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<title>06 October, 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>Who Saves the Saviours During a Pandemic? Career Calling Protects Healthcare Workers from Burnout and Resigning</strong> -
<div>
This study investigates whether career calling protects from the detrimental effects of fear of COVID-19 and job demand on burnout and turnover intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in a sample of 275 Italian healthcare workers in charge of COVID-19 patients. Direct, indirect, and conditional effects were tested using a path model. The results showed a significant sequential mediation effect: Demand partially mediates the relation between fear of COVID-19 and burnout; burnout completely mediates the impact of fear of COVID-19 on turnover intention. Career calling moderates the impact of fear of COVID-19 on demand and of burnout on turnover intentions. When calling is high, the effects of fear of COVID-19 on perceived job demand, and the effect of burnout on turnover intentions are null. This study supports the notion that career calling is a personal resource that protects people from the negative consequences of highly stressful work environments.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/snguz/" target="_blank">Who Saves the Saviours During a Pandemic? Career Calling Protects Healthcare Workers from Burnout and Resigning</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Relative Deprivation, Psychological Wellbeing, and Problematic Internet Use among Young Adults During COVID-19 Lockdown: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)</strong> -
<div>
Individuals’ relative deprivation, psychological distress and addictive use of the internet are increasing concerns during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the related literature on these effects during the pandemic is lacking. We adopt social comparison theory as the framework to improve our understanding of the relationships between relative deprivation, psychological distress, life dissatisfaction, and problematic Internet use. In this study, young adult participants were recruited from one department of a university in China during the COVID-19 lockdown. A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was employed to explore the effects of relative deprivation evoked by social comparison on individuals’ psychological distress, life dissatisfaction, and problematic Internet use. Our results—obtained by adopting fsQCA—demonstrate that relative deprivation evoked by upward comparison is a key predictor of psychological distress, life dissatisfaction, and problematic Internet use during the campus lockdown. Also, psychological distress is linked to problematic Internet use. Our results provide novel insights into the phenomenon of relative deprivation during the COVID-19 crisis. We propose measures to improve individuals’ psychological wellbeing and reduce their problem behaviors, including: conducting psychological lectures emphasizing the danger of social comparisons; balancing the needs of faculty members and students, and epidemic control; avoiding inconsistent closed-off campus rules in campus management; and developing a counseling program addressing relative deprivation, psychological wellbeing, and problematic Internet use.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/6u8nf/" target="_blank">Relative Deprivation, Psychological Wellbeing, and Problematic Internet Use among Young Adults During COVID-19 Lockdown: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA)</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Fourth dose of Microneedle Array Patch of SARS-CoV-2 S1 Protein Subunit Vaccine Elicits Robust Long-lasting Humoral Responses in mice</strong> -
<div>
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the pressing need for safe and effective booster vaccines, particularly in considering the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants and addressing vaccine distribution inequalities. Dissolving microneedle array patches (MAP) offer a promising delivery method, enhancing immunogenicity and improving accessibility through the skin’s immune potential. In this study, we evaluated a microneedle array patch-based S1 subunit protein COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which comprised a bivalent formulation targeting the Wuhan and Beta variant alongside a monovalent Delta variant spike proteins in a murine model. Notably, the second boost of homologous bivalent MAP-S1(WU+Beta) induced a 15.7-fold increase in IgG endpoint titer, while the third boost of heterologous MAP-S1RS09Delta yielded a more modest 1.6-fold increase. Importantly, this study demonstrated that the administration of four doses of the MAP vaccine induced robust and long-lasting immune responses, persisting for at least 80 weeks. These immune responses encompassed various IgG isotypes and remained statistically significant for one year. Furthermore, neutralizing antibodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants were generated, with comparable responses observed against the Omicron variant. Overall, these findings emphasize the potential of MAP-based vaccines as a promising strategy to combat the evolving landscape of COVID-19 and to deliver a safe and effective booster vaccine worldwide.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.05.561047v1" target="_blank">Fourth dose of Microneedle Array Patch of SARS-CoV-2 S1 Protein Subunit Vaccine Elicits Robust Long-lasting Humoral Responses in mice</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Unveiling the antiviral capabilities of targeting Human Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase against SARS-CoV-2</strong> -
<div>
The urgent need for effective treatments against emerging viral diseases, driven by drug-resistant strains and new viral variants, remains critical. We focus on inhibiting the human dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (HsDHODH), one of the enzymes in charge of pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. This strategy could impede viral replication without provoking resistance. We evaluated quinone-based compounds, discovering potent HsDHODH inhibition (low nanomolar IC50) and promising in vitro anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity (low micromolar EC50). These compounds exhibited low toxicity, indicating potential for further development. Additionally, we employed computational tools like molecular docking and QSAR models to analyse protein-ligand interactions. These findings represent a significant step forward in the search for effective antiviral treatments and have great potential to impact the development of new broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.560875v1" target="_blank">Unveiling the antiviral capabilities of targeting Human Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase against SARS-CoV-2</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The Trajectory of Depression and Anxiety Among Children and Adolescents over Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
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Longitudinal research examining childrens mental health (MH) over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic is scarce. We examined trajectories of depression and anxiety over two pandemic years among children with and without MH disorders. Parents and children 2 to 18 years completed surveys at seven timepoints (April 2020 to June 2022). Parents completed validated measures of depression and anxiety for children 8to 18 years, and validated measures of emotional/behavioural symptoms for children 2 to 7 years old. Children 10 years and older completed validated measures of depression and anxiety. Latent growth curve analysis determined depression and anxiety trajectories, accounting for demographics, child and parent MH. Data were available on 1315 unique children (1259 parent-reports, 550 child-reports). Trajectories were stable across the study period, however individual variation in trajectories was statistically significant. Of included covariates, only initial symptom level predicted symptom trajectories. Among participants with pre-COVID data, a significant increase in depression symptoms relative to pre-pandemic levels was observed. Children and adolescents experienced elevated and sustained levels of depression and anxiety during the two-year period. Findings have direct policy implications in the prioritization and of maintenance of educational, recreational, and social activities with added MH supports in the face of future events.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296430v1" target="_blank">The Trajectory of Depression and Anxiety Among Children and Adolescents over Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Exploring the potential of a saliva-based, RNA-extraction-free PCR test for the multiplexed detection of key respiratory pathogens</strong> -
<div>
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Introduction. Efforts to diagnose and monitor transmissible respiratory infections can be impaired by invasive or resource-intensive sample collection. Having extensively demonstrated the feasibility of saliva for SARS-CoV-2 detection, we sought to validate its potential for other common upper respiratory tract pathogens. Methods. We modified our RNA-extraction-free SARS-CoV-2 PCR test for multiplexed detection of influenza A/B (IAV/IBV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). Stability of virus detection in saliva from virus-positive patients was tested after storage at 4°C, room temperature (~19°C), 30°C and 40°C for up to 7 days and through simulated shipping conditions. De-identified saliva samples were collected from individuals (≥18 years) with respiratory symptoms who were undergoing nasal-swab-based testing for SARS-CoV-2 (New Haven, CT). Saliva samples from SARS-CoV-2-negative individuals were tested with the multiplexed assay, with and without RNA extraction. Results. The limit of assay detection ranged from 3-6 copies/μl, virus target depending. Detection remained stable after prolonged sample storage at elevated temperatures and through shipping conditions. From the symptomatic testing sites, 1,095 clinical specimens tested SARS-CoV-2-negative. Upon multiplexed testing of their paired saliva, 41 (3.7%) tested positive (IAV, n=20; RSV, n=5; hMPV, n=7). Additionally, upon screening samples in singleplex for pneumococcus, 29 (3%) samples tested positive. Conclusion. Our findings emphasize the adaptability of a low-cost, open-source saliva-based PCR test for common respiratory pathogens, beyond SARS-CoV-2. We demonstrated its utility in symptomatic individuals, identifying viral infection missed when testing focused solely on a singular target, such as SARS-CoV-2.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296240v1" target="_blank">Exploring the potential of a saliva-based, RNA-extraction-free PCR test for the multiplexed detection of key respiratory pathogens</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Modelling the impact of population mobility, post-infection immunity and vaccination on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Dominican Republic</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
COVID-19 epidemic dynamics are driven by a complex interplay of factors including population behaviour, government interventions, new variants, vaccination campaigns and immunity from prior infections. We aimed to quantify the epidemic drivers of SARS-CoV-2 dynamics in the Dominican Republic, an upper-middle income country of 10.8 million people, and assess the impact of the vaccination campaign implemented in February 2021 in saving lives and averting hospitalisations. We used an age-structured, multi-variant transmission dynamic model to characterise epidemic drivers in the Dominican Republic and explore counterfactual scenarios around vaccination coverage and population mobility. We fit the model to reported deaths, hospital bed occupancy, ICU bed occupancy and seroprevalence data until December 2021 and simulated epidemic trajectories under different counterfactual vaccination scenarios. We estimate that vaccination averted 5040 hospital admissions (95% CrI: 4750 - 5350), 1500 ICU admissions (95% CrI: 1420 - 1590) and 544 deaths (95% CrI: 488 - 606) in the first 6 months of the campaign. We also found that early vaccination with Sinovac-CoronaVac was preferable to delayed vaccination using a product with higher efficacy. We investigated the trade-off between changes in vaccination coverage and population mobility to understand how much relaxation of social distancing measures vaccination was able to 9buy9 in the later stages of a pandemic. We found that if no vaccination had occurred, an additional decrease of 10-20% in population mobility would have been required to maintain the same death and hospitalisation outcomes. We found SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics in the Dominican Republic were driven by substantial accumulation of immunity during the first two years of the pandemic but that, despite this, vaccination was essential in enabling a return to pre-pandemic mobility levels without incurring considerable additional morbidity and mortality.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.05.23296586v1" target="_blank">Modelling the impact of population mobility, post-infection immunity and vaccination on SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Dominican Republic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Brain-targeted autoimmunity is strongly associated with Long COVID and its chronic fatigue syndrome as well as its affective symptoms.</strong> -
<div>
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Background: Autoimmune responses contribute to the pathophysiology of Long COVID, affective symptoms and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Objectives: To examine whether Long COVID, and its accompanying affective symptoms and CFS are associated with immunoglobulin (Ig)A/IgM/IgG directed at neuronal proteins including myelin basic protein (MBP), myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), synapsin, α+β-tubulin, neurofilament protein (NFP), cerebellar protein-2 (CP2), and the blood-brain-barrier-brain-damage (BBD) proteins claudin-5 and S100B. Methods: IgA/IgM/IgG to the above neuronal proteins, human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were measured in 90 Long COVID patients and 90 healthy controls, while C-reactive protein (CRP), and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) in association with affective and CFS ratings were additionally assessed in a subgroup thereof. Results: Long COVID is associated with significant increases in IgG directed at tubulin (IgG-tubulin), MBP, MOG and synapsin; IgM-MBP, MOG, CP2, synapsin and BBD; and IgA-CP2 and synapsin. IgM-SARS-CoV-2 and IgM-HHV-6 antibody titers were significantly correlated with IgA/IgG/IgM-tubulin and -CP2, IgG/IgM-BBD, IgM-MOG, IgA/IgM-NFP, and IgG/IgM-synapsin. Binary logistic regression analysis shows that IgM-MBP and IgG-MBP are the best predictors of Long COVID. Multiple regression analysis shows that IgG-MOG, CRP and AOPP explain together 41.7% of the variance in the severity of CFS. Neural network analysis shows that IgM-synapsin, IgA-MBP, IgG-MOG, IgA-synapsin, IgA-CP2, IgG-MBP and CRP are the most important predictors of affective symptoms due to Long COVID with a predictive accuracy of r=0.801. Conclusion: Brain-targeted autoimmunity contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of Long COVID and the severity of its physio-affective phenome.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296554v1" target="_blank">Brain-targeted autoimmunity is strongly associated with Long COVID and its chronic fatigue syndrome as well as its affective symptoms.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>COVID-19 and Influenza Infection Prevention and Control Measures in U.S. Jails, Prisons, and Detention Centers: A Scoping Review</strong> -
<div>
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<b>Background:</b> People who are incarcerated or detained are at a high risk of infection and death due to viruses spread through droplets, including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and influenza. Increased risk is associated with structural and institutional conditions of detainment, including but not limited to congregate settings, poor ventilation, and barriers to accessing care. The lessons learned from managing previous infectious outbreaks can inform preventative measures for future emerging outbreaks. <b>Aims:</b> Our project aims to analyze infection prevention and control measures for COVID-19 and influenza in U.S. correctional facilities. <b>Methods:</b> We searched the PubMed and Embase databases for manuscripts evaluating the effectiveness of influenza or COVID-19 mitigation measures. Then, we reviewed the reference lists from our results to identify manuscripts not captured by the initial search. <b>Results:</b> Out of the 553 articles initially found, only 28 met the inclusion criteria, with 27 focusing on COVID-19. Two additional studies were added after reviewing reference lists. Effective measures to prevent the spread of both infections included vaccines, testing, de-densification, limiting movement, masks, and contact tracing. <b>Conclusion:</b> Improved infrastructure, stakeholder collaboration, and research on sustainable responses are needed to address disproportionate impacts on people who are incarcerated or detained.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296518v1" target="_blank">COVID-19 and Influenza Infection Prevention and Control Measures in U.S. Jails, Prisons, and Detention Centers: A Scoping Review</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Leprosy campaigns in Brazil: analysis of “Janeiro Roxo” impact using Google Trends.</strong> -
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“Janeiro Roxo” (Purple January) is a Brazilian campaign to raise awareness about leprosy and its early symptoms. The negative influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on institutional campaigns was especially relevant for the control of leprosy, if considered its status of neglected disease by the media.  Google Trends (GT) is a free tool that tracks accesses to given terms on Google. Using GT we studied (i) impact of “Janeiro Roxo” in public interest on leprosy in the last 5 years; (ii) public interest during and after COVID-19 pandemic; (iii) patterns of public interest in self-identification of leprosy signs. Methods:  GT tracking follows the popularity of topics in time range in “Relative Search Volume” (RSV) – proxies of public interest in a particular subject on a scale from 0 to 100. We selected “HANSENÍASE” (HAN) and “HANSENÍASE SINTOMAS” (leprosy symptoms) (H.SIN) to estimate public interest in leprosy and “self-diagnosis” during 261 weeks (August 2018 to 2023). Polynomial trend lines estimate trends over the period. Weekly RSV, monthly and annual means were compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results:  In 261 weeks: higher RSV to “HANSENÍASE” (HAN) compared to “HANSENÍASE SINTOMAS” (H.SIN); highest Monthly Means (MM) in January months (2019 to 2023) for both HAN and H.SIN. Pandemic effect in “Janeiro Roxo”: decrease in January MM 2021 compared to 2020 (24% to HAN, 25% to H.SIN). Both HAN/H.SIN reached pre-pandemic levels in January 2022/2023. Breakpoints (points of abrupt change which influences trend lines) in the 26th week (February 2019); in the 55th and 213th week (September 2019 and 2022). Trend line (HAN): upward curve between 33rd-45th week (April to June 2019); pandemic downward trend between 120th-136th week (December 2020 to March 2021); upward trend curve between 220th-240th week (November 2022 to March 2023). Conclusion:  “Janeiro Roxo” and in-person activities, among other media stimuli, have a relevant impact in terms of public interest in leprosy, even after their interruption due to pandemic. Considering their impacts on national searches, regional campaigns should be considered very successful. RSV to HAN may be due to “reactive searches” motivated by transient stimuli from campaigns, in an ephemeral and impersonal way. “Proactive searches” to H.SIN may be associated to those interested - in a personal way - in early symptoms and self-diagnosis. Internet-based campaign evaluation programs could be useful in integrating vulnerable regions and exposing their needs for assistance services.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296467v1" target="_blank">Leprosy campaigns in Brazil: analysis of “Janeiro Roxo” impact using Google Trends.</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Humoral and cellular immune responses following BNT162b2 XBB.1.5 vaccination</strong> -
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SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB subvariants efficiently evade immunity from prior infection or vaccination, requiring vaccine adaptation. Here, we analyzed immunogenicity of an adapted vaccine, BNT162b2 Omicron XBB.1.5, which is currently used for booster vaccination. Booster vaccination significantly increased anti-Spike IgG, accompanied by expansion of cross-reactive memory B cells recognizing Wuhan and Omicron XBB.1.5 spike variants. Geometric mean neutralizing titers against XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3, as well as cross-reactive responses against EG.5.1 and BA.2.86 increased significantly relative to pre-booster titers. Finally, the number of Wuhan and XBB.1.5 spike reactive IFN-γ-producing T cells significantly increased after booster vaccination. In summary, BNT162b2 Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccination resulted in potent neutralizing antibody responses against Omicron XBB variants, including the recent Omicron variants EG.5.1 (Eris) and BA.2.86 (Pirola), as well as XBB.1.5 reactive T cell responses, suggesting that booster vaccination will augment protection against these emerging variants.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296545v1" target="_blank">Humoral and cellular immune responses following BNT162b2 XBB.1.5 vaccination</a>
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<li><strong>Characterization of Long COVID Definitions and Clinical Coding Practices</strong> -
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Background: Long COVID characterized as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) has no universal clinical case definition. Recent efforts have focused on understanding long COVID symptoms and electronic health records (EHR) data provides a unique resource for understanding this condition. The introduction of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 code U09.9 for - Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified to identify patients with long COVID has provided a method of evaluating this condition in EHRs, however, the accuracy of this code is unclear. Objective: Our study aimed to characterize the utility and accuracy of the U09.9 code across three healthcare systems - The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) against patients identified with long COVID via a chart review by operationalizing the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) definitions. Methods: COVID positive patients with either a U07.1 ICD code or positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within these healthcare systems were identified for chart review. Among this cohort we sampled patients based on two approaches i) with a U09.9 code and ii) without a U09.9 code but with a new onset PASC related ICD code, which allows us to assess the sensitivity of the U09.9 code. To operationalize the long COVID definition based on health agency guidelines, we grouped symptoms into a core cluster of 11 commonly reported symptoms among long COVID patients and an extended cluster, that captured all other symptoms by disease domain. Patients having at least 2 symptoms persisting for &gt;=60 days that were new onset after their COVID infection, with at least one symptom in the core cluster, were labeled as having long COVID per chart review. We compared the performance of the code across three health systems and across different time periods of the pandemic. Results: A total of 900 patient charts were reviewed across 3 healthcare systems. The prevalence of long COVID among the cohort with the U09.9 ICD code, based on the operationalized WHO definition was between 23.2%-62.4% across these healthcare systems. We also evaluated a less stringent version of the WHO definition and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) definition and observed an increase in the prevalence of long COVID at all three healthcare systems. Conclusions: This is one of the first studies to evaluate the U09.9 code against a clinical case definition for long COVID, as well as the first to apply this definition to EHR data using a chart review approach on a nationwide cohort across multiple healthcare systems. This chart review approach can be implemented at other EHR systems to further evaluate the utility and performance of the U09.9 code.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.04.23296301v1" target="_blank">Characterization of Long COVID Definitions and Clinical Coding Practices</a>
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<li><strong>Bioinformatic Analysis of Defective Viral Genomes in SARS-CoV-2 and Its Impact on Population Infection Characteristics</strong> -
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DVGs (Defective Viral Genomes) and SIP (Semi-Infectious Particle) are commonly present in RNA virus infections. In this study, we analyzed high-throughput sequencing data and found that DVGs or SIPs are also widely present in SARS-CoV-2. Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 with various DNA viruses revealed that the SARS-CoV-2 genome is more susceptible to damage and has greater sequencing sample heterogeneity. Variability analysis at the whole-genome sequencing depth showed a higher coefficient of variation for SARS-CoV-2, and DVG analysis indicated a high proportion of splicing sites, suggesting significant genome heterogeneity and implying that most virus particles assembled are enveloped with incomplete RNA sequences. We further analyzed the characteristics of different strains in terms of sequencing depth and DVG content differences and found that as the virus evolves, the proportion of intact genomes in virus particles increases, which can be significantly reflected in third-generation sequencing data, while the proportion of DVG gradually decreases. Specifically, the proportion of intact genome of Omicron was greater than that of Delta and Alpha strains. This can well explain why Omicron strain is more infectious than Delta and Alpha strains. We also speculate that this improvement in completeness is due to the enhancement of virus assembly ability, as the Omicron strain can quickly realize the binding of RNA and capsid protein, thereby shortening the exposure time of exposed virus RNA in the host environment and greatly reducing its degradation level. Finally, by using mathematical modeling, we simulated how DVG effects under different environmental factors affect the infection characteristics and evolution of the population. We can explain well why the severity of symptoms is closely related to the amount of virus invasion and why the same strain causes huge differences in population infection characteristics under different environmental conditions. Our study provides a new approach for future virus research and vaccine development.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.05.23296580v1" target="_blank">Bioinformatic Analysis of Defective Viral Genomes in SARS-CoV-2 and Its Impact on Population Infection Characteristics</a>
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<li><strong>The Coronavirus (Safeguards) Bill 2020: Proposed protections for digital interventions and in relation to immunity certificates</strong> -
<div>
This Bill attempts to provide safeguards in relation to the symptom tracking and contact tracing apps that are currently being rolled out in the UK; and anticipates minimum safeguards that will be needed if we move on to a roll out of “immunity certificates” (commonly known as passports) in the near future. It does not mandate any particular technological approach to building apps nor does it attempt to duplicate the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. Instead it suggests some basic safeguards that need to be placed on top of what these laws already supply. Although no one wants to delay or deter the massive effort to fight coronavirus we are all involved in, there are clear reasons to put a law like this in place sooner rather than later: (a) The portion of the population which is already digitally excluded needs reassurance that apps will not further entrench their exclusion (b) Uptake of any contact tracing app, crucial to its success will be improved if the app is both trusted and trustworthy. Voluntary use is crucial to this. Accordingly we suggest a principle of non-compulsion which includes making sure that no-one such as employers or service providers can, as a way of compulsion, discriminate against those who have not installed or used the app. (c) Connectedly, data quality will be much higher if people use these apps with confidence and do not provide false information to them, or withhold information, for fear of misuse or discrimination (d) Both uptake and quality will also be improved if citizens feel they have rights to police these apps and the data gathered via them, via a robust and swift complaints mechanism (e) Public trust will also be enhanced if an independent body whose remit is wider than just data protection has a watching brief to report on the whole scheme in relation to not just privacy but discrimination, freedom of movement, due process et al Accordingly this draft Bill makes it clear that (a) No one shall be penalised for not having a phone (or other device), leaving house without a phone, failing to charge phone, etc (b) No one is compelled to install a symptom and contact tracing app, or to share messages of their status on such an app (eg to an employer or insurer or university) (c) Personal data collected by an app, or contained in an immunity certificate, shall not be shared beyond the NHS and coronavirus researchers unless securely anonymised. (d) What is true, secure, verifiable, anonymisation needs to be certified by a stringent Code of Conduct (e) Personal data collected by apps or immunity certificate must be deleted or anonymised as soon as possible, or at latest immediately after the emergency period has expired. (f) “Immunity passports” must not become novel and uncontrolled internal passports, nor used by either state or private sector to discriminate in ways not necessary or proportionate to the legitimate social goal of controlling COVID-19.
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<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/lawarchive/yc6xu/" target="_blank">The Coronavirus (Safeguards) Bill 2020: Proposed protections for digital interventions and in relation to immunity certificates</a>
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<li><strong>The Covid-19 Outbreak: Can an applied linguist contribute towards human civilization?</strong> -
<div>
“The Covid-19 Outbreak” Can an applied linguist contribute towards human civilization?
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/preprints/lawarchive/emzk3/" target="_blank">The Covid-19 Outbreak: Can an applied linguist contribute towards human civilization?</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>Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac-M (Altered Antigenic Composition)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: GamCovidVac-M vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of the Vector Vaccine GamCovidVac for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Profile With Participation of Adult Volunteers</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: GamCovidVac vector vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 (with altered antigenic profile) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <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>Exercise Interventions in Post-acute Sequelae of Covid-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Behavioral: Exercise <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Virginia <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>Effects of Cacao FLAvonoids in LOng Covid Patients (FLALOC)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long Covid19; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Dietary Supplement: Flavonoids <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Guillermo Ceballos Reyes; Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Efficacy of the 2023-2024 Updated COVID-19 Vaccines Against COVID-19 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Vaccine-Preventable Diseases; SARS CoV 2 Infection; Upper Respiratory Tract Infection; Upper Respiratory Disease <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Novavax COVID-19 vaccine (2023-2024 formula XBB containing); Biological: Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (2023-2024 formula XBB containing) <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sarang K. Yoon, DO, MOH; Westat; Novavax <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>Motivational Interviewing for Vaccine Uptake in Latinx Adults</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Vaccine Hesitancy <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: EHR alert; Behavioral: Motivational Interviewing; Behavioral: Warm hand off to nurse <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Boston College; East Boston Neighborhood Health Center; Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH); Boston Children’s Hospital; National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) <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>Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety of RQ-01 in SARS-CoV-2 Positive Subjects</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Infectious Disease; Symptomatic COVID-19 Infection Laboratory-Confirmed; SARS CoV 2 Infection <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Combination Product: RQ-001; Other: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Red Queen Therapeutics, Inc.; PPD <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of “Sputnik Lite” for the Prevention of COVID-19 With Altered Antigenic Composition.</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: “Sputnik Lite” vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 with altered antigenic composition <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Health Ministry of the Russian Federation <br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study Will Assess the Safety, Neutralizing Activity and Efficacy of AZD3152 in Adults With Conditions Increasing Risk of Inadequate Protective Immune Response After Vaccination and Thus Are at High Risk of Developing Severe COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Biological: AZD3152; Biological: Biological: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: AstraZeneca <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>Examining the Function of Cs4 on Post-COVID-19 Disorders</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Other: Chinese medicine nutritional supplement Cs4 <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: The University of Hong Kong <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>Amantadine Therapy for Cognitive Impairment in Long COVID</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Long COVID; Post-COVID19 Condition; Post-Acute COVID19 Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: Amantadine <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Ohio State 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>Stellate Ganglion Block With Lidocaine for the Treatment of COVID-19-Induced Parosmia</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Parosmia <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Procedure: Stellate Ganglion Block; Other: Placebo <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Lawson Health Research Institute <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>CPAP Efficacy in Post-COVID Patients With Sleep Apnea</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19; Sleep Apnea <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Device: Continuous positive airway pressure <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: University of Pittsburgh <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>Cell Therapy With Treg Cells Obtained From Thymic Tissue (thyTreg) to Control the Immune Hyperactivation Associated With COVID-19 (THYTECH2)</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Biological: Allogeneic thyTreg 5.000.000; Biological: Allogeneic thyTreg 10.000.000 <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon; Instituto de Salud Carlos III <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>SA55 Injection: a Potential Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>: COVID-19 <br/><b>Interventions</b>: Drug: SA55 Injection; Other: Placebo for SA55 injection <br/><b>Sponsors</b>: Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd. <br/><b>Recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Durability of Antibody Responses of Two Doses of High-Dose Relative to Two Doses of Standard-Dose Inactivated Influenza Vaccine in Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients: A Multi-Center Randomized Controlled Trial</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: Two doses of HD-TIV were more immunogenic than SD-QIV, especially when administered ≥6 months post-HCT. Both groups maintained higher titers compared to baseline throughout the season.</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>Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD binding to ACE2 and its inhibition by fungal cohaerin C using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy</strong> - The structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and human ACE2 as well as changes in the structure due to binding activities were analysed using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. The inhibitor cohaerin C was applied to inhibit the binding between spike RBD and ACE2. Differences and changes in the Raman spectra were determined using deconvolution of the amide bands and principal component analysis. We thus demonstrate a fast and label-free analysis of the protein structures and the differentiation…</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>Novel designed analogues of quercetin against SARS-CoV2:an in-silico pharmacokinetic evaluation, molecular modeling, MD simulations based study</strong> - Here we present the design of the series of quercetin analogues and their molecular docking study involving the binding of quercetin and its analogues with SARS-CoV2 3CLpro. The scientific literature shows that quercetin compound has been successfully used against SARS-CoV by inhibiting the replication of virus in respiratory epithelial cell through the inhibition of the SARS-CoV main protease (3CLpro.) It was suggested that the modification at position 3 in quercetin structure may produce…</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>Reply to: Targeted protein S-nitrosylation of ACE2 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection</strong> - No abstract</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein peptides displayed in the Pyrococcus furiosus RAD system preserve epitopes antigenicity, immunogenicity, and virus-neutralizing activity of antibodies</strong> - Amongst the potential contribution of protein or peptide-display systems to study epitopes with relevant immunological features, the RAD display system stands out as a highly stable scaffold protein that allows the presentation of constrained target peptides. Here, we employed the RAD display system to present peptides derived from the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein as a tool to detect specific serum antibodies and to generate polyclonal antibodies capable of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infectivity 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>Phellinus linteus mycelia extract in COVID-19 prevention and identification of its key metabolic compounds profiling using UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS spectrometry</strong> - For centuries, food, herbal medicines, and natural products have been valuable resources for discovering novel antiviral drugs, uncovering new structure-activity relationships, and developing effective strategies to prevent/treat viral infections. One such resource is Phellinus linteus, a mushroom used in folk medicine in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and China. In this rich historical context, the key metabolites of Phellinus linteus mycelia ethanolic extract (GKPL) impacting the entry of severe acute…</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 microfibers induced toxicity in marine sedentary polychaete Hydroides elegans: Insight from embryogenesis axis</strong> - Presence of surgical face masks in the environment are more than ever before after the COVID-19 pandemic, and it poses a newer threat to aquatic habitats around the world due to microfibers (MFs) and other contaminants that get discharged when these masks deteriorate. The mechanism behind the developmental toxicity of MFs, especially released from surgical masks, on the early life stages of aquatic organisms are not well understood. Toxicity test were developed to examine the effects of MFs…</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 promotes endothelial dysfunction and thrombogenicity: Role of pro-inflammatory cytokines/SGLT2 pro-oxidant pathway</strong> - CONCLUSIONS: In COVID-19 patients, pro-inflammatory cytokines induced a redox-sensitive up-regulation of SGLT2 expression in ECs, which in turn promoted endothelial injury, senescence, platelet adhesion, aggregation, and thrombin generation. SGLT2 inhibition with empagliflozin, appeared as an attractive strategy to restore vascular homeostasis in 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>SARS-CoV-2 infection and dysregulation of nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recent pandemic caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) leading to pulmonary and extra-pulmonary manifestations due to the development of oxidative stress (OS) and hyperinflammation. The underlying cause for OS and hyperinflammation in COVID-19 may be related to the inhibition of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a master regulator of antioxidative responses and cellular homeostasis. The Nrf2…</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>What do we know about the function of SARS-CoV-2 proteins?</strong> - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance in the understanding of the biology of SARS-CoV-2. After more than two years since the first report of COVID-19, it remains crucial to continue studying how SARS-CoV-2 proteins interact with the host metabolism to cause COVID-19. In this review, we summarize the findings regarding the functions of the 16 non-structural, 6 accessory and 4 structural SARS-CoV-2 proteins. We place less emphasis on the spike protein, which has been the subject of…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>High-affinity binding to the SARS-CoV-2 spike trimer by a nanostructured, trivalent protein-DNA synthetic antibody</strong> - Multivalency enables nanostructures to bind molecular targets with high affinity. Although antibodies can be generated against a wide range of antigens, their shape and size cannot be tuned to match a given target. DNA nanotechnology provides an attractive approach for designing customized multivalent scaffolds due to the addressability and programmability of the nanostructure shape and size. Here, we design a nanoscale synthetic antibody (“nano-synbody”) based on a three-helix bundle DNA…</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>Bioactive metabolites identified from Aspergillus terreus derived from soil</strong> - Aspergillus terreus has been reported to produce many bioactive metabolites that possess potential activities including anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial activities. In the present study, we report the isolation and identification of A. terreus from a collected soil sample. The metabolites existing in the microbial ethyl acetate extract were tentatively identified by HPLC/MS and chemically categorized into alkaloids, terpenoids, polyketides, γ-butyrolactones, quinones, and…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Effects of tea, catechins and catechin derivatives on Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2</strong> - The Omicron subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 have multiple mutations in the S-proteins and show high transmissibility. We previously reported that tea catechin (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and its derivatives including theaflavin-3,3’-di-O-digallate (TFDG) strongly inactivated the conventional SARS-CoV-2 by binding to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the S-protein. Here we show that Omicron subvariants were effectively inactivated by green tea, Matcha, and black tea. EGCG and TFDG strongly…</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>AMPK inhibitor, compound C, inhibits coronavirus replication in vitro</strong> - The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in more than six million deaths by October 2022. Vaccines and antivirals for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 are now available; however, more effective antiviral drugs are required for effective treatment. Here, we report that a potent AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) inhibitor, compound C/dorsomorphin, inhibits the replication of the human coronavirus OC43 strain (HCoV-OC43). We examined HCoV-OC43 replication in control…</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 First-In-Human Phase 1 Study of Simnotrelvir, a 3CL-like Protease Inhibitor for Treatment of COVID-19, in Healthy Adult Subjects</strong> - Safe and efficacious antiviral therapeutics are in urgent need for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019. Simnotrelvir is a selective 3C-like protease inhibitor that can effectively inhibit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We evaluated the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of dose escalations of simnotrelvir alone or with ritonavir (simnotrelvir or simnotrelvir/ritonavir) in healthy subjects, as well as the food effect (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a New Approach to Public Defense Is Overcoming Mass Incarceration</strong> - Public defenders represent eighty per cent of all people charged with a crime in this country, and they typically work in offices that are underfunded and understaffed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-a-new-approach-to-public-defense-is-overcoming-mass-incarceration">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>McCarthy’s Ouster Is Proof, Once Again, That Appeasement Doesn’t Work</strong> - The political-obituary writers will not be kind to one of the weakest House Speakers ever. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/mccarthys-ouster-is-proof-once-again-that-appeasement-doesnt-work">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Bloody Campaign Promises</strong> - It’s tempting to ignore the former President’s expressions of rage, but the stakes for American democracy demand that attention be paid. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trumps-bloody-campaign-promises">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Obama’s “Car Czar” Thinks Biden Should Stay Out of the U.A.W. Strike</strong> - Last week, Steve Rattner called the President’s trip to the picket line “outrageous.” Whom did he help—or harm—by going? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-obamas-car-czar-thinks-biden-should-stay-out-of-the-uaw-strike">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Should the West Threaten the Putin Regime Over Ukraine?</strong> - The historian Stephen Kotkin on the state of the war and the dangers of a Russian Tet Offensive. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/should-the-west-threaten-the-putin-regime-over-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>On The Royal Hotel, Louis C.K., and burning it all down</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Two yong women stand in front of a yellow car parked in front of a rustic hotel." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tvjwL0gLzHzDjn2FR8FEAk7avx4=/200x0:1800x1200/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72641660/royalhotel.7.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick in <em>The Royal Hotel.</em> | Neon
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The movies have had it with bad men.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q8TRiS">
Six years ago, almost to the day, I sat in a Toronto movie theater and watched Louis C.K.’s directorial debut, a winking Woody Allen tribute entitled <em>I Love You, Daddy</em>. The black-and-white film (an homage presumably to Allen’s <em>Manhattan</em>) starred John Malkovich as Leslie Goodwin, who starts wooing the barely legal teen daughter of Glen (played by C.K.). (<em>Manhattan</em> features a 40-something writer, played by Allen, dating a 17-year-old.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H1cgEf">
This movie had it all, from impassioned speeches about who gets to decide if teens having sex with adults is consensual to men miming masturbation at their female colleagues. It was funny sometimes. It was uncomfortable. In <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/13/16298020/louis-ck-movie-i-love-you-daddy-review-woody-allen-tiff">my writeup</a>, I wondered what exactly <em>I Love You, Daddy</em> was supposed to be doing, because it obviously was trying to do <em>something</em>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JMYWbW">
If you didn’t see it, it’s probably because <em>I Love You, Daddy</em>’s buzzy release was summarily canceled mere weeks later when the long-rumored worst-kept secret on the comedy circuit — that C.K. had, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/9/16629400/louis-ck-allegations-masturbation">for decades</a>, been indeed masturbating in front of shell-shocked female colleagues — became <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html">public knowledge via a New York Times investigation</a>. A day later, C.K. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/arts/television/louis-ck-statement.html">confirmed</a> that the allegations were true. The rest <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/louis-ck-sexual-harassment-documentary-sorry-not-sorry-review-comedy-comeback-1234820003/">is history</a>.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman in a red dress sits in a bar and talks to camera." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HYW8pjFzMGoWQJ2I0DY4jyNuCSA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24915564/megankoester.jpg"/> <cite>Greenwich Entertainment</cite>
<figcaption>
Comedian Megan Koester in <em>Sorry/Not Sorry.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IYR28X">
I’m not sure I ever could have predicted that six years after squirming through <em>I Love You, Daddy</em>, I’d be back in that Toronto theater, watching a documentary about C.K.’s rise, demise, and comeback. <em>Sorry/Not Sorry</em>, directed by Caroline Suh and Cara Mones, was produced by the New York Times; it had been set to premiere on Showtime, but the network <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/doc-sorry-not-sorry-louis-c-k-canceled-1235582786/">dropped the project this June</a>. Its great strength is its many interviews — with several of C.K.’s accusers (including comedians <a href="https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2022/04/05/50482/jen_kirkman%3A_the_day_louis_ck_tried_to_show_me_his_penis">Jen Kirkman</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5193089/">Megan Koester</a>,<em> </em>and <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/08/what-about-the-careers-of-louis-ck-victims.html">Abby Schachner</a>), with a number of New York Times journalists who worked on the story, and with Michael Ian Black (who expresses regret about defending C.K.’s recent comeback on <a href="https://www.vox.com/twitter">Twitter</a>) and Michael Schur (who hired C.K. on <em>Parks and Recreation</em>). That last set of interviewees raises the most pertinent question the documentary asks, which is why nobody did anything when everyone knew about C.K.’s behavior, and whether it’s that very inaction — “I thought, it’s not my problem,” says Schur — that is the problem.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZMQR3J">
The <em>I Love You, Daddy</em> premiere comes up in the film, of course, which implicitly raises a related question. If, as several in the film insist, everyone must have known about C.K.’s behavior — looking back at my writeup, I <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/9/13/16298020/louis-ck-movie-i-love-you-daddy-review-woody-allen-tiff">see that I<em> </em>mention it</a>, which suggests it was mainstream knowledge — then what does it mean that this very festival showed the film and celebrated its filmmaker?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDsGAr">
What it means, I suppose, is that the world changes slowly, if at all, and people who gatekeep culture make some very sticky decisions when it comes to art. (Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, after all, just <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/09/woody-allen-roman-polanski-venice-movies">premiered new films</a> at the Venice Film Festival.) <em>Sorry/Not Sorry</em> doesn’t even try to answer the question of whether the movie should have been shown — or, perhaps to its detriment, whether all of the people excusing C.K.’s behavior are guilty not just of enabling his behavior but actively encouraging what seems like some mental health issues.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3CgAgJ">
What it does do, though, is remind us that bad men get away with bad things in part because we’re conditioned, over and over, to see them as normal and funny, permutations of “locker room talk” and “just making a joke.” Several women in <em>Sorry/Not Sorry</em> talk about how they were discouraged from calling C.K.’s behavior out because people said, in essence, that that’s just what Louis does, and it’s weird and funny and come on, stop being so uptight, this is comedy<em> </em>after all.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="The setting of The Dating Game" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FBj2PqkKG4IyWDZyXsT4dfSpoY8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24915565/womanofthehour.jpg"/> <cite>Netflix</cite>
<figcaption>
<em>Woman of the Hour</em> takes place, in part, on the set of the game show <em>The Dating Game</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hi2eDD">
It was an eerie echo to hear a day after I saw <em>Woman of the Hour</em>, Anna Kendrick’s capable and engrossing directorial debut. The film tells the true tale of Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), who was in the middle of a lengthy murder spree when he appeared on the game show <em>The Dating Game</em> in 1978. Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw, the female contestant on that episode, who grows increasingly frustrated with the show’s real reason for existing: an excuse for the audience to howl at leering comments the male contestants would level at the women.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XaZIUU">
It’s startling to hear; there are obvious ways in which the TV of 1978 is not the TV of 2023. But what Kendrick’s film smartly weaves into the narrative is the many ways in which women are conditioned to put up with men because, as the saying goes, they’re afraid of being killed. (One of C.K.’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRzs7v0do_Q">more famous bits</a> has to do with his surprise that women keep dating men, since statistically and historically, men are the biggest danger women face.) The women who are attacked by Alcala are shown, with a queasy believability, trying to placate him, stroke his ego, smile to please him, and laugh off discomfort — all learned survival tactics.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MR2awM">
A lot of us, though, are simply imitating what we’ve seen on a screen, whether it’s the plethora of <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a> in which women are chiefly the mollifying or pliant presence, or tales in which exploitative male behavior is chalked up to bravery, swagger, or genius. It’s still a little jarring to see films in which female protagonists simply refuse to play along, and refuse to be “likable,” either.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bNlbIJ">
It’s not shocking that <em>The Royal Hotel</em>, which also played at TIFF, is one such film — no surprise coming from Kitty Green, whose previous film <em>The Assistant</em> was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/29/21112386/the-assistant-interview-weinstein-julia-garner-kitty-green">a devastating masterpiece</a> about a new assistant to a Harvey Weinstein-like boss. Green re-teams with Julia Garner for this film, in which Hanna (Garner) and her best friend Liv (Jessica Henwick) are traveling through Australia and run out of money. They take temporary jobs at a pub in a remote mining town, laughing off the suggestion that they’ll have to be okay with some “male attention,” only to find themselves hemmed in at every turn by every variety of male attention.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Two young woman stand on the balcony of a house." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XVDS5OMlyEe5NTU80hi4mYzNzoA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24915568/royalhotel.jpg"/> <cite>Neon</cite>
<figcaption>
Jessica Henwick and Julia Garner in <em>The Royal Hotel</em>.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZeeAj2">
What makes <em>The Royal Hotel</em> brilliant, besides its heart-pounding performances, is how it illuminates the many ways in which men acting in socially acceptable, ordinary ways — playful catcalling, persistent passes, flexing power to be impressive — forms its own kind of horror house of mirrors in which it’s impossible to tell what’s truly sinister and what’s just someone acting like a guy they saw once in a Western. Hanna, far less amused by all the antics than Liv, is still sucked in by them. (“Men can be babies,” Cheryl is told in <em>Women of the Hour</em>, a refrain that fits here too.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w3qJ47">
Can any of this be fixed? Could anything have been done about Louis C.K., a man who’d built an empire on the perception that he was trying to be a good guy? Can a culture willing to let men pretend machismo and a lack of empathy makes them men — an obvious falsehood, but one that people prefer — ever really fix itself? When we put these stories on screen, what are we even doing?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pUvAYS">
These are big questions that seem to be alive <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23568359/cat-person-kavanaugh-justice-fair-play-sundance">in this year’s movies</a>, dealing with the ways that even “good” men are taught to be entitled and then allowed to be violently angry when they don’t get what they want. Yet that’s a hard story to tell, and an even harder one to live. Perhaps the only answer is to keep loudly insisting that these questions matter and that they deserve their own space on screen, too.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3jpYXp">
The only real alternative is to burn it all down.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o4nE9B">
The Royal Hotel<em> opens in theaters on October 6. Greenwich Entertainment acquired </em>Sorry/Not Sorry<em> after its TIFF premiere. </em><em>Netflix</em><em> acquired </em>Woman of the Hour<em> for distribution after its TIFF premiere. </em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>The new Exorcist movie proves how much the world has changed since 1973</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A girl in a muddy dress who looks demonic walks up a church aisle." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_17f23_sOWlyHdPdKxhH6bSPi34=/192x0:1716x1143/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72727146/exorcist4.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Plenty has changed in the last 50 years of the<em> Exorcist</em> franchise. | Universal Pictures
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The Exorcist: Believer shows how American religion and Hollywood movies have shifted.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v3iNzs">
The identity of the titular, singular “exorcist” of <em>The Exorcist</em> has always been a little murky. In the 1973 original — which overcame <a href="https://www.awardsdaily.com/2013/04/29/william-friedkin-on-casting-the-exorcist/">studio skepticism</a> to become one of the most successful and significant horror films of all time — there are a few exorcists, all priests trying to cast a demon out of a 12-year-old girl named Regan (Linda Blair). The movie’s true protagonist is Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a priest experiencing a serious crisis of faith, but there’s also a more seasoned exorcist in the mix, Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). So there are at least two exorcists (plus a third priest, a friend of Karras’s), and thus the movie’s tension and allure come from its plot ambiguity. You don’t really know what’s going to happen, or who’s going to survive this encounter with the pits of hell. It all ends pretty horribly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o6Ajge">
There have been a bunch of <em>Exorcist</em> installments in the intervening 50 years, some more successful than others. <em>The Exorcist: Believer</em>, the newest film in the franchise, is meant to operate as a loose sequel to the 1973 original. Director David Gordon Green <a href="https://screenrant.com/david-gordon-green-exorcist-trilogy-halloween-movies-difference/">claims</a> the rest of the films “fall into the acceptable mythology” of his new film (though their events aren’t mentioned in the movie). Should it be successful, <em>Believer</em> is planned as the start of a trilogy sequel-reboot of the series, much like <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17973678/halloween-movies-guide-michael-myers-explained">the <em>Halloween</em> films</a> that were released between 2018 and 2022. (Green helmed those too, along with writers Danny McBride and Scott Teems, who return for this film.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="obz0se">
As a film, it’s at best serviceable, stronger in its world-building than in its climactic exorcism and nowhere near as unnerving as the original. Yet <em>Believer</em> is a fascinating artifact of 2023. It highlights in myriad ways how much the world has changed since the original’s release. Hollywood isn’t the same, and neither is American religious culture.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A girl with a cut face, including an upside-down cross on her forehead." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qgxv46r1-jy7G3dUncwUp7VWHyg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977441/exorcist1.jpg"/> <cite>Universal Pictures</cite>
<figcaption>
Olivia Marcum in <em>The Exorcist: Believer.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b9hR3u">
That <em>The Exorcist: Believer</em>’s title still employs the singular case furnishes even more of a misnomer than it did in the original; these days there seem to be an awful lot of exorcists trotting around. Set (and released) 50 years after the events of <em>The Exorcist</em>, <em>Believer</em> centers on single dad Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his young teen daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) living in Georgia. (The names are more than lightly allegorical.) Angela’s mother died in an earthquake in Haiti, just after Angela was blessed, in utero, by a Haitian woman.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VQrQSx">
Angela disappears into the woods with her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) and the pair turn up three days later, 30 miles away, shoeless and seemingly disturbed. As their behavior grows more erratic, neighbors like Ann, a nurse who lives next door (Ann Dowd), Victor’s sparring partner from the boxing gym (Danny McCarthy), and Katherine’s parents (Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butz) get drawn into desperately finding a solution. Ann leads Victor — who lost whatever faith he’d had after his wife died — toward someone who might know something about erratic behavior among young teen girls: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn, who starred in the 1973 film), mother of Regan.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jx9DCw">
Out here in the world you and I inhabit, <em>The Exorcist’s</em> original release sparked immense controversy among clergy and critics, with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09526951211004465">Catholics divided</a> on whether the movie was vile, blasphemous, or a great recruiting tool for the church. Billy Graham — emphatically not Catholic, and extremely influential at the time — <a href="https://www.religionnewsblog.com/4655/exorcist-was-root-of-all-evil">decried the film</a> as having the devil in every frame. Requests <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2zQjitm4Md5Mg7ELPjFd7t">for exorcisms</a> (from Catholics and otherwise) rose sharply, a trend that’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/">ebbed and flowed</a> in the years since. Beyond its religious implications, the film furnished a cultural touchpoint, especially since its sold-out showings and reports of fainting and possession-like behavior from inside the theater helped bolster it at the box office. You may never have seen <em>The Exorcist</em>, but you probably know the gist of it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n3Gi57">
<em>The Exorcist</em> — in contrast to <em>Believer</em>, unfortunately — is indeed genuinely shocking, even if the scene in which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxuXQCEC7M">Regan’s head literally spins</a> is a little less viscerally terrifying to audiences brought up on slicker effects. (The special effects throughout the original movie are still extraordinary and would have seemed far more so in 1973.) Perhaps the most reflexively terrifying moment is when Regan (who is, we are meant to understand, in the early clutches of puberty) sticks a crucifix into her vulva repeatedly, an image that’s so distressing and painful and sacrilegious — it is the hell demon possessing the girl that’s violating her — that it is hard to speak of, even now.
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A demon-possessed girl looks angrily at the camera." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VrE0RdTck8LqyAEKPM82oWZJ_tQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977428/exorcistog1.jpg"/> <cite>Warner Bros.</cite>
<figcaption>
Linda Blair in <em>The Exorcist.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8MUBGm">
At one point in <em>Believer</em> I thought we might be witnessing a repeat of that moment: a demon howls and a metal crucifix falls off the wall, and I thought, <em>Oh no, I can’t handle watching this again</em>. But it’s used for quite a different disgusting purpose, and while that’s plenty disturbing on its own, it pales in comparison to the vulva-stabbing. That was the most telling moment in the film, though: In the instant after the thought occurred, it vanished, because if there’s one thing I know about mainstream Hollywood productions, it’s that they’d never do <em>that</em> today. (For that kind of shock, you need to dive deep into independent productions unbothered by studio executive notes, or reach outside of American borders.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7BZrna">
This isn’t the only way in which <em>Believer</em> shows how seismic the cultural shift has been from 1973 to 2023. The themes of the original <em>Exorcist </em>film are threefold: faith tested and renewed in the face of supernatural evil; anxieties about <a href="https://www.vox.com/parenting">parenting</a>, particularly for single parents; and the threat, particularly to patriarchy, that surfaces when girls reach puberty. All three are illustrated vibrantly throughout that film, and all mapped strongly onto what was going on in the broader culture. A decade of sexual liberation and feminist activism had given women new freedoms, but also stirred new anxieties in a culture that demonized single, working mothers and sexually liberated women. These specific anxieties would be tied into fears of the demonic and the occult well into the 1990s via <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22358153/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-conspiracy-theories-explained">the Satanic panic</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y3Ykrk">
More broadly, though, the mid-20th century into the 1970s was a time of tumult for belief, particularly in America, where a combination of postwar trauma, 1960s rebellions, new spiritual voices, and apocalyptic dread combined to send traditional religious hierarchy into a tailspin. Even <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Second-Vatican-Council">Vatican II</a>, which concluded in 1965, radically changed how the Catholic Church conducted its business and upended its long-defined order. In the ensuing upheaval, some Catholics found their faith strengthened, while others were threatened, leaving the church for other traditions, or none at all. Even beyond Catholicism, 1970s Christian America was gripped by a kind of apocalypticism that translated into phenomena like the rise of cults and the wild success of Hal Lindsey’s <a href="https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/the-late-great-planet-earth-made-the-apocalypse-popular-concern">biblical-prophecy-as-conspiracy-theory book <em>The Late Great Planet Earth</em></a>. <em>The Exorcist</em> tapped into that specifically Catholic doubt and uncertainty, but was applicable far beyond the Pope’s reach, and it did not leave viewers with any firm answers to their searching questions.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2HPlFw">
In a similar way to the original, <em>Believer</em> (as perhaps befits the name) reflects the religious tenor of our times. To its credit, the film actually understands, with a literacy far beyond typical Hollywood fare, the kinds of practices that separate, say, Pentecostals from mainline Baptists from Catholics. Yet this is not a film that assumes Catholics have a handle on how to cast out demons; over and over, the characters state that religions all over the world have rites for exorcism, and ultimately opt for a (not very effective) nondenominational exorcism. (It’s still mostly Christian, though there’s some <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/rootwork">rootwork</a> mixed in.)
</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An older white woman and a middle-aged Black man stand in the darkness in front of a car." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tRuVDjkFYGnl3Dnb_KwIx8SRCYI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977444/exorcist3.jpg"/> <cite>Universal Pictures</cite>
<figcaption>
Ellen Burstyn and Leslie Odom Jr. in <em>The Exorcist: Believer.</em>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="loKV2m">
That patchwork approach to <a href="https://www.vox.com/religion">religion</a>, though — in which it’s assumed that no one tradition is the right one, and that we can draw from all kinds of traditions in creating whatever works best for us to connect with the divine — is a marker of 21st-century America. As sociological studies have noted, the fastest-growing religious group in America are the “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">nones</a>,” who don’t identify with any particular religion, though they may take part in spiritual practice. In this way, <em>Believer</em> is an <em>Exorcist</em> for 2023, constructed around a world where God and evil are real, but the ways we reach the supernatural aren’t predominately guided by organized religion. It’s a thoroughly modern approach to the same themes.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dQ4jyp">
Ultimately, <em>Believer</em> opts for a more optimistic ending than <em>The Exorcist</em>, which might be the most revealing choice of them all. <em>Believer</em> comes off <em>almost </em>like a Christian movie, if you toned down some of the horror and gore. It hews to a Christian movie dictum as well: The end of a movie has to be inspirational and uplifting. This film ends with a statement that feels designed to comfort the audience: that the only tool we truly have to ward off evil is one another. Our comfort doesn’t really come from faith in God, but faith in the people around us. They help us sustain our dreams in the face of grief and loss and the unknowable. Love is all you need, and so on.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7qp4bQ">
In truth, it’s not just Christian films that require a happy ending; virtually every mainstream Hollywood production concludes with some kind of meditation on love, community, family, or friendship, and how even when the world is ending we can find our comfort in one another. So <em>Believer</em> is a product of today’s movie market as well as the religious marketplace.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xR0buU">
None of this makes <em>Believer</em> good — but it does make it interesting, and its <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/10/the-exorcist-believer-opening-weekend-box-office-1235562814/">likely box office success</a> is a reminder that exorcism stories remain fascinating to us. Even the most modern and secular among us are a little afraid of losing our children to a force beyond our control. We worry, somewhere deep down in our most ancient psyches, whether we actually have sovereignty over our own selves, or if we can be swept up by malign spirits we can’t even see. The world around us has shifted a great deal in the last 50 years. But some things, it seems, never change.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qulAGD">
The Exorcist: Believer <em>opens in theaters on October 6.</em>
</p></li>
<li><strong>A traumatized Maui will soon resume selling paradise to tourists</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A woman and child walk along an apartment balcony railing beside green trees." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/w2IlAT08gKrQzSb5nfTRICy6TSU=/445x0:4000x2666/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72727116/GettyImages_1664607916.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Victoria Gladden leaves the condo in Kihei, where she was staying temporarily with her daughters, to take her 5-year-old daughter Kai Gladden-Broussard to school on August 30, 2023. | Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As tourism returns to Maui, those displaced by this year’s deadly fires face losing their homes again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dyv3jy">
Like many other families this August, Krizhna Bayudan, 23, a Lāhainā resident, recalls her family of six sleeping in their cars wondering whether their house, where she has lived her entire life, burned down in the fires that decimated West Maui. They would later learn that it was completely destroyed, along with every other house in their neighborhood. Her family relocated at least five times within the first few weeks before being placed at a hotel-condominium in Kāʻanapali. “It’s so nice to just see people we used to see … and knowing that they’re okay,” Bayudan said, describing walking the hotel’s hall, which has become a collective space for many other displaced families.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GPm4A7">
Just one month after <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/8/9/23826015/maui-fire-2023-lahaina-hawaii-cause">the deadliest wildfires in US history</a> ravaged West Maui — killing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/maui-hawaii-wildfire-death-toll-3dc505d4d83b6af5ee01fdaf173c4f01">at least 97 people</a>, displacing thousands, and incinerating the historic town of Lāhainā — Hawaii’s governor <a href="https://mauinow.com/2023/09/08/gov-green-confirms-oct-8-reopening-date-for-west-maui-announcement-comes-one-month-since-wildfires-decimated-lahaina/">announced</a> that the island would fully reopen to <a href="https://www.vox.com/travel">tourism</a>. Beginning October 8, travel restrictions will be lifted and visitors will be welcome to resume their vacations.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DmDxSj">
The reopening means that families like Bayudan’s face yet another displacement from hotels as they prepare to make room for tourists who will soon lodge in the same rooms that have been used as emergency housing. This moment underscores historic tensions between tourism and local residents and Hawaiians: Maui’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> depends on tourism, yet the visitor industry is making it increasingly unlivable for those who call it home. Now, with a reopening for tourists being framed by their governor as a welcome return to normalcy, many locals feel the opposite as they navigate what they see as a housing crisis within the <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate crisis</a>.
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Bayudan and her family have been told by the American Red Cross, which operates the hotel for fire survivors, that they would have lodging there until October 31, which was later confirmed via email by the resort’s management company. But she joins many other displaced residents in their fear of the unknown. She’s heard that the date could be extended, but if not, she has no idea where her family will move next. While living in the hotel has given her and her family some much-needed relief, the uncertainty around when they would need to relocate has made it impossible for them to feel settled and safe. Bayudan told Vox that her family is still in danger of being relocated well before that date if the rental owners decide that <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/28/timeshare-owners-begin-arrive-kaanapali-checking-next-displaced-lahaina-fire-survivors/">they want to come back to Maui</a>.
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“I just want a final answer already,” she said. Until then, she will continue living out of her suitcase.
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Hawaii Gov. Josh Green’s administration, along with the Hawaii Tourism Authority, is imploring visitors to return to spend money at the island’s hotels, restaurants, retail shops, and visitor experiences in order to support its economic recovery. “We have to just begin to heal,” Green said during a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/olelocommunity/videos/live-press-conference-governor-green-officials-to-provide-school-housing-and-gra/288421597375832">recent news conference</a> at the state capitol in Honolulu, on Oahu.
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<img alt="An unsmiling woman sits on a hotel balcony at sunset." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aB8Fpl0UyAVfbRTFqQmh3APNxtY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977846/GettyImages_1668665655.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
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Val Casco sits on the balcony at her hotel room near Lahaina, after she and members of her family visited the remains of her home, which was destroyed in the wildfires.
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After survivors spent weeks sleeping in <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/497211/post-wildfires-hawaii-struggles-to-deal-with-housing-crisis">gymnasiums, church halls</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/17/maui-fires-homeless-relief/">in their cars, and on the beach</a>, nearly 8,000 people are currently sheltering across 40 Maui hotels. Many of them are employed in the visitor industry, some <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/27/royal-lahaina-resort-gm-shares-relief-efforts-maui-wildfire-victims/">at the very hotels</a> where they’re staying. A majority of them are in impacted West Maui, which hosts over 50 percent of the entire island’s lodging capacity.
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“As we continue care of those displaced, we may look to consolidate or shrink our footprint across hotels,” said the American Red Cross in a statement to Vox. “During this process, some people may need to be relocated to different hotel properties. However, we will communicate all changes with our residents and do our best to ensure the least amount of disruption as possible.”
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Veronica Mendoza Jachowski, co-founder of <a href="https://www.rootsreborn.org/">Roots Reborn Lāhainā</a>, a group of Maui-based immigration lawyers and community organizers, is currently providing direct emergency needs assessment to Latino immigrants, including undocumented survivors. She said the uncertainty is already doing the work of forcing some community members out. “They’re leaving the hotels and now paying rent,” she said. “They’re not even two months out, and they’re already hustling to make ends meet so that they can pay rent.”
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For some, the October 8 reopening signifies a rushed return
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Gov. Green and the American Red Cross have assured that those who qualify for housing assistance will not be kicked out of the hotels without alternative accommodation. The reopening has nonetheless <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/19/some-lahaina-fire-victims-get-notices-forcing-them-move/">stoked fears</a> of further displacement and reignited outrage from state residents over whom their home ultimately caters to, and how much longer it can sustain that servitude. Some survivors have already reported <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/09/hotel-doors-are-shutting-for-some-lahaina-fire-victims/">receiving notices</a> from their hotels asking them to vacate. Others remain on edge, <a href="https://www.khon2.com/local-news/hotel-to-homeless-displaced-maui-residents-face-uncertainty/">fearing</a> that it’s only a matter of time before they receive their own notices.
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At the end of September, the state’s Safe Harbor program ended, threatening more than 600 disaster survivors with displacement if they did not register to remain in temporary housing by that date or could not show proof of residence, Hawaii News Now <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/30/hundreds-evacuees-west-maui-hotels-could-be-forced-out-safe-harbor-program-expires/">reported</a>. Some survivors, including those who were unsheltered before the fires, will now be <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/09/hotel-doors-are-shutting-for-some-lahaina-fire-victims/">transferred</a> back into a temporary shelter setting.
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Those who don’t face relocation still fear that it’s too soon to return to normal. “There is this forced attempt to make the October 8 reopening feel happy and cheery and inevitable,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, a former state official now volunteering primarily for <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tagnawaformaui/">Tagnawa</a>, an immigrant group organized in the wake of the fire. Tagnawa provides a working-class Filipino response for the Filipino immigrants who make up roughly <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/many-of-lahainas-filipinos-are-still-missing-as-the-search-for-bodies-drags-on/">40 percent</a> of Lāhainā’s community.
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<img alt="Two women stand on a hotel balcony with the ocean and palm trees in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nL65OS8NKLKRgjzmgVd0W0Z0qMo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24968197/AP23250724398762.jpg"/> <cite>Jennifer Sinco Kelleher/AP Photo</cite>
<figcaption>
Evangeline Balintona, left, and Elsie Rosales pose on the balcony of a hotel room in Lahaina. They are among the many of Philippine heritage who work as Maui hotel housekeepers living temporarily in hotel rooms after losing their homes to the wildfires.
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Interacting directly with those impacted, she has heard “the spectrum” of responses to the reopening, but none of them have been eager. “It’s this looming date that everyone is dreading,” she said.
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“Some people [say], ‘Well, we know that it’s good for the rest of the island, so we’re willing to take it for the rest of Maui because we don’t want to hurt our friends,’” Jabola-Carolus added. “What I saw more of, personally, were people erupting into tears and talking about how sad it was making them.”
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Healing, many survivors believe, is the last thing the reopening will bring.
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A <a href="https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/delay-the-reopening-of-west-maui-to-tourism-on-october-8th">petition</a> by community group <a href="https://www.instagram.com/officiallahainastrong/">Lāhainā Strong</a> to delay the reopening <a href="https://www.khon2.com/top-stories/thousands-push-back-against-oct-8-west-maui-re-opening/">garnered</a> more than 3,000 signatures within the first 24 hours — rebuking the governor’s argument of widespread support.
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“A couple of people said that we didn’t get input,” Green <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/09/new-hnn-interview-show-spotlight-now-feature-live-viewer-engagement/">told</a> Hawaii News Now’s <em>Spotlight Now</em>. “That is not true. We held a meeting with 200 individuals who had either lost their home or their boat or their business or, God forbid, one of their loved ones. They told us almost unanimously — I mean, like well into beyond 90 percent — that they had to reopen.”
</p>
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In contrast, as of October 6, the petition stands at over 16,000 signatures.
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<h3 id="iIs0UQ">
Maui’s complex dependency on tourism
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ALdLTZ">
Less than a week after the fires, Pā’ele Kiakona, 28, who is a part of Lāhainā Strong, was standing with local news channel KITV’s Jeremy Lee at the Lāhainā bypass connecting to Kāʻanapali. He grew up in Lāhainā, and his grandmother’s house on Front Street, which was incinerated by the fires, had housed seven generations of his family. He was sharing how the community had lost everything — including loved ones — when they were repeatedly interrupted <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv6VBPHur2b/">mid-interview</a> by people taking photos and gawking at the devastation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dLY2E0">
Kiakona has no reason to believe that tourists returning to Maui when it fully reopens will be any more respectful. “The only type of people who are going to come to a disaster zone for vacation are going to be those very disrespectful types of people [who] are insensitive and don’t care,” he said.
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Tourists to Hawaii are notoriously misbehaved, so much so that in 2019, the Hawaii Tourism Authority <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/overtourism-hawaii/index.html">launched</a> a marketing campaign to gently but explicitly educate visitors on appropriate behavior. Then the pandemic hit, slingshotting the state economy back into complete codependency on its most lucrative economic driver. Tourism is the state’s largest employer and remains Hawaii’s <a href="https://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/media/4167/hta-tourism-econ-impact-fact-sheet-december-2019.pdf">largest single source of private capital</a>. And while the pandemic sparked <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/overtourism-hawaii/index.html">earnest conversations</a> around diversifying the state’s economy, they fizzled as soon as tourists returned.
</p>
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<img alt="A woman pushes a child on a swing while she holds her phone to her ear with her shoulder and writes in a notebook. An idyllic seascape is behind them." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sNaVAg3VT4nI2xfM8uH4Cg6o6Vg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977861/GettyImages_1664598721.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Victoria Gladden, whose home in Lahaina was destroyed in the wildfires, takes a phone call to arrange day care for her 1-year-old daughter Olivia Gladden-Broussard while spending time with her at a park in Kihei.
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After being <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/tourists-urged-to-avoid-maui-as-hotels-prepare-to-take-in-fire-evacuees-first-responders">urged to steer clear</a> following the fires, state officials are now <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-wildfires-tourism-unemployment-layoffs-e6a1032e1faede119a6b6607e41e6364">asking</a> tourists to return to help the island recover, recently <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/news/2023/09/01/hawaii-tourism-authority-approves--2-6-million-to-launch-marketing-campaign-aimed-at-encouraging-visitors-to-maui-">approving a $2.6 million marketing budget</a> to court travel back to Maui. Tourism accounts for <a href="https://time.com/6305545/maui-wildfires-tourism/">80 percent</a> of the county’s income. “Every 1,000 units not rented to tourists translates to a potential $30M monthly loss for local businesses, suggesting a prolonged recovery for our workforce,” read a <a href="https://uhero.hawaii.edu/after-the-maui-wildfires-the-road-ahead/">report</a> from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) on Maui’s long journey to recovery.
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“I can’t control people’s behavior,” said Green in <a href="https://www.facebook.com/olelocommunity/videos/live-press-conference-governor-green-officials-to-provide-school-housing-and-gra/288421597375832">a recent press conference</a>. “The appeal I’m making to everyone is ‘Come and help us heal.’”
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<img alt="A woman sits on the floor hugging her daughter." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3WTVOhRzjqUgxBLd-GaWsZpbB2w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977862/GettyImages_1664596456.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
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Gladden hugs her daughter, after she woke up at the condo where they were staying temporarily in Kihei.
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<img alt="A woman standing in a cleared hotel room kitchen looks at her phone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YYFvVaRf-PpuNXxcOafbZdf__M8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24968179/1668665477.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
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Casco speaks to her son Ryan Casco, who lives on Oahu, at her hotel near Lahaina.
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Those from Lāhainā’s immigrant communities especially, who have uneven access to financial aid, are not waiting for the state government and Red Cross to coordinate housing for the next 18 months as the governor had repeatedly promised. Community organizations like Roots Reborn say that some displaced families have already left the island for the US continent.
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Many now fear that further displacement will make way for a land grab.
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<h3 id="uYIab9">
Maui’s housing crisis, explained
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mou18q">
Top officials — from Gov. Green to <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">President Biden</a> — have assured the people of Lāhainā that the town will be rebuilt the way the community wants, assuaging <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-lahaina-housing-prices-shortage-d8902c3ea55a8ec4d9938865f3f749f7">early fears</a> that the fires just paved the way for the island’s total gentrification.
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Destroyed homes will need to be rebuilt in the most expensive housing market in the nation: Median housing costs in Hawaii are reportedly <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/trouble-paradise-native-hawaiians-forced-expensive-island-life/story?id=99896657">214 percent higher</a> than the national average. Less than a third of Hawaii residents can afford to buy a single-family home, <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/06/its-actually-more-expensive-to-buy-a-home-in-hawaii-these-days-than-you-thought/">according to another UHERO study</a>. For many, the opportunity to be a homeowner is dependent on whether they <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/01/23/hawaiians-cannot-afford-to-live-in-hawaii-las-vegas-drawing-natives/">inherit a house or can sustain multiple jobs</a>.
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Consequently, <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/02/hawaii-needs-a-new-approach-to-housing/">40 percent of Hawaii households are renters</a>, who on average spend <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/08/17/hawaii-governor-housing-market-land-grab-investors/">over 40 percent</a> of their income on housing.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XjpevO">
The Hawaiian Home Lands program, created by the <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">US Congress</a> in 1921 <a href="https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2021-07-09/100th-anniversary-of-the-hawaiian-homes-commission-act">to return Native Hawaiians to the land</a> by awarding homestead lots, today has a generations-long waitlist of some 30,000 people on some islands. Many have died before getting off the waitlist.
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Reasons behind the housing crisis are manifold, not least among them because <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/us/maui-wildfires-housing.html">much of the current housing stock is vacation rentals</a>, motivated in part by the state having <a href="https://uhero.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/TheHawaiiHousingFactbook.pdf">the lowest property taxes in the nation</a>.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fZ0oEO">
Nearly a quarter of home purchases statewide are made by out-of-state buyers; on Maui, <a href="https://www.hibudget.org/blog/hawaii-housing-local-residents-investors">more than 70 percent</a> of homes purchased in 2020 went to vacation homes or rental investments.
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With neighboring islands faring no better, local families have been migrating to other states in search of affordable housing.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oe7YZE">
For the first time, Native Hawaiians living on the continent <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/more-native-hawaiians-live-outside-hawaii-18381167.php">outnumber</a> those who live in their homeland.
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<img alt="Val Casco and her grandsons Hawea Casco, 9, and Hanuola Casco, 6, stand at the entrance to her home, which was destroyed in the August 8 wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 24, 2023." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vSm6kUdkdzl87MXpaqxU4j332oU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977868/GettyImages_1668665514.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
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Casco and members of her family were allowed to briefly return to her home for the first time since the wildfires that burned much of Lahaina.
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<img alt="A child walks past a large, spreading tree that has been burned black. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/R297oylxc6a5QVbdkF5EZot_2hc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977869/GettyImages_1668665629.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
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Hawea Casco, 9, walks through the backyard of his grandparents’ home, which was destroyed in the wildfires.
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At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed by the fires, and nearly all of them were residential. Many of the houses in the burn zone <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-lahaina-housing-prices-shortage-d8902c3ea55a8ec4d9938865f3f749f7">reportedly</a> also had been in the hands of local families for generations — including Kiakona’s grandmother’s home<em>.</em>
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“When the fire happened, the first thing that came to my mind was people are going to leave their homes and they’re going to start selling their property,” said Kiakona. “And corporate interests, with their greed, are going to … try and take advantage of people in their times of need.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oLnshq">
Amid immediate reports of <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maui-fire-victims-predatory-realtors-land-grab/">unsolicited offers</a> to buy land for cash by “<a href="https://www.archpaper.com/2023/08/vulture-agents-buy-up-real-estate-hawaii-pennies-dollar-wildfires-continue-sparking-outrage/">vulture agents</a>,” the governor voiced his <a href="https://www.insider.com/hawaii-governor-accuses-developers-investors-steal-land-maui-wildfire-2023-8">commitment</a> to protecting affected residents. “You would be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Chvkas">
But the devastated and wary community isn’t exempting the government from making its own play for land.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v6Tleq">
Gov. Green extensively cited housing challenges for Native Hawaiians especially in his <a href="https://governor.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2307072-1.pdf">emergency proclamation</a> on housing in July, which introduced a fast-tracked process for housing projects that would bypass regulatory barriers, including cultural and environmental reviews and public transparency in government meetings. It didn’t take long for the governor’s proclamation to attract <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/07/hawaii-gov-takes-dramatic-action-to-solve-housing-crisis-but-is-he-going-too-far/">strong criticism</a> and, following the fires, <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/09/new-lawsuits-attack-hawaii-governors-broad-plan-to-build-more-housing/">litigation</a>. In September, after considerable public pressure, the <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/09/hawaii-governor-is-changing-course-on-his-sweeping-housing-order/">governor amended the proclamation</a> to reinstate those regulations, but litigation remains ongoing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wMEz88">
While few can deny that a housing crisis exists, many debate whether the crisis actually stems from a housing shortage. More than 2,000 housing units were secured to shelter the displaced within the first two weeks after the fire, <a href="https://governor.hawaii.gov/main/address-on-the-maui-wildfire-disaster-friday-august-18-2023/">according to the governor</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TXm6Vs">
“Is Hawaii’s shortage of affordable housing really a supply issue, where the constitution has to be suspended so that more can be built,” said Maui attorney Lance Collins, who filed one of the two lawsuits targeting the proclamation. “Or, is it a distribution issue?” He believes it would be more impactful to <a href="https://www.khon2.com/local-news/growing-calls-for-a-mortgage-deferral-for-lahaina-homeowners/">defer mortgage payments</a>, which is why he is petitioning the governor for mortgage deferral for Lāhainā residents for three years.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wzj2wx">
“Almost every home in the burnout zone had a mortgage on it,” Collins said. “If there isn’t a general deferment process that everybody can use while they’re rebuilding, six [to] nine months from now, there’s going to be a tsunami of foreclosures, and then there is going to be a land grab.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SOJ48U">
“I don’t think it has anything to do with having enough homes,” said Kiakona. “[It] has everything to do with mismanaging what we have.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A woman stands holing a toddler beside a young woman and an older man at an outdoor aid station." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1JKAz8mtGCWb1EppBfdivXHBn4Y=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977872/GettyImages_1664607364.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Gladden visits a local relief hub to pick up supplies at Honokwai Beach Park near Lahaina with her daughters and father, Wayne Gladden.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A toddler sleeping in a car seat. The view out the window is of homes destroyed by fire." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wZ68VvvQlB89GdaTlI5-2Mtbe7c=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977871/GettyImages_1664597865.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Olivia Gladden-Broussard drives with her sisters and mother past homes that were burned in the wildfires.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwsKpg">
Gov. Green again cited fear of “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/maui-wildfires-lahaina-tourism-travel-ba57de619446da60e841fcf0c42bf986">mass exodus</a>” as a driver behind reopening, stating at the recent press conference that workers “passionately” supported the reopening to support their ability to continue to live there.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LAwWol">
Much of that anxiety is extended to their current shelter. “It’s a thing across the hotels,” said Jabola-Carolus. “Even if you’re staying there as a disaster victim, you’re still working.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lFAAta">
Kiakona’s fear for those returning to work is that visitors will provoke more harm than healing. “It’s bound to happen,” he said. “People are going to ask, ‘Did you lose your home?’ That’s going to be a conversation that they’re going to have to repeat over and over again. And they never even got a chance to deal with how that made them feel.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ECd0W">
Rather than equate economic recovery to healing, Kiakona said, “the focus should be on how we’re going to get the money so the people here can focus on what’s really important. I don’t understand why [reopening] is the only option.”
</p>
<div class="c-wide-block">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Crosses, yellow ribbons, and flags are attached to a stretch of fence." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fgUEGiGfazQ4vubAA-bEbsqhu0s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977877/GettyImages_1644509539.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A makeshift memorial honoring the victims killed in the fires and those who remain missing is seen in Lahaina on August 29, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An easel holding flowers and a picture of the deceased stands on a beach beside a tree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_jv3mxagI101z_Ycx-Eg0tPwdwE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24977876/GettyImages_1636810855.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A tribute to Carole Hartley, who died in the fires in Lahaina, stands at Ukumehame Beach near Lahaina during a celebration of her life on August 28, 2023, what would have been her 61st birthday.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8pJXFmBhGSbLO-rWnP2Q2ynaFU8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24968182/1668665597.jpg"/> <cite>Tamir Kalifa/Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Photographs of Val Casco’s mother and bibles, which were among the only items she evacuated with from her home before it was destroyed in the wildfires, are displayed on a nightstand at her hotel room near Lahaina on August 24, 2023.
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<h3 id="mAcQse">
“We’ve lost so much already”
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vvTcS6">
Meanwhile, there are still loved ones who remain unaccounted for. A joint list as of September 29 from the FBI and Maui Police Department (MPD) <a href="https://mauinow.com/2023/09/30/maui-police-narrow-credible-list-of-unaccounted-for-individuals-to-12/">puts the number of missing at 12</a>, but that number only accounts for those with an official missing person’s report.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DFzPpb">
Some Maui nonprofit health care providers <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/10/05/state-mental-health-experts-worry-simple-exchanges-could-trigger-altercations-when-tourism-returns-west-maui/">warned</a> that interactions with incoming tourists could provoke altercations or trigger survivors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZEa6z">
So far, the governor <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/10/hawaii-governor-sticks-to-reopening-west-maui-to-tourists-next-week/">remains committed</a> to the October 8 reopening date.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gB71Zw">
When asked if community members have even begun to grieve their loss, Kiakona said that some are only recently able to admit that they’re not okay, eight weeks after the fire. Still, they don’t feel that they can afford to let up on pressuring the governor to reconsider. He and other community members remain in fight mode.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XxTtJk">
“It’s just hard,” said Kiakona. “We’ve lost so much already, and I don’t want to lose any more people. We don’t need any more hurt and pain to come to us right now.”
</p>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hangzhou Asian Games | India thrashes Japan to claim hockey gold; qualifies for Paris Olympics</strong> - The Indians, who had to be content with a bronze medal in the last edition, thus won their fourth Asian Games gold and first since the 2014 Incheon edition.</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>Cyrenius, Agnostic and Irish Rockstar shine</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>Star Gallery please</strong> -</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Daily Quiz | On Cricket World Cup</strong> - October 5, 2023, is the Cricket World Cup 2023 opening day. This year, it is India’s turn to host the quadrennial flagship tournament. Here is a quiz on the tournament</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>Hangzhou Asian Games Bridge: Indian men go down against Hong Kong; settle for silver</strong> - India, a gold and two bronze-medal winner at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, lost to Hong Kong 152-238.1 in the gold-medal match at Hangzhou.</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>Jagananna Suraksha is a boon for poor patients: MLA</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>Road safety awareness rally organised in Anantapur</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>Erratic monsoon rains lead to higher groundwater drawal, energy use</strong> - Coming months likely to see further rise in energy purchase, consumption</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>Parties question J&amp;K Chief Secretary’s claim of 2.5 lakh ‘back door’ appointments for govt. jobs</strong> - Regional parties challenged the Chief Secretary to produce proof to back up his claims, launch a probe, and take punitive action against the officials responsible, as they now work under him</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>Ukraine war: Every family in Hroza village affected by missile attack</strong> - At least 52 people, including a child, were killed in Thursday’s Russian missile strike, Ukraine says.</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 cyber-conflict: Hacking gangs vow to de-escalate</strong> - Ukrainian and Russian hacktivists tell the BBC they will comply with newly-created cyber-war rules.</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>French bedbug panic: Officials respond as Paris school infested</strong> - Government officials meet as teachers refuse to work following the latest reported infestation.</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>Legia Warsaw: Poland PM wants ‘urgent diplomatic action’ after two players arrested following Conference League tie at AZ Alkmaar</strong> - Poland prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki orders “urgent diplomatic action” after two Legia Warsaw players were arrested following their Europa Conference League defeat at Dutch side AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin makes nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile test claim</strong> - The Russian leader says testing of a global-range missile was successful, but that is not confirmed.</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>Long gone, DEC is still powering the world of computing</strong> - One of the early pioneers in computing, the company disappeared in the late 1990s. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1967053">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: NASA to test new RS-25 engines; Russia’s phantom rockets</strong> - “Really it was more of a timeline and uncertainty shrinker, if you will.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1973490">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dealmaster: Deals from Apple and Sony ahead of Amazon’s big event</strong> - Get some major deals just ahead of Amazon’s next Prime Day sales event. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1973594">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Google open-sourced a hat shaped like a giant keycap—and it actually types</strong> - For the right <em>type</em> of enthusiast with keyboards on their mind. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1973825">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After COVID killed off a flu strain, annual flu shots are in for a redesign</strong> - It’s TBD how and when a reformulation will happen, but it’s now in the works. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1973828">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 Gynaecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and paperwork and was burned out.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Hoping to try another career where skilful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic. He went to the local technical college, signed up for evening classes, attended diligently, and learned all he could.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
When the time of the practical exam approached, the gynaecologist prepared carefully for weeks and completed the exam with tremendous skill. When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had obtained a score of 150%. Fearing an error, he called the Instructor, saying, “I don’t want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“The instructor said,”During the exam, you took the engine apart perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark."
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After a pause, the instructor added, “I gave you an extra 50% because you did it all through the exhaust, which I’ve never seen done in my entire career”.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<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/171advh/a_gynaecologist_had_become_fed_up_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/171advh/a_gynaecologist_had_become_fed_up_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An engineer, a mathematician and an economist go on a work interview</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
First up is the engineer. The employer asks him what is 2+2 is?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The engineer a little confused answer 4 of course.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employer thanks him and calls in the mathematician.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Again, he asks what 2+2 is?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The mathematician states that with high certainty it’s around 4.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The employer thanks him and calls in the economist.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Again, he asks what 2+2 is?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The economist looks around, stands up and closes the curtains before he bends down and whispers: What do you want it to be?
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheDoomfarer"> /u/TheDoomfarer </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1719qqx/an_engineer_a_mathematician_and_an_economist_go/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1719qqx/an_engineer_a_mathematician_and_an_economist_go/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The CIA was recruiting new agents</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As a test of commitment they brought a man to a door and gave him a gun. He was told his wife was in the next room and his first test was to go in and shoot his wife. The man was shocked and said he would never shoot his wife for anyone.He was sent home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
A second man was brought to the same room and told the same thing as the first. He was very sad because he always wanted to be a CIAagwnt but there was no way he could shoot his wife.He too was sent home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The third person brought to the room was a housewife. She was told that her husband was in the next room. She was given the gun and told to go in and shoot her husband.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
She took the gun and went in. Very quickly there was a lot of commotion in the room, a man began screaming and very quickly the housewife came out of the room covered in blood.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“What happened” they asked her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
“There were no bullets in the gun so I had to beat him to death wit a chair” she said
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/adr826"> /u/adr826 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/170q890/the_cia_was_recruiting_new_agents/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/170q890/the_cia_was_recruiting_new_agents/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My Daughter woke me up.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
My daughter woke me around 11:50 last night. “Daddy,” she whispered, tugging my shirt sleeve. “Guess how old I’m going to be next month.”I don’t know," I said as I slipped on my glasses. “How old?” She smiled and held up four fingers. It is 7:30 now. My wife and I have been up with her for almost 8 hours. She still refuses to tell us where she got them.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Someordinaryguy1994"> /u/Someordinaryguy1994 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/170odlr/my_daughter_woke_me_up/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/170odlr/my_daughter_woke_me_up/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An accountant leaves a letter for his wife one Friday evening:</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"Dear Wife,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
You have been a wonderful companion to me all these years. I can’t believe that both of us are already 60! Time sure has flown by!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
However, I am writing this letter to share something that has been bothering me for a while. I have a few needs that you have been unable to satisfy lately… So I would be spending some time today at the Grand Hotel with my 20-year old secretary. She is beautiful and sexy.Please don’t wrongly interpret this, I love you!"
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Later that evening, the hotel staff hands over a letter to the accountant, which reads:
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
"Dear Husband,
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I am glad that you still love me and have written this letter in all honesty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Honestly, I am relieved to know your thoughts on needs. I would also like to inform you that by the time you read this letter, I would be at the Fiesta Hotel with a student of mine. He is young, virile and coincidentally, a 20-year old too. Please don’t take it otherwise.
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Oh, and being the wonderful accountant you are, you will also appreciate that 20 goes into 60 many more times than 60 goes into 20.
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Love you too!"
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/xavi24"> /u/xavi24 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17180w5/an_accountant_leaves_a_letter_for_his_wife_one/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/17180w5/an_accountant_leaves_a_letter_for_his_wife_one/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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