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Some say the pandemic is actually over; some say it is not.
Tie goes to the latter group, since WE ALL STILL ZOOM ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY.
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RESURGING
With the omicron variant sending coronavirus cases spiking across the country, the pandemic is once again upending daily life and evoking the early days of the outbreak as scientists race to understand the still-unknown implications of this new type of coronavirus.
The worrying signs suddenly seem everywhere: Professional sports leagues are canceling games. Colleges are sending students home from campus. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia.
With the number of omicron cases appearing to double every two days, confirmed U.S. coronavirus infections have increased more than 50 percent in roughly two weeks, from 81,900 on Nov. 30 to 124,110 on Dec. 16, according to The Washington Post’s rolling seven-day average.
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Lines again stretch around blocks at some COVID-19 testing sites. Refrigerated mobile morgues are on order, and parts of Europe are re-tightening borders amid a winter spike in coronavirus infections.
This year’s holiday season was supposed to be a do-over for last year’s subdued celebrations. Instead it’s turning into a redux of restrictions, cancellations and rising angst over the never-ending pandemic….
As Christmas and New Year’s approach, a pall lingers over the season. Infections are soaring around the world, and the quickly spreading omicron variant has triggered new restrictions on travel and public gatherings reminiscent of the dark days of 2020.
The accelerating cancellations seem “to have thrown us back into that sort of zombie world of the first week of March of the pandemic last year,” said Jonathan Neame, the chief executive of Shepherd Neame, Britain’s oldest brewery and chain of pubs. (Associated Press)
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Holiday plans abruptly reversing, restaurants closing, Broadway shows going dark while, blocks away, long lines form outside testing sites — it’s as if it were 2020 all over again.
The startling rise in coronavirus infections has whiplashed New York City and the surrounding region.Once more, most everyone seems to know someone who is infected. (New York Times)
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: My cousin in Florida says we wouldn’t even know there was a pandemic going on there if we visited (but we have to cancel our Christmas visit, right?).
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: I can’t believe how little data there is on what’s going on, and how we are, yet again, making decisions in the blind, including zero capacity for tracking and tracing.
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BOOSTING
“For [the] unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — the unvaccinated, for themselves, their families and the hospitals they will soon overwhelm…Go get boosted if you’d had your first two shots. If you haven’t, go get your first shot. It’s time, it’s time — it’s past time.”
-- President Biden on Thursday
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: If people aren’t vaccinated yet, they aren’t going to get vaccinated; Biden is wasting his time.
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Even the most anti-Biden Republican politicians pretty much are all vaccinated and tell people (sometimes grudgingly) to get vaccinated. If people aren’t vaccinated yet, they probably aren’t going to get vaccinated, but Biden needs to keep trying.
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CODE BREAKING
Mrs. Pelosi instructed her committees to draft a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, despite Mr. Manchin’s repeated statements he wouldn’t go anywhere near that figure. She restarted on a $1.75 trillion bill, only to employ obvious budget deceptions to pass a bill with $5 trillion in spending. (Hoping that, what, Mr. Manchin wouldn’t notice?)
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Hard to see how Democrats regain momentum on this in January.
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Until we know what the Klain-Ricchetti-Rice theory of the case for January is, we don’t know what will happen; until we know what Mike Donilon thinks, we really don’t know what will happen.
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WARNING, WARNING, WARNING
By Israeli estimates, Iran has enough material for three bombs and is less than a month from completing the enrichment of that fuel, sources tell me. Building a weapon would take another 18 months to two years, the Israelis reckon — but that’s still a very short fuse.
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Two years? We have plenty of time.
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Until we know if China/Taiwan-Russia/Ukraine-Iran/nukes is a true Axis of Evil or not, we are flying blind in the face of what is potentially the biggest threat to the world order in generations.
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INTERVIEWING
Vice President Kamala Harris said that she and President Biden have never discussed whether he plans to run for re-election and that it isn’t a topic she thinks about as they near the end of their first year in office….
“I’m not going to talk about our conversations, but I will tell you this without any ambiguity: We do not talk about nor have we talked about re-election, because we haven’t completed our first year and we’re in the middle of a pandemic,” Ms. Harris said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal….
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: This interview did no harm to the Veep.
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: This interview did nothing to help the Veep.
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FIXING (NOT FIXING)
Settlement talks that would have awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars to migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the Trump administration have abruptly broken down, lawyers for the families said Thursday.
The attorneys had been in talks for months with the Justice Department and had been negotiating the possibility of a settlement of about $450,000 per person — possibly more in some cases — for the mental anguish, suffering and sometimes physical abuse the migrants endured.
Talks grew strained after a Wall Street Journal report about the financial payments drew criticism from Republicans and uneasiness from President Biden, who at first called the possibility “garbage” and then backtracked to say he was open to cash settlements.
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: What the &^%$%# is going on here??!!!
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: I am as dumb founded as the Loudmouth.
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OPENING AND CLOSING
I saw [“West Side Story”]] in the AMC theater on 68th and Broadway at 12:30 p.m. on a weekday. That’s pretty much where the action of the story took place, in 1957. The theater was about 10% full. A mix of ages, but more skewed over 50. Here’s what struck me. Nobody left at the end. They stayed in their seats throughout the closing credits, and applauded individual names. Mr. Spielberg got the heartiest but everyone got some.
My thought is maybe only 10% are seeing excellence in America right now but when they do they’re so appreciative and want to show it. Ten percent of 330 million people is 33 million, and that is quite an audience. Someone will have to find out how to fully serve them in the revolution we’re in, and it won’t be with superheroes.
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: Peggy went to a movie theater???!!
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: I like to be in America. Okay by me in America. Everything free in America. For a small fee in America
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AMAZING
The New York Times exclusive investigative report: “How Ashley Biden’s Diary Made Its Way to Project Veritas”
WHAT THAT LOUDMOUTH SAYS ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: You need to read this.
WHAT YOU SHOULD SAY ON YOUR MORNING ZOOM: As good a job as the Times did, I have a feeling that this is like Peggy Noonan’s 10% -- there is a lot more of this iceberg still to see.
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