AG Ken Paxton and wife Sen. Angela Paxton went to Utah during Texas freeze  —  While millions of Texans languished in their homes last week without heat, many of them racking up astronomical electricity bills, the state official in charge of consumer protection left to take an out-of-state trip.

Slate Podcast Host Mike Pesca Suspended Following Internal Discussion About Use Of Racial Slur  —  Mike Pesca, host of Slate's daily podcast, The Gist, has been suspended from the company indefinitely according to an internal memo sent to staffers late last night that has been obtained by Defector.

‘A double standard going on’: Democrats accuse GOP and Manchin of bias on Biden nominations  —  Women's rights activists and allied Democrats are growing increasingly vocal about what they call the unfair targeting of women and people of color nominated by Joe Biden to top posts in his administration.

Donald Trump Is Extremely Mad Prosecutors Will See His Tax Returns  —  Donald Trump's yearslong quest to prevent the public, Congress, or law-enforcement officials from seeing his tax statements came to a resounding end with a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.  He did not take the defeat in stride.

Featured CPAC speaker said Judaism is a “complete lie” and referred to Jewish people as “thieving fake Jews”  —  Leading Republican officials are set to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this week along with a virulently anti-Semitic speaker named Young Pharaoh.

Fauci Is Not Your God  —  His job is to relay information to the public, not threaten doom, or coax or trick us into doing things.  —  Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief pandemic adviser to President Joe Biden, is a bureaucrat.  He's not our parent, or our personal physician, or a shaman, or our life coach.

Oath Keeper now says she didn't meet with Secret Service around the January 6 rally  —  (CNN)Jessica Watkins, a leader in an alleged Oath Keepers conspiracy in the US Capitol insurrection, changed her story Monday about meeting with Secret Service agents in describing her actions on January 6.

First migrant facility for children opens under Biden  —  CARRIZO SPRINGS, Tex. — Dozens of migrant teens boarded vans Monday for the trip down a dusty road to a former man camp for oil field workers here, the first migrant child facility opened under the Biden administration.

Trump taunts don't shake McConnell's hold on Senate GOP  —  Sen. Rick Scott challenged the certification of Donald Trump's reelection loss, bashed Trump's second impeachment trial and recently spoke with the former president about Senate races.  But don't take that as the Florida Republican siding with Trump over Mitch McConnell.

Missing Marine sparks White House questions  —  The absence of a Marine sentry outside the West Wing on Monday raised questions about whether President Biden was keeping the schedule publicly outlined by his aides.  —  Why it matters: A sure way to tell if the president is inside the Oval Office …

Cuomo's office terrorized me for doing my job as a journalist  —  It was 4:30 a.m., so I pulled the bathroom door shut in my one-bedroom Brooklyn apartment to answer the phone without waking my then-5-year-old.  On the line was Melissa DeRosa, Gov. Cuomo's then-communications director, now his second-in-command.

Clarence Thomas Promotes Trump's Voter Fraud Lies in Alarming Dissent  —  Justice Clarence Thomas is not backing down from the fight to legitimize Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was rife with fraud.  On Monday morning, Thomas issued a startling opinion ranting against the alleged dangers …

FBI Seized Congressional Cellphone Records Related to Capitol Attack … Within hours of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, the FBI began securing thousands of phone and electronic records connected to people at the scene of the rioting — including some related to members of Congress, raising potentially thorny legal questions.

Democrats Are Waltzing Toward an Easily Avoidable Political Disaster With Their COVID Bill  —  At the moment, Democrats in Washington appear to be in danger of sleepwalking their way toward a major policy and public relations debacle.  —  The problem?  With tax season underway …

What About Joe?  —  Why can't anti-Trump become work-with-Biden?  —  There's an interesting piece in Politico today which raises interesting questions.  Its headline: “Anti-Trumpers are done with the GOP.  Where do they go now?”  The subhed: “Scores of Republicans are bolting the party in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Artemi Panarin taking Rangers leave of absence after Russian hit piece  —  New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin is taking a leave of absence from the team in wake of a politically motivated article from Russia, in which his former Vityaz head coach alleges that the ex-forward …

Trump reported making more than $1.6 billion while president … Donald Trump reported making more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as President of the United States, according to a review of his financial disclosures by CREW.

Biden Gets High Marks for COVID-19 Response  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several weeks into his first term in office, 67% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden's handling of the coronavirus.  Although not as high as his rating on the pandemic, approval of Biden is at the majority level on his overall job …

Vaccine access codes for Black, Latino communities improperly used in affluent L.A. areas  —  A California program intended to improve COVID-19 vaccine availability to people in hard-hit communities of color is being misused by outsiders who are grabbing appointments reserved for residents of underserved Black and Latino areas.

Aurora Police did not have basis to stop, frisk or restrain Elijah McClain, investigation finds  —  (CNN)The Aurora, Colorado, police officers involved in the fatal confrontation with Elijah McClain in August 2019 did not have a legal basis to stop him, frisk him or physically restrain him …

Wife of “El Chapo” Arrested on International Drug Trafficking Charges  —  The wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, leader of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested today in Virginia on charges related to her alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.

Lee Harvey Oswald ordered to kill JFK by Soviets, ex-CIA chief claims  —  Lee Harvey Oswald was a KGB associate who was personally instructed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to assassinate President Kennedy.  Sometime shortly thereafter, the Soviets changed their minds, and Oswald was told to drop the plan.

Facebook Strikes Deal to Restore News Sharing in Australia  —  The agreement means users and publishers in Australia can once again share links to news articles, after Facebook had blocked the practice last week.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook said on Monday that it had struck a deal …

DeSantis crushes Rubio, Scott in Florida GOP poll  —  In Florida's shadow Republican primary for president, Gov. Ron DeSantis is starting to dominate his once-better-known home state colleagues, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.  —  DeSantis's popularity among Republicans has been steadily rising …

Do Arizona's Republican lawmakers really think we're dumb enough to let them vote for us?  —  Opinion: Arizona legislators are assaulting democracy again, this time with an astonishing bill that would ask voters to allow them to select Arizona's presidential electors.  —  View Comments

Biden Stays Clear Of Endorsing Union Effort At Alabama Amazon Warehouse  —  Progressives want to hear Biden declare his support for one of the most significant organizing campaigns in years.  —  President Joe Biden considers himself a union man “from belt buckle to shoe sole,” as he likes to say.

Nevada Is Moving to Vote Before Iowa in 2024.  Harry Reid Makes the Case.  —  Goodbye, Iowa and New Hampshire.  Hello, Nevada and South Carolina?  The former Nevada senator is just one voice arguing that it's time to change the nomination calendar.  —  For generations, Iowa and New Hampshire …

North Dakota House advances bill barring government from mandating masks  —  The pushback on masks comes three months after the administration of Republican Gov. Doug Burgum imposed a statewide face covering mandate amid the nation's most severe COVID-19 outbreak.

Why I Wrote “The Daughters of Kobani”  —  The untold story of the women who fought to defeat ISIS.  —  Every great story starts with an unanswerable question.  The question I set out to answer with the book The Daughters of Kobani: How on earth did one of the most far-reaching experiments …

The New York Mayoral Race Has Become a Zoom Hell  —  By the 90th minute of the Staten Island Democratic Club's Zoom mayoral forum, Richard Flanagan, a professor of political science at the College of Staten Island and the event's moderator, was getting confused: Most of the candidates had already left …

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he's losing $65 million over election fraud claims and it proves he's not pushing conspiracy theories for the money … - Dominion Voting Systems sued MyPillow and its CEO, Mike Lindell, for defamation and is seeking $1.3 billion in damages.

Nikki Fried says she won't lower flags to honor Rush Limbaugh despite DeSantis' order  —  TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says she will disregard Gov. Ron DeSantis' order to lower Florida flags at half-staff in honor of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who died last week.

SICKNICK DEATH TIMELINE  —  CNN is among the first to report that an officer has died as a result of the Capitol riots.  —  8pm US Capitol Police issue a statement describing reports of the death as ‘not accurate’ but that an officer is on life support.  —  9.30pm US Capitol Police announce …