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A key Ukrainian national security official sat down today and told the country’s allies what they could do to help: please, calm down. But also: Keep the weapons coming. “We’re emphasizing this now and articulating to our partners that we cannot afford to let our economy collapse, so we also need help on this issue,” Ukraine National Security Council Chief Oleksiy Reznikov told BBC Ukraine on Monday. “After all, if people go into a state of panic, that’s a very dangerous situation for the country.” “We are concerned about the availability of weapons to protect against Russian aggression. And when...

[Catholic Caucus] German Catholic bishops welcome initiative seeking change in Church teaching on sexualityGerman Catholic bishops on Monday welcomed an initiative that is calling for a change in Church teaching on sexuality and gender identity.The initiative titled “#OutInChurch — For a church without fear,” launched on Jan. 24, appealed for the revision of what it described as “defamatory and outdated” expressions of Catholic doctrine, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.In a seven-point list of demands, the organizers wrote: “Defamatory and outdated statements of Church doctrine on sexuality and gender need to be revised on the basis of theological and...

Hunter Biden planned to share his family’s office space in Washington, DC, with a Chinese intelligence-linked firm that employed a man Hunter described as “the f**king spy chief of China,” according to Peter Schweizer’s new bombshell book Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win. According to the book, Hunter Biden planned in 2017 to set up an office in Washington that would house his businesses, his father’s Biden Foundation, and a representative of a Chinese global energy company he had cultivated close ties to, CEFC China Energy.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov told reporters on Tuesday that Kyiv considers – and intelligence reports from the West agree – that “internal destabilization” caused by panic over a potential further Russian invasion is “the number one issue,” not any potential invasion. With this “destabilization” – leading to generalized panic and the collapse of the national currency, the hryvnia – “the Russians have nothing to do here,” Danilov asserted, according to state outlet Ukrinform.

A Danish newspaper has apologized to its readers for not questioning the government’s data and narratives more throughout the first two years of the pandemic. The Ekstra Bladet, founded in 1904, said it should have done more due diligence in examining the government’s data and conclusions before reporting them: “For ALMOST two years, we - the press and the population - have been almost hypnotically preoccupied with the authorities' daily coronatal,” wrote Bladet journalist Brian Weichardt. “THE CONSTANT mental alertness has worn out tremendously on all of us. That is why we - the press - must also take stock...

The anticipated decision Tuesday of former Rep. Mark Walker to abandon his bid for the Republican Senate nomination and instead seek a return to the House from a newly-carved district in North Carolina surprises relatively few observers of Tarheel State politics. Walker had consistently been running third in most polls, behind former Gov. Pat McCrory and fellow Rep. Ted Budd (who carries the blessing of Donald Trump, the most-sought endorsement for anyone in a contested GOP primary). The anticipation now is that without Walker, the Trump base among North Carolina Republicans will coalesce around Budd and be a big assist...

Infowars founder and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones revealed Monday that he met with the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot — and exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination “almost 100 times.” “I just had a very intense experience being interrogated by the January 6 committee,” Jones said on his podcast. “They were polite, but they were dogged.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that the White House "is moving in the right direction" in considering a deployment of troops to Eastern Europe amid concerns Russia is on the cusp of invading Ukraine. "They're preparing to take steps before an incursion and not afterwards," McConnell told reporters back in Kentucky, per a video from WYMT-TV. "It appears to me that the administration is moving in the right direction." McConnell added that he has pressed the White House from the beginning to get Ukraine access to surface-to-air Stinger missiles and anti-tank weapons immediately; the US began sending...

Two US officials involved in negotiations over renewing the 2015 Irn nuclear deal have stepped back from the talks and a third has left the team altogether amid internal discord over how firm the White House should be with Tehran, according to a report. Richard Nephew, the State Department's deputy special envoy for Iran who pushed for a tougher approach, has not been part of the talks since early December, Wall Street Journal reported Monday. A State Department spokesman told Reuters late Monday that Nephew was no longer in the envoy role, though he was still at the department. Two...

"When you're in the arena, you have to be able to take a punch or throw a punch - for the children." Nancy Pelosi (video at link)

The killing of two Canadians at a resort on Mexico’s Caribbean coast last week was motivated by debts between international gangs apparently dedicated to drug and weapons trafficking, according to a senior Mexican prosecutor. “The investigations indicate that this attack was motivated by debts that arose from transnational illegal activities that the victims participated in,” said Oscar Montes, the chief prosecutor of the Quintana Roo state, on Tuesday. “The information [is] that they were involved in weapons and drug trafficking, among other crimes.”

Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee said Tuesday that he will retire after more than 30 years in elected office, declaring there was “no way” for him to retain his seat under a new congressional map drawn up by state Republicans. Cooper is the 29th Democrat to announce he won't seek reelection to the chamber in the fall. Now in his 16th term, he is also one of the longest-serving House Democrats to retire ahead of a challenging midterm election year for the party. His announcement comes just a day after Tennessee’s GOP-controlled General Assembly approved a new congressional map...

MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch called Fox News host Tucker Carlson is a “ratings *****” Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline.” Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “I don’t know if you were there that day, Donny, but I remember Trump saying to Joe, you know, we do bad things too, and Joe said Putin is a killer. I mean, has Trump’s embrace of Putin and Tucker following his lead or leading him now, I don’t know who leads who this the Tucker-Trump relationship, but has that made it harder for any American president now to lead this country in terms of a challenging Russia...

The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday issued an Airworthiness Directive prohibiting Boeing 747-8, 747-8F and 777 planes from landing at airports where interference could occur. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday barred several Boeing aircraft from landing at airports where 5G wireless signals could cause interference. The agency issued an Airworthiness Directive prohibiting Boeing 747-8, 747-8F and 777 planes from landing at airports where interference could occur, affecting approximately 336 planes in the United States and 1,714 worldwide. "The FAA issued the AD because many systems on Boeing...

Every person attending the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium next month will be given a KN95 mask and will receive repeated reminders about the requirement that masks be worn throughout the event, except while eating or drinking.

Explanation: Which direction is this comet heading? Judging by the tail, one might imagine that Comet Leonard is traveling towards the bottom right, but a full 3D analysis shows it traveling almost directly away from the camera. With this perspective, the dust tail is trailed towards the camera and can only be seen as a short yellow-white glow near the head of the comet. The bluish ion tail, however, is made up of escaping ions that are forced directly away from the Sun by the solar wind -- but channeled along the Sun's magnetic field lines. The Sun's magnetic field...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A New York Appellate Judge granted a stay in the state's lawsuit over the COVID-19 face mask mandate, meaning it remains in place while case is appealed -- and schools must enforce it.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an airworthiness directive (AD) for Boeing aircraft stemming from the use of 5G wireless towers. According to the AD released Tuesday, the radio altimeters on Boeing 777s and 747-8s can “experience interference” from 5G C-band wireless towers. The AD is slated to be published in the Federal Register on January 27. According to the document, the AD “was prompted by the determination that radio altimeters cannot be relied upon to perform their intended function if they experience interference from wireless broadband operations in the 3.7-3.98 GHz frequency band (5G-C band).” Why This Matters The...

The Israeli government is reportedly preparing for the possibility of thousands of Ukrainian Jews immigrating to the Jewish state in the event of a Russian invasion. Representatives of various Israeli government bodies met Sunday to discuss such a development, including the Prime Minister's Office, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Diaspora Affairs Ministry, and the Jewish Agency. Also involved in the government briefing was Nativ, the organization that maintains connections between Israel and Jews in former Soviet bloc countries, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported. Some 75,000 people living in eastern Ukraine are eligible for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.

President Joe Biden warned the world Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could invade Ukraine, which would be the largest global invasion since World War II. “This would be the largest, if you were to move in, we’re almost forced to do the largest invasion since World War Two,” Biden said. “And it will change the world.”