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Opinion writers examine these covid issues.

Bloomberg:Will Boris Johnson's Omicron Booster Race Be Enough To Stave Off The Surge?No one should be in any doubt: There is a tidal wave of omicron coming, and Im afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough, Boris Johnson said in a statement Sunday night. The Prime Ministers warning tallies with modeling by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine predicts between around 25,000and 75,000 deaths from the new variant this winter in Britain. On Sunday, Johnsonannounced a plan to super-charge the countrys booster program so that everyone over 18 will be offered a third shot before the end of the year. (Therese Raphael and Sam Fazeli, 12/13)

The New York Times:A Scientist's Guide To Understanding OmicronOver the coming days and weeks, scientists from around the world will be sharing early information about the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. We are two researchers who study the evolution of viruses, and we will be keeping a close eye on the data as it becomes public. This new research will range from laboratory studies investigating how the virus interacts with antibodies to observations of patient outcomes to large-scale data on infections and hospitalizations. The data will try to answer three key questions, all of which are important to understanding the risk of Omicron. (Jesse Bloom and Sarah Cobey, 12/12)

The Star Tribune:Minnesotan Boosts Omicron TrackersMinnesota's disease detectives are among the world's best. But the recent rapid detection of the COVID-19 omicron variant in the state illustrates the public's crucial contributing role in confirming pathogens' arrival and spread. Peter McGinn, 30, of Minneapolis, became one of the first people known to be infected with omicron in the United States. McGinn, who was vaccinated, has thankfully only had a "super mild" infection, he said in an interview this week, and was only briefly "out of commission." (12/10)

Dallas Morning News:In Refusing The COVID Vaccine, Some Americans Conflate Freedom With LicentiousnessCoronavirus and our response as a society have once again revealed an America not as completely at ease with science as we would care to admit. What a paradox. The only nation to send men to the moon and to build destructive weapons unparalleled in history finds itself torn over using accumulated knowledge to fight a microscopic virus it can neither kill nor contain. (John McCaa, 12/12)

Kansas City Star:Blue Valley, Olathe Schools Relaxed COVID Mask Mandates Now?COVID-19 cases are going up and masks are coming down in Kansas City. Ending school mask mandates right now makes zero sense unless officials are making political rather than public health decisions which they are. Olathe and Blue Valley districts foolishly removed mask mandates in secondary schools right after Thanksgiving family gatherings. As couldve easily been predicted, the Kansas City Health Department reports a 90% spike in cases, from 714 to 1,357 in the week after the holiday. Those Olathe and Blue Valley mandates also expired at a time when the positivity rate in Johnson County has soared to 11.4%. Not surprisingly, Olathe schools saw a record 184 new cases, while Blue Valley recorded 108. (12/10)

The Atlantic:Where I Live, No One Cares About COVIDI am old enough to remember the good old days when holiday-advice pieces were all variations on How to Talk to Your Tea Party Uncle About Obamacare. As Christmas approaches, we can look forward to more of this sort of thing, with the meta-ethical speculation advanced to an impossibly baroque stage of development. Is it okay for our 2-year-old son to hug Grandma at a Christmas party if she received her booster only a few days ago? Should the toddler wear a mask except when he is slopping mashed potatoes all over his booster seat? Our oldest finally attended her first (masked) sleepover with other fully vaccinated 10-year-olds, but one of them had a sibling test positive at day care. Should she stay home or wear a face shield? What about Omicron? (Matthew Walther, 12/13)

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Different Takes: How Many Boosters Will We Need?; What We Know About Omicron - Kaiser Health News

Speaking of politicizing disease, this is one godawful paragraph to read. From the Washington Post:

Seeking to deny Democrats a talking point.

Thats the best they have? Dont help 7 million diabetics so the Democrats wont be able to make commercials about it? Im supposed to write about politics, but this isnt politics. This is something beyond politics. This is ideological sadism, as pointless as it is cruel.

Cowards. Afraid of their own best instincts. And their donors. And their lunatic base.

Ive been developing a theory that, just as the Republicans lost their minds over economics when they went whole hog after what Poppy Bush called the voodoo economics of supply-side, they lost their minds on public health during the fight against the Affordable Care Act. They got behind so much utter nonsensedeath panels, Obama is Witch Doctor Hitler, the whole Tea Party bag of horrorsthat they never found their way back to whatever the Sensible Center used to be when Republican Senator Jacob Javits proposed what amounted to Medicare For All back in 1970. (Let alone back to where Otto von Bismarck and Thomas Paine, two advocates of universal health care, were in their own time.) That has left them with such an inflexible political posture on the issue of healthcare that they are locked into positions that seem positively inhumane.

Of course, the Democrats are fighting among themselves about how good the Biden plan really is, and over what it doesnt do, rather than what it might.

Its all that they have left.

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Democrats' Plan to Lower Insulin Costs Faces GOP Opposition in Build Back Better - Esquire

In a world without a global pandemic, students in "AMST 250: U.S. Travel and Tourism" would spend the semester studying the history and development of tourism in the classroom while going out and observing those dynamics for themselves at Bostons tourist sites. Due to the remote nature of the course this semester, students have had the unique opportunity of having the tourism dynamic brought to them over Zoom, as seven guests from popular tourist sites in the Boston area came to class in order to be interviewed by students for their Boston Tourism Project at the end of the semester.

Taught by American Studies professor Bonnie Miller, this class exists as part of a cohort of courses funded by the Mellon Foundation aimed at demonstrating to students how humanities courses can train them for productive careers. This was demonstrated in the wide range of roles represented by the professionals who came to share about their experiences in the tourism field. The guest speakers included Kristin Peszka, Interpretation and Guest Services Director for the Paul Revere House; Evan OBrien, Creative Manager of the Boston Tea Party and Ship Museum; Donna Curtin, Executive Director of the Pilgrim Society and Pilgrim Hall Museum; Michael Maler, Site Manager of three properties, including the Otis House, for Historic New England; Bethany Dorau, Regional Site Manager of 11 sites, including the Spencer-Peirce Little Farm, also for Historic New England; Molly Phelps, Academic Programs Manager at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and Matt Wilding, Director of Visitor Experience at the Old State House and the Old South Meeting House.

Students completed their projects by meeting in small groups to plan interview questions for one of the seven guests. These guests presented to their assigned group about their own job experience as well as the history and goals for their tourist site. Then, students asked their questions, including how they chose their career path, highlights of the site, who their target demographics were, what challenged they have faced, and how the pandemic has affected their institutions. After the interviews, students worked in groups to design group presentations on their site based on their research and the information they learned from their assigned speaker to give to the class as a whole.

A highlight from the presentations was the way that each tourism site caters its appeal to particular audiences. Historic sites like the Paul Revere House gain most of their visitors from school field trips and international tourists, and theyve been able to appeal to that audience by creating resources for teachers along with a blog and radio show about the house. Students noted that visitors often are not the locals who live in the North End of Boston. In contrast, Maler noted that the visitors to the Otis House are primarily locals from the West End of Boston, as the site is lesser known. This provides them with a unique opportunity to make the house an experience the local community will want to visit repeatedly. Another site concerned with local visitors is the Spencer-Peirce Little Farm, as students explained that one of the most exciting aspects of the site is the ways they have been able to partner with local organizations and nonprofits to provide after-school volunteer work for kids on the farm and host events for the community. This discussion relates to one of the course objectives of helping students develop an ethnographic understanding of tourisms relationship to both people and place.

A factor in the audience discussion was how the last year of COVID-19 has affected the tourism industry and shaped the future of these sites. Places like the Paul Revere House and the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum have suffered greatly from the lack of visitors, with the latter shutting down twice and laying off 25 percent of employees for a time. Similarly, the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Mass. was only open for six weeks in 2020 and has faced related funding issues from the lack of visitors. Many of these sites have turned to virtual options as an alternative to in-person visits, with updated websites and new ideas for how to use their space to appeal to visitors in a post-pandemic world.

This assignment also gave students the opportunity to see tourism as a multi-faceted career option. As OBrien explained to students, he was a theatre major in college with a passion for performance and only realized his love for history after graduating. In his work at The Boston Tea Party and Ship Museum, hes able to merge a love for history and the performing arts in a place that ends up being a stepping stone for other performers to begin their career. At the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Curtins job includes everything from finances, to development, to the presentation of the exhibits due to the nature of it being a small operation. As Professor Miller noted, having to be a jack of all trades can be a positive and interesting aspect of a career in the tourism industry.

Interviewing these practitioners gave students the opportunity to engage directly with these professionals in the Boston tourist and museum culture scene in order to learn about this potential job pathway. With this, they got a behind-the-scenes look at what the work of public history, culture and the arts is all about. Through this exciting project and the class as a whole, students have gained a deeper understanding of the history of tourism and its cultural, social, ethical and economic dynamics, as well as the possibilities and challenges of the labor of conveying Humanities content to the general public.

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UMass Boston students bring Boston's tourist sites to the classroom - The Mass Media

Im sorry so many people chose to stay home Tuesday night when they could have been learning something important at the Eastern NC Tea Party meeting.

The speakers were Dexter Liu and Winston Liu (no relation). Dexter is of Chinese heritage whose father was a Taiwanese Naval Attache to Washington, D.C., and Winston was a victim of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), being imprisoned and tortured for three years. Fortunately, he escaped to Canada then to the U.S.

Dexter spoke about the origins of the CCP, a radical Marxist/communist party which began when the Russian Bolsheviks infiltrated China and ended the Qing dynasty. He explained that the radical Marxist/communist mission of the CCP hasnt changed; in fact, with the weak Biden administration, it is becoming emboldened.

Winston, who grew up and experienced firsthand the evil and brutality that is at the heart of the radical CCP, shared his belief that Chinese Marxist/communist forces are currently at work in this county and that it is more serious than any of us could imagine.

Both men shared their unique insights and perspectives on what is happening here in the U.S. These immigrants, for whom the reality of oppression and lack of freedom is clear in their memory, came to America not to undermine our values, but to embrace them. But they are seeing the same oppressive policies being instituted here and they are concerned.

They recognize what they hoped they would never have to see here in America.

Many people value their freedom and keep informed so they can defend it. Others will finally appreciate it only after they eventually lose it.

The Tea Party meets the first Tuesday of every month, at 5:30-6 p.m. at Parkers Barbecue, 3109 S. Memorial Drive. Come out and learn with us! Vive la libert

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Letter: Speakers offer insight into China, trends in the U.S. - Greenville Daily Reflector

The Tea Party releases a new EP, Sunshower, on November 26th via Coalition Music / Warner Music Canada and all streaming platforms. The 5-track collection of songs will showcase the trio's mastery of light and shade, and why they continue to occupy a unique place within the ever-changing musical landscape.

I spoke with drummer JeffBurrows in Australia about the coming release, downtime, and the effects separation and time away had on him and the band. Burrows began playing drums at age eleven and professionally in 1990. It was his dads collection of LPs that introduced him to a world of possibilities. Jazz greats Buddy Rich, Max Roach and Gene Krupa mixed in with rock pioneers Stuart Copeland and Neil Peart gave him the kind of inspiration and blueprint for what was to be a universal approach to drumming that signature Tea Party sound.

A label press release notes that "Sunshower serves as a companion piece to the 2019 EP Black River. Together, the EPs will comprise the eventual full-length album Blood Moon Rising, officially marking the latest chapter in The Tea Partys ongoing saga, which will be available only in Europe on November 26th. The Tea Party will also be releasing a brand-new CD Deluxe Edition and Remastered Vinyl Edition of their iconic first album The Tea Partyon December 10th through Universal Music Canada, 30 years since its initial indie release.

Since releasing their major-label debut album Splendor Solis in 1993, The Tea Party, composed of Jeff Martin (singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist), Jeff Burrows (drummer/percussionist), and Stuart Chatwood (bassist and multi-instrumentalist), have come to be regarded as one of the worlds most innovative rock bands, with a sound that incorporates everything from traditional instrumentation from around the worldto cutting-edge digital technology.

Over the past three decades, the trio has gained the attention of fans on a worldwide level, with record sales approaching 3 million units, receiving 14 JunoAward nominations and 22 MuchMusic Award nominations, and touring around the globe. Now, after more than 30 years as a band, The Tea Party is ready to open a new chapter in its saga, a story that remains rooted in the goal to create new, ambitious, and thought-provoking music.

Learn more in this podcast interview with Jeff Burrows.

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A Podcast Conversation With .. The Tea Party's Jeff Burrows - FYI Music News