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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>18 July, 2022</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 Psychologists Treating Rape Victims in Ukraine</strong> - A grassroots effort is offering mental-health care to Ukrainians who’ve faced sexual violence at the hands of the Russian invasion force. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-psychologists-treating-rape-victims-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Kids Who Lost Parents to COVID</strong> - On two teens bound by grief, and the estimated two hundred thousand American children like them. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-kids-who-lost-parents-to-covid">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Last Abortion Clinic in North Dakota Gets Ready to Leave</strong> - The Red River Women’s Clinic has thirty days to close on one side of the border with Minnesota, before reopening on the other. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-last-abortion-clinic-in-north-dakota-gets-ready-to-leave">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Han Ong Reads “Elmhurst”</strong> - The author reads his story from the July 25, 2022, issue of the magazine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-writers-voice/han-ong-reads-elmhurst">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>For the Third Time in Three Decades, Congress Punts on Serious Climate Legislation</strong> - Joe Manchin tanks Congress’s big chance to cut the heat. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/for-the-third-time-in-three-decades-congress-punts-on-serious-climate-legislation">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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<ul>
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<li><strong>Biden sought to end endless wars. So what’s the military doing in Somalia?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Soldiers atop a barricade wall." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6OSUp9wcI_DGtoS_5ZuPDdR2-Bg=/501x0:4937x3327/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71146940/973400962.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Somali soldiers on patrol at a military base, south of Mogadishu, Somalia, on June 13, 2018. An American special operations soldier had been killed by a mortar attack there earlier that month, on June 8. | Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP via Getty Images
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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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US military personnel’s return to Somalia, briefly explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vMfLqz">
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President Joe<strong> </strong>Biden pledged to end the “forever wars” in the Middle East. He withdrew US forces from <a href="https://www.vox.com/23161802/afghanistan-earthquake-humanitarian-economic-crisis-taliban-united-states">Afghanistan</a> last year and has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-end-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/">announced</a> that the United States is no longer at war. As he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/09/joe-biden-saudi-arabia-israel-visit/">wrote</a> in advance of his trip this week to Israel and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23219049/biden-saudi-arabia-human-rights-mbs-khashoggi">Saudi Arabia</a>, “I will be the first president to visit the Middle East since 9/11 without U.S. troops engaged in a combat mission there.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A43sfi">
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But the rhetorical contortion of no “U.S. troops engaged in a combat mission” is a little different from being able to simply say that there is no American military presence. That’s because the US still has troops in <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2022/03/18/us-troops-will-likely-be-in-iraq-for-years-to-come-central-command-boss-says/">Iraq</a> and in <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/81313/still-at-war-the-united-states-in-syria/">Syria</a>. In Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Yemen, the US military is, among other things, advising on counterterrorism, and the Pentagon keeps more than 700 personnel in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/08/letter-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-and-president-pro-tempore-of-the-senate-regarding-the-war-powers-report-3/">Niger</a> and thousands in <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-military-africa-sees-growing-isis-al-qaeda-terror-threat-to-america/">Djibouti</a>. The US also deploys <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/12/top-isis-leader-in-syria-killed-in-drone-strike-officials-say-00045403">drone</a> <a href="https://airwars.org/news-and-investigations/how-do-the-forever-wars-look-under-president-biden/">strikes</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/07/01/pentagon-127e-proxy-wars/">special operations forces</a> against targets across the Middle East and Africa without much accountability or oversight.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MS0s9n">
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And in May 2022, Biden agreed to send <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/us/politics/biden-military-somalia.html">about 500 US troops to Somalia</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIWfwQ">
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Those troops will return to Somalia soon to fight the extremist group al-Shabaab as the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220516-hassan-sheikh-mohamud-elected-president-of-somali-for-second-time">resurrected government</a> of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (HSM) deepens ties to Washington and seeks the support and legitimacy provided by the American military. But on a deeper level, this US deployment represents the continuity of the so-called war on terrorism in spite of Biden’s best efforts to end it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gYfLZT">
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Congress has not approved a new resolution for the use of military force abroad, and the Biden administration says it is sending troops to Somalia under the 2001 authorization that Congress passed after the September 11, 2001, attacks to target al-Qaeda — and that has been used in <a href="https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2021/2001AUMF">85 countries</a> as the basis for military activities.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jrsmJ3">
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“With Vice-President Biden’s election win, there is a real opportunity to re-imagine U.S. policy toward Africa,” Judd Devermont, a prominent Africa expert in Washington, <a href="https://twitter.com/JDevermont/status/1325437249622831104?s=20&t=a3K_EZjM5UlJS4OGFeDZ-Q">said</a> in 2020. Now, Devermont is the White House’s top Africa adviser, and there are fears that the US is continuing an old approach that over-emphasizes security policies and doesn’t meet the political moment in Somalia, Africa, or the Middle East.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uWD9Ca">
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“This was an opportunity in which the administration could have reset its security relationship with the federal government of Somalia,” Jason Hartwig, a former Army officer who served in the US embassy in Somalia from 2016 to 2018, told me. “We’re just gonna go back to what we were doing, literally, at the end of the last HSM regime, which is incredibly frustrating and disappointing.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="sHY1Kl">
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Why is the US in Somalia?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QVNweB">
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The US has been <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/22/obama-drones-trump-killings-count/">involved in Somalia</a> for <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/45227/trumps-drone-strike-policy-different-matters/">decades</a>.<strong> </strong>It’s there now because <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2022/05/16/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-may-16-2022/">the Biden administration says</a> the Somalia-based extremist<strong> </strong>group al-Shabaab poses a threat to the US homeland. Al-Shabaab has continued to attack the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61320474">African Union’s forces</a> and use tactics of terror as part of what the International Crisis Group describes as “<a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/somalia/309-considering-political-engagement-al-shabaab-somalia">an endless cycle of war</a>.” But security experts dispute the extent of the threat to Americans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="efqFR1">
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“The threat to the homeland is extremely attenuated and possibly nonexistent,” Katherine Ebright of the Brennan Center for Justice told me.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DWQ1t2">
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That hasn’t stopped US administrations from engaging militarily there. Troops have been in Somalia <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-somalia/exclusive-u-s-discloses-secret-somalia-military-presence-up-to-120-troops-idINKBN0F800V20140703">since around 2007</a>. The Trump administration increased airstrikes in Somalia to an average of almost 50 per year, and changed a requirement established under President Barack Obama so that the Pentagon could pursue strikes without getting the president’s personal sign-off each time. In 2020, Trump <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/5/22156107/somalia-troops-withdraw-trump">withdrew</a> most (<a href="https://twitter.com/wesleysmorgan/status/1397168474380713987?s=20&t=_zs9Bl8KAKGL52QPoxWFnw">but not all</a>) of the more than 700 US forces in the country.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6JWFMy">
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Biden has now reversed that, approving the troop transfer at Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s request, and they’ll “train, advise, and assist regional forces, including Somali and African Union Mission in Somalia forces, during counterterrorism operations” and conduct “a small number of airstrikes against al-Shabaab,” according to a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/08/letter-to-the-speaker-of-the-house-and-president-pro-tempore-of-the-senate-regarding-the-war-powers-report-3/">letter</a> Biden is mandated to send annually to Congress.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wcTI5O">
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Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Pietrack, spokesperson for US African Command, said in a statement that the military is “in the planning stages to return a small persistent US military presence to Somalia” and declined to provide more details.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IHN2MD">
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This is easier and safer, the White House says, than flying back and forth to Somalia from Kenya and Djibouti to carry out operations, which the US had been doing after Trump withdrew most of the forces. “The decision to reintroduce a small but persistent presence was made, first and foremost, to maximize the safety and effectiveness of our force and enable them to provide better support of our partners,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said. (Which presupposes that US troops should be in East Africa in the first place.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SW3N1P">
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Above all, the White House emphasizes that US forces are in Somalia because the Somalis want the US to be there. When Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/somalia-elects-hassan-sheikh-mohamud-as-president">elected</a> as Somalia’s president in May 2022, the US immediately announced that it was sending troops there. The timing suggested that this plan was long in the works, and that the US wants to support his government.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Jx9err5NZXTxyR1VwUS1uVJts3w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23762469/GettyImages_1240852958.jpg"/> <cite>Hasan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Outgoing Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, right, and newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud participate in a handover ceremony at the palace in Mogadishu, Somalia, on May 23,
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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="TFV4kD">
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For the Biden administration, success would mean keeping al-Shabaab’s threat within Somalia’s borders. “Simultaneously, we are working toward continued progress on the political side, where we start seeing greater cooperation, less corruption, an effort toward more inclusive politics,” a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told me. “We’re listening to Hassan Sheikh’s agenda and having a conversation with him, and with other Somali actors, about how do they best bring stability to the country.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l5o9vW">
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Pushing toward political reconciliation will be difficult, as many Somalis see the government as <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/somalia">corrupt</a>; they “seek justice and an equitable way of resolving these things,” Samira Gaid, the director of the Hiraal Institute in Mogadishu, told me. “That’s what’s absent. And that’s what al-Shabaab offers.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UewWgK">
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By putting US troops in Somalia, the US is back to where it was under Trump and Obama, according to analyst Abukar Arman. “I don’t think it is a good idea if the Biden administration’s objective is to pursue that same failed counterterrorism policy,” the former Somali diplomat wrote by email. “Somalis — save the political elite — consider the return of American troops and Biden’s policy toward Somalia business as usual: more drone strikes, more provocation of al-Shabaab, and more recruitment for the latter.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SdfqIB">
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Altogether, there have been 268 drone strikes on Somalia over the past two decades, killing up to 120 civilians, according to <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/americas-counterterrorism-wars/the-war-in-somalia/">the think tank New America</a>. Trump presided over 202 of those strikes in Somalia, and even though Biden has markedly decreased them, drone strikes continue. Gathering this data is a challenge, especially because of the risky security situation in Somalia, and the number of victims may be significantly higher.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mr1Gja">
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<a href="https://civiliansinconflict.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The_Civilian_Impact_of_Drones_w_cover.pdf">Research</a> and <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/blowback-somalia/">reporting</a> suggest that such strikes cause blowback. “It’s difficult to argue that they have been effective in keeping America safe,” Priyanka Motaparthy, who directs a project on human rights and armed conflict at Columbia Law School, told me.
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</p>
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<h3 id="S6M8hq">
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What’s the legal justification for US troops in Somalia?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpEt6F">
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Congress passed the 2001 Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to combat al-Qaeda in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — the longest-running AUMF in US history.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F47o34">
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And it is the legal justification for US involvement in Somalia. “The 2001 AUMF provides sufficient authority to use military force against certain organizations,” another senior Biden administration official wrote in an email statement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JpyCmu">
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Al-Shabaab has been affiliated with al-Qaeda since <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15336689">2012</a>, but it’s better understood as a domestic political movement that grew out of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts. Legal experts I spoke with think the ties to al-Qaeda are flimsy because of al-Shabaab’s local roots. One expert described the way al-Shabaab operates as analogous to a junior varsity version of the Taliban: Al-Shabaab operates courts and social services, and it collects taxes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9H8yKP">
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The legality of the AUMF is also tenuous. The <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/17516/debunking-vichy-france-argument-authorization-force-co-belligerents/">idea</a> of applying it to al-Qaeda’s associated forces — though no such wording is included in the authorization itself — was <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5902&context=faculty_scholarship">advanced</a> by former George W. Bush administration official Jack Goldsmith, who <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/FA/FA00/20210323/111380/HHRG-117-FA00-Wstate-GoldsmithJ-20210323.pdf">testified to Congress</a> last year that it’s not entirely clear which groups can be considered affiliated with al-Qaeda and suggested reforms to the AUMF that “specify the enemy.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2xnJ5Z">
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Now, Biden is following in Obama’s path. “The Obama administration determined and notified Congress in 2016 that al-Shabaab is covered by the 2001 AUMF as an associated force of al-Qa’ida,” according to the senior Biden official’s email. “Direct counterterrorism action in Somalia under the current administration is proceeding under a more rigorous approach established by this administration,” the official continued, but did not go into further detail about how Biden’s rules differ from Trump’s.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C4F7IS">
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Major al-Shabaab attacks on US targets, like the 2020 siege on US forces at an airbase in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/us/politics/shabab-manda-bay-kenya-attack.html">Manda Bay, Kenya</a>, where three Americans died, relate to the US presence there. “I don’t think that there’s a real threat to US territory, to US persons, US property,” Ebright said; the threat is “only really to US forces who are out there already pursuing al-Shabaab.”
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e47LVo0S1Vi14EOoikIjehBsw6w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23762481/GettyImages_1238524514.jpg"/> <cite>Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Women walk next to a destroyed house and the wreckage of a car after al-Shabaab militants attacked a police station on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on February 16.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lLBNpj">
|
|||
|
|
And if it’s so important that US forces are there, why not get the buy-in of Congress? “We shouldn’t be actively involved in the war in Somalia without some form of authorization saying why we’re there, who our enemy is, and what we’re allowed to do,” said Elizabeth Shackelford, a former diplomat now at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “That should be basic, but nobody cares.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3At35g">
|
|||
|
|
It’s part of a theme I picked up on in conversations with former and current officials about US policy toward Somalia: There just isn’t that much attention from policymakers given to this country, even though US troops sent there may be in harm’s way.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="ge3a1E">
|
|||
|
|
Can the US go beyond a militarized approach to Somalia?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oqT0XI">
|
|||
|
|
The government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was in office from 2012 to 2017, and its return presents the opportunity of creating political reconciliation in a country that is <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/somalia/new-president-somalia-new-opportunity-reconciliation">fractured</a>, divided along federated states and by clans and tribes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kbMCyf">
|
|||
|
|
Hassan Sheikh’s government gains legitimacy from the US troop presence, according to Gaid. But she is concerned that the US’s top priority has been the war on terrorism in Somalia, outweighing other goals. “It’s more military-centric, and it should really be people-centric, it should look at reconciliation, at peace-building and all these other aspects,” she told me.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AR4x2e">
|
|||
|
|
The US does do more than security there. It’s also the <a href="https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/we-remain-somalia-s-biggest-donors-us-diplomat-says">largest humanitarian donor</a> to Somalia and is advancing food security initiatives amid a massive famine, given the unprecedented drought there, compounded by the Ukraine grain crisis. Senior State Department official Victoria Nuland <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-support-for-somalia/">traveled last month</a> to Somalia and met President Hassan Sheikh “to offer U.S. support for his security, reconciliation, and reform agenda.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7GuszM">
|
|||
|
|
But for broader political and development policies to succeed, the main priority needs to be addressing al-Shabaab’s deadly 15-year-long insurgency. Everyone knows that insurgencies end with political dialogue, not more military strikes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B1pVkv">
|
|||
|
|
In a <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/06/02/somalias-new-president-vows-to-beat-back-jihadists-then-talk-to-them">recent interview</a>, Hassan Sheikh said that ultimately Somalia will need to negotiate with al-Shabaab. Arman, the former Somali diplomat, told me he has been advocating for negotiations with al-Shabaab for over a decade and that subsequent Somali leaders have missed the opportunity to leverage talks.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m1JRh9">
|
|||
|
|
“There’s no purely military solution,” a State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told me. “It’s really political factors that are driving this, and the governance challenges that are at the root of this. I don’t think it’s for us to decide whether the Somalis should negotiate with al-Shabaab. That’s a decision that they need to make.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="imFHZH">
|
|||
|
|
Though right now might not be the optimal moment to craft a deal with al-Shabaab, it can take years of table-setting to make such complex talks happen. “You want to have the mechanisms for talks in place when the timing is right,” Tricia Bacon, an American University professor and former State Department official, told me. “One of the mistakes of US-Taliban negotiations is that we negotiated when we were ready to leave.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jUt2ft">
|
|||
|
|
In the meantime, the US priority appears to be security in the strictest sense, as troops deploy there. Former US ambassador to Somalia Donald Yamamoto reflected in a <a href="https://generalambassadorpodcast.org/068">recent interview</a> on the fact that his two children serve in the US military. “I am not going to have them be deployed to Somalia to fight your wars,” he recalled telling the Somali president when he was ambassador about five years ago. “You have to fight this war yourself.”
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Costco’s inflation-proof $4.99 rotisserie chicken, explained</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A Costco retail employee packs up rotisserie chickens for sale." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ixTIvoj9W6OsXGoMO5mNujPygjw=/222x0:3778x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71146904/GettyImages_1072209546.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
In 2019, Costco became the first US retailer to set up its own chicken business, contracting farmers in Nebraska and Iowa to raise 100 million birds and building a feed mill, hatchery, and slaughter plant. Costco has instituted some practices that are more humane and fair than most conventional chicken companies, but some residents are unhappy with the company’s presence. | David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Picking apart what the retail giant’s poultry staple says about the present and future of factory farming.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jDir0S">
|
|||
|
|
Americans love their chicken, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287530/chicken-beef-factory-farming-plant-based-meats">eating some 7.5 billion of them every year</a>. That’s enough for about 23 birds for every man, woman, and child in the country. So the fact that inflation has hit poultry prices particularly hard — chicken prices <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm">increased</a> 18.6 percent between June 2021 and June 2022, outpacing inflation for food as a whole — has been tough for Americans to swallow.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NK1Yg9">
|
|||
|
|
But throughout the year of inflation — and for 11 years before that — one poultry product has remained at the same bargain-basement price: Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ftHepl">
|
|||
|
|
The roasted birds have been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal/are-rotisserie-chickens-inflation-proof/e04284e8-9e30-4dc6-aebe-96e2822c83a5">hailed</a> as an <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/07/1103451833/rotisserie-chicken-price-inflation">economic lifeline</a> — most rotisserie chickens will run you $6 to $10 — but the chicken isn’t cheap because of corporate benevolence. In 2015, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chicken/index.html">Costco said</a> it was able to maintain its low price because the company considers the rotisserie chicken a “loss leader.” That means its purpose isn’t to bring in profits, but rather to bring in customers to buy more of the wholesale retailer’s bulk toilet paper and five-packs of deodorant. And it works. The item is so popular among Costco members that it has its own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Costco-Rotisserie-Chicken-166379400260/">Facebook fan page</a> with 19,000 followers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="mczgE9">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5DD4X0">
|
|||
|
|
But there’s another reason the birds have remained so affordable. In 2019, Costco made an unprecedented move to source its chicken at even lower margins: It set up its own feed mill, hatchery, and slaughter plant in Nebraska, and contracted nearby farmers to raise over <a href="https://investor.costco.com/static-files/1d8321d1-85a8-4270-a29e-99fed4938fd6">100 million</a> birds each year, all under the name Lincoln Premium Poultry (LPP). It could be saving the company up to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/11/business/costco-5-dollar-chicken/index.html">35 cents per bird</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t56pui">
|
|||
|
|
It’s a classic example of “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/verticalintegration.asp">vertical integration</a>.” That means owning each link in the supply chain, which enables companies to reduce operating costs and go bigger. It’s how some of the country’s largest chicken producers, like Tyson Foods, took over much of America’s chicken business. Now, Costco is outdoing them all by being both the meat producer and the retailer.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KdQYSQ">
|
|||
|
|
The move worries industrialized animal farming critics, who say that over the last few decades, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22298043/meat-antitrust-biden-vilsack">meat industry consolidation</a> has worsened conditions for meat-processing workers, intensified largely unchecked air and water pollution, and weakened rural economies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iBXmXJ">
|
|||
|
|
Lincoln Premium Poultry declined an interview request and Costco did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jcwDfm">
|
|||
|
|
To Costco’s credit, the company has made some improvements when compared to most conventional chicken companies. That’s not saying much, but it’s something. The company uses a more humane slaughter method than the industry standard in its Nebraska plant, its contracts with independent farmers are more fair than average, and at $4.99 per bird, no one could accuse the company of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-drops-price-fixing-charges-against-chicken-executives-after-mistrials-2022-03-31/#:~:text=The%20court%20documents%20allege%20industry,the%20company%20from%20criminal%20prosecution.">price fixing</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A close-up photo of Costco’s rotisserie chicken on sale in the store." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jeLFDCLUKMx4mJfTdZrYIUmMclo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23800451/GettyImages_53078399.jpg"/> <cite>Tim Boyle/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Costco’s iconic, and somewhat controversial, $4.99 rotisserie chicken.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kPmQNO">
|
|||
|
|
But Costco still relies on nearly all of the same practices as the rest of Big Chicken, making it an important case study in the hard limits of trying to produce more equitable meat in America’s consolidated, extractive food system, one where consumer price apparently still matters far more than farmer, worker, or animal welfare.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hI5SJj">
|
|||
|
|
Picking apart Costco’s chicken supply chain means picking apart America’s paradoxical relationship with meat. We’re eating as much of it as ever, praising a company for keeping a whole chicken as affordable as a pint of cheap beer, while also growing outraged at how people and animals are treated to put cheap chicken on our plates.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="94TKx4">
|
|||
|
|
The “death smell” of Big Chicken
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LmFcRn">
|
|||
|
|
Around two years ago, the North Carolina-based private equity firm Gallus Capital set up three 16-barn sites to raise chickens for Costco, all within 1.25 miles of Greg Lanc, a soybean and corn farmer in Butler County, Nebraska. Each barn is permitted to house 47,500 chickens, which translates into a total of around <a href="https://columbustelegram.com/community/banner-press/news/butler-county-chicken-barns-cause-headaches-for-residents/article_1ac3f3b9-e7f4-5736-8bc6-aa37130c3b68.html#tncms-source=signup">2 million chickens</a> alive at any given time in the facilities. And the whole thing has been nightmarish for Lanc. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hxryOWS5RAQEkjHSwViB8al-jL1XPCHj/view?usp=sharing"></a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ollRC5">
|
|||
|
|
Lanc says the stench from the barns — a mix of ammonia-laden manure and what he calls “the death smell” from the pits of decomposing birds — has pervaded his home. “[The smell] tries to get inside anything it can.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BI32GritSLODBERuxS_uF6YUlUw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23799240/Copy_of_IMG_0015__1_.JPG"/> <cite>Courtesy of Greg Lanc</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Dead birds are exposed to the elements at one of the large chicken operations near Lanc’s Nebraska home in April 2022.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3kwlRe">
|
|||
|
|
The rotting birds attract swarms of flies, and the noise from trucks transporting feed and chickens is constant, beating up the roads and kicking up dust. Sometimes the traffic is heavy enough to knock pictures off the wall.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d1sv2Z">
|
|||
|
|
“When it’s really bad, I’ve had times where I don’t want to stay here,” he says. “You wake up in the morning with a runny nose and your eyes just burning and there’s no reason for it … My A/C runs all the time. If you open a window for any reason — dust, flies, the smell, you’re at the mercy of all of that. … I have friends stop by and they want to gag.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6WgbmY">
|
|||
|
|
Lanc says he and another Butler County resident met with Nebraska’s governor, Pete Ricketts, in June of 2021, which prompted Ricketts’s office to file a complaint about the Gallus-owned farms with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE). But Lanc says it didn’t reduce the odors from the farms. “[NDEE] did an inspection … and [said] everything’s in compliance.” <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2XfdhPJ3-hvMEszd6XiQdLYU-9D1i-2/view?usp=sharing"></a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HYwr7G">
|
|||
|
|
“I don’t in any way want to interfere with someone’s life,” Jody Murphey, managing partner of Gallus Capital, which owns the farms, told me. “That’s not our intention, by any means. … There’s no perfect answer here. When we build a farm, we have to build it somewhere. And it’s virtually impossible to put it in a location that is free of an impact for everybody. I’m sensitive to that.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UwX3IX">
|
|||
|
|
Murphey added that the farm contractors who live on-site haven’t complained to him about the smell. “We do whatever we can to lessen that [odor] impact, and we’ll continue to do so. And if we can consult with outside third parties, and if there are products on the market that will, I guess, reduce that impact, we’re all for it,” Murphey said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/F3O0qDnVUV-blK6JzJSZQuimuus=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23799284/Copy_of_IMG_0017__1_.JPG"/> <cite>Courtesy of Greg Lanc</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
One of the 16-barn chicken farm sites near Lanc’s home in Butler County, Nebraska.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qMf86f">
|
|||
|
|
Lanc says that despite the personal effect of the chicken farms on his life, he hopes local, independent farmers who contract with Costco succeed. But he’s also worried about what the mega-operations that surround his home will do to his health over the long term. A <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2013637118">2021 study</a> found that air pollution from chicken farms is linked to 1,300 premature deaths in the US each year.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S3w5qH">
|
|||
|
|
“Everybody has said that these operations are going to be around for a long time,” Lanc said. “Well, I’m in my late 40s. … Do I want to live here 20 years from now and deal with this same situation? I mean, will I be here? Will the health problems eventually catch up with me?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="fI47kW">
|
|||
|
|
The debt trap of modern-day chicken farming
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yWo8ps">
|
|||
|
|
As bad as living close to an industrialized poultry operation can be, life may not be much better for some of the workers raising the chickens that will end up on Costco’s shelves.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLRvqI">
|
|||
|
|
Chicken farming in the US is a little like driving for Uber, but with much, much higher stakes. Farmers are typically contractors and take on much of the liability in raising chickens: They need to secure loans worth hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars to build out barns, in much the same way an Uber driver supplies their own car. The farmer also relinquishes control over the quality of the inputs — the birds and the feed — and that quality, in part, affects how much they get paid, in the same way Uber attracts customers of varying quality, cordiality, and generosity.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LR0eVj">
|
|||
|
|
Poultry contract farmers are often paid via a zero-sum “tournament system” which critics say effectively pits <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/20/279040721/the-system-that-supplies-our-chickens-pits-farmer-against-farmer">farmer against farmer</a>. Those who convert feed to meat more efficiently are rewarded handsomely at the expense of lower-performing farmers who earn a below-average payout. (The spread of chicken farmer income is <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2014/august/financial-risks-and-incomes-in-contract-broiler-production/">enormous</a>, with the 20th percentile of earners making around $19,000 per year in 2011 and the 80th percentile making around $143,000.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irQ8fa">
|
|||
|
|
In a plus for the retailer, Costco says it’s <a href="https://civileats.com/2018/12/11/costcos-100-million-chickens-will-change-the-future-of-nebraska-farming/">done away</a> with the tournament system. Still, John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, which advocates for independent farmers in the state, says that while Costco’s contracts are better than average, “that doesn’t mean that they’re good — that just means they’re better than average.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="issnyS">
|
|||
|
|
The environmental nonprofit Food and Water Watch <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2022/05/05/food-monopolies-hog-factory-farms/">found</a> that areas of Iowa with industrialized pig farming, which has become increasingly contract-based, have experienced higher rates of economic and population decline than those that haven’t. The Pew Research Center has drawn <a href="https://www.pcifapia.org/_images/212-8_PCIFAP_RuralCom_Finaltc.pdf">similar conclusions</a>, which goes against a common meat industry <a href="https://www.poultryfeedsamerica.org/">talking</a> <a href="https://www.bgdailynews.com/opinion/our_opinion/tyson-foods-delivers-economic-boost/article_b6965dc8-ee9b-5c26-ae91-f7c12b1e1599.html">point</a> that contract farming boosts local economies and helps to <a href="https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/new-study-highlights-benefits-of-the-partnership-between-contract-farmers-and-chicken-companies/">keep struggling farm families on their land</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qBzRyR">
|
|||
|
|
“The state of Nebraska might get a few taxes off of Costco, but all the profit is in a hermetically sealed tube that shoots it back to [Costco in] Seattle,” says Randy Ruppert of Nebraska Communities United, a nonprofit that advocates against industrialized animal farming. (Costco is headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Workers stand at a chicken processing line." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sEwoAh38GedDlpNtb8zgeLh-KtE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23799855/AP19346737027607.jpg"/> <cite>Nati Harnik/AP</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Workers process chickens for Costco at the Lincoln Premium Poultry plant in Fremont, Nebraska, in 2019.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wvm6uC">
|
|||
|
|
Costco counters that its slaughter plant alone has brought around <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/04/16/costco-plant-controls-all-chicken-supply-aspects-farmers-benefit/4793855002/">1,100 jobs</a> to Nebraska. But US poultry slaughter plant jobs are some of the <a href="https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/15617-study-of-severe-injury-data-finds-poultry-and-meat-workers-at-high-risk">most dangerous</a> and grueling jobs in the US. Slaughter lines move at a dizzying pace — 140 birds per minute — and chicken processing plant employees, working quickly with knives, suffer cuts and <a href="https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2015/04/06/poultry-workers-cts/">hand and wrist injuries</a> as they try to keep up.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QUOAu7">
|
|||
|
|
Since Costco sells its birds whole, it requires less processing and thus less knifework, which could result in fewer injuries than the average plant. And at its Nebraska slaughter plant, it uses a <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/15464-a-closer-look-at-controlled-atmosphere-stunning">slaughter method</a> called controlled atmosphere stunning. That method reduces workers’ contact with chickens and reduces the likelihood of injury. But Darcy Tromanhauser of Nebraska Appleseed, a nonprofit that advocates for worker protections, said, “The combination of speed, slippery floors, some knives, and heavy machinery is still a worrisome combination anywhere.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0GoSxv">
|
|||
|
|
Earlier this year, a <a href="https://www.3newsnow.com/news/investigations/chemical-leak-at-costco-chicken-supplier-in-fremont-injures-three-shuts-down-operations">chemical leak</a> at Costco’s poultry processing plant injured three workers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="2UXhUu">
|
|||
|
|
“This is just what you find when you walk into an industrial chicken barn”
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nRZY98">
|
|||
|
|
In 2020, an investigator with the animal rights group Mercy For Animals worked at a Costco chicken farm wearing a hidden camera and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMdaBajzJDA">documented</a> birds bred to grow so fast they had trouble walking, chickens with ammonia burns caused by lying in their waste, and piles of rotting dead birds. (Disclosure: I worked at Mercy For Animals prior to Vox.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PB7c0t">
|
|||
|
|
Costco’s treatment of chickens gained national attention when former New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/06/opinion/sunday/costco-chicken-animal-welfare.html">wrote</a> about the investigation; even the creator of the Costco rotisserie chicken Facebook fan page was mortified enough to film a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTlMfcR2-X0">video</a> calling for change.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ItwsRl">
|
|||
|
|
As unappetizing as the conditions were, Leah Garcés, Mercy For Animals’ president, said they were typical across US poultry farms: “I have been into many, many chicken barns and this is just what you find when you walk into an industrial chicken barn.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EJy4KU">
|
|||
|
|
Months later, Costco <a href="https://investor.costco.com/static-files/1d8321d1-85a8-4270-a29e-99fed4938fd6">stated</a> it would explore giving birds more space and requiring its third-party, non-organic chicken suppliers to use the more humane slaughter method that it already uses at its Nebraska plant. Nothing committal, no timelines, but progress nonetheless, Garcés said. Critically, she says, the company acknowledged some of the health issues caused by fast-growing chickens, a top priority for animal welfare advocates, and said it’s speaking with chick suppliers about breeding chickens to have fewer leg issues.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A grainy photo from an undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals showing a dark barn filled with thousands of chickens." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rd4m72SkjREvFcde0C-tyBnHYk4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23799492/2021USChickenFarms_CostcoGeneral17_2.jpeg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Mercy For Animals</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Inside one of the barns where chickens are raised for Costco’s supply chain.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yBk9x1Cna2pDyZdv6-ow7IDmGQQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23799357/2021USChickenFarmsCostcoDrone07.png"/> <cite>Courtesy of Mercy For Animals</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The view from a drone flying over the chicken barns that Mercy For Animals investigated.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9nbGGM">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://mercyforanimalsmedia.com/2021USChickens/Photos.php"></a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbmwnR">
|
|||
|
|
Nor is Costco alone in these changes. Perdue Farms, the fourth largest US poultry producer, has led the pack among the top 10 in experimenting with and implementing welfare changes, such as giving chickens a little more space, installing windows on barns to provide natural light, and researching better breeding practices. The changes are modest, but animal welfare groups have praised the company for being the first mover. Wayne Farms, the seventh largest producer, is also raising some of its chickens with similar requirements.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sAdrt7">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://waynefarms.com/lets-talk-chicken-blog/an-animal-welfare-revolution-is-here-so-are-we">Both</a> <a href="https://civileats.com/2021/10/14/better-chicken-commitment-fast-food-grocery-giants-promise-sell-better-chicken-is-it-enough-perdue-tyson-cage-free-labeling/">companies</a> can meet some of the demand of the 200 restaurants and food companies that have signed on to the <a href="https://betterchickencommitment.com/">Better Chicken Commitment</a>, a pledge to source higher-welfare chicken by 2024.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GuMLqc">
|
|||
|
|
Costco hasn’t signed on — doing so would likely make it difficult to maintain its $4.99 price tag, something it has made clear it intends to do, inflation be damned.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UXfczd">
|
|||
|
|
Alene Anello, president and founder of the nonprofit Legal Impact for Chickens, hopes she can speed up change through the courts. Last month, Anello filed a <a href="https://www.legalimpactforchickens.org/costco-complaint">lawsuit</a> alleging that Costco is violating Nebraska and Iowa animal welfare laws that prohibit animal neglect. The lawsuit alleges that because Costco raises chickens to grow so quickly to the point they have trouble walking, some birds can’t access water and feed, causing them to die from dehydration, starvation, and untreated injuries and illnesses. (Disclosure: Anello and I both interned in separate departments at the Humane Society of the United States in 2009. I also worked with a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Krystil Smith, at the Humane Society of the United States in 2013.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ec2NoF">
|
|||
|
|
“The main relief we want is just an injunction … saying Costco needs to treat birds better and make sure each of the birds has food and water,” Anello says. It’s an attempt to force a chicken company to address alleged long-standing health issues wrought by chicken breeding — that is, if they can win.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xCJCg6">
|
|||
|
|
Though Costco’s business model has been controversial to some, it could be the future. Wingstop, a chicken chain with over 900 US locations, <a href="https://www.wattagnet.com/articles/45117-wingstop-considers-buying-or-building-poultry-complex">said</a> in May that it’s considering setting up its own supply.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nlLGjn">
|
|||
|
|
As for Nebraskans unhappy with Costco’s move into the Cornhusker state, it’s unlikely they’ll see much redress in the coming years. Jim Pillen, the Republican candidate for Nebraska governor, is expected to win this November. He was also the country’s <a href="https://www.porelia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2015PorkPowerhousesChartREV.pdf">16th largest pork producer</a> as of 2016, and has <a href="https://www.jimpillen.com/issues/">made it clear</a> he’s unlikely to step in to regulate Nebraska’s chicken industry.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F60qiE">
|
|||
|
|
Some change could come from the White House, though. In late May, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2022/05/26/biden-harris-administration-announces-new-actions-strengthen-food">announced</a> the first in a suite of regulatory updates to give contract farmers a little more power in their relationship with meat companies. But given persistent inflation and the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/7/23198724/united-states-recession-indicators-economists-forecasters">fear of a recession</a>, the drive for consumers to tighten budgets wherever possible will remain strong, especially for necessities like groceries. That means for now, the $4.99 rotisserie chicken likely isn’t going anywhere but into more shopping carts.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Why the US doesn’t want Turkey to invade Syria</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A mother and two children kneel outside an open tent door at a camp on June 22, 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I9bsSZN-AzAaG_Zow7jv1dyjeQ4=/0x0:4608x3456/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71144448/1241751332.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A family takes shelter in a tent on the Turkish boudin in Iblib, Syria on June 22, 2022. | Muhammed Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
If Turkey invades northeast Syria, the worst impacts will be local
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="klBdcT">
|
|||
|
|
US officials warned Turkey this week against expanding its so-called buffer zone in northeast Syria, saying such a move would complicate counter-ISIS measures, and would increase the violence that Kurds and Syrians in the region have faced since Turkey’s initial incursion in 2019.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UirCCq">
|
|||
|
|
“We strongly oppose any Turkish operation into northern Syria and have made clear our objections to Turkey,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJIFqzl3VWM">in a speech at the Middle East Institute Wednesda</a>y. “ISIS is going to take advantage of that campaign, not to mention the humanitarian impact.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p4Hzve">
|
|||
|
|
As Stroul pointed out, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group that’s made up largely of Kurds and is critical to the ground battle to recover ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria, are responsible for security in the Al-Hol and Azraq camps. Together the camps hold approximately 60,000 vulnerable, displaced people, and serve as prisons for around 10,000 alleged ISIS militants.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0ItiDr">
|
|||
|
|
On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his military would launch further offensives, creating a 30-kilometer-deep buffer zone as soon as the military and intelligence and security services had completed their preparations, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/erdogan-says-turkey-launch-military-operations-its-southern-borders-2022-05-23/">Reuters reported</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qevngx">
|
|||
|
|
“The main target of these operations will be areas which are centers of attacks to our country and safe zones,” Erdogan said during a speech at the time, although he didn’t specifically mention where the operations would take place or point to any particular target.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ekez7Y">
|
|||
|
|
Erdogan has repeatedly warned that his military is planning an incursion into northeastern Syria, driving further into territory held by the Kurdish ethnic minority.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q470qD">
|
|||
|
|
“That’s a global problem, it’s not a US problem,” Stroul said of a Turkish attack weakening the security situation in northeastern Syria. “So frankly, the whole world should be a little bit more active at this point in time about the risks, about the second- and third- order effects of renewed operations that detract from security of these detention facilities, security and access to the displaced persons camps, and continued counter-terrorism pressure on ISIS.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DdfmNV">
|
|||
|
|
While it’s true that a further-regrouped ISIS could constitute a global threat on some scale, the reality is that both an ISIS resurgence and renewed violence by Turkey affect local civilians first, and often in the most devastating ways.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="IImkFB">
|
|||
|
|
Turkey’s pushed into Syrian territory before
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="woguhk">
|
|||
|
|
Turkey mounted Operation Peace Spring in 2019, its third push into Syrian territory since 2016, to “neutralize terror threats against Turkey and lead to the establishment of a safe zone, facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their homes,” <a href="https://twitter.com/rterdogan/status/1181922277488762880">Erdogan tweeted at the time.</a>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="42q8br">
|
|||
|
|
“We will preserve Syria’s territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists,” he continued, referring to the Kurdish Worker’s Party, a Kurdish militant group in Turkey that the US considers a terrorist group, as well as Kurdish forces and administration in northeastern Syria. Now, Erdogan says he wants to go further.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kPoLQY">
|
|||
|
|
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was reportedly briefed on a possible invasion, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/isis-stands-gain-potential-turkish-offensive-syria-pentagon-warns-rcna38353">NBC News’ Courtney Kube</a>; Austin then directed Pentagon staff to develop a response, according to defense officials Kube interviewed on background. When asked to confirm Kube’s reporting, the Department of Defense referred Vox back to Stroul’s comments on Wednesday.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FuO4LC">
|
|||
|
|
Anya Briy, a researcher and member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava — the autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria — presently in the city of Qamislo (which sits on the border between Rojava and Turkey) said that, “The [Rojava] administration is preparing for an invasion, they have declared a state of emergency, and military reinforcements have been sent to the areas that Turkey has singled out for attack,” specifying that the reinforcements in question are with the Syrian government, which has agreed to back the SDF in the event of an invasion.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7bWXXe">
|
|||
|
|
Mazloum Abdi, the General Commander of the SDF, warned in a press conference on Friday that Turkey is preparing for another invasion. Abdi acknowledged talks with the US, but expressed doubt in the coalition’s ability to stop further incursions, <a href="https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/1548215882010087424">saying</a>, “The coalition made stances, but they cannot stop Turkey’s attacks against our areas.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="kkl3p0">
|
|||
|
|
Turkey and its partner forces have been accused of numerous human rights abuses during the occupation
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x4mImR">
|
|||
|
|
A large part of the US and Kurdish concern over the invasion is in its possible humanitarian impact.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jIxy7y">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/syria#23335a">Human Rights Watch</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/09/syria-violations-and-abuses-rife-areas-under-turkish-affiliated-armed-groups">others have documented</a> abuse of civilians in a so called “safe-zone” since its creation in the 2019 invasion of Kurdish-controlled Syrian territory, which includes indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, sexual violence, and restricting critical supplies like water to Kurdish-held areas.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hEiP63">
|
|||
|
|
In 2021, Turkey’s partner force, the Syrian National Army (SNA) arbitrarily detained 162 people and recruited at least 20 children into its factions, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/syria#9cedca">according to a Human Rights Watch</a> report. Any move by Turkey to increase its territory in Syria will in turn increase violence for civilians, and cause further instability in an already-unstable landscape.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qqqh3S">
|
|||
|
|
The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kurdistan-Workers-Party">PKK, or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party</a>, is a Kurdish nationalist militant group based in Turkey. It was responsible for terror attacks there in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s in its quest to first overthrow the Turkish government, and later demand rights and self-determination for Kurds in <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/projects/success-stories/all/echr-and-human-rights-violations-against-kurds-turkey#:~:text=In%20earlier%20times%2C%20the%20ECHR,and%20politicians%2C%20and%20arbitrary%20arrests.">a nation that had historically oppressed them </a>by outlawing their culture, <a href="https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/867135/65687_13.pdf">massacring civilians</a>, and destroying Kurdish villages, among other abuses.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wUKH6S">
|
|||
|
|
Furthermore, the <a href="https://rojavainformationcenter.com/storage/2022/07/Q4-Occupation-Report.pdf">Rojava Information Center’s</a> — a volunteer-run media organization in Rojava providing analysis, research, and reports on northeastern Syria— most recent state of the occupation report points to forced displacement of Kurds and construction of villages for Arab Syrians from other parts of the country. The report estimates that since 2018, nearly 300,000 Kurds have been displaced from the Afrin area in northern Syria, with nearly as many refugees settled there with the help of entities tied to the Turkish government and investment from Gulf countries.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nYZZtv">
|
|||
|
|
Fighting — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/world/europe/un-turkey-kurds-human-rights-abuses.html">and human rights abuses</a> — along Turkey’s Syrian and Iraqi borders has also ramped up since 2015, when a ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK broke down. According to analysis by the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/turkeys-pkk-conflict-visual-explainer">International Crisis Group,</a> 600 civilians have been killed in terror attacks or fighting; 3,878 PKK fighters have been killed, and 1,360 members of Turkish state security forces have been killed in the conflict since 2015. During the invasion in 2019, the group found further evidence of abuses like <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/27/syria-civilians-abused-safe-zones">summary executions of civilians</a>, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/displacement-and-despair-turkish-invasion-northeast-syria">mass displacement</a>, and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/displacement-and-despair-turkish-invasion-northeast-syria">attacks on civilian targets</a> on the part of Turkish armed forces and the SNA were found by .
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</p>
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<h3 id="1DHKO9">
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A resurgent ISIS would be bad for the world, and worst for Syrians and Iraqis
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z63iSu">
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As Stroul pointed out Wednesday, there are risks for the security of ISIS prisons and refugee camps that the SDF is guarding. According to her estimate, nearly 10,000 ISIS fighters are held in SDF-run prisons and approximately 60,000 refugees — some of whom are ISIS sympathizers and have high potential to be radicalized — live in Al-Hol and Azaq camps in “degrading, arbitrary, and often inhuman and life-threatening conditions,” according to a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/syria#9d8b2c">2022 Human Rights Watch</a> report.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VrFY2b">
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During the height of of its power, the primary victims of ISIS’s cruel ideology and methods were the people actually living under their rule. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/08/daily-life-caliphate-0">Brutal violence</a>, including public executions or threats of serious physical harm for infractions like wearing Western clothes, were the daily norm. While attacks in the West and other regions successfully sowed terror, civilians in ISIS-controlled territory were forced to live in a perpetual state of fear.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WhFsis">
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As Syrian journalist <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/86643">Taim Al-Hajj</a> wrote for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in March of this year, ISIS is still staging smaller-scale, regional attacks that aren’t dependent on territorial control. A <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2022/Feb/10/2002936936/-1/-1/1/LEAD%20INSPECTOR%20GENERAL%20FOR%20OPERATION%20INHERENT%20RESOLVE%20OCTOBER%201,%202021%20TO%20DECEMBER%2031,%202021%20V2.PDF">Pentagon report from December 2021</a> describes a diminished ISIS in both Iraq and Syria — but one that still has the capabilities to attack, sow fear, and “exploit and provoke sectarian, ethnic, and tribal divisions.” In Syria, ISIS primarily carries out smaller scale attacks and kidnappings in pursuit of a renewed territorial caliphate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qr4JrD">
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On the US side, the concern is that in an already unstable situation SDF fighters-cum-prison guards will leave the prisons and camps to protect their communities in the event of a Turkish invasion. That’s likely a legitimate concern.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CuZGAG">
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“There’s only so many SDF to go around, so they’re going to de-prioritize what we care about,” Stroul said. “What we care about is security of the detention facilities, and continued counter-terrorism partnered operations, so we can keep the pressure on ISIS.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W4L3M4">
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If indeed Turkey attacks and SDF fighters push north, conditions would be right for ISIS to stage a jailbreak — a tactic they are accustomed to. In January, ISIS attempted a high-stakes operation at a prison in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/03/syria-hasakah-isis-prison-attack/">Hasakah, Syria</a> in which more than 500 people were killed and an unknown number of prisoners escaped, the Washington Post’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/03/syria-hasakah-isis-prison-attack/">Louisa Loveluck and Sarah Cahlan reported in February</a>. SDF guards only regained control of the facility after 10 days of fighting with support from American and British forces. In the Post’s recounting of the battle, civilians were either displaced by the fighting, under lockdown, or left without access to critical supplies like medicine and fuel.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XG8q32">
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However, the invasion isn’t fait accompli, no matter what Erdogan says. According to Briy, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-meet-erdogan-raisi-next-tuesday-kremlin-2022-07-12/">meeting on Tuesday between Turkey, Iran, and Russia</a> could thwart Turkey’s efforts. Despite the preparations for attack, and the potential for serious fallout both for counter-terror operations and the humanitarian situation in Syria. “There is also a belief that Turkey will ultimately not get permission to attack from either Russia or Iran,” she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q84DVw">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fl3V8e">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FxJdoD">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="opEkay">
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</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<ul>
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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>Opening day’s races of Pune season rescheduled</strong> -</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>Bellator, Rapidus and Shabelle shine</strong> -</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>Wimbledon doubles champion Ebden joins TPL</strong> -</p></li>
|
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|
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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>Sujeet wins lone freestyle wrestling gold for India</strong> -</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>HCA members flag various issues in the association</strong> - There are a lot of shortcomings, corruption, misuse of power and unfair selections, says Shivlal Yadav</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
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<ul>
|
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|
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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>Dharna against Revanna’s remarks on anganwadi workers</strong> - Protesters deamd his apology</p></li>
|
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|
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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>Motor Vehicles Department registers 200 cases under Operation Race in Alappuzha</strong> - Drive in wake of increasing bike accidents, norms violations</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>CM Stalin warns erring educational institutions</strong> - Chief Minister M.K. Stalin says educational institutions should treat every child as their own</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>Supreme Court Collegium reiterates recommendation to elevate five advocates as judges in Allahabad HC</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>Tourists throng Gaganachukki waterfalls at Shivanasamudra</strong> - Large crowds, especially visitors from Bengaluru, made a beeline to the tourist site last weekend to get a glimpse of the cascading waterfall</p></li>
|
|||
|
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</ul>
|
|||
|
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<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>Heatwave: Warnings of ‘heat apocalypse’ in France</strong> - Temperatures could reach a record levels in areas of the southwest as a heatwave engulfs much of Europe.</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>Heatwave: Forest fires continue in France</strong> - French firefighters are working to keep wildfires in the south-west of the country under control.</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>Ukraine war: Shelling kills six in eastern town</strong> - The attack on Toretsk comes as heavy fighting continues in the east, with Russia slowly advancing.</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>H&M to sell off stock before leaving Russia</strong> - The world’s second-biggest retailer says it is impossible to do business due to the war in Ukraine.</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>Ukraine war: Zelensky suspends security chief and top prosecutor</strong> - The Ukrainian president says there have been cases of treason in the two powerful agencies.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Catching up with Stranger Things S4 (yes, we have some feels)</strong> - Two weeks after the epic finale, we’re taking a spoiler-filled analysis approach. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1865588">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2022 Porsche 911 GT3 review: The superlative sports car</strong> - The latest GT3’s motorsport lineage is more evident than ever. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1867268">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A dying star’s last hurrah</strong> - At the end of their lives, sunlike stars metamorphose into glowing shells of gas. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1867136">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Pixel 6 Pro, Beats earbuds, Fitbit trackers, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has Samsung microSD cards, LG OLED TVs, and more leftover Prime Day deals. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1867171">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A big horsepower jump and more changes to come for Formula E in 2023</strong> - There’s a good chance that Fanboost will be a thing of the past. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1867245">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>How many trans women does it take to screw in a lightbulb?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Just one, and you don’t even need the lightbulb. Just tell her she’s a lovely girl, and she’ll brighten up the room instantly.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/starfyredragon"> /u/starfyredragon </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1rlb2/how_many_trans_women_does_it_take_to_screw_in_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1rlb2/how_many_trans_women_does_it_take_to_screw_in_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The life of a penis is really sad</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
His hair is a mess. His brothers are nuts. His neighbour is a fucking asshole. And his best friend is a pussy. Also, his owner beats the shit out of him all the time.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Elegant_Raise1542"> /u/Elegant_Raise1542 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1rez6/the_life_of_a_penis_is_really_sad/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1rez6/the_life_of_a_penis_is_really_sad/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Teacher: What is 117 + 3?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
Johny: 5!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
Teacher: Correct..
|
|||
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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/proychow1"> /u/proychow1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1mzih/teacher_what_is_117_3/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1mzih/teacher_what_is_117_3/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>First date with a paralyzed girl</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
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|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
On our first date I asked “How’d you become paralyzed?” She replied “I fell from really high up and landed on my spine.”
|
|||
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|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
We went to her place and started making out. Eventually we got naked and I went to put it in her.
|
|||
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|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
She stops me and says “Don’t put it in my vagina. I can’t feel anything there. Just put it in my ass.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
Confused, I asked “So we just met and you already want anal?” She says “Yes”
|
|||
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|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
In shock, I replied “Where did you fall from? Heaven?”
|
|||
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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/This_Investment_948"> /u/This_Investment_948 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1w603/first_date_with_a_paralyzed_girl/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w1w603/first_date_with_a_paralyzed_girl/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Why can’t you combine religion and science?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
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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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Because science gives us skyscrapers and airplanes, Religion combines them together.
|
|||
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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/ubreakitifixit"> /u/ubreakitifixit </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w17i4v/why_cant_you_combine_religion_and_science/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/w17i4v/why_cant_you_combine_religion_and_science/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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</ul>
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