Governments are turning the internet tap off as a key weapon to curb protests that are increasingly driven by social media.

Hours before India’s Home Minister Amit Shah announced the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy on Aug. 5, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had snapped all telecommunication lines between the contested region of 7 million people and the outside world. More than a month later, much of that communications blockade remains in place.

But while that blackout has drawn global headlines, it’s far from unique. From Hong Kong to Sudan, Indonesia to Russia and, of course, India, governments are turning the internet tap off as a key weapon to preempt or curb protests that are increasingly organized via social media.

The second tier clearly outshone the front-runners on the Democratic debate stage. Can it change the trajectory of the race?

We just collectively survived a three-hour presidential debate among 10 Democratic candidates, and that doesn’t count the hours and days of breathless analysis of which candidate needs to do what and who might have a “breakout moment.”

The easiest measure, which also garners the most obsessive pundit analysis, is the polls and especially the impact at the top. So far, debate performances have done little to shake the Democrats’ big three: clear front-runner and former Vice President Joe Biden (who had a terrible first debate and a mediocre second debate), Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Thursday night, the standouts weren’t competing in the headliner prize fight between Biden and Warren. Both did fine, and Warren was better especially in introducing more about her bio and Oklahoma roots. Sen. Kamala Harris — who went hard after Biden in the first debate — held her own and tried a new strategy of going after President Donald Trump, but overall was just OK.

Instead, the night belonged to the next group of candidates, the ones far too many are calling “the also rans”: former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Cory Booker, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

For Andrew Gurza, leather straps and harnesses added an edge to his cerebral palsy that went well beyond shocking and right into … hot.

One day a couple of years ago, a friend of mine came over to hang out and brought with him a big bag of surprises.

You see, I love leather. I love the look, the feel and the smell of leather against my skin — it’s intoxicating. It just turns me on.

He opened it and pulled out a leather harness, a pair of assless chaps and a leather daddy cap. He looked at me and said, “Do you want to try it on?”

As a disabled man in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy, taking off my shirt by myself is something I’m unable to do, so the idea of putting on any kind of sexy leather outfit seemed kind of impossible to me. I loved watching other queer men in leather scenes wear the gear, but I knew that I couldn’t ever do it myself.