Witness to an Insurrection: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has refused to cooperate with the committee investigating the January 6^th insurrection. The committee had formally requested a voluntary  interview with McCarthy, in particular about a telephone conversation he’s admitted having with then President Trump.

  McCarthy in a statement last night called the investigation “illegitimate” and said “I have concluded to not participate with this select committee’s abuse of power that stains this institution today and will harm it going forward.”

  The Committee chair, Democrat Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, had written in a letter to McCarthy that, “You have acknowledged speaking directly with the former president while the violence was underway on Jan. 6.” Thompson’s letter quotes what McCarthy said on the House floor seven days later: “The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.” 

  The committee is having a lot of trouble getting testimony from Trump loyalists, people with direct knowledge of what the former president was saying and doing inside the White House while the mob was attempting to overthrow rule by popular vote.

  Meanwhile, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appeared by video link yesterday before the House committee. Her testimony was private, but Thompson of Mississippi has previously said, “We need to know precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.”

Voting Rights: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced plans for a procedural maneuver to jump start consideration of voting rights bills, but he doesn’t say anything about how he’s going to get the votes.

  Schumer needs all 50 Democratic vote and would still face a republican filibuster. But two of his 50 Democrats have signaled they will not support the voting rights bills that needs 51 votes to pass, even if the Republicans do not exercise the veto power of the filibuster. Two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema have both defended the 60-vote filibuster margin for protecting minority opinions.

Viral News: The omicron surge of the coronavirus pandemic may be reaching its peak, researchers say with some caution. New cases in major cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago appear to be levelling off.

  Nationally the number of new cases is up 159 percent over the past two weeks, but that figure had been over 200 percent.

  The number of deaths is rising, trailing weeks behind the infection rate. Nationally, deaths of Covid-19 are up 51 percent over the past two weeks. 

By Degrees: Fewer Americans are going to college, according to The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Overall, colleges have about a million fewer students than they did before the start of the pandemic. 

  Undergraduate enrollment this past fall dropped by 465,300 students from the previous year. That’s about 3.1 percent. The drop is similar to the fall of 2019.

  “It’s not just the community colleges anymore,” Doug Shapiro of the Student Clearinghouse told National Public Radio. “That could be the beginning of a whole generation of students rethinking the value of college itself. I think if that were the case, this is much more serious than just a temporary pandemic-related disruption.”

The Spin Rack: Prices for everything from toilet paper to  construction materials and used cars rose faster in December than they have in 40 years. — Covid-19 was the leading cause of death for law enforcement officers in 2021; 301 of them. It’s the second year in a row that Covid took the highest toll among cops. — A federal judge in New York yesterday declined to dismiss the lawsuit brought against Britain’s Prince Andrew by Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was underage when she was lured into the late Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of teenage girls. Andrew’s lawyers had argued that the monetary settlement agreement Giuffre made with Epstein precludes her from suing anyone else.  

The Obit Page: Ronnie Spector, who as lead singer for Ronnie and the Ronettes in the 1960s lit up the airwaves with such hits as  “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” died at 78 after a brief bout with cancer.

  The trio appeared on stage in miniskirts and hair piled high in what was at the time a shockingly seductive look. “We weren’t afraid to be hot. That was our gimmick,” Spector said in her memoir.

  Spector was born Veronica Bennett and married the brilliant but crazy music producer Phil Spector, creator of what was known as the “wall of sound.”

  Other hits from the trio: “Walking in the Rain,” “I Can Hear Music,” and “Chapel in the Rain.”

  The Ronettes disbanded in 1967 and Ronnie married Spector the following year. Her book detailed years of abuse in which she said she was held a virtual prisoner in the house. She said Spector had even threatened to kill her during their divorce.

  Phil Spector ended up being sentenced to life in prison for the 2003 murder of a woman he met one night and killed in his home. 

  In the late 1980s, the Ronettes sued Phil Spector for royalties, claiming they had been paid less than $15,000 when they signed with his record company in 1963 and never got another dime. They ended up settling for a paltry figure compared to their influence on popular music. 

Conservative Celebrity Covid Corner: Conservative radio host Glenn Beck, who is proudly unvaccinated, has Covid-19 … a second time.

  “I am great, Mark. I am great, Mark,” Beck told fellow conservative radio host Mark Levin during his program. He added, “Despite having COVID and seeing the destruction of our country.” 

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