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<title>09 February, 2024</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Mosaic sarbecovirus vaccination elicits cross-reactive responses in pre-immunized animals</strong> -
<div>
Immunization with mosaic-8b [60-mer nanoparticles presenting 8 SARS-like betacoronavirus (sarbecovirus) receptor-binding domains (RBDs)] elicits more broadly cross-reactive antibodies than homotypic SARS-CoV-2 RBD-only nanoparticles and protects against sarbecoviruses. To investigate original antigenic sin (OAS) effects on mosaic-8b efficacy, we evaluated effects of prior COVID-19 vaccinations in non-human primates and mice on sarbecovirus response breadths elicited by mosaic-8b, admix-8b (8 homotypics), and homotypic SARS-CoV-2, finding greatest cross-reactivity for mosaic-8b. As demonstrated by molecular fate-mapping in which antibodies derived from specific cohorts of B cells are differentially detected, B cells primed by WA1 spike mRNA-LNP dominated antibody responses after RBD-nanoparticle boosting. While mosaic-8b and homotypic-nanoparticles boosted cross-reactive antibodies, de novo antibodies were predominantly induced with mosaic-8b boosting, and these were specific for variant RBDs with increased identity to RBDs on mosaic-8b. These results inform OAS mechanisms and support using mosaic-8b to protect COVID-19 vaccinated/infected humans against as-yet-unknown SARS-CoV-2 variants and animal sarbecoviruses with human spillover potential.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.08.576722v1" target="_blank">Mosaic sarbecovirus vaccination elicits cross-reactive responses in pre-immunized animals</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Use of substances to cope predicts PTSD symptom persistence: Investigating patterns of interactions between PTSD symptoms and its maintaining mechanisms</strong> -
<div>
Objective. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a growing public health challenge across the globe and is associated with negative and persistent long-term consequences. The last decades of research identified different mechanisms associated with the development and persistence of PTSD, including maladaptive coping strategies, cognitive and experiential avoidance, positive, and negative metacognitions. Despite these advances, little is known about how these different processes interact with specific PTSD symptoms, and how they influence each other over time at the within-person level. Method. Leveraging a large (N &gt; 1,800) longitudinal dataset representative of the Norwegian population during the COVID-19 pandemic, this pre-registered study investigated these symptom-process interactions over an eight-month period. Results. Our panel graphical vector autoregressive (GVAR) network model revealed the dominating role of substance use to cope in predicting higher levels of PTSD symptoms over time and increases in PTSD symptomatology within more proximal time-windows (i.e., within six weeks). Threat monitoring was associated with increased suicidal ideation, while threat monitoring itself was increasing upon decreased avoidance behavior, greater presence of negative metacognitions, and higher use of substances to cope. Conclusions. Our findings speak to the importance of attending to different coping strategies, particularly the use of substances as a coping behavior in efforts to prevent PTSD chronicity upon symptom onset. We outline future directions for research efforts to better understand the complex interactions and temporal pathways leading up to the development and maintenance of PTSD symptomatology.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/7r9e6/" target="_blank">Use of substances to cope predicts PTSD symptom persistence: Investigating patterns of interactions between PTSD symptoms and its maintaining mechanisms</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Dimensionality reduction distills complex evolutionary relationships in seasonal influenza and SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
Public health researchers and practitioners commonly infer phylogenies from viral genome sequences to understand transmission dynamics and identify clusters of genetically-related samples. However, viruses that reassort or recombine violate phylogenetic assumptions and require more sophisticated methods. Even when phylogenies are appropriate, they can be unnecessary or difficult to interpret without specialty knowledge. For example, pairwise distances between sequences can be enough to identify clusters of related samples or assign new samples to existing phylogenetic clusters. In this work, we tested whether dimensionality reduction methods could capture known genetic groups within two human pathogenic viruses that cause substantial human morbidity and mortality and frequently reassort or recombine, respectively: seasonal influenza A/H3N2 and SARS-CoV-2. We applied principal component analysis (PCA), multidimensional scaling (MDS), t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) to sequences with well-defined phylogenetic clades and either reassortment (H3N2) or recombination (SARS-CoV-2). For each low-dimensional embedding of sequences, we calculated the correlation between pairwise genetic and Euclidean distances in the embedding and applied a hierarchical clustering method to identify clusters in the embedding. We measured the accuracy of clusters compared to previously defined phylogenetic clades, reassortment clusters, or recombinant lineages. We found that MDS maintained the strongest correlation between pairwise genetic and Euclidean distances between sequences and best captured the intermediate placement of recombinant lineages between parental lineages. Clusters from t-SNE most accurately recapitulated known phylogenetic clades and recombinant lineages. Both MDS and t-SNE accurately identified reassortment groups. We show that simple statistical methods without a biological model can accurately represent known genetic relationships for relevant human pathogenic viruses. Our open source implementation of these methods for analysis of viral genome sequences can be easily applied when phylogenetic methods are either unnecessary or inappropriate.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.07.579374v1" target="_blank">Dimensionality reduction distills complex evolutionary relationships in seasonal influenza and SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Identification of B cell subsets based on antigen receptor sequences using deep learning</strong> -
<div>
B cell receptors (BCRs) denote antigen specificity, while corresponding cell subsets indicate B cell functionality. Since each B cell uniquely encodes this combination, physical isolation and subsequent processing of individual B cells become indispensable to identify both attributes. However, this approach accompanies high costs and inevitable information loss, hindering high-throughput investigation of B cell populations. Here, we present BCR-SORT, a deep learning model that predicts cell subsets from their corresponding BCR sequences by leveraging B cell activation and maturation signatures encoded within BCR sequences. Subsequently, BCR-SORT is demonstrated to improve reconstruction of BCR phylogenetic trees, and reproduce results consistent with those verified using physical isolation-based methods or prior knowledge. Notably, when applied to BCR sequences from COVID-19 vaccine recipients, it revealed inter-individual heterogeneity of evolutionary trajectories towards Omicron-binding memory B cells. Overall, BCR-SORT offers great potential to improve our understanding of B cell responses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.06.579098v1" target="_blank">Identification of B cell subsets based on antigen receptor sequences using deep learning</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>BootCellNet, a resampling-based procedure, promotes unsupervised identification of cell populations via robust inference of gene regulatory networks.</strong> -
<div>
Recent advances in measurement technologies, particularly single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), have revolutionized our ability to acquire large amounts of omics-level data on cellular states. As measurement techniques evolve, there has been an increasing need for data analysis methodologies, especially those focused on cell-type identification and inference of gene regulatory networks (GRNs). We have developed a new method named BootCellNet, which employs smoothing and resampling to infer GRNs. Using the inferred GRNs, BootCellNet further infers the minimum dominating set (MDS), a set of genes that determines the dynamics of the entire network. We have demonstrated that BootCellNet robustly infers GRNs and their MDSs from scRNA-seq data and facilitates unsupervised cell labeling using scRNA-seq datasets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and hematopoiesis. It has also identified COVID-19 patient-specific cells and their potential regulatory transcription factors. BootCellNet not only identifies cell types in an unsupervised and explainable way but also provides insights into the characteristics of identified cell types through the inference of GRNs and MDS.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.06.579236v1" target="_blank">BootCellNet, a resampling-based procedure, promotes unsupervised identification of cell populations via robust inference of gene regulatory networks.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Social Sharing of Emotion During the Collective Crisis of COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
We collected data from two sources — social media and online questionnaires — to investigate the emotional consequences of social sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 1 tracked and analysed sentiment of tweets posted over the course of a month in the crisis period and found that users who tweeted more frequently about COVID-19 expressed decreasing negative sentiment and increasing positive sentiment over time. Granger-causality tests confirmed that this association was better interpreted in the forward direction (sharing levels predicting sentiment) than in the reverse direction (sentiment predicting sharing levels). Study 2 focused on immediate emotional consequences of sharing COVID-related events and found that participants reported improved overall affect about an event to after sharing it, especially when that event was a personal experience rather than a news story. Reported positive feelings about both kinds of event were also significantly higher after sharing. Taken together, both studies suggested that social sharing is linked with emotional relief and may therefore help people to deal with their negative experiences during a persistent collective crisis.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/9p3wh/" target="_blank">Social Sharing of Emotion During the Collective Crisis of COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Simulation-Driven Design of Stabilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike S2 Immunogens</strong> -
<div>
The full-length prefusion-stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) is the principal antigen of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine efficacy has been impacted by emerging variants of concern that accumulate most of the sequence modifications in the immunodominant S1 subunit. S2, in contrast, is the most evolutionarily conserved region of the spike and can elicit broadly neutralizing and protective antibodies. Yet, the usage of S2 as an alternative vaccine strategy is hampered by its general instability. Here, we use a simulation-driven approach to design S2-only immunogens stabilized in a closed prefusion conformation. Molecular simulations provide a mechanistic characterization of S2 trimer opening, informing the design of tryptophan substitutions that impart kinetic and thermodynamic stabilization. Structural characterization via cryo-EM shows the molecular basis of S2 stabilization in the closed prefusion conformation. Moreover, a corroborating set of experiments indicate that the engineered S2 immunogen exhibits increased protein expression, superior thermostability, and preserved immunogenicity against sarbecoviruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.24.563841v2" target="_blank">Simulation-Driven Design of Stabilized SARS-CoV-2 Spike S2 Immunogens</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Trait Intolerance of Uncertainty Is Associated with Decreased Reappraisal Capacity and Increased Suppression Tendency</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of great uncertainty for the general population and highlights the need to understand how attitudes towards uncertainty may affect well-being. Intolerance of uncertainty is a trait associated with worry, anxiety, and mood disorders. As adaptive emotion regulation supports well-being and mental health, it is possible that intolerance of uncertainty is also associated with the ability and tendency to regulate emotions. However, the relationships between intolerance of uncertainty and widely studied cognitive emotion regulation strategies — such as reappraisal and suppression — have received little attention. In two studies that recruited participants online from the United States, we tested the hypotheses that higher trait intolerance of uncertainty would be associated with greater worry, decreased capacity and tendency to use reappraisal, and increased tendency to use suppression in daily life. Study 1 provided an initial test of our hypotheses. Study 2 was a confirmatory, preregistered study that replicated findings in a young adult sample, demonstrating that scores on the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (IUS) were associated with greater COVID-related worry, decreased capacity to regulate negative emotions on a task that manipulated the use of reappraisal, and greater self-reported use of suppression in daily life. Together, these results indicate that intolerance of uncertainty is associated with the capacity and tendency to use emotion regulation strategies important for well-being.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/fsnvy/" target="_blank">Trait Intolerance of Uncertainty Is Associated with Decreased Reappraisal Capacity and Increased Suppression Tendency</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Boosting Positive Mood During Stress: A Daily Coping Toolkit Replication in College Undergraduates</strong> -
<div>
College students today face significant challenges. Evidence suggests mental-health burdens are substantial and resources limited. We sought to replicate prior evidence supporting a one-time daily ambulatory intervention to facilitate adaptive regulation of negative emotion and increase generation of positive emotions. The Daily Coping Toolkit (DCT) was developed at the outset of the COVID-19 Pandemic and was effective in boosting mood in front-line medical personnel (Coifman et al., 2021). This investigation aimed to replicate against a valid control condition in college students returning to campus in 2021. N = 125 college students were randomized to one of two experimental conditions (high v. low dose) or the control condition. Data analyses was pre-registered. Results indicated students in experimental groups experienced significant decreases in negative and increases in positive emotion when compared to controls, providing evidence of efficacy. This was notable because a high proportion of participants reported prior mental illness. Although, there was no difference by dose (high v. low) on emotional reports, there was preliminary evidence that low-dose condition was associated with greater adaptive coping (e.g., exercise, social support seeking). Overall, the results suggest the DCT is an efficacious emotion-regulation intervention that can boost mood during high stress.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/ah43p/" target="_blank">Boosting Positive Mood During Stress: A Daily Coping Toolkit Replication in College Undergraduates</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>copepodTCR: Identification of Antigen-Specific T Cell Receptors with combinatorial peptide pooling</strong> -
<div>
T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire diversity enables the orchestration of antigen-specific immune responses against the vast space of possible pathogens. Identifying TCR/antigen binding pairs from the large TCR repertoire and antigen space is crucial for biomedical research. Here, we introduce copepodTCR, an open-access tool for the design and interpretation of high-throughput experimental assays to determine TCR specificity. copepodTCR implements a combinatorial peptide pooling scheme for efficient experimental testing of T cell responses against large overlapping peptide libraries, useful for “deorphaning” TCRs of unknown specificity. The scheme detects experimental errors and, coupled with a hierarchical Bayesian model for unbiased results interpretation, identifies the response-eliciting peptide for a TCR of interest out of hundreds of peptides tested using a simple experimental set-up. We experimentally validated our approach on a library of 253 overlapping peptides covering the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We provide experimental guides for efficient design of larger screens covering thousands of peptides which will be crucial for the identification of antigen-specific T cells and their targets from limited clinical material.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.28.569052v2" target="_blank">copepodTCR: Identification of Antigen-Specific T Cell Receptors with combinatorial peptide pooling</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Can Worries about COVID-19 Enhance Well-Being? Evidence from a Cross-National Study</strong> -
<div>
Can worrying about COVID-19 have positive consequences for well-being? In a preregistered study, we examined the effect of worries about COVID-19 on well-being through divergent associations with social interaction and depression. In August 2020, participants from high and low prevalence regions in the United States and Italy (N = 857) completed assessments of COVID-19 worry, social interaction, depression, and well-being. Worries about COVID-19 predicted both more social interaction and more depression. In mediational analyses, an adaptive pathway of COVID-19 worry through social interaction was associated with higher well-being, whereas a maladaptive pathway through depression was associated with lower well-being. Further, a comparison of high and low COVID-19 prevalence regions replicated the mediational findings for social interaction, providing evidence against reverse causation and common method variance. Findings suggest that normative worries about acute stressors can both benefit and undermine well-being, depending on their impact on social behavior or depression.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/h8y4c/" target="_blank">Can Worries about COVID-19 Enhance Well-Being? Evidence from a Cross-National Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Analysis of The Development of Religious Educational Tourism Potentials Through Wayang Kaca Painting in Nagasepaha Village, Buleleng</strong> -
<div>
Existence of Wayang Kaca painting in Nagasepaha Village was a long history. There are a lot of potential can be found especially before the Covid-19 pandemic era although it is has decreased product purchase significantly. It turns out that the potential for a typical Wayang Kaca painting does not directly make Nagasepaha Village immediately called a Tourism Village. coupled with the reality of understanding deep philosophical meaning that has not been maximized. When examined in more depth, the existence of wayang Kaca painting is an appropriate medium in providing education and preservation for tourists who will own it. This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative method. The researcher made in-depth observations of the paintings to obtain strategies that could be applied. One strategy that can be developed is using the concept of educative tourism and the involvement of local communities in maintaining the existence of their identity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/seycp/" target="_blank">Analysis of The Development of Religious Educational Tourism Potentials Through Wayang Kaca Painting in Nagasepaha Village, Buleleng</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Building Blocks of Understanding: Constructing a Reverse Genetics Platform for studying determinants of SARS-CoV-2 replication.</strong> -
<div>
To better understand viral pathogenesis, host-virus interactions, and potential therapeutic interventions, the development of robust reverse genetics systems for SARS-CoV-2 is crucial. Here, we present a reverse genetics platform that enables the efficient manipulation, assembly, and rescue of recombinant SARS-CoV-2. The versatility of our reverse genetics system was demonstrated by generating recombinant SARS-CoV-2 viruses. We used this system to generate N501Y and Y453F spike protein mutants. Characterization studies revealed distinct phenotypic effects, impact on viral fitness, cell binding, and replication kinetics. We also investigated a recently discovered priming site for NSP9, which is postulated to produce a short RNA antisense leader sequence. By introducing the U76G mutation into the 5-UTR, we show that this priming site is necessary for the correct production of genomic and subgenomic RNAs, and also for efficient viral replication. In conclusion, our developed reverse genetics system provides a robust and adaptable platform for the efficient generation of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 viruses for their comprehensive characterization.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.05.578560v1" target="_blank">Building Blocks of Understanding: Constructing a Reverse Genetics Platform for studying determinants of SARS-CoV-2 replication.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Second Boost of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 S1 Subunit Vaccine Induced Broad Humoral Immune Responses in Elderly Mice</strong> -
<div>
Currently approved COVID-19 vaccines prevent symptomatic infection, hospitalization, and death from the disease. However, repeated homologous boosters, while considered a solution for severe forms of the disease caused by new SARS-CoV-2 variants in elderly individuals and immunocompromised patients, cannot provide complete protection against breakthrough infections. This highlights the need for alternative platforms for booster vaccines. In our previous study, we assessed the boost effect of the SARS-CoV-2 Beta S1 recombinant protein subunit vaccine (rS1Beta) in aged mice primed with an adenovirus-based vaccine expressing SARS-CoV-2-S1 (Ad5.S1) via subcutaneous injection or intranasal delivery, which induced robust humoral immune responses (1). In this follow-up study, we demonstrated that a second booster dose of a non-adjuvanted recombinant Omicron (BA.1) S1 subunit vaccine with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) agonist RS09 (rS1RS09OM) was effective in stimulating strong S1-specific immune responses and inducing significantly high neutralizing antibodies against the Wuhan, Delta, and Omicron variants in 100-week-old mice. Importantly, the second booster dose elicits cross-reactive antibody responses, resulting in ACE2 binding inhibition against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron (BA.1) and its subvariants. Interestingly, the levels of IgG and neutralizing antibodies correlated with the level of ACE2 inhibition in the booster serum samples, although Omicron S1-specific IgG level showed a weaker correlation compared to Wuhan S1-specific IgG level. Furthermore, we compared the immunogenic properties of the rS1 subunit vaccine in young, middle-aged, and elderly mice, resulting in reduced immunogenicity with age, especially an impaired Th1-biased immune response in aged mice. Our findings demonstrate that the new variant of concern (VOC) rS1 subunit vaccine as a second booster has the potential to offer cross-neutralization against a broad range of variants and to improve vaccine effectiveness against newly emerging breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 variants in elderly individuals who were previously primed with the authorized vaccines.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.05.578925v1" target="_blank">Second Boost of Omicron SARS-CoV-2 S1 Subunit Vaccine Induced Broad Humoral Immune Responses in Elderly Mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>GOING OUT NORMALLY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS ABOUT THE LACK OF ADHESION TO SOCIAL DISTANCING</strong> -
<div>
The population’s adhesion to measures to ensure social distancing represents a great management challenge. Evidence has shown that social distancing is effective. However, it is challenging to separate government measures from social distancing driven by personal initiatives. Theory: It is possible that the output of protective behaviors, such as adherence to protective measures and staying in social isolation, is influenced by individual characteristics, such as personality traits or symptoms of mental distress of anxiogenic nature. We hypothesized that individuals with more expressive symptoms of fear or anxiety would have a more protective behavioral tendency in terms of risk exposure, leaving less home during the pandemic. In contrast, individuals with greater emotional stability, as they feel more secure and with a lower perception of risk, could go out more often. Material and Methods: A total of 2709 individuals from all regions of Brazil participated in the study (mean age = 42 years; 2134 women). Correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between personality traits according to the big five model and Psychopathological Symptoms (BSI). Then investigate how people that go out usually differ from people that stay at home, in both symptoms and personality traits. Finally, to investigate the predictors for going out usually, we use multiple regression analysis, using gender, marital status, level of education, and personality traits. Results: During the second wave of COVID-19 in Brazil, individuals with higher emotional stability tended to leave home more than those with more expressive levels of anxiogenic dysregulation. These results reinforce the role of both personality traits and psychopathological symptoms in prophylactic behavior during COVID-19 pandemics.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/v2gd9/" target="_blank">GOING OUT NORMALLY DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS ABOUT THE LACK OF ADHESION TO SOCIAL DISTANCING</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>Acute Cardiovascular Responses to a Single Exercise Session in Patients With Post-COVID-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Exercise session; Behavioral: Control session <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Nove de Julho <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>Reducing Respiratory Virus Transmission in Bangladeshi Classrooms</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS-CoV2 Infection; Influenza Viral Infections; Respiratory Viral Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Box Fan; Device: UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp Unit; Device: Combined: Box Fan and UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp Units <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Stanford University; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh <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>SMILE: Clinical Trial to Evaluate Mindfulness as Intervention for Racial and Ethnic Populations During COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Anxiety; COVID-19 Pandemic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Mindfulness <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD); RTI International <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 Learn About a Combined COVID-19 and Influenza Shot in Healthy Adults</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza, Human, SARS-CoV-2 Infection, COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)/RIV; Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5); Biological: RIV; Other: Normal saline placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</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>The Effects of Nutritional Intervention on Health Parameters in Participants With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Diabetes Mellitus Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 in Obese; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus Non-insulin-dependent; Hypertension; Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Nutritional Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sao Jose do Rio Preto Medical School; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Orthopedic Trauma Management</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Trauma; COVID-19 Pandemic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: epidemyolojical <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Research and Training Hospital <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Open-label, Multi-centre, Non-Inferiority Study of Safety and Immunogenicity of BIMERVAX for the Prevention of COVID-19 in Adolescents From 12 Years to Less Than 18 Years of Age.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: SARS CoV 2 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: BIMERVAX <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Hipra Scientific, S.L.U; Veristat, Inc.; VHIR; Asphalion <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study of Amantadine for Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients With Long-Covid</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Amantadine; Other: Physical, Occupational, Speech Therapy; Other: Provider Counseling; Other: Medications for symptoms management <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Balance Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome; Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Balance Acceptance and Commitment Therapy <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: King’s College London <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 on the Effect of Incentive Spirometer-based Respiratory Training on the Long COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pandemic; Diabetes; Hypertension; Cardiac Disease; Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Incentive Spirometer respiratory training <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences; Tri-Service General Hospital <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>Predict + Protect Study: Exploring the Effectiveness of a Predictive Health Education Intervention on the Adoption of Protective Behaviors Related to ILI</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza B; COVID-19; Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: ILI Predictive Alerts, Reactive Content, and Proactive Content; Behavioral: ILI Predictive Alerts, Reactive Content; Behavioral: Proactive Content; Behavioral: No Intervention <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Evidation Health; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority <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>Role of PCSK9 inhibition during the inflammatory stage of SARS-COV-2: an updated review</strong> - The potential role of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibition in the management of COVID-19 and other medical conditions has emerged as an intriguing area of research. PCSK9 is primarily known for its impact on cholesterol metabolism, but recent studies have unveiled its involvement in various physiological processes, including inflammation, immune regulation, and thrombosis. In this abstract, the authors review the rationale and potential implications of PCSK9…</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>Case report: Ensitrelvir for treatment of persistent COVID-19 in lymphoma patients: a report of two cases</strong> - Persistent COVID-19 is a well recognized issue of concern in patients with hematological malignancies. Such patients are not only at risk of mortality due to the infection itself, but are also at risk of suboptimal malignancy-related outcomes because of delays and terminations of chemotherapy. We report two lymphoma patients with heavily pretreated persistent COVID-19 in which ensitrelvir brought about radical changes in the clinical course leading to rapid remissions. Patient 1 was on ibrutinib…</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>TMPRSS2 inhibitors for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of nafamostat and camostat mesylate randomised clinical trials</strong> - CONCLUSION: The RCT evidence is inconclusive to determine whether there is a mortality reduction and safety with either nafamostat or camostat for the treatment of adults with COVID-19. There were high risk-of-bias, small sample size, and high heterogeneity between RCTs.</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 rationally designed antimicrobial peptide from structural and functional insights of <em>Clostridioides difficile</em> translation initiation factor 1</strong> - A significant increase of hospital-acquired bacterial infections during the COVID-19 pandemic has become an urgent medical problem. Clostridioides difficile is an urgent antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen and a leading causative agent of nosocomial infections. The increasing recurrence of C. difficile infection and antibiotic resistance in C. difficile has led to an unmet need for the discovery of new compounds distinctly different from present antimicrobials, while antimicrobial peptides…</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>BRD4354 Is a Potent Covalent Inhibitor against the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease</strong> - Numerous organic molecules are known to inhibit the main protease (M^(Pro)) of SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Guided by previous research on zinc-ligand inhibitors of M^(Pro) and zinc-dependent histone deacetylases (HDACs), we identified BRD4354 as a potent inhibitor of M^(Pro). The in vitro protease activity assays show that BRD4354 displays time-dependent inhibition against M^(Pro) with an IC(50) (concentration that inhibits activity by 50%) of 0.72 ± 0.04 μM…</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>Assessing the mitochondrial safety profile of the molnupiravir active metabolite, β-d-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC), in the physiologically relevant HepaRG model</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Overall, NHC does not cause direct mitochondrial toxicity in HepaRG cells at clinically relevant concentrations, but may induce minor cellular perturbations. As HepaRG cells have increased physiological relevance, these findings provide additional assurance of the mitochondrial safety profile of NHC.</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>Identification of CD8 T-cell dysfunction associated with symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID and treatment with a nebulized antioxidant/anti-pathogen agent in a retrospective case series</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Here, in this small study, we present two observations that appear potentially fundamental to the pathogenesis and treatment of Long COVID and ME/CFS. The first is that both disorders appear to be characterized by dysfunctional CD8 T-cells with severe deficiencies in their abilities to produce IFNγ and TNFα. The second is that in a small retrospective Long COVID and ME/CFS case series, this immune dysfunction and patient health improved in parallel with treatment with an…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arbidol attenuates liver fibrosis and activation of hepatic stellate cells by blocking TGF-β1 signaling</strong> - Chronic liver diseases (CLD) impact over 800 million people globally, causing about 2 million deaths annually. Arbidol (ARB), an indole-derivative used to treat influenza virus infection, was extensively used during COVID-19 pandemic in China. In recent years, studies have shown that ARB, compared to other antiviral drugs, exhibits greater liver-protective efficacy, indicating a potential hepatoprotective effect beyond its antiviral activity. However, the mechanism remains unclear. In this…</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>Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) binds with spike protein and inhibits the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Our investigations suggest that this interaction of GAPDH interferes in the viral docking with hACE2 receptors, thereby affecting viral ingress into mammalian cells.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TREG cells and CXCR3+ circulating TFH cells concordantly shape the neutralizing antibody responses in individuals who have recovered from mild COVID-19</strong> - Regulatory T (TREG) cells are involved in the antiviral immune response in patients with COVID-19; however, whether TREG cells are involved in the neutralizing antibody (nAb) response remains unclear. Here, we found that individuals who recovered from mild but not severe COVID-19 had significantly greater frequencies of TREG cells and lower frequencies of CXCR3+ circulating TFH (cTFH) cells than healthy controls. Furthermore, TREG and CXCR3+ cTFH cells were negatively and positively correlated…</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>Influenza vaccine compatibility among hospitalized patients during and after the COVID-19 pandemic</strong> - INTRODUCTION: Following the significant decrease in SARS-CoV-2 cases worldwide, Israel, as well as other countries, have again been faced with a rise in seasonal influenza. This study compared circulating influenza A and B in hospitalized patients in Israel with the influenza strains in the vaccine following the 2021-2022 winter season which was dominated by the omicron variant.</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>Molecular docking as a tool for the discovery of novel insight about the role of acid sphingomyelinase inhibitors in SARS- CoV-2 infectivity</strong> - Recently, COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, caused &gt; 6 million deaths. Symptoms included respiratory strain and complications, leading to severe pneumonia. SARS-CoV-2 attaches to the ACE-2 receptor of the host cell membrane to enter. Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 entry may effectively inhibit infection. Acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) is a lysosomal protein that catalyzes the conversion of sphingolipid (sphingomyelin) to ceramide….</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 the inhibitory potential of bioactive compounds against SARS-CoV-2 by in silico approach</strong> - CONTEXT: The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic brought on by the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) has stimulated the exploration of various available chemical compounds that could be used to treat the infection. This has driven numerous researchers to investigate the antiviral potential of several bioactive compounds from medicinal plants due to their reduced adverse effects compared to chemicals. Some of the bioactive compounds used in folklore…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Host Receptor Targeting to Treat Covid-19</strong> - Not long after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified as the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), in vitro experiments revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infection of human cells depended on the binding of the viral spike protein to the human cell-surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2).¹ Additional experiments demonstrated that infection could be blocked by inhibiting transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMPRSS2), which is a host enzyme that…</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 Randomized Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19</strong> - A Randomized Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19Nafamostat mesylate is a potent in vitro antiviral that inhibits the host transmembrane protease serine 2 enzyme used by SARS-CoV-2 for cell entry. Morpeth et al report the results of an open-label randomized clinical trial of nafamostat for noncritically ill patients with Covid-19.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Great Washington Meltdown of 2024 Has Begun</strong> - In the Senate, the House, and the White House, leaders are weak—at a time when leading is needed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-great-washington-meltdown-of-2024-has-begun">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Friendship Challenge</strong> - How envy destroyed the perfect connection between two teen-age girls. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-friendship-challenge">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Art World Before and After Thelma Golden, by Calvin Tomkins</strong> - When Golden was a young curator in the nineties, her shows, centering Black artists, were unprecedented. Today, those artists are the stars of the art market. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/the-art-world-before-and-after-thelma-golden">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Teen’s Fatal Plunge Into the London Underworld</strong> - After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents were shocked to learn that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Photos from a Late-Stage Abortion Clinic</strong> - At a clinic in Maryland, desperate patients arrive from all over the country to terminate their pregnancies. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-safe-haven-for-late-abortions">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Usher has a Super Bowl-worthy legacy. Why don’t people act like it?</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Usher sings into a handheld mic while kneeling onstage, surrounded by smoke." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O-k4VxyVCARqAwmfMfsNkcWMpdA=/0x0:4200x3150/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73125202/1409206387.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Usher performs at the grand opening of Usher: My Way—The Vegas Residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM on July 15, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Dolby Live at Park MGM
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Put some respect on Usher’s name.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qwJDmN">
Across his 30-year career, Usher has been deemed the “<a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/usher-king-of-r-and-b-title-1235130651/">King of R&amp;B</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.bet.com/article/73ns2j/cardi-b-usher-flowers-my-way-anniversary">legend</a>” for his catalog of Top 10 hits, smooth dance breaks, life-changing serenades, and lighthearted, meme-worthy energy. And yet, fans and music experts still have to explain why the superstar is a big deal ahead of his career-defining <a href="https://www.vox.com/super-bowl">Super Bowl</a> moment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P6nCaH">
In September, Usher surprised his younger self with the news that he’d be performing during the major event. A promotional <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-zT1Pjb2eQ">video</a> following the NFL’s announcement shows present-day Usher calling Usher from the 2004 “Confessions Pt. II” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sy19X0xxrM">music video</a> to deliver the big news. “Stop playin’ with me,” the younger Usher responds. Many saw the eight-time Grammy-winning singer as an obvious, even overdue, choice. Fans rejoiced, posting “Yeahhhh!” (a nod to Usher’s 2004 hit featuring rappers Lil Jon and Ludacris) and jokingly claiming to be <a href="https://twitter.com/iamtease_/status/1706034102967718318">prepping the Y2K</a> outfits they’ll wear to their living rooms to watch one of the country’s biggest stars hit the NFL stage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cmGBgb">
But critics also spoke out. On a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/16qxxcj/usher_confirmed_as_super_bowl_2024_halftime/">Reddit post</a> about the announcement, a user commented, “Wow, this would have been really exciting news 20 years ago” and received nearly 4,000 upvotes. Another wrote, “Seriously the best they could do?” On X, one user <a href="https://twitter.com/asj519/status/1624965179548082176">wrote</a> ahead of the announcement, “I know y’all think Usher should perform the next SB but I don’t think he has enough pop/hip-hop hits.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8atvgb">
More recently, as Taylor Swift’s romance with Travis Kelce — who will play in the big game — continues to dominate the news cycle, Swifties have <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/01/29/taylor-swift-will-not-perform-super-bowl-lviii-halftime-show-usher/?adid=social-tw">demanded</a> that Usher bring Swift onstage. Some have <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/taylor-swift-is-already-the-star-of-super-bowl-lviiisorry-usher?utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&amp;utm_medium=socialflow&amp;utm_campaign=owned_social&amp;via=twitter_page">argued</a> the attention on the Eras star is already dimming Usher’s moment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lc6lki">
One could say that the mixed reactions ahead of Usher’s show are typical responses for any Super Bowl announcement: One artist, or genre, can’t please the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/darreonnadavis/2023/09/25/rihannas-super-bowl-halftime-performance-was-the-most-watched-in-history-could-usher-top-that-in-2024/?sh=4d0ba1a267a0">more than 100 million viewers</a> who tune in. But experts told Vox that the critics questioning Usher’s impact and relevance are illustrating something much bigger: It’s a reaction that’s indicative of racial, generational, and cultural divides in America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h3AJHb">
“The discourse is really showing how we live in two different Americas,” said Taylor Crumpton, a writer and culture critic who has written extensively about the return of R&amp;B. “There’s a [contingent] of people who feel that Usher getting a Super Bowl is way overdue. It’s time to give him his flowers.”
</p>
<h3 id="yW7M7b">
What the perfect Super Bowl halftime star needs
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N7q23S">
An event as massive as the Super Bowl halftime show requires an artist with a deep catalog of well-known hits, dedicated fans, and widespread appeal. They must be able to speak to the NFL’s diverse and enormous audience. Some 118.7 million people tuned in to the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/darreonnadavis/2023/09/25/rihannas-super-bowl-halftime-performance-was-the-most-watched-in-history-could-usher-top-that-in-2024/?sh=6630649b67a0">2023 halftime show</a>, the most viewers in the show’s history.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9K7oxH">
Usher has performed at the Super Bowl before — in 2011, alongside the headlining Black Eyed Peas, to sing “OMG,” his 2010 hit featuring will.i.am. In 2024, during Black History Month, he’ll perform a career retrospective and honor the Black artists who came before him.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bwnimt">
“It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list. I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before,” the 45-year-old veteran entertainer <a href="https://nflcommunications.com/Pages/Generation-Defining-USHER-to-Perform-During-Apple-Music-Super-Bowl-LVIII-Halftime-Show-Sunday,-February-11,-2024,-on-CBS.aspx">said in a statement</a> at the time of the announcement.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IHNkcM">
Some are already saying that the halftime performance is a part of Usher’s renaissance, but others see the moment as confirmation of what the star has been giving fans all along.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yaZ8Yw">
“I don’t think it’s so much a renaissance moment as it is a validation moment,” said Naima Cochrane, culture journalist and professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. “Usher’s been Usher. He has a longevity and consistency of brand and presence that is unmatched in R&amp;B.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3GiN0Y">
Having the King of R&amp;B headline football’s main event makes sense for the NFL in 2024.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HINOHx">
Back in the summer of 2019, Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s entertainment company, struck a deal with the league to produce the Super Bowl halftime show. When the deal went through, many <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dont-be-fooled-by-jay-zs-star-studded-super-bowl-halftime-show">speculated</a> that the NFL signed it to distract from its <a href="https://www.vox.com/22528334/race-norming-medical-racism">racist history and present</a> and to quell uproar over its <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/25/17257978/kaepernick-nfl-nike-protest-race-football">treatment of Colin Kaepernick</a>. Critics see Usher’s performance as somewhat linked to this effort.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qy8QsM">
Since 2019, Roc Nation has selected a diverse slate of artists, a mix of icons and popular newcomers with current hits. There was Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in 2020; The Weeknd the following year; a hip-hop-themed showcase for the genre’s 50th anniversary featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar in 2022; and last year’s performance by Rihanna. It was a reset from over a decade of often lackluster shows.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JC1jc6">
Following 2004’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22739035/janet-jackson-wardrobe-malfunction-controversy-explainer-sexuality-damita-jo">wardrobe malfunction</a> with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson — which received more than <a href="https://people.com/music/janet-jackson-justin-timberlake-super-bowl-halftime-controversy-timeline/">half a million Federal Communications Commission complaints</a> — the NFL parted ways with producer MTV and brought on Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and The Who over the next six years, hoping to play it safe. The mostly white male “classic” artists were an attempt to appease viewers who complained that the show had gone astray, but the shows became something of a joke for featuring what the Washington Post called <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/superbowl-halftime-show-history/#old-rockers">“over-the-hill rockers.” </a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yPTk1p">
“Since MTV stopped doing the halftime show, there’s never really been any consistency with who is selected for the act,” said Cochrane. “I think the Super Bowl just chooses to focus on different things at different times.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rd78ip">
In 2024, the league and its affiliates have decided to focus on Usher. And it’s time to put some respect on his name.
</p>
<h3 id="yX0ibG">
People have tried to deny Usher’s legacy
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BBcQfB">
Usher has most recently been crowned the “<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/gq-hype-usher">New King of Vegas</a>,” the city where he’ll perform on the Super Bowl stage at Allegiant Stadium.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="QuYO1d">
<q>Having the King of R&amp;B headline football’s main event makes sense for the NFL in 2024</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AU0U6k">
He began a residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in 2021 and a year later moved to the Park MGM, where tickets <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/usher-closes-out-vegas-residency-tears-1234909146/">consistently sold out</a>. The show was extended multiple times until the end of 2023, when Usher wrapped it up after 100 performances. The residency stage was <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/gq-hype-usher">part strip club, part roller skating rink</a>, part <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/magazine/usher-rnb.html">parade</a>, and part jazz club, and his decades-spanning career prepared him well for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3twDCy">
Before arriving in Las Vegas, it had been six years since Usher was on tour. He told GQ, “I really wanted to give women something to look forward to, something to come here to Las Vegas with their friends for. They’ve been saving up all year and were able to manage to get away from their kids or get away from their problems.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WtenK1">
The show grew popular as <a href="https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/usher-serenading-celebrities-las-vegas-residency-videos-49220260">countless</a> <a href="https://people.com/doja-cat-jessica-alba-attend-usher-my-way-las-vegas-residency-both-receive-serenade-8364997">celebrities</a> (Keke Palmer, various Kardashians, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez, Doja Cat, Zendaya and Tom Holland, Issa Rae, and more) stopped by and videos of the superstar serenading thirsty audience members went viral. In a number of videos, fans could be seen running up to touch Usher as he walked through the crowd singing “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home).”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CyHdEY">
Usher’s popular songs carried the show. Out of his 18 Billboard Top 10 hits, a whopping nine of them (“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIpQ4AZSAf8">Nice &amp; Slow</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxau9B3jOHM">U Remind Me</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxBSyx85Kp8">Yeah!</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3IWTfcks4k">U Got It Bad</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sy19X0xxrM">Confessions Part II</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5XNWFw5HVw">Burn</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgf2meEX1w">My Boo</a>,” “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB5e0zHRzHc%27">Love in This Club</a>,” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnPB76mjxI">OMG”</a>) made it to No. 1. He has 53 songs that made it to the Billboard Hot 100, and by some estimates he has sold over <a href="https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.56436/title.usher-makes-cites-hip-hop-rbs-greatness-while-making-case-for-juneteeth-holiday">100 million records</a> in his career. His stage presence has earned dozens of awards, including Grammys, Critics Choice Awards, BET and MTV Music Awards, and NAACP Image Awards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qhKeuJ">
Cochrane said that Usher’s traditional training is what makes him unmatched today.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3HKNUE">
“He has always been a consummate performer, one of the last of his school who really got to sit at the feet of the greats, directly learn from them, and apply it,” she said. The star names icons like Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Teddy Pendergrass, and more as his inspirations. “He’s in the last of the classes who were in vocal training, underwent artist development, or were in the studio learning their stage shows. He is an entertainer, and we don’t have a lot of those anymore.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tWsZO7">
Usher’s roles and guest appearances on various <a href="https://www.vox.com/reality-tv">reality TV</a> programs expanded his stardom. He joined fellow music icons Shakira, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton on season four of <em>The Voice</em> as a coach. He returned in season six, leading his team to victory, and appeared on later seasons as a leading coach and adviser. His “watch this” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up8ODGFWgFg">moment</a> during his NPR Tiny Desk concert in 2022, in which he placed his fingers across his face to the beat and became a viral meme, endeared him to viewers and reminded everyone of his charm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RQpWLw">
While Usher’s career took a dip in the 2010s when changes at Billboard <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/magazine/usher-rnb.html">tested R&amp;B’s popularity</a>, after dominating the 1990s and aughts, he remained relevant, critics say. “The album that people <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/usher-ranking-best-albums-hard-ii-love">point to as his flop</a>” — <em>Raymond v. Raymond</em> — “was still a platinum album. He has had moments where he’s less consistent, but he’s always been present and relevant,” Cochrane said. “We take him for granted. Usher is doing collaborations with these younger artists. He’s sampling his own work. How many people get to do that?”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="lK6W7E">
<q>Usher’s traditional training is what makes him unmatched today</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gQqcjY">
The Super Bowl announcement isn’t the first time Usher’s legacy has been questioned. During online debates about who would make a good matchup for the popular pandemic Verzuz battles, commentators cast doubt on Usher’s record, uncertain he’d be able to win over Chris Brown. And in the early 2000s, some people <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/9/19/16041980/who-wins-according-to-data-usher-or-justin-timberlake-3a1fdc36e2c4#:~:text=With%20eight%20solo%20LPs%20to,a%20mic%20stand%20into%20art.">pitted Usher against Justin Timberlake</a>, seeing them as <a href="https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/twitter-debates-about-usher-and-justin-timberlake-catalog/vzT1j4nUtqXvByxJZpLDwN/">rivals</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7oYPkh">
With the halftime show, some people have questioned Usher’s crossover appeal — whether he can appeal to audiences who love pop and also hip-hop. But it is his crossover appeal that makes him the no-brainer choice for the Super Bowl, critics told Vox.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4xyQ0U">
“Gen Z may think of Usher as a person who signed Justin Bieber, whereas earlier generations see him as a king with crossover appeal — working not only in music but also in TV and film,” said Crumpton. “Every suburban soccer mom feels a type of way when ‘Yeah!’ comes on.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wfVhpf">
Usher just released his ninth studio album, <em>Coming Home</em>, a few days after announcing a new <a href="https://www.usherworld.com/#tour">world tour</a> and a few days ahead of the big game. It’s a medley of Afrobeats hits featuring new artists, across 20 tracks.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iYZuID">
But the star made it clear that his performance at Super Bowl LVIII will focus on the impact of Black R&amp;B artists of the past.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0S0Dk8">
“To have R&amp;B have the main stage at the Super Bowl, it’s a major thing for me,” he said in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2oL32vwfEk">an interview</a> with <em>Good Morning America</em>. “I think about what our country has kind of represented for Black artists having to at some point go through kitchens to even be able to perform for an audience, but they had to leave back through that same door [and] fear for their lives as they went to the next state to do the same thing. So I’m coming through the front door with this one. I think about all of the R&amp;B performers who I carry in this moment.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WCvpZq">
In the short 13-minute show, critics expect Usher to bring the energy, be elaborate, but most of all represent where he’s from.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m5K0T7">
“He’s going to elevate Black people in Atlanta and Black people in the South,” said Crumpton. “That’s why it will be so monumental and invigorating to see.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>Trump’s rumored VP shortlist, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Kristi Norm waves to the audience from a stage dressed with an “NRA” backdrop." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HWzDocziVMheAI0NCvbtQdb2tOc=/489x0:4397x2931/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73125170/1482257892.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks to guests at the 2023 NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on April 13, 2023, in Indianapolis, Indiana.  | Scott Olson/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A rundown of the people auditioning for the job — and what they bring to the ticket.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kp16hc">
Given former President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024/1/23/24046971/new-hampshire-presidential-primary-polls-winner-results-explainers-trump-haley">dominance in the GOP primaries</a>, attention is now turning to a new topic: who he’ll pick as his potential vice president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ruyUm">
In past elections, a nominee’s choice of running mate has been closely watched for a variety of reasons. They may bring experience to balance a nominee’s lack of it (think Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden), or they may appeal to a region or demographic that the nominee would like to reach (think Donald Trump’s pick of Mike Pence), or they may amplify a presidential campaign’s message (think Bill Clinton with Al Gore).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BuHvlZ">
But the veepstakes — and the attention lavished on it — can also overstate the importance of the pick. Research has found that vice presidential picks matter <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/election-2016-vice-president-selection-matters-less-than-you-think-213805/">much less to the outcome than is often assumed</a>. The work of <a href="https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700629701/">vice presidential scholars Chris Devine and Kyle Kopko</a>, for instance, found that VP picks typically<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/30/21346478/joe-biden-running-mate-vice-president"> affect general election outcomes only if they’re extremely popular or polarizing</a>. Those results have been echoed in other analyses, <a href="https://graphics.wsj.com/elections/2016/vice-presidential-picks/">like a 2016 study by the Wall Street Journal</a> that found most voters don’t take a candidate’s VP into account when choosing a president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bdwNVq">
Who Trump picks might also mean even less in an election like 2024, given that the public’s views about the former president are already fairly set. Which isn’t to say the identity of Trump’s number two is unimportant. Trump’s age means his vice president may well have to step in for him, so who he chooses may prove to be consequential. His pick will also signal if he’s looking for a governing partner with more experience, and what, if any, other ideological viewpoints he might be willing to consider.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0FtSRE">
Thus far, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-advisers-talk-vp-choices-assemble-short-list-anticipation-new-hampshire-win">sources told Fox Business</a> a shortlist includes everyone from Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance to House Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY). As part of this decision, Trump is reportedly prioritizing both loyalty and selecting someone who won’t overshadow him. He has also said he would be interested in choosing a woman, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-stefanik-vice-president-candidate-vance-scott-c193730f0786d5c71f980e2ab248710b">according to the Associated Press</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FjCUZt">
In <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4420397-trump-hints-at-vp-pick-people-wont-be-that-surprised/">a Fox News interview</a>, Trump described the individual he’s likely to select as a “very good person, pretty standard,” noting that he didn’t think people would be “that surprised.” He’s also said the top quality he’s considering is whether the person will be able to take on the role of the presidency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzdftS">
With the caveat that other names may still come out, here’s what we know about the potential running mates Trump is considering — and what they’d bring to the ticket.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Speaks At Cato Institute" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cGu569eHfA21uo7PONlA5jO70vg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25272365/1247191606.jpg"/> <cite>Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at the Cato Institute.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7YDDjD">
<strong>Kristi Noem</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9ARqYa">
<strong>Who is she? </strong>Noem, 52, is the governor of South Dakota and a longtime Trump supporter. Noem is known for keeping the state open during the pandemic, her backing of gun rights, and her frequent appearances as a commentator on Fox News during which she defends Trump and stresses South Dakota’s economic successes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XdmkYU">
<strong>What’s the case for her? </strong>Noem could plausibly be seen by the Trump campaign as appealing to women and bringing a younger voice to the ticket. Her executive expertise as governor could also be a selling point. And her conservative media savvy is another likely draw, as is her commitment to the MAGA agenda.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HFmeAI">
Trump emphasized the importance of her loyalty <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/04/trump-vp-pick-tim-scott-kristi-noem">in a recent Fox News interview</a> when he said, “Kristi Noem has been incredible fighting for me,” adding, “She said ‘I’d never run against him because I can’t beat him.’ That was a very nice thing to say.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Tim Scott smiles and waves, wearing a navy suit and red tie. Blue curtains hang from the walls behind him. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YfZooQyhcJjvnGhzyIbEhGLfbMg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25246679/1946322296.jpg"/> <cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) greets supporters during a campaign rally with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at the Grappone Convention Center on January 19, 2024, in Concord, New Hampshire.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iUeufw">
<strong>Tim Scott</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uR2J5t">
<strong>Who is he? </strong>A three-term, relatively conservative South Carolina senator, Scott, 58, is also the only Black Republican serving in the upper chamber. Scott is known for his own presidential run, which floundered early on, and his efforts to find a compromise on police reform in Congress. He previously framed much of his candidacy around pushing back against Democrats’ views on race, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/25/21400661/tim-scott-rnc-speech-republican-trump">citing his own success</a> as negating the idea that <a href="https://www.vox.com/race">Black Americans</a> are disadvantaged by systemic racism.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ne3qAl">
<strong>What’s the case for him? </strong>One of the more surprising findings about the 2020 election is that Trump made <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/23982907/trump-democrats-republicans-working-class-voters-latino-black-voters">inroads with nonwhite voters</a>, and a Scott selection could be seen by the campaign as a way of cementing those gains. Scott is also a religious social conservative with political views broadly in line with Trump’s, though his establishment credentials — including refusing to contest the 2020 election results — might assuage some Republicans wary of the former president.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="830AyM">
Trump recently name-dropped Scott on <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/04/trump-vp-pick-tim-scott-kristi-noem">Fox News</a>, noting that he told the South Carolina lawmaker, “You’re a much better candidate for me than you are for yourself.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Elise Stefanik shakes a supporter’s hand. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/T4MbiwFm1zVpHi76ne24-IKflak=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25273086/1946176877.jpg"/> <cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) greets supporters before a campaign rally with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at the Grappone Convention Center on January 19, 2024, in Concord, New Hampshire.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3iPhLd">
<strong>Elise Stefanik</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dUxo5C">
<strong>Who is she? </strong>Stefanik, 39, is a five-term House Representative and member of House Republican leadership. Once more moderate, she’s pivoted hard to the right in recent years after her upstate New York district swung in favor of Trump. Stefanik has raised her profile in congressional hearings pushing back against <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/11/19/20966940/elise-stefanik-impeachment-hearing-donald-trump-adam-schiff">Trump’s impeachment</a> and in a recent appearance questioning elite university presidents <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/12/15/24001823/antisemitism-college-harvard-penn-mit-free-speech">about antisemitism on campus</a>. She’s also long advocated for growing Republican women’s representation in Congress, and backed fundraising and recruitment initiatives to do so.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FIyAL9">
<strong>What’s the case for her? </strong>Stefanik has had about a decade of legislative experience and has increasingly established herself as a prominent conservative voice who could potentially energize base voters. She’s signaled staunch fealty to Trump and would bring gender and age diversity to the ticket, along with strong rhetorical skills.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ve4E3o">
Her stated views are also pretty much consistent with Trump’s. Stefanik was among the House Republicans who voted to overturn the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election">2020 election</a> results, and has embraced many of the same extreme positions as the former president on issues like immigration.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Vance, mid-conversation, gestures with his hands. He wears a blue tie and gray suit. He sits in front of an ornately designed window. On the table in front of him sits a coffee cup that reads “Meet the Press.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PQ77umi18z1QlcT4Ck_0G9UDx50=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25246668/1528412295.jpg"/> <cite>William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) appears in a pre-taped interview on <em>Meet the Press </em>in Washington, DC, on June 22, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyIZpA">
<strong>J.D. Vance</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MCbn0P">
<strong>Who is he? </strong>Vance, 39, is a freshman Ohio senator, onetime Trump opponent, and now vocal Trump supporter. He’s also known as the author of <em>Hillbilly Elegy</em>, a memoir that chronicled his experience growing up in a working-class family in the Midwest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UtpW5u">
<strong>What’s the case for him?</strong> Vance would fully embrace the MAGA agenda as one of Trump’s ardent defenders, as well as add a younger perspective. He would also bring his brief experience in the Senate and some business expertise from his background working in <a href="https://www.vox.com/venture-capital">venture capital</a>. Like many of the names on this list, he’s a pick that could resonate with the base.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Nikki Haley, wearing a blue embroidered top, stands before a microphone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LCn2ELy2YP9rOcfnBQT1dcxIQNc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25246662/1956250310.jpg"/> <cite>Brandon Bell/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley delivers remarks at her primary night rally at the Grappone Conference Center on January 23, 2024, in Concord, New Hampshire.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BXZiyz">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/14/23599194/nikki-haley-donald-trump-2024-presidential-campaign"><strong>Nikki Haley</strong></a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UtPS1j">
<strong>Who is she? </strong>Haley, 52, is a former governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the United Nations during the <a href="https://www.vox.com/trump-administration">Trump administration</a>. Haley had a mostly conservative record as governor: She imposed aggressive voter ID restrictions that were initially blocked by the federal government for <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/former-south-carolina-gov-nikki-haleys-record-on-voting-rights/">disproportionately affecting Black voters</a>, but was also known for signing a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dsMrcU">
In the presidential race, Haley has positioned <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/24042053/nikki-haley-moderate-conservative-democracy">herself as more of a moderate compared to Trump</a>, and has grown increasingly critical of the former president’s age and temperament. She’s struggled during primary season, failing to win the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024/2/2/24057477/nevada-caucus-primary-trump-haley">Nevada primary</a> despite being the only major candidate on the ballot, and coming in second to Trump in New Hampshire’s contest. She’s tried to differentiate herself in a once-crowded <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/2/23/23611828/2024-republican-presidential-candidates-trump-hurd">GOP primary</a> field with solid debate performances and her foreign policy experience. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley, like Scott, has also pushed back at the idea of systemic racism — most recently igniting an uproar when she questioned <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/politics/nikki-haley-says-us-not-racist-country/index.html">whether America was a “racist country.”</a>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="um9sKO">
<strong>What’s the case for her?</strong> She’d bring a slightly different ideological stance to the ticket — including a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/24042053/nikki-haley-moderate-conservative-democracy">greater commitment to preserving democracy</a> and more hawkish views on foreign policy — as well as gender, age, and racial representation. She’d also offer past experiences as governor and UN ambassador, though her critiques of Trump could well rule her out from consideration. In a <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-advisers-talk-vp-choices-assemble-short-list-anticipation-new-hampshire-win">Fox Business report</a>, sources said that Haley was not on Trump’s shortlist. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/haley-says-no-vice-presidency-former-rival-backs-trump-2024-01-19/#:~:text=%22I%20don't%20want%20to,m%20not%20going%20to%20play.">Haley has also said she doesn’t </a>“want to be anybody’s vice president.”
</p></li>
<li><strong>How Britney Spears explains Taylor Swift</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="An illustration of Taylor Swift and Britney Spears being tightly wrapped together by boa constrictors. The snakes turn into hands, which are pointing fingers in the faces of the two women." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/e90BFdk5aLuJT0w059WCpAwUVFQ=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73125106/VOX_ConstanceGrady_EfiC.0.jpg"/>
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Efi Chalikopoulou for Vox
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Britney was too out of control. Taylor is too in control. What now?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="igN9Kv">
There seems to be a kind of paranoid storm swirling around Taylor Swift just now. It’s as though she’s at the center of a gothic novel filled with conspiracy theories and secret doubles, with the far right placing her at the center of government operations and 4channers putting her in deep-fake porn.
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Taylor is currently poised at the tipping point into oversaturation. At this year’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/grammy-awards">Grammys</a>, she became the first person ever to win Album of the Year four times, and then stole the show by announcing her next album. Her <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/12/taylor-swifts-eras-tour-breaks-record-as-highest-grossing-music-tour-ever-762285">record-breaking Eras tour</a> is making its way steadily around the globe. In November, a filmed version of the concert became <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231130132351/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/94263-highest-grossing-concert-film">the highest-grossing concert film of all time</a>. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2023/9/25/23889682/taylor-swift-travis-kelces-date-nfl-chiefs-game">Her mediagenic romance with football star Travis Kelce</a> dominates pop culture so thoroughly that the question of whether or not Taylor Swift will show up at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/super-bowl">Super Bowl</a> has become one of the most-discussed issues of the game. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23905279/taylor-swift-eras-concert-film-image-analysis">She is everywhere right now</a>, including in places where she would probably rather not be.
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In January, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">AI</a>-generated Taylor Swift porn went viral on <a href="https://www.vox.com/twitter">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24050334/x-twitter-taylor-swift-ai-fake-images-trending?ref=404media.co">where it had leaked from 4chan forums</a>. <a href="https://www.404media.co/ai-generated-taylor-swift-porn-twitter/">The 404 reported</a> that Taylor has been one of the most popular targets for nonconsensual computer-generated sexual imagery since at least 2017, as the technology first emerged. Meanwhile, conservatives are theorizing that Taylor is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2024/1/31/24057448/taylor-swift-conservatives-maga">deep state psyop</a>, her ersatz popularity manufactured by the government in order to boost the impact of an eventual Biden endorsement from Swift.
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“I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month,” <a href="https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1751944730114498838">posted former Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on X in January</a>. “And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.”
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All the paranoia seems to stem from a recognizable anxiety. Normally, when music stars of Taylor’s archetype (white, blonde, conventionally girly) reach her stature (globally revered superstar), it’s possible to write them off as the products of overbearing stage parents and producer puppeteers. Yet Taylor has made it all but impossible for anyone to think of her this way. She put out a documentary that shows her <a href="https://variety.com/2020/music/features/taylor-swift-politics-sundance-documentary-miss-americana-1203471910/">arguing with her dad about her image choices</a>. She got into a public feud <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/7/1/20677241/taylor-swift-scooter-braun-controversy-explained">with her old record company</a> and then started rerecording all her old records so that she would have control over the masters.
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Taylor has made the idea that <em>she is in control</em> central to her image, to a fault, from the beginning. Now, Taylor’s levels of control over herself seem to be threatening to people, so threatening that they are inventing wild theories and using AI to create realities where she’s no longer in charge of her career or her body.
</p>
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Yet we only have to consult history to see that a woman in the opposite situation would be just as threatening to male observers. <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23814154/britney-spears-fans-conspiracy-theories-conservatorship">Britney Spears</a> was famously out of control, and famously <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22565683/britney-spears-conservatorship-testimony">punished for so being</a>.
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The fate of Britney Spears is one Taylor has surely studied. Taylor talks frequently in interviews about examining the downfalls of other pop stars to see what she can learn from them. (“When other kids were watching normal shows, I’d watch <em>Behind the Music</em>,” <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/taylor-swift-gq-cover-story">she explained to GQ in 2015</a>.) She also released her first album in 2006, just as Britney was beginning to publicly spiral. Looking back at Taylor’s earliest era — the time when she was always in floofy white dresses and singing about how she wasn’t slutty like other girls — it begins to seem as though Taylor had Britney in mind as who she <em>didn’t</em> want to be. It begins to seem as though Taylor built her career in direct opposition to the precedent Britney set.
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Yet considered together, Britney Spears and Taylor Swift form a mirrored pair, opposites who have almost too much in common. They are the virgin pop princesses turned queens of the genre. They are the woman who is too in control and the woman who is too out of control. They are cautionary tales for the women who watch them. They are stories of the amount of agency we are willing to ascribe to women.
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Britney is Taylor’s shadowy antecedent. Going back over the cipher of her career can make legible Taylor’s strategy of total control, and how she got to this moment: punished for being too controlling.
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<h3 id="3vRnNZ">
“Taylor Swift is on good behavior, as usual.”
</h3>
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When Taylor Swift released her self-titled first album in 2006 and began making her way into the music scene, she was, determinedly, a good girl. She would maintain that posture firmly for the next few years.
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“On a bright Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift is on good behavior, as usual,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/the-very-pink-very-perfect-life-of-taylor-swift-107451/">begins a Rolling Stone profile of Taylor from 2009</a>, when she was 19 years old. It goes on to outline her 4.0 grade point average, and her refusal to dye her hair or smoke or drink.
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She declines to comment on the subject of her sex life. “I feel like whatever you say about whether you do or don’t, it makes people picture you naked,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/the-very-pink-very-perfect-life-of-taylor-swift-107451/">she says</a>.
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Taylor seemed to consider her good girl status to be something of a badge of honor. “It’s a compliment on your character,” <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/taylor-swift-profile-you-belong-with-me">she told the New Yorker in 2011</a>, in an article that cites her as a rare role model “in a world of Lohans and Winehouses.” “It’s based on the decisions that you make in your life,” Taylor went on. She was determined that her decisions would be good decisions.
</p>
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In this era of Taylor’s career, Britney Spears haunts all her interviews like a ghost. Taylor never says Britney’s name, but nonetheless her specter looms: the shadow of the woman who went too far.
</p>
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In 2008, Taylor released her sophomore album, <em>Fearless</em>, and had two giant early hits with “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me.” Her star was on the rise, and the pressure was on. In an interview with the Washington Post, Taylor spoke fretfully about how afraid she was of messing up, of how much she wanted to make her fans and her parents proud and never succumb to substance abuse issues, like other unnamed pop stars have. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121011172443/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2008/02/her_song_talking_taylor_swift_1.html">She said</a>:
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<blockquote>
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I never, ever wanted to let my parents down. And I never want to let my fans down. I never want to let those little girls I see in the front row down by doing something stupid that’s, like, completely preventable and completely my fault. When people go through drug problems and alcohol problems, everyone points their finger at them and says: “You did this to yourself.” I don’t want to be that girl.
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That first time you mess up — from then on, people are going to be waiting for you to mess up again. I never want people to look at me like somebody who doesn’t take it seriously. Because I do. My career is the only thing I think about. It’s stronger than any alcohol, stronger than any drug, stronger than anything else you could try — so why should I do those things, you know? I think I have an advantage over people in Hollywood because I go out every night and have to look my fans in the eye. I know that I need to set a good example for them. Every night, I’m in a different small town, and I see those little girls and their moms and it’s a constant reminder of why I want to live this way.
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</blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22565683/britney-spears-conservatorship-testimony">Britney’s conservatorship began earlier in 2008</a>, following two years of increasingly erratic public behavior and increasingly scathing press coverage. (“What you did was disrespectful to your few remaining fans,” <a href="https://www.mtv.com/news/ai55uk/an-open-letter-to-britney-spears">wrote Perez Hilton</a> after Britney turned in a subpar performance at the 2007 VMAs.)
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Taylor, the good girl who studied the pop playbook, was going to stop at nothing to avoid the Britney Spears downfall. She was going to be virginal. She was going to stay away from substances. She was not going to be photographed strapped down to a gurney or shaving her head. She was going to stay in control of how the world saw her, always.
</p>
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The strategy was effective for Taylor’s bottom line. “She’s been called ‘America’s Sweetheart’: she rarely drinks, doesn’t smoke, go clubbing, or get arrested—she’s the anti-Lohan, and this squeaky-clean image has made her an attractive advertising partner for Target, Sony, CoverGirl, Keds, Elizabeth Arden, and, recently, Diet Coke,” reported <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/04/taylor-swift-cover-story">Vanity Fair in 2013</a>.
</p>
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The good girl/control freak combo image also, however, seemed to make Taylor something new, something almost unprecedented. “She has never gratuitously sexualized her image and seems pathologically averse to controversy,” <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/taylor-swift-gq-cover-story">marveled GQ in 2015</a>. “There’s simply no antecedent for this kind of career: a cross-genre, youth-oriented, critically acclaimed colossus based entirely on the intuitive songwriting merits of a single female artist. It’s as if mid-period Garth Brooks was also early Liz Phair, minus the hat and the swearing. As a phenomenon, it’s absolutely new.”
</p>
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She was nothing like what had come before her. If she was the anti-Lohan, she was also the anti-Britney.
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<h3 id="8fzf7K">
“Control freaks often make good pop stars, and Britney Spears is not lacking in that department.”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tMgSbY">
When Britney Spears began her career, no one would have considered her to be someone out of control. She was a good sweet girl who did everything her label told her to, was consistently described as a pleasure to work with (as if her press releases were report cards), and, yes, had the sultry voice of a sex goddess. She was a carefully controlled quantity, and it showed.
</p>
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Britney was one of the extremely good girls. “She’s not just a superkid,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/11/movies/when-pop-becomes-the-toy-of-teenyboppers.html">wrote Jon Pareles of Britney for the New York Times in 1999</a>. “She’s obedient, too, singing the songs and hitting the marks that are choreographed for her. … Pop provides wish-fulfillment for listeners, and kiddie pop can give adults the ultimate parental fantasy: well-groomed, perfectly behaved, highly motivated adolescents who — fantasy of fantasies — always do as they’re told.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9nsvBP">
Britney herself seemed to relish her good girl image. She was thoughtful about her fame, and she sweated all the little details. (“Control freaks often make good pop stars,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-teen-queen-rolling-stones-1999-cover-story-254871/">mused Rolling Stone in 1999</a>, “and Britney Spears is not lacking in that department.”) Britney wanted — as Taylor would want 10 years later — to be a good role model to her fans.
</p>
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“You want to be a good example for kids out there and not do something stupid,” Britney said in that 1999 Rolling Stone profile. “Kids have low self-esteem, and then the peer pressures come and they go into a wrong crowd. That’s when all the bad stuff starts happening, drugs and stuff.”
</p>
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Yet where Taylor made her choices from a deeply informed place as a student of fame, Britney was less skilled at controlling the way the world saw her. “I never knew how to play the game. I didn’t know how to present myself on any level,” she explained in her 2023 memoir <em>The Woman in Me</em>. “I wasn’t manipulative. I was just stupid.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qO08Yd">
As Britney’s star rose and she gained more leverage, she also matured out of childhood and into adulthood. She began pushing back mildly against her management team’s strictures. The public reacted with horror.
</p>
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“She has a pierced navel now, and a little tattoo, and she talks back to anyone who’d criticize her new wardrobe,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/14/arts/music-britney-grows-up-very-carefully.html">gasped Pareles in 2000</a>, describing Britney’s transformation from “the pert parochial-school girl of her first video” into “a coquette in hot pants and halter tops.”
</p>
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“Pop princess Britney Spears: Too sexy too soon?” <a href="https://people.com/archive/cover-story-britneys-wild-ride-vol-53-no-6/">demanded People the same year</a>. “Little girls love her, but her image makes some moms nervous.”
</p>
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Once Britney began to experiment with a more mature image, she didn’t seem to have control over the way her audience had begun to fetishize her.
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In 2000, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-the-girl-cant-help-it-254843/">Britney told Chris Mundy for Rolling Stone</a> that she never intended to have a sexual image. Then what, Mundy demanded, about all those sexy magazine covers?
</p>
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“It was about being in a magazine and playing a part for that magazine,” said Britney. “It’s like on TV, if you see Jennifer Love Hewitt or Sarah Michelle Gellar kill someone, do you think that means they go out and do that?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ph07Vi">
A few years after Britney transitioned away from her good girl image, she went full bad girl.
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In 2007, Britney was just coming out of a divorce and enmeshed in a vicious custody battle for her two young children. She was also, she would later admit, dealing with some intense postpartum depression. She began to behave strangely. She yelled at the paparazzi in <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/britney-spears-lapses-into-a-british-accent/">a British accent</a>. She <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a29681281/britney-spears-shaved-head-reason-2007/">shaved her head</a>. <a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1892685_1892691_1892788,00.html">She attacked a paparazzo’s car</a> with an umbrella. She went <a href="https://www.today.com/news/britney-spears-checks-herself-rehab-wbna17243855">in and out of rehab</a>. The paparazzi were there for all of it, documenting and exacerbating every wild moment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YKc6eS">
In her memoir, Britney explicitly positions this time as a reaction against her heavily controlled adolescence and young adulthood.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AEG4vz">
“Shaving my head was a way of saying to the world: <em>Fuck you. You want me to be pretty for you? Fuck you. You want me to be good for you? Fuck you. You want me to be your dream girl? Fuck you</em>,” Britney writes. “I’d been the good girl for years. I’d smiled politely while TV show hosts leered at my breasts, while American parents said I was destroying their children by wearing a crop top, while executives patted my hand condescendingly and second-guessed my career choices even though I’d sold millions of records, while my family acted like I was evil. And I was tired of it.”
</p>
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The result of her brief rebellion was <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22565683/britney-spears-conservatorship-testimony">the conservatorship</a>. For the crime of spiraling out of control, Britney lost control of her life altogether.
</p>
<h3 id="VknEDf">
“You can see the puppet strings.”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gy7wcl">
Taylor’s laser grip on her career, her determination not to be Britney’ed, has served her well over the 18 years of her fame. It’s also been operational in many of the backlashes against her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ETY87l">
In the late 2000s, a narrative emerged that Taylor slut-shamed other girls, that she was a bad feminist. The case partly came from <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-changes-lyrics-better-than-revenge-speak-now-1234784288/">the text of Taylor’s lyrics</a>, but some of it was responding to her image, too, its primness.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aNnA9r">
“I mean, if people want to listen to Taylor Swift, fine,” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230626161547/https://bitchmedia.org/post/taylor-swift-wants-to-ban-access-to-your-lady-bits">wrote Jude Doyle in 2009</a>. “I personally can’t stand the whole cartoonishly innocent and pure (and white-dress-wearing! Always with the virginal white dress!) blonde blue-eyed white girl thing; it strikes me as just as artificial and calculated as any other pop star’s personal brand, with an added noxiousness due to its edge of moral superiority and ‘50’s-style coy submissiveness. But don’t pretend Swift is a ‘good’ role model, or even an ‘attainable’ one. Telling girls stories about how being too sexual will make them broken hollow sluts who can never succeed at life isn’t new, and it isn’t cute. Not even coming from sweet little Taylor Swift.”
</p>
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In the 2010s, the case against Taylor became that <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/7/12/16039240/when-did-you-first-realize-taylor-swift-was-lying-to-you-bb5a00a32b65">she was a liar</a>: never appearing in a paparazzi photo that wasn’t perfectly costumed and posed, never seen in public with a friend or a boyfriend who wasn’t precisely on brand. The sense of control she wielded over her brand was so intense it felt almost stressful to witness.
</p>
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“My main complaint with Taylor Swift is that she no longer does it [media manipulation] well — you can see the puppet strings,” <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2016/7/12/16039240/when-did-you-first-realize-taylor-swift-was-lying-to-you-bb5a00a32b65">wrote Amanda Dobbins at the Ringer</a> in 2016. “You can see the goddamn photographer she hired to follow her friends around all weekend. That’s just shoddy craftsmanship.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tC7QUe">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/3/21/21189239/taylor-swift-kanye-west-famous-leaked-phone-call-kanye-west-is-over-party">When Kim Kardashian appeared to expose Taylor in a lie</a> in 2016, she fit the mood of the moment perfectly. Taylor was a snake and a fraud and a liar, and the world had always known it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AKXcdX">
Britney was too out of control of herself, and she was punished for it. Now, Taylor is too in control of herself, even when she follows the script the world handed her. She’s been punished for that, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FeYZfR">
The backlash against Taylor in 2016 was hot and ugly. She spent the following year not allowing anyone to see her in public: the control freak’s remedy to the problem of being considered too controlling. It would take two more album cycles for her to fully recover from the damage done to her reputation and climb back up the ladder of public admiration.
</p>
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Now, Taylor is at the top of the world again, only higher than she was before. Her current status presents a problem to a society that doesn’t trust women with power. The paranoia accumulating around Taylor seems to demand that <em>someone</em> — preferably a man — take control of this girl. Either she’s a government plant or she’s a porn star, but she certainly can’t be this famous and this autonomous at once. The punishment against her is ongoing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GeZvk4">
If the 2000s were an era when there was no right way to be a girl, the 2020s are showing that the girls who learned the lessons of the millennium will just have to keep learning it: There’s no right way to be a woman now, either.
</p></li>
</ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nyx, Helios, Multisided, and El Asesino please</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morning Digest | We rescued the economy from crisis, says government; Gujarat BJP leaders reject Rahul Gandhi’s charges on PM’s OBC status, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the day</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>Ranji Trophy | Old rivalries to be renewed as TN meets Karnataka in high-stakes clash</strong> - With the winner almost certain to advance to the knock-out stages, it will be a fascinating battle between the hosts’ spinners against the visitors’ batters bolstered by Mayank and Padikkal’s return; the neighbours are tied on top of the group, having 21 points</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>120 wrestlers named for National camps</strong> -</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Police organise free medical camp with Yashoda Hospitals in Jayashankar Bhupalpally</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>‘Soft power of sports is a tool for global growth and unity’</strong> - Germanany’s Consul-General Michaela Küchler speaks on the transformative power of sporting events on the world arena at a function at National College, Tiruchi</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rise in HIV infections in Assam due to injecting of drugs: Minister</strong> - Mr. Mahanta, in his reply, said that 31,729 HIV-AIDS cases were detected in the state from 89,84,519 tests conducted between 2002 and 2023</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>‘Premalu’ movie review: Girish AD’s youthful drama is a winner with its fresh, humorous treatment of a run-of-the-mill story</strong> - Starring the likes of Naslen K. Gafoor, Mamitha Baiju and Sangeetha Prathap, ‘Premalu’ is an enjoyable watch on the lives of young adults easing into their first jobs and discovering the recently-attained independence of being away from home</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>Dramatic aerials show lava flow after Iceland eruption</strong> - A key water pipe has been burst by the stream of lava, leaving 28,000 people without hot water.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin takes charge as Carlson gives free rein to Kremlin</strong> - The Russian leader was given the opportunity to expound familiar grievances unchallenged.</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>Putin says deal can be reached to free US reporter</strong> - The Russian leader spoke to Tucker Carlson in his first interview with a Western journalist since the Ukraine invasion.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Volcano spews lava in new Iceland eruption</strong> - For the third time in recent weeks, Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula witnesses a spectacular eruption.</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>Zelensky sacks Ukraine’s commander-in-chief</strong> - Ukraine’s president fires the popular head of the country’s armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.</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>Rocket Report: US military still wants point-to-point; India’s big 2024 ambitions</strong> - “We’re still targeting to get Neutron on the pad before the end of the year.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2001926">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AI cannot be used to deny health care coverage, feds clarify to insurers</strong> - CMS worries AI could wrongfully deny care for those on Medicare Advantage plans. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002239">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>These states are basically begging you to get a heat pump</strong> - Nine states are teaming up to accelerate adoption of this climate-friendly device. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002216">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A password manager LastPass calls “fraudulent” booted from App Store</strong> - “LassPass” mimicked the name and logo of real LastPass password manager. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002178">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible “forever”</strong> - Casualties afoot as Sony merges Funimation with 2021-acquired Crunchyroll. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2002114">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man runs into a proctologist office…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
… shouting “Help me! Help me! I think I’m a moth!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The doctor said “I’m a proctologist. You should see the psychiatrist.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man says “Yes I know.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The proctologist asks “Then why did you come into this office?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The man says “The light was on.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BobT21"> /u/BobT21 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ame7ua/a_man_runs_into_a_proctologist_office/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ame7ua/a_man_runs_into_a_proctologist_office/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A small town in the southern US holds a team distance cumming contest every year.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Three teams of men try to cum the farthest to take home first place. The entire town comes out to watch the spectacle and cheer them on.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The first team walks out to 200 yards! They form a line shoulder to shoulder and start to get “warmed up”. Then, their coach walks down the line like a general inspecting his troops and goes up the the first man and slaps him as they all yell and get pumped up. He repeats this with every man until he reaches the end and then yells, “3-2-1 RELEASE!” - The entire town agrees, They made it! Everyone of them made it 200 yards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The second team walks out to 500 yards! They also form a line shoulder to shoulder and start to get “warmed up”. Then, their coach walks down the line like a general inspecting his troops and goes up the the first man and headbutts him as they all yell and get pumped up. He repeats this with every man until he reaches the end and then yells, “3-2-1 RELEASE!” - The entire town agrees, They made it! Everyone of them made it 500 yards!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third team walks out to a staggering 5,280 feet, the farthest ever attempted! They also form a line shoulder to shoulder and start to get “warmed up”. Then, their coach walks down the line like a general inspecting his troops and goes up the the first man and punches him square in the nuts as they all yell and get pumped up. He repeats this with every man until he reaches the end and then yells, “3-2-1 RELEASE!” - The entire town agrees, you should have seen this punchline coming a mile away.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/BigMoses777"> /u/BigMoses777 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amat4o/a_small_town_in_the_southern_us_holds_a_team/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amat4o/a_small_town_in_the_southern_us_holds_a_team/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“I have to admit, I’m always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best but truly, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused… There’s no propaganda in America.”
</p>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MeowMeowMeowBitch"> /u/MeowMeowMeowBitch </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amc4vw/a_kgb_spy_and_a_cia_agent_meet_up_in_a_bar_for_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amc4vw/a_kgb_spy_and_a_cia_agent_meet_up_in_a_bar_for_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Phrases that most men struggle to say out loud</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
My mother-in-law is moving in with us.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Internal_Drawing_460"> /u/Internal_Drawing_460 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amgtx9/phrases_that_most_men_struggle_to_say_out_loud/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1amgtx9/phrases_that_most_men_struggle_to_say_out_loud/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A cheapskate dies and his will asks he be buried at sea</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Per his wishes his wife has him cremated and goes to the waterfront with an urn full of his ashes to release them into the Atlantic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Henry,” she says, “you know that fancy leather purse I wanted all my life and you said it was too much? Well I sold your company for a fortune and I bought the nicest purse they had at Gucci.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
And Henry," she says, “you know that trip to the Caribbean I always wanted to take but you said a trip to the mall is all I’m worth? Well, I have a world cruise booked for 90 days and it will be wonderful!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“And Henry,” she continues, “you know that red Honda Accord I had been hoping for the last 5 years and you laughed and told me that I should glad you gave me a 10 year old Kia to drive? Well I bought a Mercedes convertible instead and it drives like a dream.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Oh, and Henry,” she says, “you know that blow job you always wanted?” Well here you go. And with those words she puts the ashes in her hand and blows them out to sea.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AssociationSubject85"> /u/AssociationSubject85 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1am3977/a_cheapskate_dies_and_his_will_asks_he_be_buried/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1am3977/a_cheapskate_dies_and_his_will_asks_he_be_buried/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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