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461 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>05 August, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The War on Cities</strong> - For nearly two decades, Washington, D.C., had been carefully revising its criminal code. It took a month to blow it all up. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-crime/the-war-on-cities">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Subdued Courtroom Appearance</strong> - At his arraignment on Thursday, the former President sat fragile and meek in the defendant’s seat. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/trumps-subdued-courtroom-appearance">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Former Federal Prosecutor Explains the Latest Trump Indictment</strong> - The case will hinge on proving whether the former President truly believed that the election was stolen as he attempted to overturn it. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-former-federal-prosecutor-explains-the-latest-trump-indictment">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Hidden Harms of CPR</strong> - The brutal procedure can save lives, but only in particular cases. Why has it become a default treatment? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/the-hidden-harms-of-cpr">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Pizza Shop in the Middle of New York’s Migrant Crisis</strong> - An immigrant small-business owner sees himself in the asylum seekers who were sleeping on the street outside his restaurant in midtown. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/a-pizza-shop-in-the-middle-of-new-yorks-migrant-crisis">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>The pork industry’s forced cannibalism, explained</strong> -
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<img alt="A blender filled with a pink, messy substance sits in front of a pig’s silhouette." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gbqiHHT_xJFFtS4rfvcyvum91aU=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72516464/PaigeVickers_Vox_Feedback.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Paige Vickers/Vox
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A new investigation exposes the stomach-churning practice that goes into making your bacon.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fUNcci">
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The <a href="https://www.vox.com/animal-welfare">animal welfare</a> activist group Animal Outlook has been investigating the meat industry for over two decades, having documented chickens <a href="https://vimeo.com/683980796/1e64b28078">buried</a> and <a href="https://vimeo.com/695761100">roasted</a> alive, thrashing pigs killed at a <a href="https://vimeo.com/683958212/6820704697">high-speed slaughterhouse</a>, fish <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tpd3Y1X7pQ">bludgeoned to death</a>, and cows <a href="https://vimeo.com/683948344/94ee729c81">kicked and beaten</a>, among many other cruelties. But at a pig breeding farm in Minnesota, 120 miles southeast of Minneapolis, between late 2019 and early 2020, an undercover investigator with the organization <a href="https://vimeo.com/783736558/8289627bd9">witnessed</a> some of the worst cruelty they’d ever seen.
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“It was brutal,” the investigator, who requested anonymity due to the covert nature of undercover investigations, told Vox. “They’re all really bad,” they said, referring to other investigations they’ve conducted, “but this one looked like a house of horrors.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4XnCow">
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In one clip, a pregnant pig who got stuck between two pens and died is sawed in half. “Anyone want some ham?” one worker joked. “Ripped that bitch wide open,” another said. Animal Outlook’s investigator alleged that employees could’ve easily freed her before she died, but didn’t.
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Male piglets at the farm have their tails cut off and testicles ripped out by hand without anesthesia or pain relief, both <a href="https://porkcheckoff.org/research/is-tail-docking-necessary-and-if-so-how-long-should-the-tail-be/">standard</a> <a href="https://www.avma.org/sites/default/files/resources/swine_castration_bgnd.pdf">practices</a> in the industry. The investigator filmed employees tossing the testicles at each other and at a wall that was covered in them. In another scene, a pregnant pig’s uterus has prolapsed, a <a href="https://www.thepigsite.com/articles/pain-control">painful condition</a> that’s more common in older female breeding pigs, known as<strong> </strong>sows, who typically give birth to larger litters than younger sows. In the video, she’s herded down a hallway to be euthanized — shot in the head with a captive bolt gun — with her insides dangling to the ground. The investigator alleged this happened to between one and three pigs every day.
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Sick and injured piglets on the farm are placed into a small black box to be euthanized with carbon dioxide poisoning, but some survive and are seen gasping for air amid a pile of dead piglets. In one instance captured on video, an injured piglet needed to be euthanized, but a supervisor appeared to say it wasn’t worth running a gassing cycle for just one animal, so he left the piglet to suffer overnight until there were more piglets that needed to be euthanized.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KY6pY4">
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“That feels good,” one worker says in another clip, after repeatedly striking a pregnant pig with a paddle while trying to move her from one area to another.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eMxDUl">
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Such cruelty could stress out other pigs who witness it, as <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/not-bad-science/can-pigs-empathize/">research</a> suggests pigs <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2382239-pigs-open-doors-to-free-companions-in-a-possible-show-of-empathy/">feel empathy</a> for one another when in distress.
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIAaEhwePzc">Animal Outlook’s investigation</a> took place at a 3,300-sow breeding facility run by Holden Farms, a pork producer which, <a href="https://www.porkbusiness.com/news/hog-production/all-family-holden-farms-has-room-grow">as of 2017</a>, raised pigs for some of the world’s largest meat companies: Tyson Foods, JBS, and Triumph Foods. It’s an understatement to say the footage conflicts with Holden Farms’ approach to animal welfare stated on its <a href="https://holdenfarms.com/approach/welfare/">website</a>: “Do what’s best for the animal and practice the best animal husbandry skills possible.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bOI1w4">
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Holden Farms declined an interview request for this story. Tyson Foods, JBS, and Triumph Foods did not respond when asked if they currently supply pigs from Holden Farms.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ffCVJE">
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(After the investigation concluded in early 2020, Animal Outlook took its findings to local enforcement and requested charges be brought against Holden Farms, Inc., its management, and several of its employees under the state’s animal cruelty laws. The statute of limitations has expired and no cruelty charges have been brought, so Animal Outlook is now releasing its findings to the public.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9r5PRi">
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It’s tempting to write off Holden Farms and some of its employees as bad apples, but the practices documented are customary in pork production, and the malicious abuse — the kicking, punching, and hitting — is found in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2012/10/10/mercy-for-animals-undercover-investigation-exposes-shocking-cruelty-to-cows-at-burger-king-cheese-supplier.html">investigation</a> after <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23724740/tyson-chicken-free-range-humanewashing-investigation-animal-cruelty">investigation</a> after <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2014/06/04/mercy-for-animals-allege-abuse/22181382007/">investigation</a> into the meat industry.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8QRXy">
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One of the more stomach-churning clips in Animal Outlook’s footage shows a practice that’s rarely been captured in other pork industry investigations. Employees can be seen removing the intestines of dead, disease-infected piglets and mixing them with piglet feces in a blender — a mixture to be fed to the adult breeding pigs — causing one worker to gag.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XIG0Ne">
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The practice, called “feedback,” is <a href="https://www.pigprogress.net/health-nutrition/could-ice-blocks-encourage-feedback-intake-for-sows/#:~:text=Particularly%20in%20the%20US%2C%20the,Clostridium%20perfringens%20are%20commonly%20controlled">common</a> in the <a href="http://pig333.com/articles/diarrhea-in-neonatal-pigs-feedback_16479/">pork business</a> (or “controlled oral exposure” in industry jargon). The slurry of pig poop and parts is <a href="https://www.pig333.com/pig-glossary/F/feedback_115/">often</a> fed to new female breeding pigs who’ve yet to give birth to help them adapt to the germs of the farm, and to pregnant pigs to help them pass down immunity from disease to their babies, through their milk.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yAzjvb">
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Animal Outlook’s investigator said the farm had begun using feedback because some piglets were getting sick with diarrhea, losing weight, and their skin was turning from pink to a grayish hue.
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</p>
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<h3 id="5n2HtD">
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Why the pork industry feeds feces and raw intestines to pigs
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8P5P5o">
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To drive down costs, the meat industry relies on practices that can increase the spread of disease, like <a href="https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2017-05-01/herd-sizes-trade-risk-pig-health">overcrowding</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/22/21228158/coronavirus-pandemic-risk-factory-farming-meat">intensive breeding</a>, which can trigger the need for gruesome practices like feedback to work around the problems it’s created.
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It might make you lose your appetite, but many in the pork industry <a href="http://pig333.com/articles/diarrhea-in-neonatal-pigs-feedback_16479/">say</a> feeding pigs what amounts to a smoothie of feces and intestines reduces the spread of disease on farms when there isn’t an effective vaccine available (though some recommend using it <a href="https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/health/refining-feedback">in addition</a> to vaccines). And disease is a big deal on farms. <a href="https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/releases/iowa-state-university-lead-research-increase-pig-survivability#:~:text=Across%20the%20pork%20industry%2C%20an,to%20animal%20wellbeing%20and%20sustainability.">Around one-third</a> of pigs die before they ever reach the slaughterhouse, leading to enormous suffering for animals and significant losses for the producers, as they breed more pigs to make up for the early deaths.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KlmL8j">
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Cesar Corzo, an associate professor of swine health and productivity at the University of Minnesota, defends the practice, comparing feedback to childhood <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/kentucky-governor-chickenpox.html">chickenpox parties</a>. Before the chickenpox vaccine came to market in 1995, parents would often bring infected kids together with uninfected kids, on the grounds that they would be better off contracting the disease as children than as adults. (Public health experts now recommend against intentionally infecting kids with disease in lieu of vaccination.) The same rough idea is at play in feedback.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GMCHRi">
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“Those [piglets], when they come out into the world, if they happen to see some virus or some bacteria, they’re prepared to fight against it,” Corzo said. “We know that that works really well.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vS71ly">
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Research into pig feedback <a href="https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f250c158-3e9a-4059-b78d-87bd76bf566a/content">began</a> in the 1950s, and it’s since come into wide use. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tbed.12823">Some pig researchers</a> say that while feedback has clear benefits in fighting, for example, PEDv — a virus that caused <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7109690/">hundreds of millions</a> of dollars in economic loss to the pork industry a decade ago — it can be risky, and there’s no standard protocol. As a result, there’s a lot of variability in its deployment, with inconsistent outcomes.
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Other industry experts say the way feedback is usually practiced is inefficient and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168170220301209#sec0185">unsafe</a>. Corzo said there are efforts underway to standardize its use.
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Jim Reynolds, a bovine veterinarian in California who’s also worked with pigs and specializes in epidemiology, said the practice makes sense in theory, but he doesn’t recommend it in part because it risks exposing animals to unintended diseases.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pwRbf7">
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“If you’re grinding up dead things and feeding them to the not sick things, that’s a bad idea. That’s bad biosecurity,” he said. “It’s intentionally spreading pathogens… Hopefully, it’s just the one you want. It might be another one.”
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Reynolds and <a href="https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2017-05-01/herd-sizes-trade-risk-pig-health">others</a> argue that many of the industry’s health and welfare issues boil down to overcrowding. Farms should “decrease the stocking densities to reasonable levels” to minimize disease spread, he said.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lpJB0T">
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From a consumer perspective, the debate over whether or not feedback is worth the risk may be largely irrelevant. That much was evident in the early 2010s fight over so-called <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/03/09/148298678/is-it-safe-to-eat-pink-slime">pink slime</a>, a mix of meat scraps processed with chemicals meant to kill bacteria, that was turned into filler for beef products. It’s safe to eat but repulsed the public, leading <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/01/fast-food-companies-abandon-ammoniated-beef/">fast food chains</a> to swear off its use.
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While feedback may be particularly off-putting, it’s a symptom of a larger problem: America’s enduring desire for cheap, plentiful meat, which has given way to thousands of massive factory farms where stressed, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10151575/">genetically identical</a> animals with poor immune systems are tightly packed together, providing the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/22/21228158/coronavirus-pandemic-risk-factory-farming-meat">perfect conditions</a> for <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.2294">disease to spread</a>.
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</p>
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<h3 id="URm7Fz">
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Why you probably don’t know how sausage gets made
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r2Kvtq">
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Americans eat more animals than practically any other country — around <a href="https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2021/05/an-overview-of-meat-consumption-in-the-united-states.html">264 pounds of red and white meat</a>, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/183678/per-capita-consumption-of-eggs-in-the-us-since-2000/">280 eggs</a>, <a href="https://www.dairyfoods.com/articles/95908-american-dairy-consumption-achieves-a-record-in-2021">667 pounds of dairy</a>, and around <a href="https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/americans-consumed-a-record-amount-of-seafood-in-2021#:~:text=National%20Fisheries%20Institute's%20(NFI)%20recently,1.5%20pound%20increase%20over%202020.">20.5 pounds of seafood</a> per person each year. To meet demand, an estimated <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates">99 percent</a> of animals raised and slaughtered for food in the US are kept on factory farms.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OEeZxi">
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The pork industry has pushed pigs to their biological limits, leading to many bizarre practices beyond feedback, many of which are inhumane. To name one example recently in the news: There are horse <a href="https://sentientmedia.org/horse-blood-factory-farms/">farms</a> that impregnate horses, extract their blood for a serum, abort their pregnancies, and then sell the serum to pig farms to induce puberty in young female pigs and produce larger litters. Holden Farms, like most pig breeding farms, confine pregnant pigs in <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22958698/mcdonalds-icahn-pork-pigs-gestation-crates-animal-welfare">gestation crates</a>, cages so small they can’t turn around for practically their entire lives.
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Te7JMhnvCYNL-tLCaDjzZ88TBek=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24828980/WAM26923.jpg"/> <cite>Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media</cite>
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<figcaption>
|
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Sows in gestation crates.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PhsQEh">
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|
These practices are all legal and widespread because lawmakers have made them so. The federal Animal Welfare Act excludes livestock from protection, while many state animal cruelty laws exempt “<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">customary farming practices</a>,” allowing the industry to define what’s customary. Big Ag is one of the <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/ranked-sectors">more powerful lobbies</a> in Washington.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4wAavu">
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|
In some states, it’s even illegal to conduct investigations like the one featured in this story. From the early 1990s to the early 2020s, a <a href="https://www.animallaw.info/intro/ag-gag-laws#:~:text=The%20states%20that%20have%20passed,to%20impose%20a%20civil%20sanction.">number of states</a> passed <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/11/18176551/ag-gag-laws-factory-farms-explained">“ag-gag” laws</a>, which generally prohibit people from taking videos or photographs on farms without permission. Fortunately, most have been struck down as unconstitutional.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gBmhuv">
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|
Industry has responded to consumer concerns with the practices brought to light in undercover investigations largely with empty gestures, like <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">firing individual employees</a> for abuse instead of meaningfully changing conditions for animals. There’s now a proliferation of meat, dairy, and egg labels carrying buzzwords or stamps of approval — like “humanely raised” or “farm fresh” — that receive little scrutiny from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), have no legal definition, and exaggerate the level of animal welfare or environmental sustainability on a farm. It’s known as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/22838160/animal-welfare-labels-meat-dairy-eggs-humane-humanewashing">humanewashing</a>,” and you can look at Holden Farms’ <a href="https://holdenfarms.com/">website</a> for a prime example, which highlights the company’s extensive commitments to animal welfare, family farming, community, and sustainability.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FMznRj">
|
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|
Meat industry groups have also <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/7/24/23801785/cage-free-eggs-pork-eats-act-california-prop-12">fought hard</a> against laws that require sows to be raised crate-free.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c1Y5d3">
|
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|
In June, the National Pork Board, a quasi-governmental organization <a href="https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/research-promotion/pork">administered</a> by the USDA, <a href="https://www.cals.iastate.edu/news/2023/iowa-state-lead-consortium-build-trust-between-pork-producers-consumers">launched</a> a five-year effort in collaboration with several large public universities, aiming to “share research-based information about the pork industry” to strengthen consumers’ confidence in pork and demonstrate the industry’s “commitment to people, pigs and the planet.” The effort doesn’t appear to include any plans to change practices that consumers find inhumane.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CMPzkk">
|
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|
|
Producing just about any commodity at scale entails some degree of moral sacrifice. But an industry that relies on a kind of forced cannibalism, among other repellant practices, might have to do a whole lot more than share research to earn consumer trust.
|
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|
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</p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><strong>Sound of Freedom wants to raise awareness about child trafficking. Here’s what it’s really doing.</strong> -
|
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|
|
<figure>
|
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|
|
<img alt="A black-and-white image shows two men standing together, one holding a child, with a light shining brightly from behind them." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ItFlW7xUFe383E_1JqTFPzgwHrc=/336x0:1776x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72452872/SOF_Background_Key_Art_2_1920x1080_20230510_BP_V3_lowres.0.jpg"/>
|
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<figcaption>
|
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|
|
A promotional image for Sound of Freedom. The movie has been an unexpected box office hit thanks to word of mouth from conservatives. | Angel Studios
|
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|
</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
Is a movie still just a movie if it becomes a culture war battleground?
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y3UZ4h">
|
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|
|
Usually when the culture war comes to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a>, it’s in the form of conservative backlash to films they perceive as too liberal. Increasingly, however, conservative filmmakers, often working outside of Hollywood’s studio system, are grabbing the spotlight with <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/19/17136066/i-can-only-imagine-mercyme-movie-box-office-faith-based-gods-not-dead-paul-apostle">unexpected hits</a>, some packed with ideology and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/3/17180138/gods-not-dead-light-darkness-evangelical-christian-persecution-race">tinged</a> with hallmarks of the modern right-wing worldview: moral panic, hints of vast leftist conspiracies, and a sense of persecution.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lw08R4">
|
|||
|
|
The latest surprise right-wing hit to tick these bingo squares is <em>Sound of Freedom</em>. The film stars Jim Caviezel in the very (very) loosely true story of Tim Ballard, who founded the <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a3qw/a-famed-anti-sex-trafficking-group-has-a-problem-with-the-truth">controversial</a> anti-trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, or OUR. Coasting on word of mouth and a mountain of free publicity from influential supporters like <a href="https://www.vox.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> and Mel Gibson, <em>Sound of Freedom</em> went head to head against <em>Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</em> in its July 4 opening weekend and wound up <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sound-of-freedom-box-office-movie-theaters-1235532352/">reportedly out-earning</a> the Harrison Ford-led sequel by several million on opening day (if its maker Angel Studios’ on-site accounting is to be believed). It’s since gone on to earn nearly $<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt7599146/">50 million</a>. Not bad for an indie outsider.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wycON">
|
|||
|
|
But <em>Sound of Freedom</em> has also generated a considerable amount of scathing left-wing backlash, aimed at both the movie itself, with its <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/9/21504910/qanon-conspiracy-theory-facebook-ban-trump">QAnon</a>-adjacent rhetoric, and the film’s target audience. Multiple left-wing critics have spent parts of their reviews of the film itself denigrating the way its fans are watching it, with one critic seemingly <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2023/07/sound-of-freedom-movie-jim-caviezel-trafficking-qanon.html">appalled</a> that audiences “acted like they were at <em>Top Gun</em>.” For their part, those audiences have flocked to the theater with the zeal of parishioners. Some fans have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtjVrwzcr2Q">described</a> attending the movie as a “duty,” while others have spun <a href="https://twitter.com/ninoboxer/status/1678138506453893121">conspiracy theories</a> that movie theaters are <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/sound-freedom-fury-multiple-people-claim-ac-not-working-during-film-1812374">trying to prevent them</a> from seeing the film — which, of course, just generates more determination to watch the film to spite the libs.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jMct2t">
|
|||
|
|
Yet the patriotic zeal behind <em>Sound of Freedom</em> might mask more than murky political agendas: According to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/sound-freedom-funder-fabian-marta-arrest-child-kidnapping-1817498">a report</a> by Newsweek, one of the film’s financial backers was recently charged with felony kidnapping.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hz84Jn">
|
|||
|
|
Clearly, there’s a lot happening around this film — and while <em>Sound of Freedom</em> ostensibly wants to create awareness about child trafficking, that theme has mostly gotten lost in all the noise.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="k52QrB">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Sound of Freedom</em> is its own, highly effective, hype machine
|
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|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wg97U6">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Sound of Freedom</em> was filmed in 2018 by director Alejandro Gómez Monteverde, but its release was delayed after <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/20/18273477/disney-fox-merger-deal-details-marvel-x-men">Disney acquired</a> its original distributor, Fox — a fact that has led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/business/sound-of-freedom-trafficking.html">false rumors</a> that Hollywood tried to shut the film down. When the film languished in Disney limbo, Angel Studios, a small independent film company based in Utah, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/07/12/sound-of-freedom-movie-controversy/70405543007/">stepped in</a>. Angel has had a string of recent Christian hits like the 2019 streaming series <em>The Chosen</em>, which landed on <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a>, and <em>His Only Son</em>, 2023’s other Christian box office success. Angel <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/business/sound-of-freedom-trafficking.html">partly crowdfunded</a> the film’s $5 million distribution budget from “angel investors”, i.e., studio superfans like <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuiUlIPPAAF/">Tony Robbins</a>.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PMwy4z">
|
|||
|
|
With all that indie outsider energy combined with the long delay in release, <em>Sound of Freedom</em> was primed to feed a meta-narrative about the right’s sense of oppression at the hands of the left. Still, while most mainstream media reviewers have either <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sound_of_freedom">been dismissive</a> of the film or ignored it altogether, <em>Sound of Freedom</em> has its unexpected champions. <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/sound-of-freedom-review-jim-caviezel-1235660035/"><em>Variety </em>called it</a> a “solid,” “disquieting” thriller and praised Caviezel’s performance as his finest since <em>The</em> <em>Passion of the Christ</em>.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2iT3Y0">
|
|||
|
|
At the root of the film’s power seems to be its “urgency” toward its subject matter; fans apparently leave the theater galvanized to proselytize on its behalf, spreading the word about the dangers and rampant devastation of child trafficking — and, most of all, about OUR and its all-important rescue missions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="Xci3gX">
|
|||
|
|
<q>It’s a hype machine that’s not just a hype machine, but a patriotic, perhaps even divinely mandated, responsibility</q>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WbPyxd">
|
|||
|
|
That evangelism plays right into film studio Angel’s marketing strategy, which <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/sound-of-freedom-box-office-analysis-crowdfunding-pay-it-forward-1234881363/">encourages moviegoers</a> to buy tickets for other would-be converts — in fact, after the film’s end credits, Caviezel himself <a href="https://jezebel.com/sound-of-freedom-review-1850596160">urges fans</a> to buy more tickets at the studio’s website in order to “make <em>Sound of Freedom</em> the <em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em> of 21st century slavery.” In the lead-up to its release, Angel <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/14u11pm/is_the_sound_of_freedom_a_legit_good_movie_or/jrf3h4j/">anecdotally</a> piggy-backed on a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/05/22/hollywood-heresy">long</a> <a href="https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/hollywood-marketing-films-churches-38793/">tradition</a> of Christian film marketing by targeting churches and encouraging block ticket sales in order to engage entire communities and spread word of mouth. (Some of the film’s detractors have <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/14z8rgn/to_absolutely_no_ones_surprise_that_qanon_movie/jrwu6a3/">disputed</a> the movie’s box office success, noting that some theaters <a href="https://twitter.com/CocoaFox023/status/1679696985199378432">appear to be sold out</a> when they aren’t, that user reviews on websites like IMDb read like bot spam, and that the online ticketing system Angel encourages fans to use may be vulnerable to manipulation.) In June, for the film’s July 4 release, Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1668822025098387458">offered</a> the production free publicity; on July 1, Mel Gibson went viral for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuLIf7nOnPO/">promoting</a> the film. “The first step in eradicating this crime is awareness,” he intoned solemnly. “Go see <em>Sound of Freedom</em>.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jj7Lxn">
|
|||
|
|
It’s easy to see how emotionally charged all of this is — it’s a hype machine that’s not just a hype machine, but a patriotic, perhaps even divinely mandated, responsibility. Adjacent to this urgent, awareness-raising narrative, however, sits <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/9/21504910/qanon-conspiracy-theory-facebook-ban-trump">QAnon</a> — the baseless extremist conspiracy theory that high-powered liberals and elites are trafficking children and harvesting their adrenalin in order to attain eternal life. <em>Sound of Freedom</em> doesn’t explicitly reference QAnon or any of its most common narratives, and Ballard has <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/sound-freedom-movie-creator-tim-ballard-responds-qanon-allegations-sick-1812204">brushed off</a> the connection — but in the same breath he speaks of liberals “running interference” for traffickers by creating such rumors. Arguably more damning: Caviezel’s open embrace of QAnon. The actor has repeatedly referenced QAnon rhetoric; he recently promoted <em>Sound of Freedom </em>on former Trump-admin and extremist <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/17/23217452/steve-bannon-january-6-trump-propaganda-election">Steve Bannon</a>’s podcast by <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/04/jim-caviezel-decries-the-adrenochroming-of-children-as-if-thats-a-thing">referencing</a> the aforementioned (false) adrenalin harvesting, a.k.a. “adrenochroming.” He also recently <a href="https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1678881092802330624">defended QAnon</a> by comparing its detractors to Nazi and Klan apologists.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Za2ptX">
|
|||
|
|
None of this directly links the film to QAnon. But it doesn’t help that reviewers who’ve been less than charitable about the film have been deluged with harassment from people calling them pedophiles and groomers. Rolling Stone’s Miles Klee, who, in his <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/sound-of-freedom-jim-caviezel-child-trafficking-qanon-movie-1234783837/">review</a>, highlighted numerous examples of <em>Sound of Freedom</em> fans linking themselves to QAnon, <a href="https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/how-rolling-stones-miles-klee-became">told journalist Marisa Kabas</a> that “the intensity of the death threats and pedophile smears outstripped any previous hate campaign I’ve experienced in my career.” (Disclaimer: Both Klee and Kabas are former colleagues and friends.) Still, Klee also noted that to the film’s fans he was just “a convenient embodiment” of evil for “a demographic that thinks child abusers and groomers make up the entire government, entertainment industry, and media, and all run cover for each other.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jV2OPy">
|
|||
|
|
These two competing meta-narratives about the film have overshadowed the film itself. But if the primary objection to <em>Sound of Freedom</em> is that it’s a giant dog whistle for QAnon recruitment, then, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/business/sound-of-freedom-trafficking.html">counterargument</a> from its supporters usually goes that the film’s subject matter ought to transcend politics, despite how politically charged it is. After all, everyone should want to protect children, right?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fsILse">
|
|||
|
|
Well, not everyone. One of the film’s apparent financial backers, Fabian Marta, was arrested on July 23 on felony charges of child kidnapping in the state of Missouri. Although the details of the case are not public, if convicted, Marta could face a lengthy sentence, with a minimum of 10 years in prison.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sig41F">
|
|||
|
|
So the question then becomes: Is protecting children what <em>Sound of Freedom</em> is really valorizing?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="lErUaB">
|
|||
|
|
The real organization behind <em>Sound of Freedom</em> is also its own hype machine
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5GNxTM">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Sound of Freedom</em> heavily fictionalizes the real-life figure of Ballard, a Mormon with a self-reported history of work with the CIA (unconfirmed per a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a3qw/a-famed-anti-sex-trafficking-group-has-a-problem-with-the-truth">Vice investigation</a>) and Homeland Security, who founded OUR in 2013 out of a desire to do more to fight human trafficking. The group quickly made a splash via dramatic self-promotion, including producing a <a href="https://ourrescue.org/films">movie</a>, <em>The Abolitionist</em> (2016), and a podcast, <em>In the Trenches</em>. In 2017, MAGA whisperer <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/8/17376824/trump-fan-art-maga-dinesh-dsouza-jon-mcnaughton">Jon McNaughton</a> produced an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OURrescue/photos/a.1582633588641067/2036459536591801/">infamous painting</a> which depicts Ballard and a bevy of white people as modern-day Harriet Tubmans, carrying trafficked victims to freedom while Abraham Lincoln and a crowd of American patriots look on approvingly. OUR <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-mans-mission-to-rescue-child-sex-trafficking-victims/">filmed at least one</a> of its early sting operations, a faux house party which <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/22/the-new-abolitionists-mexico-dominican-republic-human-trafficking-mormon-our/">reporters actually attended</a> and which Ballard has used to bolster his claims to expertise. This is one of the glitzier heroic moments that <em>Sound of Freedom</em> depicts onscreen.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="PBS0HM">
|
|||
|
|
<q>Calls to protect children are really about attacking left-wing ideology</q>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ypjx9C">
|
|||
|
|
In reality, however, OUR has come under repeated scrutiny for making false claims about its exploits, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7a3qw/a-famed-anti-sex-trafficking-group-has-a-problem-with-the-truth">including</a> taking credit for missions and rescues it had no part in, failing to give adequate support to rescued survivors, falsely claiming partnerships with other rescue organizations, and being vague and obfuscatory about what its missions are and where its sizeable donor funds are going. (The organization claims this is to protect the safety of victims.) One Utah prosecutor <a href="https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/5/12/23717081/davis-county-attorneys-office-closes-investigation-into-operation-underground-railroad">spent years</a> pursuing criminal charges against the group, though without ultimately bringing a case. In 2014, Ballard, then the CEO of OUR, allegedly used a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxev5/inside-a-massive-anti-trafficking-charitys-blundering-overseas-missions">psychic medium</a> as his “source” for trying to locate a missing child. “He’s not making decisions tactically,” an anonymous source <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxev5/inside-a-massive-anti-trafficking-charitys-blundering-overseas-missions">told Vice in 2021</a> about their experiences with Ballard. “He’s making decisions like a reality TV producer.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WWynn">
|
|||
|
|
That sensibility might not be very useful for finding trafficked children, but it’s perfect for capitalizing on a cultural moment in which public concern about trafficked children is arguably at an all-time high. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22252171/qanon-donald-trump-conspiracy-theories">ongoing spread</a> of QAnon as well as the recent reappearance of classic anti-LGBTQ <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23025505/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained">“groomer” rhetoric</a> have given conservatives the ultimate perfect excuse to demonize liberalism. Just as Ballard’s real goal seems to be less about protecting children and more about promoting Tim Ballard, calls to protect children are really about attacking left-wing ideology, no matter how bizarrely unfounded such attacks are.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AMzObr">
|
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|
Ballard himself has leaned all the way into these murky elisions; in 2020, he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/technology/qanon-save-the-children-trafficking.html">described</a> QAnon to the New York Times as a positive development, helping people to “open their eyes” to the reality of human trafficking. That same year, he <a href="https://twitter.com/TimBallard/status/1282535670104219648">seemed to affirm</a> a false conspiracy theory, created in QAnon communities, that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53416247">the furniture retailer Wayfair</a> was facilitating child trafficking.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gwWZ85">
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More recently, while promoting <em>Sound of Freedom</em> on <em>Fox & Friends</em>, Ballard <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/tim-ballards-misleading-anti-trafficking-rhetoric-slips-seamlessly-transphobia-and">claimed</a> that allowing <a href="https://www.vox.com/lgbtq">trans teens</a> to transition would somehow lead to lowered ages of consent and implied that American immigration <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> were leading to increased child trafficking. It is true that reports of illegal labor exploitation of migrant children have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/us/politics/migrant-child-labor-biden.html">increased dramatically</a> since the pandemic; however, reports of a widespread child sex trafficking phenomenon <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/tim-ballards-misleading-anti-trafficking-rhetoric-slips-seamlessly-transphobia-and">are false</a>, a straightforward, old-school “think of the children” moral panic. Like all moral panics, this one gets used to justify hatred against perceived outsiders, in this case immigrants and queer and trans people.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="86cepL">
|
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|
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Can any of this just be about going to the movies? (Alas, probably not.)
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CA7uPU">
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None of this should erase the horrifying reality of human trafficking or its impact on victims and survivors. Director Monteverde’s father and brother were both <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3246253/Father-brother-Hollywood-film-director-Alejandro-Gomez-Monteverde-murdered-kidnapped-Mexican-home.html">murdered by drug traffickers</a> in 2015, so if anyone has a personal interest in making a film about the dangers of trafficking and the elite corruption that enables it, it’s him.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TvkbbF">
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Yet all of this debate erases another quirk surrounding <em>Sound of Freedom</em> — that without the film’s meta-narratives, it’s just a passably entertaining action thriller, a la <em>Taken</em>. If you don’t think too hard about it (why does Caviezel’s Ballard, as Klee observes, spend the whole movie talking about protecting children while fully ignoring his own?), it’s just a good time at the movies.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cluwIn">
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But is that <em>allowed</em>? Are conservatives allowed to simply have fun at the movies, even if they’re having fun watching a film that reifies the extremist rhetoric in which they are steeped? Are liberals allowed to have fun at the movies if the dumb action flick they’re watching is also doubling as a conspiracy theory recruitment tool? Can the answer to both of these questions just be “yes,” simply because it’s summer and we’re all very tired, without some vital existential fight being lost?
|
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</p>
|
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<div class="c-float-right">
|
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<aside id="keyasB">
|
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<q>Can faith-based cultural products exist without also fomenting extremism — and would their target audiences even want them? </q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VjVWeU">
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Uncertainty over these concerns might be why some reviewers have been so harsh on audiences at <em>Sound of Freedom</em> for merely watching the film. <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2023/07/sound-of-freedom-movie-jim-caviezel-trafficking-qanon.html">Slate</a> lowkey fat-shamed the audience (“The audience toted jumbo buckets of popcorn and trash can–sized sodas”) while <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/sound-of-freedom-jim-caviezel-child-trafficking-qanon-movie-1234783837/">Rolling Stone</a> high-key age-shamed them. (“Nonetheless, the mostly white-haired audience around me could be relied on to gasp, moan in pity, mutter condemnations, applaud, and bellow ‘Amen!’ at moments of righteous fury … not even the occasional nasty coughing fit — and we had no shortage of those — could break the spell.”) Meanwhile, the audience can’t decide if they’re being oppressed because the theater is <a href="https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1677684847689752577">too hot</a> or because the theater is <a href="https://twitter.com/AleksDjuricic/status/1677701863834112001">too cold</a> — but many of them seem <a href="https://twitter.com/cpamba33/status/1677706539975557120">convinced</a> they’re being oppressed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vu4DlX">
|
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|
And if, as one analyst <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/sound-of-freedom-box-office-success-1235664837/">told Variety</a>, “The strong response to faith-based films reflects a demand by an underserved audience who are hungry for entertainment that reflects their values and beliefs,” then the question becomes one that many people of faith <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/11/18/20961543/david-bazan-interview-strange-negotiations-pedro-lion">have grappled with</a>: Can such faith-based cultural products even exist at this point, let alone serve their specific malnourished target audience, without also fomenting extremist rhetoric, bigotry, and attacks on progressive ideals? If such works can somehow manifest, would their target audiences even want them?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cf5Fhp">
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It’s arguable that for many evangelicals and other conservatives, the answer would be no. The controversy and the sense of persecution that accompany these films only increases the dopamine high many get from rebelling against the evil mainstream media by … watching this fairly mainstream movie. These are conservatives, after all, whose worldview frames patriarchal norms as <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/9/21291493/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-kristin-kobes-du-mez">synonymous with strength and leadership</a>, which is again synonymous with patriotism. The rugged individualism and masculine rogue operatives on display in <em>Sound of Freedom</em> are precisely tailored to cater to their views of idealized America; it must be profoundly validating to see such a fully formed conservative image of masculinity draped in the trappings of a typical glossy blockbuster.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EWYxkb">
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Still, that masculine heroism is by no means unique to <em>Sound of Freedom</em>; it’s not as though Hollywood has ever missed the opportunity to cater to conservative audiences with a strong male archetype. And it’s hard to feel too much pity for an “underserved” faith-based populace, given that conservative ideology, from <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23667960/yellowstone-cast-drama-paleyfest-2023-costner-returning-season-five-release-date-show-ending"><em>Yellowstone</em></a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/16/18069756/green-book-review-racism-schomburg-segregation-golden-globes"><em>Green Book</em></a>, still permeates mainstream Hollywood narratives. If audiences acted like they were at <em>Top Gun</em>, that’s arguably because they basically were.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bdiw8Q">
|
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|
Just as films like <a href="https://www.vox.com/23141487/top-gun-maverick-us-military-hollywood-oscar-winner-best-sound"><em>Top Gun</em></a> serve to keep us from criticizing America’s military-industrial complex, <em>Sound of Freedom</em> aims to keep us from scrutinizing hyperbolic, alarmist cries about child trafficking too closely. That, ironically, helps shut down useful conversation about the best way to effectively help curb trafficking. The point of such myths, after all, isn’t really to save children, but to create shrill narratives with which to demonize the left and other perceived outsiders. Just as OUR itself is something of a smokescreen, <em>Sound of Freedom</em> is ultimately a form of extremist propaganda — and that extremism is at least as dark and dangerous as the very thing <em>Sound of Freedom</em> wants to combat.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HS7Z91">
|
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|
|
<strong>Update, August 4, 5:20 pm ET:</strong> <em>This story was originally published on July 14 and has been updated to include news of investor Fabian Marta’s kidnapping charges.</em>
|
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|
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</p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><strong>How a Mississippi case of police brutality emphasizes the need for more accountability</strong> -
|
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|
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<figure>
|
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|
|
<img alt="Black women hold signs displaying Parker and Jenkins’ wounds that read “We Demand Justice” and “Justice for Michael Corey Jenkins.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zM-WGMkR_r_MrsCbpl9W8UKVFt8=/0x0:3551x2663/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72515100/AP23216493231055.0.jpg"/>
|
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|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Protesters march on the Rankin County sheriff’s office in July 2023, calling for police accountability for violence against Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker. | Rogelio V. Solis/AP
|
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|
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</figcaption>
|
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|
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</figure>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
Six former police officers tortured two Black men. They just pleaded guilty.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="682INc">
|
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|
|
<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-kristen-clarke-delivers-remarks-announcing-six-mississippi">Six white former police officers</a> have pleaded guilty to civil rights offenses related to the assault and torture of two Black men in Mississippi. Their pleas underscore the systemic nature of police abuse, the racism underpinning many incidents of police misconduct, and the urgent need for more accountability.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="39LQjH">
|
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|
|
<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/six-mississippi-law-enforcement-officers-plead-guilty-torturing-and-abusing-two-black-men">In the Mississippi case</a>, the officers, some of whom referred to themselves as “the Goon Squad,” entered a home without a warrant and proceeded to physically and verbally assault two Black men — Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker — who were inside.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4SJsI">
|
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|
|
Over the course of 90 minutes, the officers attacked and tortured the men repeatedly, with one officer shooting Jenkins in the mouth. Additionally, the group tased the two men multiple times, used racial slurs, poured oil, alcohol, and chocolate sauce on them, and planted evidence in the house in a bid to escape responsibility. As part of the encounter, the police warned the men to stay out of Rankin County, Mississippi.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eMcB77">
|
|||
|
|
The officers were reportedly told to go to the house on January 24, 2023, by a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/goon-squad-rogue-mississippi-officers-cover-torture-2-102013231">Rankin County deputy</a>, who’d received a complaint that the two Black men were in the house with a white woman. Court documents note that Parker was a longtime friend of the woman and aiding in her care, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rankin-mississippi-deputies-civil-rights-brutality-2c2154e67cc6cd3b9a28cb16686f2a5c">per the Associated Press</a>.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LjRvRs">
|
|||
|
|
The Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation earlier this year and charged the officers with 16 felonies — including civil rights violations, discharge of a firearm during a crime, and obstruction of justice — all of which they pleaded guilty to this week. Additionally, the Mississippi attorney general’s office has charged the officers with assault, conspiracy, and obstruction.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EEZsrx">
|
|||
|
|
This case is only the latest to illustrate how police can abuse the unique authority they have, and is only one of several highlighting the violence <a href="https://www.vox.com/race">Black Americans</a> can face at the hands of police. The pleas follow the recent police killings of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/12/jarrell-garris-fatally-shot-new-rochelle-ny-police-stealing-food/70405693007/">Jarrell Garris in New Rochelle</a> and <a href="https://wchstv.com/news/local/huntington-police-officer-returns-to-work-following-fatal-shooting-of-detroit-man-west-virginia-state-police-keith-mcsweeny-investigation-ahmad-abdullah-emergency-dispatchers-communication-radio-911">Ahmad Abdullah</a> in Detroit, both unarmed Black men, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/">among many others</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="AbA0Bf">
|
|||
|
|
Police misconduct is a systemic problem — and there needs to be much more accountability
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2XOv0X">
|
|||
|
|
Legal protections like qualified immunity — which require proof that an officer has violated a “clearly established” right — have typically made it difficult to hold police liable for everything from property damage to fatal violence. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/30/23578339/police-reform-tyre-nichols-congress">Efforts to remake qualified immunity law</a> on the federal level, which were accelerated after a police officer murdered George Floyd, have failed. As have efforts to increase transparent reporting and data collection about police use of force, making it tougher to pursue both investigations and convictions.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sAsbH0">
|
|||
|
|
“Departments don’t even have to disclose the most basic information about how many people officers kill each year,” <a href="https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/holding-police-accountable-q-a-with-professor-joanna-schwartz">UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz</a> previously said in an interview. “That, in itself, is a failure of accountability.”
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3MVDbX">
|
|||
|
|
The Mississippi assaults present a rare instance when police have had to deal with legal ramifications for harms they’ve caused. As recent reports on <a href="https://nysfocus.com/2023/08/02/albany-police-block-misconduct-investigations-neutering-landmark-oversight-law">Albany</a>, <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2023/08/03/chicago-police-department-must-improve-methods-clarify-rules-reporting-officer-misconduct">Chicago</a>, and <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/oakland-may-blow-deadlines-in-police-misconduct-cases">Oakland</a>’s police departments have shown, it is far more common that investigations into misconduct don’t come to any resolution. The Mississippi case is also a reminder of how ignoring misconduct can lead to further abuses. Infamously, Derek Chauvin, the former officer who killed Floyd, had previously been the subject of multiple complaints <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/minneapolis-derek-chauvin-history-of-complaints-george-floyd">concerning excessive use of force</a>.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vV4yKP">
|
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|
|
Similarly, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-deputies-black-violent-arrests-61acf712b13fc3c77dce76e508fa94c1">an AP report</a> linked several of the officers involved in the Mississippi case with four incidents of violence since 2019, including actions that led to the deaths of two Black men. And while the recent assaults they are accused of took place in January, the officers weren’t fired from their jobs or forced to resign until June of this year.
|
|||
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mzG4b5">
|
|||
|
|
The guilty pleas and DOJ investigation in this case are extremely important, Harvard Kennedy School professor and <a href="https://www.vox.com/police-violence">police violence</a> expert Desmond Ang tells Vox, though he notes that such accountability is uncommon.
|
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|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uvtTFA">
|
|||
|
|
“That the officers pleaded guilty, instead of going to trial, really demonstrates how clear-cut the evidence was,” he says. “At the same time, it’s really important to note that this type of behavior had been allowed to persist for way longer than it should.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hNJ2pr">
|
|||
|
|
Because of the opacity when it comes to documenting use of force in police departments, it’s tough to track how frequently similar offenses are being confronted in court. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officers-charged-fatal-police-shootings-2021-not-everyone-sees-progres-rcna12799">One analysis from Bowling Green State University professor Philip Stinson</a> found an uptick in the number of police who were being charged with murder or manslaughter between 2017 to 2021, though they still marked a very small fraction of the reported number of police killings. Seven officers were charged in 2017, 10 in 2018, 12 in 2019, 16 in 2020, and 21 in 2021. In 2021 and the years since, however, there have been more than a thousand police killings per year, according to the <a href="https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/">Mapping Police Violence database</a>.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xhsZw1">
|
|||
|
|
“It makes you wonder how many other cases like this exist that just haven’t made the light of day,” says Ang, while alluding to other potential instances like the Mississippi case.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>World Archery championship | Compound archer Aditi Swami becomes senior world champion at 17</strong> - The Satara teenager, who had won the Under-18 title in Youth Championships in Limerick in July, shot a near perfect score of 149 out of a possible 150 points</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Football transfer news | Man City signs Croatia centre-back Joško Gvardiol; Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sanchez joins Chelsea</strong> - Manchester City has signed Croatia centre-back Joško Gvardiol from Leipzig for 90 million euros ($99.2 million). Chelsea have signed Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sanchez from Brighton & Hove Albion on a seven-year contract</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australian Open Super 500 badminton championship: H.S. Prannoy beats Rajawat; reaches final</strong> - The world number nine Prannoy took 43 minutes to ward off 21-year-old Rajawat’s challenge 21-18 21-12.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pat Cummins played Oval Test with suspected broken wrist, could miss India series</strong> - The men from Down Under will fly to India for the ODI series, which is slated to begin on September 22 in Mohali.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2nd T20I: India aim for improved death overs batting keeping workload in mind</strong> - The T20I series is of little consequence in an ODI World Cup year but skipper Hardik Pandya along with his deputy Suryakumar Yadav would expect to put a far improved batting show</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Four booked under PSA in Jammu and Kashmir’s Budgam</strong> - They were lodged at the Central Jail in Jammu’s Kot-Balwal and the Central Jail in Srinagar after obtaining formal detention orders from the competent authority, an official said</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>At Gruha Jyothi launch, Karnataka Chief Minister asserts implementation of guarantees will not impact development projects</strong> - Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah formally launched Gruha Jyothi scheme by switching on a light in a model of a house. He handed over zero electricity bills to 10 selected beneficiaries to symbolically mark the beginning of the scheme</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Actor Bala booked for trespass, intimidating YouTuber</strong> - According to FIR, Bala and three accomplices barged into apartment near Kakkanad after being allegedly provoked by a video posted by the YouTuber criticising the actor</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Suryateja takes charge as Project Officer of ITDA-K.R.Puram in Andhra Pradesh</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telangana Assembly passes four Bills returned by Governor with voice vote</strong> - They include Private Universities Bill for establishment of five varsities</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
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<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia says tanker hit in Ukrainian attack near Crimea</strong> - The attack is the second in as many days involving sea drones, Ukrainian security sources tell the BBC.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russian soprano star sues NYC opera over firing</strong> - Anna Netrebko was dropped by the Met Opera last year after refusing to denounce Russia’s president.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia conscription laws change, leaving some fearful of Ukraine war call-up</strong> - As Russia increases the age limit for conscription, we speak to men afraid of being called up to Ukraine.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Switzerland 1-5 Spain: Aitana Bonmati scores twice as La Roja march into quarter-finals</strong> - Spain reach the quarter-finals of the Fifa Women’s World Cup for the first time after producing an outstanding display of firepower to send Switzerland out.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alexei Navalny: Russian opposition leader’s jail term extended to 19 years</strong> - The Russian opposition leader is found guilty of further offences in a trial held at a prison colony.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A look at the surprising history of the earliest rocket pioneers</strong> - A review of the book <em>From the Earth to Mars</em>. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1959045">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Unlimited miles and nights: Vulnerability found in rewards programs</strong> - Points.com, used by major travel rewards programs, exposed user data… and more. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1959041">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>X user “super pissed” that Musk ordered takeover of his <span class="citation" data-cites="music">@music</span> account</strong> - X user quits paying for Twitter Blue to protest X commandeering his account. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1959132">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Voyager 2 phones home and says everything is cool</strong> - After sending the command, NASA had to wait 37 hours for a response. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1959104">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Absurd”: Google, Amazon rebuked over unsupported Chromebooks still for sale</strong> - No security or feature updates, but selling as “new.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1959002">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A guy chats with his milkman during the weekly daily delivery.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“You should’ve seen yesterday’s party, it was great. There was me, my wife and many couples in the neighborhood. By the end we were completely hammered.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Oh yeah? How did it go?” The milkman inquires.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Well, we got so drunk that we got the idea for a little game. The men went into another room and stripped naked. Then one after the other, we’d walk out of the room with our body entirely covered by a bedsheet with a hole in it, and just our dick through the hole. Then, the women had to guess who was under the sheet.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“That does sound like a great party, I wish I’d been there!” The milkman replies.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“You might as well have been, ’cause your name came out a couple times.”
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Iamabrawler"> /u/Iamabrawler </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15iit8f/a_guy_chats_with_his_milkman_during_the_weekly/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15iit8f/a_guy_chats_with_his_milkman_during_the_weekly/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">**A man bets his boss 5000<span class="math inline">$...** - <!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>that he (the boss) has a pimple on his ass.</p> <p>&quot;No way!&quot; - says the boss and accepts the bet.</p> <p>He opens his ass to show to the man. The man says: &quot;It's too dark here, move to the window so I can see better&quot;. The boss moves to the window. &quot;Ok, you were right, there is no pimple on your ass&quot;. He gives the boss 5000$</span>.</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“But why would you do that?”, asked the boss, bewildered.</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“Yesterday I have bet your colleagues 10000$ that today at exactly 3 o’clock they would see your ass through your office window”</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gyaghsonyan"> /u/Gyaghsonyan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ioxfl/a_man_bets_his_boss_5000/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ioxfl/a_man_bets_his_boss_5000/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Interview for a job</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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John goes to the Postal Ministry to face for an interview for a job in the Postal Department.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The interviewer asks him, “Are you allergic to anything?” He replies, “Yes - coffee.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Have you ever been in the military service?”Yes," he says, “I was in Iraq for two years.” The interviewer says,“That will give you 5 extra points towards employment.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Then he asks,“Are you disabled in any way?” Johnl says,“Yes. A bomb exploded near me and I lost both of my testicles.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The interviewer grimaces and then says, “O.K. You’ve got enough points for me to hire you right now. Our normal hours are from 8:00 A.M. To 4:00 P.M. You can start tomorrow from 10:00AM every day.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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John is puzzled and asks, “If the work hours are from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., why do you want me to start here from10:00 A.M.?”
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“This is a government job,” the inter-viewer says, “For the first two hours, we just stand around drinking coffee and scratching our balls. No point you coming in for that.”
|
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dala07"> /u/dala07 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ii5qx/interview_for_a_job/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ii5qx/interview_for_a_job/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>[NSFW] A teenager goes to confession.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Bless me Father, for I have sinned,” he says. “I have been masturbating.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Ah, my son, this is not uncommon. But you must save that for marriage. Your penance is to say a decade of the rosary,” says the priest.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Many years later, the teenager, now a grown man, goes back to confession with the same priest.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Father, I am not here for confession, but for advice,” he says. “Many years ago, I confessed to you that I masturbated and you told me to save it for marriage.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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“Yes, my son,” says the priest. “What is the problem?”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Well, Father, I’m about to get married and I have a 50 gallon drum of the stuff. What am I supposed to do with it?”
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/brother_p"> /u/brother_p </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15i4nty/nsfw_a_teenager_goes_to_confession/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15i4nty/nsfw_a_teenager_goes_to_confession/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A guy is fishing and hooks a salmon</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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he reels it in and is just going to kill it for his dinner when the salmon looks at him and says<br/> “Hey mate, don’t kill me, I’m only a baby, I haven’t swum the 7 seas yet, give me a chance pal”<br/> The man looks at the salmon “Hey, you can talk”? “Course I can, go on put me back, there’s much bigger fish under the bridge”. “All right”, says the man, “I’ll put you back, what’s your name?” “Rusty” says the salmon, “And yours?” “My name’s Dave”<br/> He puts the fish back in the water & resolves to say nothing to anyone, for fear that he’ll become a laughing stock.<br/> 10 years later he’s fishing in the same spot & he hooks a monster. It takes him 2 hours to land it. He looks at it & pictures it on his dinner plate. Just then the salmon opens one eye & looks at him “Dave, is that you”?<br/> “Rusty, I don’t believe it, it must be 10 years since I let you go, what have you been doing”?<br/> “Well Dave, I’ve had a fantastic time, I’ve swum the 7 seas & all the oceans. In fact, I’ve just come across the Atlantic, but I was really disturbed”.<br/> “Why’s that Rusty”?<br/> “Well, I was half way across & a voice told me to swim deeper, so I did, deeper & deeper & I found this huge shipwreck. I counted 4 funnels, it felt like death so I had to leave”.<br/> “Wow Rusty, that was the Titanic it sank & almost all on board were drowned.”<br/> “Ah, I knew it, in fact, I was so upset I had to sit down & write a poem about it” said Rusty.<br/> “A poem, don’t talk daft, you’re just a fish, how can you write a poem, that’s rubbish.”<br/> “No Dave, really, it’s available in all bookshops now.”<br/> “Ok” says Dave, “so what’s it called then?”<br/> “Salmon Rusty’s Titanic Verses.”
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Alpha-Studios"> /u/Alpha-Studios </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ijmol/a_guy_is_fishing_and_hooks_a_salmon/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15ijmol/a_guy_is_fishing_and_hooks_a_salmon/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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</ul>
|
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