Why Europe’s new populists tell so many lies – and do it so shamelessly
Politicians have, of course, always dissembled, but the traditional political lie was designed to cover up an unpalatable fact.
No one wanted to be caught lying.
If accused, they had to explain (“I didn’t inhale”, “I am not a crook”, “not … with that woman”, the dossier wasn’t “sexed-up”) and they might then fall from grace, face a public inquiry, or indulge in that staple of political redemption exercises, the televised apology.
Populist lying, by contrast, is designed to be seen – it is the opposite of a cover-up.
In the populist playbook, lying itself is glorified; it is an instrument of subversion, its purpose to demonstrate that the liar will stop at nothing to “serve the people”.
The lies are signals that these politicians are not bound by the usual norms of the liberal democratic elite.
Liberals have virtue signalling – populists have outrage signalling.
This is the politics of appealing to the gut over the brain.
. . . .
Populists have been quick to turn the value placed on authenticity to their advantage.
Not by striving to be truthful, but by demonstrating that they are authentic (or instinctively connected to the experience of “the people”, who are authentic) to the point of not caring about being shown to be liars – as long as the lies are told “in the interest of the people”.
They tend to either sweep away the evidence that they lied with great nonchalance (well, I might have said that, but so what?), or flaunt the lie to show their chutzpah, their willingness to game the system – and to highlight the supposed hypocrisy or stupidity of whoever is being deceived.
The populist authenticity is not so much about being as good as you claim to be, but about being as shamelessly bad as people might imagine you could be.
Shamelessness is populism’s debased form of authenticity.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Name that tune
Which Trumpist recently defended his publicly lying in defense of the Duce by pointing out it is not a crime to lie to the press?
Corey Lewandowski
Corey Lewandowski
A bullying victim lies to strike back at her attackers, and fails?
Yes, that happens.
Is that what happened here?
Black [12 year old] girl who said 3 white boys cut her dreadlocks at school now says she was lying
Not exactly Jussie Smollett.
Or even Tawana Brawley.
Is that what happened here?
Black [12 year old] girl who said 3 white boys cut her dreadlocks at school now says she was lying
Not exactly Jussie Smollett.
Or even Tawana Brawley.
The dirtiest and the most dangerous source of energy available
is nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy and nuclear power are filthy and dangerous spinoff technologies meant as moral whitewashes for the one and only actual use for nuclear tech, insanely destructive and filthy nuclear weapons.
And they are irrefutable proof of the absurd idiocy and viciousness of the human race.
Just saying.
Nuclear energy and nuclear power are filthy and dangerous spinoff technologies meant as moral whitewashes for the one and only actual use for nuclear tech, insanely destructive and filthy nuclear weapons.
And they are irrefutable proof of the absurd idiocy and viciousness of the human race.
Just saying.
This is moving way too fast
Wasn't this impeachment investigation supposed to last at least to and maybe though the 2020 election?
Wasn't it supposed to help voters understand Trump must go?
Doesn't sound like that's what's happening.
Dems aim for speedy impeachment push as Trump threatens whistleblower
Trump is tweeting insane nonsense and rage drivel.
Are we permitted to pray for his happy death?
Catholics will - or should - know what that means.
Stalled Ukraine military aid concerned members of Congress for months
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill couldn't figure out over this past summer why nearly $400 million in aid they'd voted to go to Ukraine still wasn't in the country's coffers.
There was growing speculation by the end of August. Congressional leaders, their aides and members of key committees -- including the Appropriations, Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees -- were scrambling to figure out why money that had been appropriated by Congress months before still hadn't been disbursed.
Outreach by lawmakers to key agencies left few clues other than the delay was coming from the White House and no one could pinpoint exactly what the reason was.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got involved, reaching out to both Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper as other members urged action with letters, public statements, floor speeches and staff outreach.
"I have no idea what precipitated the delay, but I was among those advocating that we needed to stick with our Ukrainian friends," McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said about his outreach last week.
Wasn't it supposed to help voters understand Trump must go?
Doesn't sound like that's what's happening.
Dems aim for speedy impeachment push as Trump threatens whistleblower
Trump is tweeting insane nonsense and rage drivel.
Are we permitted to pray for his happy death?
Catholics will - or should - know what that means.
Stalled Ukraine military aid concerned members of Congress for months
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill couldn't figure out over this past summer why nearly $400 million in aid they'd voted to go to Ukraine still wasn't in the country's coffers.
There was growing speculation by the end of August. Congressional leaders, their aides and members of key committees -- including the Appropriations, Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees -- were scrambling to figure out why money that had been appropriated by Congress months before still hadn't been disbursed.
Outreach by lawmakers to key agencies left few clues other than the delay was coming from the White House and no one could pinpoint exactly what the reason was.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got involved, reaching out to both Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper as other members urged action with letters, public statements, floor speeches and staff outreach.
"I have no idea what precipitated the delay, but I was among those advocating that we needed to stick with our Ukrainian friends," McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, said about his outreach last week.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
The nice old (white) woman in the hospital waiting room
I, who am 70 (and white), am calling her old.
So maybe in the 70 to 80 range.
I was alone in a waiting room outside an ICU, trying to read the same page of my book for the hundredth time.
My wife was a patient inside.
She came in and sat for a while, the old woman, and then approached to ask if I minded her turning on a TV at the opposite end of the room, setting the volume low.
Of course not.
And then she spent the next couple of hours, until I left, watching Fox News pro-Trump spins on the latest scandal, that of the Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson, to be sure.
No doubt in the senate the Republicans' defense of Trump will echo their defense of Kavanaugh.
Endless chorused shouting in faux rage and outrage.
After all, Lindsey Graham is reputedly organizing it.
Welcome to the US of A, banana republic, with a mini-Mussolini for its president.
So maybe in the 70 to 80 range.
I was alone in a waiting room outside an ICU, trying to read the same page of my book for the hundredth time.
My wife was a patient inside.
She came in and sat for a while, the old woman, and then approached to ask if I minded her turning on a TV at the opposite end of the room, setting the volume low.
Of course not.
And then she spent the next couple of hours, until I left, watching Fox News pro-Trump spins on the latest scandal, that of the Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson, to be sure.
No doubt in the senate the Republicans' defense of Trump will echo their defense of Kavanaugh.
Endless chorused shouting in faux rage and outrage.
After all, Lindsey Graham is reputedly organizing it.
Welcome to the US of A, banana republic, with a mini-Mussolini for its president.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
In a country where the classe politique gave a shit about the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the like, he would have been gone long ago
Pelosi announces impeachment inquiry into Trump over Ukraine scandal
It's too much about winning at any cost.
They're all Nixonians who can't resist even the most absurd and unnecessary crimes.
It's too much about winning at any cost.
They're all Nixonians who can't resist even the most absurd and unnecessary crimes.
Steel City news
The tech employees, who have complained of low pay and stingy time off, will join with the United Steel Workers
Ludicrous, self-important little twat
And darling of the extremely annoying left.
If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them
If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them
The Rule of Law in America . . .
. . . is a fucking joke.
Trump and his stooge at the Justice Department flat violated the law in withholding from Congress, and then refusing to them, a whistleblower complaint.
And the underlying event hidden by all this is that the president illegally stopped provision of aid to the Ukraine authorized by Congress and then called the president of Ukraine eight times to demand Ukraine attack Joe Biden and supply dirt on him and his family to the White House.
White House preparing to release whistleblower complaint to Congress
Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry - the sort of thing that ends up drafting articles of impeachment - while Republicans, as always, join Trumpist voters first in yelling "fake news" and then in yelling "Oh, so what?"
Trump and his stooge at the Justice Department flat violated the law in withholding from Congress, and then refusing to them, a whistleblower complaint.
And the underlying event hidden by all this is that the president illegally stopped provision of aid to the Ukraine authorized by Congress and then called the president of Ukraine eight times to demand Ukraine attack Joe Biden and supply dirt on him and his family to the White House.
White House preparing to release whistleblower complaint to Congress
Democrats have launched an impeachment inquiry - the sort of thing that ends up drafting articles of impeachment - while Republicans, as always, join Trumpist voters first in yelling "fake news" and then in yelling "Oh, so what?"
Trump at the UN
From a hospital waiting room.
A national disgrace, a fool, and a drivelling ass reiterates every nationalist stupidity and lie at the heart of his "America First" agenda, about which he crows and crows as he denounces globalism and global institutions.
It's a campaign speech full of offensive nonsense and lies about defense, trade, and everything he touches on.
Not excepting Brexit and the European Union.
He even suggested China ought to be kicked out of the WTO and denied the status of a developing country.
And addressing the global phenomenon of mass, unauthorized migration, he repeatedly attacked the migrants as unfairly burdening the countries they go to.
Using Venezuela to attack socialism, for domestic consumption.
Not one moment's applause, and he's been speaking for a while.
Stoney silence through the whole thing.
Even when he lies that his administration supports things that his UN audience might support.
Democrats edging toward impeachment.
Warren now ahead of Biden.
Perhaps all to the good.
Perfunctory applause at the end, only.
Extraordinary.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Trumpism has no bench
He is never going to find a national security advisor with whom he is sympatico until he hires Pat Buchanan.
Or maybe Steve Bannon.
Trump Fires John Bolton In Final Break After Months Of Policy Divisions
Trumpism is really Buchananism.
But the Duce is so little self-aware he may not know that.
Or maybe Steve Bannon.
Trump Fires John Bolton In Final Break After Months Of Policy Divisions
Trumpism is really Buchananism.
But the Duce is so little self-aware he may not know that.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Perfectly idiotic criticisms of the Duce
Republicans and Democrats denounce Trump's shock Taliban talks revelation
There is nothing he can say or do that will not draw some fire.
Update.
Seems increasingly like the whole story was over inflated by Trump and the White House.
There is nothing he can say or do that will not draw some fire.
Update.
Seems increasingly like the whole story was over inflated by Trump and the White House.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Two comments from the presidency of Donald Trump
We Deported Him to a Land He’d Never Seen, and Now He’s Dead
When you foresee a death, there’s no joy in being right.
On June 4, I told my colleagues that Jimmy Aldaoud — a medically frail Michigan man who came to the United States in 1979 when he was an infant — was not going to survive.
That was the day his sister Rita Bolis called to tell me he had been deported and was sleeping on a bench in an airport in Najaf, Iraq.
Mr. Aldaoud had never been to Iraq.
He was born in Greece to Iraqi refugee parents.
He had no ID and no ability to get the medical care he needed for his diabetes.
He did not know Arabic, much less how to navigate a war-torn society where being Americanized makes you a target.
On Aug. 6, Ms. Bolis contacted me again to say that her brother was dead.
His family believes he died because he couldn’t obtain the medicine he needed in Iraq.
A Cruel Parody of Antitrust Enforcement
President Trump’s Justice Department — for it is increasingly clear that the department has been reduced to an arm of the White House — has opened an antitrust investigation of four auto companies that had the temerity to defy the president by voluntarily agreeing to reduce auto emissions below the level required by current federal law.
The investigation is an act of bullying, plain and simple: a nakedly political abuse of authority.
The department is supposed to prevent companies from acting in their own interest at the expense of the public.
The four automakers, by contrast, are acting in the public interest.
That the government of the United States would fight to loosen emissions standards in the face of the growing threat posed by climate change also boggles the mind.
Not content to fiddle while the planet burns, Mr. Trump is fanning the flames.
Ford, BMW North America, Volkswagen Group of America and Honda struck a deal with the State of California in July.
They agreed to reach an average fuel efficiency standard of at least 51 miles per gallon by 2026.
That falls short of an Obama administration rule that would have required average fuel efficiency of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
But it is certainly better than the goal of 37 miles per gallon favored by the Trump administration.
Mr. Trump reacted to the deal with predictable fury.
When you foresee a death, there’s no joy in being right.
On June 4, I told my colleagues that Jimmy Aldaoud — a medically frail Michigan man who came to the United States in 1979 when he was an infant — was not going to survive.
That was the day his sister Rita Bolis called to tell me he had been deported and was sleeping on a bench in an airport in Najaf, Iraq.
Mr. Aldaoud had never been to Iraq.
He was born in Greece to Iraqi refugee parents.
He had no ID and no ability to get the medical care he needed for his diabetes.
He did not know Arabic, much less how to navigate a war-torn society where being Americanized makes you a target.
On Aug. 6, Ms. Bolis contacted me again to say that her brother was dead.
His family believes he died because he couldn’t obtain the medicine he needed in Iraq.
A Cruel Parody of Antitrust Enforcement
President Trump’s Justice Department — for it is increasingly clear that the department has been reduced to an arm of the White House — has opened an antitrust investigation of four auto companies that had the temerity to defy the president by voluntarily agreeing to reduce auto emissions below the level required by current federal law.
The investigation is an act of bullying, plain and simple: a nakedly political abuse of authority.
The department is supposed to prevent companies from acting in their own interest at the expense of the public.
The four automakers, by contrast, are acting in the public interest.
That the government of the United States would fight to loosen emissions standards in the face of the growing threat posed by climate change also boggles the mind.
Not content to fiddle while the planet burns, Mr. Trump is fanning the flames.
Ford, BMW North America, Volkswagen Group of America and Honda struck a deal with the State of California in July.
They agreed to reach an average fuel efficiency standard of at least 51 miles per gallon by 2026.
That falls short of an Obama administration rule that would have required average fuel efficiency of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
But it is certainly better than the goal of 37 miles per gallon favored by the Trump administration.
Mr. Trump reacted to the deal with predictable fury.
Take the money and run
Sensible advice in an age of worsening climate and weather conditions for affected coast dwellers.
Do not attempt to rebuild in the same area, though it may have been home all your life.
Devastation will continue to become less the exception and more the norm.
Move somewhere such disasters don't happen.
A word for the Bahamians.
Do not attempt to rebuild in the same area, though it may have been home all your life.
Devastation will continue to become less the exception and more the norm.
Move somewhere such disasters don't happen.
A word for the Bahamians.
The Expanse
Amazon picked up the series dropped in 2018 by SyFy and gave us Season 3.
Season 4 will be available in December and Amazon has already committed to a Season 5.
The most remarkable space opera series since Azimov.
I'm reading the books and have just finished No 5.
So far, the only one in which nothing to do with the protomolecule or associated technology or history had a significant role.
Season 4 will be available in December and Amazon has already committed to a Season 5.
The most remarkable space opera series since Azimov.
I'm reading the books and have just finished No 5.
So far, the only one in which nothing to do with the protomolecule or associated technology or history had a significant role.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Now a hot topic on the right: violent resistance to a mandatory gun buyback
The point seems increasingly made by more or less mainstream sources on the right that the Democrats (or anyway President O'Rourke) would put in place a federal program of mandatory buybacks of so-called "assault rifles" like the AR 15 from all or nearly all American civilians who own any.
And that such a program would be met not only with widespread noncompliance but even with violent resistance.
Some go so far as to predict even organized guerrilla warfare by American militias.
And some people even urge such violence, claiming it would be justified.
And that such a program would be met not only with widespread noncompliance but even with violent resistance.
Some go so far as to predict even organized guerrilla warfare by American militias.
And some people even urge such violence, claiming it would be justified.
Stuff and nonsense
But even if it were not, the allegedly natural and allegedly God-given right to self-defense would neither be nor entail either a right to do so with a gun or a right to own a gun.
Yes, Gun Ownership Is a God-Given Right
Rich Lowry.
Yes, Gun Ownership Is a God-Given Right
Rich Lowry.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
I hope the mayor is right
Trump knows as much about organizing hurricane relief as a doorman at any one of his hotels.
Better he should play golf.
Trump says London mayor is 'incompetent' after hurricane remark
US president criticized Sadiq Khan, after London mayor suggested Trump was golfing rather than organizing hurricane relief
Better he should play golf.
Trump says London mayor is 'incompetent' after hurricane remark
US president criticized Sadiq Khan, after London mayor suggested Trump was golfing rather than organizing hurricane relief
Monday, September 2, 2019
Nobody saw it coming in Russia, either.
Remember this?
When it comes - and it will come because, barring technological overthrow and ignoring the entirely reactionary (and doomed) interruption of Islamism, Fukuyama was right - the collapse of the red regime in China will come as a surprise.
Tom Sauer, in particular, does not see it coming, even now.
And yet, the Hong Kong demonstrations are proof of the inner rot.
No man knows the day or the hour.
But the faith of the demonstrators is right.
It will come.
So this is now something seriously discussed in political journalism?
Widespread citizen violence against federal efforts to enforce a mandatory buy-back of assault rifles in the face of widespread noncompliance.
Democrats’ Gun Buy-Back Plan Would Backfire Horrifically
Democrats’ Gun Buy-Back Plan Would Backfire Horrifically
Pat Buchanan continues his long, slow slide to almost fascism
Although not quite.
Anyway, not yet.
If you think that what, about supranational institutions like the EU, the UN, or even NATO, bothers the new nationalists of Europe and America in part is their democracy deficit you are a fool.
And if you think they are even in part moved by concern for the political position of the world's eurowhites, or the rayonnement of their civilization, the much touted and much damned Western Civilization, you are again a fool.
Their increasingly evident love for authoritarian nationalism wherever it is to be found, while strengthening racism and racist policies within infected states, undermines both.
Let Them Howl, Boris!
PB here continues to celebrate stupid things ever less compatible with the rule of law, with republicanism, with responsible representative government.
Anyway, not yet.
If you think that what, about supranational institutions like the EU, the UN, or even NATO, bothers the new nationalists of Europe and America in part is their democracy deficit you are a fool.
And if you think they are even in part moved by concern for the political position of the world's eurowhites, or the rayonnement of their civilization, the much touted and much damned Western Civilization, you are again a fool.
Their increasingly evident love for authoritarian nationalism wherever it is to be found, while strengthening racism and racist policies within infected states, undermines both.
Let Them Howl, Boris!
PB here continues to celebrate stupid things ever less compatible with the rule of law, with republicanism, with responsible representative government.
Democrats always say this, and it's never true.
And that's why the Republicans pay no price for doing nothing.
Texas Shooting Brings New Urgency to Gun Debate in Congress
Phooey.
These shootings just set off Democrats, or allow them to pretend.
Texas Shooting Brings New Urgency to Gun Debate in Congress
Phooey.
These shootings just set off Democrats, or allow them to pretend.
Did I mention I dropped the Times?
Months of attacks on everyone in sight on the right and on white Americans in general for racism.
Months of attacks on Joe Biden.
Why the hell pay them to do that?
Months of attacks on Joe Biden.
Why the hell pay them to do that?
Better than us
It was a great season and I hope there is another.
But they never really did confront the issue of robots replacing humans on the job.
Better than us
But they never really did confront the issue of robots replacing humans on the job.
Better than us
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Helping the little guy, the forgotten man
Trump's tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese imports kick in
The newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods will cost the average American household $1,000 a year, J.P. Morgan estimates.
The newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods will cost the average American household $1,000 a year, J.P. Morgan estimates.
It just became 15% more expensive for U.S. companies to import everything from milk to diapers and sports equipment from China.
Tariffs on $112 billion of Chinese goods went into effect Sunday.
While some duties have been delayed and some items have been removed from the original list of $300 billion Chinese imports, many everyday grocery items and household staples will still be targeted beginning Sunday, according to an official list that spans 122 pages.
Chinese retaliatory tariffs ranging from 5% to 10% on a portion of $75 billion U.S. goods also are scheduled to go into effect Sunday.
The newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods are consumer-focused and will cost the average American household $1,000 a year, J.P. Morgan estimated.
More than 160 industry groups have condemned new tariffs on China and the escalation of the trade war.
Furthermore, over 30% of US companies are blaming tariffs for disappointing second quarter profits, according a Wells Fargo analysis.
Hurricane Dorian strengthens to Category 5 as 'catastrophic' storm closes in on Bahamas
Currently expected to run up the east coast and make landfall in Georgia or the Carolinas, if at all.
How closely it skirts the coast remains iffy and much damage is still expected.
Other reports say it will weaken and hit as maybe Category 2.
Currently expected to run up the east coast and make landfall in Georgia or the Carolinas, if at all.
How closely it skirts the coast remains iffy and much damage is still expected.
Other reports say it will weaken and hit as maybe Category 2.
Shooting near Odessa, TX
Nobody really knows anything about it, yet.
Death toll in Odessa shooting rises to 7, a 17-month-old child among those injured
The rampage began after the suspect, in a gold Honda, was the subject of a 3:17 p.m. traffic stop between Midland and Odessa, officials said Saturday.
The gunman shot the trooper who initially stopped him and continued west to Odessa, where he shot multiple others, according to Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke.
"The suspect continued shooting at innocent civilians all over Odessa," police said in the statement.
The suspect then ditched the vehicle he was using and took a U.S. Postal vehicle to a local movie theater, Cinergy, where a shootout with law enforcement from multiple agencies took place, he said.
. . . .
Police have not released the identity of the shooter or the victims in the attack.
. . . .
A senior law enforcement official briefed on the case and a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said the shooter had a rifle that may have been a .223 AR-15 style weapon.
Officials were also trying to determine whether the suspect had other weapons on him during the shooting or at his home.
. . . .
The attack, the second mass shooting in Texas this month, prompted a round of calls for stricter gun laws from some hopefuls running for the Democratic nomination for president.
Not clear at all what stricter gun laws they have in mind or how they would have made a difference.
Texas loosens firearm laws hours after the state's latest mass shooting left 7 dead
A series of new firearm laws go into effect in Texas on Sunday, just hours after a shooting left seven people dead in the western part of the state.
The laws will further loosen gun restrictions in a state that's had four of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern US history, including the El Paso shooting last month, when a gunman stormed a Walmart and killed 22 people.
The new measures were all passed during the 2019 legislative session, which ended in June.
None of the measures seem relevant or, to me, objectionable.
Death toll in Odessa shooting rises to 7, a 17-month-old child among those injured
The rampage began after the suspect, in a gold Honda, was the subject of a 3:17 p.m. traffic stop between Midland and Odessa, officials said Saturday.
The gunman shot the trooper who initially stopped him and continued west to Odessa, where he shot multiple others, according to Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke.
"The suspect continued shooting at innocent civilians all over Odessa," police said in the statement.
The suspect then ditched the vehicle he was using and took a U.S. Postal vehicle to a local movie theater, Cinergy, where a shootout with law enforcement from multiple agencies took place, he said.
. . . .
Police have not released the identity of the shooter or the victims in the attack.
. . . .
A senior law enforcement official briefed on the case and a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said the shooter had a rifle that may have been a .223 AR-15 style weapon.
Officials were also trying to determine whether the suspect had other weapons on him during the shooting or at his home.
. . . .
The attack, the second mass shooting in Texas this month, prompted a round of calls for stricter gun laws from some hopefuls running for the Democratic nomination for president.
Not clear at all what stricter gun laws they have in mind or how they would have made a difference.
Texas loosens firearm laws hours after the state's latest mass shooting left 7 dead
A series of new firearm laws go into effect in Texas on Sunday, just hours after a shooting left seven people dead in the western part of the state.
The laws will further loosen gun restrictions in a state that's had four of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern US history, including the El Paso shooting last month, when a gunman stormed a Walmart and killed 22 people.
The new measures were all passed during the 2019 legislative session, which ended in June.
None of the measures seem relevant or, to me, objectionable.
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