Week in review, 04/10 - 04/16

Photo: AP

‘The head of the World Health Organization warned Friday that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating as infections soar around the world to nearly the highest levels so far recorded’

COVID-19 hospitalizations - especially among younger people, and in the Upper Midwest - rise even as the U.S. sets a new daily record of 4.6 million vaccinations

‘(P)eople under the age of 19 accounting for a bigger proportion of active COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts’ and nationwide, but CDC director says school reopenings may not necessarily be the biggest factor

Brazil: ‘A new variant of coronavirus that combines 18 mutations has been detected as one of the world's worst-hit countries exceeds 4,000 deaths in a single 24-hour period’

At least 300,000 more dead than Putin’s government will own up to: Russia’s hidden COVID is an open secret

Israeli study finds that the South African COVID-19 variant (B.1.351) may evade protection from the Pfizer vaccine

‘The reality is that the country is still a long way away from herd immunity -- with vaccine hesitancy now standing as a major hurdle in achieving that goal.’ Michigan's COVID-19 surge becomes a reality check for a restless nation

‘The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency has documented about 5,800 “breakthrough” COVID-19 cases among the millions of Americans who are fully vaccinated, totaling far less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people’

We’re going to see most universities across the country enact the same policy: ‘Boston University is the latest local institution to announce that it will require all students to be vaccinated before the start of the fall semester’

Wantonly putting lives at risk ought to incur more than a fine: In the armpit of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a tax service owner is being fined $136,000 for refusing to allow not only employees but also customers to wear masks during the pandemic

Can people today be trusted to do their part, in an emergency, without the force of government compelling them? Am not so sure anymore: New Hampshire to lift its mask mandate

CDC: ‘More than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to preliminary federal data, eclipsing the toll from any year since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s’

Syphilis makes a massive comeback in the U.S. after having once been close to eradication, as cases of sexually transmitted diseases reach all-time highs for six years in row

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Not certain I’d be as bullish about any economic recovery as much of the corporate world is at this moment, but it is a sign of confidence in the president’s leadership. Jennifer Rubin: Republicans made a foolish bet on the Biden agenda

‘(T)he price of being wrong is enormous.’ Pray the president has made the right decision on Afghanistan. One way or the other withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country was going to happen, but Afghanistan is not at all prepared to run its own affairs

U.S. imposes stiff sanctions on Russia over hacking operation: This is a fallen world, and it does need a ‘policeman’ of sorts. The United States must reassert its global leadership now, and I applaud President Biden for taking firm action against a bully

The POW/MIA flag flies atop the White House once again after the previous administration removed it from public view in 2020

Backfire: ‘As Republicans flail to find a line of attack against Biden that will stick, Hunter’s self-revelations have been met by a shrug in a nation seemingly inured to scandal by Trump himself’

A never-ending cycle of subservience and futility. Trump throws the GOP under the bus, and every single time they keep coming back for more abuse: Trump goes after Pence and McConnell in Mar-a-Lago speech to party donors

‘Pathetic’ is not a strong-enough word to describe this whole act from the MyPillow guy - and the rest of these hangers-on still riding the Trump Train: Mike Lindell claims to have hired private investigators to find out why Fox News won’t let him speak on air

‘Dude thinks he’s a martyr for paying for sex.’ Embattled congressman Gaetz mocked for calling himself a ‘canceled man’ who’s ‘wanted by the Deep State’

Anybody feel sorry for this sanctimonious fraud? Liberty University sues its former leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., seeking tens of millions in damages

DOJ sues Roger Stone and wife over nearly $2 million in unpaid income taxes

Florida woman who coughed on cancer patient during pandemic receives thirty days in jail, six months probation, and mandatory mental health evaluations and anger management courses

‘White Lives Matter’ protests flop as hardly anyone shows up: Of course this effort was doomed to failure. Scant few are going to be so proud or brazen as to say ‘the quiet part out loud,’ especially given recent events

Heavy metal guitarist becomes first U.S. Capitol rioter to agree to a plea deal, pleading guilty to two charges in domestic terrorism probe

Infowars ‘editor’ arrested by the FBI for role in the U.S. Capitol riot

Perhaps the most rank and shameless hypocrisy this country has ever seen. Lauren Lassabe: ‘Conservatives’ have long embraced ‘cancel culture’

Reuters puts its website behind a paywall: Very good, just keep driving people to garbage, partisan sites such as Breitbart and the like. And $34.99 is beyond ridiculous. Guess I’ll be relying more on the AP

Israel will never allow these murderous theocrats to possess nuclear weapons: Suspected Israeli cyber attack hits Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz, just one day after the Iranians unveiled new uranium centrifuges in televised ceremony

Nothing fishy going on here, oh no: Putin critic and Russian exile who was found dead of an apparent suicide in his London apartment in 2018 determined to have been ‘strangled in his own home by a third party’

A man who practiced what he preached: Ramsey Clark, the former Attorney General under LBJ and lawyer who ‘devoted much of the rest of his life to defending unpopular causes and infamous people’ has died at 93

‘Bernard Madoff, mastermind of the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history, ripping off tens of thousands of clients of as much as $65 billion, died Wednesday. He was 82’

Orb. Photo: Claiborne Farms

Not sure what can really be done to stop it - and these owners may give the great and noble Orb a good life in Uruguay - but I’m tired of seeing legendary horses being shipped overseas: 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb sold to South American breeders

Jockey Rachael Blackmore makes horse racing history aboard Minella Times in the Grand National

Praise God most of these horses were saved: Numerous heroes battled barn fire at Belmont Park

Major League Baseball has to address the TV blackout issue. People need to be able to see the games, otherwise they’re not going to become or remain fans. You don’t make paying customers by making your product completely inaccessible

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