Omicron Has 80% Lower Risk of Hospitalization, New Study Shows  — Once admitted, risk of severe disease is the same: NICD data  — Compared to delta, odds of severe omicron disease is 70% lower  —  South Africans contracting Covid-19 in the current fourth wave of infections …

Statement by President Joe Biden Extending the Pause on Student Loan Repayment an Additional 90 Days  —  When I came into office, we were facing a number of unprecedented crises.  Our economy was creating only 50,000 new jobs per month, less than 1 percent of Americans were fully vaccinated …

America is now in fascism's legal phase  —  The history of racism in the US is fertile ground for fascism.  Attacks on the courts, education, the right to vote and women's rights are further steps on the path to toppling democracy  —  et us be reminded that before there is a final solution …

Biden's COVID culpability  —  In its never-ending race to stay ahead of the coronavirus, the Biden administration keeps falling behind.  —  Why it matters: The U.S. is facing an overwhelming surge of cases driven by the Omicron variant less than six months after President Biden celebrated …

Biden Won Big With a Bad Hand  —  Relative to its strength in Congress, the Biden administration has proved outstandingly successful.  —  About the author: David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (2020).

Why Christmas Gifts Are Arriving on Time This Year  —  Fears that a disrupted supply chain could wreak havoc on the logistics industry over the holiday turned out to be wrong as many Americans ordered early and shopped in stores.  —  The warnings started to stream in early this fall: Shop early or you may not get your gifts on time.

Pfizer's Covid-19 Pill Authorized in U.S.  —  It is the first authorization of a drug that newly infected people can easily take at home to stay out of the hospital  —  U.S. health regulators cleared use of a Covid-19 pill from Pfizer Inc., the first drug that newly infected patients can now take at home to stay out of the hospital.

The F.B.I. Deployed Surveillance Teams Inside Portland Protests  —  Federal agents infiltrated Portland's unruly racial justice protests, dressing to blend in and capturing clandestine video.  The tactics raised internal concern.  —  PORTLAND, Ore. — In the hours after President Biden's inauguration …

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say  —  Within weeks, Walter Reed researchers expect to announce that human trials show success against Omicron—and even future strains.  —  Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect …

Secret Service: Nearly $100B stolen in pandemic relief funds  —  Nearly $100 billion at minimum has been stolen from COVID-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday.  —  The estimate is based …

POLITICO Playbook: Schumer and Manchin face off on Zoom  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  MANCHIN MEETS THE DEM CAUCUS — Senate Democrats held a virtual meeting Tuesday night, their first get-together since the Sunday meltdown.  And yes, JOE MANCHIN logged on.  —  Manchin and Majority Leader CHUCK …

Trump Just Crossed a Red Line for His Evangelical and Jewish Fans  —  Trump's obscenities and antisemitic tropes don't bother his Jewish fans.  But a recent quote has stunned his pro-Israel base, evangelicals and Jews, to the core - and could complicate his chances for a second term  —  Zen Read

Inside the nonstop pressure campaign by Trump allies to get election officials to revisit the 2020 vote  —  More than a year after Donald Trump lost the presidency, election officials across the country are facing a growing barrage of claims that the vote was not secure and demands to investigate …

How bad will 2022 be for Democrats?  A new party analysis sounds the alarm.  —  Get ready to hear this phrase in discussions among Democrats about the 2022 midterms: “The Biden-Youngkin voter.”  —  This category — which refers to voters who picked President Biden in 2020 …

Hope Hicks, other Trump alums join hedge-fund exec's Senate camp  —  Hedge fund executive David McCormick is expected to launch his Pennsylvania Senate candidacy with the help of former top advisers to former President Donald Trump.  —  The list includes Trump White House veteran Hope Hicks.

‘Have I Hit Bottom?’:  Michael Avenatti and the Fall of a Trump-Era Antihero  —  VENICE, Calif. — Inside a two-bedroom apartment, 11 blocks from the ocean, there is a man in free fall, though he has nowhere to go.  He wears a monitor on his right ankle, government-issued, blinking green beneath his tapered track pants.

How Fauci and Collins Shut Down Covid Debate  —  They worked with the media to trash the Great Barrington Declaration.  —  By The Editorial Board  —  In public, Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins urge Americans to “follow the science.”  In private, the two sainted public-health officials schemed …

No Critical Race Theory in Schools?  Here's the Abundant Evidence Saying Otherwise  —  Above, a mother protests critical race theory in Albuquerque last month.  Such objections are often met with denials that CRT is being taught, despite many indications to the contrary.

People Got Sick at a Conspiracy Conference.  They're Sure It's Anthrax.  —  The fact that the conference was likely a COVID outbreak and superspreader event has been almost entirely ignored.  —  DG  —  A group of unvaccinated people who attended a huge conspiracy conference in Dallas earlier …