THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA’s Artemis II reaches the launch pad and the countdown to the Moon begins.

The trip began hours earlier when NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 set off on a 4-mile journey carrying the fully stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Traveling at a top speed of just 0.82 mph, the crawler moved the massive Moon rocket steadily toward the launch pad.

After exiting the VAB’s high-bay doors, the rollout briefly paused so teams could adjust the crew access arm, a structure that allows astronauts and closeout crews to enter Orion on launch day.

Over the next several days, engineers and technicians will focus on readying Artemis II for a wet dress rehearsal. This test simulates key launch-day activities, including fueling the rocket and running through countdown procedures. The rehearsal is currently targeted for no later than Feb. 2.

During the test, teams will load the rocket with cryogenic, or super-cold, propellants, carry out a full countdown sequence, and then safely drain the propellants. These steps are essential preparations ahead of NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission.

NASA may conduct more than one wet dress rehearsal to ensure the rocket and spacecraft are fully prepared for flight. If additional work is needed, the agency could roll SLS and Orion back to the Vehicle Assembly Building after the rehearsal for further inspections or adjustments.

I’m still not entirely comfortable with the Orion heat shield situation, but NASA chief Jared Isaacman is, so here we go.

NICE: The CFP Championship Crowd Had Quite a Reaction to the President on Monday Night.

READER FAVORITE: Apple AirPods 4 Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth Headphones. #CommissionEarned

HMM: Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk demands speedy trial, alleging ‘undue delay’ from Tyler Robinson defense.

THE END TIMES ARE HERE: Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks–studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too.

OLD AND BUSTED: “Never Again.”

The New Hotness? Davos’s Iran invite is a new low.

Davos has always enraged a certain type of equally smug leftist – and now the MAGA crowd and their allies elsewhere – for whom the words ‘globalisation’ and ‘globalist’ respectively are rant catnip. I have always just found the whole thing more amusing than worrying or even important. Not this year, however: Davos 2026 is a shameful event, and those organising it deserve not just to be pilloried but to be covered in verbal red paint.

Red paint, that is, to represent the blood of the thousands of Iranians slaughtered by the regime in Tehran. In autumn, the WEF thought it appropriate to invite Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, to this year’s event. Aragachi is not just the regime’s main foreign spokesman. He is also a member of its Supreme National Security Council, which in recent days is understood to have ordered the use of live ammunition on protestors. The theme of this year’s Davos event is ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’; some dialogue, when one side is seeking basic freedoms and the other is using machine guns to slaughter them.

After it emerged that Araghchi was due to give his thoughts on the question of ‘How can we cooperate in a more contested world?’ in an event moderated by Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf, Davos has seen sense. In a hastily-written statement published on X this morning, the WEF said: ‘The Iranian foreign minister will not be attending Davos. Although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year.’

Good. But the damage is done. We know exactly the mindset – indeed, the amorality – of those behind the WEF. That cannot be undone. As the great and the good hobnob in Davos, innocent Iranians are dying in the streets and hospitals as they fight for their freedom from a cruel Islamist regime.

Right around this time in 2024, Joel Kotkin wrote, “Goodbye to Davos — and good riddance:” “The interconnected world envisioned by the WEF is disintegrating. Indeed, it has fallen victim to the resurgence of history and the rise of powers determined to return us to the glories of the Middle Ages.” Or a much more primitive era, in the case of the mullahs.

QED: Iranian soldier sentenced to death for refusing to shoot protesters, human rights group says.

Related: “There’s a strange sense of desperation at losing the narrative here:”

Early Davos impressions. Will need to process, consolidate into an article.

– There’s kind of a distributed consciousness at play here. Almost nobody I talked to knows what the AI stuff is about, in concrete details. They just have vibes. And yet they dropped almost all of the…

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) January 20, 2026

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: French Activist Arrested On-Street While Asking Questions About Radical Islam and Women.

‘THEY’RE GETTING TENDER ABOUT A CHURCH SERVICE:’ Minnesota AG Keith Ellison Defends Left-Wing Agitators Who Stormed Minnesota Church.

Lemon’s live feed could provide useful evidence for federal authorities, who said Monday the protest is being investigated as a potential violation of the FACE Act, which makes it a crime to threaten or intimidate people at houses of worship or patients at abortion clinics.

“I’m looking at a young man in the corner. He’s frightened. He’s crying. He’s scared,” Lemon narrated from inside the church.

But Ellison insisted Monday that the FACE Act does not apply to the church operation, saying it usually applies to anti-abortion protests outside abortion clinics.

“The FACE Act is designed to protect the rights of people seeking their reproductive rights to be protected and so that people for a religious reason cannot just use religion to break into women’s reproductive health centers,” Ellison told Lemon.

But Ellison’s own record contradicts that claim. As Minnesota attorney general, he submitted a brief in a 2020 federal lawsuit that accused a Minneapolis woman of violating the First Amendment rights of parishioners at Dar Al-Farooq, a mosque outside Minneapolis, by filming them without their permission.

In 2015, as a House member, Ellison urged Obama civil rights chief Vanita Gupta to investigate whether a group of protesters in Phoenix violated the FACE Act by holding firearms during protests outside a Phoenix mosque.

Why, I’m beginning to believe that Keith Ellison has his thumb firmly on the lefthand scale when it comes to applying the law:

FAIL, BRITANNIA: Britain approves ‘mega’ Chinese embassy in London despite national security fears. “The delays are a measure of the British government’s uncertainty about its approach to China. Britain wants China’s money and diplomatic goodwill, but has long been wary about allowing Beijing to build an embassy that would sit near fiber-optic cables carrying sensitive data for financial firms, and which some fear could be used to spy on Chinese nationals living in London.”

DISPATCHES FROM ABC NEWS: Pam Grier Shares ‘Hanging From Tree’ Lynching Claim on The View — Never Mentioned It In Her Memoir. Grier was born in 1949:

“My mom would go, ‘don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,’ and she would pull us away because there’s someone hanging from a tree,” Grier told Whoopi, Sunny and the others. “And they have a memorial for it now where you can see where people were and left. And it triggers me today to see that a voice can be silenced and if a white family supported a black, they’re going to get burned down or killed or lynched as well.”

OutKick reached out to the NAACP to get a reaction to Grier’s claim and for any supporting evidence to support the claim. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, there has not been a single lynching documented in the history of Columbus, Ohio.

Furthermore, America’s Black Holocaust Museum lists the last documented lynching in Ohio as taking place in 1911.

Exit quote: “Did Sunny Hostin or Whoopi ask her why she never told that story? Of course not.”

PROFESSOR CARRINGTON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Sun releases the largest solar radiation storm ‘in over 20 years,’ forecasters say. “A solar radiation storm, ranked at a level four out of five on a severity scale, is being tracked by the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center, or SWPC.”

POWER BY ANY MEANS FAIR OR FOUL, BUT MOSTLY FOUL:

In TWO previous elections, Spanberger was about to lose…

Mysteriously, a flash drive with a statistically implausible number of Dem votes appeared…and were somehow counted.

I'm sure her party making an electoral audit impossible on DAY ONE is a coincidence. https://t.co/Y2gMhYfUQb pic.twitter.com/a4N4zrCqU1

— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) January 20, 2026

WELL, GOOD: HUD Investigates Minneapolis Race-Based Housing.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: 2026Upgraded Pressure Washer 5000PSI with Adjustable Touch Screen. #CommissionEarned

CHANGE: Smaller portions, more protein: How GLP-1s are quietly changing chain restaurant menus.

Obesity drugs are having weighty side effects:

“Yo mamma so fat, she drags down airline profitability” https://t.co/NWnLVQzd2M

— pika capital (@pikacap) January 19, 2026

YEAH, THAT SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT:

And what she's writing is "please I hope they find me" because that little girl was sex trafficked by Tren de Aragua. https://t.co/gEUsBuCsal

— John Carter (@martianwyrdlord) January 20, 2026

TRADE WARS: EU Nations Mulling $108B ‘Nuclear Option’ Against Trump’s Tariff Threats. “European nations are reportedly considering a ‘nuclear option’ to impose $108 billion worth of tariffs against the United States in response to President Donald Trump’s threat to enact stiff tariffs against eight nations if a deal is not reached to sell Greenland to the United States, but that move would be ‘unwise,’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Davos on Tuesday.”

WORD WARRIOR: Scott Jennings Scoffs at Cameron Kasky’s Language Limiting Edict on Saying ‘Illegal Aliens.’

“How are you going to enforce your edict on me, just out of curiosity?”

That’s the thing about the left – deep down, they believe they should decide who gets to speak and what everyone can and cannot say.

F**k. That. pic.twitter.com/n3z6HbPXfD

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) January 20, 2026

However, “It’s this next part where things get more dicey for both CNN and Kasky:” This CNN Panel Discussion on Trump Might Just Land the Network in Legal Hot Water.

A smug 25-year-old leftist activist just got HUMBLED live on CNN by Scott Jennings.

Cameron Kasky claimed President Trump was part of a “human sex-trafficking network” — and for a moment, the panel let it slide.

Until @ScottJenningsKY stepped in and FORCED the host John Berman… pic.twitter.com/wRxV2sQ3B5

— Overton (@overton_news) January 20, 2026

* * * * * * * *

Incredibly, Kasky attempted to triple down, but Berman managed to talk over him, sarcastically asking Jennings if he’s satisfied.

BERMAN: Okay, we’ll get to that later. Donald Trump has never been charged with any crimes in relation to Jeffrey Epstein. But we’ll talk about the Epstein files later.

KASKY: Yeah, but let’s be…let’s be serious.

BERMAN: (Looks at Jennings) Satisfied?

I don’t know if Jennings was satisfied, but I’d bet CNN’s lawyers weren’t. Having arrogant brats like Kasky on air without enforcing boundaries is a good way to end up getting sued. Keep in mind that ABC News settled with Trump for $15 million in damages after one of its on-air personalities falsely claimed that Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll. Claiming he was part of a “human sex-trafficking ring” doesn’t strike me as any less serious. I’m sure there will be an internal email sent, but perhaps CNN should be a bit more selective of who they put on air. If I were Trump, at the very least, I’d try to extricate a formal correction and apology from CNN and Kasky.

Just another night on CNN’s Thunderdome.

THE STORY BENEATH THE STORY:

🚨🇺🇸 WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY REBUILDS SECRET UNDERGROUND BUNKER BENEATH EAST WING

So while everyone’s arguing about Trump’s giant White House ballroom, the actual action is happening underground.

They quietly tore out the old Cold War bunker under the East Wing and are rebuilding… pic.twitter.com/2DA5YjpSHM

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 20, 2026

UPDATE: Did Instapundit reader Matt Talbot call it or what?

CDR SALAMANDER: Hegseth at Starbase: Behind the sparkling distractions, things are moving.

Hegseth sounds like he’s given military revitalization a lot of constructive thought.

NOT WELL: The Netherlands Housed Migrant Rapists With Students. Guess How That Turned Out.

IT’S NOT REAL RACISM, JUST SPARKLING HYPOCRISY: Michelle Obama Said Something Really Racist Again

ADVANTAGE, ELON!

Canada drops tariffs on Chinese EVs…
and Tesla casually says: “Oh… we were already there” 😄

Canada just removed the 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs to welcome cheaper electric cars

Everyone expected BYD or Nio to sprint through the door

But plot twist…Tesla was already… pic.twitter.com/SaVdLKtxVo

— X Freeze (@XFreeze) January 19, 2026

Tweet continues: “Tesla was already inside, shoes off, Wi-Fi connected Tesla already has 39 stores across Canada, a Canada-ready Model Y built in Shanghai, and absolutely zero setup drama Meanwhile, other Chinese brands are still figuring out leases, hiring staff, and finding coffee machines Canada allows 49,000 Chinese EVs per year Tesla’s like: ‘Cool. We’ll take those.’”

THAT’S JUST A WARMUP FOR THE MAMDANI YEARS: New York City lost nearly 5,000 businesses last year.

The report, released Thursday by the Economic Development Corporation, showed more than 3,500 new businesses opened their doors in New York City during the second quarter of the fiscal year but that was offset by a loss of about 8,400 employers. That’s the weakest quarter for business formation since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report’s authors said.

The corporation’s report is the latest to highlight New York City’s shrinking business sector with employers looking to other low-tax states as Albany piles on new regulations and costs.

It also comes as Mamdani seeks to draw up support for higher taxes to pay for plans for universal childcare, tuition free college and free bus service in the city.

Mamdani’s plans call for increasing the state’s top corporate tax rate by about half, up to 11.5% from its current maximum of 7.25%, which has caused concerns among New York City’s business community. If approved, that would match the highest corporate rate in the nation next door in New Jersey. He’s also called for “wealth” tax and a $30 per hour minimum wage for the city.

Looks like New York City has a whole lot of “bad luck” in store — unexpectedly!

FIGHT THE POWER: Two Tier Keir Has a Problem Called ‘Waifu Amelia’ and It Is Screamingly Funny.