They ransacked the U.S. Capitol and now want the government to pay them back

Wasington Post -  At least eight Jan. 6 defendants are pursuing refunds of the financial penalties paid as part of their sentences, according to a Post review of court records; judges agreed that St Cyr and a Maryland couple should be reimbursed, while five more are appealing denials. (St Cyr and the couple are still waiting to receive their payments, however.) Others are filing civil lawsuits against the government seeking millions of dollars, alleging politically tainted prosecutions and violations of their constitutional rights. Hundreds more have filed claims accusing the Justice Department, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies of inflicting property damage and personal injuries, according to their lawyer.

The efforts are the latest chapter in an extraordinary rewriting of history by the president and his allies to bury the facts of what happened at the Capitol, sustain the false claim that the 2020 election was rigged, and recast the Jan. 6 offenders as victims entitled to taxpayer-funded compensation.

“Donald Trump and the DOJ want taxpayers to reimburse a violent mob for the destruction of the U.S. Capitol. The Jan. 6 nightmare continues,” said Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol’s security and operations.

Health

The Hill - The U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization will take effect today after the one-year notice period concluded. Trump had ordered the U.S. to pull out from the organization during his first term, but this was reversed by former President Biden

Arctic blast to bring dangerous subzero conditions to Eastern states

NBC News - A massive winter storm is set to wallop a 2,000-mile stretch from the southern Plains to the Northeast, and could cause power outages for millions of Americans. The storm is expected to hit Texas and Oklahoma before heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain rapidly stretch across the South through the weekend. By Sunday, heavy snow is expected in the Mid-Atlantic, with an ice storm continuing in North Georgia and the Carolinas. 

Wind chills of 40 to 50 below zero are possible in the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes region, whereas in Texas and other Gulf Coast states, temperatures could be in the single digits to 10 below zero.

More than 50 record lows are possible from Sunday to Tuesday, with Texas and Southern states most at risk. Gov. Greg Abbott said yesterday that he has already activated state emergency response resources.

Here’s how to prepare.

Trump’s second term so far – in charts

Greenland

NPR - European leaders will meet for an emergency summit tonight in response to President Trump’s statements on Greenland. Yesterday, after a meeting with NATO, Trump announced that a long-term agreement on Greenland had been reached. Due to this progress, he said he wouldn’t impose the tariffs he had threatened on countries in that region. Trump also said yesterday that he would not use force to acquire Greenland.

The president’s satisfaction with the compromise suggests it might include some limited transfer of land ownership and will likely address U.S. access to mineral rights, reporter Teri Schultz tells Up First. She adds that European leaders may feel that they can breathe a bit more easily now that Trump has walked back his threats of military force and tariffs. Even though Trump has called off the tariffs, the emergency summit will still be held with much less pressure than expected. Schultz says the leaders will most likely now discuss contingency plans in case the Greenland deal falls apart and the threats start again. Trump’s approach to the Greenland drama has antagonized U.S. allies in Europe and beyond, even sparking pointed exchanges between him and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney, who is usually a low-key politician, went viral with his Tuesday remarks at Davos, where he spoke the day before Trump. Carney said that the global order the U.S. built and led for 80 years was not just strained but had come apart.  Greenlanders were incensed by Trump’s remarks at the forum: "We’re not just a block of ice."

Polls

Elections

Roll Call -   A New York state judge on Wednesday invalidated part of the state’s congressional map related to Staten Island, finding it violated language in the state’s constitution that prohibits districts from abridging the rights of minority voters. The ruling, from Judge Jeffrey Pearlman, barred the state from using the 2024 map in any elections and ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to draw a new map by Feb. 6.

Four in 10 American parents of under-twos say their child uses a smartphone

The Guardian -  Four in 10 (38%) of US parents of under-twos say their child uses a smartphone, according to the American research organisation Pew. This is part of a broader trend, with preschool teachers in the UK reporting that young children are showing a lack of creativity and problem-solving skills, as well as poorer social skills. Emine Saner explores how screens might be affecting young children.

Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress,

The Guardian  - Half the world’s 100 largest cities are experiencing high levels of water stress, with Beijing, New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Delhi among those facing extreme stress, new analysis and mapping has shown.

,,, Thirty-nine are in the highest category.

About 1.1 billion people live in major metropolitan areas located in regions experiencing strong long-term drying – and a further 96 million are in cities experiencing strong wetting trends.

Cities experiencing drying are mostly across Asia, particularly northern India and Pakistan, while most of the city regions in wetting zones are in sub-Saharan Africa.

ICE

Judd Legum - ICE has stopped paying for medical treatment for its 73,000 detainees. ICE has not paid its bills to 3rd party providers since October and the situation will likely persist for months, a Popular Information investigation reveals. Meanwhile, critically ill ICE detainees are not receiving care

Trump walks back Greenland threats, but Congress fears NATO damage

The Hill -   Trump has long sought to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, and in recent weeks has floated the use of military force to do so.

But on Wednesday, he reversed course in his address to European leaders at the Davos Economic Forum, where he suggested the U.S. would not seize the territory by force and instead called for immediate negotiations. 

A short time later, Trump announced that he had reached a “framework of a future deal” with respect to Greenland after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and that he would not impose tariffs he had previously threatened on European allies because they had demanded that the U.S. respect Denmark’s sovereignty over Greenland.

The rapid, back-to-back developments drew a sigh of relief from some lawmakers in the Capitol, who had warned that the attacks on NATO allies — whether through military force or economic sanctions — would obliterate the decades-old alliance. But others said even the threat of those actions has poisoned the long-standing relationship between Washington and European democracies.

She criticized the Miami Beach mayor so city sent cops to question her

The Intercept -   The city governmenet of Miami Beach is under fire from civil rights groups after police visited the home of a woman about posts she made on social media critical of the mayor.

In a video posted online last week, two detectives with the Miami Beach Police Department were filmed questioning Raquel Pacheco, a former candidate for statewide office and longtime resident of the seaside resort city, over a post she made criticizing what she said was Mayor Steven Meiner’s hypocrisy around Israel and Palestine.

“This Facebook post was protected speech, and it’s not a close question — not remotely,” said Daniel Tilley, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. “In context, the actions and statements by government officials here are likely to have a chilling effect on those who would otherwise voice their critique of the government.”

Minnesota

MS NOW -  The Pentagon has ordered active-duty military police soldiers based in North Carolina to prepare for possible deployment to Minneapolis, three people familiar with the matter told MS NOW.

A prepare-to-deploy order was issued yesterday for members of an Army military police brigade stationed at Fort Bragg, two of the people told MS NOW. At least a few hundred soldiers are being prepared for the possible mobilization to Minneapolis, two of the people said. All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the deployments.

Asked for comment, a Pentagon official said, “We have nothing to announce at this time, and any tip about this is pre-decisional.”

The possible infusion of military police is in addition to the Pentagon orders last Friday that two battalions with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division prepare to deploy. The 11th Airborne is stationed in Alaska and specializes in winter weather conditions. Each infantry battalion has at least 500 soldiers.

Clintons threatened wtih criminal charges

Newsworthy -   Bill and Hillary Clinton face potential criminal charges after defying congressional subpoenas in a bipartisan investigation into Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal network, marking a historic moment of accountability for Washington’s political elite.

House Oversight Committee advanced contempt resolutions against both Clintons after they refused to appear for depositions on January 13-14, 2026

Subpoenas were initially approved unanimously by Republicans and Democrats, yet the Clintons dismissed them as “invalid and legally unenforceable”

Chairman Comer declared the Clintons “are not above the law” as the committee moved forward with criminal contempt charges

If the House passes contempt resolutions, the Justice Department must decide whether to prosecute the former president and secretary of state

Needs of Security

Polls

InteractivePolls

Generic Ballot - Registered voters Democrats: 51% Republicans: 43% —— "Would Definitely" or "Very Likely" to vote Democrats: 55% Republicans: 42%

Trump approval, per The Economist Georgia: -18.6% Maine: -18.4% Texas: -17.2% Michigan: -15.8% N Carolina: -13.6% Ohio: -9.2% Iowa: -8.7% Florida: -7.5% S Carolina: -7.3% Mississippi: -6.9% Alaska: -6.6% Louisiana: -5.1% Nebraska: -1.8%

Newsweek -   More than seven in 10 Americans think the United States is "out of control" under President Donald Trump, according to a new national poll of adult citizens. 

Meanwhile. . .

Indpendent, UK - Ford is recalling 119,075 vehicles in the U.S. due to a potential fire risk caused by cracked engine block heaters, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Donald Trump

Newsweek - President Donald Trump said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum that "sometimes you need a dictator" while addressing the CEO Reception and Dinner at the Davos, Switzerland event.  

Independent, UK -  Donald Trump is demanding a federal judge block his Department of Justice from releasing Jack Smith’s report on the president’s alleged hoarding of government documents and classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

The president filed a motion Tuesday arguing that the release of the former special counsel’s "inherently biased” report would "irreparably harm” the president and his former co-defendants.

Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon — the Trump-appointed judge who dismissed the case against the president in 2024 — had previously blocked the Justice Department from sharing a redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago report with members of Congress, ensuring that Smith’s final report wouldn’t see the light of day during his first months back in office.

The judge will now decide whether that report can ever be released.

Newsweek -   President Donald Trump appeared to repeatedly confuse Iceland with Greenland as he gave a speech at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland on Wednesday.

"They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money," the president said, in an apparent reference to Greenland.

Trump has repeatedly demanded Denmark ceded the island territory to the United States and has previously declined to rule out military force to take control of it if necessary. However, in his Davos speech, Trump said "I won't use force."

The president's mix up between Greenland and Iceland was quickly noted by critics.

Bloomberg - The latest wrinkle in Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace for Gaza”? A US official said the president could still chair the group even after he leaves the White House, until he chooses to resign. Trump has suggested the board may replace the UN—his list of invitees is certainly far-ranging—but there’s little indication any charter would be signed in Davos as the president wishes.

NPR - While Trump was on the campaign trail, he promised to cut Americans' energy bills in half and lower gasoline and electricity prices. One year in, gasoline prices are down about 20%, but electricity prices are going up. The Trump administration has also invested in nuclear power, which could help reduce costs in the long term. Take a look at how he has delivered on his goals.

Time -   Asked on Tuesday for a preview of his address in Davos, Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room that he plans to project American dominance. “I think more than anything else what I'm going to be speaking about is the tremendous success that we've had in one year,” he said.

Time -    The first year of Trump 2.0 has been soundly rated a failure in all major national polls and in each dimension of national and international priorities. Gallup found that only 36% of Americans approve of the President’s job performance. And according to a CNN poll, just 37% of Americans say that Trump places the good of the country above his personal gain and 32% say that he’s in touch with the problems ordinary Americans face in their daily lives.

Trump regime rebuked by Washington Post for raid

Newsweek - The Washington Post has demanded that items seized from the home of a reporter by the FBI last week be returned.

In an article posted to the outlet's website Wednesday, the news organization reported they had filed to compel the government to return the items, which included a phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch.

The filing argued the search “flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists,” and noted that "irreparable harm" had been done.

FBI agents searched the home of reporter Hannah Natanson last week as part of a leak investigation involving a Pentagon contractor accused of mishandling classified national defense information, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).

ICE

Independent, UK - The Trump Law enforcement leaders in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region said off-duty officers are among those who have been targeted by federal agents as they expressed wider concerns about “civil rights violations” in the area.  

Three police officials from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area hosted a Tuesday press conference to sound the alarm on concerns about “discrimination,” “profiling” and “civil rights violations” as federal immigration officials operate in the region.

The Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Metro Surge” in the region last month, and agents have made 10,000 arrests since, the agency said Monday. The operation has sparked protests and backlash from local officials, which further intensified after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, on January 7 in Minneapolis.

Local officials are “receiving endless complaints about civil rights violations in our streets from U.S. citizens,” according to Mark Bruley, the police chief of Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. Off-duty police officers have also been targeted, he said.administration has started an immigration enforcement operation in Maine, targeting Somali immigrants in the state, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans.

Abortion Bans Have Increased Pregnant Women’s Risk of Dying

Newsweek - Abortion bans across the U.S. are increasing the health risks faced by pregnant women, according to new research that highlights how pregnancy continues to have a much high mortality rate abortion.  Researchers who analyzed national birth and mortality data say women with high-risk pregnancies are now more likely to carry them to term because they no longer have access to abortion care in many states, placing them at greater risk of dying in or after labor.

Longevity

Telegraph, UK -   Harvard experts believe the optimal way to extend life is adding more variety to exercise routines.  They tracked more than 111,000 people over more than 30 years, finding that those with the broadest mix of physical activity had an almost 20 per cent lower risk of early death from all causes.

Walking was the single activity associated with the lowest risk of death – 17 per cent lower for those who did the most walking compared with those who did the least.

Individually, tennis, squash and racquetball were found to cut risk by 15 per cent, rowing by 14 per cent, running or weight training by 13 per cent, jogging by 11 per cent and cycling by 4 per cent. Climbing the stairs regularly was linked to a 10 per cent lower risk.

Those whose lives involved a regular, varied mix of activity saw the best results, with a 19 per cent lower risk of death in total. Meanwhile, risk of death from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease and other causes was lowered by between 13 per cent and 41 per cent.

Davos Conference

NY Times - Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada delivered a stark speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, prompting global political and corporate leaders in the audience to rise from their seats for a rare standing ovation.  He described the end of the era underpinned by United States hegemony, calling the current phase “a rupture.” He never mentioned President Trump by name, but his reference was clear.

Trump arrives in Davos 

The Hill - President Trump on Wednesday made his case for the U.S. to acquire Greenland before a swath of foreign leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland...

“Would you like me to say a few words on Greenland?” Trump asked the audience. “I was going to leave it out of the speech but I thought ‘I think I would have been reviewed very negatively.'” 

Trump noted that he has “tremendous respect for the people of Greenland and Denmark,” but “the fact is no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland, other than the United States.”

He also suggested the U.S. would not use force to take over the island.

Hartmann Report -   Trump went to Davos this morning and gave the speech that Vladimir Putin wanted him to, lying and pissing off Europe and shaking the North Atlantic alliance to its core.

Our president has refused to help out Ukraine in any meaningful way for a year now, giving Russia the room to destroy much of that country’s electric and heat infrastructure so badly that President Zelenskyy had to cancel his trip to Davos to deal with the crisis.

....Russian media is proudly proclaiming that their own internal crackdowns on immigrants, dissidents, and people of color aren’t so bad because Trump’s doing the same thing in America. We’ve legitimized Putin’s racist police state.

Trump’s destroyed much of America’s “soft power,” our friendly relations with resource-rich developing nations, by killing off John F. Kennedy’s USAID program, directly causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with more to come.

Sleep

Both parties push back against Trump's NIH cuts

Axios - Republicans and Democrats are using the latest government funding package to push back against President Trump's proposed cuts to NIH — and limit the administration's influence over biomedical research grants.

The bipartisan sentiment shows that efforts to find new cures still have strong support on Capitol Hill after a turbulent year for the agency.

The health care portion of the spending package released early Tuesday includes $48.7 billion for NIH — an increase of $415 million, and a far cry from the roughly 40% cut in President Trump's budget request.

.... The spending bill would also keep language blocking NIH from imposing a 15% cap on research universities and institutions' overhead and administrative costs.

....Yes, but: NIH grant cancellations, program cuts and other unilateral moves by the administration are unlikely to stop.  Moree

Minnesota

Bloomberg - The DOJ sent subpoenas to top Minnesota officials in a widening investigation over whether they conspired to impede federal immigration enforcement efforts, a person familiar said. NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani told The View he supports abolishing ICE, a view shared by about half of Americans, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll.

The Maryland town that likes co-ops

Washington Post -   On a Saturday in late October, Mark and Angie Gordon spent the morning as they often do — volunteering in Roosevelt Center, the historic shopping plaza in Greenbelt, Maryland. Mark helped out at the tool library, in a basement office space, where locals can find things like cordless drills and refurbished KitchenAid mixers and can lend tools for other neighbors to borrow or repair. Angie is a volunteer at the town’s traditional book library just up the road....

Mark Gordon is a volunteer at the Greenbelt Makerspace and Tool Lending Library, where people can check out leaf blowers, blenders and other items. The tool library is part of the Greenbelt MakerSpace, one of many co-ops in the city of about 25,000 residents in Prince George’s County, roughly 10 miles outside D.C.

The MakerSpace embodies the spirit of Greenbelt, where many of the main attractions are co-ops — including the New Deal Cafe, which locals call the “community living room” with live music six nights a week, and the Greenbelt Co-Op Supermarket & Pharmacy, which boasts nearly 11,000 members who spend as little as $10 a month to participate in food samplings, wine tastings and wellness programs.

The federal government built Greenbelt on former tobacco fields during the Great Depression as a planned utopia for low-income residents to help solve the housing crisis. At the time, only White applicants were accepted, despite Black workers helping to construct it. Houses came with furniture and yard space, and residents were encouraged to be active participants in their community. Visitors can see a 1930s model at the Greenbelt Museum, located in one of the original units.  MORE

Israel chrged with sexual mistreatment of prisoners

The Guardian   Extensive and extreme sexual violence in Israel’s civilian and military jails has been documented by domestic and international observers including doctors, Israel’s military prosecutor, and the UN committee on torture.

The human rights group B’Tselem described a “grave pattern of sexual violence in detention facilities and prisons”, in a report released on Tuesday detailing abuse of Palestinians in Israeli jails.

It ranges from “threats of sexual assault, through forced stripping, to actual sexual assaults”, the report found. “These include beatings to the genitals that caused severe injuries, setting dogs on prisoners, and forced anal penetration with various objects.”

A spokesperson for the Israeli prison service said it “categorically rejects the false allegations presented in the [B’Tselem] report”, and was “not aware of the claims described” by al-Saei and other survivors of sexual violence.

Half of world’s CO2 emissions come from just 32 fossil fuel firms

The Guardian - Just 32 fossil fuel companies were responsible for half the global carbon dioxide emissions that drove the climate crisis in 2024, down from 36 a year earlier, a report has revealed.

Critics accused the leading fossil fuel companies of “sabotaging climate action” and “being on the wrong side of history” but said the emissions data was increasingly being used to hold the companies accountable.

State-owned fossil fuel producers made up 17 of the top 20 emitters in the Carbon Majors report, which the study’s authors said underscored the political barriers to tackling global heating.

How bad are the worst offenders? Saudi Aramco was responsible for 1.7bn tonnes of CO2, much of it from exported oil. If it were a country, Aramco would be the world’s fifth biggest carbon polluter, just behind Russia. ExxonMobil’s fossil fuel production led to 610m tonnes of CO2 – it would be the ninth biggest polluter, ahead of South Korea.

Hundreds of millionaires and biillionares call for more taxes

The Guardian -  Almost 400 millionaires and billionaires from 24 countries are calling on global leaders to increase taxes on the super-rich amid growing concern that the wealthiest in society are buying political influence. An open letter, which was released to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, urges world leaders attending this week’s conference to close the widening gap between the super-rich and everyone else.

Signatories include the actor and film-maker Mark Ruffalo, the musician Brian Eno and the film producer and philanthropist Abigail Disney.

• “A handful of global oligarchs with extreme wealth have bought up our democracies; taken over our governments; gagged the freedom of our media; placed a stranglehold on technology and innovation; deepened poverty and social exclusion; and accelerated the breakdown of our planet,” it reads.