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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>05 February, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ukraine Crackup in the G.O.P.</strong> - Republicans aren’t united with one another, never mind with Joe Biden. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-ukraine-crackup-in-the-gop">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is Donald Trump Losing His Mojo?</strong> - The former President’s political and legal challenges are mounting, even as some polls indicate that he still has a lot of support among Republicans. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/is-donald-trump-losing-his-mojo">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Ron Klain Learned in the White House</strong> - Joe Biden’s exiting chief of staff is a case study in the slow accumulation of expertise. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-ron-klain-learned-in-the-white-house">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Imran Khan’s Double Game</strong> - Following an assassination attempt, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister discusses his views on the Taliban, his relationship with the military, and why he’s more “evolved” than other people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/imran-khans-double-game">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sending Help Instead of the Police in Albuquerque</strong> - A novel community-safety department has been taking calls off the hands of a force with the country’s second-highest fatal-shooting rate. Has it improved public safety? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/sending-help-instead-of-the-police-in-albuquerque">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>The forgotten gas stove wars</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Black-and-white photo of two women in a 1950s kitchen with a gas stove." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AMLAYmco7nI9_8SBHQjf7ArZhjg=/0x429:2992x2673/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71942182/3135903.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Concerns about whether stoves are safe are nearly as old as gas stoves themselves. | Chaloner Woods/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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We’ve been fighting over gas stoves for decades.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CrSYNF">
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Forty years ago, the federal government seemed to be on the brink of regulating the gas stove. Everything was on the table, from an outright ban to a modification of the Clean Air Act to address indoor air pollution. Congress held indoor air quality <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6h3wwQEACAAJ&authuser=1&source=gbs_navlinks_s">hearings</a> in 1983, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were both investigating the effects of gas appliances.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSbnrq">
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Backed into a corner, the industry that profits from selling consumers natural gas for their heating and cooking sprang into action. It<strong> </strong>filed comments to agencies disputing the science. It funded its own studies and hired consultants to assess the threats it would face from further regulation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7hWonj">
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To prove that voluntary action was effective and regulation unnecessary, utilities produced their own literature for consumers, like Northern States Power Company’s warning that “Homes Need Fresh Air During the Heating Season.” And it nervously eyed media reports, like Consumer Reports’ conclusion in 1984 that “the evidence so far suggests that emissions from a gas range do pose a risk” and “may make you choose an electric one.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HoCuX8">
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The research on gas stoves’ health effects was “provocative, not conclusive,” concluded a <a href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YegTNPWWNq4J:https://www.eba-net.org/assets/1/6/7-Vol5_No2_1984_Indoor_Air_Quality.pdf&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us">1984 Energy Bar Association report</a> drawn up by gas industry consultants.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kHrun8">
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Ultimately, the US did not pass new regulations. Instead, natural gas became even more embedded in American homes and lives, in 2020 supplying fuel to <a href="https://www.ngsa.org/residential-and-commercial-uses-of-natural-gas/#:~:text=Nearly%2070%20million%20homes%20in,homes%20in%20warm%2Dweather%20regions.">70 million homes</a>. All the while, scientists continued to warn that gas can produce a range of emissions and pollutants: nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, and particulate matter, among others. The methane from gas is a growing contributor to climate change.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="slR4p1">
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Now, the US runs the risk of repeating history, and natural gas utilities find themselves in a similar position to the one they were in four decades ago. We have dozens of studies and better quantification of exposures and risks than ever, but the industry, dependent on selling fuel to tens of millions of homes, is reprising an age-old playbook used by any industry that finds itself on the defense over public health.<strong> </strong>
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</p>
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<h3 id="TQOAc0">
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The gas industry takes a page from tobacco to dispute gas stove science
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Wmby7">
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Even in the early 1900s, the natural gas industry knew it had a problem with the gas stove. At the time, people who didn’t have gas stoves largely used coal or wood, but new competition was on the horizon from electric stoves. Both coal and wood were known to cause health issues, but while gas companies would later position themselves as a clean alternative to these fuels, the industry was already aware it was far from clean.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rRHA1m">
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At the second annual meeting of the Natural Gas Association of America in 1907, gas representatives debated how to approach the issue of ventilation around the stove. “I believe the association will go on record on that point: no gas of any kind should go into a heating stove without a flue connection,” which vents into the air outdoors, according to published <a href="https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qafs89FSpNBWEj68fh339QLAibf7uoxgmQ-1T0aG7F8RH2fkb-vubTDpvj3Yp01ee6QLA05yDVVH2OsLL7sxs-qRkejJcxhWlDJeBYtb8l_wd0aXvqvLUfma3EYH6Th9PVrs7BIR_Lg7prDQ3ed1wG0gbANcnLwVwwhU3HaVjtMygX3-IzBPn11JyG3-0m_iekSjeRGPW5ihkLpqakHzK8JxUpaJudSy1M5z_AxL2-_R8iN02E584Ieiuz7jClQae87SkTs1eIDSBflSZsXHaTBHHWMnYg">minutes from the meeting</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L7ToWQ">
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One attendee noted, “This method of burning gas should be condemned merely from the fact that we get the gas direct and there is danger to life in getting any gas direct in your room, to say nothing of all of the by-products.” The most obvious danger of the time was carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide poisoning.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4SS7WJ">
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Gas grew regardless of these problems. Over the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/">next few decades</a>, electric and gas stoves went to war with marketing campaigns — a pre-presidential Ronald Reagan <a href="https://dahp.wa.gov/historic-preservation/historic-buildings/historic-building-survey-and-inventory/live-better-electrically-the-gold-medallion-electric-home-campaign">appeared</a> in a marketing campaign for General Electric’s all-electric household in 1958, while in 1964 the Pennsylvania People’s Natural Gas Company recruited film star Marlene Dietrich. She professed in her ad, “Every recipe I give is closely related to cooking with gas. If forced, I can cook on an electric stove but it is not a happy union.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HWsF5A">
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By the 1970s and ’80s, the science had become far more nuanced. One of the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234058/">seminal reports</a> from the EPA’s appointed Committee on Indoor Pollutants published in 1981 showed, “an association between gas cooking and the impairment of lung function in children.” While many questions were unanswered, the NAS was convinced by the evidence it did have that gas appliances posed a “sufficient threat to the general public health to justify remedial action.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QZGm68">
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The gas industry has latched onto these small uncertainties to undermine the larger body of research. The American Gas Association <a href="https://www.asge-national.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/American-Gas-Association-Evaluation-of-Health-Effects-from-Gas-Stove-Pollution-Rev-07.14.2020-FINAL.pdf">still heralds</a> the federal agencies’ lack of action since the 1980s and 1990s as an argument in the stoves’ favor.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EltAZD">
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In 1986, though, the EPA sent a report back to the CPSC. The executive summary said gas from cooking or heating “is not a risk factor of great magnitude in comparison with a factor such as cigarette smoke,” but still noted the amount of research needed to understand more: “Unfortunately the majority of epidemiological studies include no information on N02, and among those that do have actual measurements, the number of homes and characterization of concentrations are very limited,” the report continued. “This suggests that better quantification of exposure is a major need in future studies.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ih3MIL">
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The EPA also kicked the issue of nitrogen dioxides to the CPSC to determine the level of emissions coming from these appliances, asking for “further efforts … to assess the health risks associated with indoor use of kerosene space heaters and other sources of nitrogen dioxide emissions.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XQOqih">
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None of this appeared to happen.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KgmEem">
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The EPA did issue emissions standards for wood stoves and fireplaces <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/1217/hsmoke.html">in 1985</a>, but never took up gas. The prospect of any more EPA action faded from the public debate. Agencies apparently backed away from the issue. Tobacco was becoming a bigger priority, and the EPA and Housing and Urban Development started voluntary initiatives for healthier homes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7yGLlR">
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There were marginal improvements in stove and oven technology in the intervening years. The biggest change was phasing out <a href="https://appliance-standards.org/product/cooking-products#:~:text=Congress%20established%20the%20first%20standards,have%20an%20electrical%20supply%20cord.">pilot lights,</a> a flame that would always burn gas but also is dangerous when it goes out. These helped some severe safety issues with gas appliances, like lowering the chance of an explosion, but didn’t address air quality issues when the stove was on or off. Building codes throughout the country also began to mandate lifesaving carbon monoxide detectors.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9zRWgm">
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One key gas industry technology that could have improved the safety of the stove was developed around the same period, in the 1980s. It was an infrared burner device that uses less gas and lowers nitrogen dioxide emissions, one of the most concerning pollutants that comes from gas and causes asthma. According to NPR’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1152989909">reporting</a>, the idea was shelved in part because there was no demand for it; it would even do away with the iconic blue flame that made the stove so popular.
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</p>
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<h3 id="UxKjAh">
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The déjà vu of the gas stove debate
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5UzsMV">
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As these debates have resurfaced, the gas trade groups have echoed similar lines to the ones they used in the 1980s. This time, in addition to drawing attention to the uncertainties that remain, the industry has directly disputed the scientific consensus.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kzh2Sc">
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Some of the defenders of the gas stove are the same consultants who have defended tobacco and chemicals industries in litigation over health problems.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OqGUB6">
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A hearing in November in the Portland-area Multnomah County in Oregon on gas stoves as pollution hazards offered a glimpse of that strategy. Doctors and public advocates testified against gas appliances because of the NO2 they emit. The gas appliance had its defenders as well, including Julie Goodman, an epidemiologist employed by the consulting firm Gradient who argued that “longer-term average NO2 concentrations in homes with gas cooking are not of a potential health concern. Importantly, it is well-established that ventilation mitigates cooking emissions, regardless of the source of the energy used.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xeqIVM">
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Goodman’s firm had been hired by the American Gas Association to dispute the research on gas stoves, according to a letter to the American Medical Association temporarily published on the association’s website. The letter noted, as of September, that AGA had hired Gradient for consulting. In a recent interview in the New York Times, Goodman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/climate/gas-stove-health.html?smid=tw-share">added</a>, “when considering the entire body of literature, the available epidemiology evidence is not adequate to support causation with respect to gas stoves and adverse health effects.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jgzmbw">
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A similar pattern has emerged in the gas industry’s pushback on gas stoves. AGA’s replies have emphasized that there is no conclusive evidence that gas cooking poses harm, and no clear causation between asthma and pollution from the stove. After all, it’s not the only source of nitrogen dioxide or other pollutants that we’re exposed to.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u4iYRp">
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But for all the talk about uncertainty around risks from gas appliances and the gas stoves in 70 million American homes, there are plenty epidemiologists, pediatricians, and other scientists feel confident about. Gas produces pollutants, and without any ventilation it can be dangerous to one’s health. Even when gas is ventilated, the emissions don’t go away; it just contributes to outdoor smog instead of poor indoor air quality.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUt4vw">
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Republicans have claimed the recent gas stove news is a front or a distraction spun by a Biden administration intent on taking people’s freedoms away (to repeat, neither <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2023/1/11/23549303/gas-stove-regulation-explained">Biden nor the CPSC is</a> banning the stove). Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tweeted on Friday, “Maybe if the Biden Administration wasn’t so worried about banning your gas stoves, they would have seen this Chinese spy balloon coming.” In a recent letter to the CPSC, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) called the gas stove a “newfound ‘hidden hazard’ that rests on limited research.” And right-wing forums are full of conspiracies, including the <a href="https://time.com/6247293/gas-stoves-right-wing-memes/">theory,</a> “The Gas Stove Ban was to keep Biden’s Mishandling Classified Docs out of the news.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IvKGS7">
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None of it is true. The pollution concerns are practically as old as the gas stoves themselves. There’s less debate over the gas stove than the natural gas industry and its allies have implied.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The balloon thing is a bad sign for US-China relations</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kBTL3vhX8F7qPPPbK2HRLEAonHU=/0x0:6447x4835/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71939217/1246326745.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on January 18, 2023. | Drew Angerer/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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Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a meeting with President Xi because of a Chinese surveillance balloon in US airspace.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aisssn">
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<strong>Update, February 4, 3:42:</strong> <em>according to a </em><a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-china-antony-blinken-51e49202f2a0a50541cde059934c4cfb"><em>report from the AP</em></a><em>, the US government has downed the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Carolinas. Two officials who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter told the AP that an Air Force fighter jet downed the balloon. An operation is underway to recover debris in US coastal waters.</em> <br/><strong>Update, February 4, 3:56: </strong><em>US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed </em><a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3288535/statement-from-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii/"><em>in a statement on Saturday</em></a><em> that the US had, with the cooperation of the Canadian government, shot down the balloon The statement confirmed that the Pentagon believes the vehicle was used in an “attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States.”</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HS6u3P">
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If you want a sense of how fraught <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/9/19/23320328/china-us-relations-policy-biden-trump">US-China relations</a> are, consider this: a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/world/asia/china-spy-balloon.html">balloon</a> just derailed a diplomatic summit.
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</p>
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Okay, not just any balloon — a surveillance balloon that belongs to the People’s Republic of China, and is currently drifting through US airspace. Its presence has led to Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/52a791c3-5df8-4957-8685-e88f9b7f9715">indefinitely postponing a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinpin</a>g.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IdS9eP">
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|
The Chinese government has confirmed the balloon is theirs, though it claims it’s “mainly civilian” and studying the weather. The wind, China says, blew the balloon off course, which sounds like a thing that happens to balloons, except, these must have been very specific winds that just happened to carry the balloon over some “<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3287204/senior-defense-official-holds-a-background-briefing-on-high-altitude-surveillan/">sensitive sites</a>,” as the Pentagon put it. Specifically, the balloon was spotted in Montana, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/02/pentagon-chinese-spy-balloon-00081002">which is home to one of three nuclear missile silo fields</a>. The Pentagon has also said the balloon is “<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288103/general-says-chinese-surveillance-balloon-now-over-center-of-us/">maneuverable</a>.”
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQorO8">
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Which is why the US apparently rejects China’s innocent explanation and has called the presence of the balloon in US airspace “a clear violation of our sovereignty, as well as international law, and it is unacceptable that this has occurred.”
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFwTnI">
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|
The US also nixed this highly anticipated meeting between Blinken and Xi in Beijing, a sign of just how fragile the relationship between Beijing and Washington is right now. There have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/03/what-is-chinese-spy-balloon-montana/">spy balloons before</a>, and there are more <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/modern-spy-satellites-in-an-age-of-space-wars/a-54691887">stealth ways to surveil and spy</a> — which everyone, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=80826&page=1">the US included</a>, is doing. But this one slow-moving setback has derailed even the most basic efforts at dialogue. Add to that the US political jockeying over the Biden administration’s China policy, and of course, this balloon thing would, well, blow up.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="vn5toR">
|
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The spy balloon is still hanging out over the US, but this isn’t the thing you should worry about
|
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</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6mnggy">
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Right now, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/03/chinese-spy-balloon/">balloon is still over the United States</a> at an altitude of about 60,000 feet. (For reference, <a href="https://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/why-do-planes-fly-at-36000-feet-cruising-altitude#:~:text=According%20to%20USA%20Today%2C%20the,Mount%20Everest%20measures%2029%2C029%20feet.">planes fly at about 35,000 feet</a>.) The surveillance equipment alone is about the size of two to three school buses, officials said, with the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-flight-tracking/">balloon part being even bigger</a>. Pentagon officials said Friday it’s “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/02/03/chinese-spy-balloon/">somewhere over the center</a>” of the country, heading east, and they expect it to hang around for another few days.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7xL3Vi">
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The Pentagon has said it is not a military or physical threat, and a senior defense official said <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3287204/senior-defense-official-holds-a-background-briefing-on-high-altitude-surveillan/">in a briefing Thursday</a> that, based on what the US can tell, “it does not create significant value added over and above what the PRC is likely able to collect through things like satellites in Low Earth Orbit” — that is, Beijing is not really getting the good stuff. The US is still taking additional steps to lock down information, but has said it has ruled out shooting it down because the resulting debris could cause even more damage than the balloon itself.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f3o3Vp">
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But the US’s firm response, and China’s likely obfuscation, show just how unstable this relationship is. Neither Washington nor Beijing has a clear sense of how to communicate or deconflict, and doesn’t even have many channels to regularly practice doing so. That ambiguity makes a miscalculation or an escalation more likely. As China seeks to build its power abroad, and the US seeks to contain or restrain it, the possibility of close calls or misunderstandings will build with it. And not every miscommunication might be so low-stakes.<strong> </strong>This was a slow-moving balloon, after all, not, say, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/chinese-jet-came-within-20-feet-us-military-aircraft-us-military-2022-12-29/">near-collision of military aircraft</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3V0JyF">
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This is exactly what Blinken’s trip to Beijing was supposed to help fix. His visit was meant to stabilize the relationship and build off the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/13/23453964/biden-xi-meeting-indonesia-china-us-tensions">November<strong> </strong>summit</a> between <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/14/1136350988/biden-and-xi-are-meeting-in-bali-here-are-the-high-stakes-issues-on-the-agenda">Biden and Xi in Bali</a> that at least offered a glimmer of hope that the two powers wanted to find ways to engage. A senior state department official said in a Friday briefing that it had no timeline to reschedule Blinken’s trip, but that the US felt if Blinken went to Beijing now, “it would have significantly narrowed the agenda that we would have been able to address.” In other words, they’d just talk about the spy balloon, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=balloon&src=typed_query&f=top">like everyone else</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VuOHai">
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The polarized US domestic climate is also complicating this. Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, has maintained pretty hawkish policies on China, including keeping Trump <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-19/us-firms-renew-plea-for-biden-to-end-trump-era-china-tariffs#xj4y7vzkg">tariffs in place</a>; <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2022/10/27/biden-s-unprecedented-semiconductor-bet-pub-88270">curbing the sale of semiconductor technology and getting allies and partners to do the same</a>; and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123759127/biden-again-says-u-s-would-help-taiwan-if-china-attacks">continuing to strongly back Taiwan</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PtyOEE">
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Still, Republicans, in particular, have accused the Biden administration of being insufficiently tough on China. Many leaders seized on the balloon incident as an example of the administration’s failings. “China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed, and President Biden cannot be silent,” <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1621311735914266626?s=20&t=eOHAMHwbJ4-6Jz6duzdG5w">Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy tweeted</a>.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O4oBON">
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|
The growing hawkishness toward China is clouding the US’s reality and foreign policy response.<strong> </strong>As long as the US sees China as a threat — and a direct threat to the United States — then a seemingly low-stakes spy balloon can become a national security crisis. There are legitimate security concerns about China’s surveillance tactics, and what it is doing with the information gathered — but honestly, the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t need a balloon for that, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/17/1137155540/fbi-tiktok-national-security-concerns-china">just maybe your cellphone</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O78Epy">
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None of this bodes well for any easing of tensions between the US and China, and this incident shows that, right now, Washington and Beijing are struggling mightily to make those tensions more predictable and manageable.
|
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</p></li>
|
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|
<li><strong>The labor strikes in Britain are years in the making</strong> -
|
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<figure>
|
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|
|
<img alt="Teachers Join Civil Servants And Rail Workers In Strikes Across The UK" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/77dNs_Q7rXgAJ9tAoBOQW1vtDBw=/443x0:7559x5337/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71941134/1461360106.0.jpg"/>
|
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|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
|
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|
|
</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
Austerity, Brexit, wage stagnation and a cost of living crisis have pushed British workers to the brink.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TqXgwj">
|
|||
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|
British workers have hit a breaking point, with half a million people including nurses, railway workers, and teachers striking Wednesday for wages that match the pace of inflation and the actual value of their labor. Though the UK’s cost of living crisis has affected most sectors of society, it’s only the latest of a cascading series of problems for the country’s workers.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KgwSB2">
|
|||
|
|
The strikes emerge from <strong>the background of </strong>a decade-plus austerity program and social services cuts that have hit the poor and middle income classes particularly hard, as well as dramatic shifts in the UK economy which some experts say have exacerbated inequality.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O8HXG4">
|
|||
|
|
Wednesday’s strikes were <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-hit-by-biggest-strikes-in-a-decade-11675260870">the largest in a decade</a>, closing schools and stopping the country’s rail service. The UK’s public services, including the National Health Service (NHS), schools, rail and maritime services, firefighters, and police, have suffered from a lack of government investment over the past decade and<strong> </strong>in particular, under the UK’s Conservative party. That lack of investment has been exacerbated for the NHS in particular due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which overloaded the already-stretched system.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Nz8tv">
|
|||
|
|
Railway workers, led by National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers General Secretary Mick Lynch, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/23/mick-lynch-rmt-work-dignity-union-power">have been holding strikes since the summer</a> due to what the union says is a proposed pay cut over the next two years, as well as proposed job and service upgrade cuts. The government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has responded by admonishing the workers, condemning the strikes, and backing <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-01-16/debates/A08B1E2A-B712-4C30-9A71-57DAC922C4A5/Strikes(MinimumServiceLevels)Bill">legislation around minimum service</a> levels, which would limit workers’ right to strike <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3396">if it passes Parliament</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EXNKBA">
|
|||
|
|
The strikes have spread to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-11/uk-rail-health-care-strikes-threaten-to-drag-as-unions-dig-in">civil service workers</a>, like those in His Majesty’s Treasury and workers who manage passport applications and driving tests, over the same concerns with wage stagnation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BY2dz7">
|
|||
|
|
UK inflation peaked at 11.1 per cent last year <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/424241d0-ded9-460e-9341-48cb0992a279">according to the Financial Times</a>, and has been hovering around 10 per cent, but pay for public sector workers hasn’t kept up. A proposed pay raise for public sector workers averaged around 5 percent, with civil service workers given a raise of only about 2 or 3 percent.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7bHkyd">
|
|||
|
|
“[NHS workers] had a flat-rate pay rise of £1,400 (no matter what pay grade they were on) last year,” Anthony Barnes, a spokesperson for UNISON, the public service union, told Vox. “That works out at something like a 4.5 percent pay rise on average. That might sound ok but inflation has been around 10-11 percent for months.” Barnes also pointed to “catastrophic staff shortages” because workers are leaving the service for better-paying work. “That puts extra pressure on the people who remain, and yet with pay running so far behind inflation, the pay ‘rise’ amounts to a pay cut.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3aWgIr">
|
|||
|
|
Wednesday’s strikes — and the further actions planned — indicate that the government, employers, and unions are far from a resolution. They also speak to bigger problems in the UK’s economy, going back to Brexit and before.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PoFNN7">
|
|||
|
|
More than just economic demands, though, the strikes are about politics and policy — asking what kind of government can not only negotiate with workers, but also mitigate some of the problems that have brought about the current economic and labor conditions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="G952Ce">
|
|||
|
|
The UK’s economic and political decisions have led to this moment
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9cmXHH">
|
|||
|
|
The current cost of living crisis brought on by inflation and the energy shortage due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is no doubt dire. But it didn’t come from nowhere; rather, it’s the apotheosis of a series of economic and political decisions that have drained social services while depending on them both from a practical and economic standpoint, increased inequality, and cut off opportunities for growth.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rtg13h">
|
|||
|
|
The cost of living crisis is “probably more of a tipping point, rather than the underlying causal driver” of the strikes, Liam Stanley, a professor of politics and international relations at the University of Sheffield, told Vox. “It’s quite difficult to disentangle all of the different factors, because the UK’s been quite dysfunctional for quite a long time.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a4iU28">
|
|||
|
|
The UK’s economy probably doesn’t conjure an image of dysfunction. But this past September, former Prime Minister Liz Truss exposed some of the country’s economic precarity when she <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/1/23378515/uk-financial-crisis-pound-truss">unveiled a tax plan</a> — quickly reversed — which would have lowered taxes for the nation’s wealthiest and provided tax breaks for corporations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i1o0e3">
|
|||
|
|
That plan caused chaos in the financial markets because it was such a radical departure from mainstream economic understanding: injecting money into the economy through tax breaks only exacerbates inflation. Corporations and other governments no longer had faith in the UK economy under Truss’s leadership, so they divested from it, causing the UK’s currency, the pound sterling, to fall to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/business/economy/uk-pound-history.html">its lowest-ever value against the dollar</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AjmSaO">
|
|||
|
|
Furthermore, governments have to raise money for services they provide, like schooling, health services, taxation and benefits, and more. Taxes and foreign investment are two obvious ways to do that, and when Truss and her Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng announced the plan, it raised questions about how her government would pay for the services, including <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/65th-anniversary-of-the-nhs-prime-minister-celebrates-this-great-national-treasure">the treasured NHS</a>, that already suffered for years from underfunding.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="auPuEl">
|
|||
|
|
Mark Blythe, director of the William Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at Brown University, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/1/23378515/uk-financial-crisis-pound-truss">pointed out to Vox</a> in a September email interview that that the UK government has been doing “astonishing acts of self harm” for years, including “cuts in spending on a state that has already been cut to the bone.” After the 2008 financial crash, the UK government under Tory Prime Minister David Cameron drastically <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/mar/03/lost-decade-hidden-story-how-austerity-broke-britain">cut resources</a> for everything from food safety and air quality inspection to elder care.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AqkuRR">
|
|||
|
|
Technically, the NHS and <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2022">public education </a>were to be spared spared those cuts but the austerity program overall undercut British society and further entrenched inequality such that in 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston delivered <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2018/11/statement-visit-united-kingdom-professor-philip-alston-united-nations-special?LangID=E&NewsID=23881">a scathing report</a> on its the effects. Because of that program, he wrote at the time, “great misery has … been inflicted unnecessarily, especially on the working poor, on single mothers struggling against mighty odds, on people with disabilities who are already marginalized, and on millions of children who are being locked into a cycle of poverty from which most will have great difficulty escaping.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rdE1Jg">
|
|||
|
|
Another facet of the economic crisis, Blythe said, is Brexit, which “lost the UK the export markets they might use to grow out of this crisis.” That assessment is echoed in data from a 2022 report by the <a href="https://cepr.org/about/news/economic-impact-brexit">Center for Economic Policy Research</a>, which shows a major decline in goods and service exports to Europe due to Brexit and its trade policies, in addition to causing shortages and rising prices on goods imported from Europe.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9nd29d">
|
|||
|
|
Brexit caused further insularity in the economy — which had already grown away from industry and manufacturing and toward what Stanley calls “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Rentier_Capitalism.html?id=8bpazQEACAAJ">rentier capitalism</a>” — the ownership of a few prized assets like land, intellectual property, or natural resources, which are then rented out, to the cost of the many and benefit of the few.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uNA8JP">
|
|||
|
|
Rather than industry and manufacturing, the UK’s economy is now based on services and the so-called rentier capitalism, increasing economic inequality over the past several years while also failing to produce innovation that could increase economic growth. To that point, the International Monetary Fund <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64452995">has forecasted that the UK’s economy will contract by .6 percent this year</a>, performing worse than other developed economies, and even Russia’s, which is under a punishing sanctions regime.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="iwIHC3">
|
|||
|
|
In the near term, worker power is set to continue
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wQTRJ9">
|
|||
|
|
Wednesday’s strikes were the largest in a decade, but they won’t be the last. Barnes told Vox that UNISON members will strike again on Friday, February 10. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/02/uk-strike-days-calendar-public-service-when-planned-february-march">More actions</a> across a variety of sectors are planned for February and March.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pk6Afu">
|
|||
|
|
Lynch promised further action in a speech at Westminster on Wednesday. “We’re not going to win it in one day,” he said. “We’re going to win it by staying the course. We’re going to have to dig in.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="n7fLi5">
|
|||
|
|
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jhqow9">
|
|||
|
|
That doesn’t just mean continued strikes, although those are certainly part of the plan. It also means taking political and legal action.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QKux7g">
|
|||
|
|
The current strike bill moving through Parliament, for example, faces potential legal action from the Trades Union Congress, Tim Sharp, senior policy officer for employment told Vox in an interview Friday. “We think that it’s highly likely that what the government proposes is illegal,” Sharp said, and runs afoul of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. “We think it’s contrary to what the [International Labor Organization] requires in terms of the right to strike.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0u0TX">
|
|||
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The UK <a href="https://www.bigissue.com/news/employment/what-is-my-right-to-strike/">doesn’t have enshrined into its law the right to strike</a>, although work stoppage is legal provided trade unions <a href="https://www.gov.uk/industrial-action-strikes/your-employment-rights-during-industrial-action">follow specific government procedures</a>. What the minimum services bill would do, Sharp explained, would give the government more power over work stoppage because service minimums would be decided by government ministers — not employers or unions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FECljK">
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Should they take the reins in the next general election, the Labour party has promised to repeal the minimum service bill if it’s signed into law. But ultimately what the unions and the striking workers demand is a government that is responsive to the needs of workers — that will prioritize funding the public services so many depend on, and work toward an economy capable of serving its people. Lynch’s speech on Wednesday called for politicians to respond to worker demands for better pay.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CIErk">
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“If they’re not, they’d better get out the way now,” he said. “Let’s get a general election on, and let’s get a new government that acts on behalf of our people.”
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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>Premier League 2022/23 | Man United beats Crystal Palace, Liverpool's troubles deepen</strong> - Casemiro was sent off in the 70th minute, shortly after Marcus Rashford put United ahead 2-0</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>Ligue 1 2022/23 | Messi's goal helps French leader PSG beat Toulouse 2-1</strong> - With Mbappe injured, Messi scored his 10th goal of the season with a typical curling strike from outside the middle of the box</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>FIR against ex-cricketer Vinod Kambli on charge of assaulting wife</strong> - The incident took place between 1 p.m. and 1.30 p.m. on February 3 when Kambli reached his flat allegedly under the influence of alcohol and started abusing his wife, an official said</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>Anurag Thakur launch mascot, theme song and jersey of third Khelo India Winter Games</strong> - The Khelo India Winter Games started in 2020 and it is supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and is organized by the J&K Sports Council as well as the Winter Games association of the J&K.</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>Hoggard withdraws from hearings into Rafiq racism allegations</strong> - Hoggard is accused of using racist language during his time at Yorkshire</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>Village Accountants will be named Village Administrators, says Revenue Minister Ashok</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>‘If Siddaramaiah becomes CM, he will put BJP leaders in jail’, says Nalin Kumar Kateel</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>TDB resumes counting of coins at Sabarimala</strong> - Board has so far counted and deposited ₹351 crore from offerings received during annual pilgrimage season</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>Memorial for Vishnuvardhan in Mysuru triggers ’fan tourism’</strong> - Fans come not only from Mysuru but all the way from Chickballapur, Chitradurga, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura and other districts of the State</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>Lok Ayukta permits continuance of Kerala Tourism’s Miyawaki afforestation</strong> - Petition alleges irregularities in the tender proceedings for the project</p></li>
|
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|
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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>Situation in east Ukraine getting tougher, says Zelensky</strong> - Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk region are facing very difficult conditions, the country’s president says.</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>Andrew Tate: Inside the Romanian town where brothers’ empire began</strong> - “Arrogant”, “discreet” - Lucy Williamson visits the apartment block where the brothers first settled.</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>How to cook Spanish tortilla: Salmonella outbreak sparks national debate</strong> - A bout of food poisoning at a Madrid restaurant stirs debate about how to cook a Spanish tortilla.</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>Venice Carnival recovers former glory</strong> - Thousands lined the bridges and canal banks of Venice to watch the floating parade.</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>Turkey elections: Biggest test for Erdogan amid cost of living crisis</strong> - Rampant inflation is a key issue for voters as Turkey’s President Erdogan faces elections in May.</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>Vanpowers City Vanture e-bike review: Sleek, streamlined, and hard to define</strong> - There aren’t many e-bikes like it—partly because you can build it yourself. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1912001">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US military shoots down Chinese balloon over coastal waters</strong> - Once the object was over the ocean, US jets moved in. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1915176">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The physics of James Joyce’s Ulysses</strong> - The 101-year-old novel shows that “physics and literature are not mutually exclusive.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1914902">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientific highs and lows of cannabinoids</strong> - Hundreds of cannabis-related chemicals now exist, inspiring researchers—and users. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1914385">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientists grew mini human guts inside mice</strong> - Tiny organoids with working immune systems mimic the function of the GI tract. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1914995">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<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>Fun fact: “sugar” is the only word in the English language where “su-” makes a “sh” sound…</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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|
At least, I’m pretty sure that’s correct.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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|
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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/walid2023"> /u/walid2023 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tlp8m/fun_fact_sugar_is_the_only_word_in_the_english/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tlp8m/fun_fact_sugar_is_the_only_word_in_the_english/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Who’s Sisyphus?” she asks. You begin to respond: “it’s this myth about a guy being punished in the underworld where he has to-”</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">
|
|||
|
|
Her phone rings.
|
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|
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“One second,” she says. A few minutes later, she prompts you to continue: “I’m sorry, I cut you off.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
You start again. “Sisyphus is a-”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Her phone rings again. “Sorry, one sec.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AndyBales"> /u/AndyBales </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10u8yiq/whos_sisyphus_she_asks_you_begin_to_respond_its/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10u8yiq/whos_sisyphus_she_asks_you_begin_to_respond_its/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>President Biden ordered an F16 missile attack to destroy the Chinese spy balloon</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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Americans are thrilled. It’s the first thing he’s done to combat inflation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- 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/Jugg3rnaut85"> /u/Jugg3rnaut85 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tx9hg/president_biden_ordered_an_f16_missile_attack_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tx9hg/president_biden_ordered_an_f16_missile_attack_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A waitress asked me how I liked my coffee.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Naturally I said, “I like my coffee like I like my women.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Awe, how cute,” she replies, “but the coffee here is free. You don’t have to pay for it.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Imdasht6690"> /u/Imdasht6690 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tzo4l/a_waitress_asked_me_how_i_liked_my_coffee/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10tzo4l/a_waitress_asked_me_how_i_liked_my_coffee/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A literalist takes things literally</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">
|
|||
|
|
A kleptomaniac takes things, literally
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Hooman____"> /u/Hooman____ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10u2tmg/a_literalist_takes_things_literally/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10u2tmg/a_literalist_takes_things_literally/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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</ul>
|
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