Top Items:
Mike DeBonis / Washington Post:
McConnell relents on Senate rules, signals power-sharing deal with Democrats — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday night signaled he would step back from an ultimatum over Senate rules that sparked a partisan showdown and threatened to obstruct President Biden's early legislative agenda.
Discussion:
Politico, Slate, New York Times, HotAir, Reason, Common Dreams and KRON4
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Jaclyn Diaz / NPR:
McConnell Relents On Senate Filibuster Stalemate — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell dropped his demand that Democrats maintain the Senate filibuster — ending an early stalemate in the Senate that prevented party leaders from negotiating a power-sharing agreement.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, National Review, One America News Network, New York Post, KLRT-TV, Bloomberg and WITF
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Can Democrats exercise a mini-nuclear option against McConnell?
Can Democrats exercise a mini-nuclear option against McConnell?
Discussion:
Politico, The American Independent, Daily Kos, Althouse, Breitbart, UPI, New York Times, Political Wire and Vox
Burgess Everett / Politico:
Manchin emphatic he ‘will not vote’ to kill the filibuster
Manchin emphatic he ‘will not vote’ to kill the filibuster
Discussion:
Fox News, The Week, Washington Post, Crooks and Liars, HuffPost, Axios, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, NBC News, WV MetroNews, Vox, Washington Examiner, Breitbart, HotAir and theslot.jezebel.com
CNN:
McConnell allows Senate power-sharing deal to advance after fight with Democrats over filibuster
McConnell allows Senate power-sharing deal to advance after fight with Democrats over filibuster
Discussion:
CBS News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, The Republic, IJR, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, The Week, Mediaite and Townhall
Pema Levy / Mother Jones:
Rob Portman Is Retiring Because of Senate Dysfunction He Spent Years Supporting
Rob Portman Is Retiring Because of Senate Dysfunction He Spent Years Supporting
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA, New York Times and National Review
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Kellyanne Conway Accused of Posting Topless Photo of Her 16-Year-Old Daughter on Twitter … Kellyanne Conway, ex-counselor to disgraced former President Trump, allegedly posted a topless picture of her daughter Claudia, 16, on Twitter on Monday. — Reached for comment …
Discussion:
TheGrio, The Sun, New York Post and Twitchy
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Biden tells CNN Trump's impeachment trial ‘has to happen’ — (CNN)President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, telling CNN, “I think it has to happen.” — Biden made the comment during a brief …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, National Review, RedState, The Guardian, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, IJR, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, Fox News, HuffPost, The Sun, Townhall, Sputnik News, The Daily Caller, Business Insider, TheBlaze, TASS, CNBC, Meduza.io, The Hill, Boing Boing, Mediaite, New York Post, Breitbart, NPR, Axios, The Week, UPI and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
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Politico:
Trump sends a message to Senate Republicans ahead of his trial — A top political aide to former President Donald Trump spent the weekend quietly reassuring Republican senators that the former president has no plans to start a third party — and instead will keep his imprint on the GOP.
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, The Dispatch, Greensburg Tribune-Review, Roll Call, HuffPost and Raw Story
Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler pepper-sprayed a maskless man who accused him of disregarding coronavirus measures — On Sunday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was walking outside a craft brewery on the Oregon city's southwest side when a man walked up to him and shouted, “Thanks for ruining the city!”
Discussion:
Willamette Week, HotAir, Conservative News Today, Mediaite and RedState
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Shane Dixon Kavanaugh / Oregonian:
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler pepper sprays unmasked man who confronted him with video camera — Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler blasted with pepper spray an unmasked man who confronted him and former Mayor Sam Adams with a video camera as the two left a pub Sunday night, the two men told police.
Leyland Cecco / The Guardian:
Canadian mogul fined after getting Covid vaccine meant for Indigenous residents … The former head of a Canadian casino company and his actor wife have been fined after chartering a private plane to a remote community near the Alaska border and receiving coronavirus vaccines meant for vulnerable Indigenous residents.
Discussion:
Washington Post, Yukon News and New York Post
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Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Trump opens “Office of the Former President” in Florida — Washington — Former President Donald Trump announced Monday the official opening of the “Office of the Former President” in Palm Beach County, Florida, which is tasked with overseeing the 45th president's official activities in his post-presidency life.
Discussion:
Political Wire
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Juan Williams / The Hill:
Let America be America — It feels like having a weight lifted off my soul.
Let America be America — It feels like having a weight lifted off my soul.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Forbes, Washington Post, Yahoo News and NBC News
Dave Philipps / New York Times:
From Navy SEAL to Part of the Angry Mob Outside the Capitol — The presence in Washington of a longtime member of the Navy SEALs who was trained to identify misinformation reflects the partisan politics that helped lead to the assault. — In the weeks since Adam Newbold …
Ashley Gold / Axios:
Scoop: Google won't donate to members of Congress who voted against election results — Google will not make contributions from its political action committee this cycle to any member of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the presidential election, following the deadly Capitol riot.
Discussion:
The Hill, The Gateway Pundit and The Week, more at Techmeme »
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Celine Castronuovo / The Hill:
Google suspends donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying election
Google suspends donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying election
Discussion:
We Love Trump, POLITICUSUSA, The Independent and Raw Story
New York Times:
As Trump Seeks to Remain a Political Force, New Targets Emerge — As Donald Trump surveys the political landscape, there is a sudden Senate opening in Ohio, an ally's bid for Arkansas governor, and some scores to settle elsewhere. — Former President Donald J. Trump …
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has been banned from Twitter — (CNN Business)Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, was banned from Twitter Monday night, according to a Twitter spokesperson. — Twitter made its decision based on a new policy it enacted after the Capitol insurrection whereby people …
Discussion:
The Hill, Axios, NPR, Mercury News, TMZ.com, Talking Points Memo, The Week, TheBlaze and New York Times
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Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Giuliani wasn't just a Trump partisan but a shrewd marketer of vitamins, gold, lawsuit says — Trump's personal lawyer sought to turn conspiracy theories and voter fraud videos into online moneymakers, attorneys for Dominion say — As he outlined how “pervasive voter fraud” …
Discussion:
theslot.jezebel.com, Raw Story, Eschaton, Election Law Blog and Reason
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Mayor Aims to Turn Small Town Into QAnon, USA — “I think we're a little microcosm of what's happening at the national level,” said Marsha Maguire, a resident of Sequim, Washington. — City council meetings don't often get heated in Sequim, Washington, a small town of roughly 7,000 people popular with retirees from Seattle.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Daniel Dale / CNN:
Fact-checking 7 statistical claims from Biden's (quite factual) economic speech — Biden: We cannot, will not let Americans go hungry — Washington (CNN)President Joe Biden recited a flurry of figures in a Friday speech in which he urged Congress to pass the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package he calls the American Rescue Plan.
Discussion:
The Daily Caller
Jaclyn Peiser / Washington Post:
Oregon Republican Party falsely calls U.S. Capitol riot a ‘false flag’ meant to ‘discredit President Trump’ — Three weeks after hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent rampage that left one police officer and four rioters dead and led to more than 100 arrests of the pro-Trump rioters …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, The Guardian, No More Mister Nice Blog, New Republic, KLRT-TV, Vox and WGN-TV
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Michael Warren / CNN:
The Republican Party is at war with itself as it charts its post-Trump future
The Republican Party is at war with itself as it charts its post-Trump future
Discussion:
The Atlantic, USA Today, Townhall, The Federalist, Buck Sexton Show and Raw Story
Amy Goldstein / Washington Post:
Biden to reopen ACA insurance marketplaces as pandemic has cost millions of Americans their coverage — President Biden is scheduled to take executive actions as early as Thursday to reopen federal marketplaces selling Affordable Care Act health plans and to lower recent barriers to joining Medicaid.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and KFF
Frank Newport / Gallup:
U.S. Satisfaction at 11% in Early January — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Joe Biden as the nation's 46th president, 11% of Americans said they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. This is down from 16% in December and marginally lower than readings …
Wall Street Journal:
Biden to Suspend New Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Pending Review — Orders would boost conservation, setting up a confrontation with the oil industry — WASHINGTON—President Biden is planning on Wednesday to halt new oil and gas leasing on federal territory, people familiar with the matter said …
Erik Maulbetsch / Colorado Times Recorder:
Boebert Claimed not to Know Anti-Govt Extremists She Posed With, But Photos Show Otherwise — Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-CO) claimed she “didn't know” the anti-government extremists she posed with on the steps of the Colorado Capitol in 2019, but it turns out she's known some of them for over a year.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Thomas Franck / CNBC:
White House signals it could agree to more narrowly targeted stimulus checks — Brian Deese, President Joe Biden's top economic advisor, suggested the administration could be open to tweaking eligibility for future stimulus checks. — As written, the president's plan calls …
Marc Freeman / Sun-Sentinel:
Robert Kraft's sex videos from police sting should be destroyed, judge orders — Sex videos of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft are set to be destroyed under a court order. — It's been two years since the 79-year-old billionaire was among more than two dozen people secretly videotaped …
Discussion:
TheGrio, TMZ.com and Florida Politics
Paul Farhi / Washington Post:
Former Voice of America overseer hired two law firms to $4 million no-bid contracts. — The former head of Voice of America's parent agency hired two law firms to open-ended, no-bid contracts, including one specifying that top lawyers would earn $1,470 per hour, according to documents and people familiar with the matter.
Emily Bazelon / New York Times:
Why Is Big Tech Policing Free Speech? Because the Government Isn't — Deplatforming President Trump showed that the First Amendment is broken — but not in the way his supporters think. — In the months leading up to the November election, the social media platform Parler attracted millions …
Discussion:
Twitchy, Electronic Frontier Foundation and The National Interest
Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
'It's a shot at my reputation': Lauren Wolfe reacts to NYT's statement about her dismissal — Lauren Wolfe made no ripples last May when she started as a freelance editor at the New York Times. She worked three to six days a week as part of the paper's “live updates” team …
Discussion:
Fox News, The Hill and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
Biden Will Lie to You — All presidents do. — Staff writer at The Atlantic — All presidents lie. Even so, the Trump administration weaponized dishonesty to a remarkable degree. — Donald Trump did not merely lie to exaggerate his accomplishments, or smear his opponents.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, pjmedia.com and The Root
Collin Anderson / Washington Free Beacon:
Meet the Woman Behind Salon's Sloppy Tom Cotton Piece — Something funny happened when Sen. Tom Cotton's (R., Ark.) aides received a request for comment from intrepid Salon reporter Roger Sollenberger. — Cotton's team, which shared the email correspondence with the Washington Free Beacon …
Discussion:
National Review, Task & Purpose, Military.com, Business Insider, Twitchy and Townhall
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: The White House power map — DRIVING THE DAY — We've done some digging and pieced together who occupies most of the offices on the first two floors of the West Wing. While there are still a few gaps — and some people haven't been into work yet because of Covid-19 …
Discussion:
USA Today, New York Magazine, The Hill, Just Security, CBS News, IJR, FiveThirtyEight and Real America's Voice, more at Mediagazer »
Washington Examiner:
Biden's politically correct assault on girls sports — President Biden has signed an executive order forcing schools that accept public funding to allow biological boys to compete in girls sports. His Department of Education is also expected to flip sides on two transgender sports battles …
Discussion:
The Federalist
Holmes Lybrand / CNN:
Fact check: Hawley makes misleading denial on post-election efforts — Hawley's mentor says backing him was worst decision of his life — Washington (CNN)One of the few US senators who led the effort to object to the electoral college results on January 6, Josh Hawley is now claiming …
Discussion:
Raw Story
Washington Post:
One coal state senator holds the key to Biden's ambitious climate agenda. And it's not McConnell. — He's a coal country native, born to a family of mining town mayors. As West Virginia governor, he sued the Environmental Protection Agency. He has scuttled efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Talking Points Memo
Matt Bai / Washington Post:
Teachers are vital public servants. Time for them to start acting like it. — It won't be easy for President Biden to get America's teachers back into public schools. Teachers unions are a powerful force in Democratic politics, and they're resisting calls to return to classrooms …
Discussion:
Conservative News Today, Newsmax and Townhall