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<title>11 June, 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>«The Future Begins in 2020»: Narratives and Speculative Imaginaries in the Latin American (Sci-Fi) Audio Drama Podcasts Caso 63 (2020) and Número Oculto (2022)</strong> -
<div>
After international recognition from critics, the release of three seasons, and several adaptations to other languages, the fiction podcast Caso 63 (Chile, 2020) success is unprecedented for the podcasting industry produced in Spanish. Together with Número Oculto (Argentina, 2022), both are current paradigmatic cases for studying the new Latin American (sci-fi) audio drama podcasts. This paper proposes a comparative analysis of the first season of these audio series distributed by Spotify Studios to locate them as representative productions of the narratives and speculative imaginaries related to science fiction, such as post-eschatological futures, time travels, the global dominance of big tech companies, the environmental destruction (ecocide), quantum mysticism, among others. The proposal contextualizes these productions as part of the trends of audio drama produced in Spain in the last decade, the intermedial dialogues with the so-called “new Hispanic apocalyptic” literature, and the recent “awakening of podcasting” in Latin America after the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Finally, it concludes with a reflection on the platformization of cultural production and the future of (sci-fi) audio drama podcasts in the Hispanic world.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/9v8hr/" target="_blank">«The Future Begins in 2020»: Narratives and Speculative Imaginaries in the Latin American (Sci-Fi) Audio Drama Podcasts Caso 63 (2020) and Número Oculto (2022)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Vaccine effectiveness against mild and severe disease in pregnant mothers and their infants in England.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Pregnant women are at increased risk of adverse outcomes following SARS-CoV-2 infection, including venous thromboembolism, admission to critical care and death. Their infants may also suffer from pre-term birth, stillbirth and severe disease. Vaccination may protect both mothers and their infants against severe COVID-19 disease. Methods We used a test-negative, case-control study design to estimate vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease and hospitalisation with the Delta and Omicron variants in pregnant women who gave birth in 2021 in England. We also estimated the protection conferred by prior infection and maternal vaccination against symptomatic disease and hospitalisation with the Delta and Omicron variants in their infants. Findings Vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease (Delta and Omicron) and against hospitalisation (Delta only) was high and similar to that observed in the general population. Maternal vaccination during and post-pregnancy as well as previous infection also provided sustained protection from symptomatic disease and hospitalisation following Delta and Omicron infection in infants up to 8 months of age, with the highest protection being observed when maternal vaccination occurred during later pregnancy. Unlike non-pregnant women, a booster dose provided sustained protection with no evidence of waning up to 15 weeks after vaccination. Interpretation Maternal vaccination prevents mild and severe disease in pregnant women and their infants up to 6-8 months after birth. Our findings support the promotion of both primary and booster vaccination for pregnant women, irrespective of prior infection status, to protect themselves and their infants. Funding. None.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.07.23290978v1" target="_blank">Vaccine effectiveness against mild and severe disease in pregnant mothers and their infants in England.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Role of Vaccine Status Homophily in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey with Modeling</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Vaccine homophily describes non-heterogeneous vaccine uptake within contact networks. This study was performed to determine observable patterns of vaccine homophily, associations between vaccine homophily, self-reported vaccination, COVID-19 prevention behaviours, contact network size, and self-reported COVID-19, as well as the impact of vaccine homophily on disease transmission within and between vaccination groups under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy. Methods: Residents of British Columbia, Canada, aged ≥16 years, were recruited via online advertisements between February and March 2022, and provided information about vaccination status, perceived vaccination status of household and non-household contacts, compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines, and history of COVID-19. A deterministic mathematical model was used to assess transmission dynamics between vaccine status groups under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy. Results: Vaccine homophily was observed among the 1304 respondents, but was lower among those with fewer doses (p&lt;0.0001). Unvaccinated individuals had larger contact networks (p&lt;0.0001), were more likely to report prior COVID-19 (p&lt;0.0001), and reported lower compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines (p&lt;0.0001). Mathematical modelling showed that vaccine homophily plays a considerable role in epidemic growth under conditions of high and low vaccine efficacy. Further, vaccine homophily contributes to a high force of infection among unvaccinated individuals under conditions of high vaccine efficacy, as well as elevated force of infection from unvaccinated to vaccinated individuals under conditions of low vaccine efficacy. Interpretation: The uneven uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and the nature of the contact network in the population play important roles in shaping COVID-19 transmission dynamics.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.06.23291056v1" target="_blank">The Role of Vaccine Status Homophily in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey with Modeling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Reliability, validity and dimensionality of the GHQ-12 in South African populations: Structural equation modelling (SEM)</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction Health Care Workers (HCWs) were among the high risk groups for SARS CoV 2 infection and suffer a high burden of poor mental health including depression, anxiety, traumatic stress, avoidance and burnout. The 12 Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12) has showed best fit in both a one-factor structure and a multidimensional structure for the screening of common mental disorders and psychiatric well being. The aim was to test for the reliability and validity and ascertain the factor structure of the GHQ 12 in a South African HCW population. Methods Data was collected from 832 public hospital and clinic staff during the COVID 19 pandemic in Gauteng, South Africa. The factor structure of the GHQ 12 in this professional population was examined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify factors, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity and structural equation modelling (SEM). Results The GHQ 12 median score was higher (25) in women than in men (24), p=0.044. The determinant for the correlation matrix was=0.047, the Barlett test of sphericity was p&lt;0.001, Chi square=2086.9 and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) of sampling adequacy was 0.86. The four factors identified were labelled as Social-Dysfunction (37.8%), Anxiety-Depression (35.4%) Capable (24.9%) and Self-Efficacy (22.7%). The entire sample had a Cronbach alpha of 0.85, with 0.69 for Social-Dysfunction, 0.74 for Anxiety-Depression, 0.64 for Capable and 0.52 for Self-Efficacy in orthogonal (varimax) factor loadings. Conclusions The GHQ 12 tool displayed adequate reliability and validity in measuring psychological distress in a professional group with a four factor model suggesting multidimensionality in this group rather than a unidimensional construct.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.06.23290967v1" target="_blank">Reliability, validity and dimensionality of the GHQ-12 in South African populations: Structural equation modelling (SEM)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clinical course of COVID-19 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital in Central India</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: COVID-19 pandemic also known as Corona virus pandemic, is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2). In India, the first case of COVID-19 was reported on 30 January 2020 while in Madhya Pradesh on 20 March 2020 and in Rewa on 27 April 2020. Nearly 95 % of people recovered fromCOVID-19, and nearly three to five percent of cases needed Intensive Care Unit care and most of them needed mechanical ventilation. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study, done among 75 clinical or RT-PCR confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection admitted to the ICU of tertiary care unit. Results: In the present study, 63% were male and maximum (35%) belonged to 41-60 years of age. The most common symptom was fever at the time of admission to the hospital. Co-morbidity was reported in 21(28%) of patients. Out of these, majority of patients recorded combination of hypertension and diabetes as the most common comorbidity. Conclusion: Delayed medical intervention, advanced age, and the presence of underlying health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc., are known risk factors for severe illness and can contribute to worse outcomes and increased mortality in COVID-19 patients. Keywords: COVID -19, Covid mortality, comorbidity, ICU Outcome, Pneumonia, Tertiary care
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.07.23290823v1" target="_blank">Clinical course of COVID-19 patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital in Central India</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Differences in Vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 Replication Derived mRNA: Implications for Cell Biology and Future Disease</strong> -
<div>
Codon optimization describes the process used to increase protein production by use of alternative but synonymous codon changes. In SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines codon optimizations can result in differential secondary conformations that inevitably affect a protein’s function with significant consequences to the cell. Importantly, when codon optimization increases the GC content of synthetic mRNAs, there can be an inevitable enrichment of G-quartets which potentially form G-quadruplex structures. The emerging G-quadruplexes are favorable binding sites of RNA binding proteins like helicases that inevitably affect epigenetic reprogramming of the cell by altering transcription, translation and replication. In this study, we performed a RNAfold analysis to investigate alterations in secondary structures of mRNAs in SARS-CoV-2 vaccines due to codon optimization. We show a significant increase in the GC content of mRNAs in vaccines as compared to native SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences encoding the spike protein. As the GC enrichment leads to more G-quadruplex structure formations, these may contribute to potential pathological processes initiated by SARS-CoV-2 molecular vaccination.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/bcsa6/" target="_blank">Differences in Vaccine and SARS-CoV-2 Replication Derived mRNA: Implications for Cell Biology and Future Disease</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Attitudes towards science during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological network approach</strong> -
<div>
A better understanding of the public attitude towards science could be crucial to tackle the spread of mis- and disinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We here contribute to this understanding by conceptualizing and analyzing the attitude toward science as a psychological network. For this analysis, we utilized data from a German probability sample (N = 1,009), the “Science Barometer”, collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, our network analysis revealed that especially the perceived value of science for curbing the pandemic is central to the attitude towards science. Beliefs about this value are related to trust in science and trust in scientific information and to positive and negative evaluations of scientific controversy and complexity. Further, valuing common sense over science was related to seeking less scientific information on official websites, suggesting that this belief, in particular, may drive mis- and disinformation and could be a promising target for interventions. Finally, we found no evidence that seeking scientific information on social media had detrimental consequences for the attitude towards science. Implications for health communication and science communication, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/zrwy9/" target="_blank">Attitudes towards science during the COVID-19 pandemic: A psychological network approach</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>How do Good and Bad News Impact Mood During the Covid-19 Pandemic? The Role of Similarity</strong> -
<div>
How do media reports about the Covid-19 pandemic influence our mood? Building on the social comparison theory, we predicted that reading negative news affecting a similar group would result in an impaired mood. In contrast, reading negative news about a dissimilar group should lead to improved mood. To test this, 150 undergraduate students read positive or negative news about the well-being of a similar or dissimilar group during the pandemic. As predicted, a mood assimilation effect occurred for similar groups, whilst a contrast effect occurred for a dissimilar group. The findings suggest that media reports can have a strong impact on mood. The direction of these effects, however, seems to depend strongly on social comparison processes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/sy2kd/" target="_blank">How do Good and Bad News Impact Mood During the Covid-19 Pandemic? The Role of Similarity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Perception of Infection Risks during the Early and Later Outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany: Consequences and Recommendations</strong> -
<div>
In three studies (N = 1,055), we investigated the determinants and consequences of the perception of infection risks during the early and later outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany. Individuals’ perceived COVID-19 infection risk was reasonably in line with experts’ assessment but changed over time. The probability of the rare event of getting severely sick and hospitalized was overestimated. Overestimation increased in the exponential growth phase of the pandemic and later on decreased again, showing an inverse U-shaped pattern. Individuals showed biases in their risk perception concerning overconfidence and the underestimation of exponential growth of infection cases in the early phase of the pandemic. Forecasts were more accurate after the growth curve had flattened. Risk perceptions increased with perceived dread and tended to increase with perceived control over infection, the evaluation of scientific and own knowledge about the pandemic. Approval for the introduction of stricter governmental measures and acceptance of future vaccination measures was mainly influenced by rational utilitarian factors of risk perception (probabilities and utilities of outcomes). These rational influences were mediated by dread, but dread had an additional potentially irrational effect. Adherence to governmental recommendations was mainly driven by dread and positive expected long-term consequences of the measures. To a smaller degree, adherence increased with perceived personal consequences of infection and decreased with negative expected short-term consequences of these measures. Implications for theory development are discussed and recommendations to handle virus outbreaks are derived.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/wdbgc/" target="_blank">The Perception of Infection Risks during the Early and Later Outbreak of COVID-19 in Germany: Consequences and Recommendations</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Prolonged viral shedding from noninfectious individuals confounds wastewater-based epidemiology</strong> -
<div>
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Wastewater surveillance has been widely used to track and estimate SARS-CoV-2 incidence. While both infectious and recovered individuals shed virus into wastewater, epidemiological inferences using wastewater often only consider the viral contribution from the former group. Yet, the persistent shedding in the latter group could confound wastewater-based epidemiological inference, especially during the late stage of an outbreak when the recovered population outnumbers the infectious population. To determine the impact of recovered individuals9 viral shedding on the utility of wastewater surveillance, we develop a quantitative framework that incorporates population-level viral shedding dynamics, measured viral RNA in wastewater, and an epidemic dynamic model. We find that the viral shedding from the recovered population can become higher than the infectious population after the transmission peak, which leads to a decrease in the correlation between wastewater viral RNA and case report data. Furthermore, the inclusion of recovered individuals9 viral shedding into the model predicts earlier transmission dynamics and slower decreasing trends in wastewater viral RNA. The prolonged viral shedding also induces a potential delay in the detection of new variants due to the time needed to generate enough new cases for a significant viral signal in an environment dominated by virus shed by the recovered population. This effect is most prominent toward the end of an outbreak and is greatly affected by both the recovered individuals9 shedding rate and shedding duration. Our results suggest that the inclusion of viral shedding from non-infectious recovered individuals into wastewater surveillance research is important for precision epidemiology.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.08.23291144v1" target="_blank">Prolonged viral shedding from noninfectious individuals confounds wastewater-based epidemiology</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Intragroup differences in COVID-19 vaccine attitudes among Black Americans</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans threatens to further magnify racial inequities in COVID-19 related health outcomes that emerged in the earliest stages of the pandemic. Here we shed new light on attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines by considering intragroup variation. Rather than analyzing Blacks as a homogenous group, we examine the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and the extent to which participants are aligned with African American versus White culture (i.e., level of “acculturation”). In a sample of N=997 Black Americans, we find that stronger alignment with African American culture predicts substantially more negative attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination, above and beyond variation explained by age, gender, education, and socioeconomic status. This relationship was substantially attenuated when controlling for suspicion of the healthcare system, but not perceptions that healthcare system treats Blacks unfairly, science knowledge, or cognitive reflection. The intragroup differences among Blacks in COVID-19 vaccine perceptions uncovered here provide insights into designing interventions that provide health information that targets the relevant factors for vaccine hesitancy in differing subgroups.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/r3vem/" target="_blank">Intragroup differences in COVID-19 vaccine attitudes among Black Americans</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>On the disposition to think analytically: Four distinct intuitive-analytic thinking styles</strong> -
<div>
Many measures have been developed to index intuitive versus analytic thinking. Yet it remains an open question whether people primarily vary along a single dimension or if there are genuinely different types of thinking styles. We distinguish between four distinct types of thinking styles: Actively Open-minded Thinking, Close-minded Thinking, Preference for Intuitive Thinking, and Preference for Effortful Thinking. We discovered strong predictive validity across several outcome measures (e.g., epistemically suspect beliefs, bullshit receptivity, empathy, moral judgments), with some subscales having stronger predictive validity for some outcomes but not others. Furthermore, Actively Open-minded Thinking, in particular, strongly outperformed the Cognitive Reflection Test in predicting misperceptions about COVID-19 and the ability to discern between vaccination-related true and false news. Our results indicate that people do, in fact, differ along multiple dimensions of intuitive-analytic thinking styles and that these dimensions have consequences for understanding a wide range of beliefs and behaviors.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/r5wez/" target="_blank">On the disposition to think analytically: Four distinct intuitive-analytic thinking styles</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Concerns about data integrity of 30 randomized clinical trials from one author.</strong> -
<div>
Introduction In 2021, we learnt about the problems in studies on ivermectin and hydrocholoroquine in COVID-19. We noticed an appreciable number of unfunded randomised clinical trials (RCTs) on the treatment of COVID-19 conducted across three centres in Egypt (Tanta University, Assiut University, Ain-shams University) on COVID-19 patients with similar inclusion criteria and overlapping time frames. Dr Sherief M Abd-Elsalam ran seven such RCTs across these three centres; four of these RCTs have since been retracted. We therefore set out to systematically analyse the integrity of all RCTs (co-)authored by Dr Abd-Elsalam, in particular 23 RCTs on Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Methods We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus and clinical trial registries for RCTs published by Dr Sherief M Abd-Elsalam, affiliated with the Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt. We assessed trial registration, tables for identical data values, statistical errors, and improbable data trends. We assessed the probability of true randomization by assessing baseline characteristics through a Monte Carlo Analysis. Results We report on 30 published randomized control trials (RCTs) of Dr. Sherief Abd-Elsalam, in particular 23 RCTs on Gastroenterology and Hepatology. We found important issues in all RCTs examined. Of these 23 RCTs, 10 RCTs had substantial trial registration inconsistencies. Only one of these 10 RCTs has been retracted to date. We found nine RCTs with substantial statistical mistakes, five RCTs with similarities between tables unlikely to happen by chance, four RCTs with implausible Gaussian distributions, three RCTs in which almost all dichotomous variables had even values, while part of at least one study was plagiarized. Monte Carlo analysis indicated that the probability that distribution of baseline characteristics due to randomisation was 0.0000228. According to the trial registration, Dr. Abd-Elsalam is coordinating 76 clinical trials with 45 trials currently marked as ‘Recruiting’ and 17 trials marked as ‘Unknown Status’ as of November 2022. Interpretation We strongly recommend a thorough investigation of the data integrity of all RCTs by Dr Sherief M Abd-Elsalam by journal editors. Until the completion of such an investigation, we suggest that none of these studies are used to inform clinical practice.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/vjcnp/" target="_blank">Concerns about data integrity of 30 randomized clinical trials from one author.</a>
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<li><strong>The Your COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool and the Accompanying Open Access Data and Materials Repositories</strong> -
<div>
In March 2020, the Your COVID-19 Risk tool was developed in response to the global spread of SARS-CoV-2. The tool is an online resource based on key behavioural evidence-based risk factors related to contracting and spreading SARS-CoV-2. This article describes the development of the tool, the produced resources, the associated open repository, and initial results. This tool was developed by a multidisciplinary research team consisting of more than 150 international experts. This project leverages knowledge obtained in behavioural science, aiming to promote behaviour change by assessing risk and supporting individuals completing the assessment tool to protect themselves and others from infection. To enable iterative improvements of the tool, tool users can optionally answer questions about behavioural determinants. The data and results are openly shared to support governments and health agencies developing behaviour change interventions. Over 60 000 users in more than 150 countries have assessed their risk and provided data.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/b8n5g/" target="_blank">The Your COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool and the Accompanying Open Access Data and Materials Repositories</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Anti-Viral and Anti-Inflammatory Therapeutic Effect of RAGE-Ig Protein Against Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Demonstrated in K18-hACE2 Mouse and Syrian Golden Hamster Models</strong> -
<div>
Significance: SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) continue to evolve and re-emerge with chronic inflammatory long-COVID sequelae necessitating the development of anti-inflammatory therapeutic molecules. Therapeutic effects of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End products (RAGE) were reported in many inflammatory diseases. However, a therapeutic effect of the RAGE in COVID-19 has not been reported. In the present study, we investigated whether and how the RAGE-Ig fusion protein would have an anti-viral and anti-inflammatory therapeutic effect in the COVID-19 system. Methods: The protective therapeutic effect of RAGE-Ig was determined in vitro in K18-hACE2 transgenic mice and Syrian golden hamsters infected with six various VOCs of SARS-CoV-2. The underlying anti-viral mechanism of RAGE-Ig was determined in vitro in SARS-CoV-2-infected human lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Results: Following treatment of K18-hACE2 mice and hamsters infected with various SARS-CoV-2 VOCs with RAGE-Ig, we demonstrated: (i) significant dose-dependent protection (i.e. greater survival, less weight loss, lower virus replication in the lungs); (ii) a reduction of inflammatory macrophages (F4/80+/Ly6C+) and neutrophils (CD11b+/Ly6G+) infiltrating the infected lungs; (iii) a RAGE-Ig dose-dependent increase in the expression of type I interferons (IFN-alpha;, and IFN-beta) and type III interferon (IFN lambda2) and a decrease in the inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IL-8) in SARS-CoV-2-infected human lung epithelial cells; and (iv) a dose-dependent decrease in the expression of CD64 (FcgR1) on monocytes and lung epithelial cells from symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Our pre-clinical findings revealed type I and III interferons-mediated anti-viral and anti-inflammatory therapeutic effects of RAGE-Ig protein against COVID-19 caused by multiple SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.07.544133v1" target="_blank">Anti-Viral and Anti-Inflammatory Therapeutic Effect of RAGE-Ig Protein Against Multiple SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Demonstrated in K18-hACE2 Mouse and Syrian Golden Hamster Models</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Extracorporeal Photopheresis as a Possible Therapeutic Approach to Adults With Severe and Critical COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Extracorporeal photopheresis<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Del-Pest Central Hospital - National Institute of Hematology and Infectious Diseases<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Clinical Trial on Booster Immunization of Two COVID-19 Vaccines Constructed From Different Technical Routes</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Prototype and Omicron BA.4/5 Bivalent Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine(Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) For Inhalation;   Biological: Bivalent COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine;   Biological: Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) For Inhalation<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Zhongnan Hospital;   Institute of Biotechnology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, PLA of China<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety Study of COVID19 Vaccine on the Market</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Recombinant new coronavirus vaccine (CHO cell)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.;   Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Guizhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention;   Hainan Center for Disease Control &amp; Prevention<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Community-engaged Optimization of COVID-19 Rapid Evaluation And TEsting Experiences</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: COVID-19 walk-up, on-site testing strategy;   Behavioral: Community Health Worker (CHW) leading testing navigation and general preventive care reminders;   Behavioral: No-cost self-testing kit vending machines<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, San Diego;   San Ysidro Health Center<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>Evaluation of Home Use COVID-19 Frequent Antigen Testing and Data Reporting</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Respiratory Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Diagnostic Test: SARS CoV-2 antigen tests<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   IDX20 Inc;   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mitoquinone/Mitoquinol Mesylate as Oral and Safe Postexposure Prophylaxis for Covid-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Mitoquinone/mitoquinol mesylate;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm F (Montelukast)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Placebo;   Drug: Montelukast<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm B (Fluvoxamine)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Fluvoxamine;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm D (Ivermectin 600)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Study of Repurposed Medications - Arm E (Fluvoxamine 100)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Fluvoxamine;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Susanna Naggie, MD;   National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS);   Vanderbilt University Medical Center<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>Evaluating Emetine for Viral Outbreaks (EVOLVE)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Emetine Hydrochloride;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Johns Hopkins University;   Nepal Health Research Council;   Bharatpur Hospital Chitwan;   Stony Brook University;   Rutgers 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>Pycnogenol® in Post-COVID-19 Condition</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition;   Long COVID<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Pycnogenol®;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Zurich<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of Bailing Capsule on Pulmonary Fibrosis After COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Pulmonary Fibrosis;   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Bailing capsule<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang 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>To Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of Sequential Booster Immunization of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (CHO Cells) for SARS-CoV-2</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Recombinant Novel Coronavirus vaccine (CHO Cells)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co., Ltd.<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>A Study to Learn About How Loss of Liver Function Affects the Blood Levels of the Study Medicine Called PF-07817883.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: PF-07817883<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dicoumarol is an effective post-exposure prophylactic for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection in human airway epithelium</strong> - Repurposing existing drugs to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection in airway epithelial cells (AECs) is a quick way to find novel treatments for COVID-19. Computational screening has found dicoumarol (DCM), a natural anticoagulant, to be a potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor, but its inhibitory effects and possible working mechanisms remain unknown. Using air-liquid interface culture of primary human AECs, we demonstrated that DCM has potent antiviral activity against the infection of multiple Omicron…</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>Binding properties of selective inhibitors of P323L mutated RdRp of SARS-CoV-2: a combined molecular screening, docking and dynamics simulation study</strong> - Since 2019 the SARS-CoV-2 and its variants caused COVID-19, such incidents brought the world in pandemic situation. This happened due to furious mutations in SARS-CoV-2, in which some variants had high transmissibility and infective, this led the virus emerged as virulent and worsened the COVID-19 situation. Among the variants, P323L is one of the important mutants of RdRp in SARS-CoV-2. To inhibit the erroneous function of this mutated RdRp, we have screened 943 molecules against the P323L…</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>Docking-Based Evidence for the Potential of ImmunoDefender: A Novel Formulated Essential Oil Blend Incorporating Synergistic Antiviral Bioactive Compounds as Promising Mpro Inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Essential oils (Eos) have demonstrated antiviral activity, but their toxicity can hinder their use as therapeutic agents. Recently, some essential oil components have been used within safe levels of acceptable daily intake limits without causing toxicity. The “ImmunoDefender,” a novel antiviral compound made from a well-known mixture of essential oils, is considered highly effective in treating SARS-CoV-2 infections. The components and doses were chosen based on existing information about their…</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>Luteolin Isolated from <em>Juncus acutus</em> L., a Potential Remedy for Human Coronavirus 229E</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, addressed the lack of specific antiviral drugs against coronaviruses. In this study, bioguided fractionation performed on both ethyl acetate and aqueous sub-extracts of Juncus acutus stems led to identifying luteolin as a highly active antiviral molecule against human coronavirus HCoV-229E. The apolar sub-extract (CH(2)Cl(2)) containing phenanthrene derivatives did not show antiviral activity against this coronavirus. Infection tests on Huh-7 cells,…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Prostaglandins and Cytokines in Humans: <em>A Mini Review</em></strong> - Inflammation has been described for two millennia, but cellular aspects and the paradigm involving different mediators have been identified in the recent century. Two main groups of molecules, the prostaglandins (PG) and the cytokines, have been discovered and play a major role in inflammatory processes. The activation of prostaglandins PGE2, PGD2 and PGI2 results in prominent symptoms during cardiovascular and rheumatoid diseases. The balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory compounds 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>Free Light Chains <em>κ</em> and <em>λ</em> as New Biomarkers of Selected Diseases</strong> - Diagnostic and prognostic markers are necessary to help in patient diagnosis and the prediction of future clinical events or disease progression. As promising biomarkers of selected diseases, the free light chains (FLCs) κ and λ were considered. Measurements of FLCs are currently used in routine diagnostics of, for example, multiple myeloma, and the usefulness of FLCs as biomarkers of monoclonal gammopathies is well understood. Therefore, this review focuses on the studies concerning FLCs as new…</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>Eupatin, a Flavonoid, Inhibits Coronavirus 3CL Protease and Replication</strong> - The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused more than six million deaths worldwide since 2019. Although vaccines are available, novel variants of coronavirus are expected to appear continuously, and there is a need for a more effective remedy for coronavirus disease. In this report, we isolated eupatin from Inula japonica flowers and showed that it inhibits the coronavirus 3 chymotrypsin-like (3CL) protease as well as viral replication. We showed that eupatin treatment inhibits…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound for the treatment of viral pneumonia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial</strong> - BACKGROUND: Viral pneumonia has always been a problem faced by clinicians because of its insidious onset, strong infectivity, and lack of effective drugs. Patients with advanced age or underlying diseases may experience more severe symptoms and are prone to severe ventilation dysfunction. Reducing pulmonary inflammation and improving clinical symptoms is the focus of current treatment. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) can mitigate inflammation and inhibit edema formation. We aimed 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>Dihydroisocoumarins of Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergia inhibit binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to ACE2</strong> - Binding of the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to the cognate angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor is the initial step in the viral infection process. In this study, we screened an in-house extract library to identify food materials with inhibitory activity against this binding using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and attempted to ascertain their active constituents. Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergia leaves were identified as candidate materials. Its…</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>Upgrading nirmatrelvir to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro via DeepFrag and free energy calculations</strong> - The first oral drug for the treatment of COVID-19, Paxlovid, has been authorized; however, nirmatrelvir, a major component of the drug, is reported to be associated with some side effects. Moreover, the appearance of many novel variants raises concerns about drug resistance, and designing new potent inhibitors to prevent viral replication is thus urgent. In this context, using a hybrid approach combining machine learning (ML) and free energy simulations, 6 compounds obtained by modifying…</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>Multiscale Simulations of the Covalent Inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: Four Compounds and Three Reaction Mechanisms</strong> - We report the results of computational modeling of the reactions of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M^(Pro)) with four potential covalent inhibitors. Two of them, carmofur and nirmatrelvir, have shown experimentally the ability to inhibit M^(Pro). Two other compounds, X77A and X77C, were designed computationally in this work. They were derived from the structure of X77, a non-covalent inhibitor forming a tight surface complex with M^(Pro). We modified the X77 structure by introducing warheads…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alpha-1-antitrypsin antagonizes COVID-19: a review of the epidemiology, molecular mechanisms, and clinical evidence</strong> - Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT), a serine protease inhibitor (serpin), is increasingly recognized to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection and counter many of the pathogenic mechanisms of COVID-19. Herein, we reviewed the epidemiologic evidence, the molecular mechanisms, and the clinical evidence that support this paradigm. As background to our discussion, we first examined the basic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 infection and contend that despite the availability of vaccines and anti-viral agents, COVID-19 remains…</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>Serum proteomics hint at an early T-cell response and modulation of SARS-CoV-2-related pathogenic pathways in COVID-19-ARDS treated with Ruxolitinib</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the mechanism of action of Ruxo in COVID-19-ARDS can be related to both known effects of this drug as a modulator of T-cells and the SARS-CoV-2-infection.</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>Elucidation of novel compounds and epitope-based peptide vaccine design against C30 endopeptidase regions of SARS-CoV-2 using immunoinformatics approaches</strong> - There has been progressive improvement in immunoinformatics approaches for epitope-based peptide design. Computational-based immune-informatics approaches were applied to identify the epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 to develop vaccines. The accessibility of the SARS-CoV-2 protein surface was analyzed, and hexa-peptide sequences (KTPKYK) were observed having a maximum score of 8.254, located between amino acids 97 and 102, whereas the FSVLAC at amino acids 112 to 117 showed the lowest score of 0.114. The…</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>Host microRNA interactions with the SARS-CoV-2 viral genome 3’-untranslated region</strong> - The 2019 pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has marked the spread of a novel human coronavirus. While the viral life cycle is well understood, most of the interactions at the virus-host interface remain elusive. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms behind disease severity and immune evasion are still largely unknown. Conserved elements of the viral genome such as secondary structures within the 5’- and 3’-untranslated regions (UTRs) serve as…</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 Is Desperately Trying to Define the Narrative About His Federal Indictment</strong> - Days before he appears in court to face seven criminal charges, the former President is trying to rally his base and elected Republicans behind his false claim that the case is “a hoax.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/trump-is-desperately-trying-to-define-the-narrative-about-his-federal-indictment">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Supreme Court’s Surprise Defense of the Voting Rights Act</strong> - The Chief Justice appeared impatient with the maximalist demands that partisans on the right are placing on a Court they seem to feel they own. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-supreme-courts-surprise-defense-of-the-voting-rights-act">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Legal Dynamics of Trump’s Second Indictment</strong> - The case, which concerns the former President’s handling of classified documents, raises complicated questions about intent and national security. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-legal-dynamics-of-trumps-second-indictment">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What We Can Learn from London’s Smoke-Filled Skies</strong> - Hazardous health conditions in Dickensian England led to meaningful governmental reform. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-we-can-learn-from-londons-smoke-filled-skies">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why the Supreme Court Declined an Opportunity to Diminish the Voting Rights Act</strong> - The decision regarding Alabama’s redistricting process may well result in greater representation for Black voters in other states. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-the-supreme-court-declined-an-opportunity-to-diminish-the-voting-rights-act">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>How much social interaction do you actually need?</strong> -
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<img alt="An illustration of a group of young people of diverse identities sitting around a circular table reading books and discussing. A bookshelf and a fig plant are in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DnV6Stq99WnvKdqMcKl5PXpiXd4=/0x32:4982x3769/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72360047/GettyImages_1170643552.0.jpg"/>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You don’t need to make new friends to have a fulfilling social life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5ShJ12">
Loneliness has been cast as many things: An <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">epidemic</a>, <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/08/31/loneliness-is-pervasive-and-rising-particularly-among-the-young">pervasive</a>, a <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00957-1/fulltext">public health crisis</a>, even <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/loneliness-surgeon-general-epidemic-covid/">deadly</a>. Exacerbated by social distancing measures during the pandemic, the loneliness narrative predates 2020: <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000316">A 2010 study</a> found that those with weaker social relationships had a higher risk of early mortality than those who did not; a 2018 survey raised the alarm on social isolation, revealing that nearly half of Americans <a href="https://www.cigna.com/assets/docs/newsroom/loneliness-survey-2018-updated-fact-sheet.pdf">were considered lonely</a>. The dangers of loneliness are innumerable — social isolation is <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">associated with a greater risk</a> of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, and anxiety. Just last month, the US surgeon general <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/5/3/23707936/surgeon-general-loneliness-epidemic-report">released a report</a> stressing the threat of social isolation as well as offering a potential roadmap charting a way out of the loneliness epidemic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pWKZ1q">
Almost everyone feels lonely on occasion, but chronic loneliness is a consequence of ongoing isolation brought on by busyness, depression, a significant life change — like a move, a breakup, the birth of a child, or some combination of all of the above. Some people’s lives are particularly isolating, especially if they live alone, work remotely, and don’t often interact with others.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sGxeIR">
On the other hand, too much social interaction can be equally draining. An essential aspect of a well-balanced social life is alone time, a chance to recharge, <a href="https://today.ku.edu/2019/12/04/thrive-get-balanced-diet-social-nutrition">according to research</a>. A teacher who interacts with students and colleagues all day may not have the bandwidth to volunteer to lead a <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23641271/beginners-guide-bird-watching-birding">birding walk</a>. Protecting your energy and time is just as crucial as maintaining social connections; to be a good friend, you have to have the emotional bandwidth to show up for others absent resentment or obligation.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BXxPg1">
Fending off both loneliness and social exhaustion is a highly specific endeavor. Because everyone’s social lives — and social desires — vary so greatly, researchers are unable to prescribe a set amount of interaction for a fulfilled life. Only we can identify our right dose of time spent with others. We are the Goldilocks to our social lives: trying out different combinations of people and conversations and social contexts. However, we often aren’t paying enough attention to our interpersonal interactions to determine whether we’re feeling socially satisfied. It isn’t until we’re in the depths of loneliness or socially overextended that we realize we need <em>something</em>: a life-affirming talk with a friend, a few pleasantries with a stranger on the bus, or a weekend alone with a good book.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e7KG4N">
“The really ironic thing is a lot of people don’t have that self-insight, which is shocking because we’ve interacted with people our whole lives — we have friends and we have partners and a lot of what we do every day is talking to other people,” says <a href="https://psychology.msu.edu/directory/chopik-bill.html">William Chopik</a>, a social-personality psychologist and an associate professor at Michigan State University. “I don’t think a lot of people sit down and really take stock of the exact amount [of social interaction] that makes them comfortable.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3VRljx">
Being intentional with your interpersonal contact and maintaining a variety of conversation partners are crucial to supporting a healthy social life. Keeping loneliness at bay requires a nominal, yet committed, effort: At the end of a day, week, or month, take stock of with whom you socialized, what kinds of interactions you had, and whether you feel emotionally satisfied to get a clearer picture of your social intake.
</p>
<h3 id="IcpJ2u">
How many types of people do you regularly interact with?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r1wtix">
At the core of every social interaction is the people who comprise it. Each category of conversation partner — from strangers to romantic partners — all have a role to play in your social ecosystem. A <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2120668119">2022 study</a> found that the more “relational diversity” a person has in their social repertoire, the higher their well-being. Using the analogy of a “social portfolio,” Harvard Business School doctoral candidate Hanne Collins and her colleagues found when people socialize with a range of conversation partners — family members, coworkers, friends, and strangers — on a given day, they report feeling happier than those who converse with fewer “categories” of people.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t4Py8z">
“If I had 10 conversations yesterday — eight conversations with colleagues and two with friends — then I would have low relational diversity because there’s only two relational categories present,” Collins says. “On the other hand, the more relationally diverse portfolio would be if I had two conversations with colleagues, two with friends, two conversations with a partner, two with strangers, maybe two with my parents. There’s more categories present, and I’m more evenly spreading my time across those categories.” (While the study didn’t measure the duration of each interaction, Collins considers any conversation beyond exchanging “how do you do” as a social connection.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bWzQBm">
In a similar <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hcr/article-abstract/46/1/594/5664814?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false">2020 study</a>, <a href="https://coms.ku.edu/people/jeffrey-hall">Jeffrey Hall</a>, a professor of communication studies and the director of the <a href="https://randtlab.ku.edu/">Relationships and Technology Lab</a> at the University of Kansas, found that people who reported higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction interacted with more people overall. More interactions with close friends and family were associated with lower levels of loneliness as well. However, empty nesters, remote workers, or introverts aren’t inherently lonely, and even married people or those who are not depressed report feeling lonely, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4383762/">according to a 2012 study</a>. Similarly, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6827843/">a 2019 study</a> showed that 71 percent of homebound survey respondents said that despite living alone they did not feel lonely; many reported relying on a network of people they trusted completely.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5EwHZL">
More social engagements are beneficial — to a point. Over the course of eight studies, published in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550620961589">two</a> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34591543/">papers</a> that examine the physical and emotional impacts of social interaction, <a href="https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/o-stavrova">Olga Stavrova</a> and her co-authors found that people get the most benefit from as little as one social event a month. “According to this data,” says Stavrova, an associate professor in the department of social psychology at Tilburg University, “if you go out several times a month, that would be enough for you to reach a happiness level that social contact can bring you.” Daily or even weekly social events don’t materially improve well-being. Instead, you might feel overextended. “What happens is that people report worse health,” Stavrova says. “They say they feel physically less well.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yb44Gj">
Everyone’s lives are structured differently and sometimes don’t provide an opportunity to interact with a diverse set of people. Parents with a new baby maybe can’t prioritize weekly catch-ups with old friends and leisurely chats with workers at the grocery store. A recent college graduate who relocates to a new city might not have the benefit of a face-to-face social network. You may need to be intentional in seeking out social opportunities, Hall says, whether that’s scheduling a call with your mom, setting a monthly lunch date with a friend, or even asking a stranger if you can pet their dog on your daily walk. “Making a constant effort toward being social will pay off, even if it doesn’t result in a best friend,” Hall says.
</p>
<h3 id="3Vqisc">
What kind of conversations are you having?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rOqbqR">
A quality conversation is just as important as the quantity of conversations. In his <a href="https://academic.oup.com/hcr/article-abstract/46/1/594/5664814?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false">2020 study</a>, Hall found that meaningful interactions — like laughter-filled hangouts or emotional discussions — adequately keep loneliness at bay. The most effective mode of communication for these interactions is to have them face-to-face (although a phone call is a close second), Hall found in a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/28/1/zmac026/6825471">2022 study</a>. “The most impactful thing to do is have a meaningful conversation with someone you really like, face-to-face” every day, Hall says. “However, what the evidence also suggests is that just doing any one of those three things — face-to-face, or with someone who’s close [to you], or quality conversation with a stranger — will do.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NHlYxu">
Access to your inner circle for these significant discussions is highly dependent on your living situation. Those who live with a partner, roommates, or other family members have greater opportunity for a deep conversation than those who perhaps only interact with their coworkers through a computer screen. “Our daily lives are no longer structured in ways that we are routinely in contact with one another; we instead have to make a choice about it,” Hall says. Even if you can’t see someone you care about in the flesh on a daily basis, Hall suggests interacting IRL with at least one person a day, no matter how well you know them. Texts and social media will never replace the embodied experience of connecting with someone, but they can help fill in the gaps, Hall says. Texting can be used to mitigate loneliness, but according to his research, doesn’t have the same impact as face-to-face quality time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oKk5jD">
The best way to prioritize quality interactions is to make them a regular part of your social routine. A recurring hangout — like a monthly meet-up at the park with your friends and their kids or a quarterly FaceTime with a former college roommate — helps keep your social calendar full of ongoing events. Schedule the next get-together before the current one ends while everyone is together. Don’t break the cycle and bail on plans at the last minute.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YaVWjX">
While it can be painful to be on the receiving end of a flaky friend’s cancellations, Hall says you should continue to put yourself out there socially. If you feel like you lack a network of supportive people that you can see regularly in person, making an effort to chat with <a href="https://www.vox.com/even-better/23670005/small-acts-kindness-matter-liking-gap">strangers</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/smarter-living/why-you-need-a-network-of-low-stakes-casual-friendships.html">acquaintances</a> can help you feel more connected and these contacts may eventually blossom into friendships. But chronically lonely people who lack a desire to interact need the help of a <a href="https://www.vox.com/mental-health">mental health</a> professional, Hall says.
</p>
<h3 id="0wigGv">
Do you feel socially fulfilled at the end of the day?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OVKZRu">
To determine if you’re feeling socially fulfilled, check in with yourself regularly. Reflect on your day or week, Collins suggests. What were the most satisfying social moments? The most lonely? Use this insight to adjust your social calendar. After a day of meetings, chatting with other parents at your kid’s soccer practice, and then dinner with the in-laws, you may feel tapped out. While some events are non-negotiable, you may want to evaluate how you schedule the social engagements that are within your control. “If you’ve gone out the fourth or the fifth time in a week, and you feel like your batteries are drained, and you feel like you don’t have enough energy, part of it is getting people to acknowledge that,” Chopik says. “Then they’ll say, ‘Going out four nights a week is a little too much for me.’ Or ‘I realized if I stay past 9 pm, that’s when I really fall apart and embarrass myself and I get too tired.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CupL39">
Perhaps the biggest indicator of needing more social interaction is, simply, feeling lonely. “When you have a day you’re feeling lonely,” Hall says, “it’s actually really important to respond to that in ways that are seeking social contact.” Make plans with a friend, call your mom, talk to someone in your yoga class. In a 2019 study, Chopik gave participants social “challenges” to increase their levels of interaction: asking a friend to get coffee, downloading the Meetup app and going to an event, and organizing a social outing with friends were effective means of becoming more socially active.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="52exw5">
Collins says to take advantage of the social opportunities that naturally arise in your day-to-day life. Notice the people walking their dogs in the morning while you head to your car or send your kids to the school bus, the employees at the library or your favorite lunch spot. Try saying hello, then maybe graduate into a longer chat in a week or so. “We are all put in situations where we could potentially have a social connection,” Collins says. “Over time, we create these different types of social connections in our lives if we’re able to foster them in the moments that arise.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>How the right’s defeats gave us the anti-LGBTQ moment</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Protestors face off with their opposing opinions as they join crowds gathering outside a Glendale Unified School District meeting where parents and activists differ over teaching sexual identity to kids at Glendale Unified School District" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SEarXxBIP-lmxRWJa00pMPAUo-M=/428x0:3819x2543/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72359992/1258492974.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Protestors outside a Glendale Unified School District meeting on teaching sexual identity to kids in Glendale, California on June 6, 2023. | Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The American right is returning to its homophobic roots.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mUejlG">
Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1663200925018726407">a tweet</a> criticizing a draconian new anti-LGBTQ law in Uganda. The law imposed strict criminal penalties for same-sex relations — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ugandas-museveni-approves-anti-gay-law-parliament-speaker-says-2023-05-29/">including execution </a>for “serial offenders” who commit “aggravated homosexuality.” Cruz, quite reasonably, condemned Uganda’s law as “grotesque and an abomination.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cMWuIQ">
Almost immediately, Cruz faced a wave of criticism from <a href="https://twitter.com/JennaEllisEsq/status/1663307132626780163">prominent</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realstewpeters/status/1663276431231668224">conservative accounts</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/DelanoSquires/status/1663571230916476930">large</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/AuronMacintyre/status/1663216964779622401">followings</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RXIbwn">
“Unlike the lawmakers in Texas, the Uganda government recognizes that if you give an inch, the LGBTQ Mafia will take a mile,” <a href="https://twitter.com/LaurenWitzkeDE/status/1663221218424635413">wrote Lauren Witzke</a>, the 2020 GOP Senate candidate in Delaware. “While you guys struggle to stop drag queens from twerking on the laps of toddlers, they stop it before it starts.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BKPyvK">
The attacks on Cruz were a sign of the times for American conservatism, which is currently in the grips of a renewed and increasingly vicious anti-LGBTQ fervor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ShaUHL">
In January, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xGOZwZo1S8">Donald Trump released a campaign video</a> decrying “the left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children.” He vowed that, in a second term, his administration would work to ban gender-affirming care for minors “in all 50 states,” officially recognize “male” and “female” as “assigned at birth” as the only genders, and reconfigure school curriculums to teach students “positive education about the nuclear family [and] the roles of mothers and fathers.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kDEabi">
Trump’s leading competitor for the 2024 nomination, Florida Gov. <a href="https://www.vox.com/ron-desantis">Ron DeSantis</a>, has gone even further, making laws attacking LGBTQ inclusion, especially in schools, into a core plank of his <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/25/23736141/ron-desantis-2024-florida-legislature-policies">“anti-woke” governing agenda</a>. DeSantis’s campaign is part of a broader trend, with 2023 seeing <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23631262/trans-bills-republican-state-legislatures">a fresh wave of anti-trans legislation</a> in Republican-controlled statehouses across the country — with <a href="https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/drag-bans-proliferate-care-bans-too">over 530 bills proposed by late May</a>, by one tally. Right-wing activists are <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/05/30/2023/pride-month-is-a-war-brands-are-the-battlefield?ref=upstract.com">leading boycotts against brands</a> that celebrate LGBTQ identity and Pride month, like Target and Bud Light. Just this Tuesday, a school board meeting about teaching gender in Glendale, California, schools <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-06/glendale-braces-for-protests-ahead-of-school-board-vote-to-recognize-lgbtq-pride-month">devolved</a> into a <a href="https://twitter.com/brenonade/status/1666254423096455168?s=46&amp;t=LVLwPwruc4koXd6hdIOe8Q">fistfight</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xd5qPz">
Politically, the anti-LGBTQ turn may well turn out to be counterproductive for the right. Polling data suggests that the public, and especially younger generations, are becoming increasingly liberal on LGBTQ issues. The fact that conservatives are going after corporations like Disney, Anheuser-Busch, and Target — some of the biggest and most famous icons of mainstream America — indicates just how out of step they are with the country.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dTSs21">
Yet it’s this reality, somewhat paradoxically, that might explain the resurgence in anti-LGBTQ politics: The cultural right is lashing out because it’s been losing for so long. Much as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/9/19/12933072/far-right-white-riot-trump-brexit">the rise of Donald Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/20/an-anti-black-backlash-with-no-end-sight/">the panic about “wokeness”</a> began (primarily) in reaction to challenges to America’s racial hierarchy, so too has the return of anti-LGBTQ politics been a reaction to changing norms about sexuality and gender.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="orW2we">
To a certain extent, anti-LGBTQ conservative intellectuals openly acknowledge that they are on the defensive. In their worldview, they are standing up for the “ordinary” American against <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1662815822547394560">an overwhelmingly progressive elite culture</a> successfully imposing its own values on everyone else — a claim that implicitly rejects the idea that changing attitudes on sex and gender are moving from the bottom up rather than the top down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uv8Dz2">
But as we’ve seen in the renewed energy behind anti-LGBTQ politics and the raft of anti-trans bills in statehouses across the country, a rearguard backlash politics can still be powerful — mobilizing a committed minority in ways that have significant consequences for real people’s lives.
</p>
<h3 id="3lIHYm">
When liberals won the culture war over gay rights
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ezME0D">
In 2020, New York University sociologists Delia Baldassarri and Barum Park <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/50e64c35e4b02b36141d5175/t/5d69426e18a8d5000193c40b/1567179376316/CultureWar.pdf">published an article with a provocative thesis</a>: The “culture war” that once dominated American politics, centering on moral divides between religious conservatives and more secular liberals, was over. The liberals had won.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="prK7Cy">
Using detailed data sets covering the years 1972 to 2016, Baldassarri and Park traced the evolution of public opinion on a large variety of policy questions. On most issues they examined — in areas like economics, race, immigration, and foreign policy — average public opinion stayed relatively static.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lwbJ2B">
But on “moral” issues, like feminism or drug use, the picture was remarkably different. “Among all of the 37 moral issues under study, only for one issue, namely whether extramarital sex is wrong, was the proportion of liberal responses lower in 1972 compared to 2016,” they write. In virtually all of those 36 cases, the public shifted notably in the liberal direction (with the important exception of abortion, where opinion stayed static rather than trending left).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qozSjR">
Nowhere was this trend clearer than on gay rights, where the authors found “by far the most pronounced opinion change we observe in the data.” (Note that their study did not include any surveys on trans issues, since there was no reliable data from most of the time period under examination.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v5ewr2">
“In only two decades, more than a third of the population has changed its position on gay rights: the approval of gays’ right to adopt children rose by 48.8 percentage points between 1992 and 2016,” they write. “Gay marriage support grew from 12.4 percent in 1988 to 59.4 percent in 2016, a 47 percentage point difference.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kLdTGX">
Looking beneath the hood, Baldassarri and Park uncovered an interesting partisan pattern in the moral issues data: On topic after topic, Democrats would become more progressive faster than Republicans, who would eventually start to catch up years later. What at first looked like a persistent partisan gap, akin to views on tax cuts and abortion, would eventually give way to bipartisan consensus.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NnWHP9">
Notably, the Republican shift on gay rights took off during arguably the most intense recent period of partisan conflict on the issue: the struggle over same-sex marriage in the George W. Bush presidency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SIUlYT">
In the 2004 presidential election, legally codifying marriage as something between a man and a woman was a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/us/2004-campaign-republican-agenda-draft-gop-platform-backs-bush-security-gay.html">central plank of the Republican Party’s platform</a>. Yet as that was happening, it appears rank-and-file Republicans were <em>already</em> shifting to the left on LGBTQ issues.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Demonstrators hold sign reading, “homosexual marriage is an act of terrorism” as they chant slogans against same-sex marriages at an anti-gay rally on May 18, 2004 in Los Angeles, California." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4rBdz4OBci7CzbjWJYuIpUMSFsM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24708840/72554727.jpg"/> <cite>David McNew/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A protest against same-sex marriage in Los Angeles on May 18, 2004.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MDIL2q">
These changes were too fast to be explained by older Republicans dying off and younger, more liberal ones taking their place. Instead, Baldassarri and Park suggest the best explanation is that many Americans genuinely changed their minds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0JJhdB">
As the overall cultural environment became more liberal thanks to decades of LGBTQ activism, gays and lesbians around the country felt more comfortable coming out of the closet. The result is that more Republicans had personal contact with gay people, which in turn made them more sympathetic to LGBTQ equality. There is a <a href="https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1179?rskey=K6VFBx&amp;result=20">wide body of literature</a> supporting this so-called “contact hypothesis,” and Baldassarri and Park see it as central to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1004629612/a-record-number-of-americans-including-republicans-support-same-sex-marriage">the new bipartisan consensus on issues like same-sex marriage</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Git7su">
“At least in recent years, both Republicans and Democrats have similar probabilities of knowing someone in their close social circles who is gay or lesbian,” they write. “This may explain why Republicans have turned towards more progressive views so easily on these issues.”
</p>
<h3 id="hL9Uwr">
How an anti-trans backlash reopened the queer culture war
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cvm11c">
On the right, the smartest voices have understood the basic contours of the new reality for quite some time.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KO6wtd">
In 2014, a year before the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right in <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2015/6/26/17937526/supreme-court-same-sex-gay-marriage-obergefell"><em>Obergefell v. Hodges</em></a>, the New York Times’s Ross Douthat wrote a column negotiating “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/opinion/sunday/the-terms-of-our-surrender.html">the terms of our surrender</a>” on same-sex marriage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="04oLQ9">
Seeing the debate on the matter as essentially lost, Douthat pleaded for magnanimity from the victorious left, hoping for a world where “religious conservatives would essentially be left to promote their view of wedlock within their own institutions, as a kind of dissenting subculture emphasizing gender differences and procreation, while the wider culture declares that love and commitment are enough to make a marriage.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WJ0STm">
This view — <em>we’ve lost the culture war, now let us be conservatives in peace</em> — morphed into something like the mainstream right’s official position on LGBTQ issues after <em>Obergefell</em>. Rallying under the banner of religious liberty, the right championed causes like <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/6/4/17425294/supreme-court-masterpiece-cakeshop-gay-wedding-cake-baker-ruling">a Christian baker refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding</a>. What liberals called discrimination was, conservatives argued, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/12/5/16715048/masterpiece-cakeshop-craig-mullins-supreme-court-ruling">actually an exercise of religious freedom</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vJxfiX">
Around the same time, some on the right even flirted with trying to build a kind of pro-gay conservatism <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/geert-wilders-the-netherlands">akin to certain European far-right movements</a>. During his 2016 Republican National Convention speech, Donald Trump tried to win over LGBTQ voters by touting his proposed ban on Muslim immigration: “I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zM4Dzu">
He also <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-voices-opposition-to-north-carolina-bathroom-law">opposed a North Carolina law</a> forcing people to use the bathroom that matches their sex assigned at birth and <a href="https://qz.com/823649/donald-trump-unfurled-a-rainbow-flag-with-lgbt-written-on-it-at-a-rally-in-greeley-colorado-to-express-his-so-called-support">unfurled a Pride flag on stage at an October rally</a>. The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/us/politics/donald-trump-gay-rights.html">declared that</a> “it is his views on gay rights and gay people that most distinguish Mr. Trump from previous Republican standard-bearers.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TP8ZD8">
Obviously, things have changed — both with Trump and with the right more broadly. The language of religious freedom has been muted, and pro-gay conservatism feels like (at best) a distant dream. Today, the right is defined by calls to stamp out “gender ideology,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22914767/book-banning-crt-school-boards-republicans">panic about drag queen</a> readings at public libraries, and accusations that LGBTQ activists are <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23025505/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained">“grooming”</a> kids for sexual abuse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fEa90B">
The difference between then and now is not that the religious right, the traditional source of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, has gotten more influential. If anything, the conservative base <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/01/opinion/republicans-religion-conservatism.html">has moved in a slightly more secular direction</a>. Between 2010 and 2020, the percentage of Republicans who belonged to a church <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">declined by 10 points</a> (from 75 to 65 percent).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qh8xW9">
Nor was this spearheaded by Trump’s presidency. Trump’s policy record on LGBTQ issues was — contrary to his pronouncements as a candidate — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/trump-attack-lgbt-rights-supreme-court">fairly hostile</a>. But it wasn’t a major focus of his rhetoric in the way that race and immigration were. In fact, he once again attempted to reach out to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/us/politics/trump-lgbtq-rights.html">LGBTQ voters in the 2020 campaign</a> (with <a href="https://www.glaad.org/releases/glaad-2020-post-election-poll-81-lgbtq-voters-voted-president-elect-biden-93-registered">little success</a>).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nTkfGE">
Understanding the right’s return to anti-LGBTQ politics instead requires understanding two things: the rise of trans identity and the emergence of a broader right-wing war on “wokeness.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ms5nKf">
In 2014, Time magazine published a cover story on “<a href="https://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/">the transgender tipping point</a>”: the notion that trans people were finally “emerging from the margins” and demanding rights and public recognition. Today, the article feels quaint — but usefully so, in that it documents just how new the ideas of the trans movement are to many straight cisgender Americans.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WEMsbh">
In many ways, the notion that 2014 was a “tipping point” for trans equality <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/whatever-happened-to-the-transgender-tipping-point">feels overly optimistic</a>. But there’s no doubt that there’s been significant progress since then as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T2oqY5">
In 2022, the journal <em>Public Opinion Quarterly</em><a href="https://academic.oup.com/poq/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/poq/nfac014/6581515?redirectedFrom=fulltext"> published an analysis</a> by five scholars examining data on trans people and trans issues in the same way that Baldassarri and Park studied gay issues. Examining “feelings thermometer” data between 2002 and 2020, in which respondents were asked to rate how warmly they feel toward trans people, the researchers document a clear positive trend — with nearly all of the increase happening between 2015 and 2020:
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TOxux6SpQsjJ-4CRlyE2-p_aoOs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24684872/Screen_Shot_2023_05_26_at_11.30.55_AM.png"/> <cite><a class="ql-link" href="https://academic.oup.com/poq/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/poq/nfac014/6581515?redirectedFrom=fulltext&amp;login=false" target="_blank">Lewis et al./Public Opinion Quarterly</a></cite>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sp6hO5">
Drilling down on that period, they also find a generally pro-trans trend on specific issues. “Support for allowing transgender people to serve openly in the military has increased from 52–54 percent in 2015 to 76 percent in 2020, reflecting a change from a relatively divided public to near consensus by 2020,” they write.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GvJEaB">
That said, the public is still more divided on trans issues than on gay and lesbian ones. A 2022 Pew survey found that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2022/06/28/americans-complex-views-on-gender-identity-and-transgender-issues/">majorities of Americans</a> say that whether one is a man or woman is determined by sex assigned at birth and oppose requiring that health insurance cover gender-affirmation care. A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/05/trans-poll-gop-politics-laws/">2023 Washington Post/KFF poll</a> found that a large majority supported anti-discrimination protections for trans individuals, but a (slightly smaller) majority also opposed trans women participating in women’s sports.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VCIIFd">
This is a climate rife for right-wing backlash.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yCrZJO">
The overall rapid trend toward trans inclusion and visibility generates the dual sense of vulnerability and threat that powers much of social conservative politics. And the fact that they are specific issues where the public is still seemingly on their side is seen as an opportunity by the anti-LGBTQ right to halt and even reverse the overall trend.
</p>
<h3 id="1CsVFs">
You can’t take the T out of LGBTQ
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6IO0zB">
The backlash against the trans movement’s challenge to traditional ideas has radicalized the right more broadly on sex and gender — making the post-<em>Obergefell</em> “religious liberty” arguments feel almost as quaint as the Time essay. Today, the right has gone on offense against not only trans identity but LGBTQ inclusion more broadly, as seen in policies like <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/15/22976868/dont-say-gay-florida-unconstitutional-ron-desantis-supreme-court-first-amendment-schools-parents">Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law</a> or attacks on <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/05/sometimes-a-onesie-is-just-a-onesie/">Kohl’s for selling a onesie with a Pride flag on it</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xRMI1x">
Matt Walsh, a Daily Wire podcast host and a leading advocate of boycotting LGBTQ-friendly countries, made that goal explicit in a recent <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1661333191951613952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">tweet</a>: “The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands. If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they’ll pay a price. It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3eI7ZE">
This development grows out of the sense of loss that Douthat gestured at, and not only on LGBTQ issues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fEa7IU">
In the past several years, the culture warrior right has developed a narrative of total isolation and cultural besiegement. From their point of view, the left controls the commanding heights of culture: the universities, Hollywood, the media, and even Fortune 500 companies. Increasingly, they claim, these institutions have been captured by a hostile “woke” ideology that won’t be happy with cultural detente — nothing less than stamping out conservative thinking on every cultural issue will do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uOxdeo">
The Catholic conservative Sohrab Ahmari put this thinking clearly <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/05/against-david-french-ism">in a 2019 essay</a>: “Progressives understand that culture war means discrediting their opponents and weakening or destroying their institutions. Conservatives should approach the culture war with a similar realism.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A9fcnQ">
In this increasingly influential line of right-wing thought, any expression of left-wing cultural values in public life is an example of wokeness’s assault on conservative values. Those conservatives who never really reconciled themselves to defeat in the marriage war now point to the trans campaign for acceptance as proof that the slope was in fact slippery — and that if wokeness as a whole is not defeated, the result will be the destruction of everything conservatives hold dear.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6glucd">
This is why the backlash against the “T” in LGBTQ was bound to consume the other letters as well: Conservatives see the increased visibility of the queer movement in general as a threat to their survival. The LGBTQ movement started this culture war, in the conservative mind; the new backlash against Pride Month and “woke corporations” is simply a defensive action.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FJXkbH">
“Pride was never such a controversial thing when it was gay men and lesbians,” the prominent right-wing commentator <a href="https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/1664738647839592449">Erick Erickson</a> tweeted. “Sure, there were issues, but no major public backlash till Pride also meant celebrating people with mental health disorders who bully those who disagree with them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HUgqED">
Erickson’s argument ignores both the right’s history of <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2005/history-anti-gay-movement-1977">anti-Pride agitprop</a> and <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/07/24/erick_erickson_agrees_the_%E2%80%9Chomosexual_movement_is_%E2%80%A6_destroying_america%E2%80%9D/">the author’s own long record of homophobia</a>. His tweet was widely mocked by Twitter liberals. But Erickson’s fellow conservatives thought he had a point.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iVIVOR">
Pride events “were more commonly ignored before the 1-2 punch of pervasive corporate propaganda with transgender politics,” <a href="https://twitter.com/baseballcrank/status/1666140847610404866">writes National Review’s Dan McLaughlin</a>. “15 years ago, the average American might associate gay pride events with a parade in the Village, not their employer, their church, and the State Department flying the rainbow flag.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b20jbp">
This fear of “woke” conquest of American institutions doesn’t just explain the motivation behind the right’s increasing anti-LGBTQ politics — it also explains their theory of victory.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vpCk92">
In their view, left-wing beliefs about sex and gender are not deeply and authentically held by a majority of Americans. Instead, their rise is the result of manipulation by cultural gatekeepers — nefarious woke elites indoctrinating the country into thinking things that are immoral are not. If Middle America can be aroused from its slumber, the anti-woke right believes, America can return to a time where queer identity is rightly consigned to the shadows.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eEwiia">
“Regular people care greatly about the society their children are inheriting. That’s a concern that cuts to [the] deepest part of their soul. They are terrified that their children will be destroyed by our degenerate culture,” as <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1661831561635831826">Walsh puts it</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1fHXry">
Certainly, the boycott campaigns have had <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/05/30/2023/pride-month-is-a-war-brands-are-the-battlefield?ref=upstract.com">startling success in punishing corporations</a>. And the anti-LGBTQ turn on the right has influenced the legislative agenda in Republican-controlled states like Florida, with <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/11/1172589936/as-conservative-states-target-trans-rights-a-florida-teen-flees-for-a-better-lif">significant consequences for real people’s lives</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pow7ah">
But recent data suggests the broader goal of changing minds, of reversing grassroots support for LGBTQ inclusion, will be a much tougher lift.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OrGM19">
An <a href="https://www.thirdway.org/memo/gop-attacks-on-transgender-kids-fell-flat">analysis of data on the 2022 midterms by Third Way</a>, a centrist Democratic think tank, found that Republican candidates for statewide office who spent heavily on anti-trans campaign ads in 2022 underperformed those who focused on other issues. This is in part because trans issues were a<a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Navigator-Post-Election-Survey-Release-11.16.2022.pdf"> low priority for the electorate</a> compared to issues like inflation, crime, immigration, and abortion — classic areas of persistent partisan conflict.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vNO1pC">
And this is because progress on LGBTQ issues is not, at root, an artifact of a handful of progressive elites forcing their ideas on everyone else, but the result of incremental and bottom-up cultural change: individual LGBTQ people changing the minds of people in their own lives. Corporations like Bud Light are not pioneers working to impose “wokeness” on America: They are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/25/target-pulls-lgbtq-clothing-right-wing-maga/">late movers responding to a new pro-LGBTQ consensus</a> that’s reflected in their sales and marketing research.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A sign reading “Love Wins” at the Queens Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival on June 4, 2023." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WNjJYYQfclIJBMQgj5XA-dDDhxE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24708986/1258460890.jpg"/> <cite>Theodore Parisienne/NY Daily News/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A sign at the Queens Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival on June 4, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6LTmuP">
A majority of Americans <a href="https://navigatorresearch.org/americans-are-concerned-by-elected-officials-using-wokeness-as-a-distraction/">already believe</a> that Republicans talk too much about “wokeness,” with some of the right’s hobbyhorses — like <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2022/12/10/23496712/esg-gop-climate-corporate-responsibility">ESG</a>, a kind of socially conscious investing practice — <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/506171/esg-not-making-waves-american-public.aspx">scarcely registering with the general public</a>. When politicians like Ron DeSantis take up the banner, their language — peppered with anti-woke jargon about “gender ideology” and “ESG” — <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23736786/ron-desantis-2024-presidential-run">feels out of step </a>with where the electorate is.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jsEE32">
We find ourselves in a strange and worrying political moment, where one of our two political parties has become consumed by anti-LGBTQ fervor, even as signs point to that position’s weakness in our culture and politics. Extremism has become normalized, and not just in Ted Cruz’s comment section. At the March Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in DC, arguably the leading conservative movement event of the year, prominent anti-gay commentator Michael Knowles proclaimed that “transgenderism must be eradicated” — <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/daily-wires-michael-knowles-transgenderism-must-be-eradicated-public-life-entirely">to sustained applause</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lOwODn">
But as dangerous as this new anti-LGBTQ right is, there are real political costs to living in a fantasy world — one where LGBTQ inclusion is seen as the result of a plot against America rather than authentic social change. While the backlash has been ugly and troubling, and the harms real and consequential, the long history of public opinion on LGBTQ rights should give some reason to think the bill may come due for the GOP sooner rather than later.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Boris Johnson’s out, and the Tories are at war</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bHlvm3WVvtaj8YK8ZULKMLeo8xI=/917x0:8256x5504/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72358995/GettyImages_1492662127.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The former prime minister has resigned as a member of Parliament, throwing his own party into chaos.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QpMbwf">
On Friday, June 9, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned as a member of Parliament just after learning that an investigation into his flouting of Covid-19 rules while he was in office would result in sanctions for the legislator.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r60Pt6">
Johnson’s announcement represents a stunning fall from grace for the populist leader elected in a 2019 landslide to “get <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2018/10/5/17879068/brexit-uk-eu-theresa-may-deal">Brexit</a> done.” It’s also created further turmoil in his Conservative party, already beset by chaos in the wake of Johnson’s<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-queen-elizabeth-accepts-boris-johnsons-resignation-prime-minister-2022-09-06/"> resignation as prime minister last September</a>. Though the government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hasn’t suffered the scandals of Johnson and his <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/18/23409881/united-kingdom-liz-truss-trussonomics-political-crisis-explained">immediate successor Liz Truss’</a>s tenures, the Tory party is widely unpopular, which is likely to affect the by-elections Johnson’s exit will trigger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ZKh97">
Johnson announced his resignation shortly after receiving a confidential report by the House of Commons Committee of Privileges investigating whether Johnson had lied to Parliament regarding the series of gatherings the then-prime minister and some of his staffers attended while the rest of the UK was in strict lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="59U6HE">
In his<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/09/it-is-sad-to-be-leaving-for-now-boris-johnsons-resignation-statement-in-full#:~:text=It%20is%20very%20sad%20to,Harman%2C%20with%20such%20egregious%20bias."> resignation statement</a> Friday, Johnson called the inquiry “a kangaroo court” and said that the committee had “not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons” over what was quickly dubbed “Partygate.” Johnson also implied that the committee was attempting to push him out of Parliament, saying, “Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tE527E">
Johnson allies<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/09/nadine-dorries-stands-down-as-mp-with-immediate-effect"> Nadine Dorries</a> and<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-conservative-lawmaker-adams-quits-triggering-new-by-election-2023-06-10/"> Nigel Adams</a> announced their resignations from Parliament with immediate effect shortly after the former prime minister. Dorries had previously stated that she did not plan to stand in the next general elections but moved her departure up following Johnson’s resignation. Adams, too, resigned in the wake of Johnson’s departure — meaning the government will have to hold at least three by-elections for the seats vacated by Johnson and his close allies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ETI6N">
Though Johnson’s exit from Parliament is not as imminently cataclysmic as his resignation as the leader of the party last year, it makes clear the internal divisions among Tories, further endangering an already-unpopular party ahead of general elections likely to take place next year. Such dissent in the ranks undermines Sunak’s authority even as he attempts to restore the UK’s status on the world stage.
</p>
<h3 id="II0MNw">
The Conservative party’s chaotic year has just gotten worse
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vv9b6V">
The investigation into whether Johnson lied to Parliament regarding his actions during lockdown has not yet been made public; the committee will meet Monday, June 12, and is expected to release the report in the following days. The<a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/289/committee-of-privileges/membership/"> committee</a>, made up of four Conservative MPs, two Labour MPs, and one member of the Scottish National Party,<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-british-leader-boris-johnson-quits-as-lawmaker-ahead-of-partygate-report-767a4baa"> could have recommended Johnson be suspended from Parliament for 10 working days</a>, which then could have triggered a by-election in Johnson’s Uxbridge district — which some experts say <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/04/if-the-tories-lose-the-next-election-boris-johnson-wont-be-the-man-they-turn-to">he might have lost</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lEjwZN">
Johnson stepped down as Prime Minister last July after a<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9702785/#:~:text=In%20July%202022%2C%20an%20unprecedented,the%20second%20minister%20to%20resign."> mass resignation of his cabinet ministers</a> —<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/world/europe/boris-johnson-cabinet-resignations.html"> including Sunak</a>, who at the time was the chancellor of the exchequer (effectively, the government’s chief financial minister, responsible for taxation). In all, 62 ministers quit Johnson’s government after a series of scandals, including sexual assault allegations against ally<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/05/world/johnson-cabinet-resignations/chris-pincher-boris-johnson?smid=url-share"> Chris Pincher</a>, forcing Pincher to resign and finally leave office in September.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vrE61b">
In June 2022, Johnson had<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/06/world/uk-boris-johnson-no-confidence"> survived a no-confidence vote</a> triggered by the Tories over lockdown partying in defiance of the government’s Covid-19 restrictions. Though he held on to his job for the next month, the vote revealed just how little confidence Johnson’s party had in him and how polarized the party had become since its resounding victory in the 2019 general elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8LtwrY">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/18/23409881/united-kingdom-liz-truss-trussonomics-political-crisis-explained">Liz Truss</a>, Johnson’s former foreign minister, succeeded him. She lasted only six weeks and, during her tenure,<a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-liz-truss-tories-least-popular-pm/"> became the least popular prime minister in the history of polling</a> after her and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s economic plan nearly tanked the British economy. As<a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/18/23409881/united-kingdom-liz-truss-trussonomics-political-crisis-explained"> Vox</a> reported at the time of Truss’s resignation:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iBbJUk">
On September 23, Truss’s former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng<strong> </strong>introduced the UK’s biggest tax cuts in 50 years, estimated at <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-09-26/uk-financial-markets-rebuke-liz-truss-and-her-mini-budget">about 45 billion pounds over five years</a>. The following Monday, investors soundly rejected the new economic plan, dubbed “Trussonomics” in reference to Reaganomics, the supply-side economic policies passed under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Global markets responded to the policy by selling off UK-backed assets and pushing the UK’s currency, the pound, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/business/economy/uk-pound-history.html">to a valuation of $1.03</a>, its lowest-ever value against the dollar, before it inched up later in the week.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rxo536">
Sunak took over for Truss; after the chaos of his two immediate predecessors, Sunak was seen as a technocrat who could right the ship and carry the Tories to the next<a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/"> general election</a>, which must be<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62064552"> held by January 2025</a>. Sunak has indeed managed to at least<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/world/europe/uk-eu-sunak-brexit.html"> project stability and competence</a>, <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/europe/united-kingdom-hopes-mend-fences-europe">particularly as a world leader</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PxogCk">
“The best you can say for Sunak is that by these resignations and by-elections, he’s losing people inside the parliamentary party who were difficult inside his own party,” according to Tony Travers, a visiting professor in the department of government at the London School of Economics. “But that’s the smallest crumb of comfort, I think, in the big scheme of things because his authority is damaged.”
</p>
<h3 id="xe1hNV">
The Tories’ days in power are numbered
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YmE0KZ">
Following Johnson’s multiple crises and scandals and Truss’s brief and bizarre leadership, <a href="https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/ucvymdvyii/YG%20trackers%20-%20Voting%20Intention%20since%20GE%202019_W.pdf">Tories have tanked in polls</a>. In May, the party lost about 1,000 seats in local elections, giving Labour its largest majority in local governments since 2002, as<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/05/rishi-sunak-under-pressure-dire-tory-losses-leadership-threats"> the Guardian reported at the time</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tzGnnX">
Though that alone doesn’t necessarily forecast a Labour win in the next general election, the combination of the Tories’ unpopularity, a serious cost-of-living crisis, and the very real rift between Johnson’s wing of the party and more traditional Tories could very well turn voters away..
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6J5rYN">
Sunak himself is not overwhelmingly popular; a<a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Rishi_Sunak"> YouGov tracker</a> of conservative politicians’ popularity puts him at 25 percent, behind Johnson and former Prime Minister Theresa May. He’s struggled to implement his<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/world/europe/rishi-sunak-britain.html"> five pledges</a>, including delivering on immigration and improving the National Health Service, which has suffered after years of austerity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cUGRTq">
“One of the problems for Sunak is that his party is so all over the place that, on a whole range of issues, if he goes one way, he’ll alienate a bunch of them and if he goes another, he’ll alienate another bunch,” Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at London’s Institute for Government,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/world/europe/rishi-sunak-britain.html"> told the New York Times</a> in January after Sunak announced his plan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tlYT6h">
Sunak’s challenges, combined with the Tories’ established unpopularity, doesn’t bode well for the next general elections; in <a href="https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/ucvymdvyii/YG%20trackers%20-%20Voting%20Intention%20since%20GE%202019_W.pdf">a recent survey on voting intentions</a>, Labour had a 19-point lead over the Tories.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9sh9hA">
In the short term, the Tories will have to contend with the three by-elections for Johnson’s, Dorries’, and Adams’ seats — all seemingly coordinated, Travers said, to cause maximum damage to Sunak and the party.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YJ8S5H">
“By-elections in the UK are famously prone to massive swings and shifts of opinion, so almost any seat becomes a potentially loseable one in the middle of this kind of crisis for a political party,” he told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b1fmK6">
Johnson hinted that he might return to the political stage in his resignation letter — perhaps running in a less contentious seat than in the London-area constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where he has only a slim majority. While Johnson is nowhere near as popular as he was in 2019, he still has a core of supporters within Parliament and within the party membership. It’s unlikely he’d make it back to the UK’s highest office, but in the meantime, he can continue to direct attention to himself, to Sunak’s detriment, Travers said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yQ0zPK">
“[Sunak will] find himself, every time he’s visiting President Biden or President Macron or President Zelenskyy or whoever it is, and being seen as a player on the world stage and sorting out some of the messes he’s inherited, up will pop Boris Johnson with some new element in the psychodrama there. And that’s the problem, it looks like a rumbling civil war, which indeed it is.”
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>MRF National racing: Tanveer rides to a delightful double on dirt track</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>WTC final 2023 | Australia crush India by 209 runs to win World Test Championship title</strong> - Australia becomes the second team after New Zealand to win the Mace; second consecutive defeat for India in WTC finals</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>Badminton | Ashmita, Ravi win Maldives International Challenge</strong> - Third-seeded Ashmita defeated fellow Indian Tasnim Mir by scores of 19-21, 21-17, and 21-11 after coming back from a game behind</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>WTC final | All eyes on Virat Kohli to create history for India</strong> - India’s run machine, on the fourth day of the WTC final, joined an elite list as he became the fifth Indian batter to score more than 2000 runs against Australia.</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>ACC could accept PCB’s ‘hybrid model’ for Asia Cup, Pakistan team set to travel to India for WC</strong> - India will probably play Pakistan in Ahmedabad in the World Cup. Pakistan’s remaining matches could be held in Chennai and Hyderabad</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>De-reserving of forest land: Government plans joint survey by Forests and Revenue Departments to find solution</strong> - The de-reserving of forest land has been a huge problem for successive governments because Column 9 of the RTC will have the characteristic of the land in question as forest.</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 CM seeks land in Srinagar for ‘Maharashtra Bhavan’</strong> - Eknath Shinde handed over a letter to the Lieutenant Governor in Srinagar stating that Maharashtra Bhavan would promote cultural exchange and collaboration to boost the economy through tourism activities</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>Lalu celebrates his birthday with family, friends and party workers</strong> - The RJD celebrated the its supremo’s birthday as ‘Samajik Nyay, Samajik Sabhav Diwas’ — a day of social justice and social harmony</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>People’s trust ‘biggest asset for me’, will not back down on demands: Sachin Pilot</strong> - “God gives the biggest justice and if not today, then tomorrow justice will be done,” said Mr. Pilot, who has been engaged in a power tussle with Gehlot since the Congress formed government in the state in 2018.</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>No drinking water, no toilets, faraway school: Villagers of Belagalu tell a tale of neglect</strong> - Residents of this hamlet in Shivamogga live without the most basic facilities like drinking water, electricity, toilets, transport, school, anganwadi centre among others</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>Ukraine counter-offensive actions have begun, Zelensky says</strong> - Ukraine’s president refused to say which stage the counter-offensive against Russian forces was in.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukrainians remember Bakhmut, city of salt and sparkling wine</strong> - Residents share memories of their city, before its destruction in Russia’s full-scale invasion.</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>Annecy stabbings suspect held over attempted murders</strong> - Four children and two adults were attacked in a park in France’s Alpine region on Thursday.</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>Dragos Tigau: Romania recalls Kenya ambassador over racist monkey slur</strong> - Dragos Tigau made a racist comment at a meeting in April but has only now been disciplined.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine dam: The friends who escaped Russian occupation in Kherson floods</strong> - Maryna and Valentyna found themselves trapped on the Dnipro River when Russia invaded last year.</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>Why we’re “interviewing” captive birds to find the best to release into the wild</strong> - Experiments with the endangered Bali myna showed some birds are bolder than others. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1946718">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here’s a rough estimate of how many people recent SCOTUS rulings might kill</strong> - In addition to deaths, the decisions will lead to significant morbidity. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1946895">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Acer reportedly sent Russia $70M in PC gear after saying it paused business there</strong> - Reuters says Acer used Swiss subsidiary to send Russia “at least” 744 shipments. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1946819">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Researchers discover that ChatGPT prefers repeating 25 jokes over and over</strong> - When tested, “Over 90% of 1,008 generated jokes were the same 25 jokes.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1946662">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Musk on path to turn Twitter into the next MySpace or Yahoo, co-founder suggests</strong> - Ev Williams: Generally, “the new thing does not come from the old thing.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1946831">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A mother was walking down the hall when she heard a humming sound coming from her daughter’s bedroom. When she opened the door she found her daughter naked on the bed with a vibrator.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
What are you doing?" she exclaimed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The daughter replied, “I’m 35 and still living at home with my parents and this is the closest I’ll ever get to a husband.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later that week the father was in the kitchen and heard a humming sound coming from the basement. When he went downstairs, he found his daughter naked on the sofa with her vibrator.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The daughter replied, “I’m 35 and still living at home with my parents and this is the closest I’ll ever get to a husband.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A couple of days later the mother heard the humming sound again, this time in the living room. NO, not in the living room, she said to herself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Instead, she found her husband watching the Super Bowl on television with the vibrator buzzing away beside him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Watching the game with my son-in-law.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1469hkw/a_mother_was_walking_down_the_hall_when_she_heard/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1469hkw/a_mother_was_walking_down_the_hall_when_she_heard/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>At the bar last night a girl got her nipple pierced right in front of everyone</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I really suck at darts
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<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/146j5x2/at_the_bar_last_night_a_girl_got_her_nipple/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/146j5x2/at_the_bar_last_night_a_girl_got_her_nipple/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lois lane was lying in her deathbed, with her husband Clark Kent beside her</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After some time, Lois said “Darling, I have to confess something. Years ago, I had an affair with Superman. It was only one night, but I’ve regretted it ever since. I hope you can forgive me.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“You don’t need to worry about that because,” Clark said as he took off his glasses, “I am Superman! Even if you didn’t know it was me, in my eyes you were always faithful.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Oh thank God!” said Lois. “ I can’t tell you what a weight that is off my chest.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Glad we cleared that up,” said Clark.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“So I guess this means you were Batman too.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bubbly_Toe_8840"> /u/Bubbly_Toe_8840 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/146azzn/lois_lane_was_lying_in_her_deathbed_with_her/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/146azzn/lois_lane_was_lying_in_her_deathbed_with_her/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man in an interrogation room says “I’m not saying a word without my lawyer present.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: You are the lawyer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Lawyer: Exactly, so where’s my present?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14614lh/a_man_in_an_interrogation_room_says_im_not_saying/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14614lh/a_man_in_an_interrogation_room_says_im_not_saying/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Who’s the most popular guy at the nudist colony?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
the one who can carry 2 cups of coffee and a dozen donuts.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ok_Cicada_2197"> /u/Ok_Cicada_2197 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/146gyvn/whos_the_most_popular_guy_at_the_nudist_colony/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/146gyvn/whos_the_most_popular_guy_at_the_nudist_colony/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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