President Biden: "I've rescinded the previous administration's harmful ban on diversity and sensitivity training, and abolished the offensive, counterfactual 1776 Commission."
President Joe Biden revokes Donald Trump's presidential 1776 Commission that aimed to promote “patriotic education” in schools but that historians rejected as political propaganda. https://t.co/oEtD6828OO
Biden is undoing the damage done by Trump and his hacks.
So if I understand this right, the Trump guy appointed to gut Voice of America illegally paid @McGuireWoodsLLP $3M in tax dollars to root through employee email archives for evidence of disloyalty. https://t.co/X5ntwCai1r
Demoted VOA reporter Patsy Widakuswara (@pwidakuswara) is back on White House beat, as of today.
She was reassigned last week after asking pointed Qs to Pompeo and the then VOA director about Trump & US standing in the world. VOA director & deputy replaced yesterday.
Breaking NEWS: Acting USAGM CEO Kelu Chao has fired the presidents of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia & the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, as of 6pm.
RFE's Ted Lipien, RFA's Stephen J. Yates and MBN's Victoria Coates were appointed in late December /MORE
Wow. VOA Dir. Robert Reilly is FIRED by Biden admin and escorted by Guards. He reprimanded reporter @pwidakuswara last week for asking Qs to Pompeo, removed her from assignment.
New: Director and deputy director of @VOANews pushed out by new Biden-appointed overseer @keluchao. VOA directors had been appointed by Trump administrator Michael Pack last month. Pack was forced out yesterday. https://t.co/FAUMLYpsNG
US Agency for Global Media Michael Pack resigns, effective 2pm, after waging war on his executives and the international news networks they oversee. A Trumpian legacy of ideological clashes, lawsuits and scandal. More to come.
First on NPR: Trump’s CEO at parent agency of Voice of America paid a law firm millions in taxpayer dollars to investigate his own executives. https://t.co/mSHii5K0o9
Earl Weaver was a great manager. Weaver knew that most players couldn’t do everything and he found the right spots to maximize the skills they had. Look up the careers of John Lowenstein, Gary Roenicke, Wayne Garland and Mike Torrez among others. They never did as well for other teams as they did for the Orioles. Do you remember Sam Horn, a low-average power hitter who played for the Orioles after Weaver’s era? Earl would have known what to do with him. He would have gotten 350 at bats, hit .250 with 25 home runs and 70 RBIs. He would have had a long career. One of Weaver’s greatest moves from switching Cal Ripken from third base to shortstop. It took extra nerve because the Orioles had traded their third baseman, Doug DeCinces, to make room for Ripken. Ripken certainly didn’t look like a shortstop but Weaver knew he could do it.
Earl’s last game with the Orioles (until he came back in 1985) was the final game of the 1982 season. I had tickets for a game in June but traded them in for the final game since I figured it wouldn’t be crowded. I was certainly wrong.
The Orioles had been chasing the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the American League East. The Brewers finished with four games in Baltimore and came here with a three game lead. The Orioles won the first three so the teams were tied on the last day. The starting pitchers were Jim Palmer (Orioles) and Don Sutton (Brewers). It was like a playoff atmosphere. Unfortunately, the game was bad as the Brewers crushed the Orioles. After the game, the fans stuck around to give Weaver an emotional farewell. It’s one of the most memorable moments I have seen as a sports fan.
Here are two pieces of memorabilia which I later got signed by Weaver. There was a “Thanks Earl” Day on September 19, 1982. I think both the small poster and the program are from that day. I had the program framed with my ticket stubs from September 19th and the final game.
"We always felt like we had an advantage over the other team, because Earl was thinking four steps ahead of whoever was in the other dugout and whatever the situation was"https://t.co/dV1miANjHz
I was there. It was a terrible game but a great event – Earl Weaver’s last game (until he cane back years later). A memorable day. https://t.co/PmO8G1yoYD
At the '93 All-Star "Old-Timer’s Game" at Camden Yards, Earl Weaver initially penciled in all ex-#Orioles to start— including Jim Palmer over Indians great and WW II hero Bob Feller. When asked about sitting Feller, 74, Earl responded, "F*ck him. He never won any games for me." pic.twitter.com/VAQUiGrfSS
Here's a young Earl Weaver when he was a prospect in the #Cardinals system – he never did make it in the big leagues as a ballplayer. pic.twitter.com/2XAbm69Mq2
McConnell will use to block Democratic bills. Of course, it could be used by Republicans when they’re in charge but I’ll take that chance. We have a crisis now and can’t let McConnell block legislation to end the emergency.
Analysis: It is time once again to explain what the filibuster is and isn’t https://t.co/H9RH0Vfgcc
Senate Dems represent 41 million more Americans than GOP but Mitch McConnell wants 21 small state GOP senators representing less than a quarter of population to be able to block laws supported by huge majorities of Americans with filibuster https://t.co/CJol4P47Np
If Dems had not gone nuclear in 2013 we would have confirmed far fewer Obama judges. Then McConnell would have gone nuclear himself the first time Democrats filibustered a Trump nominee in 2017. There is zero chance McConnell would sat back while Dems filibustered Trump nominees. https://t.co/13Q6zA98EC
No idea what Feinstein is talking about here. She was elected in 1992. In her first two-year session of Congress from 1993-94 there were 80 filibusters. From 2013-14 (Democrats’ last two years in the majority) there were 252 filibusters. https://t.co/q1LOuPdxpU
I hope centrist Democrats learn very quickly to drop their misplaced veneration for the Senate filibuster. As McConnell knows, it's the party in the White House that gets punished for gridlock. Dems can only win by passing big things that most Americans want.
“According to Senate records, the number of times the chamber considered a ‘cloture’ motion to end debate — the Senate’s way of stopping a filibuster — rose from six in 1969-70 to 298 in 2019-20.”https://t.co/vtbSn0N6DE
On @MeetThePress Dick Durbin signals limited patience on filibuster: "And if this filibuster has now become so common in the Senate that we can't act, that we just sit there helpless, shame on us. Of course we should consider a change in rule under those circumstances…"
Mitch McConnell, who ran the Senate chamber for the last six years, wants Charles Schumer—the new Senate Majority Leader—to agree to keeping the filibuster in place https://t.co/qH8hko4EcL
Number of trips Trump took to his own golf courses, where he profited on taxpayer dime, promoted his business and invited people to curry favor with him: 328
Number of trips Trump took to golf courses he didn’t own and couldn’t profit from: 3https://t.co/A6BlIiQwnU
President Trump arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, at 9:26a on Wednesday.
Since taking office, this is the 426th day Trump has spent at one of his properties and the 313th day he’s gone to one of his golf clubs, according to CNN’s count.
“Trump’s insistence on playing at his own properties ― rather than courses on military bases close to the White House, as former President Barack Obama mainly did — has made his outings enormously expensive for American taxpayers.” https://t.co/gNJDb2mkyF
White House cleaning crews are scrubbing the press secretary’s office to prep for the arrival of @jrpsaki. The cleaners are all over the West Wing and residence this morning, Inauguration Day. Some Trump aides left notes behind for the new staffers. pic.twitter.com/H1VLXPJvTb
Before the Bidens move in, the White House will first undergo a Covid-19 cleansing, top to bottom, from East Wing to West Wing. The total for the amplified White House inauguration deep clean right now hovers near a half-million dollars https://t.co/Er02VjNCZe
After three COVID-19 breakouts within the White House in recent months, the federal government is sparing no expense to clean and disinfect the building before President-elect Biden moves in. https://t.co/893gC58y4c
New affidavits this morning in Capitol insurrection investigation. This rioter, who was caught on camera flushing his eyes from pepper spray, allegedly threatened his children if they turned him in. pic.twitter.com/ebZXTUTpQU
NBC News: The FBI has charged Riley Williams with her role in the Capitol riot.
The FBI says she told a former partner that she intended to take a laptop / hard drive stolen from Pelosi's office, ship it to Russia, where a friend would turn it over to the SVR — Russian intel. pic.twitter.com/OFW5LuABr2
Authorities on Sunday arrested a New Mexico man just blocks north of the US Capitol who had been wanted for his role in the January 6 riots, according to an FBI spokeswoman.
Take it from someone who reads archives of American fascist and authoritarian propaganda from 1920s-onward for a living: yes, absolutely. This reads exactly like something the Klan would produce in the 1920s, Coughlin in 1930s, Skousen in 1950s, JBS in 1960s… https://t.co/zcz7q49yhd
President-elect Joe Biden will cancel President Trump’s 1776 Commission, which released a report on Monday that has been derided by many mainstream historians for distorting the history of slavery in the United States.https://t.co/YLRZeZglnV
The report likens the Progressive movement to fascism and says slavery must be seen “in a much broader perspective” with @jennyschuessler https://t.co/YpeCah3QoN
Yes, the outrage and the awfulness. But I confess I keep burst out laughing how poorly written, slapdash and half thought this crap is. Rule of law. Since Aristotle. Big in England. Now in America < concision. pic.twitter.com/GZZLks3g4I
Started a thread on the straw men, distortions, & oddities of the "1776 Commission" report's section on slavery, starting with its strange assertion that a "charge levelled against the founders" is "hence a charge against our country itself." And then I was like, yeah, forget it.
The Trump administration is marking Martin Luther King Day by putting out a report that defends the Founding Fathers for owning slaves and attacks the Civil Rights Movement. This is an administration racist to the core. https://t.co/k1sSMC1mgN
The Trump administration is marking Martin Luther King Day by putting out a report that defends the Founding Fathers for owning slaves and attacks the Civil Rights Movement. This is an administration racist to the core. https://t.co/k1sSMC1mgN
WH issues its 1776 report which is supposed to help “restore understanding” of American greatness. And not two weeks after Jan 6 there is this passage that says current division in the US calls to mind the disagreements in the “Civil War.” pic.twitter.com/uAx7nSsi0g
Trump’s 1776 Commission says historians pointing out the paradox of a nation founded on the idea of freedom denying freedom to Black people “has done enormous damage” to “our civic unity and social fabric.” pic.twitter.com/TQkMkNtBTt
If you want to see what the co-option of antifascism for nefarious purposes looks like, look no further than the Trump administration's 1776 Project. pic.twitter.com/sVmF8KVFk4
— David “HINDSIGHT IS 2021” Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) January 18, 2021
The Biden administration will be guided by science, not right wing politics.
HHS and the FDA are spending the Trump administration’s last days locked in another power struggle, after the health department blindsided the FDA with a series of major policy changes https://t.co/gNAknXtMPC
But Azar, infuriated by the FDA’s defiance in a showdown over vaccine standards, has spent recent weeks openly plotting Hahn's ouster. @adamcancryn@ddiamondhttps://t.co/nyg8MjqNyD
In a stunning declaration of authority, Alex Azar, the health secretary, barred the nation’s health agencies, including the FDA, from signing any new rules regarding the nation’s foods, medicines, medical devices and other products, including vaccines https://t.co/Y66ATzWaw9
NEW: Inside a tumultuous week at the FDA, where an over-the-top WH announcement on plasma worried agency insiders that it became a prop in the president's reelection campaign and undermined its credibility. w/ @lauriemcginley2@jdawsey1@Carolynyjohnsonhttps://t.co/FUEcyTz02n
Sad! 