Good Tuesday to you,

Rabbi Charles Cytron-Walker of the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, explained Monday how the hostage situation at the temple ended. They weren’t freed. They escaped. “I made sure that the two gentlemen who were still with me, that they were ready to go,” he told CBS News. “The exit wasn’t too far away. I told them to go. I threw a chair at the gunman, and I headed for the door.” The FBI moved in and hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram was killed. The FBI called it a “terrorism-related matter.” More broadly, it’s worth looking through this survey and study of antisemitism in America released by the American Jewish Committee last fall. About four in 10 Jews say, for example, that they take steps to hide their Jewishness online so as not to provoke certain reactions. American Jews also fear attacks from the nativist right more than extremism carried out in the name of Islam.

Over to Capitol Hill: Today Chuck Schumer proceeds on the sure-to-fail Senate votes on voting rights and the filibuster. Pointless? Well, at least it gets people on the record on both matters. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have come in for much-deserved criticism, especially the latter after that floor speech of hers last week, which Representative Jim Clyburn summarized so well, referring to both senators: “These two Democrats have decided that it is much more important to them to protect the voting rights of the minority on the Senate floor than to protect the voting rights of minorities in this great country of ours, the minorities that made it possible for them to be in the position that they’re currently in.” Disgraceful to put procedure ahead of the rights of people.

As much contempt as those two deserve, let’s not forget to throw some shade on “moderate” Republicans, too. Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins … is this the legacy they want? Evidently it is. Romney whined that Biden never called him. Even if that’s true, is that the basis on which United States senators make decisions of historical significance—whether the White House showed them deference? 

But the Republicans will pay no price. Joe Biden will. Would it have changed anything if he’d done more earlier? I doubt it. And Politico reports today that Kamala Harris was much more active on this issue for a longer period of time than we’ve known. But that was behind the scenes. A lot of politics, especially on an issue that you know you’re likely to lose, is about making your people feel like you tried your best. Obviously, activists don’t feel like the White House did. A White House doesn’t want to use political capital on an issue it knows it’s going to lose. On the other hand, it has to show the base that it went down fighting. The White House didn’t accomplish that on this issue, and unless things turn around it will definitely be felt in midterm turnout.

This just in: Funny tweet from Mehdi Hasan on “No-Vac” Djokovic:

At NewRepublic.com, read Patrick Iber’s review of a book about Smedley Butler, the early-twentieth-century U.S. general who turned against capitalism and empire; check out Grace Segers’s interview with Representative Rosa DeLauro about the future of the child tax credit and other matters; and look in on Jason Linkins’s argument, related to my point above, about how Democrats can still make it so that Republicans take some blame for the stalling of Biden’s agenda. 

Stay safe,

—Michael Tomasky, editor

Every day, our journalists are exposing the right’s assaults on our democracy—and pushing the Democrats to go bold to preserve the republic. Here’s a special offer from The New Republic so you won’t miss their scoops and sharp analysis.

Last Thursday’s Washington history question: In addition to being the birthday of Henry Fairlie, Marjorie Williams, and yours truly, today is the fortieth anniversary of the Air Florida Flight 90 crash into Washington’s 14th St. Bridge during a snowstorm, killing 78. On its thirtieth anniversary, The Washington Post said Flight 90 was the second-deadliest weather disaster in D.C.’s history. What was the deadliest?

Answer: A roof collapse during a January 1922 snowstorm at the Knickerbocker Theater, situated at the corner of 18th St. and Columbia Road NW in the neighborhood known today as Adams Morgan. The accumulated weight of piled-up snow caused the theater’s roof to cave in on January 28, killing 98 people and injuring 133. The crowd was gathered there to see the silent comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. Here’s the Page 1 story on January 29 in the Evening Star. The theater was later replaced by the Ambassador Theater, setting for the raucous opening scene in Norman Mailer’s The Armies of the Night. The Ambassador was torn down in 1969, and a bank was later built on the site.

Today’s political geography question: We political junkies study maps quite a lot, and of various kinds—congressional districts, judicial districts, state legislative districts, you name it. This includes county maps, counties being the basic political building blocks of federalism. Name the counties in which these 10 major American cities reside: Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati.