Category: News

This article originally appeared on 03.05.20

Everyone’s childhood is different. But there are common objects, sights, sounds, smells, and memories from elementary school that most Gen Xers and Millenials share.

Personally, when i think back to being in elementary school in the ’80s, I remember the taste of the chocolate ship cookie we got on Fridays (with the pizza). The humiliation of getting nailed in the back during nation ball. And the grumbling, grinding sound that happened when you slipped a disk into the drive on an Apple IIe computer.

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Nowadays, in a world where most kids would have no idea how to even turn on an Apple IIe or have never felt the sting of a rubber nation ball hitting them square between the shoulders, I get a bittersweet feeling when I think back to my elementary school days.

Mel Madara stirred the nostalgia pot on Twitter this week when she posted a series of photos of things she remembers from elementary school that anyone from 50 to 25 probably recollect, too.

via Daniel Bagel / Flickr

She started up with a series of objects and experiences you may have forgotten that were a daily part of elementary school life.

She inspired countless followers to share the things they remember from elementary school in the ’80s and ’90s.

Heads-up 7-up!

Can you remember the anxiety as someone walked slowly though the room and you hoped and prayed they touched your thumb?

That clock you can wind up from behind.

Do you remember dying on Oregon trail repeatedly?

Four square!

Was that a state-mandated fitness exam or a test for scoliosis?

M.A.S.H.! Did you wind up in a mansion, apartment, shack or a house? What kind of job did you get? Who did you marry? What kind of car do you drive?

Before Michelle Obama it was acceptable to feed a kid a taquito filled with pizza.

Tether ball was fun until one of those rock hard balls hit you in the face.

The stool that helped you grab that Judy Blume book just out of reach. It aw also a rgeat place to sit and read if the tables were filled up or you just wanted some privacy.

Is the VCR bolted down? Check! TV strapped in? Check. It’s time for a rainy day movie.

… or if you’re older, you got “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” or some other Disney nature film on 16mm film in the school cafeteria.

My skin is peeling off!

This brutal contraption isn’t a Medieval torture device but a way to sarpen your pencil.

Finally, if more of us listened to this guy, the country would be in a much better place.

This article originally appeared on 03.06.20

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people’s personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world’s population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

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It would be easy to assume that these numbers are skewed by countries where women are blatantly oppressed, and that is somewhat true. However, a majority was found to hold no gender biases in just six of the 75 countries studied—and no, the U.S. was not among them. Nope, not Canada either.

Andorra, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden were the only countries where a majority of people showed no clear gender bias. (Andorra came out on way on top, with 73% of its population showing no bias—the only country to top 70%. Go Andorra.)

Where did the U.S. and Canada stand? According to the study, 43% of Americans hold no gender bias while Canada clocks in at 48%. Basically, if you’re sitting in a stadium full of people as a woman in North America, half of the people you’re looking at likely harbor some kind of clear bias against you. Same goes if you’re a woman competing in a sport, giving a talk at a conference, or—ahem—running for public office.

Perhaps the most unnerving stats from the report are these:

– About 50% people—both men and women—think men make better political leaders than women

– About 40% of people think men make better business leaders than women

– Close to 50% of men believe that men have more right to a job than women

– About 30% believe that it’s justifiable for a man to beat his intimate partner

Ummm, that last one? Holy moly.

What’s just as concerning is that despite decades of progress on women’s rights, bias against women is increasing in some countries among both men and women. And this is the case even among some countries that scored well on the index—bias in top-six Sweden, for example, actually increased over the nine years the study covered.

“The share of both women and men worldwide with moderate to intense gender biases grew from 57 percent to 60 percent for women and from 70 percent to 71 percent for men,” the report states, adding: “Surveys have shown that younger men may be even less committed to equality than their elders.”

That last part is worth repeating. Evidence points to young men being less committed to gender equality than older generations. That is not good news for the future, folks.

Of course, we have made big strides across the globe in terms of increasing access to education, improving healthcare for women, and other areas. But women still don’t have a place at most of the decision-making tables, and we obviously still have social norm hurdles to overcome to achieve true gender equality.

“We have come a long way in recent decades to ensure that women have the same access to life’s basic needs as men,” said Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office. “We have reached parity in primary school enrollment and reduced maternal mortality by 45 percent since the year 1990. But gender gaps are still all too obvious in other areas, particularly those that challenge power relations and are most influential in actually achieving true equality. Today. the fight about gender equality is a story of bias and prejudices.”

Results of the study indicate a backlash to the push for gender equality, the report states. Indeed, change is uncomfortable for many people and progress is often a two steps forward, one step back process. For sure, social norms are more complex and challenging to change than laws.

“Policymakers often focus on the tangible—on laws, policies, spending commitments, public statements and so on,” the report states. “This is driven partly by the desire to measure impact and by sheer impatience with the slow pace of change. Yet neglecting the invisible power of norms would miss a deeper understanding of social change.”

Social norms also directly impact progress made in all areas. Currently, no country in the world is on track to meet the gender equality goals by Sustainable Development Goal target of 2030. With stats like these, that’s not shocking.

Clearly, something to keep in mind as we advocate for gender equality is how to effectively address people’s core beliefs about women and equality in general. Legal progress without social progress is shaky at best, and true gender equality won’t become reality unless people believe that it should.

It appears we have some serious work ahead of us on that front.

This article originally appeared on 12.15.14

Images via GooBingDetroit.

Yup. These images were taken only two years apart. And what you’re seeing was not an accident.

When the economy crashed in 2008, it was because of shady financial practices like predatory lending and speculative investing, which is basically gambling, only the entire economy was at stake.

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When the recession hit, it literally hit home for millions of people. And Detroit was right in the middle of it.

I spoke with Alex Alsup, who works with a Detroit-based tech company that’s mapping the city’s foreclosed homes to help city officials see the bigger picture and find solutions. He also runs the Tumblr GooBingDetroit, where he uses Google Street View’s time machine to document the transformation of Detroit’s neighborhoods over the last few years.

“There’s a common sentiment that Detroit’s looked the way it does for decades, but it’s just not true,” Alsup said.

It’s astonishing to see how quickly so many homes went from seemingly delightful to wholly unlivable.

When the recession went into full force, home values took a nosedive. But the city expected homeowners to pay property taxes as if they hadn’t.

Not only does the situation defy logic, but it’s like a brass-knuckled face punch to the people the city is supposed to be looking out for. Alsup explains:

“You had houses — tens of thousands of them — that were worth only $20,000 or so, yet owed $4,000 a year in taxes, for which very few city services were delivered (e.g. police, fire, roads, schools). Who would pay that?”

Indeed.

A local group calls what happened to Detroit a “hurricane without water.”

And like a real hurricane, homeowners aren’t the ones to blame. They’re even calling for what is essentially a federal disaster response.

Here are the three strategies they want to see in action — and they can work for basically anywhere in the country that’s struggling with a housing crisis.

1. Stop kicking people out of their homes.

They want the city to end foreclosures and evictions from owner-occupied homes. Many people aren’t just losing their homes — they’ve lost jobs, pensions, and services because of budget cuts. Putting them on the street is like a kick in the teeth when they’re down.

2. If a home is worth less on the market than what the homeowner owes on their loan, reduce what they owe.

Those are called underwater mortgages. Banks caused this mess, and governments ignored it. It’s only fair that people’s mortgages be adjusted based the current value of their home.

3. Sell repossessed homes at fair prices to people who actually want to live in them.

Selling to banks and investors only encourages what led to the financial crisis in the first place. Wouldn’t it make more sense to sell to people who are going to live in them and have a genuine interest in rebuilding the community?

Housing is a human right. And an economy based on financial markets doesn’t care about human rights. Maybe it’s time for a new economy?

Click play below for a silent cruise down a once lovely residential block in Detroit.

If someone ever decides to give Herschel Walker a key to their city, be forewarned that he very well may try to use it to open the doors to people’s home — or at the very least, whip it out at a debate to prove that he “owns” said city. That’s the big takeaway we got from Walker’s Friday night debate against Georgia senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent the former football player is desperately attempting to oust.

At one point in the evening, Warnock brought up what he described as Walker’s “problem with the truth,” noting that, “One thing I have not done: I’ve never pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve never threatened a shootout with police.” As Forbes reports, Walker claimed to have “FBI clearance” during a 2017 speech and stated that he was an “FBI agent” in 2019. While he apparently did take part in a program at the FBI Academy back in 1989, there is no evidence to support any of his claims that he is a member of law enforcement — except for a toy badge he pulled from his jacket pocket while on stage — a move that got his promptly admonished by one of the debate’s moderators, who pointed to the event’s “no props allowed” rule.

Walker put up a pretty compelling defense when he stated that the badge was not a prop (it was) and that “I am work with many police officers.” Surprisingly, that wasn’t enough to call it case closed. And while it’s now been more than 24 hours since the unintentional hilarity ensued (yes, people in the audience were loudly laughing — and who can blame them?), the internet is still making jokes about the surreal bit of political theater.

The New York Times reported that the badge Walker flashed “was given to him in recognition of community service work he had done with the Cobb County sheriff’s department, according to his campaign spokesman, Will Kiley. Mr. Walker also has an honorary badge from the sheriff’s department in Johnson County in East Georgia, which includes his hometown, Wrightsville. Representatives for the sheriff’s departments in both counties were unavailable for comment.”

While handing celebrities honorary badges, degrees, etc. is nothing new, that the commendation would be bestowed on Walker — who has a history of alleged domestic abuse and once held a gun to his wife’s head — did not sit well with everyone.

Walker did, however, find at least one supporter:

The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule this week in a move that most around the league have expected since the end of last season, as the former Baylor coach simply was not working out in professional football. With the firing of Rhule amid a 1-4 start to the season, there has been plenty of speculation that the Panthers could be open for business ahead of the trade deadline, as they enter what certainly appears to be a rebuild as they need an influx of new talent and, eventually, to find a quarterback.

The biggest name among those that could potentially be on their way out is star running back Christian McCaffrey, but to this point rumors have only gone as far as to say the Panthers will listen to offers but need to be blown away by one to trade him. As for what would reach that criteria, Fox’s Peter Schrager explained that Carolina wants “multiple” first round picks to move off of their stars like McCaffrey (or defensive tackle Derrick Brown), which is to say, McCaffrey isn’t getting moved if that price tag doesn’t change.

There have been players that have been traded for multiple firsts in recent years, but they tend to play premier positions like quarterback, offensive tackle, or defensive back. As good as McCaffrey is and as versatile a weapon as he is out of the backfield, this just is not a time in the NFL when any back is going to bring back multiple first round picks — I would, honestly, be a bit surprised if a team offered up a single first for him, but maybe that’s what the Panthers are hoping to get to by putting this kind of demand out there publicly.

As the deadline approaches, we’ll see if there’s any changes to the Panthers’ demands or if a team will at least come closer to meeting them, but for now it’s hard to see anyone making that kind of offer for McCaffrey and, as such, he seems likely to stay with the Panthers until something changes in their ask.

Last week, Kanye West was banned from Instagram and Twitter after making anti-semitic remarks and threatening to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” On last night’s episode of Drink Champs, he addressed the aforementioned comments and blamed Jewish media for controversial stories about him.

“It’s Jewish Zionists that’s about that life,” said Ye. “That’s telling this Christian woman [Kim Kardashian] that has four black children to put that out as a message.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he continued to blame Jewish people and Jewish-owned entities, saying, “Jewish people have owned the black voice. Either it’s through us wearing the Ralph Lauren shirt, or it’s all of us being signed to a record label, or having a Jewish manager, or being signed to a Jewish basketball team, or doing a movie on a Jewish platform like Disney.”

Despite Ye’s remarks, Drink Champs hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN decided to run the interview on the Revolt platform, which of course, Ye asked if they still would, after the fact that Uninterrupted’s The Shop decided to pull the interview they did with Ye.

“They blocked me out,” Ye said. “The Jewish media blocked me out.”

You can check out a clip from the interview above (if you must).

Against the better judgment of Revolt, Kanye West was invited to appear on Drink Champs last night. His appearance comes just after his ban from Instagram and Twitter after allegedly making anti-semitic comments. During his appearance, he addressed a myriad of topics, including the “white lives matter” shirt he wore during Paris Fashion Week and his recent appearance at the premiere of Candace Owens’ documentary.

The conservative commentator’s documentary, The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd And The Rise of BLM questions the legitimacy of Black Lives Matter as an activist organization and implies that Floyd died as a result of drug use, and not at the hands of the police.

Ye spoke on the documentary and peddled bullshit about the narrative surrounding Floyd’s death was false.

“They hit him with the fentanyl,” Ye said. “If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”

Again, this is a complete horseshit right-wing conspiracy claim that was debunked in court.

He also bizarrely claimed that in the documentary, viewers see that Floyd’s nickname for his then-girlfriend was “Mama,” which Ye believes is the person Floyd was calling for at the time of his death.

It is worth noting that during his anti-BLM rant, Drink Champs hosts Nore and DJ EFN didn’t appear to counter Ye’s controversial stances.

You can watch a clip from the interview above (if you must). Here’s hoping people stop putting a microphone in front of this dude’s face soon.

Saturday Night Live covered the latest developments in the January 6 Committee hearings during its cold open, but it took specific aim at Donald Trump later in the episode during Weekend Update.

The sketch comedy show’s fake news program was always, of course, going to lead off with Trump’s response to the latest January 6 Committee hearing. Especially when it was a whopping 14 pages and Colin Jost could make a timely connection with some other recent news.

“After the January 6 Committee subpoenaed Trump, Trump responded with a 14-page letter. Fourteen pages. OK, Unabomber,” Jost said to laughs. “I don’t know if this is a coincidence but Trump wrote the letter the same day the FDA confirmed the nation is experiencing a shortage of Adderall. And I just know from experience in college anytime I wrote a 14-page paper in one night I’d also taken a disturbing amount of Adderall.”

Jost also took aim at a Georgia senate candidate that Trump has endorsed, Herschel Walker. A day after the former football star pulled out a fake cop badge and said “I am work with many police officers” during a debate with Raphael Warnock, Jost fired away at yet another bizarre thing from the Walker camp, saying it’s “another sign that Herschel Walker is does have brain problems,” Jost joked.

The segment featured lots of politics but also had some other current events highlighted as well. Chloe Fineman, for instance, stole the show during Saturday’s episode playing a concerned mother worried about Hocus Pocus 2 and was somehow possessed by the devil.

You can watch the rest of Weekend Update below.

In her second performance of the night, Megan Thee Stallion treated viewers to a double dose of fan favorites from her second album, Traumazine. Joined by guitarists and drummers on the Saturday Night Live stage, as well as a group of dancers, Megan opened with an electrifying performance of “NDA.”

She bounces to the beat, front and center of the stage, as her dancers respond, following suit. The beat quickly transitions into “Plan B,” the unapologetic, kiss-off anthem that launched the Traumazine era.

Although she appeared to be in good spirits during the show, this may be the last Megan performance we see for a while. Last night (October 14), after news broke that her Los Angeles home had been burglarized, she revealed that she is planning to take a break.

“I’m so tired, physically and emotionally,” she said.

She followed up, saying “Material things can be replaced but I’m glad everyone is safe.”

Despite the horrific incident, Megan continues to remind us that even in the face of adversity, nothing can stop her from doing what she’s meant to do.

Check out the full performance above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Saturday Night Live‘s cold opens have been mostly political in recent years, and another hearing held by the January 6 Committee this week certainly merited coverage by the NBC sketch comedy show. Saturday’s Megan Thee Stallion-hosted episode began with a slew of cast members loosely recreating the latest political theater that included dramatic new footage of Nancy Pelosi organizing security (and talking a bit dirty) during the insurrection attempt at the US Capitol. Though the show couldn’t help but point out how dull it could be at times.

As Kenan Thompson’s chairman Bennie Thompson put it, “we assembled a team of monotone nerds to make a PowerPoint.”

The sketch culminates in the committee voting for Donald Trump to testify in front of the January 6 Committee, which everyone assured the audience at home would absolutely, for sure, happen. But it did also feature Liz Cheney, played by Heidi Garner, admitting she may be the only person to actually see consequences for speaking out against Trump as a Republican. Describing the “big Dick Cheney energy” required to do just that, Cheney cited a pretty obvious reason why she’s a bit different than other Republicans.

“You might be wondering what makes me so tough,” Gardner said. “And I ask you, ‘Was your dad? Is it Dick Cheney?’ You might wonder, ‘How do you have the guts to take on your entire party alone?’ And I’d say, ‘When you were little, who tucked you in at night? Was it Dick Cheney?’”

Adam Schiff was described as “too spooky” to be given any air time during the sketch, but a number of politicians that have appeared throughout the proceedings got a bit of shine during the open. Chloe Fineman recreated the now-famous Nancy Pelosi video from the hearings earlier in the week, while Sarah Sherman played Chuck Schumer calling Door Dash about their lunch.

“Is Mike Pence dead yet?” Trump asks at one point during a supposed recreation of Trump’s thoughts about the whole ordeal. So maybe it wasn’t completely true to the events of January 6. Then again, we might still get that testimony from the former president after all.

You can watch the full sketch above.