US hospitals face staffing shortages: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-pandemics-49810a71d2ca21c4b56adb1d1092b6dd . Omicron threatens US healthcare in a different way than previous COVID surges.
Medical experts criticize CDC decision on isolation guidelines: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cdc-sticks-with-new-covid-isolation-guidelines-despite-criticism-142545981.html .
CDC recommends Pfizer booster for adolescents: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cdc-advisory-panel-considers-pfizer-covid-19-boosters-for-12-to-15-year-olds-11641378601 .
FDA shortens Pfizer booster window, making almost 6 million more eligible: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/millions-more-eligible-3rd-pfizer-shot-after-covid-booster-window-n1287006 .
COVID can trigger diabetes: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-diabetes-fat-cells-blood-sugar . So the only silver lining in this stream of depressing information is that we are making major advances in medicine that will benefit the human species post-pandemic.
WSJ: Treating COVID at home: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-you-should-know-about-treating-covid-19-11638468809 .
Recommendations on sending children back to school: https://news.yahoo.com/parents-know-kids-covid-19-031118343.html . Constant reminders on how to make this decision will help save everyone from illness and death. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-school-disruptions-stress-already-frayed-parentsagain-11641378604 .
Omicron shortens Macy’s store hours: https://www.aol.com/finance/macys-shortens-store-hours-covid-211451691-141934083.html . How does shortening an 11 hour store day by two hours protect anyone? Hint: It doesn’t. This operations decision masquerades as pandemic driven. Perhaps the Macy’s decision comes from a shortage of store personnel.
Australia’s COVID numbers surge: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/australias-covid-numbers-surge-amid-djokovic-fallout-82103836 . As we have repeated noted, public health protocols are not one-dimensional. Yet every government has chosen the emphasis of one policy at the expense of supporting policies. Lockdowns only buy time to vaccinate. So now Omicron has escaped lockdown in Australia. As commented here at the time it was named, the lack of effective contact tracing was a global bet that Omicron would not evade the vaccines. Australia just lost that bet, big time.
DO NOT GO ON A CRUISE: https://www.thedailybeast.com/hong-kong-flight-crew-partiers-sink-royal-caribbean-cruise-to-nowhere-isolating-passengers-and-entire-city . Yes, natural selection behavior is currently dominating global headlines. More: https://blog.cheapism.com/omicron-cancels-several-norwegian-cruises/ .
WSJ: More on the Hong Kong shutdown: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-bans-flights-shutters-nightlife-after-omicron-bursts-pandemic-free-bubble-11641384074 . Again, the lockdown strategy is leaking severely as the coronavirus evolves.
More on autoantibodies’ role in long COVID: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-01-04/months-after-covid-19-infection-body-may-attack-itself-study-says .
Mayo Clinic fires 700 employees for ignoring vaccine mandate: https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-mayo-clinic-fires-700-workers-noncompliance-vaccine-mandate-20220105-f2ndgaaalvcg7aajhua2ckqf4q-story.html .
Fed confirms interest rate hikes are coming sooner rather than later: https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2022-01-05/feds-december-meeting-minutes-found-economy-much-stronger-with-higher-inflation . The NASDAQ fell 500 points on this “news”. Who didn’t see this coming? Here’s a discussion of “buy on the rumor, sell on the news”: https://www.thebalance.com/what-does-buy-the-rumor-sell-the-news-mean-1344971 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fed-hasnt-caught-omicron-yet-11641418686 .
Attorney General Garland suggests broadening of January 6 prosecutions: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/attorney-general-garland-vows-to-pursue-jan-6-perpetrators-at-any-level-232831641.html . As noted previously, the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind fine. DOJ is on the road to destroying the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. The path to holding accountable the GOP Quisling politicians supporting the Big Lie is less clear, but currently sits with the House Select Committee. Here’s a prosecution status update on many of the more well-known insurrectionists: https://news.yahoo.com/jan-6-capitol-riot-suspects-viral-one-year-later-100001248.html . The hunt for 250 other suspects: https://apnews.com/article/riots-0306b74458a99c6462333a9ee4779716 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/garland-says-jan-6-instigators-could-face-prosecution-along-with-rioters-11641417686 .
George Floyd’s niece, 4, shot while sleeping in her bed: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/george-floyds-niece-4-shot-new-years-day-sleeping-houston-apartment-rcna10986 . So we can pretty much forget the “kinder, gentler nation” vision: https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/bushs-kinder-gentler-nation-video .
Louisiana pardons Homer A. Plessy: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1070593964/homer-plessy-posthumous-pardon-plessy-v-ferguson-separate-but-equal . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/louisiana-governor-posthumously-pardons-homer-plessy-of-supreme-court-segregation-case-11641408907 . Deep sigh. We are so ignorant of American history and the law. NPR manages to tear down Plessy by focusing on his “only attribute”, while the Journal just calls him “black”.
This was a test case, meaning that officials were notified to arrest Plessy so this post-Civil War racism could be tested. Plessy was an octoroon, meaning he was 1/8 black, but octoroons were designated as colored under Louisiana law. Here is a picture: https://imgur.com/gallery/i3WjVjS . So he could easily pass as white. Plessy acted with great courage to subject himself to arrest. No one associated with the Journal is in the same league.
The resulting case, which made it to the Supreme Court, demonstrated that the Court was fully prepared to appease the South rather than recognize that all men are created equal. That is the principle Lincoln called out as the founding principle of this nation in the Gettysburg Address. This case was 27 years after the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination. Plessy is one of the leading disgraces of the Supreme Court, at least in the pre-Barrett era.
McConnell and Electoral College reform: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/05/mcconnell-electoral-count-act-reform-526542 . Translation of Politico’s headline: If you think the Senate works, you are smoking crack.
WSJ: Australia and Japan sign defense pact: https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-china-tensions-smoulder-japan-and-australia-move-to-sign-defense-treaty-11641370418 .
Kazakhstan upheaval: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/another-post-soviet-ruler-for-life-faces-upheaval-as-enormous-protests-sweep-kazakhstan/ar-AAStVO3?li=BBnb7Kz . Putin seems to have a lot of problems with his satellites. More: https://abcnews.go.com/International/unprecedented-mass-protests-grip-kazakhstan/story?id=82086477 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kazakhstans-government-resigns-amid-unrest-over-fuel-prices-11641386544 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kazakhstan-protests-fuel-prices-11641407060 .
WSJ: Sony looks to sell electric vehicles: https://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-looks-to-sell-its-own-electric-vehicles-11641356899 . No thanks. I’ve owned at least a half dozen Sony products over the years, and not one ever worked properly.