Puzzling evidence. [CORRECTED]

 CORRECTION: first link below has been corrected; previously both links pointed to the ArsTech story, which linked to the Parler letter, online here:

https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Parler-Letter-to-Chairwoman-Maloney.pdf 

The letter only is online - exhibits referenced in letter footnotes are absent 

................................end correction............................

Puzzling evidence presented by Parler, highlighted by ArsTech. 

The focus is Parler's lawyers' twelve page letter in response to a House committee inquiry request. 

Without cause to disbelieve any assertions in the lawyers' letter, there is a question of who knew what when and what communication within government happened, leading to what planning decisions to act or forebare; that uncertainty touching governmental agency to agency recognition, be it either generically kicking the can, or with specificity about Jan. 6 anticipations. 

And why was Parer tarred and feathered as a take-down social media target, but not Facebook, nor Twitter, with the lawyers' having asserted the latter two mega social media giants were left unscarred.

A few screenshots from the twelve page letter; See, especially, letter p.2 at fns.5 and 6, (and accompanying text re AWS - Amazon Web Services - with each of the two footnotes giving a web link). You can click any of the image thumbnails to enlarge and read:

p,2

p.6

p.7

p.8

Troubling evidence? The lack of any widespread coverage of this follow-up to earlier very widespread accusatory posting seems troubling, possibly leaving a widespread misunderstanding. 

Ask yourself, do you suppose a widespread airing in the House of this follow-up will happen? Then, wait and see.

All this notice, and too little protection mounted in advance of the Jan. 6 Trump rally and the scheduled certification of the Biden victory - scant Capitol Police with National Guard requests delayed and handled strangely. And if memory serves correctly, one single always holstered handgun was the only firearm captured among the Jan. 6 people strolling within the Capitol, (with the owner's claim it was carried for self-protection and not aggression) - so that the "insurgency" was without firearms displayed at all in multiple posted video, and without even spray paint - there was no graffiti reported to have been left on paintings, statuary, walls, doors, podiums, desks, floors, carpeting, or seats. Broken glass is broken glass, yet they certainly in general were orderly "insurrectionists" in those other regards. Tidy. Was any arson attempt reported? It seems not. No flammables carried into the Capitol or put to use is the recollection here of online contemporaneous and subsequent reporting.

It has trappings of a staged event, not chaos, not mayhem, and certainly not "armed insurrection" in the generally serious meaning that term carries.

So, if staged - who staged it, under what motivation, toward what anticipated usages and outcomes, short term or long term?

With Trump saying he now wants to start his own great, beautiful, best-ever, super social media outlet; having Parler out of the way as a competitor is a convenience.

Would Rebekah Mercer be putting money behind a Trump effort, do you think? As she did to launch Parler? Having a big piece of the action? Switching from Parler to Trump's apprentice? She's already shifted from Cruz to Trump. Or might Deutsche Bank finance it, these days? 

Who else would loan Trump seed money? 

Would AWS host it?

______UPDATE______

A social media outlet. Trump. Steve Bannon did video. Steve Bannon did Breitbart. With Rebeckh Mercer money invested, Bannon did Breitbart. When Cruz lost the nomination Mercer money went to Trump's effort. Steve Bannon was an early Trump ally. Steve Bannon was a White House insider. Steve Bannon was arrested and charged with a "wall-building" cash solicitation fraud but was pardoned via Trump's lame ducking. 

Is Steve Bannon out of work? This day? This hour?

Can you imagine Steve Bannon running a Trump social network? 

Rudy a FOX-style show host and commentator? With Sidney Powell? Roger Stone? Bill Barr? Fallwell Jr.? Trump family, each a host of multiple forums? Sean Spicer as a news reader? Wilbur Ross doing CNBC manage-your-money type content or hosting a call-in? Mike Pence with a Sunday Face the Prayer interview show? James Dobson on Sunday postings? All the trappings of the worse of cable. 

Then the forum opportunities. Reddit, look out. Trump's coming.

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Making a mountain out of a molehill? Try as I might, this does not look like a pair of insurrectionists. There has been no reporting the one individual holding the bullhorn ever tried to gore anybody, while the individual in the tan hoodie appears to be asking directions of an officer not appearing to be in fear for his life.

 

Strib published image

 Give me a break. The Pelosi characterization of things just does not ring true. A protester sitting in her office chair feet up on her desk, yes, arguably disrespectful, perhaps enough to fire up Pelosi's extremist rhetoric, but by far not insurrection. Not as I understand that word's meaning. Window unsmashed, files and items on her desk left untouched [and untorched], framed pictures unmoved and unbroken, desk drawers not being ransack-searched for souvenirs, not even mud on the shoes. Just a good ol' boy mocking haughty surroundings. Of a salaried public servant. With reported survey results on the public's respect for how well Congress is doing its job, what's to say?

________FURTHER UPDATE________

Reliable documented evidence of post-entry property damage within the Capitol seem hard to find online. One photo of clean-up efforts online, here. Two conflicting reports, here and here. The latter item from claimsjournal.com, from insurers, quotes a spokesman:

Civil unrest has caused catastrophe-level losses — $25 million or more — only a dozen times since 1950, Johansmeyer said. Until the George Floyd riots, violence that erupted in Los Angeles in connection with the police beating of Rodney King in 1991 held the record for insured losses.

“What we’re looking at is an event in D.C. of significant symbolic importance and obvious cultural significance as well,” he said.

But Johansmeyer said while the assault on the U.S. Capitol is significant for society, the event so far doesn’t appear to be especially significant in terms of property losses. The Capitol building is not located near any shopping district or residential area, he said. And the damage — while shocking to witness — appeared primarily superficial.

[italics added] All I know is what I find in web searching. Was not there, did not make a giant effort to pin down online reporting of any magnitude of property damage facts. Make of those two reports what you will. "Superficial" is an unambiguous word; and from an insurance expert on claims damage, it carries some weight; meaning insubstantial by expert observation and opinion.

Fencing cost was advanced as part of the "damage" cost by the Architect of the Capitol office personnel. Sending in National Guard personnel was not without cost. Delay in that step needs to be fleshed out, to the public.

There being a dearth of after-the-fact damage evidence online is itself a mystery. What really was the outcome of this "insurrectionist mob," (using Pelosi's wording), in terms of property damage? That needs to be pinned down for the public to have a grasp of what actually happened - apart from rhetoric which can easily exaggerate. What is the true extent of physical damage caused, as shown unequivocally by post-entry visual evidence? Why it is not already factually established online is a question lawmakers should answer.

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Wikipedia, here, posts this image as part of this post; the image captioned in the post: "Ken Cuccinelli, acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, touring the Capitol after the attack to survey damage." Two undamaged working chandeliers and what looks to be an antique "grandfather clock" are shown in patrolled hallways in a photo op showing, strangely enough, no damage, no "handwriting on the walls." A nice, quiet photo-op hallway, in a photo staged to be characterized as inspection of damage?

FURTHER: It is admitted that Ken Cuccinelli, acting as a Trump DHS top official might choose a photo-op location less damaging to the Trump Administration than a possibly massively damaged other Capitol location; and perhaps this location was apart from areas the entrants traversed; but it's what's online, take it or leave it.

FURTHER: denverpost.com - images

WHY DID IT TAKE THEM SO LONG? Voting machine company Dominion sues FOX for its allegedly false coverage of the election whereby FOX challenged the integrity and authenticity of Dominion voting machine results.

 Check out an AP feed Strib carried: "Dominion Voting sues Fox for $1.6B over 2020 election claims," By COLLEEN LONG Associated Press -March 26, 2021 — 8:45am 

It is an online report you can read for detail.

From the report:

"The truth matters. Lies have consequences," the lawsuit said. "Fox sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process. If this case does not rise to the level of defamation by a broadcaster, then nothing does."

Even before Dominion's lawsuit on Friday, Fox News had already filed four motions to dismiss other legal actions against its coverage.

"Fox News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and we will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court," it said in a statement on Friday.

That last paragraph makes an assertion which is pure horseshit.

That said, FOX can sue me. It's own quoted statement is opinion, not a representation of fact, since "highest tradition of American journalism" is not a discernible fact, but a matter of thought and judgment. The opinion here is the phrase sets a quite low bar, yet one FOX cannot fit under transcend [they fit well under the bar for even merely decent journalism, middling tradition - please excuse the original mind lapse]. Opinions can differ.

Claiming that FOX presents instances of  "journalism" again is opinion. It presents horseshit is the opinion here, which content might arguably be called "journalism" if tabloids also are accorded that status, in your opinion, but characterizing FOX and the tabloids, as journalism, is like saying "Hillary lost to Trump because of Bernie." Hillary might believe that, but again, it is opinion. As is blaming Comey, rather than Podesta and Mook, the main operatives upon whom the Clintons relied.

__________UPDATE__________

The interesting question, when will Dominion file THE BIG ONE? If filed and won, that victory would be the one for which the most celebratory popcorn would be popped. On that question, Dominion might want to move quickly because Trump assets may be at a current level higher than later.

_________FURTHER UPDATE_________

It would be helpful to see, if FOX were taken down in size by about $1.6 billion. It could even result in Tucker Carlson being taken back a notch in his whining, provocative incivility. It would take only one $1.6 billion judgment to be noticed as incentive for change. Even a $1.5 billion judgment might do the trick.

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________

FOX? Try this tradition of American journalism, for a fit like a hand in a glove.

Same fact set; two modes of online reporting. Each mode appears to have underlying orientation leading to opposite views of the fact set.

Down With Tyranny coverage.

Breitbart coverage.

Does the range of outlooks surprise you? Without being too judgmental, DWT does give context detail likely felt irrelevant by Breitbart, but Crabgrass judges the judge by his past. DWT's image:

 

It appears that at the start of the Twentieth Century when horseless carriages offered obvious efficiency advantages, the buggywhip and blacksmithing industries lacked political clout.

 Link. We live in different times.

"Federal law enforcement officials are scrutinizing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s controversial move to help his donor shield nursing home executives from legal consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report. The probe follows a Daily Poster investigative series detailing how one of Cuomo’s biggest donors, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) — a lobby group that represents hospital systems and nursing home operators — said it “drafted and aggressively advocated for” the corporate immunity provision. Cuomo’s administration quietly inserted the measure into his state’s budget as thousands lay dying from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes. "

 The above headline runs together the opening two paragraphs from here.

Check that link, it includes an opening dynamic image.

Irresponsibility. On the part of James Clyburn's choice of Biden's Vice President. While she was collecting a public paycheck in California, ostensibly for doing a job.

 Link,

Is United Healthcare, headquartered in the Twin Cities metro area, the 800 pound gorilla in the room, indirectly shown to be there and really heavy, to where however rapacious, the politicians don't want to see Medicare for All eating its lunch?

DWT, here, lists cosponsors with Jayapal on her Medicare for All bill.

 Zippo support for the Bill among House Dems and Republicans in the Minnesota delegation. No guts, no glory.

WAIT - courage and good judgment must go with a hijab - Ilhen Omar cosponsors the item. One out of eight is not an impressive percentage, given the need to take private profiteering out of the equation.

Howie Klein of DWT writes:

More than half the Democrats in the House are co-sponsors of Pramila's Medicare for All Act that was just reintroduced for 2021, since Pelosi and Hoyer buried the 2020 version and never allowed it to come up for a vote, despite pledging to do just that. Pramila: "While this devastating pandemic is shining a bright light on our broken, for-profit health care system, we were already leaving nearly half of all adults under the age of 65 uninsured or underinsured before COVID-19 hit. And we were cruelly doing so while paying more per capita for health care than any other country in the world. There is a solution to this health crisis-- a popular one that guarantees health care to every person as a human right and finally puts people over profits and care over corporations. That solution is Medicare for All-- everyone in, nobody out-- and I am proud to introduce it today alongside a powerful movement across America."

[...] Biden remains unswayed and remains loyal, first and foremost, like all American conservatives, regardless of party, to private insurance companies and not to the American people. He keeps pushing barely noticeable incremental upgrades to Obamacare. His next goal is better, a public option, but a waste of time since it will take enormous political capital-- virtually the same amount as Medicare-for-All-- without half the benefits. "Biden," reported Politico this morning, "campaigned on the idea, touting it as an achievable reform that would bring down costs without upending private health insurance. It consistently polls well across the political spectrum.

Klein, by image, reminds us of Biden campaign allegations that he supports "Medicare by 60," although now, in office, it seems to have slipped his mind. What we do see so far, real questionable slippage, whatever it's cause. Spine slippage, now in office, or simply spinning along with his spin doctors in seeking an office with a pledge he never intended to honor. Not that it is super great as major reform, just that it was promised and seems now to have been put out with yesterday's trash.

Yes. Opinions can differ. Seven Minnesotans in Congress are one way or another in thrall? Or do you believe they occupy the high ground? Along with the millionaire executives of United Healthcare? A bondage of Benjamins, as Ms. Omar might have said - and did in a slightly different context. Bless her honesty.

The black guy really stands out in that group photo.

- click the image to enlarge it -

 Here, the black guy stands out more so. (Scroll, he does show up; he is there. Really, this time.)

Steve Timmer, webmaster at left.mn, posts about two threatening sulfide mining proposals, one getting more of a blind eye attention level than the other. AND HE AWARDS A SPOTTY. [UDATED - re Polymet permitting news]

 Link. Past political movers and shakers, by a joint LTE, do some moving and shaking.

Timmer also links to earlier attention he'd given the situation.

Why any sane, sagacious politician would lend credence to either of those nasty mining proposals is open to analysis; Rep. Stauber in whose Congressional district the depredation would happen, wants it. (He's a Republican.)

Read Timmer's two items. 

UPDATE: Moreover, Stauber is a Trump Republican. (As Timmer writes, one of the LTE authors is a former Republican Governor of Minnesota. A tolerable Republican. To many, Arne is a likeable Republican. Not narcissistic. Not a blowhard. Not a Mike Pence. Nor a Lindsey Graham. Nor a John Kline. God, these days they set their bar low! (Ted Cruz!) )

_______FURTHER UPDATE_______

Strib, local content -

U.S. Army Corps suspends wetlands permit for PolyMet copper mine --
Asserting Indigenous water quality standards, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa breaks new ground.

By Jennifer Bjorhus Star Tribune-March 19, 2021 — 4:11pm

An interesting recent State of Washington Supreme Court split decision.

The Court's main and supplemental opinions, online here.  

Reporting - contemporaneous with the opinion issuance, here and here; retrospective, here.

Seattle Times carrying an AP feed - an ending-item short paragraph: And Andrei Turchak, the leader of the main pro-Kremlin United Russia party, described Biden’s remarks as a reflection of “the U.S. political marasmus and its leader’s dementia.”

 Link.  The context of the post is about Russian rhetoric following Biden using "killer" to describe Putin.  It is a "we can throw stones too" kind of report.

As to the above headlined mid-item paragraph, first, a new word to me, "marasmus," suggesting a wasting away problem sense, (not applicable to Trump who goes the other way from wasting away), and then in publishing the post, misplacing the apostrophe in front of the s, and not following it. Two in a row most recently, and then there is going back to the Gipper, who was neither wasting away nor getting portly. The Gipper had Nancy and always wore that earpiece, while he got a free pass from the press as a "Great Communicator," something Biden might have to strive toward.

 

Tax the rich to fund Build Back Better and other stimulus ideas is gaining press attention.

Newsweek, here, here and here. tpctax.com

This image from DWT. 

It would be interesting to see numbers for LeBron James, and Glen Taylor, owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota's largest statewide daily newspaper, Strib.

How about that little fart, Bloomberg? Finally having to pay some, for all the prosperity he has enjoyed into his latter years. JUSTICE with a nice ring to it.

But will it happen, or is it just an idea floating to attract 2022 votes? An idea being floated with such a cynical nexus? PROVE IT. 

BY DOING IT!

If discussed but undone, why care? Former Dem Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton ran on "Tax the Rich" but once in office he gave it up easily with a free pass from the press. How would the proposed Warren wealth tax hit Mr. Dayton, who'd surely deserve as big a hit as it would impose.  Running on that slogan, finally paying up, JUSTICE again. 

UPDATE: DWT again. Including an image.

FURTHER: Bloomberg's press, on issue.

FURTHER: Breitbart, being Breitbart, publishes this, but not any "tax the rich" stuff? (Or did I miss something?) A focus on the less relevant, a blind eye toward major economic JUSTICE. But to be expected; they are Republicans. Keeping score the way Republicans do.

Biden and the "Press Conference Question."

A background websearch. The returned item blurbs from that search define the issue.

Whitehouse.gov

Republican St. Cloud, MN, blogger Gary Gross has posted. I left a comment there, and Gary does moderate comments, so if he declines to keep it, I can put it here via an UPDATE. For now, check out what Gary thinks, where he posts a Hannity embedded video (FOX toxic waste), and links to here (note that Strib carried that item and attributed it to ChiTrib, not to the alternate site to which Gary linked).

Do I care whether Biden personally meets the press, or relies on his Press Secretary to handle such stuff? Not really. Not much. Should you care? If so, fine; if not, fine.

Breitbart on the issue, being what Breitbart is (bothersome partisanship much of the time).

Breitbart headlines - Mike Pence is planning a speech. Woo woo. Their photo of him is without the fly in the hair.

 Link. No shit, the speech is set for April 29, and Brietbart features it today. 

WTF? The Breitbart folks are up to something. Slinging mud yet again at McConnell likely being an integral part of what they are up to. Read both items. Go figure.

What has made McConnell their throw-a-stone-each-week  persona non grata? It is not as if the McConnell/Chao story is novel to today, but it surely gets coverage now.

Curious. There is editorial bias, with some lack of clarity as to why.

In order to sell that brand you have to be a Democratic Socialist, with dishelved white windblown hair, and not a Repubian acolyte of woof-woof food magnate John Danforth. But Breitbart trying says something.

 Josh Hawley, final paragraphs of a Breitbart online item:

The Missouri Republican argued a proper contrast would be for Republicans to compare approaches to trade, in which Democrats have supported policies that force the United States to compete with nations that engage in unfair labor practices.

“Well, how about bringing jobs back to our urban core from overseas?” he said. “Why don’t we start there? Why don’t we start with the disastrous trade policies and economic policies that the liberals in step with a big corporation have pursued for 30, 40 years and who’s been hurt most, working folks, African Americans working folks, Latino working folks, white working folks, Asian working folks, you name it. They’re the ones whose communities have suffered as these jobs have been shipped off to China. As these jobs have been shipped overseas to the lowest bidder to the lowest wages.”

“The Democrats have made American workers compete with slave labor, and they’ve done it in order to get rich, so the big corporations could get rich. It’s time to bring those jobs back and create opportunities in our urban core, in our rural areas, everywhere. For American workers, that’s where I’d start,” Hawley added.

Josh, get real. The Dems are Clintonian late arrivals to serving the rich. Your party invented it, and your mentor, Danforth, even fobbed Clarence Thomas off on the nation, Biden helping one whole hell of a lot on that job, thereby desecrating the Thurgood Marshall legacy black seat on the Court.

Josh - You ain't FDR. 

Give up the pose. Only Breitbart can take the pose seriously. Stick to telling rubes you will lower their taxes and fight government spending run amok. You are a Republican, after all. That is your mantra.

Stow the MAGA hat. It'sTrump's, not yours.

The fifteen buck living wage - all it takes is a will to say "Not unless . . .".

Sirota lays out detail thinking that progressives have muscle to flex, if they have a will to stand on principle. A big "if"? 

How about another big "if" - If they don't do it now, when would be a better opportunity? The answer is - the sooner, the better.

Biden gets no bill unless he gets one with something for those most in need. Harris can overrule the parliamentarian's rule interpretation. She needs fire to the feet, wherever, to get her to notice and act. 

Will progressives stand on principle, against Manchin-mode, or will Biden remain free to use Manchin every time something arises he does not really care to do, but wants the killer to be somebody besides himself. Besides Harris. 

Progressives have to do more than writing letters. Showing courage is not difficult. Sincere courage would be a welcome interlude from DC, as usual.

Heritage Foundation gives a platform to a presently out-of-work politician. Who you befriend is a part of who you are.

 Mike Pence. Link. He writes nothing that matters. Blah, blah bullshit about depressing Dem voter counts. What matters is him being given a forum, by the proto-establishment band remaining yet powerful within the Trump-White Republican Party. 

Heritage hat tips Pence after Trump in his Jan. 6 rebellion-incitement speech took a big-time dump on Pence for not joining Trump's crypto-coup effort via "Stop the Steal" falsehoods. Pence presided on the electoral vote count hearing per the rule of law rather than the rule of Trump, but beyond that, he still is the same old Mike Pence he always was. Attempted redefinition as anything more, good luck, it is a tough sell.

Pence being thrust forward by the GOP establishment means what? That he is in their view capable of delivering evangelical bloc sentiment away from Trump? That the establishment wants the evangelicals to get in line and then toe the line?

Or might this just be coincidence? Surely Heritage could have gotten Josh Hawley to have written identical anti-vote fluff, but Pence got the opportunity.

Taking a shot at Mitch McConnell happens often to where, usually, it is not news. When Breitbart does the shooting, in this fashion, whose Republican Party is it?

 Link.

This Breitbart flavor of (non-unique) reporting IS news. That they did not just bury the story quietly while maintaining general Breitbart anti-Democrats reporting. The report's release, its timing on the heels of CPAC, also unpins the meter a bit.

Too bad Schumer choose such a weak challenger to McConnell last election, where even Schumer wasting a ton of Party money behind his choice was insufficient to cease the McConnell incumbancy. There was a progressive Democrat . . .

Had that progressive not been stymied in primary activity, and later won, Harris would not be able to hold her prominent role as "tie-breaker politician of our time." Less drama, more substance, if a more sound challenge had been launched against McConnell in Kentucky last cycle.

________UPDATE_________

Another model of a modern Inspector General. Serving the public? Serving Pentagon rank and file? Serving payback? For whose benefit?

A fifteen minute video, a Biden-House caucus virtual chat, posted by the White House. Not once mentioned - the minimum wage abandonment - and web notice of video end cropping.

 Youtube. Beginning with Pelosi at her smarmiest. You can scroll through the video to when after the Pelosi long intro Biden begins speaking - but smarm does not end with his starting to speak. If you watch that dog/pony thing to its end, this bank of commentary might interest you.

Any questions?

UPDATE: whitehouse.gov, here, posts a transcript. Check the final paragraph. Is this a tempest in a teapot, or are the Biden people in terror and hiding Biden from impromptu appearances? In dread of press conference gaffes to where press conferences are yet to happen? 

Biden-Harris is the White House favor for four years, and it differs from Trump-Pence. Do you think a lot of huffing and puffing in MSM over adding/deleting fifteen bucks from the two trillion dollar pork bill might be to keep the issue alive for a standalone? In order to be able to emphasize how it ends up being the Republicans killing it? What if the Republicans won't play along? And it passes? Standalone?

www.aljazeera.com -- "ICC prosecutor opens war crimes probe in Palestinian territories The Hague-based court ruled in February it has jurisdiction over the situation in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories." 3 Mar 2021

 Link:

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday she launched a formal inquiry into alleged crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, a move strongly opposed by Israel.

Fatou Bensouda said in a statement the inquiry will be conducted “independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour”.

“Today, I confirm the initiation by the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of an investigation respecting the situation in Palestine,” Bensouda said, adding it will specifically look at allegations since June 13, 2014.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed the prosecutor’s investigation.

It is “a long-awaited step that serves Palestine’s tireless pursuit of justice and accountability, which are indispensable pillars of the peace the Palestinian people seek and deserve”, the PA foreign ministry said in a statement.

Hamas also praised the ICC’s move and defended its own actions.

“We welcome the ICC decision to investigate Israeli occupation war crimes against our people. It is a step forward on the path of achieving justice for the victims of our people,” Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told Reuters news agency.

“Our resistance is legitimate and it comes to defend our people. All international laws approve legitimate resistance,” said Qassem.

[...]

“The ICC reached a decision which is the essence of anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu said in the video posted on Twitter.

It is not "anti-Semitism" to criticize or investigate Israeli treatment of occupied territory and "occupied" people. People should not be treated the way Israel treats the Palestinians. Cheap bandying about of the "anti-Semitism" label lessens its impact when it actually does apply.  Knee-jerk use of the label offends. Seeking justice is not anti-Semitism. Netanyahu knows better. 

_________UPDATE________

RT reports on the ICC/Palestinian/Israeli investigative activity. Aside from those two international media sources, AJ and RT, it is interesting that no other coverage of the current ICC activity was found online. That is not to say U.S. mainstream media collectively withhold coverage; but it suggests editorial parallelism which seems quaint in its own way. A websearch does not return much mainstream posting. Possibly tweaking search terms and using multiple search engines would yield more hits; but that one simple websearch, as phrased, did not pick up the AJ item while returning the RT link.

Biden nominated that creep, Neera Tanden, as a sop to the Clinton machine. So awful she had to step down from the nomination. Biden vows to find the creep a paycheck. Taxpayers deserve better.

 Strib carries an AP feed:

"Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities," Tanden wrote in a letter to Biden. The president, in a statement, said he has "utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel" and pledged to find her another role in his administration.

Biden pledge - Find her another federal paycheck? Can't she move to the Clinton Foundation, sucking cash out from there? Being less a burden on the nation and on taxpayers? Joe should say NO. Earn a little respect that way. For now, finding the woman another paycheck is an insult to each of US and insult to all of US collectively. Carrying her weight has no purpose other than Clinton and Biden (and Podesta) solidarity. Tanden should be turned out to find another place, as a private sector hanger-on. That fits her skill set. It is who she has been.

_______UPDATE________

Seattle Times carrying an NYTimes feed:

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday abandoned its push to install Neera Tanden as the director of President Joe Biden’s budget office after it became clear that she could not overcome congressional opposition in both parties, making her nomination the first casualty of the evenly split Senate.

In a statement, Biden said that Tanden had requested that her nomination for director of the Office of Management and Budget be withdrawn and that, while he agreed to do so, he planned to find a place in his administration for her to serve in a different capacity.

“I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel,” he wrote, bowing to the reality of the first significant defeat of his presidency. “I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration. She will bring valuable perspective and insight to our work.”

Tanden, who was a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, had drawn bipartisan criticism for a prolific stream of social media posts that criticized lawmakers in both parties, often in vitriolic terms, and for her work at a liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress. Biden selected her to direct the budget office before Democrats had won control of the Senate, surprising lawmakers and aides in both parties.

The pick also surprised many of the economic aides in Biden’s inner circle, which Tanden had not been a part of, who saw her as more publicly combative and less bipartisan than most of Biden’s other nominees.

So, why include this bad choice in the first place? Biden owed the Clintons, or what? A confirmation would have given Clinton/Podesta access to budget planning, given the way this revolving door was set to revolve. Podesta sells lobbying services to willing buyers. It is his livelihood. Tanden's social media posting (in the NYTimes view) was a big factor; whereas her whoring to big money and dumping on Bernie from the PAC Podesta had set up with her installed in charge was a bigger worry to many - progressives - more than her stupidly childish BS tweets. 

Toxic waste is as it is. Toxic waste needs special handling.

Change with the times and the cheapening of the U.S. dollar. Make the minimum wage slogan, "Twenty-one bucks in '21"

 The headline stands as a suggestion. 

Try this video.

Remember how Dems a few weeks ago were urging Pence to get the Trump cabinet together and to lead a 26th Amendment effort? How long before Harris gets dementia pressure? Bernie got scuttled for this man to become President. The nation should weep. The two-party stranglehold on our people, on US, is sick and in need of reform.

Last, what would be wrong with a twenty-one buck living wage? Nothing. Zippo. It makes good sense. If you use somebody's time, time being all we have until the Reaper moves, you have to pay more per hour than a part of the cost of a tube of Neosporin, which is where the federal seven buck obscenity stands today.

_________UPDATE________

Passing on hyperbole; the current federal minimum wage is seven and a quarter an hour. Amazon will sell you a one ounce Neosporin tube for $6.88.

That means work an hour at the fed minimum, buy that salve, and have a quarter, a dime and two pennies left over. That is hyperbole-free fact. The pocket change can be put toward the monthly rent.

What are the people of this nation allowing to be done to the least wealthy of US? Why is this being tolerated? What further indictment of two-party politics is needed?

At least we can take comfort in the fact Mike Bloomberg can buy all the Neosporin he wants. That's opportunity in Amerika. Bloomberg could even buy some Neosporin for others, if so charitably inclined. But he'd probably let Trump do it. Or Congress. Or Medicaid. Or the Easter Bunny. 

Buying politicians instead seems The Mike Bloomberg Way. It is all about the return on investment.

__________FURTHER UPDATE_________

Latest left lament over Biden turning his back on his minimum wage promises; Harris having made the same promises; Daily Poster, Down With Tyranny.

Swinish abandonment of extremely popular policy promises augers Dem problems during the 2022 midterms. Do Biden and Harris care? Getting hammered in the midterms could be suggested as all the more cause for promises to go unfulfilled - not having the votes in the caucus; not wanting to offend a paid parliamentarian; not really caring a rip; not fully allied to a cause money opposes; whatever. 

If there are not the Senate votes in caucus, isn't that Schumer's problem to rectify? Else, what does it mean to lead a caucus? What's being pulled now looks like a lesson in how to mislead a caucus, the Schumer-Biden direction of "tell everyone what they want to hear, then serve the money interests." That latter direction has gotten some people a prime island waterfront mansion retirement estate and lifestyle. That fact could resonate with active career politicians wanting more over a lifetime - into retirement.

By Erik Wasson Bloomberg 1 Mar 2021 -- "Senator Elizabeth Warren, joined by Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle, proposed a new wealth tax on households with a net worth of more than $50 million. The lawmakers said Monday the new tax, dubbed the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, would create a “fairer” economy with a 2% annual tax on households and trusts valued at between $50 million and $1 billion. All net worth over $1 billion would be taxed at 3%. [...] Democrats are planning to use special budget reconciliation procedures to pass a bill with a simple majority later in the year that will include parts of a massive infrastructure package. At that point, taxes to pay for the build out would be on the table. And under Senate rules, tax increases generally are allowed in budget bills. The bill’s co-sponsors include Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Mazie Hirono, also of Hawaii. Jayapal is from Washington State, and Boyle is from Pennsylvania."

 Online carry, aljazeera.com

Some have consciences in DC - distinctly a minority, and then only among Democrats who resist poisoning by dark money. At a fifty million buck beginning cutoff, would the wealth tax hit Joe Biden's brother?

 

Guardian publishes about Biden's mendacity over the fifteen buck living wage.

 Link. Read it.

This "parliamentarian" crap needs to end. It insults our intelligence.

The man is reneging on a promise.

On multiple fronts. He is mendacious, with no excuse for it. He lied to us about goals during his campaigning.

We cannot trust the man.

The only single thing the SOB has going, he's not Trump.

UPDATE: More of the same. At least Guardian is calling out the insulting mendacity. The SOB does not want to do things to help people. That is the bottom line. That is the truth in all the BS being fobbed on the public. Big money serviced, Neera Tanden for Christsakes, while people are being hung out to dry.

When a Presidency is started on this kind of a path, things will only get worse unless the man changes and the insulting crap gets stowed. Hope for it. Expect more of the same.