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Here’s what you need to know
Joe Biden won Georgia after a recount. The US president-elect expects the state’s result, which now gives him 306 electoral votes, to be certified today. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is meeting Michigan Republicans at the White House as he continues his losing battle to overturn the election defeat.
The Trump administration pulled the plug on pandemic relief loans. The US Treasury asked the Federal Reserve to return $429 billion. The government’s decision could undermine the economic recovery, while the Fed argues the programs should be kept going until the end of the year.
A federal judge blocked a Trump attempt to restrict asylum claims. The new rule around asylum-seekers’ past criminal activity was set to take effect today, but US district judge Susan Illston said it “sweeps too broadly,” and that federal law already has a list of disqualifying crimes. Trump calls asylum “a scam.”
The UK is taking steps to preserve its status as a financial center. Officials launched an inquiry today to determine what needs to be done after the twin economic shocks of Brexit and Covid-19. Thousands of financial services workers have already relocated to other parts of Europe, taking a trillion dollars in assets with them.
Covid-19 or climate change relief?
Why not both? A good chunk of initial Covid-19 aid funding is being used to support healthcare systems, preserve livelihoods and stabilize employment, but much is also slated for infrastructure and economies. Leaders like Biden and the UK’s Boris Johnson are talking about rebuilding toward a more sustainable future.
The global economic rebuild could include efforts to mitigate the impacts of one of today’s looming mega-threats. Scientist David L McCollum explores how coronavirus relief funds could stop the worst of climate change.
Charting Parler’s growth
Parler, a right-wing social media platform that bills itself as a place where conservatives can escape the fact-checking and content moderation on Twitter and Facebook, has been downloaded more than 4 million times since the US presidential election on Nov. 3. Its explosive growth is the latest chapter in a 50-year story of growing partisanship in the US.
The rise of Parler would not be possible without plummeting trust in government and media, a dizzying array of partisan news outlets on TV and online, and a deluge of misinformation that has crescendoed during recent US elections. Whether or not the app catches on, the long-term trends that brought it to the fore will remain.
In yesterday’s chart section, we neglected to include this link for our piece about Americans choosing to take on more debt in the middle of a pandemic.
Honesty is a wonder
Wonder Woman 1984, the much anticipated sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman, will premiere simultaneously in cinemas and HBO Max. WarnerMedia entered uncharted territory when it announced its reasoning behind the move—it simply wants to sell HBO Max subscriptions.
CEO Jason Kilar went ahead and told the truth in a blog post, underscoring WarnerMedia’s new strategy: HBO Max is its endgame.
In parallel, we will be paying close attention to the numbers of families and fans diving into HBO Max, as we certainly anticipate that a portion of fans will choose to enjoy Wonder Woman 1984 that way on opening day and beyond. To provide a comparable, a little over 4 million fans in the US enjoyed the first Wonder Woman movie on its opening day in 2017. Is it possible for that to happen again this Christmas with Wonder Woman 1984 between theaters and HBO Max? We are so excited to find out, doing everything in our power to provide the power of choice to fans.
It’s a pivotal moment for streaming services—dive deeper in one of our recent field guides.
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You asked about vaccine safety
Is Pfizer’s vaccine a live virus? Or is it acceptable for immunocompromised patients?
Great question, Tom. Unlike many other available vaccines, this one isn’t a live virus that has been weakened, a virus that has been killed, nor a signature viral protein that can dupe cells into producing protective antibodies. Weakened live virus vaccines aren’t always safe for people with compromised immune systems: Because they have the most in common with actual pathogens, the mild reaction they provoke to get antibodies revved up for future infections can be too much.
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, though, involves no virus at all. Instead, it relies on messenger RNA (mRNA for short), a type of genetic material that our cells can use as an instruction manual to kick off the process of building virus-busting antibodies. It provides the instructional code for the body to make non-infectious viral bits and bobs—in this case, the spike protein on the outside of SARS-CoV-2—that kicks off an antibody response. Moderna’s shot, another mRNA vaccine, works much the same way. So far, we don’t have data on the Pfizer/BioNTech candidate’s efficacy for those who are immunocompromised, but preliminary trial results suggest it’s safe with low side effects even in older trial participants—which is promising.
Surprising discoveries
South Australia had to lock down because a pizza guy allegedly lied. According to police, he said he was a customer rather than a worker, throwing off contact tracers and infuriating everyone.
An iconic 1000-ft telescope must be dismantled. The 57-year-old Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is too dangerous to repair.
Dog-sized lizards are invading the US. South American tegus, which can grow to 4 ft long and eat almost anything, are on the loose in several states.
People are still creating awful passwords. A list of the 200 worst passwords include “123456,” “password,” and “pokemon.”
The first Batman comic went for $1.5 million. Dating from 1939, the copy of Detective Comics No. 27 is the most expensive book featuring the Dark Knight ever sold.
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