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<title>28 August, 2023</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>Household Hardships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining Household Vulnerability and Responses to Pandemic Related Shocks in Eastern Ethiopia</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 is associated with one of the largest disturbances to life around the world. To quell disease spread, governments implemented lockdowns that likely created hardships for households. To improve knowledge of consequences, we examine how the pandemic period was associated with household hardships and assess factors associated with these hardships. We conducted a cross-sectional study using quasi-Poisson regression to examine factors associated with household hardships. Data were collected between August and September of 2021 from a random sample of 880 households living in a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) located in the Harari Region and the District of Kersa, both in Ethiopia. Having a head of household with no education, residing in a rural area, larger household size, lower income and/or wealth, and community responses to COVID-19 including lockdowns and travel restrictions were independently associated with experiencing household hardships. Our results identify characteristics of groups at-risk for food insecurity during the pandemic; households that were already struggling prior to the onset of the pandemic were at greatest risk of adverse consequences during the pandemic period. These findings may inform future efforts to mitigate the consequences of COVID-19 and future disease outbreaks.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.01.23285322v4" target="_blank">Household Hardships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining Household Vulnerability and Responses to Pandemic Related Shocks in Eastern Ethiopia</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Single-cell-resolved interspecies comparison identifies a shared inflammatory axis and a dominant neutrophil-endothelial program in severe COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Key issues for research of COVID-19 pathogenesis are the lack of biopsies from patients and of samples at the onset of infection. To overcome these hurdles, hamsters were shown to be useful models for studying this disease. Here, we further leveraged the model to molecularly survey the disease progression from time-resolved single-cell RNA-sequencing data collected from healthy and SARS-CoV-2-infected Syrian and Roborovski hamster lungs. We compared our data to human COVID-19 studies, including BALF, nasal swab, and post-mortem lung tissue, and identified a shared axis of inflammation dominated by macrophages, neutrophils, and endothelial cells, which we show to be transient in Syrian and terminal in Roborovski hamsters. Our data suggest that, following SARS-CoV-2 infection, commitment to a type 1 or type 3-biased immunity determines moderate versus severe COVID-19 outcomes, respectively.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.25.551434v1" target="_blank">Single-cell-resolved interspecies comparison identifies a shared inflammatory axis and a dominant neutrophil-endothelial program in severe COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Exploration of Hybrid Courses for Physical Education in Higher Education: A Case Study of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics</strong> -
<div>
Purpose: Against the backdrop of technological advances, educational reforms, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid courses have become increasingly popular in higher education in China. The study draws from existing theoretical knowledge and practical experiences to provide insights on the feasibility and potential benefits of using the hybrid course modality in physical education. It aims to investigate the applicability of the hybrid course modality in promoting undergraduate students’ engagement in physical education courses at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Method: Literature review methods refer to the ways of searching for theoretical support related to the research topic from relevant secondary data. In this study, we extensively used this method to systematically review and analyze literature related to education and sports. Judgmental sampling was employed, where participants were deliberately selected based on specific qualities. The researcher formulated inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants and recruited students who met these criteria. Results: Hybrid courses are not widely used in China, and many students lack a fundamental understanding of them. Interviewed students displayed limited awareness of hybrid courses. The education system has experienced disruptions due to the epidemic, leading to the shift from face-to-face instruction to online distance learning. Students often confused the online and on-campus course mix due to the epidemic with the hybrid course modality. Discussion/Conclusion: The study focuses on the practical implications of the hybrid course modality to enhance physical education courses in Chinese higher education institutions. It explores how this modality can serve as a useful tool in such courses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://edarxiv.org/hcevw/" target="_blank">Exploration of Hybrid Courses for Physical Education in Higher Education: A Case Study of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Real-time identification of epistatic interactions in SARS-CoV-2 from large genome collections</strong> -
<div>
The emergence and rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has highlighted the importance of genomic epidemiology in understanding the evolution of pathogens and for guiding public health interventions. In particular, the Omicron variant underscored the role of epistasis in the evolution of lineages with both higher infectivity and immune escape, and therefore the necessity to update surveillance pipelines to detect them as soon as they emerge. In this study we applied a method based on mutual information (MI) between positions in a multiple sequence alignment (MSA), which is capable of scaling up to millions of samples. We showed how it could reliably predict known experimentally validated epistatic interactions, even when using as little as 10,000 sequences, which opens the possibility of making it a near real-time prediction system. We tested this possibility by modifying the method to account for sample collection date and applied it retrospectively to MSAs for each month between March 2020 and March 2023. We could detect a cornerstone epistatic interaction in the Spike protein between codons 498 and 501 as soon as 6 samples with a double mutation were present in the dataset, thus demonstrating the methods sensitivity. Lastly we provide examples of predicted interactions between genes, which are harder to test experimentally and therefore more likely to be overlooked. This method could become part of continuous surveillance systems tracking present and future pathogen outbreaks.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.22.554253v1" target="_blank">Real-time identification of epistatic interactions in SARS-CoV-2 from large genome collections</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tensor decomposition reveals coordinated multicellular patterns of transcriptional variation that distinguish and stratify disease individuals</strong> -
<div>
Tissue- and organism-level biological processes often involve coordinated action of multiple distinct cell types. Current computational methods for the analysis of single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data, however, are not designed to capture co-variation of cell states across samples, in part due to the low number of biological samples in most scRNA-seq datasets. Recent advances in sample multiplexing have enabled population-scale scRNA-seq measurements of tens to hundreds of samples. To take advantage of such datasets, here we introduce a computational approach called single-cell Interpretable Tensor Decomposition (scITD). This method extracts “multicellular gene expression patterns” that capture how sample-specific expression states of a cell type are correlated with the expression states of other cell types. Such multicellular patterns can reveal molecular mechanisms underlying coordinated changes of different cell types within the tissue, and can be used to stratify individuals in a clinically-relevant and reproducible manner. We first validated the performance of scITD using in vitro experimental data and simulations. We then applied scITD to scRNA-seq data on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 115 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 56 healthy controls. We recapitulated a well-established pan-cell-type signature of interferon-signaling that was associated with the presence of anti-dsDNA autoantibodies and a disease activity index. We further identified a novel multicellular pattern linked to nephritis, which was characterized by an expansion of activated memory B cells along with helper T cell activation. Our approach also sheds light on ligand-receptor interactions potentially mediating these multicellular patterns. As validation, we demonstrated that these expression patterns also stratified donors from a pediatric SLE dataset by the same phenotypic attributes. Lastly, we found the interferon multicellular pattern and others to be conserved in a COVID-19 dataset, pointing to the presence of both general and disease-specific patterns of inter-individual immune variation. Overall, scITD is a flexible method for exploring co-variation of cell states in multi-sample single-cell datasets, which can yield new insights into complex non-cell-autonomous dependencies that define and stratify disease.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.16.480703v2" target="_blank">Tensor decomposition reveals coordinated multicellular patterns of transcriptional variation that distinguish and stratify disease individuals</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Hydroxychloroquine: balancing the needs of LMICs during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
I want to thank the Editor for bringing attention to the effect of a potential shortage of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) on existing patients with autoimmune diseases during the current COVID-19 crisis [1]. The drug has shown some promising results against SARS-CoV-2, although more testing needs to be done. However, hydroxychloroquine is also an effective medication for patients with autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus [2].
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/4vubt/" target="_blank">Hydroxychloroquine: balancing the needs of LMICs during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Conspiracies will not pay you off</strong> -
<div>
Using a representative sample of 1682 Slovaks, the study investigated antecedents and negative consequences for personal finances of the endorsement of conspiracy theories. As a part of the first wave of a longitudinal study monitoring social and psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, participants responded to questions concerning their socio-demographic status, generic conspiracy mentality, COVID-related conspiracies, financial wellbeing, predictions about economic situation and willingness to change financial behaviour. The results show that people who experience more financial anxiety and consider their socio-economic status as lower endorse conspiracy theories more often. They are also more pessimistic about economic development in general and, unlike in models without conspiracy theories, less likely to make adaptive decisions that could alleviate precarious economic conditions they experience. By linking the endorsement of conspiracy theories with precarious economic conditions, the study offers a preliminary explanation of the uncontrollable spread of conspiracy theories in countries with high prevalence of economic insecurity such as Slovakia. The findings have far-reaching practical implications for developing tailored interventions protecting those most vulnerable from endorsing conspiracies and, consequently, from making decisions that would further perpetuate poverty and financial anxiety.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/snv7m/" target="_blank">Conspiracies will not pay you off</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>RCT-based Social Return on Investment (SROI) of a home exercise programme for people with early dementia comparing in-person and blended delivery before and during the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> -
<div>
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Background: Regular exercise and community engagement may slow the rate of function loss for people with dementia. However, the evidence is uncertain regarding the cost-effectiveness and social return on investment (SROI) of home exercise with community referral for people with dementia. This study aimed to compare the social value generated from the in-person PrAISED programme delivered before March 2020 with a blended PrAISED programme delivered after March 2020. Methods: SROI analysis was conducted alongside a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Of 205 patient participants and their carers who completed cost data, 61 completed an in-person programme before March 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, 144 patient participants completed a blended programme consisting of a combination of in-person visits, phone calls and video conferencing with multidisciplinary team (MDT) members. SROI analysis compared in-person and blended delivery formats. Five relevant and material outcomes were identified: three outcomes for patient participants (fear of falling, health-related quality of life, and social connection); one outcome for carer participants (carer strain index), and one outcome for the NHS (health service resource use). Data were collected at baseline and a 12-month follow-up. Results: The in-person PrAISED programme generated SROI ratios ranging from 0.58 Great Britain Pound (GBP) to 2.33 GBP for every 1 GBP invested. In-person PrAISED patient participants gained social value from improved health-related quality of life, social connection, and less fear of falling. In-person PrAISED carer participants acquired social value from less carer strain. The NHS gained benefit from less health care service resource use. However, the blended PrAISED programme generated lower SROI ratios ranging from a negative ratio to 0.08 GBP : 1 GBP. Conclusion: Compared with the blended programme, the PrAISED in-person programme generated higher SROI ratios for people with early dementia. During the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions, a blended delivery of the programme and the curtailment of community activities resulted in lower SROI ratios during this period. An in-person PrAISED intervention with community referral is likely to provide better value for money than a blended one with limited community referral, despite the greater costs of the former.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.25.23294408v1" target="_blank">RCT-based Social Return on Investment (SROI) of a home exercise programme for people with early dementia comparing in-person and blended delivery before and during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection at a United Kingdom electricity-generating company: a test-negative design case-control study</strong> -
<div>
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Objectives Identify workplace risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection, using data collected by a United Kingdom electricity-generating company. Methods Using a test-negative design case-control study we estimated the odds ratios (OR) of infection by job category, site, test reason, sex, vaccination status, vulnerability, site outage, and site COVID-19 weekly risk rating, adjusting for age, test date and test type. Results From an original 80,077 COVID-19 tests, there were 70,646 included in the final analysis. Most exclusions were due to being visitor tests (5,030) or tests after an individual first tested positive (2,968). Women were less likely to test positive than men (OR=0.71; 95% confidence interval=0.58-0.86). Test reason was strongly associated with positivity and although not a cause of infection itself, due to differing test regimes by area it was a strong confounder for other variables. Compared to routine tests, tests due to symptoms were highest risk (94.99; 78.29-115.24), followed by close contacts (16.73; 13.80-20.29) and looser work contacts 2.66 (1.99-3.56). After adjustment, we found little difference in risk by job category, but some differences by site with three sites showing substantially lower risks, and one site showing higher risks in the final model. Conclusions Infection risk was not associated with job category. Vulnerable individuals were at slightly lower risk, tests during outages were higher risk, vaccination showed no evidence of an effect on testing positive, and site COVID-19 risk rating did not show an ordered trend in positivity rates.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.25.23294609v1" target="_blank">Risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection at a United Kingdom electricity-generating company: a test-negative design case-control study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Mucosal antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination and breakthrough infection</strong> -
<div>
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have saved millions of lives. However, variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have emerged causing large numbers of breakthrough infections. These developments necessitated the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses. It has been reported that mucosal antibody levels in the upper respiratory tract, especially for secretory IgA (sIgA), correlate with protection from infection with SARS-CoV-2. However, it is still unclear how high levels of mucosal antibodies can be induced. In this study, we measured serum IgG, saliva IgG and saliva sIgA responses in individuals who received COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccinations or who experienced breakthrough infections. We found that mRNA booster doses could induce robust serum and saliva IgG responses, especially in individuals who had not experienced infections before, but saliva sIgA responses were weak. In contrast, breakthrough infections in individuals who had received the primary mRNA vaccination series induced robust serum and saliva IgG as well as saliva sIgA responses. Individuals who had received a booster dose and then had a breakthrough infection showed low IgG induction in serum and saliva but still responded with robust saliva sIgA induction. These data suggest that upper respiratory tract exposure to antigen is an efficient way of inducing mucosal sIgA while exposure via intramuscular injection is not.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.24.554732v1" target="_blank">Mucosal antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination and breakthrough infection</a>
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<li><strong>An After-Action Review of COVID-19 Cases and Mitigation Measures at US Mission India, March 2020-July 2021</strong> -
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Introduction Between March 2020-June 2021, over 30 million COVID-19 cases were reported in India. We assessed the COVID-19 response across the US Mission India (US Embassy New Delhi, US Consulates – Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata) to plan future mitigation efforts and fill gaps in knowledge about COVID-19 transmission in a unique community like the US Mission. Method We described COVID-19 mitigation activities undertaken by the five US Mission India posts and conducted a secondary analysis of case investigation and contact tracing program data collected by the Health Unit from March 2020–July 2021. Results US Mission in India, in collaboration with multiple internal agencies, initiated COVID-19 mitigation activities in March 2020. Activities included educational sessions, training for infection prevention and control, health and safety assessments, and the development of standard operating procedures (SOPs). The Health Unit and US CDC India office initiated COVID-19 case investigations and conducted contact tracing. Between March 2020-July 2021, 636 COVID-19 cases (72% males), including 48 clusters (size range 2-10 cases), were reported. Overall case fatality rate was 1.5%. Of case patients, 82% (523) were Indians, and 18% (113) were Americans. On presentation, 22% (138/625) of cases were asymptomatic. The median time from symptom onset to notification to the Health Unit was three days (Interquartile range 1-5). The Health Unit identified 2,484 contacts (positivity rate 25%). Frequency of case presentation in the US Mission India closely resembled the pattern of COVID-19 waves in India. The attack rates ranged over the time period between 10-19%, the highest at 19% in Delhi. Conclusions COVID-19 mitigation strategies were implemented in collaboration with multiple agencies and helped prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and large COVID-19 clusters in the US Mission India.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.24.23294557v1" target="_blank">An After-Action Review of COVID-19 Cases and Mitigation Measures at US Mission India, March 2020-July 2021</a>
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<li><strong>Host behaviour driven by awareness of infection risk amplifies the chance of superspreading events</strong> -
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We demonstrate that heterogeneity within host populations in the perceived risks associated with infection can amplify the chance that superspreading occurs during the crucial, early stages of an epidemic. Under our behavioural model, individuals who are less concerned about the risks of infection are more likely to be infected and to attend larger sized events. For directly communicable diseases, such as COVID-19, this leads to infections being introduced at rates above the population prevalence to events that are most conducive to superspreading, for fixed overall transmission levels. We develop a computational framework for evaluating within-event risks and derive a small-scale reproduction number to measure how introductions and transmission heterogeneities determine the number of infections resulting from an event of given duration. This generalises earlier frameworks and both quantifies and clarifies how event-scale dynamics depend on population-level characteristics. As event duration and size increase, our reproduction number converges to the widely used basic reproduction number, R0. We show that even moderate levels of heterogeneity in the perceived risks associated with infection can substantially increase the risk that disproportionately large numbers of infections are generated at larger events, as compared to assuming homogeneous perceptions of risk across the host population. Behavioural dynamics, which remain understudied in the context of epidemiological modelling, are essential to consider when assessing the risk posed by an invading pathogen in the early stages of an infectious disease epidemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.25.23294423v1" target="_blank">Host behaviour driven by awareness of infection risk amplifies the chance of superspreading events</a>
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<li><strong>Protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccination, prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, or hybrid immunity against Omicron-associated severe outcomes among community-dwelling adults</strong> -
<div>
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Introduction: We assessed protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccines and/or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection against Omicron-associated severe outcomes during successive sublineage-predominant periods. Methods: We used a test-negative design to estimate protection by vaccines and/or prior infection against hospitalization/death among community-dwelling, PCR-tested adults aged &gt;50 years in Ontario, Canada between January 2, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the relative change in the odds of hospitalization/death with each vaccine dose (2-5) and/or prior PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (compared with unvaccinated, uninfected subjects) up to 15 months since the last vaccination or infection. Results: We included 18,526 cases with Omicron-associated severe outcomes and 90,778 test-negative controls. Vaccine protection was high during BA.1/BA.2 predominance, but was generally &lt;50% during periods of BA.4/BA.5 and BQ/XBB predominance without boosters. A third/fourth dose transiently increased protection during BA.4/BA.5 predominance (third-dose, 6-month: 68%, 95%CI 63%-72%; fourth-dose, 6-month: 80%, 95%CI 77%-83%), but was lower and waned quickly during BQ/XBB predominance (third-dose, 6-month: 59%, 95%CI 48%-67%; 12-month: 49%, 95%CI 41%-56%; fourth-dose, 6-month: 62%, 95%CI 56%-68%, 12-months: 51%, 95%CI 41%-56%). Hybrid immunity conferred nearly 90% protection throughout BA.1/BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5 predominance, but was reduced during BQ/XBB predominance (third-dose, 6-month: 60%, 95%CI 36%-75%; fourth-dose, 6-month: 63%, 95%CI 42%-76%). Protection was restored with a fifth dose (bivalent; 6-month: 91%, 95%CI 79%-96%). Prior infection alone did not confer lasting protection. Conclusion: Protection from COVID-19 vaccines and/or prior SARS-CoV-2 infections against severe outcomes is reduced when immune-evasive variants/subvariants emerge and may also wane over time. Our findings support a variant-adapted booster vaccination strategy with periodic review.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.24.23294503v1" target="_blank">Protection conferred by COVID-19 vaccination, prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, or hybrid immunity against Omicron-associated severe outcomes among community-dwelling adults</a>
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<li><strong>Should Health Communication During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Emphasize Self- or Other-Focused Impacts of Mitigation Behaviors? Insights from Two Message Matching Studies</strong> -
<div>
Mask-wearing, social distancing, and vaccination remain effective ways to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Yet, many hesitate to enact some or all these preventive behaviors. We created three persuasive messages—framed to promote benefits to either 1) oneself, 2) close-others, or 3) distant-others—to determine whether the effectiveness of these messages varied based on personality differences (specifically independent/interdependent self-construal and chronic construal level). In two online experiments (N = 862), we measured individual differences and showed participants one of the three messages. Consistent interactions between interdependent self-construal and message conditions showed that those high in interdependent self-construal responded most positively to the self-focused messages promoting mask-wearing, social distancing, and COVID-19 vaccination. Those low in interdependent self-construal responded most negatively to the self-focused messages. Although no interaction effect was observed for independent self-construal, and inconsistent evidence emerged for construal level, other-focused messages performed either better or equally well to the self-focused messages for most participants and may thus be promising for future public health communication efforts.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/2ysn5/" target="_blank">Should Health Communication During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Emphasize Self- or Other-Focused Impacts of Mitigation Behaviors? Insights from Two Message Matching Studies</a>
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<li><strong>Respiratory symptoms after coalmine fire and pandemic: a longitudinal analysis of the Hazelwood Health Study adult cohort</strong> -
<div>
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Background Extreme but discrete fine particle &lt;2.5μm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) exposure is associated with higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms. It is unknown whether these effects abate, persist, or worsen over time, nor whether COVID-19 exacerbates PM<sub>2.5</sub> effects. Methods We analysed longitudinal survey data from a cohort residing near a 2014 coalmine fire in regional Australia. A 2016/2017 survey included n=4,056 participants, of whom n=612 were followed-up in 2022. Items include questions about 7 respiratory symptoms, history of COVID-19, and time-location diaries that were combined with geospatial models of fire-related PM<sub>2.5</sub>. Associations were examined using logistic and mixed-effects logistic regressions. Results PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure predicted higher prevalence of chronic cough and current wheeze 2-3 years post-fire. At the 2022 follow-up, PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure was associated with worsening prevalence of chronic cough and possibly current wheeze. While were no detectable interaction effects between PM<sub>2.5</sub> and COVID-19, participants with a history of COVID-19 exhibited more significant associations between PM<sub>2.5</sub> exposure and respiratory symptoms. Discussion Short-term but extreme PM<sub>2.5</sub> may increase the long-term prevalence of chronic cough, while COVID-19 may exacerbate the effect on other respiratory symptoms.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.23.23294510v1" target="_blank">Respiratory symptoms after coalmine fire and pandemic: a longitudinal analysis of the Hazelwood Health Study adult cohort</a>
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<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>THE EFFECT OF ARGININE AND GLUTAMINE ON COVID-19 PATIENTS OUTCOME: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Neomune<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universitas Sriwijaya;   M. Djamil General Hospital<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Obeldesivir in Children and Adolescents With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Obeldesivir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gilead Sciences<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>KAND567 Versus Placebo in Subjects Hospitalized With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: KAND567;   Drug: Microcrystalline cellulose<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kancera AB<br/><b>Terminated</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>Immunogenicity and Safety of AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI as a Booster: A COVID-19 Preventive Vaccine in Healthy Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Vaccines<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: AdCLD-CoV19-1 OMI;   Biological: Comirnaty Bivalent 0.1mg/mL (tozinameran and riltozinameran)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cellid Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Pilot Clinical Evaluation of Astepro® Nasal Spray for Management of Early SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Experimental: Primary Cohort;   Other: Placebo Comparator: Primary Cohort - Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Chicago<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>Using Text Messages to Boost COVID-19 Vaccine Booking Rate</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccination Hesitancy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Behavioural science-informed text messages;   Behavioral: Control<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   The Behavioural Insights Team;   Public Health England;   Department of Health and Social Care;   NHS England and NHS Improvement<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Digital Health Literacy on COVID-19 for All: Co-creation and Evaluation of Interventions for Ethnic Minorities and Chinese People With Chronic Illnesses in Hong Kong</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Digital Health Literacy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Digital health literacy intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   The Hong Kong Polytechnic University<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>Ivermectin to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Hospitalisation in Subjects Over 50</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Insud Pharma<br/><b>Terminated</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>Methylprednisolone in Patients With Cognitive Deficits in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Methylprednisolone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Charite University, Berlin, Germany<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 Hesitancy in Adults With Sickle Cell Disease</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Sickle Cell Disease;   COVID-19 Vaccine;   Vaccine Hesitancy<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: SCD-specific COVID-19 vaccination information (SCVI) video<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Duke University;   American Society of Hematology<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>Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Mental Health;   COVID-19;   Misinformation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Messaging<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM);   Partners in Health<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>Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Among Post-COVID-19 Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Pathology<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Pulmonary Rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh<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>A Study to Learn About New COVD-19 RNA Vaccine Candidates for New Varients in Healthy Individuals</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pulmonary Artery Pressure in COVID-19 Survivors</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Hypertension Secondary<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: right heart catheterization (RHC).<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Mansoura University Hospital<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</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>Preliminary Efficacy of a Technology-based Physical Activity Intervention for Older Korean Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Cardiovascular Health;   Physical Function<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Golden Circle<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br/><b>Completed</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>Customizably designed multibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in a variant-insensitive manner</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic evolves constantly, requiring adaptable solutions to combat emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. To address this, we created a pentameric scaffold based on a mammalian protein, which can be customized with up to 10 protein binding modules. This molecular scaffold spans roughly 20 nm and can simultaneously neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins from one or multiple viral particles. Using only two different modules targeting the Spike’s RBD domain, this construct outcompetes human…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Drug-induced phospholipidosis is not correlated with the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 - inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 is cell line-specific</strong> - Recently, Tummino et al. reported that 34 compounds, including Chloroquine and Fluoxetine, inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication by inducing phospholipidosis, although Chloroquine failed to suppress viral replication in Calu-3 cells and patients. In contrast, Fluoxetine represses viral replication in human precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) and Calu-3 cells. Thus, it is unlikely that these compounds have similar mechanisms of action. Here, we analysed a subset of these compounds in the viral replication…</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>Investigation of the Host Kinome Response to Coronavirus Infection Reveals PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors as Betacoronavirus Antivirals</strong> - Host kinases play essential roles in the host cell cycle, innate immune signaling, the stress response to viral infection, and inflammation. Previous work has demonstrated that coronaviruses specifically target kinase cascades to subvert host cell responses to infection and rely upon host kinase activity to phosphorylate viral proteins to enhance replication. Given the number of kinase inhibitors that are already FDA approved to treat cancers, fibrosis, and other human disease, they represent an…</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>Azvudine and mortality in patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A retrospective cohort study</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our results reveal that in patients with COVID-19, FNC administration was associated with a significantly reduced 28-day mortality.</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>Hexamethylene Amiloride Binds the SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein at the Protein-Lipid Interface</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein forms a five-helix bundle in lipid bilayers whose cation-conducting activity is associated with the inflammatory response and respiratory distress symptoms of COVID-19. E channel activity is inhibited by the drug 5-(N,N-hexamethylene) amiloride (HMA). However, the binding site of HMA in E has not been determined. Here we use solid-state NMR to measure distances between HMA and the E transmembrane domain (ETM) in lipid bilayers. ^(13) C, ^(15) N-labeled HMA 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>Effectiveness of Bivalent Omicron-Containing Booster Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant among Individuals with and without Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant in individuals with or without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection history. We assessed the SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibody in serum samples by surrogate virus neutralizing assay (sVNT) and determined the serum’s neutralizing capacity against the Omicron BA.5 by a plaque reduction neutralizing test (PRNT50). The results of the sVNT assay demonstrate a higher percentage of inhibition…</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 Nafamostat as Chemoprophylaxis for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Hamsters</strong> - The successful development of a chemoprophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2 could provide a tool for infection prevention that is implementable alongside vaccination programmes. Nafamostat is a serine protease inhibitor that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 entry in vitro, but it has not been characterised for chemoprophylaxis in animal models. Clinically, nafamostat is limited to intravenous delivery and has an extremely short plasma half-life. This study sought to determine whether intranasal dosing of nafamostat…</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>Interchangeability of the Assays Used to Assess the Activity of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal Antibodies</strong> - The recent global COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 lasted for over three years. A key measure in combatting this pandemic involved the measurement of the monoclonal antibody (mAb)-mediated inhibition of binding between the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) and hACE2 receptor. Potency assessments of therapeutic anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs typically include binding or cell-based neutralization assays. We assessed the inhibitory activity of five anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAbs using ELISA, surface plasmon…</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>Phenothiazines Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Entry through Targeting Spike Protein</strong> - Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has brought an unprecedented public health crisis and continues to threaten humanity due to the persistent emergence of new variants. Therefore, developing more effective and broad-spectrum therapeutic and prophylactic drugs against infection by SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, as well as future emerging CoVs, is urgently needed. In this study, we screened several…</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>Clinical Utility of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Titer Multiplied by Binding Avidity of Receptor-Binding Domain (RBD) in Monitoring Protective Immunity and Clinical Severity</strong> - Conventional serum antibody titer, which expresses antibody level, does not provide antigen binding avidity of the variable region of the antibody, which is essential for the defense response to infection. Here, we quantified anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody binding avidity to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) by competitive binding-inhibition activity (IC50) between SARS-CoV-2 S1 antigen immobilized on the DCP microarray and various RBD doses added to serum and expressed as 1/IC50 nM. The binding…</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>Airway Epithelial-Derived Immune Mediators in COVID-19</strong> - The airway epithelium, which lines the conducting airways, is central to the defense of the lungs against inhaled particulate matter and pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Recognition of pathogens results in the activation of an innate and intermediate immune response which involves the release of cytokines and chemokines by the airway epithelium. This response can inhibit further viral invasion and influence adaptive immunity. However, severe COVID-19 is characterized…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong><em>Lavandula austroapennina</em>: Assessment of the Antiviral Activity of Lipophilic Extracts from Its Organs</strong> - In a framework aimed at the recovery and enhancement of medicinal plants endemic to the territory of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, Lavandula austroapennina N.G. Passal., Tundis and Upson has aroused interest. An insight into the chemical composition of the corolla, calyx, leaf, stem, and root organs was carried out following ultrasound-assisted maceration in n-hexane. The obtained lipophilic extracts were explored using ultra-high-performance chromatography coupled to…</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>Antiviral Effect of Candies Containing Persimmon-Derived Tannin against SARS-CoV-2 Delta Strain</strong> - Inactivation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the mouth has the potential to reduce the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), due to the virus being readily transmitted by dispersed saliva. Persimmon-derived tannin has strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity owing to its strong adhesion to proteins, and it also exhibited antiviral effects against non-variant and Alpha-variant SARS-CoV-2 in our previous study. In this study, we first demonstrated…</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>Immunogenicity of Mix-and-Match CoronaVac/BNT162b2 Regimen versus Homologous CoronaVac/CoronaVac Vaccination: A Single-Blinded, Randomized, Parallel Group Superiority Trial</strong> - (1) Background: This study aimed to compare the immunogenicity of the mix-and-match CoronaVac/BNT162b2 vaccination to the homologous CoronaVac/CoronaVac regimen. (2) Methods: We conducted a simple-blinded randomized superiority trial to measure SARS-CoV-2 neutralization antibodies and anti-spike receptor binding domain (RBD) IgG concentrations in blood samples of participants who had received the first dose of CoronaVac vaccine followed by a dose of BNT162b2 or CoronaVac vaccine. The primary…</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>New Imidazolium Alkaloids with Broad Spectrum of Action from the Marine Bacterium <em>Shewanella aquimarina</em></strong> - The continuous outbreak of drug-resistant bacterial and viral infections imposes the need to search for new drug candidates. Natural products from marine bacteria still inspire the design of pharmaceuticals. Indeed, marine bacteria have unique metabolic flexibility to inhabit each ecological niche, thus expanding their biosynthetic ability to assemble unprecedented molecules. The One-Strain-Many-Compounds approach and tandem mass spectrometry allowed the discovery of a Shewanella aquimarina…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<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>Trump’s Mug Shot Is His True Presidential Portrait</strong> - He might be angry in the mug shot; he might even be scared. But he damn sure doesn’t look surprised. Nobody is. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/trumps-mug-shot-is-his-true-presidential-portrait">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What a Heat Wave Does to Your Body</strong> - The human body is a remarkably effective cooling machine—but it has a limit. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/what-a-heat-wave-does-to-your-body">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vivek Ramaswamy Is Not the Next Trump</strong> - Many in the press have declared the entrepreneur and political novice “Trump’s heir.” The comparison sells the former President short. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/vivek-ramaswamy-is-not-the-next-trump">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires</strong> - With smuggled cell phones and a handful of accomplices, Arthur Lee Cofield, Jr., took money from large bank accounts and bought houses, cars, clothes, and gold. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/how-a-man-in-prison-stole-millions-from-billionaires">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>“Braiding Sweetgrass,” and a Lesson in Extreme Heat</strong> - Parul Sehgal visits Robin Wall Kimmerer, who set out to bridge the gap between Western science and Indigenous teaching. Plus, Dhruv Khullar looks at extreme heat and the body. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/braiding-sweetgrass-and-a-lesson-in-extreme-heat">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Zimbabwe’s elections herald more of the same</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Four people walk across dusty, sandy earth. One woman carries a package of bottled water on her head. Behind them, a large yellow sign bears the word VOTE printed in green." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eijlzLRH4AabjkEdlfazxXmXwMk=/0x0:7285x5464/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72584027/1610636185.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
ZANU-PF supporters arriving at a school where President Emmerson Mnangagwa held his last campaign rally ahead of the polls on August 19, 2023, in Shurugwi, Zimbabwe. | Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Emmerson Mnangagwa declared victory despite claims of fraud and voter intimidation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jysHhQ">
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been declared victor in the country’s second competitive election, though multiple reports of intimidation and fraud are calling the result of this week’s contest into doubt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zdx1CF">
The potential impacts of a fraught election could mean lower turn out in the future and bigger challenges for a country already struggling with poverty, crushing debt, inflation, and a lack of access to education and nutrition.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oU9627">
Mnangagwa, the head of the ZANU-PF party, declared victory on Saturday night with just over 52 percent of the vote, <a href="https://twitter.com/edmnangagwa/status/1695739178544255079">posting on the platform X Sunday that he was</a>, “Grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me through the election.” Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), garnered only 44 percent and quickly alleged “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/zimbabwe-election-mnangagwa-3a6b92a3a586d136928a7878b916d9fe">blatant and gigantic fraud</a>” in the elections, which were called two days ahead of schedule.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="977iF3">
“The months and weeks leading up to the elections have been marred by widespread intimidation, arrests, and violence by the ZANU-PF against the CCC, as well as bans on opposition rallies,” <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/article/zimbabwe-exclusion-researchers-and-observers-may-undermine-election-integrity">according to a recent report from the advocacy organization Freedom House</a>. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the government body overseeing elections, refused accreditation to local election observers and those from the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, barred some international journalists from covering the elections, and deported four observers from Good Governance Africa sent to monitor conditions before the elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qy45Z6">
Prior to this week’s contest, Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court also barred presidential candidate Saviour Kasukuwere from running in the election, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/zimbabwe-court-disqualifies-ex-ruling-party-official-from-august-polls/7202410.html">Voice of America reported in July</a>. A lower court also dismissed 12 of the CCC’s parliamentary candidates, though the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.voazimbabwe.com/a/7209767.html">later reinstated them</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sb0CBR">
International observers at the African Union, Freedom House, the Carter Center, and elsewhere also noted incidents of intimidation against Chamisa’s supporters as well as the arrest of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/zimbabwe-election-mnangagwa-3c354f2928902de8e91fb907c6fb7d40">41 election monitors on Thursday</a> and confiscation of materials including computers. Voting was delayed in urban areas, which tend to be opposition strongholds — paper ballots were still being printed and delivered on Wednesday night, hours after the polls were supposed to have closed, including in the capital Harare. Some polling stations reportedly turned voters away, opened late, or closed early, as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zWoL8M">
Zimbabwe’s electoral history has not particularly inspired confidence within its population; according to an Afrobarometer poll held before this week’s contest, about half of those surveyed believed that the announced results of the election wouldn’t reflect the actual outcome, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/zimbabwe-election-mnangagwa-3c354f2928902de8e91fb907c6fb7d40">the Associated Press</a> reported.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pKIxeo">
Elections under autocratic former President<strong> </strong>Robert Mugabe were often violent and never fair or competitive contests; the last two have been competitive, but this week’s contest casts doubt that Mnangagwa is leading his country to a true democratic transition.
</p>
<h3 id="V7iLe8">
Zimbabwe’s challenges are deep-seated — and so is ZANU-PF’s rule
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJTg8K">
Mnangagwa — nicknamed “the crocodile” — took power following the 2017 coup and ran in the country’s 2018 elections, narrowly beating Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer. Those elections, while an improvement from those held under Mugabe, were still marked by violence and allegations of fraud, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/world/africa/zimbabwe-election.html">New York Times</a> reported at the time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qIobZ0">
Mnangagwa is limited to two five-year terms, but his party has been in power for decades. ZANU-PF — which stands for Zimbabwe African National Union—Patriotic Front — was formed by Mugabe and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joshua-Nkomo">Joshua Nkomo</a>, another Zimbabwean nationalist leader; Mnangagwa himself was a longtime associate of Mugabe, whom he deposed in a 2017 coup. Mugabe, once championed as Zimbabwe’s liberator from minority-white rule, became known for a style of governance marked by repression, corruption, mismanagement, and economic decline causing one of the highest inflation rates in the world for years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IjHdLY">
Zimbabwe still suffers from around 100 percent inflation, as well as high rates of unemployment and significant economic precariousness for much of the population. Though it is <a href="https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/zimbabwe-mining-and-minerals">rich in natural resources</a> <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lithium-processing-plant-chinese-92ccd10bd4ba028bc38fdadcdffc06da">including lithium</a>, the combination of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/zimbabwe/overview">decades of economic and resource mismanagement</a>, as well as <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwe-health-system-is-in-intensive-care-how-it-got-there-189670">poor public health resource</a>s and a faltering <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/01/19/why-zimbabwes-schools-have-taken-to-selling-chickens">education system</a>, have brought <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zimbabwe-post-mugabe-economic-revival-remains-elusive-ahead-vote-2023-08-02/">high rates of poverty and little formal employment</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ACBsrB">
<a href="https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/zimbabwe-goes-back-school-2023#:~:text=Half%20of%20the%20adolescents%20in,school%20fees%2C%20leading%20to%20absenteeism.">According to UNICEF</a>, only 60 percent of young children ages 3 to 5 are enrolled in preschool, and only about half of adolescents are enrolled in high school, with poverty and disability the main roadblocks to enrollment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VPKhRV">
Quality of life in Zimbabwe did improve by many measures — including lower infant mortality rates, increased adult literacy, lower childhood malnourishment, and improved access to basic infrastructure like clean drinking water, electricity, and sanitation — through the 2010s, according to a 2022 report from <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/contradictory-trends-zimbabwe-human-development-indicators-improve-poverty-rises-and">the World Bank</a>. But that same report indicates high rates of food poverty, especially in rural, agrarian areas, as well as increasing inequality.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YZjkMf">
Many of Zimbabwe’s governance and economic challenges are due to <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-02-09-zimbabwe-explosive-cartel-report-uncovers-the-anatomy-of-a-captured-state/">government corruption</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/05/14/zimbabwes-president-orders-banks-to-stop-lending">mismanagement</a>, not a lack of talent or resources — though many Zimbabweans have elected to leave the country in search of better economic prospects. Multiple reports, including <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/14/is-zimbabwes-president-mnangagwa-behind-gold-smuggling">a recent one by Al Jazeera</a>, link Mnangagwa to illicit economic activity including massive gold smuggling operations.
</p>
<h3 id="Z333Nd">
These elections will hamper Zimbabwe’s development efforts
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MT0wFF">
Chamisa has declared himself the winner of the election, but has not yet filed an official challenge with the constitutional court — something his party must do within seven days of the election results, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/27/zimbabwe-election-nelson-chamisa-emmerson-mnangagwa/">the Washington Post.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BpcbWo">
But the independence of Zimbabwe’s judicial system has been questionable, especially since Mugabe signed a constitutional amendment in 2017 giving the president the power to appoint high-level members of the judiciary. Mnangagwa has continued in this vein, pursuing changes to the constitution which allow him to appoint and promote judicial officials, and to extend their terms past retirement age, as outlined in <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/assets/documents/Joint-Advocacy-Letter-on-Judicial-Independence-in-Zimbabwe.pdf">a 2021 letter from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6zOtMQ">
Similarly, Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission (ZEC) cannot be considered independent, since the president appoints its members. During this round of elections, the ZEC engaged in blatantly politicized behavior, including <a href="https://www.newzimbabwe.com/it-is-risky-to-release-voters-roll-argues-zec-as-high-court-dismisses-markham-application/">preventing voter rolls from being made public</a> for inspection, according to the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/blog/zimbabwe-limps-toward-elections">Council on Foreign Relations</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PDPgpG">
Distrust in the <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/pp52-bounded-autonomy-what-limits-zimbabweans-trust-their-courts-and-electoral/">ZEC and Zimbabwe’s institutions</a>, as well as challenges with voter registration, could make it less likely that Zimbabweans will want to vote in the future. Furthermore, a <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/articles/zimbabweans-favour-peaceful-election-over-free-and-fair-election-new-afrobarometer-survey-indicates/">recent Afrobarometer poll</a> indicates that people care more about having peaceful elections than conducting free and fair ones — so even those that choose to vote may not be as invested in the democratic process.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RWNzJp">
Zimbabweans won’t be able to move out of poverty until their <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> changes — and that also depends on the electoral process. Zimbabwe is about $14 billion in debt to lenders like the World Bank and African Development Bank, limiting its access to international capital. According to the Economist, the European Union and the African Development Bank have agreed to <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2023/08/27/zimbabwes-flawed-election-will-ensure-its-pariah-status-endures">clear some of the debt arrears if the government can make economic and political changes </a>— including holding free and fair elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jnB8d7">
Those economic limitations could push Zimbabwe closer toward authoritarian nations like like <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a>, and Belarus; as Reuters reports, China has already financed a $1 billion expansion to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/zimbabwes-new-300-mw-coal-fired-plant-starts-feeding-into-grid-2023-03-21/">Zimbabwe’s Hwange thermal power station</a>, potentially easing the power cuts that have been plaguing the country.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The Wagner chief’s fate was decided when he crossed Putin</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Yevgeny Prigozhin wearing camouflage and holding a rifle." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sJhYvarQvT6mcfBaSFXccpkPeTY=/0x0:1141x856/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72572012/1615749057.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A screengrab captured from a video shared online shows Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russian private security company the Wagner Group, holding a rifle in a desert area while wearing camouflage in an undated video released on August 21, 2023. | Wagner Telegram account/Handout/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin may have been killed in a fatal plane crash.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XicXAC">
<em><strong>Update, August 27, 1:15 pm: </strong></em><em>Russian authorities </em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/27/world/russia-ukraine-war-news"><em>said</em></a><em> Sunday that genetic tests confirm that Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was among those who died in a plane crash earlier this week. The original story, last updated Thursday, August 24, is below.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RU6myJ">
Two months ago, <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/21/23622615/ukraine-war-bakhmut-wagner-group-russia">Wagner Group</a> chief Yevgeny Prigozhin led <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/23/23771853/wagner-group-russia-prigozhin-feud">his militia in a mutiny against the Russian regime</a>. Now, Prigozhin is believed to have been involved in a fatal plane crash, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/23/russia-ukraine-war-news/">Russian state media has reported</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pAH27F">
Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private plane that crashed north of Moscow Wednesday, killing all 10 passengers aboard, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/world/prigozhin-russia-ukraine-war-news">according to media reports</a>. Russian authorities have not officially confirmed the paramilitary leader’s death, but some Telegram channels linked to the Wagner Group have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-mercenary-chief-prigozhin-dead-channel-affiliated-with-wagner-says-2023-08-23/">said</a> that he was killed. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered condolences to victims of the plane crash, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/europe/putin-prigozhin-comments-intl/index.html">describing Prigozhin</a> as a man with a “difficult fate.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1VSJIS">
If Prigozhin is officially confirmed among the crash fatalities, it would be a dramatic — <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/21/23622615/ukraine-war-bakhmut-wagner-group-russia">but not altogether surprising</a> — development. In June, Prigozhin led his militia on a rapid march toward Moscow, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/26/23774184/putin-wagner-group-mutiny-prigozhin">a brazen challenge to Putin’s regime</a>. Prigozhin abruptly halted his revolt before reaching the capital, and the Kremlin later said Prigozhin had accepted a deal — <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/6/26/23774497/lukashenko-russia-wagner-belarus-mutiny-prigozhin">apparently brokered by Belarus</a> — to go into exile in Belarus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mvMGqf">
Few thought Prigozhin was about to enjoy <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/07/01/wagner-prigozhin-reported-assassination-plot-ebof-vpx.cnn">a relaxing retirement in Minsk</a> — or anywhere else, for that matter.<strong> </strong>As one <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/21/23622615/ukraine-war-bakhmut-wagner-group-russia">Wagner watcher told Vox</a> months before Prigozhin’s short-lived coup: “He knows that if the current regime or if his Wagner Group goes down, he goes down with them.”
</p>
<h3 id="olzYwj">
What we know about Prigozhin and the plane crash
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s1k8BJ">
An Embraer jet<strong> </strong>en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg went down near the city of Tver on Wednesday. Videos circulating on social media <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/23/europe/russia-wagner-prigozhin-plane-crash-intl/index.html#:~:text=Yevgeny%20Prigozhin%2C%20the%20chief%20of,Federal%20Air%20Transport%20Agency%20said.">showed an image of a plane plummeting from the sky</a>; another appeared to show <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-releases-video-plane-crash-that-reportedly-killed-yevgeny-prigozhin-1822020">the wreckage ablaze</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HVFluN">
Russian media has reported that all 10 bodies have now been recovered from the crash and that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/world/prigozhin-russia-ukraine-war-news">the plane carried three pilots and seven passengers</a>. <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>’s aviation authorities have said they are “investigating the circumstances and causes of the accident,” according to the New York Times, and are currently testing the passengers’ remains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f49sTe">
Prigozhin was on the passenger manifest, though it’s still unconfirmed whether he was actually on the flight. Some Telegram channels, including those <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/world/prigozhin-russia-ukraine-war-news">tied to Wagner Group</a>, have begun to post that Prigozhin has died. The Wagner-affiliated account, <a href="https://t.me/s/grey_zone">Grey Zone, indicated</a> Wednesday that Prigozhin, a “true patriot of the Motherland,” had “died as a result of the actions of traitors to Russia.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xRQ7zU">
“But even in Hell he will be the best! Glory to Russia!” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/23/prigozhin-russian-plane-crash-wagner-passenger/">the Telegram post read, according to reports</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QkRXf1">
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/24/who-was-dmitry-utkin-wagner-commander-plane-crash-yevgeny-prigozhin">Other individuals with Wagner ties</a> were also reportedly listed on the flight manifest, but their deaths are also not yet officially confirmed. <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/wagner-group-commander-dmitry-utkin-was-on-plane-that-crashed-near-moscow-russian-civil-aviation-authority-says-12946176">Among them is Dmitry Utkin</a>, who is sometimes cited as the operational leader or co-founder of the Wagner Group, although the evidence of that is a bit murky.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uu1lHD">
Utkin is reportedly <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-paramilitary-mercenaries-emerge-from-the-shadows-syria-ukraine/28180321.html">a former commander for the special forces of the GRU</a>, Russia’s military intelligence service. As the story goes, he <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/08/14/pmc-structure-exposed/">had a thing for the Third Reich</a> and used “Wagner” as a nom de guerre. However, <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/08/14/pmc-structure-exposed/">some researchers</a> believe that Utkin is more likely a straw man, helping to disguise some of the paramilitary’s more direct ties to the Russian state. Somebody who may be <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2020/08/14/pmc-structure-exposed/">Utkin appears to have worked for Wagner</a>, but he may not have actually been in charge, or a founding figure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9CYWoa">
Utkin’s name on the passenger list, alongside Prigozhin’s, hints at the possibility that this was an effort to purge known Wagner associates in the wake of the mutiny.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YwsX9T">
A lot remains unknown. Russian authorities and state media remain the primary sources on this crash right now — entities not exactly known for their transparency. Putin finally addressed the crash late Thursday, offering condolences to the victims, whom he indicated were Wagner Group employees. Putin called Prigozhin a talented businessman who “made serious mistakes in life.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="em9Txs">
“He achieved the results needed both for himself and when I asked him about it — for a common cause, as in these last months,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/europe/putin-prigozhin-comments-intl/index.html">Putin reportedly said</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LI68AH">
At least one Western intelligence official <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/24/world/prigozhin-russia-ukraine-news">confirmed</a> Prigozhin’s death to the New York Times on Thursday. Some US and Western intelligence officials have now said they believe an explosion likely took down the plane, but that is not a firm conclusion just yet.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OYLMor">
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/alexbward/status/1694414242957730036?s=20">statement</a> Wednesday that the administration had seen the reports. “If confirmed, no one should be surprised. The disastrous <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia-invasion-ukraine">war in Ukraine</a> led to a private army marching on Moscow, and now — it would seem — to this.”
</p>
<h3 id="Ms4x7q">
Prigozhin’s rebellion challenged Putin, and Putin doesn’t typically let his enemies stick around
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O8xi7P">
Known as “Putin’s chef,” Prigozhin had long been something of a fixer for Putin’s regime. He rose from the criminal underworld in post-Soviet Russia, and that always made him a bit of an outsider among Russia’s elites. He wasn’t exactly in Putin’s inner circle, but he had the skills and connections to make himself useful and needed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="67ac4X">
The same was true in his role as the head of the Wagner Group, a sort-of-private army that <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/21/23622615/ukraine-war-bakhmut-wagner-group-russia">carried out the geopolitical aims of the Russian state</a>, especially in places like Africa and the Middle East. In the past year, Wagner had been some of the more effective Russian fighters in Ukraine, eventually taking the <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/5/22/23732453/bakhmut-ukraine-war-russia-wagner-zelenskyy-counteroffensive">eastern city of Bakhmut</a> in a bloody, grinding, months-long battle. It was one of Russia’s rare victories from its winter counteroffensive, and Prigozhin had used his clout to intensify his criticism of Russia’s top military brass, posting scathing videos accusing generals of denying Wagner the ammunition and support needed to fight effectively.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7r4j0S">
Prigozhin’s attacks were so bold that Putin finally seemed to lose patience, and Russia put out a directive that the Russian military would <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65871232">formally integrate Wagner fighters</a> by July. Prigozhin claimed he wanted to avoid that, and that at least partially motivated his rebellion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F8xZ6H">
That revolt lasted about 24 hours, with Wagner fighters <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/23/23771853/wagner-group-russia-prigozhin-feud">seizing military installations in Russia’s south and marching on Moscow</a>. Then, just as abruptly, Prigozhin halted that movement,<a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/7/1/23779941/wagner-group-revolt-ukraine-counteroffensive-putin-war"> saying he did not wish to shed Russian blood.</a> The Kremlin later said a deal had been reached whereby Prigozhin would avoid prosecution in exchange for going into exile in Belarus, and Wagner fighters could either join him or enlist with the Russian army.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PWqfV9">
Putin pretty much tried to go back to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/6/26/23774184/putin-wagner-group-mutiny-prigozhin">business as usual</a> in the wake of Prigozhin’s mutiny, albeit with a lot more <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/08/22/putin-behavior-post-wagner-mutiny-lon-orig.cnn">public appearances</a>. Prigozhin has not been widely seen<strong> </strong>in public since his June rebellion, with only vague or sketchy <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/wagner-fighters-appear-to-relocate-to-belarus-prigozhin-says-they-could-return-to-ukraine-bc68d0c1">reports of his whereabouts</a>. That includes a statement from the Kremlin in July that claimed that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66154909">Putin met with Prigozhin</a> shortly after the rebellion, at least one <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/europe/prigozhin-wagner-belarus-appears-intl/index.html">video</a> that sounded like Prigozhin’s voice greeting Wagner recruits in Belarus, and a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66333403">photo</a> posted in July apparently taken in St. Petersburg with an official from the Central African Republic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8lnvFZ">
But he did seem to be getting around, and just <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wagner-group-yevgeny-prigozhin-first-video-short-lived-mutiny-russia/">this week</a>, a person who appeared to be Prigozhin spoke in a short video clip about Wagner’s operations in Africa — though the date and exact location of the video were <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/prigozhin-video-africa-wagner-russia-rcna101130">unconfirmed</a>. It was his first video since his rebellion, posted about two days before Wednesday’s plane crash.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xF4rig">
That adds to the somewhat auspicious timing for this plane crash, as does the reported <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/23/world/prigozhin-russia-ukraine-war-news">removal</a> of Gen. Sergei Surovikin from his position as Russian aerospace commander. Surovikin, a top Russian military leader, was seen as a Prigozhin ally, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/us/politics/russian-general-prigozhin-rebellion.html">US intelligence reportedly had evidence</a> that Surovikin might have had advance knowledge of the Wagner rebellion. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/23/russia-removes-sergei-surovikin-as-head-of-aerospace-forces">Surovikin hadn’t been seen since the mutiny,</a> and some reports had suggested he had been detained in the rebellion’s aftermath.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ahEmhc">
Surovikin’s apparent removal and Prigozhin’s potential demise all seem to suggest that Putin may be purging what he sees as potential threats to his power. Prigozhin’s position was always dependent to a degree on Putin’s largesse, and staging a mutiny against the president put him, pretty unequivocally, in an extraordinarily precarious state. Prigozhin has always maintained that his revolt was not a coup attempt, but his rebellion made it look at least possible that Putin could be overthrown, undermining his image as an infallible strongman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJwg5F">
Which always meant the idea that Putin would let Prigozhin — or any of his Wagner fighters — casually reconstitute in Belarus was<strong> </strong>very, very unlikely. Putin has been known to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/us/politics/russia-spy-assassination.html">pursue his perceived enemies</a> at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/03/23/here-are-ten-critics-of-vladimir-putin-who-died-violently-or-in-suspicious-ways/">home</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/dec/26/skripal-poisonings-bungled-assassination-kremlin-putin-salisbury">abroad</a> for far less than an armed rebellion. Putin’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/22254292/alexei-navalny-prison-hunger-strike-end-russia-protests-vladimir-putin">critics have been poisoned</a>, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Opponents have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-critic-pavel-antov-dies-falling-out-hotel-window-2022-12">fallen out of windows</a>. Russia has also been suspected in plane crash assassination plots: <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-antoni-macierewicz-lech-kaczynski-poland-f3f5a2fddb028ffdb4bc12f369aeafd5">Polish authorities allege</a> the Kremlin was responsible for the crash that killed Poland’s president in 2010. And it’s probably also worth mentioning <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/08/1155401602/malaysian-airlines-flight-mh17-putin-missiles-investigation">Russia’s role in downing a civilian jet over Ukraine in 2014</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3kXLf3">
Even if Prigozhin suffered the same fate as other Putin foes, it’s still uncertain what it means for the Russian regime. Putin can’t fully undo the conditions that led to Prigozhin’s mutiny. Russia is still facing setbacks in Ukraine, and Prigozhin’s criticisms of the Russian military <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/07/11/russian-nationalists-grudge-intact-following-prigozhin-s-failed-mutiny_6049708_4.html">have found continued purchase</a> among the nationalistic right in Russia. Russian authorities have quietly begun to <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-blogger-prison-online-comments-ukraine/32482184.html">crack down on some right-wing military bloggers</a> in recent weeks, a signal that a post-rebellion purge of Putin’s perceived enemies was already underway.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TgAjBW">
The world has seen <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62634359">more than a few twists in the various plots</a> that have emerged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Prigozhin’s possible demise may yet be another one. Prigozhin <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/06/26/priogzhin-wagner-africa-disinformation/">himself was a master of misinformation</a>, using propaganda as part of <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-cybersecurity/2023/06/26/wagner-the-troll-factories-00103598">Wagner’s portfolio</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/europe/russia-yevgeny-prigozhin-internet-research-agency-intl/index.html">beyond</a>. He has some incentives to make himself disappear, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5EPScs">
But whatever happened with this crash — and whether or not Prigozhin really was on the jet and died in it — Prigozhin was likely never going to be the exception to the rule in Putin’s Russia.
</p>
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</p>
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</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2uuMnK">
<em><strong>Update, August 24, 1:30 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This post was originally published on August 23 and has been updated multiple times, most recently to include Putin’s comments on the crash and information from Western intelligence officials.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>America’s unique, enduring gun problem, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An American flag flying beside a rack of rifles for sale." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I-C1vIFjgYVYWmj9Zgs0oWjHTCk=/0x0:5504x4128/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70913181/GettyImages_1234133462.80.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Jon Cherry/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The factors that lead to tragedies like the Jacksonville shooting are deeply ingrained in US politics, culture, and law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="09FWBi">
A shooter opened fire at a Florida Dollar General store on Saturday, killing three people in what Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters described as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/27/us/jacksonville-shooting-dollar-general.html">racially motivated crime</a>. All three victims are Black Americans. The shooter — a white male in his early 20s armed with a handgun and an AR-style rifle with swastikas painted on it — killed himself before authorities could apprehend him. The incident occurred after the shooter attempted to enter the campus of Edward Waters University, a historically Black university, but was refused entry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NKileg">
Sheriff Waters described writings left by the shooter outlining a “disgusting ideology of hate,” and the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/27/us/jacksonville-florida-shooting-sunday/index.html#:~:text=The%20FBI%20has%20launched%20a%20federal%20civil%20rights%20investigation%20into%20the%20shooting%20and%20%E2%80%9Cwill%20pursue%20this%20incident%20as%20a%20hate%20crime%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20Sherri%20Onks%2C%20special%20agent%20in%20charge%20of%20the%20FBI%E2%80%99s%20Jacksonville%20office.">FBI is investigating</a> the incident as a hate crime.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KBSsmP">
Technically, this event doesn’t qualify as a mass shooting; the <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting">Gun Violence Archive</a> defines that as an incident during which four or more people are shot.<strong> </strong>But it is noteworthy because it’s part of a trend of racially motivated attacks that have recently occurred in places like <a href="https://www.vox.com/23189892/buffalo-mass-shooting-sentencing-tops-supermarket">Buffalo</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22335666/asian-spa-shooting-atlanta">Atlanta</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/6/17/8802547/mass-shooting-emmanuel-charleston-sc">Charleston</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157788933/la-jewish-shootings-arrest-hate-crimes">Los Angeles</a> among many others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3DqA9l">
The Jacksonville incident occurred on the same day as a mass shooting which injured at <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/least-7-people-injured-shooting-boston-parade-rcna101952">least eight people</a> near Boston’s J’ouvert Parade, part of the city’s Caribbean Carnival. Two suspects were arrested. There have been <a href="https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shooting">473 mass shootings</a> in the US in 2023 as of publication time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jyTPem">
No other high-income country has suffered such a high death toll from <a href="https://www.vox.com/22382180/supreme-court-uvalde-guns-violence-second-amendment-heller-scalia">gun violence</a>. Every day, <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/">120</a> Americans die at the end of a gun, including suicides and homicides, an average of 43,375 per year. Since 2009, there has been an annual average of <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america/">19 shootings</a> in which at least four people are killed. The US gun homicide rate is as much as <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/">26 times</a> that of other high-income countries; its gun suicide rate is nearly <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/">12 times higher</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HenahQ">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/27/17029680/gun-owner-nra-mass-shooting-political-identity-political-science">Gun control opponents</a> have typically framed the gun violence epidemic in the US as a symptom of a broader mental health crisis. But every country has people with mental health issues and extremists; those problems aren’t unique. What is unique is the US’s expansive view of civilian gun ownership, ingrained in politics, in culture, and in the law since the nation’s founding, and a national political process that has so far proved incapable of changing that norm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3i7Vh4">
“America is unique in that guns have always been present, there is wide civilian ownership, and the government hasn’t claimed more of a monopoly on them,” said David Yamane, a professor at Wake Forest University who studies American gun culture.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DqqRM9">
Last year,<strong> </strong>Congress reached a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/23/23180893/senate-gun-control-bipartisan-bill-2022-pass">deal on limited gun reforms</a> for the first time in nearly 30 years. But the recent shootings underscore why narrow reform won’t stop mass shootings — and<strong> </strong>just how embedded gun violence is in the US.
</p>
<h3 id="r8kFVU">
The US has a lot of guns, and more guns mean more gun deaths
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fsyzjk">
It’s hard to estimate the number of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23141964/america-gun-violence-epidemic-chart">privately owned guns in America</a> since there is no countrywide database where people register whether they own guns, and there is a <a href="https://www.everytown.org/issues/gun-trafficking/">thriving black market</a> for them in the absence of strong federal gun trafficking laws.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wKr0e_jSfA8X1_7WP0GUeDGfZ0U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24196225/3PzPV_the_us_has_more_guns_than_its_peers_it_also_has_more_gun_violence_.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3LYzOy">
One estimate from the Small Arms Survey, a Swiss-based research project, found that there were approximately <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41488081">390 million guns</a> in circulation in the US in 2018, or about 120.5 firearms per 100 residents. That number has likely climbed in the years since, given that <a href="https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/one-in-five-american-households-purchased-a-gun-during-the-pandemic.aspx">one in five households</a> purchased a gun during the pandemic. But even without accounting for that increase, US gun ownership is still well above any other country: Yemen, which has the world’s second-highest level of gun ownership, has only 52.8 guns per 100 residents; in Iceland, it’s 31.7.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7JSFpM">
American guns are concentrated in a tiny minority of households: just 3 percent own about half the nation’s guns, according to a 2016 Harvard and Northeastern University <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2016/09/study-70m-more-firearms-added-to-us-gun-stock-over-past-20-years/">study</a>. They’re called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/19/us-gun-ownership-survey">super owners</a>” who have an average of 17 guns each. Gallup, using a different methodology, found that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx">42 percent of American households</a> overall owned guns in 2021.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="msivY6">
Researchers have found a clear link between gun ownership in the US and gun violence, and some argue that it’s causal. One 2013 Boston University-led study, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828709/">for instance</a>, found that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership at the household level, the state firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent. And states with weaker gun laws have higher rates of gun-related homicides and suicides, according to a <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/rankings/">study</a> by the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hu5sDi">
The link between gun deaths and gun ownership is much stronger than the link between violence and mental health issues. If it were possible to cure all schizophrenia, bipolar, and depressive disorders, violent crime in the US would <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/myth-vs-fact-violence-and-mental-health">fall by only 4 percent</a>, according to a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=v4oSb2Na4nQC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PA101#v=onepage&amp;q=swanson&amp;f=false">study</a> from Duke University professor Jeffrey Swanson, who examines policies to reduce gun violence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8WRO9O">
There’s still a pervasive idea, pushed by gun manufacturers and gun rights organizations like the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/25/23140519/uvalde-school-shooting-nra-texas-good-guy-gun">National Rifle Association</a>, that further arming America is the answer to preventing gun violence — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/5/25/23140519/uvalde-school-shooting-nra-texas-good-guy-gun">the “good guy with a gun” theory</a>. But a 2021 <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515">study</a> from Hamline University and Metropolitan State University found that the rate of deaths in 133 mass school shootings between 1980 and 2019 was 2.83 times greater in cases where there was an armed guard present.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JYJVAl">
“The idea that the solution to mass shootings is that we need more guns in the hands of more people in more places so that we’ll be able to protect ourselves — there’s no evidence that that’s true,” Swanson said.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="At Least 5 Dead And 18 Injured In Colorado Springs Gay Nightclub Shooting" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/537Vh4HU65iknCFBhNJXafDkgJQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24876824/1443590414.jpg"/> <cite>Scott Olson/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A makeshift memorial set up for the victims of the Club Q nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs that happened on November 19, 2022.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a2KyR0">
The prevalence of the self-defense narrative is part of what sets apart the gun rights movement in the US from similar movements in places like Canada and Australia, according to Robert Spitzer, a professor at SUNY Cortland who studies the politics of gun control.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r72eri">
Self-defense has become by far the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/">most prominent reason</a> for gun ownership in the US today, eclipsing hunting, recreation, or owning guns because they’re antiques, heirlooms, or work-related. That’s also reflected in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/17/us/politics/gun-manufacturing-atf.html">ballooning handgun sales</a>, since the primary purpose of those guns isn’t recreational, but self-defense.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jrdsFg">
American gun culture “brings together the hunting-sporting tradition with the militia-frontier tradition, but in modern times the hunting element has been eclipsed by a heavily politicized notion that gun carrying is an expression of freedom, individuality, hostility to government, and personal self-protection,” Spitzer said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9qcyXn">
That <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/6/20/11975850/ar-15-owner-orlando">culture of gun ownership in the US</a> has made it all the more difficult to explore serious policy solutions to gun violence after mass shootings. In high-income countries lacking that culture, mass shootings have historically galvanized public support behind gun control measures that would seem extreme by US standards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VIl5kp">
Canada <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/23/mass-shootings-response-other-countries-gun-laws/">banned military-style assault weapons</a> two weeks after a 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia. In 2019, less than a month after the Christchurch massacre, New Zealand lawmakers passed a gun buyback scheme, as well as restrictions on AR-15s and other semiautomatic weapons, and they later established a firearms registry. The 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Australia spurred the government to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9212725/australia-buyback">buy back 650,000 firearms</a> within a year, and murders and suicides plummeted as a result.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5mL5s2">
By contrast, nearly a decade went by after the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before Congress passed a new gun control law. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/23/23180893/senate-gun-control-bipartisan-bill-2022-pass">Bipartisan Safer Communities Act</a>, the law passed in June 2022, was relatively limited: it did not ban any types of weapons, instead incentivizing states to enact new measures meant to limit who can access guns.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lWo0KpSDuPpD5l_xQ_b9EYOexL0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23589886/GettyImages_1240907270.jpg"/> <cite>Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
People gather at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to pray for the victims of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rNgOhz">
“Other countries look at this problem and say, ‘People walking around in the community with handguns is just way too dangerous, so we’re going to broadly limit legal access to that and make exceptions on the margins for people who might have a good reason to have a gun,’” Swanson said. “Here we do just the opposite: We say that, because of the way that the Supreme Court interpreted the Second Amendment, everybody has the right to a gun for personal protection, and then we tried to make exceptions for really dangerous people, but we can’t figure out who they are.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irgpOC">
<a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/get-involved/harvard-political-review/vast-majority-americans-support-universal-background-checks">While the majority of Americans</a> support more gun control restrictions, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/">including universal background checks</a>, a vocal Republican minority unequivocally opposes such laws — and is willing to put pressure on GOP lawmakers to do the same. Alongside the NRA, and a well-funded gun lobby, this contingent of voters sees gun control as a deciding issue, and one that could warrant a primary challenge for a lawmaker who votes for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8wKCli">
The gun lobby has the advantage of enthusiasm. “​​Despite being outnumbered, Americans who oppose gun control are more likely to contact public officials about it and to base their votes on it,” Barnard College’s Matthew Lacombe <a href="https://barnard.edu/news/break-down-gun-politics-america">explained in 2020</a>. “As a result, many politicians believe that supporting gun regulation is more likely to lose them votes than to gain them votes.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Monterey Park Mass Shooting" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nOzeDGIDRyUQcunIBFKGLACA4ZY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24876847/1246706108.jpg"/> <cite>Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Mourners honor the victims of the January 27, 2023 Monterey Park, California mass shooting.
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9iSGMJ">
Congress in June passed a bipartisan gun safety bill for the first time since the 1990s. But the new law — which incentivized states to pass red flag laws, enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21, and closed the “boyfriend loophole” which allowed some people with domestic violence convictions to purchase guns — is not sufficient to fully address the causes of mass shootings. Certain studies suggest that even truly universal background checks <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/27/18224727/house-universal-background-checks-gun-violence-congress">may have limited effects on gun violence</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="x5gwWU">
The Supreme Court has made it impossible to cure America’s gun violence epidemic
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ykbshx">
In 2008, the Supreme Court effectively wrote NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre’s “good guy with a gun” theory into the Constitution. The Court’s 5-4 decision in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZO.html"><em>District of Columbia v. Heller</em></a> (2008) was the first Supreme Court decision in American history to hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm. But it also went much further than that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WX1KE9">
<em>Heller</em> held that one of the primary purposes of the Second Amendment is to protect the right of individuals — good guys with a gun, in LaPierre’s framework — to use firearms to stop bad guys with guns. As Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in <em>Heller</em>, an “inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="opuCPY">
As a matter of textual interpretation, this holding makes no sense. The Second Amendment provides that “<a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-ii">a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State</a>, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UYD0Q1">
We don’t need to guess why the Second Amendment protects a right to firearms because it is right there in the Constitution. The Second Amendment’s purpose is to preserve “a well-regulated Militia,” not to allow individuals to use their weapons for personal self-defense.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BN4EwY">
For many years, the Supreme Court took the first 13 words of the Second Amendment seriously. As the Court said in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/307/174"><em>United States v. Miller</em></a><em> </em>(1939), the “obvious purpose” of the Second Amendment was to “render possible the effectiveness” of militias. And thus the amendment must be “interpreted and applied with that end in view.” <em>Heller</em> abandoned that approach.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iVvOgG">
<em>Heller</em> also reached another important policy conclusion. Handguns, according to Scalia, are “overwhelmingly chosen” by gun owners who wish to carry a firearm for self-defense. For this reason, he wrote, handguns enjoy a kind of super-legal status. Lawmakers are not allowed to ban what Scalia described as “the most preferred firearm in the nation to ‘keep’ and use for protection of one’s home and family.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zbm2Hq">
This declaration regarding handguns matters because this easily concealed weapon is responsible for far more deaths than any other weapon in the United States — and it isn’t close. In 2019, for example, a <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8.xls">total of 13,927 people were murdered in the US</a>, according to the FBI. Of these murder victims, at least 6,368 — just over 45 percent — were killed by handguns.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zuxWanJjGt4IpihFJwuTpvTv6cA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23589874/GettyImages_1240908247.jpg"/> <cite>Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A woman holds a photo of Nevaeh Bravo, who was killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, during a vigil for the victims in Uvalde, Texas, on May 25, 2022.
</figcaption>
</figure>
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Last year, the Supreme Court made it even harder for federal and state lawmakers to combat gun violence. In its decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf"><em>New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association v. Bruen</em></a><em>,</em><em><strong> </strong></em>it massively expands the scope of the Second Amendment, abandons more than a decade of case law governing which gun laws are permitted by the Constitution, and replaces this case law with a new legal framework that, as Justice Stephen Breyer writes in dissent, “imposes a task on the lower courts that judges cannot easily accomplish.”
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The immediate impact of <em>Bruen</em> is that handguns — which are responsible for the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22382180/supreme-court-uvalde-guns-violence-second-amendment-heller-scalia">overwhelming majority of gun murders</a> in the United States — could proliferate on many American streets. That’s because <em>Bruen</em> strikes the types of laws that limit who can legally carry handguns in public, holding that “the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”
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One silver lining for proponents of gun regulation is that the majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, embraces language that first appeared in <em>Heller</em>, which permits some gun laws such as prohibitions on “dangerous and unusual weapons.” Nevertheless, it placed an emphasis on historical analogies that could endanger many laws that enjoy broad bipartisan support. The future of firearm regulation looks grim for anyone who believes that the government should help protect us from gun violence.
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<em><strong>Update, August 27, 10:55 am: </strong></em><em>This story was originally published on May 26, 2022, and has been updated multiple times, most recently with details from the August 26 shooting in Jacksonville, Florida.</em>
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</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dangerous shows out</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Was in pressure for the first time, says Javelin world champion Neeraj Chopra</strong> - Last year, after winning silver at the 2022 edition of the World Championships, he was asked what was left and he had mentioned ‘gold at the worlds, maybe’</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>Neeraj Chopra exemplifies excellence, says PM Modi</strong> - Prime Minister hailed the Indian javelin great Neeraj Chopra for winning gold medal at World Athletics Championships</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>World Athletics Championships: ‘Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra’s father brims with pride, says proud moment for country</strong> - Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur also took to his social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) and congratulated the young athlete saying that the moment will be remembered forever in Indian sporting history</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>U.S. Open 2023: With Serena and Federer retired, Alcaraz-Djokovic symbolizes a transition in tennis</strong> - It seems everyone in the world of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the last tournament for both ahead of the U.S. Open</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PIL filed before Bombay HC challenges a paragraph in anti-defection law</strong> - ‘Split and merger’ defections further alienate the public from the process of elections; taxpayers’ money is spent without any accountability, plea says, citing split in the Shiv Sena to explain the consequences of group defections</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>Maharashtra: 3 more held for attack on Scheduled Caste persons in Ahmednagar</strong> - The police have now apprehended three more men, including the main accused Yuvraj Galande (35), for their involvement in the crime, while a search is on for two other accused</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>BJP demands NIA probe into blast at Bengal’s illegal firecracker unit</strong> - Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanded the resignation from the CM, claiming that Mamata Banerjee “remained silent for hours after the blast”</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>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated by Nalme Nachiyar.</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>Global shipping and logistics firm UPS intends to hire 1,000 people in India by 2025</strong> - The company set up its first Indian technology centre in Chennai; it aims to nurture local talent, focusing on women and people from rural areas and has already selected youngsters from under T.N.’s ‘Naan Mudhalvan’ scheme for internships</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>Wagner boss Prigozhin confirmed dead in plane crash - Moscow</strong> - Genetic analysis of the bodies was carried out following Wednesday’s crash, Russian officials say.</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>France to ban female students from wearing abayas in state schools</strong> - The education minister says female Muslim students will not be allowed to wear the loose-fitting robe.</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>Luis Rubiales: Spanish FA activates ‘sexual violence protocol’ after Jenni Hermoso kiss</strong> - An internal investigation is launched at Spain’s football federation after its sexual violence protocol is activated.</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>Jenni Hermoso: Players and fans support Spain World Cup star in kiss row</strong> - The furore over the Spanish football chief’s kiss on the lips generates protests at matches.</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>P&amp;O Britannia cruise ship crashes during Mallorca storms</strong> - A small number of people are being cared for onboard after sustaining minor injuries, P&amp;O says.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The sports fan’s guide to streaming services</strong> - We compare five streaming services to see which one offers the most for sportsball fans. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963313">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Four people from four different nations ride SpaceX rocket into orbit</strong> - A new Falcon 9 booster also joins SpaceX’s fleet with Saturday’s launch. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963575">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study: Carbon offsets aren’t doing their job, overstate impact</strong> - Cambridge study says carbon offsets are not nearly as effective as they claim to be. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963543">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Renegade certificate removed from Windows. Then it returns. Microsoft stays silent.</strong> - The certificate, originally spawned by Symantec, was scheduled to be banished years ago. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963549">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hands-on with Cherry MX2A switches: A lot less wobble, a little more confusion</strong> - Cherry fights mechanical switch copycats with a new, yet familiar, lineup. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1963225">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alone at the table…….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This guy is dining alone in a fancy restaurant and there’s a beautiful redhead sitting at the next table. He’s been sneakily checking her out ever since he arrived, but doesn’t have the courage to start talking to her.
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Suddenly she sneezes, and her glass eye comes flying out of its socket toward the man. His reflexes kick in and he reaches out, plucks it out of the air, and hands it back to her.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The redhead is mortified. “Oh my, I am so sorry,” she says as she pops her eye back into place. “Let me buy your dinner to make it up to you.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So he joins her table and they enjoy a wonderful meal together. Afterwards they go to the theatre followed by drinks at a bar. They talk, they laugh, she shares her deepest dreams and he shares his. She listens.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After paying for everything, she asks him if he would like to come to her place for a nightcap. He says yes and they return to her place.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He ends up staying the night. The next morning, she cooks a gourmet meal with all the trimmings. The guy is amazed at how everything has been so perfect and how incredible this woman is. He can’t believe his luck. “You know,” he said, “you are the perfect woman, are you this nice to every guy you meet?”
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“No,” she replies, “You just happened to catch my eye.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MercyReign"> /u/MercyReign </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/163a89a/alone_at_the_table/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/163a89a/alone_at_the_table/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A small town lawyer called his first witness to the stand in a trial, a 80 year old woman. He approached her and asked, “Mrs. Singh, do you know me?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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She responded, “Why, yes, I do know you Mr. Kulkarni. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. Yes, I know you.”
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The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Singh, do you know the defense lawyer?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She again replied, “Why, yes I do. I’ve known Mr. Gupta since he was a youngster too. I used to baby-sit him for his parents. And he too, has been a real disappointment to me. He’s lazy, bigoted, he has a drinking problem. The man can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state. Yes, I know him.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
At this point, the judge called both lawyers to the bench. In a very quiet voice, he said with menace, “If either of you asks her if she knows me, you’ll be jailed for contempt!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/rest_in_war"> /u/rest_in_war </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/162ras0/a_small_town_lawyer_called_his_first_witness_to/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/162ras0/a_small_town_lawyer_called_his_first_witness_to/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dear Audrey Advice…..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
My son is a strapping 265lb star linebacker at our local university and a leader in our church youth group. We couldn’t be more proud of him! However….I returned from grocery shopping today and found him prancing around the house in one of my dresses. What should I do??! Sincerely, Confused in Texas
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Dear Confused,
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
This is really a delicate situation , but I’d have to say that you should start a diet immediately….
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Smarterthaniwas"> /u/Smarterthaniwas </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16354cy/dear_audrey_advice/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16354cy/dear_audrey_advice/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A robber held up a well-dressed man, pointing his gun and yelling, “Give me all your money!”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man replied, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m a U.S. congressman!”
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The robber retorted, “In that case, give me all my money!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Major_Independence82"> /u/Major_Independence82 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/163j6l7/a_robber_held_up_a_welldressed_man_pointing_his/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/163j6l7/a_robber_held_up_a_welldressed_man_pointing_his/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A high-society debutant is engaged to a low-born Greek guy…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Before the wedding, her mother takes her aside and says, “I’ve tried to talk you out of marrying this man, but you seem determined to go through with it, so just promise me one thing”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"Greeks have unnatural desires in the bedroom that are perverse, nasty, and disgusting. Just promise me now, if he ever asks you to ‘roll over’ you will refuse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The girl agrees and goes through with the marriage. Everything proceeds fine until about 5 years into the marriage. One fateful night in bed, the Greek says,"Honey, tonight let’s try something different, I want you to roll over.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She is shocked by the suggestion! “My mother warned me about you! That is sick and disgusting! How dare you ask such a thing of me?”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“But”, says her husband, “don’t you want to have children?”
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JonnyRottensTeeth"> /u/JonnyRottensTeeth </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/162ya0j/a_highsociety_debutant_is_engaged_to_a_lowborn/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/162ya0j/a_highsociety_debutant_is_engaged_to_a_lowborn/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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