Whatcha been cooking up in your kitchen lately, Shakers?
Share your favorite recipes, solicit good recipes, share recipes you've recently tried, want to try, are trying to perfect, whatever! Whether they're your own creation, or something you found elsewhere, share away.
Also welcome: Recipes you've seen recently that you'd love to try, but haven't yet!
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I just came across this crockpot recipe for creamy cauliflower soup the other day, and I cannot wait to try it. It sounds soooooo yummy!
Shaker Gourmet
Stormy Daniels Wants to Depose Trump
Stormy attorney files motion to depose Trump: “It is firmly established that a sitting president is not afforded special protection from a civil suit regarding conduct before he or she entered office,” saying he cannot deny providing discovery in this case based on being POTUS
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 28, 2018
The primary reason I even want to mention this motion being filed, when typically I wouldn't dedicate a whole post to it unless and until the requested deposition was granted, is because this is putting additional pressure on Donald Trump.
From one side, he's feeling the pressure of the Mueller investigation, where every disclosure makes it more difficult for him to claim he wasn't (isn't) colluding with Russia.
From the other side, he's feeling the pressure of the Stormy Daniels story, which increasingly looks like there was a criminal cover-up of an affair he has denied.
Back in October, when Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were arrested and charged, I tweeted: "Cornering Trump is dangerous. I am not feeling giddy about what's coming. I am hoping we all get through it safely."
And once again, I want to emphasize that: Although I am positively desperate for accountability for Trump and his collection of disloyal scoundrels in the White House, my primary hope right now is that we get through this safely.
There is a reckless megalomaniac sitting in the Oval Office, who is capable of breathtaking cruelty, especially in service to his self-interest. I am very worried what he will do if he is not disempowered — and I am very worried about what he will do if the necessary steps are taken to ensure that he is.
We are all in a very perilous place. I want us to emerge from it safely. I don't know if that's possible. I hope that it is.
Gates Communicated with Person Tied to Russian Intelligence While Working for Trump Campaign
The big news in Special Counsel Bob Mueller's investigation today is that Rick Gates, deputy chair of Trump's 2016 campaign, was in communication with a person tied to Russian intelligence while he was working for the campaign.
This, of course, should not be surprising to anyone paying attention, as wheeling and dealing with Vladimir Putin and Russian intelligence was kind of Paul Manafort's and Rick Gates' whole thing, but now we have confirmation.
And, unlike Manafort, Gates continued working for the campaign for its entirety, and then went on to work in the White House in the early part of the administration.
Anyway. The news comes from a report filed by prosecutors about the upcoming sentencing of Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan, an associate of Manafort and Gates, and a well-connected lawyer who represents numerous Russian oligarchs and is himself the son of a Russian oligarch named German Khan, who was charged with making false statements regarding his contact with Gates and an unnamed person.
Katelyn Polantz at CNN reports: "That Gates and the unnamed person, who had lived in Kiev and Moscow and worked for one of Paul Manafort's companies, were in touch in September and October 2016 was 'pertinent to the investigation,' a court filing from prosecutors said Tuesday night."
Pertinent because: 1. The unnamed person "had Russian intelligence ties," and 2. The dates show the contacts were made during the campaign, while Gates was working in an official capacity for Donald Trump.
Trump's position has essentially been: There was no collusion, but even if there was I didn't know about it. That position is getting harder to maintain, and it was entirely ludicrous to begin with. https://t.co/Hv5Hx6PEQ7
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018
Unlike Manafort, Gates was still part of the Trump campaign team when he met with former GRU agent in October 2016. Gates remained after Trump won, working as deputy chairman of Trump's inaugural committee.
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) March 28, 2018
Again, why did US officials not act on this before Trump took office? pic.twitter.com/FIaLHkqSUt
That is a very good question. Especially considering James Comey's justification for organizing a press conference to talk about the details of an "open investigation" of Hillary Clinton's emails.
That was always some rank garbage, but it's impossible to rationalize why it was important for Comey to inform the voting public about the discovery of emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop which turned out to be nothing, but not important for Comey to inform the voting public that high-level members of Trump's campaign were in communication with Russian intelligence agents.
This information has not mattered for a very long time already. I hope that it will matter at some point in the future, and I fear that it won't.
Question of the Day
What's the most memorable feeling of bliss you've ever experienced?
[Got a suggestion for a future Question of the Day? Drop it in comments here!]
News from Shakes Manor
Last night, it was really cold in our bedroom. The kind of cold that makes the sheets feel like ice when you first crawl into bed.
Because the only other option was moving the thermostat up one degree and turning our bedroom into an unbearable hotbox, I decided to keep on my t-shirt and put on a pair of leggings before I crawled into bed.
I was wearing my NASA t-shirt at the time, and the top pair of leggings in the drawer were my super neato space leggings.
As I quickly pulled them over my legs, I exclaimed to Iain: "I was already wearing my NASA shirt and then I grabbed my space leggings!"
He was already in bed, the covers pulled up to his chin. His head appeared disembodied as he affectionately scowled at me.
"You look like a teen star nerd," he said.
Legit.
Discussion Thread: How Are You?
At the moment, I am feeling very demoralized by and scared at the precipitous pace at which the Republican Party is consolidating power. I am feeling very angry at the people who enable them with material support and at the people who abet them with indifference. And I am feeling tired.
I am trying to prioritize self-care — I just scheduled a doctor's appointment I've been putting off — and focus on the things that make me feel good, no matter how small: Last night (and the night before), Iain brought me a perfectly made cup of tea, unbidden, and after thanking him, I held the cup in my hands and consciously thought about how lovely its warmth felt against my skin; how beautiful the tea looked inside the mug; how much I love my friend who gifted me that mug, 15 years ago; and how grateful I am to have such a thoughtful partner who can make such a damn fine cuppa, and is willing to make one for me.
I am trying to live the fullest life I can in those moments. They are easy to skip past and through, but they are precious to me — especially when I give myself the permission to luxuriate in their value.
I need every moment possible to be a moment of contentment, to counteract the long hours I spend documenting frightening and infuriating things.
The chaos we are experiencing is horrendous, but it does make the tiniest moments pregnant with possibility for restoring equilibrium, even if only fleetingly, through the simple act of appreciation.
Also: I feel the urgent pull to appreciate every little thing now, because I feel so much slipping away.
How are you?
Shaker Thumbs
Shaker Thumbs is your opportunity to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to a product or service you have used and that you'd recommend to other Shakers or warn them away from.
Today I'm giving a big thumbs-up to the Rubbermaid® Brilliance 22-piece Food Storage Container Set.
I got this set awhile ago at Bed Bath & Beyond for $39, which, if you've researched storage containers lately, is a pretty great deal for well-reviewed sets.
So, I've been using it for some time now, and I really love it. As advertised, it goes right from perfect, sealed, doesn't-leak storage in the fridge to perfect, ventilated, doesn't-splatter containment in the microwave. And, as promised, it remains odor-free and stain-free.
I haven't run it through the dishwasher, because my old dishwasher tends to leave residue on containers and cooking utensils, so I hand-wash that stuff. It is, however, dishwasher safe.
I'm super chuffed about the little microwave vents. Apparently those have been around for years, as I was informed by a friend to whom I was raving about them, lol, but I haven't bought containers in like 15 years, so I had NO IDEA about all the cool advancements in container technology! Thank you, SCIENCE.
Anyway! Give us your thumbs-up or thumbs-down in comments!
[Just to be abundantly clear, I am not affiliated in any way with Rubbermaid or with Bed Bath & Beyond, nor am I receiving any form of payment from them.]
Daily Dose of Cute
That fat little sausage is Zelda, napping on the sofa. Only the telltale outlines of her wee triangular Dorito ears give away which end is which, lol.
And because her face is TOO CUTE just to show the back of her head...
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 432
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.
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Earlier today by me: Heinous Radical Anti-Choice Law Passes in Indiana and Please Listen to Stevante Clark and Mitt Romney Is Terrible. Still.
Here are some more things in the news today...
[Content Note: Police brutality; death; racism] Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man, was restrained, tased, and fatally shot at point-blank range by two Baton Rouge police officers in July 2016. The next day, President Obama's Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into his death. Less than a year later, in May 2017, Donald Trump's Justice Department ended the investigation and announced its decision not to bring any charges against the officers. Today, the Louisiana Department of Justice further crushed any hopes for something resembling justice by announcing neither officer will be prosecuted by the state, either.
Fuck. This. "The two police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling in July 2016 in Baton Rouge will not be charged with any crime, the Louisiana attorney general announced on Tuesday." https://t.co/POdeOChlMQ
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 27, 2018
My condolences on this profound failure to Sterling's family, friends, and community. I am so sad and so angry.
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[CN: Nativism and white supremacy. Covers entire section.]
BREAKING: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross sends letter stating that citizenship question will be reinstated on the 2020 Census. pic.twitter.com/8mE8spwmJy
— Michael Li (@mcpli) March 27, 2018
Tierney Sneed at TPM: Trump Admin Makes Change to Census Experts Say Will Lead to Undercount. "The Trump administration on Monday evening announced that it was making a controversial change to the upcoming 2020 Census that experts say could lead to an undercount — particularly among minority and urban communities. For the first time in decades, the Census will ask survey-takers their citizenship status, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a memo. The change was made at the request of the Justice Department. ...Internal research at the Census bureau has shown that the question discourages participation in the survey, even among citizens who perhaps live with undocumented immigrants."
In a statement, former Attorney General Eric Holder said: "Make no mistake — this decision is motivated purely by politics. In deciding to add this question without even testing its effects, the Administration is departing from decades of census policy and ignoring the warnings of census experts."
With all due respect to Mr. Holder, I'm reasonably certain that the administration is not ignoring the warnings of census experts that this change could discourage the participation of immigrants and urban communities, but is treating that warning instead as a recommendation.
Because this administration is full of nativist, white supremacist dirtbags.
Ari Berman at Mother Jones: Trump Administration Creates Census Crisis with Move to Suppress Immigrant Responses.
Civil rights groups say the question will massively depress responses from immigrants fearful of deportation and could sabotage the entire census.Emphasis mine. Because that is the entire point. It's just another attempt to subvert the U.S. democratic process, by the Republican Party, who cannot win federal elections on the merits, because their policies are trash, so they have to cheat to win.
The move sets up a huge legal and political battle over one of the most important tasks mandated by the Constitution. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and former US Attorney General Eric Holder have already announced their intention to sue the Trump administration over the new question. Democratic members of Congress have also said they will introduce legislation to block the new question.
The Justice Department requested the citizenship question in December, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross wrote in a letter on Monday that it was needed for "more effective enforcement" of the Voting Rights Act. (The Commerce Department oversees the Census Bureau.)
But Vanita Gupta, who led the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama and is now president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, told me, "Voting rights enforcement has never depended on having that question on the [census] form since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act. That's plainly a ruse to collect that data and ultimately to sabotage the census."
The citizenship question, she noted, is already asked on the longer American Community Survey, which reaches roughly 13 percent of American households and is used to enforce civil rights laws.
The census, unlike the American Community Survey, determines how many congressional seats and electoral votes states receive, how voting districts are drawn, and how $675 billion in federal funding is allocated to states and localities. The 2010 census failed to count 1.5 million people of color, including 1.5 percent of Hispanics, 2.1 percent of African Americans, and 4.9 percent of Native Americans. If immigrant communities don't respond to the census for fear that it will be used to initiate deportation proceedings against them, the undercount of Latinos could grow much higher.
That would deny federal resources and representation to areas with large Latino populations and shift economic and political power to whiter and more Republican areas.
Samantha Schmidt at the Washington Post: California Sues Trump Administration over Addition of Citizenship Question to Census. "The state of California sued the Trump administration Monday night, arguing that the decision to add a question about citizenship in the 2020 Census violates the U.S. Constitution. The state's attorney general acted just after the Commerce Department announced the change in a late-night release. The suit is just the start of what is likely to be a broader battle with enormous political stakes that pits the administration against many Democratic states."
Listen, I am very glad that California is suing, and that other states are likely to follow suit, because that is absolutely the right thing to do. But I am also very concerned about where this is heading, in terms of civil stability.
We cannot sustain such fundamental tension as a single nation forever. That is very worrying.
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Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress: New Report Details Just How Rigged the Midterms Are in Favor of Republicans. "A new report by the Brennan Center for Justice suggests that congressional races are so heavily rigged in favor of Republicans that the United States can barely be described as a democratic republic. The upshot of their analysis is that, to win a bare majority of the seats in the U.S. House, Democrats 'would likely have to win the national popular vote by nearly 11 points.' To put that number in perspective, neither party achieved an 11-point popular vote win in the last several decades. The last time this happened, according to the Brennan Center, was 1982, when a deep recession led the opposition Democrats to a 269 seat majority against President Reagan's Republicans."
[CN: War on agency] Pamela Merritt at Rewire: Missouri Doesn't Need More Anti-Choice Politicians; That Includes You, Democrats. "Why is Democratic support of anti-choice politicians an urgent concern? Because we need all hands on deck to defeat attacks on access to reproductive health care at the state and federal level. We are in a critical election year, and we need to make sure that those who seek to benefit from the Democratic brand are willing to champion progressive values. ...I can't even imagine a world where party leaders would welcome anti-union or anti-Medicare candidates just as long as they pinky swear not to legislate based on their personal views. But apparently we are supposed to trust anti-choice legislators to not do what all anti-choice legislators eventually do."
[CN: Domestic violence] Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Trump Still Talks to Rob Porter, Hopes He'll Return to White House. "Donald Trump is still in touch Rob Porter, the aide fired over allegations of domestic abuse, and wishes that he could return to the White House, the New York Times reported Monday night. Trump speaks to Porter over the phone, and their conversations have increased over the past few weeks, people familiar with the calls told the New York Times. The President has told some advisers that he hopes Porter comes back to the White House." Fuck off. To both of them.
[CN: Environmental toxins] Mark Hand at ThinkProgress: A Once Thriving Coal Town Has Turned Toxic, and Citizens Are Desperate for Help.
Percy Edward "Eddie" Fruit has lived in Minden, West Virginia his entire life. But without funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he cannot afford to move away from his hometown, contaminated by industrial chemicals over the past 40 years. Fruit wouldn't be able to get anything from the sale of his house because no one would want to buy property in a toxic town.That, and it might help if the media and politicians would stop romanticizing work that kills people, either via the work itself or the environmental consequences.
...Minden was a thriving coal mining community during the first half of the 20th century. The town's mines, located along the scenic New River in Fayette County, were some of the most productive in the region. Life wasn't easy for the miners and their families, but they were able to make ends meet.
Things have changed since then. Minden is now a toxic wasteland where residents are afraid to drink the water and let their children play in their yards. Residents fear the PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls, a highly toxic industrial chemical — that were stored at an old equipment site starting in the 1960s and later dumped in an abandoned mine starting are now making them sick and killing them.
Since Minden was designated a Superfund site in the 1980s, the EPA has not been able to determine why such a large percentage of the community — at least four times higher than the national average — has been diagnosed with cancer. Federal and state health officials claim the evidence does not support a finding of a "cancer cluster" in Minden, a conclusion that angers the town's residents. They believe officials would come to a different conclusion if Minden's residents were not working class.
Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: 'Not in a Punch-Back Mode': Why Trump Has Been Largely Silent on Stormy Daniels. "Trump exercised uncharacteristic public restraint Monday following an interview on CBS's '60 Minutes' in which adult film star Stormy Daniels described, in vivid detail, a consensual sexual encounter with Trump — a relationship the president has repeatedly denied. But privately, the president has lobbed sharp attacks at Daniels and her media tour, calling her allegations a 'hoax' and asking confidants if the episode is hurting his poll numbers. The president even has griped to several people that Daniels is not the type of woman he finds attractive." So, Trump is being "largely silent" or "uncharacteristically restrained" at all. He's just not doing it on his Twitter feed. And somehow the press has found out anyway. Huh.
That reminds of this recent Late Night segment in which political reporter McKay Coppins told Seth Meyers how Donald Trump routinely acts as a source for the flattering news he wants disseminated, but tells journalists to cite an anonymous source, and they accommodate him. If the video doesn't start autoplaying at 3:35, skip ahead to that point for the relevant portion of the clip.
Meyers: I want to talk about sourcing real quick, because, you know, it seems like we hear so much coming out of this White House, more than maybe we've ever had, uh, we've ever heard. Is it because, from the very top, he is a source? That he is talking to the press so often that the people underneath him feel the freedom to do the same?Just a Serious Journalist yukking it up with a comedian who is doing better reporting on an almost nightly basis than most actual journalists about how he (the Serious Journalist) just prints whatever flattering garbage the compulsive liar sitting in the Oval Office wants him to print, and willingly conceals that said compulsive liar is the source for that information.
Coppins: [grinning and chuckling throughout this whole tale] Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's funny, like, Trump does this thing where, after his day's work is done, he'll retire to the residence of the White House and just kind of make freewheeling phone calls to like random people.
Meyers: Yeah.
Coppins: Um, and sometimes they're like fellow billionaire pals, and sometimes they're media people, and sometimes they're reporters. And, and, it's funny, I've had experiences with this, even when I was interviewing him at Mar-a-Lago, where he'll be talking and he'll tell you a story and he'll be like, "Okay, this part's off the record. Well, now this part — just attribute it to someone else." Or whatever. And he'll just — he'll be, he'll just put random stuff out there and that — a lot of the stories you see in, uh, in the press are — it'll say like, "somebody familiar with the situation," or like "a senior White House official," and it'll be the President of the United States.
[audience laughter]
Meyers: Yeah. A lurking, slow-moving mass of a man. [Coppins bursts out laughing] Did — and do you think, like — but that actually seems like he's thinking about it more than we may be giving him credit for. So while he's telling a story, he is at least aware enough to know which parts to pull off the record and put on the record...?
Coppins: Yeah, in my experience, at least, it was the parts that he wanted me to write that were flattering about him but that he didn't want to have it attributed to him.
Meyers: Got it.
Coppins: So [laughs] it'll be like some heroic story about him, or a story about some celebrity who said he was the greatest ever of something, you know? "Put that off the record! Just don't use my name on that!"
Meyers: [laughs] So he wants it out there, but he wants it —
Coppins: Exactly.
Meyers: — to seem like it came from another source.
Coppins: Right.
And of course we know damn well that Coppins is hardly the only journalist who does so.
I strongly recommend consuming all news items favorable to Trump with anonymous sourcing through that filter moving forward.
We have always known that Trump tried to manipulate the media, even having posed as his own fake spokesperson, but here is confirmation that the media gleefully plays along, because it's all just a big fucking game.
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[CN: Gun violence; death; self-harm; anti-Semitism; Nazism; white supremacy] Justin Jouvenal at the Washington Post: Her Son, Facing Murder Charges, Is Being Called an 'Alt-Right Killer.' This Mother Blames Herself. I honestly have no idea what purpose this story is supposed to serve. Is it meant to be a warning to other parents? Because it doesn't seem like a story like this would have made any difference to the mother in the story. Further, there is zero suggestion about what parents should do if they are worried.
It's just more "oh poor lonely white boys who have no friends and access to unsecured guns" bullshit. And not even a cursory examination of how FUCKED UP it is that we task teenage girls with being the lifeline for murderous emergent Nazis.
In fact, I'll note that this entire story revolves around women and girls and what they did, or didn't do, to try to stop him: The killer's girlfriend, her mother, his mother, and his sister.
Fuck all of this. And fuck the repetition of this sick and unjustifiable narrative that the solution to violent Nazis is for the rest of us to be nicer to them.
The story clearly suggests the shooter became a Nazi (but not a "real" one, sure) because he had no friends, but perhaps he had no friends for the same reason that he became a Nazi. Sometimes people have no friends for no fault of their own. Sometimes people have no friends because people stay away from them. I think it's dangerous to pretend that all people, even young people, are friendless for the same reason. Sometimes, friendlessness is a red flag.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
Mitt Romney Is Terrible. Still.
[Content Note: Nativism.]
At forum yesterday, Mitt Romney said he’s more rightwing than Trump on immigration: “I’m also more of a hawk on immigration than even the president. My view was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally.” https://t.co/9kbtm0T9hL
— Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) March 27, 2018
This is a pretty solid reminder that Trump is not actually an outlier of the Republican Party. He was its inevitable endgame — which is why there is no attempt by his party to check him, and why "moderates" will now try to out-Trump him. https://t.co/83DQnew1E7
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 27, 2018
And just to be clear: It isn't like Mitt Romney is just jumping on a bandwagon whose navigation was programmed by other people. He absolutely had a hand in determining its destination.
Let us never forget that my oft-repeated observation Republicans think people aren't entitled to food emerged from the swamp of despair that was Romney's "47 Percent" video from the 2012 election.
From that video, I teased out what I thought was the most overlooked part of it: That Romney, a U.S. presidential candidate, believed people aren't entitled to food.
At the time, I got the usual pushback: I was being hyperbolic, it was just inelegant wording, surely he didn't actually believe that, etc.
No, he did. And so did his party.
This alarmist spent the next few years collecting receipts under the label: "Republicans Think People Aren't Entitled to Food."
Over the course of the last five years, what's evident in that series is that the Republican Party has become less inclined to hide that this is indeed their position.
Romney helped mainstream a number of once-extreme policies — and, by choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, made a considerable contribution to moving the "center" of his party rightward in once huge, heaving lurch.
He likes to pretend to be personally affronted by the likes of Trump, but Romney was laying the pathstones as eagerly as anyone else in his party, and now he's delighted to reap the benefits of what Trump has wrought.
Please Listen to Stevante Clark
[Content Note: Police brutality; death; racism. Previously on the killing of Stephon Clark: One, Two, Three.]
When the police fatally shoot Black men and women (or anyone else), they end a life and ruin many others as a result.
That sounds like the most obvious thing in the world, and yet non-Black people, especially white people, are largely insulated from the reverberating devastation of police killings in Black communities.
That is: We insulate ourselves.
To state the self-evident, I have no idea what it feels like to be a Black person whose family member was killed by police.
I do understand, by virtue of the work I do, the fucked-up dynamic of being a marginalized person demanding change who is obliged to visibly model pain to convince privileged people that folks like me deserve the change we're requesting; to be expected to be publicly vulnerable, only to then be ridiculed as pathetically weak by ideological opponents and be dehumanized as imperviously strong by ideological allies.
So when I see a Black person who has been thrust into the role of activist because their relative or friend has been killed by police, when I see them public grieving, I can begin to imagine the toll it's taking, with all the expectations they are obliged to navigate. And I hate knowing they may feel like they have to grieve in a way that feels packaged for privileged people's consumption, as part of their advocacy.
And the very least white people can fucking do in response is pay attention — and then get to work advocating for the changes that need to be made. Like dismantling the way policing is done in the United States and starting over, because it is clearly irreparably broken.
All of that is preamble, my own desperate and imperfect plea for listening, to Stevante Clark, the brother of Stephon Clark, who was killed by police, who then lied about what happened.
Listen to Stevante and do something, even it is nothing more than sharing his words with people who may not encounter them otherwise; sharing them with an urgent request to hear him and then resolve to take some kind of action.
"They gunned him down like a dog," Stevante Clark said of the police shooting of his brother, Stephon. "They executed him."Listen to everything Stevante is saying here. Listen to him tell you that he feels like his beloved brother was killed like a roach. Listen to him tell you that he doesn't want to have to defend his brother's humanity or summarize his worth for a soundbite. Listen to him tell you that he doesn't want to be an activist, that he is tired, that is scared, that he doesn't feel safe. Listen to him tell you that it's the police who need to be questioned — not him, not his family.
Stevante was in the backseat of a car, his voice quivering. He stomped his feet 20 times — one for each bullet that police fired at his unarmed brother.
"Twenty times. That's like stepping on a roach ...And then stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping, stepping."
...Stephon, an unarmed 22-year-old father of two, was standing in his grandmother's backyard, holding only his iPhone when officers, who did not announce they were police, appeared in the dark, shouted at him to reveal his hands and quickly fired a round of bullets at him before he could respond.
His brother, Stevante, 25, has been thrust into the national spotlight and forced to navigate media, protests, lawyers, and donations while struggling through his own grief and anger.
"I shouldn't have to defend my brother. They should be proving their innocence," Stevante told the Guardian on Sunday night, during an interview in his friend's car. "I'm exhausted. I hate this. I hate my life."
...Stevante said he was tired of summarizing his brother's worth in a soundbite for the news. He also said he was fed up with reporters mentioning his brother's previous run-ins with the law and jail time, as if his past challenges justified his killing.
"Why aren't we talking about the police's mistakes?" he said. "My city is scared of police …I'm scared to live here. I don't feel safe."
... Stevante said he wanted the tragedy to spark change and hoped to build a library in his brother's honor while supporting other gun violence prevention efforts, such as breakfast programs and community centers.
Still, he said he did not think of himself as an "activist" or "leader" and struggled with the constant reminders of his brother's death — people stopping him on the street, calls from reporters, social media postings. He's avoided watching the police videos and many of the news reports.
It's hard to find relief, he said, noting that he was still unable to feel comfortable in his family's home where his brother died. "Where can you fucking go if you're not safe at grandma's house?"
And then listen to him tell you this: "We're not going to get justice, because my brother's not coming back."
Once again I want to recommend this piece by Mariame Kaba, who urges us to understand that, even if these officers are indicted and even if they are convicted and even if they are sentenced, it will not truly be justice. Meaningful justice will only be achieved by dismantling the (in)justice system which is catastrophically contaminated by white supremacy.
Which is a daunting task to contemplate, but the enormity of the task before us shouldn't let us treat as justice what will be, at best, limited individual accountability in a comprehensively corrupt system.
Mychal Denzel Smith once wrote: "Justice for Renisha would have looked like Michael Brown being able to attend college. Justice for Trayvon would have looked like Renisha McBride getting the help she needed the night of her accident. Justice for Oscar Grant would have looked like Trayvon Martin making it home to finish watching the NBA All-Star game, Skittles and iced tea in tow. And so on, and so on. Justice should be the affirmation of our existence."
Real justice will be no more death.
That is not going to happen on its own. We all need to make ourselves a part of the colossal effort it will take to create this critical change.
Heinous Radical Anti-Choice Law Passes in Indiana
There is a reason I call Indiana the Conservative Legislation Lab: As I've said many times before, if you want to know what garbage policies are coming down the conservative pipeline, look no further than Indiana, where Hoosiers are used as guinea pigs by the American Legislative Exchange Council, aka ALEC, which has a massive influence in the state, to test out the latest and greatest in Republican governance theory.
The Republican takeover in Indiana has been extraordinary. And people who sneer at Hoosiers from outside the state (where I grew up and lived most of my life) to simply vote out the Republicans, who are the majority, or to vote in better Democrats, don't understand what the population is facing there.
Like everywhere else: Gerrymandering and voter suppression and dark money and ratfucking. But also the cutting edge in authoritarian consolidation of power. See: Mike Pence and Glenda Ritz.
And it's not like Indiana doesn't have decent Democrats in state office. To the contrary: In 2011, Hoosier Dems fled the state to deny the Indiana House of Representatives the required quorum needed to pass a union-busing "right-to-work" bill. They were in hiding out of state for nearly six weeks, only returning once the Republican majority agreed to take the bill off the table — and after having held out while Republicans fined them and suspended their pay.
It's also important to understand that the Republican-held legislature routinely acts in contravention of the majority of the people in the state. Just one of many examples was 2014's same-sex marriage ban, which was proposed despite the fact that Indiana already had a state law restricting same-sex marriage; despite the fact that legislators were acting in flagrant disregard of the will of the people, who by a clear majority did not want such an amendment added to their state constitution; and despite the fact that, instead, a majority of Hoosiers wanted the existing ban repealed.
All of this is backdrop to the latest bit of heinous fuckery passed into law in Indiana, so you can understand what progressives are up against in the state:
OMFG. "A new state law directs Indiana doctors and hospitals to investigate every time a woman seeks treatment for a physical or psychological condition whether she previously had an abortion that is in any way connected to the ailment." https://t.co/yhAAFmmzDW
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 27, 2018
Not only does the law require healthcare providers to launch an abortion inquiry, but it further requires healthcare providers to report "abortion complications" to the state:
A new state law directs Indiana doctors and hospitals to investigate every time a woman seeks treatment for a physical or psychological condition whether she previously had an abortion that is in any way connected to the ailment.This is utterly despicable. It needs national attention. I hope people will amplify what is happening, as the ACLU considers whether to mount (yet another) challenge to (yet another) heinous anti-choice law passed in Indiana.
If so, the care provider is obligated starting July 1 to submit a detailed "abortion complications" report to the State Department of Health, or risk being charged with a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, for each instance of noncompliance.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who routinely describes himself as "pro-life," approved Senate Enrolled Act 340 with little fanfare Sunday afternoon prior to departing on a three-day Canadian trade mission.
He said similar reporting requirements already are in place in 27 states and exist solely to gather information about abortion complications, without restricting access to the procedure.
Indiana's new law, however, employs a broad definition of abortion complication that ranges from an immediate physical injury due to a surgical abortion to psychological or emotional pain, including anxiety and sleeplessness, that arises possibly years or decades after having an abortion.
Under the statute, doctors who identify an abortion complication must then report to the state: the patient's age, race, and county of residence; the type, date, and location of the abortion; a list of each complication and treatment; the date of every visit to every doctor relating to the complication; and any abortion drugs used by the patient and how they were procured.
And I hope that as people do amplify it, they convey the reality of what Hoosiers are facing in their state, instead of making shitty jokes about Republican voters getting what they deserve or casually admonishing progressives to move, which isn't always possible and which shouldn't be a requirement, anyway. No one should have to abandon their home to be safe from autocratic abuses of power.
Tell this story. And tell it in a way in which you align yourself with Hoosier resistance, not in a way in which you stand outside their struggle and shame them for being victimized by the same party that threatens us all, in every corner of this country.
Question of the Day
It's that time again: What would you like to see asked as a future Question of the Day? Either something that's never been asked, or something that I haven't asked for awhile and you really enjoyed the first time around.
BRING ALL YOUR QUESTIONS! ALL OF THEM! :)
Monday Links!
This list o' links brought to you by the color cerulean.
Recommended Reading:
Eileen Guo at Racked: Here's What Really Happens to Your Used Clothes
Jason Fagone at the San Francisco Chronicle: The Quest to Save Stephen Hawking's Voice
George Dvorsky at Gizmodo: Dead Medieval Woman 'Gave Birth' to Baby in Coffin
Maura Turcotte at Ms.: These Anti-Abortion Laws Are Bad Medicine — and They're Hurting Women Across the Country
(If you're wondering if there's an embedded commentary in the juxtaposition of the previous two items, yes. Yes there is.)
Kylie Cheung at Dame: [Content Note: Misogyny. NB: Not only women need access to menstruation hygiene products.] The Politics of Menstruation
Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing: [CN: Misogyny] Women (But Not Men) with High GPAs Are Less Likely to Get Job Offers
Lori Lakin Hutcherson at Good Black News: Black Panther Becomes Top-Grossing Superhero Film of All Time in U.S. with $630.9 Million in Domestic Box Office
Ari Phillips at Earther: Now There's a Starbucks in Yosemite Because Nothing Is Sacred
Andželika at Bored Panda: Woman Saves Wingless Bumblebee and Their Friendship Creates Buzz on the Internet
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
That Time I Saw a Girl with a Broken Heart Destroy the Man Who Broke It
Not long ago, Iain and I were dining out at a local franchise of a regional chain. It's one of those places with big screen televisions for major sporting events and a decent reasonably-priced menu and slightly dated music playing slightly too loudly.
Everything sort of fades into the background there. I've been in the place a dozen times and couldn't tell you what color the walls are. But the waitstaff is friendly, the bathroom is clean, and the fries are killer, so the fact that everything else is suitable enough to be unnoticeable is fine. That is, in fact, the whole point. Remember what's good; forget the rest.
Anyway. This particular day, we were there at an odd time. It was past lunch but too early for dinner. The place was mostly empty. We were eating and chatting, when suddenly the background penetrated my consciousness. I stopped in the middle of my sentence; Iain looked at me and I pointed upwards. Listen to the music. He let the music come into his consciousness, too, and we both began to laugh.
Because what was playing slightly too loudly was 20 Fingers and Gillette's "(Don't Wanna) Short Dick Man."
It was the censored version, in which the lyrics are "Don't wanna a short, short man," but Iain and I were both alive — and spending some amount of time in dance clubs — in the '90s, so we knew the song. And probably would have figured it out even if we didn't, heh.
"I don't think this is a track on the corporate playlist," I said.
"No," Iain agreed, laughing.
I craned my neck to look over the row of banquets in which we were seated, toward the kitchen. Two young women, one of whom was our server, were huddled together. One was leaning forward, her shoulders curled in, smothering a laugh into her hands, cupped in front of her face. The other stood with her back so straight she looked regal, one eyebrow raised, her chin resting on a shoulder so she could just see the bar out of the corner of her eye, though her back remained turned to it.
At the bar, a young man glared at her with a curled lip. He turned on a heel, tossing a hand towel onto his shoulder, and disappeared. A moment later, the track stopped and a new track started: New Found Glory's "My Friends Over You."
I had never heard this track before, but it was easy to find when I searched its lyrics: You were everything I wanted / But I just can't finish what I've started / There's no room left here on my back / It was damaged long ago / Though you swear that you are true / I still pick my friends over you / My friends over you...
"I don't think she cares, my dude," Iain said, to me.
"Round One to her," I said. We clinked glasses.
The track played its duration, and I thought for a moment that might have been it for the musical duel. But then. THEN.
The coup de grâce.
There was a moment of silence, and then came the voice of Kelly Clarkson, singing "I Don't Think About You."
And now that we are through / Nothing left to lose / I don't think about you.
I mimed dropping the mic.
"Damn," Iain said.
The track ended. The audio returned to the preselected collection of inoffensive pop songs.
Maybe a manager came in. Maybe the barback knew he'd been owned beyond hope. Maybe he was too busy crying in the bathroom, because he knew he'd blown it with a deeply clever girl who'd obviously cared about him hard enough that he could break her heart.
Iain and I went back to our meal and our conversation, and the music faded into the background again.
#365feministselfie: Week 12
I am again participating in the #365feministselfie project, now entering its fifth year, and promised a thread for others to share selfies and/or talk about the project, visibility generally, self-apprecation, and related topics. So here is a thread for Week 12!
A few of my selfies over the last week:
Please feel welcome and encouraged to share your own selfies in comments, or share your thoughts on the project, or solicit encouragement or advice, or do whatever else feels best for you to participate, if you are inclined to do so!
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 431
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.
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Earlier today by Fannie: Students Lead Historic March Against Gun Violence. And by me: Stormy Daniels Speaks on 60 Minutes and Trump Is Disloyal, and I Care About That a Great Deal.
Here are some more things in the news today...
BREAKING: United States expels 60 Russian diplomats, orders Seattle consulate shuttered in response to UK spy case.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 26, 2018
This might mean something if Russia didn't own the U.S. president. https://t.co/O2ZQvfxEfV
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2018
Michael Holden and Roberta Rampton at Reuters: U.S. and E.U. Expel Scores of Russian Diplomats in Response to U.K. Nerve Attack. "Besides the United States, 14 European Union countries also expelled Russian diplomats, European Council President Donald Tusk said. Ukraine and Canada also took action, and in total Monday's announcements affected more than 100 Russian diplomats — the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War. ...'To the Russian government we say: when you attack our friends, you will face serious consequences,' a senior U.S. administration official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity."
It doesn't bode well that no one at the White House will go on record to say Russia will face consequences for attacking our closest ally.
Meanwhile...
Harry Yorke at the Telegraph: Kremlin Warns Boris Johnson It Has a 'Surprise' for Those Who Compare Russia to Nazi Germany.
The Kremlin has warned Boris Johnson that it has a "surprise" in store for those who have the "impudence" to compare Russia with Nazi Germany.That is very worrying. As is the silence from Donald Trump as Russia publicly threatens the United States' closest ally, which brings us to our next item.
In a veiled warning to the Foreign Secretary, Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, claimed that the UK is using the Salisbury attack as part of a "black PR" campaign to turn the West against Russia.
Describing Mr Johnson's comparisons between Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin as a "colossal provocation," Ms Zakharova told Russian reporters that there would be repercussions for Britain.
"We have a surprise for all who have the impudence to compare, to draw parallels between, Russia and the Third Reich," she added.
Broidy's the same guy who offered to help Moscow-based energy lawyer Andrei Baev get Russian companies removed from a U.S. sanctions list. https://t.co/9ijeHDZl3K
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2018
Here's the Bloomberg report on Broidy and Baev. https://t.co/IxTMjHNyEq
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2018
In related news...
Craig Timberg and Tom Hamburger at the Washington Post: Former Cambridge Analytica Workers Say Firm Sent Foreigners to Advise U.S. Campaigns.
Cambridge Analytica assigned dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014, according to three former workers for the data firm, even as an attorney warned executives to abide by U.S. laws limiting foreign involvement in elections.Not coincidentally, Wisconsin is currently serving as a testing ground for the Republican takeover of everything by any means possible. To wit: Emily Mills at Rewire: The Unbelievable True Story of Wisconsin's Supreme Court and What's at Stake. "For well over a century, Wisconsin's state Supreme Court was largely considered to be an exemplary legal body, lauded for its fair-minded and rigorous approach. In the past decade, however, there's been a significant erosion of that reputation... Now, influence from outside donor groups and a recent lack of accountability for justices presiding over related cases could have serious repercussions for everything from reproductive health and voter access to campaign finance law. There is almost no regulation remaining in Wisconsin when it comes to when and if judges must pull themselves off cases involving campaign donors. That's largely thanks to a series of decisions on the part of the conservative-dominated court over the past decade."
The assignments came amid efforts to present the newly created company as "an American brand" that would appeal to U.S. political clients even though its parent, SCL Group, was based in London, according to former Cambridge Analytica research director Christopher Wylie.
Wylie, who emerged this month as a whistleblower, provided The Washington Post with documents that describe a program across several U.S. states to win campaigns for Republicans using psychological profiling to reach voters with individually tailored messages. The documents include previously unreported details about the program, which was called "Project Ripon" for the Wisconsin town where the Republican Party was born in 1854.
See also: Charles Pierce at Esquire: Wisconsin Republicans Are Desperate to Not Hold an Election. "The Republicans in Wisconsin are notable for not taking Rule of Law for an answer. As we noted last week, a judge appointed by Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage this particular midwest subsidiary, whacked the governor for stalling a couple of special elections just because the Democrats might win them. Up in Madison, Walker, and the Republican majorities in the state legislature, have decided to be quite contemptuous of that particular court."
Anyway. Going back to that WaPo report on Cambridge Analytica for a moment...
This WashPo piece is stunning. If true this raises the possibility that CA violated election laws and used mass immigration fraud to elect Republicans. https://t.co/nHaAS6f9pv pic.twitter.com/P1kvHz24Kh
— David Leopold (@DavidLeopold) March 26, 2018
I'm sure we can all appreciate the profound irony of Donald fucking Trump being aided by a company that may have committed immigration fraud. JFC.
Barbara Ortutay at AP/TPM: Federal Trade Commission Confirms Facebook Probe As Its Shares Plunge.
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Facebook's privacy practices following a week of privacy scandals including allegations a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm got data inappropriately from millions of Facebook users.Fucking hell.
Facebook's stock, which already took a big hit last week, plunged as a result.
Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the probe would include whether the company engaged in "unfair acts" that cause "substantial injury" to consumers.
Facebook's privacy practices have come under fire after revelations that Cambridge Analytica got data on Facebook users, including information on friends of people who had downloaded a psychological quiz app, even though those friends hadn't given explicit consent to sharing. Facebook is also facing questions over reports that it collected had years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths, and information about text messages from Android users.
A new report suggests Democrats will need an electoral wave not seen in more than 40 years to win the U.S. House and overcome Republican advantages from gerrymandering in key states. https://t.co/t3mEwLzvTG
— AP Central U.S. (@APCentralRegion) March 26, 2018
Sure, but did this report take into consideration that Joe Biden is going to travel back in time to beat up Donald Trump in high school, tho? https://t.co/Ve5hKtUKkg
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2018
In all seriousness, though: It's not just gerrymandering with which Democrats will have to contend at midterms. Russia got away with interfering in our last national election. Do you think they're just going to sit out the next one? The answer to that is a resounding no. https://t.co/kvEaVe97vC
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 26, 2018
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[Content Note: Trans hatred] Andy Towle at Towleroad: Trump Issues Late Night Policy Memo Banning Most Transgender Servicemembers. "The Trump administration issued a new policy on transgender servicemembers late Friday night that was immediately slammed by LGBTQ and civil rights groups as discrimination masked as policy. The Washington Post reported: 'The decision revokes a full ban that Trump issued last summer but disqualifies U.S. troops who have had gender reassignment surgery, as recommended by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis…'" So much for all that stellar punditry about how Mattis would moderate Trump.
Trump has done a lot of despicable things, but rescinding the right to serve openly from people who are willing to give their lives to defend this nation, while he compromises its sovereignty, is right near the top of the fucking list.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 24, 2018
Naturally, a policy that sounds like it has Mike Pence's name written all over it has Mike Pence's name written all over it.
Zack Ford at ThinkProgress: Pence Secretly Drafted Trump's Latest Transgender Military Ban. "Vice President Pence and some of the country's most prominent anti-LGBTQ activists had a role in reversing the outcome, which explains why the report explaining the decision is rife with anti-trans junk science. Slate's Mark Joseph Stern reported Friday night that, according to multiple sources, Pence played 'a leading role' in creating the report, along with Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, which has been dubbed 'Trump's favorite think tank,' and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ hate group. Both Heritage and FRC praised the report Friday. According to Stern's reporting, it was true that Mattis favored allowing transgender military service, but Pence 'effectively overruled' him." Goddammit.
[CN: Nativism] Theresa Waldrop at CNN: U.S. Army Veteran Who Served Two Tours in Afghanistan Has Been Deported to Mexico. "A U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan has been deported to Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The deportation follows an earlier decision by U.S. authorities to deny Miguel Perez's citizenship application because of a felony drug conviction, despite his service and the PTSD he says it caused. Perez, 39, was escorted across the U.S.-Mexico border from Texas and handed over to Mexican authorities Friday, ICE said in a statement. Perez, his family, and supporters, who include Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, had argued that his wartime service to the country had earned him the right to stay in the United States and to receive mental health treatment for the PTSD and substance abuse." YES. Correct. I'm an enraged that anyone who risked their life for this nation would be denied the opportunity to live within its borders.
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[CN: Gun violence; harassment] Alex Horton at the Washington Post: A Fake Photo of Emma González Went Viral on the Far Right, Where Parkland Teens Are Villains. "A doctored animation of González tearing the U.S. Constitution in half circulated on social media during the rally, after it was lifted from a Teen Vogue story about teenage activists. In the real image, González is ripping apart a gun-range target. ...The animation bounced around conservative Twitter before it received a signal boost Saturday from actor Adam Baldwin. He tweeted to a quarter of a million followers with a hashtag reading '#Vorwärts!' — the German word for 'forward' and an apparent reference to the Hitler Youth, whose march song included the word."
Kristen Reed, Julie Wolfe, Kaitlyn Ross, and Tim Darnell at 11Alive: Cyberattack Hits Atlanta Computers — 'Everyone Who Has Done Business' with City May Be at Risk. "In a story first reported by 11Alive, city of Atlanta computers have been cyber attacked by ransomware that has encrypted some personal and financial data. 'We don't know the extent of the attack,' said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a Thursday afternoon press conference. ...Officials also said Thursday afternoon they are working with the FBI, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cisco cybersecurity officials, and Microsoft to determine what information has been accessed and how to resolve the situation. Bottoms said everyone who has done business with the city is potentially at risk, and advised businesses and consumers to check their bank accounts." The situation remains unresolved. Damn.
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images at the Guardian: Puerto Rico Six Months After Hurricane Maria: Then and Now. It is good, very good, to see evidence of progress, because people's lives, and the quality of those lives, depend on that progress. Still: Much more is required. Much more.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
