It’s the day before for the New Hampshire primaries and the day after for the Super Bowl. It’s Monday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
SYRIA
Open door?: The desperation drama on the Syria-Turkey border continued to play out over the weekend. Tens of thousands Syrian refugees wait at Turkey’s border, desperate to get into the country and away from the relentless bombing and shelling of Syria’s civil war. Turkey insists it has an open door policy, yet that door seems pretty much closed. And now fears are heightened that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies are about to lay siege to Aleppo, further threatening the lives of the 320,000 people who still live there.
CAMPAIGN 2016
The heat is on: It’s cold in New Hampshire (forecast calls for snow on primary day), but the candidates kept the heat on each other over the weekend:
1) Chris Christie played wack-a-Rubio Saturday night during the latest GOP debate, with Christie hitting Marco Rubio for leaning a little too much on his standard stump speech when answering questions.
2) Jeb Bush finally seemed to be able to (successfully) trade punches with Donald Trump.
3) On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders still leads Hillary Clinton by double digits, just not as much as before.
4) The Bern had a funny turn on “Saturday Night Live” with his twin Larry David.
5) The Donald promised to bring back waterboarding or “worse.” Oh no, not worse.
6) And did you see how ABC totally screwed up the candidate intros at Saturday’s debate? #youhadonejob
CHICAGO TEEN’S DEATH
Not what you’d expect: The Chicago cop who fatally shot a 19-year-old last year is suing the teen’s estate. Yep, we’re talking about $10million. Officer Robert Rialmo — who shot and killed Quintonio LeGrier, and accidentally killed a neighbor — seeks more than $10 million. Why do that? The officer’s attorney said it’s because LeGrier’s family was quick to file a wrongful death lawsuit. “Having a relative killed in an officer-involved shooting is not the same thing as winning the lottery,” Rialmo’s lawyer said.
HAITI
Help wanted: So who is running Haiti this morning? Well, um, it’s not really clear. That’s because President Michel Martelly left the post without a successor this weekend, after elections marred by allegations of fraud were postponed twice. A transitional government was hastily thrown together, and they’ll try elections again in April. The U.N. has called for “calm and stability,” but good luck with that as protests and flashes of violence have been reported.
SUPER BOWL
The Sheriff beats Superman: Well, not really. Actually the Denver Broncos’ out-of-this-world defense put Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers’ No. 1 ranked offense on lockdown, allowing 39-year-old Peyton Manning to eek out just enough offense to win the title, 24-10. This may have been Manning’s last game, and if it was, he couldn’t ask for a better way to wrap up his 18-year, future Hall-of-Fame career.
