Schools See Big Drop in Attendance
“Public-school attendance across the U.S. has dropped to unusually low levels, complicating efforts to keep schools open, as districts also contend with major staff shortages,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Many students in kindergarten through 12th grade are out sick because of Covid-19 or are being kept home by anxious parents, as the Omicron variant surges, officials say. Remote learning often isn’t being offered anymore for students who are home. Empty desks create a quandary for teachers, who must decide whether to push ahead with lesson plans knowing a large number of their students will need to catch up.”
Inflation Rises 7% Over the Past Year
U.S. inflation in 2021 was the highest since 1982, with December consumer prices up 7% from a year earlier, CNBC reports.
Omicron May Be Headed for Rapid Drop
“Scientists are seeing signals that COVID-19′s alarming omicron wave may have peaked in Britain and is about to do the same in the U.S., at which point cases may start dropping off dramatically,” the AP reports.
“The reason: The variant has proved so wildly contagious that it may already be running out of people to infect, just a month and a half after it was first detected in South Africa.”
Boris Johnson Apologizes for Pandemic Party
“Facing a potentially lethal threat to his leadership, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain on Wednesday offered a contrite apology in Parliament for attending a garden party at 10 Downing Street while the country was under lockdown,” the New York Times reports.
“He acknowledged that he had deeply offended the public, even as he claimed that he had not breached his government’s regulations on gatherings during the early days of the pandemic.”
Said Johnson: “I want to apologize. I know there are things we simply did not get right, and I must simply take responsibility.”
BBC: “Leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer has called for Boris Johnson to resign.”
Hottest Ocean Temperatures In History Recorded In 2021
The Guardian: “The world’s oceans have been set to simmer, and the heat is being cranked up. Last year saw the hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history, the sixth consecutive year that this record has been broken.”
Trump Cuts Interview Short
Daily Beast: “A video of the interview shows Trump becoming increasingly irritated as NPR’s Steve Inskeep asks him why he’s still pushing debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat.”
“After Inskeep told the ex-president that his fraud claims have repeatedly been proven false, the reporter asked Trump if he’ll refuse to endorse any Republican candidates who dispute his lies about the 2020 election.”
“Then, Trump ended the call.”
Biden Sending More Covid Tests to Schools
“The White House announced Wednesday that the administration is making a dedicated stream of 5 million rapid tests and 5 million lab-based PCR tests available to schools starting this month to ease supply shortages and promote the safe reopening of schools,” the Associated Press reports.
Washington Post: “Last year, the administration said it was providing $10 billion for school-based testing. Nonetheless, before the omicron variant began racing across the country, relatively few districts even attempted testing for students and employees absent symptoms of covid-19.“
“Experts point to confusing guidance on when testing is needed, difficulty implementing programs and lack of interest on the part of schools, plus test shortages.”
Quebec Will Make Unvaccinated Pay Health Tax
Quebec Premier François Legault said the province would be imposing a health tax on Quebecers who refuse to get their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, the CBC reports.
Omicron Will Infect ‘Just About Everybody’
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the omicron coronavirus variant will infect “just about everybody” regardless of vaccination status, the Washington Post reports.
But he added those who have been vaccinated will “very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well,” and avoid hospitalization and death.
Covid’s Latest Surge Spreads Epidemic of Confusion
Washington Post: “As Americans push into a third winter of viral discontent, this season has delivered something different: Amid the deep polarization about masks and vaccines, amid the discord over whether and how to return to pre-pandemic life, a strange unity of confusion is emerging, a common inability to decipher conflicting advice and clashing guidelines coming from government, science, health, media and other institutions.”
“On seemingly every front in the battle against the coronavirus, the messages are muddled: Test or don’t test? Which test? When? Isolate or not? For five days? Ten? Go to school or not? See friends and resume normal life, or hunker down again — and if so, for how long, to what end?”
Politico: Democrats call for Covid strategy reset as cases spike.
Herschel Walker Pushed ‘Dry Mist’ Spray for Covid
U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) “will not say whether he has been vaccinated. But in Walker’s mind, he may not need the shot,” the Daily Beast reports.
“That’s because, months before the vaccine was available, Walker was swearing by—and encouraging others to use—unproven mystery treatments, including an allegedly FDA-approved ‘dry mist’ that will ‘kill any COVID on your body.’”
2021 Ranks as Biggest Year for Inflation in Four Decades
Wall Street Journal: “Economists estimate the Labor Department’s consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—rose 7.1% in December from the same month a year ago, up from 6.8% in November. That would mark the fastest pace since 1982 and the third straight month in which inflation exceeded 6%.”
New York Times: Inflation expected to climb again as policymakers await elusive peak.
Trump Rips ‘Gutless’ Politicians Over Booster Shots
Former President Donald Trump told One America News that politicians who don’t disclose their booster shot status when asked in interviews are “gutless.”
Said Trump: “Well, I’ve taken it. I’ve had the booster. Many politicians — I watched a couple of politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, ‘Did you get the booster?’ — because they had the vaccine — and they’re answering like — in other words, the answer is ‘yes’ but they don’t want to say it. Because they’re gutless. You gotta say it – whether you had it or not. Say it.”
Trump Talks to NPR
Steve Inskeep: “For about six years I’ve been asking Donald Trump for an interview. It never happened until the former president came on the line today. Tomorrow on ‘Morning Edition’ we’ll hear what he said, up to the moment that he hung up on me.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“No one wants violence and I say all the time I am not a violent person. I hope to never see a Civil War in this country and that’s why you hear me toss around ‘national divorce.’”
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), on Sebastian Gorka’s podcast.
Democrats Win House Seat In Florida Special Election
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D) won Tuesday’s election to fill Florida’s vacant 20th Congressional District, returning her party to the 222-seat majority it held after the 2020 elections, the Washington Post reports.
Biden Calls Capitol Riot an Attempted Coup
President Biden called the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection an “attempted coup.”
Said Biden: “That’s why we’re here today: to stand against the forces in America that value power over principle, forces that attempted a coup, a coup against the legally expressed will of the American people by sowing doubt, inventing charges of fraud and seeking to steal the 2020 election from the people.”