Upon pushing for debunked conspiracies regarding dead people receiving payments, Elon Musk has called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme.” These misleading claims were repeated by President Donald Trump, laying the groundwork for any cuts to what is considered to be one of the most successful programs in U.S. government history in of its sustainability and wide-reaching, meaningful impact.

In a March 4 meeting, SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek, in reference to the Department of Government Efficiency’s harum-scarum actions, commented on how he’s never seen a government operating in such a manner:

“DOGE people are learning, and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA. I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.”

More recently, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who confidently stated that if there is a recession it should not be blamed on Trump’s tariff wars but – you guessed it – Joe Biden, suggested, in the same tirade, the end of social security and no tax for those who make less than “$150,000 a year.” This would be the equivalent of dangling a carrot in front of a naïve bunny so it doesn’t notice the destruction of its burrowed retirement plan.

Can you believe this? Please don’t.

JUST IN: Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says President Trump's goal is to eliminate taxes for anyone earning less than $150,000 per year. pic.twitter.com/3zSoqMsqMQ

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 13, 2025

The way Howard Lutnick says, “I know what his goal is! No tax for anyone who makes less than $150,000 a year,” is like a parent who baits their kid with the prospect of going to Disneyland next spring just so they will stop throwing a tantrum. It’s as if he wants you to ignore that he’d just suggested hatching the same program that keeps two-thirds of American elderly out of poverty.

In response to this clip, one commenter on X wrote: “Had [Trump] ended the Ukraine war in 24 hours and not tanked the stock market, I might have believed this too. Til this moment, his biggest accomplishment has been buying that red car.”

Funded by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), Social Security does not contribute to the debt deficit because it pays for itself, with workers and employers paying 6.2% of their wages. However, since 2021, Social Security has entered its deficit years, meaning if nothing changes or is actively done about it, the Trust Fund reserves will run out in about a decade.

Now, because the Trump istration is on a mission to prove to the American people that they are curbing wasteful government spending – whether that’s true or not – there have been talks among Trump and GOP senators on how “to make the math work on their costly plan” by using “controversial ing tactic”  to “treat trillions of dollars in tax cuts” as having no cost (per Politico).

Republicans targeting Social Security is nothing new. In a recently aired January debate between left-wing commentator Sam Seder and 20 Trump-voting Zoomers, one can see the fallacious propaganda that has led to even young adults advocating for the loss of their own safety nets upon retiring. In other words, arguing against their own interests.

It would be more understandable for these Gen Z-ers to believe in the end of Social Security if they did not exist within American society, whose for-profit healthcare system is the most brutal among Western nations, able to ruin you financially in ways you can’t prevent or control – you don’t choose when or whether to get sick. No one can anticipate if they are going to have health issues or if their insurance company will find ways to weasel out of paying for essential care every step of the way.

Upon listening to wealthy politicians and businessmen who needn’t save for retirement their whole lives, these conservative working-class individuals tend to advocate for individualism and meritocracy when it comes to things such as social mobility and money-saving efforts. However, you can save money all your life and have it funneled out in a matter of months because – oops – you’ve got cancer, a degenerative or chronic disease, knock on wood. , kids: Capitalistic individualism will always come back to bite you.

For the most part, people understand how Mahmoud Khalil’s First Amendment Rights are being brutally violated. Then, there are… others. These others are usually the same people who advocate for the freedom of speech of individuals who burn Qurans in front of Muslim people, or the proudly racist DOGE kid.

“And this is why I voted for Trump,” writes a commenter on a TikTok video with the name @neoaryan784trump – great euphemism, sir – celebrating the March 9 arrest of the Pro-Palestine activist and green card holder. In a Jubilee debate aired on March 10, a Donald Trump er rhetorically asked Sam Seder, “What’s wrong with xenophobic nationalism? Don’t you think that’s better for Americans in general?”

With comments such as these, every day, there is less and less reason to doubt that this is another reason why President Trump is dismantling — and wants to get rid of — the Department of Education. Also, one can only imagine Paine, Jefferson, Franklin, and Morris tossing and turning in their graves because their beloved Constitution simply isn’t a thing that is respected anymore. It’s a document that’s weaponized, twisted, and bent to fit whatever version of reality partisans staunchly believe in.

In the clip above, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) talks in hypotheticals. As of this writing, there is no proof that Khalil is in association with a terrorist organization and is not simply exercising his First Amendment rights. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which is suing the Trump istration in an effort to have Khalid returned, also cites a violation of the Fifth Amendment as a basis for their lawsuit.

Also, there’s the Fourteenth Amendment, which grants equal protection under the law and a right to due process to all people, citizen and non-citizen alike.  

Most people understand what’s happening and the violations being made to rights that should be unalienable, but others shut their brains to it. Let’s unpack that.

It’s a clear escalation towards a terrifying future

The TikToker above, @localwinemum, who’s from , puts it in quite plain : the version of “freedom of speech” wielded by the Trump istration, is an all-purpose protection cape that can only be placed upon those who serve their interests or, at the very least, don’t go against them – but Donald Trump’s bizarre AI dream of a luxurious Gaza riviera where he may sunbathe on the beach next to Bibi is fine, apparently.

The fact that now, it’s not a so-called “illegal alien” who’s being threatened with deportation – and mocked by the White House official social media – but a green card holder should tell you enough about the escalation of political repression that’s occurring. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) pointed out in a post: “If the federal government can disappear a legal US permanent resident without reason or warrant, then they can disappear US citizens too.”

The fact that there are people who would say “deport the wife too” is the reason why we got here. We’ve entered the regime of “everything that is not with us is therefore against us.” The wife in question is an American citizen, 8 months pregnant with her and Mahmoud Khalil’s first child.

As Drew Westen writes, when partisans encounter a conflict between their candidate of choice’s deeds and their words, their brains “manage to shut down distress through faulty reasoning,” and it does that quite quickly. In other words, as Jonathan Haidt would call it, it triggers their immediate moral intuition: “If you ask people to believe something that violates their intuitions, they will devote their efforts to finding an escape hatch—a reason to doubt your argument or conclusion.”

Words, like laws, change over time, acquire new connotations, and undergo shifts in association depending on the interpreter and their cultural or social circle. Also, words are also vehicles of manipulation. For example: Not everything that is labelled “terrorism” actually is, but because people experience strong feelings when they hear the word – particularly in the U.S.– it can trigger an almost fight-or-flight reaction that prevents critical reasoning.

The phrase “illegal protest” is being used by the Trump istration in the most purposefully vague way; any protesters could fall under that umbrella, and become subject to persecution, prosecution, imprisonment, or deportation. The open-endedness fits the Trump agenda, while completely ignoring the fact that Jan. 6 happened.

As the American TikToker above points out, “Pro-Palestine” and “Pro-Hamas” have been used interchangeably when that’s not the case. Some people have begun not to be able to tell the two apart. And that’s why they cheer for the potential deportation of a peaceful protest organizer and legal permanent citizen whose American wife is awaiting their first child in a month.

Because no change can stem from the ive feeling of hopelessness, it’d be appropriate to end on a hopeful note. The TikToker above, who shares my nationality, and my concern for what’s happening and those affected. She’s correct in her reasoning that the most vulnerable American communities should consider leaving before the worst happens to them, except for one thing: some people just can’t leave.

Moreover, if the solution is to leave every time a country’s government does a heel turn on democracy, that would be kicking the can down the road. Make no mistake: an ultra-nationalist movement has swept through America, but also rippled across the world. The solution — as the New York protesters exemplify — to be brave and speak out, to show up in favor of democracy, and to make it clear that this move toward autocracy will not go unchallenged.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or your brain exists solely within the MAGA alternate reality, you may have noticed the United States is “in the middle of a hostile government takeover.” The Trump istration is jeopardizing American democratic integrity, while threatening relationships with long-standing allies with a series of spectacular heel turns. In dark times such as these, we need a bright light like Grandma Elli.

Grandma Elli is an absolute icon who deserves your full attention — even on TikTok, which capitalizes on an ever-weakening economy of attention. Please allow her to introduce herself:

Unfortunately, not enough people listened to Grandma Elli’s advice before they sealed the U.S.’s fate in the voting booth on Nov. 5.

While some of us have been anxiously tracking traces of a concerning historical past in the present day, Grandma Elli got to witness that history first-hand. Born in either 1936 or 1937, she was a child when World War II erupted. Even though she escaped as a toddler in 1938, thankfully, this elderly lady, who took to TikTok to amplify her voice, can recognize better than most that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Not only does she carry the weight of 88 years of wisdom and insight, but Grandma Elli’s collages also have this special ability to make you feel like she’s Grand Master Oogway and you’re Po who’s in dire need of a mentor.

Dissent in the face of evil

As Grandma Elli indicated, the Nazi party did not jump straight to ethnic genocide. First, Nazi leadership initiated multiple measures of social discrimination, including crackdowns on rival political parties, public dissent, and freedom of the press, then came deportations, and, ultimately, policies which culminated in millions of civilian deaths — at countless sites of massacre by death squads all over Eastern Europe, in urban Jewish ghettos, and finally at concentration camps. From these bare facts, one can see how, in her late 80s, Elli was compelled to — and persists in — speaking out: She does not want our present history to keep rhyming with some of the darkest years of the 20th century.

The first TikTok of the two above was posted in the aftermath of the Trump-Zelenskyy Oval Office fiasco, and the second came after Trump’s excruciatingly long-winded congressional speech. What is so refreshing about Grandma’s tirades is that they never feel like frustrated rants that will never be anything more than that. She dismantles Trump’s “leader of the people” image with irable eloquence, all the while keeping an undertone of hope for the future — if we dare rise and use our voices.

Grandma Elli goes as far as to offer solutions for how people can move past the ive feeling of powerlessness and take action. In the “Ambush at the Oval” TikTok, she shares the White House phone number – 202-456-1111 — so that people can “bombard them with phone calls.” In addition, she advises the use of the 5 Calls: Your Congress app.

In a subsequent video, Grandma promotes “a call to action” that “can be done by everyone in the world” and is to be enacted on March 15:

If Trump and his yes-men had a moral com working half as well as Grandma Elli’s, we would not be where we are now.

A nice afternoon conversation between Grandma Elli and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D- VT) over tea and biscuits would be as historically remarkable as Noam Chomsky’s 1971 debate with the late Michel Foucault – but perhaps less perplexingly philosophical. Better yet, wouldn’t it be great to wake up tomorrow, turn on one’s phone to news that Trump had been successfully impeached, and President Bernie and VP Elli (or vice versa) were now in charge of reversing the damage? They could mend bonds with America’s allies, treat minorities with dignity and respect, and implement Medicare for All while they are at it!

That may be a fanciful dream. Our reality, however, is not. As this grandmother advises, we’ll need the courage to raise our voices in a chorus of loud dissidence. Otherwise, democracy will die in silence.

It’s hard to look at Saturday’s one-sided bullying spectacle in the Oval Office and pinpoint a single silver lining to the televised debacle. While Donald Trump endeavored to present himself as this divine-sent businessman and holder of all “the cards,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy, understandably exhausted by years’ worth of a Russia-instigated war, made it clear he has no interest in partaking in the POTUS’s card games when his people’s peace and stability is on the line.

To keen eyes (and critical brains), the tyrannical display seemed like little more than blatant pandering to Vladimir Putin –indeed, a Kremlin spokesperson recently remarked on how the consequential stance being taken by the Trump istration “largely coincides with [Russia’s] vision” – and it was heart-wrenching to watch, for both conscientious Americans and Ukraine’s international allies.

However, while trying to act like real tough guys for the world to see, the U.S. President and VP involuntarily succeeded in enveloping Zelenskyy in pathos. In other words, their unfair treatment of a man striving for years to keep his war-ravaged country from defeat against a mightier enemy only intensifies the comion and solidarity of Ukraine’s unwavering allies.

For someone who routinely continues to rely on fostering feelings of fear, anger, and hate to advance his agenda, Trump surely seems to underestimate how the political persuasive power of emotions can be used against him.

Different interpretations of the meaning of “strength”

In the aftermath of the disastrous Saturday meeting, and the halting of U.S. aid to Ukraine on Monday evening, Ukraine’s allies – European leaders and Canada’s Justin Trudeau – have only been doubling down on their commitment to keep up their . Moreover, everyone is feeling an increased pressure to work in collaboration and mobilize to be less dependent on the U.S. – or Trump’s whims, rather.

No one – certainly not Zelenskyy – is downplaying the importance of America’s . This reaction only means that necessity does not override one’s dignity. If Trump believes most other nations can be bullied into groveling at his feet, he’s wrong. He’s also wrong about his definition of “strength,” which he makes out to be tantamount to tyranny and inspires distrust instead of respect.

Today, I spoke with the President of Finland @alexstubb, the Prime Minister of the UK @Keir_Starmer, the Prime Minister of Greece @kmitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Croatia @AndrejPlenkovic, the NATO Secretary General @SecGenNATO, and the leader of ’s CDU party –… pic.twitter.com/WeNkXKwWyj

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 4, 2025

Over the past few days, Zelenskyy has been posting regular updates regarding his talks with the various leaders and thanking each and every nation for their . His gratitude spree almost feels like a jab at JD Vance’s preposterous “Have you thanked us yet?”

There were at least 33 times prior to that unscrupulous public ambush wherein the Ukrainian President directly thanked the U.S. It’s unbelievably self-important and patronizing to act like one’s help, which supposedly comes from the bottom of a democracy-loving heart, warrants a constant reiteration of gratitude (and subservience).

A common “enemy” or “threat” has the potential to strengthen unity among countries and peoples who might have otherwise been busy arguing amongst themselves over trivialities. Unfortunately, Europe is now feeling squeezed between a ruthless autocrat on one side, and a Putin wannabe on the other. As such – and along with other countries like Canada – the only way we can keep our democracies and dignity intact is by ing forces and working towards a common goal.

However – speaking now briefly as a European – just because America under Trump has become a threat to world order, it does not mean all Americans have been thrown into the same categorical bag. Using stereotypes and schema to sweep a whole mass of people under the same umbrella is more of Trump’s tactic. Proactive unity may keep this boat that is our democratic institutions from sinking, and the same applies to the U.S.

American allies, your voices matter. As Mike Galsworthy says, “We see you,” and, as he also suggests, “your elected representatives” also need to get unavoidable visual demonstrations of what you think and feel so they get a needed push in the direction of doing right by you, and, ultimately, for the rest of the (still) free world.

At first, and soon after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau perceived the President-elect’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state as a mere jest. That posture soon gave way to concern and the need to make judicious preparations as it became clear that Trump is truly embracing his imperialist era.

For months now, Trump has been doubling and tripling down on his intentions to annex the sovereign country, be it while speaking to the media or posting on Truth Social:

If one were to listen to real Canadians speak on the issue, it would become apparent that claiming Canadians “LOVE” the idea is a gross misrepresentation. Reactions are, in fact, quite the opposite of what the President makes it seem:

Trump implied in a post shared on Dec. 30 that annexing Canada would lead to Canadians and Americans obtaining “common currency,” “open trade,” and an “EU-type port.” He’s also publicly stated that Canada’s universal healthcare system would somehow – he did not specify – improve.

The U.S. President is trying to make it seem like this imperialistic initiative is motivated by the moral imperative; fighting the fentanyl boogeyman coming across both borders – a “national security threat” — justifies his drastic measures. However, a Canadian woman with the TikTok handle @money.coach.canada argues that the reasons Trump gives for the annexation of Canada and what he truly wants out of it are not the same. Of course, she’s not the only one aware of the President’s obvious motivations.

“Not happening. Thank you very much,” says Canada.

The commander-in-chief has already made clear that “economic force” could be used to compel Canada into submission. He’s already tried to impose tariffs, which lasted about two days before an agreement was reached resulting in a 30-day postponement. But, unfortunately, he has not given up.

On Feb. 7, during the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit with a hundred business executives present, PM Justin Trudeau made another eloquent speech that reasserted Canada’s unwillingness to part with its autonomy. Moreover, his inspiring monologue — and the whole event — revolved around how the nation and its citizens could adapt to the United States’ threats and sanctions.

However, it was when the media was asked to leave that the Prime Minister spoke most candidly, indicating he has an inkling as to why the current U.S. President is pushing for annexation. Two outlets, including CBC, were able to stay in the room and record his follow-up words: “I suggest that not only does the Trump istration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state.”

After the direct tariffs on Canadian goods were paused, Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum which would affect every exporting country. But – coincidentally, of course – which country does the US import the most steel and aluminum from? Yup. You’ve guessed it. Trump had already imposed tariffs on these metals during his first term. All it did was make the price of cars, canned drinks, and appliances skyrocket while benefiting American aluminum and steel barons.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Feb. 9, Trump said: “Canada would be much better off becoming the 51st state because we lose 200 billion dollars a year with Canada.” Contrary to what the President implies, this money is not paid as a form of “subsidy,” but is the result of the United States’ massive reliance on Canadian resources like oil and indispensable minerals – a fact which gives unequivocal credence to Trudeau’s remarks.

Could annexation come by direct force?

Any antidemocratic enforcement of Canada’s annexation could be seen as an act of aggression, both by Canada itself, and by the entire international pro-democracy community. If the U.S. were to use unwarranted force, other NATO could well mobilize in Canada’s defense, offering aid to the latter and imposing sanctions on the former.

Furthermore, per the Constitution, Congress would have to approve the measure to include a new state. But Trump already made clear that he only cares about the parts of the founding document that benefit his agenda. As rooted in the 10th Amendment, the people of Canada would have to agree to become a state. Well, on the bright side, such an eventuality – which, according to POLITICO, would result in 45 congressional seats for Canada – would significantly benefit the Democratic Party when it comes to the Electoral College and future elections.

During the Economic Summit, which took place in Toronto, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon responded to a question saying: “I think I would be reflecting the spirit in the room, and more importantly, the spirit across this country: Canada is free. Canada is sovereign. Canada will choose its own destiny – thank you very much. But Canada is forever. So, Canada will make its choices.”

Rather than becoming a U.S. state, Canadians would rather maintain their independence and a friendlier (and less colonialism-inclined) crowd:

When there’s a bully in the playground, the most efficient way to deal with them is to show there’s strength in unity and cooperation. Canada is already taking steps to strengthen alliances and economic partnerships with countries and coalitions like the European Union, to hopefully show that there are no main characters when it comes to nations.  

Speaking as a European, while the U.S. President wants to forcefully erase a whole country’s dignity all the while antagonizing the rest of the globe, I’d say to Canadians: “Let’s be besties.” It’s how we — Canada and EU alike — can keep the threat of a deranged megalomaniac at bay, while forging a destiny that proves diplomacy and alliances can overcome Trump’s egocentric “me first” political approaches and policies.

Far too often, single mothers (and dads too) don’t get enough credit. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but these mommas tend to mind their own business and just focus on working hard to ensure the well-being and happiness of their kids. That is until – like it happened to this lady on TikTok – someone oversteps the line and causes their children unwarranted discomfort.

Lacy, who goes by @lacy.lovins, is an American mother of two who loves her babies (her children), her “fur babies” (her pets), and her “green babies” (her plants). One can tell from her multiple posts that she is not a contentious person. In fact, her first recourse was to use humor – and later self-preservation in her attempts to move – to combat her weird neighbors’ strange, questionable, and borderline paranoid tendencies.

Run, Lacy, run. But first, hit them with the purple inflatable puppet.

On Jan. 9, Lacy posted a TikTok showcasing how the simple, routine act of walking with her kids to her driveway early in the morning to take them to school, persistently triggered her neighbors’ annoyingly loud alarm. On top of the siren they installed on their property, the neighbors put up blinking security lights, got cameras facing her house, and affixed “STAY OFF MY PROPERTY” signs for good measure.

In a subsequent story time video –requested by curious commenters – Lacy recounted how her neighbors’ over-the-top security measures are far from the only sign that they can be problematic to a frightening degree.

It turns out, she’s not the only victim of the persecutory antics of the people who live next door. According to the TikToker, these individuals have been too keen on repeatedly calling the cops on others – the neighborhood residents and harmless outsiders alike – who are doing little more than tending to their own affairs. Something as little as someone else’s “grass clippings” ending up in their yard could make them lose their minds. That said, the alarms seemed to only be going off like clockwork when it was Lacy, the “troublemaker,” who so much as got remotely close to the edge of their lawn.

The single mother explained that, at first, she did attempt to get along with her neighbors, but “it backfired.” She nonetheless remarks that “they got to have a good heart in there somewhere,” judging by the fact that they show kindness to the surrounding wildlife, even if they don’t act nearly as kindly towards her or her kids. Unfortunately, even Lacy’s children riding their bikes could trigger the blaring alarm – which, to make matters worse, appears to be manually activated.

Pettiness is usually a negative trait. But, when learning of stories such as Lacy’s, netizens can tend to, unanimously, advocate in favor of a petty retaliation:

“Okay wait but I insist you just get your own, slightly louder alarm.  You already have to listen to it but I swear the slight power shift will drive them crazy,” one suggested.

“FOR THE SAKE OF TIKTOK PLEASE BE PETTY Someone suggested the inflatable tube dancing thing and I cast my vote for that ,” another wrote.

Lacy, having considered her commenters’ recommendations, did not disappoint.

Sometimes humor is the best weapon. Lacy seems to abide by this philosophy as she got herself a funny-looking “little dancing man” for her neighbors to enjoy. One even wanted her to take it one step further: “I think [the] dancing man is lonely and needs a dancing family .”

As humorous and light-hearted as Lacy’s response was, it is important to note that this whole “bad neighbors” saga has been exhausting for her and likely upsetting for her young children. After this harassment campaign, the single mother desperately (and understandably) wants to move and finally find the peace and sense of security that she and her family deserve. Hopefully, her future home will be located in the most serene of neighborhoods, where residents find no issue with single mothers going about their day and children blissfully riding their bikes.

Of the multiple promises Donald Trump made during his 2024 campaign trail, some were empty and baseless winning points – like lowering the price of groceries – whereas others were semi-truthful declarations of his intentions. Included in the latter category, was his pledge to dismantle the Department of Education.

The President claims – much like he did with abortion rights – that his wish is to return the management of educational plans and policies to each state. In that event, Oklahoma, for instance, will be free to force the Bible into every classroom as is the Superintendent’s expressed desire.

While the Education Department cannot simply be abolished with the stroke of a pen – as there are checks and balances in place and Congress needs to approve the drastic measure – steps are being taken to completely tear it apart and diminish it to a virtually inconsequential statistics-gathering agency by the end of next year.

What Trump, Musk, and the rest of the MAGA clique want

The Executive Order “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” published on Jan. 29, states that it seeks to erode discrimination all the while scaling back most of the hard-fought anti-discrimination policies that were implemented to protect marginalized groups and minorities.

In the clip above, Trump says that the obliteration of the Department of Education would put American educational outcomes on par with those of Sweden and Denmark. Just like his initiative will not, unlike the above order claims, promote critical thinking, it will also not raise the bar to the exceptional level of Northern European countries. Trump fails to perceive – possibly on purpose – the precise characteristics that contribute to making these nations’ education systems worth emulating.

As per The Washington Post, the new istration has been methodically putting dozens of employees on leave and pressuring others to quit of their own volition. All the while, Elon Musk’s greedy hands have been all over “sensitive internal systems,” which includes the “financial aid dataset that contains the personal information for millions of students enrolled in the federal student aid program.”

As suspected even ahead of election day, Project 2025 has served as a blueprint for the Trump 2.0 agenda. In it, the authors’ views on the Department of Education and what should be done about it could not be any clearer:

“Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated. […] In our pluralistic society, families and students should be free to choose from a diverse set of school options and learning environments that best fit their needs. Our postsecondary institutions should also reflect such diversity, with room for not only “traditional” liberal arts colleges and research universities but also faith-based institutions, career schools, military academies, and lifelong learning programs”

It’s painfully ironic that the same people who see fit to limit “LGBTQ+” to “LGB” pretend to laud the value of pluralism and diversity in society.

What Trump truly wants has nothing to do with the rights and freedoms he claims to be protecting or the money he claims to be “saving” taxpayers. Maintaining the people ignorant helps an authoritarian government ensure that plans that ignore economic inequality and other social disparities remain unnoticed and unquestioned, all the while boasting to help the same people they are harming. So far, this strategy has borne fruits because confidence can make up for the truth to uneducated ears.

“It has been nothing but chaos” for school districts

While the President does not have the legislative power to abolish the department directly, he could lead to its downfall if Congress decides to have his back. Congress founded the Education Department in the late 1970s under President Jimmy Carter, and only Congress can approve its total demise. This would require the unlikely outcome of seven Democrats voting in favor.

Nevertheless, an order now in the works will demand that the department draft a legislative plan to propose to Congress, in addition to figuring out ways to reduce its employees and move some of its functions to other federal agencies, like the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department. In the meantime, as Sen. Heather Gustafson (D-FL) – a teacher herself – explains in the TikTok clip above, “it has been nothing but chaos” for school districts. The Republicans’ math does not add up, and these executive orders have only served “to dismantle an entire education budget” and make the future of American education more uncertain than ever.

None of this is about freedom. 14% of school districts’ funding comes from the federal government. In practical , Trump and his istration seek to get rid of Title I funding, which provides critical monetary aid to low-income K-12 schools. This, as Sen. Gustafson has warned, could result in further strains to education budgets, negatively impact millions of students, and exacerbate existing teacher shortages. Furthermore, the Education Department has also allocated $15.5 billion to students with disabilities, on top of overseeing the distribution of $1.6 trillion in student loans for higher education. All of this aid that benefits working-class families the most is now in peril.

“It has been nothing but chaos,” could also describe these past few weeks since Trump took office. However, make no mistake, this chaos has concrete political purposes: it confuses, disorients, and makes it harder to come up with countermeasures. This only means Democrats need to step up their game and keep fighting for those who will most suffer as a result of these initiatives. As for the rest of us, knowledge is power, awareness is strength, and the ability to tell the difference between truth and lie is utterly paramount.

No matter how deeply we may believe we have things under control, life will never stop being unpredictable. This unpredictability is based on a duality: sometimes, it entails a positive experience, other times, like in the case of the American Airlines Washington crash, it’s a reminder that things can change in the blink of an eye, upending people’s lives forever.

The tragedy occurred just before 9 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Flight 5342, an American Eagle regional jet, was carrying 60 engers and 4 crew when it crashed into a military Black Hawk helicopter, which had 3 soldiers on board. The plane had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and was about to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Crystal City, Virginia. As a result of the collision, around 19 nearby on-air flights had to be diverted.

Both helicopter and enger jet plummeted into the Potomac River, which flows between Maryland, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The river is not legally swimmable for public health reasons, but that, of course, did not stop the frantic rescue efforts.

Among the engers, it has been reported that multiple people connected to the figure skating world were aboard, including former World Champion figure skating couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

An all-around tragedy

Retired Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, were returning home after attending the US Figure Skating Championships in Kansas, wherein their son, Maxim Naumov, 23, competed and placed fourth. While some social media posts allege Maxim, a Team US athlete, was on board, The Guardian offered no confirmation only speculation that he may have also been on the plane, whereas The Daily Mail reported that he was not among the engers. It is said that Maxim left Wichita with a teammate on Monday after the competition.

Hopefully, Maxim – seen above in what may be the cutest interview ever conducted in figure-skating history – is alive and unscathed, but our hearts break for him, his family, and all those involved and affected.

The figure-skating power duo from Russia emerged victorious in the 1994 World Championship. They moved to the US in 1998 and had since retired, instead focusing on coaching and ing their son in his own pro-skating journey.

Although fatalities have been confirmed, with no survivors to speak of yet, the people rescuers have already pulled out of the Potomac waters are still to be identified. The rescue efforts face harsh conditions which include severe cold and strong winds. As of the time of this writing, many of the crash’s victims remain uned for, with at least 30 bodies recovered from the river.

As the TikTok above states, “too many things had to go wrong for something like this to happen.” There are still too many questions left to be answered in regard to this tragedy. How could such a crash happen in one of the most tightly controlled airspaces? And a collision between a commercial airliner and a military aircraft, no less.

These answers will come in time, but, for now, and as should be our first response when unspeakable tragedies such as this one strike, we pray or do whatever goes according to our way of showing empathy and comion.

Plane journeys can be stressful at the best of times, and at the worst of times, they’re a downright nightmare. Most people love getting off planes at their destination, since it’s often to a swanky vacation destination, but the actual journey there? Hard . Planes are cramped, full of people, and just feel a little bit weird.

Just writing this I can feel that strange ringing in my ears! So it’s even worse when something unwanted happens during the journey, such as your boyfriend cozying up to another person. That’s just what happened to one TikTok who posted a clip of the pair on the platform.

In the clip, which is intended to be humorous and not indicative of a serious relationship problem, the girlfriend shows her boyfriend asleep during the flight — and with his head leaning against another enger, a woman, who is also sleeping.

Flights can be boring, and lots of people like to sleep through them for many reasons, but it’s still pretty shocking when your boyfriend ends up sleeping with another woman. The woman in this video took it in good humor, snapping a quick video clip to trade in for a whopping 25 million views on TikTok. Writing “let me just jump off the plane” as the tagline, the girlfriend couldn’t help but capitalize on the event for a lot of social media cred. And honestly? It’s pretty funny.

With 3 million likes and more than 14 thousand comments, it’s clear the video resonated with many s on the social media platform. A lot of the comments centered on how the commenter wouldn’t have been anywhere near as sanguine about the event as the girl in the video, with many claiming outright they’d be angry: “i would have been SO mad girl,” said one, while another wrote, “I’m abt to start an argument w my bf bc of this.” Despite the outpouring of anger in the comments, one was mystified as to whether or not people were serious, as the original video was clearly a joke, saying “Wait are people actually serious that they’d be mad in the comments.”

Although many people experienced second-hand anger, there were those in the comments who took the video for the joke that it was and couldn’t help but spread a little more mischief themselves. Some of them pointed out that the girlfriend was now in fact the “other woman,” with one writing, “Babe you are the other woman” while another said, “They look cute together.” Relationship pranks are a popular genre on TikTok, so it’s no surprise that some of the more mischievous s took the time to leave comments like “The way I’d take a selfie and annoy him with it saying “do you love your gf”.” A picture’s worth a thousand words, after all.

Although the original video was pretty funny and was enjoyed by literally millions of people, the happy couple later posted a follow-up video making fun of the situation. The boyfriend in question is now given the window seat when flying to prevent a repeat of the viral video’s awkward antics. Fortunately, neither party seems especially annoyed by the incident, and they’re both taking it in stride — and the 25 million views probably softened the blow a little.

It’s never nice getting a lecture from your parents, but this TikTok video shows off how it can actually pretty funny when someone else is getting a lecture from them instead. A video clip posted to TikTok with a staggering 13.3 million views shows off one girl’s parents blasting off at her best friend.

In the video, the best friend and the poster’s mom argue about something while the dad adds his two cents periodically. The content of the discussion is blocked out due to the music track — for privacy purposes — but the emotions are there plain as day for all to see. The parents and the best friend in this situation clearly have a great relationship, or the strength of feeling wouldn’t be there at all, but this is one moment where no one’s having fun (except for the girl capturing the video!).

With more than 3.3 million likes on the platform, this video clearly resonated with people. Many people have a BFF who’s there for the long haul, rain or shine, ready to do whatever is necessary — even if that means climbing onto a roof to save your shoes — so it’s no surprise that the video is popular. One even proclaimed “she’s been initiated,” referencing how the best friend was clearly part of the family now. There are more than 8000 comments on the video, with many s jumping in with their own BFF experiences.

A big theme in the comments was people sharing their own experiences of “best friending” so hard they become part of the family. One wrote “Best friended so hard I call her mom “mom”” in a touching display of affection, while another said, “Mine best friended so hard she’s coming on our family trip to see my moms family.” Talk about sisterhood! One couldn’t help but quip “that’s it, she’s their daughter now,” and it’s totally easy to see why.

Although most of the comments were focused on the relationship between the two girls and the parents, many commenters were adamant that they needed to hear the video with full audio. That conversation looks heated, and curiosity can get the better of us! One wrote “WE NEED TO HEAR WITHOUT THE MUSIC,” but there were many more comments along those lines, all of them desperate to know what, exactly, was so bad that the girl received a lecture from someone else’s parents. Unfortunately for them all, we’ll never know, as the vocals were left out to preserve privacy while still sharing a funny and touching moment.

It’s great having a close friendship with someone, and many of the comments were about needing or wanting a BFF like those in the video, although sometimes BFFs can make embarrassing choices. But the right friend can be a great port in a storm, so it’s no surprise that many commenters said things like “bro I want this kind of friendship with someone” or “Goals I wished I achieved.” The clip’s original poster called her best friend her “sister in spirit,” and that’s definitely a relationship goal many can get behind.

Because 2025 wasn’t done preemptively squashing our hopes that this year would prove an improvement over the last, Los Angeles is now being ravaged by the most destructive fire in the County’s history. The harrowing images we see on TV appear straight out of an apocalyptic movie, but nothing can compare to the nightmarish lived experience of those who are directly affected.

When monumental disasters such as this happen, one can tend to get stuck between frustration and hope. Frustration with all the structural and leadership lapses and negligence that have contributed to the situation being more devastating and out-of-hand than organized and controlled – such as the severe shortage of LAFD personnel aggravated by a 2024 budget cut of $17.5 million. And hope that there are good and brave people willing to put on their good samaritan boots even at the potential detriment of themselves.

But, to expand on the topic of systemic governance issues: LA County (like other counties) heavily depends on the employment of the cheapest form of labor when it comes to the risky business of fighting raging wildfires. What is the cheapest form of labor one can legally employ? That’s right, the labor of a vast group of people whose societal dehumanization makes it so this comparably slave-like practice remains largely unquestioned from an ethical standpoint: prison inmates.

“Crime doesn’t pay” taken to a dystopian level

Dividing people into overly strict, reductive, and dichotomized categories, namely “good” and “bad,” is too often a fallacy — a human tendency to create cognitive schemas in order to aid one’s navigation in an ever complex world. Prison inmates often get the “bad” label stamped on them, which then fosters the perception that they are people with deservedly fewer rights. And, as a result of the insidious influences of a deeply entrenched but broken capitalist system, their low social status is systemically taken advantage of for profit.  

As expressed by the former inmate in the TikTok above – and corroborated by The Guardian – 30% of those actively fighting the LA fires are inmates, who earn “between $5.80 and $10.24 a day and an additional $1 per hour when responding to active emergencies.” According to the outlet, this amounts to about 400 people — an increase from the 11.65 percent reported by John Oliver in a 2019 episode on “Prison Labor.” If you want a more comprehensive purview on how inmates are treated as less than human beings worthy of basic dignity, this episode illustrates it quite well.

It is worrisome that not much has changed since the aforementioned Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode, except for the increased overreliance on extremely low-paying prisoners’ labor.

What thankfully has not changed, however, is how rewarding this work can be for inmates due to its humanitarian nature: helping others in what could surely be one of the worst moments of their lives. This can be a way for inmates (people who, in many cases, may have taken up crime after being repeatedly beaten down by life) to realize that they can do something meaningful with the rest of their years. Uncovering this motivation can be unbelievably significant for rehabilitation and the lowering of recidivism rates – which are astonishingly high in the U.S.

Nevertheless, the work’s fulfilling nature does not mean they should be paid next to nothing for it. I understand the argument against giving inmates the “privilege” of a minimum wage, but at least give them enough that it reasonably does not make one feel like one’s life is worthless in the eyes of society. A wage that allows them to afford basic necessities – yes, they may have to pay for things like body wash, female hygiene products, or even speaking to one’s family.

I’ll leave you to ponder on this “important reminder” with a netizen comment on @hahnscratch‘s TikTok video: “My husband was an inmate on a fire crew as well and that’s what encouraged him to do better in life, and now he’s on an engine on Los Padres national Forest working for the US for service.”

There is a golden rule that one should be aware of and always keep on the back of one’s mind in this digital age: If you are not paying for a product or a service, you are the thing that’s being sold. Think of social media apps, like Instagram for instance, these are capitalizing on your attention. Their permanent objective as a business model is to use whatever tools they have at their disposal to retain your attention on the app regardless of whether that’s healthy for its s.

Even before this principle – or how web browser extensions can potentially track your data – was as well established in my mind, I was never fully persuaded into installing Honey by the many YouTubers I followed – from PewDiePie to Gibi ASMR – who took the sponsorship deal. Honey, in theory, sounded like the best thing since sliced bread: A free browser extension that would save you money by helping you find the best deals possible, so you did not have to go through the hassle of searching for a discount coupon. It sounded so amazing that a nagging part of me felt it was too good to be true.

Indeed, we can see there was a reason – now more blatant than ever – why PayPal would purchase Honey for a whopping $4 billion in 2020.

The Honey sponsorship trap

In 2020, Markiplier – someone who’ll always have my utmost respect and iration even if I don’t watch his videos as religiously anymore – was quite possibly the first YouTuber to sound out his distrust of Honey. He told his audience that he’d never taken the proposed sponsorship deals because he could not begin to tell how Honey made its profits, enough profits to “push so much advertising” and pay – what we can surmise are significant amounts of money – to countless influencers for them to promote their product.

This goes to show how asking the right questions – such as “Where’s all that money coming from?” – can often save you from falling for this kind of deception. But, to be fair, it might not have been easy to discern the lies. The YouTubers themselves got duped because, as Marques Brownlee said in his video reacting to scam accusations against his former sponsor, Honey was a very “YouTube-forward” company that was easy to work with and word got around among influencers that they were a desirable r. So, before you get upset at the creators who promoted Honey to their viewers, : They were, allegedly, not only misled but also ripped off.

As Hank Green said in his own YouTube video, brand deals can be the main source of revenue for certain creators, and “it can be easy not to think too hard about how things work.” But, thankfully, MegaLag decided to start “thinking hard” about how Honey’s business model works and conducted a years-long investigation. What he uncovered shocked everyone – except for you, Mark, you absolute gem.

How Honey is accused of unethically operating

As MegaLag made clear in his thorough exposé, the way Honey presented itself made it so they were attractive to businesses, creators, and the average consumer. While they would make it seem to consumers and creators like they would be saving money, to businesses Honey would tell them something that would benefit them, for instance, how they could better control the consumer’s journey as, at the end of the day, Honey would only present the coupons the business wanted to appear or none at all.

On the other hand, the creators, especially those who relied on link commissions, were getting their commissions claimed by Honey. Without doing any heavy lifting, the little Honey tab would pop in at the end of a purchase and, regardless of whether it had any discount coupons to offer, would seek to get that last page click necessary to overwrite the links with their own attribution codes so that they would get to pocket the commission money.

YouTuber Theo Rant, who’s also a developer, has an interesting theory regarding big online retailers like Amazon. Since Amazon is so strict with its policies and harsh to those who step out of line in the slightest – namely content creators – it would be almost unthinkable that they’d allow Honey, who’s almost certainly violating those same policies, to get that much money at their expense. Unless, as Theo argues, Honey and Amazon have a special deal that would make it so it also compensated Amazon. It is also not a stretch to think that Amazon was not the only corporation Honey made special deals with so they wouldn’t step on the wrong toes.

One commenter on Theo’s comment section pointed out something I hadn’t thought of: “That’s why I HATED WITH ION that browsers started hiding full URLs. This is exactly what was bound to happen.” Because, with the full URLs, we could openly perceive Honey overriding the commission codes in real-time.

Needless to say, MegaLag’s revelation of how shady Honey’s methodology is did not fly with anyone, neither consumers nor creators. One such YouTube content creator who has, thankfully, inserted himself into the situation is everyone’s favorite YouTube lawyer Devin, best known as Legal Eagle, who, on Jan. 2, 2025, dropped a video with a very short and sweet title (pun intended): “I’m suing Honey.”

That’s right, Legal Eagle has swooped in “on behalf of creators everywhere” and has filed a class action lawsuit. Honey, Legal Eagle “will see you in court” and the rest of us will sit back and watch Karma get to work – by “Karma,” we don’t mean the other similar coupon discount extension.

On Jan. 3, 9to5Google reported that Honey had lost about 3 million Chrome s in the few days since the scam allegations came to light. We can reasonably infer that more will follow as the dropping of MegaLag’s explosive video continues in its rippling effect.