Skyfall: Washington and the mid-Atlantic are bracing for what weather forecasters are hawking as a potentially “crippling” blizzard moving in later today. The National Weather Service warns that, “Heavy snow and blowing snow will cause dangerous conditions and will be a threat to life and property.” The NWS says it could be among the top 10 blizzards ever to hit the region.

In the Washington area grocery stores have been cleaned out and the federal government is shutting down at noon. Incapacitated by just an inch of snow that fell Wednesday, and with as much as two feet expected, the District of Columbia closed all its schools today.

The airlines have already cancelled more than 3,200 flights to avoid a nationwide air traffic tangle. American Airlines alone has cancelled 700 flights.

Permawar: At least 17 people were killed when extremists attacked a beachfront resort in Somalia. NPR’s Gregory Warner reports that the attack by Islamic militants from al-Shabab started with a car bomb. “The restaurants and beach were packed with people. A wedding party was in progress,” Warner says. “Gunmen holed up in the restaurant as hundreds were trapped inside. A second car bomb went off an hour later after government soldiers had swarmed the scene.”

Hermit Kingdom: North Korea has arrested an American university student they accuse of a “hostile” act “to destroy the country’s unity,” orchestrated by the US government. They didn’t say what the act was. The student has been identified as Otto Warmbier, who’s on the dean’s list at the University of Virginia.

Econ 101: The Dow Jones rose just short of 116 points yesterday on news of a slight rise in energy prices. Still, the overall collapse of the price of oil has world markets in the dumps.

The Report’s Chief Economist Mark Nussbaum explains that, “What is happening is that the plunge in the price of oil has put a giant squeeze on the budgets of those nations who produce oil.  In many cases, those oil dollars were diverted into social welfare programs, educational training programs, weapons purchases, and infrastructure projects – all activities with long lead times.”

To raise money, Nussbaum says, they sell “US Treasury and other government bonds, and their sovereign wealth funds sell the stocks and marketable investments that they have accumulated.” And that’s how you get your market dive.

On the bright side Nussbaum says, “Look for a better economy later in the year as the benefit of lower energy prices flows through to all of us.”

Politics: The National Review, the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley, Jr., has published an editorial saying that Donald Trump is un-deserving of conservative support in the Republican presidential primaries. The magazine says, “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones.”

Trump tweeted, “National Review is a failing publication that has lost it’s way. It’s circulation is way down w its influence being at an all time low. Sad!”

Your Tired, Your Poor: In a long profile of a Syrian refugee family, the NY Times reports that of the 4.5 million people who have fled Syria and its civil war, migrating around the globe, the US has taken in exactly 2,647 of them.

Although President Obama has vowed to take in 10,000 more Syrians this year, the process is mired in background checks and presidential politics.

David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, told the Times, ‘‘It’s extremely difficult to get into the United States as a refugee — the odds of winning the Powerball are probably better.’’

Dept. of Corrections: Yes, the planets orbit the sun.

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