- Turns out that the jackpot for the Powerball drawing tonight at 10:59 PM EDT is up to $1.8 billion.
- This is the second-highest grand prize in history, to the $2.04 billion jackpot won in November 2022.
- By the way, there is also Mega Millions, which had a $1.602 jackpot in August 2023. Costs $5/ticket.
- But back to Powerball, say you match all five numbers. Are you then a billionaire?
- Nope. You have two options.
- Take a one-time cash payment, and while that is $1.8 billion, for the moment you are a billionaire. However, the way this works, you only get $826.4 billion.
- Or, take 29 annual payments to get the full $1.8 billion. But you still need to pay taxes and wait for 29 years to get it all.
- Either way, you will not win become a billionaire through Powerball if you win tonight.
- Is it too late to purchase a $2 ticket? Most of you can. I can't, for I live in Hawaii and can't even do this online. Alabama, Alaska, Nevada and Utah also prohibit this lottery. However:
- I can travel to one of the eligible states and buy tickets. If I'm successful, though, I'll need to pay taxes to the federal government and two states, for, while Hawaii does not allow this in the state, it still will take their tax share if you live there and win.
- I can have a friend or relative do this for me.
- There are online courier services, but I don't think Hawaii allows even this option.
- But, oh, your odd of winning the grand prize with a $2 ticket is 1 in 292 million.
- For those who can play.
- Purchase tickets in person at operational gas stations, convenience/grocery stores and some airport terminals. Some states allow you to this with a lottery courier service online. As one example, there is Jackpocket, a company owned by USA Today.
- Pay $2 for a ticket.
- Choose six numbers.
- Five of them from white balls numbered from 1 to 69.
- One red Powerball, numbered from 1 to 26.
- You can add another dollar for Power Play, which increases the winning for non-jackpot prizes.
- Drawings occur on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights. If no one wins the jackpot tonight, the sum will increase on Monday.
- Finally, be optimistic, here will be your tax burden.
- The IRS requires a mandatory 24% tax. Thus, if you take the $826.4 million cash option, you immediately relinquish $198.3 million, bringing you down to only $628.1 million.
- Well, no, for just these winning this amount lands you in the 37% bracket. This gets complicated, depending on whether you're married or not, etc. But you will end up getting less than the $628.1 million, and maybe only $520.7 million.
- State taxes depend on where you live, and could exceed 10%.
- There is also the Mega Millions drawing, which next happens this coming Tuesday, and is worth $358 million. However, your odds are better.
- Only one chance in 290.4 million.
- About these odds. According to Google AI Overview:
The odds of being killed by lightning are roughly 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 80,000 over your lifetime.
I've recently noticed that I regularly get sent videos and info from something called Gan Jing World, Technology for Humanity. - They call themselves the fastest growing online platform.
Gan Jing means clean. They are thus dedicated to: revitalizing traditional connections—fostering a culture of care, kindness, mutual respect, and trust among individuals, within families, and throughout society.- Here is a video explaining Ganjing World.
- Headquartered in New York City.
- According to Google AI Overview:
Gan Jing World was started by followers of the spiritual movement Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa). The platform is described as a "wholesome digital town square" aimed at fostering kindness and respect, and its founding team includes individuals who fled persecution in China and are practitioners of Falun Gong. The platform was launched in 2022.
CEO is James Qiu, a former Apple executive who came to the U.S. from China in 1989.- Linked to The Epoch Times, a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement, much persecuted by the government of China.
- The Epoch Times was founded in 2000 by John Tang and other Chinese Americans.
- Based in New York City.
- Has websites in 35 countries, but is blocked in mainland China.
- Supported Donald Trump for president. NBC News indicated that it was the second-largest funder of pro-Trump Facebook advertising, second only to the Trump campaign itself.
- Seems to promote many Trump claims, like anti-vaccine misinformation, fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and QAnon.
- Read Columbia Journalism Review's Unpacking Ganjing World.
Why is the Chinese government so fearful of the Falun Gong Movement?
- First some history of Falung Gong, also called Falun Dafa.
- Is actually relatively new, only emerging around the Spring of 1999 in Changchun, founded by Li Hongzhi. But his efforts began earlier.
- Was born in 1951 or 1952.
- Created Falun Gong in 1984, developing his own qigong system, a traditional Chinese practice that combines gentle movements, breathing exercises and meditation, aiming to cultivate and balance the body's vital energy known as qi.
- Li claimed to have supernatural powers, like having the ability to prevent illness, and eternal youth.
- Promoted exercise movements, had no fees and taught morality. The qigong movement actually traces back to the late 1940s and 50s. By 1985, qigong practices expanded with millions of adherents, headed by grandmasters.
- Publicly founded Falun Gong in the Spring of 1992.
- From 1992 to 1994, Li traveled throughout China giving 54 lectures, with seminars that typically lasted 8-10 days, having as many as 6,000 in one class.
- On 3August1994, the city of Houston, Texas, made Li Hongzhi an honorary citizen.
- Li left China in 1995 to spread his practice overseas, and permanently relocated to the U.S. in 1998.
- Initially enjoyed official sanction from the Chinese government, but attitudes changed in 1996.
- In the Spring of 1999, following a protest of 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners at a government compound to receive official official recognition, General Secretary Jian Zemin became concerned enough, and ordered Falun Gong to be crushed.
- In July 1999, Chinese authorities ask Interpol to arrest Li, but the U.S. government refused to cooperate.
The Falun Gong got bolder, and from late 1999 into 2000 gathered daily in Tiananmen Square performing exercises and meditation to end one-party rule in China.- Five Falun Gong followers set themselves on fire on Tiananmen Square on 23January2001.
- Falun Gong then abandoned Tiananmen Square in 2002 to instead protest in Western news outlets.
From 2002-2004, leadership transferred from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao, who turned harsher on Falun Gong, for into 2007 there are charges that thousands of Falun Gong prisoners were killed to supply China's organ transplant industry.
- In 2008, 8,000 practitioners are abducted to prevent protests during the Beijing Olympics.
- From 2009, heir apparent Xi Jinping is put in charge of 6521 Project to crack down on Tibetans, democracy activists and the Falun Gong.
- In 2009, the U.S. House passed a resolution condemning the persecution of the Falun Gong in China.
- 2010, 100 Falun Gong practitioners are abducted in connection with the Shangai World Expo. I went to this Expo and wasn't aware about any of this.
- Around this time came a serious effort by the government to "re-educate" anyone with Falun Gong links.
- This goes on and on, but I'll stop here.
Hurricane Kiko is a Category 4 storm, but should weaken as she approaches Hawaii. Current projections mostly show the eye on a path north of the islands. But there remain memories of considerable flooding in past tropical storms.
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