While June started out pretty warm, it looks like when summer gets underway it will be relative cool.
NPR
JBS, the world's largest meat processor, confirms it paid a ransom of $11 million to cyberattackers.
CEO Andre Nogueira of JBA USA called it a "very difficult decision to make."
"However, we felt this decision had to be made to prevent any potential risk for our customers."
JBS is based in Brazil, but last week's hack targeted servers in the U.S. and Australia.
The FBI says REvil, a Russian-speaking gang, was responsible.
Crime Syndicate Busted Using Anom Messaging App
In this video I cover how the Anom Messaging app was compromised to arrest hundreds of people around the world. archived article about security issues with anom https://archive.is/oH1I8
Mutinus elegans – Wikipedia
Mutinus elegans, commonly known as the elegant stinkhorn, the dog stinkhorn, the headless stinkhorn, or the devil's dipstick, is a species of fungus in the family Phallaceae. A saprobic species, it is typically found growing on the ground singly or in small groups on woody debris or leaf litter, during summer and autumn in Japan, Europe, and eastern North America. The fruit body begins its development in an "egg" form, resembling somewhat a puffball partially submerged in the ground. As the fungus matures, a slender orange to pink colored stalk emerges that tapers evenly to a pointed tip. The stalk is covered with a foul-smelling slimy green spore mass on the upper third of its length. Flies and other insects feed upon the slime which contains the spores, assisting in their dispersal. Due to their repellent odor, mature specimens are not generally considered edible, although there are reports of the immature "eggs" being consumed. In the laboratory, Mutinus elegans has been shown to inhibit the growth of several microorganisms that can be pathogenic to humans.
NPR
As of Tuesday, nearly 64% of U.S. adults have had at least one shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The key issue is that demand has dropped off. After an initial crush, the number of doses being administered daily is on a steep decline from the early April peak.
So what's going on? A few things to note:
There's a huge political divide. Speaking over the weekend, former President Donald Trump took credit for the vaccine rollout and told a North Carolina crowd of supporters that "most of you" have likely been vaccinated.
But surveys have shown Trump supporters are the least likely to say they have been vaccinated or plan to be. Remember, Trump got vaccinated before leaving the White House, but that was reported months later. Unlike other public officials who were trying to encourage people to get the shot, Trump did it in private.
The top 22 states (including D.C.) with the highest adult vaccination rates all went to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Some of the least vaccinated states are the most pro-Trump. Trump won 17 of the 18 states with the lowest adult vaccination rates. Many of these states have high proportions of whites without college degrees.
Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax — ProPublica
For regular people, borrowing money is often something done out of necessity, say for a car or a home. But for the ultrawealthy, it can be a way to access billions without producing income, and thus, income tax.
The tax math provides a clear incentive for this. If you own a company and take a huge salary, you’ll pay 37% in income tax on the bulk of it. Sell stock and you’ll pay 20% in capital gains tax — and lose some control over your company. But take out a loan, and these days you’ll pay a single-digit interest rate and no tax; since loans must be paid back, the IRS doesn’t consider them income. Banks typically require collateral, but the wealthy have plenty of that.
The vast majority of the ultrawealthy’s loans do not appear in the tax records obtained by ProPublica since they are generally not disclosed to the IRS. But occasionally, the loans are disclosed in securities filings. In 2014, for example, Oracle revealed that its CEO, Ellison, had a credit line secured by about $10 billion of his shares.
Last year Tesla reported that Musk had pledged some 92 million shares, which were worth about $57.7 billion as of May 29, 2021, as collateral for personal loans. Elon Musk Tesla Inc. 2014–2018 Wealth Growth: $13.9B Total Income Reported: $1.52B (10.94% of wealth) Total Taxes Paid: $455M (3.27% of wealth)
With the exception of one year when he exercised more than a billion dollars in stock options, Musk’s tax bills in no way reflect the fortune he has at his disposal. In 2015, he paid $68,000 in federal income tax. In 2017, it was $65,000, and in 2018 he paid no federal income tax. Between 2014 and 2018, he had a true tax rate of 3.27%.
The IRS records provide glimpses of other massive loans. In both 2016 and 2017, investor Carl Icahn, who ranks as the 40th-wealthiest American on the Forbes list, paid no federal income taxes despite reporting a total of $544 million in adjusted gross income (which the IRS defines as earnings minus items like student loan interest payments or alimony). Icahn had an outstanding loan of $1.2 billion with Bank of America among other loans, according to the IRS data. It was technically a mortgage because it was secured, at least in part, by Manhattan penthouse apartments and other properties.
NPR
Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. has reached an all-time high of 70%, according to a poll released by Gallup on Tuesday.
The percentage — the highest since the organization began recording the trend in 1996 — marks a 10% increase since 2015, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled all states must recognize same-sex marriages.
The rise in support stems largely from a majority of Republicans, who for the first time approve of same-sex marriage at 55%, according to Gallup.
The company reports 83% of Democrats, a political bloc that has consistently been the biggest backers of same-sex marriage, indicated support for it this year. Compared to prior reports, Democrats reported the same level of approval for gay and lesbian marriage over the past few years.
Gallup wrote, "This could suggest that support for gay marriage has reached a ceiling for this group, at least for now."
Support among voters who identify as independents, is now at 73% slightly higher than the 68% to 71% range recorded from 2017 to 2020.