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<title>13 February, 2021</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>Characteristics and Factors Associated with COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Mortality Across Race and Ethnicity</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
<b>Background</b> Data on the characteristics of COVID-19 patients disaggregated by race/ethnicity remain limited. We evaluated the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients across racial/ethnic groups and assessed their associations with COVID-19 outcomes. <b>Methods</b> This retrospective cohort study examined 629,953 patients tested for SARS-CoV-2 in a large health system spanning California, Oregon, and Washington between March 1 and December 31, 2020. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were obtained from electronic health records. Odds of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 hospitalization, and in-hospital death were assessed with multivariate logistic regression. <b>Results</b> 570,298 patients with known race/ethnicity were tested for SARS-CoV-2, of whom 27.8% were non-White minorities. 54,645 individuals tested positive, with minorities representing 50.1%. Hispanics represented 34.3% of infections but only 13.4% of tests. While generally younger than White patients, Hispanics had higher rates of diabetes but fewer other comorbidities. 8,536 patients were hospitalized and 1,246 died, of whom 56.1% and 54.4% were non-White, respectively. Racial/ethnic distributions of outcomes across the health system tracked with state-level statistics. Increased odds of testing positive and hospitalization were associated with all minority races/ethnicities. Hispanic patients also exhibited increased morbidity, and Hispanic race/ethnicity was associated with in-hospital mortality (OR: 1.39 [95% CI: 1.14-1.70]). <b>Conclusion</b> Major healthcare disparities were evident, especially among Hispanics who tested positive at a higher rate, required excess hospitalization and mechanical ventilation, and had higher odds of in-hospital mortality despite younger age. Targeted, culturally-responsive interventions and equitable vaccine development and distribution are needed to address the increased risk of poorer COVID-19 outcomes among minority populations.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.14.20212803v2" target="_blank">Characteristics and Factors Associated with COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Mortality Across Race and Ethnicity</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Estimating epidemiologic dynamics from cross-sectional viral load distributions</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Estimating an epidemic9s trajectory is crucial for developing public health responses to infectious diseases, but incidence data used for such estimation are confounded by variable testing practices. We show instead that the population distribution of viral loads observed under random or symptom-based surveillance, in the form of cycle threshold (Ct) values, changes during an epidemic and that Ct values from even limited numbers of random samples can provide improved estimates of an epidemic9s trajectory. Combining multiple such samples and the fraction positive improves the precision and robustness of such estimation. We apply our methods to Ct values from surveillance conducted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a variety of settings and demonstrate new approaches for real-time estimates of epidemic trajectories for outbreak management and response.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.08.20204222v2" target="_blank">Estimating epidemiologic dynamics from cross-sectional viral load distributions</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Does serotonin deficiency lead to anosmia, ageusia and dysfunctional chemesthesis in COVID-19?</strong> -
<div>
Anosmia, ageusia and impaired chemesthetic sensations are quite common in coronavirus patients. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain the anosmia and ageusia of COVID-19 patients, though for reversible anosmia and ageusia, which are resolved quickly, the proposed mechanisms seem to be incomplete. In addition, the reason behind the impaired chemesthetic sensations of some coronavirus patients remains unknown. It is proposed that in coronavirus patients, there is depletion of tryptophan (an essential amino acid), as ACE2, a key element in the process of absorption of tryptophan from food, is significantly reduced due to the attack of coronavirus which use ACE2 as the receptor for its entry into the host cells. Incidentally, the depletion of tryptophan should lead to deficiency of serotonin (5-HT) in SARS-COV-2 patients because tryptophan is the precursor in the synthesis of 5-HT. Such 5-HT deficiency not only explains fast resolved anosmia and ageusia, but also dysfunctional chemesthesis, given the fact that 5-HT is an important neuromodulator in the olfactory neurons and taste receptor cells and 5-HT also enhances the nociceptor activity of transient receptor potential channels (TRP channels) responsible for chemesthetic sensations. The female predominance of olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions can also be explained by considering low 5-HT levels in women. In addition, 5-HT deficiency worsens silent hypoxemia and explains why hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction is nearly absent in coronavirus patients leading to poor outcome. Hence, clinical trials should be conducted on coronavirus patients to find out how different selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin agonists work out in eliminating or improving the olfactory, gustatory and chemesthetic dysfunctions as well as hypoxemia.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://osf.io/km7b3/" target="_blank">Does serotonin deficiency lead to anosmia, ageusia and dysfunctional chemesthesis in COVID-19?</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The COVID-19 Healthcare Personnel Study (CHPS): Overview, Methods and Preliminary Findings</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction. The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic has placed severe demands on US health systems and the health care workforce. In New York State (NYS) and New York City (NYC), the early American epicenter, hospitals ran the risk of exhausting supplies of ventilators, ICU beds, and personal protective equipment (PPE); the capacity of the healthcare workforce to meet the added demand was equally strained. The COVID-19 Healthcare Personnel Study (CHPS) was designed to assess adverse short and long-term physical and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York9s physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Methods. Population-based online survey of physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants registered with the New York State Department of Health. Survey-weighted descriptive results were analyzed using frequencies, proportions, and means, with 95% confidence intervals. Odds ratios were calculated for association using survey-weighted logistic regression. Results. Over half (51.5%; 95% CI 49.1, 54.0) of respondents worked directly with COVID-19 patients. Among those tested, 27.3% (95% CI 22.5, 32.2) were positive. The majority (57.6%; 95% CI 55.2, 60.0) of respondents reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health. Negative mental health was associated with experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 (OR=1.7, 95% CI 1.3, 2.1) and redeployment to unfamiliar functions. (OR=1.3, 95% CI 1.1, 1.6). Conclusions. A majority of New York healthcare providers were involved in treating COVID-19 patients and reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.29.20222372v2" target="_blank">The COVID-19 Healthcare Personnel Study (CHPS): Overview, Methods and Preliminary Findings</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Los Angeles County SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic: Critical Role of Multi-generational Intra-household Transmission</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
We studied the incidence of confirmed COVID-19 cases diagnosed during February 24, 2020 - January 10, 2021 in approximately 300 communities making up Los Angeles County, the largest county by population in the United States. The surge in case incidence observed from October 19 onward, accounting for two-thirds of all confirmed cases, was concentrated in communities with a high prevalence of multi-generational households, as gauged by data from the American Community Survey. This indicator (abbreviated MULTI) was a more important predictor of the surge in incidence than the prevalence of households with low income or with at least one high-risk worker. Serial mapping of the epidemic revealed radial expansion from an initial focus in relatively affluent communities, followed by concentration in high-MULTI communities. This observation was supported by estimates from a spatial adaptation of the SIR model, which yielded a reproductive number of 2.7 for the initial outbreak during February 24 - March 30. With the subsequent flattening of the epidemic curve after the imposition of emergency stay-at-home orders, the global reproductive number fell to 1.0, but with wide local dispersion ranging from 0.6 in low-MULTI communities up to 1.5 in high-MULTI communities. The July 13 state-ordered reversal of the county9s prior decisions to reopen retail stores, indoor dining, hair salons, gyms and bars had a larger negative impact on social mobility in high-MULTI communities, as gauged by data from SafeGraph on smartphone visits to fast-food restaurants. After falling to a low of 0.6, the reproductive number rebounded to 1.4 during the final surge. By the end of the 46-week observation period, the estimated cumulative incidence of COVID-19, adjusted for underascertainment of both asymptomatic and symptomatic cases, ranged from under 10 percent in low-MULTI communities to over 30 percent in high-MULTI communities.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.11.20211045v3" target="_blank">Los Angeles County SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic: Critical Role of Multi-generational Intra-household Transmission</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Early introductions and community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 in the United States</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7, first detected in the United Kingdom, has become a national public health concern in the United States because of its increased transmissibility. Over 500 COVID-19 cases associated with this variant have been detected since December 2020, but its local establishment and pathways of spread are relatively unknown. Using travel, genomic, and diagnostic testing data, we highlight the primary ports of entry for B.1.1.7 in the US and locations of possible underreporting of B.1.1.7 cases. New York, which receives the most international travel from the UK, is likely one of the key hubs for introductions and domestic spread. Finally, we provide evidence for increased community transmission in several states. Thus, genomic surveillance for B.1.1.7 and other variants urgently needs to be enhanced to better inform the public health response.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.10.21251540v2" target="_blank">Early introductions and community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 in the United States</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Lineages in Middle Eastern Jordan with Increasing Mutations Near Antibody Recognition Sites</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The genomic analysis of the 556 viral sequences from Jordan uncovered three dominant genetic SARS-CoV-2 lineages that are currently circulating in Jordan: B.1.1.312 (76%), B.1.36.10 (11%), and B.1.1.7 (6%), replacing the genetic strains that were dominant before sustained community transmission in Jordan. This raises speculations about these new genetic lineages and their relationship to the severity of observed disease symptoms in Jordan.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.09.21251052v2" target="_blank">Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Lineages in Middle Eastern Jordan with Increasing Mutations Near Antibody Recognition Sites</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The protective association between statins use and adverse outcomes among COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Introduction: Statins may reduce a cytokine storm, which has been hypothesized as a possible mechanism of severe COVID-19 pneumonia. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to report on adverse outcomes among COVID-19 patients by statin usage. Methods: Literatures were searched from January 2019 to December 2020 to identify studies that reported the association between statin usage and adverse outcomes, including mortality, ICU admissions, and mechanical ventilation. Studies were meta-analyzed for mortality by the subgroups of ICU status and statin usage before and after COVID-19 hospitalization. Studies reporting an odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) were analyzed separately. Results: Thirteen cohorts, reporting on 110,078 patients, were included in this meta-analysis. Individuals who used statins before their COVID-19 hospitalization showed a similar risk of mortality, compared to those who did not use statins (HR 0.80, 95% CI: 0.50, 1.28; OR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.38, 1.03). Patients who were administered statins after their COVID-19 diagnosis were at a lower risk of mortality (HR 0.53, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.61; OR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.43, 0.75). The use of statins did not reduce the mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU (OR 0.65; 95% CI: 0.26, 1.64). Among non-ICU patients, statin users were at a lower risk of mortality relative to non-statin users (HR 0.53, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.62; OR 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.88). Conclusion: Patients administered statins after COVID-19 diagnosis or non-ICU admitted patients were at lower risk of mortality relative to non-statin users.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.08.21251070v2" target="_blank">The protective association between statins use and adverse outcomes among COVID-19 patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Before the Surge: Molecular Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City Prior to the First Report</strong> -
<div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
New York City (NYC) emerged as a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epicenter in March 2020, but there is limited information regarding potentially unrecognized severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections before the first reported case. We utilized a sample pooling strategy to screen for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in de-identified, respiratory pathogen-negative nasopharyngeal specimens from 3,040 patients across our NYC health system who were evaluated for respiratory symptoms or influenza-like illness during the first 10 weeks of 2020. We obtained complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from samples collected between late February and early March. Additionally, we detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA in pooled specimens collected in the week ending 25 January 2020, indicating that SARS-CoV-2 caused sporadic infections in NYC a full month before the first officially documented case.
</p>
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.08.21251303v2" target="_blank">Before the Surge: Molecular Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City Prior to the First Report</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19</strong> -
<div>
Clinical syndrome coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is characterized by rapid spreading and high mortality worldwide. While the pathology is not yet fully understood, hyper-inflammatory response and coagulation disorders leading to congestions of microvessels are considered to be key drivers of the still increasing death toll. Until now, physical changes of blood cells have not been considered to play a role in COVID-19 related vascular occlusion and organ damage. Here we report an evaluation of multiple physical parameters including the mechanical features of five frequent blood cell types, namely erythrocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils. More than 4 million blood cells of 17 COVID-19 patients at different levels of severity, 24 volunteers free from infectious or inflammatory diseases, and 14 recovered COVID-19 patients were analyzed. We found significant changes in erythrocyte deformability, lymphocyte stiffness, monocyte size, and neutrophil size and deformability. While some of these changes recovered to normal values after hospitalization, others persisted for months after hospital discharge, evidencing the long-term imprint of COVID-19 on the body.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.12.429482v1" target="_blank">Physical phenotype of blood cells is altered in COVID-19</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A combination of cross-neutralizing antibodies synergizes to prevent SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV pseudovirus infection</strong> -
<div>
Coronaviruses have caused several epidemics and pandemics including the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Some prophylactic vaccines and therapeutic antibodies have already showed striking effectiveness against COVID-19. Nevertheless, concerns remain about antigenic drift in SARS-CoV-2 as well as threats from other sarbecoviruses. Cross-neutralizing antibodies to SARS-related viruses provide opportunities to address such concerns. Here, we report on crystal structures of a cross-neutralizing antibody CV38-142 in complex with the receptor binding domains from SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. Our structural findings provide mechanistic insights into how this antibody can accommodate antigenic variation in these viruses. CV38-142 synergizes with other cross-neutralizing antibodies, in particular COVA1-16, to enhance neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. Overall, this study provides valuable information for vaccine and therapeutic design to address current and future antigenic drift in SARS-CoV-2 and to protect against zoonotic coronaviruses.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.11.430866v1" target="_blank">A combination of cross-neutralizing antibodies synergizes to prevent SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV pseudovirus infection</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>A single-cell atlas of lymphocyte adaptive immune repertoires and transcriptomes reveals age-related differences in convalescent COVID-19 patients</strong> -
<div>
COVID-19 disease outcome is highly dependent on adaptive immunity from T and B lymphocytes, which play a critical role in the control, clearance and long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2. To date, there is limited knowledge on the composition of the T and B cell immune receptor repertoires [T cell receptors (TCRs) and B cell receptors (BCRs)] and transcriptomes in convalescent COVID-19 patients of different age groups. Here, we utilize single-cell sequencing (scSeq) of lymphocyte immune repertoires and transcriptomes to quantitatively profile the adaptive immune response in COVID-19 patients of varying age. We discovered highly expanded T and B cells in multiple patients, with the most expanded clonotypes coming from the effector CD8+ T cell population. Highly expanded CD8+ and CD4+ T cell clones show elevated markers of cytotoxicity (CD8: PRF1, GZMH, GNLY; CD4: GZMA), whereas clonally expanded B cells show markers of transition into the plasma cell state and activation across patients. By comparing young and old convalescent COVID-19 patients (mean ages = 31 and 66.8 years, respectively), we found that clonally expanded B cells in young patients were predominantly of the IgA isotype and their BCRs had incurred higher levels of somatic hypermutation than elderly patients. In conclusion, our scSeq analysis defines the adaptive immune repertoire and transcriptome in convalescent COVID-19 patients and shows important age-related differences implicated in immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.12.430907v1" target="_blank">A single-cell atlas of lymphocyte adaptive immune repertoires and transcriptomes reveals age-related differences in convalescent COVID-19 patients</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Rapidly Increasing SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization by Intravenous Immunoglobulins Produced from Plasma Collected During the 2020 Pandemic</strong> -
<div>
Immunoglobulin (IG) lots (N=176) released since March 2020 were tested for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, with first positive results for September 2020 lots, mean = 1.8 IU/ml, 46% of lots positive. From there, values steadily increased, in correlation with the cumulative COVID-19 incidence, to reach a mean of 36.7 IU/ml and 93% of lots positive by January 2021. Extrapolating the correlation, IGs could reach an anti-SARS-CoV-2 potency of ~400 IU/ml by July 2021. At that stage, prophylactic IG treatment for primary/secondary immunodeficiency could contain similar doses of anti-SARS-CoV-2 as convalescent plasma which is used for treatment of COVID-19.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.12.430933v1" target="_blank">Rapidly Increasing SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization by Intravenous Immunoglobulins Produced from Plasma Collected During the 2020 Pandemic</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>Surface-aerosol stability and pathogenicity of diverse MERS-CoV strains from 2012 - 2018</strong> -
<div>
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a coronavirus that infects both humans and dromedary camels and is responsible for an ongoing outbreak of severe respiratory illness in humans in the Middle East. While some mutations found in camel-derived MERS-CoV strains have been characterized, the majority of natural variation found across MERS-CoV isolates remains unstudied. Here we report on the environmental stability, replication kinetics and pathogenicity of several diverse isolates of MERS-CoV as well as SARS-CoV-2 to serve as a basis of comparison with other stability studies. While most of the MERS-CoV isolates exhibited similar stability and pathogenicity in our experiments, the camel derived isolate, C/KSA/13, exhibited reduced surface stability while another camel isolate, C/BF/15, had reduced pathogenicity in a small animal model. These results suggest that while betacoronaviruses may have similar environmental stability profiles, individual variation can influence this phenotype, underscoring the importance of continual, global viral surveillance.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.11.429193v1" target="_blank">Surface-aerosol stability and pathogenicity of diverse MERS-CoV strains from 2012 - 2018</a>
</div></li>
<li><strong>The COVID-19 PHARMACOME: A method for the rational selection of drug repurposing candidates from multimodal knowledge harmonization</strong> -
<div>
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has challenged researchers at a global scale. The scientific community’s massive response has resulted in a flood of experiments, analyses, hypotheses, and publications, especially in the field of drug repurposing. However, many of the proposed therapeutic compounds obtained from SARS-CoV-2 specific assays are not in agreement and thus demonstrate the need for a singular source of COVID-19 related information from which a rational selection of drug repurposing candidates can be made. In this paper, we present the COVID-19 PHARMACOME, a comprehensive drug-target-mechanism graph generated from a compilation of 10 separate disease maps and sources of experimental data focused on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pathophysiology. By applying our systematic approach, we were able to predict the synergistic effect of specific drug pairs, such as Remdesivir and Thioguanosine or Nelfinavir and Raloxifene, on SARS-CoV-2 infection. Experimental validation of our results demonstrate that our graph can be used to not only explore the involved mechanistic pathways, but also to identify novel combinations of drug repurposing candidates.
</div>
<div class="article-link article-html-link">
🖺 Full Text HTML: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.23.308239v4" target="_blank">The COVID-19 PHARMACOME: A method for the rational selection of drug repurposing candidates from multimodal knowledge harmonization</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>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of VB-201 in Patients With COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Severe COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: VB-201 + Standard of care;   Drug: Standard of care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Vascular Biogenics Ltd. operating as VBL Therapeutics<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>Improvement of the Nutritional Status Regarding Nicotinamide (Vitamin B3) and the Disease Course of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Dietary Supplement: Nicotinamide;   Dietary Supplement: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein<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 to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Remdesivir in Participants With Severely Reduced Kidney Function Who Are Hospitalized for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Remdesivir;   Drug: RDV Placebo;   Drug: Standard of Care<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Gilead Sciences<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Therapy</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   SARS-CoV-2 Infection;   COVID-19 Infection<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Convalescent plasma<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   Angelica Samudio;   Consejo Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnología, Paraguay;   Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social, Paraguay;   Centro de información y recursos para el desarrollo, Paraguay<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Prothione™ Capsules for Mild to Moderate Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: Placebo;   Drug: Prothione™ (6g)<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Prothione, LLC<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Assess Efficacy and Safety of Inhaled Interferon-β Therapy for COVID-19</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2;   COVID-19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: SNG001;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Synairgen Research Ltd.<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 to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of a Single Dose of STI-2020 (COVI-AMG™) to Treat COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-AMG;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study to Evaluate a Single Dose of STI-2020 (COVI-AMG™) in Adults With Mild COVID-19 Symptoms</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Biological: COVI-AMG;   Drug: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Effectiveness Study of the Sinovac’s Adsorbed COVID-19 (Inactivated) Vaccine</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Biological: Adsorbed COVID-19 (Inactivated) Vaccine<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Butantan Institute<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Study of the Kinetics of COVID-19 Antibodies for 24 Months in Patients With Confirmed SARS-CoV-2 Infection</strong> - <b>Conditions</b>:   Covid19;   SARS-CoV 2<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Sampling by venipuncture<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Centre Hospitalier Régional d’Orléans<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>Telerehabilitation in Covid-19 After Hospital Discharge</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Other: Standard Physiotherapy program;   Other: Telerehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   Universidad de Granada<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>Effectiveness of Ivermectin in SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Patients</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Drug: Ivermectin<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   FMH College of Medicine and Dentistry<br/><b>Completed</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>AGILE (Early Phase Platform Trial for COVID-19)</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Interventions</b>:   Drug: CST-2: EIDD-2801;   Drug: CST-2: Placebo<br/><b>Sponsors</b>:   University of Liverpool;   University of Southampton;   Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine;   Lancaster University;   Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust<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>Pulmonary Rehabilitation of Patients With a History of COVID-19</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Procedure: Pulmonary rehabilitation<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Rzeszow<br/><b>Enrolling by invitation</b></p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Community Network-driven COVID-19 Testing of Vulnerable Populations in the Central US</strong> - <b>Condition</b>:   Covid19<br/><b>Intervention</b>:   Other: Social Network Strategy + COVID-19 messaging<br/><b>Sponsor</b>:   University of Chicago<br/><b>Not yet recruiting</b></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-pubmed">From PubMed</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Early detection of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients in Thailand</strong> - CONCLUSION: The sVNT is a practical and robust serological test for SARS-CoV-2 infection and does not require specialized biosafety containment. It can be used clinically to aid diagnosis in both early and late infection especially in cases when the real-time RT-PCR results in weakly negative or weakly positive, and to determine the protective immune response from SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients.</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>Kobophenol A Inhibits Binding of Host ACE2 Receptor with Spike RBD Domain of SARS-CoV-2, a Lead Compound for Blocking COVID-19</strong> - In the search for inhibitors of COVID-19, we have targeted the interaction between the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor and the spike receptor binding domain (S1-RBD) of SARS-CoV-2. Virtual screening of a library of natural compounds identified Kobophenol A as a potential inhibitor. Kobophenol A was then found to block the interaction between the ACE2 receptor and S1-RBD in vitro with an IC(50) of 1.81 ± 0.04 μM and inhibit SARS-CoV-2 viral infection in cells with an EC(50)…</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 neutralizing potency of swine glyco-humanized polyclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2</strong> - Heterologous polyclonal antibodies might represent an alternative to the use of convalescent plasma (CP) or monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in COVID-19 by targeting multiple antigen epitopes. However, heterologous antibodies trigger human natural xenogeneic antibody responses particularly directed against animal-type carbohydrates, mainly the N-glycolyl form of the neuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and the Gal α1,3-galactose (αGal), potentially leading to serum sickness or allergy. Here, we immunized…</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>P2Y14 Receptor as a Target for Neutrophilia Attenuation in Severe COVID-19 Cases: From Hematopoietic Stem Cell Recruitment and Chemotaxis to Thrombo-inflammation</strong> - The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic starting in 2019 has already reached more than 2.3 million deaths. Despite the scientific community’s efforts to investigate the COVID-19 disease, a drug for effectively treating or curing patients yet needs to be discovered. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) differentiating into immune cells for defense express COVID-19 entry receptors, and COVID-19 infection hinders their differentiation. The importance of purinergic signaling in HSC differentiation and innate…</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>Targeting Endolysosomal Two-Pore Channels to Treat Cardiovascular Disorders in the Novel COronaVIrus Disease 2019</strong> - Emerging evidence hints in favor of a life-threatening link between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the cardiovascular system. SARS-CoV-2 may result in dramatic cardiovascular complications, whereas the severity of COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the incidence of fatalities tend to increase in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular complications. SARS-CoV-2 is internalized into the host cells by endocytosis and may then escape the endolysosomal…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Identification of ebselen and its analogues as potent covalent inhibitors of papain-like protease from SARS-CoV-2</strong> - An efficient treatment against a COVID-19 disease, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2), remains a challenge. The papain-like protease (PL^(pro)) from the human coronavirus is a protease that plays a critical role in virus replication. Moreover, CoV2 uses this enzyme to modulate the host’s immune system to its own benefit. Therefore, it represents a highly promising target for the development of antiviral drugs. We used Approximate Bayesian Computation tools, molecular modelling 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>Pseudo-Dipeptide Bearing α,α-Difluoromethyl Ketone Moiety as Electrophilic Warhead with Activity against Coronaviruses</strong> - The synthesis of α-fluorinated methyl ketones has always been challenging. New methods based on the homologation chemistry via nucleophilic halocarbenoid transfer, carried out recently in our labs, allowed us to design and synthesize a target-directed dipeptidyl α,α-difluoromethyl ketone (DFMK) 8 as a potential antiviral agent with activity against human coronaviruses. The ability of the newly synthesized compound to inhibit viral replication was evaluated by a viral cytopathic effect…</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>Brilacidin Demonstrates Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 in Cell Culture</strong> - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the newly emergent causative agent of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), has resulted in more than two million deaths worldwide since it was first detected in 2019. There is a critical global need for therapeutic intervention strategies that can be deployed to safely treat COVID-19 disease and reduce associated morbidity and mortality. Increasing evidence shows that both natural and synthetic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), also…</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>Understanding Viral Infection Mechanisms and Patient Symptoms for the Development of COVID-19 Therapeutics</strong> - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has become a worldwide pandemic. Symptoms range from mild fever to cough, fatigue, severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and organ failure, with a mortality rate of 2.2%. However, there are no licensed drugs or definitive treatment strategies for patients with severe COVID-19. Only antiviral or anti-inflammatory drugs are used as symptomatic treatments based on clinician experience. Basic medical…</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>Fluoxetine Can Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 In Vitro</strong> - An outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) resulted in the coronavirus disease pandemic, drastically affecting global health and economy. Though the understanding of the disease has improved, fighting the virus remains challenging. One of the strategies is repurposing existing drugs as inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2. Fluoxetine (FLX), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, reportedly inhibits the replication of RNA viruses, especially Coxsackieviruses B (CVB), such…</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>5-amino levulinic acid inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro</strong> - The current COVID-19 pandemic requires urgent development of effective therapeutics. 5-amino levulinic acid (5-ALA) is a naturally synthesized amino acid and has been used for multiple purposes including as an anticancer therapy and as a dietary supplement due to its high bioavailability. In this study, we demonstrated that 5-ALA treatment potently inhibited infection of SARS-CoV-2, a causative agent of COVID-19, in cell culture. The antiviral effects could be detected in both human 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>Leflunomide an immunomodulator with antineoplastic and antiviral potentials but drug-induced liver injury: A comprehensive review</strong> - Leflunomide (LF) represents the prototype member of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) enzyme inhibitors. DHODH is a mitochondrial inner membrane enzyme responsible for catalytic conversion of dihydroorotate into orotate, a rate-limiting step in the de novo synthesis of the pyrimidine nucleotides. LF produces cellular depletion of pyrimidine nucleotides required for cell growth and proliferation. Based on the affected cells the outcome can be attainable as immunosuppression, antiproliferative,…</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>Exploring the efficacy of naturally occurring biflavone based antioxidants towards the inhibition of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein mediated membrane fusion</strong> - Molecular docking studies were done to show the inhibitory effect of two naturally occurring biflavone based anti-HIV agents, hinokiflavone and robustaflavone against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein mediated attack on the human ACE2 receptors via membrane fusion mechanism. Nefamostat, a FDA approved drug, well-known as a serine protease inhibitor for MERS-CoV infection, was used as the reference compound. Both the biflavones, showed potential as inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 S protein-mediated…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Development and evaluation of inhalable composite niclosamide-lysozyme particles: A broad-spectrum, patient-adaptable treatment for coronavirus infections and sequalae</strong> - Niclosamide (NIC) has demonstrated promising in vitro antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though NIC is already FDA-approved, administration of the currently available oral formulation results in systemic drug levels that are too low for the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. We hypothesized that the co-formulation of NIC with an endogenous protein, human lysozyme (hLYS), could enable the direct aerosol delivery of the drug to the respiratory tract as an…</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Multi-clonal SARS-CoV-2 neutralization by antibodies isolated from severe COVID-19 convalescent donors</strong> - The interactions between antibodies, SARS-CoV-2 and immune cells contribute to the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and protective immunity. To understand the differences between antibody responses in mild versus severe cases of COVID-19, we analyzed the B cell responses in patients 1.5 months post SARS-CoV-2 infection. Severe, and not mild, infection correlated with high titers of IgG against Spike receptor binding domain (RBD) that were capable of ACE2:RBD inhibition. B cell receptor (BCR) sequencing…</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-patent-search">From Patent Search</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Compositions and methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike protein</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU317343760">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU315792577">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SARS-CoV-2 antibodies</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU315792579">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>病毒核酸提取或保存试剂、引物探针组合、病毒扩增试剂、试剂盒及其应用</strong> - 本发明涉及病毒检测领域，特别涉及病毒核酸提取或保存试剂、引物探针组合、病毒扩增试剂、试剂盒及其应用。本发明病毒检测装置提供了一种简单易行的病毒核酸提取方法，整个过程大约5‑15分钟，回收纯化的核酸，可用于病毒核酸的检测。包括PCR、NASBA、LAMP、RPA等。相比较于传统的病毒提取方法，本方法病毒核酸回收率高、用时少、操作方便、易于临床推广。本发明涉及单管同时检测新型冠状病毒COVID‑19 N和ORF基因以及人源内参基因的等温扩增引物、探针组合序列和反应缓冲液，该体系特异性好，灵敏度高（50 cp/mL），特异性高，只需20 min的检测时间，最快可在10 min左右报阳性。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317398766">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种侧链修饰的聚氨基酸及其制备方法和用途</strong> - 本发明提供了一种侧链修饰的聚氨基酸及其制备方法，所述侧链修饰的聚氨基酸具有如下优势：（1）主链和侧链结构及其连接方式都可以灵活选取，使制得的聚合物胶束具有良好生物相容性和靶向递送效率，（2）聚氨基酸主链的电荷极性为电正性，对主链的电荷调节促进胶束的pH值响应，帮助RNA从“溶酶体陷阱”中逃离进入胞浆，（3）通过量化侧链修饰脂肪链的链长、饱和度和脂肪链数量来控制侧链的疏水性部分，精确调节疏水部分的体积和缔合作用强度，（4）由于RNA和DNA在结构和负电性上的相似性，高效构建包裹和递送体，（5）通过双亲性功能高分子的侧链修饰引入不同的生物功能基团，实现递送体系对靶点组织和部位的特异性结合，提高靶向递送效果。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317398760">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>靶向SARS-CoV-2冠状病毒的抗体及其诊断和检测用途</strong> - 本发明涉及靶向SARS‑CoV‑2冠状病毒的抗体及其诊断和检测用途。具体涉及特异性结合冠状病毒S蛋白的抗体或其抗原结合片段和抗体对以及包含所述抗体或其抗原结合片段和抗体对的检测产品。本发明还涉及编码所述抗体或抗原结合片段的核酸及包含其的宿主细胞，以及制备所述抗体或抗原结合片段的方法。此外，本发明涉及所述抗体或其抗原结合片段、抗体对的预防、治疗或诊断用途。相较于常规的IgG/IgM检测，该检测方法直接检测样本中病毒的RBD蛋白，可以有效避免可能的样本中无关IgG/IgM对于检测的干扰，有效提高检测的灵敏度。所述抗体或抗体对可用于诊断和/或检测冠状病毒。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317346928">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION OF NITAZOXANIDE AND MEFLOQUINE AND METHOD THEREOF</strong> - A pharmaceutical composition for treating Covid-19 virus comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a nitazoxanide or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof and an mefloquine or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof is disclosed. The pharmaceutical composition comprises the nitazoxanide in the ratio of 0.05% to 66% w/v and the mefloquine in the ratio of 0.05% to 90% w/v. The composition is found to be effective for the treatment of COVID -19 (SARS-CoV2). The pharmaceutical composition of nitazoxanide and mefloquine has been found to be effective and is unexpectedly well tolerated with a low rate of side-effects, and equally high cure-rates than in comparable treatments. - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=IN316412781">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>TREATMENT OF COVID-19 WITH REBAMIPIDE</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU315792482">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING POWER CONSUMPTION IMPACT BASED ON IMPACT OF COVID-19 EPIDEMIC</strong> - - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=AU314745621">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>一种新冠肺炎CT检测识别定位系统及计算设备</strong> - 本发明涉及图像处理领域，公开了一种新冠肺炎CT检测识别定位系统及计算设备，包括图像采集单元、模块建立单元、新冠肺炎病灶识别单元和新冠肺炎病灶定位单元；图像采集单元采集待识别检测新冠肺炎的CT图像、新冠肺炎CT影像病灶分割训练数据集和新冠CT图像识别训练集；模块建立单元建立U_Net卷积神经网络模型、加入注意力机制的InceptionV3网络和目标检测模型；新冠肺炎病灶识别单元对已分割出病灶的轮廓特征图像进行识别；新冠肺炎病灶定位单元确定病灶在人体肺部的位置。本发明利用U_Net卷积神经网络模型对新冠病灶检测分割，并通过加入注意力机制的网络进行新冠肺炎识别，通过目标检测模型定位病灶在肺部的位置，识别准确率高，计算速度快。 - <a href="https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=CN317076812">link</a></p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Biden White House Is Tossing Obama’s Economics Playbook</strong> - Joe Biden and Janet Yellen are proving to be far bolder than past Democratic Administrations. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-biden-white-house-is-tossing-obamas-economics-playbook">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Biden Reverse Trump’s Damage to Latin America?</strong> - The new President has vowed to end his predecessor’s “incompetence and neglect” in the region, but first he must convince allies to trust Washington again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/can-biden-reverse-trumps-lasting-damage-in-latin-america">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trump’s Impeachment-Trial Lawyers Refuse to Seriously Engage with the Constitutional Issues</strong> - What looks like incompetence by Bruce Castor and David Schoen may be better understood as contempt for the process. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trumps-impeachment-trial-lawyers-refuse-to-seriously-engage-with-the-constitutional-issues">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Law Professor Who Trained with the D.C. Police</strong> - In a new book, Rosa Brooks describes how cops are taught to anticipate violence. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-law-professor-who-trained-with-the-dc-police">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andrew Cuomo’s Refusal to Vaccinate Inmates Is Indefensible</strong> - A new lawsuit argues that withholding the COVID-19 vaccine from New York’s prisoners puts lives in danger, threatens public health, and endangers civil rights. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/andrew-cuomos-refusal-to-vaccinate-inmates-is-indefensible">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>Trump’s lawyers utterly failed to answer questions from wavering Republican senators</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KhSrKZcSQtAAZXHA4OhIdwVW4mo=/564x0:5075x3383/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68812839/GettyImages_1231086215.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Sen. Mitt Romney. | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
For instance, they would not give new specifics on how Trump responded to the Capitol breach.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jnaC2l">
Key Republican senators on the fence about the verdict in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial had some specific factual questions for Trump’s lawyers about his actions on the day the US Capitol was stormed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BTZz98">
Trump’s attorneys did not come close to answering them.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mBYCCw">
During a period of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/8/22272166/trump-impeachment-trial-senate-insurrection-constitutional">impeachment trial</a> in which senators could submit written questions to either side’s legal team Friday afternoon, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/2/9/22274726/senate-impeachment-trial-constitutional">Sens. Susan Collins</a> (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) all wanted to know more about why, exactly, it took so long for Trump to mobilize the federal government to stop the mob, and how the president responded to the situation as it was unfolding.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ffx2V9">
Michael van der Veen, an attorney for Trump, gave them nothing. All he could cite were the tweets issued by Trump publicly at the time. But this wasn’t his fault, he said — it’s the fault of the House, for not doing a sufficient investigation.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bacLH9">
“There’s nothing at all on the record on this point. Because the House failed to do even a minimal amount of due diligence,” van der Veen said, while batting away one question on the topic.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cs5YTD">
“With the rush to bring this impeachment there’s been no investigation into that. And that’s the problem with this entire proceeding,” he said in response to another.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PPq96c">
To be clear, van der Veen and his fellow attorneys could have voluntarily offered new exculpatory evidence — about how Trump responded to the January 6 riot or other related topics — as part of their defense for the former president. They didn’t.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0fQxYt">
But what we do know of Trump’s conduct that day from reporting is not flattering. Sources have told journalists, for instance at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-resignations-25th-amendment/2021/01/07/e131ce10-50a3-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html">Washington Post</a>, that he was watching the chaos closely on television and resisting some advisers’ pleas that he should condemn the violence. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) has claimed White House aides <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/8/22220840/sasse-trump-capitol-storming-impeachment">told him</a> Trump was “delighted” as the Capitol was stormed. And Friday night, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html">CNN reported</a> that Trump had spurned House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s pleas to condemn the rioters, saying, “Well Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Zt3Ox">
Yet Trump’s team correctly pointed out that, so far, Democrats have <a href="https://www.vox.com/22277137/impeachment-witnesses-testimony-trump-trial">made a strategic choice</a> not to pursue sworn testimony from Trump’s aides as part of this inquiry. That means on-the-record statements about what Trump did from people with firsthand knowledge are few and far between.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="INCAVl">
It’s unclear if sworn witness testimony would have much of an impact on Republican senators’ votes on a verdict (17 would be necessary to convict Trump, and far fewer currently seem open to it). Note also that McCarthy voted against impeachment even though he obviously knew what Trump had said to him on January 6. But the lack of witness testimony does mean the Republicans who are considering convicting have less to go on.
</p>
<h3 id="XXQRY8">
Key Republican senators had questions. They didn’t get answers.
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v0imLV">
The first skeptical Republican question, from Sens. Collins and Murkowski, was: “Exactly when did President Trump learn of the breach of the Capitol? What specific actions did he take to bring the rioting to the end and when did he take them? Please be as detailed as possible.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UPUf7v">
Van der Veen’s response was not detailed. “We have a tweet at 2:38, so it was certainly sometime before then,” he said. (At 2:38 pm, Trump sent a tweet reading: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XLXzrD">
But van der Veen couldn’t offer anything more, and he tried to blame the House impeachment managers for that failure. “The House managers did zero investigation and the American people deserve a lot better than coming in here with no evidence, hearsay on top of hearsay on top of reports that are of hearsay,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u8eq6G">
Later, Romney and Collins asked another question intended to suss out when Trump learned Vice President Mike Pence could have been in physical danger.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L8510B">
The background here is that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has publicly stated that, after protesters had already gotten inside the Capitol building, he spoke to Trump on the phone. (Trump was trying to get Tuberville to slow down the count of the electoral votes.) Per Tuberville’s <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/11/tuberville-pences-evacuation-trump-impeachment-468572">recounting to Politico</a>, he had to cut the call short, and he told Trump, “Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ixH7F">
The Secret Service had evacuated Pence from the Senate chamber at 2:15 pm, so this exchange between Tuberville and Trump likely took place around that time. Then, at 2:24 pm, Trump sent this tweet disparaging Pence:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VGEdh6">
Donald J. Trump
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jEkHSh">
<span class="citation" data-cites="realdonaldtrump">@realdonaldtrump</span>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fkI8P1">
Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iNC1aB">
Jan 6th 2021 - 2:24:22 PM EST
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Z6OKO">
So Romney and Collins asked, when Trump sent that tweet, was he in fact aware that the “the vice president had been removed from the Senate by the Secret Service for his safety?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SV51eE">
Van der Veen claimed that “the answer is no,” and that “at no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger.” But he didn’t give any explanation of how the apparent timeline outlined above was wrong, instead pivoting to arguing that “the House rushed through this impeachment in seven days with no evidence.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eyOQLF">
Later still, Sen. Cassidy returned to this topic, again laying out the timeline of Tuberville’s call and Trump’s tweet insulting Pence. “The tweet and lack of response suggests President Trump did not care that Vice President Pence was endangered or law enforcement was overwhelmed,” he asked. “Does this show that President Trump was tolerant of the intimidation of Vice President Pence?”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="btbrzw">
Van der Veen returned to his same talking point. “I dispute the premise of your facts. I dispute the facts that are laid out in that question. And, unfortunately, we are not going to know the answer to those facts in this proceeding, because the House did nothing to investigate what went on.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9VzRbO">
But, he continued, “Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence have had a very good relationship for a long time and I’m sure Mr. Trump very much is concerned and was concerned for the safety and well-being of Mr. Pence and everybody else that was over here.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RXG7tW">
The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey soon tweeted that anonymous Pence aides do “not agree” with that assessment:
</p>
<div id="kxryLh">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
Pence’s team does not agree with the Trump lawyer’s assessment that Trump was concerned about Pence’s safety. Trump didn’t call him that day — or for five days after that. No one else on Trump’s team called as Pence was evacuated to one room &amp; another, with screaming mob nearby.
</p>
— Josh Dawsey (<span class="citation" data-cites="jdawsey1">@jdawsey1</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1360358177179660289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2021</a>
</blockquote></div></li>
</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aut3AY">
Tuberville <a href="https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1360372831868121091">also reiterated</a> his account of his phone call with Trump to reporters Friday afternoon.
</p>
<h3 id="TJhekn">
The witness problem
</h3>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oNlBVc">
Still, on-the-record statements about Trump’s private behavior and actions as the Capitol was stormed remain elusive — because the people with him at the time were hardcore loyalists. According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-resignations-25th-amendment/2021/01/07/e131ce10-50a3-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html">the Washington Post</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Kgurc6">
[President Trump] spent the afternoon and evening cocooned at the White House and listening only to a small coterie of loyal aides — including Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, personnel director Johnny McEntee and policy adviser Stephen Miller. Many of his top confidants — Meadows, son-in-law Jared Kushner and first lady Melania Trump, among others — were publicly silent.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="69Iod5">
If you wanted to make a shortlist of people who would be least likely to provide harmful information about Donald Trump, Meadows, McEntee, Scavino, and Miller would be near the top of that list, perhaps just under Trump’s children. The latter three are longstanding aides who still see their professional fortunes as linked to the president; Meadows, who joined the administration more recently, was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/25/donald-trump-post-presidency-462018">reportedly considering </a>taking a job in the Trump Organization.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eXHWxk">
These aides would also likely wage a court battle against any subpoena compelling their testimony. Former White House counsel Don McGahn <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/16/mcgahn-nadler-house-testimony-447355">has already been doing this</a> in response to a 2019 subpoena, and he has successfully evaded providing any testimony so far.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ETRiRH">
And even if damning new information did emerge about Trump’s private behavior on January 6, more than enough Republican senators to acquit Trump have already embraced the argument that it’s unconstitutional for the Senate to try a former president — making the specific facts apparently irrelevant.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Why Britney Spears’s fans are convinced she’s being held captive</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WI35en7QJVRles1DbPVfEqshWkU=/86x0:2006x1440/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68812765/2031233.jpg.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Britney Spears performs at the 2000 MTV VMAs. | Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
The #FreeBritney movement, explained.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iW3g83">
Since 2008, indelible bubble gum pop star Britney Spears has been confined by a conservatorship that leaves her without control of her finances, business, or personal affairs. And for the past two years, her fans have been speculating with increasing fervor that the conservatorship has left Spears, now 39, a prisoner in her own glamorous life and that she is in need of rescue.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IKRJ6f">
“She has NEVER had control over her life,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCmj9u0H1u8/?utm_source=ig_embed">said a post</a> on the celebrity-focused Instagram Diet Prada that spread rapidly across the internet in<strong> </strong>the summer of 2020. “I don’t care if you personally like her or her music, NO ONE DESERVES THIS.” The post ended with a now familiar rallying cry: Free Britney.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DO0zS5">
#FreeBritney is the hashtag Spears’s fans use to follow rumors about her conservatorship — under which Spears answers to a mandated caregiver — and to advocate for its end. Together, they compare notes on anonymous reports about Spears’s living situation, pore through the posts her friends and relatives have “liked” recently, and work to decode Spears’s enigmatic social media presence. In April 2020, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8508234/britney-spears-protest-free-britney-los-angeles">they held a protest in Los Angeles</a> demanding Spears be released.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hHM58x">
This February, the #FreeBritney movement rose up once again. The New York Times released a much-discussed documentary titled <em>The Framing of Britney Spears</em> that covered Spears’s harrowing rise and fall, and in its wake celebrities from Sarah Jessica Parker to Bette Midler <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/britney-spears-documentary-celebrity-reaction/">issued their own calls to #FreeBritney</a>. Justin Timberlake <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLMxYbGhTno/?utm_source=ig_embed">issued an apology for allowing the press to slut-shame her</a> after their breakup 20 years ago. And Britney herself had a new day in court.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jl07fV">
Spears filed court papers in August 2020 asking that her father, Jamie Spears, who is currently in charge of both her personal life and her financial life, be removed as her conservator. In November, a judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court declined to make that happen. However, on February 11, 2021 — one week after <em>The Framing of Britney Spears</em> debuted — the court agreed to one of Spears’s requests: It placed the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/britney-spears-conservatorship-judge-ruling/">financial company Bessemer Trust in an equal partnership</a> with Spears’s father.<strong> </strong>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hsrQCx">
To understand the #FreeBritney movement and exactly what is at stake in the equal partnership decision,<strong> </strong>we’re going to have to delve into the nuances of California conservatorship law, Spears’s long and troubled career trajectory, and the deep protectiveness of her fans. And in the end, we’ll come back to the same question that’s been driving our fascination with Britney Spears since the “… Baby One More Time” video first blazed across <em>TRL</em> back in 1998: Is Britney Spears the architect of her own life, image, and career? Or is she a puppet for unscrupulous people who want to use her doe-eyed prettiness to build fortunes for themselves?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ux8o7n">
Just who is in control of this woman, anyway?
</p>
<h3 id="TbMDVq">
“A collapse on a scale that we’d really never seen”
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/89-YwE-DdwywzjSl82DUaGaB-RU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148614/77518492.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
In 2007, Spears was pursued by paparazzi even to a child custody hearing at LA’s Family Court. Here, she waits for a sheriff’s deputy to tell her how to get into the court without being mobbed.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="06C6aI">
When Britney Spears entered conservatorship in 2008, it was the climax to a years-long run of steadily more outrageous public behavior. Gone was the aspirational pop princess of her heyday <a href="https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/posts/britney-spears-ab-workout-151365/">who famously did 1,000 crunches a day</a> and <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/britney-spears-2001-vmas-snake-alive">writhed with a snake onstage at the VMAs</a>. In the mid-2000s, Britney Spears was going through a breakdown, one that the rising gossip blogs of the day served up to the public for avid consumption.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6niKvu">
There was Spears’s quickie Vegas wedding in 2004, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/britney-spears-shotgun-wedding-turns-10-remember-55-magical-hours-234192/">which lasted only 55 hours total</a>. Then there was the marriage to backup dancer Kevin Federline, also in 2004, which lasted two and a half years and was greeted by <a href="https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scientists-are-genuinely-losing-their-sht-arguing-over-which-is-the-most-overrated-animal/">what E! tactfully described as “mystification</a>” from Spears’s public.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qgCoXI">
The end of Spears’s marriage to Federline in 2007 at first appeared to signal a return to form, says media studies professor Moya Luckett. “She seemed to be on the verge of getting back from what people read as a misstep with the Kevin Federline marriage,” Luckett told me. “There was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHcFQxhqC8">an appearance on <em>David Letterman</em></a> where people said, ‘Oh, she’s dressing better; she’s got herself back. We’ll now see Britney reappear as herself after she’s got rid of the dead weight of Kevin.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BDJhua">
Instead, Spears’s every action became the topic of breathless tabloid coverage. The paparazzi followed her around for up-skirt shots. She started yelling at them in <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/britney-spears-lapses-into-a-british-accent/">a British accent</a>. She <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a29681281/britney-spears-shaved-head-reason-2007/">shaved her own head</a>, allegedly telling a nearby tattoo artist that she was sick of people touching her hair, while paparazzi photographed every angle through the windows of the hair salon. <a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1892685_1892691_1892788,00.html">She attacked a paparazzo’s car</a> with an umbrella. She went <a href="https://www.today.com/news/britney-spears-checks-herself-rehab-wbna17243855">in and out of rehab</a>. She sleepwalked through her performance at the 2007 VMAs so badly that Perez Hilton lectured her for <a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/2760492/an-open-letter-to-britney-spears/">being “disrespectful” to her fans</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZdbCBZ">
Spears gossip coverage became even more pantingly furious as her appearance changed. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/25/12630692/britney-spears-glory-career-history">She went brunette</a>, and then lost her hair entirely and turned to wigs. And after injuring her knee, giving birth to two children, and taking a multi-year break from live performances, she’d gained weight, which the press treated as a salacious betrayal: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=3582432&amp;page=1">ABC News’s postmortem of those 2007 VMAs</a> quoted a celebrity publicist describing Spears as “heavy” before bracingly noting that an anonymous internet commenter had said of the starlet, “I’d hit it.”
</p>
<aside id="rAJ7kt">
<div>
</div>
</aside>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2IqP01">
“It was a collapse on a scale that we’d really never seen,” Luckett says. “And it was clearly abetted by the fact that gossip blogs had established themselves as very popular. With cameraphones, there was more access to this kind of information than we’d ever had before — both in terms of receiving the information and in terms of how many people could get on their phones and sell their pictures to the likes of TMZ.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KGB5lK">
In January of 2008, <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/britney-spears-hospitalized-again-for-evaluation/">Spears was twice placed under a psychiatric hold</a>. A month later, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/02/musicnews.usa">her father petitioned the courts</a> for emergency “temporary conservatorship” over Spears. The order was granted. And more than a decade later, Britney Spears is still under conservatorship.
</p>
<h3 id="eUAwpK">
“She has to ask permission, as if she were a child”
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KtbIx2RZ0tTe_LJzNCdvf-qaK_M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148617/1163710102.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic</cite>
<figcaption>
Britney Spears at the <em>Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood</em> Los Angeles premiere, July 22, 2019.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FDV3Dt">
“If you’re an adult, there is a legal presumption that you are competent to make decisions about a range of things, good, bad, or indifferent,” says Josephine Gittler, a law professor and the author of “Reforming the Guardianship and Conservatorship System: An Introduction.” “Your decisions can be good or bad, but you are entitled as an adult to make decisions about your finances and your property and your medical care. But all states have laws that recognize that some people have diminished decision-making capacity.”
</p>
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Conservatorship is designed to be the solution to the problem of a legal adult who has a brain injury or mental health condition that renders them unable to properly care for their lives. Instead, the courts assign someone else to do so for them. (Some states distinguish between conservatorship as covering financial matters and guardianship as covering personal matters, but California, where Spears lives, calls both conservatorships. Spears’s conservatorship covers both her finances and her day-to-day life.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WdoPg8">
Proving that an adult is no longer competent to run their own life is a long and drawn-out process. Someone has to file a petition with the court, often Adult Protective Services or its equivalent. (In Spears’s case, it was her father.) The courts will send an investigator to observe the subject’s life and see if there’s really enough evidence to warrant a conservatorship. And the judge assigned to the case will hear testimony from experts to see if the subject’s behavior meets the criteria for that state’s statutes. In California, in cases where the stated reason for the petition is mental health concerns, as it was for Spears, a psychiatrist would have to testify that the subject has a DSM-recognized diagnosis.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RX5e8b">
Once the conservatorship is in place, the conservator assumes final control over the subject’s decisions, which is where Spears is now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4d9oDj">
“Anything she wants to do, she has to ask permission, as if she were a child,” says Elaine Renoire, president of the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse. “She doesn’t have the legal right to engage in a contract. That has to be done through a conservator.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8vLGcI">
The exact details of Spears’s conservatorship are private. But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/arts/music/is-britney-spears-ready-to-stand-on-her-own.html">the New York Times reported in 2016</a> that her financial conservators — at the time, her father Jamie Spears and lawyer Andrew M. Wallet — kept track of “her most mundane purchases, from a drink at Starbucks to a song on iTunes.” Meanwhile, her personal conservator (currently her father) oversees<strong> </strong>Spears’s mental health treatment and approves her visitors.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r1r5U9">
Putting someone under conservatorship means giving someone else enormous power over them. So the potential for abuse is high. “The check on that can and should be court monitoring of the conservatorship,” says Gittler. “Routine monitoring occurs through reports that the conservator has to make to the court, which the court has a very high responsibility of reviewing in detail. Not all courts always do what they should do, and that’s been a concern that’s led to reform of guardianship.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6x9NnM">
For their work, conservators are paid a healthy salary. According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/arts/music/is-britney-spears-ready-to-stand-on-her-own.html">that 2016 New York Times report</a>, Jamie Spears made an annual salary of $130,000 and took home 1.5 percent of the gross revenues from Spears’s Las Vegas residency.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="50RJsV">
Under Jamie’s supervision, the Britney Spears financial empire flourished. After releasing four studio albums, doing a stint as a judge on the <em>The X Factor</em>, and holding down two multi-year Vegas residencies since her father took over running her life in 2008, plus establishing multiple lucrative merchandise deals, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/britney-spears-net-worth-money-spending-fortune-conservatorship#:~:text=Britney%20Spears'%20net%20worth%20is,she%20spends%20it%20%2D%20Business%20Insider">Spears is now worth $59 million</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FmcliT">
And none of the money she has earned, or the life that it funds, is under her control.
</p>
<h3 id="DKSpsl">
“Disturbing, to say the least”
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A handwritten sign on white posterboard reads, “JAIL JAMIE, FREE BRITNEY, INVESTIGATE LOU.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eIauVfZP1Hfn7oGwXVYQ3KJNXnw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148625/1257674679.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A sign from a #FreeBritney protest outside Spears’s conservatorship hearing on July 22, 2020.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jcvnca">
Spears’s fans have been suspicious of her conservatorship for as long as it has existed. Many of them point accusingly at all the work Spears has done over the past 13 years: If she is so unstable that she can’t be in control of her own life, they say, why was she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/arts/television/26britney.html">guest-starring on <em>How I Met Your Mother</em></a> just two months after the emergency conservatorship was established? Doesn’t that seem to suggest the conservatorship exists less to safeguard Spears’s well-being than to maximize her income and, by extension, the income of those in control of her life?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="34BV5n">
Gittler says it’s not uncommon for people under conservatorship to be active and productive in some parts of their lives but still not be considered legally competent to make their own decisions. “A person with Down syndrome, which may be minimal or profound, may be able to do all the activities of daily living, like holding a job, having a bank account, or purchasing food and clothing for themselves,” she says. “But they might not have the capacity to do their taxes.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZqaroH">
Nevertheless, the secrecy surrounding the Spears conservatorship has added to the growing sense that there might be something sinister going on here. “The public has the right to know that the state is taking care of the citizens that need help,” says Renoire. “Everything’s so quiet with this case that it’s very disconcerting.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JgWvTB">
Spears’s diagnosis and treatment plan remain private, as do the details of what she is and is not allowed to do. Few would dispute that Spears’s medical status is her own business and not information the public has any right to, but fans are troubled by how heavily mediated her access to the public appears to be.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ey0MHH">
Any reporters Spears talks to have to be vetted by her conservators first, with the result that Spears has only discussed her conservatorship in public once, in her 2008 documentary <em>Britney: For the Record</em>. (She said it was <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/britney-spears-calls-her-life-worse-than-a-jail-sentence/">worse than being in jail,</a> because at least when you’re in jail, you know when you’ll get out.) She has <a href="https://www.instagram.com/britneyspears/?hl=en">a regularly updated Instagram</a>, but after <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/britney-spears-instagram-video-mental-health-response">a prominent post</a> went up with an emoticon rather than Spears’s preferred emojis and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxiP_-DgdQj/">another one recycled a clip from 2018</a>, fans have begun to doubt whether Spears is always in control of what appears on it. It’s rumored that <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2019/05/07/britney-spears-using-mother-lynne-mental-health-dark-period/">Spears’s access to the internet is heavily curtailed</a> and that she is only allowed a flip phone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H4q0Fs">
Spears has said publicly that she handles her Instagram herself. “For those of you who don’t think I post my own videos, I did this video yesterday,” she informed her followers in 2019, in a now-deleted post showing her modeling different dresses to Rihanna’s “Man Down.” “So, you’re wrong!” she concluded.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wLCOuE">
Fans remained unconvinced. “It sounds and looks so scripted!” said the post’s top reply.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dAl2vI">
But the Free Britney movement really began to take off in April 2019. That’s when comedians Tess Barker and Barbara Gray, hosts of the Spears-centric podcast <a href="https://britneysinstagram.libsyn.com/"><em>Britney’s Gram</em></a>, <a href="https://britneysinstagram.libsyn.com/75-freebritney">received a voicemail</a> from someone who said he used to be a paralegal at the law firm handling Spears’s conservatorship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OviZd6">
Earlier in the month, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BvziBzUgQoz/?hl=en">a post on Spears’s Instagram</a> had announced that the singer had checked herself into a mental health facility for “a little ‘me time.’ :)” (Note, Spears’s fans insisted, the emoticon.) Months before that news broke, Spears had canceled her planned Vegas residency, ostensibly to spend time with her gravely ill father.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WbFRbW">
“What is going on is disturbing, to say the least,” the former paralegal said in the voicemail on <em>Britney’s Gram</em>. He alleged that Spears had been committed to a mental health facility against her will and that there was no timeline for her release. The trigger, he claimed, was that Spears had been seen driving with her boyfriend to pick up some fast food, even though her conservatorship forbids driving. Moreover, he said<strong> </strong>that she had begun to refuse to take her medication. Jamie Spears had decided to take drastic action and blame his own illness for it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NdlZWE">
Barker and Gray have said they spoke to the paralegal separately and found him credible. No other outlet has ever been able to verify his claims.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h1hC0w">
Meanwhile, Spears’s camp has maintained that the conservatorship remains necessary to keep Spears’s life on track. “The conservatorship is not a jail,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-battle-of-britney-spears/2019/05/17/edcc826c-7681-11e9-bd25-c989555e7766_story.html">Spears’s manager Larry Rudolph told the Washington Post in 2019</a>.<strong> </strong>“It helps Britney make business decisions and manage her life in ways she can’t do on her own right now.” Those successful Vegas residencies, for instance, were courtesy of the conservatorship: Part of Spears’s contract demanded she remain under conservatorship for as long as she was in residency to ensure that she wasn’t a flight risk. Without the security of the conservatorship in place, the thinking went, Spears would go off the rails again, and she would surely lose the business advantages and the stable and happy life she had worked so hard to build.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="axvIfg">
Rudolph added that Jamie Spears wanted the conservatorship to end as much as anyone else. “It’s his daughter,” Rudolph said. “He wants to see her happy [in] a functional life without any intervention like this.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="My75Ax">
In April 2019,<strong> </strong>Lynne Spears, Britney’s mother, entered the spotlight. Lynne has no legal involvement with the conservatorship, but she began <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/britney-spears-mother-likes-freebritney-comments-asking-end-daughters-1400332">“liking” posts under the #FreeBritney hashtag</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7uSajD">
In September 2019, Jamie Spears stepped down as conservator <a href="https://people.com/music/britney-spears-father-jamie-steps-down-as-her-conservator/">after a physical altercation with one of Spears’s sons</a>. Montgomery, Spears’s longtime caregiver, stepped into the role on a temporary basis. In August 2020, Spears asked that Montgomery become her permanent conservator. Jamie Spears has heretofore remained in control of Spears’s financial affairs, but Spears also requested in August 2020 that he step down and be replaced by a “qualified corporate fiduciary.” The court declined to remove Jamie from either of his roles, but in February 2021 it did add Spears’s requested “qualified corporate fiduciary” to oversee her financial affairs — over protests from Jamie, who argued that this move lessened his control over his daughter’s estate.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CiOOPg">
The Free Britney movement continues to watch and wait.
</p>
<h3 id="ECqw0u">
“It’s not supposed to end with your dad being in control of your life!”
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pdPDJBuZ2Oe8Ryofprjysdu99KM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148632/114505085.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Ethan Miller/Getty Images for ABC</cite>
<figcaption>
Spears performs in decorative manacles at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p1hPtJ">
Media scholar Isabel Molina-Guzmán suggests that the Free Britney movement caught particular fire for coming so quickly on the heels of the Me Too movement. “We’re really paying attention to women’s agency and power right now, and here’s this super-successful celebrity who can’t make decisions for herself and her kids,” Molina-Guzmán says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XsmKQx">
And Spears’s position, she adds, seems particularly wrong for the generations of fans who grew up idolizing her. “That’s fan culture: You aspire to be your idol, or to feel like your idol understands you, right?” Molina-Guzmán says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6XXNJu">
In<strong> </strong>her heyday, Britney Spears was just about the most aspirational figure in popular culture. She was the girl everyone was supposed to want to be. And many of Britney’s fans in particular latched onto her when she was leaving the strictures of the Mickey Mouse Club, embracing an image more provocative than Disney would ever have allowed in a way that suggested she was trying to take ownership over her body. For her to be under conservatorship — to have lost legal control over her life and her body — doesn’t fit the narrative.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="abi3nO">
“It’s not supposed to end with your dad being in control of your life!” Molina-Guzmán says. “So fans ended up looking for signs to try to justify their belief in a different ending.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jBsnZf">
As the date for Spears’s July 2020<strong> </strong>conservatorship hearing approached, fans began combing her social media pages for cues. Wear yellow if you need help, they instructed; wear black if you’re sad. There are so many of these messages in the comments of every Britney Spears post that Spears could hardly avoid sending a coded message through her clothing if she tried, but nevertheless, when Spears showed up on her pages dressed in yellow and black, <a href="https://theblast.com/136565/britney-spears-midriff-monday-photo-sparks-suggestions-she-isnt-">fans responded with shock and horror</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1AJ6iR">
Luckett adds that fans’ distress is particularly exacerbated by their belief that Britney isn’t running her own social media. “Part of the Britney narrative and part of the persona that<strong> </strong>seems to be authentic — and you always have to be careful about this,” Luckett says, “is that she seems to want to speak directly to her public because she thinks they’ll understand what she’s going through.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ggEFoF">
Luckett points to Spears’s <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/britney-i-do-not-care-what-people-think-wbna13329706">infamous 2006 interview with Matt Lauer</a>, for which Spears did her own makeup and during which she broke down in tears, as well as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney:_For_the_Record">her documentary</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_and_Kevin:_Chaotic">her short-lived reality TV show with Kevin Federline</a>. The confessional nature of those accounts is a far cry from the suspicious “We all need to take time for a little ‘me time.’ :)” of 2019. If Spears’s fans think someone is keeping them from direct access to Britney, then they can understand themselves as being robbed of the part of Britney’s persona that made her so compelling to begin with. They start to feel outraged and protective.
</p>
<h3 id="iqfgga">
“Britney was the chief architect of Britney”
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sSCkSuinHmNh_WEhsG_Nfk4iL8w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148638/111903818.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Spears in 1998.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ic4DqM">
Ultimately, the Free Britney movement revolves around one question: Is Britney Spears in control of her own life? And that’s the question we’ve been asking about her for her entire career.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOymsR">
Early criticism of Spears sneered that she was a manufactured pop star, the product of a Swedish songwriting factory that had no real hand in either her music or her persona. “Seventeen-year-old actress Britney Spears couldn’t land more than a role in an off-Broadway update of <em>The Bad Seed</em> until she scored a contract with the Backstreet Boys’ record company,” begins <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131211231544/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/baby-one-more-time-20030113">a capsule review of Spears’s debut album</a>, …<em>Baby One More Time</em>, in Rolling Stone in 1998. “She was flown to Sweden’s Cheiron Studios, the Lolita-pop dollhouse where ‘N Sync, Robyn, Five, Ace of Base and the Backstreeters all record their Eurofied impersonations of teen-targeted American R&amp;B.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gtat2u">
And at Cheiron, Rolling Stone concluded, super-producer Max Martin and his team had collaborated to transform a perky Disney drama kid “into a growling jailbait dynamo.” Spears, in other words, was a passive blank slate, an actress with basic singing and dancing abilities who got lucky. The star audiences fell in love with was the product of clever producers and marketing.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sUkoxA">
When Spears came up in the late ’90s, music criticism was still overwhelmingly dominated by rockism,<strong> </strong>a system of aesthetic evaluation that prizes the so-called authenticity and grittiness of rock above all else. Spears’s slick, breezy pop was an affront to rockist sensibilities, and claiming that Spears was fake was an easy way to dismiss her.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3U7yvQ">
Spears’s life, meanwhile, appeared to be entirely under her own control. Wasn’t she going out and partying every night with all of Hollywood at her feet? Wasn’t she reaping the rewards of all her producers’ hard work? And when she spiraled downward in 2007, it just proved that she should never have had that much freedom and that much control in the first place.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7nufHl">
But over the past decade, the rise of poptimism, which celebrates the artifice and exaggeration of pop, has brought in a counter narrative. Spears, today’s critics note, was the one who came up with <a href="https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/5/14/21258289/britney-spears-oops-i-did-it-again-20-year-anniversary-retrospective">the iconic Catholic schoolgirl and cheerleader motif</a> in the “…Baby One More Time” video. She made the “Oops I Did It Again” video dance-centric rather than space-centric as her producers suggested. It was she who <a href="https://ew.com/music/2018/10/23/baby-one-more-time-britney-spears-oral-history/">ad-libbed all those </a>“<a href="https://ew.com/music/2018/10/23/baby-one-more-time-britney-spears-oral-history/">oh bay-bay bay-bays</a>,” and she who used her dancer’s intuition to help select the beats for each track.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3DByd">
“The public perception is that this is all created, that the record company created this — the artist, the music, the image,” <a href="https://ew.com/music/2018/10/23/baby-one-more-time-britney-spears-oral-history/">said Rolling Stone editor Ron Levy in 2018</a>. “I have to tell you, if the record company could have created more than one Britney Spears, they would have done it, and they tried!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vsi3jp">
“Britney was the chief architect of Britney,” <a href="https://www.laineygossip.com/celebrating-20th-anniversary-of-britney-spears-oops-i-did-it-again-and-intro-for-may-15-2020/66255">wrote gossip expert Elaine Lui in May 2020</a>. “Anyone who tells you different reveals themselves to be a pop culture amateur.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jYzePK">
This celebration of Spears as her own auteur was part of the great poptimist revolution that reframed the way media gatekeepers wrote about popular culture over the past 20 years. It’s part of a movement to stop reflexively dismissing culture created for and by teenage girls and to instead celebrate that culture as its own form of aesthetic expression.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TDTQtn">
But now that our public image of Spears is able to afford her some credit for her artistic work, her personal life becomes a bigger question. Even if the rumors are wrong, and Spears does have control over her own social media accounts — well, what about the way she fills them with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCbi0-igE-S/">blank-eyed selfies</a> and videos of her <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@britneyspears/video/6844989705151319301?lang=en">practicing the same pose over and over again</a> or <a href="https://www.flare.com/celebrity/britney-spears-instagram-runway-videos/">runway walking in a variety of different dresses</a>? What is going on there?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBEoq3">
“Because the videos are a kind of art brut expressionism, empty of context, they fill viewers with questions,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/magazine/britney-spears-instagram-freebritney.html">wrote Caity Weaver for the New York Times in 2019</a>. “What does she want us to feel when we watch? Is she to be viewed as an innocent girl playing dress-up? An empowered stylish woman stomping across marble floors she bought herself? A sexy human Barbie with an infinite closet? Regardless of intention, the clips are illegible, generating primarily a voyeur’s guilty, mystified confusion.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KbJTZZ">
These repetitive, vacant videos feel somehow closely related to the ubiquitous paparazzi photos of 2007: Britney grinning into the mirror as she shaves her own head, Britney with the umbrella, Britney strapped down to a gurney in an ambulance.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zl320h">
In 2007, we were watching someone spiral away from the constraint of her managers and image-handlers and ultimately even out of her own control. And now, here in 2021, we seem to be watching someone at the limits of a very narrow, very prescribed world. It’s as though all Spears can do, as though the only thing she has, is the ability to pace through the halls of her mansion and hit a mark, over and over and over again. And then, maybe, have someone else post the video online with a smartphone she’s not allowed to use herself.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wVDDnn">
The Free Britney movement takes this sense of constraint and extends it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="69EyUE">
“Her career has been on autopilot most of her life,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CCmj9u0H1u8/?utm_source=ig_embed">says that 2020 viral Diet Prada post</a>. “If you look back at her music for years, she’s been telling everyone she’s too controlled and treated as a product.” It points to the many S&amp;M-inflected photo shoots Spears has participated in, in which <a href="https://theblast.com/129683/britney-spears-chained-up-album-art-linked-to-conservatorship-cr">she’s shown in cages and chains</a>, and to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEZ2azbB9P8">videos of Spears singing as a child</a>, in which her voice is notably deeper and fuller than it sounds in the sexy baby coo she made famous. It argues that Spears has been forced to sing outside of her natural register, to act and dance unnaturally in ways that her team will be better able to market.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YYlXhH">
The case Diet Prada made for Britney is, in a way, a close cousin to the case the rockists made against her in the late ’90s. It argued that she is a manufactured product unable to control how the public sees her, performing as her managers have forced her to for her whole life.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GcWMoX">
For the rockists, that apparent constraint made Spears disposable and unserious. For the current #FreeBritney activists, it makes her a victim who must be rescued. But one way or another, the question of whether that constraint really exists is the question Spears has been facing for her entire public life.
</p>
<h3 id="cdcqLy">
“Remember, no matter what we think we know about a person’s life it is nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens!”
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<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A masked woman in a Britney Spears T-shirt carries a pink bullhorn and holds a sign saying, “The world is rooting for you, Britney.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/egdyppw7w-cW7CpM8bNFfT5S6W0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20148648/1257674143.jpg.jpg"/> <cite>Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
A #FreeBritney protester outside Spears’s conservatorship hearing on July 22, 2020, in Los Angeles.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g6mbNS">
Britney Spears has remained tight-lipped in public on how she feels about her conservatorship. And the private reactions of hers that have filtered out to the public are all laced with ambiguity.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8UKd8o">
In May 2019, a judge ordered a medical expert to examine Spears and her life to see if she is competent to control her own affairs. Court papers show no official petition from Spears for such an examination, but <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2019/05/13/britney-spears-free-social-media-conservatorship-jamie/">TMZ reported</a> that she made a verbal request for one, and a conservatorship lawyer told <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2019/10/24/britney-spears-why-does-she-still-need-conservator/2288009001/">USA Today</a> that if she had made such a request, appointing an expert to examine her case would have been the immediate response.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9AkY8F">
But at the next conservatorship hearing in September 2019, Spears no-showed. The lawyer appointed to advocate for her informed the judge that her absence meant she “did not object” to the conservatorship continuing. <a href="https://theblast.com/137527/britney-spears-suffers-technical-difficulties-during-virtual-cou">She also no-showed a July 22, 2020, hearing</a>, ostensibly because of technical difficulties. Records of the case have now been sealed from public view.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Xit9L">
The August 2020 court papers in which Spears asks that her father no longer act as her conservator seem to reflect a continued ambivalence on Spears’s part. Speaking on Spears’s behalf, Spears’s lawyer Samuel D. Ingham III gestures toward the idea that Spears might eventually ask for the conservatorship to end, but as of now, she has not.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SGKWNp">
Instead, Ingham describes the conservatorship as having three phases. The first was a “triage” that rescued Spears from the events of 2007 and 2008. The second was her comeback and her Vegas residencies. And the third phase, Ingham writes, must begin as of August 2020. What that phase might look like is currently unclear, but it seems as though Spears is asking for freedom from her father. Ingham also specifically notes that Spears does not wish to perform “at this time.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iwkww8">
In February 2021, Spears vaguely addressed the new documentary and all the rest of the rumors floating around her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFvx1zAVl6/">in an Instagram post</a>. “Each person has their story and their take on other people’s stories !!!!” Spears wrote. “We all have so many different bright beautiful lives !!! Remember, no matter what we think we know about a person’s life it is nothing compared to the actual person living behind the lens ✨ !!!!”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kh2Q1A">
In the end, the post suggests that what Spears needs the most from her fans is something she’s been afforded precious little of throughout her multi-decade career: some privacy.
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFvx1zAVl6/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Britney Spears (<span class="citation" data-cites="britneyspears">@britneyspears</span>)</a>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="paGMBp"/>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Oi5OrP">
<strong>Update:</strong> This article was originally published in July 2020. It has been updated to include Spears’s August 2020<strong> </strong>request that her father be removed as her conservator, a judge’s November 2020 ruling against that request, and the February 2021 release of <em>The Framing of Britney Spears</em> and addition of the Bessemer Trust to Spears’s conservatorship.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EG6H1M">
<strong>Correction</strong>: An earlier version of this article said that Britney Spears had twins. Spears’s two sons were born a year apart.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NQwHR5">
An earlier version of this article included a quote implying that Down syndrome is a mental illness. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/birthdefects/downsyndrome.html">We’ve updated the reference in keeping with the CDC’s guidelines</a>.
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Gina Carano’s controversial firing from The Mandalorian, explained</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="Cara Dune covers during a battle on The Mandalorian." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8UzmD7wfTBJXUMmF1Hp3AT4cKL4=/121x0:1081x720/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68812681/ginamando.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Gina Carano starred in Disney+’s <em>The Mandalorian</em> before being fired over a controversial Instagram Story. | Disney+
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Was the actress fired for being conservative? Not unless bigotry is conservative.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CIrCGk">
Gina Carano, one of the stars of Disney+’s wildly popular <em>Star Wars</em> spinoff <em>The Mandalorian</em>, has been driving controversy on social media for a while now.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vDIqHW">
Carano has tweeted <a href="https://www.insider.com/fans-call-for-gina-carano-the-mandalorian-removal-anti-mask-2020-11">false and baseless intimations</a> that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, suggesting that Donald Trump was its legitimate winner. She’s tweeted criticism of <a href="https://www.insider.com/fans-call-for-gina-carano-the-mandalorian-removal-anti-mask-2020-11">mask mandates</a> during the Covid-19 pandemic. She has <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/gina-carano-called-out-for-transphobic-twitter-presence/">changed her Twitter profile to mock trans pronouns</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1360295026404818944">posted anti-Semitic memes</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AN7Qhe">
The actress has expressed these views in just the past year. Her history of expressing more mainstream conservative viewpoints goes back further than that. She wasn’t one of Hollywood’s most prominent conservatives until recently, but her political beliefs weren’t exactly a secret. That she remained employed in spite of her posts could have been an argument against perceived “anti-conservative bias” within the entertainment industry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L5oMve">
But on February 9, Carano posted <a href="https://twitter.com/djarinculture/status/1359547709900922884">an Instagram Story</a> comparing being conservative at this moment in time to being a Jewish person during the Holocaust, along with a broader suggestion that those most at fault for the Holocaust were not the Nazis but ordinary German citizens. The post was an attempt to compare the events of the Holocaust to so-called “cancel culture.” The resulting firestorm was immediate, and even though the actor deleted the post from her account, it was shared widely on other platforms.
</p>
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did she just compare the holocaust to being a republican .. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FireGinaCarano?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FireGinaCarano</a> <a href="https://t.co/an3css7Kdr">pic.twitter.com/an3css7Kdr</a>
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— janet (<span class="citation" data-cites="djarinculture">@djarinculture</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/djarinculture/status/1359547709900922884?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2021</a>
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</ul>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oYtIBF">
Carano was quickly fired from <em>The Mandalorian</em> and the <em>Star Wars</em> universe more generally. (Her character, Cara Dune, was <a href="https://collider.com/gina-carano-the-mandalorian-spinoff-cancelled-reasons-why/#:~:text=Carano%20Was%20Fired-,'The%20Mandalorian'%3A%20Cara%20Dune%20Spinoff%20Was%20in%20the%20Works,Before%20Gina%20Carano%20Was%20Fired&amp;text=According%20to%20THR%2C%20Carano%20was,a%20whole%20two%20months%20ago.">widely rumored</a> to be part of a new <em>Mandalorian</em> spinoff Disney+ is developing.) United Talent Agency <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/02/the-mandalorian-actress-gina-carano-agency-uta-part-ways-in-wake-of-social-media-controversy-1234691964/">dropped her as a client</a>. In response, she is going to <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/news/gina-carano-ben-shapiro-mandalorian-fired-1234907154/">star in a movie for the Daily Wire</a>, Ben Shapiro’s new production company that makes movies by conservatives, for conservatives. (The company’s first release, <em>Run Hide Fight</em>, arrived last year, though it acquired that film at a festival and did not develop the movie itself.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lPyFL8">
Carano’s firing has started a larger conversation, driven mostly by political writers, about whether conservative voices are welcomed within the entertainment industry and if, perhaps, they are subject to a new blacklist. But that larger conversation butts up against a different larger conversation about abusive attitudes on Hollywood’s film and TV sets and creating welcoming workplaces there.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zNsmvp">
And both of those conversations butt up against a conversation we’re having writ large in America right now: How do we define what acceptable, mainstream political speech looks like when a sizable and influential political movement, one that has taken over one of the two major parties, is driven by virulent prejudice and baseless conspiracy theories?
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<h3 id="FNBaan">
Lots and lots of conservatives work in Hollywood, some quite vocally
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xLsg1IzP2feDPn9U1rh2K_M8h7s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22301157/1010024600.jpg"/> <cite>Frazer Harrison/Getty Images</cite>
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Tim Allen is a staunch conservative — who continues to work in Hollywood.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AzU8bR">
One of conservative media’s favorite perpetual boogeymen is the idea that being a conservative in Hollywood is a fireable offense, and as such, conservative political beliefs must be kept hidden.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XNjXZj">
It is fair to say that the entertainment industry is full of center-left liberals. Many folks who work in movies and TV broadly support diversity initiatives (except, sometimes, when those initiatives apply directly to them) and redistributive economic policies (except, sometimes, when those policies apply directly to them). If you are coming up in the industry as a young conservative, I am sure there is a subtle pressure to keep quiet about your beliefs.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DQwyNX">
The flip side of this coin is that there are a lot of conservatives in Hollywood, and some of them are quite well known. Actors like Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, and Jon Voight — all award winners — have expressed their support for Republican politicians, with Voight even <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/11/jon-voight-donald-trump-re-election-campaign-civil-war">going to bat vocally for Donald Trump</a>. (Heaton, for her part, has <a href="https://twitter.com/patriciaheaton/status/1346918521972817921?lang=en">distanced herself from the Republican Party</a> due to Trump.) Even more actors, including movie star Chris Pratt, signal frequently that they espouse conservative beliefs. (In Pratt’s case, this includes occasionally posting about <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chris-pratt-giant-cross-easter_n_56f92f29e4b014d3fe2377c1">his evangelical Christianity</a>.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EkapCf">
Certainly, there are conservative stars who struggle to land roles in the mainstream entertainment industry and instead find work either in explicitly Christian productions or more niche spaces like the Hallmark Channel. Siblings Kirk Cameron (a fixture of Christian film) and Candace Cameron Bure (a fixture of Hallmark) are good examples of this type of Hollywood conservative. Yet it’s hard to argue that if either sibling were a center-left liberal, they would be massive movie stars. In Cameron’s case, Hollywood actually tried to make him a star, and his movies mostly flopped.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QpdRxT">
In general, if conservative stars continue to make money for entertainment companies, those companies continue to employ those conservative stars. When a star is fired, it’s usually because they said something really, really, really bad, as when <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/29/17406014/roseanne-racism-abc-trump-twitter">Roseanne was fired for a racist tweet</a>. But in almost every case like this, the social media post that broke the camel’s back is just the latest in a long line of controversial statements. (We’ll come back to this as it applies to Gina Carano.)
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kOvyZj">
As evidence that simply saying one controversial thing isn’t enough to get fired, consider the case of Tim Allen, another <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2018/09/13/tim-allen-interview/">well-known Hollywood conservative</a>. In March of 2017, he compared being a Trump supporter in 2010s Hollywood to being a Jewish person in 1930s Germany on <em>Jimmy Kimmel Live</em>. Allen, a comedian guesting on a late-night comedy program, could more easily claim he was joking than Carano could. But his show, ABC’s <em>Last Man Standing</em>, was still canceled that May at the end of its sixth season. The reasons for its cancellation <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/5/12/15628038/last-man-standing-canceled-tim-allen">probably didn’t stem from his bad joke</a>, but we also can’t know for sure. (Plenty of conservatives intimated that the show was, in fact, canceled because of Allen’s conservatism.)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mly60i">
Still, the show made its studio money, and Allen loudly advocated for <em>Last Man Standing</em> to return in some form. In the fall of 2018, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/9/28/17911610/last-man-standing-review-season-7-explained-tim-allen-trump">it came back</a>, with most of its cast intact, on a different network (Fox). It will finally end, after its ninth season, this spring. And Allen hasn’t been particularly shy about his political beliefs since the show’s first cancellation, either.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LsbMi5">
This distinction is why comparisons to the Hollywood blacklist of the mid-20th century are so unfounded. The blacklist was a literal list of people who were forbidden from working in Hollywood because of alleged and often specious affiliations with the Communist Party. Even more people were pressured to name names and betray friends to the US government before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WsmCeG">
The blacklist has been widely mythologized as “people being fired for political beliefs,” which is definitely one part of its legacy. But what made it so specifically and particularly destructive was how it was rooted in actual political persecution of people suspected of being Communist dissidents bent on destroying the American system of government, when there was no evidence to suggest that the accusations against them were true. And that persecution was aided by a studio system where power was consolidated in a small number of men and by the literal US government.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E0wAda">
The much more diffuse entertainment industry of 2021, one where Carano can immediately get work with an explicitly conservative production company, simply cannot compare to the situation of the 1950s. And the US government was not pressuring Disney (which owns Lucasfilm, the company that makes <em>Star Wars</em> stuff) to fire the star; Disney made that decision on its own.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1JWTjP">
What’s more, Disney has fired people for expressing liberal political beliefs on social media as well, often with far less build-up than there was with Carano. Comics writer Chuck Wendig, for instance, was removed from a <em>Star Wars</em> title he was writing after a tweet thread in which he equated calls for “civility” with calls for normalizing bigotry went viral in 2018. The thread kicked up a <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/24/17995502/twitter-trolls-bots-chuck-wendig-bethany-lacina">mostly fake onslaught</a> of online outrage, but the damage was done. Wendig was gone after one tweet thread. It took far longer for Carano to be fired.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZvxdpE">
In general, Hollywood’s fear of seeming anti-conservative when so much of the country is, after all, conservative arguably insulates famous conservatives from the same sort of pushback that more vocally left-leaning stars could easily face. To be clear, anyone who brings in a lot of money for a film or TV studio is likely to keep being employed by that studio, no matter their political beliefs. But in the cases of Wendig or Carano, both marginal players, Disney spent far longer tacitly standing behind the conservative’s social media posts than it did the liberal’s.
</p>
<h3 id="GPvWPk">
Hollywood is also actively working to (appear like it’s trying to) curb abusive behavior on sets
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YUvqV4-WRToDlbjwyj_gxe_vm58=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22301152/1205345841.jpg"/> <cite>David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Pedro Pascal, star of <em>The Mandalorian</em>, attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j8SvyP">
Two news stories that also broke the same day as Carano’s firing inform what happened with Carano, at least a little bit:
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<ol>
<li id="flrGJd">
Joss Whedon, the creator of <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em> and its spinoff series <em>Angel</em> who went on to become a celebrated Hollywood director, was <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22277010/joss-whedon-charisma-carpenter-buffy-toxic-workplace-abuse-accusation">accused of gross misconduct and abusive behavior</a> by several of the women who starred on his TV series. These accusations followed others made last year by <em>Justice League</em> star Ray Fisher, who said Whedon created a hostile on-set environment while directing that film.
</li>
<li id="gZCUjN">
Lux Pascal, the sister of <em>Mandalorian</em> star Pedro Pascal and an actress in Chile, <a href="https://www.out.com/celebs/2021/2/10/actress-lux-pedro-pascals-sister-comes-out-trans-woman">came out as a trans woman</a> in a prominent Chilean publication.
</li>
</ol>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KHRWBs">
Whedon’s actions have long been rumored within the fandom around his shows, particularly pertaining to the firing of actor Charisma Carpenter after the fourth season of <em>Angel</em>. But Carpenter telling the full story in a tweet on Wednesday, coupled with Fisher’s statements last summer and Whedon <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/joss-whedon-hbo-series-the-nevers-exit-1234840465/">quietly stepping down</a> from his upcoming HBO series <em>The Nevers </em>in late 2020, seems to have pushed these accusations into the mainstream.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ciusS">
Whedon doesn’t deserve leniency for his actions. But it’s telling that Carpenter’s accusations, which are horrifying, would have largely been seen as “business as usual” in 2003, when she was fired from <em>Angel</em>. A powerful producer (usually a man) clashing with a star (usually a woman) and removing her from the series they were both part of was a sadly frequent occurrence, usually with a strong undercurrent of sexual harassment and other mistreatment.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1tjnAf">
What has changed rapidly is not precisely that Hollywood has made it harder for people who create abusive work environments to accrue power but that it is more sensitive to people who create abusive work environments accruing power. It will sweep the actions of a Whedon under the rug if he’s powerful enough, but when accusations like Fisher’s and Carpenter’s become sufficiently public, his power dwindles more rapidly.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8kitDo">
That said, these sorts of scandals typically affix themselves to figures who are on the downswing in terms of their power within the industry, as Whedon is. J.K. Rowling spent much of her 2020 propping up transphobia and Warner Bros. (which produces <em>Harry Potter</em> films and TV) <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/06/warner-bros-statement-jk-rowling-anti-trans-controversy-1202236822/">didn’t disavow her at all</a>, instead making a vague statement about tolerance, because <em>Harry Potter</em> is so valuable as a media franchise.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oVQsAE">
What was fascinating about the Lux Pascal news, meanwhile, was how focused the coverage was, in American outlets, on Pedro Pascal’s reaction to his sister coming out to him. To be sure, Pedro Pascal is far more famous to an American audience than Lux Pascal. But I also read the headlines about her coming out to him as a preemptive attempt to distance Pascal from Carano, whose transphobic social media behavior has led to basically every trans person I know mentioning that Carano is on <em>The Mandalorian</em> as a caveat when either recommending the show or urging people not to watch.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mFZYqV">
The Hollywood publicity machine has long tried to make stars seem unimpeachable, and Pedro Pascal having a trans sister he can wholeheartedly and genuinely speak up for helps separate him from the behavior of Carano. (When pressed last year, including by Pedro Pascal himself, Carano said, <a href="https://people.com/tv/gina-carano-faces-backlash-for-controversial-social-media-posts/">“I’m not against trans lives at all,”</a> which … thanks?)
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Sr0dsX">
But these two stories link up with Carano’s firing under the larger question of “what constitutes a hostile or abusive work environment?” If Carano is very publicly tweeting transphobic statements, to the degree that Pedro Pascal, who has a trans sister, has to discuss the basic dignity of trans lives with his costar, does that add up to an abusive work environment? If Carano is suggesting an election was stolen, when those sorts of suggestions very nearly led to lawmakers losing their lives, does that add up to a hostile work environment? At what point does nodding to conspiracy theories — conspiracy theories that suggest the sorts of center-left liberals who populate most Hollywood film sets <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OaGmqfn4wU">literally eat babies</a> — create a hostile work environment?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t2sIrw">
You can flip that question around, if you’re so inclined. Is Pedro Pascal telling Carano that her statements about trans people are unacceptable creating a hostile work environment? Does the corporation she works for firing her because she finally went too far in comparing Hollywood conservatives to Jewish people in 1930s Germany constitute hostility or “cancellation”? I don’t really think so in either case, but that isn’t stopping anyone from making the argument.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="duwmQH">
The largest question here is: How on Earth do we create a mainstream environment where everybody feels welcome when a substantial portion of the American public believes it should be allowed to express open bigotry and ridiculous conspiracy theories as a matter of course?
</p>
<h3 id="q5Oq4E">
The argument over Gina Carano is (kinda, sorta) an argument about the future of American conservatism
</h3>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rwPiUeELTE4tPQb63LNmvAMRgFQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22301148/1230734234.jpg"/> <cite>Brent Stirton/Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>
Supporters of Donald Trump overrun the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bm5ezM">
The “we have to listen to all points of view” reflex that drives so much of Hollywood’s insulation of prominent conservatives has gotten a real workout in recent years. For one thing, the rise of Donald Trump led to a lot of stars who took his ascent to power as an excuse to give in to their inner radio shock jocks. But for another, the film and TV industries are betting that the future of entertainment doesn’t lie with embracing a narrow view of what it means to be American but, rather, with as broad and diverse a view of American-ness as possible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="30YEZt">
This tension is, in essence, at the center of every single major argument in the entertainment industry across the last decade. It drove <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/20/20808875/gamergate-lessons-cultural-impact-changes-harassment-laws">Gamergate</a>, it drove too many of the trolls who <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/18/16791844/star-wars-last-jedi-backlash-controversy">got mad at <em>The Last Jedi</em></a>, and it drove the anger over that <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/21037815/ghostbusters-backlash-decade-black-panther-captain-marvel">all-lady <em>Ghostbusters</em></a>. Three pressures — a rapidly diversifying America, an effort to appeal more broadly to a global audience, and the rise of social media giving voice to people whose criticisms of mainstream entertainment would have been largely unheard even 20 years ago — have combined to create an environment where Hollywood wants to seem more diverse, at the very least. And that movement has created backlash as well, from (usually white, usually male) fans who preferred it when entertainment was full of cis, straight, white guys as protagonists.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rahxnJ">
But that tension is also at the center of American politics now, and increasingly at the center of political discussion in majority-white nations that are rapidly diversifying. And where questions about, say, what makes <em>Star Wars</em> <em>Star Wars</em> have fairly low stakes for the future of the planet, transplanting those questions into our political discourse — what makes America America? — has huge consequences for, well, what makes America America.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZIn0Pv">
“What makes America America?” is a conversation worth having. But too often, the conversation is centered on a debate over American diversity. And where Hollywood’s feints toward diversity are all too often merely that, a hollow attempt to cast a few more people of color or queer folks in movies or on TV pales in its potential to do harm when compared to, say, posting a meme that all but comes out and says that Jewish people control the world order and must be overthrown, as Carano has done. It’s not as though Carano was advocating for tax cuts or school choice on her social media accounts. She was advocating for outright bigotry.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GQj8yL">
As a trans woman, I often notice how often conservatives’ insistence that the left should be open to vigorous “debate” centers on questions of my basic humanity, or the basic humanity of people of color, or the basic humanity of other marginalized communities. I do not particularly want to debate my existence with someone who would ask that question in the first place. I exist. I matter. I am afforded the same rights as anybody else.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kB2T25">
And I haven’t even begun to dig into how, say, QAnon and adjacent conspiracy theories push this conversation in directions that actively demonize one political party. It is really hard to see how “an actor is fired from a <em>Star Wars</em> show for bigoted social media statements, before getting work in conservative media” is at all equivalent to “a massive group of people actually tried to carry out an insurrection against the United States government.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bvl9Uy">
Hollywood has always set tacit, unspoken limits on what its stars are allowed to say, making allowances here and there for the really big names whose success makes it hard to reprimand them (lest we forget just how mad people got at Jane Fonda in the 1970s). Stars have always received slaps on the wrist when they’ve gone too far with what they say, and they’ve often had to go on apology tours where they try to win the public’s favor all over again.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LJADGl">
The rise of social media has created a soup where stars who express bigoted views or support harmful and horrifying conspiracy theories (like Carano or Roseanne) expect to be allowed to share those views without reprisal, because they are “conservative.” But the real question here isn’t whether stars are being silenced for their political views, because we live in an era when truly silencing any star is impossible. Accused sex pest Kevin Spacey releases a new video <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/kevin-spacey-christmas-video-2020-1234874454/">every Christmas Eve on YouTube</a>, for God’s sake. It’s a terrible holiday tradition!
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pxB7LK">
The real question is why so many conservatives in entertainment and elsewhere are so intent on creating the belief that bigotry and conspiracy theorizing are essential planks of conservative discussion and that people who express those views shouldn’t be punished by their workplaces, even if those workplaces believe those views create hostile work environments. The argument over Gina Carano’s firing isn’t about whether liberalism has gone too far. It’s about whether conservatism is too far gone.
</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>Navdeep, Arvind win gold to secure quotas for Tokyo Paralympic Games</strong> - Overall, India has claimed 17 medals including nine gold, with four of them coming on Friday</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>Australian Open: India’s campaign ends as Bopanna bows out of mixed doubles</strong> - Bopanna and his Chinese partner Yingying Duan lost 4-6 4-6 to the pair of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and United Kingdom’s Jamie Murray in a first round match that lasted an hour and three minutes</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>Australian Open on tenterhooks over Djokovic injury as stands fall silent</strong> - The record eight-time winner, 33, grimaced through a five-set win over Taylor Fritz late on Friday and afterwards said he had torn an abdominal muscle, and wasn’t sure he could play his next match.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ind vs Eng second Test | Rohit sweeps on Chepauk turner as India score 300/6 on Day 1</strong> - Seeking to level the four-match series after their defeat in the first Test, India opted to bat after winning the toss.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Multifaceted for Sprinters Trial Stakes</strong> - Multifaceted, who is in fine nick, may score an encore in the Sprinters Trial Stakes (1,200m), the chief event of the races to be held here on Saturd</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>Odisha mandates filing of annual property return by govt. employees</strong> - The Odisha government has made the submission of an annual property statement mandatory for public representatives and government servants of all ran</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>Kashmir’s funny YouTubers are back</strong> - They were unable to reach out to lakhs of subscribers following the 4G Internet ban</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>TMC will win Bengal assembly polls with 250 plus seats, says Abhishek Banerjee</strong> - Abhishek Banerjee was countering the BJP’s claim of coming to power in the state by winning over 200 seats in the polls.</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>BSF shoots dead Pakistani intruder along IB in Punjab’s Tarn Taran</strong> - Fourteen packets of heroin, one pistol magazine, six rounds and two mobile phones were recovered from near the body.</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>Bamboo finds favour with artisans and architects in Kerala for green construction</strong> - The 17th edition of Kerala Bamboo Fest, to be held virtually this year, will highlight the potential of bamboo and its applications</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>Mario Draghi sworn in as Italy’s new prime minister</strong> - The former head of the European Central Bank must guide his country out of the Covid pandemic.</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: France says just one jab needed for previously infected</strong> - They already have some immunity and a single dose will “act as a booster”, the health agency 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>The video of a protester’s arrest Russian police ‘leaked to scare people’</strong> - A leaked video shows Russian police interrogating protester Gennady Shulga while pushing him onto his dog’s food bowl after a rally in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.</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>Russia warns EU it could cut ties over sanctions</strong> - The EU is considering more sanctions on Russia over the case of Putin critic Alexei Navalny.</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: Germany to halt travel from Czech Republic and Tyrol</strong> - Germany announces border restrictions, while the Austrian and Czech governments also restrict travel.</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>A Windows Defender vulnerability lurked undetected for 12 years</strong> - Microsoft patched the bug in its A/V program after researchers spotted it last fall. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742098">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nvidia wants to buy CPU designer Arm—Qualcomm is not happy about it</strong> - The proposed deal creates a nest of potential conflicts of interest. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742010">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>State lawmakers override veto, become first in nation to tax online ads</strong> - First-of-its-kind bill in the US is likely to face legal challenges. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1741992">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: NASA’s only realistic path for humans on Mars is nuclear propulsion</strong> - “It’s the kind of technology challenge that NASA was built for.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1741878">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Frontier raises sneaky “Internet Infrastructure Surcharge” from $4 to $7</strong> - Fee covers Frontier’s basic network costs but isn’t included in advertised rates. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742001">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
<ul>
<li><strong>As a butcher is shooing a dog from his shop,he sees a $10 and a note in his mouth, reading: “5 lamb chops, please.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
As a butcher is shooing a dog from his shop,he sees a $10 and a note in his mouth, reading: “5 lamb chops, please.” Amazed, he takes the money, puts a bag of chops in the dog’s mouth,and quickly closes the shop. He follows the dog and watches him wait for a green light, look both ways, and trot across the road to a bus-stop. The dog checks the timetable and sits on the bench. When a bus arrives, he walks around to the front and looks at the number, then boards the bus. The butcher follows, dumbstruck. As the bus travels out into the suburbs, the dog takes in the scenery. After awhile he stands on his back paws to push the “stop” bell, then the butcher follows him off. The dog runs up to a house and drops his bag on the step. He goes back down the path, takes a big run, and throws himself -Whap!- against the door. He does this again and again. No answer. So he jumps on a wall, walks around the garden, beats his head against a window, jumps off, and waits at the front door. A big guy opens it and starts cursing and shouting at the dog. The butcher runs up and screams at the guy: “What the hell are you doing? This dog’s a genius!” The owner responds, “Genius, my ass……… It’s the second time this week he’s forgotten his keys!”
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ahmeds123456789"> /u/ahmeds123456789 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lip165/as_a_butcher_is_shooing_a_dog_from_his_shophe/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lip165/as_a_butcher_is_shooing_a_dog_from_his_shophe/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>What do you call two transgender midgets having sex?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Micro trans action
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<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/relaxitshawk"> /u/relaxitshawk </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/linjp6/what_do_you_call_two_transgender_midgets_having/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/linjp6/what_do_you_call_two_transgender_midgets_having/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Just been diagnosed with the dreaded ‘Peek-a-Boo virus’…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
​
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I’m being transferred to ICU.
</p>
</div>
<!-- SC_ON -->
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Pete_witty"> /u/Pete_witty </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/libx9l/just_been_diagnosed_with_the_dreaded_peekaboo/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/libx9l/just_been_diagnosed_with_the_dreaded_peekaboo/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>I ordered a chicken and an egg on Amazon.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
I’ll let you know.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GardenRaccoon"> /u/GardenRaccoon </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/limbds/i_ordered_a_chicken_and_an_egg_on_amazon/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/limbds/i_ordered_a_chicken_and_an_egg_on_amazon/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Nigerian man found dead in his flat with $45million cash</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
<div class="md">
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
He spent the last 10 years trying to share it, but no one replied to his emails.
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Locksmith8887"> /u/Locksmith8887 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/liwlc7/nigerian_man_found_dead_in_his_flat_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/liwlc7/nigerian_man_found_dead_in_his_flat_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
</ul>
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