State lawyers arguing against Biden vaccine mandates test positive for COVID-19  —  Two officials presenting arguments on Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block vaccine mandates ordered by President Joe Biden's administration have tested positive for COVID-19 and will make their cases remotely, their offices said.

Eric Adams taps younger brother Bernard as a deputy police commissioner  —  Mayor Eric Adams has tapped his younger brother to serve as a deputy NYPD commissioner, The Post has learned.  —  Bernard Adams, a 56-year-old retired NYPD officer, will oversee governmental affairs, he confirmed Friday.

Five myths about the filibuster  —  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has thrown down the gauntlet, saying he will move to change Senate rules by Jan. 17 if Republicans continue to block the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

POLITICO Playbook: Biden finds a new Manchin whisperer  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  The White House is looking to Sen. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) to help thaw out its frosty relationship with Sen. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) in hopes of resurrecting President JOE BIDEN's Build Back Better plan.

Sidney Poitier, Who Paved the Way for Black Actors in Film, Dies at 94  —  The first Black performer to win the Academy Award for best actor, for “Lilies of the Field,” he once said he felt “as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made.”

Hiring falters in December as payrolls rise only 199,000, though the unemployment fell to 3.9%  — Nonfarm payrolls rose by 199,000 in December, far fewer than the 422,000 estimate.  — The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, better than the 4.1% estimate.  — Wages increased more than expected, rising 4.7% year over year.

Pelosi Invites President Biden to Deliver State of the Union Address on March 1  —  Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent the following letter today to President Joseph R. Biden inviting him to deliver the State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 1, 2022:

Cyber Ninjas, company that led Arizona GOP election ‘audit,’ is shutting down  —  Cyber Ninjas, the company that led a partisan review of 2020 ballots in Arizona, is closing down following a scathing report by election officials and the threat of $50,000 a day in fines.  —  “Cyber Ninjas is shutting down.

Harris' new communications director apologizes for tweets on ‘undocumented folks’  —  (CNN)Vice President Kamala Harris' newly announced communications director Jamal Simmons is apologizing for decade-old tweets on “undocumented folks” that resurfaced after news of his appointment.

After a series of messaging missteps, CDC's Walensky seeks out media training  —  (CNN)Dr. Rochelle Walensky assumed her new role as the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last January with a vow to restore trust in the agency.  But last fall, several months …

An 85-year-old man in India says he got 12 Covid vaccine shots, and still wants more.  —  There is vaccine hesitancy, but on the flip side, there is Brahmdeo Mandal.  —  Mr. Mandal is so excited about the healing promise of a jab that he says he has received 12 coronavirus vaccine doses — so far.

8 Times Left-Wing Protesters Broke Into Government Buildings And Assaulted Democracy  —  Left-wing demonstrators have long made a habit of attacking, infiltrating, and occupying government buildings.  —  Self-absorbed congressional Democrats held a group therapy session on Capitol Hill …

POLITICO Playbook PM: The Covid-laced jobs report  —  BULLETIN — Mark your calendars: Speaker NANCY PELOSI has invited President JOE BIDEN to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 1.  The letter  —  MAKING SENSE OF THE JOBS NUMBERS — Confusion is becoming …

What Role Will January 6 Play in The 2022 Midterms?  —  The following things can be true at the same time.  First, the attack on the Capitol on January 6 was a dark moment in American history and one in which the former president bears responsibility.  Second, the attack on the Capitol …

Kazakhstan unrest: Fresh gunfire as president says order largely restored  —  Fresh gunshots have been heard in Kazakhstan's largest city, as the president claims order has been largely restored after a violent crackdown to days of anti-government demonstrations.

GOP picks final four in 2024 convention search  —  Republicans are ramping up their search for a host city for the party's 2024 national convention, narrowing the list of contenders to four cities.  —  The cities in contention are Milwaukee, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City …

Ted Cruz Begs Tucker Carlson's Forgiveness for Being Mean to Violent Insurrectionists  —  Senator Ted Cruz has tried to cling to what has become the safest ground in the Republican Party: Denouncing the violent attack on the Capitol one year ago without criticizing either the lies that inspired …

Hospitals Are in Serious Trouble  —  When a health-care system crumbles, this is what it looks like.  Much of what's wrong happens invisibly.  At first, there's just a lot of waiting.  Emergency rooms get so full that “you'll wait hours and hours, and you may not be able to get surgery when you need it …

Why I Soured on the Democrats  —  Until recently, I was a loyal, left-leaning Democrat, and I had been my entire adult life.  I was the kind of partisan who registered voters before midterm elections and went to protests.  I hated Donald Trump so much that I struggled to be civil to relatives on the other side of the aisle.

California Wants to Double Its Taxes  —  Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation wrote a blog post yesterday with news that doesn't seem possible: California — an already high-tax state — wants to double its tax revenue.  —  No matter how Walczak breaks down the proposed constitutional amendment, the numbers are astounding.