Today’s Big Story

It's Down to the Wire

The candidates give closing arguments as early voting skyrockets

It’s almost done. Can you believe it? Less than one week before Election Day, nearly 51 million votes have already been cast in the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. It’s possible the polls are wrong, but it’s unlikely they will change much before this long and winding campaign cycle ends.

Polling analysts, who have varying methods of averaging polls, have slightly different takes on the race. But without splitting hairs, it’s hard to see this as anything other than an incredibly close race where late turnout trends and polling errors wind up telling us what we cannot know right now: the identity of the 47th president.

But in national polling averages, Kamala Harris leads by 1.5 percent per FiveThirtyEight; 1.2 percent per Nate Silver; 2 percent according to the Washington Post (which rounds numbers) and one percent according to the New York Times (which also rounds numbers). RealClearPolitics, which unlike the other outlets doesn’t weigh polls for accuracy or adjust them for partisan bias, shows Trump leading nationally by a hair (0.1 percent).

As the Intelligencer points out, while national polls can help us understand trends and underlying dynamics, mostly because they tend to have larger samples, the fact that they have been so very close for weeks if not months suggests they can’t tell us who will actually win. And so, the candidates keep on campaigning—giving it their all in the final days. Vice President Harris on Tuesday delivered the closing argument of her campaign against Trump, arguing that as president she would focus on delivering for everyday Americans while he would fixate on exacting revenge, speaking before a large crowd at the same site where Trump rallied his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

In a speech in front of what her campaign said was around 75,000 people assembled at the Ellipse, Harris presented herself as a former prosecutor who had long worked for the public good—pausing to remind her audience that she had spent most of her career outside Washington and assuring her listeners that “not all good ideas come from here.” Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier Tuesday where he said Harris was running on a “campaign of destruction”, tweeting that he was “running a campaign of positive solutions to save America” before holding a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

A War ‘Pushed Beyond Boundaries’

North Korea and Russia send political shockwaves with Ukraine war moves

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the thousands of North Korean soldiers expected to reinforce Russian troops on the front line in Ukraine are pushing the almost three-year war beyond the borders of the warring parties. Western leaders have warned that North Korea’s involvement in a European war could also unsettle relations in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan and Australia.

And the North Korean troops’ presence inside Ukraine goes a step beyond what NATO and the Pentagon confirmed on Monday, which is that roughly 10,000 North Korean troops are training in eastern Russia with some en route to Russia’s Kursk region. According to CNN, Ukrainian troops have held territory inside Kursk since August.

The United States has said any North Korean troops fighting in the war would be “fair game” for Ukrainian attacks and that Washington would not impose any fresh limits on Ukraine's use of U.S. weapons if North Korea officially entered the fight. South Korea, which remains technically at war with the nuclear-armed North decades after the 1950-1953 Korean War, also condemned the deployments, with officials in Seoul worried about what Russia may be providing to Pyongyang in return.

A Common New York Practice Is Finally Legal

But some fear the new law could lead to more deaths

Nearly 70 years ago, New York City began a campaign to warn pedestrians of the dangers of jaywalking. “Cross at the green, not in between,” the slogan said. Anyone who’s spent time in Manhattan knows that this public safety announcement has long been ignored. New Yorkers don’t wait for anything … certainly not a WALK sign.

And even though a violation carried a potential fine of up to $300 (and hundreds of people received tickets each year), people jaywalk all the time. But after decades of mostly turning the other way, city officials finally decriminalized the act of crossing against a traffic signal or outside a crosswalk. According to the New York Times, the City Council passed a bill last month to allow pedestrians to cross the street wherever they please, and it became law over the weekend, after Mayor Eric Adams ran out of his allotted time to decide whether to veto or sign the bill.

But the new law also warns that pedestrians crossing outside of a crosswalk do not have the right of way and that they should yield to other traffic that has the right of way, and a spokesperson for Adams warns jaywalkers may still be civilly liable if their actions cause an accident. Other cities and states, from Denver and Kansas City, Missouri, to California, Nevada, and Virginia have decriminalized jaywalking in recent years, according to America Walks, a Seattle-based group that's been tracking the proposals.

Subway's Class Action Suit

The company faces lawsuit for allegedly skimping on meat

Subway has had a list of legal issues almost as long as its sandwiches over the years, but the most recent accuses the chain of something most fast food joints are likely guilty of: Misleading its customers. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the company alleging that its sandwiches contain one-third of the meat that it advertises them to have. The proceedings, filed in Brooklyn, specifically call out the brand's Steak & Cheese sandwich.

The lawyers accuse Subway of “grossly misleading” customers by advertising sandwiches that show layers of meat piled high, reaching about as high as the surrounding hero bread. In reality, according to several photos in the complaint, the fast-food chain's sandwiches are far more bread than filling. This is especially concerning, the complaint said, because of inflation and high food prices, and because many lower-income consumers are struggling financially.

Reuters reports that the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for New Yorkers who bought the sandwiches in the last three years, for Subway’s alleged violations of the state's consumer protection laws. However, similar lawsuits filed in the same court by the plaintiff’s law firm against McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Taco Bell were dismissed last year.

Take Yourself Out for a Drink

It’s a "choose your own adventure" type of experience

I realize that for some, the idea of drinking alone at a bar conjures sad images of loneliness and isolation. But hear me out: There's a certain charm and liberation in embracing the quiet zen of taking yourself out for a drink. Of savoring your drink in solitude at the bar. We're not telling you to abandon your friends, but simply reminding you that sometimes a man can be his own drinking buddy.

Now I'll admit that at first, it might be a little intimidating. Where do you sit? Maybe it's too loud to strike up a conversation with a stranger. And that bartender who you were hoping to befriend always seems to be busy. But just like getting engaged or buying a genuinely nice piece of furniture, having a drink by yourself is an adult rite of passage—it's a little scary at first, but you're always glad you had the guts to do it.

Stop overthinking.