memeorandum: Biden mum on strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria as Democrats call for explanation (Abraham Mahshie/Washington Examiner)

1:10 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: Vox, Rolling Stone, NBC News, Reason, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, HotAir, Jacobin and Digby's Hullabaloo

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

Senator Josh Hawley:

Hawley Announces Legislation To Require $15 Minimum Wage for Billion-Dollar Corporations — Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced a plan to require companies with revenues of $1 billion or more to pay their employees $15 per hour. Senator Hawley's plan would result …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, IJR, BizPac Review, New York Post, The Daily Caller, The Daily Poster and The Guardian

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: Fox News, Politico, CNN, CBS News, The Week, Breitbart, CNBC, The Hill, National Review, KYMA-TV, IJR, UPI, Balloon Juice, Bloomberg and FOX 46 Charlotte

Politico:
House set to pass Biden's $1.9T pandemic relief package

Discussion: New York Times, CNBC, USA Today, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Palmer Report, KTLA and WRIC-TV

Niv Elis / The Hill:
Hawley, Sanders both backing corporate tax to get $15 minimum wage

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Examiner and Al Jazeera

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

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 and HotAir

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, Fox News, The Hill and Raw Story

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

Lara Seligman / Politico:

Biden ordered airstrike after determining Iran supported rocket attacks — President Joe Biden's decision to order a U.S. airstrike on a border crossing used by Iran-backed militia groups in eastern Syria on Thursday came after U.S. officials determined Tehran facilitated a series …

Discussion: New York Times, The Times of Israel, Algemeiner.com and KYMA-TV

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

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

Abraham Mahshie / Washington Examiner: Biden mum on strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Syria as Democrats call for explanation

CNN:
US carries out air strikes in Syria targeting Iranian backed militia structures

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: POLITICUSUSA

Lindsay Wise / Wall Street Journal:
How Rick Scott Is Trying to Bridge the Trump-McConnell Divide

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bangor Daily News, Mother Jones and Associated Press

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

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

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, RedState, Snopes.com, Digby's Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars, Hackwhackers, Homeless on the High Desert, The Daily Boulder and The Poke

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
This golden statue of Trump at CPAC is a perfect metaphor for the state of the GOP

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Intellectualist and Crooks and Liars

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
There's nothing conservative about CPAC

Discussion: CBS Miami, USA Today, New York Times and Raw Story

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, The Intellectualist, Crooks and Liars, emptywheel and The Week

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, The Texas Tribune, The Daily Caller, New York Post, HuffPost, Insider, Forbes, The Week, BizPac Review, Mediaite, The Daily Boulder, Fox News, Raw Story and Boing Boing

Marissa Lang / Washington Post:

As fractures emerge among Proud Boys, experts warn of a shift toward extremist violence — As members of the Proud Boys arrived at the foot of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, they gathered as a unified front, donning bright orange beanies and tactical gear and carrying flags and megaphones used …

Discussion: Raw Story

Christopher Mathias / HuffPost:
CPAC Canceled An Anti-Semite. Here Are The Extremists They Didn't Cancel.

Discussion: The Daily Dot and Orlando Weekly

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 …

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: LGBTQ Nation, PinkNews, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, WEB OF EVIL, Media Matters for America and Palmer Report

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 …

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 …

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

Vanity Fair:

“We're Not Opening the Dementia Thing”: Inside Team Biden's Freakout Over Julia Louis-Dreyfus's Trump Jokes — At the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Veep's showrunner clashed with organizers over the HBO star's act—an episode revealing how the Biden campaign tried to tamp down any drama on its road to the White House.

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

Trump shares plans for new super PAC in Mar-a-Lago meeting — Former President Donald Trump told political advisers Thursday that he's chosen longtime ally Corey Lewandowski to run a yet-to-be-formed super PAC as part of his expanding post-presidential political apparatus, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion.

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

David Gilbert / VICE:

QAnon Isn't So Sure Trump Will Magically Become President Again on March 4 — Influencers within the conspiracy movement are trying to reverse course on a belief that Trump will become president again on that date. — DG — National Guard troops have been deployed …

Discussion: Political Wire

Joe Parkinson / Wall Street Journal:

More Than 300 Girls Kidnapped in Latest Nigerian School Abduction — Nighttime abduction is the latest in a rising tide of kidnappings that are becoming a lucrative industry — Gunmen kidnapped 317 girls from a boarding school in northwest Nigeria, police said in a statement Friday …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

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

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

WNBA.com:

WNBA Approves Sale of Atlanta Dream to Larry Gottesdiener —Former Dream Player Renee Montgomery to be Member of Ownership Group- — Atlanta, Georgia (February 26, 2021) - The WNBA and NBA Boards of Governors have unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Dream to Larry Gottesdiener …

Discussion: Sports Illustrated and TMZ.com

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

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

How Trumpism Has Become a Cult of Losing — In the American system, with the president's dual roles of symbolic head of state and head of government, defeated presidents generally fade from sight. The last two presidents to be defeated after a single term, George Bush and Jimmy Carter, immediately entered into political exile.

Discussion: Democrats, Raw Story and The New Neo

Quint Forgey / Politico:

CPAC hosts booed for asking attendees to wear masks — Organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference were met with boos on Friday morning as they encouraged the crowd inside a Florida hotel ballroom to put on face masks in compliance with the host venue's policies.

Discussion: Insider and POLITICUSUSA