A significant part of adulthood is realizing that many uncomfortable truths are indeed real, even if we wish they weren’t. At first, these harsh truths may dampen our spirits and make us feel that the world is a bit colder.However, understanding some of life's hard lessons opens us up to greater possibilities and can help us overcome the obstacles holding us back. Harsh truths help us realize when relationships aren’t as great as they can be. They also prevent us from having too much faith in people and institutions that will ultimately disappoint us. Knowing dark truths can also help us appreciate the things that are truly beautiful, honest and good.A Redditor named Rare_Can_5418 asked the AskReddit forum, “What difficult truths, the sooner you accept them, the better your life will be?” and received over 6,500 responses. Many of them were centered around harsh truths about relationships and the fact that even if we do our best in life, we can still end up with the short end of the stick.The key is to keep going and never let failure get you down.Here are 15 of the “difficult truths” that made people’s lives a lot better.1. Stop comparing yourself"There will always be someone better looking, better educated, younger, more experienced, more intelligent or wealthier than you. Do your best, live without regret, have empathy and kindness, give when you can, expecting nothing in return. Focus on your heart value more than what others have.""Comparison is the thief of joy."2. Some people won't like you"You can be sweetest, juiciest peach on the tree. But some people don't like peaches.""In Spanish, there's a saying: 'Nadie es moneda de oro para que lo quiera todo el mundo,' which translates to something like nobody is a gold coin to be liked/wanted by everyone else."3. Things are just things"They don’t have feelings. They don’t care if you give them away or sell them or throw them out. If a thing is useful, keep it. If not, get rid of it."Psychologists refer to perceiving that inanimate objects have feelings as anthropomorphizing. Psych Central says that humans project feelings onto objects to relate to them more deeply. "People generally anthropomorphize to make sense of events and behaviors they experience. Further, attributing emotions, attitudes, mental states, faces, and values to non-human things can help you feel connected to something," Sarah Barkley writes in a PhD-reviewed article.4. Not all friendships last"Surprisingly though, the ones that last are not necessarily the best (or even good) ones.""Most friendships are based on convenience, I've found. Unless two people are willing to put in a lot of effort, time and distance will do more to end a friendship than any disagreement."5. You may be the bad guy"You can do your best with someone and still be the villain in their story.""One of my current favourite memes is: I don't care if I'm the villain in your story, you're the clown in mine."6. You can't change people"You can only help people who actually want it. If they’re not ready to change or put in the effort, there’s not much you can do. Realizing this can save you a lot of frustration and help you focus on people who actually appreciate your help.""It’s always tough having those friends who are constantly complaining but doing nothing to address what they are complaining about. But as an adult, you just have to sit there and listen. No point in offering help to someone who isn’t asking for it. Kinda like how it’s really tough to teach someone who isn’t interested in being taught."7. How we judge"We judge ourselves by our intentions. We judge others by their actions.""In psychology, this is called fundamental attribution error."The Fundamental Attribution Error is a psychological phenomenon where we assume someone's actions reflect their personality without considering the situation. It's like when we blame someone's driving skills for being in an accident instead of the curvy road. 8. Depending on people"Once you're an adult, there really isn't anyone you can 100% depend on except yourself. There will still be people in your life to lean on, but everyone has their limits in how they can help you."9. Nice doesn't equal good"Nice people aren't always good people.""One of my bosses doesn't greet/make small talk and is known for being quite firm. He's been the most helpful throughout my most difficult period dealing with tragedy. Some people with that personality type simply get things done when you need them done without the chattering."10. Everything is temporary"You can suddenly lose anything and anyone at any time...and maybe all at once or in quick succession without so much warning."11. Nobody is thinking about you"In general, people in the real world are oblivious to you. You're not even a blip on their radar. If you're insecure about something you wear or how you look, remember: nobody cares."12. No one is coming to save you"No one is coming to save you, so you have to do it all yourself.""And once you internalize this and do it, your self-esteem will be through the roof."13. Nobody knows what they're doing"Before i graduated high school I thought, thank god, I finally won’t have to deal with annoying obnoxious kids and I’ll be treated like an adult, I come to find out 95% of adults are worse then the actual kids, nobody knows what they’re actually doing and life is actually a big joke."14. Love is reciprocal"If a romantic interest is not giving you the same attention/respect you give them, they don't really care about or want you, and you're in for a world of hurt if you keep telling yourself otherwise."15. Who's good for you?"People who are good for you will make you feel happy, joyful, accepted, cared for, and filled with fun times, despite any differences. People who are not good for you will make you feel anxious, sad, down, slighted, judged, and never check in on you if you're not okay, and won't even bother noticing when you're not okay. Genuine people will never let you suffer in silence or watch you suffer. Stay away from those who make you feel negative emotions and thoughts."

The country is experiencing a major teacher burnout right now, and has been for quite a while. Obviously, COVID only exacerbated issues that were already present. But beyond dealing with grossly low wages, a neverending list of extra responsibilities and battling against phones for attention…there’s a more existential shift in students that’s making teachers become both disillusioned with their vocation, and concerned about this younger generation.Recently, someone considering becoming a teacher asked other more experienced educators on Reddit to share "biggest difference you see in kids from the time you started teaching to right now in 2024?"The responses offer a bluntly candid glimpse of some of the challenges faced in schools today—but there are also some positive nuggets thrown in. Below are some of the top answers.1. "Level of curiosity... [it's] almost non-existent today. When I started in the '90s, there were always a handful of students in every class that wanted to know 'Why?' but in recent years, it's either 'Just tell me the answer' or 'Who cares? Just mark it wrong.'"—u/Pretend_Screen_52072. "I can't show movies or videos anymore because it is all boring to them. It is boring because they have Netflix on their phone and they can watch whatever they want at any time. It isn't special to watch a movie. "—u/Ferromagneticfluid3. "Fine motor skills seems to be way down. I teach instrumental music, and kids [being able to figure] out where to put their fingers and how to maneuver them has gone way down since COVID." " Kids [being able to figure] out where to put their fingers and how to maneuver them has gone way down since COVID."Photo credit: Canva—u/eagledog4. "A huge difference I’ve noticed is it is becoming disturbingly common for parents to explicitly tell their kids that they don’t have to follow school rules. Students are always so smug about it when they say that their mom gave them permission, and then equally enraged when they still receive the related consequence because mom doesn’t make the rules at school…Absolutely could never have been me when I was a student, and this was not a thing when I first started teaching. But this kind of attitude has grown increasingly more common every year."—u/kaelhawh5. "Kids just seem dumber overall. Could be the area I teach in, but basic math and literacy skills have constantly trended downward here. We keep lowering the bar for interventions because we don't have enough spots if half the school needs math and reading support.” —u/Baidar856. "Year 22 starts in July. I don't know if I can put it in words, but there's an air that little children have: it's a combination of silliness, joy, fearlessness, creativity, curiosity, imagination, and sweetness. Occasionally some naughtiness creeps in but it's all very innocent...I've taught K-1 most of my career and while many little kids still have all of these qualities, it's astonishing how many kids don't. You hand them a piece of paper and they say, 'I don't know what to draw,' or 'I don't like to color. You put on a silly dancing song and they not only refuse to stand up, they sit there whining 'This is BORING.' The water during science turns blue and they say 'Whatever.' "They've just... lost a huge developmentally appropriate part of their childhoods. It's going to have long-lasting societal repercussions."Photo credit: CanvaI think they're growing up too fast... They're afraid of looking silly or getting dirty or drawing attention to themselves by asking a question. They'd rather be on their phones more than anything in the whole wide world, but since they're at school, a Chromebook will do. If they're asked to do something challenging or ‘boring' they'll run to the counselor to complain about their big feelings so they can get access to a screen to 'calm down.' My kids are 5 to 8, generally, and they've just... lost a huge developmentally appropriate part of their childhoods. It's going to have long-lasting societal repercussions." —u/azemilyann267. "I’ve moved schools so I’m gonna have a rare opinion; they got much better in every area possible. Smarter, kinder, more respectful, self-aware, less entitled."—u/swift-tom-hanks8. "I just finished year 34, all in upper elementary and middle school. Back in the day, I'd have one or two kids in a class who didn't give a flying f**k and who did literally nothing. Now it can be a third of the class. It's mind-blowing. I will have several assignments over the course of a trimester where less than half of the class will get the thing done and turned in. Nearly every assignment will have a couple of kids who write their names on it and then turn in blank pieces of paper."—u/DerbyWearingDude9. "I've been in early childhood [education] for 10 years now, [and] was a sub for about five years before that. What I've noticed since COVID is a profound lack of social skills. Not just a lack of curiosity or emotional dysregulation, which I've seen in spades, but an inability to play or talk or cooperate with other kids. Each kid is their own little island and they have zero interest in visiting other islands. "I've literally had to teach 5-year-olds how to play basic 'toss the ball' games or work together to build a wall of blocks' whereas before, they would be coming up with wacky 'Calvinball' type games on their own and pulling everyone under four feet tall into the game with barely any effort. Now, I might as well be trying to teach them physics in Klingon."—u/the_owl_syndicate10. "Their handwriting is…comically big, completely illegible, letters not formed correctly, not within lines/margins if it's on loose leaf paper - straight up looks like a 1st grader wrote it. And this [is] junior high...Sometimes I feel so frustrated at them not getting incredibly basic art concepts and techniques, such as copying a similar value/line/angle or whatever, then realize they can't even write a letter 'g 'correctly, and it makes sense." "Their handwriting is…straight up looks like a 1st grader wrote it. And this [is] junior high."Photo credit: Canva—u/_crassula_11. "The maturity level has been reduced about three or four years since I started in 1990."—u/Felixsum12. "As an English as a foreign language teacher, here's a positive one: the internet/phones/tablets have made English accessible for EVERYONE. "Even in countries like Egypt where the parents speak no English at all, I'm noticing their kids have a great base level just from playing on their phones. It's pretty cool! Even young kids know quite a bit now."—u/Accomplished-War197113. "When I sub, I rarely see students reading books or drawing for fun (even in art class); they mostly use their laptops/phones to listen to videos or play games…But even more baffling are the ones who are told to put devices away [and] just sit in complete and total silence and do nothing but stare at the desk the entire class. They don't do worksheets, they don't do homework, they don't draw; nothing."—u/Seamilk9021014. "Been teaching middle school for 12 years. Kids are now testing lower than ever. I’d say I have around 10-15 middle schoolers that are testing at a 1st-3rd grade level. Students also lack the ability to be resourceful and persevere. They give up the moment something gets too difficult." "They give up the moment something gets too difficult."Photo credit: Canva—u/TraditionalSteak68715. "At the start of my career, on days leading up to and day of an assessment, my mornings would be absolutely devoured by students seeking extra help. Like, a full hour before the first bell I'd be circulating around answering questions and I would have to make a turn order and consolidate kids who had the same questions. Last three or so years? Absolutely silent. One kid might come in and ask me one question they didn't really need to ask and just want some reassurance."—u/enigma7x…and let's end with a sweet one to remember it's not all terrible...16. "28 years of experience... It's genuine kindness. Kids are so much more kind now than they were when I started in the '90s. They are so accepting of kids of different races, gender identities, [and] intellectual differences like autism. 'Accepting' isn't even a strong enough word. Kids [who] would be in such different social circles due to peer pressure in the '90s are friends now. I'm a straight white guy [who] was in high school in the '80s. I wish I was brave enough then to be as kind as kids are now.I have plenty of complaints about phone addiction or the inability to multiply 5x4 without a calculator, but this is the most kind generation of students I've ever taught." —u/scfoothills

Oh, what it must be like to be a cat. To never suffer from imposter syndrome, to take on foes at least twice your size without hesitation, to navigate the world like you’re on every VIP list in existence. What a glorious life, indeed.Take this concert-crashing kitty, for example. During a live orchestra performance at the 52nd annual Istanbul Music Festival, a curious feline wandered up on stage without a care in the world—and of course it was all anybody could talk about.In a clip shared to multiple social media platforms by several news outlets, including @abcnews on TikTok, we see the gray and white cat traipse onto the stage, as if drawn in by the whimsical tune being played. Then, it literally catwalks across the stage, unbothered from beginning to end. Watch: @abcnews A curious cat wandered onto stage during a live orchestra performance at the 52nd Istanbul Music Festival. #turkey?? #orchestra #catsoftiktok ♬ original sound - ABC News Of course, as many viewers pointed out, this is an all-too-common sight in Istanbul, which, like many Muslim countries, holds a special place in its heart for felines. According to Catster, cats don’t have owners. Instead, they are taken care of by the entire community all around the city—from tea houses to ferries to public transport and beyond.Istanbul even funds veterinary care for its stray cats, including spaying and neutering, emergency care, and a mobile Vetbus. It’s pretty much Kitty Heaven over there. Besides commending Istanbul for its feline-friendly atmosphere, people also shared their delight for the cat who “stole the show.”“He KNEW this was about him. HIS moment! Lol,” one person wrote. Another added, “that’s his background music, and he’s off on a big adventure.”Another tapped into the cat’s POV, writing, “how lovely, the humans are playing me a song.”Some even offered their best cats puns. “I think it was trying to find the ‘purr-cussion’ section,”one person quipped. Another said, “That is an ARISTOCAT.” Istanbul might go above and beyond for its cats, but the respect we have for feline audacity is strong just about everywhere in the world. This article originally appeared on 6.11.24

Whether we like it or not,artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived in our lives. Once only the subject of sci-fi films and tech geeks' imaginations, various iterations of AI technology are now in use across nearly every industry. Depending on your beliefs about and understanding of AI, that's either a good or a bad thing. At this point, most people seem to recognize and acknowledge that there are some profoundly helpful uses for AI, while also feeling trepidation about the reliability of popular language learning models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and other AI tools many of us have begun using regularly.One realm that has seen significant backlash against AI is art. It's one thing for a machine to do complex equations or write code or or analyze medical images or defuse a bomb. It's another to replace human creativity with AI, which is why Procreate co-founder and CEO James Cuda is saying "no" to incorporating AI tools into the company's art software.Procreate is a popular iPad app with the slogan "Art is for Everyone," which allows users to sketch, paint, illustrate and animate. In a video shared on X, Cuda was blunt. "I really f__king hate generative AI," he said in a post captioned, "We're never going there. Creativity is made, not generated.""I don't like what's happening in the industry, and I don't like what it's doing to artists," he said. "We're not going to be introducing any generative AI into our products. Our products are always designed and developed with the idea that a human will be creating something."Watch: — (@) "We believe we're on the right path supporting human creativity," he concluded. Cuda's announcement comes as its biggest competitor, Adobe A statement on the Procreate website explains further:"Generative AI is ripping the humanity out of things. Built on a foundation of theft, the technology is steering us toward a barren future. We think machine learning is a compelling technology with a lot of merit, but the path generative AI is on is wrong for us.We're here for the humans. We're not chasing a technology that is a moral threat to our greatest jewel: human creativity. In this technological rush, this might make us an exception or seem at risk of being left behind. But we see this road less travelled as the more exciting and fruitful one for our community."Generative AI has been labeled as theft due to the AI models using real art from real artists to generate images. Many artists celebrated Cuda's announcement, praising Procreate for supporting and empowering artists. Others said the company was being overly sentimental and out of touch with the times. — (@) It's important to note that Cuda specifically refers to "generative AI" which does not mean all AI. Artificial intelligence isn't just one thing—there are various AI models, some of which are used for predictions and analysis and others that are used to "create." It's the generative AI used to create that has artists, musicians, writers and other creative professionals up in arms. The question of what "counts" as art has been debated for centuries, but we've always agreed that art comes from humans. Some see art as the creative expression of the human spirit, which makes machine-created art feel soulless. Easier and more efficient, perhaps, but lacking the intangible, inspiring, intriguing quality of individual human creativity. As Cuda said, "We don't exactly know where this story ends or where it's going to go." Perhaps resisting generative AI is a losing battle and humans are doomed to be replaced by machines. Maybe AI-generated art will simply make 100% human-created art more valuable and in-demand. Maybe there's another possibility no one has even conceived of yet. However things turn out, it's the real choices real humans make that will determine what direction we will go.

Are you the type of person who always gets the short end of the stick? Or do seemingly random events always work out in your favor? The interesting thing is that, according to research, whether you think you are lucky or unlucky, you're right.The good news is that if you have bad luck, you can do some things to improve it.Richard Wiseman studied 400 people over 10 years and found that people can control what seems uncontrollable: their luck. Wiseman is the author of “The Luck Factor” and holds Britain’s only professorship in the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is also a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a “Skeptical Inquirer” consulting editor.In his research, Wiseman determined that one big thing separated the lucky from the unlucky: Lucky people consider themselves lucky. - YouTube www.youtube.com At first glance, this may seem like a simple psychological trick. People who’ve experienced a lot of misfortune will eventually consider themselves unlucky and vice versa. But that’s not the case. People who consider themselves lucky see the world differently than those who do not, giving them more opportunities for something positive to happen.“Lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles,” Wiseman wrote. “They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.”By contrast, Wiseman found that people who considered themselves unlucky experienced more anxiety. “Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected,” he wrote.How can I improve my luck?If you consider yourself among the unlucky, Wiseman has 3 ways to develop a mindset that can bring more luck. 1. Write in a luck diaryBefore you go to bed each night, spend about 30 seconds jotting down why you are lucky in a dairy. Take the time to list the things you’re grateful for, such as your friends, family, or health. You can also list some of the good things that happened during the day.2. Be flexibleWhen you drive to work or college, take a different route occasionally. When you go to a party, start talking to the types of people you would normally avoid. Making yourself open to new experiences increases your chances of seeing new opportunities.3. Trust your gutPeople who consider themselves unlucky often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice. Whereas lucky people tend to put a lot of faith in their hunches. Unlucky people tend to focus on the rational part of a question, whereas lucky people follow their feelings. Wiseman believes this gives lucky people an advantage because gut feelings act as an alarm bell—a reason to consider a decision carefully.Ultimately, Wiseman’s work shows that luck isn’t affected by supernatural beliefs or by holding onto a rabbit's foot. It’s the product of an optimistic view of the world that opens people up to greater possibilities. “Instead, it is about encouraging people to move away from a magical way of thinking and toward a more rational view of luck,” Wiseman wrote. “Perhaps most important of all, it is about using science and skepticism to increase the level of luck, happiness, and success in people’s lives.”

One of the most frequently seen buildings in any town is a nail salon. It seems you can't go more than a few blocks without seeing one in most cities and if you frequent them, you've probably noticed that many of them are owned and operated by Vietnamese-Americans. There may have been some curiosity about this floating around or maybe people simply assumed it was always this way so they didn't ask.But it turns out, Vietnamese owned nail shops boomed after the Vietnam War when America had an influx of refugees from the small country. Soogia, a small business owner and social media creator took to the internet to explain exactly why so many nail salons are owned by Vietnamese people after several followers asked her the question. The surprising history involved a movies star, Tippi Hedren, and 20 young Vietnamese refugee women. Soogia explains that Hedren was working as a relief coordinator for Food for The Hungry in 1975 after the Vietnam war ended to help the women assimilate into American culture."Tippi Hedren was working with 20 Vietnamese women and she couldn't help but notice how much they were paying attention to her manicure, and they were so interested in how clean and pretty her nails were. And so she had the idea to have her manicurist and other people in the industry come up and teach these women how to do nails," Soogia shares.The actress' manicurist came to visit the women weekly to do these classes and when they were ready she helped them get their licenses and jobs. After the women completed the impromptu apprenticeship and were licensed and ready to work, they took their new found skill to their community to teach other refugees.Soogia points to the popularity of nail salons with the influence of Black culture, specifically Black women saying, "and though Vietnamese people drove the industry of the nail salon Black women really drove the culture. People like Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Florence Griffith Joyner, and now of course we have women like Meg Thee Stallion, and you of course cannot talk about nails and not mention Cardi B." @soogia1 Many of you wanted to know: Why are so many nail salons run by Vietnamese people? @Soogia (SOO-jee-yah) #nailsalon #manicure #manipedi #tippihedren #dianaross #cardib #megtheestallion #acrylics #gelx ♬ original sound - Soogia (SOO-jee-yah) So the cause of the rise of the nail industry was really full of serendipitous moments starting with just 20 determined women and an actress who saw an opportunity for the new refugees and the influence of famous Black women. Thanks to her role in catapulting Vietnamese people into nail salon history, Tippi Hedren is known as the Godmother of the Vietnamese nail industry. The documentary "Nailed It" explores the relationship between Vietnamese nail salons and Tippi Hedren as well as how the salons spread across America and can be found on Tubi.People were surprised at the quick history lesson while others shared their connection with the story, with one writing, "Tippi Hedren was QUITE a unique person leading a very interesting life. I never heard this story before, wow, thank you!""My mom is Vietnamese & lost a lot during the war, but her nail skills are amazing," someone shares."Thank you for the history lesson! What an amazing and beautiful story," another says.Another person admits, "I have been genuinely wondering this for ages. Thank you for educating me."One man found himself getting emotional from her own family history, "this made me tear up. As a Vietnamese person who's mom and aunt did nails it hit home."What an amazing little piece of history that people can take with them and share with others, and if you're curious about a more in depth explanation, check out the documentary.

Tiny humans talking is cute in any language, but sometimes a video comes along that take adorable to a whole new level. Remember the little girl who was passionate about pencil justice? Or the Italian preschooler who did a full Italian rant about a miniskirt? Kids say the darnedest things, and when the darned things they say are caught on video, virality almost inevitable. Now there's the German toddler who sternly gives his father a road rules lesson, literally side-seat driving and chastising him for accelerating too fast. His "Oh, mein Gott!" has people rolling, as does his ingrained respect for the rules of proper driving.Watch: See on Instagram Not only is the video a hilarious viral moment on its own merit, but it's also a pretty solid demonstration of how the English language originated. English is considered a Germanic language, which is sometimes confusing because most of the words we use don't actually come from German. Some people mistakenly think English is a romance language like Spanish or French, but it's not. More than half of our vocabulary comes from French and Latin, though, hence a lot of the confusion. Around a quarter of our vocabulary comes from German, but where our Germanic roots really come through is in our grammar and syntax. The order in which we say words is the same, such as putting adjectives in front of nouns (which is the opposite of romance languages). And our grammatical structure is very similar, with only a handful of somewhat minor differences. As we see in the video, the German sentences are almost understandable without even having the translations on the screen. In the beginning, it almost sounds exactly like he's saying "Wait! Stop! Halt!" just with a German accent, even though he's actually speaking German. "Papa, da ist rot!" is so close to "Papa, that is red!" And "Oh, mein Gott!" is very clearly, "Oh, my God!" which is part of why English-speakers are finding the video so entertaining and also educational. Check out these comments:"We need an entire channel with this kid teaching us to speak German.""Need my GPS to go 'aaaah! Mein gott, das ist zu viel' when I go over the speed limit.""I just learned so much German.. this baby is more effective than Duolingo lol.""MY German instructor. I'd so learn how to speak German from this baby ?? I just learned like 5 words already!""How is it I can't understand toddlers that speak English but I can understand a German toddler without even knowing the language ?""Americans are so much more used to hearing Spanish and French that we forget that our own language has nothing to do with them, and is actually much more closely related to what this little boy is saying. That's why it sounds so familiar to American ear ! :-)"People also joked about his adult-like adherence to rules and regulations, as the German culture is known for such things. "He's between 3 and 75 years old.""This ain't kids first life on earth.""Did he learn that somewhere or is that factory settings?""Lil bro has a decent credit score already and he isn't even fully out of the diaper stage of his life?""That’s not a kid, that’s a full grown driving instructor ??"Thanks to the wee German lad for the fabulous driving and language lesson.

Deadheads down under. The post Why didn’t the Grateful Dead ever play in Australia? first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

I’m in the camp that believes that the presidential election is Donald Trump’s to win or lose. It’s a simple calculus: The undemocratically nominated Kamala Harris (how many Democrats voted for her and how many primary elections did she win?) has been a key part of an administration under which many Americans have not fared well. The Democrats may be terrible at governance, but they are good at salesmanship. All Trump has to do is to highlight the differences between his policy priorities and the harmful policies of the Biden/Harris administration. And Trump has an advantage that most candidates challenging an incumbent administration do not have: He has a successful track record in the White House that he can point to. Trump’s biggest problem is the unforced errors he commits. Just Stick to the Facts, Trump He sometimes makes off-the-cuff comments about his opponents that are inaccurate or exaggerated. Just stick to the facts, sir they are sufficiently damning to defeat the Democrats. For some incomprehensible reason, he commented on Harris’s race. He needs to avoid getting sucked into playing the Dems’ identity politics game; to most Americans, her race is irrelevant. Silly blunders like those give the other side ammunition to use against him and to keep the public attention focused on trivial issues. Focus exclusively on the major issues, sir; they are on your side. (READ MORE from Mark W. Hendrickson: If Greenies Want Justice, They Should Sue Themselves) Trump keeps obsessing about the past — particularly the obscene and unjust persecution that Democrats have waged against him. The past he should focus on is the past three-and-a-half years of Biden’s dismal presidency. I have great sympathy for Trump and how the would-be totalitarian Democrats have abused the legal system to torment him. However, Trump needs to constantly remind voters of his deep love for America and his commitment to a brighter future for all Americans rather than making the election about his personal vindication. Trump needs to be more aware of optics. If voters perceive the presidential race as being between a sour, grumpy, angry old man and a sunny, smiling, upbeat, younger woman, then Harris will win a lot of votes on that basis. Americans value hope, optimism, and positivity. Harris’s handlers want her to project those qualities. Of course, Harris’s campaign is superficial; there is no substance there, but the optics are crucial. (RELATED: Beware Tim Walz: The Silly Midwestern Grandpa Who’s Actually a Flaming Lib) Why the Smile, Harris? Trump should ask his audiences why Kamala Harris smiles so often. Is she happy with what she and Joe Biden have wrought? Remember: She was not a passive member of the Biden administration. As president of the Senate, she cast the tie-breaking vote to get several of Biden’s legislative monstrosities passed into law. Is she happy with the way inflation has ravaged America’s purchasing power during the Biden years? Is she happy about the flood of illegal immigrants that poured into the country while she and Joe ignored the problem? Is she happy with the green socialism by which D.C. elites have gone after Americans’ stoves, freezers, refrigerators, air conditioning units, gasoline-powered cars, dishwashers, heat pumps, hot water heaters, etc.? Hit her on this point: Having been part of an administration that unleashed painful inflation on the American people by radically increasing government spending and expanding government control over the economy, she proposes even more government control over our lives by threatening to have government control prices. Not only should Kamala visit our southern border more often, but she ought to visit Venezuela, too, to see government price controls in action. Politics being the brass-knuckled fight that it is, Democrats will throw mud at Donald Trump every chance they get. Here, Trump needs to restrain his impulses to retaliate and let other Republican leaders speak on his behalf. His instincts are to get down into the mud with his antagonists, but it will seem more presidential to voters if he maintains some dignity by not taking the bait and letting his supporters address the specious accusations. What if Dems try to make an issue of Trump’s management style and say that the turnover rate in the White House indicates chaos? The counterpoint is obvious: Over 91 percent of Harris’ vice-presidential staff has bailed out on her during her term in office. It’s hard to be more chaotic than that. (READ MORE: The Secret Democratic Cabal’s Openly Anti-American Agenda) Trump is “a threat to democracy”? What an absurd accusation from a candidate who was hand-picked rather than nominated by democratic means. Trump is a “felon”? Current rumors are that Judge Merchan will hang the “felon” label on Trump before the election for improper accounting of hush money paid to a porn star (whose salacious accusations against the former president remain unproven). Republicans need to remind voters that when Bill Clinton was president (a man who was accused of rape by at least one woman and who obtained sexual favors from a young white intern) Democrats refused to convict him on impeachment charges related to the perjury he committed by rationalizing “it’s only about sex.” What’s the deal here — “it’s only sex” (an offensive stance on its own) is a legitimate defense for Democrats but not for Republicans? Perjury, by the way, is a felony in federal law, so Democrats lack the moral high ground to vote against someone for being a felon when they voted to keep their own felon in the White House. Trump is “disrespectful of women”? Exit polls in 2020 showed that Trump lost the votes of many suburban women who felt that he set a bad example for their children. But do those women want to endorse Kamala Harris as an example for their children, particularly for their little girls? Harris’s political career took off as a result of her affair with Democratic power broker Willie Brown. How many women really want to vote for a woman who wouldn’t be where she is today had she not used her “feminine wiles”? If Trump hopes to win the presidential race, he needs to swallow his pride enough to learn an important strategic lesson from his opponents. The Democrats may be terrible at governance, but they are good at salesmanship. They showed considerable political talent by getting the doddering, feckless Joe Biden elected. What was the secret to their success? They kept Biden’s public appearances to a minimum. They are pursuing the same strategy today, keeping Kamala Harris under a tight leash and limiting what she says in public. The lesson: saying less can be political wisdom. Donald Trump should absorb that lesson. He needs to discipline and rein in his public verbiage. That doesn’t imply he should hide — far from it! He has truth and a decent record on his side, while his opponent is part of a failed presidency. Stick to the facts, Mr. Trump. Tell the truth if you want to win. The post How Trump Can Win (Or Lose) appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

President Joe Biden said the quiet part out loud last evening at the Democratic National Convention when he went off script and said, “Those protesters out in the streets, they have a point.” “Those protesters” are accusing Israel of genocide, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and holding signs and chanting “From the river to the sea” —  which means the establishment of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, i.e., the destruction of the state of Israel. (WATCH: The Spectator P.M. Podcast Ep. 70: 1968 or 2024? Democrats Hope History Doesn’t Repeat Itself) “Those protesters” carried large Palestinian flags and some tore down barriers, breaching the security perimeter. “Those protesters,” like the Biden administration, want a ceasefire in Gaza. For months, the Biden administration has been pressuring Israel to negotiate a ceasefire instead of continuing offensive operations that were launched in response to the horrific Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas. Israel has since come under attack from Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists, but Biden warned Israel against responding to those attacks with a ground invasion of Lebanon. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has accused the Biden administration of withholding “crucial aid” to Israel in a political effort to placate anti-Israeli Democrats. Anti-Israel Bent at DNC Is No Accident Back in October 2023, the left-wing magazine, Nation, wrote that Biden’s then pro-Israel stance was hurting his chances at reelection. Several months later, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) accused Israel of waging war against the “entire Palestinian people,” placed the blame squarely on the Israeli government, and warned Biden against being “complicit in the horror that is taking place now.” Other Democratic senators accused Israel of human rights violations in Gaza. It is no accident, as the Marxists say, that the political pressure on the Biden administration is all in one direction: against Israel. The anti-Israeli propaganda machine has managed to transform Hamas’ aggression into Israeli genocide. The aggressor is now considered the victim. It is a tactic that unfortunately has worked in the past. Who controls the narrative controls reality. The Biden administration has accepted the narrative and the possible political consequences this November in, for example, Michigan, so it pressures Israel. (READ MORE: Treatment of Biden at Convention Exposes the Anti-Democrats) It makes one wonder whether this sort of political calculation had anything to do with Kamala Harris’ decision against naming Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Jew, as her running mate. Harris and Shapiro deny this, but politics not only makes strange bedfellows, sometimes it also determines who won’t be invited into the political bedroom. Harris has been urged to distance herself from Biden’s alleged pro-Israel policy by calling for “an immediate halt to the horrific Israeli bombing of Gaza’s schools, apartment buildings and refugee camps,” citing a YouGov poll which showed “over a third of voters in three swing states say they are more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee if they pledge to withhold weapons to Israel.” Democrats Want Harris to Break Away from Biden Aljazeera notes that several Palestinian supporters indicated that “they will not vote for Harris unless she agrees to an arms embargo against Israel.” In The Hill, columnists warn Harris that she must do more than even Biden has to pressure Israel to stop the war because the “nonstop flow of armaments from the U.S. to Israel has turned off a significant number of Democratic voters — especially young people, progressives, Arab Americans and Muslims.” They cited Dearborn, Michigan, a city of 110,000 residents which has a higher concentration of Muslims than any other in the U.S., whose mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, is hoping that Harris will differentiate herself from President Biden on the path to Gaza, and polls that allegedly show that “Americans favor a cutoff of military aid to Israel while the war in Gaza continues.” (READ MORE: America Must Be Ready for the Next Round of Riots) Israel is faced with Hamas terrorists to its west, Hezbollah terrorists to its north, and behind them Iran, which may soon have nuclear weapons. All of these forces, like many of the protesters in the streets outside the Democratic National Convention, want the state of Israel to disappear (“from the river to the sea”). What did Biden mean when he said “Those protesters have a point?” The post Biden Says Anti-Israeli Protesters ‘Have a Point’ at DNC appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.