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<title>22 March, 2021</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Tools for Public Health Policy: Nudges and Boosts as Active Support of the Law in Special Situations such as the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
In recent years, “nudging” has become a standard behavioral intervention at the individual level and for the design of social policies. Although nudges are effective, such interventions seem to be limited to a given space and time, and there is only scant evidence to support the contrary view. On the other hand, choice architects may utilize another type of intervention called “boosting,” which shows the promise of generalized and lasting behavioral change. The government can use these tools to shape public policy. Behavioral interventions such as policy-making tools have their boundaries, as does the law. We argue that nudging and boosting may serve as active aids in support of the legal system under certain circumstances. Nudging and boosting can also support the legal system especially in relation to emerging social issues or events that are unprecedented, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic, where certain behavioral patterns are expected, but it would be hard or impossible to enforce them through the law alone.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/8sepk/" target="_blank">Tools for Public Health Policy: Nudges and Boosts as Active Support of the Law in Special Situations such as the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The potential impact of co-residence structures on socio-demographic inequalities in COVID-19 mortality</strong> -
<div>
During the COVID-19 pandemic, confinement measures were adopted across the world to limit the spread of the virus. In France, these measures were applied between March 17 and May 10. Using high-quality population census data and focusing on co-residence structures on French territory, this article analyses how co-residence patterns unevenly put different socio-demographic groups at risk of being infected and dying from COVID-19. The research ambition is to quantify the possible impact of co-residence structures heterogeneity on socioeconomic inequalities in mortality stemming from within-household transmission of the virus. Using a simulation approach, the article highlights the existence of theoretical pronounced inequalities of vulnerability to COVID-19 related to cohabitation structures as well as a reversal of the social gradient of vulnerability when the age of the infected person increases. Among young age categories, infection is simulated to lead to more deaths in the less educated or foreign-born populations. Among the older ones, the inverse holds with infections having a greater potential to provoke deaths through the transmission of the virus within households headed by a highly educated or a native-born person. Demographic patterns such as the cohabitation of multiple generations and the survival of both partners of a couple help to explain these results. Even though inter-generational co-residence and large households are more common among the lower educated and foreign born in general, the higher educated are more likely to still live with their partner at higher ages.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/84ygx/" target="_blank">The potential impact of co-residence structures on socio-demographic inequalities in COVID-19 mortality</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Moral decision-making and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic entails challenging psychological conditions for the population, requiring them to make many decisions under stress. In this study, 641 participants were presented with different moral decision-making tasks, and completed a survey on mental health status and experiences, concerns, behaviors and beliefs related to the COVID-19. Results showed that the pandemic is placing a great psychological burden on the population. Also, that decision-making processes are being affected during the crisis, in a dichotomous way. Altruistic behaviors are promoted when people are suffering with high levels of psychological impact, and when they are concerned about others contracting the disease. However, egoistic behaviors are facilitated when concerns affect the self. Similarly, psychological impact, concerns about the self, and worsened physical health predict more automatic responses to framing problems and moral dilemmas. Nevertheless, when concerns relate to the others, or when people are more informed and/or carefree, more controlled responses emerge.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/8whkg/" target="_blank">Moral decision-making and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 through the One Health lens: adding a missing perspective</strong> -
<div>
The One Health concept offers an integrative approach to disease and health at the human-animal-environment interface. It has often been suggested to view the COVID-19 outbreak within this framework to better understand and mitigate this global crisis. Here, we discuss how the evolutionary ecology of host-pathogen systems can add a valuable additional perspective to the debate around SARS-CoV-2 and its implications for public health awareness and policy-making. In this context, it is especially important to highlight that changes in nature, such as zoonotic spillover events, are often irreversible, and that humans, while deeply embedded in ecosystems, are intricate ecosystems themselves. A better recognition of the complex biology and evolution of human-parasite interactions will assist our understanding of such zoonoses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://ecoevorxiv.org/3g6pt/" target="_blank">COVID-19 through the One Health lens: adding a missing perspective</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The potential crucial role of COX-1 inhibition and/or Aspirin triggered lipoxins and resolvins in amelioration of COVID-19 mortality</strong> -
<div>
Low dose aspirin use was recently shown to be associated with significantly lower rate of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and in-hospital mortality after controlling for confounding variables. However, the interpretation of the published studies included some important flaws and the author provides a rapid response to provide an insight that aims at designing double bind clinical trials that use non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for management of COVID-19. Notably, since April 2020, we have published previously published three pioneering articles to encourage adoption of NSAIDs/nitazoxanide/azithromycin claiming a curative COVID-19 potential and our updated molecular mechanistic basis as well as our observational prospective case series are preprinted and one of them is, finally, under review at a reputable journal.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/2rf98/" target="_blank">The potential crucial role of COX-1 inhibition and/or Aspirin triggered lipoxins and resolvins in amelioration of COVID-19 mortality</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mindfulness Buffers the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak Information on Sleep Duration</strong> -
<div>
We examine whether mindfulness can neutralize the negative impact of COVID-19 stressors on employees’ sleep duration and work engagement. In Study 1, we conducted a field experiment in Wuhan, China during the lockdown between February 20, 2020, and March 2, 2020, in which we induced state mindfulness by randomly assigning participants to either a daily mindfulness practice or a daily mind-wandering practice. Results showed that the sleep duration of participants in the mindfulness condition, compared with the control condition, was less impacted by COVID-19 stressors (i.e., the increase of infections in the community). In Study 2, in a 10-day daily diary study in the United Kingdom between June 8, 2020, and June 19, 2020, we replicate our results from Study 1 using a subjective measure of COVID-19 stressors and a daily measure of state mindfulness. In addition, we find that mindfulness buffers the negative effect of COVID-19 stressors on work engagement mediated by sleep duration. As the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and the number of reported cases continues to rise globally, our findings suggest that mindfulness is an evidence-based practice that can effectively neutralize the negative effect of COVID-19 stressors on sleep and work outcomes. The findings of the present study contribute to the employee stress and well-being literature as well as the emerging organizational research on mindfulness.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/wuh94/" target="_blank">Mindfulness Buffers the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak Information on Sleep Duration</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Acriflavine, a clinically aproved drug, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and other betacoronaviruses</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been socially and economically devastating. Despite an unprecedented research effort, effective therapeutics are still missing to limit severe disease and mortality. Using high-throughput screening, we identified acriflavine as a potent papain-like protease (PLpro) inhibitor. NMR titrations and a co-crystal structure confirm that acriflavine blocks the PLpro catalytic pocket in an unexpected binding mode. We show that the drug inhibits viral replication at nanomolar concentration in cellular models, in vivo in mice and ex vivo in human airway epithelia, with broad range activity against SARS-CoV-2 and other betacoronaviruses. Considering that acriflavine is an inexpensive drug approved in some countries, it may be immediately tested in clinical trials and play an important role during the current pandemic and future outbreaks.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.20.436259v1" target="_blank">Acriflavine, a clinically aproved drug, inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and other betacoronaviruses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Structural and energetic profiling of SARS-CoV-2 antibody recognition and the impact of circulating variants</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlights the need for a detailed molecular understanding of protective antibody responses. This is underscored by the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including B.1.1.7, P1, and B.1.351, some of which appear to be less effectively targeted by current monoclonal antibodies and vaccines. Here we report a high resolution and comprehensive map of antibody recognition of the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD), which is the target of most neutralizing antibodies, using computational structural analysis. With a dataset of nonredundant experimentally determined antibody-RBD structures, we classified antibodies by RBD residue binding determinants using unsupervised clustering. We also identified the energetic and conservation features of epitope residues and assessed the capacity of viral variant mutations to disrupt antibody recognition, revealing sets of antibodies predicted to effectively target recently described viral variants. This detailed structure-based reference of antibody RBD recognition signatures can inform therapeutic and vaccine design strategies.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.21.436311v1" target="_blank">Structural and energetic profiling of SARS-CoV-2 antibody recognition and the impact of circulating variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Critical interactions for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2 identified by machine learning</strong> -
<div>
Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 bind to the human ACE2 receptor. Based on high-resolution structures, the two viruses bind in practically identical conformations, although several residues of the receptor-binding domain (RBD) differ between them. Here we have used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, machine learning (ML), and free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations to elucidate the differences in RBD binding by the two viruses. Although only subtle differences were observed from the initial MD simulations of the two RBD-ACE2 complexes, ML identified the individual residues with the most distinctive ACE2 interactions, many of which have been highlighted in previous experimental studies. FEP calculations quantified the corresponding differences in binding free energies to ACE2, and examination of MD trajectories provided structural explanations for these differences. Lastly, the energetics of emerging SARS-CoV-2 mutations were studied, showing that the affinity of the RBD for ACE2 is increased by N501Y and E484K mutations but is slightly decreased by K417N.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.19.436231v1" target="_blank">Critical interactions for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding to ACE2 identified by machine learning</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Circadian regulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung epithelial cells</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, is a global health issue with unprecedented challenges for public health. SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects cells of the respiratory tract, via binding human angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), and infection can result in pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Circadian rhythms coordinate an organisms response to its environment and recent studies report a role for the circadian clock to regulate host susceptibility to virus infection. Influenza A infection of arhythmic mice, lacking the circadian component BMAL1, results in higher viral replication and elevated inflammatory responses leading to more severe bronchitis, highlighting the impact of circadian pathways in respiratory function. We demonstrate circadian regulation of ACE2 in lung epithelial cells and show that silencing BMAL1 or treatment with the synthetic REV-ERB agonist SR9009 reduces ACE2 expression and inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry and RNA replication. Treating infected cells with SR9009 limits viral replication and secretion of infectious particles, showing that post-entry steps in the viral life cycle are influenced by the circadian system. Our study suggests new approaches to understand and improve therapeutic targeting of COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.20.436163v1" target="_blank">Circadian regulation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung epithelial cells</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Interferon Resistance of Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants</strong> -
<div>
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with enhanced transmissibility, pathogenesis and resistance to vaccines presents urgent challenges for curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. While Spike mutations that enhance virus infectivity may drive the emergence of these novel variants, studies documenting a critical a role for interferon responses in the early control of SARS-CoV-2 infection, combined with the presence of viral genes that limit these responses, suggest that interferons may also influence SARS-CoV-2 evolution. Here, we compared the potency of 17 different human interferons against 5 viral lineages sampled during the course of the global outbreak that included ancestral and emerging variants. Our data revealed increased interferon resistance in emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, indicating that evasion of innate immunity is a significant driving force for SARS-CoV-2 evolution. These findings have implications for the increased lethality of emerging variants and highlight the interferon subtypes that may be most successful in the treatment of early infections.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.20.436257v1" target="_blank">Interferon Resistance of Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A bispecific monomeric nanobody induces SARS-COV-2 spike trimer dimers</strong> -
<div>
Antibodies binding to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike have therapeutic promise, but emerging variants show the potential for virus escape. Thus, there is a need for therapeutic molecules with distinct and novel neutralization mechanisms. Here we isolated a nanobody that potently neutralizes SARS-CoV-2, including the B.1.351 variant, and cross-neutralizes SARS-CoV. We demonstrate the therapeutic potential of the nanobody in a human ACE2 transgenic mouse model. Using biochemistry and electron cryomicroscopy we show that this nanobody simultaneously interacts with two RBDs from different spike trimers, rapidly inducing the formation of spike trimer-dimers. This naturally elicited bispecific monomeric nanobody establishes a novel strategy for potent immobilization of viral antigens.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.20.436243v1" target="_blank">A bispecific monomeric nanobody induces SARS-COV-2 spike trimer dimers</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Seeing like a State, Enacting like an Algorithm: (Re)assembling Contact Tracing and Risk Assessment during the Covid-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
As states increasingly use algorithms to improve the legibility of society, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is common for concerns of the expanding power of the algorithm or the state to be raised in a deterministic manner. However, little is known about how the algorithms for states’ legibility projects are deployed, experienced, contested, and reconfigured. Drawing on interviews and media data, this study fills this gap by examining Health Code (jiankangma), the Chinese contact tracing and risk assessment algorithmic system. I first explore the intensive and invisible work and infrastructures that enact and stabilize Health Code’s sociotechnical assemblage. I then show how this assemblage is frequently challenged and destabilized by errors, breakdowns, and exclusions. Facing unintended engagements from heterogeneous social actors, local networks, and power hierarchies, Health Code reassembles into multiple and contradictory assemblages at different periods and social localities. Finally, I examine how people game and bypass the algorithm’s surveillance with their agencies. Recognizing this messiness and heterogeneity contributes to a more nuanced and realistic understanding of states’ use of algorithms, including the risks. Doing so also urges us to rethink how technologies have reshaped the relationship between the state and its citizens in the digital age.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/g3reu/" target="_blank">Seeing like a State, Enacting like an Algorithm: (Re)assembling Contact Tracing and Risk Assessment during the Covid-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Queuing Model for Ventilator Capacity Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We present a queue model to inform ventilator capacity management under different COVID-19 pandemic scenarios. Our model was used to support ventilator capacity planning during the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The core of our framework is an extended Erlang loss model, which incorporates COVID-19 case projections, along with the proportion of cases requiring a ventilator, the delay from symptom onset to ventilation, non-COVID-19 ventilator demand, and ventilation time. We implemented our model using discrete event simulation to forecast ventilator utilization. The results predict when capacity would be reached and the rate at which patients would be unable to access a ventilator. We further determined the number of ventilators required to meet a performance indicator target for ventilator access. We applied our model to BC by calibrating to the BC Intensive Care Unit Database and by using local epidemic projections. Epidemic scenarios with and without reduced transmission, due to social distancing and other behavioral changes, were used to link public health interventions to operational impacts on ventilator utilization. The results predict that reduced transmission could potentially avert up to 50 deaths per day by ensuring that ventilator capacity would likely not be reached. Without reduced transmission, an additional 181 ventilators would be required to meet our performance indicator target that 95% of patients can access a ventilator immediately. Our model provides a tool for policy makers to quantify the interplay between public health interventions, necessary critical care resources, and performance indicators for patient access.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.17.21253488v1" target="_blank">A Queuing Model for Ventilator Capacity Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Effect of vaccination on transmission of COVID-19: an observational study in healthcare workers and their households</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: The effect of vaccination for COVID-19 on onward transmission is unknown. Methods: A national record linkage study determined documented COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in unvaccinated household members of vaccinated and unvaccinated healthcare workers from 8th December 2020 to 3rd March 2021. The primary endpoint was COVID-19 &gt;= 14 days following the first dose. Results: The cohort comprised of 194,362 household members (mean age 31.1 years) and 144,525 healthcare workers (mean age 44.4 years). 113,253 (78.3%) of healthcare workers received at least one dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and 36,227 (25.1%) received a second dose. Household members of vaccinated healthcare workers had a lower risk of COVID-19 case compared to household members of unvaccinated healthcare worker (rate per 100 person-years 9.40 versus 5.93; HR 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.78). The effect size for COVID-19 hospitalization was similar, with the confidence interval crossing the null (HR 0.77 [0.53-1.10]). The rate per 100 person years was lower in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated healthcare workers for documented (20.13 versus 8.51; HR 0.45 [0.42-0.49]) and hospitalized COVID-19 (0.97 versus 0.14; HR 0.16 [0.09-0.27]). Compared to the period before the first dose, the risk of documented COVID-19 case was lower at &gt;= 14 days after the second dose for household members (HR 0.46 [0.30-0.70]) and healthcare workers (HR 0.08 [0.04-0.17]). Conclusion: Vaccination of health care workers was associated with a substantial reduction in COVID-19 cases in household contacts consistent with an effect of vaccination on transmission.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.11.21253275v1" target="_blank">Effect of vaccination on transmission of COVID-19: an observational study in healthcare workers and their households</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</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>Safety and Tolerability of Emricasan in Symptomatic Outpatients Diagnosed With Mild-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Emricasan;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Histogen<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>Efficacy of Reinforcing Standard Therapy in COVID-19 Patients With Repeated Transfusion of Convalescent Plasma</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Convalescent Plasma with antibody against SARS-CoV-2.;   Other: Standard treatment for COVID-19<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hospital Son Llatzer;   Fundació d’investigació Sanitària de les Illes Balears<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>Diagnostic Performance of the ID Now™ COVID-19 Screening Test Versus Simplexa™ COVID-19 Direct Assay</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: ID Now™ COVID-19 Screening Test<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph<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>ANTIcoagulation in Severe COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Tinzaparin, Low dose prophylactic anticoagulation;   Drug: Tinzaparin, High dose prophylactic anticoagulation;   Drug: Tinzaparin,Therapeutic anticoagulation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris<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>Neuromodulation in COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Device: Transcranial direct-current stimulation;   Device: Sham Transcranial direct-current stimulation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   D’Or Institute for Research and Education;   Rio de Janeiro State Research Supporting Foundation (FAPERJ);   Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico;   Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior.<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>Off-the-shelf NK Cells (KDS-1000) as Immunotherapy for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: KDS-1000;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kiadis Pharma<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 Assess if a Medicine Called Bamlanivimab is Safe and Effective in Reducing Hospitalization Due to COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Bamlanivimab;   Other: Standard of Care<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fraser Health;   Fraser Health Authrority Department of Evaluation and Research Services;   Surrey Memorial Hospital Clinical Research Unit;   Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences;   Surrey Hospitals Foundation;   BC Support Unit;   University of British Columbia;   Ministry of Health, British Columbia<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>Effects of Telerehabilitation After Discharge in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Hacettepe University<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>Corticosteroids for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Prednisone;   Device: Point of Care testing device for C-reactive protein<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Alberta<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>Covid-19 Vaccination in Adolescents</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Tozinameran;   Biological: Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: CoronaVac<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   The University of Hong Kong<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>Efficacy of Adaptogens in Patients With Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: ADAPT-232 oral solution;   Other: Placebo oral solution<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Swedish Herbal Institute AB;   National Family Medicine Training Centre, Georgia;   Tbilisi State Medical University;   Phytomed AB<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>Effectiveness of the Adsorbed Vaccine COVID-19 (Coronavac) Among Education and Public Safety Workers With Risk Factors for Severity</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Adsorbed SARS-CoV-2 (inactivated) vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Fundação de Medicina Tropical Dr. Heitor Vieira Dourado;   Butantan Institute<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>Improved Oxygen Therapy in Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: oxygen mask<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Region Skane<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>COVID-19 Self-Testing Through Rapid Network Distribution</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 self-test;   Behavioral: COVID-19 test referral<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Pennsylvania;   Public Health Management Corporation<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>Text-based Reminders to Promote COVID-19 Vaccinations</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19, Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Self-benefit;   Behavioral: Prosocial-benefit;   Behavioral: Early access;   Behavioral: Fresh start<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, Los Angeles;   Carnegie Mellon University<br/><b>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>IL-6 inhibition in the treatment of COVID-19: a meta-analysis and meta-regression</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: IL-6 inhibition is associated with clinically meaningful improvements in outcomes for patients admitted with COVID-19. Long-term benefits of IL-6 inhibition, its effectiveness across healthcare systems, and implications for differing standards of care are currently unknown.</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>Zinc supplementation as an adjunct therapy for COVID-19: challenges and opportunities</strong> - An outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19 or 2019-CoV) infection has posed significant threats to international health and the economy. Patients with COVID-19 are at risk of cytokine storm, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), reduced blood oxygenation, mechanical ventilation, and a high death rate. Although recent studies have shown remdesivir &amp; dexamethasone as treatment options, there is an urgent need to find a treatment to inhibit virus replication and to control the progression…</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>Alpha-1 antitrypsin inhibits TMPRSS2 protease activity and SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory pathogen and primarily infects the airway epithelium. As our knowledge about innate immune factors of the respiratory tract against SARS-CoV-2 is limited, we generated and screened a peptide/protein library derived from bronchoalveolar lavage for inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 spike-driven entry. Analysis of antiviral fractions revealed the presence of α(1)-antitrypsin (α(1)AT), a highly abundant circulating serine protease inhibitor. Here, we report that α(1)AT inhibits…</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>Messenger RNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The first two vaccines proven to be effective for inhibiting COVID-19 illness were both mRNA, achieving 95% efficacy (and safety) among 74,000 participants (half receiving placebo) after intramuscular delivery of two shots, 3-4 weeks apart. To view this Bench to Bedside, open or download the PDF.</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>What Do Influenza and COVID-19 Represent for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease?</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Once the cytokine storm observed in influenza and COVID-19 is similar to the cytokine pattern observed in IBD patients during the disease flares, the advice is that avoiding the infections is still an optimal option for IBD subjects.</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>Withanone from Withania somnifera Attenuates SARS-CoV-2 RBD and Host ACE2 Interactions to Rescue Spike Protein Induced Pathologies in Humanized Zebrafish Model</strong> - CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study provided experimental validation for computational insight into the potential of withanone as a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus entry into the host 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>Artificial Intelligence for COVID-19 Drug Discovery and Vaccine Development</strong> - SARS-COV-2 has roused the scientific community with a call to action to combat the growing pandemic. At the time of this writing, there are as yet no novel antiviral agents or approved vaccines available for deployment as a frontline defense. Understanding the pathobiology of COVID-19 could aid scientists in their discovery of potent antivirals by elucidating unexplored viral pathways. One method for accomplishing this is the leveraging of computational methods to discover new candidate drugs…</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>Evaluation of Annona muricata Acetogenins as Potential Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Agents Through Computational Approaches</strong> - Annona muricata, a tropical plant which has been extensively used in ethnomedicine to treat a wide range of diseases, from malaria to cancer. Interestingly, this plant has been reported to demonstrate significant antiviral properties against the human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus, human papilloma virus, hepatitis C virus and dengue virus. Additionally, the bioactive compounds responsible for antiviral efficacy have also shown to be selectively cytotoxic while inhibiting…</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>Antibodies to neutralising epitopes synergistically block the interaction of the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 to ACE 2</strong> - CONCLUSION: COVID-19 convalescent patients have SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies and MBCs, the specificities of which can be defined with short peptides. Epitope-specific antibodies synergistically block RBD-ACE2 interaction.</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>Imaging features of COVID-19: What we can learn from SARS and MERS (Review)</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious type of pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has rapidly become a global pandemic. COVID-19, SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are all caused by members of the Coronaviridae family. As expected, emerging genetic and clinical evidence from patients with COVID-19 has indicated that the pathway of infection is similar to that of SARS and MERS. Additionally, much like SARS 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>Macrolides May Prevent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Entry into Cells: A Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Study and Experimental Validation</strong> - The global pandemic caused by the emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is threatening the health and economic systems worldwide. Despite the enormous efforts of scientists and clinicians around the world, there is still no drug or vaccine available worldwide for the treatment and prevention of the infection. A rapid strategy for the identification of new treatments is based on repurposing existing clinically approved drugs that show antiviral activity against…</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>Membrane Nanoparticles Derived from ACE2-Rich Cells Block SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic worldwide necessitates the development of therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2. ACE2 is the main receptor of SARS-CoV-2 S1 and mediates viral entry into host cells. Herein, membrane nanoparticles (NPs) prepared from ACE2-rich cells were discovered to have potent capacity to block SARS-CoV-2 infection. The membranes of human embryonic kidney-239T cells highly expressing ACE2 were applied to prepare NPs using an extrusion method. The nanomaterials, termed ACE2-NPs,…</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>Antiretroviral drug activity and potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 and HIV infection</strong> - COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 which has led to 2,643,000 deaths worldwide, a number which is rapidly increasing. Urgent studies to identify new antiviral drugs, repurpose existing drugs, or identify drugs that can target the overactive immune response are ongoing. Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) have been tested in past human coronavirus infections, and also against SARS-CoV-2, but a trial of lopinavir and ritonavir failed to show any clinical benefit in COVID-19. However, there is…</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>Discovery of Clioquinol and analogues as novel inhibitors of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 infection, ACE2 and ACE2 - Spike protein interaction in vitro</strong> - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has resulted in an ongoing pandemic. Presently, there are no clinically approved drugs for COVID-19. Hence, there is an urgent need to accelerate the development of effective antivirals. Herein, we discovered Clioquinol (5-chloro-7-iodo-8-quinolinol (CLQ)), a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug, and two of its analogues (7-bromo-5-chloro-8-hydroxyquinoline…</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>Nano-formulation of herbo-mineral alternative medicine from <em>linga chenduram</em> and evaluation of antiviral efficacy</strong> - Traditional medicine is becoming a primary source of health care in many countries in recent years. The current study proposes a new dimension of understanding a traditional origin treatment, using herbo-mineral preparations in nanoform. The herbo-mineral preparation, Linga chenduram [HMLC], was prepared according to the ancient palm script protocol dates back to 1000 years. In search of alternative therapy for the coronavirus, an attempt was made to determine this ethnic medicine formulation’s…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Peptides and their use in diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319943278">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PROCESS FOR SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF COVID 19 POSITIVE PATIENTS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU319942709">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sars-CoV-2 vaccine antigens</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318283136">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-COV-2 BINDING PROTEINS</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU318004130">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bildschirmgerät mit verbesserter Wirkung bei der Befestigung von UV-Entkeimungslampen</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Ein Bildschirmgerät mit verbesserter Wirkung bei der Befestigung von UV-Entkeimungslampen, umfassend: ein Bildschirmgerät, das einen Umfang hat; eine UV-Entkeimungslampe, die sich am Umfang des Bildschirmgeräts befindet; eine Stromquelle, die elektrisch mit der UV-Entkeimungslampe verbunden ist; eine Steuerschaltung, die elektrisch mit der UV-Entkeimungslampe verbunden ist; und eine Befestigungsvorrichtung, durch die die UV-Entkeimungslampe am Umfang des Bildschirmgeräts befestigbar ist, wobei die Befestigungsvorrichtung einen Sitzkörper, eine erste Klemmplatte und eine zweite Klemmplatte aufweist, wobei der Sitzkörper mit der UV-Entkeimungslampe versehen ist, wobei die erste Klemmplatte und die zweite Klemmplatte beabstandet am Sitzkörper gleitbar angeordnet sind, wodurch ein Klemmabstand zwischen der ersten Klemmplatte und der zweiten Klemmplatte besteht, wobei ein elastisches Element zwischen der zweiten Klemmplatte und dem Sitzkörper angeordnet ist, um die zweite Klemmplatte dazu zu zwingen, sich der ersten Klemmplatte zu nähern.</p></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE320246402">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Schublade mit antiepidemischer Wirkung</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Schublade mit antiepidemischer Wirkung, mit einem Schrank (1); mindestens einer Schublade (2), die in dem Schrank (1) angeordnet ist, wobei jede Schublade (2) einen Schubladenraum (25) aufweist; einer UV-Sterilisationsvorrichtung (3), die an der Schublade (2) angeordnet ist; einer Stromquelle (4), die elektrisch mit der UV-Sterilisationsvorrichtung (3) verbunden ist; einer Steuerschaltung (5), die elektrisch mit der Stromquelle (4) und der UV-Sterilisationsvorrichtung (3) verbunden ist; und einem Sensor (6), der elektrisch mit der Steuerschaltung (5) verbunden ist.</p></li>
</ul>
<img alt="embedded image" id="EMI-D00000"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE320246401">link</a></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gerät zur Unterstützung und Verstärkung natürlicher Lüftung</strong> -
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Lüftungssystem für einen mit öffnbaren Fenstern (16) ausgestatteten Gebäuderaum, gekennzeichnet dadurch, dass es ein Gehäuse (18) und einen Ventilator (20) aufweist, wobei durch das Gehäuse eine vom Ventilator erzeugte Luftströmung strömen kann, wobei das Gehäuse dafür eine Einströmöffnung (24) für Luft und eine Ausströmöffnung (22) für Luft enthält, wobei eine der beiden Öffnungen der Form eines Öffnungsspalts (26) zwischen einem Fensterflügel (12) und einem Blendrahmen (14) des Fensters (16) angepasst ist.</p></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=DE319927546">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>X射线图像识别方法、装置、计算机设备及存储介质</strong> - 本申请涉及一种X射线图像识别方法、装置、计算机设备和存储介质。通过获取X射线图像，将X射线图像作为训练样本；构建多注意力交互网络，多注意力交互网络包括卷积批处理标准化网络、特征提取网络和输出网络；其中特征提取网络包括多注意力交互特征提取模块和批标准化模块，特征提取网络通过学习通道之间的相关性，多通道之间的信息交互来达到增强模型的识别能力。利用训练样本对多注意力交互网络进行训练，得到X射线图像识别模型；获取待测X射线图像；将待测X射线图像输入到X射线图像识别模型中，得到X射线图像的类别。本方法减少了网络的参数量和计算量，提高了模型的泛化能力。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319953046">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>利用HEK293细胞制备新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白的方法</strong> - 本发明提供一种利用HEK293细胞制备新型冠状病毒核衣壳蛋白的方法，包括：1）构建新冠病毒核衣壳蛋白（N蛋白）重组表达载体；2）用重组表达载体转染HEK293细胞；3）体外培养细胞，从培养上清中分离纯化N蛋白。利用HEK293表达系统可在短时间内获得大量新冠病毒N蛋白，通过一步亲和层析法可获得纯度高达98%以上的N蛋白。与大肠杆菌相比，采用HEK293表达系统制备的N蛋白在与抗体的结合活性及新冠抗体胶体金检测方面均表现出极大优势，且HEK293表达系统制备的N蛋白其蛋白空间构象接近于病毒N基因在宿主体内的蛋白表达构象，具有更高的免疫诊断和抗体制备的准确性，将其用于制作诊断试剂和疫苗前景广阔。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN319953048">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU317343760">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Atlanta Shooting and the Dehumanizing of Asian Women</strong> - To live through this period as an Asian-American is to feel trapped in an American tragedy while being denied the legitimacy of being an American. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-atlanta-shooting-and-the-dehumanizing-of-asian-women">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Alabama Workers Trying to Unionize an Amazon Fulfillment Center</strong> - South of Birmingham, warehouse employees are voting on whether to form a union. Their decision could have ripple effects around the country. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/the-alabama-workers-trying-to-unionize-an-amazon-fulfillment-center">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Biden Rattled Putin</strong> - All it seems to take is to say something that’s true. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-joe-biden-rattled-vladimir-putin">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Garland Is the Last, Best Chance to Uncover Trump’s Role on January 6th</strong> - The ongoing federal criminal inquiry is the most promising route to the truth. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/garland-is-the-last-best-chance-to-uncover-trumps-role-on-january-6th">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Reeducated</strong> - A virtual-reality documentary takes viewers inside Xinjiang’s secret detention camps for Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/video-dept/reeducated-film-xinjiang-prisoners-china-virtual-reality">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Vaccine hunting gives me a sense of purpose</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Hands on a laptop keyboard at night. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-uj4c1Wl4nhhbeurVWBDNMHAfrc=/445x0:7556x5333/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69005059/GettyImages_847829382.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Getty Images
</figcaption>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I don’t know the people I book appointments for. That doesn’t matter.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9c8Q7f">
The whole thing started with my parents. At 69 and 67, <a href="https://www.wgal.com/article/pennsylvania-expands-eligibility-for-covid-19-vaccine/35256879">they became eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine in Pennsylvania the week of the presidential inauguration</a>. They immediately registered with their local health department and seemed certain that they’d soon get a call. They didn’t realize that <a href="https://www.abc27.com/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-pennsylvania/blame-game-begins-over-pennsylvanias-slow-vaccine-rollout/">the situation in Pennsylvania at the time was a disaster</a> — that millions of people were now eligible and there wasn’t enough supply.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fsL4sm">
I decided to try to help them, but my efforts were fruitless. It didn’t take too long to realize that trying to book vaccine appointments for my parents was basically turning into a part-time job. I devoted a few hours per day to the task — enough to make me feel like I was seriously trying, but not so much that I’d burn out right away. I’d wake before dawn, between 5 and 6 am, and work on vaccine hunting until around 7:30, when my 4-year-old daughter got up.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GmINzP">
I had the time and energy for the task. I’d left a high-pressure job in early 2020 to work for myself, then the pandemic hit, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22154212/coronavirus-women-covid-19-pandemic-workforce">like so many other women</a>, I found myself primarily taking care of my daughter, putting my career on the back burner as I struggled to come up with ways to make the days and weeks pass while keeping everyone safe and relatively sane.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G82SCF">
At the time, there was no centralized information source or federal rollout, so it took a few days to get up to speed on what, exactly, was happening in Pennsylvania. The state’s <a href="https://www.health.pa.gov/Pages/default.aspx">department of health</a> posted a digital map with thousands of points indicating hospitals or pharmacies with vaccines, marked in red (out of vaccine) or green (vaccine to offer). Unfortunately, none of the locations had <em>any</em> availability, regardless of color. (They’ve since changed all the dots blue, and added more colored dots?! It’s terrible.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6S1Ger">
The more time I spent wrapping my head around the state of the rollout, the more I worried that I had missed a chance to save my parents’ lives. If only I had been paying attention to the day they had opened group 1a to people over the age of 65, I thought. I knew I was catastrophizing and wallowing in my own anxiety, but I couldn’t help myself. I was particularly concerned about my mother, who, as a public librarian, had been going into work throughout the pandemic. But I also had a weird sort of confidence about the entire situation, that I would make this happen for them through sheer force of will.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M7sHUt">
Every morning, I’d drag myself from my bed, go downstairs in the dark, turn on the coffee machine, open my laptop, and quietly get to work. I had three browsers open: Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. I had tabs open to Giant, Weis Markets, and Wegmans, as well as a few local pharmacies and health departments. On my phone, I’d open my favorite vaccine hunter Facebook group, Maryland Vaccine Hunters, where every morning people would post updates about their successes. Next to me, on the kitchen island, was a sheet of orange construction paper cribbed from my daughter’s art supply that functioned as a cheat sheet with my parents’ pertinent info (address, phone, email, DOB), a list of PA zip codes, and reminders as to when certain sites were likely to release appointments.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FCFOng">
After about a week of research and a week of dedicated searching, I hit the jackpot and booked them appointments. As soon as I confirmed the details, I had an unexpected, immense cathartic release — just sobbing, for about five minutes. Some of the stress of the past year lifted. I hadn’t realized how worried I had been and how much I’d submerged that worry to get through my days — just as I’ve had to do with my daughter returning to in-person school.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HeHiWt">
It wasn’t long before I thought to text my elderly aunt to ask her if she had been able to get a vaccine appointment. The next day, I managed to get her one nearby. That same day, my parents got their shots. It finally felt like, after a year of the pandemic upending my life, I had a little control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ui5Jgy">
Word traveled. My aunt knew people in their 70s who, like her, couldn’t find appointments. My parents knew a woman in her late 60s who was the sole caretaker for her 98-year-old mother. There were other elderly family members in Pennsylvania and Maryland. A friend of a friend’s parents. They were all on waiting lists. I asked for their info and how far they could drive. I had notes under names like “cancer,” “diabetes,” “obesity,” “idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis” and “cardiac issues.” You didn’t need to list conditions on most of the sites in order to book an appointment, but people wanted me to know.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="WJRqfJ">
<q>Every time I’d get a hit and manage to schedule someone, it was like a little pop of dopamine to my pandemic-depressed brain</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OpqeWp">
Every time I’d get a hit and manage to schedule someone, it was like a little pop of dopamine to my pandemic-depressed brain. I felt powerful. I also felt exhausted. By the end of a successful session, I’d be drenched in adrenaline sweat, and jittery from the black coffee I drank as I clicked and refreshed the sites for hours. I was so tired that I couldn’t stay up past 7 pm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gu6es5">
For some reason, the people I didn’t know were more stressful to hunt for than the people I did. Every time I managed to get someone an appointment, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get another. I joined a second Facebook group, PA Covid Vaccine Match Maker, and submitted my interest in becoming a “Finder” for seniors. There were more than 300 “Finders” and more than 3,000 “Seekers,” and the group prioritized finding appointments for people age 75 and older. I felt comforted by the communal spirit of the groups, the positivity of the women (they all seemed to be women) searching for others and sharing tips.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zMDmGB">
I emailed strangers screengrabs of their confirmations and told them I was concerned about the weather. I hoped the 68-year-old woman and her 98-year-old mother could get to their appointments because a storm was scheduled to hit the Northeast. People asked me what to expect at the pharmacies, and I could only tell them what I’d heard secondhand. When people weren’t happy with what I found for them because it was inconvenient for whatever reason, I’d let myself feel disappointed for a little while before trying to find them something else. Meanwhile, the thank-you emails and cards I did receive — I am always going to save those.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="nj4Qvf"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XQMS79">
Being a vaccine hunter means possessing an unfair advantage in a very unfair system. I have a laptop, smartphone, and reliable internet access. But for some reason, I lack confidence in my skills, no matter my success rate. You’d think the more appointments I booked, the more secure I’d feel, but it’s the opposite. Some vaccine hunters brag on Facebook about landing 50 or 100 appointments, but every time I add names to my list I worry I won’t be able to find appointments for them since the situation is so challenging, and I feel pressure to deliver quickly. I don’t want to get people’s hopes up and then disappoint them. Sometimes the appointments are hard-fought-for over hours and days, and sometimes I see a tweet from one of the vaccine appointment bot accounts I follow, and spontaneously manage to book a few in minutes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ISkc6j">
In my first three weeks of vaccine hunting, I booked more than 20 appointments. The Maryland Vaccine Hunters Facebook group grew from a few hundred members to almost 50,000. People threw together websites that scraped pharmacy pages for new appointments. Ostensibly the sites are helpful, but I worry that they’re making it harder and harder for normal people to book appointments. Giant changed its zip code search radius from 50 miles to 10, and its site boots you out after searching too many zip codes; in response, I cleared my cache and opened an incognito browser. Rite Aid, the most stressful of the pharmacy sites I frequent, makes you enter pages of info, including an abbreviated medical history, before allowing you to confirm a time and date. In Maryland, I worked for hours to book appointments for the parents of a woman who is married to a childhood friend of my husband. Afterward, I took my daughter to the playground, shaky from adrenaline. I decided it was time to take a break for a week or two. I feel like all I think about are Covid-19 vaccines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dBdKA2">
It’s clear that the scale of the issue exceeds what can be accomplished with Facebook groups, which are essentially mutual aid networks moderated by unpaid strangers. What’s needed are top-down, structural solutions to the vaccine distribution issues. There are people who don’t necessarily have the flexibility to take off work for an appointment, and people who can’t actually drive to get their shot, whether it’s because they are housebound or because they lack transportation. Networks of kind-hearted strangers trying to be helpful don’t actually solve the problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UtFOg8">
To be fair, things seem to be improving by the day. States are adding mass vaccination sites and opening phone lines so people without internet access can book appointments. Health departments are looking at vaccination data and making plans to try to reach communities that aren’t getting equal access. The federal government is working on increasing the supply. More and more adults are vaccinated every day. And while the Biden administration says there will be <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2021/03/06/biden-now-promises-vaccines-for-every-adult-by-mid-may---weeks-earlier-than-expected/">enough supply for all adults by May</a>, our family will probably be in a holding pattern for another year. Vaccines aren’t approved for children yet, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/parents-grapple-with-reality-that-young-children-wont-be-vaccinated-soon/2021/02/08/e5851334-67ee-11eb-8468-21bc48f07fe5_story.html">young kids like ours probably won’t be vaccinated until early 2022</a>. The exhausting, imperfect risk calculus we’ve performed for the past year whenever we leave home — this activity is probably “safe,” this one is not — won’t end for us any time soon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VQVDaq">
I’ve taken two breaks from vaccine hunting so far, the most recent prompted by Covid-19 exposure in my daughter’s class that forced me to keep her at home, quarantined (luckily she wasn’t infected). It was hard not to think about the two remaining people on my vaccine-seeker list. I was afraid to open my Facebook app because I knew it would be filled with posts about open appointments that I wasn’t taking advantage of. After almost two weeks of unplanned hiatus, I set my alarm for 6 am on the Monday after daylight saving, thinking there might be less competition given the time change, and managed to book them both within a few hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AS1QIl">
Part of me wants to close all the tabs, leave all the Facebook groups, unfollow the Twitter vaccine bots, and just be done. Honestly, why do I keep doing this? It’s exhausting and frustrating. But maybe the simplest answer is that people keep asking for help, and it feels good to say yes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pTKPk8">
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nw0eJz">
</p></li>
<li><strong>An unholy union</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RNskIw2GKLxj8PPD5lCObUbxApM=/165x0:2836x2003/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68968558/VOX_BESS_11.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Alabama organizer Michael Foster, of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, is helping the workers of Bessemer’s Amazon fulfillment plant organize. If they succeed, they would be the first unionized Amazon shop in the nation. | Andi Rice
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
With a struggling economy and few work prospects, Bessemer, Alabama, has been called an “unlikely” place for an epic union battle with Amazon. They don’t know Bessemer.
</p>
<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YYgW4HsU995yniG4Y5QuEoQvF0Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21899595/VOX_The_Highlight_Box_Logo_Horizontal.png"/>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XTcAL4">
Bessemer, Alabama, is a city of 27,000 souls and dozens of churches. There are at least six Christian bookstores within a three-mile radius of the Waffle House, and a billboard screaming “When You Die, You Will Meet God!” not far from the local Walmart.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LeZFX0">
More than a quarter of those souls — about <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/geo/bessemer-al/#demographics">71 percent</a> of whom are Black — live below the poverty line. Sixteen miles from Birmingham proper, the city’s borders are liminal; Bessemer bleeds into nearby Brighton and Lipscomb to the north and McCalla to the south, and is sandwiched among wildlife refuges, cemeteries, and the Alabama Adventure &amp; Splash Adventure waterpark. The precious few green spaces strain to offset the sprawl crowding the highway that cuts through town. Chain restaurants, car dealerships, and big-box stores line the route to Powder Plant Road, which leads to the former site of a US Steel factory. Now that hilly ground is home to an Amazon fulfillment center, and the site of one of the most important labor battles in America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uf5A6K">
The more than 5,000 workers at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse — called BHM1, it is one of more than 100 fulfillment centers across the US — are in the midst of the nation’s first attempt to unionize one of the e-commerce giant’s warehouses, where they spend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTOxxCRqpLM">long hours on their feet</a> picking, packaging, and shipping items as quickly as they can. Their days, workers told Vox, are dictated by algorithms that survey their every move and dole out punishments when targets are not met or workers go over their allotted “time off task” (better known as TOT); workers compare the environment to “a <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/amazon-warehouse-workers-in-alabama-they-work-you-to-death/">sweatshop</a>,” and have lodged complaints about the excessive heat in the building.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xBYS2BOesQGSAkH7VPkcJc1XsL8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22361092/VOX_BESS_88.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Bessemer, a suburb of Birmingham, is a former steel town that has suffered since the industry moved largely overseas. Religion is important in the community, and infuses union organizing.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/roVnff-F9K2j3W6y0z72xsDM3n8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22361094/VOX_BESS_89.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A truck leaves Amazon’s BHM1 fulfillment center in Bessemer. The center opened in March 2020; workers say that in the intervening months, the $2-an-hour pandemic “hazard pay” lapsed and workers became sick.
</figcaption>
</figure></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LbwSUf">
Workers say they are allowed two 15-minute bathroom breaks during their 10-hour shifts, which amounts to mere minutes to navigate a warehouse roughly the size of Buckingham Palace and get back to work on time. Though the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19 pandemic</a> continues to tear through Alabama and the rest of the world, the $2-per-hour “hazard pay” bump that the company touted at the beginning of the pandemic lapsed last June.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gzagMC">
When Amazon announced in 2018 that it would be building a <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2018/10/amazon_breaks_ground_on_325_mi.html">$325 million fulfillment center</a> in this town of the faithful and bringing <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/warehouse-workers-wage-historic-fight-for-union-recognition-amazon/">1,500</a> jobs with it — the number ballooned in the ensuing months — the news sounded like a blessing. The company trumpeted its starting hourly pay rate of $15.30 and benefits; today, it wields them as a reason a union is unnecessary, without mentioning that wages in nearby unionized warehouses and poultry plants are <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/everyone-in-community-cheering-us-amazon-josh-brewer-interview/">much higher</a> for similar work.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6v2ys5">
In a statement to Vox similar to one issued to other news organizations, Amazon spokesperson Heather Knox noted the starting pay, full health care, 401(k) match, and other benefits the company provides its Bessemer workforce. “We don’t believe [the retail workers’ union, under which the workers would organize] represents the majority of our employees’ views,” she wrote. “Our employees choose to work at Amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available everywhere we hire, and we encourage anyone to compare our total compensation package, health benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s1fG0r">
But organizers say the union effort is not a fight over a $15 or $16 wage — though Amazon founder <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-20/jeff-bezos-adds-record-13-billion-in-single-day-to-his-fortune">Jeff Bezos made nearly $75 billion</a> in 2020. It is a matter of morality, of just who will make money off their labors. It’s a question of good and evil, about what is righteous, and just, and fair. For these workers and the organizers who have traveled from across the South to support their unionization effort, this is their David and Goliath story. What they want is dignity.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FxI1tqkvGgN9A4IcZM9FKczfv_k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22361108/VOX_BESS_3.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The main meeting room of the local RWDSU Union Hall.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L7xLQE">
As Amazon has grown exponentially richer over the past year and banked eye-popping profits, those employed in the warehouse say that workers all around them have contracted Covid-19; some have died. (In October, Amazon <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/01/business/stock-market-today-coronavirus/amazon-says-almost-20000-of-its-frontline-workers-have-had-covid-19">reported that 20,000</a> of its workers companywide had contracted the coronavirus,<strong> </strong>but those numbers don’t reflect a sustained national spike in cases this winter.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uigZIe">
All of these factors and more fueled the union push; the first informal meetings between a handful of coworkers with prior union experience have since blossomed into full-blown organizing, with all the fervor of a spirited prayer meeting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JyL5lk">
In February, more than 5,000 ballots were mailed out to the workers of BHM1, who now have <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/07/amazon-warehouse-workers-begin-historic-vote-to-unionize/">until March 29</a> to vote on whether they will unionize and join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a national organization that represents 100,000 workers in industries from retail to poultry processing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bOfQe8">
Amazon’s response to the union drive has been remarkably hostile, even when the company’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/29/business/amazoncom-is-using-the-web-to-block-unions-effort-to-organize.html">well-documented anti-union stance</a> is taken into account. After its initial attempt to delay the election failed, the company has been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTkWjyIYiVk">bombarding</a> workers’ personal cellphones with anti-union text messages and papering the warehouse with anti-union signs and flyers, even posting them in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/02/amazon-union-warehouse-workers/">the same bathroom stalls</a> in which workers are allowed so little time for themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gs34j7">
Workers are pulled off the line and into classroom-style meetings in which management delivers long anti-union speeches that can last hours, and have had managers pull them aside to quiz them on their company loyalty. The company created a “Do It Without Dues” anti-union website, and has been <a href="https://prospect.org/labor/warehouse-workers-wage-historic-fight-for-union-recognition-amazon/">requiring some of its contract workers</a> — many of whom are formerly incarcerated and have little power to fight back without fear of losing their jobs — to wear anti-union buttons. Amazon sought to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jan/27/amazon-seeks-to-block-workers-from-voting-by-mail-in-landmark-union-drive">block mail-in votes</a> for the union effort (it failed) and reportedly even <a href="https://twitter.com/GrimKim/status/1361820493079339008">requested</a> that the county change the traffic light patterns in front of the warehouse to stymie organizers, who have been stationed at the light for months, handing out union information and chatting with workers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2jzMVb">
“We believe in a fair and safe vote and have maintained this all along,” Knox wrote in her statement. “We respect our employees’ right to join, form, or not to join a labor union or other lawful organization of their own selection, without fear of reprisal, intimidation, or harassment.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MFPbUC">
Local leaders in Bessemer who remain mindful of their city’s fragile economic development have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55927024">shied away</a> from calling out Amazon or endorsing either side, though the mayor of nearby Birmingham recently offered his support for the union drive.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<div id="I51kSs">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ns5WzW">
But in late February, <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1366191901196644354">President Joe Biden</a> posted a video statement in support of the “workers in Alabama,” and former Labor Secretary <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/12/jeff-bezos-amazon-workers-covid-19-scrooge-capitalism">Robert Reich</a> and numerous other national politicians have also sent their support. In early March, a congressional delegation including Reps. Andy Levin (D-MI) and Cori Bush (D-MO) <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/lawmakers-show-solidarity-for-amazon-union-vote-in-alabama.html">traveled to</a> Bessemer to offer their solidarity in person, with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), telling Amazon workers across the country, “We stand with you.” The actor Danny Glover came, too, <a href="https://www.al.com/business/2021/02/actor-danny-glover-comes-to-bessemer-to-show-support-for-amazon-union-push.html">holding a sign</a> that encouraged workers to mail back their ballots.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="myVwWF">
Community support is strong, and as more eyes have turned to Bessemer, the workers there are well aware both that they are making history and that they’re continuing a much longer struggle. But the battle being waged in Bessemer right now has reached almost biblical proportions. The deep Christian faith held by so many in this union campaign fuels their mission to give power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kYHlQB">
“Sometimes you don’t know what your task is until you really get in it, and then you say, ‘Oh, this is why I had to come here,’” says Jennifer Bates, an Amazon worker who has been spearheading the union effort and serving as a public face of BHM1’s workers. “It wasn’t about me. It was a task sent by the task-giver. And when Spirit gives you a task, once you start on that task, ain’t no turning around.”
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="a6GgCI"/>
<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fyBYa6">
The Bessemer Hall of History sits just a few blocks away from the local courthouse, across from a vacant lot and a stone’s throw from Bright Star, a Greek-inspired joint that dates back to 1907. Despite its grandiose title, the museum is small and stocked with dusty artifacts from Bessemer’s industrial past, plus one memento from the town’s brush with a civil rights icon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZpJqwD">
On October 30, 1967, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and three of his associates — all Baptist reverends — were arrested at the Birmingham airport, and hauled off to a cell at the old Jefferson County jail in Bessemer, where they were held overnight before being transferred back to Birmingham.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zojv5B">
The museum includes King’s incarceration report, some telegrams of encouragement that he received while in custody, and the door of the cell where he’d spent that ill-fated night.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ko4nLY">
It was donated to the museum in 2013 and shares uncomfortably close quarters with a few startling pieces from farther afield: a display of World War II Nazi memorabilia, including “<a href="https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10067">Hitler’s typewriter</a>.” (A Bessemer boy stationed in Germany had brought it home with him from the war, and now it sits among the model trains, vintage sports memorabilia, and turn-of-the-century tools that populate the rest of the museum.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dIpFf7">
The weight of the two artifacts — a symbol of the imprisonment of a man of God who fought for justice, and a tool used by the man who engineered the Holocaust — are a lot for one small building to bear, but Bessemer is used to those kinds of contradictions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bBG4Vc">
It was once an industrial powerhouse, full of promise, but found itself left behind as the local manufacturing sector shrunk, and jobs vanished along with it. The 1980s were cruel to American steelworkers, sending their livelihood overseas, and workers in Bessemer felt the knife twist deep. “Communities in the Birmingham area were devastated,” as Phil Smith, the United Mine Workers of America director of communications and governmental affairs, wrote in an email.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EKkvn1">
Once optimistically known as Marvel City because of its heyday of <a href="https://www.bessemeral.org/">industrial growth</a>, Bessemer is now one of the poorest cities in the state, with about <a href="https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/this-was-named-the-worst-city-to-live-in-alabama.html">30 percent of residents</a> living below the poverty line. While the city has <a href="https://www.bessemeral.org/citys-crime-rate-continues-drop/">touted</a> its declining crime rate, Bessemer has also had to <a href="https://www.al.com/spotnews/2014/02/most_dangerous_cities_ranking.html">fight off a reputation</a> as a crime-ridden city. As the world around it moved on, Marvel City never seemed to recover from its hard times.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7KUqor">
The cash-strapped city really needed a break, and Dollar General had only brought in <a href="https://www.cbs42.com/special-reports/new-amazon-center-to-be-boon-for-bessemer-in-2020/">700 jobs</a> when it built its distribution center there in 2011. Bessemer needed Amazon more than Amazon needed Bessemer.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/f1ieffPaxqWDXy5_KQxMeQXTRFE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363220/VOX_BESS_31.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
More than a quarter of residents in Bessemer live below the poverty line. When Amazon announced in 2018 that it would be building a $325 million fulfillment center in Bessemer, bringing hundreds of jobs with it, the news sounded like a blessing.
</figcaption>
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i4fUOO7nLr2pQYe72JdGBfuZe6M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363278/VOX_BESS_86.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Empty lots where shopping centers once stood dot Bessemer’s landscape. The city once hummed with activity, its robust manufacturing industry fueled by steel, iron ore, and coal.
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</div>
</div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/u6M5k6o16HDuzqH1f4qf0JYd9TQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363256/GettyImages_1231457285.jpg"/> <cite>Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
The Amazon BHM1 Fulfillment Center in Bessemer initially was slated to hire 1,500 workers. As the pandemic drove up sales numbers for Amazon, the workforce here ballooned to nearly 6,000 people.
</figcaption>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="axG6HH">
Here, Amazon didn’t seem to need to worry about the kind of public <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/amazon-reconsidering-new-york-city-hq2-amid-local-outcry-report">outcry</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/07/seattle-passes-payroll-tax-targeting-amazon-and-other-big-businesses.html">government oversight</a> that has accompanied its efforts to expand in cities like Seattle and New York. Alabama is a Republican-run, pro-business state, one of 28 in the nation that keeps a so-called <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-are-right-to-work-laws/">“right to work” law</a> on the books. These laws <a href="https://aflcio.org/issues/right-work">weaken unions</a> by making union membership at unionized companies optional; workers can enjoy the benefits of the union without paying dues, which eats away at union resources and makes it more difficult for workers in other shops to organize. (King, who saw labor and the fate of Black Americans as “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martin-luther-king-jrs-thoughts-on-the-labor-movement-unions">closely intertwined</a>,” <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-are-right-to-work-laws/">said</a> that right-to-work laws “rob us of our civil rights and job rights.”)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwC3hE">
However, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/08/amazon-union-bessmer-alabama">emerging narrative</a> that Bessemer is an unlikely or surprising place for an epic unionization fight doesn’t hold much water. Despite those anti-union barriers and pro-business attitudes, union density in Alabama still hovers around 8 percent — not much lower than the national average of 10 percent. At its peak, union density in the state topped out at 25 percent. Much of that is because of its manufacturing history. The United Mine Workers of America has been in the state since the early 1900s, Smith explained. “Alabama has always been the most organized Southern state, and remains so today, even though it is the birthplace of right-to-work.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S0UXe7">
BHM1 threw open its doors in March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was just beginning its deadly procession through the South. The excitement over the influx of new jobs eventually gave way to fear and frustration as workers became familiar with their roles within the machine. It took time for word to spread that the sprawling, 850,000-square-foot fulfillment center on the hill wasn’t living up to its lofty promises, and that the people inside kept getting sick.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SccJVq">
But Bessemer’s story doesn’t begin with Amazon. Like so many others, it starts with steel.
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="0eY0Wu"/>
<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HSwQFq">
Founded in 1887 by coal baron Henry DeBardeleben and named after British <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Bessemer">industrial inventor</a> Henry Bessemer, this ailing satellite of Birmingham has a history of development and dissent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1P2etE">
The city once hummed with activity, its robust manufacturing industry fueled by steel, iron ore, and coal. A Pullman-Standard railroad-car factory took pride of place downtown, and Jefferson County itself was ringed by coal mines.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XyP5Cd">
In 1920, thousands of miners went on strike for union recognition and higher wages — one effect of unions is <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/union-decline-lowers-wages-of-nonunion-workers-the-overlooked-reason-why-wages-are-stuck-and-inequality-is-growing/">that they keep wages high</a> — and the conflict quickly turned ugly. At that point, Alabama’s coal mines were racially integrated, with Black and white miners working side by side; public opinion soon turned against the miners and <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/59zsd5xe9780252026225.html">inflamed</a> racial tensions within the ranks. The governor called in state militia and state police to help break the strike, and the effort ultimately collapsed without making significant gains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qk2JX5">
Sixteen striking miners, the majority of them Black, were killed during the violence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tLBkmn">
But unions themselves remained. In Alabama, at least, the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union was known mostly for its work organizing poultry plant workers and winning successful contracts in that notoriously low-paid, brutal industry, long before the first group of Amazon workers came calling.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="E2dfga">
<q>“This is the unfinished business of the civil rights movement” </q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YZ71oW">
Now the union and its member-organizers, like Michael Foster — a veteran poultry plant worker — see their shared fight for respect and dignity <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/161278/amazon-workers-unionization-bessemer-alabama">as an extension</a> of the Black Lives Matter movement, itself a modern continuation of the civil rights struggle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xDufk6">
Rev. Gregory Bentley, pastor of the Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, and <a href="https://www.waaytv.com/content/news/Huntsvilles-SCLC-commemorate-Dr-Kings-legacy-504671611.html">president</a> of the city’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter, has been a vocal supporter of the union effort, which he describes as part of a broader struggle against white supremacy and capitalism.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vWhG8E">
“This is the unfinished business of the civil rights movement,” Bentley says, noting King’s support of Memphis’s striking sanitation workers on the eve of his assassination. “We thank God for those who came before us and who paved the way and carved out some space for us to maneuver in. But we have to serve the present age, to make sure it comes to full expression.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z74xt9">
If there is some biblical force that “Big Mike” Foster represents, it is this: the holy spirit. As a devout Christian, Foster — who has traveled from his home in nearby Decatur to Bessemer to help with the union effort — is hardly unique among his peers; if anything, he’s the norm, though his room-filling personality stands out. Once he gets going, it’s like stumbling into a two-person tent revival, with Foster at the pulpit beckoning you forward.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OI61Ab">
He told Vox that he recently began speaking at his church and posting his sermons on Facebook, crediting that experience with his newfound comfort in front of a microphone (and a video camera) since Bessemer began making headlines. “That’s the mission that God has me on, to help people and to be bold in doing it because God wants soldiers,” he explains. “So as long as I have him, I know I’m gonna win.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EJm2S2G793ZwATfLggxDKZlVrl8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363182/VOX_BESS_5.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
“Some [Amazon workers] just call me just to vent,” says Michael “Big Mike” Foster, an organizer of the union fight in Bessemer.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q7jPMy">
Religion has played a role in any number of labor struggles, from early-20th-century Jewish organizers who led major strikes to the Catholic Worker movement of the 1930s to the Black religious leaders who led meetings and demonstrations during the civil rights era.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="21m6bb">
Even in Amazon’s own recent history, the US’s nebulous separation of church and state has fallen in its workers’ favor. One recent significant worker-organized action against the company came from a group of Somali Muslim warehouse workers in Minneapolis, who <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-immigrants-who-took-on-amazon/">forced</a> Amazon to the bargaining table and demanded the company address ongoing racial and cultural sensitivity issues, and allow Muslim workers appropriate time for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/14/18141291/amazon-fulfillment-center-east-africa-workers-minneapolis">prayer breaks</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ese5lH">
Though Foster does not work at Amazon, for him, providing encouragement, inspiration, and solidarity to his fellow workers in Bessemer is not just his role as an organizer; it’s his ministry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BKpqIK">
“Some [Amazon workers] just call me just to vent,” he says, “and I will sit up on the phone with them for 30 minutes at a time, building that relationship, because it’s more than just organizing Amazon. We’re also here for the community to show that we’re not just a business. This is somewhere where you can come and be treated the way you’re supposed to be treated. This union is something that we’re doing out of our heart.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A4nzRH">
Foster grew up in Decatur, Alabama, in what he describes as one of the city’s roughest housing projects, a “drug-infested” place that was eventually torn down. He was raised by a single mother who worked long hours to care for him and his four brothers, and Foster quickly learned how to take care of himself, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g07DwL">
It wasn’t easy — at one point, he survived being shot — but Foster persevered, and has since become a devoted family man and 18-year veteran of the RWDSU-represented poultry plant where he began working as a young man. He worked his way up the ranks and became involved in the union, for which he now serves as a shop steward.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2WXHip">
Along the way, his relationship with the church changed, too. About three years ago, he says he heard the voice of God speaking to him, telling him it was time to redirect that boundless energy into spreading the good word. “My heart is for the people,” he explains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bjYZiD">
Like any good spiritual shepherd, Foster will often pray with workers. “I have done this with Amazon workers, who’re coming out because they’re on last chance, because of the TOT [time off task], and they’re just fearing that they’re gonna make another mistake and get fired,” he says. “My phone is always on, and I can always make time to talk with someone or help someone. And I believe that’s just what God has asked me to do. That’s my mission.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RGXBHj">
For Jennifer Bates, the fight is more personal. Since May 2020, the 48-year-old has been employed at Amazon as a “Blue Badge Ambassador,” training new workers. She has joined Foster as one of the campaign’s most fearless public faces. She makes $15.30 for each hour of her regular 10-hour shifts (though when I call her in late February, she’s wrapping up a week of shorter shifts, on doctor’s orders, due to a medical issue with her legs). Her elegant visage has graced multiple <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a35552303/alabama-amazon-warehouse-union-vote/">media reports</a>, but she says she’s not interested in reaping attention for herself.
</p>
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VwbezZNDd7GZw01J_ydSBR0E0VU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363188/VOX_BESS_29.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Jennifer Bates started working at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse in May 2020. She’d worked union factory jobs before, and says she realizes now that this fight may be her calling.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s88v1L">
She is guided by her faith, which has been a cornerstone of her life since she was 6, when she would walk down a dirt road with her sister to meet her grandmother for church. Bates grew up in Marion, Alabama, a small city about an hour and a half drive from Bessemer. Despite its humble stature, Marion occupies an outsize role in civil rights history; in 1965, a Black man named <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/jackson-jimmie-lee">Jimmie Lee Jackson</a> was shot and killed by Alabama state trooper James Bonard Fowler during a civil rights protest. His killing inspired the first Selma-to-Montgomery march, and King spoke at Jackson’s funeral. Bates was born eight years later.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VwGz9e">
She has always worked hard. At 13, Bates was picking okra in a neighbor’s field for a few dollars a week, and her first legal job, at a Hardee’s, came at 16. She eventually married and made her way north to South Philadelphia; she later returned to Alabama, where she’s since worked in restaurants, in retail, as a 911 and police dispatcher, and in factories making automobile parts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uZQEyN">
She has also been a children’s choir director, a praise and worship leader, an administrative assistant, and a motivational speaker, and also served as a confidante for troubled young people in the community. Years later, that same warm empathy has made her a beacon to her anxious Amazon coworkers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tXCIPg">
Before she made the move to Amazon, Bates spent a decade working at a nearby US Pipe plant, where she was a member of the steelworkers union. Her sister was already working at Amazon, and in May 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Bates decided to make a change. The night before she started her new job at Amazon, she sat in her car for two hours and cried.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eWGB3z">
“I felt like I was leaving my family,” she explains. But it wasn’t until the union campaign was in full swing and momentum had been building for months that she realized: <em>This</em> was what had drawn her to Amazon.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cj0ekr">
During the earlier days of the campaign, when most Amazon workers were justifiably leery of putting themselves out there, Bates jumped in feet first. One of her other factory jobs had been unionized as well, so she came to Amazon armed with that experience.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UUXpN1">
“So many times we walked away when we could have helped somebody, and said, ‘I’m gonna save myself and the rest of y’all can sink if you want to,’” she says, “But this one right here was one of those where I said, ‘You know what, I’m not running. I’m not running.’ For years, I’ve seen people are being mistreated. I’ve seen people just get fired. When is it gonna stop?”
</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="0OxhUt"/>
<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K3M2j8">
RWDSU organizers begin each meeting and every meal with a prayer, often led by Foster. A community support rally just days before the ballots went out in February kicked off with a recording of the Lord’s Prayer that boomed over a set of borrowed loudspeakers that some sympathetic teamsters had hauled down from Boston for the occasion. Workers spoke about their overwhelming desire to “make things better” for their coworkers, and how they felt called to act; one organizer, a talkative pastor from Tennessee, explained how God had told him that this was where he needed to be right now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x14FkV">
Even Josh Brewer, an area union representative for RWDSU’s Mid-South Council and the lead organizer for the BHM1 Amazon union campaign, moonlights as a licensed Baptist minister, and worked as a youth pastor before he joined the labor movement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jQ9giY">
His kind eyes and ready smile are always visible above his ever-present RWDSU-branded mask, but that youth pastor energy really shines through when he’s bouncing around excitedly giving a new campaign update or joking around with workers. Like Foster, his faith came to him later in life after he overcame great hardship, but it now impacts every decision he makes. Brewer has found plenty of fellow believers in his RWDSU area council, where faith is just another form of solidarity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5CoUbI">
“This is a flock, and this flock is asking us to shepherd them, keep them safe,” he says, “to give them that kind of shield, and to provide for them, and in a lot of ways it’s the same thing we ask of our faith.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R4oplR">
As Rev. Bentley explains, none of that is a coincidence. “Jesus in his own ministry was clearly on the side of the oppressed, people who were at the margins, people who had to work from sunup to sundown and still not make enough to subsist,” he explains. “One of the most seminal stories in the Bible, the Exodus story, is really a labor story about folk working for free — slavery,” he adds.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="mTYBIQ">
<q>In a fight so seemingly rooted in religion, David and Goliath come up repeatedly</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wqSh4K">
The kind of religion that has inspired all of these people to make the trek to Bessemer — to trudge through an endless string of beige Cracker Barrel breakfasts, sour Amazon security guards, and doughy motel beds, to devote cold nights and long days to engaging, reassuring, and educating perfect strangers in the service of a greater good — doesn’t sound half bad and, as Brewer says, is a foundational aspect of the campaign.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MSCKCh">
“It impacts that we get up every morning; it impacts that we get out there on time, and impacts that we make sure that we are who we say we are and we do the things we say we’re going to do,” he says. “And when we’re making our materials, we’re not making promises that we know we can’t keep. Because that’s not honorable; that’s not what we’re here for.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2dn8YR">
In a fight so seemingly rooted in religion, it is David and Goliath who come up repeatedly. It is not difficult to see the parallels. A group of workers, many of whom say they are exploited and marginalized, are going up against one of the richest men in the world, and doing battle with a sprawling, rapacious corporation that seems determined to crush them. Instead of a sling, they carry flyers; instead of stones, they are armed with union cards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ATnGfl">
There is a sense of divine purpose here, one that goes even deeper than solidarity. As Brewer says, “These are God’s people.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hazs1x">
And they are about to make history, no matter which way the chips fall.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Xh3gQ01DVkNrKbwBcXGEUBTf17I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363546/GettyImages_1231291025.jpg"/> <cite>Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
New York members of the Workers Assembly Against Racism gathered in February for a nation-wide solidarity event with the unionizing Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MEouLn">
Bates has butterflies in her stomach these days, but as far as she’s concerned, the matter is out of mortal hands now. March 29 is almost here. “If it is meant to be, God is gonna make sure it comes to pass — and if it doesn’t, then there was something in there that we should have learned. We are supposed to learn out of it,” she says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9avktT">
As Henry Bessemer <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/henry_bessemer_210845">wrote</a> of his adventures in engineering and steel production in his <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/metallurgy-and-mining-biographies/sir-henry-bessemer">1905</a> autobiography, “I had an immense advantage over many others dealing with the problem inasmuch as I had no fixed ideas derived from long-established practice to control and bias my mind, and did not suffer from the general belief that whatever is, is right.” The same general sentiment applies to those living and laboring in his namesake city across the ocean.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vMZHQM">
Simply because a practice is established does not make it just or reasonable; the fact that Amazon has so far been able to grind its workforce into dust does not mean that it should be given carte blanche to continue to do so, workers say. Whatever is, is not necessarily right, and those who wish to see things changed entirely often need to take matters into their own hands in order to forge a brighter new reality into being. As Rev. Bentley told me, “Spiders, when they work together, can tie up a lion.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3fuIWP">
Bessemer, Alabama, was built on steel, and watered with the blood and sweat of a forgotten generation. It was knocked down, left to rot, then sucked into the gaping maw of a global giant. Now the city’s true future rests not in the Amazon jobs that Bessemer so desperately needed, but in the hands of those thousands of Amazon workers. All that’s left to do is pray.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j9PK8K">
“It’s about time somebody really spoke out and said something,” Bates says. “Somebody who isn’t afraid of the big giant.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v0iskA">
Who better than Bessemer?
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CGWV82pvnvYfh0CGjVZk8jZXPcc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22363402/VOX_BESS_83.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
An organizer waits outside of Bessemer’s fulfillment center to speak with any passersby. The union vote will conclude on March 29.
</figcaption>
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<em>Kim Kelly is a freelance journalist specializing in labor. Her work regularly appears in Teen Vogue, the Washington Post, and other publications. Her forthcoming book, </em>Fight Like Hell<em>, a “marginalized peoples’ history of labor in the United States,” will be published by One Signal. </em>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/riceandi/"><em>Andi Rice</em></a><em> is an independent photographer based in Alabama.</em>
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<ul>
<li><strong>The boredom and the fear of grief</strong> -
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wOtMKdiZ20vdIzivJFhtivXties=/0x0:3559x2669/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69004931/57205940.0.jpg"/>
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C.S. Lewis, author of <em>A Grief Observed</em>, stands in a field near Magdalen College at Oxford University, England, in 1946. | Hans Wild/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What C.S. Lewis’s A Grief Observed can tell us about our year of loss.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9o80S">
In this terrible pandemic year, it has been oddly difficult to find ways to talk about the onslaught of bitter and unrelenting grief.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sU9uEW">
More than half a million Americans are dead. And even if you don’t personally know anyone who died, you still have to reckon with the loss of the world that used to exist. But as a nation, America has been afforded little space to stop and feel the grief that comes with the tragedy of this moment in history.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ny1lip">
One of the best literary examinations of grief that I know of is <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&amp;xs=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fbookshop.org%2Fbooks%2Fa-grief-observed-9780060652388%2F9780060652388&amp;referrer=vox.com&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fculture%2F22334337%2Fgrief-observed-c-s-lewis-pandemic-loss" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">C.S. Lewis’s <em>A Grief Observed</em></a>. This slim volume is a transcript of Lewis’s journal after the death of his wife, Helen Joy Davidman, and in its pages Lewis tracks the process of his own mourning: its repetitions and its strange boredoms, its agonizing small moments. Lewis is a precise and scrupulously honest chronicler of his own thoughts, and the result is a portrait of a mind in the throes of very personal grief, which is why it is perhaps strange that what he describes feels so similar to the grief of living through an era of mass death worldwide.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqnJcQ">
Lewis and Davidman had a brief marriage. They met when he was in his 60s and she in her 40s, and they married, at first, for immigration purposes: Davidman, an American-born poet, wanted to stay with her son in the UK, and a marriage would help her do so. She and Lewis were close friends — before she even moved to the UK, they had corresponded about books and theology — and so Lewis agreed to marry her out of <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-carpenter.html">what he described to a friend</a> as “a pure matter of friendship and expediency.”
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Davidman and Lewis did not consider themselves to be truly married after their civil ceremony in 1956, in part because they weren’t married in a church. And since Davidman was divorced, and the Church of England did not recognize divorces at the time, she and Lewis did not expect to ever have a wedding the church would consider legitimate. They lived in separate houses.
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Then Davidman was diagnosed with advanced and incurable metastatic cancer. She was told she had limited time left. And faced with this news, she and Lewis decided they were so in love that they needed a church wedding after all. They got a deathbed dispensation from an Anglican priest and were married from Davidman’s hospital bed in 1957.
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Not long after their hospital wedding, Davidman’s cancer briefly went into remission. She would die in 1960, after three years of true marriage to Lewis.
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It’s Lewis’s love for Davidman, whom he refers to as H., that animates <em>A Grief Observed</em>. As a novelist, Lewis can be strikingly bad at writing adult women (the biggest exception, Orual of <em>Till We Have Faces</em>, is thought to have been based on Davidman). But in the privacy of his journal, he is heart-wrenchingly specific about the depths of his admiration and affection for his wife.
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“Her mind was lithe and quick and muscular as a leopard,” he writes. “It scented the first whiff of cant or slush; then sprang, and knocked you over before you knew what was happening.” And so part of Lewis’s grief becomes his fear that he will lose his sense of what made Davidman specifically herself. In memory she cannot surprise him, so he feels that he must necessarily find himself<strong> </strong>replacing her with “a mere doll to be blubbered over.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rHOFFB">
Fear breathes throughout this book about grief. “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear,” Lewis writes at the opening of his journal. Later, he will clarify this sense. It is less that he is afraid, he determines, than that he feels as though he has been left in suspense of something. “It gives life a permanently provisional feeling,” he frets.
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But eventually Lewis works out the origins of this sense of suspense: “From the frustration of so many impulses that had become habitual,” he says. “Thought after thought, feeling after feeling, action after action, had H. for their object. Now their target is gone.”
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It is not just Davidman whom Lewis is mourning, but a whole life, a whole sense of identity, a world in which he was a husband and had a partner. Now that Davidman is dead, an entire world is gone. It will never come back. It will never be the same for him. And the world will never be the same for any of us, either.
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As time wears on, Lewis finds himself overwhelmed by the problem of needing to constantly think about his own grief, how inescapable it is. “Part of misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection,” he muses, “the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer.” He wonders whether the journal he is keeping might be a little bit morbid.
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But he finds it impossible to focus on anything besides his grief and his work. He can’t bring himself to answer letters or to even shave. “I loathe the slightest effort,” he says, in a line that will surely be familiar to anyone who has found themselves staring at an untouched inbox as we process the anniversary of the month the world shut down.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9iGV1O">
Lewis was a committed Christian, and much of <em>A Grief Observed</em> involves him grappling with his faith and the horror of how little it offers him in his grief. “Reality, looked at steadily, is unbearable,” he writes. “And how or why did such a reality blossom (or fester) here and there into the terrible phenomenon called consciousness? Why did it produce things like us who can see it, and seeing it, recoil in loathing?” How can Lewis reconcile a God who is good with the reality of his own suffering?
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A few paragraphs later, he doubles back. “I wrote that last night. It was a yell rather than a thought. Let me try it over again.”
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This circling back again is characteristic of Lewis’s experience of grief, and of grief more generally. Again and again the same feelings and thought patterns emerge; again and again they must be sorted through and reconsidered. “You are presented with exactly the same sort of country you thought you had left miles behind,” says Lewis, with detached exhaustion.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r7Iq8D">
And so when <em>A Grief Observed</em> ends, it is not because Lewis has, at last, accepted his grief, nor is it because he has found a way to move on from the loss of Davidman. It ends because Lewis has run out of blank notebooks in his house, and he refuses to buy any specifically for this purpose. Otherwise, he says, “There’s no reason why I should ever stop. There is something new to be chronicled every day.”
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Grief never ends. It only changes its shape and allows us to find new ways of living with it.
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We may be living with the grief of the past year for the rest of our lives. But it is only by looking at our grief straight on that we can ever hope to find our way through it.
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<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>Unified body for differently-abled cricketers formed, BCCI recognition likely to follow</strong> - Groups running differently-abled cricket have joined hands to form DCCI, which was needed to get BCCI recognition.</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>Bangladesh to reconsider Shakib’s NOC for IPL after ‘misrepresentation’ accusation</strong> - Discussions to be held in the next couple of days.</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>ISSF World Cup: Divyansh, Elavenil claim 10m mixed air rifle gold for India</strong> - India’s Divyansh Singh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan produced some excellent shooting to comfortably claim the gold medal in the 10m mixed air rifle e</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>International spectators to be barred from Olympics in Japan</strong> - Some 600,000 Olympic tickets purchased by overseas residents will be refunded.</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>India vs South Africa | South Africa clinches a thriller</strong> - Lee, Wolvaardt mastermind the chase; Shafali, Richa knocks in vain for India</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</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>Parliament proceedings | Lok Sabha passes Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021to raise FDI limit to 74%</strong> - Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said hiking the FDI limit in the insurance sector will help insurers raise additional funds and tide over the financial problems</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Supreme Court to hear pleas against NRI husbands in July</strong> - In their plea, women allege they are deserted and subsequently harassed for dowry.</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>Does LDF govt. pass the test on health front?</strong> - Public health experts say that while being proud of the achievements, weaknesses should also be explored</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>Call to conserve every drop of water</strong> - Need to develop farms that consumes less water: UNDP programme officer</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>I-T Dept search finds multi-crore tax evasion by Jharkhand group</strong> - The Income-Tax Department has detected unaccounted sales amounting to ₹185 crore during the searches on a Jharkhand-based group engaged in the manufa</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>Coronavirus vaccines: PM to telephone EU leaders in bid to stop export ban being imposed</strong> - EU leaders will hold a virtual summit on Thursday to discuss the fate of vaccines made on the continent.</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>Turkish lira falls 15% after bank governor sacked</strong> - The outgoing central bank chief is the third exit in under two years under Turkey’s President Erdogan.</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>Coronavirus: Covid nurses’ song of hope from Italy</strong> - Simona Camosci wrote the song in the first Covid wave, and now she and her colleagues have released it.</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>Ikea France on trial for snooping on staff and customers</strong> - Ikea France is accused of spying on staff and customers using private detectives and police.</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>Domestic violence: US condemns Turkey for quitting treaty</strong> - President Biden says it is a “disheartening step backward” for efforts to end attacks on women.</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Stabbing, crucifixion, eaten by eels: Learn all about murder the Roman way</strong> - Emma Southon discusses her new book, <em>A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</em>. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1748130">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New York lawmaker wants to ban police use of armed robots</strong> - Use of Boston Robotics’ Digidog intensifies concerns about police militarization. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750986">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mouse embryos grow for days in culture, but the requirements are a bit nuts</strong> - And human embryos now get to the earliest state of development in a dish. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1751042">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Facebook finally explains its mysterious new wrist wearable</strong> - Will we be able to trust it with a new form of personal data? (Probably not.) - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750975">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Apple bent its rules for Russia—and other countries will take note</strong> - Russian iPhone buyers soon to see prompts to install software developed in Russia. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1750966">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>I met a girl on Tinder and we were going to go to the gym on our first date, but she stood me up.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I suppose we aren’t gonna work out.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Such-Fig-3879"> /u/Such-Fig-3879 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/maaizi/i_met_a_girl_on_tinder_and_we_were_going_to_go_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/maaizi/i_met_a_girl_on_tinder_and_we_were_going_to_go_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A was man drowning his sorrows at the bar. A beautiful woman sat down beside him and asked, “What is wrong?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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He said: “My wife just left me because I am too kinky in bed.”
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The lady gasped, “My husband left me for the same reason!”
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A few drinks later, they end up at her place and she says: “I’m going to the bathroom to change into something ‘more comfortable.’
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Ten minutes later, she comes out, dressed head to toe in latex with a whip, but the man is headed out the door. She asks: “Where are you going?! I thought you wanted to get kinky!?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He said, “Hey lady, I’ve already fucked your dog and shit in your purse. I am going home!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dasbett311"> /u/dasbett311 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ma9whf/a_was_man_drowning_his_sorrows_at_the_bar_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ma9whf/a_was_man_drowning_his_sorrows_at_the_bar_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I thought it would be a real ethical conundrum when the PETA Headquarters got a rat problem</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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But they just did what they do to all the dogs they rescue.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Kylestache"> /u/Kylestache </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ma6gfb/i_thought_it_would_be_a_real_ethical_conundrum/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ma6gfb/i_thought_it_would_be_a_real_ethical_conundrum/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>How does a non-binary samurai kill people?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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They/Them
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Pandamancan_"> /u/Pandamancan_ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m9tfl4/how_does_a_nonbinary_samurai_kill_people/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m9tfl4/how_does_a_nonbinary_samurai_kill_people/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I built a model of Mount Everest and my son asked, “Is it to scale?” I replied, “No.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“It’s to look at.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/honolulu_oahu_mod"> /u/honolulu_oahu_mod </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m9tsd8/i_built_a_model_of_mount_everest_and_my_son_asked/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/m9tsd8/i_built_a_model_of_mount_everest_and_my_son_asked/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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