Bad Cell Connection:The Justice Department announced criminal charges against the Chinese telecom firm Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets, obstructing justice and evading economic sanctions against Iran. Meng is the executive who was arrested in Canada last month and has been held there since.

 This comes at a touchy moment as the US and China are trying to negotiate an end to their trade tariff war.

  Huawei has become the focus of US concern that the company is being used as a tool for Chinese influence around the world. They are leaders in the development of high speed 5^thgeneration wireless — 5G — that American security fears will become a Chinese eye and ear on the world. The NY Timesreported that, “In an age when the most powerful weapons, short of nuclear arms, are cyber-controlled, whichever country dominates 5G will gain an economic, intelligence and military edge for much of this century.”

  The US has been trying to convince other countries not to use  Huawei and other Chinese companies to build their 5G systems. President Trump is even considering issuing an executive order prohibiting American companies from using Chinese equipment in their telecom networks.

State of the Union:Following the end of the government shutdown, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Trump to deliver his State of the Union message on February 5^th. No doubt the state of the union will be fantastic and better than it has ever been in history, and even before history was recorded.

  The speech will be just 10 days before the deadline to reach a compromise to keep the government. Trump threatens another shutdown if he doesn’t get his border wall.

  The President denies it, but he got beaten by a girl when Nancy Pelosi forced him to re-open the government without getting his wall. The 36-day shutdown did a lot of damage. It cost the economy $11 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, most of which will be slowly made up as federal employees get paid and start spending again. But $3 billion is permanently lost, the CBO says. Money that would have been spent on gasoline, restaurants, taxis, movies, yoga sessions — you name it — will never be spent because the moment has passed.

  Trump risks doing that all over again if he forces another shutdown. He also risks being taken to court if he declares a dubious national emergency to get his way. If it’s such an emergency, why didn’t he declare it months ago? 

Double Half Cap:The Democratic Party is in an uproar over the prospect the announcement by former Starbucks boss Howard Schultz that he might run for president as an independent. Schultz has been a lifelong Democrat.

 Schultz was heckled last night in New York at a Union Square book signing.

  Third party candidates tend to have big egos, never win, and have a record of making Presidents out of candidates who might otherwise have lost. Ross Perot made Bill Clinton President and Ralph Nader put George HW Bush in office.

  New York’s billionaire former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who considered running as an independent himself, wrote that, “In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the President. That’s a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can’t afford to run it now.”

The Known Unknowns:The Special Counsel investigation into Russian election meddling and ancillary criminal activity is almost done, according to acting Attorney Gen. Matthew G. Whitaker. Take that with a dose of skepticism.

  Whitaker said yesterday, “The investigation is, I think, close to being completed, and I hope that we can get the report from Director Mueller as soon as possible.” Whitaker is a devout Trump loyalist. While he is now the ultimate supervisor of Robert Mueller’s investigation and should know what’s happening, it has been the Trump party line for more than a year that the investigation is almost done. That’s their way of saying there’s nothing to it.

  The indictment of Trump friend and associate Roger Stone suggests that there are other Trump lieutenants in line for indictment if they lied to the feds. Candidates include Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

  Trump and his spokes people say the indictments “prove” there is no connection to the White House, but what the charges actually say is that the investigation is leading straight to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police Blotter: Four undercover police officers were shot and a fifth was injured during a gun battle in Houston yesterday. Two suspects were killed.

 Police say their officers were serving a search warrant at a house where they believed drugs were being dealt. The cops had knocked down the front door and were met with gunfire. Wo officers are in serious condition.

Cash Cutoff:In an effort to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the US has imposed sanctions against the country’s state-owned oil company, cutting off Maduro’s primary source of cash.

  The US claims Maduro’s re-election last week was fixed and power should transfer toopposition leader Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself interim president.

  Under Maduro, Venezuela has gone from being one of South America’s richest countries to one of its poorest. People are starving and fighting with government troops in the streets.

  The US has endorsed Guaidóas Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said, “The United States is holding accountable those responsible for Venezuela’s tragic decline.” 

Deep Freeze:The polar vortex has plunged into the Midwest. It’s minus 14 in Duluth, Minn. Dubuque, -4; Minneapolis, -8; Chicago, 2; Cleveland, Toledo, 15.

  You local weather forecaster will give you the number in “wind chill” so you won’t really know what the temperature is.

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