Top of the Fold

• House Democrats pass $1.9 trillion COVID boondoggle, sends it to Senate (CNBC)

“The biggest open question is how Democrats will handle their push for a $15 per hour minimum wage after the Senate parliamentarian ruled it could not be included in their budget reconciliation bill.”

• FDA authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine (USA Today)

“About 4 million doses of the new vaccine should be made available [this] week, 20 million total during March, and another 80 million by the end of June. Because the vaccine requires only one dose, it will help protect 100 million people and take effect more rapidly than the two-dose vaccines.”

• President Trump makes keynote speech at CPAC (NY Post)

“With your help, we will take back the House, we will win the Senate, and then a Republican president will make a triumphant return to the White House. And I wonder who that will be…” —Donald Trump

Big Tech Oligarchs

• Amazon Prime stops streaming Clarence Thomas documentary during Black History Month (Breitbart)

“Amazon has been taking down long-running documentaries from its site with little or no warning, and apparently it is almost impossible to receive a response as to why a documentary was taken down. And there may be some so-called liberal documentaries that have been taken down during this period. But it is very strange that Amazon could not find space on its website to stream a documentary on our longest-serving black Supreme Court justice in American history that ran on PBS in a national broadcast (no small feat) and is a top-selling DVD in its documentary section, while less popular documentaries on Justice Marshall are still streaming.”

• Judge approves $650 million Facebook privacy lawsuit settlement (AP)

“U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illlinois in 2015. Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois who submitted claims will be affected. Donato called it one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation. ‘It will put at least $345 into the hands of every class member interested in being compensated,’ he wrote, calling it ‘a major win for consumers in the hotly contested area of digital privacy.’”

Government & Politics

• Team Biden readies deficit-adding infrastructure package (AP)

“Democrats passed a $1.5 trillion package in the House last year, but it went nowhere with the Trump administration and the Republican-led Senate. A Senate panel approved narrower bipartisan legislation in 2019 focused on reauthorizing federal transportation programs. It, too, flamed out as the U.S. turned its focus to elections and COVID-19. … During the presidential campaign, Biden pledged to deploy $2 trillion on infrastructure and clean energy, but the White House has not ruled out an even higher price tag.”

• Federal judge says national ban against COVID-19-related evictions illegal (UPI)

“The legal challenge was brought by landlords who argued the mandate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Congress is unconstitutional. … The issue could ultimately end up in the Supreme Court.”

• Democrats dominate social media reach in months following Trump ban (Disrn)

“The top 10 Democrats have a current reach of just over 200 million followers across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. GOP leaders, in comparison, have an audience of just under 42 million.”

National Security

• FBI pinpoints a single suspect in the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick (Business Insider)

“Officials initially said Sicknick was struck by a fire extinguisher, but later said there was no evidence to suggest that he died from blunt force trauma. Federal investigators then launched a probe to look into whether bear spray … could instead have played a role in Sicknick’s death.”

• Federal officials charge more than 300 in Capitol riot (NBC)

• Saudi Crown Prince Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. intelligence report concludes (Forbes) | Biden won’t penalize the crown prince, fearing relations breach (NY Times)

Education

• Dr. Seuss accused of “orientalism, anti-blackness, and white supremacy” by SPLC; Loudoun County Schools in Virginia cancels him

• Boston Public Schools just canceled advanced classes for high-performing students because too many of the kids who qualified were white (Not the Bee)

Around the Nation

• Nancy Pelosi’s domicile to pull a staggering $120 million from police budget to give to black communities (Disrn)

“San Francisco has seen a sharp rise in violent crime over the past year, with homicides alone rising 35%. Homelessness and drug use has also risen to historic levels.”

• SCOTUS rules Santa Clara County churches may open indoor services (Disrn)

“Appeals to the decision are pending, but should they reach the Supreme Court, it appears the majority favors allowing churches to reopen.”

Annals of the “Social Justice” Caliphate

• “Anti-ICE” rioters smash windows, force businesses to board up in Portland (Daily Wire)

• Campus police release video proving University of Minnesota student lied about being profiled, harassed (Disrn)

• Here’s a HuffPo article encouraging parents to support “sex-change” surgeries for their children next to another discouraging people from neutering their dog (Not the Bee)

• Judge rules Miss United States of America pageant can exclude men (Disrn)

• Dezinformatsiya: NBC rushes to explain why crimes against Asians aren’t always hate crimes (Hot Air)

Other Notables

• Governor Andrew Cuomo accused of sexual harassment for second time (Fox) | Cuomo admits he “may have been insensitive” amid sexual harassment claims (Fox)

• White House shifts thinking on Beijing Winter Olympics boycott as pressure mounts over Uyghur genocide (Examiner)

• House Republicans push compromise bill aimed at codifying LGBT “rights” and religious protections (Free Beacon)

• Personal income (10%) and spending (2.4%) soared in January (CNBC)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Joe Biden’s Syria airstrike hit the wrong target (1945)

• Policy: Rare earth elements aren’t that rare, but they’re vital to national security (Heritage Foundation)

• Satire: Cuomo assures public he always kept mask on while sexually harassing women (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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