For those suggesting the country move on from 1/6/21, it was President Trump who said “remember this day forever.”
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John Dickerson
@jdickerson
Anchor, CBS News Prime Time. Contributor, . Co-Host, Contributor . Author, The Hardest Job in the World.
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Found an old box of slides from 1953, and found my Mom , age 25, coming down the stairs at her first apartment in Washington.
The current leader of one of America’s two parties tried to overthrow the last presidential election. This fact is still astonishing to me.
When gave his acceptance speech after Clinton called conceded, the electoral count hadn’t reached 270.
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Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!
Chris Christie has not exactly gotten a gift basket of thanks. He ran the transition process and when he was done, was fired and his work thrown out. He helped out on debate prep. and had to learn about Covid spread from news reports. He’s tested positive.
Hey you, the one scrolling through here because maybe this night isn’t so great for you and you don’t feel like celebrating. We hear, and we know and most of us have been there this year. Some of us may be there now. May 2021 be better by hope and grace and love. Happy New Year.
There are positions the president holds that his party will buck and those they won't. $2,000 checks is a no go. Falsely and repeatedly claiming the election was stolen, is fine.
If you wonder why using the White House for political events matters, the danger of private ambition overtaking the public obligations of the presidency was among, if not the main, fear of the founders who created the office. It has also been a repeated issue with this presidency
A friend who has it and whose wife is hospitalized with it reports: “I was tested last Wednesday and the specimen was sent to Quest Diagnostics. 8 days later & I still don’t have results. Ramping up testing is irrelevant if my can’t turn the results around in a timely fashion.”
An unexpressed thought.
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Without saying how old you are, name one thing from your childhood someone younger wouldn’t understand.
My dear Wormwood,
I see you've gotten the patient to join Twitter.
My work is done here.
Your affectionate uncle,
SCREWTAPE
The persistent criticisms of the Covid-19 response are that the president downplayed the risk, didn't do enough to fight it & then misinformed the public. The White House has replicated those global failures with precision with the superspreader event.
There is an attempt to "I didn't see the Tweet" about January 6th.
Internal polling is the Canadian girlfriend from summer camp of polling.
The first thing a teenager wants when they first arrive in the kitchen in the morning is a thorough evaluation and questioning of how they slept. Really press them on this.
Fauci briefed from the White House 1/31 that asymptomatic spread was taking place.
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Bill de Blasio Rejects Claim U.S. Knew Asymptomatic People Could Spread the Virus: Only Learned That 'In the Last 48 Hours’ mediaite.com/a/dnnid via @mediaite
A call from my child away at college!
In the middle of the day!
Exciting!
...
Pocket dial.
...
FIN
President Truman kept in his desk this brutal letter from a Gold Star father. He sent it with his son's purple heart.
Matthew Stafford throws football on sidelines right before kickoff.
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Snoop Dogg smokes weed right before star-studded Super Bowl 2022 halftime show trib.al/6gvEmzx
I know I've posted this before but this quote from Mark Shields is always in my head: "I learned from my- my mom and my dad, my family, was that every one of us has been warmed by fires we did not build and every one of us has drunk from wells we did not dig."
Preparations in place for potential jamboree of under-bus throwing.
A dog can mitigate sorrow & inject joy. George did that. He walked us. He comforted us. He gave us a common topic of concern, laughter, & speculation. This morning, he was on his way back to the farm he'd escaped from. A car hit him. Goodbye, George. We loved you so, so very much
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His name is George. He went missing earlier this week from where he was staying near Tarrytown, NY. Have you seen him? It’s a one in a million shot, but we have no others…
May you be an interesting person, but never a Person of Interest.
I got my second vaccine shot yesterday and today, I threw a manhole cover fifty feet. Is that a known side-effect?
Is Q Anon the opposite of Occam’s Razor? The least plausible, requiring the most assumptions.
If only the president had been as credulous about Covid-19 as he is about stories of voter fraud.
Trump in June: “Erdogan “had a 65,000-man army at [Turkey’s] border [with Syria], and he was going to wipe out the Kurds, //who helped us with ISIS.”// But “I called him, and I asked him not to do it. I said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t do it.’ And he didn’t do it.”
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BREAKING: White House: Turkey will soon invade Northern Syria, casting uncertainty on fate of Kurdish fighters allied with US. apne.ws/lCKEaE3
There is a cost.
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New polling shows a massive drop in trust in elections among Republicans. 7 in 10 GOP voters say the 2020 election was not free and fair.
morningconsult.com/form/tracking-
Mike Pence once argued that a president’s allies had a duty to abandon a president who does not tell the truth: “If our leaders flinch at this responsibility, they would do well to heed the Proverb ‘If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.’ ”
"The quotes were anonymous, but it has been an open secret...that many prominent retired four-stars have regarded Trump with growing horror as he assaulted the traditions of discipline and professionalism that are bedrocks of military life."
The lawmakers playing footsie with the president's claim of a stolen election were playing in a market that Donald Trump created. 25th Amendment or 14 days doesn't get rid of that market.
What would the House and Senate votes have been on a 1/6 Commission if they were taken on 1/6?
"To read books seriously is to be staggered by the knowledge of how many more books will remain beyond your ken. It’s like looking up at the star-filled sky."
If after your staff secretary security problems, you fire an aide so fast he can’t grab his coat, it’s enough of a security issue that that there should be a big discussion about what’s going on here.
Eye see what you did there.
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Cool shot of the full moon passing through North Windows Arch in Arches National Park, Utah by photographer Zach Cooley
“I would never consider them prostitutes — it was really a rescue operation,” the sheriff said, training his anger at the men whose demand for sex kept the massage parlors in business. “The monsters are the men,” he added.
Mike Pence showed years of unblinking loyalty and as a reward, he is being given a public loyalty test it is impossible for him to pass and which can only make him a target of the free-floating anger it stokes. Quite a parting gift.
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If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!
"I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request.” It's been a while since the Hill was my beat but is this a thing? From a president with less than a month on the clock?
My father had this lumpy expression that he would deploy on Thanksgiving.“We really put on the feed bag,” he would say. You didn’t know when it was coming, but it was a certain as the turkey. He is not with us this Thanksgiving. This duty, I feel, now falls to me.
When the history of this is written, someone will note that this briefing took place while the city of the president's birth, and with which he was so closely associated, was ringing with seemingly endless sirens.
“No man who sits here can ever afford to think of himself first.” LBJ on the presidency.
Presidents usually feel empathy in moments of tragedy & are moved to soothe. They have a readymade role that makes this easy. Dispensing consolation is also expected. Fellow-feeling is a chance to act unilaterally to do good, something they’re anxious to do. Not in this Tweet.
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There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
As Senators answer questions about their well timed stock transactions, a quote from earlier era: “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs.”
As you reflect on what @kellysadler45 said about a fellow human fighting a tough cancer, here is a story of how John McCain treated a person with a fatal illness.
His name is George. He went missing earlier this week from where he was staying near Tarrytown, NY. Have you seen him? It’s a one in a million shot, but we have no others…
Whether you are religious or not, you have the choice on this weekend (as you do every weekday and weekend) to not be irretrievably awful in your interactions with other human beings.
The people who yelled fire in the theater when there was no fire explain that the reason they yelled "fire" was because 42% of the people in the theater believed there was a fire after they yelled fire.
"...by his example and his spirit...gives me hope." Yes.
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Stephen Colbert on Jon Batiste: “In the present darkness that constitutes so much of the national conversation, Jon, by his example and his spirit, gives me hope I might do my job and maintain my own humanity” nyti.ms/3i0ypMa
How to be an ex-president by George H.W. Bush: nypost.com/2021/05/29/how
When I wrote a profile about Mattis 11 years ago, I was told only people who don't know Mattis call him Mad Dog, because he disliked the nickname. Chaos stood for: Colonel Has Another Outstanding Suggestion, from earlier in his career.
The voice is my Mom's. youtube.com/watch?v=ZtQlEB
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Air Force One arrives at Andrews AFB, Washington DC, with two Presidents aboard, tonight 1963:
If we go all the way down this road isn’t the maxim then: Because a president thinks his re-election is in the national interest he can take no action related to his campaign that is not in the national interest.
This was two days ago....”Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Sean Robertson said any “uncoordinated military operations by Turkey would be of grave concern as it would undermine our shared interest of a secure northeast Syria and the enduring defeat of” the Islamic State group
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Trump in June: “Erdogan “had a 65,000-man army at [Turkey’s] border [with Syria], and he was going to wipe out the Kurds, //who helped us with ISIS.”// But “I called him, and I asked him not to do it. I said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t do it.’ And he didn’t do it.” twitter.com/AP/status/1181…
In much the same way I am eager to play with a plate of chicken wings.
Starting American history in 1776 doesn’t make the issue of slavery any easier and you might not want to get caught thinking so.
We all must keep to the routines that we can.
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Anyway there's a guy standing on the corner of Florida Ave and North Capitol St right now eating McDonalds french fries with his pants at his ankles and no underwear on.
Warren on Sanders:
“30-year track record shows he consistently calls for things he fails to get done, and consistently opposes things he nevertheless fails to stop." What if she'd offered this critique months ago?
Ambassador Huntsman said purpose of summit was "to hold the Russians accountable for what they did." When asked in the press confernce whether Russians did anything wrong in past the president said "we're all to blame."
"...The Confederacy...was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason...against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the US Constitution. Those officers turned their back on their oath."
Gen. Milley to House Armed Services Committee 7/9/20
If you saw Covid coming and were economy focused and you knew humans produce goods and buy them, wouldn’t you have been obsessed, frantic, relentless and insistent on testing from day one?
ROBERT CARO: The cliche is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's not always true. Power reveals. When you get power, you can show what you wanted it for.
Several people I know have symptoms and either can’t get tested or their doctors say I can’t test you because we have to save scarce tests. Everyone I talk to seems to know someone with a similar story.
Something is amish.
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One way to judge the peril of the times, is the controversial statements that are treated as normal. The other, is normal statements that are treated as controversial.
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The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.
We have only seen the tip of the iceberg with the Trump administration. After ten years, what percentage of disclosures about what was really going on will be laudatory and what percentage damning?
That’s just how fishy it is!
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One of the witnesses in Sidney Powell’s new Michigan lawsuit says in a declaration he thinks there’s something fishy about election returns in Edison County, MI. Thing is, there is no Edison County in Michigan.
In advance of backtracking. Those who hold the "my hands are tied, I must support the electoral college count," are not in the same camp as "the election was not stolen, President Trump lost and Joe Biden is the lawful president" and are still playing footsie with unreality.
Pieces about resistance to making Gen. Lloyd Austin Sec. Def. should really explain why people care about civilian control, etc. Otherwise it's a fuss donut, lots of quotes about the fuss, no center for why the fuss exists.
January 6 attack committee unanimously votes to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for his having unanimous contempt for Congress.
If you find yourself being baited in to thinking about and the concept of freedom, his very good autobiography is called Born a Crime. That's the title because in South Africa where he was born, it was a crime for him to be born as a mixed-race child.
I was at a wedding last night and Cover Me Up was the couple's wedding song. If you could write, just once, something that people felt captured something so powerful in their lives, that would be a pretty neat thing to know you had done in this world.
Is it just me or did the fact that the president said he wanted to assassinate Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad kindof come and go last week? Assassinate the leader of a sovereign nation? Even if he was bluffing, blue-skying assassination attempts is a big deal.
“It was an outdoor event which all of our scientists regularly, routinely advise.” —Pence
As head of the coronavirus task force, when the public thinks you have been misleading, don’t you want to avoid misleading in real time when there are pictures of the indoor reception?
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Mike Pence once argued that a president’s allies had a duty to abandon a president who does not tell the truth: “If our leaders flinch at this responsibility, they would do well to heed the Proverb ‘If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.’ ”
“This is the highest quarterly amount raised by a Senate candidate in US history.”
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NEW: Senate candidate @harrisonjaime announcing this morning that he has raised a record $57 million in the Q3 in his race against @LindseyGrahamSC.
This is the highest quarterly amount raised by a Senate candidate in US history.
Brings his total haul to an unfathomable $86M.
Trump works so hard he often misses lunch: White House officials
S. Bannon moved from White House to Breitbart so fast he may have leaked as a WH official & caught leak as it arrived in Breitbart offices
I wrote the Tweet below three years ago about . He wrote songs that made you want to thank him even when you didn't know him. I later got to. It was one of the highlights of my life. Bye, John. My love and prayers and comfort to Fiona and Tommy, Jack and Jody.
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Hey @JohnPrineMusic I hope someone has filled as many of your days with joy and sunshine as you have mine.
Ted Kennedy at Bobby’s funeral 6/8/68: “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
"If the United States had the same per capita death rate, about 3,300 Americans would have died, rather than 158,000."
They Might Be Giants. twitter.com/williamadler78
This Tweet is unavailable.
Here are 32 times the president said Covid-19 would go away. washingtonpost.com/video/politics
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"The President never downplayed the virus," says McEnany. The President expressed calm." She says the President embodied the American spirit about the threat, believing in the need to be serious but also optimistic.
I see “Catholic” is trending and I would like to offer some thoughts on my faith. 1/83,231
I am reminded of this exchange from 2015 as context for the tax story in the New York Times:
What do I see? I see the minds of my generation destroyed by madness.
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WHAT COLOR DO YOU SEE? 
Apparently, If the right-half of your brain is dominant, you will see a combination of pink and white, and if your left half is dominant, you will see it in grey and green color. Tell us what you see!
Apparently, If the right-half of your brain is dominant, you will see a combination of pink and white, and if your left half is dominant, you will see it in grey and green color. Tell us what you see!
Scientists have been working hard, but after much effort, they have found a dumber issue than whether a president uses a teleprompter: whether he or she uses notes at a briefing. Congratulations to all involved.