memeorandum: The Coronavirus Is Plotting a Comeback. Here's Our Chance to Stop It for Good. (Apoorva Mandavilli/New York Times)

12:10 PM ET, February 26, 2021

Top Items:

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

Some Democrats want to fire the Senate parliamentarian who scuttled $15 minimum-wage plans. It's been done once before. — As Democrats sought to use budget reconciliation to keep Republicans from filibustering a minimum-wage increase in the Senate, the decision on whether to allow the measure …

Discussion: NBC News, Reason, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Digby's Hullabaloo, HotAir and The Week

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

‘Plan B’ for $15 minimum wage unveiled — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Friday announced Democrats' “Plan B” to raise the minimum wage after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that an earlier proposal from House Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage $15 an hour did not meet special budgetary rules.

Discussion: Roll Call, The Daily Caller, POLITICUSUSA and OutKick

Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

Pelosi Statement on Senate Parliamentarian Ruling on Minimum Wage — Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after the Senate parliamentarian ruling on the minimum wage: — “The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is disappointing, because raising the minimum wage …

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: Liberals mount pressure campaign to overrule Senate parliamentarian on minimum wage — It's Friday. You've just about made it. We stand with SMK and this is the Power Up newsletter. — On the Hill — CUE THE DRAMA: The Democratic Party's liberal wing is mounting …

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, CNN, CNBC, Breitbart, The Week, National Review, IJR, Balloon Juice and FOX 46 Charlotte

Politico:

House set to pass Biden's $1.9T pandemic relief package — Democrats are on track to pass President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief plan in the House by Friday night, a major milestone on the way to hitting their mid-March target for turning the $1.9 trillion package into law — and fulfilling a key priority for the White House.

Discussion: Fox News, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Reuters, KTLA and WRIC-TV

Senator Josh Hawley:
Hawley Announces Legislation To Require $15 Minimum Wage for Billion-Dollar Corporations

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Hill, The Daily Caller and The Guardian

Politico:
Biden's minimum wage increase runs afoul of budget rules

CNN:
Senate parliamentarian rules against including minimum wage in Covid relief bill

Discussion: New York Times, The Hill, Al Jazeera, TheBlaze, IJR, KYMA-TV, The Daily Poster, UPI, Jacobin, Bloomberg, CBS Miami and Politico

Mike Memoli / NBC News:

Past marijuana use won't automatically disqualify Biden White House staff — WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is issuing new guidelines Friday meant to address an unexpected hurdle it faced as it aimed to quickly fill key White House positions: recreational marijuana use.

Discussion: The Hill

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Former GOP lawmaker: Republican Party ‘engulfed in lies and fear’ — Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) argued in a pre-taped interview that ran Friday that the Republican Party has lost its way and become “engulfed in lies in fear.” — Curbelo and former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and POLITICUSUSA

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Trump shares plans for new super PAC in Mar-a-Lago meeting

Discussion: Fox News, Talking Points Memo, The Week and Raw Story

Reed Richardson / Mediaite: Donald Trump Jr. Blasts Republicans Who ‘Lose Gracefully,’ Praises His Father for Showing ‘You Can Actually Push Back’

NBC News:
He's back: Trump set to address CPAC in bid to extend his lease on the GOP

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Axios, CNN, Media Matters for America, New York Times, NRSC, Al Jazeera, Sun-Sentinel, Bloomberg, The Nation, USA Today, Florida Politics, Raw Story, ABC News, IJR, The Week, Daily Kos and Politico

Carol E. Lee / NBC News:

Cruz received a special ‘welcome back’ message in Senate gym — Sen. Ted Cruz's colleagues had a little fun at the Texas Republican's expense when he returned to Washington this week following his infamous trip to Cancun. — When senators arrived at the Senate gym on Wednesday morning …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Raw Story and Washington Post

Jake Lahut / Insider:
Ted Cruz's colleagues mocked him by putting memes of his Cancun trip in the Senate gym locker room: ‘Bienvenido de Nuevo, Ted!’

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Axios:

Boehner goes off script, tells Cruz to “go f**k yourself” — John Boehner has been going off script while recording the audio version of his new memoir, using expletives and asides not in the book — such as the former Republican House speaker saying, “Oh, and Ted Cruz, go f**k yourself.”

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, The Week, Forbes, Insider, BizPac Review, Mediaite, Fox News, Raw Story and Boing Boing

The Daily Beast:

Three Percenter Truck at Capitol on Jan. 6 Belongs to Hitler-Quoting Rep's Husband — At least one baseball-bat wielding man tied to the far-right militia group has been arrested for his alleged role in the insurrection. … A pickup truck parked at the United States Capitol and bearing …

Discussion: VICE, Insider, Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, The Intellectualist, emptywheel and The Week

CNN:

US carries out air strikes in Syria targeting Iranian backed militia structures — (CNN)The US military struck a site in Syria on Thursday used by two Iranian-backed militia groups following rocket attacks on American forces in the region in the past two weeks, according to a US official.

New York Times:
U.S. Airstrikes in Syria Target Iran-Backed Militias That Rocketed U.S. Troops in Iraq

Discussion: Defense One, Politico, National Review, Twitchy, WINK NEWS, TheBlaze and New York Magazine

Missy Ryan / Washington Post:
Biden administration conducts strike on Iranian-linked fighters in Syria

Discussion: Newsweek, Fox News, Informed Comment, Breitbart, ABC News and Grand Forks Herald

Jeannie Suk Gersen / New Yorker:

Seeking the True Story of the Comfort Women — How a Harvard professor's dubious scholarship reignited a history of mistrust between South Korea and Japan. — In January, I was outlining an article I hoped to write about a recent judgment by a South Korean court ordering Japan to pay compensation …

Michael Kruse / Politico:

‘Nobody Listened To Me’: The Quest to Be MTG — ALPHARETTA, Ga.—Marjorie Taylor Greene smacked her gum as she pretended to listen to a man in a dress read a book about a unicorn. — It was late April of 2019. She sat in the rear of a room at the public library here near her home in this suburb north of Atlanta.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Daily Beast, WEB OF EVIL, Media Matters for America, HuffPost and Palmer Report

Brad Reed / Raw Story:

‘Worshipping the golden jackass’: CPAC mocked for displaying giant gold Trump statue — The Conservative Political Action Conference is set to begin this weekend, and early indications are that much of it will be dedicated to worshipping former President Donald Trump.

Discussion: The Hill, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Hackwhackers, Mediaite, Homeless on the High Desert, The Daily Boulder and The Poke

Associated Press:

Some local GOP leaders fire up base with conspiracies, lies — A faction of local, county and state Republican officials is pushing lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories that echo those that helped inspire the violent U.S. Capitol siege, online messaging that is spreading quickly …

American Greatness:

Kavanaugh and Barrett's Share of the Shame — The Trump-appointed justices' alliance with the liberal wing of the Supreme Court is not a betrayal of Republicans or the president who appointed them. It's a betrayal of the Constitution. — With Election Day looming and early voting underway …

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

The Coronavirus Is Plotting a Comeback. Here's Our Chance to Stop It for Good. — Many scientists are expecting another rise in infections. But this time the surge will be blunted by vaccines and, hopefully, widespread caution. By summer, Americans may be looking at a return to normal life.

Discussion: The Week and Insider

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

The Campaign to Cancel Wokeness — How the right is trying to censor critical race theory. — It's something of a truism, particularly on the right, that conservatives have claimed the mantle of free speech from an intolerant left that is afraid to engage with uncomfortable ideas.

Discussion: Althouse

Politico:

Harris gets a crash course on foreign policy — After insisting for the last few months that she didn't need a clear-cut portfolio in the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris is now trying to carve out a niche in foreign policy, with the president's encouragement.

Discussion: CBS News

Jodi Shaw / New York Post:

Toxic wokeness taints a campus and causes liberal staffer to resign — In 2018, Smith College student Oumou Kanoute accused the school of racial profiling, saying she was approached by a security officer for “eating while black.” A subsequent investigation found that not only was Kanoute dining …

Discussion: Fox News, The US Sun, JONATHAN TURLEY, Power Line and Daily Mail

Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:

CPAC Canceled An Anti-Semite. Here Are The Extremists They Didn't Cancel. — Bigots, insurrectionists and conspiracy theorists are on the agenda at the annual gathering of American conservatives, including former President Donald Trump. — The theme of the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference is “America Uncanceled.”

Discussion: The Daily Dot and Orlando Weekly

Michael Hendrix / City Journal:

On the Ground … Results, Not Headlines — Many heartland states have outperformed more prominent counterparts in the fight against Covid-19. — Covid-19 — On the day that New York governor Andrew Cuomo won his Emmy, the governor of West Virginia announced a plan to vaccinate his state.

New York Times:

Attacks on Asian-Americans in New York Stoke Fear, Anxiety and Anger — Hate crimes involving Asian-American victims soared in New York City last year. Officials are grappling with the problem even as new incidents occur. — Maggie Cheng could stand to watch the video only once.

Discussion: Washington Post and Hackwhackers

The Bulwark:

Navalny Walks in the Footsteps of the Great Russian Dissidents — His name should become as familiar in the free world as Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, and Sharansky. — RUSSIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST ALEXEI NAVALNY DURING A HEARING INTO AN APPLICATION BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERAL PENITENTIARY SERVICE …

Tom Nichols / The Atlantic:

The Republican Party Is Now in Its End Stages — We are living in a time of bad metaphors. Everything is fascism, or socialism; Hitler's Germany, or Stalin's Soviet Union. Republicans, especially, want their followers to believe that America is on the verge of a dramatic time …

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, Bulwark+ and The Mahablog

Ed Kilgore / New York Magazine:

Republican Senators Haven't Represented a Majority of Voters Since 1996 — As we wait for the Senate parliamentarian to let us know if 41 senators will be able to block a minimum wage increase that a comfortable majority of Americans supports, it's as good a time as any to be reminded …

Discussion: Reuters, The Daily Caller, Rolling Stone and Wall Street Journal

John Harwood / CNN:

Murkowski to meet with Tanden on Monday as confirmation remains on the rocks — (CNN)Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska will meet on Monday with Neera Tanden, the Biden administration's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN.

Discussion: KYMA-TV

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Washington Post:

The Health 202: Pharmacies were expecting vaccine shipments. Manufacturing and winter weather delayed them. — Major pharmacy chains around the United States are supposed to be getting direct shipments of vaccine doses — one way the Biden administration is hoping to speed the immunization effort.

Discussion: HotAir

BBC:

Amazon rainforest plots sold via Facebook Marketplace ads — Parts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest are being illegally sold on Facebook, the BBC has discovered. — The protected areas include national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples. — Some of the plots listed via …

Brad Polumbo / Foundation for Economic Education:

Biden's Proposed Tax Hike Would Have 3 Huge Consequences, Study Finds — President Biden is pushing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending package which he claims will boost the economy. But a new study warns that one other key policy Biden has proposed would hurt the economy and have at least three major consequences for workers.

Discussion: Instapundit