument, you can get scholarship money from the music department even if you’re not a music major.

    Apparently the real “money” instrument is the bassoon, because it’s expensive to buy, so most high school kids don’t learn it. But the other thing college music departments will do is have music students switch instruments since (to a certain extent), brass is brass, wind is wind, etc. If you’re a good saxophonist, you’ll probably be able to play the bassoon.

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