It’d be nice to say we are less than 48 hours from the end of the nastiness of this election cycle, but to do so would be naive. For one, because the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump looks to be so tight, we are likely still several days away from knowing who will occupy the Oval Office next—and how much turmoil we’ll have to go through to get to Inauguration Day. But it’s also all but guaranteed that the polarization embedded in the marrow of certain factions will not end once...

The New York Times Tech Guild walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday, making good on a threat that has loomed over the company for months and could disrupt the newspaper’s ability to cover this week’s election results. The Tech Guild called the open-ended unfair labor practice strike after increasingly intense negotiations between the guild and Times management failed to yield a contract agreement, Tech Guild representatives told The Washington Post.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case regarding the possible redistricting of Louisiana's congressional map but not until after the upcoming election. On Monday, the Supreme Court said it was deferring arguments on the case until early next year, meaning the 2024 elections will proceed under the disputed map. This development could work in favor of Democratic efforts to reclaim the narrowly divided House of Representatives. Why the Map Is Contested The map had previously been invalidated...

You have been granted access, use your keyboard to continue reading. Beyoncé, whales, voting and immigration: For Mr. Trump, no topic is too insignificant or too important when it comes to making misleading or inaccurate statements. Your guide to the 2024 elections. Get it sent to your inbox. Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. Your guide to the 2024 elections. Get it sent to your inbox. Former President Donald J. Trump, in the closing days of the 2024 election, continues to be a font of...

Even though the marriage rate in the United States is on a steep decline, chances are that the majority of kids growing up today will get married at some point in their lives. If current trends continue, about half of those will end in divorce.Research published in the Couple Family Psychology journal found that the top five reasons for divorce are a lack of commitment, infidelity, too much conflict, getting married young and financial problems.Wouldn’t it be great if we were taught from a young age how to be a good spouse so we could avoid these pitfalls? But in American culture, most of us aren’t taught the specifics of how to have a happy and healthy marriage. Most of us tend to pick things up from watching the married people in our orbit, most likely our parents. Look how well that’s going.Artist Doug Weaver had a much different upbringing. His mother, Mickey, made a curriculum for him and his two older brothers when they were kids to help them be great husbands when they got married. See on Instagram "When I was a kid, my mom did this thing for me and my two older brothers called 'Husbands in Training,'" he explained in a TikTok video that has more than 5.9 million views. "It was a full, multiple-level curriculum on how to be a better husband."Weaver says the training covered topics from chivalry to eating to a rather uncomfortable discussion on "the ethics of the porn industry." His mother also stressed the importance of listening to women and identifying when another man may be giving them trouble. "There was a lot of really good stuff in that curriculum," Doug said. "There were things like what to do if your spouse says something and the information they give is wrong. How to handle it if they say something wrong in public versus in private, when it is appropriate to correct them and when it isn't."Weaver’s mother was also way ahead of her time because she made a big deal about teaching her sons the importance of consent. "We talked about consent, we talked about the basics of respecting and honoring women and listening to women, and all of the things that really just make you a decent human being," Doug explained. @dougweaverart Husbands in training! #parenting #storytime #story The lessons were so powerful that even Weaver’s father decided to take the course. "A lot of the things that we were learning from my mom were things that he was never taught growing up,” Weaver said. "So, he decided he also wanted to take 'Husbands in Training.'"The course officially ended when Weaver and his brothers got married. "My mom even made certificates of completion that she signed and gave to each of us on our wedding day," he shared in his TikTok clip.However, the video Weaver shared was so popular on TikTok that he’s making his mother’s course available to the general public. “After posting about ‘Husbands in Training’ on TikTok, the TT community really wants my mom to produce content about raising boys to be good men,” he wrote on a GoFundMe fundraising campaign last month.The overwhelming response to Weaver’s TikTok has inspired a new YouTube channel to spread Mickey’s lessons far and wide. But it has also made a lot of people realize that teaching people how to be great spouses is a lifelong journey and should be a major part of child-rearing. Learning how to be a good spouse shouldn't just be something we pick up by accident.This article originally appeared on 4.19.22

"What are you watching?" my 13-year-old son asked. "An old Afterschool Special," I responded. "What's an 'Afterschool Special'?" he asked. Hoo boy. Kids these days have no idea how different television was for those of us who grew up in the '80s and how many core memories we have wrapped up in the ABC Afterschool Special. I briefly explained and then he sat down to watch with me. A discussion about fascism on Twitter had led me to look up "The Wave," a 1981 ABC Afterschool Special based on a real-life high school experiment in Palo Alto, California, in the 1960s. In the real experiment, first-year history teacher Ron Jones had students at Cubberley High School engage in a simulation of how fascism spreads as part of a lesson on World War II, with him playing the role of the dictator. His intent was to show skeptical students how the Nazis came to power by creating a social movement he dubbed the Third Wave."It started out as a fun game with the most popular teacher at school," Mark Hancock, one of the students in Jones' history homeroom class, told Palo Alto online in 2017. "He told us, 'If you're an active participant, I'll give you an A; if you just go along with it, I'll give you a C; if you try a revolution, I'll give you an F, but if your revolution succeeds, I'll give you an A.'"Hancock said he started off planning to get that revolution A, but it quickly grew beyond grades and turned into something real. "At the end, I was scared to death," he shared.It began with Jones rallying the students around the idea of "strength through discipline" and "strength through community." He had them engage in regimented behaviors and handed out membership cards. At first, it was just fun, but students began to enjoy feeling like part of a special community. Jones pushed the importance of following the rules. The students even formed a "secret police" to monitor other students, and if someone broke a Third Wave rule they'd be reported and publicly "tried" by the class.The students got wrapped up in it to a frightening degree and even Jones found himself enjoying the way the students responded to him. "It was pretty intoxicating," he told Palo Alto Online. But according to Timeline.com, Jones felt like he'd lost control of it by the fourth day.The experiment ended at the end of the week with a rally. Jones told the students they were actually part of a real national Third Wave movement and that the national leader was going to speak to them at the rally. Jones turned on the televisions to white static and watched the students eagerly wait for their leader to speak. That's when he broke the news to them that they'd fallen for a totalitarian regime. Instead of a Third Wave leader speech, he played them a video of a Nazi rally. According to a school newspaper at the time, most students were disillusioned. But one student said, "It was probably the most interesting unit I've had. It was successful in its goal to achieve the emotions of the Germans under the Nazi regime.""The Wave" follows the true story quite closely and still holds valuable lessons. One chilling scene shows a kid who had been sort of an outcast prior to the "movement" saying, "For the first time, I feel like I'm a part of something great." He was particularly crushed to find out it was all a fascist facade. If you can get past the '80s aesthetic, it's worth watching. Even my teen kids got into it, once they stopped making fun of the hair and film quality. This article originally appeared on 9.2.22

A woman from Brisbane, Australia, has found a clever way to make her travel dreams come true by doing what she loves—taking care of people’s cats. Madolline Gourley, a 32-year-old writer, estimates she’s saved $28,000 in travel expenses in five years by cat- and house-sitting in nearly 50 homes across the U.S. and Australia.“As a sitter, you house or pet sit for 'free' in exchange for accommodation,” she told Business Insider. Gourley finds places to stay on house-sitting websites including TrustedHousesitters, MindMyHouse, HouseCarers, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America and House Sitters Canada. She documents her travels on a blog, One Cat at a Time. She believes that she gets the gigs primarily because of her experience with cats. See on Instagram "If you take out the fact that I'm from Australia, it's not that much different than a friend or a neighbor watching your pet," Gourley told NBC. "Their place is the only form of payment I get."For Gourley, cat-sitting was a natural fit. “I’ve had cats since I was little and my mum is a big cat fan, too. She’s also had cats all her life,” she told The Animal Rescue Site. “When I found out about the whole house/pet sitting for accommodation thing, I only wanted to do it looking after cats because I’ve only ever cared for cats.” See on Instagram Her most recent 75-day trip across America was her most adventurous yet. “I’ve looked after 15 cats and nine different homes in seven cities across the country. I started out in Seattle before making my way to Austin, New York City—where I got sits in Chelsea, South Park Slope and Prospect Heights—Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago and Portland,” she wrote on her blog.The great thing for Gourley is that cats are pretty easy to take care of, only taking up about 30 minutes of her day. The rest of the time she’s free to be a tourist. She gets a lot of great sightseeing and eating recommendations from her customers. See on Instagram “Traveling by way of house and pet sitting might come with a few extra responsibilities, but on this trip alone, it saved me thousands of dollars on accommodations,” she wrote. “Reserving 15 minutes of my morning and evening for pet care or house maintenance wasn't much to ask when I had the rest of the day to explore each of the cities I visited.”Even though her accommodations were taken care of through cat-sitting jobs, the trip wasn’t entirely free. Her American vacation cost about $7,200, or around $96 per day. That included the $1300 round-trip airfare from Australia to the U.S.Gourley didn’t need to budget for her trip because she gets around $9,000 back every year on her Australian tax returns, which she reinvests into her traveling fund.People have told Gourley she should write a book about her incredible traveling hack but she doesn’t want to ruin the fun."A few people have emailed me saying I should compile a book, and that makes me laugh," Gourley said. "I'll still mull on the idea, but I don't want to invest weeks and months and putting something together ... It's been a pretty cool experience, and an opportunity to save a ton of money."This article originally appeared on 6.13.22

Forget kids. Grandmas say the darndest things. One grandma in particular took TikTok by storm for her brutally honest, yet hilarious “funeral rules.” And though Grandma Lill adds the caveat that it won’t be anytime soon, you had better remember these rules when the day finally comes. Or there might be two funerals to plan.Grandma Lill is no stranger to the spotlight. Her social media bios all read “I’m a celebrity” and she’s not foolin’ around. She has her own clothing line, YouTube Channel and her name has been uttered by the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and Steve Harvey. She’s basically the internet’s favorite granny. But this video takes the cake at a whopping 20 million views. She’s gone full-blown viral now. Probably because she inadvertently brings up some little gems of wisdom we could all apply to dealing with the passing of a loved one. Or maybe it's just cause she's delightfully cantankerous. Either way, it makes for some wholesome entertainment. Without further ado, here are those three important rules: 1. Cry. But not too much. Or, as Grandma Lill puts it, “don’t make a fool of yourself.” Funerals can be just as much about commemorating as they are expressing grief. We can also share the happy memories we have of those who have passed, not just shed tears. I think this is what grandma Lill was getting at. Or maybe she just doesn’t like you stealing the attention.2. Bertha ISN'T invited. Whoever this Bertha chick is … she messed up. She messed up big time. Bertha, you have been CANCELED.And hey, why shouldn’t we decide who’s on the invite list for our last big day? If, for example, there’s a family member who caused a lot of pain, or with whom we just didn’t share a kinship … perhaps there doesn’t have to be an obligation to invite them to these major life moments. Basically, this is your permission slip to openly decline any and all Berthas in your life. That goes for weddings, birthday parties, baby showers … you name it. Don’t let her in! 3. Get drunk afterward.As long as you take a shot for Grandma Lill.After the ceremony honors what’s lost, take a moment to let go and move forward with the life that is still around you. Something tells me that letting it all go and celebrating life is something Grandma Lill’s a pro at. Check out Grandma Lill's 'Funeral Rules' below: @grandma_droniak it wont be any time soon but dont forget it #funeral #grandma #rules #dontcry #funeralservices #wake #greenscreen ♬ original sound - grandma_droniak Of course, funerals aren’t the only topic Grandma Lill can make you laugh about. Her TikTok channel is a carefully curated gallery of pure funny. Everything from bingo jokes to advice for getting back at your ex (yeah, she shows no mercy) can be found here.This article originally appeared on 4.5.22