Let me begin with President Donald Trump, for he is on the  cover of the current  Time  magazine . His biggest problem today?   Says he won't be extorted by Democrats to end the government shutdown, which tomorrow will tie the record of 35 days his administration set in 2018-2019. His record will also be tested tomorrow when several states vote. His unpopularity in these races has kept him away, but his funding assistance will be helpful to Republicans.  He does have a tele-rally for those governors races tonight at 7PM EDT.  Interesting that, while he has endorsed Ciattarelli, he has not quite officially said so for Earle-Sears. The most watched is for Mayor of New York City. Pits 34-year-old state Democratic lawmaker Zohran Mamdani against former state governor 67-year-old now independent Andrew Cuomo and 71-year old Republican Curtis Sliwa. At last check, Mamdani held a  +14.7 point lead  over nearest rival Cuomo. Two are for governor. In...

I'll get to China later, but will start with COVID-19 variants.  The key question is, do the various vaccines work to control them?    Not sure about the others, but, according to the CDC , all the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. provide sufficient protection.  The caveat is that a few might get sick, but should survive. Here are some of the more concerning ones: B.1.1.7   United Kingdom     50% increased transmission B.1.351  South Africa            50% increased transmission B.1.427  California                20% increased transmissibility P.1          Brazil/Japan      P.2          Brazil B.1.617  India (there are four separate variants) There are more, and growing.  However, WHO has decided to better recognize them by using names based on the Greek alphabet .  The first fou...