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688 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>30 December, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Case for Wearing Masks Forever</strong> - A ragtag coalition of public-health activists believe that America’s pandemic restrictions are too lax—and they say they have the science to prove it. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-activism/the-case-for-wearing-masks-forever">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>From Climate Exhortation to Climate Execution</strong> - The Inflation Reduction Act finally offers a chance for widespread change. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/from-climate-exhortation-to-climate-execution">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kirk Douglas, the Guitarist for the Roots, Revamps the Holiday Classics</strong> - A bona-fide guitar hero puts a fresh spin on some holiday classics. And the former United States Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith on reading poetry across the political divide. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/kirk-douglas-the-guitarist-for-the-roots-revamps-the-holiday-classics">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Water Wranglers of the West Are Struggling to Save the Colorado River</strong> - Farmers, bureaucrats, and water negotiators converged on Caesars Palace, in Las Vegas, to fight over the future of the drought-stricken Southwest. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-water-wranglers-of-the-west-are-struggling-to-save-the-colorado-river">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Devastating New History of the January 6th Insurrection</strong> - The House report describes both a catastrophe and a way forward. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/the-devastating-new-history-of-the-january-sixth-insurrection">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>5 ways the US can fight climate change in 2023</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A man in a hardhat is seen at nearly the top of a utility pole, in a harness, a wire in one hand." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o0R2vz78ptQn2EHfbOXtYAfzLgM=/239x0:3796x2668/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71806280/GettyImages_1211391927a.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A Pacific Gas and Electric Co. worker moves a wire into place while installing a bypass switch in Yountville, California, in April 2020. The California Public Utilities Commission has proposed requiring large investor-owned utilities to speed up the deployment of microgrids and other so-called resiliency projects to minimize the impacts of wildfire-induced outages and power shut-offs. | David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The US can tackle methane emissions and deliver on global financing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q7rDO4">
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2022 delivered a sobering wake-up call of how much work is left to address the climate crisis. Flooding in <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2022/8/30/23327341/pakistan-flooding-monsoon-melting-glaciers-climate-change">Pakistan</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/africa/bayelsa-flood-victims-nigeria-intl-cmd/index.html">Nigeria</a>, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/floods-indonesia-java-climate-and-environment-bc4433924c7815e4d913f868f922c201">Indonesia</a> killed thousands of people, drought affected millions of people in <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1124472">Somalia</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/22/china-drought-causes-yangtze-river-to-dry-up-sparking-shortage-of-hydropower">China</a>, and unusually severe heat waves settled over <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/europes-heatwave-may-have-caused-more-than-20000-excess-deaths-2022-11-24/">Europe</a> and most of <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2022/6/22/23176860/heat-wave-summer-temperatures-climate-change-us-europe">the US</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="liv2TR">
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But we keep moving in the wrong direction. Global emissions from <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/defying-expectations-co2-emissions-from-global-fossil-fuel-combustion-are-set-to-grow-in-2022-by-only-a-fraction-of-last-year-s-big-increase">fossil fuel combustion</a> and <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/the-world-s-coal-consumption-is-set-to-reach-a-new-high-in-2022-as-the-energy-crisis-shakes-markets">coal use</a> hit another all-time high, triggered by resumed Covid travel and geopolitical unrest. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2022-12-19/secretary-generals-remarks-end-of-year-press-conference-including-qa-delivered">year-end remarks</a>, the world’s mutual goal of limiting rising temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius “is gasping for breath.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="doWsO0">
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There’s much more that can be done in 2023, and the US has a particular role to play. Historically the world’s biggest polluter, the US is finally gearing up for its biggest realignment yet on climate change. The country has a chance to slash its climate pollution and protect the population from the effects of extreme weather. And there are also actionable steps people can take in their own lives and communities to make a difference.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="633G2v">
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Here are five things the US could resolve to do in 2023:
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</p>
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<h3 id="KAcM8C">
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<ol type="1">
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Slash methane emissions from the oil and gas sector
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</li></ol></h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cJLFE7">
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Next year has the opportunity to be a turning point in the second-biggest contributor to climate change, methane. Methane is responsible for only 30 percent of climate change, a smaller share than carbon dioxide, but it is also much more capable of trapping heat. Methane is also unique because it isn’t just a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, it <em>is </em>the fuel natural gas. All these factors make methane a particularly alarming climate problem, but one that is solvable in the short-term.
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</p>
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<div id="cWMoN6">
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<div style="width: 100%; height: 152px;">
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xQt3KT">
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Methane concentrations in the atmosphere <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/increase-in-atmospheric-methane-set-another-record-during-2021">reached</a> a new peak in 2021, and are rising faster than ever. This is a problem that the US has unusual control over, because it is home to some of the world’s worst superemitters. The place to start is in the oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin, a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22407581/gas-texas-biden-climate-change-methane-permian-basin">ticking time bomb of methane emissions</a> that’s worsening climate change.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uhthDK">
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The Biden administration has a handful of different rules to finalize next year that target this problem. Two of them come from the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management, aimed at reducing the wasted gas oil and gas producers are letting vent or burn into the atmosphere. The EPA would <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-epas-draft-methane-rule-targets-super-emitters/">require</a> companies to regularly monitor pollution coming from their oil and gas wells, as well as limit companies from burning off the excess gas. And the Bureau of Land Management rule specifically <a href="https://grist.org/energy/biden-administration-proposes-new-rule-targeting-methane-emissions-on-tribal-lands/">targets</a> public and tribal lands by setting monthly limits on burning off excess gas and having operators submit a waste minimization plan with any permit application.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="An aerial photo of dozens of oil pumps stretching into the distance." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OTJYL0uupsLc0NCVOnVyL_80wHc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24303948/GettyImages_1351224007a.jpg"/> <cite>Mario Tama/Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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In an aerial view, some pumpjacks operate while others stand idle in the Belridge oil field on near McKittrick, California, in November 2021. In California, 35,000 oil and gas wells sit idle, many of which are unplugged and could leak methane gas.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="juHUAf">
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Another major change will be the Inflation Reduction Act’s methane fee. The fee technically doesn’t kick in until 2024, but next year will be key to figuring out its enforcement. The law charges oil and gas operators $900 per metric ton of methane that is released, and will scale up to $1,500 by 2026.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="473kfT">
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None of these rules will mean much without proper monitoring and enforcement. But next year will also finally be a game changer in delivering better real-time data on the worst polluting offenders. A fleet of satellites, run by <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/methane-super-emitters-mapped-by-nasa-s-new-earth-space-mission">NASA</a> and groups like <a href="https://carbonmapper.org/">Carbon Mapper</a> and <a href="https://www.methanesat.org/">Environmental Defense Fund</a>, will be up and running to capture exactly where the methane is coming from. It will provide the world’s first check on whether companies, and governments, are actually meeting the lofty pledges they’ve made on tackling methane emissions.
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</p>
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<h3 id="sL0xVt">
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<ol start="2" type="1">
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Mainstream heat pumps, induction stoves, and electric vehicles with the Inflation Reduction Act
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</li></ol></h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GnuJjA">
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The Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in Congress this summer includes <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23281757/whats-in-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act">$369 billion</a> to push American consumers and industry away from relying on fossil fuels. The utility payments in the law will ensure that <a href="https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/with-new-tax-credits-clean-energy-beats-gas-plants-almost-every-time">renewables will be cheaper than</a> building new coal and gas power plants. And the tax credits and rebates aim at helping consumers make the leap to renewable and energy-efficient technologies. Some of these technologies are familiar, like rooftop solar and insulation, but some will be newer to Americans, including heat pumps, induction stoves, and plug-in electric vehicles.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2OZDpj">
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The law will help lower the costs of the machines for some Americans by thousands of dollars. So next year, hopefully the same products become mainstream. The mainstreaming of heat pumps and induction stoves will depend in large part on the implementation of the IRA’s incentives, along with successful marketing to consumers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U8K6X7">
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Within the Biden administration, agencies will be responsible for coming up with the rules and guidance to oversee the billions of dollars available under the law. The White House also has a dedicated site to unpacking the consumer credits available. But implementation will also depend on states, which are responsible for distributing <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/16/23306588/biden-inflation-reduction-act-climate-pollution-energy">most of the law’s programs</a>. For example, it will be up to states to carry out the law’s investments in cleaning up abandoned oil wells and rebate programs, and other programs like <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2022/10/8/23387530/home-electrification-heat-pumps-gas-furnace-contractors">training contractors </a>in the newest energy-efficient technology.
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</p>
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<h3 id="Q5bJNv">
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<ol start="3" type="1">
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Take extreme heat as seriously as the cold
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</li></ol></h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IbsxOK">
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We learned some important lessons about the power grid this year. After repeated close calls around the country this year during high demand times, California and Texas <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23340991/power-demand-response-blackout-consumer-climate-change-california-texas-cop27">narrowly averted mass power outages</a> only when consumers helped to reduce the load on the grid, through small actions like changing the thermostat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbDmgT">
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These events averted mass blackouts during unusual heat waves. If the power did go out, millions could have been exposed to potentially dangerous temperatures. Everyone has different tolerances to heat, and in a heat wave, the elderly tend to be the most vulnerable well before the thermostat hits triple digits.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YOA1ui">
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But heat tends to <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23274788/heat-wave-ac-energy-bill-utilities">get overlooked in US policy response</a>, even as it becomes a bigger and likelier catastrophe from climate change. Historically, the US has managed to do better when it comes to helping people get through the winter. The vast majority of states have policies that forbid power shutoffs during a winter freeze. Most states also require heating for multifamily homes. But policy governing cooling in the summers is a patchwork that lets the most vulnerable slip through the cracks. Federal buildings, housing, and prisons have standards for heat, but no guarantee of AC. And only a handful of states have any kind of requirements that utilities keep the power on during a heat wave, according to data compiled by the Energy Justice Lab of Indiana University and shared with Vox.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="People recline at spaced at intervals on the floor of a large open room." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n7Mf2cl8dXAcg0r49CXac8LgBRs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24304009/GettyImages_1233709080a.jpg"/> <cite>Kathryn Elsesser/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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People rest at the Oregon Convention Center cooling station in Portland in June 2021, as a heatwave moved over much of the United States.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i2EZCT">
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The nation doesn’t have an accurate picture of just what the lack of any coherent cooling strategy costs the public. Some low-income consumers have to choose between turning on the AC or buying food. For some, it means utilities have cut off their power for falling behind on an unpaid bill, even in life-threatening heat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8jtGPZ">
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There are reasonable policy measures that could prevent casualties in a heat wave. One is protecting people from having their electricity unexpectedly cut off due to an unpaid bill. Another is to ensure a stable power grid during a heat wave so the power doesn’t go out, by investing in redundancy in the grid and investing in <a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/us-smart-meter-penetration-hits-65-expanding-utility-demand-response-reso/611690/">smart meters </a>that communicate between the customer and the utility.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HK46x7">
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These are small steps that finally take the heat as seriously as the cold.
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</p>
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<h3 id="vUq9gn">
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<ol start="4" type="1">
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Deliver on global climate financing
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</li></ol></h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RtI2yC">
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The US still hasn’t delivered on its original Paris climate agreement pledge in 2015 to deliver $3 billion to the <a href="https://www.greenclimate.fund/">Green Climate Fund</a>. The fund is meant to help with clean energy financing in developing countries, in recognition of rich countries’ lopsided blame for causing climate change. While Biden secured <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/03/11/betrayal-us-approves-just-1bn-climate-finance-for-developing-countries-in-2022/">$1 billion from Congress</a> this year, it’s unclear where the remaining $2 billion will come from, especially given Republican control of the House next year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RgtA6b">
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The US has other obligations on top of the Green Climate Fund. Biden also pledged <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/11/11/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-new-initiatives-at-cop27-to-strengthen-u-s-leadership-in-tackling-climate-change/">$11 billion</a> to developing countries. That’s on top of the White House’s announcements of joint energy partnerships with South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the EU. Some of this funding can come from agencies’ discretionary budget, but Biden will need to depend on Congress for the rest.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1MHpA1">
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The US also has a new kind of climate commitment to deliver on. At the recent international climate conference in Egypt, the world committed for the first time to <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23464353/cop27-egypt-outcome-climate-change-agreement-result-loss-damage">recognizing the loss and damages</a> suffered by developing countries for a crisis they played a negligible role in creating.
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</p>
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The US has long been wary of agreeing to pay for any losses and damages, worried it will open up a flood of lawsuits and claims against the world’s historically biggest polluter, but did agree to a basic framework in Egypt. It’s not clear yet what that will translate to in dollars.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="bHNkrf">
|
|||
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<ol start="5" type="1">
|
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Get personal and political
|
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</li></ol></h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pApsHL">
|
|||
|
|
In 2023, Americans will have more personal control over the kind of carbon footprint they have than ever before. They’ll be able to take control over the “mini fossil fuel plants” people run in their homes every day for their heating, cooking, and driving.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YVf3RX">
|
|||
|
|
The incentives available under the Inflation Reduction Act will finally make it more financially affordable to go electric. There’s money for rooftop solar; electric vehicles, clothes dryers, stoves, and ovens; heat pumps for heating, cooling, and hot water; electric panels and wiring. The law also includes programs that cover the costs of insulation and weatherization to cut a building’s energy usage.
|
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</p>
|
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<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
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<img alt="Electric vehicle charging stations emit a green glow in dark of night. A man and his car use one of them. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/S9_5DMDTgOX2SWSanlHN19xiYUw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24304016/GettyImages_1242853588a.jpg"/> <cite>Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A driver charges his electric vehicle at a charging station in Monterey Park, California, in August.
|
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</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpVSfG">
|
|||
|
|
It’s also important to get outside the mindset that the only impact you can have on climate change is in the ways you consume, eat, and live. <a href="https://www.vox.com/23152123/climate-actions-individuals-can-take">There’s more you can do</a>. Action can mean thinking about your identities, your workplace, your networks, and your privileges, but also, a little more abstractly, understanding what sorts of action lead to policy change. All this will help you identify the appropriate community to link up with. In other words: You can always do more by not acting alone.
|
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</p></li>
|
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<li><strong>The medical system has failed Black Americans for centuries. Could reparations be the answer?</strong> -
|
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<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iaclmKsXBo2pOwCX-yChhNHBwW8=/0x0:1980x1485/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71806170/vm_healthreps_lede_finalsmall.0.jpg"/>
|
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<figcaption>
|
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|
|
Carlos Basabe for Vox
|
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|
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</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
The growing, and sometimes conflicted, calls for cash payments to achieve parity and better health outcomes, explained.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c3vWH5">
|
|||
|
|
In 1972, two social workers set Debra Blackmon’s sterilization in motion.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PPEYQw">
|
|||
|
|
The primary diagnosis in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/10/31/360355784/payments-start-for-n-c-eugenics-victims-but-many-wont-qualify">her medical records read</a>: <em>mental retardation severe</em>. Soon, Blackmon would undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy, a procedure, sanctioned by the local government, to remove her uterus and cervix.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r0O1hx">
|
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She was 14.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="60yeBE">
|
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|
|
Since 1929, the state of North Carolina <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/12/28/144375339/a-brutal-chapter-in-north-carolinas-eugenics-past">had been signing off on forced sterilization</a> for those they deemed unfit to have children. Through its eugenics programs, the state sterilized more than 7,600 people, under the notion that halting reproduction by “mentally defective” people would benefit society.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iiHt4oqX46Y6hmSqw-dMnud7Q5U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24322323/capbcontribution3_border2.jpeg"/>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
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|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8OQUZj">
|
|||
|
|
While white people made up the majority of sterilizations prior to the 1960s, Black women were disproportionately targeted for the state-sanctioned surgeries in the later years of the program.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lb6XDr">
|
|||
|
|
“It was heart-wrenching,” says Bob Bollinger, the attorney who represented Blackmon and a handful of others with similar stories in separate legal cases against the state.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RgEQVH">
|
|||
|
|
Although 30 states have had sterilization laws on the books, North Carolina’s program — which ran until 1974 — was one of the largest and most aggressive. Its victims were also the first to receive compensation, in an unprecedented reparations effort.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cjy40l">
|
|||
|
|
In 2013, state lawmakers set aside <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/all/eugenic-sterilization-victims-belated-justice-msna358381">$10 million for one-time payments</a> to the 1,500 to 2,000 victims they estimated were still alive. The compensatory funds covered those who had been sterilized through the state eugenics board’s formal process, but left out many who had been involuntarily sterilized by local welfare departments that had bypassed the state board. Until they came forward seeking reparations, the legislature was likely unaware such individuals existed.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jZZofn">
|
|||
|
|
Blackmon was among them. She’d never receive payment under the statute.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5UtM8">
|
|||
|
|
“We lost all the cases because of how the law was written,” says Bollinger. North Carolina’s reparations program was successful as far as it went, he said. “It just didn’t go far enough.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iH1A10">
|
|||
|
|
The effort was one of the most well-known examples of reparations paid to Black Americans as an attempt to right an egregious wrongdoing in health care — part of a growing movement calling for direct monetary payments, free health care, and increased accountability for how the medical system treats Black patients. While the larger reparations movement calls for restitution for centuries of unpaid forced labor and post-emancipation exclusion from wealth-building activities, health care reparations would specifically address past and present harms caused to Black people by the medical establishment.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aRxx0m">
|
|||
|
|
It’s estimated that around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/11/opinion/us-coronavirus-black-mortality.html">8.8 million Black Americans died prematurely</a> between 1900 and 2015 because of the racial health gap. One <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2798135">recent study</a> found that household wealth was directly correlated to health outcomes. Advocates for a multi-pronged reparations package focused on monetary and political restitution for this harm say that such reparations would boost the health of Black communities.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YQstGl">
|
|||
|
|
But academics and public health experts have long disagreed on whether financial reparations alone are an approach that can adequately rectify centuries of ill treatment that has resulted in dismal health outcomes for Black Americans. Will they solve the health inequities ingrained in a system designed to perpetuate harm?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4zUudU">
|
|||
|
|
Blackmon’s story illustrates just how complex finding victims and appropriately compensating them can be.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="pL9Ubr">
|
|||
|
|
How history propelled racial disparities in health outcomes<strong> </strong>
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pTG6nU">
|
|||
|
|
Substantial evidence exists that enslavement negatively affected all aspects of Black life and laid the foundation for the health disparities Black Americans experience today. During enslavement, race was biologicalized, bolstering the belief that Black people were inferior. The enslaved were subjected to substandard housing conditions, poor sanitation, and food scarcity because of it. Combined with a lack of access to clean water and clothing, it placed them at a higher risk for respiratory diseases their immune systems had never before encountered and barred them from doing many of the things that make someone healthy, such as accessing adequate medical care. (Though they had <a href="https://www.monticello.org/sites/library/exhibits/lucymarks/medical/slavemedicine.html">their ways</a>.) Much of what we know about modern medicine began on the plantation and set the tone for the poor health currently experienced by Black Americans.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="phi6eh">
|
|||
|
|
Enslavers went to great lengths to prevent physicians from treating enslaved Africans’ ailments, frequently accusing them of “malingering.” It’s not as if the doctors were helpful, however. Typically, their purpose was to get an enslaved person back to work. And if the required medical “care” was more intensive, it was often incredibly harmful to the enslaved.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4b63FM">
|
|||
|
|
“There were scientists and eugenicists who … thought about Black people as an entirely different species,” says Avik Chatterjee, an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="opWEnz">
|
|||
|
|
The way that doctors and scientists thought and wrote about race was one of the many tools used to justify enslavement’s continuation. “It’s not just that people in medicine and people in science were a part of a system, but they helped create the system that allowed for enslavement and oppression,” says Chatterjee.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BlQMcF">
|
|||
|
|
Current misbeliefs that Black patients are more difficult, have thicker skin that is less prone to pain, or make up symptoms were cultivated during enslavement. Today, much of modern medicine <a href="https://capitalbnews.org/health-equity-explainer/">does not protect Black Americans</a>, who are at least three times as likely as white people to die from pregnancy-related causes, face disproportionate rates of chronic diseases, and often bear the most severe outcomes of infectious disease outbreaks. Black patients are underprescribed pain medication, excluded from experimental drug trials that could help manage an illness and provide fuller data for Black health outcomes, denied lifesaving medical procedures, or encouraged to undergo more harmful ones. Being Black is still a medical categorization via race adjustments, which allow medical providers to make clinical decisions based on a patient’s race. (A well-known instance of this is eGFR measurements, a medical formula that helps determine the health of the kidneys, for which <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/kidney-transplant-dialysis-race-adjustment.html">there is a higher bar for Black patients</a> — a practice that frequently prevents them from receiving treatment, such as transplants, that can enhance or save their lives.) Currently, the <a href="https://www.kff.org/report-section/key-facts-on-health-and-health-care-by-race-and-ethnicity-health-status-outcomes-and-behaviors/">life expectancy</a> for Black Americans is 71.8 years versus 77.6 years for white Americans.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
|||
|
|
<div id="N74HkY">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W2j6jg">
|
|||
|
|
Poor outcomes among Black Americans are also compounded by inequities that seep into their environment and community, such as a lack of access to affordable housing and healthy foods, exposure to violence or toxic waste, and the unavailability of open-air green spaces. These factors, often referred to as social determinants of health, affect people’s well-being. And they are often tainted by a history of racist social, economic, and housing policies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gSI0hj">
|
|||
|
|
These wrongs were never adequately addressed, leaving the playing field inequitable. That truth is the crux of the health care reparations movement.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="OiiTwO">
|
|||
|
|
Behind the call for reparations
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Au2ZIT">
|
|||
|
|
Health care reparations became a substantial academic topic in the early 2000s. As Vernellia R. Randall, a law professor at the University of Dayton, <a href="https://academic.udayton.edu/health/01status/status07.htm">wrote</a>, a reparations package capable of eradicating the “Black health deficit” would entail a medley of transformative systemic changes focused on fixing the underlying causes of these disparities. They included, but weren’t limited to, universal health care, repairing environmental racism, providing a living wage, and encouraging cultural competence among physicians.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ktwOfr">
|
|||
|
|
While other systemic factors would ideally be included in a health care reparations package, the general push for reparations is a separate endeavor, addressing economic, political, and housing discrimination resulting from enslavement.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YumyFI">
|
|||
|
|
The effort to redress the harms to sterilization victims in North Carolina is a prime example of health reparations. In the case of that state’s reparations program, however, some of those who were directly affected were able to be located, but the program still missed people whose sterilization wasn’t approved by the state board — people like Blackmon. The same issue could befall any program searching for the descendants of specific harms in medicine, says Chatterjee. Many would exclude Black Americans whose ancestors were used as test subjects for medical experiments without anesthesia and <a href="https://www.rvu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A-perspective-on-J.-Marion-Sims-and-antiBlack-racism-in-OBGYN-JMIG-Feb.-2021.pdf">maimed by doctors like James Marion Sims</a> or who died from smallpox in the early 20th century because of <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/10/ramifications-of-slavery-persist-in-health-care-inequality/">the barriers to quality care post-emancipation</a>. It would also leave out Black patients currently dealing with the ramifications of the pseudoscience established during enslavement — such as doctors believing that they have “naturally” <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/15/lung-function-algorithms-health-disparities-black-people/">lower lung capacity</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eFCkFU">
|
|||
|
|
Growing evidence like this is bolstering the movement in favor of broader health care reparations. “Medical Reparations build on the longstanding call for slavery reparations by focusing on the specific debts owed to Black people in healthcare settings,” reads a report from the Repair Project, an initiative designed to address anti-Black racism in science and medicine. “It is a response to the health effects of racism writ large as legacies of slavery that persist today and that call for repair.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mmc0sZCbeiYm51iHRtvSJw3IUKc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24324301/vm_healthreps_spot_finalsmall.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wGjWUS">
|
|||
|
|
But the notion has not come without criticism.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1kmeE1">
|
|||
|
|
“The US health care system needs a lot of work. It’s broken. It needs fixing,” said Darrell Gaskin, director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions. “Why try to put on a Band-Aid if all your pipes are leaking?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Tmkhwq">
|
|||
|
|
Gaskin supports compensation for patients who are victims of violence, like those who endured North Carolina’s forced sterilization program and the Tuskegee experiment. “I put that in the same category as if you went to a doctor, they made an egregious error, and you sued them for malpractice,” he says.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IJdijt">
|
|||
|
|
But reparations, he argues, are a patch on a system that is inherently broken. On his list of potential solutions for health inequities, “a check is at the very end.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HUEqzi">
|
|||
|
|
It’s the health care structure that must be rebuilt, Gaskin says. Paychecks are “not necessarily fixing the system so that it stops injuring people.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="mvuNlX">
|
|||
|
|
Why some believe payouts aren’t enough
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k1Mkjt">
|
|||
|
|
Gaskin isn’t alone in his reasoning. While many experts believe payouts should be included in a reparations package, since they would provide people with <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/01/15/the-wealthy-get-10-more-years-of-good-health-study-finds/">the quality of medical access that wealth brings</a>, there is a strong agreement that cash won’t provoke the systemic changes necessary to improve Black Americans’ well-being.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qvzaT3">
|
|||
|
|
“We see that [wealth] doesn’t necessarily alleviate health inequities because, particularly in maternal outcomes, we see that <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth">Black women with graduate-level degrees</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/06/health/beyonce-vogue-pregnancy-complication-bn/index.html">astronomical amounts of wealth</a> still have poorer health outcomes than white women who haven’t graduated high school,” says Brittney Francis, a social epidemiologist at Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1WgGDV">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s also a matter of revamping our educational system,” she adds. “It’s no good paying [people] money if you still are going to go see a doctor who’s educated in a system that uses a textbook saying that Black folks feel less pain.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3p2ztB">
|
|||
|
|
A solid reparations package, according to Francis, would also be multi-pronged and implement several key institutional changes. An educational component would better educate current and aspiring clinicians on their biases while eradicating anti-Blackness from the material they’re taught. It would also include plans to improve <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7365659/">the health literacy of Black Americans</a>. And since “it’s estimated that” <a href="https://nam.edu/social-determinants-of-health-101-for-health-care-five-plus-five/">only 10 to 20 percent</a> of what determines health occurs in a clinical setting, such a package should include policies that bolster the infrastructure affecting other determinants of health.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L2i3uC">
|
|||
|
|
Even though cash payments would allow a family that relies on public transit to buy a car, for example, they wouldn’t shorten the drive to the grocery store if that family lived in a community where disinvestment has left residents with <a href="https://slate.com/business/2021/04/dc-food-desert-grocery-black-residents-car-apartheid.html">no access to fresh foods</a>. It wouldn’t stop local governments from making <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-black-communities-become-sacrifice-zones-for-industrial-air-pollution">zoning decisions</a> that allow Black communities to become saturated with environmental pollutants. Money won’t encourage cities to build <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/health/diabetes-prevention-diet.html">more walkable communities</a> or improve the air quality in neighborhoods bisected by highways — and it won’t stop that same political devastation from happening again. If history serves as a predictor, should Black Americans use the funds to move into better-resourced, wealthier areas, the white residents would <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2021/10/white-flight-segregation">likely flee</a> — taking <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/essay/homeownership-racial-segregation-and-policies-for-racial-wealth-equity/">the resources that prevent underinvestment</a> with them.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JwaMgM">
|
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|
|
“I don’t think that folks would actually be able to reap the benefits that we think they’ll be able to see,” Francis says of reparations payments on their own. “A lot of it will be maneuvering through the same systems, just with more money.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="hOgJZd">
|
|||
|
|
What health reparations look like in action and what’s next
|
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</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C1DuJd">
|
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|
In the 1970s, as North Carolina was ending its forced sterilization program, the federal government <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/11/1104386467/tuskegee-syphilis-study-milbank-memorial-fund-apology">reached a $10 million settlement</a> with the surviving victims of the Tuskegee experiment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/12/us/families-emerge-as-silent-victims-of-tuskegee-syphilis-experiment.html">and the families</a> of those who died. As a part of that nonconsensual medical experimentation, nearly 400 Black men were intentionally denied syphilis treatment beginning in the 1930s.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPdR1s">
|
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|
The settlement, which came a year after the experiment ended, included monetary compensation and lifelong health care for participants and their immediate families.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O2aYu3">
|
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|
|
Despite the government’s reparations effort, the experiment remains among the most infamous in American history, scarring Black patients, who have been left skeptical of the same medical system that abused their grandparents and <a href="https://capitalbnews.org/black-women-pain/">continues to dismiss them</a>. The trauma passed down generations partially explains why Black communities remain hesitant to engage in clinical research, where they are underrepresented, and why they’re wary of medical care in general.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBY75u">
|
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|
|
“You have to heal,” says Monica Ponder, an assistant professor of health communication and culture at Howard University. “You have to restore trust in the population when it comes to people feeling safe in their bodies and in communal spaces.” Although she applauds the efforts to right historic atrocities, she says she continues to see Black Americans hurt by the health care system today.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9j3qqy">
|
|||
|
|
“Why is it always about <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02494-z">Henrietta Lacks</a> or Tuskegee when harm happens almost every day?” Ponder wonders. “Why does it have to get to that point?”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z1ZIrY">
|
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|
What constitutes harm needs to be redefined, she said. “Violence happens often in the health care system.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Wo5iM">
|
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|
|
How reparations in health should look, in Ponder’s eye, depends on how they will be defined. She describes the movement as being at a critical point, bursting with new avenues and opportunities to explore. In her mind, reparations should have been paid already as a means to bridge the gap between the bondage of slavery and equitable health outcomes.
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hWp52a">
|
|||
|
|
Some of those potential solutions include adding layers of accountability for doctors and hospitals by ensuring complaints are reviewed and penalties are enacted in real time, or addressing the racial disparities in incarceration rates for cannabis use, she said. They could also look like free access to physical and mental health care.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c2fXMd">
|
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|
|
But that free care, says Ponder, must be safe.
|
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</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hQwmzR">
|
|||
|
|
<small>This series on reparations is made possible by a grant from the </small><a href="http://www.rwjf.org/"><small>Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</small></a><small> to Canopy Collective, an independent initiative under fiscal sponsorship of Multiplier. </small><small><em>All Vox reporting is editorially independent. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Canopy Collective or Robert Wood Johnson Foundation</em></small><small>. </small>
|
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|
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZIEpCG">
|
|||
|
|
<small>Canopy Collective is dedicated to ending and healing from systemic racialized violence. Multiplier is a nonprofit that accelerates impact for initiatives that protect and foster a healthy, sustainable, resilient, and equitable world. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is committed to improving health and health equity in the United State</small>s.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The Supreme Court is manipulating its own calendar to lock GOP policies in place</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SOTU" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eLEnjjyDwCsq3oMTeelYyLd5XYM=/0x0:4000x3000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71804285/1094199896.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Former President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice Brett Kavanaugh before delivering the State of the Union address on February 5, 2019. | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Arizona v. Mayorkas, the Court’s new Title 42 decision, appears to be the latest act of gamesmanship by a Republican Supreme Court.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zqKHg7">
|
|||
|
|
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court handed down a one-page, 5-4 decision extending the life of a Trump-era border policy known as Title 42, which expels numerous immigrants seeking to enter the United States using an expedited process.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FhP1cx">
|
|||
|
|
That decision came in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22a544_n758.pdf"><em>Arizona v. Mayorkas</em></a>, and is typical behavior from the Supreme Court — or, at least, is reflective of this Court’s behavior since a Democrat moved into the White House at the beginning of 2021. It’s the latest example of the Court dragging its feet after a GOP-appointed lower court judge overrides the Biden administration’s policy judgments, often letting that one judge decide the nation’s policy for nearly an entire year.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KKbkVK">
|
|||
|
|
The Title 42 program, which the Biden administration <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A544/250530/20221220190658873_22A544%20Govt%20opp%20to%20Ariz%20stay%20final%20corrected.pdf">determined must be terminated last May</a>, will now likely remain in effect for several more months due to the Court’s decision. Indeed, even if the Court ultimately decides that the administration should prevail in this case, the Court is unlikely to lift its order extending this Trump-era program until June. And that delay may be the best-case scenario for the Biden administration — and for the general principle that unelected judges aren’t supposed to decide the nation’s border policy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="66ZXTx">
|
|||
|
|
Moreover, the current situation differs sharply when Republican President Donald Trump was in office, and the Court frequently <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/22/21148529/justice-sotomayor-supreme-court-wolf-cook-county-public-charge-thumb-on-scale">raced to reinstate Trump’s policies within mere days</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="ZDsYBd">
|
|||
|
|
A brief history of the Supreme Court’s politicized scheduling
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kprB7P">
|
|||
|
|
In August 2021, a Trump-appointed judge named Matthew Kacsmaryk handed down a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-immigration-asylum-joe-biden-donald-trump">poorly reasoned opinion</a> ordering the Biden administration to reinstate a program, known as “Remain in Mexico,” that required many asylum seekers to stay on the Mexican side of the US southern border while they awaited a hearing. Although the Supreme Court eventually reversed Kacsmaryk, it <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189965/supreme-court-biden-texas-remain-in-mexico-john-roberts">sat on the case for more than 10 months</a> — effectively letting Kacsmaryk exercise the homeland security secretary’s authority over the border during that entire period.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9dJFL">
|
|||
|
|
Worse, when the Court did eventually decide this case, known as <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-954_7l48.pdf"><em>Biden v. Texas</em></a>, it left one looming issue in the lawsuit unresolved and sent the case back to Kacsmaryk. The Supreme Court determined that Kacsmaryk misread federal immigration law to only give the federal government two alternatives when an asylum seeker arrives at the Mexican border, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189965/supreme-court-biden-texas-remain-in-mexico-john-roberts">when in fact the government has many options</a>. It left open the question of whether the Biden administration properly completed the appropriate paperwork when it terminated Remain in Mexico.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jUli2p">
|
|||
|
|
When the case returned to Kacsmaryk, a former Christian right activist with a record of granting legally dubious victories to conservative litigants, he <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">handed down a second order</a> indicating that the administration must reinstate the Remain in Mexico program. It could be a year or more before the Supreme Court gets around to reviewing Kacsmaryk’s new attempt to impose Trump’s immigration policies on the country.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RG04QS">
|
|||
|
|
Similarly, last July, a Trump judge named Drew Tipton effectively <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/27/23464741/supreme-court-ice-drew-tipton-texas-united-states-immigration">seized control</a> of much of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s authority over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency that enforces immigration law within US borders. Tipton’s opinion is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/27/23464741/supreme-court-ice-drew-tipton-texas-united-states-immigration">exceedingly weak</a> and cannot be squared with more than a century of Supreme Court precedents, and a majority of the justices <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/29/23484335/supreme-court-united-states-texas-ice-immigration-drew-tipton-trump">appeared likely to reverse Tipton</a> during oral arguments on the case in November.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IiKTja">
|
|||
|
|
But the Court has also sat on this case for months, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/21/23273467/supreme-court-ice-texas-united-states-biden-mayorkas">rejecting the Justice Department’s request</a> to immediately restore Secretary Mayorkas’s lawful authority over ICE in July. The Supreme Court may not rule on the case, known as <em>United States v. Texas</em>, until next June — at which point Tipton will have unlawfully usurped Mayorkas’s authority for 11 months.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="21JcJ2">
|
|||
|
|
The Court’s tendency to manipulate its own calendar isn’t restricted to immigration cases. One of the most high-profile examples of the Court delaying resolution of a case brought by left-leaning litigants occurred in September 2021, before the Court’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception">2022 decision overruling <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a>. A 5-4 Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a24_8759.pdf">refused to decide a case</a> challenging Texas’s strict anti-abortion law known as SB 8, effectively allowing Texas to ban many abortions while <em>Roe </em>remained good law. (In fairness, the Court did eventually rule on SB 8 the next December, but that decision established that SB 8 is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/10/22827899/supreme-court-texas-abortion-law-sb8-decision-whole-womans-health">immune from any meaningful constitutional challenge</a>.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rsIvP9">
|
|||
|
|
The Court, which currently has a Republican supermajority, did not behave this way when a Republican occupied the White House. In <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/19a230_k53l.pdf"><em>Barr v. East Bay Sanctuary</em></a><em> </em>(2019), for example, a lower court blocked a Trump administration policy that effectively locked virtually all Central American migrants out of the asylum process. The Trump administration asked the justices to reinstate this policy in late August 2019, and the Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a230.html">agreed to do so about two weeks later</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F4U4vN">
|
|||
|
|
Similarly, in <a href="https://affordablecareactlitigation.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/19a905_7m48.pdf"><em>Wolf v. Cook County</em></a><em> </em>(2020), the Court reinstated a Trump administration policy targeting low-income immigrants — and it <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19a905.html">did so just eight days</a> after Trump’s lawyers asked the Court to do so.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r0sTxO">
|
|||
|
|
Indeed, under Trump, the Court was so quick to intervene when a lower court blocked one of the Republican administration’s policies that Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained in dissent that her GOP-appointed colleagues were <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/22/21148529/justice-sotomayor-supreme-court-wolf-cook-county-public-charge-thumb-on-scale">“putting a thumb on the scale in favor of” the Trump administration</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OL1mnP">
|
|||
|
|
As these cases show, the Supreme Court can wield tremendous power not just by handing down substantive rulings that determine what federal law requires. It can often reshape federal policy for months or even longer by manipulating how quickly it attends to the cases on its docket.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BE73FV">
|
|||
|
|
Although the Court has historically discouraged litigants of all kinds from seeking relief on its so-called “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/11/21356913/supreme-court-shadow-docket-jail-asylum-covid-immigrants-sonia-sotomayor-barnes-ahlman">shadow docket</a>,” cases that are decided using an expedited process and without full briefing or oral argument, these longstanding norms faded away when Trump was president. When lower courts blocked Trump policies, the Court frequently raced to reinstate those polices.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2DUsaC">
|
|||
|
|
Yet when lower courts blocked Biden’s policies, the Supreme Court sat on its hands — sometimes in cases where a majority of the justices <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189965/supreme-court-biden-texas-remain-in-mexico-john-roberts">believed that the lower court had mangled the law</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BUwpgt">
|
|||
|
|
Judicial partisanship, in other words, is often much more subtle than a Supreme Court opinion definitively ruling that the law must be read to implement Republican policies. Sometimes, locking GOP policies in place, at least temporarily, can be accomplished with little more than creative scheduling.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="1Mh8DJ">
|
|||
|
|
The winding road that brought Title 42 to the Supreme Court
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FtoQ4C">
|
|||
|
|
Setting aside the question of when the Court will determine if the Title 42 program should continue to exist, it should be noted that the Court’s decision in <em>Arizona </em>is difficult to defend on the merits. As Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee who <a href="https://www.vox.com/22431044/neil-gorsuch-nihilism-supreme-court-voting-rights-lgbt-housing-obamacare-constitution">normally behaves</a> like a doctrinaire conservative, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22a544_n758.pdf">writes in his <em>Arizona </em>dissent</a>, the Title 42 program was justified by a public health emergency — the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic — which has “long since lapsed.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="alz8xB">
|
|||
|
|
Federal law permits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to “prohibit, in whole or in part, the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/265">introduction of persons and property from such countries or places</a> as [it] shall designate in order to avert” the spread of a “communicable disease” that is present in a foreign country. Beginning in late 2020, when the Covid pandemic was raging, the Trump administration used this authority to order large numbers of noncitizens arriving at the Canadian and Mexican borders to be <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A544/250530/20221220190658873_22A544%20Govt%20opp%20to%20Ariz%20stay%20final%20corrected.pdf">immediately expelled from the United States</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aAJp1l">
|
|||
|
|
The program is called “Title 42” because the statute permitting it to exist is part of Title 42 of the United States Code.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OZogGx">
|
|||
|
|
The Biden administration, for its part, decided to leave this policy in place for more than a year after President Biden took office — Title 42 is both a useful tool for officials seeking to limit immigration at the southern border and an increasingly difficult-to-justify tool because its only legal basis is a statute permitting temporary immigration restrictions to prevent the spread of disease.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fG3yFO">
|
|||
|
|
Eventually, the Biden administration determined that the program could no longer be called necessary. On April 1, the CDC concluded that “the cross-border spread of COVID-19 due to covered noncitizens <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A544/250530/20221220190658873_22A544%20Govt%20opp%20to%20Ariz%20stay%20final%20corrected.pdf">does not present the serious danger to public health that it once did</a>, given the range of mitigation measures now available.” Accordingly, the CDC announced that it would terminate the Title 42 policy as of May 23, 2022.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5qyXwf">
|
|||
|
|
But that order never took effect. Shortly after CDC announced that the Title 42 program would end, a group of Republican state officials filed a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.188754/gov.uscourts.lawd.188754.1.0_1.pdf">lawsuit</a> claiming that the program must continue in order to maintain what they described as “the abrupt elimination of the only safety valve preventing this Administration’s disastrous border policies from devolving into an unmitigated chaos and catastrophe.” The case was assigned to Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump appointee to a federal court in Louisiana, and Summerhays issued an <a href="https://casetext.com/case/louisiana-v-ctrs-for-disease-control-prevention">order</a> requiring the administration to continue the policy three days before Title 42 was supposed to end.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0x7vFr">
|
|||
|
|
This case is known as <a href="https://casetext.com/case/louisiana-v-ctrs-for-disease-control-prevention"><em>Louisiana v. CDC</em></a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5j6VGG">
|
|||
|
|
Summerhays’s decision is wrong. In it, he claims that the Biden administration was required to undergo a lengthy process known as “notice and comment,” which can take months or years to complete, before it could terminate the Title 42 program. But the whole point of the public health statute at issue in this case is that sometimes the government has to issue emergency immigration orders to mitigate a public health crisis.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lnU5vL">
|
|||
|
|
If the government had to complete a months-long process every time it issues an order under this statute, then the statute serves no purpose. If a new disease were to emerge in, say, Switzerland tomorrow, it would be pointless for the government to close the border to Swiss people months from now. Such an emergency order must be issued as fast as possible.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WFJJL4">
|
|||
|
|
Nor should a different process apply when the CDC decides to lift an emergency order. As the Supreme Court said in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/575/13-1041/"><em>Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association</em></a> (2015), “agencies use the same procedures when they amend or repeal a rule as they used to issue the rule in the first instance.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JkfKa3">
|
|||
|
|
In any event, Summerhays’s decision is not currently before the Supreme Court — it’s <a href="https://ecf.ca5.uscourts.gov/n/beam/servlet/TransportRoom">currently on appeal</a> to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. But the decision matters because his order is the specific thing that prevents the Biden administration from terminating the Title 42 program immediately.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LCYsBj">
|
|||
|
|
The <em>Arizona</em> case — the one that is actually before the Supreme Court — involves a parallel lawsuit heard by Clinton-appointed Judge Emmet Sullivan, in a case called <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A544/250328/20221219140348750_Title%2042%20Emergency%20Application%20Addendum%20File%20Version.pdf"><em>Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas</em></a>. That decision determined that the Title 42 program is itself unlawful and must be terminated.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wOU09A">
|
|||
|
|
Frankly, there is nearly as much to criticize in Sullivan’s opinion as there is to criticize in Summerhays’s. Both decisions depart from the ordinary rule that public health policy should be set by officials who are accountable to an elected president, and not by unelected judges. They also depart from the text of the relevant public health statute, which provides that public health officials — and not judges like Robert Summerhays or Emmet Sullivan — should determine when emergency immigration restrictions should be implemented to control the spread of a communicable disease.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KErc9f">
|
|||
|
|
But Sullivan’s order would also have the practical effect of implementing the same policy that the Biden administration sought to put in place last May. While Summerhays attacked the CDC’s order terminating the Title 42 program, Sullivan concluded that the Title 42 program is itself illegal and must be terminated on his authority.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2iVRZJ">
|
|||
|
|
Except that the Supreme Court decided to halt Sullivan’s order, at least for now.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="zlzNsD">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court’s Title 42 decision makes no sense
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wg0IXE">
|
|||
|
|
If you are confused by this convoluted tale of two competing lawsuits, I should warn you that things are about to get even more complicated.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NvHabY">
|
|||
|
|
The Biden administration did not seek a prolonged stay of Sullivan’s order, which means that this order should be in effect right now and the Title 42 program should be terminated. But the states behind the <em>Louisiana </em>lawsuit (the one heard by Summerhays), did ask a federal appeals court to stay Sullivan’s order — even though those states are not a party to the <em>Huisha-Huisha </em>lawsuit.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hlwD4A">
|
|||
|
|
While it is sometimes possible for a non-party to a lawsuit to “intervene” in a case, and gain the power to act as if they were a party to the suit in the process, a bipartisan appeals court panel determined that the red states <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22A544/250328/20221219140348750_Title%2042%20Emergency%20Application%20Addendum%20File%20Version.pdf">waited too long to intervene</a> in the <em>Huisha-Huisha</em> case. That order — not the merits of Sullivan’s decision, but the appeals court order determining that the states waited too long — is what’s before the Supreme Court in the <em>Arizona</em> case.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PPmhbT">
|
|||
|
|
The Court’s 5-4 decision in <em>Arizona</em>, meanwhile, effectively ruled that the Title 42 program must remain in effect while the justices consider whether the red states failed to intervene in the <em>Huisha-Huisha</em> case in a timely manner.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZIdwJO">
|
|||
|
|
So, to summarize, one judge, a Republican, has determined that the Republican Party’s preferred immigration policy must remain in effect. His opinion is poorly reasoned and at odds both with a federal statute and with binding Supreme Court precedents. Meanwhile, a second judge, a Democratic appointee, has determined that the Republican Party’s preferred immigration policy is illegal.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XjtbTW">
|
|||
|
|
The CDC — the only institution that actually has the statutory authority to determine when the Title 42 program should be terminated — decided that this program must end in May. But CDC’s April order has been trapped in limbo for months due to the Republican judge’s erroneous decision. And it is now likely to be trapped in limbo for much longer while the Supreme Court ponders a minor procedural question about when parties seeking to intervene in a lawsuit must do so.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EBEe8A">
|
|||
|
|
All of this is happening, moreover, against the backdrop of a Supreme Court that took only days to determine that a Republican administration’s policies must be put into effect right away, but that often sits on cases blocking Democratic policies for months — even when the justices ultimately determine that the lower court’s order blocking the Democratic policy was wrong.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3yAXYr">
|
|||
|
|
In 2021, Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered a speech at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center (named for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell), in which she announced that her goal was “<a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell/2021/09/12/justice-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-decisions-arent-political/8310849002/">to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks</a>.” But if that is truly her goal, she and her colleagues might want to consider applying the same scheduling rules to cases brought by Republicans that her Court applies to cases brought by Democrats.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wishes pour in for Pant after fiery car accident</strong> - Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was distressed by the news of Rishabh Pant’s car accident, while others like Sachin Tendulkar wished him a speedy recovery</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mirabai sets her sights on Paris Olympics medal</strong> - Immediate target is to do well at the Asian Championships and the Asian Games</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Elpenor, Galahad, Star Comet and La Reina catch the eye</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CM Stalin condoles the demise of Pelé</strong> - Pele was not just the The King of Football, but also, unarguably, one of the most influential personalities of the 20th century who inspired millions, wrote the CM, in his condolence message</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rishabh Pant injured in car accident in Roorkee</strong> - Senior Superintendent of Police, Haridwar, Mr. Ajay Singh told The Hindu that Pant was driving a Mercedes Benz car that hit the divider and caught fire</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An ideal mother-son relationship, says Karnataka CM on demise of PM’s mother</strong> - Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai condoled the demise of Hiraben Modi, the mother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Agri. consumption pulls up power demand beyond 14K MW</strong> - It’s higher by over 3K MW compared to December last year</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arippa land struggle in Kerala completes 10 years</strong> - Adivasi Dalit Munnetta Samithi decides to step up agitation demanding immediate allotment of land</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Metro rail service extended till 1 a.m. for New Year</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Indian Army organises outreach programme at Sholadamattam village near Wellington</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andrew Tate detained in Romania over rape and human trafficking case</strong> - The controversial online influencer has been detained in Romania alongside his brother Tristan.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kosovo: Serbs agree to dismantle barricades after talks</strong> - The barricades were erected earlier this month in response to the arrest of a former police officer.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ex-Pope Benedict’s failing health presents difficult decisions for Vatican</strong> - For the first time in modern history a living Pope will help bury a dead Pope.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ex-Pope Benedict is lucid and alert - Vatican</strong> - Aged 95, he remains in a serious but stable condition, a day after Pope Francis said he was very ill.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Belarus says it downed Ukraine air defence missile</strong> - Belarus summoned the Ukrainian ambassador, after saying it shot down a Ukrainian air defence missile.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2022’s US climate disasters, from storms and floods to heat waves and droughts</strong> - Way too much rainfall in some places, not nearly enough in others. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906916">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bees like to roll little wooden balls as a form of play, study finds</strong> - It’s “a strong indication that insect minds are far more sophisticated than we might imagine.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906979">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>HandBrake video transcoder adds official AV1 codec support in latest release</strong> - Nvidia and AMD’s AV1 encoders aren’t yet supported, but it probably won’t be long. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906973">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New York governor signs modified right-to-repair bill at the last minute</strong> - Bill passed the state legislature with overwhelming majorities over the summer. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906947">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Suit accusing YouTube of tracking children is back on after appeal</strong> - DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, and others accused of illegally luring kids to YouTube. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1906948">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andrew Tate arrested in Romania after a pizza box showed he was in the country. Police arrested him within 30 minutes</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
As any longer would mean they had to give him a free garlic bread.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/james_s_docherty"> /u/james_s_docherty </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zyjrz0/andrew_tate_arrested_in_romania_after_a_pizza_box/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zyjrz0/andrew_tate_arrested_in_romania_after_a_pizza_box/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lady and the Farmer</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A farmer stopped by a hardware store and bought a bucket and a gallon of paint. Then he stopped by the feed store and picked up a couple of chickens and a goose.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
However, struggling outside the store, he wondered how to carry all his purchases home.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
While he was scratching his head, he was approached by a lady who told him she was lost.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
She asked, ‘Can you tell me how to get to this address please?’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The farmer said, ‘Well, as a matter of fact, my farm is very close to that house. I would walk you there, but I can’t carry this lot.’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The lady suggested, ‘Why don’t you put the can of paint in the bucket, carry the bucket in one hand, put a chicken under each arm, and carry the goose in your other hand?’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
‘Thank you very much,’ he said and proceeded to walk the lady home.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
On the way, he said, ‘Let’s take my short cut and go down this alley. We’ll be there in no time.’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The lady looked him over cautiously and said, ‘I am a lonely widow without a husband to protect me. How do I know that when we get in the alley you won’t hold me up against the wall, pull up my skirt, and have your way with me?’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The farmer said, ‘Holy smokes, lady! I’m carrying a bucket, a gallon of paint, two chickens, and a goose. How in the world could I possibly hold you up against the wall and do that?’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The lady replied, ‘Set the goose down, cover him with the bucket, put the paint on top of the bucket, and I’ll hold the chickens.’
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/profusly"> /u/profusly </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy2yx5/lady_and_the_farmer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy2yx5/lady_and_the_farmer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Husband: “How many other guys have you slept with?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Wife: “Just you, I was awake for all the other ones”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/chuh08"> /u/chuh08 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy8ls9/husband_how_many_other_guys_have_you_slept_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy8ls9/husband_how_many_other_guys_have_you_slept_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>People in North Korea are so brainwashed by the government and the state controlled national news thinking their country is great. Outsiders know better.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
That is why I am glad to live in the greatest country in the world, The United States of America.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Make_the_music_stop"> /u/Make_the_music_stop </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy3i6v/people_in_north_korea_are_so_brainwashed_by_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zy3i6v/people_in_north_korea_are_so_brainwashed_by_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Woman cheats on her husband</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A woman is cheating on her husband and her husband comes home early. In a panic her lover hides in the closet. While hiding in the closet he hears a voice “Sure is dark in here.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man panics and turns and finds a little boy. “What’re you doing in here?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I like hiding, what were you doing with mommy?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Nothing,”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Doesn’t look like it, I’m gonna tell daddy.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Is there anything I can do to keep you quiet kid?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I got a baseball glove, do you want to buy it”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man, with no real time to contemplate, nods. “Sure.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“300!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“That’s outrageous, I refuse,”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I’m gonna tell mom,” the boy said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man quickly agrees and pays the boy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A few days later the woman and her lover are in the throes of passion when the husband again returns home early. The man once again heads to the closet where he hears the same voice, “Sure is dark in here.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man turns and the same boy is staring at him. “What were you doing with mommy?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“nothing.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“doesn’t look like it, I’m gonna tell daddy you came here.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Look I can’t get caught is there anyway you can keep this quiet?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I got a baseball.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man sighs, “How much?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“400!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“That’s more than the glove no way.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I’ll tell dad.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man quickly agrees to pay the boy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A few days later the mom and dad are in the kitchen when the boy walks in. “Hey son, do you wanna go play catch?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I can’t I sold my glove and ball.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The dad is suprised, “For how much?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“700.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“That’s ridiculous,” the mom shouts, “You tricked someone into paying way too much for a glove and ball, I’m taking you to confession.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
On that Sunday after service the boy walks into the confession booth.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Sure is dark in here.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Oh no don’t you start that shit again.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Jpgamerguy90"> /u/Jpgamerguy90 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zymzrk/woman_cheats_on_her_husband/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zymzrk/woman_cheats_on_her_husband/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
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