Earthquake: The number of dead is already pegged at 5,100, but it might be weeks or even months before Turkey and Syria know the true number of people killed in yesterday’s massive earthquakes. 

  Some survivors who lost their homes took refuge in cars. Tens of thousands of people may have been rendered homeless.

  The government says up to 3,000 buildings collapsed with whole apartment buildings reduced to virtually sand and rebar. A 2,000-year-old castle in southeastern Turkey was all but totally destroyed.

  As many as a million people might be affected. It’s cold and snowy. 

  The initial 7.8 magnitude quake along a 200 km fault was felt also in Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, and Lebanon. A second quake of 7.5 ripped along a different 100km fault. They were followed by dozens of aftershocks throughout the day.

  Crews went immediately to work pulling survivors from the rubble, but every downed building is a massive search and rescue project. People can be heard calling for help from the rubble.

   The European Union said it is dispatching search and rescue teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania to Turkey.  In a statement, the EU also said it was directing its satellite system to support Turkish efforts in mapping the quake and its aftermath.

  Greece, India, and Britain are sending help. Even Ukraine, with buildings knocked down by missiles, said it would send help. And, of course, the US is preparing to send help.

Nazi Plot: A neo-Nazi leader and his girlfriend have been arrested by the Justice Department and accused of plotting an attack on the Maryland power grid that they hoped would “destroy” the city of Baltimore. 

  Brandon Russell, 27, and Sarah Clendaniel, 34, whom he met online while in prison, were nailed by an undercover investigation. Authorities say their plan was to knock out five substations with gunfire, taking down the grid that serves Baltimore. 

  Clendaniel  is accused of telling a federal informant, “If we can pull off what I’m hoping … this would be legendary.” A photo of Clendaniel shows her dressed in black tactical gear while holding an assault rifle and wearing a skeleton mask.

  Russell, a former Florida National Guard member, is the founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen, whose members have been involved in at least five murders while also threatening Jewish organizations, Black churches, and journalists. 

  Explosives and bomb making materials were found in the apartment Russell and Clendaniel shared. 

  Investigators so far say they have not connected Russell’s plot to gunfire attacks that took down power substations in North Carolina and Oregon.

State of the Union: President Joe Biden makes his State of the Union speech tonight carrying a 52.3 percent average disapproval rating in the wake of  a troubled economy and the recent Chinese spy balloon controversy. But we note that at the end of his second year, Donald Trump had a 56 percent disapproval rating.

  In politics, it’s ultimately all about the economy and the rate of inflation for 2022 was 6.6 percent, a killer. The price of gasoline is creeping upwards again. The good thing for Biden is that unemployment is at a low not seen since the 1960s.

  The President is expected to challenge the new House Republican majority to raise taxes on the wealthy and aid to the needy, and rule out cuts to Social Security and Medicare. 

  Biden has had a string of accomplishments, but his administration has not done a great job of imprinting that in the public mind. One thing we know he’ll say, “The state of the union is strong.”

The War Room: Signs are increasing that Russia is building up toward a spring offensive in Ukraine. “We are seeing more and more reserves being deployed in our direction, we are seeing more equipment being brought in,” Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of the eastern region of Luhansk, told Ukrainian television. 

  Ukraine says Russian forces are already attacking in five different directions along the crescent-shaped front in the east. The Russians have resorted to World War I tactics, sending waves of ill-trained troops at Ukrainian lines, often just to get mowed down by the defenders. Russia has made some gains and is tightening the ring around the key Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, but at a cost of hundreds of dead and wounded soldiers every day, according to US officials.

The Obit Page: Charlie Thomas, a member of the Drifters whose voice was heard on the songs “There Goes My Baby,” “Under the Boardwalk,” and “Up on the Roof,” died January 31^st at age 85. He had liver cancer.

  He started out singing on street corners. Thomas joined a re-formed Drifters in 1958 and they became one of the most notable R&B groups of the era. What followed were the hits “This Magic Moment,” “Up on the Roof,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “On Broadway,” “Saturday Night at the Movies,” and “Save the Last Dance for Me.” 

  Thomas sang the lead on “Sweets for My Sweet,” which reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 1961, and “When My Little Girl Is Smiling.” 

Below the Fold: Most Americans don’t know how their personal information is collected by companies over the internet, according to a report from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

  Two thousand study participants were presented with 17 true or false statements about how information is collected and 77 percent got nine or fewer correct.

  Most knew that companies could collect information if you just visit their website or that a smart tv can help an advertiser send an ad to their smartphone. But they had little idea that the federal government is not regulating all of this.

  The big takeaway from the study is that people are lost in the maze of fine print about disclosure and consent and don’t have time to keep up with what companies are doing to track them.

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