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<title>31 August, 2023</title>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="covid-19-sentry">Covid-19 Sentry</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-preprints">From Preprints</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-pubmed">From PubMed</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-patent-search">From Patent Search</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-preprints">From Preprints</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>SARS-CoV-2 RNA Persists in the Central Nervous System of Non-Human Primates Despite Clinical Recovery</strong> -
<div>
Adverse neurological and psychiatric outcomes, collectively termed the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), persist in adults clinically recovered from COVID-19. Effective therapeutic interventions are fundamental to reducing the burden of PASC, necessitating an investigation of the pathophysiology underlying the debilitating neurological symptoms associated with the condition. Herein, eight non-human primates (Wild-Caught African Green Monkeys, n=4; Indian Rhesus Macaques, n=4) were inoculated with the SARS-CoV-2 isolate USA-WA1/2020 by either small particle aerosol or via multiple routes. At necropsy, tissue from the olfactory epithelium and pyriform cortex/amygdala of SARS-CoV-2 infected non-human primates were collected for ribonucleic acid in situ hybridization (i.e., RNAscope). First, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) mRNA are downregulated in the pyriform cortex/amygdala of non-human primates clinically recovered from SARS-CoV-2 inoculation relative to wildtype controls. Second, abundant SARS-CoV-2 mRNA was detected in clinically recovered non-human primates; mRNA which is predominantly harbored in pericytes. Collectively, examination of post-mortem pyriform cortex/amygdala brain tissue of non-human primates clinically recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection revealed two early pathophysiological mechanisms potentially underlying PASC. Indeed, therapeutic interventions targeting the downregulation of ACE2, decreased expression of TMPRSS2, and/or persistent infection of pericytes in the central nervous system may effectively mitigate the debilitating symptoms of PASC.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.29.555368v1" target="_blank">SARS-CoV-2 RNA Persists in the Central Nervous System of Non-Human Primates Despite Clinical Recovery</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Molecular Property Diagnostic Suite for COVID-19 (MPDSCOVID-19): An open access disease specific drug discovery portal</strong> -
<div>
Computational drug discovery is intrinsically interdisciplinary and has to deal with the multifarious factors which are often dependent on the type of disease. Molecular Property Diagnostic Suite (MPDS) is a Galaxy based web portal which was conceived and developed as a disease specific web portal, originally developed for tuberculosis (MPDSTB). As specific computational tools are often required for a given disease, developing a disease specific web portal is highly desirable. This paper emphasises on the development of the customised web portal for COVID-19 infection and is referred to as MPDSCOVID-19. Expectedly, the MPDS suites of programs have modules which are essentially independent of a given disease, whereas some modules are specific to a particular disease. In the MPDSCOVID-19 portal, there are modules which are specific to COVID-19, and these are clubbed in SARS-COV-2 disease library. Further, the new additions and/or significant improvements were made to the disease independent modules, besides the addition of tools from galaxy toolshed. This manuscript provides a latest update on the disease independent modules of MPDS after almost 6 years, as well as provide the contemporary information and tool-shed necessary to engage in the drug discovery research of COVID-19. The disease independent modules include file format converter and descriptor calculation under the data processing module; QSAR, pharmacophore, scaffold analysis, active site analysis, docking, screening, drug repurposing tool, virtual screening, visualisation, sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis under the data analysis module; and various machine learning packages, algorithms and in-house developed machine learning antiviral prediction model are available. The MPDS suite of programs are expected to bring a paradigm shift in computational drug discovery, especially in the academic community, guided through a transparent and open innovation approach. The MPDSCOVID-19 can be accessed at http://mpds.neist.res.in:8085.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.29.555437v1" target="_blank">Molecular Property Diagnostic Suite for COVID-19 (MPDSCOVID-19): An open access disease specific drug discovery portal</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Immune Evasion and Membrane Fusion of SARS-CoV-2 XBB Subvariants EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3</strong> -
<div>
Immune evasion by SARS-CoV-2 paired with immune imprinting from monovalent mRNA vaccines has resulted in attenuated neutralizing antibody responses against Omicron subvariants. In this study, we characterized two new XBB variants rising in circulation: EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3, for their ability of neutralization and syncytia formation. We determined the neutralizing antibody in sera of individuals that received a bivalent mRNA vaccine booster, BA.4/5 wave infection, or XBB.1.5 wave infection. Bivalent vaccination-induced antibodies neutralized efficiently ancestral D614G, but to a much less extent, two new EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3 variants. In fact, the enhanced neutralization escape of EG.5.1 appeared to be driven by its key defining mutation XBB.1.5-F456L. Notably, infection by BA.4/5 or XBB.1.5 afforded little, if any, neutralization against EG.5.1, XBB.2.3 and previous XBB variants, especially in unvaccinated individuals, with average neutralizing antibody titers near the limit of detection. Additionally, we investigated the infectivity, fusion activity, and processing of variant spikes for EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3 in HEK293T-ACE2 and CaLu-3 cells, but found no significant differences compared to earlier XBB variants. Overall, our findings highlight the continued immune evasion of new Omicron subvariants and, more importantly, the need to reformulate mRNA vaccines to include XBB spikes for better protection.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.30.555188v1" target="_blank">Immune Evasion and Membrane Fusion of SARS-CoV-2 XBB Subvariants EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Pharmacokinetics-based identification of antiviral compounds of Rheum palmatum rhizomes and roots (Dahuang)</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The potential of Dahuang to eliminate lung pathogens was often highlighted in Wenyi Lun. This investigation aimed to identify potential antiviral compounds of herbal component Dahuang (Rheum palmatum rhizomes and roots) of LianhuaQingwen capsule, with respect to their systemic exposure and lung reachability. Circulating Dahuang compounds were identified in human volunteers receiving LianhuaQingwen. The reachability of these compounds to SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro was assessed by in vitro transport, metabolism, immunohistochemistry, and 3CLpro-biochemical studies. LianhuaQingwen contained 55 Dahuang constituents (0.01-2.08 μmol/day), categorized into eight classes. Only three compounds rhein (3), methylisorhein (10; a new Dahuang anthraquinone), and 4-O-methylgallic acid (M42M2) exhibited significant systemic exposure in humans. Two intestinal absorption mechanisms for 3 and 10 were proposed: active intestinal uptake of 3/10 by human TAUT/ASBT and human MRP1/3/4, and intestinal lacate-phlorizin hrdrolyase-mediated hydrolysis of rhein-8-O-β-D-glucoside (9), followed by the transporter-mediated absorption of released 3. Targeted reachability of circulating 3/10 could be achieved as rat orthologues of human ASBT/TAUT was observed in alveolar and bronchial epithelia. These compounds exhibited potential ability to inhibit the 3CLpro enzyme responsible for coronaviral replication. Notably, Dahuang anthraquinones and tannins varied greatly in pharmacokinetics between humans and rats after dosing LianhuaQingwen. This investigation, along with such investigations of other components, has implications for precisely defining the therapeutic benefits of Dahuang-containing medicines.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.28.23294750v1" target="_blank">Pharmacokinetics-based identification of antiviral compounds of Rheum palmatum rhizomes and roots (Dahuang)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>AmpliDiff: An Optimized Amplicon Sequencing Approach to Estimating Lineage Abundances in Viral Metagenomes</strong> -
<div>
Metagenomic profiling algorithms commonly rely on genomic differences between lineages, strains or species to infer the relative abundances of sequences present in a sample. This observation plays an important role in the analysis of diverse microbial communities, where targeted sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA, both well-known hypervariable genomic regions, have led to insights in microbial diversity and the discovery of novel organisms. However, the variable nature of discriminatory regions can also act as a double-edged sword, as the sought after variability can make it difficult to design primers for their amplification through PCR. Moreover, the most variable regions are not necessarily the most informative regions for the purpose of differentiation; one should focus on regions which maximize the number of lineages that can be distinguished. Here we present AmpliDiff, a computational tool that simultaneously finds such highly discriminatory genomic regions, as well as primers allowing for the amplification of these regions. We show that regions and primers found by AmpliDiff can be used to accurately estimate relative abundances of SARS-CoV-2 lineages, for example in wastewater sequencing data. We obtain mean absolute prediction errors that are comparable with using whole genome information to estimate relative abundances. Furthermore, our results show that AmpliDiff is robust against incomplete input data, and that primers designed by AmpliDiff continue to bind to genomes originating from months after the primers were selected. With AmpliDiff we provide an effective and efficient alternative to whole genome sequencing for estimating lineage abundances in viral metagenomes.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.22.550164v2" target="_blank">AmpliDiff: An Optimized Amplicon Sequencing Approach to Estimating Lineage Abundances in Viral Metagenomes</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Jet injection potentiates naked mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in mice and non-human primates by adding physical stress to the skin</strong> -
<div>
Naked mRNA-based vaccines may reduce the reactogenicity associated with delivery carriers, but their effectiveness has been suboptimal against infectious diseases. Herein, we aimed to enhance their efficacy by using a pyro-drive liquid jet injector that precisely controls pressure to widely disperse mRNA solution in the skin. The jet injection boosted naked mRNA delivery efficiency in the mouse skin. Mechanistic analyses indicate that dendritic cells, upon uptake of antigen mRNA in the skin, migrate to the draining lymph nodes for antigen presentation. Additionally, the jet injector activated innate immune responses in the skin, presumably by inducing physical stress, thus serving as a physical adjuvant. From a safety perspective, our approach, utilizing naked mRNA, restricted mRNA distribution solely to the injection site, preventing systemic pro-inflammatory reactions following vaccination. Ultimately, the jet injection of naked mRNA encoding SARS-CoV-2 spike protein elicited robust humoral and cellular immunity, providing protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice. Furthermore, our approach induced plasma activity of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 in non-human primates, comparable to that observed in mice, with no detectable systemic reactogenicity.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.27.530188v2" target="_blank">Jet injection potentiates naked mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in mice and non-human primates by adding physical stress to the skin</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 is Feminine: Grammatical Gender Influences Future Danger Perceptions and Precautionary Behavior</strong> -
<div>
Gendered languages assign masculine and feminine grammatical gender to all nouns, including nonhuman entities. In French, Italian, and Spanish, the name of the disease resulting from the virus (COVID-19) is grammatically feminine, whereas the virus that causes the disease (coronavirus) is masculine. In this research, we test whether the grammatical gender mark matters. In a series of experiments with French and Spanish speakers, we find that grammatical gender affects virus-related judgments consistent with gender stereotypes: feminine- (vs. masculine-) marked terms for the virus decrease perceptions of future danger of the virus and reduce intentions to take precautionary behavioral measures to mitigate contraction and spread of the virus (e.g., avoiding restaurants, movies, travel). Secondary data analyses of online search behavior for France, Spain, and Italy further demonstrate this negative relation between the anticipated threat (daily new cases and deaths, search for masks) and usage of the feminine- (vs. masculine-) marked terms for the coronavirus. These effects occur even though the grammatical gender assignment is semantically arbitrary.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/x8kp2/" target="_blank">COVID-19 is Feminine: Grammatical Gender Influences Future Danger Perceptions and Precautionary Behavior</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>High-accuracy mapping of human and viral direct physical protein-protein interactions using the novel computational system AlphaFold-pairs</strong> -
<div>
Protein-protein interactions are central, highly flexible components of regulatory mechanisms in all living cells. Over the years, diverse methods have been developed to map protein-protein interactions. These methods have revealed the organization of protein complexes and networks in numerous cells and conditions. However, these methods are also time consuming, costly and sensitive to various experimental artifacts. To avoid these caveats, we have taken advantage of the AlphaFold-Multimer software, which succeeded in predicting the structure of many protein complexes. We designed a relatively simple algorithm based on assessing the physical proximity of a test protein with other AlphaFold structures. Using this method, named AlphaFold-pairs, we have successfully defined the probability of a protein-protein interaction forming. AlphaFold-pairs was validated using well-defined protein-protein interactions found in the literature and specialized databases. All pairwise interactions forming within the 12-subunit transcription machinery RNA Polymerase II, according to available structures, have been identified. Out of 66 possible interactions (excluding homodimers), 19 specific interactions have been found, and an additional previously unknown interaction has been unveiled. The SARS-CoV-2 surface glycoprotein Spike (or S) was confirmed to interact with high preference with the human ACE2 receptor when compared to other human receptors. Notably, two additional receptors, INSR and FLT4, were found to interact with S. For the first time, we have successfully identified protein-protein interactions that are likely to form within the reassortant Eurasian avian-like (EA) H1N1 swine G4 genotype Influenza A virus, which poses a potential zoonotic threat. Testing G4 proteins against human transcription factors and molecular chaperones (a total of 100 proteins) revealed strong specific interactions between the G4 HA and HSP90B1, the G4 NS and the PAQosome subunit RPAP3, as well as the G4 PA and the POLR2A subunit. We predict that AlphaFold-pairs will revolutionize the study of protein-protein interactions in a large number of healthy and diseased systems in the years to come.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.29.555151v1" target="_blank">High-accuracy mapping of human and viral direct physical protein-protein interactions using the novel computational system AlphaFold-pairs</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Chlorpheniramine Maleate Displays Multiple Modes of Antiviral Action Against SARS-CoV- 2: A Mechanistic Study</strong> -
<div>
Chlorpheniramine Maleate (CPM) has been identified as a potential antiviral compound against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this study, we investigated the in vitro effects of CPM on key stages of the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle, including viral adsorption, replication inhibition, and virucidal activity. Our findings demonstrate that CPM exhibits antiviral properties by interfering with viral adsorption, replication, and directly inactivating the virus. Molecular docking analysis revealed interactions between CPM and essential viral proteins, such as the main protease receptor, spike protein receptor, and RNA polymerase. CPM's interactions were primarily hydrophobic in nature, with an additional hydrogen bond formation in the RNA polymerase active site. These results suggest that CPM has the potential to serve as a multitarget antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2 and potentially other respiratory viruses. Further investigations are warranted to explore its clinical implications and assess its efficacy in vivo.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.28.554806v1" target="_blank">Chlorpheniramine Maleate Displays Multiple Modes of Antiviral Action Against SARS-CoV- 2: A Mechanistic Study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Age-Associated Weaker Immunity to Coronaviruses is Characteristic of Children that Develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome following SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> -
<div>
We analyzed the antibody and cytokine responses of twenty-three patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome of children (MIS-C) that appeared with a three-to-six-week delay following a mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. These responses were compared to healthy convalescent pediatric COVID-19 patients approximately twenty-eight days after the onset of symptoms. Both groups had strong IgG responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins, but the MIS-C patients had weaker antibody responses to certain epitopes in the SARS-CoV-2 S and N proteins and to the S and N proteins of endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) compared to pediatric convalescent COVID patients. HCoV antibody reactivity was correlated with age. In contrast, MIS-C patients had elevated serum levels of several proinflammatory cytokines compared to convalescent COVID patients, including interleukins IL-6, IL-8, IL-18 and chemokines CCL2, CCL8, CXCL5, CXCL9 and CXCL10 as well as tumor necrosis factor alpha and interferon gamma. Moreover, many cytokine responses of MIS-C patients were positively correlated with antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 S, N, membrane and ORF3a proteins while pediatric convalescent COVID patient cytokine responses were more often negatively correlated with antibody responses to the S, N and ORF3a proteins of SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.28.555120v1" target="_blank">Age-Associated Weaker Immunity to Coronaviruses is Characteristic of Children that Develop Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome following SARS-CoV-2 Infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 kinetics due to variable timing and intensity of immune responses</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The viral kinetics of documented SARS-CoV-2 infections exhibit a high degree of inter-individual variability. We identified six distinct viral shedding patterns, which differed according to peak viral load, duration, expansion rate and clearance rate, by clustering data from 810 infections in the National Basketball Association cohort. Omicron variant infections in previously vaccinated individuals generally led to lower cumulative shedding levels of SARS-CoV-2 than other scenarios. We then developed a mechanistic mathematical model that recapitulated 1510 observed viral trajectories, including viral rebound and cases of reinfection. Lower peak viral loads were explained by a more rapid and sustained transition of susceptible cells to a refractory state during infection, as well as an earlier and more potent late, cytolytic immune response. Our results suggest that viral elimination occurs more rapidly during omicron infection, following vaccination, and following re-infection due to enhanced innate and acquired immune responses. Because viral load has been linked with COVID-19 severity and transmission risk, our model provides a framework for understanding the wide range of observed SARS-CoV-2 infection outcomes.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.20.23294350v2" target="_blank">Heterogeneous SARS-CoV-2 kinetics due to variable timing and intensity of immune responses</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection at a United Kingdom electricity-generating company: a test-negative design case-control study</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Objectives Identify workplace risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection, using data collected by a United Kingdom electricity-generating company. Methods Using a test-negative design case-control study we estimated the odds ratios (OR) of infection by job category, site, test reason, sex, vaccination status, vulnerability, site outage, and site COVID-19 weekly risk rating, adjusting for age, test date and test type. Results From an original 80,077 COVID-19 tests, there were 70,646 included in the final analysis. Most exclusions were due to being visitor tests (5,030) or tests after an individual first tested positive (2,968). Women were less likely to test positive than men (OR=0.71; 95% confidence interval=0.58-0.86). Test reason was strongly associated with positivity and although not a cause of infection itself, due to differing test regimes by area it was a strong confounder for other variables. Compared to routine tests, tests due to symptoms were highest risk (94.99; 78.29-115.24), followed by close contacts (16.73; 13.80-20.29) and looser work contacts 2.66 (1.99-3.56). After adjustment, we found little difference in risk by job category, but some differences by site with three sites showing substantially lower risks, and one site showing higher risks in the final model. Conclusions Infection risk was not associated with job category. Vulnerable individuals were at slightly lower risk, tests during outages were higher risk, vaccination showed no evidence of an effect on testing positive, and site COVID-19 risk rating did not show an ordered trend in positivity rates.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.25.23294609v2" target="_blank">Risk factors for SARS-Cov-2 infection at a United Kingdom electricity-generating company: a test-negative design case-control study</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Predictive Systems Biology Modeling: Unraveling Host Metabolic Disruptions and Potential Drug Targets in Acute Viral Infections</strong> -
<div>
Background: Host response is critical to the onset, progression, and outcome of viral infections. Since viruses hijack the host cellular metabolism for their replications, we hypothesized that restoring host cell metabolism can efficiently reduce viral production. Results: Here, we present a viral-host Metabolic Modeling (vhMM) method to systematically evaluate the disturbances in host metabolism in viral infection and computationally identify targets for modulation by integrating genome-wide precision metabolic modeling and cheminformatics. We applied vhMM to SARS-CoV-2 infections and identified consistent changes in host metabolism and gene and endogenous metabolite targets between the original SARS-COV-2 and different variants (Alpha, Delta, and Omicron). Among six compounds predicted for repurposing, methotrexate, cinnamaldehyde, and deferiprone were tested in vitro and effective in inhibiting viral production with IC50 less than 4uM. Further, an analysis of real-world patient data showed that cinnamon usage significantly reduced the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate with an odds ratio of 0.65 [95%CI: 0.55~0.75]. Conclusions: These results demonstrated that vhMM is an efficient method for predicting targets and drugs for viral infections.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.24.550423v2" target="_blank">Predictive Systems Biology Modeling: Unraveling Host Metabolic Disruptions and Potential Drug Targets in Acute Viral Infections</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Deep metric learning for few-shot X-ray image classification</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Deep learning models have proven the potential to aid professionals with medical image analysis, including many image classification tasks. However, the scarcity of data in medical imaging poses a significant challenge, as the limited availability of diverse and comprehensive datasets hinders the development and evaluation of accurate and robust imaging algorithms and models. Few-shot learning approaches have emerged as a potential solution to address this issue. In this research, we propose to deploy the Generalized Metric Learning Model for Few-Shot X-ray Image Classification. The model comprises a feature extractor to embed images into a lower-dimensional space and a distance-based classifier for label assignment based on the relative distance of these embeddings. We extensively evaluate the model using various pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and vision transformers (ViTs) as feature extractors. We also assess the performance of the commonly used distance-based classifiers in several few-shot settings. Finally, we analyze the potential to adapt the feature encoders to the medical domain with both supervised and self-supervised frameworks. Our model achieves 0.689 AUROC in 2-way 5-shot COVID-19 recognition task when combined with REMEDIS (Robust and Efficient Medical Imaging with Self-supervision) domain-adapted model as feature extractor, and 0.802 AUROC in 2-way 5-shot tuberculosis recognition task with domain-adapted DenseNet-121 model. Moreover, the simplicity and flexibility of our approach allows for easy improvement in the feature, either by incorporating other few-shot methods or new, powerful architectures into the pipeline.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.27.23294690v2" target="_blank">Deep metric learning for few-shot X-ray image classification</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The role and influence of perceived experts in an anti-vaccine misinformation community</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The role of perceived experts (i.e., medical professionals and biomedical scientists) as potential anti-vaccine influencers has not been characterized systematically. We describe the prevalence and importance of anti-vaccine perceived experts by constructing a coengagement network based on a Twitter data set containing over 4.2 million posts from April 2021. The coengagement network primarily broke into two large communities that differed in their stance toward COVID-19 vaccines, and misinformation was predominantly shared by the anti-vaccine community. Perceived experts had a sizable presence within the anti-vaccine community and shared academic sources at higher rates compared to others in that community. Perceived experts occupied important network positions as central anti-vaccine nodes and bridges between the anti- and pro-vaccine communities. Perceived experts received significantly more engagements than other individuals within the anti- and pro-vaccine communities and there was no significant difference in the influence boost for perceived experts between the two communities. Interventions designed to reduce the impact of perceived experts in spreading anti-vaccine misinformation may be warranted.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.12.23292568v2" target="_blank">The role and influence of perceived experts in an anti-vaccine misinformation community</a>
</div></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-clinical-trials">From Clinical Trials</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>THE EFFECT OF ARGININE AND GLUTAMINE ON COVID-19 PATIENTS OUTCOME: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Neomune<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Universitas Sriwijaya;   M. Djamil General Hospital<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of Obeldesivir in Children and Adolescents With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Obeldesivir<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gilead Sciences<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>KAND567 Versus Placebo in Subjects Hospitalized With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: KAND567;   Drug: Microcrystalline cellulose<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Kancera AB<br/><b>Terminated</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aerobic Training for Rehabilitation of Patients With Post Covid-19 Syndrome</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Post-COVID-19 Syndrome;   Long-COVID-19 Syndrome<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Aerobic Exercise Training<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Witten/Herdecke;   Verein und Institut für Rehabilitationsforschung Norderney<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>A Pilot Clinical Evaluation of Astepro® Nasal Spray for Management of Early SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Experimental: Primary Cohort;   Other: Placebo Comparator: Primary Cohort - Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Chicago<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>Digital Health Literacy on COVID-19 for All: Co-creation and Evaluation of Interventions for Ethnic Minorities and Chinese People With Chronic Illnesses in Hong Kong</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Digital Health Literacy;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Digital health literacy intervention<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   The Hong Kong Polytechnic University<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Comparative Immunogenicity of Concomitant vs Sequential mRNA COVID-19 and Influenza Vaccinations</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Influenza;   COVID-19;   Influenza Immunogencity;   COVID-19 Immunogenicity<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: Simultaneous Vaccination (Influenza Vaccine and mRNA COVID booster);   Biological: Sequential Vaccination (Influenza vaccine then mRNA COVID booster);   Biological: Sequential Vaccination (mRNA COVID booster then Influenza vaccine)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Duke University;   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;   Arizona State University;   University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center;   University of Pittsburgh;   Washington University School of Medicine;   Valleywise Health;   VA Northeast Ohio Health Care;   Senders Pediatrics<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in Adults With Sickle Cell Disease</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Sickle Cell Disease;   COVID-19 Vaccine;   Vaccine Hesitancy<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: SCD-specific COVID-19 vaccination information (SCVI) video<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Duke University;   American Society of Hematology<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>Leveraging Community Health Workers to Combat COVID-19 and Mental Health Misinformation in Haiti, Malawi, and Rwanda</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Mental Health;   COVID-19;   Misinformation<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Behavioral: Card-Sorting Activity (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Crafting (Pre-intervention design);   Behavioral: SMS Messaging<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Harvard Medical School (HMS and HSDM);   Partners in Health<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>Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Among Post-COVID-19 Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bangladesh</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Pulmonary Pathology<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: Pulmonary Rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka, Bangladesh<br/><b>Active, not recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Learn About New COVD-19 RNA Vaccine Candidates for New Varients in Healthy Individuals</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: BNT162b2 (Omi XBB.1.5)<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   BioNTech SE;   Pfizer<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Trial of the Efficacy and Safety of Tianeptine in the Treatment of Covid Fog Symptoms in Patients After COVID-19.</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Nervous System Diseases<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Tianeptine;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Military Institute od Medicine National Research Institute;   ABM Industries<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>Effects of Cognitive-behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Nurses With Post Covid-19 Condition</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Cognitive Behavioral Therapy<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Behavioral: cognitive behavioral therapy<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Tri-Service General Hospital<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Effectiveness of Natural Resources for Reducing Stress</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Distress, Emotional;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Combination Product: Balneotherapy plus complex;   Combination Product: Combined nature resources treatment;   Other: Nature therapy procedure<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Klaipėda University;   Research Council of Lithuania<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>Study of LAU-7b for the Treatment of Long COVID in Adults</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Long COVID<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: LAU-7b for 3 cycles;   Drug: LAU-7b for 1 cycle, then placebo;   Other: Placebo for 3 cycles<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Laurent Pharmaceuticals Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arbidol increases the survival rate by mitigating inflammation in suckling mice infected with human coronavirus OC43 virus</strong> - Human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) often causes common cold and is able to neuroinvasive, but it can also induce lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) especially in children and the elderly adults with underlying diseases. HCoV-OC43 infections currently have no approved antiviral treatment. Arbidol (ARB) is a broad-spectrum antiviral and is an antiviral medication for the treatment of influenza used in Russia and China. Due to its multiple mechanisms of action, such as inhibition of viral…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Immunogenicity and safety assessment of a SARS-CoV-2 recombinant spike RBD protein vaccine (Abdala) in paediatric ages 3-18 years old: a double-blinded, multicentre, randomised, phase 1/2 clinical trial (ISMAELILLO study)</strong> - BACKGROUND: COVID-19 in paediatric ages could result in hospitalizations and death. In addition, excluding children from vaccination could turn them into reservoirs of the SARS-COV-2. Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are urgently needed for large-scale paediatric vaccination. ISMAELILLO study aimed to evaluate safety and immunogenicity of two strengths of a new recombinant receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein vaccine (Abdala) in paediatric population.</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>Growth hormone-releasing hormone antagonist MIA-602 inhibits inflammation induced by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and bacterial lipopolysaccharide synergism in macrophages and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells</strong> - COVID-19 is characterized by an excessive inflammatory response and macrophage hyperactivation, leading, in severe cases, to alveolar epithelial injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Recent studies have reported that SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein interacts with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to boost inflammatory responses in vitro, in macrophages and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and in vivo. The hypothalamic hormone growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), in…</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>Retrospective observational study of changes in serum cytokines and adiponectin with continuous plasma exchange with dialysis therapy for severe COVID-19</strong> - CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that cPED therapy is an effective treatment for COVID-19.</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 nucleotide-sensing Toll-Like Receptor 9/Toll-Like Receptor 7 system is a potential therapeutic target for IgA nephropathy</strong> - The progression determinants of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) are still not fully elucidated. We have previously demonstrated that the mucosal activation of toll-like receptor (TLR) 9, which senses microbial unmethylated CpG DNA, influences progression by producing aberrantly-glycosylated IgA. However, numerous recent reports of patients with IgAN presenting with gross hematuria after the mRNA vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019 suggest that the RNA-sensing system also exacerbates IgAN. Here, we…</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>Peptide delivery of a multivalent mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine</strong> - Lipid nanoparticles (LNP) have been instrumental in the success of mRNA vaccines and have opened up the field to a new wave of therapeutics. However, what is ahead beyond the LNP? The approach herein used a nanoparticle containing a blend of Spike, Membrane and Envelope antigens complexed for the first time with the RALA peptide (RALA-SME). The physicochemical characteristics and functionality of RALA-SME were assessed. With &gt;99% encapsulation, RALA-SME was administered via intradermal injection…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Arbidol: The current demand, strategies, and antiviral mechanisms</strong> - CONCLUSION: ARB is a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that inhibits several viruses in vivo and in vitro, with high safety profile and low resistance; the antiviral mechanisms of ARB deserve to be further explored and more high-quality clinical studies are required to establish the efficacy and safety of ARB.</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>Pathophysiology and clinical management of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a mini-review</strong> - An unprecedented global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 has created a severe healthcare threat and become one of the biggest challenges to human health and the global economy. As of July 2023, over 767 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, including more than 6.95 million deaths. The S protein of this novel coronavirus binds to the ACE2 receptor to enter the host cells with the help of another transmembrane protease TMPRSS2. Infected subjects that can…</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>Proton pump inhibitors in critically ill mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19: protocol for a substudy of the Re-EValuating the Inhibition of Stress Erosions (REVISE) Trial</strong> - BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients commonly receive proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to prevent gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding from stress-induced ulceration. Despite widespread use in the intensive care unit (ICU), observational data suggest that PPIs may be associated with adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19 infection. This preplanned study is nested within a large randomized trial evaluating pantoprazole versus placebo in invasively ventilated patients. The 3 objectives are as follows:…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Development of ELISA-Based Assay for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibody</strong> - Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) stimulates the plasma B cells to secrete specific antibodies against the viral antigen. However, not all antibodies can prevent the virus from entering the cells. The subpopulation of antibodies which blocks the entry of the virus into host cells is termed neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). The gold standard test for the detection of NAbs is the viral plaque reduction and neutralization test; however, various other methods…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The natural tannins oligomeric proanthocyanidins and punicalagin are potent inhibitors of infection by SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to infect people worldwide. While the vaccinated population has been increasing, the rising breakthrough infection persists in the vaccinated population. For living with the virus, the dietary guidelines to prevent virus infection are worthy of and timely to develop further. Tannic acid has been demonstrated to be an effective inhibitor of coronavirus and is under clinical trial. Here we found that two other members of the tannins…</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 hope and hype of ellagic acid and urolithins as ligands of SARS-CoV-2 Nsp5 and inhibitors of viral replication</strong> - Non-structural protein 5 (Nsp5) is a cysteine protease that plays a key role in SARS-CoV-2 replication, suppressing host protein synthesis and promoting immune evasion. The investigation of natural products as a potential strategy for Nsp5 inhibition is gaining attention as a means of developing antiviral agents. In this work, we have investigated the physicochemical properties and structure-activity relationships of ellagic acid and its gut metabolites, urolithins A-D, as ligands of Nsp5….</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Customizably designed multibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in a variant-insensitive manner</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic evolves constantly, requiring adaptable solutions to combat emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. To address this, we created a pentameric scaffold based on a mammalian protein, which can be customized with up to 10 protein binding modules. This molecular scaffold spans roughly 20 nm and can simultaneously neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Spike proteins from one or multiple viral particles. Using only two different modules targeting the Spike’s RBD domain, this construct outcompetes human…</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>Drug-induced phospholipidosis is not correlated with the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 - inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 is cell line-specific</strong> - Recently, Tummino et al. reported that 34 compounds, including Chloroquine and Fluoxetine, inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication by inducing phospholipidosis, although Chloroquine failed to suppress viral replication in Calu-3 cells and patients. In contrast, Fluoxetine represses viral replication in human precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) and Calu-3 cells. Thus, it is unlikely that these compounds have similar mechanisms of action. Here, we analysed a subset of these compounds in the viral replication…</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>Investigation of the Host Kinome Response to Coronavirus Infection Reveals PI3K/mTOR Inhibitors as Betacoronavirus Antivirals</strong> - Host kinases play essential roles in the host cell cycle, innate immune signaling, the stress response to viral infection, and inflammation. Previous work has demonstrated that coronaviruses specifically target kinase cascades to subvert host cell responses to infection and rely upon host kinase activity to phosphorylate viral proteins to enhance replication. Given the number of kinase inhibitors that are already FDA approved to treat cancers, fibrosis, and other human disease, they represent an…</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 Case for Negotiating with Russia</strong> - Samuel Charap is asking Ukraine and its allies to consider how much worse the war could get. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/the-case-for-negotiating-with-russia">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires</strong> - With smuggled cell phones and a handful of accomplices, Arthur Lee Cofield, Jr., took money from large bank accounts and bought houses, cars, clothes, and gold. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/how-a-man-in-prison-stole-millions-from-billionaires">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trump Mug Shot’s Art-Historical Lineage</strong> - Assessing the forty-fifth President’s Georgia photo op in the context of Da Vinci, Warhol, and a rogues’ gallery of accused criminals. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-trump-mug-shots-art-historical-lineage">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Texas’s Dying Swimming Holes</strong> - Taking a dip in the summer was as central to the state’s identity as barbecue and Willie Nelson. Then came a population boom and climate change. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/texass-dying-swimming-holes">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hurricane Idalia’s Explosive Power Comes from Abnormally Hot Oceans</strong> - By burning fossil fuels, humans force the oceans to soak up the heat equivalent of a Hiroshima-size bomb, over and over again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/hurricane-idalias-explosive-power-comes-from-abnormally-hot-oceans">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>The myths we tell ourselves about American farming</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A black-and-white photo of an old, weathered wooden barn standing alone with fields behind it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2s3H2N3HnpZ-gXW_pOJO3OrHMzg=/0x0:5167x3875/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597326/GettyImages_1280253651.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Getty Images/iStockphoto
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“Agricultural exceptionalism,” explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j7iHrW">
If you were to guess America’s biggest source of water pollution, chemical factories or oil refineries might come to mind. But it’s actually <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf">farms</a> — especially those raising cows, pigs, and chickens.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="boPVHo">
The billions of animals farmed each year in the US for food generate nearly <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ib_2004_updfacfarmmaps-web2.pdf">2.5 billion pounds</a> of waste every day — around twice as much as people do — yet none of it is treated like human waste. It’s either stored in giant pits, piled high as enormous mounds on farms, or spread onto crop fields as fertilizer. And a lot of it washes away into rivers and streams, as does <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">synthetic fertilizer</a> from the farms growing corn and soy to feed all those animals.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2JeVTK">
“These factory farms operate like sewerless cities,” said Tarah Heinzen, legal director of environmental nonprofit Food and Water Watch. Animal waste is “running off into waterways, it’s leaching into people’s drinking water, it’s harming wildlife, and threatening public health.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mGEvj8">
Yet in practice, the Environmental Protection Agency appears to be largely fine with all that.
</p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Along a stretch of sand beach backed by pine forests, hundreds of dead fish are washed up or floating at the shoreline." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jRzMVwcN5SPz3QQYh1B0f2lVUqQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884769/3a.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Rick Dove/Waterkeeper Alliance</cite>
<figcaption>
High levels of factory farm pollution can cause fish kills.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v7u1mf">
When <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, it <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg816.pdf">explicitly directed</a> the EPA to regulate water pollution from “concentrated animal feeding operations,” or factory farms, among other businesses. But according to Food and Water Watch, fewer than one-third of the largest factory farms are actually regulated — and <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/citizens_cafo_cwa_petition.pdf">lightly</a>, at that.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N0QY3L">
Earlier this month, the EPA told Food and Water Watch it’s going to stay that way. The EPA <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/08/epa-denies-water-quality-petition-for-cafos/">rejected</a> a 2017 joint <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/citizens_cafo_cwa_petition.pdf">petition</a> from the group and other environmental organizations, calling on the agency to better regulate factory farms under the Clean Water Act.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIGoYJ">
The kind of regulatory evasion that allows for so much water pollution is just the latest example of what food industry reformers call “agricultural exceptionalism,” which lets the sector operate under a different set of rules than other parts of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a>, leading to widespread abuse in the food system. It’s fueled by romanticized myths about farming that mask the original sins of American agriculture — most notably slavery and mass land expropriation from American Indians — and the modern-day issues of mass pollution, animal cruelty, and labor exploitation. And it’s come to affect virtually every part of how food gets from the farm to your table.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2rxYKz">
Rather than regulate more factory farms for pollution, the EPA <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/08/epa-denies-water-quality-petition-for-cafos/">said</a> in its recent decision that it will set up a committee next year to further study the issue for 12 to 18 months. The agency denied an interview request for this story, but a spokesperson said in an email that “a comprehensive evaluation is essential before determining whether any regulatory revisions are necessary or appropriate.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o20RHG">
The National Pork Producers Council <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/28924-epa-denies-activists-on-cafo-reform">celebrated the news</a>, saying in a statement, “We are grateful for the Biden administration’s continuous commitment and support of agriculture.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lv0cB">
<a href="https://ppc.uiowa.edu/people/silvia-secchi">Silvia Secchi</a>, a natural resource economist at the University of Iowa, said the EPA’s plans for a lengthy evaluation amount to little more than a stall tactic. “We’ve been studying some of this stuff for decades,” she said. “We already know what needs to be done.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZG23Up">
We’ve also been here before, she added, pointing to another landmark piece of environmental legislation: the Clean Air Act. In 2005, after <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.26-Petition-re-2005-Air-Consent-Agreement-1.pdf">years of industry noncompliance</a> with the law, the EPA under Republican President George W. Bush brokered a deal in secret with the pork industry, promising to hold off on regulating factory farms so long as they funded research into the issue. Nearly two decades later, no regulatory action has been taken. In the last five years, Congress and the EPA have exempted farms from <a href="https://thefern.org/2019/12/a-breathtaking-lack-of-oversight-for-air-emissions-from-animal-farms/">two other</a> critical <a href="https://www.vox.com/air-quality">air quality</a> laws, despite more deaths linked to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/10/farm-pollution-deaths/">air pollution from factory farms</a> than pollution from coal power plants.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D9JezU">
“It’s the tactic of the [agricultural] industry to slow walk everything — renegotiate, restudy, reevaluate the obvious,” Secchi said.
</p>
<h3 id="8cbLj9">
Agricultural exceptionalism, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZLKUC5">
To understand why agriculture so often gets a free pass on commonsense regulation, we have to go back to the early 1900s. Back then, most workers across industries toiled for six days a week and often well over eight hours a day, including millions of children. President Franklin Roosevelt campaigned on shorter hours and higher pay, and in 1938, he signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law as part of the New Deal. It set rules for minimum wage, overtime pay, maximum workweeks, restrictions on child labor, and more.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N5NEOY">
<a href="https://time.com/4376857/flsa-history/">Time</a> called it “the law that changed the American workplace,” and it did — except on farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dyZS0w">
“To obtain sufficient support for these reforms, President Roosevelt and his allies had to compromise with Southern congressmen,” Alexis Guild of the nonprofit Farmworker Justice wrote in a <a href="https://journals.law.harvard.edu/lpr/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2019/02/20180513-1_GuildFigueroa.pdf">2019 paper</a> with her former colleague Iris Figueroa. “These compromises included exclusions of farmworkers and domestic workers from the law’s protections, preserving the plantation system in the South — a system that rested on the subjugation of racial minorities.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H8RQ8T">
The carveouts for agriculture in labor law set the tone for how farming would be regulated — or unregulated — for decades to come.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two farm workers in an okra field in California in 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N6GxS0ENEibA2RLFqM_VevsXYm0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884746/GettyImages_1408569733.jpg"/> <cite>Mario Tama/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Farm work is among the most dangerous occupations in the US, yet farm workers are exempted from many federal and state labor protections.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hapqBL">
On top of exemptions from critical environmental and labor legislation, farms are also exempt from the Animal Welfare Act, leaving billions of animals raised for meat, eggs, and dairy — <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/us-factory-farming-estimates">almost all</a> of whom are raised in terrible conditions on <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/9/12/23339898/global-meat-production-forecast-factory-farming-animal-welfare-human-progress">factory farms</a> — with virtually <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">no federal protections</a>. The federal law that’s meant to reduce animal suffering at slaughterhouses <a href="https://www.animallaw.info/intro/humane-methods-slaughter-act-hmsa">exempts</a> chickens and turkeys, which make up <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/animals-slaughtered-for-meat?country=~USA">98 percent</a> of land animals raised for food.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r8LJOB">
The United States Department of Agriculture, the agency charged with the <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/164874/abolish-department-agriculture">paradoxical task</a> of both regulating and promoting agriculture, hasn’t been shy about its deference to industry. When asked in an interview on the <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/secretary-of-agriculture-tom-vilsack-on-climate/id1623272960?i=1000581568321"><em>Climavores</em> podcast</a> why farms aren’t regulated to reduce pollution, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said there are simply too many farms to regulate, and that conservation efforts should be voluntary — and farms should be compensated for them (they are, <a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/new-ewg-analysis-74b-spent-two-usdas-biggest-conservation-programs-recent-years-very">handsomely</a>, with taxpayer dollars, while municipalities <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">spend billions</a> annually to clean up farm pollution).
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0pDrHB">
It’s not just the USDA and the EPA that often look the other way when problems arise in our food system. <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a>’s new hit documentary <a href="https://foodfix.co/poisoned-takes-netflix-by-storm/"><em>Poisoned</em></a> details how the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration’s lax food safety regulations lead to over a million consumers sickened annually, largely from <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/salmonella-chicken-usda-food-safety">tainted chicken</a> and <a href="https://foodfix.co/poisoned-takes-netflix-by-storm/">leafy greens</a> contaminated by livestock manure.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6rTxmF">
<a href="https://civileats.com/2022/11/14/injured-and-invisible-1-few-protections-animal-agriculture-workers-cafos-dairy-migrants-injuries/">According to Civil Eats</a>, a nonprofit publication covering the US food system, nearly all animal agriculture operations are exempt from federal protections under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the agency doesn’t respond to 85 percent of worker fatalities on animal farms.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="epufGm">
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9874718/">US immigration law</a> ensures the agricultural sector has a steady supply of largely foreign-born, low-paid, and exploited — sometimes even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/25/us-farms-made-200m-human-smuggling-labor-trafficking-operation">enslaved</a> — workers. Meanwhile, the federal government gives ranchers <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/natural-resources/rangelands-and-grazing/livestock-grazing">155 million acres</a> of public land for cattle grazing at practically <a href="https://therevelator.org/cattle-public-lands/">no cost</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1WT30b">
Agricultural exceptionalism trickles down to the state level, too. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/3/9/22967328/animal-cruelty-laws-state-federal-exemptions-pennsylvania-martin-farms-dairy-calves-dehorning">Most states</a> exempt livestock from anti-cruelty laws, and many states have passed “<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/11/18176551/ag-gag-laws-factory-farms-explained">ag-gag laws</a>,” which criminalize activists and journalists for simply recording what goes on at farms. Most state environmental agencies — including in progressive states like <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18082023/californias-top-methane-emitter-is-cattle-feedlot/">California</a> — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/opinion/water-quality-agriculture.html">don’t do much</a> to regulate farm pollution.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Long rows of chickens are kept in wire cages stacked on top of each other in a large barn with fluorescent lights overhead." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uj6jRntW-wp7DPCgqcFmSkg_kAo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884714/GettyImages_687564290.jpg"/> <cite>Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Chickens in cages at a conventional egg farm. Farmed animals are exempt from the federal Animal Welfare Act and most state anti-cruelty laws.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n5AO6C">
All 50 states have so-called <a href="https://nationalaglawcenter.org/state-compilations/right-to-farm/">“right to farm” laws</a>, which prevent citizens from suing farms for nuisances like pollution and odor that degrade their quality of life. “The smell, you can’t hang your clothes out, you can’t do nothing in the yard,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23003487/north-carolina-hog-pork-bacon-farms-environmental-racism-black-residents-pollution-meat-industry">said</a> one North Carolina woman who lives a few hundred feet from a pig waste storage pit.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5hRE7f">
One corn and soybean farmer in Nebraska who lives near giant chicken farms <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23207301/costco-rotisserie-chicken-poultry-farming-inflation">described</a> the stench of manure and pits of decomposing birds as “the death smell” that “tries to get inside anything it can.”
</p>
<h3 id="U1Ic6n">
How taxpayers enrich agribusiness
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aRtyY8">
While the entire food sector benefits from agricultural exceptionalism, animal agriculture is especially privileged. Meat and dairy producers get far more subsidies than farmers growing more sustainable foods, like beans, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c9YC6r">
A <a href="https://www.cell.com/one-earth/pdf/S2590-3322(23)00347-0.pdf">recent analysis</a> from Stanford University researchers found that livestock farmers receive 800 times more public funding than non-animal farmers. “It’s clear that powerful vested interests have exerted political influence to maintain the animal-farming system status quo,” Eric Lambin, one of the study authors, <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2023/08/18/can-alternative-meat-compete/">said in a press release</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9QXQWl">
This dates back much further than today’s industrialized, corporate-dominated food system. As Secchi notes, Congress passed <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act">the Homestead Act</a> in 1862, which handed over swathes of the Western US — after taking it from American Indians by <a href="https://usg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=eb6ca76e008543a89349ff2517db47e6#0">land seizures</a> and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/11/us-genocide-china-indigenous-peoples-day-columbus/">genocide</a> — to white settlers to farm the land, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/homestead-act">especially cattle ranchers</a>. Ever since, federal dollars have freely flowed to the agricultural industry, in the form of crop insurance, direct payments, infrastructure and conservation programs, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/dining/animal-welfare-at-risk-in-experiments-for-meat-industry.html">R&amp;D</a>, further entrenching an industry that has now worked its way into power at every level of government, making reforms near-impossible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ND21oC">
Farmers are heavily overrepresented in government, with 25 current members of the US House of Representatives, or their family members, having collected <a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/03/25-current-members-house-collected-14-million-federal-farm-subsidies">millions of dollars</a> in agricultural subsidies. That’s almost 6 percent of the chamber, even though just about <a href="http://jaysonlusk.com/blog/2016/6/26/the-evolution-of-american-agriculture">1 percent</a> of Americans live on farms. The dynamic is the same at the <a href="https://stateline.org/2015/12/10/state-legislatures-have-fewer-farmers-lawyers-but-higher-education-level/">state level</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mh9rIv">
Local and state tax codes give <a href="https://policymatters.illinois.edu/the-taxation-of-agricultural-land-in-the-united-states/">special treatment</a> to farmers, taxing farmland at a <a href="https://farmlandaccess.org/propertytax/#overview">lower rate</a> than other kinds of land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KYy69Z">
Like so many other sectors of the economy, there’s a revolving door between government and business. Vilsack served as President Barack Obama’s agriculture secretary for eight years before heading over to the US Dairy Export Council, where he served as CEO for a few years; in 2021, he returned to government, taking up his old post as agriculture secretary under President Joe Biden. In between, agricultural businessman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/politics/sonny-perdue-georgia.html">Sonny Perdue</a> served as <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Trump</a>’s agriculture secretary. State agriculture secretaries, from <a href="https://www.texasagriculture.gov/About/Commissioner-Miller#:~:text=An%20eighth%2Dgeneration%20farmer%20and,Department%20of%20Agriculture%20(TDA).">Texas</a> to <a href="https://nda.nebraska.gov/directorsoffice/index.html">Nebraska</a> to <a href="https://www.ncagr.gov/commissioner/">North Carolina</a>, are often farm owners as well. <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/11/18/23458234/jim-pillen-governor-nebraska-pigs-pork-plant-based-meat-water-pollution-nitrates">Nebraska Gov.</a> Jim Pillen is a hog tycoon who’s been accused of air and water pollution since the 1990s, and has used the bully pulpit to attack <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-of-meat">plant-based meat</a> alternatives.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="28O6vE">
Big Ag often argues its exceptional status is justified because farming is indeed exceptional, given the essential nature of its product: food. But Secchi argues this is the wrong way of thinking about it. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23254940">Since</a> the <a href="https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/FRB/pages/1920-1924/26396_1920-1924.pdf">early days</a> of American agriculture, farming has been a business like any other, focused on high output, which has led to excess supply and profitable exports around the world.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C04CfE">
And we don’t apply exceptionalist logic to any other industry. Energy production, for example, is highly polluting but essential to human flourishing, just like food, so we push to make our laws and economy limit the industry’s externalities and scale renewable forms of energy.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d2IDLZ">
Exemptions are granted to the agricultural industry not because we’ve ever really been at risk of famine, but because of the <a href="https://thecounter.org/sarah-mock-fails-to-prove-small-family-farms-are-the-future/">powerful myths</a> we tell ourselves about farming.
</p>
<h3 id="51fP21">
Breaking out of agricultural exceptionalism
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9a3MIz">
There are fewer political messages as potent, or as bipartisan, as supporting farmers.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WK0JGK">
“In politics, marketing, even literature and art, the presence of a farm or farmer signals authenticity, sincerity, patriotism, and a ‘real American’-ness that no other occupational group or industry can claim,” <a href="https://thecounter.org/sarah-mock-fails-to-prove-small-family-farms-are-the-future/">wrote</a> Sarah Mock, agriculture writer and author of <em>Farm (and Other F Words)</em>, in the Counter.<em> </em>“The problem with this myth, of course, is that it’s a myth.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rFyQun">
It harkens back to the Jeffersonian ideal of the US as “a nation of small farmer-landowners, each economically and politically independent,” making agriculture “the heart and soul of American democracy,” <a href="https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1596&amp;context=facpubs">according</a> to a paper by William &amp; Mary Law School professor Linda A. Malone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oBVC96">
However, Jefferson’s vision never came to pass. Small farms have been squeezed out by big farms, due in part to <a href="https://thecounter.org/rural-trump-vote-democrat-farm-policy/">American farm policy</a> advocated for by the same elected officials who evoke the Jeffersonian ideal.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1t0cny">
What’s left is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22298043/meat-antitrust-biden-vilsack">highly consolidated</a> agricultural sector, with many farmers precariously <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23207301/costco-rotisserie-chicken-poultry-farming-inflation">employed as contractors</a> for corporations, and a radically <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/income-and-wealth-in-context/#:~:text=Farm%20operator%20households%20have%20more,household%20had%20%242%2C100%2C879%20in%20wealth.">uneven distribution</a> of farm wealth: <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/06/black-farmers-soul-fire-farm-reparations-african-legacy-agriculture/">98 percent</a> of US farmland is white-owned, and the median commercial farm household had <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/income-and-wealth-in-context/#:~:text=Farm%20operator%20households%20have%20more,household%20had%20%242%2C100%2C879%20in%20wealth.">$3 million</a> in wealth in 2021, mostly in land and equipment, compared to the US median of <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/average-net-worth-by-age">$121,700.</a> <a href="https://civileats.com/2019/04/12/ag-census-is-it-a-farm-if-it-doesnt-sell-food/">One-fifth</a> of America’s 2 million farms don’t even sell food, serving more as <a href="https://civileats.com/2021/08/19/agriculture-reporter-sarah-mock-is-challenging-the-narrative-about-small-family-farms/">real estate investments</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A green tractor in a corn field in Lansing, Michigan, on August 12, 2021." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ouSTRb-18p07sRnzDM1Zij3vgkE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884719/GettyImages_1234653080.jpg"/> <cite>Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A tractor drives through corn fields at a farm in Michigan in 2021. Corn and soybean production, most of which is dedicated to ethanol and livestock feed, accounts for <a class="ql-link" href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/farming-and-farm-income/?topicId=90578734-a619-4b79-976f-8fa1ad27a0bd#:~:text=Corn%2C%20soybeans%20accounted%20for%20half,50.3%20percent)%20of%20the%20total." target="_blank">half</a> of all crop cash receipts.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pooA47">
Agricultural exceptionalism cuts across both major political parties, <a href="https://thecounter.org/rural-trump-vote-democrat-farm-policy/">according</a> to food policy expert Nathan Rosenberg and journalist Bryce Wilson Stucki. “While conservatives have consistently pushed more aggressive, pro-agribusiness policies,” they write, “liberals have often responded with pro-agribusiness policies of their own, even when that meant undermining their own natural allies: small and mid-sized farmers, farm workers, rural minority populations, and the small, independent businesses they support.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QCdHfZ">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23778399/media-ignores-climate-change-beef-meat-dairy">Journalists</a>, and even most environmental advocacy organizations, often reinforce agricultural exceptionalism, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LBo3Tb">
As a result, according to Secchi, criticizing the modern agricultural system can be politically marginalizing. “In America today, rural and farm are not the same thing, but they tend to be conflated with each other,” she said. “And so they say, ‘Oh, you’re against this, you’re against rural people.’ But it’s not true. Rural people are the first ones to suffer from the pollution, from the poor labor laws, from all the problems that this kind of agricultural system creates.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HCwpQP">
The myth of the small, humble family farm, paired with the political clout of <a href="https://sarah-k-mock.medium.com/the-average-farmer-in-the-u-s-7512d08f5206">millionaire farmers</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOcLyyVyb6o">lobbying might</a> of the trade associations that represent them, explains why it’s been so hard to reform the food system.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pz40Da">
Secchi argues that agricultural exceptionalism persists in part because we haven’t yet reckoned with the original sins of American agriculture: slave labor and land expropriation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wxQA8M">
“If you really want to go after the really core problems, you have to think about the fact that all this land is in private hands that maybe shouldn’t be in private hands,” Secchi said. “And all this unfettered pollution, [farmers] not paying the social costs, particularly of livestock production, requires you to think, ‘What is the alternative model?’ And the alternative model is a model in which we eat a lot less meat.” (Raising livestock requires far more <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/land-use-kcal-poore">land</a> and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/water-withdrawals-per-kg-poore">water</a> than growing plant-based foods — and produces far more pollution.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqOwee">
To get there, she said, farmland owners need to be taxed at a higher rate, and we need to do away with the American notion that people can do whatever they want on their private property: “What this change requires is limiting the ability of people who own land to create problems for the rest of us, in terms of the pollution they generate, the water they use … the way they treat their workers, the way they treat their neighbors — they can’t just pass on all these costs to the rest of us.”
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A large, almost rectangular, pond of brown, stagnant water borders a long, low-lying, and windowless building." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aA0bZcyln8c_AQIuEdvDXJVHTpw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24884834/AP17206567753932__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Gerry Broome/AP</cite>
<figcaption>
A hog waste pond is seen adjacent to hog houses at a farm owned by Smithfield Foods in Farmville, North Carolina.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9fGRJ">
I was reminded of the tight grip Big Ag holds on the government during a recent trip to North Carolina, which has a notorious <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23003487/north-carolina-hog-pork-bacon-farms-environmental-racism-black-residents-pollution-meat-industry">hog pollution problem</a>. On a Sunday morning, I visited Raleigh’s sprawling weekend flea market on the state’s fairgrounds, which are owned and operated by the state’s agricultural department. There’s a giant banner hanging on one of the fairground buildings bearing a simple slogan that makes it clear where the state stands on farm regulation: “TRUST FARMERS.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UUbqnu">
Farmers, of course, shouldn’t be <em>distrusted</em>, though farming ought to be held to the same regulatory standards as any other profit-seeking endeavor — perhaps even higher standards, considering the far-reaching effects of its operations. That might give way to a more humane, sustainable food system, in which there are serious costs to pay for polluting waterways, poisoning the air, underpaying workers, and abusing animals — as there should be.
</p></li>
<li><strong>The conservative boycott playbook is kind of working</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A Bud Light sign is crossed out on the side of the road." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/W4RZpHI6RCAWs0dvV3lJTTV1qYw=/232x0:4755x3392/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597151/1252072977.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
A sign disparaging Bud Light beer is seen along a country road on April 21, 2023, in Arco, Idaho. | Natalie Behring/Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
From Bud Light to Target, right-wing anger at “woke capitalism” is scaring corporate America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rijl1p">
The general rule about consumer boycotts is that they <a href="https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2017/king-corporate-boycotts.html">rarely</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2017/02/07/when-do-consumer-boycotts-work">work</a>, at least in terms of taking a real bite out of a company’s bottom line.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fzmzFt">
Take some recent examples. Plenty of coffee drinkers still love their Keurigs, despite a handful of people <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/13/16643884/sean-hannity-keurig-boycott">smashing their already-purchased machines</a> in 2017. In 2018, Nike <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/what-boycott-nike-sales-are-31-percent-kaepernick-campaign-n908251">got a sales boost</a> after angering some conservatives for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/9/4/17818148/nike-boycott-kaepernick">doing an ad campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick</a>. In 2020, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/7/12/21320954/goya-foods-unanue-boycott-cancel-culture-free-speech">calls among progressives for a boycott of Goya products</a> semi-backfired — the hullabaloo <a href="https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mksc.2022.1386?journalCode=mksc">actually resulted in a brief <em>bump</em></a> in the food company’s sales.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DtoQwc">
This year, though, the boycott outlook in the United States has been a little different. Conservative consumers, specifically, have been able to do some damage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kk928x">
<a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/4/12/23680135/bud-light-boycott-dylan-mulvaney-travis-tritt-trans">Bud Light</a>’s decision to embark on a small-scale marketing campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked vast outrage on the right this spring. It cost the company <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/business/anheuser-busch-revenue-bud-light-intl-hnk/index.html">millions of dollars in sales</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/8/4/23818909/modelo-bud-light-sales-ab-inbev-constellation-brands-dylan-mulvaney">ultimately contributed to Bud Light’s dethroning</a> as the most popular beer in the country.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<div id="qLa7ix">
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vevS3y">
Then, over the summer, conservatives <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/25/23737338/target-abprallen-pride-boycott-bud-light-trans-controversy-stock-price">took aim at Target and its annual Pride collection</a>. Many called for a boycott of the retailer, and some consumers took to going into Target stores to destroy displays and harass employees. Target’s earnings <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2023/08/Target-Corporation-Reports-Second-Quarter-Earnings#:~:text=Target%20Corporation%20(NYSE%3A%20TGT),percent%20from%20%240.39%20in%202022.">were down for the second quarter</a>. While the Pride backlash wasn’t the only or main issue in play, in an earnings call, a company executive cited “the strong reaction to this year’s Pride assortment” as headwinds during the period. Target now says it’s going to “pause, adapt, and learn” so that its future approach to Pride “balances celebration, inclusivity, and broad-based appeal.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tZaUFT">
Neither brand is in dire straits, but they would probably much rather not be in this position.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="WJyCeA">
<q>Activists have a figurative gun, they want to keep hunting, and CEOs know it</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fMnKov">
Conservatives aren’t winning every battle with corporate America — I’m signed up for a service called “<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/04/14/conservatives-plot-text-warning-woke-products">Woke Alerts</a>” that supposedly tells me every so-called <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/21437879/stay-woke-wokeness-history-origin-evolution-controversy">woke</a> company I’m supposed to boycott, and it feels like it’s a little bit all of them. However, it does appear that they’re onto something on some fronts. They are managing to hit a few companies where it hurts at least somewhat — on their balance sheets — and are getting them to change their behavior.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cvYZK1">
The energy on the right is having a chilling effect across corporate America. Activists have a figurative gun, they want to keep hunting, and CEOs know it.
</p>
<h3 id="F3mBuQ">
The right can’t stop, won’t stop (for now)
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="clghla">
There’s no concrete unified theory of why this recent string of right-wing outrage is hitting companies differently as of late, but it’s somewhat helpful to look at the boycotted brands themselves. For one thing, and not to be rude to Bud Light here, but it’s not the most awesome-tasting beer. More importantly, it’s really easy to swap out for another similarly not-most-awesome-tasting beer like Coors Light or Miller Lite, which is what many consumers seem to be doing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="951xnL">
“Bud Light seems like the most maximally substitutable beverage on Earth,” said Jerry Davis, a professor of management at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, though he did express surprise at what’s happened. “The Bud Light event really did take down the sales of America’s most popular beer, and I really can’t think of a comparable event in the past.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kzo3Ij">
There are likely a variety of factors in play here.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zRIUGG">
The right is energized and focused. While there have been calls for boycotts of other companies in recent months that have not been so successful (<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/29/18644354/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-donations-homophobia-dan-cathy">Chick-fil-A</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/5/16/23725262/miller-lite-woke-ad-shit-ilana-glazer-bud-light-boycott">Miller Lite</a>, etc.), activists have been able to get people to coalesce around a handful of specific actions and brands.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n9wRSw">
“Historically, boycotts haven’t worked. They’ve been too diffuse,” said Maurice Schweitzer, a Wharton professor who focuses on behavioral decision research, emotion, and negotiations. “I think what seems to have changed is that first of all it’s more focused, so it’s Bud Light and Target, it hasn’t been a lot of other companies, and the second thing that’s really different is that people are motivated and coordinated.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IuBRUz">
In May, influential right-wing commentator Matt Walsh was quite open about the strategy on the platform formerly known as <a href="https://www.vox.com/twitter">Twitter</a>. “We don’t need to [boycott every woke company],” <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1661438131365707798?lang=en">he wrote</a>. “Pick a few strategic targets. Make them pay dearly. That’s enough to make wokeness a lot less appealing to the corporate world. Stop trying to bring down the whole line of dominos at once. Start with one, and then the next.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b0hj5s">
The culture wars of the moment are likely a contributing factor here. Namely, conservatives are united around pushing back against transgender visibility and rights. It’s a hot-button issue and one there’s a lot of frenetic sentiment around within the GOP.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="Gz163r">
<q>“Conservatives at the moment are more unified as a group of politically active people than liberals are”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xAC8dZ">
“Conservatives at the moment are more unified as a group of politically active people than liberals are, especially on the trans issue,” said Brayden King, a professor of management and organizations at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iqPz2Z">
That’s not to say liberals don’t care about trans rights, but they’re not as energized over it, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/08/transgender-issues-divide-republicans-and-democrats/">they’re not as in lockstep</a> as conservatives are. All the different groups and viewpoints in the Democrats’ big tent make it harder to organize, especially when <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>, a unifying force for the left, is no longer in the White House. “If he’s not there to fight against, it’s not clear to me what they all have in common,” King said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qIuoZX">
When Trump was elected, there was an effort to boycott and pressure companies with ties to him and his businesses as part of the <a href="https://www.racked.com/2016/11/14/13623970/grabyourwallet-trump-boycott">#GrabYourWallet campaign</a>. It’s not clear it did much financially to the companies targeted <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2017/02/03/a-grabyourwallet-effect-following-nordstrom-drop-ivanka-trump-line-disappears-from-neiman-marcus-website/?sh=bcb655729cab">except for Ivanka Trump </a>— it was a lot of companies to keep track of. However, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/17/17980962/sleeping-giants-twitter-grab-your-wallet">it did generate a lot of attention and publicity</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H2Lim7">
Part of this is the nature of the Republican Party, which historically has been a more monolithic group, and has become angrier in recent years. “Democrats and liberals tend to be less homogenous, less coordinated, less easy to identify with a single issue,” Schweitzer said. “Trump has changed the Republican Party in a very fundamental way to be much more about identity, much more about grievance, and it’s been very powerfully motivating.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qUTXww">
The environment makes it easier to get people wound up about Target’s Pride collection, for example, even though said collection has been around for years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0oRn8T">
Much of this has been put on overdrive by social media allowing people to coordinate in ways they haven’t been able to in the past. It’s fueled by the conservative media complex — and some <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-target-swimsuits-transgender-pride-collection-892500330955">misinformation</a>. There’s also an element of violence to this that is quite unique and disturbing. Target’s stated reasoning for pulling back on its Pride collection has, in part, been to protect the safety of its employees. “That’s something that you can’t really just wave away,” Davis said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EZKT5r">
The intensity among right-leaning consumers isn’t just negative, with people turning away from brands. There is an additive element to it as well, adding to some bottom lines and not just taking away. The film <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23794355/sound-of-freedom-controversy-true-story-qanon"><em>Sound of Freedom</em></a>, which is about child sex trafficking, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23818719/july-box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-sound-of-freedom">has been a hit among conservative audiences</a> and raked in tens of millions of dollars as a result. Conservatives <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23842173/oliver-anthony-rich-men-controversy-morgan-wallen-jason-aldean-small-town-political">have also been able to drive controversial country songs</a>, such as Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” and Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” up the charts.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8vV7Oh">
To be sure, plenty of the efforts to appeal to conservative consumers are grifts, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23755227/target-bud-light-pride-conservative-boycott-anti-woke-lgbt">there’s not some vast economic ecosystem</a> for Republicans to cordon themselves off in. It’s not like everything’s been coming up roses for the American right as of late, politically, either. Republicans <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/11/14/23456270/midterm-elections-2022-results-questions-trump-inflation-democracy">underperformed</a> in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23357154/2022-midterm-elections-guide">2022 midterms</a>. The <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a>’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/24/23181720/supreme-court-dobbs-jackson-womens-health-samuel-alito-roe-wade-abortion-marriage-contraception">decision to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em></a><em> </em>has energized progressive (and moderate) voters, and multiple subsequent <a href="https://www.vox.com/abortion">abortion</a>-related <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23290714/kansas-abortion-referendum-primary-turnout-charts">referendums</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23444732/2022-midterm-elections-results-abortion-rights-nebraska-north-carolina">votes</a> have not gone the GOP’s way. That may be part of what’s motivating conservatives to look elsewhere to exercise their power, including to their wallets.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="URNzN8">
On a broader level, this is indicative of the growing polarization and even tribalization of America. Conservative and progressive consumers don’t <em>want </em>to shop in the same places, or talk to each other or negotiate with each other or even acknowledge the other exists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lUzBhA">
“The reality is increasingly there is a red market and a blue market,” said Geoffrey Kabaservice, a vice president at the Niskanen Center, a center-right think tank. “Ultimately here the subtext is America is a pretty divided country.”
</p>
<h3 id="xmXQMu">
This <em>is </em>a little novel, and companies don’t quite know what to do about it
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UnnxYn">
To a certain extent, progressives have already won the battle for corporate America’s soul. Companies <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/12/17/18139699/companies-nike-patagonia-dicks-politics-kaepernick-trump-ads">are expected to take a stand</a> on the issues of the day, whether that be race or immigration or climate, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22585831/starbucks-bathroom-privatization-government">some businesses have tried to step in</a> where government will not. The general line among experts goes that while many consumers don’t really actually shop their values — <a href="https://uncpressblog.com/2021/05/10/do-boycotts-work/">at least not for a sustained period of time</a> — <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5ceffa36-899a-4457-919f-b70902162f64">many employees do work their values</a>. A firm being viewed on the wrong side of history <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3067852/bosses-keep-up-with-your-employees-progressive-values-or-theyll-leave">can make it harder</a> for it to recruit and retain talent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="655d6u">
That’s led to a sort of equilibrium where many companies have become accustomed to being “woke.” The right uses it as a <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23638473/silicon-valley-bank-failure-fdic-republicans">derogatory and exaggerated term</a>, accusing companies of overstepping political bounds on even basic issues, such as embracing diversity and rejecting racism. But it’s true that corporations have taken a more liberal bent in recent years, because their customers, workers, and stakeholders expect it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KKtLlU">
Part of what’s made the consumer activism on the right so effective and so jarring is that it disturbs that equilibrium and is different, said Steven Teles, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University. Companies have a protocol for dealing with liberals who are worried about <a href="https://www.vox.com/gun-violence-shootings">gun violence</a>. They don’t have a protocol for dealing with conservatives who like Bud Light. “The efficacy of this is probably highest when it’s a surprise,” he said. “There was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18259865/great-awokening-white-liberals-race-polling-trump-2020">a great awokening</a> equilibrium. But now the people on the other side of that have figured out the counter move.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7JriW6">
There may be a level of boycott burnout on the left as well. Progressives tend to talk a lot about shopping their values, which it turns out can be exhausting. <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/23771693/amazon-walmart-ecommerce-shopping-antitrust-jason-del-rey">Amazon’s bad, so is Walmart</a>, and so is probably every retailer if you look closely enough. “There’s not boycott fatigue on the right,” Teles said. “Boycotts are probably easier to get people to engage in when they’re novel … also when there’s an easily available alternative.” (Again, Bud Light really is easy to switch out.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="89krTL">
Bud Light’s and Target’s handling of the backlash has been questionable. To put it plainly, both companies blinked. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns Bud Light, hasn’t stood by Mulvaney and has put out a bunch of wishy-washy <a href="https://www.anheuser-busch.com/newsroom/our-responsibility-to-america">statements</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/28/business/anheuser-busch-employee-ad-campaign/index.html">ads</a> that don’t really amount to anything clear or substantive. Target acted quite immediately to remove some merchandise altogether and move its Pride displays to the back of its stores. This isn’t to downplay the safety issue for employees, which is real. Still, it appears that the company was not as committed to the LGBTQ cause as it had professed in the past. The potential insincerity is something consumers across the political spectrum pick up on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9NSD3z">
“While both firms might have won over consumers who support LGBTQ causes, the gains might not have fully blunted the impact of the boycotts due to skepticism over these companies’ authenticity,” said Zhao Li, an NYU professor who specializes in strategic management and political economy, in an email. “To some extent, both Bud Light and Target seemed to have backed away from their initial stances following public backlash, and might have appeared inconsistent to consumers initially drawn to them for their advocacy on LGBTQ issues.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vZXVrN">
While progressives were turned off by the companies’ perceived cowardice, conservatives were energized. “That really emboldened people to lean in even harder,” Schweitzer said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5CsD9z">
That’s led them to keep seeking out targets and going for more. “There is an epidemic quality to this stuff,” Teles said. “It’s the old line ‘the appetite grows with the eating.’ Once people did that, they’re like, it was fun, and it seemed efficacious.”
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="0xc4ZP">
<q>“Bud Light is probably going to be the exception more than the rule”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UaWQf8">
There are some factors that make Bud Light and Target unique. “Whether it pays to engage in socio-political advocacy in a polarized society depends on various market variables, such as consumer stances, product substitutability, and competitors’ positions. Some of these variables do not look favorable for Bud Light and Target,” Li said. She pointed out that political activism <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022243720947682?journalCode=mrja">may work better as a marketing strategy</a> for smaller brands with little to lose and may be highly risky for established brands. Bud Light, specifically, has a more traditional consumer base, which likely contributed to their sense of betrayal at the company’s embrace of a transgender <a href="https://www.vox.com/influencers">influencer</a>. Other companies with more progressive consumers have not faced a similar backlash.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xrwGE0">
That doesn’t mean many firms aren’t worried. “Bud Light is probably going to be the exception more than the rule, but I think there will be [more] examples like this,” Kabaservice said.
</p>
<h3 id="tPO09y">
The ripple effects of conservative consumer activism are real
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hAYLwR">
If you are a CEO sitting in your office today contemplating how you’re going to approach political and cultural issues, the threat of conservative activists coming for you has to be in the back of your mind. As much as your employees, customers, and even perhaps personal politics may be pushing you to the left, there’s a risk that your firm could be next. Nobody wants to be the next Bud Light or Target or even <a href="https://www.vox.com/disney">Disney</a>, which <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/06/desantis-disney-culture-war-in-florida-is-not-hurting-business-yet.html">hasn’t seen a real hit to its business</a> since criticizing Florida’s “<a href="https://www.vox.com/23036009/disney-culture-war-desantis-florida-dont-say-gay">Don’t Say Gay” law</a> but also probably <a href="https://www.vox.com/23691467/ron-desantis-disney-what-you-need-to-know">would rather not be dealing with Ron DeSantis</a>. The company <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/19/us/southern-baptist-convention-calls-for-boycott-of-disney.html">already had to deal with the Christian Southern Baptists</a> calling for a boycott over being progressive on gay rights in the ’90s, a years-long effort that was unsuccessful because it turns out telling your kids they can’t go to “the happiest place on earth” over some cultural issue they don’t really care about is hard.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YIvv2Z">
The nature of the modern market is that companies are supposed to focus on profits and delivering shareholder value. Most firms that profess to embrace progressive values do so because at the very least they think it won’t hurt their business and instead hope it will help. If the scenario shifts, so does their behavior.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVNTyK">
Corporate executives have stopped talking as much about sustainability and diversity efforts in public forums. As the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/executives-quiet-their-sustainability-talk-on-earnings-calls-amid-growing-culture-war-3a358c1f">Wall Street Journal notes</a>, mentions of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22714761/esg-investing-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-401k">ESG</a> (environmental, social, and governance) and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) on earnings calls declined steeply between this year and last.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right">
<aside id="CdJtnV">
<q>“Nobody wants to be the person the bear catches”</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EdN2w8">
In June, Larry Fink, the CEO of investment firm BlackRock, said he had stopped using the term ESG because it had become too politicized. “It’s been entirely weaponized … by the far left and weaponized by the far right,” he said. He added that BlackRock was still committed to talking to companies about issues such as decarbonization and social concerns. Still, it’s a different tone from a guy who <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/17/16898496/blackrock-larry-fink">in 2018 declared</a> that “society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KhGTip">
Conservative activists aren’t winning the war against supposed wokeism in corporate America. If anything, they would likely say they’re the little guy here, fighting against the Woke Man. They are winning some battles, though, against some major companies along the margins, and they’re seemingly getting businesses to quiet down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PsWTYI">
Companies pushing back against North Carolina’s transgender “bathroom bill” <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/27/bathroom-bill-to-cost-north-carolina-376-billion.html">cost the state billions of dollars</a> and ultimately helped lead to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/30/522009335/north-carolina-lawmakers-governor-announce-compromise-to-repeal-bathroom-bill#:~:text=North%20Carolina%20has%20repealed%20portions,certificate%2C%20member%20station%20WUNC%20reports.">portions of the law being scrapped</a> in 2017. There’s no such overt corporate effort against legislation <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/more-states-consider-bills-limiting-which-bathroom-trans-people-can-use">across various states</a> barring transgender people from using the bathroom they identify with today.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="keGrMB">
Companies are likely looking around at competitors seeing what they’re doing, where they’re speaking out and where they’re not, what they’re putting on their shelves and in their marketing campaigns. There’s safety in numbers, even in concentrated corporate America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eQCs0K">
“The old joke is you don’t have to outrun the bear, you have to outrun the other guy who’s running from the bear. Nobody wants to be the person the bear catches,” Teles said. And the bear has been poked.
</p></li>
<li><strong>There’s been a shift in how we think about climate change</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Climate protest signs “Act now” and “save our future” lying on the ground beside a megaphone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nCeEdR3AsDqYU1tOe5uJHCCm_hk=/0x0:7072x5304/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72597017/GettyImages_1345174226.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
The driving psychological theory to explain how the public thinks about climate change is under revision. Climate change concern has moved from the periphery to the core. | Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A climate psychologist explains how we’ve moved beyond hope, anger, and complacency toward something more promising.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vRnUkz">
Our actions today will determine just how bad <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a> will become. But which emotions best drive a person to become politically active? Hope? Anger? Persevering through complacency? What if the fundamental challenge is actually our attention?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4PuYzV">
This last question gets at a particular theory in psychology that has undergone a revolution in the past few years. It’s a hypothesis called the “<a href="https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mygsb/faculty/research/pubfiles/4757/WIRE%20ClimateChange%20Perceptions%20Weber.pdf">finite pool of worry,</a>” coined in 2006 by Elke Weber, a psychologist and Princeton University professor. It states that people can only handle so many negative events at a time. So when public concern about one issue rises, another concern should fall. The theory gained attention after the 2008 financial crisis for explaining why heightened economic worries led the public to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-opinion/public-concern-about-environment-overshadowed-by-crisis-idUSBRE91R10220130228">tune out on climate</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TfcGOv">
But in the last few years, something wonkier has been going on. Polling did not find that concern about climate change shrank when the global Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, as theorists would have expected; it actually grew. According to researchers at Yale University and George Mason University, public understanding of the science that human activity is warming the planet increased in 2020, and has roughly <a href="https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/visualizations-data/americans-climate-views/">maintained</a> those levels since. The issue has especially risen in importance among Democratic voters, who overwhelmingly <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/climate-change-is-hitting-close-to-home-for-nearly-2-out-of-3-americans-poll-finds">view climate change as a major threat</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LJqzt">
Weber herself <a href="https://www.aaas.org/membership/member-spotlight/aaas-fellow-elke-weber-studies-decision-making-during-crises">recognized her theory</a> needed revising after studying the Covid effect, and so did other researchers studying other countries. One of these researchers is <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/lorraine-whitmarsh">Lorraine Whitmarsh</a>, an environmental psychologist at the University of Bath, who co-authored a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2018936118">paper</a> in 2021 that found “very little evidence” to support the hypothesis on the finite pool of worry for climate change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TUJ9jx">
I asked Whitmarsh how they might now think about public views on climate change. Understanding what drives people to take action on climate change is a specialty of Whitmarsh’s, and we spoke about how the range of emotions people may experience influences behavior. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.
</p>
<h4 id="sRPkZ7">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bcvD65">
The finite pool of worry made a lot of intuitive sense to explain why concern about climate change would change over time. When did it become clear there were cracks in the theory?
</p>
<h4 id="HMIVD1">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VirQaS">
There was quite a lot of broader psychological research to support this idea that people can only worry about a limited number of things at one time — whatever is top of mind. There’s this cognitive bias called “the availability heuristic,” which means that I’m only going to be worried about something that occurred in the recent past.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IkrFWw">
Over the past 20 or 30 years, media coverage had a strong agenda-setting effect on the issue. Polling suggested concern about climate change would wax and wane with whatever was in the news media, and to some extent, people’s own experiences.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HtANh4">
We hypothesized that the pandemic logically should completely displace concern about climate change. It’s a massive crisis, everybody’s worried about it, so surely, we don’t have enough worry left for climate change. But we found throughout the polling that we did over the last few years, concern was either maintained or at various points even grew. It seemed like Covid was not displacing concern about climate change.
</p>
<h4 id="6dJ1hK">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFegiU">
How should we interpret this?<strong> </strong>
</p>
<h4 id="mASvH6">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f6eRWU">
Now, climate change seems to be a core worry — it has moved from the periphery to the core.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ez0eso">
Climate change is reinforced regularly by what’s in the media and people’s direct experiences. I think the finite pool of worry theory needs a bit of nuance, distinguishing between core worries and peripheral worries.
</p>
<h4 id="lYR4aX">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JoVlQR">
Your study on the finite pool of worry relied on a mix of social media and polling to determine how the public was feeling about climate change. Which method do you consider to be a more accurate reflection of public opinion?
</p>
<h4 id="s7NK2L">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3wvpVa">
Neither polling nor social media gives a complete view. Social surveys are self-reported, so they will be partly people wanting to promote this image that they are a good person. And there will be other relevant factors — what’s the temperature at the moment? What have people just said to me that will influence how you’re feeling at that point in time, and how are the questions asked? There are lots of factors that will mean you’re only getting a partial view of what people really think. And particularly if you’re interested in behavior, then it’s very limited because people will say they do things and there will often be that gap between what they say and what they do.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CUlcuF">
Social media gives a different view, in that you’re seeing what people are actually saying without it being constructed by the researcher. In that sense, it’s more objective, but it’s a subset of people with usually very strong views, constructing a particular media for a particular audience. It’s a distorted view, but it’s one particular insight into what society’s thinking. But bringing them together is really valuable because while they’re limited in their own ways, together they can tell you something.
</p>
<h4 id="HOxuJh">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bH3NxK">
If climate change has moved from a peripheral to a core issue for many people, wouldn’t repeat disasters cause more fatigue or complacency? Is there the risk that we adjust to heat, wildfires, and worse storms as the “new normal” and the climate crisis becomes easier to ignore?
</p>
<h4 id="9z2yPS">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ntisYS">
The issue of habitation — the more that we experience something, the more we get used to it — is a competing idea to the availability heuristic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vrxBtS">
These extreme weather events are still periodic events. It seems unlikely in the near future that they would be so regular that we would completely habituate. We do have these fluctuations in people’s concerns, like when we’ve had some extreme weather events. During those moments, concern about climate change does seem to go up.
</p>
<h4 id="6VdfII">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mG8j7S">
So, what I’m hearing is rather than worrying about bumming people out, we should all be talking about climate change even more.
</p>
<h4 id="KCyelD">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LrKTfU">
There’s something called the “mere exposure effect,” that the more people see and hear something, the more it becomes relevant and something that they need to pay attention to. That’s why advertising works. To some extent, it’s just showing the same thing 1,000 times and when they are in a situation, they’ll be familiar with it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5JKcpI">
With climate change, we absolutely need to break the spiral of silence. We need to embed it much more in discussions so that people can see that this is something that isn’t going away. The climate crisis is not just relevant when there’s a drought or another extreme weather event; we need to have it on the agenda when we’re talking about energy issues and <a href="https://www.vox.com/air-quality">air quality</a> issues and everything else.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ejvGp6">
There’s also a big role for government here to really put climate change on the agenda and talk to the public so that there’s a societal dialogue happening about what are we going to do about climate change and showing people what they can do to be part of the solution.
</p>
<h4 id="Ntwp3P">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VVUzQ3">
Unfortunately, real solutions aren’t always accessible for people. So maybe they’re trying to grapple with burnout and a learned helplessness.
</p>
<h4 id="fJVsrN">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GFtw9z">
There’s a huge amount of research that shows just giving people information by itself does very little to change behavior. It might change people’s attitudes a bit. It might inform them, educate them, and motivate them to want to do something. But it often doesn’t actually turn into behavior change because there will be barriers like cost and convenience. Those barriers tend to be reduced by policy action like incentives and disincentives, regulations, as well as what businesses can do to make products attractive and cheaper.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CVcybx">
A lot of that is policy; it’s what governments can do. That might be making low-carbon options cheaper, for example, and making them more available. It might be changing social norms so low-carbon consumption is seen as aspirational as opposed to a sacrifice or deviant.
</p>
<h4 id="AoPqhJ">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1wIDjB">
I’d like to hear your thoughts on a recent study published in the scientific journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378023001048"><em>Global Environmental Change</em></a><em> </em>that surveyed 2,000 Norwegian adults on how they felt about climate change. One of their findings was that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/21/anger-is-most-powerful-emotion-by-far-for-spurring-climate-action-study-finds">anger was the strongest emotion</a> associated with driving people to take part in a protest.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EyjSpG">
How important is anger in driving collective action?
</p>
<h4 id="cbsrVH">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MpWGOw">
We know emotions are a really important driver of people’s behavior. But it is still true that while anger might motivate climate activism, which is one subset of behavior, we also need to engender some sense of hope and agency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XAuJiE">
There’s a compelling example in trying to get people to reduce health risk behaviors such as smoking and having unsafe sex: What health psychologists found is that attempts to influence change can backfire when you talk about the risks but you don’t pair that with a message of what they can do about it. People will just ignore the bad news unless they’re given some sort of action strategy to tackle it. Really it’s more about self-efficacy — there is something you can do — than of hope.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RyQQ2k">
People will find it harder to tackle climate change than to protect their own health, so we absolutely need self-efficacy and a message of why you should care. Maybe making people angrier, too.
</p>
<h4 id="XrNSmw">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PLvdjZ">
This made me think about hope. Because the study, among other research, found a lot of complacency among respondents. Perhaps many of us are actually too hopeful and not angry enough?
</p>
<h4 id="p9rd8j">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1cMdyr">
I really think that’s the big question. Are people unrealistically hopeful? There’s talk of collective delusion, and obviously, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/1/8/22872066/dont-look-up-mckay-dicaprio-existential-risk-apocalypse"><em>Don’t Look Up</em></a> movie was more or less about being ridiculously, overly optimistic and ignoring this risk at our own peril.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kh05nJ">
If you talk to scientists, they are much more worried than the public. That suggests that people are perhaps unrealistically optimistic and that it’s not yet clear how much will have to change, how serious the risks are, and how quickly those risks are accelerating.
</p>
<h4 id="w0JSGZ">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bDatUd">
The realization of those things could lead to fear. Could that be a good thing?
</p>
<h4 id="1gzB5D">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zdMelN">
Fear often sits behind anxiety, and there’s been growing attention to climate anxiety. We don’t see that climate anxiety is really widespread among populations, but it is higher among younger people. Often it motivates action. What we found was that there is a positive relationship between climate anxiety and taking action to tackle climate change. Fear can be a motivator in the same way that we were just saying about anger.
</p>
<h4 id="isIYiC">
Rebecca Leber
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8nyT4">
Do you have any advice for people who work and volunteer on climate who are dealing with intense emotions?
</p>
<h4 id="RzpBTl">
Lorraine Whitmarsh
</h4>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VJuwKI">
It can be really overwhelming to be thinking about this all the time. Obviously, there are things you can do like taking time out, but what’s very likely to help people is taking action to feel they’re making some progress. They’re taking back control. If you can do that with other people, then you’re more likely to feel that collectively you’re going to make a difference.
</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>Meet Tamil Nadu’s bodybuilders who dedicate their lives to maintain a ripped physique</strong> - Tamil Nadu bodybuilders move to Chennai to pursue their dreams of a ripped physique, medals, fame, and a Government job</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>Paris 2024 | After Budapest, how ready are Indian athletes for next year’s Olympics?</strong> - With the heartening efforts of javelin throwers, a national record in 3,000m steeplechase, and the men’s 4x400m relay team’s heroic run, Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal was the icing on the cake at the recently-concluded World Athletics Championships in Budapest</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>Missing: singular Indian athletes</strong> - Big personalities and plain-speak have punctuated the international track and field of late. Yes, we have Neeraj Chopra, but where are the others?</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>Asia Cup 2023 | After pummelling Nepal, Babar Azam says Pakistan are ready for India</strong> - Pakistan team arrived in Kandy ahead of electrifying clash against India on September 2</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>Australia thrashes South Africa by 111 runs in Durban T20</strong> - New Aussie captain Mitch Marsh led with a 22-ball fifty in an unbeaten 92, and was supported by Tim David’s 28-ball 64.</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>Eight injured in road mishap near Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PMK founder objects to Centre’s proposed amendment on mercy pleas</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Laying of bullet train track system begins in Surat</strong> - J-slab ballastless track system is being used for the first time in India: Ministry of Railways</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>Karnataka likely to declare extent of drought on September 4</strong> - Cabinet sub-committee expected to recommend drought-hit areas; Agriculture Minister says up to 150 taluks experiencing dry spell</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>Nerves and patriotism in Moscow after 18 months of war</strong> - The BBC’s Will Vernon finds resignation, patriotism and nervousness on the streets of Moscow.</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>Five rail workers killed in Italy after being hit by train</strong> - They were hit by an empty train at a reported 160km/h (100mph) while repairing tracks near Turin.</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>Meloni’s partner Andrea Giambruno criticised for Italy rape remarks</strong> - Italian TV host Andrea Giambruno denies claims of victim blaming after a series of rape attacks.</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>Luis Rubiales’ mother discharged from hospital after going on hunger strike</strong> - The mother of Spanish football federation president Luis Rubiales is discharged from hospital having been admitted after going on hunger strike.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine gains on southern front could open way to Crimea, says Kyiv</strong> - Ukraine claims to have liberated the village of Robotyne, which could lead to a push towards Crimea.</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>Dealmaster: Labor Day discounts on Steelcase chairs, LG OLED TVs, Lenovo laptops, and more</strong> - It’s a good time to buy a Steelcase office chair, which is now 15% off. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964238">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dog autism? 37% of US dog owners buy into anti-vaccine nonsense</strong> - For the bazillionth time, vaccines do not cause autism—and dog autism is not a thing. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964573">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google removes fake Signal and Telegram apps hosted on Play</strong> - Before linking an account, be sure the app you’re using is legit. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964551">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Thorny AI ownership questions have Copyright Office seeking public input</strong> - Should AI-created works be copyrighted? US regulators want to know what you think. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964248">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The mechanical keyboard that runs on Game Boy cartridge shells</strong> - Cartridge-based microcontroller is easy to move from keyboard to keyboard. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1964374">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A young newlywed couple wanted to join a church. The pastor told them, “We have special requirements for new parishioners. You must abstain from having sex for two weeks.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The couple agreed and came back at the end of two weeks. The pastor asked them, “Well, were you able to get through the two weeks without being intimate?” “Pastor, I’m afraid we were not able to go without sex for the two weeks,” the young man replied. “What happened?” inquired the pastor. “My wife was reaching for a can of corn on the top shelf and dropped it. When she bent over to pick it up, I was over come with lust and took advantage of her right there.” “You understand, of course, that this means you will not be welcome in our church,” stated the pastor. “That’s okay,” said the young man. “We’re not welcome at the grocery store anymore either.”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165xmyp/a_young_newlywed_couple_wanted_to_join_a_church/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165xmyp/a_young_newlywed_couple_wanted_to_join_a_church/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three vampires were arguing about who’s the fastest.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The first said, “See that village? I can kill all of the people there in 5 minutes”
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The other two agreed to time it and he sped off, coming back in 4 minutes covered in blood.
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The second vampire said, “See that town over there? I can kill all the people there in 2 minutes.” and sped off, coming back in 1:58 seconds all covered in blood and a severed head in his hand.
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The third sped off without a word, appearing in a minute, all bloody and limping.
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“See that rock over there?” he said, pointing to a boulder. The other two nodded.
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“Well I didn’t.” replied the vampire.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Poopstorm_Creator"> /u/Poopstorm_Creator </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1660g18/three_vampires_were_arguing_about_whos_the_fastest/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1660g18/three_vampires_were_arguing_about_whos_the_fastest/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
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“What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”
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Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream parlor. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”
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The boy licked his cone and replied: “Because the day I take the dollar the game is over!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/orgasmic2021"> /u/orgasmic2021 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165dd7s/a_young_boy_enters_a_barber_shop_and_the_barber/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165dd7s/a_young_boy_enters_a_barber_shop_and_the_barber/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job it was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about. The letter read: Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had £100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension cheque. Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna
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The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few pounds. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected £96, which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends. Christmas came and went.
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A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read: Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was £4 missing. I think it must have been those cunts at the Post Office.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Centurianmacro"> /u/Centurianmacro </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165pruo/there_was_a_man_who_worked_for_the_post_office/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165pruo/there_was_a_man_who_worked_for_the_post_office/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Started dating a girl.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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I thought she might be the one.
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But after looking through her wardrobe,
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and finding a nurse’s outfit, a French maids outfit,
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and a Police woman’s uniform,
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I finally decided: If she can’t hold down a job, she’s not for me.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165rjkd/started_dating_a_girl/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/165rjkd/started_dating_a_girl/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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