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624 lines
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Virginia Governor’s Race Will Be the Latest Verdict in the Culture Wars</strong> - In the contest between Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe, the candidates are less important than the grassroots battles that have defined state politics. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/the-virginia-governors-race-will-be-the-latest-verdict-in-%20the-culture-wars">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Another Buffalo Is Possible</strong> - This summer, India Walton looked likely to become the first Black woman to lead Buffalo, and the first socialist mayor of any major American city in decades. Then the sitting Democratic mayor launched a campaign to defeat her. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/another-buffalo-is-possible">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Biden Can’t Quite Close the Deal—with His Own Party</strong> - “Everybody’s on board,” the President said. But they weren’t, at least not yet. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/biden-cant-quite-close-the-deal-with-his-own-%20party">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Would New York City Employees Rather Lose a Paycheck than Get Vaccinated?</strong> - Thousands of municipal workers have protested the mayor’s mandate, but the measure has largely worked. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/would-new-york-city-employees-rather-lose-a-paycheck-%20than-get-vaccinated">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What Biden Can’t Do on Student Debt—and What He Won’t Do</strong> - Activists argue that the President could cancel student debt with the stroke of a pen, fulfilling a campaign promise. Newly uncovered documents suggest that Biden has been “reviewing” the issue for months. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-biden-cant-do-on-student-debt-and-what-he-wont-do">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>Instant enlightenment — just add tech?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="An illustration depicting a lotus flower with a radio wave going across it." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uvuQmRjNGZuRU8hJ0fbhtQY5LXQ=/225x0:1576x1013/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70073581/net_emissions_board_1.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Christina Animashaun/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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New technologies like brain stimulation are promising mystical experiences on demand. Can they deliver?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ES8K18">
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It was a Monday morning, which was reason enough to meditate. I was anxious about the day ahead, and so, as I’ve done countless times over the past few years, I settled in on my couch for a short meditation session. But something was different this morning.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="msSbW9">
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Gently squeezing my forehead was a high-tech meditation headset, outfitted with sensors that would read my brain waves to tell me when I was calm and when I was, well, me. Beside me, my phone was running an app that paired over Bluetooth with the headset. It would give me audio feedback on my brain’s performance in real time, then score me with points and awards.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BGu11d">
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This was the <a href="https://choosemuse.com/muse-s/">Muse headband</a>, an innovation in mindfulness that picks up on Silicon Valley’s penchant for <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
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perfect/2019/6/25/18682583/biohacking-transhumanism-human-augmentation-genetic-engineering-crispr">quantifying every aspect of ourselves</a> through wearable tech — the idea being that the more data you have on your brain waves, heart rate, sleep, and other bodily functions, the more you can optimize the machine that is you. But a thought nagged at me: Isn’t there something self-defeating and contradictory about trying to optimize meditation by making it all about achieving success in a gamified app?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rtnRSn">
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The underlying technology is definitely intriguing. Muse is an application of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/therapists-are-using-neurofeedback-to-
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treat-adhd-ptsd-and-other-conditions/2015/01/16/b38e6cee-5ec3-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html">neurofeedback</a>, a tool for training yourself to regulate your brain waves. Neurofeedback began gaining popularity years ago in clinical contexts, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/therapists-are-using-neurofeedback-to-
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treat-adhd-ptsd-and-other-conditions/2015/01/16/b38e6cee-5ec3-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html">research showed</a><strong> </strong>it had the potential to help people struggling with conditions like ADHD and PTSD.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nGu4jD">
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Muse is<strong> </strong>one of <a href="https://focuscalm.com/">several</a> <a href="https://sens.ai/">companies</a> <a href="https://www.mendi.io/">now selling</a> neurofeedback devices with a different aim: making you a more enlightened version of yourself. At $245 a pop, its headbands are already accessible to consumers at stores like Walmart or Best Buy.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bQRifU">
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In fact, neurofeedback is just one of the newer<strong> </strong>technologies being touted as a way to catapult us into higher, more enlightened states of consciousness. Other technoboosts include brain stimulation, which uses electric currents or other means to directly target certain brain areas and change their behavior, and synthetic psychedelics, which are lab-created versions of drugs such as ayahuasca. Collectively, they form a genre that Kate Stockly and Wesley Wildman, researchers at Boston University’s Center for Mind and Culture, call “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Tech-Consciousness-Enlightenment-
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Engineering/dp/1250274931/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1633716828&sr=8-1">spirit tech</a>.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4FBIbi">
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Like me, the researchers started out skeptical of these technologies. But they grew fascinated as they began exploring big questions: Can we use tech to provoke experiences that will make people lastingly more compassionate and altruistic? Is an experience of enlightenment that’s induced by technology “authentic” (and does that matter)? If we democratize spiritual insights so they become accessible faster to lots more people — not just those of us who can afford to spend decades meditating in a cave somewhere — can that help our species evolve?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i8caRv">
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These questions, and the shifting answers to them, hint at the strange new terrain we are wandering onto, as neuroscience, self-optimization tech, and mindfulness collide.
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</p>
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<h3 id="3duQGV">
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The promise of neurofeedback, brain stimulation, and synthetic psychedelics
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wM69jb">
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The different varieties of spirit tech — neurofeedback, brain stimulation, and synthetic psychedelics most prominently — all have the same general objective of abetting a person’s search for a higher state of consciousness. But they all have their distinct ways of getting you there.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="G2e0GD">
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Neurofeedback devices for meditation aim to help you get into a state of calm, focused attention by tracking your brain activity and producing guiding sounds to let you know when your mind is wandering.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0MHBJe">
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There are a few different ways this can work, but I’ll stick to Muse for illustration’s sake. You start by placing a headband on your forehead. Its built-in EEG sensors read your brain waves as you meditate. Some brain waves <a</p></li>
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</ul>
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href=“https://www.researchgate.net/publication/47428548_Lost_in_thoughts_Neural_markers_of_low_alertness_during_mind_wandering”>are associated with focused attention and others are associated with mind-wandering and stress; <a href="https://choosemuse.com/blog/a-deep-dive-into-brainwaves-brainwave-frequencies-explained-2/">Muse’s algorithm picks them apart</a> in real time and offers up a different cue on the phone app<strong> </strong>depending on what your mind is doing.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"></p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oNqLTg">
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When your thoughts are racing, you hear loud rainstorms. “That’s your cue to go, like, ‘Oh shit! I’m thinking about the grocery list again!<strong> </strong>Back to meditation!’” Ariel Garten, the co-founder of Muse, told me.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xP3NgM">
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When your thoughts are calmer, you hear quieter weather. And when you manage to sustain a deep calm for a while, you hear the rewarding sound of birds chirping.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bEcfwa">
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It’s a classic “Pavlovian-type reinforcement,” according to Garten, meant to encourage your brain to remember the feel of this tranquil mental state and return to it over and over. It’s also (for better or worse) an ego boost. When the Muse app shows you your stats at the end of a session, you might find yourself thinking: “I’m crushing this. I got five birds!”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B7ExQp">
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Some scientific <a href="https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-016-0168-6">research indicates</a> that neurofeedback can modestly improve attention and subjective well-being. But it’s important to note that this kind of tech can, at most, help people get to an “entry-level” state of meditation — what you might call, simply, concentration. Researchers do not claim to have figured out how to lead people into more advanced meditative states yet.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nNFS3t">
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Stockly, who tried neurofeedback herself as part of her research for <em>Spirit Tech</em>, the book she co- wrote with Wildman,<strong> </strong>told me the technology holds promise as a way to shorten people’s meditation learning curve. “I could tell when my brain was doing the right thing because I would hear the sound that was supposed to be the positive feedback,” she said. She also told me neurofeedback is just the tip of the iceberg. “It could be understood as a starter technology on your way to something a little bit more invasive, like brain stimulation.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gabE7X">
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If neurofeedback devices like Muse only aim to “read” what’s happening in your brain and give you cues that reflect it, then another technique, brain stimulation, aims to “write” to the brain — that is, to directly change what your neurons are up to.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aLZZKz">
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Here’s the basic idea: Different states of consciousness manifest in your brain as different patterns of electrical activity, or neurological signatures. Researchers have already figured out what some of them look like. Now, they’re figuring out how to technologically stimulate your brain into those states. They’re experimenting with a few types of stimulation — electric, magnetic, light, and ultrasound — to target particular brain areas.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Yhl136">
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Shooting electricity into your skull might sound painful, but it can be very gentle. There are already a few neurostimulation devices on the market, like <a href="https://zendomeditation.com/">Zendo</a>, which come in the form of small pads or patches that you apply to your forehead; they create a tingly sensation as they send low levels of electricity into your brain. They claim to make meditation easier and reduce stress.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YSMAno">
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The scientific evidence on <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02928-3">their efficacy</a> is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25701175/">mixed</a>. Safety-wise, they’re not required to have FDA approval since they’re not marketed as medical devices, but they’re generally considered low-risk for short-term use given that a number of stimulation methods are already approved for clinical use in treating conditions like depression. However, we lack data on the long-term effects of using neurostimulation devices continually.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mj7Bq4">
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Meanwhile, some researchers are pursuing a much more ambitious goal than mere stress reduction. They’re exploring brain stimulation’s potential to act as a shortcut to enlightenment.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uFreyx">
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Evan Thompson, a University of British Columbia professor who specializes in Asian philosophical traditions, notes that it’s inaccurate to talk about “enlightenment” as if it’s one monolithic thing. Instead, we have to talk about specific enlightened states. “Enlightenment means different things to different teachers, schools, and historical periods,” he said. It can mean the elimination of all craving and attachment, for example, or the dissolution of the sense of a separate self.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y0ZKLH">
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The latter is particularly relevant to Shinzen Young and Jay Sanguinetti, co-directors of the <a href="https://semalab.arizona.edu/">Sonication Enhanced Mindful Awareness (SEMA) lab at the University of Arizona</a>. They’ve found that beaming ultrasound pulses at a certain brain area, the basal ganglia, leads to a quieting of the ego — a less self-focused state of mind.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pfkO5O">
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Young, a monk who’s been meditating for 50 years, let his neuroscientist colleague Sanguinetti administer the ultrasound pulses on him. Afterward, he said it accelerated and deepened his ability to enter a state of equanimity and selflessness. In fact, he said it triggered one of the most significant meditations he’s ever had. Twelve other advanced meditators later reported similar effects.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GwDnnI">
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Of course, that’s not enough to get a sense of whether it’s truly safe and effective, especially for long- term use.<strong> </strong>There’s still a lot more safety and efficacy research to be done before brain stimulation using ultrasound will be available outside of specialized labs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5co3is">
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“It’s not a consumer device package in Best Buy,” Garten said. “It’s far, far, far from being that. Probably 20 or 30 more years.”
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</p>
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<aside id="cBrO5X">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yUt8cl">
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In the meantime, other researchers are exploring psychedelics, which are undergoing a renaissance these days as their <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-
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perfect/2020/10/9/21506664/psychedelics-mental-health-depression-ptsd-psilocybin-mdma">therapeutic potential for treating conditions like depression</a> becomes increasingly recognized.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uzIafs">
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Many psychedelics, such as magic mushrooms and mescaline, are naturally occurring. But<strong> </strong>scientists are now busy creating synthetic versions of drugs, like pharmahuasca (synthetic ayahuasca), so the chemical components can be precisely predicted and customized. These drugs don’t just “read” what’s happening in the brain; like neurostimulation, they “write” to it directly.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9xhcrF">
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Scientists have <a href="https://link.vox.com/click/24439431.4223/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmNiaS5ubG0ubmloLmdvdi9wbWMvYXJ0aWNsZXMvUE1DMzUzNzE3MS8/608adc2491954c3cef02e6bfBe0eb446c">found that psychedelics can produce</a> mystical experiences that lead to lasting changes in tolerance and openness. One <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25637267/">study</a> found that regular users of ayahuasca, for example, score higher than nonusers on measures of self-transcendence. Pharmahuasca has produced very similar effects, though <a href="https://akjournals.com/view/journals/2054/3/3/article-p288.xml#:~:text=Results,an%20emphasis%20on%20cognitive%20processes.">research suggests</a> some of the emotional benefits of traditional ayahuasca rituals may be lost when the drug is consumed outside its ceremonial context, perhaps because the intentions of the users are different.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31yIvG">
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Although some mental health professionals <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22716491/psychedelics-ketamine-mental-health-
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research-fda">already use synthetic psychedelics</a> in their clinical practices to treat patients, don’t expect to see such substances becoming legally available for self-directed use as spirit tech in the US anytime soon. Currently, Americans who want to legally try a drug like ayahuasca (natural or synthetic) have to be members of specific religious communities such as the Native American Church, or else travel to South America. That said, Wildman and Stockly report that there is an active underground market for synthetic psychedelics like pharmahuasca.
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</p>
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<h3 id="dzEdEV">
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Are tech- induced spiritual experiences “authentic”? That’s the wrong question.
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8wMmPJ">
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When people first hear about technoboosts for enlightenment, there’s a tendency to think that using technology to induce spiritual experiences is a totally new phenomenon — and that therefore a tech-induced experience is not “authentic” spirituality.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3mMsFg">
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Thompson says both those premises are wrong. For one thing, people have been using tech to induce altered states of consciousness for millennia. We may not be used to thinking of tools like prayer wheels, mandalas, rosaries, or rhythmic drumming in shamanic dances as spiritual technologies, but that’s exactly what they are.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e4qunq">
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Plus, Thompson told me, “I think authenticity is a very misleading concept.”
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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="Photo collage of a Muse headband, a brain, stacked rocks, and a radio wave.
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" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YEX_8FFhmwhidcVtcP1KdneMayY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22960702/enlightenment_tech_secondary_1.jpg"/> <cite>Courtesy of <a class="ql- link" href="https://choosemuse.com/" target="_blank">Muse Headbands</a>; Christina Animashaun/Vox</cite>
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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="cDCBPg">
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Historically, there’s no consensus, even within a single religious tradition, about how to tell a genuine spiritual epiphany from a counterfeit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2uBevr">
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Some believe a spiritual experience must be spontaneous to be authentic. Others believe just the opposite — that an authentic experience comes about only after someone spends lots of time and effort developing a practice.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gKZpXJ">
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As Stockly and Wildman write in <em>Spirit Tech</em>, “Some people sense that it just can’t be right that spiritual wisdom and experiences that are incredibly hard-won are just suddenly conferred on any old doofus without the exertion of effort, discipline, and commitment.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5tSrOp">
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Likewise, some groups say a spiritual experience is trustworthy if it supports their preexisting, canonical beliefs, and untrustworthy if it produces heterodox beliefs. But others say an experience is authentic precisely if it transcends convention — just think of how Jesus taught something new and different from the Judaism of his time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KDldnl">
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Stockly, Wildman, and Thompson all told me they think it makes less sense to look at the causes or content of an experience than<strong> </strong>to look at its consequences. Another way to put this is: Don’t ask whether an experience is authentic; ask whether it’s beneficial. Does it make you more cruel, haughty, and self-centered? Or more compassionate, humble, and other-focused?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2CK22f">
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A related concern about some technoboosts is that perhaps they only lead to temporary changes — altered states, but not altered traits. If their consequences fade away within hours or days, how much good does that really do?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lWlTx8">
|
||
“It is possible just to have experiences that are something like transitory highs,” Wildman told me. But they can incentivize you to develop a continuous practice. “These incredibly powerful experiences can completely change your willingness to take on something like that.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CNPzXK">
|
||
Stockly noted that technoboosts like neurofeedback and brain stimulation are not meant to be one-and-done. Instead, we should think of them as training wheels for the brain. “The idea is that it really is targeting the desired part of the brain in such a way that with repeated use, it will actually change the brain,” she said. “It will help to create those new neural pathways.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q0cPTl">
|
||
Thompson, for his part, worries that such technoboosts might be counterproductive rather than beneficial — if, for example, the way the technology mediates the experience of meditation reinforces the ego tendencies that meditation is meant to alleviate. This is his concern about all the gamification the Muse app displays, from telling you when you’ve achieved a streak of consecutive days to rewarding you with bird chirps when you’ve stayed calm long enough.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OuE53B">
|
||
“It builds up a sense of a performative, successful self,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh look, I’ve meditated a hundred days in a row now!’ It’s not only distraction, it actually reinforces precisely the thing that you’re trying to get beyond.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0UvoZW">
|
||
Garten told me that this was a design question she “struggled with a lot.” But ultimately, she thinks you need some gamification to motivate the user to keep coming back, at least at first. And even though the birds may be distracting and ego-inflating initially, she thinks they can gradually teach the user an important lesson: equanimity. Get too excited about the appearance of a bird, and it vanishes immediately, because your excited brain state means you’ve lost the calm that hastened its arrival. In this way, you learn not to get overly invested in any outcome.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Es5d05">
|
||
That hasn’t been my experience with Muse yet. So far, for me, the birds feel like they’re harming rather than helping my practice. But I’ve been meditating for about five years. Conceivably, for a beginner, the motivational benefits of gamification, together with Muse’s ability to show the novice meditator when they’re “doing it right,” could outweigh the costs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="MvpR4d">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mIG6fg">
|
||
There’s a less obvious risk we need to bear in mind. Instead of only asking, “What if the tech doesn’t work as advertised?” we also need to ask, “What if it does?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5l6l7t">
|
||
On the one hand, that would be exciting. In 2005, the Dalai Lama was asked what he thinks about the possibility of tech leading to spiritual awakenings. He said: “If it was possible to become free of negative emotions by a riskless implementation of an electrode — without impairing intelligence and the critical mind — I would be the first patient.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ElMjjG">
|
||
But most of us do not have the Dalai Lama’s training. Sudden, intense epiphanies that powerful new technology like brain stimulation aims to provoke may not have the positive effects you might expect. Normally, people build up to those epiphanies over years of practice or on long meditation retreats; the gradualness of the learning curve and the presence of mentors can<strong> </strong>help a person<strong> </strong>integrate an epiphany into their self-understanding. Spirit tech wants to offer a shortcut — to gin up epiphanies on-demand and à la carte — and<strong> </strong>the effects could be jarring.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BiOb7v">
|
||
As Sanguinetti says in <em>Spirit Tech</em>, “If you’re a father and you have two children, what does it mean to change you [with brain stimulation]? Because you still need to be able to take care of your children and be motivated to do that. So we don’t want to make you happy-detached, we want to make you happy-embodied and a happy, better human being in your society and the specific sociocultural context that you’re in.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FY7dTL">
|
||
In traditional spiritual communities, the spirit tech isn’t just the meditation you do or the mushroom you ingest. There are mentors and traditions that shape how you make meaning out of a peak experience and integrate it into your humdrum life — these are technology, too. Similarly, we may need a cadre of trained people who can guide us through the process of implementing powerful new tools like brain stimulation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uSXI1s">
|
||
Absent such a framework, Thompson remains unconvinced of the potential of such technologies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8Vjod6">
|
||
“It strikes me as more consumerist, capitalist appropriation of meditation as a kind of narcissistic personal experience,” he said. “It’s about <em>my </em>enlightenment attained through techno-enhancement. Call that enlightenment if you want, but enlightenment in a richer sense is about a profound transformation not of yourself just as an isolated individual but of your relationship to other human beings in the world. It’s social.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cH49H4">
|
||
<em>Reporting for this article was supported by </em><a href="http://www.shin-
|
||
ibs.edu/luce/"><em>Public Theologies of Technology and Presence</em></a><em>, a journalism and research initiative based at the Institute of Buddhist Studies and funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Biden is pushing to end “Remain in Mexico.” But he may still have to enforce it.</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A group of migrants walk along the wall at the US-Mexico border near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m482OP39yVGZv3xQOtYfWvaFTRI=/232x0:3645x2560/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70071901/1307758889.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Migrants walk along the wall at the US-Mexico border near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 17, 2021. | John Moore/Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A prior court decision is complicating the administration’s latest effort to end the policy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QZgiDq">
|
||
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/10/29/dhs-issues-new-
|
||
memo-terminate-mpp">issued a new memo</a> terminating the Migrant Protection Protocol, a Trump-era directive requiring migrants to wait in Mexico for US immigration court hearings. It’s President Joe Biden’s second attempt to end the policy after a previous effort was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/24/22640424/supreme-court-remain-in-mexico-trump-
|
||
biden-samuel-alito-immigration">blocked in federal court</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QVg16u">
|
||
The memo argues that the policy, also known as “Remain in Mexico,” caused more harm than good, particularly in terms of its humanitarian impact.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfZnUs">
|
||
“I recognize that MPP likely contributed to reduced migratory flows,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_1029_mpp-termination-memo.pdf">wrote in the four-page memo</a> announcing the policy shift. “But it did so by imposing substantial and unjustifiable human costs on the individuals who were exposed to harm while waiting in Mexico.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ekcBfC">
|
||
That determination is in line with Biden’s campaign promises on immigration, which included reversing policies like <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-
|
||
and-politics/2021/1/27/22252294/biden-zero-tolerance-family-separation-trump">Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy</a> that resulted in family separations. <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22709353/biden-border-immigration-
|
||
trump-haiti-title-42">It’s at odds</a>, however, with the administration’s continuing reluctance to completely do away with other Trump-era legacies like <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/577002-loosened-travel-
|
||
restrictions-put-new-pressure-on-trump-era-policy">Title 42</a>, the immigration order that has allowed for the deportation of migrants as a public health measure during the pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g1MFkg">
|
||
And even though Biden <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/1/20/22241651/biden-remain-mexico-mpp-migrant-protection-
|
||
protocols">began rolling back the MPP</a> soon after taking office in January, his administration has had to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-prepared-to-restart-remain-in-mexico-border-policy-in-november/">prepare to re- implement the program</a> in recent weeks in order to comply with a previous court order — even as it’s actively fighting to end the policy for good.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ou9Gr9">
|
||
That means Friday’s memo won’t change anything right away: <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/10/29/dhs-issues-new-memo-terminate-mpp">According to DHS</a>, “the termination of MPP will not take effect until the current injunction is lifted.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="11bn5N">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/29/689819928/trump-administration-begins-remain-in-mexico-policy-sending-asylum-
|
||
seekers-back">MPP was first implemented in 2019</a> by the Trump administration, ostensibly as a deterrent to people attempting to cross the southern border and as a way to speed up decisions on asylum cases. But as Mayorkas’s Friday memo argues and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel for the American Immigration Council, <a href="https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1454169279511896071?s=20">highlighted on Twitter</a>, “the fact that MPP may have resolved cases more quickly does not mean that the cases were resolved fairly or accurately.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="8KVLN3">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
The Trump administration claimed that one main goal of MPP was completing cases more quickly. But as the explanation memo says, “the fact that MPP may have resolved cases more quickly does not mean that the cases were resolved fairly or accurately.”<br/><br/>Exactly! <a href="https://t.co/55x8vVS2W3">pic.twitter.com/55x8vVS2W3</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (<span class="citation" data-cites="ReichlinMelnick">@ReichlinMelnick</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1454169279511896071?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2021</a></blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XnpcdM">
|
||
A <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_1029_mpp-
|
||
termination-justification-memo.pdf">39-page justification</a> published along with<strong> </strong>the memo outlines in further detail the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/us/politics/immigration-remain-
|
||
mexico.html">conditions</a> migrants faced in detention in Mexico, including the risk of sexual assault and kidnapping in the encampments where they stayed, as well as unsanitary and unstable housing conditions, limited access to health care and legal counsel, and insufficient food while they waited for the US to make a decision about their asylum hearings.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KgeH2z">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-
|
||
migrants/">right to seek asylum</a> is protected under international law, and has been since the UN’s <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> was adopted in 1948.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JEEXXg">
|
||
Ultimately, the Biden administration argues the policy has far too many issues for it to be salvaged: Not only does it require significant resources that could be directed elsewhere, according to the DHS memo, but MPP also failed to achieve reduction in crimes like human trafficking and drug smuggling, put people in serious danger, and doesn’t address the root causes that lead to people seeking asylum.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AUMoIV">
|
||
Additionally, the memo says, any program fixes would require the cooperation of Mexico and further diplomatic negotiations — time and energy that could be better spent on other issues. And <a href="https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1454171914495275017">other strict immigration policies</a> were enacted at the same time as MPP, making it difficult to assess any deterrent effect the policy may have achieved.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="uE2cT7">
|
||
The initial decision to end MPP has been tangled up in the courts
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rkO7YW">
|
||
In addition to laying out policy issues with MPP, Mayorkas’s <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_1029_mpp-
|
||
termination-memo.pdf">memo</a> responds to an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-
|
||
mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-immigration-asylum-joe-biden-donald-trump">August decision</a> by a federal district court in Texas to block the DHS’s original <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_0601_termination_of_mpp_program.pdf">June 1 memo</a> ending the policy. That memo follows a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-
|
||
actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-creating-a-comprehensive-regional-framework-to-address-the-causes-of-migration-to-
|
||
manage-migration-throughout-north-and-central-america-and-to-provide-safe-and-orderly-processing/">February executive order</a> from Biden, which asked DHS to complete a thorough review of the program’s costs and benefits and recommend whether it should stay in place as is, continue with modifications, or end altogether.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1xueNZ">
|
||
The new directive tries to address the shortcomings of the administration’s June 1 effort to end the MPP program, which was blocked by <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-immigration-
|
||
asylum-joe-biden-donald-trump">District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, a Trump appointee, on the grounds that DHS didn’t follow proper administrative procedure when issuing the memo.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CjyQjs">
|
||
Kacsmaryk also argued — incorrectly — that the US has only two options to deal with migrants: either deport them to “a contiguous territory,” in this case Mexico, or detain them in the US. Since there’s insufficient detention space in the US to house all of these migrants “subject to mandatory detention,” Kacsmaryk reasoned, the only option for DHS would be to return migrants coming from other Central and South American countries — and some from even further away — to Mexico.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pgkOK3">
|
||
However, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/17/22627107/trump-judge-remain-in-mexico-matthew-kacsmaryk-
|
||
immigration-asylum-joe-biden-donald-trump">Vox’s Ian Millhiser</a> explained at the time, the US does indeed have a third option when processing asylum seekers: <a href="https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ208/PLAW-104publ208.pdf">It can offer them parole</a>, the ability to stay in the US while their asylum claims or other efforts to gain legal status move through the immigration system. This system has been used, for example, to reunite Cubans and Haitians with family in the US, and for Afghan nationals fleeing the country after the Taliban’s takeover.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QGq5i1">
|
||
Despite that, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/24/22640424/supreme-court-remain-in-mexico-trump-biden-
|
||
samuel-alito-immigration">allowed Kacsmaryk’s decision to stand</a> — for now — in an <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/082421zr_2d9g.pdf">August order</a> denying the Biden administration’s request for a stay during the appeal process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Cyu5q">
|
||
As of this month, litigation in the case is still ongoing: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments on Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by the states of Texas and Missouri against the federal government, asking for MPP to be reinstated. According to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-mexico-alejandro-mayorkas-c172ca86400295353d52203040e0db1a">Associated Press</a>, the US is expected to request that the case be sent back down to Kacsmaryk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wQcWE0">
|
||
“As long as the injunction is in place, we are bound to comply with it. But as we’ve said, we are vigorously fighting it, vigorously appealing it, and so with this new memo we will seek to either have a Fifth Circuit vacate the district court ruling or for the district court to do so itself,” a <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/department-of-
|
||
homeland-security/579053-biden-again-rescinds-remain-in">DHS official told reporters on a call Thursday</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="slRhII">
|
||
Some elements of Biden’s immigration policy are still stuck in the Trump era
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5WxNbC">
|
||
While the decision to terminate MPP is undoubtedly a step toward implementing the more humane immigration policy Biden campaigned on, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22709353/biden-border-immigration-trump-haiti-title-42">other elements of Biden’s policy</a> at the southern border still look more like those of the Trump administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FqilV6">
|
||
Specifically, Title 42 — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directive that allows the deportation of migrants due to public health concerns — remains in place, even as the US prepares to <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/10/29/fact-sheet-guidance-travelers-enter-us-land-ports-entry-and-ferry-
|
||
terminals#:~:text=Fully%20vaccinated%2C%20non%2Dcitizen%20travelers,consistent%20with%20public%20health%20guidance.">welcome back foreign tourists</a> starting November 8.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FC0WWi">
|
||
The result, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
|
||
politics/22709353/biden-border-immigration-trump-haiti-title-42">according to Vox’s Nicole Narea</a>, is “a growing gulf between the progressive immigration values President Joe Biden professes and the enforcement policies he’s implementing at the border,” one which has led to “confusion among immigration officials, uncertainty for migrants, and questions about whether the president has a coherent strategy on immigration at all.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2QPGrv">
|
||
Under Title 42, which the Trump administration put in place in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-pandemics-public-health-new-
|
||
york-health-4ef0c6c5263815a26f8aa17f6ea490ae">March 2020</a>, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Biden administration has justified deporting <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/haiti-migrants-us-expels-nearly-4000-in-
|
||
nine-days/">thousands of Haitian immigrants</a>, even as <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
|
||
politics/22630728/haiti-earthquake-immigration-biden-tps">Haiti has been consumed</a> by political crisis, violence, natural disasters, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rCV4p5">
|
||
In September, Biden’s special envoy to Haiti, Daniel Foote, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/23/1040055089/us-special-envoy-haiti-quits-deportations-refugees">resigned in protest</a> over the deportations, and another official — State Department legal adviser Harold Koh — <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/04/top-state-adviser-leaves-post-title-42-515029">did likewise</a> earlier this month.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DIHUhd">
|
||
“I believe this Administration’s current implementation of the Title 42 authority continues to violate our legal obligation not to expel or return (“refouler”) individuals who fear persecution, death, or torture, especially migrants fleeing from Haiti,” Koh wrote in an October <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-4c4a-dddc-a77e-4ddbf3ae0000">memo</a> obtained by Politico. “Lawful, more humane alternatives plainly exist, and there are approaching opportunities in the near future to substitute those alternatives in place of the current, badly flawed policy.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E8Lv1X">
|
||
<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics">According to US Customs and Border Protection</a>, Title 42 was used to expel more than a million migrants between October 2020 and September this year, denying them a hearing with an immigration judge.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D7pHQe">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22709353/biden-border-immigration-trump-haiti-title-42">As Narea points out</a>, the Biden administration is caught in a bind trying to please critics from both the left and the right — to the detriment of migrants.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QACGeF">
|
||
She writes:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HoGW1j">
|
||
[Biden] has pursued policies designed to uplift immigrants who have put down roots in the US, many of whom have been able to attract public sympathy. But the migrants most Americans will never see are now the subject of his harshest enforcement initiatives. This approach has left Biden with a border policy not so different from the one he once decried.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iQbMA0">
|
||
Even when it comes to MPP, it’s unclear to what extent Biden will succeed in reversing Trump-era policies. Despite the administration’s latest effort, it may be forced to reinstate MPP at least temporarily, as it’s unclear how the courts will respond to DHS’s Friday memo.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TlKqCB">
|
||
The administration has been negotiating with the Mexican government to restore the policy per the district court’s August order, according to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/biden-remain-in-mexico">BuzzFeed</a>, and it has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/us/politics/immigration-remain-mexico.html">issued contracts</a> to build new encampments to hold migrants at the border.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ap2vNO">
|
||
In October, dozens of legal groups working with asylum seekers <a href="https://welcomewithdignity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/WelcomeWithDignity-Legal-Services-Providers-
|
||
Joint-Letter-on-MPP_10.19.2021.pdf">signed a letter</a> refusing to work with the administration to enact the policy, saying that to do so would be to be “complicit in a program that facilitates the rape, torture, death, and family separations of people seeking protection by committing to provide legal services.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="18NBph">
|
||
In <a href="https://welcomewithdignity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/WelcomeWithDignity-Legal-Services-Providers-Joint-
|
||
Letter-on-MPP_10.19.2021.pdf">their letter to the administration</a>, the 73 “legal services providers, law school clinics, and law firms” asked the government to “take immediate steps” to end Title 42 and resume shutting down the MPP program while processing the cases still covered under that directive.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CE28IJ">
|
||
“We stand ready to offer legal services to asylum seekers, were your administration to follow US and international law,” the letter concludes. “But there is no protection in the Migrant Protection Protocols.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>The criminal complaint against Andrew Cuomo, briefly explained</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="Andrew Cuomo gestures while speaking at a press briefing in August 2021." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/thumbor/GMUxJoK4Og5W3bciGVmW8TYbY3k=/292x0:2959x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
||
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70068427/1234420097.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor of New York in August, speaks at a press briefing about Covid-19 earlier that month. | Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The former New York governor was charged with forcible touching, a misdemeanor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9ztDkw">
|
||
More than two months after his <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/10/22618558/cuomo-resigns-new-york-governor">abrupt fall from power</a>, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is now <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/535745908/Cuomo-Criminal-Complaint">facing a criminal complaint</a> alleging he groped a former executive assistant in late 2020.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ftRYKJ">
|
||
Cuomo, who resigned from office in August amid a slew of misconduct allegations, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/nyregion/cuomo-forcible-touching-complaint.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-
|
||
share">charged on Thursday</a> by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office with forcible touching, a misdemeanor charge that carries a penalty of up to a year in jail.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bca3vk">
|
||
Former Cuomo aide Brittany Commisso has accused Cuomo of groping her while she was working with him at the governor’s mansion in Albany, and she <a href="https://www.wamc.org/wamc-news/2021-08-06/on-wamc-soares-confirms-police-report-has-been-filed-in-cuomo-groping-
|
||
case">filed a police report</a> in August, shortly after the release of a damning <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/investigation-sexual-harassment-cuomo/6e0c4e9f078d7e2a/full.pdf">report</a> by New York Attorney General Letitia James investigating misconduct claims against Cuomo.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="biOvyy">
|
||
The report found that Cuomo <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/03/politics/cuomo-ag-report-fallout-key-
|
||
points/index.html">sexually harassed 11 women</a>, including Commisso — but Commisso’s allegations are the first to result in criminal charges.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HnFaSq">
|
||
According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/nyregion/cuomo-
|
||
forcible-touching-complaint.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share">the New York Times</a>, the forcible touching charge brought against Cuomo is often used in circumstances where it’s difficult to prove that the assailant was acting purely for their own sexual gratification. The <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/535745908/Cuomo-Criminal-
|
||
Complaint">charging documents</a> allege that Cuomo groped Commisso “for the purposes of degrading and gratifying his sexual desires.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jg8aIy">
|
||
Cuomo is set to appear in Albany City Court on November 17 to be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/29/politics/andrew-cuomo-case-albany-county-sheriff-da/index.html">arraigned</a>.
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HxxD1W">
|
||
The misdemeanor charge comes after <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/investigation-sexual-
|
||
harassment-cuomo/6e0c4e9f078d7e2a/full.pdf">an independent report</a> commissioned by James’s office was released in August, detailing multiple allegations of sexual harassment by Cuomo and a hostile work environment in which dissent was not tolerated and speaking up about alleged abuse could result in retaliation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TJee9v">
|
||
Cuomo <a href="https://www.andrewcuomo.com/sites/default/files/files/documents/2021.10.20ResponsetoCommisso_0.pdf">has denied the allegations against him</a> and offered a number of justifications, including that what he considered friendly actions were simply <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/why-cuomo-s-dinosaur-defense-rang-
|
||
hollow-n1276514">out of step with the political moment</a>. His attorney, Rita Glavin, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-new-york-andrew-cuomo-albany-d5eaff22837a7189e685965bebb228b6">said in a statement on Friday</a> that Cuomo never assaulted anyone and claimed that the Albany County sheriff, Craig Apple, had acted with political intent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="086b5W">
|
||
<a href="https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/Criminal-summons-
|
||
Cuomo-16572344.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-CP-Latest-News">Confusion</a> over the timing of the complaint gave Glavin some fuel; according to Apple, his office filed the complaint on Thursday morning, not expecting that it would result in a summons being issued the same day.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WQkiUb">
|
||
As a result, the complaint became public on Thursday before Apple could notify Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who didn’t know about the complaint until it was leaked to <a href="https://www.nysfocus.com/2021/10/28/charges-filed-against-andrew-cuomo-for-criminal-touching/">New York Focus</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YHQQdQ">
|
||
Soares said in a <a href="https://www.nysfocus.com/2021/10/28/charges-filed-against-
|
||
andrew-cuomo-for-criminal-touching/">statement</a> that he was “surprised to learn today that a criminal complaint was filed in Albany City Court by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office against Andrew Cuomo.” Soares’s office has been pursuing its own investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="astwi7">
|
||
According to the <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/Criminal-summons-Cuomo-16572344.php?IPID=Times-Union-HP-CP-Latest-
|
||
News">Albany Times-Union</a>, a summons wasn’t expected until next week, after the sheriff’s office had conferred with Soares and Commisso about moving forward with the case. Commisso’s attorney, Brian Premo, said that she too “was surprised by the turn of events but she has been and will remain a resolute cooperating victim in pursuit of blind justice.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qh6XQ5">
|
||
Apple told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/andrew-cuomos-criminal-summons-
|
||
released-faster-than-expected-sheriff-says-11635542298">Wall Street Journal</a> that his office routinely files such paperwork without consulting with prosecutors first, and a spokesperson for the New York state court system, Lucian Chalfen, defended Albany City Court Judge Holly Trexler, telling the WSJ she “handled the filing of the misdemeanor complaint properly.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="Nt0QTy">
|
||
Cuomo has repeatedly been accused of harassment and misconduct
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZvA9D">
|
||
In addition to allegations against Cuomo by Commisso and 10 other women, <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/investigation-sexual-harassment-cuomo/6e0c4e9f078d7e2a/full.pdf">the August report</a> painted an alarming picture of pervasive sexual harassment and retaliation by Cuomo and his aides.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7r4gm8">
|
||
It detailed accusations ranging from Cuomo asking for help finding a girlfriend and saying that he, in his early 60s, would date a woman as young as 22, to unwanted physical contact, like the kind Commisso described when she <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2021/10/28/misdemeanor-complaint-filed-against-cuomo-
|
||
over-forcible-touching-1392121">came forward publicly</a> in August.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zXidNX">
|
||
The report was effectively the final straw for an already-embattled Cuomo, who was by August facing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-book-investigation.html">multiple</a> <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/cuomo-investigations-possible-impeachment.html">distinct scandals</a>, including allegations that his administration had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/nyregion/cuomo-nursing-
|
||
home-deaths.html">deliberately covered up</a> the number of nursing home residents who died of Covid-19 during the pandemic. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/majority-of-new-yorkers-say-gov-andrew-cuomo-shouldnt-run-
|
||
again-11625131801">His public support plummeted</a>, and top aide <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/08/politics/new-
|
||
york-governor-cuomo-aide-melissa-derosa-resigns/index.html">Melissa DeRosa</a> resigned after the attorney general’s report detailed her role in retaliation against at least one accuser.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FvMMvw">
|
||
Sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo began surfacing last year after former aide <a href="https://www.vox.com/22174452/andrew-cuomo-lindsey-
|
||
boylan-sexual-harassment">Lindsey Boylan</a> accused Cuomo of sexually harassing her “for years” and of retaliating against her by <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/cuomo-accuser-lindsey-boylan-file-lawsuit-embattled-
|
||
governor/story?id=79288632">releasing confidential personnel</a> files; <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/7/22318003/more-women-accuse-new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment">additional accusations</a> earlier this year added momentum to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/13/22328860/andrew-cuomo-resign-
|
||
democrats">calls for Cuomo to resign</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kCO7Kp">
|
||
Ultimately, Cuomo, facing an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/nyregion/andrew-cuomo.html">accelerating impeachment push</a> backed by state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and the chamber’s Democratic majority, announced he was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/andrew-cuomo-resigns-17161f546bb83c32a337036ecf8d2a34">stepping down</a> just one week after the attorney general’s report was released on August 3.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vP9IGf">
|
||
Despite Cuomo’s resignation, Heastie said in August that the Assembly would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/cuomo-impeachment.html">continue investigating</a> both the sexual harassment accusations and allegations that the Cuomo administration had deliberately lied about the number of nursing home deaths in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EipRaX">
|
||
Thursday’s criminal complaint is just the latest development in Cuomo’s rapid downfall, and it underscores that the allegations that ended his governorship could still become actionable claims, with real legal teeth.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="7gozGY">
|
||
Cuomo still claims he’s the victim of a political witch hunt
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3JYuVA">
|
||
As with previous sexual misconduct allegations, Cuomo’s attorney, Glavin, has argued that the allegations in Thursday’s criminal complaint are false and politically motivated.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vk0J1v">
|
||
“Governor Cuomo has never assaulted anyone, and Sheriff Apple’s motives here are patently improper. Sheriff Apple didn’t even tell the district attorney what he was doing,” <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachReports/status/1453844757835288576?s=20">Glavin said in a statement</a>. “This is not professional law enforcement; this is politics.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8VOYa0">
|
||
Specifically, Cuomo’s team has <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcuomo/status/1454126827572797443?s=20">seized on the initial confusion</a> surrounding the charging announcement, which coincided closely with the announcement of James’s gubernatorial campaign, as evidence of political maneuvering on her part. Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi also took aim at Apple, saying the charges were an “<a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcuomo/status/1454519659680698374?s=20">abuse of power</a>” in Apple’s “rouge [sic] investigation.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fiWL0A">
|
||
James <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-new-york-andrew-cuomo-
|
||
kathy-hochul-15e1fc7cc5ef518503ca561d2fd8034f">announced her gubernatorial campaign</a> on Friday, just one day after the criminal complaint against Cuomo was filed. She will challenge sitting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the former lieutenant governor who took over from Cuomo following his resignation, in the Democratic primary, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/nyregion/jumaane-williams-public-advocate-governor.html">other candidates</a> may jump into the Democratic race as well.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B1QRYO">
|
||
James and Cuomo had <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-letitia-james-former-andrew-cuomo-ally-could-help-take-him-
|
||
down-11628102625">previously been allies</a>; he endorsed her during her successful 2018 run for attorney general. More recently, however, <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/10/29/she-took-on-cuomo-trump-
|
||
and-the-nra-now-tish-james-wants-to-be-governor-1392133">Cuomo and his team</a> have begun to spin James’s probe into the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo as an abuse of power in pursuit of the governor’s mansion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8MFWT8">
|
||
Cuomo has <a href="https://twitter.com/andrewcuomo/status/1454519659680698374">tweeted repeatedly</a> in the days since the complaint was made public, with statements by Glavin and Azzopardi both claiming there is no evidence to support the criminal charges.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4JhFds">
|
||
But <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/nyregion/andrew-
|
||
cuomo.html">multiple district attorney’s offices</a> in New York, as well as the <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/10/29/albany-sheriff-promises-overwhelming-amount-of-
|
||
evidence-against-cuomo-1392135">state Assembly</a>, have been collecting evidence against Cuomo, and Apple has repeatedly said that the mistimed filing of the complaint doesn’t have any bearing on the seriousness of the charges or the strength of the case. Apple <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579224-sheriff-says-he-did-not-
|
||
coordinate-with-da-before-filing-cuomo-complaint">also revealed</a> that he and his team had conducted witness interviews and reviewed copious documents related to the case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X9GFcw">
|
||
“The case is a solid case, our victim is cooperative, and we’re moving forward,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-
|
||
york/albany/story/2021/10/29/albany-sheriff-promises-overwhelming-amount-of-evidence-against-cuomo-1392135">Apple said</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
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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>T20 World Cup | Pietersen backs Indian team, says players are not robots</strong> - The team’s unexpected below-par show after 2 games has drawn sharp criticism from its passionate supporters</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>‘You need a break’: Bumrah says India suffering ‘bubble fatigue’</strong> - The players have been on the road since the IPL season began in April. The test team also toured England before the COVID-hit IPL resumed in the United Arab Emirates in September</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
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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>VSP privatisation is a national issue, say leaders of student unions</strong> - ‘We will bring students from across the country to protest against the decision’</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>Mamata Banerjee in Goa | Talking Politics with Nistula Hebbar</strong> - A video explainer on West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s visit to poll-bound Goa</p></li>
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|
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|
||
</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>Aukus: French president says Australian PM lied over submarine deal</strong> - Asked if Australia’s leader was untruthful, France’s president responds: “I don’t think, I know.”</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>UK could take legal action against France over fishing row, says Liz Truss</strong> - The foreign secretary accuses France of “unfair behaviour” as it warns it could block British boats.</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>Greta Thunberg: It’s never too late to do as much as we can</strong> - Activist Greta Thunberg is still hopeful the world can achieve “massive changes” to combat climate change.</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>Man dies during bull-running event in Spanish city of Onda</strong> - Authorities said the man suffered a head wound and had an artery punctured in his thigh by the bull.</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>X-rays reveal “bacteria poop” is eating away at the Mary Rose’s wooden hull</strong> - Polyethylene glycol applied to hull for preservation is also breaking down into acids. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808770">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Searching for solutions to a crisis decades in the making</strong> - A readable book on a depressing subject: the ongoing challenge of plastic pollution. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1809038">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>This is the world’s oldest image of a ghost</strong> - The Babylonian tablet may have come from an ancient exorcist’s library. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1809040">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lidar reveals hundreds of long-lost Maya and Olmec ceremonial centers</strong> - The sites suggest cultural links between the two Mesoamerican civilizations. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808992">link</a></p></li>
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||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spiders are much smarter than you think</strong> - Researchers are discovering surprising capabilities among a group of itsy-bitsy arachnids. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1808930">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 did the non-binary prospector travel West in 1849?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
Because there’s gold in them/their hills
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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/HamsterCockSock"> /u/HamsterCockSock </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk0g21/why_did_the_nonbinary_prospector_travel_west_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk0g21/why_did_the_nonbinary_prospector_travel_west_in/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>What do you call a thief who keeps the things he stole on public display?</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">
|
||
British
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
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||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TestNamePlsIgnore1"> /u/TestNamePlsIgnore1 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk9atx/what_do_you_call_a_thief_who_keeps_the_things_he/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk9atx/what_do_you_call_a_thief_who_keeps_the_things_he/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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||
<li><strong>I caught my girlfriend cheating with my best friend.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
She was tired of getting beaten all the time, and he was jealous of all my money and property. I was so upset when I found out, that I flipped the game board over and left them to pick up all the pieces.
|
||
</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/kickypie"> /u/kickypie </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk6ebo/i_caught_my_girlfriend_cheating_with_my_best/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qk6ebo/i_caught_my_girlfriend_cheating_with_my_best/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>Guy goes to Doc because his dick is orange.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
A guy goes to the doctor because his dick is orange;
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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||
Doctor looks at it and say, “yep, it’s orange alright”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy says, “why is it orange doc? What could it be?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doc thinks for a minute… then asks the guy, “do you work around dyes or paints or anything like that?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy says, “no.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doc asks, “Any chemicals or solvents?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy says, “no doc, I don’t even have a job, all I ever do is sit around watching pornos and eating Cheetos.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Rokk1515"> /u/Rokk1515 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qjuivx/guy_goes_to_doc_because_his_dick_is_orange/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qjuivx/guy_goes_to_doc_because_his_dick_is_orange/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>A elderly couple want to spice up their second life</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They decide that the woman will take control for that evening.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
She pushes the man to the bed and tells him to wait there while she gets changed in the bathroom.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
She comes out a few minutes later wearing nothing but a cape, she stands there and yells SUPER VAGINA
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The man replies I’ll have the soup
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/spb311"> /u/spb311 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qkab7q/a_elderly_couple_want_to_spice_up_their_second/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/qkab7q/a_elderly_couple_want_to_spice_up_their_second/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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