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February 06, 2012 | | REVISIONIST Newt Gingrich can't change his past, but that won't stop him from trying to hide it. The former speaker's communications director, Joe DeSantis has made more than 60 changes to Newt's Wikipedia page, including deleting any mentions of his three marriages and his House ethics charges. A Wikipedia editor even had to comment that "pointing out factual error is one thing, but your input should not go beyond that." Another editor said "the fact that Callista is Speaker Gingrich's third wife is well-known and indisputable. Please do not remove it from her biography." DeSantis, however, continues to defend his changes. YANKED In the face of growing violence, the U.S. has closed its embassy in Damascus, pulling 17 employees out of Syria on Monday. The government “is getting stretched beyond its ability to control the various elements of violence in the country,” a senior official told CNN. Syria’s president is continuing to crack down on dissenters, and deadly car bombings last month raised the specter of al Qaeda, though the U.S. does not have proof that the group was responsible. Meanwhile, President Obama, in appearance on NBC’s Today show, ruled out military intervention in Syria, but said his administration has been “relentless” in pushing President Bashar al-Assad to step down. TRAGEDY Charles and Braden Powell, the two young boys who were killed when their father intentionally set off an explosion in his house, had reportedly just begun to start talking about the night their mother went missing, their grandparents’ attorney said on Monday. “They were beginning to verbalize more,” Steve Downing told the Associated Press. “The oldest boy talked about that they went camping and that mommy was in the trunk. Mom and dad got out of the car and mom disappeared.” Susan Powell has been missing since 2009. Child Protective Services had removed the boys from the home, but brought them back to the house for a supervised visit. Powell, who also died in the blaze, barred the social worker from entering the house, which moments later was engulfed in flames. Gloating Donald Trump unabashedly took credit for Mitt Romney’s win in Nevada over the weekend, boasting that it was his endorsement of the GOP frontrunner that pushed him to victory. “There was a lot riding on that particular race in Nevada, and it was interesting, because the numbers were much, much greater than you thought,” he said Monday on Fox and Friends. “And a lot of people are giving me credit for that. And I will accept that credit.” Cold Snap A wave of cold and snow has blanketed much of Europe, killing hundreds of people, trapping thousands more, and holding up travel across the continent. Eastern Europe has been hit hardest, with 131 reported dead in Ukraine alone. London’s Heathrow Airport was forced to cancel more than 600 flights on Sunday, and Bosnian helicopters have been put into action in order to access villages hit with up to six feet of snow. Italy experienced a blackout, and residents of Rome are furious with their mayor’s slow response to icy roads, even calling for his ouster. In the Netherlands, however, the deep freeze offers a rare chance to hold a traditional 125-mile skating race through the nation’s canals that has been called off since 1997 due to thin ice. | | 
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