THE BIG STORY

An awkward exchange became a highlight of the Democratic presidential debate

Just before Tuesday’s debate, two big stories came out — the first was about volunteers for Bernie Sanders reportedly being instructed to tell voters that Elizabeth Warren is “bringing no new bases” to the table. Shortly after, Warren said Sanders told her privately that he doesn’t believe a woman can win in November.

By Tuesday afternoon, both parties were trying to “de-escalate,” ahead of the debate.

But on the debate stage in Iowa, the tense conflict between the two progressive giants and self-described friends, came to a head and ended with a seemingly tense exchange as they parted ways onstage. Sanders left the conversation, both hands in the air.

Asked if the conflict between the two frontrunners was over, Sanders campaign co-chair Nina Turner said, “Not exactly. I mean, we all saw what happened at the end of the debate. The senator reached out his hand, to shake her hand, and she wouldn't do it.”

A mere hour into the debate, our boss wondered aloud: what the hell is billionaire Tom Steyer doing on the debate stage? But as Steyer was the closest person to the Warren-Sanders exchange, and likely heard everything, people finally know who he is: the keeper of the secret.

You should also know:

👉Nevada’s largest teachers union is endorsing Sanders.

👉Warren said she would start canceling student loan debt on her first day as president.

👉Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Sanders’ top campaign surrogates, says it’s “important to say that of course women can win.”

👉A major immigrant rights group protested Joe Biden at the Iowa debate.

Peter Semansky / AP

IMPEACHMENT TODAY

Who will make the case for Trump's removal? If the impeachment trial is a great stage play, who will star as the lawyers? We discuss the Democrats’ house managers, who will be running the show during the trial. Listen and subscribe.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

A volcano has blanketed parts of the Philippines in a thick layer of toxic ash

As the Taal volcano spews lava and blankets the surrounding area with a thick layer of gray ash, authorities are anticipating a major eruption in the near future and have ordered the evacuation of everybody within 8.7 miles of the volcano's danger zone.

According to the the UN, some 38,000 people have been evacuated to 75 evacuation centers. Experts note that new fissures near the volcano and an increase in volcanic earthquakes are possible signs that an eruption may occur in the coming days.

The photos of everything blanketed in ash are just surreal.

Aaron Favila / AP

SNAPSHOTS

A jet dumped fuel on elementary students while they were playing outside. A Delta flight making an emergency return to Los Angeles International Airport dumped jet fuel on several schools in the area as students were outside. First responders have treated nearly 40 people — including 20 children — for minor injuries.

A group of women occupying an empty house in a gentrified neighborhood were forcibly evicted. A judge ordered the women, who had been in the empty, investor-owned home since November, to be removed when he rejected activist Dominique Walker’s argument that “housing is a human right” and that she should be allowed to stay in the vacant home.

An off-duty Secret Service agent shot and killed a pet dog. The Secret Service claimed the dog was unrestrained and aggressive. The dog reportedly started barking, and the agent drew his weapon and fired a single, fatal shot.

Instagram is testing desktop DMs. For many people, Instagram direct messages are one of their main methods of communication, so this is a bit delayed, but the test is coming. It’ll be available to a small number of users at first. (Sorry).

Billie Eilish confirmed that she’ll be doing the next James Bond theme song. After rumors of Billie's involvement began swirling, the 18-year-old stoked the fires by posting previous Bond franchise actors to her Instagram story. Then, she confirmed that she'll be singing the theme song for No Time to Die.

RELIABLY UNRELIABLE

The UK election showed just how unreliable Facebook’s security system for elections really is

Facebook has said it will not fact-check political ads or restrict the ability for campaigns to target people. Instead, it said it will provide transparency with tools like Facebook’s Ad Library, a website that serves as an archive of political and issue ads run on the platform.

The idea behind Ad Library is that the public, researchers, and journalists can monitor how elections play out on Facebook.

Then, two days before the United Kingdom went to the polls, some 74,000 political advertisements vanished from the archive. For a while, what the company described as a “bug” wiped 40% of all political Facebook ads in the UK from the public record.

The Ad Library API is the most powerful tool available to monitor political ad spending on Facebook. But, as Rory Smith writes, it too has been a constant source of frustration for researchers.

SHOOT YOUR SHOT

Sia asked Diplo if he wanted no-strings-attached sex because she doesn’t want a relationship and the text message is hilarious

In keeping with being a role model we don’t deserve, the OG masked singer Sia revealed that she texted producer Diplo with a pretty straight-forward pitch.

Sia’s revelation, which came in a GQ feature about Diplo, went into quite a bit of detail — the text message began, “Hey, listen, you're like one of five people that I'm sexually attracted to…”

Carve out a part of your morning to ground yourself in gratitude,

Elamin