449 lines
62 KiB
HTML
449 lines
62 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
|
||
<html lang="" xml:lang="" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
|
||
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
|
||
<meta content="pandoc" name="generator"/>
|
||
<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
|
||
<title>16 April, 2023</title>
|
||
<style>
|
||
code{white-space: pre-wrap;}
|
||
span.smallcaps{font-variant: small-caps;}
|
||
span.underline{text-decoration: underline;}
|
||
div.column{display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; width: 50%;}
|
||
div.hanging-indent{margin-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
|
||
ul.task-list{list-style: none;}
|
||
</style>
|
||
<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>
|
||
<body>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
|
||
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Privacy-Minded Social Network at the Center of the Classified-Document Leak</strong> - A young National Guardsman posted hundreds of secret government files to a private Discord group. Then they sat there for months unnoticed. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/the-privacy-minded-social-network-at-the-center-of-the-classified-document-leak">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bob Lee’s Murder and San Francisco’s So-Called Crime Epidemic</strong> - The killing of a tech executive reveals the cycle of outrage that puts enormous pressure on progressive district attorneys. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/bob-lees-murder-and-san-franciscos-so-called-crime-epidemic">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>All Gaffes Are Not Created Equal: Biden vs. the Almighty Trump</strong> - On a week when the 2024 contrast could not be clearer. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/all-gaffes-are-not-created-equal-biden-vs-the-almighty-trump">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s Behind the Bipartisan Attack on TikTok?</strong> - A hundred and fifty million Americans are on TikTok. Evan Osnos and Chris Stokel-Walker discuss why politicians are so keen to ban the app. Plus, Broadway’s new comedy of white wokeness. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/whats-behind-the-bipartisan-attack-on-tiktok">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is the Trump Indictment a “Legal Embarrassment”?</strong> - Analysts have argued that the case, which was put down by previous prosecutors, sets a dangerous precedent in American politics. That might be naïve. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/is-the-trump-indictment-a-legal-embarrassment">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Katie Porter thinks Democrats have a confidence problem</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="House Oversight Committee Hearing On Border Crisis" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/u06wRhQqLYhbZi5LWpAeQnadnyM=/0x0:4861x3646/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72185087/1246867957.0.jpg"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The populist Congress member from California talked with The Gray Area about some solutions to it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8mhVCX">
|
||
I have a longstanding unofficial policy on my podcast <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-gray-area"><em>The Gray Area</em></a>: Don’t interview politicians.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KlS87N">
|
||
The reason is that most — and I emphasize <em>most</em> — politicians are so concerned about optics and messaging that they can’t help but speak in banal sound bites. It’s boring and predictable. And in theory at least, my show is an attempt to get beyond that stuff.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vNe4Cc">
|
||
But I decided to make an exception for the California Congress member and Senate candidate Katie Porter. She’s served in Congress since 2019, and her style of working-class politics has always been interesting to me. Despite her Ivy League roots, she’s developed a pretty convincing populist appeal in Congress. Indeed, if you caught any headlines in the last few years with her name in them, it was probably about one of her <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/10/politics/katie-porter-jamie-dimon-bank-employees/index.html">whiteboard performances</a> in congressional hearings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z1j3rx">
|
||
Since she’s got a new book out, called <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/715548/i-swear-by-katie-porter/"><em>I Swear</em></a>, I decided to invite her onto the show to talk about her approach to politics, why the Democrats have a branding problem, and what’s wrong with Congress (spoiler alert: a lot, starting with its blind spots on wealth and privilege). Below is an excerpt, edited for length and clarity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DYXUmN">
|
||
As always, you can listen and follow <em>The Gray Area</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations">Stitcher</a>, or <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/thegrayareapod">wherever you find podcasts</a>. New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="5zGcZM">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="EvrFT7"/>
|
||
<h4 id="gA4EEu">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KdzQME">
|
||
There’s a ton in your book about class divisions and how they play out in Congress. We all know that Congress is full of rich people, but were you surprised by how much class shaped politics across party lines?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="0HRJYi">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M0MESc">
|
||
I had a sense, as do many Americans, that somehow people serve in Congress and end up millionaires. What I learned as a candidate, even before I got to Congress, was that you get to Congress because you’re a millionaire. That’s where all the advantages are in our campaign process. Parties go to people who are themselves wealthy, who know other wealthy people, who have family who can help them. And so the problem starts at the candidate level and who’s deemed to be electable. It’s all deeply infused with class and money and privilege.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QDPf2C">
|
||
I suppose I had a misperception that Republicans were the rich people and the Democrats were working- or middle-class people trying to make ends meet. Maybe that’s true among the electorate, though I tend to think it’s not true; it’s definitely not true in Congress.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3J78eK">
|
||
When we look at who is trading stocks in Congress, millions of dollars in stocks, it’s Democrats just as much as Republicans — it’s real on both sides of the aisle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="4KspQs">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xpPsUO">
|
||
This line in particular jumped out at me: “In the House of Representatives, the privilege of wealth divides ruthlessly. Ideological differences might be the most visible to the public, but the class differences cut the most sharply in our experiences.” Do you really think that class interests trump ideological interest in Congress?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="0b1vqg">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pxayDA">
|
||
When we think about voting on policy, class is a part of it, but ideology is probably a bigger part. But when we think about who runs for Congress, who continues to do this job year after year, class is really, really important, and it makes a huge difference. So the folks who have existing wealth are the first ones to say we shouldn’t give ourselves a pay raise for the last 15 or 20 years. They don’t need it, because they’re not doing this job for the salary.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="Z2tgU3">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="quCDfj">
|
||
It’s about access to power, right? If you’re making millions trading stocks and probably benefiting from insider information, if you’re leveraging all the financial opportunities being in Congress presents, who the hell cares if you get a 10 percent raise? You don’t need it—
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="d8vMci">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jdNJ3k">
|
||
You don’t need it. But look, Democrats had control of the White House, the Senate, and the House last Congress and we did not pass <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/28/23377587/house-democrats-stock-trading-bill-blind-trust">a congressional ban on stock trading</a>. So you just can’t blame that on Republicans — that’s on us, too. There are Republicans and Democrats who oppose this kind of thing, but there’s plenty of opposition and it’s a class issue more than a partisan issue.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="Uiu2hr">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U0oYxW">
|
||
You know this is the kind of argument a lot of people on the left have made and keep making. That both parties are filled with millionaire power brokers who are performing for different constituencies but in the end serve the existing power structure. That’s an oversimplification, of course, but there’s some truth there, and you even poke fun at Nancy Pelosi in the book for strutting around in a $3,000 coat she jokingly said she just “found” in her closet. And of course Pelosi is worth well over $100 million, which I guess is the deeper point. But I’m sure you hear these sorts of complaints all the time — what’s your response to it?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="OQvEv7">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qXBDsk">
|
||
People in Congress want to pretend that this doesn’t exist, and I think that fails to serve us and the institution and, most importantly, the American people. So we all have the same basic title. We’re all members of Congress. We all get paid the same, with the exception of the speaker. We all get the same benefits. But we’re not all living the same kind of lives. I’ll tell you that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zDzbH4">
|
||
Like a lot of people in Washington, I live in a studio basement apartment. And I’m grateful to be able to afford that. It’s the best place I’ve lived since I joined Congress. But I have colleagues who, when they got to Washington, the first thing they did upon being elected was purchase a condo, and I can’t imagine being able to do that. It’s a struggle for me to pay for my living expenses in California while I’m also having to pay for them here.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="voEoy1">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6zIiuA">
|
||
You’re a product of elite academic institutions, but you don’t speak and act like a disconnected technocrat even though you’re trained like one. I think that’s part of your appeal. And while I believe the Democratic Party is more favorable to working-class interests than Republicans, the reality is that roughly half the country sees Democrats as the party of elites. Why is that?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="xBYPcL">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0hLH9">
|
||
Part of it has to do with Democrats lacking confidence in their ability. It sort of feeds on itself. This existed before my time in Congress, but I arrived here and there was this fully entrenched attitude that if we just tell people who we are and what we’re fighting for in the most direct and simple way, they somehow won’t vote for us. I think the opposite is true.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZnNMfd">
|
||
I’ve won three really tough races in Orange County, standing up to special interests and pushing for expanded health care and things like that. I try to fight for climate change policy in a very purple area by being a straight shooter. I think we fail because sometimes we hide behind our policies, and while you see some of this on both sides of the aisle, I think it’s worse on the Democratic side because people want to <em>sound</em> important. So you get a lot of acronyms and mumbo-jumbo and people sound like they know what they’re doing, but we’re not fooling anybody, because the proof of whether or not we know what we’re doing is in people’s real lives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WkhZNH">
|
||
The classic example of this recently was during the last election. Democrats kept saying that we don’t have a good message on inflation, and one of the suggestions was, well, don’t talk about it. As if people won’t notice when they go to the gas station or the grocery store. The solution here is to just stand on your two feet and say, <em>Inflation sucks, it’s terrible, and painful, and hard, and I’m committed to fighting it and here’s how I’m gonna do it</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="kuLZ3h">
|
||
Sean Illing
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PsNRNp">
|
||
Democrats seem so bad at basic politics, and I don’t get it. I heard you say that your office has a policy that all of your communications to the public should be at an eighth grade level, which is not to say dumb. The point is to just speak in common, accessible, relatable language. Why isn’t what you’re saying here just the obvious conventional wisdom in the Democratic Party?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h4 id="23FOxK">
|
||
Katie Porter
|
||
</h4>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DBRXZG">
|
||
You have to be brave to tell people what you really think because there’s some chance they’re gonna disagree with you, or they’re going to tell you that they think differently. Maybe this partly comes from having been a professor teaching really technical stuff, like the Uniform Commercial Code, which is just as sexy as it sounds. But when you teach a class like that, you have to figure out how to bring it alive for people and how to make it real. So I guess I’m always thinking about my audience like a teacher.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IyXgax">
|
||
Democrats operate from this position where they lack confidence in their ability to actually persuade people to agree with us, which I find a little bit nuts given that we know, from poll after poll, that we have popular policies on preventing gun violence to protecting social security to addressing climate change to helping with the costs of raising kids. So I don’t know where this attitude comes from. I just know it predates my time in politics.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YDjXVQ">
|
||
<em>To hear the rest of the conversation, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/76nwfTVZTSu9QX2wUTnaci?si=36f5a152c6f54765"><em>click here</em></a><em>, and be sure to follow </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/thegrayarea">The Gray Area</a><em> on </em><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-gray-area-with-sean-illing/id1081584611"><em>Apple Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/search/vox%20conversations"><em>Google Podcasts</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6NOJ6IkTb2GWMj1RpmtnxP"><em>Spotify</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/show/vox-conversations"><em>Stitcher</em></a><em>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.</em>
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The Supreme Court takes up a messy, chaotic case about religion in the workplace</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A person carrying a huge Christian cross at a protest in front of the Supreme Court building." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Z9liItRCTd9UdNNkeXEf_fqIc3k=/334x0:5667x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72185050/1458045811.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
People attend the 50th annual March for Life rally in front of the US Supreme Court on January 20, 2023, in Washington, DC. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Groff v. DeJoy could give religious conservatives unprecedented power to make demands from their employers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oxqIgo">
|
||
<a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/groff-v-dejoy/"><em>Groff v. DeJoy</em></a>, a lawsuit that could potentially revolutionize the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23559038/supreme-court-groff-dejoy-religion-twa-hardison-workplace">balance of power between religious workers and their employers</a> and co-workers, will be heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tSJKye">
|
||
It is an agonizing case, in part because it seeks to unravel a very real injustice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xa0QSv">
|
||
Federal law requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” their workers’ religious beliefs and practices unless doing so would lead to “undue hardship on the conduct of the employer’s business.” Nearly half a century ago in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/trans-world-airlines-inc-v-hardison"><em>Trans World Airlines v. Hardison</em></a> (1977), however, the Supreme Court said that an “undue hardship” exists whenever an employer must “bear more than a de minimis cost” when it provides such religious accommodations (the Latin phrase “de minimis” refers to a burden that is <a href="https://thelawdictionary.org/de-minimus/">so small or trifling as to be unworthy of consideration</a>).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SZwdF5">
|
||
Pretty much no one thinks that this “more than a de minimis cost” rule is correct. Even Americans United for Separation of Church and State — an organization that, as its name suggests, typically argues in favor of less entanglement between the law and religion — filed a brief arguing that “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/262358/20230330160431380_22-174%20bsac%20Americans%20United.pdf"><em>Hardison</em> is wrong in too many ways to withstand scrutiny</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RZNGUz">
|
||
But, while a reevaluation of <em>Hardison</em> may be overdue, <em>Groff</em> also will be heard by a Supreme Court whose current majority is so <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/12/22379689/supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-religion-california-tandon-newsom-first-amendment">sympathetic to the interests of the religious right</a> that it often advances those interests to the exclusion of all others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sLL4r7">
|
||
Just one month after Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation gave Republican appointees a supermajority on the Court, for example, the Supreme Court handed down <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf"><em>Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo</em></a> (2020), which gave individuals who object to a state law on religious grounds <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/2/21726876/supreme-court-religious-liberty-revolutionary-roman-catholic-diocese-cuomo-amy-coney-barrett">unprecedented power to defy that law</a>. The Court did so, moreover, at the height of a deadly pandemic, and the <em>Roman Catholic Diocese</em> case halted attendance limits at places of worship that were intended to slow the spread of Covid-19.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G0gNaj">
|
||
The Court, in other words, deemed the interests of religious conservatives to be of such transcendent importance that they justified abandoning public health measures intended to save human lives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v6s85r">
|
||
The stakes in <em>Groff </em>may seem lower at first glance — the case involves a postal worker who didn’t want to work on Sundays because of their religion. But the case could similarly empower conservative religious workers who seek accommodations from their employer that could disrupt that employer’s business or demean the religious worker’s colleagues.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CoFYik">
|
||
Imagine, for example, a manager who refuses to hire gay people because of his faith, and who demands an accommodation permitting them to discriminate. Or a worker who insists upon preaching their conservative religious views about sexuality or gender roles to their colleagues, even when many of those colleagues feel harassed by this behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qh0DXg">
|
||
<em>Hardison</em>, for all of its flaws, permits employers to forbid this kind of behavior — and even to discipline employees who claim a religious justification for behaving disrespectfully toward their colleagues. But <em>Groff</em> could fundamentally upend this balance of power, giving religious conservative workers the power to demand that their workplace culture be reshaped in their image.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z3v46w">
|
||
The danger from <em>Groff</em>, in other words, is that the Court will overreach, replacing <em>Hardison</em>’s too-weak protections for religious workers with something that will give far too much power to the religious right.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="kfYWKl">
|
||
Even fairly simple requests for a religious accommodation can disrupt a workplace
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XMNCay">
|
||
The <em>Groff </em>case involves a former postal worker, Gerald Groff, who wanted to be exempted from working on Sundays because of his religious beliefs (although the post office typically does not deliver mail on Sundays, the postal service contracted with Amazon in 2013 to deliver Sunday packages). In this sense, <em>Groff</em> is factually similar to <em>Hardison</em>, which involved a Saturday Sabbatarian who wanted that day off for religious reasons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qEYVwn">
|
||
In many workplaces, especially workplaces with many workers who can share weekend work among themselves, accommodating a single worker’s request to have their sabbath day off would be no big deal. But the Justice Department, which represents the Postal Service in this case, argues that Groff’s request was particularly challenging to accommodate because he worked in a post office with only a few workers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eVfjeM">
|
||
At one point, the DOJ <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/259772/20230323202311556_22-174bsUnitedStates.pdf">explains in its brief</a>, only four workers (including Groff) were available in Groff’s post office to cover Sunday shifts, and that included the local postmaster. One of Groff’s co-workers initially agreed to cover his shifts, but she was injured and was unable to continue doing so. Because Groff refused to work Sundays, that left just the postmaster and one other worker to cover Sunday shifts.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W2aPgk">
|
||
The fact that these other workers had to pick up additional Sunday shifts, while Groff refused to work on this day of the week, “created a ‘tense atmosphere” among other postal workers and led to “resentment towards management,” according to the local postmaster. According to the DOJ’s brief, one carrier transferred to a different post office “because he felt that it was not fair” that Groff did not pick up his fair share of Sunday shifts. Another mail carrier “resigned in part because of the situation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pcl3If">
|
||
Thus, under <em>Hardison</em>’s “more than a de minimis cost” framework, there’s little question that the Postal Service should prevail in this case. Groff’s request for Sundays off appears to have caused his post office significant hardship, pitting workers against managers because of a circumstance that those managers could not control, and even causing workers to leave their jobs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YW2fMs">
|
||
But Groff’s lawyers ask the Supreme Court to <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/255164/20230327094704821_Groff%20-%20Corrected%20Merits%20Brief.pdf">replace <em>Hardison</em>’s framework</a> with one that is far more favorable to workers seeking religious accommodations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="L3ikNa">
|
||
If <em>Hardison </em>falls, what emerges in its place?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YbBXFX">
|
||
Groff’s attorneys’ primary argument is that the Court should import the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/255164/20230327094704821_Groff%20-%20Corrected%20Merits%20Brief.pdf">legal framework that federal law already uses in disability cases</a> and use that framework to govern workplace requests for religious accommodations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eFwMG8">
|
||
Like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law governing religious accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities Act also requires employers to accommodate workers with disabilities unless such an accommodation “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/12112">would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DJ1Ytw">
|
||
Unlike Title VII, however, the ADA actually defines the term “undue hardship.” In disability cases, an employer may deny a requested accommodation only if that accommodation would impose “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/12111">significant difficulty or expense</a>” on the employer. That’s a much higher standard than the one announced in <em>Hardison</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BDaab6">
|
||
Indeed, the ADA sometimes requires employers to make fairly expensive changes to a workplace in order to accommodate an employee with a disability. A 2015 federal appeals court decision, for example, determined that a call center that relied on software that was inaccessible to blind employees <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2003353830948165639&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">may need to pay at least $129,000 to accommodate those employees</a> — an amount that the law quite reasonably can expect employers to pay in order to accommodate disabilities, but that is also far more than <em>Hardison</em> envisioned with its “more than a de minimis cost” rule.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7KtpsZ">
|
||
But there are two reasons — one textual and one practical — to doubt that Congress intended the ADA’s “significant difficulty or expense” standard to also apply to workers seeking religious accommodations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gqT6QC">
|
||
The textual argument against Groff’s position is fairly straightforward. The ADA states explicitly that an employer may only claim that a requested accommodation would cause an “undue hardship” if it would cause “significant difficulty or expense.” Title VII does not have similar language, which strongly suggests that Congress intended a different rule to apply to religious accommodation cases.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Pf7MZR">
|
||
The practical reason, meanwhile, is that requests to accommodate a disability are fundamentally different from requests for a religious accommodation. The purpose of a disability-based accommodation is to ensure that a worker can do their job even if their disability might sometimes prevent them from doing so. A worker with carpal tunnel syndrome, for example, might request an ergonomic keyboard. Or a worker who uses a wheelchair might request ramps that will allow them to easily traverse the office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0R5H8r">
|
||
The scope of a disability-based accommodation, however, is bounded by the nature of a worker’s disability. Once the worker with a disability is able to successfully perform their job with the same ease as an able-bodied worker, they have been accommodated.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UZj3rm">
|
||
Requests for religious accommodations, by contrast, are bounded only by an individual worker’s personal beliefs. And requests for religious accommodations can potentially <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23559038/supreme-court-groff-dejoy-religion-twa-hardison-workplace">infringe upon the civil rights of other workers</a>, such as if a manager refuses to work with a gay colleague. Or if an executive follows the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/4/1/15142744/mike-pence-billy-graham-rule">Billy Graham rule</a>,” the religious belief that men should not meet alone with women, even in a professional setting.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gyosmF">
|
||
All of this said, Groff’s proposal to import the ADA’s “significant difficulty or expense” rule into religious accommodations cases does have one important virtue: At least it is a familiar standard that courts that already hear ADA cases know how to apply.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uGQ8rC">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-174/259772/20230323202311556_22-174bsUnitedStates.pdf">Justice Department’s brief</a>, by contrast, proposes a much looser set of guidelines that courts should follow in religious accommodation cases, such as a suggestion that an accommodation should not be required if a company would need to “regularly” operate short-handed or pay “premium wages to substitute workers” in order to accommodate a religious employee. That proposed rule would likely ensure that Groff loses his case, but it would offer little guidance to many courts hearing religious accommodation cases unlike this one.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vyREFL">
|
||
If the Supreme Court does abandon <em>Hardison</em>’s “more than a de minimis cost” framework, whether in a decision that explicitly overrules <em>Hardison</em> or in a decision that “clarifies” <em>Hardison</em> in ways that fundamentally alter it, there is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23559038/supreme-court-groff-dejoy-religion-twa-hardison-workplace">going to be a ton of litigation</a> trying to figure out what the new rules mean for religious workers and their employers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FBD6Sq">
|
||
This uncertainty, moreover, might cause employers to err on the side of granting accommodations even in cases where doing so might harm another worker, such as the hypothetical case of an anti-LGBTQ worker who insists upon evangelizing to their queer colleagues. And a too-vague framework might also give ideological judges — the name “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/17/23512766/supreme-court-matthew-kacsmaryk-judge-trump-abortion-immigration-birth-control">Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>” comes immediately to mind — far too much leeway to impose their own conservative religious ideology on employers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hjDM1v">
|
||
A post-<em>Hardison</em> world, in other words, is likely to be messy. And, while some messiness is inevitable whenever the Supreme Court replaces one longstanding legal rule with another one, the fact that the federal courts are so dominated by religious conservatives means that the new regime could be actively hostile to workers whose identities have historically been disparaged by those conservatives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="mMyqkg">
|
||
<em>Groff</em> could escalate the fight over whether the Roberts Court should follow Supreme Court precedents that Republicans do not like
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jlvYnp">
|
||
The Supreme Court’s GOP-appointed supermajority has <a href="https://www.vox.com/23180634/supreme-court-rule-of-law-abortion-voting-rights-guns-epa">not, and this is putting it mildly, shown much loyalty to stare decisis</a>, the doctrine that courts should typically follow previous decisions. In its last term alone, the Court overruled at least two seminal constitutional decisions: the abortion rights decision in <em>Roe v. Wade</em>, and <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/403/602/"><em>Lemon v. Kurtzman</em></a> (1971) which, for many years, protected the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/27/23184848/supreme-court-kennedy-bremerton-school-football-coach-prayer-neil-gorsuch">wall separating church and state</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1AWyUu">
|
||
Both <em>Roe </em>and <em>Lemon,</em> however, were decisions interpreting the Constitution, and the Court has historically been less reluctant to overrule constitutional precedents than it is to overrule decisions interpreting a federal statute. The idea is that, because the Supreme Court is the final word on constitutional interpretation, it should have some flexibility to correct previous interpretations that may be erroneous because no one else can do so. But when the Court misreads an act of Congress, Congress can itself step in to fix that error.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ja9wMw">
|
||
<em>Hardison</em> has very few defenders, but that does not change the fact that it’s been on the books for nearly 50 years and Congress has never amended Title VII to overrule it. Congress left <em>Hardison</em> in place, moreover, despite the fact that the legislature has been controlled by many shifting political factions over the course of the last five decades. And Congress passed quite a few civil rights and religious liberty laws during this period, including the ADA.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIhrUe">
|
||
Under the ordinary rules governing stare decisis, <em>Hardison</em> should not be overruled. If <em>Hardison</em> truly butchered its interpretation of Title VII in a way that Congress deemed untenable, it would have stepped in by now to overrule <em>Hardison</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wn1PoG">
|
||
<em>Groff</em>, in other words, could do more than just rework the rules governing religious accommodations in the workplace. It could potentially also rework the rules governing when the Supreme Court is allowed to abandon its longstanding interpretation of a federal statute, and to impose a new rule preferred by the Court’s current members.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GMHvtk">
|
||
And, in a Court like the current one, which is <a href="https://www.vox.com/23180634/supreme-court-rule-of-law-abortion-voting-rights-guns-epa">so eager to move fast and break things</a>, that means that a whole lot could change very fast.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>In Sudan, a power struggle between rival armed forces turns violent</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="SUDAN-POLITICS-UNREST" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BvkLBo_miiqT13DP0uhl5c04Fik=/177x0:2997x2115/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72183858/1251838720.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
AFP via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Sudanese citizens have fought for democracy, but Saturday’s hostilities threaten the transition process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JGtnjS">
|
||
Violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and a government paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), roiled Sudan’s capital Khartoum Saturday. Sudan has struggled to transition to civilian rule after overthrowing dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019; Saturday’s clashes are a further impediment to democracy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6T8Q3U">
|
||
<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/15/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-of-sudanese-capital-khartoum">Each armed group has blamed the other for instigating Saturday’s violence</a>, which has thus far killed at least three people, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65284945">according to the BBC</a>. The RSF has claimed control over key sites in the capital Khartoum, including three airports, the army chief’s residence, and the presidential palace, with attacks near the defense ministry, army headquarters, and state television station also reported. The armed forces deny the RSF’s claims and have announced attacks on RSF bases. Clashes in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news/7967cb6c-ee73-5d6d-b241-be138bfce272?smid=url-share">Darfur</a>, Forobaranga, and Merowe have also been reported.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wbQZjs">
|
||
Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the SAF and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also called Hemedti, of the RSF agreed on Friday to defuse long-simmering tensions between the two groups over military leadership <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudanese-politicians-blame-bashir-loyalists-discord-2023-04-14/#:~:text=KHARTOUM%2C%20April%2014%20(Reuters),on%20Friday%20and%20early%20Saturday.">in a civilian government</a> as well as disagreements over the timetable for the RSF’s integration into the regular army.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wIxBob">
|
||
The RSF last month began mobilizing forces in Khartoum and other locations, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudanese-politicians-blame-bashir-loyalists-discord-2023-04-14/#:~:text=KHARTOUM%2C%20April%2014%20(Reuters),on%20Friday%20and%20early%20Saturday.">Reuters reported Friday</a>, an outward indicator of just how far the situation had deteriorated. Despite calls for talks on Friday, Hemedti on Saturday <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/15/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-of-sudanese-capital-khartoum">told Al Jazeera</a> the RSF would fight until all military bases are captured.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTensu">
|
||
Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s civilian former prime minister, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=721161083029299">released a video statement on Saturday</a> calling for an immediate cease to the hostilities. “I demand al-Burhan, the army commanders, and the RSF leaders to stop the bullets immediately and for the voice of reason to rule,” he said in the address. “There is no victor over the corpses of its people.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PXnF81">
|
||
Hamdok led Sudan under a power-sharing agreement with military actors after a popular uprising toppled former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019, but was ousted in 2021 in a coup led by Burhan and Hemedti.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQEu4z">
|
||
United Nations Secretary-General <a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2023-04-15/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-%E2%80%93-sudan%C2%A0">Antonio Guterres</a> and the head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan <strong> </strong><a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/volkerperthes/status/1647259088932290561">Volker Perthes</a> both called for an immediate end to the violence on Saturday, as did multiple international leaders including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news/28efa9f3-26b2-5e42-9e46-61414d26fed9?smid=url-share">Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed</a>, whose own nation has been rocked by civil conflict since 2020. <a href="https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1647281370178244614">Guterres announced on Twitter</a> that he would engage with the African Union and other regional leadership to help put a democratic transition back on track.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="qvNAb0">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
I condemn the outbreak of fighting between the Rapid Support Forces & the Sudanese Armed Forces in Sudan.<br/><br/>I’m engaging with the AU and leaders in the region & reaffirm the commitment of the <a href="https://twitter.com/UN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"><span class="citation" data-cites="UN">@UN</span></a> to support the people of Sudan in their efforts to restore a democratic transition.
|
||
</p>
|
||
— António Guterres (<span class="citation" data-cites="antonioguterres">@antonioguterres</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1647281370178244614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2023</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i8HMoG">
|
||
Meanwhile, fighting continues in Khartoum and the city of Omdurman across the Nile from the capital. Fire and explosions are everywhere,” Amal Mohamed, a doctor at one of Omdurman’s public hospitals told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-khartoum-firing-coup-deal-85464b8f9b7eaf1f7ec77eb7337d7881">Associated Press</a> Saturday. “All are running and seeking shelter.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="fD30d6">
|
||
Saturday’s violence is a further setback to democratic transition
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nH6o0b">
|
||
Despite strong civil society participation and the express wishes of the Sudanese people, the transition to democracy after decades of Bashir’s authoritarian rule has been <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-political-process-form-transitional-civilian-government-and-shift-disorder-trends-situation-update-april-2023">enormously challenging</a>; Saturday’s violence is just the latest breakdown in the transitional process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h2K5CT">
|
||
Power struggles, too, are nothing new in Sudan; since its independence in 1956, Sudan has undergone the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news#sudan-has-a-long-history-of-military-coups">highest number of attempted coups of any African nation</a>, the New York times reported Saturday. That kind of entrenched instability <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/5/22919160/coup-guinea-bissau-africa-burkina-faso-sudan-why">tends to breed further coups</a>, too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TRoFq7">
|
||
The RSF is an officially recognized independent security force made up of about 100,000 troops, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/who-are-sudans-rapid-support-forces-2023-04-13/">according to Reuters</a>. Though the group’s relationship with the regular military has at times been uneasy, the groups did work together to oust Bashir, and the integration of the RSF into the SAF is a tenet of the democratic transition.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AhBfWH">
|
||
Bashir, Sudan’s authoritarian former leader, utilized Janjaweed paramilitary groups, made up of Sudanese Arab fighters including the forces that would become the RSF, to put down an uprising in the Darfur region in the early 2000s. That conflict displaced an estimated 2.5 million people and killed 300,000, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/who-are-sudans-rapid-support-forces-2023-04-13/">according to Reuters</a>; prosecutors with the International Criminal Court subsequently accused Sudanese government officials and Janjaweed leaders of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in that conflict.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WpomcV">
|
||
But the relationship between the two groups hasn’t been easy, Sudan conflict zone analyst Mohammed Alamin Ahmed told <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/15/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-of-sudanese-capital-khartoum">Al Jazeera</a>. “It’s a power struggle that began a long time ago and it has escalated to direct clashes today,” he said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4KgeoJ">
|
||
Still, the SAF and the RSF worked together to overthrow Bashir, with the significant support and mobilization of the Sudanese people, which resulted in a power-sharing agreement between the military and Hamdok, who was chosen by the Forces for Freedom and Change, Sudan’s major pro-democracy civilian coalition.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="50qNvz">
|
||
Under Hamdok, whose leadership was intended to move Sudan toward elections, the government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sudans-abdalla-hamdok-2022-01-02/#:~:text=%2D%20The%20economic%20reforms%20he%20promoted,owned%20by%20the%20security%20forces.">instituted stringent economic reforms</a> to successfully garner support from the International Monetary Fund, and lobbied the US to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terror to open up access to international funding. Hamdok was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudans-pm-hamdok-unveils-roadmap-with-political-players-end-crisis-2021-10-15/">a firm supporter of the transition to democracy</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/15/unacceptable-sudanese-pm-criticises-armys-business-interests">proposed to bring some of the military’s business interests</a> under civilian control.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y949vL">
|
||
Burhan and the SAF, with the help of the RSF, ousted Hamdok in late 2021; after a month under house arrest, Hamdok was released and agreed to resume the power-sharing agreement. However, the Sudanese people protested the secretive arrangement in favor of full civilian rule, which resulted in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news/here-is-why-sudan-matters-far-beyond-africa?smid=url-share">more than 125 deaths</a>. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59855246">Hamdok resigned his post in January 2022</a> and Sudan has since been under military leadership, with Burhan as the head of the ruling <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/11/sudan-army-chief-issues-a-decree-for-new-sovereign-council">Sovereign Council</a> and Hemedti as his deputy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tbVhTt">
|
||
In the near term, the risk for continued conflict is significant, according to Ahmed. “There is an exchange of accusations on who started this, and the fighting has extended, not just in Khartoum, but also in the strategic city of Merowe where the Sudanese armed forces have a strong air force,” he told <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/15/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-of-sudanese-capital-khartoum">Al Jazeera</a>. “And it looks like the RSF is trying to neutralize the capacity of Sudanese army [and] air force there to pull them towards a ground battle.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dU1uOU">
|
||
In <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news/9ededddc-7e82-5e0d-9804-a46413851687?smid=url-share">Darfur</a>, too, the presence of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/15/world/sudan-fighting-news/9ededddc-7e82-5e0d-9804-a46413851687?smid=url-share">multiple armed groups</a> increases the possibility of a prolonged and potentially devastating conflict should fighting persist in that region.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WyRfO5">
|
||
In the longer term, the prospect of Sudan achieving the peace and democracy its people have been working toward seems dim. Blinken, on a diplomatic visit with<strong> </strong>Vietnam, told reporters that though the situation was “fragile,” a transition to a civilian government<strong> </strong>was still possible though some groups “may be pushing against that progress.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D5MXKq">
|
||
Sudanese civil society groups supportive of a transition to civilian rule and who had signed on to a new transition agreement in December <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/heavy-gunfire-heard-south-sudanese-capital-khartoum-witnesses-2023-04-15/">told Reuters in a statement</a>, “This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. This is a war that no one will win, and that will destroy our country forever.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IPL 2023: MI vs KKR | Nitish Rana, Hrithik Shokeen rivalry spills into IPL</strong> - It must be noted that both Rana and Shokeen are teammates in the Delhi side in domestic cricket, but they are not on talking terms even in the dressing room</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>World Championship gold, 90m targets for Neeraj Chopra, seeks to remain injury free ahead of Paris Olympics</strong> - Chopra had won a silver in the 2022 World Championships in USA, a year after clinching a historic gold in the Tokyo Olympics.</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>Trust and transparency with coach very important in achieving success: Neeraj</strong> - Any training decision should be consultative, not blindly one-sided, dictated by the coach, believes Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra</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>Antonio Rüdiger racially abused after Real Madrid’s game in Cadiz</strong> - Video posted by Spanish media on Sunday showed Cadiz fans yelling insults at Rüdiger after he went to the stands to give away his shirt to someone who appeared to be a Madrid supporter</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>IPL 2023: MI vs KKR | Venkatesh Iyer’s century takes Kolkata to competitive total</strong> - Mumbai Indians handed a debut to Arjun Tendulkar while Duan Jansen also came in for the five-time champions.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A.P. Child Rights Commission asks educational institutions not to conduct classes during summer holidays</strong> - Chairman directs Education Department to take steps to protect children from heatwave conditions</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>Frazer Town residents oppose ‘Ramzan Food Mela’</strong> - Members of the Frazer Town Residents’ Welfare Association (FTRWA) in the letter to the BBMP, the police, and the traffic police, requested them to stop the mela immediately</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>For unsuccessful Karnataka poll aspirants, expensive advance gifts result in heartburn</strong> - Aspiring Karnataka candidates used decentralised networks to distribute an inventive variety of gifts to voters — from mosquito nets to appliances, cash to images of deities — before the poll was even announced</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>Congress slams govt. over Antigua and Barbuda court’s Mehul Choksi ruling</strong> - “All this has happened because of the negligence of the Modi government,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged after a court in Antigua and Barbuda has ruled in favour of fugitive Mehul Choksi</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>Goa Congress leaders headed for venue of Amit Shah’s public meeting detained</strong> - ‘Amit Shah had told a public meeting in Karnataka that the water of the Mahadayi river would be diverted for which the Goa Government has given its consent’</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>Germans split as last three nuclear power stations go off grid</strong> - More than 60 years of nuclear power comes to an end, but many Germans are unhappy.</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>France pension reforms: Macron signs pension age rise to 64 into law</strong> - President Macron makes the unpopular reforms law despite widespread protests in Paris and other cities.</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>Why Putin cares about Russia’s athletes competing abroad</strong> - A row is raging over Russians competing in the Olympics and Wimbledon. Why does Russia care so much?</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>Beatriz Flamini: Athlete emerges after 500 days living in cave</strong> - Beatriz Flamini spent two birthdays in the cave, and kept busy drawing and knitting woolly hats.</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: In Kyiv, top officials shrug off US documents leak</strong> - Officials in Kyiv tell the BBC recent leaks of US intelligence didn’t reveal any important information.</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>This adorable sloth briefly stole the spotlight during JUICE launch</strong> - Nicknamed “Jerry” by Netizens, it’s not the first encounter between nature and rockets - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1932157">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dealmaster: Best cheap office chair deals</strong> - The ergonomic, affordable alternatives to Herman Miller and Steelcase chairs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1931867">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SCOTUS preserves access to abortion pill—for 5 days</strong> - It’s unclear how the high court will ultimately rule on the matter. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1932127">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After a sharp sales slump, report details some of Apple’s future Mac lineup</strong> - Apple is looking to boost sales after a significant post-pandemic bust. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1932101">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hype grows over “autonomous” AI agents that loop GPT-4 outputs</strong> - AutoGPT and BabyAGI run GPT AI agents to complete complex tasks iteratively. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1929067">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A 70 year old man goes into a brothel. He picks out a young pretty woman, ….</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
… they go up to her room, strip down and climb into bed.<br/> The old man performs like a teenager, the prostitute is amazed at how energetic and agile he is, she tells him if he can do it like that again, she’ll give him one for free.<br/> He says “Yeah, I can, but I need to take a 20 minute nap, and while I’m asleep, I need you to hold my old pecker.” She agrees, he wakes up 20 minutes later and goes at it again, just as vigorously as before.<br/> The girl is amazed at the old man’s stamina, and repeats her freebie offer, the old man tells her that once again, he’ll need a 20 minute nap and she’ll have to hold his dick while he’s asleep. She does as he asks, he wakes up 20 minutes later and he goes at it again, with even more enthusiasm than previously.<br/> The hooker catches her breath, and needing to satisfy her curiosity, asks the old man “I can understand why you need the nap, but why do you need me to hold your dick while you’re sleeping?”<br/> The old man replies “Oh, that’s just so you don’t steal my wallet.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Waitsfornoone"> /u/Waitsfornoone </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12nnmz2/a_70_year_old_man_goes_into_a_brothel_he_picks/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12nnmz2/a_70_year_old_man_goes_into_a_brothel_he_picks/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The sky was looking ominous so I asked Siri, “Surely, it’s not going to rain today?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And she replied, “Yes it is, and don’t call me Shirley.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
That was when I realized I’d left my phone on Airplane mode.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yomommafool"> /u/yomommafool </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12ngtkr/the_sky_was_looking_ominous_so_i_asked_siri/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12ngtkr/the_sky_was_looking_ominous_so_i_asked_siri/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What does DNA stand for?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
National Association of Dyslexics
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Mipkins"> /u/Mipkins </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12nlozu/what_does_dna_stand_for/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12nlozu/what_does_dna_stand_for/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My Daughter asked me “dad, why don’t you treat me like a princess.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
So I married her off to the King of Spain in exchange for 5000 acres on the Costa del Sol.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AdamP1928"> /u/AdamP1928 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12my0ah/my_daughter_asked_me_dad_why_dont_you_treat_me/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12my0ah/my_daughter_asked_me_dad_why_dont_you_treat_me/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s the difference between a joke and a dick?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
You’re not good at taking a joke.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/EntrepreneuralSpirit"> /u/EntrepreneuralSpirit </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12n8prd/whats_the_difference_between_a_joke_and_a_dick/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/12n8prd/whats_the_difference_between_a_joke_and_a_dick/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<script>AOS.init();</script></body></html> |