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467 lines
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<title>28 July, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Heat Waves and the Sweep of History</strong> - This burning summer is taking us out of human time. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/heat-waves-and-the-sweep-of-history">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Should Hotel Chains Be Held Liable for Human Trafficking?</strong> - For decades, franchised hotels have been a common scene of sex-trafficking crimes in the U.S. A new legal strategy is targeting the corporations that collect royalties from them. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/should-hotel-chains-be-held-liable-for-human-trafficking">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In Israel, a Glimpse of a Trumpian Future</strong> - Netanyahu is willing to undermine the rule of law in order to insure his own political survival. Sound familiar? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/in-israel-a-glimpse-of-a-trumpian-future">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How UPS and the Teamsters Staved Off a Strike—for Now</strong> - With work stoppages under way or looming in a variety of industries, is the U.S. in the midst of a “hot labor summer”? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-ups-and-the-teamsters-staved-off-a-strike-for-now">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Prosecutors Might Charge Trump for January 6th</strong> - The Justice Department is reportedly using a civil-rights law that “puts front and center the injury to the American people,” rather than to the government. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/q-and-a/how-prosecutors-might-charge-trump-for-january-6th">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>This beetle’s sex is on fire. Literally.</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An image of a beetle superimposed on a picture of conflagration." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nC8Xhes7NMZ9P_XAeWm1iROgrZQ=/47x0:2047x1500/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72492214/Untitled_6.0.png"/>
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<figcaption>
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Vox/Udo Schmidt/Wikipedia/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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Tinder for these insects is actual tinder.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HaYsIT">
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For Melanophila beetles, forest fires aren’t just hot. They’re <em>hot. </em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EWmg22">
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As flames start ripping through forests, as they often do in the late summer, most animals flee or take refuge for obvious reasons: They don’t want to die. But Melanophila beetles flock to the flames and start looking for sex. While the wood is still smoldering, they find a mate and copulate in the heat of the moment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFGvQ4">
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Black and roughly thumbnail-sized, Melanophila are among a small number of species around the world known as fire, or pyrophilous, beetles. They are attracted to flames and depend on fire for their reproduction. After breeding among the embers, the insects lay their eggs in freshly scorched bark. Those eggs then hatch into wormlike larvae that feast on the recently burned wood.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-left">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/r80JwOsTYOoZBpZd2M6ge7R-4i0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24813891/Melanophila_acuminata.jpeg"/> <cite>Helmut Schmitz/Wikipedia</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A fire beetle, Melanophila acuminata.
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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="UUcwMm">
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Deliberately putting oneself in a forest fire to reproduce may seem like an awful idea, but it comes with a number of advantages. There are few competitors and plenty of food for their bark-biting offspring, for example. That’s likely why this behavior evolved.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bXgEXa">
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Adaptations like this will come in handy as the world continues to warm, making wildfires <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/6/8/23753980/canada-fires-smoke-climate-change-air-quality">more widespread and severe</a>. These beetles remind us that <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a> won’t just be a dead end for animals; some species may thrive in a world ravaged by fire.
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</p>
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<h3 id="0DneuO">
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How fire beetles find flames
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rJu2QD">
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What’s most remarkable about these beetles is how they find wildfires in the first place. Like home security systems and night-vision goggles, the small body of a fire beetle has built-in infrared sensors. These sensors — known as sensory pit organs — detect infrared radiation, which is a proxy for heat. Located on the insects’ underside, those pits point them in the direction of a fire.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LgIkCa">
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Research also <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-017-9780-1_263">suggests</a> that fire beetles may be able to detect smoke using sensors found in their antennae. One particularly entertaining anecdote supports this idea: During football games at the University of California Berkeley, back in the 1940s, some 20,000 cigarettes would be lit at one time, according to the book <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/fire-ecology-pacific-northwest-forests"><em>Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests</em></a>. “A haze of tobacco smoke would hang over Memorial Stadium,” author James Agee wrote<em>. </em>Attracted to the smoke (or perhaps the warmth of the burning tobacco) a swarm of Melanophila beetles would swarm the stands, angering fans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nfhnhI">
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These sensory systems help beetles detect wildfires from truly impressive distances. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0037627">One study</a> in 2012, based on modeling, suggests that they can become “aware” of large fires from roughly 80 miles away, or about the distance between New York City and Philadelphia, as the crow flies. And so often where there is fire, there are fire beetles — a fact firefighters know all too well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pLFUIE">
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“Wildland firefighters hate these beetles,” said Lynn Kimsey, an entomologist at the University of California Davis and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. “When you’re in working on a fire line, especially around trees that are burning, the beetles will come in, in big numbers, and they’ll get into your turnouts and bite.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N0J8Pz">
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The bites can feel a bit like a bee sting, and sometimes firefighters <a href="https://baynature.org/article/fire-chasing-beetles-make-appearance/">will wear bee veils</a> to protect themselves.
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</p>
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<div id="yv7Kf4">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
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For the past few days covering the River Fire, these bugs have been plaguing <a href="https://twitter.com/anthonyjguevara?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="anthonyjguevara">@anthonyjguevara</span></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DwelleKMPH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="DwelleKMPH">@DwelleKMPH</span></a> and me. They have a vicious bite and they gather near the fire in swarms - as though flames, ash, and smoke weren’t enough to deal with. We asked firefighters about them… <a href="https://t.co/IjDX5MUIbW">pic.twitter.com/IjDX5MUIbW</a>
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</p>
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— Marie Edinger FOX 35 (<span class="citation" data-cites="MarieEdinger">@MarieEdinger</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarieEdinger/status/1415840201595703299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2021</a>
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</blockquote></div></li>
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</ul>
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<h3 id="YOcUt8">
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Why these beetles seek out scorched Earth
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPpQ0Q">
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When male beetles arrive at a forest fire, they have one thing on their mind: sex. They often perch on a tree “close to burning or glowing wood or hot ashes,” <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-017-9780-1_263">researchers explain</a>, and when they find a female, “they try to copulate vigorously.” Then the females lay eggs under the bark of burnt trees.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3pxjAB">
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The simplest reason why they do this is that their offspring, the beetle larvae, can <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-017-9780-1_263">only persist</a> on the wood of burned trees. This makes some sense: When a tree has been scorched by flame, it has a weak or nonexistent defense system, allowing the beetles to easily bore through the wood under the bark. “The beetles can get in there and feed freely,” Kimsey said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KpOmPb">
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Fire beetles likely lay their eggs in forest fires for a few other reasons as well. Most insects tend to avoid recently burned areas, so the beetle larvae have fewer competitors — they have a wood buffet all to themselves. These regions also typically have fewer predators, such as birds. (Although, in a remarkable example of evolution, some species, <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/23806750/wildfire-climate-change-animal-evolution">like the black-backed woodpecker</a>, have evolved to eat fire-associated insect larvae.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7iWCOp">
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There’s also <a href="https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article/103/6/823/116622">some evidence</a> that beetle larvae develop faster in these environments because heat speeds up growth. That means beetles produce more babies in less time.
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</p>
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<h3 id="Qcpmpi">
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A rare climate change winner?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jslc3m">
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Rising temperatures linked to climate change are <a href="https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/3/1/22954531/climate-change-ipcc-wildlife-extinction">already a problem</a> for many ecosystems and species. They’re fueling <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/25/us/florida-ocean-heat-coral-bleaching-climate/index.html">coral-killing heat waves</a>, causing <a href="https://www.vox.com/22558979/animals-birds-shrinking-size-heat-climate-change">birds to shrink</a>, and generally making much of the planet less suitable for life.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rsBa5m">
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At least in the short term, fire beetles may defy these negative trends. Climate change is likely to make wildfires more widespread and extreme, and scientists suspect these beetles can only breed with fire.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nmGJ56">
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For now, this is just speculation, Kimsey said. “We have no idea what they’re doing when there isn’t a fire,” she said. But it’s clear that climate change will produce not only losers but some winners — and these beetles may be one of them. Indeed, a world on fire may be a world full of horny beetles.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Is it time to be worried about Covid-19 again?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Four roughly circular blobs, each with a halo of spike proteins." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0BrqU1XYnNeVIdYMWtjq8i-nmvI=/202x0:3429x2420/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72492099/GettyImages_179795265.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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BSIP/Universal Images Group 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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What to make of the uptick of Covid-19 this summer — and what to expect this winter.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gpWn0n">
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Don’t call it a comeback — because it’s not, really — but <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19</a> appears to be in the midst of another summer uptick, a reminder that the virus that caused so much economic and social turmoil in the past few years has not been completely eliminated as a public health threat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F9Fu3P">
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It’s not a surge. The waves the US experienced with <a href="https://www.vox.com/22547537/delta-coronavirus-variant-covid-19-vaccines-masks-lockdown">the delta variant</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23100593/covid-subvariant-omicron-ba-2-4-5-vaccine-paxlovid">omicron</a> are unlikely to be repeated again, now that so many people have either been vaccinated or infected or both. But wastewater surveillance — which some experts regard as the best measure of Covid activity now that testing is so scattershot — indicates an increase in the virus’s prevalence. The concentration of Covid-19 in US wastewater has roughly doubled in the past month, according to <a href="https://biobot.io/data/">Biobot Analytics</a>. It has been the first notable upswing since last winter.
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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/kqRNwAQShJzz7l18EqZMM0ChMrY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24814195/Screenshot_2023_07_27_at_2.12.53_PM.png"/> <cite>Biobot Analytics</cite>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cSd1QC">
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Likewise, emergency department diagnoses have ticked up, according to <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#ed-visits_all_ages_combined">CDC data</a>, another indication of more Covid activity in the community. Thus far, hospitalizations and deaths <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html">are still flat</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aQnUjh">
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Because of preexisting immunity and evolutions of the virus itself, most cases should be mild. Some people may not even realize it’s Covid. Even if immunity from antibodies is waning, which may lead to people feeling sick, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22878133/omicron-coronavirus-covid-19-immunity-antibodies-vaccine">immunity in their T cells</a> should help most people avoid getting seriously ill.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uA9di4">
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But some rise in severe disease is expected when the virus is spreading more; it is a statistical inevitability. In Nashville and surrounding middle Tennessee, Dr. William Schaffner, formerly the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said his surveillance network’s number of hospitalized Covid patients had grown slightly, from the mid-teens to the low 20s, in the past few weeks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xrufFz">
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It’s the summer travel season, so people are out and about, mingling with others and sharing germs. Most people have also not received a Covid-19 vaccine shot in a while, given the low uptake of the boosters, and so their vaccine-conferred immunity is starting to wane.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jdLH33">
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“The way I like to characterize it is it’s smoldering along,” Schaffner told me of Covid-19 these days. “There are many opportunities now for spread to take place. Here and there, there will be little upticks.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZsDt2f">
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This summer bump is not a crisis. But it is a reminder that, so soon after the US finally reached the point that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/briefing/covid.html">there were no longer any “excess deaths”</a> that defined the pandemic, Covid-19 is still with us. CDC Director Mandy Cohen <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/tripledemic-covid-rsv-flu-winter-cdc-rcna95448">told NBC News this week</a> the agency is preparing for <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/27/23421344/covid-19-flu-rsv-symptoms-vaccines-2022">another “tri-demic”</a> this winter — with Covid, influenza, and another respiratory virus, RSV, circulating widely — that could challenge the US health care system.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jO7XLM">
|
|||
|
|
“We need to make sure the American people understand all three and what they can do to protect themselves,” Cohen said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="LebFYu">
|
|||
|
|
How the US can best minimize Covid’s damage going forward
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7LXmJ0">
|
|||
|
|
We do have the tools to minimize the damage these viruses can do. The challenge has been getting people to take advantage of them.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8gLRQi">
|
|||
|
|
Last year, the number of people who said they planned to get a flu shot <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/04/fewer-americans-plan-to-get-a-flu-shot-this-season-2022.html">was actually down</a>. Only one-third of Americans received a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, despite the CDC’s recommendation that most people should, and less than one in five received the omicron-specific booster. Experts have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02282-y">attributed</a> those trends to “vaccine fatigue” and a general skepticism about public health among some patients after a contentious discourse about interventions during the pandemic.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kPAqYj">
|
|||
|
|
This winter, an RSV vaccine will be available for the first time for people over 60. A new variation of the Covid-19 vaccine is expected to be ready as well. And then there will be an updated version of the flu shot. The vaccine campaign will be another test for a health care system that is still in the middle of a transition from the pandemic to a new normal.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wpkIOB">
|
|||
|
|
Last year, that transition was felt primarily by the early and wide spread of RSV and influenza. After two years of being suppressed by Covid and mitigation measures, those viruses returned with vigor. Biology was dictating the terms of the public health response.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="acmbEk">
|
|||
|
|
This year, Schaffner said he doesn’t expect such an early, steep spike in infections. The transition is centered more on the health system itself and its ability to take advantage of these new tools to slow the viruses.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BBHbkH">
|
|||
|
|
“Our challenge will be to organize ourselves to actually receive these vaccines,” he said, calling it “a learning and transitional year.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B2GQFW">
|
|||
|
|
The playbook for patients to help the health care system work through that transition is the same as it’s always been. Even though most people are no longer wearing masks, people who may be at higher risk because of their age or health may still want to consider doing so if they are indoors around large groups of people.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ivHuNa">
|
|||
|
|
And then, if people do feel sick, it’s still important to take tests. A positive result allows doctors to prescribe the antiviral Paxlovid for patients who would benefit from it. The drug has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death and yet, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/briefing/paxlovid-prescription.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">as of the beginning of this year</a>, it was being prescribed in less than half of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HhPTur">
|
|||
|
|
People are going to get sick with Covid-19. It’s too widespread and too transmissible to stamp out entirely. But catching it early helps prevent the worst outcomes: hospitalization and death.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p03s6R">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s severe disease that should be the focus, because it is essentially preventable by Paxlovid, which is underutilized in high-risk individuals,” Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University, told me.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="le5S7D">
|
|||
|
|
At-home testing is the first step toward taking better advantage of Paxlovid, Schaffner said. If you’re feeling sick, take a rapid test. If it’s positive, call your doctor. If it’s negative, take another in the next 24 to 48 hours. Even if they remain negative, if symptoms worsen, you should still keep your doctor in the loop.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1FSKIG">
|
|||
|
|
According to Schaffner, public health officials also have more work to do in educating doctors on <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/155050/download">the best practices for prescribing Paxlovid</a>. “We are not optimally using Paxlovid,” he told me.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GzbVbT">
|
|||
|
|
But patients can help themselves by paying close attention to their symptoms. Masking may be worthwhile if you’re older or immunocompromised.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8m0gtW">
|
|||
|
|
As we prepare for another year of a “tri-demic,” adjusting to this world where even in the hot summer months Covid is still with us, we all have a part to play to protect ourselves and others.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Republicans are threatening to sabotage George W. Bush’s greatest accomplishment</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rHv8y0TQbUy9VBPa5aQFre5DN5k=/63x0:3000x2203/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72492048/GettyImages_74358271.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Then-President George W. Bush holds Baron Mosima Loyiso Tantoh, son of South African HIV-AIDS activist Kunene Tantoh, during a White House visit on PEPFAR in 2007. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A program that’s saved 25 million lives is at risk of losing its congressional authorization for the first time.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lM4n8X">
|
|||
|
|
You may not have heard of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). But you should: It has saved more lives than any other US government policy in the 21st century. And now, for the first time in the program’s history, it is at risk of losing a critical vote in Congress — for reasons that say a lot about today’s Republican Party.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XoVoA6">
|
|||
|
|
First passed in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is a vehicle for distributing HIV/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. It has been astonishingly effective: The most recent US government estimates suggest it has <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/01/28/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-u-s-presidents-emergency-plan-for-aids-relief-pepfar/">saved as many as 2<em>5 million</em> lives</a> since its enactment. It is currently supporting treatment for over 20 million people who depend on the program for continued access to medication.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rGGDpI">
|
|||
|
|
Given its success, PEPFAR has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2018, Congress reauthorized PEPFAR for another five years <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/12/18136716/pepfar-hiv-aids-trump-congress">without a fuss</a>. But this time around, <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/july/pepfar-hiv-aids-congress-pro-life.html">things look different</a>. Some House Republicans, prodded by an array of influential groups, are threatening to block another five-year reauthorization. Their argument is pure culture war: that PEPFAR has become a vehicle for promoting abortion.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eGwJPr">
|
|||
|
|
In reality, PEPFAR is legally prohibited from funding abortion services, and the argument against the program on anti-abortion grounds is very thin. But in today’s political climate, where the culture war reigns supreme on the right, this is enough to jeopardize the continued good functioning of a program that the Republican Party used to champion.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gz79o1">
|
|||
|
|
“This is not a fact-based argument. It’s an attempt to destroy a program,” Asia Russell, the executive director of the global health advocacy group Health GAP, tells me.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cf7zus">
|
|||
|
|
The clock is ticking: PEPFAR’s current congressional authorization runs through September 30, and failure to extend it could be quite damaging. The fact that this traditionally uncontroversial program is now under threat says a lot about our current political dysfunction — and the ideological currents reshaping the Republican Party.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="ZoQn4e">
|
|||
|
|
How PEPFAR became partisan
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIpKZ8">
|
|||
|
|
The idea of funding antiretroviral treatment in poor countries was developed in the early 2000s by public health specialists like <a href="https://globalhealth.weill.cornell.edu/gheskio-and-beginning-pepfar-programs">Anthony Fauci and Paul Farmer</a>. Politically, it was championed by some of the country’s most prominent Christian conservatives — like <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/he-came-up-with-the-name-michael-gerson-s-pepfar-legacy-104487">Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/world/africa/interpreter-hiv-aids-drugs-bush.html">mega-evangelist Franklin Graham</a>. The evangelicals provided the political muscle on the right, as well as a kind of unvarnished Christian moral argument for healing the sick, that ultimately got Bush and Congress on board — leading to PEPFAR’s creation in 2003.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xt7iT8">
|
|||
|
|
PEPFAR thus should not be seen only as a great American accomplishment, but also a great <em>evangelical </em>accomplishment — a program that not only saved millions of lives but did so <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/how-economists-got-africas-aids-epidemic-wrong">more cost-effectively than most economists expected</a>. On both political and substantive grounds, the case for PEPFAR was airtight: No one in either major party had any interest in undermining the program.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EGS3qb">
|
|||
|
|
Until recently.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qfZBsj">
|
|||
|
|
According <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/abortion-politics-cast-shadow-over-pepfar-reauthorization-105627">to Devex</a>, the leading development news outlet, the push against PEPFAR began on May 1, when the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, published <a href="https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/BG3765.pdf">a white paper</a> attacking the program. On the same day, the leaders of 31 conservative groups released an <a href="http://c-fam.org/wp-content/uploads/PEPFAR-Coalition-Letter_Final-1.pdf">open letter</a> making similar arguments, with Heritage President Kevin Roberts as the first signatory.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NDf7tg">
|
|||
|
|
The white paper’s author, Heritage fellow Tim Meisburger, is not a public health expert. His career has focused on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-meisburger-b2020913/">democracy promotion abroad</a> but has recently taken a turn toward conspiracy theorizing at home.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OBMA3K">
|
|||
|
|
In 2017, he was appointed by Trump to a mid-level USAID position focusing on democracy — a job he lost in 2021 (per <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/01/13/usaid-trump-capitol/">the Washington Post</a>) after saying on a conference call that the January 6 riot was merely the work of “a few violent people.” During the 2022 election cycle, he led a multi-million dollar “election integrity” campaign <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/07/sham-fears-over-trump-loyalists-election-integrity-drive">backed by Michael Flynn and Roger Stone</a>. In January, he wrote an essay for the <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2023/01/20/the-shameful-silence-of-the-democracy-promoters/">pro-Trump website American Greatness</a> arguing that there were “many egregious examples of election malpractice and fraud in 2020 and 2022,” including “statistically impossible results” — a seeming reference to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/07/no-bidens-win-wasnt-statistically-impossible/">long-debunked arguments</a> that Biden could not possibly have won the 2020 election by the margin he did. (Meisburger did not respond to my request for comment.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c7P8Un">
|
|||
|
|
Many of the arguments in his anti-PEPFAR paper are of similar quality. He argues that “HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and in developing countries is primarily a lifestyle disease (like those caused by tobacco) and as such should be suppressed though [sic] education, moral suasion, and legal sanctions.” Moreover, Meisburger writes, PEPFAR has become a means for Democrats to promote “their own social priorities like abortion.” The Biden administration, in his view, has used PEPFAR to fund pro-abortion groups internationally.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWJXr4">
|
|||
|
|
The evidence offered for this is flimsy. PEPFAR operates primarily through partner groups, funding their efforts to directly distribute antiretroviral drugs and other HIV-AIDS treatments to supported populations. Meisburger notes that some of these partner groups have issued statements supporting legal abortion, and that campaign donations from their staff have leaned left (“PEPFAR is in fact an entirely Democrat-run program,” he writes).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LKRXbX">
|
|||
|
|
PEPFAR, however, has always been prohibited from funding abortion. The program steers clear of many controversial social issues related to HIV/AIDS by design, a legacy of its bipartisan creation back in 2003. PEPFAR-supported groups that also support abortion services do not use any federal dollars for this purpose.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A women hides her eyes while receiving an injection in the arm." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/z9WitDd_pPG2ySvFK65gxeMQKBY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24814303/53062939.jpg"/> <cite>Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A young woman being tested for HIV in 2005 at the Naguru Teenage Health Centre in Kampala, Uganda.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8t6RYl">
|
|||
|
|
Shepherd Smith, an evangelical global health advocate, investigated Heritage’s allegations that PEPFAR supported abortion and found zero evidence of their veracity.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VohL3A">
|
|||
|
|
“We have never, in all our years of intimate involvement with PEPFAR, heard of such a thing happening in the program,” he wrote in a memo obtained by Vox. “Without equivocation, all of PEPFAR’s leaders have been focused on the job ahead of them of ending the scourge of AIDS. All have overseen the spending of money, and none have found any dollars spent on abortions or the promotion of abortion.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pnm7KT">
|
|||
|
|
Nonetheless, Meisburger’s report has helped fuel the anti-PEPFAR campaign. Heritage Action, the group’s advocacy arm, said it will “score” the upcoming vote to reauthorize it for another five years — meaning that supporting the program will harm Republicans on Heritage’s influential ratings of representatives’ ideology. According to <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/july/pepfar-hiv-aids-congress-pro-life.html">Christianity Today</a>, two other leading conservative groups — the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the social conservative Family Research Council — have said they will also score the vote.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NeAbht">
|
|||
|
|
All of a sudden, a vote to reauthorize PEPFAR looks like a potential problem for Republicans worried about a primary challenge — helping create the conditions for actual legislative movement. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee and longtime PEPFAR supporter who sponsored the 2018 reauthorization, has turned on the program — writing a letter in June criticizing a five-year reauthorization on grounds that the program supports groups who support abortion.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9tkeTK">
|
|||
|
|
“President Biden has hijacked PEPFAR, the $6 billion a year foreign aid program designed to mitigate HIV/AIDs in many targeted — mostly African — countries in order to promote abortion on demand,” Rep. Smith argues.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CbTSUG">
|
|||
|
|
Like Meisburger, he did not reply to my request to discuss this claim further.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="bNqjrH">
|
|||
|
|
What the PEPFAR fight says about the GOP — and America
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQd3O4">
|
|||
|
|
Conservatives differ on what should be done to fix this (fictitious) problem. Some, like Rep. Smith, want to impose the so-called <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/26/14384260/global-gag-rule-trump-abortion-womens-health-global-health-world">“Mexico City” policy</a> on PEPFAR — which bans the federal government from funding any organization that supports abortion even with non-federal dollars. Others have suggested reducing PEPFAR’s operating window, forcing it to come up for reauthorization <a href="https://www.usglc.org/the-budget/house-appropriations-committee-approves-fy24-state-foreign-operations-bill/">every year rather than every five years</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BRYbo6">
|
|||
|
|
Public health experts generally oppose both changes, arguing that they would cut off effective aid groups from federal dollars and make it impossible for the program to plan for the long term.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X7joie">
|
|||
|
|
Moreover, the mere act of picking a fight on either the Mexico City policy or reauthorization windows risks turning PEPFAR into more of a partisan football — and blowing past the September 30 deadline for reauthorization as a result. This would not lead to PEPFAR’s immediate demise, but it would do real damage to its continued good functioning.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fe2EFo">
|
|||
|
|
“Failure to reauthorize the program could have significant impacts,” warns Chris Collins, president and CEO of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Among several other problems, Collins warns, “the funds set aside to treat orphans and vulnerable children might be reduced” and “the Global Fund 2:1 match requirement that has for years successfully leveraged investment from other donors would no longer be required.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ADg7xg">
|
|||
|
|
Hence why some conservative supporters of PEPFAR are warning against the current attempt to do anything but approve the program for another five years.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EwYvsz">
|
|||
|
|
“Without a clean authorization, there will be no reauthorization,” <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/african-bush-pharma/2023/07/20/id/1127878/">Rick Santorum</a>, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/politics/african-bush-pharma/2023/07/20/id/1127878/">warned in a July Newsmax</a> op-ed supporting the reauthorization (co-authored with former Senate Republican Conference staff director Mark Rodgers).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZJvtEZ">
|
|||
|
|
There’s something revealing about a figure like Santorum, a famously hardline culture warrior, acting as the moderate in this dispute — even calling out Heritage and Meisburger specifically for “revisiting the issue of abortion” and thereby putting the “consensus” in favor of PEPFAR support “at risk.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Curojx">
|
|||
|
|
Santorum, who has not held public office since 2007, represents an older breed of social conservatives: the ones who influenced policy during the Bush administration and helped create PEPFAR in the first place. They were no less conservative on abortion, and arguably more aggressive than today’s right on other issues (just look up Santorum’s comments on <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/2016republicanfacts-rick-santorum">same-sex marriage</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10154296854371509">Islam</a>). But to their credit, they took seriously Christian ideas about the need for charity and helping the weak — leading to support for global health programs like PEPFAR or (in some cases) <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/2/24/14720860/refugee-executive-order-evangelicals">taking in refugees fleeing conflict and persecution</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FGZHKk">
|
|||
|
|
The Trump movement, with its “America First” slogan and attacks on “globalists,” undermined the ideological foundations of Republican support for global humanitarian efforts. In power, Trump put <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/trump-undermined-us-aid-still-spent-billions-transactional/">foreign aid on shaky political ground</a> and adopted a culture war approach to the field, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/14/trumps-mexico-city-policy-or-global-gag-rule">dramatically expanding the Mexico City policy</a> from what had existed under Bush and other prior Republican presidents.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Y9e2T">
|
|||
|
|
The idea of a so-called “compassionate conservatism,” a favored slogan of the Bush years, has gone out the window — replaced instead by a conservative movement defined by its obsession with existential struggle against the perceived domestic left-wing enemy. On today’s right, the culture war is not merely a leading concern but <em>the</em> leading concern.
|
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|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S2c9oU">
|
|||
|
|
This is not “mere” partisan polarization at work, though that’s certainly an enabling factor. Rather, this is a story about the prevailing ideological mood on the right: <a href="https://www.vox.com/22600500/olympics-conservatives-simone-biles-anti-american">a paradoxical sense of both vulnerability and strength</a>. The vulnerability comes from the Biden presidency and the left’s alleged control over leading cultural institutions; the strength from some recent cultural victories, most notably, the <em>Dobbs</em> decision overturning <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. The contemporary right believes it is under siege, but also that the siege can be broken if it fights hard enough in enough places.
|
|||
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|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rQ0LU1">
|
|||
|
|
The unremitting logic of total culture war means that every issue has the potential to become a flashpoint. PEPFAR shows how remarkably easy it can be in this environment to take what was once a settled bipartisan consensus and blow it up.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SgUJaO">
|
|||
|
|
Despite these threats, PEPFAR could well make it through the current fight unscathed. The White House, for its part, believes that Congress is on the right track. “We are confident that the supporters of PEPFAR in both parties will find a path forward to get this critical and lifesaving program reauthorized,” an official said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBenIP">
|
|||
|
|
We can only hope they’re right. Because if PEPFAR becomes yet another casualty of America’s domestic culture wars, tens of millions of people will suffer and potentially die from a disease we already know how to fight.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h23y7v">
|
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|
|
<em>Keren Landman contributed reporting to this piece.</em>
|
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|
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</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</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>Lakshya enters semifinals of Japan Open, Satwik-Chirag out</strong> - Sen, who had won the Canada Open Super 500 early this month, opened up a 5-3 lead early on before moving to 11-7 at the break</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>BCCI considers rescheduling a few World Cup games</strong> - Secretary Shah declines to comment on the reported move to reschedule the much-awaited India-Pakistan match to be played on Oct. 15</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>Three wushu players from Arunachal bound for World University Games in China handed ‘stapled visas’, team held back</strong> - Eight wushu players and four team officials were to travel to China from the IGI airport here in the wee hours of Thursday but all of them have now been told to stay put by the government</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>The Ashes 2023, Test 5 day 1 | Australia bowl out England for 283</strong> - Australia inched to 61-1 after bowling England out for 283 with Mitchell Starc taking four wickets on the opening day of the final Ashes test</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>West Indies vs India, 1st ODI | Kuldeep, Jadeja set up easy victory as India check out batting options against weak Windies</strong> - The chase was never a problem but the wicket did offer a lot of turn apart from bounce which made life difficult for batters from both sides</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lessons in sustainability on college campus</strong> - With its volley of diverse agricultural projects, Sree Narayana Polytechnic College, Kottiyam, has been declared as a green campus and the first polytechnic college in the State to achieve the feat</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>BJP in Telangana demands all party meeting on rain damage</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>Missing man traced alive near Thodupuzha</strong> - He had been employed at a rubber plantation as a casual worker. He never used a mobile phone for the fear of being traced</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Telangana CM convenes State Cabinet meeting on July 31</strong> - Over 40 items including the impact of recent floods listed in the agenda</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>Tamil Nadu announces panel to examine coir, pith industries’ demand</strong> - They want their industries to be re-classified from orange to white by TNPCB</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia urged to renew Ukraine grain deal at Africa summit</strong> - Egypt’s leader says it is “essential” the deal allowing Kyiv to export produce be revived.</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>Greek fires at Nea Anchialos prompt blasts forcing F-16s to evacuate base</strong> - Residents escape by boat and the air force evacuates fighter planes as an ammunition depot explodes.</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>Are arsonists behind Italy’s devastating wildfires?</strong> - Residents suspect most of the blazes blighting their stunning region are intentionally lit.</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>Melting Swiss glacier uncovers climber missing since 1986</strong> - The body was discovered earlier this month by hikers who spotted a boot emerging from the ice.</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>Ancient 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck found off coast of Italy</strong> - The cargo ship was found laden with hundreds of Roman pottery jars, most of which are intact.</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>Increasing levels of humidity are here to make heat waves even worse</strong> - This summer’s heat is only a preview of what’s in store for our future. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957233">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Getting TIE Fighter: Total Conversion working is worth the hassle and the $10</strong> - It has a 1999 engine, 2021 graphics, and that unmistakable ’90s LucasArts feel. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1956747">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Formula E’s first visit to a proper American racetrack saw packed stands</strong> - We found a lot to be optimistic about for the all-electric racing series. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1956870">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Starbase comes alive again; China launches four times</strong> - Maybe the next Starship launch isn’t all that far off. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957059">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AMD Ryzen 7945HX3D could be a fast, super-efficient choice for your new gaming laptop</strong> - The chip is only launching in a single laptop from Asus, at least for now. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1957094">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman entered a pub and saw a haggard looking soldier sitting at the bar.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
She approached him and asked if everything was all right.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The soldier said, “I haven’t had sex since 2014.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The woman replied, “Wow that’s a long time. How about I get your tab and you come back to my hotel?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
They went to her hotel room and made passionate love for a solid two hours.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Wow!”, said the soldier. “That’s the best sex I’ve had all night!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The woman went, “Wait a minute. You told me you hadn’t had sex since 2014.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The soldier replied, “Yes, ma’am. That’s true. Now it’s 2355!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JoeFas"> /u/JoeFas </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bhy8m/a_woman_entered_a_pub_and_saw_a_haggard_looking/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bhy8m/a_woman_entered_a_pub_and_saw_a_haggard_looking/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a woman’s sex drive by 95%.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
It’s called a Wedding Cake.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Tightfit30"> /u/Tightfit30 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bk5ps/scientists_have_discovered_a_food_that_diminishes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bk5ps/scientists_have_discovered_a_food_that_diminishes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I asked my Chinese girlfriend for a 69.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
She said she’s not getting the wok out at this time of night…
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ntrott"> /u/ntrott </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bs4vx/i_asked_my_chinese_girlfriend_for_a_69/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bs4vx/i_asked_my_chinese_girlfriend_for_a_69/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A redneck went to the hospital as his wife was having their babies. Upon arriving, he sat down as the nurse said “congratulations, your wife has had quintuplets, 5 big baby boys.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The redneck said “I am not surprised. I have a penis the size of a chimney.” The nurse replied, “you might want to get it cleaned because they are all black.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/u24fun"> /u/u24fun </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bcxmx/a_redneck_went_to_the_hospital_as_his_wife_was/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15bcxmx/a_redneck_went_to_the_hospital_as_his_wife_was/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>4 Friends meet 30 years after school</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
One goes to the toilet while the other 3 start to talk about how successful their sons became.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
No. 1 says his son studied economics, became a banker and is so rich he gave his best friend a ferrari.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
No. 2 said his son became a pilot, started his own airline, became so rich he gave his best friend a jet.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
No. 3 said his son became an engineer, started his own development company, became so rich he build his best friend a castle.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
No 4. came back from toilet and asks what the buzz is about.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
They told him they were talking about how successfull their sons became and ask him about his son.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He said his son is gay and is a Stripper at a Gay bar.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Other 3 said he must be very disappointed with his son for not becoming successful.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
" O no !! " said the father, he is doing good.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
" Last week was his birthday and he got a ferrari, a jet and a castle from 3 of his boyfriends…"
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Upper_Price2807"> /u/Upper_Price2807 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15b33t7/4_friends_meet_30_years_after_school/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/15b33t7/4_friends_meet_30_years_after_school/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
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|
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