Weds - Which is the Real Marjorie Taylor Greene Quote?

CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.

Pfizer said Wednesday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the new omicron variant even though the initial two doses appear significantly less effective.

Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said lab tests showed a booster dose increased by 25-fold the level of so-called neutralizing antibodies against omicron.
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Pfizer announced the preliminary laboratory data in a press release and it hasn’t yet undergone scientific review. The companies already are working to create an omicron-specific vaccine in case it’s needed.

Republican leaders are persuading their ranks to go along with a convoluted debt limit deal with Democrats to stave off an economic crisis, despite spending months threatening to allow the nation to default in protest of Democrats’ spending agenda.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has endorsed a compromise negotiated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to make a one-time change to allow Democrats to increase the statutory limit on how much the government can borrow to pay its debts without needing Republicans’ votes.
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The Treasury Department has said it will reach its borrowing limit on Dec. 15 unless Congress votes to increase it, at which point the nation would default and likely trigger an economic crisis.

Currently, any stand-alone vote to increase the debt limit would be subject to the Senate’s filibuster rule, and therefore need a bipartisan coalition of 60 senators in order to pass. The compromise would create a temporary carveout for the debt limit bill to not be subject to the filibuster.

For months, Republicans have said they would not vote to increase the debt limit in protest of Democrats’ Build Back Better agenda, which currently proposes to invest more than $1 trillion in green initiatives and an expanded social safety net.

The debt limit must be raised regardless of Democrats’ future policies in order to avoid default. But until now, Republicans have wanted Democrats to increase the debt ceiling through the reconciliation process, the budgetary maneuver that allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority. That process, however, is procedurally lengthy and would give Republicans plenty of opportunities to score political points. Democrats said they wouldn’t do it.

Which is the actual Marjorie Taylor Greene quote?

When are American patriots going to be protected from the failing New York Times and their censorship?

Jan. 6 defendants are being taught critical race theory in jail.

AOC and the deep state shills legalized propaganda against the American people back in 2012.

How has there not been an investigation into allegations that Killary sent unencrypted emails to blue-haired immigrants???! Once again, the Deep State will ignore what doesn't suit the official narrative.

The anti-free speech commies have adopted Soviet style censorship tactics in an attempt to silence Trump supporters.

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A new study by NPR confirms that "Counties that went heavily for Donald Trump have seen much lower vaccination rates and much higher death rates from COVID." However, this isn't the first time that the pandemic has been observed stalking Trump's cult disciples. As far back as July there were reports of this grisly statistic that pointed to the reality that we are in the midst of a "Pandemic of Fox News."

What makes this all the more disturbing is that, despite its unambiguous culpability, Fox News has failed to alert its audience to the deadly path that the network has put them on. Fox News has not reported the facts revealed in the NPR study.

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Some 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs in October as churn in the labor market continued to mark the economic recovery nearly two years into the pandemic, according to a report released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number of people who left jobs for other opportunities in October made up 2.8 percent of the workforce, the BLS said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey. In contrast, the survey found 11 million job openings, only slightly less than the record from July.

A record 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September. Workers took advantage of the surge in job openings across the country. August’s numbers, at 4.3 million, were also a record at the time. In contrast, in February 2020, before the big wave of pandemic-related layoffs began, 2.3 percent of workers quit their jobs.

About 87,000 young children are diagnosed with lead poisoning in the US each year, more than three decades after the neurotoxin was banned as an ingredient in paint, gasoline and water pipes. Today, lead lingers in houses and apartments, yards and water lines, and wherever states and communities ramp up testing, it becomes clear that the nation’s lead problem is worse than we realized, experts say.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics this fall suggested that more than half of all US children have detectable levels of lead in their blood – and that elevated blood lead levels were closely associated with race, poverty and living in older housing. Black children are particularly at riskA

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The arrest of a man previously believed to have been a suspect in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Wednesday. He was released from detention after “thorough checks,” authorities said.

The announcement came almost 30 hours after French authorities detained the man at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.

French authorities had said the man was detained on an outstanding Turkish arrest warrant. The suspect was thought to be Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi, a Saudi national wanted in connection with the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul three years ago.

Connecticut has seen an "extremely concerning" rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in recent weeks, health officials said, as the number of cases also continues to trend up.

The state also reported an 8.3% COVID-19 test positivity rate Tuesday, up from 5.8% the day before, an increase that Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont called "distressing." Though the governor said he is not so much concerned with the infection rate as he is hospitalizations.

The "overwhelming majority" of those who are getting infected are unvaccinated, Lamont said. More severe cases are also largely in those who are unvaccinated; of those currently hospitalized, over 76% are not fully vaccinated, according to state data.

Michigan continues to struggle amid the pandemic, setting a record this week for Covid-19 hospitalizations and leading the nation in per capita case rates, new data reveal.

The state also recently reported its highest seven-day average of new daily cases, at 10,014, on December 3. The average dipped on Monday to 8,585 a day -- still more than double where it was at the end of October, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Last month, the state health department said the federal government was sending doctors, nurses and others to support certain hospitals.

As of Monday, about 55% of Michigan's population was fully vaccinated, tying it for 26th among the 50 states for that metric and below the US average of 60%, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Michigan has reported more new cases per capita over the last week than any other state, with Minnesota and Rhode Island not far behind, according to JHU data. The daily case rate is more than double the US case rate.

Michigan Stadium (seating bowl/general outdoor areas)

Fans are strongly encouraged but not required to wear face coverings in any outdoor areas (entry gates, concourse, seating bowl, etc.).
Fans are required to wear a face covering when inside restrooms and The M Den stores, regardless of vaccination status.

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Here are 10 of the lesser-known provisions in the Build Back Better bill.

$900 tax credit for purchasing an e-bike
Taxpayers would be allowed to claim a tax credit for purchasing an e-bike before 2026, if the bill passes. It's one of many provisions in the spending package aimed at combating the climate crisis.

$35 cap on insulin costs

12 months of Medicaid coverage for new moms
The legislation would require all states to cover pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, for 12 months postpartum. The provision is considered key to addressing the nation's maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately affects women of color.

Extra assistance for the jobless to buy health insurance
The American Rescue Plan provides those who receive at least one week of jobless benefits in 2021 with generous federal subsides so they can select Affordable Care Act policies with monthly premiums as little as $0 and with low out-of-pocket requirements.

Tax credits for local news outlets
Companies that employ local journalists would receive a new payroll tax credit if the bill is passed. The credit amount would be equal to 50% of paid wages during the first year and 30% of wages during the next four years. The tax credit would expire after 2025.  News outlets with more than 1,500 employees would be excluded from the tax credit.

College completion grants
There is $500 million in the bill to fund programs that help low-income college students, particularly those at community colleges, finish their degrees. The money may be invested in financial aid grants awarded to students, as well as wraparound services provided by colleges like mentoring, child care and mental health resources.

Public housing repairs
The bill would provide $65 billion to address the backlog of repairs needed at deteriorating public housing buildings.

Salmon conservation
The bill would invest $1 billion to support conservation projects for Pacific salmon and steelhead populations and their habitats, including projects that increase climate resilience.

National parks and forests preservation
There are billions of dollars in the bill for preserving public lands.

Funds for lower-income families to buy food over the summer
The bill would provide the families of 29 million kids with $65 per child each month to purchase food during the summers of 2023 and 2024.

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A Black man is entitled to a new trial after an all-White jury deliberated in a room filled with Confederate symbols, court says

A Tennessee court has decided a Black man convicted of aggravated assault deserves a new trial because evidence was improperly admitted and the jury deliberated in a room filled with tributes to the Confederacy, according to court documents.
Judge James Curwood Witt Jr. said in an opinion filed last week that the room's decorations honored a Confederacy that "not only defended slavery, but endorsed it fully using dehumanizing and racist language."

Tim Gilbert, 55, was sentenced in June 2020 to six years in prison for aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, and unlawful possession of a weapon after having been previously convicted of a felony, according to jail records and court documents. The charges are from a family gathering on Christmas Eve in 2018, according to court documents.

On Friday, Witt decided that Gilbert's defense provided enough evidence to show how a jury could have been influenced by symbols in the room and said, "the State failed to sufficiently rebut the presumption of prejudice." Additionally, he found that the trial court allowed a witness statement that shouldn't have been admitted.

The judge who presided over Gilbert's trial said juries have deliberated in the room for the 43 years that he had been active in the legal community.
"The record contains no evidence to explain how the U.D.C., a private organization, came to possess a dedicated room in the Giles County Courthouse in... the 1930s," the appeals court wrote.

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Prices at the pump have finally started to creep lower, and that trend should significantly accelerate in the coming months, according to new government forecasts.

The US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday the national average for regular gasoline will probably drop to $3.01 a gallon in January. For 2022, gas prices are expected to average $2.88.

Indonesians are used to dealing with natural disasters. Their country sits on the Ring of Fire, a band around the Pacific Ocean that sets off frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. But Mount Semeru's eruption on the island of Java Saturday was different.

Days of heavy rain had gradually eroded Semeru's lava dome, a mound of hardened lava that acts like a volcano's plug, which partially collapsed.

It was this "dome avalanche" that Indonesian volcanologists believe triggered the eruption, according to the country's geological chief, Eko Budi Lelono, from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

"Based on photos and data, we can compare the size of the dome before and after the December 4 eruption. We can see a big mass of the dome's volume was lost after a heavy spell of rain that day," he said.

A lava dome can be unstable and collapse for several reasons, but there is growing understanding that heavy rain can be one of them.

Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin has apologised for going clubbing after coming into close contact with a Covid-19 case.  Sanna Marin went on a night out in Helsinki on Saturday, hours after her foreign minister had tested positive.

The boss of a US mortgage company, who fired hundreds of his staff in a Zoom meeting has said he is "deeply sorry" for the way the lay-offs were handled.

Scientists who "eavesdropped" on a restored coral reef in Indonesia say their recordings of fish "whooping, croaking and growling" are the reef coming back to life.

Over a decade, the reef has been re-seeded with new corals.

The researchers used underwater microphones to record at the site.

The sounds, some of which have never been recorded before, provide an audible measure of the health of the reef, researchers say.

— Cheugy (CHOO-gee): A trendy term popularized by Gen Z and used to mock an outdated and unfashionable aesthetic typically associated with millennials, such as “Live, Laugh, Love” signs.

— Chipotle (chih-POHT-lay): The American fast food chain became the center of a viral trend this year challenging Baby Boomers to pronounce the name.
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— Dalgona (tal-goh-NAH): A Korean treat made with melted sugar and baking soda, popularized in Netflix’s “Squid Game.” (Touma notes that some speakers seem to produce a ”K” instead of the ”G” in the middle syllable.)

— Dogecoin (DOHJ-coin): A divisive cryptocurrency that began somewhat ironically before being popularized by Elon Musk, causing its value to dramatically increase.

— Eilish (EYE-lish): The singer Billie Eilish, whose album “Happier Than Ever” was released this year to critical acclaim and nominated for the Grammy Awards’ Album of the Year.

— Ethereum (ih-THEE-ree-um): Another cryptocurrency that skyrocketed in value this year amid the decentralized-currency boom.

— Ever Given (EV-er GIV-en): The name of the ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March, costing billions of dollars in lost trade. Many newscasters mistook the name of the ship as “Evergreen,” the name of the company that owns the vessel, which was printed on its hull.

— Glasgow (GLAHZ-go): The host city of November’s United Nations Climate Conference was mispronounced by both President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama.

— Kelce (KELs): The Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce revealed on radio this year that his teammates and the media had been mispronouncing his name for years.

— Omicron (AH-muh-kraan / OH-mee-kraan): A new variant of COVID-19 first identified in November, named in keeping with the World Health Organization’s system of identifying variants with Greek letters. (Touma notes it’s pronounced differently in the U.S. and the U.K.)

— Shein (SHEE-in): The Chinese fast fashion company at the center of the “Shein haul” trend, in which participants record themselves trying on numerous different outfits from the company.

— Stefanos Tsitsipas (STEH-fuh-nohs TSEE-tsee-pas): Currently ranked as the world’s No. 4 tennis player, the Greek athlete rose to international prominence when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of the French Open in June.

— Yassify (YEAH-sih-fai): A popular trend in which multiple beauty filters are applied to well-known pictures or portraits for comic effect.