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587 lines
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<title>05 December, 2022</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 E-Mail Newsletter for the Mogul Set</strong> - The media startup Puck is aiming to build a business by covering power and wealth from the inside. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/the-e-mail-newsletter-for-the-mogul-set">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sam Bankman-Fried, Effective Altruism, and the Question of Complicity</strong> - Leaders of the social movement had no way to know that FTX would collapse. But they also had every incentive to ignore warnings. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/sam-bankman-fried-effective-altruism-and-the-question-of-complicity">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Hacked Newsroom Brings a Spyware Maker to U.S. Court</strong> - When Roman Gressier, an American reporter working in El Salvador, found out that he and his colleagues were being surveilled, he feared persecution and worried for his sources’ safety. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-hacked-newsroom-brings-a-spyware-maker-to-us-court-pegasus">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Argentina Came to Love Lionel Messi at the World Cup</strong> - He’s never won the cup for his country—and this may be his last chance. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-argentina-came-to-love-lionel-messi-at-the-world-cup">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Will Republicans Who Have Soured on Trump Turn Out for Herschel Walker?</strong> - With the Senate not in play, some conservatives fear that Walker won’t inspire voters. “I think a lot of people’s consciences will allow them to, like me, stay home,” one said. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/will-republicans-who-have-soured-on-trump-turn-out-for-herschel-walker">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>Why does the US keep running out of medicine?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Iu6uGCV_wVp-e6jlb3YFAss6008=/200x0:2867x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71711456/drug_shortage.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Amanda Northrop/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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America’s frequent drug shortages put patients’ health — and their lives — at risk.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ezj1a0">
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The United States, the world’s richest country and its most important developer of pharmaceuticals, is not supposed to run out of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22702855/build-build-better-plan-medicare-negotiate-drug-prices">prescription drugs</a>. And yet it does — all the time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MNboPN">
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Just in the past few weeks, there have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/23/health/drug-shortages-flu-holidays.html">reported shortages of amoxicillin and tamiflu</a> in the midst of <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/10/27/23421344/covid-19-flu-rsv-symptoms-vaccines-2022">a surge in respiratory infections</a>. Young patients with asthma who contract the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) might need albuterol to ameliorate breathing problems, but that medication <a href="https://www.pharmacypracticenews.com/Online-First/Article/11-22/National-Surge-in-RSV-Cases-Still-Filling-Pediatric-Units/68709">has been in short supply for months</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tLT6lO">
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Shortages of drugs to treat all kinds of conditions are happening across the health system. There is <a href="https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/adderall-shortage-will-last-until-at-least-january/#:~:text=The%20FDA%20warns%20that%20Adderall,be%20alert%20to%20prescription%20scams.">an ongoing shortage of Adderall</a>. Shortages of saline, morphine, and cancer drugs have occurred in recent years. When Covid-19 arrived in the United States two years ago, the country was already <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/6/21209589/coronavirus-medicine-ventilators-drug-shortage-sedatives-covid-19">short on the drugs necessary</a> for people placed on ventilators. And when I learned two months ago about shortages of Pitocin, the medication used to induce labor as well as to control bleeding from postnatal hemorrhages, Mark Turrentine, an OB-GYN at the Baylor College of Medicine, told me that these localized Pitocin shortages were “not something that happened just recently” but they had occurred repeatedly “over the past four or five years.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SzYEHq">
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According to <a href="http://nap.nationalacademies.org/26420">a 2022 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine</a>, “on average, the number of ongoing drug shortages has been increasing and are lasting longer.” The root cause of that problem, per <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/131130/download">a report from the Food and Drug Administration</a>, is the economics of the pharmaceutical market itself.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FiRLxx">
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The reasons for shortages are generally consistent no matter the drug: either a shortage of raw materials or a problem at the plant where the drug is manufactured. Shortages for medicines that a patient can pick up at the pharmacy often draw the most headlines, but most of the medications that end up in short supply are generic, injectable drugs that are used in hospitals: usually, these drugs have only one or two suppliers. So if there is a problem at the factory of one company, there is not an easy way to scale up production to make up for a shortfall. And they are usually cheap, which means the companies that manufacture them do not have a strong economic incentive to produce any excess supply.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Nhr8yj">
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“We haven’t invested in expanding the capacity our country needs. It’s costly. If you’re going to sell something for a dollar a vial, there’s no incentive to invest there,” said Erin Fox, a pharmacist at the University of Utah who has studied drug shortages. “It makes a lot of sense when you think about it from their perspective. But when you think about it from the hospital perspective, it’s very frustrating.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SyZTiU">
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Some of these shortages have led directly to patient deaths. An Associated Press report in 2011 <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/drug-shortages-blamed-in-at-least-15-deaths/">linked</a> at least 15 deaths over the prior 15 months to drug shortages. <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2612912#:~:text=The%20decreased%20use%20of%20norepinephrine,from%2035.9%25%20to%2039.6%25).">A more recent study</a>, following the year-long shortage of a drug used to treat septic shock, found higher mortality rates for patients who relied on a substitute. Even short of death, drug shortages can meaningfully change the care patients get — if, for example, a pregnant person undergoes a cesarean delivery, with its higher risk of complications and longer recovery time, because the drug that could have induced labor earlier is out of stock.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrWrVp">
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Experts do have ideas about how to make the pharmaceutical supply chain more resilient. But they require action by the federal government. Until that happens, there is little reason to think the pace and duration of America’s drug shortages will slow down.
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</p>
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<h3 id="q6uHn5">
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Why drug shortages happen — and their sometimes deadly consequences
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oNLeOS">
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Manufacturing a prescription drug is complicated. A company first has to acquire the necessary ingredients, sometimes from suppliers all over the world. The producer must take those raw materials and then manufacture the drug, at a factory capable of executing a technically sophisticated production process, in the most economical fashion, while also meeting FDA safety and quality requirements.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ntTnUb">
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Take a look at this graphic from the National Academies report. Every drug on the market has its own variation of this flow chart.
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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/4nqWCGF0vJ0Ij4T2gf2yE9oaUI4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24238909/Screen_Shot_2022_11_29_at_11.57.46_AM.png"/> <cite>NASEM</cite>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nhfJUY">
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Most shortages can be traced to a lack of raw materials or, most often, a problem at the manufacturing site. Machines break. Ingredients get contaminated. Manufacturers are not required to disclose the reasons for a shortage, but the recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/5/12/23068472/baby-formula-shortage-2022-why">shortage of baby formula</a> — while it’s not a drug — is illustrative. The FDA required Abbott Nutrition, one of the largest suppliers of baby formula, to shut down its main plant because of unsanitary conditions and contaminated products.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W25xKi">
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As with the baby formula shortage, it’s hard for the industry to compensate when production is halted. Most of the drugs that experience shortages are generics, and there are generally only a handful of companies producing a given generic drug. If one of them has production problems, it can mean that suddenly half — or more — of the expected supply is wiped out.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kvtTXk">
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And once the supply is disrupted, it’s impossible to quickly make up for the shortfall. These companies rely on razor-thin margins and massive scale to make their business work. They have a “just in time” production schedule, which means almost as soon as the product rolls out of the factory, it is delivered to health care providers. There aren’t warehouses with emergency stockpiles, because it wouldn’t really make financial sense for manufacturers to produce and store the excess supply.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I3br7p">
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Shortages due to distribution problems or an increase in demand are less common, but they do happen. Fox pointed to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/11/29/23484623/congress-rail-strike-biden-sick-days">a looming strike of rail workers</a> as one way that, even if a drug has been produced without problems, there can be a delay in getting it to patients. And in the early weeks of the pandemic, there was a surge in demand for drugs, including albuterol, that created temporary shortages.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CuKk6q">
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Whatever the reason, shortages can have serious consequences. In 2011, there was a year-long shortage of norepinephrine, a blood pressure drug used for patients experiencing septic shock, because of production problems at three manufacturing sites. Researchers <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2612912#:~:text=The%20decreased%20use%20of%20norepinephrine,from%2035.9%25%20to%2039.6%25).">later compared the mortality rates</a> of patients who needed norepinephrine for septic shock at hospitals that were out of the drug and relied on a substitute versus those treated at hospitals that still had it in supply. They found that patients at the facilities experiencing a shortage had a higher mortality rate.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3F6ebz">
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The same applies for patients who need a longer treatment but can’t find the drug that would best serve them. One study <a href="https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20121227/INFO/312279985/study-ties-drug-shortage-to-poorer-cancer-survival">found</a> that the mortality rates among cancer patients who must use a substitute drug are higher. Replacing drugs can be difficult for clinicians; hospitals experiencing morphine and sedative shortages <a href="https://www.ismp.org/resources/shortage-everything-except-errors-harm-associated-drug-shortages">have reported</a> patients being given the wrong dosage of a substitute drug, leading to serious clinical distress and even deaths.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xVv8v4">
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But even if the stakes are not life and death, drug shortages can meaningfully change the kind of care patients receive. When I spoke with Turrentine about the Pitocin shortage, he said doctors may not be able to induce labor in a pregnant person without the drug, which increases the possibility of the patient needing a C-section delivery. C-sections are more invasive than vaginal childbirth, with a greater risk of complications and a longer recovery time. It ends up being more burdensome for the patient, and it costs more money to provide the care.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sthy3h">
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But the existence of these clinical consequences isn’t enough to force drugmakers to change their process or to start producing an excess supply. They are running a business, and the economics of drug production are driving these shortages. Those are not going to change unless policymakers overhaul the rules.
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</p>
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<h3 id="7uaMNz">
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What the US could do to prevent future drug shortages
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aqOAHC">
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The authors of the National Academies report <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/26420/Supply_Chain_Recommendations.pdf">recommended several actions the federal government could take</a> to address drug shortages, from trade agreements that make it easier to import and export medicines in a shortage to an overhaul of the National Strategic Stockpile, one of the few available reserves for a small number of essential drugs when there is not enough supply.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="srSWOb">
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There are some other, shorter-term patches included in that list of recommendations that would make it possible to end a shortage sooner. Hospital systems could enter emergency purchasing agreements for certain vital products, to give them another option if their main supplier has a production problem. The government could do more to secure excess supply of some essential medicines as well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W0qHEr">
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Under the current system, though, it isn’t practical for the government to purchase excess supply of every possible pharmaceutical, nor does it make economic sense for the drug manufacturer to maintain reserves indefinitely. These solutions are really Band-Aids, deployed once there is already a shortage.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ikn03h">
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But how do we stop shortages from happening in the first place?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CCe1oT">
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I asked Fox, one of the report’s authors, what she would prioritize if she had the opportunity to wave a magic wand and do one thing on drug shortages. Her answer: unlocking other possible solutions starts with more transparency.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yfVuhC">
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Fox and her co-authors want pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose more information about their production facilities and the ingredients they use to make drugs. That would help government officials identify potential vulnerabilities in the supply chain and better anticipate oncoming shortages if there is a breakdown in supply of those materials. Beyond that, though, they are also urging the FDA to make public its assessments of the safety of drug manufacturing plants and the quality (as in purity) of the medications produced there.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="C4BC99">
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With that information, Fox envisions the creation of a rating system that would let both providers and patients know much more about where their drugs are coming from. That would allow them to make more informed decisions about which drugs to buy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Ej7an">
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But higher-quality medicines are more expensive to make and therefore may cost more. So if hospitals are still making economic decisions to prioritize cost over quality, the feds could give them a nudge, Fox said. There could be carrots (such as tax credits for buying drugs from a higher-graded manufacturer) as well as sticks (making the purchase of drugs from a supplier with a certain rating or higher a condition of Medicaid or Medicare funding).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="19fcC0">
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You could imagine a scenario in which steering purchasers toward certain products could lead to even more dependence on one supplier. But Fox’s response, when I raised that point, was that many products are already facing that situation, given the way the pharmaceutical market is constructed. At least under a system like she described, manufacturers would be rewarded for taking the steps that should make shortages less likely.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f6Ivzz">
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“There’s no profit for companies to invest in quality in manufacturing plants,” she said. A concept like this would be one way to change that. “Target our dollars to companies that are doing a good job.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MGfNgq">
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And even if higher-quality drugs mean more expensive drugs, Fox argued that could still be a deal worth making. Drug shortages already drive up costs in subtler ways: Labor costs go up if patients are in the hospital longer and require more intensive care. A substitute drug might need to be bought, another expense. The clinical benefits should be obvious, given what we know about how shortages can negatively affect care.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KkOTnp">
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Those are changes that won’t happen overnight, and they would require a serious commitment from the government. But Fox hopes the US sees an opportunity, given the way Covid-19 has made everyone more aware of and sensitive to supply chain problems of all kinds. It’s not always been easy to get policymakers to pay attention to drug shortages, she said. “It’s kind of a boring story. If there is a bright point to Covid, it’s shining a light to these supply chain problems.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RKHejv">
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Until officials actually act, there are bound to be more shortages and more headlines like we have seen in the past few weeks. The problem is only getting worse.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nNl7I3">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6ksSY6">
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aygyYR">
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>A driver killed her daughter. She won’t let the world forget.</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/K0XCIGfMgDxO1bCP3XKimu2fRM8=/433x0:3900x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71711356/Allison12.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Jessica Hart, 39, sits on daughter Allison Hart’s bed at her family home in Washington, DC. In September 2021, Allie, 5, was struck and killed in a crosswalk steps from the family’s home.
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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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Large vehicles and unsafe streets are killing too many people, including 5-year-old Allison Hart. Now her mother is fighting for safer streets.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zkBMrx">
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How do you commemorate the life of a 5-year-old girl?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z8Lj0a">
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Here is what it looks like on one street corner in Washington, DC: a tiny bicycle, painted all in white, with a little wicker basket filled with purple and white silk flowers on the handlebars. A teddy bear in a princess dress sits on the seat, and on the ground nearby, a pile of stuffed animals — monkeys and puppies and lambs and bears and elephants — turn gray from exposure to the elements.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aAkdD0">
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The intersection looks like so many of the four-stop crossings on so many roads all over the country, except for this memorial. It marks the place where, in September 2021, Allison Hart was killed while riding her bike.
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</p>
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<div class="c-wide-block">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/G112NNg1u2PnmMqYaQW6evPcPRc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24209833/Allison21.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A tiny white bicycle at Irving and 14th streets, Northeast, in Washington, DC, pays tribute to 5-year-old Allison Hart, who was killed here in 2021 amid a larger national spike in traffic violence deaths.
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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="BT0wEV">
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Eight months later, on a humid Wednesday afternoon in May, Allie’s mom, Jessica Hart, places her 3-month-old son in a black stroller. She pushes open the gate to the fence outside her home, a cream-colored bungalow surrounded by wide streets and well-manicured lawns in a neighborhood that appears transported from the suburbs. A longhaired cat sits watching her from the screened-in porch as she maneuvers the stroller onto the sidewalk.
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</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JRX56f">
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“We don’t really come this way ever,” Jessica says, walking the block up the street to where her daughter was killed. She’s wearing a striped linen shirt with jeans and pink sandals, which match her pink nails — Allie’s favorite color. A small “A” charm dangles from her neck. As she approaches the memorial, she comes to a stop and takes in the scene, a pair of Ray-Bans shading her eyes from the sun.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NPhy6G">
|
||
Allie was with her dad, Bryan, in the crosswalk when she was struck by the driver of a van. She was one of 20 pedestrians and cyclists killed in Washington, DC, in 2021. Another child, 4-year-old <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/dc-4-year-olds-mom-pleads-safety-changes-after-son-hit-and-killed-by-car/65-1d036b36-2f32-4791-8b13-e28f1474bb4b">Zy’aire Joshua</a>, was killed in Northwest DC as he crossed the street with his mom. Adults were killed, too: a 47-year-old bike courier and father of three named <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/fatal-crash-cyclist-hospital/2021/03/02/8f66162c-7b55-11eb-a976-c028a4215c78_story.html">Armando Martinez-Ramos</a>; a 24-year-old aspiring opera singer named <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/nina-larson-hit-killed-by-driver-in-adams-morgan-friends-honor-her-life/65-0cbdcfc4-a113-45b3-bbc1-b00833a7d574">Nina Larson</a>; two advocates for DC’s homeless population, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/2-pedestrians-killed-at-hains-point-overcame-homelessness-waldon-adams-rhonda-whitaker/2652606/">Waldon Adams and Rhonda Whitaker</a>; a PhD student named <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/pagels-bicycle-crash-washington/2021/04/12/ab7d689c-9b85-11eb-8005-bffc3a39f6d3_story.html">Jim Pagels</a>.<strong> </strong>In 2022, <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/87515/sarah-langenkamp-loved-biking-she-shouldnt-have-died-because-of-it">three US diplomats</a> were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/19/state-department-fingarson-dead-crash/">among those</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/21/cyclist-dies-crash-northwest-dc/">killed in the region</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQWir6">
|
||
Across the country, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis">more pedestrians were killed in 2021 than at any time in the past 40 years</a>, according to data from the Governors Highway Safety Association. But the pandemic years aren’t outliers — pedestrian deaths have been rising for more than a decade. Between 2010 and 2020, they rose by <a href="https://www.ghsa.org/resources/Pedestrians22#:~:text=GHSA's%20annual%20spotlight%20report%2C%20Pedestrian,single%20year%20in%20four%20decades.">54 percent</a>. Among cyclists, they <a href="https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/bicyclists#yearly-snapshot">rose 50 percent</a>. Contained within the statistics are countless human tragedies, like the Harts’.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PXKK1k">
|
||
Allie’s <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/washingtonpost/name/allison-hart-obituary?id=6544562">obituary</a> told of a little girl who “loved deeply and laughed often,” who aspired to be a “rock scientist,” who was fascinated by Brood X cicadas and Legos and American Girl dolls. At the memorial, her classmates showed up and blew bubbles in her honor. In the early days after she died, there was almost nothing that could ease Jessica and Bryan’s heartbreak. But sharing their memories of their little girl with others, and their outrage at her death in a place she should have been safe, that felt important. “I just wanted to share her with people. At some point, I think, I felt so helpless because I couldn’t save her or protect her,” Jessica says. She pushes the stroller, and her voice begins to break. “It’s just a nightmare, but also it’s just like, my daughter dies, and nothing changes. How could that be?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
|
||
<aside id="aItptr">
|
||
<q>Pedestrian deaths have been rising for more than a decade. Between 2010 and 2020, they rose by 54 percent. Among cyclists, they rose 50 percent.</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AyQkBx">
|
||
She thinks about the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23037390/alex-jones-sandy-hook-elizabeth-williamson-book">parents of Newtown, Connecticut</a>, who lost their children and then watched the Senate vote down a bipartisan gun reform bill a few months later. How do they live with this? How does she?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YT15vV">
|
||
“So many people die every year because of cars, and nothing changes,” she says. Which can make her new mission — pushing for safer cars and streets so that no one has to go through what she and Bryan did — feel, as she describes it, “like a futile endeavor.” Still, she can’t accept the idea that it’s hopeless. “It won’t bring her back,” she says. “But I just can’t let it go.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="iczR0Y"/>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IWpCBU4gDI8pApMgge7QRcOsae8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24244408/IMG_9244a.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of Jessica Hart</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A photo of Allie climbing a tree in the front yard of the family’s Washington, DC, home.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rSz6lc">
|
||
At the beginning of the pandemic, Jessica started taking a photo of Allie each day. It was a way to document how they spent a historic time, when life changed overnight. The photographs ended up being incredibly important, a document of what would become a significant portion of their daughter’s life, up until its final day. Jessica thought she would have the photo books printed for her daughter, but they didn’t show up until after she died.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yswkC2">
|
||
So much is contained in the photo albums: Allie on a family beach vacation, in a swimsuit adorned with cherries, jumping in the surf. Allie bouncing on the bed, her hips and hair twisting in different directions, the embodiment of joy. Allie twirling in a lavender leotard, eyes focused on her Zoom ballet class. Allie crouching in front of a puddle, wearing a raincoat with floppy ears, making mud soup for the fairies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i0oe59">
|
||
It surprised Jessica, when Allie was born, how much she loved being a mom. She always knew she wanted children, but she was awed by the tactile intimacy of it, how life-affirming it felt to care for this little girl, a love greater than anything she’d ever imagined. All of the small delights of being Allie’s mother, how she loved to be wrapped up in a towel and held like a baby after her bath, even as she was getting to be 40 pounds. Sometimes the grief is an absence of her weight — the knowledge that she’ll never hold Allie in her arms again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q9BHCO">
|
||
Jessica and Bryan were expecting their second child when Allie died. “Being pregnant when she died saved me,” Jessica says. “Those months between when she died and he was born were just … awful.” Often, the grief lives at the back of her throat. It is palpable, a wound she would never want to heal. “You have a child for five years, and then suddenly, you don’t.” She remembers thinking: “What do I do with myself?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HEjBamEUu9CQQNU4hbhC2w95a3Q=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210365/Allison15.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
One of the many small photo albums Jessica made, filled with photos of Allie.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ryTz9Zdp1C8c2zsQjKWGk5_-uWE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210553/Allison02.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Jessica rests her hand on the tree her daughter Allie would climb at the Hart family home.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4JJsyOj3rCe_x94_VMXfd60I018=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24244556/Allison14.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Family cat Nixon often sleeps on Allie’s bed, which has been kept intact and unchanged since she died.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bAcCv7">
|
||
Soon, they discovered, there were others who shared their grief, including<strong> </strong>the artists who organized an event closing off the street so children and adults could take over the intersection, writing “SAFE STREETS” in chalk and drawing colorful tributes to Allie on the pavement. Jessica also heard from — and reached out to — other parents who’d lost loved ones, including Amy Cohen, whose son, Sammy Cohen Eckstein, <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2013/10/09/samuel-cohen-eckstein-12-killed-by-van-driver-on-prospect-park-west/">was killed by a van driver</a> in New York City in 2013.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="87ub8T">
|
||
“After he died, I felt like I had to fight for him and make sure this didn’t happen to anyone else,” Cohen says. Before long, she was standing on her street with a radar gun, clocking the vehicles speeding down her street. (<a href="https://one.nhtsa.gov/About-NHTSA/Traffic-Techs/current/ci.Literature-Reviewed-On-Vehicle-Travel-Speeds-And-Pedestrian-Injuries.print#:~:text=One%20estimate%20is%20that%20about,over%2050%20mph%20at%20impact.">Speed is a major factor in pedestrian deaths</a>; the faster a vehicle is going, <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/winter-2022/05">the more likely it is</a> to fatally injure a pedestrian it strikes.) She encountered Sen. Chuck Schumer, who lived in a neighboring building, and begged him to do something about rampant speeding on city streets. She began speaking out at rallies and connected with Transportation Alternatives, a New York-based group that advocates for policies that make roads less dangerous, who helped Cohen start an organization called Families for Safe Streets.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gX1l35">
|
||
At the time, there wasn’t a national organization on the scale of Mothers Against Drunk Driving that included the broader spectrum of loved ones who’ve lost family members to traffic violence. “We thought, how can there not be something for this huge, preventable crisis that we have?” Cohen says. Their first campaign involved lobbying the state legislature in Albany to allow New York City to <a href="https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/queenscb10/downloads/pdf/notifications/25mph.pdf">lower the default speed limit on city streets to 25 miles per hour</a> — it became law in 2014. Cohen and her family members <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/when-cars-kill-pedestrians">went to the statehouse with photos of Sammy and handed them out to legislators</a>. Getting the speed limit reduced was difficult, and Cohen says no victory has come as easily since. “I’ve come to learn, painfully, that change is slow,” she says. “But we have seen that our voices can make a huge difference.” The group has since started <a href="https://www.familiesforsafestreets.org/">local chapters</a> across the United States.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
|
||
<aside id="fTsxVi">
|
||
<q>Twitter became a space for Jessica to share her love for Allie and her rage at a society that treats high levels of road deaths as part of the normal order of things</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cHuier">
|
||
The day after Allie was killed, the father of one of her schoolmates<strong> </strong>posted a video on <a href="https://twitter.com/lambda_calculus/status/1437913085486960645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1437913085486960645%7Ctwgr%5E923ff15e4be801c312219cdc7fecaf23574472b0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Flocal%2Fallison-hart-bicycle-road-safety%2F2021%2F09%2F18%2F2253d8a4-1820-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html">Twitter</a> of a driver swerving into oncoming traffic so he could bypass the driver in front of him and blow through the intersection without stopping. Jessica also started standing out at the intersection, <a href="https://twitter.com/jlrhart/status/1451668702320078848">capturing drivers</a> rolling through the stop and posting it online.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P60w2E">
|
||
Twitter became a space for Jessica to share her love for Allie, her heartbreak, and her rage at a society that treats high levels of road deaths as part of the normal order of things. There, she found a community of people who validated her sense that something was deeply wrong. She tagged local officials, applauding when they added flexible posts that can help guide and slow traffic, and demanding to know when they would add speed bumps. That November, two months after Allie died, she <a href="https://twitter.com/jlrhart/status/1460266653170769935/photo/1">testified</a> for the first time in front of a city council committee, demanding more speed cameras, safety upgrades, and consequences for drivers who violated traffic laws. In her own way, she became one of the city’s most visible advocates for safe streets: a mother who could speak with force and clarity about the devastation wrought by the crisis.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I154B5">
|
||
“I think maybe it helps people to have a face or a story or a family,” she says of her decision to speak out. “Being only 5, part of it is having anybody remember her —” she pauses to collect herself, “It’s a gift. So it’s hard. But it’s the least hard of all the hard things.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A woman sitting at her kitchen table with the kitchen behind her." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mBv_Lv0JxxuEz9-vcTKHvtwCTwk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210717/Allison10.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Since Allie was killed, Jessica has worked continuously to keep her daughter’s memory alive and to try to enact change to improve traffic safety and enforcement.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="tqwJLF"/>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BLfMAw">
|
||
Allie’s death came amid a major transformation on US roads, spurred by the kinds of vehicles Americans drive. SUVs and trucks are getting bigger, and Americans are buying more of them every year. Between 2000 and 2019, the number of sedans and other small vehicles on the road dropped from over 60 percent to around 40 percent of all vehicles, according to an <a href="https://www.justintyndall.com/uploads/2/8/5/5/28559839/tyndall_pedestrian.pdf">analysis by Justin Tyndall</a>, assistant professor of economics at the University of Hawaii. The number of SUVs increased from 10 percent to more than 30 percent. And the appetite for larger vehicles isn’t slowing down: In October 2021, according to the consumer research firm <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/27/18105479/jd-power-car-commercials">JD Power</a>, trucks and SUVs made up over 80 <a href="https://jalopnik.com/trucks-and-suvs-are-now-over-80-percent-of-new-car-sale-1848427797">percent of all new vehicle</a> sales.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="heZXVY">
|
||
Poorly designed infrastructure is one of the main reasons the United States has a traffic fatality rate that is about 50 percent higher than other comparable nations: <a href="https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis">Wide roads and a lack of designs that force drivers to slow down</a> encourage them to drive recklessly, without providing safe options for pedestrians and cyclists. But vehicle design is also a key component of the pedestrian fatality crisis, and it’s one that researchers have known about for decades.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OeWRgH">
|
||
Sales of SUVs started to pick up in the late ’90s and early 2000s, as Americans started spending money on larger, more spacious vehicles. In 2001, two researchers at Rowan University calculated pedestrian fatality data to determine how much more dangerous large vehicles were than their smaller counterparts. Their <a href="https://www.sbes.vt.edu/gabler/publications/esvped_paper212.pdf">findings</a> were striking: With smaller cars, one out of 20 collisions involving a pedestrian caused the pedestrian’s death; with large SUVs, it was one in seven. With large vans, it was one in four. The authors, Devon Lefler and Hampton Gabler, pointed to multiple factors that explained the heightened risk. Larger vehicles, they wrote, “are heavier, stiffer, and geometrically more blunt than passenger cars.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oIe8l4">
|
||
The heavier vehicles gather more power with speed, increasing the force with which they strike a body. Unlike cars, which tend to be lower to the ground and strike pedestrians in the legs, the heightened front ends of large vehicles mean that they strike pedestrians in the chest and head, putting them at greater risk of fatal injuries. In 2010, a different group of researchers found that pedestrians struck by light trucks (a vehicle classification that includes pickup trucks, some vans, and SUVs) were 50 percent more likely to die than those hit by sedans and other smaller cars. Larger vehicles also have significantly larger blind spots, making it harder to see pedestrians, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suv-blind-zone-deaths-consumer-reports-safety/">especially when they’re children</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k7fHFwBcE8aXYgI1xCw-7t1Zuxc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24248159/copyedited_121.jpg"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="60sCAP">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KOBCIO">
|
||
“We’ve known for decades that larger vehicles are more dangerous in pedestrian crashes,” says Robert Schneider, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor of urban planning who analyzed government crash data. He found that while child fatalities significantly decreased between 1977 and 2016 (likely attributable to the declining share of children who walked to school), fatalities involving large vehicles had increased from 22 percent to 44 percent. “It’s been very unfortunate to not have a more serious regulation on vehicle size and front-end design that could be much safer for pedestrians,” he says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JR1ejE">
|
||
Last year, Tyndall, the professor at the University of Hawaii, analyzed the pedestrian fatality rate across different metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2019. The idea was to look at the growth rate of large vehicles as a share of the vehicle fleet in different cities, and look at the pedestrian fatality rates in those same areas. The cities with a sharp increase of SUVs, he found, saw a significant increase in pedestrian deaths. “DC stood out,” along with other cities in the region, Tyndall says, because there was “a big shift away from cars in Midwest and Northeast cities and toward SUVs and trucks — it explains some of the change in pedestrian death rate in the areas over this 20-year period.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XKQbzn">
|
||
Experts have for years been urging the agency to consider pedestrian safety when rating vehicles. In March 2022, the National Highway Traffic<strong> </strong>Safety Administration proposed changing the safety ratings the government gives to vehicles to consider how they impact people outside of cars in crashes. On the public comment page for the proposed rule change, safety advocates inundated the comments section, encouraging the government to take action.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rSLHui">
|
||
The failure to meaningfully regulate vehicle design runs deep, according to research by John Saylor. In an academic article published in May<strong> </strong>2021, “<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3845735">The Road to Transportation Justice: Reframing Auto Safety in the SUV Age</a>,” Saylor, then a doctoral candidate at Penn Law, reviewed documents from the agency that revealed they had tried to pass safety regulations considering pedestrian safety several times and were hamstrung by federal policymakers who viewed safety regulation primarily through the viewpoint of consumer protection. In other words, the safety regulations were designed with the auto buyer in mind, at the expense of all others. The age of the SUV, he argued, requires us to dramatically reimagine what it means to regulate the safety of vehicles.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZIezYPGn0D7l_UvcKDDXPNLwM-w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24244339/chart1130.jpg"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9MERuP">
|
||
In response to questions about criticism that the agency hasn’t moved fast enough to regulate vehicle size and design, NHTSA’s director of media relations, Lucia Sanchez, told Vox in a statement that “advancing safety for vulnerable road users like pedestrians is a priority for the agency and eliminating these fatalities is critical. The Department believes that no crash is acceptable and is working cross functionally, guided by the <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com_-3Furl-3Dhttps-253A-252F-252Fwww.transportation.gov-252Fsites-252Fdot.gov-252Ffiles-252F2022-2D02-252FUSDOT-2DNational-2DRoadway-2DSafety-2DStrategy.pdf-26data-3D05-257C01-257Crebecca.neal-2540dot.gov-257Cbb437250c2424f77ef3408dad21970db-257Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b-257C0-257C0-257C638053303952753308-257CUnknown-257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0-253D-257C3000-257C-257C-257C-26sdata-3Dw79mWla1TXFEwbVrmHsjoIGsfRGZ-252FJ-252BY31sw8FJKYgs-253D-26reserved-3D0&d=DwMFAg&c=7MSjEE-cVgLCRHxk1P5PWg&r=Qy5ivFP6qzOP444RnRsrbA&m=mrWDAzMRVVGP1tUlN9sZduW-OLbsQQwg2oKeCBSqhDOj3CYfDjxYWUmAWxxXjPym&s=cXeUgJCMsMeIfcos76nCZHSVO_GhQOgn0lPTzY7DBFM&e=">National Roadway Safety Strategy</a>, to reduce crashes and along with them, serious injuries and fatalities.” Sanchez pointed to a new rule to mandate pedestrian automated emergency braking in new vehicles, and recent proposed changes to the government’s five-star safety ratings for cars.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Dmg7I">
|
||
There’s good reason for the government to act now, Tyndall says. If the current sales trends don’t change, larger vehicles will become an ever-increasing share of all vehicles on the road.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4dzTpJ">
|
||
“It’s already sort of baked in that it’s going to get way worse, depending on how long that trend is allowed to continue,” he says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="oFNJKu"/>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5UhDAd">
|
||
Here’s another tribute to Allison Hart: It’s October, and Jessica is standing in front of a maple tree on her block, its leaves turned crimson. Above her, a slice of moon is just visible in a clear blue sky. A few weeks ago, she went door-to-door in her neighborhood with flyers, asking neighbors to join her and Bryan in cleaning up their block and the one adjacent to it, which they’d adopted from the city in Allie’s memory.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rEIIlh">
|
||
It had been a long season — their first summer without Allie. They felt her absence on what should have been her sixth birthday, when they couldn’t think of anything they wanted to do except leave town. They felt it during the summer beach trip with Jessica’s parents in South Carolina, where they imagined Allie swimming in the pool on her own for the first time, and marching up to other little kids and asking them if they wanted to play. “It was so noticeable,” Jessica says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
|
||
<aside id="8tbE4r">
|
||
<q>“How can this whole world be out here and my daughter is gone?”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tFDYh1">
|
||
In September, on the anniversary of Allie’s death, the family rented a cabin in the Shenandoah Valley. The previous summer, they’d driven past the Luray Caverns with Allie and promised her they’d go another time, taking for granted that there would be another time. Jessica thought of how Allie would have loved it, how she would have delighted in explaining the difference between stalactites and stalagmites, how she would have begged for a rock from the gift shop. She remembers looking out over the valley and thinking: “How can this whole world be out here and my daughter is gone?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u2BePy">
|
||
While they were out of town, local news outlets covered the anniversary of Allie’s death, and two neighborhood representatives organized a campaign where local residents filed safety requests to the city with the hashtag #All4Allie.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UDAtej">
|
||
Jessica is navigating what it’s like to be both a grieving mother and the mother of a baby. She and Bryan are determined not to let Allie’s death be shrugged off as another unfortunate but unavoidable tragedy, and are dedicated to honoring their daughter’s memory in any way they can think of. It’s a small thing, this neighborhood beautification effort, but it feels like useful work. “I remember once she told me, ’Mommy, I hate litter!’” Jessica says, stamping her foot and channeling Allie’s frustrated voice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dGxlwJ">
|
||
At first, it’s just Jessica and Bryan out there, using rakes to loosen leaves stuck in the curbs and picking up trash from the sidewalk. Soon, other neighbors come out with their children, picking up rakes and gathering leaves. People wave and say hello, and Jessica feels encouraged. They remembered.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_I18xHtcyn7LOs7P1HjEO6pCwVw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210745/ARD_7009.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Jessica hung a photo collage, filled with moments from Allie’s life, on the corner near where Allie was killed last year.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Imaz0K5zxWG20DREXyZRw5CKm_s=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210592/Allison23.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
A pile of stuffed animals left at Allie’s memorial shows signs of wear. More than a year has passed since the girl’s death.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIe2i6">
|
||
A block away, the monument to Allie has weathered another season. The fur of the stuffed animals is matted and shiny after a summer of rain. A pail that held nubs of colorful chalk is now full of rainwater. But there’s something new there, too: a photo collage of pictures of Allie, covered in plastic, hanging from a utility pole. Jessica put it there.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="veTTlw">
|
||
Part of what’s so frustrating to her is that the <a href="https://smartgrowthamerica.org/how-street-design-shapes-the-epidemic-of-preventable-pedestrian-fatalities/">solutions that could save lives</a> — making streets and vehicles safer, and finding ways to get drivers to slow down — are already known. It’s hard to know what exactly to do when your little girl is killed in a way that so many others are each year, and when everyone continues to move on with their lives as though everything is normal. It will never be normal for Jessica. She isn’t a professional activist. Still, she’s committed to doing whatever she can to make sure Allie isn’t forgotten and that the crisis of road deaths isn’t ignored anymore.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3i6w15">
|
||
Later that day, she’ll post a photo on Twitter of all the leaves and trash collected by her and her neighbors beneath one of the street dedication signs for Allie. In another tweet, she shares the sign, along with a tribute: “Put my girl’s name everywhere. Shout it to the rooftops. Remember her bright, joyful being. Know that she is one of too many. Fight for change.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="A stop sign with a small bike locked to it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cC1nwggfyNjfyrSQoUnceDzL5y0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24210720/Allison22.jpg"/>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>What Congress can do with Trump’s tax returns</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Former President Donald J. Trump gives a speech at the Venetian in Las Vegas." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CGdP8xz46SdSdJP_AP375B6G-ug=/454x0:7739x5464/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71709273/1244912211.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The public isn’t likely to get its hands on the documents any time soon.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RpKi2j">
|
||
After three contentious years, the Congressional Ways and Means Committee can finally get its hands on former President Donald Trump’s tax returns. But whether the Committee will release that information to the public is yet to be seen.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ui4Pqv">
|
||
Trump’s tax returns should have been public information since his nomination in 2016. Now that Congress has access to the documents, the appropriate committees can determine whether he committed any financial indiscretions and whether the IRS dealt with it properly. But it also opens the door for the public and the media to scrutinize those documents, which could tell us the nature of his finances, whether he has exploited tax loopholes or committed financial crimes, and his financial links to powerful people and other governments while he was in office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CRgci">
|
||
Trump has long sought to keep his returns under wraps, but <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/11/22/supreme-court-denies-trump-bid-to-keep-tax-records-from-house/">a Supreme Court decision</a> handed down in November means that the committee can access them, despite his strenuous efforts to keep them private. Some of Trump’s tax documents are already public information, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">via a 2020 New York Times report</a>. That reporting showed his manipulation of the tax system and his financial reporting in order to pay minimal taxes — or in many cases, nothing at all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="odC6m8">
|
||
The documents the committee can now access include six years of the former president’s tax returns, <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/11/22/supreme-court-denies-trump-bid-to-keep-tax-records-from-house/">from both his business and personal filings</a> and covering much of his time in the White House, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/30/politics/house-ways-and-means-committee-now-has-donald-trumps-federal-tax-returns">according to CNN</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XkGuWS">
|
||
Trump fought to keep his returns private since Richard Neal (D-MA), chairman of the committee, requested them in April 2019. The Treasury Department initially denied the request, setting off a years-long court battle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PUoZKe">
|
||
But it’s not necessarily the committee’s goal to air Trump’s finances in broad daylight — they ostensibly want the information to assess the IRS’ presidential audit procedure, something that all presidents and vice presidents undergo yearly while they’re in office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x2eiN9">
|
||
The Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/30/politics/house-ways-and-means-committee-now-has-donald-trumps-federal-tax-returns">told CNN last week</a> that it was complying with the court’s order to hand the documents over to the committee. Though the committee met Thursday to discuss what it would do with the documents, Neal told reporters the same day that he wouldn’t comment on whether he had seen them or what exactly the committee planned to do, <a href="https://rollcall.com/2022/12/01/ways-and-means-chairman-coy-about-path-ahead-for-trump-taxes/">Roll Call reported Thursday</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O4jHDi">
|
||
“It’s very sensitive information,” he said at the time. “We intend to deal with it professionally.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="ReAiwC">
|
||
What is a presidential audit, and why is the Ways and Means Committee looking into it?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7FgwRd">
|
||
It’s unclear exactly why Trump has gone to such lengths to shield his tax records. But even though his recent tax records have been released, they might not satisfy the people asking that question — both because it’s not the one the Ways and Means Committee set out to answer, and because the records might not be made public.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k0m3s6">
|
||
Given how long it took for the committee to access the records, the committee won’t be able to conduct a thorough assessment of the records before Republicans take over leadership of both the House and the committee in January.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Fo63at">
|
||
“The thing that interests me the most about the Ways and Means procurement of the returns is what it will tell about the IRS audit of those returns,” Keith Fogg, an emeritus professor at Harvard Law School, told Vox via email. “Are the audits complete now? How much did he owe if anything? Did he pay it? What special steps did the IRS take to audit the returns of a candidate/President?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oo8AlJ">
|
||
Trump refused to release his tax returns during the 2016 campaign, saying he was “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/30/trump-audit-tax-returns-plane-chris-christie-maggie-haberman-book">under audit</a>” and would make them public when that process was complete. A 2020 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html">New York Times investigation</a> showed that he had been in a decade-long battle over a $72.9 million refund he received on his 2010 tax return.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2aQCBr">
|
||
“I suspect that the NY Times gave us most of the information about his returns and the new data will just confirm what was already made public,” Fogg said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w89kx9">
|
||
The committee’s request has to do with the process of examining Trump’s tax records while he was president, rather than the information they contain.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y1hGC4">
|
||
“The president’s and vice president’s returns are audited every year regardless of whether they raise red flags that might cause another taxpayer to be audited,” Daniel Hemel, a professor at New York University School of Law, told Vox via email. The procedure for auditing those returns is unique to those records, as laid out in the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/irm/part4/irm_04-002-001#idm140457028493376">Internal Revenue Manual</a>. They’re supposed to receive a prompt and thorough examination under careful security measures. “One reason for the House Ways & Means Committee inquiry is to learn how — in practice — those audits differ from audits of other returns,” Hemel said.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LiksKF">
|
||
The other question the documents could answer is, as Hemel told Vox, whether the IRS dealt with any red flags appropriately.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I9N43R">
|
||
“By reviewing the returns itself, a congressional committee could learn whether there are any suspicious items that, in a normal audit, would warrant follow-up,” he said. “And then the committee could investigate whether the IRS actually did follow up on those items and to what effect.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K2aW1T">
|
||
Depending on the results of the review, Congress could change the process via legislation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="7jb1Ht">
|
||
How might the documents become public?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OugPcw">
|
||
Despite the public’s legitimate interest in Trump’s tax returns, there’s still a shroud of secrecy around them. They’re sensitive private documents, even if they belong to a public figure and former politician, and they must be treated that way, as the Internal Revenue Manual dictates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FlOr1a">
|
||
Legally, the IRS has to furnish returns to the Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, or the Joint Committee on Taxation upon written request from the committee chair, but that doesn’t give those bodies carte blanche to make them public.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6FFYOR">
|
||
But what those three committees can do, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/house-democrats-can-release-trumps-tax-returns-should-they">Hemel pointed out in a piece for Lawfare</a>, is <a href="https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=674066092020081071123011006095022101038046007020059034127066088110126100099074026028056033058006042055014025026109112115092109053082054001060113117070013111127010076043097021087030064090072022124014064020075004122080029025089127077068021097101072&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE">submit the documents</a> in legislation or a report to the full House or Senate, or both, at any time, putting that information into the public record.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31vlYk">
|
||
There are political reasons for the House committee to keep the documents private for now. First of all, it would be a bait-and-switch to make them public; Neal stated multiple times since he requested the information in 2019 that the committee’s sole intent was to examine the presidential audit procedure — not to release it for political purposes or to embarrass Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FfxkpB">
|
||
Given that the committee probably won’t (or, at least, probably shouldn’t, as Hemel argues) release the documents to Congress, and won’t finish a thorough examination of the presidential audit process before January 3 when Republicans gain leadership of the committee, there are still ways Congress could carry out the review of the audit procedures — and also<strong> </strong>eventually release Trump’s tax documents.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fK2KvG">
|
||
Now that the highest court has decided Trump cannot block congressional committees from obtaining his returns and requested materials, the Senate Finance Committee, which will remain in Democratic control, could step in and request the documents, carrying out its own assessment of the presidential audit process. That, Hemel said, could motivate Congress to make legislative changes to the process if necessary — or “<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-113hrpt414/html/CRPT-113hrpt414.htm">make a referral to the Justice Department</a> for prosecution if the facts warranted.” From there, the committee <a href="https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=238095091112123121069104069085114098030039095010089032081004090111029070125074027004017022101106058025050112019074068087123088118072059069019108082081000029079001017028106090123118093120097090103077097095123029007067003107072112095007103006097115&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE">could release the documents to the full Senate</a>, by making such a referral or designating another legitimate reason to do so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yzqc86">
|
||
Given the scope of the Ways and Means Committee’s reasoning for requesting Trump’s tax returns, the public likely won’t see those documents any time soon. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t — or that we never will.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eXcYpb">
|
||
</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>Teams focused on World Cup, not politics, had easier passage to last 16: Wenger</strong> - With the Qatar World Cup seeing an unusual amount of political discussion from teams, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that team</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>FIFA World Cup 2022, Brazil vs. South Korea | Neymar boost in an injury-plagued last 16 match</strong> - Both Brazil, South Korea have been plagued by injuries but Neymar is expected to start at Qatar’s Stadium 974</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>AIFF withdraws bid to host 2027 AFC Asian Cup, Saudi Arabia left as lone bidder</strong> - India's bid was launched amid much fanfare in 2020 when Praful Patel was the AIFF president but the current dispensation under Kalyan Chaubey feels “building the foundations of football structure” through grassroots and youth development was more important than hosting big events.</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>Pelé’s family: ‘COVID caused infection, death not imminent’</strong> - Brazilian football legend Pelé, who is also undergoing chemotherapy, is expected to leave the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo once he fully recovers from the respiratory infection</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Morning Digest | 93 constituencies go to the polls in Phase 2 of Gujarat election today; Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Rajasthan to grand welcome, and more</strong> - Here’s a select list of stories to read before you start your day</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>Discriminatory clause in Khadi Board Act to be amended</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>Edavaka grama panchayat to launch constitutional literacy campaign</strong> - ‘The Citizen’ would be the first comprehensive campaign in Wayanad to educate residents on the country’s Constitution</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>PM Modi to chair ‘second national conference of chief secretaries’ next month</strong> - In June this year, Mr. Modi chaired the first three-day national conference of chief secretaries at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh</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>Kerala High Court extends order against arrest of four Keralites in Telangana MLA poaching case</strong> - Anticipatory bail petitions posted on December 9 for hearing on the question of their maintainability</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>Bengaluru doctor files complaint against colleague for blackmailing her with private photos</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>Ukraine war: Oil prices rise as cap on Russian crude kicks in</strong> - The G7 nations and its allies have agreed to limit the price of Russian oil to $60 a barrel.</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: Fighting set to slow for winter months, says US intelligence</strong> - US intelligence says fighting has slowed down and this will continue throughout the winter.</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: Two generations share bed after Russian strikes</strong> - Sofia lives in cramped conditions with her boyfriend and his mother after strikes destroyed their home.</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 must act over distortions from US climate plan - von der Leyen</strong> - Ursula von der Leyen says the EU must act amid concerns within the bloc over US climate legislation.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia: Bodies of 2,500 seals found along Caspian Sea coast</strong> - The seals were found on the Caspian Sea coast, but officials do not believe they died violently.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>After the Artemis I mission’s brilliant success, why is an encore 2 years away?</strong> - “I would say that we’re going to try our best to get there.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1900812">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>DHL is buying 2,000 electric Ford E-Transits as delivery vans</strong> - The electrified version of Ford’s best-selling van is finding new friends. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901873">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>As the Arctic warms, beavers are moving in</strong> - Scientists are just beginning to study the impacts of beaver dams on the tundra. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901741">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Chinese netizens swamped China’s Internet controls</strong> - Citizens protesting zero-COVID policies proved smartphones can help fuel mass action. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901755">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data</strong> - A handful of markets were responsible for trafficking most of the data. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1901711">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A farmer buys a young cock</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A farmer buys a young cock. As soon as he gets it home it fucks the farmer’s all 150 hens. The farmer is impressed. At lunch, the cock again screws all 150 hens.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Next day, it’s fucking the ducks and the geese too. It screws all 150 hens to finish the day.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The day after, the farmer sadly finds the cock lying on the ground half-dead and vultures circling overhead.
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Farmer says, “you deserved it, you horny bastard!”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The cock opens one eye, points up and says, “Shhhhhh. They’re about to land!!”
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||
</p>
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||
</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/shamansufi"> /u/shamansufi </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zctxop/a_farmer_buys_a_young_cock/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zctxop/a_farmer_buys_a_young_cock/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A lost dog wanders through the jungle. In the distance a lion sees him and whispers: “I’m going to eat him, I have never seen anything like that before.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The lion then began to approach the dog in a threatening manner. When the dog realized this, he panicked, but as he tried to run away, he saw a bone nearby, and he got the idea to speak out loud. “Lion meat is delicious!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The lion suddenly stopped and said: “Wow, this guy is stronger than he looks, I better go while I can.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
A monkey was watching this from the tree. Apparently, the monkey thought that if he told the lion, he would get something in return. Then the monkey told the lion the truth, and the lion got angry and said: “Go on my back, and I’ll take you with me.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
And he began to run after the dog. When the dog saw this, he realized what had happened and began to panic even more. Then he had another idea, and he yelled: “Where the hell is that monkey! I told him to bring another lion an hour ago!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
(Translated from Russian)
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||
</p>
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||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/regwregarvfse"> /u/regwregarvfse </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zcpj1l/a_lost_dog_wanders_through_the_jungle_in_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zcpj1l/a_lost_dog_wanders_through_the_jungle_in_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A family walks into a hotel and the father goes to the front deck and says</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“I hope the porn is disabled.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The guy at the deck replies. “It’s just regular porn you sick fuck.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ArabZombie"> /u/ArabZombie </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zcf4dp/a_family_walks_into_a_hotel_and_the_father_goes/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zcf4dp/a_family_walks_into_a_hotel_and_the_father_goes/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The US got knocked out in the World Cup on day 13!!!</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Its their fastest exit from the middle east!!!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/IrrationalID_12"> /u/IrrationalID_12 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc5qv1/the_us_got_knocked_out_in_the_world_cup_on_day_13/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc5qv1/the_us_got_knocked_out_in_the_world_cup_on_day_13/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why do french tanks have rearway mirrors?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
So the drivers could see the battlefield.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheJacksquatch1992"> /u/TheJacksquatch1992 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc7p86/why_do_french_tanks_have_rearway_mirrors/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/zc7p86/why_do_french_tanks_have_rearway_mirrors/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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