December 24, 2021

Marie: Later today, I'm going to start working on moving Reality Chex to a new platform. I don't know how long this will take, but my guess is "long." So if Reality Chex is down or empty or nonsensical, don't worry. You're a witness to technical difficulties. And Merry Christmas to you, too. I trust yours will be better than mine, even if for you Christmas is just a day when nothing is open except the Chinese restaurant.

Kyle Blaine & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "President Joe Biden says he supports making an exception to the Senate filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation. 'If the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster,' Biden told ABC News' David Muir in an interview that aired Thursday morning. It's the most direct answer Biden has given on his position on the filibuster and voting rights." (Also linked yesterday.)

\Lock 'Em Up. Laurence Tribe, Donald Ayer & Dennis Aftergut in a New York Times op-ed: Attorney General Merrick "Garland's success depends on ensuring that the rule of law endures. That means dissuading future coup plotters by holding the leaders of the insurrection fully accountable for their attempt to overthrow the government. But he cannot do so without a robust criminal investigation of those at the top, from the people who planned, assisted or funded the attempt to overturn the Electoral College vote to those who organized or encouraged the mob attack on the Capitol. To begin with, he might focus on Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and even Donald Trump -- all of whom were involved, in one way or another, in the events leading up to the attack. Almost a year after the insurrection, we have yet to see any clear indicators that such an investigation is underway, raising the alarming possibility that this administration may never bring charges against those ultimately responsible for the attack." (Also linked yesterday.)

Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is focusing intently on Donald Trump's actions that day as it begins to discuss whether to recommend that the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into the former president. Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said in an interview that of particular interest is why it took so long for him to call on his supporters to stand down.... [Thompson] also said the committee is weighing other potential criminal referrals surrounding the pressure put on state and local officials to overturn the results of the election, along with whether people raised money for the rallies and events surrounding Jan. 6 while knowing the claims of election fraud were false."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Bernie Kerik, the former New York City police chief who aided Rudy Giuliani’s effort to discredit the results of the 2020 election, is inching closer to compliance with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee for his testimony and documents. In a Thursday letter to Chair Bennie Thompson..., Kerik's attorney Timothy Parlatore indicated that Kerik intends to share documents he believes are 'not privileged' with the panel by the end of next week and produce a log of other documents he believes should be withheld due to various privileges. Kerik, raising concerns that his documents could be released selectively or without context, indicated that he planned to post them on a public website. Parlatore also indicated that Kerik would appear for a Jan. 13 deposition, as the panel has demanded, but intended to raise objections to the validity of the committee's subpoena." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since Trump waived attorney-client privilege in regard to Kerik, I don't know what "various privileges" Kerik imagines he enjoys. The ex-felon privilege? The Trump-pardoned privilege? The Total Landscaping privilege? Kerik's Wiki bio (linked) reads like The Life of a Complete Ass.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Donald Trump & his gang of rogues are claiming that the FBI is behind the January 6 riots. Their new "proof": the FBI hasn't tried to find the D.C. pipe bomber (because the FBI knows who s/he is -- one of their own operatives!). I don't understand why the Trumposphere hasn't yet blamed Hillary Clinton for the insurrection. BTW, Bump embeds some footage of the would-be bomber I had not seen before.

Tierney Sneed, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump appealed to the Supreme Court on Thursday to block the release of documents from his White House to the House committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol, escalating his effort to keep about 700 pages of records secret. Hours after Trump's request was filed, the House committee asked the justices to expedite their consideration of the request, with a proposed schedule that would allow the court to say by the middle of next month whether it was taking up the case.... At issue are hundreds of documents including activity logs, schedules, speech notes and three pages of handwritten notes from then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows -- paperwork that could reveal goings-on inside the West Wing as Trump supporters gathered in Washington and then overran the US Capitol...." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Grifters United, Ltd. Douglas MacMillan & Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "A Chinese firm helping ... Donald Trump take his new media company public has been the target of investigations by federal securities regulators, who say the firm misrepresented shell companies with no products and few employees as ambitious, growing enterprises, documents and interviews show. Arc Capital, an investment advisory firm based in Shanghai, has repeatedly helped create or finance companies with little or no revenue, no customers and office locations that point to P.O. boxes, according to Washington Post review of regulatory and court filings. One claimed to be developing autonomous drone software despite having no employees; another said it operated a publicly traded in-home bakery 'specializing in freshly-made cakes and cupcakes' before saying it pivoted into touch-screen technologies for a 'diversified blue-chip client base,' regulatory filings show.... The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Arc of deceiving investors about the scope of its operations, the locations of the businesses and the identities of the people behind them, documents show." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Seems perfectly legit to me. I expect Trump is planning to diversify Trump TV into "Little Ivanka Cupcakes." Ivanka's tiny cakes might have marshmallow centers like Little Debbie's, but they will be all vanilla, folks. Totally white.

FEC Lets DeJoy Off the Hook. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "Federal campaign finance regulators have dismissed two complaints against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following a legal review that concluded there was no evidence of wrongdoing by DeJoy within a five-year statute of limitations. The government watchdog groups Campaign Legal Center and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) accused DeJoy in complaints filed last year of running a 'straw donor scheme' before he took office at the U.S. Postal Service. The complaints came after five people who worked for DeJoy's former business told The Washington Post they were urged by his aides or by DeJoy himself to write checks and attend fundraisers for Republican candidates at his Greensboro, N.C., home between 2003 and 2014.... But the Federal Election Commission released documents Wednesday showing nearly 20 people who worked for the successor company denied being pressured or reimbursed.... DeJoy could still face criminal exposure related to the alleged fundraising. The FBI last spring opened a criminal investigation into DeJoy's fundraising activity...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The Fox News host Jesse Watters used notably violent language this week in urging a gathering of conservatives to publicly confront Dr. Anthony S. Fauci..., who has become a frequent source of criticism on the political right.... Fox News has not disciplined Mr. Watters for the remarks. The network said in a statement that ... 'it's more than clear that Jesse Watters was using a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions to Dr. Fauci.' [Watters'] amped-up language was in keeping with the tone of prominent conservative figures, who for months have routinely and casually referred to Dr. Fauci in bracingly derogatory terms.... The networ's highest-rated hosts often depict him as an authoritarian determined to strip Americans of basic freedoms. Tucker Carlson has claimed that Dr. Fauci 'created Covid,' and accused him of spreading 'authoritarian germ hysteria.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm sure Anthony Fauci, like all of us, has his imperfections, but he has worked his entire adult life trying to save the lives of others, and at a salary much lower than he likely would have received if he'd worked in the private sector. And for all that, he gets vilified & threatened 24/7 by stupid, right-wing teevee "personalities." No good deed goes unpunished. Merry Christmas.

Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: "Amazon has been heavily expanding into areas that the government designates for special tax incentives, according to a new analysis that comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny of the e-commerce giant. The company has located delivery stations, fulfillment centers and even an air hub in 'opportunity zones,' regions across the country where investors can qualify for capital gains tax breaks under a 2017 law. The initiative had bipartisan backing and was intended to incentivize investment in some of the most economically distressed regions of the country. But critics of the program have raised concerns that such programs further enrich wealthy investors and corporations for projects that would have happened without government assistance. And because there aren't requirements that investors and corporations publicly report how they are using the tax breaks, it's difficult to measure impact."

Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: "Tesla will no longer allow drivers and front-seat passengers to play video games while its cars are in motion, the company told federal regulators after a probe was opened this week.... The company in the past has touted potential safety benefits of its advanced driver-assistance system, Autopilot, comparing its performance to driving overall.... Autopilot's performance is not directly comparable to regular driving because the system consists of primarily highway-only features."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here.

Maria Godoy of NPR: "With another coronavirus variant racing across the U.S., once again health authorities are urging people to mask up indoors.... Given how contagious omicron is, experts say, it's seriously time to upgrade to an N95 or similar high-filtration respirator when you're in public indoor spaces. 'Cloth masks are not going to cut it with omicron,' says Linsey Marr, a researcher at Virginia Tech who studies how viruses transmit in the air."

Biden Team Drops the Ball. Michael Shear & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "As a candidate, [Joe] Biden excoriated the lack of [Covid-19] testing during the Trump administration, saying in March 2020 that 'the administration's failure on testing is colossal, and it's a failure of planning, leadership and execution.' But the Omicron variant caught the White House off guard, as the president has acknowledged, and cases have far outstripped the government's ability to make tests available. The president's pledge of a half-billion tests on Tuesday was the centerpiece of a newly aggressive testing effort, announced just days before Christmas, as Americans try to find the hard-to-find tests so they know whether they are infected during the holiday season.... Contracts to purchase tests could be finalized as soon as next week, officials said. Whether testing manufacturers can now ramp up to produce an extra 500 million at-home tests -- and how soon -- is unclear."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here: "The United States logged a seven-day average coronavirus case count of 168,981 on Wednesday, amid a nationwide spike driven partly by the omicron variant, Washington Post figures show, surpassing a summer peak of just over 165,000 infections on Sept. 1." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maria Paul of the Washington Post: "Major commercial airlines United and Delta said they would cancel dozens of flights on Christmas Eve, citing staff shortages stemming from the omicron-fueled surge in coronavirus cases sweeping the country. On Thursday, United Airlines said in a statement it was canceling 120 flights the following day because the fast-spreading variant has had 'a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation.' Delta said in a statement that its teams had 'exhausted all options and resources -- including rerouting and substitutions of aircraft and crews to cover schedules flying; before cancelling over 90 flights on Christmas Eve due to weather events and staffing issues."

Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "... health experts warn the symptoms that previously helped people to gauge whether they had a cold, flu or covid-19 are no longer the useful marker they once were.... In this omicron-dominant season, symptoms of cold, flu or covid-19 are overlapping to a large degree (with the exception of the losing a sense of taste or smell, which remains specific to covid-19)." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Rebecca Robbins & Carl Zimmer of the New York Times: "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a second antiviral pill for Covid but said it should not be a preferred treatment. The F.D.A. cleared the pill, developed by Merck and known as molnupiravir, for adults who are vulnerable to becoming severely ill from Covid and for whom alternative Covid treatment options authorized by the F.D.A. are 'not accessible or clinically appropriate.' Older people and those who have conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease would be eligible to get a prescription for Merck's pills if they get sick from the coronavirus and cannot get treatments such as Pfizer's newly authorized pills or monoclonal antibody treatments. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people will be eligible. The treatment -- to be taken as 40 pills over five days -- is expected to be available within a few weeks. Merck's pill works by introducing errors into the virus's genes to stop it from replicating, which has raised concerns about the risk that it could cause reproductive harm. The F.D.A. said that women who were pregnant should generally not take the pills, but that there could be exceptions." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Olafimihan Oshin of the Hill: "Former President Trump in an interview with conservative media personality Candace Owens pushed back over her claims undermining the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. In a Tuesday episode of the Daily Wire show 'Candace,' Trump told Owens that he takes credit for the 'incredible speed' of how the vaccines were developed during his time in office and his partnership with private pharmaceutical companies. 'I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines,' Trump told Owens. 'All are very, very good. Came up with three of them in less than nine months. It was supposed to take five to 12 years.'... '... the vaccines work.... The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine. But it's still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you're protected,' Trump told Owens." Trump also said that the vaccine is "one of the greatest achievements of mankind." And he came up with it! Trump's Tomb headliner: "came up with one of the greatest achievements of mankind" chiseled into the finest gold-veined pink marble.

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Amy Forliti & Scott Bauer of the AP: "A suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in the death of Daunte Wright.... The mostly white jury deliberated for about 27 hours over four days before finding former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. Potter, 49, faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state's sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York, Where It's Okay to Feel up a Cop. Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will not face criminal charges over a female state trooper's accusation that he touched her inappropriately when she was protecting him during a 2019 event at Belmont Park racetrack, a Long Island prosecutor said on Thursday. The prosecutor, Joyce Smith, Nassau County's acting district attorney, said in a statement that an 'exhaustive investigation' into the trooper's allegations -- which first surfaced in a damning report by New York's attorney general -- had found them to be 'credible, deeply troubling, but not criminal under New York law.':

Pennsylvania. AP: "The vehicle stolen at gunpoint in Philadelphia from U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was found in neighboring Delaware with five suspects inside, who were in police custody Thursday, police said. Scanlon's blue Acura MDX was located Wednesday night in Newark, Delaware, about 45 miles (74 kilometers) from Philadelphia, Delaware State Police said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Kathryn Watson & Justin Carissimo of CBS News: "Five teenagers have been charged in the armed carjacking of U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon in Philadelphia, authorities said.... The FBI charged Josiah Brown, 19, with carjacking and the use of a firearm in the carjacking. Police identified the juvenile suspects as a 14-year-old female and three male juveniles, aged 13, 15, and 16.... All five suspects are from Wilmington, Delaware.... Scanlon said President Biden called her Thursday to check on her, and they discussed the importance of gun control measures."

Way Beyond

Russia. Isabelle Khurshudyan & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a marathon annual news conference Thursday, blamed the West for tensions on the Ukraine border and fears of war, but stopped short of issuing any pronouncements likely to drive further escalation. One of his most prominent television appearances of the year, the appearance, which lasted about four hours, was an opportunity for him to convince Russians that Kyiv's westward turn is an urgent security threat to Moscow -- one that could justify military action.... Though Putin was given two opportunities to say definitively that Russia would not invade Ukraine, he instead reiterated his demand for a promise in writing that NATO would not expand eastward." (Also linked yesterday.)

December 23, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Amy Forliti & Scott Bauer of the AP: "A suburban Minneapolis police officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in the death of Daunte Wright.... The mostly white jury deliberated for about 27 hours over four days before finding former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter. Potter, 49, faces about seven years in prison on the most serious count under the state's sentencing guidelines, but prosecutors said they would seek a longer term." The Washington Post's story is here.

Kyle Blaine & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "President Joe Biden says he supports making an exception to the Senate filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation. 'If the only thing standing between getting voting rights legislation passed and not getting passed is the filibuster, I support making the exception of voting rights for the filibuster,' Biden told ABC News' David Muir in an interview that aired Thursday morning. It's the most direct answer Biden has given on his position on the filibuster and voting rights."

Lock 'Em Up. Laurence Tribe, Donald Ayer & Dennis Aftergut in a New York Times op-ed: Attorney General Merrick "Garland's success depends on ensuring that the rule of law endures. That means dissuading future coup plotters by holding the leaders of the insurrection fully accountable for their attempt to overthrow the government. But he cannot do so without a robust criminal investigation of those at the top, from the people who planned, assisted or funded the attempt to overturn the Electoral College vote to those who organized or encouraged the mob attack on the Capitol. To begin with, he might focus on Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and even Donald Trump — all of whom were involved, in one way or another, in the events leading up to the attack. Almost a year after the insurrection, we have yet to see any clear indicators that such an investigation is underway, raising the alarming possibility that this administration may never bring charges against those ultimately responsible for the attack."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Thursday are here: "The United States logged a seven-day average coronavirus case count of 168,981 on Wednesday, amid a nationwide spike driven partly by the omicron variant, Washington Post figures show, surpassing a summer peak of just over 165,000 infections on Sept. 1."

Rebecca Robbins & Carl Zimmer of the New York Times: 'The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized a second antiviral pill for Covid but said it should not be a preferred treatment.The F.D.A. cleared the pill, developed by Merck and known as molnupiravir, for adults who are vulnerable to becoming severely ill from Covid and for whom alternative Covid treatment options authorized by the F.D.A. are 'not accessible or clinically appropriate.' Older people and those who have conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease would be eligible to get a prescription for Merck's pills if they get sick from the coronavirus and cannot get treatments such as Pfizer's newly authorized pills or monoclonal antibody treatments. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people will be eligible. The treatment -- to be taken as 40 pills over five days -- is expected to be available within a few weeks. Merck's pill works by introducing errors into the virus's genes to stop it from replicating, which has raised concerns about the risk that it could cause reproductive harm. The F.D.A. said that women who were pregnant should generally not take the pills, but that there could be exceptions." The AP's report is here.

AP: "The vehicle stolen at gunpoint in Philadelphia from U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon was found in neighboring Delaware with five suspects inside, who were in police custody Thursday, police said. Scanlon's blue Acura MDX was located Wednesday night in Newark, Delaware, about 45 miles (74 kilometers) from Philadelphia, Delaware State Police said."

Russia. Isabelle Khurshudyan & Mary Ilyushina of the Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a marathon annual news conference Thursday, blamed the West for tensions on the Ukraine border and fears of war, but stopped short of issuing any pronouncements likely to drive further escalation. One of his most prominent television appearances of the year, the appearance, which lasted about four hours, was an opportunity for him to convince Russians that Kyiv's westward turn is an urgent security threat to Moscow -- one that could justify military action.... Though Putin was given two opportunities to say definitively that Russia would not invade Ukraine, he instead reiterated his demand for a promise in writing that NATO would not expand eastward."

~~~~~~~~~~

Nick Anderson & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration ... announced Wednesday it will extend a pause on federal student loan payments through May 1 as the omicron variant threatens to hurt the U.S. economy. President Biden depicted the move as an essential step to help borrowers at a moment of ongoing public health challenges. Until now, the payment moratorium had been scheduled to end in a little more than a month." A CBS News story is here.

Mike Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. set up extensive surveillance operations inside Portland[, Oregon]'s protest movement, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and current and former federal officials, with agents standing shoulder to shoulder with activists, tailing vandalism suspects to guide the local police toward arrests and furtively videotaping inside one of the country's most active domestic protest movements. The breadth of F.B.I. involvement in Portland and other cities ... became a point of concern for some within the bureau and the Justice Department who worried that it could undermine the First Amendment right to wage protest against the government.... In Portland, federal teams were initially dispatched in July 2020 to protect the city's federal courthouse after protesters lit fires, smashed windows and lobbed fireworks at law enforcement personnel in the area. But the F.B.I. role quickly widened, persisting months after activists turned their attention away from the courthouse, with some targeting storefronts or local institutions whose protection would normally be up to the local police."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Capitol attack asked Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio on Wednesday to sit for an interview with its investigators, in the latest step the panel has taken to dig into the role that members of Congress played in trying to undermine the 2020 election. The committee's letter to Mr. Jordan, an ally of ... Donald J. Trump, says that investigators want to question him about his communications related to the run-up to the Capitol riot.... Mr. Jordan, a Republican, was deeply involved in Mr. Trump's effort to fight the election results.... [Committee chair Bennie] Thompson [D-Miss.] also said the committee wanted to ask Mr. Jordan about any discussions involving the possibility of presidential pardons for people involved in any aspect of Jan. 6.... Mr. Thompson noted that Mr. Jordan told the Rules Committee in November, 'I have nothing to hide.'" An NPR report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on Wednesday that he has 'real concerns' about the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which requested to sit down with him in a letter earlier in the day." MB: Yeah, his "real concern" is that the committee will send a letter of referral to the DOJ, not for failure to comply with a lawful subpoena but for acts of sedition. That would concern me, too.

Still Crazy After All These Years. Beth Reinhard & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) has been fanning false claims for years, long before his efforts to overturn the 2020 election based on ... Donald Trump's baseless allegations drew the attention of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In the fall of 2017, Perry claimed a former House aide to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) orchestrated 'massive' data transfers that amounted to a 'substantial security threat,' according to Fox News. [False.]... Around the same time, Perry suggested then-CNN host Chris Cuomo was exaggerating the lack of water and electricity in hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico. [Wrong.]... In January 2018, Perry speculated about an Islamic State connection to the mass shooting in Las Vegas the previous year.... [Bull.] Last year, he was among 18 House Republicans to vote against a resolution condemning QAnon.... [This year, Perry] told journalist Greta Van Susteren that allowing more Afghan refugees into the country would lead to 'little girls raped and killed in the streets.'"

Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "Michael Flynn has swiftly lost his bid in court to block a possible House select committee subpoena for his phone records and to hold off demands he speak to the panel investigating January 6. The ruling Wednesday comes one day after he asked a federal judge in Florida for a temporary restraining order.... District Judge Mary Scriven in Tampa said in the decision that Flynn did not meet the procedural requirements to make the case for emergency intervention, and that he could refile his request in the future...."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A New York man who was a member of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstructing Congress and conspiring to obstruct law enforcement during the pro-Trump riot on Jan. 6. The plea to the felony charge is significant because Matthew Greene, 34, of Syracuse admitted coordinating with other New York-based members of the extremist group at the front of the Capitol mob, although there is no evidence he actually entered the building. Greene is the first self-admitted member of the Proud Boys to plead guilty in a felony conspiracy case stemming from the riot and agree to cooperate with law enforcement. He is set to be sentenced March 10." An AP story is here.

The Big Lie, Ctd. Amy Gardner, et al., of the Washington Post: "More than a year after Donald Trump lost the presidency, election officials across the country are facing a growing barrage of claims that the vote was not secure and demands to investigate or decertify the outcome, efforts that are eating up hundreds of hours of government time and spreading distrust in elections. The ongoing attack on the vote is being driven in part by well-funded Trump associates, who have gained audiences with top state officials and are pushing to inspect protected machines and urging them to conduct audits or sign on to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 results. And the campaign is being bolstered by grass-roots energy, as local residents who have absorbed baseless allegations of ballot fraud are now forcing election administrators to address the false claims. The fallout has spread from the six states where Trump sought to overturn the outcome in 2020 to deep-red places such as Idaho, where officials recently hand-recounted ballots in three counties to refute claims of vote-flipping, and Oklahoma, where state officials commissioned an investigation to counter allegations that voting machines were hacked." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: All this trouble & expense to assuage the ego of one crazy narcissist. It's amazing to behold.

Your Tax Dolllars Being Sucked Down the Rabbit Hole. Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Special counsel John Durham's review of the FBI investigation into possible coordination between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government has cost U.S. taxpayers about $3.8 million since October 2020, according to a Justice Department report released Wednesday.... The tally is not a complete accounting of Durham's expenses since his investigation began in the spring of 2019.... Democrats and others have long asserted that Durham's investigation is a political stunt meant to undercut a legitimate FBI probe that dogged Trump's presidency."

Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "A record number of Americans -- 13.6 million -- have signed up for health plans through the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces for 2022, after Congress lowered the cost of Obamacare insurance, the Biden administration boosted advertising and the pandemic disrupted many Americans' employer-provided coverage. The Covid-19 public health emergency helped usher in an era of greater generosity and expanded outreach to the uninsured that many of Obamacare's original authors had long called for. The increased enrollment, covering at least two million more Americans than in any previous year, was particularly pronounced in states like Georgia and Texas that have high rates of uninsurance and declined to expand Medicaid to cover their poorest adults."

** Jason Stanley in the Guardian: "The history of racism in the US is fertile ground for fascism. Attacks on the courts, education, the right to vote and women's rights are further steps on the path to toppling democracy[.]... Writing in [1995 in] the era of the 'super-predator' myth (a Newsweek headline the next year read, 'Superpredators: Should we cage the new breed of vicious kids?'), [celebrated U.S. writer Toni] Morrison unflinchingly read fascism into the practices of US racism. Twenty-five years later, those 'forces interested in fascist solutions to national problems' are closer than ever to winning a multi-decade national fight. The contemporary American fascist movement is led by oligarchical interests for whom the public good is an impediment, such as those in the hydrocarbon business, as well as a social, political, and religious movement with roots in the Confederacy. As in all fascist movements, these forces have found a popular leader unconstrained by the rules of democracy, this time in the figure of Donald Trump." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You may be too busy to read Stanley's essay right now. If so, bookmark it to save it for later. Stanley puts the U.S.'s facist movement in the context of other successful facist government takeovers.

Presidential Election 2024

Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "President Biden said Wednesday he would run for reelection in 2024 if he's 'in good health,' adding he was eager to possibly face Donald Trump. The president, confirming his past comment that he would seek four more years in the White House in an interview with ABC 'World News Tonight' anchor David Muir, said he would run again if his health did not deteriorate. Asked if he would run against Trump if the former president was the Republican nominee, Biden chuckled and said he would. 'Why would I not run against Donald Trump as the nominee?' Biden asked. 'That would increase the prospect of running.'" The ABC News story is here.

Cancun Cruz: It's My Turn. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is expressing optimism about his odds of securing the 2024 Republican presidential nomination even as ... Donald Trump hints that he might run again. In an interview with the Truth Gazette, a conservative outlet run by 15-year-old Brilyn Hollyhand, Cruz said he would 'absolutely' consider a run for the White House in 2024. In fact, Cruz said he thinks it is very likely that Republican voters will give him the nomination. Noting that he ended up 'placing second' during the 2016 GOP primaries, Cruz said there is a historical precedent for runner-up candidates like him to get the nod the next time they jump into the presidential race." Politico's report is here. MB: As horrifying as it is to imagine President Ted, a 15-year-old "conservative" is equally horrifying. Hey, kid, you should be out protesting racial injustice & anti-abortion measures. Lose Cruz.

The Pandemic, Ctd., Brought to You by the Unvaccinated

** This article by Derek Hawkins & Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post tells you what do if you get -- or think you may have got -- a breakthrough case of Covid-19. Access is free to nonsubscribers.

Carl Zimmer & Emily Anthes of the New York Times: "Three separate teams of scientists on two continents have found that Omicron infections more often result in mild illness than earlier variants of the coronavirus, offering hope that the current surge may not be quite as catastrophic as feared despite skyrocketing caseloads. The researchers examined Omicron's course through populations in South Africa, Scotland and England. The results in each setting, while still preliminary, all suggested that the variant was less likely to send people [to] hospitals."

** Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators Wednesday authorized the first easy-to-take pill to treat covid-19, a five-day regimen developed by Pfizer.... Tens of thousands of pill packs of Pfizer's Paxlovid are sitting in a Pfizer warehouse in Memphis, ready to be loaded onto trucks and planes in anticipation of the green light from the Food and Drug Administration. But as omicron cases skyrocket nationwide, doctors are expected to quickly burn through that initial supply of Paxlovid, which has shown to be 89 percent effective at keeping high-risk patients from developing severe illness when given within three days of symptoms starting." The AP's report is here.

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: Several lawmakers have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent days. Among them are Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.). All had been fully-vaccinated. Walz's family also was infected; his son had not received a booster shot. MB: Rep. Jim Clyburn, (D-S.C.) the Majority Whip, also says he has tested positive & is not experiencing symptoms (reported on MSNBC).

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court said on Wednesday evening that it would hold a special hearing next month to assess the legality of two Biden administration initiatives aimed at addressing the coronavirus. One requires large companies to have their workers get coronavirus vaccines or be tested weekly, while the other requires health care workers at hospitals that receive federal money to be vaccinated against the virus. The court said it would move with exceptional speed, setting the cases for argument on Friday, Jan. 7. The justices had not been scheduled to return to the bench until the following Monday." The AP's report is here.

Extreme Denialism: It's Not Covid. It's Anthrax! David Gilbert of Vice: "A group of unvaccinated people who attended a huge conspiracy conference [-- ReAwaken America --] in Dallas earlier this month all became sick in the days after the event with symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath, and fever. Instead of blaming the global COVID pandemic, however, the conspiracy theorists think they were attacked with anthrax.... The anthrax claim was first made by Joe Oltmann on his Conservative Daily podcast earlier this week.... 'There's a 99.9% chance it's anthrax,' Oltmann said on his podcast.... The conference, run by Tulsa businessman Clay Clark, was headlined by figures like disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump adviser Roger Stone, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. Eric Trump ... also spoke at the event.... No one involved in the event has publicly entertained the idea that these illnesses could have been caused by COVID-19." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The theory is that the anthrax was spread via a fog machine used at the event. I expect a liberal was operating the machine. If the Omicron variant causes only mild symptoms even for unvaccinated people, millions of anti-vaxxer Americans will never admit they had Covid.

South Africa. Max Bearak of the Washington Post: "South Africa's huge wave of omicron cases appears to be subsiding just as quickly as it grew in the weeks after the country first announced to the world that a new coronavirus variant had been identified. South Africa's top infectious-disease scientist, who has been leading the country's pandemic response, said Wednesday that the country had rapidly passed the peak of new omicron cases and, judging by preliminary evidence, he expected 'every other country, or almost every other, to follow the same trajectory.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado. Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "Prosecutors in Colorado have started a process that could reduce the penalty for a truck driver who was sentenced this month to 110 years in prison for his role in a 2019 crash that killed four people. The lengthy sentence, which was handed down on Dec. 13, drew scrutiny from the judge and from more than four million people who signed an online petition calling for it to be reduced. On Tuesday, just over a week after the truck driver, Rogel Aguilera-Mederos, was sentenced, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said that his office was reviewing the driver's application for clemency. Also on Tuesday, the First Judicial District Attorney's Office in Colorado said it had filed a motion to reconsider the penalty.... Mr. Aguilera-Mederos was driving a truck on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colo., just west of Denver, on April 25, 2019, when it crashed into several cars, killing four people. He said malfunctioning brakes were the main cause of the crash. Prosecutors argued that he was responsible for the deaths because of the decisions he made while driving, including not steering the truck onto a runaway truck ramp along the highway."

New York. Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "The jurors in the Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial were sent home by the judge on Wednesday after a second full day of deliberating without reaching a verdict." The jury will return Monday.

Pennsylvania. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: "Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.) was carjacked at gunpoint in her Philadelphia district Wednesday afternoon, an incident that Mayor Jim Kenney (D) called appalling. Scanlon was not injured in the attack, a spokeswoman said. The lawmaker had just left a meeting in FDR Park in Philadelphia when she was attacked around 2:45 p.m.... Philadelphia police told 6ABC, a local news station, that the carjacking occurred after a tour that included members of Congress. Two armed men approached Scanlon as she walked to her blue 2017 Acura MDX and demanded the keys to the car. They then drove off with the vehicle, according to the station. The vehicle contained Scanlon's personal and work phones, as well as her identification.... Kenney, a two-term mayor, recently has been vocal about his frustration with crime in the city.... Kenney and other city leaders blamed state lawmakers for the levels of violence and demanded that the legislature allow the Philadelphia City Hall to manage its own gun control." ABC News' story is here.

South Dakota. A Christmas Card, a Murder Confession. Jessica Lipscomb of the Washington Post: "Ten days before Christmas, Boyd VanVooren, the police chief in Milbank, S.D., called resident Brent Monroe Hanson to the station. VanVooren had ... a Christmas card and a question [for Hanson]. Hanson, 57, was awaiting trial on charges that he assaulted his brother's wife, who lived in the upstairs apartment of a property they all shared. VanVooren asked whether there had been any further issues at home with Hanson's brother and sister-in-law. 'They no longer live here,' Hanson answered, according to a police report.... VanVooren later asked where Hanson's brother had moved. Hanson drew his thumb across his neck, 'indicating a "slashing motion,"' the report says. 'I snapped,' Hanson continued.... 'I killed them on Sunday.' Officers ... found Hanson's brother, Clyde Hanson, and sister-in-law, Jessica Hanson, dead inside. Jessica Hanson was nine months pregnant, according to police; her unborn child had also died."

Way Beyond

Hong Kong. Rhoda Kwan of the Guardian: "Hong Kong's oldest university has removed a statue mourning those killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and posted guards at the site where it has stood for more than 20 years. The move prompted criticism of the university and the Hong Kong authorities, with academics and experts saying the removal of the sculpture was an attempt at 'rewriting history'. The 8-metre-tall (26ft) Pillar of Shame by the Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt was one of the few remaining public memorials in the territory commemorating the bloody crackdown that is a taboo topic in mainland China, where it cannot be publicly marked. It had sat on the University of Hong Kong (HKU) campus since 1997, the year the city was handed back to China."

News Lede

New York Times: "Joan Didion, whose mordant dispatches on California culture and the chaos of the 1960s established her as a leading exponent of the New Journalism, and whose novels 'Play It as It Lays' and 'A Book of Common Prayer' proclaimed the arrival of a tough, terse, distinctive voice in American fiction, died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan. She was 87."

December 22, 2021

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Under intense pressure from criminal justice reform advocates, the Justice Department has reversed a Trump-era legal opinion that could have required several thousand federal convicts to return to prison from home confinement if the Biden administration declares an end to the pandemic-related national emergency. With the rise of the Omicron variant, such a milestone seems remote, but the new opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel meets demands from reformers and lawmakers that officials find a way to allow prisoners who;ve typically been living at home for a year or more under pandemic-related legal authorities to remain at home to serve out the remainder of their sentences."

A Lot of Crooks Are Living off Your Tax Dollars. Eamon Javers & Scott Zamost of CNBC: "Criminals have stolen close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday. The stolen funds were diverted by fraudsters from the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and a another program set up to dole out unemployment assistance funds nationwide. More than $2.3 billion in stolen funds have been recovered so far, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 suspects who span the spectrum from individuals to organized groups, according to the agency. The government has shelled out about $3.5 trillion in Covid relief money since early 2020, when the pandemic began.... The Secret Service currently has more than 900 active investigations related to pandemic fraud, Dotson said."

The Anecdotal Excuse, Ctd. Marie: Yesterday I linked to a Huff Post story that claimed, "In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children." I wrote, "This is the perfect argument. No matter that there is statistical proof that the child tax credit has been a boon to American children, Joe can always point to cases of parents squandering the benefits on drugs or other things that are of no benefit to their children.' So, ~~~

     ~~~ Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has refused to support Democrats' Build Back Better Act, partly because he worries the bill's continuation of monthly child tax credit payments would subsidize drug use among some parents. Manchin's concern about the benefits may stem from complaints he heard from constituents, including a grandmother who he said complained to the senator's office that her daughter wasn't using the monthly payments to support her child.... JoAnna Vance, an advocate for the child tax credit, attending a meeting with Manchin, According to Vance,] 'He said he's gotten phone calls from one grandmother specifically talking about her crackhead daughter ― he used the word crackhead three times ― talking about her crackhead daughter running around using the child tax credit to buy drugs and get high instead of it going where it needs to go.'..." ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Amid the swirl of recriminations and second-guessing that followed the announcement by Senator Joe Manchin III that he would not support President Biden's signature domestic policy plan, one point of contention stood out: their differences over an expansion of the child tax credit." Cochrane digs into Manchin's objection to this aid to families but doesn't mention that alleged "crackhead" mom. MB: There's nothing obviously wrong with Cochrane's and the NYT's style of reporting, but you can see how what you might call "elevated style" also elevates Manchin by making his objections to the tax credit seem more reasoned.

Matt Egan of CNN: "A day after the West Virginia Democrat appeared to kill Build Back Better, America's largest coal mining union put out a statement lauding the legislation's provisions and pushing Manchin to take a do-over.... The 131-year-old UMWA called out several items that it believes are crucial to its members and communities, including extending the fee paid by coal companies to fund benefits received by victims of black lung." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Joseph Choi of the Hill: "Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on Tuesday she is open to discussing proposals to overhaul an expanded child tax credit included in President Biden's American Rescue Plan that is set to expire in the next few days.... If the expanded child tax credit is allowed to expire then monthly payments would end for the families of about 60 million children.... Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argued that there is still time to work out a deal for the tax credit. McConnell echoed Collins' concerns about the lack of a work requirement tied to the credit."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Two allies of ... Donald J. Trump took steps on Tuesday to try to stonewall the House committee investigating the Capitol attack as Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump's former national security adviser, filed a lawsuit against the panel, and a House Republican [-- Scott Perry of Pennsylvania -- ] who played a key role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election refused to meet with investigators.... The House committee has said it wants information from Mr. Flynn because he attended a meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18 in which participants discussed seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency, invoking certain national security emergency powers and continuing to spread the false idea that the election was tainted by widespread fraud. That meeting came after Mr. Flynn gave an interview to the right-wing media site Newsmax in which he talked about the purported precedent for deploying military troops and declaring martial law to 'rerun' the election.... Mr. Perry, the incoming chairman of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, called the committee 'illegitimate.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unfortunately, the Constitution requires a 2/3rds vote of the House to expel a member, and that isn't going to happen. So the next worst thing is censure, which requires only a majority vote. The House should censure Perry.

GOP Perpetuates the Big Lie. Daniel Dale of CNN: "Five Republican candidates for governor of Minnesota were asked at a forum last Wednesday whether they thought President Joe Biden won a 'constitutional majority in the Electoral College.' None of them was willing to utter a plain 'yes.' Their responses, which ranged from explicit inaccuracies to feeble dodges, made national news. But they weren't unusual.... A refusal to endorse the legitimacy of Biden's victory has become a key requirement in Republican primaries across the country. From conservative Alabama to the swing states of the Midwest, numerous Republicans trying to win party nominations in 2022 have joined ... Donald Trump in refusing to publicly admit that Trump just plain lost. Some candidates are aggressive, turning the lie that Trump was the rightful winner into a central part of their campaign pitches. Other candidates are evasive, straining to sidestep a direct answer on the question of Biden's legitimacy." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Danger They Pose. Gina Harkins of the Washington Post: "As Donald Trump began contesting the presidential election results in November 2020, CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter, received a text from a man describing Stelter's mother's home, 'implying he was there.' It wasn't the only threatening message Stelter said he received from the man.... Stelter detailed the threats Monday night after testifying at the sentencing hearing for Robert Lemke, a California man who federal investigators say threatened about 50 people over their truthful 'statements expressing that then-President Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.' On Monday, Lemke, 36, from Bay Point, Calif., was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty in October to threatening an unspecified journalist's New York-based family.... 'We are nearby, armed and ready,' [a] text message [from Lemke to a journalist's family member] said, according to court documents. 'Thousands of us are active/retired law enforcement, military, etc. That's how we do it.' That day, the brother of an unnamed congressman representing New York received a similar message from Lemke." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND there's this: ~~~

     ~~~ A Standing O for a Killer. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Weeks after Kyle Rittenhouse said he wanted to 'lay low' when he was found not guilty of homicide, attempted homicide and other charges related to last year's fatal shootings that rocked Kenosha, Wis., the teen was welcomed Monday at a conservative conference to music, pyrotechnics and a standing ovation from thousands of attendees.... Those in attendance chanted 'Kyle! Kyle! Kyle!' in the moments before he walked onstage, the Arizona Republic reported.... 'You're a hero to millions,' Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk told Rittenhouse during the group's AmericaFest gathering in Phoenix. 'It's an honor to be able to have you.'... Rittenhouse ... suggested Monday that lawsuits could be filed against media outlets for how they covered his murder trial.... In a 45-minute panel discussion..., Rittenhouse said he was a scapegoat in an alleged government effort to take away people's guns. 'My trial was an example of them trying to come after our Second Amendment rights, our right to defend ourselves and trying to take our weapons,' he told the crowd." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, vigilante Rittenhouse carried an illegally-obtained semi-automatic rifle to a city & state where he didn't live for the purpose of taking on protesters against the police shooting of a Black man. If I were the "government," I definitely would take away his gun.

** By Any Means. Linda So & Jason Szep of Reuters: "A member of Donald Trump';s 2020 presidential campaign arranged and participated in a meeting at which a Georgia election worker says she was pressed by a Chicago publicist to falsely admit voting fraud. The revelation directly ties a senior figure in the former president's political operation to an extraordinary late-night Jan. 4 meeting in which a $16-an-hour election worker faced pressure to implicate herself in a baseless conspiracy theory, stoked by Trump himself, as he sought to overturn his Georgia election loss. Harrison Floyd - who was executive director of a national campaign coalition called Black Voices for Trump in 2020 - told Reuters on Monday that he asked Chicago publicist Trevian Kutti to visit the Atlanta area to speak with 62-year-old temporary election worker Ruby Freeman. Floyd said he then participated by phone in a meeting Kutti held with Freeman at a police station in Georgia's Cobb County. Kutti was accompanied at the meeting by another Trump campaign figure: Garrison Douglas, who was a Georgia leader in Black Voices for Trump during the campaign and now works as a Republican Party spokesperson in the state.... Floyd said he recruited Douglas and Kutti because he was unable to attend himself."

Tatum Hunter & Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: "On Dec. 9, word of a newly discovered computer bug in a hugely popular piece of computer code started rippling around the cybersecurity community. By the next day, nearly every major software company was in crisis mode, trying to figure out how their products were affected and how they could patch the hole. The descriptions used by security experts to describe the new vulnerability in an extremely common section of code called log4j border on the apocalyptic.... Log4j is a chunk of code that helps software applications keep track of their past activities.... A few weeks ago, the cybersecurity community realized that by simply asking the program to log a line of malicious code, it would execute that code in the process, effectively letting bad actors grab control of servers that are running log4j.... Experts say it's the biggest software vulnerability of all time in terms of the number of services, sites and devices exposed. The fact that log4j is such a ubiquitous piece of software is what makes this such a big deal.... The best thing regular computer users can do is make sure the apps they use are updated to their most recent versions...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Races

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican and a potential future leader, is seriously considering retiring after next year, a prospect that has set off an intensifying private campaign from other Republicans urging him to seek re-election. Mr. Thune is only 60, but a combination of family concerns and ... Donald J. Trump's enduring grip on the Republican Party have prompted the senator, who is in his third term, to tell associates and reporters in his home state that 2022 could be his last year in Congress.... That Mr. Thune would even entertain retirement with the chance to ascend to Senate Republican leader illustrates both the strain of today's Congress and the shadow Mr. Trump casts over the party."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Veteran Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) plans to retire at the end of his eighth term, bringing to 23 the number of Democrats who have said they won't seek reelection during next year's midterms, in which the party risks losing control of the House.... Sires, who plans an official announcement of his retirement early next year, told local media that he is backing Robert Menendez Jr., the son of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), as his successor for his northern New Jersey district."

AP: "A Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program was found guilty on all counts Tuesday. Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard's department of chemistry and chemical biology, had pleaded not guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements, and two counts of failing to file reports for a foreign bank account in China." The New York Times story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd., Brought to You by the Unvaccinated

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here.

Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Tuesday outlined plans to expand coronavirus testing sites across the country, distribute a half-billion free at-home tests and deploy more federal health resources to aid strained hospitals, as the omicron variant drives a fresh wave of infections.... The president said Americans have an obligation to get vaccinated, calling it a 'patriotic duty,' and pointed to former president Donald Trump's comment that he got his vaccine booster shot. Biden stressed that while the number of covid cases have soared to levels not seen since 2020, the outlook was far different with vaccines and other treatment. 'This is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We're prepared. We know more,' he said." ~~~

** Mike Schneider of the AP: "U.S. population growth dipped to its lowest rate since the nation's founding during the first year of the pandemic as the coronavirus curtailed immigration, delayed pregnancies and killed hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents, according to figures released Tuesday. The United States grew by only 0.1%, with an additional 392,665 added to the U.S. population from July 2020 to July 2021, bringing the nation's count to 331.8 million people, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. has been experiencing slow population growth for years but the pandemic exacerbated that trend. This past year was the first time since 1937 that the nation's population grew by less than 1 million people."

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Samantha Pell of the Washington Post: "The NHL will halt its season Wednesday amid a spike in coronaviru cases and the rise of the omicron variant, the league announced Monday night, becoming the first major pro sports league in North America with plans to halt play entirely, albeit briefly. Team facilities will be closed from Wednesday through Saturday, and players will return Sunday for coronavirus testing and practice. Games are in line to resume Monday, Dec. 27. The league's previously scheduled holiday break was Friday through Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Quint Forgey of Politico: "Anthony Fauci ... on Tuesday called on Fox News to fire host Jesse Watters for targeting him with violent rhetoric at a conservative conference earlier this week. '...The guy should be fired on the spot.' Speaking on Monday at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference, Watters encouraged attendees to rhetorically 'ambush' Fauci with dubious questions about the National Institutes of Health allegedly funding 'gain-of-function' research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 'Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn't see it coming,' Watters said.... Fox News declined to comment on the record on whether it endorses Watters' remarks or plans to take disciplinary action against him. Fox News also did not respond to a request for comment on Fauci's critique of the network.... Lara Logan, a Fox News personality and host on its streaming service, compared him to the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele earlier this month.... Fauci rebuked Fox News for not taking disciplinary action against Logan...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Watters made his name on Fox ambushing public figures and others with stupid questions when his was a regular on Bill O'Reilly's now-defunct Fox show. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Emma Goldberg of the New York Times: "Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News, told employees on Friday that those working in New York City would have to show proof they'd had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine by Dec. 27, removing the option to get tested weekly instead. The new policy was in keeping with New York City's vaccine rule, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in early December and which is more stringent than a contested Biden administration rule requiring vaccine mandates or weekly testing at larger employers. The New York City mandate, which requires on-site workers at all businesses to be vaccinated, is the country's most sweeping local vaccine mandate and affects some 184,000 businesses. 'Our policy reflects the guidelines of the mandate,' a spokesman for Fox Corporation said in an email on Monday. More than 90 percent of Fox's employees are vaccinated, the company said." (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: New York City Mayor-elect Eric "Adams, who takes office on Jan. 1, canceled [his inauguration] ceremony on Tuesday, one of several developments that underscored how the latest wave of coronavirus cases has thrown New York City's recovery into doubt and shifted priorities as the year ends. The number of reported cases in the city has surged in recent days to more than 15,000 on Monday, the highest level since at least January and about four times the number of cases recorded just one week earlier."

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Susan McCord of the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle: "Lincoln County is trying to close all but one [of seven] polling place[s] for next year's elections, a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups.... The move was made possible after the Georgia General Assembly [MB: controlled by Republicans] passed legislation earlier this year disbanding the Lincoln County Board of Elections. The chief sponsor of Senate bills 282 and 283 was Sen. Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown, whose district includes Lincoln County.... Aunna Dennis, executive director for Common Cause Georgia, said the move is an extension of Senate Bill 202, which tightened restrictions on voting and gave the state the authority to take over elections boards.... With multiple voting changes from Senate Bill 202 already underway, adding the precinct closures in a county that lacks a public transportation budget -- and attempting to pass them over the holiday season -- is too much, Dennis said."