REGIME CHANGE: Islamic rebels over the weekend toppled the brutal 53-year reign of the Assad family forcing President Bashar al-Assad to flee the country.

  After an 11-year civil war, the rebels broke out and quickly rolled up major cities until Saturday when they took Damascus, the seat of power, and al-Assad went to Moscow where state media said he had been granted asylum. His private residence in Damascus was ransacked and looted. All over the country people ripped down al-Assad’s picture posters.

  Celebrating Syrians waving flags took to the streets welcoming the end of the oppressive al-Assad regime that tortured, imprisoned, and killed its opponents  while ruling the population with fear. As they took city after city the rebels opened the gates of prisons freeing political prisoners.

  What comes next is uncertain. Some of the rebels have their roots in jihadist doctrine but their leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, called the overthrow of al-Assad “a victory for the whole Islamic nation” while also eschewing jihadist ambitions and saying he wants organized governance of the country.

  Speaking at The White House  President Biden noted the terrorist roots of some of the rebels but also said Washington would engage with “all Syrian groups” to establish a transition “toward an independent, sovereign Syria.” 

  At the same time, US airstrikes hit dozens of Islamic State camps and leaders in central Syria yesterday, in a message to the Islamists to stay out of what’s happening.

  The al-Assad family took over Syria in 1971 when Hafez al-Assad became president. In 1982 he sealed off and reduced to rubble the city of Hama which had become a center for resistance by the Muslim Brotherhood. The campaign killed tens of thousands of al-Assad’s own countrymen and the name Hama lives in infamy among Syrians.

  Bashar succeeded his father in 2000, resorting to some of the same tactics to break rebellion. The regime used artillery, air power, bulldozers, massacres, and even ballistic missiles to force Syrian populations out of insurgent held areas, leaving the rebels in control of towns with no population.

DAY ONE: In his first sit-down with a television network since the election, Donald Trump said he would immediately crack down on illegal immigration and grant clemency to his hundreds of supporters jailed and indicted for their part in the January 6^th insurrection.

  He also told NBC’s Kristen Welker  that members of Congress who investigated his role in the January 6th attack should be imprisoned. “For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said of former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and the rest of the bipartisan  House committee that investigated the attempt to overthrow the government that day.

  Speaking on “Meet the Press,” Trump said he would not order his new attorney general or FBI director to pursue prosecutions but indicated that he expected them to do it on their own initiative. “I think that they’ll have to look at that,” he said, “but I’m not going to” order them to do it.

  Trump repeated his lie that the January 6th committee destroyed evidence, even though it’s all available online. Cheney said in a statement that the president “lied about the Jan. 6 select committee” and that there would be “no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis” to prosecute its members.

  The President-elect also indicated that he would fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, who he blames for the raid on Mar-a-Lago that recovered classified documents Trump was holding, because “he invaded my home.”

MANHUNT: A newly-released picture shows the man wanted in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson wearing a medical mask and sitting in the back of a New York taxi on the way to the 178^th St. bus station. Another picture taken through a window shows hm on a sidewalk, again wearing the mask, with a black puffy jacket, and a hood over his head.

  Police say they are going through thousands of hours of surveillance footage to track the man’s movements and possibly identify him. The current assumption is that he took a bus out of state on the same day as the murder.

  Officers recovered an expensive-looking backpack in Central Park that appears to be the one the shooter wore. They found Monopoly game money inside it

THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine has kept confidential the number of its casualties in the war with Russia but President until yesterday when President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 43,000 members of the military have been killed and 370,000 wounded in the nearly three-year conflict.

  It’s quite a bit less than the 70,000 estimated by American authorities in August.

  Many of Ukraine’s wounded were able to return to combat but the numbers released suggest that 230,000 are permanently out of action.

  While the number of Russian dead and wounded is uncertain, they have certainly suffered more losses because of the full-frontal assault tactics in which they are unconcerned about how many of their people die. They pay heavily for every foot of ground they take. Ukraine claims that it has killed 180,000 Russian invaders.

THE SPORTING LIFE: The Kansas City Chiefs, who have a talent for miracle wins, clinched the AFC West championship in the final moments last night for the 9^th year in a row with a 31-yard field goal that bounced off the left upright. 

THE SPIN RACK:  South Korea’s Ministry of Justice barred President Yoon Suk Yeol from leaving the country while officials investigate whether his brief  declaration of martial law last week amounted to leading an insurrection.  —Taylor Swift’s 21-month Eras Tour ended last night in Vancouver after grossing $2 billion in 149 shows.  

BELOW THE FOLD: A pair of the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and stolen from a museum nearly twenty years ago sold for $28 million at auction Saturday, proving once again that taxes on the rich are not high enough.

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