POLITICO Playbook: A new ‘Sputnik moment’  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  Reminder: HBO's “Succession” returns tonight for its third season.  —  A SIGN O' THE TIMES — Superman has long been known for championing “truth, justice and the American way.”  Now, DC Comics is changing that motto by cutting out the whole “American way” thing.

In Virginia, Republicans see education, curriculum fears as a path to victory  —  WARRENTON, Va. — Democrat Terry McAuliffe launched his campaign for Virginia governor last year at a public school to tout his education plan.  —  But in the final days of an unexpectedly tight race …

Allison Williams is leaving ESPN over COVID-19 vaccine mandate, says “I am so morally and ethically not aligned with this.” … Disney, ESPN's parent company, is one of many large corporations requiring all employees to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, which has led to more than 722,000 deaths in the United States.

'I'm So Stupid': MAGA Fan Who Attacked Officer Mike Fanone Called Himself A ‘Piece Of S**t’  —  Danny “D.J.” Rodriguez, who was arrested after he was identified in a HuffPost story, called himself a “f**king piece of s**t” during his interview with the FBI.  —  “I'm not smart.”  —  “I'm so stupid.”

A woman won a million-euro Spanish literary prize.  It turned out that ‘she’ was actually three men.  —  The work of one woman was, it turned out, the equivalent of the labors of three men.  —  That was at least the case for Spain's top writer of crime thrillers, a professor and mother …

Former NYT opinion editor Bari Weiss hits out at CNN's Brian Stelter after he suggested a controversial column by a Republican senator she published ‘endangered lives’  — Bari Weiss appeared on Brian Stelter's podcast on Thursday to discuss media  — Weiss resigned from The New York Times in July 2020 in protest at their stance

Why the ‘Big Short’ Guys Think Bitcoin Is a Bubble  —  During the past year of COVID-induced market mania, cryptocurrencies have gone up so much — bitcoin is up about fivefold, while many other crypto projects are up far, far more — that even reluctant Wall Street institutions have begun to tiptoe into the arena.

A Jan. 6 ‘blood flag’ and a Bond villain in the Senate — it's no time to go back to brunch  —  Say what you will about our modern obsession with James Bond movies, but their timing often seems impeccable.  This fall's release of No Time to Die, the 25th official film in the series …

Civil Liberties Are Being Trampled by Exploiting “Insurrection” Fears.  Congress's 1/6 Committee May Be the Worst Abuse Yet.  —  Following the 9/11 script, objections to government overreach in the name of 1/6 are demonized as sympathy for terrorists.  But government abuses pose the greater threat.

Is Trump running in 2024?  The Claremont Institute hopes so  —  A recent piece in The Atlantic described the influential conservative think tank Claremont Institute as “the intellectual home of America's Trumpist right.”  —  That is, of course, one way of putting it.

90 Seconds of Rage  —  The American flag became a blunt instrument in the bearded man's hands.  Wielding the flagpole like an ax, he swung once, twice, three times, to beat a police officer being dragged down the steps of a United States Capitol under siege.

Bill Clinton released from Southern California hospital  —  ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — Bill Clinton was released Sunday from the Southern California hospital where he had been treated for an infection and will head home to New York to continue his recovery, a spokesman said.

Buttigieg warns Manchin of resistance to Biden's climate plan: ‘It will cost lives’  —  White House has said clean energy provisions likely to be dropped from bill to secure support of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema  —  The transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered a blunt warning …

‘More immediate, more visceral’ and a lot tougher on Eric Clapton: A plan for reviving Rolling Stone  —  Last Monday in Manhattan, outside the Fifth Avenue offices of Rolling Stone, dozens of young fans of the South Korean boy band P1Harmony swarmed the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of their idols.

These Republicans torpedoed vaccine edicts — then slipped in the polls  —  Republican governors crusading against vaccine mandates are facing significantly lower approval ratings on their handling of the coronavirus pandemic than their counterparts.  But they're not worried.

Is Biden Doing Enough to Protect Democracy?  —  As a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer in the early 2000s, I once received a call from a couple of Republican campaign operatives who said they had something to show me.  We met at their office in Washington, D.C., a few days later.

Five times as many police officers have died from Covid-19 as from gunfire since start of pandemic  —  (CNN)Jessica Desfosses shared the final heartrending text messages she exchanged with her police officer husband in the days before he died from Covid-19.  —  “Commercial just came on tv …

Pressure grows for breakthrough in Biden agenda talks  —  The clock is ticking for President Biden and White House officials to broker an agreement among congressional Democrats on the president's economic agenda as patience in some corners wears thin.  —  The House has yet to vote …