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<title>11 January, 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 First Gen Z Congressman Believes He Can Change Washington</strong> - In a narrowly divided House, the twenty-five-year-old Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost seeks to fulfill a promise to his generation. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/maxwell-frosts-vision-meets-washington">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What the January 6th Report Is Missing</strong> - The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the Capitol attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/what-the-january-6th-report-is-missing">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kevin McCarthy’s Hollow Victory Will Have Economic and Political Consequences</strong> - If the new House Speaker is to get anything done, he will need to retain the support of far-right extremists. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/kevin-mccarthys-hollow-victory-will-have-economic-and-political-consequences">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What a Ban on Non-compete Agreements Could Mean for American Workers</strong> - Companies often prevent employees from joining rivals. The Biden Administration wants that to end. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/what-a-ban-on-non-compete-agreements-could-mean-for-american-workers">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Netanyahu’s Government Takes a Turn Toward Theocracy</strong> - The Israeli Prime Minister’s new coalition includes members who would enforce religious prohibitions over democratic liberties. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/netanyahus-government-takes-a-turn-toward-theocracy">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>How the Taliban’s ban on women aid workers could deepen Afghanistan’s crisis</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Several women wearing headscarves stand in a line against a blank wall." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/06fRPrQQIPcK7fh0AMyXvIajvgA=/322x0:3789x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71851891/AP21307431578693a.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Women wait in a line to receive cash at a money distribution organized by the World Food Program in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2021. | Bram Janssen/AP
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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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Another edict that removes women from public life and makes it harder for the country’s most vulnerable to get help.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p0LBXx">
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Saara, who works for an international agency in Afghanistan, said that on the December<strong> </strong>day the Taliban <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/24/asia/taliban-female-employees-ngos-intl/index.html">banned women</a> from working for nongovernmental organizations, she thought: Just “kill us at once.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ObOBEy">
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This was the latest of the Taliban’s edicts to restrict the rights of women, like <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/13/afghanistan-toll-ban-girls-secondary-education">banning girls from attending secondary school in March</a>, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64045497">then universities</a> in December, and now taking away their jobs. They<strong> “</strong>have a knife,” she said of the Taliban. “It is not a knife which is able to cut something at once; you need to try again and again with a knife to cut something. They are cutting us like this. So we said: ‘They must kill us at once.’”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WkZOyt">
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Saara (a pseudonym to protect her safety) is a mother of two, and her income effectively supports her family. If she sits at home, she says, it is not possible to provide the basics, even food.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CRcj3">
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The same is true for the people she helps through <a href="https://www.womenforwomen.org/where-we-work/afghanistan?src=GGEV225A&ms=cpc_google_awarness&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=awarness&utm_content=gg+ad&gclid=Cj0KCQiAtvSdBhD0ARIsAPf8oNlQeGqyIWoZpAAw-oMaAjMN8-Sb2fD_muJaaPiZrIti_fHBSkAV5CsaAtIaEALw_wcB">Women for Women International</a>, whose programs offer training and financial empowerment to women, along with cash assistance. Now these activities are on hold. The only thing clear, Saara said, was that Afghan women had no rights. “Nothing, just we can breathe,” she said. “Not more than this.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n6Ig62">
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Women like Saara, who train teachers, assist with maternal care, or distribute other aid, remain in a precarious limbo. The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/24/asia/taliban-female-employees-ngos-intl/index.html">ban</a> on female NGO employment <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/20/1144502320/the-taliban-took-our-last-hope-college-education-is-banned-for-women-in-afghanis">further shuts out women</a> from public and economic life and threatens to deepen the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23161802/afghanistan-humanitarian-economic-crisis-taliban-united-states">humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tmQmf6">
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Prominent international organizations <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-women-staff-ban-ngos-un/32192717.html#:~:text=Six%20aid%20groups%20have%20already,Norwegian%20Refugee%20Council%2C%20and%20CARE.">have suspended operations in Afghanistan</a> until the ban reverses or changes. The head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/06/afghan-aid-at-risk-from-taliban-ban-on-women-warns-united-nations">has said</a> the Taliban’s ban jeopardizes United Nations aid. He is expected <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/un-aid-chief-visit-afghanistan-over-female-aid-worker-ban-un-official-2022-12-29/">to travel to Kabul</a> in the coming days to meet with Taliban leaders about the edict. So are leaders of <a href="https://twitter.com/NRC_Egeland/status/1612333984028958720?s=20&t=6S8hWV9o69HpeLLfvWTu8g">major international NGOs</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U9gb0I">
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Many international and local organizations are a lifeline amid Afghanistan’s current humanitarian emergency. In August 2021, after the Taliban’s takeover and the United States’ withdrawal, Afghanistan’s economy <a href="https://www.vox.com/23161802/afghanistan-humanitarian-economic-crisis-taliban-united-states">collapsed</a>. Billions in foreign aid <a href="https://rollcall.com/2021/08/31/foreign-aid-for-afghanistan-in-flux-after-taliban-takeover/">evaporated</a>, the United States <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/03/afghanistans-frozen-foreign-exchange-reserves-what-happened-whats-next">froze the country’s foreign reserves</a>, and <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-sanctions-squeeze-humanitarian-assistance-afghanistan">sanctioned</a> Taliban leaders became the de facto government that has since <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/one-year-later-taliban-reprise-repressive-rule-struggle-build-state">struggled to rule effectively</a>. Though the US has <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/ready-explaining-us-sanctions-against-taliban-/6427771.html">carved out major sanctions exemptions</a>, the penalties are still squeezing the economy of a country ravaged by decades of war and foreign intervention, a pandemic, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/disaster/dr-2021-000022-afg">drought</a>, and now the <a href="https://www.wfp.org/publications/war-ukraine-drives-global-food-crisis">global fuel and food shocks</a> from the Ukraine war.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cQn6zx">
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One of the world’s largest humanitarian operations is taking place in Afghanistan. About 20 million Afghans — about half of the entire population — received <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2022/8/16/fit-for-purpose-getting-humanitarian-aid-right-in-afghanistan-one-year-after-the-taliban-takeover#:~:text=Answering%20the%20call%2C%20humanitarian%20partners,relief%20operations%20in%20the%20world.">some form of assistance</a> in the first part of 2022. As of December, the United Nations estimates that about 28 million people <a href="https://www.unocha.org/story/women%E2%80%99s-participation-aid-delivery-must-continue">are in need</a>, about two-thirds of the country. About 20 million people are <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1155595/?iso3=AFG">facing an acute food crisis</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qCtBVF">
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Aid was always the stopgap, but the Taliban’s latest ban risks undermining even that.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tTM43C">
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Removing women from the humanitarian workforce makes it extraordinarily difficult for aid organizations to reach women and children, often the ones most in need of assistance. Afghanistan is a conservative society, made more so by the Taliban’s restrictions on women in public life. That makes it much harder for women who lead households — something not uncommon in a country where so many men died in war — to find work, or even go out.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F275qj">
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“We simply need women to be able to serve women and work with women to improve their situation,” said Christian Jepsen, regional communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has put its Afghanistan work on hold <a href="https://twitter.com/NRC_Egeland/status/1612333984028958720?s=20&t=6S8hWV9o69HpeLLfvWTu8g">as it lobbies</a> to try to undo the new restrictions. “That’s the tragedy of the situation, because it’s impossible to reach the most vulnerable. We have a large number of female-headed households that will simply no longer be able to connect with our programs, and we can’t reach them without women.”
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/i_nW9aTRrtGYawkzWZrJYNO6Vh4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24350371/AP23001487199174a.jpg"/> <cite>Save the Children via AP</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A Save the Children nutrition counselor, right, explains to an Afghan woman how to feed her 11-month-old daughter with therapeutic food, which is used to treat severe acute malnutrition, in Sar-e Pol, Afghanistan, in September 2022. Save the Children is one of the major aid agencies that suspended its operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban banned women from working for nongovernmental organizations.
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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="hDJXek">
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/12/63ad6f484/un-high-commissioner-refugees-calls-reverse-ban-women-humanitarian-workers.html">said about 500 women</a> work for 19 of their NGO partners in Afghanistan; other international aid agencies also have hundreds of female employees across Afghanistan, most of them helping to serve tens of thousands of women and kids. In some cases, those employees, like Saara, rely on paychecks to support their families.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gYAE7F">
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“This is the income that they depend on,” said Shameran Abed, executive director for BRAC International, an organization that suspended operations in Afghanistan but typically employs about 1,290 out of a staff of about 1,950, many of them local Afghan teachers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ngUsBA">
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“If this gets taken away, they’re saying, ‘How are we going to survive? This is like the rug being pulled away from underneath our feet.’ It’s so distressing for our female colleagues — and that’s before we even get to our program participants who are even more vulnerable and even more in need of the support that our colleagues provide.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1jn6S5">
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“The situation — it’s just grim,” he added.
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</p>
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<h3 id="zPy2Ls">
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Why would the Taliban ban women NGO workers now?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XG3mT6">
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The <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/taliban-ban-women-from-working-for-domestic-foreign-ngos-in-afghanistan#:~:text=Taliban%20bans%20women%20from%20working%20for%20domestic%2C%20foreign%20NGOs%20in%20Afghanistan,-World%20Dec%2024&text=KABUL%2C%20Afghanistan%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,wear%20the%20Islamic%20headscarf%20correctly.">Taliban said</a> it implemented the ban because women workers were not wearing hijabs, or head coverings, correctly. Aid workers and officials say that there is still a degree of confusion about the scope of the ban. The Ministry of Public Health indicated it would <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend/2022/12/30/taliban-ban-on-afghan-women-working-for-ngos-creates-confusion-and-despair/">not apply to the health care sector</a>, although the Ministry of Economy oversees licenses for nongovernmental organizations, and the Taliban <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/taliban-ban-women-from-working-for-domestic-foreign-ngos-in-afghanistan#:~:text=Taliban%20bans%20women%20from%20working%20for%20domestic%2C%20foreign%20NGOs%20in%20Afghanistan,-World%20Dec%2024&text=KABUL%2C%20Afghanistan%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,wear%20the%20Islamic%20headscarf%20correctly.">has warned</a> those licenses could be revoked if organizations violate the rules. Aid officials and workers indicated that local and provincial officials also seemed frustrated with the ban and appeared willing to work out informal arrangements. But those local officials aren’t making the rules, and the risks are too great for many organizations to continue to do their work publicly. It would put women employees in incredible danger.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2N9uDA">
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The ban on female NGO workers accompanied <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64045497">another ban on women attending universities</a>, cutting women off from higher education overnight — and Afghanistan from its potential future workforce. It’s hard to know exactly what prompted these edicts: Taliban leadership remains insular and shadowy, and not exactly democratic.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DLztaw">
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This decree does appear to come from the highest levels of Taliban leadership, not from the rank-and-file Taliban officials who are trying to run the government. It is another sign that this current Taliban is very much <a href="https://www.vox.com/22626240/taliban-afghanistan-baradar">like the old Taliban</a> that ruled in the late 1990s until 2001. And, as with restricting education for girls and women, this is very much from their past playbook: The previous Taliban leadership also restricted female employment, including <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm">an edict</a> that barred their work for aid agencies. “This is not only an effort by some guys at the top to reshape Afghan society in a more conservative mold. It’s also a power play. It’s also about the guys in Kandahar saying: ‘No, we are the bosses,’” said Graeme Smith, senior consultant for Afghanistan at the International Crisis Group.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RXE8jK">
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The Taliban may be trying to consolidate power internally, but its leaders are also likely thinking about the outside world, specifically at the continued lack of international legitimacy and recognition. The Taliban remains the de facto government but it is not formally recognized in the eyes of many in the world, especially the West. Some of this is of the Taliban’s own making: The continued restrictions on girls and women invite condemnation from the international community, making governments even more reticent to deal publicly with Taliban leadership.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dQ4iL6">
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At the same time, when the Taliban do issue decrees like this, the world pays attention. “They basically take the rights of women hostage, as tools to negotiate whatever they want to take from the international community,” said Zubaida Akhtar, a women and human rights defender from Afghanistan. In the wake of the Taliban’s decree, top United Nations and aid officials are rushing to Afghanistan to sit down with Taliban leaders; finally, attention is on them, and they can “convey this false sense of recognition,” as Akhtar put it.
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Women protest on a street." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gw-zBrnPhMwsGW0-Wg21Cb_dDJM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24350348/GettyImages_1245782121.jpg"/> <cite>Stringer/Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Afghan women protest a new Taliban ban on women accessing university education in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December 2022.
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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="coVzYW">
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Humanitarian aid and the billions of dollars from donors, including Western powers, are also a potent symbol of the Taliban’s international isolation. Afghanistan’s economy remains largely cut off from the rest of the world. Sanctions remain in place on Taliban leaders, even with carveouts. Afghan’s foreign reserves remain frozen, though the Biden administration has now <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/09/us-move-afghanistans-frozen-central-bank-reserves-new-swiss-fund">placed them in a new Afghan Fund</a>, a Swiss-based foundation that is still deciding how to disburse the funds. Smith said that some Taliban see this as forced dependence. “All of this has created economic hardship, which we are then addressing through enormous airlifts of food and medicine,” Smith said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SdszTW">
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Of course, the Taliban’s own actions continue to make Afghanistan an inhospitable place for engagement, even among regional partners who may be more willing to deal. And that perpetuates the cycle where Afghanistan remains cut off, and the Afghan people suffer.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q3nYKK">
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Humanitarian assistance is not a solution to Afghanistan’s economic dysfunction, and it has always been an imperfect tool, subject to <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/afghanistan/let-afghanistan-rebuild">inefficiencies in distribution and corruption</a>. But there are no easy answers or quick fixes for the country’s woes, and the crises in Afghanistan are so profound that aid is vital and necessary. Development programs, even if they do not operate on the same scale as during the US occupation, influence the local economy. Now, all of those activities are in question, while Afghanistan faces another precarious winter.
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</p>
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<h3 id="dWyJeP">
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A lot is unknown, but this ban has the potential to be devastating now — and long into the future
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pK5hmJ">
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Aid groups that have suspended operations said they had no choice. For one, they want all of their employees to be able to work freely in Afghanistan. But they also cannot do their work successfully without a female workforce. Reshma Azmi, deputy country director of CARE International Afghanistan, said they served about 700,000 people in 2022, about 500,000 of them women. They have mobile health clinics, run by female staff. They train female teachers, who are the only ones who can teach young female students. Nearly 40 percent of their 900-person staff in Afghanistan is women, and they suspended operations along with other aid groups. “We are also helpless at the moment,” Azmi said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oi0k77">
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After the ban, according to a United Nations survey of about 150 NGOs, only 15 percent of organizations were able to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/snapshot-impact-ban-women-ngo-and-ingo-workers-afghanistan">remain fully operational</a> in Afghanistan. About 40 percent were not operating at all, and the rest were only partially operational. Right now, efforts are focusing on trying to overturn the ban because even workarounds — women working from home, say — are poor substitutes. As many pointed out, Afghanistan doesn’t have the infrastructure to try to do work over Zoom. And even if it did, some of the work, like check-ups, aid distribution, is going to involve in-person interactions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HZYxbq">
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The longer this continues, the greater the already high risk of famine and malnutrition within the country. It will force families into increasingly desperate circumstances; already, there are reports of <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o587">people selling kidneys</a> and of <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/girls-increasingly-risk-child-marriage-afghanistan">an increase</a> in girls forced into child marriage. It is an unstable and untenable situation, and the brunt of it is borne by Afghan civilians.
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</p>
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And the longer these programs are on pause, the harder they may be to restart. Relationships with local officials erode. The staff, both female and male, may leave or be displaced as they try to seek out other livelihoods. Perhaps most critically, it may become even harder to fund the humanitarian operations that could persist in the country. “We’re trying to tell donors that they should commit and not isolate Afghanistan, they should still commit funding to the country and to the population. This makes it much more difficult for us to convince the donors to stay committed with Afghanistan,” Jepsen, of the NRC, said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DYXyOM">
|
||
Over time, this measure by the Taliban, along with others on education, will further deprive Afghanistan of the resources it needs. If Afghanistan doesn’t have women to train teachers, there will be no one to teach the girls who still can go to school. If women cannot train midwives or doctors, it will undermine maternal and child health.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xJQyZS">
|
||
“As we’re looking at two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, that’s when others say those ripple effects, the long-term consequences, really start to become more difficult to undo,” said Keyan Salarkia.Save the Children’s Director of Advocacy and Communications in Afghanistan
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Gas heating and cooking are going to get more expensive this winter</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/A_sQlm6cX7LoNBaElUy8bUCSPGY=/611x650:3211x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71851808/GettyImages_860715282a.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Natural gas meters are fixed to the outside of residential townhouses and apartments in Exton, Pennsylvania. | Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Cold weather and rising gas exports will hurt low-income communities the most.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wERHUW">
|
||
For households struggling to pay their energy bills, it could be a long, cold winter ahead.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HCSg2F">
|
||
According to US census data, roughly <a href="https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/hhp/#/?measures=ENERGYBILL">22 percent of American households</a> were unable to pay an energy bill in the last year. Even when they have paid, <a href="https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/hhp/#/?measures=EXPENSE">tens of millions of households</a> have faced some kind of hardship to keep up with their bills — whether that means forgoing food or medicine, keeping a home at an unhealthy temperature, or using broken equipment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tvKCMv">
|
||
And prices are rising. Compared with last winter, the average household will spend 28 percent more this year to heat a home with gas, according to the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/winterfuels.php">US Energy Information Administration</a>. That number will be higher still if the winter turns out to be colder than expected, and it conceals some regional variation: in Southern California, one utility is warning of “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-01-06/get-ready-for-a-huge-socalgas-bill-this-month-as-natural-gas-prices-soar">shockingly high</a>” January bills.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="64Z6Xa">
|
||
Headed into the worst of winter, low-income families are already “very stressed and stretched,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Energy Programs Consortium, an organization that assists low-income consumers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xgRBg6">
|
||
Certain buffers that have helped families, like the <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/4/18/23026908/child-tax-credit-joe-manchin-policy-feedback-partisan">enhanced child tax credit</a>, have also<strong> </strong>ended, giving consumers less disposable income to handle inflation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mGTve7">
|
||
“I don’t think many people think about utility bills being something that put people in precarious positions,” said Karishma Chouhan, one of the founders of a Chicago-area mutual aid group, Community Utility, that helps people pay their bills. “Utility bills isn’t something that a lot of people think about every month — unless they suddenly need to start thinking about them, because it’s something that they’re going to struggle to pay.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C9OpyB">
|
||
The US has a well-established program — the Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP — meant to help people afford utility bills. But the program never <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/heat-kills-this-underfunded-program-could-help/">has enough money to help every household in need</a>. And this year, it’s on a collision course with a projected spike in what people pay to heat their homes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="TnlTWK">
|
||
Why are prices rising?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LL7JON">
|
||
Gasoline prices are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/business/energy-environment/gasoline-prices.html">now lower</a> than they were a year ago, coming down from the highs seen this August. That isn’t true for the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n3010us3m.htm">price of natural gas</a>, used for heating in homes or used at power plants to generate electricity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xJwJVx">
|
||
December was an especially bad month. The wholesale price for natural gas, called the Henry Hub, was <a href="https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/rngwhhdm.htm">47 percent higher</a> than it was a year ago. So everything that runs on gas is more expensive too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="279VcK">
|
||
The war in Ukraine and subsequent ban on Russian gas by many countries have raised prices globally, but that’s not the full story. Natural gas prices have normalized since the war began. Even the Henry Hub price has fallen <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/energy/natural-gas-pre-war-price/index.html">since the summer highs</a>. Instead, something else is happening — and there’s another way US policies are driving the price increase.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EOFvfX">
|
||
Since 2016, the US has built new terminals that are capable of exporting gas in its more <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23462844/natural-gas-us-prices-winter-2022">condensed liquid form</a>. For most of the past decade, the US had a gas glut — hydraulic fracturing unleashed more supply than the US could consume, driving down the price to unprofitable levels for producers. But exports have now cut into that glut of gas, because there’s now a global market American consumers have to compete with.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ocz7Nf">
|
||
The rising prices primarily affect the nearly half of US households that combust gas for heating. The <a href="https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/winterfuels.php">Energy Information Agency</a> estimates the retail price of consumers for gas will be 22 percent higher than last winter. (The total price they expect customers will pay is higher, because they also expect people to use more gas than last year.) But those running on electricity still face the impact of higher gas prices, because the fuel is now the dominant source in the power sector. EIA expects a 6 percent increase in electricity prices, depending a lot on variable factors, like weather, in how high prices go.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZrl06">
|
||
There are other challenges expected to make this winter more difficult than the last few years. One is that it’s poised to be slightly colder. That will also translate into higher prices, because there is more demand for heating, and possibly less supply when winter storms cause disruptions, as happened when <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2022/12/27/23527327/winter-storm-power-outages">power outages</a> recently struck the East Coast during a winter storm.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mxH8b9">
|
||
The true effects of a cold winter, supply-chain disruptions, and energy inflation will play out differently depending on where you live. There’s no one national price of gas; markets are all priced differently depending on the difficulty and distance of transporting the gas from its source. The EIA expects the Midwest will see the highest price increases, at 27 percent, followed by 23 percent in the West, 17 percent in the Northeast, and 15 percent in the Southeast.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XQBie1">
|
||
There’s a lot of uncertainty baked into all of the estimates. “If spot prices continue to rise, retail prices this winter could be even higher than our forecast,” the EIA said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="CshIfk">
|
||
LIHEAP should be an answer, but is falling short of meeting rising need
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VylSOA">
|
||
We’re coming away from a year where US <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55119">natural gas prices</a> were the highest seen since 2008. This winter looks like it will be worse weather than the last, which would cause even more disruptions. And people are barely able to catch up from other economic pain like inflation and higher energy prices this summer.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zWPnvu">
|
||
LIHEAP was created to <a href="https://www.vox.com/23025378/energy-efficiency-utilities-repairs">address this need</a>. It’s a federally funded program, administered by states, to help with utility bills for people with income up to about <a href="https://rmi.org/by-the-numbers-low-income-energy-assistance/">150 percent</a> above the poverty line, though income limits can vary a bit by state. That’s <a href="https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/623">roughly</a> $20,385 or $41,000 for a family of four based on 2022 numbers. It has typically reached <a href="https://www.liheap.org/white-paper#how-liheap-works">6.7 million households</a> annually.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WwYAAX">
|
||
But the details of the program vary widely state by state, including what time of the year it covers. In Chicago, for instance, applications are only accepted between September and May, when heating needs are greatest. States rely on federal money for LIHEAP, but they can also top up the program’s funding. Some red states wind up with less funding for programs overall because of lack of investment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P5FrTp">
|
||
These problems continue even though there’s actually more money than ever for LIHEAP. LIHEAP’s total funding is usually $4.1 billion through regular appropriations, but this year Congress appropriated an extra $2 billion in an attempt to keep up with rising inflation and energy prices. Even this temporary boost in funding isn’t enough to keep up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WUqWVB">
|
||
“We have that 32 million households eligible for energy assistance,” Wolfe said. “We have enough money to reach about 6 million.” And it’s going to be a harder sell in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives for more funding this year, even though there is some <a href="https://www.reed.senate.gov/news/releases/reed-collins-clark-lead-bipartisan-bicameral-letter-urging-biden-administration-to-help-reduce-home-energy-costs">bipartisan support for the program</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FSuukU">
|
||
But people are falling through the cracks of this system all the time. Michelle Graff, a professor at Colorado State University studying LIHEAP, said that <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/usamap">82 percent</a> of the eligible population uses SNAP benefits for food, but just <a href="https://www.liheap.org/white-paper#how-liheap-works">16.7 percent</a> of those eligible for LIHEAP use it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RxWWt7">
|
||
The experience of Community Utility, the Chicago mutual aid group, offers a window into how the program can fall short.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cwTIm9">
|
||
Since May, the group says it’s helped raise money to fill <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/comm_utility/status/1606332031276929026">44 requests</a> to pay off around $10,000 in utility debt in the Chicago area. Some of those requesting help noted they tried LIHEAP first, only to miss its application window, or they never heard back because of an administrative error, or that the program simply ran out of money later in the year. These kinds of situations make it harder for LIHEAP to help in an emergency.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IGVAtl">
|
||
Nor do all energy crises happen in winter months, when LIHEAP nationally spends up to 85 percent of its funds. Energy bills don’t usually peak until the winter, but over the summer, Community Utility received requests to help with energy bill debt that ran in the thousands of dollars. They’re seeing these problems compound — high summer bills make getting through the winter even harder.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jNAYwG">
|
||
The problem isn’t one mutual aid groups can fix. Energy costs are rising, and the programs meant to help aren’t keeping the same pace.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tsNeJk">
|
||
“This is a problem of basic income,” Wolfe said. “Because our problem isn’t energy, it is an income problem. In our country we’ve fragmented all the social services so there’s SNAP for food, and other programs have energy, instead of just recognizing that the problem is the family just does not have enough money to cover basic needs.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The real reason 7,000 nurses in New York City have gone on strike</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Protesters outside a hospital hold signs that read, “More nurses, less millionaire execs,” “Outside is the best side,” and, “On strike for better patient care.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VWb-7UP1ZvCRpqnN9JBa2CAksfg=/267x0:3734x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71851757/AP23010685700565a.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Nurses picket outside Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on January 10, 2023, as a nursing strike that has disrupted patient care at two of the city’s largest hospitals entered its second day. | Andres Kudacki/AP
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The best way to prevent future health care work stoppages is to fix how we pay for health care.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OsEFcZ">
|
||
More than 7,000 nurses in New York City <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/nyregion/nurses-strike-nyc-hospitals.html">are on strike</a> after failing to agree on a new contract with the hospitals where they work, leading two hospital systems in the city to cancel elective surgeries, ask ambulances to divert patients to other hospitals, and bringing in traveling nurses to maintain operations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3myczo">
|
||
The strike was very nearly a much bigger crisis: Nurses at eight other city hospitals reached a last-minute deal with their management. It is still perhaps the most high-profile example of the tension between hospital executives and their medical staff that has been magnified by the pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9mCELY">
|
||
The past few years have made clear the degree to which American hospitals rely on nurses to handle a surge of patients in a public health crisis and the struggles of the same health system to appropriately value that nursing work. While the strike in NYC involves only four facilities, it’s a symptom of a structural failure in US health care: Hospitals do not have a strong financial incentive to invest in their nursing staffs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jHZqFq">
|
||
Strikes by nurses and medical staff have occurred frequently in recent years. <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSOeiQr6b-U2PHFysZDcGUC-exORyHaZ3XfQAE_bOiVOeu1uKxPedu7AS36nWXkfw/pubhtml">Eight of the 25 major work stoppages</a> involving 1,000 workers or more that the US Labor Department tracked in 2022 were initiated by health care workers, the highest share of any single profession. There have been dozens of smaller walkouts by nurses in the past few years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R2Czdh">
|
||
Labor shortages have left nurses overworked and insisting on more help in contract negotiations. There are more than 700 positions currently open at the three Montefiore hospitals in the Bronx where nurses are striking, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/nyregion/nurses-strike-nyc-hospitals.html">reported</a>. The nurses have said that management’s current offers on compensation and, in particular, hiring more staff to relieve overburdened nurses are not sufficient.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OWSMmY">
|
||
Montefiore says it has offered to raise wages for existing workers and to hire about 150 new nursing positions. Mount Sinai, the other hospital where nurses are on strike, has 500 open positions, according to the Times. According to <a href="https://hellgatenyc.com/why-thousands-of-nyc-nurses-are-preparing-to-strike-montefiore">Hell Gate NYC</a>, nurses at Montefiore have said they are responsible for as many as 35 different patients on their own on a given day.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VHmA4h">
|
||
The experts I’ve spoken with over the past few years generally agree that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23076581/us-covid-health-care-nurses-pay-salary">nurses are tremendously undervalued</a> given the importance of their work in delivering quality health care. Research has found repeatedly that more nursing staff leads to patients reporting a better experience in the hospital and better health outcomes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5xYoO4">
|
||
But the problem is, given the way health care in the US is typically paid for, hiring more nurses and making their work environment better doesn’t necessarily make good economic sense for these hospitals.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BDy6Xm">
|
||
“There is a lot said about ‘greedy’ health systems,” Betty Rambur, professor of nursing at the University of Rhode Island, said. “But they are just responding to the financial incentives in the current reimbursement model.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="UQiw5g">
|
||
The structural flaw in US health care behind the NYC nurses strike
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfqTOd">
|
||
Nurses point to exorbitant executive compensation (which <a href="https://www.axios.com/2021/06/14/health-care-ceo-pay-2020-pandemic">soared nationwide</a> during the pandemic) and multimillion-dollar real estate deals to explain their decision to strike. They have a point: Hospitals behaving on pure altruism would spend more on clinical staff without their nurses needing to go on strike to force their hand.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SZBRTHvfJ94DqtDyO_VToqEECU0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24350508/AP23010687249920a.jpg"/> <cite>Andres Kudacki/AP</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Nurses shout slogans during a rally outside Mount Sinai Hospital on January 10.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2SitoT">
|
||
But these hospitals are also responding to the financial incentives established in the ways the United States pays for health care. Slashing executive pay (Montefiore’s CEO makes $6 million a year) can only pay for so many new nursing positions. Canceling a $38 million land deal in White Plains would make more money available, but when revenue depends on the number of services that a hospital system provides, buying land and building new facilities does make fiscal sense. Those new outposts should be a permanent source of new revenue once they are built, staffed, and operational.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XNIy8G">
|
||
Therein lies the problem. Under the fee-for-service model that still dominates American health care, where every physician service can be billed by the hospital where they work, hospitals have every incentive to expand their services but little incentive to hire more nurses to support that work. From a hospital’s accounting perspective, nurses are entirely a cost. They do not generate any revenue directly, even though they are necessary to providing quality medical care.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7H9y7s">
|
||
A physician can perform exams and surgeries, order tests, and prescribe medication — all services that can be billed individually. A nurse’s work is essential to those services, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23076581/us-covid-health-care-nurses-pay-salary">as I reported last summe</a>r, but their labor is not accounted for directly. Instead, the cost of employing nurses is rolled up in the same “room charge” that covers the Jell-O a patient might receive in their room. No matter how many services a nurse performs and how vital they are to making sure patients have a good experience, they do not generate any additional revenue for their hospitals under the current fee-for-service system.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFFDL8">
|
||
That means American hospitals have a strong financial motivation to keep their nursing staffs as trim as possible, which has contributed to the burnout and exhaustion nurses have reported over the past few years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryPDgh">
|
||
New York’s state government attempted to address staffing issues with a 2021 law that established new committees at all hospitals, populated by both nurses and management, that would set acceptable staffing levels for their patient care units.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K88MjH">
|
||
However, as <a href="https://www.nysfocus.com/2023/01/05/nurse-safe-staffing-ratios-strike/">New York Focus and City & State</a> jointly reported earlier this year, the committee process <a href="https://www.nysfocus.com/2023/01/05/nurse-safe-staffing-ratios-strike/">has often been derailed</a> by disagreements between the two sides. Management at various facilities has ignored the input of nurses and imposed their own nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses have complained to state regulators but enforcement actions have not yet been taken by an understaffed state health department, and it is unclear if they ever will be, the news outlets reported.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qcBaKB">
|
||
And even that plan did not change the underlying economics of most hospitals’ business models.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lIVhW">
|
||
“What we forget is when hospitals put profits over patients, they are operating well within the system of economic carrots and sticks that we created for them, and within the system we created, hospitals are acting completely rationally as any other economic agent would,” Olga Yakusheva, a health care economist at the University of Michigan, said. “There is no economic incentive, right now, for hospitals to invest in adequate nurse staffing, pay nurses well, or provide a good working environment for nurses.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qBibRv">
|
||
Until the US gives hospitals good financial reasons to invest in their nursing staffs, these labor disputes are going to occur again and again. As much as we want our health system to be focused on quality health care, in America, health care is a business.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RvxTLV">
|
||
Good health care and profitable health care are not always the same thing. The failure to value nursing in the way we pay for medical services, which laid the groundwork for NYC’s nurses strike, is a stark example of that.
|
||
</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>Indian Super League | Hyderabad will look to carry on with its momentum from the win against FC Goa</strong> - Visitor Chennaiyin, languishing at seventh in the table, will hope for a turnaround in its fortunes as it needs a win to stay in contention</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>Jofra Archer fighting mental and physical battle: Zaheer after England pacer's comeback</strong> - Jofra Archer played his first competitive cricket match after a 541-day injury absence, taking three wickets as MI Cape Town beat Paarl Royals in the opening game of the inaugural SA20</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>Mickey Arthur rejects Pakistan Cricket Board’s offer to return as coach</strong> - The PCB said it was in discussions with Mickey Arthur for a new stint as head coach but the South African won't be able to take up the role right away as he has a long-term contract with Derbyshire.</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>I was in denial about my vulnerability, frustration was creeping in: Kohli recalls prolonged lean patch</strong> - Kohli smashed his 45th ODI hundred, a 87-ball 113, to guide India to a 67-run win over Sri Lanka in the opening game in Guwahati</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>Sebastien Haller plays first game in Dortmund shirt after cancer battle</strong> - Sebastien Haller returned to training earlier this month and finally made his unofficial debut as he came on in the second half of Tuesday's friendly with Fortuna Dusseldorf, which Dortmund won 5-1</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>Kollam tops in Jal Jeevan Mission works with 2,13,339 connections</strong> - Drinking water will be provided to all households in rural areas by 2024-25: Minister</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>Rare mango variety found on Kerala Accountant General’s Office campus to be popularised across the State</strong> - Christened ‘Agaam’, the lone tree is believed to be a century old</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>Visva Bharati professor sacking | Chomsky, other academics write to President</strong> - The convocation ceremony and the annual Poush Mela (a fair held in the Bengali month of Poush) have been called off by the Visva Bharati university in the wake of the unrest</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>Andhra Pradesh: Five held on charge of peddling ganja in Kadapa</strong> - 30 kg of ganja, 3 cars, 7 fake notes of ₹500 denomination seized from their possession</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>Bommai promises to regularise services of 300 graveyard workers</strong> -</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>Gare du Nord: Six people injured in stabbing attack</strong> - The attacker is shot by off-duty police officers after injuring six people at Gare du Nord station.</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’s health system under pressure of increasing demands</strong> - Some rural and suburban areas have no local doctors, while GPs in cities are working 60-hour weeks.</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>Constantine II, last king of Greece dies at 82</strong> - The monarch’s short rein from 1964-73 coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in Greek history.</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>French plan to raise retirement age by two years to 64</strong> - The Macron government’s reforms immediately prompt calls for strike action by unions on 19 January.</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: Conflicting claims over embattled town of Soledar</strong> - Russia’s Wagner mercenaries claim to be in control - but Kyiv says its troops are still holding out.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A fifth of passwords used by federal agency cracked in security audit</strong> - 89% of the department’s high-value assets didn’t use multi-factor authentication. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1909094">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Controversy erupts over non-consensual AI mental health experiment</strong> - Koko let 4,000 people get therapeutic help from GPT-3 without telling them first. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908751">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Meta ends support for original Quest headset after less than 4 years</strong> - Quest 2 and Quest Pro will be unaffected, for now. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1909029">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How will 2023 TVs address OLED’s biggest flaws?</strong> - CES 2023 promised brighter OLED, but LCDs still have a major advantage. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908641">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RIP Surface Duo—Microsoft reportedly gives up on the weird form factor</strong> - But Microsoft is still “all-in” with Android, plans a Galaxy Fold-style device. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1908893">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>There was an old man who lived by a forest. As he grew older and older, he started losing his hair, until one day, on his deathbed, he was completely bald. That day, he called his children to a meeting…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He said, “Look at my hair. It used to be so magnificent, but it’s completely gone now. My hair can’t be saved. But look outside at the forest. It’s such a lovely forest with so many trees, but sooner or later they’ll all be cut down and this forest will look as bald as my hair.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“What I want you to do…” the man continued. “Is, every time a tree is cut down or dies, plant a new one in my memory. Tell your descendants to do the same. It shall be our family’s duty to keep this forest strong.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And so they did. Each time the forest lost a tree, the children replanted one, and so did their children, and their children after them. And for centuries, the forest remained as lush and pretty as it once was, all because of one man and his re-seeding heirline.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CaptainBeans_"> /u/CaptainBeans_ </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108jl8b/there_was_an_old_man_who_lived_by_a_forest_as_he/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108jl8b/there_was_an_old_man_who_lived_by_a_forest_as_he/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A perfectly triangular lake has 3 kingdoms on its 3 sides</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The first kingdom is rich and powerful, filled with wealthy, prosperous people, the second is humbler, but has its fair share of wealth and power. The third kingdom is struggling and poor, and barely has an army.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The kingdoms eventually go to war over control of the lake, as it’s a valuable resource to have. The first kingdom sends 100 of its finest knights, clad in the best armour and each with their own personal squire. The second kingdom sends 50 knights, with fine leather armour and a few dozen squires of their own. The third kingdom sends their one and only knight, an elderly warrior who has long since passed his prime, with his own personal squire.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The night before the big battle, the knights in the first kingdom drink and party into the late hours of the night. The knights in the second kingdom aren’t as well off, but have their own supply of grog and drink well into the night.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
In the third camp, the faithful squire gets a rope and swings it over the branch of a tall tree, making a noose, and hangs a pot from it. He fills the pot with stew and has a humble dinner with the old knight.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The next morning, the knights in the first two kingdoms are hungover and unable to fight, while the knight in the third kingdom is old weary, unable to get up.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
In place of the knights, the squires from all three kingdoms go and fight. The battle lasts long into the night but by the time the dust settled, only one squire was left standing - the squire from the third kingdom.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And it just goes to show you that the squire of the high pot and noose is equal to the sum of the squires of the other two sides.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gaphumbala"> /u/Gaphumbala </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108son0/a_perfectly_triangular_lake_has_3_kingdoms_on_its/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108son0/a_perfectly_triangular_lake_has_3_kingdoms_on_its/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The local charity realized that it had never received a donation from the city’s most successful lawyer.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
So a volunteer paid the lawyer a visit in his lavish office. The volunteer opened the meeting by saying, ’Our research shows that even though your annual income is over two million dollars, you don’t give a penny to charity. Wouldn’t you like to give something back to your community?.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The lawyer thinks for a minute and says, ‘First, did your research also show you that my mother is dying after a long painful illness, and she has huge medical bills that are far beyond her ability to pay?’
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Embarrassed, the rep mumbles, ‘Uh… No, I didn’t know that.’
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
‘Secondly,’ says the lawyer, ’did it show that my brother, a disabled Veteran, is blind and confined to a wheelchair and is unable to support his wife and six children?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The stricken rep begins to stammer an apology, but is cut off again
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
‘Thirdly, did your research also show you that my sister’s husband died in a dreadful car accident, leaving her penniless with a mortgage and three children, one of whom is disabled and another that has learning disabilities requiring an array of private tutors?’
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The humiliated rep, completely beaten, says, ’I’m so sorry. I had no idea.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And the lawyer says, ’So, if I didn’t give any money to them, what makes you think I’d give any to you?
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/briskt"> /u/briskt </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108czmf/the_local_charity_realized_that_it_had_never/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108czmf/the_local_charity_realized_that_it_had_never/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What is a pirate’s LEAST favourite letter?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Dear Sir or Ma’am,
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
we are cutting your internet connection due to illegal downloading and copyright violations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Sincerely, Internet Provider
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PR0CR45T184T0R"> /u/PR0CR45T184T0R </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108v8l8/what_is_a_pirates_least_favourite_letter/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/108v8l8/what_is_a_pirates_least_favourite_letter/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How does an alchemist get his wife off?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Elixir
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/UnusualGenePool"> /u/UnusualGenePool </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10919x9/how_does_an_alchemist_get_his_wife_off/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/10919x9/how_does_an_alchemist_get_his_wife_off/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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