THE RUSSIA HOUSE: Senior US Russian and American diplomats spent four hours talking about ending the war in Ukraine and repairing relations without Ukraine present at the table. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both sides agreed to work on a peace settlement and to explore “the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians,” both geopolitically and economically.

  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “Decisions on how to end the war in Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine, nor can any conditions be imposed.”

  President Trump yesterday blamed Ukraine for not ending the war itself, saying, “You should’ve never started it, you could’ve made the deal.” Russia invaded Ukraine without provocation

  The Russian side included Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister; Russian President Vladimir Putin’s  foreign policy adviser, and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.

  The diplomats also talked about setting up a summit meeting between Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a meeting of leaders that was unthinkable from the moment Russia invaded Ukraine. “We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other,” Lavrov said afterward. “I have reason to believe that the American side started to better understand our positions.”

  The meeting sparked fears that Trump and Putin will sell Europe and Ukraine down the river in what might amount to a business deal.

THE DISRUPTERS: As one of the most prominent figures in the new Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that “nothing is going to be off limits” in his re-examination of childhood vaccines, psychiatric medications, and other targets of his medical skepticism. 

  “Let’s all depoliticize these issues and reestablish a common ground for action, and renew the search for existential truth with no political impediments and no preconceptions,” Kennedy said, adding, “I promise to be willing to be wrong.”

  Although he says he will keep an open mind, Kennedy questions science itself even while claiming he seeks good science on medical treatments.

  The Trump administration itself is proving to be anti-science and anti-knowledge. They fired 168 employees of the National Science Foundation which, along with the now decimated National Institutes of Health, is a leader in research.

  Mass firings continued with as many as 2,300 people being let go from the Interior Department in recent days. About 240 people were fired from the US Geological Survey, which monitors things like volcanoes and potential earthquakes and is also one of the nation’s primary agencies for climate research.

  They fired people from the Department of Agriculture dealing with the bird flu epidemic that’s causing the steep rise in the price of eggs.

  Separately, Jim Jones, the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s food division, resigned saying that “indiscriminate” layoffs  would make it “fruitless for him to continue.”

MEIN TRUMPF:  President Trump in a bid to broaden his power issued an executive order yesterday granting himself greater authority over independent regulatory agencies established by Congress. The order requires independent agencies to submit proposed regulations to the White House for review and claims the power to block those agencies from spending money on efforts that conflict with presidential priorities.

  The agencies Trump wants to bring to heel are the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. He is not claiming authority over the Federal Reserve’s power over monetary policy including interest rates.

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD: Hamas militants say that, among other hostages, they are turning over to Israel the bodies of a mother and her two young boys, Ariel Bibas, who was 4 at the time of the October 7^th massacre, and Kfir, not quite 9 months old. 

  Images of Shiri Bibas and her red-headed boys became a symbol of the brutality of the hostage taking. Hamas says the three were killed in an Israeli attack.

  Yarden Bibas, the father and husband, was captured separately and released alive. 

KILLER CULT: A fatal shootout in Vermont on January 19^th between border patrol agents and two people dressed in tactical gear revealed the existence of a bizarre San Francisco cult that has been on the run since 2023. A border patrol agent and a German member of the cult were killed in the shooting.

  This week police in Maryland arrested Jack “Ziz” LaSota, 33, leader of what’s been called a “death cult” linked to at least six deaths across the country. The group is called the “Zizians” after their leader who uses female or gender neutral pronouns.  

  Also in custody is Michelle Zajko, a person of interest in the double murder of her parents in Pennsylvania, and Daniel Blank, another member of the group. 

  At least a dozen people appear to have links to LaSota, some who worked at NASA and Google, and several who advocate for veganism and identify as transgender. Ziz is described as a student of “rationalism” who warns about the dangers of artificial intelligence. He is also a practitioner of “unihemispheric sleep” a scientifically dubious technique in which one half of the brain rests while the other is active.

  The group went underground when questioned in California about several deaths and Ziz faked his own demise. A landlord in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, recently described tenants who never spoke, wore long black coats, and parked box trucks outside their duplexes. That was the Zizians.

  The Vermont shootout began when border agent David Maland pulled over a car for an immigration check. Teresa Youngblut, 21, came out shooting and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, was killed in return fire. The whole cult unraveled from there.

THE SPIN RACK:. Pope Francis is in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs, according to the Vatican. He is reported to be able to talk on the phone as well as get out of bed. 

BELOW THE FOLD:  Rapper A$AP Rocky was found not guilty of charges that he fired a gun at A$AP Relli. The jury delivered the verdict A$AP.

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