https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/07/how-tax-brackets-actually-work-simple-visual-guide/?utm_term=.477da330c71b

In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) proposed raising the federal tax rate on incomes above $10 million up to 70 percent. The move would affect less than one-tenth of 1 percent of U.S. households and return the top marginal tax rate to its 1980 level.

Merits of the proposal aside, the resulting debate in Washington has underscored the fact that many Americans do not understand how federal income tax brackets work. Several policymakers and low-tax advocates suggested, incorrectly, that a top rate of 70 percent would affect all income earned by certain earners.

These distortions are rooted in the common belief that a single federal income tax rate applies to a person’s entire annual income. Under this misbelief, that tax rate is determined by how much a person makes in a year. This is often reflected in how people talk about their taxes, saying things like “I’m in the 24 percent tax bracket” or “I’m in the 12 percent tax bracket.”



This is why it’s not exactly correct to say things like “I’m in the 22 percent tax bracket.” Think of it this way: Tax brackets apply to income, not to individuals. The same 10 percent rate applies to the first $9,525 earned whether the earner makes $50,000 in a year or $5,000,000.

So in the coming weeks, if you hear a talking head suggest that a top tax rate of 70 percent means that the government will be taking away 70 percent of a person’s earnings, it’s a sign that the speaker either doesn’t understand how taxes work or is deliberately trying to mislead you.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/04/politics/ocasio-cortez-dancing-video-trnd/index.html

(CNN)An attempt to discredit freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using a video from her past backfired -- sending many on social media defending her instead.

The 30-second video was widely shared on Twitter on Wednesday and appeared to show a younger Ocasio-Cortez gleefully dancing on the roof of a building. A day later, she was sworn in as the youngest woman in Congress.

"Here is America's favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is," read the tweet from AnonymousQ1776, who described it as a video from her high school days.



But the edited clip is part of a 4-minute, 20-second video posted on YouTube eight years ago. And it was filmed at Boston University as part of a popular trend at the time. Ocasio-Cortez, who graduated from the university in 2011 with a degree in economics and international relations, was among a group of student dancers who took part in the video, which showed them imitating scenes from popular 1980s films.

"Using the European band Phoenix's Lisztomania, the students created what they call the BU "Lisztomania" Brat Pack Mashup, a homage to the original, which first aired on YouTube last year," the university said at the time. "The mashup, a remix of song and video clips, was an instant sensation and has been replicated worldwide."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/02/australian-man-screaming-at-spider-why-dont-you-die-triggers-full-police-response

Police in Western Australia have confirmed they sent multiple officers to an emergency call that turned out to be a screaming man with a “serious fear” of spiders.

A concerned passerby was walking outside a house in suburban Perth when they heard a toddler screaming and a man repeatedly shouting “Why don’t you die?”

After they called triple zero, officers arrived to find a man “trying to kill a spider”, who apologised for having an extreme fear of the arachnid.

The Wanneroo police Twitter account posted a screenshot of the police log of the incident on Wednesday morning.

“Caller walked past the AA and heard a male screaming out ‘Why don’t you die’ – repeatedly,” the log read. “The toddler inside was screaming … caller doesn’t know them, but has seen them a few times when walking”.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/01/681469011/netflix-drops-hasan-minhaj-episode-in-saudi-arabia-at-governments-request

Last fall, the world watched as Saudi Arabia's official story about the death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi changed, and changed again. A series of contradictory claims and denials came even as evidence emerged that Khashoggi's killing had been ordered by the country's crown prince.

Many people were angry, and that included the American comedian Hasan Minhaj, who blasted the Saudi government on his Netflix news-comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.

"This is the most unbelievable cover story since Blake Shelton won sexiest man alive," Minhaj joked to his audience.

But the Saudi government isn't laughing.

Last week, it had Netflix remove the episode in that country. As the Financial Times first reported, a Saudi regulator cited a law that prohibits the "production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy, through the information network or computers."