What in the wide world of fuck?
"I would ask for wall. We need wall." pic.twitter.com/mkgHZWFgyI
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 20, 2018
Somehow it’s weirder when they drop the definite article. Maybe we can agree on a Cask of Amontillado-style wall arrangement.
Adam L Silverman
Bless her heart!
FlipYrWhig
“You don’t use steam anymore for catapult?”
Mary G
It shouldn’t matter, but it just seems so extra evil that a woman would go along with treating immigrants like lepers and deliberately hurting young children and babies. Has she no children, nieces or nephews? Or just no imagination? How can she sleep at night?
Sayne
I love lamp.
Roger Moore
I think dropping the definite article is a subtle way of backing off the idea of the wall as a gigantic single project. Instead of “the wall” that covers the entire border, they’re just building wall along specific sections of the border.
Bobby Thomson
Peter Sellers in Murder by Death.
dmsilev
When your grammar is Hulk-approved, that’s a problem.
Hulk smash wall!
randy khan
I thought the definite article was part of its proper name: The Wall.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: The stupid! It burns!!!!
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: So it will end up as a couple of panels of drywall propped up against a tree somewhere? Sounds plausible.
schrodingers_cat
How you can help asylum seekers
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: Mongo love wall!
dr. bloor
“I would ask for wall. We need wall.”
“Moose and squirrel said so.”
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: The Elders had not approved release of that information at this time.//
schrodingers_cat
@Mary G: They are putting infants in freezing cold cells. Kelly must be so proud of his protege.
catclub
Wall-E
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Or they can pretend that repair/upgrading of places on the existing border fence is building wall.
oatler.
As Sideshow Bob said, “The Wall, the.”
Betty Cracker
@dmsilev: One of the more scenic properties on the way to my bucolic abode features a fence constructed of pallets leaned against an old broken-down livestock fence. Wooden slats! It could totally work!
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Donald Tяump is stupid man. Can’t talk good. Wants friends and asskissers talk not good, too! Make he feel more good, more happy, more not stupid man!
trollhattan
Did not think I could increase boggle. Boggle now very big, is largest boggle, mine.
SFAW
“For the love of God, MonCrackor!”
Kay
Schlemazel
I can just imagine Putin laughing hysterically, laughing till he can’t stand up, rolling on the floor in uncontrollable fits of laughter till he wets himself. Never in his wildest dreams did he think hie Tronald Dump project could pay such benefits
Uncle Cosmo
Dropped articles (definite or in-): Native Slavic speakers taught p’angliskii at Red Buzzard school.
Frankensteinbeck
See, THIS is standard, old-fashioned Republicanism. Wild distortions and leaving out all of the important details to make an indefensibly sadistic policy sound reasonable. What she doesn’t say, for example, is that she wants congress to update the laws so that brown people are not allowed to immigrate at all, and can be forced out with any level of violence desired by the person doing the forcing. But she sounds so reasonable just saying that the laws need updating!
SFAW
I don’t know why everyone is making fun of the lack of a definite article. I mean, Lying Littledick Pantspisser McTreasonface is just repeating, verbatim, what Putin told him to say.
ETA: Or what Uncle Cosmo said.
eclare
@Bobby Thomson: I remember that! And Capote screaming about it.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
What a shock!
Kay
We should hire more people at the Justice Department and give the people there now a raise. They’re swamped with just the Trump Administration, let alone all the other crime.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@randy khan: No, that was a Pink Floyd album.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Adjacent neighbors to one set of inlaws up in the foothills for many years had a fence lovingly constructed of used garage doors in a rainbow of colors and conditions. They also had pole-mounted floodlights that turned night into day. Even though they were a couple hundred yards away the effect was pretty dramatic.
Marcus
Outside the Wall
And when they’ve given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it’s not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger’s wall.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Part of me wants to hear Ted Lieu ask The Stupidest Man in Congress “Do you have to practice a lot at being that (fucking) stupid? Or does it just come to you naturally?”
hueyplong
I would say these people are giving off a creepy Island of Lost Souls vibe, but they have no souls.
lamh36
As with Syria, there has to be a way to do this type of thing without just random thought and with NOT telling his own military advisors before hand…
I mean one can believe that the troops shoudl be out of harms way for “unncessary” wars, and also believe that there should be some detail and consideration rather than Chump’s “I promised it, so I’ma do it” list…
Miss Bianca
@dmsilev: Russian-approved as well, tovarisch, for unless I misremember, Russian uses no definite article.
BobT
Must be a literal translation from the Russian original…
trollhattan
@Kay:
Worst use of “shelter” ever.
Steve in the ATL
Had a chatty Lyft driver in St. Louis. When we passed a gas station, I made the mistake of expressing my surprise that gas was under $2 per gallon there. Driver then launched a soliloquy about the great balls on “president” trump and how he made the Saudis lower gas prices, a refreshing change after 8 years of weakness. Chapter 2 of said soliloquy, completely sua sponte, opined that the America is a great country, especially now, but no country, no matter how great now, can survive 1.5 million babies being murdered each year by being suctioned out of their mothers’ bellies.
Pop quiz:
Guess who got a one-star rating and no tip?
PM me for the answer!
#RedStateLife
Kay
@Roger Moore:
The federal government can’t properly oversee child welfare. It’s insane. It’s like trying to start a federal elementary school chain and run it out of DC. They’re not suited to this. Child welfare is run at the county or city level for a reason.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: Oh, you don’t say!
Kay
@trollhattan:
True, but that is the actual term. “Shelter care”. States use it too.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: It is amazing that he can dress himself.
chopper
@lamh36:
drumpf is looking for some way out of this shitty week with some of his image intact. tomorrow is gonna be pretty epic, i reckon.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: It’s called a National Security Council Principals’ meeting. Which take place after several National Security Council Deputies’ meetings. Which are scheduled around planning and wargaming courses of action and follow on options from the departments, agencies, bureaus, and offices overseen by those principals and deputies.
Miss Bianca
@Kay:
Kay, you’re making the presumption that child “welfare” is actually the point.
chopper
this sounds like those high-fashion types who refer to pants/shoes/trousers in the singular. “i don’t think that shoe really goes well with that trouser”.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay:
And even then it is inadequately funded, doesn’t always run well, and is rife with problems.
gratuitous
Brain and brain! What is brain?
schrodingers_cat
@Miss Bianca: They are trying to discourage people from coming here. If their policies lead to a few deaths they find that perfectly acceptable.
Anonymous37
This is what I was reminded of:
https://youtu.be/1KGJtZoe5QA?t=21
Ohio Mom
@Steve in the ATL: Your driver must be related to the dry cleaner I stopped going to.
@Schlemazel: Don’t mean to pry, just did not see this morning’s thread in time to wish you well with today’s appointments.
jl
Wall is Great and Wall is Good
Wall is Blessing for my Neighborhood!
May Wall Bless Us, each and EVERY One!
Wall is Boss, Spirit and the Only Son.
Man, the Trump tweets that I have been exposed to in news reports and on internet this morning are particularly idiotic and incoherent, and so far I haven’t even heard one about No Collusion!. I wonder how the news guy I heard reading two of Trumps completely contradictory tweets about the Syrian troop withdrawal didn’t break out in hysterical laughter. I guess too many lives at stake in a serious decision like that. Even if it is going in a general direction I approve of, that doesn’t mean the Trumpsters cannot mess it up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@dmsilev:” So it will end up as a couple of panels of drywall propped up against a tree somewhere? Sounds plausible.”
That’s supposed to be the standard Trump builds to. At five million drywall is likely the quality of wall they get for that much distance.
Soon to be followed by
“Collapsed after unprecedented rain storm in the Mohave”
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Assumes facts not in evidence.
westyny
@Steve in the ATL: Your lyft driver deserves the riches his job is no doubt bringing him.
eric
Most of us were scared that his legal peril would cause Trump to START wars; this is a considerably better outcome, even if equally rash, insane, and ineffective.
Mart
@Steve in the ATL:
Ridiculously low fuel taxes with crumbling infrastructure = winning in Missouri. Also refine tar sands across the river. Also too, the prices do not inflate much if at all in the City. Most urban areas the price creeps up as reach suburbs and peak in city center. Not here.
Aleta
‘We need wall’ does not appear in the Old Testament so Republicans will be adding it.
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Would have seriously considered a sudden onset of car sickness. Preferably of the projectile variety.
Steve in the ATL
@westyny: he’s in his fifties, 24 years in the Marines, divorced, drives a Ford Focus hatchback, and bragged that (1) he took an online IQ test and scored 137, and (2) makes $800-1,000 per week driving Uber/Lyft. And the bragging came AFTER he asked what I did and learned that I’m a lawyer.
I imagine he’s super tired of winning.
ETA: maybe I, a lifelong GE shareholder, shouldn’t judge….
Mike in NC
By the end of the month Trump will have announced plans for the immediate withdrawal of all US forces in South Korea, Japan, Germany, Guam, Hawaii and Alaska. They’ll be needed for the construction of the Sacred Wall.
eric
@Mike in NC: @Mike in NC: I am at a loss as to who would want such an american return to her borders…..total loss
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax: considered but it was rush hour and there was accident right before my destination. Couldn’t muster it right as I was exiting the car.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC:
Fixed it for you!
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Mongo only brick in wall of life.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
It would help if they tried. As it is, they see cruelty to those children as a way of punishing their parents for the offense of wanting to come to the US.
NotMax
Wall-Me.
Worst movie remake ever.
lamh36
Chump just tweeted Mattis to retire at end of February
Boussinesque
The lack of the definite article immediately made me think of this classic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-9scNP5KWk
trollhattan
@Kay:
When we crawl out of the wreckage that is Era Trump I’d love an accounting of how much money was spent privatizing the immigrant prison complex. And names, I want names.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
I think even the R congressman in the right frame was like WTF after she said that. Did she have a stroke or something?
Zach
Mattis resigns… maybe the first time someone has actually followed through on who knows how many threatened resignations if Trump does something or other.
NotMax
@lamh36
“Hey Mick, you know where that Pentagon place is, right?”
lamh36
Per Barbara Star on CNN, make no mistake, “He (Mattis) is being pushed out”
JPL
@lamh36: oh f..k
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mike in NC:
I see what you did there. He’ll probably (try) to sell them off to Russia to help finance the Wall.
Raven Onthill
Da, comrade.
Wall. Head. Pound.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Holy cow. Trump tweeted that Mattis is retiring at the end of February.
dmsilev
@NotMax: Jared should have some spare time.
jl
I guess, looking for good news today, Trump seems determined to maximize the political damage he does to himself and the GOP with this insane, obvious to even average voter, toddler level dysfunctional tantrum over Wall.
Apparently, from what I have heard, the Senate version of the bill is the problem, Trump does nothing, waits until they vote and get out of town, then takes it out on the House. I wonder if now it is physically even possible to get everyone together to even try a fix?
terraformer
Today’s distraction accomplished.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@schrodingers_cat:
I think you mean “mistress”.
lamh36
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence!
Betty Cracker
@eric: Unless he redeploys them to Iran. He always does the stupidest thing possible. What if the generals told him he can’t start any wars because the military is stretched too thin? So, he thinks to himself, “I’ll end these dumb wars started by inferior presidents and start a big beautiful TRUMP-branded war!” I could see his lentil-sized brain going there…
Zach
@lamh36: I call BS. He was going to quit and Trump panicked and said “you can’t quit — you’re fired!”
Miss Bianca
@Zach: Has he actually resigned, tho’, or has Twitler just announced it?
I keep wondering how his mouth-breathing fanbase looks at all the defections and firings from his Cabinet….and then I remember that Trump made his TV bank on saying “you’re fired!” so they probably love it. Looooove all the chaos and bullshit.
lamh36
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: I don’t have much respect for anyone who works for Trump, but Mattis seems the sanest of that tarnished brass. This isn’t a good thing.
chopper
@lamh36:
mattis is the one guy in the whole admin who isn’t a total maniac. ugh.
NotMax
@dmsilev
Dad-in-law itching to commission him the first six star general. “I’d give it to Ivanka, but making chicks generals is Just Wrong.”
Quinerly
Gofundme competition! Someone has a page up to raise $ for ladders to get over wall.
https://www.gofundme.com/ladders-to-get-over-trump039s-wall
jl
@Betty Cracker: Yes, the problem is that even if specific actions go in the direction that some of us would like, we have no idea why Trump is taking them, or how insane or incompetent the real long run plan is, or even if there is a long run plan.
I think the military’s response to this is predictable. They are stretched too thin (always), usually pretty reluctant to rush into a new, risky commitment without massive planning and resource commitment (always), and once stationed someplace, and it looks under control, want to stay (almost always). But what does Trump have in mind? Putin calling in some favors at the last minute before the Trumpsters go down? Neocons whispering in Trump’s ear about how a short and glorious war, with an amazing quick and easy combat victory in Iran will solve all problems? Trump OD on his ADHD meds? Some insane plan to pump out more Wall? Who knows?
lamh36
Jay
On the bright side, GoFundMe lists names and donations for all the Campaigns.
Gives a Grifter an early start on a suckers list.
zhena gogolia
@terraformer:
My e-mail is driving me crazy — every five minutes it’s “WaPo News Alert. Trump Does 1000th STUPID FUCKING THING.”
cmorenc
@Mary G:
But these immigrants are undeserving “others”, not members of Ms. Nielsen’s Aryan tribe of folks who belong here. You obviously don’t understand the situation properly, and need to spend some time listening to Fox News to get a proper education on this subject. Tucker Carlson’s program at 8pm EST would be a good place to start….
Please do refrain from the urge to punch Carlson in the face. You’ll only wind up smashing your TV rather than even slightly inconveniencing him by the gesture.
A Ghost To Most
@Steve in the ATL: Maybe you need to rethink your life choices. Indiana, Misery, … Not even nice places to drive through.
Jay
@jl:
Word is Christmas Turkey:
http://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-turkey.html?m=1
NotMax
@jl
“Trump Tower Tehran. Slam dunk, sir.”
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Let’s be honest: Trump picked him solely because it enabled screeching: “Mad dog Mattis” to his roaring pack of morons. That one is still burned into my memory.
jl
@lamh36: For reals? That is a bad sign. Mattis is one of only a very few people in the Trump admin with any integrity, brains and competence at all. Probably one of only a very few with guts to resign if Trujmpsters going in an unacceptable direction, and Mattis sees no way that he can stop it.
So, Trump is is going in direction that Mattis had decided he can absolutely in no way can be associated with. Period. A very bad sign.
Trump is planning an insane war? Or Trump move in Syria corrupt? Or Mattis cannot stop pressure for illegal use of military for some vile purpose? Who knows?
lamh36
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan: Oh god, you’re right. I forgot that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: It’s also Trump dumb for him to think he can just take the money from the conflicts to build The Wall(tm). So much stupidity in that admin, so few dollars.
trollhattan
@SFAW:
Not convinced I could tie one of Trump’s comedy prop ties by myself. How do you do the flip, flip, tuck, tighten, center moves with a 12-foot silk ribbon?
Lapassionara
@jl: This is bad. Horrible.
Wapiti
@Kay:
Well, actually (mansplaining opening), the Federal Government does operate about 160 schools through the Department of Defense Educational Activity.
They might have had better results if they had tasked DoD Schools with this, though.
lamh36
Mattis letter looks like a resignation letter, NOT a retirement letter.
So yesterday Chump notified Syria policy via tweet with no consultation with his military advisors. This reports that his next move was instructing military to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
Mattis resignation letter is dated TODAY, the day after Chump decreed his Syria policy.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
It’s horrifying, terrifying. He’s basically saying outright that Trump wants to do Russia and China’s bidding and betray our allies.
Chief Oshkosh
@chopper:
Yeah, but remember, his nickname is “Mad Dog,” so…
NotMax
@trollhattan
Tie them? Real stable geniuses use clip-ons.
jl
@lamh36: Trump’s own tweets on Syrian withdrawal are completely self-contradictory, incoherent and idiotic. No sign Trump’s stated reason for withdrawal is the real reason, or any sign anyone with sense is advising Trump on what to do. Trump tweets say ISIS is defeated, but also it is not defeated. Trump tweets say it is in line with allies and partners in region, or, hey, eff them, it forces them to do more work, instead of burden on US, of needed future efforts to defeat (the supposedly already defeated) ISIS.
Thanks to commenter who provided link suggesting that the real reason is that Turkey wants the US out so it can crack down on the Kurds.
lamh36
@zhena gogolia:
Mattis said NOT ONE NICE THING ABOUT CHUMP!
debbie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Five bucks says Trump fires him in January to screw him out of his pension. He loves doing that.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Silk? Qiana, maybe. Although I’d bet on Dacron.
Elie
He is just doing what he set out to do: damage this country in as many ways possible for his owner Putin. There will continue to be escalating chaos. Count on it. It’s for real and won’t stop even after he is no longer around. It’s absolutely essential to remove him from office asap I don’t have much else to comment on anymore. We had better figure it out quick
Gravenstone
@dmsilev: I’m now having an imaginary argument between Hulk and Bizarro in my head. Sadly, they both make more sense than the statement that prompted this post. I think I should lie down now.
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: He sure doesn’t! There’s shade between every line. Good for him.
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the ATL:
Interestingly, as the actual number of abortions sinks, the number of abortions that right-wingers claim are happening keeps growing. Last I checked, it was much closer to 600K and continuing to go down thanks to Obamacare.
But shrinking the number of abortions needed by providing healthcare and birth control is Bad and Wrong because Jesus said shut up.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: His pension comes from his retirement as a Marine. It is separate from whatever civilian political appointee retirement benefits he might receive from serving as Secretary of Defense.
Bill Arnold
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
My guess is that it’s a department internal usage that slipped out.
See, “need more barbed wire”, “need more fencing”, “need more steel picket fencing”, “need more wall”
(As in, need more wall [to stop the brown human wave from the south].)
Canadians, take note. You’ll have a lot of increasingly tempting land as the globe warms.
(People should probably be familiar with Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, and be ready to argue it since it may emerge in our discourse again; like it briefly did in 2016)
Schlemazel
@Ohio Mom:
Thanks. It was mixed results. Probably not cancer – the biopsy came back benign but the Dr is sceptical. Be he wants to remove everything and leave me with a stoma. I am going to confer with the doctors at the U and see if they agree. I really don’t want that and I keep getting different answers about what I should do
Roger Moore
@debbie:
He can’t, or at least doing so wouldn’t have much effect. Mattis can already receive his pension for his military service, and nothing Trump does will stop that. The amount he gets for his service as cabinet secretary is pretty small, so cheating him out of one year of service for his pension wouldn’t make much difference.
randy khan
@lamh36:
The resignation letter is quite interesting.
First, Mattis describes what he basically thinks of as the core values for the Defense Department. Immediately after that, he says the President deserves a SecDef who’s aligned with the President’s values. It doesn’t take much to read between the lines there.
Second, there is not a single mention of the honor/privilege/pleasure of serving Trump. But there are two sentences about the privilege of serving the troops, and they’re the first and last sentences of the letter.
Bill Arnold
@lamh36:
What are the speculations are his replacement (probably for Adam)? My first fear was John Bolton but he wasn’t Senate approved so at least there would be hearings.
This is as others have said, not good, but might have a net positive effect since Mattis quite clearly resigned on principle.
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold:
Edit broken, I see Adam the start of some speculations in the next thread.
lgerard
(Tom Cotton runs out to the bullpen and starts warming up)
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m sure you’re right, but Trump is incapable of resisting dick moves like this, symbolic or not. I’m sticking with my bet.
Kathleen
@Ohio Mom: Was it on Erie Avenue by chance? I went to a “budget” dry cleaner on Erie who had petition on the counter for those who opposed ACA. That plus the surly employees and the PITA parking caused me to find a new one, which I did in Deer Park/Dillonvale which I believe is owned/operated by an African American man. The prices are just as competitive and the people are super.
rikyrah
@Kay:
All of them are crooks
Kate Koeze
I love lamp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gId6nrMDmUU
Ohio Mom
@Schlemazel: Sorry the path forward is not clearer.
It’s hard when you don’t know the doctors well. I’m very fond of my internist but I also have grown to understand that sometimes she is too much on the Don’t Worry side of things. So if I feel strongly about something, I insist on a referral to someone else because I have to compensate for her Que Sera, Sera attitude.
We can’t know if this fellow who wants to cut everything out never saw something he didn’t want to remove, or if he is usually very conservative in his approach and this is a rare time his spidey sense is tingling and telling him, this needs to go!
All I can say is, when doctors do testing and can’t give you a fast response (3 weeks!), by law they should have to give you ativan or something similar.
Keep us updated — everyone wants to keep pulling for you.
Ohio Mom
@Kathleen: No, it was the clerk at the local Widmer’s branch. They were too expensive anyway.
Are you going to the cleaners on Plainfield near Galbraith with the very bright storefront? I’ve always wondered what they are like.
Right now I am using a Korean Mom shop (Pop the sourpuss ran off last year) in Montgomery. But I don’t know how much longer she’ll be hanging on. The amount of clothes on the finished rack is growing scarily low.