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469 lines
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<title>20 March, 2022</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>In a World on Fire, Stop Burning Things</strong> - The truth is new and counterintuitive: we have the technology necessary to rapidly ditch fossil fuels. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/in-a-world-on-fire-stop-burning-things">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jerome Powell’s Double Message on Inflation</strong> - The Fed raised interest rates for the first time since 2018, but its chair insists the move won’t deliver a serious hit to the wider economy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/jerome-powells-double-message-on-inflation">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Zelensky Invokes Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as He Pleads for More from Washington</strong> - The U.S. sent more than a billion dollars in aid in the past week. But Biden has refused Ukraine’s two biggest requests. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/zelensky-invokes-pearl-harbor-and-911-as-he-pleads-for-more-from-%20washington">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sunday Reading: Luminaries of the Theatre</strong> - From the magazine’s archive: a selection of pieces about the theatrical experience. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/sunday-reading-luminaries-of-the-theatre">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ghosts at the Liquor Store</strong> - None of us thought my dad was the enemy. Perhaps booze was. At the time, thick as we were with shame, the enemy looked like other people. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/ghosts-at-the-liquor-store">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing will be a forum for political attacks</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/-iJS7y4hdVlHJ_ZTqM1CxBVe_ec=/441x0:5601x3870/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70648145/GettyImages_1239049896.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill on March 9. If confirmed, Jackson would be the sixth female justice in the court’s history, the third Black justice, and the first to have been a federal public defender. | Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Republicans have already used her nomination to go after Democrats for being too “radical.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kM1OHD">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/25/22912842/supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-
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brown-jackson-biden">There’s very little reason to doubt Ketanji Brown Jackson</a> will be confirmed and become the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice. She doesn’t need to garner any Republican support in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and her ascension in place of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer won’t shift the ideological makeup of the court.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r1hWUR">
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But this week’s hearings to vet the historic nominee will provide a platform for both Democrats and Republicans to send political messages, and that’s what they’re signaling they will do.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZWNYph">
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For Democrats, it’s an opportunity to confirm a historic new member to the Supreme Court, help <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/25/21153824/biden-black-woman-supreme-court">President Joe Biden deliver on a big promise he made to Black voters</a> during the campaign, and make the case for some Republicans to support her, too. For Republicans, it’s a chance to use Jackson’s nomination, and the support she’s gotten from liberal groups like Demand Justice, to question whether Democrats are too far to the left and “soft on crime.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gxe4X9">
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“I think [Republicans’] focus is going to be trying to accuse Democrats and Biden of being pro-crime, to try to obscure the dark money history of their last three nominees with a lot of smoke about her supposed dark money history,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told Vox. “I think she’s less going to be the target than us, and they’ll be pivoting off her to make points for November.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qSVrrm">
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled as much in a recent floor speech about Jackson’s nomination. “We need to explore why the farthest-left activists in the country desperately wanted Judge Jackson in,” McConnell said. “Liberals are saying that Judge Jackson’s service as a criminal defense lawyer and then on the US Sentencing Commission give her special empathy for convicted criminals.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="iA5NVD">
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When and how to watch Jackson’s hearings
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9vTfb4">
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The hearing will air Monday, March 21, through Thursday, March 24, beginning at 11 am on Monday and 9 am on subsequent days. It will be accessible via a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/the-nomination-of-ketanji-brown-jackson-to-be-an-
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associate-justice-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states">livestream on the Senate Judiciary Committee website,</a> as well as <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?518341-1/day-1-confirmation-hearing-supreme-court-nominee-kentanji-
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brown-jackson">via C-SPAN</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5ixCx">
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The panel begins Monday with statements from each senator on the committee, as well as an introduction from Jackson. Much of the action, however, will be concentrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, when members of the committee will have a chance to ask questions about her experience and judicial philosophy.
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</p>
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<h3 id="TU7WLc">
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Jackson’s historic nomination, briefly explained
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a1I0mA">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/25/22912842/supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson-biden">Biden first nominated Jackson</a> for the Supreme Court in late February, a few weeks after <a href="https://www.vox.com/22262764/stephen-
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breyer-supreme-court-justice-abortion-biden">Breyer announced that he’d retire</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d5hFW5">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/25/22912842/supreme-court-nominee-ketanji-brown-jackson-biden">As Vox’s Ian Millhiser has explained,</a> Jackson’s long been a contender for the high court and was previously interviewed for the job by former President Barack Obama as well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PGAWB6">
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If confirmed, Jackson would bring extensive experience to the position: She became a DC Circuit Court judge last summer, and served as a DC District Court judge for eight years prior to that. Before that, she was a public defender, vice chair of the US Sentencing Commission — a federal body that offers sentencing guidance for the federal judiciary — and an attorney in private practice.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SgRWOY">
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Jackson has ruled on a range of cases, and joined a recent decision that Trump couldn’t block House committees from accessing documents related to the Capitol attack of January 6, 2021. As a member of the Sentencing Commission, Jackson backed reductions to penalties for drug-related offenses, and as a public defender, she represented a detainee in Guantanamo Bay as well as criminal defendants.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ElSKSP">
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Jackson’s nomination marks an important milestone: Biden had previously promised he’d nominate the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court, which has only had five women Justices and two Black Justices in its over-200-year history.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rWG5Og">
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After the hearing, the confirmation is set to move quickly, with Democrats aiming to hold a final Senate vote before April 8.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vdY5Bg">
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If confirmed, it’s not yet certain when Jackson would officially join the Court. Breyer has said that he will retire by the end of this Supreme Court term this summer.
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</p>
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<h3 id="wVVnkx">
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What to expect from Democrats and Republicans
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nfZH3f">
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For the first time since 2016, Democrats are in the position of fielding a nominee they support.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mvh1Xd">
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They’ll be using the hearing to talk up her credentials, to emphasize how much bipartisan backing she has, and to stress the importance of bringing more racial and ideological diversity to the federal bench.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DciSn4">
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“Clearly, this is an extraordinarily qualified person,” Judiciary Committee member Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told Vox. “Their experience on the federal bench overshadows many of the people there now.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1m5qhe">
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Republicans, meanwhile, are poised to ask about Jackson’s record on criminal justice issues including her time on the US Sentencing Commission, past work defending a Guantanamo Bay detainee, and decisions related to child sex offenders. The decision about Trump and the January 6 documents, and comments she’s made declining to reject court packing, are also expected to come up.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FvuZd8">
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Multiple Republicans on the Judiciary Committee including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Mike Lee (R-UT), have raised particular concerns about Jackson’s work on cases involving child sex offenders. In a recent Twitter thread, Hawley emphasized a series of cases when Jackson imposed shorter sentences for people in child porn cases than the federal sentencing standards. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/18/22983877/supreme-court-josh-hawley-ketanji-brown-jackson-child-pornography-
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sentencing">Many of the attacks in Hawley’s thread were unfounded</a>, and Jackson’s approach to sentencing was consistent with how bipartisan experts have approached the issue.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JM8St2">
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“I think her cases and her record deserve answers, and I’d like to get them next week,” Hawley told reporters. “I’d like to hear from her why she sentenced the way she did.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vNqJt5">
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Broadly, Jackson’s hearing gives Republicans an opportunity to hit several of their favorite talking points against Democrats. GOP lawmakers claim, however, that they’ll take a more respectful approach to the hearing than they say Democrats previously took with nominees like Brett Kavanaugh, though that remains to be seen.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jTPWBa">
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Already, they’ve deemed Jackson far left because of the support she’s received from progressive organizations. They’ve emphasized, too, that her appointment adds to a larger Democratic effort to go “soft on crime.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XsQn4O">
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“President Biden is deliberately working to make the whole federal judiciary softer on crime,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a recent floor speech.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Si87p1">
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The challenge that Republicans face in this process is that the outcome is pretty much determined.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pg9uIX">
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Since it will only take a simple majority vote, Democrats will be able to confirm her on their own if all 50 members of the caucus stick together and Vice President Kamala Harris serves as a tie-breaking vote. Democrats have also emphasized that Jackson has backing from several bipartisan groups as well as law enforcement organizations including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQ3qdw">
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Last year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers <a href="https://www.congress.gov/nomination/117th-congress/391">confirmed Jackson to the DC Circuit Court</a> 53-44, with Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Lindsey Graham crossing party lines to support her. Because of how politicized Supreme Court nominations have gotten, though, it’s not yet clear if any of them would back Jackson this time around. Graham, for instance, noted that the “radical Left has won” when Jackson was nominated.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ar0VoN">
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Their votes aren’t needed as things stand, though, and short of any major surprises concerning Jackson, the question is whether either side’s message sticks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mG7cFb">
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“My goal is to make this a political wash instead of a political win for Democrats,” says Mike Davis, the head of a right-leaning group called The Article III Project, who’s also had informal talks with Republican committee staff.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Thinking through the unthinkable</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A fallout shelter sign with the three-triangle nuclear symbol, on a brick wall in New York
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City." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eaHQlyYAdm6KeWX6YB8YTrFJ_1o=/267x0:2734x1850/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70648088/GettyImages_830408024.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A leftover fallout shelter sign in New York City | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Civil defense and other “right of boom” approaches could help mitigate the toll of a nuclear war — at least somewhat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3X4ibF">
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“Left of boom” is a military idiom <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
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dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801683.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">adopted</a> by US forces during the Iraq War that originally referred to efforts to disrupt insurgents before<em> </em>they planted improvised explosive devices (IED) that could kill American troops; in other words, before the IED went boom.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJHn6J">
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It has since grown to become an all-purpose corporate buzzword, in everything from <a href="https://blogs.cisco.com/security/left-of-boom-cybersecurity-proactive-cybersecurity-in-a-time-of-increasing-
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threats-and-
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attacks?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">cybersecurity</a> to <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg28514/html/CHRG-115shrg28514.htm?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">disaster planning</a>, for actions that can be taken to anticipate and prevent a catastrophe before it happens.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gZpqLz">
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There’s a (literal) flip side to this concept: “<a href="https://vmblog.com/archive/2020/07/06/defining-
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left-of-boom-and-right-of-boom.aspx#.Yi-LJxDMJO8">right of boom</a>,” which covers everything that can be done to mitigate the effects and enhance resilience after disaster strikes. While “left of boom” strategies in their original meaning involved everything from better intelligence of insurgents’ movements to plotting out safer patrol routes, “right of boom” meant hardening armor, improving medical care, and even boosting psychological resilience.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U3NMjw">
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If “left of boom” is meant to prevent the worst from happening, “right of boom” is meant to prevent what happens from becoming the worst.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gjBWJO">
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Thinking about nuclear war has been dominated by “left of boom” concepts. Deterrence, arms control treaties, nonproliferation — they all aim to prevent that ultimate boom from ever occurring. And so far, the world has largely been successful. Since the US dropped the 21-kiloton “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, killing <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-
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nagasaki/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">as many as 70,000 people</a>, no nuclear weapon has been used in war, though there have been enough close calls <a href="https://link.vox.com/click/27035542.134/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGVuZ3VpbnJhbmRvbWhvdXNlLmNvbS9ib29rcy8zMDMzMzcvY29tbWFuZC1hbmQtY29udHJvbC1ieS1lcmljLXNjaGxvc3Nlci8/608adc2191954c3cef02cd73Bfa024064">to fill a book</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O8xt82">
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While the early days of the Cold War saw Strangelovian thinkers like RAND’s Herman Kahn <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/06/27/fat-
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man?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">theorize</a> about “tragic but distinguishable postwar states” — galaxy brain-sized ways to fight, survive, and win a nuclear war — the idea of preparing for a nuclear war seemed increasingly ludicrous as arsenals grew to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303337/command-and-control-by-eric-
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schlosser/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">tens of thousands of warheads</a> and studies raised the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/the-atomic-
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origins-of-climate-
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science?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">prospects of a “nuclear winter”</a> post-conflict. When the Cold War ended and warheads were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/business/energy-
|
|||
|
environment/10nukes.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">decommissioned by the thousands</a>, the fear — and the need to take that fear seriously — wound down like the <a href="https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/timeline/">hands of the Doomsday Clock</a>.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h1lDSW">
|
|||
|
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the tacit threat of nuclear weapons lurking in the background of any conflict between Moscow and the US and its NATO allies, has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/26/22951016/russia-ukraine-long-peace-nuclear-
|
|||
|
weapons-global-
|
|||
|
development?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">changed all that</a>. In European countries, which sit closer to the battlefield, fear of a nuclear catastrophe has led to a rush on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/world/europe/ukraine-europe-nuclear-war-anxiety.html">fallout shelters and anti-radiation potassium iodide pills</a>.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dskG7q">
|
|||
|
A <a href="https://link.vox.com/click/27035542.134/aHR0cHM6Ly9mb3J1bS5lZmZlY3RpdmVhbHRydWlzbS5vcmcvcG9zdHMvS1JGWGpDcXFmR1FBWWlybTUvc2Ftb3RzdmV0eS1udWNsZWFyLXJpc2stZm9yZWNhc3RzLW1hcmNoLTIwMjI/608adc2191954c3cef02cd73B9c399806">recent post</a> on the Effective Altruism forum — a site that hosts posters interested in effective altruism and averting existential risks<strong> — </strong>examined a number of forecasts and put the aggregate chance of death in a nuclear explosion in London over the next month at 24 in a million, with probabilities 1.5x to 2x less in more distant San Francisco.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N6Eg3y">
|
|||
|
That’s a “low baseline risk,” as the authors put it, and the chance of nuclear weapons being used purposefully remains highly unlikely. But it’s clearly a baseline risk that has increased, and as UN Secretary General António Guterres <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/world/europe/ukraine-russia-nuclear-
|
|||
|
war.html">warned</a> this past week, “the prospect of nuclear war is now back within the realm of possibility.” As the existential risk expert Seth Baum <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220309-how-to-evaluate-the-risk-of-
|
|||
|
nuclear-war">wrote recently</a>, it’s “a prospect worth taking extremely seriously.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rlt4YR">
|
|||
|
Taking that prospect seriously<strong> </strong>requires some “right of boom” thinking, to try to do what we can to mitigate the harms and improve human resilience if the worst of the worst does occur, all the while walking a careful tightrope between being alert and being alarmist.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<h3 id="U9sj9x">
|
|||
|
Reinventing civil defense
|
|||
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h4REKK">
|
|||
|
The days of elementary-school fallout shelters and “Bert the Turtle” — a cartoon animal who told 1950s kids how to “duck and cover” in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9scNl9h4Q">cartoons</a> funded by the US Federal Civil Defense Administration — are long gone.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="chJNea">
|
|||
|
Funding and attention for civil defense — drills, shelters, and other programs designed to reduce the death toll from a nuclear attack — began to melt away in the latter half of the Cold War.<strong> </strong>By 1986, the Federal Emergency Management Agency <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/11/would-you-know-what-to-do-during-a-nuclear-attack-218675/">was reporting</a> to Congress that “US civil defense capabilities were low and declining,” though it still couldn’t get its $130 million ask to keep existing emergency operations centers running at a minimal state fully funded.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7tEsdx">
|
|||
|
But while a full-scale, US-Russia nuclear war would overwhelm target cities and devastate the global climate, up-to-date civil defense can make a difference in saving lives in what might be a more likely nuclear incident, like a terrorist bomb or a missile lobbed by a rogue state. “Yes, sadly some people would die immediately and have no control,” says Kristyn Karl, a political scientist at the Stevens Institute of Technology. “But recent models show us there are many situations in which a lot of people would survive.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5GkmZV">
|
|||
|
The first step to making civil defense useful in the 21st century is to help people overcome what Karl calls the “fatalism and apathy” that nuclear weapons can engender, which is why she and her colleagues launched a program in 2017 called <a href="https://reinventingcivildefense.org/">Reinventing Civil Defense</a>. Using everything from graphic novels to posters to websites — Karl’s colleague at Stevens, Alex Wellerstein, is behind the <a href="https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/">Nukemap site</a> that allows you to simulate a nuclear strike of any size on any location — the project aims to reawaken the public to the still-existing threat of nuclear war, and “the actionable steps,” as Karl puts it, that can be taken to potentially save their lives.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fDjrDi">
|
|||
|
That advice can be broken down into three main points: <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/emergencies/stayinside.htm">get inside, stay inside, and stay tuned</a>.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HvK9zh">
|
|||
|
Should you receive warning of an incoming strike or detonation, get inside the nearest standing building — ideally one that is concrete — stay there for 12 to 24 hours, the amount of time when radiation levels from fallout will be at their worst, and wait for news about where to evacuate next.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Bvenv">
|
|||
|
More meaningful civil defense would require federal, state, and local governments to take the nuclear threat as seriously as they do others. When I spoke to Wellerstein in 2018 for my book <a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/bryan-walsh/end-times/9780316449601/"><em>End Times</em></a>, he noted that while active shooter drills have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/active-shooter-drills-are-meant-prepare-
|
|||
|
students-research-finds-
|
|||
|
severe-n1239103?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">become common</a> in American schools, comparatively little is done on what actions can be taken after a nuclear strike. (Comparing the two threats is difficult, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/school-shootings-are-
|
|||
|
extraordinarily-rare-why-is-fear-of-them-driving-policy/2018/03/08/f4ead9f2-2247-11e8-94da-
|
|||
|
ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22">one risk expert in 2018</a> put the chance of a student being killed by a gun while in a public school on any given day since 1999 at 1 in 614 million.)
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cIjKwm">
|
|||
|
“These sorts of activities can cause people not only to behave in their better interest during an emergency, but also to take it more seriously,” he told me then. “You’re not going to save everybody, but there’s a difference between 500,000 dead and 800,000 dead.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<h3 id="rNk0JY">
|
|||
|
Thinking through the unthinkable
|
|||
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GqBocV">
|
|||
|
For advocates, civil defense requires toeing a careful line: acknowledging that a nuclear attack would be unimaginably horrible no matter what we do, while insisting that actions can be taken on the ground now that would make a difference right of boom without being seen as overly alarmist.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VfD3oh">
|
|||
|
Even so, a full-scale nuclear war involving much of the world’s 15,000 <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/90004347">remaining nuclear warheads</a> — roughly 90 percent of which are held by the US and Russia — <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170821-how-prepared-are-we-for-the-impact-of-a-nuclear-war">would likely overwhelm</a> even the best attempts at civil defense. While such a catastrophe <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/pMsnCieusmYqGW26W/how-bad-would-nuclear-winter-caused-by-a-us-russia-
|
|||
|
nuclear?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Future%20Perfect%203-15-22&utm_term=Future%20Perfect">is less likely</a> than it was at the height of the Cold War to extinguish human civilization, the immediate death toll <a href="https://www.icanw.org/new_study_on_us_russia_nuclear_war">would be in the tens of millions</a> and solar dimming from countless fires would <a href="https://revkin.bulletin.com/as-putin-s-nuclear-brinkmanship-continues-nuclear-
|
|||
|
winter-risk-rises">severely compromise our ability to grow food</a>.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SQgj0T">
|
|||
|
To deal with that scenario, groups with an effective altruist or longtermist bent have <a href="https://ftxfuturefund.org/projects/">expressed interest</a> in funding efforts to study how to <a href="https://link.vox.com/click/27035542.134/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbGxmZWQuaW5mby8/608adc2191954c3cef02cd73B7df6f6eb">produce food with little sunlight</a>. One organization at the leading end of that effort is the Alliance to Feed the Earth in All Disasters (ALLFED), which <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/7/25/20707644/nuclear-winter-famine-
|
|||
|
apocalypse-allfed">is exploring options</a> like insects, seaweed, algae, and other options that could serve as potential food sources in a world where solar radiation had been severely dimmed, whether because of a nuclear winter event or a less likely major asteroid impact or supervolcanic eruption.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ewC0Fn">
|
|||
|
“We would be in a much better position with a backup plan,” David Denkenberger, the founder of ALLFED, <a href="https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/david-denkenberger-allfed-and-feeding-everyone-no-matter-what/">told <em>80,000 Hours</em> in 2018</a>.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oBH3nA">
|
|||
|
But the dismal possibility of trying to make do with insects and algae underscores the hard truth that our best hope for survival in a nuclear war is in ensuring one never takes place, a fact civil defense advocates know all too well and hope their own efforts to imagine the unimaginable can aid. (To that end, the decline in philanthropic funding for “left of boom” efforts to reduce the risk of a nuclear war occurring, which Dylan Matthews <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/17/22976981/nuclear-war-russia-ukraine-funding-macarthur-
|
|||
|
existential-risk-effective-altruism-carnegie">wrote about this week for Vox</a>, is a worrying development.)<strong> </strong>
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NnZskb">
|
|||
|
“The unthinkable can happen,” Lovely Umayam, a nuclear weapons expert at the Stimson Center, told me. “The most practical thing we can do as responsible global citizens is to demand countries to take nuclear arms controls and disarmament seriously once we get out of this current crisis.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3xO7Ps">
|
|||
|
<em>A version of this story was initially published in the </em>Future Perfect<em> newsletter. </em><a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/A2BA26698741513A"><em><strong>Sign up here to subscribe!</strong></em></a>
|
|||
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><strong>Is Russia holding back from cyberwar?</strong> -
|
|||
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
<img alt="Volunteers work on a laptop in Ternopil, Ukraine, on March 10, 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
cdn.com/thumbor/tKgWV3GUPAladfpCU1PNoAqP2GU=/226x0:3786x2670/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70646445/1239081103.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
Volunteers work on a laptop in Ternopil, Ukraine, on March 10, 2022. | Alexey Furman/Getty Images
|
|||
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
Russia’s military losses may have impacted its cyber tactics.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a2clds">
|
|||
|
After three weeks of fighting, Russia is beginning to deploy increasingly brutal tactics in Ukraine, including indiscriminate shelling of cities and “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/04/ukraine-russia-siege-tactics-mariupol/">medieval</a>” siege warfare. Other elements of its military strategy, however, are conspicuously absent — cyberwarfare among them.
|
|||
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dSlvJr">
|
|||
|
Russia has a history of employing cyberwarfare tactics, which some experts believed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/opinion/russia-ukraine-cyberattacks.html">could feature</a> prominently in its invasion of Ukraine. The cyberattacks launched by Russia in the conflict so far have been relatively minimal, though, and far less damaging than they could have been.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gMO6e9">
|
|||
|
While Ukrainian government websites were the target of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/23/cyberattack-hits-ukrainian-banks-and-government-websites.html">distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks</a> shortly before the invasion, for example, a larger attack, possibly knocking out Ukraine’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/19/despite-years-of-preparation-ukraines-electric-grid-still-
|
|||
|
far-from-ready-for-russian-hackers-00010373">power grid</a> or other key infrastructure, hasn’t taken place.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WNeOVj">
|
|||
|
“I think the biggest surprise to date has been the lack of success for Russia with cyber attacks against Ukraine,” Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Vox. “This has not been a major part of the conflict.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iHswlW">
|
|||
|
That’s particularly odd since the threat of cyberwarfare by Russian entities was already a major concern for the West, even before the recent escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It was widely established that Russia may have significant cyberwarfare capabilities following successive cyberattacks it launched against Ukraine after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BV3ENo">
|
|||
|
Notably, a pair of attacks in 2015 and 2016 took out power in parts of Ukraine, albeit at a relatively small scale. Since then, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/19/despite-years-of-preparation-
|
|||
|
ukraines-electric-grid-still-far-from-ready-for-russian-hackers-00010373">according to a Politico story from February</a>, the United States and allies have attempted to bolster Ukraine’s power grid, but “nobody thinks it will be enough.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zfdbgm">
|
|||
|
In 2017, Kremlin-linked hackers launched a different kind of a cyberattack in Ukraine: a ransomware program known as <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/notpetya-how-a-russian-
|
|||
|
malware-created-the-world-s-worst-cyberattack-ever-118082700261_1.html">NotPetya</a>, which encrypted any data it reached, leaving the data’s unsuspecting owner locked out from accessing their own files. Victims were told to pay a ransom of $300 in bitcoin if they wanted access to their data returned. But the ransomware attack spread beyond Ukraine’s borders, infecting computer networks of companies around the world. According to a former US official, the attack resulted in more than $10 billion in total loss in damages, and the NotPetya attack is now regarded as one of the worst cyberattacks in modern history.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WGyutj">
|
|||
|
The US has not been safe from such cyberattacks, either. In 2017, for example, a group of Russia-based cybercriminals <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/colonial-pipeline-
|
|||
|
ceo-testifies-on-first-hours-of-ransomware-attack.html">hacked</a> into the IT network of Colonial Pipeline, a major oil pipeline system that carries gasoline and jet fuel to the southeastern US. The company was forced to pay a ransom of $5 million in exchange for the extracted files.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yy0m6K">
|
|||
|
Despite the apparent vulnerabilities in Ukrainian and Western cyberdefenses, though, more sweeping cyberattacks haven’t to date been a part of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<h3 id="g0w8Fb">
|
|||
|
Why hasn’t Russia launched major cyberattacks yet?
|
|||
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s2TlD6">
|
|||
|
The lack of full-scale Russian cyberattacks is a phenomenon that has surprised some experts, including Wertheim.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EA7T0u">
|
|||
|
“On some level,” he said, “the reason Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine is precisely that it didn’t think cyber means were sufficient. But one might have expected the war itself to have involved more cyber operations.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gPOqi0">
|
|||
|
It’s difficult to know exactly what is behind Russia’s behavior, but experts have speculated about a number of potential reasons why Russia has hesitated to launch any stronger attacks. Some have theorized that Russia’s cyberwarfare capabilities may have been inflated, which is why it has not thus far launched a more sophisticated cyberattack against Ukraine or its Western allies.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ZOBDx">
|
|||
|
However, a more likely reason may be that Russia is still weighing its options carefully, and is simply waiting for the right time to respond.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T8Ht14">
|
|||
|
“It could be that Russia fears retaliation that would set its cause back, at least at this point,” said Wertheim, noting the relative lack of progress by Russia’s armed forces so far. “Perhaps over time, if and when Russian leaders believe that the situation is stabilized then Russia would be better able to absorb retaliation, it could launch a cyberattack then. It’s possible.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U1LWGH">
|
|||
|
Given the setbacks that Russia has encountered on the battlefield, combined with the notable resistance by Ukrainian forces that have held steady against Russia’s attacks for the last three weeks, it may also be a matter of Russia prioritizing its military actions, according to Wertheim.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nJTSVX">
|
|||
|
“There might just simply be a kind of finite attention problem operating for [Russia],” he said.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
<pre><code> <img alt="A member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces walks past destroyed Russian military vehicles </code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">in a forest outside Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on March 7, 2022." src=“https://cdn.vox- cdn.com/thumbor/9c51jb15cweiuNRe5wNUm-81E_A=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23330092/1239019961.jpg” /> <cite>Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images</cite></p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code> <figcaption>A member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces walks past destroyed Russian military vehicles </code></pre>
|
|||
|
in a forest outside Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv on March 7, 2022.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eM59CG">
|
|||
|
According to Dr. Olena Lennon, an adjunct professor of political science and national security at the University of New Haven, setbacks for Russia include the loss of junior, and even some <a href="https://twitter.com/JackDetsch/status/1505064012207300617?s=20&t=sGoTa9wL8hGoKyXAWq-wOw">higher-level</a>, commanders among its military personnel, which may be affecting its operations on the ground.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RY3Hb3">
|
|||
|
“We’re definitely seeing some leadership deficiencies that could explain some of these surprises,” Lennon said.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<h3 id="Q1VdFa">
|
|||
|
The US could also be a target of Russian cyberattacks
|
|||
|
</h3>
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S3Wbw1">
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US authorities were already wary of a possible cyberattack from Russian hackers as a potential response to US support for Ukraine. That concern has only increased following major sanctions imposed on Russia by Western powers, as well as escalating rhetoric from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FMCeiE">
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Putin described the sanctions as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-3d9e50b2fa8b08ce1f74c1b09403186e">“akin to declaring war,”</a> and Russian government officials have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-warns-west-our-sanctions-will-hurt-
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you-2022-03-09/?utm_source=pocket_mylist">warned</a> there will be swift action from Russia in response. US officials <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/politics/russia-sanctions-fbi-cyber-threats-ransomware/index.html">warned</a> public and private entities of potential ransomware attacks after President Joe Biden announced initial sanctions against Russia late last month.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7YMRD5">
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“DHS has been engaging in an outreach campaign to ensure that public and private sector partners are aware of evolving cybersecurity risks and taking steps to increase their cybersecurity preparedness,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to the press.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NkOVYL">
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But the strong response against sanctions that Russian officials have warned of has yet to materialize in the weeks since. Although it’s certainly possible that Russia will react to US sanctions at some future point, the absence of action so far is notable, according to Wertheim.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H6naZb">
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“It’s very hard to sort of assign exact probabilities to these kinds of things,” Wertheim said. “But it’s notable that there hasn’t been a response. And I think it remains a real possibility that even if the West does nothing more to escalate in a conflict that Russia could do so by undertaking what it believes is retaliation.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4WJaiH">
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That could be particularly likely as the impact of already-imposed sanctions continues to mount. Sanctions have had an enormous effect on day-to-day life inside the country: The value of the ruble, Russia’s official currency, has <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/02/1083694848/sanctions-russia-ukraine-economy-
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war">plummeted to less than 1 cent</a>, and Russian citizens have already seen price surges, particularly for electronic goods and appliances. The early price hike has motivated many residents to stock up on items in case prices continue to rise as the conflict rages on.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eAZvlA">
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“For the past few days, it’s been like Christmas for us,” one electronics-shop staffer <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/424d8ed3-34ce-4729-8d9c-eebf0c7f5d4d">told the <em>Financial Times</em></a>. “People are ready to buy things even [though] we have been raising prices every few hours based on the forex situation.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mry71R">
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With heavy economic sanctions already in place, Wertheim says there are potential risks to pushing Putin further into a corner, which in itself could motivate Russia to take more drastic measures — including, potentially, cyberattacks — as the war continues.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u8c709">
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“What I most worry about is a circumstance in which Vladimir Putin thinks that his regime may be teetering and that he has to do something dramatic to change the status quo in order to maintain his grip on power,” Wertheim said. “And, thus, perhaps his own personal survival.”
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</p>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dali Swirl and Rubik Star show out</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pak vs Aus, 3rd Test | Rival captains expect another slow wicket in series decider</strong> - After receiving criticism on the Rawalpindi wicket, PCB flew in ICC Academy curator Toby Lumsden, who has assisted the local ground staff to prepare the Lahore Test wicket</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lakshya Sen makes a habit of being a giant-killer</strong> - No Indian had reached there since Pullela Gopichand did in 2001</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2022 | Retained players have a responsibility to guide youngsters in the team: Ponting</strong> - “Rishabh's captain, so he's going to do that anyway, but guys like Prithvi, Axar and Nortje will also have their roles and responsibilities within the team”</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jolly-Gopichand pair ousted from All England Badminton Championships</strong> - The Indian pair fought hard but lost the last-four stage match 17-21 16-21 to the Chinese team</p></li>
|
|||
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</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hopeful of concluding early harvest trade deal with India by end of this month: Australia</strong> - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison will hold a virtual summit on Monday</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kottayam Collectorate in for makeover</strong> -</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘U.P. legislature party meet likely on March 24’</strong> - The March 25 swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath is to be held in Ikana Stadium on Shaheed Path in Lucknow</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>N. Biren Singh to continue as Manipur Chief Minister</strong> - Leading the BJP to a clear majority worked in his favour as party ended more than a week of suspense.</p></li>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Srinagar acid attack case: Court frames charges against two accused</strong> - “Our aim is that this case becomes a milestone in history for a speedy trial and punishment to the accused.”</p></li>
|
|||
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</ul>
|
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
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<ul>
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Six killed after car drives into crowd in Belgium</strong> - Several others are in a critical condition following the crash, which happened early on Sunday.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: ‘Tanks in streets’ as fighting hits Mariupol centre</strong> - Street fighting hampers efforts to rescue civilians trapped in a bombed theatre, the mayor says.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia claims first use of hypersonic Kinzhal missile in Ukraine</strong> - Russia says it fired a Kinzhal missile at a Ukrainian arms depot, in an apparent change of strategy.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia denies cosmonauts board space station in Ukrainian colours</strong> - The decision to ditch standard Russian uniforms was interpreted as a show of solidarity for Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lupin: Seven charged over armed heist on Paris filming set</strong> - Around 20 hooded attackers used fireworks to steal €300,000 worth of equipment from the crew.</p></li>
|
|||
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</ul>
|
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|
<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>A big bet to kill the password for good</strong> - FIDO Alliance says it’s found the missing piece on the path to a password-free future. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842190">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Apple Watch Series 7, gift card bundles, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has a big PC games charity bundle, Anker chargers, and the Xbox Series S. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842255">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How did a vast Amazon warehouse change life in a former mining town?</strong> - Looking back a decade after the mine closed and Amazon opened up. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842277">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Leaked ransomware documents show Conti helping Putin from the shadows</strong> - Hacker gang sometimes acts in Russia’s interest, with ad hoc links to FSB, Cozy Bear. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842163">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Please stop putting COVID-19 test solution in your eyes and nose, FDA says</strong> - FDA says it has received reports that people are injuring themselves with the tests. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1842304">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
<li><strong>“I’m sorry.” The Judge asked Tony Stark. “You want to divorce Mrs. Potts because she’s a tad weird?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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“No!” Tony exclaimed. “I want to divorce her because she’s fucking Strange.”
|
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|
</p>
|
|||
|
</div>
|
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|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Rubin987"> /u/Rubin987 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tid8ji/im_sorry_the_judge_asked_tony_stark_you_want_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tid8ji/im_sorry_the_judge_asked_tony_stark_you_want_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><strong>A guy walking down the street sees a woman with perfect breasts. He says to her, “Hey miss, would you let me bite your breasts for $100 dollars?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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“Are you nuts?!” – she replies, and keeps walking away. He turns around, runs around the block and gets to the corner before she does.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
“Would you let me bite your breasts for $1,000 dollars?” – he asks again.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
“Listen you; I’m not that kind of woman! Got it?” So the guy runs around the next block and faces her again.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
“Would you let me bite your breasts just once for $10,000 dollars?” She thinks about it for a while and says, “Hmm, $10,000 dollars, eh? Ok, just once, but not here. Let’s go to that dark alley over there.”
|
|||
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</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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So they go into the alley, where she takes off her blouse to reveal the most perfect breasts in the world. As soon as he sees them, he grabs them and starts caressing them, fondling them slowly, kissing them, licking them, burying his face in them, but not biting them. The woman finally gets annoyed and asks, “Well? Are you gonna bite them or not?”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
“Nah”, he replies. “Costs too much…”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/sexyBoyGirlsexy"> /u/sexyBoyGirlsexy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti5iir/a_guy_walking_down_the_street_sees_a_woman_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti5iir/a_guy_walking_down_the_street_sees_a_woman_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
<li><strong>Paddy’s wife has never had an</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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|
<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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orgasm so they go to the doctors. After tests the doctor suggested Paddy’s wife may be over heating during sex. Paddy refuses to buy a fan and decides to get his mate round to waft a towel on them during sex. After 20 minutes of wafting still no orgasm, so his friend suggest a swap. I’ll make love to her and you waft the towel. Paddy agrees and within seconds Paddy’s wife is screaming in pleasure and has the best orgasm ever. Paddy turns to his friend slowly and say’s "and that my friend is how you waft a towel!
|
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</p>
|
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|
</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/nikan69"> /u/nikan69 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti9wsq/paddys_wife_has_never_had_an/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti9wsq/paddys_wife_has_never_had_an/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
<li><strong>A male whale and a female whale were swimming off the coast of Japan when they noticed a whaling ship.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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The male whale recognized it as the same ship that had harpooned his father many years earlier. He said to the female whale, “Lets both swim under the ship and blow out of our air holes at the same time and it should cause the ship to turn over and sink.” They tried it and sure enough, the ship turned over and quickly sank.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Soon however, the whales realized the sailors had jumped overboard and were swimming to the safety of shore. The male was enraged that they were going to get away and told the female, “Let’s swim after them and gobble them up before they reach the shore.” At this point, he realized the female was becoming reluctant to follow him. “Look,” she said, “I went along with the blow job, but I absolutely refuse to swallow the seamen.”
|
|||
|
</p>
|
|||
|
</div>
|
|||
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DBibek"> /u/DBibek </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tifgdg/a_male_whale_and_a_female_whale_were_swimming_off/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tifgdg/a_male_whale_and_a_female_whale_were_swimming_off/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
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<li><strong>My wife told me she is so sick of my mansplaining, and if I don’t stop she’s going to throw me in a deep hole with water in it.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
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<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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I know she means well.
|
|||
|
</p>
|
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|
</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/micky1179"> /u/micky1179 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti9z1g/my_wife_told_me_she_is_so_sick_of_my_mansplaining/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ti9z1g/my_wife_told_me_she_is_so_sick_of_my_mansplaining/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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</ul>
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