How the White House botched the Neera Tanden 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.

FDA staff endorses Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Covid vaccine for emergency use  — The FDA's staff endorsed Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, a critical step in bringing a third shot to the U.S. marketplace.  — The staff report is meant to brief the FDA's Vaccines …

FBI alert about possible ‘war’ against Congress reached D.C. and Capitol Police on eve of attack, deepening security questions  —  Around 7 p.m. on Jan. 5, less than 24 hours before an angry mob overran the U.S. Capitol, an FBI bulletin warning that extremists were calling for violent attacks …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

Life amid the ruins of QAnon: ‘I wanted my family back’  —  An epidemic of conspiracy theories, fanned by social media and self-serving politicians, is tearing families apart. … She bought ammunition, camping gear, a water purifier and boxes of canned food.

First on CNN: Biden's Covid plan gets backing from more than 150 top business leaders  —  What Biden said he would do for the Covid-19 economy  —  (CNN)More than 150 senior executives from some of the largest American companies across several major industries have lined …

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 …

Major Trump backer Rebekah Mercer orchestrates Parler's second act  —  Mercer, whose family also invested in right-wing news site Breitbart, controls two of the three board seats at the company  —  When social media website Parler's founding CEO John Matze was pushed out last month …

LGBT Identification Rises to 5.6% in Latest U.S. Estimate  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Gallup's latest update on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identification finds 5.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT.  The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup's previous update based on 2017 data.

Biden's Stimulus Bill Is a $1.9 Trillion Clunker  —  Senate Republicans are eager to get aid where it's needed, reopen schools and encourage work.  —  Democrats are anxious for any excuse to blow up the Senate filibuster, the last procedural hurdle to one-party government.

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”?

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 …

Buckley would weep at the CPAC circus coming to Orlando … If the political descendants of William F. Buckley Jr., Ronald Reagan and Antonin Scalia were coming to town, that would be exciting.  —  But that's not what CPAC is bringing to Orlando starting Thursday.

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.

Texas disaster puts Beto O'Rourke back in business  —  While Ted Cruz was getting clobbered for fleeing Texas amid its historic winter storm, the Democrat he defeated in 2018, Beto O'Rourke, was already deep into disaster relief mode — soliciting donations for storm victims …

‘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 …

The Government Censors Are Here  —  Congressional Democrats are demanding to know what communications giants such as Comcast and AT&T are going to do about “the spread of dangerous misinformation.”  How quickly this country is descending into an authoritarian regime where the government controls speech and the flow of information.

Coup in Myanmar: growing protest movement defies the military  —  In the shadow of US-China rivalry, the country is caught in a confrontation between the junta and a civil disobedience campaign  —  At a press conference last week, the first by Myanmar's junta since General Min Aung Hlaing grabbed power …

Iran limits UN nuclear inspections while inching closer to talks with US, others  —  “A lot of diplomatic work is underway,” says the European Union's top diplomat.  —  Biden addresses foreign powers: ‘America is back’ … Vahid Salemi/AP  —  The U.S. and Iran are inching closer toward diplomatic talks …

Liz Cheney calls on Republicans to “make clear we aren't the party of white supremacy”  —  Liz Cheney, the third ranking House Republican, on Tuesday called on the Republican party to “make clear we aren't the party of white supremacy.”  Cheney's remarks came during an event hosted by the Reagan Institute.

Federal judge indefinitely blocks Biden administration's 100-day moratorium on most deportations  —  Houston — A federal judge late Tuesday indefinitely banned President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations.  U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued …

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.

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) …