Week in review, 02/17 - 02/23

U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 500,000

‘(O)ut of 163 countries assessed worldwide, the United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only ones in which people are worse off’ than ten years ago: The United States has transitioned from a First World power to a developing nation

‘Life expectancy in the United States fell by a full year during the first half of 2020, a staggering decline that reflects the toll of the covid-19 pandemic as well as a rise in deaths from drug overdoses, heart attacks and diseases that accompanied the outbreak, according to government data released Thursday. The last time life expectancy at birth dropped more dramatically was during World War II. Americans can now expect to live as long as they did in 2006’

Pentagon officials tell Congress that about one-third of troops offered the COVID-19 vaccine have refused

‘Pfizer and BioNTech say the first U.S. participants have been given shots in a large-scale clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women. The companies are aiming to enroll some 4,000 pregnant women’

Two Florida women, ages 44 and 34, facing charges after posing as elderly women at vaccine distribution site

Finally, some degree of progress is being made: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. dip to the lowest level since November

UK Foreign Office spokesman says the government cannot guarantee there won’t be another COVID-19 lockdown as there is no way to predict how the virus will evolve

Enrollment at U.S. community colleges plummets amid the pandemic

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about: Russia registers world’s first case of human infection from the new H5N8 bird flu

Unfathomable what happened in the Lone Star State. Also shows us the chaos that would ensue if the national power grid were to collapse: Power outages leave millions of Texans desperate for heat and safety

‘Nearly seven million people in the US state of Texas have been told to boil tap water before consuming it after a deadly winter storm caused power blackouts at treatment facilities’

Fear of parasites in Texas water supply revived after winter storm damage

As Texas deep freeze subsides, some households now face electricity bills as high as $10,000

White House sending emergency generators and other supplies to Texas amid power outages and freezing weather

A disgraceful, pitiful coward that is no longer fit to serve: Sen. Ted Cruz flees to Cancun as millions in Texas freeze without power

Conspiracy theorists allege the U.S. government and Bill Gates manufactured the deadly winter storm in Texas as a ploy to prevent the state from seceding from the union

CPAC cancels a speaker who goes by the name of ‘Young Pharaoh’ after said speaker posted anti-Semitic comments on Twitter, including calling Judaism itself ‘a complete lie’

‘(A) number of these newly enlisted Republicans appear to have come to the GOP not for the ideology or the philosophy, but for the signs, the flags and, the fight.’ Republicans in one Wisconsin county refuse to vote for resolution condemning political violence

U.S. seeks to reclaim leadership role as it rejoins the Paris Agreement and UN climate change talks approach

President Biden and centrist Democrats taking a pragmatic and measured approach to the minimum wage and student loan forgiveness, angering leftists who are seeking more sweeping measures

Good fences make good neighbors: ‘U.S. Capitol Police officials told congressional leaders the razor-wire topped fencing around the Capitol should remain in place for several more months as law enforcement continues to track threats against lawmakers’

‘Six more people linked to the far-right Oath Keepers militia group have been indicted on charges that they planned and coordinated with one another in the attack on the U.S. Capitol’

DOJ and FBI investigating the role high-profile figures on the far-right - including Alex Jones and Roger Stone - played in the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot

Mars landing: Excitement builds over new images from NASA Perseverance rover

‘Two pilots flying a training mission were killed Friday when a military jet crashed near Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama, the U.S. Air Force confirmed’

Rush Limbaugh has died. He revolutionized radio and politics itself. All for the better? Probably not, but he made a huge impact in the world. Rest in peace

Justice denied yet again: Russian court denies appeal of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny

‘The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence that an Emirati princess held against her will for almost three years is still alive’

‘Nearly a third of all freshwater fish species are threatened by extinction, according to a new report released by 16 conservation groups on Tuesday’

Prayers for Tiger Woods following a major car crash. Not a golf fan at all, but Tiger is undoubtedly one of the great athletes of our time

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