624 lines
70 KiB
HTML
624 lines
70 KiB
HTML
|
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
|||
|
|
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
|||
|
|
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
|||
|
|
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
|||
|
|
<title>15 April, 2022</title>
|
|||
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|||
|
|
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
|||
|
|
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
|||
|
|
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
|||
|
|
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
|||
|
|
</style>
|
|||
|
|
<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>
|
|||
|
|
<body>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Prisoners in a Cellar in the Ukrainian Village of Novyi Bykiv</strong> - A pattern of indiscriminate violence committed by Russian forces appears to have taken hold in a number of towns and villages in the Kyiv region. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-prisoners-in-a-cellar-in-the-ukrainian-village-of-novyi-bykiv">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Surviving the Standoff with the Republic of Texas</strong> - Twenty-five years ago, an armed militia tried to secede. When will it happen again? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/surviving-the-standoff-with-the-republic-of-texas">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Siege of Chernihiv</strong> - For more than a month, the Russian military pummelled residents with bombing raids and missile fire, turning a locked-in city into an urban death trap. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-siege-of-chernihiv">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On Syd’s “Broken Hearts Club,” an Evasive Player Falls in Love</strong> - On her new solo record, the lead singer of the Internet scripts honeymoon romance and “what are we” entanglement with equal acuity. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/listening-booth/on-syds-broken-hearts-club-an-evasive-player-falls-in-love">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Grim Journey of the Accused Brooklyn Subway Shooter</strong> - Frank James, the man charged with carrying out the Sunset Park attack, appears to have inhabited a world of conspiracy theories, grievance, and mental illness. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-grim-journey-of-the-accused-brooklyn-subway-shooter">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>How war in Ukraine is making people hungry in the Middle East</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A bakery counter in Lebanon." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wp9y--
|
|||
|
|
Of7lb07CPiVoNgUK_SHjM=/0x0:5036x3777/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70752610/GettyImages_1228223395.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A baker prepares the traditional bread product manoushe in the Lebanese city of Chtaura. | Vassilis Poularikas/NurPhoto via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
There’s enough food in the world, but it’s getting too expensive to ship it.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M6YeYn">
|
|||
|
|
Food is central to the observance of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that began this year on April 2. Practicing Muslims abstain from food and water throughout the day, before breaking their fast with the iftar<em> </em>meal at sunset. Iftar is meant to be a celebration, as family and friends come together each night for a meal, often served buffet-style, that will provide <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6566767/">most of the calories for the day</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ojUlKR">
|
|||
|
|
But in Lebanon, even bread to break the Ramadan fast has become increasingly hard to find. Before the war in Ukraine, bread in Lebanon was heavily subsidized by the government. It was “the only real affordable good on a supermarket shelf,” said Majd Itani, a consultant in Lebanon whose family owns a supermarket chain in Beirut. But a reduction in subsidies, rising prices from inflation, and supply chain shocks mean that “people [who] had been increasingly reliant” on wheat products can no longer even count on their daily bread.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MGeVgb">
|
|||
|
|
This small Middle Eastern country of nearly 7 million people had already been suffering from <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-lebanon-2021-review">widespread hunger</a> in the past two years. But the war is making that even worse. Ukraine and Russia combined provide <a href="https://www.trademap.org/Index.aspx">95 percent of Lebanon’s wheat</a>. Martin Keulertz, a food security researcher at the American University of Beirut, told me that an estimated four out of five people in Lebanon are now food insecure, meaning “they don’t get food at all times at the sufficient quantity and quality.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HFQh26">
|
|||
|
|
Lebanon is just a single, acute victim of a worldwide food crisis, one that David Beasley, executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/podcasts/daily-newsletter-ukraine-russian-supply-chain.html">told the New York Times</a> has “no precedent even close to this since World War II.” At the end of 2021, global food prices were already at 10-year highs because of drought, high fuel prices, and recovering demand for <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19-and-rising-global-food-prices-whats-really-happening">agricultural products</a> after Covid-19.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zX6YMr">
|
|||
|
|
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has embroiled two of the world’s major food and gas exporters, has added to the terrible state of global hunger, especially for countries like Lebanon in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that are highly dependent on exports from the two combatants. Food prices globally are now at their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-health-europe-united-
|
|||
|
|
nations-fe2cc912195478f0dd861e6252c8f3b3">highest</a> since the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began tracking <a href="https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/foodpricesindex/en">in 1990</a>, and around <a href="https://static.hungermapdata.org/insight-reports/latest/global-summary.pdf">887 million people</a> (342 million based on real-time monitoring and 545 million on predictive models) are currently experiencing food insecurity, with tens of millions more joining their ranks every month.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="svK9hA">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="datawrapper-7aGKn">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qkeXUK">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eibGnO">
|
|||
|
|
The dire need caused by the war and the millions of Ukrainian refugees <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/poland-ukraine-refugee-crisis-russia-war-vladimir-putin-conflict-
|
|||
|
|
rcna21967">forced to flee</a> because of the conflict mean that aid is being spread more thinly at a time when food and cash transfers are more vital than ever. While there’s <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1048452">enough food to feed everyone in the world</a>, high fuel prices make it harder to ensure food gets to the people most at risk of hunger at prices they can afford. While no one fully escapes the toll of very high food prices and scarcity — the price of food in the US <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Food/inflation-surges-40-year-high-food-prices-
|
|||
|
|
spike/story?id=84033101">jumped 10 percent</a> over the past year according to recently released data — it will be the poorest countries most dependent on wheat exports from Russia and Ukraine that will suffer if governments and aid organizations can’t fill in the gaps.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="XsEFVH">
|
|||
|
|
A war on food
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vxtujp">
|
|||
|
|
Just because the world produces sufficient food supplies doesn’t mean there’s enough getting to the needy — and providing help for them is getting more expensive. The WFP was “incurring $42 million more [per month] for food purchases prior to the Ukraine crisis because of high food and fuel prices globally,” said Reem Nada, communications officer for the World Food Programme MENA region. “With the added blow of the Ukraine crisis, WFP is incurring another $29 million more [per month].” In Yemen and Syria — two countries in the region with severe and ongoing conflict-driven hunger crises — the WFP is only 31 percent and 24 percent funded respectively, while in Yemen alone operations are <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/yemen-millions-risk-ukraine-war-effect-rocks-region">$10 million</a> higher per month than the WFP budgeted for.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="BzIoLj">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="datawrapper-34kEB">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lGsJWH">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t6CPyg">
|
|||
|
|
Russia and Ukraine combined provide <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/2/27/22950805/russia-
|
|||
|
|
ukraine-food-prices-hunger-invasion-war">about 26 percent</a> of global wheat exports, along with high percentages of corn, vegetable oil, and barley. But in certain parts of the world, the dependency is far greater; in the MENA region, Nada told me, an average of <a href="https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000136993/download/">80 percent</a> of local demand for wheat is met through import, with much of it coming from nearby Russia and Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QV781P">
|
|||
|
|
The plight of Lebanon shows how the war in Ukraine has exacerbated one country’s already existing food security problems. While the US and other rich nations have been grappling with higher-than-expected inflation over the past year, since 2019 Lebanon has been facing an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/lebanons-
|
|||
|
|
financial-crisis-how-it-happened-2022-01-23/">economic crisis</a> caused by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/9/21/lebanons-inflation-rate-is-worse-than-zimbabwes-and-
|
|||
|
|
venezuelas">hyperinflation</a>, which means that people’s salaries have been badly outpaced by the rising price of food. As bread subsidies have waned, the cost of daily staples has risen out of reach. Keulertz told me even the nominal price of bread — meaning without accounting for inflation — had increased by almost 20 percent since October 2021.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ixPRDK">
|
|||
|
|
In response to dwindling supplies, bakers are moving away from making more complex products like <a href="https://www.tastymediterraneo.com/zaatar-manouche-flat-bread-with-herbs/">manoushe</a> (Lebanese pizza) and croissants to producing only basic bread. Even so, customers are getting even less for their money — Keulertz said the weight of a standard pack of bread has changed. “It used to be that they said it has to be 900 grams, and then it was suddenly 850, and then it was 830.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m1YFgy">
|
|||
|
|
Adding to the trouble, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-security-blast-grains-exclusi/exclusive-lebanon-navigates-food-
|
|||
|
|
challenge-with-no-grain-silo-and-few-stocks-idUSKCN25317I">Beirut port explosion in 2020</a>, which destroyed most of Lebanon’s main granary, left Lebanon with only enough room to store one month of grain supplies. This means that the government and other actors have to work more quickly to sort out short-term disruptions in supply chains because<strong> </strong>they don’t have six months of storage to rely on to feed the country in the meantime.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rQdhKD">
|
|||
|
|
While the direct impacts of the war on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/16/russian-
|
|||
|
|
soldiers-took-over-farm-battle-food-supplies-ukraine">agriculture</a> in Ukraine will depend on the course of the conflict, the country’s agriculture minister said that the spring crop sowing area for corn and other crops <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-ukraine-2022-spring-crop-sowing-area-could-be-halved-
|
|||
|
|
minister-2022-03-22/">could be halved</a>. Millions of tons of corn stored in Ukraine’s silos — much of which would be destined for the export market — is proving <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-04-05/will-russia-s-
|
|||
|
|
war-in-ukraine-cause-wheat-shortages-raise-food-prices-more">difficult to access</a>. Beyond the possibility that farms themselves will become battlegrounds, merchant vessels in the Black Sea have been hit and one has already <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-planting-mines-black-sea-shipping-perils-
|
|||
|
|
grow-2022-03-30/">sunk</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D99zDz">
|
|||
|
|
Even in the unlikely scenario that the war will come to a quick close, however, other factors in the global economy mean that the pressure of food insecurity is unlikely to relent.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="3UhiL9">
|
|||
|
|
How food and fuel are linked
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZxsWeO">
|
|||
|
|
You can’t drink oil, but the price of that keystone global commodity, which was already high pre-invasion, may <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518308486">affect the cost of food</a> more than any other single factor. “We forget that most of the cost that consumers pay is actually everything that happens after a commodity leaves the farm,” said Chris Barrett, a professor at Cornell who researches food security. This matters because “the longer-run effect and immediate effect, both are probably going to come from the energy markets,” he added.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="kL51us">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="datawrapper-ZSIpk">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fNxNEC">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CsrU7Z">
|
|||
|
|
In <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-021-00279-9">a study</a> last year that covered 90 percent of the world’s food production, Barrett and his co-authors found that farmers receive only 27 percent on average of what consumers spend on food eaten at home in domestic markets, and even less for imported food. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1093/ajae/aav040">Another study</a> found that global oil prices affected food prices in East Africa primarily through transport costs, especially for countries that are further inland. This means that most of the costs of food — especially for foods that are being exported — happen after food is harvested in processing, manufacturing, storage, food service, and transportation. And each of these steps requires energy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BYWAP5">
|
|||
|
|
Meanwhile, coal, natural gas, and electricity prices are at their <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/what-is-behind-soaring-energy-prices-and-what-happens-next">highest levels in decades</a>, while the price of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/why-us-natural-gas-prices-spiked-by-
|
|||
|
|
record-70-thursday-2022-01-28/">oil has spiked</a> by nearly 70 percent over the past year. That drives up prices along multiple points of the food value chain, and will impact countries that don’t directly import from Ukraine or Russia.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="8Hy7Ld">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="datawrapper-OeEhV">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OTWTKJ">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yoY5Lf">
|
|||
|
|
The situation in Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Ethiopia — all facing conflict and already-high levels of food insecurity — is even more dire. Instability, flooding, and displacement in <a href="https://fscluster.org/sites/default/files/documents/ssd_hno_2022_26feb2022.pdf">South Sudan</a> have compounded the needs of people in a country where most of the population has severe food insecurity, while the Tigray war in Ethiopia has pushed places <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ethiopia-tigray-conflict-explained.html">into famine</a> with limited humanitarian aid access. These countries in East Africa face higher transport costs than those in the Middle East, said Barrett, so high fuel costs could affect food security far beyond the war.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="MKZKX5">
|
|||
|
|
Food aid is vital, but the pool of aid is stretched
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ow47Sd">
|
|||
|
|
Just as high costs make it harder for the poor to buy needed food, it’s harder for aid groups to help those in greatest need. Aid budgets are already being stretched because a dollar now gets you less everywhere, and crises around the world — Ukraine, Tigray, South Sudan — all draw from a limited pool of aid.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c7XTwt">
|
|||
|
|
The good news is that <a href="https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/csdb/en/">about 30 percent</a><strong> </strong>of the world’s wheat is in storage, according to Barrett, up from about 24 percent a decade ago. Thanks to a strong harvest in <a href="https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17341-usda-forecast-larger-wheat-stocks-despite-war-but-warns-of-
|
|||
|
|
uncertainty">India</a> and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/12/russia-ukraine-war-wheat-global-food-supply-
|
|||
|
|
panic/">Australia</a> and a predicted bumper crop in the northern hemisphere, as well as a predicted drop in <a href="https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/commodities-commodities-likely-continue-their-hot-streak-2022">feed wheat demand</a>, wheat stocks should be able to meet demand through 2023 and beyond. As Barrett notes, “trade is built for moments like this.” But getting wheat from these more distant areas to the MENA region is more expensive than from the Black Sea region and takes much longer. The main challenge in the short- and medium-term will be getting this wheat to people vulnerable to hunger at a price they can afford.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jt4jWU">
|
|||
|
|
Given that high energy costs and inflation make it more expensive to provide aid, governments — by continuing or expanding <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/price-spike-caused-ukraine-war-will-push-over-40-million-poverty-how-should-we-
|
|||
|
|
respond">social safety nets</a> domestically and by providing foreign aid — need to take steps to reduce unnecessary regulations that raise the costs of feeding the hungry. For example, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) requires that American food aid must come from US farmers, and that at least half of it must be transported in US- flagged vessels. Suspending these regulations on aid could make US food aid <a href="https://www.aei.org/wp-
|
|||
|
|
content/uploads/2017/10/International-Food-Aid-and-Food-Assistance-Programs-and-the-Next-Farm-Bill.pdf#page=14">up to twice as cost-effective</a> and save lives both <a href="https://www.aei.org/american-boondoggle/to-address-ukraines-
|
|||
|
|
humanitarian-needs-suspend-outdated-food-aid-restrictions/">in Ukraine</a> and far beyond its borders.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JHkD7c">
|
|||
|
|
Aid can be given directly through shipments of food or through <a href="https://www.wfp.org/cash-
|
|||
|
|
transfers">cash transfers</a> (either <a href="https://community.givedirectly.org/campaigns/333120a242e385ae">unconditional</a> or <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/wfp-evidence-summary-cash-based-transfers-lessons-evaluations">specifically for food</a>), and every dollar or bushel of wheat saved through streamlined regulations makes a difference. The WFP’s Nada told me there are 18 million people in Syria and Yemen receiving direct food assistance from the WFP. Because of the higher price of wheat, the WFP’s operations are being stretched past the breaking point. “[I]mports from Ukraine account for 31 percent of the wheat arriving in Yemen in the past three months — prices are suddenly seven times higher than they were in 2015,” according to a <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/yemen-millions-risk-ukraine-war-effect-rocks-
|
|||
|
|
region">WFP article</a> from March. “A kilo of wheat flour now costs on average more than 800 rials (around US$3.20) in the south, compared to 146 rials (around US$0.58) before the crisis.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0q3DYY">
|
|||
|
|
Cash transfers or cash-based vouchers for food make up an increasing percentage of WFP’s portfolio, accounting for <a href="https://www.wfp.org/cash-
|
|||
|
|
transfers">37 percent</a> of their global operations in 2020. These, too, have been affected by inflation and rising food prices. “If we give someone, say, a dollar, now a dollar is not worth the same and will not buy him the same amount of food it could buy a year ago or even two years ago,” said Nada.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXz1DG">
|
|||
|
|
Aid is more necessary than ever, but because of rising global prices, donor governments are already hitting up against funding limits, which has left the WFP and other organizations struggling to raise money. It’s imperative that high-income governments, along with development agencies and <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/price-spike-caused-ukraine-war-will-push-over-40-million-
|
|||
|
|
poverty-how-should-we-respond">international finance institutions</a>, ensure sufficient funding to fight hunger. Organizations like USAID have provided additional <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-
|
|||
|
|
releases/mar-16-2022-united-states-announces-nearly-585-million-new-humanitarian-assistance-yemen">aid</a> for the <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/mar-23-2022-usaid-provides-nearly-64-million-emergency-food-
|
|||
|
|
assistance">food crisis</a>, but the shortfall remains.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qTL2s3">
|
|||
|
|
Beyond this, experts say it’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/agroecology/database/detail/en/c/1492674/">imperative</a> that countries producing staples avoid implementing export bans, which exacerbate food insecurity in importing countries by <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/blog/price-spike-caused-ukraine-war-will-push-over-40-million-poverty-how-should-we-
|
|||
|
|
respond">pushing up prices</a>, even if there is <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/reser_e/ersd201208_e.pdf">no actual production shortage</a>. Finally, even though there is no global wheat shortage, it’s important that organizations looking to provide aid take into account the increased supply chain costs in getting food where it needs to be — shipping wheat to Lebanon from, for example, Australia instead of Ukraine takes more time, energy, and money. In the medium term, countries that are high importers will need to take steps, like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S116103011930036X">growing domestic drought-resistant grains</a>, to diversify their food sources and increase domestic production.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQpVSO">
|
|||
|
|
Food is vital to life, and hunger is ruinous on levels both personal — a family not being able to afford iftar — and societal. It can lead to loss of social cohesion, political instability, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07350015.2019.1684301?journalCode=ubes20">increased conflict</a>. There is enough food in the world for everyone, but time and cost are of the essence in ensuring it gets to the people who need it most.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The debate dividing the January 6 committee</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/7B1No1XgAcNmTViC7emhyFssMCg=/539x0:3600x2296/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70752367/GettyImages_1364875325.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Former President Donald Trump prepares to speak at a rally in Florence, Arizona, on January 15. The January 6 committee is split over whether to refer Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. | Mario Tama/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Should they refer Trump to the DOJ for prosecution? Or could that somehow backfire?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Zd3hn">
|
|||
|
|
How will the House committee investigating the January 6 attack address whether Donald Trump committed crimes in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i7COeN">
|
|||
|
|
According to recent reports, there have been some divisions in the committee about this. <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/04/jan-6-panel-trump-criminal-
|
|||
|
|
referral-00022470">Politico’s Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney</a> wrote last week that some of its members “are increasingly skeptical” about whether they should refer Trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/politics/jan-6-trump-criminal-referral.html">New York Times’s Michael Schmidt and Luke Broadwater</a> had a similar story Sunday.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="73yzUL">
|
|||
|
|
The committee can’t actually file charges against anyone, but they can recommend that the Justice Department do so, with a criminal referral. The House has already approved four such referrals from the committee — of Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, and Peter Navarro — for contempt of Congress. (All four aides refused to turn over some or all records to the committee.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1jF6dB">
|
|||
|
|
Panel leaders have been open that they’re <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-panel-
|
|||
|
|
enough-evidence-refer-trump-criminal-charges-cheney-says-rcna23778">assessing</a> whether Trump violated the law, too, and they’ve argued he may have done so <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.160.0_2.pdf">in court</a>. Many anticipated that the committee would eventually put forward a referral for the former president.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZs2O2">
|
|||
|
|
But committee members like Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) downplayed the importance of such a move in these recent stories. “A referral doesn’t mean anything,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/04/jan-6-panel-trump-
|
|||
|
|
criminal-referral-00022470">Lofgren told Politico</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3Un5h">
|
|||
|
|
In practical terms, Lofgren has a point. Once receiving a referral recommending charges against someone, the DOJ is under no obligation to follow through and charge them, and often the agency doesn’t.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aB5G1i">
|
|||
|
|
Yet the question of whether Trump should be referred for prosecution does touch on broader questions of what exactly the committee is trying to achieve, and how Democrats (and Trump’s few Republican critics) are struggling to ensure the former president faces consequences for his attempted election theft.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q4ROPv">
|
|||
|
|
Should the committee’s top priority be to make a maximal political splash, discrediting Trump in the eyes of the public? Or should they focus on trying to help a criminal indictment against Trump actually happen, and to make that case as strong as possible?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VEPUgg">
|
|||
|
|
Is their audience the public, or is it Attorney General Merrick Garland?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wk46KF">
|
|||
|
|
And which strategy will best achieve those aims — if achieving them is even possible?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="2lN51k">
|
|||
|
|
What is the January 6 committee trying to do?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w9h62P">
|
|||
|
|
In one sense, the committee is engaged in a fact-gathering project, trying to document what happened during Trump’s attempt to overturn the election and during the attack on the Capitol. But the committee members have also made clear they view Trump’s behavior as a threat to the functioning of US democracy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6PzlYy">
|
|||
|
|
So they are likely trying to help ensure that doesn’t happen again and to weaken Trump’s chances for a 2024 comeback. They could do that in two ways.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X2tSPB">
|
|||
|
|
The first would be to make their case against Trump in the court of public opinion. If their report contains damning findings about Trump, then perhaps some swing voters might be persuaded not to restore him to office. If this is the main goal, the committee’s report actions and eventual report should be aimed at the public.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U4MnIE">
|
|||
|
|
The second would be to make a criminal indictment of Trump, and perhaps his conviction, more likely. Again, this would in part be about turning up actual damning findings, but the key audience here wouldn’t be the public — it would be top Justice Department officials like Attorney General Merrick Garland.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kV70C88RAHyZko5D4DDGhHrvsro=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23390151/GettyImages_1237552542.jpg"/> <cite>Carolyn Kaster/Pool/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on January 5, addressing the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uk0mPN">
|
|||
|
|
Trump’s critics believe he committed crimes and want him charged — he tried to steal the election, after all! But it’s unclear how likely that is to happen. A recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/us/politics/justice-dept-widens-jan-6-inquiry.html">New York Times report</a> claims federal prosecutors have recently started “seeking information about people more closely tied to Mr. Trump.” These deliberations, though, are happening behind closed doors, and we don’t really know their status.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fU0G3e">
|
|||
|
|
Some Trump critics fear that Garland isn’t taking this matter seriously enough, and hope to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/us/politics/merrick-garland-biden-trump.html">publicly pressure</a> him into doing so (or simply to lay out a strong, reasoned case that Trump should be charged). But others believe that, if a case against Trump really is in the works already, the committee should avoid getting in the way of the DOJ’s work, avoiding any actions that could make such a prosecution look politicized.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wzlINP">
|
|||
|
|
It’s unclear whether the January 6 committee’s behavior will have any significant impact at all on public opinion about Trump (which <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/">has proven difficult to impact</a>) or Garland’s decision-making (which he will try to keep removed from politics). But they might as well try.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="0hsP0o">
|
|||
|
|
To refer or not to refer
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tDmPX4">
|
|||
|
|
The committee could conceivably approach the question of Trump’s criminal liability in a few ways, from weakest to strongest:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li id="8hlXV4">
|
|||
|
|
They could lay out evidence he may have committed crimes but decline to affirmatively state a conclusion on whether he did (this is what special counsel Robert Mueller eventually did in his report on Trump — he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
|
|||
|
|
politics/2019/5/31/18645173/mueller-report-barr-trump-obstruction">decided his team</a> “would not reach a determination, one way or the other, about whether the president committed a crime”).
|
|||
|
|
</li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWXKYG">
|
|||
|
|
They could write that in their view Trump acted criminally, but avoid an explicit referral to the Justice Department.
|
|||
|
|
</li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="26hJyX">
|
|||
|
|
Or they could write that referral and have it voted on by the full House of Representatives.
|
|||
|
|
</li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wezbd2">
|
|||
|
|
Again, a referral is just a recommendation, the Justice Department is under no obligation to follow it, and it might have little practical impact. But for those of the school of thought that Garland needs more public pressure to take a Trump case seriously, this could help achieve that.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZfplzU">
|
|||
|
|
Until recently, the question of what to say about Trump seemed to lie months far in the future, once the committee wrapped up its work, but a twist in the process surfaced it sooner.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pOxtW7">
|
|||
|
|
While attempting to get Trump’s lawyer John Eastman to turn over records, despite Eastman’s claims to attorney-client privilege, the committee argued <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.160.0_2.pdf">in a court filing</a> that his records fell under the “crime-fraud exception.” If an attorney is advising a client on how to commit crimes (rather than just how to defend against them), those communications aren’t privileged.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qp39EY">
|
|||
|
|
To make this argument, the committee had to put forward their best argument that Trump may have committed crimes. So they did. They <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.160.0_2.pdf">argued</a> that their “evidence and information” establish “a good-faith belief” that Trump and others may have engaged in “criminal and/or fraudulent acts.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xs7PjI">
|
|||
|
|
They mentioned three in particular. First was obstruction of an official proceeding (trying to disrupt Congress’s count of the electoral votes on January 6 with actions like pressuring Mike Pence). Second was conspiracy (basically, working with other people to obstruct the proceeding). Third was simple common law fraud (the lies he spread that the election was stolen from him).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GxIux4eZGSglU-dRQThLBMt45Fc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23390204/GettyImages_1388273408.jpg"/> <cite>Drew Angerer/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol met on March 28 to consider a vote to recommend contempt of Congress charges for Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro for refusing to cooperate with subpoenas from the committee as part of their investigation into the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nm3ARI">
|
|||
|
|
The committee did not argue here that Trump affirmatively committed crimes, they just said they have “a good-faith belief” that he “may” have done so. This also wasn’t their whole case, it was a 14-page overview and limited to matters Eastman was involved in.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FdzQXA">
|
|||
|
|
But it was enough to convince the judge who reviewed their claims, David Carter of the Central District of California. In a scorching order, Carter <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.260.0.pdf">wrote in late March</a> that it was “more likely than not” that Trump committed obstruction and conspiracy related to the January 6 vote count. “If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself,” Carter added, in a passage that may well have been aimed at the attorney general.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="aGNwWG">
|
|||
|
|
Did the referral of Trump kind of already happen?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E6RgKa">
|
|||
|
|
Judge Carter’s ruling was a victory for the committee, but it had a surprising effect on some of its members and staff. It persuaded some that a criminal referral letter was now unnecessary and perhaps counterproductive because Judge Carter had kind of already done it. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/us/politics/jan-6-trump-criminal-referral.html">Schmidt and Broadwater of the Times wrote</a>:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xe9UkN">
|
|||
|
|
The ruling led some committee and staff members to argue that even though they felt they had amassed enough evidence to justify calling for a prosecution, the judge’s decision would carry far greater weight with Mr. Garland than any referral letter they could write, according to people with knowledge of the conversations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SSmT8y">
|
|||
|
|
The members and aides who were reluctant to support a referral contended that making one would create the appearance that Mr. Garland was investigating Mr. Trump at the behest of a Democratic Congress and that if the committee could avoid that perception it should, the people said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ya6gh7">
|
|||
|
|
So among these committee members, there’s a belief that Garland now is or will be investigating Trump and that they should stay out of his way. They believe they can still write in their own report that they think Trump committed crimes, but they want to avoid sending that referral letter to the Justice Department. Doing so, they fear, could backfire.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="npgfRB">
|
|||
|
|
But remember that other priority of the committee: trying to impact public opinion. Here, a reluctance to refer Trump for prosecution could be problematic. It could be interpreted by the media, much like the Mueller report, as essentially “backing down.” The referral would be symbolic, but symbols can send a message, and declining to refer Trump (after referring four of his ex-aides) might send the wrong message.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="waBM6b">
|
|||
|
|
There’s also the argument <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/rep-luria-jan-6-committee-has-
|
|||
|
|
responsibility-to-refer-crimes-to-doj-136991813882">put forward by Rep. Elaine Luria</a> (D-VA) recently — that this isn’t about messaging, but rather duty. “If in the course of our investigation we find that criminal activity has occurred, I think it’s our responsibility to refer that to the Department of Justice,” Luria said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWROCs">
|
|||
|
|
The disagreement over a criminal referral concerns something the January 6 committee can control, but the fate of the republic likely doesn’t hinge on it. The decision on whether Trump will be prosecuted will be made by the Justice Department. And the decision on whether Trump will win if he runs in 2024 will be made by voters, most of whom <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2024/president/us/general-election-trump-vs-biden-7383.html">are not so happy</a> with Joe Biden lately.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6d26mv">
|
|||
|
|
The committee can do its best to marginally impact either decision-maker, but the looming sense that Trump might slip away from consequences yet again — or regain power altogether — is a problem they can’t solve on their own.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vf6xzN">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>There are good reasons why Elon wants Twitter</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="In this photo illustration, the Twitter logo is displayed alongside Elon Musk’s profile picture
|
|||
|
|
on his Twitter page." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bj3TWS8leaCRjc_um1x4Icxwt6g=/0x0:4445x3334/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70751192/1239926733.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Elon Musk has offered $43 billion to buy Twitter, a platform where he has over 80 million followers | Photo illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter may not be a great business, but it can buy you power and influence.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sxen6d">
|
|||
|
|
Compared to other social media companies, Twitter is tiny.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QIVSeL">
|
|||
|
|
For years, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/1/21160375/jack-dorsey-twitter-elliott-management-
|
|||
|
|
paul-singer-ceo">investors have criticized it</a> for failing to achieve its full potential. Twitter hasn’t been able to acquire billions of users like Facebook (which has over <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-has-a-user-
|
|||
|
|
problem-and-its-got-nothing-to-do-with-elon-musk-11649952609">11 times more daily active users</a>) or to grow a mega advertising business like Google-owned YouTube (which had over <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/289657/youtube-global-quarterly-advertising-revenues/">five times more revenue</a> than Twitter last quarter).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Swq9v8">
|
|||
|
|
But Elon Musk’s $43 billion offer to buy Twitter on Thursday — <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/4/14/23024962/elon-musk-twitter-43-billion-private-analysis">whether it’s viable or not</a> — shows how important and influential the company is, even when compared to its much larger rivals. There’s a good reason why Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, has already spent about $3 billion to buy the top stake in Twitter and is now spending his time and effort loudly proclaiming that he wants to entirely take over the company. Again, even if Musk is not planning to follow through with the deal, he’s still flexing his power and influence to pressure Twitter to run its business as he desires. The reason Twitter is valuable to Musk is, in essence, the same reason it’s valuable to politicians like former President Donald Trump, who for years pushed to say whatever he wanted on the platform without consequence, until he crossed the line so far that Twitter (and most other social platforms) permanently suspended him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iOgfOy">
|
|||
|
|
For <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/3137261/in-
|
|||
|
|
presidential-campaign-twitter-was-a-powerful-political-tool.html">politicians</a>, business leaders, celebrities, and journalists, Twitter is a key platform for amplifying their messages and controlling their own narratives. Musk’s focus on Twitter, and his efforts to influence how it functions and moderates its users, underscore just how important the company is to public discourse — irrespective of how much profit it makes — and raises questions about who should be able to control a company that holds so much power.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NwqR9G">
|
|||
|
|
Speaking <a href="https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/elon-musk-twitter-takeover/card/elon-musk-to-speak-today-at-the-ted-
|
|||
|
|
conference-ox750VvMJhhyEJWF4k45">at the 2022 TED conference in Vancouver on Thursday</a>, Musk was asked why he wants to buy Twitter: “My strong, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization,” Musk said. “But I don’t care about the economics at all.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XxWZtZ">
|
|||
|
|
There’s good reason to question Musk’s claims that he wants to take over Twitter in the name of defending free speech and civilization, as my colleague <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23022438/elon-musk-free-
|
|||
|
|
speech-twitter-stake-top-shareholder">Whizy Kim has written</a>. But it also makes sense that for Musk, it’s not really about the money he would make or lose off Twitter’s bottom line. Musk’s interest in owning or reshaping the company shows just how valuable the platform is, even if that value comes in the form of soft power.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="wUv84S">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter’s social and political worth is more than its stock price
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LIbiJq">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter is, in many ways, a platform of the elite. While it can sometimes elevate the voices of ordinary people who don’t command massive followings on the platform, it’s most powerful as a communication tool for already prominent and influential people.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o71che">
|
|||
|
|
Though it has <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/970920/monetizable-daily-active-twitter-
|
|||
|
|
users-worldwide/#:~:text=In%20the%20last%20reported%20quarter,discontinued%20reporting%20on%20the%20metric.">about 200 million daily users</a>, Twitter has had an outsized role in shaping politics, particularly in the US as the former platform of choice for Trump until the end of his presidency, when he was permanently suspended for <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22221543/twitter-suspended-trump-account-permanent-ban">tweeting in support of the January 6 Capitol riot</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="30u16U">
|
|||
|
|
In the past, when once-prominent users like Trump, Alex Jones, and Milo Yiannopoulos have been banned from Twitter, they’ve <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22241390/trump-twitter-facebook-
|
|||
|
|
ban-deplatform-alex-jones-milo">turned to alternative platforms for attention</a> but <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22421396/donald-trump-social-media-ban-facebook-twitter-decrease-drop-impact-
|
|||
|
|
youtube">failed to attract the same social media attention</a> they had at their Twitter peak. Twitter is distinct from Facebook and Google in that the financial markets don’t truly reflect its full power, which is why Musk can entertain the idea of buying the entire company with a fraction of his total estimated <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2022/04/05/the-worlds-richest-person-2022/?sh=7f5f557d370f">net worth of over $220 billion</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mENFnE">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter’s importance also makes it vulnerable to exploitation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8v2dRk">
|
|||
|
|
The same VIPs who boost Twitter’s value by tweeting all the time can use it to wreak havoc. Influencers have used Twitter to push <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/21499485/qanon-facebook-twitter-bans-republican-
|
|||
|
|
politics">conspiracy theories like QAnon</a> into the mainstream, <a href="http://tter.com/khamenei_ir/status/1003332853525110784?lang=en">politicians have </a><a href="https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2022/02/07/bolsonaro-gun-threat-social-media/">used it to threaten violence</a>, and celebrities have used it to <a href="https://theconversation.com/nicki-minajs-covid-19-vaccine-tweet-about-swollen-
|
|||
|
|
testicles-signals-the-dangers-of-celebrity-misinformation-and-fandom-168242">promote harmful health misinformation</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eckSPe">
|
|||
|
|
As a result of all these issues, Twitter has in recent years expanded its rules around thorny speech issues, like labeling <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/09/922028482/twitter-expands-warning-
|
|||
|
|
labels-to-slow-spread-of-election-misinformation">false election claims or </a><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-labels/">misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.</a> In its new era, Twitter has begun balancing its commitment to letting people say what they want and minimizing the harms that people can do using its platform. For Musk, there’s value in being the person who sets those terms, and he has made it clear that he will err on the side of allowing as much controversial speech as possible.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jWiPH6">
|
|||
|
|
“Twitter should match the laws of the country,” said Musk at the TED conference on Thursday, then later said, “If it’s a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtHLik">
|
|||
|
|
But allowing absolutely free speech is easier in concept than in practice. If Musk were to buy Twitter, its moderation rules around topics from hate speech to threats of nuclear violence would ultimately be at his discretion or at the discretion of the leaders he puts in charge.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8sVvNI">
|
|||
|
|
If another major tech company like Facebook or Apple tried to buy Twitter, that would likely set off antitrust concerns. But there’s nothing under US law stopping an incredibly wealthy individual like Musk from buying a company with so much power, even though there’s an obvious possibility that Musk could use the platform to shape his own business or political interests.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b4hMFB">
|
|||
|
|
We don’t know yet what will come of Musk’s expressed interest in buying Twitter. It’s worth noting how, despite being the richest man in the world, he may not have the liquid cash to do so, since much of his wealth is tied up in stocks. But this saga highlights how valuable Twitter is, regardless of its bottom line.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Viacom18 launches Sports18, its dedicated sports channel</strong> - Sports18 will be the new home to the world's most premium sports properties, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, NBA, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Abu Dhabi T10, and top ATP and BWF events</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>IPL 2022 | Delhi Capitals physio Patrick Farhart tests positive for COVID-19</strong> - Chennai Super Kings fast bowler Deepak Chahar and KKR pacer Rasikh Salam have both been ruled out of IPL 2022 owing to injuries</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>Latest face-off with BAI could well end Saina's ‘India’ journey at multi-discipline games and team events</strong> - Saina Nehwal took to twitter to slam the Badminton Association of India for not responding to her e-mail</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>Pakistan police arrest man for threatening to conduct terror attack on Australian cricket team</strong> - The Australian cricket team concluded its tour of Pakistan early this month</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>Mumbai Indians in rebuilding mode, you will see great players coming out in few years, says Suryakumar Yadav</strong> - Mumbai Indians bowling has lost the sting in absence of Boult and the spin duo of Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya</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>Oustees of Mallannasagar on warpath again</strong> - They demand payment of remaining compensations within one week</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>Explained | The BJP-Shiv Sena stalemate over the Metro-3 Aarey car shed in Mumbai</strong> - The Centre recently urged the Maharashtra government to keep the car shed at Aarey Colony and not shift it to Kanjurmarg</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>Get national status to Palamuru-RR project, Minister asks BJP</strong> - Niranjan Reddy wants BJP leaders to get ASI nod for Jogulamba temple development</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>Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu offers prayers at Ram Janmabhoomi site</strong> - The vice-president also met some seers.</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>TRS facing farmers’ ire due to power cut: BJP</strong> -</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>Russian warship: Moskva sinks in Black Sea</strong> - The warship sank while being towed a day after Ukraine claimed to have hit it with a missile.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine’s President Zelensky to BBC: Blood money being paid for Russian oil</strong> - Ukraine’s leader tells the BBC that all European countries should have ended Russian energy imports.</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>Sunken Russian warship Moskva: What do we know?</strong> - Russia claims the Moskva sank after an explosion of ammunition, but the ship is thought to have been hit by Ukrainian missiles</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>Germans told to save energy and annoy Putin</strong> - The vice-chancellor says they should use bikes and lower the thermostat to use less Russian gas.</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>French election: Le Pen angered by protest over ties to Putin</strong> - The two rivals for the presidency trade accusations after a woman is manhandled during the campaign.</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>Two versions of the trolley problem elicit similar responses everywhere</strong> - People are very utilitarian when they’re less directly involved. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1848242">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: NASA scrubs third SLS fueling test, Pythom Space strikes back</strong> - “We want that future and that vision to come from Boca Chica.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847143">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>OnePlus 10 Pro review: There’s not much left of the original OnePlus appeal</strong> - Janky software and lacking updates mean there’s too much compromise for $900. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842798">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Physicists devise precise laser-based method to measure a baseball’s drag</strong> - Free-flow tests were more realistic than traditional wind tunnel measurements of drag. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1846726">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Explaining why gamers are adopting Windows 11 more slowly than Windows 10</strong> - We comb through Steam data to see how Windows 11 is faring with enthusiasts. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1848161">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>A doctor goes out and buys the best car on the market, a brand new Ferrari GTO. It is also the most expensive car in the world, and it costs him $500,000. He takes it out for a spin and stops at a red light.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
An old man on a moped, looking about 100 years old, pulls up next to him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The old man looks over at the sleek shiny car and asks, “What kind of car ya got there, sonny?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The doctor replies, “A Ferrari GTO. It cost half a million dollars!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“That’s a lot of money,” says the old man. “Why does it cost so much?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Because this car can do up to 250 miles an hour!” states the doctor proudly.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The moped driver asks, “Mind if I take a look inside?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“No problem,” replies the doctor.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
So the old man pokes his head in the window and looks around.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Then, sitting back on his moped, the old man says, “That’s a pretty nice car, all right, but I’ll stick with my moped!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Just then the light changes, so the doctor decides to show the old man just what his car can do.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He floors it, and within 30 seconds, the speedometer reads 150 mph.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Suddenly, he notices a dot in his rear view mirror – what it could be…and suddenly…
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
WHHHOOOOOOSSSSSHHH!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Something whips by him going much faster!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“What on earth could be going faster than my Ferrari?” the doctor asks himself.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He floors the accelerator and takes the Ferrari up to 175 mph.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Then, up ahead of him, he sees that it’s the old man on the moped!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Amazed that the moped could pass his Ferrari, he gives it more gas and passes the moped at 210 mph.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
WHOOOOOOOSHHHHH!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He’s feeling pretty good until he looks in his mirror and sees the old man gaining on him AGAIN!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Astounded by the speed of his old guy, he floors the gas pedal and takes the Ferrari all the way up to 250 mph.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Not ten seconds later, he sees the moped bearing down on him again!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The Ferrari is flat out, and there’s nothing he can do!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Suddenly, the moped plows into the back of his Ferrari, demolishing the rear end.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The doctor stops and jumps out and , unbelievably, the old man is still alive.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He runs up to the mangled old man and says, “Oh my gosh! Is there anything I can do for you?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The old man whispers, “Unhook my suspenders from your side mirror.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3ytdh/a_doctor_goes_out_and_buys_the_best_car_on_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3ytdh/a_doctor_goes_out_and_buys_the_best_car_on_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>A man wakes up in the hospital. An attractive nurse says “you were in a bad accident and you can’t feel anything from the waist down”…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
So the man replies, “well then can I feel your tits?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
-Gilbert Gottfried original told on the Doug Loves Movies podcast. RIP Gilbert.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Johnny-zamboni"> /u/Johnny-zamboni </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3yb0r/a_man_wakes_up_in_the_hospital_an_attractive/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3yb0r/a_man_wakes_up_in_the_hospital_an_attractive/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>A man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for some crimes that he’d committed.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The 20 years were just about to come to an end when the man falls sick. On his last day he unfortunately ends up in a coma due to the mental distress from living in prison for so long.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
As he is being admitted to the hospital, the policeman runs towards him and extends his sentence to another 20 years!
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
You might think that’s uncalled for, but he was right. You aren’t supposed to end a sentence with a coma.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!--
|
|||
|
|
SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/fleonus"> /u/fleonus </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u434ec/a_man_was_sentenced_to_20_years_in_prison_for/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u434ec/a_man_was_sentenced_to_20_years_in_prison_for/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>“My husband just wants to have sex all the time”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Vented the recently married woman to her sister, “it’s every day like clockwork he gets home from work, takes off his clothes at the doorstep and says “I’m home honey let’s hit the sack”. Don’t get my wrong I love him and the sex is good but I need a break I can barely walk””
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Then the sister says “oh my well what you can do is say is that you have your period and that way he’ll at least leave you alone for a few days to give you a break”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The wife then says: “that’s a good idea, I’ll try that”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
That evening the husband arrives and quickly starts undressing like usual, then the wife tell him “oh hi honey, I know you are in the mood but here is the thing, I Just got my period today”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The husband then after a long pause of silence goes to the kitchen and brings two glasses of champagne, puts some easy listening music. The wife then says: “oh how romantic and thoughtful babe, but what are we celebrating?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Husband then smirks and says: “It’s Backdoor week honey”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GlomerulaRican"> /u/GlomerulaRican </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3l36t/my_husband_just_wants_to_have_sex_all_the_time/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3l36t/my_husband_just_wants_to_have_sex_all_the_time/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Dating Rituals</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
<em>[Found this joke on an old computer file. There’s enough here to offend virtually everyone …]</em>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
WHITE WOMEN First date: You get to kiss her goodnight. Second date: You get to grope all over and make out. Third date: You get to have sex, but only in the missionary position.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
IRISH WOMEN First Date: You both get blind drunk and have sex Second Date: You both get blind drunk and have sex. 20th Anniversary: You both get blind drunk and have sex.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
ITALIAN WOMEN First Date: You take her to a play and an expensive restaurant. Second Date: You meet her parents and her Mom makes spaghetti and meatballs. Third Date: You have sex, she wants to marry you and insists on a 3-carat ring. 5th Anniversary: You already have 5 kids together and hate the thought of having sex. 6th Anniversary: You find yourself a girlfriend.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
JEWISH WOMEN First Date: You get dynamite oral sex. Second Date: You get more oral sex. Third Date: You tell her you’ll marry her and never get oral sex again.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
CHINESE WOMEN First date: You get to buy her an expensive dinner, but nothing happens Second date: You buy her an even more expensive dinner. Nothing happens again. Third date: You don’t even get to the third date and you already realized nothing is going to happen.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
INDIAN WOMEN First date: Meet her parents. Second date: Set the date of the wedding. Third date: Wedding night
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
BLACK WOMEN First Date: You get to buy her a real expensive dinner. Second Date: You get to buy her and her girlfriends a real expensive dinner. Third Date: You get to pay her rent. Tenth Date: She’s pregnant by someone other than you.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
MEXICAN WOMEN First Date: You buy her an expensive dinner, get drunk on Tequila, and have sex in the back of her car. Second Date: She’s pregnant. Third Date: She moves in. One week later ~ her mother, father, his girlfriend, her two sisters, her brother, all of their kids, her grandma, her father’s girlfriend’s mother, her two cousins, her sister’s boyfriend and his three kids move in and you live on rice and beans for the rest of your life in your home that used to be nice, but now looks like a home along the Rio Grande.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The POINT? DON’T YOU JUST LOVE IRISH WOMEN?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Waitsfornoone"> /u/Waitsfornoone </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3qn86/dating_rituals/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/u3qn86/dating_rituals/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|