How the White House botched the Neera nomination  —  Just about everyone in Washington, D.C., could see that Neera Tanden's nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget was beleaguered from the beginning — everyone, that is, except the White House.

Romney predicts Trump would win the 2024 G.O.P. nomination if he ran for president.  —  Senator Mitt Romney of Utah said on Tuesday that he believed Donald J. Trump would win the Republican nomination for president if he ran for his former office in 2024, another indication of Mr. Trump's perceived strength in the party.

Scoop: Biden will call Saudi king ahead of damning report  —  President Biden plans to call Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday, ahead of the public release of a potentially damning intelligence report about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a source briefed on the call told Axios.

Retired NYPD Cop Once Assigned to Secure City Hall Accused of Pipe Attack on Capitol Police  —  What to Know  — Thomas Webster surrendered Monday at the FBI's Hudson Valley office on charges filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. related to the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6

NY Prosecutors Are Looking at Don Jr. in Trump Biz Probe  —  The Daily Beast has learned that investigators have been asking questions in recent days about Trump's eldest son as they expand their criminal probe into Trump's business empire. … For months, some of Donald Trump's top advisers …

California's coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here’  —  A coronavirus variant that emerged in mid-2020 and surged to become the dominant strain in California not only spreads more readily than its predecessors, but also evades antibodies generated …

A Simple Rule of Thumb for Knowing When the Pandemic Is Over  —  Editor's Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers.  Find the collection here.  —  In the middle of January, the deadliest month of the pandemic, one day after inauguration …

One America News clashes again with White House correspondents over Trump-approved camera tent  —  One America News, the upstart right-wing cable channel that was granted special status by the Trump White House, is clashing again with its mainstream colleagues on the presidential beat.

State GOP leaders opt for drive-up convention at Liberty University to nominate candidates  —  After months of disagreement, the Virginia Republican Party's governing body agreed Tuesday night on a method to nominate statewide candidates for the November election.

The Sunday Shows Are Hopelessly Broken  —  Jonathan Karl, the guest host of ABC's This Week, knew exactly what he was doing on Sunday when he asked Republican Representative Steve Scalise if the 2020 election was stolen.  This was, on its face, a simple and straightforward question.

‘Bad politics for them’: GOP sneers at Dem Covid bill  —  Republicans are making a risky but calculated bet: that voters won't punish them for opposing a popular $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill.  —  With President Joe Biden and Democrats barely even seeking their input …

Arizona Man Is Accused of Faking Own Kidnapping to Evade Work  —  When the police arrived, they found the man with his hands bound behind his back by a belt and a bandanna “stuffed in his mouth” in Coolidge, Ariz.  —  The authorities in Arizona accused a man of going to extreme lengths …

Inside the new $65 million push from progressives to compete with conservative media  —  It's called the Project for Good Information, and it raises big questions about the future of the information wars.  —  A prominent Democratic strategist is planning a new $65 million effort …

A Bristling Standoff Rattles Gun-Friendly Vermont  —  In Pawlet, Vt., where a landowner opened a tactical weapons training site, a zoning dispute has escalated into something more dangerous.  —  PAWLET, Vt. — Fear has gradually spread in the town of Pawlet.

Climbing the Bell Curve to the Cathedral  —  Notes on reactionary sea lions  —  Some folks aren't thrilled about my previous post, “Grey Lady Steel Man.”  It seemed to distress Curtis Yarvin (aka Mencius Moldbug) in particular.  He penned a defensive, typically catty ad hominem response in his inimitably hysterical prose style.

Four ERCOT board members who live outside of Texas resign in the aftermath of the power outage, winter storm  —  Sally Talberg, board chair; Peter Cramton, vice chair; Terry Bulger, finance and audit chair; and Raymond Hepper, human resources and governance committee chair …

Now Ted Cruz may be buying his own books through a mystery company  —  If Cancún Ted is paying royalties to himself through a shadow entity, that could stir the FEC into action  —  One day before the Georgia Senate runoff elections — and two days before the Capitol insurrection …

McConnell to support Garland for attorney general  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will support Merrick Garland's nomination for attorney general, five years after blocking the judge's path to the Supreme Court.  —  “I do,” McConnell told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon when asked if he plans to back Garland.

Atlas, Ferguson, and Hanson: On Free Speech at Stanford  —  What is the purpose of academic freedom?  —  Is it to allow all kinds of ideas to be expressed and explored, protecting even speech that people in the past considered heretical—protecting free expression that some people today would like to “cancel”?

NRSC CHAIRMAN RICK SCOTT: REPUBLICAN CIVIL WAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED  —  MEMO  —  TO: REPUBLICAN VOTERS, ACTIVISTS, LEADERS, DONORS  —  FROM: SENATOR RICK SCOTT, NRSC CHAIRMAN  —  RE: REPUBLICAN CIVIL WAR HAS BEEN CANCELLED  —  DATE: FEBRUARY 23, 2021  —  The long running impeachment show is now over.

Biden shifts his operation to DNC ahead of 2022 midterm elections  —  President Biden has shifted the remnants of his campaign operation, including the donor and volunteer network that got him elected and several key staff members, over to the Democratic National Committee as part of a broader effort …

It's Bigger than Fox News: Time for Mainstream Journalism to Reckon with Monetizing Disinformation and Eroding Truth  —  “Anti-Black racism is a national security threat.”  Those were the simple, direct words of disinformation specialist Mutale Nkonde, CEO of AI for the People, on a listserv of journalists and academics recently.

Gucci Is Staying in Trump Tower  —  Tiffany and other luxury companies have stepped away from deals with the former president's organization, but not Gucci.  —  The day President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were inaugurated in Washington, D.C., Melania and Donald Trump stepped off Air Force …

Illinois Becomes First State to Eliminate Cash Bail  —  Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law that he said would end a system that disproportionately hurts the poor and favors wealthier defendants.  —  Illinois has become the first state to completely eliminate cash bail, a result of a push …

U.S. Postal Service Awards Contract to Launch Multi-Billion-Dollar Modernization of Postal Delivery Vehicle Fleet  — Oshkosh Defense Will Finalize Design of Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV), Delivering Up to 165,000 of the U.S.-Built Vehicles Over the Next Decade

One of the Nation's Largest Chicken Producers Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing and is Sentenced to a $107 Million Criminal Fine  —  First Corporation Pleads Guilty in Ongoing Criminal Antitrust Investigation into the Broiler Chicken Industry  —  Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (Pilgrim's) …

Pence speaks highly of Trump in meeting and plans to launch a political group  —  Did Pence feel betrayed after riot?  His former chief of staff responds  —  (CNN)Former Vice President Mike Pence told a group of conservative lawmakers on Tuesday that he maintains a close personal friendship …

Virginia Senate bill demands Metro change station name to include bank or lose millions in funding  —  A Virginia Senate bill would withhold at least $166 million pledged to Metro unless the transit system adds the name of Capital One bank to the McLean rail station.

Brooklyn lawyers who were facing life behind bars for ‘throwing a Molotov cocktail into an NYPD car during a George Floyd protest’ are quietly offered a plea deal  — Brooklyn lawyers Colinford Mattis 32, and Urooj Rahman, 31, have been offered a plea deal after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail into an NYPD police van

Queens Republican district leader arrested for role in Capitol insurrection  —  A Republican district leader from Queens was arrested Tuesday and charged with various offenses for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.  —  FBI agents arrested Philip Grillo, a former candidate …

Georgian opposition leader arrested, deepening the political crisis in the South Caucasus country  —  MOSCOW — Georgian authorities arrested the South Caucasus country's top opposition leader Tuesday, deepening its political rift and plunging yet another ex-Soviet state into crisis.

Top Senate Republican has ‘serious concerns’ over Pentagon policy pick  —  The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee has “serious concerns” over the nomination of Colin Kahl, President Joe Biden's pick to run the Pentagon's policy shop.  —  The news comes as the committee plans …

Britney Spears Was Never in Control Why did I ever believe a teen girl could hold all the power?  —  The New York Times's Framing Britney Spears documentary casts a spell.  I am thinking specifically of the stretch that chronicles Spears's rise as a teen idol, starting with the “Baby One More Time” video.

Biden Is No FDR  —  At this point, Joe Biden doesn't look any more like Franklin Roosevelt than he does like Donald Trump.  —  Given my consistent but never uncritical support of President Trump and his administration and my frequent expressions of skepticism about Joe Biden over many years …

House Democrats, Targeting Right-Wing Cable Outlets, Are Assaulting Core Press Freedoms  —  Democrats' justification for silencing their adversaries online and in media — “they are spreading fake news and inciting extremism” — is what despots everywhere say.  —  5 hr ago