BlueCaliDem
BlueCaliDem's JournalToday, Hillary Clinton met President Obama for lunch at the White House (Hillary Clinton GROUP)
Just heard Rachel report it. It's the first time they met after VP Biden announced he wouldn't be running for president. That this is made public kind of hints at something here... To me, it hints where President Obama's preference lies, because those are some powerful optics!
The former rivals-turned-amicable colleagues met privately for a 90-minute "informal lunch" at the White House, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
"When their schedules permit, President Obama and Secretary Clinton enjoy the opportunity to catch up in person," Earnest said.
The lunch was not on Obama's or Hillary Clinton's public schedules, and the White House did not disclose what exactly the two discussed.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-hillary-clinton-meet-lunch-white-house/story?id=35632409
I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of warm hugs and well-wishes for Mark and our family.
I'm still raw, still rattled, but feeling a lot better that Mark is home, safe and sound, and now sleeping peacefully in his bed. You can imagine how I spoiled him today, getting him a chocolate milkshake that he loves so much but can't have too much of.
As I hope you can understand, I'm not much into posting at the moment. I'm still trying to find my equilibrium again. This afternoon he finally told me that he had seen what had happened. He told me that there were two squad cars outside and he heard "lots of bang, bang, bang". Then two big policemen came inside where he worked and told everyone to stay inside and close the doors.
I didn't know all of this! So you can imagine how this has affected my family deeply. But I still wanted to stop in to thank all of you for your incredibly warm well-wishes and outpouring of support.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 
Luckily, Mark will be home tomorrow (Friday), too. That's a great comfort for us. And he's doing better than I thought although when I had asked him earlier if he was okay, he appeared a little rattled. But as the day wore on he seemed to settle and calm. The little bag of peanut M&Ms after dinner must've helped, too. lol. I know he'll be fine.
Once again, on behalf of Mark and our family, thank you all for all the wonderful warm hugs and well wishes. We really do appreciate it. I hope to be back soon. 
The San Bernardino mass shooting horror just came home to me this morning.
Many DUers know me here. I've been a star-member of Democratic Underground since November 2004. Many people know my political activism, my passion, and my dedication to get as many Democrats elected as we possibly can. Some even know me a little bit more than that.
But what no DUer knows is, I have a son who has cerebral palsy and autism since birth. His name is Mark. He's 34 years old and my oldest child. Mark is developmentally disabled with a mental ability of a six year old child. And we live in North Fontana. That's why I haven't been around much yesterday since 1:45 a.m. when I learned on MSNBC that gunfire had erupted in San Bernardino. I hadn't paid much attention up until the moment I heard the dire voices as I was going about my business.
Since my son is developmentally disabled, he uses services provided by the Inland Regional Center, and has since 2010. His consumer service coordinator works in that building where, yesterday, 14 people were murdered and 17 were injured. I don't know if his service coordinator was part of that group, but I know she was there. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.
Yesterday, after all hell broke loose, it ended in front of the facility where my son goes "to work" every day. I didn't know this. I believed he was safe where he was which, I believed, was a good distance from the Inland Regional Center. But the danger and horror was closer than I knew.
This morning, ten minutes after I said "have a good day" to my son as he walked out the door with his lunch pack and big smile to meet the luxury bus that had come to pick him up, I received a call from the transport service that he'll be returned. They just received word from his facility that they're closed and that the entire street is blocked off. Only this morning I learned that the gunfire that ended the lives of Farook and his wife happened in their street, right in front of their building.
My son never told me. I knew he'd come home a little later than normal yesterday since his work facility is in San Bernardino and the police, FBI, and SWAT had cast a wide security net in that area, but I never thought he could have witnessed the shootout. Naturally, I'm a bit more than just a little rattled by this news because nothing like this has ever happened to me or mine.
I don't know more than what I've written here or what's already being reported in the media, so please don't ask. It's all now just sinking in with me and I'm a bit more than just a little rattled after I learned about this. I'm just happy he's being returned home today, safe and sound.
Thank you for allowing me to blow off some steam.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: SoCal
Home country: USA
Member since: Thu Nov 11, 2004, 03:12 PM
Number of posts: 15,438
