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<title>03 October, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Powerful New York Law That Finally Brought Trump to Book</strong> - In investigating the former President, New York’s attorney general relied on legislation passed at the behest of one of her Republican predecessors, Jacob Javits. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-powerful-new-york-law-that-finally-brought-trump-to-book">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Worrying Democratic Erosions in South Korea</strong> - In recent months, authorities have raided offices of press outlets publishing critical reports on President Yoon Suk-yeol. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-worrying-democratic-erosions-in-south-korea">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Violent End of Nagorno-Karabakh’s Fight for Independence</strong> - In less than a day, indiscriminate shelling in the region killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands, and wiped out a thirty-five-year battle for political autonomy. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-violent-end-of-nagorno-karabakhs-fight-for-independence">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Should the West Threaten the Putin Regime Over Ukraine?</strong> - The historian Stephen Kotkin on the state of the war and the dangers of a Russian Tet Offensive. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/should-the-west-threaten-the-putin-regime-over-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trump Legal Show Might Be in Town Until Christmas</strong> - On Monday, the former President appeared at the first day of his three-month civil trial in Manhattan, determined to exploit the case for his political ends. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-trump-legal-show-might-be-in-town-until-christmas">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>Tracking the biggest cases the Supreme Court will hear in 2023-2024 term</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="The US Supreme Court building." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/se2QX6Yj3h-pH3K7whBLesLVbuE=/516x0:7717x5401/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72713685/GettyImages_1696127092.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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The US Supreme Court building seen in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2023. | Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WTMUrK">
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The US Supreme Court convened for a <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23845702/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-term-cfpb-guns-voting-chevron">new term</a> on October 2 and will begin hearing a growing list of cases that could transform the scope of the federal government, voting rights,<strong> </strong>and the rights to free speech and public safety.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kFjRXb">
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Justices will consider the <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/9/23/23864355/supreme-court-cfpb-unconstitutional-consumer-financial-fifth-circuit-great-depression">constitutionality of an entire federal agency</a>, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Florida and Texas laws that <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/9/22/23883888/supreme-court-social-media-first-amendment-netchoice-paxton-murthy-missouri-twitter-facebook">impose government-mandated editorial policies on social media sites</a>; and whether <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23742547/supreme-court-united-states-gun-policy-rahimi-domestic-abusers-spouses-second-amendment">people subject to domestic violence restraining orders</a> have a right to own a gun.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LLwZPF">
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The Supreme Court is also likely to take up lower-court decisions about whether to <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/8/16/23834926/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-fifth-circuit-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">ban a drug used in more than half of all abortions</a> in the United States and whether <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/21/23766954/first-amendment-protest-supreme-court-fifth-circuit-deray-mckesson-doe">political activists have a First Amendment right to organize a protest</a>. And it has already announced that it will <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/15/23724075/supreme-court-gerrymandering-voting-rights-south-carolina-naacp-alexander">hear a major gerrymandering suit</a>, with more cases potentially coming that could decide who prevails in future elections.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NYzcEJ">
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We’ll track the biggest cases and explain what’s at stake here. Follow along.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Two right-wing judges seem to be trying to rig a US House race</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Keven. McCarthy smiles, gavel in hand." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tJYjAhvb8Q17qCRGJj1oneJdIm0=/219x0:4072x2890/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72713640/1454751557.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) celebrates with the gavel after being elected as speaker in the House Chamber on January 7, 2023 in Washington, DC. | Win McNamee/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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Once again, the Supreme Court must deal with judicial arsonists on the Fifth Circuit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j7Qmdx">
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Two of the most partisan judges in the country handed down an <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/23-30642/23-30642-2023-09-28.pdf?ts=1695943865">order last week</a> that is hard to explain as anything other than an attempt to preserve Republican control of the US House of Representatives. The voting rights plaintiffs in this case, known as <em>In re: Jeff Landry</em>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A281/283864/20230930114301429_SCOTUS%20Emergency%20Stay%20Application%20-%20Robinson%20v.%20Ardoin-corrected.pdf">already filed an emergency application</a> in the Supreme Court asking the justices to lift this order.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RTduHq">
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It’s the latest effort by several of the most radical judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, an <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23845702/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-term-cfpb-guns-voting-chevron">increasingly rogue court</a> dominated by Republican appointees, to manipulate the law in ways that benefit the Republican Party. The Supreme Court already plans to hear several cases this term where it is likely to reverse the Fifth Circuit, including a case where the Fifth Circuit <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/9/23/23864355/supreme-court-cfpb-unconstitutional-consumer-financial-fifth-circuit-great-depression">declared an entire federal agency unconstitutional</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0UWJ2m">
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The Fifth Circuit’s<strong> </strong>order, handed down by Judges Edith Jones and James Ho, concerns a long-running lawsuit alleging that Louisiana’s congressional maps are an illegal racial gerrymander. In June 2022, a federal trial court agreed with the plaintiffs in this case, then known as <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-06-06-Ruling-And-Order-dckt-173_0.pdf"><em>Robinson v. Ardoin</em></a>, and concluded that “the appropriate remedy in this context is a remedial congressional redistricting plan that <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-06-06-Ruling-And-Order-dckt-173_0.pdf">includes an additional majority-Black congressional district</a>” — one which would likely elect a Democrat to Congress.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ukLVYj">
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Before that trial court’s order could take effect, however, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.vox.com/23187117/supreme-court-louisiana-racial-gerrymander-ardoin-robinson-congressional-maps">stepped in and temporarily blocked it</a> — essentially putting the case on hold until the justices resolved a different racial gerrymandering suit, known as <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf"><em>Allen v. Milligan</em></a>, which challenged racially gerrymandered maps in Alabama. The Supreme Court ruled in June 2023 that Alabama’s maps are, indeed, illegal, and ordered that state to draw new maps that include a second Black congressional district.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwXO3x">
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Shortly thereafter, the Supreme Court lifted its hold on the <em>Robinson</em> litigation. Then the trial judge in that case <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A281/283864/20230930114301429_SCOTUS%20Emergency%20Stay%20Application%20-%20Robinson%20v.%20Ardoin-corrected.pdf">scheduled a new hearing</a> for Tuesday, October 3, which would have likely ended in the trial judge ordering Louisiana to either redraw its maps or accept court-drawn maps.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r7UhRk">
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Now here’s the part where things take a weird turn: Last week, Jones and Ho abruptly <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/23-30642/23-30642-2023-09-28.pdf?ts=1695943865">ordered the trial judge to cancel the October 3 hearing</a>. Their decision relies on a rarely used process known as a “writ of mandamus” which, under well-established legal rules, cannot even arguably be applied to this particular case.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2cNG7h">
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This decision most likely won’t prevent the courts from ordering Louisiana to draw new maps at some point in the future, but it could delay the case long enough to leave the current, GOP-friendly maps in place during the 2024 election cycle.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VOicv3">
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Worse, Jones and Ho stepped in despite the fact that a different panel of three Fifth Circuit judges was <a href="https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/oral-argument-information/court-calendars/Details/1695/">already scheduled to hear the <em>Robinson</em> case</a> on Friday, October 6 (this Friday hearing concerns whether the trial court’s June 2022 order was correctly decided). Notably, the Friday panel is significantly more moderate than Jones or Ho — it includes Judge Carolyn King, a Carter appointee, and Judge Leslie Southwick, a center-right Bush appointee who sometimes disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s MAGA faction. (The third judge on this Friday panel, Jennifer Elrod, is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/8/16/23834926/supreme-court-abortion-mifepristone-fifth-circuit-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-fda">hardliner similar to Jones or Ho</a>.)
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WFidmv">
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So Jones and Ho didn’t simply issue a legally inexplicable order sabotaging a court proceeding that was likely to cost the Republican Party a seat in the US House, they also did so despite the fact that a different, more moderate panel of their own Fifth Circuit colleagues already had jurisdiction over the same case.
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</p>
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<h3 id="OSEE7o">
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Writs of mandamus, briefly explained
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o9QgJo">
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A “writ of mandamus” is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/31/21408912/michael-flynn-court-dc-circuit-neomi-rao-mandamus-supreme-court">highly unusual court order</a> that appellate courts may hand down to block truly egregious errors by a lower court. As the Supreme Court held in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14681569726255333833&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr"><em>Will v. United States</em></a> (1967), “only exceptional circumstances amounting to a judicial ‘usurpation of power’ will justify the invocation of this extraordinary remedy.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Xoscua">
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Indeed, the Supreme Court has warned that a writ of mandamus may issue only if the party seeking it has “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-475.ZO.html">no other adequate means to attain the relief he desires</a>,” and only if that party has a “clear and indisputable” right to such extraordinary relief.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wU9jvd">
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Nevertheless, Jones and Ho invoked mandamus to block one of the most routine orders that a trial judge may hand down: A decision scheduling a hearing in a long-running lawsuit that has been on that judge’s docket for more than a year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MhnfZ0">
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To justify this relief, the two MAGA judges essentially <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/23-30642/23-30642-2023-09-28.pdf?ts=1695943865">accused the trial judge of rushing this case</a> — either by not giving the state legislature enough time to attempt to redraw its maps on its own, or by not giving the state’s lawyers enough time to prepare for the October 3 hearing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jsNOap">
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But neither of these allegations are plausible. The trial judge initially ruled in June 2022 that Louisiana’s maps are legally suspect and should be redrawn — so the state legislature has had nearly 16 months to redraw the maps if it wanted to do so. Similarly, while the Supreme Court’s decision to temporarily pause this case gave the state’s lawyers a brief reprieve from litigating it, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-1596.html">the justices ended that pause in June 2023</a>. So the state has known for more than three months that it needed to prepare for an eventual hearing in this case.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zuBIvt">
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Moreover, even if the trial judge had actually rushed this case, that still would not justify mandamus relief. Again, a writ of mandamus may only issue if the party seeking it has “no other adequate means to attain the relief” they seek. To the extent that Louisiana believes that the trial judge erred in her initial decision concluding that the maps should be redrawn, the state can present those arguments to the more moderate panel that will hear the <em>Robinson </em>case on Friday. Additionally, if the state disagrees with whatever the trial judge orders it to do after the October 3 hearing, it can also appeal that decision to the Fifth Circuit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XBKoip">
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There is, to put it simply, no justification whatsoever for Jones and Ho getting involved in this lawsuit.
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</p>
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<h3 id="77Mp3c">
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So what’s really at stake in this case?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="20Thf4">
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In the long term, Jones and Ho’s attempt to insert themselves into a lawsuit that they have no business hearing is unlikely to matter. If the Supreme Court invalidates their mandamus order, the October 3 hearing will proceed (possibly at a later date if the Court does not move very quickly), and the litigation will advance as it normally would through appeals courts.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VsJU5C">
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Alternatively, if the Supreme Court backs Jones and Ho’s attempt to sabotage the case, Louisiana’s appeal before the King/Southwick panel will still proceed, and the trial court will most likely be able to reschedule the October 3 hearing at some future date — though that may be weeks or months from now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qOaAAf">
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It’s unclear how the Court will react to this case. Although Jones and Ho’s decision is clearly erroneous, the Supreme Court is dominated by Republican appointees. And some of the justices have expressed concerns that the Court is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/5/17/23727034/supreme-court-assault-rifles-weapons-shadow-docket-national-association-gun-rights-naperville">too willing to grant relief on its “shadow docket,”</a> an expedited process that allows the Court to weigh into cases that have not received full briefing or oral argument. Jones and Ho’s order is currently before the justices on the shadow docket.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BfDnsm">
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In any event, while the long-term implications of this case are minimal, the potential consequences for the 2024 election are enormous. The Supreme Court has held that lower court judges should not hand down decisions enjoining a state’s election laws as an election draws close — and some justices have even suggested that lower courts may not issue such injunctions <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/8/22922774/supreme-court-merrill-milligan-alabama-brett-kavanaugh-racial-gerrymandering-voting-rights-act">as much as nine months prior to an election</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lx6e2x">
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So the <em>Robinson</em> plaintiffs need to secure a court order imposing new maps on Louisiana soon, or there is a high risk that they will have to wait until after the 2024 election before those maps go into effect. If they do not get such a court order soon, a US House seat that should have gone to a Black Democrat will likely go to a white Republican, at least for two years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QpOxeS">
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Jones and Ho, moreover, are two of the most unapologetically partisan judges in the entire federal judiciary. Jones is a <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/27/23496264/supreme-court-fifth-circuit-trump-court-immigration-housing-sexual-harrassment">former general counsel to the Texas Republican Party</a>, and is known for a string of cruel decisions, such as one holding that a man <a href="https://casetext.com/case/burdine-v-johnson-4">could be executed despite the fact that his lawyer slept through much of his trial</a>. Ho is a kind of <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23841718/edgelord-federal-judiciary-james-ho-fifth-circuit-abortion-guns">judicial edgelord</a> who makes Jones look measured and reasonable by comparison.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eGumot">
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The most likely explanation for their mandamus decision, in other words, is that Jones and Ho want the Republican Party to control the US House of Representatives. And they are willing to ignore well-established constraints on their own power in order to maximize the likelihood of a Republican Congress.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Five years after Khashoggi, the Saudis won</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ONWgXE1EjJ61Mp1d3F5KKzFfXQw=/0x0:2725x2044/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72713440/1241918734.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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President Joe Biden is welcomed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Alsalam Royal Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on July 15, 2022. | Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Biden called Saudi Arabia a “pariah.” What happened?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d21o22">
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Five years after a Saudi hit squad murdered, dismembered, and disappeared the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia has won.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7ucc4K">
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It was <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> and son-in-law Jared Kushner who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/26/why-intel-report-jamal-khashoggi-is-so-damning-trump/">embraced Saudi Arabia after the killing</a> and then <a href="https://prospect.org/world/kushner-defines-america-interests-at-expense-human-rights/">set the conditions</a> for the ongoing Saudi victory over human rights. But <a href="https://www.vox.com/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> also deserves blame.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JjPCvG">
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On the campaign trail, candidate Biden had <a href="https://www.vox.com/22881937/biden-saudi-arabia-mbs-khashoggi-yemen-human-rights">pledged</a> to hold Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to account, saying he would make Saudi Arabia a “pariah.” Initially, Biden held a hard line, but <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/21/23172734/biden-trip-saudi-arabia-foreign-policy-tension-oil-human-rights">within a year that evaporated</a>. He traveled to the kingdom in summer 2022 in an about-face visit that resulted in an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/19/23220600/biden-middle-east-policy-human-rights">unforgettable fist bump</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cq2B68">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/5/1/23702451/silicon-valley-saudi-money-khashoggi">Silicon Valley</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/3/23380680/global-elite-have-forgotten-jamal-khashoggis-murder-mbs-new-york-investment-conference">Wall Street, and even nonprofits</a> have been all too willing to rehabilitate MBS’s image, in large part thanks to Saudi Arabia’s economic largesse. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/09/09/vice-deleted-documentary-saudi-arabia/">Media organizations</a> and <a href="https://prospect.org/world/saudi-expert-hides-uae-foreign-funding-congress-testimony/">think tanks</a>, too, have taken on Saudi funding and hosted the kingdom’s officials at public events. It’s MBS’s world: Can I interest you in a round of <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/6/8/23753991/pga-liv-saudi-arabia-wants-in-on-american-golf">Saudi-run golf</a>? Saudi-funded <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/5/1/23702451/silicon-valley-saudi-money-khashoggi">tech products</a>? A quick trip to an <a href="https://graziamagazine.com/me/articles/saudi-art-exhibitions-2023/">art fair</a> and tango workshop in the once ultra-conservative kingdom?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TtHYCN">
|
||
But what’s new today, on the fifth anniversary of Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never being seen again, is that Saudi Arabia is no longer on its back foot in Washington. MBS has achieved a hearty welcome back into the good graces of the once outspokenly critical Biden and his administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="OFHdCj">
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||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NFrj56">
|
||
How else can we read the unfolding dynamic in which the crown prince has Washington reportedly considering an unprecedented array of inducements — a potential <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/us/politics/biden-saudi-defense-treaty.html">security pact</a> and a <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2023-10/focus/just-say-no-uranium-enrichment-cooperation-saudi-arabia">nuclear program</a> — in exchange for the kingdom signing a diplomatic agreement with <a href="https://www.vox.com/israel">Israel</a>?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MoNXvC">
|
||
Even now, MBS fashions himself a reformist, a line repeated by retired officials from <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/17/23423031/why-america-cant-seem-to-quit-saudi-arabia">Democratic</a> and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/01/16/saudi-arabia-reforms-mbs-biden-us-policy/">Republican</a> administrations, and by former UK Prime Minister <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/12/tony-blair-institute-continued-taking-money-from-saudi-arabia-after-khashoggi">Tony Blair</a> whose institute receives funds to advise Saudi Arabia. Yet political rights in his country remain <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/saudi-arabia/freedom-world/2023">as elusive as ever</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="d1NIiw">
|
||
As Khashoggi <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2017/11/05/saudi-arabias-crown-prince-is-acting-like-putin/">wrote</a> in the Washington Post in November 2017 amid a violent crackdown of royals and businesspeople, “As of now, I would say Mohammed bin Salman is acting like Putin.” And he continues to, with far fewer consequences for his actions than the Russian autocrat.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Yh4l59">
|
||
MBS has won over Washington
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZG2tUx">
|
||
Washington and world capitals are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/us/politics/saudi-arabia-israel-united-states.html">abuzz</a> about the idea of the kingdom establishing diplomatic relations with the State of Israel.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tqRbch">
|
||
The Saudi side appears to need concessions from the US to make that happen, and those inducements appear to be <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-saudi-defence-pact-tied-israel-deal-palestinian-demands-put-aside-2023-09-29/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Daily-Briefing&utm_term=092923">more of a priority for Riyadh than securing any protections for Palestinians</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n5G5Em">
|
||
US officials are briefing journalists about variations of a security guarantee and a civilian nuclear program that would allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium. They have floated a defense accord that could be similar to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/us/politics/biden-saudi-defense-treaty.html">arrangements</a> the US has with South Korea or Japan, or by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-saudi-defence-pact-tied-israel-deal-palestinian-demands-put-aside-2023-09-29/">designating</a> Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WFRPHe">
|
||
The Biden administration regularly <a href="https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/keynote-address-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan">asserts</a> that Saudi Arabia and Israel establishing diplomatic relations is “a declared national security interest of the United States.” But MBS’s track record of destructive military adventurism in Yemen, where MBS led a 2015 military operation that expanded into a vicious yearslong war with a massive humanitarian toll, would make security pacts significantly risky for the US. And political observers question whether the Senate would sign off on such a treaty with Saudi Arabia, which already benefits from the <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/8/11/23827555/bidens-risky-persian-gulf-bet">robust US military presence in the Persian Gulf</a>. Meanwhile, nuclear experts are <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2023/08/there-should-be-no-saudi-uranium-enrichment/">flummoxed</a>, pointing to the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2023-10/focus/just-say-no-uranium-enrichment-cooperation-saudi-arabia">significant risks</a> of giving MBS nuclear technology.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="oS2oiZ">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5FtGEv">
|
||
I reached out to the White House because I wanted to ask Brett McGurk, Biden’s Middle East coordinator, how such an agreement would square with the president’s initial pledge to put human rights at the center of the administration’s foreign policy. My requests were not returned.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A3Sh8R">
|
||
“The question of values and human rights is at the table when we are having discussions about our national security interest in this region,” McGurk <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hbUbOGZI0">said</a> at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last year. “That alone is unique, and that is how American diplomats wear our values on our sleeve. Does that mean that human rights and values overtake every other issue? No, but it’s a part of the conversation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QSDE7d">
|
||
A more complete answer might be that great power competition — that is, the Biden administration’s focus on <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/9/28/23892772/us-china-tensions-new-cold-war">countering China</a> as an organizing principle of its worldview — means that human rights are not a top priority. The Biden administration does not see itself having the luxury of holding a country like Saudi Arabia to account when it wants the <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2022/10/7/23391575/opec-oil-prices-biden-naive-saudi-arabia">oil-rich country</a>, and broader region, aligned with the US economically and politically.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4PRmqp">
|
||
Trump may bear responsibility for shrugging off Khashoggi’s killing in 2018, but Biden’s administration hasn’t done much to hold MBS to account.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p5IrDC">
|
||
When Biden’s closest advisers visit Saudi Arabia, human rights <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/14/readout-from-nsc-spokesperson-adrienne-watson-on-senior-official-travel-to-saudi-arabia/">don’t always figure</a> into the White House’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/27/readout-of-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivans-trip-to-saudi-arabia/">news releases</a>. And those statements matter; they are markers for activists, and set the tone for how we talk about the country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u9wpAx">
|
||
And the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/17/23423031/why-america-cant-seem-to-quit-saudi-arabia">impunity</a> for the killing of Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist, can now be felt worldwide: as <a href="https://www.vox.com/india">India</a> reportedly assassinated activist <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/2023/9/20/23880514/canada-india-sikh-killing-trudeau-hardeep-singh-nijjar">Hardeep Singh Nijjar</a> on Canadian soil, as Egypt <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/19/saudi-arabia-egypt-repression-dissidents/">targets</a> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-egypt-emboldened-target-dissidents-us-soil">dissidents abroad</a>, and as Israel has not faced sanctions for the death of Palestinian-American journalist <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/program/fault-lines/2022/12/1/the-killing-of-shireen-abu-akleh">Shireen Abu Akleh</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oTdm42">
|
||
But the situation in Saudi Arabia and for Saudis abroad facing translational oppression <a href="https://www.vox.com/23219049/biden-saudi-arabia-human-rights-mbs-khashoggi">goes far beyond Khashoggi</a>. “The lack of accountability has just generated worse scenarios for Saudis,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/hala-al-dosari/">Hala Aldosari</a>, a human rights activist living in exile in the United States, told me. “We are seeing life sentences and death sentences for people expressing opinions.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i6U6uq">
|
||
There have been <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QkvhjxQf_lrvJ3LitY5uoXhFSfA6GrfD4D0C3QdDrG4/edit">100 executions</a> this year so far. “This is something that has been very rare but now is happening on a massive scale inside Saudi Arabia which is very disheartening. It tells you how one act goes unpunished and unaccounted for could escalate very severely and could impact thousands of lives,” Aldosari explained.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pPjuDz">
|
||
It makes it all the more stark that the Biden administration still doesn’t have a political appointee in place for the important role of assistant secretary of state for democracy, rights, and labor, but has appointed former Ambassador to Israel Daniel B. Shapiro as point-person on Israel-Arab normalization.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="hBISK4">
|
||
How Saudi Arabia shapes the stories we tell
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ERYBLw">
|
||
MBS sent the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, to the United Nations annual summit two weeks ago. In his speech to the general assembly, he <a href="https://gadebate.un.org/en/78/saudi-arabia">emphasized the importance of human rights</a>, and in private conversations with prominent policy thinkers across New York, he was very much in listening mode.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WFIpnU">
|
||
Instead of the UN lectern, the crown prince chose <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6337519179112">Fox News</a> to convey his message; the medium suggested he wanted to reach Americans, not the world — and, in particular, Republicans. The setting was Sindalah, a Red Sea island that Saudi Arabia hopes will become a tourist destination.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="s94LGD">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cSAB9E">
|
||
MBS immediately deflected when asked about the Khashoggi killing. He said his country had pursued an investigation like the US did after the failures of its Iraq invasion, and that the country’s security services had been reformed.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qLfMbQ">
|
||
In the friendly conversation with anchor Brett Baier, the crown prince presented himself as a reformer fighting against the traditionalist Saudi system. “It was a mistake, it was painful, and we are trying our best to make sure we reform our system to work by the book,” the crown prince said of Khashoggi’s death. But the <a href="https://www.vox.com/media">Fox News</a> follow-up questions didn’t reckon with the fact that it was US intelligence agencies that had determined with a high degree of certainty that MBS himself had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-concludes-saudi-crown-prince-ordered-jamal-khashoggis-assassination/2018/11/16/98c89fe6-e9b2-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html">ordered</a> the assassination.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cQRufM">
|
||
And while not everyone is giving MBS that kind of platform, other American institutions are engaging with Saudi Arabia. For a short while after Khashoggi’s murder, US institutions avoided the public shame associated with the acceptance of Saudi money, but those days are gone. The MBS information campaign for rehabilitation post-Khashoggi extends to influential think tanks that <a href="https://www.mei.edu/sites/default/files/2023-09/Q2%202023%20Contributors%207-17-2023_9-22_0.pdf">depend</a> on Gulf funding, though researchers and experts <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/23632725/sushine-week-congress-open-government-truth-in-testimony-rule">testifying to Congress</a> <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/new-york-times-saudi-arabia/">sometimes</a> <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/04/25/gulf-funded-think-tank-turns-pro-saudi-uae-messaging-up-to-11/">don’t</a> <a href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/wall-street-journal-saudi-arabia/">disclose</a> it. Former US military leaders <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/veterans-us-foreign-jobs-saudi-arabia/">earn lucrative contracts</a> from the kingdom. Even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-qatar-uae-investment-hollywood-media-entertainment-mbs-khashoggi-2023-3">media organizations</a> benefit, which may explain why Vice <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/09/09/vice-deleted-documentary-saudi-arabia/">buried</a> a critical documentary on Saudi Arabia. (The money is so ubiquitous that even Vox is touched by it. Penske Media Corporation received in 2018 a $200 million investment from the Saudi Research and Media Group, which is closely linked to MBS. Penske became a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/business/vox-penske-media.html">minority shareholder</a> in <a href="https://corp.voxmedia.com/">Vox Media</a>, this site’s parent company, earlier this year.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KwFDOO">
|
||
The Fox interview is a prime example of how adept Saudi Arabia has been at shaping conversations in Washington five years after Khashoggi’s death.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JXceFi">
|
||
MBS knows his audience and what he can get away with.
|
||
</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>Miss Allure, Annexed, Supreme Grandeur and Royal Nobility please</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Asian Games | Parul Chaudhary wins gold in women’s 5000m</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ahead Of My Time, Successor and Waikiki show out</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ruling Goddess, Russian Romance and Foi shine</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India’s Vithya Ramraj wins bronze in women’s 400m hurdles</strong> - The Indian had equalled P.T. Usha’s 400m hurdle national record, which was set in 1984</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>Nanded hospital deaths | There was no lack of medicines, staff, says CM Shinde</strong> - As many as 31 deaths were recorded at the Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded in central Maharashtra in 48 hours since September 30</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>Strike by part-time government school teachers in Tamil Nadu enters ninth day</strong> - K. Sesuraja, State President, Tamil Nadu Part-time Special Teachers Association, said that six rounds of talks have taken place with officials in the School Education Department</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>Vijayanagara | Gram Panchayat Members’ Union writes to CM over absenteeism among school teachers in the district</strong> - The Union is demanding for biometric attendance system to be made mandatory for teachers in government schools</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>Over 1,000 held in second phase of crackdown against child marriage in Assam</strong> - Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog had announced that the government would launch a ‘State Mission’ for ₹200 crore to completely eliminate child marriage by 2026.</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>Telangana Assembly Election | CEC Rajiv Kumar-led team in Hyderabad to access poll preparedness</strong> - During the three-day visit, the 17-member delegation will also hold a crucial meeting with the Chief Secretary and the DGP to align their efforts with State administration and security agencies</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>Greenland women seek compensation over involuntary birth control</strong> - Some 4,500 women were fitted with coils as part of attempts to limit the territory’s population.</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>Pope suggests Catholic Church could bless same-sex couples</strong> - The pontiff says any request for such a blessing should be treated with ‘pastoral charity’.</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: Burger King still open in Russia despite pledge to exit</strong> - The owner of the fast-food brand says there are “no new updates” on its pledge to leave Russia.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The lives upended by colonial rule in the Middle East</strong> - British and French control of the region a century ago came at a cost which is felt until this 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>Electoral politics begin to bite into Ukraine support</strong> - On both sides of the Atlantic, cracks are beginning to form in Western nations’ support for Ukraine.</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>Shift Happens is a beautifully designed history of how keyboards got this way</strong> - Marcin Wichary on his long quest to capture everything that shaped modern type. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972356">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>College student sues Musk for falsely calling him a “psyop” in neo-Nazi brawl</strong> - “Yet another one of Elon Musk’s reckless smears.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972693">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Psychedelics plus psychotherapy can trigger rapid changes in the brain</strong> - Research delves into how the brain facilitates accelerated change. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972629">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Judge upholds Tesla arbitration agreement that drivers called “unconscionable”</strong> - Lawsuit said Tesla and Elon Musk falsely marketed cars as self-driving. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972657">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dead grandma locket request tricks Bing Chat’s AI into solving security puzzle</strong> - “I’m sure it’s a special love code that only you and your grandma know.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1972502">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman comes home early, and finds her husband in bed with a girl.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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</p><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">She is furious, threatens to kill them both… the husband says:</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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</p><ul>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Believe me, darling, this is just a misunderstanding. I was driving home, and saw this young lady trying to catch a ride. So I decided to give her a lift. I ask her where she needs to go, and she tells me she wants to visit some relatives, but isn’t sure about their address. So, I took her home so she could check our phonebook.
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
</p><ul>
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||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Once there, I saw her dress is pretty ragged, so I decided to give her your old dress. Nearly two years that it’s been hanging in the closet, and you never wore it.
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
</p><ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Then, I saw her shoes are also about to fall apart, so I gave her your old shoes, which have been doing nothing but collecting dust for three years. Of course, she said thanks, and then asked:
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Excuse me sir, but is there anything else in this house your wife never uses?”
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</p>
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</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Omeganian"> /u/Omeganian </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16ymiyu/a_woman_comes_home_early_and_finds_her_husband_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16ymiyu/a_woman_comes_home_early_and_finds_her_husband_in/">[comments]</a></span></li>
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</ul>
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||
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Divorce Judgement</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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||
<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending divorce, and asked, “What are the grounds for your divorce?”
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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She replied, “About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by.”
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“No,” he said, “I mean what is the foundation of this case?”
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“It is made of concrete, brick and mortar,” she responded.
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“I mean,” he continued, “What are your relations like?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, and so do my husband’s parents.”
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
He said, “Do you have a real grudge?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“No,” she replied, “We have a two-car carport and have never really needed one.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Please,” he tried again, “is there any infidelity in your marriage?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don’t necessarily like the music, but the answer to your questions is yes.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Ma’am, does your husband ever beat you up?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Yes,” she responded, “about twice a week he gets up earlier than I do.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, “Lady, why do you want a divorce?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Oh, I don’t want a divorce,” she replied. “I’ve never wanted a divorce. My husband does. He said he can’t communicate with me!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/pash5050"> /u/pash5050 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16yfqre/divorce_judgement/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16yfqre/divorce_judgement/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The animals in the zoo were talking amongst themselves about the recent drought…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The cows said they hoped it would rain soon as the fields they grazed in were dry and turning brown.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The giraffes said they hoped it rained soon as the leaves on the tops of the trees were sparse.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The monkeys hoped it would rain because the branches of the trees were dry and snapping, making it hard for them to swing around.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The kangaroo said she hoped it <em>wouldn’t</em> rain.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
When the other animals pressed her as to why not, she replied “because then my kids will be inside all weekend!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Spaceace91478"> /u/Spaceace91478 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16ycr4u/the_animals_in_the_zoo_were_talking_amongst/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16ycr4u/the_animals_in_the_zoo_were_talking_amongst/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A woman walks into the produce section of the supermarket</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And asks the man stocking oranges, “Excuse me sir, where can I find the broccoli?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man replies, “I’m sorry ma’am, we’re fresh out of broccoli but we’ll have some tomorrow.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman walks away. Comes back a few minutes later, taps the man on the shoulder and says, “Where’s the broccoli? I can’t find the broccoli!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man says, “Ma’am I already told you we don’t have any broccoli. We’ll have some tomorrow.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman walks away. Comes back a few minutes later, “I STILL CAN’T FIND THE BROCCOLI I LOOKED EVERYWHERE!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man looks at her strangely and says, “How do you spell ‘cat’ like in ‘catastrophe’?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman says, “C-A-T.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man says, “Great, now how do you spell ‘dog’ like in ‘dogmatic’?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“D-O-G.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Good, now how do you spell ‘fuck’ like in ‘broccoli’?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The woman says, “There is no ‘fuck’ in ‘broccoli’.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man says, “THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO TELL YOU LADY!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Goalium"> /u/Goalium </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16y2egg/a_woman_walks_into_the_produce_section_of_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16y2egg/a_woman_walks_into_the_produce_section_of_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A farmer sold an old horse, but warned the buyer she didn’t look too good.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The buyer insisted she looked well enough and bought her. A few days later, the buyer came back, complaining the horse kept bumping into things.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“The old mare’s completely blind!” he shouted.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Well, I told you she didn’t look too good,” the farmer replied.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/JerewB"> /u/JerewB </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16yfj8e/a_farmer_sold_an_old_horse_but_warned_the_buyer/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/16yfj8e/a_farmer_sold_an_old_horse_but_warned_the_buyer/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
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