Daily Archives: January 9, 2022

Colston case defendant says juries and free speech are ‘cornerstones of society’ – Isle of Wight County Press

Posted: January 9, 2022 at 5:12 pm

One of the four people cleared of charges relating to the tearing down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston has said jury trials and freedom of speech are the cornerstones of our society amid a backlash over the verdict.

The bronze memorial to the 17th century figure was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol on June 7 2020, before being rolled into the water in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the US.

Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, Jake Skuse, 33, were acquitted of criminal damage on Wednesday following an 11-day trial at Bristol Crown Court.

The verdict prompted a debate about the criminal justice system after the defendants, dubbed the Colston Four, opted to stand trial in front of a jury and did not deny involvement in the incident.

Ms Graham told Times Radio: Damaging things in order to be heard and to progress with equality and better society is not a new thing.

I, as a woman, wouldnt have the right to vote had suffragettes not gone and smashed windows and destroyed postboxes in the name of womens right to vote.

So this really isnt a new thing. And obviously, we have gone through the justice system. I know theres a lot of people saying it was not democratic.

And, you know, what is democratic is our freedom of speech and jury trials. And one of our barristers mentioned the fact that those two things are really cornerstones of our democracy.

And what really isnt democratic is the displays of police brutality that we see which caused so much uproar within the BLM movement.

Ms Graham also said she felt it was her time to show solidarity for black people in the UK, and that lockdown gave her a chance to reflect on the issues they have faced.

It comes after Attorney General Suella Braverman said the verdict is causing confusion and she is carefully considering whether to use powers which allow her to seek a review.

Some lawyers said this would be Trumpian politics and described the furore over the acquittals as a complete waste of time and damaging confidence in the justice system.

Opponents urged Ms Braverman not to play political games when she doesnt like the results.

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Other View: Judge’s order against The New York Times cannot stand – Effingham Daily News

Posted: at 5:12 pm

The language is clear and unambiguous: Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

In practice, that means that with very few and exact exceptions, no one in government can tell a newspaper what to print. No one not the president or a senator, or an agency bureaucrat or a sitting judge.

Yet that is just what Justice Charles D. Wood of the New York State Supreme Court did in an order issued just before Christmas, as he prohibited The New York Times from publishing documents the paper has obtained regarding Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group.

The order represents an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment and the idea of a free and independent press. It cannot be allowed to stand.

Theres little comfort in the fact that Justice Woods order already has been partially lifted. A New York state appeals court on Tuesday lifted the portion of the order requiring The Times to turn over or destroy the documents in question.

The paper still cannot report anything from the documents, however, until a further hearing is held.

While that may be a sign that sanity will ultimately prevail, its beyond disconcerting that a judge would issue the order in the first place.

The documents are legal memos prepared for Project Veritas years ago describing strategies they can use to make sure their often-deceptive practices including secret cameras and fake identities used to embarrass opponents stay on the right side of the law.

The Times legally obtained the memos through regular reporting through doing its job. It published some of their contents as part of its reporting on an investigation by Justice Department into Project Veritas for the groups possible role in the theft of a diary belonging to President Bidens daughter.

In a prior, unrelated case, Project Veritas is suing The Times for defamation. The group argued, and Justice Wood agreed, that because of the ongoing litigation, the newspapers use of the memos represents a violation of its attorney-client privilege.

Thats hogwash. The reporting done by the newspaper on Project Veritas is clearly in the public interest and within its rights as a news organization. The memos have nothing to do with the litigation between the group and the newspaper, and everything to do with how a prominent, publicity-seeking organization engages with the public.

Saying otherwise would have what one media lawyer called the ultimate chilling effect. Organizations that found themselves the target of critical reporting by a newspaper could sue them, then argue that any subsequent reporting should be subject to a gag order as a result of that suit.

Whats more, Justice Woods order left no room for other courts to make it right. If The Times had been forced to destroy the documents, any future ruling in their favor would be moot.

Thankfully, the appeals court acted first. They shouldnt have had to.

The matter has been resolved for at least 50 years, when a judge refused to allow the Nixon administration to block The Times and Washington Post from publishing details of classified documents detailing the history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, dubbed the Pentagon Papers.

That ruling, and others, lay out the boundaries. Troop movements in wartime may be a matter of national security and thus within the bounds of a government ban on publishing. But the governments handling of a war and its genuine feelings on how that war is going are of the public interest and subject to First Amendment protections, as are the operations of a group like Project Veritas.

That should be clear, and until Justice Woods ruling, it had been as clear as any legal precedent.

The courts should use this occasion to reaffirm the rights of free speech and an open press, and keep government from crossing a boundary that is at the heart of our democracy.

The Portland (Maine) Press Herald

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Other View: Judge's order against The New York Times cannot stand - Effingham Daily News

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Bishop Gripped by ‘Fear’ as He and Christian Politician Face Hate Speech Trial for Stating Biblical Views on Homosexuality – CBN News

Posted: at 5:12 pm

A Finnish politician and bishop are both facing a criminal trial starting Jan. 24over the chargethey violated the dignity and equality of the LGBTQ population by engaging in hate speech.

The free speech case centers on politician Pivi Rsnen, a member of the Finnish parliament and a longtime politician who also happens to be an outspoken Christian.

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Rsnen, 62, is accused of sparking anti-gay sentiment at least three times: during a talk show, in a 2019 tweet, and in a book she wrote titled, Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual Relationships Challenge the Christian Concept of Humanity. The pamphlet takes a stand against same-sex marriage,Christianity Today reported.

Also under fire is Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) BishopJuhana Pohjola, 49, whose organization published the aforementioned book. As The Reporter noted last year,Pohjola waschargedby Finlands Office of the Prosecutor General with creating incitement against a group of people.

TheELMDF, a religious body comprised of churches that broke away from Finlands national church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, over doctrinal issues,is being held liablefor the book, which was published in 2004.

And since Pohjola is editor-in-chief of publicationsdistributedby the Luther Foundation Finland the legal group behindELMDF he has found himself in the crosshairs.

This decision of the prosecutor general says a lot about our time, Pohjolatold The Reporterlast year. While I am concerned about the state of religious freedom in our country, I trust that the judiciary will make the right decision.

That said,Pohjola more recently told Christianity Today he has deep worries about the implications the court proceedings could have for individuals in Finland.

In particular, the faith leader is concerned about self-censorship predicated on fear.

I do not so much fear the outcome of the court case, but the strong signal it gives to many: to be silent, hetoldthe outlet. I fear self-censorship and intimidation.

Pohjola saidhe believesin the God-given dignity, value and human rights of those who identify themselves as homosexuals, but that he also holds to the biblical belief same-sex acts are sinful and not in line with the truth.

As forRsnens part, she told Christianity Today she was surprised she was being criminally charged over her views on these matters.

Being criminally charged for voicing my deeply held beliefs in a country that has such deep roots in freedom of speech and religion feels unreal, shesaid. I do not see I would have in any way defamed homosexuals whose human dignity and human rights I have constantly said to respect and defend.

As CBN Newspreviously reported, Rsnen, who has been under investigation since 2019, was charged with three counts of hate speech and could face two years in prison. One of the elements that landed her in the crosshairs is a tweet from June 17, 2019, in which she presented Romans 1:24-27, which condemns homosexuality as sinful.

Rsnen told CBN News last year she believes the charges against her will inevitably speak to whether a person in Finland is free to express his or her biblical convictions.

For those still confused as to why this case is unfolding, consider that the Office of the Prosecutor General believes Rsnens comments and statements arent merely unpalatable, but that they are likely to cause hatred and intolerance. It is believed by the prosecutor that these statements transcend freedom of speech and religion because they targeted the equality and dignity of homosexuals, as Christianity Todayrecapped.

With the trial just weeks away, it seems much is at stake in Finland, particularly when it comes to religious liberty and the potential criminal treatment of longstanding Christian sexual ethics.

***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up forFaithwires daily newsletterand download theCBN News appto stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***

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Bishop Gripped by 'Fear' as He and Christian Politician Face Hate Speech Trial for Stating Biblical Views on Homosexuality - CBN News

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Polish right-wing party furious over Facebook page removal – POLITICO Europe

Posted: at 5:12 pm

WARSAW Facebook on Wednesday took down the page of Poland's nationalist opposition Confederation party, prompting an outcry from the right-wingers and the government complaining that the U.S. tech giant was muzzling free speech.

The page had 670,000 followers, giving it one of the biggest social media profiles of a Polish political grouping.

Facebook suspended the page because it found it was spreading misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic and also contained hate speech, said a spokesperson for Facebooks parent company Meta.

We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want to keep everyone using Facebook safe, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The social media firm has previously taken down pages of political figures most notably that of former U.S. President Donald Trump leading to worries that it has too much control over politics.

The company said the Confederation page violated the firm's community standards by spreading false claims about the protection offered by face masks, the mortality rate of coronavirus compared with the flu and the immunity provided by vaccines. The page also published content directly attacking people on the basis of protected characteristics includingnational origin and sexual orientation, Meta said.

The party has previously called policies aimed at verifying peoples vaccination status sanitary segregation. Several MPs held a demonstration last month before a banner reading "Vaccination makes you free" on an arch that echoed the infamous slogan over the entrance to the Auschwitz death camp: "Work makes you free." That was denounced by both the Auschwitz museum and by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as "shameful."

Facebook said it had warned the profile's administrators repeatedly before suspending the page a claim Confederation denied.

The party revived an old page on Facebook to rail against the social network's decision. At the time of writing the page had 11,000 followers. It called the take-down decision a "scandalous interference in the Polish political scene and in freedom of speech."

Krzysztof Bosak, one of Confederation's leaders, told the Rzeczpospolita newspaper that the party planned to sue Facebook over the removal. He accused Facebook of "interference aimed at narrowing the freedom of political choice before the upcoming political season.

Parliamentary elections are due in 2023 and the ruling United Right coalition, led by the nationalist Law and Justice party, is fighting with Confederation for the sympathies of the right-wing electorate.

That prompted the government to come roaring to the defense of its political rivals on Wednesday.

A Polish government spokesperson told POLITICO that it deeply disagrees with the decision by Meta. The removal of parliamentary group profiles from social media by administrators of international platforms goes against fundamental civil liberties and cannot be accepted, the spokesperson said, calling Facebook a "monopolist and because of its dominant position it should be subject to particular scrutiny."

Law and Justice MP Adam Andruszkiewiczsaid: "We are strongly against such actions. Freedom of speech in Poland is the foundation of democracy."

Confederation's troubles with Facebook didn't get much sympathy from left-wing politicians.

Adrian Zandberg, one of the opposition Left party's leaders, called Confederation "cynics" who had helped expand the "COVID tragedy." Poland has some of the EU's highest coronavirus death rates thanks to low levels of vaccinations, government reluctance to impose tough sanitary measures and public resistance to mask-wearing.

"Public health should be protected from harmful disinformation, but this should be done by public institutions under the control of the EU, not corporate monopolists!" Zandberg said.

This article has been updated with the Polish government's position.

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Why we use more cash than ever – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:10 pm

Last week, I returned from a two-week trip to Europe where I didnt spend any money at all. Or at least not any cash.

To be clear, I visited Finland, Sweden and Denmark without using any paper money (or coins). I never used any euros or krona or krone. And not only that, I never saw anyone spending money, period. Meaning I didnt see anyone fumbling around in their pockets for bills, or heaven forbid change. (Not even that drunk guy at the 7-Eleven in Copenhagen.) Everyone used cards and phones.

It really hit me, and so I decided to explore this notion of an increasingly cash-free world. Will money completely disappear? If so, how far along are we? And how is COVID-19 and the rise of crypto shaping this shift? Now I understand the concept of a cashless society isnt especially new and that cash is hardly dead. Having said that, there are some decidedly new elements here.

First consider how our thinking about money and cash has changed over recent history. I remember neighbors paying me cash to shovel snow as a kid. After that I remember getting a paycheck in 1974 from my first job as a dishwasher at the Sir Walter Raleigh Inn Steakhouse in Bethesda, Maryland. Then there was the changeover from checks to direct deposit at Fortune Magazine sometime in the 1980s.

In short, I haven't been in cash since I was a kid. And of course today I pay the young guy in Maine who cuts my grass and sells me eggs by Venmo (PYPL). To be sure, in some instances, cash is still king, (some places in NYC still accept only cash). Some people cant afford or dont want bank accounts. Some merchants bridle at credit card fees. And bad guys prefer cash. But the trend is going the other way.

A man changes a dollar bill with the bus driver's assistant, who is holding a wad of Bolivar banknotes, at a bus stop outside the Antimano metro station in Caracas, Venezuela March 9, 2021. Picture taken March 9, 2021. REUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

So is cash really dead? It depends on what you mean by it's dead, says Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard and the author of "The Curse of Cash." Its certainly less and less used at the corner grocery. Cash used to dominate small transactions and that's increasingly not true. Debit cards, especially and smartphones, credit cards are pushing cash increasingly out of small transactions.

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It also appears the decline of cash is accelerating. This from a JP Morgan report in October titled "Payments are eating the world." (Yes, the Andreessen trope again.) In 2010, the fastest way to move money on the same day from New York to London was to catch a flight from JFK to Heathrow and deliver it yourself. Now, you can initiate a secure, real-time payment thats sent and received into your account in seconds at virtually no cost and in any currency."

Cellphone adoption has sped things up too, the report notes: In 2016, there were 3.67 billion smartphone subscriptions. That figure has now doubled and by 2026, 91% of the global population will have a smartphone.

Yes, debit cards have become a force. Last year debit had a 28% share of all payment used, says Jeremy Balkin, global head of innovation & corporate development, payments at JPMorgan, and co-author of the above report. Thats higher than credit, cash, and any other form. Quite remarkable.

Now layer on COVID. Like so many facets of our lives, the pandemic is altering our relationship with money. Home-bound shoppers created a huge wave of cashless transactions at a time when even handling money was thought to be unsafe. Bloomberg reports that COVID-19 shifted $5 trillion in global retail sales from offline to onlinea good chunk of which was cash, or, 47% in the euro area for instance. The chart from McKinsey (below) hints at that.

Chart detailing the decline of cash usage in a range of countries. (Source: The 2020 McKinsey Global Payments Report)

So the amount of currency the U.S. mint is printing must be going down, right? Not exactly. Before we get into that, its important to understand the difference between (1) how much the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (or BEP as its known by the cognoscenti) is printing and (2) how much currency is in circulation, which has continued to grow substantially. So while BEP printed 1.7 billion $1 bills in 2013 and expects to print only 1 billion this year, there were still 13 billion $1 bills in circulation in 2020 versus 7.7 billion in 2000. (NB: There were 47.3 million more people living in the U.S. in 2020, versus 2000.)

Now lets look at the big picture. In 2000, the BEP printed 9 billion total bills worth $67 billion. This year it expects to produce between 6.8 billion and 9.6 billion bills worth between $310 billion and $356 billion. So around the same amount or perhaps fewer bills than 2000, but worth some five times more. How to explain that?

Very simply: A massive surge in the printing of Benjamins, aka $100 bills. The math: In 2000 there were 3.8 billion $100 bills in circulation but as of 2020 there were 16.4 billion, worth respectively, (duh), $380 billion and $1.6 trillion. And BEP plans on printing another 2.4 to 2.2 billion $100 bills this year. The total amount of all U.S bills in circulation is around 2.2 trillion, so you can see that the value of $100 bills now dwarfs other currencies.

Rogoff says there are a number of reasons for this insatiable demand for $100 bills. One is that interest rates are really low. Holding cash isnt really different from holding treasury bills, he points out. Ive argued that a large part of cash holdings are explained mostly by tax evasion but also of course by illicit activity like drug dealing, arms dealing, you name it. But its mostly tax evasion.

Darrell Duffie, a professor of economics at Stanford's Graduate School of Business who focuses on financial innovation, concurs. Those hundreds are going to international and national stockpiles of illegal stores of paper money, he says. If youre a criminal or you have some other reason to avoid being on the grid, then youre going to stack your money up in hundred dollar bills."

Its great for the government in the sense a lot of this money sits around for a long, long time and nobody claims it against the U.S. government. The U.S. has more of this than any other country by far. On the other hand it supports criminal behavior. Its a tradeoff. The government tolerates it because paper money is a pretty popular, anonymous instrument. So maybe that guy flying from JFK to Heathrow with the satchel of money doesnt really care if its not the fastest way.

Speaking of money going overseas, just how many of these $100 bills are leaving our shores? More than half it appears (see chart below.)

A chart that shows the growth of foreign holdings of U.S. dollar banknotes. (Source: U.S. Treasury Department)

Of course, no one knows how many $100 bills are in some Belgian bank that's holding hundreds in lieu of some ultra-low yielding Euro bond, versus in the vault of some narco-arms-dealing terrorist. But it is the case that the U.S. Treasury is supplying both.

(A million dollars in $100 bills, in case youre wondering, weighs about 22 pounds, they say. A double stack would be about 21.5 inches high by 12.28 inches by 2.61 inches. You could carry it in a big briefcase, or as I suggested, a satchel.)

Another point to dig into here is the degree to which the cash and non-cash worlds are increasingly becoming, like so many things today, bifurcated, in this case along economic lines. Meaning, poor, technology-deprived populations use cash much more than wealthy, technological-rich groups.

A somewhat opaque report from Merchant Machine, a British payment information website, ranks The Countries Most Reliant on Cash In 2021" as: Romania, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Morocco, Philippines, Peru, Hungary, and Vietnam. Not exactly the developed world, and all except Hungary below the world average in GDP per capita of around $11,000 per annum.

There are, predictably, cash advocates. Check out Cash Matters A pro cash movement that is proud to work closely with (and perhaps funded by) what appears to be European ATM, printing and transaction trade groups, as well as JA til kontanter a Norwegian group (Yes to Cash in English.) (Here we go with the Nordic countries again.) This organization exists with the goal of defending cash in Norway's payments landscape by getting as many members as the SV Party, the latter that countrys Socialist Left Party, which is opposed to European Union membership, and supports republicanism in Norway.

No matter what you think of that, its not all bunk. Or as the site notes: Smart and online technologies are changing the way we pay, however, cash is still the most attractive means of payment for a huge majority of people worldwide. The site then goes on to look at 10 key reasons for the relevance of cash. Saying: Cash ensures stable currency systems. It is not only the most secure means of payment and resilient in terms of crisis, it also reflects a nations identity as banknotes and coins are often a nations calling card, valued by people beyond their monetary worth.

So you can look at it in one of two ways (or both), that cash is only used by poor people and they need to change and it will be good for them and its a great business opportunity. Or that we should be mindful and careful that these people have access to money, and be wary of the change that might leave them behind.

Now lets quickly look at the role crypto plays. Clearly its an accelerant but to what degree is unclear. Two of the countries on the biggest cash user list above, Egypt and Morocco, are also two of eight countries that have banned crypto. On the other hand, some other developing countries may soon be using crypto as legal tender as El Salvador does.

You see a few companies accepting crypto, but as Darrin Peller, a stock analyst at Wolfe Research who covers payment companies Visa and Mastercard, says: Using crypto to go to the store to buy a shirt is fixing a problem that doesn't exist. Is there a problem using money today to buy a shirt at a store? Why use bitcoin for it, or other blockchain technology if everything works well for the consumer now? Number two, the technology behind crypto, blockchain on a per transaction basis isnt as efficient. Its more expensive, slower, uses more computing power, and has a lot of issues relative to what we have today in domestic processing. That might change over time but its a problem to fix. And another problem is the volatility of crypto.

A signal that reads "We accept bitcoin here" is seen outside a street stall in Sal Salvador, on November 18, 2021. (Photo by Sthanly ESTRADA / AFP) (Photo by STHANLY ESTRADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Theres a kind of halfway between crypto and fiat currency, (as old-school money is called), which is known as central bank digital currency (or CBDC), which countries see as a way to co-opt the trend to digital currency as well as combat tax evasion and criminal activity. Right now as many as 87 countries are exploring a central bank digital currency.

That scenario is basically the government saying I dont want us to lose control of our monetary system to crypto, which is a decentralized system so I'm going to offer a centralized alternative stabilized by my own currency, says Peller.

No question its a response to crypto, Rogoff adds. Governments realize they need to regulate. In the case of bitcoin, theyll probably ban its use in transactions. They find it difficult politically to do that until theyve provided an alternative.

Duffie of Stanford says the tradeoffs are really big with CBDCs. On the positive side, with the decline of paper money, the government wants to be a part of the payment system and this is the substitute. They want payments to be easier and more inclusive for people without bank accounts. The downsides are also pretty big. When was the last time the government did a massive piece of technical infrastructure really well? The other downside is huge: Americans are concerned when a government agency has all their private data in a giant database.

As I said this has been going on for quite some time. Barrons did a cover story titled The End of Cash? by Alexander Eule, in December 2012, which hits the mark. The big takeaway was that Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) were then in the catbird seat. The article noted one analyst who had a price target of $611 on Mastercard and $172 on Visa. How did the stocks do? Well. Very well. Mastercard now trades for $376 a share, but the stock split 10 for one in January 2014, (or $3,760 taking accounting for the split.) As for Visa it now trades for $223, but it split four for one in March 2015 (which would be $892 split adjusted).

That was then and this is now though. The stocks of both Visa and Mastercard underperformed last year and some, including billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya, say the glory days for these companies have passed. Of course not everyone agrees, but Palihapitiya argues that the companies are a "completely contrived duopoly that doesn't need to exist, citing Amazons recent ban of Visa credit cards in the UK, because of what Amazon indicates are high transaction fees. Itll be interesting to see how V and MA trade over the next five years.

For those who will miss real cash, fear not. The U.S. Mint makes all kinds of currency and collectibles: paper sheets of bills (all sold out, perhaps after former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchins wife Louise Linton upped their profile) as well as "The Lucky Money Collection" featuring distinctive artwork that celebrates Chinese symbolism and numerology.

(There are also coins and medals of Barbara Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, as well as Negro Leagues Baseball players just out this past Thursday! Kennedy Half Dollars, Peace Silver Dollars, Native American $1 Coins, the American Innovation $1 Coin Program, and the American Women Quarters Program. Truly something for everyone.)

Where is this all headed? Probably not to a cashless society (at least not for a few decades), but a less cash society decade, as Shelle Santana of the Harvard Business School wrote not long ago. We still need cash. For instance, USA Today reports, some 25% of Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, (they use financial products and services outside the banking system). That means about 25% of all Americans would be unable or limitedly able to participate in a cashless system, the USA Today article noted.

I don't think itll ever disappear. I think itll go down to a very small percentage after many, many years, Peller says. I think there will be the ability to have digital transactions over 90% in the next decade.

I think well have some form of paper currency with us for a long time but it will become increasingly vestigial, Rogoff says. As it gets harder to launder paper currency, demand for it will drop. If youve got $5 million in hundred dollar bills people offered that for a house for example and want to keep it under the radar screen, you have to be able to gradually spend it down.

Criminals of all stripes use many types of money and payments, but its interesting the bad guys now seem to use both the oldest, (i.e. cash), and the newest (crypto) forms as their preferred vehicles these days. The common denominator of course is both are difficult to track. Curbing their behavior would require more regulatory oversight, and many Americans are often uncomfortable with that.

Theres a trade-off, and a cost, to everything, right?

(A previous version of this story stated that the BEP expects to print only 1 million $1 bills this year. In fact it expects to print 1 billion. The article has been corrected.)

This article was featured in a Saturday edition of the Morning Brief on January 8, 2022. Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. Subscribe

Andy Serwer is editor-in-chief of Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter: @serwer

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The vaccine mandate mess will probably get messier – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:10 pm

Pop quiz: Is President Bidens COVID vaccine requirement for most businesses on or off?

If youre not sure, dont worryyour boss probably doesnt know, either.

In September, Biden announced a new federal rule that would require all companies with 100 employees or more to assure their workers are either vaccinated or get regular COVID testing. There were a few exceptions, but the rule was likely to cover about 80 million private-sector workers. Separate rules required vaccination, with no testing option, for federal contractors,health care workers at facilities that receive federal funding, federal employees and U.S. military service members.

To nobodys surprise, there are now a raft of court proceedings meant to determine if these orders are valid, with injunctions, stays of injunctions, further appeals and mass confusion. The most important hearing was an emergency Supreme Court session on Jan. 7, where the justices heard arguments on two mandates, the one covering all companies with 100 workers or more and the one covering health care facilities. The court could decide the matter within days.

For now, heres a qualified answer to the pop quiz: The rule for those larger companies is in effect, with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration saying it will start enforcing the rule on Feb. 9. But that depends on what the Supreme Court does. In November, one appeals court blocked the mandate. But in December, another appeals court overruled the first one, effectively reinstating the mandate. So OSHA is proceeding as if the mandate is in place.

During the Jan. 7 hearing, conservative justices seemed skeptical that a federal agency such as OSHA could issue such a sweeping mandate, with a couple of them suggesting a mandate would only be legit if Congress passed a law requiring it. That could mean the broad mandate is doomed, since conservatives hold a 6-3 majority on the court. The justices seemed to think the narrower mandate for health-care facilities, which affects about 17 million workers, was more appropriate.

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Some business leaders, generally opposed to the government telling them what to do, have offered lukewarm support for the Biden mandates. The Business Roundtable, representing corporate America, has said it welcomes the Biden administrations continued vigilance in the fight against COVID. While most government mandates force businesses to do something they dont really want to do, a COVID vaccine requirement is different, because it takes the burden for the requirement off business and puts it on the government. All businesses have to comply and none can try to game the system by undercutting a competitors rules. During this years Milken Institute Global Conference, a panel of CEOs indicated they werent requiring workers to get vaccinated because they feared losing talent to other companies with looser rules.

Smaller businesses are less enthused. The National Federation of Independent Businesses opposes the mandate and argued against it during the Supreme Court session. As with many regulations, smaller businesses have a harder time bearing the cost and hassle of sweeping rules than big companies do.

The Supreme Court will technically gauge whether the Biden administration can enforce the mandate, while lower courts will determine whether it is constitutional. Still, if the Supreme Court knocks down the mandate even temporarily, that could be the end of it.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett walks out onto the front portico of the court with Chief Justice John Roberts after her formal investiture ceremony in the courtroom at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. October 1, 2021. Franz Jantzen, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States/Handout via REUTERS

If there's a surprise and the court ultimately upholds the mandates, it could end litigation on some of the other vaccine requirements, and perhaps speed the end of the COVID pandemic. If the majority of American workers need to get vaccinated to keep their jobs, and theres nowhere to hide (except smaller firms), it will further boost vaccination rates and reduce the number of targets for Omicron and future variants.

A murky SCOTUS ruling, or a knockdown of the Biden vaccine requirement, would obviously have the opposite effect. Businesses could still require their own workers to get vaccinated, as some have already done. The law clearly seems to allow that. But vaccination would continue to be a patchwork affair and some companies that need workers probably would try to poach them from competitors through greater tolerance of the unvaccinated.

Biden, for his part, must have known his vaccine orders would get tied up in the courts, given the litigation of practically everything involving COVID rules. But he didnt really have better options. He could have tried a full nationwide vaccine requirement, for everybody, but that probably would have faced legal challenges, too, and probably would have been unenforceable. Giving it a shot at the employer level was a reasonable fallback, especially given the surge in cases of the Delta variant, at the time.

In the cleanest case, if the Supreme Court robustly endorses a government vaccine requirement, it will still be touchy for OSHA to enforce the rule. Most big, publicly traded companies will probably go along, but there could be resistance at smaller companies in areas where anti-vaxxers are prominent, if only because some of those companies might face an exodus of workers if they have to show proof of vaccination. Will the federal government go around issuing fines and penalties for businesses that dont comply with a vaccine requirement? One messy chapter only begets another.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on Jan. 6 and updated after the Supreme Court's arguments on Jan. 7.

Rick Newman is a columnist and author of four books, including "Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. You can also send confidential tips.

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Some Angelenos say it’s time to learn to live with COVID – Yahoo News

Posted: at 5:10 pm

Two-hundred spectators participated in the annual Olvera Street Three Kings procession on Thursday. The procession was canceled last year because of COVID-19. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

As coronavirus cases soared across Los Angeles last week, Jennifer Chan entered Olvera Streets Casa California in search of the colorful and decorative papel picado for her baby shower.

I wanted something that said California for the party, said Chan, 28, a La Mirada resident who is six months pregnant and whose East Coast family was flying in for the event. Plus, I really wanted to get out of the house for a change.

Chan, who works as a computer programmer, has generally been extremely cautious throughout the pandemic getting vaccinated and boosted as soon as she was eligible and leaving her home as little as possible.

But recently shes longed for the normalcy of her pre-pandemic life.

A few months ago she agreed to allow a close friend to throw her an in-person baby shower, and over the last two weeks shes ventured into a grocery store and even dined at two restaurants.

Im about to go through my own lockdown once this baby comes, said Chan, pointing to her stomach. So, Im going to be safe absolutely, but Im also going to enjoy this time and being on my feet while I can.

She's not alone.

People take part in the Dia de los Reyes procession on Thursday. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

As the Omicron variant infects record numbers of people across California and the nation, many in Southern California say they are no longer willing to hide from a virus that has already killed 800,000 Americans.

Instead, they're ready to live with it.

This may not be a catastrophe.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that while the Omicron variant is much more contagious than previous versions of SARS-CoV-2, it is also significantly less lethal.

In a fairytale scenario, Omicron would burn through the U.S. population, perhaps requiring a few days of sick leave from those it infects, but also imparting immunity to tens of millions and ending the pandemic here for good.

It almost seems reasonable, but experts say the end of the pandemic is unlikely to be that simple, or come that fast.

I think of this time as a transition, said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn. The virus is transitioning, and as a society we are transitioning and learning to live with it.

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The end of the pandemic is likely to be a gradual process, said Chunhuei Chi, director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University. Ultimately, it will require us to establish a relationship with SARS-CoV-2 that mirrors our relationship with the virus that causes seasonal flu.

That means getting a shot once a year to prevent the most severe symptoms of COVID-19, and understanding that if you get infected anyway you might feel miserable for a few days, but you are unlikely to end up in the hospital or worse.

We want to get to a place where we are no longer concerned about preventing infections, but instead, worried about preventing severe symptoms and death, Chi said.

It might almost feel like were there now, but scientists say we're not.

Tun-Hou Lee, professor emeritus of virology at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, notes that the mortality rate of SARS-CoV-2 (254 deaths per 100,000 people) is still far higher than that of influenza (1.8 deaths per 100,000 people).

"Even if one believes that the mortality rate of 254 per 100,000 will be lower once most of the U.S. population is 'fully' vaccinated, my bias is that SARS-CoV-2 infection will have a higher mortality rate than flu," he said.

To further reduce the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus, Chi said he'd like to see new vaccines become available that are better at preventing infections and provide longer-lasting immunity, as well as more effective drug treatments for those who are infected. Both are already in the works, he said. The widespread immunity that will likely be imparted by Omicron will also help even if its fleeting.

I am quite hopeful that with all these factors together, by the fall we may see the pandemic ending and turning into a flu-like endemic, at least in North America, Chi said.

In the meantime, life in Southern California goes on.

In-person classes were back in session Thursday at Leimert Parks Nicholas Dance Studio after a two-week break, but with a whole lot of safeguards firmly in place.

Studio owner Cathie Nicholas had enclosed the viewing area for parents in plexiglass and limited capacity to three people. The studios floor is disinfected twice a week, hand-sanitizing stations abound, and a negative coronavirus test, a temperature check and a mask are all required for entry.

My belief is weve made all the adjustments here and were just kind of rolling with the punches, said Nicholas. It hasnt been easy, but we have to get out and live.

On Thursday evening, 200 spectators participated in the annual Olvera Street Three Kings procession. The three wise men, a pair of angels, the holy family and a slew of shepherds along with visitors completed a lap and a half around Olvera Street.

The annual event, which started in the 1970s, ended with the distribution of rosca de reyes Mexican sweet bread and champurrado.

The procession was canceled in 2021 because of COVID-19.

Valerie Hanley, owner of Casa California shop on Olvera Street, passes out King Day bread after the Dia de los Reyes procession. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

We had a lot of interest from the community to have this back, said Valerie Hanley, 53, Casa California owner and treasurer of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn. Foundation. And I think we were able to do it because weve done everything we could to make it as safe as possible.

Marchers were masked and most spread out while eating and drinking that night.

There comes a point where you have to get back to being with families and visitors and customers, Hanley said. Its important.

El Sereno Wilson High School senior Donna Arce, who played the Virgin Mary, said she was encouraged by the crowds willingness to mask up and march.

People have been scared for a while, so its nice to see a good crowd, she said. A lot of people have followed the steps, like getting vaccinated and being masked, so we should continue this tradition.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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MLB reportedly looking to restart labor talks with union in January – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 5:10 pm

MLB is reportedly planning to restart labor negotiations with the MLBPA in January, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

The league is reportedly preparing new economic proposals to send to the players. MLB is hoping to deliver those proposals in January. When that happens, it will mark the first time the owners and players have talked since the lockout was instituted in December.

Optimism over those talks should be tempered if using the NBA as a guide. Drellich spoke to a person involved in NBA labor talks who said, "Nothing happens until the very last minute."

The point of (a lockout) generally is to impose economic pressure. And its not going to happen in the beginning, because people arent feeling it. Theyre not getting paid. The season hasnt started. So if the point of it is to impose the economic pressure, then yeah, in theory, its not going to really be effective until you get to the end."

There's logic to that line of thinking. MLB owners make the bulk of their money during the season and players only get paid during the season. Neither side is missing out on much from a financial perspective during the winter. As the season gets closer, both sides could be more desperate to make a deal.

It's tough to know whether the league restarting talks in January will be a good thing without knowing the particulars of the offer. Talking is better than the status quo, but only if the players feel the offer is negotiable. If the league's offer doesn't satisfy what the players are seeking, or comes off as insulting to the players, that could create a further schism between both sides.

Reports from December suggested the two sides were far apart in negotiations. The players likely don't feel much better after the league scrubbed player portraits and stories featuring current players from its website the day the lockout took place.

Player response to the January proposal will be a much better indicator of the end of the lockout. If the players feel the January proposal is negotiable, an end to the lockout could come sooner than expected. But if the players are frustrated with the owners' latest effort, it could be a while before the two sides talk again.

MLB could present a new labor proposal to the union in January. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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NBA Fact or Fiction: Karl-Anthony Towns, the forgotten star – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 5:10 pm

Each week during the 2021-22 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the leagues biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether the trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.

There was almost a 50% chance in the 2015 NBA draft lottery that Karl-Anthony Towns would land on the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers or Philadelphia 76ers, but the Minnesota Timberwolves held onto the No. 1 spot, and we have had a lot fewer discussions about Towns as a result. It is high time we have one.

Anyone who has watched the Timberwolves this season has noticed a different Towns one more fiery and more committed to defense than ever before, which is all we ever really wanted to see from him and it is translating to winning basketball, at least so much as it can on a young roster with a limited ceiling.

Yet, no one outside Minnesota is really talking about Towns, because we have long since written off the former top overall pick as the NBA's next megastar. The Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler has gone so far as to call him "soft," even though Towns was 22 years old the lone season they played together. The label stuck, since one is more vociferous than the other, but the past two years have proven Towns is anything but soft.

Towns has emerged from devastating tragedy the loss of his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, and six more family members to the COVID-19 pandemic a more impactful leader, both on and off the court, and he has entered this season with a clearer recognition of the stigmas attached to his Timberwolves career.

"I think what's really on the line is people's perception of Minnesota. Of me," Towns told Sports Illustrated's Michael Pina at the end of September, when he entered his seventh training camp with the Wolves. "I'm for sure not gonna fail. So I got to do what I got to do, but the pressure is high for me to win and rightfully so."

Story continues

Towns is averaging 24.2 points (on 51/42/83 shooting splits), 9.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 34.5 minutes through 31 games. He is one of only 10 players and the only center shooting better than 42% on five or more 3-point attempts per game. Only three others are averaging a 24-9-3 this season Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid and Towns is scoring more efficiently than all but Jokic, the reigning MVP. It adds up to a top-15 ranking in most every all-encompassing advanced statistical category.

None of it is all that far from Towns' career marks. The defense is what has set him apart this season. He is more aggressive defending on the perimeter and recovering to protect the rim. He is still not exceptional at either, but the effort is there, and a chaotic system designed by first-time head coach Chris Finch has better defined his responsibilities in an outfit featuring a handful of quicker defenders to fill the space around him.

Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns is playing with more emotion than ever before. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

The result is a personal defensive rating of 107.7, an imperfect metric, but the best of his career by far. The Timberwolves are operating like a top-10 defensive unit when Towns is on the floor, despite sharing many of his minutes with offense-first point guard D'Angelo Russell and second-year wing Anthony Edwards.

Offensively, Towns is unlike any player we have seen. He is well on his way to becoming the second-best 3-point shooting big man in history behind Dirk Nowitzki. Among the 40 frontcourt players who have made at least 700 3-pointers in his career, Towns owns the highest 2-point field-goal percentage and fifth-highest 3-point percentage, making him by far the most efficient inside-out threat among all forwards and centers.

Meanwhile, Minnesota has fielded four coaches and six general managers during Towns' seven seasons. They turned Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins and three top-seven draft picks into Malik Beasley and Russell, allowing Butler to delay the development of two of their No. 1 overall picks in between. The franchise has done nothing but bungle the roster around Towns an all-time offensive talent for six seasons.

Somehow, Towns is still only 26 years old, on the precipice of his prime.

Can you imagine how much time would be dedicated to discussing the front-office failures of the Lakers, Knicks or 76ers, had Towns landed on any of those teams? Instead, he is a forgotten star, painted by Butler as "a loser," toiling on a team within one loss of the Lakers for the West's No. 6 seed. He is a giant lying in wait, with two years left on his contract. Either Minnesota does right by him, or someone else will score big.

Determination: Fact

Towns has been a vocal advocate of COVID-19 vaccines, given his family's firsthand experience with the deadliness of the virus, but one fellow All-Star has been willing to actively hinder his team's title odds in opposition of them. The Brooklyn Nets welcomed an unvaccinated Kyrie Irving into the fold this week, even citing the virus' impact on the roster as reason to disavow a previous decision not to allow him to play.

New York City's vaccine mandate still does not permit Irving to attend home games for the Nets.

Irving faced a couple questions about his vaccination status after Wednesday's season debut in Indiana, provided a prolonged nonsensical response and finished with, "Oh come on, man. Don't hang on to me."

And that was it.

"It's not an ideal situation, and I'm always praying that things get figured out and we're able to come to some collective agreement, whether it be with the league or it's just things that's going on that could help kind of ease what we're all dealing with COVID-19 and the vaccine," Irving told reporters on Wednesday.

"I think everybody's feeling it, so I don't want to make it simply about me and someone lessening the rules for me," the 29-year-old added. "I know what the consequences were, I still know what they are, but right now, I'm just going to take it one day at a time like I said and just enjoy this time I get to play with my guys."

What? Five hundred of his NBA peers have taken vaccines without incident. More than 9 billion doses have been administered worldwide. Duke required at least eight vaccines for Irving to attend the university. Yet, he is sacrificing $17 million in salary and his team's championship favorite status in opposition. We will soon find out if protesting an FDA-approved vaccine is more important to Irving than a home playoff game.

Good for him, I guess? I just don't see how any of this is worth applauding his 22 points in a win over the Pacers, when he will head right back home to watch the Nets host the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. He is treating his cause as a personal crusade, like so many are, ignoring the societal implications of his stance.

At least Towns can defend his position.

Determination: Fiction

Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach

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Is your Bed Bath & Beyond store closing? See the stores slated to close by the end of February – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:10 pm

Bed Bath & Beyond is permanently closing more stores.

Another 37 stores located in 19 states will shutter, most by the end of February, Bed Bath & Beyond told USA TODAY. The locations are currently going through store closing liquidation sales.

The company confirmation comes ahead of the planned release of the retailers quarterly earnings Thursday morning where officials will provide a business update.

The New Jersey-based home goods retailer which also operates buybuy Baby and Harmon Face Values announced in July 2020 that the company would close 200 of its namesake stores over two years, accounting for 21% of its Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

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Macy's store closings 2022: Macy's is closing more stores in 2022. Will your location close? See the list.

Retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond have also announced rounds of store closings in January. Macy's shared its latest list of upcoming closures Wednesday and Bed Bath & Beyond also had closings announced last January and in January 2020.

The home goods retailer has been launching more store-owned brands as part of its transformation plan. It started last March with the Nestwell bedding and bath brand.

Bed Bath & Beyond is closing more stores in 2022, including its store in San Angelo, Texas.

In this latest round of Bed Bath closures, New York will lose seven stores, five California stores will close and four Washington state locations. Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Texas will lose two stores apiece.

Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia are each losing one store.

A list of closing dates was unavailable. The San Angelo Standard-Times, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, reported that the San Angelo, Texas store would close Jan. 23.

The New York-based Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, also part of the USA TODAY Network, reported the Canandaigua store would close in the coming months.

Story continues

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Campbell: Almarida Place, 515 East Hamilton Avenue

Laguna Niguel: 32391 Golden Lantern

Milpitas: 147 Great Mall Drive

Rancho Santa Margarita: 22235 El Paseo

Tustin: Tustin Market Place II, 13692 Jamboree Road

Auburn: Auburn Plaza, 217 Grant Ave.

Canandaigua: 328 Eastern Blvd.

Glenmont: 388 Feura Bush Road

Niagara Falls: 1520 Military Road

Plainview: 401 S. Oyster Bay Road

Port Chester: 25 Waterfront Place

Spring Valley: 14 B Spring Valley Marketplace

Brownsville: Sunrise Palms Shopping Center, 3000 Pablo Kisel Blvd.

San Angelo: 4169 Sunset Drive

East Wenatchee: 511 Valley Mall Parkway

Longview: 200 Triangle Center

Seattle: 2600 SW Barton St.

Union Gap: 1740 East Washington St.

Contributing: Rosanna Fraire, San Angelo Standard-Times; Marcia Greenwood, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

KFC Beyond Fried Chicken: KFC launching plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken at restaurants nationwide starting Monday

Starbucks brings back Pistachio Latte: Starbucks' Pistachio Latte and Meatless Mondays are back for a limited time this winter

Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko. For shopping news, tips and deals, join us on our Shopping Ninjas Facebook group.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bed Bath and Beyond closing 2022: See the February store closings list

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