Rudy getting some payback. Sued. Great! From the report quoting from the complaint "For Dominion — whose business is producing and providing voting systems for elections — there are no accusations that could do more to damage Dominion's business or to impugn Dominion's integrity, ethics, honesty, and financial integrity," the lawsuit says. "Giuliani's statements were calculated to — and did in fact — provoke outrage and cause Dominion enormous harm."

 Strib carries AP report stating in opening -

WASHINGTON — Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit on Monday against Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who led the former president's efforts to spread baseless claims about the 2020 election.

The lawsuit seeks more than $1.3 billion in damages for the voting machine company, a target for conservatives who made up wild claims about the company, blaming it for Trump's loss and alleging without evidence that its systems were easily manipulated. Dominion is one of the nation's top voting machine companies and provided machines for the state of Georgia, the critical battleground that Biden won and which flipped control of the U.S. Senate.

The company faced such a mountain of threats and criticism that one of its top executives went into hiding. The suit is based on statements Giuliani made on Twitter, in conservative media and during legislative hearings where the former mayor of New York claimed the voting machine company conspired to flip votes to President Joe Biden.

Dominion's lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, is among the first major signs of fallout for the former president's allies and the failed effort to subvert the 2020 election that ended with a Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that claimed the election had been stolen.

Will Rudy want a jury trial? Will Rudy settle? How can you find a jury, a jury of peers? Rudy is peerless, in a sad way. 

That lawsuit should keep Rudy busy enough that Hunter Biden need not file a defamation action, although Rudy being Rudy, why not pile on? Hunter Biden might just sit this one out, watching how the Dominion suit progresses, smiling while watching. Dominion can win and take Rudy's first $1.3 billion, and then Hunter can, in a timely way per the statute of limitations, go for the rest.

Sidney Powell, also a Dominion $1.3 billion lawsuit target in a lawsuit filed earlier this month, is the other one in this image from USA Today. Another person comes to mind as a possible Dominion lawsuit target, one who in public statements claimed the last Presidential election was stolen from him, by fraud. One likely not having the $1.3 billion net worth which Dominion might seek, if also filing against him. One with bankruptcy litigation in his background. One who used to be brash.

You wonder, how can we tightly try to foresee what the Biden term will be, policy-wise, regarding globalization.

 Davos should give a hint, since old dogs do not learn new tricks -

 

To play the item shown in the screen capture, this YouTube link.

For the brand of world economic structure the WEF is foruming, 2021, start here, the WEF agenda for our first year of the Biden Presidency. 

Do your own agenda exploration, it is best that way. However -The sub-item from that WEF 2021 that to me is a real hoot is this one, opening image of cloying diversity, all smiling, per a title,

How 2020 taught businesses to place empathy before profit

The importance of sincere engagement with your employees' experiences and needs has been the greatest business revelation of the pandemic

Politico reports DC as a police state (and presumably the Capitol behind razor wire to keep citizens out) will continue through the impeachment trial in the Senate

 Link. 

Excerpt -

Impeachment trial to keep National Guard troops at Capitol

There are fears of mass demonstrations.

Federal law enforcement officials told lawmakers the impeachment trial poses a big enough threat to require thousands of National Guard troops to remain in Washington through mid-March. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

Opening paragraphs of Politico's report

Former President Donald Trump’s upcoming Senate impeachment trial poses a security concern that federal law enforcement officials told lawmakers last week requires as many as 5,000 National Guard troops to remain in Washington through mid-March, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The contingency force will help protect the Capitol from what was described as “impeachment security concerns,” including the possibility of mass demonstrations coinciding with the Senate’s trial, which is slated to begin the week of Feb. 8.

Despite the threat, the citizen soldiers on the ground say they have been given little information about the extension and wonder why they are being forced to endure combat-like conditions in the nation’s capital without a clear mission.

“Quite frankly this is not a ‘combat zone,’ so combat conditions shouldn’t apply,” said one Guard member on the ground in D.C. who has deployed twice to Afghanistan.

Several National Guard units have seen their deployments extended involuntarily, though a majority of Guardsmen remaining in Washington will do so on a volunteer basis. Around 7,000 troops will continue to provide riot security through the beginning of February, with that number decreasing slightly to 5,000 by the time Trump’s impeachment trial begins.

Boots on the ground is an understatement.

While numbers were higher during the Normandy D-day beachhead days, you get to 7,000 and 5,000 and the number should ring in your mind - what level of troop withdrawal was Trump's latest plan for the lingering  Afghan War forces - numerically, in comparison.

Think that over.

Giving Biden credit when credit is due. Conditionally. Good moves with consequent vacancies, so the jury is still out.

A quick sound move at NLRB, some firing being necessary.

A great chance at making the FCC again more responsible to the pubic interest as it should be, rather than the totally grotesque industry captured thing it was under Trump's chair appointee, Ajit Pai, who resigned on Biden's inauguration day. 

With both an NLRB vacancy and an FCC vacancy, how Biden fills each, (and whether the FCC interim chair move will be finalized), are still open questions.

Both moves are promising and should resonate with progressives. However, both vacancy situations could result in less than ideal appointees, so each remains a wait-and-see. As does the question of who becomes Biden's permanant FCC chair nominee. 

(Certainly Biden could blow a promising start, but for now both moves look strong and commendable.)

Why are we under an imposed political correctness mandate to call them "Native Americans" when contacting Congressional Reps they call themselves "American Indians?"

 Or at least Strib reports such a substitute usage:

Minnesota tribes have raised concerns about several high-profile mining and pipeline projects in northern Minnesota, while Stauber has been an outspoken proponent.

"We want to make sure we're protecting our clean water, our forests, our air," Jackson [Faron Jackson Sr., chairman of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe,]said. "We're caretakers of the Earth here, and we want to look at different avenues for producing energy."

In a separate letter to Stauber about his opposition to Haaland, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin pushed back at Stauber's argument that policies championed by Haaland would be bad for jobs in his district.

"Collectively, the five tribal governments in your district are the largest employees [sic] in the 8th District and the vast majority of jobs we have created are held by non-Native people," she wrote.

Tribal leaders noted particular disappointment in Stauber given his membership on the House Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples. Haaland has also been a member.

"Your opposition to the first and only American Indian ever nominated to a Cabinet position is likely to reverberate across Indian country," wrote the leaders of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Grand Portage Band of Superior Chippewa, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

[italics emphasis added] Indigenous Peoples = more political correctness. 

It is an excellent thing the tribes are collectively doing in pressuring Stauber after he, in effect, went behind their backs to gin up other House opposition to the first Indigenous Person nominated to a Cabinet position, one having jurisdiction over the Bureau of Indian Affairs being a particularly fine point of criticism; and again, it could be renamed "Bureau of Native American Affairs," or "Bureau of Indigenous Peoples Affairs." 

And with tribal usage of "American Indian" in a writing to Stauber, VP Harris' maternal heritage must carefully be noted as "East Indian" or "Asian Indian," to avoid misunderstanding. 

Political correctness is getting to be harder and harder with the bar raised high, but confusingly so.

An anniversary date.

 MinnPost.

I don't want no Stalinistic show trials. It wastes money, distracts attention for main goals and needs; and what do you get after the "show trial dust" settles?

 Start with the answer you get same old same old. Did you expect any other answer?

Now, define the question. Best done by linking to a post by a writer I respect, with whom this post disagrees. Please, however, remember this is but a single focused point of disagreement. Dan Burns has other solid things posted at his Annex site. Dan carries the theme to left.mn; here and here (in chrono order). With citing to that site, Timmer has a recent post on a different but in a way parallel matter, a post which looks at a Strib/Klobuchar item with caution (Timmer being another writer whose body of work is stellar). Timmer's ending about letting bygones be bygones carries truth, but where and how the line should be drawn is the devil's playground.

For those not following links, the question is specifically whether Cruz and Hawley should be made "examples" of limitation of speech by a lawmaker in the chambers in debate of an issue.

Each, Cruz and Hawley, has been put into the Senate by majority vote of respective state majorities - dumb as majorities can be, as a certainty, but still no question of voting irregularities to put either into the Senate; and the vote tallies were as they were and determinative of the will of people within the respective states.

Now. Why do it?

Running each rascal out would tar them as rascals, but we already know that. A resolution of disdain could be ginned up, passing on party lines, perhaps some Republicans wanting to join in censure of Cruz for being an ass in general, more so than Hawley.

But what's the gain? Each state is soundly deluded into Republican sentiment and if interim appointment is reached, do notice which party governs Texas and which Missouri, so you replace two devils you know with two you don't; business going on as usual; no single beat lost per a status quo that includes Biden-Harris mischief to come.

Stalin liked show trials to engender lockstep among the lesser-politician troops. Who in his/her right mind thinks any actual lockstep alteration beyond show of force, briefly, to in no way interrupt each party continuing to place partisanship ahead of citizenship, with both parties owned by money, not by the people, and thus serving ownership.

So - an attempted ouster of Cruz and Hawley, successful or not - should it be done? Crabgrass thinking - It would be a sordid distraction from constantly and stringly holding Biden's feet to the fire; which is all and the only thing worth trying, every inch of the way, moving forward. Eyes on the Prize.

Propaganda never sleeps.

 You know there's been an ouster and a cutover to THE NEW INCUMBENT.

You doubt?

Check out today's sidebar rearrangement, top item of the day. Rotor over.

It NEVER sleeps.

NO TRESPASSING - Plutocrats and members only. Closed to all others. PUBLIC ACCESS VERBOTEN.

A trap set for the unwary?

click image to enlarge and read

 Then when they are in taking selfies, being deplorables, find 'em, nail 'em, sniff out inside job colleagues, if any.

Vox here [image source]. WaPo here.

And yeah, favored MSM - a few admitted - just don't let 'em bother any plutocrats.

Never forget: AP carried by Strib; at 3:15, Jan.20 - The hubris of a wannabe king maker, he did what he did, it did what it did, and now we will suffer Biden-Harris instead of a Democratic ticket which would have represented needs of working people. This man led the sellout.

 Strib a full quote:

___

3:15 p.m.

The highest-ranking Black member of Congress says former President George W. Bush lauded his role as a "savior" in helping get President Joe Biden elected to the White House.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said Wednesday on a call with reporters that the Republican former president told him ahead of the inaugural ceremony that, if he had not given Biden the boost he did ahead of South Carolina's primary, "we would not be having this transfer of power today."

Clyburn says Bush went on to say that Biden was "the only one who could have defeated the incumbent president," Donald Trump. Trump and the Bush family didn't get along.

Clyburn's pivotal endorsement ahead of South Carolina's Democratic primary helped propel Biden to the nomination. Biden won South Carolina by a margin of nearly 30 points.

Clyburn, South Carolina's only Democratic representative in Congress, is the dean of the state's Democrats and the third-ranking member of the U.S. House.

___

A man who shall live in infamy. A black man from South Carolina having much the same motive and anti-people agenda as a billionaire Jewish man from New York, Bloomberg. Allied against a democratic socialist populist who would have won a far greater landslide against Trump than Biden could manage. A better man than Biden. Indeed, better than Biden, Clyburn and Bush put together. Clyburn touting praise from a liar on the Iraq war, a permissive man toward torture, a former president who left office with a lower popular opinion that Trump even. The dude who permitted the mortgage bubble to fester on his watch, and had the bubble break with disastrous consequences. 

A man who likes Biden.

We are in for hard times. We were set up. We were sold out. First they gave us the second of the Clintons, which was a disaster giving us four Trump years instead. 

Now, another "gift" from dubious personnel.

Time for a third party?

 

I did not vote for Joe Biden. I voted against Donald Trump. Millions did. Biden was the only other real option. And, yes, the election was rigged.

Clyburn and Biden and Bloomberg rigged the election back during the primaries when the only decent candidate was torpedoed by that crowd and co-conspirators.

Recall the stalking horse candidacies which conveniently all folded; with Biden endorsed; just before South Carolina and other southern states held primaries.

That was rigging things, beyond any possible reasonable dispute.

Bernie would have won 2016. Bernie would have won 2020. Bernie suffered the inner party establishment squeeze both times.

Bernie would have been a fresh, intelligent and vigorous President. Not a ghost of a good choice, as is Biden.

THAT IS THE STORY. The election was rigged that way. The voting, how would I know whether basically it was or was not honest? Mainstream media is full of items declaring voting was not rigged, but how would they know? 

Somebody tells somebody else who tells some servile reporter "Don't worry, be happy." The publisher/owner of that reporter's outlet smiles as "Don't worry, be happy" gets published time and again to where suspicion attaches to how frequently MSM declared "truth" the way the owners wanted it. Comcast was an early Biden supporter, and they liked the election results to where they denied rigging. It is over. Trump is out. Bernie got fucked. Biden is illegitimate that way.

The final result, Trump out. By my judgment and belief set and perception that was a big time plus for the nation.

Biden? You tell yourself, do you expect anything beyond mediocrity?

Based on Biden's decades in DC, mediocrity is the best bet, and what does Harris on the ticket add one way or the other?

Turning DC into a short term [hopefully so] super police state does deliver a message, but one as perverse as the Covid virus, and yes, reader opinions can differ.

Hope for rain. I do.

 

___________UPDATE___________

If you were Joe Biden, what would you do?

If I were Joe Biden, I would do exactly what he is doing. However, if I had Joe Biden's position, but my conscience and values, there'd be one big hell of a difference.

Sirota, here, here and here.

For starters I would revive FDR's four freedoms as a basis for all domestic policy.

Somebody has to, and it sure as hell is not Schumer, not Pelosi, not Hoyer, not Clyburn. The smugness of us-or-four more stinks, it is being inaugurated, and it will get four years; with dissatisfaction showing up 2022 in the mid-terms.

Harris? Give me a break.This sentence has a ring to it, "Going on the offensive and then retreating on busing made Harris seem inauthentic."

Inauthentic is as good a word as any for our new VP. Wealthy is another. From that linked item, 

"Based on 2018 tax returns obtained by the New York Times, the Biden/Harris ticket is the wealthiest of all the combinations of the Democratic hopefuls in 2020. Harris’s adjusted gross income (AGI) was nearly $1.9 million, putting her directly behind her running mate, Joe Biden with his $4.5 million in income."

Two career-politician-millionaires. 

Serving what constituency? Biden chases money's wants and desires. Guess what got him where he is? Guess whether he stayed in DC power positions by biting any feeding hand?

Go figure.

----------------------------

Not that Trump will be missed. Just expect little from Joe, and be surprised at how little he delivers. He will be a single term disaster. Already on track for it. All I can add to that, I still believe voting against a Trump four-more was the only sane choice allowed by the corrupt, inauthentic two-party establishment.

Putin? Why would you think Putin?

 

Time has come for each reader to download any/all images and stuff wanted, from whitehouse.gov before it becomes someone else's ego trip.

A few deets about the new South African strain of the Covid virus.

 Daily Mail, along with its inimitable celeb sidebar, publishes helpful, detailed content.

There are world maps on variant strains, and this excerpting:

 

The virus appears to be evolving to transmit around 50 per cent faster and to get past some antibodies made in response to other variants of the virus.

Antibodies are extremely specific, fitting to the virus like a key in a lock, and are moulded to the virus when it is in the body. If the virus changes too much, the old antibodies may no longer be able to fit to it and so can't destroy it. 

This means people infected with the virus three months ago or more may not have total natural immunity if they catch a newer version. 

A study by the University of Washington looked at how the blood of people with antibodies for an older version of coronavirus reacted to the new variant. 

In a group of 11 blood samples, nine of them showed 'reduced binding' from antibodies when exposed to the key mutation on the South African variant.

The mutation they studied is called E484K, which changes the shape of the spike protein that the virus uses to latch onto cells in the body. The same mutation has also been spotted in both Brazilian variants.

[...]

It's likely that there have been far more cases of the variant because the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium (COG-UK) only analyses 10 per cent of random positive coronavirus samples. 

COG-UK say they've not found any evidence yet that it will make the current wave of vaccines less potent. 

In their 41-page report, COG-UK said tests had already been carried out on the South African variant which established some of its mutations did not lessen the effectiveness of the vaccine.

But they added that not all of the mutations were checked that are found on the rapidly spreading strains in the UK, South Africa and Brazil. 

In a scientific study published as a pre-print on medRxiv, the scientists describe the genetic make-up and spread of the South African strain.

'This lineage emerged in South Africa after the first epidemic wave in a severely affected metropolitan area, Nelson Mandela Bay, located on the coast of the Eastern Cape Province,' they wrote.

'This lineage spread rapidly, becoming within weeks the dominant lineage in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces.'

They added: 'While the full significance of the mutations is yet to be determined, the genomic data, showing the rapid displacement of other lineages, suggest that this lineage may be associated with increased transmissibility.' 

It comes after Dr Christina Pagel, who is part of the Independent SAGE group, which has been highly critical of the Government's pandemic response, told The Times: 'We know that this virus does mutate and it mutates in ways that can potentially evade the vaccine.

'Once we start vaccinating, we really want to vaccinate everybody before it starts to have the opportunity to mutate because then you’re much more protected.

The pre-print link shows a host of co-authors, most South African, and kudos to Daily Mail for including the link. 

The bottom line, there are mutations happening, and a mutation of an organism which enhances its reproduction will take off via natural selection.

So, two jabs, (where the second is important as to timing following the first), are needed for vaccines currently approved in the U.S.  

That means vaccine availability and delivery have to be efficient for both jabs. Management of vaccination programs will have its glitches. And the parting sentence in the excerpting - wanting to ideally eradicate the virus by universal vaccination before mutations present further risks - how likely might that, in reality be? There are the anti-vaxxers who basically free-load on herd immunity, and that pool of people may be large enough to ultimately harbor mutant strains to endanger the rest of us via pandemic reoccurance at intervals, each time a mutant strain.

We wait. We see.

 

Jan. 20 - Inaugeration Day = A police state dog and pony show - - - Because they can. Never mind decent judgment and restraint.

 25,000 National Guard members. When Biden-Harris get the reins. Whatever the cost WE pay it. Why they cannot have a simple swearing in ceremony in the Supreme Court, you tell me.

It is silliness. It is waste. It is an insult to those out of work, sick from the virus, or otherwise on tenterhooks. It is Joe and Kamala having their day in the sun.

Hope for rain. 

Pomp and pageantry was Trump wanting a bigger parade than Macron had on Bastille Day. (Which he never got.) Trump ginning up millions from favor seekers; for his big day inaugural where his take was, "My crowd was bigger than Obama's," when it was not.

Thereby -

Presaging during Trump's way into office, his insufferable carping on the way out, 

"My vote count was bigger than Biden's," when it was not.

Why not a Grand Reset whereby it is downsized - Just a simple - one exits the White House, the other enters, and whitehouse.gov gets its changeover. It is really all that is needed.

Instead a police state presence which is made so massive it cannot help but be looking to the workd as if it were some banana republic presentation. 

Is it unAmerican to post such heresy?

________UPDATE________

Should we call this, "The Razor Wire Inauguration of a Nation Trending Toward Winning Citizen Hearts and Minds?"

Breitbart lead image, this post

 

Overreaction, or just a bit more of the always-there iron fist showing outside of the velvet glove? Nothing to fear but fear itself? Nothing to resent but resentment itself?

An early initial test of the actual strength behind the Biden landslide - Stop the Steal being in the dustbin - will come on further early-term spending.

CNBC after the December spending bill(s) were negotiated:

Progressives and some Republicans have pushed for larger direct payments and retroactive federal unemployment payments. A $600 weekly supplement that buoyed millions of jobless Americans in the early months of the pandemic expired over the summer, and it took Congress months to agree to reinstate it.

Schumer stressed that Democrats would push for more relief in the new year. Their ability to approve another bill will be shaped by the two Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5, which will determine whether the GOP keeps control of the chamber.

In a statement, Biden said the $900 billion plan "provides critical temporary support" but "is just the beginning."

"Immediately, starting in the new year, Congress will need to get to work on support for our COVID-19 plan, for support to struggling families, and investments in jobs and economic recovery," he said. "There will be no time to waste."

Schumer signaled they would again request aid for state and local governments, a provision many Republicans support but McConnell opposes.

The Senate majority leader has called for liability protections for businesses, but lawmakers cast aside both issues as part of the year-end talks. Both will likely come up in the next round of talks that take place after Congress passes the $900 billion package.

[bolding added] Military spending in parallel legislation in December got skirted through without any meaningful debate upon a companion bill mainstream media declined to cover in December. 

Biden has Blue Dog Senators in that chamber making things hazy, despite all the "50-50 with Harris having the tie-breaker" hosannas sung by the loyal believers.

Some will vote Dem on organizing, but will dig in resistance where they know no tie breaking vote happens unless there first is a tie. They likely will extort the remainder of the party in the Senate, and with a 50-50 balance it seems committees will also be structured 50-50, rather than either party holding majority committee status, but Dems holding the chairs.

With those realities Biden will have an easy curtain to hide behind if he proposes stuff he might not actually want to see passed. He can rely on a loyal opposition to be blamed rather than taking blame himself over lukewarm proposing with even lesser heat behind pushing. It can keep up appearances which, factually, would be false. It can lessen the heat Biden-Harris experience. Blame game options will prove informative, as things play out. And there will be the impeachment trial circus in town, while deals get cut in backrooms devoid of sunlight; "logrolling" being an apt term used in the past but which, for unknown reasons, has fallen out of fashion - in MSM.

Is this "Democracy" in action? Is this how government should act? In an ideal world, or even in this problematic "Make it great again" world? If accountability is abandoned, what can we hold representatives to? Best guess? Does that sit well with you? With the people as the sovereign? They take contributions to get elected, and then it is what can they do if they don't like how we operate - which some accept, others dislike. Is this the best government money can buy?

Parse that last headline sentence any way it fits facts in your mind.

A Dec 22, 2020, CNN opinion item by Jeffrey Sachs. About how taxpayer money gets handled - both houses of Congress, a different party majority in each. 

About whether there is due regard for where the money came from, or will come from when it is deficit spending - of funny money. 

Sachs wrote:

The late Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen famously quipped, "A billion here, a billion there, and soon enough you're talking real money." Now, we toss around the trillions.

The new round of Covid-19 relief is estimated to cost around $900 billion. We don't really know the bottom line, as there has not yet been a budget "score" by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But we do know Congress is agreeing to spend a vast sum, in this case roughly 4.4% of GDP (or over a quarter of the federal tax revenues for the year), without waiting for a nonpartisan estimate of the likely costs.

Even more problematic? Congressional leaders have not sought or welcomed an open national deliberation about best uses of the stimulus funds.

There should have been an effort through online congressional hearings to gauge the public's priorities regarding different kinds of outlays: help for the hungry and unemployed, support for health workers, additional funding for testing and tracing systems, financial backstopping for small businesses, and assistance to state and local governments which need to pay to keep teachers, firemen and policemen on the front lines.

In fact, the public has never been formally informed about options and tradeoffs, and their sentiments have not been asked. The American people never heard the testimony of mayors, teachers, health professionals and other first responders, nor did we, as citizens, have the opportunity to engage with specific budget options as might have been canvassed through opinion surveys.

The same was true in March, when congressional leaders in the US Senate suddenly unveiled the terms of the first stimulus bill. An even vaster sum, around $1.7 trillion, or roughly 8.3% of GDP, was allotted without so much as a single congressional hearing or an opportunity for the public to deliberate. The combination of the stimulus spending and decline in tax revenues will push federal debt held by the public above 100% of GDP by 2021, the highest indebtedness since the end of World War II.

One might think that the rush to spending without the time to think was due to the unprecedented Covid-19 emergency, but in both March and now, Congress could surely have held hearings preceding both bills. There have been months of discussion about the second round of spending, in particular, but there has been no serious explanation to the public about the budgetary options and no readiness to engage through hearings with key stakeholders.

Yes, politicians voiced their opinions, but they didn't listen to the public's opinions in any systematic manner. That's what congressional hearings, at the very least, could have allowed for.

No doubt Trump's chaotic eruptions throughout the year have added greatly to the difficulties of a rational deliberation. Even this week, desperate aides were working feverishly to stop Trump from disrupting the current negotiations. But the crisis of fiscal policymaking runs deeper than Trump's presidency.

Sachs wrote more. So, again, the link. 

Am I supposed to bless all this and then be horrified when a small number of citizens were enabled to enter the Capitol and break a few windows, take selfies, and turn over chairs? One sin worse than the other? Which?

Howie Klein at DWT, "Trump Peed In The Punch Bowl-- And The Senate Will Be Too Tied Up In Knots To Do Anything About It."

 Read all about it. Realism faces those enamored by the Dems taking the two Georgia seats as if it meant Nirvana was reached by the sorry Party.

Realism about the effect of the Georgia election is like realism about the Jan. 6 Capitol event - things are not the way you're being told.

So look at who is telling you what, and be discerning or a chump. There is no third choice. Message behind the message thinking is not error. Always look for what the real communication is about - who/what gets praise, who/what gets denigrated.

UPDATE: More of the same reality cold shower. And one detail; to get 60 to "override" a filibuster, ten Republican votes would be required, not nine as the item states. Harris would only vote a 50-50 tiebreaker; not on a filibuster vote short of 60 Senators. 

Manchin is on record against change to filibuster procedure.

You know American fascism has abandoned Trump when the disrespect reaches all the way down to yet another worldwide heavy-hitter -- the one at the No.139 level of the nation's big public companies.

 General Mills joining the defund-troublemaking bus. You don't think of a food processor as needing its governmental-interference and instructional voice as much as you think of Lockheed, Boeing or Raytheon.

Whose bus, who's on it, who's getting a demerit from bus driver-owners?

The problem? Some sore loser blustering buffoon inciting prol crowd dissension against an orderly installation of a new on-record over decades tool of fascism is not to the liking of those running fascistic America to the point of hitting miscreants [Biden election denier politicians] with sanctions:  

No playing ball by the rules, run for reelection without money and see how that goes.

How else would YOU define fascism other than the corporations calling the shots of not only what the government does, but which stooge will be doing it - without wanting discord among the prols. That last part - American fascism dislikes prol discord to the extent Bezos bought WaPo so that discord could be more efficiently managed suppressed and decoelesced - Bezos loving efficient management of prol attitude; as in you want it we'll sell and ship but otherwise shut-up being a tattoo Bezos either wears or should.

Back to General Mills, and No. 139? Don't fact check me. Fact check Forbes.

So, I've gone and used the f-word. Fascism. About that nice Mr. Joe Biden. And about lovers of his soon to be presidency. Bezos gonna get me? Shut Crabgrass down? (Marching of the coconspirators would be needed to do that since Google owns Blogger to where Bezos would need censorship-pool effort.)

 If I had AOC's following it - using the f-word instead of taking the Capitol's regular denizens seriously in their whining "outrage" over a few broken windows - would be noticed. However, there is virtue to miniscule readership levels. Under the "domestic terrorist watch list" level of attention. Not seen in the radar. Radar cross-section of a cawing crow.

It is not what you say, but how many listen.

One of those "well, not exactly" moments - but maybe down the line . . .

Strib, publishing an AP feed - - at the beginning:

Feds back away from claim of assassination plot at Capitol

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press  -  January 15, 2021 — 6:00pm

PHOENIX — Federal prosecutors who initially said there was "strong evidence" the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol last week aimed to "capture and assassinate elected officials" backed away from the allegation after the head of the investigation cautioned Friday that the probe is still in its early stages and there was no "direct evidence" of such intentions.

The accusation came in a court filing by prosecutors late Thursday in Phoenix in the case against Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who took part in the insurrection while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns.

"Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government," a prosecutor wrote in a memo urging the judge to keep Chansley behind bars. But at a hearing for Chansley later in the day in Phoenix, another prosecutor, Todd Allison, struck the line from the memo.

Allison said the statement may very well end up being appropriate at Chansley's trial, but said prosecutors didn't want to mislead the court and don't have to rely on the stricken statement to argue that he should remain in jail. Ultimately, a judge on Friday ordered Chansley to be jailed until his trial.

Earlier on Friday, Michael Sherwin, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, backed away from the assassination claims, saying they have "no direct evidence at this point of kill, capture teams."

Wow! The first time ever a federal prosecutor overstated facts. In a bail hearing, apparently. Mark this momentous day on your calendar. It can never happen again. It will not. If you believe otherwise, just ask the nearest federal prosecutor you can find who'll take the time to talk to you. See what she says. 

Likely the judge kept him jugged so he would not be able to gore anybody with that hat.

UPDATE: More outstanding "Can You Really Believe It" news. Same day. Online at Strib. Local content.

a transformational moment in the history of the NRA

 Transformational? Getting uglier? What? Embracing the addition of more Russian women infiltrators?

Limiting the "Rifle Association" to long gun consideration only; handguns left to other organizations? Giving honorary lifetime memberships despite possible loss of cash flow?

Perhaps, just possibly, use of the word "transformational" was hyperbole.

A page from an online forum; opinions from a segment of our population who congregate to the forum site.

 Having only looked at this page 9 of a topic, and being otherwise wholly unfamiliar with the site, it looked to be something readers might consider in light of their own views of "domestic terrorism." And in light of most other reactions - from politicians - all over the internet since Jan. 6. I did rotor over to page 10, but did not access prior topic pages. If readers look at more, did I miss much?

An interesting person gets interviewed. Oscar Goodman, former mayor of Las Vegas (his wife succeeded him as current mayor).

 YouTube link. He considers himself to have had fortunate opportunities.

Bernie Budget Chair - within working parameters, there are thoughts.

Politico, an interview dated Jan. 12  - 

[... Sanders] There are enormous challenges facing the Congress, and we need to show the public that we can face all of them simultaneously.

How should Democrats approach reconciliation during the 117th Congress? How far should they go?

Understanding that my Republican colleagues have in the past — both under Bush and certainly under Trump — used reconciliation for massive tax breaks for the rich and large corporations, and they’ve also used reconciliation to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I’m going to use reconciliation too, but in a very different way.

I’m going to use reconciliation in as aggressive a way as I possibly can to address the terrible health and economic crises facing working people today.

As we speak, my staff and I are working. We’re working with Biden’s people. We’re working with Democratic leadership. We’ll be working with my colleagues in the House to figure out how we can come up with the most aggressive reconciliation bill to address the suffering of the American working families today.

Has President-elect Biden signaled how he might want to use this tool? Do you think it could be used for massive investments in infrastructure, for example?

I think we should think about how we use reconciliation in two ways. And it’s still not clear to me whether the two ways end up being in one piece of legislation or two. One is, dealing with the immediate crisis. Children in America are hungry. People are sleeping on the street. People are facing eviction. People have no health care in the middle of a pandemic. That is the immediate crisis of today, and it must be addressed.

But, there is also a systemic crisis that has been brewing for years that must be addressed. … What we’ve got to do is create millions of good-paying jobs, and that means clearly, as the president-elect has indicated, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, our roads and bridges. And I would add affordable housing to that, as well.

But it also means creating millions of jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and retrofitting homes and buildings throughout this country, and moving to sustainable forms of energy, and creating jobs in health care. If this crisis has told us anything, it’s that we don’t have enough doctors, we don’t have enough nurses and other health care personnel. We have to build a primary health care system which is now in very, very poor shape.

So, short-term, we know what the crises are. [...]

Second of all, we have structural problems that have to be addressed as well, to get the economy to work for working families.

..............................................Politico link insert...........

Democrats to Biden: Go big on executive actions, even with Senate control

By LAURA BARRÓN-LÓPEZ and HOLLY OTTERBEIN

...........................................Back to interview..............

You’re a staunch supporter of "Medicare for All." Do you envision reconciliation being used for a massive expansion of health care? What might that look like?

Well, look, I am a very strong advocate of "Medicare for All." I introduced legislation in the Senate. I think at the end of the day, the American people understand that our current health care system is so dysfunctional, so cruel, so wasteful, so expensive, that we need to do what every other major country on Earth does and get health care to all people. What we will be doing is working within the context of what Biden wants.

I will tell you this — that during this terrible pandemic when we’re seeing record-breaking numbers of people being diagnosed with the virus — the idea that 90 million people are worried about whether they can go to the doctor or not is cruel, it’s insane, it’s unacceptable. And that’s something that I think should be addressed and will be addressed in reconciliation.

[italics emphasis added] The constraint of what Biden wants has a sister worry; another Joe; with a 50-50 party split there unfortunately is Joe Manchin, Dem side.

Manchin votes with the Dems on organizing, but is as reactionary as many Republicans, indeed, more reactionary than some. Friction in the machine. 

However Sen. Sanders over the years is somewhat familiar with friction. He will adapt to doing the best feasible work from the Committee chair.

What Joe Biden and Joe Manchin want will be the big rock Bernie will have to push uphill. A long, steep uphill. However - For an old guy he will show stamina.

Gary Gross at his St. Cloud, MN, blog has an interesting post about the anti-Parler gang-up, and by links, how it might portend lessened freedoms for US.

 He does not word it that way, and uses "Nancy Pelosi" as his codeword for "Deep State" and "evil" but beyond that, he links to Greenwald and Tucker Carlson.

His post is here, where you can for your own good need to follow his links.

The never-ending war on terror was a Bush family invention, with Cheney, and now the next Cheney generation hops aboard "domestic terrorism" which translates to McCarthyism with a modern spin. Biden has used that "domestic terrorist" phrase and was a key facilitator of the Bush-Cheney war-on-terror crock of stuff, where domestic surveillance was done illegally, and with the present pearl clutching frenzy seeming aimed at cutting freedoms. Freedoms which would hit progressives as well as white supremecism and Tea Party extremes. A blunderbuss aim at anybody not liking  the entrenched status quo (as DC hands it to you after greased by monied people with an insidious anti-labor, anti-progressivism agenda), i.e., such "malcontents" would collectively be branded "deplorables." 

And "Status Quo Joe" is nobody's misnomer. The name's been earned over decades.

So, while Tucker Carlson is as sleazy as Jerry Rivers, here is another Parler related Carlson video link, beyond the one Gary posts.

This pearl clutching, "they invaded our sacred Capitol, sedition, sedition, sedition," frenzy-song fits exactly with how the Deep State has treated Assange and Manning and would love to treat  Snowden (who Trump on the way out should pardon along with Assange and Manning). It is almost as if Trump's purpose was to clown into discrediting the Tea Party, appearing unintentional in doing so, it being a step and tactic which would serve rather than confront the Deep State, and which would fit Trump's pardoning ones besides those who've rained on the Deep State's parade.

As to unintentionality - Remember The Phone Call, and this image, cronies out where listeners might not abound. Enjoying "the links."

And some among us, optimists despite history, thought requiring loyalty oaths was a dead creature out of the '50s.

Think again. Trump being painted as seditionist is the same type of witchhunting as the HUAC hearings, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" needs only a substitution of "Tea" for "Communist" to ring bells today.

The Jan. 6 Capitol event - What did the FBI know and when did they know it? What did they do? What did Capitol Police know and when did they know it?

WaPo, "FBI report warned of ‘war’ at Capitol, contradicting claims there was no indication of looming violence - ByDevlin Barrett andMatt Zapotosky Jan. 12, 2021 at 11:40 p.m. UTC":

 

A day before rioters stormed Congress, an FBI office in Virginia issued an explicit internal warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and “war,” according to an internal document reviewed by The Washington Post that contradicts a senior official’s declaration the bureau had no intelligence indicating anyone at last week’s demonstrations in support of President Trump planned to do harm.

A situational information report approved for release the day before the U.S. Capitol riot painted a dire portrait of dangerous plans, including individuals sharing a map of the complex’s tunnels, and possible rally points for would-be conspirators to meet up in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and South Carolina and head in groups to Washington.

“As of 5 January 2021, FBI Norfolk received information indicating calls for violence in response to ‘unlawful lockdowns’ to begin on 6 January 2021 in Washington. D.C.,” the document says. “An online thread discussed specific calls for violence to include stating ‘Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal.”

[...]

 

At the FBI office in Norfolk, the report was written within 45 minutes of receiving the information, officials said, and shared with counterparts in Washington.

The head of the FBI’s Washington field office, Steven D’Antuono, told reporters on Friday that the agency did not have intelligence suggesting the pro-Trump rally would be anything more than a lawful demonstration. During a news conference Tuesday, held after The Post’s initial publication of this report, he said that the alarming Jan. 5 intelligence document was shared “with all our law enforcement partners” through the joint terrorism task force, which includes the U.S. Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Police, D.C. police and other federal and local agencies.

[...]

Steven Sund, who resigned as Capitol police chief, said in an interview Tuesday that he never received nor was he made aware of the FBI’s field bulletin, insisting he and others would have taken the warning seriously had it been shared.

“I did not have that information, nor was that information taken into consideration in our security planning,” Sund said.

Statements need reconciliation or further expansion. An image with the report showed those forcing entry on Jan 6 were carrying metal things - things besides flags and signs.

 

"GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson dies at 87"

 Axios, with their headline being used above. Wikipedia, updated. Adelson is survived by his wife, Miriam, "who grew up in the Israeli city of Haifa, [and] earned her medical degree from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Medical School. She later attended Rockefeller University in New York on an exchange program, focusing on treating drug addiction, which became her specialty." Like her husband, she is an avid champion of Israel.

________UPDATE_______

The Adelsons:

from Times of Israel coverage

January 20, BFD. Joe Biden would make a good University of Delaware athletic director.

 He could glad hand alumni donors and fire coaches. He'd be at his level of competence. And he could harass whoever. Hunter getting some University job.

Breitbart:

Report: Kamala Harris’ Team Rips Vogue Editors for Cover Photo

Tyler Mitchell/Vogue

John Binder

10 Jan 2021

No wonder. It makes her look white. Both images. Looking white is not what got her to where she is.

 

Now, redux of '50's Red Scare mania - this time it is demonize white advocacy. Do we really need and would we benefit in any long-term way from a new HUAC, to purge Trumpism? Frenzy today, yes, but the whining Congress people should look in the mirror and say, "Serving big money might not be the best American way, and perhaps we should do good for the people instead." Then they'd be less despised, in general, while the Trump-whiteness thing will be apart from what the general person in the public feels about Congress and his/her needs. Congressional behavior, chasing money, sucks. No two ways about that.

Breitbart, money matters so sock it to him - because we now see an unAmerican demon? And if you think the sharp knifing ends there, no, there's substantially more:

 

 

German Banking Giant Deutsche Bank Cuts Ties with President Trump: Report

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Kurt Zindulka

12 Jan 2021

Deutsche Bank AG has reportedly decided to cut ties with President Donald Trump as well as his private companies following the unrest at Capitol Hill last week.

The German lender has been joined by the New York-based Signature Bank, which also announced that it would be ending its business relationship with the President.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that two insiders within Deutsche Bank — who remained anonymous ostensibly due to banking regulations — confirmed that the German banking giant would no longer conduct any further business with President Trump or his company.

However,

There will still be some relationship between the bank and the President, however, as he reportedly owes Deutsche Bank some $340 million in outstanding loans. The bank has served as a lender for President Trump since the 1990s and has lent some $2 billion during their business relationship.

The day after the events at the Capitol, the head of Deutsche Bank Americas, Christiana Riley wrote on LinkedIn: “Yesterday was a dark day for America and our democracy.”

“We are proud of our Constitution and stand by those who seek to uphold it to ensure that the will of the people is upheld and a peaceful transition of power takes place,” she added.

[...]

Big corporations strike to unbank the right! Wall Street banks freeze political donations, threaten pro-Trump politicians with blacklisting! https://t.co/vcqQcW0NvN

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 12, 2021

On Monday, New York lender Signature Bank said that it would be closing two of President Trump’s personal accounts which hold some $5.3 million.

The bank also called for the president to resign before the end of his term, saying in a statement: “We believe the appropriate action would be the resignation of the president of the United States, which is in the best interests of our nation and the American people.”

“We have never before commented on any political matter and hope to never do so again,” the bank added.

According to UK’s Daily Telegraph, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank also said that it will refuse to do any business with members of Congress who backed the president in his fight against the certification of the electoral college vote.

The move by the two banks comes after the announcement from the online payment processor Stripe that it would be blacklisting the Trump campaign from its services, preventing the movement from accepting donations via credit card.

Nine big tech companies have also banned or restricted the President of the United States from operating on their platforms, including Twitter, Google, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, Shopify, Reddit, TikTok, Twitch, and Discord.

[...]

Mainstream Media may be reporting some of the same, but for now Breitbart seems to be more relevant in reporting what is really going on, like it or not.

So, more Breitbart, make of it what you will. Here, here, here and here. 

Apart from that sampling, and after all the puffing and money dumping to elect two Democratic Senators in Georgia; know that aside from committee chairs and setting the floor agenda or bottling up bills (McConnell handing that off to Schumer), the truth of things is that nothing will fundamentally change. One bad Dem in a 50-50 Senate is enough to monkey against progress for the populace. And there is one, with a record over the years.

Breitbart still,

Lawsuit: Amazon Blacklisted Parler Due to ‘Political Animus’

Parler filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing Amazon of violating antitrust laws when it removed the social media site from the web.

The lawsuit explains that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has signed a multi-year deal with Twitter, as well as Parler, “a conservative microblogging alternative and competitor to Twitter.”

“When Twitter announced two evenings ago that it was permanently banning President Trump from its platform, conservative users began to flee Twitter en masse for Parler,” the suit reads. “The exodus was so large that the next day, yesterday, Parler became the number one free app downloaded from Apple’s App Store.”

The lawsuit goes on to note that while AWS claimed it was booting Parler due to concerns it may “incite violence,” one of Twitter’s top trends on Friday night was “Hang Mike Pence,” and AWS “has no plans nor has it made any threats to suspend Twitter’s account.”

 [...]

The lawsuit alleges that “AWS’s decision to effectively terminate Parler’s account is apparently motivated by political animus.”

“It is also apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter,” the suit reads. “Thus, AWS is violating Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act in combination with Defendant Twitter.”

“AWS is also breaching its contract with Parler, which requires AWS to provide Parler with a thirty-day notice before terminating service, rather than the less than thirty-hour notice AWS actually provided,” the suit adds. “Finally, AWS is committing intentional interference with prospective economic advantage given the millions of users expected to sign up in the near future.”

Therefore, Parler is asking for an emergency order to reject Amazon’s shutdown of its account, saying that shutting the site down “will kill Parler’s business — at the very time it is set to skyrocket.”

 [...]

In parallel Breitbart reporting, even a blind pig can sometimes sniff out a truffle. In this instance Carlson has some detail wrong, and a major simplifying misunderstanding of rigged "law and order" as the equivalent of something as ephemeral as "justice," but read the thing and consider the general theme, (where stylistic bluster and some pure idiocy gets in the way more than helps present a point of valid criticism).

Next, two closing images, the first emailed by a reader after an earlier Crabgrass screed about cleansing the temple, the other - these are real people - a multitude - dissatisfied with much besides "whiteness politics motivation" and Trump's pandering to the worse in them. They are not rich. They are not viewed as important to politicians who are rich and/or servants of the rich. They are citizens. As I am. My dissatisfaction differs, but I am, over other things, as dissatisfied as they are. And I remember the Florida theft of an Al Gore election win; and what we ended up with, the Iraq War, Dick Cheney, plus more; when Supreme Court members disgraced themselves irretrievably.

 

 

click image to enlarge

Am I an intended anticipated third-party beneficiary of a two-party services contract where I might have a Sec. 1983 civil rights federal cause of action over a unilateral act of one of the contract parties, touching perhaps upon an antritrust collective refusal to deal?

 

https://lauraingraham.com/2021/01/devin-nunes-amazons-suspension-of-parler-is-clearly-a-violation-of-rico-act/

Does each of Nunes' three million fowerlers have a third-party beneficiary cause of action?

Is he a third-party beneficiary per the Amazon hosting contract with Parler?

Is freedom of speech something other than what you thought? Fighting words - free speech or not? 

Poor Devin. His rights encroached by Jeff Bezos?

The Capitol Police in question about the Capitol event.

 Politico: Reporting in part:

[...] videos have also surfaced showing a small number of officers pulling down barricades for the rioters and, in another instance, stopping for a photo with one of them.

Some of those incidents were raised on a 3.5-hour caucus call by House Democrats on Friday, demanding an investigation not only into the decisions by the Capitol Police leadership but by some rank-and-file officers caught on camera. But the lawmakers also raised general concerns that the rioters had some sort of outside help not necessarily attributable to the Capitol’s police corps.

Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) told his colleagues he thought the riots were “an inside job,” according to two lawmakers on the call.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) mentioned that looters had found their way to his unmarked, third floor office and stole his iPad. He questioned how they could locate that office but not his clearly marked ceremonial office in Statuary Hall. Later, another Democrat on the call, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) specifically raised the question of possible collusion among some Capitol Police officers, according to several people listening.

In an interview airing Sunday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said she believes some Capitol Police officers aided the rioters and may have helped steer them once inside the building, calling it “one of the most troubling things” about the assault.

“I am very sad to say that I believe that there were people within the Capitol police and within the Capitol building that were part of helping these insurrectionists to really have a very well-coordinated plan for when they were going to come, how they were going to come,” Jayapal said on Gray TV’s “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren.”

Dealing in "conspiracy theory?" With reason and logical support, theories are not presumptively a bad thing. Who shot Kennedy, and The Trade Center Was an Inside Job, are neat ones that never will be fully suppressed. 

This one? Evidence is always important, and we await evidence. At this point, the theory has credibilty; at least as much or more credibility as saying election fraud happened. Few mention Rudy's rhetoric at the Trump demonstration at the Washington Monument. He is reported to have spoken.

Knives are being sharpened, and moving on might be the best thing for the people of the nation. Grudges against Trump may be justified. But productive? You decide.