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<title>07 February, 2021</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>Examining the Case Against the Filibuster</strong> - In a new book, Adam Jentleson blames government failures on more than a century of Southern obstruction in the Senate. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/examining-the-case-against-the-filibuster">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Joe Biden Is Playing It Cool with Benjamin Netanyahu</strong> - The Biden Administration’s support for the Abraham Accords is having unintended consequences for Israel’s Prime Minister. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/joe-biden-is-playing-it-cool-with-benjamin-netanyahu">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On Climate, Biden’s Administration Needs to Combat Zombie Trumpism Quickly</strong> - And Montana’s Yaak Valley is a good place to start. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/on-climate-bidens-administration-needs-to-combat-zombie-trumpism-quickly">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How San Francisco Renamed Its Schools</strong> - The president of the San Francisco Board of Education discusses the controversies around reopening and renaming her district’s schools, including questions about how to view the legacies of complex historical figures. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-san-francisco-renamed-its-schools">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Indoor-Dining Debate Isn’t a Debate at All</strong> - On Valentine’s Day, New Yorkers will be allowed to eat inside restaurants again. We shouldn’t. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-indoor-dining-debate-isnt-a-debate-at-all">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>Tens of thousands of farmers protest agriculture laws with blockades across India</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A group of four young men stand atop a blue tractor, with the Indian flag flying from its front bumper. Another young man, in a blue turban, reclines across the hood, giving the camera a serious look. And a final young man, in a red turban, stands in front of the machine, his right arm raised, his hand seeming to form a sign." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/G4wcuiz0wDeslwBwosEcIXT0ctY=/318x0:4926x3456/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68781147/GettyImages_1231003659.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Farmers stand on a tractor parked on a road leading to Delhi on February 6, 2020. | Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The farmers argue the new laws will aid big business, and take away their livelihoods.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fxQL4H">
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Tens of thousands of farmers <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/6/indian-farmers-plan-nationwide-3-hour-blockade-of-highways">blockaded main roads</a> across India on Saturday in a continuation of a months-long protest movement against new agricultural policies they say will empower corporations and devastate them financially.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j2uTyw">
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The continued demonstrations indicate that protest energy remains strong, as the government and farmers remain locked in a stalemate after several rounds of talks between them failed to produce any major breakthroughs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gdJozy">
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Protestors used tractors, trucks, tents, and boulders to block roads during a three-hour “chakka jam,” or road blockade, across the country, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-farms-protests/tractors-trucks-block-indias-roads-as-farm-protests-widen-idUSKBN2A605V">according to Reuters</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v6usqK">
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Blockades were set up at over 10,000 sites across India on Saturday, according to Avik Saha, a secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, a federation of farmer groups.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RsywKv">
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“We will keep fighting till our last breath,” Jhajjan Singh, an 80-year-old farmer at a protest site in Ghazipur, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/06/farmers-block-roads-across-india-in-protest-over-agriculture-law">told the Guardian</a>. He said that India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, “should know that either he will remain or we will.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ig9Lce">
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Tens of thousands of police were deployed across the country to deal with the protests. While the farmer demonstrations have been largely peaceful, on January 26, a group of protesters peeled off from a demonstration route and fought with police officers in Delhi, an incident which resulted in hundreds of injuries and the death of a protester.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z8aIfD">
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Farmer leaders <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/06/farmers-block-roads-across-india-in-protest-over-agriculture-law">condemned</a> the violence, but security has ramped up since then. According to the Guardian, police have added iron spikes and steel barricades around protest sites to prevent farmers from entering the capital.
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</p>
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<h3 id="rjnd8f">
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Why the protesters are mobilizing
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5rtRQF">
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Protesters have been mobilizing against three agriculture reform laws passed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in September; together, the laws aim to deregulate India’s agricultural industry.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CQ1Izp">
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As Vox’s Jariel Arvin <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/2/21726648/india-farmer-protests-strike-action-new-delhi">explained</a> in December, while the government says this is necessary to modernize the economy, protesters argue that it will only intensify their economic precarity:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gS2oYo">
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Under the new policies, farmers will now <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/12/1/why-are-thousands-of-indian-farmers-protesting">sell goods and make contracts with independent buyers</a> outside of government-sanctioned marketplaces, which have long served as the primary locations for farmers to do business. Modi and members of his party believe these reforms will help India <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-farm-bills-passed-in-parliament-will-not-only-bring-radical-changes-in-agriculture-sector-but-will-also-empower-farmers-tweets-pm-modi/story-Wsi1df81nxjXQFeAHXPVtI.html">modernize and improve its farming industry</a>, which will mean greater freedom and prosperity for farmers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ueXIxP">
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But the protesting farmers aren’t convinced. Although the government has said it will not drop <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/minimum-support-price-msp-farmers-explained-6706253/">minimum support prices</a> for essential crops like grain, which the Indian government has set and guaranteed for decades, the farmers are concerned they will disappear. Without them, the farmers believe they will be at the mercy of large corporations that will pay extremely low prices for essential crops, plunging them into debt and financial ruin.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W1S34X">
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“Farmers have so much passion because they know that these three laws are like death warrants for them,” Abhimanyu Kohar, coordinator of the National Farmer’s Alliance, a federation of more than 180 nonpolitical farm organizations across India, told me in an interview. “Our farmers are doing this movement for our future, for our very survival.”
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="erliU5">
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The protests have garnered sustained international attention, in part because of their sheer size. As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-farms-protests/tractors-trucks-block-indias-roads-as-farm-protests-widen-idUSKBN2A605V">Reuters</a> notes, although farming accounts for only about 15 parent of India’s GDP, about 50 percent of the country’s workers are farmers — and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/10/india-witnessing-biggest-protests-history-modi-farm-reform/">hundreds of millions of farmers</a> have taken part in street demonstrations and strikes since last fall.
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</p>
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<h3 id="kE50el">
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Farmers have had a powerful voice in Indian politics — and don’t want to lose it
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zl2OBO">
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Experts say that the government’s attempt to change farming policy has touched a third rail in Indian politics, revealing tensions created by modernization while threatening to unravel market norms for farmers that have been in place for decades.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AR1Iib">
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Since the 1970s, an elaborate system of agricultural subsidies and price guarantees, organized through a system of marketplaces known as mandis, has been a central feature of agricultural policy in India, and, as Arvin noted, have essentially helped provide farmers with a kind of safety net.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oHStUW">
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Aditya Dasgupta, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced specializing in the politics of India, says those policies are the product of large-scale mobilization by farmers, agrarian unions, movements, and parties which became politically powerful during the Green Revolution, the country’s enormous leap in agricultural productivity, which took place in the 1970s and ’80s.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7T8dth">
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“The farmers’ protests today hark back to that tradition of protest and display of agrarian power, but the context is very different,” Dasgupta told me. “India is urbanizing, agriculture accounts for a shrinking share of GDP, and the main source of political-economic support for the ruling BJP party comes from urban big business.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="56JUf5">
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“So, in a sense, this is not just a conflict about specific policies, but also a larger flashpoint about the sectoral basis of political power, and whether or not farmers remain a politically powerful interest group as India urbanizes,” he said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZZU40Z">
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While it’s unclear what kind of compromise or concession might dial down tensions regarding the current reforms, experts like Dasgupta point out that the underlying dynamics that gave rise to them — questions over who should hold power in India’s evolving economy — are likely to remain in the long term.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Biden’s hesitancy about Trump receiving intelligence briefings, briefly explained</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Trump, in a dark suit and red tie, raises his hand and speaks behind a blue and black podium as Biden, in a dark suit and blue tie, listens. " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3f51tXY9mBJDFM2bkeL-1L54gSQ=/0x0:4041x3031/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68780854/GettyImages_1229228519.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump at the October 2020 presidential debate. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Former presidents are usually allowed access to sensitive intelligence, but Trump might not be.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FDG1pT">
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President Joe Biden said in a CBS interview released Friday that he believes former President Donald Trump cannot be trusted with the classified intelligence briefings that are traditionally offered to former presidents, and suggested that he might bar Trump from receiving a briefing if he requested one, due to the former president’s “erratic behavior.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wVBPGw">
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If Biden were to deny Trump access to a requested intelligence briefing — which Biden has unilateral authority to do — it would be a stark break from the convention of allowing former presidents to request and receive the briefings. They’re a perk of the post-presidency that allows former presidents to advise sitting presidents on pressing national security matters and, when needed, engage in unofficial diplomacy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X6zBN7">
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When <em>CBS Evening News</em> anchor Norah O’Donnell <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-trump-intelligence-briefings/">asked</a> Biden if he believed Trump should still receive intelligence briefings, Biden responded, “I think not.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4vmc5U">
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Asked to explain his position, Biden said, “Because of his erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wfXHi1">
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And when asked what he feared could happen if Trump did receive briefings, Biden said, “I’d rather not speculate out loud.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6B6PYz">
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“I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings. What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” Biden said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7QL6zG">
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Biden’s language suggested an inclination to block any requests from Trump, but his comments were not definitive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hNvHFE">
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On Saturday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki released a statement clarifying Biden’s remarks, suggesting that the administration will not necessarily completely bar Trump from intelligence, and that any request from the former president for a briefing would be subject to assessment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5fuQlq">
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“The president was expressing his concern about former President Trump receiving access to sensitive intelligence, but he also has deep trust in his own intelligence team to make a determination about how to provide intelligence information if at any point the former President Trump requests a briefing,” the statement said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5DRjXZ">
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So far, Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/05/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefing/index.html">has reportedly not</a> submitted any intelligence briefing requests. But that he could be prevented from receiving one is remarkable. And should Biden face a request and deny it, he’d have the support of some top House Democrats and national security experts like Trump’s principal deputy director of national intelligence Susan Gordon, who have stated that they believe Trump’s access to such information poses a threat to national security.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CYSX44">
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Overall, much like his upcoming Senate impeachment trial and his removal from social media platforms, Trump’s national security role post-presidency is shaping up to be as norm-shattering as his presidency.
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</p>
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<h3 id="HNJGgl">
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Former presidents are allowed access to intelligence briefings to advance national interests. Critics say Trump will do the opposite.
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LZDSvI">
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As the New York Times’s David Sanger <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefings.html">notes</a>, access to classified intelligence briefings — which contain the country’s most sensitive intelligence reporting and analysis on national security issues — is partially about extending a courtesy to former presidents and partially about equipping them to assist a sitting president, should he or she need their counsel on a complicated policy decision.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0k8Hve">
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“Traditionally, these briefings have kept former presidents informed enough to serve as confidential advisers to the current president if needed, to offer perspective during an international crisis or before high-level negotiations with a foreign leader, for example,” David Priess, a CIA officer who briefed George H.W. Bush for years after he left the White House, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-trump-security-briefings/2021/02/05/a873a876-680b-11eb-8c64-9595888caa15_story.html">told the Washington Post</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CPxGLC">
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Currently these briefings are given on a regular basis to Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, Sanger reports.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zsobj7">
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Biden’s language suggests that Trump might become an exception to the long-standing tradition. And that’s because many Democrats and national security experts lack trust in his judgment and believe he could use the information inappropriately.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BlRjkc">
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Trump demonstrated a disinterest in intelligence briefings while he was still in office. He reportedly did not read the presidential daily briefing, and instead <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/05/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefing/index.html">preferred to be briefed orally two to three times a week</a>, a style of presentation that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefings.html">decreased the nuance of the information</a>. He <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/politics/trump-intel-briefings-russia/index.html">resisted being briefed on negative information about Russia</a>. And more broadly speaking, he spent much of his presidency <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/66035/the-pattern-and-practice-of-trumps-assaults-on-the-intelligence-community/">railing against the the intelligence community</a>, often describing them as part of a conspiracy against his presidency. In other words, there are questions about how Trump would handle information from institutions that he not only doesn’t respect, but considers political adversaries.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="czJ9AP">
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There are also questions of competence. As Sanger <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/us/politics/biden-trump-intelligence-briefings.html">explains</a>, Trump played fast and loose with critical pieces of confidential information:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oqwBCF">
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Shortly after he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/james-comey-fired-fbi.html">fired the F.B.I. director</a> James B. Comey in 2017, Mr. Trump told the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador about a highly classified piece of intelligence about the Islamic State that came from Israel. The Israelis were outraged.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y548av">
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Later in his presidency, Mr. Trump took a photograph with his phone of a classified satellite image showing an explosion at a missile launchpad in Iran. Some of the markings were blacked out first, but the revelation gave adversaries information — which they may have had, anyway — about the abilities of American surveillance satellites.
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="14unDf">
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A number of national security experts have expressed concerns about the danger Trump could pose to the US’s most prized national security secrets.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AvBFzz">
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For example, Gordon — who <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/sue-gordon-has-resigned-deputy-director-national-intelligence-n1040616">resigned</a> as<strong> </strong>Trump’s principal deputy director of national intelligence in 2019 — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sue-gordon-trump-intelligence-briefings-former-president/2021/01/15/94b15c72-5747-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html">wrote in a January op-ed</a> in the Washington Post that Trump should not receive any briefings as a private citizen because of his interest in remaining active in politics, his vulnerability to international surveillance, pressure due to his international business holdings, and questions about his general judgment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MKE5dq">
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“It is not clear that he understands the tradecraft to which he has been exposed, the reasons the knowledge he has acquired must be protected from disclosure, or the intentions and capabilities of adversaries and competitors who will use any means to advance their interests at the expense of ours,” she wrote.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n2scdx">
|
||
Before Biden was inaugurated, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, also recommended cutting off Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VlO56g">
|
||
“There were, I think, any number of intelligence partners around the world who probably started withholding information from us because they didn’t trust the president would safeguard that information, and protect their sources and methods,” <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/adam-schiff-trump-intelligence-briefings-face-the-nation/">Schiff said</a>. “And that makes us less safe. We’ve seen this president politicize intelligence, and that’s another risk to the country.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P4HCUg">
|
||
Douglas Wise, a former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has pointed to Trump’s debt as a unique point of vulnerability. Much of the former’s president’s debt is held by financial institutions, but as <a href="https://www.vox.com/21472063/trump-tax-returns-debts-owes-money">Vox’s Andrew Prokop</a> has explained, Trump also made hundreds of millions of dollars in purchases using money from unknown sources.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OsrfqC">
|
||
“A frightening scenario is where the owners of Trump’s debt or actors like Putin who have the massive capacity to make him debt free pressure Trump into making decisions that are beneficial to Russia in the final days of his administration, serving as a conduit of Russian disinformation once out of office, or sharing intelligence information after he leaves,” Wise <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/73332/why-trump-should-not-have-access-to-u-s-intelligence-after-january-20/">wrote at Just Security in November</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="np1DZB">
|
||
Deciding to block Trump’s access to top intelligence — assuming Trump ever requests it — is the prerogative of the Biden administration. It’s not necessary for any former president to access it, and given that Biden is unlikely to turn to Trump for counsel on many national security and foreign policy questions, it would not be a big loss for him to not have Trump among his advisers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1Fq1Xa">
|
||
But in addition to weighing national security concerns, Biden must also weigh the pros and cons of the potential political blowback of choosing to break this norm. In the wake of the Trump presidency, however, it seems unlikely such a decision will cause the shock it might have in another era.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sotnmb">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>The Supreme Court’s new, deeply fractured decision on churches and the pandemic, explained</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Justices Barrett, left, and Kavanaugh, in black judicial robes and face masks, stand outdoors." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/asnAD8r5rbsdbBbRp-79-XEFSQE=/0x0:2199x1649/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68780290/1297441126.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett arrive at the inauguration of President Joe Biden at the US Capitol on January 20, 2021. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Amy Coney Barrett just handed down her first Supreme Court opinion, and it’s surprisingly revealing
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LOJ9R1">
|
||
The Supreme Court handed down an unusually messy order Friday night, in a case brought by a church claiming that it should be exempted from several rules California put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The justices split four ways in the case, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a136_bq7c.pdf"><em>South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom</em></a><em>, </em>with members of the Court’s Republican majority divided into three different camps.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xy4Mwi">
|
||
Interestingly, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote her first signed opinion since joining the Supreme Court, and her opinion takes a position that is slightly to the left of her most conservative colleagues. Though Barrett’s opinion is still quite conservative, it suggests that there may be some daylight between her views and those of her most reactionary colleagues.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="80OWby">
|
||
<em>South Bay</em> involves a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/29/22254655/supreme-court-singing-religious-liberty-south-bay-newsom-pandemic-covid-amy-coney-barrett">bevy of limits</a> that California imposes on houses of worship, and on other places where people ordinarily congregate in large groups for extended periods of time. In the parts of the state with the most severe <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19">Covid-19</a> outbreaks, California mandated worship services be conducted outside to minimize the risk of infection. In areas where Covid-19 is less prevalent, the state has said services may be conducted indoors, but only at limited capacity — with stricter capacity limits in areas where the disease is more common.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LUbleN">
|
||
Additionally, the state bans indoor singing and chanting because, in the words of one of the state’s expert witnesses, “most scientists believe that group singing, particularly when engaged in while in close proximity to others in an enclosed space, carries a high risk of <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20A136/167122/20210125123302696_Appendix%20iso%20Emergency%20Appl._January%202021.pdf">spreading the COVID-19 virus through the emission of infected droplets</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J7dXyJ">
|
||
Significantly, these restrictions apply equally to houses of worship and to similar secular activities. Theaters, lecture halls, and other places where people gather in auditorium-like settings are subject to the same restrictions that apply to places of worship in their area. The ban on indoor singing applies to political rallies, school music recitals, and other secular activities, just as it applies to religious services. (Although there is one possible exception to the singing ban, which will be explained below.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uP8jxr">
|
||
Because the justices split four different ways in <em>South Bay</em>, it’s not at all clear what legal rule judges should apply in future, similar cases. But the Court’s order blocks the ban on indoor worship. It leaves the capacity limits and the indoor singing ban in place, for now, but the Court’s order also permits the plaintiffs to gather additional evidence and try to convince a lower court to strike down those limits as well.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="nBXPIw">
|
||
The Court’s four different opinions in <em>South Bay</em>, briefly explained
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wCmOew">
|
||
Until last November, the Court’s religion cases drew a line between religious discrimination cases, where religious institutions were treated worse than comparable secular institutions, and cases involving a “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/494/872#writing-USSC_CR_0494_0872_ZO">neutral law of general applicability</a>,” meaning that the law applies with equal force against religious and secular institutions.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NYFOkY">
|
||
Religious liberty plaintiffs who could prove discrimination typically prevailed, while plaintiffs who challenged a state law that applies equally to religious and secular behavior typically lost their case. (A federal statute applies a <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/2/21726876/supreme-court-religious-liberty-revolutionary-roman-catholic-diocese-cuomo-amy-coney-barrett">stricter rule to federal laws</a> that burden religious exercise, so religious liberty plaintiffs are much more likely to prevail in suits against the federal government than they are in suits against a state.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jwQ3Ut">
|
||
The night before last Thanksgiving, however, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf"><em>Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo</em></a>, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/12/2/21726876/supreme-court-religious-liberty-revolutionary-roman-catholic-diocese-cuomo-amy-coney-barrett">vastly expanded</a> the Court’s definition of what constitutes “discrimination” against religion. Prior to <em>Roman Catholic Diocese</em>, the Court’s decisions indicated that states were only required to treat religious activity the same as they do “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/508/520">analogous non-religious conduct</a>.” So a state could impose restrictions on a church so long as the same restrictions applied to secular institutions that are similar in character to that church, such as lecture halls, movie theaters, and other places where people sit together for extended periods of time.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ToE6ni">
|
||
<em>Roman Catholic Diocese</em>, however, blocked New York’s strict occupancy limits on places of worship because the same restrictions didn’t apply to secular businesses that are quite unlike houses of worship, such as “acupuncture facilities, camp grounds, [and] garages.” The Court’s decision in <em>Roman Catholic Diocese</em> suggested, in other words, that religious discrimination exists if a state treats <em>any</em> secular institution differently than a religious institution, no matter how dissimilar those two institutions might be.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WHYif3">
|
||
With this background in mind, let’s take a quick look at each of the four opinions in the <em>South Bay</em> case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="36QhS2">
|
||
Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, took the most expansive view of what constitutes religious discrimination. They would have blocked California’s public health limits on worship services in their entirety — although Alito would have stayed that decision for 30 days to give the state an opportunity to show that it absolutely must leave some restrictions in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NMnz56">
|
||
Notably, these three justices were the only three who would have ended California’s ban on indoor singing, which they claim is discriminatory even though it applies equally to non-religious gatherings such as political rallies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zIk61W">
|
||
California, Gorsuch notes, might permit indoor singing to occur on Hollywood film sets (although he admits that there is “some confusion over what rules actually apply to Hollywood”). Thus, by allegedly treating worship services differently than Hollywood film sets, Gorsuch claims that California discriminates against religion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="An2WED">
|
||
It’s worth noting that there is a significant distinction between religious services and the film industry. As Justice Elena Kagan writes in her dissenting opinion, “film production studios in California … must test their employees as many as three times a week,” and it would be extraordinarily difficult to apply a similar testing regime to houses of worship. But, under Gorsuch’s approach, this important distinction between film studios and places of worship is largely irrelevant.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hpM2SR">
|
||
Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion, which was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is slightly to the left of Gorsuch’s view. Though Barrett agrees with Gorsuch that “if a chorister can sing in a Hollywood studio but not in her church, California’s regulations cannot be viewed as neutral,” she concedes that the “record is uncertain” regarding what rules apply to film studios. Accordingly, her opinion allows the indoor singing ban to remain in effect, for now, while additional litigation takes place to figure out how the state treats Hollywood.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JdzQT4">
|
||
Significantly, Barrett’s opinion also suggests that she does not want to tear down completely the distinction between cases involving religious discrimination and cases involving universally applicable laws. “It remains unclear whether the singing ban applies across the board (and thus constitutes a neutral and generally applicable law) or else favors certain sectors (and thus triggers more searching review),” Barrett writes.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TE4le7">
|
||
The Supreme Court’s 1990 decision in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/494/872#writing-USSC_CR_0494_0872_ZO"><em>Employment Division v. Smith</em></a><em> </em>established the rule that neutral state laws of general applicability may be applied to religious institutions, but this decision has been under fire almost since the day it was decided. It is particularly loathed by religious conservatives, and there is a case <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/2/25/21150692/supreme-court-religion-discrimination-lgbtq-foster-fulton-philadelphia-first-amendment">pending before the Supreme Court right now which seeks to overrule <em>Smith</em></a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pbDP7v">
|
||
Barrett’s opinion in <em>South Bay</em>, however, suggests that she may not be willing to go quite that far. And her decision to break with Gorsuch may be an early sign that she is a somewhat more moderate justice than the Court’s most conservative members.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0SaEsb">
|
||
The four remaining justices all called for the Court to be more deferential to public health officials who are struggling to contain a pandemic. Writing only for himself, Chief Justice John Roberts emphasizes his view that “the ‘Constitution principally entrusts the safety and the health of the people to the politically accountable officials of the States.’” That said, Roberts also concludes that an outright ban on indoor services, even in areas with severe Covid-19 outbreaks, goes too far.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0bKf8B">
|
||
Finally, Justice Kagan, in an opinion joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, scolds her colleagues for displacing “the judgments of experts about how to respond to a raging pandemic.” She concludes her opinion with a rhetorical flourish:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PuMefY">
|
||
[I]f this decision causes suffering, we will not pay. Our marble halls are now closed to the public, and our life tenure forever insulates us from responsibility for our errors. That would seem good reason to avoid disrupting a State’s pandemic response. But the Court forges ahead regardless, insisting that science-based policy yield to judicial edict.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bewlmf">
|
||
Kagan has historically avoided using harsh language, and she’s been quite open about her desire to <a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/justice-kagan-warns-that-the-supreme-courts-legitimacy-is-in-danger-2de1192d5636/">broker compromises with her conservative colleagues</a> that prevent radical changes to the law. That Kagan is now using such bleak terms to criticize her colleagues suggests that she may no longer believe such compromises are possible, now that the Court has a 6-3 Republican majority.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="GbsINB">
|
||
What Barrett’s opinion could say about the future
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QCQrOa">
|
||
Amy Coney Barrett is only 49 years old, which means that she could serve on the Supreme Court for three decades or more. And, while she is known to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/21446700/amy-coney-barrett-trump-supreme-court">quite conservative</a>, it’s not yet clear whether she shares some of the most extreme views held by her more conservative colleagues. Her opinion in <em>South Bay</em> is the first sign since she joined the Court that she may be more moderate than, say, Justice Thomas.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zJeHKP">
|
||
Like Thomas and Gorsuch, Barrett <a href="https://www.vox.com/21497317/originalism-amy-coney-barrett-constitution-supreme-court">identifies as an originalist</a>, meaning she believes that the Constitution’s words must be read as they were understood when they were ratified. Some originalists, such as Thomas, argue that courts must follow what they believe to be the original meaning of the Constitution even when such a decision would do considerable violence to the law. Thomas, for example, has <a href="https://archive.thinkprogress.org/clarence-thomas-most-important-legal-thinker-in-america-c12af3d08c98/">suggested that federal child labor laws are unconstitutional</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4LSrF3">
|
||
As a law professor, Barrett seemed to reject this extreme position, writing that there are some past decisions that “<a href="https://www.vox.com/21497317/originalism-amy-coney-barrett-constitution-supreme-court">no serious person would propose to undo even if they are wrong</a>.” In a 2016 article Barrett co-authored, she acknowledged that “adherence to originalism arguably requires, for example, the <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1619&context=jcl">dismantling of the administrative state, the invalidation of paper money, and the reversal of <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em></a>,” but Barrett appears to recognize that it would be irresponsible for her to declare the dollar itself unconstitutional.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xL1Sy0">
|
||
It’s important not to overread these nods toward moderation in Barrett’s record. She is a very conservative judge. And it’s hardly an act of heroic restraint to declare that public school segregation should remain illegal, or that federal child labor laws should continue to exist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8xGEWV">
|
||
But if Barrett does tend to vote more like Kavanaugh — and less like Thomas, Alito, or Gorsuch — that could matter a great deal in future cases.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6bGXrA">
|
||
In the lead-up to the 2020 election, for example, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh all called for <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/26/21535503/supreme-court-wisconsin-democratic-national-committee-neil-gorsuch-brett-kavanaugh-bush-v-gore">fairly radical changes to American election law</a> — changes that are likely to disenfranchise countless voters if a fifth justice signs onto them. But Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch all signaled that they would apply such changes retroactively, meaning that voters who complied with the rules in place when they cast their ballots would be disenfranchised, if those voters <a href="https://www.vox.com/21504075/supreme-court-election-brett-kavanaugh-andino-middleton-south-carolina">failed to comply with new rules that were invented <em>after they had already voted</em></a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0f3k6P">
|
||
Kavanaugh, at the least, was unwilling to go that far in a South Carolina case — a case that would have <a href="https://www.vox.com/21504075/supreme-court-election-brett-kavanaugh-andino-middleton-south-carolina">disenfranchised as many as 20,000 voters</a> if Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch had gotten their way. Under Kavanaugh’s approach in that case, voters who followed the rules that were in place when they cast their ballots were not punished for failing to predict the future.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oUYGHO">
|
||
Like Barrett, in other words, Kavanaugh is a rather conservative judge. But there is a significant difference between his approach to judging, and the often nihilistic approach taken by Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Eox5D5">
|
||
And, if Barrett proves to be more like Kavanaugh than like the three most conservative justices, that means that she might put the brakes on some of the most extreme ideas — such as retroactively disenfranchising voters — supported by Thomas, Alito, or Gorsuch.
|
||
</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>Ankita Raina becomes fifth Indian woman to feature in Grand Slam main draw</strong> - Ankita is only the second Indian after Sania Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam champion, to compete in the women’s doubles of a tennis major.</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>Tennis legend Akhtar Ali passes away</strong> - Ali’s coaching influenced well-known players like Vijay Amritraj, Anand Amritraj, Ramesh Krishnan, Leander Paes and Somdev Devvarman.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India vs. England first Test | England take control after Pant, Pujara’s counter-attacking stand</strong> - At stumps, India were 257 for 6 in reply to England’s massive first innings score of 578 with 122 runs still needed to avoid the follow-on.</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>England 578 all out in first innings against India</strong> - Skipper Joe Root’s marathon 218-run knock was the highlight of the English effort.</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>Former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks dies at 67</strong> - Leon Spinks won the light heavyweight division at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, beating Sixto Soria of Cuba in an upset to become one of five U.S. fighters to win gold</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>Glacier burst: IMD says no adverse weather over affected areas on Feb 7, 8</strong> - India Meteorological Department (IMD) Additional Director General Anand Sharma said Chamoli, Tapovan and Joshimath are likely to witness dry weather during the two days</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>Afghanistan gets Covishield vaccine doses from India</strong> - India-made vaccine is the first to reach Afghanistan, which expects WHO emergency approval for its use soon.</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>Have full faith in judiciary, says Faruqui after his release from jail</strong> - The comedian put out a brief video after he was set free.</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>Crop loan waiver is only to benefit ruling partymen, alleges Stalin</strong> - The DMK president said the loan waiver announced by the TN government was only to benefit AIADMK men who had availed of loans in large numbers</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India now third on the list of countries to administer most doses of vaccine</strong> - As of February 7, 8 a.m., a total of 57.75 lakh beneficiaries have received the vaccine.</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>Chechnya: Escaped gay men sent back by Russian police</strong> - A rights group says the men are in “mortal danger” in Chechnya, where gay people face persecution.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>French couple jailed after boy’s fatal beating revealed accidentally in call</strong> - A French couple are jailed after the cause of a toddler’s death is given away in an emergency call.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pope Francis appoints first woman to the Synod of Bishops</strong> - Nathalie Becquart will have voting rights in the body that advises the Pope on controversial topics.</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>Saharan dust: Orange skies and sandy snow in southern Europe</strong> - The sky in parts of southern Europe turns an eerie orange as wind brings sand from the Sahara desert.</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 expels European diplomats over Navalny protests</strong> - Moscow say the diplomats attended weekend protests in support of Putin critic Alexei Navalny.</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>YouTube’s lo-fi music streams are all about the euphoria of less</strong> - Lo-fi hip-hop channels have created a community for minimalist escape. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740110">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Review: The Dig brings a famous archaeological find to vivid life</strong> - This tale of the famed Sutton Hoo excavations is based on the novel by John Preston - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1738436">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Scientific community on report of a strange chemical at Venus: Probably not</strong> - Researchers behind the initial claim also revise it but say it’s still valid. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740218">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A new lens technology is primed to jumpstart phone cameras</strong> - Smartphone optics have been pretty much the same for more than a decade. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740149">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gaming sites are still letting streamers profit from hate</strong> - Far-right, racist figures monetize livestreams via “donation management services.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1740103">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><strong>Why don’t ants get Covid?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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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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Because they have tiny little anty bodies.
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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/MTPokitz"> /u/MTPokitz </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/leegfn/why_dont_ants_get_covid/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/leegfn/why_dont_ants_get_covid/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>The phone rings at the local police station. “Hello? I’m calling to report my neighbor, Craig. He is hiding marijuana inside his firewood!”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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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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“Thank you very much for the call, sir.”
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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 next day, policemen descend on the neighbor’s house. They search the shed where the firewood is kept.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Using axes, they bust open every piece of wood, but find no marijuana. They swear at the neighbors and leave.
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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 phone rings at the neighbors house.
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Hey, Craig, did the police come?”
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</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“Yep.”
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||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“Did they chop your firewood?”
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
“Sure did, Eric. Thanks!”
|
||
</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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“Great, now it’s your turn to call. I need my garden plowed.”
|
||
</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/stevenlover333"> /u/stevenlover333 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/le8zn1/the_phone_rings_at_the_local_police_station_hello/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/le8zn1/the_phone_rings_at_the_local_police_station_hello/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>My sex life is like COVID-19.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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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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I don’t have COVID-19.
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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/MudakMudakov"> /u/MudakMudakov </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ldzhdq/my_sex_life_is_like_covid19/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ldzhdq/my_sex_life_is_like_covid19/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>There’s a man who hates his wife</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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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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He is reading the newspaper and sees an ad for a hitman named Arti who only costs a dollar! The man calls Arti and tells him that his wife goes to Walmart every Saturday at 10:00 AM. Arti goes to Walmart and waits. Then he sees the man’s wife so Arti jumps over and choked her to death. But somebody saw, so he also choked them to death. But this time an employee saw so he choked them to death and ran away. The next day the man checks the newspaper, satisfied that the hitman succeeded and sees an article that says “Artichokes 3 for a dollar at Walmart!”
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||
</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/HeyImDog"> /u/HeyImDog </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ledt7u/theres_a_man_who_hates_his_wife/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/ledt7u/theres_a_man_who_hates_his_wife/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A young kid from Alabama moves to New York</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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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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||
He goes to a big “everything under one roof” department store looking for a job. He sits down, greets the manager and shakes his hand. The manager says, “Do you have any sales experience?” The kid replies, “Yeah, I was a salesman back home in Alabama” They talk and get acquainted and the manager likes him so he gave him the job. “You start tomorrow. I’ll come by after we close and see how you did.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
His first day on the job was rough, but he pulled through it. After the store was locked, the manager came down just like he said. “How many customers bought something from you today?” The kid replies, “One.” The boss glares at him and shouts, “Just one!? Our sales people average 20-30 customers per day!” .. “How much was the sale for!?” The kid replies “$121,237.65” The boss now shocked, “What in the hell did you sell!?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The kids says, "Well first I sold him a small fishhook. Then I sold him a medium fishhook. Then I sold him a larger fishhook. Then a new fishing rod. So I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast, so I told him he needs a good boat, we went down to that department, and he got a twin engine Boston Whaler. Then he said he didn’t think his Honda Civic would pull the boat so I took him to the automotive department and sold him a truck.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The boss furrowing his brow said, “A guy came here to buy a fishhook and you sold him a boat and a truck???”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The kid replied, "No, the guy came here to buy tampons for his wife and I said ‘dude your weekend sounds shot, you should go fishing’.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- 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/TheUnderwearCrusader"> /u/TheUnderwearCrusader </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/le65ll/a_young_kid_from_alabama_moves_to_new_york/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/le65ll/a_young_kid_from_alabama_moves_to_new_york/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
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