He wakes up lying and he lies all day.
This could be a game show question, I think. “Who is being referenced in this statement?”
I don’t actually watch game shows, but I know there is one where you have to answer “Who is …” Or maybe “What is …” depending on the wording of the question?
There’s also another game show – or maybe it’s the same one – where the goal is to guess what the most people answered when they were asked that question.
I see “He wakes up lying, and he lies all day” and I absolutely know it’s about Trump. I would really like to know if Trump would be how most people would answer that. I suspect there are (ill-informed and disconnected from the truth) people who might answer Joe Biden, and that might be the best and simplest poll of all to make clear the percentage of people who will never vote for Joe Biden.
Oh, and is this true?
That didn't take long. Looks as if the DC grand jury is now rolling out separate indictments of Trump's co-conspirators. Really underscores Smith's resolve to charge, and try, Trump alone. The case is built for speed. It should in fact go to verdict well before Nov 2024.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) August 2, 2023
I clearly picked a bad time to have a crazy work deadline. I am missing everything!
My thinking is that Jack Smith waited to see what judge would be assigned to the J6 case before deciding whether to indict the others now or not. If it was not a great judge, he would wait because that judge could decide to pull the others into the original case – which would slow things down considerably. But we got lucky with the draw for judge, so he feels safe in indicting the others. I am wondering whether the 6 will be indicted together. We may already know, and I just haven’t been able to read about it yet.
Open thread.
trollhattan
Donald Trump sucks donkey balls and so does Covid.
That’s all.
Butch
Kinda OT, maybe – we just watched the news while we were eating lunch. The cable stations are giving Trump’s trip to DC the White Bronco treatment – every inch is being televised. I guess I’m disappointed but not surprised.
MattF
Smith intends to keep his team busy.
Roger Moore
The game show where you have to phrase your answers in the form of a question in Jeopardy. The one where you have to guess how a poll of 100 Americans answered is Family Feud.
Gravenstone
Hopefully if they are indicted shortly, their judges (assuming each case is randomly assigned) will be disinclined to the inevitable request to join their trials to Trump’s.
MattF
@Butch: My fave supermarket tabloid OJ headline was “NICOLE LOOK-ALIKE TELLS ALL”.
schrodingers_cat
Donald Trump
Narendra Modi
And every other despot with a cult of personality.
Falling Diphthong
One thing that has always struck me about Trump is that his most ardent supporters are convinced that he is lying. If someone says “Obviously, Trump did not mean anything he just said” I assume that person is a die-hard supporter, convinced that Trump is communicating with them in secret code.
Jackie
From last post: Dark Brandon enjoying a cuppa joe 😁
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvfLiY7tayd/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
Falling Diphthong
@Falling Diphthong:
Weirdly the one exception was when the FBI searched his golf club, and people who knew anything about the law were like “If you want to know what’s in the warrant, Trump or his lawyer has a copy–ask them” and Trump was like “Who am I gonna believe, my lawyer or Fox News?” and his fans chirped “Yeah! If he says he doesn’t know, it must be because nefarious plot! Not because he just didn’t ask the employee with a copy!”
Butch
@MattF: That made me smile.
cain
@Jackie: Did you see Joe’s legs? That’s some muscular set of legs for an 80 year old.
Roger Moore
@Falling Diphthong:
I don’t think his most ardent supporters really believe he’s lying. They want to believe the stuff he’s saying. They’ll just selectively disavow his statements as it’s convenient to them by claiming he was joking, misinformed, misspoke, etc. in that specific case. They may well say that about stuff they genuinely believe but that they want you to ignore.
Caveatimperator
The British improv comedy show Mock The Week has a section called “If This Is The Answer, What Is The Question?” Someone might answer your statement as “How does Donald Trump spend his days?”
Jackie
@cain: Bike riding plus his daily morning workout.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: oh, no! Does that mean you have Covid?
bbleh
Isn’t that something they sang on Monty Python?
“He’s a criminal and that’s okay.
He wakes up lying and he lies all day.”
Baud
I wonder if the coconspirator indictments will have more information about the scheme.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: “I like my coffee dark.” and then the mug shows Dark Brandon.
Too funny.
Old School
Doesn’t appear to be.
RaflW
Glad to see this glaring question finally being considered by the Gray Lady (really the Red Lady these days):
“Prosecutors questioned whether Stanley Woodward Jr. could defend Walt Nauta while also representing Trump employees who might take the stand against Mr. Nauta.”
WaterGirl
@bbleh: Please share the link if you find it. That would be fun!
WaterGirl
@RaflW: Shorter:
Can the same mob lawyers defend all of the mobsters?
NotMax
Um, “Who is Baron Munchausen?”
;)
bbleh
@WaterGirl: It’s actually the Lumberjack Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FshU58nI0Ts
LAO
@WaterGirl: must we always defame the mob lawyers? We’re people too. 😬
Butch
@bbleh: I need a hobby. I can recite the words from memory.
Eunicecycle
In my neck of the woods, we used to say, ” He lies like a rug and a rug lies aaall day.” (Important to drag out the “all”).
Ken
“But your honors, we all have the same lawyer, and he’s being paid by Trump….”
patrick II
I have read
Merrick GarlandMARK MEADOQS named as a member of Trump’s staff who said they would vote for Trump in 2024. And, in seeming contrast, conjecture that he has flipped and will be testifying for the government.So, can both things be possible? Are the Democrats that dangerous in Garland’s mind?
edited to correct the name
WaterGirl
@bbleh: It is not! But you got me to watch the whole thing. I remembered the lumberjack song but had forgotten all the details. :-)
Soprano2
@Butch: They can’t help themselves.
Alison Rose
@patrick II: Um…what?
WaterGirl
@LAO: No defaming of mob lawyers here, just suggesting that perhaps it’s not wise to defend ALL the mobsters in the same mob – who may be turning on one another.
:-)
LAO
@RaflW: I’m not sure what the NYT has to do with the potential conflict issue, the government filed a motion asking for a hearing on the issue. Which is standard practice when a lawyer represents multiple witnesses or defendants.
Ken
@patrick II: I think you’ve confused Merrick Garland with someone else. Either that or you should really vet your sources of reading more carefully.
WaterGirl
@patrick II: Might there be some words missing in your comment? If not, then there’s no good explanation for why I can’t understand it. (sigh)
UncleEbeneezer
@patrick II: I think you are confusing Garland with Bill Barr.
Sure Lurkalot
OT. Amidst all the indictment excitement, the supposed “good” daily (WAPO) posted an op-ed by none other than Charles Murray on the efficacy of broken windows policing.
Ends with this:
Yes, prosecuting and incarcerating bunches of minorities for petty offenses actually benefits them and their communities, just like slavery in Ron’s world!
Here’s a gift link (if you can stomach) and may be my last proffer as even at $20/year, I’m thinking about canceling this last news subscription I have.
https://wapo.st/3qa8tqG
Yes, arresting bunches of minorities for petty offenses
robmassing
Indicted together, indicted separately – as long as they hang together
LAO
@WaterGirl: ok but I’ll admit that as an associate in a mob firm, I became quite the expert on actual/potential conflicts of interest arising from multiple representation of witnesses/defendants. I literally responded to government conflict motions on a weekly basis.
So, fair point.
LAO
@UncleEbeneezer: that makes more sense.
Baud
@Ken:
These criticisms of Garland are getting ridiculous.
Alison Rose
@UncleEbeneezer: Ahhh that would make sense.
Alison Rose
@Baud: snort
Old School
Ugh.
HumboldtBlue
The Devon Archer transcript has been released and yet again, the GOP is full of shit.
Alison Rose
@Old School: Make Abbott dig the grave.
NotMax
@LAO
Yup. Garcia (or Curcio) hearings are S.O.P. in modern jurisprudence.
Roger Moore
@HumboldtBlue:
“The Republicans are lying” is a good general starting assumption. If they’re talking about documents the rest of us can’t see, it’s almost a certainty.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Sure Lurkalot: what do you expect from Charles Murray? He is master of lying with statistics. “Figures don’t lie but liars figure” could have been coined for him.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl: Afraid so. Think I caught it from the spouse, who seems to have had a bout of “rebound covid” while we were on vacation–many hours together in the car.
Guessing the chain was kid covid -> spousal covid after going to take care of the kid -> successful spousal Paxlovid treatment, then a couple weeks later rebound covid, leading to my turn. Not that one can ever really know where they caught it but the doc told me Paxlovid has a 5-10% rebound frequency.
it’s been like a bad flu with a kaleidoscope of symptoms. Last night I woke up in a lake of sweat and am hoping that indicates some kind of breaking the fever.
Data point: have all five jabs through the bivalent booster. The doc congratulated me on being a holdout for so long. Putting that on my resume. He also said that the home tests are very accurate on the detection side–false negatives are their weak point.
“It’s just a cold now” is a thing I will not be telling anybody, unless I truly do not like them.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I think it was Harry Litman I heard the same prediction from last night, that this trial will end before spring of 2024. And commentary from several people that the indictment is designed for speed, and Jack Smith avoided any number of elements that could have slowed things down. Hence having only one defendant, and focusing on crimes whose elements he has rock-solid evidence for that’s easy to convince a jury.
So while Aileen Cannon may be pouring herself a cup of tea and congratulating herself on putting the document case off till after the election what with one thing or another, Tanya Chutkin might be pronouncing sentence.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@RaflW: I feel like this kind of conflict of interest has come up before in recent history.
Maybe it was in connection with the Georgia electors. You know, the ones who were never informed by “their” lawyer that the prosecutor was offering immunity. I think they were similarly all “represented” by the same lawyer or lawyers and some of them realized that wasn’t actually going to work in their favor.
And also it could end up with the same issue, “your” lawyer cross-examining you while representing one of your colleagues who was testifying against you.
Trivia Man
Idea: A challenger should dare him to play golf. It must be filmed, all 18 holes.
Burnspbesq
@WaterGirl:
Almost certainly not. The conflicts of interest become insurmountable as soon as one defendant figures out that his/her only way out is to defenestrate the others.
Bill Arnold
@patrick II:
Ah, now I understand the Garland hatred. You are confusing Garland with Barr! Apparently.
Anoniminous
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
Numbers lie all the time.
Example:
A company has 10 wage earners and a total wage bill of $1 million – to keep it simple. 9 employers get $10,000/year. The owner gets $910,000/year.
Total Wages Paid divided by the number of wage earners = Average Wage Paid …
SO:
$1,000,000 divided by 10 = average wage of $100,000/year.
Economists pull this kind of shit on a daily basis.
raven
Our neighbor has a really old pup who has been struggling for some time. He was great friends with Bohdi and Lil Bit and they were weekly fixtures at the hardware store on Saturday mornings. She doesn’t have a car so I’m going to take them to the vet in a a bit. I hate it but I afraid it’s time for Riley to go. ):
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Anoniminous: In mathematics courses, this is the classic example of why median is the right measure of central tendency for this distribution and “average” makes no sense.
trollhattan
@raven: Very sorry :(
You’re a good friend.
Old School
NotMax
@Bill Arnold
I’ll grudgingly accept Barbenheimer but firmly put my foot down when it comes to Barrland.
;)
CaseyL
@raven:
What a sad day. You’re a good friend, to humans and to dogs. My sympathies and condolences to your neighbor.
smith
@Anoniminous: That’s what the median was invented for. Of course, you need to understand something about the underlying distribution to figure out which measure of central tendency to use. In other words, it’s still the liars and not the figures that are misleading you.
The Pale Scot
@Sure Lurkalot:
Turn off Javascript, you can read most newspapers, there are some outliers such as the Boston Globe
Old School
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Good on you.
patrick II
@Alison Rose:
Garland may be testifying against Trump and has said he will vote for him. Barr has testified against Trump and said at one time that, if he was the nominee, he would vote for him. He has now modified that to I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Anyhow, how can you be either of those guys and still at least discuss voting for Trump in 2024?
P.S.
I have been informed that I need better sources for Garland, but it does apply to Barr. Still leaves me wondering about Barr though.
HumboldtBlue
@patrick II:
Please cite a source, because this makes no sense.
Jinchi
Anyone who answers “Joe Biden” to that puzzle is simply giving a version of the grade school “I know you are but what am I” retort.
Nobody thinks that Biden is a habitual liar. Not even people who think he is absolutely awful.
OzarkHillbilly
First off, no one both of these, just no.
2nd of all, WTF are you smoking? I need to get me some of that.
eversor
@patrick II:
Barr already said why, it’s all about Christianity. If we don’t undo the sexual revolution, return to heirarchy, patriarchy, and Christianity everything Christians can’t live out and pass down the faith. So to that, anything, and everything, is OK if done in service of this.
Alito has said the same stuff in similar words. It’s all Christianity, it always was, and until Christianity is gone, they are going to keep doing it until they get their way. So nothing else matters but this issue.
They aren’t hiding this. But too many “liberals” keep pretending this issue isn’t there and refusing to deal with it. At which point, you’re batting for the other team.
Anoniminous
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
And the Argumentum ad Populum is one of the classic Informal Logical Fallacies yet we see used multiple times a day.
raven
@trollhattan:
@CaseyL:
@OzarkHillbilly:
She’s a good friend and fiercely independent. It’s take years to get her to let me drive her to work when it is raining but she knows I’m up and finally relented.
Baud
@patrick II:
Dude.
Jinchi
By which he means, he’ll cross the bridge and vote for Trump.
Baud
@raven:
I’m sorry.
Alison Rose
@Old School: OMG he reenacted one of my favorite reaction memes
VFX Lurker
@OzarkHillbilly: I just added patrick II to the pie filter. I don’t need that much noise in my signal.
Alison Rose
@patrick II: When did Garland say he would vote for Trump????
jimmiraybob
@Jinchi:
“Not the puppet! Not the puppet! You’re the puppet!!”
This has been a presentation of Classic Trump Theater.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Jinchi: Reminds me of an interview I saw with George Conway, where he’s going on and on about how he always knew Trump is a liar and a crook and an all round terrible person, how he has no business being President etc.
Then the interviewer asks who he voted for in 2016. “Trump of course. It’s not like I was about to vote for Hillary.”
NotMax
@Alison Rose
Right before “in a pig’s eye.”
//
@patrick II
Check thine meds, laddy.
Jinchi
“Some Christians are doing this” is not the same thing as “All Christians are doing this”. Barr and Alito are outliers, even among people who consider themselves Christians.
Every large group and every major ideology has bad actors.
patrick II
Well, that is really embarrassing. I had a serious senior moment and mixed the names of Merrick Garland and Mark Meadows. My apologies to everyone who might have read that.
Old School
@eversor:
I know that’s what you thought you heard, but here’s the clip:
Elizabelle
@raven: That’s a really kind thing for you to do. My condolences on Riley. Know everyone will miss that pup.
marklar
@eversor: In the last few days, you’ve made some wonderfully nuanced defenses of John McCain, Tim Miller, and other flawed individuals.
Would it be possible to apply that same sense of nuance to Christians? Many of them DO fit the description that you frequently promote, but many others do not. Which factors or characteristics do you think distinguish between these two groups?
Alison Rose
@eversor: Oh shut the absolute fuck up, you whining sack of shit. No liberal has ever said that there are NO issues with CERTAIN sects of Christianity trying to push theocracy on the rest of us. What we say, and what you are incapable of understanding because you have the brain of a gerbil, is that it is NOT EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN IN THE COUNTRY who is doing so. Did Obama try to turn us into a Christian theocracy? Is Biden doing so? Did Clinton?
I swear to God, I hope you suffer a freak accident that requires amputation of all of your fingers as well as permanent laryngitis so we never have to hear this fucking pathetic juvenile garbage from you again.
Dangerman
I thought the show started at Noon? My AP Livestream has him just now landing. WTF?
Jinchi
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: True of nearly the entire Republican party, including famously, Lindsay Graham: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it”.
Conway at least, is one of the 10% or so who now say they would never again vote for Trump.
I’m not sure if he’s been officially expelled from the party, though.
NotMax
@Dangerman
Court appearance booked for 4 p.m.
JWR
As we wait for the long delayed arraignment, yesterday afternoon’s Background Briefing was pretty good, especially the second interview, the one with Justin Levitt. That alone is worth the price of admission.
And last night’s Amanpour & Co was really good, too. Can’t find any video yet, but here’s a link to an audio only version from CNN. Guests were former prosecutor Jessica Roth; US House Democrat Joe Neguse; Former US House Republican Joe “You Lie!” Walsh; Maternal-fetal physician Dr. Chavi Eve Karkowsky.
Dangerman
@NotMax: So, 1p my time. Excellent. Sufficient time for a nap and/or lunch. Could be a coin flip.
bbleh
@eversor: keeping in mind that the “Christianity” he professes is kinda like John Birch Republicanism used to be. He’s a member of Opus Dei.
Baud
@patrick II:
That’s too bad. I was hoping you were smoking the good stuff.
smith
@Dangerman: TPM says the actual arraignment is at 4:00 pm Eastern.
I
NotMax
@Jinchi
Wasn’t being hitched to that mewling harridan Kellyanne punishment enough?
“You have chosen … poorly.”
//
Geminid
@Alison Rose: I’ll put you down as “undecided.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@patrick II: Seriously, you have Merrick Garland, the current Attorney General, confused with someone
ETA: I see you’ve come to! LOL. Mixups happen.
JWR
Just thought you’d all wanna be kept in the know… ;)
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Like unto confusing Paul Newman with Pauly Shore.
;)
trollhattan
@HumboldtBlue: Yeah, wut? GIGO data.
trollhattan
@JWR: ”Planes go up, planes come down. You can’t explain that.”
cain
@raven: Poor Riley – may they chase the rainbows on the other side of the bridge.
smith
According the The Hill, there are fewer than 20 ardent supporters outside the courthouse to protest such a travesty against this American hero. Every time someone on our side starts hand-wringing over the prospect of more violence a la J6 if TFG is prosecuted/convicted/jailed, I remind myself that these demos get smaller and more pathetic with every arraignment. Can we hope the Goobers have finally reached the acceptance phase of their grief?
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I’m sorry. And on vacation, too, even worse.
Hoping the great sweat on the night of August 2 means you have turned a corner.
raven
@smith: The other ones are in the joint.
WaterGirl
@raven: So sad. Kind of you to drive the. it’s the end of an era.
Montanareddog
@Anoniminous: my preferred variant: 9 people in a bar have an aggregate net wealth of $450000 giving a mean net worth of 50K. Then, Jeff Bezos pops in for a beer.
raven
@patrick II:
“Garland may be testifying against Trump and has said he will vote for him.”
Citation please.
smith
@raven: True, and any would-be imitators are now wary of consequences. We should at least give credit to Garland for going after the J6 insurrectionists as thoroughly and energetically as he did. So many of the Goobers live in a reality show in their heads, and it’s a wonderful corrective when they’re forced to touch base with reality. Here’s hoping TFG’s trials will have some of the same effect.
Baud
@smith:
Freedom Caucus?
raven
@WaterGirl: We’re not really sure what she will decide (with the help of ur wonderful vet). We’ve felt that it has been time for quite a while but it’s not our call. I’m re-processing my mini-dv tapes and uncovering all kinds of footage of Raven, Bohdi, Lil Bit and numerous neighborhood and family woofers.
WaterGirl
@patrick II: We were all quite perplexed! Would you like me to add the Mark Meadows correction to your original comment?
smith
@Baud: Funny, they seem to be sitting this one out. Wasn’t it Empty Greene who showed up for his NY arraignment, then got terrified and ran when confronted by all the anti-TFG protesters?
WaterGirl
@raven: Bittersweet.
mrmoshpotato
It’s not like the indictments are going to disappear (or turn into a pumpkin). 😁
raven
@WaterGirl: The price we pay. . .
ETtheLibrarian
Smith & Co. have clearly decided to not let tRump and the Z team lawyers fritter time away.
Scout211
I thought you were just testing us to see if anyone reads your comments. And apparently, everyone reads your comments. LOL
Thanks for the correction. It happens to all of us from time to time.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: I feel you. Sounds like my experience. Five jabs. Got Covid. Was not fun. Days of fever. Took me exactly a month before my energy felt like it was something approaching normal and my brain fog was better. And even then my stamina wasn’t where it had been. I think I’m finally mostly back to normal but my brain isn’t fully working right. Just takes me longer to think through things and do tasks
I hope your healing trajectory is faster and you feel better soon.
Steeplejack
@raven:
Sorry to hear It about Riley. 🌈 🐾
raven
@patrick II: Thanks, I was wondering how I missed that!
mrmoshpotato
@jimmiraybob:
Sorry. Gotta correct ya there.
It’s “No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet!! You’re the puppet!!”
jimmiraybob
@mrmoshpotato:
Why are you denying me freedom of speech? Fake News!! Constitutional crisis!!!
OK, ok. At least I tried.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Thank you, and I appreciate the details of your experience. It’s helpful to compare notes with those who’ve endured it and I’m boggled at the vast range of symptoms and time needed for healing.
I’m of the opinion covid is now endemic and will in no meaningful sense “just die out.” An annual covid booster or perhaps a flu+covid shot seems to be in our future.
patrick II
@WaterGirl:
Please, yes
pluky
@smith: Mean, median, mode (actuarial exam drill for ‘define average’). For a bit of my practice (high deductible executive medical plan pricing) the last two were $0, and the mean was minuscule relative to the expected loss given that one had occurred. The trick was determining the appropriate reinsurance level so that the retained portfolio risk was manageable.
Yarrow
@trollhattan: I’m totally fine with an annual Covid booster. Heck, I’d be happy to get one twice a year or more if that will keep me from being sick like I was.
Did you take Paxlovid. I didn’t for reasons (too complicated to go into). Maybe I should have but I’ve heard about the rebound and you can’t take Paxlovid twice but you’re sick twice.
Edit: Forgot to add that EVERYONE said don’t do too much too soon. Just rest. I pretty much followed that advice because I couldn’t do much of anything – walking to the kitchen was a chore – and I was so dizzy at some points that I thought I was going to fall and hit my head. I tested positive for 2.5 weeks, so it was a bad case. But I strongly recommend just resting. Let other people do stuff for you if you have that option. Do as little as possible.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Yes, I opted for Paxlovid–the doctor was neither pro nor anti, just gave me pros and cons and noted I was within the demographic–and am exactly 50% of the way through the course. I can’t vouch for its effectiveness, just that if it slows virus reproduction as claimed then perhaps the body fights it off more quickly and I cannot be done with this soon enough.
It does seem to make some foods taste weird/awful and others, no effect. I wouldn’t note that except I’m not eating enough and have dropped ten pounds since Sunday. The heck?
Yarrow
@trollhattan: I lost weight too. Probably because I was exhausted and eating seemed like work. Initially I had a sort throat and it hurt to swallow, so that made it hard to eat. My neighbors brought me food otherwise I would have just not eaten anything. I was too brain foggy to figure out how to order anything and I wasn’t safe to drive.
Part of it may have been because I lost my sense of taste and smell, and it wasn’t just because I was congested. It was some other neurological thing I’m pretty sure. When it came back it sort of bounced around. I could taste and then I couldn’t. Then I could. That kind of thing. Seems to be pretty much back to normal now.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: Annual covid boosters seem to be the CDC’s plan now. Personally I think it should be every 6 months but I guess they are trying to be realistic.
topclimber
@Alison Rose: Late insight: You don’t sound very Christian when it comes to our resident Cristo-phobe.
Ruckus
@Yarrow:
My sense of smell has been gone for 5-6 yrs now. Food really tastes different when you lose that because your sense of taste is actually rather limited and it’s your sense of smell that makes you think most foods taste like they do and I believe is one reason some really like certain foods and others completely hate them. Though there are some foods that taste very much the same. Peanut butter is one.