Tag: Heres

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Politics

This is the story behind the picture

Here's the story behind the photo

One of the most enduring and endearing photos of Joe Biden’s inauguration doesn’t show the president at all. Rather, a picture of independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders made waves on the internet and sparked thousands of memos on social media.

In the picture, Sanders is wearing oversized mittens and a practical brown coat, sitting socially distant on a folding chair with crossed legs and arms. It is this photo of the former Democratic presidential candidate that has been transposed in time and place, and translated into historical moments, movie scenes, famous paintings and more.

Brendan Smialowski, a Washington-based photojournalist who covers politics for the news agency Agence France-Presse, captured the picture of Sanders.

“The picture is really not that great,” Smialowski told CNBC. “It’s not the most beautiful composition in the world.”

He kept an eye on celebrity guests at Thursday’s inauguration ceremony, particularly Republicans Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who were criticized for their efforts to scrap the presidential election results.

“I saw Sen. Sanders playing around with his gloves out of my other eye. It was just a nice moment when he crossed his legs and arms,” ​​said Smialowski. “I threw the camera to him.”

The rest is history. The photo got there quickly on the internet, paired with fun captions, and was then cut out and pasted in different iterations.

Ashley Smalls, Ph.D. Penn State student shared the photo on Twitter and wrote, “This could have been an email.” As of Saturday morning, your tweet has more than 1.1 million likes and 139,700 retweets.

“When I saw Bernie’s photo, he was just reminding me of myself in the background of a meeting and waiting for it to be over,” Smalls told CNBC. “Most of the comments were from people saying ‘that’s me’ or ‘mood’ and I’m glad we’re all referring to that.”

Smialowski didn’t immediately notice the buzz around his photo, he said, but he got a few emails from his superiors saying that people were enjoying the picture. Later, when his email and social media notifications exploded, he knew his picture was going viral.

“I don’t think a photojournalist is crazy about his work becoming a meme,” said Smialowski. “But it’s nice to see that people are creative with something.”

The photojournalist said he enjoyed seeing versions of the meme in which Sanders was placed in paintings, especially when it appears that the creator made extra efforts in Photoshop to incorporate the Senator into the art.

During an interview on Thursday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Sanders said he had no idea the photo of him had become an internet sensation.

“I just sat there and tried to keep warm and pay attention to what was going on,” he said to Meyers.

Sanders credited Jen Ellis, a Vermont schoolteacher, with making the mittens he wore. According to Ellis, the mittens are made from reused wool sweaters and lined with fleece from recycled plastic bottles.

The Senator’s campaign store released a sweatshirt featuring the meme, with 100% of the proceeds going to Meals on Wheels Vermont. The round neckline is now sold out.

When asked why he thinks the Sanders photo is so popular with people, Smialowski said, “Sen. Sanders has a very well-defined brand and image. He is who he is and he feels comfortable in it and it’s very much part of his politics. “”

“It was a nice piece of life,” said Smialowski. “It’s just Bernie to be Bernie.”

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Business

With Larger Taxes Potential, Right here’s What to Do Now

With Higher Taxes Possible, Here’s What to Do Now

Some tax problems will arise later this year. One of these concerns people who own businesses and pay self-employment tax. They pay 12.4 percent of their income in social security taxes and 2.8 percent for Medicare, but only for the first $ 142,800. This cap could be lifted so that all income is subject to self-employment tax.

One strategy is for owners to convert their business from a limited liability company to an S sub-chapter company, which could lower the tax on self-employment, said Edward Reitmeyer, partner in tax and corporate services at Marcum, an accounting firm.

But it has to be done carefully. What an S-Gesellschaft pays in distributions from the company’s income is exempt from self-employment tax. However, the owner of the S corporation cannot simply make distributions to himself. he must receive some compensation, which is subject to self-employment tax.

“The IRS will come after you if your compensation is too low,” said Mr. Reitmeyer. “But with this structure you are at least prepared to change the unlimited income tax on income.”

Business & Economy

Updated

Jan. 22, 2021, 7:23 p.m. ET

Perhaps the biggest concern for this year is what will happen to the capital gains tax rate, which is currently 20 percent. Most wealth advisors will bet on an increase, probably at the same level as income tax. That’s not such a jump for most earners, but for someone in the top tax bracket, 37 percent.

How much tax you pay on the appreciation of your stock holdings is one of the few taxes that you can control because it is up to you when selling stocks. However, you need to calculate whether it makes more sense to sell stocks that have appreciated particularly after the 2020 ramp-up and pay the tax now or hold on to them.

Several factors play a role here. If the strategy is to hold these securities until your death and not pay capital gains tax, this tax break could come to an end, as my column pointed out last week. The Biden government could repeal the rule that fixes the value of assets in an estate at the time of the owner’s death and wipes out years of capital gains. The administration could instead require that heirs pay tax on those profits when they sell the property.

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Politics

Right here’s What’s in Biden’s Government Orders Geared toward Covid-19

Here’s What’s in Biden’s Executive Orders Aimed at Covid-19

WASHINGTON – President Joseph R. Biden Jr. published a series of new presidential ordinances and guidelines on Thursday aimed at expediting the production of Covid-19 consumables, increasing testing capacity, and requiring masks to be worn during interstate travel – part of a He announced the extensive 200-page edition of the National Pandemic Strategy at an event in the White House.

Taken together, the orders signal Mr Biden’s earliest priorities to achieve a more central federal response to the spread of the coronavirus. Some of them reflect actions taken during the Trump administration, while most are trying to change course.

Here is the goal of the orders.

A mandate calls on those in charge of the authorities to look for bottlenecks in areas such as personal protective equipment and vaccine supply and to determine where the administration could apply the Defense Production Act to increase production. The White House has announced that it will use the Korean War-era law that the Trump administration used in its vaccine development program to increase production of a type of syringe that pharmacists can use to extract an extra dose from vaccine bottles.

The Biden team said they identified 12 “immediate supply shortages” critical to the pandemic response, including N95 surgical masks and isolation gowns, and swabs, reagents and pipettes used for testing.

“On the asymptomatic screening side, we are completely undercapacitive, so we need the money to really move the testing forward, which is so important for schools and businesses to reopen,” said Jeffrey D. Zients, the white’s new Covid-19 House response coordinator.

Another assignment is to set up a Pandemic Testing Board, an idea that came from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Production Board, to speed up testing. The new government promises to expand the country’s range of rapid tests and double tests, and expand the laboratory space for testing and monitoring for coronavirus hotspots.

“These efforts will ensure we test where it is needed and where it is most needed, helping schools and businesses reopen safely and protect the most vulnerable, such as those living in long-term care facilities.” said Biden in his Thursday remarks.

Mr. Biden has vowed to use his powers as President to influence the wearing of masks wherever legally entitled, including on federal property and when traveling across state lines. An order issued on Thursday requires masks to be worn at airports and on many planes, intercity buses and trains.

The same ordinance also requires international travelers to demonstrate that they recently had a negative coronavirus test before traveling to the U.S. and adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Quarantine guidelines after landing.

On a mandate, the Secretary for Health and Human Services and the White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator are being asked to re-evaluate the federal government’s Covid-19 data collection systems and report on their findings. It also calls on the heads of “all executive departments and agencies” to collect and share coronavirus-related data.

The Biden Administration

Updated

Jan. 22, 2021, 1:25 p.m. ET

The Trump administration struggled to agree on a centralized system last year, competing programs from the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC. Alex M. Azar II, the former secretary for health and personnel services, ordered hospitals to send daily reports of virus cases to a private provider, who submitted them to a centralized database in Washington instead of the CDC, which held the data previously were stored. The decision, which remains in effect, disgruntled CDC scientists.

Another mandate is to set up a Covid-19 Task Force for “Health Justice”, which recommends providing more funds for parts of the population that are particularly hard hit by the virus and, among other things, the needs of race, ethnicity, Analyze geography and disability. Mr Biden said Thursday that the task force would address hesitation in taking the vaccines.

The panel, which is housed in the Department of Health and Human Services, is part of a larger effort by the Biden government to draw more attention to persistent racial and ethnic differences in access to health care as minorities have been hospitalized and involved in Covid-19 died much higher rates. Mr. Biden appointed Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management at Yale, to lead the task force.

Mr Biden issued an order to protect workers’ health during the pandemic and asked the occupational safety and health authority to publish new guidance for employers. The regulation also calls on the agency to step up enforcement of existing regulations to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace.

The president also directed education, health and human services departments to issue new guidelines for safely reopening schools – a major controversy during the summer when White House and Health Department officials pressured the CDC to reduce the risk of posting Downplaying students back.

The Biden government is calling on the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the National Institutes of Health to work out a plan to support large, randomized trials of new drugs for Covid-19 and future public health crises . According to the Executive Order, the treatments should be “easy to manufacture, sell and administer, both domestically and internationally”.

The focus on randomized trials is on two emergency approvals – for convalescent plasma and the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine – that the Food and Drug Administration signed last year. Federal health officials, including FDA scientists, remain angry about the agency’s decisions under pressure from the Trump administration to clarify treatments without strong evidence from randomized trials.

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Politics

This is all the pieces being signed on Day 1

Here's everything being signed on Day 1

In his first few hours in the Oval Office, President-elect Joe Biden plans to sign more than a dozen executive orders to address challenges like the Covid pandemic and the student debt crisis.

Biden’s orders will also help overturn many of the orders issued by President Donald Trump, including the so-called Muslim travel ban and the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Senior members of the Biden Policy Team said during a press conference Tuesday evening that Biden would sign the Executive Orders immediately after his inauguration at noon.

The list of assignments and policies reported by CNBC included a “100 Day Masking Challenge,” requiring masks and physical distancing in all federal buildings, in all states, and by federal employees and contractors.

Also included in Biden’s health-oriented orders is a reversal of Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization.

Here is the full list of Biden’s Day One Executive Orders as detailed by the transition team:

  • Start a “100 Days Masking Challenge” and set a good example in the federal government
  • Re-engage with the World Health Organization to make Americans and the world safer
  • Structure of our federal government to coordinate a unified national response [to Covid-19]
  • Extension of the eviction and enforcement moratoria
  • Extension of the student loan
  • Accession to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change
  • Rollbacks President Trump’s environmental actions to protect public health and the environment, and restore science
  • Start a nationwide initiative to promote racial justice
  • Reverse President Trumps Executive Order to exclude undocumented immigrants from reallocation
  • Preserve and strengthen protections for dreamers
  • Lift the Muslim ban
  • Repeal of the Trump Interior Enforcement Executive Order
  • Stop building the border wall
  • Postponed forced departure for the presidential memorandum of the Liberians
  • Preventing and combating discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation
  • Personal Ethics of the Executive Executive Order
  • Regulatory Process Executive Order and Presidential Memorandum

The pandemic will continue to get worse before it gets better, said Jeff Zients, head of the Biden government’s Covid Response. ” This is clearly a national emergency and we will treat it as such. “

“We will mobilize an entire government response and work with states and municipalities and officials from both parties,” he added. “To get the vaccine out fairly as quickly as possible, we need all hands on deck to get shots in the arms and we will get everyone to work.”

Brian Deese, Biden’s decision to head the National Economic Council, followed Zients in the meeting and outlined several arrangements that will ease the financial burden on households struggling to pay rent and those working to repay student loans should.

Deese said Biden would urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development departments, to consider extending the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums immediately.

Biden will also urge the Department of Education to extend the hiatus on interest and principal payments on direct federal loans until at least September 30th.

“These immediate measures are important,” said Deese. “There are more than 11 million mortgages guaranteed by the VA, the Department of Agriculture and the HUD that would be affected by the extension of the foreclosure moratorium.”

Regarding climate change, on day one, Biden will lead the US back to the Paris Agreement, the landmark deal that sets ambitious goals for countries to reduce their carbon footprint over the next few decades. Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2017.

According to new climate advisor Gina McCarthy, the future president will also instruct all federal agencies to consider revising vehicle fuel emissions standards.

He will ask the Home Office to review the boundaries and conditions of the Grand Staircase-Escalante, Bears Ears, Northeast Canyons, and Seamounts Marine National Monuments. This order also imposes a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Susan Rice, Biden’s decision to chair the Home Affairs Council, will lead the government’s efforts to advance racial justice and advocate other underserved communities such as LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

Biden also plans to revoke the Trump administration’s order to exclude non-citizens from the census and division of congressional officials.

He will sign another ordinance to consolidate the program of delayed action on the arrival of children and urge Congress to “pass laws that people who came to this country as children and lived, worked and contributed to ours have permanent status and provide a route to citizenship. ” Country for many years. “

“For the first time, we will have a team of experts dedicated to justice, definition and racial justice,” said Rice. “The order is also direct [the Office of Management and Budget] Begin the work of fairer federal funding to empower underserved communities. “

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s new national security advisor, highlighted orders designed to facilitate the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant policing and the construction of the southern border wall.

First, Biden will lift Trump’s so-called Muslim ban, a series of two presidential proclamations restricting entry to the United States from mainly Muslim and African countries. Sullivan said these proclamations are “rooted in xenophobia” and incompatible with America’s rich history of diversity and immigration.

Biden will order an immediate halt to the construction of the southern boundary wall, which will “allow for a thorough review of the legality of the financing and contracting methods used and the best path for diverting funds diverted from the previous administration to funding wall construction.”

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Entertainment

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. 1 in a Week. Right here’s How.

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. 1 in a Week. Here’s How.

The music industry’s first runaway hit single of the year is instantly a proven model – a Disney actress turning to pop with a catchy and sectarian break-up ballad – and also an unprecedented TikTok smash of a teenager.

“Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo, 17, debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on Tuesday after a record breaking first week on streaming services such as Spotify and Amazon Music. Along the way, the autobiographical song sparked speculation across tabloids and social media as listeners tried to piece together its real-life parallels like it was a song by Rodrigo’s hero Taylor Swift. TikTok videos resulted in blog posts that resulted in streams, news articles and back again. The feedback loop made it unbeatable.

“It was absolutely the craziest week of my life,” said Rodrigo, who actually got her driver’s license last year, in an interview. “My whole life changed in an instant.”

During a shaky and uncertain time for the music business, amid the pandemic and unrest, “Drivers License” was released across platforms and with a music video on January 8th by Geffen Records. The song was then streamed more than 76.1 million times a week in the US, according to Billboard, the highest sum since Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” in August (93 million). On Spotify, Drivers License set a daily global stream record for a non-holiday song on Jan. 11. and then hit his own number the next day and eventually set the service’s record for most streams in a week worldwide.

The title reached # 1 in 48 countries on Apple Music, 31 countries on Spotify and 14 countries on YouTube, Rodrigo’s label said. Billboard reported that it sold 38,000 downloads in the US, most this week, and had 8.1 million impressions from radio airplay viewers.

“We definitely had no idea how big it was going to get,” said Jeremy Erlich, Spotify’s co-head of music. “It just flown into this monster, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. And I think differently than anything anyone has seen before. “

The company, which accounted for more than 60 percent of the song’s worldwide streams in the first week, responded to the initial interest with increased advertising for the track, which is now on 150 official Spotify playlists. “It’s definitely not going to slow down,” said Erlich. “It’s the topic in the company and in the industry.”

The song, written by Rodrigo and the producer Dan Nigro starts out very simply: “I got my driver’s license last week,” Rodrigo sings about a basic piano part, “just like we always talked about it.” But at the end of the first verse she cries “in the suburbs” and the music swells until a cathartic bridge strikes with a type-breaking swear word. The song “successfully balances dark but crisp melodrama with a bold melody, gently pointed singing with sharp images,” wrote the critic Jon Caramanica. “It’s a modern and successful pop song in every way.”

“Drivers License” may represent Rodrigo’s real debut as a solo artist, but thanks to her Disney roles, she came with a built-in audience. Born and raised in Southern California, she became a regular talent show at the age of 8 and was first cast on “Bizaardvark,” which aired three seasons on Disney Channel between 2016 and 2019. Rodrigo, who learned to play guitar for the role with Paige Olvera, a teenager who makes songs and videos for an online content studio.

She can currently be seen as Nini Salazar-Roberts in the Disney + series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”. Last year, a song written by Rodrigo, “All I Want,” became the show’s most successful track to date.

But like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato before her – and Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera before them – Rodrigo recorded her experience in the Disney machine and tried to translate it for a wider, more adult audience. Fans have speculated that “Drivers License” is about Rodigro’s “High School Musical” co-star Joshua Bassett, who released his own single- and car-centric video on Friday.

Erlich, the executive director of Spotify, said that for Rodrigo “there was a lot of X-Factors that made this the perfect storm” including the gossip, the quality of her song, the marketing plan prepared in advance by her label, and the support of celebrities like Swift and the TikToker Charli D’Amelio. “It aligned perfectly and faster than anything we’ve ever seen,” he said. “We saw such an alignment, but it usually spans three to six months – it happened in a day and a half.”

Rodrigo called the song “a little time capsule” of a monumental half year that she had experienced last year. Acknowledging the “archetype” of the Disney star turned pop star, she said she was nervous about the collision of reactions from “people who have never heard my name and people who have been with me on TV grew up. “But she was thrilled to find both groups interested.

“The cool thing about ‘Drivers License’ is that I’ve seen so many videos of people saying, ‘I have no idea who this girl is, but I really love this song,’ which was really interesting to me because For so long I’m really only tied to projects and characters, and that’s how people know me, ”she said. “It’s really cool to be introduced to people for the first time through a song that I’m really passionate about.”

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Entertainment

The Arts Are in Disaster. Right here’s How Biden Can Assist.

The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help.

American art institutions shouldn’t give up their independence for crumbs. Especially with the pandemic easing, the more pressing task is to promote richer cultural offerings at the local level. A nimbler and more practical solution to this is a White House office for cultureSimilar to the National Economic Council or the Domestic Policy Council, which could research and coordinate art policy throughout the federal government.

An arts center in the President’s Executive Office – run by a “Dr. Fauci of Culture “- could be sharper and faster than a complete department. This team could help the Treasury Department develop cultural tax policies, advise the education department on music lessons, and liaise with Congress on arts incentives. It is important to ensure that economic funds for states and municipalities whose budgets have been burdened by tax deficits caused by stoppages support and ultimately strengthen the local arts organizations. (“Almost no one has been more injured by Covid than our artists,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said this week as he announced a public-private partnership supporting state arts organizations.)

The new administration should too re-establish the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, whose members resigned en masse in 2017 following Mr Trump’s reaction to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Artists who stepped down included director George C. Wolfe, writer Jhumpa Lahiri, actor Kal Penn, and architect Thom Mayne.) To use a metaphor that I detest but that politicians seem to like, this committee should Be the hiss of steak that is the bureau of culture. Any transformation this big requires a sales pitch. Well-known actors, writers, and musicians should be the pitchmen who connect Broadway and Hollywood to the city library and school theater.

During last year’s election campaign, Mr. Biden had one sentence that he called almost musically on a regular basis: The election, he always said, was a “fight for the soul of America”. As a piece of political rhetoric, it could just have been a platitude. However, how can I deny that the Capitol’s near-sacking – in a week when the daily Covid-19 death toll hit an unbearable 4,000 Americans for the first time – suggests the United States has seen these last few years some kind of soul death? And if you were treating a patient whose soul was curdled, what kind of medicine could you prescribe?

I have always been careful with arguments about the “necessity” of art. But a mentally ill nation is unlikely to recover if it loses fundamental parts of its humanity. Without actors and dancers and musicians and artists, a society will indeed have lost something necessary – for these citizens, these workers, they are the technicians of a social catharsis that cannot come soon enough. A respiratory virus and riot have left the country breathless in their own way. Artists can teach us to exhale if they’re still with us for years to come.

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Business

A brand new Covid variant has been found — this is what we all know to this point

A new Covid variant has been discovered — here's what we know so far

A patient arrives at 28 de Agosto Hospital in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil on January 14, 2021 amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Manaus faces a lack of oxygen and sleeping places as the city has been overrun by a second surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

MICHAEL DANTAS | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – A new variant of coronavirus identified in Brazil has heightened concern among public health experts, leading to warnings that more new strains are likely to emerge.

The news of the variant in Brazil comes after two separate mutant strains of the virus were discovered in the UK and South Africa earlier this year.

Researchers are urgently investigating the variants of Covid that are believed to have similar characteristics in order to better understand the threat they pose.

Viruses mutate naturally, and there is no evidence that the newly discovered strains have more serious disease outcomes.

However, the Covid variants are believed to be more transmissible than the original variant that triggered the pandemic, and this could lead to higher numbers of serious infections and additional deaths.

Health officials have recommended washing hands, physically distancing yourself, and using personal protective equipment to prevent the virus from spreading.

What is known about the variant found in Brazil?

Earlier this month, the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) announced that it had discovered a new variant of Covid in four travelers from the Brazilian state of Amazonas on January 2.

A man in his forties who was found to be asymptomatic when he arrived in Japan was hospitalized because his breathing condition was deteriorating. A woman in her thirties reported a sore throat and headache, a man between 10 and 19 years of age had a fever, and a young woman over 10 was asymptomatic.

This variant of the virus belongs to the strain B.1.1.248 and, according to the NIID, has 12 mutations in the spike protein. Spike proteins are used by the virus to enter cells in the body.

On January 14, 2021, nurses chatting outside 28 de Agosto Hospital in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

MICHAEL DANTAS | AFP | Getty Images

NIID said it was difficult to immediately determine how contagious the new strain is and how effective vaccines against it are.

To date, Brazil has registered more than 8.3 million Covid cases and 207,000 virus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The South American country is the second largest country for Covid-related deaths worldwide after the US.

Travel ban

The UK on Friday imposed a ban on travelers from South America (and Portugal and Cape Verde) to deter people from bringing the new variant into the country.

The country’s Secretary of Transportation, Grant Shapps, told the BBC this was a precautionary measure. He added that scientists believe the coronavirus vaccines will work on the new variant.

“We looked very closely at this particular mutation, unlike many other thousands, and realized that there might be a problem, not so much that the vaccine isn’t working. In fact, scientists believe it will work, just the fact is more spreadable, “said Shapps, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, British chief advisor Patrick Vallance told ITV that there was a “slightly greater risk” of the vaccine’s effectiveness with regard to the Covid variant identified in Brazil.

What about the mutant strains in the UK and South Africa?

On December 14th, the UK health authorities reported a variant to the WHO identified as SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01. It is unclear how the new strain came about, but preliminary results have shown that it is highly infectious.

It originally appeared in the south east of England, but has since been the dominant variety in much of the UK and has spread to more than 50 other countries. Numerous nations then imposed bans on travelers from Great Britain.

Healthcare professionals wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) enter a makeshift ward devoted to treating possible COVID-19 coronavirus patients at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria on January 11, 2021.

Phill Magakoe | AFP | Getty Images

Independently of this, the national authorities in South Africa announced the detection of the variant 501Y.V2 on December 18. Preliminary studies have shown that variant 501Y.V2 also increases portability. It has since reportedly been found in at least 20 other countries.

The variants that emerged separately both share a genetic mutation in the spike protein.

What happens next?

Studies are currently ongoing to understand the transferability and severity of the newly discovered variants of Covid, as well as their possible effects on vaccines.

After approximately 10 months of relative inactivity, “we have seen a remarkable evolution of SARS-CoV-2 with a repeated evolutionary pattern in the worrying SARS-CoV-2 variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil.” Dr. Trevor Bedford, a virologist and associate professor at the University of Washington, said Thursday via Twitter.

Bedford, who also works with Fred Hutch’s vaccines and infectious diseases division, warned that the hypothesis was “highly speculative” at the time. “But separately, the fact that we’ve seen three worrying variants since September suggests that more are likely to follow.”

To date, more than 93.2 million people worldwide have contracted Covid-19 with 1.99 million deaths.

Professor Devi Sridhar, Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, said on Friday the world has “become the playground of the virus to mutate and develop (especially) in countries that have allowed higher prevalence”.

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Business

Mega Hundreds of thousands jackpot leaps to $600 million. Right here’s the tax invoice

Mega Millions jackpot leaps to $600 million. Here’s the tax bill

Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images

No, you did not hit the Mega Millions jackpot of $ 520 million.

The lottery game’s grand prize rose to a whopping $ 600 million for Tuesday night’s drawing after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night. The amount marks the eighth largest jackpot in the history of the lottery. Powerball’s jackpot is an estimated $ 470 million for the Saturday night draw.

Of course, the amounts shown are not what the winners would end up with. Lottery officials must withhold 24% of large winnings for federal taxes. And that’s just the beginning of what you would pay Uncle Sam and usually state coffers.

More from Personal Finance:
Some newlyweds face a marriage tax penalty
Here are three of my worst money mistakes
Avoid mistakes in asset allocation in the event of a divorce

For the $ 600 million Mega Millions jackpot, the cash option that most winners choose instead of an annuity is $ 442.4 million. The 24% retention would save approximately $ 106.2 million before the price hits you.

However, you can be rest assured that you owe more to the IRS.

The highest marginal tax rate is 37%. If the winner’s taxable income were not reduced – such as B. large donations for charity – would be another 13% or 57.5 million at the tax time. USD to pay the IRS (this would be April 2022 for jackpots claimed in 2021).

That would be a total of $ 163.7 million that would go to the IRS.

There are also state taxes. Depending on where you live, this hit can be more than 8%.

The cash option for the $ 470 million Powerball jackpot is $ 362.7 million. If there is a winner, the 24% withholding tax would cut $ 87 million off the top. Another 13% would be $ 47.2 million, for the tax officer a total of $ 134.2 million.

Despite handing over a substantial amount to federal and state coffers, the post-tax amount would be life changing. Experts say jackpot winners should assemble a team of seasoned professionals – including a lawyer, tax advisor, and financial advisor – to help manage their sudden fortune.

Most gamers don’t need to worry, however. The chance of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot with a single ticket is tiny: 1 in 302 million. For Powerball, the odds are slightly better: 1 in 292 million.

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Politics

Congress is ready to substantiate Joe Biden’s win over Trump. Here is what to know

Congress is set to confirm Joe Biden's win over Trump. Here's what to know

The U.S. Capitol Building is reflected in a puddle in Washington, United States, on November 10, 2020.

Hannah McKay | Reuters

Congress on Wednesday will count and confirm the votes cast by the electoral college, a process that will virtually finalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory despite recent plans by some Republicans to question the election results.

The joint session will begin at 1:00 p.m. CET in the House Chamber, and Vice President Mike Pence is expected to chair.

In previous presidential cycles, the event was viewed as more of a formality than another battle in the White House war. After all, it comes more than three weeks after state voters have cast their votes and almost a month after what is known as the safe harbor to settle disputes over the results.

Yet more than a dozen GOP senators and dozens more in the House of Representatives have vowed to raise an unprecedented number of objections to electoral votes in key states despite Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., And other Republicans abandoning the crusade . This could add hours or even days to the certification process, but experts say the final result will stay the same.

“The ultimate outcome, I think, is inevitable,” said Keith Whittington, policy professor at Princeton University, in an interview with CNBC. “It’s just a matter of how long it will be to get there and how many fireworks will be on the way.”

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden jokingly thanks voters for Georgia confirming its victory three times as he camped on behalf of Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock during a January 5 runoff during a car campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Jan. 4, 2021.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

The objectors, some of whom are rumored to have presidential ambitions, reworded Wednesday’s joint session as a final opportunity to cast doubts on the electoral process and press for a 10-day review of the results in a number of battlefield states.

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Was the first in the chamber to announce appeal plans and eleven others, led by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued in a later statement that “unprecedented allegations of electoral fraud” and “deep “Suspicion” of the results requires investigation.

None of these senators’ statements made any mention of President Donald Trump, who has a broad and dedicated base of Republican support, had been relentlessly promoting unsubstantiated and exposed fraud conspiracies since the November 3 elections. The president and his allies have also filed dozens of lawsuits aimed at overturning the election results, including in the Supreme Court, but almost all of them have been denied.

Trump refuses to admit Biden, falsely claiming he won the race while pressuring state officials to change the results of their elections and attack Republicans who refused to participate.

The President’s unsubstantiated claim that his election was stolen from him and that many votes for Biden should be rejected poses a threat to Republicans. McConnell reportedly warned his caucus that following Trump’s wishes by objecting to the election count would force a vote that would likely split the party.

This could also cause discomfort to the Vice President, an unwavering loyalist to Trump who is expected to lead the session and ultimately declare Biden the winner. Experts say Pence’s role in the process is largely ceremonial, but Trump has appeared to have been hanging hopes for the past few days on the Vice President, who “comes through” for him on Wednesday.

“If he doesn’t get through, I won’t like him that much, of course,” Trump said Monday night at a rally in Georgia.

Political experts have also warned that Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in elections could dampen GOP turnout in Georgia’s key runoff races on Tuesday, the results of which will determine Senate party control. On Saturday, Trump pressed the Georgian Foreign Minister Brad Raffensperger in a one-hour phone call To “find” enough votes to undo Biden’s victory there.

After a replay of the call was leaked, Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Said on the eve of her race against Democratic candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock that she, too, would appeal. David Perdue, who is running against Jon Ossoff and whose term as Senator in Georgia expired on Sunday, also called on Senate Republicans to raise objections.

Once Congress finishes counting, Biden’s final step is to take the oath of office on January 20th.

This is how the meeting in Congress on Wednesday is expected to go:

The electoral list

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) swears new members of Congress during the first session of the 117th Congress in the Chamber of the House in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, United States, on January 3, 2021.

Thassos Catopodis Reuters

The procedure is scheduled to begin in the house at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Pence receives the electoral lists of the states in alphabetical order. The Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules Committee will receive and count these votes.

Once a state’s record is released, Pence will ask if there are any objections. If at least one member of the Senate and one member of the House objects in writing, the two chambers will be divided for up to two hours of debate. You will then vote on the objections separately.

Traditionally, everything is “pretty superficial,” Whittington said. “It doesn’t take long to open all of the envelopes, record the votes, and then make an announcement.”

All objections are expected to be denied – but the possibility of separate debates over the highlights of several states could mean that the process will drag on far longer than in previous elections. For the past three cycles, certification took less than an hour total, according to NBC News.

Once the votes are counted and the objections resolved, Pence will announce the election results.

Pence in the spotlight

Vice President Mike Pence finishes a swearing in ceremony for senators in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill on January 3, 2021 in Washington, DC. Both chambers hold rare Sunday events to open the new Congress on January 3rd, as the constitution dictates.

J. Scott Applewhite | Getty Images

Pence, believed to be weighing a 2024 presidential campaign, is likely eager to do whatever it takes to avoid a barrage of criticism from Trump. The president has repeatedly cracked down on other Republicans he previously supported, particularly Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, after they refused to sustain his election overthrow efforts.

Experts say Pence, in his narrow role at Wednesday’s joint session, can do little.

“He opens the ballot. That’s his job,” said Neil Kinkopf, law professor at Georgia State University.

In carefully worded remarks to Georgia voters on Monday, Pence telegraphed support for the president and suggested that he let the process go as expected.

“I know we all have our doubts about the last election. And I want to assure you that I share the concerns of millions of Americans about electoral irregularities,” he said. “And I promise you, come this Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress. We’ll hear the objections. We’ll hear the evidence.”

Even so, Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that Pence’s powers are far greater.

“The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently elected voters,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

In late December, Texas Republican MP Louie Gohmert, along with a group of Arizona Republicans, urged a federal court to declare that Pence had a unilateral power to decide which votes to count.

The long-term offer, in which Pence himself was listed as a defendant, was severely pushed back by a Justice Department attorney who represented the vice president. The lawsuit was dismissed last week.

Categories
Health

The UK is delaying second Pfizer/BioNTech shot: Here is what we all know

The UK is delaying second Pfizer/BioNTech shot: Here's what we know

The medical staff will receive the Pfizer-Biontech Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in the Favoriten Clinic in Vienna on December 27, 2020 on the occasion of the launch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine.

Georg Hochmuth | AFP | Getty Images

The UK’s decision to delay the administration of the second dose of a coronavirus vaccine is controversial as experts, advisors and vaccine manufacturers weigh the strategy.

The UK was one of the first countries in the world to launch a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus after approving the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech in early December. Oxford University and AstraZeneca began rolling out the vaccine on Monday of this week after it was approved for use just before the New Year.

As both vaccines require two doses per person, the UK government initially said that a second dose would be given either three or four weeks after the first dose, depending on which vaccine was given and in line with the dosage regimens tested in clinical trials.

However, a break of up to 12 weeks is now recommended to give more people an initial dose – and initial protection against Covid-19.

Concerns from the vaccine manufacturer

BioNTech and Pfizer have responded to the decision, saying there is no evidence that their vaccine will continue to protect against Covid-19 if the second shot is given more than 21 days after the starting dose.

“Pfizer and BioNTech’s Phase 3 study of the COVID-19 vaccine was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine on a 2-dose regimen separated by 21 days. The safety and efficacy The majority of study participants received the second dose within the window specified in the study design, “the companies said in a statement to CNBC on Tuesday.

“Although data from the Phase 3 study showed partial protection from the vaccine as early as 12 days after the first dose, there is no data to show that protection is maintained after 21 days after the first dose.”

The companies said it was now “critical to conduct surveillance efforts” with alternative dosing schedules in place.

The final analysis of data from the Pfizer / BioNTech clinical trials found the vaccine to be 95% effective given seven days after the second dose in preventing Covid-19.

For the Oxford University / AstraZeneca candidate, the interim analysis of the late-stage study results was somewhat more nuanced, as the vaccine doses to the study participants showed an anomaly. When the vaccine was given in two full doses, it was found to be 62.1% effective, but when some study participants received half a dose followed by a full dose of 90%. In both dosing regimens, the two shots were given one month apart. AstraZeneca was not immediately available for comment on the UK’s decision to postpone the second dose.

Reasons for the decision

The decision to extend the dosage window is made as UK hospitals struggle with increasing admissions. The coronavirus is running amok in the UK, with a new, transmissible strain of the virus spreading exponentially in London and the South East, and now appearing in other parts of the country.

To date, the country has recorded over 2.6 million cases of coronavirus and more than 75,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The UK recorded 58,784 new cases on Monday and has now reported more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases for seven days in a row. On Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a third nationwide lockdown for England.

Against this dire backdrop, the UK Medicines Agency, Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee and the UK’s four chief medical officers agreed to move the gap between the first and second vaccine dose to “protect the greatest number of people in India” the shortest Time. “

There are signs that other Britain may follow suit. The German Ministry of Health is now asking an independent vaccination commission for advice on whether the British strategy on dose delay should be adhered to. Denmark has reportedly already approved a delay of up to six weeks between the first and second vaccinations.

‘Finely balanced’

So far, more than a million people in the UK have been vaccinated with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, according to government figures, and some, like the first recipient of this vaccine outside of a clinical trial, have received their second dose.

But now, thousands of others in the top priority category are being told to wait up to 12 weeks for their second dose.

The British Medical Association described the move as “grossly unfair” to thousands of high-risk patients in England, but the UK’s Independent Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) said in a statement released on Sunday that it was a “very difficult and finely balanced” move be decision. “

In response to the BMA’s concerns, SAGE said, “Under normal circumstances, we would advocate continuing our previous plans to give two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine 21 days apart. However, these are not normal circumstances, and so it is are other important public health considerations. “

The UK is prioritizing vaccination of elderly care home residents, their carers, people over 80, and frontline health and social workers.

The country has pre-ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, enough for 20 million people, and signed a contract with AstraZeneca for 100 million doses, enough for 50 million people. There are around 66 million people in Great Britain.