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Good morning. The NFL announced that 22,000 fans will attend Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay, including 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers (who will receive free tickets). Which two teams will they be watching? Here are the Brew’s picks for tomorrow’s conference championship games: Bucs handle the Packers, 34–24. Tom Brady will throw for 97 yards but still get heaped with praise. Bills topple the Chiefs in a nailbiter, 25–24. We picked the Bills to win the Super Bowl way back at the beginning of the season...there’s no going back now.

MARKETS NASDAQ 13,543.06 + 0.09% S&P 3,841.47 - 0.30% DOW 30,996.98 - 0.57% GOLD 1,855.50 - 0.56% 10-YR 1.086% - 2.70 bps OIL 51.98 - 2.16% *As of market close Covid-19 update: Let’s head overseas, where UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there’s “some evidence” the new coronavirus variant, B117, is deadlier than the original strain (we already know it’s more contagious). In better news, it appears that the UK’s total Covid case numbers are on a downward trajectory. Markets: The stock market winner this week was the Nasdaq, which posted a healthy gain of 4.2%. A Big Week for Big Tech had a lot to do with it.

HEALTH Businesses to Biden

Giphy Executives from major US corporations are eagerly raising their hands at the front of class hoping to get called on by President Biden. The problem they think they can answer? How to speed up a vaccine rollout that is wayyyy behind schedule. New York State was set to run out of vaccine doses yesterday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. And just 67% of hospital staff (who are in the first priority tier) have received shots.  Elsewhere in the country, about half of the 38 million doses distributed to states are stuck in freezers. A few notable hand-raisers Walmart, which is already vaccinating healthcare workers in Arkansas and New Mexico, is expanding its vaccine efforts to seven additional states, Chicago, and Puerto Rico. Eventually, the nation’s largest retailer thinks it can dole out 10 million to 13 million doses a month.  Over in Washington state, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Costco have all been tapped by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to help distribute vaccines. And this week, Amazon implored the Biden administration to call upon its expertise for something a little more pressing than delivering a Ninja food processor in less than 12 hours.  Private sector public sector  Big retailers, working more closely with local governments, could be a missing link in the distribution effort’s 10,000-piece puzzle. “Their core businesses are already geared around serving millions of customers day in and day out. They have locations right across the country and...national distribution and logistics networks,” Neil Saunders, managing director of Global Data Retail, told the Washington Post. It’s not just the big kids helping out, either. Carbon Health, a healthcare startup that just finished raising a Series C round, now powers the back-end tech for the City of Los Angeles’s entire vaccine program.  Zoom out: The private sector has every incentive to help out the government. “Our economy will not recover, and we won’t be able to get people back into the office, until we have good penetration of the vaccines,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said.

STOCKS GameStop Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop The army of amateur retail traders that fueled past rallies in stocks like Kodak and Hertz have a new favorite plaything: GameStop.  Yesterday, the video game retailer’s stock shot up as much as 78%, triggering four separate trade stoppages so everyone could catch their breath. The backstory: GameStop popped on investors’ radar after it added the cofounder of e-commerce pet brand Chewy to its board 10 days ago. Its stock surged 60% that day which, in turn, caught the eye of notorious short-seller Citron Research.  Citron, which makes money if GameStop’s stock flops, released a video on Thursday outlining why it thinks GameStop is overvalued. “This is a failing mall-based retailer," the firm’s managing partner Andrew Left said in the video. Amateur traders took it as a challenge and promptly sent the stock soaring, racking up losses for anyone who holds a short position. Bottom line: The amateur investors are winning for now—the stock is up 245% this month. But unless GameStop can prove its e-comm transformation is legit, they might not have the upperhand for long.

HOUSING Selling Sunsets on 2020

Getty Images After ticking up 0.7% in December, US existing home sales in 2020 clocked in at their highest level in 14 years. What juiced the housing market last year?  Historically low borrowing costs: The 30-year fixed-rate home loan fell to 2.77% this week. It stood at 3.60% a year ago.  Coronavirus lockdowns: After months of being cooped up in an apartment with young kids, you weren’t the only one thinking, “I gotta get a bigger place.”  Here’s the crazy part: Home sales could have been much higher—if only there were more homes to sell. 1.07 million homes were on the market at the end of December, 23% fewer than December 2019. That’s pushing up prices The median price on an existing home was $309,800 in December, 13% higher than a year earlier. When you look closely, you’ll see that the higher end of the market is doing most of the heavy lifting. Sales of homes <$100,000: down 15% annually $500,000–$750,000: up 65% $1,000,000+: up 94% What these numbers show: If you made it through the pandemic unscathed, like many in the higher-income brackets did, you tried to level up your crib.

SPONSORED BY CARIUMA OOPS WE DID IT (TALKED ABOUT OUR LOVE FOR CARIUMA) AGAIN Actually, we might have done it a few thousand times, but you know what they say...write about what you love.  And what we love is raving about CARIUMA.  Because these sustainable, super cool sneakers are intensely-comfortable, wildly-stylish, carbon-neutral, and—perhaps most importantly—they have the Brew stamp of approval.  There’s no mystery why these environmentally-friendly, fashion-forward kicks had a 16k waitlist. CARIUMA IBIs are made with crazy comfortable bamboo knit, sugarcane, organic mamona oil, and cork — they even launched a brand new high top version. So your feet will be as snug as a stylish bug in a sustainably-made rug. And nobody wants to be number 16,000 in line, so get your sustainable sneakers before they sell out again.  Brew readers even get 15% off the world’s greatest sneaks. Claim your CARIUMAS today.

TECH Goodnight Loon

Francis Scialabba Google parent Alphabet is shutting down Loon, its ambitious attempt to bring wi-fi to remote areas via high-flying balloons. The reason: Big dreams need big budgets. Too big. The project’s leader, Alaistair Westgarth, explained in a blog post, “While we’ve found a number of willing partners along the way, we haven’t found a way to get the costs low enough to build a long-term, sustainable business.” It was cool while it lasted: The tennis-court-sized balloons supplied internet service to an area 200x the range of a standard cell tower, with zero pretense of being pine trees. In 2017, Loon balloons restored wireless service to over 100,000 Puerto Ricans following Hurricane Maria. Loon was part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which incubated moonshot projects like self-driving car company Waymo and life sciences research organization Verily. “Other Bets” consistently records chunky operating losses. Zoom out: CEO Sundar Pichai has been pruning financially risky projects in an attempt to pull the company’s gaze down from the clouds to its bottom line.

APPS That’s a Lot of Sea Shanties

App Annie TikTok rose past Facebook to become the most time-consuming social media app in 2020.  According to App Annie, users spent an average of 21.5 hours on TikTok per month, 325% more than last year. All of the top five social media platforms experienced an uptick from 2019–2020, but none as dramatic as TikTok’s.  Consider: #Snailtok alone, a hashtag full of snail videos, has over 24.3 million views. (For the record, our favorite snail influencer is slimetownusa.)

TAXES Tax Season 2021: Important Facts and Figures Mark Wang This article is part of our ongoing series on taxes and the gig economy. Deadlines: The IRS delayed the start of tax season till February 12. In a normal year, the IRS typically starts accepting and processing last year’s tax returns in late January, but…yeah.  We’re still on for the traditional April 15 tax filing deadline, which was extended until July last year.  Stimulus payments: Many Americans received cash from the government last year (known as Economic Impact Payments) to blunt the economic crisis. This stimulus money is NOT subject to income taxes.  If you didn’t receive 100% of the stimulus money you were entitled to, you are eligible for the “recovery rebate credit,” which will either bump up your refund or reduce your tax obligations. Refunds: Once you file your taxes electronically, you should expect to receive your refund via direct deposit within 21 days of the filing date, the IRS said.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING Hank Aaron, baseball and civil rights icon, died at 86.  President Biden signed two executive orders aimed at helping out the most financially vulnerable Americans. Amazon is trying to stop a union vote at an Alabama warehouse that’s scheduled to begin next month. It would be Amazon’s first US union election in seven years.  The Japanese government denied a report that it had decided to cancel the Olympics this summer. No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond film, has been delayed for the third time...to October 8. NBCUniversal is shutting down its NBCSN sports network.

BREW'S BETS Win on game day. ButcherBox™ delivers high-quality meat directly to your door. For a limited time, new members get 1 rack of St. Louis ribs, 1 pack of pulled pork, and 1 pack of bacon for free in your first box. Sign up today.*  Invest with all your business knowledge on Stash, the personal finance app that can make investing easy and affordable. Right now, Stash is giving a $5 bonus to Brew readers who make their first $5 deposit.** Cash in and start investing that market know-how.* 2021 creative trends: From inkscapes to eccentric animation, here are the design themes to look out for this year. Weekend Conversation Starters:  This might get too heated, but cast iron skillets: necessary, or heavy and hard to clean? If your email sign-off were a song lyric, what would it be? I can show you the world, Morning Brew. Debate serif vs. sans serif after looking through these homogeneous brand logos.  *This is sponsored advertising content

GAMES Brew Crossword: Sticky Situation

Francis Scialabba

Today's clever Brew Crossword, written by the dynamic duo of Adam and Amanda Kallin, is related to current events...but we're not going to tell you how. Play it here to find out.

 

 

January 23rd, 2021

Biden Now Says 'Nothing We Can Do' To Change Pandemic Trajectory After spending months on the campaign trail criticizing the Trump administration's COVID-19 response and promising to 'crush' the virus with a comprehensive action plan, President Biden now says... Read More ›

FREE DVD Reveals: How to build your own untraceable AR-10 style semi-automatic 'sniper rifle' in hard hitting. 308 that can shoot targets at 1,000 yards! Read More ›

Does Chuck Schumer Have Something Else On His Mind Today? It appears the dream of impeaching President Trump and blocking him from running for office ever again has Senate Democrat Leader Schumer... Read More ›

U.S. doctor: Manipulating bat-based coronaviruses easy By Andrew Kerr Daily Caller News FoundationA U.S. doctor who is part of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic discussed his work manipulating bat-based... Read More ›

Winter Storm Could Batter Northeast Next Week Widespread winter weather across the lower 48 states in recent weeks has been limited, but that drought could be over as early as this weekend into next week as a duo of storms could batter parts of... Read More ›

GOP Congressman Voices Support for Tying New Stimulus Checks to COVID Vaccines One Republican congressman who is cool to the notion of giving out a third round of stimulus checks to Americans said he could warm up to... Read More ›

This Will Make You Feel Helpless... In less than 30 minutes, one man's life turned into a nightmare... And not even the police could do anything about it! Unsuspecting Americans have never been more vulnerable, and it's only going to get worse! Read More ›

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	FOX Daily update ⋅ January 23, 2021
	NEWS
	Fox News Fires a Key Player in Its Election Night Coverage The New York Times On Tuesday morning, Fox News fired Chris Stirewalt, the veteran politics editor who was an onscreen face of the network's election night projection that ... Flag as irrelevant
	How Fox News Is Adapting To The Biden Era NPR Fox News is doubling down on its opinion shows and firing or sidelining some journalists as it adjusts to the Biden era. NPR discusses what these ... Flag as irrelevant
	Shep Smith breaks his silence about why he left Fox News CNN Smith, now host of the nightly show "The News with Shepard Smith" at 7 pm ET on CNBC, told Amanpour that his presence on Fox became untenable as ... Flag as irrelevant
	Never forget Fox News's promotion of the 'Big Lie' Washington Post Those are all serious situations, yet none of them compares to the latest crisis at Fox News Media: Hosts on Fox News Channel and Fox Business ... Flag as irrelevant
	CNN moves to No. 1, Fox drops in post-election ratings shakeup: Will it last? USA TODAY Fox News, the longtime top-ranked cable news network and, until recently, Trump's favorite media outlet, has lost its No. 1 status, too, with CNN now ... Flag as irrelevant
	With Trump's exit, the Fox News presidency will come to an end CNN Four years ago, Fox News headed into the Trump presidency with an unprecedented opportunity. It was not only the primary source of news for the ... Flag as irrelevant
	Fox News got crushed in the Inauguration Day ratings, falling 77% from 2017 Business Insider By later in the evening, Fox's main primetime lineup of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham brought viewership back to its normal levels. Inauguration Cable Ratings: CNN Triumphs with 10 Million and Wins Day, Fox News Crumbles ... - Showbiz411 Full Coverage Flag as irrelevant
	'America's Most Wanted' Revived at Fox Hollywood Reporter Former ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas will serve as host of the updated series, which has a long history at the network. Fox is giving new life to ... 'America's Most Wanted' Returns To Fox With Elizabeth Vargas As Host - Deadline Full Coverage Flag as irrelevant
	Fox News Foes Face Uphill Fight to Get Cable Network Dropped Bloomberg Critics of networks like Fox News and Newsmax argue that the outlets fueled uncertainty about election results and should be dropped by cable ... Flag as irrelevant
	Shepard Smith Opens Up About Leaving Fox News After 23 Years: "I Stuck With It for as Long as I ... Hollywood Reporter "If you feel like the Fox viewers were getting mis- or disinformation, I was there to make sure that they got it straight," Smith said in the clip, which ... Flag as irrelevant
	WEB
	Fox News - WATCH: Computer repair shop owner at the center of Hunter Biden probe speaks out ... Facebook Fox News · 14 hrs ·. "I saw some pretty compelling documents." EXCLUSIVE: John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the computer repair shop at the center ... Flag as irrelevant
	Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With John Roberts of Fox News America Reports - United States ... US Department of State QUESTION: A Fox News alert now, the United States leveling perhaps the most serious charge a country can face, accusing China in the last hour and ... Flag as irrelevant
	Prescription Drugs, Biologics & Diagnostics | Arent Fox Arent Fox Arent Fox is a one-stop-shop for life science companies. We help our clients manage the entire product life cycle, from protecting scientific ... Flag as irrelevant
	WWE on FOX on Twitter: "#WWEBackstage is back?!? Here's our good friend, and the host of ... twitter.com WWE on FOXVerified account. @WWEonFOX. The official @FOXSports Twitter account for all things @WWE. Friday Night SmackDown airs Fridays ... Flag as irrelevant
	1 dead another hurt following a snowmachine crash near Fox Monday Alaska's News Source ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Alaska State Trooper say a 41-year-old Fairbanks woman has died following a snowmachine crash near Fox on the ... Flag as irrelevant
	US Water Alliance CEO Radhika Fox Joins the Environmental Protection Agency | US Water Alliance US Water Alliance Radhika Fox said: “It is an incredible honor and privilege to be selected by President Biden to serve our country. I am proud to join the EPA team of ... Flag as irrelevant
	Brady-Rodgers Boosts Fox's NFC Title Game Rate to $2 Million Sportico.com According to media buyers, Fox's going rate for a 30-second in-game spot for the Bucs-Packers game jumped from an initial unit cost of $1.75 million to ... Flag as irrelevant
	SchoolFox SchoolFox Flag as irrelevant

 

Antifa Protests Around U.S. on Inauguration: Want ‘Revenge,’ ‘No Prisons, No Walls – No USA At All’

Despite newly elected President Joe Biden being soft on condemning Antifa’s deplorable and violent actions, the group st [...]

_______SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______ Columnists In No Time at All, This Biden Term Already Has the Press Altering Their Definition of ‘The Truth’ Brad Slager Secretary Bernhardt Touts Conservation Successes Under Trump Administration Gabriella Hoffman The Conservative Path Forward in the Biden-Harris Era Josh Hammer The Rocky Shoals of “Unity”… 2021-style Tom Tradup The Lincoln Project Sets a New Standard for Shameless Grift Terry Schilling It's John Brennan's Authoritarianism That Threatens Democracy David Harsanyi 'Amen and Awomen' Signals More Progressive Nonsense Jeff Davidson Our Terror-Sponsoring Enemies Rubbing Their Hands Anticipating Biden Presidency Humberto Fontova Biden’s Keystone Pipeline Plan Is a Bad Sign for Everything Else Young Voices Contributors ADVERTISEMENT Lighting Up the 'Midnight' of Our Current Society Kathryn Lopez President Biden Prioritizes Paris Ahead of Rural America Larry Behrens Morocco Is a Model for Other Nations Longing for Peace Yael Eckstein Stop the Pain, End Late-term Abortions in Florida Marjorie Dannenfelser Joe Biden, President of the United States by the Sovereign Will of God Michael Brown Evers set to tax small businesses who got COVID loans M.D. Kittle Video Gov. Evers: Saying Abortionists 'Execute Babies' Is 'Blasphemy' Trump blasts Schiff as 'political hack' Pelosi's condescension offers some laughs Pelosi open to border infrastructure INVESTING Sometimes It's Better To Invest In The Old Names Amidst Global Warming Hysteria, NASA Expects Global Cooling Top Electric Vehicle Stocks to Buy Go Well Beyond Tesla - Paul Dykewicz How To Save A Republic Stakeholder Primacy: Who’s Playing Whom? Tipsheet Biden's COVID Agenda Can Be Summed Up In Six Words Matt Vespa How We Move Forward on Election Integrity Congressman Ted Budd Liberal Reporter Sees the Real Motive Behind Trump Social Media Purge and Impeachment Push Matt Vespa Bad Idea: Top Republicans, Ex-White House Officials Pressing McConnell to Convict Trump Matt Vespa Bill Maher's Remarks on Trump Supporters and Capitol Hill Mayhem Will Probably Shock You...in a Good Way Matt Vespa ICYMI: The Barstool Fund Assisting Businesses Struggling Under COVID Nears $30 Million Matt Vespa Hmm, Why Is Gavin Newsom Hiding Coronavirus Data from the Public? Bronson Stocking Chuck Schumer's Slip-Up About Trump Is Sure Raising Eyebrows Matt Vespa WATCH: Biden Says Nothing Can be Done to Change the Course of the Pandemic for Several Months Bronson Stocking Axios: Biden Is No 'Smooth Moderate'...He's a Total Liberal. No Kidding, Fellas. Matt Vespa Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Skipped Biden's Inauguration...And The Reason Is Beyond Idiotic Matt Vespa ADVERTISEMENT Political Cartoons Bearing Arms Ammo Exec Answers Questions About Shortages | Cam Edwards Laura Loomer Claims She's On "Secret No-Buy" List For Guns | Cam Edwards Progressives Attack Abbott Over "One-Sided" Discussion On Public Safety | Cam Edwards New KC Gun Club For Women Sees Explosive Growth | Cam Edwards Now The NRA's Responsible For Capitol Mob? | Tom Knighton

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Legendary TV Host, Larry King has died. [...]

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Texas AG sues Biden administration over ‘perilous’ deportation freeze Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration over the “unlawful and perilous” 100-day pause on deport [...] Read Mo
Just The News WaPo edits 2019 profile of Kamala Harris, removes joke she made about prisoner begging ... "We should have kept both versions of the story on the Post's site," newspaper later admits. Read more at Twitter
John Solomon shared Just The News Schumer says Senate will wait until February to begin Trump impeachment trial McConnell had earlier asked for delay of trial until February. Read more at Twitter
John Solomon shared Just The News Moscow threatens 'reciprocity' over malfunctioning phone lines at New York consulate The incident occurs while officials in Moscow speculate about Russia's place in the world under President Joe Biden. Read more at Twitter
John Solomon shared Just The News FBI finds stolen armored military vehicle hose responsible for the theft of the vehicle have still not been found. Read more at Twitter
John Solomon shared Just The News Incoming Transportation Sec. Buttigieg suggests taxing Americans for amount of miles th... Buttigieg endorsed moving to a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) system as a presidential candidate. Read more at Twitter
John Solomon shared Just The News White House calls for agency-wide effort on domestic terrorism, a 'growing national sec... White House press secretary on Friday said domestic violent extremism is a "serious and growing national security thr... Read more at Twitter
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Biden Hands Vaccine Distribution Over To Big Tech by Daily Caller