Hear No Evil: Congressional Republicans have blocked the creation of a bi-partisan commission to investigate the sources and causes of the January 6^th Capitol insurrection. The Republicans used their power of filibuster, requiring the Democrats to get 60 votes and they only got 54.

  The inquiry would have been modelled after the one that followed the September 11^th terrorist attacks. But in this case, the Republicans are shielding their party and followers from catching blame rather than seeking and facing the truth.

  “I do not believe the additional extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chief Republican naysayer. “Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to do that.”

  Majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York asked, “Do my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol?”

  While burying any attempt to find the truth, the Republicans are standing by as Donald Trump continues to push his big lie that he lost the election in a massive fraud. He issued a statement Thursday saying, “Breaking News! Massive numbers of dead people ‘voted’ in the 2020 Presidential Election, far greater than anyone has known or seen before.”

Talking Real Money: President Biden is proposing a $6 trillion budget for the federal government on top of his $1.27 trillion infrastructure plan, betting that government spending can rocket America to new heights of prosperity. 

  He would borrow trillions of dollars to do it and create a record federal debt. He would impose higher taxes on the wealthy and large corporations … $3.6 trillion.

  The Budget includes $14 billion to fight climate change; $800 billion to develop and promote clean energy; and $36.5 for high-poverty schools. 

  In an introductory message to the plan, the President said, “It is a budget that reflects the fact that trickle-down economics has never worked, and that the best way to grow our economy is not from the top down, but from the bottom up and the middle out. Our prosperity comes from the people who get up every day, work hard, raise their family, pay their taxes, serve their nation and volunteer in their communities.”

Breathing Lessons: Three Tacoma, Washington police officers have been charged with the death of a man in their custody whose last words were the familiar, “Can’t breathe.”

  Two of the officers, who are both white, were charged with second-degree murder and the third, who is Asian, was charged with first-degree manslaughter. 

  The Tacoma Police Union issued a statement claiming “facts were ignored in favor of what appears to be a politically motivated witch hunt.”

  The charges stem from the in-custody death of Manuel “Manny” Ellis on March 3, 2020, less than three months before the police murder of the unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis.

  The origin of the incident is in dispute between the cops and witnesses,  but one of the cops wrapped his arm around the front of Ellis’ neck and locked his hands together while squeezing, applying what’s called a “lateral vascular neck restraint.” Ellis was also tasered at least twice before a spit hood was put over his head. Paramedics declared Ellis dead on the scene.

The Spin Rack: The Biden administration is reimposing economic sanctions on some state-owned companies in Belarus in retaliation for the country forcing down a Ryanair passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist. — The financially- pressed US Postal Service is looking to raise the price of a first-class stamp from 55 to 58 cents. They last raised the price in 2019. 

The Party of Trump: Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she has teamed up with Florida’s  Rep. Matt Gaetz and  “taking charge” in a Republican “civil war.”

  “Matt and I have teamed up because we refuse to allow Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger or any Trump-hating Republican … we won’t allow the GOP to turn into their party,” she said. “So we’re taking charge. We’re bringing it to the people,” she said during an interview with the Real America’s Voice network.

  “We know what the people want,” she continued. “The people overwhelmingly support President Trump as the leader of the Republican Party.”

On the Nightstand: Author EL James, who made bondage into a billion dollar franchise with “Fifty Shades of Grey,” is publishing yet another of her B&D books from the perspective of her hero, Christian Grey.

  “Fifty Shades” books have sold 165 million copies worldwide and been made into movies and into a sexual fantasy industry. She has popularized blindfolds and nipple clamps, licensing “Fifty Shades” wine, lingerie, floggers, vibrators, and handcuffs. She once said,  “I set about trademarking everything because I didn’t want things on lunchboxes.” 

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