XBB rising as BQ declines: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-12-23/cdc-omicron-subvariant-xbb-on-the-rise-as-bq-1-bq-1-1-start-to-decline . Remember, XBB has a rather different lineage than BQ.1/BQ.1.1. It now shows increased ability to evade our existing immunity from vaccination and previous infection. As bad as this is for the US, think about the consequences in China. China.
Confronting China’s COVID mortality lies: https://www.aol.com/news/china-likely-seeing-over-million-075230993.html . So 5,000 deaths a day is an annual rate of 1.5 million COVID deaths. China’s report of 7 deaths in a week is ridiculous. If their overall death reporting remains reasonable, an excess death calculation will reveal the magnitude of their COVID death toll.
China estimates 37 million COVID cases a day right now: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/3786371-china-estimates-37-million-a-day-are-being-infected-by-covid-spike/ . With a COVID mortality rate of 0.3%, in two weeks the mortality rate would be 111,000 for those 37 million. Therefore, the 5,000 deaths a day mentioned in the prior paragraph would be trivially small relative to the case number reality.
WSJ: Japan inflation hits four-decade high: https://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-inflation-hits-four-decade-high-pressuring-central-bank-in-2023-11671791596 . This pressures BOJ to raise interest rates along with other large economies.
Tesla shares in freefall: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-12-22/tesla-shares-tumble-on-track-for-worst-month-ever . We’ve previously declared Musk’s Twitter investment the worst use ever of $44 billion. It turns out the waste is growing at an exponential rate.
WSJ: Ukraine claims progress in the south: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-claims-heavy-russian-losses-in-south-11671795956 .
Nevada County “judge” appointment: https://apnews.com/article/politics-las-vegas-nevada-73278936d0baa571db1174aaf275d4c2 . Getting the facts straight really is critical for intelligent political discourse. The AP article reports this as appointment as a judge. Michele Fiore was appointed justice of the peace. While judges can preside over court cases, justices of the peace typically preside only over administrative matters (weddings, witnessing of legal documents and so on). Even so, as the article notes, Fiore has no legal training and only just moved to Nye County. It does seem inappropriate to appoint a person whose only apparent credentials are notoriety and visibility as a MAGA-maniac.
As background, outside of Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada is very rural and sparsely populated. Nye County has a population of 53,000. Pahrump is actually an unincorporated area near the Nevada-California border (the county seat is Tonopah).
McCarthy grovels for votes: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3786596-mccarthy-dings-omnibus-pet-projects-in-lengthy-speech/ . Little Kevin remains focused on slinking his way into leadership. What a pathetic excuse of a male, even for a GOP politician. Finally, WSJ catches up: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kevin-mccarthy-talks-tough-on-spending-to-lock-down-support-for-speaker-run-11671827150 .
But, are Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan under investigation by DOJ for their January 6 roles?: https://www.politicalflare.com/2022/12/jim-jordan-and-kevin-mccarthy-quite-likely-under-investigation-by-the-doj/ . No man is above the law. But neither is groveling Kevin or “Gym” Jordan (see https://www.jordanscandal.com/ .)
History repeats: The knives are out for Orange Julius: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-calls-diminished-trump-vows-not-bow-candidates-2024-rcna62870 . And the knives are drawn by the GOP, and because they cannot be associated with this three-time (2018, 2020, 2022) loser. In this case, way too late is absolutely better than never.