-Mark Meadows, on the contents of his own book

With the up-and-coming Omicron variant officially circulating in the U.S. and the veteran Delta variant still enjoying a prolific career, President Biden has outlined a new plan aimed at preventing a double-act winter surge, while Republicans have outlined a plan to fuel one.
 

• Minnesota confirmed a second U.S. Omicron case on Thursday, in a resident who had recently returned from an anime convention in New York City. The man was fully vaccinated and experienced mild symptoms. Minnesota’s health department noted that it has one of the strongest variant surveillance programs in the country, making it likely that Omicron would be spotted there first no matter where else it’s on the loose. New York officials later confirmed five cases in the New York City area. 
   
• “We’re going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” President Biden said on Thursday, as somewhere in Austin, Joe Rogan began freebasing bird medicine. The administration’s new pandemic strategy includes at-home tests that will be covered by insurers or available for free at community clinics, new testing requirements for international travelers, and mobile vaccination sites aimed at serving families. 
   
• While Omicron has everyone’s heart rate up, the Delta variant continues to kill over 900 Americans each day, and hospitals in the Midwest and New England are straining under record numbers of patients. Unfortunately, thanks to the tireless pro-COVID advocacy of the GOP, Biden’s vaccine mandates for health care workers and large employers remain tied up in court. 

A handful of dipshits in the Senate continue to hope that threatening to shut down the government will put the final nail in the mandate coffin.
 

• Congress needs to pass a short-term government-funding bill by Friday in order to avoid a shutdown. While top lawmakers announced a deal and set up a successful House vote on Thursday, a few far-right Senate Republicans led by Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) said they would oppose the measure unless it includes an amendment to defund Biden’s federal vaccine requirements. 
   
• With a 60-vote threshold, leaders could simply allow the amendment to fail and be off on their merry way. So naturally, the GOP Plague Squad has demanded a simple-majority vote, which would only require one Democrat’s cooperation for inclusion in the bill, and guess which West Virginia houseboat captain won’t say how he would vote? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he opposes the whole scheme, but it would only take one rogue senator to block the bill from passing quickly.
   

Democrats have no qualms about assigning blame for those potential consequences: “Let’s be clear, if there is a shutdown, it will be a Republican, anti-vaccine shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. There’s no reason why that same label shouldn’t be applied to the Delta wave still pummeling the country, and to any winter surge that may follow.

If you’re a fan of our What A Day newsletter, you’ll probably love Crooked’s What A Day podcast, too. Every weekday at 5:00 AM Eastern, hosts Gideon Resnick, Tre’vell Anderson, Priyanka Aribindi, and Josie Duffy Rice break down the biggest news stories of the day in a way that hopefully doesn’t make you cry. Recent stories include the Omicron variant, the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and Trans Day of Remembrance. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

If the Supreme Court does indeed overturn or seriously undermine Roe v. Wade this summer, deep-red states won’t be the only ones where abortion immediately becomes illegal. Eight states still have pre-1973 abortion bans on the books, which would become enforceable again the moment Roe is overturned. Those states include the decidedly purple Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona—all of which have gerrymandered legislatures in GOP control, and governorships that could fall into GOP hands in 2022. Between zombie pre-Roe bans and newer trigger laws designed to ban all or most abortions the moment Justice Amy Coney Barrett fulfills her ultimate destiny, a ruling eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion would make it instantly illegal in 17 states. Here’s a good list of abortion funds that rely on donations, if you’ve got some extra cash and anger rattling around. 

• Initial unemployment claims last week totaled 222,000, higher than the week before but once again lower than economists expected. 
   
• Germany has announced a national lockdown for the unvaccinated, as outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor, Olaf Scholz, backed plans for mandatory vaccinations. 
   
• Donald Trump has elbowed into the Ohio Senate primary to protect his own electoral prospects in 2024, calling the conservative Club for Growth to demand that they take down ads that targeted J.D. Vance with old footage of him criticizing Trump.
   
• Two Georgia election workers have sued the far-right online conspiracy-theory hub Gateway Pundit over lies published about them that triggered waves of threats and harassment. 
   
• Hackers breached the personal data of 400,000 Planned Parenthood patients in Los Angeles in a ransomware attack, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft and extortion attempts.
   
• Hospitals in Idaho and Montana have had to call the police after patients’ families threatened doctors for refusing to prescribe ivermectin.
   
• Symone Sanders will leave Vice President Kamala Harris’s office, presumably over this upsettingly cringe photo-op.
   
• Machine Gun Kelly tried to impress Megan Fox by catching a knife but wound up stabbing himself in the hand and needing stitches. Alexa, blast “Love Hurts.”

The Biden administration has reached a deal with the Mexican government to restart the profoundly cruel Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program, with some new humanitarian tweaks. A federal judge in Texas had ordered the administration to reinstate the policy, which requires asylum seekers to wait across the border while their claims are processed, leaving them exposed to violence and kidnapping. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling, forcing U.S. officials to negotiate a new agreement with Mexico. The new deal requires the Biden administration to provide vaccine doses for asylum seekers, along with better access to shelter, attorneys, and safe transportation to and from the border, speedier processing of claims, and exemptions for the most vulnerable migrants. 

DEMAND SAFE ACCESS TO ABORTION IN TEXAS 

Across the country, our right to abortion is under attack. A growing number of states are attempting to ban abortion and there are also more subtle and nefarious restrictions quickly being considered – bills that will push abortion out of reach, even while not banning it outright. Sign the ACLU’s petition and demand safe access to abortion now. 

Recently, we sued Texas over its blatantly unconstitutional abortion ban, Senate Bill (SB) 8. Over the past few months, politicians in Texas introduced a slew of extreme anti-abortion restrictions. Several of those bills passed, including SB 8, which bans abortions at about six weeks – before most people know they are pregnant. 

Join the ACLU in this fight today. Sign our petition.

SB 8 authorizes any person in the country to sue a person who performed or helped a patient access an abortion in violation of the ban. That means that anyone can try to block abortion access and dismantle abortion support networks by suing abortion providers and anyone who helps a patient access abortion like a family member who drives someone to an appointment or a trusted clergy member who advises a patient. 
 

The ACLU, along with partner organizations, are fighting back in courts and legislatures every day and we will not be stopping any time soon. Are you with us? Add your name today.

Thank you for taking action,

The ACLU Team 

The U.S. administered 2.2 million vaccine doses on Thursday, the highest single-day total since May. 

Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to ban LGBT conversion therapy.

The first big wad of BIF cash is on its way to states to overhaul water infrastructure and replace lead pipes. 

Paleontologists in Italy discovered the fossils of a herd of 11 dinosaurs, including the most complete dinosaur skeleton in the country’s history.