🌅 The Big Short

🇬🇧 UK Tackles New Virus Strain

The UK imposed its highest tier of lockdown restrictions starting yesterday across south-east and eastern England – including London – in an effort to contain a highly-infectious new strain of COVID-19. Recorded cases across the UK rose 51% last week, largely attributed to the new coronavirus strain officials say appears to spread 70% faster than earlier variants.

More: Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Switzerland imposed travel restrictions on the UK over the weekend.

💬 Relevant Quote: “We have not seen a single (virus) mutation yet that would make it evade the vaccine.” –Adm. Brett Girior, the top U.S. official overseeing coronavirus testing.

💉 FDA Authorizes Moderna’s Vaccine

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization to Moderna for its COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. Per NBC News, the company is using McKesson, a healthcare supply chain management company, to distribute the shots via UPS and FedEx, with initial deliveries expected to arrive later today.

More: A CDC advisory panel voted Sunday to put “frontline essential workers” and people aged 75+ next in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (a combined ~49M Americans).

Even More: Vice President Mike Pence publicly received Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine on Friday, followed hours later by House Speaker Pelosi (D) and Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R). President-elect Biden and incoming First Lady Jill Biden will receive the shot later today.

💰 Stimulus Update

Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R) said negotiators finalized a ~$900B coronavirus relief package Sunday evening, though the legislative text was not released. Congress is hoping to attach the relief measure to a bill to fund the government through next September, and passed a series of stopgap funding measures over the weekend to buy more time for stimulus negotiations. The House is expected to vote on the ~$900B package later today.

🔞 A Revealing Situation

Pornhub, a Canada-based company operating one of the world’s largest porn sites, has been in and out of the news the past month.

• Dec. 3: The NYT publishes an opinion piece covering rape and child sex abuse videos on the platform.
• Dec. 10: Mastercard and Visa prohibit the use of their cards on Pornhub’s platform following separate investigations into the NYT’s allegations.
• Dec. 14: Pornhub removes all unverified content, totaling as many as 10M of its ~13.5M videos.
• Dec. 17: A Financial Times report reveals, for the first time, the principal owner of Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek – a businessman named Bernard Bergemar.

🎮 Game Over

Sony removed Cyberpunk 2077, developer CDPR’s flagship video game, from its PlayStation store late Thursday and offered full refunds to anyone who bought the game. This comes days after CDPR said players unsatisfied with their purchase on the PS4 or Microsoft’s Xbox One should request a refund, which Sony historically does not allow for used digital purchases.

Since Cyberpunk 2077 was released on Dec. 10, players have complained of routine crashes and visual glitches on the newer PS5, with the game performing even worse on the last-gen PS4.

More: Microsoft announced a similar refund policy for Cyberpunk 2077, but did not go as far as removing the game from its online store.

🍩 DONUT Holes:

• ⚖️ U.S. prosecutors charged a former China-based software engineer at Zoom with conspiring to censor speech for terminating at least four video meetings commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests.
• 🐝 Bumble confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
• 🏈 The College Football Playoff is set, featuring Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Ohio State.

🚗 Church Donation (to) Drive

Nakinta Kendrick, a mother of four from Gary, IN, was refueling at a gas station last month when a group of armed men approached her. After stealing Nakita’s keys, the men drove off in her car and led police on a chase that ended with the thieves totaling the stolen vehicle.

Within days of the robbery, the pastor at Nakinta’s church rallied the congregation to raise more than $3,000 for the single mother – surprising her with a fully insured car.

⛄ Do You Want to Have a Snow Day?

School has looked anything but ordinary this year. Given the challenges of the current academic environment, one school administrator from West Virginia took time last week to remind young learners of life’s little joys.

In a letter that has since gone viral, Jefferson County School Superintendent Bondy Gibson announced on December 15th that schools would close for a snow day – even though the district is conducting all classes remotely.

🦿 A Leg Up on Life

Darshit Thakrar, a radiologist from Loma Linda, CA, was in the process of training for a marathon in 2015 when he was struck by a passing vehicle while changing a flat tire. Following the accident, Darshit awoke in the hospital with no memory of the trauma – and with his left leg amputated.

This May, after completing years of physical therapy with his prosthetic leg, the now 41-year-old doctor finished his first 5k. He plans to complete a mini-triathlon by age 45.