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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The COVID-19 pandemic era impact on the incidence of the custodial death, due to illness in 36 states and union territories of India-A comparison study (2017–2022)</strong> -
<div>
Abstract: Mahatma Gandhi said that “crime is due to diseased mind and jail should have an environment like hospitals for prisoner’s treatment and care”. A lot of research is carried out globally during COVID-19, on the well being of peoples staying outside the prisons, but very few large scale researches are available to know about the well being of the prisoners during COVID-19 era. The data is provided by the Prison Section of all the 36 States/UTs in prearranged Performa of the NCRB, through an application made by NCRB. A total of 11,289 custodial death occurred among the prisoners residing in various prisons of India, during the study period, out of which 9,406 (83.32 percent, Total-9406 (Obs-216, Mean-43.55, Std. Dev.- 68.87, Min-0, Max-401, Std. Err.- 4.69, 95% Conf. Interval of mean-34.31 -52.78) mortalities were attributed due to illness. Compared to year 2020, our study revealed that the COVID-19 year 2021 has attributed to largest (16.47 percent increased illness custodial death and 12.14 percent increased total mortalities) number of custodial death due to illness. The study revealed that during the study period, majority of the mortalities were due to heart diseases in prisoners (27.28 percent, Total-2566 (Obs-216, Mean-11.88, Std. Dev.- 19.30, Min-0, Max-123, Std. Err.- 1.31, 95% Conf. Interval of mean-9.29 -14.47). Cholera / Diarrhoea attributed to the least number of mortalities during the study period (0.21 percent, Total-20 (Obs-216, Mean-0.09, Std. Dev. - 0.40, Min-0, Max-4, Std. Err. - 0.03, 95% Conf. Interval of mean-.04 -.15). This six years of study revealed that most of the custodial death (42%), due to illness in prisoners of India was due to CVDs and pulmonary diseases. This study also revealed that 27% of custodial deaths due to illness were not clearly categorized. Honourable Justice Lokur, of Supreme Court of India, said in a landmark judgment, in 2013, that “The distinction made by the NCRB [National Crime Records Bureau] between natural and unnatural custodial deaths is not clear. For example, if a prisoner dies due to a lack of proper medical attention or timely medical attention, would that be classified as a natural custodial death or an unnatural custodial death?” The policymakers and decision-makers must think on the necessity of developing Prisoners care policies following the COVID-19 pandemic, in light of the findings of this research study.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/6hncz/" target="_blank">The COVID-19 pandemic era impact on the incidence of the custodial death, due to illness in 36 states and union territories of India-A comparison study (2017–2022)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Who has the flu? Early winter 2023-24 spread of flu and COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Winter 2023-24 has seen an unusual confluence of a variety of respiratory illnesses, ranging from flu to RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and COVID-19. Between December 21, 2023 and January 29, 2024, we surveyed 30,460 individuals aged 18 and older across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. We asked them if they had experienced an Influenza-like Illness (ILI) defined as experiencing a fever and cough, or a fever and sore throat, and/or if they had been diagnosed with COVID-19, over the previous month. Amongst those who responded yes to such questions, we asked them whether or not they had sought medical attention. In this report, we summarize our findings across a variety of demographic subgroups, including age, race, education, income, gender, and geography.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/wfx3g/" target="_blank">Who has the flu? Early winter 2023-24 spread of flu and COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Prognostic factors for mortality, ICU, MIS-C and hospital admission due to SARS-CoV-2 in paediatric patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
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ABSTRACT Background: There is a paucity of data on the factors associated with severe COVID-19 disease, especially in children. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to identify the risk factors for acute adverse outcomes of COVID-19 within paediatric populations, using the recruitment setting as a proxy of initial disease severity. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed representing published evidence from the start of the pandemic up to 14 February 2022. Our primary outcome was the identification of risk factors for adverse outcomes, stratified by recruitment setting (community, hospital). No geographical restrictions were imposed. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology was used to evaluate the certainty in the body of evidence for each meta-analysis. In anticipation of significant clinical and methodological heterogeneity in the meta-analyses, we fitted logistic regression models with random effects. Findings: Our review identified 47 studies involving 94,210 paediatric cases of COVID-19. Infants up to 3 months were more likely to be hospitalised than older children. Gender and ethnicity were not associated with an increased likelihood of adverse outcomes among children within the community setting. Concerning comorbidities, having at least one pre-existing disease increased the odds of hospitalisation. Concerning BMI, underweight children and severely obese were noted to have an increased likelihood of hospital admission. The presence of metabolic disorders and children with underlying cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disorders, neuromuscular disorders and neurologic conditions were also more likely to be hospitalised. Concerning underlying comorbidities, paediatric hospitalised patients with congenital/genetic disease, those obese, with malignancy, cardiovascular diseases and respiratory disease were associated with higher odds of being admitted to ICU or ventilated. Interpretation: Our findings suggest that age, male, gender, and paediatric comorbidities increased the likelihood of hospital and ICU admission. Obesity, malignancy, and respiratory and cardiovascular disorders were among the most important risk factors for hospital and ICU admission among children with COVID-19. The extent to which these factors were linked to actual severity or where the application of cautious preventive care is an area in which further research is needed.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.23298451v1" target="_blank">Prognostic factors for mortality, ICU, MIS-C and hospital admission due to SARS-CoV-2 in paediatric patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Tixagevimab-cilgavimab (AZD7442) for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): A phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Background Tixagevimab and cilgavimab (AZD7442) are two monoclonal antibodies developed by AstraZeneca for the pre-exposure prophylaxis and treatment of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2. Its effectiveness and safety in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was not known at the outset of this trial. Methods DisCoVeRy is a phase 3, adaptive, multicentre, randomized, controlled trial conducted in 63 sites in Europe. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive placebo or tixagevimab-cilgavimab in addition to standard of care. The primary outcome was the clinical status at day 15 measured by the WHO seven-point ordinal scale. Several clinical, virological, immunological and safety endpoints were also assessed. Findings Due to slow enrolment, recruitment was stopped on July 1st, 2022. The antigen positive modified intention-to-treat population (mITT) was composed of 173 participants randomized to tixagevimab-cilgavimab (n=91) or placebo (n=82), 91.9% (159/173) with supplementary oxygen, and 47.4% (82/173) previously vaccinated at inclusion. There was no significant difference in the distribution of the WHO ordinal scale at day 15 between the two groups (odds ratio (OR) 0.93, 95%CI [0.54-1.61]; p=0.81) nor in any clinical, virological or safety secondary endpoints. In the global mITT (n=226), neutralization antibody titers were significantly higher in the tixagevimab-cilgavimab group/patients compared to placebo at day 3 (Least-square mean differences (LSMD) 1.44, 95% Confidence interval (CI) [1.20-1.68]; p &lt; 10-23) and day 8 (LSMD 0.91, 95%CI [0.64-1.18]; p &lt; 10-8) and it was most important for patients infected with a pre-omicron variant, both at day 3 (LSMD 1.94, 95% CI [1.67-2.20], p &lt; 10-25) and day 8 (LSMD 1.17, 95% CI [0.87-1.47], p &lt; 10-9), with a significant interaction (p &lt; 10-7 and p=0.01 at days 3 and 8, respectively). Interpretation There were no significant differences between tixagevimab-cilgavimab and placebo in clinical endpoints, however the trial lacked power compared to prespecified calculations. Tixagevimab-cilgavimab was well tolerated, with low rates of treatment related events.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.24302586v1" target="_blank">Tixagevimab-cilgavimab (AZD7442) for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): A phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Global patterns of rebound to normal RSV dynamics following COVID-19 suppression</strong> -
<div>
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Introduction Annual epidemics of respiratory synctial virus (RSV) had consistent timing and intensity between seasons prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19). However, starting in April 2020, RSV seasonal activity declined due to COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) before re-emerging after relaxation of NPIs. We described the unusual patterns of RSV epidemics that occurred in multiple subsequent waves following COVID-19 in different countries and explored factors associated with these patterns. Methods Weekly cases of RSV from twenty-eight countries were obtained from the World Health Organisation and combined with data on country-level characteristics and the stringency of the COVID-19 response. Dynamic time warping and regression were used to describe epidemic characteristics, cluster time series patterns, and identify related factors. Results While the first wave of RSV epidemics following pandemic suppression exhibited unusual patterns, the second and third waves more closely resembled typical RSV patterns in many countries. Post-pandemic RSV patterns differed in their intensity and/or timing, with several broad patterns across the countries. The onset and peak timings of the first and second waves of RSV epidemics following COVID-19 suppression were earlier in the Southern Hemisphere. The second wave of RSV epidemics was also earlier with higher population density, and delayed if the intensity of the first wave was higher. More stringent NPIs were associated with lower RSV growth rate and intensity and a shorter gap between the first and second waves. Conclusion Patterns of RSV activity have largely returned to normal following successive waves in the post-pandemic era. Onset and peak timings of future epidemics following disruption of normal RSV dynamics need close monitoring to inform the delivery of preventive and control measures. Keywords: Respiratory synctial virus, epidemic onset, epidemic peak, epidemic rebound, dynamic time warping
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.24303265v1" target="_blank">Global patterns of rebound to normal RSV dynamics following COVID-19 suppression</a>
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<li><strong>A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Investigation of COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Mortality Among Autistic People</strong> -
<div>
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Background: Current evidence suggests the possibility that autistic people may be at more risk of COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation, and mortality than the general population. Previous studies, however, are either limited in scale or do not investigate potential risk factors. Whilst many risk factors have been speculated to be responsible for severe COVID-19, this research has focused on general population samples. Methods: Using data-linkage and a whole-country population, this study modelled associations between autism and COVID-19 hospitalisation and mortality risk in adults, investigating a multitude of clinical and demographic risk factors. Results: Autistic adults had higher rates of hospitalisation, Standardised Incident Ratio 1.6 in 2020 and 1.3 in 2021, and mortality, Standardised Mortality Ratio 1.52 in 2020 and 1.34 in 2021, due to COVID-19 than the general population. In both populations, age, complex multimorbidity and vaccination status were the most significant predictors of COVID-19 hospitalisation and mortality. Effects of psychotropic medication varied by class. Conclusions: Although similar factors exhibited a positive association with heightened risk of severe COVID-19 in both the autistic and general populations, with comparable effect sizes, mortality rates were elevated among the autistic population as compared to the general population. Specifically, the presence of complex multimorbidity and classification of prescribed medications may emerge as particularly significant predictors of severe COVID-19 among individuals within the autistic population due to higher prevalence of complex multimorbidity in the autistic population and variability in the association between medication classes and severe COVID-19 between both populations, though further research is needed.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.24303274v1" target="_blank">A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Investigation of COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Mortality Among Autistic People</a>
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<li><strong>Changes in opioid prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic in England: cohort study of 20 million patients in OpenSAFELY-TPP</strong> -
<div>
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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to disruptions in healthcare delivery, including postponement of elective procedures and difficulty accessing in-person care, which may have increased the need for strong pharmacological pain relief in some patients. Methods: With NHS England approval, we used routine clinical data from &gt;20 million general practice adult patients in OpenSAFELY-TPP. We used interrupted time series analysis to quantify trends in prevalent and incident opioid prescribing prior to the pandemic (January 2018-February 2020) and changes during the COVID-19 lockdown period (March 2020-March 2021) and recovery period (April 2021-June 2022). We identified how these changes varied in people living in care homes, and by age, sex, deprivation, ethnicity, and geographic region. Results: The median number of people prescribed an opioid per month was 50.9 per 1000 patients prior to the pandemic. We observed little change in overall prescribing after the start of the pandemic, except for a temporary increase in March 2020. There was a 9.8% (95%CI -14.5%, -6.5%) reduction in new opioid prescribing from March 2020, sustained to the end of the study period. Reductions in new prescribing were observed for all demographics except people 80+ years. Among care home residents, in April 2020 new opioid prescribing increased by 112.5% (95%CI 92.2%, 134.9%) and parenteral opioid prescribing increased by 186.3% (95%CI 153.1%, 223.9%). Conclusion: Changes in opioid prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic were mostly consistent across subgroups with the exception of differences by age and care home residence. Among people in care homes, increases in parenteral opioid prescribing likely reflect use to treat end-of-life COVID-19 symptoms. Further research is needed to understand what is driving the reduction in new opioid prescribing and its relation to changes to health care provision during the pandemic.
</p>
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.24303238v1" target="_blank">Changes in opioid prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic in England: cohort study of 20 million patients in OpenSAFELY-TPP</a>
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<li><strong>Making a Case for an Autism-Specific Multimorbidity Index: A Comparative Cohort Study</strong> -
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Autistic people experience challenges in healthcare, including disparities in health outcomes and multimorbidity patterns distinct from the general population. This study investigated the efficacy of existing multimorbidity indices in predicting COVID-19 mortality among autistic adults and proposes a bespoke index, the ASD-MI, tailored to their specific health profile. Using data from the CVD-COVID-UK/COVID-IMPACT Consortium, encompassing England9s entire population, we identified 1,027 autistic adults hospitalized for COVID-19, among whom 62 died due to the virus. Employing logistic regression with 5-fold cross-validation, we selected diabetes, coronary heart disease, and thyroid disorders as predictors for the ASD-MI, outperforming the Quan Index, a general population-based measure, with an AUC of 0.872 versus 0.828, respectively. Notably, the ASD-MI exhibited better model fit (pseudo-R2 0.25) compared to the Quan Index (pseudo-R2 0.20). These findings underscore the need for tailored indices in predicting mortality risks among autistic individuals. However, caution is warranted in interpreting results, given the limited understanding of morbidity burden in this population. Further research is needed to refine autism-specific indices and elucidate the complex interplay between long-term conditions and mortality risk, informing targeted interventions to address health disparities in autistic adults. This study highlights the importance of developing healthcare tools tailored to the unique needs of neurodivergent populations to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.24303273v1" target="_blank">Making a Case for an Autism-Specific Multimorbidity Index: A Comparative Cohort Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Thymidine Phosphorylase Mediates SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Enhanced Thrombosis in K18-hACE2TG Mice</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is associated with arterial and venous thrombosis, thereby increasing mortality. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP), a viral envelope structural protein, is implicated in COVID-19-associated thrombosis. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Thymidine phosphorylase (TYMP), a newly identified prothrombotic protein, is upregulated in the plasma, platelets, and lungs of patients with COVID-19 but its role in COVID-19-associated thrombosis is not defined. In this study, we found that wild-type SARS-CoV-2 SP significantly promoted arterial thrombosis in K18-hACE2TG mice. SP-accelerated thrombosis was attenuated by inhibition or genetic ablation of TYMP. SP increased the expression of TYMP, resulting in the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in BEAS-2B cells, a human bronchial epithelial cell line. A siRNA-mediated knockdown of TYMP inhibited SP-enhanced activation of STAT3. Platelets derived from SP-treated K18-hACE2TG mice also showed increased STAT3 activation, which was reduced by TYMP deficiency. Activated STAT3 is known to potentiate glycoprotein VI signaling in platelets. While SP did not influence ADP- or collagen-induced platelet aggregation, it significantly shortened activated partial thromboplastin time and this change was reversed by TYMP knockout. Additionally, platelet factor 4 (PF4) interacts with SP, which also complexes with TYMP. TYMP enhanced the formation of the SP/PF4 complex, which may potentially augment the prothrombotic and procoagulant effects of PF4. We conclude that SP upregulates TYMP expression, and TYMP inhibition or knockout mitigates SP-enhanced thrombosis. These findings indicate that inhibition of TYMP may be a novel therapeutic strategy for COVID-19-associated thrombosis.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.23.581661v1" target="_blank">Thymidine Phosphorylase Mediates SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Enhanced Thrombosis in K18-hACE2TG Mice</a>
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<li><strong>A specific phosphorylation-dependent conformational switch of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein inhibits RNA binding</strong> -
<div>
The nucleoprotein (N) of SARS-CoV-2 encapsidates the viral genome and is essential for viral function. The central disordered domain comprises a serine-arginine-rich domain (SR) that is hyperphosphorylated in infected cells. This modification is thought to regulate function of N, although mechanistic details remain unknown. We use time-resolved NMR to follow local and long-range structural changes occurring during hyperphosphorylation by the kinases SRPK1/GSK-3/CK1, thereby identifying a conformational switch that abolishes interaction with RNA. When 8 approximately uniformly-distributed sites are phosphorylated, the SR domain competitively binds the same interface as single-stranded RNA, resulting in RNA binding inhibition. Phosphorylation by PKA does not prevent RNA binding, indicating that the pattern resulting from the physiologically-relevant kinases is specific for inhibition. Long-range contacts between the RNA-binding, linker and dimerization domains are also abrogated, phenomena possibly related to genome packaging and unpackaging. This study provides insight into recruitment of specific host kinases to regulate viral function.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.22.579423v1" target="_blank">A specific phosphorylation-dependent conformational switch of SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein inhibits RNA binding</a>
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<li><strong>A pan-tissue, pan-disease compendium of human orphan genes</strong> -
<div>
Species-specific genes are ubiquitous in evolution, with functions ranging from prey paralysis to survival in subzero temperatures. Because they are typically expressed under limited conditions and lack canonical features, such genes may be vastly under-identified, even in humans. Here, we leverage terabytes of human RNA-Seq data to identify thousands of highly-expressed transcripts that do not correspond to any Gencode-annotated gene. Many may be novel ncRNAs although 80% of them contain ORFs that have the potential of encoding proteins unique to Homo sapiens (orphan genes). We validate our findings with independent strand-specific and single-cell RNA-seq datasets. Hundreds of these novel transcripts overlap with deleterious genomic variants; thousands show significant association with disease-specific patient survival. Most are dynamically regulated and accumulate selectively in particular tissues, cell-types, developmental stages, tumors, COVID-19, sex, and ancestries. As such, these transcripts hold potential as diagnostic biomarkers or therapeutic targets. To empower future discovery, we provide a compendium of these huge RNA-Seq expression data, and RiboSeq data, with associated metadata. Further, we supply the gene models for the novel genes as UCSC Genome Browser tracks.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.21.581488v1" target="_blank">A pan-tissue, pan-disease compendium of human orphan genes</a>
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<li><strong>Allosteric modulation by the fatty acid site in the glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 spike</strong> -
<div>
The trimeric spike protein plays an essential role in the SARS-CoV-2 virus lifecycle, facilitating virus entry through binding to the cellular receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and mediating viral and host membrane fusion. The SARS-CoV-2 spike contains an allosteric fatty acid (FA) binding site at the interface between two neighbouring receptor-binding domains. This site, also found in some other coronaviruses, binds free fatty acids such as linoleic and oleic acid, and other small molecules. Understanding allostery and how this site modulates the behaviour of different regions in this protein could potentiate the development of promising alternative strategies for new coronavirus therapies. Here, we apply dynamical nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (D-NEMD) simulations to investigate allosteric effects and identify the communication pathways in the fully glycosylated spike in the original SARS-CoV-2 ancestral variant. The results reveal the allosteric networks that connect the FA site to important functional regions of the protein, including some more than 40 Angstroms away. These regions include the receptor binding motif, an antigenic supersite in the N-terminal domain, the furin cleavage site, the regions surrounding the fusion peptide and a second allosteric site known to bind heme and biliverdin. The networks identified here highlight the complexity of the allosteric modulation in this protein and reveal a striking and unexpected connection between different allosteric sites. Notably, 65% of amino acid substitutions, deletions and insertions in the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma and Omicron variants map onto or close to the identified allosteric pathways.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.11.06.565757v2" target="_blank">Allosteric modulation by the fatty acid site in the glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 spike</a>
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<li><strong>Thrombotic and thromboembolic events, with or without thrombocytopenia, following viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines administration: a systematic review protocol</strong> -
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Background Viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be effective and safe in clinical trials and post-authorization studies. Although infrequent, some serious thrombotic and thromboembolic events following immunization have emerged, and causality assessment committees must consider and critically assess different sources of evidence to inform their decisions about whether these events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization (ESAVI) are associated with the vaccine or are coincidental. Therefore, this systematic review aims to gather information on the association and biological mechanisms between thrombotic and thromboembolic events, with or without thrombocytopenia, and the administration of viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines. Methods We will conduct a systematic review following the evidence synthesis framework proposed by the Pan American Health Organization to support the ESAVI causality assessment. We will search for primary clinical and preclinical studies in the Epistemonikos9 COVID-19 L.OVE (Living Overview of the Evidence) repository, a comprehensive and validated source of COVID-19 evidence. We will include studies reporting any thrombotic or thromboembolic event, with or without thrombocytopenia, after the administration of a viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccine. The screening and data extraction will be performed by two independent authors. We will assess the risk of bias by two reviewers using the appropriate tool for each study design. Discrepancies will be discussed or resolved by a third author. We will use GRADE to assess the certainty of evidence for clinical studies and prepare summary of findings tables. For individual-based (case series and case reports) and preclinical studies, we will summarize the results in descriptive tables. Expected results and implications This will be the first systematic review using the evidence synthesis framework for ESAVI causality assessment, currently under validation by the Pan American Health Organization and the Epistemonikos Foundation. By gathering clinical and preclinical evidence, it is expected to inform about the risks of thromboembolic events following vaccination with viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines, and also the possible underlying biological mechanisms. Policymakers, such as safe vaccination committees, and other evidence synthesis authors could replicate this novel methodology to strengthen the evidence-based ESAVI causality assessment.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.22.24303207v1" target="_blank">Thrombotic and thromboembolic events, with or without thrombocytopenia, following viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccines administration: a systematic review protocol</a>
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<li><strong>Prospective study of machine learning for identification of high-risk COVID-19 patients</strong> -
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The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic constituted a public health crisis with a devastating effect in terms of its death toll and effects on the world economy. Notably, machine learning methods have played a pivotal role in devising novel technological solutions designed to tackle challenges brought forth by this pandemic. In particular, tools for the rapid identification of high-risk COVID-19 patients have been developed to aid in the effective allocation of hospital resources and for containing the spread of the virus. A comprehensive validation of such intelligent technological approaches is needed to ascertain their clinical utility; importantly, it may help develop future strategies for efficient patient classification to be used in future viral outbreaks. Here we present a prospective study to evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art machine-learning models proposed in PloS one 16, e0257234 (2021), which we developed for the identification of high-risk COVID-19 patients across four identified clinical stages. The model relies on artificial neural networks trained with historical patient data from Mexico. To assess their predictive capabilities across the six, registered, epidemiological waves of COVID-19 infection in Mexico, we measure the accuracy within each wave without retraining the neural networks. We then compare their performance against neural networks trained with cumulative historical data up to the end of each wave. Our findings indicate that models trained using early historical data exhibit strong predictive capabilities, which allows us to accurately identify high-risk patients in subsequent epidemiological waves—under clearly varying vaccination, prevalent viral strain, and medical treatment conditions. These results show that artificial intelligence-based methods for patient classification can be robust throughout an extended period characterized by constantly evolving conditions, and represent a potentially powerful tool for tackling future pandemic events, particularly for clinical outcome prediction of individual patients.
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🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.21.24303159v1" target="_blank">Prospective study of machine learning for identification of high-risk COVID-19 patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early, robust mucosal secretory IgA but not IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 spike in oral fluid is associated with faster viral clearance and COVID-19 symptom resolution</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
High priority efforts are under way to support the development of novel mucosal COVID-19 vaccines, such as the US Government′s Project NextGen and the Center for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations′ (CEPI) goal to respond to the next pandemic with a new vaccine in 100 days. However, there is limited consensus about the complementary role of mucosal immunity in disease progression and how the immunogenicity of mucosal vaccines will be evaluated. This study investigated the role of oral mucosal antibody responses in viral clearance and in COVID-19 symptom duration. Participants with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection provided oral fluid for testing with SARS-CoV-2 antibody multiplex assays, nasal swabs for RT-PCR and symptom information at up to eight follow-ups from April 2020 to February 2022. High and moderate oral fluid anti-spike (S) SIgA post infection was associated with significantly higher likelihood of viral clearance and of COVID-19 symptom resolution across age groups. Those with high and moderate anti-S SIgA cleared the virus and recovered 14 days (95% CI: 10-18 days) and 9-10 days (95% CI: 6-14 days) earlier, respectively. Delayed but higher oral fluid anti-S IgG was associated with significantly longer time to viral clearance and recovery. The effect size of moderate or high SIgA was equivalent to prior COVID-19 vaccine immunity, which was also associated with faster clearance and recovery. Unvaccinated adults with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms had significantly lower anti-RBD SIgA 15-30 days after infection onset (p&lt;0.001). Robust mucosal SIgA early post infection appears to support faster clearance of SARS-CoV-2 and recovery from COVID-19 symptoms. This research underscores the importance of harmonizing mucosal immune response assays to evaluate new vaccines that can boost local mucosal immunity.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.21.24303146v1" target="_blank">Early, robust mucosal secretory IgA but not IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 spike in oral fluid is associated with faster viral clearance and COVID-19 symptom resolution</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>GS-441524 for COVID-19 SAD, FE, and MAD Study in Healthy Subjects</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: GS-441524; Drug: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS); Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.; ICON Government and Public Health Solutions, Inc <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UNAIR Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine INAVAC as Heterologue Booster (Immunobridging Study) in Adolescent Subjects</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pandemic; COVID-19 Vaccines <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: INAVAC (Vaksin Merah Putih - UA- SARS CoV-2 (Vero Cell Inactivated) 5 μg <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Dr. Soetomo General Hospital; Indonesia-MoH; Universitas Airlangga; PT Biotis Pharmaceuticals, Indonesia <br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Aerobic Exercise Capacity and Muscle Strenght in Individuals With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pneumonia; COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Kardiopulmonary exercise test (Quark KPET C12x/T12x device connected to the Omnia version 1.6.8 COSMED system); Device: Peripheral muscle strength measurement (microFET3 (Hoggan Health Industries, Fabrication Enterprises, lnc) and JAMAR hydraulic hand dynamometer (Sammons Preston, Rolyon, Bolingbrook).; Device: Standard exercise tolerance test (a bicycle ergometer and recorded through the ergoline rehabilitation system 2 Version 1.08 SPI.); Device: Aerobic exercise training (a bicycle ergometer and recorded through the ergoline rehabilitation system 2 Version 1.08 SPI.) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Selda Sarıkaya; Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University <br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>World Health Organization (WHO) , COVID19 Case Series of Post Covid 19 Rhino Orbito Cerebral Mucormycosis in Egypt</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Mucormycosis; Rhinocerebral (Etiology); COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: debridment <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Nasser Institute For Research and Treatment <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>Treatment of Post-COVID-19 With Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: a Randomized, Controlled Trial</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Post-COVID-19 Syndrome; Post-COVID Syndrome; Post COVID-19 Condition; Post-COVID Condition; Post COVID-19 Condition, Unspecified; Long COVID; Long Covid19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Hyperbaric oxygen <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Erasmus Medical Center; Da Vinci Clinic; HGC Rijswijk <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>Mindfulness-based Mobile Applications Program</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Cell Phone Use; Nurse; Mental Health <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: mindfulness-based mobile applications program <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Yu-Chien Huang <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>Attention Training for COVID-19 Related Distress</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Anxiety <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Attention Bias Modification; Behavioral: Attention Control Training; Behavioral: Neutral training <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Palo Alto University <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Correlation of Antibody Response to COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnant Woman and Transplacental Passage Into Cord Blood.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Covid-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Diagnostic Test: COVID-19 Spike Protein IgG Quantitative Antibody (CMIA) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Vachira Phuket Hospital <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UNAIR Inactivated COVID-19 Vaccine as Homologue Booster (Immunobridging Study)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 Pandemic; COVID-19 Vaccines; COVID-19 Virus Disease <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: INAVAC (Vaksin Merah Putih - UA- SARS CoV-2 (Vero Cell Inactivated) 5 μg <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Dr. Soetomo General Hospital; Universitas Airlangga; Biotis Pharmaceuticals, Indonesia; Indonesia-MoH <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Safety and Immunogenicity of a Sub-unit Protein CD40.RBDv Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted or Not, as a Booster in Volunteers.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: CD40.RBDv vaccin (SARS-Cov2 Vaccin) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: ANRS, Emerging Infectious Diseases; LinKinVax; Vaccine Research Institute (VRI), France <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>High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Ctimulation and Chlorella Pyrenoidosa to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Cardiovascular Diseases; Long Covid19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: High Definition-transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; Dietary Supplement: Chlorella Pyrenoidosa <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Federal University of Paraíba; City University of New York <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>SGB for COVID-induced Parosmia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19-Induced Parosmia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Stellate Ganglion Block; Drug: Placebo Sham Injection <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Washington University School of Medicine <br/><b>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>Efficacy of Host Cell Serine Protease Inhibitor MM3122 against SARS-CoV-2 for Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19</strong> - We have developed a novel class of peptidomimetic inhibitors targeting several host cell human serine proteases including transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), matriptase and hepsin. TMPRSS2 is a membrane associated protease which is highly expressed in the upper and lower respiratory tract and is utilized by SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses to proteolytically process their glycoproteins, enabling host cell receptor binding, entry, replication, and dissemination of new virion particles. We have…</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>Antimicrobial and Virus Adsorption Properties of Y-Zeolite Exchanged with Silver and Zinc Cations</strong> - The antimicrobial activity of silver and zinc exchanged cations in Y-zeolite (Ag/CBV-600, Zn/CBV-600) is evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus (gram (+)) and Escherichia coli (gram (-)) bacteria along with their adsorption capacity for viruses: brome mosaic virus (BMV), cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV), and the bacteriophage MS2. The physicochemical properties of synthesized nanomaterials are characterized by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), UV-Vis…</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>Diphenyl ethers from the cultured lichen mycobiont of <em>Graphis handelii</em> Zahlbr</strong> - CONCLUSION: A new compound, handelone (1) was isolated from the cultured mycobiont of Graphis handelii. From these compounds, four new derivatives were prepared. Compound 1 showed good activity against M^(pro) with an IC(50) value of 5.2 μM but it showed weak or inactive activity in other tests. Other compounds were inactive in all assays.</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>Sialic Acid Conjugate-Modified Cationic Liposomal Paclitaxel for Targeted Therapy of Lung Metastasis in Breast Cancer: What a Difference the Cation Content Makes</strong> - Cationic lipids play a pivotal role in developing novel drug delivery systems for diverse biomedical applications, owing to the success of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and the Phase III antitumor agent EndoTAG-1. However, the therapeutic potential of these positively charged liposomes is limited by dose-dependent toxicity. While an increased content of cationic lipids in the formulation can enhance the uptake and cytotoxicity toward tumor-associated cells, it is crucial to balance these…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Raman spectroscopy study of 7,8-dihydrofolate inhibition on the Wuhan strain SARS-CoV-2 binding to human ACE2 receptor</strong> - Emerging evidence suggests that elevated levels of folic acid in the bloodstream may confer protection against Wuhan-SARS-CoV-2 infection and mitigate its associated symptoms. Notably, two comprehensive studies of COVID-19 patients in Israel and UK uncovered a remarkable trend, wherein individuals with heightened folic acid levels exhibited only mild symptoms and necessitated no ventilatory support. In parallel, research has underscored the potential connection between decreased folic acid…</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>Gut microbial co-metabolite 2-methylbutyrylcarnitine exacerbates thrombosis via binding to and activating integrin α2β1</strong> - Thrombosis represents the leading cause of death and disability upon major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). Numerous pathological conditions such as COVID-19 and metabolic disorders can lead to a heightened thrombotic risk; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Our study illustrates that 2-methylbutyrylcarnitine (2MBC), a branched-chain acylcarnitine, is accumulated in patients with COVID-19 and in patients with MACEs. 2MBC enhances platelet hyperreactivity and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sulfated Glycans Inhibit the Interaction of MERS-CoV Receptor Binding Domain with Heparin</strong> - Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a zoonotic virus with high contagion and mortality rates. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are ubiquitously expressed on the surface of mammalian cells. Owing to its high negatively charged property, heparan sulfate (HS) on the surface of host cells is used by many viruses as cofactor to facilitate viral attachment and initiate cellular entry. Therefore, inhibition of the interaction between viruses and HS could be a promising…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Potential of Usnic-Acid-Based Thiazolo-Thiophenes as Inhibitors of the Main Protease of SARS-CoV-2 Viruses</strong> - Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 viruses is officially over, the search for new effective agents with activity against a wide range of coronaviruses is still an important task for medical chemists and virologists. We synthesized a series of thiazolo-thiophenes based on (+)- and (-)-usnic acid and studied their ability to inhibit the main protease of SARS-CoV-2. Substances containing unsubstituted thiophene groups or methyl- or bromo-substituted thiophene moieties showed…</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>Human Betacoronavirus OC43 Interferes with the Integrated Stress Response Pathway in Infected Cells</strong> - Viruses evolve many strategies to ensure the efficient synthesis of their proteins. One such strategy is the inhibition of the integrated stress response-the mechanism through which infected cells arrest translation through the phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α). We have recently shown that the human common cold betacoronavirus OC43 actively inhibits eIF2α phosphorylation in response to sodium arsenite, a potent inducer of oxidative…</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>Feasibility Study of Developing a Saline-Based Antiviral Nanoformulation Containing Lipid-Soluble EGCG: A Potential Nasal Drug to Treat Long COVID</strong> - CONCLUSION: Nanoformulations containing EC16 showed properties compatible with nasal application to rapidly inactivate SARS-CoV-2 residing in the olfactory mucosa and to reduce inflammation in the CNS, pending additional formulation and safety studies.</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 SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors Using Chemical Similarity Analysis Combined with Machine Learning</strong> - SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (Mpro) is an enzyme that cleaves viral polyproteins translated from the viral genome, which is critical for viral replication. Mpro is a target for anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug development. Herein, we performed a large-scale virtual screening by comparing multiple structural descriptors of reference molecules with reported anti-coronavirus activity against a library with &gt;17 million compounds. Further filtering, performed by applying two machine learning algorithms, identified…</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>Discovery of Pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole Derivatives as Novel Potential Human Coronavirus Inhibitors: Design, Synthesis, In Silico, In Vitro, and ADME Studies</strong> - The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at the end of 2019 had major worldwide health and economic consequences. Until effective vaccination approaches were created, the healthcare sectors endured a shortage of operative treatments that might prevent the infection’s spread. As a result, academia and the pharmaceutical industry prioritized the development of SARS-CoV2 antiviral medication. Pyranopyrazoles have been shown to play a prominent function in pharmaceutical chemistry and drug sighting because of their…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Silver Nanoparticles In Situ Synthesized and Incorporated in Uniaxial and Core-Shell Electrospun Nanofibers to Inhibit Coronavirus</strong> - In the present study, we sought to develop materials applicable to personal and collective protection equipment to mitigate SARS-CoV-2. For this purpose, AgNPs were synthesized and stabilized into electrospinning nanofiber matrices (NMs) consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), chitosan (CHT), and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL). Uniaxial nanofibers of PVA and PVA/CHT were developed, as well as coaxial nanofibers of PCL[PVA/CHT], in which the PCL works as a shell and the blend as a core. A crucial…</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 Design, Synthesis and Mechanism of Action of Paxlovid, a Protease Inhibitor Drug Combination for the Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has presented an enormous challenge to health care systems and medicine. As a result of global research efforts aimed at preventing and effectively treating SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccines with fundamentally new mechanisms of action and some small-molecule antiviral drugs targeting key proteins in the viral cycle have been developed. The most effective small-molecule drug approved to date for the…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Antiherpesviral Host-Directed Strategy Based on CDK7 Covalently Binding Drugs: Target-Selective, Picomolar-Dose, Cross-Virus Reactivity</strong> - The repertoire of currently available antiviral drugs spans therapeutic applications against a number of important human pathogens distributed worldwide. These include cases of the pandemic severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19), human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1 or AIDS), and the pregnancy- and posttransplant-relevant human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). In almost all cases, approved therapies are based on direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), but their benefit,…</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 Israeli Settlers Attacking Their Palestinian Neighbors</strong> - With the world’s focus on Gaza, settlers have used wartime chaos as cover for violence and dispossession. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/israel-west-bank-settlers-attacks-palestinians">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet</strong> - Disturbances on the sun may have the potential to devastate our power grid and communication systems. When the next big storm arrives, will we be prepared for it? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-solar-storm-could-do-to-our-planet">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Professor Claimed to Be Native American. Did She Know She Wasn’t?</strong> - Elizabeth Hoover, who has taught at Brown and Berkeley, insists that she made an honest mistake. Her critics say she has been lying for more than a decade. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/a-professor-claimed-to-be-native-american-did-she-know-she-wasnt">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside North Korea’s Forced-Labor Program in China</strong> - Workers sent from the country to Chinese factories describe enduring beatings and sexual abuse, having their wages taken by the state, and being told that if they try to escape they will be “killed without a trace.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/inside-north-koreas-forced-labor-program-in-china">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia After Alexei Navalny</strong> - Speculative history can be hollow, and a country in need of martyrs and saints is not to be envied, and yet it is hard to overstate the loss of Navalny. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/russia-after-alexei-navalny">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>9 charts that show US factory farming is even bigger than you realize</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A row of confined dairy cows." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HEM3_m90bLMlNEbLGJiOtiVf0go=/193x0:3749x2667/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73164747/GettyImages_539037074.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Cows stand in the milking parlour at the Lake Breeze Dairy farm in Malone, Wisconsin, in 2016. | Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Factory farms are now so big that we need a new word for them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JgiPIi">
In a few generations, factory farming — the set of economic, genetic, chemical, and pharmaceutical innovations that enabled humanity to raise <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/animal-welfare#:~:text=This%20is%20especially%20true%20when,in%20painful%20and%20inhumane%20conditions.">tens of billions of animals</a> for food every year — has transformed America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fI6tXM">
It has <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23003487/north-carolina-hog-pork-bacon-farms-environmental-racism-black-residents-pollution-meat-industry">polluted</a> our water and air, ruining quality of life for people who live near animal confinements. It has altered entire landscapes, helping drive the conversion of much of the Midwest’s biodiverse prairie grasslands to <a href="https://civileats.com/2018/08/03/why-the-midwests-food-system-is-failing/">soy and cornfields</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053187/cropland-map-food-fuel-animal-feed">growing feed</a> for billions of animals warehoused in industrial sheds. It contributes an outsized share of <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22905381/meat-dairy-eggs-climate-change-emissions-rewilding">planet-warming emissions</a>, heightens <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/23/opinion/bird-flu.html">the</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/opinion/bird-flu-h5n1-pandemic.html">risk</a> of another <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add6681">zoonotic pandemic</a>, and causes unfathomable, normalized suffering for the animals themselves.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xOpH19">
The factory farmification of the American food system <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/2/10/23589333/cecile-steele-chicken-meat-poultry-eggs-delaware">dates back</a> about a century and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/9/12/23339898/global-meat-production-forecast-factory-farming-animal-welfare-human-progress">accelerated</a> post-World War II. But today’s factory farms have taken on an even more extreme dimension. Forty years ago, a <a href="https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/1982-United_States-CHAPTER_1_State_Data-121-Table-20.pdf">facility</a> raising <a href="https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/1978-United_States-CHAPTER_1_State_Data-181-Table-19.pdf">100,000 chickens</a> per year would have passed for a large factory farm; now more than three-quarters of chickens live on massive complexes that sell more than 500,000 animals annually. These mega factory farms, as some observers have <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/02/new-usda-data-reveal-largest-factory-farms-keep-growing-number">called</a> them, look more like chicken megalopolises. The same pattern holds for other animals raised for food, like cows and pigs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="felmj9">
These trends are reflected in data released this month by the US Department of Agriculture’s <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/index.php">Census of Agriculture</a>, a massive report published every five years on the state of farming in America. The report reveals a picture of an ever-consolidating, ever-intensifying system of animal agriculture that’s squeezing out small and medium-sized farms and packing more animals on less land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RRPFbd">
Here are some of our top takeaways.
</p>
<h3 id="lg2TzK">
We raise twice as many animals for food as we did in the late 1980s
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RTNAYB">
In 2022, the most recent year for which data was available, the number of chickens, cows, pigs, and turkeys in the US food system exceeded 10 billion for the first time in the census’s history — up from 5.2 billion animals in 1987.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="irbmk6">
That’s largely been driven by the <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11097/chickenizing-farms-and-food">chickenization</a> of the American diet. One of the most important shifts in the US food system over the last several decades has been declining beef consumption and rapidly <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22287530/chicken-beef-factory-farming-plant-based-meats">increasing consumption of chicken</a>, often <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/4/23818952/chicken-meat-forecast-predictions-beef-pork-oecd-fao">perceived</a> as healthier than red meat. The ethical implications of that trade are profound. As Vox has <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/4/23818952/chicken-meat-forecast-predictions-beef-pork-oecd-fao">written</a> many <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22430749/beef-chicken-climate-diet-vegetarian">times</a>, swapping beef for chicken means slaughtering many more individual animals because chickens are small, so it takes about 100 of them to get the same amount of meat as from one cow.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="chart showing the number of animals farmed for food increase from about 5 billion in 1987 to 10 billion in 2022. The vast majority of these are chickens. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JCG7_yJgDynOGGvNpnx329AhTF0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299595/xJz9y_the_number_of_land_animals_farmed_for_food_in_the_us_has_nearly_doubled_in_35_years.png"/>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Pie chart showing meat chickens make up about 90 percent of animals raised for food, while other animals — cows, pigs, turkeys, and egg-laying hens — make up much smaller slivers. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wFmN-Uv8J8q-JN_Et68LPvIl7fE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299596/GPb9b_meat_chickens_account_for_90_percent_of_animals_farmed_on_land_nbsp_.png"/>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wLsEfm">
US chicken meat consumption first <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/2/10/23589333/cecile-steele-chicken-meat-poultry-eggs-delaware">surpassed</a> beef consumption in the mid-1990s; around the same time, farm animal population growth accelerated, as seen in the chart above.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OYVAD2">
Chickens now make up more than 90 percent of land animals farmed in the US. In 2022, we slaughtered 9.2 billion of them, about 27 for every person in the country. We farm so many chickens for food that they’re now the <a href="https://carnegiemnh.org/counting-your-chickens-the-worlds-most-numerous-bird/">most populous</a> bird species in the world, and scientists believe their remains may leave a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.180325">permanent mark</a> on our geological record. “We live in the Age of the Chicken,” as the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/science/chicken-anthropocene-archaeology.html">put it</a> in 2018.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X3Xphq">
The numbers of other farmed animals are also massive, but next to meat chickens, they look like a rounding error.
</p>
<h3 id="huxoNO">
The rise of mega factory farms
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0BKp1l">
With every passing year, farmed animals are increasingly concentrated on the largest factory farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9HFmZo">
In the chicken meat industry, mega factory farms that each raise more than 500,000 chickens per year now overwhelmingly dominate. In 2022, 7.2 billion chickens — the vast majority of chickens raised for meat in the US — came from one of these facilities. (The other 2 billion still overwhelmingly came from factory farms — just smaller ones.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="chart showing the number of chickens raised on mega-factory farms increase from about a billion in 1987 to more than 7 billion in 2022. The number not raised in such facilities decreased from just over 3 billion in 1987 to 2 billion in 2022.&amp;nbsp;" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Oblg1W_t2LIjHyKdrwiW5a72JyA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299917/q0Yrm_the_number_of_meat_chickens_raised_on_mega_factory_farms_has_grown_almost_sevenfold_in_35_years_2.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xJ5Z3c">
In the egg industry, which uses about 388.5 million hens per year, the biggest factory farms are even bigger, sometimes housing millions of animals in one place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m96JU6">
Such high concentrations of animals — and their waste — smell terrible and <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FS_2004_FacFarms2020-WEB.pdf">release</a> hazardous air pollution linked to respiratory problems in the communities in which they’re located, a growing environmental justice issue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pyc6DT">
These facilities have also <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23963820/bird-flu-surge-us-ventilation-shutdown-veterinarians">exacerbated</a> US <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/22/8469967/bird-flu-outbreak">avian flu</a> crises over the last decade: Having so many animals in one place means that when a case of bird flu hits one animal, it can quickly spread to hundreds of thousands of others (which also creates more opportunities for the disease to mutate into something potentially dangerous to humans). For disease control purposes, the USDA requires farms to kill every animal on a farm where a case of bird flu has been detected, setting off a chain of events that can disrupt the food supply chain and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23588340/egg-prices-expensive-bird-flu-shortage-price-gouging">inflate egg prices</a>. In the span of one month in spring 2022, for example, <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-2022/2022-hpai-commercial-backyard-flocks">bird flu cases</a> at just five massive egg factory farms in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska wiped out more than 4 percent of the country’s egg-laying hens.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Rows of thousands of chickens inside a large barn. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/d9VwvxHDWl2V2XfmCFSLeffmXdo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25300633/GettyImages_159235695.jpg"/> <cite>Edwin Remsberg/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A chicken mega factory farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AIHGhc">
And because it’s logistically difficult to cull so many animals in a massive complex, these mega factory farms have also been linked to the rise of an especially disturbing method being used to mass kill animals in the bird flu: <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23963820/bird-flu-surge-us-ventilation-shutdown-veterinarians">ventilation shutdown</a>, in which birds are killed via heatstroke using industrial heaters.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="chart showing the number of dairy cows on mega farms of more than 1,000 cows increase from 1 million to over 6 million between 1987 and 2022. All other cows (not on mega dairies) decreased from over 8 million to 3.3 million over the same period. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/UVNs-H1XEy3XOFNE99Qn_vRwjng=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299918/cABjE_the_number_of_us_dairy_cows_raised_on_mega_dairies_increased_more_than_sixfold_in_30_years_2.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MTveoz">
Cows are enormous, so the threshold for the largest cattle farms is much lower than it is for chickens. Remember the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23683141/texas-farm-fire-explosion-dimmitt-cows-factory-dairy">massive fire at an 18,000-cow Texas dairy farm</a> last April? That’s what we would call a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/01/there-are-ghosts-in-the-land-how-us-mega-dairies-are-killing-off-small-farms">mega dairy</a> — and they’ve taken over the dairy industry. Although the overall population of US dairy cows is not increasing, the number of cows concentrated on the biggest dairy farms has skyrocketed over the last 30 years, as smaller operations shut down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QHraa9">
The Texas dairy explosion last spring was a perfect illustration of the hazards of mega farms. It stemmed from a malfunction with the farm’s manure management equipment, instantly setting ablaze thousands of animals. Supersized factory farms create supersized disasters.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Rows of thousands of outdoor hutches." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hdYM6yNcRqN1NxGYX3GMXYyjz24=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25300637/WAM33862.jpg"/> <cite>Ram Daya/We Animals Media</cite>
<figcaption>
Tens of thousands of calf hutches are visible from the roadside at Turkey Creek Dairy, Pearce, Arizona. Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers soon after birth and each kept inside a penned-in hutch.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7jGYcq">
Mega dairies have been especially on the rise in the American West, Amanda Starbuck, research director for environmental advocacy group <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/">Food &amp; Water Watch</a>, told Vox. The group’s analysis of agricultural census data <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2024/02/14/new-usda-data-show-60-increase-in-factory-farmed-dairy-cows-in-oregon-over-20-years/">found</a> a 60 percent increase in the number of cows in mega dairies in Oregon between 2002 and 2022. Although the state is not known for dairy production, it has seen a proliferation of especially large dairy farms in recent years, and local residents have <a href="https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/07/21/epa-could-stop-drinking-water-crisis-and-dangerous-mega-dairy/">complained</a> about the industry’s pollution of their water supply. “Oregon has potentially the largest mega dairies in the world,” Starbuck said.
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart showing the number of pigs raised on mega-factory farms increase from about 11 million in 1987 to more than 116 million in 2022.&amp;nbsp;" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CdZtFd9xzGMbsK97wnJqAthBi7w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299920/iBPRI_the_number_of_pigs_raised_on_mega_factory_farms_in_the_us_has_increased_more_than_10_fold_over_35_years_2.png"/>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="chart showing the number of pigs raised in Iowa increase from about 13 million in 1987 to 24 million today, while total number of farms decreased from over 35,000 to just over 5,000 over the same period." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8Z2Ti19MOBtCSWeDPuhe817P4YY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299606/1vboX_iowa_s_raising_more_pigs_on_fewer_bigger_farms.png"/>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bLiiod">
The shift to mega factory farms has perhaps been even more dramatic in the pork sector. In 2022, more than 90 percent of pigs were raised on mega factory farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YXYstW">
Iowa, the top pork-producing state, has 30,000 fewer pig farms than it did in the late 1980s, yet it’s home to more pigs than ever. The rapid consolidation has meant that big farms are getting bigger while the rest go out of business, a trend consistent across the country.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Pigs inside holding pens in a large barn. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N-84n5sGjRPdAJTXEgnAQFtfSqY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25300648/GettyImages_1215826105.jpg"/> <cite>Dan Brouillette/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Pigs stand in pens at a farm near Le Mars, Iowa.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QVW3YY">
Many US pig farmers who can hang on do so by contracting with the biggest pork processors, like <a href="https://www.iowapublicradio.org/agriculture/2022-09-23/production-contracts-hog-farming-investigate-midwest">Smithfield Foods and JBS</a>. In these contract arrangements, the farmer takes on much of the risk by taking out large loans to build the operations, while the company supplies the pigs and their feed. More than <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/104437/err-308_summary.pdf?v=1704.5">two-thirds</a> of pigs were raised on contract in 2015.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart showing the volume of factory farm manure increasing from around 650 billion lbs in 2002 to 941 billion lbs in 2022. Waste produced by humans increased from just under 400 billion lbs in 2022 to 452 billion lbs in 2022. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jPyhyGtoXJU7a6_N-IAyQe7u4RI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299607/7Xyjx_factory_farm_animals_release_nearly_1_trillion_pounds_of_manure_annually_that_s_twice_as_much_as_humans_.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AfiFoH">
As the number of animals farmed for food has exploded, so has their waste, adding up to almost 1 trillion pounds of it each year, according to an <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2024/02/13/new-usda-data-shows-nearly-50-increase-in-u-s-factory-farmed-animals-in-20-years/">analysis</a> by Food &amp; Water Watch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m9saMK">
Between 2017 and 2022, growth in the livestock population has added manure “equivalent to two New York City metro areas — or 40 million people,” Starbuck said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yRSPaw">
The manure isn’t treated at sewage plants like human waste, but rather stored on the farm in piles or vast pits that are <a href="https://therevelator.org/cafo-conundrum-manure-lagoons/">prone to leakage</a>. Farmers also over-apply manure on crop fields to dispose of it and much of it washes away during storms into rivers and streams, causing widespread pollution.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Aerial view of four large pig sheds with large manure lagoons behind them and nothing else all around." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HdDRn_LmoJRJXqt-JGsnZnQhKlA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25300640/GettyImages_1449681133.jpg"/> <cite>Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A Smithfield Farms hog-raising facility in Utah with large manure lagoons.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oM46XH">
In <a href="https://www.thegazette.com/environment-nature/iowa-impaired-waters-list-grows-in-2022/#:~:text=About%2056%20percent%20of%20Iowa%27s,recreation%20or%20supporting%20aquatic%20life.">Iowa</a>, more than half of the state’s rivers are “impaired,” meaning they’re not suitable for at least one of their main purposes, like serving as a habitat for aquatic animals, drinking, or recreation. Animal agriculture is the <a href="https://www.thegazette.com/environment-nature/iowa-impaired-waters-list-grows-in-2022/#:~:text=About%2056%20percent%20of%20Iowa%27s,recreation%20or%20supporting%20aquatic%20life.">main culprit</a>, and many rural Americans who depend on wells for drinking water have found them <a href="https://www.wisfarmer.com/story/news/2021/07/07/study-manure-likely-cause-most-illness-contaminated-wells/5326199001/">contaminated</a> with factory farm waste. It’s a national problem too: A recent US Environmental Protection Agency <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rivers-streams-nitrogen-pollution-fertilizer-agriculture-farming-571eb54cb69cc06f43d5f1253e990337">report</a> found that a third of US river miles were considered to be in poor shape for fish, mainly due to farm runoff.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Chart show soybean acreage increasing from about 55 million in 1987 to 85 million in 2022. Corn increase from 65 million acres to 85 million over the same period." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_ByHy3LRSVd0N1sAOVuRjUVFn5I=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25304521/Z64Vq_factory_farming_and_ethanol_have_fueled_the_growth_of_corn_and_soy_acreage.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mVtEQa">
Midwest farmland and its valuable fertile soil have increasingly become devoted to growing food for farmed animals, primarily corn and soy. Like manure, much of the fertilizer and pesticide sprayed on these crops washes away during storms and pollutes waterways.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wg9JBR">
Livestock feed isn’t the only reason the US grows so much corn. There was a big spike in corn acreage starting in the early 2000s, when Congress <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33302.html#:~:text=Gasoline%20sold%20in%20the%20United,7.5%20billion%20gallons%20in%202012.">mandated</a> that billions of gallons of gasoline for cars be mixed with biofuels, which is mostly ethanol made with corn.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oKn9yT">
It was a terrible policy because corn is an inefficient use of land to produce energy: “It takes about 100 acres worth of biofuels to generate as much energy as a single acre of solar panels,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/06/opinion/climate-change-biofuels-corn-ethanol.html">wrote</a> agriculture and environmental writer Michael Grunwald in the New York Times. But it’s been hard to roll back, given the political power of the farm lobby: Ethanol policy is “mainly a way to suck up to farmers and enrich agribusinesses,” Grunwald wrote.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="awdDVJ">
Almost <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=105761#:~:text=Ethanol%20manufacturers%20use%20about%2040,the%20domestic%20transportation%20fuel%20market">40 percent</a> of US corn goes into gas tanks and <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn-and-other-feed-grains/feed-grains-sector-at-a-glance/#:~:text=Feed%20use%2C%20a%20derived%20demand,of%20total%20domestic%20corn%20use.">40 percent</a> is fed to livestock, while <a href="https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/coexistence-soybeans-factsheet.pdf">70 percent</a> of soy is livestock feed.
</p>
<h3 id="b2NtnQ">
Overall farmland is decreasing
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Is8sb3">
It bears mentioning that industrialized agriculture is not bad per se (at least, it doesn’t have to be). Researchers and corporations have devised ways to make crops and animals grow bigger and faster, allowing us to get more food from less land. Total US farmland has declined by 24 percent since 1954 — equivalent to saving more than the combined land area of California and Texas.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="chart showing total US farmland decreasing by 24 percent between 1954 and 2022, from 1.16 billion acres to 880 million acres." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3bAgDGYoEbmPQg5OB4Ul-EcpTCo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299630/U3BcT_total_farm_land_has_decreased_by_a_quarter_over_the_last_70_years.png"/>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4gjsqV">
Making factory farming more land-efficient, though, has come with terrible costs not factored into the price tag at the supermarket: mass animal cruelty, pollution, and <a href="https://ikerdj.mufaculty.umsystem.edu/presentation-papers/factory-farms-cafos/with-factory-farms-there-is-no-middle-ground">economic inequality</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OcXPut">
Even on its own terms, factory farming is still <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets">radically inefficient</a> compared to a system with far fewer animals and more plant-based foods, which would require less land and water, emit less pollution and climate-warming gases, and allow the country to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44185-022-00009-9">free up</a> land for wild ecosystems that benefit the climate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qhY08u">
If we’re willing to imagine a different world, one not dependent on slaughtering billions of animals for food, such a system is within reach. “The factory farm system is not inevitable,” Starbuck said.
</p></li>
<li><strong>Older Americans are working longer. Some want to; others have to.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Illustration of an older man working a construction job." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TiZo2Z9sfqLZZ4YSyN48tO9Nm2M=/0x0:7333x5500/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73164707/GettyImages_2024885312.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Today, about 19 percent of Americans 65 and older are still working. | Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
How long will baby boomers keep working? For some, the answer is forever.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sm4BJ3">
To grossly paraphrase Kim Kardashian, nobody stops <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/03/28/kim-kardashians-widely-mocked-nobody-wants-to-work-comments-taken-out-of-context-she-says/?sh=3f5d1d29407d">working anymore</a>. Just look at who’s in the running for the top job in the nation: a 77-year-old against an 81-year-old, both vying to keep working for another four years. Yet they’re in lockstep with a national trend — older Americans are working longer, into their 60s and even their 70s and beyond. Among Americans 65 and older, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/12/14/older-workers-are-growing-in-number-and-earning-higher-wages/">19 percent were still working</a> last year, which is almost a twofold increase from the late 1980s.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mE7xPk">
Last year, the average retirement age was 62, according to a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/506330/americans-outlook-retirement-worsened.aspx">Gallup survey</a>, up from <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/168707/average-retirement-age-rises.aspx">59 in the early 2000s</a>. Older people aren’t just delaying retirement, but working longer hours: On average, this group’s annual work hours are <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/12/14/the-annual-earnings-of-older-workers">almost 30 percent higher</a> than they were in 1987.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7o3Xup">
The question of why is hard to answer. People keep working because they want to and because they have to, and sometimes a mix of both. “You can think of it as both a reflection of empowered preferences to go work more and longer — versus curtailed savings that force you into the labor force. They’re both happening,” says economist Kathryn Edwards.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fJPFZa">
Joan Madden-Ceballos, a 65-year-old health care administrator in California, has no plans to retire. She enjoys her job; it’s flexible and fulfilling. She’s not sure what she’d do with herself if she didn’t work. “I’m a baby boomer, so work is sort of ingrained in our lives,” she says. “My daughter gets so mad at me. ‘You need boundaries!’ I’m like, that’s not something baby boomers know.” She’s also making the most money she’s ever made in her career, and that’s not a non-zero factor. “Five years ago, I got a divorce. At that point, my house was paid off — but now it’s only half paid off.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YWHcfw">
Lori Hvizda Ward, 64, recently returned to teaching part-time after 27 years. “I was bored after pandemic restrictions were lifted, and my kids returned to college and high school full time,” she tells Vox. Her local school district needed more substitute teachers, and the flexibility of the schedule was a perk. But for her, too, it’s not only about personal fulfillment, but that pricey tuition too. “I thought it would be beneficial to have the extra income,” she says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3hzPZ">
We have a tight labor market right now, which means there are a lot of open jobs desperate for workers — so college-educated workers who have good, interesting jobs can more easily choose to keep working. There’s also less of a social norm to retire at a certain age than before. But what’s also undeniable is that retirement security has gotten a lot less attainable, thanks to decades of stagnant wages, recessions, an intense few years of high inflation, and the disappearance of pensions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GcBwW2">
Around the world, as people live longer — and face <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167378958/social-security-medicare-entitlement-programs-budget">future shortfalls in government retirement funds</a> — the age at which people get full retirement benefits keeps going up. Last year, <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/3/24/23655280/france-protests-retirement-age-paris-social-security">French people staged massive, incendiary protests</a> against a government proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64; the law passed anyway. In the US, anyone born after 1960 doesn’t get full retirement benefits until they turn 67. You can retire at age 62, but you’ll get less money, which is a good incentive to keep working. <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> has continued to debate whether full retirement age should be <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/04/social-security-reform-may-mean-changes-to-retirement-age-payroll-tax.html">nudged even higher</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TIYcL9">
Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says that not being financially secure is likely the bigger factor in why we’re seeing more older people work for longer. In 2022, according to the <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Retirement_Accounts;demographic:agecl;population:all;units:have">Survey of Consumer Finances</a>, almost 43 percent of people between 55 and 64 didn’t have a retirement savings account. In just the past few years, there has been a spate of viral headlines about older Americans continuing to work difficult jobs out of necessity — like an <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/82-year-old-walmart-employee-retires-after-viral-tiktok-leads-to-100000-gofundme">82-year-old man working</a> as a Walmart cashier until a GoFundMe raised $100,000, or the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/09/30/family-raised-20000-tips-their-89-year-old-pizza-delivery-man/">89-year-old man who delivered pizza</a> to pay his bills until he, too, received $20,000 thanks to a fundraising campaign.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HfYiym">
“It is really very much a tale of two types of older workers,” says Morrissey. “Half have it good and half have it bad.”
</p>
<h3 id="Jx3nuL">
A tale of two workers — but it’s not always clear which is which
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kTUelC">
It’s true that part of why the American workforce is older is because Americans in general are older. The baby boomers — famously part of a generation in which many babies were born after World War II — are now in their <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/08/baby-boomers-hit-peak-65-in-2024-why-retirement-age-is-in-question.html">60s and 70s</a>. Meanwhile, the birth rate since the post-war era has fallen steeply, jostling the age distribution of workers. The US is far from alone in facing a rapidly aging workforce. It’s happening across the globe in rich nations, as their populations age amid decades of falling birth rates. In Japan, almost <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/19/aging-workforce-older-people-to-fill-over-150-million-jobs-globally.html">40 percent of workers</a> are projected to be 55 and older by 2031.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BuirgM">
Yet the fact that there are more older Americans doesn’t totally explain the older worker phenomenon. Just look at the labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of people 16 and older who are employed or looking for work. From about 1950 to 1990, the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/mlr/1999/12/art1full.pdf">participation rate of people 65 and older</a> had fallen a lot. “That’s largely attributed to a larger share of the workforce getting Social Security, and it was regarded as a good thing,” says Edwards. Since the early ’90s, though, we’ve seen that trend reverse.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WMJGwC">
The median age of a working American today is now 42, and what’s more, in the last few decades the participation rate of people 75-plus has increased more than that of people 65-plus. Some theories why: Americans are living longer today than in the 1980s (though Covid actually dropped the US age expectancy by a couple years, and <a href="https://data.oecd.org/healthstat/life-expectancy-at-65.htm">life expectancy at age 65</a> in the US isn’t great compared to other wealthy nations). The share of 75-and-older workers, as a group, is more likely to include people who want to keep working rather than are forced to do so by financial circumstances, says Morrissey. Data from Pew shows that older workers are more likely to be self-employed. That may give them a little more independence to work flexible hours or to reduce work hours as they age rather than retire completely.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KoMAwn">
Technology has made some jobs in some industries physically easier to perform — you can now even do work from the comfort of your home. That doesn’t mean hard labor has gone away. “There’s this idea that people used to dig ditches or they were farmers, and now they’re sitting in front of a computer,” says Morrissey. “No, they’re not. They might be stuck, if they’re lucky, stocking shelves or waiting tables, but those are not easy jobs.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PZOAHn">
One common industry for older workers, particularly older women, is caregiving. “Working in nursing homes or in people’s homes is very physically demanding and has very high injury rates,” Morrissey says. A third of home <a href="https://www.vox.com/health-care">health care</a> workers are 55 and older, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18b.htm">the Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> (BLS). A study of <a href="https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/spotlight-care-workers-and-the-new-york-city-economy/">care workers in NYC</a> shows a much higher distribution of older care workers than there is in other industries. Bus service and urban transit workers are also outliers, with a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18b.htm">median age over 50</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XoLIxw">
According to the <a href="https://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/jobs-report/physically-demanding-jobs-and-involuntary-retirement-worsen-retirement-insecurity">Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis</a>, more than 40 percent of older Black and Latino workers — people between 55 to 64 — work “physically demanding jobs” like farming, truck driving, delivery, and more. A quarter of white older workers do. It also varies by education: Over 40 percent of workers 55 to 64 without a college degree worked physically demanding jobs as of 2018, as did almost a third of those 65-plus without a degree.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cdzshO">
Older people in physically demanding jobs are also less likely to be earning enough to save a lot for retirement, or to have access to an employer-sponsored retirement account. If they retire too early, they won’t get full <a href="https://www.vox.com/social-programs">Social Security</a> benefits — but sometimes they don’t have a choice if they become disabled. “All of the things that make it more likely that they didn’t save enough would also make them less likely to be able to work longer,” says Edwards. Of the workers in physical jobs who can keep working, we see many working to an older age because they need to, says Morrissey.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hZql1s">
And while age discrimination is a real and serious problem, hard, low-paying jobs — say, janitorial or caregiving work — are often less likely to reject candidates for age reasons, so it may be exactly the thing they turn to.
</p>
<h3 id="Hq2IDi">
Retirement is still a fairly new idea
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="azwY0q">
The idea that people stop working when they get older is still pretty fresh in the grand scheme of human history. It didn’t arise until the modern labor market did, according to Edwards, when lots of people started selling their labor to others rather than work on their family farm.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4yA8ZF">
“Before Social Security, most people’s retirement plan was death,” says Edwards. “Dying on the job, dying in your kid’s house. This whole notion of an independent, work-free retirement is truly a modern one.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UPX1eK">
Social Security remains the nation’s biggest anti-poverty program — by a factor of about four, Edwards adds — and mostly thanks to it, elder poverty has plummeted since the 1950s. But the program is currently on the path to a deficit by 2034 because the US is not collecting enough from the highest earners, explains Edwards. Social Security tax only applies to the first $168,600 someone makes in a year; in the last few decades, wage inequality has shot up, with a lot of income growth at the very top and <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/">mostly stagnant pay everywhere else</a>. That means the amount of money not going toward Social Security has ballooned — and that the highest-income Americans pay a much lower effective tax rate than the lowest earners do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3tWybY">
The program also wasn’t designed to be someone’s only retirement plan, yet people have become increasingly reliant on its benefits because they can’t save enough, and most don’t have pensions. It was meant to provide a floor for Americans, a safety net. “But we’re creating a labor market in which many people live at the floor,” says Edwards.
</p>
<div id="VxObck">
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQDfGk">
A Credit Karma survey last year found that over a quarter of people 59 and older had <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-17/how-much-money-do-i-need-to-retire-a-quarter-of-americans-have-no-savings">no retirement savings</a>. Part of the problem is that access to a retirement account varies greatly by industry and whether or not you’re a high earner. Pensions are now extremely rare, unless you work in the public sector, and only about <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/as-the-population-ages-more-workers-are-unprepared-for-retirement-can-states-help-close-that-gap/">half of workers have a retirement plan</a> offered through their private employer. Low earners, people of color, and women are even less likely to have access to employer-sponsored retirement accounts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5cSNDk">
Last December, the average payment for Social Security retirement benefits was <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/icp.html">$1,905</a>. Whether Social Security is enough to live on depends on many factors, including marital status, debt, health care costs, and how high the cost of living is where they live. According to the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-5/spending-patterns-of-older-americans.htm">BLS</a>, about 81 percent of people between 65 and 74 are homeowners, but 30 percent still have a mortgage; 19 percent are renters.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2VVg1">
While Americans’ access to employer retirement plans is spotty, every working person pays Social Security taxes. Shoring up Social Security so that it is both well-funded and pays more, and ensuring all of its benefits are easy to access, would do a lot toward giving people retirement security — particularly for those who need it most, those who don’t work cushy jobs with generous salaries, stock rewards, or <a href="https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/benefits-compensation/one-four-workers-miss-full-401k-match">401(k) contributions matched by their employer</a>. Retirement is a modern concept, and it deserves to be further modernized.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aa90BU">
The fact that there are divergent reasons why Americans are working longer doesn’t change the path forward — which is to make it easier for those who do want to quit working earlier.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ek0jaa">
When trying to figure out what’s going on in a labor market — like why people are working longer — it’s important to keep in mind that it’s a reflection of both people’s preferences and their constraints, says Edwards. “Both predict an outcome, and it’s not clear which one is ruling the day.” Often, individuals aren’t quite sure themselves whether it’s a preference or constraint that has led to delaying retirement. But, says Edwards, “Policy’s job is to change the constraints, knowing that preferences are varied.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XCoBkp">
Beyond fixing Social Security, Morrissey notes, we could change these constraints for older workers with better labor standards and protections, as older workers face a high rate of workplace injury, as well as better pay for workers of all ages — so that people can actually save more.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7nfGuD">
“A lot of what would help older Americans would help all Americans,” says Morrissey.
</p></li>
<li><strong>I got to see the IRS’s free tax-filing software in action. Here’s what I learned.</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A government software engineer leans over an otherwise empty conference table pointing to a spot on a large board covered in writing." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IEJepz_K0lmS-hCmYc_r9nq_Ryo=/0x0:4032x3024/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73164628/IMG_7097.0.jpeg"/>
<figcaption>
Chris Given, Direct File product lead at the IRS, shows a “fact map” of all taxpayer information the tax software has to know, during a presentation to journalists at the Treasury Department. | Dylan Matthews/Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Meet Direct File, the federal government’s TurboTax alternative. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vc5U7x">
It is oddly hard to file your income tax return in the US without working with a private company.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jbp5NJ">
<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p55b.pdf#page=14">Over 90 percent of returns</a> are filed either by a paid tax preparer or by a taxpayer using commercial software, like TurboTax, which can <a href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/">cost as much as $169</a> per cycle, plus extra if you have state taxes. To date, most of the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to make tax filing more available to low-income people have involved throwing business to private companies through the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">“Free File Program,”</a> in which those companies agree to prepare certain returns for free.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SSOiDk">
But the tax companies, preferring profit, have worked hard to make sure <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/intuit-turbotax-h-r-block-gutted-free-tax-filing-internal-memo">people don’t actually use Free File</a>. Over its decade-plus of operation, <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11808#page=2">fewer than 3 percent of eligible taxpayers</a> used the program. The end result is these tax companies are responsible for more than 90 percent of returns filed in the US, with Americans more or less forced to give their financial information, and usually their money, to a private company.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nkB4xw">
Until this year. The 2024 filing season represents the debut of <a href="https://directfile.irs.gov/">Direct File</a>, the IRS’s new program to allow taxpayers to file their taxes directly through a government website.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hFtAE7">
But there’s a catch. Well, several catches. The program is, for now, a limited pilot, available in 12 states, representing a little under half the US population. Even in those states, the software is rolling out slowly. It only <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/21/irs-direct-file-open/">opened to general users on February 22</a>, and then only for a small number. The <a href="https://www.irs.gov/about-irs/strategic-plan/direct-file-pilot-news">IRS</a> says it will “continue to open for new taxpayers in pilot states for short availability windows” throughout the spring.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CT0CLX">
And the software is limited in what tax situations it can handle. If you have wages or salary income and/or interest income, and nothing else, you’re probably eligible. But if you have self-employment, freelance, or income from owning a business, you’re not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k06iMb">
Treasury spokesperson Ashley Schapitl told me the IRS estimates that about one-third of taxpayers in participating states have tax situations simple enough that they can use the Direct File software. She explained that about 19 million taxpayers, total, will be eligible this season and that the department expects “at least several hundred thousand” to participate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SHpOyM">
This all, I have to admit, bummed me out slightly. For years now, I’ve been a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320386/turbotax-boycott-lobbying-tax-filing-season-tax-day-april-15">booster</a> of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11417676/elizabeth-warren-tax-return-free-filing-tax-day-intuit-hr-block-turbotax-automatic-simple">efforts</a> to make <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22596072/irs-turbotax-hr-block-free-file-tax-return">tax</a> filing <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/15/23682351/irs-vita-volunteer-tax-policy">easier</a> and break the TurboTax/H&amp;R Block duopoly on tax prep. Direct File, which is the result of a provision included in the 2022 <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/8/23296951/inflation-reduction-act-biden-democrats-climate-change">Inflation Reduction Act</a>, seemed like the first effort by the federal government to do just that, to free the tax system from these parasitic corporations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XB3leM">
And the first draft of Direct File didn’t feel big enough for the task. Some of the team building it showed the software off to me and a couple other journalists in January, and while the technical details were cool in a nerdy way (the program logic is written in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scala_(programming_language)">Scala</a>!), what I kept thinking was: This can’t compete with TurboTax. It can’t do my very simple taxes; I just have a W-2 from Vox and a couple 1099s from <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23933962/malaria-vaccine-challenge-trials-drugs-tropical-disease-africa-research">participating in a medical study</a>. And if we’re not giving taxpayers something better than the private sector, what are we doing here?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ucF69X">
The answer, essentially, is that the IRS is taking things slowly. It didn’t want to release software capable of handling all tax situations from the start because that philosophy — build it all, deploy it suddenly — is historically a recipe for disaster in projects like this. That was, for instance, what happened with <a href="http://HealthCare.gov">HealthCare.gov</a> in 2013. Instead of a working product, users got so many outages, delays, and crashes that a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/12/27/257398910/the-number-6-says-it-all-about-the-healthcare-gov-rollout">grand total of six people</a> were able to enroll in health insurance on the website’s first day. The idea this time was to build it gradually so that each limited form of the software works before moving forward.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6OSkHb">
That might not be satisfying for impatient people like me. But it might be a wiser approach.
</p>
<h3 id="2VtaBC">
Limitations of the pilot
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IivQzM">
The 12 states participating in the Direct File pilot were chosen deliberately. They include eight states that don’t levy a general income tax (Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming), meaning there’s no need for the IRS software to integrate with a state tax system. The other four states at least had state-level Direct File systems and opted to integrate their own state tax software with the IRS’s (Arizona, California, Massachusetts, and New York).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kqbPsy">
Alaska, the ninth state with no state income tax, was originally going to be in the pilot, but a Direct File staffer explained to me that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/13/16997188/alaska-basic-income-permanent-fund-oil-revenue-study">Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend</a>, an annual cash payment to all residents funded out of oil revenue, is reported on a 1099-MISC. That meant basically no one in the state would be able to use the pilot software.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6lMidS">
Early on in the software steps, users are given a couple of lists of reasons why they might not be eligible. Taxpayers who itemize their deductions won’t be able to do that in the software, for instance, and the software won’t calculate if itemizing is a better choice for you. Nor is anyone with dividend, capital gains, self-employment, or non-Social Security pension income eligible. For context, over 20 percent of taxpayers in 2022 reported dividend income.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="You can’t use Direct File if you have any other types of income, including: - Dividend income (1099-DIV) - Capital gains and losses (1099-B and 1099-S) - Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) distributions (1099-R) - Pensions and annuities (1099-R) - Payments received from a payment app or online marketplace (1099-K) - Income from independent contractor and gig work (1099-NEC) - Income from self-employment - Income from rent, prizes, awards, and more (1099-MISC)." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SI1kbheCq1ZSyHu8n2XkuXB2rKo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25297416/IMG_7111.jpeg"/> <cite>Dylan Matthews/Vox</cite>
<figcaption>
A screen of the Direct File software explaining which kinds of income make one ineligible for the program.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1LJKKg">
Users can claim the three most-used tax credits — the earned income tax credit for low-income working people, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23965898/child-poverty-expanded-child-tax-credit-economy-welfare-phase-ins">child tax credit</a>, and the credit for other dependents, which covers dependents other than children under 17. But other common credits, like the premium credit from the <a href="https://www.vox.com/obamacare">Obamacare</a> exchanges or<strong> </strong>tax credit for child care expenses or credits covering college tuition and other higher education expenses, can’t be claimed with Direct File. Educators can deduct out-of-pocket expenses, and folks with student loans can deduct their interest, but mortgage interest, charitable, state and local tax deductions, and anything else on the “itemized” list is out. For the large majority of people, the standard deduction will still wind up being a better deal, but other tax prep software gives people tools to figure out which is better.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gYPuGa">
Add up all the left-out income types and unavailable credits and pretty soon you get to the IRS’s estimate that two-thirds of people in pilot states won’t be eligible to use the software this year.
</p>
<h3 id="Nqgtew">
The case for going gradually
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X3U45q">
I couldn’t use Direct File this year, both because of some 1099 income and because DC, where I live, isn’t a pilot state (or <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/17/21327791/washington-dc-statehood">disenfranchised non-state fiefdom</a> as the case may be). So I did my taxes in Cash App, like normal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f2j1G5">
<a href="https://cash.app/taxes">Cash App Taxes </a>is a bit of a funny product; why, exactly, does an app that I otherwise only use to send my dad money for my share of the Verizon family plan offer tax prep software? Even stranger is that it’s pretty good. It’s full-featured, even handling business income and some complex expensing options, and it handles state taxes too. Plus, it’s free. The company has <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1512673/000162828022003825/sq-20211231.htm#:~:text=We%20consider%20the%20free%20services%20such%20as%20stock%20investing%2C%20Cash%20App%20Tax%2C%20and%20certain%20Cash%20Card%20and%20peer%2Dto%2Dpeer%20services%20offered%20Cash%20App%20customers%20to%20be%20marketing%20initiatives%20aimed%20at%20attracting%20new%20customers%20and%20encouraging%20the%20usage%20of%20Cash%20App">explained</a> that Cash App Taxes makes no revenue and exists solely as a marketing device “aimed at attracting new customers and encouraging the usage of Cash App.” There isn’t a premium option, and as someone who’d rather do my taxes with pen and paper than give any money to TurboTax or H&amp;R Block, I like that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UBgYa6">
I kept wondering, as I played around with Direct File, why it couldn’t just be like Cash App Taxes. Why not just buy up existing private software? Why are we reinventing the wheel?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HRYTwV">
“A lot of states have free public tax filing systems, and the majority of the states that offer them use tax software from a private company,” Ariel Jurow Kleiman, a professor at Loyola Law School and lead author of an <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5788.pdf#page=36">independent study</a> commissioned by the IRS to investigate the idea of a Direct File system, told me. One service, <a href="https://v2prod-fwstatic-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/pdf/solution/gentax-brochure-2023-04.pdf">GenTax by Fast Enterprises</a>, dominates this market. So it was certainly possible for the government to contract with a company to supply software fueling a Direct File system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQ9IrC">
But that approach comes with certain disadvantages: Enlisting private contractors raises concerns about <a href="https://www.vox.com/privacy">data privacy</a> (could this private company see my income information?) and data security (is this private company really able to secure my information against hackers?), Jurow Kleiman notes, and those are less pronounced for a government-developed product. Ayushi Roy, a veteran government technologist now at <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/new-practice-lab/">New America’s New Practice Lab</a>, and a collaborator on the independent study with Jurow Kleiman, notes that existing private software has not been developed or optimized for the same things that we’d want to optimize Direct File for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nGDbDb">
Cash App Taxes, say, is most optimized to get people to download Cash App, not to be maximally helpful for taxpayers currently ill-served by private options. “Even if, hypothetically, the IRS were to license” a private piece of software, Roy says, that private provider might not “be able to service customer support needs in the way that this target demographic might need, that are unique to them.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="02UdVu">
That means the IRS probably wouldn’t be taking a product off the shelf. You’d be contracting a vendor to build a product — or modify an existing off-the-shelf similar product that vendor has built before — and then paying them to keep it updated and working well. That can be the worst of all worlds because it locks government into using one vendor going forward, even if that vendor fails catastrophically. That has happened before: Rhode Island’s United Health Infrastructure Project had a <a href="https://www.rimonthly.com/unified-health-infrastructure-project/">disastrous rollout</a>, but the state still re-awarded the contract to fix the system to Deloitte, the same contractor that made it and was responsible for its failures in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IQInVW">
Roy notes that the US has already tried heavy reliance on private developers for tax preparation. That was the basis of the Free File system, which has only served a tiny fraction of eligible taxpayers throughout its history. Relying on these companies has failed so far; building a system from scratch in-house might avoid those problems.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c8POh4">
Of course, building the software in-house comes with its own trade-offs, not least of which is a development process where early releases have fewer features than commercial alternatives. The Direct File team is following a philosophy known in software engineering as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development">“agile”</a> development. Older approaches, sometimes called “plan-based” or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model">“waterfall,”</a> envisioned software projects as linear sequences: First you build a plan for what the software will do, then you write all the software, then you test the software.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X3wJHl">
The downside is that testing, in this approach, only comes late, after much of the software has already been written. Developers don’t get regular feedback as they’re developing that they can use to strengthen the product. Agile development, by contrast, emphasizes launching more barebones products first, enabling rapid testing and iteration, ensuring very basic features are working well before moving on to additional ones.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tu4FDN">
In government circles, agile approaches have gained popularity in part because of a case in which they were not used effectively: HealthCare.gov, which was infamously unreliable in its early months and was developed without much early testing and iteration. An <a href="https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-14-00350.asp">Inspector General’s investigation</a> of that debacle notes that while developers stated they were trying to use agile methods, time and resources weren’t available for the kind of rapid iteration and testing that would actually make it work. “That product, HealthCare.gov, was not allowed to have any sort of gradual rollout, not allowed to have a learning curve,” Roy notes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xM2ZNm">
The Direct File approach is sort of the inverse of the HealthCare.gov one: lots of early testing, a pilot release before a broad release, testing with a small group of government employees before pushing to the broad public, and testing a bare-bones version first before a decked-out one.
</p>
<h3 id="f7SsyU">
What comes next
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y2CEfB">
An optimistic read of the Direct File experience is that this is just the start. The limited rollout in 2024 will lead to a more full-featured rollout in 2025, perhaps extending to more states and including more kinds of income and credits. In time, perhaps the IRS can partner with states so taxpayers can file both state and federal taxes in the same software.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aBjqs9">
Most excitingly, at least to me, a future version could feature pre-filling. The IRS already has all the information it needs: It receives W-2, 1099, and other tax documents from your employers, contractor clients, mortgage companies, and so forth. One of the strange things about filing your taxes, even with Direct File, is that you have to enter all this information. Jurow Kleiman has proposed letting future versions of Direct File, and of private software too, <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/tax-insights-and-commentary/pre-filled-irs-forms-would-help-taxpayers-as-much-as-direct-file">directly import these forms from the IRS</a>. Recalling her work leading a team writing the independent report on Direct File, she says, “We felt there were no technological barriers to pre-filling.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2aVo8q">
Eliminating returns or moving to a system where entire returns are pre-filled by the IRS would take a lot more work. The barriers there are at least <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/2023/4/15/23682351/irs-vita-volunteer-tax-policy">as much about the tax code</a> as a lack of IRS software. For instance, the ability of married taxpayers to file joint returns, an option that isn’t available in many peer countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia, makes taxes way more complicated and prevents the IRS from withholding precisely the amount people owe. Reforming that system is a good idea but a much more challenging task.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xbWlQk">
Politics, as they say, is the strong and slow boring of hard boards. And to impatient people like me, the development of Direct File can feel very slow indeed. It’s a small step toward a world where people don’t need commercial tax software. But it’s a meaningful step, and the case for taking things slow is surprisingly compelling.
</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hardik Pandya returns to competitive cricket after long injury layoff</strong> - Hardik Pandya is preparing up for a comeback in the Indian Premier League as the new skipper of the five-time champion Mumbai Indians.</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>Ind vs Eng Tests | We can’t just keep talking to youngsters, need to give them environment to excel, says Rohit Sharma</strong> - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan and Akash Deep were also among the fresh blood who made an impact in the series.</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>World Test Championship ranking | India consolidates second position with five-wicket win against England</strong> - The hosts, led by Rohit Sharma, took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-Test series.</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>Daily Quiz | On Ravichandran Ashwin</strong> - Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin completed 500 Test wickets recently. A quiz on the players who have achieved this milestone</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>Ind vs Eng fourth Test | ‘Bazball’ meets its match, India secure 17th straight Test series win at home</strong> - The team’s last home series loss was a 1-2 defeat to an Alastair Cook-led England in 2012-13. Since then, India have won 39 out of 50 Tests at home.</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>Farmer denied entry into Namma Metro over ‘unsuitable attire’, BMRCL dismisses supervisor after viral video sparks outrage</strong> - Despite having a valid ticket, the farmer, dressed in a white shirt and carrying clothes on his head, was halted at the security checkpoint in Rajajinagar metro station.</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>Assam to bring UCC through ‘front door’, says Himanta</strong> - Sarma had said last month that Assam will be the third state after Uttarakhand and Gujarat to introduce a Bill seeking the UCC</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>Manoj Jarange, others booked for illegal protests seeking Maratha quota under OBC category</strong> - About 80 people were booked on charges of unlawful assembly, disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant, wrongful restraint, and section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje says men think that power should always be in their hands</strong> - A few people, said to be workers of the BJP, wrote letters to the BJP high command against Shobha Karandlaje</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>Watch | India’s first-ever restaurant dedicated to regenerative agriculture</strong> - One of the highlights of the cafe is the 3D relief map of Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, highlighting the villages where tribal farmers grow coffee across over 60,000 small estates</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>Navalny was to be freed in prisoner swap before death - ally</strong> - Maria Pevchikh said the Russian opposition leader was going to be exchanged for a hitman when he died.</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 says 31,000 troops killed in war in Ukraine</strong> - It is rare for officials to say how many Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch: Brussels police fire water cannon at burning tyres</strong> - Europe correspondent Nick Beake is at the scene as farmers enter the city centre in protest.</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 Indians ‘duped’ into fighting for Russia in Ukraine</strong> - Their families have appealed to the Indian government for help getting them back home.</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>Navalny’s body returned to mother 8 days after death</strong> - Alexei Navalny’s mother has been demanding the return of his body since his death in a Russian prison.</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>How your sensitive data can be sold after a data broker goes bankrupt</strong> - Sensitive location data could be sold off to the highest bidder. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005720">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Yelp: It’s gotten worse since Google made changes to comply with EU rules</strong> - Users are even more likely to stick with Google due to one change, says Yelp. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005729">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RTO doesn’t improve company value, but does make employees miserable: Study</strong> - Data is consistent with bosses using RTO to reassert control and scapegoat workers. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005794">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vending machine error reveals secret face image database of college students</strong> - Facial-recognition data is typically used to prompt more vending machine sales. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005753">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Plucky crew of Star Trek: Discovery seeks a strange artifact in S5 trailer</strong> - “It has been a hell of a journey. But everything ends someday.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005705">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>I try to be a modern man, and not get upset with my wife using a dildo ….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I just wish she wouldn’t use mine.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
(first joke I’ve ever written, hope you enjoy)
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Comfortable_Fly_3050"> /u/Comfortable_Fly_3050 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b0bkxw/i_try_to_be_a_modern_man_and_not_get_upset_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b0bkxw/i_try_to_be_a_modern_man_and_not_get_upset_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife and I sat down with our son and I said…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Billy, you were adopted.” Billy looked at us. His face was red and full of anger “I demand to meet my biological parents!” My wife softly said “We ARE your biological parents. Now, hurry and pack.”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Major_Independence82"> /u/Major_Independence82 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1azurlo/my_wife_and_i_sat_down_with_our_son_and_i_said/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1azurlo/my_wife_and_i_sat_down_with_our_son_and_i_said/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>6 Life Lessons</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
6 life lessons
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 1:</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks,…
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbour,” she replies. “Great!” the husband says, “Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moral of the story:</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 2:</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish” “Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Poof! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moral of the story:</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Always let your boss have the first say
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 3:</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said,”Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moral of the story:</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 4</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, ”Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moral of the story:</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 5:</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Power of Charisma
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A turkey was chatting with a bull “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<em>Moral of the story:</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Bullshit might get you to the top, but it wont keep you there
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<strong>Lesson 6</strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
</p>
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<em>Moral of the story:</em>
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Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy
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Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend
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And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Uncle_Taj"> /u/Uncle_Taj </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b01gut/6_life_lessons/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b01gut/6_life_lessons/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man has been at the Pub all night drinking…..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The bartender finally says that the bar is closed. So our man stands up to leave and falls flat on his face. He figures he’ll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that will sober him up.
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Once outside he stands up but again falls flat on his face. He crawls home. Reaching the door he tries to stand up, and yet again, falls flat on his face. He crawls through the door and up the stairs. When he reaches his bed he summons the last of his strength and tries one final time to stand.
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It’s no use. He tumbles into bed and is soon sound asleep, only to awaken the next morning to the sound of his wife standing over him shouting.
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‘So… you’ve been out drinking again!’
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‘How did you know?’ he asks, his head hung in shame.
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‘The pub called– you left your damn wheelchair down there again!’
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/vect77"> /u/vect77 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1azs39k/a_man_has_been_at_the_pub_all_night_drinking/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1azs39k/a_man_has_been_at_the_pub_all_night_drinking/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife rang me at the bar and said “if you’re not home in 10 minutes, I’m giving your dinner to the dog”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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I was home in 5 minutes.
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I’d hate for anything to happen to the dog.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/1poundbookingfee"> /u/1poundbookingfee </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b0567d/my_wife_rang_me_at_the_bar_and_said_if_youre_not/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1b0567d/my_wife_rang_me_at_the_bar_and_said_if_youre_not/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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