ROGER KIMBALL: Oh, Oh, Omicron!

So far, I have to say, it’s been pretty much of a dud—unless, that is, you’re the stock market, which has taken a beating this last week or so, in part because of this new kid on the medical block (there is also that much more toxic financial emergency, the Biden Administration, but that’s for another day). The new variant has also been a godsend for scolds, nags, bureaucrats, and meddlesome so-called public health officials nannies who are just itching for another excuse to lock down your world, introduce new travel restrictions, and impose new testing protocols.

How will it all play out? TSTS—Too Soon to Say, but I suspect this sequel is going to be a flop at the box office. For one thing, although only recently named, there is abundant evidence that Omicron has been around for months. If it had been previously unnamed, that is perhaps because it is no big deal. The South African doctor who first identified the strain noted that while the virus was possibly more contagious than versions named for letters earlier in the Greek alphabet, symptoms tended to be mild, indeed “very mild.” A typical news report notes that “patients mostly suffered from mild muscle aches, scratchy throat and dry cough.” (Remember colds? Remember the flu?)

So why the panic? Partly, it is because panic is an antidote to boredom. People are heavily bored. Panic also licenses the people who want to run your life to, well, run your life. “Most Omicron cases so far have been mild,” runs one headline, “but experts say it will take weeks to understand how severe the variant can be.” Ah, “experts”! What would we do without them?

One thing we’d do is ride public transportation without wearing a mask. But apparently there are sufficient numbers of people who are cowed enough, or bored enough, to don the little badge of their submission and pretend that they are not only “staying safe” but keeping you safe, too. Where did your mother tell you that road paved with good intentions led?

Here’s the reality: the COVID “pandemic” is over. I hasten to add: also, it will never end.

Earlier: Panic is a Lifestyle Brand.

R.I.P. Bob Dole Dies at 98.

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING: Is America—and the world—prepared for what comes next?

Whatever happens, I find I cannot escape the sense that America has reached an impasse, that it has arrived at a moment of transition, and not just on the matter of abortion. Whether one looks at politics, economics, or the world, one sees a realignment of forces, a shuffling of players off and on the stage, to prepare for the next act in the drama. The Trump presidency seems less like the harbinger of a new beginning than a spectacular climax to a historical epoch. If so, we are living through a sort of denouement, a working through of conflicts left unresolved. “It feels like the order we have all taken for granted since the end of the Cold War is badly decaying, and has gotten so fragile that it might well shatter soon,” wrote Damir Marusic of Wisdom of Crowds last month. Question is: What replaces it?

If the Court does overrule Roe next summer, America will have entered uncharted territory. Many states will ban abortion immediately. Others will legalize it for the duration of a pregnancy. Still others will restrict and limit the practice. Abortion will be a matter for legislatures—including the U.S. Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans believe that abortion would become a major issue in next year’s midterm campaign, with unforeseeable consequences. Would a pro-choice backlash help Democrats? Perhaps. Then again, some of us thought that Texas’s fetal heartbeat law might help Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. That didn’t happen.

Conversely, if the Court does preserve Roe, many conservatives and Republicans fear a pro-life backlash directed at the GOP infrastructure and conservative legal movement. No less an authority than former attorney general Ed Meese wrote in the Washington Post that the “success” of constitutional originalism depends on the Court’s ruling in Dobbs. Tension already is high within the conservative legal movement over former president Donald Trump, his attempt to remain in office, and the intellectual challenges from “common-good” constitutionalists and from advocates of judicial “engagement” over “restraint.” A disappointing ruling may not only deflate Republican enthusiasm, but also turn grassroots conservatives in more radical directions.

Read the whole thing.

REPORT: Ben Roethlisberger expects this season to be his last.

VERY SMALL, BUT YES: Rand Paul: Chris Cuomo firing ‘a small step toward CNN regaining any credibility.’

‘CHRISTMAS WITH THE CHOSEN:’ Looks like the holiday special from the crew behind the immensely successful, crowd-funded series have another winner. Here’s a trailer for the special and here’s a surprisingly positive report from the Wall Street Journal. Quality, like cream, does rise to the top.

OCEANIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH CHRIS CUOMO:

Shot: CNN’s Brian Stelter speculates Chris Cuomo could return to air by January.

—The Colorado Springs Gazette, Wednesday.

Chaser: Hmmm: Brian Stelter Says Chris Cuomo Caused ‘So Many Headaches’ at CNN.

—Matt Margolis, PJ Media.com, today.

CONSEQUENCES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Disgraced FBI agent John ‘Zip’ Connolly in Massachusetts on full pension: You can thank Congress for passing the ‘Hiss Act.’ “He kept his pension, despite being convicted of second-degree murder in 2008, because Congress passed the Hiss Act in 1954 that allows lawmakers, and therefore federal employees, to keep their retirement benefits unless convicted of espionage or treason.”

REPORT: Former U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole has died at age 98.

BYLINES OF BRUTALITY: Listen: Unhinged NYT Journalist’s Foulmouthed Voicemail for Great Lakes Gun Rights.

Remember this when they brag about their own professionalism. (Classical reference in headline.)

UPDATE: From the comments: “Imagine her call to AAA after Waukesha.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: New York Times reviews Wirecutter editor Erin Marquis over voicemail for gun rights group after Michigan shooting.

Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha, in an email to CNBC, said, “We expect our employees to behave in a way that is consistent with our values and commitment to the highest ethical standards.”

“We are currently reviewing this matter, which involves an employee of Wirecutter, our product recommendation site, who does not work in The New York Times newsroom,” the spokeswoman said.

Marquis declined to comment.

She’s not even an actual NYT reporter, so she was lying as well as crazy.

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TO BE FAIR, FREEDOM ISN’T ONE OF STANFORD’S VALUES: ‘Pro-freedom’ Pence speech denied funding by Stanford student government.

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HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Stanford University: Masks required, clothes optional.

TODAY IN MEDIA-MANUFACTURED CONTROVERSIES: Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie tweets pro-gun photo days after Michigan school shooting.

That’s because he was pro-gun before and after this random event. What they’re unhappy about is that they weren’t able to cow him into not expressing his position, and accepting that guns are somehow evil. Good for him.

NOW OUT FROM MY FRIEND HIAWATHA BRAY: Power in the Blood. (Bumped).

THE STEPHANOPOULOS INTERVIEW WAS AWFUL: ‘He Confessed.’ Actor Adam Baldwin’s Blistering Takedown of ‘Preening’ Alec Baldwin’s CYA ABC Interview.

F MINUS: White House Report Card: Jobs mixed, virus raging, Harris failing.

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