Wall Street Journal: “For seven days in a row, through Wednesday, daily airport passenger volumes exceeded two million people, a streak not seen since before the pandemic, according to the Transportation Security Administration. U.S. airports bustled with over 2.3 million people Wednesday—the most hectic day since February 2020. Sunday is expected to be even busier, TSA officials have said.”
Russia Moving Forces to Crimea
“Russia has been moving forces to the Crimea Peninsula as part of a large military buildup on Ukraine’s border, according to defense-intelligence firm Janes and the Moscow-based Conflict Intelligence Team, which tracks Russian troop deployments,” Bloomberg reports.
New York Times: “American officials said they did not believe that Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, has yet decided whether to take military action against Ukraine.”
Stock Futures Drop on Concerns Over New Variant
“Stocks, oil prices and government-bond yields slumped after South Africa raised the alarm over a fast-spreading strain of the coronavirus, triggering concern that travel restrictions and other curbs will spoil the global economy’s recovery,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
CNBC: “The downward moves came after WHO officials on Thursday warned of a new Covid-19 variant that’s been detected in South Africa. The new variant contains more mutations to the spike protein, the component of the virus that binds to cells, than the highly contagious Delta variant. Because of these mutations, scientists fear it could have increased resistance to vaccines.”
Japan Approves Extra Defense Spending
“Japan’s cabinet approved a boost in defense spending that for the first time will bring the annual total beyond ¥6 trillion, to the equivalent of $53 billion, responding to China’s rapid military expansion and U.S. requests for upgrades,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Congress Looks to Long-Term Solutions for Debt Limit
“As Congress prepares for yet another showdown over the debt ceiling, long-term solutions for addressing what has become an increasingly partisan issue are re-emerging,” NBC News reports.
“The U.S. narrowly avoided default in October after Republicans refused to vote for a debt limit increase. Democrats instead passed a short-term extension, setting up another fight for early December. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a recent letter to Congress that she has a ‘high degree of confidence’ that the Treasury will be able to finance the government through Dec. 15.”
Trump Pulls Strings to Help Loyal 2022 Candidates
“Former President Donald Trump has taken his involvement in 2022 Republican primaries to a new level as he works to permanently mold the GOP in his image. Beyond Trump’s public efforts to oust Republican incumbents he considers disloyal, he has quietly tried to clear potential GOP threats to his endorsed candidates and encouraged others to run against his enemies,” CNN reports.
“Earlier this month, the former President enlisted the help of North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn to persuade former Rep. Mark Walker to end his campaign for Senate and instead run for the House, which could help Trump’s preferred candidate in the GOP Senate primary, Rep. Ted Budd.”
“Trump has also had conversations in recent weeks with MAGA-aligned Republicans who are considering challenging GOP governors with whom he has grown disillusioned.”
Europe’s Surge Could Be ‘Window Into the Future’
“Global health leaders are urging caution as the holiday season gets underway, pointing to a 23 percent spike in coronavirus cases across the Americas in the past week, a surge that follows spikes in Europe — which officials warn could be a ‘window into the future for the Americas,’” the Washington Post reports.
Wall Street Journal: “As Covid-19 infections and deaths in the European Union eclipse those in the U.S., the region is confronting an ugly reality: Taming the Delta variant is proving harder than a virus-weary continent had hoped.”
“Fast-rising Covid-19 contagion in parts of Europe, including Germany, is sparking fears of another winter of full hospitals. Countries are rushing to roll out booster shots as evidence accumulates that last summer’s vaccinations are losing some of their efficacy.”
New Variant a ‘Serious Concern’ in South Africa
Bloomberg: “Scientists in South Africa are studying a recently identified new coronavirus variant of concern, stoking fears the country may face a potentially severe fourth wave that could spread internationally.”
“The new discovery, called B.1.1.529 until a Greek letter is assigned to it by the World Health Organization, carries an unusually large number of mutations and is ‘clearly very different’ from previous incarnations.”
BBC: “The latest is the most heavily mutated version discovered so far – and it has such a long list of mutations that it was described by one scientist as ‘horrific.’ while another told me it was the worst variant they’d seen.”
New York Times: “Scientists are still unclear on how effective vaccines will be against the new variant flagged by a team in South Africa, which displays mutations that might resist neutralization.”
Countries Move to Restrict Travel from South Africa
New York Times: “A number of countries — including Britain, Israel, Italy and Singapore — were moving on Friday to restrict travel from South Africa and other countries in the region, a day after South African authorities identified a concerning new coronavirus variant with mutations that one scientist said marked a ‘big jump in evolution.’”
Quarter In Texas Unwilling, Unlikely to Get Vaccinated
A new Dallas Morning News poll finds 23% of Texans are unwilling or unlikely to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
Greene Lists Her Demands for Kevin McCarthy
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) laid out demands for Kevin McCarthy if he hopes to win her support for speaker on Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) podcast, Politico reports.
“First she wants Rep. Adam Kinzinger get (R-IL), who is retiring, and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to be kicked out of the GOP Conference and effectively booted from their committee posts. Next, she wants the other 11 Republicans who voted for impeachment stripped of their leadership positions on committees.”
Said Greene: “Do you know the excuse I was given about why we can’t remove them from the conference? Oh, but Marjorie, we’ll lose committee seats. Our conference will lose committee seats.’ Well guess what? I lost two committees… Paul Gosar lost a committee seat. I don’t see why we can’t kick these two Republicans out of our conference.”
3 Capitol Rioters Allowed to Travel for Thanksgiving
Three Capitol riot defendants on home detention were granted permission to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, Insider reports.
GOP Cements Hold on Legislatures in Battlegrounds
“Republicans are locking in newly gerrymandered maps for the legislatures in four battleground states that are set to secure the party’s control in the statehouse chambers over the next decade, fortifying the G.O.P. against even the most sweeping potential Democratic wave elections,” the New York Times reports.
“In Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Georgia, Republican state lawmakers have either created supermajorities capable of overriding a governor’s veto or whittled down competitive districts so significantly that Republicans’ advantage is virtually impenetrable — leaving voters in narrowly divided states powerless to change the leadership of their legislatures.”
“Although much of the attention on this year’s redistricting process has focused on gerrymandered congressional maps, the new maps being drafted in state legislatures have been just as distorted.”
Michael Flynn Says Covid Was Released by ‘Global Elites’
Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn said that Covid was intentionally released on the world by “Global Elites,” but “their little plan with covid didn’t work” because “digital warriors” exposed the truth.
He added: “So I think what we’re going to see is potentially another type of virus that’s imposed on the public.”
Lara Trump Claims Liberal Plot Against Thanksgiving
Lara Trump, the Fox News contributor and wife of Eric Trump, has bizarrely claimed that the rising cost of the Thanksgiving turkey is part of a liberal plot to “chip away” at American traditions, The Guardian reports.
Said Trump: “It all goes to fundamentally transforming this country, and the way you do that is you make sure that we have no commonality whatsoever, no traditions as Americans whatsoever. You start chipping away at that, and they don’t care that Thanksgiving costs a lot more.”
She added: “They don’t want us to have any common ground. They don’t want us to have any shared traditions like Thanksgiving. A lot of places last month actually did away with Halloween because they wanted to be inclusive of the people that didn’t celebrate Halloween.”
How U.S. Troops Are Celebrating
“Almost 60,000 pounds of roasted turkeys, over 38,000 pounds of sweet potatoes and over 68,000 pies and cakes were shipped around the world by the Department of Defense’s Logistics Agency to make sure American service members stationed in the US and across the globe will have a Thanksgiving meal,” CNN reports.
Happy Thanksgiving!
On this uniquely American holiday, I hope you’re able to have a fantastic time with family and friends.
But I also know that’s not possible for everyone. For some, this day may be especially hard. If that’s you, please know that we are pulling for you.
I’m so grateful that so many of you choose to spend part of your day here.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Centrists Sink Biden’s Pick for Top Bank Regulator
“Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won’t support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position,” Axios reports.
“Their opposition also hints at a willingness of some Democratic senators to buck the White House on an important nomination, even if it hands Republicans a political — and symbolic — victory.”
“Republicans have attacked the Kazakh-born scholar in remarkably personal terms, and turned her nomination into a proxy battle over how banks should be regulated.”