2/7/23 ☀️ Punchbowl News AM  —  The State of the Union is tonight at 9 p.m. For the first time ever, Speaker Kevin McCarthy will preside over the joint session, sitting next to Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Californian. … The Capitol has been turned into a fortress once again.

Club for Growth Distances Itself Further From Trump  —  The anti-tax group has invited six possible presidential candidates to its donor retreat in Florida, and a notable name was left off the guest list.  —  WASHINGTON — The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group that spent nearly $150 million …

Florida Republicans help DeSantis clean up legal and political dilemmas  —  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' likely presidential campaign is getting a major assist this week by Republican legislators who are moving quickly in a hastily called special session to help the governor.

The White House Announces Guest List for the First Lady's Box for the 2023 State of the Union Address  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. - First Lady Jill Biden will welcome guests to join her in the viewing box for President Biden's State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

Exclusive: US intel assessment documents Chinese spy balloon incident under Trump  —  A US military intelligence report from last year that focused on China's use of high-altitude balloons mentioned sightings in Hawaii and Florida during the Trump presidency, according to an excerpt of the report reviewed by CNN.

Musk's Twitter Has Just 180,000 U.S. Subscribers, Two Months After Launch  —  Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter Blue, as of mid-January, or less than 0.2% of monthly active users, according to a document viewed by The Information.

The Fair Tax is haunting the 2024 GOP field  —  President Biden and Democratic allies have relentlessly attacked Republicans in recent weeks for cracking the door open to a Fair Tax, a plan to scrap the American tax code and replace it with a jumbo-sized sales tax.  —  They might get many more opportunities to bring it up.

FBI Arrests 2 in ‘Racially Motivated’ Plot to Attack Baltimore Power Grid  —  Two people, including a known neo-Nazi leader, were arrested last week after the FBI interrupted their plot to attack the Baltimore power grid, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland announced Monday morning.

Federal judge says constitutional right to abortion may still exist, despite Dobbs  —  A federal judge in Washington, D.C., suggested Monday that there may be a constitutional right to abortion baked into the 13th Amendment — an area she said went unexplored by the Supreme Court …

Biden expected to visit Poland this month to mark first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine  —  President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Poland this month to mark the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to three people familiar with the planning.

White House aides keep trying to torch the State of the Union address.  Presidents keep getting in the way.  —  Obama aides tried to move the speech to a gymnasium in Ohio.  That didn't work.  —  WASHINGTON — Now and then, a few intrepid White House speechwriters will wage a quiet battle …

Jupiter now has 92 moons after new discovery  —  Jupiter already reigns as king of the planets — it's the largest one in our solar system.  And now, the gas giant has the most known moons, too.  —  Astronomers have observed 12 additional moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing its total number of confirmed moons to 92.

Households Burn Through What's Left of Their Pandemic Savings  —  High prices and the end of relief programs eats into previously flush accounts  —  The cushion of savings many built up during the pandemic is thinning out.  In some households, it is already gone.

New French law will blanket parking lots with solar panels  —  The measure could add 10 nuclear power plants' worth of solar panels atop parking lots  —  French parking lots could soon generate as much electricity as 10 nuclear power plants, after a law is expected to win final passage …

Rep. Katie Porter Says Governor Should Keep Promise to Choose Black Woman to Fill Feinstein's Seat  —  Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) says Governor Gavin Newsom should uphold his promise to choose a Black woman to take Sen. Dianne Feinstein's seat, if the 89-year-old Senator doesn't finish her term in office.

Brexit Was a ‘Colossal Mistake,’ Former PM John Major Says  —  Britain made a “colossal mistake” when it left the European Union, former prime minister Sir John Major has told a Westminster committee.  —  Sir John said while he is not a “significant Europhile”, he believes the UK was stronger in the EU.

China Has More ICBM Launchers Than U.S., American Military Reports  —  While the U.S. leads in intercontinental missiles and warheads, China's gains are fueling debate in Congress  —  The U.S. military has notified Congress that China now has more land-based intercontinental-range missile launchers …

How an FBI Informant Derailed Denver's BLM Movement  —  A new podcast reveals how an undercover informant in a silver hearse sowed chaos inside Colorado's 2020 racial justice scene.  —  An outlandish guerrilla militant who drove a silver Hearse to Denver-area Black Lives Matter protests …

Scoop: U.S. asked Israel and PA to “pause” certain actions in West Bank and at UN  —  Secretary of State Tony Blinken while in the Middle East last week asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a temporary “pause” in certain actions each side opposes …

Hogwarts Legacy game launch becomes referendum on J.K. Rowling  —  Hogwarts Legacy, the new video game stemming from author J.K. Rowling's “Harry Potter” fiction, is launching this week to big sales and big controversy. … - The Potter author has been accused of transphobia — she denies it …

How a major election theory case at the U.S. Supreme Court could get thrown out  —  An unusual move by North Carolina's highest state court has raised the question of whether the U.S. Supreme Court will end up throwing out a major election case about a once-fringe theory that could upend federal elections across the country.

Spy balloon furore puts focus on Xi Jinping's leadership  —  Concerns emerge about decision-making at top of Beijing's policy apparatus  —  President Xi Jinping's push to revive China's economy at the outset of his historic third term in power relies on two abrupt shifts in policy …

China says will ‘safeguard interests’ over balloon shootdown  —  1 of 2  —  China said Tuesday it will “resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests” over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon by the United States, as relations between the two countries deteriorate further.