The Undefeated:Two American soldiers and two civilians were among as many as 16 people killed by a suicide bomber yesterday in a restaurant in Manbij, Syria. Three other US service members were wounded.

  It was the worst day for fatalities and casualties during the US military presence in Syria. 

 The attack was claimed by the Islamic State, coming a monthafter President Trump said the organization has been militarily defeated and that he’s pulling out American troops. He’s sticking with his plan.

 The bomber attacked a group of soldiers and contractors as they were eating lunch. Manbij was liberated by US troops in 2016 and has been considered a showcase of American efforts.

  Even after he had been briefed on the bombing yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence repeated Trump’s claims claim that the “caliphate has crumbled” and the militant network “has been defeated.” 

State of the Shutdown: Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday asked President Trump to delay his Jan. 29^th  State of the Union speech because security cannot be guaranteed with the work force depleted by the government shutdown.

   “Sadly, given the security concerns and unless government reopens this week, I suggest that we work together to determine another suitable date after government has reopened for this address or for you to consider delivering your State of the Union address in writing to the Congress on Jan. 29,” Pelosi said in a letter to Trump. 

   Clearly, it’s a political body block to the President, an attempt to deprive him of the national pulpit while he’s trying to justify his trade of government for his wall. If she wants, Pelosi could actually block Trump from delivering the speech in the House chambers.

   A group of centrist House Democrats and Republicans met with Trump yesterday in the Situation Room trying to break the stalemate. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “They listened to one another, and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants.”

   Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey later said lawmakers told Trump he’s got to abandon his demand to build his border wall and allow the government to get back to work.

   Maggie Haberman and Annie Karnireport for The NY Timesthat Trump is bewildered because he can’t win this thing. They wrote, “ ‘We are getting crushed!’ Mr. Trump told his acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, after watching some recent coverage of the shutdown, according to one person familiar with the conversation. ‘Why can’t we get a deal?’”

  He can’t get a deal because he wants to build a $35 billion wall and the Democrats don’t.

Minimum Confidence: British Prime Minister Theresa May barely survived a vote of no-confidence yesterday, a day after Parliament stomped her plan for exiting the European Union.

 Usually a Prime Minister would resign after suffering a defeat like May did on Tuesday. What the Brits have now is a weakened leader and no plan or agreement for Britain’s relationship with the EU after it leaves the union at the end of March.

The Spy Game:Russia now says it caught former US Marine Paul Whelan carrying out an act of espionage while in his Moscow hotel room.Whelan, an American who also holds British, Canadian, and Irish passports, was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service on Dec. 28.

  His family says Whelan was in Moscow to attend a wedding. 

  “He was caught red-handed,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday during a news conference.

   The Russian online news portal Rosbalt.ru earlier this month cited an unnamed Russian intelligence source as saying that Whelan had been detained five minutes after receiving a thumb drive containing a list of all the employees of a secret Russian state agency. That source also said Whelan was suspected of spying for 10 years.

The News Roundup:Vice President Mike Pence said yesterday that North Korea has taken no concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear arsenal. President Trump has claimed he had a deal to make it happen. — With tech money driving housing prices through the roof, Microsoft has pledged to give $500 million for affordable housing in the Seattle area. — The interim president of Michigan State University is resigning after saying the victims of  perv athletic doctor Larry Nassar appeared to be enjoying the spotlight of publicity.

Art News:Karen Pence, wife of the vice president, has signed on to teach art part time at a Virginia Christian school that doesn’t acceptgay students or faculty and requires employees to affirm that marriage should be only between a man and a woman.

  The Pences are strict Christians. He won’t eat lunch alone with another woman. It’s been reported that he believes in gay conversion therapy.

  Teachers at Immanuel Christian School must affirm that they are born again and eschew “heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female.”

  In the case of Karen Pence, she has to teach children to draw only in straight lines.

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