Shakesville

The Virtual Pub Is Open

image of a pub Photoshopped to be named 'The Beloved Community Pub'

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

Belly up to the bar,
and be in this space together.

Friday Links!

This list o' links brought to you by cucumber water.

Recommended Reading:

Lola Alapo at the UTK News: New Forensic Analysis Indicates Bones Were Amelia Earhart's.

Dr. Naila Kabeer at Ms.: [Content Note: Misogyny; sexual harassment; religious oppression] The Fear of Sexual Harassment Is Robbing Women of Work Around the World

Teresa Jusino at the Mary Sue: [CN: Sexual assault] Terry Crews Getting No Closure, or Justice, After Alleged Groping by WME Agent Adam Venit

Kalina Nedelcheva at Bust: [CN: Sexual harassment; misogyny] The Problem with Dan Harmon's Apology

Breanna Edwards at the Root: Lisa Bonet Opens Up, Says She Sensed 'Sinister, Shadow Energy' from Co-Star Bill Cosby

Matt Novak at Gizmodo: Sobbing Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Securities Fraud and Being an Asshole

Kaiser at Celebitchy: Viola Davis: People Don't Feel Like Black Women 'Deserve the Same Empathy'

Jazzi Johnson at the Grio: Serena Williams Wins First Post-Baby Tennis Match Like the Boss She Is

Rae Paoletta at Inverse: The Tadpole Galaxy Looks Surreal Through the Eyes of This Telescope

AJ Caulfield at Looper: [CN: Spoilers for The Walking Dead; descriptions of violence] Why People Stopped Watching The Walking Dead

Sameer Rao at Colorlines: On Wrinkle in Time Day, 4 Questions with Ava DuVernay

Jodi Smith at Pajiba: It's Official: Wonder Woman 2 Will Have a Female Villain and We Are Excited for It

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

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[Content Note: Fat hatred.]

"While it is not an obligation for anyone at any size to have to engage in physical activity, it's important progress to create spaces that welcome those who do for everyone's physical and mental health." — Ragen Chastain, quoted in a recommended piece in the Washington Post by Rebecca Scritchfield, "Why we need to take fat-shaming out of fitness culture."

This is, of course, something about which I've been writing for many years. If not-fat people who purport to care about fatties' health really did care about our health, they wouldn't do things like shout abuse at us out car windows while we're out for a walk, or body-shame us while we're swimming, or condescendingly "compliment" us for engaging in some physical activity that we may well have been doing for most of our lives, or take sneaky pictures of us in locker rooms and post them publicly without our knowledge or consent, or any one of a seemingly endless number of things that not-fat people who totally care about our health do, thus creating a massive psychological barrier for us to overcome to engage in physical activities.

If you care about fat people's health, then know this: Fat Hatred Is Unhealthy for Fat People.

Allowing us to live our lives free of fat hatred and shaming and judgment, however, is very good for our health indeed.

[H/T to Shaker girlunderthsea.]

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Daily Dose of Cute

image of Zelda the Black and Tan Mutt sitting next to my desk and Dudley the Greyhound standing just behind her, both of them looking at me plaintively

Does anyone have any treats or cuddles
for these poor neglected dogs?
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.

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We Resist: Day 414

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: Trump Agrees to Meet Kim Jong Un; 2020: Maybe I'll Just Move to Neptune; and Today in Toxic Masculinity.

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

Allegra Kirkland at TPM: GOP Gearing up to Gerrymander Again. "Nearly a decade ago, Republicans launched REDMAP, an audacious bid to win key statehouses and governorships in order to give themselves control over the redistricting process that followed the 2010 Census, so they could gerrymander district lines in their favor. The project succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, giving them a major edge in successive election cycles. Now, they're looking to do it again. The GOP has launched its first ever national group focused exclusively on how congressional and state legislative maps are drawn, with an eye on the next round of redistricting, which will follow the 2020 Census. And they have help from deep-pocketed, state-based super PACs devoted to holding onto their gains." Absolutely chilling.

Julian Borger at the Guardian: Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un Believe They Are Winning — and the Risks of That Are Epic. "Both leaders view the provisional agreement to meet as a personal triumph born of resolve. If each reckons he has the other over a barrel, they will be little room for compromise if and when they meet. ...Having invested so much personal capital in the meetings, there is a significant danger of a backlash from either or both men if they do not get their way under the glare of international attention. ...There are serious questions over whether the Trump administration is equipped for complex talks. ...Trump for now is flying solo, convinced of his expertise in the art of the deal. But his deal-making in the real estate business drove him to bankruptcy several times. The implications of an equivalent failure in nuclear summitry, and how he might react, are sobering."

[Content Note: Nativism] John D. Feeley at the Washington Post: Why I Could No Longer Serve This President.

Shortly after the Charlottesville riots last August, I made the private decision to step down as [Donald] Trump's personal representative and ambassador to the government of Panama. The president's failure to condemn the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who provoked the violence made me realize that my values were not his values. I never meant for my decision to resign to be a public political statement. Sadly, it became one.

The details of how that happened are less important than the demoralizing take-away: When career public servants take an oath to communicate dissent only in protected channels, Trump administration officials do not protect that promise of privacy.

Leaking is not new in Washington. But leaking a sitting ambassador's personal resignation letter to the president, as mine was, is something else. This was a painful indication that the current administration has little respect for those who have served the nation apolitically for decades.

Now that I am no longer oath-bound to support the president and his policies, several points warrant clarification. I did not resign over any policy decisions regarding my remit in Panama, or — as was incorrectly alleged in the media — due to the president's denigrating comments about countries that participate in the visa diversity lottery.

I resigned because the traditional core values of the United States, as manifested in the president's National Security Strategy and his foreign policies, have been warped and betrayed. I could no longer represent him personally and remain faithful to my beliefs about what makes America truly great.

Damn.

[CN: Nativism] Luke Barnes at ThinkProgress: Anti-Refugee White House Aide Given Key Refugee Job at State Department. "A White House aide with strong anti-immigration views has been selected for a top State Department post overseeing refugee admissions. Andrew Veprek was appointed as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migrations, according to Politico. The bureau aims to provide 'aid and sustainable solutions for refugees, victims of conflict, and stateless people…through repatriation, local integration, and resettlement in the United States.' But current and former administration officials say Veprek has parroted the hardline views of senior policy adviser Stephen Miller." Terrific. And by "terrific," I mean gross as fuck.

AP/Guardian: Sam Nunberg, Ex-Trump Campaign Aide Who Resisted Subpoena, Appears in Court. "A former Trump campaign aide arrived on Friday at the federal courthouse in Washington for a scheduled grand jury appearance days after he defiantly insisted in a series of news interviews that he intended to defy a subpoena in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Sam Nunberg...on Monday had balked at complying with a subpoena that sought his appearance before a grand jury as well as correspondence with multiple other campaign officials. ...'I thought it was a teachable moment,' he said of his 24 hours in the limelight." What a stunt. JFC.

[CN: Sexual assault] Caitlin MacNeal at TPM: Woman Listed on Stormy Daniels NDA Is a Trump Accuser. "A woman listed on the non-disclosure agreement that porn actress Stephanie Clifford claims [Donald] Trump failed to sign is porn actress Jessica Drake, who accused Trump of sexual misconduct in October 2016, according to reports from the New York Daily News and CNN. The agreement attached to the lawsuit filed by Clifford, who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels, listed four individuals that Clifford had spoken to about the information the NDA barred her from publicizing. One of those individuals listed is Angel Ryan. Drake's lawyer, Gloria Allred, confirmed to the Daily News and CNN that Drake is Angel Ryan — Jessica Drake is Ryan's stage name. In October 2016, after the release of the 'Access Hollywood' tape, Drake came forward and alleged that Trump forcibly kissed her in 2006 during a charity golf event."

Naturally, Trump's base will continue to not care about any allegations that he had an affair, committed sexual assault, and/or paid for women's silence. Also, they may not even be hearing about it in the first place: [CN: Video may autoplay at link] Oliver Darcy at CNN: Pro-Trump Media Sweeps Stormy Daniels Story Under Rug. Of course.

Even despite the fact that there are multiple corruption angles to the story, and there is yet another revelation on that account today.

Sarah Fitzpatrick and Tracy Connor at NBC News: Michael Cohen Used Trump Company Email in Stormy Daniels Arrangements.

Donald Trump's personal attorney used his Trump Organization email while arranging to transfer money into an account at a Manhattan bank before he wired $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence.

The lawyer, Michael Cohen, also regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the actress — whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford — before she signed a nondisclosure agreement, a source familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

And Clifford's attorney at the time addressed correspondence to Cohen in his capacity at the Trump Organization and as "Special Counsel to Donald J. Trump," the source said.

Cohen has tried to put distance between the president and the payout, which has been the subject of campaign finance complaints.

In a statement last month, Cohen said he used his "personal funds to facilitate a payment" to Clifford, who says she had an intimate relationship with Trump a decade ago.

"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly," Cohen said in that statement.

But an email uncovered in the last 24 hours and provided to NBC News by Clifford's current attorney, Michael Avenatti, shows First Republic Bank and Cohen communicated about the money using his Trump company email address, not his personal gmail account.

"I think this document seriously calls into question the prior representation of Mr. Cohen and the White House relating to the source of the monies paid to Ms. Clifford in an effort to silence her," said Avenatti, who is representing Clifford in a lawsuit against Trump.

"We smell smoke."

It's pretty tough to create distance between Donald Trump and a payoff when Trump's personal attorney used his Trump organization email to discuss the payoff.

Goddammit this administration is a fucking shitshow.

* * *

History is repeating itself with the #BankLobbyistAct, as Republicans and Democrats prepare to vote to roll back regulations on big banks. Don't you think we should have learned our lesson by now? https://t.co/7rUKIajJ8Q
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 9, 2018

RJ Reinhart at Gallup: AI Seen as Greater Job Threat Than Immigration, Offshoring. "More than half of Americans (58%) say technology poses a greater threat to jobs in the U.S. over the next decade, while 42% see immigration and offshoring as the greater threat. Republicans, who see immigration and offshoring as roughly an equal threat as technology, are the only subgroup of Americans not to see technology as a greater threat." I hope any Democrat fixing to run for president in 2020 is ready to say the word "automation" loudly and often along the campaign trail.

Lisa Rein at the Washington Post: 'It's Killing the Agency': Ugly Power Struggle Paralyzes Trump's Plan to Fix Veterans' Care. "VA employs 360,000 people and accounts for $186 billion annually. Its sprawling health-care and benefits system, which Trump blasted on the campaign trail as a wasteful, inefficient failure, churns away. But the dysfunction, observers say, has jeopardized legislation to extend the Choice program and a separate initiative to overhaul VA's aging electronic health-records system. The legislation remains deadlocked in Congress. And if Shulkin were to leave, his allies said, the health-records project would face indefinite delay. 'Things have come to a grinding halt,' one senior manager said. 'It's killing the agency. Nobody trusts each other.'"

[CN: White supremacy] Jackson Landers at Rewire: A Leaked Message Board Shows What White Supremacists Think of the Police. "A recently leaked trove of internal communications provides a window into the thinking of members of the modern 'alt-right' white supremacist movement. ...During one online conversation about what encounters with police in Charlottesville might be like, some white supremacist planners expressed dissenting views, but the consensus seemed to be that they could expect some level of support from law enforcements. One user...said the Virginia State Police 'will be focused on antifa [anti-fascists] not us… especially if we kiss some ass with a few blue lives matter chants… Be nice to cops and they will be nice to you.' 'Random Reminder: Cops of all races are our natural allies; we should keep it that way,' wrote another user." If this horrifies police, as it should, they really need to reflect hard on why it is that white supremacists view the police as being on their side. And then proceed swiftly to make meaningful changes.

NYDN: Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, GOP senator says https://t.co/sYqm3BtSCI
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 9, 2018

Well, I hope that GOP Senator is as wrong about this as he is about everything else.

Also: I'm extremely annoyed that Tapper (and virtually every reporter/news outlet) is reporting this without any contextualizing framing. Namely, that Sen. Dean Heller is peddling this trash to energize GOP voters, and that it effectively pressures Kennedy to quit, irrespective of the intent and irrespective of whether Kennedy ultimately refuses to succumb to that pressure. Heller should be ashamed and should not be allowed to get away with this shit.

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

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Today in Toxic Masculinity

[Content Note: Violent entitlement; animal cruelty; misogyny. Video may autoplay at second link.]

The next time you hear some asshole complaining about "bitches' mixed signals," think about the women who die for saying no unequivocally.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2014

And if you have even the tiniest, infinitesimal urge to say Not All Men, tell me instead: HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH MEN?
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) October 24, 2014

Those tweets were posted in 2014, and they were not the first time I've written about this subject, because I have been writing about this for a long time.

And here I am, writing about it again.

Thankfully, the women about whom I'm writing today — women who said no to men who wouldn't take no for an answer — are alive, unlike many other women who were killed by men who couldn't bear to let live any woman who rejected them. Unfortunately, in one case, two dogs are dead.

Amy Lavalley at the Post-Tribune: Owner of 2 Pugs Who Were Beaten to Death Rebuffed Advances of Man Accused in Their Killings. "The woman who owned two pugs that were beaten to death last month in Porter Township reportedly rebuffed the advances of the man charged in the dogs' deaths, according to court documents. Anthony Priestas, 23...was arrested Tuesday on two felony counts of animal cruelty for allegedly killing the dogs Feb. 21 after removing them from the Winfield home of Brandy Ortiz, court documents said. Ortiz, who has said she received the dogs, Marley and Mugsy, as a Christmas present from her parents seven years ago, told police investigating the allegations that 'she remembered a male subject who has been trying to date her but she has stayed off his advances,' court documents said."

The description at the link of how Priestas murdered the dogs is very difficult to read. (Frankly, I don't advise it.) He was clearly full of uncontrollable rage, all because he felt entitled to Ortiz, who he didn't believe had the agency and right to tell him no.

WCCO Minnesota: Man Urinated in Co-Worker's Water After She Denied His Advances. "A 47-year-old Minneapolis man is accused of urinating into a co-worker's water bottle numerous times after she rejected his romantic advances. Conrrado Cruz Perez faces one misdemeanor and one gross misdemeanor charge of adulterate by bodily fluid in connection to the October 2017 incident. According to the complaint, a female worker at the Perkins Family Restaurant in Vadnais Heights reported noticing water in her water bottle tasting like urine for the past several months. She said it began happening after she told Perez that she only wanted to be friends with him. Since then, she said there were about 15 instances of urine-tasting water in her water bottle at work."

Stephanie Saul at the New York Times: Harvard Professor Resigns Amid Allegations of Sexual Harassment. "A prominent government professor at Harvard who has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by as many as 18 women over several decades resigned on Tuesday following a decision by the university to place him on leave. The professor, Jorge I. Domínguez, 72, was the subject of a Feb. 27 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that reported that at least 10 women had accused him of sexual harassment. ...The Chronicle article told the story of Terry L. Karl, an assistant government professor at Harvard during the early 1980s, who said Dr. Domínguez...had made repeated attempts to kiss her, attempted to run his hand up her dress and, at another point, made a reference to raping her. As she rebuffed his advances, Dr. Karl said, Dr. Domínguez reminded her of how powerful he was."

These are just three stories from the past week. Women tell men no. Men respond by killing their dogs; peeing in their water; threatening their careers.

That women often "agree" to do things with men because they are afraid what will happen if they say no is something about which I've had occasion to write twice, lately: Once regarding Aziz Ansari and once regarding Louis CK.

And that's because "Why didn't she leave?" — or say no, or scream, or kick him in the balls, or violently hurt him, or any one of a number of escalating variations — is a ubiquitous bit of apologia deployed in response to every story of a woman being harmed by a man and living to tell the tale.

This is why. This is always why.

Because there are men who will do terrible things, worse things than they are already doing to us, if we say no.

And there's no way to tell whether a man is that kind of man until he shows us.

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2020: Maybe I'll Just Move to Neptune

Hey, I know everything feels terrible right now and Donald Trump's presidency is a garbage nightmare hate-circus, but don't worry, everyone! Joe Biden is going to defeat Trump — with GIMMICKS!

Edward-Isaac Dovere at Politico: Team Biden Mulls Far-Out Options to Take on Trump in 2020.

Joe Biden knows that winning in 2020 would require a shoot-the-moon set of circumstances and luck. So his team is on the hunt for a moon shot.

Okay, I'm gonna stop right there, after the very first line of the piece, because I'm calling bullshit already. Joe Biden has spent the last year suggesting that Hillary Clinton should have easily beaten Donald Trump and that he totally would have won if he'd ran, but now all of a sudden it will take a "moon shot" to defeat Trump, even though voters will have had years to see that Trump is precisely the terrible president Clinton said he would be? Does not compute.

The thing is, I believe Trump will indeed be difficult to defeat, for all the reasons he was difficult to defeat in 2016: The Electoral College, voter suppression, Russian interference, media bias and incompetence, bigotry, dark money, at least sixty million voters who will reflexively vote for any wreck of humanity the Republicans put on their ticket.

But Biden has repeatedly shit all over Clinton for failing to overcome all of these challenges — and the additional challenge of being the first female major-party nominee — despite the fact that she commandingly won the popular vote, so changing his tune about how hard it will be now that it's "his turn" is breathtakingly hypocritical.

And, of course, responding to that reality by trial-ballooning a bunch of absurd gimmicks is deeply unserious politics in a time in which we desperately need serious leaders:

Between stops on his book tour and in the ramp-up for what will be a heavy midterms campaign schedule, a tight circle of aides has been brainstorming a range of tear-up-the-playbook ideas for a White House run, according to people who've been part of the discussions or told about them.

On the list: announcing his candidacy either really early or really late in the primary process so that he'd define the field around him or let it define itself before scrambling the field; skipping Iowa and New Hampshire and going straight to South Carolina, where he has always had a strong base of support; announcing a running mate right out of the gate and possibly picking one from outside of politics; and making a pitch that he can be a bridge not just to disaffected Democrats, but to Republicans revolting against [Donald] Trump.

They've also discussed an idea some donors and supporters have been pitching Biden on directly for months: kick off by announcing that he'd only run for one term. One person who's pitched the idea said Biden would try to sell voters on "a reset presidency." The former vice president would pick a younger Democratic running mate and argue that he'd be the elder statesman to get the country and government back in order post-Trump and be the bridge to the next generation.

Biden is "thinking through a million unconventional options, because there is an acknowledgment that this could be an unconventional campaign," said one person involved in the discussions.

I hate all of these ideas with the fiery passion of ten thousand suns. And among the many reasons I hate them is that Donald Trump, who is a full-tilt insult-generating machine, would make mincemeat of any of them in about 2 seconds.

You can't out-dipshit Trump. And, even if you could, why would anyone want to? Come to the table with the seriousness and gravitas this country needs or GTFO.

And, not for nothing, but Biden doesn't even seem to be contemplating one of his biggest potential challenges:

The discussions reflect realities that Biden and his team are facing as they weigh whether to get real about running. He definitely still wants to be president but knows that his age will be a factor (he'll turn 78 two weeks after Election Day 2020). As a guy who's been in politics for nearly 50 years, he recognizes how tricky it would be to run at a time of political upheaval. And he understands that if he runs, the regrets over Hillary Clinton's attempted 2016 coronation will guarantee a crowded primary field, which he'd have to both fully participate in and stand apart from.

He's worried about "Hillary Clinton's 2016's attempted coronation," but not Bernie Sanders' actual expected 2020 coronation? Whooooooooooops!

In case Biden hasn't noticed, maybe because he's been too busy shit-talking Clinton, Sanders is already maneuvering to split the Democrats again. He is absolutely prepared — and is currently laying the groundwork — to implode the 2020 Democratic primary if he isn't handed the keys to the kingdom this time.

What is Biden preparing to address that?

As far as I can tell, all he's got is aping Sanders' shtick of treating "identity politics" as though it's toxic and pandering to white men. But Sanders has got the Trump-has-a-point approach all locked up, pal.

Truly, the only smart play for Biden is not to run. Coincidentally, that's also the best decision for the rest of us, which is the kind of tough decision anyone contemplating being president needs to be able to make.

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Trump Agrees to Meet Kim Jong Un

Just hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the United States is "a long ways from negotiations" with North Korea, the White House confirmed a South Korean announcement (yes, really) that Donald Trump would meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "at a place and time to be determined."

This is a troubling idea (at best) for a lot of reasons, primarily because Trump reversed decades of established diplomatic protocol without so much as a serious consultation with the State Department, which, not incidentally, is decimated after the first year of his presidency.

Particularly relevant here: The State Department's point-person on North Korea, Joseph Yun, retired in February and has not been replaced, and the Trump administration has not even yet nominated an ambassador to South Korea.

Despite the exasperating readiness of a significant segment of the political press to determine this could be a genius move, Trump's gambit blindsided U.S. diplomats and created a diplomatic clusterfuck:

Trump's high-wire gambit to accept a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sets off a scramble among U.S. officials to assemble a team capable of supporting a historic summit of longtime adversaries and determine a viable engagement strategy.

State Department officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were playing down the immediacy of talks in the hours before the White House rolled out the South Korean national security adviser, who made the surprise announcement that Trump would meet with Kim.

The apparent lack of coordination marked a pattern of mixed messaging that has characterized the Trump administration's North Korea diplomacy since Pyongyang launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile last year, sparking the Trump White House's biggest national security crisis to date.

Now the White House has committed to an unprecedented meeting at a time when the administration lacks a fully staffed cadre of diplomats and advisers.

...Past negotiators say full-fledged talks would require the United States to have a disciplined process and a team across government agencies working out the nuts and bolts of any agreement. They urged the administration to get ready for such a heavy lift if it was prepared to make a serious attempt.

I cannot even begin to fathom what a "serious attempt" at diplomatic negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un would look like.

That's not only because neither Trump nor Kim has ever demonstrated even a hint of being serious, stable, level-headed leaders, but also because this entire idea seems to be rooted in the deeply unserious premise that Trump has achieved something no other president could — which is absolute nonsense (but does fall directly in alignment with Trump's delusions of unique grandeur).

A senior administration official: President Trump has always been determined to try a different approach to North Korea. He will meet Kim Jong Un at a time and place to be determined. He‘s not prepared to reward North Korea in exchange for talks.
— Alexandra von Nahmen (@AlexandravonNah) March 9, 2018

As Eastsidekate quite rightly noted: "The talks ARE the reward." North Korea has been actively seeking a summit with a U.S. president since Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, petitioned then-President Bill Clinton for a meeting decades ago. The rogue regime desperately wants legitimacy on the global stage, and, repeatedly denied it, they used the development of a nuclear program to try to force the world to take them seriously.

Trump imagines he's doing something no other president could do, but what he's actually doing is something no other president would do.

Because even to agree to speak to Kim is to give him a major win.

As Ankit Panda writes at the Daily Beast: "For Kim, a meeting with Trump will be an unalloyed propaganda victory."

Kim will be given the opportunity to stage-manage a photo-op with a U.S. president. The costs of a freeze in nuclear and ballistic missile testing for the next two months are relatively minor for North Korea compared to the benefits of a meeting with Trump.

...A face-to-face meeting with Kim would require Trump to exercise cautious, measured engagement. He'd have to hear out what the North Korean leader has to say and know where the red lines lie. North Korea's long-term play on the Korean Peninsula is to "decouple" the United States and South Korea.

During his campaign for the presidency, Trump showed more interest in sitting down for a "hamburger" with Kim than he did in the alliance with South Korea, complaining about the costs of maintaining a forward-based military presence there. Those instincts still live within Trump and are ripe for exploitation by North Korea, which has had plenty of time to study him.

At some point, someone might try to explain this to Trump, and he might realize that he once again looks like a complete jackass who's embarrassingly out of his depth. But, this time, he can't just casually change his mind like usual.

Trump agreeing to meet Kim Jong Un isn't like all his other unfathomably awful decisions. He can't just change his mind once he's told it's a terrible idea, nor pretend the promise wasn't what it was. Backpedaling on this will have serious consequences. As will going thru w/ it.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 9, 2018

South Korean National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong said that Trump will meet Kim to "achieve permanent denuclearization" by the end of May. This is an extraordinary promise which seems very unlikely.

There's little chance the United States, or South Korea, will get what they want from this meeting, if it even happens. But even in the promise that it will, North Korea has already gotten something precious.

And that's why wiser presidents never made such a promise in the first place.

Open Wide...

Open Thread

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

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Question of the Day

Suggested by Shaker ericacbarnett: "What is an item/app/service that you wish someone would invent?"

I wish someone would invent practical teleportation that was free for everyone to use to instantly go anywhere they wanted anytime.

Hey, when I dream, I dream big!

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This Will Be Something. Or Nothing. Who Knows.

BREAKING: Trump says South Korea to make 'major statement' at 7 p.m. Eastern time, says he's discussed matter with President Moon.
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 8, 2018

Presumably, the major statement will be about North Korea, but who even knows, as we are living in the most horrendo timeline where nothing matters and Greg Norman is being dispatched to lobby the American president because GOLF.

In any case, here is a thread to discuss the major statement when it happens, and to discuss how everything is terrible in the meantime.

Open Wide...

This is a real thing in the world.

[Content Note: Guns.]

Look, I didn't want to have to tell you that this thing exists, but, unfortunately, Fannie alerted me to the fact that it exists, so now you're just going to have to deal with the fact that I can't keep living a normal life without talking about its existence until my brain doesn't feel like exploding anymore.

screencap of tweet authored by @dgen912 reading: 'Hi. How are you? Good, good. Here’s a photo of gun testicles' and featuring images of molded testicles detached with their packaging and with bullets, then attached to an assault rifle

It's like truck nuts, but for your assault rifle. COOL.

If there is an inanimate thing that could be said to be the exact opposite of me, this is it.

Opposite, antithesis, nemesis.

I have a pretty clear picture of the sort of person who would purchase this item, and it's exactly as unfair as you'd expect.

The truth is, there's nothing I can say with absolute certainty about anyone who would purchase a set of gunballs except this: I don't want to be in the same room with them. Ever.

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Shaker Gourmet

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!

* * *

image of a freshly baked lasagna sitting on my kitchen counter

A friend asked for my lasagna recipe, after I posted a photo of the lasagna I made for dinner last night, so, since I typed it all out to send to him, I figured I'd share it here, too!

One box of no-boil lasagna noodles
One package of low-fat ground beef
One small white onion, diced
One 4-8 oz package of baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
One 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
Half-cup grated parmesan cheese
At least two cups of shredded parmesan
At least one cup of shredded mozzarella
One egg
Three cloves of minced garlic
One 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
One 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
Red cooking wine
Two tablespoons of olive oil
Three tablespoons of oregano
One tablespoon of basil
One tablespoon of red pepper (ground, not flakes)
Two tablespoons of parsley
Salt and black pepper
Cooking spray
9 x 13 casserole dish
Tin foil

Preheat oven to 375.

On stovetop, heat olive oil in a dutch oven. Add diced onion and sliced mushrooms. (If the mushrooms soak up all the olive oil, add a little bit more.) Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Cook just until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms start to give off that delicious nutty smell, but still retain some of their texture. Set aside.

In the same pot, without cleaning, add ground beef. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper, and one tablespoon of oregano. Cook through. Drain and set aside. Remove excess oil from pot.

In the same pot, add crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, garlic, grated parmesan cheese, remaining oregano, basil, red pepper, and red wine to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add onions, mushrooms, and ground beef. Let simmer during next step.

(I use about a cup of red wine. The red wine is not necessary, btw, and the sauce will taste fine without it, if you prefer or have a guest who must avoid alcohol. Also: Keep tasting the sauce. Add more spice to suit your taste, if necessary. If it's too sweet, add more salt. If it needs a kick, add more red pepper. I use more spice than I suggest for the recipe, but that's a good starting point.)

Break egg into medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk. Add ricotta cheese, one cup of shredded parmesan, and parsley. Mix thoroughly.

Remove sauce from heat. Prepare casserole dish with cooking spray.

Lay a thin layer of sauce liquid (no chunky bits) on the bottom of the casserole dish. Lay three no-boil noodles. Cover with 1/3 of the sauce. Cover with 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Lay three more noodles. Cover with 1/3 of the sauce. Cover with 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Lay three more noodles. Cover with half-cup of shredded parmesan. Cover with remainder of sauce. Cover with remaining shredded parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Cover with tinfoil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove tin foil. Bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Enjoy!

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