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1:45 PM ET, February 17, 2021

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 Top Items: 
Antonia Noori Farzan / Washington Post:
Texas mayor tells residents to fend for themselves during power outage: ‘Only the strong will survive’  —  By Tuesday morning, the residents of Colorado City, Tex., were getting anxious.  More than 24 hours had passed since a deadly Arctic blast knocked out power across the state …
RELATED:
The Texas Tribune:
“We're in it alone”: Power outages leave millions of Texans desperate for heat and safety  —  Texas residents said the storm — and ensuing partial collapse of the state's power system — sapped what mental reserves they had left after eleven months of a global health crisis that has cost thousands …
The Texas Tribune:
No, frozen wind turbines aren't the main culprit for Texas' power outages  —  Lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans across the state during a major winter storm.  —  Copy link
Will Englund / Washington Post:
The Texas grid got crushed because its operators didn't see the need to prepare for cold weather  —  Republicans blame frozen wind turbines, but the problem was much bigger than that  —  When it gets really cold, it can be hard to produce electricity, as customers in Texas and neighboring states are finding out.
Jamie Burch / KTXE-LP:
Colorado City mayor resigns, responds to his controversial Facebook post  —  Colorado City Mayor Tim Boyd has resigned.  Boyd acknowledged the resignation Tuesday afternoon while responding to criticism he received for a controversial Facebook post.  Tuesday morning, Boyd voiced his frustrations …
Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blames wind turbines, Green New Deal policies for outages.  Critics call that ‘a lie.’  —  As millions of people across Texas struggled to stay warm Tuesday amid massive cold-weather power outages, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directed his ire at one particular failure …
Erin Douglas / The Texas Tribune:
Texas largely relies on natural gas for power. It wasn't ready for the extreme cold.
Dallas Morning News:
ERCOT officials say they have no idea when Texas' power outages will end
Marc Fisher / Washington Post:
Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio provocateur and cultural phenomenon, dies at 70  —  Rush Limbaugh, who deployed comic bombast and relentless bashing of liberals, feminists and environmentalists to become the nation's most popular radio talk-show host and lead the Republican Party into a politics …
RELATED:
Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:
Rush Limbaugh, Talk Radio's Conservative Provocateur, Dies at 70  —  A longtime favorite of the right, he was a furious critic of Barack Obama and a full-throated cheerleader for Donald J. Trump.  —  Rush Limbaugh, the relentlessly provocative voice of conservative America who dominated talk radio …
Kadia Goba / Axios:
Rush Limbaugh dies at 70 after battle with lung cancer  —  Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh died Wednesday at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer, his wife announced on his radio show.  —  The big picture: Limbaugh was one of the most influential conservative media personalities in the country for over three decades.
HuffPost:
Rush Limbaugh, Bigoted King Of Talk Radio, Dies At 70  —  Limbaugh saturated America's airwaves with cruelty and conspiracies, amassing millions of listeners and transforming the Republican Party.  —  Rush Limbaugh, a talk radio pioneer who saturated America's airwaves with cruel bigotries …
Discussion: The Daily Beast, Forbes and Snopes.com
New York Times:
Promotions for Female Generals Were Delayed Over Fears of Trump's Reaction  —  Under a Biden administration, the nominations are expected to go from the Pentagon to the White House within weeks and then to the Senate for approval.  —  WASHINGTON — Last fall, the Pentagon's most senior leaders agreed …
Discussion: Insider and POLITICUSUSA
James Osborne / Houston Chronicle:
Perry says Texans willing to suffer blackouts to keep feds out of power market  —  WASHINGTON - Former Texas governor Rick Perry suggests that going days without power is a sacrifice Texans should be willing to make if it means keeping federal regulators out of the state's power grid.
Discussion: KSAT-TV, Raw Story and Political Wire
Jill Lawrence / USA Today:
Spare us: After Trump, seven Republican lectures Democrats never need to hear again  —  It probably would be easier to list what Republicans are still qualified to pontificate on.  Why the federal deficit is a huge problem?  Hmmm.  Never mind.  —  There's nothing like a new Democratic administration …
RELATED:
Andrew C. McCarthy / The Hill:
Graham's ‘impeach Kamala’ drumbeat will lead Republicans to a 2022 defeat
Discussion: FactCheck.org and SFGATE
Tracey Tully / New York Times:
Watch the Trump Era in Atlantic City End With 3,000 Sticks of Dynamite  —  The implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, the last vestige of the former president's once-dominant brand in Atlantic City, N.J., took place Wednesday morning.  —  ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It was not the biggest or the best implosion ever.
David Rothkopf / The Daily Beast:
The GOP Is Now the Party of Thugs, Terrorists, Racists and Dopes  —  DOING THE WRONG THING … They don't see the attempted insurrection of Jan. 6 as a crime, or even a loss of control to the most extreme elements of the party.  They see it as a failure to seize control.
Discussion: Raw Story
RELATED:
QU Poll:
Half Of Americans Approve Of The Job President Biden Is Doing, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Most Say Conspiracy Theories In The U.S. Are Out Of Control  —  Four weeks after being sworn into office, President Joe Biden receives a positive job approval rating as Americans approve 50 …
Bloomberg:
Rahm Emanuel, Nicholas Burns Seen as Potential China Envoy  — Biden team seeks envoy with political or diplomatic background  — Former U.S. Trade Representative Barshefsky ruled herself out  —  Ex-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns …
Charlie Sykes / Bulwark+:
Crenshaw Reloaded  —  The Texas Congressman wants it both ways  —  Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw has some deep thoughts about what ails right-wing politics these days.  —  There is, he says, way too much “performance,” rather than persuasion.  Too much much grift; too much talking about …
Derek Thompson / The Atlantic:
COVID-19 Cases Are Dropping Fast.  Why?  —  Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers.  Find the collection here.  —  One month ago, the CDC published the results of more than 20 pandemic forecasting models.
Lauren Egan / NBC News:
‘I will not make that happen’: Biden declines Democrats' call to cancel $50K in student debt  —  WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he would not eliminate $50,000 in student debt, shooting down a proposal that prominent Democrats introduced this month, but that he is open to some level of loan forgiveness.
RELATED:
Katie Lobosco / CNN:
Biden again rejects $50,000 student loan debt forgiveness plan pushed by other top Democrats
Fox News Channel Press:
FOX NATION TO LAUNCH NEW EXCLUSIVE CONTENT WITH TUCKER CARLSON  —  Carlson to Host New Video Podcast and Long-form Documentary Series “Tucker Carlson Originals”  —  NEW YORK - February 17, 2021 — FOX Nation, FOX News Media's on demand subscription-based streaming service, has signed a new …
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Biden's point man on Israel-Palestine isn't aiming for a Nobel Prize  —  The man holding the Israel-Palestine file at the State Department, Hady Amr, isn't working on a sweeping plan for peace, but on incremental steps to improve the situation on the ground, several Israeli, Palestinian and U.S sources tell me.
News Corp:
News Corp and Google Agree To Global Partnership On News  —  Long-term Deal Involves Payment For Premium Content For Google News Showcase;  —  Will Yield Substantial Benefits For Journalism And Society  —  News Corp announced today that it has agreed to an historic multi-year partnership …
Rebecca Traister / New York Magazine:
The Crisis Candidate Maya Wiley believes she can be a better progressive mayor for our traumatized city than her former boss Bill de Blasio.  —  Maya Wiley's parents, both activists, raised her and her brother, Dan, to be resilient.  In 1973, when Maya was 9 and her brother 10, their father, George Wiley, bought a small boat.
Ladane Nasseri / McSweeney's:
How to Write About Iran: A Guide for Journalists, Analysts, and Policymakers  —  Whether you are working from your DC office or your home in LA or New York, here's all you need to know to become an expert on Iran.  —  1. Always refer to Iran as the “Islamic Republic” and its government as “the regime” or, better yet, “the Mullahs.”
Discussion: Al Jazeera
Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:
News Analysis: The tragedy of Dianne Feinstein  —  If Dianne Feinstein hadn't lived the life she had, her story might be the product of a screenwriter's over-fertile imagination.  —  The synopsis: After surviving an abusive childhood, Feinstein overcomes personal loss — she is widowed at age 45 …
Hollywood Reporter:
Behind Disney's Firing of ‘Mandalorian’ Star Gina Carano  —  The ouster of Carano from the show draws the ire of the political right-wing and marks an inflection point for Lucasfilm, whose star was warned repeatedly about her social posts.  —  It's a plot twist that no studio relishes …
J.D. Prose / Beaver County Times & Allegheny Times:
Constitutional amendment on districts for Pa. court elections shelved ... for now  —  A proposed constitutional amendment to have Pennsylvania appellate court judges elected by geographic districts rather than statewide won't be on the May primary ballot, but nobody on either side thinks that it's a dead issue.
Michael Tarm / Associated Press:
Executioners sanitized accounts of deaths in federal cases  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Executioners who put 13 inmates to death in the last months of the Trump administration likened the process of dying by lethal injection to falling asleep and called gurneys “beds” and final breaths “snores.”
Discussion: The Hill
Christopher Dinsmore / Baltimore Sun:
The Baltimore Sun to be acquired by nonprofit from Tribune Publishing  —  Returning The Baltimore Sun to Maryland hands, the state's largest newspaper and its affiliates will be acquired by a nonprofit formed by businessman and philanthropist Stewart Bainum Jr. that would operate the media organization for the benefit of the community.
John Daniel Davidson / The Federalist:
Mitch McConnell Has Learned Nothing And Forgotten Nothing  —  The idea that McConnell is the right man to decide who is ‘electable’ is a joke.  —  The Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump is over, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to move on.
Ben Makuch / VICE:
Department of Homeland Security Confirms Neo-Nazi Leader Used to Work For It  —  The leader of terror group the Base once worked for an agency tasked with coordinating the U.S. government's counterterrorism efforts.  —  Ben Makuch  —  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) …
Mary Ellen Klas / Tampa Bay Times:
Florida Republicans push limits on vote by mail  —  SB 90 limits vote-by-mail applications to one election cycle and requires everyone who signed up for mail ballots in 2020 to reapply to get them in 2022.  —  Published Earlier today  —  TALLAHASSEE — Bypassing the “if it ain't broke …
Shawn Hubler / New York Times:
Oregon Is Vaccinating Teachers.  It Might Not Be Enough to Reopen Schools.  —  Oregon is a case study in how Pacific Coast cities are lagging the country in resuming in-person teaching.  —  Shortly before Christmas, as Oregon schools faced their 10th month under some of the nation's sternest …
Discussion: HotAir, HuffPost, ABC News and New York Post
 
 
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 More Items: 
Associated Press:
Mass anti-coup protests in Myanmar as UN warns of crackdown
Discussion: The Daily Caller
Eric Geller / Politico:
U.S. indicts North Koreans in wave of global cyberattacks
Peter R. Orszag / Bloomberg:
Job Shifts Ahead Argue for Large Stimulus
Wall Street Journal:
For Better Elections, Copy the Neighbors
Discussion: Breitbart
 Earlier Items: 
Dallas Morning News:
Who paid for Texas AG Ken Paxton to travel to DC for the Jan. 6 rally? We asked. He won't answer
Tracy Jan / Washington Post:
Internal report cites HUD for lead poisoning in East Chicago children. More could be at risk.
Discussion: The Hill
 

 
From Techmeme:

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on a smart doorbell system with advanced facial recognition that can wirelessly connect and unlock third-party smart locks

Wall Street Journal:
Gina Raimondo says holding back China in the chips race is a “fool's errand”, and investment, more than export controls, will keep US ahead of Beijing

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
The US NHTSA suggests easing rules allowing for fully driverless cars and urges companies operating driverless cars to share more data for greater transparency
 
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