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<title>22 February, 2024</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<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>Legal Weed in New York Was Going to Be a Revolution. What Happened?</strong> - Lawsuits. Unlicensed dispensaries. Corporations pushing to get in. The messy rollout of a law that has tried to deliver social justice with marijuana. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/legal-weed-in-new-york-was-going-to-be-just-and-fair-what-happened">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Snake with the Emoji-Patterned Skin</strong> - In the wild, ball pythons are usually brown and tan. In America, breeding them to produce eye-catching offspring has become a lucrative, frenetic, and—for some—troubling enterprise. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/inside-the-world-of-designer-ball-pythons">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Matt Gaetz’s Chaos Agenda</strong> - The Florida Republican is among the most brazen and controversial figures in Donald Trump’s G.O.P. He’s also among the most influential. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/matt-gaetz-profile">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Trials of Alejandro Mayorkas</strong> - The Secretary of Homeland Security has been forced to respond to an unprecedented flow of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. Why are Republicans in Congress impeaching him for it? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/26/the-trials-of-alejandro-mayorkas">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>From House Arrest to the Oscars Circuit</strong> - Bobi Wine, the leader of the Ugandan opposition—and the star of a film nominated for Best Documentary Feature—meets Hollywood. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-los-angeles/from-house-arrest-to-the-oscars-circuit">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>Are Ukraine’s defenses starting to crumble?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Soldiers standing on a tank in the sunset." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gHPeXh9ExGXchvCkKCUg33Qlznw=/462x0:7907x5584/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73156179/2003732157.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Ukrainian soldiers in the outskirts of Avdiivka on February 14, 2024. | Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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What Ukraine’s biggest setback in months tells us about the future of the war.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NYsqFi">
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This week, Russian forces made their most significant breakthrough in nine months — but at a heavy cost.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RalyME">
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They <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-troops-withdraw-avdiivka-ammunition-shortage-bites-2024-02-17/">took the small Eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka</a>, ending a brutal battle that has been raging <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/battle-of-avdiivka-putins-new-offensive-continues-despite-heavy-russian-losses/#:~:text=UK%20officials%20stated%20on%20October,the%20encirclement%20of%20the%20town.">since October</a>. While undoubtedly a setback for Ukraine, the fall of Avdiivka was not an unambiguous victory for <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KvIr9C">
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Ukrainian military commanders <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/02/20/towns-in-eastern-ukraine-fear-they-will-be-russias-next-target">estimate</a> that 47,000 Russians were killed or injured in the battle, which is significantly higher than the pre-war population of Avdiivka of around 32,000. The estimated death toll in the battle, 17,000, would be higher than the Soviet army’s during the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russia-avdiivka-losses-casualties-ukraine-soviet-union-afghanistan-war-1871177">10-year war in Afghanistan</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TThQhf">
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Those numbers are impossible to verify and very possibly exaggerated, but there’s no doubt the losses were exceedingly high and that this is a point of sensitivity for the Russian government. (This week, a pro-war Russian military blogger <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/21/pro-war-russian-blogger-who-revealed-huge-avdiivka-losses-dies-by-suicide">died reportedly by suicide</a> after being forced to remove a post criticizing military commanders for the high casualties sustained in the battles.) Britain’s Ministry of Defense also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-lost-thousands-of-personnel-and-400-tanks-in-avdiivka-2024">estimates the Russians</a> lost more than 400 tanks in the battle.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aywyy5">
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Given those losses, it’s natural to wonder whether Avdiivka — not even one of the larger cities in Donetsk province, much less Ukraine — was a Pyrrhic victory for the Russians.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qtzo1K">
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Yes, in both Bakhmut and Avdiivka, the Russians demonstrated that with enough time, artillery ammunition, and human lives, they can take a small Ukrainian city, almost entirely demolishing it in the process.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pv8hHZ">
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But is this a sustainable strategy for victory over the second-largest country, in terms of land area, in Europe?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N5SY6G">
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“I do not think it’s sustainable, but it is what I think that they’ll do,” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, told Vox, saying the war would come down to whether Ukraine could count on continued Western support. “They’ll do it because they can see that we are starting to waver.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7QjFdU">
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The key factor when it comes to understanding Avdiivka is not so much size, location, or strategic significance, but timing. The loss comes at a time when international support for Ukraine, particularly in the United States, is starting to fade. It raises stark questions about what it will take from Kyiv and its international backers to keep Ukraine in the fight.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="etyB0k">
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The Ukrainians may be able to stabilize the front line in the coming months, but without significant additional support, Avdiivka is unlikely to be the last city to fall.
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</p>
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<h3 id="2i1IsY">
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How significant of a victory is Avdiivka?
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JkrIOR">
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Avdiivka was “not a mere symbolic Russian victory,” said Franz-Stefan Gady, an Austrian military analyst with the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), who travels regularly to the front lines in Ukraine.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FeenOa">
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The town lies less than 10 miles from the Russian-held city of Donetsk, the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The loss will put the city much farther out of range for any future Ukrainian counteroffensive. “Ukraine is losing an important strongpoint that anchored Ukrainian defenses in the area. It could potentially open up new avenues of attack for Russian forces,” Gady added.
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</p>
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<aside id="zYMYzd">
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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="xTvefj">
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Analysts also pointed out, though, that given the exhaustion of Russian troops after taking the city, they would be unlikely to be able to press further into Ukrainian-held territory. In a recent assessment, the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces would likely be able to set up <a href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-18-2024">new defensive positions</a> just a few miles beyond the city, forcing the Russian offensive to culminate here.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="V45bEO">
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“Battlefield results are measured in the ability to turn a local success into a bigger one,” Mykola Bielieskov, an analyst with the Kyiv-based National Institute for Strategic Studies, told Vox. “The Russians won’t be able to do that after pushing us out of Avdiivka. They lack reserves and have been exhausted from a five-month fight.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HofJj8">
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But even though Kyiv and its foreign backers don’t publicize Ukrainian casualty numbers, it’s clear the Ukrainians took heavy losses as well. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/us/politics/ukraine-prisoners-avdiivka-russia.html">recent New York Times account </a>based on interviews with Ukrainian troops describes a chaotic retreat from the city in which hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers may have been captured. Unverified images on social media show some of these prisoners being executed. The outcome is likely to contribute to already serious morale problems at the front and add to Ukraine’s difficulty in recruiting new troops.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N13pEw">
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Avdiivka was a long and draining fight for both sides, and though it’s likely the Russian losses in the battle were far greater, Ukraine may have less of an ability to absorb those losses.
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</p>
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<h3 id="UJVSvD">
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Ukraine’s hunger for shells
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IiDb4I">
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The battle for Avdiivka may have taken place in the fields surrounding the city, but the road to defeat may well have started in Washington, DC.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T5hLx0">
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Experts have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/world-politics/24002840/ukraine-russia-war-united-states-aid-volodymyr-zelensky-vladimir-putin-europe-congress-border">warning for months</a> that unless the <a href="https://www.vox.com/congress">US Congress</a> allocates new military aid to Ukraine — the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-sending-one-aid-package-ukraine-funding-ends-white-house-2023-12">last American aid package</a> was sent in December — Ukraine would start to lose the ability to defend the 1,500-kilometer front line.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zbRbpl">
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The biggest problem is artillery ammunition: Last summer, Ukraine was firing more artillery shells than Russia per month. Now with supply shortages, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/heres-how-the-russian-and-ukrainian-war-efforts-compare-in-10-charts-1cf9a74f">it is firing less than a fifth</a> of what the Russians can put out, according to Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LB7pVz">
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“If you don’t have shells, then courage alone will not be enough to win,” said Yehor Cherniev, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and deputy chair of its national security committee. Cherniev said it was “cynical” of opponents of military aid to point to losses like Avdiivka as evidence that Ukraine can’t win. “First, they don’t give Ukraine shells, and then they lament that it has lost a populated area and claim that Russia cannot be defeated,” he said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5Zn5tG">
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The White House has placed the blame for the defeat squarely on congressional Republicans. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a call on Monday that Avdiivka was not lost because Ukrainian troops lacked skill or training: “It was because of congressional inaction. We’ve been warning Congress that if they didn’t act, Ukraine would suffer losses on the battlefield, and here you go. That’s what happened this weekend.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eyaRGX">
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Avdiivka may be only a sign of things to come if aid does not resume.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Hvl1x3">
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Last week, the Senate <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-vote-aid-bill-israel-taiwan-ukraine/story?id=107174930">overwhelmingly passed </a>an aid package that included military funding for Ukraine as well as Israel and Taiwan, and though previous aid packages have passed with substantial majorities, it’s not clear if the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/johnson-ukraine-aid-critical-decision/index.html">bill will even come up for a vote</a> in the GOP-controlled House, given former president and presumptive Republican nominee <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>’s public opposition to more aid.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2Ucrep">
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Asked by Vox if Ukraine could continue to rely on US support for the long term, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a leading advocate of Ukraine aid, replied, “I don’t know. We were all together just a year ago, but Trump is causing Republicans to walk away from Ukraine. I think everybody should be worried. This [US] election will be definitive as to whether or not Ukraine survives.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p9mjRp">
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Republican critics of aid, such as Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), counter that no amount of US aid could turn the tide given Russia’s overwhelming advantages in terms of soldiers and industrial capacity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I9M7Zz">
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“The West doesn’t make enough munitions to support an indefinite war. Ukraine doesn’t have enough manpower to support an indefinite war,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/02/20/j-d-vance-has-a-point-00142111">he told Politico</a> on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this week.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="P4aMNA">
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It is true that Ukraine’s forces face significant personnel shortages, and that the government has been <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/europe/ukraine-tough-choices-mobilization-intl-cmd/index.html">reluctant to pass controversial legislation</a> that would expand conscription and crack down on draft dodging.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GJx49N">
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“They have failed to make the necessary political decisions to do this,” said Hodges. “I think not only is that a problem for them on the battlefield, but it also will begin to undermine some Western support.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="JE0P3u">
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The task ahead
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WOsyuk">
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Stabilizing the front lines after the withdrawal from Avdiivka will be an early test for <a href="https://www.vox.com/24068043/ukraine-russia-syrskyi-zelenskyy-zaluzhny">Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi</a>, who took over as commander of Ukraine’s armed forces this month. In recent days, the Russians have been concentrating forces for what appears to be an attempt to break through Ukraine’s lines in another area by retaking territory around the southern city of Robotyne, one of the rare successes of Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r4jFDJ">
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“One of the problems with the end of Ukraine’s counteroffensive is that much of the terrain that was seized was not particularly defensible terrain,” the analyst <a href="https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1758259470092648519">Rob Lee wrote on Twitter</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryeGqI">
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CNAS’s Gady said it’s likely there could be “more tactical withdrawals in the coming weeks,” as Ukrainian commanders work to stabilize the situation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kNsAL6">
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Beyond the next few weeks, 2024 is likely to be a rebuilding year for Ukraine, as they restore battered units, train new ones, and wait for more aid to arrive. European <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-to-ukraine-half-is-better-than-nothing-when-it-comes-to-ammunition/">ammunition production is finally starting to ramp up</a>, though at a much slower rate than Ukrainians hoped last year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ZtKy9">
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The US reportedly has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/biden-administration-leaning-supplying-ukraine-long-range-missiles-rcna139394">artillery systems and ammunition ready to send</a> to Ukraine immediately if and when Congress approves funding, and is also leaning toward supplying long-range ATACMS missiles, which it has so far declined to send, and which the Ukrainians say will give them a better ability to disrupt Russian supplies and logistics.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="akLTJz">
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As bleak as the picture has often been on land in recent months, the Ukrainians have been having <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2024/01/28/russia-is-losing-the-battle-for-the-black-sea">better luck on the Black Sea</a>, where the bulk of the Russian fleet has been pushed back by Ukrainian missile and drone strikes and where Ukrainian grain exports by ship are <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/01/18/2024/ukraine-grain-shipments-bounce-back-to-near-pre-war-levels">back to near pre-war levels</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OO9FAO">
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As promising as those developments may be, this is ultimately a war over territory that comes down to Ukraine’s ability to defend it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iU2q0R">
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Russia has its own supply issues, which forced it to recently begin purchasing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-russia-us-munitions-ukraine-war-7091eaba254b680888a9b1ec8a68135f#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20has%20accused%20North,denied%20providing%20weaponry%20to%20Moscow.">mass quantities of ammunition from North Korea</a>, and has also been reluctant to call a second mass mobilization to bring more troops to the front. But Russia’s ability to sustain heavy losses also shouldn’t be underestimated. A recent analysis from the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated that even after <a href="https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2024/02/equipment-losses-in-russias-war-on-ukraine-mount/">losing around 8,800 fighting vehicles</a> in the war so far, Russia will probably still be able to sustain its assault on Ukraine at current attrition rates for another two to three years.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="51BEMa">
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It’s clear that this will be a much longer war and a contest of industrial capacity and political will as much as military maneuvers. But even getting to that marathon will require Ukraine getting past a very difficult period in the coming months.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IDjGSz">
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Gady said a complete collapse of Ukraine’s defenses was not entirely out of the question, but still unlikely: “There are going to be a couple months where the situation is really dire for Ukraine, but I think they can hold.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HbERur">
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<em>This story appeared originally in </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast"><em><strong>Today, Explained</strong></em></a><em>, Vox’s flagship daily newsletter. </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/today-explained-newsletter-signup"><em><strong>Sign up here for future editions</strong></em></a><em>.</em>
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>American drivers are now even more distracted by their phones. Pedestrian deaths are soaring.</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kd6jZzYZPoUjmL4fg4oLQpmLuMY=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73156145/GettyImages_526624306.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A driver is captured using a phone behind the wheel in New York in this 2016 in photo. The problem of distracted drivers has only gotten worse, one set of data from millions of drivers shows. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
During the pandemic, distracted driving increased, and it hasn’t gone down since.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8NCXzL">
|
||
Until relatively recently, good data on the problem of distracted driving has been hard to find. The government estimates that 3,522 people <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving#:~:text=Distracted%20driving%20is%20dangerous%2C%20claiming,us%20keep%20America's%20roads%20safe.">died because of it</a> in 2021, but experts say the official number probably majorly undercounts the number of deaths, in part because police are rarely able to definitively prove that a driver was distracted right before a crash.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nT3FU6">
|
||
In the last few years, though, the data on distracted driving has gotten better. <a href="https://www.cmtelematics.com/">Cambridge Mobile Telematics</a> is a company that partners with major insurance companies to offer downloadable apps that drivers can use to save money on their rates. Via the apps, Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) uses mobile phone sensors to measure driving behavior, including whether a person is speeding, holding their phone, or interacting with an unlocked screen while driving (the company says it doesn’t collect information on what the drivers are doing on their phones). Its work gives the company insight into the driving behaviors of more than 10 million people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f0fAj8">
|
||
CMT recently analyzed driver behavior during millions of car trips. What it found should be troubling to anyone who uses a road in the US: During the pandemic, American drivers got even more distracted by their phones while driving. The amount of distracted driving hasn’t receded, even as life has mostly stabilized.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wEV8YU">
|
||
The company found that both phone motion and screen interaction while driving went up roughly 20 percent between 2020-2022. “By almost every metric CMT measures, distracted driving is more present than ever on US roadways. Drivers are spending more time using their phones while driving and doing it on more trips. Drivers interacted with their phones on nearly 58% of trips in 2022,” a recent <a href="https://www.cmtelematics.com/distracted-driving-report-2023/">report by the company concludes</a>. More than a third of that phone motion distraction happens at over 50 mph.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2dpgd9">
|
||
We’re also spending nearly three times more time distracted by our phones than drivers in the United Kingdom and several other European countries. US drivers spent an average of 2 minutes 11 seconds on their phones per hour while driving, compared to 44 seconds per hour for UK drivers, <a href="https://www.cmtelematics.com/distracted-driving/drivers-are-nearly-3x-less-distracted-in-the-uk-why/">CMT found</a>. The company compared the driving behaviors of US and European drivers because road fatalities in the United States surged during the pandemic and European fatalities did not. In 2020, <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/2020-traffic-crash-data-fatalities">38,824 people died on US roads</a>. In 2021, that number rose to <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/early-estimate-2021-traffic-fatalities">42,915 people,</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis">the highest number of pedestrians were killed in 40 years</a>. In 2022, the overall deaths stayed high, around 42,795, among them <a href="https://www.vox.com/23784549/pedestrian-deaths-traffic-safety-fatalities-governors-association">7,508 pedestrians</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x5a4Pm">
|
||
The United States is increasingly an outlier when it comes to <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23496462/crisis-american-roads-pedestrian-traffic-deaths-safety">traffic fatalities</a>, with rates 50 percent higher than its peers. The CMT findings suggest that the way Americans use their phones while driving could be one important reason why, <a href="https://www.vox.com/23178764/florida-us19-deadliest-pedestrian-fatality-crisis">along with road</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23462548/allison-hart-pedestrian-deaths-suvs-deadliest-roads">vehicle design</a> and a lack of <a href="https://www.vox.com/23880418/traffic-safety-enforcement-tickets-rock-creek-crash">consistent traffic safety enforcement</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ARf5ES">
|
||
“The way individuals are driving their vehicles in the US is distinct from the way they’re driving in Europe,” says Ryan McMahon, senior vice president of strategy for Cambridge Mobile Telematics. That extra time Americans are spending on their phones while driving increases risk: In more than a third of crashes the company analyzed, McMahon says, the driver had their phone in their hand a minute prior to collision.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dsbmON">
|
||
The large increase in risky driving behaviors in the US started basically as soon as the pandemic began. “We saw this incredible increase in distracted driving. You could almost track it by the day schools started to shut down,” McMahon says. “When mobility changed, risk increased dramatically.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMk7qq">
|
||
The individual and collective consequences of our cellphone compulsions are stark: The most distracted drivers are over 240 percent more likely to crash than the safest drivers, according to the report.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEP3nT">
|
||
The report also notes how the rise of smartphone use roughly corresponds to the rise in pedestrian fatalities: About 4,600 people were killed while walking in 2007, the year the iPhone was introduced. By 2021, with 85 percent of Americans owning smartphones, the number rose to 7,485.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="yBOv8K">
|
||
Why American drivers got more distracted during the pandemic
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BrlirI">
|
||
McMahon and other experts on distracted driving have some theories. Culture may play a role: The shift to working from home, the fact that Americans <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/americans-do-work-more-europeans-please-dont-think-europeans-are-lazy">work longer hours</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/25/66percent-of-americans-say-they-want-extended-european-style-vacation-policies-at-work.html#:~:text=While%20the%20average%20American%20is,passed%20in%20the%20early%201990s.">vacation less</a>, and the expectation that they need to be available to their colleagues even while driving is a notion many Europeans would scoff at. (As someone currently living in Europe after a lifetime in the United States, my highly subjective observation is that people really do seem less work-crazed in Europe. And while phone-checking while driving definitely happens, I see it a lot less than I do in the US.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zh61kr">
|
||
“I do think this notion of work in our country, and [the idea that] you have to be available 24-7 has also exacerbated it,” says Pam Shadel Fischer, a senior director at the Governors Highway Safety Association, who’s been working for decades to reduce risky and impaired driving. “It’s absolutely a cultural issue.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3GKlKm">
|
||
The most compelling theories, though, are structural and psychological. In the United States, infrastructure is built around cars, and Americans generally have <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/8/10/9118199/public-transportation-subway-buses">fewer public transportation options</a> than Europeans do. They <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-02-04/9-reasons-the-u-s-ended-up-so-much-more-car-dependent-than-europe?sref=qYiz2hd0">spend more time in their cars</a>, commuting, doing chores, and taking children to school than people in European countries, and they are far more likely to make these daily trips on roads that are straight, flat, and built for easy car travel: a perfect recipe for boredom.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bBC5Bt">
|
||
While it’s difficult to generalize too much about Europe, anyone who’s lived or visited there can attest to the differences inherent in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/science/earth/27traffic.html">roads built before the age of the auto</a>, where pedestrians are considered important road users. The road design, the topography, and the presence of people on foot demand drivers’ attention. “You see more distraction happening when people are more familiar with roads,” McMahon says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wIVatW">
|
||
The type of car also may matter a lot. In the US, the CMT analysis <a href="https://www.cmtelematics.com/distracted-driving/drivers-are-nearly-3x-less-distracted-in-the-uk-why/">notes</a>, 94 percent of car drivers said they were driving cars with automatic transmissions. Only 33 percent of UK drivers answered the same. Manual shifting requires more active engagement with the vehicle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LpwZoi">
|
||
It’s also possible that Americans are getting more comfortable with risk precisely because their vehicles keep getting safer for the people driving them (if not for <a href="https://www.vox.com/23462548/allison-hart-pedestrian-deaths-suvs-deadliest-roads">people outside of them</a>). “We’ve got all these safety features,” Shadel Fischer says. They convince drivers that “‘everything is fine! The car will take care of me, no big deal.’ They overestimate what those safety features are designed to do.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PzRNHC">
|
||
Another challenge is that there are frequently no negative consequences for using your phone while driving. It’s easy for people to do because they’ve done it before with no problem — until it causes a crash.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="JK2Ar7">
|
||
What could make drivers put down their phones?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lRMGBT">
|
||
A tech industry giant genuinely interested in improving lives and mitigating the harm and disruption caused by its products could find a way to disable distracting devices, leaving them available only for, say, GPS and emergency calls. “I’m convinced that the solution is the technology,” Shadel Fischer says. “We shouldn’t have to do anything.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oKNxuS">
|
||
<a href="https://www.vox.com/apple">Apple</a> introduced a feature to the iPhone <a href="https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/news/iphone-will-soon-have-do-not-disturb-while-driving-mode/">in 2017 that automatically puts the phone in “do not disturb” mode while driving,</a> but it’s extremely easy to turn off. So we are left mostly with interventions into individual behavior.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A8Rpd5">
|
||
On the policy front, activists like Jennifer Smith, whose <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/technology/19distracted.html">mother was killed in Oklahoma in 2008</a> by a driver talking on his cellphone, have been working with states to pass laws to end distracted driving. <a href="https://stopdistractions.org/">Forty-four states</a> have some sort of distracted driving laws on the books, and <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/transportation/distracted-driving-cellphone-use#:~:text=NCSL's%20Power%20BI%20Distracted%20Driving,hand%2Dheld%20cellphones%20while%20driving.">27 states</a> have bans on hand-held cellphone use.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NVOqFW">
|
||
In the distracted driving report, Cambridge Mobile Telematics looked at how driver behavior changed after a state passed a “hands-free” law and found that it led to a 13 percent reduction in phone motion while driving in the first three months after a law took effect. But those changes tended to diminish over time, and there’s wide variation among the states both in terms of public awareness of the laws and traffic enforcement, which <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/19SNqGnqdF3aXbu26MGvm8">declined in some states</a> during the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23880418/traffic-safety-enforcement-tickets-rock-creek-crash">pandemic</a>. Without high public awareness or enforcement — which is difficult to do well because it relies on law enforcement officers witnessing the distracted driving and <a href="https://www.vox.com/23735896/racism-car-ownership-driving-violence-traffic-violations">enforcing the laws equitably</a> — getting good compliance can be difficult.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="otG3rN">
|
||
That’s why policymakers are taking a multi-pronged approach to the issue, trying to find ways to educate the public and make the laws enforceable. “It will take a long, sustained effort to change driver behavior if we want to have fewer deaths in this country,” says Michelle May, manager of the Highway Safety Program at Ohio’s Department of Transportation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2UBQTF">
|
||
Ohio’s <a href="https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/phonesdown#:~:text=In%20Ohio%2C%20it%20is%20illegal,Speakerphone">“hands-free” law</a> went into effect last year; since then, May says, the state has used telematics data and tracked an 8.1 percent decline in driver distractions. But May expects the effort to reduce phone use while driving will be a long-term effort, akin to the effort to reduce drunk driving and getting people to wear seatbelts.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wVNeXG">
|
||
Financial incentives can also help. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2024/2/21/24078362/inflation-car-insurance-distracted-driving-costs">Car insurance rates</a> have skyrocketed in recent years, becoming a leading cause of inflation and contributing to the <a href="https://www.vox.com/23753949/cars-cost-ownership-economy-repossession">financial burdens associated with car ownership</a>, which disproportionately affects low-income and working-class Americans. The use of telematics-based apps by insurance companies offers drivers an opportunity to save money on their insurance rates. Research into the use of the apps <a href="https://m.cmtelematics.com/hubfs/CMT%20Study%20-%20UBI%20Engagement%20Impact.pdf">suggests</a> that drivers who regularly receive feedback on their driving habits tend to use their phones less while driving. The data can also help state departments of <a href="https://www.vox.com/transportation">transportation</a> better locate areas with more distracted driving, which could in turn help influence road design. “We’ve found that simple things like using paint to narrow the lanes gives people the illusion that they’ve got to slow down,” Shadel Fischer says. “The road design does play a role in how we act.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SDhfDo">
|
||
In other words, there are ways to address the problem but they rely heavily on a bunch of solutions working with one another, at a time when our road safety system appears to be breaking down. “Every single piece has to work in concert with the other or it won’t be successful because we’re up against such a huge scale of a behavioral problem,” Smith says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NE1J98">
|
||
The stakes couldn’t be higher, though, and getting this right will undoubtedly take some combination of policy intervention, industry investment, and a willingness among drivers to put their phones down and pay attention.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1vFJA7">
|
||
Until then, the status quo is an advanced country with incredibly high rates of road death, where, over time, almost everyone will know someone who lost their life in a car crash. “Somehow, we’re just accepting 42-45,000 people in the US dying in this manner every year,” McMahon says. “It’s preventable.”
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>AI-generated video is here to awe and mislead</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="A hand holding a phone in front of a screen with the OpenAI logo and the term GPT-4." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/EOaoureylzvsLD_c-j1vA4IhtHE=/0x0:4000x3000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73156107/GettyImages_1249183770.0.jpg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
OpenAI’s Sora is designed to be a “world simulator.” Right now it’s having trouble breaking a glass.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7U9F2s">
|
||
A tiny fluffy monster kneels in wonder beside a lit candle. Two small pirate ships battle inside a churning cup of coffee. An octopus crawls along the sandy floor of the ocean. A Dalmatian puppy leaps from one windowsill to another. These are among a series of demo videos of OpenAI’s Sora, revealed last week, which can turn a short text prompt into up to a minute of video.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SbWoHt">
|
||
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/4/28/23702644/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-technology">artificial intelligence</a> model is not yet open to the public, but OpenAI has released the videos, along with the prompts that generated them. This was quickly followed by headlines calling Sora<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/technology/openai-sora-videos.html"> “eye-popping” </a>and “<a href="https://petapixel.com/2024/02/20/all-the-terrifying-ai-videos-made-by-openais-sora-so-far/">terrifying</a>” and “<a href="https://nypost.com/2024/02/16/business/openais-software-sora-generates-video-in-response-to-text-queries/">jaw-dropping</a>.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eUR2C2">
|
||
OpenAI researchers Tim Brooks and Bill Peebles told the New York Times that they picked “sora,” Japanese for “sky,” to emphasize the “idea of limitless creative potential.” There is another term, though, that OpenAI uses to describe Sora: a potential <a href="https://openai.com/research/video-generation-models-as-world-simulators">“world simulator,</a>” one that, over time, could create “highly-capable simulators of the physical and digital world, and the objects, animals and people that live within them.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zcr8Ir">
|
||
It’s not there yet. While the available demo videos of Sora at work can feel uncanny and realistic, OpenAI’s technical paper on the model notes its many “limitations.” While Sora can sometimes accurately represent the changes on a canvas when a paint-laden brush sweeps across it or create bite marks in a sandwich after showing a man taking a bite, Sora “does not accurately model the physics of many basic interactions,” such as a glass breaking. People and objects can spontaneously appear and disappear, and like many AI models, Sora can “hallucinate.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UzCOZ2">
|
||
Some AI experts, like Gary Marcus, <a href="https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/soras-surreal-physics">have raised doubts</a> about whether a model like Sora could ever learn to faithfully represent the laws of physics. But just as DALL-E and ChatGPT improved over time, so could Sora. And if its goal is to become a “world simulator,” it’s worth asking: What is the world that Sora thinks it’s simulating?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="mIi7UB">
|
||
Unknown worlds
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SO3oEG">
|
||
OpenAI has made that question kind of tough to answer, as the company has <a href="https://mashable.com/article/openai-sora-ai-video-generator-training-data">not disclosed much</a> about what data was used to train Sora. But there are a couple of things we can infer. First, though, let’s look at how Sora works.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c3SpGI">
|
||
Sora is a “diffusion transformer,” which is a fancy way of saying that it combines a couple different AI methods in order to work. Like many AI image generators (think DALL-E or Midjourney), Sora creates order from chaos based on the text prompt it receives, gradually learning how to turn a bunch of visual noise into an image that represents that prompt. That’s diffusion. The transformer bit has to do with how those still images relate to each other, creating the moving video. And Sora, OpenAI says, is designed to be a video-generating generalist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ECK9ah">
|
||
In order to do this, Sora would need a lot of data to learn from, reflecting a wide variety of styles, topics, duration, quality, and aspect ratios. OpenAI said in its technical paper that its development “takes inspiration from large language models which acquire generalist capabilities by training on internet-scale data.” While not directly saying this, it’s probably safe to guess that Sora, too, learned from some training data that was taken from the internet.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1u7yCi">
|
||
It’s also possible, argued Nvidia AI researcher Jim Fan, that Sora was trained on a data set that incorporates <a href="https://twitter.com/DrJimFan/status/1758210245799920123">a large amount of “synthetic”</a> data from the latest version of Unreal Engine, a 3D graphics creation tool that is best known for powering the visuals in video games. OpenAI also has some agreements with companies that could provide large amounts of data for training purposes, like <a href="https://investor.shutterstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/shutterstock-expands-partnership-openai-signs-new-six-year">Shutterstock</a>. As for the data that OpenAI did not, in the past, use with the agreement of its creator or publisher, well, there are some pending <a href="https://www.theverge.com/24062159/ai-copyright-fair-use-lawsuits-new-york-times-openai-chatgpt-decoder-podcast">copyright lawsuits</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="bSwG07">
|
||
Biased worlds
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VC2qCO">
|
||
AI bias is not new, and as<a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/23738987/racism-ai-automated-bias-discrimination-algorithm"> Vox has explained before,</a> it can be tough to combat. It creeps into training data and algorithms that power AI models in a lot of different ways. Since we don’t know what data Sora was trained on, and the tool is not available for the public to test, it’s hard to speak in much detail about how biases might be reflected in the videos it creates.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6FSv1J">
|
||
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, has said that he believes AI will eventually learn to rid itself of bias.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXO2tw">
|
||
“I’m optimistic that we will get to a world where these models can be a force to reduce bias in society, not reinforce it,” he said to <a href="https://restofworld.org/2023/3-minutes-with-sam-altman/">Rest of World</a> last year. “Even though the early systems before people figured out these techniques certainly reinforced bias, I think we can now explain that we want a model to be unbiased, and it’s pretty good at that.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pqQTJZ">
|
||
AI bias and ethics experts like Timnit Gebru have argued that this is exactly what people should not trust AI companies to do, telling <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/22/there-was-all-sorts-of-toxic-behaviour-timnit-gebru-on-her-sacking-by-google-ais-dangers-and-big-techs-biases">the Guardian</a> last year that we shouldn’t simply trust AI systems, or the people behind them, to self-regulate harms and bias.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="coHicU">
|
||
Made-up worlds<strong> </strong>
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w5dPU3">
|
||
A lot of the praise for Sora’s demo videos stems from their realism. And that’s exactly why disinformation experts are concerned here.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dQx2Rf">
|
||
A new study indicates that <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/ak38xb/ai-generated-propaganda-is-just-as-persuasive-as-the-real-thing-worrying-study-finds">AI-generated propaganda </a>created by GPT-3 (i.e., not even the newest GPT model powering the current generation of AI tools) can be just as persuasive as human-written content and takes a lot less effort to produce. Now apply that to video. Even without being able to faithfully replicate Earth physics, there are plenty of ways that a tool like Sora could be used, right now, to hurt and mislead people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DjHmAm">
|
||
“This is definitely slick, but I see two main uses: 1) to sell people more stuff (via ads) 2) to make non-consensual/misleading content to manipulate or harass people online,” wrote Sasha Luccioni, an AI research scientist at HuggingFace, <a href="https://twitter.com/SashaMTL/status/1758237992559231110">on X</a>. “Genuine question - why is everyone so excited?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RuZ4Xl">
|
||
OpenAI announced Sora a couple weeks after a wave of explicit, nonconsensual deepfakes of Taylor Swift circulated on social media. The images, as <a href="https://www.404media.co/taylor-swift-deepfakes-ai-generated-porn/">404 media reported</a>, were created with AI by exploiting loopholes in the systems that are designed to prevent exactly this from happening.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QwsjtA">
|
||
To address potential biases and misuses of Sora, OpenAI is allowing only a small group of testers to evaluate its safety risks: “We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who are adversarially testing the model,” the company said in <a href="https://twitter.com/OpenAI/status/1758192958858543263">a statement on X</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="X1nFG1">
|
||
A world with podcasting AI dogs, I guess<strong> </strong>
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tjYjIg">
|
||
Underneath all this are concerns about what Sora and other tools like it will do to the livelihoods of creative professionals, whose work has been used — often without payment — to train AI tools in order to approximate their jobs.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QdWwVo">
|
||
Altman, on X, was taking follower suggestions for new Sora videos in order to show off glimpses of our glorious future, which will evidently be these AI-generated podcasting dogs:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="I1qSx3">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="zxx">
|
||
<a href="https://t.co/uCuhUPv51N">https://t.co/uCuhUPv51N</a> <a href="https://t.co/nej4TIwgaP">pic.twitter.com/nej4TIwgaP</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Sam Altman (<span class="citation" data-cites="sama">@sama</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/sama/status/1758218820542763012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2024</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mohammed Shami ruled out of IPL, to undergo ankle surgery</strong> - Shami, who was recently conferred with the Arjuna Award, has 229 Test, 195 ODI and 24 T20 wickets in his decade-long career.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Focus on young Indian stars as WPL 2nd edition starts with Mumbai-Delhi face-off</strong> - The outings of Harmanpreet Kaur, who will have to tame expectations that are generally placed on the title holders, Mandhana, who has the onerous task of landing RCB a maiden title across WPL and IPL, and the UP Warriorz duo of Alyssa Healy and Chamari Athapaththu, two of the best women batters in contemporary game, will be closely watched.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>With eyes on international events, 600 athletes ski down on Gulmarg slopes</strong> - Around 600 athletes will participate in events of Alpine ski, Nordic ski, and snow mountaineering</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IND vs ENG Tests | Ranchi pitch in focus as Rohit and Stokes’ men gear up for the crucial fourth Test</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Zeel Desai in second round in Thailand</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Water supplementation for wildlife, fire control measures implemented in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>First phase of study classes for Hajj pilgrimage launched</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Food safety officials monitoring cotton candy vendors in Tiruchi district</strong> - There are six large manufacturers of cotton candy in the district and the officials have asked them to stop production until further notice</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Union Minister Kishan Reddy dismisses proposal for national festival status to Medaram Jatara</strong> - The Union Minister said that there is no existing mechanism to declare any festival as a national festival</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Footballer Dani Alves guilty of nightclub rape</strong> - A court in Spain has sentenced Alves, who played for Barcelona and Brazil, to four and a half years.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Suspect held after students wounded at German school</strong> - Five students are said to have been wounded in an apparent knife attack in Wuppertal, western Germany.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Kremlin lashes out after Biden aims barb at Putin</strong> - Moscow responds to Joe Biden’s remarks about the Russian president at a California fundraiser.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rosenberg: How two years of war have changed Russia</strong> - The BBC’s Russia Editor reports on a catalogue of drama, bloodshed and tragedy since the war began.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>‘I miss you’: Ukraine’s children orphaned by Russian missile</strong> - Dozens of children were orphaned the day a missile hit the village of Hroza in October 2023, killing 59.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Test flights on tap for Space Perspective’s luxury high-altitude balloon</strong> - This Florida-based startup wants to fly thousands of customers up to 100,000 feet. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2004772">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>iMessage gets a major makeover that puts it on equal footing with Signal</strong> - How Kybers and ratcheting are boosting the resiliency of Apple’s messaging app. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005125">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Unvaccinated Florida kids exposed to measles can skip quarantine, officials say</strong> - On Tuesday, nearly 20 percent of the school’s 1,067 students were reportedly absent. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005122">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ala. hospital halts IVF after state’s high court ruled embryos are “children”</strong> - Anger and uncertainty spread in wake of Friday’s ruling by the state’s Supreme Court. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005105">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Blue Origin has emerged as the likely buyer for United Launch Alliance</strong> - Pairing of two launch companies could provide more robust competition to SpaceX. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=2005064">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why did the monk vow off hot dogs?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He rocked up to the hot dog vendor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Make me one with everything.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
And paid with a fifty.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The vendor pockets the fifty and gives nothing back.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Whoa,’’ says the monk. “Where’s my change?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Change comes from within,” replies the vendor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The monk pulls a berretta.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Whoa,” said the hot dog vendor, scared shitless. “I thought you were about inner peace!”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“This is my inner piece,” says the monk.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“No need for violence,” says the vendor. “You can have the fifty back or I can give you something more valuable I found recently.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Curious, the monk asks, “What did you find?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The vendor holds up a small peppermint chocolate with a hole in the middle, holds it up to the sun until a small light shine through the hole, and says “A light in mint”.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Buddhist chips a tooth on the mint and so he goes to the dentist.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The dentist goes to give him Novacaine. But the Buddhist declines.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He wanted to transcend dental medication.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/James-k"> /u/James-k </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awy4yk/why_did_the_monk_vow_off_hot_dogs/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awy4yk/why_did_the_monk_vow_off_hot_dogs/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My girlfriend used to smoke after sex..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
..so we started using lubricant
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Motor-Significance19"> /u/Motor-Significance19 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awr17b/my_girlfriend_used_to_smoke_after_sex/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awr17b/my_girlfriend_used_to_smoke_after_sex/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My favourite sex position is called “WOW”…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
It’s where I flip your MOM over.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/CuteSofiaturner"> /u/CuteSofiaturner </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ax3971/my_favourite_sex_position_is_called_wow/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ax3971/my_favourite_sex_position_is_called_wow/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>On his deathbed, an old Jew says to his wife…..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Oh, Sarah, when the shop burned down you were right beside me.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The wife nodded dutifully, “I was, Moshe”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He labored a bit and then said, “When the Nazis drove us out of our beloved Deutschland you were beside me again.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The wife tearfully said, “I was, Moshe”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“And now you’re at my death bed, aren’t you?”, added Moshe.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The wife replied, “I am, darling.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The old Jew sighed, “I’m starting to think you’re bad luck, Sarah.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/vect77"> /u/vect77 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awfjfp/on_his_deathbed_an_old_jew_says_to_his_wife/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1awfjfp/on_his_deathbed_an_old_jew_says_to_his_wife/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A bloke goes to a psychiatrist.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He says “Doc I have been having really strange dreams for the last month”. Doc asks “Ok. What are the dreams?”. Bloke says “It’s like there is a football World Cup going on. Every night I see a football match but with donkeys! It’s driving me crazy! That’s all I think about all day”.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doc smiles, thinks for a while, and says “Ok. Here is a prescription. Take 2 pills tonight before sleeping and you won’t have any of those dreams any longer.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Bloke thanks the doctor profusely, gets up and walks to the door. He pauses, turns around and asks the doc “Doc if it is ok, can I start the medicine from tomorrow night?”. Doc looks puzzled and asks him “Why? Why not tonight?”. Bloke looks down and whispers “Tonight is the final”.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Gil-Gandel"> /u/Gil-Gandel </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ax0nxx/a_bloke_goes_to_a_psychiatrist/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1ax0nxx/a_bloke_goes_to_a_psychiatrist/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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