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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Artistically Designed, Steel-Slatted Bullshit

Open Thread: Artistically Designed, Steel-Slatted Bullshit

by Anne Laurie|  December 19, 20186:35 pm| 147 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Dolt 45, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Republican Venality, All Too Normal, Go Fuck Yourself

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The Democrats, are saying loud and clear that they do not want to build a Concrete Wall – but we are not building a Concrete Wall, we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

Have I mentioned you're not getting a wall?

Because you're not getting a wall.#FreedomDitch

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 19, 2018


 
Well, metaphorically he is…

(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)
.

Why suddenly this Syria news?? "One Defense Department official suggested that Mr. Trump also wants to divert attention away from the series of legal challenges confronting him over the recent days…"https://t.co/1zwF1uDMFs

— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) December 19, 2018

christ…I bet Trump thinks abandoning the Kurds will turn unspent operations cash into a slush fund for his dumbass racist wall.

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) December 19, 2018


 
Since other funding sources are not exactly prospering:

This is going to end with a Build the Wall Patreon isn't it https://t.co/SvQTiB7zdG

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) December 18, 2018


Mexico??Congress??Military??GoFundMe

What's next, Twitter? https://t.co/os8Dvvm1M9

— Benji Backer (@BenjiBacker) December 18, 2018

In the voters' defense, they didn't vote for them paying for stuff. They voted for *other people paying for stuff*

— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome) December 19, 2018

AYFKM? https://t.co/NlGGaATXH7

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 19, 2018

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Previous Post: « A Few Thoughts on The President’s Announced Withdrawal of US Forces and Personnel from Syria
Next Post: Open Thread: Polar Bear Down! »

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it….

    Star Trek only had transparent aluminum; under the Glorious Leadership of President Dealmaker, not only will the US steel industry be revived, but they will start making transparent steel! Truly, this is an age of wonders.

  2. 2.

    debbie

    December 19, 2018 at 6:40 pm

    FFS, “artistically designed”? Like that cheap gilded crap in your homes?

  3. 3.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 19, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    @dmsilev: They will use F-35 stealth technology.

  4. 4.

    debbie

    December 19, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    @dmsilev:

    That’s it! Let’s build a wall out of Crystalline Entity!

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    Also, perhaps Trump should consider that even if the Democrats don’t want a concrete wall, they might perhaps be open to the idea of an abstract wall.

  6. 6.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    December 19, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    This fucking guy…

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    December 19, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    Ken Starr earns the “Big Click” of the day!

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: The Emperor’s New Wall.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    December 19, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @dmsilev:

    I could be talked into a conceptual wall.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @debbie: The Wall is a state of mind, see. You have to visualize The Wall. You have to make The Wall part of you. You have to _become_ The Wall.

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    December 19, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @debbie:

    Let’s build a wall out of Crystalline Entity!

    The Cuban infiltration force would only employ their sonic weapon and resonate the Entity into smithereens.

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    December 19, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    @dmsilev:

    You have to _become_ The Wall.

    Is…that anything like what the Spartans did to the Persians in the movie 300?

  13. 13.

    chopper

    December 19, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    so…steel slats, so you can easily see through it. but people can’t pass drugs through it. nosiree, not at all.

  14. 14.

    khead

    December 19, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    @dmsilev:

    That’s the ticket laddie. Also, can you direct me to the nuclear wessels in Alameda?

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    @Corner Stone: Ugh…I saw that too…smh…I was like WTF Melber…who da fuq wants to hear from Ken fuq’n Starr…

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Corner Stone: Nobody, and I repeat nobody, wants to see Donald Trump shirtless and oiled up.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    @Corner Stone: Do you mean the former president of Baylor who hid the sex abuse that was occurring under his leadership? That one? Who now is allowed to bloviate about the innocence of trump.

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    December 19, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    Things I did not know: Read today that Stonewall Jackson, Walt Whitman and John Wilkes Booth all attended John Brown’s execution.

  19. 19.

    chopper

    December 19, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @dmsilev:

    thanks for that.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 19, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @Corner Stone: Melber’s stunt guesting is tiresome.

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    December 19, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @JPL: He’s got a book to sell about Bill Clinton. That alone qualifies him as an expert and talk show catnip.

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    December 19, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @debbie:
    “Henceforth, all Border Patrol agents shall be trained as mimes and in unison, lean, palms-out in a southerly direction.”

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    December 19, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I am tired of Melber’s style to begin with, but those bad bookings don’t make it any easier.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 19, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @dmsilev:

    not only will the US steel industry be revived, but they will start making transparent steel Reardon Metal!

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    @dmsilev:

  26. 26.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @Corner Stone: really, you have to be f..king kidding me… Why would Melber give him the time of day is beyond me. Starr has always been a right wing hack.

  27. 27.

    Mike J

    December 19, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    If Trump were more clever I’d guess that the concrete/steel wall thing came from some child care book where you give the kid options, but only options that are acceptable to you. “Do you want brussels sprouts or lima beans?” Do the books tell you what to do if the kid laughs in your face and tells you to fuck off? And does Trump know you can’t spank the country?

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @trollhattan: And a good time was had by all. Other than John Brown!

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 19, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    I realize it’s like stopping at the unfolded card table outside the Piggly-Wiggly to argue with a LaRouchie, but why would anyone want to look through The Wall?

  30. 30.

    khead

    December 19, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Rapture was built from Rearden metal and transparent aluminum. True story.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @Corner Stone: Grand Master Shayna Punim’s schtick is upsetting you?

  32. 32.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: lol Trump has no idea that his policies have driven up the cost of his beautiful steel slat see through wall.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    Nothing like building something huge and both light and heat reflective in a sun-drenched desert. Howard Roark on the bad acid.

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @JPL: He thinks he knows the price of everything, but he really knows the value of nothing. He also doesn’t actually know the price of anything either.

  35. 35.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 19, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: That came up a long time ago! If people are throwing bags of drugs over the wall, you want to be able to see that they’re doing that so you don’t get hit by the bags.

    SATSQ

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 7:07 pm

    @NotMax

    Amended:

    Nothing like building something huge and both blindingly light and heat reflective in a sun-drenched desert. Howard Roark on the bad acid.

  37. 37.

    Aleta

    December 19, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    What do you want to bet the contractors will leave excavations or shortcut the fill in places, inviting spots suited to the start of a tunnel.

  38. 38.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    WallCoin? WTF? How would that even work? These people are nuts.

  39. 39.

    Aleta

    December 19, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @NotMax: That will be very hard on insects and birds. And then hard on pollinating plants too.

  40. 40.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    Evening BJ.

    It’s the Holiday season, so slacking off politics for a bit, so how’s about some fun.

    Check it out: Google LEGIT got Macaulay Culkin to do this in a commercial for them!

    LOL

    https://twitter.com/Complex/status/1075440770537218049

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 19, 2018 at 7:15 pm

    Charles P. Pierce @ CharlesPPierce
    Normally, I wouldn’t want to see Ken Starr on my TV but Ari Melber is doing a good job with him.

    Pierce and his reply-era indicate Melber did a good job. Okay. I figure if the old crotch-sniffer was Destroyed, Eviscerated, Leveled, Pummeled or what have you, somebody will put the good parts on the tubes

  42. 42.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 19, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    I built a wooden wall
    but it wooden wall.

    So I built a steel wall,
    but it steel wooden wall.

    So I built a lead wall,
    but it steel wooden lead me wall.

    So I built a copper wall,
    but the copper steel wooden lead me wall.

    So I built a tin wall,
    now I tin wall.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    December 19, 2018 at 7:17 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    I couldn’t take it. I was feeling too fragile today. Switched over to Property Brothers when Ken Starr was announced for the next block. I was praying that Ari would tear him a new one, but I guess that didn’t happen?

  44. 44.

    Ohio Mom

    December 19, 2018 at 7:18 pm

    @trollhattan: What are you reading that contains such interesting trivia?

  45. 45.

    Viva BrisVegas

    December 19, 2018 at 7:19 pm

    @chopper:

    Or bullets.

  46. 46.

    Quaker in a Basement

    December 19, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @Mike J: Or if Trump had ever practiced childcare for as much as a minute.

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    So I saw Spider-man:Into the Spiderverse! My goodness, it was SOOOOO good. The animation was awesome the story was cool and the animated action sequences were better than some live action set pieces. And the soundtrack was DOPE was WOW!

    I cannot recommend it enough!

    Go check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    December 19, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    Just to prepare everyone, this is exactly what the border wall reveal will be like when it’s completed.

  49. 49.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @jaketapper
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    Breaking — Buzzfeed wins defamation suit brought over publishing of the Steele dossier

  50. 50.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 19, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Oh, you mean these invisible jet fighters?

    (Flying with the invisible jet bomber.)

    ETA: They’re currently my desktop wallpaper.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 19, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    Has anybody seen the new Mary, Queen of Scots movie? I’m thinking of treating myself tomorrow afternoon, but would love to hear ahead of time from any jackals who have seen it.

  52. 52.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 19, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t know, I hear John Brown was well hung. BTW, there’s Brown Mountain here in the San Gabriel frontrange that’s named after John Brown.

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 19, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @FlipYrWhig

    I can row a boat. Canoe?

    I suspect you and I are of approximately the same vintage.

  54. 54.

    The Dangerman

    December 19, 2018 at 7:31 pm

    @dmsilev:

    …artistically designed steel slats…

    Will we make people buy the acetylene torch equipment or will we have rentals along the border?

  55. 55.

    Mary G

    December 19, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Tom and Lorenzo, who I trust above all others about movies, were disappointed except for the costumes. They just mentioned that they had problems with it, but no formal post yet. They loved, loved, loved “The Favourite,” so I plan to see that instead.

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:33 pm

    @Mary G: I was just gonna post the same sentiment about T-Lo. I haven’t seen it, but I do trust their review judgements, and they were not a fan.

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    MY PRESIDENT visited the kids and staff at Children’s National Hospital!

    @NerdyWonka
    47s48 seconds ago
    More
    President Barack Obama truly is a class act.
    Children’s National ?
    https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/1075549599786590211

    Can u imagine Chump or Melanoma doing the same w/their dour faces and stuff

  58. 58.

    Wild Cat

    December 19, 2018 at 7:36 pm

    In the end, all that sick fuck will build is a wall of demented sound.

  59. 59.

    mainsailset

    December 19, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    Apparently Trump hasn’t paid attention to what HIS economy & tariffs have done to the steel market! “Steel increased 19 Yuan/MT or 0.51% to 3,740 on Friday December 14 from 3,721 in the previous trading session. Historically, Steel reached an all time high of 4780 in September of 2018 and a record low of 1750 in February of 2016.”

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Teacher: Can you describe Napoleon’s place of birth?

    Student: Corsican.

  61. 61.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I kinda want everyone to see Into the Spiderverse, it’s a “comic book” movie, but the animation style is so good that you don’t even think about it being animation, it’s done so beautifully

    I don’t know if you like heist films, but my sisters loved Widows

  62. 62.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 19, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: There’s one or two things here in RI named after him.

  63. 63.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:40 pm

    Listen, much as I wanted an 3rd Hellboy film, I’m not really into a Hellboy film without Guillermo del Toro! I mean…the main reason I saw Shape of Water in theatres was because of how much I love del Toro’s aesthehic. Sorry…not sorry.

    @THR
    Following Following @THR
    More
    #Hellboy in the shadow of Guillermo del Toro http://thr.cm/2ud9jL

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    @Mary G

    Trailer is a gas.

  65. 65.

    B.B.A.

    December 19, 2018 at 7:42 pm

    @Wild Cat: How about a wall of voodoo?

    I wish I was in Tijuana, eating barbecued iguana…

  66. 66.

    Mary G

    December 19, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    @lamh36: Speaking as someone who spent months in hospitals as a child, it is a good, good, thing that Twitler and Melania don’t visit. Barack and Michelle are the best medicine.

  67. 67.

    Booger

    December 19, 2018 at 7:43 pm

    @trollhattan: …and John Brown was there, too!

  68. 68.

    Rylan Futch

    December 19, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    Dems could cut a serious deal here. Reinstate EVERY part of Obamacare that has been dismantled in exchange for a wall. It would be a huge win for them because we already have parts of a wall……..who the hell cares if we build some more?

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    December 19, 2018 at 7:45 pm

    DUDE, YOU ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH BULLSHIT TO BUILD DOZENS OF WALLS OUT OF IT!!1!

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 19, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    @NotMax:

    Once a big molicepan
    Saw a bittle lum,
    Sitting on a sturb-cone,
    Chewing gubber rum.

    Said the big molicepan,
    “Won’t you simme gum?”
    “Tinny on your ninpype!”
    Said the bittle lum.

  71. 71.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 7:49 pm

    @lamh36: That’s really cute. I hope Macaulay Culkin is doing okay. He seems to have had his ups and downs.

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    December 19, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    @debbie:

    Crystal meth might be more appropriate.

  73. 73.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Dine and fandy entry from the jarachute pumper.

    ;)

  74. 74.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 19, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Quite possibly!

    If you’re American in the kitchen, what are you in the bathroom?

    European.

  75. 75.

    Mary G

    December 19, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    I just hate the people who voted for the president, and things like this:

    A 5-month-old girl, detained by Border Patrol & held in freezing cells, has been hospitalized with pneumonia. Mother: "I said I needed a hospital because her breathing was getting worse. The agents told me I wasn't in a position to be asking for anything." https://t.co/fhIJJZQ9rl— The Appeal (@theappeal) December 19, 2018

    They throw away all the refugees’ possessions, including blankets and spare warm clothing, and keep them in detention centers with air conditioning that is turned way down, with only those foil emergency “blankets” for warmth. The refugees think of it as being put in a refrigerator, something else they have no experience with.

    For people who are accustomed to more southern latitudes and have never even been in an air-conditioned building, it is torture. Literal torture. We can’t let the fire hose of other news take our eyes off this disgrace.

  76. 76.

    A Ghost To Most

    December 19, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    @lamh36:
    If I want to watch a superhero, I’ll watch Adam Schiff in January.

  77. 77.

    Jay

    December 19, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    @Yarrow:

    Old Servers?
    Torrents???
    WallCoin??????
    Profits??????????

  78. 78.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    @lamh36: Ugh… yeah…THIS –>…is gonna be a no from me!

    Hellboy (2019 Movie) Official Trailer “Smash Things” – David Harbour, Mi… https://youtu.be/dt5g5_1cKVk via @YouTube

  79. 79.

    Sam

    December 19, 2018 at 7:56 pm

    We have lots of illegal immigrants because it suits the people who employ them. It is painfully obvious that a solution is to start putting said employers in jail. It won’t cost billions. I don’t advocate for this, mind you. Quite happy to have folks come. But the painful stupidity of a wall is really, really special, and not in a good way.

  80. 80.

    Roger Moore

    December 19, 2018 at 7:57 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I realize it’s like stopping at the unfolded card table outside the Piggly-Wiggly to argue with a LaRouchie, but why would anyone want to look through The Wall?

    I don’t know about looking through the wall, but it would be less ecologically disruptive if small animals could easily pass through.

  81. 81.

    patrick II

    December 19, 2018 at 7:58 pm

    Of it’s made with slats it’s a fence.

  82. 82.

    JR

    December 19, 2018 at 7:59 pm

    @Adam L SilvermanAt least he gave us the song that should be our national anthem.

  83. 83.

    mapaghimagsik

    December 19, 2018 at 8:05 pm

    I saw build the wall out of Drumpf supporters.

    Another day done at the corporate murderhole, of which we learned is arterially bleeding cash and unable to borrow. At least I understand the guard outside better. This is when Upper Management gets all doe eyed and discussed “hard decisions” and they pick who they want to get rid of from those that survived the last mass casualty accident my company caused. I’m sure the lessons will stick this time that perhaps falsifying records (allegedly!) is not the brightest of ideas.

  84. 84.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    Disenfranchise fucking wwc folks stat. That’s the only fucking way to stop the spreading stupidity.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    December 19, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    I’m sitting in a warehouse craft beer bar watching my kid’s band play. It’s a patchouli and flannel kind of crowd. Not many eading glasses.

  86. 86.

    schrodingers_cat

    December 19, 2018 at 8:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Is that Bloody Mary?

  87. 87.

    PJ

    December 19, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    @Sam: But that would mean putting white people who benefit from illegal immigration in jail! That’s against the rules!

  88. 88.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    @Yarrow: IKR…I was just saying he looks healthier than I’ve ever seen him before!

  89. 89.

    raven

    December 19, 2018 at 8:11 pm

    @MomSense: granolas

  90. 90.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:14 pm

    @lamh36: You can keep the change, you filthy animal. Ok, cool. LOL.

  91. 91.

    Sam

    December 19, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @PJ: that is exactly why we don’t do the obvious thing. Follow the money..l

  92. 92.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    Ugh…from the top to bottom (Moonves, Charlie Rose, Weatherly, etc) CBS had been a cesspool! As someone who liked NCIS and liked Weatherly on the show, this is just ugh.

    @GlobeOpinion
    Follow Follow @GlobeOpinion
    More
    .@elizadushku responds to what happened at CBS: “I took a job and because I did not want to be harassed, I was fired.” https://trib.al/I53xPaj

    “What is hardest to share is the way he made me feel for 10 to 12 hours per day for weeks. This was classic workplace harassment that became workplace bullying. I was made to feel dread nearly all the time I was in his presence.“

    “Weatherly sexually harassed and bullied me day-in and day-out and would have gotten away with it had he not been caught on tape, and had the CBS lawyers not inadvertently shared the tapes with my counsel, Barbara Robb.”

    Haven’t watched NCIS a number of seasons ago and I never did get into “Bull”, which after reading this, I’m glad I didnt’…

  93. 93.

    billcinsd

    December 19, 2018 at 8:17 pm

    @trollhattan: Brown was convicted of treason against the State of Virginia

    had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

  94. 94.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Fiiinally.

    Washington DC’s top prosecutor is suing Facebook in the first significant US move to punish the firm for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

    District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine filed the lawsuit on Wednesday, said the Washington Post.

    It accused Facebook of allowing the wholesale scraping of personal data on tens of millions of users.

    The action adds to a number of regulatory investigations, following a year of privacy and security missteps.

    A Facebook spokesperson told the BBC: “We’re reviewing the complaint and look forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere.”

    Top rated bbc comment in that piece.

    And people are stupid enough to think that the EU is the enemy!

    Look at all the tax-evading, data manipulating, business destroying companies out there and the common factor is?………they’re American!

  95. 95.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 8:19 pm

    Um…WOW!

    @SarahLerner
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    “The fact is that Caron wrote me off the show within 48 hours of my complaints about Weatherly…Caron defended Weatherly, explaining he had simply exhibited ‘frat’ behavior and added, ‘What does [Eliza] expect, she was in Maxim.’”

    “On the subject of my legal rights, Caron said to my manager, ‘If Eliza wants to be out of the business by suing CBS, she can be out of the business.’”

    @SarahLerner
    3h3 hours ago
    More
    Dushku: “The boys’ club remains in full force at CBS. The bullying continued. In the settlement process, CBS used as defense a photo of me in a bathing suit, pulled from my own Instagram, as if this suggested I deserved or was not offended by the sexual harassment I experienced.”

  96. 96.

    Amir Khalid

    December 19, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    In the end the Wall will be a series of giant billboards along the border, saying, Imagínate, aquí hay una pared.

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    December 19, 2018 at 8:22 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Is that Bloody Mary?

    No. Bloody Mary was Mary I of England, who was called that because she had a bunch of protestants executed while trying to reinstate Catholicism as the English state religion. Mary, Queen of Scots was Bloody Mary’s first cousin once removed; her maternal grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was Bloody Mary’s aunt.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 8:23 pm

    @lamh36

    Bad days at Black Rock.

  99. 99.

    jimmiraybob

    December 19, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Are you calling for a wall of 40′-high, elbow to elbow, shirtless and oiled up Donald Trump statues (all facing south) along the Mexico border?

  100. 100.

    MomSense

    December 19, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @raven:

    Yup but really cute. I think our music scene up heah is starting to rival yours.

    If you want to come up north to go fishing this summer I’ll hook you up with some good music. I know some good fishing spots, too.

  101. 101.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    @lamh36: Yeah, I was thinking he looked really good too.

  102. 102.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:39 pm

    Mueller has asked the House Intelligence Committee for an official transcript of Roger Stone's testimony, people familiar with the request tell WaPo, a sign that prosecutors could be moving to charge him with a crime.https://t.co/4TUWdpGtzF— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 19, 2018

  103. 103.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 8:41 pm

    Wilbur Ross twice submitted sworn statements to ethics officials saying he had divested stock that he in fact still owned, a new document obtained by the Center for Public Integrity reveals. https://t.co/UJiVT1ygdc— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 20, 2018

  104. 104.

    Mandalay

    December 19, 2018 at 8:44 pm

    @JPL:

    Why would Melber give him the time of day is beyond me. Starr has always been a right wing hack.

    Not only that, but Melber didn’t lay a glove on Starr in the entire interview. Starr is on a book tour, and he was answering the usual “gotcha!” questions that he has surely been asked a dozen times before. He was smiling, grinning and smirking at Melber, and to make matters worse Melber gave Starr a tongue bath at the end.

    YMMV of course, but I can’t understand why anyone would think Melber did a good job: https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/ken-starr-trump-can-be-indicted-1402538051962

  105. 105.

    Peale

    December 19, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: if you’ve only got time to see one speculative movie about a queen of England this holiday season, you’d be better off watching the Favorite than Mary Queen of Scots. Both are fine, but I thought Queen Anne needs some love and a movie. Unfortunately the Favorite shows Anne in decline, near the end of her reign. She was a more effective monarch than the movie gives her credit for. MSQ, though, just seemed kind of dull. Odds stacked against her, Elizabeth did out queen her in the end. Elizabeth I thought stole the film, just like in real life, she was able to keep her crown even though others had a much better claim on it.

  106. 106.

    trollhattan

    December 19, 2018 at 8:50 pm

    @Mandalay:
    Every fvcking body who interviews Starr has to begin by asking him why he protected the rape culture at Baylor. Every fvcking body.

    Do not book Ken Starr unless it’s to mock him.

  107. 107.

    Amir Khalid

    December 19, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @Platonailedit:
    Der Müller Gottes mahlt langsam, usw.

  108. 108.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 19, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    The sooner Donald is behind a steel slatted fence, forever, the better.

    That goes for his vile criminal Ivana spawn as well.

  109. 109.

    JPL

    December 19, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    @trollhattan: But they won’t. They treat him as a respected prosecutor.

  110. 110.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 8:58 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Monica Lewinsky parked him in the cheap seats!

    so. very. much… silently.

    — Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) December 20, 2018

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    December 19, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    @lamh36: Can you imagine even a single child who would want to hug Trump or Melanie?

    I like to call her by the name Trump used in his tweet.

  112. 112.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 9:00 pm

    @lamh36: It is on my list. Along with Aquaman.

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    ahead of time

    I see what you did there.

  114. 114.

    ellie

    December 19, 2018 at 9:04 pm

    @khead: That is my favorite Star Trek movie.

  115. 115.

    Roger Moore

    December 19, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @Peale:
    I’ve been thinking about watching The Favourite. I recently read Winston’s Churchill’s biography of Marlborough, which covers the story behind the movie in some detail, so it would be interesting to see a completely different take on it.

  116. 116.

    Doug R

    December 19, 2018 at 9:05 pm

    @lamh36: I loved spider verse too. Like a comic book come to life, in a good way.
    Stay for the post credit scene. Fantastic.

  117. 117.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 19, 2018 at 9:06 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: not for the first time

    Ken Starr asked me several times if I was “doing O.K.” A stranger might have surmised from his tone that he had actually worried about me over the years. His demeanor, almost pastoral, was somewhere between avuncular and creepy. He kept touching my arm and elbow, which made me uncomfortable. […]
    Understandably, I was a bit thrown. (It was also confusing for me to see “Ken Starr” as a human being. He was there, after all, with what appeared to be his family.) I finally gathered my wits about me—after an internal command of Get it together. “Though I wish I had made different choices back then,” I stammered, “I wish that you and your office had made different choices, too.” In hindsight, I later realized, I was paving the way for him to apologize. But he didn’t. He merely said, with the same inscrutable smile, “I know. It was unfortunate.”

  118. 118.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 19, 2018 at 9:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Ken Starr is on @cnn saying @Comey and McCabe exhibited “poor form” in how they did not follow “protocol” in dealing with Flynn.

    and more one point, from the same piece

    I turned and introduced him to my family. Bizarre as it may sound, I felt determined, then and there, to remind him that, 20 years before, he and his team of prosecutors hadn’t hounded and terrorized just me but also my family—threatening to prosecute my mom (if she didn’t disclose the private confidences I had shared with her), hinting that they would investigate my dad’s medical practice, and even deposing my aunt, with whom I was eating dinner that night. And all because the Man in the Hat, standing in front of me, had decided that a frightened young woman could be useful in his larger case against the president of the United States.

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 9:10 pm

    @lamh36: My understanding is that Mignola was far more involved in this than he was with del Toro on his pair of Hellboy movies. And that they’ve adapted an actual arc from Mignola’s comic for the movie plot and script.

  120. 120.

    Aleta

    December 19, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    Interview with Ben Taub on NPR, about his piece in the NYer called Iraq’s Post-ISIS Campaign of Revenge. Mostly about Mosul, Iraqui trials against accused associates of ISIS. [There were around 8,000 ISIS fighters in Mosul. But more than 100,000 people are on wanted lists because of false accusations or cases where same name.]

    Trigger: mentions people who were tortured, but not description

    DAVIES: So what were the trials like that you saw?
    TAUB: There was a very standard procedure. These trials would last between five and 10 minutes, and it would begin with the judge accusing the suspect, who’s standing in a cage before him, of some affiliation with ISIS. And then the suspect would deny the affiliation. The judge would say, but I have your signed and thumb-printed confession before me. And the suspect would say some variation of, it was induced by torture or I was blindfolded when they took my thumbprints or they made me thumbprint a blank piece of paper, and I have no idea what the confession that they’ve written on it says.
    Then the judge would name various supposed jihadi associates of the suspect, to which the suspect would deny any knowledge of having met any of them. And then the prosecutor would step in, between two and five minutes in, and say, enough evidence – I ask for a guilty verdict. It was always the exact same phrase. And then the judges would turn it over to the defense lawyer, if there was one.

    Many ISIS suspects don’t have a defense lawyer because lawyers are afraid of representing them if they are an ambiguous case. Lawyers are often detained or harassed or threatened by the security services, and so those private lawyers typically take on only clients who they’re convinced are innocent, like cases of mistaken identity.

    So if there’s a defense lawyer, he or she will stand up and start to speak. …
    But during this time, the judges are talking among themselves, cracking jokes with each other, signing documents and passing folders to their assistants and not even pretending to pay attention to what’s being said.

    DAVIES: And what were the verdicts that you saw?
    TAUB: So 98 percent of terrorism trials in Iraq end with guilty verdicts. And they’re typically sentenced on the same day to death or life in prison. Most are sentenced to death.

    DAVIES: So these defendants, do we have a sense of who they were, how likely it was that they had actually committed terrorist offenses?
    TAUB: It’s very hard to know because no one’s really charged with specific crimes. Instead, they’re tortured into confessing to affiliation, and that’s the sole crime. The Iraqi terrorism law is so broad that it conflates or, rather, makes no distinction between those who supposedly assisted a terrorist group in some way and those who carried out violent crimes on its behalf.

    And so all they have to prove to get a death sentence is that you confessed to being a part of ISIS or helping it in some way. And so a lot of these people are coming in with their bodies broken, saying, I was tortured; I didn’t do this. But of course I confessed because they were torturing me. And in fact, if they didn’t confess, then they would have just been returned to a cell and then tortured again.

    DAVIES: Were a lot of them captured on ISIS battlefields? Or were some of them arrested after tips from informants who may have had a grudge?
    TAUB: Many of them were picked up after the battle had ended. These were – I think a lot of ISIS fighters were actually just executed in the streets. There were – as men and women and children escaped from ISIS areas on foot, the men and boys were separated. And a lot of those separations happened on the basis of informants. So you’d have these masked informants at checkpoints just pointing to people and telling the security forces, that guy was in ISIS, that guy supported ISIS – something like that.

    And some of these informants were children. But that wouldn’t matter in court because the suspect would never know who had denounced them or what was said. So these denunciations have also been – you know, as I’ve said, there were around 8,000 ISIS fighters in Mosul. But there are now more than 100,000 people on these wanted lists because there have been so many false accusations or cases where the name is very common, and so every single person with that name is considered a suspect.

    And you have cases of people threatening denunciation in workplace disputes, denouncing their enemies and getting them put on the list. You have personal disputes, family disputes, tribal disputes – all resulting in false accusations of terrorism, which are then referred to the security services and very, very often ending up with innocent people in court.

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/12/24/iraqs-post-isis-campaign-of-revenge

  121. 121.

    The Midnight Lurker

    December 19, 2018 at 9:15 pm

    Wall coin? Is he talking about those ‘challenge coins’ or whatever that the Trump administration has had minted by the thousands? Friends of mine in Washington keep sending theirs to me. I have quite the collection. Perhaps I will build the wall.

    Can I have my five billion now?

  122. 122.

    dmsilev

    December 19, 2018 at 9:23 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: It’s even dumber than that. Think about how stupid bitcoin is for anything useful, and then imagine a variant of bitcoin designed explicitly to fund The Wall.

    I’m sure 2019 will, somehow, gift us an idea that’s even dumber yet, but it’s a high bar to clear.

  123. 123.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 9:26 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ken Starr, like Mike Pence, is the guy you call the cops on if you saw them by themselves near an elementary school or a park where children were playing.

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    December 19, 2018 at 9:29 pm

    @Mary G:

    My brother, a noted Anglophile, did not like The Favourite. Too “jokey” in a non-period, modern way (paraphrasing).

  125. 125.

    cain

    December 19, 2018 at 9:31 pm

    Will the get their steel from China? You know the country you started a tariff war with and will be paying a shit ton more money for it?

  126. 126.

    Aleta

    December 19, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    Which of these kids has a future on stage?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QivliBtpnY#action=share

  127. 127.

    The Midnight Lurker

    December 19, 2018 at 9:33 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Why wait?

  128. 128.

    zhena gogolia

    December 19, 2018 at 9:34 pm

    @lamh36:

    God, that makes my heart hurt.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    @The Midnight Lurker: Probable cause.

  130. 130.

    Steeplejack

    December 19, 2018 at 9:42 pm

    @lamh36:

    This is a bummer. I thought the premise for Bull sounded really stupid, but it turned out to be a good show. And Eliza Dushku was good on it. I wondered why her promising story arc seemed to die out unexpectedly.

  131. 131.

    lamh36

    December 19, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    ‪One of my FAVORITE movies and one of my FAV Dolly Parton song. Talk about a timeless message! The film and the song!‬

    i fuqn love this song still!!

    https://twitter.com/dollyparton/status/1075512811697119234?s=21

    9 to 5 came out 38 years ago!!! It was #MeToo before #MeToo it’s sad to see some of the things in it hasn’t changed as much as it should have.

  132. 132.

    I'll be Frank

    December 19, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    Could it be, the debt ceiling could actually be brought back into meaning. It was created by Congress to keep a Pres. from funding programs without Congressional approval. FDR and his bonds.

  133. 133.

    jonas

    December 19, 2018 at 10:07 pm

    The Democrats, are saying loud and clear that they do not want to build a Concrete Wall – but we are not building a Concrete Wall, we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it….

    A grown-ass man pretending to be President tweeted this. WTF?

  134. 134.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    The biased media should stop claiming that so many Trump associates are being sent to jail. They’re just moving to rooms with artistically designed steel slats that you can see through.
    — Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) December 19, 2018

  135. 135.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    @lamh36: I like this version:

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    December 19, 2018 at 10:14 pm

    @jonas:
    He’s not a grown ass man. He’s a petulant 4 yr old in a 72 yr old body that has seen a lot of self abuse. A lot of self abuse. In ways that none of us want to think about. But in most every way that one could imagine.
    Anyone want to discuss his Alzheimers?

  137. 137.

    dnfree

    December 19, 2018 at 10:36 pm

    I remember a science fiction story based on the idea that tearing off a sheet of toilet paper frequently results in tearing through the sheet, not the perforation. The premise of the story was that the perforated area was actually stronger than the sheet itself, since the perforation was harder to rip. It seems that the conclusion was making an indestructible material composed entirely of perforation. Or something like that. Maybe that’s the idea behind the wall.

    Apparently it was Theodore Sturgeon, ““It Was Nothing, Really”

  138. 138.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 10:39 pm

    @Adam L. SIlverman

    It is on my list. Along with Aquaman.

    Oh my. Is your top secret code name The Malignant Amoeba? (see: Adventure Comics 135. pic)

    :)

  139. 139.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 10:46 pm

    That poor fish.

    A blind amphibian which burrows underground has been named after Donald Trump in reference to his comments over climate change.

    The newly discovered worm-like creature will be called Dermophis donaldtrumpi, after a sustainable building company paid £19,700 in an auction by the Rainforest Trust UK for the honour of naming it.

    The creature is a type of caecilian, with caecus meaning “blind” in Latin, and is only able to detect light or dark.

    Mr Bell said it is appropriate because Mr Trump can only see the world in black and white and has claimed in the past that climate change is a hoax by the Chinese.

    The Dermophis grows an extra layer of skin which their young peel off and eat – known as dermatrophy – which Mr Bell has likened to Mr Trump handing some of his children White House positions.

    Because the amphibians live almost entirely underground, Mr Bell said the creature was like Mr Trump who has avoided scientific consensus on climate change and handed energy lobbyists jobs with the US environment agency.

  140. 140.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 10:47 pm

    @NotMax: No, no it is not.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    December 19, 2018 at 10:52 pm

    I want a low, stone wall with climbing roses tumbling over it. It’ll be low enough to sit on so it should have a broad top, so people can sit for photographs or just to rest. Ivanka should pay for it.

  142. 142.

    Ken

    December 19, 2018 at 11:06 pm

    @Yarrow:

    WallCoin? WTF? How would that even work?

    (1) Set up the blockchain software for trading the coins, (2) keep 1000 in reserve, (3) wait for the price to hit one million per coin, (4) cash in and you’ve got your billion for the wall.

    There might be a hitch at step 3, so here’s an alternate plan. (1) Set up etc., (2) keep 1000 in reserve, (3) wait another two months at which time – assuming the trend line holds – Trump will be asking for $19.99 for the wall, (4) visit an ATM.

  143. 143.

    James E Powell

    December 19, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    Democrats have to say no deals on any wall. No deals on anything. Democrats have to say that there will be no talk of any deals until they’re done with the investigations which are due to start next month.

  144. 144.

    jl

    December 20, 2018 at 12:01 am

    @Kay: If we can make it picturesque, it can be a tourist attraction. No need to wait 5 or 6 hundred years like they did in China. This Wall will pay for itself!

  145. 145.

    dww44

    December 20, 2018 at 12:15 am

    @Corner Stone: Please explain. I heard a bit of his interview by Ari Melber on MSNBC. I was not impressed.

  146. 146.

    Steeplejack

    December 20, 2018 at 12:17 am

    @dww44:

    I think Corner Stone meant that he turned off the TV (or turned the channel) rather than watch Ken Starr.

  147. 147.

    Barry

    December 20, 2018 at 7:20 am

    @trollhattan: “Things I did not know: Read today that Stonewall Jackson, Walt Whitman and John Wilkes Booth all attended John Brown’s execution.”

    Interesting – John Brown was put to death for treason; Jackson died in the act of treason, Booth dies fleeing from an act of murder.

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