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

The Victims Of White Supremacy

“Mary Turner, who after denouncing her husband’s lynching by a rampaging white mob, was hung upside down, burned and then sliced open so that her unborn child fell to the ground.” #neverforget https://t.co/FcrNOBLlrK

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 26, 2018

This and That

President Obama meets with members of the Governors Association Executive Committee, including Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, December 4

(Judging by other pics, PBO was looking at Scott Walker in this one …. me likes the ‘four more years’ grin)

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Wednesday:

10:50: President Obama delivers remarks to members of the Business Roundtable and answers questions

3:05: Delivers remarks at the 2012 Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of Interior

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Kevin Drum (Mother Jones): Here is PPP on their finding that 49 percent of Republicans think ACORN stole the election for Obama….

This is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn’t exist anymore.

…. In other news, they found that 25 percent of Americans claim to have an opinion about the Panetta-Burns plan, which they just made up. Fun times.

More on the, eh, Panetta-Burns plan at the Washington Post

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Senate.gov

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Charles Pierce: …. the senior members of the Republican party reminded us today that, no matter how much lipstick they slather on the pig in order to fool the more credulous members of the courtier media, the heart of their party is still black and withered and smells of death and corruption.

…. This is what prevails when you scratch down beneath the pretty surface — a party so completely fking unhinged that it thinks that a treaty on the rights of disabled people is some sort of one-world plot to steal the liberty of a third-rate moron like Jim Inhofe. …. They simply do not care. Their prejudices and their paranoia must have pride of place over any help to be given to the less fortunate among us….

…. I can hardly wait for the next Beltway hummer in which Rubio is promoted as “the changing face of the Republican party.” They can’t stand up to the lunatic base because the lunatic base is all they have.

Full post here

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TPM

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Steve Benen: Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole made a rare Senate appearance this morning, sitting in a wheelchair just off the floor so that members would have to see him as they entered the chamber. Why? Because they were poised to vote on ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and Dole hoped to send a message.

It didn’t work. The Senate killed the treaty this afternoon, with a final vote of 61 to 38, which seems like a lopsided majority, but which fell short of the two-thirds necessary for ratification. Eight Republicans broke ranks and joined Democrats in support of the treaty, but the clear majority of the Senate GOP voted to block it.

Full post here

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Wey hey, one of Reuters photos of the year:

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Lines of the day ….

Charles Pierce: “Mike Huckabee …. the de-bloated god-bothering whackaloon who is occasionally mistaken for a nice guy.”

Bob Costas responds to Fox News attacks: “Sometimes The Quality Of The Thinking Of Those Who Oppose You Speaks For Itself.” (See video at Media Matters)

…. Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said as soon as Ryan and Romney started campaigning together, during his daily calls with Romney “it was like talking to your buddy who just met a girl and is giddy.” Romney pollster Neil Newhouse said when he saw the chemistry of Ryan and Romney together, he thought, “it was like a bromance.” (Lynn Sweet)

😕

Rise and Shine

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President Obama puts his shoes back on after meeting wrestlers on the mat at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, August 9

….President Obama, visiting the Olympic training center here, had slipped his shoes off to greet athletes on a wrestling mat.

When he went to retrieve them, he plunked right down to put them on, with a gaggle of cameras rolling and reporters standing in front of him.

One reporter, CBS’s Peter Maer, remarked, “Very presidential, sir,” according to a pool report.

“Thanks. No holes in my socks,” the president joked. “My grandmother would be proud.”

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Cagle

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Cagle

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The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, August 9

Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pa, Aug. 9

Montgomery County, Pa, August 9

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Grand Junction, Colorado, August 8 (Flickr)

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Morning everyone 😉

evening all

March 9: A volunteer signs up for shifts at the opening of the new field office in East Las Vegas, Nevada

Here

March 9: A supporter left a message for President Obama on the wall of a Florida field office.

Flickr

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Brad Plumer (Washington Post): There’s quite a bit of good news – and very little bad – in February’s jobs report …. The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs last month …. And there were even more encouraging signs in the data revisions for previous months…..

Some of the broader indicators are encouraging, too …. There are also some reasons to think this recovery can sustain itself through 2012. Ever since the recession ended in mid-2009, the U.S. private sector has been consistently hiring workers. It’s just that the public sector has been hemorrhaging employees – around 500,000 government layoffs since Obama took office. But that trend finally appears to be winding down…..

The U.S. economy is still in a large hole. Right now, we’re adding around 250,000 jobs per month. If that trend keeps up, it’s enough to get us to 8 percent unemployment by election day. That would bode well for President Obama’s reelection chances. But 8 percent unemployment is still unnervingly high ….  but, for now, the economy looks to be in decent shape. As Justin Wolfers sums it up, “Let’s call it a recovery.”

Full article here

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WSJ: New York City employers in January added the highest number of jobs in a single month in 23 years, according to new figures released Thursday.

Some 31,200 jobs were added in the month, according to a seasonally adjusted analysis of new state Labor Department figures.

“It is an understatement to say that these gains exceeded all expectations,” said Barbara Byrne Denham, chief economist with the real-estate services firm Eastern Consolidated, who conducted the analysis.

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Paul Krugman never fails to amuse. Here he is today, trying – through gritted teeth – to sound pleased about the jobs’ news:

“OK, definitely a better jobs report than we have become used to. And terrific news for Obama; another six months of news like this and he’ll be in very good shape for reelection.

But still, this was just equivalent to an average month during the Clinton years. And we’re still a long way from full employment.”

(1) Full employment is, usually, defined as 3% unemployment …. so, you have to go back to Eisenhower in 1956 for ‘full employment’ in America. That, then, is the shiny new standard Krugman is holding PBO to. Seriously, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

(2) Does Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, truly forget the state of the economy when PBO came to power? Or is he just, eh, forgetful about the facts?

(3) Will Krugman ever find it in his heart to forgive PBO for beating Hillary Clinton to the nomination?

Hillary has. Maybe it’s time for Krugman to move on?

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President Barack Obama talks on the phone with President-elect Vladimir Putin of Russia while aboard Air Force One en route to Richmond, Va., March 9, 2012. Alice Wells, Senior Director for Russian Affairs, is seated at right. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Washington Monthly

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March 9: Supporters in Alabama gathered with civil rights leaders past and present to mark the 47th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery.

Flickr

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President Obama speaks at a campaign event at Minute Maid Park, Houston, March 9:

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First lady Michelle Obama gets hugs from a pre-schooler at the Penacook Community Center, March 9, in Concord, N.H.

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NYT: The fragile gains Republicans had been making among female voters have been erased, a shift that has coincided with what has become a national shouting match over reproductive issues, potentially handing President Obama and the Democrats an enormous advantage this fall.

In the 2010 congressional midterm elections, Republican candidates ran evenly with Democrats among women, a break with long-established trends. That was a major reason the GOP regained control of the House.

Now, female voters appear to be swinging back to Democrats …. When the Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey asked last summer which party should control Congress, a slim 46-42 percent plurality of women said it should be the Democrats.

But in a survey released Monday, compiling polling since the beginning of the year, that figure had widened considerably to a 15-point advantage for the Democrats

More here

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Cagle

55 years ago today…..

On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, age 42, refused to obey bus driver James Blake’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger – Parks’ action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Parks’ act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and she became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.

“My resisting being mistreated on the bus did not begin with that particular arrest…I did a lot of walking in Montgomery.” Parks had her first run-in on the public bus on a rainy day in 1943, when the bus driver, James F. Blake, demanded that she get off the bus and re-enter through the back door. As she began to exit by the front door, she dropped her purse. Parks sat down for a moment in a seat for white passengers to pick up her purse. The bus driver was enraged and barely let her step off the bus before speeding off.

After a day at work at Montgomery Fair department store, Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus at around 6 p.m., Thursday, December 1, 1955, in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the “colored” section, which was near the middle of the bus and directly behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. Initially, she had not noticed that the bus driver was the same man, James F. Blake, who had left her in the rain in 1943. As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded.

Blake noted that the front of the bus was filled with white passengers and there were two or three men standing, and thus moved the “colored” section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Years later, in recalling the events of the day, Parks said, “When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats ….

…… I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night.”

By Parks’ account, Blake said, “Y’all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats.” Three of them complied. Parks said, “The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn’t move at the beginning, but he says, ‘Let me have these seats.’ And the other three people moved, but I didn’t.” The black man sitting next to her gave up his seat. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the newly repositioned colored section. Blake then said, “Why don’t you stand up?” Parks responded, “I don’t think I should have to stand up.” Blake called the police to arrest Parks. When recalling the incident for Eyes on the Prize, a 1987 public television series on the Civil Rights Movement, Parks said, “When he saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ And he said, ‘Well, if you don’t stand up, I’m going to have to call the police and have you arrested.’ I said, ‘You may do that.'”