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<title>14 June, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Gun Scare at the Anti-Gun Rally</strong> - At the March for Our Lives, in Washington, D.C., a man yelled that he had a gun, sending attendees scrambling. For one local family, it was just more of the same. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/a-gun-scare-at-the-anti-gun-rally">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hiding Buffalo’s History of Racism Behind a Cloak of Unity</strong> - Officials have described the recent shooting as an aberration in the “City of Good Neighbors.” But this conceals the city’s long-standing racial divisions. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/hiding-buffalos-history-of-racism-behind-a-cloak-of-unity">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What the January 6th Hearings Are Really About</strong> - The House select committee made a good start in explaining the insurrection and why American democracy can’t withstand a restoration of Donald Trump. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-the-january-6th-hearings-are-really-about">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Nevada Primary Map: Live Election Results</strong> - The latest results from the Nevada primary ahead of the 2022 midterms. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/election-2022/live-midterm-results-nevada">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Two-Pronged Test That Could Put Trump in Prison</strong> - As the January 6th hearings unfold, a former U.S. Attorney discusses the possibility of criminally prosecuting the former President. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-two-pronged-test-that-could-put-trump-in-prison">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>How the US is failing refugees, in one chart</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A person in a headscarf carries a small child past a soldier wearing camouflage." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/E6gmbuSmwzzVWatbh-TwbCBPL40=/377x0:5710x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70974083/GettyImages_1234983444.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Evacuees who fled Afghanistan walk through the terminal at Dulles International Airport in 2021. | Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Since 1980, the number of refugees admitted into the US has generally declined, even though the need for resettlement has skyrocketed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uVRjlu">
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For the first time on record, the global number of people forced to flee their homes has crossed the staggering milestone of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/5/628a389e4/unhcr-ukraine-other-conflicts-push-forcibly-displaced-total-100-million.html">100 million</a>, according to recent data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vQwSfA">
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That 100 million includes refugees, asylum seekers, and those displaced inside their borders by conflict. If they were a single country, it would be the 14th most-populous nation in the world.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y1eBSK">
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“It’s a record that should never have been set,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/5/628a389e4/unhcr-ukraine-other-conflicts-push-forcibly-displaced-total-100-million.html">said</a> in a press statement. “This must serve as a wake-up call.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4YjOCA">
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It should especially serve as a wake-up call for rich countries like the United States that have fallen short of their moral and political responsibilities to the displaced.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cQ1crh">
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“We very much have a national mythos around being a safe haven and being a nation of immigrants,” said Elizabeth Foydel, the private sponsorship program director at the nonprofit <a href="https://refugeerights.org/">International Refugee Assistance Project</a>. “And for a long time, the US was the top country in terms of resettlement. But I think it’s definitely fair to say that we’ve been falling short over the past several years. You see a pretty significant decline overall.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aB9e96">
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Just look at this chart. From a high in 1980, when the US <a href="https://www.archivesfoundation.org/documents/refugee-act-1980/">Refugee Act</a> was signed into law, the number of admitted refugees has generally declined.
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</p>
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<div id="7aALd1">
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<div id="datawrapper-D7Y3d">
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</div></div></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cicTJa">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kdAGxe">
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You’ll notice some fluctuations, which correspond to historic crises around the world. There’s a spike in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, for example, and another spike in 2016 after the Syrian refugee crisis picked up steam. But overall, the past few decades are marked by a clear downward trend — even as the number of people being forced to flee their homes is climbing upward.
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</p>
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<h3 id="KWSuiY">
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US resettlement is falling far short of global needs. Why?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BJ6acm">
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The US has the capacity, resources, and room to be a safe haven for many, many people. Yet the current reality is that other countries around the world — often countries that have far less capacity and fewer resources — are hosting far greater numbers of displaced people relative to their population than the US is. In fact, at least until the war in Ukraine, developing countries were hosting <a href="https://popstats.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">85 percent</a> of the world’s refugees.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l6OaL6">
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According to the UN Refugee Agency, <a href="https://popstats.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">these five countries were hosting the most refugees</a> as of mid-2021:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NlAkFd">
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Turkey: 3.7 million
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</li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XgQPXw">
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Colombia: 1.7 million
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</li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fyTNni">
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Uganda: 1.5 million
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</li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RTPJZ0">
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Pakistan: 1.4 million
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</li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gHyvQF">
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Germany: 1.2 million
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</li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D3xBTB">
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To be clear, for a country to host a refugee does not necessarily mean it’s going to permanently resettle that refugee. And to a degree, it’s not surprising to find a lot of refugees in the countries neighboring their countries of origin. Some people may want to stay close to home in the hope that they can return, and getting from, say, Syria to Turkey is easier than getting all the way to the US.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lDxMq2">
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Still, “many of these low- and middle-income countries don’t have the resources to be able to care for their own population, let alone millions of newcomers,” said Helen Dempster, an assistant director at the Center for Global Development. Yet developing countries have had to sustain millions of refugees for years because of insufficient resettlement from richer countries around the world, including the US. That, Dempster said, “leaves refugees with few options<em> </em>but to stay close to home.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XSQdoD">
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Foydel agrees. “The distribution of displaced people might look different if we actually had more robust resettlement by the US and other countries,” she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSRpXb">
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So, why has refugee resettlement been declining in the US?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J6h4A8">
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If you look back 40 years ago or so, you can see that refugee resettlement used to be a bipartisan issue. There are comparable numbers in a George W. Bush year and in a Barack Obama year, for example. But over the past couple decades, we’ve seen pretty extreme politicization of what’s supposed to be a core part of the American narrative.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zh7iJK">
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The 9/11 attacks were a major inflection point, Foydel explained. After that, it became more common to view refugees — especially those from the Middle East — as possible security threats. The resulting security vetting process became so incredibly rigorous as to function as a bottleneck.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CNDpWR">
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Then came the rise in <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/what-is-nativist-trump/521355/">nativist discourse</a> during the Trump presidency. The Trump administration slashed refugee admissions, and since the funding of refugee agencies is tied to the refugee cap, agencies were forced to lay off staff and shutter offices. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/19/canada-now-leads-the-world-in-refugee-resettlement-surpassing-the-u-s/">Canada — which has little more than a 10th of the US population — overtook America</a> as the global leader in resettlement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfdIg9">
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Under Biden, the US is still trying to rebuild the resettlement infrastructure, though arguably too slowly. And <a href="https://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/impact_of_covid_on_refugees_and_asylum_seekers.pdf">the pandemic hasn’t helped matters</a>. Although it’s understandable that Covid-19 shutdowns and travel restrictions hindered resettlement earlier in the pandemic, refugee advocates say that’s no longer an excuse.
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</p>
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<h3 id="lFJ3mi">
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What can the US do to fix this?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DrXlCX">
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Part of the work of rebuilding the US resettlement program is undoing the damage that was done under previous administrations. That means staffing up the government agencies that do resettlement and <a href="https://refugeerights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Vetting-Report-2020.pdf">streamlining the security vetting process</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xy2lUv">
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The Biden administration is also working on getting a private sponsorship program up and running by the end of this year, one that would allow Americans to sponsor not only <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22883775/afghan-refugee-private-sponsorship">Afghan refugees</a>, as I’ve previously written about, but refugees from any country.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SGVSAm">
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The private sponsorship program will have two streams. One is identification: If a group of sponsors has someone particular in mind, they can nominate that person for resettlement. The other is matching: If a group doesn’t have a particular person in mind, the group will be matched with someone who is already being processed, helping that person to get out of a very lengthy pipeline.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cGiFiJ">
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For anyone interested in becoming a sponsor through this program, it’s a good idea to start preparing now, since it will likely require a fair amount of money. Canada’s highly successful private sponsorship program, for example, requires a sponsor to raise <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-sponsor-refugee-groups-five.html">nearly $23,000 USD</a> to bring over a family of four refugees. The US equivalent of that program could easily require money on a similar scale.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BST8je">
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But it would be well worth it, since it would provide an immigration pathway so more vulnerable people can enter the US. Importantly, the State Department has signaled that any refugees who come to the US via private sponsorship will be in addition to the number of traditional, government-assisted resettlement cases.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N8BcPz">
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“It’s very much our hope that that’ll significantly increase capacity,” Foydel told me. “What’s exciting about the private sponsorship program is that it can be a permanent sustainable mechanism for Americans to respond to emerging humanitarian crises.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TFptAw">
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Hopefully Americans will make good use of it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P39HSM">
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<em>A version of this story was initially published in the Future Perfect newsletter. </em><a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/A2BA26698741513A"><em><strong>Sign up here to subscribe!</strong></em></a>
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The scandal embroiling Washington’s most venerable think tank, explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="John R. Allen, President, The Brookings Institution seen..." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_nd25pDWCUAVw4NWHEJ2yvsmwps=/0x0:3021x2266/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70973997/1051861064.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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John R. Allen, President, The Brookings Institution seen speaking during the event titled The forgotten Americans: An economic agenda for a divided nation at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. | Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Why the president of the Brookings Institution, retired Gen. John Allen, has resigned.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4GYbOx">
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Few research institutes in Washington command as much respect as the Brookings Institution. It’s where a visiting head of state may deliver a lecture, where an administration official might roll out a new policy idea, and where former US leaders hold prestigious fellowships. More than 20 of the think tank’s experts have gone on to <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/news-releases/brookings-foreign-policy-experts-selected-to-join-biden-administration-in-leadership-roles/">serve in the Biden administration</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n68xzM">
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And yet, over the weekend,<strong> </strong>Brookings president John Allen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/12/us/politics/john-allen-brookings-resigns.html">resigned</a> after a federal investigation into his alleged unregistered lobbying work for a foreign country became public.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NkWZJP">
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For Washington observers, it was a stunning fall. Allen had long carried an air of impartiality and public service. After an almost four-decade career in the Marines, he retired as a four-star general in 2013 and joined Brookings as a fellow. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed him as the State Department special envoy for the global coalition countering the Islamic State.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfyGg3">
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By 2017, Allen was again a private citizen and working at Brookings. He also, according to a US District Court filing made public last week, was allegedly lobbying top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration on behalf of Qatar. He did not register as a foreign lobbyist as required under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Spokesperson Beau Phillips denied that Allen had ever worked as an agent of the Qatari government. “Gen. Allen has actively and voluntarily cooperated with all U.S. government inquiries related to this matter,” Phillips said in a written statement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rwc3bN">
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If the FBI’s allegations are correct, Allen’s conduct crossed lines — legal ones. But it was only possible in a world where similar, albeit less explicitly transactional, connections are normalized.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="abQnJq">
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The scandal surrounding Allen’s resignation reveals how foreign and corporate interests have a bigger role in policy-idea production than we tend to realize, and how relatively little scrutiny the capital’s think tanks receive despite their outsize influence in policymaking.
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</p>
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<h3 id="bulXvK">
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What we know about the investigation into Allen’s alleged unregistered lobbying
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y8jJHp">
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Last week, the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-us-news-think-tanks-nato-ap-top-5c30827587d2295012549d5d65fc806e">Associated Press reported</a> on a court filing that brought an incident from five years ago into the public eye: The FBI is investigating Allen for reportedly lobbying the Trump administration and Congress on behalf of Qatar. The court filing appears to have accidentally been posted online, and the New York Times later <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/dc-lobby-court-documents/df4dbfe3fd26ed7a/full.pdf">published</a> it in full. The allegations are explosive. “As requested by Qatari government officials, Allen corresponded with, met with, and successfully lobbied U.S. Executive Branch officials in the United States to release public statements sought by Qatar,” according to the filings.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7hLu2w">
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Allen’s potentially illegal work occurred soon after Trump made his first trip abroad to Saudi Arabia. Galvanized by Trump, the kingdom banded together with the United Arab Emirates and other Arab partners in June 2017 to <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/6/6/15739606/saudi-arabia-ties-qatar-trump">blockade the neighboring country of Qatar</a>. The United States works closely with Gulf states (despite none of them being democracies), and the feud made it an awkward balancing act for US policymakers. The embargo of Qatar became particularly sensitive given that the small, wealthy country hosts a US military base.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tSj83b">
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The court filing alleges that Allen had been tapped by two unregistered representatives of Qatar — a business executive named Imaad Zuberi and a former US ambassador to the UAE, Richard Olson — to advocate on Qatar’s behalf. (That Olson used the email address rickscafedxb@yahoo.com, a reference to the seedy Rick’s Cafe in the film <em>Casablanca</em> and the airport code for Dubai, might have been a tip-off that no one should be shocked that something was awry.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nba0mF">
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When Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster spoke at a Brookings event, per the court filings, Allen talked to McMaster about Qatar in the holding room and then followed up via his Brookings email address, apparently without disclosing a financial relationship he had with Qatari agents. Allen was flown to Qatar to meet with the country’s emir and senior officials. For the work, Allen received a “speaking fee” of $20,000, though no speech was delivered, and the prospect of long-term compensation. This apparently occurred before he became president of the institution in November 2017.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R8nqHd">
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The court filings say that Allen knowingly concealed information from federal investigators about the nature of his relationship with Qatar and did not share requested emails with the FBI, including the one about the speaker’s fee. He also sought to advance the interests of two companies where he served as a board member — the Texas-based artificial intelligence company SparkCognition and the Israeli software maker Fifth Dimension — by introducing them to potential business in Qatar.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6o3oNj">
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His spokesperson said in a statement, “General Allen took these actions because he believed it was in the U.S. military’s and U.S. government’s interest to help avoid a war breaking out in a region with thousands of U.S. troops potentially at risk.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FjQy8B">
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“The integrity and objectivity of Brookings’s scholarship constitute the institution’s principal assets, and Brookings seeks to maintain high ethical standards in all its operations,” the co-chairs of its board, Glenn Hutchins and Suzanne Nora Johnson, wrote in an email to staff. “Our policies on research independence and integrity reflect these values.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1SFhaQ">
|
||
On Sunday, Allen resigned from the think tank, <a href="https://twitter.com/dlippman/status/1536062195930234880">saying in his resignation letter</a> that it was “best for all concerned in this moment.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="QOKX1D">
|
||
Think tanks hold great stature — and deserve more scrutiny
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ISkTlq">
|
||
There are many dynamics in the Allen story. Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2022/06/08/general-disorder-another-four-star-tries-to-cash-in-00037081">emphasized</a> the routine nature of old generals selling out, the Quincy Institute’s Eli Clifton and Ben Freeman <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/06/08/feds-accuse-brookings-president-gen-allen-of-illegally-lobbying-for-qatar/">spotlighted</a> the role of foreign funding in Washington think tanks, and journalist Mattathias Schwartz has previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/imaad-zuberi-convicted-for-illegal-campaign-donations-alleges-cia-ties-2021-6">investigated</a> the bagman Zuberi, who at one point claimed he was working for the CIA.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NXgzkH">
|
||
One central question is whether this scandal will prompt any broader reckoning with the way policy ideas are generated in the nation’s capital.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f4pe51">
|
||
Washington think tanks hold a kind of implicit authority. They are scholars without students or classrooms, and they regularly brief policymakers. An <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017-annual-report.pdf">annual report from 2017</a> says, “Brookings scholars have regular and direct interactions with policymakers and White House staff members across regional and functional areas of responsibility.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gDRQ09">
|
||
Think tank experts are quoted on TV, radio, and news sites, including Vox. There’s good reason for that: At their best, think tanks translate complicated research into actionable policy ideas. They provide expertise on breaking news or global trends that’s accessible to a wide audience.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SdIqPK">
|
||
Think tanks represent a somewhat unique aspect of the way policy is made in Washington, which is through a marketplace of ideas. It’s a marketplace funded by foreign governments, US government entities, corporations, private foundations, and individual donors — advocates and policy entrepreneurs of all stripes. But the thought is that when the funding sources are sufficiently diversified, the research is independent and impartial.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a1Cz9e">
|
||
The issue then is that, despite its influence, the think tank industry has received relatively little examination. Tufts professor Daniel Drezner has <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24709312">pointed out</a> in an academic article that “think tanks are less heavily regulated than more traditional forms of political spending, such as campaign contributions and lobbying members of Congress.” Drezner noted that “the percentage of cash donations from foreign governments to Brookings nearly doubled between 2005 and 2014.” The think tank <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/center/brookings-doha-center/">hosted</a> a Middle East research center in Doha for 14 years, and stopped receiving funding from Qatar in 2019 after reportedly receiving <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/politics/foreign-powers-buy-influence-at-think-tanks.html">more than $14 million</a> from the country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oVpzqf">
|
||
We know that information because Brookings does well on the transparency ledger, and it annually publishes its donor roll. But this is about more than Brookings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H6uejk">
|
||
All of this is part of how foreign interests contribute to the policy ideas in Washington and, in particular, a battle that has been fought between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In 2016, Vox’s Max Fisher <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/21/11275354/saudi-arabia-gulf-washington">documented</a> Saudi’s vast influence in the capital. And hacked <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/03/hacked-emails-show-top-uae-diplomat-coordinating-with-pro-israel-neocon-think-tank-against-iran/">emails</a> shared with the Intercept showed how the Center for New American Security in 2016 <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/07/30/uae-yousef-otaiba-cnas-american-progress-michele-flournoy-drone/">produced private policy reports</a> for the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Otaiba.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qzPnZI">
|
||
Since Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, some Washington institutions have distanced themselves from the kingdom and from Gulf funding more generally. Brookings <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/12/western-walkout-saudi-davos-desert-conference-over-jamal-khashoggi-undermines-kingdoms-modernization-plans/">stopped</a> taking Saudi funding, and the progressive Center for American Progress <a href="https://inthesetimes.com/article/center-for-american-progress-uae-lobbying-fara-disclosures-influence">stopped</a> taking Emirati funding. But as nonprofits seek to diversify donors, foreign funding remains a cornerstone of some think tanks’ budgets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5egRHa">
|
||
One way that think tanks can address the potential taint of foreign funding is, as the Quincy Institute’s Eli Clifton has put forward, advocating for <a href="https://quincyinst.org/report/restoring-trust-in-the-think-tank-sector/">radical transparency</a>. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZOeNlr2fEA">recent interview</a>, he said that think tankers should disclose their funding with each of their publications, just as academics and scientific researchers are expected to.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IUrCHu">
|
||
Sarah Leah Whitson, who directs the advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now that Khashoggi founded before he was killed, says the Allen affair is a symptom of a much broader problem of foreign governments influencing US foreign policy, with former policymakers being implicated in the process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p1x0Qo">
|
||
“It’s a direct financial interest of their own career prospects when they leave government,” she told me. “It has undermined faith in our most senior government officials responsible for the most important national security protection of our country, who we now just suspect are counting on where their bread is going to be buttered when they leave office.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VoTIAt">
|
||
Though some of its senior fellows are associated with Democratic administrations, Brookings is middle-of-the-road and bipartisan. It was founded in 1916, and a recent press release says that it has provided foreign policy or national security personnel to every administration since FDR. “The most important asset of every think tank is its reputation,” <a href="https://www.fpri.org/article/2014/10/the-debate-over-foreign-funding-of-u-s-think-tanks/">wrote</a> the late researcher James McGann, who monitored think tanks as part of the <a href="https://repository.upenn.edu/think_tanks/">Global Go To Think Tank Index Report</a>, and consistently ranked Brookings toward the top.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RgzUfY">
|
||
As Brookings president, Allen phased out donations from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. He worked with the board to establish new criteria for foreign funders, “which placed emphasis on democracy,” according to a person familiar with internal deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VURzAb">
|
||
“In 2019, Brookings undertook a review of its policies on foreign funding to reinforce the institution’s full commitment to research independence,” a Brookings spokesperson wrote by email. “As a result, foreign donors are subject to an enhanced review that includes, but is not limited to, the funder’s democratic status.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zQLwNb">
|
||
That accomplishment will now likely be lost to this unfolding investigation.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Apple and Google are coming for your car</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A promotional image of Apple CarPlay showing the electronic dashboard of a car with icons like an iPhone." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lAPJhdlhvh1f7mYOkuCefyuCC4Q=/18x0:753x551/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70973917/apple_carplay.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Apple’s next generation of CarPlay turns your dashboard into a giant iPhone. | Apple
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Big Tech’s big car ambitions have antitrust advocates worried.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tB20Hc">
|
||
We may have gotten a sneak peek at the long-rumored, long-awaited <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22197401/apple-car-explained">Apple Car</a> when the company <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2271&v=q5D55G7Ejs8&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=Apple">unveiled</a> the next generation of its CarPlay feature at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The new CarPlay, due to be released next year, will essentially turn your car’s dashboard into a giant iPhone.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pmBHIs">
|
||
If you love Apple products (and cars), this was probably a thrilling announcement. But antitrust advocates and lawmakers who believe Big Tech already has too much power over too many aspects of American life feel differently.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4pN21a">
|
||
“All of the major tech companies have tried to maintain their dominance in these nascent industries,” Krista Brown, senior policy analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project, an antitrust advocacy organization, told Recode. It’s not just cars, she said, but also things like virtual reality and financial technology. “What you notice across all of them is that they hold massive amounts of data.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9V3Kef">
|
||
Google and Apple have been moving into cars for nearly a decade now, from powering dashboards and infotainment systems to building autonomous and electric vehicles. As cars have become, essentially, giant computers, it stands to reason that the tech companies that make smaller computers would want to (and be able to) capitalize on that. As an added bonus, it’s an opportunity for them to attract new customers to their digital ecosystems — which then makes it much harder for companies that don’t have those ecosystems to compete — and get that much more data on where we go and what we do. That data then gives those companies even more of a competitive advantage.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IwScUF">
|
||
“There is a flywheel effect, where the amount of data they have allows them to provide better information. That doesn’t mean that we should exist in a world where they then become the sole providers of that information,” Brown said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ml5XiZ">
|
||
Apple, which claims that CarPlay is available in over 98 percent of cars in the United States, isn’t the only company trying to get deeper hooks into your dashboard. Amazon’s Alexa is an option for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/alexa-auto/b?ie=UTF8&node=17744356011">increasingly more cars</a>, with some models offering Alexa Built-In, where the digital assistant comes pre-installed and ready to use (as long as you have an Amazon account). Then you can ask Alexa to do most of the same things it’ll do for you in your house, like play music, give you directions, tell you the weather, and order stuff from Amazon.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFg97n">
|
||
Google’s doing even more. First, there’s Android Auto, which, like CarPlay, requires you to connect your device and then mirrors it on the in-car touchscreen. Then there’s Android Automotive Operating System (AAOS), which is free and open source. Carmakers can use it to build their own infotainment systems — basically, AAOS is the car equivalent to Android’s mobile operating system. Finally, there’s Google Automotive Services, which are Google-licensed apps carmakers can offer in their infotainment systems, including Maps, Play Store, and Assistant — the car equivalent to Google Play Services on Android mobile devices.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n198Yl">
|
||
Adoption of AAOS is booming: While less than 1 percent of cars sold today use Android Automotive, industry analyst Gartner predicts that 70 percent of cars sold in 2028 will. That doesn’t mean they’ll all also have Google Automotive Services (currently, several manufacturers don’t), nor that consumers will be restricted just to Google’s offerings if they do. It does mean that Google may soon own the operating system that powers the majority of new cars’ infotainment systems.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hYPHPu">
|
||
“Car manufacturers have tried for several years to build an ecosystem of customer-oriented digital services around their vehicles, but they have mostly failed in the type and breadth of those services, as well as in the true convenience they deliver to customers,” a <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-02-17-gartner-identifies-top-five-automotive-technology-trends-for-2022">recent Gartner report</a> said. “As tech and software will become more and more the decisive factors for this industry, tech companies see an opportunity here to further leverage their expertise.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wHgp0J">
|
||
Basically, if you’re buying a new car these days, most will offer support for Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, or Amazon Alexa — if not all three. Antitrust advocates and some lawmakers see this as another way these massive companies can draw more people into their ecosystems and make it harder for them to leave. That’ll give those companies that much more data, and make it that much harder for new or smaller companies to compete. Recently, some pro-consumer groups have been sounding the alarm.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dGvHzQ">
|
||
In <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/images/Big_Tech_Auto_Letter.pdf">a letter</a> to antitrust hawks Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and antitrust enforcement agencies the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice last January, 28 consumer and antitrust activist groups warned that Big Tech’s “next target” was the car industry. Letter signees include Brown’s American Economic Liberties Project as well as Demand Progress, Public Citizen, and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. Of specific concern was consumer privacy, given the enormous amounts of data cars generate that Big Tech companies could collect and use.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BxtSpj">
|
||
“The data privacy and security implications are grave,” the letter said. “Google already profits off of our browser history. Imagine if they can also monetize our behavior behind-the-wheel as well. They know where we go, what we search for, and now they’ll know how often we use our turn signals or go five miles over the limit.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SW9IVq">
|
||
In April, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), along with 10 other Democratic representatives, <a href="https://raskin.house.gov/2022/4/rep-raskin-sends-letter-to-ftc-doj-calling-for-increased-scrutiny-of-big-tech-s-creeping-capture-and-takeover-of-the-auto-industry">wrote to the FTC and the DOJ</a> with their concerns over Big Tech and the automobile industry, seeing this as a chance to get ahead of a potential competition issue before a few companies dominate another market — as Google and Apple have done with smartphone operating systems.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Inkn2i">
|
||
“Big Tech is rapidly doing to cars what it already did to cell phones,” the letter said. “Urgent action is needed to protect workers, privacy, and the competitive landscape.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HvTb30">
|
||
Tech companies, in turn, are making the usual assurances that consumer data will be protected and consumer privacy choices will be respected. They also often point out how there’s plenty of competition and choice in the car industry, both for consumers (who, for now, can usually choose among several different companies’ connected car offerings or not use any at all) and carmakers looking for tech companies to power their infotainment systems.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AfZgSc">
|
||
It’s also worth noting that there’s a reason why carmakers (and consumers) might be embracing Big Tech’s offerings: They’re better. Car infotainment systems are notoriously bad; Ford’s (which was powered by Microsoft) was so hated that it was the <a href="https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-17-million-myford-touch-lawsuit-settlement/">subject of a class action lawsuit</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LGXn5f">
|
||
“Infotainment and navigation in cars is an area where carmakers and drivers have actively sought our investments and products to improve the experience,” a Google spokesperson told Recode. “Carmakers have chosen to work with us for over a decade because we provide them with choice and flexibility, and deliver a variety of helpful and safe experiences to drivers.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zm7kzX">
|
||
Pedro Pacheco, a car industry analyst at Gartner, said this was not about Big Tech taking over an area that belonged to the car industry, but about carmakers realizing how well Big Tech’s digital ecosystems could work for them as their products integrate more and more technology.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XgEqHF">
|
||
“Carmakers never owned a digital ecosystem,” Pacheco said. “Carmakers need to use big tech’s digital ecosystem in order to offer more and better digital features to their customers.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BsW7Ds">
|
||
But antitrust advocates aren’t just concerned about Big Tech and infotainment systems. They also see these moves as the beginning of a possible future where Big Tech <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/27/self-driving-car-big-tech-monopoly-525867">has a much bigger role in vehicles</a> as those vehicles become more dependent on sophisticated technology to run. These companies are making big investments in more than just infotainment systems and dashboards. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, owns self-driving technology company Waymo. Amazon bought Zoox, an autonomous vehicle startup, and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22774403/rivian-ipo-debut-evs-12-billion-amazon-tesla-valuation">owns part</a> of electric carmaker Rivian. And Microsoft, which has operated in the vehicle space for decades now, is making its own moves into self-driving vehicles with <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/2021/01/19/cruise-and-gm-team-up-with-microsoft-to-commercialize-self-driving-vehicles/">an investment</a> in Cruise, a self-driving electric car ride and delivery service.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4UUl2B">
|
||
Apple looks to be following its smartphone playbook for its cars: own and control the hardware, software, and services. The <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/apple-car/">Apple Car</a>, which has been in the works for years, is rumored to be an autonomous, electric vehicle that Apple would, of course, have a lot of control over. It’s easy to see a world where third parties that want to make apps or services or really anything for your Apple Car are subject to Apple’s terms and conditions (and any commissions) to do so, just like they are for most things in your iPhone. Just look at how Apple used its control over iPhones to give it <a href="https://www.promarket.org/2022/01/12/apple-digital-key-competition-privacy-contactless-payments-antitrust/">exclusive access</a> to the near-field communications chip needed to power digital car keys. That means no one else can make a digital car key for an Apple device except Apple itself. Apple’s refusal to open up its NFC chip for payment services has <a href="https://www.engadget.com/european-commission-charge-apple-pay-nfc-115020342.html">already led</a> to antitrust charges from the European Union (Apple has said that it doesn’t allow third parties to access the chip for security reasons).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3vSiNW">
|
||
CarPlay may not just be a preview of the Apple Car. Antitrust advocates fear it may also be a preview of a world where almost all cars are powered by just two companies’ operating systems. Brown, of the American Economic Liberties Project, sees no reason to think Big Tech companies wouldn’t try to dominate that space the way they have others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jCBumD">
|
||
“Unless by some miracle they decide to overcome their draw toward abusing their dominance, I think because of what they can provide, they will, and they’ll push out others,” she said. “The same way that Apple has with their App Store.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ZDHpN">
|
||
Before the iPhone came along, it was hard to imagine a world where you relied on your phone when driving your car. Fifteen years later, it’s hard to imagine using your car without your phone to give you directions, play music, make calls, and even unlock your door and <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/03/apple-launches-the-first-drivers-license-and-state-id-in-wallet-with-arizona/">hold your driver’s license</a>. In another 15 years, we may well be living in a world full of vehicles that are autonomous, electric, and powered by the same companies that power our phones. They may work better than anything traditional car companies and services could have done on their own, but the price may also be much higher than we realize.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Forever Together, Ashwa Magadheera, Serdar, Cyrenius and Balor excel</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sindhu, Praneeth bow out of Indonesia Open</strong> - Seventh seed Sindhu lost 14-21 18-21 to Bing Jiao in the women's singles</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>Explained | The National Air Sports Policy 2022</strong> - The Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched an aero-sports policy to turn India into a one of the top destination for air sports by 2030. In a first, the policy sets up an oversight body will be set up for regulation, certification, accidents and penalties.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morning Digest | A month after Rahul Bhat’s killing, over 5,400 Pandit employees refuse to join duty in Valley, Rahul Gandhi to appear before ED again today, and more</strong> - A select list of stories to read before you start your day</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australia edge Peru on penalties to claim FIFA World Cup 2022 spot</strong> - Substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne emerged an unlikely hero after he saved the last spot kick</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>Assam NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma files vigilance complaint against predecessor Prateek Hajela</strong> - A senior official of the Vigilance & Anti-Corruption wing of Assam Police said it has received a complaint from the NRC State Coordinator but no FIR has been registered yet.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Data | How many Indians own a fridge, AC or a washing machine: A State-wise split</strong> - Only 16% of households in India own all three appliances- television, refrigerator and washing machine, while close to 25% do not own a car, a bike or a bicycle</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Discoms under stress to perform</strong> - They put up poor show on some key indicators in last quarter</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Centre's move to recruit 10 lakh employees | BJP hails announcement, Opposition dubs it as ‘jumle-baazi’</strong> - The direction from PM Modi came following a review of the status of human resource in all government departments and ministries</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When an iconic icon fades into history</strong> - Microsoft is retiring on Wednesday its 27-year-old browser Internet Explorer, the gateway to information for a generation</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lysychansk: Russia erasing history in Ukraine’s ‘dead city’</strong> - The fabric of Lysychansk is being destroyed by intense Russian bombardment, writes Orla Guerin.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French burkini ban challenged by Grenoble in top court</strong> - The ban on the full-body swimsuits in public swimming pools is contested by Grenoble city council.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NI Protocol: UK reveals plans to ditch parts of EU Brexit deal</strong> - The UK publishes plans to ditch parts of Northern Ireland Protocol but the EU says the move would break international law.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Europe is prepping for a trade war no-one wants</strong> - In the EU, the contingencies for a trade war with the UK are being put in place</p></li>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sir Mick Jagger tests positive for Covid</strong> - The singer thanks fans for their patience as The Rolling Stones cancel a show in Amsterdam.</p></li>
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||
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Meet Harold Gillies, the WWI surgeon who rebuilt the faces of injured soldiers</strong> - Ars chats with author and historian Lindsey Fitzharris about her new book, <em>The Facemaker</em>. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1858351">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>BA.4, BA.5 rise in Europe; officials sound alarm of COVID-19 surge to come</strong> - As with any wave, there’s risk of increases in hospitalizations and deaths. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1860620">link</a></p></li>
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||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cryptocurrency plunges as crypto “bank” Celsius suspends withdrawals</strong> - Celsius says “extreme market conditions” forced it to suspend withdrawals. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1860503">link</a></p></li>
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||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SpaceX’s Starship launch plan gets an environmental OK from the feds</strong> - Changes to SpaceX’s original plan plus new conditions add up to an acceptance. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1860589">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Email client K-9 Mail will become Thunderbird for Android</strong> - K-9’s project maintainer will join the Thunderbird team. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1860579">link</a></p></li>
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||
</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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||
<li><strong>After my accident, I woke up in hospital with a sexy nurse standing over me She said “You may not feel anything from the waist down.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Fair enough,” I replied, and felt her breasts.
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||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbpows/after_my_accident_i_woke_up_in_hospital_with_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbpows/after_my_accident_i_woke_up_in_hospital_with_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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||
<li><strong>Why did the Mexican have to take antidepressants?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
For Hispanic attacks
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||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dr94__"> /u/dr94__ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vc0gk0/why_did_the_mexican_have_to_take_antidepressants/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vc0gk0/why_did_the_mexican_have_to_take_antidepressants/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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||
<li><strong>Why cant Michael Jackson go within 500m of a school zone…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Because he’s dead
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||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/LazerNet390"> /u/LazerNet390 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbbesk/why_cant_michael_jackson_go_within_500m_of_a/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbbesk/why_cant_michael_jackson_go_within_500m_of_a/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>One morning Snow White said to her prince, “I haven’t visited the seven dwarves in ages. I think I’ll visit them for a week.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
The next day, Snow white came back to the castle in a huff.
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Why are you back so early?” asked the prince.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Grumpy harassed me,” replied Snow White.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“What happened?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well, as soon as I entered the cottage, he told me my hair smelled nice.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“That doesn’t sound like harassment,” said the prince. “That sounds like a compliment. You should be flattered.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Flattered?! He’s a dwarf, remember?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/wimpykidfan37"> /u/wimpykidfan37 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbnr8t/one_morning_snow_white_said_to_her_prince_i/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vbnr8t/one_morning_snow_white_said_to_her_prince_i/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>what kind of fish is made up of 2 atoms only?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
2Na
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/dr94__"> /u/dr94__ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vc0dac/what_kind_of_fish_is_made_up_of_2_atoms_only/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/vc0dac/what_kind_of_fish_is_made_up_of_2_atoms_only/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
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||
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