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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Retiring Democrat Places Blame for Paralysis in Congress</strong> - The Kentucky representative John Yarmuth fears for the countrys democratic—and Democratic—future, but expresses some hope for President Bidens legislative agenda. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/tears-from-a-democrat-as-paralysis-grips-congress">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mexicos Historic Step Toward Legalizing Abortion</strong> - A landmark court ruling gave Mexicans greater rights to the procedure than Texans now have, but opponents have vowed to reverse the decision. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/mexicos-historic-step-toward-legalizing-abortion">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pope Francis and Joe Biden Will Meet in Rome but Not, Alas, in Glasgow</strong> - The Pontiff and the President have common goals on climate change—and similar problems at home. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/pope-francis-and-joe-biden-will-meet-in-rome-but-not-alas-in-%20glasgow">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Another Buffalo Is Possible</strong> - This summer, India Walton looked likely to become the first Black woman to lead Buffalo, and the first socialist mayor of any major American city in decades. Then the sitting Democratic mayor launched a campaign to defeat her. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/another-buffalo-is-possible">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden Cant Quite Close the Deal—with His Own Party</strong> - “Everybodys on board,” the President said. But they werent, at least not yet. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/biden-cant-quite-close-the-deal-with-his-own-%20party">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>One Good Thing: Knifepoint Horror, a collection of campfire ghost stories in podcast form</strong> -
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<img alt="A drawing of a woman standing in an eerie pose in the middle of a hallway. Her hands are red." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OxAAtAPgJBix_NVEF1cKkz-QNAk=/0x0:1000x750/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70061826/staircase_jessica_mellen.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Artwork by <a class="ql-link" href="https://www.jessicamellen.com/" target="_blank">Jessica Mellen</a> for “staircase” by Soren Narnia from the <em>Knifepoint Horror</em> podcast. | <a class="ql-link" href="https://www.jessicamellen.com/" target="_blank">Jessica Mellen</a>
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A spooky anthology series to listen to over Halloween weekend and on many fall nights to come.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ISq1u4">
Every now and then, a man going by the alias Soren Narnia will put out a new episode of his podcast, <a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/"><em>Knifepoint Horror</em></a>. With few exceptions, every episode starts the same way, in the same, barebones aesthetic: slowly, with deceptive calm, the man begins, “My name is ___,” then takes the listener on a mesmerizing first-person journey into the heart of terror.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zLXuQO">
I discovered <em>Knifepoint Horror</em>, a minimalist horror anthology podcast that has been scaring listeners for 11 years, through word of mouth, as I expect most of its tiny but loyal fanbase did. With no advertising, no podcast network, and no production studio — not even a theme song — to gussy up its narration, <em>Knifepoint</em> is about as grassroots as podcasting gets. The pseudonymous creator has rarely used his platform to advertise his other works; all of his creations are released under a Creative Commons license, so fans may re-record, remix, and make fanworks. The whole enterprise — an anonymous creator intermittently dropping gifts of spine-tingling campfire tales onto a select band of groupies — feels like a one-man underground subculture. Sometimes, Soren Narnia has a guest voice actor or two on the podcast. Sometimes, when hes really feeling adventurous, he uses sound effects.
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</ul>
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For the most part, however, he just talks into a stiff, eerie silence, in a monologue that he seems to ad-lib or summon forth from a macabre collection of fables that exists only in his head. In every episode, his character for the evening relays a tale of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21363945/hp-lovecraft-racism-examples-explained-
what-is-lovecraftian-weird-fiction">Weird fiction</a> — that Lovecraftian horror subgenre that necessitates a confrontation with the cosmos, of some dark expansive evil too vast and horrible to comprehend without descending into madness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kuQEUl">
With no frills and no production frippery, <em>Knifepoint</em>s effectiveness derives partly from its minimalism. Soren Narnia allows the silence to fill your mind with terror. The settings are always crucial to these threadbare stories, with their complete lack of adornment — just a man, a voice, and a journey somewhere very, very scary. One week we might revisit a childhood school where secrets lie buried or explore an abandoned factory with a strange inhabitant. Perhaps well trek to an icy arctic wasteland, visit a town where a horrifying cult has taken over, or find an isolated European convent where no gods dwell.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bwHWcK">
Our narrators levels of reliability and sanity often vary, but Soren Narnias masterful storytelling never does. Theres something about the impact of that grave voice reaching into the dark thats sometimes so frightening it becomes exhilarating. The first time I heard “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/staircase">staircase</a>,” about a disturbing home invasion, the storys gradually deepening terror had me literally transfixed — physically rooted in place, frozen with fear.
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“You live your whole life and then in one second, you learn what its like for primal terror to swallow you, mind and body,” the narrator tells us — even as the story hes in achieves a level of primal terror, in part because of its vivid imagery, in part because of the simplicity of its narration.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nXt8Er">
The podcast currently consists of 64 stand-alone episodes ranging from 40 to 70 minutes in length. In addition to “staircase,” Im fond of “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/rebirth">rebirth</a>,” <a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/landmark">“landmark</a>,” “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/sisters">sisters</a>,” “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/attic">attic</a>,” “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/legend">legend</a>,” and the recent “<a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/i-was-called-anwen">I was called Anwen</a>” — though every tale in this collection might wind up in your nightmares. A sampling of <em>Knifepoint</em>s most popular episodes is also available <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/winterthurn/videos">on YouTube</a>, along with other experimental stand-alone stories. New episodes are released from time to time, whenever Soren Narnia feels like it; a recent story about <a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/attraction">a most grisly tourist attraction</a> just appeared for Halloween.
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Over the years, <em>Knifepoint Horror</em> has gained a small but dedicated fan following, and I think thats in part because theres something deeply brave about <em>Knifepoint</em> as a creative exercise. Many of the stories feel as though theyre being spun aloud, impromptu. Soren Narnias <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/winterthurn">YouTube channel</a> is full of similar spontaneous storytelling exercises, and hes said before that he often works from a general outline of the story rather than a full script.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbpoGd">
That makes every story in <em>Knifepoint Horror</em> feel like a triumph, a rough diamond of creative expression that dares to speak itself aloud, flaws and all — to exist in the tense space between Soren Narnias brain and a judgmental audience steeped in horror tropes. Except somehow, defying all odds, the rough diamond is always brilliant, sparkling in the dark.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QFfSzf">
Knifepoint Horror<em> can be listened to at </em><a href="https://knifepointhorror.libsyn.com/"><em>this link</em></a><em>. For more recommendations from the world of culture, check out the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/one-good-thing"><em>One Good Thing</em></a><em> archives.</em>
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The age of monsters</strong> -
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<img alt="Illustration of a small child sitting on a small bed with a large tentacled monster hovering
over." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O_RUDiIzisWZAyvwlTGGlmaYy3k=/708x0:4949x3181/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70015176/GettyImages_1169962994.0.jpg"/>
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Getty Images/iStockphoto
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In the 80s and 90s, kids media was full of murder and mayhem. What changed?
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21899595/VOX_The_Highlight_Box_Logo_Horizontal.png"/>
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Part of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/e/22500449">Horror Issue </a>of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-
highlight">The Highlight</a>, our home for ambitious stories that explain our world.
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As a kid in the 1980s, I never once saw a <em>Nightmare on Elm Street</em> movie, but I still grew up terrified of Freddy Krueger. I didnt have to watch the movies to know Freddy was a knife-fingered, pizza-faced monster waiting to kill me in my dreams. At the time, he was the subject of chatter at the bike rack, jokes in Mad Magazine or <em>The Simpsons, </em>TV commercials, Halloween costumes, and more. You didnt need to find Freddy, he was going to find <em>you.</em>
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Much like todays entertainment landscape is fixated on superheroes, in the 1980s and 1990s, murders and monsters held an absolutely brutal dominance over pop culture. Strangely, much of it was marketed to children.
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The time was “a really key period in the development of horror for children,” says Catherine Lester, the author of <em>Horror Films for Children</em> and lecturer in film and television at the University of Birmingham in the UK. In the 1980s, many factors — directors who grew up on monster movies, experimentation in what childrens media could be and do, even the creation of the PG-13 rating — came together to let scary films for kids “flourish a bit,” she says.
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The horror boom began, more or less, with Michael Myers hacking through a closet door in 1978s <em>Halloween,</em> and continued with <em>Friday the 13th </em>in 1980. Those franchises had released a combined seven films by the time Freddy came for us in <em>A Nightmare on Elm Street </em>in 1984. Over the next seven years, Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers would star in 10 more movies. Quickly, more kid-friendly monsters also began appearing: <em>Gremlins</em> (described by <a href="https://www.tvguide.com/movies/gremlins/review/2030112295/">TV Guide</a><em> </em>as “cynically aimed to draw an audience of small children who would no doubt be terrorized”),<em> Beetlejuice, </em>Garbage Pail Kids, and the assorted terrors running through <em>Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps, Tales From the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside, </em>and <em>Are You Afraid of the Dark? </em>Horror bled out of theaters, books, and TV screens in a million ways. According to data provided to Vox by costume retailer Spirit Halloween, the most popular costume in 1984 was Freddy Krueger.
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Scary stories for children have an extremely long history. One researcher working at the University of Durham in the UK has been able to trace back early versions of stories like Jack and the Beanstalk, Beauty and the Beast, and Rumpelstiltskin <a href="https://www.dur.ac.uk/news/research/?itemno=27041">thousands of years</a> using techniques borrowed from the field of biology. These stories, and their descendants from Aesop to the Brothers Grimm, tucked moral lessons inside bloody tales of women lopping off their heels and itinerant tailors snipping off the appendages of little boys who wont stop sucking their thumbs.
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“There are lots of really obvious links between older forms of literature for children like fairy tales and childrens horror,” says Lester. “You see similar themes being worked through that are common in childhood, like learning to be independent, learning to grow up, and dealing with issues with your parents.”
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Closer to the modern day, horror as a genre began to take shape in the 1930s, says Josie Torres Barth, a teaching assistant professor of film studies at North Carolina State University.
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<em>Dracula</em>, <em>Frankenstein</em>, and <em>The Wolf Man</em> are the first time we think of films as being horror films,” she explains. Crucially, the restrictive Hays Code, which dictated the content of films between 1934 and 1968, made sure that these movies were acceptable to everyone, including children. Decades later, these at least marginally kid-safe movies had second lives as TV reruns and matinee fodder aimed at children and teens, and inspired imitations like <em>I Was a Teenage Werewolf </em>and <em>Invasion of the Body Snatchers</em>. Hollywood producers, says Barth, “realized that they have this great new target market [in teens], and they wanted to get as much money as they can.” Throughout the 1950s and 60s, monster movies were largely seen as kid stuff.
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This all changed with the beginning of more serious and disturbing horror films like <em>Rosemarys Baby </em>and <em>The Exorcist </em>in the late 1960s and into the 70s, though audiences didnt always know what they were in for. An <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-night-of-the-living-dead-1968">infamous article</a> by Roger Ebert immortalized the liminal moment: Attending an early screening of 1968s <em>Night of the Living Dead, </em>he found his theater was full of “kids, the kind you expect at a Saturday afternoon kiddie matinee.” Ebert, and apparently the childrens parents, had expected something like <em>Creature from the Black Lagoon</em>, not a genre-defining piece of socially conscious, horrifying filmmaking. The youthful audience watched in stunned silence as the movie “stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying.”
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Despite exponentially increasing levels of not just violence but nudity and sex, “Horror in the 80s is still kind of thought of as a medium for teenage boys,” Barth says. The films almost invariably were about teens, and were popular with them, too.
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Horror films can serve many deep purposes for teens and children, says Lester. “They can function as a social bonding exercise with peers, and help you work through certain fears and anxieties.” But then again, she says, “Its also just really fun. Its fun to be scared!”
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“Lets face it, kids are attracted to whats taboo,” says artist and writer Scott Shaw, who has contributed several times to Garbage Pail Kids. “My parents would say, Oh, you cant watch that. Thats too scary for you. Well, Id wait until they fell asleep, and Id get up and watch it, and itd scare the shit out of me. And I always felt great about it.”
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So what happened to the monster mania of the 1980s? Though ideas about what content is appropriate for children havent changed much in the past decades, says Betsy Bozdech, executive editor of ratings and reviews for Common Sense Media, an organization that rates and categorizes what media is appropriate for a child at a given age, parents have become more involved in their offsprings media consumption.
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“It used to be kind of like you just said, Oh, youre going to go watch a movie over at your friends house, okay,’” she says. Now, “a lot of parents are trying to take a more active role in knowing and managing what their kids watch. And we have parental controls, and you can see your kids Netflix history, and you could know what theyre watching … I would say that experience, and focus group testing, has probably showed [producers] that parents arent really eager for little kids to be scared too early.”
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Kids, too, seemed to lose interest in the thrills that became more cheap with each sequel.
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“When youre creating something to make it feel outrageous, it gets old real fast. And after a while, outrageous just becomes mundane. And where do you take it from there?” says Shaw. “I think kids started saying, This is just an imitation of that, or, Weve already seen a character throwing up five times. Why do I really want to see more of this?’”
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The teen slasher flicks and screamfests of the 1980s may also have simply grown up along with their audiences. Throughout the 1990s, horror veered in several directions at once. There were self- referential explorations of genre tropes like <em>Wes Cravens New Nightmare </em>(1994) and <em>Scream </em>(1996), as well as the rise of pseudo-horror thriller/mysteries about serial killers like <em>Silence of the Lambs </em>(1991) and <em>Seven</em> (1996), as well as some attempts to refocus on the classics of the genre, like <em>Bram Stokers Dracula </em>(1992), <em>Interview With the Vampire </em>(1994), and <em>Mary Shelleys Frankenstein</em> (1994). Gone, for the most part, was the particular magic of the unreflective slasher flick, and its stranglehold on the public imagination.
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Of course, horror hasnt disappeared as a genre, and neither has a softer, gentler version of it aimed at younger audiences. Since 2012, the monsters in <em>Hotel Transylvania </em>have starred in four movies, a TV show, three graphic novels, and several video games. There have been two <em>Happy Death Day</em> movies, and video games like the survival horror sensation <em>Five Nights at Freddy</em>s, which currently has nine installments and a planned film adaptation. Tim Burton is remaking <em>The Addams Family, </em>and Rob Zombie is rebooting <em>The Munsters</em>. Then theres <em>Stranger Things</em>, which is performing a few functions at once; adults are served heaps of nostalgia for the horror of their youth, and todays teens and children watch it to be scared out of their minds when their parents arent looking.
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And yet horror simply doesnt have the central space in culture it once did. Today, what scares us has changed across the ideological spectrum, says Tara Conley, assistant professor in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Gone, for the most part, is the stranger lurking in the shadows with a glinting machete. Our new boogeymen are closer to home.
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“Critical race theory is a boogeyman,” says Conley. “The war on drugs is a boogeyman. These are things that people can pinpoint and identify and connect to things theyre concerned about morally.”
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“Theres recent studies around Facebook and Instagram and their impact on young girls perceptions of their bodies. Thats real and observable. Black girls and the disproportionate care roles theyve been taking on during the pandemic. But for most folks, its harder to wrap their brains around things that are happening every day that we should probably be paying a little more attention to as a society,” says Conley.
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Today, the dystopic reality of our lives is scarier than a few creeps who lurk in our dreams. And thats definitely not for kids.
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<em>Chris Chafin covers the business of culture for publications including Rolling Stone, Vulture, and the BBC. He also hosts </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/abc-movies/id1451462594"><em>a movie podcast</em></a><em>.</em>
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<li><strong>What the oil industry still wont tell us</strong> -
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<figcaption>
ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on October 28, 2021, in Washington, DC. The committee is investigating allegations that oil giants misled the public about the role of fossil fuels in climate change. | Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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House Democrats grilled Big Oil executives about decades of disinformation. Here are five unanswered questions.
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Four executives from Big Oil — “the richest, most powerful industry in human history,” according to environmentalist Bill McKibben — <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/legislation/hearings/fueling-the-climate-crisis-exposing-big-oil-s-disinformation-
campaign-to">testified before Congress on Thursday</a> at a hearing meant to reveal how the oil business has undermined government action on climate change.
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The House Committee on Oversight and Reform questioned the CEOs of ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and Shell, alongside the presidents of two powerful lobbying groups, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the US Chamber of Commerce. The Democratic lawmakers who control the committee interrogated the executives about how their institutions misled the public and funded misinformation campaigns that questioned the severity of climate change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="btxobh">
But the executives, testifying virtually, were evasive. “As science has evolved and developed, our understanding has evolved and developed,” said ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, answering a question about why his company rejected climate science throughout the 2000s, when scientists already agreed that global warming was an urgent threat. Republican lawmakers argued the hearing was a farce, a distraction from other issues, and a veiled attempt to ban oil production.
</p>
<div id="K09nL4">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
These Oil CEOS keep saying they support climate action, but not a single one of them would commit to stop lobbying against climate legislation. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SlipperySix?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SlipperySix</a> <a href="https://t.co/XrJ9a0MLZr">pic.twitter.com/XrJ9a0MLZr</a>
</p>
— Jamie Henn (<span class="citation" data-cites="jamieclimate">@jamieclimate</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1453785781257097222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2021</a></blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KtQzoL">
Big Oils big secrets about its climate change activities may begin to unravel in any paperwork committee staff can get their hands on. For <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-
knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/">40 years</a>, the oil industry has worked to <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/07/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf">delay and obstruct</a> policies that would hurt the profitability of its products, even when their own scientists warned that burning fossil fuels would cause climate change. Thousands of pages of documents in the public record — obtained through lawsuits, leaks, and undercover videos — patch together <a href="https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Smoke-
Fumes-FINAL.pdf">a portrait</a> of how the oil industry <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/book/exxon-the-road-not-
taken/">has fostered climate change denial</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YST4Fu">
The Oversight committee <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/oversight-committee-launches-investigation-of-fossil-fuel-
industry">requested</a> additional<strong> </strong>documents dating back to 2015, but so far witnesses “have failed to adequately comply with the Committees request,” according to a statement by Democratic lawmakers. When reached for comment, an API spokesperson countered that the group has been actively working to comply “and has already produced thousands of pages responsive to their request.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eR1MXI">
After nearly five hours of questioning, House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) closed the hearing by announcing she would issue subpoenas for the documents the committee did not receive, saying it had received only financial reports, social media posts, and press releases that were already publicly available. Maloney called for detailed funding information, board memos, and senior executive communications to help the committee “understand their payments to shadow groups and to over 150 public relations companies and advertisements on social media, payments that todays witnesses seem intent on continuing.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UlMDrq">
“I do not take this step lightly,” Maloney added, saying that the committees goal is to “get to the bottom of the oil industrys disinformation campaign, and with these subpoenas we will.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<pre><code> &lt;img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-</code></pre>
cdn.com/thumbor/3-u6pkXiHYUcvNsyTrEx_dvnsZ0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22964242/GettyImages_1236187012.jpg" /&gt; <cite>Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) speaks during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on October 28, 2021.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<aside id="GDQ30Q">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mm4xk1">
Climate activists hope that this moment could be an inflection point for accountability in the oil industry, similar to when Congress investigated other industries that have profited from misleading the public, including tobacco, asbestos, and lead companies. “Theres ongoing pressure to get these companies to fess up in one way or the other, or pay up,” said Kert Davies, founder and director of the advocacy research group Climate Investigations Center, who has collected his own <a href="https://www.climatefiles.com/">database of oil documents</a>. “How and when that comes, and how much they can do to blunt that, is the drama thats playing out this week.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v4jpw2">
What secrets are oil companies still keeping from the public? There are at least five key areas Congress can dig into to discover the truth about Big Oils activities on climate change. The documents Democrats are after could also paint a fuller, more recent picture of the oil industrys own climate change goals. Some purport to aim for net-zero emissions in the coming decades, but they<strong> </strong>could turn out to be hot air.
</p>
<h3 id="Uo6cZE">
How much has the oil industry spent trying to undermine climate legislation?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4MLd1W">
In the words of one ExxonMobil lobbyist, the company has worked with “shadow groups” against early efforts to regulate the fossil fuel industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9tb1X5">
In June, the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace published a video of then-lobbyist Keith McCoy speaking on what he thought was a recruiting call. “Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes,” McCoy said. “Did we hide our science? Absolutely not. Did we join some of these shadow groups to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, thats true. But theres nothing illegal about that. You know, we were looking out for our investments. We were looking out for our shareholders.”<strong> </strong>McCoy <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/exxon-splits-with-lobbyist-who-divulged-
climate-strategy/">no longer works</a> for ExxonMobil.
</p>
<div id="4xqmjk">
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QfDtXY">
Similarly candid admissions about oils attitude toward climate action may lurk in their internal records.
</p>
<h3 id="0ElLVR">
Oil companies are finally promising to change, but how much of their climate commitments are just greenwashing?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bENQO7">
According to McCoy, the ExxonMobil lobbyist in Greenpeaces exposé, the company had also been feigning <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-06/exxon-booted-from-carbon-tax-alliance-after-lobbying-
scandal">support for a carbon tax</a>, a policy that would increase the cost of fossil fuels to reduce demand.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5NObuk">
“Nobody is going to propose a tax on all Americans, and the cynical side of me says, yeah, we kind of know that. But it gives us a talking point that we can say, Well, what is ExxonMobil for? Well, were for a carbon tax,’” McCoy said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fn1dhy">
There are other ways oil companies have inflated their records on climate, a tactic known as greenwashing. As of December 2019, the worlds five biggest oil companies had spent a <a href="https://grist.org/energy/big-oil-spent-3-6-billion-on-climate-ads-and-its-working/">combined $3.6 billion</a> in advertising over the previous 30 years. One of Exxons recent marketing pushes has been in promoting its investments in research for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-sees-green-gold-in-algae-based-fuels-skeptics-see-
greenwashing-11633258802">using algae</a> for car fuel. Someone who watches these ads might assume Exxon spends a significant portion of its budget on algae, when it accounted for <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/How-Big-Oil-
Continues-to-Oppose-the-Paris-Agreement-38212275958aa21196dae3b76220bddc">0.2 percent</a> of its refining capacity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4mwZkN">
Despite the rhetoric, the oil industry seems likely to stay true to its core products. As BP America CEO David Lawler said in the hearing, “This doesnt mean BP is getting out of the oil and gas business.”
</p>
<h3 id="5Xu9S0">
Who is calling the shots for the politicians and groups that deny climate change?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nGBeJc">
Astroturfing is the “practice of creating an illusion of public support for a cause,” according to the environmental news outlet <a href="https://grist.org/article/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-drums-up-grassroots-
support/">Grist</a>. Instead of expressing skepticism of climate science or promoting controversial policies directly, oil companies and their allies have spent big sums on other organizations that promote its priorities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B954ij">
One example is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has received more than <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/396700-exxon-leaves-conservative-advocacy-group-alec">$1.7 million</a> from Exxon and its affiliates before the company left the council in 2018. ALEC has helped reverse <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ALEC-Coordinates-New-Attacks-on-Renewables-Mandates">renewable portfolio standards</a> and <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/investigations/readers-
watchdog/2017/04/10/alec-plastic-bag-ban-iowa/100189578/">plastic bag bans</a> by pushing model legislation in states. Between 1998 and 2014, Exxon also led <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-
science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic/">corporate donors</a> in giving almost $31 million to special interest groups that promote climate change denial.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YSABUc">
This is only a small glimpse into the grants Big Oil has given to third-party groups. The public doesnt yet know what, exactly, the grants were for.
</p>
<h3 id="URLBfd">
How much current polarization on climate change can be traced back to early disinformation campaigns by the industry?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x0uxCu">
In 2015, the <a href="https://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-research/">LA Times</a> and <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/project/exxon-the-road-not-taken/">Inside Climate News</a> published separate investigations showing that scientists in the oil industry had urged companies to consider how its products were fueling global warming via internal memos dating all the way back to the 1960s. Instead of heeding these calls, Exxon <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/30/climate-crimes-oil-and-gas-environment">worked with</a> other top oil companies to form a coalition that would sink a binding global climate agreement in 1998, according to <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/784572/api-global-climate-science-communications-
plan.pdf">documents</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jZrsz3">
From the <a href="https://graphics.latimes.com/exxon-research/">LA Times</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3HIiuC">
How did one of the worlds largest oil companies, a leader in climate research, become one of its biggest public skeptics?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="byCF6l">
The answer, gleaned from a trove of archived company documents and the recollections of former employees, is that Exxon, now known as Exxon Mobil, feared a growing public consensus would lead to financially burdensome policies.
</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="FxDXwu">
What are the end goals of Big Oils enormous marketing push?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="99Jvnq">
One of the mysteries of the oil industry is the type of work it contracts out to consulting and public relations groups, which have helped Big Oil craft a benevolent public image.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gc8qZQ">
Davies, of the Climate Investigations Center, wonders what the oil industry deems a PR “success.” “Whos measuring the success of these ads? Youre spending millions of dollars on these ads, how do you measure the win?” he added.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DfoMCh">
Shedding light on the PR worlds activities could pressure the biggest firms to<strong> </strong>consider severing their ties with oil giants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6XQbMx">
The efforts of oil companies to market themselves also loom large in a <a href="http://climatecasechart.com/climate-change-litigation/">growing number of lawsuits</a> alleging malfeasance. Rep. Ro Khanna said Thursdays hearing is likely just the first part of a series getting to the bottom of oil industry campaigns, with a second focused on the PR industrys role working with oil companies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NB4qz5">
“We have a huge amount of documentation going back 40 years,” said Harvard history of science professor Naomi Oreskes ahead of the hearing, during a call with the progressive group Our Revolution.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pwmi85">
On Thursday, the company executives claimed their position reflects the overwhelming scientific consensus that fossil fuels cause climate change. But the industry has not focused on climate-friendly policy in its lobbying.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wWtD9k">
The four oil companies present at the hearing, along with API, have spent nearly $453 million combined to lobby the federal government in the past decade, according to <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Analysis%20of%20the%20Fossil%20Fuel%20Industrys%20Legislative%20Lobbying%20and%20Capital%20Expenditures%20Related%20to%20Climate%20Change%20-%20Staff%20Memo%20%2810.28.21%29.pdf">an analysis</a> released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight committee. The analysis suggests the industry has been far more concerned with protecting tax breaks for fossil fuels than it has protecting the planet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cscsZI">
For example, the industry has publicly said it supports the Paris climate agreement, but in the halls of Congress, it lobbied on the matter only eight times out of 4,597 lobbying examples in the analysis. The industry devoted more than half its time lobbying on tax-related issues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YXODGP">
“I dont think we really need more research … on what these companies have done, and the way they have misrepresented the truth, the facts, and continue to propagate dangerous practices,” Oreskes said on the Our Revolution call. But she thinks the hearing can help the public realize this. “Weve been lied to … we have work to do to really get that message out.”
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bay Of Naples, Icy River, Angel Heart and Senora Bianca please</strong> - Bay Of Naples, Icy River, Angel Heart and Senora Bianca pleased when the horses were exercised here on Friday (Oct.  29).Outer sand: 800m: Leopard Roc</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>Hundreds participate in district level skating championship in Visakhapatnam</strong> - Aftera long gap, the young skaters were back in action at the 32nd district level championship held in 12 types of skating categories</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>Abhay Sharma applies for India fielding coachs job</strong> - The former first-class player has worked extensively with India A, India U-19 and the national womens teams</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>Former Australian spinner Ashley Mallett dies aged 76</strong> - Mallett took 132 Test wickets at an average of 29.84 in 38 matches between 1968 and 1980.</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>T20 World Cup: Disciplined Bangladesh restricts West Indies</strong> - For West Indies, Roston Chase makes his international T20 debut while Jason Holder was also included in the playing XI.</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>Assam takes counselling route to eviction</strong> - Encroachers of Lumding Reserve Forest on Govt sight after Gorukhuti, says CM</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>Supreme Court Collegium recommends transfer of two HC judges</strong> - Patna HC judge Justice Birendra Kumar has been transferred to Rajasthan HC and Rajasthan HCs Justice Satish Kumar Sharma has been shifted to M.P. HC</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>Widespread rain till Monday</strong> - Kerala is likely to receive widespread rainfall till Monday. All districts except Kannur and Kasaragod are on yellow alert for isolated heavy rainfall</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>Puneet Rajkumar: Power star of Kannada cinema passes away</strong> - A pictorial tribute to Sandalwoods Appu who began his career as a toddler and reached several heights, only to be gone too soon.</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>Want to clean Lumding forest of encroachers, but after talks: Assam CM</strong> - The controversial drive to turf out “illegal settlers” at Gorukhutis Dhalpur villages in Darrang district last month, had left at least two persons dead in police firing and nearly two dozens injured.</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>Fishing row: UK warns France it could retaliate over threats</strong> - The environment secretary says “two can play at that game” as dispute over fishing rights escalates.</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>Pope urges radical climate response in exclusive BBC message</strong> - In an exclusive message recorded for the BBC, Pope Francis addresses world leaders ahead of COP26.</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>Kemerovo fire: Jail terms for bosses over Russian mall disaster</strong> - A leisure centre blaze in 2018 killed 60 people, most of them children, in a Siberian city.</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>Mikheil Saakashvili: Hunger-striking ex-leader rattles Georgia from jail</strong> - Mikheil Saakashvili was president, but is now in prison as the government tries to silence him.</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>COP26: Biden lands in Europe ahead of climate summit</strong> - The US president arrives but his signature climate proposals are yet to pass through Congress.</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>Rocket Report: Russia finally agrees to fly SpaceX, Firefly targets early 2022</strong> - “From our viewpoint, SpaceX has gained sufficient experience.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1807162">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Despite huge iPhone sales, Apple misses the mark in Q4 earnings report</strong> - Supply shortages led Apple to miss investors and analysts expectations. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808698">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FCC defends Starlink approval as Viasat, Dish urge court to block SpaceX license</strong> - FCC disputes environmental and interference claims made by satellite companies. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808584">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID trial using antidepressant cut short due to apparent effectiveness</strong> - Its not a cure, but it seems to keep some at-risk people out of the hospital. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808613">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Florida strips federal funding from schools as further punishment for masking</strong> - The state withheld nearly $700,000 in funding from two counties. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808637">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Making pizza is a lot like having sex…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If youre going to use barbecue sauce, you better know what youre doing.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jkane4334"> /u/jkane4334 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhylxp/making_pizza_is_a_lot_like_having_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhylxp/making_pizza_is_a_lot_like_having_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What do you call a snowman hooker?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A FROST-titute.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KindaIndifferent"> /u/KindaIndifferent </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qi1s3j/what_do_you_call_a_snowman_hooker/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qi1s3j/what_do_you_call_a_snowman_hooker/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Metamucil changes its name to Facebookmucil</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
CEO admits the move was difficult, since both firms deliver crap.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON
-->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HarryPotter0711"> /u/HarryPotter0711 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhyzpt/metamucil_changes_its_name_to_facebookmucil/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhyzpt/metamucil_changes_its_name_to_facebookmucil/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A Nun walks into Hooters</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A nun, badly needing to use to the restroom, walked into a local Hooters. The place was hopping with music and loud conversation and every once in a while the lights would turn off. Each time the lights would go out, the place would erupt into cheers. However, when the revelers saw the nun, the room went dead silent. She walked up to the bartender, and asked, “May I please use the restroom? The bartender replied,”OK, but I should warn you that there is a statue of a naked man in there wearing only a fig leaf." Well, in that case Ill just look the other way," said the nun. So, the bartender showed the nun to the back of the restaurant. After a few minutes, she came back out, and the whole place stopped just long enough to give the nun a loud round of applause. She went to the bartender and said, “Sir, I dont understand. Why did they applaud for me just because I went to the restroom?” “Well, now they know youre one of us,” said the bartender, “Would you like a drink?” But, I still dont understand," said the puzzled nun. “You see,” laughed the bartender, “every time someone lifts the fig leaf on that statue, the lights go out. Now, how about that drink?”
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/xlxNoNickNamexlx"> /u/xlxNoNickNamexlx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhk9f4/a_nun_walks_into_hooters/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qhk9f4/a_nun_walks_into_hooters/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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“Will you marry me?”
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The Princess said “NO!”
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And the Prince lived happily ever after, and rode motorcycles, and went fishing, and hunting, and played golf, and fucked women half his age, and drank beer, and scotch and had tons of money in the bank, and scratched his balls without criticism and left the toilet seat 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/Waitsfornoone"> /u/Waitsfornoone </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qi2jes/once_upon_a_time_a_prince_asked_a_beautiful/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qi2jes/once_upon_a_time_a_prince_asked_a_beautiful/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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