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What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

What To Do When You're Stopped By Police - The ACLU & Elon James White

Know Anyone Who Thinks Racial Profiling Is Exaggerated? Watch This, And Tell Me When Your Jaw Drops.


This video clearly demonstrates how racist America is as a country and how far we have to go to become a country that is civilized and actually values equal justice. We must not rest until this goal is achieved. I do not want my great grandchildren to live in a country like we have today. I wish for them to live in a country where differences of race and culture are not ignored but valued as a part of what makes America great.

Friday, January 31, 2025

'That's what a banana republic does': Trump's 'dangerous' purge of FBI &...

Trump’s shameful DEI smears are bigger than one plane crash

Trump’s shameful DEI smears are bigger than one plane crash

“ “​“

Donald Trump has tied diversity to unearned advancement and Thursday’s bizarre press conference — with the entire world watching — advanced that agenda.

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to the tragedy of an American Eagle flight colliding with an Army Black Hawk helicopterby suggesting that previous administrations’ diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives were to blame.

Attacking DEI before anyone knows what happened creates a pre-emptive scapegoat scenario. If anyone flying the plane or the helicopter or directing those aircraft at Reagan National Airport tower is anything other than white, straight and male, then they will be presumed in this administration’s eyes to have been promoted beyond their talent or intellect.

It is shameful that Trump and Hegseth are politicizing a tragedy that killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft. The real focus should be on the victims, the cause of the crash and air safety in America. But here we are with Hegseth looking straight into the camera to declare “the era of DEI is over at the Defense Department” — a non sequitur that upstaged the condolences and empathy those suffering a grievous loss deserve right now. Indeed, the compassion the entire country deserves — because who in America isn’t rattled by the collision of two aircraft just miles from the Pentagon and the White House?

The immediate and unsubstantiated insinuation that diversity was a factor in this crash underscores what should have been obvious when Trump, as one of his first moves in office, signed an executive order abolishing DEI programs and placed DEI officers in government on leave. The president can talk about lowering the price of eggs and making America safer and more secure. But changing the shape and complexion of America’s workforce are clearly at the top of his agenda.

His administration’s anti DEI objective has tied diversity to unearned advancement and Thursday’s bizarre press conference — with the entire world watching — advanced that agenda. Anti-DEI forces have been hawking this trope for years and sadly it has worked. Many Americans now automatically think the acronym stands for a hiring schematic that fast-tracks Black people and other people of color into positions for which they’re not qualified.

Anti-DEI forces have been hawking this trope for years and sadly it has worked.

That is a calculated distortion of the truth, and yet defenders of diversity have not found effective language or strategies to counter this full-on assault on inclusion.

Let’s begin with the smear about lowered standards. DEI programs at their best are about widening the pool of talent to make sure employers find excellence wherever it exists and make those employees feel respected and valued so they stick around. Retention is always a big challenge for businesses. Creating an environment that fosters belonging and respect across differences allows employers to get a strong return on their investment when they onboard new workers.  DEI, then, is an invitation to look beyond traditional pathways and pipelines and to retain that talent once they’re hired.

The slander that DEI undermines meritocracy is supremely ironic coming from an administration that has asked taxpayers to accept a series of Cabinet picks whose lack of experience would disqualify them for a leadership job in the private sector. As the administration rails against DEI hires, it has created a new class of employees who could be classified under a LBM heading. Loyalty before merit.

I’ve written on this page before about how widening its aperture helped the Army identify Colin Powell as an officer candidate. It looked more broadly at applicants who were all held to the same standards for merit and valor. Corporations, schools, hospitals and, yes, the government have used this expanded vision to diversify their ranks and, yet, too many have been silent about the benefits of being inclusive.

Meanwhile, words such as diversity, inclusion, quota, affirmative action and equity have been demonized and then weaponized and fully aerosolized in carefully constructed and well-funded campaigns to make people believe undeserving applicants are snatching opportunity away from hardworking Americans. The belief becomes that Black, brown or tan people are leapfrogging over more deserving white people. It strokes anger and indigestion, and that’s exactly why the anti-DEI campaigns have been so effective.

There is a strong defense for diversity in America. Unfortunately — and this is sadly ironic — the case has not always been made by a fully diverse cohort of defenders. That’s sad because DEI initiatives benefit a broad class of people that cuts across race, class, ethnicity and gender including Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ community. In some cases, DEI programs have been expanded to include people from underrepresented places such as rural and exurban communities or those who follow different educational paths through trade schools, apprenticeship programs and community colleges.

Women of all colors are actually the biggest beneficiaries, and white women in particular have advanced through these programs.

But if we are honest, the people often making the loudest and most passionate defense of diversity programs are Black people — and that can underscore the mistaken assumption that DEI is largely a leg up for Black folks.

I am cognizant of this even as I write this column. I know that there are people who will secretly cop to being exhausted by what they see as a constant focus on race. And, yes, I also know there are people who believe passionately in inclusion but think the methods for getting there have felt like ham-handed hectoring.

But if the aim is admirable, then why not follow that old standard introduced during the Clinton administration’s review of affirmative action? Mend it, don’t end it.

Some may feel like it’s not their place to defend inclusion because civil rights leaders are running that ball down the field. But know this: With the full-on, all-out assault on diversity — defending and fighting for the idea of a diverse America is a team sport. If you believe in it, then you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves — or be prepared to let hard-won gains slip away on your watch.

I keep waiting to hear a loud and proud defense from more of my brothers and sisters beyond the Black community who I know believe in a diverse America.

Why don’t we hear more from other people who have been benefited from the broader reach of inclusion? Women? Disabled people? People who are gay, lesbian, trans or queer? Asians and Indigenous people? Latinos? Veterans? 

Why aren’t more businesses stepping up with a full-throated defense of diversity? With companies such as Target, WalmartFord and McDonald'samong those who’ve dismantled their DEI programs under pressure, it is reassuring to see others such as Costco, Apple, Cisco and JP Morgan stand their ground.

Even so, I would like to see their leadership make the specific case tied to business objectives and brand positioning in an Increasingly competitive global marketplace. Simply saying that is is the right thing to do is not enough when the campaign to eradicate DEI practices claims that moral imperatives are just another part of a so-called woke agenda.

Despite the effort to make inclusion a dirty word, in reality there is clear evidence that it can help ensure that an organization finds the best talent to be both innovative and competitive, it helps create a culture of trust and team building. And it is good business in a country that is expected to be majority minority by 2047. A study of 1,700 businesses conducted by Boston Consulting Group found that companies with more diverse leadership teams have higher profits and are more innovative. A series of studies by McKinsey over the past decade had similar findings.

More of these companies may be forced to make that defense in the near future if the anti-DEI warriors make good on their threats to hit businesses with boycotts or lawsuits. On Monday, 19 Republican attorneys general wrote a letter to Costco demanding that the warehouse retailer end its DEI programs within 30 days. Costco recently declared that it would not be ending such initiatives.

I hope Costco continues to fight the good fight. I hope more people from all backgrounds will defend the merits of inclusion and challenge the baseless efforts to pillory diversity. Those voices would be welcome.

What we don’t need to hear are unsubstantiated, knee-jerk claims that a previous administration’s inclusive policies helped cause two aircraft to fall from the sky. Let the investigation proceed and understand that there should be no place for that brand of divisive politics at a moment when the country is united in grief“

Trump spreads racists lies about the Potomac aircraft collision. Contact your Congress members to begin impeachment action to remove Trump from office

Trump spreads racists lies about the Potomac aircraft collision.  Contact your Congress members to begin impeachment action to remove Trump from office.




Trump shows racism, sexism by BLAMING deadly air crash on DEI

Why Africans Don't Want Black Americans Back On The Continent!

Health Resources Vanish Following D.E.I. and Gender Orders

Health Resources Vanish Following D.E.I. and Gender Orders

“The Trump administration issued executive orders terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and prohibiting the use of gender-affirming language in federal health agencies. These directives have led to the removal of LGBTQ+ resources, the termination of accessibility programs, and the censorship of research on health disparities. Public health experts warn that these actions will hinder efforts to address chronic diseases and improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations.

Vague federal directives have led to frantic action, and perhaps overreaction, before a Friday deadline.

A small group of people stand at the entrance to a hospital as a Pride flag is raised. Two police officers with their backs to the viewer watch in the foreground.
A brief ceremony last year to raise an intersex-inclusive pride flag outside the Edward Hines Jr. V.A. Hospital in Hines, Ill., for the month of June.Scott Olson/Getty Images

Federal and state health officials and staff members scrambled on Friday to comply with a 5 p.m. deadline by the Trump administration to terminate any programs that promote “gender ideology,” and to withdraw documents and any other media that may do so.

Federal workers had already been ordered to halt diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, to scrub public references to those efforts and to place employees involved in them on administrative leave.

At federal health agencies, veterans hospitals, and local and state health departments, compliance took a variety of forms. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employees hurried to remove terms like “transgender,” “immigrant,” “L.G.B.T.” and “pregnant people” from the website.

Employees at some VA Hospitals were told that L.G.B.T.Q. flags and other displays were no longer acceptable, according to an administrative email reviewed by The New York Times.

Bathrooms at health agencies were to be set aside for use by a single “biological sex,” according to federal directives, and the word “gender” was to be removed from agency forms.

The instructions are a 180-degree pivot for health scientists and clinicians, who have worked for years to integrate diversity and equity into research and clinical services, including those for gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.

The directives “risk dismantling programs that have been built up over decades to serve the needs of Americans,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health.

“What I’m worried about here is that in this attempt to make headlines, we’re issuing very bold and broad statements,” she said of the administration.

The upheaval followed two executive orders that President Trump issued on Jan. 20. The one entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing” terminated the federal government’s D.E.I. efforts.

The other, “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” shut down governmental efforts to be more inclusive of a variety of gender expressions, including in scientific research.

In both instances, the federal Office of Personnel Management followed up with memos explaining how to carry out the changes and issuing deadlines. The memos affected a broad swath of programs at all levels of government, but details were sparse.

Some employees at the C.D.C. were befuddled by an order, for example, to delete mentions of gender from research databases, some dating back decades, as other government rules prohibit manipulation of scientific data.

Agency web pages that have been deleted as part of President Trump’s “Defending Women” initiative include ones about ending gender-based violenceand supporting L.G.B.T.Q. youths, and another about racism in health.

C.D.C.’s AtlasPlus, which holds 20 years of surveillance data for H.I.V., tuberculosis, hepatitis B and other diseases, is missing.

Also removed were the pages of the C.D.C.’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which surveys youngsters about dangerous activities like drinking and drug use, smoking and risky sexual behaviors that can lead to unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

The survey reported recently on the high rates of depression among teenage girls and lesbian, gay and bisexual youth.

Some directives from agency administrators, including one emailed to Veterans Affairs hospitals and reviewed by The Times, ordered the termination of “accessibility” programs, as well as other diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The hospitals treat military veterans, many of whom are disabled.

The C.D.C. itself told funding recipients on Wednesday that “any vestige, remnant, or renamed piece” of diversity programs funded by the federal government “are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated,” according to an unsigned memo obtained by The Times.

Diversity and inclusion programs at federal agencies have also been disbanded, and scientific work groups have been ordered to halt their activities, according to an email reviewed by The Times.

Public health experts warned that the D.E.I. prohibitions affect not only diversity in staffing, but health equity programs aimed at disadvantaged populations.

For example, some programs help seniors with low incomes gain access to vaccines and provide assistance to communities of color who are at increased risk of conditions like diabetes.

Including gender as a research factor in studies helps identify groups at risk of sexually transmitted infections like syphilis, which has reached its highest levelsin 50 years.

“Health equity is basically all of public health,” Dr. Nuzzo said.

“This work and these data and these studies are really important for us to answer the essential question of public health, which is, Who is being affected and how do we best target our limited resources?” she said.

None of this would seem to align with the goals of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary, who has made chronic diseases a main talking point. Most chronic conditions disproportionately affect people who are socially disadvantaged, including rural Americans and people of color.

Some state health administrators have interpreted the D.E.I. directives as applying only to hiring and promotion. Health programs that do outreach to disadvantaged populations, including ethnic and racial minority groups, will not be affected, they have told staff members.

But one employee at a state H.I.V. prevention program said the new edicts about gender may hamper the program. 

“We are still not sure how this will affect our work if we are not allowed to talk about individuals who are transgender, as that is a lot of the population we work with in H.I.V.,” said the employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

Some V.A. hospitals have warned employees that prohibited D.E.I. activities include “displaying of pride symbols, e.g. flags, lanyards, signature blocks, etc.,” prompting employees at New York hospitals to remove wall hangings that indicated they were welcoming to lesbian, gay and transgender patients.

Some asked their supervisors whether they also needed to remove books from their offices. The ambiguity of the federal directives, coupled with employees’ heightened anxiety, “may lead them to take a sledgehammer when they really need a scalpel,” Dr. Nuzzo said.

At one V.A. facility, administrators deleted all computer folders and files with the term “D.E.I.” in the name. “We gave them access to files and they disappeared from our folders,” said one employee speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I think no one knows what to say,” the employee said. “Everyone’s walking on eggshells.”

Agencies were instructed to turn off software features that prompted users to enter their pronouns in their signatures. The C.D.C. also deleted personal pronouns from its internal directory.

The administration has also threatened employees who don’t inform on colleagues who defy the orders or who try to “disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.”

Already, contractors working on health equity issues are being let go. At least one worker on a longtime contract was fired because of his role supporting such a project a year ago.

Some C.D.C. officials began preemptively censoring material that discussed health equity even before Mr. Trump took office.

Fearing that their programs would be shut down, they began deleting content from websites and holding back research findings, including those from a project that cost about $400,000.

But for other projects, merely snipping out mentions of equity or gender is impossible, because they are aimed specifically at reducing health disparities in chronic conditions.

“I don’t think that there’s anything that our division works on that wouldn’t have to stop,” said one C.D.C. employee who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

Anticipating that the Trump administration may take aim at certain issues, some scientific groups have archived data related to H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as births and deaths, education, environment and housing.

On Friday, hundreds of scientists gathered for a “datathon,” in an attempt to preserve websites related to health equity.

“There’s been a history in this country recently of trying to make data disappear, as if that makes problems disappear,” said Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist at Harvard University and a co-leader of the effort.

“But the problems don’t disappear, and the suffering gets worse,” she said.

Ellen Barry contributed reporting.“

FBI considering mass purge of agents involved in Trump investigations

FBI considering mass purge of agents involved in Trump investigations

“The Trump administration is considering a mass purge of FBI agents involved in investigations targeting the former president and his supporters. The plan, which could involve hundreds of agents, has raised concerns about potential legal risks and the impact on ongoing cases. While Trump denied ordering the firings, he expressed support for the idea, contradicting assurances from his nominees to protect FBI employees from political retribution.

Leaders appointed by the Trump administration are identifying potentially hundreds of FBI agents for possible termination, said people familiar with the plan.

The FBI Headquarters on Nov. 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Michael A. McCoy/for The Washington Post)

President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a sweeping effort to potentially fire a large number of FBI agents across the country who worked on investigations targeting the president and his supporters, three people familiar with the plan said Friday.

It was not clear how many agents could be affected, but officials are working to identify potentially hundreds for possible termination, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private personnel plans.

Of specific interest in their review were agents who worked on special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents, the people said. One person said agents involved in building cases against rioters in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol also were being considered for termination.

A former law enforcement official familiar with the situation said FBI employees at the bureau’s downtown Washington headquarters have been asked to turn over internal files of the election-interference and Mar-a-Lago documents investigations. The Trump administration is reviewing those files for the names of FBI case agents and supervisors who were involved, to make lists of personnel they plan to fire, this person said.

The FBI’s acting director, Brian Driscoll, a veteran agent who Trump appointed to run the bureau until a permanent director is confirmed, refused to endorse the effort, two people familiar with the matter said. The effort appears to be orchestrated through the Justice Department and the Trump administration, though the specifics were not clear.

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment.

Asked Friday in the Oval Office whether he had ordered the firings of FBI agents, Trump said: “No, but we have some very bad people there… I wasn’t involved in that. But if they want to fire some people, it is fine with me.”

A purge of scores of agents from field offices across the country could significantly deplete the bureau’s staffing levels, affect ongoing cases unrelated to Trump or Jan. 6 and create a vacuum difficult to quickly fill. New agents must undergo intensive screening and a specialized 18-week training program before they can be deployed in the field.

While FBI agents can be terminated for cause, there is typically an extensive disciplinary process before any such decision.

Mark Zaid, a veteran attorney specializing in federal employment law, said FBI employees are entitled to receive a proposed punishment or discipline action in writing, and also a written justification outlining the security rules or standards of employee conduct they are accused of violating. The employee would then be entitled to two stages to appeal the recommended firing or other punishment.

Zaid said any mass dismissal of agents would be legally risky for the Trump administration, which has already fired prosecutors involved in the Trump cases and told multiple senior leaders at the FBI to retire or resign by Monday or face firing.

“What this administration is doing is they are acting so recklessly and with disregard to any laws or norms, they are making a ton of errors in order to satisfy their outspoken base that seek retribution,” Zaid said. “And they are creating a lot of legal claims.”

The ranks of those told this week to leave the FBI or be fired included several executive assistant directors as well as special agents in charge of some of the bureau’s field offices across the country. It is highly unusual for senior staffing changes to be made while there is interim leadership in place at the FBI, a law enforcement agency that is supposed to be insulated from politics.

But a mass purge of field agents, the front line investigators in FBI cases, would signal an even greater escalation of what has become a startling pattern of retaliation — and would contradict recent pledges to avoid such action by Trump’s nominees to lead both the FBI and the Department of Justice.

The agents assigned to the Trump election interference investigation did not volunteer to be put on the case, but were assigned by top FBI officials, according to a personal familiar with the investigation who asked to remain anonymous to discuss a sensitive matter. The person familiar said this assignment process was intended to ensure the investigative team was not politically biased.

During his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, vowed not to take action against bureau employees simply because they’d worked on investigations tied to the president.

“All FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,” Patel told lawmakers, adding later: “Every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard, and no one will be terminated for case assignments.”

Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, gave similar assurances regarding Justice Department employees during her hearing earlier this month.

Last week, however, the Justice Department’s interim leadership fired more than a dozen officials and prosecutors who had worked on Smith’s cases. And The Washington Post reported Friday that interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin has dismissed roughly 30 federal prosecutors who worked on cases against participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol over the past four years.

The FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit advocacy group that represents personal FBI personnel, said the plan for firings, if true, would be “fundamentally at odds” with Trump’s law enforcement objectives.

The group said it had received assurances from Patel that agents would not face retribution based on the cases to which they were assigned.

“Dismissing potentially hundreds of agents would severely weaken the Bureau’s ability to protect the country from national security and criminal threats and will ultimately risk setting up the Bureau and its new leadership for failure,” the association said in a statement.

Bureau employees traded information throughout much of the day Friday and some sought legal advice, as news of the possible filings circulated.

One person who works at the FBI’s Washington Field Office relayed to a colleague that supervisors had told agents to prepare for the White House to publicly release the names of the agents who worked on the two Trump criminal cases on Monday, and that those agents would to be terminated that same day.

Managers were telling employees to take their personnel files with them over the weekend, another person who was contacted by someone who works for the FBI said.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

Lisa Rein and Derek Hawkins contributed to this report“

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Thursday, January 30, 2025

President Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under Trump’s Watch

President Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under Trump’s Watch

President Trump’s remarks, suggesting without evidence that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens.

President Trump speaks to reporters today about the plane crash at Reagan Airport.Doug Mills/The New York Times

By David E. Sanger

David E. Sanger has covered five American presidents in more than four decades at The Times.

President Trump blamed diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration and his two Democratic predecessors for the midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday night, saying that standards for air traffic controllers had been too lax.

Mr. Trump cited no evidence, and even admitted when pressed that the investigation had only just begun.

Moments later, he blamed the pilots of the Army helicopter that appeared to fly into a passenger jet that was on final approach to Reagan National Airport, across the river from the capital.

Mr. Trump went back and forth between blaming diversity goals that he said were created by President Barack Obama and President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and then saying that an investigation was necessary.

His instant focus on diversity reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens, whether the facts fit or not.

It is something he has done before: After a terrorist attack in New Orleans a month ago, he blamed illegal immigration, even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen born in Texas.

When asked how he could say that diversity hiring was to blame for the crash even though basic facts about the midair collision were still being sought by investigators, he said, “Because I have common sense.”

“For some jobs, we need the highest level of genius,” he said.

Of the F.A.A. under Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump said: “They actually came out with a directive, too white.”

transcript

Rescue Teams Shift to Victim Recovery in Frigid Potomac River

A commercial jet carrying 64 people and an Army helicopter with a three-member crew onboard collided in midair on Wednesday near Washington, D.C. Officials said at a news conference on Thursday morning that no one had survived the crash.

Despite all those efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident. And we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.

A commercial jet carrying 64 people and an Army helicopter with a three-member crew onboard collided in midair on Wednesday near Washington, D.C. Officials said at a news conference on Thursday morning that no one had survived the crash.Kenny Holston/The New York Times

An audio recording of the air traffic controllers’ warnings to the helicopter just before the crash indicated that a controller first warned the helicopter to look for a Canadair Regional Jet, and then told the helicopter pilot to go behind the jet as it was landing. That exchange will be part of the investigation.

Mr. Trump appeared in the White House briefing room with Vice President JD Vance; the newly sworn-in transportation secretary, Sean Duffy; and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. All three men began their comments by praising Mr. Trump’s leadership and repeating that they would eliminate diversity requirements and focus on competence.

Mr. Trump named a new acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration during the news conference; none had been appointed by him until Thursday. The appointee did not speak at the news conference, nor did the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was also in the room.

David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges. More about David E. Sanger


Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution


 Section 4: Declaration by vice president and cabinet members of president's inability

Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department [sic][note 2][7] or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”