For decades, John Lewis not only gave all of himself to the cause of freedom and justice, but inspired generations that followed to try to live up to his example. On his birthday, we honor his memory, and work toward continuing his legacy by creating change in our communities.
Today would have been Congressman John Lewis’ 81st birthday. While my dear friend may no longer be with us, his life and legacy provide an eternal moral compass on which direction to march. May we carry on his mission in the fight for justice and equality for all.
Thanks, the recording says tomorrow night by 8pm. I have heard that before. Having heat and water is a blessing though as those days and nights during the ice storm before they got the power back on were really cold.
OG – we feel lucky to have only lost electricity for 48 hours. Hope you get power back soon! John Lewis and Elijah Cummings were the bookends of moral authority on Congress. They are greatly missed, but their legacy lives on.
Muting Cruz, but find it very telling when I watch Judge Garland's body language and then listen to his "talking to a dunce now that he's off the plane" responses. Actually think I might make some popcorn.
Failed HB 113 is being rebranded and revived as HB 427 in MT.
Failed House Bill 113 from MT Rep Fuller (Whitefish) was described as:
“Controversial bill that would have penalized doctors who provided gender-affirming care to transgender minors or made referrals for that care, died on the House floor Tuesday (Jan 24th),
after losing the support of five Republicans who voted for it the day prior.”
In his ignorance, Fuller claims: “We are only telling them (transgender young people) that they need to have the opportunity to reach adulthood before they are subjected to decisions that will affect their lives forever.”
(helenair.com)
imo the fallacy that Fuller repeats is that teenagers don’t know what their gender is, and thus are not eligible for treatment – which is hormone therapy. The hormones block the onset of puberty. They prevent what has been described to me as this terrible, terrible experience of a teen going through puberty in the wrong gender.
e.g. A girl getting big boy muscles, big shoulders and chest, hair, can all be prevented by hormones.
Some transgender children know at 3 years of age.
Some take longer to join the dots. The false charge is that teens are too young to know their actual gender. Tell that to a young trans person who is about to kill themselves.
Last year, I sat down with my good friend Bruce @Springsteen for a long and meaningful conversation that touched on so much of what we’re all dealing with these days. I’m excited to share it with you over the next few weeks: https://t.co/sQACD08AWxpic.twitter.com/biMoxCLhAG
John Lewis was my former parishioner and one of my personal heroes.
In celebration of his lasting legacy, let us carry on his mission to protect & expand access to the ballot box—starting with passing the #ForthePeopleAct & the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. https://t.co/LZw14XvQDr
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) February 22, 2021
An independent investigation finds Aurora Police did not have a basis to stop, frisk, or restrain Elijah McClain. The report also found, "EMS administered a ketamine dosage based on a grossly inaccurate and inflated estimate of Mr. McClain’s size."https://t.co/boUoZGO63g
President Biden is set to host a candle-lighting vigil at the White House on Monday evening to mark the U.S. coronavirus death toll reaching a devastating 500,000 lives lost.https://t.co/KMWb0ZPpwl
HOW marvelous for the young wans seeing and listening to it all along with us…
-parachute strings still intact!
-frost on the heat shield!
-cameras in all the right places!
Slowing down, stopping, pushing dust, a safe flat place to land.
The golden sensor recording info.
Dust cloud. Thrust chambers got so hot they glowed pink.
Massive amounts of data coming in from RSM sensors, cameras.
The spin of the Rover wheels cleaned off the surface dust making it easier to inspect.
The horizon, panoramas.
Views of the area to be explored on the”surface of an alien world”.
(seen 30 mins, looking fwd-)
—Thank you NASA.
"The youngest Black woman in Congress has pulled off not one, but two, miraculous wins in a purple district. What’s her secret? Talking to people and making them feel heard, no matter how wide the divide."https://t.co/8f0Q1Zs7qk
Barbara Malmet
New: Susan Collins clutching her pearls says she will vote against approving Neera Tanden’s nomination to head the Office of Budget and Management. Collins is “concerned” about the tweets Neera deleted. For four years, Collins was ok with Trump’s terrible tweets?
WATCH: Sen. Jon @Ossoff gets a commitment from AG nom Merrick Garland to protect voting rights in light of disenfranchisement attempts by Georgia legislature. pic.twitter.com/YRjxwMRDNt
Hey Meghan, I’m no TV host, but you and I are both from AZ, went to same fancy private school in Phx (PCDS), Ivy League schools, etc. I’ve gotten my 1st dose b/c I’ve volunteered 20 hrs+ so far helping vaccinate the community. Your dad believed in public service—you might try it. https://t.co/jHfrBOCEFj
Will never forget the look Putin gave in a split second to someone on his left,
after he and trump emerged following their meeting in Helsinki…as he got onto the raised platform. Imo his look said “Yeh we’ve got the idiot now”.
President Biden: Memorial Speech for 500,000 Covid Deaths.
(closing)
“In just a few minutes, Jill and I, Kamala and Doug will hold a moment of silence here in the White House,
the people’s house, your house. We ask you to join us to remember, so we can heal, to find purpose in the work ahead, to show that there is light in the darkness. This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again. This nation will know joy again, and as we do we’ll remember each person we’ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind. We will get through this, I promise you, but my heart aches for those of you who are going through it right now. May God bless you all, particularly those who’ve lost someone. God bless you.”
BETO.
“Fmr Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and other Democrats have raised millions in relief for Texans suffering from the devastating winter storm. He joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss those relief efforts and how the lack of help from Republican leaders shows that Texans must “put people in positions of power who actually care for those that they represent and swear that they serve.”
We hired this guy for President! Excellent choice!
A Black man should be able to go for a jog without fearing for his life. Today, we remember Ahmaud Arbery’s life and we dedicate ourselves to making this country safer for people of color.
Ahead of the first anniversary of the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man pursued and killed while jogging, Senator @ossoff asks Merrick Garland what DOJ can do to support the accountability of prosecutors and law enforcement at the local level.
Why should any Republican vote for it? Because it funds a plan to crush the virus and save the economy … Republican Governors, mayors, and business leaders support it … A large share of Republican voters support it. https://t.co/CYv81zpSya
78-20: Senate confirms Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be US Ambassador to the United Nations and US Representative in UN Security Council for the Biden Administration. pic.twitter.com/3lDIlvafZ6
78-20: Senate confirms Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be US Ambassador to the United Nations and US Representative in UN Security Council for the Biden Administration. pic.twitter.com/3lDIlvafZ6
We’ve seen the deadly fallout of Doom claiming the election was a fraud thus Biden isn’t president…..
Probably started scheming after we knew russia helped him get elected.
–Trump was the illegitimate president! Reverse finger pointing at any price is classic trump.
“Georgia Republicans Are Doubling Down on Racist Voter Suppression” (Ari Berman)
“After Black voters turned out in record numbers, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote.”
“On Thursday, with almost no public notice, Georgia House Republicans introduced a 48-page bill to significantly change voting procedures in the state in a way that particularly targets Black voters in the Atlanta metro area. This followed similar moves by the state Senate earlier in the week.”
(https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/georgia-republicans-voter-suppression-bill/)
Brennan Center:
“Voting Laws Roundup: January 2021”
“After historic turnout and increased mail voting in 2020,
state lawmakers across the country are pulling in opposite directions by introducing restrictive and expansive voting legislation.In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election,
and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced three times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to this time last year. Twenty-eight states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 106 restrictive bills this year
(as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).” https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-january-2021
Trump should be happy. The tax returns he always said he wanted to release are being released. And it turns out there’s no evidence of an IRS audit. So the prosecuters are going to audit them instead.
The Daily Beast
A Kentucky nurse who said she was fired after participating in the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol has been arrested by the FBI along with her husband, the agency announced.
WE ❤️️ THIS! 79-year-old Edward Trejo is from California and now lives at an assisted living facility in Oklahoma. He’s never seen snow like this and wished to make a snow angel. With staff members’ help, his wish came true! https://t.co/Oczh23Wmlg#KOCO5#oklahomawinterpic.twitter.com/p9YIy8DihP
Georgia Senate Republicans just introduced sweeping new voter suppression bill that repeals no-excuse absentee voting & requires witness signature + photocopy of voter ID for mail ballots. This is really ugly
Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight—here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.
We have been fighting this pandemic for far too long, but we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. Because in order to heal, we must remember. pic.twitter.com/FOmIfI2JX6
As we observe the awful milestone of half of million Americans lost to COVID-19, including nearly 15,000 Georgians, I offer a prayer to Georgians who are mourning their loved ones and struggling through these hard times. pic.twitter.com/CRWs02pBsK
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) February 24, 2021
“Legal counsel has been engaged and foreclosure actions have been filed,” says Wells Fargo & Co. about the Times Square retail property owned by Kushner Cos. https://t.co/uOheKHxwU7
Like many countries around the world, Canada and the US are facing incredible challenges – from COVID-19, to climate change, to rising inequality. This is our time to act together. And that is what @POTUS Biden and I focused on today. More here: https://t.co/hoasKODKaApic.twitter.com/ALl96cE2P1
If you tweeted today about the murder of #AhmaudArbery but have excused the UNREPENTANT vigilantism of #JohnFetterman who chased down an unarmed Black jogger & held him up with a shotgun, FCUK YOU. It shouldn't take murder to be on the side of Black lives.pic.twitter.com/ggRz3la7ej
I know he was frustrated a bit when he changed his twitter account over to his real name and had to grow his following, etc., so maybe he’ll just take a rest and then come back. Love his posts and miss seeing him around!
The Navajo Nation has surpassed its goal of administering 100,000 COVID-19 vaccines by the end of February, a figure that represents over half of its residents. Our work to increase supply, increase places to get vaccinated, and increase vaccinators is making a difference.
— White House COVID-19 Response Team (@WHCOVIDResponse) February 24, 2021
Joe Manchin unwillingness to vote for Neera Tanden is not principled – he holds a personal grudge.
Manchen’s daughter Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan – maker of EpiPen, was criticized by Tanden for raising prices on this critical drug by over 500%. pic.twitter.com/zDzl84FdSj
When most people around the world talk about work-life balance, they mean *quality* of life vs hours of work. Here in America, the trade off seems to be about years off your actual life.
The first thing that surprised me during the pandemic was the degree to which employers simply ignored it. We were in the middle of a catastrophe so huge it had humbled the entire human race and we were still talking about how we could avoid missing our deadlines.
Essential workers were expected to risk their lives for pizza deliveries. My Amazon orders continued to be so dependable that it was notable when something was actually late.
There's a big mansion that I pass regularly on my run. Early in the pandemic, there was always a big basket out front full of basic supplies with a sign that read "For delivery drivers. Thank you!"
Thanks for risking your life! Here's some toilet paper.
Since it wan’t on TV, I’ll just put this right here.
I just met with Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau – my first bilateral meeting as president. Tune in as we discuss the meeting and how we’ll tackle the shared challenges we face. https://t.co/0vASM6lIKb
Can’t wait to read it. I had the honor of meeting Rev Vivian when I chaperoned the Freedom Rides, several times at events in DC, and at the 1994 NAACP Convention.
So it turns out Neera Tanden criticized @Sen_JoeManchin's daughter for her extraordinary pay increases, after she raised the price of the Epi-Pen from $100 to $600 and moved Mylan's HQ to the Netherlands to reduce taxes. https://t.co/K59rrwM05N. pic.twitter.com/snYaAK9Xfu
The Obama Diary 
Still without internet, but have power! Using my brother who lives next door’s weak dial up signal.
I live in rural, Oregon not TX. Our ice storm was ten days ago.
Hi OG! I hope things get back to normal for you soon! 🙏🏾
Thanks, the recording says tomorrow night by 8pm. I have heard that before. Having heat and water is a blessing though as those days and nights during the ice storm before they got the power back on were really cold.
OG – we feel lucky to have only lost electricity for 48 hours. Hope you get power back soon! John Lewis and Elijah Cummings were the bookends of moral authority on Congress. They are greatly missed, but their legacy lives on.
Yes!! 💞
Ooh ooh, and cheezypuffs!!
🍿😹🍿
Happy Birthday, John Lewis! Hero of our time!
🎂🍰🥂🎈🗝
Happy New Week! 🐶🐱😍
Happy New Week to you, too!
😘
Are these kittens orphans? Are they blind to not recognize “a stranger” when they see one? Where is their mother???
Looks like somebody needs a Snickers. 😁
LOL.
Failed HB 113 is being rebranded and revived as HB 427 in MT.
Failed House Bill 113 from MT Rep Fuller (Whitefish) was described as:
“Controversial bill that would have penalized doctors who provided gender-affirming care to transgender minors or made referrals for that care, died on the House floor Tuesday (Jan 24th),
after losing the support of five Republicans who voted for it the day prior.”
In his ignorance, Fuller claims: “We are only telling them (transgender young people) that they need to have the opportunity to reach adulthood before they are subjected to decisions that will affect their lives forever.”
(helenair.com)
imo the fallacy that Fuller repeats is that teenagers don’t know what their gender is, and thus are not eligible for treatment – which is hormone therapy. The hormones block the onset of puberty. They prevent what has been described to me as this terrible, terrible experience of a teen going through puberty in the wrong gender.
e.g. A girl getting big boy muscles, big shoulders and chest, hair, can all be prevented by hormones.
Some transgender children know at 3 years of age.
Some take longer to join the dots. The false charge is that teens are too young to know their actual gender. Tell that to a young trans person who is about to kill themselves.
Won’t post the story because it might appear with “the former guy’s” photo, so here’s the headline ICYMI:
Supreme Court allows release of Trump tax returns to NY prosecutor
For that type of a story, I don’t mind seeing Orange!
Oh, I get it!
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/22/politics/supreme-court-trump-taxes-vance/index.html
NOW…
The Bosses 😃
i saw this..How Interesting
Two of my most favorite “men on the planet” !!
Lindsey Graham grilling Judge Garland is something that deserves an Oscar. In Inferno!
So mad and sad about another yet senseless, racist murder.
If I hear one more “implicit bias” from Senator Kennedy, I will be very biased!
HOW marvelous for the young wans seeing and listening to it all along with us…
-parachute strings still intact!
-frost on the heat shield!
-cameras in all the right places!
Slowing down, stopping, pushing dust, a safe flat place to land.
The golden sensor recording info.
Dust cloud. Thrust chambers got so hot they glowed pink.
Massive amounts of data coming in from RSM sensors, cameras.
The spin of the Rover wheels cleaned off the surface dust making it easier to inspect.
The horizon, panoramas.
Views of the area to be explored on the”surface of an alien world”.
(seen 30 mins, looking fwd-)
—Thank you NASA.
Kyle Griffin
Reuters: U.S. HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE APPROVES $1.9 TRILLION COVID-19 AID BILL.
Finally! Moving that bill along. That will help so many Americans.
Yes! Respect! Keep on, Keep in on Rep. Underwood! 💞
Well, that one nailed it.
What an awesome and heartfelt ceremony…it touched me so much…
Yes, I totally agree. Touching!
This is so me. Ha. And yet I keep talkin’.
Fave photo of our VP thus far!
Gorgeous!
I’ve just buried Irony in the snow!
Barbara Malmet
New: Susan Collins clutching her pearls says she will vote against approving Neera Tanden’s nomination to head the Office of Budget and Management. Collins is “concerned” about the tweets Neera deleted. For four years, Collins was ok with Trump’s terrible tweets?
Progress on the American Rescue Plan
Let’s see what is revealed because we already know who are the traitors in the GOP.
I’m so proud of My Senator!
Such a relief to see Merrick Garland and Jon Ossoff up there…
NOW:
Will never forget the look Putin gave in a split second to someone on his left,
after he and trump emerged following their meeting in Helsinki…as he got onto the raised platform. Imo his look said “Yeh we’ve got the idiot now”.
And then the mic picked up trump whispering to putin, “thank you, thank you”.
– this was a split-second look to (putin’s) left side.
President Biden: Memorial Speech for 500,000 Covid Deaths.
(closing)
“In just a few minutes, Jill and I, Kamala and Doug will hold a moment of silence here in the White House,
the people’s house, your house. We ask you to join us to remember, so we can heal, to find purpose in the work ahead, to show that there is light in the darkness. This nation will smile again. This nation will know sunny days again. This nation will know joy again, and as we do we’ll remember each person we’ve lost, the lives they lived, the loved ones they left behind. We will get through this, I promise you, but my heart aches for those of you who are going through it right now. May God bless you all, particularly those who’ve lost someone. God bless you.”
(https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-biden-memorial-speech-for-500000-covid-19-deaths-transcript-february-22)
‘Where is Greg Abbott?’
Anger grows at Texas governor in deadly storm’s wake”
“Citizens across the state posted angry memes on social media about the governor,
crafting basketball-sized snowballs they wanted to aim at him
and superimposing “Where is Greg Abbott?” over a hellscape.”
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/where-is-greg-abbott-anger-grows-at-texas-governor/2021/02/21/86324e54-72d6-11eb-b8a9-b9467510f0fe_story.html)
BETO.
“Fmr Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and other Democrats have raised millions in relief for Texans suffering from the devastating winter storm. He joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss those relief efforts and how the lack of help from Republican leaders shows that Texans must “put people in positions of power who actually care for those that they represent and swear that they serve.”
We hired this guy for President! Excellent choice!
Look at My Senator! 😁👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I approve this Senator!
WH Press Briefing
President Biden will visit Houston on Friday.
Yeh but their elected officials don’t care.
Your United States Ambassador to the United Nations, the Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
thanks for the brilliant news Dudette.
Happy to share brp!
Jupiter got jealous all the attention Mars is getting, so…
We’ve seen the deadly fallout of Doom claiming the election was a fraud thus Biden isn’t president…..
Probably started scheming after we knew russia helped him get elected.
–Trump was the illegitimate president! Reverse finger pointing at any price is classic trump.
“Georgia Republicans Are Doubling Down on Racist Voter Suppression” (Ari Berman)
“After Black voters turned out in record numbers, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote.”
“On Thursday, with almost no public notice, Georgia House Republicans introduced a 48-page bill to significantly change voting procedures in the state in a way that particularly targets Black voters in the Atlanta metro area. This followed similar moves by the state Senate earlier in the week.”
(https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/georgia-republicans-voter-suppression-bill/)
Brennan Center:
“Voting Laws Roundup: January 2021”
“After historic turnout and increased mail voting in 2020,
state lawmakers across the country are pulling in opposite directions by introducing restrictive and expansive voting legislation.In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election,
and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced three times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to this time last year. Twenty-eight states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 106 restrictive bills this year
(as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020).”
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-january-2021
Do any of you remember “SOUL!” ? I loved that show; we watched it every week. This documentary aired last night on PBS.
Wow! I don’t remember this at all. I’m thinking we were in Okinawa when this aired. Thanks for sharing!
IMPORTANT READ
I did not get a chance to see the hearing today…how did it go
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told Politico Tuesday he will back Merrick Garland’s nomination for Attorney General.
Trump should be happy. The tax returns he always said he wanted to release are being released. And it turns out there’s no evidence of an IRS audit. So the prosecuters are going to audit them instead.
All In with Chris Hayes
A retired New York police officer is facing charges for participating in the Capitol riot last month, where he allegedly attacked a Capitol officer.
WOW☹☹
More good news:
The Daily Beast
A Kentucky nurse who said she was fired after participating in the Jan. 6 riot in the U.S. Capitol has been arrested by the FBI along with her husband, the agency announced.
I didn’t see your post, Sheila.
This is going on live. Very beautiful.
The United States Congress memorial to the 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19.
https://twitter.com/fairfightaction/status/1364365737939374080?s=21
Wishing Tiger Woods a smooth recovery.
What happened to him is so sad!
Barack don’t play that!
Slurp!
I like it! I like it!
😁😍😁
Still. Forever. 😭
Beautiful Jupiter
Goodnight, TODville – and all the ships at sea!
Meanwhile back at the crime scene.
Does anybody know if our friend Bobfr aka Bob Franza cancelled his twitter account?
hey Job…it appears that both accounts are no longer active………
Sorry to hear – hope he’s just coming up with a third option!
seems strange that he would just disappear after all this time..i hope all is OK
I know he was frustrated a bit when he changed his twitter account over to his real name and had to grow his following, etc., so maybe he’ll just take a rest and then come back. Love his posts and miss seeing him around!
I forgot she was Manchin’s daughter…
Good Morning! 😁
Since it wan’t on TV, I’ll just put this right here.
Thank you!
Can’t wait to read it. I had the honor of meeting Rev Vivian when I chaperoned the Freedom Rides, several times at events in DC, and at the 1994 NAACP Convention.
👍🏾
Just so you know…
Emoji poetry 😁
New post.
https://obamadiary.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/nine-days/