Chinese spy balloon seen over U.S. this week—Officials  —  Incident comes days before Secretary of State Blinken set to travel to China  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. tracked a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the continental U.S. this week, U.S. officials said.

George Santos: We've been secretly recorded  —  It's Groundhog Day, but George Santos is worried about a mole.  —  The Congressman told Semafor he expects recordings by a prospective staffer they interviewed this week to be published this evening by progressive news site Talking Points Memo.

Eighty-six House Democrats oppose resolution condemning ‘horrors of socialism’  —  Dozens of House Democrats opposed a resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism” that passed on Thursday, though all of party leadership voted for it.  —  The 86 “no” votes mostly hail from the progressive wing …

Trump's Republican opponents are making a painfully obvious mistake  —  It's often said that military leaders “fight the last war”: They assume their current enemy is just like the previous one so they misjudge their foe and lose.  —  The Republican establishment is making that exact mistake in the 2024 presidential primary.

Former Trump Executive, Already Jailed, Could Face More Fraud Charges  —  Manhattan prosecutors warned that they might charge Allen H. Weisselberg with insurance fraud to pressure him to cooperate in an investigation of the former president.  —  Manhattan prosecutors this week warned …

Kari Lake meets with NRSC officials  —  Defeated Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake met with officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Thursday, two people familiar with the matter told POLITICO.  —  The meeting comes as Lake is considering a run for the Senate in Arizona.

Joe Biden's new squad  —  Presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living  —  Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration.  With help from Allie Bice.

Columbia Journalism Review's Big Fail: It Published 24,000 Words on Russiagate and Missed the Point  —  Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.  —  Misdirection, an essential tool for magicians, is not usually a component of media criticism.

New Jersey Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour shot dead outside home in ‘despicable criminal act’  —  Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour found dead inside vehicle outside apartment with multiple gunshot wounds  —  Fox News Flash top headlines for February 2

How Rod Dreher Caused an International Scandal in Eastern Europe  —  Blogging and backtracking.  —  Last week, Rod Dreher, the American author now living in Hungary, caused a diplomatic scandal that has gone largely unnoticed in his home country.  —  Dreher's stay in Hungary is apparently financed …

McCarthy's Horse-Trading Nightmare  —  His imperiled speakership was a collaborative effort that resulted in plenty of begging and favor-trading.  Now, as members expect reciprocity for loyalty in the form of committee assignments, McCarthy's up to his eyeballs placating unhappy former allies in his slim majority.

UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient.  He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurer's Inner Workings.  —  Co-published with The Capitol Forum  —  In May 2021, a nurse at UnitedHealthcare called a colleague to share some welcome news about a problem the two had been grappling with for weeks.

EXCLUSIVE: House, Senate GOP To Start ‘DC Home Rule’ Vote To Block District's New Crime Law  —  Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde and Tennesee Sen. Bill Hagerty will introduce a joint resolution of disapproval to block the Washington, D.C., Council's Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 …

Broome County Man Pleads Guilty to Making Interstate Threats to Member of Congress  —  For Immediate Release  —  U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York  —  SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - Joseph F. Morelli, 51, of Endicott, New York pled guilty today to making threatening phone calls …

Harvard Misinformation Expert Joan Donovan Forced to Leave by Kennedy School Dean, Sources Say  —  Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas W. Elmendorf is forcing out online misinformation expert Joan M. Donovan from her role at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and ending …

As Mississippi Hospitals Fail, Leaders Kill Medicaid Expansion Efforts Again  —  Standing inside a shuttered hospital's abandoned emergency room in Newton County, Miss., on Monday night, Democratic candidate for governor Brandon Presley blamed Gov. Tate Reeves for the fact that more than half …

The GOP Can't Remember Why It Took the Debt Ceiling Hostage  —  Hostage taking is, traditionally, a means to an end.  A criminal organization wants to earn fast cash, so it kidnaps the child of a business tycoon.  Or a militant group wants some of its members released from prison, so it seizes a government building.

Tucker Carlson Ignores Virtually Every George Santos Lie to Say the Media Covers Him for Lying About Playing Volleyball  —  Tucker Carlson utterly ignored the many lies of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and discussed just two of the freshman congressman's fabrications, which are fairly frivolous.

Potential Mass Shooting Thwarted in Hollywood  —  CRISIS AVERTED  —  Calls made to police by concerned neighbors in Los Angeles thwarted a potential mass shooting on Tuesday, authorities said.  Several neighbors flagged mental health concerns to cops after 25-year-old Braxton Johnson threatened …

Nikole Hannah-Jones isn't done challenging the story of America  —  A new Hulu series is the latest version of “The 1619 Project,” a landmark reframing of American history around slavery that triggered a firestorm  —  Just about 16 minutes into the opening episode of Hulu's “The 1619 Project” …

Law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is unconstitutional, court rules  —  A federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a conservative-leaning appeals court ruled Thursday.