White House refuses to address reports that Jared Kushner wanted secret line with Russiahttps://t.co/pjmLXZvjO7
— TIME (@TIME) May 27, 2017
Inside WH, Kushner's allies have rallied behind him. But some aides privately wonder, not to his face, whether he's damaged.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 27, 2017
Yup. I can't tweet some of the foul things some WH officials have messaged me about him since Friday alas :/ https://t.co/4wPNBcvoqe
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) May 27, 2017
… and to put out the fires, per the Washington Post — the other Trump kids!:
Amid mounting questions at the White House about Russia, three prominent members of President Trump’s family — his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and Eric’s wife, Lara — have ramped up their engagement with the Republican Party’s national political operation, having met privately with GOP leaders to share their concerns and outlook.
Their most recent effort came Thursday, when the president’s eldest sons and Lara Trump visited the Republican National Committee’s headquarters in Washington. Those three family members, who were invited by the RNC, stayed for about two hours, according to four people who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Their appearance at the RNC irked at least two prominent Republicans who were briefed on the session, who wondered whether it was appropriate for the president’s sons, who run the Trump family real estate business, to be highly involved in discussing the party’s strategy and resources.
But two other people familiar with the meeting said it was appropriate for the president’s sons and daughter-in-law, who all volunteered for Trump’s campaign, to huddle with Republican leaders and offer their perspective on what would be most helpful to President Trump ahead of the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential race…
A number of RNC figures and Trump allies also attended the Thursday meeting: RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, RNC chief of staff Sara Armstrong, former Trump campaign digital strategist Brad Parscale, Trump campaign committee director Michael Glassner, and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh, who now advises a pro-Trump nonprofit group…
White House officials declined on Saturday to comment on the meeting.
Be more useful if Eric wasn’t wearing the bucket over his head, and Donald Jr wasn’t standing in his.
Ya gotta wonder how irked Sarah Palin must be, given all the abuse her family took, when the Palin clan grifting didn’t amount to more than a few thousand dollars in free swag and fancy accommodations. Sure, they can see Russia from their compound, but they never tried to sell the whole country off to Putin in return for propping up a bunch of dirty real-estate deals.
SiubhanDuinne
At this point in the Trump maladministration, I reckon every reporter in the country has this as a macro.
Jeffro
Mercer cash and Koch astroturfing will save us!!
Let’s go have us a few rallies!!!
-Trump Crime Cartel
Major Major Major Major
Ugh, thanks for making me think of Sarah Palin. Thanks, John McCain!
Speaking of, oddly enough. I’m a little sad right now, somebody close to me just found out they’re pregnant with a Down’s baby, so they’ll be terminating it. It’s just so awful, and I’m so furious that there are people out there who would make this any harder than it has to be.
So I sort of bummed around town this afternoon, kept to myself, and fleshed out the ideas for the comic I want to draw; I’m refining and coloring in the cover page I drew out last night. Grim comedic take on urban horror, more Daria than Sandman Slim though.
JPL
According to axios, Trump told aides that he is quitting the “Paris climate deal”
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
You’re probably right about that macro, but perhaps a more useful one would be something like “[One of many Shitgibbon mouthpieces] put forth bald-faced lies today, hoping that some rubes in the White House press corps would buy their bullshit. Meanwhile, [a Maladministration sort-of-official], speaking on condition of anonymity and untraceability, divulged the truth about the latest Shitgibbon clusterfuck. Suffice it to say, in a rational world, most of Shitgibbon’s senior advisers would be frog-marched out of the White House.”
A little wordy, perhaps, but I’m not sure it’s inaccurate.
Teddys Person
Seriously, faking patriotism is so last season. Dolt45 and crew are flat out grifters who don’t bother wrapping it in a flag. Cuts down on overhead.
Old Broad in California
That meeting sounds like a family getting together with professionals to decide what to do about aging, incontinent and increasingly dementia-ridden old Dad.
SFAW
And, apropos of nothing in particular, I finally looked closely at the avatar/picture/whatever on Cole’s twitter feed (or whatever it’s called). Good to see that John is still curmudgeonly.
debbie
Isn’t the defense industry already fully staffed?
MazeDancer
Bit of a smack down going on via Twitter between WaPo and NYTimes.
Apparently, NYTimes printed some sources who said Kushner wanted the Secret Kremlin Chat Plan to get and send Syrian War info. These sources were friends of Kushners, pro-Jared. But NYTimes did not identify them as same.
WaPo reporter tweets, basically, yeah, we talked to those people, but when they wouldn’t let us identify them as pro-Kushner, we didn’t use the stuff.
Hal
Hold up. Chump Jr. and Eric aren’t supposed to have anything to do with the Presidency, right? The success of Trump’s business interests are directly tied to his holding the office. Glob I hope this whole family ends up in jail.
Major Major Major Major
@debbie: Good thing we didn’t elect that interventionist warmonger lady with friends in the middle east.
MisterForkbeard
@MazeDancer: Man, it’s almost like the NYT is once again awful at journalism. Hoocoodanode?
Raven
I don’t suppose Greg will get a thread
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Because of course he is. But for the rest of us, that’s the cherry on top of the shit sundae of his “big boy” trip.
SFAW
@debbie:
Although it would probably get the responder blocked, the appropriate response to this, and any similar tweets from Shitgibbon, is (or should be:
I wonder if some enterprising soul could create a bot which would get a new handle every day, and tweet that same response from all of them. [I have no idea how Twitter works.]
SiubhanDuinne
@SFAW:
That’s the beauty of macros, you only have to type the boilerplate text one time.
SFAW
@Raven:
You mean Gregg? Probably, eventually.
ETA: Of course, then the risk is run that it turns into a “Who do you fucking hate, musically?” thread, similar to yesterday’s (or was it Thursday’s?) DougJ masterpiece
Haroldo
@Raven: Maybe best Caucasian blues singer ever. Yeah, I could use that thread.
sukabi
@debbie: translated that reads “selling USA assets for pennies on the $$$. Also, p!ssed off former allies, new jobs will require boots, camo and a 4 year commitment, supply your own boots and camo. Positions will be overseas defending US interests.”
NoraLenderbee
My browser automatically replaces the shitgibbon’s name with a substitute word. The quotes are giving me the giggles today.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: and didn’t Jared strong-arm Boeing (?) into knocking down the price, and then trump bragged in his speech in SA that he would be their spokesman in negotiations with American companies?
Brachiator
Anyone see the Greatful Dead documentary on Amazon Prime? Long Strange Trip is 4 hours long, a little shorter than an actual Dead concert. But I just listened to two reviews on KPCC Film Week that praised it as a brilliant and surprisingly revealing work, one of the best documentary films ever made. And neither critic were Dead fans. This does not necessarily make them more credible, but it limits the fan gushing.
I just saw a GQ review which appears to be far more damning of the work and it’s subject matter. Makes me more curious to see the work.
It think it may be playing in some theaters now and showing on Amazon on June 2.
ETA. I’m trying to maintain a Trump free holiday weekend.
muddy
@Raven: I just heard about Butch too, when I was reading about Gregg today.
Jess
Perhaps we can stoke resentment and envy in La Palin to the point where she goes on an anti-Trump rampage. That would be fun!
Lyrebird
@MazeDancer: Thanks! He also acknowledges some merit in Will Saletan’s defense of the NYT wording, but also see a bunch of comments from Timurid last night, seeing bunches of NYT reporters tweet “so what?” messages (he/she worded it better) about the communications collusion.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
So sad to hear this. But grateful that we still (for the moment, by a thread) live in a country where your friend can make a true and legal choice for what is best for her, no matter how painful.
Fuck the politicians and puritans who would deny her that option.
Keeping your friends in my thoughts at this difficult time.
TenguPhule
@debbie:
Which all went to the Trump woman’s fund or to buy weapons. How fucking stupid does he think we are.
Lyrebird
@NoraLenderbee: HOW do you DO that???? effing hilarious…
TenguPhule
A laundry list of criminals, scum and general wastes of carbon.
Villago Delenda Est
All the vile brats need to go to jail and never come out again.
Sanjeevs
I wonder how Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames must feel. They just prematurely established a backchannel to discuss peace in the Middle East.
Major Major Major Major
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks, and yeah, fuck them. What the fuck?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
J R in WV
While I have a ton of musical respect for everyone involved with the Allman Brothers Band, there are other gifted blues musicians playing today. Tedeschi Trucks Band, for just one. Susan Tedeschi has the pipes, and the guitar licks, as does Derek Trucks.
That said, we will miss Gregg Allman. And Butch. Chuck Berry. And so many others who seem to be passing these days. Thanks goodness Buddy Guy is still cooking hot.
Yoda Dog
Hey lookie there, the NYT disservicing the country and disgracing itself with garbage journalism. Just another fucking day that ends in ‘y’..
efgoldman
@MazeDancer:
WaPo ate NYT’s lunch all thru Watergate, now they’re stealing NYT’s lunch money and stuffing the grey lady in a locker.
Wapiti
@Old Broad in California:
Yup. It’s actually understandable if the GOP brings in family members for discussion – if the way forward is to declare Donald incompetent, and shift control of the family business to the children in return for their backing the GOP in the 25th Amendment play. For anything else, not so good.
Karen
@TenguPhule: that was a rhetorical question, wasn’t it? if you want to make a 45 shipper really mad ask them about “gentlemen’s C’s” they believe that getting into a college is proof of high IQ not daddy’s money
HeleninEire
So here’s what pisses me off about all these stupid stories. “OH” all they say “he’s gonna get his top secret clearance taken away”
Really? Of course he’s not. Trump screams out top secret shit every day, all day. Do you think for a minute that Jared is gonna, what?????????? be banned from the White House? That Trump isn’t gonna talk to him daily?
Jesus. I hate when normal norms are credited to these assholes.
Another Scott
@Lyrebird: Browser extensions like Detrumpify will do that. There’s one that replaces pictures of him with pictures of kittens, also too. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
As if the parents aren’t going through enough grief and anguish as it is. Sending a hug to you and wishes for peace for them.
hovercraft
@JPL:
Someone on TV said earlier that it’s kinda like his bullshit reversals of CAFE standards, it doesn’t matter, we’ll meet our goals anyway because of our move away from coal to natural gas. No one is going to go back to the old way because it doesn’t make economic sense, Detroit is not going to reduce mileage standards or stop R&D into electric because no one other that the rolling coal assholes want a car that burns more gas just for the hell of it.
I can totally see him pulling out just to spite the leaders who shunned him, and to have a bloody sheet to show his hoards he undid something Obama did, but it won’t undo the agreement except at the margins.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
ETA: This is the guy who said trump will die in jail, I think. I gather some people think he’s less that a hundred percent trustworthy, if not quite full metal Louise Mensch
raven
@SFAW: Indeed that is who I meant.
hovercraft
@MazeDancer:
Dean Baquet is doing a wonderful job with the Grey Lady, even as they are playing an important role in exposing the Shitgibbon, they are doing everything they can to ensure that people still remember that they are sloppy and desperate for Twitler and the GOP’s approval. Where were the stories giving Hillary’s friends point of view, masquerading as news?
NTY is garbage.
Mary G
@Jeffro: Adelson, Koch, the Mercers really aren’t getting what they paid for, are they?
@Raven: “Brothers and Sisters” is one of my few albums from my youth that I still love and play all the time.
Baud
The NYT is garbage.
Shalimar
@JPL: It’s fine. We can always rejoin the Paris accords after Trump dies of exhaustion walking to the bathroom.
debbie
@SFAW:
There are plenty of bots on Trump’s tweets. You can get there through Google, though you can’t comment or like. Here are the responses to that tweet.
Aleta
@JPL:
And he’s demanding they refund our money.
Shalimar
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Schindler writes a column for Jared Kushner’s newspaper. It’s not that he and Mensch aren’t right occasionally. Just there is a strong suspicion their job is to throw out conspiracy bullshit that discredits the overall investigation.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He sure did. Just doin’ what Big Daddy did at Carrier.
Tom
@Shalimar: HE doesn’t take a golf cart?
debbie
@muddy:
Horrible that both are gone.
raven
@Mary G: And Live at the Fillmore East?
Major Major Major Major
@Shalimar: Schindler is a mouthpiece for certain types of people within the IC; he repeats what he is fed. What he’s fed has a noticeable bias but it also has a track record. Mensch is just insane.
p.a.
Trump Fire Brigade! Filling the buckets w gasoline! KaBOOM… no that’s not a ‘splosion Fake News Fake Fireball…
debbie
@Another Scott:
If I was on Twitter much, I’d go with this.
debbie
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m sorry for your friend. I can’t imagine having to face that situation.
Manyakitty
@Major Major Major Major: What a sad day. I wish them peace and love.
debbie
@raven:
We wore a couple copies of that out. It might even be the best live album I’ve heard.
AG
@efgoldman:
Actually the NYT caught up fast on Watergate and related matters. The WaPo has never been as good a paper overall and it cruised on the rep it got from Watergate for a long time. It’s competitive on Washington stuff mainly. The Post op-ed page has historically been as bad or worse than the Times from a left perspective.
Having said all that, awesome work being done on Trump by the Post and cheers to them.
MisterForkbeard
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I get the feeling that McMaster is still trying to thread a needle here. He’s talking about “back channels”, when that’s not what Kushner was actually trying to do. Kushner was trying to set up a channel secret only from the US Government but open to Russia in which he/Flynn/others could communicate without anyone in the US knowing. That’s not a back channel, it’s almost treasonous.
I’m reading that he’s declined to comment on Kushner at all, and the quote you’ve given was in response to a question about whether “back channels” would concern him. And he’s right, a back channel isn’t a bad thing. But as I said earlier – this is something else, and McMaster is trying very hard to avoid directly answering that question and obfuscating as much as he can.
ETA: In other words: He’s being as literal as he can, in an effort to be diplomatic and represent Trump’s Administration dutifully without actually lying.
eemom
@Major Major Major Major:
Sorry to hear this.
It actually has a bizarre resonance for me at the moment….I have a sicko high school classmate who is an unrepentant trump voter, and is also a Harvard degreed MD and mother of 9 — yes, NINE — children, the youngest of which is a Downs child that this woman waves around like some kind of “pro-life” freak flag. Lately she’s been stalking me on FB. It’s creepy as hell.
Mary G
@raven: Oh, ya, but for some reason B & S is special, maybe because it’s one of the first ones I bought for myself when I got my first job @ KFC – $1.60 an hour, ten cents over minimum wage! Jack in the Box, the only other fast food in town, was paying $1.35! I didn’t even have a stereo or player, I would just take it over to friends’ houses and make them play it for me.
No Drought No More
Sounds like a gathering of the the Bernie Madoff clan to me, when the bells began to toll for them. If Trump feels as though he can cut a deal- and, bravado aside, his confidence must be well nigh shot on that score- he will surely try: resignation in return for leaving him the hell alone, just like Nixon. But it won’t be that easy. Not for Trump, not for this transgression. He hears the ticking of the clock and knows time is running out. Like Gene Wilder in The Producers, Trump may now well be muttering,”no way out, no way out, no way out..”. And if he’s not muttering it, he’s thinking it. The man and his people are headed for the greatest political fall in American history. He is tonight distraught and sick with fear knowing justice will soon be served him, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Americans are about to teach the world a lesson in how American democracy really works, too, and why it will abide. We’ll be humbled in the process; already have been, I suppose. But we’re long overdue on that score, and it’ll do us good. Think of it as divine justice for our own hubris. And while we’ve certainly made big mistakes before, and no doubt will again, driving Trump from power won’t be one of them. He is doomed to an ignominious fall, and his family name is forever fated to be cursed and mocked in equal measure by generations of Americans…. all of whom will also wonder how the hell he got elected in the first place, but that’s another story.
germy
Regarding the NYTimes and their deliberate misinformation, this interesting comment at LGM:
MazeDancer
@hovercraft:
Right next to those endless, photo-filled pieces visiting and profiling the millions of excited Hillary voters, especially the women, feeling fully represented for the first time. women.
MomSense
@Mary G: @raven:
Love those albums. My kids texted me to tell me he died today. They love the music, too.
In personal music news, my kid got a recurring gig playing at a tasting room for a micro brew company. He’s pretty happy with it since they pay him $150 per night plus all the beer he wants.
SiubhanDuinne
@eemom:
I remember when Sarah Palin had given birth to her Down’s Syndrome child (Trip? Trig?) and expressed very clearly that she had chosen to see the baby to term. Never realizing the irony of referring to it as A CHOICE.
Right. That’s what it’s about. Pro-choice doesn’t mean aborting, it means, well, choosing.
jl
So, let the other Donald Trump kids pow wow with the GOP brass. I mean, they’re just going to foul up whatever dastardly plans the GOP had more than before. And the GOP hasn’t done anything in any good faith for so long, so no risk there. Things bottomed out a long time ago.
Except, it does speed the descent of US politics into an updated version of Mafioso Kremlinology, which is bad Not sure what we should call it. Trumplinology? Trumplinology? Krumplinology? (no, the last one sounds like something to do with making donuts or English tea pastries)
PuklinJrology?
Another Scott
@debbie: :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes! She wrote about how she didn’t tell anyone, even Todd, and then made the decision to parent after about 30 seconds. That may have been brief but that is absolutely choice.
jl
@MomSense: Seems like a thoughtless choice. I guess they have the means to care for a kid who might have a severe disability, so OK I suppose. But, she really said she thought about for 30 seconds? Seriously?
Another Scott
@germy: Oooh. That’s a nice conspiracy theory!
:-/
I assume it’s the usual “benign” hatred of Hillary and DFHs, but one really can’t tell on initial consideration any more… :-(
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
@Another Scott: My guess is the upper-class owners and editors of the paper simply can’t resist those tax cuts.
germy
@jl:
Has she ever thought of anything for more than 30 seconds?
jl
At first I thought it was a grim inside joke from WH staffers, but looks like a big push for more Trump 2020 campaign rallies and social media outreach is a big part of a plan for Trumpster political comeback. Seen that news in several places since yesterday.
MomSense
@jl:
She says that when she got the news she didn’t tell Todd at first and then I think it was an almost instantaneous decision. Maybe it wasn’t 30 seconds but it was quick. More to the point, she was exercising choice.
MazeDancer
Everyone has to decide what is right for them, their family, their abilities, their current and future lives when it comes to pregnancy and whether they can handle having a child. That is what choice is about.
But have to insert something positive about people with Downs Syndrome as this thread seems to have mostly negativity associated with it. One of my dearest friend’s oldest son has Downs. He’s grown now. He’s a wonderful young man.
His life is a lot like millions of other Americans. He gets up, gets dressed, reads the paper, makes his own breakfast. He walks by himself to work. Helps people all day as a stock clerk at a drug store. Has a second job on other days where he bags groceries at a famed foodie grocery. He likes his jobs, they love having him. Wish all their employees were as industrious.
He has a girlfriend. He loves costume parties and sports. Really loves sports, reads two sports sections. He goes with his father to Yankees and Giants games, and they rarely miss a game on TV. He sets the table for the family. Loads and empties the dishwasher. He sings, swims, and participates in a world of activities at the local JCC. He also votes in every election. Loved Mr. Obama. Does not care for Trump.
Having a child is hard. Having a child with Downs is hard. Life is hard. People with Downs add to the world. Just didn’t want Downs only lumped with Sara Palin and wacky mothers. The young man I know is a great guy.
Another Scott
@germy: I [think] they’re sincere when they argue against giant tax cuts and so forth, but the problem is, they (apparently) really think that Hillary and the Democrats would be worse because “everyone knows” we can’t afford to fully fund Head Start or Medicaid or Social Security or Public Schools because unions are too greedy and shiftless and lazy. And if we try to tax people who have far more than they need for 100 lifetimes, and who have claimed (nearly) all the benefits of the US economy over the last 37 years, then they’ll go on strike or leave for Monaco and then where will we be? Huh? Where will we be?! As bad as Republicans are, we have to vote for them (or at least ensure gridlock) because Democrats can’t be trusted! They’ll go wild making things better for most people, and then where will we be!!11
(sigh)
Milton Friedman planted the seeds. Howard Jarvis spread the fertilizer. Ronald Reagan and David Stockman clear cut all the competition that kept the invasive plant in check…
I don’t know how we get of of this stupid rut where ideology trumps (heh) all evidence and reason when it comes to economic policies. But it’s long past time when we did so.
Cheers,
Scott.
MisterForkbeard
@jl: Sounds about right. Throwing a rally is the only thing they’re vaguely good at, and they REALLY need to keep their racist crazy base engaged with Trump. If for nothing else than for Trump to keep repeating that he’s a victim of liberals just like all of them.
Realistically, if he can remind people that they voted for him then they’re much less likely to decide they don’t like him. No one likes to admit they’re wrong – especially when it comes to such a disastrous choice as Trump.
chopper
@debbie:
to be fair, he’s saying he’s only going to create three jobs. which makes sense.
Eric S.
@Haroldo: I just had too look up who you were referring to. ?
efgoldman
@chopper:
Way more than three. Lots of defense lawyers are going to get rich[er] from this maladministration.
jl
@MomSense: Yes, that is true. She had an important option for a woman to have in that situation. Too bad so many on her side who talk about that don’t see the hypocrisy. (Edit: including I suppose Palin herself, but I don’t keep current on her policy views, such as they are).
jl
@MisterForkbeard:
” Realistically, if he can remind people that they voted for him then they’re much less likely to decide they don’t like him. ”
We’ll see how well that approach works from the trend in the crowd sizes. As the salvageable Trumpsters, I call them the knuckleheads, throw in the towel, they will quit showing up. I think Hillary had it about right at about 50%. I hope she had it about right.
Eric S.
@Villago Delenda Est: I think you meant a vile hive of scum and villainy.
Ian G.
The Vichy Times was never going to treat the Palin clan as anything more than out of control trailer trash from a state with more moose than people. And while the Trump clan is just as much low-rent trash with even worse taste than the Palins, their New York origins gets them a pass.
Par for the course for a newspaper I wouldn’t use to line my parakeet’s cage.
JMG
As far as the Times goes, it is an organization under intense financial pressure, due to small mistakes like buying the Boston Globe for over a billion bucks and then giving it away 12 years later while declining to get in on Google on the ground floor. They started selling themselves as resistance to Trump on 11/9. It was all bullshit, of course. They would kill their children for White House access no matter who’s in the White House. Yeah, they have many good and some great reporters. Who cares? They don’t make policy.
mainmata
@JPL: Well, it will take 4 years to withdraw from the Agreement. He doesn’t have to be a dramatic ass**le about this; he can simply refuse to fund the US efforts since the agreement is voluntary but this is Trump, the self-destructive psychopath. The irony is that a combination of regs (and it takes a long time to destroy a popular reg) and market based signals are driving renewables anyway and have been for several years. He will be gone within this year; Pence is no better but I am hoping a Democratic Congress puts a stop to this destruction.
Eric S.
@J R in WV: when James Cotton and Chuck died so close together I cane as close as I’ve ever been to praying. I did not want Buddy Guy to complete the Set of 3.
LurkerNoLonger
@Baud:
Hey! You take that back! New York Testicles are the best testicles in the tristate area!
germy
Yoda Dog
I’m downright giddy for some indictments. That is going to be a wonderful day. Bonus points for deplorable teardrops. “Fuck my Feelings” indeed… assholes, every last one of them.
jl
@germy: We’ll here a lot of the ‘They just didn’t know what they were doing’ defense for each one of them who turns out to be involved in whatever they were up to.
Can I make my screen background, or whatever you call it, an endless gif of the SNL Lester Holt saying “We got him, right? So, this is over?’
JMG
@MomSense: If I’d gotten a gig like that, I’d be dead for more than 40 years.
Chet Murthy
@MisterForkbeard:
Once upon a time, Bill Clinton tried that with the definition of “is”. Nobody believed him, and it’s still a stain on his reputation. It’s up to us to make sure nobody believes Cue Ball NSA, and it stains his reputation for ever.
Mary G
@Yoda Dog: I want to see the coat-over-the-head perp walk. Especially Ivanka.
Jeffro
@p.a.:
Ok, that’s awesome…
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV:
Don’t forget @MomSense‘s son!
J R in WV
@Eric S.:
You got that right! From his performance when I saw him last (We’ve seen him several times, always a great show!) he is in good shape and taking care of himself. Buff may be the right word. Active.
And a good person!
Not to mention that great guitar gift he’s got!
zhena gogolia
@No Drought No More:
I HOPE TO GOD YOU ARE CORRECT.
Jeffro
@Mary G:
Hmm…
In one sense, they’re getting what they paid for: Trumpov’s still in office and the GOP hasn’t devolved into civil war – they might yet get their big tasty tax cuts.
In another sense…that of getting exactly what they bought, paid for, and have coming to them…that seems to be on the way, agonizingly long tho’ it seems.
So I dunno…
efgoldman
@Mary G:
Let’s privatize the orange jump suits.
Mai.naem.mobile
@Major Major Major Major: I used to have a African American coworker who gave birth to a Downs child and did not know the child had Downs until the birth. I didn’t know her that well so I don’t know all the details . I just never understood how her doctor couldn’t have known. She was in her late 40s. I mentioned her race because I think the doctor never checked for Downs because I think Downs is not that common in African Americans but I still think it was malpractice on his part. Also Downs has some pretty easy specific markers. She was devastated.
Barbara
@Major Major Major Major: This is a hard thing to have to decide and go through, especially if it happens after you feel kicking. I hope your friend gets the support she needs and doesn’t second guess herself too much.
Mai.naem.mobile
@efgoldman: I want the Dolt 45 mugshot with his real hair a la Phil Spector.
Shalimar
I was thinking about the Republican primaries. There was a lot of griping from opponent’s supporters that Trump was a friend of the Clintons so he was only entering the race to ensure that Hillary won. Imagine if that had been true, and details started leaking out during the transition. Hillary Clinton would have been impeached before she got off of the swearing-in podium.
The Trump/Russia thing is sort of like that, only far worse because he conspired with a country that has been our enemy for the last century. Yet Republicans don’t even care.
germy
@Mai.naem.mobile:
Here it is:
https://twitter.com/FactsOrDie/status/731155563740942336
Barbara
@Mai.naem.mobile: If it was within the last 20 years, they almost certainly would do screening blood tests, but a lot of people who got a normal screen would forgo amniocentesis, which was the confirmation available until recently. Older moms are at a much higher likelihood of having a child with Trisomy 21 (Downs) but those much higher odds still translate into a 96% chance of no Downs. There are people who won’t risk a pregnancy to find out if they have a genetic defect because they consider those odds to be acceptable. Advances in testing have made diagnosis earlier, more accurate and less invasive just in the last few years so more and more people are going to find out early not just about Downs but other things as well.
NickM
@eemom: How does this person have the time to stalk someone on FB with 9 kids, one of them special needs?
germy
@NickM: Pop in a veggie tales DVD, sit the kids in front of the TV, and then stalk away.
Citizen Alan
@SiubhanDuinne:
The child’s name is Trig, which she claims is a Scandinavian word for “strength” or some such. It is a complete coincidence that the clinical term for Down’s Syndrom is trisonomy G or tri-g for short. It must be, because if Sarah Palin had actually named her child after the condition he was born with, that would make her a monster.
Eric S.
@J R in WV: I live in Chicago and o realize I haven’t seen him perform in many years. I need to rectify that.
SiubhanDuinne
I am remembering that one of my mom’s good friends (the mother of a classmate of mine) had a Downs son back when everyone still used a much more offensive term for the condition, and needless to say long before abortion was either legal or readily available. I don’t know what choice they would have made, had they even had a choice. This was in the 1950s. Anyhow, they kept him at home for a few years, then had to institutionalize him. There were few resources available, and caring for him was draining and horribly disruptive for the family. There’s no question in my mind as to whether Ann and her husband loved their younger son, but in those days I don’t think they even knew about his condition until their child was born. Today, different parents faced with a similar situation are going to make different choices — depending on their financial circumstances, family size, religious/moral beliefs, medical considerations, availability of prenatal services where they live, etc. Some will opt to keep the child, some will give the child up for adoption, some will choose an institution, others will decide to abort. At a different time in their lives, under different circumstances, they might decide differently. It is about being able to choose the best outcome for the individuals involved in their specific circumstances at that specific time. I don’t know why this is such a hard concept for so many of our fellow citizens to grasp.
chris
@Citizen Alan: It’s already established that she is a monster. Google translate does not recognise ‘trig’ in English or any of the Scandinavian languages.
KS in MA
@SiubhanDuinne: Indeed. And… I’d like to suggest we call it “pro-freedom.”
SiubhanDuinne
@KS in MA:
I like. Tired of having the Pubs co-opt all the good words. Let’s reclaim them.
Honus
@Haroldo: um, not even close.
SiubhanDuinne
@Citizen Alan:
I knew about the Tri-G, but never heard that “Trig” was a Scandinavian word. But all of the Palins’ family names always sounded to me like forced, ham-handed wordplay anyhow. I can kind of keep track of the girls (“Bristle,” “Quaking Aspen,” “Keel Haul,” etc.) but the boys are all “Truck” and “Track” and “Twig” and “Trooper” and “Twiddle” and “Tweetness,” and nobody can be expected to stay on top of them.
Lyrebird
@J R in WV: This wikipedia page has an adorable picture of Trucks playing with the Allman Brothers band when he (Trucks) was 9 or 10 yrs old.
Lyrebird
@Another Scott: Thanks. The kittens might be better for my stress levels, but then again might give me bad views of kittens generally…
SFAW
@raven:
A great, great album.
sm*t cl*de
@Citizen Alan:
Nope. Trisomy-21 hasn’t been called “trisomy-G1” since the 1960s.
mike in dc
I wonder what the difference in turnout at the March for Truth will be as a result of the past 3 weeks.
Aimai
@MazeDancer:
Another Scott
@Citizen Alan: Meh:
I thought I remembered a story that she said she named him “Trig” after some memory of making out in math class or something; but maybe not.
It really doesn’t matter. Names are weird.
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who had a friend in HS who was named after an uncle who died at sea. A really old, old fashioned name. It probably ruined his life – or at least made HS more painful than it should have been…)
Quaker in a Basement
Haven’t seen Bannon’s name connected to this backstabbing. Surely he’s not smooth enough to pull this off without leaving fingerprints.
dr. luba
@sm*t cl*de:
Hell, I’m an OB/GYN nearing retirement, and I’ve only ever called it Trisomy 21 or Down’s Syndrome. Can’t say I’ve even seen that term (trisomy G1).
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
You are giving them credit where none is due. It isn’t a hard concept to grasp, but you have to actually look at facts, think realistically about your life, the expected life of the child…..and then make a difficult decision. Many, many people don’t want to do that or they listen to some preacher tell them how to live and more importantly how to suffer because that will of course be accounted for when they get to heaven, now please put your offering in the plate.
No One You Know
@Ruckus: You know, the inability to make hard decisions explains a lot about the Republican mind;
“Others should have to do that.”