As part of opposing Nigerian politicians’ impunity, animosity and incompetence, Internet meme pictures were utilized on the politics thread of Nairaland.com, a Nigerian online community forum for engaging Nigerian societal issues. During Nigeria’s 2015 electioneering, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their respective candidates, Goodluck Jonathan (GEJ) and Muhammadu Buhari (GMB), contested for the office of president, both claiming to be suited to effect new and positive changes within Nigeria’s sociopolitical space. This narrative was naturally propagated in Nairaland discussions and meme pictures. Contestatory meme pictures, however, arose amidst Nairaland discussions to oppose this narrative, mimick, and ridicule it, instead condemning the candidates as corrupt and incompetent politicians. Twenty-one meme pictures have been selected through a non-participant observation of twenty discussions on the politics thread of Nairaland, during the electioneering period (the official presidential campaign dates) between October 2014 and January 2015. These are discussed using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework to examine the processes through which contesting issues of power are embedded within them. In showing how pictures become visual representatives (pictorial representations) of the different levels of political animosity and ineptitude exuded by Nigerian politicians, this paper thus reveals the protest value of Nairaland meme pictures in resisting the sociopolitical imbalances that characterize Nigeria’s electioneering.

he United States is facing a COVID-19 summer surge as the delta variant spreads.

More than 611,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
MORE: CDC backtracks on masks guidance for vaccinated people, schools

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Just 57.6% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a mask in public, indoor settings.

Worldwide, [https://articlegenerator.org]COVID-19[https://articlegenerator.org has killed over 4.1 million.
Latest Developments July 28, 2021 Defense Department to require masks in Pentagon

The Department of Defense said Wednesday that, effective immediately, masks are required in the Pentagon Reservation, regardless of vaccination status.

The updated mask guidance applies to all service members, federal employees, onsite contractor employees and visitors to "installations and other facilities owned, leased or otherwise controlled by DoD in the Pentagon Reservation," the department said in a statement.
July 28, 2021 CDC predicts increase in cases, hospitalizations, deaths

In its weekly virus forecast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that U.S. COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions and daily deaths will increase over the next four weeks.