In Germany, a record 1.6% of the population tested positive for Covid-19 last week, but that's just the maximum PCR testing capacity. No one knows how many other people caught it too and did not get tested.

Berlin is about to eliminate mask requirements as well as gratis testing. Perhaps it aims to break the record again.

The policy seems to be to encourage people to ignore Covid and its danger. "What, we worry?"

I have still seen no reports on the prevalence of long Covid among vaccinated people that catch the Omicron variant. How big is the risk that vaccinated people will now be exposed to whenever they leave the house?

*A US surveillance program tracks nearly 200,000 immigrants.* It collects a lot of data, including their locations all the time, and the data can be abused by the government or the company that runs the surveillance system.

No company should ever be in practical control doing the state's computing. Privatizing any government activity makes it unaccountable, and that's part of what we are seeing here. The extra level of indirection in control of the procedures (and the software used) has the effect of thwarting the people's control of the state.

Reports from Mariupol say that the Putin forces have seized a hospital and are holding 500 people prisoner in it, without food access to food.

One side of the city has fallen entirely.

Uyghur exiles in Norway say that even there they get harassment calls from Chinese agents that threaten their relatives in China.

*Proud Boys leader had [written] plans to "storm" government buildings on 6 January.*