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<title>08 March, 2024</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>What’s Left of Reagan Republicanism After the Demise of Nikki Haley’s Campaign?</strong> - Old-style free-market conservatism lives on at think tanks and among the G.O.P.’s donor class, but Donald Trump’s grip on the Party’s voters is viselike. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/whats-left-of-reagan-republicanism-after-the-demise-of-nikki-haleys-campaign">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Forty-three Mexican Students Went Missing. What Really Happened to Them?</strong> - One night in 2014, a group of young men from a rural teachers’ college vanished. Since then, their families have fought for answers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/what-really-happened-to-the-forty-three">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lucy Prebble’s Dramas of High Anxiety</strong> - In plays such as “The Effect” and TV shows such as “I Hate Suzie” and “Succession,” the writer has become an expert at getting deep inside worried characters’ heads. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/lucy-prebbles-dramas-of-high-anxiety">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden’s Last Campaign</strong> - Trailing Trump in polls and facing doubts about his age, the President voices defiant confidence in his prospects for reëlection. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/joe-biden-profile-re-election-campaign-donald-trump">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Legacy of RuPaul’s “Drag Race”</strong> - The drag star brought the form mainstream, and made an empire out of queer expression. Now he fears “the absolute worst.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/11/rupaul-doesnt-see-how-thats-any-of-your-business">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>Are Biden and the Democrats finally turning on Israel?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="US President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv in October 2023." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ueRkBtVjbxHvtlPmuod1BXguwrE=/92x0:1148x792/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73191138/1730842169.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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“It’s not you, it’s me.” | GPO/Handout/Anadolu/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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Biden’s new plan to build a pier on the Gaza coast seems to say yes. The continued military aid to Israel says otherwise.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c5xjQS">
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For years, there <a href="https://www.vox.com/22440197/us-israel-democrats-alliance-partisanship-gaza">have been signs</a> that the Democratic Party’s historic support for <a href="https://www.vox.com/israel">Israel</a> might be wavering. <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>’s staunch support for Israel after October 7 seemed to suggest that this theory was overblown — that when push came to shove, Democrats would always revert to the centrist pro-Israel position they had taken for decades.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bh1eQl">
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But in the past few days, it’s started to feel like the winds might be shifting again.
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Both in <a href="https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1765053398636752934">public</a> and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/05/israel-gaza-aid-benny-gantz-white-house">private</a>, Biden and his deputies have fumed about Israel blocking aid from entering the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080046/gaza-palestine-israel">Gaza Strip</a>. Administration officials told reporter Barak Ravid that last week, when over 100 people were killed <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2024/2/29/24087031/gaza-humanitarian-aid-israel">outside an aid convoy,</a> was (in his words) <a href="https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1765052806417748013">a “turning point</a>.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Da8rPc">
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Of course, the White House can complain all it wants (and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/biden-disparages-netanyahu-private-hasnt-changed-us-policy-israel-rcna138282">has done so before</a>): It’s meaningless unless accompanied by actions to push Israel toward changing course.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jurY3i">
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They started down that road earlier this year by imposing serious sanctions on violent Israeli settlers <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/03/israel-sanctions-settlers-biden-netanyahu/677647/">in the West Bank</a>. Then during last night’s State of the Union, President Biden ordered the US military to establish a port in Gaza that would bypass Israeli-controlled land crossings and thus allow humanitarian aid to flow more freely into the Strip.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KzUbMO">
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And it’s not just the administration — or even just the party’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/us/politics/uncommitted-biden-washington-state.html">clearly furious left flank</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="koXfp4">
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A recent letter <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/03/06/biden-israel-rafah-house-democrats">signed by 37 Congressional Democrats</a>, including prominent and mainstream figures like Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD), argued that the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-rcna139428">planned Israeli assault</a> on the overcrowded city of Rafah would likely violate international law. This, they argue, should trigger a cutoff of military aid to Israel — a threat that has yet to be proven credible, but one that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/06/biden-rafah-attack-israel-hamas-gaza-war/">knowledgeable observers take seriously</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B1JABP">
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It does seem like something is starting to change in the Democratic Party’s approach to the Gaza war, and maybe Israel more broadly.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6FKIsn">
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But nothing is real until it actually happens, and there are still plenty of good reasons for skepticism.
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</p>
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<h3 id="y4T1dP">
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A crisis between Democrats and Israel has been long in the making
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eIZUJc">
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The tension between Israel and the Democrats really started emerging in 2009.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EI3aLx">
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That year, President Barack Obama pushed Israeli Prime Minister <a href="https://www.vox.com/23910085/netanyahu-israel-right-hamas-gaza-war-history">Benjamin Netanyahu</a> to freeze <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/20/18080034/west-bank-israel-palestinians">West Bank</a> settlement construction as part of a push toward a peace agreement. Netanyahu dragged his feet and even outright thumbed his nose at the administration. During a 2010 visit from then-Vice President Biden, Israel announced the construction of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/world/middleeast/10biden.html">1,600 new housing units</a> in contested East Jerusalem.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a9wxG7">
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The conflict between Obama and Netanyahu only intensified after that, as Netanyahu began acting as if Israel’s future would be best secured by allying itself with the Republican Party specifically rather than the US writ large.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZT7gnv">
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He all-but-openly campaigned against Obama in 2012, worked with Republicans to coordinate opposition to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/iran">Iran</a> deal in <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> in 2015, and then hugged Trump as tightly as possible from 2016 onward.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hqFHxW">
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From the outside, this strategy seems nuts: Why would you intentionally stoke conflict with one of the two major parties in your most important ally? The answer is that Netanyahu has — correctly! — identified <a href="https://www.vox.com/22440197/us-israel-democrats-alliance-partisanship-gaza">fundamental ideological tension</a> between Democrats and his right-wing vision for Israel.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l17F0V">
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As a party that counts young people and racial minorities as key constituencies, Democrats were not likely (in the long run) to countenance indefinite Israeli occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza. Netanyahu saw bolstering Republicans as the best way to protect American support without having to make concessions to <a href="https://www.vox.com/palestine">Palestinians</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zzyQGq">
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Netanyahu’s theory may have become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PlG972">
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By aligning with Republicans, he turned both <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/10/29/7089853/obama-netanyahu-chickenshit-us-israel">elite</a> and <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/472070/democrats-sympathies-middle-east-shift-palestinians.aspx">rank-and-file</a> Democrats against his government far more rapidly than they might have otherwise. After Netanyahu traveled to Washington to give a speech to Congress opposing the Iran deal in 2015, his approval rating among Democrats <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/181916/americans-views-netanyahu-less-positive-post-visit.aspx">fell from 32 percent to 17 percent</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPaa0k">
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The divergence between Democrats and Israel has been on increasingly sharp display during the Gaza war. Biden’s “unconditional” support for Israel after October 7 has given way to open feuding about the postwar plan for Gaza. The US has called for Palestinian Authority rule over the Strip and a two-state solution; Netanyahu has unveiled a <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2024/2/23/24081543/israel-postwar-plan-gaza-two-state-netanyahu">pseudo-plan that basically amounts to indefinite Israeli occupation</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tS6jsV">
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This is hardly the only example. In a column titled “<a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-05/ty-article/.premium/the-u-s-finally-realized-netanyahu-broke-an-unbreakable-alliance/0000018e-0df1-dc37-a9ae-dffba1cf0000">The US finally realized: Netanyahu broke an unbreakable alliance</a>,” former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas lists off points of conflict between the allies — which, he concludes, are producing a fundamental rethink on the American side.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cgfS4E">
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“Once the United States became convinced that Netanyahu was not being cooperative, not being a considerate ally, behaving like a crude ingrate and has been focused only on his political survival after the October 7 debacle, the time was ripe to try a new political course,” he writes.
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</p>
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<h3 id="zeoKxZ">
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But is anything <em>really </em>changing?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EndiWl">
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By all accounts, President Biden still holds <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-am-zionist-how-joe-bidens-lifelong-bond-with-israel-shapes-war-policy-2023-10-21/">a relatively old-school Democratic view of Israel</a> — one that’s deeply sympathetic to the country and its security interests.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JuCOu5">
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As frustrated as he may be with Netanyahu’s brutish <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> and rank partisanship, it’s far from obvious that he is willing to start putting real pressure on Israel.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RR046y">
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Most of Biden’s actual policies have involved giving Israel what it wants, like <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/20/us-vetoes-another-un-security-council-resolution-urging-gaza-war-ceasefire">vetoing two UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire</a>. Perhaps most importantly, the US has made <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/">over 100 arms sales to Israel since the war began</a>, many of which were structured in such a way that they could escape congressional and public oversight.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXbhfP">
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For this reason, hearing about the administration’s frustration with Israel can feel a bit like hearing about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/republicans-anonymous-private-concerns-media/2020/12/10/301e98a6-2e75-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html">Republican frustration with Trump</a>. They’re perfectly happy to complain to reporters in private so long as they don’t have to actually do anything about it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MyMxgJ">
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Yet at the same time, events appear to be moving toward a breaking point. Biden’s personal views on Israel are crashing on the shoals of <a href="https://www.vox.com/24055522/israel-hamas-gaza-war-strategy-netanyahu-strategy-morality">Israel’s terrible war policy</a> and long-brewing tension within his own political coalition.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YRQZbo">
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We may soon find out whether the long-predicted crisis in US-Israel relations is truly here — or once again delayed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yH5b6A">
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<em>This story appeared originally in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em><strong>Today, Explained</strong></em></a><em>, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The world’s mental health is in rough shape — and not getting any better, a new report finds</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An illustration of a person’s head with the top opened on a hinge. A globe hovers over the opening." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z8UKVdxKj5i0QOnBCw_Hr2YEdUE=/0x1266:7000x6516/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73191124/GettyImages_1308460514.0.jpg"/>
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Getty Images
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Guess where the US ranks?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N6Dlxm">
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While running a microfinance company working across rural India in 2014, neuroscientist Tara Thiagarajan had a free Sunday, a portable EEG headset, and a question: What is modernization doing to our brains?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="07BTFl">
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In a DIY experiment using herself and colleagues as baselines, they <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/about-us/#:~:text=Our%20Founding%20Story,and%20small%20towns%20in%20India">found striking differences</a> in brain activity between their urban brains with lifelong exposure to modernity, and those who’ve spent their lives in small Indian villages. At the time, a criticism of studies on <a href="https://www.vox.com/mental-health">mental health</a> was that they were mostly based on findings from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/weirdest-people-in-the-world/BF84F7517D56AFF7B7EB58411A554C17">small samples of Western college students</a> — a poor experimental design to figure out how differential exposure to modernization and technology affects mental well-being across the world.
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</p>
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By 2020, she had founded a nonprofit called <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/">Sapien Labs</a>, built a survey that reached 49,000 people across eight English-speaking countries, and published Sapien’s first <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Mental-State-of-the-World-Report-2020-1.pdf">Mental State of the World (MSW) report</a>, which measures what they call the “<a href="https://sapienlabs.org/mhq/">mental health quotient</a>,” or mental well-being score, of respondents. The findings weren’t great. Compared to responses from 2019, the 2020 mental well-being score (which notably captured the pandemic onset) dropped 8 percent. Forty-four percent of young adults reported clinical level risk, compared with only 6 percent of adults 65 and over.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4IXH2y">
|
|||
|
|
Monday, Sapien released its fourth annual <a href="https://mentalstateoftheworld.report/">Mental State of the World report</a> with data from more than 400,000 respondents in 13 languages across 71 countries. The bottom line: Our modern minds do not appear to be recovering from that drop in the early pandemic years.
|
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|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Ranking of the top six and bottom six countries from the fourth annual mental state of the world report. Countries like the Dominican Republic an Tanzania are on top, while the UK, Australia, And Uzbekistan are at the bottom." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ubdXysnMWAcGud3SU2LuRxlWeTM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25323557/Final_2.png"/>
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uI2XUl">
|
|||
|
|
The mental well-being report is part of a larger effort, the <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/global-mind-project/">Global Mind Project</a>, where Sapien Labs uses its survey data — which runs continuously throughout the year (you can fill out the <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/mhq/">assessment here</a>; it takes about 15 minutes to complete) — to gauge not only the mental state of affairs but to look for causal factors.
|
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mBBOBy">
|
|||
|
|
If “modernization” is harming our minds as Thiagarajan suspects, what exactly is doing the damage? “The Global Mind Project allows for very quick understanding at a very large scale, which has not been possible before,” said Thiagarajan.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z1OQhG">
|
|||
|
|
Along with their annual overview of mental well-being, the project publishes more targeted reports that home in on different possible scourges of modernity, like <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Sapien-Labs-Age-of-First-Smartphone-and-Mental-Wellbeing-Outcomes.pdf">access to smartphones</a> at younger and younger ages, <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sapien_Processed-Food-Rapid-Report_2023-2.pdf">ultra-processed foods</a>, and the <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Family-Relationships-and-Mental-Wellbeing.pdf">breakdown of family relationships</a>.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UwJ0ld">
|
|||
|
|
“Greater wealth and economic development does not necessarily lead to greater mental wellbeing, but instead can lead to consumption patterns and a fraying of social bonds that are detrimental to our ability to thrive,” the report cautions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZI0Sca">
|
|||
|
|
A number of <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/">Our World in Data</a> graphs show how economic growth <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth">still tracks really well with human prosperity</a> in the long run. The evidence that economic growth tracks with goods and services that enable human prosperity is compelling, but as my colleague <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23862090/subjective-wellbeing-wealth-philanthropy-gdp-happiness-givewell">Sigal Samuel reports</a>, figuring out how best to approximate human well-being is still an ongoing and lively discourse.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f2EE5g">
|
|||
|
|
Thiagarajan takes a nuanced approach, arguing against a simple binary choice between growth or <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22408556/save-planet-shrink-economy-degrowth">degrowth</a>. Instead, she argues that what matters is how wealth is created and toward what ends it’s used. Or, as the economist Mariana Mazzucato often puts it, what matters is the “<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/bartlett_public_purpose/files/mazzucato_perez_2022_redirecting_growth-inclusive_sustainable_and_innovation-led.pdf">direction</a>” of growth and whether it’s angled at the <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/oct/governing-economics-common-good">common good</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mlu5Iq">
|
|||
|
|
“At the moment, growth is causing harm,” Thiagarajan said. “But there are different types of growth.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="iqVk2M">
|
|||
|
|
How to measure mental well-being
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yhdVlG">
|
|||
|
|
There is, as of yet, no exact science of mental well-being, let alone a perfect cross-cultural survey. “People commonly conflate things like mental well-being with happiness,” said Thiagarajan. But if you compare the findings from their mental well-being survey to the <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/world-happiness-trust-and-social-connections-in-times-of-crisis/#ranking-of-happiness-2020-2022">World Happiness Report</a> (WHR), a publication by Oxford’s <a href="https://wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/">Wellbeing Research Centre</a>, much of the results are inverted.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6OPYiL">
|
|||
|
|
The Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka have the highest average mental well-being scores on the Mental State of the World list. On the World Happiness Report, they rank 73rd and 112th, respectively. Tanzania is third on the MSW and 128th on the WRH. What’s going on?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Bciv7">
|
|||
|
|
The World Happiness Report <a href="https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2023/world-happiness-trust-and-social-connections-in-times-of-crisis/#ranking-of-happiness-2020-2022">leans on</a> capturing what Thiagarajan described as “feeling.” That includes respondents rating their life satisfaction on a scale from one to 10 and daily measures of whether they felt laughter, enjoyment, or interest the day before. But you could feel<em> </em>great and still be functioning poorly in the world. Following the World Health Organization’s <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response">definition of mental health</a>, which includes the capacity to function productively and contribute to society, Thiagarajan wanted the Global Mind Project to capture functioning, too.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bY0DOY">
|
|||
|
|
To build their measure, the mental health quotient, Thiagarajan and her team found 126 different kinds of assessments used across academia and clinical environments, and then boiled those down to 47 aspects of mental health. Then, rather than asking about frequency, like “How many times did you feel sad yesterday,” the MHQ sets its questions along a life impact scale, based on the idea that it’s easier to report how impactful something is to your life than how many times you drank water or laughed the day before (I couldn’t tell you either of those for yesterday).
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xUqloS">
|
|||
|
|
Their results produce a number along a 300-point scale that ranges from “distressed” at the low end to “thriving” at the high end.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A 300 point scale that runs from “distressed” to “thriving,” showing the average score from 71 countries in 2023 at 65, in the territory marked “managing.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4-D57pFlBXaoxURuPyAP1dG2KDQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25323545/report_graphs_02.jpg"/> <cite>Global Mind Project / 4th Annual Mental State of the World Report</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The average mental health quotient score measured in 2023, which was nearly identical to the previous year.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xU5nU2">
|
|||
|
|
For 2023, across the 71 countries they received data from, the global average was 65, indicating that we’re all “managing,” and doing so just a few hairs above “enduring.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="JV5Tiz">
|
|||
|
|
The problems: Smartphones, ultra-processed foods, and crumbling families
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2cUtgA">
|
|||
|
|
There’s a theory going around that, as former neuroscientist and author Erik Hoel <a href="https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/what-the-heck-happened-in-2012">put it</a>, the modern world was invented in 2012. For social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, 2012 also <a href="https://www.persuasion.community/p/haidt-the-teen-mental-illness-epidemic">marks the beginning</a> of the teen mental illness epidemic.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A4jzdZ">
|
|||
|
|
Findings across the four years of the MHQ agree. Prior to 2010, young people <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1003744107">tended to top</a> surveys of happiness, mood, and outlook. But from 2019 until this year’s report, the most persistent trend observed has been declining mental well-being across the “internet-enabled” youth (because the survey requires internet access) of every country measured, from Africa to Asia, Europe to the Americas.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zAqRAa">
|
|||
|
|
The youth, once the peak of reported happiness, have dropped to the absolute bottom, while others, like those 65 or older, have remained basically the same.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UbKuKi">
|
|||
|
|
To be more precise: For the eight English-speaking countries with data collected since 2019, those aged 18–24 and 25–34 dropped by 14–17 percent. That decline gradually flattens out as you move up the age brackets.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Trends in mental well-being by age group. 18 – 24 and 25 – 34 had the steepest declines, while the decrease flattens out at older age groups." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/faPxSkrC8Kg6KZZBMXu7oDb5jXg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25323585/report_graphs_04.jpg"/> <cite>Global Mind Project / 4th Annual Mental State of the World Report.</cite>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cGXj8t">
|
|||
|
|
According to the Global Mind Project’s <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Sapien-Labs-Age-of-First-Smartphone-and-Mental-Wellbeing-Outcomes.pdf">report on smartphone use</a> in May, the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">smartphone hypothesis</a> — which has been advocated for by psychologists like <a href="https://psychology.sdsu.edu/people/jean-twenge/">Jean Twenge</a> — holds up. “The younger you get your smartphone, the worse off you are as an adult,” said Thiagarajan.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8F5kBq">
|
|||
|
|
The more you break down the demographics, the more you find that the consequences of smartphone use are concentrated on young females. But looking at another potential causal factor they recently published on, the <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Sapien_Processed-Food-Rapid-Report_2023-2.pdf">consumption of ultra-processed foods</a>, those effects are universal across all demographics. “It affects everything, every aspect of mental functioning,” said Thiagarajan.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GONlKg">
|
|||
|
|
Their report notes the complexities involved in defining ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and provides a simple rule of thumb: food with substances you would rarely find in a home kitchen (it’s worth noting that the entire category of UPFs is still under scrutiny, particularly for targeting plant-based foods). Even after trying to control for the indirect effects of exercise frequency or income, they found that those who eat UPFs several times a day have a threefold increased risk for serious mental health issues.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bWLdCg">
|
|||
|
|
There are plenty of other possible confounding variables, like frequency of cooking or sharing meals, but their findings are large: “We’re looking at when you rule out all the other 100 things that we can capture data on,” Thiagarajan said, “and ultra-processed foods seem to account for at least a third of the global burden of mental health that we see.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UkPRE9">
|
|||
|
|
The last culprit she singled out was family relationships. And yes, <a href="https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Family-Relationships-and-Mental-Wellbeing.pdf">there’s a report</a> for that too, which finds the breakdown of family relationships across the modern world as a major factor in the decline of youth mental well-being. Families with less exposure to the institutions and technologies of modernity, the report argues, tend to have stronger and more numerous family bonds, which tracks closely with better mental well-being.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ob1uV">
|
|||
|
|
Thiagarajan explained how when they got their first MHQ results, they wondered why countries like Venezuela and Tanzania came out on top. “But it’s these factors,” she said. “They can’t afford all the westernized ultra-processed foods so they don’t import them. They don’t give smartphones to their kids so young. And they have large families that stay together.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p8Fpxi">
|
|||
|
|
She noted that given the speed and scale of “the issue” — that issue being, well, modernity — we’re forced to take action on imperfect knowledge. Part of the goal of the Global Mind Project, across the MHQ and its more targeted reports, is to help figure out the most effective places to aim policy efforts, particularly regulations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4I4kH5">
|
|||
|
|
“If it’s a free-for-all,” she said, “people will take the easiest shortcut to short-term profits at the expense of mental health.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KZhgJK">
|
|||
|
|
<em>A version of this story originally appeared in the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect"><em><strong>Future Perfect</strong></em></a><em> newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/future-perfect-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here!</strong></em></a>
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Biden’s State of the Union got one big thing right</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WXU1DGuCfdB-MgxeJ_fX2o3y4IY=/0x0:5333x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73190904/2059264750.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
President Joe Biden during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 7, 2024. | Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The president dodged the “norms trap” by going straight after Trump on democracy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yU27uU">
|
|||
|
|
During Thursday night’s State of the Union address, <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a> issued an unmistakable warning about the threat <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> poses to American democracy. The speech also implicitly made a more subtle point about democracy: that defending it can require uncomfortably blunt talk.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mk2QxB">
|
|||
|
|
One of democracy’s core premises is that elections are not like armed conflict, where either you win or you die. Since all parties accept the basic rules of the game, like competitive elections and free speech, the stakes of elections are not existential. Political opponents are less enemies than rivals; disagreement isn’t disaster.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZEcNEz">
|
|||
|
|
Authoritarian populists like Donald Trump win by attacking this foundational democratic norm.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tHTWY4">
|
|||
|
|
They demonize their opponents, arguing repeatedly that their opponents are not rivals but rather monsters bent on the country’s destruction. They claim that the system is in the enemy’s corrupt hands and not to be trusted, that their faction and our leader deserve absolute power (“<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/trump-rnc-speech-alone-fix-it/492557/">I alone can fix it</a>,” as Trump said in 2016). The nefarious plans of the domestic enemy must be resisted by any means necessary, even ones that might seem extreme.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LducNa">
|
|||
|
|
“We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said, infamously, in his <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial">speech on the morning of the January 6 attack</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1T8pew">
|
|||
|
|
For those committed to democracy, this kind of radical attack might seem to pose a dilemma. If you ignore or downplay your opponents’ rhetoric, you fail to alert the public to the danger. But if you correctly point out that it threatens democracy, you risk coming across as a hypocrite: demonizing your opponents in the same way they’re demonizing you.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dT3WkT">
|
|||
|
|
But this supposed dilemma is no dilemma at all.<strong> </strong>The reason is deceptively simple: There is no hypocrisy in defending truth against lies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i8JNPT">
|
|||
|
|
When Trump says the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election">2020 election</a> was stolen, he is lying to create a pretext to overthrow a legitimate election. When Biden calls Trump’s behavior a threat to democracy, warning that the former president seeks “to bury the truth of January 6,” he is telling the truth about Trump’s lies and the dangers they pose to American democracy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hafxOq">
|
|||
|
|
Fail to appreciate this distinction and you risk falling into what I call the “norms trap:” prioritizing the appearance of respecting democracy’s principles over acting in those principles’ defense.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tziWCv">
|
|||
|
|
At the State of the Union, Biden recognized this trap and avoided it.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEm7Xb">
|
|||
|
|
When he warned of the ongoing threat to American democracy, saying, “My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th,” he did indeed sound an unusually partisan note for the typically staid affair. This might seem like a violation of democratic norms, and some <a href="https://twitter.com/marcthiessen/status/1765931302140723376">conservatives</a> attempted to <a href="https://twitter.com/bdomenech/status/1765934660909928710">cast</a> it as such. This was the theme of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-sotu-blasted-nakedly-partisan-campaign-speech-utter-disgrace?intcmp=tw_fnc">one of Fox News’ top stories after the speech</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3Y5hov">
|
|||
|
|
This is hard to take seriously as a good faith objection, especially given <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/5/21123597/rush-limbaugh-medal-of-freedom-trump-racist-sexist">Trump’s State of the Union track record</a>. As a rhetorical tactic, though, it’s a powerful distraction: an attempt to shift focus away from the substance of Biden’s warning about the rising threat to democracy, onto a disingenuous debate over whether Biden himself is behaving undemocratically.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ovvx8U">
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Yes, it’s rare for a president to in essence campaign during the State of the Union. But it’s also unusual for the president’s opponent to be someone who has a stated desire to be a “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX0iAmz9iLM">dictator on day one</a>,” with<a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/92714/american-autocracy-threat-tracker/"> a host of policies</a> that could bring that vision frighteningly close to fruition. The State of the Union is supposed to highlight grave national concerns; this is clearly one of them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Xy5lk">
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This is not to say that Biden can do or say whatever he wants to fight Trump. He should not break the law or take actions that meaningfully weaken American democracy (which Democrats are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/14/18140773/new-jersey-democrats-gerrymandering-2018">entirely capable of doing</a>).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DhJYjU">
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But in a world where American democracy is facing an unprecedented threat from one of two major political parties, it’s reasonable to risk a too-partisan speech in order to safeguard it. It’s good that Biden recognized this and devoted a good chunk of the State of the Union to telling the truth.
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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>French Open badminton | Fighting Sindhu loses epic battle against Olympic champion Chen</strong> - The last time Sindhu had beaten the world no. 2 Chen was en route to her 2019 World Championships gold.</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>World Olympic boxing qualifier | Nishant eases past Eskerkhan, enters pre-quarters</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>Shubman Gill completes 4,000 international runs during Dharamsala Test</strong> - A solid unbeaten partnership of 160 runs between Rohit Sharma and Gill gave an upper hand to India in the first session of the ongoing fifth Test match</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>Nishant Dev enters pre-quarterfinals of World Olympic Boxing Qualifiers</strong> - The Indian won by a unanimous 5-0 margin against Tokyo Olympics quarterfinalist Eskerkhan</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>Ind vs Eng 5th Test | India reach 473/8 on Day 2, lead by 255 runs</strong> - Rohit, Gill put India in driver’s seat despite late batting collapse</p></li>
|
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</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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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</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>Extension of trains on main line comes as a surprise to commuters</strong> - The Railway Board has asked the Southern Railway and South-Western Railway to extend the Mysore-Mayiladuthurai-Mysore Express train to Cuddalore Port</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>Health Minister envisions global recognition for health education and medical tourism in Telangana</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>I feel like I’m still in jail: Acquitted former professor G.N. Saibaba</strong> - Thanking his lawyers for fighting the case, he said one of them fought his case without any fees.</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>Nitin Gadkari’s name will be first in list of BJP candidates from Maharashtra, says Devendra Fadnavis</strong> - Devendra Fadnavis was responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s offer to give Union Minister Nitin Gadkari a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections representing the Maha Vikas Aghadi</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>
|
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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>Singapore sting: How spies listened in on German general</strong> - Berlin said human error was to blame for the intercept of conversations between top military officers.</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>Far-right ex-football pundit shakes up Portuguese vote</strong> - André Ventura made his name as a sports pundit. Now, his far-right Chega party is third in the polls.</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>Polls open on Ireland’s family and care referendum</strong> - Voters are being asked if they wish to amend two articles of the Irish constitution.</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>Sweden formally joins Nato military alliance</strong> - Sweden joins Nato, becoming the military alliance’s second new member since Russia’s full-scale invasion of 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>‘We know what’s coming’: East Ukraine braces for Russian advance</strong> - Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine. Residents must choose - flee, or risk occupation.</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>Ghouls, gulpers, and general mayhem abound in Fallout official trailer</strong> - “Everyone wants to save the world. They just disagree on how.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008809">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>visionOS 1.1 tries to make Personas less unsettling, plus other Apple OS updates</strong> - Apple starts picking low-hanging fruit in visionOS; other OSes see minor improvements. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008833">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users</strong> - Lawmaker: TikTok must “sever relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008851">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Attack wrangles thousands of web users into a password-cracking botnet</strong> - Ongoing attack targeting thousands of sites, continues to grow. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008817">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After Astra loses 99 percent of its value, founders take rocket firm private</strong> - First you burn the cash, then comes the crash. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2008812">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</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>An engineer comes to work one day with a new bike.</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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His friend says “Cool bike. Where did you get it?”<br/> First guy says “I was walking home through the park. A beautiful woman on a bike rode up, jumped off the bike, stripped naked, and told me to take whatever I wanted. I took the bike.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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“Good call” says the friend. “The clothes probably wouldn’t have fit anyway.”
|
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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/BobT21"> /u/BobT21 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9brk9/an_engineer_comes_to_work_one_day_with_a_new_bike/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9brk9/an_engineer_comes_to_work_one_day_with_a_new_bike/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tea is an evil substance. It is much more dangerous than beer. I discovered this last night. I drank 15 beers up until 3 am in the pub while my wife was just at home drinking tea.</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 have seen how mad and violent she was when I got home. She threw the chair at me and kept screaming at the top of her lungs. On the other hand, I was quiet and peaceful and silently made my way to bed. But she kept cursing and shouting through the night and well into the next morning.
|
|||
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Please friends, if you can’t handle your tea, you should not be drinking it. Please avoid drinking tea.
|
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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/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9lyzj/tea_is_an_evil_substance_it_is_much_more/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9lyzj/tea_is_an_evil_substance_it_is_much_more/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>If bigger shoes means a bigger penis, and bigger car means a smaller penis. Well…</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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… I think I know why people are afraid of clowns.
|
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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/TheBlank16"> /u/TheBlank16 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9gb6v/if_bigger_shoes_means_a_bigger_penis_and_bigger/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9gb6v/if_bigger_shoes_means_a_bigger_penis_and_bigger/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The biggest dick of Brazil</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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In Brazil, there’s a legend about a guy from Pernambuco (a brazilian state) famous for two things. First, he’s the biggest patriot of his land, fiercely proud of its culture and flag. The second reason is his gigantic penis. So grand, in fact, that he decided to tattoo a message along the hefty shaft of the organ. His friends, with a mix of jest and curiosity, immediately went:
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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“Come on, you’ve got to show us!” After some persuasion, he gives in, “Alright, alright, I’ll show it.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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He unzips his pants, and from the fly unfurls that meaty staff, rolling out onto the table: A tattoo with bold, large letters proclaiming: “Welcome to Nabuco.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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Stunned, his friends, bewildered, exclaim, “Damn! That’s not a human dick, that belongs on a horse!”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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“But wait,” interrupts one, scratching his head, “what the hell is ‘Nabuco’? Never heard of it.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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With a grin, the man explains, “Ah, you see, i am a little nervous, it’s limp, wrinkled, and shrunken.” He stretches the skin. “When it’s in its on its peak form, it proudly reads: ‘Welcome to the glorious state of Pernambuco’.”
|
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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/Cine81"> /u/Cine81 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9fk8r/the_biggest_dick_of_brazil/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b9fk8r/the_biggest_dick_of_brazil/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Man: Last year, my brother ran for Congress.</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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Two friends meet after a long time….
|
|||
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Man: two year ago, my brother ran for Congress.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Friend: What does he do now?
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Man: Nothing — he got elected!
|
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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/brideofrocknroll"> /u/brideofrocknroll </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b985po/man_last_year_my_brother_ran_for_congress/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b985po/man_last_year_my_brother_ran_for_congress/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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</ul>
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