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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 New Lawsuit Alleges That Leonard Leo Called for the Arrest of a Pro-Choice Protester</strong> - The court filing claims that the Federalist Society leader, a champion of free speech, urged police to violate the First Amendment rights of a demonstrator near his Maine home. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-new-lawsuit-alleges-that-leonard-leo-called-for-the-arrest-of-a-pro-choice-protester">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Puzzling, Increasingly Rightward Turn of Mario Vargas Llosa</strong> - The writer has shocked many by endorsing Latin America and Spain’s rising authoritarian movements. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-puzzling-increasingly-rightward-turn-of-mario-vargas-llosa">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Day in the Life of Congress’s “Traffic Cop”</strong> - The House Committee on Rules decides which bills go forward. Jim McGovern, the ranking Democrat, has watched a decades-long erosion of the process. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/a-day-in-the-life-of-jim-mcgovern-us-congress">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is This the End of Bibi?</strong> - Netanyahu’s coalition of zealots, the resistance in the streets, and the Israeli Kulturkampf. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-this-the-end-of-benjamin-netanyahu">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Wrestling with the Ghost of Boris Johnson</strong> - An election for the seat in Parliament once held by the disgraced former Prime Minister goes down to the wire. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/wrestling-with-the-ghost-of-boris-johnson">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>Vox, the far-right party making gains in Spain, explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Vice President Javier Ortega Smith wears a white dress shirt and holds up the left side of a light green Vox campaign poster. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/POloUS2450cw_Ex3-L-tCbRndwk=/27x0:4404x3283/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72471305/1557991101.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Vice President Javier Ortega Smith helps paste up Vox voting posters during a tour of different streets in the center of Pontevedra, on July 20, 2023, in Galicia, Spain. | Beatriz Ciscar/Europa Press/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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The country’s upcoming elections could see a hard-right party enter national government for the first time in generations.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lOPOoD">
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<em><strong>Editor’s note, July 24, 8:30 am:</strong></em> <em>The results of the Spanish election were inconclusive, with neither a conservative Partido Popular-Vox coalition nor the current left-leaning governing coalition garnering enough votes to form a government. The Partido Popular is expected to attempt to find enough support to form a government. A coalition government between the center left, left, and separatist parties may be more realistic, however. The piece below, written before the election, explains a potential Partido Popular-Vox coalition, and how the far-right Vox expanded its power.</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3LSGqC">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/4/27/18514497/spain-elections-vox-psoe-pedro-sanchez">After its July 23 national elections, Spain</a> could be partially governed by a far-right party for the first time in generations.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="swCXnZ">
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It’s a development that would be significant both for Spain <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/9/24/23366464/italy-elections-meloni-sweden-europe-far-right">— and the rest of Europe.</a> Domestically, it would mean that Vox, the country’s hard-right party, could help influence policy, advancing harsh attacks on <a href="https://www.vox.com/lgbtq">LGBTQ</a> people, women, and migrants. Broadly, it would also send a message outside Spanish borders, adding to the victories of the far right in places like <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/26/23774334/greek-elections-new-democracy-spartans">Greece</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65926194">Finland,</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63029909">Italy</a> in the last year.
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</p>
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<aside id="lFYNSF">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pDRcKn">
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Ever since the demise of the ultranationalist dictatorship of Francisco Franco in the 1970s, Spanish voters have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/world/europe/far-right-parties-are-rising-to-power-around-europe-is-spain-next.html">hesitant to give the far right federal power</a>. That this could change in the coming elections signals how much ground the movement has gained in Spain and elsewhere.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kGnKPO">
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<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spains-right-verge-majority-general-election-polls-2023-07-17/">According to polls</a>, the July 23 elections are likely to see unpopular center-left Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez voted out and a new conservative coalition government voted in. While the center-right Partido Popular (PP) — home to Spain’s traditional conservatives — is set to win the most legislative seats, it’s not poised to get enough to secure the outright majority needed to form a government. As a result, it will likely need the help of Vox, and the seats that the hard-right party is able to secure, in order to set up a coalition.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VjlxtJ">
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That puts Vox in the position of becoming PP’s “junior partner” in government, a role that will give it influence over key leadership positions in the administration and a much bigger platform to tout hard-line immigration <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a> as well as misogynistic and homophobic views.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p5zxFL">
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“If the party were to enter into government as a junior partner to … PP, I would expect the party to push the government toward the right on a whole host of issues, including social justice, gay rights, and gender parity,” Omar Encarnación, a Bard politics professor who studies Spain, told Vox.
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</p>
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<h3 id="8wACZQ">
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What is Vox (Spain’s version)?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gO2UxC">
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The two largest parties in Spain are PP, which is running Parliament member Alberto Núñez Feijóo for prime minister, and the center-left Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), which is running Sánchez for reelection.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rrM2CJ">
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As <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/4/27/18514497/spain-elections-vox-psoe-pedro-sanchez">Vox’s Jen Kirby has previously explained</a>, discontent with how these two parties handled the 2008 financial crisis and a subsequent austerity program, as well as conservative blowback toward the Basque and Catalonian push for independence, led to the emergence of several smaller political parties, including Unidos Podemos on the left, and Vox on the right.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ortNE">
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As <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/4/27/18514497/spain-elections-vox-psoe-pedro-sanchez">Kirby writes: </a>
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f0sOb1">
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The Vox party was officially launched <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics/spanish-ruling-party-rebels-launch-new-conservative-party-idUSBREA0F1HM20140116">in January 2014</a>. Breakaway members of the center-right PP formed the party, disgruntled by what they viewed as the PP’s lackluster economic policies and weak response to separatists in Catalonia and the Basque country.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ypIjm5">
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Vox shares similarities with other far-right movements in Europe, such as the National Front in France or Alternatives for Deutschland (AfD) in Germany. Vox is <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/02/18/inenglish/1550506982_047374.html">anti-immigrant</a>, anti-Muslim, and skeptical of elements of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/european-union">EU</a>. It is also very conservative on issues like <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/20/inenglish/1553076032_593854.html">LGBT</a> rights, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/04/spain-vox-feminism/587824/">abortion, and women’s rights</a>.
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9UdzmI">
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Vox’s platform is founded heavily on nationalism and a return to “tradition” on social issues: The Spanish nation, to hear the party tell it, should prioritize its residents and practices like bullfighting rather than welcoming migrants, should be skeptical of efforts to advance gender equity, and should be actively opposed to LGBTQ rights, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-vox-lgbt/far-right-vox-challenges-spains-acceptance-of-lgbt-rights-idUSKCN1SU1OC">including gay marriage</a>. Key stances Vox has championed include claiming that <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230623-spain-s-right-rattled-by-row-over-macho-violence">gender violence</a> doesn’t exist, pushing to <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/world/spain-election-lgbti-law/">reverse a trans rights law</a> that just took effect this year, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spains-far-right-party-vox-would-law-allowing-abortion-2023-07-07/#:~:text=Spain's%20far%2Dright%20party%20Vox%20proposed%20abolishing%20the%20current%20laws,election%20manifesto%20published%20on%20Friday.">banning abortion</a>, and closing shelters housing foreign minors.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CrFKtV">
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A campaign poster in Madrid captures the party’s stances: In it, a hand can be seen throwing symbols that represent women’s empowerment and LGBTQ rights into the trash.
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</p>
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<div id="11mPS4">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="es">
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Vox despliega una lona en Madrid contra contra el feminismo, independentismo, el lobby LGTBIQ+ y la Agenda 2030. <a href="https://t.co/PKNlFQfcQ3">pic.twitter.com/PKNlFQfcQ3</a>
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</p>
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||
— Wall Street Wolverine (<span class="citation" data-cites="wallstwolverine">@wallstwolverine</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/wallstwolverine/status/1670427043312312320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2023</a>
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</blockquote></div></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G7ryry">
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Vox’s prominence has grown since the party’s founding less than a decade ago. Part of that, again, was reactionary: A newly emerged class of nationalists and ultranationalists were looking for a political home amid the backlash to separatist movements in Catalonia and the Basque region. Vox also gained steam as a rise in migration from non-white Middle Eastern and African countries has increased in recent years due to conflict in these regions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TF2zXA">
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Additionally, experts tie the rise of Vox to economic anxieties some Spaniards have: “There are cost-of-living issues, the fear of being left behind by tech and digital transformations, shifts in the economy and workforce,” says Jörn Fleck, a Europe expert at the Atlantic Council. Vox promises it can solve these problems, giving voters a “Spain First” message and pledging to invest in industries like the country’s <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/climate-change-spain-andalucia-far-right-vox-election-2022/">agricultural</a> sector.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B8jusz">
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But it often ties those ideas to <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/climate-change-spain-andalucia-far-right-vox-election-2022/">anti-immigrant, anti-Islam</a>, and anti-LGBTQ stances. And now, those views are poised to help shape Spanish policy.
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</p>
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<h3 id="1t0npW">
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Is Vox really going to be part of the Spanish government? How’d that happen?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nmFKJa">
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Vox finds itself on the verge of federal power not because it’s widely popular but because <a href="https://apnews.com/article/spain-regional-local-elections-3eeb96fa34bc1f8a54d15f2507a44a25">discontent with Sánchez’s government</a> has created an opening for the center-right to return to power — but PP likely won’t have the numbers to govern on its own.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="19zhoO">
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While Sánchez has had some policy wins as prime minister, including lowering inflation, he’s also faced pushback. Votes from a left-wing Basque separatist party helped him get through major labor and housing reforms, for instance, but his alignment with the group — which includes people convicted of armed violence and terrorism — has prompted backlash from some voters, among other issues.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xaY1as">
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After his party struggled in regional elections this spring, Sánchez called early elections.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3OOaXL">
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But for any party to take control of the government unilaterally, it needs 176 of 350 seats in Spain’s lower house of Parliament. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spains-right-verge-majority-general-election-polls-2023-07-17/">Recent surveys show PP securing roughly 140 seats</a> and Vox projected to win roughly 36 seats, a combined total that could clear the threshold needed. Of Spain’s political parties, Vox is the most likely partner for the Popular Party as the other major options are left-leaning.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uvfAam">
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That doesn’t mean Vox is broadly welcome in national government: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/10/spaniards-worried-about-far-right-vox-party-sharing-power-poll-finds">Sixty percent of Spaniards</a> have said in a recent Ipsos poll they are worried about it being part of a coalition. And thus far, it’s estimated to only get about 10 percent of seats in the upcoming election, per recent surveys.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JsU5xW">
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Still, if it’s able to become a junior partner, that could do a lot to normalize the party and its extreme views. The support it received in regional May elections, for example, allowed it to join coalition governments in several autonomous regions including Valencia and Extremadura. That gave Vox a foothold and legitimacy it had previously struggled to achieve.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6nWSL3">
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“Leaders across Spain said they wouldn’t get in bed with Vox,” says Johns Hopkins University Iberian Studies professor Bécquer Seguín. “Within a two-three week span, every single one of them flipped.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r7X9Bc">
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The July 23 elections could mark some of Vox’s most substantial inroads yet. The party first picked up 24 legislative seats in the April 2019 election, a number it went on to double when another snap election was held in November 2019.
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</p>
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<h3 id="SlbBHS">
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What would Vox coming into power mean for Spain?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0uWV80">
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If the PP were to form a governing coalition with Vox’s members, it’s not clear exactly what that arrangement would include. But it could lead to the incorporation of some of Vox’s hard-line views on immigration, abortion, and LGBTQ rights in the administration’s approach to governance.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oOqPu8">
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As a junior partner, “Vox would be entitled to make petitions upon the PP, like controlling ministries or adopting some of its electoral agenda,” Encarnación told Vox. “Spain at the moment has a coalition government in place led by the Socialist party in coalition with Podemos, a left-populist party. As part of that coalition, Podemos controlled several ministries, including labor, and at one point it had the vice-presidency.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OQcjf2">
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Overall though, a coalition could include some discomfort for both parties. Many of Vox’s policy positions are viewed as extreme even by leaders in the conservative Popular Party.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z3mlnv">
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“Gender violence does not exist, macho violence does not exist,” José María Llanos, the <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230623-spain-s-right-rattled-by-row-over-macho-violence">head of Vox in Valencia</a>, has said. Already, Vox’s wins at the local level have spurred policy changes that incorporate elements of their nationalistic and traditional ideology.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QFjze2">
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A town in eastern Spain has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/spanish-town-ban-lgbt-flag-after-far-right-vox-takes-power-2023-06-21/#:~:text=MADRID%2C%20June%2021%20(Reuters),there%20in%20recent%20local%20elections.">banned the use of the pride flag</a> in public places following the election of a Vox-aligned mayor there. And another <a href="https://ground.news/article/censorship-continues-pp-and-vox-ban-a-film-in-bezana-because-of-a-kiss-between-two-women">town in Northern Spain</a> has barred the screening of a <a href="https://www.vox.com/disney">Disney</a> film about Buzz Lightyear because it includes a same-sex kiss.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="katuEM">
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A top leader for the PP, Esteban González Pons, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/world/europe/far-right-parties-are-rising-to-power-around-europe-is-spain-next.html">the New York Times</a> that the party does not support Vox’s views on gay marriage or violence toward women, describing them as “red lines.” Pons also described Vox as anti-Europe and in favor of movements like Brexit, something PP opposes. Climate is perhaps another area where the two groups disagree, with Vox denying that human-made <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a> exists, and PP taking a slightly more moderate approach.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8hQ0yU">
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The two do have similarities, however, with some members of the PP also pushing more restrictive immigration policies, which are often backed by leaders on the coasts. Additionally, both have used anti-trans rhetoric and signaled interest in reversing a law that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/lgbtq-rights-are-forefront-spains-election-rcna94712">expanded trans rights</a> in the country.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lsXy5g">
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Some in the center right hope that a partnership with Vox would neutralize some of its more extreme views. But others fear that if the PP needs Vox to come into power, their coalition would give the smaller party much more credence than it previously had.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NsQJHu">
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“First, the bad scenario: We can legitimize Vox,” Pons told the New York Times. “Then, there is a second chance: We can normalize Vox … Vox will be another party, a conservative party inside of the system.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="lyrkMm">
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What does Vox’s rise mean for Europe broadly?
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</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AoRbV4">
|
||
Vox’s rise in the national elections would add to the gains that far-right parties have made across Europe in recent years and may embolden such groups further.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ceqq3F">
|
||
“The rise of Vox in Spain cannot be separated from the global forces giving rise to right-wing populism in the developed West — including anxiety about immigration, economic insecurity, and a perceived sense of loss of national identity,” says Encarnación.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LozViO">
|
||
The Spanish election follows races in other countries where members of the hard right also saw increased momentum. In Greece, a rebranded version of the far-right group <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/30/very-worrying-three-far-right-parties-enter-greek-parliament">Golden Dawn</a> won seats in the legislature in June. The far-right anti-immigration <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65926194">Finns Party</a> also made inroads during the Finnish election this past spring, and the alt-right Alternative for Deutschland party <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-far-right-afd-wins-first-governing-post/a-66024256">won its first local election in June</a> after securing about <a href="https://www.bundestag.de/en/parliament/plenary/distributionofseats">10 percent of the Bundestag</a> in the last national elections. Any gains Vox makes could, in turn, boost the momentum of far-right efforts in other European countries as, for example, elections loom in Germany in 2024.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xHGVhr">
|
||
Vox has been buoyed by other far-right leaders across Europe as well, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offering a fiery endorsement at a recent rally, and others, including Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, praising its positions. Spain’s relationships with these leaders could deepen if Vox secures its foothold in national government, particularly if the right’s influence over European Union politics grows.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MIW5PA">
|
||
“Vox is openly Euro-skeptical and seems willing to violate EU norms,” says Oberlin College Hispanic studies professor Sebastiaan Faber. “But if there is a change of guard at the EU after next year’s elections, the EU itself may become much more right-leaning.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>The film Oppenheimer forces us to ask hard questions about America’s nuclear arms program</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mf6GRfCqOzhOw3tcC1xOnVLhT_k=/0x0:2720x2040/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72477678/545021299.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
American nuclear physicist and father of the atom bomb Robert Oppenheimer (1904 - 1967) stands in front of blackboard with scientific problems written on it, in the 1940s. | Ullstein bild/Ullstein bild via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Our nuclear reality is Oppenheimer’s “worst nightmare.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UUNhJP">
|
||
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still have the power to shock: In an instant, the US killed <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/">more than a hundred thousand people</a>. But even if the director Christopher Nolan fictionalized some of the story <em>Oppenheimer</em>, his biopic of the scientist behind the Manhattan Project, the film may spark a new conversation about a history many of us studied in high school, but that often fails to resonate as it should.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m90ChF">
|
||
The reality is that 78 years after the first atomic bomb was tested at Trinity Site in New Mexico, we are living in a <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/7/23393019/how-worried-should-you-be-about-nuclear-war-biden-says-very">dangerous nuclear moment</a>. Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/23409451/secret-history-of-americas-tactical-nukes">tactical nuclear weapons</a> over the war in Ukraine. China has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/us/politics/china-nuclear-weapons-russia-arms-treaties.html">expanded</a> its own once-small nuclear arsenal, even as it has declined to engage in arms-control treaties with the US, which itself will spend about <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59054">$750 billion over the next decade</a> revamping its nuclear weapons. Countries in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, are vying to create civilian nuclear programs, partially<strong> </strong>in response to <a href="https://www.vox.com/23002229/return-iran-nuclear-deal-vienna-explained">Iran’s efforts in developing nuclear technology</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fIGhjM">
|
||
Can <em>Oppenheimer</em> remind us of these dangers and push us to think critically about how the Manhattan Project has led to this reality? I put that question to Alex Wellerstein, a historian at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/restricted-data-the-history-of-nuclear-secrecy-in-the-united-states-alex-wellerstein/15427862"><em>Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States</em></a><em>.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E4BLqA">
|
||
Wellerstein told me that <em>Oppenheimer </em>accurately portrays its subject’s personal complexity, unlike previous historical films about him. But the movie also falls into the trap of outdated scholarship in how it dramatizes President Harry Truman’s ultimate decision to use Oppenheimer’s creation on Japan.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="s33RRM">
|
||
One question that Wellerstein often asks his students is, “What are the conditions that you think it would be acceptable for the United States to deliberately burn 100,000 civilians alive? That’s a really ugly question, right? Like, that really gets you into really dark territory. But I like using it because it pushes you out of the familiar justifications, even though it’s actually the same question.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sQBzlA">
|
||
Nolan does, however, get across some of the key themes. “Oppenheimer’s worst-case scenario for what could happen after the atomic bomb was invented is that we end up in a world where multiple countries have nuclear weapons that could be delivered very quickly,” Wellerstein told me. “We live in that worst nightmare.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ae0hm0">
|
||
Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vKpOkM">
|
||
<strong>As a scholar in this field, what do you think the film gets right and wrong?</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aVme7G">
|
||
Nolan goes way inside baseball. It’s interesting to watch it as somebody who has spent quite some time thinking about Oppenheimer, because you see a lot of things you think, “Well, that’s really obscure.” There are a million examples. Some are technical things: They didn’t have to show some of the components that were used in assembling the bomb, but they chose to, and they depicted them accurately. There are a lot of supporting characters who are essentially either unnamed or barely referenced who are clearly meant to represent actual people who have these small roles in the project.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GrLE2e">
|
||
In general, his approach to Oppenheimer is to make him a very complicated figure. And that is not the normal approach to Oppenheimer in fictionalization. Usually they see him as a simple martyr, or as an Icarus-type figure who went too high and then came crashing down.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5GMQQy">
|
||
On the other hand, there are things in it, some of which are wrong, because he clearly chose to do them wrongly, because he needed to for the purposes of the film. So it cuts out a huge chunk of time in its narrative. It jumps from the end of World War II to the Soviet Union getting the bomb. That’s a big jump, because in that time period, Oppenheimer is at his most important point after Los Alamos. He was a very influential policy adviser in the US government at that time. But you can see why Nolan cut it, because it’s a very long film as it is, and he wanted to get to this other crisis point.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RO4r5m">
|
||
There’s another category of things he gets wrong, where I’m not sure he knows he got them wrong. Those are the deeper framing issues that are, in some ways, more important than a lot of the details, in my view, because I don’t really care if you know the name of Oppenheimer’s secretary. To me, that isn’t as important as some of the issues regarding the choices they had in front of them that led to the atomic bomb getting used. There’s an older scholarship represented in Nolan’s film — one that will be very familiar to most people — that is not what most historians who work on this would characterize it as.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PZf398">
|
||
<strong>What does the new scholarship say about the atom bomb? Where does this film fit into this new scholarship?</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aJ9QAP">
|
||
The place where things are not in line with the scholarship are on some of the broader framing issues. There’s a whole line of scholarship now that is not new — it’s 20 to 30 years old, or older — which gets into the fact that the standard narrative that most people have about the use of the atomic bombs and World War II is wrong.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qe5NRf">
|
||
We can call that the decision-to-use-the-bomb narrative, like just the idea that Harry Truman very carefully weighed whether to use the bomb or not. It was a question of, “Do you bomb? Or do you invade?” And so with a heavy heart, he chose to bomb and that was the lesser of two evils. That is just 100 percent not what happened at the time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wm5swZ">
|
||
It’s much less rationalized and thought out. They were planning to bomb <em>and</em> invade. And they didn’t know what the future would be. And Truman played very little role in all of this. This isn’t news to any scholars, but it hasn’t penetrated popular culture. And it’s not in this film at all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Hiroshima is seen desolate and flattened, reduced to rubble and a few standing buildings that are completely destroyed. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WiacWMzg7Z1WUXABvffrH7fiBxs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24797723/566461865.jpg"/> <cite>Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
After the explosion of the atom bomb in August 1945, in Hiroshima, Japan.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="63HJl4">
|
||
<strong>How much of a game-changer is this new scholarship? </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IWRnLo">
|
||
In the United States, in particular, we don’t just talk about the history of the atomic bomb because we’re interested in historical facts. We talk about it because it’s one of those core historical episodes that we use to think about what it means to be the United States of America, and also what kind of moral compass the country has.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N6UDgv">
|
||
So a lot of the discussions we have about the decision to use the atomic bomb — in elementary schools and high schools and even in college — it’s really a question of, if you have two bad options in front of you, are you allowed to take one of them? Are you forced to take one? So it’s about, what are the conditions in which you were allowed to destroy an entire city?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jdPq4A">
|
||
And when we construct it that way, we are actually repeating a bad version of history that was invented by people trying to justify the use of the atomic bomb. Because if you get into the situation where you’re saying, is it better to use the atomic bomb or is it better to have this horrible, terrible invasion that will kill some giant number of people, it’s really hard to conclude that the atomic bomb wasn’t justified.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VGFQb4">
|
||
That wasn’t how it was seen in 1945. One of the questions that often comes up is, did they have to use two bombs? Why Nagasaki, so soon after Hiroshima? There’s a whole way to justify that in this rational language: you say, the first bomb was to prove we had one; the second was to prove that we had more than one. And we had to do it because the Japanese didn’t respond to Hiroshima. So it was necessary. And that’s why they chose to do it. That’s all false.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rRmlNe">
|
||
It’s false in the sense that there was no strategic choice about Nagasaki. Truman didn’t even know Nagasaki was going to happen. The [military] people on the island Tinian, who were in charge of dropping the bombs, had an order that they could drop the bombs as soon as they were ready to use, and they happened to have two bombs ready at about the same time. They got a weather forecast that said the planned date for the second bombing was going to have bad weather. So they moved it up a day to accommodate the weather. It had nothing to do with high-level strategy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ZLrY8">
|
||
The Japanese were, at this time, still trying to figure out what had happened at Hiroshima. They hadn’t actually concluded or even deliberated about it in any formal way. It wasn’t part of some grand scheme. It complicates the discussion quite a bit when you know those details.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZJS6p">
|
||
<strong>What are some of the questions that you and your colleagues are grappling with around the set of issues right now?</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1gpSBF">
|
||
I find it really useful, for example, to ask questions about what did people know when they knew about the bomb? We might call this an epistemological approach. Instead of taking for granted that people saw this, the way we might see it, we might look at what they really saw at different moments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OjHW6N">
|
||
There’s a colleague of mine at Princeton named Michael Gordin, and he has a book called <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691128184/five-days-in-august"><em>Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War</em></a>, which is all about how people thought about the atomic bomb in-between Hiroshima and the surrender of Japan. At that point, it’s not clear that the bomb has actually ended the war. And if that is the case, then your feelings on, “Well, is it some world-changing weapon or is it just a really efficient way of doing what they could already do?” [A single night of incendiary bombing <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/deadliest-air-raid-history-180954512/">killed more than 100,000 people</a> in Tokyo on March 9, 1945.]
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K5u238">
|
||
So those guys on the island who decided to go ahead with the Nagasaki mission on their own choice, they see it as just another weapon. Whereas there are other people, including some of the politicians, who do not see it that way. They see it as this really core political strategic device. Once the war ends, the bomb as a special political thing, that viewpoint wins out. Looking at how people’s attitudes change, you can get a lot out of that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8rQOlf">
|
||
Then there are questions about, you know, how the bomb becomes not usable — what is called the “nuclear taboo.” This is Nina Tannenwald. [a Brown University political scientist who has <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2601286">researched</a> why nuclear weapons have <em>not</em> been used since 1945.] How does the idea come about that you shouldn’t use nuclear weapons? And when does that come about? And why does it come about? Because it’s not obvious that it has to be that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a55bDb">
|
||
My next book is all about, how did Truman understand the bomb, and what was going on in World War II, going from the assumption that everybody’s understanding is incomplete to some degree. And I would argue his was incredibly incomplete. And if you start not assuming that people understood things, but looking at the process of how they think about them, or learn things, you find all sorts of interesting stuff.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gh9XAP">
|
||
That timeline is really compressed between Hiroshima and Nagasaki, if you start looking practically at like, what exactly is happening, and how do you actually confirm a fact? To me, these lead you to all sorts of new questions and new insights, that are just not part of the older scholarship,
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JmYSBv">
|
||
<strong>What about the perspective of US military leadership? I’m thinking of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s remarks in the </strong><em><strong>Fog of War</strong></em><strong> documentary, where he says, we “were behaving as war criminals. [Air Force General Curtis] LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?”</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vPf1RX">
|
||
We have a lot of almost<strong> </strong>cultural defense mechanisms, to avoid talking about things of that nature.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6by5x">
|
||
US policy during World War II included the deliberate targeting of civilians, included burning hundreds of thousands of people alive, many of whom had no choice in the war and had no ability to stop it even if they had wanted to. Of course, we have all these ways of justifying that, some of which are more or less true, some of which are just false. And some of which are just repeating fake justifications that were given at the time, like the idea that they had broken up all their production into little bits and the houses were actually, each of them, a little factory. And it turns out, that’s not true. It turns out, that was never really true. And they just made that up to justify it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EanwtY">
|
||
It’s really hard to get Americans to engage with the ugly aspects of it. And I think it’s also tricky, because even if you can get them to engage with it, and really see it for what it is, they’re very quick to then move to essentially justify it. And to say, well, “That’s what you have to do in war, or that’s what the other guy was doing — really awful things, too.” And neither of those are really strong moral justifications or positions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1btPDM">
|
||
When I teach, I like to ask students, instead of asking, “were the atomic bombs justified?” because that just provokes the same arguments that you would see over and over again, I instead ask, “What are the conditions that you think it would be acceptable for the United States to deliberately burn 100,000 civilians alive?” That’s a really ugly question, right? Like, that really gets you into really dark territory. But I like using it because it pushes you out of the familiar justifications, even though it’s actually the same question.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f8RhDZ">
|
||
<strong>For audiences who aren’t familiar with this history, what questions do you think this film should spark? We’re at this incredibly dangerous nuclear moment with Russia threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons, without arms control agreements with China, and so forth. </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iql0PW">
|
||
One of the things they do get across in the movie effectively: Oppenheimer’s worst-case scenario for what could happen after the atomic bomb was invented is that we end up in a world where multiple countries have nuclear weapons that could be delivered very quickly. And they’re very large, and they’re in great quantities. And we’ve entered into a situation that over the long-term is not likely to be permanently stable. And if it becomes unstable, there’s a high chance of just, you know, disaster.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vW8p6I">
|
||
We live in that worst nightmare. We live in it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ojDvZb">
|
||
That was what he was distraught about as time went on, not so much what he did in World War II, but what they couldn’t do afterwards, which was rein that nightmare in. I would like people to consider that the way things are, is not the only way they have to be.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1tJvz4">
|
||
We need to think in terms of, what’s the world we would like, and figure out how you get there, as opposed to just saying, well, it’s got to be the way it is, which really is a way to just disengage.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VdLKRk">
|
||
If you disengage, then the only people who are really making decisions on this issue are going to be the people who have a lot to gain from it. And that’s how you end up in a situation with arms races, when the military, Congress, and contractors are making a lot of the decisions.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Inside the Republican effort to force millions of farm animals back into cages</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A close-up of a pig inside a truck." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YRQMpQAfBBo9kyMTPB8T6AAyT7Y=/0x0:959x719/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72477647/WAM10603.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A pig en route to slaughter. | Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Decades of progress for animal welfare are potentially at risk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0yI28Q">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W4lh2G">
|
||
You may not have noticed it, but the grocery store egg aisle has increasingly been going cage-free. In 2015, just a <a href="https://assets.ctfassets.net/ww1ie0z745y7/5x4LpTMoZLQbGpYSaZXpY3/24e96497c51f7398f03776790e9a1b9d/E008R01-us-egg-production-data.pdf">few percent</a> of eggs sold in the US came from hens that weren’t confined in tiny cages. Today, it’s close to 40 percent. That swift change has come in part because <a href="https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/docs/HSUS_state-farm-animal-protection-laws.pdf">eight states</a> have prohibited the sale of eggs from caged hens; some of those states have also prohibited the sale of pork and veal from cruelly confined animals. <a href="https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/pymcagefree.pdf"></a><a href="https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/fb494842n/rj431m23w/5138kx67j/ckeg0623.pdf"></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VISqHJ">
|
||
While some cage-free conditions are <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22331708/eggs-cages-chickens-hens-meat-poultry">far from humane</a>, the shift in farming practices represents one of the few examples of progress in the decades-long fight against animal factory farming. Now a GOP-led bill in Congress could blow it all up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qEIQM5">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2019?s=1&r=14">EATS Act</a>, short for Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, was introduced last month by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) with a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4417?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hinson%22%5D%7D&s=4&r=4">companion bill</a> in the House from Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), and would prohibit state and local governments from setting standards for how agricultural products imported from other states are produced. The bill’s language is not only sweeping, but vague, and some of its potential effects are unclear. For example, it covers the “preharvest” production of agricultural products, but “preharvest” isn’t defined.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<div id="OLFLqM">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qsqmqy">
|
||
If enacted, and if it were to survive likely court challenges, the EATS Act would open up all those cage-free laws to lawsuits, potentially erasing decades of progress for animals suffering on factory farms. The bill would also threaten other farmed animal welfare laws, like California’s and New York City’s prohibitions on the sale of <a href="https://themessenger.com/grid/scofflaw-chefs-and-litigious-farmers-will-new-yorks-foie-gras-ban-make-a-difference">foie gras</a>, a product made by force-feeding ducks and geese. (Disclosure: Prior to Vox, I worked at animal welfare groups that advocated for cage-free laws and opposed legislation similar to the EATS Act.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="So8FFg">
|
||
A Vermont law concerning genetically modified food provides an example as to how passage of the EATS Act could play out. The 2014 law required food producers that use genetically modified ingredients to disclose the use of the technology on their product labels, but in 2016, shortly after it went into effect, Congress passed a <a href="https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-news/2016-07-15/congress-passes-a-gmo-labeling-bill-that-nullifies-vermonts-law">watered-down version</a> of the law that preempts state law, essentially nullifying Vermont’s regulation. Vermont’s attorney general <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221220143416/https://ago.vermont.gov/ge-food-labeling-rule/">decided</a> to stop enforcing the original law rather than defend it in court, and state attorneys general with cage-free laws might take a similar course in response to the EATS Act.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Several sows in small crates at night inside a barn." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-JazL0L4iobqMULo0LXi1wmHS24=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24799147/WAM26884.jpg"/> <cite>Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Sows in gestation crates at a pig-breeding farm in Canada.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0kp45n">
|
||
But the reach of the EATS Act could go far beyond animal cages. The bill is written so broadly that it could threaten some 1,000 other state and local laws and regulations that govern agriculture, from timber to beef to crops, according to Kelley McGill, a regulatory policy fellow at Harvard Law School’s Animal Law and Policy Program. It may even block state prohibitions on certain recreational drugs, like salvia and kratom, that aren’t federally banned.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pYHp1h">
|
||
“The scope is really, really broad — it could encompass basically anything raised on a farm,” McGill said. “Crops, livestock, but also potentially cats and dogs, exotic animals. It could also be said to include products that include just small amounts of crops — for example, medicines that include cornstarch as an ingredient.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zEHLs0">
|
||
The bill also gives anyone affected by a regulation the opportunity to sue to block its enforcement, and makes it easier to win a preliminary injunction by putting the burden on the state or local government — not the litigant — to prove it could likely win at trial, reversing the standard of how preliminary injunctions typically work, McGill said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="567iSf">
|
||
While the sponsors of the EATS Act have <a href="https://www.iowaagribusinessradionetwork.com/hinson-talks-eats-act-and-the-consequences-of-prop-12/">one goal</a> — to undo cage-free laws and prevent states from passing more — most agricultural laws have nothing to do with moral positions like whether it’s okay or not to confine an animal in a tiny cage. Rather, many are intended to protect consumers and farmers by improving food safety and preventing the spread of disease from livestock and plants across state lines.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pjx3cl">
|
||
Congressional Republicans have been trying to pass some iteration of the EATS Act <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/11/proposed-king-amendment-threatens-broad-spectrum-of-food-issues/">since 2013</a> as a countermeasure against the growing number of states and <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22331708/eggs-cages-chickens-hens-meat-poultry">food corporations</a> phasing out cages. This year’s version was introduced just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in May to <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/11/23719825/supreme-court-pigs-california-national-pork-producers-ross-neil-gorsuch">uphold California’s cage-free law</a>, Proposition 12, which the pork industry had challenged in the courts for years. The case centered on the pork component of the law, which requires that female breeding pigs, or sows, are given at least 24 square feet of space. Currently, most sows are confined in what are called <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/9/23393017/supreme-court-pork-pigs-prop-12-california-animal-welfare">gestation crates</a>, which are so narrow the pigs can’t turn around for virtually their entire lives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x4ttM0">
|
||
Marshall’s office didn’t respond to an interview request for this story. Hinson’s office declined an interview request and declined to answer specific questions on the record about the bill, but sent a quote that reads in part: “Prop 12 allows liberal lawmakers and radical activists in California — who don’t know the first thing about farming or raising animals — to regulate how Iowa farmers do their job, devastating small family farms and making food more expensive.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ebrpum">
|
||
“My EATS Act will ensure Iowa farmers can continue to feed the nation and protect interstate commerce,” Hinson added.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="96Us0t">
|
||
After losing in the highest court, pork producers are now <a href="https://southeastagnet.com/2023/07/11/eats-act-abrogate-proposition-12/">pushing</a> for the EATS Act, hoping it will free them from having to comply with Prop 12. The bill is opposed by a coalition of groups that advocate for independent farmers, animals, and state and local governments, and who worry it could be snuck into this year’s farm bill.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="QgIJrR">
|
||
The origin of the EATS Act, and the chance of it actually becoming law
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EgQrnP">
|
||
The EATS Act can be traced back to one of America’s most controversial politicians: former Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King. King was best known for his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-offensive-quotes.html">far-right views</a> and outlandish racist remarks, ranging from the belief that whites contribute more to civilization than non-whites and that culture-mixing will lead to a lower quality of life, to wondering out loud how terms like “white supremacist” and “white nationalist” had become offensive.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q8cmD4">
|
||
He also had a lot of egg-producing factory farms in his district that wanted to keep locking hens in tiny cages. So, King went to bat for them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A long row of thousands of hens in stacked indoor cages." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9PjFtoxAPjzyKiC1DWbCbLY7lp4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24799153/AP18276514558872__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Rich Pedroncelli/AP</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Caged egg-laying hens at a farm in California.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qPU7UP">
|
||
In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/25/opinion/a-hidden-threat-in-the-farm-bill.html">2014</a> and <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=82933C7D-B597-4DD2-8F50-5B122962620A#:~:text=The%20amendment%2C%20offered%20by%20Congressman,violate%20state%20and%20locals%20laws.">2018</a>, he managed to get an amendment almost identical to the EATS Act in the House versions of the farm bill, which is passed every five years; a <a href="https://www.snaptohealth.org/farm-bill-usda/snap-in-the-farm-bill/">large majority</a> of the bill’s spending goes to fund SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. Ultimately, neither amendment made it into the final version of the bill.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YexL9g">
|
||
But according to <a href="https://www.localrootstrategies.com/">Jake Davis</a>, a Missouri hog farmer and farm policy consultant advising advocacy groups that oppose the bill, EATS Act supporters have a better shot to get it in this year’s farm bill than when King was in office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tpQAhH">
|
||
For one, the powerful meat lobby — after its defeat at the Supreme Court — is especially fired up. “The National Pork Producers and the American Farm Bureau Federation and their state affiliates are all making a full-court press for the EATS Act,” Davis said. “In my opinion, they are now seeing that [Supreme Court] ruling as sort of an affront to their way of doing business, and there is a lot of motivation … to getting it in the [farm] bill. And you’re seeing politicians reflect that advocacy.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zWxEag">
|
||
Neither organization responded to Vox’s request for comment on the bill.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6E2j9w">
|
||
Davis pointed to the House Agriculture Committee chair Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), a key player in farm bill negotiations who’s already <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/agritalk/agritalk-5-18-23-chairman-thompson">publicly voiced support</a> for the EATS Act, something previous agriculture committee chairs didn’t do for King’s bill, Davis said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyT5pP">
|
||
“When the chair of the House [agriculture committee] says that they are in favor of it sort of very openly, I think it’s probably a good chance that it ends up in the base text of the bill,” Davis added, meaning the first draft of the House’s version of the farm bill, which has a September 30 deadline for passage (though that deadline could be extended).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y28i4p">
|
||
According to Davis, however, it will still be an uphill battle for the EATS Act to make it into the final farm bill, in part because a lot of members of Congress are already on record opposing Steve King’s amendment in previous farm bill negotiations. But he said the EATS Act has a better chance than previous efforts, for several reasons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="npYURj">
|
||
For one, Hinson and Marshall don’t have the baggage King did. In the weeks before the passage of the 2018 farm bill, King <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/chuck-grassley-steve-king-752145/">lost support</a> from the National Republican Congressional Committee and some corporate donors after refusing to say whether or not he identified as a white supremacist (anger from Republican leaders reached a boiling point weeks after the farm bill passed and he was stripped of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/steve-king-white-supremacy.html">committee assignments</a>).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oFF4x3">
|
||
Hinson’s bill also has much more support — 23 cosponsors to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/3599/cosponsors">King’s two</a> in 2018 — and Davis said <a href="https://kiow.com/2023/07/17/ernst-going-whole-hog-for-pork-producers/">supporters</a> of the EATS Act appear to be <a href="https://www.kmaland.com/news/grassley-gives-update-on-2023-farm-bill-eats-act/article_62ce73ba-2199-11ee-97fa-ef99ee4c4e7c.html">more vocal</a> about their support than they were of King’s amendment, especially <a href="https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/1669739185740161024">in the wake</a> of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold California’s Prop 12 law.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="SiEIe0">
|
||
The unintended consequences of upending agricultural law
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TF4rA3">
|
||
The bill has also received support from governors of <a href="https://governor.iowa.gov/media/209/download?inline">11 red states</a>, but the short-term gain of dismantling cage-free laws could come with buyer’s remorse, as it would open up state laws critical to livestock and plant disease prevention to legal challenge.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SRTslK">
|
||
The US is currently experiencing its worst outbreak of the highly pathogenic <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/11/22/23472207/bird-flu-vaccine-turkey-prices-chickens-hens-cull-depopulation">bird flu</a>, which has resulted in the death or killing of nearly <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-2022/2022-hpai-commercial-backyard-flocks">60 million</a> farmed birds since late 2021, ravaging the poultry industry (the 2015 outbreak caused <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/emergency_management/downloads/hpai/2015-hpai-final-report.pdf">$3.3 billion</a> in losses to the industry, and this one is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10113833/#:~:text=The%202022%20avian%20flu%20outbreak,influenza%20outbreaks%20are%20also%20significant.">worse</a>). Rightfully so, <a href="https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/21.65.pdf">Iowa law</a> prohibits people from moving birds exposed to infectious diseases into Iowa unless approved by a veterinarian and requires trucks transporting livestock to be cleaned and disinfected. Those laws could be prohibited under the EATS Act.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cxGPwAxH_3VgB3Z6O8T5etdsTVs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24799186/Ec180dkY.png"/> <cite>Courtesy of Direct Action Everywhere</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A truck transports hundreds of egg-laying hen carcasses after a mass cull at a Rembrandt Farms operation in Iowa in response to a bird flu detection.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Dtp8xH">
|
||
There are also a number of laws around the country that set standards on milk quality, fish sourcing, and beekeeping that could be vulnerable to legal challenge.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3uXIif">
|
||
Taylor Haynes, a conservative cattle rancher who ran for governor of Wyoming as a Republican and serves as the board president of the <a href="https://competitivemarkets.com/our-work/oppose-eats-act/">Organization for Competitive Markets</a> (OCM), a group that advocates against monopolization in agriculture, is worried the EATS Act could wrest too much control from state and local governments. And he’s confused as to why the GOP, ostensibly the party of states’ rights, is advocating for it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PcHAuQ">
|
||
“It’s a little embarrassing that Republicans are leading this,” Haynes said. “Moreso, it’s confusing. It’s quite confusing.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LaE0SJ">
|
||
<a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/16/iuculano-latest-deregulation-bill-risks-gifting-china-our-meat-production/">Some</a> <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/christianjosi/2023/07/11/beware-the-pork-perk-for-china-in-the-2023-farm-bill-n2625523">conservatives</a>, along with OCM’s lobbying arm, have even fueled <a href="https://www.competitivemarketsaction.org/eats-act">anti-Chinese sentiment</a>, framing the EATS Act as a gift to China. America’s <a href="https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/sites/58/2023/06/16/29771-Pork-Powerhouse-2022-Rankings.pdf">largest</a> pork producer, Smithfield Foods, is Chinese-owned and has <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22576044/prop-12-california-eggs-pork-bacon-veal-animal-welfare-law-gestation-crates-battery-cages">said</a> Prop 12 could force it out of business in California (though ultimately it <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/9/23393017/supreme-court-pork-pigs-prop-12-california-animal-welfare">said</a> it will comply with the law).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p87pbI">
|
||
Conservatives like Haynes also say the bill is constitutionally suspect, as do legal experts. McGill, the Harvard Law fellow, said it could violate the Constitution under the anti-commandeering doctrine, which is based in the 10th Amendment and prohibits Congress from directly compelling or forbidding state action.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OagpR0">
|
||
In an email to Vox, Laurence Tribe, a leading constitutional law scholar and emeritus constitutional law professor at Harvard University, also questioned the bills’ constitutionality: “Congress has wide latitude to regulate or not regulate agricultural practices, but one thing it has no power to do under our federal system is command States and Localities not to regulate those practices in their effort to protect the health of their residents and prevent inhumane treatment of the animals that their residents purchase and consume.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="uhTNiu">
|
||
The EATS Act could hinder some farmers in the long run
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ETp4tO">
|
||
Large pork producers have fought against measures like California’s Prop 12 because it raises the cost of doing business, with one estimate projecting <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-468/193744/20210927102549231_NPPC%20v%20Ross%20Petition%20for%20Cert%20PDFA.pdf">$294 million to $348 million</a> in compliance costs for the industry. But many pork producers — both large companies and independent farming contractors — have <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/10/9/23393017/supreme-court-pork-pigs-prop-12-california-animal-welfare">already begun</a> to build new crate-free facilities or convert existing barns.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="21O4vj">
|
||
The egg industry, according to trade group United Egg Producers, has already invested $3 billion to $4 billion in its cage-free transition. The EATS Act could suddenly devalue all that investment, slashing the premium producers might make from raising animals compliant with certain state laws. It also creates more uncertainty for producers thinking of changing their practices amid a shifting legal and corporate landscape for animal welfare.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LVscJW">
|
||
“As you start to see these challenges and these pauses in this progress toward cage-free, it creates a little bit of uncertainty, obviously, in industry, as to what the path forward is,” said Brian Moscogiuri, a global trade strategist at Eggs Unlimited, an egg brokerage company. “It’s kind of like red light, green light.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ja1Wkw">
|
||
“I think we’re at that stage where there’s been enough of the [pork] industry that have made those [crate-free] investments that they obviously want to be able to capitalize on those investments for some time,” said a pork industry insider who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the issue. “The expression that I’ve used with some people in the industry is that I feel like, at least with Prop 12, the train has left the station, or Pandora’s out of the box and it’s kind of hard to put her back in.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gtbD5c">
|
||
If passed, that devaluing could hit home for key players in the farm bill. One of the pork companies <a href="https://civileats.com/2020/10/26/could-crate-free-pork-become-the-new-industry-standard/">more proactive</a> in converting its barns to crate-free, Clemens Food Group, has an <a href="https://www.simplyhired.com/job/RweS5jINyiU1q0zxytL6IBHPmGZBMeHSQFIA1r87o_Nh5lp0wCrauQ">operation</a> in Thompson’s district. The largest egg producer in Michigan, which is represented by Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow, has invested <a href="https://www.michiganfarmnews.com/herbruck-s-poultry-ranch-eyes-2023-opening-of-pennsylvania-facility">$100 million</a> in a cage-free operation in Pennsylvania. Neither office responded to a request for comment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JuEmaf">
|
||
The fight for animal welfare, like any other social movement, is one for which progress has always come with setbacks. After years of high-profile undercover investigations that exposed and, in some cases, helped to change some inhumane farming practices, the meat industry successfully lobbied for legislation that simply made it illegal to film on farms. (Most of these have since been <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/11/18176551/ag-gag-laws-factory-farms-explained">struck down as unconstitutional</a>.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u3jcMs">
|
||
Similarly, ever since states began banning cages, the industry has fiercely opposed such laws. The EATS Act, despite its innocuous acronym and concise text, puts on display the depravity of intensive animal agriculture and its political might: To maintain the right to cage animals so tightly they can barely move, nearly 40 Republican members of Congress are willing to trade away a critical right of state and local governments.<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4417?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hinson%22%5D%7D&s=4&r=4"></a><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2019?s=1&r=14"></a>
|
||
</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>Karman Kaur Thandi wins title in Evansville</strong> -</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>Novak Djokovic withdraws from Toronto tournament, opts for more rest after loss in Wimbledon final</strong> - Eubanks will gain automatic entry into the main draw as Djokovic pulls out due to fatigue</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 | Over 13,000 detained in Manipur over the last fortnight; Delhi prepares as Yamuna river level set to cross danger mark again, and more</strong> - Here is a select list of stories to start the 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>Faction war to secure control over Tripura Cricket Association</strong> - While one faction has announced its decision to disqualify TCA president, the other alleged scam in floodlights purchase</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>Morocco, Benzina set to make Women’s World Cup history in a game against Germany</strong> - Nouhaila Benzina will make history when she steps onto the field for Morocco’s first match of the Women’s World Cup against Germany — and not just as a player for the first Arab or North African nation ever in the tournament</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
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||
<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>Watch | Bhumi Pednekar’s latest venture - a boutique hotel in Goa</strong> - This boutique resort, facing the Ashwem beach in Goa, has a familiar name connected with it – ‘Badhaai Do’ famous Bhumi Pednekar.</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>Amaravati farmers protest as A.P. CM launches construction of houses for poor in R5 Zone</strong> - We are not against the interests of the poor, but the government should develop the returnable lands of farmers and ensure justice, says Amaravati Farmers’ JAC Convener P. Sudhakar</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>AP-Genco, NHPC to set up joint venture for implementing pumped storage hydropower projects in Andhra Pradesh</strong> - A 1,350 Megawatt (9x150 MW) PSHP at upper Sileru in GK Veedhi mandal of ASR district will be the first one to take off under the aegis of the joint venture</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>Justice Vipul M. Pancholi sworn in as Patna High Court judge</strong> - He was administered the oath of office by Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan</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>Enforcement Directorate arrests Samajwadi Party U.P. State secretary in ‘Bike Bot scam’ case</strong> - Central agency says Dinesh Singh Gujjar ‘used his network to locate beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated’ in a Ponzi-like scheme for investing in motorcycles to be run as two-wheeler taxis</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>Spain’s conservatives miss out on all-out victory as left celebrates</strong> - Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo narrowly wins but is held back by left-wing parties.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russia attacks grain stores at River Danube ports</strong> - The attacks targeted grain for export along the Danube just across from the Nato member state.</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 accuses Ukraine of Moscow drone attack</strong> - Moscow’s mayor says there were no casualties after “two non-residential” buildings were hit in the capital.</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>Unilever will let Russia employees be conscripted</strong> - The Cornetto maker says it will comply with Russian law to permit staff to be conscripted.</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>Corfu latest Greek island to evacuate over wildfires</strong> - The popular tourist island has started evacuations after 19,000 had to leave Rhodes.</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>The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives</strong> - In this deep-dive explainer, we look at a big-business mainstay. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1930955">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Understanding the octopus and its relationships with humans</strong> - A new book tracks the human fascination with octopuses across centuries. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955903">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Two great Star Trek shows revive the lost art of the gimmicky crossover episode</strong> - <em>Lower Decks</em> and <em>Strange New Worlds</em> have a lot of fun blending their styles. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955274">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here’s the trailer for the live-action One Piece we’ve been waiting for</strong> - Netflix has a mixed track record when it comes to adapting beloved Japanese anime. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955937">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Long-forgotten frozen soil sample offers a warning for the future</strong> - Ancient soil was buried under a mile of ice until excavated during the Cold War. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1955679">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There’s a man named Johnson who owns a nail company, Johnson Nails.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Business had been slow lately, so Johnson figures he might want to try putting out a youtube video to drum up some business.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He goes to an advertising agency and meets a man named Jim who assures him he can make the perfect ad for Johnson’s company. He tells Johnson to come back the next week.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The next week rolls around, and Johnson goes back to see what kind of ad Jim has put together for him. Jim has Johnson sit down, and pops in a USB drive.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A scene of the crucifixion of Jesus comes on. He’s screaming in agony as a Roman centurion hammers away at his wrists. The Roman stops, turns to the camera, smiles and says “You always know you’re doing the job right when you use Johnson nails!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Johnson is irate. He yells at Jim, accusing him of trying to run him out of business. Jim manages to calm Johnson down, and begs for another chance. Reluctantly, Johnson agrees, and they set up a meeting for next week.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Johnson shows up to the meeting expecting to be disappointed, despite Jim’s assurances that this time everything will be fine. Jim pops in a USB drive and the scene begins. It’s a beautiful desert scene, the blue sky merging perfectly with the rolling dunes. Suddenly, a naked, bearded man comes running from off screen, being followed closely by a pack of Roman centurions. The camera pans in on the group, and one of them, sweating and panting says sadly, “I guess we should have used Johnson nails.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Dan-Quixote"> /u/Dan-Quixote </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157tukb/theres_a_man_named_johnson_who_owns_a_nail/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157tukb/theres_a_man_named_johnson_who_owns_a_nail/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My new stepdaughter is convinced our house is haunted</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I don’t understand. I’ve lived here for 276 years and I’ve never noticed a thing.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/foxmachine"> /u/foxmachine </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1583fnb/my_new_stepdaughter_is_convinced_our_house_is/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1583fnb/my_new_stepdaughter_is_convinced_our_house_is/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers; “Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The villagers rounded up with all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Now you have a better understanding of how the cryptocurrency market works.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157ji5w/once_upon_a_time_in_a_village_a_man_appeared_and/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157ji5w/once_upon_a_time_in_a_village_a_man_appeared_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>With Twitter being re-branded to “X” What do we call tweets after the change?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Excretions
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KnotsCherryFarm"> /u/KnotsCherryFarm </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1582x89/with_twitter_being_rebranded_to_x_what_do_we_call/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1582x89/with_twitter_being_rebranded_to_x_what_do_we_call/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Free Porn.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
If you get an email with a link called “free porn”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Don’t opin it, It is a virus wich deactivates your spelcheck
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
and fcuks up you riting, I also receibed it but lukily I dont
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
vatch porn so I dint opin it, plaese warm yu frends.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157qy20/free_porn/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/157qy20/free_porn/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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