August 12 is National Middle Child Day in America, dedicated to recognizing the sibling in the middle. It’s a special day to highlight the kids who often get lost in the familial mix while the youngest hogs all the attention and the eldest has all the responsibilities. Elizabeth Walker started the day in the 1980s because she thought middle children were “left out.” But we think the great traits of being the kid in the middle are worth highlighting any day of the week. When people discuss the plight of these kids, they often bring up Middle Child Syndrome, which some say leads kids caught in the middle to feel rebellious or have a chip on their shoulder. However, at Upworthy, we like looking at the bright side of things, so we’ve made a list of the 7 traits that make middle children amazing. 1. They’re good kids Research shows that historically, middle children have been the most behaved out of the bunch. One study in 1964 and another in 2009 found that middle children were the least likely to act out. 2. They’re wonderful team players Middle children are the way to go if you’re building a team, whether on the field or in the office. “They become more independent, think outside the box, feel less pressure to conform, and are more empathetic,” Katrin Schumann, author of "The Secret Power of Middle Children," told Psychology Today. “This gives them great skills as employees and also makes them excellent team players and partners.” 3. They are successful Schumann also says middle children are more successful than their older and younger siblings. She notes that at least 52% of US presidents were middle children, as were Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, Jennifer Lopez, Princess Diana and Michael Jordan. "When they realize how many the useful skills they've developed as a result of being in the middle, they are empowered in ways that positively influence their lives," Schumann said, according to Business Insider. The expert claims that middle children are successful because they had to vie for attention and aren't used to giving up on what they want.” 4. They are great negotiators Middle children must develop excellent negotiating skills because they are at a power disadvantage in the home. "When middleborns are growing up, they don't get their way because they're the biggest and they don't get their way because they're the baby who was indulged,” Catherine Salmon, PhD. told CBS News. 5. They’re humble Middle children have to learn humility the hard way because their birth order makes them the least important in the bunch. But even though it’s a harsh lesson, the benefits are great. “Humility can produce more happiness, positive emotions, and well-being because a person has a clearer understanding of the self,” Tiara BLain writes in a PsyD-reviewed article for Verywell Mind. “They are able to be comfortable with who they are and who they are not.” 6. They are creative Middle children may also be more creative because they are “trying to be different from their elder and younger sibling,” Michele Borba, Ed.D., writes. Given that the eldest and youngest naturally stand out, the middle child may have to work a bit harder to receive attention for their creativity, so they push themselves further. 7. They’re likeable Suzanne Degges-White, PhD, says middle children may be more “agreeable” and easygoing” than their siblings. “They are more extroverted, as well,” she writes. “They don’t have to lead the pack, and they don’t get the “babying” their younger siblings do. This allows them a bit more freedom to be themselves.” Ultimately, we’re all individuals, so not all middle children will develop these qualities. But it’s nice to take a second and heap some praise on the kids who may have felt a little neglected during childhood by letting them know that they are special, too. Just not as special as Marsha. “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” This article originally appeared in August.

There's one thing you can say about little kids that's pretty consistent no matter who the kid is, and it's that they're brutally honest. Whether you have something stuck in your teeth or you've gained weight, a small child will inform you - loudly, and usually in front of others. But one preschooler's moment of honesty is going viral for how relatable it is.An exhausted and cranky 4-year-old named Jude has had enough. The little boy had just gotten home from school when he must've been asked something before the camera started rolling because his response was a #same moment."Listen. No, do you hear me? I'm cranky, I'm tired, I worked hard at school," Jude says to his dad.Jude's mom, Amber Tinker uploaded the video to TikTok where it went viral with over 14 million views and over 1.5 million likes. The tiny grumpy human was clearly not interested in whatever shenanigans his dad was up to and he let him know it.Jude's dad, Justin Tinker was attempting to tease the boy about messing with him later but Jude was having none of it. The preschooler quickly repeated that he was cranky and tired after working hard at school. He mumbles something as he walks towards a barn when his dad stops him. "I've already got everything fed and watered. I already got the eggs, I did your job cause I knew you was tired," Justin calls out.Though his dad did his chores for him, Jude still didn't feel like he got his point across because later in the video he repeats how cranky and tired he is. Both of his parents explained they also worked hard today and were tired but it was obvious that Jude out tired them all. In the end he declared he was getting a bath tonight. Maybe his mom will bring him a cold Capri Sun and light some candles while he soaks in a bubble bath. Preschool must be rough these days.Watch the whole video below: @judemywildchild This boy has had enough! #HeyJude #Cranky #Tired #kidsoftiktok #Funny #Viral This article originally appeared in October.

Earlier in the week, Stephen Callaghan's daughter Ruby came home from school. When he asked her how her day was, her answer made him raise an eyebrow.Ruby, who's in the sixth grade at her school in Australia, told her dad that the boys would soon be taken on a field trip to Bunnings (a hardware chain in the area) to learn about construction. The girls, on the other hand? While the boys were out learning, they would be sent to the library to have their hair and makeup done.Ruby's reply made Callaghan do a double take. What year was it, again?Callaghan decided to write a letter to the school sharing his disappointment — but his wasn't your typical "outraged parent" letter."Dear Principal," he began. "I must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter is a Year 6 student.""When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017," Callaghan continued. "But when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968."The letter goes on to suggest that perhaps the school is harboring secret time-travel technology or perhaps has fallen victim to a rift in the "space-time continuum," keeping his daughter in an era where women were relegated to domestic life by default."I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not sharply divided along gender lines," he concluded.Dear PrincipalI must draw your attention to a serious incident which occurred yesterday at your school where my daughter Ruby is a Year 6 student.When Ruby left for school yesterday it was 2017 but when she returned home in the afternoon she was from 1968.I know this to be the case as Ruby informed me that the "girls" in Year 6 would be attending the school library to get their hair and make-up done on Monday afternoon while the "boys" are going to Bunnings.Are you able to search the school buildings for a rip in the space-time continuum? Perhaps there is a faulty Flux Capacitor hidden away in the girls toilet block.I look forward to this being rectified and my daughter and other girls at the school being returned to this millennium where school activities are not sharply divided along gender lines.Yours respectfullyStephen CallaghanWhen Callaghan posted the letter to Twitter, it quickly went viral and inspired hundreds of supportive responses.Though most people who saw his response to the school's egregiously outdated activities applauded him, not everyone was on board.One commenter wrote, "Sometimes it is just ok for girls to do girl things."But Callaghan was ready for that. "Never said it wasn't," he replied. "But you've missed the point. Why 'girl things' or 'boy things'... Why not just 'things anyone can do?'"He later commented that he didn't think the school's plan was malicious, but noted the incident was a powerful example of "everyday sexism" at work.Callaghan says the school hasn't responded to his letter. (Yes, he really sent it.) At least, not directly to him.Some media outlets have reported that the school claims students are free to opt in and out of the different activities. But, as Callaghan says, gendering activities like this in the first place sends the completely wrong message.In response to the outpouring of support, Callaghan again took to Twitter."At 12 years of age my daughter is starting to notice there are plenty of people prepared to tell her what she can and can't do based solely on the fact she is female," he wrote."She would like this to change. So would I."This article originally appeared on 12.08.17.

Kids can seem pretty unappreciative at times. Parents often sacrifice a lot to give their child the best, just to have it thrown in their face, or in the bin. This is something that Haley Hassell recently discovered when she went to three different stores to get her daughter the latest trendy pencil case.When Hassell gave her daughter the pencil case, she threw it in the bin complaining that everyone already had it. That's when Hassell decided to teach her daughter the perfect lesson.In a Facebook post, Hassell explained:"[Daughter] learned a tough love lesson today... I went to 3 different stores to get that LOL pencil box you see in the trash there. When I surprised her with it this afternoon (just knowing she would be ecstatic) she stared at it and threw it in the trash and slammed the bedroom door. She yelled 'that's stupid, everyone in my class has that..I don't want it anymore!'""OK So by this time there was probably smoke coming out of my ears and I'm trying real hard not to completely lose it on this kid that I have worked so hard to completely take care of financially on my own & make sure she always gets what she needs and then some. BUT I thought I had always taught her to be grateful & know how lucky she was but apparently sis needed a small wake up call!""SO before completely going Madea mad on my child I check myself and say, 'okay that's fine, let me go get the one you're going to use.' Came back with her new pencil box, which is the Ziploc bag. She lost her mind! Suddenly the LOL Box she just trashed was good enough and the Ziploc bag was horrible...but it's too late for all that."Yes, Hassell gave her daughter a Ziplock bag as a pencil case since she didn't appreciate the LOL one."I told her to get the LOL out of the trash and we would be finding a child to give it to tomorrow..one whose mommy and daddies don't have money for any school supplies or someone who may not even have a mommy or daddy.""I explained to her she's not entitled to anything special and she is taking for granted how lucky she is. So for now she will be using a Ziploc bag & will personally be delivering the nice box to a child that could benefit from it. Maybe I overreact sometimes but I would've done anything to have all the things she does as a child. I truly believe changing your perception & just being grateful can turn around any situation in life.”Commenters seemed to love the punishment, with one user writing: "I'm down for this. Yes it'd be easier to give in, but sometimes you gotta teach them the principle of the matter."While another added: "I think you responded appropriately. Maybe she can earn the one she decides she wants at some point."Others were less receptive of the idea, with a commenter writing: "I guess I pretty much interact with my child on a regular basis, you know, take them with me when buying stuff for THEM so I know what they want. I talk to my child and care about their feelings. I don't fear monger them. But hey, good job being a monster mom!"Personally, I fully support mom on this one and think it's important to teach kids to appreciate what they have. If you don't, they'll most likely turn into terrible adults.This article originally appeared five years ago.

Not willing to give in. The post “He just said no”: the Pink Floyd song Roger Waters refused to write lyrics for first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

A fair assessment. The post Dad dancing and rampant misogyny: why Kurt Cobain couldn’t “even deal with” rap music first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

In the world of movies, as with his recordings and performances, Elvis’ talent and charisma got things “all shook up.”

One thing that nearly everybody agreed upon in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election is that it would be close. That proved wrong, as you may have heard. Former and now future President Donald J. Trump slashed into Democratic margins in blue states, won the popular vote, and carried every swing state by convincing margins. And in no battleground did he win as substantially as he did in Arizona. In the home state of Sen. John McCain and a purported stronghold of #NeverTrump Republicans, the Donald ran up a margin of victory of over 5 percentage points. It was a comparable win to what Harris achieved in Virginia, Minnesota, and New Jersey, all of which President Joe Biden carried effortlessly in 2020. Those of the more glass-half-empty school of thought, however, might have noticed something else: Downballot Republicans were unable to fully capitalize on Trump’s success. This represents a major change from the previous two presidential elections. In 2016 and 2020, only a single state voted differently for president than it did for Senate. That was Maine in 2020, where Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a popular moderate, won reelection. Amid Trump’s 2024 victory, however, Democrats have won four Senate seats in states Trump carried: Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona. Republicans came away from the 2024 election with a comfortable 53-seat Senate majority, but it could very easily have been 57 seats. And of all of these races, Arizona stands out as the most glaring loss. Republicans in the Grand Canyon State, it must be said, have been having a poor run of Senate races. They’ve now lost no fewer than four special and regular Senate elections in eight years: The last time they were victorious was Sen. John McCain’s final reelection in 2016. But two factors make this year’s defeat the most stinging. Firstly, the political winds were as favorable for Republicans as they’ve been for a long time. Trump is the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades, and he carried Arizona by an even larger margin than he did in 2016. Secondly, Arizona’s new senator-elect, Rep. Ruben Gallego, is nobody’s idea of a moderate. A member of the congressional progressive caucus until he left in the lead-up to the election, Gallego’s entry into the race was predicated on liberal outrage at Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s refusal to nuke the Senate’s filibuster rule to pass hard-left priorities. The New York Times, hardly an ideological opponent, noted that Gallego had a “reputation as a blunt-spoken liberal who is politically in tune with young progressives and lacerates his opponents with profane social media posts.” How could Arizona voters reelect Trump, and at the same time elevate someone who believes such antithetical things to him? Many on social media have insisted that it simply isn’t possible. The question is fair, and deserves a serious answer. ABC News’ exit poll provides some hints. According to them, Vice President Kamala Harris carried Arizona Latinos over Trump by a 13-percentage-point margin, 55 percent to 42 percent. Gallego beat Lake with those same voters by a 24-percentage-point margin, 61 percent to 37 percent, however. This was a significantly larger gap than was seen among white voters, which gave Trump a net 13-percentage-point margin (56 percent to 43 percent) while only backing Lake by 7 percentage points (53 percent to 46 percent). That is to say, Lake seems to have run the furthest behind Trump with Latino voters. We don’t have to take their word for it, though. The most Latino county in Arizona is Santa Cruz, nestled along the U.S.-Mexico border in the far south of the state. Historically extremely Democratic, over 80 percent of its residents are Latino. Home state scion McCain lost it to President Barack Obama by 31 percentage points in the 2008 presidential election, and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney did even worse. In 2016, Trump failed to win even 24 percent of the vote here.  But by 2024, Latino support for Trump had surged. Harris only defeated the new president-elect here by an anemic 19 percentage points. Gallego, however, beat Lake by a much more typical 30 percentage points. There’s a perfectly anodyne explanation — many Latinos, who have always voted for Democrats in the past, were willing to cross the aisle and take a chance on Donald Trump this year. They didn’t vote Republican for other offices because… they aren’t Republicans, at least not yet. The Gallego Arizona voters saw on the campaign trail was not the Bernie Sanders acolyte who once called himself a “true progressive voice in Congress.” His first Spanish-language ad promoted border security, despite the fact that he previously opposed and mocked Trump’s signature border wall and accused him of “scapegoating immigrants.” His ads highlighted his biography, notably growing up poor to a single mother in Chicago and serving in the Marines. According to CBS News, “Gallego focused on bringing his campaign to Latino voters — sometimes, without talking about politics at all. His campaign hosted rodeos, boxing match watch parties, and carne asada cookouts. His team took food to construction shift workers at work sites after they’d clocked out in the early morning.” Notably, Gallego also picked a fight with progressive activists by denigrating their usage of the word “Latinx” to describe Latinos. In this way, Gallego was able to project moderate aesthetics without compromising his left-wing policies. Republican candidate Kari Lake was unable to effectively respond to Gallego’s convenient evolution. Coming off her narrow defeat in the 2022 gubernatorial election, Lake began the race defined negatively in the eyes of voters, and proved unable to shake the perception. She was badly outspent on the airwaves, and the refusal of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s super PAC to assist did little to help matters. Lake closed well and seemed to have momentum in the final days of the race, but it proved to be too little, too late. Santa Cruz is a small county that did not cast any great proportion of Arizona’s votes, but the dynamics at play there are applicable generally, and one can find a similar electoral phenomenon in other states. Take Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s successful reelection, for example. Running in a much redder state than Arizona, Cruz defeated Democrat Colin Allred by just under 9 percentage points, a larger than expected margin that was nevertheless underwhelming compared to Trump’s 14-percentage-point victory. In the heavily Latino Rio Grande Valley, Trump carried traditionally blue counties such as Cameron, Hidalgo, and Webb that haven’t supported a GOP candidate for president since 2004, 1972, and 1912 respectively. Cruz lost all three, though he did so by less than usual for a Republican. In New York state, far-left Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won reelection to her Hispanic-majority district 69 percent to 31 percent. But according to one preliminary analysis, Harris only beat Trump with those same voters 65 percent to 33 percent. Ocasio-Cortez herself was understandably confused by this result, and took to social media to ask constituents who voted for her and Trump to explain their reasons. “It’s really simple… trump and you care for the working class,” said one representative response. The reasons for Lake’s defeat, in summary, are both less nefarious and more troubling than many Republicans realize. Were it merely a matter of stolen elections and fake ballots, Trump (who these alleged saboteurs foolishly allowed to win Arizona, for some reason) could direct his administration to prosecute the people responsible and put an end to it. But if significant segments of the Trump coalition are not sold on the Republican Party, it will take serious introspection and effort to win them over, and wishing the problem away is not going to fix it. People are strange. Most Americans vote one party line or the other, but there are a lot of idiosyncratic swing voters that make decisions partisans find irrational or unbelievable. Trump has a unique, personalist appeal that Republicans have thus far been unable to replicate, and the party cannot count on him forever. They need to figure out how to appeal to his base of support and keep them engaged. After all, 2026 is just around the corner. The post Arizona’s Trump Wave Wasn’t Enough to Save Kari Lake appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

by Dave Kranzler, Investment Research Dynamics: The sell-off in the precious metals sector since the election has nothing to do with Trump’s victory. That thesis is based on the price-action in the precious metals sector when Trump was elected in 2016. But the sell-off that year followed a move straight up starting in January 2016 […]

by Ethan Huff, Natural News: In the late-night hours of November 6 while most of the country was asleep, a “huge and improbable Dem vote dump,” to quote the “Shylock Holmes” (@shylockh) X / Twitter account that dropped the news, resulted in the Wisconsin Senate race being handed to Democrat Tammy Baldwin instead of Republican Eric Hovde. […]