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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>Impact of News Related to Covid-19 on Stock Market Returns in Five Major ASEAN Countries</strong> -
<div>
The sudden tightening of global finances, unprecedented and dominating news of how negative COVID-19 is has affected the global monetary, and how pessimistic the public sentiment towards the COVID-19 virus pandemic is itself has caused uncertainty in the stock market. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between COVID-19-related news and stock market returns. RavenPack Coronavirus Media Monitor was used to explain important news issues related to COVID-19 with news indices such as panic, media hype, fake news, country sentiment, infodemic, and media coverage. With the quantile regression analysis technique, the results of the study were divided into three research periods. For the research period of January 2020 to March 2020, it was found that the variables that affect stock market returns are media hype, fake news, country sentiment and infodemic index; for the research period of April 2020 to December 2020, it was found that the variables that affect stock market returns are panic, fake news and country sentiment index; while for the period January 2020 to December 2020 the variables that affect stock market returns are panic, fake news, country sentiment and infodemic index.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/v8qmt/" target="_blank">Impact of News Related to Covid-19 on Stock Market Returns in Five Major ASEAN Countries</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, but not Omicron, induces thymic atrophy and impaired T cell development</strong> -
<div>
Pathogenic infections cause thymic atrophy, perturb thymic-T cell development and alter immunological response. Previous studies reported dysregulated T cell function and lymphopenia in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) patients. However, immune-pathological changes, in the thymus, post severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have not been elucidated. Here, we report SARS-CoV-2 infects thymocytes, depletes CD4+CD8+ (double positive DP) T cell population associated with an increased apoptosis of thymocytes, which leads to severe thymic atrophy in K18-hACE2-Tg mice. CD44+CD25- T cells were found to be enriched in infected thymus, indicating an early arrest in the T cell developmental pathway. Further, Interferon gamma was crucial for thymic atrophy, as anti- IFN{gamma}; antibody neutralization rescued the loss of thymic involution. Therapeutic use of remdesivir (prototype anti-viral drug) was also able to rescue thymic atrophy. While Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 caused marginal thymic atrophy, delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 exhibited most profound thymic atrophy characterized by severely depleted DP T cells. Recently characterized broadly SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody P4A2 was able to rescue thymic atrophy and restore thymic developmental pathway of T cells. Together, we provide the first report of SARS-CoV-2 associated thymic atrophy resulting from impaired T cell developmental pathway and also explains dysregulated T cell function in COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.487556v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, but not Omicron, induces thymic atrophy and impaired T cell development</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 mutations affect proteasome processing to alter CD8+ T cell responses</strong> -
<div>
Viral CD8+ epitopes are generated by the cellular turnover of viral proteins, predominantly by the proteasome. Mutations located within viral epitopes can result in escape from memory T cells but the contribution of mutations in flanking regions of epitopes in SARS-CoV-2 has not been investigated. Focusing on two of the most dominant SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein CD8+ epitopes, we identified mutations in epitope flanking regions and investigated the contribution of these mutations to antigen processing and T cell activation using SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein transduced B cell lines and in vitro proteasomal processing of peptides. We found that decreased NP9-17-B<em>27:05 CD8+ T cell responses to the NP-Q7K mutation correlated with lower epitope surface expression, likely due to a lack of efficient epitope production by the proteasome, suggesting immune escape caused by this mutation. In contrast, NP-P6L and NP-D103N/Y mutations flanking the NP9-17-B</em>27:05 and NP105-113-B*07:02 epitopes, respectively, increased CD8+ T cell responses associated with enhanced epitope production by the proteasome. Our results provide evidence that SARS-CoV-2 mutations outside the epitope could have a significant impact on antigen processing and presentation, thereby contributing to escape from immunodominant T cell responses. Alternatively, mutations could enhance antigen processing and efficacy of T cell recognition, opening new avenues for improving future vaccine designs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.08.487623v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 mutations affect proteasome processing to alter CD8+ T cell responses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Cryo-EM structures of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 spike</strong> -
<div>
The BA.2 lineage of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant has gained in proportion relative to BA.1. As differences in their spike (S) proteins may underlie differences in their pathobiology, here we determined cryo-EM structures of a BA.2 S protein ectodomain and compared these to previously determined BA.1 S structures. BA.2 Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) mutations induced remodeling of the internal RBD structure resulting in its improved thermostability and tighter packing within the 3-RBD-down spike. In the S2 subunit, the fusion peptide in the BA.2 was less accessible to antibodies than in BA.1. Pseudovirus neutralization and spike binding assays revealed extensive immune evasion while defining epitopes of two RBD-directed antibodies, DH1044 and DH1193, that bound the outer RBD face to neutralize both BA.1 and BA.2. Taken together, our results indicate that stabilization of the 3-RBD-down state through interprotomer RBD-RBD packing is a hallmark of the Omicron lineages, and reveal differences in key functional regions in the BA.1 and BA.2 S proteins.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.487528v1" target="_blank">Cryo-EM structures of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 spike</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein uniquely promotes aggregation of pseudotyped viral particles</strong> -
<div>
Individuals infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, lineage B.1.617.2, exhibit faster initial infection with a higher viral load than prior variants, and pseudotyped particles bearing the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant spike protein induce a faster initial infection rate of target cells compared to those bearing other SARS-CoV-2 variant spikes. Here, we show that pseudotyped particles bearing the Delta variant spike form unique aggregates, as evidenced by negative stain and cryogenic electron microscopy (EM), flow cytometry, and nanoparticle tracking analysis. Viral particles pseudotyped with other SARS-CoV-2 spike variants do not show aggregation by any of these criteria. The contribution to infection kinetics of the Delta spike’s unique property to aggregate is discussed with respect to recent evidence for collective infection by other viruses. Irrespective of this intriguing possibility, spike-dependent aggregation is a new functional parameter of spike-expressing viral particles to evaluate in future spike protein variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.487415v1" target="_blank">The Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 spike protein uniquely promotes aggregation of pseudotyped viral particles</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Hippo Signaling Pathway Activation during SARS-CoV-2 Infection Contributes to Host Antiviral Response</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, causes respiratory failure and damage to multiple organ systems. The emergence of viral variants poses a risk of vaccine failures and prolongation of the pandemic. However, our understanding of the molecular basis of SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent COVID-19 pathophysiology is limited. In this study, we have uncovered a critical role for the evolutionarily conserved Hippo signaling pathway in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Given the complexity of COVID-19 associated cell injury and immunopathogenesis processes, we investigated Hippo pathway dynamics in SARS-CoV-2 infection by utilizing COVID-19 lung samples, and human cell models based on pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (PSC-CMs) and human primary lung air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures. SARS- CoV-2 infection caused activation of the Hippo signaling pathway in COVID-19 lung and in vitro cultures. Both parental and Delta variant of concern (VOC) strains induced Hippo pathway. The chemical inhibition and gene knockdown of upstream kinases MST1/2 and LATS1 resulted in significantly enhanced SARS-CoV-2 replication, indicating antiviral roles. Verteporfin a pharmacological inhibitor of the Hippo pathway downstream transactivator, YAP, significantly reduced virus replication. These results delineate a direct antiviral role for Hippo signaling in SARS-CoV-2 infection and the potential for this pathway to be pharmacologically targeted to treat COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.487520v1" target="_blank">Hippo Signaling Pathway Activation during SARS-CoV-2 Infection Contributes to Host Antiviral Response</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Plant-produced RBD and cocktail-based vaccine candidates are highly effective against SARS-CoV-2, independently of its emerging variants</strong> -
<div>
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel and highly pathogenic coronavirus, which has caused an outbreak in Wuhan City, China, in 2019 and then spread rapidly throughout the world. Although several COVID-19 vaccines are currently available for mass immunization, they are less effective against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially the Omicron (B.1.1.529). Recently, we successfully produced receptor-binding domain (RBD) variants of spike (S) protein of SARC-CoV-2 and an antigen cocktail in Nicotiana benthamiana, which are highly produced in plants and elicited high-titer antibodies with potent neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we demonstrate that these protein-based vaccine candidates are highly effective against Delta and Omicron variants. These data support that plant produced RBD and cocktail-based antigens are most promising vaccine candidates and may protect against Delta and Omicron-mediated COVID-19. Based on the neutralization ability, plant produced RBD and cocktail-based vaccine candidates are highly effective against SARS-CoV-2, independently of its emerging variants.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.07.487347v1" target="_blank">Plant- produced RBD and cocktail-based vaccine candidates are highly effective against SARS-CoV-2, independently of its emerging variants</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>CHANGES IN LIFE EXPECTANCY BETWEEN 2019 AND 2021: UNITED STATES AND 19 PEER COUNTRIES</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND Prior studies reported large decreases in US life expectancy during 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, disproportionately affecting Hispanic and Black populations and vastly exceeding the average change in life expectancy in other high-income countries. Life expectancy estimates for 2021 have not been reported. This study estimated changes in life expectancy during 2019-2021 in the US population, in three US racial/ethnic groups, and in 19 peer countries. METHODS US and peer country death data for 2019-2021 were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics, the Human Mortality Database, and overseas statistical agencies. The 19 peer countries included Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Life expectancy was calculated for 2019 and 2020 and estimated for 2021 using a previously validated modeling method. RESULTS US life expectancy decreased from 78.86 years in 2019 to 76.99 years in 2020 and 76.60 years in 2021, a net loss of 2.26 years. In contrast, peer countries averaged a smaller decrease in life expectancy between 2019 and 2020 (0.40 years) and a 0.28-year increase between 2020 and 2021, widening the gap in life expectancy between the United States and peer countries to more than five years. The decrease in US life expectancy was highly racialized: whereas the largest decreases in 2020 occurred among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations, in 2021 only the non-Hispanic White population experienced a decrease in life expectancy. DISCUSSION The US mortality experience during 2020 and 2021 was more severe than in peer countries, deepening a US disadvantage in health and survival that has been building for decades. Over the two-year period between 2019 and 2021, US Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations experienced the largest losses in life expectancy, reflecting the legacy of systemic racism and inadequacies in the US handling of the pandemic. Reasons for the crossover in racialized outcomes between 2020 and 2021, in which life expectancy decreased only in the non-Hispanic White population, could have multiple explanations.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.05.22273393v2" target="_blank">CHANGES IN LIFE EXPECTANCY BETWEEN 2019 AND 2021: UNITED STATES AND 19 PEER COUNTRIES</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immunity post-COVID-19 recovery boosts the antibody immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Measurement of strength and durability of SARSCOV2 antibody response is important to understand the waning dynamics of immune response to both vaccines and infection. The study aimed to evaluate the level of IgG antibodies against SARSCoV2 and their persistence in recovered, naive and vaccinated individuals. We randomly investigate Antispike RBD IgG antibody responses in 10,000 individuals, both following infection with SARSCoV2 and immunization with SARSCOV2 adenoviral vector and killed vaccines. Overall, antibody titres in recovered vaccinated individuals and naive vaccinee persists beyond 20 weeks. The mean levels of antispike IgG antibodies were higher in vaccinated participants with prior COVID19 infections than in individuals without prior infection. Decline for IgG antibodies were faster in vaccinated individuals without previous COVID19 infection compared to those with previous COVID19 infection. Vaccination with adenoviral vector vaccines generates higher antibody titers than for killed virus vaccine. Slightly over half of asymptomatic unvaccinated individuals develops antibody response. Previous COVID19 infection elicited robust and sustained levels of SARSCoV2 antibodies in vaccinated individuals. A single dose of the vaccine is likely to provide greater protection against SARSCoV2 infection in individuals with prior SARSCoV2 infection, than in SARSCoV2 naive individuals. This study also underlines that asymptomatic infection equally generates antibodies as symptomatic infection. Those vaccinated with inactivated vaccine may require more frequent boosters than those vaccinated with an adenoviral vaccine. These findings are important for formulating public health vaccination strategies during COVID19 pandemic.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.18.22271130v2" target="_blank">Immunity post-COVID-19 recovery boosts the antibody immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Distinguishing Admissions Specifically for COVID-19 from Incidental SARS-CoV-2 Admissions: A National EHR Research Consortium Study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Admissions are generally classified as COVID-19 hospitalizations if the patient has a positive SARS- CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. However, because 35% of SARS-CoV-2 infections are asymptomatic, patients admitted for unrelated indications with an incidentally positive test could be misclassified as a COVID-19 hospitalization. EHR-based studies have been unable to distinguish between a hospitalization specifically for COVID-19 versus an incidental SARS-CoV-2 hospitalization. Although the need to improve classification of COVID-19 disease vs.  incidental SARS-CoV-2 is well understood, the magnitude of the problems has only been characterized in small, single- center studies. Furthermore, there have been no peer-reviewed studies evaluating methods for improving classification. Objective: The aims of this study were to: first, quantify the frequency of incidental hospitalizations over the first fifteen months of the pandemic in multiple hospital systems in the United States; and second, to apply electronic phenotyping techniques to automatically improve COVID-19 hospitalization classification. Methods: From a retrospective EHR-based cohort in four US healthcare systems in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, a random sample of 1,123 SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive patients hospitalized between 3/2020-8/2021 was manually chart-reviewed and classified as admitted-with-COVID-19 (incidental) vs. specifically admitted for COVID-19 (for-COVID-19). EHR-based phenotyping was used to find feature sets to filter out incidental admissions. Results: EHR-based phenotyped feature sets filtered out incidental admissions, which occurred in an average of 26% of hospitalizations (although this varied widely over time, from 0%-75%). The top site-specific feature sets had 79-99% specificity with 62-75% sensitivity, while the best performing across-site feature set had 71-94% specificity with 69-81% sensitivity. Conclusions: A large proportion of SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive admissions were incidental. Straightforward EHR-based phenotypes differentiated admissions, which is important to assure accurate public health reporting and research.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.10.22270728v3" target="_blank">Distinguishing Admissions Specifically for COVID-19 from Incidental SARS-CoV-2 Admissions: A National EHR Research Consortium Study</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental healthcare consultations among children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide registry study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions may have affected children and adolescent`s mental health adversely. We cast light on this question using primary and specialist consultations data for the entire population of children 6-19 years in Norway (N=908 272). Our outcomes are the monthly likelihood of having a consultation or hospitalization related to mental health problems and common mental health diagnoses. We compared a pandemic (2019-2021) to a pre-pandemic (2017-2019) cohort using event study and difference-in-difference designs that separate the shock of the pandemic from linear period trends and seasonal variation. We found temporary reductions in all mental health consultations during lockdown in spring 2020. In fall 2020 and winter 2021, consultation volumes in primary care increased, stabilizing at a higher level in 2021. Consultations in specialist care increased from spring</p></div></li>
</ul>
<ol start="2021" type="1">
<li>Our findings could suggest a worsening of mental health among adolescents.
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.07.21264549v3" target="_blank">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental healthcare consultations among children and adolescents in Norway: a nationwide registry study</a>
</div></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>Reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines: A systematic review of spontaneously reported data from the UK, Europe, and the US and of the literature</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives: To bring together spontaneously reported data from multiple countries to estimate reporting rate, and better understand risk factors for myocarditis and pericarditis following COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Design: Systematic review of spontaneously reported data from United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and of the literature. Data sources: UK Yellow Card scheme, Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), EudraVigilance were searched from date of vaccine launch to 14-16 March 2022. PubMed/MEDLINE and Embase were searched to 15 March 2022. Eligibility criteria: We included publicly available spontaneous reporting data for ″Myocarditis″ and ″Pericarditis″ from UK, US, and EU/EEA following COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Pharmacoepidemiological observational studies investigating myocarditis/pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were included (no restrictions on language or date). Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tools assessed study quality. Data extraction and synthesis: Two researchers extracted data. Spontaneously reported events of myocarditis and pericarditis were presented for each data source, stratified by vaccine, age, sex, and dose (where available). Reporting rates were calculated for myocarditis and pericarditis for each population. For published pharmacoepidemiological studies, design, participant characteristics, and study results were tabulated. Results: Overall, 18,204 myocarditis and pericarditis events have been submitted to the UK, US, and EU/EEA regulators during the study period. Males represented 62.24% (n=11,331) of myocarditis and pericarditis reports. Most reports concerned vaccinees aged &lt;40 years and were more frequent following a second dose. Reporting rates were consistent between the data sources. Thirty-two pharmacoepidemiological studies were included; results were consistent with our spontaneous report analyses. Conclusions: Younger vaccinees more frequently report myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines than older vaccinees. Results from published literature supported the results of our analyses.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.09.21263342v3" target="_blank">Reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccines: A systematic review of spontaneously reported data from the UK, Europe, and the US and of the literature</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Racism, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Racial Disparity in the U.S. COVID-19 Syndemic</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 syndemic, with a disproportionately higher adverse impact on communities of color (i.e., COVID-19 infection and death), will likely exacerbate the existing health disparities in trauma-related symptoms between people of color (POC) and White Americans. However, no studies have examined the racial disparities in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during COVID-19. Grounded in ecological theory and racial trauma framework, we investigated rates of racial disparities in PTSS and three possible mechanisms, 1) COVID stress, 2) direct racism, and 3) indirect racism, for these discrepancies using a large U.S. national sample (N = 2,019). Results indicated that POC reported higher levels of PTSS than White Americans (d =.21). The PTSS racial disparity was accounted more by direct and indirect racism than by the COVID-19-specific stressors, after controlling for age, gender, education, income, parent status, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and intimate partner violence (IPV). Additional fine-grained analyses for Hispanic/Latinx Americans (n = 283), Black/African Americans (n = 279), and Asian American and Pacific Islanders (n = 123) by and large corroborated the above findings. Our findings highlighted the deleterious impact of the ongoing racism pandemic on the POC community as a public health crisis in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/rc2ns/" target="_blank">Racism, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Racial Disparity in the U.S. COVID-19 Syndemic</a>
</div></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gambling on Others’ Health: Risky Pro-social Decision-Making in the Era of Covid19</strong> -
<div>
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has demanded a degree of sacrifice from individuals for the sake of the greater good. Individuals have taken costly actions, both volitional and imposed, to reduce harm to strangers. While many studies have examined health decision-making by experts, the study of individual, non-expert decision-making on a stranger’s health has been left to the wayside, as ordinary citizens are usually not tasked with such decisions. The recent pandemic has brought this dilemma to the fore however, as life-saving decisions fell to ordinary citizens in the form of social restrictions, decreased work activity and, ultimately, economic loss. We administered two surveys where we applied models of probabilistic decision-making to investigate health-related choices for oneself, a loved one and a stranger. We found converging evidence that participants were risk-seeking overall, privileging risky treatments that could heal someone over treatments that reduce disease severity with certainty. Nonetheless, risk-seeking decreased with expected disutility of disease, regardless of target. However, distinctions across targets emerged when decisions were conditioned on treatment cost, with participants preferring cheaper options for strangers. Overall our data suggest that</div></li>
</ul>
<ol type="1">
<li>individuals apply an expected utility model to quantify disease; 2) risk preferences for others parallel those for the self; and 3) decisions for strangers’ health differ from those of self and loved ones only in terms of their associated cost. These findings provide a descriptive model of individual risky decision-making for self and others, in the case of a novel disease; and inform on the limits of what can be asked of an individual in service to a stranger.
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/qrbza/" target="_blank">Gambling on Others’ Health: Risky Pro-social Decision-Making in the Era of Covid19</a>
</div></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><strong>Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on eating behaviours in the general public and an eating disorder population</strong> -
<div>
Research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting mental health, with rates of eating disorder referrals in particular rising steeply during the pandemic. This study aimed to examine 8-month changes in body image and disordered eating during the COVID-19 pandemic, and explore whether any changes were moderated by gender, age, or eating disorder history. This study used a longitudinal survey design in which 587 adults living in the UK (85% women; mean age = 32.87 years) completed assessments every two months over five timepoints from May/June 2020 to January/February 2021. Measures included body esteem (Body Esteem Scale for Adults and Adolescence), disordered eating (Eating Disorder Examination – Questionnaire Short Form) and psychological distress (Patient Health Questionnaire – 4). Mixed effect models showed small but significant improvements in body esteem and disordered eating symptoms from May/June 2020 to January/February 2021. These improvements were independent of changes in psychological distress, and did not vary by gender, age or eating disorder history. Whilst poor body image and disordered eating may have been elevated in the early period of the pandemic, this study suggest improvements, rather than worsening, of these outcomes over time. This may reflect adaptation to this changing context.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/pfu79/" target="_blank">Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on eating behaviours in the general public and an eating disorder population</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>Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Evaluate The Efficacy and Safety of Healthtone as Prophylaxis for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Rhea® Health Tone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Indonesia University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aerobic Exercise in People With Post-COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Conventional rehabilitation;   Other: Aerobic exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri SpA<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>The Effect of Home-based Rehabilitation Program After COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Add-on telerehabilitation and home-based rehabilitation;   Behavioral: Home-based rehabilitation alone<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
National Taiwan University 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>Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity Study of COVID-19 Protein Subunit Recombinant Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SARS-CoV-2 protein subunit recombinant vaccine;   Biological: placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   PT Bio Farma;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta;   Faculty of Medicine, Diponegoro University, Semarang;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Andalas, Padang;   Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Hassanudin, Makassar<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Treatment Cascade Optimization Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Navigation Services;   Behavioral: Brief Counseling;   Behavioral: Critical Dialogue;   Behavioral: Referral and Digital Brochure<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;   National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID);   Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center;   North Jersey Community Research Initiative;   University of Michigan<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness and Safety of SCTV01E (a Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine) in Population Aged ≥12 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01E;   Biological: CoronaVac;   Biological: Sinopharm inactivated COVID-19 vaccine;   Biological: other approved COVID-19 vaccines<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>A Study to Evaluate the Immunogenicity and Safety of SCTV01C and SCTV01E (Two Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccines) in Population Aged ≥12 Years</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   SARS-CoV-2 Infection<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: SCTV01C;   Biological: SCTV01E;   Biological: mRNA vaccine manufactured by Pfizer or Moderna;   Biological: Sinopharm inactivated COVID-19 vaccine<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>Phase 1/2 Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Inhaled IBIO123 in Participants With Mild to Moderate COVID-19 Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<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 1&amp;2 Study to Evaluate the Safety &amp; Efficacy of Inhaled IBIO123 in Severe COVID-19 Illness</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: IBIO123;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Immune Biosolutions Inc<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 Efficacy and Safety of Ivermectin in COVID-19 Prevention</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin Tablets;   Drug: Matching placebo tablets<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   MedinCell S.A<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>Tele-Rehabilitation in Individuals With Covid-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Exercise<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Hacettepe University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Monitor the Occurrence of Viral Variants in Patients With Compromised Immune Systems Being Treated for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Sotrovimab<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   GlaxoSmithKline<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>Assessment of the Efficacy of Calcium Dobesilate vs. Placebo on SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load Amongst Outpatients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Virus Disease<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Calcium Dobesilate;   Drug: Mannitol<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Hervé SPECHBACH;   OM Pharma<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase I Study to Evaluate Safety, Tolerability, and Immunogenicity of a PIKA COVID-19 Vaccine in Healthy Individuals</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19 Pandemic<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: PIKA COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell, S-protein), Arm A;   Biological: PIKA COVID-19 Vaccine (CHO cell, S-protein), Arm B<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Yisheng Biopharma (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Specific Immune Response After COVID-19 Vaccination in Cancer Patients</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   COVID-19;   Cancer<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: CoronaVac vaccine<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   National Cancer Institute, Thailand;   Mahidol University<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A critical evaluation of risk to reward ratio of quercetin supplementation for COVID-19 and associated comorbid conditions</strong> - The interim results of the large, multinational trials on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) using a combination of antiviral drugs appear to have little to no effect on the 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course. Therefore, there is a still vivid interest in finding alternate re-purposed drugs and nutrition supplements, which can halt or slow the disease severity. We review here the multiple preclinical studies, partially supported by clinical evidence showing the quercetin’s possible…</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>Characterization, in-silico, and in-vitro study of a new steroid derivative from Ophiocoma dentata as a potential treatment for COVID-19</strong> - The medicinal potential of marine invertebrates’ bioactive components that may act as anti-COVID-19 demonstrated promising results. Ophiocoma dentata, which is common in the Red Sea, is one such source. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate a new compound from the brittle star, Ophiocoma dentata, and evaluate its efficacy as anti-COVID-19 in-silico and in-vitro. Standard procedures were followed in order to assess the isolated compound’s preliminary toxicity and anti-inflammatory properties….</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>Development of optimized drug-like small molecule inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease for treatment of COVID-19</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease is a critical drug target for small molecule COVID-19 therapy, given its likely druggability and essentiality in the viral maturation and replication cycle. Based on the conservation of 3CL protease substrate binding pockets across coronaviruses and using screening, we identified four structurally distinct lead compounds that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease. After evaluation of their binding specificity, cellular antiviral potency, metabolic stability, and water…</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>Activated CD8(+)CD38(+) Cells Are Associated With Worse Clinical Outcome in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), that spread around the world during the past 2 years, has infected more than 260 million people worldwide and has imposed an important burden on the healthcare system. Several risk factors associated with unfavorable outcome were identified, including elderly age, selected comorbidities, immune suppression as well as laboratory markers. The role of immune system in the pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection is indisputable: while an…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phytochemicals-based targeting RdRp and main protease of SARS-CoV-2 using docking and steered molecular dynamic simulation: A promising therapeutic approach for Tackling COVID-19</strong> - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide and caused substantial socio-economic losses. Few successful vaccine candidates have been approved against SARS-CoV-2; however, their therapeutic efficacy against the mutated strains of the virus remains questionable. Furthermore, the limited supply of vaccines and promising antiviral drugs have created havoc in the present scenario. Plant-based phytochemicals (bioactive molecules) are promising because of their low side…</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>Red blood cells-hitchhiking mediated pulmonary delivery of ivermectin: effects of nanoparticles properties</strong> - Recent studies have demonstrated that ivermectin (IVM) exhibits antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative virus of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the repurposing of IVM for treatment of COVID-19 has presented challenges primarily due to the low IVM plasma concentration after oral administration, which was well below IC(50). Here, a red blood cells (RBCs)-hitchhiking strategy was used for the targeted delivery of IVM-loaded…</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>Applying Modeling and Simulations for Rational Dose Selection of Novel Toll-like Receptor 7/8 Inhibitor Enpatoran for Indications of High Medical Need</strong> - Dual toll-like receptor (TLR) 7 and TLR8 inhibitor enpatoran is under investigation as a treatment for lupus and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (popPK/PD) model-based simulations, using PK and PD (inhibition of ex vivo-stimulated interleukin-6 [IL-6] and interferon-α [IFN-α] secretion) data from a phase I study of enpatoran in healthy participants, were leveraged to inform dose selection for lupus and repurposed for accelerated…</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>Chloroquine and COVID-19-A systems biology model uncovers the drug’s detrimental effect on autophagy and explains its failure</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an urgent need for identifying potential therapeutic drugs. In the first half of 2020 tropic antimalarial drugs, such as chloroquine (CQ) or hydroxochloroquine (HCQ) were the focus of tremendous public attention. In the initial periods of the pandemic, many scientific results pointed out that CQ/HCQ could be very effective for patients with severe COVID. While CQ and HCQ have successfully been used against several diseases (such as…</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 -specific immune responses in boosted vaccine recipients with breakthrough infections during the Omicron variant surge</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that breakthrough infections with the Omicron variant can occur despite robust immune responses to the vaccine strain spike protein.</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 nsp5 Exhibits Stronger Catalytic Activity and Interferon Antagonism than Its SARS-CoV Ortholog</strong> - Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to pose an enormous threat to economic activity and public health worldwide. Previous studies have shown that the nonstructural protein 5 (nsp5, also called 3C-like protease) of alpha- and deltacoronaviruses cleaves Q231 of the NF-κB essential modulator (NEMO), a key kinase in the RIG-I-like receptor pathway, to inhibit type I interferon (IFN) production. In this study, we found that both SARS-CoV-2 nsp5 and SARS-CoV nsp5…</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>Structural Basis of the Main Proteases of Coronavirus Bound to Drug Candidate PF-07321332</strong> - The high mutation rate of COVID-19 and the prevalence of multiple variants strongly support the need for pharmacological options to complement vaccine strategies. One region that appears highly conserved among different genera of coronaviruses is the substrate-binding site of the main protease (M^(pro) or 3CL^(pro)), making it an attractive target for the development of broad-spectrum drugs for multiple coronaviruses. PF-07321332, developed by Pfizer, is the first orally administered inhibitor…</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>Potential plants for inflammatory dysfunction in the SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - The inflammatory process is a biological response of the organism to remove injurious stimuli and initiate homeostasis. It has been recognized as a key player in the most severe forms of SARS-CoV-2, characterized by significantly increased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, the so-called “cytokine storm” that appears to play a pivotal role in this disease. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to select clinical trials with anti-inflammatory plants and relate the activity of these…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Elucidating Design Principles for Engineering Cell-Derived Vesicles to Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - The ability of pathogens to develop drug resistance is a global health challenge. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presents an urgent need wherein several variants of concern resist neutralization by monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies and vaccine-induced sera. Decoy nanoparticles-cell-mimicking particles that bind and inhibit virions-are an emerging class of therapeutics that may overcome such drug resistance challenges. To date, quantitative understanding as to how…</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>Innovative Randomized Phase 1 Study and Dosing Regimen Selection to Accelerate and Inform Pivotal COVID-19 Trial of Nirmatrelvir</strong> - COVID-19 is a continued leading cause of hospitalization and death. Safe, efficacious COVID-19 antivirals are needed urgently. Nirmatrelvir (PF-07321332), the first orally bioavailable, SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro) inhibitor against the coronaviridae family, has demonstrated potent preclinical antiviral activity and benign safety profile. We report safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic data of nirmatrelvir with and without ritonavir as a pharmacokinetic enhancer, from an accelerated randomized,…</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>Imatinib inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection by an off-target-mechanism</strong> - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causal agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 274 million individuals have suffered from COVID-19 and over five million people have died from this disease so far. Therefore, there is an urgent need for therapeutic drugs. Repurposing FDA approved drugs should be favored since evaluation of safety and efficacy of de-novo drug design are both costly and time consuming. We report that imatinib, an Abl tyrosine kinase…</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>How to Unionize at Amazon</strong> - On Staten Island, it made all the difference that the union was independent and led by workers from the warehouse, not managed by a large, outside organization. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-to-unionize-at-amazon">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Collecting Bodies in Bucha</strong> - A team of Ukrainian volunteers say that, since the Russian retreat, they have picked up three hundred corpses. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/collecting-bodies-in-bucha">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin’s War Gives America a Chance to Get Serious About Refugees</strong> - The climate crisis will produce a huge wave of migrants, and we’re not ready. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/putins-war-gives-america-a-chance-to-get-serious-about-refugees">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Julia Child Gets Sliced and Diced for a New Era of Television</strong> - In an HBO series and a reality competition on the Food Network, the grande dame of American gastronomy is put in service of the streaming age. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/julia-child-gets-sliced-and-diced-for-a-new-era-of-%20television">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Preparing Odesa’s Catacombs for a Russian Assault</strong> - Dozens of civilian explorers have volunteered to turn the city’s forgotten Soviet bunkers into modern-day bomb shelters. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/preparing-odesas-catacombs-for-a-russian-assault">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Severance’s workplace brutality isn’t sci-fi. Neither is its worker power.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Mark (Adam Scott) and Helly (Britt Lower) stand in front of the elevator in the TV show
Severance." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1nNuF5ITEPYELvC01I1JxjfwThM=/0x0:2140x1605/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70729804/ATV_Severance_Photo_010804.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Mark and Helly, plotting. | Apple TV+
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Apple TV+ show is a road map of worker organizing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eqjUuN">
You may not have heard, but people don’t like their jobs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6u6pnx">
Americans are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/quitting-contagious.html">quitting in droves</a>. Companies paying poverty wages are having <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22748448/service-food-hotel-workers-pay-raise-resignation-
jobs-wages-benefits">a hard time</a> finding and retaining workers. Highly paid digital workers <a href="https://www.inc.com/bob-nelson/message-to-management-most-workers-dont-want-to-return-to-office.html">don’t want to return</a> to the office. The pandemic stripped the padding that made white-collar jobs bearable — lunches with coworkers, Starbucks runs, breaks in fresh air — leaving only the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/magazine/anti-ambition-age.html">rotten core of actual work</a> behind.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0d9hI">
Setting aside generalities, consider your own work. Does it suck? Is it exhausting? Is it meaningful? Or does it detract from the parts of your life that bring meaning? Do you have a good job, or is it only good compared to the worse jobs you could be forced into?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EhDZpl">
Enter <em>Severance</em>, a show on Apple TV+ starring Adam Scott as Mark. Mark has voluntarily undergone a procedure known as severance, which means he has chosen not to remember what happens during his workday. It’s an intoxicating premise. If you were paid handsomely to do it, why wouldn’t you?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KEv7Jq">
Mark works at Lumon, a powerful corporation with mysterious intent and one of the most ghoulish dystopian settings on the small screen. Lumon offers the most in-demand perk of all: work-life balance. His job self, his “innie,” spends his days sorting and filing numbers in Lumon’s Macrodata Refinement Division, for no reason that he knows of. His “outtie” is blissfully unaware of the pointlessness of his innie’s days, though the complete removal from work hasn’t exactly translated into happiness for Mark. (Spoilers follow for <em>Severance</em>.)
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="boE3tK">
<q>That’s what makes work palatable: Your coworkers become your friends and, given enough trauma bonding, your comrades</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ffJUXX">
Mark and his severed coworkers make an ideal workforce to be exploited. With no personal memories and no context of the outside world, attempts to understand their jobs and surroundings are childlike and naive. But Lumon can’t stop coworkers from caring about each other: Mark empathizes with new hire Helly (Britt Lower); Irving (John Turturro) falls in love with Burt (Christopher Walken) from Optics and Design, abandoning his zealotry for the Handbook in the process; Dylan (Zach Cherry) accidentally discovers his outtie’s fatherhood, radicalizing him to help his coworkers escape instead of working late to win chintzy prizes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3HIBM4">
<em>Severance</em> is a sneaky paean to worker solidarity, and the heart of the show is a metaphor for how workers come together in the face of oppression. Mark’s compliance is first shaken by the expulsion of his work bestie, Petey (Yul Vazquez). The loss awakens a quiet recalcitrance because that’s what makes work palatable: Your coworkers become your friends and, given enough trauma bonding, your comrades.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pkfti5">
While the workplace sitcom has been a staple of TV for decades, no show about work has captured quite so accurately how damaging work can be in real life. You don’t work at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mi0r0LpXo"><em>Cheers</em></a> bar, and you don’t work for <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/22/i-love-leslie">Leslie Knope</a>. You are not Jim Halpert; most likely, you are Stanley Hudson, painfully <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/does-the-office-hold-up">aware of the stupidity</a> of your labor.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MV4nvO">
Lumon may represent a particularly hellish version of the office, but it doesn’t have to stray far from reality to depict the cruelty of work. The workplace is already dystopian. <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23013102/american-consumers-expectations-anger-entitled">Entire sectors</a> of the economy are based on a large pool of low-wage workers, aided by state governments run <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/02/17/vital-stats-businesspeople-in-congress/">in large part by business owners</a>. In America, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/201911_Brookings-
Metro_low-wage-workforce_Ross-Bateman.pdf">44 percent</a> of workers — 53 million people — work in low-wage jobs that are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-low-skill-
worker/618674/">physically exhausting and arduous</a>. Semi-employed gig workers live precariously while their employers <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22425152/future-of-gig-work-uber-lyft-driving-prop-22">fight tooth and nail</a> so they won’t be classified as their employees. Better-off white-collar workers face their <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/how-much-sympathy-do-overwhelmed-white-collar-workers-
deserve/403312/">own set of harms</a>. Like the members of the Macrodata Refinement Division, we’re all dealing with hardship, some of which is the direct result of our jobs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9xWktF">
Because as we know in our bones and <em>Severance</em> makes clear, we are our jobs, every shitty minute. We speak of “work-life balance” because we know work is opposed to life. When Mark tells Helly he just hopes he has things he cares about outside of Lumon, it’s because he knows his job is not one of those things. For all the fantastical elements in <em>Severance</em>, the only real science fiction is the consciousness-searing technology facilitating ever-greater worker compliance. The suffering at work, and the characters’ futile attempts to separate work from everything else, is the lived reality of millions of us in the real world.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Workers in a lab environment, all facing their
boss." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/B4wDKaYNII8gTBQbMfktjxj0NVI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23377248/ATV_Severance_Photos_010605.jpg"/> <cite>Apple TV+</cite></figure></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
Lumon employees, caught commiserating.
</figcaption>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qvpNOv">
The pandemic only highlighted the brutality of our jobs in the current extractive labor setup we call a capitalist democracy. We learned that we’re either essential or not. Unless you’re a doctor, “essential” mostly means people working in low-wage, dangerous, punishing jobs necessary to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/farmworkers-are-being-treated-as-
expendable/610288/">keep the economy going</a>, like farmworkers, bus drivers, and cashiers. There seems to be a direct correlation between how necessary your job is and how low you are paid and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/osha-coronavirus.html">indecently you are treated</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WZezl7">
On the flip side are those working inessential jobs, or what the anthropologist David Graeber calls “bullshit jobs.” “The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger,” Graeber writes <a href="https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/">in his essay</a>. Macrodata Refinement is a perfect example of a job that doesn’t really need to be done, and one brought about by <em>Severance</em> creator, writer, and showrunner Dan Erickson’s <a href="https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-feast-
of-severance?s=r">real-life temp job</a> entering data.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HM3P4k">
It’s perhaps not a coincidence that Erickson was able to make a show out of the “profound psychological violence” (Graeber’s <a href="https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/">words</a>) of a meaningless job, or that that show could double as an ingenious depiction of workplace organizing. TV workers are part of a formidable union with a <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/100-days-changed-hollywood-writers-
strike-10-years-1111860/">history</a> of <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/4/19/15265700/wga-strike-writers-
guild-hollywood">militancy</a> that brings strong protections. (TV writers are represented by the Writers Guild of America West; as an editorial employee of Vox, I’m represented by their sibling, Writers Guild of America East.) There’s a reason the saying “an injury to one is an injury to all” has stuck around in the labor world, and Hollywood writers are especially good at using their collective power to secure better conditions for everyone in their industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gaVzB7">
In an interview <a href="https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/severance-apple-tv-plus-interview-dan-
erickson-ben-stiller-adam-scott">with Inverse</a>, Erickson states the themes of his show bluntly: “It’s about workers reclaiming power, which is obviously a brutal, ongoing human struggle. Workers are extremely powerful, but I think solidarity is one of the biggest challenges in that, especially when those in power try to divide in the ranks.” The best that can be said of the vast majority of jobs is that you may come to prioritize the value of your coworkers over the circumstances that brought you together, i.e., the meaninglessness of your shared toil. <em>Severance</em> is a road map of organizing, a revolution in progress, and it begins and ends with caring about your fellow worker, who in turn cares about you.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pw9Vly">
In<em> Severance</em>, Helly, newly severed and rebellious, represents the audience surrogate and an unadulterated reaction to all this, and perhaps what everyone’s reaction should be to spending their days doing pointless tasks for the profit of others: rage, repulsion, and determination to escape. Those are the seeds of worker organizing. People know their jobs are bad; it takes someone like Helly, or organizers who won the recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-warehouse">union drive</a> at Amazon’s Staten Island, New York warehouse, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/02/business/amazon-union-christian-smalls.html">light a fire</a> under their immiserated coworkers in order to do something about it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f3QGq0">
The stakes are high for workers. While Jeff Bezos’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#64cb0df43d78">wealth</a> is <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-by-country/">greater than the GDPs</a> of more than half the world’s countries, employment at his company is so precarious and difficult that the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/15/us/amazon-workers.html">high turnover rate</a> is a feature of employment; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/01/amazon-osha-injury-rate/">routine injuries</a> are a feature of employment; <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/03/25/amazon-drivers-pee-bottles-union/">peeing in bottles</a> is a feature of employment. “You’re not a person” — the message Helly’s outtie tells her innie — brutally epitomizes the loss of dignity and humanity we endure in the workplace.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fcCGXe">
A union cannot solve every problem workers face, but it wins us a seat at the table to determine at least some of the conditions of our working lives. I know this because I’ve <a href="https://apnews.com/article/474f4a636212453ead62a789ab6c4904">organized a workplace</a>. It was the single most meaningful thing I’ve done in my life because it led me to understand my power when working collectively with my coworkers, and because it materially improved the lives of many of us.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5eiFaC">
<a href="https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2021/not-just-a-wave-but-a-movement-journalists-unionize-at-
record-numbers/">Media</a> isn’t the only white-collar industry where unions are booming: Workers at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/04/workers-are-forming-unions-nonprofits-thinktanks-their-bosses-
arent-always-happy/">nonprofits</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/arts/design/museums-unions-
labor.html">museums</a>, and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/technology/google-employees-
union.html">Big Tech</a> are revolting against the norms that use their <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/">own drives against them</a>. It’s much easier to get people to <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/175286/hour-workweek-actually-
longer-seven-hours.aspx">work long hours</a> if you teach them they’re choosing to do it.
</p>
<div class="c-float- left">
<aside id="Lceso5">
<q>Even devoid of the context of the outside world and their personal histories, even without knowing what a union is, the workers still rebel</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTN5vB">
Similarly, Lumon gets workers to exploit themselves. They choose to undergo severance — if they don’t like it, they can quit! If there’s a lesson here, it’s that owners will do everything they possibly can to extract as much surplus value from workers as possible — especially under the guise of technological advances — and it’s up to the workers to stop it. The severance procedure is a funhouse mirror version of the ways real executives use technology to make work ever more dehumanizing in pursuit of ever-greater profits. At least on the severed floor, there’s hope, because even devoid of the context of the outside world and their personal histories, even without knowing what a union is, the workers still rebel.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xO5wt9">
We cannot ignore what happens to us at work, even if we’d like to, and even if our overseers do their best to facilitate the idea that our work lives are separate from the rest of our lives. “No one should be as invested in their boss’s bottom line as they are in their own life or happiness,” showrunner Erickson said <a href="https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/severance-apple-tv-plus-interview-dan-erickson-ben-stiller-adam-scott">in the Inverse interview</a>. “But there are certain things we learn as humans, like empathy and self-worth, that I think we’re often discouraged from bringing to the workplace, to our own detriment. The less of ourselves we bring to work, the easier we are to exploit, or roped into immoral practices. But also we need that separation in order not to lose ourselves entirely.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9mkVok">
The benefit of exploring a topic like workplace organizing in a sci-fi story like <em>Severance</em> is that its outlandish premise allows its viewers some remove from the cultural baggage we see as entrenched and unchangeable. It’s a narrative that puts the brutality of work front and center, and through stories, we can learn that what seems impossible is not. Even in the most dystopian version of corpocratic America imaginable, workplace empathy and uniting in our common struggle triumphs.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Pakistan’s political crisis, briefly explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/ArDlYc51GOu8z8WMmfy1q5Jtobs=/152x0:3352x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70729769/GettyImages_1239685272.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Supporters of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party rally in Islamabad on April 2, as Prime Minister Imran Khan called on his supporters to take to the streets ahead of a parliamentary no-confidence vote that could see him thrown out of office. | Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
An end to Pakistan’s constitutional crisis. But a political crisis endures.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gU80rH">
One of Pakistan’s twin crises was resolved this week. The other one, not so much.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LlkvwD">
On Thursday, the country’s supreme court delivered a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistans-top-court-likely-rule-khans-bid-block-
ouster-2022-04-07/">historic ruling</a> that resolved a constitutional crisis that took shape last week. The court rebuked Prime Minister Imran Khan, a self-fashioned populist leader and former cricket star who is more celebrity than statesman. Khan, the court ruled, had acted unconstitutionally when he dissolved Pakistan’s Parliament last week in order to avoid losing power through a no-confidence vote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4gAroc">
It was a surprising and reassuring decision, experts in the country’s politics said, given the supreme court’s checkered record as a sometime political ally of Khan. On Thursday, the court sided with the rule of law.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jmwOhR">
But the underlying political crisis that led to the court’s landmark order endures.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="55QyU4">
Khan outlandishly blamed the opposition parties’ efforts to oust him on a US-driven foreign conspiracy. Now, the Parliament has been restored and will continue with its no-confidence vote against Khan’s premiership today, likely leading to his ouster and extraordinary elections later this year. Khan, for his part, said that he would “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/8/pakistan-pm-khan-ready-
to-fight-ahead-of-no-confidence-vote">fight</a>” back.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pnMoRR">
The broader political crisis, however, can be traced to the 2018 election that brought Khan to power. Traditionally, the military is the most significant institution in Pakistan, and it has often intervened to overthrow elected leaders that got in its way. Khan’s rise is inextricable from military <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/07/26/what-just-happened-in-pakistans-
election-and-what-happens-next/">influence over politics</a>, and the incumbent prime minister accused the military of a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-cricket-star-imran-khan-declares-victory-in-tense-
election/2018/07/26/2ec12bb2-904e-11e8-ae59-01880eac5f1d_story.html">soft coup</a> for manipulating the election in Khan’s favor. It was a “very controversial election,” says Asfandyar Mir, a researcher at the United States Institute of Peace. “There was a major question over the legitimacy of that electoral exercise and the government that Khan formed could just never escape the shadow of the controversy surrounding that election,” Mir explained.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/-x6iOJnCS3MLjcGj7vmYjsTqLFw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23377093/GettyImages_1005001746.jpg"/> <cite>Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Pakistan’s cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan speaks after casting his vote at a polling station during the general election in Islamabad on July 25, 2018.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQFWoz">
More recently, the relationship between the military and Khan has worsened, and that gave the political opposition an opening to act against him. Though it’s not known what role the military played in the supreme court’s ruling, experts note that the harshness of the court’s order suggests the military’s buy-in. “This is part of a larger history of instability in Pakistan in which prime ministers are ousted from power, because they lose the support of Pakistan’s military,” Madiha Afzal, foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="122lEY">
But “even if the court was influenced by the military, it took the right decision,” she says.
</p>
<h3 id="Mn13av">
Khan’s position weakened domestically
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F6yjVW">
The political and economic situation set the stage for a challenge to Khan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YlSEse">
After running on a campaign that promised less corruption and more economic opportunity for the poor, Khan has <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/25/pakistan-inflation-imran-khan-no-confidence-vote/">failed</a> to deliver. <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/870369af-b673-4ce5-bd86-d89d28be4d40">Inflation is climbing</a>, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/31-of-pak-youth-currently-unemployed-many-with-
professional-degrees-rpt-122031600099_1.html">unemployment is soaring</a>, and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/imf-
approves-1-billion-loan-for-pakistan-reviving-bailout-
package/a-60642372#:~:text=News-,IMF%20approves%20%241%20billion%20loan%20for%20Pakistan%2C%20reviving%20bailout%20package,least%20because%20of%20the%20pandemic.">a billion-dollar program</a> from the International Monetary Fund has not helped stabilize matters. An international investigation into offshore money from last year, known as the <a href="https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-
papers/pakistan-imran-khan-prime-minister-allies-offshore/">Pandora Papers</a>, showed that Khan’s inner circle had moved money abroad to avoid taxes, in contradiction with Khan’s populist rhetoric.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="evay2f">
Khan presided over an anti-corruption <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2021/05/focus-on-pakistani-elite-behind-accountability-
farce/">witch hunt</a> targeting opposition parties. Indeed, the opposition parties, many of them composed of dynastic leadership and families with old money, are <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-is-pm-khans-government-more-corrupt-
than-previous-administrations/a-60559804">corrupt</a>, and their attempt to oust Khan can be seen as a move to evade further scrutiny, Mir said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kYYy1j">
Still, that anti-corruption effort brought the government bureaucracy to a halt. And it’s part of Khan’s broader strongman-style approach to governing that has been <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/imran-khans-wrong-priorities-during-pandemic/">ineffective</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l6CoNP">
Since his start in politics, Khan has depended on the courts. Yasser Kureshi, a researcher in constitutional law at the University of Oxford, says Khan has built his political standing on backing the judiciary. “Imran Khan’s political platform has been built around an anti-corruption populism, where he charges the political class for being corrupt, and in the last 15 years the supreme court has been on a spree of jurisprudence targeting the political corruption of Pakistan’s traditional parties,” he explains. “Khan has been the biggest supporter of this jurisprudence as it has validated and legitimized his politics.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v7hLZR">
Now, the court appears to have turned against him at a time when the military has also lost faith in Khan. “With Imran Khan, I think that the problem for him is that right now, he has no institutional solutions that he can really turn to,” says Kureshi.
</p>
<h3 id="oVVQsk">
Khan’s relationship with the US has also cooled
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5tBixx">
Pakistan is a nuclear-armed country with a population of 220 million, has built the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Allah-army-and-America-How-Pakistan-s-Khan-played-
anti-U.S.-card">sixth largest military</a> in the world, and has clout as a leader in the Islamic world. A longtime participant in the US war on terrorism, Pakistan has also been a conflicted partner, criticized for at times <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/10/13/post-afghanistan-us-pakistan-relations-stand-on-the-
edge-of-a-precipice/">abetting the Taliban</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ga6KsW">
Khan was elected in 2018, and Mir says that, two years in, the military’s relationship to him began to cool. Khan <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/05/pakistan-political-crisis-military-khan/">feuded</a> with the army chief over foreign policy issues, and the military saw Khan’s poor governance as a liability. Last year, Khan’s delays in signing off on a new intelligence chief prompted <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/pakistan-
appoints-new-spy-chief-after-weeks-delay-2021-10-26/">speculation</a> of more divides between the two.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="erdBsi">
President Joe Biden did not<strong> </strong>phone Khan in his initial days in office, though he did <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/08/readout-of-president-joseph-r-biden-jr-
call-with-prime-minister-narendra-modi-of-india/">call the leader of India</a>, Pakistan’s chief rival, by phone. “The Biden administration’s cold shoulder to Imran Khan rubbed him the wrong way,” said Afzal. “Pakistan has just fallen off a little bit of the radar in terms of high-level engagement.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mNJQB5">
Khan’s public messaging as a strongman has partially been responsible for agitating the relationship with the US — and by extension, his relationship with the Pakistani military, which wants to be closer to the US.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X87tAd">
Most recently, that chill was expressed by Khan’s decision to<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1680729">stay neutral</a> in Russia’s war on Ukraine; Khan visited Moscow just in advance of Russia’s invasion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vrm5mV">
And, now, he’s turned to accusations of conspiracy: that the opposition’s stand against him is manufactured by the US. The origins of Khan’s incendiary claims appear to be a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/imran-khans-conspiracy-play-no-confidence-vote-
pakistan-internal-politics-mismanagement-terrorism-islamism-islamist-11649362566">diplomatic cable</a> that Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington sent home last month after a meeting with senior State Department official Donald Lu. Whatever <a href="http://dawn.com/news/1683975">criticisms Lu may have conveyed</a> about Pakistan’s foreign policy, Khan’s interpretation of the memo has clearly been blown out of proportion. “When it comes to those allegations, there is no truth to them,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VWGFok">
It’s an open question whether his argument will resonate among a Pakistani populace who is suspicious of the United States. One group it’s likely not resonating with: Pakistan’s powerful military.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yC5HNr7GBYWHoR72NBJU54hZ6EM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23377272/GettyImages_1239432654.jpg"/> <cite>Ghulam Rasool/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan (third from left) and President Arif Alvi (fourth from left) watch Pakistan’s fighter jets perform during a parade in Islamabad on March 23.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g8RNYd">
Khan is “critical of the United States to a point that makes the military uncomfortable,” said Shamila Chaudhary, an expert at the New America think tank. “The way he’s talking about the United States is preventing the US relationship with Pakistan from being repaired, and it needs to be repaired.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y6YR6P">
Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s focus in Asia has been on great-power competition with China and two national security crises (the Afghanistan withdrawal and Russia’s Ukraine invasion). The sloppy withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan furthered the disconnect between Washington and Islamabad, according to Chaudhary, and further upset Pakistan’s government.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="78cb8C">
Robin Raphel, a former ambassador who served as a senior South Asia official in the State Department from 1993 to 1997, described Biden’s outlook to Pakistan as a “non-approach approach.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iBzpVY">
“I’m a diplomat, and, I believe you get more with honey than vinegar,” she said. “It would have been more than worth it for the president to take five minutes to call Imran Khan.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1yCw20">
The US did send its top State Department official for human rights, Uzra Zeya, to the Organization of Islamic Countries summit in Pakistan last month. Zeya also met with the country’s foreign minister and senior officials, as the two countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cVp9I0">
But there hasn’t been more than that in terms of a positive message for the US-Pakistan relationship in light of the recent political and constitutional crises in the country.<strong> </strong>Price’s recent comments on the situation were brief: “We support Pakistan’s constitutional process and the rule of law.”
</p>
<h3 id="B0pj3T">
What happens next
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kT94Cd">
Once the Parliament completes its no-confidence vote, which may happen as soon as today, it will dissolve the government. The country’s electoral commission will then oversee a caretaker government that will likely be headed by the leader of the opposition, <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-
explains/2022/04/01/who-is-shehbaz-sharif-pakistans-opposition-leader">Shehbaz Sharif</a>. (Sharif is the brother of <a href="https://www.thecairoreview.com/essays/eyeing-the-generals/">Nawaz Sharif</a>, a former prime minister himself, who is currently living in exile in the UK as he faces accusations of corruption.) And, in that forthcoming vote, Khan will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/world/asia/pakistan-imran-khan.html">most probably lose</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kj62fz">
But even the specifics of those elections are contentious. Khan had asked the electoral commission to set a date within the next 90 days; opposition politicians <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/1091598512/after-a-week-of-
political-chaos-in-pakistan-more-turmoil-lies-ahead">told NPR</a> that reforms are needed before the next vote, otherwise they say the military will “rig” the next elections.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZzpTKd">
Long-term, things are even less clear. Among civil society leaders in Pakistan, there is agreement that the supreme court’s ruling is good for constitutionalism. But it may also be a vehicle for further expansion of the judiciary’s ability to intervene in politics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wHwm7W">
Kureshi, an expert on the courts of Pakistan and how they have increasingly become the arbiter of politics in the country, says the bigger takeaways won’t be fully understood until the court releases the full text of its ruling in the next month or so. That detailed order may set other legal precedents and even cast the opposition in a bad light.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k3q27k">
After the immediate euphoria of keeping Khan’s audacious unconstitutional maneuver in check, that judgment may say a lot about how the court sees itself, especially its supervisory role over the parliament and prime minister.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="46UWml">
“The elected institutions are deeply constrained by the tutelage of overly empowered unelected institutions, whether it is the military, historically, or the judiciary more recently,” said Kureshi. “Judgments like this give them an opportunity to further affirm and expand that role.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2u9rU4">
</p></li>
<li><strong>How a bunch of Starbucks baristas built a labor movement</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="People in matching T-shirts representing their union jump and wave their arms in the air in
celebration." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xE2yYFSdW0xfFE5WyYkZzXsT3ZM=/182x0:3382x2400/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70701655/AP21343833067408.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a viewing of their union election on December. 9, 2021, in Buffalo, New York. The vote to unionize was a first for the 50-year-old coffee retailer in the US, and the latest sign that the labor movement is stirring after decades of decline. | Joshua Bessex/AP
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Inside Starbucks’s successful 21st-century union drive.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aBfSf5">
For Reese Mercado, the decision to unionize came after they watched a customer physically assault a former coworker over enforcing vaccine requirements at their Starbucks store. For Hayleigh Fagan, it was when she got a company-wide letter from the Starbucks Vice President telling employees not to unionize. For Hope Liepe, it was the hypocrisy of calling employees “partners” but not treating them that way.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f6eyrl">
Since the first corporate <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22825850/starbucks-union-first-organizing-
vote-nlrb">Starbucks location voted to unionize</a> late last year, 17 others have voted. Only one store has voted against unionizing. Just this week, seven more Starbucks, one in Buffalo and two in Rochester, three in Ithaca, and one in Kansas City, voted yes on unionizing. Last week, the company’s <a href="https://twitter.com/SBWorkersUnited/status/1510037854306590726?s=20&amp;t=TJnTy1rkBXXJDinw2NLYpQ">flagship store in Manhattan</a>, which voted 46-36, became the largest to unionize. One of just three Starbucks roasteries in the country, the Manhattan location is an important milestone for the Starbucks union since it has many more employees (nearly 100) than a typical Starbucks and shows that the Starbucks union can be successful in the company’s manufacturing arm as well. Even more notable, these Starbucks have voted yes in the notoriously difficult-to-unionize food services industry, where high rates of turnover and a more easily replaceable workforce make union organizing extremely difficult.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iMjBLA">
Starbucks employees around the country say they’re seeing successful union votes at other locations and thinking they could improve conditions at their own stores by doing the same. Some 170 other locations in about 30 states are slated to vote in the coming weeks and months.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JkoF3A">
They’re hoping to use collective bargaining to get a number of improvements, including higher pay, more hours, and better safety protections, a more necessary change since the erstwhile latte makers became front-line workers during the pandemic. They want more say in what their working lives are like, and they want to hold a company that talks of progressive values accountable.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DazllN">
As Liepe, an 18-year-old barista in Ithaca, New York, put it, “We want to be able to sit down with Starbucks, with the higher-up executives, and make a plan so that we, as employees, feel as valued as they say that we are.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yUZaUR">
Starbucks said in a statement, “We are listening and learning from the partners in these stores as we always do across the country.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ubnm6T">
While the unionizing Starbucks stores so far only represent a small portion of the chain’s roughly 9,000 company-run locations, its number belies its importance. It’s a spark of optimism in a union movement that has been in decline for decades. And as unions have become <a href="https://go.epi.org/GkZ">less prevalent in the American workforce</a>, so have the worker benefits and protections unions afforded, including health care, pensions, and paid time off. Along with several other <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/25/business/unions-amazon-starbucks.html">high-profile union efforts</a> at a range of companies, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-
warehouse">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/business/john-deere-strike-uaw-union-
contract.html">John Deere</a>, and the New York Times, Starbucks workers could help stanch or even reverse that decline.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Starbucks workers stand in the
street holding signs that read, “Union yes,” “Union busting is disgusting,” and “Coffee’s the game, union strong’s the
name.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/l8iKqg5vKq8o5qY6wOj0YPU4dwU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23353196/IMG_0167.jpeg"/> <cite>CMRJB Workers United</cite></figure></div></li>
</ul>
<figcaption>
Starbucks workers rally in Missouri.
</figcaption>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oP7Wgs">
Ileen DeVault, professor of Labor History at Cornell University, said it’s unprecedented for a national chain of small food and beverage stores to unionize, and that Starbucks’s efforts could have knock-on effects.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CYgP6L">
“It’s pretty amazing that a company that large and that present in American consciousness — everybody knows what Starbucks is — is unionizing,” DeVault told Recode.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFXybE">
While unionization is popular and gaining a lot of attention, it’s still incredibly difficult. That means high-profile failures as well. Just last week, an Amazon warehouse in Alabama voted against unionizing. This was union organizers’ second try — the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said the e-commerce giant had <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/29/22565851/amazon-bessemer-union-vote-nlrb-appeal-
overturned-second-election">violated labor law</a> by giving the impression it was monitoring which workers voted, so ordered a re-vote. But workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island just <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-york-warehouse">became part of the first Amazon union in the country</a> — and they did so with a worker-led union much like the one at Starbucks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lzovaL">
For now, the actions at Starbucks provide a case study for how other Americans might try to organize and where the union movement might go from here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TFrk0i">
“The scale, the energy, the pace,” said Richard Minter, vice president of the Workers United union. “There’s nothing like it in labor history.”
</p>
<h3 id="JKycVk">
What it takes to unionize a Starbucks
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8G27g9">
Workers at the Genesee Street Starbucks in Buffalo were murmuring about starting a union back in 2019. But it wasn’t until the spring of 2021, after the pandemic had laid bare the treacherous situation of food service workers and the Great Resignation had given employees more leverage, that they started getting serious. They reached out to the local chapter of Workers United, a union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), for guidance and formed a committee of workers from area Buffalo stores.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float- hang">
<aside id="w31LhC">
<q>“It’s not a difference between generations, it’s just a difference between what you’ve been given and the tools that we can use to make the change”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dy1x2k">
Feeling that they had strong support among their colleagues and fearing that corporate had gotten wind of their plan, Starbucks workers at three Buffalo stores went public with their plan to organize in August and filed a petition with the NLRB to unionize under Starbucks Workers United. The company immediately pushed back, flooding the stores with support managers who tried to convince the workers they’d be better off without a union. Despite Starbucks’s efforts to stop it, the NLRB approved the union’s request to be able to organize on a store-by-store basis. Since it’s easier to maintain support among smaller groups of people who know one another, this approach was much more feasible than trying to win a regional or national campaign.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iZI0hM">
On December 9, the Elmwood Buffalo location became the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22825850/starbucks-union-first-organizing-vote-nlrb">first company-run Starbucks store to form a union</a>, winning the vote 19 to 8. It was quickly followed by the Genesee location, while a third location voted against unionizing. The Elmwood bargaining committee, which includes workers from subsequent Starbucks unions around the country, began negotiations at the end of January, and they’re still ongoing. So far, they’ve presented Starbucks with several proposals, including instituting a “just cause” clause so that management would have to have a fair reason to fire someone, and allowing employees to collect credit card tips (there’s no option to tip by credit card now). They plan to ask for better pay and benefits as well.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0yH7Ps">
As each additional store organizes, it inspires more to do so. Most of the workers we spoke to mentioned getting inbound inquiries from workers at other locations near and far after they went public with their intent to unionize.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/Uu6azr5VLX72k3j6OqEtnVayWuw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23361148/AP22081730267673.jpg"/> <cite>Joshua Bessex/AP</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Pro-union pins and literature sit on a table during a watch party for Starbucks employees’ union election in Buffalo, New York, on December 9, 2021.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IHEDq2">
“It seems like every time we win another one, we get tremendous outreach from markets all across the country,” Minter said. He added that after <a href="https://twitter.com/SBWorkersUnited/status/1506367276768968708">the first Starbucks in Washington, the company’s home state, voted to unionize</a>, Workers United received 30 new contacts from other stores that night.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wlHN7A">
Each store’s organizing effort is an asset to the next. From these other stores, new organizers learn what works and what doesn’t, not to mention what to expect from corporate and how to respond. They know the company might make misleading claims about the price of unions. They also know the company will hold meetings during their shifts to convince them not to join the union. These are called captive audience meetings, which many workers find intimidating.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ibj2Cp">
“When you connect with [other workers across the country] you get to share your experiences with them and they get to share theirs and guide you through the process,” said Caro Gonzalez, a Starbucks shift supervisor in Austin who’s majoring in advertising at the University of Texas. “That support is really huge.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u8EUEg">
Communicating with other stores made employees realize that they have more similarities than differences. It has built an immense feeling of solidarity, so that these small shops, each with roughly 20-30 workers, feel like they’re part of something much bigger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtUsiQ">
“Before winning in Buffalo, we didn’t know if it was possible,” Michelle Eisen, 39, a barista at that first unionized Starbucks, told Recode. “I think these stores have that kind of optimism to know that it can be done.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="Members of Socialist Alternative NYC gather for a group photo around a car in a parking lot while holding signs in
support of unions and workers." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/T2A376MTAsOdmO7Qsrp0DJrVSaQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23361242/Reese.jpeg"/> <cite>Socialist Alternative NYC</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Members of Socialist Alternative NYC came to support Starbucks workers in Brooklyn after a captive audience meeting.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VQhnYx">
But that doesn’t mean their route will be easier. Eisen added, “These newer stores that are coming on board almost need more courage than we did because they know what they’re about to get involved in, they know what the company is capable of, and they’re still choosing to do this.”
</p>
<h3 id="Iiv0mO">
Why unionizing is working at Starbucks
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EWXTBZ">
What’s made the Starbucks efforts so successful is what Rebecca Givan, associate professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, calls a “perfect storm” of circumstances, in addition to strategic decisions like organizing by store and communicating with other stores. Those particulars can help guide what will and won’t work elsewhere.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gF8rhG">
To begin with, Starbucks is a company that espouses progressive values, from single-origin coffee beans to LGBTQ rights. But when those values come up short — claiming that Black Lives Matter while <a href="https://theoutline.com/post/4192/starbucks-racism-timeline">calling the cops on Black customers</a>, offering gender-affirming medical treatment that’s <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/laurenstrapagiel/starbucks-transgender-employees">hard to access in practice</a>, and advertising fertility treatment that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/starbucks-workers-
forgo-paychecks-access-ivf-treatments-rcna16381">can cost more than people’s paychecks</a> — it can work against the company.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bLojd5">
“Starbucks is quote-unquote ‘progressive,’ ‘woke,’ whatever. They give us decent benefits,” Fagan, a 22-year-old shift supervisor in Rochester, said. “But we’re literally selling our lives and time and bodies to this corporation. Tell me why I don’t deserve a living wage.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="0RFTmH">
<q>“We’re literally selling our lives and time and bodies to this corporation. Tell me why I don’t deserve a living wage.”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zgurgx">
Fagan, who has worked at Starbucks for five years, makes $22 an hour but, like many employees, said she’s had her hours cut back, making the $20-$50 cab ride (she doesn’t drive) to and from work for a six-hour shift unsustainable. Ahead of the first Buffalo union vote, Starbucks <a href="https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2021/starbucks-makes-historic-investments-in-its-partners/">announced</a> it would be raising its average wage to nearly $17 an hour by this summer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oR5fVT">
But while that pay is much higher than the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353023.htm">industry average</a> of about $12 an hour, many of the workers we talked to said it wasn’t enough, especially as they said their hours have been cut back. These cutbacks could jeopardize employees’ access to Starbucks’s health insurance — a rarity in the food service world — since employees need to work at least 20 hours a week to be eligible for those benefits. Others see the cuts in hours as a way to drive out existing employees in order to <a href="https://www.law360.com/employment-
authority/articles/1473633/union-says-starbucks-is-cutting-hours-to-cool-organizing">tamp down union organizing</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3FbcfK">
Starbucks denied that it’s cutting back hours.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wfbjrd">
“We always schedule to what we believe the store needs based on customer behaviors,” spokesperson Reggie Borges told Recode. “That may mean a change in the hours available, but to say we are cutting hours wouldn’t be accurate.” The company added that eligibility to health care was measured just twice a year by average hours worked, rather than on a weekly basis, so a short-term cut in hours wouldn’t affect health care eligibility.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="36zcCt">
In any case, Starbucks’s perceived progressive values often attract young workers who share those values.<strong> </strong>Many of the Starbucks workers trying to unionize are in their early 20s. They’ve become adults amid huge social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too. They are comfortable with empathy and technology, making them star candidates for a resurgent union movement. In addition to talking to other Starbucks workers across the country on Zoom and social media, they hash out their store strategies over Discord while sharing viral videos about unions on TikTok. On a press call following her Mesa, Arizona, store’s vote to unionize in March, barista Haley Smith called Twitter “the rising star of our campaign.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="BMqtk2">
<q>Starbucks executives rolled back Covid-19 restrictions “a little too soon and a little too brazenly, considering they were still working at home,” says a New York City employee</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oXvTE2">
Whether on video calls, chat rooms, or social media, these workers seem to land on a common theme: They’re all facing the same inequalities in work and life. The immense unfairness of the world we live in was top of mind for the young people who spoke to Recode. They’ve come into adulthood at a time of heightened inequality in everything from access to broadband to income.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vhEhrz">
“We’ve been forced into this world where we can’t afford anything, where we can’t afford to live,” said Mercado, 22, who works at a Starbucks in Brooklyn while pursuing a master’s degree in environmental science. “It’s not a difference between generations, it’s just a difference between what you’ve been given and the tools that we can use to make the change.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5X1qh5">
For many Starbucks workers and others, the shine has worn off their companies.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5Qpgo">
“We realized during the pandemic that they <a href="https://twitter.com/ranimolla/status/1508418595784728596">didn’t care about us</a>,” said a former Starbucks employee in Rochester who worked for the company for five years and was a main union organizer at his store. He was recently fired for clocking in four minutes before a coworker, meaning he was in the store by himself — an offense he said would have never resulted in firing prior to the union effort. The employee asked to remain anonymous lest this firing jeopardize future employment. (Recode contacted Starbucks about why this was a fireable offense, but the company did not respond in time for publication.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HFtq6B">
Working through the pandemic made the situation and worker safety especially acute.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MxpyX6">
“They’ll call me a partner all they want, but corporate will allow me to die on the floor if it made them money,” said Brandi Alduk, a 22-year-old employee at a Queens Starbucks store, noting that she was exaggerating but with some truth. She said company executives rolled back Covid-19 restrictions “a little too soon and a little too brazenly, considering they were still working at home when they started loosening some of the restrictions.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AFDWLV">
One positive aspect of working during the pandemic, many Starbucks employees said, is that they became incredibly close with their coworkers. That’s partly to do with the physical locations Starbucks occupies. Starbucks stores are tight spaces, where workers bump into and talk to each other constantly — valuable circumstances when trying to unionize. (Situations like this are also less likely at workplaces like giant Amazon warehouses.)
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="Starbucks
workers and organizers in Queens stand on the sidewalk and hug in congratulations." src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/eeZpqrvWPKF55QHgrFSl_lCDxV4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23353149/IMG_6960.JPG"/> <cite>Oriana Shulevitz Rosaso</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Brandi Alduk (center right) and her coworkers share an embrace along with City Council member Tiffany Cabán and Assembly member Zohran Mamdani after the workers filed a petition to unionize.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xtRiBK">
In general, the Starbucks union efforts have been very grassroots, driven by the front-line workers themselves. Starbucks employees at unionized locations are the ones bargaining for a contract with company lawyers — not a union rep. While union members typically work with their representatives to decide what they want in their contract, the negotiations themselves are usually left to the union and their lawyers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TDJIlu">
“There’s nobody top- down making a decision about which stores should organize or go public. It depends on the workers in each store,” Givan, the Rutgers professor, said. “I think that’s crucial.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKQbuR">
This grassroots movement has even drawn support from Starbucks’s shareholders. Recently, investors representing $3.4 trillion in assets under management <a href="https://www.trilliuminvest.com/documents/sbux-investor-letter-march-15-2022-public">asked the company to remain neutral</a> and “swiftly reach fair and timely collective bargains,” should more Starbucks stores vote to unionize.
</p>
<h3 id="CPNJSg">
The challenges ahead
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9Aty7z">
Unionizing in America today is not easy — that’s part of what makes the Starbucks workers’ success so impressive. But experts aren’t sure the extent to which that success could be replicated at other food and beverage chains or in other industries. Despite organizing in new industries like food service and digital media in recent years, union membership overall is <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm">still in decline</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fvIEw9">
Givan said the easiest way forward for the labor movement might be through other progressive brands — especially ones where workers feel the company hasn’t lived up to that progressive ethos. For example, workers at a Manhattan REI store, an outdoor equipment retailer that puts “purpose before profits,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/business/rei-union-new-
york.html">voted to unionize</a> in March, saying the company failed to prioritize their safety. REI employees <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/rei-stop-union-busting">accused the company of union busting</a>, by spreading misinformation about the unions, holding captive audience meetings, and withholding promotions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Yx4LN">
The road might be tougher at more iron-fisted companies like Amazon. Ahead of the first union vote at an Alabama warehouse, the company had mailboxes installed on its grounds, giving workers the impression that the company was monitoring its union votes. In Staten Island, the company <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23005336/amazon-union-new-
york-warehouse">fired</a> a warehouse supervisor named Chris Smalls the same day he participated in a protest about unsafe conditions during the pandemic. (Smalls went on to create the Amazon Labor Union which led the successful union drive at the Staten Island warehouse.)
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A
young Black man in sunglasses and a baseball cap speaks into news outlets’ microphones, backed by supporters with signs
reading, “Union rights for all Amazon workers.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ovx90MVZqcf-
fXob9-1RteQB5_k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23361108/GettyImages_1239668154.jpg"/> <cite>Andrea Renault/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Union organizer Christian Smalls speaks following the April 1 vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4gcxbK">
Starbucks has also been aggressively fighting the union. The company’s resistance is very apparent to its workers who are organizing. A number of workers told us that they’d been fired or had their hours severely cut back over their association with the union. Workers United has filed nearly 70 unfair labor practices against Starbucks. The NLRB recently dinged the company over more aggressive tactics like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/business/economy/starbucks-union-nlrb-
arizona.html">illegally penalizing organizers</a>, by suspending an employee and denying another’s scheduling preferences, over their union support. Starbucks <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/09/starbucks-
memphis-union-employees-fired/">fired seven unionizing workers</a> in Memphis after hosting a TV interview about them organizing at the store, but said they were let go for reasons outside the union. Starbucks called any allegations of union busting or firing people over unionizing “categorically false.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AqwsWy">
“From the beginning, we’ve been clear in our belief that we are better together as partners, without a union between us, and that conviction has not changed,” Starbucks said in a statement to Recode.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3txqaJ">
Union organizing is also difficult for reasons beyond pushback from management, including a long and arduous process and labor policy that doesn’t favor workers. And faced with those hurdles, plenty of workers decide to advocate for themselves in other ways, without formally organizing, according to <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__newheightscommunications-2Ddot-2Dyamm-2Dtrack.appspot.com_Redirect-3Fukey-3D1MQzcIg9LUt9MWBKS9DTJ5XYOJVsSTp2HAVVYLrLKdAU-2D1047086917-26key-3DYAMMID-2D1642783562782-26link-3Dhttps-3A__www.jwj.org_staff-2Dmembers_erica-2Dsmiley&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=7MSjEE-
cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&amp;r=ZIQCh6Le3o1SYA0lj17C2IlHXhmT6shztLfSBcVGbyo&amp;m=eb5hqERhXqr_S4g6_Okw1Z6wNgbrnJTomBdzWswHyjnHX34SQ2RbNcdSu4ky5ABf&amp;s=SaqA1RB2zuPinBh_7bCQZ2YiWsxlccKZC9_fzZaQNrA&amp;e=">Erica Smiley</a> and <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__newheightscommunications-2Ddot-2Dyamm-2Dtrack.appspot.com_Redirect-3Fukey-3D1MQzcIg9LUt9MWBKS9DTJ5XYOJVsSTp2HAVVYLrLKdAU-2D1047086917-26key-3DYAMMID-2D1642783562782-26link-3Dhttps-3A__www.fordfoundation.org_about_people_sarita-2Dgupta_&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=7MSjEE-
cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&amp;r=ZIQCh6Le3o1SYA0lj17C2IlHXhmT6shztLfSBcVGbyo&amp;m=eb5hqERhXqr_S4g6_Okw1Z6wNgbrnJTomBdzWswHyjnHX34SQ2RbNcdSu4ky5ABf&amp;s=2TZKmdiXR2NwpcrUnX3UyNavac_EBhZAveTBHZhwNxA&amp;e=">Sarita Gupta</a>, authors<em> </em>of <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501764820/the-future-we-
need/"><em>The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century</em></a><em>.</em> According to Smiley and Gupta<strong>,</strong> there’s also been an increase in so-called worker standards boards, in which groups of workers take part in decisions and rule-making alongside politicians and employers in a non-union setting. <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/worker-boards-across-the-country-are-empowering-workers-and-
implementing-workforce-standards-across-industries/">State and local governments have formed standards boards</a> in the past few years to guide everything from compensation to <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/2021/11/30/414399/harris-county-leaders-create-a-new-
government-board-for-low-wage-frontline-workers/">safety</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ReFzyu">
<a href="https://fightfor15.org/">Fight for $15 and a Union</a>, which is a broader advocacy movement rather than a union, has helped gain benefits and raise the minimum wage for millions of workers in cities and states around the country. Angelica Hernandez, a McDonald’s worker in California who has been working with Fight for $15, <a href="https://la.eater.com/2020/4/10/21215222/mcdonalds-employees-protest-coronavirus-los-angeles-california-fast-food-
strike">went on strike early in March</a> 2020 to protest the unsafe working conditions at her job. She’s not part of a union, but simply walked off the job with a couple of colleagues, and it worked. Thanks to this walkout, she got PPE, sanitizer, and temperature checks at work for her and her colleagues.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt="Protesters outside a McDonald’s wear shirts that read “Unions for all, fight for $15”
and carry signs that read, “McDonald’s: Sexual harassment is unacceptable” and “McDonald’s: Meet with
survivors&amp;gt;”" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/FUiwfUDuRxYF3ySmzOwoNDRZZMQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23361453/20200310_115731.jpeg"/> <cite>Fight for $15 and a Union</cite></p>
<figcaption>
Angelica Hernandez protests for better working conditions outside her McDonald’s in California.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aq76Aq">
Going on strike is risky, and many people can’t afford to lose that pay. That’s why Hernandez is hoping California passes <a href="https://sf.eater.com/2022/2/1/22912729/california-fast-food-workers-law-
standardize-wages">AB 257</a>. The first-of-its-kind bill would standardize wages, hours, and conditions for all fast food workers and cover half a million employees at places like Starbucks and McDonald’s, not just unionized ones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GRw9i8">
“We’re all suffering across the board with things like sexual abuse and labor abuse,” Hernandez told Recode through a Fight for $15 translator. “That’s why it’s important for us that it’s not just one or two restaurants, but that all fast food workers have protections.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z3NquF">
The increased propensity for workers to quit and find new jobs in the current tight labor market is another way employees are improving their situation outside unions. Smiley considers the Great Resignation to be a form of worker action, like a strike. “You can’t deny the implications it’s had on the labor force and on labor economics,” she said, referring to how, among other benefits, increased rates of quitting have driven up wages, especially in the lowest-paying sectors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mm2N1H">
On a national level, Democrats have put forth a labor bill known as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22307891/democrats-
unions-pro-act-policy-feedback">PRO Act</a> that would make it easier for workers to organize, but it has stalled in the Senate. Perhaps a more promising route is through the NLRB. Jennifer Abruzzo, who was confirmed by the senate as the NLRB’s general counsel last year, <a href="https://perfectunion.us/nrlb-jennifer-abruzzo-interview/">told More Perfect Union</a> that she wants to make it harder for employers to intimidate workers who want to unionize. She’s asking the organization to reconsider the Joy Silk Doctrine, which would mean that employers would have to recognize a union based on simple majority support.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1yfBbY">
All things considered, it’s remarkable that a growing number of Starbucks workers are unionizing right now. And because more locations start their own drives after each new union victory, it’s not hard to imagine as many as 50 unionized Starbucks stores by this summer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cx9m7v">
<strong>Update, 4:30 pm ET, April 8, 2022:</strong> This story has been updated to reflect the latest union votes.
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dipika reaches twin finals at WSF World Doubles Championships</strong> - India has never won a gold medal at the World Doubles Squash Championships</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Full Of Grace shines</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>Leclerc takes pole position at Australian Grand Prix</strong> - Leclerc posted a time of 1 minute, 17.868 seconds to edge Red Bull driver and defending series champion Max Verstappen by .286 seconds</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India face Netherlands in Junior Women's Hockey WC semifinals as history beckons</strong> - India's best performance in the tournament so far is a bronze medal finish in 2013</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>IPL 2022: CSK vs SRH | Hyderabad opts to field against Chennai</strong> - Both teams are searching for their first win of the season.</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>Blood donation camp in Mysuru</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>Madras, Melbourne varsities to offer B.Sc. blended programme</strong> - The course will be offered from the academic year 2022-23</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>Hawala case: absconding ex–J&amp;K Minister held in Kathua</strong> - Money being used for terrorism and separatism in J&amp;K, say security agencies</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>New Parliament promises improved accessibility</strong> - Central Vista building to include wheelchair-accessible desks for MPs, accessible public toilets on all floors, 3 entrances with ramps, say architects</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>All polling booths in Asansol should be manned by CRPF: Ravi Shankar Prasad</strong> - The by-poll to Asansol constituency will be held on April 12</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>Inside Chernobyl: We stole Russian fuel to prevent catastrophe</strong> - Staff at the former nuclear plant tell the BBC they were forced to negotiate when Russian forces took over.</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>Kramatorsk station attack: What we know so far</strong> - Some 50 people are said to have been killed in Kramatorsk, Ukraine and Russia are blaming each other.</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, the UN and history’s greatest broken promise</strong> - If the past is anything to go by, the world will struggle to unite for Ukraine - says Fergal Keane.</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>Kinder chocolate factory told to shut over salmonella cases</strong> - Dozens of suspected cases are reported in the UK, Germany, France and Belgium.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>France election: Voters prepare to cast ballot in presidential poll</strong> - Campaigning has ended ahead of the first round of voting which takes place on Sunday.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Senate bill that has Big Tech scared</strong> - Biggest platforms would be barred from advantaging themselves over the little guys. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1846884">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Could high-flying kites power your home?</strong> - Companies are betting on computer-controlled, airborne wind energy for future power. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1846950">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trend says hackers have weaponized SpringShell to install Mirai malware</strong> - Researchers have been in search of vulnerable real-world apps. The wait continues. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847013">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The painfully simple reason Hong Kong saw one of the highest COVID death rates</strong> - The most vulnerable weren’t vaccinated. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1847004">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google and iFixit team up to offer Pixel parts online</strong> - Following the lead of Samsung and Apple, Google is supporting DIY repairs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1846901">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>In Feudal Japan, 2 Samurai families are constantly at war…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
One day, the eldest sons of the two Families got together and decided to put a stop to all the fighting and bloodshed between their clans. To the dismay of their closest relatives and companions, the two announce that they had agreed - they were going to have a duel to the death. The winner would bring his family glory, and the other family would be forced to leave the territory for good.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The night before the duel, the Father of one clan approached his son and asked him why he decided to do this. Surely there was another way. The son responded he could no longer stand the fighting, and would rather die than deal with it any longer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Besides, he was older and knew he could easily best the eldest son of the opposing clan. He also had a superior disarming technique and could quickly end it all. He was certain of his victory.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He continued to meditate and focus until the very moment of the duel. He could practically visualize the battle. He knew his opponents every move- he had spied on the past training sessions of his rookie opponent, and knew his every weakness. He was ready.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When the time came, he donned his gear and made his way to the Arena. They approached each other from opposing ends. They stopped. Both bowed low in respect.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Then as they lifted their heads back up, it was a flurry of sparks and slashes as the two went head to head.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Such a display of combative grace had never been seen before. Both were clearly masters of their craft. As they continued to exchange blows, the older of the two saw his opening and struck.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The younger fighter’s sword hand had been lost. However, at that very moment the sword spun in a way that cut off both legs of the older fighter, dropping him to the floor in a splatter of blood.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The younger fighter reached down and picked his sword back up with his left hand and finished his downed opponent in a quick display of mercy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later, as the Heads of both clans met to sign their peace treaty, the Father of the older fighter approached the younger fighter. He told him that he held no animosity toward him - he fought valiantly to the very end. He only blamed his own son’s foolishness, and as he walked away he muttered sadly to himself…
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I just don’t understand where he went wrong. He was supposed to be the greatest Samurai of our time…”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To which the younger fighter responds:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“He was indeed an excellent fighter, but while he was focused on disarming me, I simply focused on de-feeting him.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Totally_a_Banana"> /u/Totally_a_Banana </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzffam/in_feudal_japan_2_samurai_families_are_constantly/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzffam/in_feudal_japan_2_samurai_families_are_constantly/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>If wanting to be alone makes you an introvert, and wanting to be with people makes you an extrovert,</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
wanting to be with cats must make you a purrvert.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bagood1"> /u/bagood1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzk8nr/if_wanting_to_be_alone_makes_you_an_introvert_and/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzk8nr/if_wanting_to_be_alone_makes_you_an_introvert_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A pig with a wooden leg</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A tourist from the city passed a farmhouse and saw a pig with a wooden leg. He went to the farmer and asked him about the pig.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The farmer said, "Oh, this is a great pig! There’s no pig like him anywhere! Once, when I was plowing a field, the tractor tipped over and pinned my leg to the ground. This pig saw me and went to the house to get my wife. He saved my life!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Another time, my wife and I were asleep in the house when a fire started. This pig woke us up and got us out of the house before it burned down. He saved me again! He’s a wonderful pig!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“But you didn’t tell us how he got the wooden leg,” said the tourist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Oh,” said the farmer, “a pig like that, you don’t eat all at once!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Stangfals"> /u/Stangfals </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzocd6/a_pig_with_a_wooden_leg/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzocd6/a_pig_with_a_wooden_leg/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>what’s the fastest way of getting banned in r/conservative?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Source?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yomommafool"> /u/yomommafool </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tz7xmf/whats_the_fastest_way_of_getting_banned_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tz7xmf/whats_the_fastest_way_of_getting_banned_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>North Korea announced to have successfully landed a man on the Sun</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
During a live interview with Kim Jong-un, a reporter asked, “the Sun is very hot! How did you land a man?” Kim proudly replied, “we launch at night!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Meanwhile, Trump tweeted while watching the live, “Haha what an idiot! There is no Sun at night!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/zappa_k"> /u/zappa_k </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzq3ae/north_korea_announced_to_have_successfully_landed/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/tzq3ae/north_korea_announced_to_have_successfully_landed/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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