Dual Warnings

When the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund and the director of the NNACP Legal Defense Fund issue identical warnings, I tend to take notice.

And that is what has happened this week when both Ray Dalio and Sherrilyn Ifill said that our democracy is at risk.

Over the past few months, other experts have raised similar fears, but most of them are political scientists and historians, who are more easily dismissed by those who wish to dismiss such talk.

Our big problem is that historically when the economic and political circumstances that favor the rise of extremism converge, the danger increases, and that is what all of these experts are noting about our present situation.

“The internal conflict between left and right, rich and poor, Democrats and Republicans, (is) producing a level of conflict in the U.S. that is the highest since 1900,” notes Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates. “‘If the causes people are behind are more important to them than the system, the system is in jeopardy.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News, Dalio also considers global factors like inflation, debt, currency instability and the increasing likelihood of conflict with China.

In a podcast with the Times, Ifill discusses the implications of Kyle Rittenhouse being acquitted of shooting people at a Black Lives Matter event. Rittenhouse went to the event armed and ready to kill, but he was exonerated by a jury on the grounds that he acted in self-defense.

This, of course, just deepens the internal discord in the U.S. over the ingrained racism that is one of the ugliest and intractable of all of our domestic issues. That Rittenhouse is emerging as a hero to right-wing extremists is an ominous sign for the future.

He should be the object of our collective disgust.

Part of me honestly hates to bring up these warnings at Christmas, a time of year many of us seek peace and comfort and joy with our families, but a more significant part of me knows that we ignore these warnings at our grave peril.

And the first test of how serious that peril is will come as soon as next year’s elections.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Jack Dorsey’s hot Web3 takes are apparently too much for Marc Andreessen to handle — The venture capitalist blocked the former Twitter CEO, and Dorsey said he’s now ‘banned from Web3’ (The Verge)

• Ray Dalio warns Fed’s hands are tied and higher U.S. inflation is sticking around. Democracy, maybe not.(MarketWatch)

• Sherrilyn Ifill: ‘There Is No Guarantee We Make It Out of This Period as a Democracy’ — After almost a decade at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Ifill explains why advocacy is an essential part of her legal work. (NYT)

• Multiple studies suggest lower risk of hospitalization with Omicron variant of COVID-19 (CBS)

• U.S. cases surpass summer peak of delta variant (WP)

• FDA authorizes second antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 (CNN)

• 'Enormous spread of omicron' may bring 140M new COVID infections to US in the next two months, model predicts (USA Today)

• The Supreme Court will hold a special session in just over two weeks — an extraordinarily fast timeline — to weigh challenges to two Biden administration policies covering vaccine requirements for workers. The cases cover large employers and health care workers. [AP]

• WHO says vaccine booster programs will prolong Covid crisis: ‘No country can boost its way out of the pandemic’(CNBC)

• Rising COVID-19 infections in China's city of Xian have spurred a lockdown of its 13 million residents, with stretches of highway eerily bare, as many people queued in the cold to get their noses swabbed at testing sites. (Reuters)

• Another Surge in the Virus Has Colleges Fearing a Mental Health Crisis (NYT)

• Some good pandemic news to end a bad pandemic year — A new Covid treatment and more promising signs on Omicron's severity. (Politico)

• US Army claims it is close to developing vaccine against all Covid variants and coronaviruses (Independent)

• Omicron Starts to Slow Some U.S. Economic Activity (WSJ)

• What ‘Squid Game’ tells us about the changing face of globalisation — A new type of connectivity is emerging, and it’s no longer dominated by America (Financial Times)

• The F.B.I. Deployed Surveillance Teams Inside Portland Protests (NYT)

• Payments on federal student loans will remain paused through May 1, interest rates will remain at 0% during that period, and debt collection efforts will be suspended, in an extension of a pandemic policy. President Joe Biden said financial recovery from the pandemic will take longer than job recovery, especially for those with student loans. [AP]

• Pillar of Shame: Hong Kong's Tiananmen Square statue removed (BBC)

• As Humanitarian Disaster Looms, U.S. Opens Door for More Afghanistan Aid (NYT)

• UN exempts humanitarian aid to Afghans from ban (NHK)

• U.N. Plans $8 Billion Fund to Restart Afghanistan’s Economy (WSJ)

• Changing climate parches Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty (AP)

• Israeli archaeologists find hundreds of precious antiquities in shipwrecks (WP)

• Writer Joan Didion, chronicler of contemporary American society, dies at 87 (Reuters)

• Food To Leave Out For God On Christmas Eve (The Onion)

 

Award

Career Achievement, SPJ. Awards ceremony cancelled due to Covid. Award arrived 21 months later.
 

Thursday's Headlines

(No essay today. Wrapping presents)

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• Jack Dorsey says VCs really own Web3 (and Web3 boosters are pretty mad about it) (The Verge)

• Jack Dorsey Ignites Battle Over Competing Visions for ‘Web3’ (WSJ)

• Omicron Has 80% Lower Risk of Hospitalization, New Study Shows (Bloomberg)

• Two Studies Show Much Lower Risk of Hospitalization With Omicron (WSJ)

• Pfizer pill becomes 1st US-authorized home COVID treatment (AP)

• While omicron explodes around the world, covid cases in Japan keep plummeting and no one knows exactly why(WP)

• Biden Bolsters Virus Fight, Offering Aid to Hospitals and Free Tests — The president also sought to address the nation’s battered psyche, telling anxious Americans that “we should all be concerned about Omicron, but not panicked.” (NYT)

• As COVID fueled the drug crisis, Native Americans hit worst (AP)

• U.S. life expectancy, population growth drop as pandemic heads into third year (WP)

• British Columbia orders closures due to COVID (AP)

• Finding a Covid-19 test is a struggle right now in the US as Omicron and holiday plans collide (CNN)

• South Africa’s huge omicron wave appears to be subsiding just as quickly as it grew (WP)

• Omicron Is Just Beginning and Americans Are Already Tired (NYT)

• Omicron Is the Beginning of the End — No matter the severity of the variant, the appetite for shutdowns or other large-scale social interventions simply isn’t there. (Atlantic)

• Case drop may show South Africa’s omicron peak has passed (AP)

• Are Schools Ready for the Next Big Surge? — Districts say they don’t want to close classrooms again. But the latest wave in Covid-19 cases could challenge the rickety infrastructure that has kept schools running this year. (NYT)

• The United Nations is proposing to pay nearly $6 million for protection in Afghanistan to Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel, whose chief is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions and wanted by the FBI, according to a U.N. document and a source familiar with the matter. (Reuters)

• At an Abandoned American Base, a Notorious Prison Lies Empty — Taliban fighters now guard the prison at Bagram Air Base, which once held thousands of Taliban and Al Qaeda members who were set free in August. (NYT)

• Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who helped ex-President Donald Trump plot the rejection of electoral votes prior to the Capitol riot, rebuffed an interview request from the House select committee investigating the insurrection. Perry, the first sitting member of Congress summoned by the panel, said the inquiry is "illegitimate." Meanwhile, Trump pawn Michael Flynn sued to block the committee from obtaining his phone records. [HuffPost]

• Proud Boys member pleads guilty for role in Capitol riot (NPR)

• Americans widely distrust Facebook, TikTok and Instagram with their data, poll finds (WP) 

• The United States has enough reserves of lithium, copper and other metals to build millions of its own electric vehicles (EVs), but rising opposition to new mines may force the country to rely on imports and delay efforts to electrify the nation's automobiles. (Reuters)

• Roman-era 'Good Shepherd' ring found off Israel in ancient shipwreck (BBC)

• A wave of Silicon Valley executives and engineers are leaving jobs at large tech companies to chase cryptocurrency. (Cal Today)

• ‘JFK’ at 30: Oliver Stone and the lasting impact of America’s most dangerous movie (WP)s

• Research: Wreck of last US slave ship mostly intact on coast (AP)

• New Study Finds Humans May Have Some Capacity For Compassion (The Onion)

TODAY’s LYRICS

“Wrong’s What I Do Best”

George Jones

Some men look for diamonds
Some men look for gold
I'm just trying to find myself 
Before I get too old
Different people have their ways 
Of measuring success
Maybe it's not the right way but wrong's what I do best

Songwriters: Dickey Lee / Freddy Weller / Michael Alan Campbell 

Xmas '21

 My eight grandchildren!

The Variant That Stole Christmas

 Maybe the key story this week is Dhruv Khullar’s short essay in The New Yorker summarizing what we know and don’t know about Omicron.

This variant appears to be much more transmissible than Delta, which of course was more transmissible than the original variant.

Omicron also may cause more people to get ill but with milder symptoms and fewer deaths. This would be a good thing, presumably, although it’s too early to draw conclusions. It would be ideal if the disease has mutated to the extent that its impacts would be more like the flu — seasonal and largely preventable by shots — but we don’t know that yet.

In fact we don’t know much — which is the point of Khullat’s essay — and that it a bummer given the imminent holiday gatherings we’re looking forward to. Because we aren’t going to know what we are dealing with Omicron until Christmas has passed.

For now the best policy is to get vaccinated — only 60 percent of Americans have done that to date — as well as to get the booster, which only a quarter of adults have done. We still have so many unvaccinated people in the U.S. and overseas that the virus can and will continue generating new variants and therefore dominate our lives as it has over the past two years.

In this context, the ongoing politicization of the vaccines is a pity and contributes to the overall sense of confusion about what we are facing and what we can do about it. That most certainly is something to not celebrate the holiday season.

Rather it is something to regret. How great our collective regret become may not be known until this Christmas is a distant memory. 

***

In better news, 48 Hills is reporting that the judge whose remarks had been taken out of context to smear San Francisco D. A. Chest Boudin in his recall fight, more recently has praised Boudin for his transparency and his ethics.

The reform-minded D.A., who is committed to attacking the root causes of crime and reforming the criminal justice system, has been targeted by right-wing extremists nationally and faces a tough recall election as a result.

Street crime in the city and elsewhere may be up or it may be down — the statistics are confusing, but to hold a D.A. responsible for short-term variations in street crime is absurd. Those trends have more to do with economic conditions, drugs and poverty than long-term initiatives to reduce cash bail, increase restorative justice and reform the overall system.

In any event, the judge’ comments are reprinted in the 48 Hills piece, which is a refreshing update to Boudin’s record.

TODAY’s HEADLINES:

• The U.S. Faces Another Covid Christmas as Omicron Fuels a Rise in Cases (NYT)

• How to Think About the Risks of Omicron (New Yorker)

• Omicron could bring a massive wave of infections as early as January, CDC warns (WP)

• Biden to expand access to free home tests, send resources to aid hospitals in need (WP)

• The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta variant and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from the COVID-19 disease, the head of the World Health Organization said. (Reuters)

• Omicron accounted for 73% of new infections last week, a nearly sixfold increase in only seven days. Los Angeles called off its New Year's Eve celebration, the NHL paused the hockey season, and the world's super rich will not be mingling in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. [AP]

• With omicron now dominant, depleted U.S. hospitals struggle to prepare for the worst (NPR)

• Education Department considers extending student loan relief amid Omicron surge (Politico)

• WHO warns of coming Covid storm in Europe (BBC)

• Portugal to close bars and nightclubs; hospital bosses in England brace for ‘dangerous situation’ (Guardian)

• We Learned Our Lesson Last Year: Do Not Close Schools — The Omicron surge is scary. But schools must stay open. (NYT)

• School threats and social media hoaxes are forcing closures, time-consuming investigations (WP)

• Feeling powerless, families bring elderly home in pandemic (AP)

• Countries across Europe were considering new curbs on movement as the fast-moving Omicron variant swept the world days before Christmas, throwing travel plans into chaos and unnerving financial markets. (Reuters)

• Omicron casts a new shadow over economy’s pandemic recovery (AP)

• NHL is first U.S. sport to halt schedule amid coronavirus surge, with stoppage starting Wednesday (WP)

• US population growth at lowest rate in pandemic’s 1st year — 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. (AP)

• American Workers Are Burned Out, and Bosses Are Struggling to Respond (WSJ)

• EPA Tightens Fuel Economy Standards — The new rule will require automakers to achieve an average of at least 55 miles per gallon fleetwide by 2026, a sizable increase over the standard of 40.4 mpg set during Donald Trump’s presidency. [HuffPost]

• California lawmakers are preparing countermeasures to expand access to abortion, focusing first on resurrecting a bill that would eliminate costly co-pays. (Los Angeles Times)

• Democrats not yet ready to trim climate ambitions despite Manchin blow (Politico)

• A Plan Forms in Mexico: Help Americans Get Abortions — Mexican activists plan to provide women in Texas and other U.S. states with information, support — and abortion-inducing pills. (NYT)

• No pay for staff. No patient supplies. No heat. This is health care in Afghanistan (NPR)

• Japan to offer $100 mil. aid to Afghanistan (NHK)

• When’s the Last Time You Felt Truly Happy? (Atlantic)

• Dozens of states are restricting Americans' right to protest, some with laws so extreme that they protect motorists who run over demonstrators and kill them. [HuffPost]

• NASA’s Webb Telescope to See to the Edge of the Universe (WSJ)

• A refinery rained oil on thousands of St. Croix homes. Now it could reopen. (WP)

• Pentagon Updates Its Rules on Extremism in the Military (NYT)

• Largest-ever millipede fossil found on Northumberland beach (BBC)

• A lost eagle from Asia has been traveling around North America for more than a year (NPR)

• Well-Preserved Embryo Found in Fossilized Dinosaur Egg (WSJ)

• High praise for Boudin from judge whose words have been used to attack him (48 Hills) 

• Robotic Fish Frighten Aquatic Pests To Death (The Onion)

LYRICS

“I'm Over You”

Keith Whitley

Songwriters: Tim Nichols / Zack Turner

Where there's a cloud, don't mean there's rain
Tears in my eyes, don't mean there's pain
Don't flatter yourself
I'm over you

Things aren't always what they seem
You can't believe everything you read
On my face
I'm over you

Welcome to the Metaverse

It’s poised to be the next stop on your online migration, more immersive and multi-dimensional than the linear experiences you’ve had to date.

Your identity is your avatar. Virtual reality tools like glasses and gloves are under development to provide a richer, deeper digital life. 

What the metaverse represents is everyman’s version of the space travel favored by today’s billionaires. The first Japanese billionaire has just returned from his space voyage, having followed Musk and Bezos on their test runs to escape Earth in the age of catastrophic climate change.

Most of us are not and will never be billionaires, nor will we visit outer space, but all of can go to the metaverse. Think of it as a sort of Wally’s World from “National Lampoon Vacation” right at your fingertips. 

Facebook is counting on you doing just that, as it transforms itself into “Meta.” The giant social network is buying up companies that can aid this transition, and also shutting down pages like that of an artist who had been using the term “metaverse” for a decade. (Zuckerberg’s spaceship later apologized and reinstated her page.)

Virtual living has received a huge boost during the pandemic, of course, as we’ve all been more or less locked down and isolated from each other in real life. I couldn’t do what I do, for example — publish daily essays and collated headlines to an audience without the existing web, including good old Facebook, and I’m grateful for that access. 

But soon I’ll apparently be coming to you via my avatar, which I assure you will be younger and handsomer than its namesake.

And it won’t have wispy white hair either.

Then again, each new step as we edge ourselves further into simulated reality and away from the physical world gives me pause. There is still — and always will be — advantages to the actual sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch of the real world that technology, no matter how advanced, cannot replicate.

At least not for me.

Then again, the metaverse could be the thing that changes my mind, so bring it on!

TODAY’s NEWS:

• Most of the World’s Vaccines Likely Won’t Prevent Infection From Omicron — They do seem to offer significant protection against severe illness, but the consequences of rapidly spreading infection worry many public health experts. (NYT)

• New York City seeks federal help as U.S. braces for record amount of cases with omicron wave (WP)

• Most Covid Infections May Soon Be Breakthroughs. Here’s What That Means. — Omicron means many more people will soon test positive.  (NYT)

• Dow plunges 600 points as omicron fears seize global markets (WP)

• Moderna booster shot should provide ‘good level of protection’ against omicron, vaccine-maker says (NYT)

• Stocks, Oil Prices Fall on New Covid-19 Curbs (WSJ)

• Israel to ban travel to US, Canada over omicron variant (AP)

• U.S. health officials urged Americans to get booster shots, wear masks and be careful if they travel over the winter holidays, as the Omicron variant raged across the world and was set to take over as the dominant strain in the United States. (Reuters)

• U.K. Weighing Lockdown Amid an Omicron Wave and Political Turmoil (NYT)

• With Christmas in the balance, nations eye UK omicron surge (AP)

• Omicron may be less risky for each of us — but more risky for all of us. (Vox)

• Lawmakers, business leaders raise alarms about federal aid as omicron cases rise (WP)

• NHL stops cross-border games, shuts down 7th team (AP)

• ‘A Lot of Uncertainty’: Covid Surge Puts Many Americans on Edge About Traveling (NYT)

• Sarah Palin, who had COVID earlier this year, says she'll get vaccinated "over my dead body." (HuffPost)

• Whiplash on U.S. Vaccine Mandate Leaves Employers ‘Totally Confused’ (NYT)

• ‘It is embarrassing’: CDC struggles to track Covid cases as Omicron looms (Politico)

• Humanity should not test whether Antarctica’s ice will hold out (Edit Bd/WP)

• Inflation squeezes holiday budgets for low-income shoppers (AP)

• The Dubai World Trade Center will become a crypto zone and regulator for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets, the Dubai Media Office said, part of efforts to attract new business as regional economic competition heats up. (Reuters)

• Egypt jails regime critic and hero of revolution for 5 years (Financial Times)

• Three retired generals warned that rogue military units may follow Trump or a Trump-like figure if there's another insurrection, which could provoke an all-out civil war. [HuffPost] 

• Himalayan Glaciers Melting at Furious Rate, Study Shows (WSJ)

• Joe Manchin Kills the Build Back Better Bill — How will the country ever address the enduring market failures, glaring inequality, and big social-safety-net gaps that the plan was designed to tackle? (New Yorker)

• How Biden’s fragile alliance with Manchin unraveled (WP)

• A bid by the White House to dramatically boost electric vehicle tax credits also hit a major roadblock when Manchin said he would not support the $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill. (Reuters)

• The White House ripped Sen. Joe Manchin in an uncharacteristically sharp statement after the West Virginia Democrat went on Fox News to say he wouldn't support President Joe Biden's Build Back Better social spending legislation. Manchin's rejection appears to doom the measure and Biden's White House wasn't having it, accusing Manchin of breaking his word. Fellow Dems are furious. Progressives say "told you." [HuffPost]

• Manchin Rejects Landmark Legislation, Putting Biden’s Climate Goals at Risk (NYT)

• Manchin's biggest public gripes about Build Back Better focus on cost. But in private, he moaned to Democratic colleagues that parents may waste their child tax credit money on drugs. [HuffPost]

• Manchin pitches health reforms into uncertainty (Politico)

• Millions to lose child benefit as Biden social spending bill in doubt (Financial Times)

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will move ahead with a vote on the Build Back Better planearly next year despite opposition from the Democratic senator, and will also take up voting rights legislation. (Reuters)

• Nuclear Power Has a Second Chance to Prove Itself (WSJ)

• Tortured to death: Myanmar mass killings revealed (BBC)

• ‘Nothing will help’: Tunisians trapped in poverty lose hope (Guardian)

• Afghan music students escaped the Taliban and are beginning their new lives abroad (NPR)

• With hunger, poverty growing in Afghanistan, Biden pressured to ease sanctions (WP)

• The Afghans America Left Behind — The U.S. promised protection to the locals it relied on during the war. When it withdrew, it abandoned thousands to the Taliban. (New Yorker)

• Afghan evacuees ponder future as U.S. empties camp sites (Politico)

• Islamic countries are pledging to launch a humanitarian trust fund for Afghanistan (NPR)

• Along Afghanistan’s ‘highway of death,’ the bombs are gone but suffering has deepened (WP)

• What is the metaverse? — From virtual versions of ourselves to augmented reality, big brands like Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft are creating technology to develop the metaverse. But what actually is it? (BBC)

• White House Warns Supply Chain Shortages Could Lead Americans To Discover True Meaning Of Christmas (The Onion)

TODAY’S LYRICS

“Pick Me Up on Your Way Down”

Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard

Songwriter: Harlan Howard

You were mine for just a while

Now your putting on the style

And you never once looked back

To your home across the track

You're the gossip of the town

But my heart can still be found

Where you tossed it on the ground

Pick me up on your way down

Pick me up on your way down

When your blue and all alone

When their glamor starts to bore you

Come back where you belong

When you learn these things are true

I'll be waiting here for you

When you tumble to the ground

Pick me up on your way down

They have changed your attitude

Made you haughty and so rude

Your new friends can take the blame

Underneath you're still the same

You may be their pride and joy

But they'll find another toy

When your new love can't be found

Pick me up on your way down

Pick me up on your way down

When your blue and all alone

When their glamor starts to bore you

Come back where you belong

When you learn these things are true

I'll be waiting here for you

When you tumble to the ground

Pick me up on your way down 

Did You Notice?

 Today’s top analytical story comes, fittingly, from The Onion: “Everything Slightly Worse Than Yesterday.” 

As for the particulars, over the past few days it’s become clear that Omicron is going to mess with the hoped-for scenario of putting Covid behind us this winter. It’s just too contagious and too many people remain unvaccinated for any hope of that.

So far, Omicron is exploding mainly in Europe, although New York City appears to be the main entry point in the U.S., even though the first recorded case was in San Francisco.

And if we’ve learned anything during the pandemic, it’s that local and regional surges will soon easily overwhelm our hospital system, overworking doctors and nurses in the process.

As a result, many front-line healthcare workers have been quitting, burned-out and very much casualties of Covid-19, along with the hundreds of millions who have been sickened and millions who have died.

Before it is “over,” i.e., consigned to a seasonal status much like the flu, Covid-19 will probably rank as the most consequential pandemic in history. Historians will argue that point, but we now have more people than ever before on the planet and they are inter-connected in ways previously unimaginable through trade, travel and other results of globalization.

Therefore the level of disruption exceeds all previous pandemic. You could say that this is the first truly global epidemic.

Accordingly, the global economy is going through another volatile stretch as markets and central banks react to Omicron. I’m not sure that economists can pinpoint a single cause for the inflation that has arisen during the pandemic but government stimulus payments certainly have played a role.

Meanwhile, the environmental impacts of Covid are difficult to quantify. With climate change already advancing in the form of rising sea levels, higher temperatures and extreme weather events, Covid has required national and international resources that could otherwise have been devoted to confronting the climate challenge.

If nothing else, we’ve lost valuable time in that battle.

Politically, as I’ve noted previously, the pandemic has intensified the divisions in many countries, accelerating tendencies toward extremism. A group of retired U.S. military generals are the latest to warn that the U.S. remains at risk of an authoritarian turn as soon as 2024, and that is not hyperbole.

Finally, there is the unspeakable tragedy that is Afghanistan.

These are grim times. As those of us who celebrate Christmas prepare to exchange gifts and gather for holiday meals, there is a palpable sense of exhaustion, a deep melancholy hanging over our homes and our families.

As much as we might wish for peace on earth at this season, we do not live in a time when that is possible.

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Report: Everything Slightly Worse Than Yesterday (The Onion)

• As Covid Surges, Experts Say U.S. Booster Effort Is Far Behind — The C.D.C. now recommends that all adults get a booster. But only one in six Americans has received that shot, worrying health officials. (NYT)

• VIDEO: The Netherlands Locks Down to Combat Omicron Variant — Dutch leaders ordered all nonessential shops, bars, restaurants, gyms, schools, and cultural and outdoor-sports venues to close from Sunday until at least mid-January. (Reuters)

• U.S. could see 1 million cases per day, warns departing NIH director Francis Collins (NPR)

• Omicron may sideline two leading drugs against COVID-19 (AP)

• Covid-19’s Omicron Variant Starts to Take Its Toll on Business (WSJ)

• N.Y. cases hit record high for second straight day, upending holiday plans

  — The rapidly climbing numbers have sparked concern that the state’s outbreak could spell a sign of what’s to come elsewhere. Citing the omicron variant, SNL said it would go on without a live audience, joining the Rockettes and Broadway shows in altering plans. (WP)

• Omicron threat looms over winter holidays in Europe and U.S. (Reuters)

• Central Banks Worry Omicron Could Sustain Inflation (WSJ)

• Why Los Angeles Delayed Enforcing Its Student Vaccine Mandate — As the deadline for compliance approached, the school board faced a difficult question: What would happen to the tens of thousands of students who were still not vaccinated? (NYT)

• VIDEO: London Declares a ‘Major Incident’ as Omicron Surges — The declaration, which indicated that emergency services and hospitals could not guarantee their normal level of response, came as London faced a steep rise in coronavirus cases driven by the Omicron variant. (Reuters)

• Covid boosters in rich countries outnumber all jabs among poor nations (Financial Times)

• Don’t Panic About Omicron. But Don’t Be Indifferent, Either. — The next wave of the pandemic requires charting a middle course between dismay and dismissal. (Atlantic)

• Congress Ends ‘Horrible Year’ With Divisions as Bitter as Ever (NYT)

• Kinzinger says January 6 panel is investigating Trump's involvement in insurrection (CNN)

• Disney and YouTube TV Reach Deal (YouTube)

• Hidden Pentagon Records Reveal Patterns of Failure in Deadly Airstrikes — The promise was a war waged by all-seeing drones and precision bombs. The documents show flawed intelligence, faulty targeting, years of civilian deaths — and scant accountability. (NYT)

• Taliban recruits flood into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan as the group works to consolidate control(WP)

• Once a Symbol of U.S. Strength, an Afghan District Now Faces Dire Times

  At the war’s end, residents of Marja are growing increasingly desperate for any kind of help, a frustration that has turned to anger that the international community has seemingly abandoned them. (NYT)

• Islamic world pitches ways to aid desperately poor Afghans (AP)

• As their homeland fell to the Taliban, these Afghan women rose to lead a DC restaurant empire (WP)

• At Every Step, Afghans Coming to America Encounter Stumbling Blocks — U.S. officials concede that the system was unprepared. (NYT)

• Cold, heat, fires, hurricanes and tornadoes: The year in weather disasters (WP)

• A Record Number of Journalists Jailed — Authoritarian leaders are waging a war against the free press. (Editorial Board/NYT)

LYRICS

“Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye”

Song by Leonard Cohen

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But now it's come to distances and both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me
It's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea
But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye

Sunday's News

 Note: Although I try to write an essay every day, and have been doing so for a long time, increasingly there are days that I simply cannot bring myself to make any comment whatsoever. Today is one such day.

TODAY’S NEWS:

• Rising From the Antarctic, a Climate Alarm — Wilder winds are altering crucial currents. The sea is releasing ancient carbon dioxide. Vast ice shelves are melting from below. See why the experts are increasingly alarmed. (NYT)

• Climate change is shrinking the odds of a white Christmas, this year included (WP)

• Climate Change Is Going to Be Gross — The thick layer of mucilage that covered the Sea of Marmara for weeks was an unsettling glimpse of climate change’s more oozy effects. (Atlantic)

• This highly vaccinated nation says the pandemic’s toughest month is just beginning — In Denmark, which tracks the spread of coronavirus variants as closely as any in the world, the signals have never been more concerning. (WP)

• WHO: Omicron detected in 89 countries, cases doubling fast (AP)

• Omicron’s Rapid Spread Spurs Rush to Understand It — The Omicron variant appears better able to break into cells and evade immunity, and seems to replicate faster in the airways than the Delta variant of Covid-19. (WSJ)

• U.S. COVID-19 vaccine mandate revived, Supreme Court showdown looms (Reuters)

• With Omicron, U.S. Testing Capacity Faces Intense Pressure (NYT)

• Hot economy collides with huge virus surge in pandemic’s latest twist (WP)

• Surging COVID-19 cases bring a 2020 feel to the end of 2021 (AP)

• 'Tidal wave': Omicron could put U.S. COVID-19 surge into overdrive (Reuters)

• Doctors and Nurses Are ‘Living in a Constant Crisis’ as Covid Fills Hospitals

  — Hospitalizations across the country have increased 20 percent in two weeks, taxing already exhausted health care workers as the United States confronts the Omicron variant. (NYT)

• Omicron and holidays unleash scramble for coronavirus tests across the U.S. (WP)

• YouTube TV Loses Disney Channels Including ABC, ESPN — The blackout is depriving more than four million subscribers of programming as the companies battle over distribution fees. (WSJ)

• White House not budging on Feb. 1 end to student loans forgiveness (Politico)

• Afghan Taliban leaders appeal for help as migrant crisis looms (Reuters)

• U.S. airstrikes on Taliban surged in war’s final month amid failed bid to prevent Afghan army’s collapse (WP)

• Pakistan to rally Muslim countries to help Afghanistan (AP)

• Afghanistan to Wisconsin: Refugees dream of home (BBC)

• My Son Is Not Alone. Millions of Young People Commit His Crime. — Alaa is a political prisoner in Egypt because he dared to dream of another world. (NYT)

• People pressure governments worldwide to act on inflation (AP)

• 'Avatar' director Cameron's art revealed in new book — Before he created blockbuster films, director James Cameron was an artist whose early work went on to inspire some of his most memorable onscreen characters and images. Lisa Bernhard produced this report. (Reuters)

• ‘Time We Can’t Get Back’: Stolen at Birth, Chilean Adoptees Uncover Their Past — Hundreds of Chileans adopted abroad have learned that they were trafficked. Investigators believe thousands of children may have been taken from their parents during Chile’s dictatorship. (NYT)

• The Island Paradise Near the Front Line of Tensions Over Taiwan — New missile batteries planned for the Japanese island of Ishigaki reflect a drastic shift in Japan’s views on China. (NYT)

• ‘We are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe,’ new study says (WP)

• San Francisco Mayor Declares State of Emergency to Fight City’s ‘Nasty Streets’ — It’s a highly unusual move by a liberal mayor in one of the country’s most liberal cities. (NYT)

• 2020 Census may have significantly undercounted Detroit, study finds (WP)

• ‘Stop the Steal’ founder told Jan. 6 committee about contacts with GOP lawmakers (Politico)

• Retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection (WP)

• Will NFTs transform the art world? Are they even art? (WP)

• The Unlikely Revolutionaries Who Want to Reboot the Internet — Jack Dorsey and other members of the tech elite are banding together to bring the Web back to its idealist origins (WSJ)

• One farmer's seaweed discovery could change the world (CBS)

• FBI Demands Apple’s Assistance In Opening iPhone Packaging (The Onion)