Shakesville

Here Is Something Nice

Eastsidekate sent me this great article and now I am sharing it with you, because it's a story so nice that I care about it even though I don't care at all about hockey at all (sorry). Tracey Myers at NHL Insider: Emergency Goalie Has 'Ton of Fun' Playing for Blackhawks.

Scott Foster didn't expect his Thursday to end like this.

The 36-year-old accountant from Oak Park, Illinois has gone to about 15 Chicago Blackhawks games this season as an emergency goaltender.

The first surprise Thursday came when he was about a block away from United Center, when he was told he'd be dressing for the game against the Winnipeg Jets. The second surprise came about six minutes into the third period when starting goaltender Colin Delia was injured and Foster had to go in.

"I don't think I heard anything other than 'Put your helmet on,'" Foster said.

Foster made seven saves and did not allow a goal playing 14:01 in the 6-2 win.

..."I'm an accountant by day," Foster [who plays in a league at Johnny's IceHouse West, the Blackhawks' former practice rink about a mile from United Center] said. "So a few hours ago I was sitting on my computer typing on a 10-key, and now I'm standing in front of you guys just finished 14-1/2 minutes of NHL hockey."

...It wasn't how Foster expected his Thursday to go, but he now has an experience he'll never forget.

"There's always a chance," Foster said. "You come to enough games, guys do get hurt. You just don't think that it's going to happen to you. This is something that no one can ever take away from me. It's something I can go home and tell my kids and they can tell their friends and whatnot. Just a ton of fun and a lot of good memories."

And, just for the record, no one was catastrophically injured for Foster to have his moment ~~in the sun~~ on the ice: Starting goalie Delia left the game with cramping and will be just fine.

People Are Shocked, Confused That Trump Occasionally Agrees to Look Like He Cares About Russian Aggression

I keep seeing articles in which is expressed surprise and/or perplexity that Donald Trump occasionally agrees to a policy that makes him, ever so briefly, look as though he cares about Russian aggression.

This is a pretty good example, care of John Hudson, Shane Harris, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post:

In the days leading up to the largest expulsion of Russian spies in U.S. history, few people inside or outside the Trump administration knew exactly what the president would do.

U.S. intelligence officials, who had been pushing to dismantle Moscow's spy networks, believed that the president might decide against a recommendation to close the Russian Consulate in Seattle.

...But on Friday, the president's national security team presented him with three options, and Trump's final decision set in motion an exodus of 60 Russian spies — a surprising rebuke of Moscow that even caught U.S. allies off guard.

"We received signals that expulsions were coming, but the numbers surprised us," said a senior European diplomat based in Washington. "It was very high."

The uncertainty surrounding the president's decision reflected a phenomenon that has baffled the United States' closest allies for almost a year: Despite Trump's reliably warm rhetoric toward Moscow and his steadfast reluctance to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Trump administration has at multiple times taken aggressive action against Russia at the recommendation of the president's top aides.

...[Said John Herbst, a Russia scholar at the Atlantic Council]: "The president's heart doesn't seem to be in it, but for whatever reason, he's willing to go along with his advisers."

Let me just posit this wild theory as the reason Trump was willing to go along with advice designed to dismantle Moscow's spy networks (which, by the way, left "well over 40 Russian spies operating in the United States who were not included in the initial purge"): Because none of this matters while Trump is firmly ensconced in Putin's pocket.

Russia doesn't need spies in the United States when the United States president will share highly classified intel directly with Russian diplomats right in the Oval Office.

And when the United States president is deferential to Putin, to the point of being afraid to anger him:

Donald Trump's national security advisers spent months trying to convince him to sign off on a plan to supply new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to aid in the country's fight against Russian-backed separatists, according to multiple senior administration officials.

Yet when the president finally authorized the major policy shift, he told his aides not to publicly tout his decision, officials said. Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials.

"He doesn't want us to bring it up," one White House official said. "It is not something he wants to talk about."

The White House declined to comment.

I'm sure they did. It might make Putin angry, after all.

Officials said the increasingly puzzling divide between Trump's policy decisions and public posture on Russia stems from his continued hope for warmer relations with Putin and stubborn refusal to be seen as appeasing the media or critics who question his silence or kind words for the Russian leader.

...Trump has recently taken a sharper tone on Putin, administration officials said, but the shift seems more a reaction to the Russian leader challenging the president's strength than a new belief that he's an adversary. Putin's claim earlier this month that Russia has new nuclear-capable weapons that could hit the U.S., a threat he underscored with video simulating an attack, "really got under the president's skin," one official said.

Trump may finally be waking up to the reality that he is not, as he has unaccountably believed, Putin's pal but instead has been Putin's mark. And now that Putin has Trump — and the nation he's now tasked with leading — right where he wants them, he has no use for the transparent buddy shtick anymore.

At this point, I don't believe Trump is truly committed to pushing back on the Kremlin, even if he's vexed by what he perceives as a shifting alliance. If that changes, Putin is going to push back — hard. And he's in a much stronger position, thanks to Trump's deeply disloyal and equally stupid behavior toward Russia for many, many years.

If Trump really does get tired of being owned by Putin, I suspect he will find in short order that he's more owned than he ever knew.

And the only way for the rest of us to get out from under that is to remove Trump from office, swiftly.

On Roseanne

[Content Note: Bigotry.]

Lots of people are writing lots of thinkpieces and tweeting lots of thoughts about the Roseanne reboot. I have no idea whether it's good or not, or whether it's funny or not, or whether it is successful in accomplishing whatever it's trying to accomplish, because I would never fucking watch it since Roseanne has revealed herself to be a gross bigot who has repeatedly disgorged ugly transphobia, homophobia, Islamophobia, and nativism.

She doesn't get my time or my viewership or a higher rating to charge higher advertising rates from me. Not even so I can criticize the show.

The world will just have to live without my take, and I bet everyone will somehow be able to manage.

I will just say this: People who sneer at progressives for being unwilling to consume "art" by people who don't share our politics can go fuck themselves.

"But you're so intolerant!" You're goddamned right I am. I am absolutely intolerant of the politics of malice and abuse, of the politics of bigotry, of the politics of marginalization and eliminationism and dehumanization.

I have zero tolerance for those politics, as I understand the basic concept that politics don't exist in a vacuum, but have real world consequences for real people — and because I care about those people (including myself), I am intolerant of politics that would harm them (us).

And anyone who wants to call me intolerant for putting my principles into practice, instead of keeping them behind glass in case of an emergency that never comes because ART ART ART, is welcome to do that all the livelong day, if that is what they decide is the best use of their time — scolding me instead of joining me to resist and challenge bigotry.

Everyone's gotta have priorities.

Mine include not watching Roseanne.

Open Thread

image of a pink couch

Hosted by a pink sofa. Have a seat and chat.

Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker DesertRose: "What's your least favorite song? (Interpret as you like, but I was thinking more like, 'Song that annoys the shit out of you,' than 'Song that brings up unpleasant/traumatic feelings or memories.')"

Anything sung in a fake squeaky voice. Please don't ever make me listen to anything sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Throwback Thursdays

image of me at age 9, standing in my living room in a sassy pose, with my hand on my hip, my hair tied up in a scarf, my jeans rolled up, and sporting a blouse with a cursive L on it

There is nothing we won't try;
Never heard the word "impossible."
This time there's no stopping us—
We're gonna do it!
As I have previously mentioned, I loved Laverne & Shirley so much as a kid that a childhood friend and I performed the theme song for a school talent show when we were in third grade. My mom even stitched an L (for Liss/Laverne) onto my blouse for the occasion!

[Please share your own throwback pix in comments. Just make sure the pix are just of you and/or you have consent to post from other living people in the pic. And please note that they don't have to be pictures from childhood, especially since childhood pix might be difficult for people who come from abusive backgrounds or have transitioned or lots of other reasons. It can be a picture from last week, if that's what works for you. And of course no one should feel obliged to share a picture at all! Only if it's fun!]

Discussion Thread: Self-Care

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'm going to slide into a pool and swim back and forth for as long as I can while thinking about absolutely nothing but the sound of my own breathing as soon as possible.

Russia Escalates Cold War II

After a British spy was poisoned in the U.K. earlier this month, at act of provocation that Western intelligence agencies concluded was, expectedly, perpetrated by Russia, the U.K. expelled 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation. Fourteen additional European Union countries, Ukraine, Canada, and the United States followed suit, resulting in the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats in total, which comprised the largest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War.

Last year, after both houses of Congress passed legislation to impose sanctions on Russia, which Donald Trump eventually signed into law, Vladimir Putin, who had threatened retaliation if the bill passed, made good on his threat, seizing two U.S. diplomatic properties in Moscow and ordering the U.S. Embassy to reduce its staff immediately. (For which Trump, incredibly, thanked him.)

And this time, it's no different: Putin threatened retaliation, and here it is.

Richard Pérez-Peña at the New York Times reports:

The Kremlin announced on Thursday that it would expel 60 American diplomats, and probably dozens from other nations, intensifying Russia's clash with Europe and the United States.

The action, which also includes closing the American consulate in St. Petersburg, was in retaliation for the expulsion of more than 150 Russian officials from other countries — itself a reaction to a nerve-agent attack on British soil that Britain and its allies have blamed on Moscow.

The United States ambassador to Russia, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, the foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, announced. Sixty American diplomats will be expelled from Russia — the same as the number of Russian diplomats whom Washington is expelling. The Americans were given until April 5 to leave the country.

In addition, Russia plans to expel an unspecified number of diplomats from the more than 20 other countries and NATO that joined Britain and the United States in expelling Russians. Mr. Lavrov said the number would "mirror" the number of expelled Russians, which suggested that the ultimate total might rise above 150. (Britain and Russia have already each expelled 23 of the other country's representatives.)

The crisis over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter has driven tensions between the Kremlin and the West to their highest pitch in decades. The tit-for-tat responses raise the prospect of further, more serious escalations, either public or clandestine.

This is a pointed escalation, and it comes at a time when the United States' State Department is in absolute shambles.

In fact, at the Washington Post, Carol Morello reported yesterday that "more than 200 former U.S. ambassadors and veteran diplomats" are so freaked out by the eroded state of U.S. diplomacy that they have all signed a letter "expressing alarm over the slide in U.S. leadership in the world and urging senators to grill Mike Pompeo about his plans to reverse the corrosion of the State Department if he is confirmed as secretary of state."

The Republicans won't; the Democrats might; and it won't matter either way because Pompeo will get confirmed and he has zero interest in restoring the State Department to functionality, especially where Russia is concerned.

I've no doubt most, if not all, of the signatories of the petition know that. But the point is that there is a lot of them, all in agreement that the Trump administration is not prepared (or willing) to meet the global challenges facing us.

And that starts with a resurgent, aggressive Russia. Who is not on our side, no matter what Donald Trump may think or what deals he believes he has made.

Daily Dose of Cute

If you've been a reader here for a very long time, you may remember that Sophie, when she was a baby, was Queen of Balancing on Narrow Things, with a particular favorite being my (then) computer monitor, earning her the moniker of Monitor Cat.

Now she is a middle-aged lady of ten years old (for real; how is that possible?!) and she doesn't balance on my monitor anymore, but she does still like to spend inordinate amounts of time hanging out on my shoulder, or, when that favorite perch is unavailable, the narrow back of the sofa.

image of Sophie the Torbie Cat sitting on the back of the sofa

Still narrow, but more suitable for an aging queen, who wants to ensure maintenance of dignity which would be swiftly undermined by a tumble.

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 434

a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

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: Floating Pardons for Flynn and Manafort May Constitute Obstruction and Trump Ousts Veterans Affairs Secretary; Replaces Him with Doctor Who Gave Him Glowing Medical Report and Secret Service Report on Mental Illness and Mass Shootings Is Spectacularly Unhelpful.

Here are some more things in the news today...

Judge says emoluments case against Trump can proceed https://t.co/6AaJfsqwrO
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) March 28, 2018

That, of course, is not itself something to resist — it's good news that the case is proceeding. But it does put additional pressure on Trump, who thrashes like a caged beast when he's cornered, so I just want to say once again that I hope we can simultaneously hold him accountable and get through the process safely as a nation.

* * *

[Content Note: Warmongering; violence] Jeffrey Lewis at the Daily Beast: John Bolton to Kim Jong Un: Give Up Your Nukes Like Gaddafi Did — Before We Killed Him.

The agreement with Libya, and how its relates to North Korea, is actually one of the least well-understood episodes in recent diplomacy. But it is important, because it demonstrates how Bolton plies his trade, and the danger he poses.

...As Libya collapsed into civil war, the very same John Bolton [who had used Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, with whom the Bush administration had struck a disarmament deal, to deflect criticism that the U.S. couldn't be trusted to respect disarmament since Saddam Hussein had abandoned his weapons programs and the U.S. invaded anyway], by then a television pundit, openly advocating killing Gaddafi. Asked how this squared with his support for the 2003 disarmament deal, Bolton was nonplussed.

"Nobody at the time thought it was a get-out-of-jail-free card in perpetuity," he explained.

None of this was lost on the North Koreans.

...States pursue nuclear weapons for a lot of reasons, but chief among them is that the bomb is, in fact, a get-out-of-jail-free card in perpetuity—or at last as close to one as there is. A lot has been made of the fact that Kim Jong Un reportedly told a visiting South Korean delegation that would consider denuclearization. It's worth looking at precisely what Kim allegedly said:

"There is no reason for [North Korea] to possess nuclear weapons as long as military threats to the North are eliminated and the regime's security is guaranteed."

Kim isn't offering to give up his nuclear weapons; he's explaining why he needs them. The notion that Kim would turn around and give up this capability for the deal that preceded Gaddafi's grisly death is absurd...

So why is Bolton talking about Libya at all? His audience isn't North Korea at all.

Bolton wants to give the impression that he gave diplomacy the old college try, before moving on to the urgent task of getting us all killed in a nuclear war.

Absolutely right. Bolton has a major boner for war. I don't know how else to put it — the man gets visibly excited, animated, when talking about the prospect of war. His role in the Bush administration was to facilitate a war of choice, a task which he eagerly pursued. He is dangerous because he wants war. It thrills him.

He is observably the adult, highly empowered version of the vicious child who pulls wings off of insects, just because it gives him the thrill of being a vengeful god. I don't know why anyone would ever pretend that John Bolton is anything but a war-hungry sadist.

* * *

Andy Towle at Towleroad: Trump Tweets Fresh Attack on Amazon. "Donald Trump attacked Amazon on Twitter Thursday morning [after a] report on Axios on Wednesday that he was obsessed with taking down the company sent the stock plunging more than 4 percent. Tweeted Trump: 'I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!'"

As I wrote yesterday: "That is just so fucked up. For many reasons. Not least of which is that the president shouldn't deliberately harm the competitor of his billionaire friends just because he can."

Almost too obvious to say, but Trump's Amazon-bashing has always been inseparable from his media-bashing. The president is going after the owner of a newspaper that aggressively investigates him. pic.twitter.com/5dsRIXHBMO
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 29, 2018

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post in 2013.

* * *

This tweet begins a thread by Sarah Kendzior that is a must-read on the infrastructure attacks getting frighteningly little attention across the United States:

This week's US infrastructure attacks:

* Atlanta city services paralyzed due to ransomware attack; deadline for ransom is today
* Baltimore 911 dispatch system hacked
* Boeing hit by serious virus, metastasizing quickly
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) March 28, 2018

[CN: Nativism; misogyny; war on agency] Betsy Woodruff at the Daily Beast: ICE Now Detaining Pregnant Women, Thanks to Trump Order. "Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ending its practice of automatically releasing pregnant women from detention, according to internal communications reviewed by The Daily Beast. This is because of [Donald] Trump's executive order 'Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,' which requires stricter enforcement of immigration laws. Previously, the agency's general practice was to release women from detention who were pregnant. Now, pregnant women will only be able to get released if an ICE officer determines so on a case-by-case basis." This is clearly to stop pregnant detainees from accessing abortion, even though "pregnant women are more likely to miscarry if they're in detention than if they are free."

[CN: Nativism] Esther Yu Hsi Lee at ThinkProgress: Federal Agents Detain 28 Undocumented Immigrants at a Tent Rental Business in Southern Florida. "On Wednesday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division served a search warrant to TentLogix and asked people for legal paperwork, according to a company employee who spoke with a local Fox News affiliate. A source within HSI told ThinkProgress that agents served the business with a search warrant as part of 'a criminal case' and proceeded to identify everyone. During the course of identifying workers, federal agents 'encountered' 28 undocumented immigrants and detained them for administrative arrest. Despite the arrest of these immigrants, the source denied that this was an 'immigration raid' and would not confirm whether other people, including citizens, were taken because this was an 'ongoing criminal investigation.'" Such mendacious horseshit.

EXCLUSIVE: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has spent much of his first year in Washington living in a townhouse one block from the U.S. Capitol that is co-owned by wife of a top energy lobbyist. https://t.co/LpvJruFmuk pic.twitter.com/zwnrA4lhTy
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 29, 2018

[CN: Animal endangerment] Oliver Milman at the Guardian: Alarmed Conservationists Call for Urgent Action to Fix 'America's Wildlife Crisis'.

An extinction crisis is rippling through America's wildlife, with scores of species at risk of being wiped out unless recovery plans start to receive sufficient funding, conservationists have warned.

One-third of species in the U.S. are vulnerable to extinction, a crisis that has ravaged swaths of creatures such as butterflies, amphibians, fish, and bats, according to a report compiled by a coalition of conservation groups. A further one in five species face an even greater threat, with a severe risk of being eliminated amid a "serious decline" in U.S. biodiversity, the report warns.

"America's wildlife are in crisis," said Collin O'Mara, chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation. "Fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates are all losing ground. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to prevent these species from vanishing from the earth."

We also owe it to the fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, and invertebrates. Cough. Unfortunately, we've got a president whose interest in nature extends only as far as he can plunder its resources for profit and whose sons brutally kill animals for fun, so help isn't coming anytime soon.

* * *

[CN: Misogyny and racism.]

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Atlantic had hired a despicable conservative bigot, because he deserves "a second chance" and because diversity of ideas blah blah (which isn't even defensible, based on the facts about conservative inclusion in major media outlets). Naturally, Mother Jones' Kevin Drum had to take up the bigot's cause, because there isn't a single thing primarily women and marginalized men are upset about that Drum can't condescendingly 'splain is stupid.

Oh goody, Kevin Drum decided to throw his white dudeness behind Kevin Williamson.

He was only a little racist, like one time 6 years ago.

And hanging women? It’s just the logical conclusion of a “pro-life” position.

What’s the big deal? pic.twitter.com/YKH9OceP5r
— Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) March 29, 2018

This is what it's like to be a woman: You're just moving through your day, and then you read an ostensibly progressive man shrugging off as NBD a dude saying women who get abortions should be hanged. MURDERED. And you're just supposed to keep going like that's not fucking awful. https://t.co/WIwjZdYrdv
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 29, 2018

I and every other woman I know are exhausted with having to encounter active threats and passive tolerance of threats to our safety and very lives, just as the cost of being alive and sentient. STOP PRETENDING THAT IT DOESN'T MATTER.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 29, 2018

Fuck, I'm tired.

* * *

And finally, some more distressing Cambridge Analytica news...

Here is is. The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook contract. Denied by Facebook. Denied by Cambridge Analytica. Leaked by @chrisinsilico. And published today by @DamianCollins as part of UK parliament's fake news inquiry. pic.twitter.com/72wIOqLr6t
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) March 29, 2018

Dan Sabbagh at the Guardian: Cambridge Analytica Parent Company Had Access to Secret MoD Information. "SCL, Cambridge Analytica's parent company, had access to secret UK information and was singled out for praise by the UK Ministry of Defence for the training it provided to a psychological operations warfare group, according to documents released by MPs."

Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Cambridge Analytica Exploited Ethnic Tensions and Fragile Democracies Across the Globe. "The recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica used the Facebook data of 50 million Americans, taken without their permission, to help them micro-target voters during the 2016 presidential election, has set off a firestorm. But the roots of the problem extend far deeper than one country and one election. Cambridge Analytica honed its techniques in a host of countries with political institutions that are younger, more fragile, and far more vulnerable to interference."

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?

Secret Service Report on Mental Illness and Mass Shootings Is Spectacularly Unhelpful

[Content Note: Gun violence; disablism; mental illness stigma; toxic masculinity. Video may autoplay at link.]

Kevin Johnson at USA Today: 64% of Assailants in Mass Attacks Suffered from Symptoms of Mental Illness, Secret Service Report Finds.

A striking number of suspects linked to violent attacks in schools and other public places last year were stalked by symptoms of mental illness and nearly half were motivated by real or perceived personal grievances, a new Secret Service report has found.

An examination of 28 attacks, which claimed nearly 150 lives and wounded hundreds of others — from Orlando to Las Vegas — also found that more than three-quarters of the assailants engaged in suspicious communications or conduct that raised concerns from others in advance of the assaults, according to the report due for release Thursday.

I have so many questions. Starting with: WTF does "stalked by symptoms of mental illness" mean? And also: How many of them had a history of domestic violence? More? Less? Does anyone doing this sort of analysis even care?

I also have concerns:

"Its findings are likely to further fuel concerns about the untreated mentally ill and their access to high-powered firearms." Except: Women have higher rates of mental illness and the same access to guns in the U.S., but are almost never mass shooters. https://t.co/C0YFwi4DDx
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 29, 2018

As I just wrote last month:

The erasure of women is one of the most pernicious and enraging pieces of misogyny in any patriarchal space. But the erasure of women, specifically the erasure of mentally ill women, in this particular construct is comprehensively contemptible. Not only is it misogynist and disablist, in service to notions that abet gun violence, but women are routinely accused of being "crazy" in every conceivable way and for every conceivable reason in every other aspect of our lives.

We are "crazy," we are "insane," we are "hysterical," we are "emotional," we are "irrational," we are every euphemism for mentally ill under the sun, we are "psycho bitches."

But when it comes to mass shootings, suddenly women are so uniquely sane that our failure to have the mystery mental illness that causes "people" to pick up guns isn't even remarkable.

We're crazy when men need us to be crazy to avoid accountability and we're sane as the day is long when we don't want to talk about toxic masculinity or access to guns.

I am a woman with mental illness, and I flatly refuse to be disappeared in service to this narrative. I exist. And so do millions of other women with mental illness. If mental illness is the primary issue, then why is only men who are picking up guns?

That is not incidental. And we really need to stop pretending like it is.

Further: We need to stop ignoring that many mass shooters have HAD access to mental healthcare. Mental healthcare workers can't necessarily "cure" people of seething resentments underwriting violence.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 29, 2018

As I also wrote just last month:

I am not certain whether social services did everything allowable under the law (or if, critically underfunded, they even had the resources to do so) to deter Cruz. I do know, however, that it's entirely possible that Cruz simply didn't meet the criteria for additional attention and/or detention, because not all mass shooters are mentally ill.

Just circularly arguing, as many people do, that all mass shooters are "insane" because anyone who does such a thing must be "insane" doesn't make it so.

And, even if he is mentally ill, he still might not meet the criteria for any state intervention, by social services or law enforcement.

There's this pervasive idea that if, someone gets flagged, there will be swift and meaningful action taken "by authorities" to prevent that person from doing harm to others. But unless a detailed plot or actionable threat to harm others is uncovered, or some other illegal activity, detaining a person, no less indefinitely, is not lawful. Nor should it be.

Flagging can (and should) trigger an investigation, and it can (and should) trigger social interventions to provide access to any and all means of care. That's what "doing something" means.

And it seems quite possible that the police and social services "did something." Maybe everything they could [legally do].

So what we're left with is this: Perhaps the only crack through which Nikolas Cruz fell was legal gun access.

To be clear: This is not an argument against better mental healthcare access *across the board* in the United States. I am all for everyone having unlimited access to any and every mental health resource they need.

It's an argument against scapegoating people w/ mental illness.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 29, 2018

It's also not an argument that there's something inherently wrong with men. I'm not the one making that argument, when I point out that it is disproportionately men who pick up guns and kill people with them and argue we need to examine the culture in which they're socialized.

The people who believe there's something inherently wrong with men are the ones who argue that mass violence committed by men is just as unpreventable as natural disasters, and use that argument to justify doing nothing at all.

Trump Ousts Veterans Affairs Secretary; Replaces Him with Doctor Who Gave Him Glowing Medical Report

Lisa Rein, Philip Rucker, Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post report:

Trump fired his embattled Veterans Affairs secretary Wednesday and tapped as his replacement atop the chronically mismanaged agency the president's personal physician, who gained prominence with his effusive praise of the 71-year-old's physical and mental health.

The ouster of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, who has been mired in scandal over his charging taxpayers for luxury travel expenses and the infighting among his senior aides, had been widely expected and was made official at 5:31 p.m. by presidential tweet.

Trump said he would nominate Ronny L. Jackson, 50, an active-duty rear admiral in the Navy who has served for the past three administrations as a White House physician.

A biography released by the White House shows Jackson is credentialed and experienced in medicine but has no background in management.

I'm going to come back to the main point in a moment, but first: Presidential tweet??? That's not a fucking thing. It's just a tweet, published by a corrupt shit who happens to be president and routinely flaunts federal recordkeeping laws. But what a turn of phrase to normalize the extremely abnormal behavior of this president.

Back to the subject at hand.

That Jackson "has no background in management" is very significant, given the breathtaking scope of the VA and its pressing needs: "VA, which employs 360,000 people and has a $186 billion annual budget, serves a growing population of veterans in need and is suffering from a shortage of doctors, nurses, and mental-health experts." He is manifestly unqualified for this extremely demanding and historically difficult position.

Or would be, if the point was to run it effectively. But, like virtually every other Trump appointee, Jackson is tasked with breaking it — thus justifying the privatization of the VA which Trump and his cronies desperately want.

On his way out the door, Jackson's predecessor David Shulkin had a few words about that dreadful scheme, which he shared very publicly in an op-ed for the New York Times:

I believe differences in philosophy deserve robust debate, and solutions should be determined based on the merits of the arguments. The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services, however, reject this approach. They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed. That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans.

...These individuals, who seek to privatize veteran health care as an alternative to government-run V.A. care, unfortunately fail to engage in realistic plans regarding who will care for the more than 9 million veterans who rely on the department for life-sustaining care.

The private sector, already struggling to provide adequate access to care in many communities, is ill-prepared to handle the number and complexity of patients that would come from closing or downsizing V.A. hospitals and clinics, particularly when it involves the mental health needs of people scarred by the horrors of war. Working with community providers to adequately ensure that veterans' needs are met is a good practice. But privatization leading to the dismantling of the department's extensive health care system is a terrible idea. The department's understanding of service-related health problems, its groundbreaking research, and its special ability to work with military veterans cannot be easily replicated in the private sector.

I have fought to stand up for this great department and all that it embodies. In recent months, though, the environment in Washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful, and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work that our veterans need and deserve.

...As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country.

Shulkin was not entirely successful during his leadership at the VA, but his fuck-ups don't render his point moot. He is absolutely correct that the VA provides specialized care and services that are not "easily replicated in the private sector," and only money-grubbing fools would pretend otherwise. That's why Shulkin's position is supported by a number of prominent veterans' organizations.

Make no mistake, this article by David Shulkin explains why he was fired. He opposed handing over our healthcare to private companies. @votevets stands with the @AmericanLegion @AMVETSHQ & @VFWHQ opposing Trump’s plan. https://t.co/reDFuJLBuA
— Jon Soltz (@jonsoltz) March 29, 2018

Which brings us back to Jackson, who apparently doesn't agree with any of these organizations whose leadership and members have expertise in veterans' needs, and instead agrees with a bunch of greedy shitbirds who didn't make enough money from the wars they sent veterans to fight, so now it's back to exploiting veterans some more so these disgusting dragons can build more piles of gold on which to sleep.

One might suggest it's unfair that I would so bluntly question Jackson's integrity, just because he accepted this job, but his integrity was flushed down the toilet when he gave a ridiculous assessment of Trump's health — "He has incredibly good genes, and it's just the way God made him." — which, as is now obvious, was delivered in exchange for this job.

So, now we know why he gave such a curious report on Trump's health. Quid pro quo. https://t.co/rph4ZCKhbZ
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

This entire administration is corrupt to the core.

There are people who assert that Shulkin was corrupt, too — but, if he was, he still wasn't corrupt enough for Donald Trump. Which tells us everything we need to know about his new man at the VA.

Floating Pardons for Flynn and Manafort May Constitute Obstruction

Yesterday, the New York Times published a report that one of Donald Trump's attorneys, John Dowd, who coincidentally just resigned last week, "broached the idea of Mr. Trump's pardoning two of his former top advisers, Michael T. Flynn and Paul Manafort, with their lawyers last year, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions."

Naturally, the White House has denied that such discussions ever took place, despite the fact that White House counsel Ty Cobb issued a very carefully worded statement that used the present tense: "I have only been asked about pardons by the press and have routinely responded on the record that no pardons are under discussion or under consideration at the White House." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was also typically evasive: "I'm not aware of any conversation of that nature." A statement which, of course, does not at all mean they didn't happen.

This is a big deal. It's potentially more significant than if Donald Trump had just gone ahead and preemptively pardoned them, because dangling out the possibility of a pardon could be construed as an attempt to persuade them to behave in a certain way to earn that pardon — which could in turn be seen as an attempt to obstruct justice.

Alex Whiting at Just Security explains (emphasis original):

Some experts have argued that the pardon power is absolute and that the President's motives in issuing a pardon thus could not be questioned, while others contend that it could be a crime to issue a pardon for corrupt purposes (such as in exchange for cash). But the debate over the absolute nature of the pardon power is actually not relevant to the alleged incidents involving Trump's lawyer. Indeed, that entire debate can be set aside for the moment. Why? Because there's been no pardon. Instead, a pardon has only been dangled before Flynn and Manafort, and the analysis of whether that action could become part of an obstruction case against Trump raises entirely different considerations.

If Trump actually pardoned Flynn and Manafort, he would have to do so publicly and accept the political consequences of this profound act. As Jack Goldsmith suggests in the New York Times story, for those who believe that the pardon power is absolute and cannot be scrutinized by courts, the remedy for a corrupt pardon is in the political arena: elections or impeachment. What's more, if Trump actually pardoned Flynn and Manafort, then the two men could no longer assert their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination because their pardons would erase their federal criminal liability, and therefore Mueller could call both to testify in the Grand Jury and in any subsequent trial. If they continued to assert their Fifth Amendment privilege on the basis of state criminal exposure, Mueller could obtain an order granting them so-called "use immunity" which would ensure that their testimony could not be used against them in any way in state court either. Manafort and Flynn would then be compelled to testify, or risk jail for contempt of court.

The pardon dangle works completely differently—and in important respects has the opposite effects. First, this kind of dangle is not a public act. Therefore, as long as it remained secret, it could be done without incurring any of the political downstream consequences that come with actually pardoning someone. It hides the President from scrutiny rather than exposes him to it as a potential check on the use of the power. Second, the objective of the dangle appears to have been to foreclose the prospect of Flynn and Manafort's cooperating or testifying. Once again, this is the opposite effect of an actual exercise of the pardon. The message of the dangle was sufficiently clear: hang in there and keep fighting (do not cut a deal with the special counsel) because you will be pardoned before you spend a day in jail...

Because a pardon dangle is secret and seeks to discourage cooperation with an ongoing investigation without public scrutiny or consequences, it should be analyzed differently than a pardon when it comes to an obstruction case. Because of the way a pardon dangle operates, it should acquire none of the deference that might be afforded an actual pardon, and if the dangle is found to be orchestrated with a corrupt motive, it should qualify as a potential act of obstruction of justice.

One of the most important takeaways from this episode is that the Trump team, in spite of plethoric narratives to the contrary, is not "stupid." They are incredibly savvy and equally corrupt manipulators, who are eminently willing to abuse power because they have contempt for the rule of law, except insofar as they can wield it to police, intimidate, and harm other people.

Never mistake for "stupidity" what is, upon even the most cursory scrutiny, calculated malice.

I remain unconvinced by the argument that the Trump team must be "stupid" because they keep "getting caught." They did not "get caught" dangling pardons to Flynn and Manafort. An informant, probably Rick Gates, disclosed it, likely as part of his own attempt to escape consequences for his own corruption, as much as is possible.

Further, we only see what they're not getting away with. None of us has any real idea how much they are getting away with, because they operate in secrecy. .

And every time we have more evidence of some attempt to secretly influence, obstruct, or altogether deny justice, that should make us ask what else there is yet to be discovered, not feel certain that they are "stupid" because we found out one thing, or two, or ten.

To think we know the scope of the corruption of an administration that values secrecy is what's stupid, frankly.

Open Thread

image of a yellow couch

Hosted by a yellow sofa. Have a seat and chat.

Question of the Day

What would constitute a "perfect" day for you?

[Got a suggestion for a future Question of the Day? Drop it in comments here!]

Wednesday Links!

This list o' links brought to you by broccoli.

Recommended Reading:

Shay Stewart-Bouley at Black Girl in Maine: The Underbelly of Activism: What We Don't Talk About

Jon Henley at the Guardian: Ecuador Cuts off Julian Assange's Internet Access at London Embassy

Jenn Fang at Reappropriate: [Content Note: Nativism; white supremacy] U.S. Census' Proposed New Citizenship Question Will Lead to Undercounting of Asian Americans

Marcus Gilmer at Mashable: [CN: Gun violence] Rick Santorum Tries to Walk Back "CPR" Comment But Keeps Repeating the Bad Thoughts

Catherine Lizette Gonzalez at Colorlines: [CN: Racist/nativist violence] Dozens of Hate-Fueled Attacks Against People of Color Reported at Walmart Stores Nationwide

Alaina Leary at Everyday Feminism: I'm Autistic — Here Are 5 Ways You Can Support Me at Work

Tanya Basu at the Daily Beast: The Interstitium, the Largest Organ We Never Knew We Had

Sarah Sloat at Inverse: Ancient Footprints Found in Canada May Explain the Peopling of the Americas

Luke O'Neil at the Outline: What's the Deal with Jerry Seinfeld?

Hannah Sole at Pajiba: As Mr Brightside Spends Its 200th Week in the Charts, We Ask: Which Other 2004 Hits Deserve a Comeback? (200th week?! !!! !!! !!!)

James Whitbrook at io9: Oh My God, Hot Toys Made a Baby Luke Skywalker Action Figure

AJ Caulfield at Looper: See Tom Hardy as Al Capone in first photo from Fonzo

Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!

OMG SHOEZ

Listen, the news is tough, and we all need moments of escape from the horror to recuperate and prepare for the next onslaught, and I can talk about shoes all the livelong day, so welcome to the OMG SHOEZ thread.

Got a favorite pair of shoes you want to share? Bought a new pair about which you're super excited? Have a recommendation to make, or want to caution us away from a purchase you regret? Want to solicit suggestions for a specific event, a foot issue, an elusive something for which you've been hunting? Having trouble finding something particular on a budget? Have at it in comments!

* * *

image of my feet clad in light blue patent shoes with a very pointed toe and gold detailing on the top and heel

OMG SHOOOOOOOOOOEZZZ
It is no secret that I love shoes. It is also no secret that I am cheap AF. The combination of these two qualities meant that I spent many, many years drooling over Fluevog shoes and never buying any, even on the rare occasions when I had the money to splurge on expensive shoes.

But then their Bardot pump in blue and gold dropped into the double-digits because they were almost sold out — and they still had some in my size. Which never happens!

So I snapped them up, and now, my friends, I own my very first pair of Fluevogs, and it is everything I hoped it would be! HEART EYES.

Not only are these shoes absolutely beautiful, even dreamier in person than in photos, but they are extraordinarily comfortable. I could stand in and/or walk in these all day.

Last night, Iain and I stopped for a quick bite while we were out, and I happened to be wearing these shoes — which proceeded to cause pandemonium among the waitstaff! The manager actually came to the table to check them out, because he had to see for himself the shoes over which everyone in the kitchen was losing their minds, haha.

I spelled Fluevog at least six times for people who wanted to write it down. If Fluevog is looking for a new part-time influencer to model their shoes in public, CALL ME.

cartoon image of me winking

Inspector General Initiates FISC Review

This is absolutely incredible: The Inspector General's office has announced that it will, at the request of Jeff Sessions and a bunch of Republican creeps in Congress, initiate a review "that will examine the Justice Department's and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person," i.e. Carter Page.

BREAKING: DOJ Inspector General "will initiate a review" to examine "DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person." pic.twitter.com/QrQ0deIYEn
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 28, 2018

This, of course, is related to a centerpiece of the Republican strategy to discredit Special Counsel Bob Mueller's entire investigation: They argue that Page was illegally surveilled, despite the fact that Page has practically bragged about being an Russian agent.

Rep. Devin Nunes' infamous memo contended that Hillary Clinton and/or Democrats paid for the Steele dossier, and the FBI subsequently used it exclusively as justification to spy on Page, making the application unethically ideological in nature.

But of course Nunes' memo was trash: Rep. Adam Schiff's subsequent memo made clear, even with redactions, what manifest bullshit it was. Crucially, Schiff's memo recounted that the FBI had reasons independent of the Steele dossier to suspect Carter Page of "knowingly" assisting Russian intelligence officials, and further that the FBI provided the FISA court with information that corroborated the dossier's assertions.

So all of this is a fucking sideshow, with no purpose except to try to discredit Mueller — by defending a likely traitor.

The Trump administration is expending an awful lot of capital on Carter Page. So much so that it almost seems as though they feel confident they have unlimited capital to spend. Like people who know the party will never end.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

Meanwhile, no word on whether the IG is inclined to initiate a review of how the FBI handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, and public disclosures thereof. Cough.

Daily Dose of Cute

image of Olivia the White Farm Cat in close-up as she grooms herself

Grooming time! ♥
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 433

a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

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: Gates Communicated with Person Tied to Russian Intelligence While Working for Trump Campaign and Stormy Daniels Wants to Depose Trump.

Here are some more things in the news today...

NEW: All 22 women senators, GOP and Dem, joined this AM to air “deep disappointment” with their chamber’s failure to follow the House and remodel the Hill’s sexual harassment system. https://t.co/gC2VnpXKW2
— Elana Schor (@eschor) March 28, 2018

Senate Majority Leader McConnell's office and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's office have both responded in support. Terrific! So let's get it on the docket, gents!

LOL: "No estimate on timing for legislative action." Of course.

* * *

Ben Blanchard and Joyce Lee at Reuters: China Says North Korea's Kim Pledged Commitment to Denuclearization.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged his commitment to denuclearization and to meet U.S. officials, China said on Wednesday after his meeting with President Xi Jinping, who promised China would uphold friendship with its isolated neighbor

After two days of speculation, China and North Korea both confirmed that Kim had traveled to Beijing and met Xi during what China called an unofficial visit from Sunday to Wednesday.

The visit was Kim's first known trip outside North Korea since he assumed power in 2011 and is believed by analysts to serve as preparation for upcoming summits with South Korea and the United States.

North Korea's KCNA news agency made no mention of Kim's pledge to denuclearize, or his anticipated meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that is planned for some time in May.

China has traditionally been secretive North Korea's closest ally but ties have been frayed by its pursuit of nuclear weapons and China's backing of tough U.N. sanctions in response.

China's Foreign Ministry cited Kim in a lengthy statement as telling Xi the situation on the Korean peninsula was starting to improve because North Korea had taken the initiative to ease tension and put forward proposals for talks.

"It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearization on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il Sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong Il," Kim Jong Un said, according to the ministry.

North Korea was willing to talk with the United States and hold a summit between the two countries, he said.

"The issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realization of peace," Kim said.

Yeah, so, it's hard to get a good read on exactly what's happening here, but I think Xi is putting an immense amount of pressure on Kim to agree to nuclear disarmament; Kim is exploiting Xi's good will to further try to establish legitimacy of his rogue regime on the global stage; South Korea is eager to resolve the situation, from a position of very little control despite its being the most imperiled; and Donald Trump is already trying to take credit for solving a problem that isn't anywhere close to being solved.

I hope whatever scheme Xi's working on to contain Kim will work, but I don't yet trust that this isn't all going to go south, very quickly, at any moment.

* * *

[Content Note: Nativism] Esther Yu Hsi Lee at ThinkProgress: Trump Ends Protected Immigration Status for Liberians, Gives Them One Year to Pack up Their Lives. "Donald Trump will wind down a temporary immigration program for Liberian immigrants who have legally lived and worked in the United States for the past 16 years, according to a presidential memorandum released Tuesday afternoon. Authorized at the president's discretion to conduct foreign affairs, the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program for Liberia is an immigration program that allows beneficiaries to legally work in the country and travel out of the country with permission. The program does not provide a pathway to citizenship." Fucking hell.

But meanwhile... [CN: Nazism] Justin Rohrlich at the Daily Beast: ICE Won't Deport the Last Nazi War Criminal in America. "During the first three months of ICE's 2018 fiscal year, the agency deported 56,710 people, 46 percent of whom had not been convicted of a crime. This year, ICE expects to deport 209,000 people. It is highly unlikely that Jakiw Palij will be among them — even though Palij is a war criminal, the last Nazi war criminal living in the United States. Palij served as a guard during World War II at the Trawniki forced labor camp... But Palij, now 94, remains a free man because no one else wants him, either. As Rosenbaum told The Daily Beast in an email, 'Unfortunately, the governments of Germany, Ukraine, and Poland have declined to admit Palij and no other nation has agreed to accept him.'"

[CN: Nativism] Kira Lerner at ThinkProgress: Sarah Sanders Lies About Census Citizenship Question. "White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders falsely claimed on Tuesday that the citizenship question the Trump administration decided to add to the 2020 Census has been part of the national survey for decades. 'This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965, with the exception of 2010 when it was removed,' Sanders said, later repeating the same claim. The citizenship question has not been part of the census since 1950. ...Sanders also claimed that the Commerce Department felt strongly that the question be included in order to provide the U.S. Department of Justice with data to 'protect voters' and 'specifically to help us better comply with the Voting Rights Act.' That statement is also misleading. According to a recent ProPublica report, the original DOJ letter requesting the change was drafted by John Gore, 'a Trump political appointee who is best known for his work defending Republican redistricting efforts around the country.'"

* * *

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Tae Kim at CNBC: Amazon Loses More Than $50 Billion in Value on Report Trump Wants to 'Go After' Company's Tax Treatment. "Axios is reporting that Trump wants to 'go after' the e-commerce giant, citing five sources who have talked about Amazon with him. 'He's obsessed with Amazon,' one source told the media outlet. 'Obsessed.' Trump has discussed altering the company's tax treatment because several of his friends told him Amazon is hurting their businesses and 'killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers,' according to Axios. Amazon shares fell 4.3 percent Wednesday after the report, wiping out nearly $31 billion in shareholder value."

That is just so fucked up. For many reasons. Not least of which is that the president shouldn't deliberately harm the competitor of his billionaire friends just because he can.

I'll also recall here the interview I shared yesterday, in which reporter McKay Coppins told Seth Meyers:

I've had experiences with this, even when I was interviewing [Donald Trump] 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.

So it's entirely possible that the primary source for Axios' report was Trump himself. Which is a big problem, especially given the consequences.

* * *

Instead of firing Mueller, Trump has just unleashed his minions to smear and (try to) discredit him. https://t.co/TPUaHPXpzF
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

[CN: Video may autoplay at link] Benjamin Siegel and Matthew Mosk at ABC News: NRA Tells U.S. Senator It Accepted Foreign Funds, But Used None to Back Trump. "The National Rifle Association has told a leading Senate Democrat that the gun rights group has accepted foreign donations but said that the funds were not used for election-related activities. The acknowledgment came last week in a newly-disclosed, carefully-worded letter responding to questions from Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, about the organization's meetings with Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign. NRA General Counsel John C. Frazer told the senator that while his organization did accept money from foreign donors, those funds were not used in election activities. Frazer also noted that the NRA did, at times, transfer money from non-election-related accounts to those used for campaign activity."

"We totes did a bunch of stuff that LOOKS like we used foreign donations to support domestic campaigns, but we definitely didn't!"—The NRA, basically.

Sure, sure. https://t.co/iiCnMkz9Km
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer, and Daniel Lippman at Politico: Republicans to Push Balanced-Budget Amendment. "House Republicans will take up a balanced-budget amendment when they return from recess, several sources tell us. This follows on the heels of their $1.3-trillion budget bill and their massive tax bill. Why do this now? Here's what we think: It's almost election season, and it would be helpful if GOP lawmakers could go home and be able to say they voted to support balancing the federal budget, even though they voted boosted discretionary spending by a ton, and have not touched entitlement spending, which, they have said for years, is the driver of U.S. budget deficits." And then upon their return, they can use it to justify austerity programs. Fuckers.

Julie Carr Smyth at AP/TPM: Ohio GOP Rep. Didn't Disclose $50K in Donations While Registered as Lobbyist. "U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci failed to disclose nearly $50,000 in political contributions while registered as a Washington lobbyist starting in the late 2000s, according to an Associated Press review of federal records. The AP review identified five reporting periods from 2008 to 2010 while the Ohio Republican was registered as a lobbyist when he either failed to file the required disclosure form or reported giving no political contributions when he had given." The entire Republican party is corrupt to the core.

[CN: Gun violence; white supremacy] Casey Quinlan at ThinkProgress: Betsy DeVos Is Using School Shootings to Justify Draconian New Discipline Guidelines. "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Republican lawmakers are considering moves that may undo years of progress in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. A White House commission on school safety plans to hold its first meeting on Wednesday [and] one of the biggest concerns is that the commission is considering rolling back Obama administration guidance on school discipline that discouraged officers from disciplining students and pushed for more positive and less punitive responses to student behavior. In other words, the federal government will undo the Obama administration's work to keep students in school and out of the criminal justice system." Seethe.

NEW: Why was Robert Mercer, the fabulously wealthy Trump donor, volunteering as a policeman in a tiny desert town? https://t.co/DtW1N9XUkF
— Zachary Mider (@zachmider) March 28, 2018

Presumably to ready himself for the martial law he'll soon be buying. https://t.co/pH9fanL1ix
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

* * *

[CN: White supremacy; misogyny; transphobia] Cristina Cabrera at TPM: Atlantic Editor Defends New Hire Who Called for Death Penalty for Abortions. "Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg earlier this week defended his decision to hire conservative columnist Kevin Williamson, who once tweeted that women who'd had abortions should be hanged. 'I don't think that taking a person's worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation is the best journalistic practice,' Goldberg said in a memo sent to the Atlantic staff, which Slate published on Tuesday. 'I have read most, or much, of what he has written; some of his critics have not done the same.'"

It gets worse.

Jordan Weissmann at Slate: Why Would the Atlantic Hire Kevin Williamson? "Jeffrey Goldberg knows that he hired a troll. But he thinks readers should give him a second chance. ...In addition to making the thought leader's now-familiar case for ideological diversity, Goldberg wrote that he likes to 'give people second chances and the opportunity to change.' This is an odd justification for a terrible and high-profile hire at one of the country's most venerable political magazines." Odd. Yes. And then some.

I am so fucking tired of hearing about the need to give vile white men "second chances" when there are so many women and marginalized men who have never even been given a first chance. https://t.co/QNwry7uLod
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 27, 2018

In other White Guys Doing Terrific News...

[CN: Racism; misogyny; mockery of sexual abuse survivors] Claire Fallon at the Huffington Post: Sean Penn The Novelist Must Be Stopped. "When news broke, earlier this month that Penn's debut novel, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, not only existed but included a poem about the #MeToo movement, I received it as a clarion call to action. 'Saddle up, Fallon,' I told myself. 'An actor's overblown prose needs puncturing.' I cracked my review copy of Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff and settled in to ruin my own weekend. ...When I say that Bob Honey is reminiscent of a fever dream, I mean that it's nonsensical, unpleasant, and left me sweaty with mingled horror and confusion. All well and good, you might still be thinking. But is Bob Honey wildly offensive? Reader, it is."

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?