Covid Live Updates: Pfizer Says its Booster Offers Significant Protection Against Omicron  —  Here's what you need to know:  —  Pfizer says blood samples showed a third dose of its vaccine provides significant protection against Omicron.  —  Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday …

Conservatism: An Elegy  —  I fell in love with conservatism in my 20s.  As a politics and crime reporter in Chicago, I often found myself around public-housing projects like Cabrini-Green and the Robert Taylor Homes, which had been built with the best of intentions but had become nightmares.

Against “Latinx”  —  A politically dubious neologism, sure, but one that makes up for it by also being monstrously ugly.  —  Of all the weird and grating modern linguistic imperatives, few are weirder or more grating than the attempted imposition of “Latinx.”

Young Dems more likely to despise the other party  —  Nearly a quarter of college students wouldn't be friends with someone who voted for the other presidential candidate — with Democrats far more likely to dismiss people than Republicans — according to new Generation Lab/Axios polling.

Trump freezes 2024 Republican primary before it even begins  —  (CNN)Donald Trump's wait-and-see approach to the 2024 election has frozen the next Republican presidential primary before it's even begun.  —  As each rumored 2024 candidate navigates the uncertainty of another Trump bid …

Schools Are Closing Classrooms on Fridays.  Parents Are Furious.  —  Desperate to keep teachers, some districts have turned to remote teaching for one day a week — and sometimes more.  Families have been left scrambling to find child care.  —  DETROIT — Caitlin Reynolds, a single mother …

Fox News Christmas Tree Catches Fire in Manhattan  —  The police said that a man was in custody in relation to the blaze.  The 50-foot tree had been ceremonially lit days earlier in an “All-American” festive broadcast.  —  A 50-foot-tall Christmas tree caught fire outside the Fox News headquarters …

Republicans ready new push to defund, repeal Biden vaccine and testing policies  —  The latest salvo is set to arrive this week, as GOP lawmakers force another Senate vote to revoke the president's policy requiring shots or tests at private employers  —  Congressional Republicans are planning …

Boebert Shows Off Rifle-Toting Kids in Christmas Photo  —  TONE DEAF  —  Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) shared a photo of her children wielding rifles in front of their Christmas tree late Tuesday, the latest gun-themed holiday photo released by Republicans in the wake of a deadly high school shooting.

Utility giants agree to no longer share sensitive records ICE used to track the public  —  Legal advocates cheer the closing of a ‘dangerous’ loophole: ‘The data never should have been used in this way.’  —  A nationwide group of utility companies that provided sensitive data from millions …

Weak Joe Biden no match for Vladimir Putin and other foes  —  When it comes to making a deal with Russia, Joe Biden has a problem.  He wants to talk, Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine — and has massed 175,000 troops on the border to prove it.  —  Biden has a similar problem with China and Iran.

Senate Dems launch last-ditch effort to change the rules of the chamber  —  It's the Senate version of “Waiting for Godot”: Democrats are once again trying to find an answer to their filibuster dilemma in the hopes of passing voting rights legislation before it's too late.

Inside Joe Biden's 2-Day Zoom Plan to Rescue Democracy  —  Joe Biden has never put much stock in America's self-assigned mission of fostering democracy abroad.  As a freshman senator half a century ago, he opposed the Vietnam War not because he regarded it as immoral but because he didn't …

House passes workaround to move forward on raising the debt ceiling  —  The House passed a bill Tuesday night to expedite a debt ceiling fix in the Senate, allowing Democrats to essentially raise the nation's credit limit on their own and thwart a Christmastime default.

The pandemic worsened young people's mental health crisis.  —  The United States surgeon general on Tuesday warned that young people are facing “devastating” mental health effects as a result of the challenges experienced by their generation, including the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19: Medical board deletes anti-misinformation policy amid GOP pressure  —  Health Department attorney: Rep. John Ragan threatened to dissolve the Board of Medical Examiners  —  Tennessee's medical licensing board voted Tuesday to delete a policy opposing coronavirus misinformation …

As Grifters Squabble, QAnon's Bloodlust Gets More Open  —  QAnon influencers hope to unite the right in a sea of blood.  —  Not merely rhetorical violence, though that's important.  QAnon is violence in its ideology, in its end goal, and in its imagination: the “Storm,” …

Wisconsin Conservative Group Finds ‘No Evidence Of Widespread Fraud’ In 2020 Election  —  A 10-month-long review of Wisconsin's 2020 election conducted by a conservative group in the state found no signs of widespread or significant election fraud, according to a new report of its findings …

House approves $768 billion defense bill with strong support, despite some discord among Democrats  —  The House passed a finalized version of the $768 defense authorization bill late Tuesday night with overwhelming majority support, moving legislation hamstrung by delays …

Meet Germany's new government  —  BERLIN — It's changeover time in Germany after 16 years of Angela Merkel.  —  Social Democrat Olaf Scholz took over as chancellor on Wednesday, leading a new Cabinet that includes just four members of Merkel's outgoing administration.

When Terrorists Govern … As the Taliban swept across Afghanistan this summer, all eyes were on their fighters as they triumphed over the Afghan security forces, which surrendered in large numbers as the Taliban rapidly advanced.  But the Taliban's victory did not happen overnight …

Chinese weddings fall to 13-year low as demographic crisis brews  —  Gender imbalance and high cost of tying the knot blamed for fewer couples getting married  —  China's efforts to lower the cost of marriage and boost birth rates have failed to lead to more weddings, dealing a blow …

Rep. Pressley to introduce resolution to condemn Rep. Boebert  —  Nearly a dozen House liberals want Democratic leadership to act against the Colorado Republican for anti-Muslim remarks  —  Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) plans to introduce a resolution Wednesday to strip Rep. Lauren Boebert …

Italian Lives Matter  —  Italian reader Giuseppe Scalas says that the murder in NYC of an Italian researcher by a black gang member out on parole has turned the left-wing Milan daily Corriere della Sera against The New York Times.  He sent a translation of the Federico Rampini commentary in the Corriere today.

Remembering Yamiche Alcindor's Greatest Hits  —  Yamiche Alcindor, previously a White House correspondent for PBS, will be transitioning into a role covering Washington more broadly for NBC, the network announced Tuesday.  She will continue to host Washington Week for PBS.

Unvaccinated Illinoisans Would Pay COVID Hospital Bills Under New Proposals  —  Illinois residents who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine and refuse to take it would have to pay for their treatment if they contract the virus under a proposed new bill.  —  “I think it's time that we say …