Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

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

Let’s finish the job.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

I was promised a recession.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

I really should read my own blog.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

He really is that stupid.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

You are here: Home / Open Threads / A Valuable Lesson in Believing Your Own Bullshit

A Valuable Lesson in Believing Your Own Bullshit

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I was minding my own business, perusing twitter, when someone retweeted Elon Musk’s scribe:

A Valuable Lesson in Believing Your Own Bullshit

This piqued my curiosity, and I learned that Taibbi had foolishly begged to be on Hasan’s show, where he promptly shot himself in the foot while it was in his mouth.

He then went on to claim he had been ambushed, when it was him who begged to be on the show.

Good times.

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  3. 3.

    JML

    I really thought Taibbi was an interesting writer when he was at Rolling Stone, and he’s turned out to be a shoddy grifter who thinks he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. He basically hasn’t done any quality work since the W administration. Him getting pantsed on cable news is delightful.

  4. 4.

    planetjanet

    I just finished watching the segment that someone had kindly posted in an earlier thread.  One of the “minor” errors that Taibi made was claiming the government identified and reported 22 million tweets that had disinformation in them.  The actual number was 3000.  Just a little math error.

    Mehdi had him at the very beginning with the harshest cut.  The sin of omission.  Taibbi never mentioned that the URL link that the Biden campaign asked to have deleted was to pictures of Hunter Biden’s anatomy.   Further, that the content was clearly in violation of Twitter’s own guideline, unambigously.  Taibbi just jumped to “the government is telling Twitter what to do”.  It is pathetic.

  5. 5.

    Dangerman

    Trump gave Republicans permission to be mean assholes and damn if they aren’t going from mean to full mental pricks.

    Anyone recall Compassionate Conservatism? Dsmn, that didn’t age well.

  8. 8.

    Geminid

    @Baud:I’m not a Mehdi Hasan fan either, but Hasan did a really good job pinning down the slippery Taibbi in that interview.. Taibbi knew it, too

    I was like, “smirk harder, asshole.”

  9. 9.

    Argiope

    Mifepristone ruling in.  7 day hold before it takes effect to allow for appeal? Or something? IANAL but ALL of this seems weird.  For a drug safer than penicillin.

    ETA and it’s def fucked up.  To be clear.

  11. 11.

    delphinium

    @Argiope: Yeah, it will be interesting to see what the convoluted reasoning is on this one since “I don’t like it” is not a legal justification.

  12. 12.

    realbtl

    Even back in the RS days I thought Taibbi was a (poor) HST imitator. Good riddance to bad writing.

  17. 17.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Argiope:

    I fear there is only one solution to this, but doubt that Kasczmarik (or whatever the fuck that boob’s name is) would like it.

    In a perfect world, he’d never feel comfortable starting his own car ever again.

  18. 18.

    Argiope

    Oh dayum!!! WA federal judge says nope to pulling mife. This is getting very interesting very fast.

  19. 19.

    delphinium

    Blockage of abortion pill: So the claim is the drug is unsafe and alleges that the FDA failed to study it carefully enough. The drug has been on the market 23 years and took 4 years to get approved. Obviously this judge is not well versed in the drug approval process nor how dangerous actual pregnancy is compared to taking a pill. Hope this ignorant asshole gets slapped back hard.

  20. 20.

    West of the Rockies

    @Dangerman:

    Compassionate Conservativism, I believe,  was a GHWB thing uttered because even 30+ years ago it was obvious Conservatives knew their policies were regarded as cruel, stingy, and unfair.  They’ve only gotten worse.

  21. 21.

    scav

    As boundaries of jurisdiction are being blurred, I wonder if the APA or FDA could unilaterally rule certain judges mentally unfit to serve and haul them off for secure in-house care. Or, maybe the EPA could shut them down as a toxic hazard to human health.  Bring in the buldozers.

  22. 22.

    Argiope

    @delphinium: So far his reasoning sounds like utter bullshit that is easily dispelled by evidence, but conservative judges seem unconstrained by that.

  24. 24.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @delphinium:

    Twenty years of solid stats and approvals verify its safety – and this incompetent fascist prick does this without a full-borne trial.

  26. 26.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Next up, Levonorgestrel (Plan B).

    I guess FDA could go ahead and decontrol both meds.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    Heard somewhere that the theory is that it’s unsafe because its intended effect of ending pregnancy is a “harmful side effect”. Pure Catch-22 logic, if so.

  32. 32.

    delphinium

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Yes, I wasn’t kidding when I said this judge is a complete ignoramus about the drug approval process and is completely unqualified to make any kind of judgement in this case. Some cancer drugs and orphan drugs (for rare diseases) get approved much quicker with a different set of safety standards for obvious reasons.

  33. 33.

    Citizen Alan

    I am in hell. Dinner at my RWNJ sister’s house (niece’s b’day) and she just stormed out to “take a pill” because I said I will be perfectly happy to vote for Biden next year.

  35. 35.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Just out of curiosity, now that Lone Skum has replaced “da boid” with a dog’s head, will Twitter be changing its name to Mutter? Or (I hesitate to post this, but it’s Lone Skum after all) B*tcher?

  37. 37.

    Anonymous At Work

    Re: Judge K and mifepristone:

    This is where we see some $#!T go down because the FDA is quite capable of telling this one judge to kiss their collective asses and take other measures.  This has about 12 avenues of appeal that, under a legit set of judges in the Fifth Circuit, should result in the judge getting bitch-slapped verbally and in writing.

    However, this probably will result in a lot of wrangling between Biden and insurance companies since the FDA approval only is for use as an emergency contraceptive.  Other uses are “off-label” and insurance companies might not reimburse for them.  That’s about it.

  39. 39.

    delphinium

    @Argiope: ​
    It is complete BS, but unfortunately our legal system/courts are woefully unprepared for the partisan “I don’t like it” whining made into a legal defense and so these charades continue.

  43. 43.

    Matt McIrvin

    @scav: Some of those people will take any vaccine in the world except for COVID vaccines, because those were produced by the conspiracy. They’ll probably be fine with these.

  45. 45.

    Anonymous At Work

    @delphinium: MOST drugs get approved more quickly than mifepristone was.  It was delayed at multiple times to gather an extra exhaustive body of safety and efficacy data, including post-approval safety data from Europe, where it had been approved 1988 in France.  By 1992, the drug was in UK, Sweden and France, performing per safety guidelines.  The CEO who owned European distribution rights was a devout Catholic and didn’t seek any other approvals until he spun off the division making it.  But the US was relatively late, there’s a stronger body of evidence on its use than any drug except statins, and jesus, the forthcoming opinion will be proof-positive that every Democrat can claim “Republicans are coming for your birth control next!”

  48. 48.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Quinerly:

    More coverage from Reuters: U.S. judge hands anti-abortion groups partial win over abortion pill

    No changes for seven days, to allow the FDA to appeal.

    FYI, before being nominated by Trump, Kacsmaryk worked for the anti-LGBTQ hate group, the First Liberty Institute. In January, he advanced a challenge to the right to access contraception. He’s also the only judge in the federal district in Amarillo — making him the go-to judge for conservatives who are judge-shopping.

    @Argiope:

    Oh dayum!!! WA federal judge says nope to pulling mife.

    The appeals will need to go through different appeals courts, but given the 5th Circuit will likely rubber-stamp the TX ruling, and the 9th will likely uphold the WA ruling, it’s likely it will end up in the SCOTUS sooner than later (to resolve conflicting Circuit decisions).

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    @realbtl: No, the word is Fish. As in, “Fish! Family! Freedom!”

    Alaska Representative Mary Peltola is building a HerringVolk movement.

  54. 54.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Gin & Tonic: A front-group with a PO box in Amarillo.  Jurisdiction to go somewhere and sue a federal office/agency isn’t hard unless there’s a specific statute requiring the lawsuit happen in DC courts.

  55. 55.

    Another Scott

    Relatedly, …

    NEW: House GOP has struggled to pass messaging bills, which doesn't bode well for bigger fights to come.

    There was talk of booting a whip team member when he voted no on parental bill. HFC starting to talk motion to vacate. and MUCH more w/@AnnieGrayerCNNhttps://t.co/cjsO7rTMMa

    — Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) April 7, 2023

    I have 6 pounds of Yoder popcorn at the ready.

    (via RepDonBeyer)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @rikyrah: As you may have seen: GOP Threatens To Defund Memphis If Rep Is Reinstated

    A Shelby County commissioner told FOX13 on Friday that Nashville leaders are threatening to take away funding from Memphis and other Shelby County projects if the county commission decides to reinstate expelled state Rep. Justin J. Pearson. According to Shelby County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon, leaders in Nashville threatened to pull state funding for projects in the Memphis area if commissioners were to reappoint Pearson.

    Motherfucker Republicans are begging to have the state capital burned to the ground.

  57. 57.

    delphinium

    @Anonymous At Work: Yes, FDA even has a ‘fast-track’ to approve specific drugs even quicker than the typical time for other drugs. This ruling is such a pathetic joke and it is beyond shameful that this case even made it in front of any court.

  59. 59.

    E.

    @C Stars: I couldn’t finish it. I liked seeing Taibbi challenged but I couldn’t bear to watch him be flayed alive. I used to like Taibbi and I feel like a chump. The guy is clearly not a trustworthy reporter!

  60. 60.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Sister Golden Bear: Tennessee is gerrymandered to a degree that it would take Democrats winning over 65% of statewide vote to have a *chance* of winning a majority in either state chamber.  Burning hte statehouse down with every member of state Republican Party inside wouldn’t do much.

  61. 61.

    C Stars

    @Citizen Alan: And so will everyone else after the SC rules with the wingnuts on mifepristone.

     

    ETA: I will be perfectly happy to vote for Biden next year.

  63. 63.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    To me, a non-trial based judicial revocation of a medication which has been approved for 23 years constitutes a “taking” under the 5th and 14th amendments as to:

    1. IP rights of the manufacturers;

    2. Finished product in manufacturer, wholesale and retail inventory;

    3. Precursor chemicals necessary for manufacture;

    4. Dedicated equipment; and

    5. Accumulated unused packaging materials.

    Even the most douchebaggy of douchebag 5th Circuit judges has to be concerned about doing this shit without trial.

  64. 64.

    Anonymous At Work

    @delphinium: HUD on devices, orphan drugs on the drugs.  The FDA regulations on biologics give me the heebie-jeebies and I cannot begin to explain the hematopoietic stem cell and modified blood product regulations.
    Or, “Welcome to my wheelhouse and day job.”

  65. 65.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Anonymous At Work:

    But it WOULD be a good start, and might give future Mayberry Machiavellis some pause before overreaching again.

  66. 66.

    delphinium

    @Anonymous At Work: I can imagine! I review regulatory documents so have some understanding of the different drug/biologic classes and the process for approval but do not have to delve too much further into the weeds, thankfully.

  67. 67.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jay: ​
     

    for those who would rather read than watch,……..

    As one of those people, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Chris Hayes and panel are covering this right now on MSNBC. The group that brought suit was incorporated in Amarillo, Texas, after Dobbs and filed specifically in this jurisdiction to get this judge (the only one).

  69. 69.

    cain

    @Sister Golden Bear: Call their bluff.  Let them take the blame for cratering the economy in TN with their stupid ass play. The city elected a legislator – if they don’t do it – the state will make them elect GOP or a weak Democratic legislator.

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Burning hte statehouse down with every member of state Republican Party inside wouldn’t do much.

    Wouldn’t it leave a power vacuum, tho?

  75. 75.

    C Stars

    @E.: Yeah, he really didn’t do his homework this time. I don’t think the guy is ever going to get an honest job in journalism again.

  79. 79.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Problem is that decisions like this have severe knock-on effects with regard to valuable property rights – and these moneyed interests have planned their capital and development choices around a predictable legal template.

    Unwind it and hell breaks loose.

  80. 80.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of an ego the size of the Sun…

    Phys.org:

    Dust off your eclipse glasses: It’s only a year until a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America.

    On April 8, 2024, the moon will cast its shadow across a stretch of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, plunging millions of people into midday darkness.

    […]

    It will start in the Pacific and first reach land over Mexico around 11:07 a.m. local time, NASA predicts. Then, it’ll cross over into Texas and move across parts of the Midwest and Northeast in the afternoon.

    All in all, it will hit parts of 13 U.S. states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Cities in its path include Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis; Cleveland and Buffalo, New York.

    Parts of Canada—including Quebec and Newfoundland—will also get a glimpse before the eclipse heads out to sea in the early evening.

    A total eclipse will be visible within a 115-mile wide swath—the path of totality. Outside that path, you can still see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon takes a bite out of the sun and turns it into a crescent shape.

    […]

    Be ready!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  82. 82.

    Tony G

    Is there a secret laboratory where they manufacture assholes like this guy?  I demand an answer!

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    Ken White
    @[email protected]

    Her: What is it? Your fetish. Your deepest, darkest fantasy. You don’t have to be afraid to . . .

    Me: THE WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD FIGHTING

    Mediaite.com

    Twitter Files Journo Matt Taibbi Ditches Twitter Over Latest Musk Move – But Leaving ‘Will Come With a Price’

    The latest decision by Elon Musk’s company has driven…

    Mediaite Apr 07, 2023, 17:44

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    With luck, some terrified FedSoc funders are making calls that Leonard Leo isn’t enjoying right now.

  91. 91.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: I absolutely agree that that decisions like this have severe knock-on effects, and that it risks hell breaking loose. But it’s the same mindset as the SCOTUS overturning abortion protections — the majority just didn’t care about the potential consequences of tossing aside long-established legal precedents in pursuit of their ideological goals.

    Bridges, sparrows, curtain rods…

  92. 92.

    PaulB

    @planetjanet: One of the “minor” errors that Taibi made was claiming the government identified and reported 22 million tweets that had disinformation in them.  The actual number was 3000.  Just a little math error.

    It’s even better than that. It wasn’t “the government” that did that. It was educational institutions (like Stanford and the University of Washington) and various NGOs.

    Also, among other things, Taibbi confused the CIS and CISA.

  93. 93.

    Lumpy

    I’ve always thought Taibbi was lousy, besides the Wall Street reporting. In 2004 when Dubya was running for re-election versus John Kerry, Taibbi was doing very superficial analysis and basically said Kerry was boring, and a Blue Blood, and that there was virtually no difference between voting for Bush and Kerry.

    First of all, if you want to disqualify Blue Bloods, you have to disqualify FDR.

    Second, Bush was arguably our worst modern president (worse than Trump) for lying us into an unnecessary war that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraq civilians, destabilized the region, resulting in a massive refugee crisis impacting millions of Iraqis.

    Thirdly, Dubya in his 2nd term appointed two Supreme Court justices in that 2nd term (Alito and Roberts).

    But yeah Matt, what a boring election, great analysis!

  95. 95.

    zhena gogolia

    @Geminid: He is incapable of any expression other than a smirk. I almost feel as if it’s baked into his face, but maybe his constant smirking made his face just stay that way.

  97. 97.

    different-church-lady

    @Anonymous At Work: ​
     

    should result in the judge getting bitch-slapped verbally and in writing.

    Yeah, but now that judge gets to go on fabulous cruises!

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    @C Stars: ​
     

    I don’t think the guy is ever going to get an honest job in journalism again.

    Oh like we still have those.

  100. 100.

    C Stars

    @different-church-lady: I realized the problem when I wrote that. I don’t know what his options might have been prior to becoming a Musk groupie. Atlantic magazine or WaPo opinions page maybe? But yes I think he’s consigned to wearing camo baseball shirts and a podcaster headset in his basement for the rest of his life. Maybe a little jaunt down to Cabo as a special guest of the Cruz family now and then.

  102. 102.

    C Stars

    @rikyrah: I think we need a front page post about what’s going on in Memphis. Has there been one yet & I missed it? This situation is ludicrous.

  105. 105.

    Geminid

    @zhena gogolia: I’m not gonna a look at the video again, but my recollection is that when Hasan did not go along with his evasions and pressed harder, Taibbi momentarily lost his smirk a couple times, and his eyes got a little wide too, like he was scared.

    This is probably the first time I’ve ever liked Mehdi Hasan.

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