The following article, Vote- and take a woman or two with you, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Each time an election rolls around, I find myself wondering how to best perform my civic duty to vote. I always figured that my sole responsibility was simply to cast a ballot for my preferred candidates. The only question was whether I would vote early or wait for election day. But some time ago, I … Continue reading Vote- and take a woman or two with you ...

The Republican National Committee is going on offense in the heat of campaign season, involving itself in election-related legal fights in several battleground states as ballots are finalized and early voting is around the corner. The RNC filed an emergency application before the Supreme Court in Arizona this month over noncitizens voting and saw a partial victory. The committee just brought a lawsuit in Detroit because it wanted more Republicans watching over polling...

There are things about other cultures that we simply won't know unless we ask. The problem is, sometimes asking can feel embarrassing or even be tricky due to worries about offending someone. Something about the feeling of anonymity on the internet makes people feel a little more comfortable asking these questions to what feels like the void in hopes that someone sees your genuine curiosity and responds with kindness.For an example of how these interactions can go, look no further than a Black woman named Olivia. She explains in a video posted to social media that she doesn't understand what people mean when they say their hair is oily."As a Black girl, when people ask me 'is my hair oily,' what does that mean?" "My friends will ask me and they're not Black and then they ask, 'oh does my hair look oily,' I don't know what that MEAAAAAANNNNS," Olivia says. Her cries were heard and Annie, a white woman, responds to Olivia's video with explanations and examples. A lot of thought went into her video, answering Olivia in a respectful and compassionate way that highlights the different beauty standards between the two races."Hear me out, I think this stems from the same misunderstanding that happens when white girls are always complimenting Black girls box braids when they're really grown out and needing to be redone," Annie surmises before pulling up photos of what oily hair looks like on white women. how-to beauty GIF by Sephora Giphy She also explains using her own hair as an example, sharing that her hair is fine and she likes to have a level of volume to her hair, "and when it's oily it is like slicked down to my head and you can typically see really sharp part lines. It almost looks kinda wet." Annie's explanation included the difference between how Black women may see hair flat ironed with oil in it and think it looks like the "sleekest silk press ever." a woman with an afro is looking at the camera Photo by Jessica Felicio on Unsplash The comments section was full of women all races showing appreciation for the wholesome and respectful discourse on this topic. It also made people feel like the comment section was a safe space to ask more questions, which were answered in the same respectful, kind manner. "So basically, you see the beauty in us that we don't see in ourselves and we see the beauty in you that you don't see in yourselves. This was so wholesome to watch," one person shares."I love this phenomenon of us complimenting each other's raggedy hair. I like to think we just see the beauty in each other that we don't see in ourselves." woman wearing blue and white floral spaghetti-strap dress Photo by Leyli Nova on Unsplash "So all the white women who told me my hair my hair was cute when it wasn't weren't trying to play me," one woman asks."I love this phenomenon of us complimenting each other's raggedy hair. I like to think we just see the beauty in each other that we don't see in ourselves," another viewer added."Here I was walking around thinking people were being sarcastic complimenting my dirty flat hair. We are all so different," another commenter writes.Others were simply impressed by the positive discourse happening in the comment section and realizing that compliments they received previously were likely genuine. @anniesright #stitch with @olivia ༘˚⋆? This is so funny to me - like i am always so self concious about my greasy hair and the fact some people dont even know what it looks like ?? beauty standards are so weird #greasyhair #oilyhair #braids ♬ original sound - annie "See. This is how we need to be discussing these things! We're all tuned in and enjoying the conversation," a woman gushes over the camaraderie. Hug GIF Giphy Sometimes all we need is a little insider clarification to understand that we're all on the same team, genuinely trying to be kind and complimentary to other people. The comment section is good vibes for anyone who reads it.

Folks with a positive attitude about getting older often say, “Age ain’t nothing but a number.” But according to Yale professor Becca Levy, the more accurate philosophy should be, “Age ain’t nothing but an attitude.”According to Levy’s work, developing the correct attitude about aging can help increase our lifespans. The problem is that ageism is embedded deeply into Western culture. For example, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of an older person? The most common answer in the U.S. is “memory loss.” However, in China, it’s “wisdom.”The average life expectancy in China is 78.2 years, compared to 77.5 in the U.S. Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, at 85.2 years, and a lot of that has to do with the country's attitudes towards aging.“[Levy] noticed that in Japan, old age is treated as a time to enjoy rather than to fear," a Yale School of Public Health article examining her career said. “The Japanese don't make a lot of fuss about menopause, for example, treating it as a valued phase of life, unlike in the U.S. where it is sometimes treated like a midlife affliction,” Levy said. “As a result, older Japanese women are less likely to experience hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause than women of the same age in the U.S." via Tristan Le/PexelsHow does a positive attitude affect longevity?Levy’s research led to a landmark 23-year study in which she and her team found that those with a positive view about aging live an average of 7.5 years longer than those without. The study looked at responses that 660 older people in a small town in Ohio gave to a survey about their attitudes toward aging. It found that those with positive attitudes toward aging had a greater lust for life, positively affecting their longevity. It also found that when people encounter negative stereotypes associated with aging, they have an adverse cardiovascular response to stress."Our study carries two messages. The discouraging one is that negative self-perceptions can diminish life expectancy; the encouraging one is that positive self-perceptions can prolong life expectancy," say the authors. via Andrea Piacquadio/PexelsHow to have a positive attitude about agingEric Kim, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and Hannah Giasson from the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychology shared four ways people can improve their attitudes towards aging with the American Heart Association. 1. Maintain a sense of purpose"People's purposes can be quite different," Kim said. If your family is a high priority, find ways to help out your loved ones. If you're passionate about the environment, find an organization that allows you to give back. “Volunteer work is a great way to [have a sense of purpose]," he said.2. Reject negative messages about aging"Develop an awareness of these messages," Giasson suggests. “Understand how they influence us." Rejecting negative ideas about aging, such as the idea that disease is inevitable, gives us more reason to care for our health and feel we have control over our future. via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels3. Stay socially activePeople may lose loved ones as they age and social isolation is a big problem. Loneliness increases the risks of heart attacks, strokes, depression and low self-esteem. However, positive social connections can have a positive effect on health. 4. Try something newPeople often stop doing activities they enjoyed when they were younger because they lack the physical ability. "Don't fall into the mindset that it's too late to try something new," Giasson said. “It's never too late, and you're never too old to explore new interests."

If there's one thing you learn raising multiple children all the way to adulthood, it's that parenthood is humbling. It's many other things, too—wonderful, joyful, delightful, frustrating, confusing and tiring—but humbling might top the list. When you're in the early years of your parenting journey, humility hasn't always set in yet, which is how a debate between moms about whether or not parenting is hard got sparked on social media. It began when a mom of four kids under 7 wrote on X, "So many parenting books talk about how incredibly hard parenting is. However that had just not been my experience at all. My kids are 1.5-7, I have four, and there are certainly difficult moments, but I would not describe parenting itself as being hard. Am I alone in this?" — (@) Is parenting as hard as people say it is?People began sharing their experiences, explaining that they thought parenting was easy too until they had a more difficult kid. Some parents said that if moms think parenting is easy it just means they have easy kids or a lot of help. Some said that if parenting is hard for you, it's a skills or attitude issue, which prompted some heated debate about how much of your parenting experience is within your control. — (@) Many of the people who claimed that parenting was easier than they expected have small children only. That explains part of their thinking, especially if they have relatively easy young ones. But it's also a reflection of how the parenting discourse has shifted to become more raw and unfiltered in recent years, largely thanks to the mommy blogging era. Two decades ago, when I was raising my own small children, blunt honesty about the challenges of parenting came as a breath of fresh air to those of us who had only ever heard about how wonderful motherhood was. Now "real talk" has been the norm for a whole generation, probably swinging the pendulum to the other side, bombarding young parents with messages about how hard parenting is. There's something to be said for expectation. If you go into motherhood expecting it to be hard, it may not be as difficult as you imagined. If you go into motherhood expecting it to be all giggles and cuddles, you'll be in for a rude awakening. Messaging makes a big difference on that front.What do people mean when they say parenting is hard?Of course, there's also the fact that "hard" is completely subjective. How do you measure that? Some moms who said parenting is not that hard said things along the lines of, "There are hard moments and sometimes it's frustrating and it's definitely tiring, but it's not hard." But some of us would absolutely equate "frustrating" and "tiring" with hard. So some of this is just semantics. — (@) All "hard" really means is "requiring much effort or skill," which I imagine most people would agree parenting requires. However one of the above moms implied that if parenting is hard, it means you're not good at it, which understandably rubbed some people the wrong way. Same with the idea that attitude is most of what makes parenting hard.But whether parenting is hard or not isn't even the right question. The question is whether hard = bad. I would argue it absolutely does not. In fact, I think "parenting is hard" is totally compatible with "parenting is delightful" and "parenting is enjoyable." Parenting being hard doesn't negate the joy and the wonder of it all. Running a marathon is hard, but people still choose to do it because they love to run and because they enjoy the challenge. It's exciting and exhilarating and exhausting, all at the same time. The effort—the hard—is a big part of the experience. Tending a farm is hard work, and it's celebrated as such. It seem strange to imply that saying "parenting is hard" must mean there's some sort of moral failure happening. Isn't hard just the nature of it?Is parenting really supposed to be easy? Parenting isn't meant to be impossible or torturous, but I don't think it's supposed to be a breeze, either—at least not if you're trying to do a good job. Being a bad parent is easy, at least for a while, but good parenting takes continuous, conscientious effort. There are a million circumstances, from age and stage of development, to individual temperament and family support, to your own upbringing and expectations of parenting, that can make it easier or harder. But until you've done the full arc of raising multiple children through to adulthood, you simply don't know what unexpected surprises might be in store. Humility can be chosen early on or forced upon you later, but I've yet to meet a veteran parent who hasn't been humbled by parenting somewhere along the way. — (@) When my children were little, I had a completely different perspective on parenting than I do now that I have two young adults and a teen. Different parents find different parts of parenting difficult, and again, that's not bad. I love being a mom. Motherhood has been the greatest gift of my life and I adore my relationship with my incredible kids, but it was—and still is, in some ways—hard to be a parent. There's no way around that and I feel zero shame in saying it. The hard work of sowing good character, watering their hearts and minds, weeding out negative influences and nurturing them as individuals has allowed us to reap the fruits of our labor in a beautiful family life. Perhaps those who find parenting "easy" just have their own interpretation of what "hard" or "difficult" means. Or perhaps they haven't hit a hard stage of parenting yet. Or maybe they really did hit the jackpot combo of easy kids and tons of support and that won't ever change. Who knows. All I know is that parenting well is hard, but that hard and great and joyful and wonderful can all totally go hand in hand.

Jimmy Carter, 99, was the 39th president of the United States (1977 to 1981). Looking back on his achievements both in and out of office, it’s easy to say that he was a man ahead of his time. He was far ahead of the mainstream when it came to advocating for social justice, human rights, and the environment.Carter famously installed solar panels on the White House in 1979, only to have them removed by Ronald Reagan. The former peanut farmer and Navy Lieutenant from Plains, Georgia, was also far ahead of his time when supporting gay rights. In 1976, while running for president, he said he would sign the Equality Act, an amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. “I will certainly sign it, because I don’t think it’s right to single out homosexuals for special abuse or special harassment,” he said.He continued to advocate for gay rights as president. In 1977, the first gay delegation visited the White House. He also campaigned against California’s Proposition 6, which would have barred gays and lesbians from teaching in the state’s schools and was the first Democratic president to endorse gay rights in the party’s platform in 1980.It may seem unusual for Cater, a confessed born-again Christian, to be a staunch advocate for gay rights. But he has publicly said that he believes that being pro-gay is wholly aligned with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Carter’s advocacy is in the spotlight once again after a meme featuring his thoughts about Christ and homosexuality from 2012 went viral on Reddit's MadeMeSmile forum on April 8, 2024.Jimmy Carter byu/PR0CR45T184T0R inMadeMeSmileThe viral quote was taken from an interview with the Huffington Post in 2012, during which Carter promoted his book, “NIV, Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter.” At the time, LGBTQ rights were the subject of heated debate in Washington, and President Obama had just “evolved” and began publicly supporting same-sex marriage."A lot of people point to the Bible for reasons why gay people should not be in the church or accepted in any way,” the interviewer Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush said. But Carter responded by correctly noting that Jesus Christ never said anything about homosexuality."Homosexuality was well known in the ancient world, well before Christ was born and Jesus never said a word about homosexuality. In all of his teachings about multiple things—he never said that gay people should be condemned. I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies,” Carter said. "I draw the line, maybe arbitrarily, in requiring by law that churches must marry people. I'm a Baptist, and I believe that each congregation is autonomous and can govern its own affairs."So if a local Baptist church wants to accept gay members on an equal basis, which my church does, by the way, then that is fine. If a church decides not to, then government laws shouldn't require them to,” he continued.Three years later, Carter shared the same sentiments in another interview with the Huffington Post, this time shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. “I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else,” Carter said.Jimmy Carter’s belief in gay rights stems from his faith as a Christian, but it’s also in complete alignment with his values as an American. Carter believed that the United States was a “beacon” for human rights, and in his 1981 presidential farewell address, he reminded the nation that the job was an ongoing struggle.“The battle for human rights – at home and abroad – is far from over,” Carter said. “If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values which we espouse around the world: A decent education for our children, adequate medical care for all Americans, an end to discrimination against minorities and women, a job for all those able to work, and freedom from injustice and religious intolerance.”This article orignially appeared on 4.9.24

Odds are you’ve come across a movie or television moment that made you think, “this definitely would never happen in real life.” Or maybe you thought something about a time or place which wasn’t actually real, thanks to a show you watched. I, for example, totally thought separate his & hers beds were a common thing in the 50s, thanks to “I Love Lucy.”That’s kind of the magic of motion pictures. The line between reality and illusion is sometimes so blurred you really can’t discern between the whole “art imitating life” and “life imitating art” thing. Of course, the unbelievability of some common tropes make you wonder how they’ve endured for so long in the first place. Recently, Reddit user rustyyryan asked: "What American thing is not that common but shown in many Hollywood movies/TV shows?"Thousands responded. But here are some of the best answers. 1. "On Law and Order, when the police come and people keep doing their drone jobs. Sorry, but the most exciting thing in my day is a visit by the police, so I’m stopping everything, offering coffee, asking lots of questions, and ratting out my neighbors on unrelated things!" —wawa2022via GIPHY"The other thing with Law and Order and other cop shows is that people always act annoyed toward the cops. IRL, the vast majority of people are not going to act that way. I’ve had a couple of cop visits and I was always shocked and kind of nervous and there was no way I would have acted like they were getting on my nerves!"—logorrhea692."Presents where the box lid is wrapped separately from the rest of the box." —sra19"This drives me crazy! I get it...it would be a huge hassle to have to re-wrap a present for every take, plus you have to worry about continuity, but I have literally never seen a present wrapped this way in my life."—yourlittlebirdie3. "At schools, teachers give assignments like normal people and don't shout it at the class as they're departing after the bell rings." —Beezo514via GIPHY4. "Women having sex while wearing a bra the whole time. That's the first or second thing I take off of her." —BendingDoor5. "The houses and apartments shown do not represent the living conditions of most folks." —rjainsa"One of the reasons Spielberg's films from the '80s/'90s were so believable was that he insisted on houses looking lived in. The Goonies and E.T. both showed messy houses, single parents, scruffy kids, etc." —springloadednadsackvia GIPHY6. "Empty parking spaces on city streets." —other_half_of_elvis7. "Especially right in front of the place you’re going."—BxAnnie8. "Moms making huge breakfasts that no one eats." —babyfresno779. "This is the one. Every time, I’m like, 'What time are these kids getting up? What time does school start?'"—DanDan_notaman10. "Cars exploding in a crash." —St_Ander"My husband is a firefighter, and he hates car explosion scenes in movies because they don't happen the way movies show them happening."—Specialist-Funny-92611."I noticed that no one has screens on their windows on TV. Where I live the bugs would carry you away." —RusticSurgeryvia GIPHY"This one drives my husband crazy. He always comments on this when someone opens a window, sticks their head out, or throws something out. Could not do that where I live."—Sunnywithachance09912. "Shoes on the bed." —slash-5"I absolutely hate that trope. People with their shoes on beds or sofas. Hate it."—Farscape2913. "Classes last longer than for the teacher to say something pithy, ask someone a question and then hear the bell ring. School buses don't honk for your lollygagging ass. If the bus stop is empty, they keep driving." —Scrotchety14. "Halloween party costumes are much more elaborate on TV compared to real life." —Fireproofspidervia GIPHY"You never see anyone in some crap they picked up at Spirit Halloween 30 minutes before the party."—Repulsive-Heron702315. "Nobody ever has to ask someone to repeat themselves in a movie. I probably say, 'What?' about 60 times a day." —Street-Suitable"This is all TV and movies. Nobody ever stumbles over their words unless it is a plot-necessary miscommunication or the bumbly can't get my words out trope."—Jimmy_riddle8616. "Abrupt endings to conversations or phone calls without saying bye." —ParapluieGrisvia GIPHY"OMG, thank you. Seriously, I wondered if people actually did this."—raggitytits17. "The idea that you could be like six months behind on rent before they threaten to evict you, or six months behind on the power bill before they cut off your electricity. Maybe it used to be like that, but it sure isn’t anymore." —komeau18. "People in a bar ordering a 'beer.' In real life, the server would likely be exasperated and ask about brand/kind and quantity." —remymartinia"This one drives me nuts. I have never once in my 14 years working at restaurants and bars had someone just order a 'beer.'"—EveInGardenia…and lastly…19. "Kids dressed up for school, which would result in them being sent home to change…Also, teens wearing stilettos to school." —Wulfkat via GIPHY "Most teenagers today wear a baggy sweatshirt or a large T-shirt to school."—Randomthoughts4041This article originally appeared on 6.24.24

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