Most Foul: Prosecutor Creighton Waters wrapped up four hours of closing argument yesterday in the murder trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who’s accused of killing his wife Maggie and adult son, Paul. 

  Waters accused the defendant of being a practiced liar who tried to fool everyone around him. “He lies convincingly and easily,” Waters said.

  Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and Paul, 22, were killed in the dog kennels on the family’s sprawling hunting estate with a shotgun and a rifle. Murdaugh lied to cops and investigators, claiming he had not been there, despite his voice appearing on his son’s cellphone video minutes before the killings.   Murdaugh admitted he’d been there only when he testified in his defense. “Why would he lie about that, ladies and gentlemen?” Waters asked. “Why would he even think to lie about that if he was an innocent man?”

  Waters reminded jurors that Murdaugh was a lawyer addicted to painkillers who plundered millions of dollars from clients. The prosecution theory is that Murdaugh committed the murders to distract from investigations closing in on his financial crimes.

  Earlier yesterday, the jury visited the scene of the crime on the Murdaugh family’s sprawling hunting estate where there are still bullet holes in the walls. The defense argues today before the prosecution gets time for rebuttal and then it goes to the jury.

Explosive Situation: Federal agents in Pennsylvania arrested a man after he checked in a suitcase containing explosives for a flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport to Florida.

  TSA agents paged Marc Muffley over the airport intercom and asked him to report to the  security desk, prosecutors said, but he did not show up. He was later arrested at home.

The War Room: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia speak briefly today during a Group of 20 summit, their first meeting since the start of the Ukraine War.

  Blinken is reported to have told Lavrov that the US would support Ukraine against Russia “for as long as it takes.”

  At the front, Yevgeby Prigozhin, head of Russia Wagner group private army, said “Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are fiercely repelling attacks. Bloodshed increases every day.”

Havana Syndrome: The ailment known as “Havana Syndrome” that has affected hundreds of diplomatic personnel in Cuba and around the world has not been caused by some kind of energy weapon wielded by a foreign power, The Washington Post reports according to intelligence sources.

  For years, Americans stationed in Havana and other missions have described strange and painful acoustic sensations, sometimes racking up huge medical bills and creating debilitating symptoms that have shortened with careers.

  The problem was first reported at the U.S. Embassy in Havana in 2016. The Post reports that officials believe that nothing indicates an adversary had used a form of directed energy such as radio waves or ultrasonic beams, or that the symptoms were caused by electronic surveillance.

 At the same time, no one is openly questioning that something has affected US embassy personnel — but there’s no explanation of what.

Woke Wars: One of the latest Republican targets in the culture wars is the investment strategy “ESG,” otherwise known as environmentally conscious investing.

  Congressional Republicans this week voted 216 to 204 to repeal a Department of Labor rule that allows retirement funds to consider climate change and other factors when choosing companies for investment. As much as $18 trillion has been invested prioritizing environmental, social and governance factors — ESG. Republicans have denounced it has “woke capitalism.”

  President Biden has pledged that if the bill also passes the Senate, and it could, he’ll veto it. 

  But the Republicans plan to use it as a wedge. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential candidate for President, announced on Twitter “Disappointing that President Biden is putting E.S.G. and woke policies above hard-working Americans’ retirement accounts!” He said, “We will keep fighting until we put a stop to E.S.G. once and for all!”

41 Feet Under: The skiing has been great this year, but now some people in California’s Sierras and San Bernardino mountains are locked in their homes by several feet of snow, with more expected. While the East has been nearly winterless, the West has been buried with more snow coming.

  California’ Mammoth ski area has received 41 ½ feet of snow measured at its Main Lodge so far this winter.

The Spin Rack: At least 47 people are dead in Tuesday’s train crash in Greece and rescuers are still searching the wreckage. Protesters clashed with the police outside the headquarters of the train company and rail employees went on strike.— Millions of Americans lose a collective $3 billion in food assistance this month  as a pandemic hunger relief program ends three years after Congress approved it. Some people will lose a value of $90 a month. — Vanessa Bryant, the widow of basketball  great Kobe Bryant, settled an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Los Angeles County for $28 million. She sued after emergency workers shared graphic photos of her husband and daughter, Gianna, in the wreckage of a 2020 helicopter crash. — The Eli Lilly drug company announced that it will lower the price and cap the monthly out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35. As many as 7 million diabetic Americans depend upon insulin, which has to be taken every day and gets pretty expensive. 

Below the Fold: Writing for CNN, Middlebury College instructor Jay Parini says in a review of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s political memoir, “The Courage to Be Free,” that,  “DeSantis is rather like Donald Trump, only without the charm.”

  Presidential candidates feel they need to have an autobiography even though they are almost universally bad. 

  In his review Parini empties both barrels and reloads several times. He says of DeSantis’s book. “It’s one thing to offer the public a bit of wooden prose, but DeSantis gives us an entire lumber yard.”

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