⚡ California officials identify first case of Omicron Covid variant in United States

🦠 According to the joint statement by the CDC and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the person detected with the variant "was a traveler who returned from South Africa on November 22, 2021. The individual, who was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, is self-quarantining and has bene since testing positive. All close contacts have been contacted and have tested negative."

⚡️ Suspected Michigan school shooter to be charged with terrorism, four counts of murder

👀 Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he was not aware of the results of a COVID-19 test taken by then-President Trump prior to his first debate with current US President Joe Biden.

Current White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows alleged in a new book that Trump tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the September 2020 debate and did not reveal the result, receiving a negative result shortly thereafter.

"I certainly was not aware of his test positivity or negativity," Fauci said during a press briefing at the White House.

🦠 Speaking about Fauci. The US chief infectious disease specialist noted that the pandemic will not last forever.

UPDATE | The 15-year-old shooting suspect, Ethan Crumbley, has been charged with:

🔸 one count of terrorism causing death
🔸four counts of first-degree murder;
🔸seven counts of assault with intent to murder
🔸 12 counts of firearm possession in the commission of a felony

Charges may also be filed against Crumbley's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley.

⚡️US stocks drop nearly 500 points after Omicron case emerges in California

JUST IN | US Judge orders suspect in Michigan school shooting held without bond

WATCH | Peter Doocy asked Jen Psaki: "Biden said at debate that 'anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as President of the United States of America. Is that still the standard now that more Americans have died under President Biden than President Trump?'"

🤔 Interesting question, but how was it answered?

Here is something to brighten your day! Have you ever heard a fox laugh?

This is Finnegan, a fox from saveafox.org, a non-profit organization out of Minnesota. Share it with your friends!

Want to know the date of the real insurrection? Well, according to former US President Donald Trump it took place on November 3.

🗣 "We have to stop the [mail-in] voting. It's just right to fraud!" Trump said during an interview with former UK Brexit leader, Nigel Farage, on Wednesday.

A new voter ID law in Wyoming would not have been legalized without what the events that unfolded in 2020. Tell us, what do you think?

⚡️ Jan. 6 Panel unanimously votes to hold Trump-era DoJ official Jeffrey Clark in contempt of Congress

'Sending a message': US Space Force General David Thompson claims that both China and Russia "are regularly attacking US satellites with non-kinetic means, including lasers, radio frequency jammers and cyber attacks.”

🗣 “The threats are really growing and expanding every single day. And it’s really an evolution of activity that’s been happening for a long time,” Gen. Thompson, who is vice chief of Space Operations in the recently-established military branch.

🤔Is this the beginning of a new era of warfare?
Take the time to make a comment about what you think is really going on here!

🇨🇳🇹🇼 'Something will happen': Donald Trump suggested that China would attack Taiwan sometime in 2022, after the Beijing Winter Olympics.

The 45th US president elaborated on his belief that the United States was no longer respected by suggesting that there has been a change in Beijing’s behavior towards Taipei, since he left office.

🗣 “I will tell you, there were no planes flying over Taiwan -- and the name wasn’t even mentioned,” Trump offered, adding, “you didn’t talk about Taiwan when I was president -- it wasn’t going to happen what they’re doing now.”

Later in the interview Trump asserted that a lot of people think that he is good at predictions. What do you think?

🔫🚔 A former Southwest Airlines employee has been sentenced to six months in jail, including three years of probation, for stealing firearms from the luggage of passengers while working as a baggage handler.

After a passenger had reported his pistol missing from his baggage, federal agents tracked down the dates of other missing weapons, and matched the incidents to Southwest employee shift schedules.

The records indicated that the suspect was working and had access to baggage from which the guns had been reported stolen.

Symone Sanders, the senior adviser and chief spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, is expected to leave the White House at the end of the year.

Ashley Etienne, Harris’ communications director, is also set to depart in the coming weeks.

Leaving a sinking ship?

📈👩 Disney has chosen Susan Arnold the chairperson of the board, marking the first female appointment to this position in the history of the company.

Robert Iger, who is also Disney CEO, will leave the company at the end of the year, while Arnold, who has been a part of the board for 14 years, will assume her new position on December 31, 2021.

Photo credit: The Walt Disney Company website

Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year old suspected Oxford High School shooter in Oxford, Michigan was brought to the school with his parents for a “face-to-face meeting” with administrators mere hours before the shooting, report says.

According to the information, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard revealed that the meeting was apparently related to Crumbley’s behaviour in the classroom.

At the same time, the sheriff said there’s no indication of Crumbley having prior disciplinary issues or being expelled from school before, and that school officials said there was no record of Crumbley ever being bullied.

💬 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's main statements from at the 28th OSCE Ministerial Council:

🔸 the architecture of strategic stability is rapidly collapsing;
🔸 NATO is refusing to constructively consider Russia's proposals to de-escalate tensions and prevent dangerous incidents;
🔸 the military infrastructure of the alliance is being brought closer to Russia's borders;
🔸 nightmare scenario of a military confrontation is returning;
🔸 in the dialogue with the United States and its allies, Russia will insist on the development of agreements that would exclude any further NATO advances to the east and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten Russia.