Covid

• A federal judge temporarily blocks Biden’s covid mandate for federal contractors. [Link]
• The CDC says 60% of Americans, 72% of adults, are fully vaccinated against covid. 23% of adults have received a booster shot. [Link]
• The US surgeon general reported a massive rise in childhood mental health issues under covid restrictions. Childhood suicide attempts for young girls were up 51% in early 2021, compared to 2019. Childhood depression is up 25% and anxiety is up 20%. [Link]
• Pandemic restrictions caused Americans to engage in more reckless driving causing a 7% increase in traffic deaths in 2020. In the first half of 2021, driving deaths were up 18%. [Link]
• Unnamed Biden administration officials told Politico that it appears Biden is distributing Covid vaccinations globally for policy, not humanitarian, reasons. The Biden policy of earmarking where vaccines are donated to the UN’s Covax program makes it difficult for the UN to distribute vaccines. [Link]
• Up to one million covid doses supplied to Nigeria through the UN’s Covax program expired last month. Nigeria said some of the vaccine doses had expiration dates within weeks of when the country received the vaccines. [Link]

US News

• A federal jury awarded Darryl Howard a $6 million settlement after he wrongly spent 23 years in prison for a double murder he did not commit. [Link]
• The Senate approved Chris Mangus to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement. [Link]
• A Navy Seal died during a training mission. [Link]
• In celebration of Biden’s democracy summit, the Treasury Department announced sanctions on dozens of Iranians, Syrians, and Ugandans. [Link]

NDAA

• House and Senate leadership put together a new Pentagon funding bill for 2022. The bill is stripped of provisions that would require women to register for the draft and repeal the 2002 AUMF. [Link]
• The House 2022 NDAA prevents the Air Force from retiring the A-10 Warthog. The Air Force has long tried to retire the Warthog to free up funds for more F-35s. The House bill also puts restrictions on the number of F-35s the Congress will fund if the cost per plane isn’t cut. [Link]
• The defense bill includes funding for F-18s that the military did not request. The legislation will also give the military more F-15s than it requested. [Link]
• The House passed the compromise $768.2 billion NDAA hours after it was released. The bill includes some reforms for sexual harassment/abuse in the military and requires the military to give honorable or general discharges to those forced out of the military for refusing the vax. [Link]
• The NDAA includes $300 million in military aid for Ukraine and a statement of support for the defense of Taiwan. A provision requiring the US to sanction the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline was dropped. [Link]

Germany

• Olaf Scholz was sworn in as Germany’s Chancellor. [Link]

Russia

• CIA Director William Burns says the agency has not concluded that Russia will invade Ukraine. [Link]
• Latvia said the West could remove Russia from SWIFT or sanction the Nord Stream pipeline. [Link]
• During a two-hour call, Biden threatens Putin with sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine. Biden told Putin the US would defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity. [Link]
• On the call, Putin asked Biden for assurances that NATO would not expand or move weapons eastward. [Link]

China

• Australia will join the US diplomatic boycott of the Olympics in China. [Link]

Saudi Arabia

• France arrested one of the suspected killers of Jamal Khashoggi. [Link]
• The Saudis are seeking more ammunition for their Patriot missile systems. [Link]
• A Senate bill that would block a missile sale to Saudi Arabia failed 30-67. [Link]
• Saudi Arabia bombed Sanaa, claiming to hit military targets. [Link]

Middle East

• Israel completes a massive barrier that walls off the entire Gaza Strip from Israel. The wall cost over $1 billion and is equipped with weapons systems. [Link]
• Israel says warming ties between Iran and the UAE are unacceptable. [Link]
• CIA Director William Burns says he sees no evidence Iran is attempting to weaponize its nuclear program. [Link]
• Iran talks are set to resume tomorrow in Vienna. [Link]
• A bomb killed four people in Basra, Iraq. A government official blamed ISIS. [Link]