Biden's Georgia Speech Is a Break Point  —  He thought he was merely appealing to his base.  He might have united the rest of the country against him.  —  It is startling when two speeches within 24 hours, neither much heralded in advance—the second wouldn't even have been given without the first …

Biden is failing politically, and not just because of Republican obstruction  —  President Biden hit a political wall this week in his push for voting-rights legislation, just as he did last year in trying to pass his Build Back Better spending package.  It's time for Biden to ask himself why he's in this morass.

Sedition Charges Demolish a Right-Wing Talking Point  —  Steve Bannon and other Trump defenders had bizarrely contended that Jan. 6th was no big deal because there were no indictments for sedition.  —  Steve Bannon thought he had a really great point on his podcast last Wednesday …

Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal Drama Critic, Dies at Age 65  —  Missouri-born author and musician wrote biographies of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and H.L. Mencken  —  Terry Teachout, a prolific New York-based biographer and essayist who wrote exuberantly about drama for The Wall Street Journal …

Biden's Big Blunder: Picking Battles He's Likely to Lose  —  On Thursday, President Biden suffered two additional defeats, as the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his employer vaccine mandate and Senator Kyrsten Sinema restated that she would not blow up the filibuster to pass a voting bill.

Why didn't the FBI see the Capitol siege coming?  —  A year later, the bureau still won't come clean on why it ignored piles of evidence and outside warnings about political violence before the attack on January 6, 2021.  —  In the lead-up to the Capitol siege, the FBI received at least …

Maskless and Inaccurate  —  The Supreme Court offers a window into partisan Covid fallacies.  —  When the Supreme Court justices emerged from the red drapes at the front of the courtroom last Friday and took their seats — to hear arguments about President Biden's vaccine mandate …

A Wisconsin judge rules absentee ballot drop boxes are not allowed under state law  —  A Waukesha County judge has ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes are not allowed under Wisconsin law, a ruling that could potentially remove an option for voting ahead of the state's crucial midterm elections.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton violated open records law, says Travis County DA  —  AUSTIN — The Travis County district attorney has determined that Attorney General Ken Paxton violated the state's open records law by not turning over his communications from last January …

Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby indicted on federal charges she lied on loan, mortgage documents  —  A federal grand jury has indicted Baltimore's top prosecutor Marilyn J. Mosby on charges she lied on a mortgage loan application to buy a Florida property and made false statements …

Former Michigan state legislator mounts challenge to Rashida Tlaib  —  Detroit native Shanelle Jackson served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2007 to 2012  —  Shanelle Jackson, a former Michigan state legislator in Detroit who now works in the private sector …

A Democrat won a US House seat this week with 79 percent of the vote.  Her GOP opponent has not conceded.  —  An election in South Florida this week may serve as a marker for where the Republican Party stands in 2022, and how much American democracy has already changed since Donald Trump lost reelection.

Australia cancels Novak Djokovic's visa again, upending tennis star's quest for record 21st Grand Slam title  —  SYDNEY — Australian authorities canceled the visa of Novak Djokovic on Friday and threatened to detain him again, reigniting the legal battle over the unvaccinated tennis star's controversial entry …

POLITICO Playbook: Bill and Hillary peek their heads out  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  SENATE SKIPS TOWN — Just before 10 p.m. Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER ditched plans to keep the Senate in town through the weekend in order to meet an MLK Day deadline to pass voting rights legislation.

GOP senator plans to introduce ‘Fauci Act’ after clash at hearing  —  Republican Sen. Roger Marshall (Kan.) plans to introduce the “Fauci Act” after he clashed with infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci at a Senate hearing this week.  —  Marshall will be introducing the Financial Accountability …

Doctors Debate Whether Trans Teens Need Therapy Before Hormones  —  Clinicians are divided over new guidelines that say teens should undergo mental health screenings before receiving hormones or gender surgeries.  —  An upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align …

In days after January 6, McCarthy said Trump admitted bearing some responsibility for Capitol attack  —  (CNN)House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said publicly and privately in the days following the deadly riots at the US Capitol that President Donald Trump admitted personally bearing …

How NPR's Steve Inskeep cracked the code for interviewing Trump  —  The veteran host used a ‘truth sandwich’ approach to counter the former president's election lies  —  How can journalists interview Donald Trump — or other politicians who consistently spread misinformation — without magnifying their lies?

Two parties held in Downing Street as Queen and country mourned death of Prince Philip  —  The leaving events for No 10 staff were held on the eve of the Duke's funeral and excessive alcohol is believed to have been consumed  —  Downing Street staff drank alcohol into the early hours …

New Virus Cases Begin to Slow in U.S. Cities Where Omicron Hit First  —  Reports of infections are falling in Cleveland, Newark and Washington, suggesting that a national peak may be approaching.  —  At another bleak moment of the pandemic in the United States — with nearly 800,000 new cases a day …

It's Time For Democrats To Accept That Norms Are Dead  —  The GOP has no problem being completely unmoored from reality.  —  When members of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 asked Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to meet with them, they probably should've known that he wouldn't comply with their request.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Epstein brought EIGHT young women with him on his trips to see Bill Clinton at the White House: Displayed photos of himself posing at the Briefing Room podium at his Palm Beach mansion  — Visitor logs obtained by DailyMail.com reveal Jeffrey Epstein was not always alone …

Senate scraps recess for swing at filibuster  —  With help from Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers  —  DEMS DEADLINE, DASHED — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) key deadline of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday for a Senate vote on election and voting legislation …

R.N.C. Signals a Pullout From Presidential Debates  —  The Republican National Committee says it will require candidates to pledge to not participate in debates run by the Commission on Presidential Debates.  What would replace them, if anything, was unclear.

Ukraine says government websites hit by ‘massive cyber attack’  —  Kyiv has yet to assign blame for the disruption on at least 10 sites  —  Ukraine said it was the target of a “massive cyber attack” after at least 10 government websites ceased functioning.

Biden-Backed Solar Company Lied About Effectiveness of Solar Modules, Lawsuit Says  —  Biden gave First Solar $500 million loan last month  —  Investors are suing a Biden-backed solar energy company that received a $500 million federal loan last month, claiming the company lied to shareholders …

Harris team looks to course changes to reset her political prospects  —  Vice President Harris's team is engaged in a series of course changes that aides and supporters hope will boost her public image and reset her political prospects, after a first year in office that even some of her allies say has fallen short of expectations.

White House announces new program to repair and replace bridges  —  (CNN)The White House on Friday announced a new program to repair and replace the nation's bridges through funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law that passed Congress in November.  —  The announcement comes 60 days …