December 31, 202

Most Foul: Authorities in Moscow, Idaho yesterday made the surprise announcement of an arrest in the bloody stabbing murders of four University of Idaho students last month.

  The suspect has been identified as Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old PhD student in … of all things … criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, about 10 miles from the site of the murders. He has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary with intent to commit murder.

  Police in Moscow said Kohberger was arrested “without incident” yesterday morning at the home of his parents in Effort, Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains region of the state. 

  Police said Kohberger had been under surveillance in recent days. Michael Mancuso, the assistant district attorney in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, told The NY Times that Kohberger had been at the house for two to three weeks. Search warrants were served for the house and Kohberger’s car. 

  It is the car, a white Hyundai Elantra, seen in the area the night of the murders that may have led the investigation to Kohberger. But the police are revealing almost no details of the case, waiting for the opening of charging documents at Kohberger’s first court appearance on Tuesday in Pennsylvania.

  The victims were Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, who were dating, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21. 

  There are reports that Kohberger’s DNA was found at the murder scene. But among the unanswered questions are whether the murders were targeted or random, and whether the police ever recovered the knife used to butcher the four kids.

Taxing Issues: Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns released by the House ways and Means committee show that the former president paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes during the first three years of his presidency, including just $750 in federal tax in 2017, his first year. The man who describes himself as a brilliant businessman paid no tax in 2020, reporting heavy losses that year. 

  The returns say Trump reported charitable donations of nearly $1.9 million in 2017 and just over $500,000 in both 2018 and 2019. He gave nothing to charity in 2020, when he reported $16 million in business losses.

  Trump that year took a refund of $5.5 million and deferred another $8 million to estimated taxes for 2021.

  The raw numbers from the returns do not tell anything close to the full story. Trump derives his income … and losses … from a web of about 400 corporate entities and trusts. He had business in foreign countries, and foreign bank accounts, including in China, while he was president. Auditors would have to examine the tax returns for every one of them to piece together the big picture and determine whether Trump is honest or committing tax fraud. 

On the Record: Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas told House January 6^th investigators that she regretted all the text messages she sent trying to get the 2020 election overturned.

  The 65-year-old Thomas said she was “clearly emotional” when she traded messages with then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. “I was probably just emoting, as I clearly was with Mark Meadows somewhat,” Thomas said.  In one of her texts, Thomas told Meadows, “The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.”

  Thomas said she still believes the election was stolen from Trump, but admitted she has no proof of that.

  Also,  according to emails provided by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to the House committee, the former president wanted to trademark  the phrase “Rigged Election!” 

The War Zone: Ukraine claims that it has killed more than 104,000 Russian invaders since the war started last February. In addition to that stunning figure, The Ukrainian general staff released a list of statistics on the punishment the defenders have meted out to the Russians, all of it unverified by outside sources.

  They report that as of December 29^th they have destroyed 3,019  Russian tanks, 6,057 armored combat vehicles, 2,009 artillery systems, 212 air defense systems, 283 warplanes, 268 helicopters, and more.

  The Ukrainian report is at least partly supported by visible evidence. The Russians, for instance, have been rolling out tanks built in the 1960s, indicating that their best equipment is gone.

The Obit Page: Barbara Walters, who in the male-dominated age of Walter Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley blazed a trail for women in news broadcasting, has died at age 93. Walters was the first female co-host of a morning news show, and the first for an evening news broadcast. At ABC, she created the popular women’s talk show, The View.

  Mentions of her usually include the words “iconic” and groundbreaking.” In a career of 50 years, Walters first appeared on NBC’s Today Show in 1964. She left NBC for ABC in 1976 to be co-anchor of World News with Harry Reasoner, for what at the time was a stunning five-year, $5 million contract.

— Pope Benedict XVI, who reigned for just eight years before stunning the Catholic world in 2013 by becoming the first pope to resign in six centuries, has died at age 95. Benedict was a strict doctrinaire pope known to some as “God’s Rottweiler.”

Below the Fold: The gun-themed bar and restaurant Shooter’s Grill owned by right wing Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert closed last July, but the building has a new tenant. Boehbert has been a loud advocate for controlling the southern border preventing illegal entrance by Mexicans and migrants from other countries. The space where wait staff used to wear guns on their hips is set to be converted to a Mexican restaurant.

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