Quake Zone: With hope fading for survivors in the rubble, authorities warn of a “secondary disaster” in Turkey and Syria as hundreds of thousands of people have been rendered homeless in winter. In the area of Syria wracked by civil war, thousands of people were already living without power.

  The number of dead has surpassed 21,000 and the injured over 75,000.

  Reports from the city of Antakya, Turkey, say it basically doesn’t exist anymore.

  The NY Times analyzed pictures and found that just in the southeastern Turkish city ofKahramanmaras, home to about 400,000 people, about 200 major buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed. Among them are multiple-story apartment buildings. Satellite imagery shows that a tent city has been established in a soccer stadium. 

  The United Nations has sent its first aid convoy into the opposition-controlled sector of Syria since two powerful earthquakes and dozens of aftershocks hit the region on Monday. Rescuers and aid workers are impeded by a shortage of trucks as well as snow, and roads cut by fissures.

Calling Mike Pence: Special Counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence to testify in the investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. 

  This will likely set up a clash about executive privilege, which Trump himself has already deployed to try to shield himself from legal inquiries. Pence would have inside information about Trump’s state of mind at the time and might even know some of the things he did.

  Pence had previously talked to the Justice Department about doing a voluntary interview, but the discussions ended in impasse. 

Econ 101: The likelihood of the economy slipping into recession is fading, some economists now say. They are backing off dire predictions for 2023.

  Hiring has remained strong even while consumer spending is a little soft and the manufacturing sector is hurting. But with the Federal Reserve continuing its interest rate hikes, economists have growing hopes for what they call a “soft landing.” 

Balloon News: The Chinese balloon shot down Saturday off South Carolina had the ability to pick up signals intelligence, the Pentagon says. The balloon was capable of listening in on electronic communications. 

  Of course, this announcement just fed the fury over why the balloon was not shot down before it traversed the country.

  The State department says surveillance planes took pictures of the balloon in flight, revealing  antennas and equipment, “clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.”

The War Room:  Elon Musk’s satellite company revealed that it has begun to take steps to block the Ukrainian military from using its portable satellite systems. Ukraine has used Starlink technology to great advantage for communications as well as spotting and targeting the Russian invaders.

“There are things that we can do to limit their ability to do that,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told reporters yesterday, referring to the use of Starlink for drones. “It was never intended to be weaponized,” Shotwell told an audience at a space conference. “However, Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.”

  In a separate development, the Wagner military group, Russia’s private army, announced that it will stop recruiting convicts from Russian prisons to feed the front lines. Thousands of barely trained convict soldiers have been mowed down as they have been sent in assault waves at Ukrainian lines. 

  Wagner’s mercenaries have been some of the most effective fighters on the battlefield, but the convicts that have outnumbered the professionals by as much as 4 to 1 have been little more than sponges for bullets and artillery. They had signed up for six months of service, if they lived, and freedom afterwards.

  Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, was seen recently viewing stacks of body bags. 

The Obit Page: Burt Bacharach, the debonair arranger, composer and sometimes singer whose compositions included such 1960s easy listening hits as “The Look of Love,” “Walk On By,” and “Alfie,” has died at age 96 in Los Angeles.

  Bacharach worked often with the lyricist Hal David.

  Singer Dusty Springfield made a huge hit out of  “The Look of Love,” in 1967 and Herb Alpert did the same in 1968 for  “This Guy’s in Love With You.”  One of the biggest voices for the Bacharach/David team was Dionne Warwick who warbled the hit  “Don’t Make Me Over” in 1962. The team turned out the stream of Warwick hits,  “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Walk On By,”  “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”

  Bacharach won two Oscars for Best Song. He was married four times, once to the hot Hollywood starlet Angie Dickinson, and once to songwriter Carole Bayer Sager.

  Bacharach once said, “Never be ashamed to write a melody people remember.”

The Spin Rack: Russell Heller, 51, a council member in the township of Milford, New Jersey near the Pennsylvania border, was shot and killed by a former colleague yesterday in a Somerset parking lot. He’s the second New Jersey council member murdered in a week. — Brazil says it has begun sinking its mothballed aircraft carrier, which is loaded with asbestos and other hazardous materials. Other countries refused to accept the ship for dismantling.

Below the Fold: Two members of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission have lost their jobs for buying bottles of bourbon, but not just any bourbon, it was Pappy Van Winkle, a bourbon that has reached cult status selling for $5,000 a bottle or more.

  The two commission members were accused of using their official powers to divert bottles of Pappy for them to buy at market price. The commission is supposed to release rare bottles of liquor through a public lottery.

  We’ve had Pappy Van Winkle and it’s good, but it’s not that good.

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