845 lines
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HTML
845 lines
126 KiB
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>18 September, 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>Hasan Minhaj’s “Emotional Truths”</strong> - In his standup specials, the former “Patriot Act” host often recounts harrowing experiences he’s faced as an Asian American and Muslim American. Does it matter that much of it never happened to him? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/hasan-minhajs-emotional-truths">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rage of the Toddler Caucus on Capitol Hill</strong> - Not even a Biden impeachment can soothe them out of a government shutdown. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-rage-of-the-toddler-caucus-on-capitol-hill">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A.I. and the Next Generation of Drone Warfare</strong> - The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative envisions swarms of low-cost autonomous machines that could remake the American arsenal. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/ai-and-the-next-generation-of-drone-warfare">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Ken Paxton Verdict Is Not the Vindication Republicans Want</strong> - The Texas attorney general was acquitted of corruption charges, but the trial further damaged the Republican brand. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-ken-paxton-verdict-is-not-the-vindication-republicans-want">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Futility of the Never Trump Billionaires</strong> - Benjamin Wallace-Wells writes about the difficulties facing Republican Party factions that hope to put forth a nominee who can stand as a strong alternative to Donald Trump. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-futility-of-the-never-trump-billionaires">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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<li><strong>Has Apple Pay made it too easy to spend money?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Apple CEO Tim Cook smiling and holding an iPhone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YEktr-nvj0IodtxrB40SBGYgzTM=/399x0:4042x2732/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72659999/AP23150539905149__1_.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Apple Pay leads the tap-to-pay market, which has exploded in popularity in the last few years. | Jeff Chiu/AP
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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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Tap-to-pay makes spending money fun, easy, and virtually invisible.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FrgJOF">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/apple">Apple</a> released iOS 17 on September 18 and now that the new operating system is here, you can probably leave your wallet at home.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Ewkux">
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The latest version of iOS expands <a href="https://www.apple.com/ios/ios-17-preview/">what you can do with Apple Wallet</a>, including how you pay for stuff and how you can use your iPhone to <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213329">show your government ID</a>, bringing the physical wallet closer to being obsolete. It also marks a step forward in Apple’s steady march toward becoming a sort of bank. Now, the company offers the Apple Card, a high-interest savings account, and interest-free buy now, pay later loans with <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/03/apple-introduces-apple-pay-later/">Apple Pay Later</a>, which launched earlier this year. This was almost a decade after the initial rollout of Apple Pay, which offered iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch users the ability to buy things in stores by tapping their devices to a reader. With the latest update, Apple is continuing to make it clear that your smartphone isn’t just for calls, texts, and snapping a quick pic of dinner — it can handle everything related to your finances, too.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TFgoVM">
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But it’s one thing for your phone to make video calls a piece of cake, and another for it to make spending money so easy.
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</p>
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<aside id="Es6rCT">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wGHbPj">
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When Apple Pay launched in 2014, one big criticism was that it tried to solve <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/upshot/apple-pay-tries-to-solve-a-problem-that-really-isnt-a-problem.html">a nonexistent problem</a>. Credit cards were already easy to use. Who really needed a tap-to-pay feature?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hbir72">
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While it’s probably true that no one has thrown their hands up in utter confoundment at the prospect of swiping a credit card, the point of tap-to-pay technology wasn’t just to solve a problem for consumers. It can also grease the wheels of freer spending and help tech companies make money from these mobile transactions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DRbMrl">
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Today, the ability to shop with the tap of your phone is everywhere. Between 2019 and 2020, contactless payments soared by an <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/december-2021-findings-from-the-federal-reserve-payments-study.htm">impressive 172 percent</a>; Visa reported in a recent <a href="https://s1.q4cdn.com/050606653/files/doc_financials/2023/q2/CORRECTED-TRANSCRIPT-Visa-Inc-V-US-Q2-2023-Earnings-Call-25-April-2023-500-PM-ET.pdf">earnings call</a> that a third of in-person card transactions in the US are now tap to pay. The uptake is even higher in major metropolitan areas: In New York, where contactless pay for its sprawling subway system was introduced in 2021, the payment method accounts for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-pay-iphone-wallet-apps-11660780139">almost half of all physical transactions</a> now. Apple says that almost all US retailers accept Apple Pay, and according to <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/research/apple-entry-adds-to-ecosystem-turbulence-in-buy-now-pay-later-market">tech research firm 451 Research</a>, it’s the second most-used digital wallet after PayPal — pretty impressive considering it entered the market over a decade after PayPal. Tap to pay as a whole is a $300 billion industry in the US, with no signs of slowing down.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VfbbU9">
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As mobile payments become more accessible, the act of consumption becomes more invisible. And that could spell trouble. Big tech companies like Apple are offering an onslaught of more frictionless ways to part with money. That also means they’re quickly becoming powerful arbiters of how we spend money, how much we spend, and what we spend on — all without facing the same strict regulations actual financial institutions, like banks, face.
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</p>
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<h3 id="44RBiw">
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A new way to spend — and spend, and spend
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIIk4x">
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The biggest draw of tap to pay is how easy it is, which may also be its biggest problem. Studies show that how much you’ll spend at a store <a href="https://mitsloan.mit.edu/press/mit-sloan-study-shows-credit-cards-act-to-step-gas-to-increase-spending">hinges on how you’re paying</a>. Cash is arguably the most restrictive and cumbersome; there’s an unbendable limit on what you can spend, and the money takes up physical space in your wallet. As credit cards overtook cash, research on consumer habits revealed that people are much more willing to <a href="http://web.mit.edu/simester/Public/Papers/Alwaysleavehome.pdf">fork over money in the form of a credit card</a>, leading to people making larger purchases and even becoming better tippers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9A2hOd">
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It’s not merely that cash is more irritating. It’s more <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/09/spending-personal-finance-pain-of-paying">psychologically painful</a> to pay with dollar bills and coins because there’s a tangible exchange taking place: the loss of countable, hard-earned money for the gain of some item. It makes you think twice about what you place in your shopping cart.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="19GVrp">
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“When we lose something of value, it’s like a squirrel losing a nut and then feeling bad about the fact that he doesn’t have one more nut,” says Manoj Thomas, a professor of marketing at Cornell University.
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<aside id="pwANiM">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rermIZ">
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The visibility of losing a nut matters because it’s not a rational thought process. Debit card spending patterns, for instance, are more akin to credit than cash. But even though the money is immediately withdrawn from your bank account when you use a debit card, you don’t actually see that you’re losing a tangible “nut,” so you’re less pained by the spending.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PaW5gy">
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While tap to pay is still pretty new, there’s evidence that paying with your phone is even less painful than using a plastic debit or credit card. One <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612318301909">2019 study</a> found evidence that people using mobile payments — not only tapping their phone to pay but scanning QR codes or other payment methods through the phone — were more likely to have higher “financial risk tolerance” and display costly credit card behavior, which includes paying late fees or only making minimum payments.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="An Apple Store employee scans an iPhone with a handheld reader while a customer stands and watches." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ug0HTiISOz7h6EI2X7UE9QaDTYs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24925773/GettyImages_1243278492.jpg"/> <cite>Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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An Apple Store employee helps a customer with an iPhone purchase.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="loufka">
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Another consequence of not using cash is that it’s harder to remember the damage. People who use cash more accurately recalled how much they spent than people who used credit cards or mobile pay, according to a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4497598">University of Warwick preprint paper</a>. Between contactless debit, PIN-verified debit, and cash payments, contactless had the worst recall. (Interestingly, PIN-verified credit and debit led to poorer recall than contactless credit, debit, and mobile payments.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QuGWUe">
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If just your debit card is linked to your phone, that also puts a hard cap on spending. But once you add your credit card to the tap-to-pay feature, you’re confronted with all the pitfalls of credit card swiping, which may even be amplified. What’s more, certain kinds of purchases become more common with credit cards or mobile payments. “What I found is that people spend more money on snacks, beverages — what’s typically considered discretionary purchases,” Thomas explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GW21n9">
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The advent of credit cards solved the problem of not having enough cash on hand at the moment, enabling people to make bigger purchases. Yet there were still plenty of scenarios where cash made more sense. Stores often had minimum amounts to swipe with a card to cover the transaction fees charged by credit issuers, so buying a stick of gum at the corner store required cash.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZQ7Td">
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But now even that distinction has blurred. More retailers have embraced the use of credit cards (or no longer even accept cash), in part because <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/business/small-business-cashless-digital-payments.html">so many customers now want to go cashless</a>. With tap to pay, smaller purchases with credit cards have become more common. According to Mastercard, a <a href="https://www.mastercard.com/news/press/press-releases/2020/april/mastercard-study-shows-consumers-globally-make-the-move-to-contactless-payments-for-everyday-purchases-seeking-touch-free-payment-experiences/#:~:text=As%20consumers%20increasingly%20seek%20out,first%20quarter%20of%2020201.">whopping eight in 10 contactless payments in early 2020</a> were for purchases under $25, which it notes is “typically dominated by cash.” The Federal Reserve also found that <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/december-2021-findings-from-the-federal-reserve-payments-study.htm">tap to pay was used more often for smaller purchases</a> than plastic credit cards, with an average value of $30.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AILtoH">
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Merchants also had another reason to adopt tap to pay and do away with credit card minimums: Customers tend to spend more overall if they’re not using cash. The dollar amount of an average purchase might be smaller with tap to pay, but the total number of purchases can increase. As Thomas put it, “Businesses are realizing that people spend a lot more when they use more abstract modes of payment.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="TMFpE3">
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Big tech’s big push into our wallets
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NgujRu">
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Tap to pay is just the dip of a toe in the ever-expanding waters of financial services that tech companies are rushing to offer.<strong> </strong>On top of Apple Pay, the Apple Card, and Apple Pay Later, Apple’s long-term plans include rolling out a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-30/apple-is-working-on-project-to-bring-financial-services-in-house">suite of in-house financial services</a>, as reported by Bloomberg last year. While it’s not clear yet how successful Apple Pay Later will be, the company has reason to be optimistic. Apple Pay is arguably the gateway to its increasingly lush ecosystem of financial features, and it has a healthy lead over competitor Google Pay as the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/technology/apple-iphone-17.html"> iPhone continues to dominate the smartphone market</a>. A little over half of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-iphone-smartphone-market-dominant-android-7914e6b0">smartphone users in the US have chosen an iPhone</a>, and over 55 million people in the US now use Apple Pay, according to <a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/apple-pay-later-how-bnpl-users-may-greet-apple-s-new-product">Insider Intelligence</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oKKheq">
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From activating Apple Pay — which the iPhone <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-insists-iphone-users-enroll-in-apple-pay-with-a-red-badge-that-wont-go-away-1522753200">strongly prods new owners to do</a> — it’s a small hop to a whole host of other current and future services that would make Apple the central vault of your personal finances. As my colleague Sara Morrison has reported, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/4/26/23698215/apple-iphone-banking-card-savings-pay-later">iPhone is well on its way to becoming your bank</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="06Nij8">
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Your phone isn’t only a place to store your credit or debit card information for mobile payments, but also the home for your savings account, your boarding passes, digital keys and passwords, vaccination cards, and even your driver’s license.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A close-up of a person using Apple Pay for an in-store transaction." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Y8YuyG1-z6qXc-8uJTKES-w0uMk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24925646/AP17255674435054.jpg"/> <cite>Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Since launching Apple Pay in 2014, Apple has steadily rolled out improvements that make it even easier to use.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9bkgaA">
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Apple’s fintech push is also coming alongside the launch of hardware subscriptions, which would let people pay a monthly fee to rent an iPhone. <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4623702-apple-inc-aapl-q3-2023-earnings-call-transcript">Most iPhones aren’t purchased outright</a> but through a trade-in program, installment plan, or other kinds of financing, but the subscription is especially ideal for people with not-so-great credit. All of this encourages people to spend — and to do so through Apple.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6TvCG9">
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Apple is also renowned for a design philosophy that streamlines every aspect of the user experience, whether by removing buttons or simplifying software so that the functions are easy to understand and intuitive to use — just recall how audiences gasped when <a href="https://youtu.be/VQKMoT-6XSg?si=o61Br476Poq4xl_n&t=2004">Steve Jobs showed off pinch-to-zoom</a> on the original iPhone. This kind of ease of use is great when it comes to checking your voicemails or browsing your photo album, but becomes potentially problematic when it comes to spending money, something companies like Apple want us to do even if we can’t afford to. Apple Pay just requires a double-click of the iPhone’s side button and a glance at the screen for Face ID to confirm your purchase. The iPhone even gives you a quick buzz and makes a pleasing ding when the payment goes through. With the Apple Watch, you can even use a <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212760">simple hand gesture</a> to bring up tap to pay.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8WySas">
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The availability and ease of use of Apple Pay has really paid off for the tech giant: Analysts estimate the company made about <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-pays-long-road-to-paying-off-is-getting-shorter-7a179c75">$1.9 billion last year</a> from Apple Pay transaction fees charged to credit issuers.
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That big number is why there’s a brewing battle over some of Apple’s policies. In a recently <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-report-highlights-role-of-big-tech-firms-in-mobile-payments/">released report</a>, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau flagged Apple’s practice of blocking third-party developers from accessing its NFC chip, the tech that enables tap-to-pay in smartphones. Apple ensures that every iPhone owner who wants to use contactless payments goes through Apple’s payment service, and the CFPB contends that it’s essentially a form of regulation Apple is imposing on other companies.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FRvd2X">
|
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|
“We only think this is going to become more critical going forward, as the shift from cash to cards to now mobile devices is estimated to increase and intensify,” a CFPB spokesperson tells Vox.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOYgs2">
|
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|
Apple’s singular dominance isn’t just bad for other competitors in the space; the lack of meaningful competition is ultimately bad for consumers, leading to fewer choices and possibly higher costs for the consumer. The fintech industry — particularly with buy now, pay later programs — has been luring in customers with promises of convenience, easier access to credit, and lower interest rates than traditional finance, but with its entrance into the sector, Apple threatens to heavily influence how fintech works and how much more reliant consumers become on credit and loans. Its foray into buy now, pay later is especially worthy of scrutiny, as the ease of spreading out payments also coaxes spending, considerably <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/buy-now-pay-later-is-boosting-sales-but-signs-of-users-stress-are-emerging-c4ce0417">increasing sales for some retailers</a> in recent years. Just five buy now, pay later companies <a href="https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_buy-now-pay-later-market-trends-consumer-impacts_report_2022-09.pdf">loaned out $24 billion in 2021</a>, an explosion of over 1,000 percent from 2019, according to a report by the CFPB. Meanwhile, credit card debt reached a historic high this summer, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/08/economy/us-household-credit-card-debt/index.html">topping $1 trillion</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6mMFQJ">
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|
“People have recently been spending more,” says Bruce McClary, vice president of marketing at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. “They’ve been using their credit cards more frequently for things that they might have otherwise paid for in cash several years ago.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mA2dxe">
|
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|
|
And they’re not just carrying higher balances, either. Delinquency rates for credit cards are <a href="https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/interactives/householdcredit/data/pdf/HHDC_2023Q2">back up to pre-pandemic levels</a>. With student loan payments <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/31/politics/student-loan-payments-resume/index.html">set to resume this fall</a>, these are worrying signs.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XavbSS">
|
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|
|
The growing reliance on credit makes it all the more likely that tech giants’ entry into fintech will be attractive to consumers, even if using these financial products wouldn’t be in their best interest. Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed that it’s <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4600254-apple-aapl-q2-2023-earnings-call-transcript">“helping people live a healthier day</a>” through Apple Pay and the Apple Card, citing that the Apple Card has no annual fees and that its savings account has a high interest rate. But even if it wants to position itself as a more trustworthy bank or financial adviser than what we’re used to, the reality is that Apple is a tech company, not a bank. Banks are regulated financial institutions, while big tech companies are, well, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22529779/antitrust-bills-house-big-tech">not regulated</a>. They have no fiduciary duty to customers.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W5wmQl">
|
|||
|
|
“There’s a blurring of the lines between banking and commerce, and that is very concerning in itself,” says the CFPB spokesperson.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="krbrEG">
|
|||
|
|
Still, if fintech companies wanted to urge some financial restraint, they could in theory resist making spending through your phone so slick, intangible, and addictive. With Apple Pay specifically, there’s something soothing or even pleasurable about the haptic buzz and little <a href="https://www.kqed.org/futureofyou/439443/those-smartphone-dings-are-turning-you-into-a-pavlov-dog">dopamine-inducing ding</a> when a payment goes through. But payment platforms could “build in more points of friction so that the process of paying gets slowed down a bit — this is both psychologically and financially safer,” says Merle van den Akker, a behavioral economics expert and one of the authors of the University of Warwick preprint.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SczX70">
|
|||
|
|
It’s pretty unlikely that any company would add obstacles to spending money through their platform when their plan for making money — ideally, a lot of money — depends on being as frictionless as possible.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The Supreme Court’s new term will be dominated by dangerous and incoherent lawsuits</strong> -
|
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|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Justice Clarence Thomas sitting in an audience, laughing." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5GDH_JKBO4VxLCywX7IfWnwIMzc=/0x0:6164x4623/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72659958/1236038622.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas while he waits to speak at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</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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|
|
Believe it or not, there are worse judges than Brett Kavanaugh. And now Brett needs to clean up their mess.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ukj4Yy">
|
|||
|
|
No matter how bad the <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a> gets, it can always get worse.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HK6NOT">
|
|||
|
|
This reality will be on full display in a few weeks, when the justices return for the Court’s new term at the beginning of October. Indeed, on October 3, the second day of that term, the Court will hear a case where the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/27/23496264/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-trump-court-immigration-housing-sexual-harrassment">far-right</a> United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/20/23414311/cfpb-unconstitutional-fifth-circuit-supreme-court-trump-community-financial">declared an entire federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, unconstitutional</a>.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P3ZIDE">
|
|||
|
|
In the unlikely event that the justices uphold this decision, a <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-448/266839/20230515120807734_230503a%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf">brief filed by the banking industry</a> explains to the Supreme Court, the entire US mortgage market could seize up, as banks will have no idea what rules they need to comply with in order to issue loans. Worse, because home-building, home-resale, and related industries make an estimated 17 percent of the US gross domestic product, such a decision risks economic devastation unheard of since the Great Depression.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xmHB8d">
|
|||
|
|
And this case, known as <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-v-community-financial-services-association-of-america-limited/"><em>CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association</em></a>, is one of at least six cases the Court will most likely decide this term where Fifth Circuit judges issued legally indefensible decisions that will have calamitous results if they are not reversed. That court, which is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/27/23496264/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-trump-court-immigration-housing-sexual-harrassment">dominated by the most reactionary Trump appointees</a> and similarly minded judges, has become the forum of choice for litigants pushing preposterous legal arguments that are unlikely to fly elsewhere, even in a very conservative judiciary.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="58Jb9t">
|
|||
|
|
By next June, the Supreme Court is likely to toss out a Fifth Circuit decision nuking the federal government’s power to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">prevent companies from defrauding investors</a>. It is also likely to reverse a Fifth Circuit decision holding that people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders — meaning that a court has determined that they are a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/2/23583377/supreme-court-guns-domestic-abuse-fifth-circuit-second-amendment-rahimi-united-states">violent threat to their romantic partner or their partner’s child</a> — have a constitutional right to possess a gun.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCLfQK">
|
|||
|
|
And, on top of these three cases, which the Court has already agreed to hear in its upcoming term, it will also likely take up three other cases where the Fifth Circuit took leave of its senses. These include <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.213145/gov.uscourts.ca5.213145.506860229.1.pdf"><em>Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA</em></a>, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/8/16/23834926/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-fifth-circuit-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">attempts to ban the abortion medication mifepristone</a>; <a href="https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/17/17-30864-CV4.pdf"><em>Doe v. Mckesson</em></a>, which effectively strips political organizers of their <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/21/23766954/first-amendment-protest-supreme-court-fifth-circuit-deray-mckesson-doe">First Amendment right to organize a protest</a>; and <a href="https://casetext.com/case/netchoice-llc-v-paxton-2"><em>NetChoice v. Paxton</em></a>, which allows Texas’s GOP-controlled legislature to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/12/23068017/supreme-court-first-amendment-twitter-facebook-youtube-instagram-netchoice-paxton-texas">seize control of content moderation at social media sites</a> like <a href="https://www.vox.com/twitter">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.vox.com/youtube">YouTube</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PNVvC9">
|
|||
|
|
At least for now, in other words, the Court’s upcoming term could potentially be very different from the two that proceeded it, where <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/7/8/23784320/supreme-court-2022-term-affirmative-action-religion-voting-rights-abortion">the Court’s GOP-appointed majority seemed to be on a mission</a> to seek out longstanding precedents that are out of favor within the Republican Party, and destroy them. Those decisions appear to have emboldened the most reactionary voices within the judiciary, leaving the justices with a whole lot of messes to clean up.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JqRPFR">
|
|||
|
|
Which is not to say that Democrats will have much to celebrate when the justices leave town again next June. Many of the Fifth Circuit’s decisions are so poorly reasoned, and so destructive of the interests of the United States, that it would be genuinely shocking if a majority of the justices sign onto them. The Supreme Court will deserve no credit for moderation simply for reversing these decisions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HWH9i7">
|
|||
|
|
That is, if it does reverse them. The Supreme Court is still dominated by conservative Republicans, three of whom were appointed by <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>. So there’s always some risk that a majority of the justices will accept even the most outlandish arguments by their fellow Republican appointees on the Fifth Circuit.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="duP3rR">
|
|||
|
|
Meanwhile, the Court will hear at least one case, <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/loper-bright-enterprises-v-raimondo/"><em>Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo</em></a>, involving a legal doctrine <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/2/23706535/supreme-court-chevron-deference-loper-bright-raimondo">reviled by the conservative Federalist Society</a>. <em>Loper Bright</em> asks the justices to overrule something known as the “<em>Chevron </em>doctrine,” which limits the power of the federal judiciary (which is currently controlled by the Republican Party) to overrule decisions made by the executive branch (which is currently led by a Democrat).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CyHUVx">
|
|||
|
|
Additionally, the Court will hear cases that could <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/acheson-hotels-llc-v-laufer/">weaken many civil rights laws</a>, and that could <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/15/23724075/supreme-court-gerrymandering-voting-rights-south-carolina-naacp-alexander">invigorate racial gerrymandering</a>. And it’s likely that the Court will take up one or more cases involving <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/7/10/23789633/supreme-court-lgbtq-lw-skrmetti-transgender-health-care-jeffrey-sutton-sixth-circuit">state laws that target transgender youth</a> before the upcoming term is complete.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dmexC">
|
|||
|
|
Even so, it’s hard to miss just how much the Fifth Circuit looms over the justices’ upcoming term. And, while the Court is unlikely to show much moderation, it is likely to remind the Fifth Circuit that the judiciary does not exist to sow chaos for its own sake.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="2cOWAn">
|
|||
|
|
The Fifth Circuit’s CFPB decision could trigger a global economic depression if it is upheld by the justices
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="39qXoB">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> created the CFPB two years after a toxic mix of unwise mortgages and unsafe financial assets <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/9/18/17868074/financial-crisis-dodd-frank-lehman-brothers-recession">threw both the US housing market and US lending markets into turmoil</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIT28n">
|
|||
|
|
As the Supreme Court has explained, the CFPB “has the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-7_n6io.pdf">sole responsibility</a> to administer 19 separate consumer-protection statutes that cover everything from credit cards and car payments to mortgages and <a href="https://www.vox.com/student-loan-debt">student loans</a>.” Many of these statutes are longstanding banking regulations and consumer protections that were previously overseen by other agencies — that authority was transferred to the CFPB by the 2010 law creating the agency.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BLc9vv">
|
|||
|
|
Though the primary purpose of the CFPB is to protect consumers from potentially abusive behavior by banks and other lenders, it also provides an important service to the banking industry itself. In the last dozen or so years, the agency has promulgated various rules <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-448/266839/20230515120807734_230503a%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf">telling lenders how to comply with their obligations under federal law</a> — laying out which disclosures lenders must make to borrowers, and providing a “safe harbor” to banks that issue loans below a certain rate.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ViN7M">
|
|||
|
|
Without these rules in place, the mortgage industry <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-448/266839/20230515120807734_230503a%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf">warns in a brief to the justices</a>, lenders and other players in this industry simply would not know how to comply with the law. “This would leave market participants unable to certify compliance and invite challenges relating to past certifications, representations, and warranties,” the brief explains. “As a result, the mortgage market could grind to a halt.” And if it did, it could very well <a href="https://www.vox.com/22106497/supreme-court-collins-mnuchin-124-billion-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-unitary-executive-housing">bring the rest of the global economy down with it</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0N2mJQ">
|
|||
|
|
Nevertheless, the Fifth Circuit’s decision in <a href="https://aboutblaw.com/5mY"><em>Community Financial Services v. CFPB</em></a>, a case <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-v-community-financial-services-association-of-america-limited/">the Supreme Court will hear in October</a>, invites all of these catastrophic consequences and more. The Fifth Circuit’s decision claims that the mechanism Congress used to fund the CFPB is unconstitutional, a decision that would potentially <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/20/23414311/cfpb-unconstitutional-fifth-circuit-supreme-court-trump-community-financial">invalidate everything the agency has ever done</a> because it would mean that the CFPB was not allowed to spend a single dollar on anything, including hiring regulators to write lending rules.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xK1ZvI">
|
|||
|
|
Nor is it entirely clear that the government could unravel this mess over time, at least without passing a new law that would have to clear the Republican-controlled House. When Congress created the CFPB, it <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-7_n6io.pdf">transferred administration of 18 preexisting federal banking and lending laws</a> from other agencies to the CFPB. And the Fifth Circuit’s decision doesn’t restore this authority to those other agencies, it merely forbids the CFPB from doing — well, anything at all that requires funding or paid staff.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mEJ5yX">
|
|||
|
|
The Fifth Circuit claimed that the CFPB’s funding stream violates a clause of the Constitution that provides that “no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-1/section-9/clause-7/appropriations-clause">but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law</a>.” There are two important things to know about this provision of the Constitution. One is that, according to the Justice Department, before the Fifth Circuit struck down the CFPB, “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-448/266373/20230508190055738_22-448tsUnitedStates.pdf">no court has ever held that an Act of Congress violated</a>” this clause.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x4G4xL">
|
|||
|
|
The other important thing to know about the Constitution’s Appropriations Clause is that the Supreme Court said in a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/301/308/">1937 opinion</a> that it “means simply that no money can be paid out of the Treasury unless it has been appropriated by an act of Congress.” Congress passed a law in 2010 creating a funding stream for the CFPB. Therefore the CFPB is constitutional.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TS0gtl">
|
|||
|
|
Additionally, the justices will review — and hopefully reverse in its entirety — the Fifth Circuit’s decision in <a href="https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-61007-CV0.pdf"><em>Jarkesy v. SEC</em></a>. That decision attempted to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">neutralize much of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority to protect investors from fraud</a>, but it also reaches much further than that.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3pmgzn">
|
|||
|
|
Among other things, the Fifth Circuit’s <em>Jarkesy</em> decision <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/19/23130569/jarkesy-fifth-circuit-sec">questions the constitutionality of administrative law judges</a>, officials employed by about 30 different federal agencies to resolve disputes ranging from whether an investment fund defrauded its investors to whether an impoverished American is entitled to federal benefits. There are about 2,000 of these ALJs in the federal government, more than twice the number of Article III judges (judges who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7xJW4A">
|
|||
|
|
If AFJs are not allowed to do their <a href="https://www.vox.com/labor-jobs">jobs</a>, in other words, the federal government would lose about two-thirds of its capacity to adjudicate legal disputes, hindering enforcement while simultaneously forcing vulnerable Americans to wait years to learn if they will receive Social Security and other benefits.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="Qq7fl9">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court needs to clean up a giant mess it created with an irresponsible Second Amendment decision
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pXlcGz">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf"><em>New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen</em></a> (2022) is a grand experiment in <a href="https://www.vox.com/21497317/originalism-amy-coney-barrett-constitution-supreme-court">originalism</a>, the idea that the only legitimate way to read the Constitution is to determine how it was understood around the time when it was drafted or ratified.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BOLUUu">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Bruen</em> scrapped a framework the courts had used for more than a decade to decide Second Amendment cases, and replaced it with a novel new framework that required judges to ask whether gun laws are “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/23/23180205/supreme-court-new-york-rifle-pistol-clarence-thomas-second-amendment-guns">consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation</a>.” Among other things, <em>Bruen</em> ruled that, when a challenged gun law “addresses a general societal problem that has persisted since the 18th century, the lack of a distinctly similar historical regulation addressing that problem is relevant evidence that the challenged regulation is inconsistent with the Second Amendment.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S9Wghm">
|
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|
A little more than one year after <em>Bruen</em>, it is now clear that this experiment with originalism is a failure. Judges simply have no idea how to conduct the sort of historical inquiry that <em>Bruen</em> demands. Headlines evaluating the decision warn that “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/07/28/bruen-supreme-court-rahimi-00108285">Clarence Thomas Created a Confusing New Rule That’s Gutting Gun Laws</a>” or that judges are “<a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/judges-confused-by-supreme-courts-historical-test-for-gun-laws">Confused by Supreme Court’s Historical Test for Gun Laws</a>” or that <em>Bruen</em> “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/supreme-court-decision-creates-confusion-firearm-restrictions-constitutional/story?id=96364133">creates confusion over which firearm restrictions are constitutional</a>.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jgUE2E">
|
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|
Even some lower court judges, a cohort that is typically reluctant to criticize the justices because the Supreme Court has more or less limitless power to sabotage a lower court’s decisions, have warned that <em>Bruen</em> is riddled with “<a href="https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/USAvBullockDocketNo318cr00165SDMissAug212018CourtDocket?doc_id=X48SJLOUFS78HGO7LA48UN3P2RO">methodological flaws</a>” and that <em>Bruen</em> invites judges to cherry-pick historical sources to “fit the needs of people looking for ammunition in their causes.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bXFXuP">
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One consequence of <em>Bruen</em> is the Fifth Circuit’s decision in <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/firearmspolicyfoundation/pages/3970/attachments/original/1675361904/United_States_v_Rahimi_Opinion.pdf"><em>United States v. Rahimi</em></a>, which struck down a federal law prohibiting individuals from “possessing a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order.” That is, the Fifth Circuit held that people who have been determined, by a court, to be a violent threat to their romantic partner or their partner’s child have a constitutional right to own a gun.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pg8eR4">
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The most alarming thing about this decision is that it is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/2/23583377/supreme-court-guns-domestic-abuse-fifth-circuit-second-amendment-rahimi-united-states">far from clear that the Fifth Circuit was wrong in <em>Rahimi</em></a>, at least if you accept <em>Bruen </em>as legitimate. Domestic violence certainly existed before the 19th century, but no state made assaulting one’s spouse a crime until 1871, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a husband and wife “<a href="https://flaglerlive.com/wp-content/uploads/Fulghamv.State_.pdf">may be indicted for assault and battery upon each other</a>.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nKHiYn">
|
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A responsible Supreme Court would recognize that <em>Bruen</em> is unworkable, and seize upon the <em>Rahimi</em> case as an opportunity to overrule it. Realistically, however, that outcome is unlikely.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GuOFxN">
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|
That said, several of the Court’s Republican appointees have endorsed creating categorical carveouts to the Second Amendment for individuals who are potentially a threat to others. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, for example, supports “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf">longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill</a>.” <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/9/26/21457704/trump-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-nominee">Justice Amy Coney Barrett</a> wrote, when she was still a lower court judge, that “<a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca7/18-1478/18-1478-2019-03-15.pdf?ts=1552685416">legislatures have the power to prohibit dangerous people from possessing guns</a>.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2835b">
|
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It is fairly likely, in other words, that the Court will hold that people subject to domestic violence restraining orders are outside the scope of the Second Amendment — even if the justices insist on maintaining the folly that is <em>Bruen</em>.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="uDhMhO">
|
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|
We may find out what the justices actually think about voting rights
|
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</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pd038Q">
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One year ago, if the Supreme Court were planning to hear <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/alexander-v-south-carolina-state-conference-of-the-naacp/"><em>Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP</em></a>, an appeal of a lower court’s decision striking down a racially gerrymandered congressional district in South Carolina, that would have been a cause of considerable alarm for anyone who supports liberal democracy in the United States.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tm63Ww">
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Until recently, the Court’s Republican-appointed majority appeared <a href="https://www.vox.com/22575435/voting-rights-supreme-court-john-roberts-shelby-county-constitution-brnovich-elena-kagan">quite hostile toward the right to vote</a>, and especially toward the right to be protected from race discrimination at the polls. In <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/570/529/"><em>Shelby County v. Holder</em></a> (2013), for example, the Court’s Republicans ruled that a key provision of the Voting Rights Act violates “‘fundamental principle of equal sovereignty’ among the States,” a principle that <a href="https://www.vox.com/22575435/voting-rights-supreme-court-john-roberts-shelby-county-constitution-brnovich-elena-kagan">appears nowhere in the Constitution</a>, and that seems to have been made up solely to attack this one provision of law.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xivJsA">
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|
Similarly, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-1257_g204.pdf"><em>Brnovich v. DNC</em></a> (2021), the Court’s Republicans <a href="https://www.vox.com/22575435/voting-rights-supreme-court-john-roberts-shelby-county-constitution-brnovich-elena-kagan">simply invented a bunch of new limits on the Voting Rights Act</a>, such as a strong presumption that voting restrictions that were commonplace in 1982 are lawful, that appear nowhere in any law or in the Constitution. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in dissent, <em>Brnovich</em> “mostly inhabits a law-free zone.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4SGUJk">
|
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|
But then, last June, the Court surprised pretty much everyone who pays close attention to <a href="https://www.vox.com/voting-rights">voting rights</a> litigation by affirming a lower court decision that <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/8/23753932/supreme-court-john-roberts-milligan-allen-voting-rights-act-alabama-racial-gerrymandering">struck down a racial gerrymander in Alabama</a>, in a case called <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf"><em>Allen v. Milligan</em></a> (2023). That decision not only reaffirmed longstanding voting rights protections that Chief Justice John Roberts has <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/8/23753932/supreme-court-john-roberts-milligan-allen-voting-rights-act-alabama-racial-gerrymandering">opposed for most of his career</a>, but it is also expected to garner the Democratic Party an additional seat in the US House.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tiTwN8">
|
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|
|
<em>Alexander</em> will offer another test of whether the Court has changed course from its decisions in <em>Shelby County</em> and <em>Brnovich</em>, or if <em>Milligan</em> was <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/7/26/23806856/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-allen-milligan-defiance-brett-kavanaugh">just a one-off</a> that won’t lead to any meaningful shift in the Court’s posture toward democracy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MRtWEl">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court has said that federal courts may not undo partisan gerrymanders, maps that are drawn to benefit a particular political party, but they may sometimes intervene to block <em>racial</em> gerrymanders — that is, maps that are drawn to diminish the voting power of voters of a particular race. In <em>Alexander</em>, the lower court determined that South Carolina Republicans essentially <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/15/23724075/supreme-court-gerrymandering-voting-rights-south-carolina-naacp-alexander">used race as a proxy to determine which voters are Democrats</a>. They then limited the number of Black voters who would be placed within the state’s First Congressional District, in order to increase the chance that this district would elect a Republican — the First District is currently represented by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V3nVkD">
|
|||
|
|
This map, in other words, was both a racial gerrymander and a political gerrymander.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oq0cDE">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court held in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-1262_db8e.pdf"><em>Cooper v. Harris</em></a> (2017) that “if legislators use race as their predominant districting criterion with the end goal of advancing their partisan interests,” then that use of race is presumptively unconstitutional, even if the lawmakers were motivated by partisan goals and not by overt racism. As <em>Cooper</em> explained, “the sorting of voters on the grounds of their race remains suspect even if race is meant to function as a proxy for other (including political) characteristics.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4CVNQl">
|
|||
|
|
But only five justices joined the majority opinion in <em>Cooper</em>, and one of them was the late <a href="https://www.vox.com/21446222/ruth-bader-ginsburg-death-dead-supreme-court">Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a>, who Trump replaced with the conservative Barrett. So it is unclear whether this Court will still honor the rule it announced in <em>Cooper</em>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O1qZVI">
|
|||
|
|
In any event, after the Court’s surprising decision in the Alabama gerrymandering case, it’s difficult to predict how the Court will approach <em>Alexander</em>. And it is entirely possible that there will be five justices who agree that South Carolina’s racial gerrymander must be struck down.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="xJPGwr">
|
|||
|
|
The Court could concentrate even more power within the Republican-controlled judiciary
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TMtAOW">
|
|||
|
|
Myriad federal laws <a href="https://www.vox.com/22276279/supreme-court-war-joe-biden-agency-regulation-administrative-neil-gorsuch-epa-nondelegation'">delegate some amount of policy discretion to an agency</a> within the executive branch of government. A 2003 federal law known as the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-117/pdf/STATUTE-117-Pg904.pdf#page=1">Heroes Act</a>, for example, gives the Secretary of Education broad authority to “waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the student financial assistance programs … as the Secretary deems necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i5bHHp">
|
|||
|
|
This statute is the reason why the <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Biden administration</a>‘s now-defunct plan to cancel many borrowers’ student loans was legal. It was explicitly authorized by an act of Congress.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fz7MTv">
|
|||
|
|
But, of course, if you are waiting for the loan cancelation that you are legally entitled to, you’re going to have to wait a really long time. That’s because, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22-506_nmip.pdf"><em>Biden v. Nebraska</em></a> (2023), the Court’s Republican majority effectively eliminated most of the power that Congress gave to the education secretary when it passed the Heroes Act.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hI7Rmw">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Nebraska</em> relied on something known as the “major questions doctrine,” a new legal rule that was recently invented by the Supreme Court and that effectively allows the courts to <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23791610/supreme-court-major-questions-doctrine-nebraska-biden-student-loans-gorsuch-barrett">veto any action by a federal agency that they deem to be too big</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R4juzf">
|
|||
|
|
By its own terms, however, this major questions doctrine only allows judges to veto agency actions involving matters of “vast ‘economic and political significance.’” Most <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> handed down by federal agencies deal with much smaller issues than Biden’s loan forgiveness program — issues like <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/16-2280/16-2280-2018-07-09.html">how much nitrogen may be discharged by a wastewater treatment plant</a>, or how to conduct hearings that determine <a href="https://casetext.com/case/helen-mining-co-v-elliott">which coal mine workers are entitled to certain disability benefits</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8RerKW">
|
|||
|
|
In <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/loper-bright-enterprises-v-raimondo/"><em>Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo</em></a>, the Supreme Court will decide whether to overrule its seminal decision in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/467/837/"><em>Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council</em></a><em> </em>(1984), which held that courts should defer to an agency’s reading of federal law if it is unclear whether the agency had the legal authority to promulgate a particular regulation. <em>Chevron</em> typically required judges to defer to policymaking decisions by agencies, regardless of whether those decisions involved major or minor questions. So decisions like <em>Nebraska</em> have already overruled <em>Chevron</em> with respect to the most consequential actions by agencies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iv5f37">
|
|||
|
|
<em>Loper Bright</em>, in other words, tees up the question of whether the courts will have the final word on pretty much every policy question that Congress intended a federal agency to resolve. If <em>Chevron</em> is overruled, the GOP-controlled federal judiciary will gain the power to micromanage virtually any policy decision made by officials within the Biden administration, including small-bore decisions that do not fit within the so-called major questions doctrine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qwMAvT">
|
|||
|
|
As a practical matter, that would make the United States government both less democratic and less competent. The <em>Chevron</em> decision was grounded in two insights. One is that “judges are not experts” in the kind of specialized and technical questions that often come before federal agencies. So, if we give too much regulatory authority to judges, we’re going to wind up with a very poorly governed nation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XUmZ8R">
|
|||
|
|
The other insight is that requiring unelected federal judges to defer to policy decisions made by the executive branch is more democratic than the alternative. “While agencies are not directly accountable to the people,” the Court said in <em>Chevron</em>, agencies answer to a president who is accountable to the voters. And so “it is <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/467/837/">entirely appropriate for this political branch of the Government to make such policy choices</a>.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="EnAzgL">
|
|||
|
|
The Court could preemptively shut down wealth taxes
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ojaQpI">
|
|||
|
|
Ordinarily, a taxpayer’s profits on an investment are not taxed until they are “realized,” meaning that the investor has sold the investment or otherwise received the value of those profits. This rule, the Supreme Court explained in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/helvering-v-horst#p116"><em>Helvering v. Horst</em></a> (1940), is “founded on administrative convenience.” It is often difficult to determine how much an investment is actually worth — especially if that investment is in something other than a publicly traded company — until the investment is sold.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HcSMNY">
|
|||
|
|
Delaying taxation until the taxpayer’s profits are realized eliminates the problem where neither the taxpayer nor the government can determine how much the taxpayer actually owes on an unsold investment.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I0u4Fw">
|
|||
|
|
That said, the tax code <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/prospects-moore-damage-our-tax-code">does currently tax some unrealized investments</a>. Securities dealers, for example, are taxed on the unrealized gains from those securities. Certain foreign investments are also taxed prior to realization.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Weur8x">
|
|||
|
|
In <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/moore-v-united-states-3/"><em>Moore v. United States</em></a>, the plaintiffs ask the justices to rule that the Constitution effectively forbids taxation of unrealized assets. The case was brought by investors who want a refund on taxes they paid on a foreign investment, but <em>Moore</em> is widely viewed as a <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/prospects-moore-damage-our-tax-code">stalking horse against the sort of wealth taxes</a> supported by many Democrats.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EbKtoZ">
|
|||
|
|
Several leading Democrats, <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/bidens-new-taxes-billionaires-one-hard-one-easy">including President Joe Biden</a>, support various proposals to tax extremely wealthy individuals on their accumulated wealth. If the Court decides to prohibit taxes on unrealized profits, however, these proposals are likely dead in the water.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="hN9mnO">
|
|||
|
|
A terrible civil rights lawsuit could lead to some terrible civil rights law
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QYGuXh">
|
|||
|
|
Four decades ago, in <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/455/363.html"><em>Havens Realty v. Coleman</em></a> (1982), a unanimous Supreme Court held that civil rights organizations may use “testers” to challenge discrimination by private businesses.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KGaQ9Z">
|
|||
|
|
In <em>Havens Realty</em>, a civil rights organization sent two individuals, a Black person and a white person, to “test” whether two apartment complexes would discriminate on the basis of race. Sure enough, the white tester was told that the complexes had vacant apartments available, while the Black tester was allegedly lied to and told that no apartments were available.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9bM1BZ">
|
|||
|
|
The Constitution does not permit anyone to file a federal lawsuit <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/17/22538462/supreme-court-obamacare-california-texas-stephen-breyer-standing-individual-mandate-constitution">unless they have been injured in some way by the defendant</a> — a requirement known as “standing.” <em>Havens Reality</em> held that the Black tester had standing to sue the apartment complexes because she was allegedly treated differently than white testers, a classic case of racial discrimination.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aNQBKq">
|
|||
|
|
Testers are an important part of civil rights enforcement because they can smoke out discrimination that might otherwise go undetected. Ordinarily, if a family inquires about renting an apartment and is told that none are available, they are likely to simply walk away. And, even if they suspect discrimination, how are they to prove it unless they happen to know about a family of another race that received contradictory information from the same landlord?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QeXY7R">
|
|||
|
|
But this term the Court will hear a case brought by a self-described “tester,” <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/acheson-hotels-llc-v-laufer/"><em>Acheson Hotels v. Laufer</em></a>, which seriously tests the limits of constitutional standing.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xxPC26">
|
|||
|
|
The plaintiff in <em>Acheson Hotels</em> is a woman who, according to the defendant’s brief, has “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-429/268427/20230605160031302_22-429%20ts.pdf">sued over 600 hotels</a> … claiming that they failed to post accessibility information on their websites,” in violation of a federal regulation that requires hotels to inform potential customers of whether their rooms are accessible to disabled people. (The regulation does not actually require the rooms to be accessible, but it is intended to prevent disabled patrons from booking a room and traveling to a distant town, only to learn that their room is inaccessible to them.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2YVQfl">
|
|||
|
|
Significantly, this plaintiff apparently has no intention of actually staying in any of these hotels.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBfMD2">
|
|||
|
|
As a constitutional matter, this plaintiff should not have standing to sue all of these hotels. The Supreme Court has long held that a party filing a federal lawsuit must allege a “<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10150124802357408838&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">particularized</a>” injury, meaning that they must have been injured in some way that is specific to the plaintiff, and that is not shared in common by the general public. But the plaintiff in <em>Acheson Hotels</em> does not allege any kind of particularized injury. She merely alleges she is unable to find information online that is also unavailable to everyone else in the world.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nfhNXL">
|
|||
|
|
That said, there is a risk that the current, very conservative Supreme Court will use <em>Acheson Hotels</em> not simply to hand down a narrow decision preventing this particular woman from suing any hotel in the country, but to attack the power of testers who actually experienced a legitimate injury — such as the Black tester in <em>Havens Realty </em>who was actually treated differently than a white tester — to file civil rights suits.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="MAlKoL">
|
|||
|
|
We are about to learn just how dangerous the Supreme Court’s current majority really is
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HcnlJJ">
|
|||
|
|
Let’s bring this discussion back to where it started. While the Court will hear several important cases this term that were not previously heard by the most reactionary members of the Fifth Circuit, this term will require the justices to review an alarming volume of decisions handed down by judicial arsonists.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ftgb0G">
|
|||
|
|
One completely normal thing that happens when the Supreme Court moves to the right is that the mix of cases heard by the justices also lurches sharply rightward. Liberal lawyers become cautious about bringing lawsuits they are likely to lose, while conservative lawyers try to shoot the moon — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/12/21319929/supreme-court-term-liberals-win-conservative-john-roberts-neil-gorsuch-abortion-daca-guns">raising arguments that would have no chance of prevailing before a more moderate bench</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dVDTHu">
|
|||
|
|
It is also inevitable that <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/8/20/23835730/supreme-court-optimism-democracy-moore-milligan-talevski">many of these conservative moonshots will overreach</a>, making arguments that go too far even for the likes of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dboOJM">
|
|||
|
|
Thus far, at least, most of the current justices have shown little patience for legal arguments that seek to <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/8/23754267/supreme-court-ketanji-brown-jackson-medicaid-health-hospital-talevski">dismantle entrenched parts of the US welfare state</a>. Or that <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/6/27/23775378/supreme-court-moore-harper-john-roberts-independent-state-legislature-north-carolina-bush-gore">fundamentally threaten democracy in the United States</a>. Or that could <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/24/22547545/supreme-court-collins-yellen-124-billion-housing-unitary-executive-samuel-alito-neil-gorsuch">trigger a second Great Depression</a>. Thus, there is good reason to think that the justices will rein in the Fifth Circuit.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MyJgEU">
|
|||
|
|
But, make no mistake. The Fifth Circuit has crossed a dangerous line. And the Supreme Court must step in and correct them. Harshly.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4EGuU3">
|
|||
|
|
If it does not, that would mean that the Supreme Court of the United States has been captured by a reactionary political movement that seems to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/8/29/23849054/supreme-court-nuclear-safety-fifth-circuit-james-ho-radioactive-texas-commission">engaged in a systemic campaign to dismantle US state capacity</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The ocean is rising — and so is Miami’s skyline</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Buildings on Miami’s shoreline in Brickell." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sY2F91YwkqvVob06C1L_scJtvhQ=/588x0:4985x3298/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72647967/Brickell_Water.0.jpeg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Some of Miami’s most valuable real estate is also its most vulnerable as sea levels rise. But that’s not stopping new construction in these areas. | Umair Irfan/Vox
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The coastal city wants to build its way out of climate change. Is that smart?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7nbs86">
|
|||
|
|
A shrill industrial alarm buzzes inside the dimly lit hangar, warning everyone that an <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2022/fiu-receives-12.8-million-nsf-grant-to-design-an-extreme-wind,-surge-and-wave-testing-facility">8,400-horsepower</a> machine made of 12 towering yellow fans is about to power up. Normally that’s a cue for everyone to get out of the way, but in hard hats and goggles, Steven Diaz and a half-dozen visiting scientists stand on a turntable, where the paths of the fans converge.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MnHo5P">
|
|||
|
|
A high-pitched whine gets louder and is quickly overwhelmed by the sound of rushing air.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UhKKPK">
|
|||
|
|
An unseen operator ramps the wind speed up to 30 miles per hour, and gusts whip at their clothes. It holds for a minute. Then the fans power down.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WnKpuu">
|
|||
|
|
“He’s being conservative with this,” said Diaz, the site operations manager for this laboratory. Indeed, this is a tiny fraction of the power of these fans, which can drive winds up to 157 mph, the threshold for a <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.php">Category 5 hurricane</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XAvWeh">
|
|||
|
|
“I don’t think you would be able to stand on the turntable with the fans at full speed,” Diaz said dryly. “It would blow you back.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JLZJm9">
|
|||
|
|
The aptly named <a href="https://cee.fiu.edu/research/facilities/wall-of-wind">Wall of Wind</a> at Florida International University in Miami is meant to blow back buildings. The hangar doors on the other side of the fans open out to a grass lot surrounded by netting to catch any stray debris. Here, inside the world’s most powerful hurricane simulator, scientists test structures, from scale models to full-size replicas, against the forces of nature. They inject water into the airflow to mimic downbursts and spray bubbles to track the eddies and currents. They watch with high-speed cameras and monitor pressure sensors to see how well different designs stand up to storms.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A man in a hard hat gestures in front of a giant yellow fan." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UgB-ahnUd1eYdrVwy181S_2pf6Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921851/DIazWOW.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Steven Diaz, operations manager for the Wall of Wind, explains how the facility simulates hurricanes.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A view into a dark wind tunnel with several fans at the end." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KuHa4vIRdtNDq0PxNLCOAX_2isk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924491/Umair_Vox.jpg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The Wall of Wind can move air at speeds up to 157 miles per hour.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jXSH6Q">
|
|||
|
|
Miami is at the water’s edge of understanding exactly how buildings fall apart under hurricanes and how to make them stand up to future storms. Results from labs like the Wall of Wind help officials decide where buildings can be built, what materials they need to use, and even what kinds of <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/building/library/guidelines/roofing-fasteners.pdf">roofing nails</a> are required.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LkAu9m">
|
|||
|
|
The lab is part of a research initiative that emerged in the wake of <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2022/30-years-later-hurricane-andrews-legacy">Hurricane Andrew</a>, a gargantuan storm that walloped South Florida in 1992. At the time, it was the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/news/220822-hurricane-andrews">most expensive and most destructive storm</a> to ever hit the US. In response, city, county, and regional officials began updating building codes, while researchers brought a more scientific approach to the changing hazards in the region.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jHTPg0">
|
|||
|
|
As rising average temperatures alter the realm of what’s possible, researchers are bracing for even more severe scenarios. FIU last year began upgrades to the lab to <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a40379165/hurricane-test-facility-simulates-200-mph-winds/">simulate winds up to 200 mph</a> and storm surges as high as 20 feet, conditions that could afflict Miami in the future. From there, the process of testing, developing new codes, and deploying them in the real world will begin again.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RfawPx">
|
|||
|
|
By 2040, Miami will have sea levels anywhere from <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/resilience/sea-level-rise-flooding.page">10 to 17 inches</a> above where they were in 2000, though studies this year found that sea levels have already risen <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/10/sea-level-rise-southern-us">around Florida faster than expected</a>. When a cyclone rolls in, a few inches of sea level rise can lead to <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/10/how-sea-level-rise-contributes-to-billions-in-extra-damage-during-hurricanes/">several more feet of storm surge</a> — and billions of dollars more in damages.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gVeu6y">
|
|||
|
|
Yet <a href="https://commercialobserver.com/2022/08/a-building-boom-in-miamis-brickell-bucks-national-bust/">Miami is seeing a construction boom</a> with tower cranes cropping up in thickets amid the high-rises, building taller on the coast’s notoriously soft, water-logged soil. Miami-Dade County recently reported <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/miami-sees-its-first-population-drop-in-decades-e181171f">a population decline</a>, but it’s the first drop after decades of intense growth. From 2010 to 2020, the metro region’s population <a href="https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/planning/demographic/2020popsum.pdf?sfvrsn=8c77f8b0_2">rose by more than 660,000</a>, creating intense demand for offices, stores, hotels, and homes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="High rises and tower cranes are interspersed in the Miami skyline, seen from a highway." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9R67FT2xQFyNRN02YtW3UMBvONU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24922012/Construction.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Construction is booming in Miami.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nwNrj6">
|
|||
|
|
Miami’s enduring magnetism in the face of growing risks from <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a> has made it a laboratory in its own right, with experiments in how revised building codes, novel construction techniques, and resilient urban design fare in the real world, constrained by money and the practical needs of millions of people. Can Miami truly research, plan, design, and engineer its way through extreme heat, rising seas, and more devastating disasters?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vz70KM">
|
|||
|
|
The results of Miami’s experiments in adapting to climate change are critical for the rest of the country. More than 40 percent of the US population <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html">lives in a coastal county</a>, and that number is growing. <a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/states/fast-facts/economics-and-demographics.html">Nearly half of the country’s economic</a> output is in sight of the shore, and without any interventions, the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0227436">rising seas will displace millions of people</a>. “The risks have been there, and with climate change, they’re going to intensify,” said <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/resilience/home.page">James Murley</a>, the chief resilience officer for Miami-Dade County. “That’s the same for any major urban area in the world.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="RZQjzc">
|
|||
|
|
The extraordinary challenges of building in Miami, explained
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WwRtMM">
|
|||
|
|
The sand and the sea are powerful draws, but simply being next to the ocean introduces challenging conditions for buildings. Left unshielded or unmonitored, even massive structures can succumb to the elements.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DHK9i1">
|
|||
|
|
In 2021, the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, partially collapsed, killing 98 people. The <a href="https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2023/06/new-videos-available-ncst-champlain-towers-south-investigation">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a> is still conducting its investigation, which it expects to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1179197153/surfside-florida-condominium-collapse-champlain-towers-south">complete in spring 2024</a>. However, the condominium complex previously reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/miami-building-collapse-investigation.html">structural damage to its concrete</a> due to water leaks from its pool. Inspectors also found rebar corrosion due to relentless exposure to the salty coastal air and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/surfside-condo-collapse-salt-groundwater-rcna16473">saltwater rising from the ground</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="The former Champlain Towers South site in Surfside, Florida, fenced off with black netting, with a sign reading “Public Beach Exit” on one side." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZydoNeHWA91BTLYsxuHd06jEq0U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921932/Champlain_Tower_Site.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Investigators are still trying to figure out why the Champlain Towers South condominium partially collapsed in 2021, but early signs point to saltwater corrosion in its concrete.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6khwtK">
|
|||
|
|
On top of this, the global climate is changing, and Florida is warming especially fast. The state’s average temperature <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23724924/weird-strange-weather-dust-flood-fort-lauderdale-heat-climate">rose more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit</a> in the past decade, according to <a href="https://www.coaps.fsu.edu/david-zierden">David Zierden</a>, Florida’s state climatologist and a researcher at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xDWGQ4">
|
|||
|
|
That has several major consequences for the Miami metropolitan area. Miami proper is home to 440,000 people. Miami-Dade County, which encompasses 34 cities including Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Doral, and Surfside, has more than <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/miamidadecountyflorida/POP060210">2.6 million residents</a>. The metro region — spanning Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach — includes more than <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MIMPOP">6 million residents</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4tGEvP">
|
|||
|
|
Higher average temperatures mean more frequent and greater extreme heat events. Coupled with Miami’s legendary humidity, heat waves are already a potent health threat. By the middle of this century, Miami-Dade is poised to experience <a href="https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/temperature/">134 days a year with a heat index above 100 degrees F</a>, more than triple the rate between 1971 and 2000. Like many parts of the world, Miami just experienced its <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/historic-heat-july-2023-was-miamis-hottest-month-on-record/3083329/">hottest July on record</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iUicYG">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/sea-surface-temperature/">Ocean temperatures</a> are rising too, at the surface and below. The waters around Florida this year reached the <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23801858/caribbean-heat-wave-dominica-ocean-marine-sea-coral-fish">highest temperatures measured</a> in more than a century, leading to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/26/1190218132/florida-ocean-temperatures-101-marine-life-damage">coral bleaching and threatening other marine life</a>. Hot water is also <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23816029/hurricane-2023-season-forecast-tropical-storm-ian-florida">fuel for hurricanes</a>. Patches of hot sea surface waters can cause these storms to rapidly intensify, a phenomenon that emerged in <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23850601/hurricane-idalia-florida-wind-forecast-storm-surge-flood-rapid-intensification">Hurricane Idalia</a> as it made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region in August. More recently, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/09/weather/hurricane-lee-path-saturday-climate/index.html">Hurricane Lee</a> underwent one of the fastest rapid intensifications on record as it churned in the <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/">hottest Atlantic Ocean</a> waters ever measured for the time of year.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yCvIbZ">
|
|||
|
|
Another climate change effect is that as air warms up, it can hold onto more moisture. That means when rainstorms occur, they dump a lot more water. An April rainstorm dumped a record-breaking <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/04/14/florida-fort-lauderdale-flooding/">88 billion gallons of water</a> on Fort Lauderdale, one-third of the city’s typical annual rainfall, leading to upward of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/04/12/fort-lauderdale-flooding-florida-weather">4 feet of flooding</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<div>
|
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<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
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|
<img alt="Cars sit in a flooded street caused by a deluge of rain from a tropical rain storm passing through Miami, Florida." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AZ31eUAkhsphe-9h2tnLB06XP60=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921998/MiamiFloodGetty.jpeg"/> <cite>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</cite>
|
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|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A tropical storm in June 2022 dropped 10 inches of rain on Miami, leading to extensive flooding.
|
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|
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</figcaption>
|
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|
</figure>
|
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</div>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u7oaJO">
|
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|
Rising temperatures also raise sea levels as ice caps melt and the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/how-warming-water-causes-sea-level-rise/">water in the ocean expands</a>. That means more flooding during <a href="https://www.miamigov.com/My-Government/ClimateChange/King-Tides">king tides</a>, abnormal but predictable high tides that occur in the region between September and November. King tides cause flooding, even when it’s bright and sunny out. They’re projected to occur <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/global/news-item.page?Mduid_news=news1506958000324763">more frequently, last longer, and reach further inland</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DGkJyh">
|
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|
|
Higher sea levels also lead to <a href="https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/indicator-saltwater-intrusion/">more saltwater intrusion</a> as salty ocean water enters fresh water supplies. This dynamic has accelerated as cities overdraw on groundwater. Rising sea levels also <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/27/21403161/hurricane-laura-storm-surge-flooding-unsurvivable">amplify storm surges</a>, which are often the deadliest aspect of hurricanes. They occur when storms push seawater ashore, often worsened by torrential rainfall.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v7A4RU">
|
|||
|
|
Together, this adds up to one of the most difficult environments in the world to build in, and the challenge is growing.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="uVm7r4">
|
|||
|
|
How Southeast Florida is trying to build, adapt, and thrive under climate change
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hIBbUQ">
|
|||
|
|
At the same time, Miami residents have a lot of reasons to hold their ground. The region is a popular vacation spot, but it’s also an alluring place to live for students, families, and retirees.
|
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|
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</p>
|
|||
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<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
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<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="High rises next to Miami Beach, with a high rock seawall protecting the beach." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2P0YRemBSz57CVy_Zfkm0reG4h8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24922111/MB_HighRises.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The Miami region saw more than 26 million visitors in 2022.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hZH5qQ">
|
|||
|
|
Some of the most valuable real estate is taking root in some of the most vulnerable areas. Last year, developers broke ground on the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/miamis-first-supertall-tower-breaks-ground-11667307538">Waldorf Astoria tower</a> in the Brickell business district, just a couple blocks from a flood zone off Biscayne Bay. The 100-story, <a href="https://www.waldorfastoriadowntown.com/">1,049-foot tower</a> of skewed stacked cubes will be the tallest building in Florida when it’s completed in 2027.
|
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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="Jt2V2a">
|
|||
|
|
“In what world does this make sense? Well, in a world where developers, profit, and business motivations are primary,” said <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/people/melissa-finucane">Melissa Finucane</a>, vice president of science and innovation at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who studies decision-making around environmental risks.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HbTufO">
|
|||
|
|
PMG, the developer behind the Waldorf Astoria, says it’s bringing a suite of new technologies to endure Miami’s looming dangers, assuaging the worries of wealthy buyers. A two-bedroom condominium at the Waldorf Astoria starts at <a href="https://www.waldorfastoriadowntown.com/prices">$2.8 million</a>. More than 80 percent of the units have already been sold. Despite its innovations, the building exemplifies defiance in the face of increasing risk. PMG declined to comment for this story.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Cranes and concrete barriers mark off a construction site next to a busy Miami street, with sun shining brightly through the surrounding buildings." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oqkOg-meLwS5FvZpSHI7cc49RHA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921755/MelodyTimothee_Miami_06.jpg"/> <cite>Melody Timothee for Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The construction site of the Waldorf Astoria tower in the Brickell business district of Miami.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
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</div>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GUgBf9">
|
|||
|
|
Miami leaders are also branding the city as a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-miami-caught-a-wave-and-became-the-hot-new-tech-hub-job-growth-real-estate-boom-pandemic-talent-regulation-11659707811">tech hub</a> with aspirations to become a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-09-20/citadel-s-ken-griffin-brings-billions-to-make-miami-wall-street-south">financial capital</a>, pitching low business taxes, no state income tax, and lower levels of regulations than other metro regions. Those low taxes mean the local governments have to fund their operations with property taxes and taxes on tourists, creating an <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23372996/hurricane-ian-tampa-florida-miami-storm-surge-flood">incentive for more development in popular coastal regions</a>. The Miami metro region has a GDP topping <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RGMP33100">$340 billion and rising</a>. Its airports are gateways to the Caribbean and Latin America, and its ports are vital hubs for cargo and cruise ships.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6k8meC">
|
|||
|
|
All this development coupled with climate risks has forced Miami’s built environment to evolve. Architect <a href="https://www.borgesarchitects.com/about">Reinaldo Borges</a> has a portfolio of buildings all over Florida, but Brickell — Miami’s steel-and-glass business district where the towering Waldorf Astoria is taking root — is his home turf. His firm designed the <a href="https://www.borgesarchitects.com/infinity-i-brickell">Infinity</a> condominium tower, the 1060 Brickell Avenue condos, and the <a href="https://www.borgesarchitects.com/megacenter-brickell">Megacenter</a> storage and office complex in the neighborhood.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Architect Reinaldo Borges, in round-framed glasses and a patterned black shirt, gestures as he talks on the pool deck of the Four Seasons." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YJesN3TOzgUOinVdDTm1I-ctknI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921930/Borges.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Architect Reinaldo Borges describes the climate-resilient design features of the skyscrapers in Miami’s Brickell business district.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="liK3CN">
|
|||
|
|
From the lobby of the Four Seasons, Borges noted that while the skyline may be the most visible feature of the neighborhood, Miami’s unique and subtle, climate-conscious design language is expressed at ground level.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ls2UAB">
|
|||
|
|
Once you notice its expressions, you’ll see them everywhere: Many skyscrapers in the Brickell neighborhood have lobbies 8, 10, or 12 feet above the sidewalk. In other areas with older buildings, however, the entrances are below street level as sidewalks and roadways were rebuilt to higher elevations over the years. It’s rare that you would enter a building without climbing stairs or a ramp. Instead of glass storefronts at the sidewalk, buildings have vents for elevator shafts, HVAC systems, or entrances to parking garages.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A5By2Q">
|
|||
|
|
These are adaptations in response to a looming threat. More than half of Miami-Dade County is <a href="https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/environment/2023-03-11/miamis-hidden-high-ground-what-sea-rise-risk-means-for-some-prime-real-estate">6 feet or less</a> above sea level. “Brickell here is about 8 feet above sea level,” Borges said. “Walk towards the bay, and you’ll see that it’s downhill and it goes to 3 feet.” The neighborhood has flooded before, even when <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article266437706.html">there wasn’t a hurricane blowing water inland</a>. But when <a href="https://mashable.com/article/hurricane-irma-miami-flooding-brickell-surge">Hurricane Irma struck in 2017</a>, it turned Brickell’s streets into rushing rivers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A girl sits on a fire hydrant on a street flooded with several inches of water after Hurricane Irma hit Miami in 2017." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yyW1lJ3pKLayFTiDrVGDeubUmks=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921943/GettyMiamiIrmaFlood.jpeg"/> <cite>Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Hurricane Irma in 2017 flooded streets throughout the Brickell neighborhood in Miami.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pEOefH">
|
|||
|
|
So, architects have designed the offices and condos here to accommodate high water. They’ve installed laminated glass to withstand hurricane winds and gates to keep the storm surge off driveways. But as average temperatures rise, the water levels will climb. Even if the lobbies stay dry, the ground and basement level support structures will be inundated, possibly rendering elevators, air conditioners, parking garages, and backup power systems useless. The glass may not shatter, but the lights may not stay on.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="825AyL">
|
|||
|
|
“Just because you elevate the main level of a tower like this doesn’t mean that you’re solving all the problems and all the challenges of now and 100 years into the future,” Borges said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QsNx76">
|
|||
|
|
How does an architect actually design a skyscraper in Miami, and how does a construction crew build it?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2gaUSS">
|
|||
|
|
To build up, they must first dig down. That’s where the problems begin. The region has <a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/TR004">little bedrock suitable for heavy construction</a> and a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article259021453.html">high water table</a>, the height of the boundary where underground soil and rock are saturated with water. Dig a hole, and water will quickly seep in, if it doesn’t fill in from above first. Rather than building on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41062-016-0010-2">concrete basement slabs</a> or rafts, high-rise buildings in Miami are often built on piles — long vertical columns driven or screwed deep into the ground — or a combination of slabs and piles. Many buildings also use a technique called <a href="https://www.cement.org/cement-concrete/cement-specific-materials/geotechnical/deep-mixing-method">deep soil mixing</a>, where construction crews blend cement directly into the surrounding soil, creating an impermeable “bathtub” around the substructure.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E8Gjgo">
|
|||
|
|
“Those foundation systems have a great track record,” said <a href="https://arch.illinois.edu/people/profiles/thomas-leslie-faia/">Thomas Leslie</a>, a professor of architecture at the University of Illinois who studies skyscrapers. “They’re not cheap, but they work.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kBpts1">
|
|||
|
|
At ground level, the structure must shield its metal from saltwater corrosion. As rooflines rise, architects have to start to account for the wind. There are the ordinary prevailing winds that can rock a building back and forth, as well as the 200-mph gusts during hurricanes that can blow windows right out of their fixtures. Skyscrapers have to be designed to shed wind and the glass needs to be laminated so it protects the building envelope even if it shatters. The goal is to create a “wind load path” that moves the pressure from the roof to the ground.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Steel-and-glass skyscrapers are flanked by palm trees as the sun goes down in Miami’s Brickell high-rise neighborhood." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rSE1ABqhCduQV1Uf5muFWDVfupc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24922145/Downtown_Miami.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Miami’s skyscrapers have to withstand hurricane-force winds and sometimes more than a dozen feet of storm surge.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="High rises in Brickell, Miami, seen from the ground on a cloudy day." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KF2OpLEqpGCb4OPk9-b1aQalynk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24922155/HiRises.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
High rises in Brickell, Miami, seen from the ground on a cloudy day.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cOJLeY">
|
|||
|
|
Resilience against extreme weather has now become a selling point. The rising Waldorf Astoria tower boasts it will have Miami’s first tuned mass damper, a massive internal structure that functions like a pendulum to counteract Category 5 hurricane winds.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mzlURD">
|
|||
|
|
But even with all the investment in design, simulation, and building codes, things can still go wrong. The 645-foot Millennium Tower in San Francisco, inaugurated in 2009, is <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/series/millennium-tower/san-francisco-millennium-tower-more-tilting/3249034/">currently leaning 29 inches</a> toward its northwest corner as the piles beneath it began to sink unevenly in the soft soil. Residents of New York City’s 432 Park Avenue condominiums — the third tallest residential building in the world at 1,396 feet — complained that high winds caused loud creaking and groaning, and at times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/realestate/luxury-high-rise-432-park.html">forced elevators to shut down</a>. With all the wind and water in Miami, the stakes are even higher.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TqRXkZ">
|
|||
|
|
Yet the bigger design challenge for Miami may be its smaller buildings, the far more common mid- and low-rise structures. Expensive new skyscrapers can be built like fortresses with modern materials to new resilience standards, but “when it comes to older homes, it’s not so simple,” said <a href="https://www.ihrc.fiu.edu/people/ioannis-zisis/">Ioannis Zisis</a>, an associate professor at FIU who studies how wind affects structures. The aging, smaller, and cheaper buildings that house most people are far more vulnerable, especially if they were built before Hurricane Andrew.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="vKGvdK">
|
|||
|
|
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DUtilN">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://kobikarp.com/profile/leadership/">Kobi Karp</a>, an architect who designed the current tallest building in Miami, the 828-foot <a href="https://www.panoramatower.com/d/index.php">Panorama Tower</a>, said that bringing older buildings up to date can be a delicate process. Buildings in Miami-Dade have to go through a <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/building/recertification.page">recertification inspection process</a> when they turn 25, 30, or 40 years old — depending on where and when they were built — and every 10 years thereafter. You can’t undo many past design decisions, and in many cases, you have to uphold them. The optimal strategy for older buildings is not necessarily to demolish and rebuild, but to recycle and retrofit, according to Karp. That positions the structure to better cope with the changing needs of its users, as well as the increasing pressures of the climate.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nshd44">
|
|||
|
|
“I try to be careful about saying ‘future-proof’ and ‘hurricane-proof,’ because nothing is 100 percent,” Karp said. “Yet, what we have here is a great opportunity to recycle.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SokF9B">
|
|||
|
|
From his office in the Wynwood district, Karp explained his work renovating the Surf Club in Surfside (a few blocks north of the collapsed Champlain Tower). The complex, completed in 1930, hosts a Four Seasons hotel, restaurant, spa, and residences. Karp had to preserve the historic structure and bring it up to code, which meant developing a new substructure to channel water away and using new materials to withstand hurricanes. In the process, the building was reimagined from a gated, private space to a historic building open to the public. “Before, it was an exclusionary private club,” Karp said. “We added a hotel function, which not only allowed us to be more financially efficient, but also it became more coherent to the community.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="The Surf Club in Surfside, Florida, a large, long building with white stucco on the bottom and rows of glass windows rising several stories. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bplHMZhDLrTEBrASw9jMdz2AG0k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921892/SurfClub.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The Surf Club in Surfside, Florida, was redesigned to become a more public space and to withstand hurricanes.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Kobi Karp in his office in Wynwood in Miami." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8vlrOewoU-QillAK9kmXjV1F_6k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924441/PXL_20230814_162450419.jpg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Architect Kobi Karp points out the design features of the renovated Surf Club.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3fefNH">
|
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|
|
As the needs of Miami residents evolve and the picture of the future under climate change grows sharper, architects, engineers, and city planners will have to regroup to anticipate what lies ahead and raise the bar for adaptation. That often proves to be as difficult as withstanding hurricane-force winds or a dozen feet of storm surge. “We are reactive. Our culture, our communities are reactive. The planning is very poor,” Borges said. “And so the proactive planning for these things, I have found it to be very inefficient, and very inadequate.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="vXR07O">
|
|||
|
|
Navigating climate change in Miami won’t be easy, or cheap
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1LolrT">
|
|||
|
|
The most well-designed house or office tower doesn’t amount to much if the streets are flooded, electricity is cut off, or drinking water is contaminated. Miami is the only major metro area in the US that uses large numbers of septic tanks, which serve <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/07/31/miami-wealthy-americans-trash-septic-sewage-4-billion-problem/">more than 100,000 homes and businesses</a>. When the county floods, sewage reaches the surface, killing wildlife and sickening residents. Miami is also running out of places to store its waste, and a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article275955546.html">fire earlier this year</a> shut down its main trash incinerator.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PhIFXc">
|
|||
|
|
Miami-Dade has already spent more than $1 billion on water and sewage systems under Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who took office in 2020. According to one proposal, cleaning up septic tanks would cost <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article247768060.html">$4 billion</a>. The City of Miami’s <a href="https://www.miami.gov/files/assets/public/v/1/document-resources/pdf-docs/capital-improvements/miami-stormwater-mp_es.pdf">stormwater master plan</a> — comprising <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article250781284.html">pumps, sea walls, pipes, and injection wells</a> — is projected to cost $3.8 billion over the next four decades. The city also issued a <a href="https://www.miami.gov/My-Government/Departments/Office-of-Capital-Improvements/Miami-Forever-Bond">$400 million bond</a> to fund resilience projects, but has yet to fully allocate the money. “Even when we have the funds available, we don’t have the staff to deploy that capital,” said <a href="https://www.futurevisionstudios.us/real-estate">Aaron DeMayo</a>, an architectural designer and urban planner in Miami.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-left">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="The Five Park tower under construction. It’s an oval-shaped tower with tall cranes and ladders on its sides." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-gJR-MbF-oJejtvtQeuTCeaNNxc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24922034/FivePark.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
The Five Park condominium tower in Miami Beach will be 518 feet tall when completed.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TFJGjU">
|
|||
|
|
Massive city-wide engineering efforts do have precedent. Faced with relentless mud and a cholera outbreak in the 19th century, Chicago began to <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/chi-chicagodays-raisingstreets-story-story.html">lift its buildings up</a>. Over 20 years, using screw jacks, Chicagoans raised buildings from 4 to 14 feet to make room for sewers beneath. The city also <a href="https://interactive.wttw.com/chicago-river-tour/how-chicago-reversed-river-animated">reversed the flow of the Chicago River</a> to keep pollution out of Lake Michigan, its main source of drinking water.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Mh1fJ">
|
|||
|
|
Lake Michigan, however, isn’t rising or reaching hot-tub temperatures like the Atlantic Ocean, so Miami is still in uncharted waters when it comes to the pace and the scale of the shifts it must endure. DeMayo <a href="https://www.futurevisionstudios.us/candp-miami">published his own proposal</a> to build a region-wide network of levees, locks, green spaces, and barriers, effectively gating Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach to protect their respective shorelines from tides and storm surges.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VlLWD9">
|
|||
|
|
And while many local officials, engineers, and architects think Miami can withstand the perils of a changing climate, a <a href="https://www.insurance.com/home-and-renters-insurance/home-insurers-leaving-florida">growing number of insurers</a> think it can’t. This year, NOAA has tabulated <a href="https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/events/FL/1980-2023?disasters%5B%5D=all-disasters">five weather disasters</a> that hit Florida and caused billion-dollar damages across states in the region. Early damage estimates for <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-idalia-florida-financial-toll-could-reach-20-billion/">Hurricane Idalia</a> are already in the tens of billions. It’s proven too much to bear for <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23746045/state-farm-california-climate-change-insurance-wildfire-florida-flood'">insurance companies like Farmers</a>, which pulled up stakes in Florida earlier this summer, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/12/farmers-insurance-leaves-florida/">citing growing disaster risks</a> across the state. Others like <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/07/18/aaa-will-not-renew-small-number-of-insurance-policies-in-florida/70420341007/?gnt-cfr=1">AAA</a> have decided not to renew some insurance policies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jV9WWP">
|
|||
|
|
Another part of Miami’s challenge is political. Though neither of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23815966/republicans-climate-change-denial-trees">two Floridians running for president</a> say they believe that humans cause climate change, local officials are taking these problems seriously. Miami-Dade is part of the <a href="https://southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/">Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact</a>, working with three other counties to collaborate on overcoming the problems stemming from climate change and to chalk out the future. In 2021, Miami-Dade County named <a href="https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/environment/chief-heat-officer.page">Jane Gilbert</a> to be its chief heat officer, the first such position in the US.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NjaDfE">
|
|||
|
|
But the pitch of limited government regulations runs counter to the need for strict building code enforcement. “This makes a huge difference in whether a building can withstand an intense hurricane or avoid flood damage,” said <a href="https://www.thefluxarchitects.com/about-eddie">Eddie Seymour</a>, a principal at Flux Architects in Miami. “Codes on the west coast of Florida are less stringent and it showed during Hurricane Ian last year.” That’s part of why <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23389508/hurricane-ian-death-toll-storm-florida-landfall-climate">Ian was the deadliest hurricane</a> to make landfall in the mainland US since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JsRxcl">
|
|||
|
|
Miami is also facing many of the same challenges of other metropolises: a shortage of affordable housing, outdated infrastructure, inadequate public transportation, inflation, and a <a href="https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/office/miami-succumbs-to-office-market-slowdown-as-pandemic-driven-growth-evaporates-119691">slower than expected return to offices</a> following the Covid-19 pandemic. These forces could reshape the makeup of the region before the rising waters will.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="An aerial view of Miami’s shoreline, with its bridges, bays, and islands spread out below." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YoZ8ggKPBUQ2mGQL_aGchBSvsd4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24921920/Miami_Aerial_View.jpeg"/> <cite>Umair Irfan/Vox</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Miami’s shoreline is a powerful draw to the city and a major threat.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PF1Y2C">
|
|||
|
|
Climate resilience efforts also need to extend beyond luxury shoreline properties to low- and mid-income areas, but adaptation expenses in the public and private sector are often passed down to residents, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/whats-causing-over-inflated-housing-prices-across-south-florida/">contributing to rising housing prices</a>. That threatens to widen Miami’s <a href="https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=mufi-reports#:~:text=Miami's%20level%20of%20income%20inequality,the%20U.S.%20average%20of%200.482.">rampant wealth inequalities</a>, or create a situation where the people with the least means end up living in the most vulnerable neighborhoods.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xVwRPC">
|
|||
|
|
All this adaptation effort is for naught if the world doesn’t address the core of the problem, humanity’s biggest uncontrolled experiment: rising greenhouse gas emissions from burning <a href="https://www.vox.com/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> that are heating up the planet.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0BCdai">
|
|||
|
|
So from Miami’s grand climate change resilience experiment, one result is already clear: “There’s no one big fix,” said Murley, the Miami-Dade’s resilience officer. “You have to have a demonstrated commitment across everything that you do.” It’s a lesson every city by the sea would do well to heed as they all become laboratories for learning to survive a world unlike anything they’ve experienced before.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<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>Asia Cup 2023 Final | Siraj says practised a lot to generate outswingers from wide of the crease</strong> - With less than a month to go for the World Cup, Siraj said his spell in the Asia Cup Final would give him a lot of confidence heading into the mega event</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>Morning Digest | New Parliament to host session from September 19; Army jawan abducted and murdered in Manipur, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</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>Strauss should make amends in the Rani Rudrama Devi Cup</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Premier League | Arsenal overcomes Everton with Trossard goal, Chelsea misfires in 0-0 draw at Bournemouth</strong> - It was not pretty or exciting in the English Premier League on Sunday</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>Rohit Sharma: Axar to miss first two ODIs against Australia; Shreyas is 99 per cent fit</strong> - Despite Washington having been called up for the Asia Cup final, Rohit stated R. Ashwin, the veteran offspinner, is not ruled out for the World Cup</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>In Pictures | Ganesh Chaturthi 2023</strong> - The 10-day festival will begin on September 19 and will end on September 28 this year.</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>KTR hits out at PM Modi for his comments on Telangana in Parliament</strong> - Mr. Modi in the Parliament on Monday said neither Telangana nor Andhra Pradesh celebrated the division indicating that both States were not happy with the way the State was divided</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>Nehru’s outlook was inclusive, took Opposition along: Mallikarjun Kharge</strong> - Kharge also criticised PM Modi for giving speeches outside but not in Parliament</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>Understanding the significance of the Parliament ‘special session’ | Explained</strong> - What is special about a ‘special session’? How often are these sessions convened? Is the government obligated to disclose the agenda?</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Adani-Hindenburg case | Petitioner alleges links between SC’s expert committee members and Adani, wants fresh panel</strong> - The petitioner has contended that O.P. Bhatt, a former chairman of SBI who is a part of the SC appointed committee of experts, was presently working as the Chairman of Greenko, a leading renewable energy company “working in a close partnership with Adani Groups since 2002”</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>War in Ukraine: Is the counter-offensive making progress?</strong> - Ukraine’s generals say they have broken through Russia’s first line of defence in the south.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russia demands UN court throw out case against it</strong> - Kyiv says Moscow falsely used genocide law to justify its invasion, but Russia wants the case thrown out.</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>Libya: Greek rescuers among those killed in road collision</strong> - Members of a Libyan family also died in the crash and several other people were seriously injured.</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>China sends top envoy Wang Yi to Russia for security talks</strong> - Moscow is seeking continued support on the Ukraine war, including a suspected North Korea arms deal.</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>Rare dinosaur ‘Barry’ up for sale at Paris auction</strong> - The 150 million year-old camptosaurus is expected to fetch up to €1.2m ($1.2m) in October.</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>Here’s what the latest Mars rover has learned so far</strong> - Catch up on the Mars 2020 mission in 2023. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963613">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASA clears the air: No evidence that UFOs are aliens</strong> - NASA attempts to make conversations about aerial phenomena more scientific. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968866">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Toddler poisoned after eating deadly plant mislabeled as diet supplement</strong> - Nine out of 10 Tejocote Root products tested were actually deadly yellow oleander. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968912">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Funky AI-generated spiraling medieval village captivates social media</strong> - “This was the point where AI-generated art passed the Turing Test for me.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968790">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Most notorious” illegal shadow library sued by textbook publishers [Updated]</strong> - Previous efforts to unmask the people behind Libgen have failed. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1968849">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A baby camel asks his father, “Dad, why do we have a hump on our back?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The dad replies, “So that we can store water in those.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
He then asks, “Why do we have hooves then?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The dad replies, “To prevent our feet from sinking in the sand.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
After thinking this over, he then asks, “Then why do we have big eyelids?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The dad replies,“To prevent the sand from entering our eyes.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The baby camel finally asks, “Dad, what the hell are we doing in a zoo?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Lava_Wolf_68"> /u/Lava_Wolf_68 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lmgr7/a_baby_camel_asks_his_father_dad_why_do_we_have_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lmgr7/a_baby_camel_asks_his_father_dad_why_do_we_have_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Woman goes to buy a Parrot. The prices are $100, $200, and $15. She asks why the last one is so cheap?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Because he used to live in a brothel” says the shopkeeper. She pays $15.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
When she gets home the parrot says: “Fuck me, a new brothel!” The woman laughs.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
When her daughters get home the parrot says: “Fuck me, 2 new prozzies!” The girls laughs too.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
When the dad gets home the parrot says: “Fuck me Pete, haven’t seen you for weeks!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/IdeaCafe"> /u/IdeaCafe </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16los6h/a_woman_goes_to_buy_a_parrot_the_prices_are_100/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16los6h/a_woman_goes_to_buy_a_parrot_the_prices_are_100/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A poor man and rich man</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The poor man asks the rich man, “What are you getting your wife this Christmas?” The rich man replies, “Diamond earrings and a Mercedes.” The poor man asks, “Why are you getting her two gifts?” The rich man says, “Well, if she doesn’t like the earrings then she can drive to the store and exchange them.”
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The poor man nods. Then the rich man asks him, “So what are you getting your wife this year?” The poor man thinks about it for a second and replies, “A pair of slippers and a dildo.” The rich man asks, “Why those two things?” The poor man astutely reponds, "This way, if she doesn’t like the slippers she can go f*ck herself."
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ZombieBait2"> /u/ZombieBait2 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lkvgw/a_poor_man_and_rich_man/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lkvgw/a_poor_man_and_rich_man/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife thinks our friend is lying when he claimed that he scaled Mount Everest, but I disagree.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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I think..he made it up.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lfvl3/my_wife_thinks_our_friend_is_lying_when_he/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16lfvl3/my_wife_thinks_our_friend_is_lying_when_he/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man walks into a bar and says “All lawyers are assholes!”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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Another guy in the bar says “hey watch what you say”. First guy says “why are you a lawyer”. Guy says “no I’m an asshole”
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</p>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Sufficient_Creme_240"> /u/Sufficient_Creme_240 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16li99q/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_says_all_lawyers_are/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16li99q/a_man_walks_into_a_bar_and_says_all_lawyers_are/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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</ul>
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