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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>IL-10 suppresses T cell expansion while promoting tissue-resident memory cell formation during SARS-CoV-2 infection in rhesus macaques</strong> -
<div>
The pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways that determine the balance of inflammation and viral control during SARS-CoV-2 infection are not well understood. Here we examine the roles of IFN{gamma} and IL-10 in regulating inflammation, immune cell responses and viral replication during SARS-CoV-2 infection of rhesus macaques. IFN{gamma} blockade tended to decrease lung inflammation based on 18FDG-PET/CT imaging but had no major impact on innate lymphocytes, neutralizing antibodies, or antigen-specific T cells. In contrast, IL-10 blockade transiently increased lung inflammation and enhanced accumulation of virus-specific T cells in the lower airways. However, IL-10 blockade also inhibited the differentiation of virus-specific T cells into airway CD69+CD103+ TRM cells. While virus-specific T cells were undetectable in the nasal mucosa of all groups, IL-10 blockade similarly reduced the frequency of total TRM cells in the nasal mucosa. Neither cytokine blockade substantially affected viral load and infection ultimately resolved. Thus, in the macaque model of mild COVID-19, the pro- and anti-inflammatory effects of IFN{gamma} and IL-10 have no major role in control of viral replication. However, IL-10 has a key role in suppressing the accumulation of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in the lower airways, while also promoting TRM at respiratory mucosal surfaces.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.13.507852v1" target="_blank">IL-10 suppresses T cell expansion while promoting tissue-resident memory cell formation during SARS-CoV-2 infection in rhesus macaques</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Does Vaping Increase the Likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 Infection? Paradoxically Yes and No</strong> -
<div>
Data on the relationship between electronic cigarettes (ECs) and SARS-CoV-2 infection are limited and contradictory. Evidence indicates that EC aerosols or nicotine increase ACE2, SARS-CoV-2 virus receptors, which increase virus binding and susceptibility. Our objectives were to determine if EC aerosols increased SARS-CoV-2 infection of human bronchial epithelial cells and to identify the causative chemical(s). A 3D organotypic model (EpiAirway) in conjunction with air liquid interface (ALI) exposure was used to test the effects of aerosols produced from JUUL Virginia Tobacco and BLU ECs, or individual chemicals (nicotine, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin (PG/VG), and benzoic acid) on infection using SARS-CoV-2 pseudoparticles. Exposure of EpiAirway to JUUL aerosols increased ACE2, while BLU and lab-made EC aerosols containing nicotine increased ACE2 levels and TMPRSS2 activity, a spike protease that enables viral-cell fusion. Pseudoparticle infection of EpiAirway increased with aerosols produced from PG/VG, PG/VG plus nicotine, or BLU ECs. JUUL EC aerosols did not increase infection above controls. The baseline level of infection in JUUL treated aerosol groups was attributed to benzoic acid, which mitigated the enhanced infection caused by PG/VG or nicotine. The benzoic acid protection from enhanced infection continued at least 48 hours after exposure. TMPRSS2 activity was significantly correlated with e-liquid pH, which in turn was significantly correlated with infection, with lower pH blocking PG/VG and nicotine-induced-enhanced infection. While ACE2 levels increased in EpiAirway tissues exposed to EC aerosols, infection depended on the ingredients of the e-liquids. PG/VG and nicotine enhanced infection, an effect that was mitigated by benzoic acid.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.09.507373v1" target="_blank">Does Vaping Increase the Likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 Infection? Paradoxically Yes and No</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Monitoring correlates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell culture using two-photon microscopy and a novel fluorescent calcium-sensitive dye</strong> -
<div>
The organism-wide effects of viral infection SARS-CoV-2 are well studied, but little is known about the dynamics of how the infection spreads in time among or within cells due to the scarcity of suitable high-resolution experimental systems. Two-photon (2P) imaging combined with a proper subcellular staining technique has been an effective tool for studying mechanisms at such resolutions and organelle levels. Herein, we report the development of a novel calcium sensor molecule along with a 2P-technique for identifying imaging patterns associated with cellular correlates of infection damage within the cells. The method works as a cell viability assay and also provides valuable information on how the calcium level and intracellular distribution are perturbed by the virus. Moreover, it allows the quantitative analysis of infection dynamics. This novel approach facilitates the study of the infection progression and the quantification of the effects caused by viral variants and viral load.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.506773v1" target="_blank">Monitoring correlates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell culture using two-photon microscopy and a novel fluorescent calcium-sensitive dye</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Bivalent SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines increase breadth of neutralization and protect against the BA.5 Omicron variant</strong> -
<div>
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the Omicron lineage with large number of substitutions in the spike protein that can evade antibody neutralization has resulted in diminished vaccine efficacy and persistent transmission. One strategy to broaden vaccine-induced immunity is to administer bivalent vaccines that encode for spike proteins from both historical and newly-emerged variant strains. Here, we evaluated the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of two bivalent vaccines that recently were authorized for use in Europe and the United States and contain two mRNAs encoding Wuhan-1 and either BA.1 (mRNA-1273.214) or BA.4/5 (mRNA-1273.222) spike proteins. As a primary immunization series in BALB/c mice, both bivalent vaccines induced broader neutralizing antibody responses than the constituent monovalent vaccines (mRNA-1273 [Wuhan-1], mRNA-1273.529 [BA.1], and mRNA-1273-045 [BA.4/5]). When administered to K18-hACE2 transgenic mice as a booster at 7 months after the primary vaccination series with mRNA-1273, the bivalent vaccines induced greater breadth and magnitude of neutralizing antibodies compared to an mRNA-1273 booster. Moreover, the response in bivalent vaccine-boosted mice was associated with increased protection against BA.5 infection and inflammation in the lung. Thus, boosting with bivalent Omicron-based mRNA-1273.214 or mRNA-1273.222 vaccines enhances immunogenicity and protection against currently circulating SARS-CoV-2 strains.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.507614v1" target="_blank">Bivalent SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines increase breadth of neutralization and protect against the BA.5 Omicron variant</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Humoral immunogenicity of a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) DNA Vaccine in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) Delivered using Needle-free Jet Injection</strong> -
<div>
A SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine targeting the spike protein and delivered by jet injection, nCOV-S(JET), previously shown to protect wild-type and immunosuppressed Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), was evaluated via two needle-free delivery methods in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). The methods included intramuscular delivery of 2 mg per vaccination with the PharmaJet Stratis device and intradermal delivery of 0.4 mg per vaccination with the PharmaJet Tropis device. We hypothesized that the nCOV-S(JET) vaccine would mount detectable neutralizing antibody responses when delivered by needle-free jet injection by either the intradermal or intramuscular route. When delivered intramuscularly, the vaccines elicited neutralizing and variant (Beta, Gamma, and Delta) cross-neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in all six animals after three vaccinations. When delivered at a lower dose by the intradermal route, strong neutralizing antibody responses were only detected in two of six animals. This study confirms that a vaccine previously shown to protect in a hamster model can elicit neutralizing and cross-neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates. We posit that nCOV-S(JET) has the potential for use as booster vaccine in heterologous vaccination strategies against COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.507647v1" target="_blank">Humoral immunogenicity of a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) DNA Vaccine in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) Delivered using Needle-free Jet Injection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Comparative multi-OMICS single-cell atlas of five COVID-19 (rAdVV and mRNA) vaccines describe unique and distinct mechanisms of action</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 vaccines based on a range of expression platforms have shown considerable protective efficacy, generating antibody and T cell immune responses. However, molecular pathways underpinning the COVID-19 vaccine priming of immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus have not yet been explored extensively. This analysis is critical to the optimization of future vaccination strategies, schedules, and combinations. Thus, we investigated a cohort of individuals pre- and post-vaccination to understand the humoral and cellular immune response against different COVID-19 vaccines, including recombinant adenoviral vector (rAdVV) and mRNA-based vaccines. Single-cell RNA sequencing allowed characterization of monocytes, T, NK and B cell activation at the transcriptomics/proteomic level, in response to different COVID-19 vaccines. Our data revealed that different COVID-19 vaccines elicit a unique and distinct mechanism of action. Specifically, we revealed that rAdVV vaccines negatively regulate CD4+ T cell activation, leukocytes chemotaxis, IL-18 signalling and antigen presentation by monocytes whilst mRNA vaccines positively regulate NKT cell activation, platelets activation and chemokine signalling pathways. An antigen-specific T cell response was already observed following the 1st vaccine dose and was not further augmented after the subsequent 2nd dose of the same vaccine and it was dependent on the type of vaccination used. Our integrated three layered-analyses highlights that COVID-19 vaccines evoke a strong but divergent immune response at the RNA, protein, and cellular levels. Our approach is able to pinpoint efficacy and mechanisms controlling immunity to vaccination and open the door for better vaccination which could induce innate and adaptive immunity equally in the long term.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.507666v1" target="_blank">Comparative multi-OMICS single-cell atlas of five COVID-19 (rAdVV and mRNA) vaccines describe unique and distinct mechanisms of action</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Evaluation of endogenous and therapeutic 25-hydroxycholesterols in murine models of pulmonary SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> -
<div>
Oxysterols (i.e., oxidized cholesterol species) have complex roles in biology. 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC), a product of activity of cholesterol-25-hydroxylase (CH25H) upon cholesterol, has recently been shown to be broadly antiviral, suggesting therapeutic potential against SARS-CoV-2. However, 25HC can also amplify inflammation and tissue injury and be converted by CYP7B1 to 7,25HC, a lipid with chemoattractant activity via the G protein-coupled receptor, EBI2/GPR183. Here, using in vitro studies and two different murine models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we investigate the effects of these two oxysterols on SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. We show that while 25HC and enantiomeric-25HC are antiviral in vitro against human endemic coronavirus-229E, they did not inhibit SARS-CoV-2; nor did supplemental 25HC reduce pulmonary SARS-CoV-2 titers in the K18-human ACE2 mouse model in vivo. 25HC treatment also did not alter immune cell influx into the airway, airspace cytokines, lung pathology, weight loss, symptoms, or survival but was associated with increased airspace albumin, an indicator of microvascular injury, and increased plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines. Conversely, mice treated with the EBI2/GPR183 inhibitor NIBR189 displayed a modest increase in lung viral load only at late time points, but no change in weight loss. Consistent with these findings, although Ch25h was upregulated in the lungs of SARS-CoV-2-infected WT mice, lung viral titers and weight loss in Ch25h-/- and Gpr183-/- mice infected with the beta variant were similar to control animals. Taken together, endogenous 25-hydroxycholesterols do not significantly regulate early SARS-CoV-2 replication or pathogenesis and supplemental 25HC may have pro-injury rather than therapeutic effects in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.507671v1" target="_blank">Evaluation of endogenous and therapeutic 25-hydroxycholesterols in murine models of pulmonary SARS-CoV-2 infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A general theory for infectious disease dynamics.</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We present a general theory of infection spreading, which directly follows from conservation laws and takes as inputs the probability density functions of latent times. The derivation of the theory substantially differs from Kermack and McKendrick (1927) argument, which instead was based on the concept of removal rates. We demonstrate the formal equivalence of the two approaches, but our theory provides a clear interpretation of the kernels of the integro-differential governing the infection spreading in terms of survival function of the latent times distributions. This aspect was never captured before. Real distributions of latent times can be, then, employed, thus overcoming the limitations of standard SIR, SEIR and other similar models, which implicitly make use of exponential or exponential-related distributions. SIR and SEIR-type models are, in fact, a subclass of the theory here presented. We show that beside the infection rate ν, the joint probability density function p_{EI}(τ,τ₁) of latent times in the exposed and infectious compartments governs the infection spreading. Assuming that the number of infected individuals is negligibile compare to the entire population, we where able to study the stability of the dynamical system and provide the general solution of equations in terms characteristic functions of the probability distribution of latent times. We present asymptotic solutions for the case R₀=1 and demostrate that the moments of the latent times distribution govern the rate of disease spreading in this case. The present theory is employed to simulate the diffusion of COVID-19 infection in Italy during the first 120 days. The estimated value of the basic reproduction number is R₀≈3.5, in very good agreement with existing data.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.22278744v1" target="_blank">A general theory for infectious disease dynamics.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Subjective assessment and taste strips testing of gustatory function, at home, and in the lab</strong> -
<div>
Gustatory ability is an important marker of health status, including COVID-19 disease. We compare self-reporting with home and lab psychophysical “taste strips” tests in healthy subjects. The taste test consisted of paper strips impregnated with sweet, bitter, salty, or sour tastants, and with the trigeminal stimulus capsaicin, each in high and in low concentration. The test was carried out either in a controlled lab environment (74 participants, 47 women) with the strips being administered by the experimenter or self-administered by the participants at home (77 participants, 59 women). After self-reporting their subjective assessment of chemosensory ability, the participant identified the taste of each strip and rated intensity and pleasantness. Identification score, intensity, and pleasantness averaged over the 8 taste strips were similar between the lab and the home-administered tests. Self-rated taste ability did not correlate with any of these scores, but strongly correlated with self-rated smell ability in the lab group (r=0.73), and moderately correlated in the home group (r=0.51). Taste identification correlated with intensity ratings (r=0.63 lab, r=0.36 home) but not with the pleasantness ratings (r=-0.14 lab, r=0.1 home). The results of the taste strips test were similar in the lab and at home for healthy young participants and provide a baseline against which taste tests can be compared in future applications.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.11.507407v1" target="_blank">Subjective assessment and taste strips testing of gustatory function, at home, and in the lab</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Data-driven multiscale dynamical framework to control a pandemic evolution with non-pharmaceutical interventions</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Before the availability of vaccines, many countries have resorted multiple times to drastic social restrictions to prevent saturation of their health care system, and to regain control over an otherwise exponentially increasing COVID-19 pandemic. With the advent of data-sharing, computational approaches are key to efficiently control a pandemic with non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Here we develop a data-driven computational framework based on a time discrete and age-stratified compartmental model to control a pandemic evolution inside and outside hospitals in a constantly changing environment with NPIs. Besides the calendrical time, we introduce a second time-scale for the infection history, which allows for non-exponential transition probabilities. We develop inference methods and feedback procedures to successively recalibrate model parameters as new data becomes available. As a showcase, we calibrate the framework to study the pandemic evolution inside and outside hospitals in France until February 2021. We combine national hospitalization statistics from governmental websites with clinical data from a single hospital to calibrate hospitalization parameters. We infer changes in social contact matrices as a function of NPIs from positive testing and new hospitalization data. We use simulations to infer hidden pandemic properties such as the fraction of infected population, the hospitalisation probability, or the infection fatality ratio. We show how reproduction numbers and herd immunity levels depend on the underlying social dynamics.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21260870v3" target="_blank">Data-driven multiscale dynamical framework to control a pandemic evolution with non-pharmaceutical interventions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Role of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for the Mental Health Consequences of Widowhood during the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Spousal loss is associated with immediate declines in mental health. However, the mental health consequences of widowhood during the Covid-19 pandemic have remained largely unexplored. In this research note, we use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe and fixed effects regression modelling to address three research questions: (1) How has the mental health of older adults changed across time in 10 European countries? (2) Do the surviving spouses of persons who died during the pandemic face greater declines in mental health compared to adults widowed prior to the pandemic? (3) To what extent did the strictness of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) moderate the pandemic widowhood penalty for mental health? We found that feelings of depression increased dramatically for those widowed during the pandemic compared to widowed adults prior to the pandemic. In addition, the pandemic widowhood penalty does not apply to all those who lost their partners during the pandemic, but only to those who lost their partner during periods when strict NPIs were being enforced by governments. Our findings support that notion that the Covid-19 pandemic and strict NPIs exacerbated risk factors and hindered protective factors that affect older adults’ resilience to spousal death.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/2rc5s/" target="_blank">The Role of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions for the Mental Health Consequences of Widowhood during the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Phenotypic plasticity and the anthropause: an urban bird becomes less aggressive</strong> -
<div>
Urban areas often impose strong, novel selection pressures on wildlife. Phenotypic plasticity is an important mechanism helping organisms establish populations in novel environments. Phenotypic plasticity can be difficult to study in urban wildlife because many urban environmental variables are challenging to isolate and manipulate experimentally. We took advantage of the COVID-19 lockdowns to assess whether urban birds expressed aggression differently when relieved from frequent encounters with humans. We measured the territorial aggression responses of resident dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) on an urban college campus in Los Angeles, USA. We found that the population overall displayed significantly reduced aggression in pandemic year 2021 compared to the typical year 2019. Furthermore, individuals measured in both 2019 and 2021 showed significantly reduced aggression during 2021, demonstrating that individual birds maintain phenotypic plasticity in this trait. Our results show that human disturbance likely has a significant effect on the aggressive behavior of urban birds.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.12.507677v1" target="_blank">Phenotypic plasticity and the anthropause: an urban bird becomes less aggressive</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Four points regarding reproducibility and external statistical validity: a comment on Walter et al.</strong> -
<div>
Walter et al. (2021) present phase 1–2–3 trial data that show two doses of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer–BioN-Tech) Covid-19 vaccine were safe and effective in children aged 5–11 years. Given that millions of children in this age group are receiving the paediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, that there are potential risks, and that the balance of benefits over potential risks is more limited in children compared to adults due to low rates of serious disease (ATAGI 2021), gold standards ought to be applied to supporting data in terms of placebo-controlled disease endpoint efficacy trials, safety databases large enough to detect adverse events, and appropriate data sharing to enable reproduction and scrutiny of results. Four points are worthy of attention regarding the reproducibility and external statistical validity of the analysis reported in Walter et al. (2021). ‘External validity’ refers to the extent to which conclusions drawn from the data (and statistical tests thereof) are likely to correspond to, or be generalisable to, the real world (Campbell 1957). ‘Reproducibility’ refers to the ability of independent researchers to draw the same conclusions from the data (Kass et al. 2016).
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/fswz5/" target="_blank">Four points regarding reproducibility and external statistical validity: a comment on Walter et al.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutation Explorer: Using an Interactive Application to Improve the Public Understanding of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 is the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and has resulted in millions of death globally. The need to understand the pandemic means that detailed descriptions of features of this virus are now of interest to non-expert audiences. In particular, there has been much public interest in the spike protein that protrudes from the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. The spike is the major determinant of viral infectivity and the main target for protective immune responses, and included in vaccines, and so its properties influence the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives. This protein is rapidly evolving, with mutations that enhance transmissibility or weaken vaccine protection creating new variants of concern (VOCs) and associated sub-lineages. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs has been tracked by groups such as the COVID-19 Genomics UK consortium (COG-UK). Their online mutation explorer (COG-UK/ME), which analyses and shares SARS-CoV-2 sequence data, contains information about VOCs that is designed primarily for an expert audience but is potentially of general interest during a pandemic. We wished to make this detailed information about SARS-CoV-2 VOCs more widely accessible. Previously work has shown that visualisations and interactivity can facilitate active learning and boost engagement with molecular biology topics, while animations of these topics can boost understanding on protein structure, function, and dynamics. We therefore set out to develop an educational graphical resource, the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutation Explorer (SSPME), which contains interactive 3D molecular models and animations explaining SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants and VOCs. We performed user-testing of the original COG-UK/ME website and of the SSPME, using a within-groups design to measure knowledge acquisition and a between-groups design to contrast the effectiveness and usability. Statistical analysis demonstrated that, when compared to the COG-UK/ME, the SSPME had higher usability and significantly improved participant knowledge confidence and knowledge acquisition. The SSPME therefore provides an example of how 3D interactive visualisations can be used for effective science communication and education on complex biomedical topics, as well as being a resource to improve the public understanding of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.09.507349v1" target="_blank">The SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Mutation Explorer: Using an Interactive Application to Improve the Public Understanding of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Determinants restricting ACE2 recognition of MERS-related coronaviruses in bats</strong> -
<div>
Phylogenetically distant coronaviruses have evolved to employ ACE2 as their common receptors, including NL63 and many Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus-related viruses. Recently, we found two Middle East respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (MERS-CoV)-related bat coronaviruses, NeoCoV and PDF-2180, also use Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) but not MERS-CoV receptor dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) for entry. Receptor binding domain (RBD)-binding and pseudovirus entry assays based on a wide range of bat ACE2 orthologs revealed that the two viruses strongly prefer ACE2 from Yangochiropteran bats as compared with Yinpterochiropteran bats, which is not observed in NL63 and SARS-CoV-2. Genetic and structural analyses of the virus-receptor interactions of 50 bat ACE2 orthologs pointed to four crucial host range determinants in two viral binding loops on ACE2. Subsequent functional verifications via mutagenesis on representative ACE2 orthologs confirmed the importance of these determinants on human and bat cells. Remarkably, NeoCoV-T510F, a mutation previously shown to acquire human ACE2 recognition, displayed an expanded potential host range covering most tested bat ACE2, probably due to its reinforced interaction with an evolutionary conserved hydrophobic pocket. Our results elucidated the molecular mechanisms for the species-specific ACE2 usage of MERS-related viruses, offering basic information for assessing the zoonotic risk of these ACE2 utilizing merbecoviruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.11.507506v1" target="_blank">Determinants restricting ACE2 recognition of MERS-related coronaviruses in bats</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>Booster Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 subunit protein recombinant vaccine;   Biological: Active Comparator<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PT Bio Farma;   Universitas Padjadjaran;   Udayana University<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of a Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine SCTV01E-1 in Population Aged Above 18 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D0;   Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D28;   Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D150;   Biological: SCTV01E on D0;   Biological: SCTV01E on D28;   Biological: SCTV01E on D150;   Biological: SCTV01E-1 on D120;   Biological: SCTV01E on D120<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sinocelltech Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy and Safety of ES16001 in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: ES16001 40 mg;   Drug: ES16001 80 mg;   Drug: ES16001 160 mg;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Genencell Co. Ltd.<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SCALE-UP Utah II: Community-Academic Partnership to Address COVID-19 Text Message Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Text-Messaging (TM);   Behavioral: Patient Navigation (PN)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Utah;   Utah Department of Health;   Association for Utah Community Health;   National Institutes of Health (NIH);   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<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>SCALE-UP Utah II: Community-Academic Partnership to Address COVID-19 Conversational Agent Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Text-Messaging (TM);   Behavioral: Conversational Agent (CA);   Behavioral: Patient Navigation (PN)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Utah;   Utah Department of Health;   Association for Utah Community Health;   National Institutes of Health (NIH);   National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)<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>Multidisciplinary Day-hospital Versus Waiting List Management of Post-COVID-19 Persistent Symptoms (ECHAP-COVID)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post COVID-19 Condition<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Personalized multidisciplinary day-hospital intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy and Safety Evaluation of Paxlovid for COVID-19: a Real-world Case-control Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pneumonia<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: standard-of-care plus Paxlovid;   Drug: standard-of-care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Ruijin Hospital<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>Booster Study of PTX-COVID19-B in Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: PTX-COVID19-B;   Biological: Comirnaty®<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Everest Medicines (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Booster Superiority Study of PTX-COVID19-B Compared to Vaxzevria® in Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: PTX-COVID19-B;   Biological: Vaxzevria®<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Everest Medicines (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Impact of a Web-based Psychoeducation Programme With a Motivational AI Chatbot on Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Vaccine Hesitancy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: AI-driven Vaccine Communicator;   Behavioral: Self-learning of COVID-19 vaccine knowledge<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   The Hong Kong Polytechnic University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CArdiac REhabilitation for Building Exertional heArt Rate for Chronotropic Incompetence in Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Long COVID;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Cardiac Rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of California, San Francisco<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>Rehabilitation Therapy for Post COVID 19 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: intensive combined rehabilitation therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Cairo 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>Motivation, Syringe Exchange, and COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Connect2Test<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Oregon;   National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)<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>HRQOL of Life After ECMO Due to COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   ARDS;   COVID-19 Pneumonia;   Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Phone Interview<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Medical University of Vienna<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>Phase One Clinical Trial to Assess the Safety, Tolerability and Pharmacokinetics of MSP008-22 in Healthy Adult Volunteers</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: MSP008-22;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Godavari Biorefineries Limited<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>Synthesis, characterization, molecular docking, and anticancer activities of new 1,3,4-oxadiazole-5-fluorocytosine hybrid derivatives</strong> - Analogs of pyrimidine and 1,3,4-oxadiazole are two well established class of molecules proven as potent antiviral and anticancer agents in the pharmaceutical industry. We envisioned designing new molecules where these two heterocycles were conjugated with the goal of enhancing biological activity. In this vein, we synthesized a series of novel pyrimidine-1,3,4-oxadiazole conjugated hybrid molecules as potential anticancer and antiviral agents. Herein, we present a new design for…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 main protease (3CL<sup>pro</sup>) interaction with acyclovir antiviral drug/methyl-β-cyclodextrin complex: Physiochemical characterization and molecular docking</strong> - During the current outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), researchers have examined several antiviral drugs with the potential to inhibit the proliferation of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The antiviral drug acyclovir (AVR), which is used to treat COVID-19, in complex with methyl-β-cyclodextrin (Mβ-CD) was examined in the solution and solid phases. UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopic analyses confirmed that the guest (AVR) was…</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>DFT and In-silico Investigations along with In-vitro Antitumor and Antimicrobial Assessments of Pharmacological Molecules</strong> - CONCLUSION: The in-silico ADMET studies of the synthesized compounds revealed moderate to good drug likeness, high gastro intestinal (GI) absorption, inhibits the Cytochrome CYP2C19 and CYP2C9 and all the derivatives possess non-cancerous nature. The in-vitro screening demonstrated that several of the novel molecules are promising drug candidates. The density function theory (DFT) theoretical calculations were performed to calculate the energy levels of the FMOs and their energy gabs, dipole…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The roles of APOBEC-mediated RNA editing in SARS-CoV-2 mutations, replication and fitness</strong> - During COVID-19 pandemic, mutations of SARS-CoV-2 produce new strains that can be more infectious or evade vaccines. Viral RNA mutations can arise from misincorporation by RNA-polymerases and modification by host factors. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 sequence from patients showed a strong bias toward C-to-U mutation, suggesting a potential mutational role by host APOBEC cytosine deaminases that possess broad anti-viral activity. We report the first experimental evidence demonstrating that APOBEC3A,…</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>Tanshinone IIA loaded bioactive nanoemulsion for alleviation of lipopolysaccharide induced acute lung injury via inhibition of endothelial glycocalyx shedding</strong> - Acute lung injury (ALI) and its more serious form; acute respiratory distress syndrome are major causes of COVID-19 related mortality. Finding new therapeutic targets for ALI is thus of great interest. This work aimed to prepare a biocompatible nanoformulation for effective pulmonary delivery of the herbal drug; tanshinone-IIA (TSIIA) for ALI management. A nanoemulsion (NE) formulation based on bioactive natural ingredients; rhamnolipid biosurfactant and tea-tree oil, was developed using a…</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>ACE2-containing defensosomes serve as decoys to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - Extracellular vesicles of endosomal origin, exosomes, mediate intercellular communication by transporting substrates with a variety of functions related to tissue homeostasis and disease. Their diagnostic and therapeutic potential has been recognized for diseases such as cancer in which signaling defects are prominent. However, it is unclear to what extent exosomes and their cargo inform the progression of infectious diseases. We recently defined a subset of exosomes termed defensosomes that are…</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>Phytochemicals of <em>Cocculus hirsutus</em> deciphered SARS-CoV-2 inhibition by targeting main proteases in molecular docking, simulation, and pharmacological analyses</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading rapidly due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 across the globe. Anti-COVID-19 drugs are urgently required in this situation. In this regard, the discovery of promising new anti-COVID-19 moieties is expected from traditional medicine. The study is aimed to discover phytochemicals of Cocculus hirsutus having anti-COVID-19 activity via inhibiting main proteases of SARS-CoV-2. Main proteases (M^(pro)) of SARS-CoV-2 serve as a protuberant target for…</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>Prostaglandins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Covid-19</strong> - In response to different viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2 infection, pro-inflammatory, anti-inflammatory cytokines, and bioactive lipids are released from infected and immune cells. One of the most critical bioactive lipids is prostaglandins (PGs) which favor perseverance of inflammation leading to chronic inflammation as PGs act as cytokine amplifiers. PGs trigger the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, activate Th cells, recruit immune cells, and increase the expression of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Natural Products Withaferin A and Withanone from the Medicinal Herb <em>Withania somnifera</em> Are Covalent Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease</strong> - The current COVID-19 pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) created a global health crisis. The ability of vaccines to protect immunocompromised individuals and from emerging new strains are major concerns. Hence antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 are essential. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease M^(pro) is vital for replication and an important target for antivirals. Using CMap analysis and docking studies, withaferin A (wifA) and withanone (win), two…</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>Pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitors to combat COVID-19 and other emerging coronavirus infectious diseases</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has posed a serious threat to global public health. Recently, several SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have emerged and caused numerous cases of reinfection in convalescent COVID-19 patients, as well as breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals. This calls for the development of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs to combat SARS-CoV-2 and its VOCs. Pan-coronavirus…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong><em>In silico</em> Study Phytosterol <em>Cymbopogon citratus</em> and <em>Curcuma longa</em> as Inhibitor Agent 3C-Like Protease SARS-CoV-2</strong> - &lt;b&gt;Background and Objective:&lt;/b&gt; Lemongrass (&lt;i&gt;Cymbopogon citratus&lt;/i&gt;) and turmeric (&lt;i&gt;Curcuma longa&lt;/i&gt;) are widely used by the community for traditional medicinal spices and cooking spices. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, people use lemongrass and turmeric to increase immunity and protect the body from infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, the antiviral mechanisms have not been studied much. This study aims to predict the bioactivity of 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>Silver diamine fluoride therapy for dental care</strong> - Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) was developed in Japan in the 1960s. It is used to control early childhood caries, arrest root caries, prevent fissure caries and secondary caries, desensitise hypersensitive teeth, remineralise hypomineralised teeth, prevent dental erosion, detect carious tissue during excavation and manage infected root canals. SDF is commonly available as a 38% solution containing 255,000 ppm silver and 44,800 ppm fluoride ions. Silver is an antimicrobial and inhibits cariogenic…</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>Vandetanib Blocks the Cytokine Storm in SARS-CoV-2-Infected Mice</strong> - The portfolio of SARS-CoV-2 small molecule drugs is currently limited to a handful that are either approved (remdesivir), emergency approved (dexamethasone, baricitinib, paxlovid, and molnupiravir), or in advanced clinical trials. Vandetanib is a kinase inhibitor which targets the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), as well as the RET-tyrosine kinase. In the current study, it was tested in different cell lines and showed promising…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Elucidating the enhanced binding affinity of a double mutant SP-D with trimannose on the influenza A virus using molecular dynamics</strong> - Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is an essential component of the human pulmonary surfactant system, which is crucial in the innate immune response against glycan-containing pathogens, including Influenza A viruses (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2. Previous studies have shown that wild-type (WT) SP-D can bind IAV but exhibits poor antiviral activities. However, a double mutant (DM) SP-D consisting of two point mutations (Asp325Ala and Arg343Val) inhibits IAV more potently. Presently, the structural mechanisms…</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>Degradation of Chloroquine Phosphate by UV-activated Persulfate</strong> - The degradation of chloroquine phosphate (CQP), an anti-COVID-19 drug, was investigated in a UV-activated persulfate system (UV/PS). The second-order rate constants of CQP with hydroxyl radicals (HO·) and sulfate radicals (SO(4)^(-)·) were determined using a competition kinetics experiment, and the effects of persulfate concentration, pH, and inorganic anions on the degradation of CQP were also systematically studied. Furthermore, a kinetic model was established to predict the concentration of…</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>The Search for Dirt on the Twitter Whistle-Blower</strong> - More than a dozen of Peiter (Mudge) Zatko’s former colleagues have received offers of payment for information about him. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-search-for-dirt-on-the-twitter-whistle-blower">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The American Media’s Obsession with the British Royal Family</strong> - In an era of reality-television stars, the House of Windsor has offered tabloid readers a frisson of glamour, wealth, and blinding fame. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-american-medias-obsession-with-the-british-royal-family">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Calling Trump the F-Word</strong> - What matters about identifying the Trumpist line as fascist is that it is diagnostic. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/calling-trump-the-f-word">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Some Hope for Afghans in Need</strong> - The Biden Administration has agreed to release $3.5 billion in frozen funds, but will they reach a desperate population? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/some-hope-for-afghans-in-need">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Vermont’s Media Helps Keep the State Together</strong> - Investigative journalism matters—and so does community journalism. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-vermonts-media-helps-keep-the-state-together">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The hidden roots of Women Talking</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A group of women in Mennonite garb sits on hay bales." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O3hQfWw0vcixZx38MNAvMBFwCvE=/200x0:1000x600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71365856/womentalking_01.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
<em>Women Talking</em> takes aim at the patriarchy — but differs in some key aspects from its source material. | Courtesy of TIFF
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The unthinkable sexual assaults are based in recent history, but the resistance philosophy goes back to St. Augustine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BDqNpk">
At the start of <em>Women Talking</em> — both the film and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/5/13/18617709/women-talking-review-miriam-toews">the novel from which it’s adapted</a> — we’re told this is a work of “female imagination.” The question then is: What story is being imagined?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lSWsO0">
Maybe it’s obvious. The story springs out <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-14688458">of a horrifying true story</a> from 2011, in which seven men from an ultra-conservative Mennonite colony in Bolivia (populated by the descendants of the Eastern Europeans who settled there in 1874) were convicted of drugging and serially raping over 100 women from their community. (An eighth was sentenced for providing the drug, a cow anesthetic derived from belladonna.) Author Miriam Toews, who grew up in a Mennonite community and considers herself a “secular Mennonite” despite having been excommunicated, took the story and ran with it. She imagined a scenario in which the women of the community decide whether to do nothing, to stay in the community and fight, or to leave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YtBIEm">
The resulting novel has often been taken as a cry of desperate defiance, in a metaphorical sense for the struggles of women everywhere, whether or not they’re from an oppressively patriarchal religious community. That it was initially released in 2018 — less than a year after the <a href="https://www.vox.com/metoo">#MeToo hashtag became a movement</a> and a byword — certainly adds to that reading.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="amjR8K">
For the film, writer and director Sarah Polley, who has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/12/sarah-polley-terry-gilliam-run-towards-danger-baron-munchausen-interview">written recently</a> about her own experiences with destructive behavior by men, did what every good adaptation should do and found her version of the story inside of the original. With a cast that includes Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand (in a tiny but thematically crucial role), she tells a story that’s about learning to unlearn oppression, about embracing freedom after violence. It’s a skillfully made, conversation-forward movie that unpacks various ways women have responded to violence and abuse over centuries and across the world: living with subjugation, fighting it, fleeing it, or trying to reform society from within. It imagines a feminist future.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qbO19m">
Yet, reading the novel closely reveals some extra layers — layers that disappear in the movie. The novel’s explicit backbone has to do with a figure from ancient Christian history: St. Augustine, who is mirrored in the book’s narrator, August Epp, as well as in the women’s conversations about the flow of time, the nature of memory, the meaning of faith, and more that feel drawn out of Augustinian thought. In the film, August Epp and the conversations remain, but this reference is gone. That has ramifications for the movie, though an Augustinian thread still binds them together.
</p>
<aside id="HvhB6n">
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</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pKcJca">
In the novel, August tells us that his mother’s name was Monica, and that his family was excommunicated from the colony when he was a child, he thought at the time for a sinful act he committed: stealing pears. Readers of Augustine’s seminal book <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/7/14525500/cameraperson-kirsten-johnson-augustine-confession"><em>Confessions</em></a> know that as a boy Augustine famously did the same thing, stealing a load of pears with his friends simply to enjoy the wrongdoing. He credits his mother Monica (herself the patron saint of mothers) with having been the force guiding him back to faith.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HQ7Ga6">
In one of Augustine’s most famous texts, <em>City of God</em>, written following the fall of Rome, Augustine proposes the notion that people inhabit either the City of God, marked by those who search for the truth, or the City of Men, inhabited by those who only seek after their own pleasure and the cares of this world. Many of the women’s conversations, in both book and film, echo this concern, although it’s easy to miss without the Augustine markers. The City of God is characterized by love of others; the City of Men is about love only of self. And the City of God, Augustine says, is the one that will not crumble.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BHsWrp">
The women recognize this truth easily, and one of the women, Ona, proposes the women pursue “a new religion, extrapolated from the old but focused on love.” In the novel, when the women discuss the community they dream of building, they are discussing building the City of God on earth. (They are, emphatically, <em>not</em> wanting to recreate another city of men.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXsiYA">
The women’s ability to come to similar conclusions as a church father gives the distinct sense that they don’t need to be led to truth by men; having experienced suffering and spent their lives in more or less forced service, when they’re given a modicum of freedom to talk with one another, they arrive at the same place as the greatest minds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4piLL1">
Underlining all of this is the novel’s naming of a character named Peters, who functions as leader of the colony and thus its lead villain. Even if he didn’t rape the women himself, he is complicit in the act, and has sheltered the men who did it. “Peter” is the name of the apostle on whom Jesus said he would build his church, and Peter is often considered the first Pope. The implication is damning.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nFltTd">
Much of this is eliminated, more or less necessarily, in the film version of <em>Women Talking</em>. Many of the conversations are preserved, but in abbreviated form and largely focused on the question of staying, fighting, or leaving. Peters isn’t named, nor is Monica. August is no longer the story’s narrator, though he remains a character. Other elements from the books disappear, too: an incident with two brothers from a nearby community and two teenage girls; the suggestion that the women could be heading straight into a literal raging fire; the knowledge that not only are the women illiterate, but that they can’t even speak Spanish, the language of their neighbors, having only been taught the low German of their ancestors.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="tse8gG">
<q><em>Women Talking </em>is about knowing that the men who hurt you, who perpetrate evil in the name of God or themselves, will never get their comeuppance in this life. Scars remain.</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iIVnIV">
Those omissions don’t really harm the film itself, but they do change the nature of what’s being imagined. <em>Women Talking</em>, the novel, is about knowing that the men who hurt you, who perpetrate evil in the name of God or themselves, will never get their comeuppance in this life. Scars remain. Children born of rape enter the world. Memories do not go away. So how do you imagine a future? What world can the women imagine for themselves? Can they conceive of a life outside this colony?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zeQJCV">
One last piece from the novel — the revelation of the identity of August’s actual father — brings this reading together, and leaves the story in a not-entirely-comfortable place. The women have left, but they might be headed straight into catastrophe. August knows he must stay in the colony, but he’s not sure how he’ll carry on. The book doesn’t end with a note of triumph. It’s a sense of impending calamity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fj4ulR">
The movie’s ending is more upbeat. There’s no fire looming, for one, though there are dangers. We aren’t quite aware that August sees in himself a reminder of the violence, and of the heroic act of staying. And, of course, the Augustinian layers disappear. <em>Women Talking</em>, the film,<em> </em>is about leaving in search of a better life; it’s a story of feminist defiance, of cutting off the patriarchy at its knees.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fe3ISp">
Yet both versions of the story do lean on the same Augustinian question, which is what ties them together. Because what animated Augustine’s writing across his entire life was wrestling with the problem of evil (sometimes called “theodicy”), most succinctly stated in a familiar question: If God is good, why do bad things happen? Or to put it another way: How can you believe in an all-powerful, good God when that God doesn’t stop the evil in the world? How can you make sense of this contradiction?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nez1Xr">
For some of the women of the colony, the answer is to refuse. McDormand — arguably the biggest name in the film — is cast in a nearly silent minor part precisely to show the diminishment that happens when we decide we simply must go on without talking at all. You keep waiting for her to have a big revelation, to change, and … she simply doesn’t. Not all women want to overturn the order of things.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bNyuaI">
But honestly, when I think about <em>Women Talking</em>’s ultimate approach to the question, I get chills down my spine. How do you make sense of evil? The women’s answer stems from a long Augustinian answer, which is: You don’t.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xcb5Yt">
As Augustine writes, evil wasn’t created by God; it is a perversion of the created good. And though we wish to live in and fervently work toward a world without evil, we’ll never achieve that in this life. Making “sense” of evil, explaining it, would diminish it. In both book and film, the women understand this.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2LlRje">
Augustine’s solution is deeply Christian in nature — to believe in the eventual conquering of evil by a God who endured it himself on a cross — but one needn’t believe in that (and it’s not clear the <em>Women Talking</em> characters do either) to see how the story responds. At the end of both stories, August is charged with making a list of everything that is good in the world. <em>Sun. Stars. Pails. Birth. The harvest.</em> He includes <em>Flies. Manure. Wind.</em> And <em>Women.</em> Augustine suggested that humans are defined by what they love and what they desire, and August notes in the novel when he finishes the list that “My list is listing, listless. The origin: <em>liste</em>, from Middle English, meaning desire. Which is also the origin of the word ‘listen.’”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PjDk82">
And that might be the greatest gift of seeing <em>Women Talking</em> translated from page to screen. In the shift of medium, we are no longer reading. The women talk, and we are <em>listening</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0OqH6P">
Women Talking <em>premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and played at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in theaters on December 2, 2022. </em>
</p>
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</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4X4kcy">
</p></li>
<li><strong>How to (actually) stay friends with an ex</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Cartoon illustration of two people fist bumping." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Xsql9MuvkmSqWpRCs512SPBSVxg=/417x0:7084x5000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71365725/GettyImages_1312002636.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
If you’re trying to be friends with your ex, have a plan, and stick to it. | Getty Images/iStockphoto
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
It’s possible to have a platonic friendship with someone you used to date. Here’s how — and whether you should try in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1SRTi6">
Sometimes, romantic relationships end with explosions. Sometimes, ties need to be severed completely. But sometimes, your ex-partner was once your best friend, someone whose influence on you is undeniable. After years of growing together and taking joy in their joy, it can feel impossible to let that friendship go, even if your romantic relationship wasn’t working. Sometimes, friendship is a goal you shouldn’t give up on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R75V8O">
“If you need to not be friends, and you need that space, that’s okay,” says <a href="https://www.gstherapycenter.com/jesse-kahn">Jesse Kahn</a>, a psychotherapist and the founder, director, and sex therapist at <a href="https://www.gstherapycenter.com/">The Gender &amp; Sexuality Therapy Center</a> in New York City. “But that isn’t what you have to do because of what seems to be expected [by society].”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zI3ZeZ">
How you feel about friendship with an ex can depend on the culture of the community you surround yourself with. Heterosexual people often “conflate all different types of love at once, platonic, romantic, sexual,” says <a href="https://drmarisagfranco.com/">Marisa G. Franco</a>, professor, speaker, and author of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676695/platonic-by-marisa-g-franco-phd/"><em>Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make—and Keep—Friends</em></a>, “so that you can’t cuddle with a friend without it seeming like it’s sexual.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9RQdy3">
But the queer community is smaller. You often work with your ex, run in the same circles, or share the same chosen family. According to a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233235591_Beyond_the_breakup_Heterosexual_and_homosexual_post-dissolutional_relationships">2002 study</a> published in <em>Communication Quarterly</em>, members of the queer community often retain higher levels of interpersonal contact with exes and are more satisfied with the friendship than members of the straight community. This shows that “you don’t have to grieve all of these [types of relationships] at once,” Franco says. “You can retain platonic intimacy, which is part of a relationship, without romantic intimacy, without sexual intimacy.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GOPulZ">
There are copious reasons to strive for friendship. Maybe you realized you are incompatible as partners but love discussing politics with each other. Maybe you have different goals in life but still enjoy playing tennis together. You may share kids or attend the same temple. It is possible to be emotionally in tune with someone or platonically drawn to them, even if the romance dwindled.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jlKJix">
“If you’re trying to be friends with your ex, you have to think of it as a different relationship,” said Franco. “This isn’t us breaking up, continued.” When preparing to foster the new relationship, it’s important to go in with a plan.
</p>
<h3 id="cdA9tT">
Before friendship, take a break
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xzrS6D">
Before transitioning into a friendship, it’s important to take some time, says Zoe Shaw, a psychotherapist and the host of the <a href="https://drzoeshaw.com/podcast/"><em>Stronger in the Difficult Places</em></a> podcast. Fully processing the dissolution of your romantic relationship could take months or even years. You might need to unfollow your ex on social media, stop listening to music that triggers certain feelings, or avoid favorite spots you frequented together. Instead, lean into resources of emotional support, like existing friendships, family, and therapy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PHfG5D">
After a cleansing period, if you are ready for the reset, you and your ex have to be on the same page as to what the friendship will look like. To help visualize what you want in a friendship, it can be valuable to think about how you relate to your other friends, says Kahn, because the expectations we have for how we engage with our friends can differ from person to person. Ask yourself how emotionally intimate you are with your friends. Are you comfortable with them touching you or are you big on personal space? How often do you see your friends in person: Weekly? Daily? Every couple months?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iCtrpl">
It’s important to establish clear boundaries. Will you discuss each other’s love lives at all? Is it okay to call each other, or are you just text buddies? Franco recommends setting rules about not visiting old haunts. “If we’re in a similar setting that we were in before,” she says, “we’ll tend to act similarly to the ways that we used to act in that setting.” Instead, create new memories in neutral spaces, whether that be museums, hiking trails, or children’s playgroups.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qhKVGs">
If the versions of friendship you are both envisioning do not line up, it might mean having a negotiation talk, or it might just mean a friendship can’t work between the two of you at that moment. And if at any time during the process you find yourself falling into old emotions or conflicts, you can always change your mind, says Elizabeth Earnshaw, a marriage and family therapist and the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/i-want-this-to-work-an-inclusive-guide-to-navigating-the-most-difficult-relationship-issues-we-face-in-the-modern-age/9781683647959"><em>I Want This to Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in the Modern Age</em></a>. “It’s okay to say this isn’t working.”
</p>
<h3 id="gQlqbo">
Take time to process old wounds
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AfCSZS">
According to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.2010.522624">a 2010 study</a> in <em>The Journal of Social Psychology</em>, you are more likely to have a friendship if you had a nice breakup. Were you fair? Did you apologize? It all matters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="042cIJ">
“Doing all of that reparative work at the time of breakup is what is going to make it easier when you want to be friends after the breakup,” Franco says. And even if the breakup wasn’t clean, it may not be too late to take responsibility.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GlY3wZ">
Some people need to process old wounds before jumping into a friendship, and others just want to “move on and create something new,” says Kahn. What you don’t want to do is make believe that everything is okay when it’s not. “We don’t want to be like, ‘I’m cool as a cucumber,’ and I can let it go, but really you are someone who needs to process.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CavAwV">
When processing past events, it’s important for both parties to speak up about what they experienced in the relationship, and be straightforward about past hurts and feelings. With that approach, it will be easier to say what you need from your ex as a friend going forward.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dxF4wt">
Earnshaw recommends clearly stating to your ex, “I know that I’ve hurt you or I know I’m still resentful, can we sit down and talk about this?” and directly acknowledging that “I need to hear from you that you understand how [your actions] impacted me.”
</p>
<h3 id="0sUjLv">
Make your new partner the priority
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mpg9a7">
In time, you and your ex may find yourselves getting involved with new romantic partners, and it’s important that everyone is on the same page and comfortable with your friendship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vXnQha">
Be empathetic to your new partner’s concerns, says Franco. “A lot of people have their triggers and insecurities, and trying to befriend your ex can certainly trigger those.” Instead of asking a binary question about if you can still be friends, ask your new partner what situations and contexts would make them feel secure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hPeoN5">
“You can’t make your friend have a great relationship with your partner, but you do want to try to facilitate that as much as possible,” says Shaw. She suggests introducing new partners to exes you are friendly with as soon as possible because “the longer you wait, the more meaning you put on the relationship.” There should be no secrets about your history together.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3saL5h">
Make your new partner your priority, and earn their trust by showing them that there is no competition. If they ask you to stop talking with your ex, you should, says Shaw. “More than likely, if you’re willing to give up the relationship you won’t have to,” she says, because showing that willingness will show your partner that they come first. Once they feel heard then they might be able to make space for your ex.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9z0hH8">
If your ex enters a new relationship, Franco recommends you have a conversation with your ex where you explain that you value their friendship but want to make sure their new partner feels safe. An ideal relationship between you and their new partner should look friendly and trusting. There shouldn’t be any feelings of threat.
</p>
<h3 id="TsNlaO">
Don’t shut out close friends
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5tmTbw">
Establishing a friendship with an ex can trigger friends and family to voice alarm. If the person is not close to you, Earnshaw suggests giving a quick, distanced response, such as, “Thank you for your concern. We actually have a great friendship, and it’s something I feel good about.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Em5QiD">
But if the person is someone you trust and someone who cares for you, it might be worth hearing them out. Are there valid reasons that they believe you should not befriend your ex, coming from a place of genuine concern?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mvdbcd">
She recommends telling them that you might not agree that the friendship’s a bad idea, but “would still really love to hear what your concerns are.” Listen to them. Maybe you should take their worries into account.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UJ7aAE">
If you stand firm with the belief that you are making the right move, Earnshaw suggests replying to their fears by saying,<strong> </strong>“I totally get why you’d be concerned. I understand it’s not common for somebody to stay friends with their ex. I’m confident that if there’s a problem, I’ll be able to take care of myself. And I want you to be able to trust me on that.”
</p>
<h3 id="c92KMg">
It’s okay to let go, too
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8LGBp">
No matter how much you want the friendship to thrive, you may find yourself stepping over your own boundaries or flooded with sadness every time you hang out. In many cases, it’s important to remember that you left the relationship for a reason, and those reasons may be toxic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WTpsg7">
If you do need to halt the friendship, Franco recommends saying something like, “I know we’ve tried to build a friendship, but I just think it’s not necessarily working out for me.” Then allow yourself time to grieve.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZzpuG7">
But hopefully, your friendship will bloom. A sign of a healthy friendship is that you are no longer mourning the romantic relationship, says Franco. “You’re not bitter, you’re not resentful.” Instead, she says, you truly want what’s best for one another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r4dPmk">
<a href="http://www.vox.com/even-better"><em><strong>Even Better</strong></em></a><em> is here to offer deeply sourced, actionable advice for helping you live a better life. Do you have a question on money and work; friends, family, and community; or personal growth and health? Send us your question by filling out this </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiStGSlsWDBmglim7Dh1Y9Hy386rkeKGpfwF6BCjmgnZdqfQ/viewform"><em><strong>form</strong></em></a><em>. We might turn it into a story.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>What Republicans would do if they win back Congress</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A photo illustration of an elephant standing on a platform of rocks, in front of a collaged backdrop of landmarks in Washington, DC, such as the US Capitol Building and the Supreme Court." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rJQJwBF_zFJx0kxIhCshfH4IK4s=/225x0:1576x1013/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71365578/if_gop_wins_midterms_board_1.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Christina Animashaun/Vox
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</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The GOP’s bickering over midterm campaign strategy is a preview of larger fights ahead.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9StutO">
With the midterm elections less than two months away, Republicans are <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/house/">strongly</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/2022-election/race-forecasts-ratings-and-predictions/">favored</a> to win a majority of seats in the House. Democrats, for now, are expected to keep control of the Senate, though some of the contests — particularly Wisconsin, Georgia, and Nevada — could <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-is-republicans-path-to-winning-the-senate/">be particularly close</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E0SiWX">
With President Joe Biden’s veto power, the implications of Republicans reclaiming one or both chambers in Congress will have more to do with blunting a Democratic policy agenda than swiftly enacting conservative priorities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RvXmir">
But if they do win power, what do Republicans want to do with it? If you’ve had some trouble figuring that out, you’re not alone. It’s been confusing. Different factions within the party are competing for the agenda-setting mantle, and it’s been a long time since Republicans wrote a unified policy and governing platform. When they tried at their 2020 national convention, they ended up <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/24/21399396/republican-convention-platform-2020-2016">scrapping their plans</a>. Instead, they kept their 2016 platform, and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-no-new-2020-platform-trump-agenda">avoided an anticipated fight</a> with Donald Trump over a new one.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YVhtvt">
Even the right-leaning magazine National Review <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/08/the-missing-republican-agenda/">observed recently</a> that “Republicans are doing little to explain what they would have the government do differently if they took power.” There has been a mix of proposals introduced with varying degrees of specificity, and previews of the intraparty fights we might see over the next few years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s5fUr1">
It’s always easier for a party to appear united when they’re in the minority, but if Republicans reclaim power, they will have the much harder task of needing to unite around a real agenda. That’s when they’ll have to make real decisions on issues like abortion bans, civil rights, rollbacks of environmental protections, and welfare subsidies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SDi6YC">
Here are the many competing proposals for the GOP’s policy vision — and what they tell us about what might come next.
</p>
<h3 id="S1fEwK">
Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s forthcoming “Commitment to America”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a7SXpe">
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been preparing for a world where he becomes majority leader, and has been taking cues from Newt Gingrich, who in 1994 helped write the “Contract with America” that House Republicans used to successfully return to power. When the GOP retook the House in 1994, they worked swiftly to bring votes on their agenda.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cA2fe3">
Gingrich has been <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/25/republican-party-agenda-00020227">advising Republicans</a> over the past year, suggesting they focus on “kitchen table” issues, on being “happy warriors” who are enthusiastic about the future of the country, and on doubling down on government oversight and accountability, like election security and Biden investigations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kfrqpT">
McCarthy is even calling his forthcoming platform the “Commitment to America” — a name intentionally resonant of Gingrich’s 1994 plan. The Commitment to America, which has been in the works <a href="https://www.republicanleader.gov/mccarthy-unveils-republican-task-forces-announces-leaders-and-members/">since last June</a>, is expected to be formally announced September 19 in Pittsburgh, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/07/kevin-mccarthy-republicans-commitment-america-agenda">according to Axios</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w3i35W">
Much of the platform will sound familiar to anyone who has read news headlines over the last few years, with bullet-point themes around economic conditions, crime, race, and gender. Details are sparse, but ideas it’s expected to contain <a href="https://qrcgcustomers.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/account16699398/29437074_1.pdf?0.5294553938669093">include</a> fighting inflation by ending “Build Back Better” federal spending, reimposing work requirements to incentivize labor force participation, and lowering gas prices by increasing American energy production.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="APRgOo">
School-related issues include a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” and expanding school choice.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jJz9Mu">
Republicans also plan to target Big Tech and <a href="http://qrcgcustomers.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/account16699398/29437061_1.pdf?0.44729496465138374">illegal immigration</a>, and to increase funding for police and the military. Holding the Biden administration accountable for “mismanagement” and supporting gun owners and anti-abortion groups <a href="http://qrcgcustomers.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/account16699398/29315864_1.pdf?0.14602456719195667">are additional listed priorities</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l96n6L">
While the platform takes aim at rising health care premiums and a “Democrat socialist drug takeover” that the GOP says could lead to fewer treatments, the McCarthy agenda notably excludes any language about repealing Obamacare — a priority for the first <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-abandon-the-fight-to-repeal-and-replace-obamas-health-care-law/2018/11/07/157d052c-e2d8-11e8-ab2c-b31dcd53ca6b_story.html">eight years</a> of the law’s existence.
</p>
<h3 id="GUQmTx">
Mitch McConnell has resisted any specific agenda
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KGuhzT">
While McCarthy is looking to 1994, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging his party to instead heed the playbook from 2014, when Republicans seized midterm control of the Senate chamber after campaigning primarily just against President Barack Obama.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mCfSdz">
He thinks the Commitment for America-style bullet points are too politically risky and create too many opportunities for Democrats to attack the Republican Party. Last fall, McConnell <a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/12/03/mcconnell-no-agenda-midterms">rejected pleas</a> from colleagues and donors to release a legislative agenda, preferring instead to keep the midterms as a referendum on the White House incumbent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DpwDMr">
McConnell suggested that whoever is the 2024 Republican nominee for president can lead the process of crafting the party’s next agenda, in part out of recognition that Biden holds veto power until then. Still, not everyone in his chamber agrees; Sen. Lindsey Graham came out this week with a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/13/23351590/national-abortion-ban-bill-lindsey-graham-republican">bill banning abortion after 15 weeks</a>, sending a clear, if expected, signal about what he’d push for if his party takes power.
</p>
<h3 id="ileQ1a">
Some Republicans are getting specific
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eGoCUh">
The House’s conservative caucus, the Republican Study Committee, and two presidential hopefuls have also entered the fray in releasing policy priorities.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVhh3n">
In June,<strong> </strong>the RSC released a 122-page manifesto dubbed the <a href="https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy23_budget_final_copy.pdf">Blueprint to Save America</a>, with a long list of conservative ideas. While not a formula campaign document per se — it’s billed as an alternative budget to the one put forth by Democrats — it gives much clearer indications as to where House Republicans might go if they take power, as nearly 75 percent of House GOP members are in the RSC.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VGBVM1">
For example, while the Commitment to America platform states merely that the party would “defend the unborn, fight for life,” the Blueprint to Save America lists nearly two dozen anti-abortion bills the caucus supports codifying, including <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/705#:~:text=Introduced%20in%20House%20(02%2F02%2F2021)&amp;text=This%20bill%20makes%20it%20a,fetus%20has%20a%20detectable%20heartbeat.">a bill</a> effectively<strong> </strong>prohibiting abortions after about six weeks, and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1011#:~:text=This%20bill%20declares%20that%20the,an%20individual%20comes%20into%20being.">one that would provide</a> 14th Amendment protections to fetuses.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b8RVHq">
Likewise, while the Commitment to America platform includes preventing transgender girls from playing school sports with other girls, the RSC platform lists seven specific anti-trans bills the caucus supports codifying, including <a href="https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-marshall-and-rep-lamalfa-introduce-legislation-to-protect-children-from-gender-experimentation/#:~:text=The%20Protecting%20Children%20from%20Experimentation%20Act%20would%20prohibit%20doctors%20from,of%20cancer%20and%20permanent%20sterilization.">one that would</a> create a new criminal offense for providing gender-affirming health care to minors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7upgVa">
While Republicans may realize that campaigning explicitly on the items in the Blueprint to Save America creates more political vulnerabilities than the vague ideas in the Commitment to America, the RSC document offers more concrete clues as to what exactly conservative lawmakers are looking to do if they gain power.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="meYA3x">
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a first-term senator and chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in March released his own 12-point “<a href="https://rescueamerica.com/">Plan to Rescue America</a>” — billed as an agenda for the House and Senate if Republicans take power in November. Like the other aforementioned proposals, it’s a mix of cutting taxes, fighting Big Tech and crime, and pushing cultural fights in schools, though some of its components seem more geared toward standing out in a future Republican presidential primary. For example, Scott recommends completing the border wall and naming it after Donald Trump, putting “America First,” and fighting socialism. (“Socialism will be treated as a foreign combatant which aims to destroy our prosperity and freedom,” Scott’s platform proclaims.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="99q3eY">
Former Vice President Mike Pence also released his own <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017f-dd1f-d522-ab7f-dfbf2eb70000">28-page policy proposal</a> in March, dubbed a “Freedom Agenda.” It’s gained little traction among midterm candidates, but that probably wasn’t really the point, as analysts suspect <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/mike-pence-republican-agenda-2024/index.html">he might use it for himself</a> if he decides to run for president in 2024.
</p>
<h3 id="xngBQ3">
Centrists are pleading for a different path
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TGfOdR">
Some political analysts and policy wonks are pushing for moderation and compromise if Republicans take control — likely a tough sell for many conservatives who are loath to give Biden any more bipartisan wins ahead of the 2024 election.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rKb34D">
Last month, leaders with American Compass, a conservative think tank that bills itself as pro-worker and pro-family, penned <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/opinion/republican-congress-agenda.html">a New York Times op-ed</a> urging the GOP, if it takes power next year, to consider bipartisan dealmaking on industrial policy with China, apprenticeships and non-college educational pathways, and something like Sen. Mitt Romney’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/30/23317834/child-tax-credit-ctc-ira">proposed expanded child tax credit</a>. “The common force pushing forward these various policy opportunities is the evolution in conservative thinking toward greater focus on the interests of the working class and a greater role for government in addressing the free market’s shortcomings,” they wrote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qaKADO">
In July, Douglas Schoen, a centrist Democratic campaign consultant who advised Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential run, <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3571562-republicans-missing-2022-ingredient-a-positive-and-constructive-agenda/">wrote an op-ed</a> in The Hill urging the Republican Party “to coalesce around a moderate agenda that offers real solutions” and avoids “relitigating past grievances.” Schoen suggested some ideas that have been part of aforementioned Republican platforms, like prioritizing deficit reduction, loosening regulations on America’s energy sector, providing parents with school choice options, and increasing funding for law enforcement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hOu4jR">
He also suggests that, “perhaps most importantly,” conservatives should moderate on abortion and guns, something no GOP coalition is calling for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nf5EMj">
“By assuming a more open stance on abortion legality, Republicans can better sell their party as one that protects individual liberties,” Schoen writes. “Similarly, by moving to the middle on guns, the GOP can position and promote themselves as the law and order party.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQwQWE">
These latter proposals will likely fall on deaf ears for now.
</p>
<h3 id="ESupvO">
The Trump wild card
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OVO921">
One hard-to-predict variable that could greatly affect what Republicans do if they reclaim power in Congress is Trump, and how much pressure he seeks to put on their governing agenda. Trump made <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-endorsees-have-started-losing-more-but-dont-read-into-that-for-2024/">dozens of endorsements</a> in congressional and gubernatorial elections, and even though his candidates’ win rate has been <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trumps-endorsees-have-started-losing-more-but-dont-read-into-that-for-2024/">declining over past cycles</a>, his influence over Republican voters, and thus candidates looking to win Republican primaries, is still very strong. If he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/14/trump-2024-announcement-fall/">mounts a bid for president</a>, that could also affect the trajectory of a Republican-led House. He’s already promised that, if elected in 2024, he’d <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/trump-jan-6-rioters-pardon/">pardon January 6 rioters</a>, sentence <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3575157-trump-in-dc-speech-calls-for-death-penalty-for-convicted-drug-dealers/">drug dealers to death</a>, and abolish <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/16/trump-speeches-extreme-agenda-2024-bid/">the federal Education Department</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="QGpFWi">
Expect investigations and maybe an impeachment push
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XlHFcD">
While the Commitment to America platform is sticking to less controversial euphemisms like “hold the Biden administration accountable,” some rank-and-file Republicans have been more explicit about the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/12/republicans-rally-around-2022-message-revenge/">revenge and retribution</a> they’d push for if their party takes over.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zDNDFu">
In late August, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3620081-house-conservatives-prep-plans-to-impeach-biden/">The Hill<em> </em>reported</a> that some members plan to push for impeachment of the president, some of whom have already introduced at least eight resolutions to do that. While the existing impeachment resolutions will expire at the end of the year, some lawmakers have vowed to reintroduce theirs in January, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Another possibility is to push for impeachment of other <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/743/text">high-ranking</a> <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/679">Biden administration</a> <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-resolution/582">officials</a>, but not Biden himself. McConnell <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcconnell-urges-gop-voters-to-focus-on-midterms-not-biden-impeachment-11630527117">has urged his party</a> to avoid campaigning in the midterms on impeachment, and a highly politicized impeachment process is unlikely to be a unifying strategy for the 2024 election, but sometimes pressure for impeachment takes on its own hard-to-control momentum.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2gLeUX">
Aside from impeachment, Republicans have confirmed they’re looking at holding a series of House investigations next year if they take power, specifically <a href="https://twitter.com/kadiagoba/status/1567620373553856517">on areas like</a> Democrats’ handling of the southern border, the DOJ, inflation, and energy. Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is set to lead the House Oversight and Reform Committee <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/11/james-comer-biden-investigations-00050927">and told Politico</a> he also wants to spearhead investigations into the business dealings of Hunter Biden and the origins of Covid-19.
</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>GGSSC crowned champion</strong> - Special Correspondent</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>Chennai to host PSA tournament from Sept. 19</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>Wah Ms Zara and Paris O’Connor please</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>Caracas, Success, Jake and Shan E Azeem excel</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>Turmeric Tower and Rue St Honore catch the eye</strong> -</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>CJM frames charges in Assembly ruckus case</strong> - Court calls for video recordings of alleged offence</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>Exports growth slows further in August</strong> - On the export front, engineering goods, one of the fastest growing sectors in recent months, reported a 14.2% dip in shipments to little over $8.2 billion in August</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>Cabinet nod for value-added agriculture mission</strong> - VAAM aims at increasing farmers’ income</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>Union Cabinet approves proposal to add Himachal's Hatti community to ST list</strong> - He said the Hatti community in the Jaunsar region of Uttrakhand had already been given tribal status.</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>State’s entrepreneurial effort reaping fruits: Minister</strong> - Industries department organises two-day Yuva boot camp</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 war: President Zelensky visits recaptured city in rapid counter-offensive</strong> - Kyiv’s troops are targeting towns in the Donbas region, the main focus of Russia’s 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>Ukraine war: EU moves to cut peak electricity use by 5%</strong> - EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also calls for windfall taxes on energy companies in a keynote speech.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Accounts of Russian torture emerge in liberated areas</strong> - The BBC hears accusations that Russian forces electrocuted prisoners and shot civilians in the Kharkiv region.</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>Armenia-Azerbaijan: Almost 100 killed in overnight clashes</strong> - The EU and the UN call for de-escalation in the latest fighting between the neighbouring countries.</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>Russia covertly spent $300m to meddle abroad - US</strong> - The US alleges that Moscow has sought to buy political influence in more than 24 countries since 2014.</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>Sampling BMW’s greatest hits shows what’s missing from its modern cars</strong> - Driving M cars from 2001, 2013, and 2022 shows some lessons for the future. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1880534">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Breach of software maker used to backdoor as many as 200,000 servers</strong> - Hack of FishPig distribution server used to install Rekoobe on customer systems. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1881102">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>US officially added to WHO’s list of poliovirus outbreak countries</strong> - The list includes mainly low- and middle-income countries, plus Israel and the UK. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1881100">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Device passively registers temperature, switches from heating to cooling</strong> - When it gets too hot, it unrolls a reflective material to block absorption of light. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1881084">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Twitter shareholders approve the $44B merger Musk is trying to get out of</strong> - Musk wants out, but shareholders approve $54.20-per-share purchase agreement. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1881040">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>I gave a homeless man $5 and an old lady behind me told me he’s just going to spend it on drugs</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So I went up to him and asked where I could also get drugs for $5
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Programmed_boredom"> /u/Programmed_boredom </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdkp2q/i_gave_a_homeless_man_5_and_an_old_lady_behind_me/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdkp2q/i_gave_a_homeless_man_5_and_an_old_lady_behind_me/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I found out my partner was cheating on me. They said “I’ll be home in 10-15 mins max”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
My names Bella, not max.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Bellabuns_xo"> /u/Bellabuns_xo </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdt9b2/i_found_out_my_partner_was_cheating_on_me_they/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdt9b2/i_found_out_my_partner_was_cheating_on_me_they/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>My wife and I are both unemployed. My mum died in a car crash. We have three children and we’re all staying in my grandma’s place, and my grandma died this week. My dad has to work at 73. I’ll do any job to take care of my family. Please share.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sincerely,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
William, Prince of Wales
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/budenmaayer"> /u/budenmaayer </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xd6ew9/my_wife_and_i_are_both_unemployed_my_mum_died_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xd6ew9/my_wife_and_i_are_both_unemployed_my_mum_died_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Jimmy farts in the classroom and his teacher gets really upset and throws him out.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He sits outside the class and can’t stop laughing. The principle walks by and sees him. He asks, “Jimmy, why are you sitting outside your class laughing?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I farted in class and the teacher threw me out.” The principle asks him again, “Well then, why are you laughing?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Because those idiots are sitting in the class smelling my fart while I’m outside in the fresh air.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ES_FTrader"> /u/ES_FTrader </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdkdsy/jimmy_farts_in_the_classroom_and_his_teacher_gets/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdkdsy/jimmy_farts_in_the_classroom_and_his_teacher_gets/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>If atheism was a business, what kind of business would it be?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A Non-Prophet organization.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Next_Butterscotch601"> /u/Next_Butterscotch601 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdlkc6/if_atheism_was_a_business_what_kind_of_business/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/xdlkc6/if_atheism_was_a_business_what_kind_of_business/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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