Mediaite reports: On Tuesday a fellow at the Claremont Institute, a far right guano factory that calls itself a “think tank,” tweeted, “Libs are a cancer. They are the absolute worst people in this country.” He followed that up by saying that liberals who move from blue states to red states should be disenfranchised for a time. On Wednesday morning, …

Gothamist reports: New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams will keep a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place for private-sector employers, embracing a policy previously established by outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio. Adams unveiled his plan to battle the winter surge at a news conference Thursday at Brooklyn Borough Hall, making the vaccine mandate a key part of his strategy, which he …

NBC New York reports: Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City will ring in 2022 in Times Square as planned despite record numbers of COVID-19 infections in the city and around the nation. De Blasio said on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday that he wants to show the world that the city is “fighting our way through this.” After …

Axios reports: The U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday that it has now removed 206 service members for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. The updated numbers come as the Department of Defense has ramped up repercussions for service members who defy the vaccine order amid surging coronavirus cases. Approximately 94% of active members of the Marine Corps are fully vaccinated, …

Reuters reports: The United States is at risk of paying an “unbearable price” due to its actions over Taiwan, Wang Yi, state councillor and foreign minister, said in an interview with state media on Thursday. China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and in the past two years has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its …

The New York Daily News reports: The MTA suspended three New York City subway lines without warning Thursday morning as it faces massive staffing shortfalls from a surge in COVID-19 cases. The agency pulled the brakes on all B, Z, and W trains just before the start of rush hour. Meanwhile, J, D and No. 5 trains will make local …

The Naples Daily News reports: A man suffered serious injuries Wednesday when he attempted to feed or pet a tiger after hours at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens. According to Collier County Sheriff’s Office, a member of a third-party cleaning service, a man in his 20s, entered an unauthorized area near the tiger that was inside its enclosure. The …

The New York Times reports: With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays. As a second year of …

The Associated Press reports: An Arkansas judge on Wednesday struck down a state law that prevents schools and other governmental entities from requiring face masks. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox had already temporarily blocked the law in August. On Wednesday, he ruled the law unconstitutional on multiple grounds, including that it discriminates between children in public and private schools. …

ABC News reports: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell below 200,000, more evidence that the job market remains strong in the aftermath of last year’s coronavirus recession. Jobless claims dropped by 8,000 to 198,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, lowest level since October 1969. …

Grand Rapids’ ABC News affiliate reports: A woman who grew up in West Michigan is now going viral for a video showing herself isolated in an airplane bathroom after she tested positive for COVID-19 in the middle of a flight. About an hour into the five-hour Icelandic Air flight to Reykjavik, Marisa Fotieo said her throat started to hurt. She …

CNN reports: President Joe Biden will hold a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday afternoon “to discuss a range of topics, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia,” National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne told CNN. The call was requested by Putin, according to an administration official, and Biden accepted because “he believes when it comes to Russia there …

The Associated Press reports: Trump-aligned Republicans have worked to clear the path for next time.  In battleground states and beyond, Republicans are taking hold of the once-overlooked machinery of elections. While the effort is incomplete and uneven, outside experts on democracy and Democrats are sounding alarms, warning that the United States is witnessing a “slow-motion insurrection” with a better chance …

Mediaite reports: Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) appeared on Wednesday’s edition of Hannity with guest host Pete Hegseth and claimed that hand-washing is the best way to slow the spread of viruses, including Covid-19.  “I tell people consistently: take the emotion out of this discussion. Start studying the science and the facts and let’s get back to the basics. Still, Pete, …

CNBC reports: JetBlue Airways is cutting more than 1,280 flights from its schedule from Thursday through mid-January in anticipation of more Covid-19 infections among pilots and flight attendants. “This past week has been one of our most difficult operating periods during the pandemic,” three JetBlue department leaders wrote Tuesday in a note to staff, which was seen by CNBC. “The …

France 24 reports: Wearing masks even outdoors will be mandatory in Paris starting on Friday, French authorities have announced, as the country struggles to come to grips with an Omicron surge. France is leading Europe in new infections, with a record 208,000 new cases confirmed over the previous 24 hours on Wednesday. That figure was preceded by a previous daily …

The Miami Herald reports: Florida reported 46,923 new COVID cases, the largest single-day increase of COVID cases since the pandemic began and nearly double the previous peak during the summer, when the deadly delta variant was surging, according to Wednesday’s report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on Miami Herald calculations of CDC data. South Florida is …

Newsmax reports: Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and 2008 running mate to the late Sen. John McCain, told Newsmax she’d love to return to political office. When asked on Wednesday’s “Eric Bolling: The Balance” if she would return to political office, Palin responded: “I would love to. I would never say never. I’m not so obsessively partisan that I’d let …

The Daily Beast reports: Alex Jones is threatening to “dish all the dirt” on Donald Trump to get back at the ex-president over his endorsement of the COVID-19 vaccine. “Ya, we all wish Trump would do the right thing,” Jones said on his Wednesday afternoon InfoWars program, before urging his listeners to “move on” from Trump due to his glowing …

The New York Times reports: A Johnson & Johnson booster shot provided strong protection against the Omicron variant, greatly reducing the risk of hospitalization, according to a clinical trial in South Africa. The study, which compared more than 69,000 boosted health care workers with a corresponding group of unvaccinated South Africans, found that two shots of the vaccine reduced the …