Criminal Contempt: The House Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection voted unanimously last night to hold President Trump’s adviser and loyal crony Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the events of January 6^th.

  Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi said, “It’s shocking to me, shocking that anyone would not do anything in their power to assist our investigation.”

  The decision  was unanimous with Republicans Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney joining the Democrats in a roll call vote. Cheney said in her statement that she believes former President Trump “was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6^th.”

  The full House must vote on the matter tomorrow before passing it to the Department of Justice for prosecution. It’s expected to pass and the real test is how many Republicans will vote in favor.

  Bannon has steadfastly refused to testify about what he knows of the insurrection despite public statements suggesting he had inside information. On January 5^th, the day before the Capitol attack, he said on his radio show, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” He went on, “It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. OK, it’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in…. You made this happen and tomorrow it’s game day. So strap in. Let’s get ready.”

  Contempt is only a misdemeanor so Bannon might try to stay silent even if he’s prosecuted. Congress could then impose immunity on Bannon and force him to testify truthfully, but it will all take time.

Covid World: Australia surpassed the US in getting its population vaccinated; 72 percent Down Under have had at least one dose compared to 66 percent here.

  In Brazil, a wild situation is unfolding. A Brazilian congressional panel is about to recommend mass homicide charges against President Jair Bolsonaro, claiming that he intentionally let the coronavirus kill hundreds of thousands in a failed attempt to achieve herd immunity. 

  The Brazilian senator who was the lead author of the report told The NY Times that he is convinced that Bolsonaro “is responsible for escalating the slaughter.”

  Over in Ukraine, they’re losing hundreds of people a day and struggling with the lowest rate of Covid vaccination in Europe. An unusually high number of Ukrainians are skeptical of the vaccine and many are getting their hands on counterfeit vaccination cards.

  The global total so far in the pandemic is nearly 242 million cases of Covid-19 and 4.9 million deaths.

Covid Nation: Secretary of the Homeland Security Alejandro has come down with a case of Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated, according to his spokeswoman.

  “Secretary Mayorkas is experiencing only mild congestion,” the department’s spokeswoman, Marsha Espinosa, said in a statement. “He is fully vaccinated and will isolate and work at home per CDC protocols and medical advice.”

  Supreme court Justice Stephen Breyer rejected  a request by health care workers in Maine who had asked the Supreme Court based on religious objections to block their state’s vaccine mandate while their legal challenge wends its way through lower courts.

  Breyer wrote that while the vaccine refusers may face hardship because of their decision, “They have not, however, been prevented from staying true to their professed religious beliefs which, they claim, compel them to refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19.”

  Some of the most strenuous objections to mandatory vaccines are coming from police officers and firefighters willing to lose their jobs rather than get the shot. Yesterday dozens of fired Seattle firefighters and cops marched up the steps of city hall to turn in their boots in protest.

  Today, new cases of Covid-19 across the country are down 22 percent over the past two weeks and deaths are down 14 percent.

Close Call: A two-engine private jet that was supposed to carry fans of the Houston Astros to last night’s American League playoff game in Boston crashed and burned on takeoff and amazingly all 21 people on board survived.

  The MD-87, a midsize passenger jet modified to be a private plane than would carry fewer passengers in greater comfort, crashed through a fence and caught fire in a grassy field just outside of Houston. The jet was owned by J. Alan Kent, a rich Texas home builder.

  They missed quite a game. The Astros stunned the Red Sox with seven runs in the 9^th inning to even the series at 2-2.

The Obit Page: Tom Morey, the man from Hawaii’s Big Island who invented the boogie board, the short surfboard made for riding on your belly, has died at age 86. Morey started with one board he sold for $10 and within a year was selling thousands of them, making surfing accessible to a lot of people without the time and patience to learn how to stand on a long board. 

The Spin Rack: North Korea says it successfully fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, releasing pictures to the world of the projectile bursting out of the sea. With its usual braggadocio, North Korea’s KCNA news agency said the missile had “lots of advanced control guidance technologies.” — The FBI yesterday raided the Washington mansion and Greenwich Village townhouse of Russian Oligarch  Oleg Deripaska, who has been suspected of being behind Russian tampering with the 2016 US presidential election. — Nebraska Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of indirectly accepting a $30,200 campaign donation from a foreign national in violation of the law against taking money from foreigners.

Lost and Found: An amateur scuba diver just off the coast of Israel found a 900-year-old Crusader sword with a three-foot blade and a foot-long hilt, all encrusted with shells. The sword was in water just a few miles from Atlit castle, a former Crusader fortress. The Christian invasions of “Crusaders ran from 1096 in the 13^th Century and some poor soldier lost his weapon in the drink.

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