For the first time in his presidency, Donald Trump called out Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection to a chemical gas attack in Syria that killed at least 70 dead and more injured.
President Trump on Sunday promised a “big price” to be paid for what he said was a chemical weapons attack that choked dozens of Syrians to death the day before, and a top White House official said the administration would not rule out a missile strike to retaliate against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
In a tweet, Mr. Trump laid the blame for the attack partly on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the first time since his election that he has criticized the Russian leader by name on Twitter. Mr. Putin’s forces have been fighting for years to keep the Assad government in power amid Syria’s brutal civil war.
Mr. Trump also left no doubt that he believed the assessment of aid groups that Mr. Assad’s military had used chemical weapons to inflict the carnage on Saturday in Douma, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus.
The Times goes on to report that the White House has not ruled out a missile strike response among options available to the U.S.
The United Nations Security Council has announced it will hold emergency meeting Monday in light of the chemical attack.
According to reports, Trump has been mulling over pulling all U.S. military out of Syria. Observers are now curious to see if the Donald follows through on that considering these developments.
Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price…
.@POTUS‘s pledge to withdraw from #Syria has only emboldened Assad, backed by Russia & Iran, to commit more war crimes in #Douma. @POTUS responded after last year’s chemical attack. He should do so again & make Assad pay a price for his brutality. https://t.co/u30kF0ww8g
Your telegraphed intention to withdraw from Syria and disregard for basic human rights is worse than Obama’s unenforced red line. You enabled Assad and Putin’s escalating mass atrocities against Syrian children and other civilians. Now, you bear responsibility. https://t.co/X0DJXIKkCm
And, of course, war hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to go to war so bad:
After Pres. Trump tweeted about the apparent chemical attack in Syria, Sen. Lindsey Graham tells @MarthaRaddatz: “If [the president] doesn’t follow through and live up to that tweet, he’s going to look weak in the eyes of Russia and Iran. This is a defining moment.” pic.twitter.com/hzWihueyfq
For last night’s cold open on Saturday Night Live, President Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) holds a press conference with the leaders of the Baltic states (Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Heidi Gardner).
Brash and unfiltered, “Trump” reveled in his newly invigorated freedom to speak his mind.
Along the way, he ignores memos from staff to not congratulate Vladimir Putin for his “very transparent” reelection in Russia, and even ignores the voices in his head to not mock McKinnon’s hair.
When asked by the press if his tariffs could ruin the U.S. economy and immigration policy tarnishing our standing in the world, Baldwin’s response is refreshingly candid:
“I. Do. Not. Care. About. America. This whole presidency is a four-year cash grab. And that will probably get me four more years.”
Funny in its outrageousness, and probably a lot closer to the truth than most would like to admit.
Looking for sleepy Sunday, lazy morning music today I remembered Miss Reba McEntire’s stylish and vocally flawless rendition of the Etta James classic, “Sunday Kind of Love.”
A bit of intersectional awareness here: I’m currently staging South Pacific for San Diego Musical Theatre and Reba famously sold-out Carnegie Hall in June 2005 with a killer “Nellie Forbush” in the staged concert version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic.
Plus, Reba’s music video for “Sunday Kind of Love” is set in the 1940s during wartime as is South Pacific.
In 1988, Reba’s music video was nominated for “Video of the Year” at the Academy of Country Music Awards for the video below.
On Friday, the first wave of troops left Arizona and Texas en route to their deployment.
As he has in the past, Trump slammed Democrats for not being tougher on immigration, but his plan to send troops to the border mirrors similar actions by then-Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
Trump tweeted, “We are sealing up our Southern Border. The people of our great country want Safety and Security. The Dems have been a disaster on this very important issue!”
The move begs the question: If the National Guard can “seal” the southern border, why do we need to build a $40 billion wall?
We are sealing up our Southern Border. The people of our great country want Safety and Security. The Dems have been a disaster on this very important issue!
When Obama sent the National guard to the border, it was because of a surge in illegal crossings. When GW Bush sent them, there was around 1 million illegal crossings. Currently, illegal crossings are at a 46 year low. The only “crisis” now is that Mueller is closing in on Trump.
During Stormy Daniels’ interview with 60 Minutes‘ Anderson Cooper, Daniels explained she did not come forward about her alleged affair with Donald Trump before the 2016 election because she was threatened in person in a parking lot.
“Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” the person who threatened Daniels allegedly said. “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Now, her lawyer Michael Avenatti says he will have a “major announcement” about that person’s identity.
Avenatti tweeted this morning, “Expect a major announcement in the coming days regarding our efforts to identify the thug who threatened Ms. Clifford in Las Vegas in 2011 to “leave Trump alone” while making reference to her little girl. You can run but you can’t hide. #thugsearch #seriousconsequences #basta”
Expect a major announcement in the coming days regarding our efforts to identify the thug who threatened Ms. Clifford in Las Vegas in 2011 to “leave Trump alone” while making reference to her little girl. You can run but you can’t hide. #thugsearch#seriousconsequences#basta
This morning, in a radio interview, Trump went even further in extolling Rasmussen polling, claiming that, if anything, it is underestimating his popularity. It would be easy to laugh this off as the usual bluster, but if Trump really believes this, it could have real consequences for the country, particularly in the context of his brewing trade war with China.
In today’s interview with “Bernie and Sid in the Morning” on WABC radio, Trump listened modestly as his hosts showered obsequious praise on him for heroically making America great in the face of unremitting hate from the media.
“A poll just came out now, Rasmussen, it’s now 51,” Trump said. “They say that it’s 51 but add another 7 or 8 points to it. … They don’t want to talk about it, but when they get into the booth they’re going to vote for Trump.”
Then Trump was asked about trade and China. “I’m not saying there won’t be a little pain,” Trump said, adding: “We may take a hit, and you know what? Ultimately we’re going to be much stronger for it, but it’s something we have to do.”
This juxtaposition is disconcerting. If this trade war goes south, and the public rejects it, will Trump even know or believe that is happening?
Today is the 9 year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. The above picture was taken a couple of weeks before the “cancer journey” began. I looked at that picture practically everyday knowing I’d get back there eventually.
Plus, I like my hair in this picture.
For folks who may not know, April 7, 2009 I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The good news is the disease was Stage 1 and I kicked it’s ass. The bad news at the time was it kind of didn’t matter – Stage 1 or not – six rounds of heavy-duty chemotherapy were in my future.
The first thing I said to Michael was “well, it’s going to be a shitty summer.”
In the end, I look back at a roller coaster ride and the many things that came out of the experience.
First and foremost is my appreciation for the life and health I’ve had in the past and the fact that I’m still here. Until you go through something like this yourself or with a very close loved one, you think you understand it but it’s really at arm’s length. I constantly felt like I was stuck in a bad TV movie.
I’ve also stopped, listened and spoken to every cancer patient and survivor that crosses my path since my journey. I always have time to listen and let them know “no, you’re not crazy – it sucks – but you’ll get there.”
During the journey, I only told a handful of friends; the ones who had to deal with my day to day. In my mind, I couldn’t put this huge thing on friends who were across the country and already had full plates. It felt selfish.
Below is a Note I posted on Facebook the night of my last chemo round, plus a couple of pictures from “the ride.”
It was in this note that I finally shared the journey with my friends. I wanted to share it again on my anniversary:
SUMMER ADVENTURE 2009 or “Everything You Never Needed To Know About Cancer”
Well, it’s about time… I finally put this all down regarding my Summer Adventure 2009, or as I got used to saying “Everything You Never Needed to Know About Cancer.”
In Early April of this year I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. A routine medical test (my first “over 40 test” as I called it) discovered what would be the beginning of a surprising, unexpected, sometimes uplifting and often depressing chapter of my life.
However, this is NOT a “woe is me” story. I just felt a strong urge to share this with all my friends who have not known what’s been going on in my life this summer. For most of you, when we’ve spoken or emailed and you’ve asked how I am, “great” was about as far as I could go with this tale.
I also want my friends to know this kind of thing can happen to us, and we then face it and move on stronger than before. 🙂
How I Got Here
After first meeting with an oncologist in Las Vegas whose office was too cold, sterile and not conducive to healing, plans were reassessed. Olivia Newton-John, who is a friend and client of Michael’s, asked how my first appointment went in Las Vegas, and when we related the lack of healing “environment”, she reached out and made sure I had an appointment with the head of oncology at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles – which became my home away from home for the past five months. I have to applaud the world class treatment I received at the Cancer Center there.
Olivia uses the word “journey” in describing the cancer adventure. I couldn’t pick a better word. Hills and valleys, ups and downs, long days to long nights and then dawn again. It’s a step by step kind of thing.
The Bad Things:
Ok, there are a lot, but I don’t and won’t dwell too much on those things. I’ve been lucky – not too many side effects along the way.
I did lose all my hair two weeks into it all but it will grow back – although I miss it everyday. It’s just about the only physical attribute I’ve ever liked about myself. 🙂
Thanks to all the anti-nausea and pre-meds they pump me full of before each round, I never got too sick. I did go through a lot of fatigue. Just collapsing fatigue. That made days and nights very long sometimes. Restless nights. Seconds crawled by. Dawn would never come it seemed.
The drugs also me very bloated most of the time. It was hard to look in a mirror. Not in a vanity way – I just didn’t recognize the guy I saw.
The one major side effect I’ve hated the whole way was numbness in my hands and my feet due to one of the drugs in my chemotherapy. It tool 6-9 months to finally go away. I couldn’t button a shirt or write a note or type for a long time.
The Good Things:
Are there good things in cancer? Maybe not. But the journey does remind you of some great things in your life. And in this case, those would be the friends who were a part of the “great adventure.” No over dramatizing here, but I wouldn’t have made it without them.
I made a choice early on not to make this whole thing too public. Not because I felt shame or attached some negative connotation to the disease. But it felt selfish thinking I would add to my friend’s already “full plates.” To tell friends that I wouldn’t see on a day-to-day basis anyway – well, that just felt selfish and self centered.
One other reason about not sharing this sooner: especially in the beginning I simply was not able to take more than one phone call a day or answer more than one email. My energy level was so low, I had to make the decision to keep things to my self for a while out of self-preservation. No reflection on any of you.
I knew I would be fine and I knew I would tell you all someday after all of this. And with long distance, there was nothing you all could do but worry. And I couldn’t do that to you. I wanted to save that energy for you all to tend to your lives, and also for us to celebrate this day that I finish my “great walk.”
Some friends, however, I speak with daily, and there was no getting around sharing with them. And they are my heroes.
Olivia Newton-John, besides being a world famous pop music icon and humanitarian/advocate for cancer since her own bout 17 years ago, became my patron saint of the journey. Emails, notes, voicemails, phone calls – it seems she checked in on me just at the right time, giving amazing encouragement to me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. She confirmed aspects of what she had gone through, almost to say “no, you’re not crazy – it’s not fun, but you can do it.” Her CD “Grace and Gratitude” played on my iPod almost every day. She is more special than the world truly knows.
Usually, I rarely could muster walking to the kitchen. But on the very last days ending a recovery period before a new round of chemo, I almost had a normal sense of energy. One day after round four, I put some Oleta Adams music on. And as the song “Window Of Hope” came on, I started to dance a bit around the kitchen. It took me a minute to even recognize it was happening. It was a very moving moment to reconnect to a part of me – dancing – that I hadn’t felt in so long. I eventually wrote her manager a note to share with her about my “window of hope” that I felt. Oleta herself emailed me the most wonderful letter saying “You danced because you let go of any delusions about your present condition (good or bad) and enjoyed where you were at that moment. And yes, you were ‘smiling in your liver!” I’ve loved her music, voice and writing for so long. To hear from her was magical.
John Genovese was with me at my first “outpatient” chemo-treatment. I had no idea what to expect and it was a six hour infusion process before I left with a portable chemo pump (I eventually named “Bumpy”). John sat with me and handled the whole episode with such confidence. Confidence I only pretended to have. More than once, because my husband Michael had to travel on business to keep our household going, John stayed with me in L.A., cooked for me, and drove me through the desert back to Las Vegas because I couldn’t do it alone. Hero.
Matt Zarley never missed a round of this with me. Whether it was dinners or lunches or going to a movie (something I rarely could get through physically) Matt was always checking on me, texting me, emailing me, sending me new music to listen to, getting me out of the house. Telling Matt face to face about my diagnosis was one of the most emotional moments I’ve ever experienced in my life. Perhaps one of the only times I cried as I said the words “I’ve been diagnosed with cancer.” He never flinched. He just knows me. He’s like my younger brother and this time he carried me.
John Bell and David Burke are my best friends from high school. John, a police officer in Texas and David, a fireman in Washington state. John had major back surgery the day I had my second round of chemo. Both of us wanted so badly to be where the other was. But we had to be in our respective states getting the treatments we needed. From John’s bedside in Texas, David was checking in on me. John came out of anesthesia asking how I was. They both have honored me with giving me space to heal but also being in contact long distance, asking questions, sending good thoughts and planning a reunion in Las Vegas for us after all this.
I didn’t tell Carlye Hughes, my rock family of 30+ years, because she carries so many people through life. She’s the Rector of her own Episcopal church, and in addition to helping her congregation on a daily basis, her niece Gabrielle was diagnosed with cancer two days before me. My first instinct was not to add to her plate. It just felt selfish. But after one round, I just couldn’t hold this back. Sometimes you just need that someone.
At the end of my first round, with confidence that I would be fine, I called her. Shock and silence on her end. OMG, I knew it might be selfish to tell her. I asked her not to come to the west coast. Too many other people needed her. Two weeks later she was on my couch in L.A. for my first “out patient” round. I was knocked out, fatigued, and she was the answer. For four days we just watched TV, she cooked my favorite foods from childhood, and talked. And that made all the difference. Sometimes your best friend being on the other end of the couch is the greatest medicine in the world. Carlye is my greatest medicine. Always.
And finally, there’s my husband Michael – my rockstar. There’s not enough room anywhere to express how he got me through this. What I can say is he made this about me at all times. Even though he was carrying the household and working 14 hour days in the absence of my income, he never complained. He constantly asked me to just “go lay down and get better.” That was his mantra. Dawn would come and I would get up to find the whole house cleaned and put together so I would have “order in my chaos.” He made everyday about my recovery. Whether sleeping in a chair in my hospital room in between working on his computer, to driving me to the hospital – sometimes at 4am because “Bumpy” the chemo-pump was malfunctioning and we had to go get it fixed. He’s just a rockstar. No other words. Thank you god for Michael.
As my cancer journey ended, I was more and more aware of how much there is for folks to do to help with this cause. In my small way, I encouraged Olivia Newton-John to revisit her amazing CD “Grace and Gratitude” and share it on a larger scale, which became “Grace and Gratitude Renewed.”
She wrote a new song – “Help Me To Heal” – with Amy Sky, and re-released the project anew. I was fortunate to get to edit footage from recording sessions to make a music video for the new song.
The End:
This is a good news story 🙂
The words “full remission” were spoken. Treatment/checkups will continue for a few years just to monitor things, but trust and believe I’ll be fine.
#FuckCancer
Me and Bumpy, the chemo pump. Looks like I have bad taste in handbags, doesn’t it?
My wristbands from each time I went to the hospital
Doctors diagnose, nurses heal. JoEllen, my chemo nurse. Bless her. This was my last day of chemo.
• Max Emerson and Abram Hodgens (above) know how to April in style! Oh, to be in Park City right now…
• Ok, so now I have to watch the upcoming all-athletes edition of Dancing with the Stars because oh-so-awesome Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon will be taking part in the reality competition. Two Olympic skaters have won in the past, so, just saying… 🙂
• Fitness model Quin Bruce is giving you “off-duty Superman”… #woof
• For a little #TBT action, I’m digging re-visiting American Idol alum Frenchie Davis’ single “Love’s Got A Hold On Me” from back in 2012. Oh – and are those hot, shirtless guys in there…?
I met and interviewed the openly bi singer during the promo for the single and she was an absolute doll.
