Omicron Is the Beginning of the End | Anthrax Attack Fantasies | Big Border Wall Is Now a Pile of Rusting Steel, and more

Man Who Joined Capitol Melee Gets Nearly 4 Years in Prison  (AP / VOA News)
A man who joined a mob in one of the most violent attacks on police during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Monday to nearly four years in prison.
Devlyn Thompson, 28, has been jailed since he pleaded guilty in August to assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon, a metal baton. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, but sentencing guidelines for Thompson’s case recommended a prison sentence ranging from 46 to 57 months.
Prosecutors say one of the most violent confrontations on January 6 was in the tunnel, where a mob and police fought for control of a Capitol entrance in an area known as the Lower West Terrace. Surveillance video captured Thompson with more than 190 other rioters in the tunnel. He struck a police officer’s hand with a baton that he found in the tunnel. Others assaulted police with poles, sticks and other makeshift weapons.
Thompson is the third rioter to be sentenced for assaulting police at the Capitol. The other two, Robert Palmer and Scott Fairlamb, were sentenced to prison terms of 63 months and 41 months, respectively.
More than 700 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot.

Drought, Wildfires, and Smoke and the Growing Risks of Climate Change in the Golden State  (Sharon Driscoll, Diana Leonard, Stanford Lawyer)
In July 2021, smoke from California’s Dixie Fire, the second largest in the state’s history, combined with smoke from fires in the American West and Canada, traveled thousands of miles to New York and other parts of the East Coast, triggering air-quality alerts. It was an alarming message for people a continent away from the flames that the environmental fallout from climate change does not respect state lines.
California is prone to both droughts and floods, but climate change is sending those natural cycles into overdrive. In the last decade, record-breaking heat waves have combined with severe and prolonged droughts to disastrous effect. Eight of the state’s top 10 largest wildfires took place in the past five years, exacting a huge personal and financial toll on people, homes, farms, and tourism.

CBP Releases November 2021 Monthly Operational Update, Reporting 10 Percent Increase in Border Crossers for the Month  (CBP)
There were 13,959 encounters of unaccompanied children in November compared with 12,783 in October.

A Smarter Grid to Help Protect Public Utilities from Cyberattacks  (Robert Nawy, HSToday)
The worst thing public utility companies can do is try to enhance cybersecurity protocols with antiquated, ineffective technology.

Understanding the Offense’s Systemwide Advantage in Cyberspace  (Jason Healey, Lawfare)
Attackers in cyberspace have had the systemwide advantage for decades. Reversing this requires both a more nuanced understanding of the offense-defense balance and innovations with leverage that works at scale across the internet.

Far-Right Group Fantasizes They’ve Been Attacked with Anthrax  (Zachary Petrizzo and Kelly Weill, Daily Beast)
A baseless claim of a bioweapons attack in the form of anthrax pouring from fog machines at a far-right QAnon-friendly ReAwaken America Tour event earlier this month in Texas has left conspiracy theorists petrified.
Following the event—which took place in Dallas and featured prominent speakers like Eric Trump, Mike Lindell, and Michael Flynn—several presenters and attendees reported falling ill.
While the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has surged throughout the United States, the group of ardently pro-Trump activists have not chalked the illnesses up to COVID-19, but rather something far more sinister and unlikely.