“The seat that my dad, Sam Johnson, held in Congress has been compromised. Dad’s successor voted to remove statues of patriots from the U.S. Capitol. I am supporting Keith Self for Congress, a time-tested conservative leader and combat veteran. Please help restore dad’s legacy of leadership by supporting Keith Self for Congress” says Beverly Johnson Briney, daughter of deceased Rep. Sam Johnson, in a statement, not even referring to Rep Van Taylor by name.

What Briney leaves out that when Johnson retired in 2018, he himself gave Taylor a glowing endorsement to succeed him. And that the “statues of patriots” Taylor had voted to remove included literal traitors like Jefferson Davis, Roger Taney, and John Calhoun.

Pope Francis visits a refugee center on the Greek island of Lesbos, and recalls that migration is a humanitarian crisis that concerns everyone. #PopeInGreecehttps://t.co/OiGOBAArq7

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) December 5, 2021

The rise of the Omicron variant has revived discussions of whether Americans will eventually be getting both flu and coronavirus shots within the next few years. The Omicron variant of Covid19 had a number of novel mutations in its S-Spike protein that led researchers to question whether existing vaccines would be effective against this new variant.

An easy way to understand the S-Spike protein is to think of it as being similar to the spikes on the outside of a cockleburr. Human lungs are lined with “alveoli”, tiny air-sacs that are filled with blood vessels that absorb oxygen from inhaled air and introduce it to the blood stream. The Covid-19 virus lodges its spike into the surface layer of the alveoli in a manner that’s similar to how a cockleburr attaches itself to your pants leg. Advanced Covid-19 infection results in scar tissue forming on the alveoli, creating the “ground glass opacity” that’s observable in lung-scans of Covid-19 patients. Most of the efforts at defeating Covid-19 have focused on developing antibodies that degrade the S-spike protein, so that instead of the virus being able to colonize the surface of alveolar tissues, the hobbled virus just bounces around harmlessly until it is finally shed through exhalation, or absorbed and disposed of by the immune system.

Republican Idaho Lt Governor Janice McGeachin’s campaign isn’t saying whether or not Power County, Idaho campaign chair Lisa Leisy is still serving in that position after Leisy tweeted and deleted “I don’t support the new and improved #Hersheys #christmas black only commercial. Classic #commercial and they ruined it ???” last week, Boise State Public Radio Reports.

Later, in response to a reply from a Twitter user who said the commercial was “adorable”, Leisy said “Good for you. I no longer can watch much current tv cause black only supporting. Racist commercial if only supports blacks only.” Leisy has locked her Twitter account as of Sunday after Boise State Public Radio also found a June Instagram in which Leisy complained about Apple adding Juneteenth to her iPhone calendar, saying she was “sickened” and “disgusted” over Apple “promoting the newest ‘holiday’ Juneteenth” in its calendar, adding “Guess we’re on our way to be a black nation ahead… Welcome to the ‘new’ America.”

A Norwegian Cruise Line with at least ten passengers and crew who tested positive for the coronavirus has docked in New Orleans, and officials are trying to disembark passengers without adding to the possibility of causing a superspreader outbreak, the Associated Press reports.

Sailing out of New Orleans, the Norwegian Breakaway left the port November 28th for a week-long cruise with stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.  “We are testing all individuals on Norwegian Breakaway prior to disembarkation, as well as providing post-exposure and quarantine public health guidance by the (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),” the company’s statement said. “Any guests who have tested positive for COVID-19 will travel by personal vehicle to their personal residence or self-isolate in accommodations provided by the company.”

Some passengers report that they were informed of the outbreak on the ship, which can carry nearly 2,500 passengers and more than 1,600 crew.  Other reported they did not learn about the infections until told by reporters in New Orleans.

It appears that Republican anti-vax and anti-mask campaigns are having an immediate impact on Covid-19 death rates, and that phenomenon could have a long term impact on the demographic composition of the United States. “NPR looked at deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which vaccinations widely became available. People living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden. Counties with an even higher share of the vote for Trump saw higher COVID-19 mortality rates.”

Correlation between vaccination rates, Covid-19 deaths, and support for the Former Guy via NPR.

Former Senator David “Chickenshit” Perdue will launch his Republican primary campaign against Georgia Governor Brian “Ku Klux” Kemp this week, Politico reports. Perdue, who lost his Senate seat to Jon “We photoshopped his nose to make it look more Jewy” Ossoff is expected to present a formidable challenge to Kemp, and the eventual winner will face a tough battle against Stacy “I will fuck you up” Abrams in the 2022 general election, a double marquee in the state as Herschel “Should be in a mental institution” Walker takes on Reverend Raphael “Good Trouble Jr” Warnock.

Former Senate Majority leader, GOP presidential candidate in 1996, and disabled World War II veteran Bob Dole of Kansas died in his sleep Sunday at the age of 98.

Fourteen people are confirmed dead and an unknown number of others are missing after Mount Semeru in Lumajang district in East Java, Indonesia erupted during heavy rains that triggered a collapse of the lava dome at the mountain’s summit, the Associated Press reports . Semeru, an active volcano home to thousands, was ordered evacuated Saturday following the eruption, but many returned to check on their livestock and homes in defiance of authorities’ warnings Semeru probably wasn’t done with its tantrum yet.

Dr Anthony Fauci, a physician and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is not, to our knowledge, also an official with the Customs and Border Patrol law enforcement agency in the Department of Homeland Security. Perhaps Texas Governor Low Energy Greg should look into that before speculating about such matters on national television.

“Our demonstrations are an exhibition of our unified capability to organize, to show our strength – not as brawlers or public nuisances, but as men capable of illustrating a message and seeking an America that more closely resembles the interests of its true people” the Daily Beast quotes Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau at a Saturday march of his white supremacist group on the National Mall. The limits of that “unified capability to organize” were on full display after the marched ended, as Beast writer Zach Petrizzo reported the group had rented only one U-Haul box truck to transport its members away from the National Mall, leaving dozens of them stranded in 45 degree cold for up to three hours as the truck to return after dropping off the others outside the city.

“Anybody that doesn’t think there wasn’t massive Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election is either very stupid, or very corrupt!” said Former Guy in a poorly edited Saturday night statement.

A man jumped out of the galley door on a jetliner that had just landed as it taxied on the runway of Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix and then ran to hole himself up in a fire station storage room, the Associated Press reports.

The 30-year-old man jumped from Southwest Flight 4236 after its arrival from Colorado Springs and ran through airplane’s galley before opening a service door and jumping out.  After locking himself in the airport’s fire station’s storage room for a few minutes, the unidentified man exitted, and he was treated for minor injuries to his leg.

Police have not chosen yet to charge him.  Airport traffic was not delayed in the incident.

Tim Gilbert, a Black man recently convicted of aggravated assault by a jury in Giles County, Tennessee, will get a new trial after an appeals court ruled that display honoring the Confederacy set up in the jury deliberation room was unfairly prejudicial to him, the New York Times reports.

A Tennessee appeals court determined that prosecutors could not demonstrate that the display, which included a painting of Jefferson Davis in a gold frame and a Confederate flag, did not influence the jury.  The room itself was also named after the group the Daughters of the American Confederacy.

“The flag displayed in the jury room is no different,” the court ruled. “Its original purpose was to ‘knit the loyalty’ of those in the Confederate states ‘to a flag’ that conveyed the political ideals of the Confederacy.”

CNN has fired host Chris Cuomo after it learned the journalist had offered to help his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, with his response during a sexual harassment scandal.

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” the network said in a statement. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately. … While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”

A UK bomb squad was dispatched to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital after a man showed up in the emergency room with a WWII mortar stuck in his rectum reports the Sun. “The unnamed patient told doctors he ‘slipped and fell’ on the 17cm by 6cm armour-piercing projectile taken from his private arsenal of military collectables.”

“Troops from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital. A defence source said: ‘It was a solid shot round. It was a chunky, pointed lump of lead designed to rip through a tank’s armour.'”

Sun Doctor Carol Cooper commented that ‘The range of objects that are pushed into rectums is incredible, from wine glasses to ketchup bottles and parts of hoovers.'”

Earlier this year Republicans were eager to promote the idea that inflation was out of control and the Biden Aministration was on its way to “hyperinflation”. According to economists, the traditional definition of hyperinflation is “inflation in excess of 50% per month, continuing over multiple months”. According to the modern day GOP, “hyperinflation” is anything which exceeds the Fed’s target rate of 2% annual inflation. Anything less than 2% annual inflation is derided as “a deflationary spiral and war on savers”, and inflation of exactly 2% is “an economy stuck in the doldrums because it’s being strangled by out of control government socialism”.

James and Jennifer Crumbley were arraigned on four counts of involuntary manslaughter and held on $1 million combined bond after being captured at a Detroit commercial building on the run from authorities, the Associated Press reports.

Jennifer Crumbley sobbed during the arraignment, done over Zoom, and her husband shook his head silently when the judge asked if their son, Ethan, had been given permission to access the gun.  They were held on $500,000 bond each.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said the couple acted “egregiously” after Ethan murdered four people and wounded seven others during a shooting spree at Oxford High School, where the boy is a sophomore.  James Crumbley took Ethan to buy a 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun, which he used in the shootings, on Black Friday.  The parents ignored alerts from the school about Ethan’s erratic behavior and refused to remove the child from the school the morning of the shooting even after a meeting with school officials regarding disturbing writings their son made in class.