“An Arkansas judge on Wednesday struck down a state law that prevents schools and other governmental entities from requiring face masks,” the AP reports.
Michigan’s Maps Set Up Fair Fight
“One of the country’s most gerrymandered political maps has suddenly been replaced by one of the fairest,” the New York Times reports.
“A decade after Michigan Republicans gave themselves seemingly impregnable majorities in the state Legislature by drawing districts that heavily favored their party, a newly created independent commission approved maps late Tuesday that create districts so competitive that Democrats have a fighting chance of recapturing the State Senate for the first time since 1984.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“If your plans are to go to a 40-to-50-person New Year’s Eve party with all the bells and whistles and everybody hugging and kissing and wishing each other a happy new year? I would strongly recommend that this year we do not do that.”
— Dr. Anthony Fauci, quoted by the Washington Post.
A Covid Tsunami
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned during a press conference Wednesday that the circulation of both the Omicron and Delta variants “is leading to a tsunami of cases,” Axios reports.
Said Tedros: “This virus will continue to evolve and threaten our health system if we do not improve the collective response.”
New York Times: “Across Europe, records for new coronavirus infections are falling by the day as the Omicron variant tears through populations with a swiftness outpacing anything witnessed over the past two years of the pandemic.”
Two GOP Lawmakers Have Paid $100,000 In Mask Fines
“During a recent marathon session in the House, two Republican lawmakers from Georgia sat in full view of television cameras. Neither was wearing a mask,” the New York Times reports.
“It was the latest act of defiance by the pair, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde, against a rule requiring legislators to wear masks on the House floor. Most Republican lawmakers, however grudgingly, have complied with the mandate, which can carry fines that quickly add up to hefty amounts. But Ms. Greene and Mr. Clyde have repeatedly, and proudly, flouted it.”
“To date, the two have incurred more than $100,000 combined in fines, which are taken directly from their paychecks.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“It really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.”
— CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, in an interview on CNN, on shortening the Covid-19 quarantine from 10 days to 5 days.
MAGA Radio Host Calls for Trump Intervention
Conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root wants to stage an “intervention” with Donald Trump over the former president’s support for the Covid-19 vaccine, the Daily Beast reports.
Said Root: “He’s been right on everything except this issue. He’s so horribly wrong on this issue, and the best way to put it, ironically, is that he’s dead wrong, because people are dying!”
He added: “When everyone I know dies, you are getting the blame, President Trump!”
The Final Hang Up
Jon Ralston has a must-read obituary of Sen. Harry Reid:
“He just didn’t have time or the temperament for social niceties or for the self-editing mechanism most politicians have. But the caricature of Harry Reid – the former boxer who was not afraid to land a low blow, the ruthless tactician who would do anything to win, the charismatically challenged curmudgeon – is so one-dimensional.”
“All humans are complex, but some are more complex than others. Reid was as kind in private to people, important and not, as he was dismissive, even nasty to foes in public. He engendered – and still does even in death – deeper loyalty from his staffers and others than any pol I have encountered. And his six-decades-plus love affair with his wife, Landra, is one for the ages.”
Biden and Putin to Talk Again
President Joe Biden will hold a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday afternoon “to discuss a range of topics, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia,” CNN reports.
The call was requested by Putin.
Employers Hiking Pay Beyond Minimum Wage
“Twenty-six U.S. states will raise their minimum wage in 2022, but many workers will see more significant pay gains from employers that are raising their pay floor,” CNBC reports.
Washington Post: The most unusual job market in modern U.S. history, explained.
A Lavish Tax Dodge for the Ultrawealthy Is Multiplied
The New York Times looks at the qualified small business stock exemption, which allows the mega-wealthy to avoid paying taxes.
“The story of the tax break is in many ways the story of U.S. tax policy writ large. Congress enacts a loophole-laden law whose benefits skew toward the ultrarich. Lobbyists defeat efforts to rein it in. Then creative tax specialists at law, accounting and Wall Street firms transform it into something far more generous than what lawmakers had contemplated.”
Lawmakers Refuse to Cooperate with Ethics Probes
“As House ethics investigators were examining four cases this fall detailing a sweeping array of improper financial conduct by lawmakers, they ran into an obstacle: Two of the lawmakers under scrutiny refused to meet with them or provide documents,” the New York Times reports.
“The investigators were not too surprised. Over the past decade, fewer and fewer House members have been willing to cooperate with congressional investigations, a development that ethics experts warn could reduce accountability for misdeeds and erode trust in the institution of Congress.”
Michigan’s New Map Creates Three Battlegrounds
“Michigan’s redistricting commission voted to adopt new congressional districts Tuesday, creating political boundaries for the state’s 13 U.S. House districts for the next decade,” the Detroit Free Press reports.
Politico: “Michigan’s new congressional map likely sets up three battleground seats for the next decade, while teeing up a Democratic member-on-member clash between Reps. Haley Stevens and Andy Levin.”
Virginia’s New Map Finalized
“The Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday finalized the state’s new redistricting maps, bending to criticism that congressional representation for the Richmond region was split too many ways by keeping together the western Richmond suburbs,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.
Republicans Move to Make School Board Races Partisan
“Republicans across America are pressing local jurisdictions and state lawmakers to make typically sleepy school board races into politicized, partisan elections in an attempt to gain more statewide control and swing them to victory in the 2022 midterms,” Politico reports.
“Tennessee lawmakers in October approved a measure that allows school board candidates to list their party affiliation on the ballot. Arizona and Missouri legislators are weighing similar proposals. And GOP lawmakers in Florida will push a measure in an upcoming legislative session that would pave the way for partisan school board races statewide, potentially creating new primary elections that could further inflame the debate about how to teach kids.”
The Challenge Facing Eric Adams
The Economist: “Mr. Adams inherits a reeling city. The economic fallout on New York from the September 11th attacks was largely confined to lower Manhattan; the pandemic, by contrast, has shuttered businesses across all five boroughs. New York lost 630,000 jobs in 2020 and has an unemployment rate, 9%, that is more than double the national average. Tourists are staying away. The city has 100,000 fewer restaurant jobs than it did in early 2020, and hotel occupancy rates hover around 50%, compared with 90% before the pandemic.”
“Subway ridership is only just over half its pre-pandemic levels. Only 28% of Manhattan’s office workers are at their desks on any given day, and just 8% come in every day. Midtown is dead. Employment is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024.”
“Fortunately, Mr. Adams has a better relationship with the city’s businesses than did his predecessor, though that is a low bar.”
The Difference Between Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid
Politico: “Chuck Schumer, now majority leader, was a close personal friend and protege of Reid’s, and their shared leadership of the Senate Democrats over the past 15 years has defined the caucus from top to bottom. For all their similarities and partnerships, the former boxer from small-town Searchlight, Nev., and the chatty pol from Brooklyn each developed their own view of how to run the fractious Democratic Caucus.”
“While Schumer leads the party with relentless messaging discipline and a focus on lockstep party unity, Reid favored all-out political combat. Sometimes Reid battled members of his own party, but he reveled in partisan bomb-throwing.”
Quote of the Day
“If Harry said he would do something, he did it. If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That’s how he got things done for the good of the country for decades.”
— President Biden, in a statement about the passing of Sen. Harry Reid.
