It probably doesn’t look like yours, though.

Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) home state was devastated by natural disaster in the waning days of 2021. But his primary focus heading into the New Year is not on federal disaster relief or combatting climate change (he’s never really believed in that hoax to begin with), but rather the most important news of the hour: dismantling Big Tech’s Big Bias against conservatives.

PBS Newshour and Marist have a poll out headlined as “Americans don’t agree on what to call Jan. 6 attack.” Unsurprisingly the actual details of the poll tell a somewhat different story, which might be summarized as “Republicans now mostly support the Jan. 6 insurrection.” The data show a less wishy washy verdict. About half the public, overwhelmingly Democrats and left-leaning independents, call it an insurrection while 25% says it was 1st Amendment-protected protest. The critical segment in the middle, 19% of respondents, agrees that “it was an unfortunate event, but in the past.” I’d call this the “not great but let’s not rock the boat” group.

Over the holidays, you may have missed this important new reporting from Josh Kovensky.

Happy New Year! With Omicron sloshing around this great country, I’ve been asked by more and more people what mask they should be wearing. Or they have a health-compromised loved one and they’re asking for them. I’ve put a lot of time into researching this question – both as a journalist and a breather – and if you didn’t see it last week I put together a primer on the basics. You can read it here.

Back in 2016 there was a knowing social media go-to about how 2016 was the year from hell – one that would come to an end when Trump was defeated in November. Of course, that didn’t happen. It was followed by 2017, the beginning of Trump’s dismal and destructive presidency. Then there was 2020, a year of historic disruption, mortality, economic displacement and social chaos and unrest, which was to be followed by renewal in 2021. And well, here we are. We’ve run through a succession of ‘hell years’ beneath which rumbles a growing trepidation or assumption that maybe none of this stuff is the exception. Maybe this is just a downward trajectory with no snapback to something more normal, something more on a progress toward betterment.

On the eve of a new year where do we fall on this terrain of doomism?

I’ve spent the last couple days writing posts I’ve then set aside about what we’ve learned in two years about the CDC and FDA and whether they are, institutionally, up to the challenge of managing the crisis of pandemic response. To paraphrase Sonny Corleone, during a pandemic we need a wartime CDC. And it’s clear we don’t have one. The institutional apparatus designed for managing ‘ordinary’ infectious diseases, researching and improving care for chronic maladies simply isn’t designed for what we’ve confronted in the last two years.

Earlier today, we published a moving tribute to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid by his onetime deputy chief of staff, Bill Dauster.

I spoke with another former Reid aide and friend of TPM this afternoon, Jim Manley. A veteran Senate staffer, Manley had worked as a spokesperson and senior communications advisor for Reid while Reid was Senate Majority Leader.

A reminder: The Josh Marshall Podcast is on break the final week of the year. So no podcast today. Kate Riga and I will be back with a new episode on Wednesday, January 5th.

Don’t miss this remembrance of Harry Reid, who died yesterday at the age of 82, from Bill Dauster, former Reid Deputy Chief of Staff and longtime friend of TPM.

Here’s the Times obit. Here’s the obit from The Nevada Independent, the top instate political news operation and the folks who knew him best.