647 lines
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647 lines
73 KiB
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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>A Former Marine Stormed the Capitol as Part of a Far-Right Militia</strong> - In the assault, organized groups with military experience played an active role. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-former-marine-stormed-the-capitol-as-part-of-a-far-right-militia">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Been Unplugged. Now What?</strong> - The platforms have acted, raising hard questions about technology and democracy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/big-tech-unplugs-trump">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency</strong> - The events of January 6th make clear a growing unity between the Republican Party and white supremacists. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-bitter-fruits-of-trumps-white-power-presidency">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gandhi, History, and the Lessons of the Events at the Capitol</strong> - The ugly infection that has always sapped America’s strength burst to the surface last week. Simply bandaging it will be a mistake. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/gandhi-history-and-the-lessons-of-the-events-at-the-capitol">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Georgia Dad Who Said That He Wanted to Kill Nancy Pelosi</strong> - On Facebook, Cleveland Meredith, Jr., parroted The Gateway Pundit, Trump’s Twitter feed, Fox News, and, eventually, QAnon. Then he went to Washington. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-georgia-dad-who-said-that-he-wanted-to-kill-nancy-pelosi">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 data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How to avoid another election year like 2020</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Trump Supporters Hold “Stop The Steal” Rally In DC Amid Ratification Of Presidential Election" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xOcWgE6kP8rcsmxVB8z_FZL3VUA=/1040x0:5224x3138/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68672295/1230476105.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Trump supporters near the US Capitol following a “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. | Selcuk Acar/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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What America needs to do to avoid the next election crisis, according to a new report.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SHYvJB">
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The 2020 election somehow managed to be both a success and a stunning failure.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpmsIG">
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The pandemic, the threat of foreign interference, misinformation, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/7/21358946/postal-service-mail-delays-election-trump-mail-in-ballots">changes at the US Postal Service</a>, fears of voter intimidation and violence — any or all of it could have upended the vote.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oDI2yR">
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The worst did not happen. Election administrators adjusted rules to protect health and guarantee people had options for how to cast their vote. Voting infrastructure was secured, and foreign adversaries <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/22/21528726/iran-election-interference-proud-boys-emails-voter-intimidation">failed to substantively disrupt the voting</a>. Voter turnout hit historic highs, <a href="https://www.vox.com/21527600/early-vote-explained">a record number voted early and by mail</a>, and<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/4/21549010/voter-turnout-record-estimate-election-2020"> about 160 Americans participated in the democratic process</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uthSfU">
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The crisis, instead, came after the polls closed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GY7OEb">
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President Donald Trump refused to concede, fomenting conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud, mounting dozens of frivolous lawsuits, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/12/21558523/presidential-transition-biden-trump-general-services-administration">delaying the presidential transition</a>. He tried to pressure officials, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/us/politics/trump-georgia-call-excerpts.html">most notably Georgia’s secretary of state</a>, to change the vote in his favor.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="afl1Sy">
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Trump’s Republican allies backed him up, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll/half-of-republicans-say-biden-won-because-of-a-rigged-election-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN27Y1AJ">some opinion polling showed</a> more than half of Republicans believed Trump was the rightful winner of the election. On January 6, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22217696/republicans-trump-capitol-hill-storming-mob-responsible">a mob breached the US Capitol</a>, interrupting — if only temporarily — the certification of the electoral votes for Joe Biden’s win.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tp5uiZ">
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Now, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22229597/capitol-national-guard-security-inauguration-washington">thousands of armed National Guard troops are deployed to the Capitol</a>, turning the seat of government into a fortress on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="anUxaG">
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This almost unfathomable split screen of the 2020 election raises an obvious challenge: how to prevent this from happening again.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1zi338">
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The <a href="https://www.electiontaskforce.org/">National Task Force on Election Crises</a>, a bipartisan group of experts, lawyers, and voting advocates, tried to grapple with this question in the aftermath of the 2020 election. On Friday, they released a final report on what went right; what went very, very wrong; and what reforms need to be undertaken to try to make democratic institutions more resilient going forward.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hMcTcN">
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Those reforms include the expansion of voting options like vote-by-mail and early voting, better control of disinformation on social media, and changes to laws like the Electoral Count Act and Presidential Transition Act.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="96OTSq">
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The report’s authors note that America’s democratic institutions held largely because enough people — election officials, secretaries of state, especially — did their constitutional duties and withstood pressure from Trump and his allies. The courts, too, dispatched with meritless lawsuits.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jrdnUd">
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Even though the attempts to overturn the election were ultimately unsuccessful, the report notes, they “likely caused lasting damage, not only to the acceptance of the 2020 election outcome, but to the perceived legitimacy and long-term stability of American institutions and our system of government.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cxpWA9">
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And the institutions may not hold next time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEq74T">
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“We need to structure all of the relevant institutions so that they are positioned to hold in any crisis,” Adav Noti, a member of the task force and senior director of trial litigation and chief of staff at Campaign Legal Center, told me.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FJIKbB">
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Even with this goal of preparing for and preventing the next crisis, the task force report acknowledges that the worst can — and might — happen again.
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</p>
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<h3 id="JtlLUX">
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Some things worked in 2020. A lot didn’t. Here’s what needs to be strengthened.
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xg7dbj">
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The report focuses on three big areas where reforms are needed: election administration, election laws, and the news ecosystem — specifically how social media companies and media companies respond to disinformation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iGKwss">
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It also offers some general recommendations, including a congressional commission on nonpartisan election reform.
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</p>
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<h4 id="IQBUWN">
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Election administration
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uzy3sI">
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The coronavirus pandemic forced states and voters to rethink how they voted. The task force recommends those methods — mail-in voting, early voting, drop boxes, even curbside voting — should be made more permanent.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z70Lzu">
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“The more options that voters have to vote safely and securely,” the report says, “the more likely that crises, ranging from a future pandemic to cyberattacks to ones we cannot envision, will not overwhelm our election systems or limit the ability of Americans to exercise their right to vote.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iCRz7u">
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Another crisis could happen, and rather than scrambling to change rules and laws, both election officials and voters will be prepared and know their options. And it strengthens US democracy by potentially increasing voter access and participation, bringing more people into the democratic process.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rqDnbr">
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Another big reform the report’s authors suggest is expanding the pre-processing of ballots.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QdScpl">
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In the 2020 elections, different states had different rules on when they could start to open mail-in ballots and when they could begin to tally them. States like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/2/21544854/red-blue-mirages-vote-count">could not begin to process ballots until Election Day</a>, which delayed the final tally. Other states like Florida processed ballots as they come in.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yPYwsO">
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That made for uneven reporting of results, and a delay in the overall announcement of the winner of the presidential election. And that created a window for misinformation to go into overdrive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CizQ2L">
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A lot of this stuff, as the task force notes, requires money. The authors say Congress needs to allot more money to states and localities to manage and secure elections. Additional funding will also ease perennial problems of US democracy, like long lines or voting machine malfunctions. Voting is critical infrastructure, and it should be treated as such.
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</p>
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<h4 id="rWfA95">
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Electoral laws
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c8ARyA">
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When Trump refused to concede the election — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/2/21541981/trump-steal-election-2020-protests-strike">and really, before then, when he basically said he wouldn’t concede if he los</a>t — journalists, civil society groups, and experts were trying to game out what, if anything, he could actually do try to stay in power.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="THGuKV">
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<a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/barrett-recuse-election-supreme-court-scotus-election-fact-check-2020-can-amy-coney-barrett-recuse-the-election/65-9c4bc1e4-8f5b-4007-8d8d-47b169d1a517">Would he try to get the Supreme Court to decide the election</a>? <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-targets-vote-certification-fa1f61cc5de6352deaa588dab908128e">Could he successfully pressure states not to certify the votes (something he tried)</a>?<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/electors-vote.html"> Or pressure state legislators to appoint alternate electors</a>? <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/6/22213979/congress-electoral-vote-count-pence-hawley-cruz">Could he get Congress to object to the electoral count</a>? <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/pence-trump-election-results.html">Could he get Vice President Mike Pence to do, well, anything</a>?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zv4zUq">
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The usual ho-hum work of certifying votes and Congress’s certification of the count went under the microscope. And suddenly everyone wanted to know what the Electoral Count Act of 1887 had to say. The problem is that the law is outdated and very ambiguous.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GrtWW1">
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As Noti put it, if there’s a major election dispute in the future — say, Congress doesn’t certify the election results — there should be clear answers on how to resolve these issues.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WWqmI1">
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The task force is realistic that this isn’t a simple task, and suggests this may take a complete revamping of the century-old legislation, and potentially even constitutional amendments.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gNBhwJ">
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For example, the task force recommends making clear what counts as a legitimate objection — i.e., not just “I don’t like the results” — and potentially distinguishing a clearer role for the courts in any election disputes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPL0K9">
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It also recommends reforming legislation regarding the aftermath of the election, specifically the Presidential Transition Act, which governs the transfer of power from one administration to the next.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="clqG9O">
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This law has been updated many times over the years, but in 2020, Trump’s refusal to concede delayed the General Service Administration from <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/23/21611906/biden-transition-gsa-trump-emily-murphy-acertain">“ascertaining” the rightful winner and beginning the process</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tcCbUA">
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Here, the task force recommends that Congress potentially clarify a trigger for a transition to begin, rather than leaving it to the discretion of officials.
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</p>
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<h4 id="NxpKbM">
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Social Media
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</h4>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hX5t5d">
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In so many ways, 2020 was an outlier because Trump was the incumbent president. He complained of election fraud before anyone had even voted, and he fomented that lie afterward in his defeat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SIK357">
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That created a crisis in American democracy, and an apparent disconnect on whether the 2020 election was free and fair.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mObrTu">
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Experts on the task force acknowledged this is a major challenge, especially when the source of disinformation comes from the president himself. The deep polarization of the country and the divided media ecosystems aren’t exclusively election problems, but they contributed to the crisis this year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ePC266">
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Overall, the task force credits social media companies with being more aggressive this time around, learning the lessons of 2016, especially regarding foreign disinformation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O4HMjK">
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But it also questioned the efficacy of some of those changes. For example, Twitter labeled certain posts as containing misleading or disputed information, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/technology/donald-trump-twitter.html">including plenty belonging to the president</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gJPZ3U">
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However, the authors of the report saw limitations on the effectiveness of this approach. For one, it wasn’t always done very quickly, giving time for conspiracy theories to spread across social media. And it still left conspiracy theories out in the public domain.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HK8j57">
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The task force recommends deleting those posts as a more effective tactic than labeling. It also suggests removing engagement metrics from posts, the idea being that if a lot of people liked or shared it, an unsuspecting person might be more likely to believe it legitimate. And it suggests removing things like trending lists, where algorithms can sometimes elevate conspiracy theories.
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</p>
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The task force, in general, recommends transparency — from social media companies as well as traditional media companies, including on <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21535103/when-will-we-get-election-results-calls-networks">how media outlets call elections</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="GFvhmS">
|
|||
|
|
The big picture: Prepare for 2022 or 2024, and every election after
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cjWYv7">
|
|||
|
|
The task force report offers some big-picture recommendations, knowing that this is just the start, not the end, of the soul-searching about this election.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sC5JhB">
|
|||
|
|
A lot of the recommendations are fairly straightforward, but they’re also not going to be easy, given how polarized the country was, and still is, around the very act of voting.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBxlWd">
|
|||
|
|
And, as the authors point out, the fact of chaos was not exactly surprising, from pandemic interruptions to a president who has always said he would never concede. Some of those challenges were better managed than others.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eZ9xEV">
|
|||
|
|
The institutions were strained and battered, but they did prevail. But the 2020 election should help us understand that’s not a guarantee.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HTAMo9">
|
|||
|
|
“[T]he opportunity and outcome of this reprieve must not be taken for granted. This election was also a warning,” the authors write. “There is no guarantee the institutional structures that held this time will not crumple if exposed to the same stress again.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8SfgU9">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PFLDy6">
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="jMcDx7">
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Georgia went blue</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ioXgaiNPg78HbfsiePOLp2JXw6s=/0x0:3009x2257/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68672227/GettyImages_1293549003.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock greet each other onstage during a campaign event on December 28. | Paras Griffin/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Democrats flipped two long-shot Senate seats in Georgia. Can they do it again?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NILJrN">
|
|||
|
|
Everything went right for Democrats in Georgia on January 5.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nHBINz">
|
|||
|
|
Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock became the first Democrats Georgia voters elected to the Senate since 2000, two months after President-elect Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since 1992. Neither race was super close. Both Democrats won with margins outside of Georgia’s threshold for a recount; Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have both since conceded. How did the Democrats do it?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gLK07A">
|
|||
|
|
“Black voters showed up at stratospheric levels and white voters did not,” Cook Political Report editor David Wasserman told Vox. “You saw really big shifts in heavily Black counties.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1dbbyM">
|
|||
|
|
Ossoff ran 88,000 votes behind Perdue and 100,000 votes behind Biden in the general (Warnock’s numbers are harder to parse because he was one of 20 candidates in an all-party primary in November). The New York Times’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/upshot/warnock-ossoff-georgia-victories.html">Nate Cohn estimated</a> the Black share of the electorate went up by around 2 points from November, but added the caveat that he wouldn’t know for sure until full data is released in the coming weeks.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QWuBL3">
|
|||
|
|
It will take more time to unpack exactly what happened. Georgia’s demographic change, Atlanta’s fast-growing suburbs, and years of work by voting registration groups are all huge parts of the story. There’s also the fact that the Georgia Republican Party was at war with itself throughout the Senate race, as President Donald Trump tore into Republican officials in the state over his own November loss.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G3gEMN">
|
|||
|
|
With the 2022 midterms on the horizon, Democrats want to replicate their success in other states — particularly North Carolina, another Southern Sunbelt state with an open Senate seat in the next midterm cycle. Democrats see increasing opportunity in states with growing suburbs that are trending blue. They want to continue to supercharge Black turnout in Sunbelt and Rust Belt states alike, which organizers say will be contingent on whether Biden and the new Congress can deliver on their promises of economic relief and racial equity.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ssz5HI">
|
|||
|
|
Of course, favorable demographics are just one piece of the puzzle; they’ll also need to find the right candidates and heavily invest in states they want to win.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOxp8W">
|
|||
|
|
“Treating Georgia the same as any other Sunbelt state is a mistake in some regards, but there are things we learned from Georgia that absolutely can be replicated,” Democratic pollster Molly Murphy told Vox.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<pre><code> <img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wcejpeI_xeOunnvenamK1W9IjWg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22236149/GettyImages_1230433106_toned.jpg" />
|
|||
|
|
<cite>Megan Varner/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>Voters stand in line on January 5 in Atlanta.</figcaption></code></pre>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="TK9pzX">
|
|||
|
|
Georgia’s suburbs are trending toward Democrats
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uv2GAq">
|
|||
|
|
Going into the 2020 Senate race cycle, many national Democrats thought they’d have more luck beating Republican incumbents in states like Maine, North Carolina, or even Montana — all of which they lost.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BI8Qhd">
|
|||
|
|
Democrats weren’t counting as much on Georgia, even as Perdue repeatedly warned fellow Republicans that the state was going to be close. To understand why Democrats ultimately flipped Georgia, and why Ossoff and Warnock far surpassed their November margins, you have to understand the particulars of<strong> </strong>Georgia.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TrrNhk">
|
|||
|
|
A big part of the story is Atlanta’s fast-growing suburbs, which are<strong> </strong>experiencing some of the most exponential growth in the entire country. Between 2010 and 2019, the metro Atlanta area’s population grew from about 5.3 million people to more than 6 million, according to data from the <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/pop-estimates-county-metro.html"><strong>US Census Bureau</strong></a>, reported by <a href="https://atlanta.curbed.com/2020/3/31/21200613/atlanta-metro-population-census-data-growth"><strong>Curbed</strong></a>. That spike in population put the Atlanta metro area fourth in growth nationwide, behind Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3nZYIa">
|
|||
|
|
Though Democrats have been making tremendous gains in various suburbs during the Trump era,<strong> </strong>growing suburbs don’t automatically translate to Democratic wins. Case in point: Democrats were able to flip Senate seats in Arizona and Georgia but still fell short in Texas — losing that state’s Senate seat and 10 Republican-held House seats they attempted to put in play.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lB36Gt">
|
|||
|
|
Still, Republicans are worried about the long-term trends in suburbs.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Suc5Am">
|
|||
|
|
“Republicans for the first time in memory lost the suburban vote in 2018,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres told Vox this fall, adding, “There is no sign at all that they are moving back toward Republicans. If anything, they are voting more strongly for Democrats today.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="paoJiQ">
|
|||
|
|
That trend continued in 2020, with suburbs and smaller cities in key states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin helping swing the election decisively toward Biden. As these states swung from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020, the source of Biden’s strength came largely from suburbs while Trump stayed strong in rural areas, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/bidens-victory-came-from-the-suburbs/">according to a Brookings analysis</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AL0WmE">
|
|||
|
|
Trump has only accelerated the suburban backlash against Republicans in many parts of the country, particularly repelling suburban women who dislike Trump’s macho insults and recklessness.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<pre><code> <img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZJOrKJloHiv7VTq0Og66qKX4jo8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22235805/GettyImages_1294640536.jpg" />
|
|||
|
|
<cite>Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>People holding signs for Ossoff and Warnock on January 5 in Marietta, Georgia.</figcaption></code></pre>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="BceCea">
|
|||
|
|
Black vote surged, while white turnout didn’t quite match it
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ROIaYc">
|
|||
|
|
One group deserves a lot of credit for Democrats’ victory in Georgia: Black voters.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N4hMAN">
|
|||
|
|
This January, Black voters showed up in massive numbers, both in suburban counties outside Atlanta and in more rural ones around the state. This could be in part due to Warnock’s deep ties to the Black church, which has been working to mobilize voters since the civil rights movement.<strong> </strong>No matter the reason,<strong> </strong>Black voters proved incredibly consequential.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rl9BpU">
|
|||
|
|
While the whiter suburbs north of Atlanta’s metro area shifted toward Biden in the November general election, Wasserman noticed the places that were overperforming for Warnock and Ossoff in January were the more heavily Black southern Atlanta suburbs, including Rockdale, Clayton, Douglas, and Henry counties. Predominantly Black rural counties, too, voted strongly for the Democrats.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0WSu6D">
|
|||
|
|
Turnout in majority-white counties largely remained consistent with November, Wasserman said, while turnout in majority-Black counties favoring Democrats was much higher.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0AIi3r">
|
|||
|
|
“By relative standards, it was spectacular in January,” he added. In other words, even though white voter turnout would probably have been good by the standard of lower-turnout runoffs in the past, it was eclipsed by the enthusiasm of Black voters.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AH0263">
|
|||
|
|
Voting rights groups laid the framework for a win in Georgia by organizing there for years, especially focused on low-propensity voters. In the runup to Georgia, these groups focused on turning out youth voters and voters of color.<strong> </strong>It took many months of work; organizers started reaching out to prospective voters a full year before the January 5 runoffs happened.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NlURsa">
|
|||
|
|
“Our persuasion beginning in January 2020 was to make them believe that voting mattered at all,” Nsé Ufot, CEO of the voting rights group New Georgia Project, told Vox. “That’s not a September conversation, it’s not an October conversation.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4jTcwM">
|
|||
|
|
Ufot’s group knocked on more than 2 million doors, made more than 6.7 million calls, and sent more than 4 million texts urging people to vote ahead of the runoffs. A larger coalition of progressive voting groups coordinated by America Votes knocked on more than 8.5 million doors, made about 20 million phone calls, and sent over 18 million texts.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VtPS4u">
|
|||
|
|
They were also aided by Georgia’s 2016 automatic voter registration law, which data shows has helped register millions of people through the state’s DMV. The <a href="https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/georgia_easy_voter_registration_options_break_new_records">Georgia secretary of state’s office</a> said that of the over 7.5 million people registered to vote ahead of the 2020 election, more than 5 million registered through the DMV’s automatic registration process.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OGxI86">
|
|||
|
|
Georgia organizers told Vox another big factor was the Democratic Party actually making an investment in the state, a big difference from past years.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtFyEq">
|
|||
|
|
“I think the answer is, Georgia is competitive when we compete,” Working Families Party senior political strategist Britney Whaley told Vox. Whaley and other in-state organizers told Vox there was a massive difference between pre-November and from November to January in the investment the national party poured into Georgia.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fxB4E6">
|
|||
|
|
The Georgia Senate races set records for being the most expensive Senate races in American history: over $829 million combined spent on both races, <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/georgia-senate-races-shatter-records/">according to OpenSecrets</a> (the Ossoff/Perdue race was slightly more expensive than the Warnock/Loeffler matchup).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2gEN3w">
|
|||
|
|
Pre-November, “Georgia was at the bottom of that list,” Whaley said. “Now, when it was the only pathway to win, it was the only pathway to the Senate, that’s when you saw an influx of investment on both sides.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AgZKwo">
|
|||
|
|
Democratic investment and a relatively smooth campaign for both Ossoff and Warnock is only part of the story. Republicans certainly worked hard to leave a negative impression about both Democratic candidates, but the GOP was also busy with an all-consuming intraparty battle between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger over Trump’s November loss.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ln3wmj">
|
|||
|
|
Trump expended far more energy trying to get Raffensperger to overturn the result of the November election — at one point phoning the secretary of state to “demand” he find more than 11,000 votes for him that didn’t exist — than he did campaigning for Perdue and Loeffler. Some Republicans feared Trump’s constant complaints about a “fraudulent” November election and insinuations that Georgia election officials were corrupt would make his supporters stay home. It’s hard to quantify exactly how much Trump’s rhetoric impacted the Georgia runoffs, but it was undoubtedly a factor.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sxtsuh">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s hard to say in a race that had everything that one thing was the difference-maker,” a Democratic pollster told Vox. “I don’t think Ossoff or Warnock made any mistakes ... but it would be impossible to say that these victories would have been achievable had Trump not been doing what he was doing, had Loeffler and Perdue not been blowing every way with the wind.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<pre><code> <img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lIwCI0Kqg81bNINoO00ReWXgWkM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22235812/GettyImages_1294511866.jpg" />
|
|||
|
|
<cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>President-elect Joe Biden rallying with Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock on January 4 in Atlanta.</figcaption></code></pre>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="y0hcss">
|
|||
|
|
Could Democrats flip other Southern states?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OeTFOn">
|
|||
|
|
As Democrats look to a slate of 2022 midterm House and Senate races, they have several opportunities, as well as challenges.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QcnlB0">
|
|||
|
|
As far as Senate races go, there are <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2021/01/08/senate-2022-ratings-eight-states-competitive-with-control-on-the-line-again/">eight states</a> both parties view as competitive: Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Those can be pretty evenly split into Rust Belt states (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) and Sunbelt states (North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada). New Hampshire is closer to the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin grouping, but the New England state is much smaller and whiter than any other on this list.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CXzfFE">
|
|||
|
|
The 2020 elections showed Democrats are making gains in most Sunbelt states and could build on their success in states with growing suburbs and diverse voting populations. Democrats most immediately need to think about recruitment and who they want to have run for these seats. Warnock and new Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — who both won special elections — will once again have to defend their seats.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZkasoR">
|
|||
|
|
As far as other potential pickup opportunities in Sunbelt states, Democrats need look no further than an open Senate seat in North Carolina. The state has a smaller share of Black residents compared to Georgia — around 22 percent compared to Georgia’s 32 percent — and its larger rural population also makes it a tough state for Democrats. Democrats saw North Carolina as one of their four likeliest flip opportunities of the 2020 cycle, but they failed to turn the state blue at the presidential or Senate level.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l1qjPY">
|
|||
|
|
“Democrats need to find other states that fit a similar profile, and to my mind there’s one — it’s North Carolina,” Wasserman told Vox. “Democrats should be winning North Carolina if they’re winning Georgia, but they’re not.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o9n5JP">
|
|||
|
|
Democrats weren’t helped in the 2020 Senate race by running Cal Cunningham, a candidate tarnished by a sexting scandal. Multiple sources Vox spoke to said they thought Cunningham’s scandal sank him in the race.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtlDnH">
|
|||
|
|
Political experts say wins in North Carolina hinge on ensuring high levels of Black voter turnout — which helped propel former President Barack Obama and former Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan to win the state in 2008. Investing in the state and passing policy reforms like automatic voter registration could also be a boon in increasing voter participation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HOhsWN">
|
|||
|
|
More immediately, national Democrats may want to consider elevating a Black candidate in a state like North Carolina. After all, the last time Democrats won a Senate race in North Carolina was 2008, the same year Obama flipped the state. Some names <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2020/12/28/2022-nc-senate-race-could-involve-trump-and-intraparty-fights/4058362001/">being discussed</a> include former US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NIzoRX">
|
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|
|
Democrats ran a dynamic Black candidate in South Carolina and still came up short, but many want to see North Carolina Democrats shake up their recruitment and run someone other than a moderate white man.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwefHM">
|
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|
|
“Can they find their Raphael Warnock to drive out Black voters to the same extent Obama drove out Black voters?” Wasserman said. That’s still very much an open question.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<ul>
|
|||
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus plan, explained</strong> -
|
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<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Joe Biden speaking at a podium with “office of the president-elect” behind him." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hdDIH2NfZ3T8dzJMJyXll8sBz6M=/195x0:5560x4024/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68670578/1230470164.0.jpg"/>
|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
President-elect Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware, on January 7, 2021. | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
|
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</figure></li>
|
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</ul>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Biden has unveiled his opening bid in a proposal to rescue the economy.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hhUfii">
|
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|
President-elect <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> has unveiled his opening bid on <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19</a> relief and <a href="https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-economy-recession-stock-market">economic recovery</a>: a $1.9 trillion stimulus deal meant to help the United States address the health and economic crises induced by the pandemic.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DnWsA0">
|
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|
The proposal, called the <a href="https://buildbackbetter.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/COVID_Relief-Package-Fact-Sheet.pdf">American Rescue Plan</a>, is divvied up into three buckets: $400 billion for dealing with the coronavirus, including vaccines and testing; $1 trillion in direct relief to families; and $400 billion in aid to communities and businesses. It includes money for testing, vaccines, and public health workers; $400 a week in extended federal unemployment insurance through September; rental assistance; emergency paid leave; and funding for schools reopening, among other items.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aObsUL">
|
|||
|
|
And, as Democrats promised when campaigning in Georgia, Biden’s plan would send out another $1,400 in stimulus checks, bringing the total this year to $2,000.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xUctYJ">
|
|||
|
|
“We need to tackle the public health and economic crises we’re facing head on,” Biden said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1349849776012087296?s=20">tweet</a> on Thursday. “That’s why today, I’m announcing my American Rescue Plan. Together, we’ll change the course of the pandemic, build a bridge toward economic recovery, and invest in racial justice.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jPnPtM">
|
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|
|
The incoming Biden administration is sorting their approach to the economy into <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2021/01/13/biden-preps-coronavirus-rescue-plan-with-recovery-bill-to-follow/">two stages</a>: rescue and recovery. This is the “rescue” part<strong> </strong>of the equation, meant to address the immediate crisis. The details on the recovery plank are still to come.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PklL8t">
|
|||
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|
Lawmakers have already passed two sweeping Covid-19 relief bills, including the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March and an additional $900 billion in relief in December. Biden’s proposal is a follow-up to those and signals a rather ambitious push on addressing the pandemic and the economy — even though the plan is likely to change before it’s signed into law, if it is at all.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KJZTW3">
|
|||
|
|
Overall, this is a big deal. The $1.9 trillion in relief Biden is proposing is more than double the $800 billion <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/1/text">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act</a> that Democrats passed in 2009 in the wake of the Great Recession. The size and scope of this proposal is a reflection of some lessons<strong> </strong>Democrats have learned: In 2009, many lawmakers believed they’d have a chance at another bill to deliver more help, but they never<strong> </strong>did. And so the recovery was slower and more uneven than it could have been had they been more ambitious at the outset.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZCKgkg">
|
|||
|
|
With that in mind, many Democrats and progressives plan to push the Biden administration and congressional leaders to go even further. Their mantra is increasingly that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/5/15/21258535/coronavirus-economic-recession-congress-heroes-act-reopening-stimulus">the real risk is doing too little — not too much</a>.
|
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|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1XgHbL">
|
|||
|
|
“When Democrats passed the recovery act in 2009, it was smaller than was necessary, and a lot of members thought there was going to be another bite at the apple. There wasn’t,” one Democratic aide said. “Members who were around in that time period are very much cognizant of that lesson.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="8jGwyj">
|
|||
|
|
What Biden wants on the economy right now
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eq1jU6">
|
|||
|
|
Biden’s proposal for the American Rescue Plan is largely focused on immediate relief: measures necessary to help the country address the pandemic and its economic fallout. After all, the economy getting back to normal is contingent on getting the virus under control, which at this point means vaccinating as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EVwnXM">
|
|||
|
|
Here’s a rundown of some of what Biden is proposing:
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fD8aML">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>A national vaccination program and scaled-up testing. </strong>Biden is pushing to invest $20 billion in a national vaccination program in partnership with states, localities, tribes, and territories, including creating community vaccination centers and mobile vaccination units. He is also advocating for $50 billion<strong> </strong>to expand testing, including rapid tests, expanded lab capacities, and help for schools and local governments. And he is pushing for an additional $10 billion to manufacture pandemic supplies domestically, as well as $30 billion to the Disaster Relief Fund for supplies and protective gear.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xM7HCB">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>A public health jobs program and funds toward addressing health disparities. </strong>Biden’s proposal looks to fund 100,000 health workers to expand the public health workforce. He also wants to increase funding for health services to underserved populations and those who live in congregate settings, such as nursing homes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B5EptQ">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Money for reopening schools. </strong>Biden’s proposal calls for $130 billion to help schools reopen safely, $35 billion in funding for higher education, and $5 billion for governors to use to support educational programs for those hardest hit by Covid-19.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xvbaKD">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Emergency paid leave: </strong>Biden is calling for changes his team says will expand paid sick leave to 106 million more Americans, including renewing the expired requirement for employers to provide leave and expanding emergency paid leave to federal workers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ItpVow">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Bigger stimulus checks. </strong>Biden is proposing adding $1,400 to the latest round of stimulus checks so that they total $2,000. His plan also expands eligibility for the checks to adults left out of previous rounds and to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/1/21197017/immigrants-coronavirus-stimulus-relief-bill">mixed-immigration status households</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ev4WIT">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Extended unemployment insurance. </strong>Under the current stimulus packages, the unemployed are eligible for an additional $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits to through March 14. Biden’s plan increases that amount to $400 through September and also continues extended benefits to people who have exhausted benefits or wouldn’t normally qualify, such as contractors or freelancers.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aqqmBn">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Housing assistance. </strong>The president-elect’s plan calls for extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through September, directing $30 billion toward rental assistance, and $5 billion in emergency assistance to secure housing for the homeless.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LSKbuD">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Food benefits. </strong>The plan includes extending the 15 percent increase in SNAP benefits through September, investing $3 billion in the special supplemental nutrition program for <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic">WIC</a>, and providing US territories with $1 billion in nutritional assistance.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CJ6V4e">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Child care assistance. </strong>The plan calls for a $25 billion emergency stabilization fund for child care providers and an additional $15 billion to the Child Care and Development Block Grand Program.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ts81GT">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Tax credits for children and low–income workers. </strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/9/18/21444103/child-tax-credit-2020-joe-bden">The plan expands the child tax credit</a> — another important one for Democrats — to $3,000 per child up to age 17 and $3,600 for children under the age of 6. And, it increases the earned income tax credit from about $530 to $1,500 and expands eligibility.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kv6Fv1">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Support for small business</strong>. Biden is proposing $15 billion in grants to hard-hit small businesses and leveraging $35 billion in government funds into $175 billion in loans and investment in small businesses.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E2LYSa">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Support for state and local governments. </strong>Biden’s plan calls on Congress to provide $350 billion in funds for state, local, and territorial governments. It’s framed as money that will help pay front-line workers, reopen schools, and get people vaccinated. It also requests $20 billion in relief for public transit agencies and $20 billion to support tribal governments’ pandemic response.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="onWXG9">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>A $15 minimum wage. </strong>Biden’s proposal asks Congress to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour as well as ending the tipped minimum wage and sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities. It also calls on employers to provide hazard pay.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="GDlXVl">
|
|||
|
|
This is an opening bid, and some Democrats want to go bigger
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zwS2Wg">
|
|||
|
|
Biden’s proposal is likely just the beginning of Democratic debate on how to bolster the country’s public health crisis response and economic recovery. More than nine months into the pandemic, thousands of people are dying each day of Covid-19, and millions of people are still out of a job.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sCuQfN">
|
|||
|
|
“Given the urgency of the moment, I think there is a good argument for doing as much as possible as quickly as possible and continuing to push for more,” said Angela Hanks, deputy executive director of the progressive group Groundwork Collaborative, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/22159023/covid-economic-stimulus-bill-congress">released an estimate</a> before last month’s stimulus bill was passed suggesting that it would take $3 trillion to $4.5 trillion to really get the economy moving.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ymtdc">
|
|||
|
|
Discussions are underway among Democrats and progressives inside and outside the legislative process about how to do more. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) sent a letter to Biden calling on his administration to push to include “<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/21/18185536/cory-booker-news-today-2020-presidential-election-baby-bonds">baby bonds</a>” in an economic recovery package. “We urge you to ‘go big,’ with a bold vision for racial and economic justice,” they wrote, arguing that baby bonds, which would create federally funded savings accounts for every child in America, “represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close the racial wealth gap and unleash economic opportunity for every American.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c9OATS">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22152601/biden-student-loan-debt-cancellation">Student debt cancellation</a> — an increasingly important issue on the left — is absent from Biden’s plan. Biden has said he supports Congress canceling $10,000 in federal student debt, but that’s not in Thursday’s proposal. He has come under pressure, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/17/22179577/biden-student-debt-house-resolution">including from many Democrats in the House and Senate</a>, to cancel up to $50,000 of student debt.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MDPLti">
|
|||
|
|
That’s not the only thing Biden can do on his own. If he can’t get Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15, he could require federal contractors to pay a $15 minimum wage. There is a long list of actions he can take unilaterally to boost the economy, as well as putting people in place across the executive branch who can enact an agenda to create a fairer, more prosperous economic landscape. “There’s a lot that actually can absolutely be done without Congress,” said Felicia Wong, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LUCHuP">
|
|||
|
|
Biden’s plan nods at automatic stabilizers<strong> </strong>—<strong> </strong>tying social safety net mechanisms, such as expanded unemployment insurance, to certain economic conditions. That way, Congress doesn’t have to haggle about them all the time. But the idea is likely to get more attention in the coming weeks.<strong> </strong>A number of lawmakers have called for automatic stabilizers, including Sens. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/8/22/20827080/michael-bennet-recession-federal-reserve-fiscal-stimulus">Michael Bennet</a> (D-CO) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r4gpnx">
|
|||
|
|
“Ideally, you have a social safety net that exists to activate in times of crisis, and we don’t have to rely on policymakers to act just in time or after,” Hanks said. “It also means that in those moments of crisis, you’re not worrying about the immediate impact on things like unemployment insurance and you can focus on other areas you didn’t anticipate.” For example, like a global pandemic.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ce8lIQ">
|
|||
|
|
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is about to chair the Senate Budget Committee, has indicated he wants to go big from his new perch. That includes on budget reconciliation, which could ultimately be the mechanism Democrats use if they can’t get enough Republicans on board with their agenda.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JWMPvP">
|
|||
|
|
“It is absolutely imperative that the Congress not lose sight of the fact that working families in this country are facing more economic distress today than at any time during the Great Depression,” Sanders recently told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/bernie-sanders-big-budget-plans-458461">Politico</a>. “What Congress has got to show the American people is that … it can handle more than one crisis at a time.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="a41VeJ">
|
|||
|
|
Budget reconciliation could be on the horizon
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4BZ8GY">
|
|||
|
|
The general line from the Biden team and many Democratic lawmakers is that they want to give Republicans a chance to get on board with the agenda and pass Covid-19 relief through regular order, which would mean needing 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster. After all, that’s what happened throughout 2020. But if they can’t make it work, they’ll go another route.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3iIGpF">
|
|||
|
|
“We need to know as early as we can, are [Republicans] serious about wanting this to go forward,” one Democratic aide said. “The disagreement will be how long we wait before we switch if we are going to be switching [tactics]. The best possible outcome here is that Republicans praise it and it’s bipartisan.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KTCqCN">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13709518/budget-reconciliation-explained">Budget reconciliation</a> — a process that exempts from the filibuster legislation primarily dealing with taxes and spending —<strong> </strong>is likely an option. (Vox has a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13709518/budget-reconciliation-explained">full explainer on what it is</a>.) In the current scenario, legislation passed under budget reconciliation could pass with 50 Senate Democratic votes plus tie-breaker Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v4oeBK">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22217054/joe-biden-senate-majority-budget-reconciliation">My colleague Dylan Matthews recently ran down a list</a> of what Biden can do with budget reconciliation, and while it’s not everything<strong> </strong>in the recovery plan, it’s a lot of it. And plenty of experts say there are ways to finagle the rules.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4RTihQ">
|
|||
|
|
“Looking through the Biden plan, as best I can tell, almost anything in it besides the minimum wage increase they can do through reconciliation,” said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He said there are a few areas where it could get tricky — namely, state and local aid and vaccination money. “They have to get a little creative, but it’s not even that hard.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kiO1Xt">
|
|||
|
|
Democrats have two potential reconciliation bills to work with, one for the 2021 fiscal year and one for 2022. If they go that route, there will be a push on the left to make the proposal even bigger — that’s certainly, for example, what Sanders wants.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wqi28M">
|
|||
|
|
“I’m going to use reconciliation in as aggressive a way as I possibly can to address the terrible health and economic crises facing working people today,” he told Politico. That translates to spending on areas such as infrastructure, climate, and other parts of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PL7tdN">
|
|||
|
|
But there are also moderate Democrats to contend with — getting to 50 votes means that the Joe Manchins and Kyrsten Sinemas of the world need to be on board. One Democratic policy adviser noted that a lot of the agenda is pretty uncontroversial, including expanded unemployment and state and local aid — among the caucus. Other elements, not so much. “It’s kind of a matter of what we think we can get away with and what we can push the envelope on and what we can convince 50 senators of, including our dear friend Mr. Manchin, on the floor,” the person said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0p1K3i">
|
|||
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On a call with reporters earlier this week, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) said he looked forward to soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer putting some legislation on the floor, in a test of whether soon-to-be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans will take the same approach he did under the Obama administration — obstruction at every turn. “If that’s his view of moving on anything, then we’ll have to find a way through reconciliation or something else. But I think you give them the chance,” Brown said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="65mTg3">
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Brown also said he believes there is “way more” consensus among Democrats than people may think. “My job is to find out what we can do together, find out what arguments work, are the most persuasive with them, and how I can figure out with them to make everything that we’ve come out with more palatable,” he said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kaQTts">
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Biden and the Democratic Party are in a position many thought was unlikely after the November elections, when the probability of a double victory in Georgia’s Senate run-off elections seemed small: They have an opportunity to take some big swings at helping the economy, ultimately, helping people. Now we know what Biden’s opening bid to do that looks like. Over the days and weeks to come, the country will see how it plays out.
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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>Mohammed Siraj abused by Gabba crowd, called grub: Report</strong> - The reported incident happened a few days after the fast bowler was racially abused by spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the third and fourth day of the drawn third Test</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>Aus vs Ind fourth Test | My skills with red ball are good and I am ready to bowl even 40-50 overs, says Washington Sundar</strong> - India’s T20 specialist off-spinner was asked to stay back by the team management after the white-ball series to help as a net bowler.</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>Japan minister Taro Kono says “anything can happen with Tokyo Games”</strong> - He also reiterated recent poll results that show about 80% in Japan think the Olympics shouldn’t happen, or will not happen.</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>Aus vs Ind: Centurion Labuschagne disappointed at not getting “big score”</strong> - Labuschagne credited the Indian bowlers for being disciplined early on and hardly giving away any scoring opportunities.</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>Google celebrates the legacy of Basketball inventor Dr. James Naismith</strong> - According to Dr. Naismith, basketball is a perfect sport for all to better themselves physically and mentally</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>Total Electors in Andhra Pradesh is 4,04,41,378: CEO</strong> - The final electoral rolls have been published on Friday</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>Cut in stamp duty, registration fee</strong> - Bid to improve State’s position in ‘ease of doing business’ rankings</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>Rubber base price to go up to ₹170 a kg</strong> - Procurement price of paddy will be ₹28, coconut ₹32</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>All-time high allocation for tourism marketing</strong> - Champions Boat League to resume in 2021-2022</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>Government wants farmer unions to form informal group to prepare concrete proposals, says Tomar</strong> - Narendra Singh Tomar said the government is hopeful of discussions reaching some decisive stage at the tenth round of talks on January 19.</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>Dutch Rutte government to resign over child welfare fraud scandal</strong> - Mark Rutte's cabinet is to resign after families were wrongly accused and many faced financial problems.</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>Nazi Buchenwald camp no place for sledging, authorities warn</strong> - German officials say some people have used Buchenwald mass graves as a toboggan run.</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>German sports doctor jailed over blood doping scandal</strong> - Mark Schmidt masterminded an international doping ring exposed by police in "Operation Aderlass".</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>Dakar Rally: Pierre Cherpin - French rider dies after crash on stage seven</strong> - French motorcyclist Pierre Cherpin dies five days after crashing during stage seven of the Dakar Rally.</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>Brexit shellfish delays leave Scottish seafood rotting</strong> - A Scottish shellfish firm owner says he is on the brink of bankruptcy as EU customers desert his business.</p></li>
|
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The NSA warns enterprises to beware of third-party DNS resolvers</strong> - Yes, plaintext DNS is insane, but encrypting it has its own tradeoffs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1735338">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NASA gives up on taking Mars’ temperature</strong> - Meant to drive a heat sensor 3 meters deep into Mars, it only managed 3 centimeters. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1735332">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The rise and fall (and rise again) of retro car design</strong> - "The PT Cruiser gets hammered by a lot of people... You know, we sold 1.3M of those.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1734249">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: NASA dishes on small rockets, Jeff buys a ride on a Falcon 9</strong> - "AR1 is the ideal engine for many possible solutions." - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1735230">link</a></p></li>
|
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US grid will see 80 percent of its new capacity go emission-free</strong> - Plans also call for the first new nuclear plant in years. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1735254">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
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|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>What has 6 balls and fucks all the poor people?</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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|
The lottery.
|
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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/Rupe_Knabu"> /u/Rupe_Knabu </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxm4ja/what_has_6_balls_and_fucks_all_the_poor_people/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxm4ja/what_has_6_balls_and_fucks_all_the_poor_people/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><strong>500 bricks on a plane</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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Q. There are 500 bricks on a plane, one falls off, how many left?
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
A. 499
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Q. What are the 3 simple steps of putting an elephant in a refrigerator?
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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A. Open refrigerator, put elephant in, close refrigerator.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
Q. What are the 4 simple steps of putting a giraffe in a refrigerator?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
A. Open refrigerator, take elephant out, put giraffe in, close refrigerator.
|
|||
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|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Q. It's the lions birthday and he invites everyone in the jungle. Everyone turns up but one animal, what animal is it and why?
|
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</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
A. The giraffe, he's in the refrigerator.
|
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</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Q. Sally is an explorer. She is walking through a jungle when suddenly she comes across a crocodile infested river. There are no bridges over it. Sally swims over and is not bitten by a single crocodile. How?
|
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</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
A. All the crocodiles are at the lions party.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Q. Sally dies anyway, why?
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
A. She is hit in the head by a brick.
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ujkris"> /u/ujkris </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxlg4q/500_bricks_on_a_plane/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxlg4q/500_bricks_on_a_plane/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Two CEOs meet after....</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">
|
|||
|
|
One of them has visited Japan. So they are talking about how the trip was and one says:
|
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|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
"look I got this amazing robot secretary from there, it does everything human secretary does except 20 times faster and 200% more efficiently."
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The other one says: "that sounds impressive but does she do... You know other things?"
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
"You're welcome to take her for a spin" winks the first one.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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So the other one takes her to the toilet and after fifteen minutes agonizing screams are heard from the toilet.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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|
The first CEO slaps himself on the forehead and yells: "Shit! I forgot to tell him she has a pencil sharpener in her ass!"
|
|||
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</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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Translated from Slovenian so sorry for a bad translation lol.
|
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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/Vilin13"> /u/Vilin13 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxipx3/two_ceos_meet_after/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxipx3/two_ceos_meet_after/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>My friend once told me, "Your wife and daughter look like twins!"</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 replied, " Yeah well, they were separated at birth"
|
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</p>
|
|||
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|
</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/linpawws"> /u/linpawws </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kx57zf/my_friend_once_told_me_your_wife_and_daughter/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kx57zf/my_friend_once_told_me_your_wife_and_daughter/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>My boss calls me "the computer"</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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Nothing to do with intelligence, I go to sleep if left unattended for 15 minutes
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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EDIT thank you all so much this is my first ever post to hit 1k upvotes and get awards
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TrustedChimp495"> /u/TrustedChimp495 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxbggn/my_boss_calls_me_the_computer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/kxbggn/my_boss_calls_me_the_computer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
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