Rochester (New York) police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call on Wednesday ended up handcuffing a nine-year-old girl and then pepper spraying her as she cried out for her father, CNN reports.

Police body cam footage show the officers handcuffing the girl and walking the crying girl to the police car.  When she resists putting her feet in the car, a police officer takes out pepper spray and sprays it in the girl’s face.

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren said that she talked to the girl’s mother and that the city’s Person in Health mental health team would be reaching out to the family.

“A new outside group launched on Monday to target Democratic activist and former gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, who is all but certain to challenge Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia next year in a rematch of their 2018 election showdown. Leaders of the new independent committee, known as ‘Stop Stacey,’ say they will build a ‘robust state and national fundraising operation’ in order to target Abrams with opposition research, digital ads and other paid media. A release from organizers, shared first with Fox News, describes the new group as ‘a national, grassroots organization of engaged conservatives who are committed to protecting our future from Stacey Abrams, her left-wing backers, and their radical, un-American agenda'” Fox News reports.

“Abrams’ efforts are credited with helping President Biden last November become the first Democrat in more than a quarter-century to carry the once-solidly red state of Georgia in a White House race. And her efforts were also considered crucial in helping Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeat Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in Georgia’s twin Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections, which gave the Democrats the majority in the chamber for the first time in six years. With Abrams a sure bet to face off with Kemp in what could be one of the most competitive, expensive and fierce gubernatorial races in the country, which would draw tons of national attention, Republicans are gearing up to try and stop her. Among those launching the new committee are GOP operatives who are veterans of Kemp’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign and Loeffler’s unsuccessful 2020 campaign. ‘After losing the White House and United States Senate in 2020, grassroots Republicans across Georgia and America are standing together to stop radical Stacey Abrams,’ ‘Stop Stacey’ senior strategist Jeremy Brand emphasized in a statement. ‘There is no time to waste: We must stand up, fight back, and Stop Stacey.'”

Axios: “The Biden administration plans to review the phase one U.S.-China trade deal, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. Based on publicly available data, it’s hard to imagine they’ll find anything other than a debacle. China isn’t even close to fulfilling its end of the deal – having come up 42% short of its commitment, Chad Bown, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, reported late last week.”

“The phase one deal was meant to be the Trump administration’s reward for U.S. farmers, manufacturers and other business owners who had been bludgeoned by Trump’s tax on American businesses via the trade war’s tariffs. The trade war was billed as a plan to bring China to its knees by choking off the all-important American market with 25% tariffs on many imports that would rein in the U.S. trade deficit, boost American exports and slow China’s rise as a global superpower. What really happened: ‘The trade war with China hurt the US economy and failed to achieve major policy goals,’ a recent study commissioned by the U.S.-China Business Council argues, finding that the trade war reduced economic growth and cost the U.S. 245,000 jobs.”

Politico: “Former President Donald Trump amassed $31.2 million in his new political operation by the end of 2020, giving him a powerful tool to keep the Republican Party in his grip as he left office. Save America, a leadership PAC created in the aftermath of the 2020 election, is set to play a key role in Trump’s plans to keep a strong hand in party politics – both to boost loyalists and also to seek retribution against Republicans he believes have wronged him, such as the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in mid-January. Trump cannot spend the PAC funds directly on any future campaign of his own, but he can use it to wield influence in campaigns in the midterm elections, pay his political advisers and travel the country.”

“‘The more money [Trump] stacks up in his committee, the greater his grip will remain on many elected Republicans who will fear those resources could be turned against them,’ said Rob Stutzman, a California-based Republican consultant. Stutzman said that it ‘should be no surprise’ that Trump ‘has continued to fundraise well during this period.’ The money in Trump’s PAC, detailed in a new financial report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday evening, was largely raised via grassroots fundraising appeals pleading for help with legal challenges aimed at the 2020 election results. But Save America spent little money at the end of last year, reporting only $218,000 in merchant fees to Republican online donation processor WinRed.”

An updated National Weather Service bulletin for Winter Storm Angeli* forecasts 18 to 24 inches of snow for much of the New York City metro region – with lesser amounts expected for Long Island, particularly Eastern Long Island – from Monday into Tuesday morning, with a possible changeover to a freezing rain/sleet mixture late Monday night.

*National Zero’s name for this winter storm. The douchebags at The Weather Channel are calling it “Orlena”, but this isn’t recognized by any other entity. So we’re calling it Angeli, since it’s okay for news outlets to unilaterally name winter storms whatever they want.

Reuters: “Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, were nominated by a friendly attorney on Sunday for the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations known as the ‘Abraham Accords.’ The deals were announced in a four-month span between mid-August and mid-December and were the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East in 25 years as the region girds for a prolonged confrontation with Iran. Nominating the pair of former deputies to then-President Donald Trump was American attorney Alan Dershowitz, who was eligible to do so in his capacity as a professor emeritus of Harvard Law School.”

“A Norwegian politician said he’s been bombarded with threats and hateful messages since he nominated the Black Lives Matter movement for the Nobel Peace Prize. Petter Eide, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, told ABC News on Sunday that he was prepared for the criticism and has no plans to rescind the nomination. ‘This weekend I have received so many negative responses from individual Americans telling me that Black Lives Matter is a violent and aggressive organization, that they are deliberately using violence as a political communication tool and that nominating them for the Nobel Peace Prize is quite insane,’ Eide said in a phone interview with ABC News. Eide declined to elaborate on the messages he has received, but said, ‘They were very nasty, and some of them were also threats. They were hateful'” – ABC News.

AFP: “Myanmar’s military has detained the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an apparent coup, her ruling party’s spokesman said Monday. The military, which ruled the country for nearly five decades, had this week refused to rule out seizing power over its claims of voter fraud in November’s elections, won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Myo Nyunt, the spokesman for the NLD, said Suu Kyi, along with President Win Myint, had been “detained” in the capital Naypyidaw. ‘We heard they were taken by the military,’ he told AFP, adding that he was extremely worried about the pair. ‘With the situation we see happening now, we have to assume that the military is staging a coup.’ He added that the circumstances of the country’s newly elected MPs – who were expected to sit Monday for the opening of parliament – were unclear.”

The New York Times has what looks to be an epic account of Trump’s utter self-immolation between the 2020 election and the inauguration of Joe Biden. Check it out here.

One of the newly named attorneys for Donald Trump, Bruce Castor, filed suit in 2020 against Trump and US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for undermining the integrity of the US Postal Service, Marc Elias of Democracy Docket reports.

In the lawsuit filed by his law firm, Castor and his seven partners noted Trump made “repeated claims” “that voting by mail is ripe with fraud despite having no evidence in support of those claims.”

The former Montgomery County (Pennsylvania) district attorney notes on his firm’s website that he got his college degree from astronaut Neil Armstrong, a honor given to his entire graduating class at Lafayette College because Armstrong was the guest speaker.

Spotted in DC! #StandWithMTG pic.twitter.com/hdJsQPZEEH

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) February 1, 2021

Republican Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection after the January 6th domestic terrorist attack at the Capitol, has started a new PAC to combat Trumpism, the Washington Post reports.

Called the Country 1st PAC, the new organization hopes to attract traditional conservatives to fight the influence of Trump within the Republican Party, potentially cleaving the GOP into those who continue to follow the divisive leadership of the ex-president versus those who follow traditional conservative small-government concepts.

“The reality is this: This is a time to choose. . . . And my goal in launching Country1st.com . . . is just to say, ‘Look, let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way, how backwards-looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division,’ ” Kinzinger said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”  “And that’s not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”

“45th President Donald J. Trump today announced that highly respected trial lawyers David Schoen and Bruce L. Castor, Jr., will head his impeachment defense legal team, bringing national profiles and significant trial experience in high-profile cases to the effort. Notably, Schoen has already been working with the 45th President and other advisors to prepare for the upcoming trial, and both Schoen and Castor agree that this impeachment is unconstitutional – a fact 45 Senators voted in agreement with last week. ‘It is an honor to represent the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, and the United States Constitution,’ said Schoen. Castor added, ‘I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th President. The strength of our Constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history. It is strong and resilient. A document written for the ages, and it will triumph over partisanship yet again, and always'” – Press statement from ‘The Office of The Former President’ via New York Times reporter Eric Lipton.

NBC News: “The mother of one of the victims of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, said she spoke to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., after the freshman lawmaker was hit with widespread backlash last week for outlandish comments she made on social media, including one suggesting the shooting was a ‘false flag.’ According to Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son, Scott Beigel, was killed in the attack, Greene said does not believe major school shootings from the past decade were either false flags or staged. But, Schulman said, Greene declined to join her to publicly disavow them alongside her on MSNBC.”

‘”It’s wrong, it’s just wrong,’ Schulman said during an interview with ‘Weekends with Alex Witt,’ when asked about her thoughts on Greene’s promoting conspiracies about prominent mass shootings. ‘She should not be telling lies,’ Schulman added. She said a congressman helped connect her with Greene, and they spoke over Zoom on Saturday. ‘When we started our conversation, I was totally upfront and told congresswoman Greene that I was going to be on MSNBC today,’ Schulman said. ‘My first question to congresswoman Greene was do you really believe that Parkland and Sandy Hook were false flags and staged?’ Schulman said. ‘That was a real important question to me. To this moment, I cannot fathom that somebody could say something like that. Her answer was unequivocally no, I do not.’ Schulman said that while she ‘very much wanted to’ trust Greene, she felt she couldn’t. ‘Unless she wants to get in front of the public and wants to right the wrong lies being espoused out there and wants to disavow the things that she said, no, I can’t believe it,’ Schulman said, adding, ‘Maybe inside of her she believes it, I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m not inside of her, but you can, words are very powerful, but actions speak louder than words.'”

(UPDATE 6:34 p.m. ET:  The second skier’s body was recovered by search and rescue teams, CNN reports.)

Two skiers near Utah’s Park City Mountain Canyons Village resort triggered an avalanche on the mountain Saturday evening,  allowing only one of the skiers to escape and setting up search for the missing skier, CNN reports.

The skiers were schussing outside the boundaries of the ski resort when they triggered the avalanche.  Both were caught up in the snow, and one was able to find the other, who required lifesaving measures.  The skier, however, had to abandon his companion because nightfall was setting in and the risk of another avalanche increased.

The Utah Department of Public Safety dispatched a helicopter Sunday morning to assist the Summit County Search and Rescue team looking for the missing skier.

Ten Republican Senators led by Susan Collins of Maine have requested a meeting with President Joe Biden to review a counterproposal to Biden’s $1.9 trillion recovery package, a test of Biden’s claim that he would seek unity with people from the opposition party, the Washington Post reports.

The Republican’s $600 billion plan would eliminate an increased federal minimum wage and lower one-time supplemental stimulus payments from $1,400 to $1,000, as well as lower the maximum household income eligible for the checks.

The Biden Administration has called the $1.9 trillion package a starting point for negotiations, saying that it’s essential for aid to get to Americans quickly.  Democrats in Congress have proposed using a budget reconciliation process, which only needs a simple majority in the Senate to pass, to get the package through if Republicans remain recalcitrant. 

“Utah activist John Sullivan, who was arrested for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol, was released from jail earlier this month on the condition that he follow rules including staying off social media. Now, he has been accused by a pretrial service officer of violating those conditions of release. Sullivan was charged in federal court in the District of Columbia with with civil disorder, being in a restricted area and disorderly conduct. Sullivan told The Salt Lake Tribune he attended the rioting to film it and watch history, but a government affidavit alleges he was not a quiet observer. Citing Sullivan’s own videos as evidence, the affidavit claims he broke a window and yelled things such as ‘We accomplished this shit. We did this together,’ and, ‘We are all a part of this history. … Let’s burn this shit down'” reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

“At a Jan. 15 court appearance, prosecutor Bryan Reeves asked for Sullivan to remain in jail, claiming he is a risk for trying to threaten witnesses or jurors. Judge Daphne Oberg said Reeves lacked the evidence needed to keep Sullivan locked up. However, Oberg set a number of conditions of release including that Sullivan undergo a mental health evaluation and be employed full-time.
Reeves also asked that Sullivan’s internet use be monitored to prevent him from going on social media to ‘incite’ people. In a court document filed Wednesday, U.S. Pretrial Services Officer Josh Cahoon claimed that Sullivan violated his approved internet usage on four different occasions. Oberg issued a court summons for Sullivan based on the allegation.”

National Memo: “In testimony before the House this week, Capitol Police and D.C. National Guard officials acknowledged that by Jan. 4 they understood that ‘… the January 6th event would not be like any of the previous protests held in 2020. We knew that militia groups and white supremacist organizations would be attending. We also knew that some of these participants were intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event. We knew that there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.’ On that same day, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller issued a memo to the secretary of the Army placing some extremely unusual limits on National Guard forces for that event. It’s not a to-do list. It’s a list of thou shalt nots. A long list. A list that says guard forces can’t arrest any of the pro-Trump protesters, or search them, or even touch them. And that’s just for starters.”

“The full memo shows that the D.C. Guard did receive a request from D.C. government for guard presence during the Jan. 6 event. Miller responds promptly to go ahead, so long as the soldiers are given no weapons, no body armor, and no helmets. They can bring agents like pepper spray or flashbangs. They can’t share any gear with Capitol Police or Metro D.C. Police. They can’t … really do much of anything. When initial reports indicate that the handful of National Guard forces that were deployed to D.C. on that day were dedicated to directing traffic several blocks away from the area of the Trump rally, it may simply be because that’s the only thing they could find for them to do considering the restrictions that were given. It’s clear that these restrictions would have absolutely prevented any guard forces from trying to protect any location.”

The Lincoln Project released a statement on Twitter disavowing its association with one of its co-founders who has been credibly accused of sexually harassing and exploiting young men.

John Weaver, who was a Republican operative in the campaigns for John McCain and John Kasich, has been accused by 21 men of sending unsolicited provocative messages to them, with some of them being as young as fourteen when he sent them, hinting that he could help them get into politics if they accepted his advances, according to the New York Times.

“John Weaver led a secret life that was built on a foundation of deception at every level,” the Lincoln Project statement reads.  “He is a predator, a liar, and an abuser.  We extend our deepest sympathies to those who were targeted by his deplorable and predatory behavior.  We are disgusted and outraged that someone in his position of power and trust would use it for these means.”