Manchin, Sinema leave Dems in lurch as Biden agenda teeters  —  Democrats wanted clarity Tuesday from Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema after back-to-back meetings with President Joe Biden.  They didn't get it.  —  During a private meeting with the president, Sinema made clear she's still …

Biden opposes changing Senate rules to raise debt limit  —  The White House said Tuesday that President Joe Biden opposes changing the filibuster to suspend or raise the debt ceiling, closing off a break-the-glass option to avoid financial calamity.  —  White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed …

Republicans aim their fire at the military  —  Perhaps nothing Republican lawmakers do anymore should come as a surprise, but their treatment of Gen. Mark A. Milley on Tuesday opened a new front in the war against civilized norms.  —  Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee …

A racist conspiracy theory goes mainstream  —  A growing number of elected Republicans are openly promoting “white replacement theory,” a decades-old conspiracy theory that's animated terrorist attacks, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.  —  Why it matters: This mainstreams what once …

McAuliffe, Youngkin unload in feisty final Virginia debate  —  ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin bickered their way through the second and final debate of Virginia's competitive governor's race on Tuesday, trading attacks and accusations from the start of the hourlong meeting.

United Airlines says nearly all workers met vaccine mandate deadline, 593 could face termination  —  The air carrier has begun the process for terminating nearly 600 workers who declined to comply with the requirement  —  Nearly all of United Airlines' U.S.-based employees have been vaccinated …

51% Of Texas Voters Say Abbott Doesn't Deserve To Be Reelected, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; President Biden's Approval Numbers Head South  — mail_outline  —  As Governor Greg Abbott faces reelection in 2022, a slight majority of voters say 51 - 42 percent that he does not deserve …

‘No major incidents of illegal activity’: DHS told Pentagon as pro-Trump mob breached Capitol  —  On Jan. 6, more than 30 minutes after the first attackers breached barricades erected to protect the Capitol, the Department of Homeland Security sent an incongruous update to the Pentagon.

Biden cancels Chicago trip as negotiations continue over agenda  —  President Biden has canceled a trip to Chicago on Wednesday and will stay in Washington to continue negotiations on key pieces of his legislative agenda, a White House official confirmed Tuesday.

South Dakota AG reviewing Noem's meeting with daughter  —  SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota's attorney general said Tuesday he is reviewing concerns from state lawmakers over a meeting Gov. Kristi Noem held last year that included both her daughter and a state employee who was overseeing …

New evidence emerges against COVID lab-leak theory — but the press keeps pushing it  —  When it comes to the pandemic, pseudoscience has outweighed real science at almost every turn.  One of the best examples of that is the unsupported assertion that the virus causing COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory.

House Dems Propose $100 Billion Tax Hike Targeting The Poor  —  $3.5 trillion spending bill hits American tobacco users and those trying to quit  —  The Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget proposal relies on a $100 billion tax hike that disproportionately targets the poor, lines the pockets of organized crime, and increases inequality.

N.C. hospital system fires about 175 workers in one of the largest-ever mass terminations due to a vaccine mandate  —  A North Carolina-based hospital system announced Monday that roughly 175 unvaccinated employees were fired for failing to comply with the organization's mandatory coronavirus …

Protected Too Late: U.S. Officials Report More Than 20 Extinctions  —  The animals and one plant had been listed as endangered species.  Their stories hold lessons about a growing global biodiversity crisis.  —  The ivory-billed woodpecker, which birders have been seeking in the bayous of Arkansas …

Evergrande to Raise $1.5 Billion by Selling Bank Stake to State-Owned Firm  —  Developer will pare holding in Shengjing Bank to less than 15%  —  A Chinese state-owned enterprise struck a deal to buy most of China Evergrande Group's stake in a commercial bank for $1.5 billion …

Will Jake Sullivan bring tough love, or more of the same to MBS meeting?  —  Biden's top advisor should use the 3rd anniversary of Khashoggi's murder to say the US is shutting off the spigot. … Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is in the Arabian Peninsula for meetings with Saudi and Emirati officials.

Woman Accused of Starting Fawn Fire Was Attempting To Boil Bear Urine to Drink  —  SHASTA COUNTY (CBS SF) — According to court documents, the Bay Area woman accused of starting the Fawn Fire in Shasta County last week was attempting to boil bear urine so she could drink it when she allegedly set off the destructive blaze.

Arizona Audit Backers Turn on Each Other After Recount Flop  —  The Arizona audit showed that, if anything, Joe Biden won the state by even more votes than previously realized.  Cue the GOP panic.  —  Supporters of Republicans' controversial “audit” of 2020 presidential election ballots …

Boris Johnson's Brexit choices are making Britain's fuel and food shortages worse  —  London (CNN Business)Rising energy bills, higher prices and a critical shortage of workers leading to food and fuel supply constraints are threatening to stall Britain's recovery from the pandemic.

The feared eviction ‘tsunami’ has not yet happened.  Experts are conflicted on why.  —  Eviction filings have fallen or remained flat in many areas after the moratorium was struck down.  —  When the Supreme Court decided to strike down a federal ban on evictions in August …

Peter Singer invited to give a Zoom talk about “Pandemic Ethics” by the Philosophy Department at Rhodes College...  ...and now there is an uproar because Singer holds incorrect views, for example, about euthanasia, infanticide and the disabled.  An uproar is fine, what isn't fine are the demands …