Catastrophic: As many as 500 people in Florida were rescued from Hurricane Ian’s floodwaters yesterday as public officials struggled for the words to describe the damage.

  Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee County said, “When you look at Fort Myers Beach in particular, there’s no words to describe it.” 

  At least 17 are dead. Homes were pushed or blown off their foundations. Streets are littered with lumber from shattered houses. Rooftops are sitting on the ground. Thousands of homes were flooded and ruined. Mobile home parks, as always, were hard hit. Restaurants were swept away and pleasure boats are piled up in harbors and on shorelines. The causeway to Sanibel Island, a popular spot, is severed. At least 2.5 million customers were without power. The amount of litter and rubble covering the ground is stunning.

  At the end of it all, it’s clear that thousands of Floridians are homeless and will be for a long time. 

  An early estimate of losses covered by insurance is $25-$40 billion.

  Hurricane Ian dropped to tropical storm status after departing Florida but is back up to a Category 1 and moving over the Atlantic towards the coast of South Carolina, leaving in its wake a broken Florida.

   Republican Governor Ron DeSantis called it a one in 500 year event. An antagonist of President Biden, DeSantis is welcoming the President’s declaration of a federal emergency and the help that brings. As a freshman congressman in 2013, DeSantis opposed a federal bailout for New York after Hurricane Sandy, describing it as the “put it on the credit card mentality” he went to Washington to oppose. Now the governor of Florida, he’s happy to run up the credit card.

  DeSantis told Fox News host Tucker Carlson, “When people are fighting for their lives, when their whole livelihood is at stake, when they’ve lost everything — if you can’t put politics aside for that, then you’re just not going to be able to.”

The War Zone: A Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, one of the Ukrainian provinces that Moscow plans to formally annex today, killed at least 25 civilians.

  As the war drags on and Vladmir Putin threatens to use nuclear weapons, the US is creating a new command to be based in Germany for the training and equipping of  Ukrainian troops. It’s a sign that the US believes this conflict may go on for years.

  At the front, Ukrainian forces have been pressing from several directions toward the city of Lyman in the east, which is held by Russia in one of the provinces it intends to annex to the Motherland. Russia controls only half of Donetsk, which includes Lyman. The Russians have only one road still in their control on which they can retreat, and if they do, it’s a major embarrassment and defeat.

  The Institute for the Study of War says “The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk oblasts and may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk Oblast border and in the Severodonetsk-Lysychansk area.”

  In plainer language, Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelensky in his nightly address warned the Russian troops; “If you want to live, run. If you want to live, surrender. If you want to live, fight on your streets for your freedom.”

Trumped Up: In a closed door meeting with the House January 6^th committee, Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, stood by her claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

  Ms. Thomas had been a major player in the effort to overturn the election. She arrived yesterday with a prepared statement in which she denied having discussed her post-election activities with her husband, according to the conservative media outlet The Federalist, which published her remarks.

  Ms. Thomas was a loud voice in the circle of people supporting Trump after the election.

  “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!” Thomas wrote to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. “You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice,” she wrote. “The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”

   In Trump’s continuing litigation, the federal judge who granted the former president’s request for a special master to handle the government documents seized from Mar-a-Lago, has overruled some of the requirements set by Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master. 

  Judge Aileen Cannon, who has the power to overrule the special master, overruled Dearie’s deadline of today for Trump’s lawyers to back up his claim that the FBI planted evidence in his home.

  Cannon also rejected the quick timetable Dearie had set for reviewing the documents.

The Obit Page: Coolio, the rapper whose big hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” launched him to hip-hop stardom in the 1990s, died Wednesday in Los Angeles at age 59. No cause was given.

  His legal name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr. In 1995 “Gangsta’s Paradise” was on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and was named the No. 1 song of the year. It won the Grammy for best rap solo in 1996. 

The Spin Rack:  Six Republican-run states are suing to block President Biden’s plan to forgive student loans. — As the markets continue to slide, the Dow Jones dropped 458 points yesterday, just over 1.5 percent. — Trevor Noah, who replaced Jon Stewart seven years ago, announced that he’s leaving “The Daily Show.” — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was carried off  the field last night after sustaining his second head injury in less than a week. Saturday against the Ravens he hit his head on the ground and got up wobbling like a drunk, but stayed in the game. Critics are asking whether anyone is following concussion protocol. — Perry Greene, husband of the rabid right wing member of Congress Marjorie Taylor Greene, has filed for divorce. What was his first clue?

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