The Pandemic's Wrongest Man  —  The pandemic has made fools of many forecasters.  Just about all of the predictions whiffed.  Anthony Fauci was wrong about masks.  California was wrong about the outdoors.  New York was wrong about the subways.  I was wrong about the necessary cost of pandemic relief.

The GOP war on voting takes an ugly new turn  —  Opinion by  —  An extraordinary event took place in Georgia on Wednesday night.  Republicans sought to cancel a tax break for Delta Air Lines, the state's biggest employer, as punishment for the heresy of criticizing the new voter suppression law Republicans passed last week.

Republicans Have Been Waiting for a Matt Gaetz Scandal to Break  —  The Florida congressman's less-than-sterling reputation among his colleagues has many Republicans questioning the wisdom of jumping to his defense.  —  After Rep. Matt Gaetz accused a Florida lawyer of a $25 million extortion scheme …

Inside the ‘Lord of the Flies’ factionalism now plaguing Trumpland  —  Just one month after Donald Trump left the White House, a top donor to his campaign received a call on his personal cellphone from a Republican candidate seeking financial support.  —  The call was unsolicited …

Georgia's election reform law isn't voter suppression, but Republicans need to ease up  —  Republicans have a huge hole to climb out of because of the 2020 election.  Conservatism shouldn't be confused as divisive or mean-spirited.  —  Once again, Georgia found itself in the national spotlight …

Analysis reveals nearly 200 died in Texas cold storm and blackouts, almost double the official count  —  The deaths of nearly 200 people are linked to February's cold snap and blackouts, a Houston Chronicle analysis reveals, making the natural disaster one of the worst in Texas this past century.

Republicans seek DOJ briefing on claims of ‘suspicious’ pre-Jan. 6 Capitol tours  —  Republicans on a key House committee are pressing the Justice Department and Capitol Police to brief them on a review of Democratic allegations that some GOP lawmakers provided “suspicious” …

McConnell rules out GOP support for Biden spending plan  —  Mitch McConnell on Thursday ruled out support from his Republicans for President Joe Biden's new infrastructure plan, all but ensuring that the proposal will have to pass with lockstep Democratic unity in the Senate.

The Strange New Doctrine of the Republican Party  —  In 2002, the Weyerhaeuser paper mill in Valliant, Oklahoma, faced a drug problem.  Managers at the mill in the small town, just north of the Texas line, brought contraband-sniffing dogs into the parking lot to identify suspect cars.

How Nancy Reagan helped end the Cold War  —  The second weekend of February 1983 found much of the Eastern Seaboard trapped under one of the biggest snowfalls of the century.  The nation's capital, notoriously ill-equipped for extreme weather, was paralyzed under a frozen blanket 17 inches deep.

Pfizer says Covid-19 vaccine protection lasts at least six months, protects against variants  —  Take an exclusive look inside a busy Covid-19 vaccine facility  —  (CNN)The ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer/BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine confirms its protection lasts at least six months …

New GOP-led voting restrictions move forward in Texas  —  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans advanced a slate of proposed new voting restrictions Thursday that would reduce options to cast ballots, limit polling hours and hand more power to partisan poll watchers.

The Right Curriculum?  How PragerU Infiltrates Schools.  —  The right-wing nonprofit, known for viral videos like ‘The Left Ruins Everything,’ launched a program specifically designed for teachers last fall.  But according to students, its content has been in public schools for years.

Interior Department chief of staff being removed from post after indoor party fiasco  —  The White House is removing the Interior Department's chief of staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, who recently planned a 50-person indoor party at the agency that the White House ordered canceled …

The New Republic Makes an Uneasy Peace With Staff Over D.C. Move  —  Staffers say they're still worried about the magazine's future.  —  Last week, staffers at The New Republic had their first meeting with incoming editor Michael Tomasky soon after they found out simultaneously via an email …

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Biden Administration  —  Slate is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay.  We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Biden administration whose identity is known to us and whose reputation as a good boy would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

A woman called for a highway's removal in a Black neighborhood.  The White House singled it out in its infrastructure plan.  —  Since she moved back home to Tremé almost a decade ago, Amy Stelly has waged a campaign for the removal of a highway that cuts through her New Orleans neighborhood.

Mets-Nationals postponed in Washington as coronavirus issues disrupt Opening Day  —  The Opening Day matchup between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets on Thursday has been postponed because of coronavirus concerns, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

How N.Y.C.'s Population Expert Says the City Will Bounce Back  —  Joseph J. Salvo, who is retiring after nearly 30 years as New York City's chief demographer, is optimistic about New York City's recovery after the pandemic.  —  In nearly three decades as New York City's chief demographer …

The Leading Causes of Death in the US for 2020  —  Farida B. Ahmad, MPH1; Robert N. Anderson, PhD2  —  Vital statistics data provide the most complete assessment of annual mortality burden and contribute key measurements of the direct and indirect mortality burden during a public health pandemic.

Some of America's wealthiest hospital systems ended up even richer, thanks to federal bailouts  —  As the crisis crushed smaller providers, some of the nation's richest health systems thrived, reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in surpluses after accepting huge grants for pandemic relief

The problem with cheering for the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News  —  When Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani became fixtures on right-wing media with their outlandish election conspiracy theories, their disinformation was more than just false.  —  It was harmful.

Hypocritical, hilarious AOC says calling border crisis a ‘surge’ invokes white supremacy  —  “This is not a surge.  These are children, and they are not insurgents, and we are not being invaded.  Which, by the way, is a white supremacist philosophy.  The idea that if another is coming in the population …

Will U.S. learn from a $1.7 trillion goof that would have paid for Biden's infrastructure plan?  |  Will Bunch  —  A Ferrari is surely a wonderful sports car, but let's be honest: Most of us couldn't afford the day-to-day maintenance, let alone the sticker price, and these beautiful creatures …