Wretchard.com

The basic message of the Biden administration is “I’m quietly fixing things.” The lack of visible improvement is explained by the assurance that invisible mechanics are hard at work.

Kremlinology at the White House. Who’s on first?

The US has said it “expected” an immediate de-escalation, however, Israel responded that it would continue military operations until its “aim is met.”

DW

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the Trump administration didn’t do ‘anything constructive’ to bring peace to the Middle East.

In Israel geopolitics keeps redefining morality every few decades, argues George Friedman.

Gaza: Morality and Reality | Geopolitical Futures

Fighting is intensifying between Israelis and Palestinians, though it would be a mistake to think of this as another war. The war had been waged before

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposed that U.S. leaders not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s alleged human rights violations, saying taking part in the Games would make the U.S. “complicit.”

Forbes

Pelosi Calls For ‘Diplomatic Boycott’ Of 2022 Beijing Olympics Over China’s Human Rights Violations

“We cannot proceed as if nothing is wrong about the Olympics going to China,” Pelosi said.

Moral hazard. Generally speaking war, pestilence and famine favor the rich. This has been true through history.

The billionaire boom: how the super-rich soaked up Covid cash / Twitter

The face mask, beyond its purpose as a sanitary appliance, has become a political symbol, a banner, a sign of whose side you’re on.

Still another made an ominous, baffling prediction: “We will know who the real vaccinated people are – they will be wearing their masks. The unmasked will be the unvaccinated.”

Will Democrats mask America forever? – UnHerd

The Covid political posturing is reminiscent of reactions to 9/11

According to Caniglia v Strom, a lower court had previously determined that police confiscating the guns without a warrant fell under the Fourth Amendment’s “community caretaking” exception, but a 9-0 vote from the nation’s top court struck down that ruling.

Supreme Court rules warrantless home gun confiscation is unconstitutional in 9-0 vote

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that warrantless gun confiscation from Americans’ homes is unconstitutional, voting unanimously on the side of a Rhode Island man whose firearms were taken by law enforcement without a warrant after his wife expressed concerns that he might hurt himself. According to C…

CNN has fired Adeel Raja, a freelance contributor, after he tweeted Sunday: ‘The world today needs a Hitler’

Daily Mail

Freelance contributor FIRED from CNN for anti-Semitic tweets

Adeel Raja, a freelance contributor for CNN, has come under fire after tweeting Sunday ‘The world needs a Hitler.’ It is just the latest of his anti-Semitic tweets over the years.

This includes avoiding incitement, violent attacks, and terrorist acts, as well as evictions – including in East Jerusalem – demolitions, and settlement construction east of the 1967 lines. 

If identity politics is so good then why are its effects so destructive in the Middle East, among other places?

From the Atlantic in 2014

What the Media Gets Wrong About Israel

The news tells us less about Israel than about the people writing the news, a former AP reporter says.

By its fruits shall you know the screwup.

The Israelis are using ultra-precision warheads that can approximate the effect of controlled demolitions. What additional options does it give them?

Israel strikes Gaza home of Hamas leader, destroys AP office

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp — most of them children — and pulverizing a high-rise that housed The Associated Press a…