In 2022, people around the world helped change their communities for the better. Let's keep it up in 2023. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I’ll be right there with you.
Here's to a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year.
15 years ago today, our campaign won the Iowa caucuses. I’ll always be grateful to the people who organized across the state, and built the relationships that made it all possible.
I recently sat down with six organizers to talk about that time and what they’ve been up to since. pic.twitter.com/2fghTvMdLn
Democrats chanted Hakeem Jeffries' name after nominating the New York representative to be Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He's received more votes than House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy 3 consecutive times. 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/j4J9zJEkae
It was my privilege today to gavel out the end of the 117th Congress — an extraordinarily productive session #ForThePeople.
I look forward to continuing to serve the people of San Francisco in the 118th Congress and will share more on this account. pic.twitter.com/IExmFl2i0H
Tune in as I deliver remarks on how my economic plan is growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out by investing in our infrastructure, creating good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, and revitalizing communities left behind. https://t.co/qVqnSd8AOz
Laurence Tribe
“A good time to re-up this excellent study of how the 14th Amendment’s Disqualification Clause can be enforced under existing laws, now that the Jan 6 Committee has made its criminal referrals for the violent insurrection and the attempted coup:”
Roadmap to Accountability: How the Jan. 6 Committee Can Help Enforce the 14th Amendment
“The constitutional bar to insurrectionists holding public office
The January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election led to the first application of the “disqualification from public office” provision of the U.S. Constitution in more than a century. Earlier this year, in a case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and others, a New Mexico court disqualified a county official from holding office based on his role in trespassing at the Capitol, and for participating in the “surrounding planning, mobilization, and incitement” which caused the insurrection. (The case is on appeal.) The disqualification clause contained in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment provides that public office holders who have taken an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and then engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or who give aid or comfort to enemies of the United States, are barred from serving ever again in public office.
In this essay and an accompanying report, we build on the established collective understanding to analyze contemporary enforcement of the disqualification clause. Our analysis describes how the disqualification clause can currently be enforced.”
When we open our doors at the Obama Presidential Center, visitors will have the chance to be inspired by those who came before, and find new ways to make history of their own. We'll feature artifacts that help bring stories like these from the 2008 campaign to life: pic.twitter.com/7a9n8ClndC
To celebrate 15 years since @BarackObama's historic Iowa caucus victory, a small group of organizers who got involved early in that campaign came together to reflect on the lessons they still carry with them today. Read more: https://t.co/TyhZGXGfX8
Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, who faced death threats and attacks amplified by former President Donald Trump (as recently as this week!) will receive one of the nation's highest honors from President Biden tomorrow. #gapolhttps://t.co/7L7qzY1Bx0
“So, this is what happens when neither party controls the chair. Usually the majority would hold the vote open until they had the votes, but the clerk is, appropriately, just rolling through.
The “anti-swamp” rebels simply wanted their DC-based super pac to get a deal with another super pac.
The role of CLF in shaping primaries has been overstated by both sides here
I will not be taking down my Christmas lights until the House elects a speaker”
Kevin McCarthy’s Hat Trick of Humiliation
Special Edition
Charlie Sykes
“You’re supposed to throw the grenade after you pull the pin. They pulled the pin and passed the grenade around!” —James Carville
Historians should note that the party that lost control of the House brought popcorn to the ceremony. The party that “won” blew itself up. And then did it again. And again. And then left for a night of pizza, bitterness, and recriminations. Meanwhile, the MAGA crackup accelerated as crackpots fought with nihilists, wingnuts pointed fingers at extremists, and grifters started slap-fights with one another.
“Meanwhile, in House Democrat Land… Minority Leader Jeffries showed the caucus the NY Daily News cover from today. “The thing speaks for itself,” he said.
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY Season 2 Episode 11 Photos Read-A-Thon –
The competition heats up between Melissa and Janine as their classrooms go head-to-head in a read-a-thon sponsored by a local pizza shop. Both teachers encourage their students to hit the books hard but face some unexpected obstacles on their path to pizza glory.
A workplace comedy following a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal —as they navigate the Philadelphia public school system.
“As we approach the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, it’s been grimly amusing to see that the party of insurrection can’t even manage the orderly transfer of power to itself. Rarely does karma play out so neatly.”
“Call them rebels? They’re not rebels, they are Insurrectionists…this is the continuation of the Insurrection that I would argue started before Jan 6, and we did not put down on Jan 6.”
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pointed out that if Democrats took a shot every time Kevin McCarthy lost a Republican vote, they’d all be unconscious by now.”
(politicus.usa)
Josh Chafetz: “The parliamentarians know this stuff cold.”
Rep Jamaal Bowman:
“Welcome to my world…it’s a clown show (but better than last year insurrection).”
Alex Wagner: ““It’s a Game of Thrones, with superpac.”
Brian Schatz
“It is creepy that dark money super pacs are explicitly part of the negotiation regarding who becomes Speaker of the United States House.”
On First Day Back in Power, Republicans Remove Metal Detectors Placed in House Chambers After Capitol Riots
Several Republicans have criticized the metal detectors since they were first erected in 2021
“Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has been open about her intent to carry a concealed weapon in the Capitol building, told reporters she had been “waiting for this day for a long time.” “I think [the metal detectors] need to be removed from the Capitol, filled with Tannerite and blown up,” she added.
REP. JEFFRIES STATEMENT ON THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE JANUARY 6TH INSURRECTION
“A year ago today, a violent insurrection took place in the citadel of our democracy, the United States Capitol. Incited by the former disgraced, twice-impeached president of the United States of America, the assault that took place was an attack on the Capitol, the Congress, the Constitution and the country. We will never forget the events of that fateful day, which were designed to undermine the peaceful transfer of power, keep Donald Trump in office and take down the United States government.
More than 150 law enforcement officers were seriously injured, brutalized and attacked in addition to those who gave their lives protecting this institution. Countless Members, staff, police officers and reporters endured serious mental trauma that still looms large. Our democratic process itself was attacked, and instead of strengthening our institution with legislative guardrails, those on the other side continue to provide aid and comfort to the Big Lie, choosing autocracy over democracy.
House Democrats remain focused on defending the Constitution and the rule of law. Through the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, we hope to get to the whole truth and nothing but the truth with respect to the events of that day and ( how we can prevent a violent insurrection from ever happening again. One year later, we must continue to hold those who inflamed, encouraged and participated in the insurrection accountable because no one is above the law. That is the American way.”
House Minority Leader Jeffries Marks January 6 Anniversary
One Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), joined House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Democrats to mark the second anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, from the East Front steps of the building. Others in attendance included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the House chaplain. Family members of slain Capitol police officers read their names before a 140 second moment of silence was taken to represent 140 officers impacted by the events on January 6, 2021.
As members of Congress mark 2 years since the Jan 6 attack, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries thanked the officers who defended the U.S. Capitol:
'140 officers were seriously injured that day. Many more will forever be scarred by the bloodthirsty violence of the insurrectionist mob.' pic.twitter.com/EGbUQgga2u
Beautiful ceremony going on right now in the White House:
President Biden Marks the Two-Year Anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection During a Ceremony
Matthew, a 7th grader, attends school at Gallup-McKinley. Until he started getting into trouble, his grandmother said, he had talked about going to college to become an engineer.
Bryant Furlow
In October 2021, Matthew was suspended for being off-task and pouring glue on his desk. (He told me he was putting it on his hands and some got on his desk.)
When he wore a blue shirt to school, the principal wrote him up for “gang-related activity.” (6/18)
Ryan
“I went to school in Colstrip, Mt and the school district was ALWAYS disciplining & expelling Native students disproportionately compared to white students.”
Biden signs law to help preserve Japanese American WWII incarceration camps
By Kimmy Yam
A new law signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday will help memorialize the history of the U.S. government’s incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The legislation, spearheaded by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would reauthorize funds that help preserve the sites in which tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were detained, including Manzanar in California and Rohwer in Arkansas.
Hakim's Bookstore is the first and oldest Black-owned bookstore in Philadelphia — & it’s making history by being recognized as an official historical landmark! This is a much-deserved honor for a business that advocates for the power of knowledge in the fight for racial justice! pic.twitter.com/kqjueHUi2m
The Obama Diary 
Wishing Nerdy and every reader of TOD a spectacular New Year.
Hi Judith! Happy New Year! 🎉🎊🎈🍾🥂
Hi Dudette! So far so good with avoiding Covid and keeping my resolutions alive. Reading The Light We Carry and feeling hopeful.
Awesome!
Wow! Has it really been that long ago! 🤯
Happy New Year!!!! Time really flies and those were exciting times.
Hi COS! Happy New Year! 🤗
Still hard to get my head around. It feels a lot closer.
Happy New Year Nerdy and TOD Peeps!
Happy New Year, Darling! 🤗
😘💖🙏🏾
Boom! 💥
Yaaaaay!
Love that show!
Good Morning TOD Family! 😊
How it’s done! 😎
President Uncle Joe tell it like it is!
True dat!
President Biden on the decades-awaited funding of the Brent Spence Bridge. Congrats to the nth to our President and all involved in getting it done.
–“We INVENTED semi-conductors and then we went to sleep!”
Listen and pay attention to this event = Joe is effin’ amazing.
Now then not joking around, pls don’t miss !!
—imo no other head of state has a patch on our President.
Laurence Tribe
“A good time to re-up this excellent study of how the 14th Amendment’s Disqualification Clause can be enforced under existing laws, now that the Jan 6 Committee has made its criminal referrals for the violent insurrection and the attempted coup:”
Roadmap to Accountability: How the Jan. 6 Committee Can Help Enforce the 14th Amendment
“The constitutional bar to insurrectionists holding public office
The January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election led to the first application of the “disqualification from public office” provision of the U.S. Constitution in more than a century. Earlier this year, in a case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and others, a New Mexico court disqualified a county official from holding office based on his role in trespassing at the Capitol, and for participating in the “surrounding planning, mobilization, and incitement” which caused the insurrection. (The case is on appeal.) The disqualification clause contained in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment provides that public office holders who have taken an oath to support the U.S. Constitution and then engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or who give aid or comfort to enemies of the United States, are barred from serving ever again in public office.
In this essay and an accompanying report, we build on the established collective understanding to analyze contemporary enforcement of the disqualification clause. Our analysis describes how the disqualification clause can currently be enforced.”
(https://www.justsecurity.org/84122/roadmap-to-accountability-how-the-jan-6-committee-can-help-enforce-the-14th-amendment/
Woooooot! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
This is gonna be good!
Honor is due! 👏🏾
good news, thank you.
FACT SHEET: President Biden, Vice President Harris, Senior Administration Officials Kick Off 2023 Implementing Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
(https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/04/fact-sheet-president-biden-vice-president-harris-senior-administration-officials-kick-off-2023-implementing-bipartisan-infrastructure-law/)
Brendan Buck
“So, this is what happens when neither party controls the chair. Usually the majority would hold the vote open until they had the votes, but the clerk is, appropriately, just rolling through.
The “anti-swamp” rebels simply wanted their DC-based super pac to get a deal with another super pac.
The role of CLF in shaping primaries has been overstated by both sides here
I will not be taking down my Christmas lights until the House elects a speaker”
Now 7 failed votes.
Kevin McCarthy’s Hat Trick of Humiliation
Special Edition
Charlie Sykes
“You’re supposed to throw the grenade after you pull the pin. They pulled the pin and passed the grenade around!” —James Carville
Historians should note that the party that lost control of the House brought popcorn to the ceremony. The party that “won” blew itself up. And then did it again. And again. And then left for a night of pizza, bitterness, and recriminations. Meanwhile, the MAGA crackup accelerated as crackpots fought with nihilists, wingnuts pointed fingers at extremists, and grifters started slap-fights with one another.
(https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/kevin-mccarthys-hat-trick-of-humiliation)
“Meanwhile, in House Democrat Land… Minority Leader Jeffries showed the caucus the NY Daily News cover from today. “The thing speaks for itself,” he said.
Heather Caygle of Punchbowl reported:
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY Season 2 Episode 11 Photos Read-A-Thon –
The competition heats up between Melissa and Janine as their classrooms go head-to-head in a read-a-thon sponsored by a local pizza shop. Both teachers encourage their students to hit the books hard but face some unexpected obstacles on their path to pizza glory.
A workplace comedy following a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal —as they navigate the Philadelphia public school system.
Thomas Miller: (https://seat42f.com/abbott-elementary-season-2-episode-11-photos/)
Leopards Eat Kevin McCarthy’s Face
Michelle Goldberg
“As we approach the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, it’s been grimly amusing to see that the party of insurrection can’t even manage the orderly transfer of power to itself. Rarely does karma play out so neatly.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/opinion/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-race.html)
Cornell Belcher on ReidOut:
“Call them rebels? They’re not rebels, they are Insurrectionists…this is the continuation of the Insurrection that I would argue started before Jan 6, and we did not put down on Jan 6.”
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pointed out that if Democrats took a shot every time Kevin McCarthy lost a Republican vote, they’d all be unconscious by now.”
(politicus.usa)
Josh Chafetz: “The parliamentarians know this stuff cold.”
Rep Jamaal Bowman:
“Welcome to my world…it’s a clown show (but better than last year insurrection).”
Alex Wagner: ““It’s a Game of Thrones, with superpac.”
Brian Schatz
“It is creepy that dark money super pacs are explicitly part of the negotiation regarding who becomes Speaker of the United States House.”
“You don’t negotiate with legislative terrorists” (Schatz)
Daniel Golman:
“The insane asylum is being run by the insane.”
Released 2016-04-21
https://freemovieswatch.tv/watch-movie/watch-food-choices-free-online-54254.5428822
test
HUH?
On First Day Back in Power, Republicans Remove Metal Detectors Placed in House Chambers After Capitol Riots
Several Republicans have criticized the metal detectors since they were first erected in 2021
“Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who has been open about her intent to carry a concealed weapon in the Capitol building, told reporters she had been “waiting for this day for a long time.” “I think [the metal detectors] need to be removed from the Capitol, filled with Tannerite and blown up,” she added.
Virginia Chamlee: (https://people.com/politics/republicans-remove-house-metal-detectors-first-day-power/)
adkfajldkjflsjfdlsfjlfjlfjsljk…so nothing done until there’s a shooting in the Capitol after Boebert or whoever gets out of the wrong side of the bed?
imo
To the Capitol Police watching this infantile gun entitlement travesty take place in 2022, forgive us, please forgive us.
Blessings to all who were hurt, are still hurt, those who died during the violent Insurrection, and their families.
REP. JEFFRIES STATEMENT ON THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE JANUARY 6TH INSURRECTION
“A year ago today, a violent insurrection took place in the citadel of our democracy, the United States Capitol. Incited by the former disgraced, twice-impeached president of the United States of America, the assault that took place was an attack on the Capitol, the Congress, the Constitution and the country. We will never forget the events of that fateful day, which were designed to undermine the peaceful transfer of power, keep Donald Trump in office and take down the United States government.
More than 150 law enforcement officers were seriously injured, brutalized and attacked in addition to those who gave their lives protecting this institution. Countless Members, staff, police officers and reporters endured serious mental trauma that still looms large. Our democratic process itself was attacked, and instead of strengthening our institution with legislative guardrails, those on the other side continue to provide aid and comfort to the Big Lie, choosing autocracy over democracy.
House Democrats remain focused on defending the Constitution and the rule of law. Through the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, we hope to get to the whole truth and nothing but the truth with respect to the events of that day and ( how we can prevent a violent insurrection from ever happening again. One year later, we must continue to hold those who inflamed, encouraged and participated in the insurrection accountable because no one is above the law. That is the American way.”
(jeffries.house.gov)
https://www.c-span.org/video/?525199-1/fallen-police-officers-remembered-january-6-anniversary&live=
House Minority Leader Jeffries Marks January 6 Anniversary
One Republican, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), joined House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Democrats to mark the second anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, from the East Front steps of the building. Others in attendance included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the House chaplain. Family members of slain Capitol police officers read their names before a 140 second moment of silence was taken to represent 140 officers impacted by the events on January 6, 2021.
Beautiful ceremony going on right now in the White House:
President Biden Marks the Two-Year Anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection During a Ceremony
It was so moving! Tissues were pulling hard duty.
Native America Calling: Unequal discipline for Native students
Bryant Furlow
In October 2021, Matthew was suspended for being off-task and pouring glue on his desk. (He told me he was putting it on his hands and some got on his desk.)
When he wore a blue shirt to school, the principal wrote him up for “gang-related activity.” (6/18)
Ryan
“I went to school in Colstrip, Mt and the school district was ALWAYS disciplining & expelling Native students disproportionately compared to white students.”
Biden signs law to help preserve Japanese American WWII incarceration camps
By Kimmy Yam
A new law signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday will help memorialize the history of the U.S. government’s incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
The legislation, spearheaded by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, would reauthorize funds that help preserve the sites in which tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were detained, including Manzanar in California and Rohwer in Arkansas.
(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/biden-signs-law-help-preserve-japanese-american-wwii-incarceration-cam-rcna64502)
Friday, Jan 6 2022
imo we came through terrible things and still here to tell the tale, in the care of a wonderful President.
When people talk about war
I vow with all beings
to raise my voice in the chorus
and speak of original peace
(Aitken Roshi)
I’ve heard it a number of times and I could easily listen more times. WOW!
Eight days into the New Year, and STILL the Democrats are on top – no matter the hour, no matter the vote. #DemocratsRock
Happy Monday Fam!
Needed that tonight. 🙂
😘❤️
New post.