Quick and stupid

Nothing major here, but in this article Newsweek actually prints the following:

Smolenyak first turned to Google where she figured out that, because kinship rules vary by country and because Washington was childless, there were four possible kings (or queens) among the nearly 8,000 descendants of Washington who are alive today.

What do you call a man who was childless but has nearly 8,000 descendants? Seriously, I have no idea. Obviously what's meant is "Descendants of close relatives" or something more specific, but that doesn't make the error any less stupid. This article probably wasn't rushed to press to meet a strict deadline, since while it's vaguely election related it's not exactly breaking news. Someone had time to sit down and edit it...

AND YET:


His [Paul Emery Washington's] family, which includes three sons and one daughter, are fifth-generation descendents of George's oldest brother, Samuel.
...
Paul Emery Washington's family has known for some time that they are descendants of America's first president

So here's a question for Newsweek. Do you A) Think that somehow George and Samuel Washington had a baby together (WHILE George Washington remained childless) in the 1700's? or B) No longer feel constrained by the English language with regard to things like the definitions of words?