Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Second rate reporter says what?

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

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

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Come on, man.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / “Lost mustard! Naked Mopping! Subaru in a field!”

“Lost mustard! Naked Mopping! Subaru in a field!”

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Trump abused presidential power on live TV today in a press conference with Ukrainian President Zelensky, reiterating demands for investigations of the Bidens on camera. But that’s not even the crazy part. He also said on live TV that he thinks Ukraine has the 33K emails deleted from Hillary Clinton’s server, that the DNC server is located in Ukraine and possibly Ukraine has the remains of Amelia Earhart.

Okay, I made the Amelia Earhart part up, but seriously, he just started blurting out wingnut conspiracy theories to an uncomprehending world. It would be as if you were on global TV, saw a green balloon and started ranting about lost mustard, naked mopping and stray Subarus marooned in fields. Everyone would look at you like you’d lost your mind. Like this:

Now he’s holding a low-energy news conference, interspersing bouts of self-pity with self-praise. He might resign. He might start crying. He might start jerking off. He might announce that he’s nuking Iran. Truly, anything is possible, friends. This is so fucking exhausting.

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  3. 3.

    HyperSphericalCow

    The email server disappeared into the same wormhole as Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Its the only logical explanation. Please watch my interminably long YouTube video for more details.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    OT

    Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing to renew his focus on early-voting states Iowa and New Hampshire, as frustrations grow inside his presidential campaign over slumping poll numbers and a series of taxing clashes between lower level staff and national leadership.

  6. 6.

    catclub

    more news!?

    Burr Says Whistle-Blower Complaint Delivered (4:29 p.m.)

    Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters that the whistle-blower complaint was hand-delivered to Congress on Wednesday. — Steven T. Dennis

    also, the helicopters would be laughing at Trump,

  7. 7.

    Jerzy Russian

    He might start jerking off.

    Thanks for the warning. I will definitely skip that, which is easy considering I don’t have a TV and have actual work coming up shortly.

    It would be as if you were on global TV, saw a balloon and started ranting about lost mustard, naked mopping and stray Subarus marooned in fields.

    One skill that most people have is the ability to realize different people have different experiences and points of view, and hence they may not be thinking about the same things you think about all of the time. It is obvious that the president* lacks this basic skill. One might feel pity, but since he is such an asshole, fuck him.

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Repeated from below:

    “Sir” alert! Trump just said “many” foreign leaders came up to him and said, “Sir….” (Mr DAW has him on our TV. I left the room, but I can still hear him.

  18. 18.

    catclub

    global TV, saw a balloon and started ranting about lost mustard, naked mopping and stray Subarus marooned in fields.

    what are my credenzas? Chopped liver? I will send them to you!

  25. 25.

    takebakawashi

    I just remembered that Zelenskiy is the guy who went from having a TV show about being the President of Ukraine to actually being the President of Ukraine.

  26. 26.

    BobS

    He met with “Guatemala, Honduras, Pakistan,…”.
    The dumb-fuck either can’t remember or can’t pronounce the names of the leaders he met with.
    Also, he seems to be on either diphenhydramine or dextromethorphan.

  27. 27.

    Rommie

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah I have sympathy for the British Public. They deserve better, and hopefully…what, you are talking about someone else? Absurd! No one can be worse!

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Daniel Dale @ ddale8
    Sir Alert: Trump says foreign leaders came up to him and said, “Sir, what you go through no president has” gone through.

    and his Canadian admirers and admire him greatly

    and here comes Pompeo, first in his class at West Point, to confirm that he was totally there when other world leaders sirred sir, and he saw letters from those Canadian admirers, but then a big dog came along and grabbed the letters and ran away dropped them down a sewer where a clown who looked like Steve Mnuchin took the letters and ran away down the sewer

  32. 32.

    Dev Null

    This (by the usually reliable Ryan Grim) is good, even if (trigger warning) it’s at The Intercept.

    How the Dems got to impeachment.

    It might even be true.

    In other news, Trump announced that Pelosi is no longer Speaker of the House.

    “The House proposes; Trump disposes.”

    (E2A: I’m sure the latter has already been noted, but it’s too juicy a target to resist.)

  34. 34.

    John Cole

    It would be as if you were on global TV, saw a green balloon and started ranting about lost mustard, naked mopping and stray Subarus marooned in fields.

    I feel targeted by this post.

  35. 35.

    MattF

    I guess Trump really is a typical FOX viewer. He believes all that crap. I’ll bet old man Murdoch never imagined that was a real risk in his media strategy.

  38. 38.

    laura

    Once again, I can smell the president’s ass all over the faces of Pompeo, Mnuchin, Ross et al, all the way over here in Cali

  39. 39.

    B_Rogers

    Hey, everyone knows that Democrat presidents broke down into incoherent babbling live on the air with foreign leaders all the time. It’s just the liberal media covered all those up!

    How much do internet trolls get paid these days?

  42. 42.

    The Moar You Know

    ‘We Had a Great Phone Call, Nobody Pushed Me, It Was Normal’

    @germy: This sounds exactly like something a hostage or domestic violence victim would say, to be honest.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I can’t get over the fact that Bernie Sanders campaign didn’t consider that they would need Hillary Clinton voters in a Democratic primary. It’s an amazingly big error. Like a huge blank space in their thinking and planning.

  56. 56.

    jonas

    Haven’t seen polling taking into account the wackiness of the past couple of days, but as of last week, about 40% of Americans claimed they found this kind of paranoid, rambling, mental decompensating on live TV to be the epitome of presidential gravitas and an outstanding example of American leadership on the world stage.

    Half of them may actually believe it; the other half know he’s a complete asshat, but love that having a President who’s a national embarrassment makes liberals furious.

  57. 57.

    Kirk Spencer

    So because if it can go wrong it will, what’s the path when article 23 is invoked, and then the president says, “I’m fine.”?

  59. 59.

    Baud

    The Ukrainian president is getting a taste of what going to someone’s dysfunctional family Thanksgiving dinner is like.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: slumping poll numbers and a series of taxing clashes between lower level staff and national leadership.

    if anyone outside of the left internet knew and cared who David Sirota was, that would be the prelude for real score-settling news stories. “I thought Comic Book Guy was an asshole, but this one…”

  62. 62.

    Kay

    I went to a D meeting last night and we talked (after) about who was going to run as a delegate for which candidate.

    December 31 All persons interested in running as a delegate or alternate at the district level must file an Ohio Democratic Party Declaration of Candidacy and Consent form including a signed pledge of support with the State Chair.

    “District level” in Ohio means congressional district.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cain: 2500 subpeonas, but only 500 people were interviewed. Doh.

    for Mueller? I can think of one who almost certainly took the Fifth, and one more who did so in all but name

  66. 66.

    Lapassionara

    @Gin & Tonic: Someone showed a close up of his eyes, and his pupils were way dilated. Scary.

    I wondered how he would manage with all the activities he had on his calendar. Usually he has very little planned for a day. Looks like he is getting cranky.

    Etfix spelling

  67. 67.

    chopper

    every time he comes out with some crazy press conference i think “man he’s decompensating!”. then a week later he does another one that’s even crazier. by this time next year he’s going to be communicating in a series of grunts and bottom-burps. (and yeah, yeah, can’t tell the difference etc)

  68. 68.

    Mary G

    Poor Zelenskiy. The urge to just hide his head in his hands must have been overwhelming, “I didn’t sign up for this insanity!”

  70. 70.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @jonas:

    Half of them may actually believe it; the other half know he’s a complete asshat, but love that having a President who’s a national embarrassment makes liberals furious.

    That sounds about right. 20% of America want to have a rambling, incoherent, miserably angry racist dumbass as President because they are one and that proves they’re the greatest. Another 20% hate everyone who’s interfered with their bigotry so much they want to burn it all down in revenge.

  71. 71.

    jonas

    Does anyone who follows news in Ukraine know how this is being received, particularly their president’s over-the-top obsequiousness towards Trump? If you think this is humiliating for Americans, think of how Ukrainians must feel to hear and watch Zelensky kiss Trump’s ass like this (I would imagine).

  72. 72.

    jl

    Oh dear, it’s going to get much worse. A Lost Mustard Naked Mopping Subaru in a Field type sequence inevitably leads to a very unfortunate pet poop incident. Poor Mr. President Trump.

  73. 73.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    ? ! ? !

    Philip Rucker @ PhilipRucker
    Trump says Congress should ask for VP Pence’s conversations with Zelensky.

    Mother! you were right about the Bad Man! HEEEEELP!

  76. 76.

    Mary G

    Donald Trump is 73 years old. He has just had three relatively full (for him) work days and can barely walk or form a sentence. He is too old for this job. Sorry, it has to be noted.— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) September 25, 2019

  78. 78.

    Princess

    @Mike in DC: Honestly, I think he’s just drugged. And underneath the drugs is rage, nothing but rage. Eventually, the drugs will wear off and he’ll start tweeting again.

  79. 79.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Josh Dawsey @ jdawsey1
    Trump is now praising Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity. Says all three have said no “man or woman anywhere in the world” could handle what Trump handles.

    “I used to get great press until I ran for politics,” Trump says, adding he was the “king” of good press.

    “Corey Lewandowski was fantastic the other day,” Trump says during a long answer about, well, it’s hard to remember what the question was now.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    I have been seeing on Twitter that the presser is a complete flaming disaster but I’m stuck in a conference session ?

  81. 81.

    Mary G

    Trump takes just a few questions and leaves. Shouting can be heard about interference, his phone calls, servers, all sorts of things as he exits the stage.— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 25, 2019

    He has the nuclear codes.

  82. 82.

    Gin & Tonic

    @jonas: There wasn’t that much time to react, and it’s now past midnight in Kyiv, but more of the early reaction was that Zelensky was kissing up, as one does when the other party is holding a check for $250 million that you really need. “How embarrassing” seemed to be a minority view.

    When your parents or grandparents were caught between the Nazis and the Red Army you tend to be more philosophical about power relationships.

  83. 83.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: trump is gonna call Nikki Haley and get a bright, chipper “Out of office” message while she suddenly starts to decline press invitations

  84. 84.

    Emma

    I have been crazy-busy all day and haven’t paid attention. So I just sat down for tea and…. AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEE!!!
    Christ have mercy.

  86. 86.

    Lapassionara

    @Kay: Many on Bernie’s side thought that he would have won in 2016 if the DNC had not interfered. So, by that reasoning, he would not need to do anything to appeal to Hillery’s voters because if the playing field were level, his magnetic personality and winning platform would carry the day.

  87. 87.

    The Moar You Know

    Trump says Congress should ask for VP Pence’s conversations with Zelensky.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He’s either high (I think yes) tying to misdirect (certainly) or he has just thrown Pence under the bus but good. Maybe all three.

  88. 88.

    Ella in New Mexico

    I think Frank Figluizzi’s take that this conference was 100% about clips for Fox News defenders over the next few hours was spot on. Especially when you hear Jr. and Dumber whining about how badly treated “My Fawthur” is, it’ll resonate with that pity party of a news conference.

  89. 89.

    The Moar You Know

    Don’t you think he looks tired?

    @zzyzx: If the picture I just saw of him was taken today, he looks both really high and like a man with a serious cardiac issue.

  92. 92.

    TS (the original)

    @jonas:

    Haven’t seen polling taking into account the wackiness of the past couple of days

    The latest polls I saw showed Biden with a large fall – this is presumably what trump wanted. Democrats do not want to relive 2016. So I think Biden is definitely being harmed by what is happening.

    Edit: Haven’t checked any trump polls

  93. 93.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @takebakawashi:

    I just remembered that Zelenskiy is the guy who went from having a TV show about being the President of Ukraine to actually being the President of Ukraine.

    Which offers absolutely NO reassurance about him having the nuts to handle this thing right

  96. 96.

    Barbara

    @Kay:

    I can’t get over the fact that Bernie Sanders campaign didn’t consider that they would need Hillary Clinton voters in a Democratic primary.

    Based on what I have read, they assumed that Sanders would get all the same voters he got last time — that his “low water mark” so to speak would be exactly what he had the first time around, probably around 40% — and that the other candidates would split HRC voters. I read somewhere that his strategy was to be the “plurality” candidate, the one with the most votes, not necessarily a majority of votes.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    I keep thinking about how we pulled back a tiny corner of the Trump Administration carpet and there was a roiling mass of corruption and sleaze there. Imagine the whole BIG lumpy carpet and all the shit that’s been shoved under there. I’m amazed they can walk around without tripping and falling.

  99. 99.

    Mary G

    There are now 218 House votes for impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.@NBCNews list has 217@Politico list has 217The NBC News list does not include Rep. Frederica Wilson, who is on the Politico list. That makes 218 votes, a majority of the House.— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 25, 2019

    Kelly must be grinding his teeth.

  103. 103.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: I saw him say that, and I’d love to know, I’d love some reporter to ask, what his justification is for covering for these assholes. Burn them, do it now.

    Rick Wilson and other Nevertrumpers talk about these people all the time, castigating their hypocrisy and cowardice, while shielding them.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    It’s true though. Accountants say it. If they see one piece and it’s a fraudulent mess the rest is too. Always.

    This was like a month of “work” for these people and judging by their reaction it was an ordinary one. Imagine all the other months. All these fancy people are actually in that building every day yammering about Seth Rich and the server. That’s the quality of the organization.

    It’s worse than anyone imagined.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    What a tightrope Zelensky has to walk.

    I can’t watch any of this. Maybe if Colbert gives it to me in tiny chunks I’ll be able to swallow it.

  111. 111.

    Aleta

    “They were begging me for a wall. I should take it out and move it to another location.”

    It’s no wonder almost all the people who’ve been cheated or assaulted by Trump over the years stay silent. He’s capable of the ugliest impulses, will ruin you without a moment’s hesitation, and has a never-ending supply of willing helpers to back him up.

    Stormy Daniels and other women and men who’ve talked, and Congresspeople like Waters, AOC and Pelosi (to name a few) have a lot more courage than Trump’s generals.

  112. 112.

    joel hanes

    I hope he doesn’t resign, because if he does, Pence can pardon him.

    But if the House impeaches, by Article II of the Constitution, the subsequent President cannot pardon the high crimes and misdemeanors listed in the Articles of Impeachment.

  113. 113.

    Jay

    How should Democrats treat the accusations against Joe Biden and his family? Like this:“Joe Biden and his family do not deserve these kind of baseless accusations. Do not fall for the Donald Trump playbook that he tried to use on Hillary Clinton.” pic.twitter.com/hipqJWSCNU— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) September 25, 2019

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @Aleta:

    It’s not just ruin your reputation and personal life, now either. He’ll sic his crooked attorney general on you if you cross him.

    They can put people in prison.

  116. 116.

    jonas

    @Lapassionara: Wasn’t it one of his ghostwriters (or maybe Omarosa or some Apprentice veteran?) who claimed that Trump regularly snorted crushed adderal tablets to get his mojo (i.e. paranoid, lying, rambling) going?

  117. 117.

    Baud

    @Jay:

    I might support Castro just for that. He’s the first candidate I’ve heard who has actually defended Hillary by name. I had been feeling awful that we have had to make her invisible in this primary for political expediency.

  119. 119.

    jl

    @Jay: Biden was going to get this treatment sooner or later, if he stayed even near the lead. Need to respond strongly regardless of the bogus pretext. Thanks. I was glad to see that clip.

  122. 122.

    Jay

    When you claim that Democrats don’t even have to be convicted of crimes to be impeached but Republicans are untouchable, that’s called Lindsey Grahamsplaining.— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) September 25, 2019

  123. 123.

    Kay

    No that it matters in this country anymore, but it’s worthwhile mentioning that Hunter Biden is a private citizen and the President, his attorney general and his sec of state targeted him for a political prosecution.

    If they can do it to him they can do it to you. They’re low quality hires – bottom of the barrel – but they have a shit ton of power and no scruples. They’re terrifying and they are desperate to remain in power.

  124. 124.

    MCA1

    He sounds like Mad King George if he’d had access to Adderral.

    I hate to sound all optimistic and such, but yesterday and today kind of have a feeling like a kid in the crowd finally piped up to tell everyone the emperor wears no clothes. From Chuck Todd firing back about gaslighting to most everyone completely shitting on this dumb “no quid pro quo” defense line, along with the fact that everyone in the media and on the D side received an advance copy of the playbook sent to them directly by the GOP. I just sort of feel like no one’s buying what they’re selling right now, and some are on the verge of laughing in their faces.

    There is no way to succinctly explain this “It’s actually Hilary and Biden, we have to get the e-mail server hidden in Ukraine” Qanon-worthy crazy talk without sounding like a raving lunatic. And yet, that’s the defensive position they seem to be collectively taking here. Either that or Lindsey Graham’s completely untenable whistle past the graveyard strategy. That shows how weak they are and how cooked is their goose.

  125. 125.

    jl

    @Baud: Trump has actually babbled about two sets of servers hidden in Ukraine as this mess has unfolded. The HRC email servers. And another set of servers supposedly hidden by Deep State forces that prove that Russian interference in the 2016 election is a hoax.

    It’s a little hard to keep track of which one Trump is talking about at any particular time.

    Edit: apparently the servers mentioned in the faked up phone call transcript was about the second set. But Trump is drifting in and out of obsession with both of them (fugue state?). And then confused reporters got it mixed up and asked him about the HRC servers after he talked about the Deep State election fraud hoax servers…. I think…

  126. 126.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    @jl:

    It’s a great clap back, short, sweet, and rubs the Medias nose in their participation in the Assasination of the Clintons.

  127. 127.

    Mary G

    @Jay: @Baud: Agreed. One of my biggest reservations about Mayor Pete is his repeating Republican talking points and dissing “Stronger Together.” Castro phrased that just right.

  129. 129.

    Dev Null

    @Mary G:

    Kelly must be grinding his teeth.

    And that’s a “snap!”. /snark

    (I’d forgotten about Kelly and Wilson. I hope you’re right.)

  131. 131.

    Jay

    it feels apt that volodymyr zelenskyy was a comedian until extremely recently and now is playing a key role in the dark, hideous comedy of global collapse— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) September 25, 2019

  133. 133.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    I had been feeling awful that we have had to make her invisible in this primary for political expediency.

    Kind of like the way everyone disappeared Gore – the 2000 popular vote winner – in 2004.

  134. 134.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    I can’t get over the fact that Bernie Sanders campaign didn’t consider that they would need Hillary Clinton voters in a Democratic primary.

    Like all evangelists, they assumed that anyone who disagreed with them was just in denial and would come over to their side as soon as the True Light shone on them.

    Turns out that’s not how it works and that people who believe in, say, Hinduism really do believe in it and aren’t just being stubborn jerks who know in their hearts that Jesus is the one true God, but evangelists can never accept that.

  135. 135.

    Baud

    @James E Powell:

    A little. But the injustice done to Gore had a singular cause in the Supreme Court and then we had 9/11 and the Iraq War as intervening, unrelated (to the Supreme Court) events. What was done to Hillary haunts us to this day.

  137. 137.

    Dev Null

    @Kay:

    Accountants say it. If they see one piece and it’s a fraudulent mess the rest is too. Always.

    Not just accountants.

    “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. […] Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

    You don’t have to be religious – or an accountant – to see the pattern.

  138. 138.

    Jay

    Memorandum of Phone Conversation: call was 9:03 – 9:33

    Estimated time it would take to say all of the words released in the memo: 11 minutes.Checked by the great @mike_melia in our broadcast software (time of spoken words matters a lot on TV) from @NewsHour— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) September 25, 2019

    19 missing minutes.

  139. 139.

    Mnemosyne

    @jonas:

    A high proportion of them probably know on a visceral level what happens when you make Drunk Daddy angry and just want to make everyone pretend that everything is okay until he passes out.

  140. 140.

    Kay

    You know they did this. This is ” a Tuesday” in that White House:

    In a brief last month, the committee told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that a “federal employee” had approached them with “evidence of possible misconduct” and “inappropriate efforts” to influence an IRS audit of the president. The document provided no further detail about the whistleblower, but in a footnote, Democrats offered to tell U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden all about it in private.
    A spokesman for the committee said this week that McFadden, a Trump nominee who donated to the Trump 2016 campaign and volunteered for the Trump presidential transition, has so far not asked to hear more about the whistleblower. He denied a Democratic motion to speed up the case.
    Neal declined to discuss the whistleblower this week, citing guidance from House lawyers. Other Ways and Means members who said they closely follow the tax returns issue have said they don’t know anything about the person.
    “I think that Chairman Neal has appropriately kept that very close since that person’s job could be in serious jeopardy,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) told HuffPost.

    I bet that farm bailout is loaded with corruption too. They passed out tens of billions of dollars with virtually no oversight. It’s twice as big as the auto bailout and they ran it through this obscure federal credit program. They passed out so much the program may now be insolvent.

  142. 142.

    Jay

    China’s disappearing millions of Uighurs, into concentration camps, and Eric Prince is up to his neck in it.

    It’s crazy how this whole thing is being thoroughly documented and broadcast without even any pretense that something may happen to stop it. The entire world is just going to watch until eventually they’re gone. t.co/l4iCyXMl7y— Murtaza Mohammad Hussain (@MazMHussain) September 25, 2019

  148. 148.

    Jay

    The call included mention of their boss Bill Barr's participation.

    DOJ's Criminal Division would have to argue that their boss was, ostensibly, an accessory to a campaign finance violation.

    So they didn't. t.co/G5Iu5gae4p— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) September 25, 2019

  151. 151.

    Dev Null

    @Kay:

    Accountants say it. If they see one piece and it’s a fraudulent mess the rest is too. Always.

    Or Daniel Davies (who is a financial guy but not, I think, an accountant) in The One Minute MBA:

    Fibbers’ forecasts are worthless. Case after miserable case after bloody case we went through, I tell you, all of which had this moral. Not only that people who want a project will tend to make [inaccurate] projections about the possible outcomes of that project, but about the futility of attempts to “shade” downward a fundamentally dishonest set of predictions. If you have doubts about the integrity of a forecaster, you can’t use their forecasts at all. Not even as a “starting point”. By the way, I would just love to get hold of a few of the quantitative numbers from documents prepared to support the war and give them a quick run through Benford’s Law.

    Application to Iraq This was how I decided that it was worth staking a bit of credibility on the strong claim that absolutely no material WMD capacity would be found, rather than “some” or “some but not enough to justify a war” or even “some derisory but not immaterial capacity, like a few mobile biological weapons labs”. My reasoning was that Powell, Bush, Straw, etc, were clearly making false claims and therefore ought to be discounted completely, and that there were actually very few people who knew a bit about Iraq but were not fatally compromised in this manner who were making the WMD claim. Meanwhile, there were people like Scott Ritter and Andrew Wilkie who, whatever other faults they might or might not have had, did not appear to have told any provable lies on this subject and were therefore not compromised.

    Also too:

    And so the lesson ends. Next week, perhaps, a few reflections on why it is that people don’t support the neoconservative project to bring democracy to the Middle East (a trailer for those who can’t wait; the title is going to be something like “If You Tell Lies A Lot, You Tend To Get A Reputation As A Liar”). Mind how you go.

  152. 152.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: Yeah, I’ve been very carefully refraining from saying anything further about Bernie around my die-hard Bro/Broad acquaintances. (Because apparently even the mildest of japes against the Anointed One are triggering.) I’ve been biting my tongue and humming. Because when the shit hits the fan, I really want to raise my voice just loud enough to be heard over the wailing and gnashing of teeth to be able to say just that. “Wow, it’s as if the Sanders campaign *completely forgot* about the troublesome fact that they were going to have to do something to attract the millions of Hillary Clinton voters that they went out of their way – hell, took pains – to alienate back in ’16!”

  153. 153.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jay: Wait, hold on, the Chines are Out Sourcing their thuggery to Americans???

    That’s Colonialism!!!

  155. 155.

    Jay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    When Eric Prince’s Thuggery and Warlording for American Cash went south in the aftermath of Fallujah, Eric took his act on the road,

    First to the UAE,

    Then China,

    And now Africa, where he works alongside and in concert with Putin’s Chef Wagner Mercs.

  156. 156.

    Tony Jay

    As embarrassing and depressing as Czar Thinskin’s presser was (and it was) our own dollop of shambling humanoid smegma went above and beyond in the ‘cry for your nation’s lost honour’ stakes this evening with a Parliamentary appearance of such concentrated, malevolent bastardy that I almost, almost, dug out Grandad Zoul’s dog-eared copy of ‘David Soul’s Necronomicon for Beginners’ and flipped to page 815, paragraph 4, ‘Summoning Thrycokolchagruyus the Beast of Much Rending’ so I could sic that twelve-mouthed horror on the smarmy, entitled, ever so punchable vile-spawn.

    But I didn’t, because that’s exactly what he wants. Not the being torn limb from limb by a demonic shadowtyrant that smells of gravedigger’s tears thing, but the blind rage thing. All the sneering, taunting mockery of Parliamentary authority, the refusal to even contemplate apologising for the lies that led the Supreme Court to find him unanimously unbearable, and most of all the unbelievable moment where he callously dismissed calls to stop using the same language of division that had led to the murder of an anti-Brexit MP as “humbug”. All of it was deliberately designed to inflame fury and stampede non-wanker MPs into an early Election to just get rid of the bastard.

    No. Fuck that. You get nothing for free you preening Bullingdon shithouse, no way. You stay right where you are, getting a full dose of contempt from a Parliament that sees right through you, and when the day comes that you have to crawl to the EU and beg for the extension that will break your Party in two you gobble down that shit sandwich crusts and all or you go to jail for breaking the law.

    Then the big old book comes out. Not before.

    Vent complete. Feel better now.

  157. 157.

    sukabi

    @John Cole: lol. It’s been a while AND you got through canning season without launching your saurkraut through the ceiling. Don’t get all huffy and do something Cole-ish.

  158. 158.

    Spanky

    @Jay:

    Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev)

    Nice!

    You know, for some reason I don’t find this overwhelmingly dark, yet I DO find it hilarious. I chalk that up to my humor at a personal level to be dark enough to eclipse (ha!) the national situation. And at the end of the day, I have my cats.

    I suppose that’ll change when Trump makes me penniless and homeless, I suppose.

  163. 163.

    Khef

    I don’t know average age here for my reference but the orange menace sounded eerily similar to the Mike Tyson/Robin Givens – Barbara Walters interview. Someone gave them both some full strength horse tranquilizers.

  166. 166.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Like I’ve said, I think a lot of them genuinely believed the conspiracy hype and thought most Hillary Clinton supporters didn’t really exist.

  167. 167.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Miss Bianca: One of the people I follow on Twitter is a genuinely smart Bernie Sanders supporter who hates the Bros’ antics. The guy seems seriously upset these days and still insistent on separating the man from the clowns in his campaign. It’s clearly getting hard.

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