Friday, February 4   |  Follow Teresa on Twitter

Pence finally says Trump is wrong, Stormy spanks Avenatti, the Olympics begin, and the antisocial GOP By Teresa M. Hanafin, Globe Staff Good day! It's Friday, Feb. 4. It's Rosa Parks Day in New York, California, and Missouri. Sunrise in Boston was at 6:54 a.m. and sunset will be at 5:02 p.m. for 10 hours and 8 minutes of sunlight. The waxing moon is 15 percent full. The Old Farmer's Almanac says if you want to make your own toilet water (a less concentrated version of perfume), all you need is an ounce of honey-water, two ounces of Eau sans Pareille, about five drachms of jasmine-water, an ounce of clove-water, an ounce of violet-water, two drachms of Cyprus-water, two drachms of sweet Calamus-water, two drachms of lavender-water, and ten drops of Spirit of Neroli or Oranges. Easy peasy. What's it like outside? Rainy, sleety, freezy. The weekend will be sunny but cold, in the 20s, with Sunday's wind chill making it feel like it's below zero. Breaking: Former VP Mike Pence said today that "President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election." Word is that fire engines are screaming their way to Mar-a-Lago to deal with a massive explosion that is spewing orange smoke all over Palm Beach. Also, oily lawyer Michael Avenatti was convicted today of stealing $300,000 from former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, money she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with Trump while he was married to Melania. Hey, sport: It's bad enough that the Giants conducted a sham head coaching interview with former Patriots assistant coach Brian Flores (makes you wonder how many others have happened). But Flores' claim that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per game to intentionally lose games in 2019 so that the team could secure a higher draft position is just as explosive and could spell a boatload of trouble for the Dolphins and Ross in particular. With Red Sox DH David Ortiz's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the retirement of QB Tom Brady, the Globe's Chad Finn asks: During the two-decade dominance of Boston teams, including Celtics and Bruins championship, what period of that era was the very best? He has an interesting answer. Today's US coronavirus / COVID-19 numbers in the US From the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University Confirmed US cases: 76,165,124 Confirmed US deaths: 899,895 From The New York Times COVID-19 map and case count: VACCINATIONS Fully vaccinated (two shots): 64 percent of all Americans Boosted: 27 percent of all Americans Partially vaccinated: 11 percent of all Americans No shots: 25 percent of all Americans Seven-day average of daily vaccinations: 709,875 A month ago: 1.4 million INFECTIONS New cases yesterday: 312,238 A month ago: 885,906 HOSPITALIZATIONS Yesterday: 123,279 people infected with COVID-19 were in the hospital A month ago: 116,187 people DEATHS Yesterday: 3,022 Americans died from COVID-19 A month ago: 1,650 Americans died in one day The COVID-19 vaccines work. So it's pretty mind-blowing that people are willing to die rather than get one of the COVID-19 vaccines. Take this guy in North Carolina whose kidneys are failing. He needs a transplant, but his transplant center, like most, requires that would-be recipients meet certain criteria -- including being vaccinated against COVID-19 to improve their chances of surviving with their new organs. He would rather die than get the vaccine. Say hello to God for me. Then there's the Washington state trooper who was fired because he refused to get vaxxed. In his final signoff in October, broadcast over his police radio, Robert LaMay whined about his situation, then launched a vulgar insult at the state's governor, Jay Inslee. So classy. Naturally, he became a hero to conservatives, and many right-wing TV and radio hosts interviewed him on air, celebrating his refusal. LaMay died last month. Of Covid-19. And not one of those radical right hosts who celebrated him in October have told their viewers he died. They just moved on to other vaccine refuseniks who haven't died yet. That celebration of anti-vaxxers is typical of today's anti-facts Republican Party. Take the Republican National Committee: Today it voted to censure US Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for agreeing to serve on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The RNC also declared that the attack on the US Capitol, the attempt to overturn the presidential election, and the plan to stop the peaceful transfer of power, was merely "legitimate political discourse." Honest to God, when my knee starts aching, I want some of whatever it is that they're smokin'. Some Republicans were horrified by the committee's actions, including US Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, whose niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel, is the RNC chairwoman. Awkward! He wrote on Twitter: Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol. Honor attaches to Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for seeking truth even when doing so comes at great personal cost. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan also took to Twitter: The GOP I believe in is the party of freedom and truth. It's a sad day for my party -- and the country -- when you're punished just for expressing your beliefs, standing on principle, and refusing to tell blatant lies. NY Times columnist Paul Krugman argues that these stances and moves are all part of a whole: The right's constant attacks on essential government functions, be it public health (the vaccines), free and fair elections, keeping Americans safe by implementing gun control, even protecting the electric grid in Texas. His conclusion? The Republican Party today is antisocial: As Thomas Hobbes could have told you, human beings can only flourish, can only avoid a state of nature in which lives are "nasty, brutish and short," if they participate in a "commonwealth" — a society in which government takes on much of the responsibility for making life secure. The modern American right is antisocial because its members reject any policy that relies on social cooperation, and they want us to return instead to Hobbes's dystopian state of nature. We won't try to keep guns out of the hands of potential mass murderers; instead, we'll rely on teacher-vigilantes to gun them down once the shooting has already started. We won't try to limit the spread of infectious diseases; instead, we'll tell people to take drugs that are expensive, ineffective, or both after they've already gotten sick. In the end, none of this will work. Government exists for a reason. But the right's constant attacks on essential government functions will take a toll, making all of our lives nastier, more brutish, and shorter.   Back to the Jan. 6 insurrection: CNN is reporting that the House select committee has found out that US Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio spoke with Trump for 10 minutes the morning of Jan. 6. Remember Jordan's evasive, stammering answers that he couldn't recall whether he spoke with Trump that day, or maybe he spoke with him, or maybe it was Don Jr. or maybe it was Barron ...   As we know, Jordan later that afternoon objected to Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Hmm. Wonder where he got that idea.   Meanwhile, Biden's having a great few days. The economy added 467,000 jobs in January, meaning that his administration created 6.6 million jobs in the first year of his presidency, the most since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The military killed the leader of ISIS, the country's GDP grew 5.7 percent last year (highest since 1984), wages also have grown 5.7 percent, and the House passed a Biden priority: A bill worth billions to strengthen the country's semiconductor industry and shore up supply chains. Sure, inflation is at 7 percent, but the Fed thinks its plan to raise interest rates next month will deal with that.   The Olympic Games in Beijing have started, and China thumbed its nose at the world by having an athlete with a Uyghur name help light the cauldron at the close of the elaborate opening ceremonies this morning. (You can watch a repeat of the ceremonies at 8 tonight on NBC.) As you know, the US and other countries are conducting a diplomatic boycott of China because of its ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims. Trump bestie Vladimir Putin was the guest of honor at the opening ceremonies, showing the West that Putin and Xi Jinping are teaming up, with the common goal of expanding their autocratic rule -- Russia to Ukraine, China to Taiwan. Meanwhile, the US has had some victories in the preliminary competitions: The women's hockey team beat Finland, 5-2, for example, and figure skater Nathan Chen finished first in the men's short program. Medals will start being awarded tomorrow; here's a full schedule for you and how to watch. And you can sign up for our free Olympics newsletter to keep up with all the news.   Finally, if you're looking for good TV to watch as ice coats every square inch of your yard and neighborhood, the Globe's Matthew Gilbert lists his 10 favorite miniseries that were created specifically for streaming (i.e., not cable shows that later moved to streaming channels). Enjoy. Thanks for reading. After writing so much about Republicans, I'm looking forward to watching Matthew's suggestion of the miniseries "Normal People." E-mail comments and suggestions to teresa.hanafin@globe.com, or follow me on Twitter @BostonTeresa. See you next week.   Please tell your friends about Fast Forward! They can sign up here. The Globe has lots of other e-mail newsletters that are almost as good as this one, from breaking news alerts to sports, politics, business, and entertainment -- check them out.