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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The widening of inequalities in COVID-19 years of life lost from 2020 to 2021: a Scottish Burden of Disease study</strong> -
<div>
Background: Previous studies have highlighted the large extent of inequality in adverse COVID-19 health outcomes. Our aim was to monitor changes in the overall, and inequalities in COVID-19 years of life lost to premature mortality (YLL) in Scotland from 2020 and 2021. Methods: Cause-specific COVID-19 mortality counts were derived at age-group and area-deprivation level using Scottish death registrations for 2020 and 2021. YLL was estimated by multiplying mortality counts by age-conditional life expectancy from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 reference life table. Various measures of absolute and relative inequality were estimated for triangulation purposes. Results: There were marked inequalities in COVID-19 YLL by area deprivation in 2020, which were further exacerbated in 2021; confirmed across all measures of absolute and relative inequality. Half (51%) of COVID-19 YLL was attributable to inequalities in area deprivation in 2021, an increase from 41% in 2020. Conclusion: Despite a highly impactful vaccination programme in preventing mortality, COVID-19 continues to represent a substantial area of fatal population health loss for which inequalities have widened. Tackling systemic inequalities with effective interventions are required to mitigate further unjust health loss in the Scottish population from COVID-19 and other causes of ill-health and mortality.
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/mhu6r/" target="_blank">The widening of inequalities in COVID-19 years of life lost from 2020 to 2021: a Scottish Burden of Disease study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Toward more realistic social distancing policies via advanced feedback control</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A continuously time-varying transmission rate is suggested by many control-theoretic investigations on non- pharmaceutical interventions for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. However, such a continuously varying rate is impossible to implement in any human society. Here, we significantly extend a preliminary work (M. Fliess, C. Join, A. d9Onofrio, Feedback control of social distancing for COVID-19 via elementary formulae, MATHMOD, Vienna, 2022), based on the combination of flatness-based and model-free controls of the classic SIR model. Indeed, to take into account severe uncertainties and perturbations, we propose a feedback control where the transmission rate, i.e., the control variable, is piecewise constant. More precisely, the transmission rate remains constant during an appreciable time interval. Strict extended lockdowns may therefore be avoided. The poor knowledge of fundamental quantities such as the rate of infection hinders a precise calibration of the transmission rate. Thus, the results of our approach ought therefore not to be regarded as rules of action to follow accurately but as a guideline for a wise behavior.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.25.22275562v1" target="_blank">Toward more realistic social distancing policies via advanced feedback control</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Population-weighted greenspace exposure tied to lower COVID-19 mortality rates: A nationwide dose-response study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused enormous deaths and profound social and economic disruption globally. Accumulating evidence suggests exposure to greenspace may reduce the risk of COVID-19 mortality. Greenspace exposure enhances immune functioning, reduces inflammation, and replenishes gut microbiota may protect against the risk of mortality among those with COVID-19. However, previous studies often fail to distinguish the health effect of different types of greenspace, explore the dose-response association and optimal buffer distance, and consider the spatial dynamics of population distribution and geographic locations of greenspace. This study examined the associations among ratio of different types of greenspaces, population-weighted exposure to different types of greenspaces, and COVID-19 mortality rates using a negative binomial generalized linear mixed effects model across 3,025 counties, adjusted for socioeconomic, demographic, pre-existing chronic disease, policy and regulation, behavioral, and environmental factors. The population-weighted measure gave proportionally greater weight to greenspace near areas of higher population density. Exposure to forest and pasture was negatively associated with COVID-19 mortality rates, while developed open space has insignificant or positive associations with mortality rates. Forest outside park has the largest effect size across all buffer distances, followed by forest inside park. The optimal exposure buffer distance is 1km for forest outside park, with 1 unit of increase in exposure associated with a 9.9% decrease in mortality rates (95% confidence interval: 6.9% -12.8%). The optimal exposure buffer distance of forest inside park is 400m, with 1 unit of increase in exposure, associated with a 4.7% decrease in mortality rates (95% confidence interval: 2.4% - 6.9%). Greenspaces, especially nearby forest, may be effective at lowering the mortality risk of COVID-19 patients. Our findings suggest that policymakers and planners should prioritize forestry within walking distance of residential clusters to mitigate mortality rates during current and future respiratory pandemics.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.22275549v1" target="_blank">Population- weighted greenspace exposure tied to lower COVID-19 mortality rates: A nationwide dose-response study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Atovaquone for Treatment of COVID-19: A Prospective Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: An in-silico screen was performed to identify FDA approved drugs that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), followed by in vitro viral replication assays, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies in mice. These studies identified atovaquone as a promising candidate for inhibiting viral replication. Methods: A 2-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection. Enrolled patients were randomized 2:1 to atovaquone 1500 mg BID versus matched placebo. Patients received standard of care treatment including remdesivir, dexamethasone, or convalescent plasma as deemed necessary by the treating team. Saliva was collected at baseline and twice per day for up to 10 days for RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 viral load measurement by quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR. The primary outcome was the between group difference in log- transformed viral load (copies/mL) using a generalized linear mixed-effect models of repeated measures from all samples. Results: Of the 61 patients enrolled; 41 received atovaquone and 19 received placebo. Overall, the population was predominately male (63%) and Hispanic (70%), with a mean age of 51 years, enrolled a mean of 5 days from symptom onset. The log10 viral load was 5.25 copies/mL vs. 4.79 copies/mL at baseline in the atovaquone vs. placebo group. Change in viral load did not differ over time between the atovaquone plus standard of care arm versus the placebo plus standard of care arm. Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies of atovaquone plasma concentration demonstrated a wide variation in atovaquone levels, with an inverse correlation between BMI and atovaquone levels, (Rho -0.45, p=0.02). In post hoc analysis, an inverse correlation was observed between atovaquone levels and viral load (Rho -0.54, p= 0.005). Conclusion: In this prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, atovaquone did not demonstrate evidence of enhanced SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance compared with placebo. However, based on the observed inverse correlation between atovaquone levels and viral load, additional PK-guided studies may be warranted to examine the antiviral effect of atovaquone in COVID-19 patients. clincialtrials.gov (NCT04456153).
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.22275411v1" target="_blank">Atovaquone for Treatment of COVID-19: A Prospective Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Health workers’ Perspective on the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Introduction of AgRDT for COVID-19 in Kisumu County, Western Kenya</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 pandemic remains a major global public health challenge also in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC), due to fragile health systems, limited resources and personnel, low testing and counseling capacity, community perceptions, among others. In Kisumu County of Western Kenya, a unique Public Private Partnership (PPP) was rolled-out to increase testing and capacity building by linking private facilities to the ongoing public sector efforts in combating COVID-19. It became increasingly clear that centralized PCR testing for COVID-19 was too labor-intensive, expensive, prone to machine breakdowns and stock-outs of essential reagents, resulting in long turn-around times and sometimes even adaptations of patient selection criteria. A clear need was identified for rapid point-of-care COVID-19 testing (AgRDT). After successful field evaluation, RDT for COVID-19 was offered through the PPP. This paper aimed to understand the health workers perspective on the feasibility and acceptability of the introduction of the AgRDT in Kisumu County. In-Depth Interviews were conducted with selected health workers (n=23) from the participating facilities and analyzed using Nvivo 11 The health workers accepted the use of AgRDT as it enabled the strengthening of the existing health system, increased testing capacity and provided capacity building opportunities. Challenges included poor management of results discrepant with PCR gold standard. The health workers applauded the introduction of AgRDT with the Kisumu County Department of Health as a more realistic and user-friendly approach, leading to fast turn-around times and increased personal safety experience.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.22275498v1" target="_blank">Health workers’ Perspective on the Feasibility and Acceptability of the Introduction of AgRDT for COVID-19 in Kisumu County, Western Kenya</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Clearing the Fog: A Systematic Review on Cognitive Dysfunction in COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objective: The systematic review aims to examine the association between COVID-19 and cognitive dysfunction, including the link between the severity of COVID-19 and the occurrence of cognitive impairment and the potential pathophysiological mechanisms related to brain fog among COVID-19 patients. Methods: PubMed, Oxford University Press, ProQuest Health and Medical Complete, ScienceDirect, Ovid, HERDIN, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library databases were accessed to retrieve literature using the PRISMA guidelines. Results: After critical appraisal, thirteen full journal articles were included in the study. The studies showed the most frequent cognitive impairment are attention, memory, and executive function in COVID-19 patients. Compared with healthy controls (HC) in 3 out of 4 studies, cognitive impairment was only evident in COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, two studies showed no correlation between brain fog and depression, and five studies showed a link between the severity of COVID-19 infection and cognitive impairment. Cases ranging from mild to severe illness presented manifestations of brain fog. However, a disparity in the evidence of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and cognitive dysfunction exists, prompting the need to investigate further. Additionally, recent studies provide insufficient evidence for direct central nervous system invasion, and there are emerging studies that contrast the presumed pathogenesis of neurological complications from neuroinflammation. Conclusion: There is an association between COVID-19 and cognitive dysfunction. Manifestation of cognitive dysfunction is present regardless of illness severity. Moreover, there are existing pathophysiological mechanisms of the Coronavirus that lead to cognitive dysfunction in COVID-19 patients; however, additional studies are required to substantiate such mechanisms further.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.22275552v1" target="_blank">Clearing the Fog: A Systematic Review on Cognitive Dysfunction in COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Increasing computational protein design literacy through cohort-based learning for undergraduate students</strong> -
<div>
Undergraduate research experiences can improve student success in graduate education and STEM careers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, undergraduate researchers at our institution and many others lost their work-study research positions due to interruption of in-person research activities. This imposed a financial burden on the students and eliminated an important learning opportunity. To address these challenges, we created a paid, fully-remote, cohort-based research curriculum in computational protein design. Our curriculum used existing protein design methods as a platform to first educate and train undergraduate students and then to test research hypotheses. In the first phase, students learned computational methods to assess the stability of designed protein assemblies. In the second phase, students used a larger dataset to identify factors that could improve the accuracy of current protein design algorithms. This cohort- based program created valuable new research opportunities for undergraduates at our institute and enhanced the undergraduates’ feeling of connection with the lab. Students learned transferable and useful skills such as literature review, programming basics, data analysis, hypothesis testing, and scientific communication. Our program provides a model of structured computational research training opportunities for undergraduate researchers in any field for organizations looking to expand educational access.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.493341v1" target="_blank">Increasing computational protein design literacy through cohort-based learning for undergraduate students</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Subcutaneous delivery of an antibody against SARS-CoV-2 from a supramolecular hydrogel depot</strong> -
<div>
Prolonged maintenance of therapeutically-relevant levels of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) is necessary to enable passive immunization against infectious disease. Unfortunately, protection only lasts for as long as these bnAbs remain present at a sufficiently high concentration in the body. Poor pharmacokinetics and burdensome administration are two challenges that need to be addressed in order to make pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis with bnAbs feasible and effective. In this work, we develop a supramolecular hydrogel as an injectable, subcutaneous depot to encapsulate and deliver antibody drug cargo. This polymer-nanoparticle (PNP) hydrogel exhibits shear-thinning and self-healing properties that are required for an injectable drug delivery vehicle. In vitro drug release assays and diffusion measurements indicate that the PNP hydrogels prevent burst release and slow the release of encapsulated antibodies. Delivery of bnAbs against SARS-CoV-2 from PNP hydrogels is compared to standard routes of administration in a preclinical mouse model. We develop a multi-compartment model to understand the ability of these subcutaneous depot materials to modulate the pharmacokinetics of released antibodies; the model is extrapolated to explore the requirements needed for novel materials to successfully deliver relevant antibody therapeutics with different pharmacokinetic characteristics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.493347v1" target="_blank">Subcutaneous delivery of an antibody against SARS-CoV-2 from a supramolecular hydrogel depot</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Covid-19 is a leading cause of death in children and young people ages 0-19 years in the United States</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Covid-19 has caused more than 1 million deaths in the US, including at least 1,433 deaths among children and young people (CYP) aged 0-19 years. Deaths among US CYP are rare in general, and so we argue here that the mortality burden of Covid-19 in CYP is best understood in the context of all other causes of CYP death. Using publicly available data from the National Center for Health Statistics, and comparing to mortality in 2019, the immediate pre-pandemic period, we find that Covid-19 is a leading cause of death in CYP aged 0-19 years in the US, ranking #9 among all causes of deaths, #5 in disease related causes of deaths (excluding accidents, assault and suicide), and #1 in deaths caused by infectious / respiratory diseases. Due to the impact of mitigations such as social distancing and our comparison of a single disease (Covid-19) to groups of causes such as deaths from pneumonia and influenza, these rankings are likely conservative lower bounds. Our findings underscore the importance of continued vaccination campaigns for CYP over 5 years of age in the US and for effective Covid-19 vaccines for under 5 year olds.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.23.22275458v1" target="_blank">Covid-19 is a leading cause of death in children and young people ages 0-19 years in the United States</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A Monte Carlo Estimation of the Narrow-Sense Heritability of COVID-19 Infection and Severity from AncestryDNA Survey Data</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Respiratory infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, demonstrate a host genetic component that contributes to inter-individual differences of susceptibility and infection. At present, the relative effect of environmental and genetic factors of COVID-19 is unknown. This research presents a Monte Carlo (MC) estimation of the genetic narrow-sense heritability of COVID-19 infection and severity from AncestryDNA survey data. The results suggest a moderate genetic contribution to COVID-19 infection and a low genetic contribution for COVID-19 severity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article- link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.23.22275364v1" target="_blank">A Monte Carlo Estimation of the Narrow-Sense Heritability of COVID-19 Infection and Severity from AncestryDNA Survey Data</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Hemin shows antiviral activity in vitro, possibly through suppression of viral entry mediators.</strong> -
<div>
Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is a stress-induced enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of heme into biliverdin, carbon monoxide, and iron. Targeting HO-1 to treat severe COVID-19 has been suggested by several groups, yet the role of HO-1 in SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. Based on this, we aimed to investigate the antiviral activity of Hemin, an activator of HO-1. Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 was decreased in Vero E6 cells treated with Hemin. Hemin also decreased TMPRSS2 and ACE2 mRNA levels in non-infected cells, possibly explaining the observed decrease in infectivity. TMPRSS2 protein expression and proteolytic activity were decreased in Vero E6 cells treated with Hemin. Besides that, experimental studies supported with in silico calculations. Overall, our study supports further exploration of Hemin as a potential antiviral and inflammatory drug for the treatment of COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html- link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.493187v1" target="_blank">Hemin shows antiviral activity in vitro, possibly through suppression of viral entry mediators.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Intranasal vaccination induced cross-protective secretory IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants with reducing the potential risk of lung eosinophilic immunopathology</strong> -
<div>
To control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is a need to develop vaccines to prevent infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. One candidate is a nasal vaccine capable of inducing secretory IgA antibodies in the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, the initial site of infection. However, regarding the development of COVID-19 vaccines, there is concern about the potential risk of inducing lung eosinophilic immunopathology as a vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease as a result of the T helper 2 (Th2)-dominant adaptive immune response. In this study, we investigated the protective effect against virus infection induced by intranasal vaccination of recombinant trimeric spike protein derived from SARS-CoV-2 adjuvanted with CpG oligonucleotides, ODN2006, in mouse model. The intranasal vaccine combined with ODN2006 successfully induced not only systemic spike-specific IgG antibodies, but also secretory IgA antibodies in the nasal mucosa. Secretory IgA antibodies showed high protective ability against SARS-CoV-2 variants (Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants) compared to IgG antibodies in the serum. The nasal vaccine of this formulation induced a high number of IFN-{gamma}-secreting cells in the draining cervical lymph nodes and a lower spike-specific IgG1/IgG2a ratio compared to that of subcutaneous vaccination with alum as a typical Th2 adjuvant. These features are consistent with the induction of the Th1 adaptive immune response. In addition, mice intranasally vaccinated with ODN2006 showed less lung eosinophilic immunopathology after viral challenge than mice subcutaneously vaccinated with alum adjuvant. Our findings indicate that intranasal vaccine adjuvanted with ODN2006 could be a candidate that can prevent the infection of antigenically different variant viruses, reducing the risk of vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease.
</div>
<div class="article-link article- html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.24.493348v1" target="_blank">Intranasal vaccination induced cross-protective secretory IgA antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants with reducing the potential risk of lung eosinophilic immunopathology</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Humoral Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and Inferred Protection from Infection in a French Longitudinal Community Cohort</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Population-level immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is growing through vaccination as well as ongoing circulation. Given waning immunity and emergence of new variants, it is important to dynamically determine the risk of re-infection in the population. For estimating immune protection, neutralization titers are most informative, but these assays are difficult to conduct at a population level. Measurement of antibody levels can be implemented at high throughput, but has not been robustly validated as a correlate of protection. Here, we have developed a method that predicts neutralization and protection based on variant-specific antibody measurements to SARS-CoV-2 antigens. This approach allowed us to estimate population-immunity in a longitudinal cohort from France followed for up to 2 years. Participants with a single vaccination or immunity caused by infection only are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 or hospitalization due to SARS- CoV-2. While the median reduced risk to COVID-19 in participants with 3 vaccinations was 96%, the median reduced risk among participants with infection-acquired immunity only was 42%. The results presented here are consistent with data from vaccine-effectiveness studies indicating robustness of our approach. Our multiplex serological assay can be readily optimized and employed to study any new variant and provides a framework for development of an assay that would include protection estimates.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.23.22275460v1" target="_blank">Humoral Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and Inferred Protection from Infection in a French Longitudinal Community Cohort</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Diagnostic accuracy of the Panbio COVID-19 Antigen rapid test device for SARS-CoV-2 detection in Kenya, 2021: A field evaluation</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background: Accurate and timely diagnosis is essential in limiting the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), the reference standard, requires specialized laboratories, costly reagents, and a long turnaround time. Antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag RDTs) provide a feasible alternative to rRT-PCR since they are quick, relatively inexpensive, and do not require a laboratory. The WHO requires that Ag RDTs have a sensitivity ≥80% and specificity ≥97%. Methods: This evaluation was conducted at 11 health facilities in Kenya between March and July 2021. We enrolled persons of any age with respiratory symptoms and asymptomatic contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases. We collected demographic and clinical information and two nasopharyngeal specimens from each participant for Ag RDT testing and rRT-PCR. We calculated the diagnostic performance of the Panbio™ Ag RDT against the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention9s (CDC) rRT-PCR test. Results: We evaluated the Ag RDT in 2,245 individuals where 551 (24.5%, 95% CI: 22.8-26.3%) tested positive by rRT-PCR. Overall sensitivity of the Ag RDT was 46.6% (95% CI: 42.4-50.9%), specificity 98.5% (95% CI: 97.8-99.0%), PPV 90.8% (95% CI: 86.8-93.9%) and NPV 85.0% (95% CI: 83.4-86.6%). Among symptomatic individuals, sensitivity was 60.6% (95% CI: 54.3-66.7%) and specificity was 98.1% (95% CI: 96.7-99.0%). Among asymptomatic individuals, sensitivity was 34.7% (95% CI 29.3-40.4%) and specificity was 98.7% (95% CI: 97.8-99.3%). In persons with onset of symptoms &lt;5 days (594/876, 67.8%), sensitivity was 67.1% (95% CI: 59.2-74.3%), and 53.3% (95% CI: 40.0-66.3%) among those with onset of symptoms &gt;7 days (157/876, 17.9%). The highest sensitivity was 87.0% (95% CI: 80.9-91.8%) in symptomatic individuals with cycle threshold (Ct) values ≤30. Conclusion: The overall sensitivity and NPV of the Panbio™ Ag RDT were much lower than expected. The specificity of the Ag RDT was high and satisfactory; therefore, a positive result may not require confirmation by rRT-PCR. The kit may be useful as a rapid screening tool for only symptomatic patients in high-risk settings with limited access to RT-PCR. A negative result should be interpreted based on clinical and epidemiological information and may require retesting by rRT-PCR.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.23.22275439v1" target="_blank">Diagnostic accuracy of the Panbio COVID-19 Antigen rapid test device for SARS-CoV-2 detection in Kenya, 2021: A field evaluation</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Initial protection against Omicron in children and adolescents by BNT162b2</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
BACKGROUND The BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) 2-dose vaccine for children and the BNT162b2 3rd dose for adolescents were approved shortly before the Omicron outbreak in Israel. The effects of these vaccines on the rates of Omicron confirmed infection are not yet clear. METHODS We extracted data for the Omicron-dominated (sub-lineage BA.1) period December 26, 2021 through January 8, 2022. We compared rates of confirmed Covid-19 infection between children 5-10 years old 14-35 days after receiving the 2nd dose to an internal control group of children 3-7 days after receiving the 1st dose (when the vaccine is not yet effective). Similarly, we compared confirmed infection rates in adolescents 12-15 years old 14-60 days after receiving a booster dose to an internal control group of adolescents 3-7 days after receiving the booster dose. We used Poisson regression, adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, calendar week, and exposure. RESULTS In the 5-10 age group, the estimated rate of confirmed infection was 2.3 fold (95% CI, 2.0 to 2.5) lower in the 2nd dose group than in the internal control group. In adolescents, the third dose decreased confirmed infection rates by 3.3-fold (95% CI, 2.8 to 4.0). CONCLUSIONS A recent 2-dose BNT162b2 vaccination in children and a recent booster dose in adolescents reduced the rate of confirmed infection compared to the respective internal control groups. Future studies are needed to assess the duration of this protection and protection against other outcomes such as PIMS and long-COVID.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.22.22275323v1" target="_blank">Initial protection against Omicron in children and adolescents by BNT162b2</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>The Role of Glutathione Deficiency and MSIDS Variables in Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) , Alpha lipoic acid (ALA), liposomal glutathione (GSH)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of California, Irvine;   Hudson Valley Healing Arts Center<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of IN STI-9199 in Treating Symptomatic COVID-19 in Outpatient Adults and Adolescents</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: STI-9199;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<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 Safety and Efficacy Study of Hymecromone Tablets for the Treatment of Patients With COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Hymecromone tablets;   Other: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Shanghai Zhongshan 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>Study on Sequential Immunization of Omicron Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine and Prototype Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine in Population Aged 18 Years Old and Above</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Omicron COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated;   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.;   Hunan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention<br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Phase Ia, Dose-finding Study to Assess the Safety and Immunogenicity of a COVID-19 Vaccine Booster in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Prime-2-CoV_Beta<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:  <br/>
University Hospital Tuebingen;   FGK Clinical Research GmbH;   VisMederi srl;   Staburo GmbH;   Viedoc Technologies AB<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Neuro-inflammation and Post-infectious Fatigue in Individuals With and Without COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Radiation: [18F]DPA-714 positron emission tomography (PET) scan<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc;   ZonMw: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase II Safety Single-arm Study of CDK4/6 Inhibition With Palbociclib in Hospitalized, Moderate COVID-19 Cases to Prevent Thromboinflammation</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Palbociclib<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   biotx.ai GmbH<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Learn About the Study Medicine (Called Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir) in Pregnant Women With Mild or Moderate COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: nirmatrelvir;   Drug: ritonavir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phase I Clinical Trial of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVID-19 mRNA vaccine;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   CanSino Biologics Inc.<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 II Clinical Trial of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Adults Aged 18 Years and Older</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVID-19 mRNA vaccine;   Biological: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   CanSino Biologics Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of COVID-19 Vaccines Given as a Booster in Healthy Adults in Indonesia (MIACoV Indonesia)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Standard dose;   Biological: AstraZeneca Standard dose;   Biological: Pfizer-BioNTech Fractional dose;   Biological: AstraZeneca Fractional dose;   Biological: Moderna Standard dose;   Biological: Moderna Fractional dose<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Murdoch Childrens Research Institute;   Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD);   Universitas Indonesia (UI);   Health Development Policy Agency, Ministry of Health Republic of Indonesia;   Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations;   The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>To Evaluate SSD8432/Ritonavir in Adults With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SSD8432 750mg;   Drug: SSD8432 placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of DXP604 in Patients With Mild to Moderate COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: DXP604<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:  <br/>
Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Evaluation of SSD8432 and Ritonavir in Adult Subjects With COVID-19 Clinical Study</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SSD8432 300mg;   Drug: SSD8432 750mg;   Drug: SSD8432Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sequential Immunization of Two Doses of Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine (Omicron) in Vaccinated Population Aged 18 Years and Above</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: BIBP Omicron Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Vero Cell);   Biological: WIBP Omicron Inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Vero Cell);   Biological: COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   China National Biotec Group Company Limited;   Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.;   Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd;   The University of Hong Kong<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pnictogen-Centered Cascade Exchangers for Thiol-Mediated Uptake: As(III)-, Sb(III)-, and Bi(III)-Expanded Cyclic Disulfides as Inhibitors of Cytosolic Delivery and Viral Entry</strong> - Dynamic covalent exchange cascades with cellular thiols are of interest to deliver substrates to the cytosol and to inhibit the entry of viruses. The best transporters and inhibitors known today are cyclic cascade exchangers (CAXs), producing a new exchanger with every exchange, mostly cyclic oligochalcogenides, particularly disulfides. The objective of this study was to expand the dynamic covalent chalcogen exchange cascades in thiol-mediated uptake by inserting pnictogen relays. A family of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chemistry of polyhalogenated nitrobutadienes, 17: Efficient synthesis of persubstituted chloroquinolinyl-1<em>H</em>-pyrazoles and evaluation of their antimalarial, anti-SARS-CoV-2, antibacterial, and cytotoxic activities</strong> - A series of 26 novel 1-(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)-4-nitro-1H-pyrazoles bearing a dichloromethyl and an amino or thio moiety at C3 and C5 has been prepared in yields up to 72% from the reaction of 1,1-bisazolyl-, 1-azolyl-1-amino-, and 1-thioperchloro-2-nitrobuta-1,3-dienes with 7-chloro-4-hydrazinylquinoline. A new way for the formation of a pyrazole cycle from 3-methyl-2-(2,3,3-trichloro-1-nitroallylidene)oxazolidine (6) is also described. In addition, the antimalarial activity of the synthesized…</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 conserved subunit vaccine designed against SARS-CoV-2 variants showed evidence in neutralizing the virus</strong> - Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) leads to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), declared as a pandemic that outbreaks within almost 225 countries worldwide. For the time being, numerous mutations have been reported that led to the generation of numerous variants spread more rapidly. This study aims to establish an efficient multi-epitope subunit vaccine that could elicit both T-cell and B-cell responses sufficient to recognize three confirmed surface proteins of the virus. The sequences of the viral…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Efficacy of oleandrin and PBI-05204 against bovine viruses of importance to commercial cattle health</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: The research demonstrates the potency of oleandrin and PBI-05204 to inhibit infectivity of three important enveloped bovine viruses in vitro. These data showing non-toxic concentrations of oleandrin inhibiting infectivity of three bovine viruses support further investigation of in vivo antiviral efficacy.</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 accessory proteins ORF7a and ORF3a use distinct mechanisms to downregulate MHC-I surface expression</strong> - Major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) molecules, which are dimers of a glycosylated polymorphic transmembrane heavy chain and the small protein β (2) -microglobulin (β (2) m), bind peptides in the endoplasmic reticulum that are generated by the cytosolic turnover of cellular proteins. In virus-infected cells these peptides may include those derived from viral proteins. Peptide-MHC-I complexes then traffic through the secretory pathway and are displayed at the cell surface where those…</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 Rare Case of COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia in a Young Patient</strong> - The syndrome of pulmonary SARS-Cov-2 resulted in significant morbidity and mortality, with new variants spreading rapidly. Vaccines to prevent COVID-19 have been developed to minimize the impact and severity; however, adverse effects of the vaccine have been documented in several studies. In our case, we report a case of a young female who presented to the emergency department with fever, dizziness, headache, vomiting, blurring of vision, numbness, and weakness of left upper and lower limbs….</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>Neutralizing antibody and T cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern following ChAdOx-1 or BNT162b2 boosting in the elderly previously immunized with CoronaVac vaccine</strong> - CONCLUSION: Boosting with either ChAdOx-1 or BNT162b2 in CoronaVac-primed healthy elderly individuals induced high NAb production against all examined VOCs except Omicron. BNT162b2 stimulated higher NAb and some T-cell responses than ChAdOx-1. Vaccine boosting is, therefore, recommended for elderly individuals previously immunized with CoronaVac.</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 cell distribution width as a marker of hyperinflammation and mortality in COVID-19</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: RDW predicts COVID-19-associated ARDS mortality and reflects the hyperinflammatory background and the effects of cytokines such as IL-6, irrespective of tocilizumab treatment.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Antiviral Activity of Medicinal Plants against Human Coronavirus: a systematic scoping review of and experimentations</strong> - CONCLUSION: This review shows that complementary medicine have the potential for new drug discovery against coronavirus. Further research is needed before definitive conclusions can be made concerning the safety and efficacy of the use of these medicinal plants.</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>Repurposing of cyclophilin A inhibitors as broad-spectrum antiviral agents</strong> - Cyclophilin A (CypA) is linked to diverse human diseases including viral infections. With the worldwide emergence of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), drug repurposing has been highlighted as a strategy with the potential to speed up antiviral development. Because CypA acts as a proviral component in hepatitis C virus, coronavirus and HIV, its inhibitors have been suggested as potential treatments for these infections. Here, we review the structure of cyclosporin A and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pyronaridine Protects against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Mouse</strong> - There are currently relatively few small-molecule antiviral drugs that are either approved or emergency-approved for use against severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). One of these is remdesivir, which was originally repurposed from its use against Ebola. We evaluated three molecules we had previously identified computationally with antiviral activity against Ebola and Marburg and identified pyronaridine, which inhibited the SARS-CoV-2 replication in A549-ACE2 cells. The in vivo…</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>Long-term treatment with chloroquine increases lifespan in middle-aged male mice possibly via autophagy modulation, proteasome inhibition and glycogen metabolism</strong> - Previous studies have shown that the polyamine spermidine increased the maximum life span in C. elegans and the median life span in mice. Since spermidine increases autophagy, we asked if treatment with chloroquine, an inhibitor of autophagy, would shorten the lifespan of mice. Recently, chloroquine has intensively been discussed as a treatment option for COVID-19 patients. To rule out unfavorable long-term effects on longevity, we examined the effect of chronic treatment with chloroquine given…</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>Gelatin Stabilizes Nebulized Proteins in Pulmonary Drug Delivery against COVID-19</strong> - Delivering medication to the lungs via nebulization of pharmaceuticals is a noninvasive and efficient therapy route, particularly for respiratory diseases. The recent worldwide severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS- CoV-2) pandemic urges the development of such therapies as an effective alternative to vaccines. The main difficulties in using inhalation therapy are the development of effective medicine and methods to stabilize the biological molecules and transfer them to the…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A novel property of hexokinase inhibition by Favipiravir and proposed advantages over Molnupiravir and 2 Deoxy D glucose in treating COVID-19</strong> - CONCLUSION: Favipiravir could continue to be part of the COVID-19 treatment regimen due to its resistance to host esterases, hexokinase inhibition potential and proven safety through human trials.</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>Thiazole-based SARS-CoV-2 protease (COV M<sup>pro</sup> ) inhibitors: Design, synthesis, enzyme inhibition, and molecular modeling simulations</strong> - As an attempt to contribute to the efforts of combating the pandemic virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) responsible for COVID-19, new analogs of the repurposed drug nitazoxanide which showed promising inhibitory efficacy on a viral protease enzyme were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity on the main protease of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, using the COV2-3CL protease inhibition assay. The obtained results showed that the…</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>Seeing America, Again, in the Uvalde Elementary-School Shooting</strong> - Nineteen children and two adults were murdered in Texas. This is the country that gun-rights advocates have chosen. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/seeing-america-again-in-the-texas-elementary-school-shooting">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Will the Coronavirus Pandemic Ever End?</strong> - If Americans decide too soon that it is over, it could paradoxically drag on even longer. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/will-the-coronavirus-pandemic-ever-end">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Is the Fall in the Stock Market Telling Us?</strong> - Investors are fearful of a recession, but the White House says the economy is resilient. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-is-the-fall-in-the-stock-market-telling-us">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Hard-Won Triumphs of a Life on the Corner in West Baltimore</strong> - Fran Andrews’s story became a book, a miniseries, and an inspiration. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/afterword/the-hard-won-triumphs-of-a-life-on-the-corner-in-west-baltimore">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How to Prevent Gun Massacres? Look Around the World</strong> - Australia, Britain, Canada, and other countries have enacted reforms that turned mass shootings into rare, aberrational events, rather than everyday occurrences. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-to-prevent-gun-massacres-look-around-the-world">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Countries are limiting food exports. It may make global hunger worse.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/RKM0_l2yUK_clQf7QJHD2QYzj5g=/399x0:3600x2401/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70912150/GettyImages_1240366921.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Farmers harvest wheat on the outskirts of Jammu, India, on April 30. A recent heat wave has affected the yield of India’s wheat crops. | Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Trade is vital to mitigating the global food crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T4UTou">
Two weeks ago, India, the world’s second-largest producer of wheat by volume, announced export restrictions on the commodity. India’s wheat farmers are facing an estimated loss of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/27/heat-wave-in-india-threatens-residents-and-crucial-wheat-harvest.html">15 to 20 percent</a> of their crop due to a <a href="https://www.vox.com/23057267/india-pakistan-heat-wave-climate-change-coal-
south-asia">devastating heat wave</a>, and the government cited concerns about domestic food security in explaining the move.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hfq8Ge">
While India’s wheat only represents a small percentage of global wheat exports and the government announced that it still plans to export to <a href="https://content.dgft.gov.in/Website/dgftprod/9032ac12-29a8-4a67-8e3b-bd0dc07c39a5/Noti%2006%20Eng.pdf">countries in need</a>, the restrictions are only the latest in a distressing global trend that, if it continues, will add to already-rising levels of global hunger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J5itiD">
Before the war in Ukraine, food prices were already at some of their highest historical levels due to high fuel and energy prices, droughts, and the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Russia’s invasion exacerbated them, pushing prices to <a href="https://www.vox.com/23022693/war-
ukraine-shipping-food-hunger">record highs</a> in March. People in countries with high levels of food insecurity are at greater risk of hunger as bread becomes more expensive and scarce.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3f1r1l">
The problem isn’t production. Even with the war in Ukraine — one of the world’s leading wheat producers — there’s actually enough wheat to feed everyone in the world. The USDA projects that <a href="https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/wasde0522.pdf">2022/2023 production</a> will be down 0.6 percent from 2021/2022 — not good, but not catastrophic in itself. Major producers beyond Ukraine, including India, Argentina, Australia, and Canada, can actually make up for most of the wheat lost or restricted by Russia’s war. The problem is that it is getting more expensive than ever to move the wheat to where it needs to be, and that problem may only get worse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S1CeHr">
India is only the latest country in recent weeks to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/18/countries-banning-food-exports-amid-rising-prices-inflation.html">restrict exports</a>. Countries like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-serbia-grains/serbia-to-ban-exports-
of-some-foodstuffs-president-says-idINL2N2VC0OL">Serbia</a>, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Egypt have restricted wheat exports this year, and other countries have restricted exports from sugar to vegetable oil to maize. While India’s wheat restrictions alone should have limited effect on global food prices, they could push even more countries to follow suit. And that would be disastrous, potentially tipping a volatile global food situation into a crisis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AtCVCk">
Here’s why experts think that, and why the world’s governments need to act differently to forestall a humanitarian catastrophe.
</p>
<h3 id="FVQV0M">
The Ukraine war, energy, and the global food crisis
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="APsygD">
Food prices are at <a href="https://www.vox.com/23022693/war-ukraine-shipping-food-hunger">near-record highs</a> and have been rising almost continuously for the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
perfect/2022/2/27/22950805/russia-ukraine-food-prices-hunger-invasion-war">last two years</a>. The war in Ukraine has made the situation worse, as Russia and Ukraine produce large percentages of the world’s wheat, sunflower oil, and other vital food commodities. A rise in fuel prices is also a major contributor to the rise in food prices, as food now costs more to store, process, and transport.
</p>
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</div></div></li>
</ul>
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</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xAAl7B">
Rising food prices are adding to hunger crises in countries with already-high levels of food insecurity and <a href="https://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/one-person-likely-dying-from-hunger-every-48-seconds-in-
drought-ravaged-east-africa-as-world-again-fails-to-heed-warnings/">drought</a>, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. They are also disproportionately affecting people in Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Yemen, which rely on Russia and Ukraine for most of their wheat. The number of food-insecure people in the world has risen from an estimated 768 million in 2020 to <a href="https://static.hungermapdata.org/insight-reports/latest/global-
summary.pdf">869 million</a> in May 2022.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WETP9x">
Many countries outside of the Black Sea region export wheat, and about <a href="https://www.vox.com/23022693/war-ukraine-shipping-food-hunger">30 percent</a> of the world’s wheat is in storage, so there’s enough wheat to feed everyone in the world. But if wheat producers continue to put export restrictions in place, experts warn that prices will continue to rise to unmanageable levels and more people will go hungry.
</p>
<h3 id="GMLCl7">
What do export restrictions mean for global hunger?
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ofvpsN">
On <a href="https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/india-india-bans-wheat-exports-due-domestic-supply-concerns">May 13</a>, India announced export restrictions on wheat, but noted that it would honor pre-ban commitments and still accept requests from governments dealing with food insecurity. In the wake of the announcement, there was an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-15/world-s-food-problems-piling-up-as-india-restricts-wheat-
exports">immediate price spike</a> (although that has <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ZW=F/">since abated</a> somewhat in the past week).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJ6T8X">
The worry about India’s move is that it could contribute to the world’s looming food crisis. But the biggest problem isn’t necessarily the direct long-term effects of a ban on global prices — that could, in fact, be negligible. While India is a major global wheat producer, most of the wheat it produces is consumed locally; India accounted for <a href="https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/TCL">less than 1 percent</a> of global wheat exports in 2020.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="go3Fw1">
Rather, experts worry about the example it sets for other producers. Historically, when countries, particularly large global players, institute export bans, other <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/bad-worse-how-export-restrictions-exacerbate-global-food-security">countries follow suit</a>. This leads to higher global prices due to decreased supply, which generate panic about shortages, which then sparks a vicious cycle of price-raising and more widespread hunger as food-insecure countries struggle to afford food for their populations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bUvthi">
In a previous global food crisis in 2007-’08, which <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/225na1_en.pdf">drought and fuel prices</a> also contributed to, insulating<strong> </strong>trade policy changes <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/583201468337175309/pdf/WPS5645.pdf">are estimated</a> to have led to almost half of the global rice price increase and about a third of the global wheat price increase.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SjErgs">
In our current crisis, export restrictions rose at the beginning of Covid-19, kicking off a period of price spikes, and have been <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/laborde6680/viz/ExportRestrictionsTracker/FoodExportRestrictionsTracker">on the rise again</a> this year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s estimated that pre-India trade restrictions contributed to <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/global-food-crisis-world-bank-51649369287">about one-sixth</a>, or 7 percentage points, of the global wheat price rise. For people living in poverty, an increase of that size can be catastrophic.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/7s2eeka3Q40iTfQ1GPaaFq91cl8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23588119/GettyImages_1240745459.jpg"/> <cite>Sam Panthaky/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Workers stand next to a heap of wheat being loaded onto a ship at the Deendayal Port Authority seaport at Kandla, India, on May 18.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9FAC9D">
In March, Chris Barrett, a professor at Cornell who researches food security, told me about economist Kym Anderson’s <a href="https://fsi-
live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/anderson_swinnen_presentations.pdf">comparison</a> of export bans to people standing up during a sports match at a stadium. At first, the people standing can see better, but then everyone follows suit and no one ends up benefiting.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D55Vaz">
“In the end, nobody’s getting a better experience of the match,” Barrett said, “but there’s a lot of unnecessary conflict and unnecessary expenditure of energy to deliver an inferior result, and that’s where we wind up with export bans. Export bans don’t accomplish much, if anything, and nothing lasting for countries that implement them, but they cause real problems for others.”
</p>
<h3 id="8r0kra">
The potential implications of India’s export restrictions
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sYoQX5">
Economists are <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/wheat-exports-ban-policy-impact-farmers-
explained-7917789/">critical</a> of India’s restrictions (its exceptions notwithstanding), and think that the negative impacts for both global markets and domestic producers could be similar to what we’ve seen in the past, even if it’s not directly through the loss of Indian wheat.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xxQZxP">
Communication and perception end up being a big part of the story. If people think there’s scarcity, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy; if countries say they’ll do one thing and instead do another, it also may lead to panic. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1816062">in April</a>, “We already have enough food for our people but our farmers seem to have made arrangements to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/17/business/india-wheat-export-
ban-food-prices-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html">feed the world</a>,” offering to fill in some of the export gaps left by the war in Ukraine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2zvEGP">
“The exuberance about the ability to feed the world was not realistic,” Siraj Hussain, an expert on agriculture and rural economy at Arcus Policy Research, told me over email.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l0XlJk">
While export bans are purportedly put in place to help people domestically, there’s little evidence they have this effect. In the case of India, export bans historically have ended up <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/wheat-exports-ban-policy-impact-farmers-explained-7917789/">hurting farmer incomes</a> by creating an <a href="https://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=TAD/CA(2018)4/FINAL&amp;docLanguage=En">unpredictable market environment</a> and cutting off their access to markets that will give them <a href="https://www.oecd.org/regional/agricultural-policies-in-india-9789264302334-en.htm">higher prices</a>. Those bans may help domestic consumers for a while — at least until everyone starts standing up in the stadium — but they end up hurting domestic farmers. Given that over <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS?locations=IN">40 percent</a> of people in India are employed in agriculture, that’s a lot of people who could get hurt.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4qqPRD">
Export restrictions are easy to implement because they don’t cost money, and it “sends a strong policy message of, ‘we protect you and keep the food at home,’” said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) who runs their <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/laborde6680/viz/ExportRestrictionsTracker/FoodExportRestrictionsTracker">Food and Fertilizer Export Restrictions Tracker</a>. But “the reality is keeping food at home doesn’t mean it ends in the plate of the people who need it.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/DV5SfGjy0YxwxUd3SzZZjznsRIM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23588075/GettyImages_1240742540.jpg"/> <cite>Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A laborer works inside a mill producing refined wheat flour in Khanna, India, on May 18.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3bSjUG">
To protect farmers and others at risk of hunger at a volatile time, governments can instead increase social protection such as <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21427889/cash-
benchmarking-usaid-global-poverty">cash transfers</a> or school feeding programs, or <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/wheat-exports-ban-policy-impact-farmers-explained-7917789/">raise the minimum support price</a> for farmers. (India is providing social protection by continuing a <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/centre-extends-pmgkay-beneficiaries-to-get-free-foodgrains-till-
sept-7837726/">food subsidy program</a> reaching about 800 million people that was effective at <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2022/04/05/Pandemic-Poverty-and-Inequality-Evidence-from-
India-516155">fighting poverty</a> during Covid-19.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XHepUN">
The stringency of India’s restrictions will determine how much they ultimately affect global food prices. India has already announced that it will allow <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/centre-relaxes-ban-on-wheat-export-may-13-7921670/">exports</a> registered before May 13, and that it will continue to trade with <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/india-open-
exporting-wheat-needy-nations-ban-84741351">food-insecure countries</a>, <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/food-
grains-shouldnt-go-the-way-of-covid-vaccines-india-to-west-2988954#pfrom=home-ndtv_bigstory">particularly</a> in <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/india-bans-wheat-export-citing-food-security-risk-7916598/">the region</a>. If India in practice ends up exporting basically what it would have anyway, then the export restrictions themselves shouldn’t have too many long-term price implications for the world. “For me the India ban is much more a communication problem and bad example than something that will traumatize markets,” Laborde said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OUpqw3">
Laborde noted that Argentina, another major global wheat supplier, would be the next to watch given its history of export restrictions. Negative knock-on effects extend not only to global producers, but also to regional producers who might be inspired to ban exports. Tanzania and Uganda, for example, aren’t big players in the global wheat market, but to a country like South Sudan already suffering from high food insecurity and conflict, a ban from those two countries could be devastating.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YNUuYj">
There also may be negative longer-term effects of export restrictions for countries that implement them. The restrictions hit the credibility “of India as a reliable supplier of anything in global markets,” <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/wheat-exports-ban-policy-impact-
farmers-explained-7917789/">wrote</a> agriculture researchers Ashok Gulati and Sanchit Gupta in the Indian Express.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gSw5I2">
The World Trade Organization (WTO) doesn’t have disciplinary measures against export bans, Barrett said, because in 1994, when the <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/books/071/07475-9781557756213-en/C10.xml">protocols were written</a>, it was more worried about import bans. Changes to international trade policy <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-
speak/the-world-in-disarray/">may be possible</a> as <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/bad-worse-how-export-
restrictions-exacerbate-global-food-security">early as June</a>, when the WTO’s postponed 12th Ministerial Conference is set to take place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I1koz3">
In the meantime, however, a food crisis looms. One big thing countries can do to prevent it is resist the temptation to restrict food exports amid the global economy’s gyrations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ovg2pN">
</p>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>With Ricky Gervais’s new special, Netflix yet again suffers transphobic fools</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
cdn.com/thumbor/nakLVA03UmIovpaYFksjCOmFNNI=/480x0:4256x2832/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70911909/RGCS_00190_R.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Ricky Gervais performs in Netflix’s 2018 special <em>Humanity</em>. The comedian’s latest Netflix special has come under fire for transphobia. | Ray Burmiston/Netflix
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Does Netflix even care that Ricky Gervais’s SuperNature is rife with transphobic TERF ideology?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XrWcZG">
Who knows exactly what response Netflix expected for <em>SuperNature</em>, Ricky Gervais’s transphobic new standup special, but pardon us while we refrain from clapping.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FOuXwV">
After the backlash to Dave Chappelle’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/22722357/dave-chappelle-the-closer-
netflix-backlash-controversy-transphobic">transphobic 2021 Netflix special <em>The Closer</em></a>, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/netflix-ted-sarandos-dave-chappelle-
walkout-1235033910/">said</a> he believed in “artistic expression,” and that his stance toward Chappelle’s comedy hadn’t changed — implying that trans people would just have to get over it. That seems to be the platform’s party line on transphobia. The company’s long-term investment in Gervais includes releasing shows he stars in, like <a href="https://www.avclub.com/derek-proves-again-that-ricky-gervais-nice-side-is-n-1798180609"><em>Derek</em></a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/arts/television/after-life-ricky-gervais-review.html"><em>After Life</em></a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comedians-netflix-paid-millions-ricky-gervais-new-special-2018-3#ricky-
gervais-40-million-3">reportedly</a> paying him $40 million in total for his most recent pair of comedy specials. <em>Humanity</em>, released to Netflix in 2018, likewise <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/ricky-gervais-
netflix-transphobic-jenner-1201938675/">reeked of transphobia</a>. In <em>SuperNature</em>, the level of transphobia goes several degrees further than <em>Humanity</em> and even further than Chappelle’s seeming fixation on pronouns and genitalia. Gervais parrots numerous ideas that form the backbone of transphobic <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical">TERF ideology</a>, then blames transgender audiences for being mad.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nl1D9v">
Gervais, like many other comedians of late, has <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/4/21048179/ricky-gervais-offensive-comedy-transphobic-caitlyn-jenner-jokes-
cancel-culture">spent his last several cycles</a> on the comedy circuit reacting over and over again to so-called “woke” culture and comedy, as if the concept of comedy that refuses to punch down is so egregious all he can do is continually react to it, then react to the reactions to his reactions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0BaXTc">
This time around, having been through repeated backlash over his previous offenses, he’s at pains to explain the structure of his comedy — to explain to us why he holds the comedic high ground over his invisible future catcallers. See, he stops to inform his audience, the joke he’s about to tell isn’t offensive because he’s being ironic. Now he’s being metaphorical. Now he’s using figurative language to illustrate that words aren’t violence.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sihU1Z">
Gervais, predictably, given his <a href="https://rvamag.com/gay-rva/does-ricky-gervais-hate-trans-people-or-not.html">overt approval</a> of TERF talking points, builds his entire indignant anti-woke stance specifically around transgender people: their anatomies, their pronouns, their existence. It takes him all of two minutes to make his first trans joke: A mention of fellow British comic Eddie Izzard, who has <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/eddie-izzard-credits-laverne-cox-caitlyn-coming-out-
transgender/">long identified as transgender</a> and began using she/her pronouns two years ago. The “joke” isn’t actually a joke, because Eddie Izzard merely existing isn’t inherently funny; but the audience laughs at Izzard’s name, right on cue, because Gervais, having already condescended to explain irony to us, expects us to laugh at the whole <em>concept</em> of Izzard, or maybe the concept of finding Izzard funny, or an uncomfortable mix of both.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ati5mo">
It doesn’t matter which of these jokes is intended, because Gervais has already rejected the counterargument that a hateful joke is only “ironic” when everyone is in on it and when no one is secretly having their actual bigotry reinforced by the cruelty at the center of said irony. Toward the end of the show, he drags out an appalling sketch full of racist Sinophobic stereotypes, which he insists isn’t racist because it’s “ironic.” Doesn’t matter that this kind of “irony” is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/11/23/13659634/alt-right-trolling">what allows white supremacists to operate in plain sight</a>. Doesn’t matter that five minutes into <em>SuperNature</em> an audience member audibly laughs at a mention of rape, which might indicate that perhaps Gervais’s audience isn’t as ironically humorous as he wants them to be. No, Gervais seems to have decided that because words aren’t literal physical violence, nothing he says can cause harm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zjSPqN">
And once establishing this up front, he <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/05/ricky-gervais-trans-jokes-netflix-special-backlash-1234727843/">proceeds to use trans people as a (metaphorical) punching bag</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aDYm6j">
Gervais has <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1153701926065909762">said</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1208161256307351555">repeatedly</a> that he doesn’t disrespect “real” trans people; rather, he only mocks specific people he sees as male sexual predators who’ve usurped “real” trans identity in order to prey on women by pretending to be women. This is pure TERF rhetoric divorced from reality.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eJZiQD">
Gervais has <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/4/21048179/ricky-gervais-offensive-comedy-
transphobic-caitlyn-jenner-jokes-cancel-culture">spent years</a> making fun of trans women onstage; on social media, he’s spent the past few years amplifying transphobic TERF talking points about how trans people (usually women) are <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1050707771837026304">rapists</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1185516030090776578">perverts</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1208005552053374976">liars</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1208063434413215744">linguistic terrorists</a>. Much like JK Rowling, Gervais <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1208354523942719489">claims</a> to be very concerned with the state of cis men pretending to be women in order to rape them, while <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1208161256307351555">insisting</a> that “real” trans people should be respected; but if you look for examples of Gervais actually embracing, supporting, or affirming “real” trans women, you won’t find any. Trans people seem to only interest Gervais when he has an excuse to dismiss or dehumanize them — or <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1061277856511213569">joke about beating them up</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/286533111804751873">compare them to rodents</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nc62qL">
Onstage, his obsession with trans people includes a vile fixation on anatomy. He expects his audience to laugh at the idea of a trans woman having male anatomy; he expects us to ridicule the idea that anyone <em>wouldn’t</em> laugh. Over and over again he “jokes” about trans women having penises. He says he personally supports trans rights, then talks about trans women raping other women, implies that trans people are “mental,” and implies that trans people invented “self-identification” sometime after the ’60s in order to exploit their marginalized status. Woe for today’s kids, he suggests, whose too-woke parents might force them into a “trendy” trans lifestyle.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="udIVP1">
Any trans person who complains about his comedy is “virtue signaling.” Such trans people are, he tells us, motivated by superiority and a wish to tear other people down. It surely has nothing to do with the <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-trans-press-release/">astronomically high levels</a> of violence against trans people, nor the equally high levels of trans <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021/">mental health issues</a> and <a href="https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/data-on-transgender-youth/">suicidal ideation</a> — all of which are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707041/">directly linked</a> to harmful transphobic rhetoric. Of course Gervais makes no mention of this; it’s not funny, after all, and it undercuts his ultimate thesis that insensitive or deliberately offensive humor should be seen as a form of affection and caring. We’re expected to speak his lingua franca of bad jokes and meet him halfway by agreeing that “identity politics” should be just as susceptible to mockery as everything else.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0tLp9d">
Given the TERF-y interludes, <em>SuperNature</em> is an unnecessarily cruel piece of transphobic rhetoric. But without the TERF-y parts, it just feels superfluous; there’s no real reason for it to exist. Gervais needs transphobia to have something to say, and apparently Netflix does too. The streaming service surely understood that by releasing this special, it would get more of the backlash it received after <em>The Closer</em>. During that backlash, Sarandos <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/11/22720724/netflix-suspends-
trans-employee-tweeted-dave-chappelle-the-closer">first said</a> that he didn’t believe <em>The Closer </em>could cause any real-world harm, then <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/netflix-ted-sarandos-dave-
chappelle-walkout-1235033910/">recanted</a> that statement, possibly after trans activists and allies pointed out horrifying trans suicide statistics. (It’s worth noting that Netflix has also made a <a href="https://www.the-
sun.com/entertainment/3929022/how-much-dave-chappelle-get-paid-netflix-special/">significant financial investment</a> in Chappelle.) Netflix went through all this once, yet still chose to release <em>SuperNature</em> at a moment when vulnerable trans people are already getting hit with <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/22358864/trans-issues-
sports-health-care-bills-laws-arkansas-alabama-montana-south-dakota">wave after wave of unnecessary cruelty</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g1RaSO">
The implication seems clear: Netflix is just fine suffering transphobic fools for views. It’s just fine inflicting bigoted hateful rhetoric on its subscribers. It’s just fine with the subsequent real-world harm that comes from amplifying such views. The platform’s choice to release this special now, during a wave of unprecedented anti-trans legislation, is unconscionable. It’s not just that Gervais, his fellow contrarian comedians, and his large audience may feel validated and affirmed in their hatred of trans people and will pay that forward in the form of more cruelty and discrimination. It’s not just that actual trans people may be hurt, may internalize harmful messages and shame because of <em>SuperNature</em>’s existence. It’s that Netflix is an influencer; its decisions make waves. By openly signaling that trans people and their allies are disposable within its business model, Netflix sets a precedent that many other companies in the tech and entertainment industries are likely to follow.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YSqwDn">
And, sure, this is nothing new — but that doesn’t make it hurt less. If trans people are to be thrown to the wolves of comedy, one would hope the wolves would at least be funnier.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xA2jx2">
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann’s new crypto project sounds like a scam within a scam</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A man with shoulder-length hair wearing a t-shirt and suit jacket speaks to an off-camera
crowd." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5sAPWO549PNSOOMDSiL8C28m-K4=/811x0:7360x4912/1310x983/cdn.vox-
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70911831/945571920.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork and the crypto company Flowcarbon, speaks at an event in Shanghai in 2018. | Jackal Pan/Visual China Group via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Turning carbon credits into crypto won’t fix climate change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eV14Q6">
Adam Neumann is back. The cofounder and former CEO of WeWork and subsequent subject of the podcast-turned- TV-series <a href="https://www.theverge.com/22984498/wecrashed-review-apple-tv-plus">WeCrashed</a> now says he wants to fix climate change — with crypto.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7AQ5I">
Specifically, Neumann wants to put carbon credits on the blockchain. But making carbon credits easier to buy and sell does nothing to solve the real problem with carbon credits and offsets, which is that they’re <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-to-repair-the-worlds-broken-carbon-
offset-markets">broken</a>. More easily trading a broken product doesn’t make it any less broken.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O3gTrZ">
Neumann’s new company is called Flowcarbon, and it has big ambitions, which will be backed by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/exclusive-neumann-backed-climate-tech-venture-flowcarbon-
raises-70-mln-2022-05-24/">$70 million</a> from the crypto arm of the venture capital firm a16z. On its <a href="https://www.flowcarbon.com/about">website</a>, Flowcarbon says that the current system of buying and selling carbon credits is built on an “opaque and fractured market infrastructure” and that the carbon credits themselves have “little liquidity, accessibility, and price transparency.” In other words, the problem is the carbon credit <em>market</em>, and the way to fix it is by making it easier to trade carbon credits.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S7rhEt">
This is a classic argument for a crypto company, by the way. The answer for everything in the crypto world seems to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23071245/bitcoin-price-crypto-ethereum-nfts-defi-stablecoin">greater commodification</a>. But when it comes to saving the planet (as with most things in life), that’s not necessarily true.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wl6p6u">
Carbon credits and offsets are two sides of the same coin, and the terms are often used interchangeably. A carbon offset refers to a project that reduces carbon dioxide emissions (preserving forests is a popular one), and carbon offsets generate carbon credits. And both trade in units that represent one metric ton of carbon dioxide. Flowcarbon is supposed to work through the creation of a new crypto token, called the Goddess Nature Token, or GNT. Those tokens would represent carbon credits, and Flowcarbon users looking to trade carbon credits would do so by buying and selling those tokens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aOYga1">
That second part has the potential to be problematic: Unlike stocks or cryptocurrencies, carbon offsets ultimately need to be taken off the market in order for them to have any lasting, traceable impact on a company or individual’s carbon footprint. Google, for example, “<a href="https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//green/pdfs/google-carbon-offsets.pdf">retires</a>” any carbon offsets it buys, putting a stop to the trading so nobody else can claim their climate benefits. (How effective those offsets ever were is debatable.) Flowcarbon users have the option to retire their tokens, redeem them for classic carbon credits off the blockchain, or keep trading them. If a Flowcarbon user were to keep the carbon, well, flowing<em> </em>by trading away their carbon credits, they can’t claim to have offset any of their own emissions.
</p></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FzX8hb">
“I think they’re trying to solve something that’s not a problem,” <a href="https://environment.yale.edu/profile/mendelsohn">Robert Mendelsohn</a>, a professor of forest policy and economics at Yale, told Recode. “The kinds of things that blockchains are good at, which is sort of just making sure nothing gets lost, isn’t really a problem with the current market. That’s not where they’re broken. Where they’re broken is the credits themselves may not actually be causing any reduction in carbon.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fm3IzZ">
As my colleague <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/27/20994118/carbon-offset-climate-change-net-zero-neutral-emissions">Umair Irfan wrote in 2020</a>, one of the key principles for making a good carbon credit is “additionality,” or ensuring that a carbon offset project will actually lead to a reduction of emissions that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. This is trickier than it sounds: A <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-nature-conservancy-carbon-offsets-
trees/?sref=qYiz2hd0">2020 Bloomberg investigation</a> found that carbon offsets sold by the Nature Conservancy, one of the largest environmental nonprofits in the world, were based on forested properties that likely would have been preserved even without extra funding. In other words, the emissions reductions from those trees would have happened anyway, making them invalid as carbon offsets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ILw6hE">
That’s just one example. Carbon credits and offsets frequently miss the mark, and in some cases can even cause <a href="https://features.propublica.org/brazil-carbon-
offsets/inconvenient-truth-carbon-credits-dont-work-deforestation-redd-acre-cambodia/">additional harm to forests</a>. Carbon offsets that don’t provide any additional emissions reductions allow companies who buy them to claim they’ve made a difference to their carbon footprint without having any real impact. “They haven’t offset anything,” Mendelsohn explained. “They’ve just got this worthless piece of paper saying they got a credit. You could put that credit onto the blockchain, and it would be just as worthless.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vu1Y91">
It’s not exactly clear how Flowcarbon would actually make carbon offsets more useful or trustworthy. Nicole Shore, a Flowcarbon spokesperson, said in an email that the credits backing the GNT “follow the criteria of the global carbon market” and come from one of four large carbon credit registries. The company also says the carbon credits behind its token have been “certified,” but it doesn’t detail how that certification process happens, or if it has a verification system that’s any different from the current carbon credit market.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RWg1h6">
The difficulty of verifying carbon credits means it can take a while for more of them to come on the market. As more companies become interested in purchasing credits to offset their emissions, that can create a bottleneck.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wocr4s">
“The problem with the current markets is nothing to do with how we can trade these more effectively,” said <a href="https://4c.cst.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-anil-madhavapeddy">Anil Madhavapeddy</a>, who is an associate professor of computer science and technology at Cambridge University and the director of the <a href="https://4c.cst.cam.ac.uk/">Cambridge Center for Carbon Credits</a>. “We just do not have enough supply.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3XMTnD">
Madhavapeddy, like Flowcarbon, is working on building a blockchain-based solution for carbon credits. But unlike Flowcarbon, he isn’t interested in building a marketplace for those credits. Instead, he’s focused on verifying they’re real by using satellite imagery and remote sensing technology to monitor carbon offset projects around the world and recording the results on the blockchain. Madhavapeddy hopes that technology will make it easier to get more carbon credits on the market more quickly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VUfqwm">
Instead of building a whole new marketplace for carbon credits, for now, Madhavapeddy just wants to help ensure that those credits are based on something that will have a real impact. “Because the supply is so constrained, you don’t need to tokenize all these things,” Madhavapeddy told Recode. “It takes years for new (carbon offset) projects to kick off, so every marketplace constructed right now is just shuffling the same old pieces around.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9sLiDT">
Crypto’s climate credit gold rush isn’t going unnoticed by the traditional players in the market, either. Verra, the world’s largest carbon-offset registry, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-largest-carbon-offset-registry-cracks-down-on-crypto-11653510288">announced</a> this week that it will no longer allow its credits to be used as the basis for crypto tokens. Active crypto markets for carbon credits, Verra said, create too much confusion over who should get final credit for carbon reductions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V0CYji">
Once carbon credits become more readily available — and verifiably trustworthy — it’s possible companies like Flowcarbon could be key to making carbon credits and offsets more easily accessible to regular folks who are interested in offsetting their carbon emissions. But let’s not forget what happened last time Adam Neumann promised big things when founding a company with a <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/160299/wework-book-review-billion-dollar-
loser-rise-fall-adam-neumann">questionable business model</a>. WeWork speculated on how flexible our relationship with our built environment could be, and while it remains to be seen if Flowcarbon is any different, we can’t afford to leave our relationship with the natural world open to similar speculation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E3OiK4">
Commodifying nature is part of what led us to our climate mess in the first place. Perhaps it’s time to learn from our mistakes.
</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>Praggnanandhaa joins the IOC family</strong> - The chess wizard will be on the rolls of the company once he turns 18</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>Surabhi aims an Olympic medal</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>Queen Spirit runs to glory in Nilgiris Derby Stakes</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>Multifaceted, Matera, Fortunate Son, Prince O’ War, Arcana and Philosophy impress</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>Bopanna-Middelkoop enter French Open pre-quarterfinals</strong> - Bopanna and Middelkoop won in straight sets against their opponents Andrey Golubev and Fabrice Martin</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>World is realising India means business: Modi</strong> - ‘Since 2014, political will has been evident, with reforms undertaken continuously’</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>Nation emulate YSRCP’s flagship programmes: Dharmana</strong> - Samajika Nyaya Bheri Bus Yatra was launched in Srikakulam</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>TN BJP workers give PM Modi rousing reception</strong> - This is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Tamil Nadu after the DMK assumed power last year.</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>Workshop for poultry farmers</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>Shigella cases confirmed in Thrissur</strong> - Two cases at Govt. Engineering College</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>How can Ukraine export its harvest to the world?</strong> - Ukraine has crops that could help lower food prices, but there’s no easy way of getting them.</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>‘We don’t want UK-EU trade war’ - Irish PM</strong> - Micheál Martin says he is hopeful he will not have to contemplate tariffs against UK exports.</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>Europa Conference League final: Roma 1-0 Feyenoord - Nicolo Zaniolo hits winner for Italians</strong> - Roma win their first major European trophy after defeating Feyenoord in the inaugural Europa Conference League final.</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>Jose Mourinho: ‘A serial winner who has brought Roma to life’</strong> - Roma’s Europa Conference League final win means Jose Mourinho has won five European finals out of five and is a ‘serial winner who has brought the Italian club to life’.</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>Severodonetsk: Battle for key road as fighting reaches Ukraine city</strong> - Severodonetsk under constant shelling but a vital artery into the city is still open, Ukraine says.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After 30 years, the world can now play the lost Marble Madness II</strong> - Scrapped Atari arcade rarity traded trackballs for joysticks—was it the right call? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1856354">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Critical Zoom vulnerabilities fixed last week required no user interaction</strong> - If your machine failed to get them automatically, you’re not alone. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1856508">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>More than 1 in 5 COVID survivors may develop long COVID, CDC study suggests</strong> - The study assessed the relative risks of 26 conditions linked to post-COVID. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1856498">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Prominent ex-Tesla self-driving car exec leaves Apple for greener pastures</strong> - CJ Moore will join lidar company Luminar to lead software development. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1856457">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Microsoft Dev Box will virtualize your Windows development PC in a browser window</strong> - Windows 365-powered VMs support variable hardware and software configs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1856389">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>I think the reason that schools are so dangerous is because of the name “School”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If we renamed all education centres as “Uterus” then republicans might actually care about what’s inside them.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/here_for_the_lols"> /u/here_for_the_lols </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxwd5w/i_think_the_reason_that_schools_are_so_dangerous/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxwd5w/i_think_the_reason_that_schools_are_so_dangerous/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>The Pope goes to New York and gets picked up at the airport by a limousine.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When he sees the car, he motions to the driver and says: “Do you mind if I ask you a favor?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“A favor for the Pope??” exclaims the driver, “of course - anything!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“You know, I hardly ever get to drive, and I’d really like it if I got to drive now. Would you please let me?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The thought of the Pope getting behind the wheel scared the driver - what if he got into an accident?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the other hand, the driver felt that he couldn’t say no to the Pope himself, so he reluctantly obliged and let his Holiness get behind the wheel.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To his utter dismay, the Pope turns the key, lights up the limousine’s rear tires and speeds up like a maniac!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After driving in excess of 100 mph in a 45 mph zone, a police car drives up alongside them and orders them to stop immediately. The Pope slams on the brakes and comes to a dead stop, as does the pursuing police officer.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The police officer emerges from his vehicle, briefly peers through the limousine’s window, then hurriedly steps back in.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
His sergeant got this call:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “Sir, I have a problem.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sergeant: “What kind of problem?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “Well, I pulled over this driver for speeding, but he’s someone really important.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sergeant: “Important like… the mayor?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “No, no - a lot more important than that.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sergeant: “Important like… the governor?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “Way more important than that, Sarge.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sergeant: “Important like… the President?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “Even more important than him.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Sergeant: “Who’s more important than the President?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Cop: “I don’t know sarge, but he has the Pope DRIVING for 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/Superd3n"> /u/Superd3n </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxt230/the_pope_goes_to_new_york_and_gets_picked_up_at/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxt230/the_pope_goes_to_new_york_and_gets_picked_up_at/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I know we’re all supposed to be tolerant of people from other cultures, but is it too much to ask that Asian waiters learn that all Caucasians don’t look alike? My waiter just served my food to some other customer!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Wait. Never mind. That wasn’t my waiter.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NopeNopeNope2020"> /u/NopeNopeNope2020 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxip28/i_know_were_all_supposed_to_be_tolerant_of_people/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxip28/i_know_were_all_supposed_to_be_tolerant_of_people/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>One day, Einstein has to speak at an important science conference.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
On the way there, he tells his driver that looks a bit like him:<br/> “I’m sick of all these conferences. I always say the same things over and over!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The driver agrees: “You’re right. As your driver, I attended all of them, and even though I don’t know anything about science, I could give the conference in your place.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“That’s a great idea!” says Einstein. “Let’s switch places then!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
So they switch clothes and as soon as they arrive, the driver dressed as Einstein goes on stage and starts giving the usual speech, while the real Einstein, dressed as the car driver, attends it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
But in the crowd, there is one scientist who wants to impress everyone and thinks of a very difficult question to ask Einstein, hoping he won’t be able to respond. So this guy stands up and interrupts the conference by posing his very difficult question. The whole room goes silent, holding their breath, waiting for the response.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The driver looks at him, dead in the eye, and says :
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Sir, your question is so easy to answer that I’m going to let my driver reply to it for me.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ReaIZx"> /u/ReaIZx </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxdhrf/one_day_einstein_has_to_speak_at_an_important/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxdhrf/one_day_einstein_has_to_speak_at_an_important/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Let’s all take a moment to Thank Amber Heard’s team of Lawyers for their efforts and hard work</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
to prove Johnny Depp’s innocence.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/4BDUL4Z1Z"> /u/4BDUL4Z1Z </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxyr8b/lets_all_take_a_moment_to_thank_amber_heards_team/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/uxyr8b/lets_all_take_a_moment_to_thank_amber_heards_team/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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