Why Covid Death Rates Are Rising for Some Groups  —  The overall rate of Covid-19 deaths has declined since vaccines became widely available in April, yet nearly a quarter million people in the United States have died from the virus in the past eight months.

The Peanut Butter Secret: A Lavish Tax Dodge for the Ultrawealthy  —  A tax break aimed at small businesses has become a popular way for Silicon Valley founders and investors to avoid taxes on their investment profits.  —  This is the story of the incredible cloning tax break.

The Political Life of Dr. Oz … Dr. Oz for Senate is headquartered in a patch of strip mall next to a Mexican restaurant in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where the candidate's father-in-law, Dr. Gerald Lemole, maintains a medical office down the road from the Lemole family farm …

Fox News Star Was Up for ‘The View’ Gig Until She Refused to Get Vaccine  —  Lisa Marie Boothe interviewed to replace Meghan McCain as the talk show's in-house conservative.  But conversations ended when she publicly refused to get any vaccines. … The View's already difficult path …

Trump Adviser Peter Navarro Lays Out How He and Bannon Planned to Overturn Biden's Electoral Win  —  “It started out perfectly.  At 1 p.m., Gosar and Cruz did exactly what was expected of them...” … A former Trump White House official says he and right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon …

EXCLUSIVE: There Was ANOTHER Rally Planned On Jan. 6 ... At The Supreme Court  —  The same people who organized Trump's fateful rally on the Ellipse had something else in store on Jan. 6: a rally planned in front of the Supreme Court.  —  The same people who organized Trump's fateful rally …

Covid Live Updates: C.D.C. Lowers Estimate of Omicron's Prevalence in U.S.  —  The estimate dropped from about 73 percent to 23 percent for the week ending Dec. 18, and the agency now says Omicron became dominant the following week.  A doctors' protest over understaffing is causing chaos at Delhi hospitals.

U.S., Russia Set Schedule for Ukraine Talks in January  —  Russia has deployed 100,000 troops near Ukraine border, U.S. estimates, with no signs of de-escalation  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. and Russia have agreed to hold security talks on Jan. 10, amid tensions over Russian forces deployed near Ukraine …

Russian court orders oldest civil rights group Memorial to shut  —  Russia's Supreme Court has ordered the closure of International Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights group.  —  Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed, imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era.

CDC's New Isolation Guidance Treats Unvaccinated the Same as Un-boosted  —  The Centers for Disease Control has moved one step closer to changing the definition of fully vaccinated to include only those who have received a booster.  —  Earlier, I noted how the CDC arbitrarily halved its quarantine guidance from ten days to five.

It's Not Over for Joe Biden  —  Mr. Axelrod was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns.  —  Joe Biden must be having flashbacks.  —  In early 2010, when Democrats lost a special election for the late Edward Kennedy's Senate seat …

The Democrats' Education Lunacies Will Bring Back Trump  —  Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia governor's race by saying, “I don't think parents should be telling schools what to teach.”  If that was no gaffe, Democrats have a lot more significant losing ahead

Healthy, boosted people unlikely to develop severe omicron infections, but jury's out on older, at-risk populations  —  The new variant has sent U.S. infections soaring, but a smaller share than with delta are resulting in hospitalization.  —  Healthy individuals who have been vaccinated …

Antisemitic flyers found Christmas morning, spreading COVID conspiracies in Springfield  —  This Christmas Day, some Springfieldians woke up not to presents but to an antisemitic flyer.  —  The flyers were left at the front steps of houses in central Springfield sometime during the night of Christmas Eve.

Gunman kills four in Denver-area shooting spree before he is killed by police  —  A lone gunman shot four people to death and wounded three, including a police officer, on Monday in a Denver-area shooting spree that unfolded at several locations and ended with police killing the suspect, authorities said.

A Proclamation on Revoking Proclamation 10315  —  On November 26, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution announced that the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), constitutes a variant of concern.

Not the Time for Measuring Drapes  —  This column by Eric Levitz has been generating some buzz.  Based on the congressional districts redrawn so far, the piece argues that “the new House map will be much less biased in the GOP's favor than the old one.”  The new map might even be “tilted, ever so slightly, in the Democrats' favor.”

Why the controversy surrounding Trump's media venture matters  —  Sketchy Chinese company under investigation is well suited to partner with Donald Trump  —  After Donald Trump was forced from the major social-media platforms for violating their terms of service, the Associated Press reported …

Judge upholds $13 million Google settlement in Street View case  —  A federal appeals court on Monday upheld Google's settlement in a class action case over allegations that it collected Wi-Fi data illegally with its Street View program.  —  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected …

Can He Rebuild America?  Joe Biden, 2021 Person of the Year  —  He beat Trump in 2020, but in 2021, Joe Biden took on an equally important task: restoring the foundations of American democracy.  Can he finish the job, despite multiple crises abroad and a falling approval rating at home?  —  Zen Read