ivanafterall

You all probably won't get this. Because you're slugs.

I'm really fucking smart. I see what's going on.

Flanderization: Coined from the character Ned Flanders from The Simpsons, refers to a character's traits becoming their defining aspect, resulting in a one-dimensional character. This can happen over time in long-running shows, with a character's initial quirks becoming exaggerated and dominating their personality.

At first, it just seems like some little quirk, maybe. You joke about it. "Teehee, he/she is proud and just doesn't like to be wrong!"

After years, though, you realize it's "they literally cannot perceive themselves as wrong, ever." Which means any behavior can be excused or waved away. Fast-forward a generation or two down the line and, left unaddressed, you can have generations worth of people left defending outrageous abuse, etc... that stemmed from one silly little "quirk" people initially joked about, but that eventually became all-consuming.

The voice and soul of a 60-something black bluesman of yore somehow got reincarnated into...well...not that.

Setting aside Capitalism vs. Communism (or maybe I just think I am), this structure vs. that. Why is it that there aren't really huge lists of alternatives? Where are the people who are imagining new government structures?

Like electing citizens to office at random, like we do with jury duty (forget the word for it). Or totally different arrangements of legislatures. Or even a pure democracy in a modern sense. That one is especially probably a terrible idea, and they're not even that unique, but who is brainstorming this stuff? Is it mostly just sci-fi authors? Where is it talked about that isn't already bending toward a team in the already-existing scheme of things? Even the most radical sorts are referencing back to books/ideas that are a century old. There are ultimately like four ideas and we just kind of gave up? That's all of them?

Why have we seen so few different approaches tried? Or seemingly even imagined? I feel like even in fiction, it'll be 2,000 years in the future and the whole thing is structured like a glorified city council ruling entire star systems. I feel like it's difficult even for our minds to imagine anything truly inventive, in that sense. Is that baked into the concept? Is it because we're just dumb monkeys that only understand "big strong monkey better?" HAS this stuff been written about extensively and I'm just unaware (probably, yes)?

Russia's rapid advance through Kursk toward the town of Sudzha in recent days has sparked claims online that the U.S. could have coordinated with Moscow on a pause of military aid to Ukraine.

There is no evidence to suggest that the U.S. collaborated with Russia to time its military aid block ahead of a Russian offensive in Kursk.

Newsweek has reached out to the White House and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into Russia's western Kursk region in August 2024, quickly gaining swathes of territory close to the border. While Russian and North Korean troops had managed to peel back some of Ukraine's control, Moscow had struggled to push Ukrainian forces from Sudzha.

The chunk of territory held by Kyiv's forces, sometimes referred to as the Ukrainian salient in Kursk, provided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with a bargaining chip in ceasefire negotiations, particularly on the difficult issue of territory.

Russia began a fresh assault towards Sudzha in recent days, making rapid gains on the outskirts of the town. Reports on Wednesday indicated Ukrainian troops were pulling out of Sudzha to avoid being trapped by advancing Russian forces, while footage from Russian sources purported to show the Russian flag in the center of the town.

Ukraine had not officially commented at the time of writing.

What To Know

Several social media accounts claimed, without providing evidence, that Russia's assault on Sudzha could have been timed to take advantage of Ukraine's lack of access to military supplies and intelligence.

"Russia's moves in Kursk appear to have been coordinated with Trump's move to cut supplies & intel," one account claimed.

"The American administration is trying to remove Ukraine's options before any negotiations," another wrote.

The U.S. paused all shipments of military aid to Ukraine in early March, followed by a block on much of the U.S.-derived intelligence shared with Kyiv shortly after. The military aid and intelligence cooperation was restarted this week after U.S.-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

"As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians," an unnamed Ukrainian officer told TIME.

An unidentified source in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office told the magazine that Kyiv's operations in the Kursk region had been hardest hit by the U.S. intelligence cut-off.

"Not only Kursk, in all Russian territory there are problems now," the source said.

Ruslan Leviev, a Russian opposition figure who runs the Conflict Intelligence Team open-source intelligence project, said on Wednesday that "Ukrainian troops are leaving" Sudzha.

One of Russia's prominent military bloggers said on Wednesday that Russian troops were operating in industrial areas of Sudzha, and had attacked Ukrainian troops trying to transport resources along the main supply route from Sumy to Kursk. Russia has been concentrating on cutting off Ukraine's logistics and supply routes to Sudzha.

"Russian forces continue to make confirmed advances in Kursk Oblast and have likely begun attacking Sudzha," the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank said on Tuesday.

Geolocated footage shows Russia has seized a set of villages southeast and east of Sudzha, while advancing to the north and south of the settlement, the think tank said.

What People Are Saying

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Wednesday that "deliveries of weapons through Jasionka have returned to previous levels," referring to U.S. aid passing via eastern Poland into Ukraine, after Washington lifted its ban.

What Happens Next

It is not clear how quickly Russian troops will be able to re-establish control of the remaining Kursk territory still held by Ukraine, and how the area will play into ongoing ceasefire negotiations as Russia engages in talks with Washington.

All U.S. population growth in 2022-2023 happened because of immigration, not births — the first time that’s occurred since 1850, a migration think tank reported Wednesday.

That immigration growth has happened as U.S. birth rates have fallen, the Migration Policy Institute reported as part of its latest edition of “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.”

The immigrant population grew by 1.6 million people between 2022 and 2023, reaching a record high of 47.8 million in 2023, according to the analysis. That’s about a 3.6% population increase, the largest annual growth since 2010, the institute stated in its report.

However, the foreign-born percentage of the U.S. population is 14.3%. That puts it slightly below the 14.8% registered in 1890, MPI said.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of immigrants in the U.S. are legally present and almost half are naturalized citizens, according to MPI.

In addition to naturalized citizenship, those with legal status include green-card holders (legal permanent residents), refugees, those who have been granted asylum, had long-term visas as students, temporary workers or other categories.

U.S. birth rates reached a historic low in 2023, falling 2% from the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fertility rate fell to 54.5 birth per 1,000 females of ages 15-44 in 2023, down from 56 in 2022.

The Census Bureau began collecting nativity data in 1850, when 2.2 million immigrants made up 10% of the U.S. population.

The U.S. is in the midst of a major immigration policy shake-up, with the Trump administration making a number of moves to curtail it. Many of its efforts are focused on illegal immigration, but some legal immigration and naturalization programs and pathways are also being affected.