Over Thanksgiving weekend, I wrote about a longtime friend, “Kathleen,” who learned—on Halloween, of all days—that she had a severely damaged liver. According to her doctor, the likely culprits were cancer or complications from four bouts with COVID-19. Despite being fully vaccinated, Kathleen was still at risk for COVID, due to having Type 1 diabetes.

Voters rejected election deniers in key states, but the path to extremism remains open.

By Jessica Goodheart, for Capital & Main

First the good news.

One of the biggest concerns heading into November’s midterm elections had been the possibility that election deniers would sweep statewide offices that oversee elections in key battleground states. Another was that they would refuse to concede once they lost.

There’s a stereotype out there—pushed by the predictable crop of white centrist pundit bros—that elite liberals are just too worried about COVID-19 and favor precautions that alienate the ordinary folk. Call it the latest iteration of the impulse that produced so many New York Times interviews with Trump-supporting Midwestern diner patrons.

The data does not support that.

On Friday, Starbucks workers started a three-day strike at as many as 100 stores, following a one-day, 110-store walkout last month.

The workers are protesting the closure of some stores that have unionized, as well as Starbucks management’s refusal to negotiate in a timely way, as the company continues to drag its feet on reaching a first contract agreement at any of the more than 250 stores that have unionized so far.

Hmm, what could possibly make the mortal embarrassment surrounding Donald Trump’s recent MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT even worse? Oh, Satan, please send him more tribulation! Exactly how many albino goats does one have to sacrifice to get you to do one’s bidding? Because the goat viscera is really piling up in the garage, and you can’t put it in the city compost for some reason. Just saying.