The top story today is one we’ve touched on before — evidence that we have been collectively traumatized by the pandemic that has been dominating our lives for most of the past two years. If traumatized is too strong a word, we at least have been affected in ways we may not yet fully appreciate.
Speaking for myself, I know that Covid has had an enormous impact on my overall outlook on life as well as the specific conditions of my living situation and mobility.
The beginning of the lockdown in March 2020 coincided not only with my recovery from a series of grave illnesses but my forced retirement from a 50-year career. Suddenly I found myself with nothing to do and nowhere to go. I couldn’t see friends or even visit the cafes where I had been a regular for many years.
My life as a journalist seemed over.
Because I had retired sooner than I’d intended, I was neither in as strong a financial position as I’d hoped to be, nor prepared for a life of “leisure.”
Essentially, I was at loose ends.
So, I suppose I did what any poorly adjusted retiree would do under such circumstances. I just kept working, but now without pay or anyone making any demands of my time or story choices.
Thus, these daily news summaries and my commentaries have been appearing for something like 700 days now. I’m not really certain how useful they are to anybody but I keep doing them in the hope some good comes of it all.
And I hope that this is more than a case of one traumatized person speaking to a bunch of traumatized others. Because I truly believe that through communicating and connecting with each other, we can search for answers to the problems that dominate the news and our daily lives.
For me, that is what this continues to be all about.
***
The stream of news stories is steady but lighter over Christmas weekend than at other times of the year, of course, not because there is less happening, but because fewer reporters are at work.
At least a few are taking a break.
If tradition holds, the volume of stories will remain relatively low over the coming week as well. Then, with the arrival of the new year, major media outlets will prioritize a flood of stories looking back over the past year and forward to the next.
In this way, much of the current media coverage is predictable, seasonal and redundant. That makes this a good time to reflect on our news consumption habits generally.
One of the reasons I try to write daily commentaries on the news is to be proactive as opposed to reactive. The coverage itself is by necessity reactive. Events occur, those of us who are editors assign reporters to cover them, and as quickly as possible, we publish their stories.
The main purpose we believe we are serving is to inform our audiences. But simply consuming the daily news is like a steady diet of junk food — it’s not all that good for your long-term health.
So my goal is to mix in any good analytical pieces I can find, plus add in my own thinking, to contextualize the headlines that follow below.
***
TODAY’S NEWS:
The pandemic has caused collective trauma. Many people are near a breaking point. (WP)
As Omicron Spreads and Cases Soar, the Unvaccinated Remain Defiant (NYT)
Despite supply issues and Omicron, holiday sales rise 8.5% (Politico)
Another Christmas of Death and Distress in America’s I.C.U.s — The toll on health care workers, many of whom are giving up their holiday to treat dangerously ill Covid patients, is severe. (NYT)
Surgeon general offers hopeful note on pandemic — “We have saved more than a million lives because of vaccination efforts this past year alone,” Vivek Murthy said. (Politico)
The Next Disaster Coming to the Great Plains — Acute scarcity drives the search for water underground. But the West’s major aquifers are in trouble, too. (Atlantic)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope begins journey to study distant worlds (WP)
Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Who Helped End Apartheid, Dies at 90 (WSJ)
Major storm dumps snow, closes mountain routes in California (AP)
Microsoft joins Google, Amazon, others in canceling in-person presence at CES (Reuters)
Miami wants to become crypto's financial capital. New York's response? Bring it on (NPR)
Here’s what forgiving student loans really means: A lifeline out of poverty (WP)
Taliban-run government dissolves Afghan election commissions (AP)
The College Football Playoff’s Extra Variable: Omicron — The four playoff teams—Alabama, Cincinnati, Georgia and Michigan—must first defeat the virus before they play each other. (WSJ)
25 years after JonBenet Ramsey killing, investigators have tested almost 1,000 DNA samples (CNN)
Relatives Gather From Across The Country To Stare Into Screens Together )The Onion)
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