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462 lines
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<title>02 February, 2024</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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<body>
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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 Senate’s False Hope of a Grand Bargain Meets Its Trumpy Demise</strong> - Whether folly, hubris, or denial, it was always going to end this way. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-senates-false-hope-of-a-grand-bargain-meets-its-trumpy-demise">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Rural Ski Slope Caught Up in an International Scam</strong> - A federal program promised to bring foreign investment to remote parts of the country. It soon became rife with fraud. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/the-rural-ski-slope-caught-up-in-an-international-scam">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside the Music Industry’s High-Stakes A.I. Experiments</strong> - Lucian Grainge, the chairman of UMG, has helped record labels rake in billions of dollars from streaming. Can he do the same with generative artificial intelligence? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/inside-the-music-industrys-high-stakes-ai-experiments">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Perverse Policies That Fuel Wildfires</strong> - We thought we could master nature, but we were playing with fire. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/the-perverse-policies-that-fuel-wildfires">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine’s Democracy in Darkness</strong> - With elections postponed and no end to the war with Russia in sight, Volodymyr Zelensky and his political allies are becoming like the officials they once promised to root out: entrenched. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/05/ukraines-democracy-in-darkness">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>The Supreme Court weighs whether to end affirmative action at West Point</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="West Point cadets in hats and caped coats cheer from football stands. One holds a sign that reads “Go Army!”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D8jiicZV8LsDi6HOgGDVIKNPAvs=/210x0:3690x2610/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73106137/1841168203.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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West Point cadets cheer at a football game between the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen on December 9, 2023, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. | Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire 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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The guy behind the Harvard lawsuit attacking affirmative action turns his ire on the service academies.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3f7OeB">
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Last June, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus">Supreme Court</a> handed down a sweeping decision <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23616868/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc-students-fair-admissions-john-roberts">abolishing race-conscious admissions programs</a> at nearly every college and university in the country, with one notable exception: military service academies.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hzS2XP">
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The Court’s decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/20-1199_hgdj.pdf"><em>Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard</em></a> applies to civilian schools, but the Court also said in a footnote that it was not deciding whether academies such as West Point or the Naval Academy may continue to take steps to diversify their student bodies that the decision forbade in other schools. That footnote referred to the “potentially distinct interests that military academies may present,” but didn’t clarify what the six Republican justices who joined the <em>Harvard</em> decision think these “distinct interests” might be.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FQslvT">
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Now, however, this undecided question is before the Supreme Court in a new <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/11/21356913/supreme-court-shadow-docket-jail-asylum-covid-immigrants-sonia-sotomayor-barnes-ahlman">shadow docket</a> case known as <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/students-for-fair-admissions-v-united-states-military-academy-west-point-2/"><em>Students for Fair Admissions v. United States Military Academy West Point</em></a> (Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in both cases, is led by Edward Blum, a former stockbroker who is now the driving force behind many lawsuits <a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/this-week-is-the-superbowl-for-americas-leading-white-rights-activist-668cac6a9e13/">seeking to abolish policies intended to advance racial equity</a>).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JXN6cp">
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The <em>West Point</em> case is distinct from the <em>Harvard</em> case, however, in that it presents a conflict between two competing values that the Court’s current Republican majority genuinely cares about.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oHEPDY">
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On the one hand, the Republican justices are hostile to virtually any policy that takes account of race, regardless of whether that policy exists to advance white supremacy or to eradicate its legacy. The Court’s decision in <em>Harvard</em> compares that school’s former admissions program, which sought to diversify its campus by giving a slight preference to some applicants from underrepresented racial groups, to the Jim Crow school segregation regime struck down in <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/347/483.html"><em>Brown v. Board of Education</em></a><em> </em>(1954).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C6SIfS">
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At the same time, the Supreme Court has historically shown a great deal of deference to the military. As the Court said in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16268127249131160503&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr"><em>Gilligan v. Morgan</em></a> (1973), “[I]t is difficult to conceive of an area of governmental activity in which the courts have less competence” than questions involving “the composition, training, equipping, and control of a military force.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JKYcP5">
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Moreover, while the Court’s current majority has raced to <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/7/8/23784320/supreme-court-2022-term-affirmative-action-religion-voting-rights-abortion">overturn many precedents</a> that are out of step with the Republican Party’s policy preferences — <em>Harvard</em>, after all, <a href="https://www.vox.com/scotus/23616868/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc-students-fair-admissions-john-roberts">overruled nearly a half-century of decisions</a> permitting universities to take limited account of race in admissions — several of the Court’s Republican appointees appear to believe that <em>Gilligan</em> should remain good law.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nDEZD1">
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The Court’s Republican majority, for example, is normally <a href="https://www.vox.com/22889417/supreme-court-religious-liberty-christian-right-revolution-amy-coney-barrett">very sympathetic to cases brought by Christian conservatives</a>. But, in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a477_1bo2.pdf"><em>Austin v. U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26</em></a> (2022), Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/9/26/21457704/trump-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-nominee">Justice Amy Coney Barrett</a> — all Republicans — voted to block a lower court decision that prevented the military from reassigning service members who refused for religious reasons to get a <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19</a> vaccine.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ckFdhB">
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So there’s a real chance that this Court, despite its recent opinion in <em>Harvard</em>, could decide that the judiciary’s long tradition of deferring to the military on personnel and related matters should continue to hold in the <em>West Point</em> case.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uhKR6J">
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In her <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A696/299285/20240130163759534_23a696%20West%20Point%20Stay%20Opp%20final.pdf">brief to the justices</a>, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar warns that “a lack of diversity in leadership can jeopardize the Army’s ability to win wars.” Indeed, she writes that the lack of non-white officers during the Vietnam War led to widespread violence within the military’s ranks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YH5Uf3">
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“Plagued by accusations that white officers were using minority service members as ‘cannon fodder,’” Prelogar tells the justices, “the Army confronted racial violence that ‘extended from fire bases in Vietnam to army posts within the United States to installations in West Germany, Korea, Thailand, and Okinawa.’” To reduce the risk of this happening again, West Point takes some account of race in its admissions to help ensure that non-white enlisted personnel will look at their commanders and see some faces that resemble their own.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ysIo8q">
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West Point cadets are commissioned as army officers upon their graduation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9v8VVW">
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It’s worth noting that the two sides of the <em>West Point</em> case can’t seem to agree on just how much of a role race plays in West Point’s admissions. The plaintiffs <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A696/298928/20240126173859280_Army%20SCOTUS%20App.pdf">claim that race completely pervades the process</a>, that the military academy sets very precise racial targets for who is admitted, and that “for each of the six years of complete data in the record, West Point never missed its target for blacks or Hispanics by more than 3.6 percentage points.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WzJv8j">
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The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A696/299285/20240130163759534_23a696%20West%20Point%20Stay%20Opp%20final.pdf">Justice Department’s brief</a>, meanwhile, paints a completely different picture. As it describes the admissions process at West Point, the dominant factor determining admissions is which applicants are nominated by a member of <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">Congress</a> or other high-ranking official to become a cadet, and race is merely a small factor that comes into play later in the process.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7TvO8q">
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The fact that the two parties aren’t sure what they are arguing about is a good reason for the Supreme Court to give this case a miss — at least for now. As Prelogar notes, this lawsuit is “only four months old,” and lower courts have not yet conducted the rigorous fact-finding process that occurs in later stages of the litigation. So, if the justices were to block West Point’s admissions policy now, they couldn’t even be sure what they are blocking.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3JaRw7">
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Prelogar also warns that “West Point is in the middle of an admissions cycle” right now, and some applicants have already been offered seats in the incoming class. So, if the Supreme Court were to intervene now, that could force West Point to “either rescind offers already issued or apply different criteria to candidates based on the happenstance of when their applications were reviewed.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="25qgT8">
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So it’s also reasonably likely that a majority of the justices will want to put off deciding this case until they know more about how West Point’s system works, or to some time in the future when a Supreme Court decision won’t disrupt an ongoing admissions cycle.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rI6x9c">
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Ultimately, however, it is unlikely that the Court will delay forever. And when the justices do weigh in on the question they put off in the <em>Harvard</em> case, we will learn about whether they care more about their racial agenda or ensuring that military decisions are made by people who actually know something about military readiness.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>This camel has a very important job</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A light ivory-colored camel stands among Joshua trees in the desert with a pack on its back." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MNJBcuD4lmOEucYNjmh6k7hWCtY=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73106064/30.0.jpeg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Aaron Robey for Vox
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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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A new solution to save the iconic Joshua tree uses a distant relative of one of the Mojave’s ancient seed distributors: The camel.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eP3KZz">
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In the summer of 2020, the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/moja/learn/nature/dome-fire.htm">Dome Fire</a> leaped across the Mojave National Preserve in southeastern California, killing more than 1.3 million Joshua trees.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iUD0us">
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Three years later in 2023, which would go on to become <a href="https://www.vox.com/23969523/climate-change-cop28-paris-1-5-c-uae-2023-record-warm">the hottest year on Earth</a> since record-keeping began, the 93,078-acre <a href="https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/camnp-2023-york-fire">York Fire</a> more than doubled the acreage of the Dome Fire, scorching large forests of the eastern species of the wild-armed yuccas. Entering these burn scars is surreal. A majority of the trees stand like tombstones, their trunks bone white.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A sunset view of a distant hill with a desert landscape and a single Joshua Tree in the foreground." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zL0BmiUi40tNV8uqLTgimnfA7LE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25261826/22_Miles_W._Griffis.png"/> <cite>Miles W. Griffis for Vox</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A view of the Dome Fire burn scar with a surviving Joshua tree in the foreground.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kUF5Hv">
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Such deadly fires, combined with the increasing aridity and warming wrought by <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate">climate change</a>, have made the fate of both the eastern and <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2763">western species</a> of the iconic Joshua tree tenuous.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6v6oqa">
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While some Joshua tree spouts have formed naturally in the ashes of these fires, their modern distributors, seed-caching <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/publications/joshua-tree-yucca-brevifolia-seeds-are-dispersed-seed-caching-rodents#:~:text=Joshua%20tree%20produces%20seeds%20in,obligate%20mutualism%20for%20the%20plant.">rodents</a>, only travel a short distance from their burrows, making it difficult for the yuccas to migrate across the massive burn scars and reestablish themselves. In short, Joshua trees are disappearing faster than the sprouts can take root.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FrV0jH">
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In the absence of large megafauna like giant ground sloths that some scientists hypothesize served as seed dispersers for Joshua trees over 12,000 years ago, human volunteers organized by the National Park Service have taken over by planting sprouts of the beloved yuccas across the landscape.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sj9NN6">
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In the years that the rehabilitation project has been underway, Park Service volunteers and rangers have planted thousands of Joshua tree sprouts in the scar of the Dome Fire. For some volunteer planting days in 2021 and 2023, they received the help of a distant cousin of a possible ancient seed distributor: the camel.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rXoY4n">
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“Chico puts the drama in dromedary<em>,</em>” the camels’ owner, Jennifer Lagusker, said as he grumbled loudly, exposing his slimy tongue as volunteers loaded water jugs onto his frame on a warm day in late 2023. Lagusker wore a wide-brimmed hat, cargo pants, and a green volunteer T-shirt. She told me Chico is a dromedary camel recognizable by his single hump. His comrade, Sully, is a stunningly handsome but aloof Bactrian camel (two humps), while hard-working Herbie is a hybrid of the two species.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PMq3AU">
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Chico, Sully, and Herbie helped volunteers by lugging water, heavy Joshua tree sprouts, and other supplies to remote locations in the burn scar.
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</p>
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<div class="c-wide-block">
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<div class="c-image-grid">
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vqykBni490cy0Ib_csOp39gjs2s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259820/3__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Aaron Robey for Vox</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Volunteers load Joshua tree sprouts into canvas saddlebags that a trio of camels shortly thereafter carried.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<div class="c-image-grid__item">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A camel carrying saddlebags standing in the Mojave desert." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5FihxTqsW_K2mR6ST08aJ82isvs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259822/7.jpg"/> <cite>Aaron Robey for Vox</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Herbie hangs back as volunteers introduce new Joshua trees to their native landscape.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GjybAU">
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Camels are well adapted to carrying heavy loads and walking long distances because their feet are giant pads that distribute their weight evenly on the ground, making them more efficient and less impactful in desert environments than horses or mules, Lagusker explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iq5zKk">
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But their presence in the Mojave National Preserve — in all their floppy-lipped goofiness — is significant: It harks back not only to the use of camels as <a href="https://armyhistory.org/the-u-s-armys-camel-corps-experiment/">surveyors of historic routes</a> throughout the Mojave Desert in the mid-1800s, but also to their long-distant relatives, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-camels.htm">Camelops hesternus, or “yesterday’s camel,”</a> that once lived in what is now the Mojave.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ygdYUf">
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These modern camels aren’t eating Joshua tree fruits and distributing the hockey-puck-shaped seeds <a href="https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1206&context=aliso">as yesterday’s camel is hypothesized to have done</a>, but using them to carry Joshua tree sprouts and water offers an echo of the past and an intriguing solution for today’s challenge to save a tree that’s especially vulnerable to vanishing in a changing climate: What if we restored big mammals, capable of spreading seeds farther and faster, to the ecosystems that need them?
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</p>
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<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A person leads a string of three camels carrying saddlebags along a dirt road in the Mojave desert." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kIJZx8jWmPaB5ICSCvxzZP_MKTs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259721/5.jpg"/> <cite>Aaron Robey for Vox</cite>
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<figcaption>
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A volunteer leads Herbie, Sully, and Chico before crew members unload Joshua tree sproutlings.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7yqSwK">
|
||
Modern camels all share a common ancestor, Paracamelus<em>, </em>which diverged from yesterday’s camel millions of years ago and crossed the land bridge into Eurasia — eventually bringing them to share a common landscape with the Joshua tree. Camelops disappeared during the megafaunal extinction at the end of the Pleistocene alongside the giant ground sloth, marking the demise of what might have been the trees’ megafauna seed distributors. The evidence for this isn’t complete, however, and some scientists say that the spread of Joshua tree seeds has long relied on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140196311003983">rodents</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xhhRi1">
|
||
Lagusker was inspired to help plant trees with her camels after joining a camel trek in 2021 led by her friend, Nance Fite, who once owned <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2023/8/meet-bert-the-highest-ranking-law-enforcement-camel-who-patrolled-la-757511">the “world’s highest-ranking camel”</a> after it was named a deputy as part of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Their trek followed a portion of the historic Mojave Road that bisects Mojave National Preserve and was traveled by surveyors riding camels brought in from ports in the Mediterranean during the “sinister” <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/sinister-reason-why-camels-brought-to-american-west">United States Camel Corps</a> experiment in the 1850s.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h0R2bp">
|
||
“A lot of Route 66 was surveyed off camel,” Fite said, detailing her multi-day camel treks on the historic road originally made and navigated by the ancestors of the Mojave people. Once she heard about the planting efforts in the preserve, Fite suggested she and Lagusker volunteer with the camels to help with the first restoration efforts in the Dome Fire burn scar. “We wanted to do everything we could to help after the fire happened,” Fite said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EeODC_tNVnfcOCRf8tL0m1IbXAY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259919/34.JPG"/> <cite>Aaron Robey for Vox</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Approximately one-year-old Joshua tree seedlings sit in canvas bags, seen from above as spiky green sprouts in squares of dark soil. Thousands have been planted within the Dome Fire burn scar.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ifehrx">
|
||
In the years ahead, Lagusker hopes to work more closely with the NPS to organize a long train of camels, as many as 12 strong, if they’re invited back for future volunteer efforts. This will make the planting and watering processes more efficient in the future, as some of the sites are many miles from roads and each needs at least 5 gallons of water. Fite said they’re also open to helping private landowners affected by the York Fire. They both believe the use of camels could be a powerful solution to restore Joshua tree forests after wildfires.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XMw4Nr">
|
||
<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/staff/#:~:text=Brendan%20Cummings%2C%20Conservation%20Director">Brendan Cummings</a>, the conservation director of the Center for Biological Diversity, has participated in the planting effort in the Preserve many times, even joining the camels in 2021. He said they hold great potential for being able to scale up restoration efforts in more remote areas, especially since <a href="https://www.audubon.org/news/how-climate-change-pushes-even-hardiest-desert-birds-past-their-limit#:~:text=The%20Mojave%20Desert%2C%20like%20many,20%20percent%20in%20some%20areas.">the Mojave is getting hotter and drier</a>, meaning the sprouts will need more water to survive. The NPS said this August that <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2023/09/07/1196581569/climate-change-wildfire-joshua-tree-mojave-national-preserve">80 percent of the trees planted between 2021 and 2022 have died</a>. Saving Joshua trees, Cummings said, will take a lot of groundwork and money in these more extreme conditions. Anything that can be used to advance the effort should be implemented.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div>
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A two-humped camel stands beside its truck and trailer." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Z7ddT8_CbyCHw08bVVqTcY92NtY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259911/8.jpg"/> <cite>Miles W. Griffis for Vox</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Sully enjoys the early-morning blue sky, awaiting the day’s work.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="The head and neck of a camel wearing a halter and lead rope, with the Mojave desert in the background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1LoPIiyT_3cObfXUvHlEdEEaizM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25259912/13.jpg"/> <cite>Miles W. Griffis for Vox</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Sully shows off puffs of hair on his head and neck while posing for the camera with what appears to be a smile.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XerxcN">
|
||
“Even if they are only a small part, camels bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the event that adds a mix of absurdity plus practicality,” Cummings said, “which pretty much sums up what a camel is.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MiNoxY">
|
||
At the end of a long day on the preserve late last year, three camels walked in a neat, efficient line, their long-humped shadows stretching across the burn scar. With 24 new Joshua tree sprouts planted and watered on Cima Dome, they trekked back to the planting headquarters with light loads. They put one padded foot in front of the other, passing by torched yuccas and invasive grasses lit gold by the sunset.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How Nevada botched its key role in the GOP primary</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A person wearing a Trump sweatshirt in a crowd of Trump supporters holds up a sign that reads “Caucus on Feb. 8th.”" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QZB0z--DipxjMRIvQ6C7RDGKJWQ=/603x0:5392x3592/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73106003/1958540050.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Supporters of former US president and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump watch his speech on a screen outside a Commit to Caucus Rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 27, 2024. | Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Nevada’s dueling primary and caucuses are wreaking avoidable chaos.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NgMBZW">
|
||
Nevada is doing things differently this election season, and not necessarily for the better.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cgyfMW">
|
||
Former <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a> and his former US ambassador to the United Nations, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/14/23599194/nikki-haley-donald-trump-2024-presidential-campaign">Nikki Haley</a>, are competing in Nevada as the last two major candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination. But, confusingly, they’ll do so on two separate days — and in two entirely different types of contests.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5J7DLD">
|
||
Haley will appear on the state’s primary ballot on February 6, and Trump will appear on the state’s caucus ballot on February 8. Voters can participate in both contests, but only one really matters: The state Republican Party decided that only the latter will determine who receives the state’s 26 delegates, and any candidate who competes in the primary cannot also compete in the caucuses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6aTTwP">
|
||
If this seems to make no sense, it’s because it doesn’t. But it’s the unfortunate product of political infighting and a national shift away from caucuses after 2020, and it already appears to be leading to confusion for voters. Trump would have been dominant in Nevada no matter the format — he has a more than <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/president/republican-primary/2024/national">50 percentage point lead</a> on average in national polls. But now he’s assured of winning all of the state’s delegates simply because his only major opponent opted not to participate in the caucuses. And that makes it difficult to learn anything new about the depth of Trump’s support in Nevada from the results.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MIPazd">
|
||
“I don’t want to say the Nevada caucuses and primary are meaningless at this point, but it’s certainly a foregone conclusion,” said Zachary Moyle, a GOP strategist based in Nevada.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="TSIrHs">
|
||
Nevada wanted to move away from caucuses. What happened?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IbY4DH">
|
||
Nevada has historically held caucuses, contests in which voters gather in local meetings run by their state parties to say who they’d prefer to be their presidential nominee. But following <a href="https://apnews.com/how-the-iowa-caucuses-broke-down-in-every-way-possible-ee095683c85f6c97e51b6589b412f674">bungled Iowa caucuses in 2020</a> that led to delays in reporting the results, Nevada lawmakers joined a chorus of activists nationwide calling for caucus states to hold primaries instead.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k3ce5t">
|
||
Reformist lawmakers argued that primaries were not only smoother to run but also more inclusive: Participating in caucuses can take hours, and they typically only attract the most ardent partisans who can afford to spend an entire evening in a school gym.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r2L1fn">
|
||
“We’ve made it easier for people to register to vote here in Nevada in recent years and now we should make it easier for people to vote in the presidential contests,” former US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who during his life was<strong> </strong>a Democratic giant in Nevada politics, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/02/24/809092994/nevada-dems-leader-its-time-to-end-the-caucuses-shift-to-a-primary">said</a> in 2020.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pWsr2F">
|
||
So the Democrat-controlled Nevada legislature <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/11/politics/nevada-law-caucus-primary/index.html">enacted a law</a> mandating that a primary, preceded by 10 days of early voting, be held on the first Tuesday in February. This year, that’s February 6.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0bkLKd">
|
||
But the change didn’t come without opposition from Republican leaders in Nevada and other caucus states. “We want to make clear that we stand together in protecting the presidential nominating schedule as it has existed for many years,” a group of pro-caucus GOP lawmakers (from Nevada and three other states) <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/11/politics/nevada-law-caucus-primary/index.html">said</a> in a joint statement in 2021 after the Nevada law was signed. They didn’t want to lose out on the kind of resources and attention that caucuses typically bring to state parties, Moyle said. In part because they are such an extended affair — and one that produces made-for-television visuals of crowds of energetic voters gathering in chanting groups — caucuses tend to attract national and international media attention and are a big moneymaker every four years.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="syuIyA">
|
||
That was especially true for Nevada, which had some of the most diverse caucuses early in the primary calendar. They were closely watched for <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/nevada-republican-caucus-results/index.html">clues about the Latino vote</a>, given that Nevada’s population is nearly a third Hispanic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IaWy5F">
|
||
All that meant that while a primary was legally mandated this year, the GOP wasn’t ready to give up its caucuses. Republicans challenged the Nevada primary law in court but<a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-gop-drops-lawsuit-aimed-at-blocking-presidential-primary"> dropped the lawsuit</a> when a judge told them they would not be locked into holding a primary. So, while the state government is holding a primary, the state party has charged ahead with caucuses. And only the results of the caucuses will determine who Nevada’s delegates will support as their nominee for president at the GOP national convention this summer. But even Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo isn’t happy about it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ToZM5W">
|
||
“I think that’s unacceptable for the voters and the understanding of how things should be done,” he said on the <em>Nevada Newsmakers</em> <a href="https://www.nevadanewsmakers.com/video/default.asp?showID=3902">podcast</a> in October.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CyUXig">
|
||
Adding to the confusion about the two contests was controversy: There were allegations that the caucus rules were crafted to favor Trump — specifically, a new rule enacted in September, which banned super PAC employees from attending the caucuses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P8vuws">
|
||
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nevada-caucus-primary-elections-7d2c8df07451f5c0145a75f89ade11c7">Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis</a>, who later dropped out of the race, claimed that the rule put them at a severe and unfair disadvantage. <a href="https://www.vox.com/ron-desantis">DeSantis</a> had <a href="https://apnews.com/article/haley-desantis-republican-president-super-pac-f2128c30b26e064fa42ba9c6004df732">depended heavily</a> on two super PACs for support in early-voting states. Haley’s campaign has also relied on super PACs, though to a lesser degree, now that she has the support of the Koch network. That left them without a fighting chance against Trump, who already commanded the kind of grassroots support that is typically rewarded in caucuses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="HeF4iG">
|
||
What does all this chaos mean?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DKg1Yk">
|
||
The only consolation is that all this confusion likely won’t impact who wins the GOP nomination, which Trump has basically locked down after his dominant performance in Iowa and New Hampshire. But it sets a troubling precedent: What if this were a competitive primary that hinged on Nevada?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1bmrzb">
|
||
Haley didn’t campaign in Nevada because of all the messiness, as well as her limited campaign resources, which have forced her to be selective about where she spends her time and money. Instead, she turned her focus to her home state of South Carolina, where she previously served as governor, ahead of its February 24 primary as she <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4432304-haley-moves-on-to-south-carolina-despite-pressure/">faces pressure from her party to drop out</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TQ7ScB">
|
||
However, Moyle said Haley should have opted to participate in the Nevada caucuses instead of the primary, since she likely would have picked up some delegates for coming in second. And if Trump <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/538/biden-trump-suddenly-leaves-2024-race/story?id=106136493">unexpectedly drops out of the race</a>, she would have been able to pick up his Nevada delegates. There might be some strategic benefit to her being able to claim that she won the Nevada primary (even if that contest is only symbolic), but “the reality is, Nikki Haley is going to have zero delegates from the state,” Moyle said. “She’s going to win a meaningless straw poll, which is what the Republican primary is in Nevada.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4K4XIo">
|
||
So Trump had effectively scooped up all of Nevada’s delegates before a single voter had even cast a ballot or entered a caucus site.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZwKF0M">
|
||
Still, in insisting on having two contests, Republicans are obscuring just how strong Trump’s candidacy is among voters in the state (especially amid a Latino demographic in which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/politics/trump-latino-voters-2020.html">he made gains last cycle</a>) and could be disrupting the democratic process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xNg5vd">
|
||
Sadmira Ramic, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/voting-rights">voting rights</a> staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada, said that last weekend, the organization heard from Republicans who showed up to vote for Trump during early voting in the primary, were confused as to why he wasn’t on the ballot, and did not understand that their party would not award delegates based on the outcome of the primary. The Nevada GOP hasn’t been doing enough voter education to guide them through the complicated process this year, she said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hUahCX">
|
||
“It’s disenfranchising these Republican voters,” she said. “This is harming the voters on their end, that they decided to go this route.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tghc1x">
|
||
That means Trump’s expected caucus victory in Nevada won’t reveal anything about his actual dominance compared to prior contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Again, Trump is an unusually strong candidate, meaning even a less-than-stellar showing in Nevada likely wouldn’t have derailed what appears to be his smooth march to the nomination.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kea1Vg">
|
||
But in a closer contest, signals like margin of victory — and, more importantly, narrow differences in delegate count — take on greater importance. It’s not clear whether the dual primary and caucusing system will survive till the 2028 presidential election, when the GOP field and nomination process is likely to be significantly more competitive. That decision depends on GOP leadership in Nevada, and if Lombardo is reelected in 2026, he’d be in a good position to argue that the process should be consolidated in a single contest, Moyle said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GRkxLK">
|
||
Otherwise, these shenanigans risk diluting the vote in a very important state. Nevada is now the third state on the presidential nominating calendar for Republicans, and early-voting states tend to exert outsize influence on candidates’ trajectories. In some cases, they can <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/24034712/iowa-caucuses-history-first-gop-primary-2024">make or break a candidate’s presidential aspirations</a>. The fact that it’s playing effectively no role in the nominating process should be concerning.
|
||
</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>Amit, Ishneet, Sachin move to semifinals of Boxam International</strong> - Amit put up a brilliant performance as he eked out a stunning 3-2 split decision win to defeat Mexico’s Miguel Angel Martinez.</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>Davis Cup: Strong Indian team is firm favourite against Pakistan in historic clash</strong> - India have never lost to Pakistan in Davis Cup history, winning all seven ties so far, and the trend is likely to continue.</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>Saudi Arabia and the politics of sportswashing</strong> - From buying foreign teams to inking multi-billion-dollar athlete contracts, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in sport in a bid to change the global narrative around the country’s image</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>Stokes looks to make good use of Anderson’s experience</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 has always bounced back well, says Bharat</strong> -</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>Self-reliance in strategic materials vital to secure Atmanirbharta, says former Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister</strong> - G. Satheesh Reddy was speaking at the inauguration of the industry connect meet on Strategic Materials and Manufacturing Technologies organised by CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology</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>People happy about Ram temple, but it does not mean they will vote for BJP: Raj Thackeray</strong> - Mr. Thackeray appeared non-committal on his party contesting the Lok Sabha elections.</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>Here are the big stories from Tamil Nadu today</strong> - Welcome to the Tamil Nadu Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Lalitha Ranjani</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>PhD admission row: After seven months, Syndicate panel to ask Kerala ex-SFI leader K. Vidya to submit her statement</strong> - Syndicate sub-committee of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit has been probing allegations that norms were violated to admit K. Vidya secure admission into PhD programme in 2020</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>Amid political drama, 44 Jharkhand MLAs land in Hyderabad</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>State of emergency in Catalonia over worst ever drought</strong> - Residents face a raft of restrictions on water use as the Spanish region faces its worst drought on record.</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>Hostages freed after nine hours at US plant in Turkey</strong> - A man apparently protesting over Gaza is detained after the incident at a Proctor & Gamble’s factory.</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>German ex-spy chief investigated for extremism</strong> - Hans-Georg Maassen has said his party could work with the far right - breaking a taboo in German politics.</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>EU leaders unlock €50bn support package for Ukraine</strong> - The agreement came earlier than expected, overcoming previous opposition from Hungary’s Viktor Orban.</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 ‘hits Russian missile boat in Black Sea’</strong> - Military intelligence says the Ivanovets, a small warship, was destroyed in a special operation off Crimea.</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>Rocket Report: SpaceX at the service of a rival; Endeavour goes vertical</strong> - The US military appears interested in owning and operating its own fleet of Starships. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000721">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Convicted console hacker says he paid Nintendo $25 a month from prison</strong> - As Gary Bowser rebuilds his life, fellow Team Xecuter indictees have yet to face trial. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000726">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Agencies using vulnerable Ivanti products have until Saturday to disconnect them</strong> - Things were already bad with two critical zero-days. Then Ivanti disclosed a new one. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000723">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cops arrest 17-year-old suspected of hundreds of swattings nationwide</strong> - Police traced swatting calls to teen’s home IP addresses. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000672">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FCC to declare AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal under existing law</strong> - Robocalls with AI voices to be regulated under Telephone Consumer Protection Act. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2000577">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A group of military officers are sitting around discussing how much work and fun is involved in having sex.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
First the lieutenant says, “Having sex is about 80% fun and 20% work.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Then captain replies, “No, there’s more work involved than that. I would say that it’s 60% fun and 40% work.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The major chimes in, “No, having sex is definitely way more work than that. I would say that it’s 20% fun and 80% work.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
As the discussion continued on, a private suddenly walked by the room.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The officers call the private over, explain the situation and ask for his opinion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The private quickly replies, “Gentlemen, having sex must be 100% fun.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
One of the officers asks, “Well how did you come to that conclusion so easily?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The private says, “Very simple, Sir. If there was any work involved you guys would have me doing it for 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/Ok_Breadfruit3199"> /u/Ok_Breadfruit3199 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agmysz/a_group_of_military_officers_are_sitting_around/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agmysz/a_group_of_military_officers_are_sitting_around/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson go camping…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
… and around 3 a.m. Sherlock nudges his totally-hetero partner awake.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Watson,” he says, “look up.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I see stars,” murmurs a sleepy Watson.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“And do the stars tell you?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Watson considers this. “That we are part of a vast cosmos. That many of those stars could have their own worlds, with their own civilisations, with cultures which we cannot dare to dream. That we are a mere speck in the vastness of creation, and that perhaps we should not be so enamoured with our ravaging of this world.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
After a moment of contemplative silence, Watson asks: “Tell me, Sherlock, what do the stars tell you?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Watson,” says Sherlock with infinite patience, “they tell me that someone has nicked our fucking tent.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Eldon42"> /u/Eldon42 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agzciy/sherlock_holmes_and_doctor_watson_go_camping/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agzciy/sherlock_holmes_and_doctor_watson_go_camping/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A girl in college calls her father after having sex for the first time.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
She says, “Dad, I have a confession to make. I ain’t a virgin anymore.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Hearing this, the dad gets furious and shouts, “I work my ass off to get you into one of the best universities in the state, and you still say ain’t!?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CrystalSplicer"> /u/CrystalSplicer </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agi1ja/a_girl_in_college_calls_her_father_after_having/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agi1ja/a_girl_in_college_calls_her_father_after_having/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Taylor Swift stumbles upon a Time Machine.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
So Taylor Swift stumbles upon a Time Machine. She accidentally goes back in time and wanders into a university. As she’s looking around an older man walks in talking to someone about how galaxies are moving away from us.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man sees her and asks, “who might you be, young lady?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I’m Taylor Swift,” she answers, and he is about to introduce himself when she holds up her hand to stop him. “I knew you were Hubble when you walked in. “
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/zeetotheex"> /u/zeetotheex </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agp49n/taylor_swift_stumbles_upon_a_time_machine/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agp49n/taylor_swift_stumbles_upon_a_time_machine/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man goes to the doctor for a blood test.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A few days later he gets a call from his doctor regarding the results. “There’s good news and bad news about your results.”, the doctor says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I would like the bad news first.”, says the man.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“All right,”, begins the doctor, “the bad news is we’ve found that you have a rare, currently incurable disease.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“That’s terrible!”, the man says in shock. “Then what the hell is the good news?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The doctor simply replies, “You get to have it named after 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/CreativestName69420"> /u/CreativestName69420 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agwzlc/a_man_goes_to_the_doctor_for_a_blood_test/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1agwzlc/a_man_goes_to_the_doctor_for_a_blood_test/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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