Two arrested in assault on police officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6 Capitol riot  —  U.S. authorities have arrested and charged two men with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick with bear spray during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but have not determined whether the exposure caused his death.

Super PAC supporting potential Senate candidate J.D. Vance gets $10M donation from PayPal cofounder  —  COLUMBUS - PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel donated $10 million to a super PAC supporting Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, a show of support for the possible Ohio Senate contender.

Trump's jealous rants can't hide his failures  —  How green with envy is Donald Trump?  —  President Biden has him begging for attention.  —  Since Biden's inauguration, the COVID-19 infection rate has been cut by well over half.  —  And last week congressional Democrats passed Biden's popular COVID-19 relief bill.

Coca-Cola, Home Depot come out in opposition to Georgia voting restrictions  —  Civil liberties groups are ratcheting up pressure on major corporations based in Georgia — including Coca-Cola, Aflac, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot and UPS — to oppose a Republican-led effort to make it harder to vote in the Peach State.

Vindman twin set for promotion after bad evaluations from Trump appointees  —  Army Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman is set to be promoted to full colonel, despite attempts by loyalists to former President Donald Trump to derail his career following his bit role in the president's first impeachment …

Fact check: Republican congresswoman didn't take credit for the relief bill she voted against  —  Keilar: GOP senator touted provision in bill he voted against  —  Washington (CNN)A Republican member of Congress, Rep. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, has faced withering attacks …

Jared Kushner Says Farewell to U.S. Taxpayers With $24,000 Hotel Tab  —  THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES  —  About four weeks before Donald Trump vacated the White House to make way for President Joe Biden, presidential adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner jetted off on his last official trip to Israel …

Biden Eyes First Major Tax Hike Since 1993 in Next Economic Plan  — Tax increases would help fund long-term U.S. recovery program  — Corporate, capital-gains levies targeted for hikes, aides say  —  President Joe Biden is planning the first major federal tax hike since 1993 …

The American Rescue Plan as Economic Theory  —  So, this happened.  —  Some people are frustrated about the surrender on the minimum wage, the scaled-back unemployment insurance, the child tax credit that should have been a universal child allowance, the fact that most of the good things phase out over the nest year or two.

‘We want to be educated, not indoctrinated,’ say Trump voters wary of covid shots  —  The responses of focus group participants suggest they can be persuaded — but perhaps not by politicians, including the former president.  —  Be honest that scientists don't have all the answers.

Florida's pandemic response gets a second look from the national media  —  After a solid year of living with a pandemic, the national press is beginning to ask the question that even Democrats have been quietly pondering in the Sunshine State: Was Gov. Ron DeSantis' pandemic response right for Florida?

The Misinformation Campaign Was Distinctly One-Sided  —  On the morning of September 21, 2020, three trays of United States mail were discovered in a ditch in Greenville, Wisconsin.  The local sheriff's office reported that the mail dump included several absentee ballots.

US to house up to 3,000 immigrant teens at Dallas site  —  HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. government plans to use the downtown Dallas convention center to hold up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers as sharply higher numbers of border crossings have severely strained the current capacity to hold youths, The Associated Press has learned.

Senior Democrat ‘hot mic’ says GOP foot-dragging will force fast-track process for infrastructure  —  Sen. Ben Cardin, a senior Democrat on the committee responsible for crafting a surface transportation bill, in a “hot mic” moment told Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Monday that Democrats …

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson's Racist Comments Are Worse Than You Think  —  While it wasn't the first time Ron Johnson downplayed the U.S. Capitol attack, the Republican senator from Wisconsin drew criticism for saying during an interview that he would have been more afraid of Antifa …

A Hacker Got All My Texts for $16  —  A gaping flaw in SMS lets hackers take over phone numbers in minutes by simply paying a company to reroute text messages.  —  Joseph Cox  —  I didn't expect it to be that quick.  While I was on a Google Hangouts call with a colleague …

Audio shows the media got the Trump-Georgia story all wrong  —  It's one thing if a single news outlet botches an anonymously sourced “scoop.”  It's another thing entirely if multiple newsrooms claim to have independently “confirmed” the botched “scoop” with anonymous sources of their own.

EXC: Teen Vogue's New Editor Alexi McCammond Ranted About “Blacks”, Dressed As Native American.  —  The National Pulse has uncovered additional historical tweets from Teen Vogue's new editor - Alexi McCammond, already under fire for a host of old anti-Asian, homophobic posts.

Capitol riot suspect ordered detained after a hearing featuring daughter's testimony  —  The 16-year-old daughter of a Texas militia leader who allegedly charged at Capitol Police officers on Jan. 6 — and claimed he took a firearm to the building — testified on his behalf Monday in an unusual virtual hearing.

News Corp and Facebook Reach News Agreement in Australia  —  Sky News Australia also reaches deal with social-media giant  —  News Corp said Monday it has reached a deal to let Facebook Inc. feature news in Australia from some of the media company's key properties, including The Australian national newspaper.

Catholic Order Pledges $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor and Sales  —  The move by Jesuit priests is the largest such effort by the Roman Catholic Church and comes amid growing calls for reparations across the United States.  —  [To read more stories on race from The New York Times, sign up here for our Race/Related newsletter.]

Vatican says it will not bless same-sex unions, calling them a ‘sin’  —  Rome (CNN)The Vatican said Monday that the Catholic Church would not bless same-sex unions, in a combative statement approved by Pope Francis that threatens to widen the chasm between the church and much of the LGBTQ community.

Exclusive: U.S. Congress launches probe into multibillion-dollar ‘clean coal’ tax credit  —  BOSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress is investigating a multibillion-dollar subsidy for chemically treated coal that is meant to reduce smokestack pollution, after evidence emerged that power plants using the fuel produced more smog not less.

Manchin signals he'll support Gupta as No. 3 at DOJ, bolstering her chance at confirmation  —  (CNN)Sen. Joe Manchin, the key Democratic swing vote, said Monday that he will likely support Vanita Gupta as the No. 3 at the Justice Department, taking a stance that is expected to pave …

Biden Chooses Prosperity Over Vengeance  —  Donald Trump was a punishment.  —  Conservatives saw him that way, and Trump saw himself that way, too.  After his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, some conservatives started to respond to any perceived liberal excess with a simple phrase: “This is why Trump won.”

Rage against the ‘gaffe machine’  —  Presented by the Bipartisan Policy Center & U.S. Chamber of Commerce  —  Welcome to POLITICO's 2021 Transition Playbook, your guide to the first 100 days of the Biden administration  —  JOE BIDEN, disciplined messenger?  —  Two and a half months in, that's undoubtedly the case.

CDC identifies public-health guidance from the Trump administration that downplayed pandemic severity  —  The analysis was done to promote public trust and ensure that the agency's coronavirus guidance ‘is evidence-based and free of politics,’ a memo says.  —  Federal health officials …

CNN Anchor Brianna Keilar Slams Fox News' Vaccine Skepticism Bullshit  —  “Americans, whether they are Fox viewers or not, will pay for it with their health... or their lives because no price is too high for Fox to right its rating ship.”  —  CNN anchor Brianna Keilar took aim at Fox News …

DISGRACE: Evening Newscasts Devote ZERO Seconds to Portland Violence in 2021  —  Text to Speech  —  It's not over.  Portland remains a city under siege.  Its citizens desperately beg for help from their local leaders and yell at ANTIFA/BLM protestors to “go home,” as they hopelessly watch …

Justice Breyer Should Retire Right Now  —  If he doesn't, Democrats run the very real risk that they would be unable to replace him.  —  Mr. Campos is a law professor who writes extensively about politics and the Constitution.  —  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was widely, and deservedly …

U.S. warns of China's growing threat to Taiwan  —  TOKYO — When President Joe Biden's national security team prepares to meet their Chinese counterparts at a high-stakes summit in Alaska on Thursday, one of the most urgent issues they must tackle is Beijing's growing threat to Taipei.