Year: 2024

Inequality has gotten worse than you think.

An investigation by former “Daily Show” correspondent Hasan Minhaj is still perfectly apt and shows that the problem isn’t just your classic case of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”

As much as we hear about wealth inequality these days, one disparity remains mostly ignored: the gap between the wealthy and the ridiculously wealthy.

Minhaj spoke to Richard Reeves, an economist with the Brookings Institute, who painted a dark picture:

The study Reeves refers to points to the growing wealth of the top 10th of the top 1%:

“The rise of wealth inequality is almost entirely due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth share, from 7% in 1979 to 22% in 2012 — a level almost as high as in 1929. The bottom 90% wealth share first increased up to the mid-1980s and then steadily declined.”

And no one’s paid any attention.

Between the cries of the 45.3 million people in poverty and a dwindling middle class in every state, the voice of the average millionaire is all but drowned out.

But not all millionaires are worried about growing inequality in the top 1%.

In his search for a concerned millionaire, Minhaj met Morris Pearl, a retired investment banking director and member of an organization called The Patriotic Millionaires. Minhaj was baffled by what Pearl had to say:

What about trickle-down economics?

Trickle-down theory was popularized under Ronald Reagan’s presidency. The idea was that clearing a path for the rich to make more money would spur more private investment, which would lead to more jobs and higher wages for all workers.

Reagan put trickle-down theory into practice in two basic ways: by lowering taxes for the wealthy and by freezing wages for the poor.

In 1981, he cut the top marginal income tax rate — which only applies to the highest-income households — from 70% to 50%. Then in 1986, he more than doubled-down by slashing the rate to 28%. (The current rate is 39.6%.) And under Reagan’s leadership, the minimum wage was frozen, even as costs of living were rising.

Pearl and other so-called Patriotic Millionaires think top one-percenters like themselves should pay more taxes.

Not only that, they believe raising the minimum wage is critical to reducing inequality.

OK, maybe not everyone — including millionaires — are convinced that giving more money to the rich will fix the economy. So why do our policies do just the opposite?

This article originally appeared on 3.23.15

When Lily Evans set out to walk her dog, she had no idea the story of that walk would later go viral on the internet.

When she took to Twitter to recount her experience, she opened with a simple question, one that many men have probably wondered for a long time — though women already know the answer.

(Before you click through to the thread itself, note that Lily’s Twitter account is expressly for adults and may be NSFW.)

The walk started off normal enough. Until she ran into a seemingly friendly stranger.

A man eating on a nearby bench offered her dog, Echo, a treat.

He eventually asked her if she lived in the area — which could be considered slightly intrusive — but all in all, it was just small talk.

But then she ran into him again shortly after.

Evans says his friendly banter — maybe innocent, but more likely not — was making her incredibly uncomfortable.

And yet he continued to linger.

Then he invaded her physical space with an out-of-nowhere hug.

“I was terrified,” she wrote.

Evans hurried home, petrified the man would follow her.

He didn’t. But the experience left her shaken and upset. Worst of all, she says, she has been through this many, many times before.

Her story went viral in a hurry, with over 44,000 retweets, 68,000 likes, and thousands of comments.

“The response from other women has been pretty heartbreaking,” Evans writes in a Twitter exchange with Upworthy. “Many, many women have used this as an opportunity to share their stories of harassment, assault, or even just being very frightened.”

The replies to Evans’ tweet thread is littered with similar stories — seemingly “nice” guys on the street or public transportation who push small talk far past its acceptable boundaries.

Though she’s glad her story made other women feel more comfortable coming forward with their own experiences, Evans hopes it also leaves an impression on men who read it.

“I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that’s exactly what I was aiming for.”

“I got a lot of replies from men saying, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry that happened, but we aren’t all like that! Some of us are nice guys,'” she says. “And while that’s true, my point was that strangers cannot know what your intentions are until it’s too late.

She hits on an important point: It’s not inherently wrong or creepy to strike up a conversation with a stranger, but women truly never know when a simple “hi” is going to turn into them being followed and harassed.

“I had several guys ask me how they can be more non-threatening, and that’s exactly what I was aiming for,” she says. “I just want men to be more self-aware and understand that when a woman they don’t know is skittish, it’s nothing personal. We’re just trying to be safe.”

This article originally appeared on 07.18.19

These days, we could all use something to smile about, and few things do a better job at it than watching actor Christopher Walken dance.

A few years back, some genius at HuffPo Entertainment put together a clip featuring Walken dancing in 50 of his films, and it was taken down. But it re-emerged in 2014 and the world has been a better place for it.

Walken became famous as a serious actor after his breakout roles in “Annie Hall” (1977) and “The Deer Hunter” (1978) so people were pretty shocked in 1981 when he tap-danced in Steve Martin’s “Pennies from Heaven.”

But Walken actually started his career in entertainment as a dancer. He took his first dance lessons at the age of three. “It was very typical for people—and I mean working-class people—to send their kids to dancing school,” he told Interview Magazine. “You’d learn ballet, tap, acrobatics, usually you’d even learn to sing a song,” he later explained to Interview magazine.

As a child, he also studied tap dance and toured in musicals. He even danced with a young Liza Minelli. “I’d been around dancers my whole life, having watched my parents make musicals at MGM, and Chris reminded me of so many of the dancers I knew growing up,” Minelli said according to Entertainment Weekly. “He’s talented in every way.”

Craig Zadan, Executive Producer of “Peter Pan Live!,” agrees with Minelli. “I think that if he had been around in the heyday of MGM, he would have been a big star of musicals on film,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

His dance moves were put center stage in 2001 in Spike Jonze’s video for Fatboy Slim’s song “Weapon of Choice.” Walken says he did it because one day he’ll be too old to cut a rug. “You think, ‘Well, do it now!’ You know, you get too decrepit to dance,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

This article originally appeared on 02.15.22

A viral video from England has struck a chord with viewers worldwide. It’s proof that even children are not immune to the pain of inflation and price gouging. In the video, which has over 19 million views, 8-year-old Marnie passionately expresses her discontent with an ice cream man’s prices while her twin sister, Myrah, stands by in full support.

The video is going viral because of the girls’ honest frustration and Marnie’s adorable northern accent. The girls are from Burnley, a small city outside of Manchester.

“Girls, what’s just happened,” their aunt Karis Lambert asks innocently at the beginning of the TikTok video. “So, there’s an ice cream van there, selling just two ice creams with two chewing gums in it for bloody nine pounds ($11.50) for two of them!” Marnie says incredulously.

The girls wanted to buy 2 Screwballs, a classic English slushy with a gumball at the bottom. “Nine quid — he’s going to get nowhere with that, no he ain’t, he should know,” Marnie continued.

Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣 

@karislambert

Cost of living really taking its toll on marnie🤣 #foryou #fyp

Marnie had 10 pounds in her pocket and was almost about to overspend on two Screwballs when the ice cream man added that he doesn’t accept cash, only cards. At that point, Marine and Myrah were done. “And he only does bloody cards—[I’m] stood there with my cash, bloody hell,” she said.

“Bloody well, bad,” she exclaimed.

Millions of people have watched Marine’s rant, and at the time, and she had no problem if the ice cream man heard her, too. “Bet he can hear me!” she said, rolling her eyes toward the van. She later admitted that she hadn’t expressed her displeasure to the ice cream man directly.

“Even the kids are affected by this cost of living,” @bby wrote in the comments on TikTok. “I’m with her on this I wouldn’t stand for £9 either,” Lily added. “Does she offer services by the hour? I’ve got a water bill I don’t agree with and I think she could handle the situation better than me,” Josh joked.

“Where do we acquire spicy British kids to adopt?” itllBuff wrote.

@jeremyvineon5

Meet the twins going viral for their ice cream protest #icecream #9quid #twins

Marine’s rage even caught Stephen Colbert’s attention. “I have never been so intimidated by a little girl,” he joked after playing the video on his show.

In an interview posted by Jeremy Vine and Storm on Channel 5’s TikTok account, the girls’ aunt admitted that she was happy the video went viral so other people could enjoy their fantastic sense of humor. “They’re so funny. I was so glad everyone saw that video because they’re both hilarious, and I’m just glad everyone else seems to say it,” she said. “They got so many comments on that video and everyone just thinks that they’re brilliant.”

On an appearance on ITV Live, Lambert admitted that the video had probably put the ice cream out of business and the girls said they were “proud” of how it had taken off.

After the video went viral, people began saying that their girls should go into politics, to which they gave a resounding yes. Their first job after becoming co-Prime Ministers? “Change the prices” on ice cream, Marnie exclaimed.

The numbers are stacked against young men when it comes to finding love on dating apps. They outnumber women 2 to 1 on the platforms, making the competition pretty tough. A new study finds that they’ll make things even harder for themselves if they admit to listening to the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in their profiles.

A new poll by Change Research surveyed 1,033 registered voters between 18 and 34 to ask about their political leanings and dating preferences. It discovered that women’s biggest red flag when looking for a relationship is a date revealing they’re a MAGA Republican, with 76% of women saying it’s a turnoff. The second biggest red flag for women is people who “have no hobbies” (66%), and the third is those who say “All Lives Matter” (60%).

Fifty-five percent of women say it’s a big turnoff for potential partners to listen to the Rogan podcast. They also have a problem with people who “refuse” to see the “Barbie” movie (53%).

When it comes to men between the ages of 18 and 34, the biggest turn-off is people who identify as “communist” (64%), and they also have problems with those who have no hobbies (60%) as well as MAGA Republicans (59%).

Other turnoffs for men include being interested in astrology (41%) and saying “All Lives Matter” (41%).

Interestingly, people with no hobbies are a big red flag to people of both men and women. The common assumption is that people with no real hobbies or interests will rely on their partners to bring fun into their lives. Also, a lack of hobbies can mean a person lacks passion and may not have many personal goals.

When it comes to having too many hobbies, both men and women agree that it isn’t a big problem. The poll found that only 8% of women believe that having too many hobbies is a red flag and 6% of men agreed.

When it comes to green flags in a relationship, both men and women overwhelmingly agreed that they are very interested in potential partners who read. Ninety-five percent of women and 91% of men saw reading as a green flag. So, if you’re crafting an online dating profile, you may want to show some photos of you reading a book or list some of the books you’ve read recently.

They also agree that they are interested in people who research the best deals and rates before buying things. Eighty-eight percent of women listed being a smart consumer as a green flag, and men were close behind at 85%. Men (63%) and women (51%) also agreed it’s a green flag when someone looks better in person than in photos online.

Those of you looking to be in the dating pool during the upcoming presidential election should know there is a discrepancy between the genders regarding political affiliation among the 18 to 34 crowd. Although most people in this age range are moderate to liberal politically, there is a significant difference between genders.

This article originally appeared on 9.14.23

A woman named Jackie pulled a move straight out of a romantic comedy recently, and it has the internet rallying around her potential love interest. Jackie met a guy at a bar and liked him so much that she gave him her phone number. Well, 80% of her number, that is.

The world heard about it on January 17 when Twitter user Henpecked Hal shared a picture of the napkin with her partial phone number written on it. “My 22-year-old cousin met his dream girl at a bar and it’s going pretty well,” Hal wrote in the tweet.

“Call me! 512-3*1-2*04,” the message read, along with “I’m worth it.” The 512 is an area code in Austin, Texas.

After congratulating his cousin on meeting his “dream girl,” he asked: “Did you get her number.” The cousin replied, “most of it.” The Tweet also attached a photo of a list of phone numbers the cousin called to try and get in touch with the elusive Jackie.

u201cMy 22 year old cousin met his dream girl at a bar and it’s going pretty wellu201d

— Henpecked Hal (@Henpecked Hal)
1673980495

The tweet has gone insanely viral, racking up nearly 60,000 retweets, 85.6 million views and 776,000 likes.

The next day, Hal revealed that the woman reached out to him. In the screenshot of her message, she wrote: “Heeeyyy, so you likely won’t see this but I’m Jackie from the tweet!”

“Tell your cousin that next time I see him I’m going to…” she continued, but Hal blurred out the rest of the message to conceal her identity.

“I just talked to him! WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER????” Hal replied. “He said he’s halfway through the list, which means he’s actually like 10 per cent of the way through it.”

Update 1/3: WE FUCKING DID IT! pic.twitter.com/ccQ1puS8OJ

— Henpecked Hal (@HenpeckedHal) January 18, 2023

“He may not be as clever as he thinks,” Jackie responded, “give me HIS number, I’m taking over this operation.”

A lot of people in the comments said they thought Jackie was cold or arrogant for playing hard to get and making poor Hal’s cousin try 100 different numbers to find out which one was her. But Hal says that it’s all an extension of the conversation the two had at the bar.

“For the people saying she’s arrogant, high maintenance or whatever: these kids talked for an hour about a shared interest in true crime, mysteries, etc,” Hal tweeted. “My cousin bragged that he always solves the case before the show ends (editor’s note: not this time). I think she’s awesome.”

So, all Jackie did was give him another mystery to solve. If he’s such a great amateur detective then he should be able to reach her, right?

Some people in the comments have suggested that the story is fake. One person noted that the notebook page with the phone numbers on it had an indentation at the top which could be the “5” in Jackie’s phone number from the napkin. The implication is that Hal wrote on the napkin while it was on top of the notebook, leaving an indentation. But other people pointed out that the writing didn’t match.

Yikes! Forgot to take your napkin off your notepad first… pic.twitter.com/0gCKeSxz12

— Tommy Balloons (@franchise193747) January 18, 2023

Through everything, Hal has received a ton of support from people on Twitter trying to help his cousin’s love life.

The cousin could use ChatGPT to create a Python script that could automate much of this 😂

There are only 100 permutations here (10^2), so it’s not that bad. pic.twitter.com/Wl2drylf1F

— Amir Salihefendić (@amix3k) January 18, 2023

“The programmers who sent scripts and code, the excel junkies who sent me docs to share with my cousin, y’all are wild,” Hal tweeted. “I couldn’t come close to getting back to everyone, but I appreciate it.”

Nearly 90 million people have followed the story of Hal’s cousin and Jackie. Let’s hope there’s a happy ending or at least they get to meet up and see each other again to talk about the mystery that brought them both together.

This article originally appeared on 1.21.23

Are you having a hard time falling asleep? Dr. Andrew Weil has shared the “most powerful” relaxation technique he knows, and it doesn’t require any equipment or cost a dime. It’s known as the 4-7-8 method and it’s backed up by science.

Dr. Weil is an expert in integrative medicine and the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.

The technique is simple:

1. Breathe in through your nose while you count to 4.
2. Hold your breath while you count to 7.
3. Exhale while you count to 8.

Dr. Weil says the method creates a “very pleasant, altered state of consciousness” that you may not experience the first time but will come as a “reward” of regular practice. Dr. Weil insists that the 4-7-8 technique is a practice, and you must do four breath cycles at least twice a day to get the benefits. “After a month, you can increase to 8 breath cycles if you’re comfortable with it,” adding that’s the “absolute maximum.”

Dr. Weil says that 4 to 6 weeks of doing the practice can lower heart rate, improve blood pressure, digestion and circulation and can promote sleep. A study published in Physiological Reports agrees, saying that practicing the 4-7-8 technique reduces heart rate and blood pressure for several minutes.

It’s also an easy way to help you fall asleep. “If you get up in the middle of the night for any reason, it is the most effective anti-anxiety technique that I’ve found,” Dr. Weil says.

This article originally appeared on 1.3.24

On May 21, often-controversial conservative commentator Candace Owens tweeted, “Ban pornography. It is a psychological weapon intended to weaken our men.” Given that seven of April’s 50 most-visited websites are adult destinations, though, that’s a take that’s sure to spark backlash. Cardi B, for one, didn’t agree.

In the comments of an Instagram post sharing Owens’ tweets (more on the rest of them in a second), Cardi wrote (via TMZ), “Ommmggg why yall so against porn ? Is it that bad for yall ? I enjoy it but I don’t know I guess is like a 6 time a year thing .I personally don’t feel no connection or addiction to it just a little quick one two ….NOTHING LIKE REAL INTIMACY!”

In another comment, she added, “How ? It should actually teach men how to please a woman.”

Meanwhile, in a follow-up tweet, Owens added, “Pornography was created as a tool of enslavement, not freedom. It was created by the most depraved among our human race to psychologcally introduce homosexuality, pedophilia and incest–religious sacraments to satanists
BAN IT & stigmatize every person who defends or profits from it.” She wrote in another, “I also want to say to the men that struggle with pornography– you were the intended victims of it. Don’t feel ashamed talking about it. Knowing that it’s wrong is a great first step.”

While it may not be surprising that Cardi and Owens don’t agree on this issue, what might be a bigger shock is that they’ve been on the same side before.

Find Owens’ tweets below.

For years, there have been calls for the Oklahoma City Thunder to make a major swing on the trade market. Those calls got even louder in the early portion of this season, when it was clear the Thunder were a special team and aren’t that far away from making the NBA Finals. But instead of really dipping into their stash of draft picks and pool of young talent, Sam Presti opted to make a smaller trade at the deadline to bring veteran forward Gordon Hayward to Oklahoma City.

The move didn’t work, as Hayward wasn’t particularly effective for the Thunder and fell out of the rotation entirely at the end of their second round series against the Dallas Mavericks — he received DNP-CDs in each of the final three games of the series, which the Mavs went on to win. Presti was asked to reflect on the decision to acquire the former All-Star while he met with the media on Tuesday, and gave a rather blunt answer about the deal and how it was a learning experience.

“I missed on that, that’s on me,” Presti said. “But I’m learning, I’m trying to learn this team, I’m trying to learn the pace of the team a little bit, and just trying to be a great observer of the team as it’s going through these paces, knowing that it’s really gonna change on its own in and of itself. Our team, the last 20 games, was significantly different than the first 20 games. This is the same players, but significantly different, and every time someone changes or develops or we stumble onto something, it changes the rest of the team and how they can perform.

“I think it’s pretty nuanced and texturized,” he continued. “But I don’t think I read that one perfect, and I’m learning from that, in terms of bringing somebody midseason, especially early on in the process for our team.”

Hayward had previously said that his time with the Thunder was “not what I thought it would be.” It’s worth wondering if the lesson for Presti here revolved around bringing in somebody midseason, or whether Hayward specifically just didn’t work out for some reason. Still, this is an unusually refreshing answer from an executive about team building and how making the right move (or standing still) is more important making a move that could end up backfiring.

South Park has famously avoided guest stars as much as possible over its 26-seasons-and-counting run on Comedy Central (with certain exceptions), but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a celebrity presence on the show.

Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have skewered hundreds of famous folks, with Tom Cruise, Barbara Streisand, and Sally Struthers getting it among the worst. But what about the celebs who got off (so to speak) easy?

That question was recently posted on the South Park subreddit. The top response, from user takaoshige, makes the case for R. Kelly. “They could’ve/should’ve torn him apart instead of the Scientology episode,” the comment reads. Other contenders include KoRn (“Their episode was funny and Scooby Doo inspired), Cesar “Dog Whisperer” Millan (“They made him the hero of the episode”), and Tom Brady (“All he did was drink butters creamy goo, take baby laxative, and was solicited for his poop”).

Here’s more:

No one f*cks with Robert Smith.

Brian Boitano

Morgan Freeman got it relatively easy I think

Elon. Especially when you take into account what kind of treatment other billionaire CEOs (like Gates, Bezos or Zuck) got from them.

Lorde ya ya ya

Andrew Tate? There was so much more they could’ve done with him.

Radiohead did their own voices too though and they got a little more insulted (still got off easy though and their appearance was funny as well)

Lizzo. When I seen she was in the new special, I felt sure they’d mention how she treats people like sh*t, the SA accusations. Fair enough, people were defecating from their ears when the listened to too much of her, but I felt they went timid with her representation on the show.

Lizzo herself has some thoughts on that one.

(Via Reddit)