Dogecoin continues its scarcely believable surge.
By Jason Karaian
May 5, 2021, 8:25 a.m. ET
Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency that started as a joke, is on a tear. A surge in the past day pushed it to another record, sending it some 14,000 percent higher than it started the year.

One theory is that the upcoming appearance of Elon Musk, the Tesla chief executive and noted Dogecoin superfan, as the host of “Saturday Night Live” on May 8 could get more people interested in trading the crypto token. It’s as good a reason as any for those who try to rationalize its movements.

The latest bout of Dogecoin mania has somewhat overshadowed what’s going on in Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, which also set records this week and made its 27-year-old co-creator, Vitalik Buterin, a billionaire (in dollars). The price of Ether, the crypto token built on the Ethereum blockchain, is up more than 350 percent for the year to date, outpacing Bitcoin’s relatively pedestrian 90 percent gain — which, for context, outpaces every stock in the S&P 500 over that period.

Israel has delivered just under 10 million doses of the two-shot Pfizer vaccine regimen, reaching 4.98 million people, or about 55 percent of its total population. An additional 400,000 Israelis have received one shot. If those who have been infected and then recovered are added in, more than 60 percent of Israeli residents now have some level of protective antibodies. The virus is running short of vulnerable bodies to infect.

Four people, including a child, were killed Wednesday evening and a fifth person was injured in a mass shooting at an Orange office complex.

It marks the third mass shooting in the United States in two weeks, coming after incidents at three Atlanta spas that killed eight people, including six Asian women, and at a Boulder, Colo. supermarket that killed 10.

President Biden on Wednesday in Pittsburgh will outline a plan worth more than $2 trillion centered on an ambitious infrastructure initiative to repair, replace or rebuild the country’s roads, bridges, schools and more, as well as fund expanded broadband access, training programs and family caregiving.
The proposal represents Biden’s long-anticipated attempt to make progress on an issue — the state of the nation’s public works — that has languished for years despite bipartisan consensus that improvements are needed.

“The urgency and need for action has been identified again and again in Washington, and we now have an opportunity to really do something about it,” said an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity before Wednesday’s announcement.

An updated exit poll shows the Netanyahu bloc up to 53, while his opposition is up to 60, which means that even with Yamina joining him, he would not make a majority of 61.

The updated figures give Likud 31 seats, Yesh Atid 17, Shas 9, the Joint List 8, Kahol Lavan 8, Yamina 7, Labor 7, Meretz 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Yisrael Beiteinu 7, Religious Zionism 6, and New Hope 6. The United Arab List remains out. (Haaretz)

Manchin also rejected calls by proponents of gutting filibuster rules to require 41 senators to be present to sustain a filibuster.

"No, I'm still at 60. OK?" he said.