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<title>04 November, 2022</title>
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<title>Covid-19 Sentry</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"/><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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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</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-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Appraised: The Persistent Evaluation of White Communities as More Valuable than Communities of Color</strong> -
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<div>
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In recent years, journalists have told the stories of families having to erase evidence of their Blackness so that their homes are appraised at similar amounts as their White neighbors. These accounts epitomize the broader trends of racial inequality in home values recently documented by scholars. Yet, previous examinations of racial inequality in home values have not had access to appraisals themselves. This changed on Monday, October 24, 2022 when the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Aggregate Statistics, which includes more than 47 million appraisal reports gathered from licensed appraisers between 2013 and the second quarter of 2022. “Appraised” uses this novel UAD data to evaluate neighborhood racial inequality in appraised values. Among other results, we find that neighborhood racial inequality in appraised values grew by 75% in the past decade and that the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated monetary policy further exacerbated this inequity. Racial inequality in home values directly contributes to persistent racial wealth gaps and residential segregation, which in turn influences racial inequalities in health, income, and educational outcomes. Home value inequalities are the result of appraisal practices that elevate White spaces as the most valuable. Addressing the increasing inequalities requires altering appraising practices and rectifying past injustices.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/6r5zs/" target="_blank">Appraised: The Persistent Evaluation of White Communities as More Valuable than Communities of Color</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>COVID-19 and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a common susceptibility pattern?</strong> -
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Objective To explore the link between COVID-19 incidence, socio-economic covariates, and NHL incidence. Design Ecological study design. Setting Sardinia, Italy. Participants We used official reports on the total cases of COVID-19 in 2020, published data on NHL incidence, and socio-economic indicators by administrative unit, covering the whole regional population. Main outcomes and measures We used multivariable regression analysis to explore the association between the natural logarithm (ln) of the 2020 cumulative incidence of COVID-19 and the ln-transformed NHL incidence in 1974-2003, weighing by population size and adjusting by socioeconomic deprivation and other covariates. Results The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 increased in relation to past incidence of NHL (p < 0.001), socioeconomic deprivation (p = 0.006), and proportion of elderly residents (p < 0.001) and decreased with urban residency (p = 0.001). Several sensitivity analyses confirmed the finding of an association between COVID-19 and NHL. Conclusion This ecological study found an ecological association between NHL and COVID-19. If further investigation would confirm our findings, shared susceptibility factors should be investigated among the plausible underlying mechanisms.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.01.22281794v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: a common susceptibility pattern?</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Use of Interviewer-Administered Telephone Surveys during Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics: A Scoping Review</strong> -
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Introduction During the COVID-19 crisis, researchers had to collect data remotely. Telephone surveys and interviews can quickly gather data from a distance without heavy expense. Although interviewer-administered telephone surveys (IATS) can accommodate the needs in international public health research, the literature on its use during infectious disease outbreaks is scarce. This scoping review aimed to map characteristics of IATS during infectious disease outbreaks. Methods IATS conducted principally during infectious disease outbreaks and answered by informants at least 18 years old were searched from PubMed and EBSCO. There was a manual addition of relevant documents identified during an initial search. Global trends were reported using different groupings, and study details were compared between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results 70 IATS published between 2003 and 2022 were identified. 57.1 % were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some changes in the use of this data collection modality were observed. The proportion of IATS in LMICs rose from 3.3 % before the COVID-19 pandemic to 32.5 %. The share of qualitative studies grew from 6.7 % to 32.5 %. IATS performed during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on more diverse, specific population groups, such as patients and healthcare professionals. The usage of mobile phones to do IATS studies increased from 3.3 % to 25.0 %. Conclusion IATS are used globally with high frequency in the Western Pacific Region and high income countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, IATS was performed in more countries to investigate more diverse target populations. Nonetheless, researchers should consider how to address technical and financial challenges for ITAS to be more inclusive and representative. For better use and more efficient deployment of IATS, methodological details need to be exchanged.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.01.22281787v1" target="_blank">Use of Interviewer-Administered Telephone Surveys during Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics: A Scoping Review</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>The Longitudinal Analysis of Convergent Antibody VDJ Regions in SARS-CoV-2 Positive Patients Using RNA-seq</strong> -
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<div>
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The severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 600 million individuals and caused over 6.5 million deaths. To understand the immune response individuals have from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, we studied the immunoglobulins against the viral antigens. The diversified complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) can be used to characterize an antibody. We downloaded four public RNA-seq data sets that were collected between March 2020 and March 2022 from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) in our longitudinal analysis. In total, there were 269 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients and 26 negative patients who served as a control group. Samples were grouped based on their SARS-CoV-2 variant type and/or the time they were collected. Among 629,137 immunoglobulin V(D)J sequences identified by reconstructing the V(D)J sequences, we found 1011 common V(D)Js (same V gene, J gene and CDR3 sequences in each SARS-CoV-2 positive group) shared by more than one patient in each group and no common V(D)Js were from the negative control group. In our clustering analysis, we identified 129 convergent clusters from the SARS-CoV-2 positive groups. One of these convergent clusters matched the protein sequence of crystal 3D structures of the antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). In our longitudinal analysis between the Alpha and Omicron variant, we found 2.7% of common CDR3s were shared although the longitudinal profiling of common V(D)Js was variant specific. Although diverse immunoglobulin profiles were observed, the convergence of common V(D)Js suggests that there exists antibodies with similar antigenic specificities across patients in different groups over various stages of the pandemic.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.02.514944v1" target="_blank">The Longitudinal Analysis of Convergent Antibody VDJ Regions in SARS-CoV-2 Positive Patients Using RNA-seq</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Towards increased accuracy and reproducibility in SARS-CoV-2 next generation sequence analysis for public health surveillance</strong> -
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<div>
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance efforts integrated genome sequencing of clinical samples to identify emergent viral variants and to support rapid experimental examination of genome-informed vaccine and therapeutic designs. Given the broad range of methods applied to generate new viral genomes, it is critical that consensus and variant calling tools yield consistent results across disparate pipelines. Here we examine the impact of sequencing technologies (Illumina and Oxford Nanopore) and 7 different downstream bioinformatic protocols on SARS-CoV-2 variant calling as part of the NIH Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) Tracking Resistance and Coronavirus Evolution (TRACE) initiative, a public-private partnership established to address the COVID-19 outbreak. Our results indicate that bioinformatic workflows can yield consensus genomes with different single nucleotide polymorphisms, insertions, and/or deletions even when using the same raw sequence input datasets. We introduce the use of a specific suite of parameters and protocols that greatly improves the agreement among pipelines developed by diverse organizations. Such consistency among bioinformatic pipelines is fundamental to SARS-CoV-2 and future pathogen surveillance efforts. The application of analysis standards is necessary to more accurately document phylogenomic trends and support data-driven public health responses.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.515010v1" target="_blank">Towards increased accuracy and reproducibility in SARS-CoV-2 next generation sequence analysis for public health surveillance</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Association of SARS-CoV-2 BA.4/BA.5 Omicron lineages with immune escape and clinical outcome</strong> -
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Expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants in populations with prevalent immunity from prior infection and vaccination, and associated burden of severe COVID-19, has raised concerns about epidemiologic characteristics of these lineages including their association with immune escape or severe clinical outcomes. Here we show that BA.4/BA.5 cases had 15% (95% confidence interval: 9-21%) and 38% (27-49%) higher adjusted odds of having received 3 and ≥4 COVID-19 vaccine doses, respectively, than time-matched BA.2 cases, as well as 55% (43-69%) higher adjusted odds of prior documented infection. However, after adjusting for differences in epidemiologic characteristics among cases with each lineage, BA.4/BA.5 infection was not associated with differential risk of emergency department presentation, hospital admission, or intensive care unit admission following an initial outpatient diagnosis. This finding held in sensitivity analyses correcting for potential exposure misclassification resulting from unascertained prior infections. Our results demonstrate that the reduced severity associated with prior (BA.1 and BA.2) Omicron lineages, relative to the Delta variant, has persisted with BA.4/BA.5, despite the association of BA.4/BA.5 with increased risk of breakthrough infection among previously vaccinated or infected individuals.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.07.31.22278258v2" target="_blank">Association of SARS-CoV-2 BA.4/BA.5 Omicron lineages with immune escape and clinical outcome</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Estimating the impact of implementation and timing of COVID-19 vaccination programme in Brazil: a counterfactual analysis</strong> -
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Background: Vaccines developed between 2020 - 2021 against the SARS-CoV-2 virus were designed to diminish the severity and prevent deaths due to COVID-19. However, estimates of the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns in achieving these goals remain a methodological challenge. In this work, we developed a Bayesian statistical model to estimate the number of deaths and hospitalisations averted by vaccination of older adults (above 60 years old) in Brazil. Methods: We fit a linear model to predict the number of deaths and hospitalisations of older adults as a function of vaccination coverage in this group and casualties in younger adults. We used this model in a counterfactual analysis, simulating alternative scenarios without vaccination or with faster vaccination roll-out. We estimated the direct effects of COVID-19 vaccination by computing the difference between hypothetical and realised scenarios. Findings: We estimated that more than 165,000 individuals above 60 years of age were not hospitalised due to COVID-19 in the first seven months of the vaccination campaign. An additional contingent of 104,000 hospitalisations could have been averted if vaccination had started earlier. We also estimated that more than 58 thousand lives were saved by vaccinations in the period analysed for the same age group and that an additional 47 thousand lives could have been saved had the Brazilian government started the vaccination programme earlier. Interpretation: Our estimates provided a lower bound for vaccination impacts in Brazil, demonstrating the importance of preventing the suffering and loss of older Brazilian adults. Once vaccines were approved, an early vaccination roll-out could have saved many more lives, especially when facing a pandemic.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.24.21268384v5" target="_blank">Estimating the impact of implementation and timing of COVID-19 vaccination programme in Brazil: a counterfactual analysis</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Modeling and Global Sensitivity Analysis of Strategies to Mitigate Covid-19 Transmission on a Structured College Campus</strong> -
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many higher educational institutions moved their courses on-line in hopes of slowing disease spread. The advent of multiple highly-effective vaccines offers the promise of a return to ``normal99 in-person operations, but it is not clear if—or for how long—campuses should employ non-pharmaceutical interventions such as requiring masks or capping the size of in-person courses. In this study, we develop and fine-tune a model of COVID-19 spread to UC Merced9s student and faculty population. We perform a global sensitivity analysis to consider how both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions impact disease spread. Our work reveals that vaccines alone may not be sufficient to eradicate disease dynamics and that significant contact with an infectious surrounding community will maintain infections on-campus. Our work provides a foundation for higher-education planning allowing campuses to balance the benefits of in-person instruction with the ability to quarantine/isolate infectious individuals.
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</p>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.01.22273316v2" target="_blank">Modeling and Global Sensitivity Analysis of Strategies to Mitigate Covid-19 Transmission on a Structured College Campus</a>
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<li><strong>Contagious economic failure? Discourses around “zombie firms” in Covid-19 ridden Germany and Italy</strong> -
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As the spread of Covid-19 hit societies around the world, governments stepped up to contain the pandemic’s economic shock. Governments saved businesses and stabilized employment through extensive fiscal relief packages. In this paper, we analyze public debates around zombie firms – businesses that are unprofitable and/or unable to pay interests on their debt but still receive public aid. In popular culture, zombies are contagious creatures that threaten the “healthy” order of society; in economic discourse, we suggest, the zombie trope is no less rich in cultural meaning and metaphor. Specifically, we are interested in how narrative meaning around zombie firms can be employed to describe the role of the state and the role of the market in addressing economic crises and economic transformations. We comparatively explore how zombie firms are discussed in two societies, Germany and Italy, during the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Combining computational and qualitative text analysis, we investigate how newspapers on the left and on the right imbue this term with meaning. Our results show that German and Italian debates are more similar than expected. Right-leaning newspapers in both countries depict zombie firms as a problem of debt, which is seen as caused and aggravated by undesired state intervention in market dynamics. Left-leaning newspapers articulate more nuanced positions: while German left-leaning newspapers tend to reject the trope of zombie firms and defend pandemic state interventions such as short-time work programs, their Italian counterparts also argue for the need for such policies but associate zombie firms with doubts about the efficiency of state support in the long term.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/wypmf/" target="_blank">Contagious economic failure? Discourses around “zombie firms” in Covid-19 ridden Germany and Italy</a>
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<li><strong>The association between vaccination status identification and societal polarization</strong> -
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<div>
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Public discord between those vaccinated and those unvaccinated for COVID-19 has intensified globally. Theories of intergroup relations propose that identifying with one’s social group plays a key role in the perceptions and behaviors that fuel intergroup conflict. We test whether identification with one’s vaccination status is associated with current societal polarization. The study draws on panel data from samples of vaccinated (n = 3,267) and unvaccinated (n = 2,038) respondents in Germany and Austria that were collected in December 2021, February, March, and July 2022. The findings confirm that vaccination status identification (VSI) explains substantial variance in a range of polarizing attitudes and behaviors. VSI was also related to higher psychological reactance toward mandatory vaccination policies among the unvaccinated. Higher levels of VSI reduced the gap between intended and actual counter-behaviors over time by the unvaccinated. VSI appears to be an important measure for predicting behavioral responses to vaccination policies.
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</div>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/mgqk5/" target="_blank">The association between vaccination status identification and societal polarization</a>
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<li><strong>Time intervals between COVID-19 cases, and more severe outcomes</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A critical factor in infectious disease control is the risk of an outbreak overwhelming local healthcare capacity. The overall demand on healthcare services will depend on disease severity, but the precise timing and size of peak demand also depends on the time interval (or clinical time delay) between initial infection, and development of severe disease. A broader distribution of intervals may draw that demand out over a longer period, but have a lower peak demand. These interval distributions are therefore important in modelling trajectories of e.g. hospital admissions, given a trajectory of incidence. Conversely, as testing rates decline, an incidence trajectory may need to be inferred through the delayed, but relatively unbiased signal of hospital admissions. Healthcare demand has been extensively modelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, where localised waves of infection have imposed severe stresses on healthcare services. While the initial acute threat posed by this disease has since subsided from immunity buildup from vaccination and prior infection, prevalence remains high and waning immunity may lead to substantial pressures for years to come. In this work, then, we present a set of interval distributions, for COVID-19 cases and subsequent severe outcomes; hospital admission, ICU admission, and death. These may be used to model more realistic scenarios of hospital admissions and occupancy, given a trajectory of infections or cases. We present a method for obtaining empirical distributions using COVID-19 outcomes data from Scotland between September 2020 and January 2022 (N = 31724 hospital admissions, N = 3514 ICU admissions, N = 8306 mortalities). We present separate distributions for individual age, sex, and deprivation of residing community. We show that, while the risk of severe disease following COVID-19 infection is substantially higher for the elderly or those residing in areas of high deprivation, the length of stay shows no strong dependence, suggesting that severe outcomes are equally severe across risk groups. As Scotland and other countries move into a phase where testing is no longer abundant, these intervals may be of use for retrospective modelling of patterns of infection, given data on severe outcomes.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.31.22281769v1" target="_blank">Time intervals between COVID-19 cases, and more severe outcomes</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>Equipment-Free Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Fabrication from Bacterial Cellulose-Derived Biomaterials via Waste-to-Wealth Conversion</strong> -
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<div>
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The recent COVID-19 crisis necessitated the universal use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits, generating tons of plastic wastes that inevitably lead to environmental damage. Circumventing the challenges stemming from such undesirable non-degradability on disposal, here we present an eco-friendly, robust, yet inexpensive and equipment-free method of growing biodegradable PPE fabrics by the fermentation of locally-sourced organic feed stocks in a rural livelihood. Using a pre-acclimatized symbiotic culture, we report the production of a high yield (up to 3.2 g fabric/g substrate) of bacterial cellulose, a biopolymer matrix, obtained by bacterial weaving. This membrane has an intricate, self-assembled, nano-porous 3D architecture formed by randomly oriented cellulose fibres. Scanning electron microscopy reveals that the pore size of the membrane turns out to be in the tune of 140 nanometers on the average, indicating that it can filter out viruses effectively. In-vitro results demonstrate assured breathability through the membrane for a filter thickness of approximately 5 microns. When subjected to soil degradation, the fabrics are seen to disintegrate rapidly and fully decompose within 15 days. With a favourable cost proposition of less than 1 US$ per meter square of the developed fabric unit, our approach stands out in providing a unique sustainable, and production-ready alternative to synthetic PPE fabrics, solving community healthcare and environmental crisis, and opening up new avenues sustainable under-served livelihood at the same time.
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</div>
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.02.514716v1" target="_blank">Equipment-Free Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Fabrication from Bacterial Cellulose-Derived Biomaterials via Waste-to-Wealth Conversion</a>
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</div></li>
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<li><strong>A Model of High-Speed Endovascular Sonothrombolysis with Vortex Ultrasound-Induced Shear Stress to Treat Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis</strong> -
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<div>
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This research aims to demonstrate a novel vortex ultrasound enabled endovascular thrombolysis method designed for treating cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This is a topic of significant importance since current treatment modalities for CVST still fail in as many as 20-40% of the cases and the incidence of CVST has increased since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with conventional anticoagulant or thrombolytic drugs, sonothrombolysis has the potential to remarkably shorten the required treatment time owing to the direct clot targeting with acoustic waves. However, previously reported strategies for sonothrombolysis have not demonstrated clinically meaningful outcomes (e.g., recanalization within 30 minutes) in treating large, completely occluded veins or arteries. In this paper, we demonstrated a new vortex ultrasound technique for endovascular sonothrombolysis utilizing wave-matter interaction-induced shear stress to enhance the lytic rate substantially. Our in vitro experiment showed that the lytic rate was increased by at least 64.3 % compared with the nonvortex endovascular ultrasound treatment. A 3.1 g, 7.5 cm long, completely occluded in vitro 3D model of acute CVST was fully recanalized within 8 minutes with a record-high lytic rate of 237.5 mg/min for acute bovine clot in vitro. Furthermore, we confirmed that the vortex ultrasound causes no vessel wall damage over ex vivo bovine veins. This vortex ultrasound thrombolysis technique potentially presents a new life-saving tool for severe CVST cases that cannot be efficaciously treated using existing therapies.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.02.514936v1" target="_blank">A Model of High-Speed Endovascular Sonothrombolysis with Vortex Ultrasound-Induced Shear Stress to Treat Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis</a>
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<li><strong>Tracking SARS-CoV-2 genomic variants in wastewater sequencing data with LolliPop</strong> -
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology has progressively taken a central role as a pathogen surveillance tool. Tracking viral loads and variant outbreaks in sewage offers advantages over clinical surveillance methods by providing unbiased estimates and enabling early detection. However, wastewater-based epidemiology poses new computational research questions that need to be solved in order for this approach to be implemented broadly and successfully. Here, we address the variant deconvolution problem, where we aim to estimate the relative abundances of genomic variants from next-generation sequencing data of a mixed wastewater sample. We introduce LolliPop, a computational method to solve the variant deconvolution problem by simultaneously solving least squares problems and kernel-based smoothing of relative variant abundances from wastewater time series sequencing data. We derive multiple approaches to compute confidence bands, and demonstrate the application of our method to data from the Swiss wastewater surveillance efforts.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.02.22281825v1" target="_blank">Tracking SARS-CoV-2 genomic variants in wastewater sequencing data with LolliPop</a>
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<li><strong>Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the microbiota of pregnant women and their infants</strong> -
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The microbiome inherited at birth exerts marked effects on immune programming with long-term health consequences. Here, we demonstrated that the gut, vaginal, and oral microbial diversity of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection is reduced, and women with early infections exhibit a different vaginal microbiota composition compared to healthy controls at the time of delivery. Accordingly, infants born to pregnant women with early SARS-CoV-2 infection exhibit a unique oral microbiota dominated by Streptococcus species. Together, we demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 infections during pregnancy, particularly early infections, are associated with lasting changes in the microbiome of pregnant women compromising the initial microbial seed of their infant. Our results highlight the importance of further exploring the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the infant9s microbiome-dependent immune programming.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.01.22281810v1" target="_blank">Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the microbiota of pregnant women and their infants</a>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Using a Community-level Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention to Address COVID-19 Testing Disparities</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Multi-Level Multi-Component Intervention (MLI); Behavioral: Community Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (Community JITAI)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></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>Safety and Efficacy of Medications COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: Severe Covid-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Drug: Oral bedtime melatonin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Hospital San Carlos, Madrid<br/><b>Completed</b></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>Use of Multiple Doses of Convalescent Plasma in Mechanically Intubated Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>: Biological: Multiple doses of anti-SARS-CoV-2 Convalescent Plasma<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Hospital Regional Dr. Rafael Estévez; Complejo Hospitalario Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid; Hospital Santo Tomas; Hospital Punta Pacífica, Pacífica Salud; Insituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios para la Salud; Sociedad Panameña de Hematología; Institute of Scientific Research and High Technology Services (INDICASAT AIP); University of Panama; Sistema Nacional de Investigación de Panamá<br/><b>Completed</b></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>Examining How a Facilitated Self-Sampling Intervention and Testing Navigation Intervention Influences COVID-19 Testing</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Facilitated Self-Sampling Intervention (FSSI); Behavioral: Testing Navigation Intervention (TNI).; Behavioral: Control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>A Phase III of COVID-19 Vaccine EuCorVac-19 in Healthy Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: EuCorVac-19; Biological: ChAdOx1<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: EuBiologics Co.,Ltd<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Open Multicenter Study for Assessment of Efficacy and Safety of Molnupiravir in Adult Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Molnupiravir (Esperavir); Drug: Standard of care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Promomed, LLC<br/><b>Completed</b></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>Open Multicentre Study of the Safety and Efficacy Against COVID-19 of Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir in the Adult Population</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: nirmatrelvir/ritonavir; Drug: Standard of care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Promomed, LLC; Sponsor GmbH<br/><b>Completed</b></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>Study Evaluating GS-5245 in Participants With COVID-19 Who Have a High Risk of Developing Serious or Severe Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: GS-5245; Drug: GS-5245 Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Gilead Sciences<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Effects of Respiratory Muscle Training in Individuals With Long-term Post-COVID-19 Symptoms</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Covid19; Post-acute COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Inspiratory + expiratory muscle training group; Other: Inspiratory + expiratory muscle training sham group; Other: Exercise training program<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Colegio Profesional de Fisioterapeutas de la Comunidad de Madrid<br/><b>Recruiting</b></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>Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO Cell, NVSI-06-09) Phase III Clinical Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: LIBP-Rec-Vaccine; Biological: BIBP-Rec-Vaccine; Biological: placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Vaccine and Serum Institute, China; China National Biotec Group Company Limited; Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd; Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>A Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of Combined Modified RNA Vaccine Candidates Against COVID-19 and Influenza</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza, Human; COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: bivalent BNT162b2 (original/Omi BA.4/BA.5); Biological: qIRV (22/23); Biological: QIV<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: BioNTech SE; Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Study to Evaluate Safety, Tolerability, Efficacy and Pharmacokinetics of ASC10 in Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: SARS CoV 2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: ASC10; Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Ascletis Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>A Phase I/II Study of GLB-COV2-043 as a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: GLB-COV2-043; Drug: BNT162b2/COMIRNATY®<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: GreenLight Biosciences, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>Safety and Efficacy of Intranasal Administration of Avacc 10 Vaccine Against COVID-19 in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Avacc 10; Combination Product: Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMV) : OMV alone in vehicle; Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Intravacc B.V.; Novotech (Australia) Pty Limited<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></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>The Phase Ⅱ/Ⅲ Trial of LYB001</strong> - <b>Condition</b>: COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: LYB001; Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>: Yantai Patronus Biotech Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</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>Mechanism of N-0385 blocking SARS-CoV-2 to treat COVID-19 based on molecular docking and molecular dynamics</strong> - CONCLUSION: The mechanism of N-0385 treatment COVID-19 was investigated by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation. We speculated that N-0385 may not only inhibit SARS-CoV-2 invasion directly by acting on TMPRSS2, ACE2 and DPP4, but also inhibit the immune recognition process and inflammatory response by regulating TLR7, NLRP3 and IL-10 to prevent SARS-CoV-2 invasion. Therefore, these results suggested that N-0385 may act through multiple targets to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infection and…</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>Bovine lactoferrin inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 by targeting the RdRp complex and alleviates viral infection in the hamster model</strong> - Breast milk has been found to inhibit coronavirus infection, while the key components and mechanisms are unknown. We aimed to determine the components that contribute to the antiviral effects of breastmilk and explore their potential mechanism. Lactoferrin (Lf) and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) inhibit SARS-CoV-2 related coronavirus GX_P2V and SARS-CoV-2 trVLP in vitro and block viral entry into cells. We confirmed that bovine lactoferrin (bLf) blocked the binding between human…</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>Constructing Janus Microsphere Membranes for Particulate Matter Filtration, Directional Water Vapor Transfer, and High-Efficiency Broad-Spectrum Sterilization</strong> - Commercial masks have significant drawbacks, including low water vapor transmission efficiency and limited ability to inhibit harmful microorganisms, whereas in this contribution, a series of Janus microsphere membranes are developed with hierarchical structures by quenching and crystallizing 12-hydroxystearic acid and halicin layer-by-layer on a polypropylene non-woven fabric, laminating them with hydrophilic cotton fibers in a one-pot process, and further demonstrate the potential of this…</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>Management of Severe and Critical COVID-19 Infection with Immunotherapies</strong> - Following the reduction in mortality demonstrated by dexamethasone treatment in severe COVID-19, many targeted immunotherapies have been investigated. Thus far, inhibition of IL-6 and JAK pathways have the most robust data and have been granted Emergency Use Authorization for treatment of severe disease. However, it must be noted that critically ill patients comprised a relatively small proportion of most of the trials of COVID-19 therapeutics, despite bearing a disproportionate burden of…</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>Topoisomerase 3b is dispensable for replication of a positive-sense RNA virus–murine coronavirus</strong> - A recent study demonstrated that a DNA-RNA dual-activity topoisomerase complex, TOP3B-TDRD3, is required for normal replication of positive-sense RNA viruses, including several human flaviviruses and coronaviruses; and the authors proposed that TOP3B is a target of antiviral drugs. Here we examined this hypothesis by investigating whether inactivation of Top3b can inhibit the replication of a mouse coronavirus, MHV, using cell lines and mice that are inactivated of Top3b or Tdrd3. We found that…</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>The urgency of strengthening health information to support public perception and involvement in the COVID-19 vaccine</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Strengthening positive information can alter the sense of community vulnerability, making it a driving force for participation in the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. This finding is an appropriate strategy to expand the reach and resolve public doubts about accepting the vaccine.</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>S-217622, a SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitor, decreases viral load and ameliorates COVID-19 severity in hamsters</strong> - In parallel with vaccination, oral antiviral agents are highly anticipated to act as countermeasures for the treatment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Oral antiviral medication demands not only high antiviral activity, but also target specificity, favorable oral bioavailability, and high metabolic stability. Although a large number of compounds have been identified as potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2…</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>SARS-CoV-2 infects human brain organoids causing cell death and loss of synapses that can be rescued by treatment with Sofosbuvir</strong> - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was rapidly declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Early clinical symptomatology focused mainly on respiratory illnesses. However, a variety of neurological manifestations in both adults and newborns are now well-documented. To experimentally determine whether SARS-CoV-2 could replicate in and affect human brain cells, we infected iPSC-derived…</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>Ubiquitination of SARS-CoV-2 ORF7a Prevents Cell Death Induced by Recruiting BclXL To Activate ER Stress</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has emerged in the last 2 years. The accessory protein ORF7a has been proposed as an immunomodulating factor that can cause dramatic inflammatory responses, but it is unknown how ORF7a interacts with host cells. We show that ORF7a induces cell apoptosis by recruiting the prosurvival factor BclXL to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) via the exposed C-terminal residues…</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><em>In silico</em> approaches and <em>in vitro</em> assays identify a coumarin derivative as antiviral potential against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - COVID-19, a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, was declared a pandemic in 2020 and created a global crisis in health systems, with more than 545 million confirmed cases and 6.33 million deaths. In this sense, this work aims to identify possible inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 RdRp enzyme using in silico approaches. RdRp is a crucial enzyme in the replication and assembly cycle of new viral particles and a critical pharmacological target in the treatment of COVID-19. We performed a virtual screening…</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>Elucidating Design Principles for Engineering Cell-Derived Vesicles to Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - No abstract</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>Inhalation of Low Molecular Weight Heparins as Prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - New SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and waning immunity demonstrate the need for a quick and simple prophylactic agent to prevent infection. Low molecular weight heparins (LMWH) are potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 binding and infection in vitro. The airways are a major route for infection and therefore inhaled LMWH could be a prophylactic treatment against SARS-CoV-2. We investigated the efficacy of in vivo inhalation of LMWH in humans to prevent SARS-CoV-2 attachment to nasal epithelial cells in…</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>Lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome with severe bleeding diathesis after coronavirus disease 2019: a case report</strong> - Acquired antibodies against factor II (prothrombin) are rare and most commonly associated with severe liver disease or vitamin K antagonist treatment. In very rare cases, these antibodies and associated hypoprothrombinemia are found in patients with lupus anticoagulant (LAC), an antiphospholipid antibody that inhibits phospholipid-dependent coagulation tests. This uncommon entity, called lupus anticoagulant-hypoprothrombinemia syndrome (LAHPS), may cause both severe, life-threatening bleeding…</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><em>HLA-C</em> dysregulation as a possible mechanism of immune evasion in SARS-CoV-2 and other RNA-virus infections</strong> - One of the mechanisms by which viruses can evade the host’s immune system is to modify the host’s DNA methylation pattern. This work aims to investigate the DNA methylation and gene expression profile of COVID-19 patients, divided into symptomatic and asymptomatic, and healthy controls, focusing on genes involved in the immune response. In this study, changes in the methylome of COVID-19 patients’ upper airways cells, the first barrier against respiratory infections and the first cells…</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>Evidence of a Sjögren’s disease-like phenotype following COVID-19</strong> - CONCLUSION: Overall, our study shows a direct association between SARS-CoV-2 and SjD. Hallmark features of SjD salivary glands were histologically indistinguishable from convalescent COVID-19 subjects. The results potentially implicate that SARS-CoV-2 could be an environmental trigger for SjD.</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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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>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
||||
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Political Violence Came to the Pelosi House</strong> - The case of David DePape is not just a cautionary tale of right-wing conspiracies—it’s further evidence that the Republican Party has failed to police itself. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/how-political-violence-came-to-the-pelosi-house">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Disturbing Rise of Amateur Predator-Hunting Stings</strong> - How the search for men who prey on underage victims became a YouTube craze. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-disturbing-rise-of-amateur-predator-hunting-stings">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Iranian Feminism and “All These Different Kinds of Veils”</strong> - The scholar Homa Hoodfar discusses the current protests and the complicated politics behind the hijab. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/iranian-feminism-and-all-these-different-kinds-of-veils">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Opulent World of the Estate-Sale Queen of Dallas</strong> - For decades, Janelle Stone has handled sales for the city’s wealthiest families. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-opulent-world-of-the-estate-sale-queen-of-dallas">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I’ve Got a Bad Case of Election Dread</strong> - Whether or not there’s a red wave, it’s clear where this thing is going. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/ive-got-a-bad-case-of-election-dread">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><strong>How education culture wars have shaped the midterms</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="An illustration shows a school desk and chair, with a woman in blue on the left, arguing with a man at a podium in red on the right." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2ExgX2DYycUOMNJDlQPSIdXzSWE=/184x0:2851x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71583550/parent01.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Getty Images/Vox
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
With calls of “parents’ rights” Republicans are targeting transgender youth up and down the ticket.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DxFulD">
|
||||
Education has not dominated national political headlines this midterm cycle and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/political-ads/?itid=co_midterms_1">TV ads</a> have focused primarily on inflation, crime, and abortion. Yet education issues have permeated election campaigns up and down the ticket, from congressional candidates to<strong> </strong>governorships and even school board races, which have seen new influxes of attention and outside spending.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y2OMy2">
|
||||
One year ago, analysts across the political spectrum <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/youngkins-virginia-win-offers-midterm-road-map-for-gop-warning-for-democrats-11635942003">predicted</a> that the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5234787f-cffd-407a-9d50-9c096b7c329d">national<strong> </strong>Republican playbook</a> in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-governors-embrace-youngkin-playbook-winning-model-midterms/story?id=81261587">the midterms</a> would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/05/politics/2022-midterm-lessons-republicans-virginia/index.html">mirror</a> that of Virginia’s newly elected Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who won his race after making “critical race theory” and “parents’ rights” central to his bid. After the Virginia election, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165101/democrats-school-closures-covid-midterms">Democratic pollsters found</a> that 9 percent of Biden voters cast their ballots for Youngkin, with most citing education as a top issue.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cAxG2F">
|
||||
The analysts who thought Youngkin’s experience would repeat itself in the 2022 midterms were both right and wrong: Republicans are focusing on winning<strong> </strong>the same kind of Biden-to-Youngkin suburban<strong> </strong>moderates who prioritized education and flipped Virginia red. So the education culture wars are<strong> </strong>at play in this election, but the central issues don’t look the same as they did a year ago.
|
||||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oS5CpA">
|
||||
Critical race theory — a term that, in popular usage on the right, has come to mean nearly any curriculum that refers to systemic or structural racism — hasn’t totally disappeared from the midterms. Most Republican <a href="https://www.electtomhorne.com/toms-plan">nominees</a> for state education superintendent <a href="https://ryanwaltersforoklahoma.com/issues/">feature</a> fighting <a href="https://ellenforeducation.com/on-the-issues/">CRT prominently</a> on <a href="https://debbie4idaho.com/issues">their campaign websites</a> and more than a half-dozen GOP gubernatorial candidates have said blocking CRT in schools is a top priority for them.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AeH4U6">
|
||||
But the issue has significantly faded since the Republican primaries have ended, in part because outside of the Republican base, most voters simply <a href="https://twitter.com/mpolikoff/status/1580201068192882691">don’t know</a> or <a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Navigator-Update-09.15.2022.pdf">care</a> about it, and <a href="https://twitter.com/mpolikoff/status/1580201072164950016">don’t have a clear opinion</a> on if it should be taught in schools. Even Fox News’s Tucker Carlson has basically stopped talking about the issue, after having <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/which-party-will-voters-trust-on-education">mentioned it at least 130 times</a> between May 2020 and November 2021.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9A1jHr">
|
||||
But Youngkin’s emphasis on parents’ rights has proven far more potent this year as a rallying cry for candidates — even at the federal level, where House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has endorsed a “<a href="https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-introduces-parents-bill-rights-defend-parents-role-education">Parents’ Bill of Rights</a>” for schools if the GOP takes control of Congress. Politicians from both parties have sought to appeal to the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/majority-of-educators-believe-parents-should-be-involved-in-curriculum-choices/2021/12">widely held</a> belief that <a href="https://twitter.com/mpolikoff/status/1580201065126862848">parents should be more involved</a> in local school matters, including selecting curriculum and opting children out of lessons they may object to.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ACetVnEJuBJfJmdoq2Pe3dm0mFw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24166151/GettyImages_1236239044a.jpg"/> <cite>Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Supporters of Glenn Youngkin, then-Republican gubernatorial candidate for Virginia, hold signs during a campaign stop in Manassas Park, Virginia, on October 30, 2021.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bqn5ez">
|
||||
While Republicans have led on the “parents’ rights” mantra — and have been interweaving their rights rhetoric with plans to promote private school vouchers — even Democrats have been leaning in, including Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who recently <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/09/19/whitmer-appoints-parents-council-input-education-spending-gender-identity-sexual-orientation/10424705002/">formed a new “parents’ council”</a> to advise lawmakers on education policy. Democratic gubernatorial candidates Josh Shapiro and J.B. Pritzker also <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-democrat-defects-on-school-choice-josh-shapiro-pennsylvania-lifeline-scholarship-education-savings-account-teachers-union-election-11663615562">recently came out</a> to back <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/school-choice-jd-pritzker-gubernatorial-governor-race-election-illinois-charter-public-funding-teachers-unions-11666185999">private school voucher</a> programs, among <a href="https://joshshapiro.org/policy-education/">other entreaties</a> to parents.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="keOYRA">
|
||||
While debates around teaching about racism in schools have waned, Republicans have made gender identity and sexual orientation in schools central. Candidates have targeted transgender youth athletes, as well as classroom lessons featuring LGBTQ+ content. Outside groups <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q0iWESqcb8">have been funding TV ads</a> suggesting Democrats endorse sexually explicit literature about same-sex couples for young children, and on the federal level, congressional Republicans have been fanning the flames, rallying behind the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8731?r=2&s=1">Protect Children’s Innocence Act</a> — a bill that would criminalize performing gender-affirming medical procedures on minors. Democrats, for their part, have campaigned affirmatively on protecting LGBTQ+ youth, and increasing funds for school mental health services.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1hfVQ3">
|
||||
The education culture wars at play in this election also reflect new efforts to capitalize on shifting ideas around which party is more trustworthy on education — a mantle Democrats have enjoyed for decades but appeared to lose ground on following the pandemic. In March 2022, <a href="https://twitter.com/Rasmussen_Poll/status/1506670105047928839">the polling company Rasmussen found</a> 43 percent of likely voters said they trusted Republicans more to deal with education issues, compared with just 36 percent trusting Democrats more. Two more polls conducted this summer<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/rash-of-new-polls-raise-red-flags-for-democrats-on-education/">by Democratic-aligned groups</a> also found Republicans with a new, narrow edge over Democrats on matters of school trust.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yDJVxH">
|
||||
Education, even among parents, almost never ranks as a top voter issue in federal elections, including this year. But it does seem to be ranking as a higher priority in state and local races: a <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/harris-poll-education-political-driver-for-parents-ahead-of-midterm-elections/">Harris poll from May</a> found parents ranked education as the second most important issue, behind only the economy. More than 4 in 5 respondents to the Harris poll said education had become a more important political issue to them than it was in the past, with 2 in 5 strongly agreeing with the statement.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DAnDVE">
|
||||
According to Jeffrey Henig, a political science and education professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, campaign operatives have recognized that education can be a way to motivate voters who are not traditionally involved in national politics. They may not identify strongly with either the Republican or Democratic Party; they might consider themselves fairly apolitical, “but when it comes to kids, and when it comes to their kids, they respond intensely,” <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/education-as-a-voter-priority">he said</a>. Activating this relatively small swing group has become a major priority to national organizations, who recognize many of the most pivotal races will hinge on small vote margins.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qPjF6R">
|
||||
Rebecca Jacobsen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University, emphasized that this is not the first time national groups have shown an interest in local elections for federal education priorities. “I think what’s different now is that the push on the local level is not just being used for pushing an education agenda,” she told Vox. “It’s being pushed because it’s good for overall turnout, for rallying particular groups that you see as important to pursuing your broader political goals, though it is also resulting in a lot of education change.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="XC8wEr">
|
||||
How outside groups are targeting typically low-key school board races
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="La9ynP">
|
||||
School board elections garnered more attention from conservative donors and strategists following the pandemic, who saw opportunities to capitalize on frustrations over masking, remote learning, and school lessons focused on race and gender.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i2diQb">
|
||||
In 2021, the New York-based 1776 Project PAC launched to <a href="https://sunflowerstatejournal.com/federal-pac-targets-local-school-board-races/">elect</a> school board members who are committed to opposing critical race theory. The group <a href="https://1776projectpac.substack.com/p/election-recap?utm_source=url&s=r">backed</a> 57 candidates across seven states last year, 41 of whom won. Two former Florida school board members formed another conservative group — Moms for Liberty — in January 2021; they now have <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/education/2022/11/01/moms-for-liberty-group-opens-chapter-pierre-south-dakota-maggie-seidel/69587853007/">over 200 chapters of parent activists</a> organizing around school board races in 38 states.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AQB_K4B_jRPXylwlgy-wn_Tdh5w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24166164/GettyImages_1244133447a.jpg"/> <cite>Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Members of Moms For Liberty and others attend a campaign event for local school board candidate Jacqueline Rosario in Vero Beach, Florida, on October 16.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l56liF">
|
||||
Armed with a large war chest, the 1776 Project PAC this year has <a href="https://1776projectpac.com/endorsed-candidates/">backed school board candidates</a> mostly in Texas and Florida. Founder Ryan Girdusky said they’re funded by <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/midterm-polls-school-politics-gop/">over 30,000 small-dollar donors,</a> though they also benefited from <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/19/conservative-school-board-fundraising-florida-00057325">a $900,000 donation</a> from the right-wing Restoration PAC.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A91P0Q">
|
||||
Additional right-wing entrants into the school board politics scene include conservative groups like the Virginia-based American Principles Project, which focuses on opposing what they call the “transgender agenda” and “hard-line progressive activists” who are “attacking the family.” On top of school board races the American Principles Project has also been funding ads for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmericanPrinciplesProject/videos/598167305133212">congressional contests</a>, benefiting <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/19/conservative-school-board-fundraising-florida-00057325">from multiple large six-figure donations</a> from Restoration PAC.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pDHTU7">
|
||||
School board politics got an unprecedented jolt this past summer when Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis came out to endorse 30 school board candidates across several counties that passed local student mask mandates last year. Partisan endorsements aren’t new in school board races, but involvement from the top of the ballot is. “Parental rights, curriculum transparency and classrooms free of woke ideology are all on the ballot this election, and it starts with school board elections,” DeSantis <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/21/desantis-florida-school-races-00052954">declared</a> — and gave his endorsees cash contributions. (Nineteen of DeSantis’s endorsees were also backed by the 1776 Project PAC.)
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jSrgQw">
|
||||
The unusual move from the governor prompted a response from his Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/540344-charlie-crist-follows-ron-desantis-lead-endorses-school-board-candidates/">who then endorsed his own slate</a> of “pro-parent” school board candidates. Most of DeSantis’s endorsed candidates <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/23/desantis-school-board-candidates-wins-00053440">won their primaries</a>, bolstering his influence<strong> </strong>and position as a potential 2024 presidential contender.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TNVVca">
|
||||
Scrambling to catch up, some education PACs have formed on the progressive side of the aisle. One, called Red, Wine and Blue, formed originally in Ohio in 2019, but last year announced it would <a href="http://nbcnews.com/politics/elections/suburban-women-helped-biden-democrats-win-group-wants-keep-it-n1265880">expand its focus</a> to states with key US Senate races like Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Earlier this month the group <a href="https://redwine.blue/press-release-on-day-education-board-meets-to-enact-desantis-extreme-agenda-fl-moms-release-six-figure-ad-buy-to-stand-up-and-fight-back-especially-with-suburban-women/">funded</a> an ad <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gvG0VL6qxU">featuring suburban moms</a> in Florida opposing DeSantis’s efforts to ban books, sue teachers, and attack the rights of LGBTQ students.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h8Uvln">
|
||||
Another left-leaning group — the Campaign for Our Shared Future — launched this year as a nonpartisan effort, though backed by the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, two liberal groups that fund many left-wing advocacy organizations. A <a href="https://www.remotely.jobs/a/communications-and-research-director-at-campaign-for-our-shared-future">job posting</a> for the group said it had raised $6.6 million and was currently fundraising for an additional $6.5 million. The group announced it was spending $300,000 on TV ads in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Missouri, with ads <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJzgA3aIbB4">highlighting book bans</a>, a school board member <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZBDWnG9oR4">denigrating transgender students</a>, and an Ohio bill that would <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjVmPfAnb0M">have required female school athletes to get genital inspections</a>,
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ea0Bet">
|
||||
“We were founded to ensure all children have a high-quality and age-appropriate education,” Heather Harding, the group’s executive director, told Vox. “Our work with local school boards is new, but what we’re interested in is ensuring that those who are elected can lead with honesty and integrity and not extremist politicians who are trying to drum up attention for their own gain.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="SOld3B">
|
||||
Republicans are focusing on transgender youth<strong> </strong>in schools and sports
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="asbuxN">
|
||||
Republicans at the local, state, and federal level have taken aim at transgender rights this year. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/17/politics/state-legislation-lgbtq-rights/index.html">At least 160 bills</a> were introduced in 35 state legislatures targeting LGBTQ+ Americans, with most of those bills focused on transgender students’ participation in athletics, parental transparency over what schools teach about gender identity, and parental consent for gender-affirming health care. Republican midterm political advertising has likewise<strong> </strong>focused on these issues.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kzo17gqERFoXPrNF-JPFL0llHwk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24166172/AP22066643429222a.jpg"/> <cite>Wilfredo Lee/AP</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Demonstrators gather in front of the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, on March 7, 2022. The state’s Republican-dominated legislature passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, rejecting criticism from Democrats who said the proposal demonizes LGBTQ+ people.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AYlwdE">
|
||||
DeSantis’s foray into school board endorsements wasn’t entirely driven by whether or not one supported a student mask mandate last year. Florida’s governor also threw his political clout behind conservative candidates who aligned with him on opposing school lessons around gender identity and sexuality orientation.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vMnv3k">
|
||||
In March DeSantis signed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act — a novel statute that bars teachers from providing lessons on sexual orientation or gender identity between kindergarten through third grade. Liberal opponents of the law branded it the “Don’t Say Gay” law, and Disney, based in Florida, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/16/22981137/disney-dont-say-gay-lgbtq-fans">inspired backlash from fans</a> for not standing up against it. But conservative operatives felt confident they were pushing an education position that would resonate with voters, as <a href="https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/education/florida_school_law">national polling</a> found<strong> </strong>broad support among Americans for this type of regulation.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EUhxZk">
|
||||
In March, polling firm Rasmussen found that <a href="https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/education/florida_school_law">62 percent</a> of likely voters would support a law like Florida’s parental rights bill in their own state, including 45 percent who “strongly support” the measure. In October, researchers at the University of Southern California <a href="https://twitter.com/mpolikoff/status/1580201065126862848">released a large national survey</a> finding that most Americans opposed elementary school students learning about gender identity and sexual orientation. While far more Democrats supported teaching young children about LGBTQ+ issues than Republicans, a majority of Democrats also believed these lessons should wait until children were older.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MjfTZ7">
|
||||
Though Americans <a href="https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2022/2/dfp_comms_book_ban_toplines.pdf">repeatedly say</a> they <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-bans-opinion-poll-2022-02-22/">oppose book bans</a> in school libraries and classroom curricula, they’ve also expressed disapproval for specifically assigning students books on gender identity and sexual orientation.<strong> </strong>Even for high school students, most Americans say they oppose assigning students books on topics that depict experiences of transgender, lesbian, or gay people, and of families with same-sex parents.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oWIQhb">
|
||||
This kind of research has emboldened conservatives in other states to introduce copy-cat versions of Florida’s education law, and to fund ads targeting Democrats who seem vulnerable on the issues. One ad funded by the Republican Governors Association in Maine targeted Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, saying her “Education Department was teaching kindergarteners radical transgender policies.” Following the ad, which focused on a LGBTQ+ lesson featured on a state website, Mills had the lesson removed, <a href="https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/politics/maine-politics/maine-removes-lgbtq-teaching-video-assailed-in-republican-ad-governor-janet-mills-democrat-republican-paul-lepage/97-85476525-fbd2-4a4e-a8f1-49a02a26fae1">saying she agreed it was not age-appropriate</a>. In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers <a href="https://www.rga.org/click-see-preschoolers-learning/">has been attacked</a> for his state education department providing resources on transgender issues for preschoolers.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mCzH4t">
|
||||
In Michigan’s gubernatorial election, Republican candidate Tudor Dixon has emphasized that she supports Michigan having its own version of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, and has made central to her campaign allegations that Gov. Whitmer has belittled parents’ concerns about books they believe sexualize children. Dixon announced she’d support a statewide ban on <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/tudor-dixon-eyes-banning-pornographic-books-michigan-schools">“pornographic” books</a> in schools.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IXM0uA">
|
||||
Dixon has also been leaning heavily on another related issue that has animated conservatives this cycle: prohibiting transgender girls from participating in women’s sports. In late September Dixon <a href="https://www.woodtv.com/news/elections/dixon-proposes-bill-to-regulate-transgender-athletes/">announced a proposal</a> to bar<strong> </strong>participation in women’s sports to anyone assigned male at birth.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2JCSMy">
|
||||
On the federal level, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pledged that if Republicans take control of the House they would “defend fairness by ensuring that only women can compete in women’s sports.” The Republican Governors Association has likewise sponsored <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPGovs/status/1574771779649806336">TV ads around opposition to transgender athletes.</a> Even in congressional races, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cpXNjTJZxQ">has attacked his Democratic opponent</a> Val Demings in ads for “vot[ing] to allow transgender youth sports and teach children radical gender identity without parental consent.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OCUkP4192oIKHiROgRJGESw6QN4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24166233/GettyImages_1235388632a.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
LGBTQ rights supporters gather at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, to protest state Republican-led efforts to pass legislation that would restrict the participation of transgender student athletes, on September 20, 2021.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U5CkHq">
|
||||
Democrats, for their part, have pledged to protect LGBTQ+ communities, and have been campaigning at LGBTQ+ events. Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat challenging Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, took aim this past spring at <a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2022/5/11/watch-beto-orourke-praise-parents-trans-kids-late-night">his opponent’s positions</a> on gender-affirming health care, and Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has spoken up <a href="https://twitter.com/staceyabrams/status/1509531057007185926?lang=en">in support of transgender rights</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GRxku1">
|
||||
But Democrats have largely tried to steer away from the specific debates <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/10/democrats-arent-eager-to-talk-about-transgender-athletes-the-gop-cant-get-enough-00060931">around transgender athletes</a> and direct the education conversation back to school funding. According to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/election-guide-2022-k-12-issues-and-candidates-shaping-the-midterms/2022/09">a tally by EdWeek</a>, 20 Democratic gubernatorial candidates argue on their websites for increased school funding, and 11 mention supporting student mental health.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="rrmmJi">
|
||||
Private school vouchers emerge as a wedge issue
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uCPdqt">
|
||||
As Republicans double down on “parents’ rights,” they are eyeing an opportunity to push their long-standing goals around subsidies for private schools and homeschooling. Most Democrats, meanwhile, are campaigning to keep public funds in public schools.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6AlxjG">
|
||||
In some states, Democrats see opposition to vouchers as a key mobilizing plank. Joy Hofmeister, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Oklahoma, has been framing her Republican opponent Kevin Stitt’s support for vouchers as a death knell to rural education. (When Stitt ran for the governor’s seat four years ago, <a href="https://oklahomawatch.org/2018/07/02/candidate-profile-kevin-stitt-republican-for-governor/">he had opposed expanding vouchers himself</a>.) Local reporters have been <a href="https://www.readfrontier.org/stories/at-campaign-stops-in-rural-oklahoma-voters-quiz-stitt-over-school-vouchers/">observing that conservative rural voters</a> seem to be paying attention to Hofmeister’s warnings.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="69ciTv">
|
||||
In Arizona, while Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has dramatically expanded private school choice during his eight years in office, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs <a href="https://ktar.com/story/5299077/katie-hobbs-says-she-has-opposed-school-vouchers-in-arizona-from-the-start/">has been campaigning</a> on her longstanding opposition to vouchers. In 2018 Arizona voters <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/06/arizona-prop-305-results-voters-decide-school-vouchers/1809291002/">overwhelmingly rejected</a> a school voucher ballot measure by a 2-to-1 margin, though Republican lawmakers have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-arizona-doug-ducey-school-vouchers-7c5d7eb0498e5e7234d7eeb726027506">continued to pass private school choice</a> measures since. Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has been campaigning on even more robust school choice, like allowing students to take courses <a href="https://www.azmirror.com/2022/09/22/katie-hobbs-vs-kari-lake-on-education-in-arizona-what-are-their-plans/">at different schools</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mZ6XnH">
|
||||
Democrats in a few other states see new political opportunity in softening their opposition to vouchers. With less than a month before Election Day, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2022/10/18/23409566/19-questions-candidates-illinois-governor-pritzker-bailey-schluter-wbez-suntimes-issues">a candidate survey</a> that he backed a program that provides subsidies for students to attend private and religious schools. While he didn’t voice strong enthusiasm for it, it’s a change from 2017, when he had blasted the same program.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KcUWbi">
|
||||
School choice advocates <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/school-choice-jd-pritzker-gubernatorial-governor-race-election-illinois-charter-public-funding-teachers-unions-11666185999">praised</a> Pritzker for his pivot, noting <a href="https://edchoice.morningconsultintelligence.com/illinois/">more than 75 percent of Illinois parents with school-age children</a> back private school choice. Likewise, in September Pennsylvania’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro <a href="https://joshshapiro.org/policy-education/">quietly changed</a> his website to add language in favor of private school choice, clarifying later to reporters <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/09/josh-shapiro-voices-support-saturday-for-lifeline-scholarships-championed-by-school-choice-proponents.html">he is open to giving</a> subsidies to parents to transfer students out of low-performing schools.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||||
<img alt="People dressed in red shirts protest in a crowd, holding signs about public schools." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SVnYB4Oj8MOxe-dR1ZEQfAXxOmM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24166326/AP22273645459555.jpg"/> <cite>Ross D. Franklin/AP</cite>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Thousands march to the Arizona capitol for higher teacher pay and public school funding on the first day of a statewide teachers’ strike in Phoenix, on April 26, 2018.
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OqaGFu">
|
||||
A year ago there was pundit chatter that voters might turn against teacher unions or elected Democrats who backed school closures during the pandemic. But public opinion for <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/pandemic-parent-survey-finds-perverse-pattern-students-more-likely-to-be-attending-school-in-person-where-covid-is-spreading-more-rapidly/#parent">teacher unions hasn’t wavered</a>, and election polls show despite Republican attacks, voters <a href="https://twitter.com/ChadLivengood/status/1579092976340701184">do not seem to be looking to punish officials</a> for virtual instruction.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yxlTPK">
|
||||
This is probably in part because many parents themselves were <a href="https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3768">not actually in favor</a> of <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/economy/articles-reports/2021/02/11/parents-are-split-risks-reopening-schools-poll?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=website_article&utm_campaign=schools_reopening">opening schools quickly</a> before <a href="https://assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2021/02/17074621/210261_crosstabs_POLITICO_RVs_v1_AUTO.pdf">vaccines were available</a>, and parents <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/18/22289735/parents-polls-schools-opening-remote">were largely receiving</a> the kind of instruction they wanted for their children, even <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/10/29/most-parents-of-k-12-students-learning-online-worry-about-them-falling-behind/">as they held concerns</a> about harms of remote leaning. (EdChoice, a national school choice group, polled parents monthly about their comfort level sending their child back to school, and found comfort levels <a href="https://twitter.com/MQ_McShane/status/1480924016533770240">didn’t break 60 percent</a> until April 2021.)
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X0z5hm">
|
||||
Still, that doesn’t mean the pandemic didn’t foment new trust issues between schools and parents, including around issues like youth masking <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23291703/back-to-school-covid-vaccine-students-mandate">and Covid-19 vaccines</a>. Some analysts believe the new focus on “parents’ rights” reflects Covid-era frustration that school leaders prioritized culture issues over basic academics and learning loss. Nat Malkus, an education policy expert at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, <a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/which-party-will-voters-trust-on-education/">argued in September</a> that Republicans may well struggle to replicate Youngkin’s 2021 playbook, as the critical race theory frustration that Youngkin capitalized on last year resonated because parents were still so exasperated from the pandemic.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="976QTa">
|
||||
But as pandemic-era differences between Democrats and Republicans fade further, and as Republicans identify fewer and fewer examples of actual CRT scandals in schools to keep the alleged crisis alive, Democrats stand a shot at regaining and securing their trust advantage in education. Still, they may not succeed, especially if voters perceive Democrats as opposing measures they find reasonable.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gqh7iE">
|
||||
Jacobsen, the education policy professor from Michigan State University, does think the country is at a new inflection point for public education politics.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bd3xXU">
|
||||
“A year ago I would have said this is just another case of people saying, ‘Well, everyone else’s schools are failing but I love <em>my</em> school, I love <em>my </em>kids’ teachers,’” she said.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cMfgez">
|
||||
But more recent survey work Jacobsen conducted prompted her to think that many of these narratives around distrust have indeed seeped into parents’ views of their own local schools, too. “We were really surprised,” she told Vox. “There really was a strong relationship between how much you had heard these narratives and the lower levels of trust of your own teachers.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8O45iw">
|
||||
Jacobsen thinks that it’s too early to say if this marks a lasting change, but that it does reflect a shift from past research findings in the area. “That’s why I’m so worried about these inroads,” she said. “Those who would like to see public education fundamentally changed will have an opening to do so in ways that we have not since [Ronald] Reagan and even before him.”
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>The plan to save America by killing the partisan primary</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="An illustration of a generic ranked-choice ballot shaped like the state of Nevada." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GUP7yGA1gWKHVrWrruB1G_bpMF0=/234x0:3967x2800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71583473/nevada_ranked_choice_b.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Bita Honarvar/Vox; Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
It’s on the ballot in Nevada, and it may be coming soon to a state near you.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5kx5hh">
|
||||
Can much of America’s current political dysfunction be traced back to one feature of our system: the partisan primary? And if so, what should be done about that?
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nyAqEK">
|
||||
Nevada voters will be tasked with assessing those questions when they go to the polls Tuesday, to vote on “<a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/indy-explains-question-3-open-primaries-and-ranked-choice-voting">Question 3</a>” — a proposed overhaul of the state’s election system that would effectively kill the partisan primary (the elections in which Democratic and Republican voters choose their party nominees).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RWOQ70">
|
||||
Instead, Nevada would have a nonpartisan primary, from which the top five candidates of any party would emerge to the general election. The general election would then be conducted under <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443775/ranked-choice-voting-explained-new-york-strategy">ranked-choice voting</a> (which lets people vote for multiple candidates for each office, ranked in order of their preference).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NWRCAC">
|
||||
This is not just about election wonkery. The proposal’s backers say it could help fix American politics by weakening the forces of partisanship, polarization, and extremity. The two parties, they believe, have become captured by their bases’ most extreme elements, who can discipline anyone breaking from the party line through a primary challenge.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QTQiIe">
|
||||
Indeed, when assessing how the Republican Party has moved into the hands of Donald Trump, it’s impossible to miss the importance of the primary. Some Trump critics have retired rather than face the primary electorate again: “The path that I would have to travel to get the Republican nomination is a path I’m not willing to take,” then-Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/9/16079244/jeff-flake-retires-trump">said in 2017</a>. Others have taken on Trump anyway and, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/24/us/election-georgia-primary-texas">with a few exceptions</a>, have <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/13/cheney-10-house-republicans-trump-impeachment-00050991">faced</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/19/23311901/liz-cheney-never-trump-republicans">defeat</a>. The most common strategy employed by GOP incumbents, though, was to become a strong Trump supporter to preemptively prevent losing renomination.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V9DhnD">
|
||||
But while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who has defied Trump on several high-profile issues, did draw a right-wing challenger this year, she did not have to worry about getting primaried. In 2020, Alaska voters approved a similar reform to the one on the ballot in Nevada. That effectively guaranteed Murkowski would make it to the general election, rather than being taken down beforehand. Her case — and her GOP challenger Kelly Tshibaka’s — <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/2022-live-primary-election-race-results/2022/08/17/1117838450/murkowski-advances-in-alaska-senate-race-palin-in-house">will go before</a> the full Alaska electorate next week.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JyIDD1">
|
||||
And yet progressives worried about the future of American democracy aren’t so enthusiastic about these reforms — in part because they’d likely weaken the left wing of the Democratic Party as well. Progressives have had their own success at taking down incumbents in primaries that elevated rising stars like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to Congress. They hope to punish Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) for opposing much of President Joe Biden’s agenda this year with a <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23323231/ruben-gallego-arizona-latino-voters">primary challenge in 2024</a>. There is even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/politics/chuck-schumer.html">speculation</a> that fear of a primary challenge has made Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer focus hard on pleasing the left during Biden’s term.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gKjsBj">
|
||||
If approved, these reforms probably wouldn’t live up to all their supporters’ ambitions — few reforms do. But they would present a clear path by which politicians of both parties disfavored by the party bases could make it to the general election. And for those who believe the rise of the Trump right presents a clear threat to US democracy, reforms that could weaken that movement’s power are probably worth at least some thought.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="eeLZTv">
|
||||
How voting would work in Nevada if Question 3 is approved
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fTuwRb">
|
||||
The Question 3 proposal would make two major changes. First, it would blow up the system in which the two parties hold separate primaries to choose their nominees — substituting instead one nonpartisan primary in which any registered voter can vote, and from which the top five vote-getters move on to the general election.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3blg5V">
|
||||
Many politicians now live under the fear of “getting primaried” — annoying their party’s base voters, losing a low-turnout election those voters dominate, and never even making it to the general election ballot. For instance, any potential GOP critic of Donald Trump must reckon with a looming primary dominated by strong Trump supporters and assess whether to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/11/ben-sasses-predictable-journey-never-trumper-trump-endorsement/">fall in line</a>, fight a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/13/cheney-10-house-republicans-trump-impeachment-00050991">likely losing battle</a>, or <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/9/16079244/jeff-flake-retires-trump">simply retire</a>. It’s a powerful incentive.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ziCN63">
|
||||
This reform would essentially ensure any incumbent, as well as any significant primary vote-getter, would get to make their case on Election Day. That could mean just one Democrat and Republican move on, or multiple candidates from one or both parties advance. Five candidates going forward also means more options than California and Washington’s nonpartisan top two primaries provide.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ASP4Ac">
|
||||
Now, if you have multiple candidates in a typical general election, there’s a possible problem — someone could win with merely a small plurality in a split field. So the second big change in this proposal is to conduct the general election with <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443775/ranked-choice-voting-explained-new-york-strategy">ranked-choice voting</a>. This system lets voters rank several candidates for each office in order of their preference, rather than voting for just one. When votes are tallied, the low-performing candidates are gradually eliminated, and each vote for them is reallocated to the voter’s next-ranked candidate. This reform, supporters hope, will help the candidate truly preferred by a majority of the electorate win. (I wrote <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443775/ranked-choice-voting-explained-new-york-strategy">a detailed explainer last year on how ranked-choice voting works</a>.)
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWQbJB">
|
||||
The measure is funded mainly by a collection of bipartisan or nonpartisan businesspeople, many from outside the state. Yet most organized political interests in the state <a href="https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2022/10/25/question-3-is-hated-by-many-and-funded-by-rich-out-of-state-reformers-but/">hate the proposal</a> — the opposition includes leading Democratic and Republican politicians, progressive and conservative activists, and <a href="https://www.kolotv.com/2022/10/29/third-parties-wary-question-3/">even minor parties</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lQN9eR">
|
||||
Tuesday’s vote won’t settle the issue in Nevada — the state’s constitutional amendment process requires voters to approve the measure twice before it goes into effect, so if voters approve it now, there would be another big battle over it in 2024. And while the reform would apply to elections for congressional, legislative, and top state offices, it wouldn’t apply to the state’s presidential nominating and general election contests.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dYedBi">
|
||||
Regardless of Tuesday’s outcome, the proposal’s backers aren’t going away. They’ve already succeeded in getting a similar reform implemented <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/19/21537126/alaska-measure-2-ranked-choice-voting-results">in Alaska</a>, and they hope for ballot initiative campaigns in as many as eight other states in 2024. Their idea could be coming to a ballot near you very soon.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="kRQtBI">
|
||||
The “rational centrist” behind final five voting
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1B0sXk">
|
||||
Nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting are not new ideas. California and Washington both use a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/29/17381244/california-elections-2018-top-two-primaries">nonpartisan top two primary</a>, while Maine, New York City, and other cities <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443775/ranked-choice-voting-explained-new-york-strategy">use ranked-choice voting</a> for some elections.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q5r7zm">
|
||||
But the combination of a top five primary and ranked-choice voting for the general election is the brainchild of Chicago business leader Katherine Gehl, who thought of the idea, branded it as “final five” voting, and provided the organization and much of the fundraising (her own and others’ money) behind it.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zxBuXM">
|
||||
Her father had built the family company, Gehl Foods, into a dairy-based food product manufacturer with <a href="https://archive.jsonline.com/business/gehl-foods-staying-on-top-of-technology-p96o7mu-169040336.html/">hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue</a>, and Katherine took over as CEO in 2011 before <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150327005095/en/Gehl-Foods-%20acquired-Wind-%20Point-Partners">arranging its sale</a> to an investment firm in 2015. Gehl grew up as a Republican, but was impressed by Barack Obama and became <a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20080823/NEWS06/200030705/meet-obama-s-bundlers">a bundler for him</a>. Obama appointed her to be a board member of a government entity <a href="https://oig.usaid.gov/OPIC">investing in developing countries</a>. Disillusioned with gridlock in Obama’s second term, she turned her attention to the political system.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BH7oSA">
|
||||
“I would call myself a rational centrist,” Gehl told me in an interview. “What I saw after Obama went to the White House is that candidates can’t deliver in this system. And it was just clear it all traced back to the primary.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ydWVhY">
|
||||
Indeed, most members of Congress are in safely Democratic or Republican districts and are therefore effectively immune to general election pressures. Their primary election — often a low-turnout affair dominated by strong partisans or ideologues — is their only real election. And even those in swing districts still have to survive their primary before making it to the general election.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TItV48">
|
||||
“The root cause of our political dysfunction is that November elections in this country are for the most part meaningless,” Gehl said. “Most November voters are wasting their time, which is not only profoundly undemocratic and unrepresentative, it’s the reason we can’t solve our complex problems and make necessary trade-offs.” She continued: “In the existing system where most people are elected and answer to only 8 percent of their side, they are forbidden to do the work of having those policy discussions and innovating across the aisle, of negotiating and making a deal.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g56kUf">
|
||||
This dysfunctional system is propped up, Gehl believes, by the two-party duopoly and the large arrangement of entities supporting them, from donors to campaign professionals to ideological or partisan media to activists and organized interest groups. She began writing about this alongside Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter, and they <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/Documents/why-competition-in-the-politics-industry-is-failing-america.pdf">began pitching</a> final five voting as their solution. Now, Gehl’s organization, the Institute for Political Innovation, is working with local groups to seed the idea in various states — starting in Alaska and Nevada — and she’s helped win over other deep-pocketed <a href="https://puck.news/silicon-valleys-100-million-plan-to-completely-fix-washington/?utm_code=teddy%40puck.news">tech and business donors</a> to contribute, including major Democratic donor <a href="https://puck.news/silicon-valleys-100-million-plan-to-completely-fix-washington/?utm_code=teddy%40puck.news">Reid Hoffman</a>, major Republican donor <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/question-3-backers-promote-ranked-choice-voting-with-major-out-of-state-money">Ken Griffin</a>, and Rupert Murdoch’s liberal daughter-in-law <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e9a279ef-d3eb-40a7-8b77-0d8163f58b8b">Kathryn Murdoch</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aw0t7r">
|
||||
“Everyone says there is no silver bullet. I think this is as close to a silver bullet as you can get,” said Gehl, arguing that final five voting’s implementation would mean politicians become “freed from the tyranny of the party primary” and newly able to work as problem-solvers and consensus builders. Her goal is that five states will be using the system by 2025, and said initiative campaigns in California, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming are possible in 2024.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="f7W198">
|
||||
What are the criticisms of final five voting?
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OBNzzc">
|
||||
Not everyone is sold on the idea. The critics are legion, and they include most politicians and political groups in Nevada. We can think of these criticisms as falling into a few categories.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0cCAI3">
|
||||
<strong>Defending parties or primaries:</strong> Before even getting into the nitty-gritty policy details, lots of people simply don’t want to weaken the parties, defang primary challenges, or allow purported centrist problem-solvers an easier path to victory.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dDZ0gr">
|
||||
The party establishments want to be able to run a coherent general election campaign with one nominee for each office, rather than the multiple Democrats or Republicans per contest this system could advance to Election Day. “That’s a basic function of political parties, essentially determining who gets to compete for office,” said David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7NEHMz">
|
||||
Meanwhile, if you’re a progressive who believes enacting policies on the left is very important, and that elected Democrats are often too centrist, then you’d view the primary challenge as an important and valuable tool — as would conservatives in the GOP. And you wouldn’t be too enthused about proposals to elect more centrists. The system seems most likely to help candidates who could have trouble winning traditional primaries like, say, Kyrsten Sinema, Liz Cheney, Jeff Flake, Mike Bloomberg, Lisa Murkowski, Joe Lieberman, or Andrew Yang.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yWF6mR">
|
||||
Part of this is about values. It’s a “fantasy,” Will Pregman of the progressive group Battle Born Progress told me, that “quote-unquote ‘moderate’ candidates are more desirable and accurately reflect the population that votes.” But it’s also partly about leverage. Activists really like the current primary system because turnout is low and it’s easier for them to influence the outcome, according to Damore.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="minZVQ">
|
||||
<strong>Worrying about its effects on voters:</strong> The well-funded TV ad campaign promoting the proposal has focused overwhelmingly on the issue of letting independents vote in the primary, and avoided the more wonky territory of ranked-choice voting. But that reform has long had its critics, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443775/ranked-choice-voting-explained-new-york-strategy">I wrote last year</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e0j5lo">
|
||||
For one, many fear that less privileged voters — voters who don’t speak English, who are lower-income, or who are less educated — will have more difficulty with the new system, if they haven’t been sufficiently informed about how to use it. Perhaps they may be more likely to have their ballots thrown out due to improper rankings. Or perhaps they may be less likely to use all their ranking slots, making their ballots disproportionately likely to be discarded in a later round. Or perhaps they’ll be deterred from turning out at all (though in places where it has been adopted, it <a href="https://fairvote.org/resources/data-on-rcv/#voter-turnout-and-participationnbsp">hasn’t resulted</a> in consistently lower turnout).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ApAi1f">
|
||||
“In our voting rights coalition, we have over 25 organizations that work in faith communities, AAPI communities, Latinx communities, Indigenous communities, and none of those organizations were brought to the table and asked, ‘What is the impact this is going to have on your community?’” Emily Persaud-Zamora, the executive director of Silver State Voices, a civic engagement group that coordinates with Nevada progressive organizations, said after citing the above concerns. “That in itself is unacceptable.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pXZz9M">
|
||||
Another issue is that ranked-choice ballots in the US tend to take a long time to count. Election administrators need to determine the order of candidates so they can eliminate them one by one and reallocate their ballots accordingly. They also have to decide whether to release a preliminary reallocation tally well before every ballot is counted (<a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/30/22558211/kathryn-garcia-ranked-choice-nyc-board">as New York City did last year</a>). With the threat of election denial from the right, a protracted count could lead to lower confidence in the results.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tuU614">
|
||||
<strong>Critiquing the specific design:</strong> Separately, there have been some questions from voting systems experts about whether this system is properly designed, as Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University, recently wrote <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/01/alaska-final-four-primary-begich-palin-peltola/">in a Washington Post op-ed</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BaYYkP">
|
||||
The issue is that ranked-choice eliminations can often eliminate the voters’ true consensus choice, if that person starts off with fewer first-choice votes. That appears to be what just happened when this system was used in Alaska’s House special election. Voters overall preferred the moderate Republican Nick Begich over both conservative Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Mary Peltola in head-to-head matchups, but he was eliminated before either of them. This <a href="https://dmarron.com/2010/09/19/the-feud-over-the-2009-burlington-mayoral-election/">has happened elsewhere</a>, too. Foley suggests a technical fix — tweaking the rules so that the order of elimination is based on a candidate’s total votes, not just first-choice votes.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="8BaFXx">
|
||||
This reform could have a real impact but likely won’t totally transform the system
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oTmsL6">
|
||||
Political scientists I interviewed were skeptical about the grander claims that final five voting would be able to solve so many of America’s political ills.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7qCcDC">
|
||||
For one, few believed the primary system is really the main cause of polarization and dysfunction. “Primaries existed for a long time without producing MAGA winners,” said Drexel University political scientist Jack Santucci. The forces pushing the parties apart are much broader — journalist Ezra Klein <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/why-we-re-polarized-ezra-klein/10338540?ean=9781476700328">has argued</a> they trace back to a fundamental polarization of politics around voters’ core identities — and primaries are merely one arena in which they play out.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qCIVIg">
|
||||
Even if partisan primaries went away, pressure from party leaders, donors, ideological media outlets, activists, and politicians’ social circles will remain. “When I look at the things that make party elites powerful, this doesn’t do a whole lot to change them,” said Florida State University political scientist Hans Hassell. “What I suspect will happen is you end up seeing parties and party elites adapt to it.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6V71uX">
|
||||
Would-be politicians inclined to defy all this rather than just falling in line with one party or the other would need to find a support base somewhere. Yet voters less inclined to feel strongly toward one side or the other also tend to be less engaged with the political system in general. And it’s not clear their preferences really do incline toward a centrist, “problem-solving” business type. “The existence of this voter that is going to produce moderation itself is in question,” Santucci said.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FO6eWf">
|
||||
Still, it seems indisputable that final five voting would achieve one key thing: It would let incumbents who run afoul of their party base get past the primary and make it to the general election (since you’d have to be a pretty incompetent incumbent to fall to sixth place in a primary). It does not necessarily ensure that those candidates will be more likely to win the general, but it lets them get there and present their case to voters.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6Idr1R">
|
||||
It’s no accident that Alaska is the first state where a version of this was put in place. Murkowski, the incumbent moderate Republican senator, has long had a tense relationship with GOP primary voters. She actually lost her primary in 2010 but then subsequently ran as a write-in candidate and won the general election, keeping her seat. Yet after Trump became president, Murkowski defied him on several high-profile issues, so trouble appeared to loom ahead for her in the 2022 primary.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XupDra">
|
||||
Scott Kendall was Murkowski’s lawyer during her write-in campaign, and believed the closed primary system was “broken,” he said. So in 2019, he began researching potential alternatives, and eventually found <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/Documents/why-competition-in-the-politics-industry-is-failing-america.pdf">a report by Gehl and Porter</a> proposing what was, at the time, final four voting. (They changed the number to five later.) Kendall told me he was already thinking along these lines, but the report “sorted what I was trying to do and was more eloquent than the actual thoughts in my head.” He put together a ballot measure on the topic, and eventually Gehl donated to the cause and was “one of the thought leaders I talked to during the journey,” he said.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KoZPXH">
|
||||
Voters <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/11/19/21537126/alaska-measure-2-ranked-choice-voting-results">approved</a> Alaska’s top four primary and ranked-choice general election in 2020, giving Murkowski an all-but-guaranteed ticket to the general election, and relieving primary pressure on her from the right. Three months later, Murkowski <a href="https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-votes-to-convict-president-donald-j-trump">voted to convict Trump</a> at his second impeachment trial.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="As4kMt">
|
||||
So for Democrats and progressives who think preserving democracy is important, and that the GOP is being increasingly captured by extremists, these reforms deserve serious consideration. The reason Trump was stopped from stealing the 2020 election was largely because enough Republican elites <a href="https://www.vox.com/22230929/trump-coup-why-failed-capitol-storming">defied his pressures</a>. Yet open Trump critics have increasingly retired or been purged from the party. Election deniers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/interactive/2022/election-deniers-running-for-office-elections-2022/">have won</a> GOP nominations in hundreds of contests across the country. The trends aren’t encouraging, and a future crisis could lie ahead.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hd5u0j">
|
||||
Yes, final five voting would also weaken the power of the institutional Democratic Party. Yes, it would take away leverage progressives currently have over centrist Democrats. But if that comes along with helping the GOP become less of a pro-Trump personality cult — might that be worth the trade-off?
|
||||
</p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>A peace deal could end Ethiopia’s brutal civil war. Can a truce last?</strong> -
|
||||
<figure>
|
||||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sya1ImZ9n6bR93wT6nU83TiMFyc=/113x0:2197x1563/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71581921/1244430182a.0.jpg"/>
|
||||
<figcaption>
|
||||
Redwan Hussein, left, representing the Ethiopian government, and Getachew Reda, right, representing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, sign a peace agreement after peace talks in Pretoria, South Africa, on November 2. | Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images
|
||||
</figcaption>
|
||||
</figure>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
A surprise deal announced Wednesday promises peace but doesn’t offer much detail.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1s7lPd">
|
||||
One of the world’s current deadliest conflicts and worst humanitarian crises could be moving toward a close.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rNNdBJ">
|
||||
On Wednesday, the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) came to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-union-parties-ethiopia-conflict-have-agreed-cease-hostilities-2022-11-02/">an agreement to permanently halt hostilities</a> in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands, <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/ethiopia-s-tigray-refugee-crisis-explained/">displaced millions</a>, pushed regions in the north to the brink of famine, and altered Ethiopia’s standing in the international community.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NYgVe2">
|
||||
Though the announcement was an unexpected and welcome development in the two-year conflict, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63503615">questions remain</a> — including whether all the involved parties will commit to the peace deal, the mechanisms for implementation, and the role of other armed actors, including the Eritrean government.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2AjpJg">
|
||||
“The two parties in the Ethiopian conflict have formally agreed to the cessation of hostilities as well as to systematic, orderly, smooth, and coordinated disarmament,” Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria who now works to mediate conflicts in Africa, announced yesterday, almost two years exactly after hostilities initially broke out in November 2020.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IPvMhy">
|
||||
The deal reportedly calls for the full disarmament of Tigray’s forces within 30 days, with leaders meeting within five days to sort details. Ethiopian forces will also take control of federal facilities and major infrastructure in Tigray. (Though the official deal hasn’t yet been made public, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-civil-war-agreement.html">multiple</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ethiopia-peace-deal-silence-terms-tigray-92617217">news outlets</a> on Thursday obtained a copy.)
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gyKsjY">
|
||||
Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister<strong> </strong>Abiy Ahmed <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ethiopia-peace-deal-silence-terms-tigray-92617217">celebrated the deal</a>, saying, “Ethiopia’s peace proposal has been accepted 100 percent.” In a <a href="https://twitter.com/AbiyAhmedAli/status/1587869990006525953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1587869990006525953%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=about%3Asrcdoc">statement on Twitter</a>, Abiy promised that his government’s commitment to peace “remains steadfast.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hPLcAe">
|
||||
The deal, the product of eight days of peace talks in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Pretoria">South Africa</a> between the two parties and alongside<strong> </strong>negotiators from the African Union like Obasanjo, surprised the world.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qCoH2E">
|
||||
Though an internet and media blackout, imposed by Abiy’s government at the beginning of hostilities, has made verifying information in Tigray difficult if not impossible, tens of thousands are believed to have been killed in the fighting in Tigray, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced from Tigray and the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129572">according to the United Nations</a>. Millions are in dire need of humanitarian assistance including food and medical care.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AAROfq">
|
||||
And violence in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region had continued in the runup to the talks, which made a resolution seem increasingly unlikely. A previous humanitarian ceasefire, <a href="https://www.state.gov/five-months-of-a-humanitarian-truce-in-ethiopia/">brokered in March of this year</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/24/fighting-resumes-in-ethiopia-despite-truce-tigray-forces">broke down in August</a>, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-war-talks-us.html">American diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting</a> had failed by early September, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-war-talks-us.html">when violence in Tigray surged again</a>, with a particularly devastating impact on Tigrayan civilians. During that spate of fighting, around 500,000 people were forced from their homes; Ethiopian government forces hit a UN food truck and airstrikes hit a center for refugees near the border with Eritrea, killing at least 50 people, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-war-talks-us.html">the New York Times reported</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ky6qyh">
|
||||
Details of the peace process are thus far scant; the TPLF has agreed to disarm and reintegrate into the federal government’s army and the government has promised to support humanitarian efforts, but other questions, such as the role of the Eritrean army, which has supported the Ethiopian forces, and other armed groups involved in the conflict haven’t yet been addressed.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XHOCQY">
|
||||
Parts of the deal may be difficult to implement; regional experts <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/world/africa/ethiopia-tigray-civil-war-agreement.html">told the New York Times</a> that Tigrayan leaders might have trouble selling the disarmament portions of the reported agreement. Tigray’s lead negotiator, Getachew Reda, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ethiopia-peace-deal-silence-terms-tigray-92617217">noted that the deal contained</a> “painful concessions” for the Tigrayans, including handing over control of “all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure … within the Tigray region” to the federal government.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cIYInu">
|
||||
Obasanjo seemed to acknowledge the significant work yet to be done to ensure peace in Ethiopia. “This moment is not the end of the peace process,” he said Wednesday. “Implementation of the peace agreement signed today is critical for its success,” he added, although the mechanics of the implementation are still opaque.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="VzrAeh">
|
||||
The conflict has stopped, but the wounds are deep
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qXyOz5">
|
||||
The <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ethiopia">conflict in Tigray</a> began in November 2020, after two years of tension between Tigrayan leadership and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was elected to his office in 2018 after nearly 30 years of Tigrayan political dominance. Though Tigrayans are a minority ethnic group within Ethiopia, the TPLF consolidated power first under the autocratic regime of Meles Zenawi, to the detriment of larger ethnic groups like the Oromo, Amhara, and Somali populations; Ethiopia under Tigrayan leadership also fought a low-level, frozen conflict over the next two decades with neighboring Eritrea.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7zSZkq">
|
||||
In 2019, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/11/world/africa/nobel-peace-prize.html#:~:text=Abiy%20Ahmed%2C%20the%20prime%20minister,of%20political%20and%20economic%20repression.">Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize</a> for ending hostilities with Eritrea and for instituting domestic reforms like rolling back press censorship, releasing political prisoners, and allowing political opposition groups. Despite these accomplishments, though, Ethiopia’s democratic progress deteriorated quickly after Abiy’s government repeatedly delayed national elections and extended his time in power in June 2020, as the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ethiopia">Council on Foreign Relations</a> explained. Tigrayan leadership held local elections despite the delays, solidifying the TPLF’s power in the region — and warned the federal government not to intervene or risk igniting conflict.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ERJ5GU">
|
||||
Abiy sent troops from the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) to Tigray on November 4, 2020, after accusing the TPLF of raiding a national military depot for weapons. Over the next few months, the low-level conflict ballooned into a civil war; Eritrean troops joined on the side of the federal government, although Abiy initially denied their presence in Tigray. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/more-than-50-killed-northern-ethiopia-air-strike-say-aid-workers-tigray-forces-2022-10-05/">They, along with ENDF troops</a>, the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/10/ethiopia-tigray-forces-summarily-execute-civilians">Tigray Defense Forces (TDF)</a>, and TDF allies the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-21/ethiopian-military-tagets-rebels-accused-of-killing-civilians">Oromo Liberation Army</a> have been accused of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/africa-only-on-ap-kenya-ethiopia-eritrea-b86f4f1fbc836f132e15e1d65893b0d3">targeting civilians</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TYpMKb">
|
||||
Information about the humanitarian situation in Tigray and the contours of the conflict have been difficult to come by; Abiy <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/press-freedom_journalists-struggle-through-information-blackout-ethiopia/6199045.html">instituted an internet and media blackout in the region</a> at the start of the war, making it difficult to verify sites of attack or numbers of casualties. A federal government blockade of the region began in June 2021, after the TPLF retook control of the region from federal forces; since then, except for a brief reprieve earlier this year, Tigrayans have suffered from a desperate lack of necessities like food, fuel, and medical supplies.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nDvjWB">
|
||||
Ethiopia overall and Tigray in particular have some of the most severe food insecurity outlooks in the world, according to the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-food-security-outlook-june-2022-january-2023">Famine Early Warning System</a>; that’s due to a combination of low levels of rainfall, instability limiting agricultural activity, and outside supply factors — specifically the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, countries including Ethiopia that rely on Ukrainian grain to feed their populations have suffered due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="aXwwMN">
|
||||
What comes next?
|
||||
</h3>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m8tvR3">
|
||||
In his announcement Wednesday, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-union-parties-ethiopia-conflict-have-agreed-cease-hostilities-2022-11-02/">Obasanjo promised</a> “restoration of law and order, restoration of services, unhindered access to humanitarian supplies, protection of civilians,” a seeming acknowledgment of the dire consequences of the war for civilian populations in Tigray.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nq3a3W">
|
||||
United Nations head Antonio Guterres <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/11/1130137">praised the announcement</a> as “a critical first step” in ending the war, while noting the severe damage the war has done to the civilian population in Tigray. According to the World Health Organization, about 5.2 million people in Tigray need humanitarian assistance in Tigray, and 3.8 million need health care, <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-media-briefing---2-november-2022">with WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus calling the situation</a> “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vymAgu">
|
||||
Though the peace agreement promises unfettered access to humanitarian aid, Ghebreyesus expressed concerns in a media briefing Wednesday regarding the sheer scale of need.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OtTBqp">
|
||||
“Large numbers of displaced people are now arriving in, or moving towards, the regional capital Mekelle,” he said. “Most UN agencies and NGOs have now left towns in the region’s northeast because of security concerns. Some health partners have shut down because they cannot access the funds, fuel, and other supplies they need to serve the community,” raising concerns that the needed aid infrastructure might not become available as quickly as it’s needed.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F34A2V">
|
||||
Also unclear is the role of Eritrea in the peace process; though Eritrean troops have been fighting alongside ENDF troops since nearly the beginning of the conflict and have been accused of serious crimes in the hostilities, neither they nor the regional forces like the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/africa-only-on-ap-ethiopia-b280e6622d66b7e7f9b12cd1d0041ae8">Oromo Liberation Army</a>, which allied with the TDF, were represented at the talks, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/african-union-parties-ethiopia-conflict-have-agreed-cease-hostilities-2022-11-02/">Reuters reported</a>.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Quhdr">
|
||||
“We still have questions on the agreement,” a Tigrayan man in Addis Ababa told Reuters. “We didn’t hear anything about Eritrea. I hope that it will be in the details.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ii7JrY">
|
||||
A <a href="https://twitter.com/AbiyAhmedAli/status/1587869990006525953">statement Abiy posted to Twitter</a> was similarly opaque; the prime minister thanked the African Union and negotiators for brokering the deal, but didn’t acknowledge the grave suffering the conflict had caused, nor did he acknowledge any of the underlying causes of the war. The only mention of fighting at all is tangential; the conclusion of Abiy’s statement thanks “the brave members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces” and the Ethiopian people who “[with]stood a testing period.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<div id="SwT34p">
|
||||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||||
Expression of Gratitude on the Conclusion of the Peace Talks <a href="https://t.co/mB7Q0jLwsZ">pic.twitter.com/mB7Q0jLwsZ</a>
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
— Abiy Ahmed Ali (<span class="citation" data-cites="AbiyAhmedAli">@AbiyAhmedAli</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/AbiyAhmedAli/status/1587869990006525953?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2022</a>
|
||||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pqImbk">
|
||||
With so few details to go on, it’s difficult to know exactly how peace can be achieved; it’s one thing to “silence the guns” and agree to disarmament, but it’s another entirely to peacefully disarm and change control of territory, let alone<strong> </strong>adjudicate a truth and reconciliation process and come to a national understanding of what happened and why. Such a process, though painful, <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-truth-and-reconciliation-commissions-heal-divided-nations-109925">can be critical for addressing the serious rifts in the fabric of a society</a> and at least lay the groundwork for alternate forms of dispute resolution — outside of violence and armed conflict.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXgGdN">
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ahead Of My Time and New Dimension 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>T20 World Cup | New Zealand first team to seal semifinal spot</strong> - The side’s only loss was against England by 20 runs at Gabba in Brisbane</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>ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2022 | Australia beats resilient Afghanistan by 4 runs, keep semis hope alive</strong> - If England beats Sri Lanka tomorrow, the defending champions will be knocked out of the tournament</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 men win a first gold</strong> - Ramit Tandon and Saurav Ghosal fashion a 2-0 win over Kuwait</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>Star-studded Mumbai takes on well-oiled Himachal</strong> - The first-time finalists promise a quality title duel at the Eden Gardens</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>Shivamogga police are making efforts to arrest Shariq, says ADGP Alok Kumar</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>217 kg of stale fish seized at Palluruthy in Ernakulam</strong> - Total of 882 kg seized from four markets in district in the past week</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>UN SDGs: Expert calls for easing pressure on ecosystem, biodiversity</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>FICCI Kerala Council to honour best performers in various business sectors</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>Man arrested on charge of assaulting six-year-old child of migrant workers</strong> - Child had leaned on the car of the accused; police face criticism for delaying arrest</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>Russia-Ukraine war: At the front line of Ukraine’s struggle for Kherson</strong> - Jeremy Bowen reports on the fight for a city that Kyiv is desperate to recapture from Russia’s army.</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>Channel crossings: Albanian migrants recruited to the UK by gangs</strong> - The gangs take people across the Channel, with some recruiting migrants into the UK drugs trade.</p></li>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Zelensky accuses Russia of ‘energy terrorism’</strong> - Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accuses the Kremlin of resorting to “energy terrorism”.</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>Why we know so little about the battle for Kherson</strong> - Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, on the difficulties of reporting from the frontline.</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>David Icke: Conspiracy theorist banned from Netherlands</strong> - The conspiracy theorist will be denied entry for two years, as officials say he could threaten public order.</p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: SLS boosters may expire in December; Blue Origin delivers the BE-4s</strong> - “We’re eager to get the helicopter back out there and advance our rocket reusability.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894795">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Teens with obesity lose 15% of body weight in trial of repurposed diabetes drug</strong> - The drug could be a useful new tool for treating childhood obesity. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1895135">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Fresh chemical clues emerge for the unique sound of Stradivari violins</strong> - Another study found older, high-quality violins produce stronger combination tones. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894732">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>OpenAI debuts DALL-E API so devs can integrate its AI artwork into their apps</strong> - OpenAI offers integrated AI image generation on demand—for 2 cents an image. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1895013">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AMD’s next-gen Radeon RX 7900 XTX and XT launch December 13 for $999 and $899</strong> - RDNA 3 GPUs will use many chiplets to counter Nvidia’s gigantic RTX 4000 series. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894743">link</a></p></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||||
<ul>
|
||||
<li><strong>Men are very sensitive..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Some construction workers are working on a high building early in the morning.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Sadly, Steve slips off a ledge, spirals down to the ground and is critically injured.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
They attempt to save him with CPR, but there is a large hole in his skull that the blood keeps squirting out of, and he dies.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Bill says ‘Someone needs to tell Steve’s wife’. Joey says ‘I’ll do it, I’m very sensitive’.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Joey goes off, then a few hours later comes back with two cases of beer.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Bill asks ‘Where did you get the beer?’
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Joey says ‘Steve’s wife gave it to me’.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Bill says ‘You told her Steve was dead and she gave you beer?’
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
‘Not exactly. When she answered the door I said "You must be Steve’s widow’, she said ‘I’m not a widow" and I said “I bet you two cases of beer you are”.’
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
(Read this joke a few years ago on the internet and remembered it, I didn’t make it up).
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/OldSamVimes"> /u/OldSamVimes </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yl9a7j/men_are_very_sensitive/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yl9a7j/men_are_very_sensitive/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>The coincidences</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
A chicken farmer went to a local bar, sat next to a woman, and ordered a glass of champagne.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The woman perked up and said,
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“How about that? I just ordered a glass of champagne, too!”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“What a coincidence,” the farmer said.
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“This is a special day for me; I am celebrating.”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“This is a special day for me too, I am also celebrating,” said the woman.
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“What a coincidence!” said the farmer.
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
As they clinked glasses, he added,
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“What are you celebrating?”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“My husband and I have been trying to have a child, and today my gynecologist told me that I am pregnant!”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“What a coincidence!” said the man.
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“I’m a chicken farmer, and for years all of my hens were infertile, but today they are all laying fertilized eggs.”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“That’s great!” said the woman,
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“How did your chickens become fertile?”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“I used a different rooster,” he replied.
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The woman smiled, clinked his glass and said,
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
</p><ul>
|
||||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">“What a coincidence!”
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
|
||||
</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/boa_constrictor"> /u/boa_constrictor </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylut4i/the_coincidences/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylut4i/the_coincidences/">[comments]</a></span></li>
|
||||
</ul>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<li><strong>A lesbian, a gay man, a bisexual person, and a trans person are waiting in line</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
It was an LGBT queue
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/lightmodehottopic"> /u/lightmodehottopic </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylgwzz/a_lesbian_a_gay_man_a_bisexual_person_and_a_trans/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylgwzz/a_lesbian_a_gay_man_a_bisexual_person_and_a_trans/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>A guy loses his penis in an accident.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
He asks the doctor if there’s any hope of reconstruction. The doctor says “Sure. There have been a lot of medical advancements lately, but it’s not cheap.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“How much does it cost?” asked the man.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“About $1,000 an inch. You should probably discuss this with your wife and let me know what you decide.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
A week later, the man is back at the doctor’s office.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“Well?” the doctor asks. “Did you talk to your wife?”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“Yes” the man says glumly.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
“What did she say?” the doctor asks.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
The man replies “She says she wants granite countertops.”
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/johnandahalf13"> /u/johnandahalf13 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylr0xv/a_guy_loses_his_penis_in_an_accident/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ylr0xv/a_guy_loses_his_penis_in_an_accident/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
<li><strong>My roommate accused me of not respecting his boundaries..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||||
<div class="md">
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||||
Totally ruined our bath.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Significant_System97"> /u/Significant_System97 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yl2nw0/my_roommate_accused_me_of_not_respecting_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yl2nw0/my_roommate_accused_me_of_not_respecting_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html>
|
||||
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Reference in New Issue