The Washington Post on Trump's changing Russia stories and on Donald Trump, jr.

The New York Times broke the story. More on Trump jr's two different stories on Russia meetings.

The TL kids are having a girl! I've already started buying clothes.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

[More pics below --from the "gender reveal" party for those who are interested:

Donald Trump didn't make the G2 meeting on Africa today. Ivanka took his place.

The first daughter was spotted slipping into Trump's seat at a working session on “Partnership with Africa, Migration and Health,” putting her shoulder to shoulder with British Prime Minister Theresa May. Russian President Vladimir Putin was sitting one seat down.

The protests in Germany over the G-20 meetings have been huge.

Iraqi troops finally defeated ISIS in Mosul.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

I'm not seeing much in the news, and I'm spending all my free time learning and riding my new Peloton bike. It's so much fun. I'll do a review of it in the next few days, I'm still getting the hang of it but I just love it.

One other thing I'm loving: You Tube Red -- you tube with no commercials, ad messages and you can save the videos to view later offline. I screen them to my big TV. You Tube is offering 3 months free and you can cancel before the month fee starts if you want. It's such a more pleasant viewing experience.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Ain't that America.

Here's what I wrote in 2011:

Today is a day we should be reveling in the greatness of our nation, but instead I fear for the health of our democracy.

Six years later, I feel like we're all living on a prayer we get through the next four years intact.

Some thoughts on patriotism and the 4th of July. More here:

At times of crisis the most patriotic act of all is the unyielding defense of civil liberties, the right to dissent and equality before the law for all Americans.

[More...]

Chris Christie had a state beach all to himself this weekend. The New Jersey state legislature failed to agree on a budget, causing a government shutdown on Friday. But that didn't stop Christie and relatives from going to the beach, which was closed. A photographer from the New Jersey Ledger snapped the pix.

Christie is beyond tone-deaf.

Dinner at the end of a long, hot week: Grilled flat iron steak and chicken, guacamole, lettuce, fresh cilantro, bits of red onion, wrapped in tortillas, accompanied by a large gin and tonic. [More...]

Another incidence of a mentally troubled shooter:

A disgruntled doctor armed with an assault rifle and wearing a lab coat went on a rampage in the Bronx hospital where he had worked on Friday, killing a female doctor and wounding six other people — five of them seriously — before setting himself on fire and shooting himself in the head, the authorities said.

Who in their right mind sets themselves on fire? What a painful way to die.

Witnesses described medical workers ripping a fire hose from the wall to use as a makeshift tourniquet on one victim’s leg, while others recalled the horrific sight of the gunman, his torso aflame, running down a hallway.

Here's a photo of the shooter, Dr. Henry Bello. He resigned when he learned he was to be fired, apparently over a sexual harrassment allegation.[More....]

Time for a new open thread. Your choice, all topics welcome.

Other things I'm reading: Abuse Allegations at Chinese Shoe Factory where Ivanka's shoes are made. Ivanka has been ordered to testify at a deposition in the case alleging she copied another company's shoe design (photo of the shoes here.)

Here's the Supreme Court opinion on the travel ban and the latest on the new travel rules to take effect at 6 pm today.

The media is exploding about the Ugly American Donald Trump and his latest tweet about a tv host's plastic surgery.

“I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!”

Trump seems to have a "thing" about blood and women -- first Meghan Kelly and now Mika Brzezinski.

What a shame for America that a man with such a vulgar, low-class way of expressing himself is occupying a desk in the oval office.

P.S. Memo to Donald: You could use a facelift yourself. Have you noticed how much your face has aged since January?

From New York Magazine on Jared's unsuccessful trip to the Middle East to bring peace, Roadmap to Nowhere:

Palestinian leaders were said to be greatly disappointed in Kushner and Greenblatt serving as go-betweens for Netanyahu, as well as Kushner’s unwillingness to state a clear position on the issue of settlements. Al-Hayat even suggested that Trump was considering abandoning his effort to broker Mideast peace after the meeting, though a senior administration official dismissed that claim as “nonsense,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

It appears Netanyahu played Kushner like a fiddle, sending him to Ramallah with a laundry list of demands that he knew Abbas would reject, further delaying the start of any ostensible peace negotiations by instigating a diplomatic crisis he could then blame on Palestinian intransigence.

What's mind-boggling is that he was given this role in the first place: [More...]

Trump is always touting his ability to close a deal. He failed with health care the first time around, and the New York Times reports he's faltering as a closer this time around.

If Republicans do manage to broker a deal — as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, pledged to do during a lively East Room back-and-forth with the president — it is not likely to be because of Mr. Trump’s involvement. Until Tuesday afternoon, the president was largely on the sidelines as the fate of one of his most important campaign pledges played out.

... [O}ver the past few weeks, the Senate Republican leadership has made it known that it would much rather negotiate with Mr. Pence than a president whose candidacy many did not even take seriously during the 2016 primaries. And some of the White House’s efforts have clearly been counterproductive.

The self-created myth of Donald Trump is being peeled away, layer by layer, just like an onion. Pretty soon he'll be standing in front of us naked. (Bob Dylan, It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)...."But even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked.")[More...]