“Omicron's ... emergence is another reminder that although many of us might think we are done with COVID-19, it is not done with us.”
— WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
“Two years ago Wednesday, the first cases of a mysterious new respiratory disease turned up in Wuhan, China.
Now, Omicron has deepened concerns about just how much longer the pandemic will last, Axios World author David Lawler writes.
The big picture: More than 5 million people have died since that first case. Most people on earth have lived through some form of lockdown.
54% of people in the world have had at least one vaccination, though the shots have been distributed unevenly.
10 key dates in our pandemic journey:
Dec. 8, 2019: The World Health Organization's official date for the onset of the first cases in Wuhan, China, that were later confirmed to be COVID-19.
Feb. 23, 2020: Italy becomes the first country outside China to impose a lockdown.
March 11, 2020: The WHO declares a pandemic. 4,616 deaths have been recorded.
April 2020: School closures affect 82% of the world's students, according to UNESCO.
Sept. 28, 2020: The world crosses 1 million deaths, with the U.S. and Brazil recording the most.
December 2020: The FDA authorizes the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use Dec. 11, followed by the Moderna vaccine Dec. 18.
Early July 2021: After falling sharply in the spring, cases begin to rise again in both the U.S. and E.U., with the unvaccinated hit hardest.
Nov. 1, 2021: The official worldwide death count hits 5 million.
Nov. 5, 2021: Half the global population has had at least one shot.
Nov. 24, 2021: South Africa reports the Omicron variant.
P.S. Rio de Janeiro yesterday canceled its New Year’s Eve party due to renewed COVID fears.” Read more at Axios
An anti-coup protester holds up a placard featuring de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi on March 02, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. Hkun Lat—Getty Images
“Myanmar’s former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday after she was found guilty of incitement and violating COVID-19 restrictions following a closed-door trial.
The prison term covers only the first in a series of charges, which could see Aung San Suu Kyi—who was ousted in a Feb. 1 military coup—sentenced to decades in prison by Myanmar’s coup leaders.
Human rights watchers say the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi—whose National League for Democracy (NLD) won a Nov. 8, 2020 election in a landslide—are a thinly veiled justification for keeping the popular pro-democracy leader behind bars.” Read more at Time
Robert J. Dole, with his wife Elizabeth, accepts his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in 1996. He went on to lose to incumbent Bill Clinton. (Michael Williamson/The Washington Post)
“Former U.S. senator Robert J. Dole, who overcame the hardships of dust bowl Kansas during the Depression and devastating injuries in World War II to run three times for the presidency and serve more than a decade as the Senate Republican leader, died Dec. 5 at 98.
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation announced the death but did not provide an immediate cause. He announced in February that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
Mr. Dole’s life was a trajectory played out against nine decades of America’s political, economic and cultural transformations, from his birth in a one-bedroom house to a career that lasted more than a third of a century under the Capitol dome, where he was presented the Congressional Gold Medal in 2018.
Arriving in Washington a few months shy of his 38th birthday, a House backbencher from Kansas among the minority Republicans, he methodically climbed the Washington ladder, possessed of a talent for counting votes and finding the sort of consensus rarely achieved today.
His rise paralleled a personal evolution from abrasive partisan to a more statesmanlike role in which he worked across party lines to forge compromise, whether bailing out the Social Security system or recommending an overhaul of long-term care for wounded veterans.
Mr. Dole was often critical of the Republican Party after leaving office, telling audiences that it had become too conservative, with far-right positions that recalled those of his former rival Patrick J. Buchanan. But he remained loyal to the party and, in 2016, became the only former GOP presidential candidate to endorse Donald Trump, whose campaign advisers included former Dole lieutenants such as Paul Manafort.
His influence reached a peak in the early 1980s as Senate Finance Committee chairman and then as leader of the Senate Republicans — in the majority, the minority and majority again — from 1985 until his retirement from Congress in 1996 as his party’s presumptive presidential nominee.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden has ordered U.S. flags at the White House, federal buildings and grounds, military posts, naval stations, embassies and consulates to be flown at half-staff until Dec. 9 to honor former senator Robert J. Dole, who died Sunday at age 98.
Biden said he issued the proclamation Sunday evening as a mark of respect for Dole, ‘a statesman like few in our history and a war hero among the greatest of the Greatest Generation.’ The order followed one by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for flags at the U.S. Capitol be flown at half-staff as well.
Dole represented Kansas in the Senate from 1969 to 1996 and was the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade. He also sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before ultimately losing to incumbent Bill Clinton.” Read more at Washington Post
“In the months after President Donald Trump lost the November election, lawyer Sidney Powell raised large sums from donors inspired by her fight to reverse the outcome of the vote. But by April, questions about where the money was going — and how much there was — were helping to sow division between Powell and other leaders of her new nonprofit, Defending the Republic.
On April 9, many members of the staff and board resigned, documents show. Among those who departed after just days on the job was Chief Financial Officer Robert Weaver, who in a memo at the time wrote that he had ‘no way of knowing the true financial position’ of Defending the Republic because some of its bank accounts were off limits even to him.
Records reviewed by The Washington Post show that Defending the Republic raised more than $14 million, a sum that reveals the reach and resonance of one of the most visible efforts to fundraise using baseless claims about the 2020 election. Previously unreported records also detail acrimony between Powell and her top lieutenants over how the money — now a focus of inquiries by federal prosecutors and Congress — was being handled.” Read more at Washington Post
“Regulators are investigating a deal between Donald Trump’s new social-media venture and a special-purpose acquisition company that would take the former president’s firm public, according to a Monday securities filing.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing a potential merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and the SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corp., Digital World disclosed Monday.
The SPAC said in October that it is taking Mr. Trump’s social-media company public in a deal that valued it at roughly $875 million, including debt.
After the deal was announced, The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that Mr. Trump met with Digital World Chief Executive Patrick Orlando early this year and before the SPAC had raised money. If the meeting is deemed to have represented substantive deal talks, it could violate SEC rules. That is because SPACs aren’t supposed to have a target company identified at the time they initially raise money, analysts say.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old accused of fatally shooting four classmates and injuring several others at a Michigan high school last week, have been arrested and jailed after spending part of the weekend on the run. James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, which were brought forth as prosecutors alleged the parents provided unrestricted access to the gun their son is accused of using. Ethan Crumbley is being charged as an adult with terrorism, first degree murder and other counts. Democratic legislators are calling for bipartisan cooperation to create meaningful gun legislation that they hope would prevent such tragedies. Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy suggested universal background checks and a safe storage policy for guns as solution that could garner support from across the aisle.” Read more at CNN
“New York City will require all private-sector workers be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, in what Mayor Bill de Blasio described as a ‘first in the nation measure.’
The new mandate will go into effect Dec. 27—days before a new mayor takes office and as a federal vaccine mandate for many private-sector employees remains entangled in a court battle.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The US is averaging more than 100,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, the first time the country has crossed that threshold in two months. Deaths are also on the rise, with an average of 1,651 people dying from Covid-19 each day over the past seven days. Thanksgiving gatherings are likely one cause of the uptick. The vast majority of new US cases are from the Delta variant. Delta is still the dominant strain across the world, showing up in about 99.9% of coronavirus cases. But the Omicron variant has now been detected in at least 16 states, and has the potential to become the dominant strain nationwide. All of this is especially frustrating and concerning as the holiday season rolls on and scientists scramble to determine whether Omicron is more transmissible and more virulent than other strains.” Read more at CNN
“Unrest is brewing in the House as two Republican representatives -- Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia -- continue to double down on racist and divisive rhetoric. Boebert has unleashed a string of anti-Muslim remarks against Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, implying she could be a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer, and calling her and the other lone Muslim representative the ‘jihad squad.’ After a contentious phone call with Boebert last week, Omar says she's ‘very confident’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will take action against Boebert, which could include punishments like stripping her of her committee assignments. When Republican Rep. Nancy Mace criticized Boebert for her remarks, Rep. Greene, who regularly courts controversy with inflammatory comments, called Mace ‘trash’ and vowed to support a primary challenge against her.” Read more at CNN
“David Perdue, the former senator from Georgia who lost his seat to Jon Ossoff, plans to challenge Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the Republican primary, according to three people familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the upcoming announcement.
Perdue will announce his intentions Monday, as first reported by Politico, and spent Sunday calling Republicans about his plan to file for the race, the people added. Former president Donald Trump has been pushing Perdue to challenge Kemp, whom Trump has blasted for not helping him overturn 2020 election results in Georgia, based on his false claims that the presidential race was stolen from him.
A spokesman for Kemp on Sunday accused the former senator of running to ‘soothe his own bruised ego,’ and risking Republican control of Georgia after bungling his runoff campaign and putting Democrats in charge of the Senate.”
‘It may be difficult for David Perdue to see this over the gates of his coastal estate, but Joe Biden’s dangerous agenda is hitting hardworking Georgians in the wallet and endangering their livelihoods,’ Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said in a statement. ‘And we all have David Perdue to thank for it.’
Perdue was narrowly forced into a runoff in the 2020 election, which he went on to lose to Ossoff (D). Trump loomed over the contest, attacking the results of the election and using two pre-runoff rallies to air baseless claims about his defeat.
Perdue, hurt by reporting on stock trades he had made after an early pandemic briefing for senators, refused to debate Ossoff and spent the race’s final days self-isolating after being exposed to the coronavirus. He briefly considered a run for the state’s other Senate seat, which is up for election next year, but backed out in February.” Read more at Washington Post
“Chris Cuomo, fired yesterday by CNN, withheld information from his bosses, who trusted someone who had been their star for years, Axios Media Trends author Sara Fischer writes.
But internal frustration was mounting, and the talent — even the network's top-rated anchor — wasn't worth the headache.
An ominous line in CNN's statement: ‘We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review ... While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.’
Documents released last week showed that Cuomo used his contacts to garner information about the women accusing his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, of sexual harassment.
Several hours after CNN announced the firing, the N.Y. Times' Jodi Kantor reported:
On Wednesday, Debra S. Katz, a prominent employment lawyer, informed CNN of a client with an allegation of sexual misconduct against Chris Cuomo. Ms. Katz said in a statement on Saturday that the allegation against the anchor, which was made by a former junior colleague at another network, was "unrelated to the Gov. Andrew Cuomo matter."
Kantor tweeted: *’Both* Cuomo brothers were unseated in the wake of #metoo allegations from younger coworkers.’
A CNN spokesperson said: ‘Based on the report we received regarding Chris’s conduct with his brother’s defense, we had cause to terminate. When new allegations came to us this week, we took them seriously, and saw no reason to delay taking immediate action.’
A Cuomo spokesman, Steven Goldberg, said the sexual-misconduct allegation is untrue: ‘If the goal in making these false and unvetted accusations was to see Mr. Cuomo punished by CNN, that may explain his unwarranted termination.’” Read more at Axios
“Conservatives are building their own apps, phones, cryptocurrencies and publishing houses to circumvent the mainstream tech and media ecosystem, Axios' Sara Fischer and Dan Primack report.
Why it matters: Many of these efforts couldn't exist without the backing of major corporate figures and billionaires who are eager to push back against ‘censorship’ and ‘cancel culture.’
It's unclear whether demand will match supply:
Rumble, a conservative alternative to YouTube, agreed to go public at an implied $2.1 billion valuation via a SPAC merger. The SPAC is sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm led by billionaire and Trump fundraiser Howard Lutnick.
Donald Trump's fledgling social media company, Truth Social, also plans to go public via SPAC, and said Saturday it has secured $1 billion in financing. The SPAC is trading at a market value of $1.6 billion, down from its $4.5 billion peak in late October.
Gettr, a social app launched by ex-Trump aide Jason Miller, hasn't disclosed all of its investors. But Miller has said one of the app's funders is the family foundation of Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
Aside from social networks, conservatives are pushing to create alternatives to other tech tools and communication platforms:
Book publishing: Trump allies launched a book publishing house called Winning Team Publishing, run by Don Jr. and former Trump campaign aide Sergio Gor. The imprint will publish the ex-president's first book, a coffee table photo book.
Cloud storage: Trump's social media company will be hosted online by RightForge, an internet infrastructure company that courts conservatives. As Axios' Margaret Harding McGill notes, relying on a conservative web hosting service could head off issues Parler faced when its web services were yanked following the Capitol siege.
Crypto: A new cryptocurrency called ‘Magacoin’ has already caught the attention of high-profile conservatives, per The Guardian.
Phones: A young Bitcoin entrepreneur is marketing an ‘uncensored’ Freedom Phone to conservatives.
Reality check: While politicians seem eager to find new, unregulated outlets, download data from Apptopia shows consumers aren't sprinting to the alternatives.” Read more at Axios
“Edward Shames, 99 — the last surviving officer of World War II's ‘Easy Company,’ which inspired the HBO miniseries and book "Band of Brothers" — died peacefully Friday at his home in Norfolk, AP reports.
The renowned Easy Company was part of the Army's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Easy Company was the subject of Stephen Ambrose's 1992 book, ‘Band of Brothers.’ The 2001 miniseries, created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, followed the brothers from training in Georgia in 1942 to the war's end in 1945. Shames was portrayed by British actor Joseph May.
‘When Germany surrendered,’ Shames' obit says, ‘Ed and his men ... entered Hitler's Eagle's Nest where Ed managed to acquire a few bottles of cognac, a label indicating they were 'for the Fuhrer's use only.' Later, he would use the cognac to toast his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah.’” Read more at Axios
“Another three of 17 U.S. and Canadian missionaries kidnapped in Haiti in October have been released, the missionary group said on Monday.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“US officials are closely eyeing China’s advancements in both military might and space capabilities. It’s no secret the two countries are highly competitive, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US isn’t afraid to address China’s military rise. The country recently tested a hypersonic weapon system, and is rapidly building up its nuclear arsenal, aiming to bring it to at least 1,000 warheads by 2030. Currently, Washington and Beijing are at odds over Taiwan, which has been the target of several displays of escalating Chinese military force. Meanwhile, Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations for the US Space Force, says China is developing its space capabilities at ‘twice the rate’ of the US, and could overtake the US by the end of the decade.” Read more at CNN
“The US is growing increasingly concerned over the potential for Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia has rapidly escalated its military presence along the countries’ shared border, amassing up to 175,000 troops there. New US intelligence findings estimate Russia could begin an invasion of Ukraine in a matter of months. In addition to the military buildup, the intelligence suggests a Russian influence campaign meant to denigrate Ukraine's leaders. President Joe Biden has warned that Russian military action against Ukraine would result in severe consequences. The buildup has led to a planned video call on Tuesday between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has denied it has any plans to attack Ukraine, but has also demanded a pledge from Western countries to keep Ukraine from joining NATO.” Read more at CNN