background check there, he wasn't on it, but maybe in a background check we ought to include those whod a been on a terrorist watch list. let have a conversation about this. oh, and do you remember a couple of years ago, there was a proposal on the floor that if you're on the terrorist watch list, you can't buy a gun. that's pretty common sense. we won't let them get on an airplane because we don't want them taking down a commercial airliner. but they don't have a restriction of buying a gun. so, let's get at the root cause of this issue. let's do what we all know needs to be done. and let's do it now. not later. let's just not talk about it. let's do something about it. let's make what happened at marjory stoneman douglas high school a pivotal moment in this country's history. not because it was one of the largest mass shootings, but hopefully because it was the last. that's where the heavy heart, madam president, i yield the floor. >> i want to begin this morning by sharing the shock and sorrow that all of news this body felt as we learned of yesterday's shooting at the marjory stone

for more, i was joined earlier by thomas pickering, whod formerly ser u.s. ambassador to russia. what effect do these tweets have on america's ability to tackle what trump's own security advisor state is incontrovertible proof of russian meling? >> we have a president dedicated to one concept, that putin and russia can do no harm, they are preeminently believable, that what others have to say is in ews, andgory of fake that fake news is perhaps reinforced by the television he watches, which seems to be the major draw for information. we have a president who is, put it this way, at best out of touch, and at best smingly the prisoner of a different kind of reality. and this makes it very hard to deal with the problems at hand. i don't believe that the absolute demonization of russia on a permanent basis is the answer to the problem, and that is where we are heading on the other side of the fence fr president trump. jane: what is the impact of all of this on the relationship u.s., andssia and t how do you get past that? thomas: it makes it almost impossible to communicate, and we ha

his work at the constitutional convention was the culmination of his spectacular career. , whod george washington was 26 years his junior, or not the architects of the constitution. that role fell to james madison and alexander hamilton. the two most famous americans in 1787. delegates looked at franklin with respect. there was little doubt that washington would become president of the convention. if there was any competitor for chair, it was franklin. him, oneheavens obey georgia delegate noted. had planned to nominate washington as chair himself. the son of boston puritans had come a long way. in late spring of 1787, he exchanged letters with his sister jane, who was an evangelical christian and the sibling who maintained the longest correspondence with and the deepest influence on franklin. they reminisced about their humble beginnings as the children of a candle maker. she had remained a person of humble means and relative anonymity while her brothers fame skyrocketed. ben told her that the course of his life filled him with wonder and fills me with humble thankfulness to that divi