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.

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.

As Russia Amasses Troops in East, Questions Remain About Its Ability to Sustain an Offensive … Moscow's forces are advancing only a few hundred meters a week, U.K. intelligence says.  —  KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia makes slow, bloody gains in a renewed push to capture more of eastern Ukraine …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

The Worst Judge in America Could Outlaw the Abortion Pill Nationwide.  It Gets Worse.  —  A single judge could outlaw the abortion pill nationwide.  And that's not even the worst of it.  —  When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, it promised to “return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives.”

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.

Marines Charged in Capitol Riot Got Highly Sensitive Spy Jobs After Jan. 6 … A Marine charged with taking part in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was transferred into a highly sensitive intelligence assignment at the headquarters of the National Security Agency after the violent attempt …

Rep. Judy Chu Was Named ‘Honorary Chairwoman’ Of Alleged Chinese Intel Front Group  —  California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu was appointed to a leadership position within an alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence front group in 2019, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

Yes, DEI Can Erode Academic Freedom.  Let's Not Pretend Otherwise. … By Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder  —  “We affirm both academic freedom and our responsibility to foster an inclusive learning community.  Importantly, these values neither contradict nor supersede each other.”