What are you doing to do to take care of yourself today, or in the near future, as soon as you can?
If you are someone who has a hard time engaging in self-care, or figuring out easy, fast, and/or inexpensive ways to treat yourself, and you would like to solicit suggestions, please feel welcome. And, as always, no one should offer advice unless it is solicited.
* * *
I let Iain talk me into buying some shoes I didn't need, but will get lots of use out of, and definitely love with one million hearts and make me feel happy when I wear them.
And because I'm the maven of sales (in case you hadn't noticed), I got them for 1/3 (!) of the original price, which also delighted me — and made me feel like I was taking care of myself by splurging, and also taking care of myself by being frugal. Win.
Discussion Thread: Self-Care
Package Bombs in Austin
[Content Note: Terrorism; possible eliminationist violence.]
A third explosion in Austin has left a 70-year-old woman with life-threatening injuries, following two other package bombings police said are linked. The victims in the first two bombings are Black; the race of the older woman has not yet been disclosed. https://t.co/VRTeSLPXLj
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 12, 2018
[ETA. At a press conference, law enforcement disclosed today's older victim is a 75-year-old Latina.]
Here is a thread for information-sharing and discussion on the three packaging bombings in Austin, which have killed a 39-year-old man (10 days ago) and a 17-year-old boy (today), and injured a 40-year-old woman (today) and a
The details are still very preliminary, but there is certainly someone committing acts of terror, and they may be explicitly targeting Black and Latinx residents of Austin with white supremacist, eliminationist violence.
That is too important for me to not mention here, despite the fact that there isn't yet much available information.
If you live in Austin (anywhere really, but especially Austin in this moment), please be extremely careful about bringing packages into your home unless you are expecting them and know their origins, particularly if you are a person of color.
And be vigilant about noting/reporting people who aren't with marked delivery services leaving packages at doorsteps.
As always, let's keep this an image-free thread. Thank you.
[H/T to Shaker SKM.]
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 417
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Earlier today by me: Betsy DeVos Is a Shameful Disaster and Trump Unveils 2020 Campaign Slogan: "Keep America Great!" and Mueller May Delay Trump Obstruction Decision.
Here are some more things in the news today...
[Content Note: Anti-Semitism] Avi Selk at the Washington Post: Putin Condemned for Saying Jews May Have Manipulated U.S. Election.
Jewish groups and U.S. lawmakers condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's suggestion that the 2016 U.S. presidential election may have been manipulated by Russian Jews.I think we all know the answer to that. Putin and Trump are two filthy peas in a vile pod.
Putin's remarks came during a long and occasionally surreal interview with NBC News on Saturday, in which he speculated that nearly anyone other than the Russian government could have been behind a program to disrupt the election. U.S. intelligence agencies believe Putin ordered the effort to undermine faith in the U.S. election and help elect Donald Trump as president.
"Maybe they're not even Russians," Putin told Megyn Kelly, referring to who might have been behind the election interference. "Maybe they're Ukrainian, Tatars, Jews — just with Russian citizenship."
He also speculated that France, Germany, or "Asia" might have interfered in the election — or even Russians paid by the U.S. government.
But his remark about Jews, which seemed to suggest that a Russian Jew was not really a Russian, prompted particular outrage among those who remember Russia's centuries-long history of anti-Semitism and Jewish purges. Some groups compared the statement to anti-Jewish myths that helped inspire the Holocaust.
"Repulsive Putin remark deserves to be denounced, soundly and promptly, by world leaders," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote on Twitter. "Why is Trump silent?"
[CN: White supremacy] Jasmine Johnson at the Grio: Steve Bannon Tells European Audience He Wears the Term Racist as 'a Badge of Honor'. "Currently on a European tour spreading his vitriol, Bannon stopped in Germany and Italy this weekend to address the National Front, an alt-right-adjacent party known for its far-right politics. Last year, its party leader, Marine Le Pen, lost the French presidency to Emmanuel Macron... 'Let them call you racists,' Bannon said. 'Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists. Wear it as a badge of honor,' he said, warmed by a crowd of applause. 'And what I've learned is you are part of a worldwide movement that is bigger than France, bigger than Italy, bigger than Hungary, bigger than all of it,' he said, speaking to the troubling rise in Europe's right-wing parties. 'History is on our side.'" Shiver.
Annie Gowen at the Washington Post: Hillary Clinton Says 'Follow the Money' in the Trump-Putin Relationship. "In her speech [over the weekend during a trip to India], Clinton spoke of the dangers of Russian influence and authoritarianism in regimes worldwide. 'These are perilous times,' she said. Later, when asked about the seemingly close relationship between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, now subject of a special counsel's investigation, Clinton replied: 'Trump does have quite an affinity for dictators. He really likes their authoritarian posturing and behavior. ...He does have a preexisting attitude of favorability toward these dictators, but I think it's more than that with Putin and Russia,' she said. 'Do they have something on him?' asked the event's host, India Today Editor Aroon Purie. 'Well, we'll find out, we'll find out,' she answered. 'Follow the money.'"
* * *
Anita Kumar at McClatchy: Ivanka Trump Never Cut Ties with the Trump Organization; That's Turned into a Problem. (Turned into?!)
Ivanka Trump — a senior White House adviser who is doing everything from lobbying the Senate on tax policy to representing her father at a G20 summit of world leaders — will pull in more than $1 million a year from the family business that has continued to develop luxury resorts across the globe during the Trump presidency.It was just 11 days ago that we learned Ivanka Trump's husband, Jared Kushner, who is also a senior adviser to Donald Trump, met with officials from two financial institutions at the White House, both of whom later extended "major loans to the Kushner Companies for real estate projects."
Some of those Trump-branded developments are hiring state-owned companies for construction, receiving gifts from foreign governments in the form of public land, or eased regulations and accepting payments from customers who are foreign officials.
Ivanka Trump's continued relationship with the businesses affiliated with the Trump Organization creates countless potential conflicts of interest prohibited by federal law and federal ethics standards as she works as a special assistant to the president. And just like her father, she is being accused of violating the so-called emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution that forbids government officials — not just presidents — from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the approval of Congress.
...Trump, who just returned from a trip representing the United States in South Korea, faces serious questions as a result of her decision to be involved in both the family business and the White House: Is a foreign government gaining access to her through the business? Are business deals a factor in U.S. foreign policy? Are foreign governments able to build goodwill with her because of the company?
Meanwhile, also in the news today care of Jake Pearson at the AP: Trump Jr. and Campaign Donor Have Longtime Undisclosed Ties. "Donald Trump Jr. has a previously undisclosed business relationship with a longtime hunting buddy who helped raise millions of dollars for his father's 2016 presidential campaign and has had special access to top government officials since the election, records obtained by The Associated Press show. The president's oldest son and Texas hedge fund manager Gentry Beach have been involved in business deals together dating back to the mid-2000s and recently formed a company, Future Venture LLC, despite past claims by both men that they were just friends, according to previously unreported court records and other documents obtained by AP. Beach last year met with top National Security Council officials to push a plan that would curb U.S. sanctions in Venezuela and open up business for U.S. companies in the oil-rich nation."
This is a family of grifters who have undiluted contempt for the law. This is one among many reasons that Trump must be removed from office, taking his entire extended family of corrupt profiteers with him.
Naturally, that task is itself potentially more difficult because of governments who are unwilling to cooperate with Bob Mueller specifically because of concerns over hurting their relationship with the Trump administration — or with the Trump Organization, which may seem indistinguishable from afar.
To wit: Julia Ainsley, Carol E. Lee, Robert Windrem, and Andrew W. Lehren at NBC News: Qataris Opted Not to Give Info on Kushner, Secret Meetings to Mueller. "Qatari officials gathered evidence of what they claim is illicit influence by the United Arab Emirates on Jared Kushner and other Trump associates, including details of secret meetings, but decided not to give the information to special counsel Robert Mueller for fear of harming relations with the Trump administration, say three sources familiar with the Qatari discussions."
Finally, on this subject...
Felix Sater, former advisor to Trump and now-revealed US operative:
— Leah McElrath 🗽 (@leahmcelrath) March 12, 2018
"Greed is my go-to weapon."
A lot to digest (and question) in this piece.
It does little to clarify his role in the dealings between Trump and Russia, so I'd ignore his disavowal.https://t.co/j28PIj4Ik7
* * *
[CN: Guns] Lois Beckett at the Guardian: Trump Administration Drops Age Limit Proposal for Guns After NRA Files Suit. "The Trump administration has backed away from a proposal to raise the legal age to buy certain guns because of an NRA lawsuit, the president wrote on Monday. 'On 18 to 21 Age Limits, watching court cases and rulings before acting,' Donald Trump tweeted, after weeks of voicing support for raising the age limit. He also said there was 'not much political support (to put it mildly)' for the policy. Recent polls of U.S. adults have found that more than two-thirds of respondents favor raising the legal age to buy guns." Such a coward. Such a liar.
[CN: Nativism] Danielle McLean at ThinkProgress: ACLU Sues Trump Administration for Forcibly Separating Immigrant Parents from Their Young Children. "The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the Trump administration for forcibly separating parents awaiting asylum proceedings from their young children. The ACLU, which filed the class action lawsuit at the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California on Friday, claims the practice by government agencies of separating young children from their families violates the Process Clause and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The lawsuit represents a proposed class of 'hundreds of individuals whose minor children have already been taken from them.'" Sob. I'm so glad the ACLU has brought this case and so profoundly angry about the reasons they needed to bring it.
[CN: Homophobia] Eleanor Clift at the Daily Beast: What Trump's Judicial Nominees Have in Common: They Really Don't Want LGBTQ People to Have Rights. "It's time to sound the alarm again on another bunch of Trump judges queuing up for confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Like the earlier nominees, they are overwhelmingly white and male. One in three has something explicit in their record and/or their writings that is hostile to LGBTQ rights. 'They're still fighting over whether same sex couples should have the right to marry and have children,' says Sharon McGowan, director of strategy at Lambda Legal, which litigates on behalf of LGBTQ people. 'This is a real concerted effort to take back ground that has been lost not only in the law but in public opinion, by putting people on the court that have these views.'" Seethe.
[CN: War; death; image of injured child at link] Martin Chulov at the Guardian: 2017 Was the Deadliest Year of Syrian War for Children, Says UNICEF. "A generation of Syrian children face psychological ruin and ever increasing danger, with child deaths soaring by 50% last year and the number of young soldiers tripling since 2015. A report by found 2017 was the worst year of the war for young Syrians, with 910 killed in a conflict that has spared them no mercy and has taken a vastly disproportionate toll on the country’s most vulnerable people. The figures undermine claims that the war, which will soon enter its eighth year, is losing steam. Those most at risk face escalating threats of being permanently maimed by fighting, or emotionally scarred by a litany of abuses including forced labour, marriages, food scarcity, and minimal access to health or education." I can't even find the words to describe how resonating my grief is on behalf of average Syrians caught in this horrendous and lingering war.
And last but not least, this is very scary:
May says she will give Russia until end of tomorrow to respond to nerve agent attack against ex-Russian spy. "Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russia state against the United Kingdom." pic.twitter.com/9qzhJZYL1Q
— ABC News (@ABC) March 12, 2018
Britain, our closest ally. And Russia, who is working to subvert our democracy. And because of who our president is, I honestly don't know what side we'd be on if this escalates into full-scale war.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Mueller May Delay Trump Obstruction Decision
I have long been worried that Special Counsel Bob Mueller's investigation will effectively, even if not intentionally, create loads of time and space for Republicans to so thoroughly consolidate power that they won't have to care about his conclusions, even if they do eventually recommend serious, meaningful repercussions for the Trump administration, Donald Trump's associates, and/or people who colluded to influence the 2016 election.
Every time I express this view, I'm 'splained at along two axes:
1. That I'm a dum-dum who doesn't understand that investigations take time and hey haven't I heard how long the Whitewater investigation took.
2. That I'm a dum-dum who doesn't understand that Mueller needs to be super methodical to make a case so airtight that the Republicans will be forced to take action upon his recommendations.
In either case, I'm definitely a dum-dum.
Except.
1. I do know that investigations take time and I do know how long the Whitewater investigation took. I also know, however, that this investigation is fundamentally different than the Whitewater investigation in several key ways, the two most important of which is are:
A) Unlike Whitewater, Mueller's investigation isn't a meandering, vengeful, partisan attack on a president because the opposing party doesn't like him and his wife, but a targeted investigation of election meddling which has expanded to corruption and obstruction because the president's corruption and obstruction has obliged it.
B) Unlike Whitewater, which was a meandering, vengeful, partisan attack on a president because the opposing party didn't like him and his wife, there are real consequences to Mueller's investigation that go well beyond a president's fitness and ethics, and into a president's very loyalty to the nation and willingness to protect our democratic institutions vs. turn the republic into an authoritarian state.
The point is, Ken Starr could have taken forever investigating Whitewater (and nearly did), because there wasn't nearly the same urgency. And that's because the stakes were far lower.
That investigation was about impeding a president and trying to make it impossible for him to do his job. This investigation is about the possibility that a president conspired with a foreign adversary and is still under the influence of that adversary's reach, potentially compromising the nation, its democracy, its people, and their most basic safety.
So I don't really give a good goddamn how long Whitewater took, as an argument against advocating much greater urgency from Mueller, and neither should you.
2. I do know that Mueller has to be methodical, but it must be balanced against urgency — and suffice it to say that I don't find it a compelling argument to be condescendingly told that he must take as much time as he needs in order that Republicans will be convinced to take his findings seriously.
I'm sorry, what? I'm the one who's stupid in this equation? The one who doesn't believe that the Republicans will do the right thing just so long as the documentation is thorough? Whoops.
The fact of the matter is that Congressional Republicans will never be convinced to follow Mueller's recommendations based on how meticulously documented they are. If they follow his recommendations, it will be because they've determined that Trump is no use to them anymore and it makes more sense to get rid of him than spend the political capital to keep defending him.
Unless Mueller makes those recommendations while there's still an outside possibility of the Republicans being pressured into doing the right thing by the combined efforts of the Democrats, the public, and the press.
But the longer this investigation drags on, the less combined power that the Democrats, the public, and the press actually have. That is chilling, but true.
Republicans are working hard and fast to consolidate their power behind the presidency of Donald Trump. If Mueller doesn't move swiftly, they won't have any reason at all to regard his conclusions with any more seriousness than they regard their duty to check and balance the executive branch, and we won't have any power to persuade them otherwise.
The midterms are looming — and Russia will interfere in them to aid Republicans, as there has been zero consequence for that interference last time around, and zero prevention measures taken to stop it happening this time around. Between Republican voter suppression and Russian meddling, a "blue wave" is far less likely.
Mueller has to know that. The case for urgency is clear.
* * *
All of that is prelude to this report by Chris Strohm and Shannon Pettypiece at Bloomberg: [Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Mueller Weighs Putting Off Trump Obstruction Decision.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether [Donald] Trump obstructed justice is said to be close to completion, but he may set it aside while he finishes other key parts of his probe, such as possible collusion and the hacking of Democrats, according to current and former U.S. officials.First, a caveat: We don't know that this report is accurate. There is good reason to greet it with some skepticism, as its source is not even the familiar "person(s) close to the investigation," which often means a strategic leak.
That's because Mueller may calculate that if he tries to bring charges in the obstruction case — the part that may hit closest to Trump personally — witnesses may become less cooperative in other parts of the probe, or the president may move to shut it down altogether.
The revelation is a peek into Muller's calculations as he proceeds with his many-headed probe, while pressure builds from the president's advisers and other Republicans to show progress or wrap it up.
The obstruction portion of the probe could likely be completed after several key outstanding interviews, including with the president and his son, Donald Trump Jr. The president's lawyers have been negotiating with Mueller's team over such an encounter since late last year. But even if Trump testifies in the coming weeks, Mueller may make a strategic calculation to keep his findings on obstruction secret, according to the current and former U.S. officials, who discussed the strategy on condition of anonymity.
Any clear outcome of the obstruction inquiry could be used against Mueller: Filing charges against Trump or his family could prompt the president to take action to fire him. Publicly clearing Trump of obstruction charges — as the president's lawyers have requested — could be used by his allies to build pressure for the broader investigation to be shut down.
Instead, the source here is "current and former U.S. officials." Particularly with regard to the current officials, that could mean someone loyal to Trump or someone not loyal to Trump wants us to believe (for some reason) that Mueller may delay the obstruction case against Trump.
If we take the report at face value, and it's accurate that Mueller may delay the obstruction case, that does not assuage my fear that Mueller is not moving with enough urgency.
If we regard the report as a plant by someone with an ulterior motive who wants to influence public perception of the investigation and possibly even influence Mueller's investigation itself, that also does not assuage my fear that Mueller is not moving with enough urgency.
Either way, I remain solidly concerned that we are at grave risk of staking all our hopes for accountability and prevention of further erosion of our democratic systems and norms on the outcome of an investigation that by no means is certain to deliver any of that.
And the odds decrease the longer this goes, because of the nature of how this all works. Mueller doesn't conclude his investigation and release his findings to the public. He gives a confidential report to Rod Rosenstein, who then decides whether the report will be released to the public in full or with redactions or not at all — and if, for example, that report includes a recommendation for impeachment, then the majority party in Congress takes that recommendation under advisement but is under no legal obligation to take any action.
Something significant needs to happen sooner rather than later with this investigation. And I will continue to say that, not because I am an impatient, ignorant child who can't abide waiting and doesn't understand how anything works, but because I am a well-informed adult woman who has been writing about the Republican Party's slow-moving takeover of my country for nearly 14 years and who refuses to ignore that haste is the only chance we have to save this republic.
I hope that Bob Mueller agrees and is fixing to surprise us all in short order. And I fear that isn't the case. And I would very much like to be wrong about that.
Trump Unveils 2020 Campaign Slogan: "Keep America Great!"
At a rally Saturday night that was supposed to be on behalf of the Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania 18 special election but was hijacked by Donald Trump and turned into another one of his Make America Clap for Me Again rallies, Trump went off on an entirely typical and thoroughly terrifying authoritarian rant — and unveiled his 2020 campaign slogan: "Keep America Great!"
Because he's already "Made America Great Again" during his first year in office, you see.
Elena Schneider and Brent D. Griffiths at Politico: At Pennsylvania Rally, Trump Endorses Himself.
Donald Trump got business out of the way quickly Saturday night — urging voters to elect Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone, who's locked in an unexpectedly tough special election battle in Pennsylvania — before turning to the main subject of the night: himself.There isn't anything about this that doesn't enrage and terrify me, and not a single bit of it surprises me, because this is who Trump is, this is who he has always been, and this is who he will always be. He is a vainglorious, viciously cruel, megalomaniacal aspiring despot whose original campaign slogan was dogwhistled white supremacy — and the sequel is dogwhistled white supremacy, too, updated to stroke his insatiable ego.
Returning to top campaign form, Trump made fun of Washington and congratulated himself for maintaining his iconoclastic style in office, despite critics who have called for him to take his job more seriously — including in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal called out by Trump. "I'm very presidential," he said at one point, lowering his voice and standing artificially straight as he mocked usual political addresses.
"Don't forget, this got us elected," he went on, relaxing into his conversational, riffy style. "If I came like a stiff, you guys wouldn't come here tonight."
The crowd, in an airplane hangar, cheered. One person shouted: "You're one of us!"
Trump touted his tax reform plan, his new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and his newly announced plan to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while slamming the news media — including calling NBC host Chuck Todd a "son of a bitch." The president also talked about his desire to impose capital punishment on drug dealers, describing a discussion with Singapore's president about that country's hard-line approach.
He also talked about the size of the crowd, thanking the fire marshal — a vintage campaign line — and recounted how Pennsylvania sealed his 2016 victory. He also unveiled his own new slogan for the 2020 campaign: "Keep America Great!"
"Is there anything more fun than a Trump rally?" he asked at one point.
Anything anyone ever needed to know about Donald Trump could be summed up by this snapshot of his rally: He barely mentioned the person he was there to support, instead bragging about waging class warfare, legitimizing a rogue regime, and wanting to execute criminals, then demonizing the free press, all before declaring there's nothing "more fun."
Keep America Great. Fucking hell. America's just about as far from great as it's ever been.
Betsy DeVos Is a Shameful Disaster
Last night, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who was selected by Donald Trump primarily for her enthusiasm toward destroying public education, sat down for an interview with Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes. And it was an absolute dumpster fire.
DeVos was unable to answer even basic questions about public education, even in her home state of Michigan, where she has long been a "reformer," which means undermining the public education system in favor of privatization, including charter schools and vouchers. She is shamefully ignorant — something that was abundantly clear during her confirmation hearing.
But the job with which she's been tasked by the Trump administration isn't to be knowledgeable and competent; it's to peddle lies and destroy free public education for every child, thus subverting even more thoroughly what is meant to be a great equalizer among classes and races and genders and abilities, and inevitably reducing opportunities for less privileged children.
The interview and transcript are available [Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] at 60 Minutes' site, and but below is a clip (with transcript) showing DeVos simultaneously being an embarrassing disgrace and a magnificent example of modern conservatism, where who you know is more important than what you know, and being willing to destroy the thing you're ostensibly tasked with nurturing is a key qualification.
Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos struggles to answer fairly basic questions on school performance on 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/lFVq3USwUW
— Axios (@axios) March 12, 2018
Lesley Stahl: Why take away money from that school that's not working, to bring them up to a level where they are — that school is working?I have an even better idea: Maybe you should quit. Quit your job, quit your reprehensible ideology, quit trying to make life harder for people whose lives are already hard enough, and quit being a fucking asshole and instead use that unfathomable wealth to repair public education and buy yourself some redemption.
Betsy DeVos: Well, we should be funding and investing in students, not in school — school buildings, not in institutions, not in systems. And, so it should be—
Stahl: Okay. But what about the kids who are back at the school that's not working? What about those kids?
DeVos: If— Well, in places where there have been — where there is a lot of choice that's been introduced, um, Florida, for example, the— Studies show that when there's a large number of students that opt to go to a different school or different schools, the traditional public schools, actually, the results get better, as well.
Stahl: Now, has that happened in Michigan? We're in Michigan. This is your home state.
DeVos: Michi— Yes, well, there's lots of great options and choices for students here—
Stahl: Have the public schools in Michigan gotten better?
DeVos: Uh, I don't know. Overall, I— I can't say overall that they have all gotten better.
Stahl: The whole state is not doing well.
DeVos: Well, there are certainly lots of pockets where this — the students are doing well and—
Stahl: No, but your argument that, if you take funds away that the schools will get better, is not working in Michigan, where you had a huge impact and influence over the direction of the school system here.
DeVos: I hesitate to talk about all schools in general, because schools are made up of individual students attending them.
Stahl: The public schools here are doing worse than they did.
DeVos: Michigan schools need to do better. There is no doubt about it.
Stahl: Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they're doing?
DeVos: I have not— I have not— I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.
Stahl: Maybe you should.
DeVos: Maybe I should. Yes.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.
Friday Links!
This list o' links brought to you by cucumber water.
Recommended Reading:
Lola Alapo at the UTK News: New Forensic Analysis Indicates Bones Were Amelia Earhart's.
Dr. Naila Kabeer at Ms.: [Content Note: Misogyny; sexual harassment; religious oppression] The Fear of Sexual Harassment Is Robbing Women of Work Around the World
Teresa Jusino at the Mary Sue: [CN: Sexual assault] Terry Crews Getting No Closure, or Justice, After Alleged Groping by WME Agent Adam Venit
Kalina Nedelcheva at Bust: [CN: Sexual harassment; misogyny] The Problem with Dan Harmon's Apology
Breanna Edwards at the Root: Lisa Bonet Opens Up, Says She Sensed 'Sinister, Shadow Energy' from Co-Star Bill Cosby
Matt Novak at Gizmodo: Sobbing Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Securities Fraud and Being an Asshole
Kaiser at Celebitchy: Viola Davis: People Don't Feel Like Black Women 'Deserve the Same Empathy'
Jazzi Johnson at the Grio: Serena Williams Wins First Post-Baby Tennis Match Like the Boss She Is
Rae Paoletta at Inverse: The Tadpole Galaxy Looks Surreal Through the Eyes of This Telescope
AJ Caulfield at Looper: [CN: Spoilers for The Walking Dead; descriptions of violence] Why People Stopped Watching The Walking Dead
Sameer Rao at Colorlines: On Wrinkle in Time Day, 4 Questions with Ava DuVernay
Jodi Smith at Pajiba: It's Official: Wonder Woman 2 Will Have a Female Villain and We Are Excited for It
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Fat hatred.]
"While it is not an obligation for anyone at any size to have to engage in physical activity, it's important progress to create spaces that welcome those who do for everyone's physical and mental health." — Ragen Chastain, quoted in a recommended piece in the Washington Post by Rebecca Scritchfield, "Why we need to take fat-shaming out of fitness culture."
This is, of course, something about which I've been writing for many years. If not-fat people who purport to care about fatties' health really did care about our health, they wouldn't do things like shout abuse at us out car windows while we're out for a walk, or body-shame us while we're swimming, or condescendingly "compliment" us for engaging in some physical activity that we may well have been doing for most of our lives, or take sneaky pictures of us in locker rooms and post them publicly without our knowledge or consent, or any one of a seemingly endless number of things that not-fat people who totally care about our health do, thus creating a massive psychological barrier for us to overcome to engage in physical activities.
If you care about fat people's health, then know this: Fat Hatred Is Unhealthy for Fat People.
Allowing us to live our lives free of fat hatred and shaming and judgment, however, is very good for our health indeed.
[H/T to Shaker girlunderthsea.]
Daily Dose of Cute
for these poor neglected dogs?
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 414
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Earlier today by me: Trump Agrees to Meet Kim Jong Un; 2020: Maybe I'll Just Move to Neptune; and Today in Toxic Masculinity.
Here are some more things in the news today...
Allegra Kirkland at TPM: GOP Gearing up to Gerrymander Again. "Nearly a decade ago, Republicans launched REDMAP, an audacious bid to win key statehouses and governorships in order to give themselves control over the redistricting process that followed the 2010 Census, so they could gerrymander district lines in their favor. The project succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, giving them a major edge in successive election cycles. Now, they're looking to do it again. The GOP has launched its first ever national group focused exclusively on how congressional and state legislative maps are drawn, with an eye on the next round of redistricting, which will follow the 2020 Census. And they have help from deep-pocketed, state-based super PACs devoted to holding onto their gains." Absolutely chilling.
Julian Borger at the Guardian: Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un Believe They Are Winning — and the Risks of That Are Epic. "Both leaders view the provisional agreement to meet as a personal triumph born of resolve. If each reckons he has the other over a barrel, they will be little room for compromise if and when they meet. ...Having invested so much personal capital in the meetings, there is a significant danger of a backlash from either or both men if they do not get their way under the glare of international attention. ...There are serious questions over whether the Trump administration is equipped for complex talks. ...Trump for now is flying solo, convinced of his expertise in the art of the deal. But his deal-making in the real estate business drove him to bankruptcy several times. The implications of an equivalent failure in nuclear summitry, and how he might react, are sobering."
[Content Note: Nativism] John D. Feeley at the Washington Post: Why I Could No Longer Serve This President.
Shortly after the Charlottesville riots last August, I made the private decision to step down as [Donald] Trump's personal representative and ambassador to the government of Panama. The president's failure to condemn the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who provoked the violence made me realize that my values were not his values. I never meant for my decision to resign to be a public political statement. Sadly, it became one.Damn.
The details of how that happened are less important than the demoralizing take-away: When career public servants take an oath to communicate dissent only in protected channels, Trump administration officials do not protect that promise of privacy.
Leaking is not new in Washington. But leaking a sitting ambassador's personal resignation letter to the president, as mine was, is something else. This was a painful indication that the current administration has little respect for those who have served the nation apolitically for decades.
Now that I am no longer oath-bound to support the president and his policies, several points warrant clarification. I did not resign over any policy decisions regarding my remit in Panama, or — as was incorrectly alleged in the media — due to the president's denigrating comments about countries that participate in the visa diversity lottery.
I resigned because the traditional core values of the United States, as manifested in the president's National Security Strategy and his foreign policies, have been warped and betrayed. I could no longer represent him personally and remain faithful to my beliefs about what makes America truly great.
[CN: Nativism] Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Anti-Refugee White House Aide Given Key Refugee Job at State Department. "A White House aide with strong anti-immigration views has been selected for a top State Department post overseeing refugee admissions. Andrew Veprek was appointed as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migrations, according to Politico. The bureau aims to provide 'aid and sustainable solutions for refugees, victims of conflict, and stateless people…through repatriation, local integration, and resettlement in the United States.' But current and former administration officials say Veprek has parroted the hardline views of senior policy adviser Stephen Miller." Terrific. And by "terrific," I mean gross as fuck.
AP/Guardian: Sam Nunberg, Ex-Trump Campaign Aide Who Resisted Subpoena, Appears in Court. "A former Trump campaign aide arrived on Friday at the federal courthouse in Washington for a scheduled grand jury appearance days after he defiantly insisted in a series of news interviews that he intended to defy a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Sam Nunberg...on Monday had balked at complying with a subpoena that sought his appearance before a grand jury as well as correspondence with multiple other campaign officials. ...'I thought it was a teachable moment,' he said of his 24 hours in the limelight." What a stunt. JFC.
[CN: Sexual assault] Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Woman Listed on Stormy Daniels NDA Is a Trump Accuser. "A woman listed on the non-disclosure agreement that porn actress Stephanie Clifford claims [Donald] Trump failed to sign is porn actress Jessica Drake, who accused Trump of sexual misconduct in October 2016, according to reports from the New York Daily News and CNN. The agreement attached to the lawsuit filed by Clifford, who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels, listed four individuals that Clifford had spoken to about the information the NDA barred her from publicizing. One of those individuals listed is Angel Ryan. Drake's lawyer, Gloria Allred, confirmed to the Daily News and CNN that Drake is Angel Ryan — Jessica Drake is Ryan's stage name. In October 2016, after the release of the 'Access Hollywood' tape, Drake came forward and alleged that Trump forcibly kissed her in 2006 during a charity golf event."
Naturally, Trump's base will continue to not care about any allegations that he had an affair, committed sexual assault, and/or paid for women's silence. Also, they may not even be hearing about it in the first place: [CN: Video may autoplay at link] Oliver Darcy at CNN: Pro-Trump Media Sweeps Stormy Daniels Story Under Rug. Of course.
Even despite the fact that there are multiple corruption angles to the story, and there is yet another revelation on that account today.
Sarah Fitzpatrick and Tracy Connor at NBC News: Michael Cohen Used Trump Company Email in Stormy Daniels Arrangements.
Donald Trump's personal attorney used his Trump Organization email while arranging to transfer money into an account at a Manhattan bank before he wired $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence.It's pretty tough to create distance between Donald Trump and a payoff when Trump's personal attorney used his Trump organization email to discuss the payoff.
The lawyer, Michael Cohen, also regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the actress — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — before she signed a nondisclosure agreement, a source familiar with the discussions told NBC News.
And Clifford's attorney at the time addressed correspondence to Cohen in his capacity at the Trump Organization and as "Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump," the source said.
Cohen has tried to put distance between the president and the payout, which has been the subject of campaign finance complaints.
In a statement last month, Cohen said he used his "personal funds to facilitate a payment" to Clifford, who says she had an intimate relationship with Trump a decade ago.
"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly," Cohen said in that statement.
But an email uncovered in the last 24 hours and provided to NBC News by Clifford's current attorney, Michael Avenatti, shows First Republic Bank and Cohen communicated about the money using his Trump company email address, not his personal gmail account.
"I think this document seriously calls into question the prior representation of Mr. Cohen and the White House relating to the source of the monies paid to Ms. Clifford in an effort to silence her," said Avenatti, who is representing Clifford in a lawsuit against Trump.
"We smell smoke."
Goddammit this administration is a fucking shitshow.
* * *
History is repeating itself with the #BankLobbyistAct, as Republicans and Democrats prepare to vote to roll back regulations on big banks. Don't you think we should have learned our lesson by now? https://t.co/7rUKIajJ8Q
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 9, 2018
RJ Reinhart at Gallup: AI Seen as Greater Job Threat Than Immigration, Offshoring. "More than half of Americans (58%) say technology poses a greater threat to jobs in the U.S. over the next decade, while 42% see immigration and offshoring as the greater threat. Republicans, who see immigration and offshoring as roughly an equal threat as technology, are the only subgroup of Americans not to see technology as a greater threat." I hope any Democrat fixing to run for president in 2020 is ready to say the word "automation" loudly and often along the campaign trail.
Lisa Rein at the Washington Post: 'It's Killing the Agency': Ugly Power Struggle Paralyzes Trump's Plan to Fix Veterans' Care. "VA employs 360,000 people and accounts for $186 billion annually. Its sprawling health-care and benefits system, which Trump blasted on the campaign trail as a wasteful, inefficient failure, churns away. But the dysfunction, observers say, has jeopardized legislation to extend the Choice program and a separate initiative to overhaul VA's aging electronic health-records system. The legislation remains deadlocked in Congress. And if Shulkin were to leave, his allies said, the health-records project would face indefinite delay. 'Things have come to a grinding halt,' one senior manager said. 'It's killing the agency. Nobody trusts each other.'"
[CN: White supremacy] Jackson Landers at Rewire: A Leaked Message Board Shows What White Supremacists Think of the Police. "A recently leaked trove of internal communications provides a window into the thinking of members of the modern 'alt-right' white supremacist movement. ...During one online conversation about what encounters with police in Charlottesville might be like, some white supremacist planners expressed dissenting views, but the consensus seemed to be that they could expect some level of support from law enforcements. One user...said the Virginia State Police 'will be focused on antifa [anti-fascists] not us… especially if we kiss some ass with a few blue lives matter chants… Be nice to cops and they will be nice to you.' 'Random Reminder: Cops of all races are our natural allies; we should keep it that way,' wrote another user." If this horrifies police, as it should, they really need to reflect hard on why it is that white supremacists view the police as being on their side. And then proceed swiftly to make meaningful changes.
NYDN: Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, GOP senator says https://t.co/sYqm3BtSCI
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 9, 2018
Well, I hope that GOP Senator is as wrong about this as he is about everything else.
Also: I'm extremely annoyed that Tapper (and virtually every reporter/news outlet) is reporting this without any contextualizing framing. Namely, that Sen. Dean Heller is peddling this trash to energize GOP voters, and that it effectively pressures Kennedy to quit, irrespective of the intent and irrespective of whether Kennedy ultimately refuses to succumb to that pressure. Heller should be ashamed and should not be allowed to get away with this shit.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Today in Toxic Masculinity
[Content Note: Violent entitlement; animal cruelty; misogyny. Video may autoplay at second link.]
The next time you hear some asshole complaining about "bitches' mixed signals," think about the women who die for saying no unequivocally.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2014
And if you have even the tiniest, infinitesimal urge to say Not All Men, tell me instead: HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH MEN?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2014
Those tweets were posted in 2014, and they were not the first time I've written about this subject, because I have been writing about this for a long time.
And here I am, writing about it again.
Thankfully, the women about whom I'm writing today — women who said no to men who wouldn't take no for an answer — are alive, unlike many other women who were killed by men who couldn't bear to let live any woman who rejected them. Unfortunately, in one case, two dogs are dead.
Amy Lavalley at the Post-Tribune: Owner of 2 Pugs Who Were Beaten to Death Rebuffed Advances of Man Accused in Their Killings. "The woman who owned two pugs that were beaten to death last month in Porter Township reportedly rebuffed the advances of the man charged in the dogs' deaths, according to court documents. Anthony Priestas, 23...was arrested Tuesday on two felony counts of animal cruelty for allegedly killing the dogs Feb. 21 after removing them from the Winfield home of Brandy Ortiz, court documents said. Ortiz, who has said she received the dogs, Marley and Mugsy, as a Christmas present from her parents seven years ago, told police investigating the allegations that 'she remembered a male subject who has been trying to date her but she has stayed off his advances,' court documents said."
The description at the link of how Priestas murdered the dogs is very difficult to read. (Frankly, I don't advise it.) He was clearly full of uncontrollable rage, all because he felt entitled to Ortiz, who he didn't believe had the agency and right to tell him no.
WCCO Minnesota: Man Urinated in Co-Worker's Water After She Denied His Advances. "A 47-year-old Minneapolis man is accused of urinating into a co-worker's water bottle numerous times after she rejected his romantic advances. Conrrado Cruz Perez faces one misdemeanor and one gross misdemeanor charge of adulterate by bodily fluid in connection to the October 2017 incident. According to the complaint, a female worker at the Perkins Family Restaurant in Vadnais Heights reported noticing water in her water bottle tasting like urine for the past several months. She said it began happening after she told Perez that she only wanted to be friends with him. Since then, she said there were about 15 instances of urine-tasting water in her water bottle at work."
Stephanie Saul at the New York Times: Harvard Professor Resigns Amid Allegations of Sexual Harassment. "A prominent government professor at Harvard who has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by as many as 18 women over several decades resigned on Tuesday following a decision by the university to place him on leave. The professor, Jorge I. DomÃnguez, 72, was the subject of a Feb. 27 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that reported that at least 10 women had accused him of sexual harassment. ...The Chronicle article told the story of Terry L. Karl, an assistant government professor at Harvard during the early 1980s, who said Dr. DomÃnguez...had made repeated attempts to kiss her, attempted to run his hand up her dress and, at another point, made a reference to raping her. As she rebuffed his advances, Dr. Karl said, Dr. DomÃnguez reminded her of how powerful he was."
These are just three stories from the past week. Women tell men no. Men respond by killing their dogs; peeing in their water; threatening their careers.
That women often "agree" to do things with men because they are afraid what will happen if they say no is something about which I've had occasion to write twice, lately: Once regarding Aziz Ansari and once regarding Louis CK.
And that's because "Why didn't she leave?" — or say no, or scream, or kick him in the balls, or violently hurt him, or any one of a number of escalating variations — is a ubiquitous bit of apologia deployed in response to every story of a woman being harmed by a man and living to tell the tale.
This is why. This is always why.
Because there are men who will do terrible things, worse things than they are already doing to us, if we say no.
And there's no way to tell whether a man is that kind of man until he shows us.
2020: Maybe I'll Just Move to Neptune
Hey, I know everything feels terrible right now and Donald Trump's presidency is a garbage nightmare hate-circus, but don't worry, everyone! Joe Biden is going to defeat Trump — with GIMMICKS!
Edward-Isaac Dovere at Politico: Team Biden Mulls Far-Out Options to Take on Trump in 2020.
Joe Biden knows that winning in 2020 would require a shoot-the-moon set of circumstances and luck. So his team is on the hunt for a moon shot.Okay, I'm gonna stop right there, after the very first line of the piece, because I'm calling bullshit already. Joe Biden has spent the last year suggesting that Hillary Clinton should have easily beaten Donald Trump and that he totally would have won if he'd ran, but now all of a sudden it will take a "moon shot" to defeat Trump, even though voters will have had years to see that Trump is precisely the terrible president Clinton said he would be? Does not compute.
The thing is, I believe Trump will indeed be difficult to defeat, for all the reasons he was difficult to defeat in 2016: The Electoral College, voter suppression, Russian interference, media bias and incompetence, bigotry, dark money, at least sixty million voters who will reflexively vote for any wreck of humanity the Republicans put on their ticket.
But Biden has repeatedly shit all over Clinton for failing to overcome all of these challenges — and the additional challenge of being the first female major-party nominee — despite the fact that she commandingly won the popular vote, so changing his tune about how hard it will be now that it's "his turn" is breathtakingly hypocritical.
And, of course, responding to that reality by trial-ballooning a bunch of absurd gimmicks is deeply unserious politics in a time in which we desperately need serious leaders:
Between stops on his book tour and in the ramp-up for what will be a heavy midterms campaign schedule, a tight circle of aides has been brainstorming a range of tear-up-the-playbook ideas for a White House run, according to people who've been part of the discussions or told about them.I hate all of these ideas with the fiery passion of ten thousand suns. And among the many reasons I hate them is that Donald Trump, who is a full-tilt insult-generating machine, would make mincemeat of any of them in about 2 seconds.
On the list: announcing his candidacy either really early or really late in the primary process so that he'd define the field around him or let it define itself before scrambling the field; skipping Iowa and New Hampshire and going straight to South Carolina, where he has always had a strong base of support; announcing a running mate right out of the gate and possibly picking one from outside of politics; and making a pitch that he can be a bridge not just to disaffected Democrats, but to Republicans revolting against [Donald] Trump.
They've also discussed an idea some donors and supporters have been pitching Biden on directly for months: kick off by announcing that he'd only run for one term. One person who's pitched the idea said Biden would try to sell voters on "a reset presidency." The former vice president would pick a younger Democratic running mate and argue that he'd be the elder statesman to get the country and government back in order post-Trump and be the bridge to the next generation.
Biden is "thinking through a million unconventional options, because there is an acknowledgment that this could be an unconventional campaign," said one person involved in the discussions.
You can't out-dipshit Trump. And, even if you could, why would anyone want to? Come to the table with the seriousness and gravitas this country needs or GTFO.
And, not for nothing, but Biden doesn't even seem to be contemplating one of his biggest potential challenges:
The discussions reflect realities that Biden and his team are facing as they weigh whether to get real about running. He definitely still wants to be president but knows that his age will be a factor (he'll turn 78 two weeks after Election Day 2020). As a guy who's been in politics for nearly 50 years, he recognizes how tricky it would be to run at a time of political upheaval. And he understands that if he runs, the regrets over Hillary Clinton's attempted 2016 coronation will guarantee a crowded primary field, which he'd have to both fully participate in and stand apart from.He's worried about "Hillary Clinton's 2016's attempted coronation," but not Bernie Sanders' actual expected 2020 coronation? Whooooooooooops!
In case Biden hasn't noticed, maybe because he's been too busy shit-talking Clinton, Sanders is already maneuvering to split the Democrats again. He is absolutely prepared — and is currently laying the groundwork — to implode the 2020 Democratic primary if he isn't handed the keys to the kingdom this time.
What is Biden preparing to address that?
As far as I can tell, all he's got is aping Sanders' shtick of treating "identity politics" as though it's toxic and pandering to white men. But Sanders has got the Trump-has-a-point approach all locked up, pal.
Truly, the only smart play for Biden is not to run. Coincidentally, that's also the best decision for the rest of us, which is the kind of tough decision anyone contemplating being president needs to be able to make.
Trump Agrees to Meet Kim Jong Un
Just hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the United States is "a long ways from negotiations" with North Korea, the White House confirmed a South Korean announcement (yes, really) that Donald Trump would meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "at a place and time to be determined."
This is a troubling idea (at best) for a lot of reasons, primarily because Trump reversed decades of established diplomatic protocol without so much as a serious consultation with the State Department, which, not incidentally, is decimated after the first year of his presidency.
Particularly relevant here: The State Department's point-person on North Korea, Joseph Yun, retired in February and has not been replaced, and the Trump administration has not even yet nominated an ambassador to South Korea.
Despite the exasperating readiness of a significant segment of the political press to determine this could be a genius move, Trump's gambit blindsided U.S. diplomats and created a diplomatic clusterfuck:
Trump's high-wire gambit to accept a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sets off a scramble among U.S. officials to assemble a team capable of supporting a historic summit of longtime adversaries and determine a viable engagement strategy.I cannot even begin to fathom what a "serious attempt" at diplomatic negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un would look like.
State Department officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were playing down the immediacy of talks in the hours before the White House rolled out the South Korean national security adviser, who made the surprise announcement that Trump would meet with Kim.
The apparent lack of coordination marked a pattern of mixed messaging that has characterized the Trump administration's North Korea diplomacy since Pyongyang launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile last year, sparking the Trump White House's biggest national security crisis to date.
Now the White House has committed to an unprecedented meeting at a time when the administration lacks a fully staffed cadre of diplomats and advisers.
...Past negotiators say full-fledged talks would require the United States to have a disciplined process and a team across government agencies working out the nuts and bolts of any agreement. They urged the administration to get ready for such a heavy lift if it was prepared to make a serious attempt.
That's not only because neither Trump nor Kim has ever demonstrated even a hint of being serious, stable, level-headed leaders, but also because this entire idea seems to be rooted in the deeply unserious premise that Trump has achieved something no other president could — which is absolute nonsense (but does fall directly in alignment with Trump's delusions of unique grandeur).
A senior administration official: President Trump has always been determined to try a different approach to North Korea. He will meet Kim Jong Un at a time and place to be determined. He‘s not prepared to reward North Korea in exchange for talks.
— Alexandra von Nahmen (@AlexandravonNah) March 9, 2018
As Eastsidekate quite rightly noted: "The talks ARE the reward." North Korea has been actively seeking a summit with a U.S. president since Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, petitioned then-President Bill Clinton for a meeting decades ago. The rogue regime desperately wants legitimacy on the global stage, and, repeatedly denied it, they used the development of a nuclear program to try to force the world to take them seriously.
Trump imagines he's doing something no other president could do, but what he's actually doing is something no other president would do.
Because even to agree to speak to Kim is to give him a major win.
As Ankit Panda writes at the Daily Beast: "For Kim, a meeting with Trump will be an unalloyed propaganda victory."
Kim will be given the opportunity to stage-manage a photo-op with a U.S. president. The costs of a freeze in nuclear and ballistic missile testing for the next two months are relatively minor for North Korea compared to the benefits of a meeting with Trump.At some point, someone might try to explain this to Trump, and he might realize that he once again looks like a complete jackass who's embarrassingly out of his depth. But, this time, he can't just casually change his mind like usual.
...A face-to-face meeting with Kim would require Trump to exercise cautious, measured engagement. He'd have to hear out what the North Korean leader has to say and know where the red lines lie. North Korea's long-term play on the Korean Peninsula is to "decouple" the United States and South Korea.
During his campaign for the presidency, Trump showed more interest in sitting down for a "hamburger" with Kim than he did in the alliance with South Korea, complaining about the costs of maintaining a forward-based military presence there. Those instincts still live within Trump and are ripe for exploitation by North Korea, which has had plenty of time to study him.
Trump agreeing to meet Kim Jong Un isn't like all his other unfathomably awful decisions. He can't just change his mind once he's told it's a terrible idea, nor pretend the promise wasn't what it was. Backpedaling on this will have serious consequences. As will going thru w/ it.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 9, 2018
South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong said that Trump will meet Kim to "achieve permanent denuclearization" by the end of May. This is an extraordinary promise which seems very unlikely.
There's little chance the United States, or South Korea, will get what they want from this meeting, if it even happens. But even in the promise that it will, North Korea has already gotten something precious.
And that's why wiser presidents never made such a promise in the first place.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker ericacbarnett: "What is an item/app/service that you wish someone would invent?"
I wish someone would invent practical teleportation that was free for everyone to use to instantly go anywhere they wanted anytime.
Hey, when I dream, I dream big!
This Will Be Something. Or Nothing. Who Knows.
BREAKING: Trump says South Korea to make 'major statement' at 7 p.m. Eastern time, says he's discussed matter with President Moon.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 8, 2018
Presumably, the major statement will be about North Korea, but who even knows, as we are living in the most horrendo timeline where nothing matters and Greg Norman is being dispatched to lobby the American president because GOLF.
In any case, here is a thread to discuss the major statement when it happens, and to discuss how everything is terrible in the meantime.
This is a real thing in the world.
[Content Note: Guns.]
Look, I didn't want to have to tell you that this thing exists, but, unfortunately, Fannie alerted me to the fact that it exists, so now you're just going to have to deal with the fact that I can't keep living a normal life without talking about its existence until my brain doesn't feel like exploding anymore.
It's like truck nuts, but for your assault rifle. COOL.
If there is an inanimate thing that could be said to be the exact opposite of me, this is it.
Opposite, antithesis, nemesis.
I have a pretty clear picture of the sort of person who would purchase this item, and it's exactly as unfair as you'd expect.
The truth is, there's nothing I can say with absolute certainty about anyone who would purchase a set of gunballs except this: I don't want to be in the same room with them. Ever.
