POLITICO Playbook: Democratic impeachment managers feeling muzzled  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Democrats who've struggled for years to hold DONALD TRUMP accountable are at a crossroads again: Do they go all out to convict Trump by calling a parade of witnesses to testify to his misdeeds?

Where Democrats and Republicans agree on Trump  —  Donald Trump's second impeachment trial in as many years has Democrats and Republicans in rare agreement: Most senators want to get it over with, and they want the former president to go away.  —  Democrats see the best way to achieve …

AP-NORC poll: Few in US say democracy is working very well  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a fragment of Americans believe democracy is thriving in the U.S., even as broad majorities agree that representative government is one of the country's bedrock principles, according to a new poll …

The Dangers of the Derp State  —  How we became a nation of so many dupes and fools is a matter at least as complicated as the causes of Donald Trump's presidency.  —  1 hr ago  —  One of the aphorisms of our populist era goes that Donald Trump is more of a symptom than a cause.  Fair enough.

Inside Bidenworld's plan to punish the GOP for opposing Covid relief  —  Democrats are plowing forward with plans to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package.  And if Republicans don't join them, they won't forget it.  —  Already, there's talk about midterm attack ads portraying Republicans …

This Impeachment Is A Disgraceful Sham  —  Your betters want to decide who you can and cannot vote for.  You should be angry.  —  So the petty little fascists in the Democratic Party have decided that their first order of business is telling you who you are allowed to vote for in the future.

Scoop: McCarthy told Cheney to apologize for voting to impeach Trump  —  Kevin McCarthy tried to get Liz Cheney to apologize for voting to impeach former President Trump before last week's highly anticipated House GOP conference meeting — a request she refused, two people with direct knowledge told Axios.

Biden administration plans to reengage with UN rights council, reversing Trump  —  The decision is likely to draw criticism from conservative lawmakers and many in the pro-Israel community.  —  Time for schools to reopen safely: President Biden  —  The United States announced plans Monday …

Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, once foes, talk Trump  —  NEW YORK (AP) — When he was Donald Trump's attorney, Michael Cohen was hellbent on silencing Stormy Daniels, even arranging a hush-money payment to the porn actress that landed him in federal prison.

In America's ‘Uncivil War,’ Republicans Are The Aggressors  —  In his inaugural address, President Biden described America as in the midst of an “uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal.”  His invocation of a civil war and the American Civil War was provocative.

Big Publishing Pushes Out Trump's Last Fan  —  Top editors at Hachette have told employees that they've learned the lessons of the Capitol siege of Jan. 6: no hate speech, no incitement to violence, no false narratives.  —  If you were a certain kind of distinctly Trumpy public figure …

Water fired at crowd as anti-coup protests swell in Myanmar  —  YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police fired a water cannon Monday at hundreds of protesters in Myanmar's capital who are demanding the military hand power back to elected officials, as demonstrations against last week's coup intensified and spread to more parts of the country.

‘Kill Switch’ Review: When 51 Votes Aren't Enough  —  Harry Reid made frequent use of the filibuster when he led the Senate.  A former Reid staffer is shocked that GOP leaders have done the same.  —  One thing Americans can probably agree on right now is that Americans don't agree on much of anything.

The Forces That Stopped Obama's Recovery Will Not Stop Biden's  —  Joe Biden assumed the presidency confronting an economic crisis reminiscent of the one that faced him when he and Barack Obama took office 12 years earlier.  But it is already apparent that the political atmosphere surrounding Biden is unrecognizable.

Andrew Yang on yeshiva education: 'We shouldn't interfere'  —  Andrew Yang said he would not take action to boost secular education in yeshivas if elected mayor of New York City, staking out a position likely to win him support in Brooklyn's Orthodox communities.

OpenLux … THE BIG PICTURE  —  Why does Luxembourg matter?  What's a beneficial owner?  Where did the OpenLux data come from?  And how did OCCRP and partners manage to use it, anyway?

Democrats seek a reset button in Ohio  —  Virtually winless over the past decade, Ohio Democrats know they need something different.  But actually finding that formula has eluded the party — at least, for everyone not named Sherrod Brown.  —  Democrats are still searching for it as they try …

False claims hang over a Trump-loving county's plans to buy Dominion voting machines  —  Late last year, amid rampant conspiracy theories of a stolen presidential election, officials in a Trump-loving county in Ohio took a stand: They voted 4 to 0 to buy Dominion voting machines.

Trump ‘happier’ now that he's off social media: former aide  —  Former President Trump “feels happier” since leaving the White House — partly because he's off social media, his former campaign aide says.  —  “The president has said he feels happier now than he's been in some time,” …

U.C. Berkeley Advised Chinese Government on Economic Decisions  —  U.C. Berkeley received millions of dollars from China to operate a big data research center that advised the Chinese government, as well as fund cutting-edge research into automated cars.  —  The Guizhou Berkeley Big Data …

Biden Justice Department Pick Opposed Enforcing Civil Rights Laws Against Blacks  —  The incoming Justice Department civil rights chief has a history of opposing civil rights prosecutions of black defendants, opposing a complaint against an African-American Democratic leader who discriminated against white voters.

PEN America Responds to Resignation of New York Times Reporter McNeil  —  The word McNeil uttered has uniquely cruel, painful, and dangerous associations; still, Times' reversal in this instance sends worrying signal  —  (New York, NY) — New York Times science reporter Donald McNeil Jr. resigned Friday …