Amy Coney Barrett- what in the actual F?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can all say nasty things but none of you have adopted kids of your own.

As if adoption is always good. Remember that couple that adopted all those unfortunate kids, abuses and starved them and then drove off a cliff with them?

Adoption might be a good idea for some families, but it doesn't make anyone a hero.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone actually know where John Roberts adopted his two kids? It never came out in his confirmation hearings—maybe because they are white and not black, the liberals gave him a pass.

They supposedly came from Ireland, where abortion was illegal at the time. See a trend here?

I honestly think someone has leverage over Roberts on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can all say nasty things but none of you have adopted kids of your own.

Where is this coming from? Of course there are people here who have adopted.

No child should read that they were unwanted, or that it was a trial to decide to bring them into a home.

I knew a couple who adopted two children from Ethiopia. Their stories were pretty painful to read in the documents. (I was the children's pediatrician.) The mother was incredibly thoughtful and loving, and before she brought the kids in, we met alone, and she explained that they kept the details private -- even from the other adopted sibling -- because they wanted the children to be able to decide what they wanted shared, and when, once they were old enough to understand their histories. I knew, because I had to know in order to take care of them (one was unable to walk at first, due to sever nutritional deficiences and malformed legs, and there was worse).

She said it has become important to demonstrate this respect in international adoption stories, and my readings support this.

It's not that being fed well and educated isn't a boon. Nobody is, I think, saying these kids aren't being shown some kindness. They are not being treated as full siblings and of equal importance to the family, based on how she speaks of them in a formal, edited statement. That wasn't a misstep -- that was deliberate, even if an unconscious revelation.

[Anonymous]

My black friends were quick to point out that Amy Coney Barrett highlighted that her white children have intellectual goals while her black children can...deadlift.

Emma is a sophomore in college who just might follow her parents into a career in the law," Barrett said. "Next is Vivian, who came to us from Haiti. When Vivian arrived, she was so weak that we were told she might never talk or walk normally. But now she deadlifts as much as the male athletes at our gym, and I assure you that she has no trouble talking."

"Tess is 16, and while she shares her parents’ love for the liberal arts, she also has a math gene that seems to have skipped her parents’ generation," her mother said in her statement. "John Peter joined us shortly after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and Jesse, who brought him home, still describes the shock on JP’s face when he got off the plane in wintertime Chicago.

"Once that shock wore off, JP assumed the happy-go-lucky attitude that is still his signature trait."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone actually know where John Roberts adopted his two kids? It never came out in his confirmation hearings—maybe because they are white and not black, the liberals gave him a pass.

Whoosh. You are completely out in right field.

No one is criticizing ACB for adopting children. No one. They are criticizing how she discusses them in relation to her biological children and they are impugning her motives for adopting them.

No one brought up John Roberts' adopted children, because little attention has been paid to the children or lack of for MALE nominees. That is nothing more than sexism in action. So much focus by the GOP on ACB's children. Their nomination of a female candidate has actually focused a strong light on exactly how backwards and sexist all those GOP Senators are.

Wake up.

Actually I think some people are criticizing ACB for adopting, including me! She has too many children. Some Christian extremists adopt so that they are raising an "army of Christian soldiers." Other reasons might include -- following God's orders to be fruitful and multiply, showing off wealth, been seen as a savior of poor children (and there's an ethical question about adopting from Haiti). None of those are about the good of the children.

I don't know that much about Roberts, but his family situation doesn't raise any alarm bells for me. He and his wife are both lawyers, just like the Barretts. They adopted a reasonable number of children for a two-lawyer family: Two. That speaks to an effort to make a family, rather than trying to make some kind of statement with your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can all say nasty things but none of you have adopted kids of your own.

Where is this coming from? Of course there are people here who have adopted.

No child should read that they were unwanted, or that it was a trial to decide to bring them into a home.

I knew a couple who adopted two children from Ethiopia. Their stories were pretty painful to read in the documents. (I was the children's pediatrician.) The mother was incredibly thoughtful and loving, and before she brought the kids in, we met alone, and she explained that they kept the details private -- even from the other adopted sibling -- because they wanted the children to be able to decide what they wanted shared, and when, once they were old enough to understand their histories. I knew, because I had to know in order to take care of them (one was unable to walk at first, due to sever nutritional deficiencies and malformed legs, and there was worse).

She said it has become important to demonstrate this respect in international adoption stories, and my readings support this.

It's not that being fed well and educated isn't a boon. Nobody is, I think, saying these kids aren't being shown some kindness. They are not being treated as full siblings and of equal importance to the family, based on how she speaks of them in a formal, edited statement. That wasn't a misstep -- that was deliberate, even if an unconscious revelation.

Yes, it really all gets back to fundamentally RESPECTING others.

ACB doesn't appear to fully respect her adopted children. Or women.

[Anonymous]

Really, she had nothing else to say about poor John Paul?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, she had nothing else to say about poor John Paul?

She values hime for being a happy-go-lucky, smiling black kid. She values her biological kids for what they are going to achieve and their intellectual skills.

I think that's about all there is to it.

[Anonymous]

^^him

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really, she had nothing else to say about poor John Paul?

She values hime for being a happy-go-lucky, smiling black kid. She values her biological kids for what they are going to achieve and their intellectual skills.

I think that's about all there is to it.

Or she values HERSELF for allowing him to be happy and smiling. She's patting herself on the back there.

[Anonymous]

I don't disagree with the modification.

[Anonymous]

The Catholic view on having lots of children is that children are a gift from God. I have seen this in my own family and other families. Opposition to birth control is an outgrowth of this view.

I grew up around a Catholic family with nine bio kids and three adopted kids. Their attitude was one of abundance, not some kind of arrogance. The last two generations of my Catholic family had nine and eleven kids. Never once did one of these kids resent that their parents didn't make a good choice in having so many kids. The family attitude towards it is "wow, what a wonderful gift to have such a large family." Traditional Catholics are not the same as the Duggars.

I would never dare to say this is irresponsible for a family in the US or China or Vietnam or Peru. It's just not my call.

That said, I think that Barrett's statement was horrible and she does seem to be approaching this in a racist way, which is completely unfair to her children.

I just wanted to correct the mischaracterization of the traditional Catholic approach.

It is not mine but it is not as greedy or self-serving inherently as some are making it out to be.

Also to say that she should have aborted her Downs Syndrome child is horrible. As someone with a close relative with Downs Syndrome, I am very grateful he wasn't aborted. He was wonderful and loved and brought more joy and good to the world than Trump and his ilk ever could have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My black friends were quick to point out that Amy Coney Barrett highlighted that her white children have intellectual goals while her black children can...deadlift.

Emma is a sophomore in college who just might follow her parents into a career in the law," Barrett said. "Next is Vivian, who came to us from Haiti. When Vivian arrived, she was so weak that we were told she might never talk or walk normally. But now she deadlifts as much as the male athletes at our gym, and I assure you that she has no trouble talking."

"Tess is 16, and while she shares her parents’ love for the liberal arts, she also has a math gene that seems to have skipped her parents’ generation," her mother said in her statement. "John Peter joined us shortly after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and Jesse, who brought him home, still describes the shock on JP’s face when he got off the plane in wintertime Chicago.

"Once that shock wore off, JP assumed the happy-go-lucky attitude that is still his signature trait."

Yeah, and in addition to the differences in the way she describes her adopted children, I’m concerned that for the rest of her life, everyone, her peers, her employers, college admission committees, dates, and potentially her own future children will read that it was thought that Vivian “might never talk or walk normally” — AND will understand that her adoptive mother had no sense that Vivian might want the freedom to tell her own story in her own way. Barrett’s comments are incredibly unloving and disrespectful to her kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My black friends were quick to point out that Amy Coney Barrett highlighted that her white children have intellectual goals while her black children can...deadlift.

Emma is a sophomore in college who just might follow her parents into a career in the law," Barrett said. "Next is Vivian, who came to us from Haiti. When Vivian arrived, she was so weak that we were told she might never talk or walk normally. But now she deadlifts as much as the male athletes at our gym, and I assure you that she has no trouble talking."

"Tess is 16, and while she shares her parents’ love for the liberal arts, she also has a math gene that seems to have skipped her parents’ generation," her mother said in her statement. "John Peter joined us shortly after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and Jesse, who brought him home, still describes the shock on JP’s face when he got off the plane in wintertime Chicago.

"Once that shock wore off, JP assumed the happy-go-lucky attitude that is still his signature trait."

Yeah, and in addition to the differences in the way she describes her adopted children, I’m concerned that for the rest of her life, everyone, her peers, her employers, college admission committees, dates, and potentially her own future children will read that it was thought that Vivian “might never talk or walk normally” — AND will understand that her adoptive mother had no sense that Vivian might want the freedom to tell her own story in her own way. Barrett’s comments are incredibly unloving and disrespectful to her kids.

+1. I felt so bad for her adopted kids watching that. The stark difference in the way she talked about them compared to her biological kids was shocking - and to do it on a national platform, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My black friends were quick to point out that Amy Coney Barrett highlighted that her white children have intellectual goals while her black children can...deadlift.

Emma is a sophomore in college who just might follow her parents into a career in the law," Barrett said. "Next is Vivian, who came to us from Haiti. When Vivian arrived, she was so weak that we were told she might never talk or walk normally. But now she deadlifts as much as the male athletes at our gym, and I assure you that she has no trouble talking."

"Tess is 16, and while she shares her parents’ love for the liberal arts, she also has a math gene that seems to have skipped her parents’ generation," her mother said in her statement. "John Peter joined us shortly after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and Jesse, who brought him home, still describes the shock on JP’s face when he got off the plane in wintertime Chicago.

"Once that shock wore off, JP assumed the happy-go-lucky attitude that is still his signature trait."

I'm a white woman and I was shocked that she described her children that way. And no one will ever be able to convince her of her white privilege because she thinks she's done her penance by rescuing those kids and bringing them into her world.