At the end of a shameful day, in which Trump claimed falsely (again) that he had won in a landslide, Twitter announced that it was suspending him—but for only 12 hours. Twitter warned Trump that his account might be permanently blocked.
Twitter locks Trump’s account for 12 hours and warns he could get kicked off permanently
President Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday to call for calm mere hours after he sought to rally his supporters outside the U.S. Capitol, sending mixed messages that incited real-world violence and forced congressional lawmakers into a lockdown.
Since he can’t tweet without lying, his account should be permanently suspended.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
about time !
LikeLike
How sad that the leader of the US cannot be trusted with a Twitter account.
LikeLike
An immortal speech, tonight, by Angus King, Senator from Maine, in my quick transcript of it:
ANGUS KING: Mr. President, Winston Churchill once said that he could do a 2-hour speech extemporaneously but a 10-minute speech took immense preparation. I don’t know what he would have said about a 4-minute speech.
We are a 240-year anomaly in world history. We think that what we have here in this country is the way it’s always been. It is a VERY unusual form of government. The NORMAL form of government throughout history is dictators, czars, kings, pharaohs, warlords, tyrants. And we thought 20 years ago the march of history was toward Democracy, but it is in retreat in Hungary and Turkey, goodness knows, in Russia. Democracy as we have practiced it is FRAGILE. It’s fragile, and it rests upon TRUST. It rests upon trust in facts. It rests upon trust in courts, in public officials, and, yes, in elections. I don’t sympathize or justify or in any way support—that’s putting it mildly—what happened here today, but I understand it. I understand it because I saw those people interviewed today and they said, “We’re here because this election has been stolen,” and the reason that they said that is that their leader has been telling them that every day for two months. We cannot afford to pull bricks out from under the foundation of trust that underlies our entire system. And I agree with Governor Romney that the answer to this problem is to tell people the truth, to tell them what happened. It’s easy to confront your opponents. It’s hard to confront your friends. It’s hard to tell your supporters something they don’t want to hear. But that’s our obligation. That’s why the word “leader” is applied to people in jobs like ours. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be something that we take on as a sacred obligation. And if people believe something that isn’t true, it’s our obligation to tell them, “No, I’m sorry. It isn’t.” Just as Senator Portman just said, just as Mike Leigh just said, I’m sorry, we can’t do this here. We don’t want to do this here. This a power reserved to the states, not to the Congress, and I agree with the Majority Leader. I agree that this is one of the most important votes that any of us will ever take.
On December 1st, 1862, Abraham Lincoln came to this building. He came to this building in the darkest days of the Civil War. He was trying to awaken the Congress to the crisis we were facing, and he didn’t feel that they were fully and effectively engaged. And he ended his speech that day with words that I think have an eerie relevance tonight. Here’s what Abraham Lincoln said: “Fellow Americans, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.” And here’s his final words: “The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.” Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
LikeLike
Thank for sharing, honorable scribe, would otherwise have missed this. You must have forebears from ancient Egypt.
LikeLike
Greg, but as you doubtless know, we all have forebears from Ancient Egypt. We all had two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen great great grandparents, etc. These numbers get big pretty quickly, as you are aware. Pretty soon, there’s no one back there that we are aren’t related to. Every king and beggar, every nun and sex worker, every saint and genocidal maniac.Our proud family tree!
A girlfriend once twisted my arm and made me get my fortune told by a Roma fortuneteller in New York City. She told me that I was descended from Genghis Khan. I know, I said. Everyone is.
I’m always amused when some young reporter makes the brilliant discovery that they newly inaugurated president is related to English royalty, or whatever. Of course. WE ALL ARE. Count all these going 30 generations back, about 600 years, to 1420 CE, and we each have well over a billion ancestors. One of them is probably Henry of Monmouth or Catherine of Valois. LOL.
LikeLike
Pretty soon the numbers are greater than the number of people alive on Earth at the time. How is that possible? Well, cousin marriages and even closer consanguinity. Some of our ancestors were keeping it in the family. Those royals? Oh, a lot of that.
LikeLike
In other words, the family tree doesn’t consistently diverge.
LikeLike
After more than 25,000 falsehoods, Twitter suspends Trump’s account for 12 hours just days before Trump’s term ends.
Twitter is a joke and so is it’s CEO, Jackass Dorsey.
LikeLike
How can you tell Trump is lying?
His Twitter finger is moving.
LikeLike
Twitter Approves the Lies
When Donald Twump is lying
His Twitter finger moves
And really no denying
That Twitter just approves
LikeLike
Trump probably has a Parler account now and has been busy all night tweeting with his closest thugs who stormed the Capitol yesterday. Bannon had him set up in less than 10 minutes! At least with Twitter, everyone could see what he was posting. To be honest, I find the whole social media thing just plain creepy and time consuming. I don’t have a Twitter acct and I only have a FB acct for 3-4 Private groups to which I belong. Social media is a huge addiction in this country….I think it is worse than drug and alcohol addiction combined and only exacerbates existing societal problems. Every single photo from yesterday, shows those thugs recording themselves for the world to watch. The tech companies need more than just a slap on the wrist as they have let this boil on society fester for far too long.
LikeLike
Twitter is the ultimate statement of how far our country has fallen.
And Fakebook is not much better.
The fact that so many “intelligent” people spend so much time following and contributing to vacuous nonsense pretty much says it all.
But the tech companies love it. The more controversy, the better.
LikeLike
Could today’s riot have been avoided if his account had been suspended a long time ago?
LikeLike
A lot of problems could have been avoided if Twitter did not exist.
LikeLike
Someone should take charge of the Little Boy Donald Trump and take away his cell phone, computer, and any other communication device Trump maybe able to get small little hands. He cannot be trusted with even a pencil or canyons.
LikeLike
Especially can’t be trusted with the Grand Canyon.😀 –or any other national park.
LikeLike
Too many colors.
LikeLike
Agree. He’s doing a lot of damage to our environment and wildlife.
Trump gets ‘high’ when he destroys.
Trump is DISGUSTING and needs to be in jail.
Trump is a National Security threat. He’s nuts. He’s unfit to serve. The title potus should be stripped from him along with any benefits whatsoever. He just proved he does not uphold Our Constitution.
LikeLike
Trump should also be picked up by one of the CIA’s SAD teams and vanish into a black site in a third world country that hates him more than a little over half of the US population does, never to be seen or heard from again.
LikeLike
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri is standing by his absurd claim that the election needs to be investigated because so many people (who listen to Trump) don’t believe the election was fraudulent.
As the mob of terrorists approached the Capitol grounds today, Senator Hawley gave a clenched fist salute to the mob.
He is a disgrace. A graduate of Stanford and Yale Law School, he is hoping to win the affection of the thugs and terrorists who set siege to the Capitol.
LikeLike
Sen. Hawley is the most despicable Senator I have seen in a long time. I heard him STILL fomenting violence by pushing the false narrative that the Pennsylvania vote was illegal. Hawley’s lies have been discredited again and again and any legitimate journalist who quotes this liar without calling him “known serial liar Sen. Josh Hawley” needs to fired.
LikeLike
Chief Justice John Roberts should be proud of his former clerk. Ivy league (entitled), ambitious (greedy) and truly spiteful and evil. The Supremes (each) need to have a sit down with G-d and think about some of the votes they have cast that affect “we the people”. What occurred yesterday was allowed to happen by some law enforcement officers…..these same officers “protect” ALL of DC and its establishments. This should be a wake up call for everyone.
LikeLike
Most despicable senator. There are a few, it’s a crowded photo finish, in my opinion: John Barrasso, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Tom Cotton, Kevin Cramer, Ted Cruz, Steve Daines, Joni Ernst, Deb Fischer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, James Inhofe, Ron Johnson, John Kennedy, Mike Lee, Joe Manchin, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Rob Portman, James Risch, Mike Rounds, Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse, Rick Scott, Tim Scott, John Thune, Tommy Tuberville (expectation), Todd Young.
LikeLike
Aahh–Ted Cruz. Someone once said that there’s a German word which is perfect for Ted: backpfeifengesicht, meaning “a face in need of a fist.” But–perfect for so many of those you mentioned, Greg!
Perhaps it was John Boehner, who, in an hilarious interview, gave Ted a good what-for.
Greg: why Kirsten Gillibrand?
LikeLike
Because of her knee-capping of Al Franken. Still the most unforgivable act of any Democrat in the past four years. Although Sinema’s, Jones’s, and Manchin’s votes to confirm Barr is pretty close. And her craven rebranding from being a darling of the NRA as a member of Congress to an outspoken critic tor run for the Senate. She has no core principles. If she had grown up in the South, she’d the be the soul sister of Marsha Blackburn.
LikeLike
What gillibrand did to Frankenstein was disgusting. I will never vote for her.
LikeLike
With you, Greg. Not a fan of Gillibrand. The treatment of Franken is unforgivable.
LikeLike
I think they should suspend his account for good.
LikeLike
Temporarily?????
This man has committed treason. Not suspending it altogether is completely irresponsible.
LikeLike
Betsy DeVos is on Twitter scolding children about civics.
What a sad, pathetic joke all these people are. They have no standards for behavior at all yet they all seem to believe they’re somehow role models.
Can they just go? Haven’t they done enough damage? Are we really stuck with them for 2 more weeks?
They perform no practical or useful work at all- would anyone in the country even notice if they left early?
LikeLike
“The man pictured in Nancy Pelosi’s office took a piece of her mail, made it out safely, then posed for a pic”
I confess I’m baffled why none of the Trump supporters who stormed the building were arrested. No one I know understands it. Are we ever going to get an explanation for why police and prosecutors refused to enforce laws?
The public deserves an explanation for why these people were permitted to rampage through that building and none of them were arrested. We were watching the tv coverage at my office and none of us could believe how police did nothing – seemed to deliberately allow it.
LikeLike
I too was waiting for the terrorists to be arrested. They smashed windows, roamed at will through a building that’s a national shrine, and sauntered out. For a long time, there did not appear to be any police presence resisting them. They wandered through the rotunda. Entered into lawmakers’ offices. Sat at the dais of the Senate. I thought there would be mass arrests. There were none (I saw a report that 15 people were arrested, but there were hundreds in the Capitol). The mayor announced a 6 pm curfew about 3 pm and warned that anyone who broke the curfew would be arrested. Long after 6, the terrorists hung around and o one was arrested. This was indeed kid-glove treatment.
LikeLike
#1. There wasn’t enough police personnel to do arrests because that would take bodies away from the riot scene.
#2. Some of the police were in on this and let the rioters through the barriers. They were taking selfies with the thugs.
#3. The National Guard was called in a day earlier for stand by. Why weren’t they on the scene by sunrise when the crowds gathered?
LikeLike
I too was waiting for the terrorists to be arrested. They smashed windows, roamed at will through a building that’s a national shrine, and sauntered out. For a long time, there did not appear to be any police presence resisting them. They wandered through the rotunda. Entered into lawmakers’ offices. Sat at the dais of the Senate. I thought there would be mass arrests. There were none (I saw a report that 15 people were arrested, but there were hundreds in the Capitol). The mayor announced a 6 pm curfew about 3 pm and warned that anyone who broke the curfew would be arrested. Long after 6, the terrorists hung around and no one was arrested. This was indeed kid-glove treatment.
LikeLike
Whoever is in charge of Capitol Police should be fired because they are supposed to serve Congress not the President.
LikeLike
There are reports that some police opened gates that had been erected to keep the terrorists out and that some posed with terrorists for selfies inside the building.
LikeLike
Not only are there reports, Bob, there’s video evidence. This was entirely predictable.
LikeLike
I have a feeling that there were just too many insurrectionists for the police to handle. Notice the forces it took when they finally began removing them. No doubt there was a failure in the command structure, but it went far beyond the capitol police. I hope they all share lots of selfies on social media. Easier to pick them up that way though the biggest traitors weren’t the ones on the streets.
LikeLike
They had more than enough, in full riot gear, when it was unarmed BLM protestors, including brown and black people, but for these armed terrorists–they invited them in for tea and cookies.
LikeLike
Yup. I wonder why an overwhelming force to protect the capitol was not in place. Sickening display of deliberate incompetence.
LikeLike
Close Trump’s accounts entirely. He incited, is a sponsor of, terrorism, and he used these media–Twitter, Facebook–to do it.
LikeLike
Twitter: It is time not just to suspend but to permanently close the account of Donald J. Trump, whose continual lies in every medium available to him, but especially on Twitter, fueled this assault, today, on the Capitol Building. Trump incited, is a sponsor of, domestic terrorism, for make no mistake about it, that’s what we saw today.
LikeLike
Absolutely, Bob, & immediately invoke Article 25.
LikeLike
Absolutely! Immediately! And, BTW, he also had his Facebook and Instagram accounts frozen too, not just Twitter. I think it would be hilarious if his only recourse would be Snapchat or TikTok!
But this is why he must be immediately indicted, either right now or as soon as he leaves office, because they will take his phone away in prison. The sooner he’s in custody, the better for the whole world.
LikeLike
Time to close down Twitter. It is clearly a monopoly that has been aiding and abetting Trump for years.
It provides nothing of any real value that could not easily be provided by alternative social media.
Twitter’s business model (mostly advertizing) is based on generating controversy. The CEO and others at Twitter don’t care about the details or the results as long as they make money.
LikeLike
Watching today’s events unfold was like seeing the movie “Poltergeist” when I was a kid. It was like watching the ignorance and stupidity and rage and incompetence and seditiousness inside the mind of Donald J. Trump externalized, given corporeal form.
LikeLike
And besides social media, state DMV s have databases of millions of photographs which are already being used by police for facial recognition.
So. Rest assured. You and I are already in the photo database and so is anyone else who drives or has posted a photo of themselves on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other social medium.
LikeLike
There are lots and lots of pics and videos of these people who broke into the Capitol Building today. They all need to be arrested and charged with breaking and entering, threatening government officials, and first degree murder. Yes, murder. Here’s the definition of the felony murder doctrine given at Law.com:
felony murder doctrine. n. a rule of criminal statutes that any death which occurs during the commission of a felony is first degree murder, and all participants in that felony or attempted felony can be charged with and found guilty of murder. A typical example is a robbery involving more than one criminal, in which one of them shoots, beats to death or runs over a store clerk, killing the clerk. Even if the death were accidental, all of the participants can be found guilty of felony murder, including those who did no harm, had no gun, and/or did not intend to hurt anyone. In a bizarre situation, if one of the holdup men or women is killed, his/her fellow robbers can be charged with murder.
LikeLike
First time I kind of wished we had Chinese-style facial recognition technology. John Arnold sees an opportunity.
LikeLike
What makes you think our government does not possess such capability?
Clearview AI , a company that does business with Police departments, has combed and catalogued hundreds of millions of photos on social media like Facebook and is able to identify anyone who is in their database.
LikeLike
A lot of work needs to be done at the grassroots of the Republican Party to make any positive change in the direction that the party has taken. The people in power like Ted Cruz were voted in by people, most Republicans, who believe in his way of governing the people of this country.
Until the Republican Party truly find people who are interested in serving our great nation and living up to their oaths of office then nothing is going to change.
What happened last night has been coming for years. Not just the last four years. People at the grassroots have stood by or even supported putting people in office whose best interest is NOT “We the People”.
Nothing will happen trying to work from the top down. People who are voting having to make the change. Republican Party leaders need to re-evaluate what the party truly stands for and right now it is not for the good of this nation.
I dare say the Democrat Party also needs to look deep into itself and make changes that will put the party and its membership in a better place to serve this nation and it people.
LikeLike