North Korea shuts down its reactor

Obviously, this is very good news. Lil’ Kim is an unpredictable superwhacko so anytime he gets testy I tend to get a bit anxious. Ratcheting down tensions in the neighborhood is also a constructive thing. Denuclearizing the North will take some time and come in mostly baby steps, if at all. This first one, however, is huge.

Good news aside, I am going to channel my inner obnoxious bastard for a moment. He would like to point out that, as in this situation, one can get more accomplished through good faith diplomacy rather than being a pugnacious, uncompromising dick. The solution to most issues is sitting down with ones opponent and hashing out a deal. Ego, unfortunately, too often stands in the way. So to our President, my inner obnoxious bastard would like to say:

The whole bullshit pistols at dawn thing went out of fashion with Victorian values and cowboy justice. Pride is easier to swallow than lead. Wise up and learn from the one positive thing your Administration has accomplished lately. We have a lot of fences to mend and apologies to make.