Until Spring Comes

An ominous sense hovers over this pandemic winter, tinged by the hope that a vaccine is on the way.  

Overheard: "It sounds like good news," said one older man to a younger woman. "But how will they know where to find me to give me the shot?"

"Don't worry, Dad, you're on Medicare," she answered. "That is how they will find you, through your insurance."

So she is right, it is true that most folks will be informed by their insurance company when they can get the vaccination. But what about the 30 million or so Americans who have no insurance? They have been at the center of the public debate over health insurance for decades now, and are a prime reason the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.

I have searched but found no clear answer to this question. It certainly is a case for concern because while some uninsured are healthy young people, others are among the most vulnerable -- homeless, poor, aging minorities, often addicted and/or mentally ill. They sleep out on the streets, where droplets of Covid float freely on the incoming wind.

Who's going to identify them and reach out to them?

This is one of the logistical nightmares that will have to be solved to inoculate a large enough portion of the population to achieve herd immunity. It is problems like this one that the new administration will need to be addressing over the coming months. At least we will have some people at the helm who seem like they'll tackle the real issues as opposed to bullshit ones like trying to overthrow the results of the recent election.

Meanwhile it is the holiday season, Hanukkah and Christmas, closely followed by New Year's, when we wish each other good health for the coming year. But this winter, at least another hundred thousand of us, and probably many more, will die of Covid-19 before the worst will have passed.

While waiting for the spring to arrive, let's thank God that at least for now the would-be dictator is vanquished and soon will be evicted from the People's House. Finally the cavalry is in sight.

***

A true story:

One day some years ago I turned on the news to learn that one of those giant work cranes had fallen over in New York City. A lady was pinned underneath.

A reporter arrived at the scene, squatted down and pushed a microphone in her face.

"What happened, lady?"

"I was out walking on my lunch break, not bothering nobody when this happens," she said, gesturing with her free hand under the collapsed structure. "What's the world coming to, anyway, when you can't even go out on your lunch break without a crane falling on top of you?"

***

Here's some news and if you don't like it, at least be grateful a crane hasn't fall on top of you, at least not yet...

* Supreme Court rejects Texas' and Trump's bid to overturn election. The court's order, issued with no public dissents, to dismiss the challenge is the strongest indication yet that Trump has no chance of overturning election results in court, and that even the justices whom he placed there have no interest in allowing his desperate legal bids to continue. (CNN)

* Most health insurance plans in the U.S. will provide coverage for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines with no cost-sharing for members, which means that people will not have to pay for the vaccine or its administration. But nearly 30 million Americans were uninsured in 2019, and that number has likely increased in 2020 as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. (verywellhealth.com)

* ‘Numb’ and ‘Heartbroken,’ the U.S. Confronts Record Virus Deaths -- For the first time, the United States reported more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths in a day. But with cases still rising, experts warn “the worst is yet to come.” (NYT)

* Vaccine politics, skewed by Trump’s polarizing approach, will complicate Biden’s path to a unified pandemic response (WashPo)

* U.S. consumers grew more confident in the economy in late November and early December, with people expecting the economic conditions to improve when the country begins to exit from the coronavirus pandemic, according to survey findings released Friday. (WSJ)

* “We'll be contending with 2020 for a generation, as this was the year that ended any notions of American innocence or feelings of invincibility, and begets our hopeful, but fragile and uncertain future.” (Nieman Lab)

* ‘I didn’t make it’: A Disney World waitress struggles to hold on to her middle-class life (WashPo)

* Navy to help UK protect fishing waters in case of no-deal Brexit, Guardian reports (Reuters)

* Midtown Is Reeling. Should Its Offices Become Apartments? -- The pandemic has created a crisis in New York City’s commercial real estate industry. Some leaders think it’s time to reimagine the city’s business districts. (NYT)

* Senate passes massive defense bill with veto-proof margin (WashPo)

* Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) teamed up on Thursday to introduce an amendment that would provide another round of direct payments to Americans as lawmakers struggle to reach a deal on another coronavirus relief package. The political odd couple says members of Congress shouldn’t leave town for the holidays without providing more help for the income cuts so many have faced during the health crisis. [HuffPost]

* The forecast for global warming is looking a little less bleak in the long term, but not so rosy in the short term. With numerous countries pledging to clean up their act and projected temperature rises now smaller than they once were, scientists and diplomats say the outlook for mid-to-late century is not as gloomy as it was when the historic 2015 Paris climate accord was signed. But they caution that impacts of warming already are hitting Earth harder than scientists predicted. And they say the use of coal, oil and natural gas that fuels climate change is not dropping as much as needed, despite cheaper renewable energy. (AP)

* United Airlines is telling some flight attendants whose colleagues test positive for COVID-19 to keep flying and monitor for symptoms, three employees told Reuters, raising concerns among staff about the policy. (Reuters)

* They’re Among the World’s Oldest Living Things. The Climate Crisis Is Killing Them. -- California’s redwoods, sequoias and Joshua trees define the American West and nature’s resilience through the ages. Wildfires this year were their deadliest test. (NYT)

* The Red List, an inventory of threatened species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was updated Thursday. It lists more than 35,700 species — representing almost 30% of all plant and animal species evaluated by the IUCN — as currently threatened by extinction. These include all of the world’s freshwater dolphins, almost one-third of all oak trees and 40% of all amphibians. [HuffPost]

* An Unwelcome Silent Night: Germany Without Christmas Markets -- Across the country, city and town squares stand empty of the usual huts, sounds, scents and lights, as the coronavirus has forced the country to skip its beloved annual Christmas markets. (NYT)

* Dylan’s Catalog Sale Shows a Tax Advantage for Songwriters -- Bob Dylan’s song-catalog sale could offer benefits for both the music icon and the company that bought them (WSJ)

* Lockdown Gardening in Britain Leads to Archaeological Discoveries -- The finds this year, including a cache of gold coins from the reign of Henry VIII, come as Britain considers expanding the law to protect a broader range of artifacts from its centuries-old history. (NYT)

* Japan's hospitals facing medical glove shortage (NHK)

* In Blistering Retort, 4 Battleground States Tell Texas to Butt Out of Election -- The attorneys general of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia asked the Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit from Texas seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victories. (NYT)

* Dylan has given us a second great American songbook, the product not of a tradition—but of one musician. (The Nation)

* Law School Applications Increase Upon Realization That Any Fucking Idiot Can Be Lawyer (The Onion)

***

Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you?

Like a river flows
Surely to the sea
Darling, so it goes
Some things are meant to be

Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows
Surely to the sea
Darling, so it goes
Some things are meant to be

Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
For I can't help falling in love with you

-- Songwriters: George David Weiss / Hugo E. Peretti / Luigi Creatore

-30-

From My Window

 

Yesterday morning, as I waited for the boiling water to galvanize the well-ground organic coffee beans in the recyclable brown-paper filter perched inside the ceramic dripper on the kitchen counter, I noticed several people passing silently by on the street outside.

The first person to catch my eye was a young woman, perhaps 30, walking from north to south. She was holding the leash of a large black dog that trailed slowly behind her, and strapped to her chest was a tiny baby inside a warm cloth carrier. She also wore a large white face mask and her hair was pulled back.

Not long after she passed from view, two elderly neighbors, their hair brilliantly silver, emerged from behind the bamboo and strolled past in the same direction. They too were masked and walking at a leisurely pace. The man was slightly bent in posture.

As they proceeded up the gradual incline to our left, they passed another elderly man on the far side of the street. His mask was around his chin as he adjusted the garbage and recycling bins in front of his house.

Then, from the left, walking down the street came another young woman, unmasked, without a dog or a baby. So far as I could tell, the old man and the young woman did not acknowledge each other's presence as they passed.

By this time, my cup of coffee was ready and I left the window-viewing for another time. Something about the scene of people walking silently back and forth added a melancholy note to my day, though it in no way made me sad.

I was happy to see so many people out exercising, and that the air, so often befouled by smoke this summer and winter, was clear enough they could do so.

I'm that guy who can't pass strangers without greeting them in one way or another, at least with a nod and (pre-Covid) a smile. These days, my eyes do the smiling. If the strangers care to talk, I love hearing their stories. Of course, recognizing a person is even more special, because exchanging greetings is a way to update each other's stories, documenting the latest chapter since last time we met.

In Afghan villages, these kinds of encounters were rather more intimate. Two men, meeting on the dirt street, would stop, embrace, kiss and take each other's hand. As we held hands, we inquired in elaborate ritualized fashion, after the various parts of each other's bodies, reassuring each other that we indeed remained well.

One part of our body we discussed was our heart. "How is your heart?" (قلب شما چطور است؟) It was customary to also ask about how your "family" is doing,  which  means how is your wife? You ask him that as you are holding his hand, even if his wife is standing next to him, veiled, because it would be impolite to address her directly.

Thus the simplest gestures in life differ culture  by culture. Inside Afghanistan, when I ran into a friend who was bilingual, including other Westerners, we would greet each other in both languages, English and Dari.

We tended to behave just like two Afghan men would with two exceptions. One was the language usage -- our inquiries about each other's work or intellectual pursuits were conducted in English, but our exchanges about emotional things were in Dari.

The other was about gender. As Westerners, men and women would hug each other in public. But we tended not to kiss or hold hands -- that might be interpreted as disrespectful to local custom. That said, the Afghans tended to defer to our strange Western ways, and some of them even wished to emulate us.

The few occasions when I met with Afghan women privately, they told me they yearned to be "modern," and that was one reason they had asked to meet with me alone. Though it made them nervous, they wanted to make a statement to their peers that they were ready to discard the burka and join society on an equal footing with men.

Fifty years later, I wonder what the scene would be today from my window in northern Afghanistan, as men and women, young and old, pass on their morning walks.

***

How is your news, my friend?

* U.S. experts convene to decide whether to OK Pfizer vaccine (AP)

* ‘Small Town, No Hospital’: Covid-19 Is Overwhelming Rural West Texas -- As cases soar in Texas, hospitals are filling up from El Paso to Lubbock. The Big Bend region is especially vulnerable, with just one hospital for 12,000 square miles. (NYT)

* One-day U.S. deaths top 3,000, more than D-Day or 9/11 (AP)

* Silicon Valley feared Facebook’s bullying tactics years before they came to the attention of regulators (WashPo)

* Holidays in a Pandemic? Here’s What Happened in 1918 -- The festive season fell between two deadly waves of the deadly influenza outbreak. Families still gathered, often with empty chairs at the table. (NYT)

* Because the coronavirus can linger on surfaces for multiple days, a team deployed by the General Services Administration will go over every part of the White House's East and West Wings touched by human hands in the hours after Trump departs and Biden moves in, a spokesperson from the agency confirmed. That includes plans to "thoroughly clean and disinfect" all furniture, doorknobs, handrails and light switches, before Biden and his team move in. Additionally, a private contractor will provide "disinfectant misting services" to clear the air of lingering droplets. (Politico)

* U.S. military dispatches B-52 bombers to Middle East as show of force against Iran (WashPo)

* U.S. budget deficit up 25.1% in first 2 months of budget year (AP)

* Chancellor Angela Merkel called for stricter lockdown restrictions and urged Germans to avoid holiday activities as the number of cases continues to rise. (Reuters)

* With Far-Right Extremism On The Rise, Germany Investigates Its Police (NPR)

* Experts: Tokyo's healthcare system under strain (NHK)

* The danger is growing that Trump’s lies about the election will lead to violence (WashPo)

* 'It Is Roiling Him': NYT's Maggie Haberman Unpacks Trump's Refusal To Admit He Lost (NPR)

* For the first time in history manmade materials now likely outweigh all life on Earth, scientists said Wednesday in research detailing the "crossover point" at which humanity's footprint is heavier than that of the natural world. (Phys.org)

* Walmart readying to administer COVID-19 vaccine (Reuters)

* Arguments over mask requirements and other restrictions have turned ugly in recent days as the deadly coronavirus surge across the U.S. engulfs small and medium-size cities that once seemed safely removed from the outbreak. In Boise, Idaho, public health officials about to vote on a four-county mask mandate abruptly ended a meeting because of safety fears, as anti-mask protesters gathered outside the building and at some of their homes. [AP]

* Uber asks U.S. states to prioritize its drivers for COVID-19 vaccine (Reuters)

* Covid-19 has meant the youngest children can’t go to birthday parties or play dates. Parents are keeping them out of day care. What is the long-term effect of the pandemic on our next generation? (NYT) 

*

Airbnb valuation surges past $100 billion in biggest U.S. IPO of 2020

 (Reuters)

* The Resentment That Never Sleeps (Opinion / Thomas B. Edsall) -- Rising anxiety over declining social status tells us a lot about how we got here and where we’re going. (NYT)

* Stealing to survive: More Americans shoplift food as aid runs out (WashPo)

* The average Californian drinks for 4 days in a row over the holidays, reveals survey. (cherrydigitalcontent.com)

* French watchdog fines Google, Amazon for breaching cookies rules (Reuters)

* New whale species discovered off coast of Mexico -- Scientists were searching for a rare species of whale when they discovered what they believe is an entirely new species of the marine mammal. (CNN)

* A humpback whale has been splashing around the Statue of Liberty this week, marking its third known visit to New York waters—and the first time since 2016 that a whale has been spotted north of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. (WSJ)

* Facebook Announces Plan To Break Up U.S. Government Before It Becomes Too Powerful (The Onion)

***

And when I see the sign that points one way
The lot we used to pass by every day

Just walk away, Renée
You won't see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my block are not the same
You're not to blame

From deep inside the tears
I'm forced to cry
From deep inside the pain
That I chose to hide

Just walk away, Renée
You won't see me follow you back home
Now as the rain burns down upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

-- Four Tops

-30-

Where Truths Meet

"You're right from your side / I'm right from mine," Bob Dylan wrote in one of his more obscure songs. Similar sentiments from other artists capture the convoluted nature of mutual truth that we all seek in one way or another.

And this raises a particular dilemma for journalists as we attempt to cover corporate and civic affairs for the public. Thus our methodology. I should elaborate.

I remember an incident from our "Circle of Poison" investigation in the 1970s and 1980s. I was focused on the moral aspect of U.S. companies shipping banned pesticides to Third World countries, which exposed farmworkers and their families to health risks, and led to more pollution of the environment, which of course knows no borders.

At an international gathering of people concerned with this issue in Mexico, including many who worked at chemical companies, a representative of Dow Chemical approached me and said, "I understand your concern but what's wrong with helping a hungry world eat?"

His point was that even if the pesticides were considered too dangerous for us here in the U.S., food scarcity was such in poorer countries that such compromises made sense. After all, at least in the short term, pesticides boost food productivity.

His comment got me thinking and we started investigating what crops the hazardous pesticides were being applied to. That research led to a breakthrough in our analysis, as almost all of the crops sprayed in Third World countries did not go to local people but were "export crops" destined to end up right back here in the U.S. with you and me.

This completed the "circle" in our analysis and guaranteed the book would cause more waves than it would have had we solely focused on the impacts overseas.

Thus did an industry representative help us complete a major piece of our investigation. My guess is that he didn't know himself what the pesticides were sued for; he just assumed they were part of an effort to boost local food production.

This example is why we always counsel students and young journalists to probe all sides of the issues they investigate. Environmentalists and worker safety activists may have one perspective; manufacturers and farmers may have another; regulatory agencies may reflect yet another point of view.

In the interest of achieving the highest quotient of truth possible, journalists have to consider whether everybody might be right at the same time. In my example, the guy from Dow was right -- theres nothing wrong with helping hungry people get food. The environmentalists are right -- pesticides harm the environment. And the regulators that push for more sustainable methods of agricultural production are right about what's best for the long term.

Maybe that is one of the keys to good journalism, or an honest inquiry of any type. Maybe we should always be searching for the ways everybody can be right in one way or another. Maybe then we will get to the Venn diagram of the matter.

Of course, inevitably, this approach has its limits. We have to make choices. Some things are  incontravertibly right or wrong. 

Morality trumps the profit motive when it comes to sustaining life on earth.

***

Here are the overlapping circles of today's news:

* Biden’s Pentagon Pick Reignites Debate Over Civilian Control of Military -- Congress would need to approve a waiver for Lloyd J. Austin III, a recently retired general, to serve in the civilian post, four years after President Trump’s first defense secretary received one. (NYT)

* White House proposes dramatically lower unemployment benefit in exchange for $600 stimulus payment (WashPo)

* Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) lambasted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) over his refusal to support bipartisan stimulus legislation this week, accusing the powerful GOP lawmaker of working behind the scenes to protect corporations rather than Americans in need of financial support. Congress has renewed talks with the White House this week over a new stimulus package as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. [HuffPost]

* DoorDash set to blow past IPO price in blockbuster debut (Reuters)

* Dozens of states and the federal government sued Facebook on Wednesday in twin antitrust lawsuits, alleging that the social media giant has abused its dominance in the digital marketplace and engaged in anticompetitive behavior. The Federal Trade Commission, in particular, is seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that could, among other things, require the company to divest assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp, effectively breaking up Facebook as we know it. (CNN)

* U.S. Leaves Behind Afghan Bases — and a Legacy of Land Disputes -- The U.S.-led coalition seized land for hundreds of military bases, most now held by the Afghan military. Villagers have fought for years to collect compensation and to get their property back. (NYT)

* China’s Sinopharm wins approval for coronavirus vaccine in United Arab Emirates (WashPo)

* In mid-March, with the American economy in free fall, Jeffrey Sprecher, husband of Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and chair of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, started buying. Loeffler was one of several senators who faced public outrage for initially unloading millions of dollars in stock before most Americans understood the towering threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Then shortly before the CARES Act (the $2 trillion emergency stimulus package) was introduced in the Senate, her husband reversed course and purchased up to $1 million in new shares. [HuffPost] 

* 

S&P 500, Dow hit all-time highs on stimulus, vaccine hopes

 (Reuters)

* Airbnb’s IPO Warning: Unhappy Neighbors Are Fighting Back -- The company, scheduled to list its shares Thursday, has warned its success depends on managing unfavorable local laws in the face of angry neighbors. (WSJ)

* Latin America Is Facing A Hunger Pandemic (NPR)

* House Passes Defense Bill Overwhelmingly, Defying Trump’s Veto Threat -- The $741 billion measure passed with a veto-proof majority, setting up a potential showdown with President Trump in the final weeks of his term. (NYT)

*State, federal authorities expected to file antitrust lawsuits against Facebook (WashPo)

* A little-known paid leave program established by Congress as part of the second stimulus package passed in March is set to expire at the end of December. Under the program, employees can take two weeks of sick leave fully paid up to a maximum amount, or up to 12 weeks off (including 10 weeks paid at two-thirds of their salary) to care for kids who aren’t able to go to school. Business owners are reimbursed via a tax credit. [HuffPost]

* U.S. virus deaths hit record levels with the holidays ahead (AP)

* Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden, said that his taxes are under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office (WSJ)

* As Trump Rails Against Loss, His Supporters Become More Threatening -- The president’s baseless claims of voting fraud have prompted outrage among his loyalists and led to behavior that Democrats and even some Republicans say has become dangerous. (NYT)

* NY Attorney General Letitia James Makes Stunning Prediction on The View: Trump Will ‘Step Down’ So Pence Can Pardon Him (MediaIte)

*The world’s rich need to cut their carbon footprint by a factor of 30 to slow climate change, U.N. warns (WashPo)

* Poll: Just A Quarter Of Republicans Accept Election Outcome (NPR)

* Giant iceberg on course to collide with south Atlantic penguin colony island (Reuters)

* Aspiring Lobbyist Gets Foot In Door As State Senator (The Onion)

***

It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good
You're right from your side
I'm right from mine
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind

-- Bob Dylan (One Too Many Mornings)

-30-

We Did It Together

(Photo by Laila Comolli)

When I think back over the past 50 years, one of the most dramatic changes in journalism has been the way reporters have started working in teams. 

We were taught that the way it worked historically was that a series of great men -- and a few great women -- achieved journalistic success individually. Partnerships were rarely mentioned.

The big names were John Peter Zenger (1697-1746), Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1912), Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) ... and more recently Barbara Walters (1929-present) and Tom Wolfe (1931-present).

There were investigative reporters too, like Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis in the early 20th century and then Jessica Mitford, Seymour Hersh, Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein in our time. (These are the famous ones, there were many others.)

Modern scholars credit the Center for Investigative Reporting and Mother Jones for establishing the non-profit model of investigative journalism.

So concentrating on those two organizations, which encapsulated so much of my own career, it's true we tended to produce our muckraking reports in teams much more than as individuals. Maybe this was a Baby Boomer thing; after all, we were such a huge generation numerically that we rarely could do anything in life completely alone.

Woodward & Bernstein are a tad older than our generation, but they certainly are the most famous co-authors in American journalism history.

Personally, I have published with many co-authors, a fact I treasure, both because I love working with collaborators and because we all uniquely bring different qualities to the partnership.

Some of us specialize in interviews, some in documents, some as investigators, some as writers or story-tellers; every reporter has his or her own strength.

When I work (intermittently) on a memoir, this pattern is so obvious that I almost think any such book ought to be titled: "We Did It Together."

Then again, that might be ambiguous, as it depends what the meaning of the word "it" is.

***

The news together is...

* Supreme Court denies Trump allies’ bid to overturn Pennsylvania election results -- It was the first request to delay or overturn the results of the presidential election to reach the court. There were no dissents. (WashPo)

* More unaccompanied migrant children are testing positive for coronavirus (WashPo)

* As His Term Ends, Trump Faces More Questions on Payments to His Hotel -- A civil case being pursued by the attorney general for the District of Columbia has brought renewed attention to what limits there should be on a president’s ability to profit from the office. (NYT)

* It’s been dubbed “V-Day” in Britain. A week after the U.K. became the first Western country to authorize widespread use of a vaccine against COVID-19, it began administering the shots. Margaret Keenan, 90, a former jewelry shop assistant, was the first. The initial 800,000 doses will go to people over 80 who are either hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers. [AP]

* Foster Farms will shut down a facility in Fresno after almost 200 workers there tested positive. [CalMatters]

* Japan plans to boost its tumbling birth rate by funding artificial intelligence matchmaking schemes to help residents find love. (BBC)

* Pfizer tells U.S. officials it can’t supply substantial additional vaccine doses until late June or July (WashPo)

* Greta Thunberg: "Changes will only happen if we keep pushing—if we keep being very, very annoying, and repeat these things over and over again.” (Time)

* California announced a new app called CA Notify that will alert users if they may have been exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.It’s voluntary, which means it may not be as effective as you might hope, but it will be available starting on Thursday. [CA Notify]

* An Autistic Man Is Killed, Exposing Israel’s Festering Police Brutality Problem -- The police killing of a disabled Palestinian fueled nationwide protests. But the authorities have failed to rein in the use of excessive force, which has a long history. (NYT)

* The Trump administration fully restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, complying with a federal judge’s order. The Department of Homeland Security posted on its website that it is accepting new applications, petitions for two-year renewals and requests for permission to temporarily leave the U.S. [AP]

* Amid history of mistreatment, doctors struggle to sell Black Americans on coronavirus vaccine (WashPo)

* More than half of media jobs lost this year are in news (Axios)

* The Kremlin Is Offering Russians Free Vaccines, but Will They Take Them? -- Distrust of the government is so widespread that 59 percent of Russians say they have no intention of getting a shot. (NYT)

* Drought Conditions in California Could Stretch to Spring, Set Stage for Another Rough Fire Season (KQED)

* Judge in Michael Flynn case says pardon does not mean the former national security adviser is innocent (WashPo)

* Everest Gets A Growth Spurt As China, Nepal Revise Official Elevation Upward --  After years of surveys and calculations, the countries said Tuesday that the world's highest peak now stands about 29,032 feet above sea level — more than 2 feet taller than the previous consensus. (NPR)

* The cost of child care was already astronomical. In the pandemic, it’s ‘terrifying.’ (WashPo)

* Armed Mexicans Were Smuggled In to Guard Border Wall, Whistle-Blowers Say -- In a complaint unsealed on Friday, whistle-blowers working on President Trump’s wall said that contractors were illegally bringing in Mexican guards to protect construction sites. (NYT)

* Japan's greenhouse gas emissions hit record low (NHK)

* Trump is causing a crisis of faith in our democracy (WashPo)

* The Michigan-Ohio State football game has been cancelled due to Covid-19. (CNN)

* John Lennon remembered 40 years after his murder -- John Lennon's wife, son, former Beatles band-mates and fans paid tribute to one of the world's most revered singer-songwriters on Tuesday, 40 years to the day after his assassination in New York. (Reuters)

* Latest polls in Georgia Senate runoffs: Ossoff (D) 48.6%, Perdue (R) 48.2%; Warnock (D) 49.1%, Loeffler (R) 47.1%. (538)

* Georgetown Hospital Staff Saddened By Elderly Patient Repeatedly Insisting He Used To Be America’s Mayor (The Onion)

***

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you

-- Mariah Carey / Walter N. Afanasieff

-30-