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“Half of students across the country started the academic year below grade level in at least one subject,” the Washington Post reports.
“The results add to other research that suggests many students face a halting climb back from the tumble of the pandemic.”
Seth Masket: “Now at least so far, Ron DeSantis is enjoying the benefit of some national conversation about him as an alternative to Trump. But that condition is temporary – he hasn’t campaigned much outside of Florida, and we don’t really know how he’ll play in Iowa, New Hampshire, and elsewhere. Politically astute people outside Florida know his name but not much more at this point.”
“Also, there are other candidates out there. They’re not showing up in polls yet because people don’t know that they’re running, but they are. Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Mike Pence, and others are visiting the early contest states, raising money, making friends, asking for endorsements, and doing all the other things candidates do at this stage.”
“Trump wasn’t especially popular early in the 2016 cycle, but the key to his success was that his opponents within the Republican Party were divided among many different candidates. Those events could repeat themselves in 2024. But it’s also possible that Republicans who are worried about his influence just might have learned a lesson from back then.”
“Florida lawmakers passed a bill Friday expanding a program used to fly migrants to Democratic-led cities and states,” NBC News reports.
“Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration will now be able to relocate migrants elsewhere from any state in the country, not just from Florida.”
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Garrett Graff: “Based on the reporting and odd comments of the last few days, with the Pentagon saying that the balloons transited the US before, including during the Trump administration, and Trump officials vociferously denying any such transits, I think it’s fairly easy to read between the lines: The balloons did transit the US before, including during the Trump administration, but without the US detecting them. Somehow—most likely either through so-called ‘signals intelligence intercepts’ by the NSA or from human intelligence sources through the CIA, the US learned about the Chinese balloon program and instructed the Pentagon to be alert for future transits.”
“The Chinese balloon program seems the rough equivalent of the U-2 spy plane missions of the early 1960s—important surveillance and intelligence missions that carried on according to their own bureaucratic schedule, seeming with little higher-up attention.”
“An unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile has been launched from California to test the defense system,” the AP reports.
“While the test occurred amid U.S. concerns about North Korea’s missile tests and the transit of a Chinese spy balloon across the United States, the Air Force said the launch was routine.”
The FBI is currently conducting a search of former Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Indiana, CNN reports.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY) said in an interview that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) consoled him after his tense exchange this week with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) but Sinema’s office says she never spoke to Santos, NBC News reports.
Santos claimed that after Romney lashed out at him ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, Sinema told the congressman to “hang in there, buddy” as she was walking by.
He added that she “was very polite, very kindhearted,” unlike Romney, who he claims has “always had prejudice towards minorities.”
But Sinema’s spokesperson said that never happened, calling Santos’ comment “a lie.”
“Kate Bedingfield, a top adviser for President Biden since 2015, will step down as White House communications director later this month,” NBC News reports.
“And Ben LaBolt, a veteran of the Obama administration who worked on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, will step into the role.”
CNN: “Bedingfield had previously announced last summer that she would leave the administration, but later reversed her decision, remaining in the post for several more months.”
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), who was assaulted in her Washington apartment, reportedly deterred her attacker by pouring hot coffee over him, The Guardian reports.
Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn floated a conspiracy theory that we are heading towards World War III because of the “biological weapon called the Covid vaccines.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) questioned retired FBI Agent Thomas Baker at a House hearing:
GOLDMAN: Mr Baker, when did you retire from the FBI?
BAKER: 1999
GOLDMAN: Did smartphones exist back then?
BAKER: Of a sort.
GOLDMAN: Really?
BAKER: We had phones.
GOLDMAN: Do you know what a smartphone is?
“The Pentagon is urging Congress to resume funding a pair of top-secret programs in Ukraine suspended ahead of Russia’s invasion last year,” the Washington Post reports.
“If approved, the move would allow American Special Operations troops to employ Ukrainian operatives to observe Russian military movements and counter disinformation.”
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) “is planning to formally launch her campaign for U.S. Senate in California by the end of February, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who said Lee is timing her announcement to coincide with Black History Month,” the Washington Post reports.
“Hunter Biden’s legal team on Thursday defied a records request from House Republicans, calling their investigation into his business dealings an ‘expansive and invasive’ quest to turn President Biden’s son into a political weapon,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In a letter to the House Oversight Committee, Mr. Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell questioned the legitimacy of the Republican-led inquiry into the president and his family, arguing that the investigation lacked a valid legislative purpose. Mr. Lowell repeatedly referred to the younger Mr. Biden as a private citizen and said the information sought by the House panel ‘is precisely what is prohibited by the Supreme Court.'”
“When Donald Trump hit the campaign trail for the first time this year, he vowed to cut federal funding to schools promoting ‘left-wing’ ideas about gender and race. After the former president suggested that parents should be able to vote out school principals, one woman pumped her fist from the balcony of the South Carolina State House and cheered so loudly that her voice cracked,” the Washington Post reports.
“In that moment, Trump was leaning into the issues animating the conservative base most fervently — and his aides took note of the enthusiastic response he received on his trip. With schools at the center of GOP complaints about the way Americans discuss race and gender, the debate over these topics is expected to be a focal point of the 2024 presidential primary, according to party activists and strategists.”
“The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to GOP New York Rep. George Santos ordering him to officially declare that he is running for reelection in 2024, after he raised enough money following the midterm elections in November to trigger filing requirements,” CNN reports.
In the letter, the FEC asks Santos needs to “either disavow these activities by notifying the Commission in writing that you are not a candidate, or redesignate your principal campaign committee by filing a Statement of Candidacy.”
The Reload: “Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told attendees at the gun-rights group’s most recent board meeting that the organization is down to 4.3 million members… That represents a downturn of more than a million members since allegations of financial impropriety were leveled against LaPierre and other members of NRA leadership in 2019.”
“The NRA is now smaller than it has been since 2012 when internal documents show the group had 4 million members.”
Following Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s announcement of a $2 billion loan for battery recycling in Nevada, Politico reports Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) praised the “science lesson” she gave and then asked her: “Did you actually understand this science or did you just memorize that?”
The crowd was silent.
Granholm, a Harvard Law graduate, later tweeted: “Big words can be intimidating, I understand. All the Governor needs to know is that $2 BILLION and thousands of good-paying jobs are coming to Nevada thanks to @POTUS.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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