The official dates on which we can verify that Ruffles, playing the part of Trig #1, was photographed are 4/18/08 - 5/4/08. I am not sure of the exact date of this photo. Maybe one of you can enlighten me, but I do know that it is a crop of a larger shot of Ruffles being held by his pseudo-parents, probably in SP's Anchorage office on 4/23/08. As far as we know, Ruffles has not been photographed since he was taken to a baby shower hosted by Kristan Cole on Sunday, May 4th, 2008. You can read more about Kristan Cole at Barb Dwyer's excellent, but apparently defunct, blog named Terminal Hypocrisy.
The legendary stage prop often referred to as Trig #2 or Round Ear made a grand entrance at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. Sarah Palin had been selected as the VP nominee on 8/29-08. In that brief Friday to Wednesday time period, Round Ear may or may not have appeared in photos. I am not certain, and once again, maybe one of you has more detailed information; however, this may be of little consequence anyway. The real questions concern whatever happened to these two babies between 5/4/08 and 8/29/08. If you examine The Ultimate Babygate Timeline, you will notice that there are very few entries of any sort during this approximate four-month time period. There are none at all during the month of July. In other words, we have very little evidence to verify exactly when the baby switch took place. Did both of them coexist in the Palin household during that summer? Was there a time gap in which there was no baby in that household?
Some have speculated that Ruffles reappeared on the book tour as Batwing. Although I think that is possible, it is not likely, but let's examine that scenario for a moment. What if Ruffles grew into Batwing and he rode one bus of the tour and Round Ear rode the other? Well, if nothing else, I think that plan would have made Sarah happy! She could have flown over her peasants without having to deal with a baby except for those brief periods on the buses. There is at least one photo in which Trig's batwing ears seem clearly different than those of Round Ear, but if you blow up that shot, the one near Christmas when Trig is wearing red with a black stripe on his sleeve and being held by Sarah, also in red, you will see that Trig's hearing aid and glasses are the source of the distortion of his left ear. This photo is just Round Ear as usual, except for once, he is properly attired with glasses and hearing aid.
There is another shot of Trig in green in which the batwing ear is even more prevalent, and many have commented on that Trig's vivaciousness, as evidenced in a video clip from the book tour. Maybe his meds had simply worn off? That would be my first guess, since I was telling my wife that I thought Trig had been drugged, even at the GOP convention. Many later photos convinced me even further that the baby was being drugged for most of his public appearances just to make him keep quiet and behave. I am not totally convinced that a separate Batwing Trig does not exist, but I have been mostly skeptical. At this point anyway, I think there is a stronger likelihood of Ruffles and Round Ear being blood related than there is of three Trigs. From looking at the poll above, most of you seem to agree that two unrelated Trigs are the most likely scenario, but the existence of Batwing still garners a lot of votes!
I must end this post on the sad note that you knew was coming. Is Ruffles still alive? Are the Palins pulling a Jane Eyre or The Shuttered Room? Is that one of the reasons they needed to expand the compound, so they would have a home layout that would allow them to conceal the existence of Ruffles indefinitely? Did they place him in an institution during that fateful summer of '08? Did they keep him around until CBJ could produce the right replacement, and then dispose of him in whatever manner you may dread imagining? I do not have a clue how to answer these despicable, disgusting questions. Look at the bright side: Ruffles may be happily living his life with someone who truly loves him. Unless we can find a way to blow open this household of fraudulent behaviors, we may never know. The best thing I can say at this point is that the witch has her panties in a knot and her boobs are exploding over the simple fact that a new neighbor might overhear three hungry babies crying at once!
31 comments:
Gee, I guess I'm confused. I thought this is the picture of round ear Trig taken on 4/18/08 as he, the DS baby, was presented to the world.
This baby does not look like a preemie. Plus, isn't this a cropped photo of the two grifter parents wearing street clothes (pearls on Paylin)? No one who has had a child within the first day would be wearing street clothes, nor would visitors be allowed to forego the hospital gown to protect against infection.
Keep going on your research. I see that other bloggers are re-visiting the subject. Very good, indeed.
Yes, Miz Linda, this is cropped from one of the staged photos in the hospital hallway. I chose it after comparing several shots of Ruffles. My point is that I think we can fairly definitively say that all the shots of Trig in those few early weeks are Ruffles. I even reviewed Gryphen's Two Babies post before I wrote this to verify my idea. Unless I have misunderstood, Gryphen has been consistently saying that all the photos from the 4/18 to 5/4 period are Ruffles.
Floyd, I think that picture was taken when Sarah and Todd took Trig to her office. I'll try to find the video.
Reesie, are you saying the photo was taken 4/21/08? In the office video or photos I saw a while back, I noticed that the baby was in a sling. I wondered then if this was the sort of sling that was in the news lately for accidentally suffocating babies. Do you know anything about that?
Floyd, if you look at this video at 2:17, I think this is it. I can't find the original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pzh2HWRL8
This is TriG at the office on 4/21/08 or thereabouts. He looks like TriG at the hospital with the Heaths.
Why do you say he is Ruffles?
I don't recall Bree or Gryphen verifying that this baby is Ruffles. We do not see his ears at the hospital or at the office. They are covered by the cap. And this TriG doesn't look like his pictures with Sadie or at the shower.
I think you are jumping to a conclusion.
I still think this TriG could be a lifelike "reborn" doll (Google it) used as a stand-in until Ruffles was ready. And based on pictures at Palin's Peyton Place, I can't rule out that Roundear is Ruffles after surgery. That would be a happier story.
Sorry I sound like a stuck record on this, Floyd, but this TriG seems totally different.
Your opinion is always welcome here, B, but there are several reasons I disagree with your theory. The first is that it makes a lot more sense that all the April-May photos are of Ruffles and the September and later ones are Round Ear. I find it hard to believe that Sarah would risk taking a doll to work where every woman in the office would want to engage him, as is commonly the case with any baby. I would think it more likely that the baby at the RNC convention was a doll than at a location where people would have up close and personal access. Why would SP want to push up the proper date of ear surgery on the baby? Vanity? If there was only one Trig, why should his ears be such a big deal that they need to be operated on prematurely? I would certainly like to hear anyone else's opinion of B's theory. I'm all ears!
"Makes a lot more sense" is a far cry from "verify." Maybe it's Ruffles, but no proof.
From the stills and video there's no indication anyone but Sarah and Todd touched that baby at the office and no sign that the baby moved or made noise. I'm not saying it's a reborn but I'm saying I can't rule it out.
Sarah would push up the surgery because she wanted a perfect DS baby. She did not want people asking about other birth defects and wondering if drugs or alcohol or incest or other creators of birth defects were involved. She did not authorize publication of the Sadie and shower photos that show the ruffled ear. The photos she did authorize, hospital and office, had covered ears.
Very good reply, B. You make some good points. I would still like to hear from other readers, though. Come on, ladies, what do YOU think?
Floyd, The photo was taken in Palin's Anchorage office. I believe it was taken April 23 as other photos taken that day by KTUU show Sarah wearing a black jacket and Todd wearing a blue shirt. I can't find any links to the exact shot above. Similar shots (Sarah has a different hand position and Trig is more reclined) appear with an AP article carried by several papers.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/050508/sta_275624093.shtml
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?s=8218755
Sarah wore a red jacket and Todd had a red shirt on another day, possibly April 21, of early photos with Trig. Trig wore the same hat on both days. I have the shots but no links.
The hospital hallway photos were taken on April 18 with Trig swaddled and held by Sally Heath.
http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8194634
Gryphen questioned whether the hospital baby and Ruffles were the same, based on hospital baby appearing larger.
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2010/02/follow-up-post-about-mystery.html
The question about 'reborns' was discussed at Bree's. I don't recall there ever being a consensus. Personally, I don't think a doll was ever presented as Trig. I see different facial expressions and the cheeks squashed in one photo.
My research about corrective procedures for Ruffle's ear/s ended with the same conclusion as Gryphen's experts -- impossible. I read alot of articles on the web, called 2 ear centers and also spoke with one person who made silicone ear replacements. All eliminated the possibility of both surgical and non-surgical procedures for infants and toddlers. In general, patients needed to be at least 5-years old for correction, although one had a procedure that could possibly be performed on a three-year old. We need to remember that a baby's head and ears grow. There are other anatomical reasons precluding repair on an infant but I don't know how to explain them. Even on older individuals, it's apparently difficult to get good results and there aren't that many specialists.
Is that palins thumb holding the baby's hand?Distinct nails, white on top pass the free base, not normal nails, so their fake and not painted.
any pictures of palins nails close up?
@Curioser. Hello again.
Apparently the reborns' faces do squash and move somewhat. My point is just that we don't know that baby is Ruffles.
As for the surgery, have you looked at Palin Peyton Place's pictures? Really looks like someone stitched up the hole, though the ruffled cartilage would have required something else. If Newsweek is right that she is Saint Sarah, perhaps she performed a miracle to fix the ear(s).
Curiouser, yes, you are correct in much of what you say. I have the photos you mention, but you have provided a little more information than I previously had. I have the photos of Todd, SP, and Trig taken in the Anchorage office, and I cropped one of those for this photo. Most of what I post on this blog is intended to make us all think as deeply as we can about the many Babygate issues. I doubt that any one of us has all the answers, so we need to pool our knowledge. I shall adjust this post accordingly. Thank you.
Shilo442, yes, that is SP holding the baby. As Curiouser mentioned, there are several photos of the three of them in the Anchorage office.
Postscript: One of the issues I am trying to nail down is maybe the hospital and kitchen photos are all of Ruffles. Maybe the photo angle or the way he is being held makes him look like a larger baby in the hospital two weeks earlier. Sometimes the simple answer is the right one, and I am inclined to believe there was one Trig presented in April and another one in August, without a lot of back and forth switching or ear surgery involved.
Several points on the youtube vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pzh2HWRL8 (thanks for re-posting):
10 sec: my favorite frame, when Trig hits "mom"
46-47: the child on the book tour had batwing ears--not distored by glasses and not the same as the regular round ears of the RNC (many pix avail)
2:19: Notice the SP's intent is to put her hand bt the camera and "Trig". Her first gesture after poking the poor kid is to pull his hat DOWN so the camera can't even see him.
2:32 This baby also has the batwings but I'm not sure of the event.
Mel, can you send me some of those Batwing photos you are talking about, or at least post the links to them in a comment? Thank you.
Floyd, I was referring to footage in the youtube link posted earlier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pzh2HWRL8
Stills of Trig at RNC are easy to find. The batwing footage I was marking in the video is booktour if I'm not mistaken. Is it stills you're asking me for? I don't know that I know of those beyond what's been posted on blogs.
Mel, I have looked closely at the videos you linked. I would still love to find more evidence of a separate Batwing Trig, but none of what I have seen yet really convinces me. I do not have a single still photo of Batwing that can be compared adequately to a photo of Round Ear. Do you have the book tour video which many feel is evidence of Batwing Trig?
I am not convinced the hospital hallway baby and the first day at the office baby is not a doll. I would like to see blow ups of the two faces side by side. Does the expression or the coloring change. A baby might have the same expression on two days but the pattern of color on his face should vary.
I don't think that's possible, Sqrtneg. I just compared the closeup, cropped shots taken in (a) the hospital hallway, (b) the Anchorage office, (c) SP's kitchen, and (d) the baby shower. The mouth and the lines around the mouth are different in all four photos.
Floyd, Can you post the 4 pics side-by-side?
Floyd,
I have the website, 'Palin Peyton Place'. After Gryphen posted on his blog the pictures pics showing that there are 2 different babies being presented as Trig, I went through every picture I could find on the internet to see if I could find more that could help confirm his theory.
I thought I might find some obsure photo someone had posted that had not been noticed or looked at before now. What I found shocked me! Proof that there had been a switch of the babies during the RNC! As I looked closer, it appeared to me that the baby that Bristol is holding is 'Ruffled Ear' baby that has had some surgery done. The opening to the external auditory canal, which the ear deformity had on outside of the ear below the tragus, appears to have been closed. Maybe it was done early to help prevent ear infections. The the helix, or fold of the ear, may have been corrected by the use of molds. That can be done without requiring surgery.
But the really shocking part is the absolute proof is that, ROUND EAR TRIG TAKES HIS PLACE 5 DAYS LATER! Cindy McCain is holding him while sitting in the audience with Todd. There is no photoshoping going on here. Anyone can find those same pictures on the web and blow them up to see exactly the same thing.
http://www.palinpeytonplace.com/the-switch.html
Next Chapter, I would love for you to contact me directly via e-mail! I have viewed the pictures on your blog and re-read the text many times. I have not been able to see exactly what you describe, therefore I tend to believe that there are two Trigs, but no surgery at such a young age, as Gryphen has pointed out. In addition, I find it easy to believe that the babies were switched during that four months while the Trigs were out of sight, but more difficult to envision the Trigs being switched while the public is looking.
Do not misunderstand: I am not trying to discredit your theory. The whole point of this blog is to remain open to all reasonable speculative theories. What truly disturbs me is the blatant lack of cooperation among certain bloggers over these issues. Have you had any direct contact with Gryphen? Why does he not state his opinion of your theory? Keep up the good work!
How about this: a Palin insider (that fecund sister? that criminal sister-in-law? a church lady without insurance? a troubled young mom known to Dar Miller through her work?) gave birth to ruffle-ear baby (who has FAS) and agrees to let $P pretend it's hers for a short time in exchange for $P covering all surgical expenses. When smooth-ear baby turns up (with DS, but not so bad that she can't travel around without a nurse/professional caregiver), ruffle-ear is returned to his mother. A decent honest doctor wouldn't perform that surgery that early, but a decent honest doctor wouldn't have performed those surgeries on Michael Jackson either. Wonder where $P would find a not-so-honest doctor who might happily take a stack of cash in return for silence?
Mr. Orr, you have so many babygate sites, it was difficult for me to come back to this site. I had to go to the babygate timeline and then to "Where's Ruffles," to get here. Is there some way to incorporate everything that's babygate into one place? Just a suggestion.
I wanted to give you my two-cents worth on the above post. I think the baby in the hospital picture is the real Trig. He was full term about 7 lbs. +. That was why Sarah was able to take him to work on Monday. He didn't even look like he was a D/S baby at the time.
They used Ruffles for the baby shower because he/she was smaller and looked more like a premie. This baby was probably the child of someone they knew.
Someone had mentioned seeing Todd with a small baby tucked in his arm at a picnic. The person was shocked when she then saw him later at the RNC because he was so much bigger.
That could have been a doll in his arm wrapped in a baby blanket. Also, I think it was a doll in pictures of her wearing that sling. Clever, huh? It made the Palins look like a caring family and it was so much easier than carting a real baby around.
I'm glad you are open to all theories. If we can just brainstorm, maybe we can come up with something. The trolls are the biggest problem. Once they find out about a blog, especially babygate, they come in with all kinds of crazy stories.
Thanks for your efforts to seek the truth...
Ginger, I am not sure why you had problems navigating the site. There is only one Palin Babygate blog. You can jump to any article on the blog from the Palin Babygate Links list in the left column of the page. It is possible that you might have landed on a Palin article on my blog of general commentary under my name that I have had for years. That blog covers many subjects and this one is Babygate only. You can read all the Palin related articles at floydmorr.blogspot.com by clicking the links listed under The Palinbot Stomp. Welcome to Palin Babygate and thank you for coming!
Thanks, I've got it fixed now. BTW, I notice you have a link to Mercede's blog. I tried to ask a question about a comment but when I went back, the comment was gone.
The comment was from Heather on June 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm. She was responding to Leadfoot and said this:
"I can personally say that Tripp was indeed born 12/27/08 I gave birth to my son about 30min BEFORE tripp was born in the room next door. (Sadie idk how much you want me to say so I'll leave it at that.)"
____________________
It sounded to me like Mercede asked her friend (Heather?) to make this comment. Interesting, huh? Also, under the post, "My Space Photos" look at a comment from Beverly from Montreal on June 12, 2010 at 5:13 am. Hurry, though, before they delete that one too.
Ginger, the comment is still there. It's on the earlier post named Ask Me Anything. I do not personally put too much stock in this comment one way or the other. The only thing that has ever bothered me about Tripp's birth was that they let the date slip out in an odd manner, and then did not actually show Tripp in any photographs until two months later. You can read more about this opinion over on my other blog under The Invisible Baby.
As I have suggested before, I welcome you or anyone else to contact me privately. As a few of my readers can attest, I can be quite a bit more candid in private e-mail conversations! It has always been my preference to try to avoid childish snark back and forth in the comments from any of the readership, but I am not shy about discussing more sensitive material in a more discreet manner.
Mel, can you send me some of those Batwing photos you are talking about, or at least post the links to them in a comment? Thank you.
Thanks, I've got it fixed now. BTW, I notice you have a link to Mercede's blog. I tried to ask a question about a comment but when I went back, the comment was gone.
The comment was from Heather on June 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm. She was responding to Leadfoot and said this:
"I can personally say that Tripp was indeed born 12/27/08 I gave birth to my son about 30min BEFORE tripp was born in the room next door. (Sadie idk how much you want me to say so I'll leave it at that.)"
____________________
It sounded to me like Mercede asked her friend (Heather?) to make this comment. Interesting, huh? Also, under the post, "My Space Photos" look at a comment from Beverly from Montreal on June 12, 2010 at 5:13 am. Hurry, though, before they delete that one too.
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