The condition for which Senator John McCain had surgery on Friday may be more serious than initial descriptions have implied, and it may delay his return to Washington by at least a week or two, medical experts said on Sunday.
The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has already announced that votes on a bill to dismantle the Affordable Care Act will not begin until Mr. McCain’s return. A statement released by Mr. McCain’s office on Saturday had suggested that he would be in Arizona recovering for just this week, but neurosurgeons interviewed said the typical recovery period could be longer.
The statement from Mr. McCain’s office said a two-inch blood clot was removed from “above his left eye” during a “minimally invasive craniotomy with an eyebrow incision” at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, “following a routine annual physical.” Surgeons there are not conducting interviews, and Mr. McCain’s communications director, Julie Tarallo, said no further information was available.
A craniotomy is an opening of the skull, and an eyebrow incision would be used to reach a clot in or near the left frontal lobes of the brain, neurosurgeons who were not involved in Mr. McCain’s care said.
“Usually, a blood clot in this area would be a very concerning issue,” said Dr. Nrupen Baxi, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
He added, “The recovery time from a craniotomy is usually a few weeks — at least a week or two.”
A statement from the Mayo Clinic Hospital said that the senator was recovering well and in good spirits at home, and that tissue pathology reports would come back in several days.
But many questions have been left unanswered, including whether Mr. McCain had symptoms that prompted doctors to look for the clot. In June, his somewhat confused questioning of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, led to concerns about his mental status, which he later jokingly dismissed by saying he had stayed up too late watching baseball the night before.
“Usually, a blood clot like this is discovered when patients have symptoms, whether it’s a seizure or headaches or weakness or speech difficulties,” Dr. Baxi said. “Generally, it’s not found on a routine physical because doctors would not know to look for it.”
The cause of the clot has not been disclosed. The possibilities include a fall or a blow to the head, a stroke or certain brain changes associated with aging. Mr. McCain is 80.
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/887122680184541186
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/887116757034561540
https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/887100059728347137
Even Stevie Wonder could see that GOP SHIT of a tax cut DEATHCARE BILL was DOA
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/887113492351901696
LOL
It’s dead, Jim!
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/887113011831373824
Don’t let up on the GOP freight train being DERAILED. They need to vote on that bitch YAY OR NAY
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/887038995456290817
Kill black people & pay the families for killing their loved ones.
SO SICK
Pittance…so insulting…
https://twitter.com/TheRoot/status/887034228214554625
Same age as Monsieur Macron of France..
Just think about that..
As soon as Don Jr took the Russia meeting, collusion was set in motion, even if no additional covert coordination happened. 1/
— Colin Kahl (@ColinKahl) July 17, 2017
Republican Bill “*EXEMPTS*” Themselves. The HealthCare They Want For YOU, Is “NOT” The HealthCare They’re Saving For Themselves. #mSnB #cNn pic.twitter.com/sWnyxjkucj
— Dr. Tom Martin Ph.D. (@DrTomMartinPhD) July 17, 2017
Koch Bromance with Russia Needs Investigating.
Koch Funding Behind Nunes-Gowdy Attempts to Scuttle Russia Investigation….
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2017/03/25/koch-bromance-with-russia-needs-investigating-koch-funding-behind-nunes-gowdy-attempts-to-scuttle-russia-investigation/
We Are in the Midst of a Cold Civil War in This Country
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 17, 2017 11:33 AM
Over the weekend, Carl Bernstein suggested that we are in the midst of a “cold civil war” in this country where a “fact-based debate is becoming impossible.” That struck me as a pretty apt description of what is going on right now.
Bernstein focuses on Fox News as the culprit. Even the fact that we are all amazed when a pundit like Shepard Smith calls out the Trump administration for lying speaks volumes. We don’t expect that kind of truth-telling from the network. These days, Fox is tame compared to the promulgation of fake news sites that have sprung up over the last few years.
But in addition to Shepard Smith, Fox News also gives air time to someone like Judge Jeanine Pirro. Here is the diatribe she let loose on Saturday in defense of the Trump administration’s lies called out by Smith.
https://twitter.com/VanessaBrownTV/status/887025399766667266
On infamous Russia meeting, Trump’s story keeps evolving
07/17/17 12:35 PM
By Steve Benen
In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort had a private meeting with, among others, a Kremlin-liked Russian attorney and a former Soviet counterintelligence officer. The controversy surrounding the meeting has taken the president’s Russia scandal to a new level, and Donald Trump Sr. has done his best to downplay the significance of the campaign discussion.
This morning, for example, the president argued via Twitter:
………………..
According to actual “oppo” professionals, this argument is completely wrong, at least in the context of the Russia scandal. It’s one thing for campaign officials to pursue a possible lead; it’s something else entirely to meet with representatives of a foreign adversary that’s launched an espionage operation against the United States.
What’s more, the “anyone would have done the same thing” line is belied by recent history: in 2000, some leaked the Bush campaign’s debate-prep materials to the Gore campaign. Gore’s aides promptly called the FBI – which is what Trump’s inner circle should’ve done, but didn’t.
But what stands out as especially notable about Trump’s latest pitch is the degree to which it contradicts the old pitches.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/887026623320641538
My kid says, mama would you make some meatballs, cabbage, mashed potatoes, gravy & a pan of cornbread? So here I am cooking. :)
Coming with my tupperware..LOL
How do you fix your cabbage, SG2?
Boil along with salt, pepper, onions, bell pepper and cuts of bacon pieces. I then add a little oil. Must have hot sauce too. :)
My brother fry his cabbage. Says it’s so delicious.
Mmmm. Sounds good, thanks.
There were two things my mother made with cabbage and I could only remember one, her Polish stuffed cabbages. She called it guamke but I guess it’s also called golabki. Anyhow, that is what she made for special occasions. I didn’t like it, I just ate the filling and left the cabbage and the sauerkraut.
So, I’m sitting here and finally it comes to me, the second one is spareribs and cabbage. I didn’t like that either.
I was such a picky eater. I wouldn’t mind have some of that food now.
Well, here you go. This looks good. Certainly not my mama’s cabbage.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/887014850999857152
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/887009303684579329
https://twitter.com/SweetKixx/status/886661533799002113
Absolutely so romantic and so cute :)
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/886994688674279424
From the article:
“Three sources with knowledge of the incident said Sunday that two officers in one squad car, responding to the 911 call, pulled into the alley. Damond, in her pajamas, went to the driver’s side door and was talking to the driver. The officer in the passenger seat pulled his gun and shot Damond through the driver’s side door, sources said. No weapon was found at the scene.”
Well, their excuse for killing this woman should be interesting.
With the system being the way it is, Liza, if the cop who shot her is indicted and tried, I don’t see him/her being convicted. Too many Americans who claim to be pro-life aren’t pro-life at all when it comes to holding cops who kill innocent persons accountable for doing it.
Yeah, I know. And with Trump and Jeff Bull Connor Sessions, I suspect that cops believe they haven’t much to worry about. But I can’t explain the juries who agree that these guys should have the license to kill with impunity.
https://twitter.com/splcenter/status/886981347830620163
When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code
July 17, 20175:45 AM ET
KAYLA LATTIMORE
Raising teenage girls can be a tough job. Raising black teenage girls as white parents can be even tougher. Aaron and Colleen Cook knew that when they adopted their twin daughters, Mya and Deanna.
As spring came around this year, the girls, who just turned 16, told their parents they wanted to get braided hair extensions. Their parents happily obliged, wanting Mya and Deanna to feel closer to their black heritage.
But when the girls got to school, they were asked to step out of class. Both were given several infractions for violating the dress code. Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, north of Boston, bans hair extensions in its dress code, deeming them “distracting.”
When administrators asked the girls to remove their braids, Mya and Deanna refused.
The next day, Colleen and Aaron Cook came to the school where, they say, they were told the girls’ hair needed to be “fixed.” The Cooks refused, telling administrators that there was nothing wrong with the hairstyle.
As punishment, the girls were removed from their extracurricular activities, barred from prom, and threatened with suspension if they did not change their hair.
According to Colleen Cook, administrators at Mystic Valley have routinely reprimanded black students for dress code violations involving hair.
Other black girls have been pulled out of class, she says, lined up, asked if they had hair extensions and given detention if they did.
Colleen remembers when one student, who wore her hair in its natural texture, was taken out of class and told that she would need to relax, or chemically straighten, her hair before returning to school the next day.
In defense of their daughters, the Cooks brought in a yearbook to show school leaders the many white female students with hair extensions and dyed hair.
But, the Cooks say, the administration didn’t see that those students were in violation of the dress code, stating those hair alterations weren’t as obvious.
NPR reached out to Mystic Valley Regional for an interview several times without a response.
…………………………………..
Zero-tolerance leads to high suspension rates
Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, assistant dean of equity outreach initiatives at Michigan State University, says that black females are more likely to receive harsher discipline than their white and Latina counterparts.
Her research on zero-tolerance policies and their outcomes show that they enforce a marginalization of black girls in schools. Which can, in practice, criminalize their black identity.
“What does a headdress have to do with learning and success?” asks Carter Andrews.
She finds it strange that hair would even be part of a dress code. It’s not a choice, but an aspect of one’s body. Which raises a question: Is a zero-tolerance policy on hair — where students can be suspended without warning — less about a dress code and more about a racial code?
The Fix Analysis
The prevailing view of Trump has only worsened: He’s ‘unpresidential’
By Aaron Blake July 17 at 10:40 AM
During the 2016 campaign, the biggest concern about President Trump almost always boiled down to one thing: his temperament. Even people who liked Trump had a problem with it. Polls regularly showed that more than 6 in 10 registered voters said he didn’t have the right personality and style to be an effective president. Just weeks before the election, 62 percent said he didn’t have this baseline quality, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll. He won anyway.
Trump has now been president for six months, and he’s had ample opportunity during that time to prove people wrong. He’s taken foreign trips, responded to crises and delivered a well-received speech to Congress.
And yet, Americans may now see him as even less presidential than they did before. A new Post-ABC poll shows a whopping 70 percent of Americans describe Trump as acting “unpresidential.” Only 24 percent say he’s acted in a way that’s “fitting and proper for a president of the United States.”
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
D.L. Hughley on Dolt45 supporters.
He nails it.
Which is why I don’t give two shyts about understanding them
https://youtu.be/U02Ald_mEhA
ON POINT
Yeah, I agree with this. But here’s the thing. All these folks who decided to vote for Trump to get their country back the way they want it will be the same people who one day will need help. And if the Trump and the GOP have any success in dismantling the social safety net, they will really be in trouble.
I guarantee that when they are doubled over in pain in an emergency room or they haven’t enough money coming in to pay for the rent and the food and the prescription drugs, they’ll sing a very different tune.
This is not a negotiation from Russia, it’s a threat. And we have a president who applauds the threateners and refuses to protect the US. https://t.co/96RFidwOvZ
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 17, 2017
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/14/17
White House fails to protect personal data in voter feedback
Rachel Maddow reports on the White House publishing the feedback to its voter fraud task force without redacting any of the personal information, hurting confidence in their ability to properly handle the actual voter data they seek.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/14/17
Trump camp’s Russian contacts ‘very far out of the norm’
Michael Carpenter, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, talks with Rachel Maddow about the sheer number of Kremlin-connected Russians who met with members of the Trump campaign.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/14/17
Russia attack strategy: exploit ‘aligned parties’
Michael Carpenter, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, talks with Rachel Maddow about Russia’s practice of finding local groups in the countries they target for cyber attacks and other intrusions.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/14/17
Trump Jr Russian meeting story unpacking like a nesting doll
Rachel Maddow reports on new revelations about the number of people in attendance at Donald Trump Jr.’s campaign meeting with Russians, and a bevy of new details about who those people are and what they did
THERE.WAS.NEVER.ANY.LINE.
Emoluments clause…
Emoluments clause…
the entire lot of them..
PHUCKING TRAITORS.
………………………………………….
Trump again blurs the line between his office and his business
07/17/17 08:30 AM
By Steve Benen
There’s reason to believe Donald Trump takes the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament seriously, and not because he’s a fan of the game. USA Today reported last week, for example, that Trump allegedly threatened to sue the U.S. Golf Association if it moved the event from the club he owns in Bedminster, N.J.
It’s against this backdrop that the president used his Twitter account to heavily promote the tournament, starting with this tweet on Friday morning:
From there, Trump tweeted about the U.S. Women’s Open again and again and again and again and again. He let American know that the event would be “very exciting” and he’d personally be in attendance.
……………………………………………………..
I appreciate the fact that the number of ongoing controversies surrounding Trump and his White House is already large, but while the conflict-of-interest questions have taken a back seat to crises such as the Russia scandal, they haven’t gone away. Between Mar-a-Lago, Bedminster, and Trump-owned hotels, these conflicts would be a major story in a normal administration.
Norm Eisen, the Obama White House’s chief ethics attorney, recently told the AP that Trump is “becoming more and more brazen in his efforts to monetize the presidency.” The fact that this quote is broadly applicable is a problem.
Unreal: leaked transcript has Trump whining to Theresa May about bad press coverage and asking her to “fix it.” https://t.co/113LEwD1PU pic.twitter.com/g9KSNcYTSL
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) July 17, 2017
Who would have thought that the guy many described last year as being a “strong leader” would in reality be a big, whiny, frightened, titty baby?
WSJ: There were nearly 150,000 attempts to hack South Carolina’s voter registration system on Election Day.https://t.co/Ll9YbTM3bZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 17, 2017
In Illinois “hackers were hitting the State Board of Elections ‘5 times per second, 24 hours per day’ from late June until Aug. 12, 2016.” https://t.co/mGVmxH6zfY
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 17, 2017
Foreign-born recruits, promised citizenship by the Pentagon, flee the country to avoid deportation https://t.co/SfXRHtjnCW
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 17, 2017
Excellent NBC report on how Putin murders anyone who stands in his way as he steals billions of dollars from Russia https://t.co/73Izq674tT
— Bill Browder (@Billbrowder) July 8, 2017
“Most aggressive Russian I’ve ever encountered,” says @BillBrowder. @juliaioffe makes me think he might be right. https://t.co/7r2GzWy7S6
— Stephen Sestanovich (@SSestanovich) July 15, 2017
Russian lawyer at center of Trump scandal has dedicated her entire Twitter feed to excoriating @Billbrowder & murdered lawyer S. Magnitsky https://t.co/YsmyMFaaeE
— Ani Wandaryan (@GoldenTent) July 11, 2017
Taiwan…
https://www.facebook.com/cnninternational/videos/10155513418329641/?hc_ref=ARS-0zcBxF4IcrRBb_nfOKOB0Lg7i9C2PDIlrFTkXz6RRrhnwuLT4QFArkVpr9Yhxkc
If I had to guess, I would say that was not a “routine physical” McCain had. I suspect that his recent behavior, just what we’ve seen publicly, was enough to prompt a diagnostic evaluation. He was just re-elected in 2016 and I don’t see him being able to finish the term.
Few noticed when Sessions’ DOJ settled Russia money laundering case in May. It is key to the Russia collusion probe? https://t.co/knppDihOmF
— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) July 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/886946437531152386
“It’s human phishing, [Russia is] putting bait out there and the Trump campaign swallowed it whole” -fmr CIA agent stationed in Moscow. https://t.co/NEq5Vjbors
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) July 17, 2017
And also from the previous thread (our convo on the t
Despite McConnell’s Delay, Trumpcare Could Still Make It Through the Senate
by D.R. Tucker
July 16, 2017 3:00 PM
POLITICAL ANIMAL
Like the proverbial horror-movie character whose hand rises up from the grave, let’s not assume that the monster known as Trumpcare is dead and buried yet.
Yes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has, ironically enough, delayed the effort to kill the Affordable Care Act until after Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) recovers from surgery to remove a blood clot near his eye. However, once McCain recovers, it’s quite likely that there will be a renewed effort to push Trumpcare through the Senate–if for no other reason than to provide a nice, shiny distraction from the gathering Russiagate storm.
Speaking with Jake Tapper this morning on CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)–one of only two on-the-record Republican opponents of Trumpcare–noted that there are several Republican Senators who still have misgivings about Trumpcare. The problem is, it’s impossible to imagine these Senators resisting hyper-intense right-wing pressure to vote for the bill; frankly, it’s impossible to see Collins and fellow Trumpcare opponent Rand Paul (R-KY) not ultimately changing their minds and surrendering to McConnell and Trump.
As Philip Bump suggests, one cannot ignore the influence of the GOP’s extremist base in the discussion over whether skeptical Republican Senators will ultimately fall in line with the effort to kill the Affordable Care Act:
https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/886687661142003713
https://twitter.com/MariaChappelleN/status/886783443912273921
Statue of Richmond icon Maggie Walker unveiled: ‘Awesome and beautiful’
http://wtvr.com/2017/07/15/maggie-walker-monument-broad-street-richmond/
Excerpt:
“Maggie Walker Memorial Intro by Mayor Levar Stoney”
https://youtu.be/KFmL0AOJyX0&rel=0
“The Woman Founder and President of a Bank in America in the birth place of Black Capitalism”
https://youtu.be/dITo2uGu1qw&rel=0
“How the Republican health-care bill could raise premiums for 177 million Americans”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/17/how-the-republican-health-care-bill-could-raise-premiums-for-177-million-americans/?utm_term=.793fb0aa17f1
Excerpt:
https://twitter.com/APWestRegion/status/886851331876585472
Excerpt from article linked in tweet:
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING?
WHAT THE PHUCK????!!!
https://twitter.com/Crystal1Johnson/status/886736974450642944
Good Morning Everyone.
Thanks for the update on John McCain’s surgery, SG2.
Wishing John McCain a complete recovery.
Also, praying that everyone in the U.S. has access to quality medical care.
Good Morning,Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning, Everyone