John Lewis: A Legacy Unmatched

Not many of us get to live to see our own legacy play out in such a meaningful, remarkable way. John Lewis did:https://t.co/KbVfYt5CeQ

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 18, 2020

Farewell, sir.

You did, indeed, fight the good fight and get into a lot of good trouble.

You served God and humanity well.
Thank you.
Take your rest. #JohnLewis pic.twitter.com/U1cPEwfCGO

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 18, 2020

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"How long can we be patient? We want our freedom now."

Rest in power, John Lewis ✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/lx5nOHsCeD

— African American Policy Forum (@AAPolicyForum) July 18, 2020

https://t.co/XPFsWuGmFJ pic.twitter.com/z6HMNH53w2

— Paolo Uggetti (@PaoloUggetti) July 18, 2020

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When I visited Uncle John last week, I looked in his eyes and said, “Well done.”

I told him that I loved him and that we are going to continue to fight.

So I must mourn and move at the same time.#JohnLewis pic.twitter.com/v6VxL48vgw

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 18, 2020

Vivian. Lowery. Lewis. Young.
👑👑👑👑 pic.twitter.com/aJyz9ML6FE

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 17, 2020

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#CTVivian and #JohnLewis have journeyed on together.

Two great vessels for the work of justice, including for voting rights for Black people in America.

It’s not happenstance that, in this critical hour, with so much on the line in November, their lives are lifted high. pic.twitter.com/LsW7Ol0eXL

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 18, 2020

Lowery
Vivian
Young
Shuttlesworth pic.twitter.com/1GRVnTYd1I

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 17, 2020

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“We were beaten, we were tear gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and someway, God Almighty helped me here.”

This would be the last time John Lewis would visit the Edmund Pettus Bridge, 55 years after Bloody Sunday pic.twitter.com/BXqHyO0CQl

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 18, 2020

https://twitter.com/ira/status/1284336818490466304

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I’m finding myself in the deepest gratitude that John Lewis and CT Vivian got the chance to become elders. To pass on the wisdom. To pray for us. Grow us. Lead us.

They chose freedom work that easily shortens one’s life. And we got to keep them for a while. What a blessing.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

John Lewis could have been martyred that Bloody Sunday. Rev. Vivian could have been murdered at those sit ins.

God spared them long enough for them to keep fighting and to teach us how to fight.

I’m awe struck by the privilege to walk this earth at the same time as them.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

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My heart is heavy, but I am resolute.

They tread paths we get to walk.
What an awesome privilege.
What an awesome responsibility.

John Lewis. CT Vivian.
Giants who walked among us.

And we get to walk in their footsteps.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

I say we get to, because liberation work is as much a privilege as it is a duty.

So many didn’t live long enough to see themselves worthy of being free, let alone struggle for it to become real.

Walk upright, family. As they did. As they want us to. No matter the strife.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

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There is nothing we can’t over come.

I don’t care who beats us back. I don’t care who snatched progress. I don’t care how hard they try to wrestle freedom from our hands.

Freedom is ours. Justice is divine.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

We will win.

— brittany packnett cunningham. (@MsPackyetti) July 18, 2020

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https://twitter.com/BridgetMarie/status/1284335406000070657

Elders, now ancestors. Hallelujah. pic.twitter.com/ze53PFMTuh

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 18, 2020

President Obama At The APEC Summit

President Barack Obama is welcomed by US Ambassador to China Max Baucus upon his arrival at Beijing Capital Airport in Beijing, China. President Obama is in China to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2014 Summit

President Barack Obama meets with the leaders of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries in Beijing

President Barack Obama speaks during a bilateral meeting with Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo

President Barack Obama meets with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott

President Barack Obama speaks at the APEC CEO Summit at the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) in Beijing

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Delegates use their smartphones to take pictures of President Barack Obama

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President Barack Obama walks to the stage with Dow Chemical Co. President, Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris, at the APEC CEO Summit at the China National Convention Centre (CNCC)

President Barack Obama with China’s President Xi Jinping and Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan during the APEC Welcome Banquet at Beijing National Aquatics Center, or the Water Cube, in Beijing

President Barack Obama is greeted by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong, as he arrives at Beijing National Aquatics Center, or the Water Cube, for the APEC Welcome Banquet

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (L-R), Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, his wife Peng Liyuan and U.S. President Barack Obama arrive for a dinner hosted by the Chinese President

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye talk as they depart the APEC Summit family photo

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations’ leaders and spouses pose for a family photo at Beijing National Aquatics Center, or the Water Cube, in Beijing, November 10, 2014. (Front row L to R) Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang, Angelica Rivera and husband Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana Widodo, U.S. President Barack Obama, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and his wife Naraporn; (Back row L to R) Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, Bronagh Key and her husband New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key, Akie and her husband Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Laureen Harper and her husband Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his wife Lynda May Babao, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching, Taiwanese envoy to APEC summit Vincent Siew and his wife Susan Chu

Heads Up: President Obama at the University of Buffalo

11:05 ET: President Obama delivers remarks at the University of Buffalo

Also at:

White House Live * C-Span * CBS (Ustream) * WGRZ

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The President is talking college affordability today & I’ll be answering some of your Qs at 1ET. Ask with #WHChat: http://t.co/C9mCO9hMDS

— Katie Beirne Fallon (@Katie44) August 22, 2013

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FACT SHEET on the President’s Plan to Make College More Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class – see here

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Obama looks to shrink college tuition bills. Read the full plan | http://t.co/67MYEN2r0I

— TIME.com (@TIME) August 22, 2013

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President Obama greets New York Governor Andrew Cuomo upon his arrival in Buffalo

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Later:

5:55 ET: President Obama delivers remarks at Henninger High School, Syracuse

Rise and Shine

Four years ago: President Obama looks out the window of Marine One as it lands at the White House, May 22, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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Today:

11:0: VP Biden Gives the Commencement Address at the United States Coast Guard Academy (audio only at WH Live)

1:0 Jay Carney’s press briefing

7:25: President Obama hosts a concert honoring Gershwin Prize winner Carole King

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NYT: The bipartisan immigration bill that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday has many serious hurdles ahead. It is the most serious and worthy attempt to fix immigration in a generation, but it cannot help reflecting the poisoned politics of today, with its heavy tilt toward needless border enforcement and a deficiency in equal rights.

In the most moving and wrenching moment in three weeks of committee markup, the committee’s chairman, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, sought to amend the bill to allow gay Americans to sponsor their wives and husbands for green cards. The other Democrats, including Charles Schumer of New York, implored him not to put that amendment forward, saying this measure of basic fairness would drive off Republican support and kill the entire bill. Mr. Leahy withdrew it.

With that unhappy capitulation, the bill survives, with a possible battle over same-sex marriage still to come on the Senate floor. And then the bill will need to find some path through the Republican-led House….

More here – and see ThinkProgress

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You know the economy is rockin and rollin when the press is focused on fake scandals

— John Sunununu (@JohnSunununu) May 21, 2013

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U.S. sales of existing homes climbs to three-year high | bloom.bg/10LM8Xc

— Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) May 22, 2013

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The Dow is on track for its best May performance since 1997, up 4.55% month-to-date. (via @giovannymoreano)

— CNBC (@CNBC) May 22, 2013

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‘Tesla, labeled a “loser” by Romney, giving Obama green-energy strategy its biggest win: paying off loan 9 yrs early’ businessweek.com/news/2013-05-2…

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) May 22, 2013

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Jonathan Capehart: Here we go again. President Obama’s critics in the African American community are hammering him for doing nothing for black people …. this thinking drives me crazy because the president’s detractors fail to take a 360-degree view of what they are demanding from him and ignore what he’s actually done.

…. Coates’s criticism emanates from Obama’s commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta …. Obama spoke to the black men of Morehouse not as a distant president but as a familiar peer. He used his troubled past as a real-life example of how one’s limited circumstances are neither destiny nor a hindrance to achieving the American Dream, as they define it. He urged the graduates to not make excuses, to aim high and to give back. Yet, Coates calls this “‘convenient race-talk’ from a president who ought to know better.” Obama can’t win.

… what’s missing from most African American critiques of Obama: an appreciation for Republican resistance to his agenda. To expect the president to introduce an explicit and definable “black agenda” in a Congress filled with people who believe him to be a socialist destroying the country while illegitimately occupying the Oval Office is seriously naive.

Full article here

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This and That

“Did you see that Jon Karl, um, exclusive?”

President Obama and Attorney General Holder attend the 32nd annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service at the West Front Lawn at the U.S. Capitol, May 15

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Two Bush-appointees, the IRS commissioner and deputy commissioner, are gone. Next, Lois Lerner, the Bush-appt’d head of 501c4 division.

— roadkillrefugee (@rkref) May 15, 2013

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@anamariecox No one at the IRS would have done anything wrong if Obama had just taken the House leadership to Camp David for a drink. Duh.

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) May 15, 2013

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You gotta love the media: In the 18th paragraph……

Steve Benen: USA Today had an item today on the IRS controversy, which seemed to reinforce much of what we already know: conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status faced unfair and unreasonable scrutiny. But deep in the article, in the 18th paragraph, USA Today added seven unexpected words: “Some liberal groups did get additional scrutiny.”

More here

Mind you, plenty of places didn’t mention this at all today

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Can’t stand Wiegel, but liked this….

“Obama needs to fire somebody.” “Okay, I fired somebody.” “Obama needs to stop looking for scapegoats.”

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) May 15, 2013

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NPR: The Justice Department’s subpoena of Associated Press phone records as part of an investigation into what Attorney General Eric Holder has called “a very grave leak” to the news agency has set off a political firestorm on Capitol Hill, but there’s a lot to the AP story published a year ago that started it all.

….. as NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports, there’s much more to the story:

“As we understood it then and still understand it, that suicide bomber that AP refers to in its story was actually a double agent working with western intelligence agencies,” Dina says.

Although the double-agent did hand the new underwear bomb technology to U.S. officials, “they had hoped the agent could do more [and] … one consequence of the story is that this agent’s identity was blown,” she says.

More here

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So, when can we see the WH emails regarding Iraq WMD?

— BWD (@theonlyadult) May 15, 2013

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Repeat after me: “Andrew Shepherd is a fantasy”

Well, I think I’ve just reached my level of bullshit tolerance.

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Barack Obama sliced and diced the assembled luminaries, depicting them as trivial ratings chasers more eager to pursue a scoop so as to drive ratings and sell more advertising, than serious practitioners of the art of journalism, plying their craft as a public trust so that free citizens in a free republic can be fully informed about the issues of the day so as to render sober decisions about their own lives.

The poster child for this frivolous “journalism” is Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, who seems to have upped her Obama-dismay to 11 over the past few weeks. The President’s take down of her article saying that he was nothing like Andrew Shepherd, fictional president in “The American President”, is a beauty to behold.

Maureen Dowd said I could solve all my problems if I were just more like Michael Douglas in “The American President”. Michael, what’s your secret, man? Could it be that you’re an actor in an Aaron Sorkin liberal fantasy?

Obama’s entire WHCD speech was a master class in telling a captive audience just how useless they were to the wider country’s problems which needed urgent solutions.

New York

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Sheila Traina, whose home was completely demolished by flooding from Hurricane Sandy in New Dorp Beach, holds a letter written by her 11 year-old granddaughter Maggie Traina to President Obama who visited victims of the storm in Staten Island, November 15

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With Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Sen. Charles Schumer, greeted by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, upon their arrival at JFK International Airport

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Ohio to New York

President Barack Obama talks to kids during a stop at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland on Broadway Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, June 14, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive in New York

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Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio

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At the Girls Club of Cleveland, Ohio

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… at the 9/11 Memorial while touring the One World Trade Center building

Words from President Obama are seen on a construction beam after he signed it while touring the One World Trade Center building, which is under construction in New York. The words read “We remember, We Rebuild, We come back Stronger.”

President Obama chats with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

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9:55: PBO and Michelle Obama deliver remarks at a campaign event (The Plaza Hotel – live coverage)

Andrew Sullivan

I reckon Andrew Sullivan is about as consistent as Willard Romney when it comes to his political views, so I’m never too bothered by what he has to say, one way or another.

Still, I appreciated what he had to say here (from CrooksAndLiars).

Thanks DesertFlower

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Read SmartyPants on Sullivan’s Newsweek article here

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Back later, I need to take a few more dozen pills to ease the pain of Manchester City winning the title. 😥

Heads up: PBO speaking in Albany (1:25 ET)

White House live

CBS Albany

CNN live streaming

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President Obama walks with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Colonie Town supervisor Paula Mahan to greet well-wishers upon arrival at Albany International Airport

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President Obama tours the SUNY-Albany Nano-Tech Complex flooded in yellow light with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Chris Borst

More pics in a while