Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: 01/07/22

Playbook PM: The Covid-laced jobs report

Jan 07, 2022

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BULLETIN — Mark your calendars: Speaker NANCY PELOSI has invited President JOE BIDEN to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday, March 1. The letter

MAKING SENSE OF THE JOBS NUMBERS — Confusion is becoming an increasingly common theme of jobs-report days, with hopeful or encouraging economic trends almost always dampened by a dose of Covid-laced reality. It was no different today.

Here's a breakdown of the mixed bag new jobs report:

THE GOOD: The U.S. unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 3.9%, and the jobs reports for November and October were revised upwards. November's job gain went from 210,000 to 249,000, and October's went from 531,000 up to 648,000.

—Via AP's Christopher Rugaber: "Indeed, despite the slight hiring gain reported by businesses, 651,000 more people said they were employed in December compared with November. Wages also rose sharply, a sign that companies are competing fiercely to fill their open jobs."

— As WSJ's Sarah Chaney Cambon put it , "though the [Omicron] variant has taken a toll on some businesses' revenue, many employers are clinging to the workers they have as consumers continue to spend."

THE BAD: U.S. employers added just 199,000 new jobs in December, marking "the weakest report of the year," per NYT's Sydney Ember and Jeanna Smialek. November saw an addition of 249,000 jobs. For the entire year, the average gain was 537,000 new jobs per month.

THE UGLY: "Slackening job growth was especially worrisome because the data released on Friday was collected in mid-December, before the pandemic's latest wave," Ember and Smialek write. "Economists are bracing for the surge in cases to further disrupt job growth in January and in the coming months, though it is too soon to say how it will affect the labor market in the longer term."

But the murky picture wasn't on display at the White House. "I think it's a historic day," Biden said, touting the sub-4% unemployment rate and wage gains.

It is "the sharpest one-year drop in unemployment in United States history," Biden boasted. "The first time the unemployment rate has been under 4% in the first year of a presidential term in 50 years. [A] 3.9% unemployment rate years faster than experts said we would be able to do it. And we have added 6.4 million new jobs since January of last year. One year. … That's the most jobs in any calendar year by any president in history. … I would argue the Biden economic plan is working."

Other highlights from Biden:

— On Republican claims that he's out of touch: "Now, you hear Republicans say today that my talking about this strong record shows that I don't understand. 'A lot of people are still suffering,' they say. Well, they are. Or that I'm not focused on inflation. Malarkey. They want to talk down the recovery because they voted against the legislation that made it happen."

— On supply-chain issues around the holidays: "The much-predicted crisis didn't occur. The Grinch did not steal Christmas," Biden said, referencing a caricature of himself that critics deployed, before adding: "Nor any votes."

— Taking a swipe at Trump: "By the way, the stock market — the last guy's measure of everything — is about 20% higher than it was when my predecessor was there. It has hit record after record after record on my watch."

— Responding to a shouted question of whether Covid-19 is "here to stay": "I don't think Covid is here to stay. Having Covid in the environment and the world is probably here to stay, but Covid — as we're dealing with it now — is not here to stay. … The new normal is not going to be what it is now. It's going to be better."

Good Friday afternoon.

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THAT WAS QUICK — It didn't take long for JAMAL SIMMONS, VP KAMALA HARRIS' new comms director, to come under fire. In a pair of tweets from 2010 that were resurfaced today, Simmons said he "saw 2 undocumented folks talking on MSNBC" and questioned "Why wouldn't ICE pick them up?" Tweet 1 … Tweet 2

Simmons issued a statement this afternoon: "Sometimes I have been sarcastic, unclear, or just plainly missed the mark. I sincerely apologize for offending those who care as much as I do about making America the best, multi-ethnic, diverse democracy it can be." The full statement, via our colleague Alex Thompson

FINALISTS EMERGE FOR RNC 2024 — Republican officials have narrowed down the options for where to hold the party's 2024 national convention: Milwaukee, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City have made the shortlist, Alex Isenstadt scoops. "Party officials are planning to visit each of the locations over the coming months before finalizing a decision in the spring." The case against Nashville and SLC: "Neither Republicans nor Democrats have gone outside a potential battleground for a convention city since 2004."

AMERICA AND THE WORLD

RUSSIA LATEST — Ahead of next week's meeting with Russian officials, the Biden administration is "ready to propose discussions on scaling back U.S. and Russian troop deployments and military exercises in Eastern Europe," NBC's Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce, Carol Lee and Andrea Mitchell report. "The discussions could potentially address the scope of military drills held by both powers, the number of U.S. troops stationed in the Baltic states and Poland, advance notice about the movement of forces, and Russia's nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in the Russian territory of Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania, the sources said."

THE PANDEMIC

SCOTUS WATCH — The Supreme Court convened for a special session this morning to consider a challenge to Biden's vaccine mandates. According to Axios' Sam Baker , the High Court seems skeptical: "The Supreme Court on Friday appeared likely to curtail the Biden administration's most sweeping mandate for Covid-19 vaccinations. A majority of the justices seemed to believe that the Biden administration's rules, which require employers to mandate vaccines or testing for the workers, are too broad."

— Justice SONIA SOTOMAYOR participated virtually from her chambers, Bloomberg's Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson reports . Two of the attorneys arguing against Biden's mandate also appeared virtually after testing positive for the coronavirus.

THE TESTING NIGHTMARE — "As soaring demand makes lab-based and at-home tests hard to come by, many people are forsaking tests, leaving them unable to determine whether they are infected and potentially exposing others," WSJ's Christine Mai-Duc, Arian Campo-Flores and Valerie Bauerlein report . "Those who manage to get at-home rapid tests rarely report the results to health departments, often because the means to do so is cumbersome or nonexistent. As a result, public-health officials lack the full picture of the virus's spread when the Omicron variant is raging."

— So what's contributing to the scarcity of tests and delays for results? David Lim writes that in some cases, "workforces are depleted by the very virus they're surveying. … While the supply chain for once-scarce equipment like test kits and pipette tips remains intact, the sheer demand for testing is stretching sample collection sites and laboratory staff. One pharmacy industry source told POLITICO that lab staffing issues are already limiting testing capacity and turnaround times for testing done through major retail chains."

FOR (OR SHOULD WE SAY, FOUR) YOUR RADAR — Moderna CEO STÉPHANE BANCEL said on Thursday that people are "likely to need a second booster dose in the fall, with front-line workers and people 50 and older a particular priority as antibody levels wane," WaPo's Andrew Jeong and Adela Suliman write.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

HEATING HELP — The White House said today that it is "distributing an additional $4.5 billion in funds to help low-income Americans cover heating costs during a second pandemic winter, with cold-weather states receiving the largest share," AP's Ashraf Khalil reports.

POLICY CORNER

INSIDE THE ADMIN'S CYBER OPERATION — Bloomberg's Willaim Turton profiles ANNE NEUBERGER, a former NSA staffer caught in a "mounting tension within the Biden administration as different factions vie for control over" the administration's cyber policy. Neuberger, who is now deputy national security adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology, is "known as a brilliant tactician who can command a room and bend government bureaucracy to her will. But her relentless style has also made her a polarizing figure throughout her 14-year career in government. Neuberger had a particular tendency to butt heads with lawyers, say people who worked with her, an attribute that some of her NSA colleagues admired."

CONGRESS

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE — The Daily Beast's Ursula Perano writes: "There Are No More Frenemies in Congress. Just Enemies." Take Reps. JARED HUFFMAN (D-Calif.) and PAUL GOSAR (R-Ariz.): The two used to be cordial, but "as time went on, Gosar went into an 'irreversible downward spiral,' Huffman said. And that's made the California congressman reevaluate their relationship." They're not the only ones. "Once-genuine friendships have devolved into acknowledgment nods in hallways. Cordial relationships have fallen into outright disdain and distrust. And the two parties appear — both legislatively and personally — further apart than ever. The events of Jan. 6 and the noxious environment in Congress that followed are making repair unthinkable to many members."

A SHARP TURNER — Rep. MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio) is the new top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, taking over now that DEVIN NUNES' resignation from Congress is official. But while Nunes' tenure atop the panel was defined by deep partisan tensions, Turner wants to change that. "The Ohioan hopes to repair cross-aisle relationships tattered by the panel's politically charged investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and its subsequent prominence in Trump's first impeachment," Olivia Beavers and Andrew Desiderio write. "Reorienting the panel toward its original mission of empowering the intelligence community, however, requires Republicans to reckon with the lightning-rod status that current Chair Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) maintains on the right."

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

ALL POLITICS

2022 WATCH — Senate Republicans hoping to retake control of the chamber are doing the math and waiting to see which borderline members will officially come back. CNN's Alex Rogers and Manu Raju report that some in the conference are "growing bullish" that Sen. RON JOHNSON (R-Wis.) will run for reelection. "Johnson has been in no rush to publicly announce his decision, often saying that Senate campaigns are far too long and pointing out that he waited until May 2010 to announce his first bid for an election later that fall. … But in private conversations, Republicans are coming away with the distinct impression that Johnson will run again, according to multiple GOP sources, and would be surprised if he did not."

CASH DASH — The fundraising totals for Q4 of 2021 are rolling in. Here's what's catching our attention:

— Sen. MARK KELLY (D-Ariz.) raised "nearly $9 million in the final three months of 2021," reports CNN's Dan Merica — a figure sets Kelly up to be one of the most well-funded Dems of the 2022 cycle. Kelly's camp is expected to report more than $18.5 million in cash on hand.

— Rep. TIM RYAN (D-Ohio) raised $2.9 million in Q4. His campaign to replace retiring GOP Sen. ROB PORTMAN "enters 2022 with $5 million cash on hand," Spectrum News' Taylor Popielarz reports.

— Looking ahead, CGCN, the powerful lobbying firm, is hosting a fundraising dinner for House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY in Washington on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The event will feature McCarthy along with every ranking member of a House committee, with requested contributions of $100,000 for hosts, $50,000 for co-hosts and $25,000 for attendees.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES — HuffPost has uncovered a trove of financial records that shed light on ALEX JONES' Infowars empire. "Despite his pleas for money, Infowars' store ― where Jones sells an amalgamation of dietary supplements and survival gear ― made $165 million in sales from September 2015 to the end of 2018, according to court filings related to a lawsuit Jones recently lost over his lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre," HuffPost's Sebastian Murdock reports . "The records, first obtained by HuffPost … provide a window into how vast and powerful Jones' reach is and may provide clues into how he funds his political activities, including his participation in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021." The records

PLAYBOOKERS

BOOK CLUB — Former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone is co-writing a book titled "HOLD THE LINE" with Reuters' John Shiffman, detailing Fanone's "harrowing experience on January 6, 2021, when he was pulled from the U.S. Capitol into the mob, beaten and repeatedly tased, suffering a heart attack and brain damage." The book will be published by Atria Books and is set for an October 2022 release.

DHS ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Kristie Canegallo is joining DHS as chief of staff. She most recently was VP for trust and security at Google and is a DoD and George W. Bush and Obama NSC alum.

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California Today: The anguish of Afghans in Sacramento

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January 7, 2022

By Thomas Fuller

San Francisco Bureau Chief, National

It's Friday. It's not easy for resettled Afghans to adapt to life in America. Plus, state legislators are quarantining after a farewell party for a colleague.

Farhad Yousafzai in his Elk Grove neighborhood on Thursday.Max Whittaker for The New York Times

From the moment he arrived in the Bay Area from Afghanistan eight years ago, life in America was disorienting.

Farhad Yousafzai had served the U.S. government as a purchasing manager and came to California to start a new life. On Dec. 31, 2013, a resettlement agency dropped him and his family off at an apartment in Oakland and offered an ominous warning.

"They told us: 'Oakland unfortunately is not the safest place. You guys should not walk around in the evenings,'" Yousafzai said.

That seemed like strange advice for a family inured to war in Afghanistan, but as the night wore on, and with Yousafzai's family holed up in their new home, they began to hear a series of what sounded like booming explosions and gunfire. Yousafzai wondered whether he had traded one war zone for another.

Then, confusingly, the family heard laughter and cheering. They cautiously ventured outside and peered into the street. Someone yelled: "Hey! Happy New Year!"

Yousafzai and his family are now accustomed to the fireworks on New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July along with other trappings of their American lives. They have since settled in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove. That's where I met Yousafzai last August. He owns a tan-colored, five-bedroom home near a park, a community garden, two microbreweries, a mosque and a church. And he runs a successful business as an insurance broker; his office serves as a de facto community center for the thousands of resettled Afghans who live in the Sacramento area.

I stayed in touch with Yousafzai in the five months since the sudden and traumatic United States withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer and heard the pained laments that still echo across Afghan communities across America: the heartbreak over family members left behind and increasing desperation and exasperation as their friends reported hunger and economic collapse.

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The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban came with a particularly cruel facet for Afghans around the world. The internet connections in Afghanistan have remained surprisingly robust and the lines of communication between Afghan families and their relatives overseas have remained open even as the Taliban has tightened their grip. For Afghans overseas, this has created an agonizing dichotomy of daily WhatsApp calls and Facebook postings — a deluge of distressing information — paired with the helplessness of not being able to do much about it.

Yousafzai and his friends want to send money to relatives, but the banking system has all but collapsed. They want to fly family members out of Afghanistan, but they have run up against U.S. extraction efforts manifestly unprepared to help them.

In the past several months, Yousafzai received word that two relatives in his home village near Jalalabad had disappeared. A friend's brother, a doctor, was found dead, his body mutilated. Yousafzai has viewed videos of families selling their children out of desperation and forwarded to me images of unspeakable atrocities. On Tuesday his wife told him that their former neighbor reported that he and his family had not had any food for three days.

This cannonade of despair wears on the Afghan community in Sacramento like asphalt slowly stripping away a tire's last treads.

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"Every second you get another terrible story," Yousafzai told me this week. "Day and night, 24 hours, a story about a kidnapped person, a story about a hungry person, another text message, another call."

He wishes he could unplug. But he has sisters to comfort in Afghanistan, friends all over the country to support in whatever way he can.

For now Yousafzai says he will remain in his oddly bifurcated world. He sleepwalks through the conveniences of suburban American life. He drives to and from the office, sometimes absent-mindedly making wrong turns. He pushes a cart through the fluorescent-lit aisles of WinCo, a discount supermarket, filling his cart with the cheap bounty of California agriculture: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, spinach. But his mind, he says, still wanders the dusty streets of eastern Afghanistan and ponders the privations, and hunger, of family and friends.

Yousafzai says he tries to clear his head with walks through his neighborhood. He strolls past the earth-colored homes of his subdivision, down to the collision repair shop, the Amazon warehouse and the animal shelter.

"I try to get everything out of my mind," he told me. "But it never goes away."

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If you read one story, make it this

The proposal was for a luxury wine country resort over a ride from Calistoga, a community of 1,400 villas and five boutique hotels. But in a ruling this week that could have ramifications for other projects in areas prone to wildfires, a judge halted the development, saying it could be a death trap if everyone tried to flee at the same time.

Students were welcomed back to Normont Elementary in Los Angeles in August.Allison Zaucha for The New York Times

The rest of the news

School funding concerns: School district officials are nervously awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed 2022-23 state budget, with declining school enrollment possibly leading to lower funding, CalMatters reports.
Legislators quarantine: The speaker of the Assembly and other legislators are quarantining after State Senator Josh Becker tested positive for the coronavirus following a farewell party for Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, The Sacramento Bee reports.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Vanessa Bryant: A federal judge rejected an attempt by Los Angeles County lawyers to dismiss Vanessa Bryant's lawsuit over photos taken at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed her daughter and husband, Kobe Bryant, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Marijuana raids: San Bernardino County deputies eliminated 93 illegal marijuana greenhouses and arrested 15 people over a week of raids, The Associated Press reports.
Mask mandate change: A change to Los Angeles's mask mandate will soon require employers to provide employees with high quality, non-cloth masks when working indoors, LA Weekly reports.
Hollywood director dies: Peter Bogdanovich, director of 1970s classics like "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon," died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 82.
Super Bowl: Despite surging coronavirus cases, state officials and the N.F.L. still expect Los Angeles to host Super Bowl LVI next month, Politico reports.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Indoor smoking: A new city law has made it illegal to smoke or vape inside Fresno apartment complexes, The Fresno Bee reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Powerball winners: The latest Powerball jackpot of $632 million will be split by two winners, who bought the winning tickets in Sacramento and Green Bay, Wis., The Associated Press reports.
SAT scandal: A Palo Alto couple pleaded guilty to paying $25,000 to inflate their son's SAT score, The Associated Press reports.

Julia Gartland for The New York Times

What we're eating

Braised white beans and greens with Parmesan.

George Rose/Getty Images

Where we're traveling

Today's travel tip comes from Peggy Burhenn:

"Many people already know about the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach. It is one of my favorite places. Now is a great time to go (up until February) as there is a resurgence of the butterflies, with currently more than 14,000 literally "hanging out."

It is a spectacular sight to see."

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

Tell us

What's the best part of winter in California? Email us at CAtoday@nytimes.com with your traditions, recommendations and opinions.

And before you go, some good news

The Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced on Twitter on Thursday that it was slashing the adoption prices of adult dogs to $30. "Our kennels are FULL with the recent increase in dogs entering our doors!" the S.P.C.A. said in its posting. Pictures of Persimmon, Missy, Neo, Mango and lots more potential adoptees are here.

Thanks for reading. We'll be back on Monday.

P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Kitchen appliance (5 letters).

Soumya Karlamangla, Jonah Candelario, Steven Moity and Mariel Wamsley contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

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