President-elect Joe Biden Plans on Expanding Administration of the Coronavirus Vaccine to the Public

  

                                                       

Completely different from the current Trump policy, President-elect Joe Biden plans on releasing all of the vaccines the U.S has on hand. Biden plans on having "federally run sites" and "mobile units" to reach the "lower-priority" groups, in efforts to speed up the immunization process. He believes that making sure everyone has at least 1 shot is the most beneficial for Americans, rather than only allowing one group to get both doses After Inauguration, Biden will have additional details on his plans on vaccine distribution, including promoting the safety of the vaccine to the general public. 

Currently, Trump is holding back stock of the vaccine for the second round of administration for the high priority groups, including doctors and nurses. "According to CDC, there have been 22 million doses distributed, but just 6.7 million administered."  On the contrary, Biden's vaccination plans will provide many more people with the vaccine but will put pressure on Pfizer and Moderna to make the second dose available within their respective interval of time. 

In response to the time interval for the second vaccine administration, WHO adjusts its recommendation from 21- 28 days to up to 42 days (six weeks). This allows more time flexibility for Pfizer and Moderna to produce the second dosage. 

Question: Do you think it's better to get at least 1 shot of the vaccine or would you rather wait until both dosages are readily available for the "lower-priority group"?

Wall Street Journal

npr

NBC News

New California Department of Public Health Order

 

In response to the dramatically increasing cases of Coronavirus, on January 5 the California Department of public health issued an order that required 14 counties to delay any “non-life-threatening” surgeries to provide beds for the incoming covid patients. These orders also apply to any county where hospital ICU beds are close to the limit. For the next three weeks, covid patients might be transported from Southern California to San Joaquin Valley in Northern from the critical outbreaks in LA.

Because many people failed to follow community safety guidelines and good sanitary practice over the holidays, cases have spiked up close to six folds in the last two months. Health care officials fear that this will not be the peak of our cases, but with more to come, which will heavily overload the work of our healthcare system, especially with the discovery of the new strain, which could be spreading more rapidly within our communities. Many hospitals have been struggling with staffing health care workers per each patient along with an overall delay of emergency care due to the overload of patient admission. 

Even with vaccines being available right now. It will still be a long journey for it to be administered to the majority, creating herd immunity. If the number of cases doesn't decrease soon, we might face a crisis of hospitals and healthcare facilities not being able to provide the proper care to patients.

Although we are very desperate to get our old lives back, right now is a critical time that will determine when we can slowly lift our precautions. We cannot afford to jeopardize more lives submitted to covid. Therefore, we must do our part to keep us, and others safe

Covid Vaccine Update: Distribution Groups and Speed

Since March 2020, a lot of our daily routines have been flipped upside down. With schools online, businesses closing, people losing their jobs and most importantly doctors overwhelmed with covid patients we all need a light at the end of tunnel or something to look forward to. Recently, Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines for covid-19 were approved. 

 So far, in the United States there have been 6.25 million shots of both vaccines in total have been administered giving an overall rate of 1.9 in 100 vaccinated. Most of these patients have been healthcare workers who have been fighting covid on the frontline for months. Recently, however there has been a changes made in the demographics of vaccine recipients as a large fraction of healthcare workers start to decline vaccinations. Because of this, Newsom and Cuomo both recently announced that any vaccines that are sitting still and are at risk of "going waste" can be administered to the next group of people waiting which includes elderly, education workers, and child care workers. The main priority however still remains healthcare workers. 

 In addition, there are concerns at the rate at which vaccines have been distributed in the United States. Currently, half of the supply of vaccines are being held back because both the vaccines in the market right now require two doses to reach it's full efficacy potential. However Biden recently announced that he plans on releasing all vaccines available and distribute them to states. Many bring up a concern that we still need to make sure there will be a second dose available for those who get their first shot. Health officials say the only way these goals are feasible is if there is an increase in vaccination production speed not only distribution. 

 Getting vaccinated however does not mean masks can come off and everything is back to normal. Those who are vaccinated can still act as potential carriers and give the virus to those unvaccinated. However, it seems like it will give us some legroom and space to meet people vaccinated or start to see some aspects of our regular routine return. Even though the CDC and Fauci predict there is a significant amount of time before we will see any normality or heard immunity, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 I have a tremendous amount of respect for all frontline and healthcare workers who have been working tirelessly this past year and thanks to them, everyone behind vaccine production and many more we will see an end to this!

Forbes

CBS News

NY Times

How COVID-19 is Affecting the Human Brain

Although it is highly encouraged to wear a mask in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that masks are not required and has supported the idea of not needing to wear a mask in public. This has caused chaos all over the country. People are being irresponsible and unsafe. The virus is highly contagious and extremely hard to control. Even with regulations put into place, some people still do not follow these precautious and put their lives as well as other lives in danger. Because of Trump not supporting the use of masks, the virus has spread like wildfire. The United States has reached a high of 222,653 cases in this week alone. Since January 2020, there has also been a total of 21,305,169 cases in the US, and this number continues to surge dramatically. The number of cases from today, January 7th, 2021, in California, is 36,385. After almost a year of this virus continuing to spread all over the world, major effects have been discovered.

As known, the coronavirus can affect people in different ways. Some people are asymptomatic, others get very sick, and sadly people can die from this brutal virus. There is even evidence that neurological, cognitive and psychological effects can appear in patients who did not have serious lung or heart problems from the virus. On top of this, new discoveries have shown that the virus can cause psychotic symptoms, as well as affect mental health and how the brain functions. There have been a handful of people who are developing psychosis because of COVID-19. Dr. Hisam Goueli worked with a well accomplished 42 year old patient who started to hear a voice in her head. "She had experienced only mild physical symptoms from the virus, but, months later, she heard a voice that first told her to kill herself and then told her to kill her children." Sadly, this woman is not the only one experiencing this awful affect. Doctors from all over the world are reporting similar cases. "A small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus." 

It is hard to say for sure, but experts believe that the brain is affected because of the way the body's immune system responds to the virus, and it's also affected because of vascular problems or inflammation. Dr. Vilma Gabbay stated that "some of the neurotoxins that are reactions to immune activation can go to the brain, through the blood-brain barrier, and can induce this damage." The patients did not get very sick by the virus, however, they did experience symptoms like headaches, vertigo, and diminished smell, and eventually 2 weeks or months later, developed psychosis. Many of the patients were able to get treated, however, their recovery varied. While some got better in a couple of days or weeks, others took months to recover. There are still so many unanswered questions regarding the coronavirus, and it is safe to say that it is critical for cases to lower in order to protect people from experiencing such brutal affects. 

Do you think we will start to see more people wearing masks because of this new discovery? Do you think people will be more responsible now?

New York Times

NPR

CDC

Trump Finally Concedes

Thursday January 7, 2021, Trump finally concedes for the first time acknowledging that there will be a transfer of power. However, it took months for Trump to accept his loss, and after the election results were shown in 2020, Trump claimed that the election was "rigged." Trump manipulated his supporters into believing he won the election, and on November 7, 2020, Trump tweeted, "I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!." Instead of accepting his defeat, Trump tried to pressure Georgia's Secretary of State, Republican Brad Raffensperger, into "finding" more votes that would overturn his loss. 

Trump's response to the incident that happened at the Capitol building on Wednesday was very upsetting to millions of people. In his speech, Trump actually supported the Capitol rioters and commented "we love you" and "you are very special". His response angered many Americans, and even his administration team. As president, it is Trump's duty to protect the constitution, but instead, he supported the destroying of federal property. Even Ivanka Trump initially called the rioters "patriots", but immediately deleted the tweet right after, and followed up with, "The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful."

Fed up with Trump, many angry Americans want to impeach Trump for the second time, or they want Pence to invoke the 25th amendment. This would allow the Vice President to become President when the President is seen as unfit to do their job. However, on Thursday, Trump administration officials announced that they were going to resign after a mob of Trump supporters disturbed the election results. Following this resignation, in his speech today, Trump condemned his supporters and said, "To those that engage in the acts of violence and disruption, you do not represent our country. To those that broke the law, you will pay." He finally accepted his loss in the election and commented, "A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition." After months of Trump trying to convince the people that he won the presidential election, he finally concedes. 

What important factors contributed to Trump finally conceding? 

Although Trump claims he wants a "smooth transition of power", do you think he really means it? Is it possible that his supporters will try to interfere with the transition of power?

Trump's Speech

CNN

New York Times

Trump Supporters Ambush Capitol Building

 

Police and Trump Supporters face each other at Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021

Just two weeks before Biden's inauguration, Trump supporters rioted and broke into Capitol Hill not only a physical sign of violence but a national alert that our democracy is very fragile. Today, January 6th 2021, Congress came together to verify election results only to be put in lockdown a few hours later. Trump supporters came prepared with riot gear and pushed back against officials, through barricades and with the use of ropes entered capitol hill. Carrying the confederate flag, they stormed through the halls and one even took it upon himself to sit with his feet on his table in the office of Speaker of House, Nancy Pelosi.

Soon, 2 bombs were found and one woman was shot who was later pronounced dead. Many people demanded that Trump send these people away and instead of condemning the protestors, Trump agreed with their cause, that the election was rigged and stolen, and claimed, "Go Home. We love you. You're very special..[] I know how you feel." As we have all seen in the past couple months, Trump has chosen to fight the voice of American democracy and the election results and leaves no chance of a peaceful transition of power. Many supporters left feeling powerful as they walked past security guard free handed and approved of by the President. Among many others, today's events leave me speechless. We first handedly saw the fragility of democracy. Today's events displayed the extent to which white privilege exists in this country and the blind eye Trump and his supporters have turned towards it.

We ended of last semester with various discussions over the balance of power. Over Trump's presidency the support of Senate has given him a large amount of power. Whether it be the re-count of election results or his acquisition in the impeachment trial, Trump has grown more confident in his antics knowing that the Republican majority in Senate will always come to his aid.

What did today's events signify and what should be the next steps from Republican leaders?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-07/how-did-pro-trump-protesters-get-into-capitol-hill-washington/13038568

https://time.com/5926883/trump-supporters-storm-capitol/

Democrats Projected to Win Georgia Runoff

In order for a candidate to advance in a general election system, Georgia requires that a candidate must earn more than 50 percent of votes. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the votes, then the two candidates with the most votes proceed to a runoff election, which ensures that a candidate will win the majority votes. For the first time in history, Georgia votes for two liberal candidates. Raphael Warnock (first Black man elected in the Senate from Georgia) defeats Kelly Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff (first Jewish man elected to the Senate from Georgia) defeats David Perdue in the runoff results. Georgia shifting from white moderates to two Democratic candidates is changing demographics and reshaping the political dynamics of this southern state. 

Trump's actions may have had a massive influence on Georgia's decision to turn blue. Trump failed to motivate people to vote and, in his appearances and messages, he dwelled on his grievances about the presidential election, which he lost. However, this strategy backfired for Trump, and instead, people in Georgia chose to vote for the Democratic candidates. Through her campaign, Stacy Abrams was successful, and helped influence young and neglected Georgians to register to vote, and ensured the people in Georgia that their vote did matter and that they would make a difference. 

After seeing Trump lose and then contest the election, people realized that they could stand up for integrity of elections and end voter suppression in Georgia. Biden's victory allowed Democrats, specifically Black voters, to gain confidence that they could win important and competitive races. Since November, the turnout of Black voters have increased, and there has been a major shift "from the drop-off that is typical in runoff races". 

New York Times

Vox

President Trump's Ban on Chinese Apps.

 

On Tuesday, January 5, President Trump once again takes action against China, furthering the bitterness with Beijing, right before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Under the order, Alipay, QQ wallet, and WeChat pay, along with three other payment apps are prohibited to process transactions in 45 days. Claiming that Chinese software is a threat to national security, the order reveals "By accessing personal electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected software applications can access and capture vast swaths of information from users, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information,". The order also claims that the continuation of usage of these apps will violate the foreign policy and the economy of the United States 

This is not the first time President Trump had shown hostility towards Chinese companies. In November 2020, an executive order was passed "banning U.S. investment in alleged Chinese military companies including China's top chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC. Last month, the Commerce Department added dozens of Chinese companies, including Chinese drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, to a trade blacklist." 

Despite the countdown before Inauguration Day on January 20, Trump continues to assert an aggressive approach with China as he had the past 4 years, continuing to worsen previous tensions accumulated from the disputes concerning the coronavirus outbreak and the Chinese special administrative district of Hong Kong. In the article, it mentioned that Biden could essentially revoke Trump's orders against China when he is in office, but so far, Biden has not commented on Trump's new executive order.

Questions:

Do you agree that banning apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay are beneficial for the security of American users? If so, should other apps such as Tik Tok or WeChat be banned as well? Why or why not?

sources:

U.S News

Forbes

House and Senate finally agrees on a major Coronavirus aid function

 

April 2020 as the first wave as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rolled out a stimulus check. Yet, it took up until now for both the Senate and the House to agree on another stimulus check which now amounts to around 900 billion dollars. This marks the second largest stimulus package after the 2 trillion dollar CARES act in March. The stimulus package will include unemployment benefits and direct cash payments. 

For context, this package provides direct cash payments of around $600 for individuals eligible. Eligibility is deemed by tax circumstances, whether or not you are submitted as a dependent of your guardians, or if you are emancipated all contribute to qualifications of the stimulus package. Similarly, if your 2019 AGI(Adjusted Gross Income) is below 75,000, you can claim the waiver of $600. In terms of adjusted, "pre-taxed" money such as alimony, traditional IRA's, and HSA contributions are all deductibles that get subtracted from your entire gross income to equate to your AGI. 

A big portion of the stimulus check will be funding museums and other live venues. These monetary support currencies are counted as small business grants and are extremely significant because it maintains the cultural relevancy the individual cities have to offer. These live venues can receive up to 10 million per business with the total package being 15 billion for live venues. 

The unemployment benefits also make up a large portion of the package. Referring to my last post on the effects of coronavirus on poverty, jobless benefits are entitled to 300 dollars a week which could be enough to pay for low-end housing projects and sustainable meals throughout the day. 

Overall, the release of a second stimulus package is a cause for celebration, but the timeliness manner it could've been released is very much attributed to the polarization of republicans and democrats. As each hemisphere of congress is controlled by respective rivaling parties, the release of much-needed stimulus packages, bills, and any other coveted matters lack efficiency. With the major players of this bill possessing incredibly opposing ideals, Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi managed to squeak out a bill in the times where coronavirus is getting direr by the minute.  

“The Electoral College has spoken”

 

            For many weeks, Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell has supported President Trump in his fight to overturn the election results and has refused to announce the presidency to Joe Biden while the lawsuits were still taking place. However this morning, even though the legal disputes have not been resolved, McConnell officially acknowledged Joe Biden as the president-elect of the United states and congratulated Biden’s win this morning with a speech on the Senate Floor. 

“As of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect.The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said. McConnell went on to talk about how Joe Biden is “no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years.” In his speech, McConnell also congratulated Kamala Harris’ win as the first female vice president: “beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president for the very first time.” While the Senate majority leader’s congratulatory speech for the election would often happen without much interest from the public, Mitch McConnell’s speech this year was different. It was a powerful statement to Americans that the Republicans are beginning to distance themselves from Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and his accusations of fraud. This is a significant moment in history because for weeks there has been a lot of accusations and distrust in the processes of our elections and government. However, McConnell’s recognition of Biden’s presidency is, in a sense, a respecting of the court decisions and a demonstration of faith in the electoral college. While there are still some House representatives who are still challenging the election, more and more senators are also accepting the election results and most senators are no longer joining Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and other conservative House members in their efforts to challenge the Electoral college results.

While Trump has still not conceded, McConnell has announced that he would aide in this transition and plans to meet with Biden soon. Even though it took weeks before the GOP senator acknowledged the outcome, I do respect Biden for not getting ahead of himself and forcing his victory on his colleague, but instead waited for McConnell to come to that acknowledgement himself. Republicans are now moving forward into the transitional period of the presidency and McConnell is still going to work with Trump in the next few weeks to decide on the coronavirus stimulus deal. 

The results of the votes from the members of the Electoral College from all 50 states are as follows: 306 Electoral college votes to Biden and 232 votes to Trump. Biden had also beat Trump by more than 7 million popular votes. 

Politico

USAToday

APNews

US Agencies Hacked

 

U.S. Treasury Department
Credit: Associated Press 

On Sunday, shortly after the cybersecurity giant FireEye had announced a security breach, the Trump administration released a statement confirming that hackers had broken into the networks of the Treasury and commerce departments as a part of a monthslong cyberespionage campaign. The threat has been reported to have come from the same source that afflicted FireEye and other foreign governments and major corporations. The most damning connection between FireEye and the subsequent attacks is the fact that the foriegn hackers stole the hacking tools of the company itself, who service state and local governments as well as global corporations. The hack may be an indication of a larger scale infiltration of the U.S. government, a case for major concern. FireEye services the U.S. military, the Pentagon, the State Department, NASA, the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice, and the WHite House, just to name a few. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the attacks.

The compromised piece of software, SolarWinds, is used by thousands of companies, including most Fortune 500 companies, and U.S. federal agencies. In their own investigation, FireEye has stated that they identified a global campaign of targeting governments and companies through the SolarWinds software update. North Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East were not exempt from this global hack. CEO Kevin Mandia stated, “[hackers] primarily sought information related to certain government customers,” but he did not elaborate on the specific customers. 

Industry experts, as indicated by the Associated Press, suggest that the campaign seems like a Russian Trademark. Russia’s embassy responded to such claims, describing their association with the breach to be an “unfounded” attempt “of the U.S media to blame Russia for hacker attacks on U.S. governmental bodies. 

This is not the first time the U.S. has been targeted in cybersecurity attacks. In 2014, hackers broke into the State Department’s email system. Many concerns are circulating about Rissian interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, whether that be through social media or other means. Still, in order to gauge the scale and the perpetrator of this attack, we will have to wait for more results from existing investigations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/us/politics/russian-hackers-us-government-treasury-commerce.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/14/946163194/russia-suspected-in-months-long-cyber-attack-on-federal-agencies

https://apnews.com/article/us-agencies-hacked-global-cyberspying-e8a2e819f7cc6982f6a72f8c85209b72

Legislation for Latino and Women's Museums Blocked

On Thursday, Senator Mike Lee had blocked legislation that would create National Mall museums  for women and Latinos, who lack proper representation in the United States. This legislation would establish a council to manage the creation of the museum and would designate an area for the museum. It had also achieved bipartisan support and after Lee voted against it, Republican Senator Susan Collins said the failure of the legislation is a sad moment. Lee’s reason for his vote is that "The last thing we need is to further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups."  

This is not the first time Lee had blocked legislation for the creation of a new museum. Lee had also voted against the Smithsonian Women's History Museum Act. That would have created a museum for women, in honor of the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage which also had bipartisan support. Lee believes that women and Latinos do not deserve their own museums, as it would cause America to become even more divided. 

However, if there is a museum for indigenous peoples, then there should be a museum for Latino-Americans and women, as they have also been subject to decades of oppression. For the decades of oppression that America had set upon these minority groups, the least that can be done is to honor their resistance and to respect their representation in the public domain. 

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/11/945389843/sen-mike-lee-blocks-legislation-for-latino-womens-museums

https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-urges-vote-bipartisan-bill-establish-smithsonian-american-women%E2%80%99s-history

Biden picks retired General to be Secretary of Defense

 General Lloyd
Credit: ABC News

 This past week, President-elect Joe Biden selected retired four-star Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense, raising questions about his fit for the role. Austin ran the U.S. Central Command under the Obama Administration, working closely with Biden, and was the first Black general to command an Army division in combat. If confirmed, Loyd would be the first black leader of the Pentagon, a major step for diversity in a time of racial tensions. However, his confirmation would obstruct the long-standing principle of civilian leadership at the Pentagon, setting a precedent reinforced by General Mattis’ appointment in 2016.

In response to controversy over his pick, Biden released a statement saying, “I fully understand and respect [the law requiring service members to be retired for at least seven years before heading the Defense Department],” but Lloyed “was uniquely qualified and deserved the once-in-a-generation exception.” In order to bypass this law, Lloyd would have to be granted a special waiver by both houses of Congress before even being considered for confirmation. As we learned in Chapter 11, according to Article 2 of the Constitution, while the President has the power of appointment, the Senate has the power to approve these appointments. Such a waiver, however, was granted merely four years ago--a far cry from an entire generation. Democrats who opposed granting a waiver for General Mattis may have a difficult time approving a waiver for Lloyd. Some that signed off on the waiver four years ago promised not to do so again. If they reverse their position, they may be perceived as flip-floppers by their constituents, which would be unfavorable for their re-election campaigns.  

A select number of Democratic Senators that opposed installing a non-civilian leader at the Pentagon, like Sen. Tammy Ducksworth (D-Ill.), will vote against the waiver but vote for his actual confirmation if the waiver passes. Other Democratic officials speculated that Republicans would approve the waiver but oppose Lloyd’s confirmation in the event that the waiver is granted.

Another potential roadblock to Lloyd’s confirmation is his involvement with the defense company Raytheon. Some Senators may see his position as board member as a conflict of interest. It is important to note, though, that General Mattis served as a board member of the defense giant General Dynamics before joining the Trump Administration. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/07/lloyd-austin-biden-secretary-defense-frontrunner-contender-443479

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/08/daily-202-democrats-would-need-twist-themselves-into-pretzels-give-bidens-defense-pick-waiver/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/09/biden-officially-unveils-lloyd-austin-as-his-defense-secretary-nominee.html

Magic Castle Faces Racism and Sexual Misconduct Allegations

The Magic Castle in Los Angeles has been a tourist attraction for decades, where magicians and non magicians alike can watch some of the most spectacular magic acts in the world. Despite its positive reputation, it has been riddled with acts of prejudice. 

Like many magicians aspiring to become the next big thing, Ed Kwon, a magician from Seoul, had managed to impress the members of the Castle, and found himself performing there for the first time in 2017. Soon, he found himself ridiculed by some older members of the Magic Castle. From the LA Times article, 

“He used his hands to make slanted eyes and [said] the stereotypical Chinese — something along the lines of, ‘Ching hong chong,’” said Kwon, 24. “What he did and said was so out of place, it hit me at a surreal level.” 

These actions devastated Kwon, making him feel alienated from a community he has worked all his life to make it into.

Not only were there racist incidents, Terry Lee Lamair, a former bartender at the Magic Castle, filed complaints about sexual harassment to supervisors. However, the supervisor instead joined in and made several inappropriate comments.

This isn't the first time the Magic Castle was accused of prejudice, even one of the most respected, Dai Vernon, was accused of being extremely touchy with many women at the Castle. In communities that tend to have more “old fashioned” ideologies, such acts of discrimination are extremely common. 

The most adamant supporters of the Magic Castle have all been older, white males who still adhere to the belief of old fashioned gender roles. Luckily, art forms and the ideals of the respective communities slowly evolve over time in order to better align with the views of the rest of society.