Links for you. Science:

Rare VRSA infection confirmed in Caldwell County marks only 16th case in America
How Ominous Is the Omicron Variant (B.1.1.529)? (ASM roundup)
Millipedes Have Been Living a Lie. No known creature actually had 1,000 legs—until now.
How Omicron Evades Natural Immunity, Vaccination, And Monoclonal Antibody Treatments (not so much how, as patterns; original manuscript here)
Horseshoe crabs are in danger because everyone wants their blood
Outbreak caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in Norway, November to December 2021

Other:

Moderna halts patent fight over coronavirus vaccine with federal government
Trump Bandies About Anti-Semitic Tropes In Interview With Israeli Reporter
2020 Census may have significantly undercounted Detroit, study finds
At Jamaica Plain’s new BYTE Shop, you can geek out over very old computers, or get your 21st-century model fixed. ‘I wondered if I might be able to fuse the concept of a museum with a repair shop.’
Bookstore workers across the country are organizing. D.C.’s Politics and Prose employees are among them.
Saving democracy’s front lines — local newspapers
In Amsterdam, a community of floating homes shows the world how to live alongside nature
How relocation, privatization compromised the Oklahoma Public Health Lab mission
At 5, she was killed riding her bike in a crosswalk. Her legacy should be safer streets.
Oklahoma Republican introduces bill to limit how slavery is taught in schools. State Rep. Jim Olsen’s bill bans institutions from teaching that “one race is the unique oppressor” or “victim” in slavery.
‘We are closer to civil war than any of us would like to believe,’ new study says
Biden’s Infrastructure Czar Comes With Friendly Record on Fossil Fuels. Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans, has been put in charge of infrastructure implementation. He and his family have spent years defending oil and gas interests.
3 retired generals: The military must prepare now for a 2024 insurrection
What Does ‘White Freedom’ Really Mean?
There’s no mystery about what’s ‘broken’ in the country’s pandemic response
Smartphones Are a New Tax on the Poor
To stop the pandemic, remove the invisible air bridge
Trump loyalists are knocking on voters’ doors in the latest quest to find fraud in the 2020 election
Joe Manchin Betrays West Virginia. The senator says he’s a “no” on Biden’s Build Back Better Act, ensuring that the struggling people of his state fall further behind.
D.C. third-graders were made to reenact episodes from the Holocaust (“The instructor allegedly made antisemitic comments during the reenactment. The parent said that when the children asked why the Germans did this, the staff member said it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas.””)
You must all be tired of this, but really:
There is still a lot of uncertainty about omicron’s characteristics, especially its severity. Yes, there are more and more pieces of the puzzle, but they don’t fit together all that well and there are a LOT of questions and hypotheses.