Before we dig in, let’s be honest, shall we?

Every human being in the history of mankind has lied — and every human being for the remainder of mankind will lie, as well. Thing is, it’s the degree of lying — and what they lie about — that sets some people apart from others. That said, this feels like a good time to visit the difference between compulsive liars and pathological liars. No one in particular, of course, just generally speaking.

So I decided to stop by MedicineNet and see what they had to say about the whole thing.

Compulsive liar: A liar who lies out of habit.

Compulsive liars bend the truth about everything, large or small. For a compulsive liar, telling the truth is very awkward and uncomfortable, while lying feels right. A lot of them find it easy to avoid confrontations with truth, hence they stick to lying.

Compulsive liars lie because of several reasons. However, it may always be easy to find out if they are lying because their stories usually do not add up.

They are also obvious and display the classic lying behaviors, such as avoiding eye contact, breaking out into a sweat, and tripping over their words or rambling.

They know the difference between reality and lies.

(Emphasis, mine.)

Pathological liar: A liar who lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little awareness.

A pathological liar is often goal-oriented (i.e., focused, one tells lies to get their way). They have very little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others. They are often considered manipulative and cunning.

Pathological liars create extravagant stories that may be maintained or tweaked over time, and they often believe their own lies or have a weak grip on reality. Unlike the compulsive liar, pathological liars are near impossible to catch in the act.

These people are excellent liars because they lie constantly and make stories up unnecessarily, and often, it becomes extremely difficult to distinguish the truth from false statements.

Before we continue, let’s take a look at a few RedState headlines from today. Just for the hell of it.

Leaked Memo Shows Joe Biden Lied in Afghanistan Presser About Agreement With G7 Countries

Joe Biden’s Own Administration Contradicts His Afghanistan Presser Lies

Americans Stopped, Beaten on Way to Kabul Airport as Biden Claims They’re Having No Problems

Watch: Fed up Afghan Woman Absolutely Goes off on Joe Biden by Telling It Like It Is

Hmm. Whaddya know?

Anyway, “someone who is in a position to know better,” said today that the Taliban terrorists had given assurances that they would allow Afghans who wanted to leave the country to make their way to the airport outside Kabul, without interference. Imagine that.

Taliban terrorists reportedly shot a woman in the head, earlier this week, killing her in front of her family for not wearing a burka — which Afghan women have not been required to do for 20 years — on the same day they vowed to honor women’s rights.https://t.co/68AvKirsGF pic.twitter.com/LeC5l5Ft2G

— Dr. Hold My Beer, BfD (@RealLibSmacker) August 20, 2021

Oh — I almost forgot. As reported by Fox News on Friday, shortly after Joe Biden’s claim during an afternoon address to the nation on Afghanistan, the Pentagon admitted that al Qaeda does, in fact, have a “presence” in Afghanistan — minutes after Biden claimed they were “gone.”

Here’s Joe:

“Let’s put this into perspective here. What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?”

That question is ignorant on multiple levels, but we’ll deal with it in a later article.

.@POTUS – “What interest do we have in #Afghanistan at this point with Al Qaeda gone.” A DoD IG report from Aug 17, 2021 says “the Taliban continued to maintain its relationship with al-Qaeda, providing safe haven for the terrorist group in Afghanistan.” https://t.co/gdXiO8E13l pic.twitter.com/RytywJAqk0

— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) August 20, 2021

Here’s reality — via Pentagon spokesman John Kirby:

“We know that al Qaeda is a presence as well as ISIS in Afghanistan. And we’ve talked about that for quite some time. We do not believe it is exorbitantly high, but we don’t have an exact figure for you, as I think you might understand.”

Oopsie, Joe.

Biden’s Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby says “we know that Al-Qaeda is a presence…in Afghanistan.”

An hour ago, Joe Biden said that Al-Qaeda was “gone” from Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/f8X4ZqTwjQ

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 20, 2021

Sometimes the truth is hard. Some people have a propensity to “not tell the truth” because they’re weak. Or maybe because they’re terrified of being wrong. And, of course, some people are incapable of understanding that admitting fault and accepting personal responsibility for being wrong — without automatically passing the buck to everyone else — demonstrates strength, not weakness.

Then again, some liars might have simply lost so much mental acuity that they don’t even know they’re lying — or can no longer distinguish between reality and truth. Generally speaking, of course.