Reclaim Finance studied the drawdown plans of 47 coal companies and found that only 3 have basically adequate plans.

The rest are planning to sell their mines, or punt the ball into the future.

It appears that Neanderthals in Europe, 125,000 years ago, kept forests open by starting fires occasionally.

The indigenous Australians are known to have started brush fires frequently enough that the fires burned only the brush, and spared the trees. This kept the terrain open. It seems they did this by policy. Perhaps biologically modern humans used this method everywhere that it was applicable.

The article's information is that Neanderthals did basically the same thing. They too may have done it by policy, thought we don't know yet.

OSHA's vaccine-or-test mandate for employees is now, at least temporarily, back in effect. This ought to get a lot more Americans vaccinated, and enable many others to stay home when sick.

Many retail stores have fewer than 100 employees, and they are exempt from the requirement. They should follow the policy anyway, or else OSHA should include them — for the customers' safety.

The United Mine Workers has called on Manchin to support the Build Back Better bill. This might change his mind.

Robert Reich: the cause of today's inflation in the US is a lack of competition. Businesses raise prices even though they are making great profits already, because there is nothing to stop them.

The Federal Reserve's chair, a Republican that Biden reappointed in the teeth of progressive demands not to do so, is using that inflation as an opportunity to cool down the economy. That will hamper unionization — surely a Republican's goal.

However, the Omicron variant is likely to cool the economy quite a bit in January. Even if few get badly sick from Omicron, many will have to stay home. Many businesses will have to reduce service. So will hospitals; people will die from that, including people with diseases other than Covid.