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1:05 PM ET, February 19, 2021

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 Top Items: 
New York Times:
Ted Cruz's Cancún Trip: Family Texts Detail His Political Blunder  —  The Texas senator faced fierce blowback for fleeing his state as a disaster unfolded.  Text messages sent by his wife revealed a hastily planned trip away from their “FREEZING” family home.
RELATED:
Ashley Parker / Washington Post:
One night in Cancun: Ted Cruz's disastrous decision to go on vacation during Texas storm crisis  —  The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter's insights  —  Usually, it takes at least one full day in Cancun to do something embarrassing you'll never live down.
Marc Caputo / Politico:
Top Texas Republicans on the ropes after tone-deaf storm response  —  The brutal winter storm that turned Texas roads to ice, burst pipes across the state and left millions of residents shivering and without power has also damaged the reputations of three of the state's leading Republicans.
Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: Reince reemerges as Cruz crashes  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  SCOOP: REINCE PRIEBUS has been calling key GOP officials and operatives in Wisconsin the past week and signaling he's seriously exploring a bid for governor of his home state in 2022, two sources with knowledge of the calls told Playbook.
Michael Hardy / New York Magazine:
Ted Cruz Abandons Millions of Freezing Texans and His Poodle, Snowflake  —  After jaunting off to Cancún with his family Wednesday night, Senator Ted Cruz explained that he was merely escorting his teenage girls on a vacation trip with their friends.  In an apparent bid for sympathy …
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review:
The devastating Texas-storm story centers Ted Cruz  —  An epic winter storm spiraled across the South this week.  In Texas, the temperature plummeted, driving demand for electricity; supply systems froze; soon, the power went out.  As of Tuesday lunchtime, more than four million people had been affected.
Houston Chronicle:
As Texans froze, Ted Cruz got a ticket to paradise. Paradise can have him.
Jessica Sidman / Washingtonian:
Trump Hotel Employees Reveal What It Was Really Like Catering to the Right Wing Elite … Everyone knew Table 72 belonged to the President.  The round booth in the middle of the Trump Hotel's mezzanine was impossible to miss. It didn't matter how many Congress members were clamoring …
Discussion: Insider and Raw Story
Wall Street Journal:
Pfizer Vaccine Is Highly Effective After One Dose and Can Be Stored in Normal Freezers, Data Shows  —  Peer-reviewed study comes as some governments debate whether to delay second vaccine doses  —  The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE generates robust immunity …
Discussion: TechCrunch, STAT and The Week
Marty Makary / Wall Street Journal:
We'll Have Herd Immunity by April  —  Covid cases have dropped 77% in six weeks.  Experts should level with the public about the good news.  —  Amid the dire Covid warnings, one crucial fact has been largely ignored: Cases are down 77% over the past six weeks.  If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we'd call it a miracle pill.
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Rush Limbaugh's Complicated Legacy  —  He was a gifted entertainer and advocate, but in his later years certain flaws became more evident.  —  I meant to talk about something else this week, but my thoughts keep circling back to Rush Limbaugh.  His obituaries in the mainstream press were mostly judgment, no mercy.
RELATED:
CNN:
As Trump's latest intra-party feud rages, Sen. Graham heads to Mar-a-Lago on a peace mission  —  Lindsey Graham: I'm worried about GOP's chances in 2022  —  Washington (CNN)Sen. Lindsey Graham is heading to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to meet with Donald Trump in hopes of bridging a growing rift …
RELATED:
Andrea Salcedo / Washington Post:
An 11-year-old boy died in an unheated Texas mobile home.  Authorities suspect hypothermia.  —  Even though he was still in bed after 2 p.m. on Tuesday under a pile of blankets in their unheated mobile home in Conroe, Tex., Maria Elisa Pineda wasn't concerned when she checked on her son.
RELATED:
Erin Douglas / The Texas Tribune:
Texas was “seconds and minutes” away from catastrophic monthslong blackouts, officials say
Reid J. Epstein / New York Times:
The Virginia G.O.P. Voted on Its Future.  The Losers Reject the Results.  —  In a sign of the Trump era's lingering alternate realities, Republicans in the struggling state party are refusing to move forward with a new system for choosing nominees.  —  ARLINGTON, Va. — The Republican Party …
Discussion: NBC4 Washington
RELATED:
Vandana Rambaran / Fox News:
Cuomo silent as damning watchdog report says policy may have led to over 1,000 nursing home deaths
Discussion: National Review
Bob Egelko / San Francisco Chronicle:
U.S. Senate judiciary chair to retain GOP's ‘blue slip’ system of selecting some judges  —  Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate Judiciary Committee's new Democratic leader, is retaining a Republican rule that allowed President Donald Trump's judicial nominees to be confirmed to federal appeals courts over home-state senators' objections.
Discussion: Washington Post
RELATED:
Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Biden gets chance to leave mark on federal judiciary as judges step aside
Discussion: Above the Law
Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:
The Book That Should Change How Progressives Talk About Race  —  Heather McGhee writes that racism increases economic inequality for everyone.  —  When Heather McGhee was a 25-year-old staffer at Demos, the progressive think tank she would eventually lead, she went to Congress to present findings …
Dr. Quentin Kidd / Christopher Newport University:
Summary of Key Findings  — Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe opens Democrats' primary race for governor with a quarter of the vote (26%), but half of Democratic voters are undecided (49%).  — State Sen. Amanda Chase leads Republican field for governor with 17%, with former Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox …
Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire
Andrew Blankstein / NBC News:
California investor who donated nearly $1M to Trump inauguration sentenced to 12 years in prison  —  A Federal Judge in California on Thursday sentenced a venture capitalist who donated nearly $1 million to former President Donald Trump's inaugural committee to 12 years in prison …
Discussion: Los Angeles Times and Raw Story
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Under Biden, Justice Department presses fight against Omarosa  —  The Biden Justice Department is showing no sign of letting up in a two-year-old legal fight against a former White House aide who became an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump.  —  While the Justice Department …
Discussion: Raw Story
Politico:
‘Bullying, screaming’: In Albany, Cuomo wields phone as a weapon  —  ALBANY, N.Y. — Rep. Tom Reed was pulled off on the side of an upstate New York road, somewhere along the 40-mile stretch between Ithaca and Corning, being berated for about 45 minutes straight.  —  On the other end of the line: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Megan Brenan / Gallup:
Americans Remain Largely Dissatisfied With U.S. Gun Laws  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fifty-six percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with U.S. gun laws and policies, marking the ninth consecutive year of majority-level dissatisfaction since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Discussion: The Hill
Laura Krantz Globe / The Boston Globe:
Cornel West threatens to leave Harvard again  —  Harvard University professor Cornel West, the well known philosopher, progressive political activist, and outspoken social critic, is threatening to leave Harvard University after he said the administration disrespected him by denying his request to be considered for tenure.
Discussion: Raw Story
USA Today:
Indiana Republican lawmakers shout down, boo Black colleagues speaking about discrimination  —  Arika Herron Kaitlin LangeIndianapolis Star  —  INDIANAPOLIS - Tensions flared at the Indiana Statehouse Thursday when Republican lawmakers shouted down and booed Black lawmakers during floor debate …
Discussion: Raw Story
Ryan J. Reilly / HuffPost:
Policing Leaders Praise DOJ Nominee Vanita Gupta.  One Group Is Smearing Her Anyway.  —  Biden's nominee for the No. 3 position at the Justice Department is a progressive civil rights lawyer with a lot of support from GOP and law enforcement leaders.  —  President Joe Biden's nominee …
Morgan Chalfant / The Hill:
Biden warns European allies that ‘democratic progress is under assault’  —  President Biden on Friday warned that “democratic progress is under assault” in the United States and Europe as he pledged support for the transatlantic alliance and called on countries to work together to address shared challenges.
Ariane de Vogue / CNN:
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was targeted by gunman, federal judge tells ‘60 Minutes’  —  Federal judge tears up over late son: I can't describe the pain  —  (CNN)US District Court Judge Esther Salas said that a gunman who killed her son and wounded her husband in 2020 had also set his sights …
Martha Stoddard / Omaha World-Herald:
Nebraska Sen. Julie Slama's winner-take-all Electoral College proposal draws opposition  —  LINCOLN — Opponents of returning Nebraska to a winner-take-all system of awarding Electoral College votes far outnumbered supporters at a legislative hearing Wednesday.
Discussion: Bloomberg
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
After Years of Chaos, the White House Is Definitely in Different Hands  —  Biden's new chief of staff, like the new President, is a serious Washington lifer.  —  Donald Trump made numerous outrageous but not necessarily consequential decisions throughout his Presidency …
Discussion: Politico and Informed Comment
Kristen Holmes / CNN:
White House says it's responding to pressure to act fast on USPS problems  —  (CNN)The White House is working to quickly fill the vacant seats on the Postal Service Board of Governors.  —  “President Biden has made clear his feelings on the current leadership of the Postal Service …
Discussion: POLITICUSUSA
Anastasiia Carrier / Politico:
‘This Crap Means More to Him Than My Life’: When QAnon Invades American Homes  —  For months, Emily has been married to a ghost.  The trouble began last summer, when her husband Peter, the man who once showered her with affection and doted on their kids, started to spend all of his free time online …
Discussion: Raw Story
Richard North Patterson / The Bulwark:
To Save Democracy, Principled Conservatives Must Ally with Democrats  —  The impulse to start a new anti-Trump conservative party or GOP splinter is admirable—but the present crisis demands a different response.  —  Appalled by the GOP's comprehensive degradation, a serious group …
Maleeha Syed / Burlington Free Press:
Burlington Republican Party Chair Kolby LaMarche will resign, leave party  —  The chair of the Burlington Republican Party will resign Thursday, citing extreme elements of party leadership as responsible for undermining progress.  —  “As a result of their fixation on loyalty …
Washington Examiner:
Frozen windmills show the need for fossil fuels and nuclear power  —  President Biden and his appointees frequently talk about a clean energy future in which carbon-emitting fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas are all replaced by windmills and rainbows.  But that future is a lot colder and darker than they admit.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:
How Biden's Coronavirus Plan Will Fill the Holes in Obamacare
Discussion: KFF
Mark Niesse / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Absentee and Sunday voting targeted in broad Georgia elections bill
Discussion: Mother Jones and Raw Story
Reuters:
Yellen says U.S. will keep tariffs on China in place for now
Jim Manly / MSN:
We need national summer school to help kids recover from learning lost in COVID pandemic
Discussion: Instapundit
Kelvin Chan / Associated Press:
UK top court gives Uber drivers benefits in landmark ruling
 Earlier Items: 
New York Times:
Heating Up Culture Wars, France to Scour Universities for Ideas That ‘Corrupt Society’
Discussion: The Daily Signal
Issues & Insights:
Exposed: The Media Has Been Lying About The Capitol Protests
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
MAGA crashes into moderates in train-wreck Senate race
Discussion: Washington Post
CNN:
Allegations of shackled students and gang rape inside China's detention camps
Discussion: Breitbart
Whitney Wild / CNN:
6 Capitol Police officers suspended, 29 others being investigated for alleged roles in riot
New York Times:
Manhattan D.A. Recruits Top Prosecutor for Trump Inquiry