Covid Nation: Federal health officials warn that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus threatens a massive wave of infections as soon as next month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  With Omicron surging, President Joe Biden yesterday dramatically warned that, “We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”

  Major employers, particularly in the financial industries, are delaying plans for a return to the office. Deaths are running at more than 1,000 a day and new cases about 120,000. Biden said those who are “vaccinated and you have your booster shot, you’re protected.” He said vaccination is critical to keeping schools open and the economy running.

  In the treatment department, an expert panel for the CDC has voted to recommend the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines over Johnson & Johnson’s, citing evidence that the J&J shots can trigger a rare blood clot disorder linked to at least nine deaths in the US in the last year.

Conspiracy Theory: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has been identified as the congressman who forwarded a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 5th offering a legal theory for how then-Vice President Mike Pence could use his authority to block certification of the 2020 election. 

  The message said, “On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence. ‘No legislative act,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, ‘contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.’ Of course, Federalist No. 78 is neither law nor a Supreme Court decision. 

   Jordan’s spokesman confirms his boss sent the message. 

The Other Pill: The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the vending of abortion pills by mail instead of requiring them to be obtained in person. It can be used up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

  The rule allows patients to have arrange the prescription through a telemedicine appointment. Already, though, 19 states  ban telemedicine visits for the purpose of medication abortion. 

Big News: Actor Chris Noth is in a jam just as he makes a comeback in his role as “Mr. Big” from the series “Sex and the City.” Two women have accused the 67-year old of rape back when he was in his late 40s. He denies it and says, “The encounters were consensual.” But the peloton exercise machine company has pulled a viral ad that features Noth.

Big Mac Attack: Former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook has paid back more than $105 million in compensation to the company to make good on misconduct with an employee while he was the boss.  He admitted exchanging videos and text messages in a non-physical, consensual relationship with an employee. Then the company learned that Easterbrook had engaged in physical relationships with three other employees and demanded their money back. Needless to say, he’s divorced.

The Spin Rack: Workers at the candle company in Mayfield, Kentucky flattened by last weekend’s hurricane have filed a class action lawsuit claiming their bosses threatened to fire them if they left work in advance of the storm. Eight workers died. — The open air Grove shopping center in Los Angeles has put razor wire on its perimeter to discourage the big smash and grab looting incidents that have occurred all over the country this month. — Authorities have subpoenaed the cellphone records of actor Alec Baldwin in their investigation of the on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. — A Delaware judge is allowing Dominion Voting Systems to go forward with their lawsuit accusing Fox News of spouting defamatory claims about the company’s involvement in the 2020 election. 

Born in the USA: Rocker Bruce Springsteen, once just a kid with a band from the Jersey shore, has sold right to his music catalogue to Sony Music for half a billion dollars. 

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