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?

Rep. Ron Wright dies after battle with COVID-19  —  Reelected in November, the Republican lawmaker had been fighting cancer. … U.S. Rep Ron Wright of Arlington died Sunday night after a battle with COVID-19.  He was 67.  —  His family and spokesperson confirmed Wright's death Monday morning.

Trump's Actions Demand a Full Trial.  Will Democrats Concur?  —  Because the odds of a conviction are long, a sweeping impeachment hearing that fully airs everything known about the insurrection is crucial.  —  Smartmatic Corp.'s recent defamation lawsuit against Fox News …

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 3 Worst Things About That Terrible Jeep Super Bowl Ad  —  How could a major corporation not see how propagandistic it comes off to suggest that when Republicans win a national election, that's divisive, but when Democrats win one, that's unifying?  —  In a generally weak year …

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 …

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.

The MyPillow guy made a movie of lies about the election.  These corporations beamed it into millions of homes.  —  Mike Lindell, the founder and CEO of MyPillow, created a two-hour movie that uses discredited conspiracy theories to claim that Trump was the real winner of the 2020 election.

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.

His Biz Is Shunned, She Resigned, and Everyone Is Being Sued: What Became of Trump's Election Dead-Enders  —  BIG MISTAKE.  HUGE.  —  Much of the current ruin of Trump's hardcore election dead-enders came as a direct result of their decisions to become major players in Trump's failed endeavor to cling to power.

The Neoracists  —  A new religion is preached across America.  It's nonsense posing as wisdom.  —  2 hr ago  —  [Excerpt from his new book, The Elect: Neoracists Posing as Antiracists and their Threat to a Progressive America]  —  One can divide antiracism into three waves.

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.

How the ADL's Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work  —  This report will appear in our Spring 2021 issue.  Subscribe now to get a copy in your mailbox.  —  IN THE SUMMER OF 2016, a handful of senior Anti-Defamation League (ADL) staff members and executives in New York and Washington …

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.

Confusion and chaos: Inside the vaccine rollout in D.C., Maryland and Virginia  —  The first precious boxloads of the frozen elixir arrived in December, bearing great promise for curtailing the pandemic that has paralyzed the region and the world.  —  Nurses and firefighters got injections on live TV.

Party-line views of presidential misconduct started with Democrats and Clinton impeachment  —  Trump's assault on the result of a democratic election is a far graver threat than Clinton's perjury.  But both are crimes of national significance.  —  Sometime in the next week or two …

Why Matt Duss Matters  —  Christian hostility to Jews draws more attention than Jewish hostility to Christians.  And for good reason.  Christian hostility has produced millennia of persecution.  Jewish hostility, for the most part, hasn't produced much more than the occasional nasty line in a prayerbook …

The Republican Party is radicalizing against democracy.  This is the central political fact of our moment.  Instead of organizing its coalition around shared policy goals, the GOP has chosen to emphasize hatred and fear of its political opponents, who—they warn—will destroy their supporters and the country.

Uproar over Dominion voting machines in one Ohio county shows Trump's falsehoods linger  —  Late last year, amid rampant false claims 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.

The Union Leader Who Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools  —  In cities and suburbs where schools remain closed, teachers unions are often saying: not yet.  Can Randi Weingarten change that?  —  Randi Weingarten, the nation's most powerful teachers union president, has a message …

Capitol Riot Warnings Weren't Acted On as System Failed  —  The federal security apparatus retooled after 9/11 fielded intelligence on the Jan. 6 rally but didn't mobilize to prevent the violence  —  The elaborate national security network set up after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to identify …

AFL-CIO head said he wished Biden hadn't canceled Keystone XL on his first day  —  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said he wished that President Biden hadn't canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project on his first day in office and instead paired it with an announcement about job creation …

‘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.

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 …