Media Matters has the transcript: I think the Democrats have determined that Republicans won’t stick together. And if they don’t, they’ll be able to raise the debt ceiling and concede nothing to the Republican Party in terms of fiscal discipline or whatever united you would want. I take a different position. I actually think Kevin McCarthy and 221 of your …

Variety reports: A former MoviePass executive was arrested Tuesday on charges that he embezzled $260,000 from the company to pay for a party at Coachella Music Festival. Khalid Itum, 42, was indicted on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering. The charges allege that Itum submitted sham invoices to MoviePass to pay for the marketing event, …

ABC News reports: A close-up photo of the Chinese spy balloon, taken mid-air from a U-2 spy plane, has been released by the U.S. military The photo was taken on Friday, Feb. 3 as the balloon flew over the American Midwest at an altitude of 60,000 feet — as the U-2 spy plane trailed it flew across the continental United …

Axios reports: Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy posed “grave security risks” to lawmakers and their staff by giving access to Jan. 6 footage to Fox News. Schumer said McCarthy’s decision was a mistake that could lead Fox News host Tucker Carson to air footage exposing highly guarded contingency plans to millions of …

The Associated Press reports: The 22-year-old accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in November posted to a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs while gaming online, a police detective testified Wednesday. Among the things Anderson Lee Aldrich posted was an image of a rifle scope trained on a gay …

Politico reports: The DeSantis administration now requires events held at the Florida state Capitol to “align” with its mission, a recent change that is sparking concerns that the governor’s office is trying to censor events it doesn’t like. The Department of Management Services, the administration department that oversees state facilities, over the past few months has changed rules for groups …

NBC News reports: A Jan. 6 rioter who threatened Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media after participating in the attack on the Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to 38 months in prison. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 48 months in prison for Garret Miller, an unemployed Texan who, they noted, was wearing a T-shirt bearing former President Donald Trump’s …

The Associated Press reports: Republican lawmaker endorsed by former President Donald Trump was defeated Tuesday by a fellow state legislator in a three-way GOP primary for an open state Senate seat representing Milwaukee’s northern suburbs. State Rep. Dan Knodl of Germantown beat Trump-backed state Rep. Janel Brandtjen and Thienesville Village President Van Mobley in the 8th Senate District primary. Brandtjen …

Reuters reports: Airlines canceled more than 1,500 flights in the United States on Wednesday as a strong winter storm makes its way through the western and central states. A total of 1,510 flights within, into and out of the United States were canceled by 4:30 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware, which also showed 3,870 flights were delayed. Snow …

Media Matters has the transcript: She’s weird. She’s not just weird, she’s like borderline demonic. Look at the — I mean, you can tell this. Like, look at the gyrations of eyes, the strange squirrelliness and weirdness of the motion in her body. Listen, man. I’m no exorcist, but there is a way that people act when they’re not of …

The New York Times reports: Former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, …

USA Today reports: The White House is firing back at Republicans following the toxic East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, blaming the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress for undoing Obama-era rail safety measures designed to avert such disasters. “Congressional Republicans and former Trump Administration officials owe East Palestine an apology for selling them out to rail industry lobbyists when they …

“I’ve encountered witches before. Three witches came up and they started saying stuff at me. And maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn’t, but I got super sick right after that. Obviously, I believe that those unclean spirits are subservient to truth, to Christ, and to the one God,. By the way, some of you in our audience say …

The National Review reports: A consistent theme in early polling of the 2024 Republican primaries is that Ron DeSantis beats Donald Trump if the race comes down to a head-to-head, two-man binary choice. A new poll from Echelon Insights surveying Michigan Republican primary voters tells us that again: If offered only those two choices, 47 percent would choose DeSantis, 42 …

Jacksonville’s CBS affiliate reports: 50-year-old Paul Mauricio will be spending the next 25 years behind bars for sex crimes involving a 12-year-old girl. As part of a plea deal, Mauricio, who was an eight-year veteran of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty to four out of seven sexual assault charges. A judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison …

Mediaite reports: Texas Senator and part-time podcaster Ted Cruz blasted President Joe Biden for his trip to Kyiv, Ukraine to see President Volodymyr Zelensky amid the Russian invasion. On the Wednesday edition of Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Republican suggested the air raid sirens heard during Biden’s tour of the city were fake. “The fact that neither Biden nor Zelensky …

Gallup Polling reports: After showing perceptible increases in 2020 and 2021, U.S. adults’ identification as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual held steady in 2022, at 7.2%. The current percentage is double what it was when Gallup first measured LGBT identification a decade ago. The data are based on aggregated polling data from 2022 Gallup telephone surveys, …

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports: Walgreens officials are not planning to distribute the abortion drug mifepristone in Kansas, Attorney General Kris Kobach said Monday, weeks after Kobach sent a letter to the pharmacy giant blasting their move to distribute the pill in pharmacies nationally. In the original Feb. 6 letter, Kobach said he would “not hesitate” to enforce Kansas law in …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: State lawmakers are moving forward with a Gov. Ron DeSantis-inspired push to make it easier for prominent people to sue media outlets for defamation, setting the stage for a potential First Amendment clash in the courts. The Legislature is set to take up the measure that challenges longstanding protections for the press established by the U.S …

The Daily Beast reports: Broadway star Ben Platt condemned “really disgusting” neo-Nazi protesters “spreading evil” who heckled theatergoers on Tuesday evening in line to see the first preview performance of the musical, Parade. The show, a Broadway transfer from the Encores! concert series, is based on the true story of a Jewish factory superintendent, Leo Frank, who was falsely convicted …