The Upside Down: It’s 38 below this morning in Thief River Falls, North Dakota. The polar vortex has dipped as far south as Springfield, Ill., where’s it’s minus 14. Bad Axe, Mich., -7; Chicago, -20; Rochester, NY, 10; New York, 21; Boston, 28.

  Down in Australia, they are suffering a heat wave and fighting wildfires. Extreme heat and cold may be the result of the same phenomenon, global warming and climate change. The warming arctic is changing its weather patterns, sending the cold down south.

Very Well, Then: Contradicting just about everything President Trump has said about threats facing the US, the directors of the nation’s top security agencies testified before Congress yesterday that North Korea will not give up nuclear  weapons, the Islamic State is unbeaten, and the Iran nuclear deal is working.

  They barely mentioned Trump’s claim that the southern border faces an invasion of illegal immigrants.

 Appearing before the Senate intelligence committee were FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. They warned of dangers presented by North Korean nuclear weapons, Chinese cyberespionage, and Russian campaigns to undermine Western democracies.

  “We assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 US elections as an opportunity to advance their interests,” Coats told the committee. “We expect them to refine their capabilities and add new tactics as they learn from each other’s experiences and efforts.”

  The directors were pointed about North Korea, which they say is fully committed to nuclear weapons. “The capabilities and threat that existed a year ago are still there,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

V for Victory: President Trump’s friend Roger Stone pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in a Washington federal court yesterday. Stone has vowed he will tell the truth despite a pretty damning indictment that accuses him of perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. He’s the sixth close Trump associate who’s been charged.

  The natty Stone is always a spectacle of vanity and Trumpian denial. As he arrived in Washington a reporter asked him, “As a person of fashion, will it bother you if you have to wear orange?”  He answered, “I look good in pinstripes. Those are the only stripes I look good in.”

  Stone left the court yesterday flashing the arms up, “V for Victory” Richard Nixon gave when he left the White House in disgrace. Someone was playing the Russian national anthem.

The Bank Job:In a continuing effort to undermine and oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro,the State Department has given opposition leader Juan Guaidó control of  assets and property in US bank accounts held by the Venezuelan government. “This certification will help Venezuela’s legitimate government safeguard those assets for the benefit of the Venezuelan people,” said Robert Palladino, a State Department spokesman.

Hard Knocks: Longtime Atlanta  Falcons linebacker Tommy Nobis, who died at age 74 in 2017, had the severest form of chronic brain damage known as CTE, according to researchers in Boston. Boston University CTE Center Director Dr. Ann McKee said that Nobis’ brain showed a “severe loss of neurons and large CTE lesions throughout the cerebral cortex.”

  There’s going to be a lot more of this as severely damaged pro-football veterans begin to die prematurely.

  Nobis spent 11 years on the field and another 40 in the Falcons front office. His daughter told the Associated Press that her father was so damaged that they never knew the real man. She said, “Emotionally he was so unstable it was just hard to get close to him.”

Hit and Run:Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is being sued by a doctor who claims he was the victim of a hit and run skiing accident in 2016 at Deer Valley, Utah. Dr. Terry Sanderson claims that Paltrow was out if control when she hit him, then got up and skied away. He says he suffered a brain injury and four broken ribs. That’s one unique and expensive item Paltrow doesn’t offer on her website, Goop.