Flash Shelton has been nicknamed the "Squatter Hunter" and helps people take their homes back.
Squatters' rights laws are some of the most bizarrely misused legal realities we have, and something no one seems to have a good answer for. Most of us have heard stories of someone moving into a vacant home and just living there, without anyone's permission and without paying rent, and somehow this is a legal question mark until the courts sort it out.
According to The National Desk, squatters' rights are a carryover from British property law and were created to ensure that abandoned property could be used and to protect occupants from being kicked out without proper notice. The argument is that it's better to have someone openly living in a home and taking care of it, properly maintaining it, versus it laying abandoned and rotting away. Families and residents add value to a community, and those residents should have rights — or so the reasoning goes.
It should go without saying that squatter law isn't meant to allow someone to just take over someone else's property, but sometimes that's exactly what happens.
A squatter takeover is exactly what happened to Flash Shelton's mother when she put her house up for rent after her husband passed away.
A woman contacted her with interest in the property, only she wanted to do repairs and look after the home instead of paying rent. Before anyone knew it, she had furniture delivered (which she later said was accidental) and set up camp, despite Shelton's mom not agreeing to the arrangement.
But since the woman had expressed her intention and already moved in, the matter was out of police hands, as Shelton found out when he tried to contact the local sheriff. If that sounds like trespassing to you, well, join the club.
“They said, ‘I’m sorry but we can’t enter the house, and it looks like they’re living there, so you need to go through the courts',” he shared in a YouTube video.
Shelton rightfully didn't want the expense of a court battle, so he took matters into his own hands—not with violence, but with logic. He had his mom lease the home to him, and then told the squatter that she had to move everything out because he was moving things in.
How exactly is squatting not trespassing? It's complicated, for some reason. Giphy
“If they can take a house, I can take a house," he said.
He was calm and clear about her having to get everything out within the day or he would have people come and take it, and thankfully, she didn't put up a big fight.
That experience made him realize how squatter law can be abused, but that there's a faster system for removing a squatter than to go through the court system. If a squatter can move in and force a homeowner to take them to court to prove they are living there illegally, then he could simply move in alongside the squatter, putting the squatter in the position of having to take the homeowner to court instead.
"The legal process is so slow, and at some point when they're in there, you're going to feel like they have more rights than you do and that's how you're going to be treated. So even though you it's your house and you're paying the mortgage or whatever, at some point squatters feel like they have more rights than you, so they don't have an incentive to leave until a judge tells them to, until they're actually ordered to, and that could take months."
After successfully removing the squatters in his mother's house, Shelton has been tackling similar squatter situations for other homeowners in California, earning him the nickname "The Squatter Hunter."
"All I'm doing is becoming a squatter and flipping this process on them," Shelton told CBS News. "I figured if they could take a house, I could take a house."
According to CBS, he's successfully removed a dozen squatters in the past year. ""I'm not going in and I'm not hurting anyone," he said. "I'm not kicking them out, I'm not throwing them out." He's literally just moving in himself, setting up cameras, and then creating small annoyances until the squatters get fed up enough to move out; like making uncomfortable alterations to the home or making a ton of noise at inopportune hours.
Shelton parlayed his success into a reality show on A&E called, fittingly, Squatters. It premiered in July of 2025. To put it lightly, it looks intense! Clips posted on Shelton's social media show hostile standoffs with angry squatters and even he and his team causing damage to the home or creating nuisances to help drive the squatters out.
California isn't the only state that has seen issues with squatters. There are squatter stories from all over the U.S. of people moving into a property and refusing to leave without a court order, tying owners up in lengthy, expensive legal battles.
Though squatting is relatively rare overall, some areas of the country have more issues than others. California, Texas, Georgia, and Florida are areas, in particular, that struggle with squatters and abandoned properties.
Shelton even has a Change.org petition to try to get squatter laws changed to "make squatting in residential maintained homes criminal." Making squatting illegal "will shift the burden of proof onto the squatter and make the crime punishable with restitution an option for damages," the the petition states.
Not all homeowners will have access to someone like Shelton and his team to fight back against squatters. But until the laws change, he's doing as much as he can.
Watch Shelton share his personal story:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
A mama cat brought her kitten into the hospital to be treated for an eye infection.
A family of kittens in western Turkey has won people's hearts with an emergency visit to a hospital. Not an animal hospital—a human hospital. And it wasn't a pet owner who brought them in, but the mama cat herself. According to Gulf Today, staff had previously left food and water for the stray orange tabby outside the hospital in Izmer, Turkey, but that morning she kept meowing outside.
Finally, she fetched one of her kittens and carried it right into the hospital, clearly on a mission. She wasn't scared or shy as hospital personnel cleared the path for her. With her baby in her mouth, she trotted through the hallways, seemingly looking for someone to help. Medical personnel examined the kitten along with its siblings and consulted with a veterinary clinic.
As it turned out, the kittens had an eye infection. Mama kitty's maternal instincts are really something else. Just look at this sweetness caught on video:
According to the Daily Mail, one of the hospital workers told local media: "We were giving food and water to the mother cat living on the street with other people living in this area. However, we did not know that she gave birth to kittens. As we began to receive patients in the morning, she showed up with her kittens. She asked for help, meowing for a long time. We were shocked. Upon careful examination, we saw that the kittens were not able to open their eyes due to infection. We consulted with veterinarians and gave medicine as described. When the kittens opened their eyes a short time later, we were thrilled. Later, we sent the mother cat and kittens to Uzundere for further care. This is the first time something like this has happened to us. We were emotional and delighted to see that they recovered well."
Doctors made sure the kittens' eye infections were treated. Photo credit: Canva
This isn't the first time that a mama cat has made news for bringing her kittens into a hospital in Turkey, however. Last spring, a different cat brought her kitten into an emergency room at a hospital in Istanbul. Merve Özcan described the scene in Twitter posts that went viral at the time.
"Today we were in the hospital emergency, a cat rushed to the emergency with her baby she was carrying in her mouth," Özcan wrote. "Her baby is a little mischievous, her mother grabs it where she finds it." Mother cat carries her sick kitten into Turkish hospital and 'asks doctors for help' https://bit.ly/2QRQao3 #CatsOfTwitter #Turkey.
Medics examined the kittens for apparent signs of illness, while the mama cat was given milk and food. Then they were sent to a vet.
"The Turks have long been known for their love and care for stray animals," Bored Panda reported, "with many leaving out food and water for them on the streets."
No wonder these cats felt so comfortable bringing their kittens into human hospitals for help.
While we can't know for certain what prompted these mama kitties to bring their babies to these medical professionals, it's clear that their maternal instinct to protect and keep their kittens healthy is strong. And the fact that they seem to trust the hospital personnel to take care of their babies says a lot about how humans have treated them. Good for these Turkish medical workers for setting an inspiring example of kindness to animals.
This article originally appeared four years ago.
There are some things you just don't say. You don't yell out "bomb!" on an airplane, make jokes about carrying weapons while going through security, or, as Michael Scott from The Office knows, loudly proclaim that a boat you're currently on is sinking.
Those are all pretty obvious examples, but sometimes etiquette and decorum are a little more subtle. If you're not experienced in the ways of the venue you're in, you might not know all the unspoken rules. And you might find out the hard way. Cruise ships, for example, have their own very specific set of rules and regulations that guests should abide by.
On December 10, 2023, Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas set sail on the Ultimate World Cruise—a 274-day global trek that visits 11 world wonders and over 60 countries.
9 months is a very long time to be aboard a boat, even a giant cruise ship. Photo by Peter Hansen on Unsplash
This incredible trip covered the Americas, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Mediterranean and Europe with a ticket price that ranges from $53,999 to $117,599 per passenger.
With such a unique and incredible offering, it's understandable that Royal Caribbean wanted to invite plenty of influencers to help them get the word out.
Aboard the Serenade to the Seas was popular TikToker Marc Sebastian, who documented his experience throughout the journey. In one video with over 4.3 million views, he revealed what he’s learned over his first few weeks aboard the ship; the biggest was the one word you’re not allowed to say.
"So here's [what] I've learned about cruising since I've spent 18 nights on this floating retirement home with a Cheesecake Factory attached. First, number one, you're not supposed to talk about the Titanic," he says in the clip.
Titanic! It's the ultimate taboo when you're on a giant ship traversing the ocean. Even after all these years, it's still too soon to make even lighthearted comparisons or jokes.
@marcsebastianf someone get whoopi on the line girl i have some goss for her #ultimateworldcruise #worldcruise #serenadeoftheseas #cruisetok #cruise #9monthcruise #titanic
“Who knew that? I didn’t,” Sebastian said. “I brought it up to an entire room of people having lunch that our ship is only 100 feet longer than the Titanic — when I tell you that utensils dropped. Waiters gasped. It’s dead silent.”
Sebastian was flabbergasted. "It wasn't in the... handbook," he joked. "Not that I read the handbook, clearly."
After the unexpected reaction, his cruise friend told him, “You’re not allowed to talk about the Titanic.” It makes sense.
Who wants to be reminded of the tragedy that killed around 1,500 people while sinking one of the most impressive engineering feats of the era? More experienced cruisers chimed in that they were familiar with the unique piece of etiquette.
Pro tip: Don't ask the band on board to play "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion Giphy
"When I went on a cruise, my mom told me saying Titanic was equivalent to screaming ‘bomb’ at an airport," Mikayla wrote in the comments.
"It’s like saying Macbeth in a theatre, it’s an unspoken rule" another commenter added.
"I’m sorry you’re telling me you had a Harry Potter like experience saying Voldemort at Hogwarts but it was the titanic on a modern day cruise I’m cryingggg" joked another.
Later in the video covering little known cruise facts, Sebastian admits he was surprised to learn that cruise ships have godmothers and that the pools are filled with seawater.
In an update from June of 2024, Sebastian explains that he only stayed on the cruise for 18 nights. He was not booked to stay throughout the entire voyage, and for him, that was a relief.
He initially jokes that he was kicked off the boat for saving a penguin that had jumped aboard. But in the end, he admits he was more than happy to deboard early.
"I walked off that ship not a happy man," he said, saying the ship was overstimulating and stressful. In another video, he films as the ship navigates the Drake Passage, one of the most notoriously dangerous and choppy stretches of water in the world. It looks stressful indeed, to say the least.
Cruising isn't for everyone, let alone for 274 days straight! But now Sebastian knows the golden rule for his next cruise.
This story originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
More and more people are getting fed up with tipping culture and "tip creep" in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the service industry and now almost everyone is paying the price; being asked to tip at self-checkouts, vending machines, and for drive-through or carry out food orders. Often times, the "suggested tips" begin at 20% and only go up from there. Tipping was meant to be a generosity for great service, not a necessity for business owners to be able to pay their workers.
That frustration, along with overall higher prices of... well, everything, has led to a noticeable decrease in overall tipping. People are annoyed and closing up their wallets. But until the culture and laws change, it's service workers who are the ones really getting hurt.
A server in Texas recently shared some personal information on TikTok to remind everyone why it's so important to tip those who serve us our meals, drinks, and cut our hair.
In 2020, Aaliyah Cortez filmed a video of her paycheck where she shows that although she worked 70.80 hours during a pay period, she only received a check for $9.28.
"So this is why you should always tip your bartenders and servers, anyone who waits on you, or provides a service for you," she said.
@f.aa.ded PSA #psa #fyp #foryou #bartender #server #work #tips #chooseone #CleanFreshHype #photography101 #hardwork #viral
The video shows that even though she was paid the criminally low federal minimum tipped wage of $2.13, the money she received in her check was further reduced by taxes, social security, and Medicare payments.
"Of course, I got tips, but this is what I got for my hourly," Cortez said. "This is why you tip."
The rules for wages in tipped industries vary across the country. Texas is among the 16 states where the state minimum cash wage payment is the same as that required under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act ($2.13/hr.).
Now, if a server making $2.13 an hour doesn't reach the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour with tips, then their employer must make up the difference. Which, to be clear, is still horrendous and does not constitute a living wage. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single person with no children would need to earn $21.82 per hour to afford basic cost of living expenses in Texas.
What consumers see everywhere we go. Giphy
The calculator also indicates a "poverty wage," which is $7.52 — just a few centers higher than the minimum wage.
The best state to work in for tipped wages is Washington where the minimum wage is $16.66, with no separate wage for tipped employees.
In a follow-up video, Cortez further discussed the issue, noting that she doesn't agree with "state laws that allow restaurants to pay under minimum wage and expect the customer to pay our wages," she said.
"I make great money in tips, she added, "However, this is not the case for all service industry workers." According to Cortez, people aren't always that generous with their tips, even though their "state is expecting them to tip."
@f.aa.ded WATCH MY LAST VID #psa #fyp #foryou #bartender #server #work #tips #hardwork #viral #serverlife #bartenderlife
Cortez's video is a great reminder of two things:
First, that we should all be mindful to take care of those who serve us by giving them a decent tip. If you don't want to leave a tip for the cashier at the grocery store or the ticket-taker at the movies, who should all be earning at least $7.25 per hour, that's understandable.
Save it up and give it to the people who really rely on it for their income.
Secondly, Cortez's video is five years old but just as relevant as ever. It's still strong proof that the U.S. needs to address the issue of the tipped minimum wage because it hasn't changed in 30 years.
"Since 1991, the federal tipped minimum wage has been frozen at $2.13 an hour," gender economist Katica Rot told NBC. "Meanwhile, the non-tipped federal minimum wage has risen 70.6% and consumer prices have gone up 90.24%."
In fact, tipped employees are twice as likely (and servers three times as likely) to live in poverty than non-tipped workers.
Women bear the biggest burden of the tipped minimum wage. They represent 70% of all workers in tip-dependent occupations.
In recent years, Congress has rejected attempts to raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, even though most Americans support it. That fight, however, is far from over.
In the meantime, it means the average person needs to step up and do their part to help out as much as possible. But it's impossible to ignore the systemic nature of the issue at hand. And until business owners are required by law to pay their workers a living wage, no amount of spinning iPads and "suggested tips" will fix anything.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
In 1964, Paul McCartney of the Beatles famously sang, “I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love.” While Mr. McCartney’s sentiments were definitely a major foreshadowing of the hippie, free-love movement that was to come in the ‘60s, it appears as though he was also onto a big truth that wouldn’t be proven for another 50 years.
11 years ago, researchers Hugo M. Mialon and Andrew Francis-Tan from Emory University embarked on the first study to determine whether spending a lot on a wedding or engagement ring meant a marriage would succeed or fail.
The pair wanted to see if the wedding industry was being honest when it came to claims that the more money a couple spends, the more likely they are to stay together.
“The wedding industry has consistently sought to link wedding spending with long-lasting marriages. This paper is the first to examine this relationship statistically,” the researchers wrote.
Maybe don't splurge on the big balloon release. Photo by Álvaro CvG on Unsplash
The researchers carried out online surveys with more than 3,000 people who have been married at least once and live in the United States.
After reviewing the answers to the questionnaire the researchers learned that spending big bucks on a wedding and engagement ring made a couple more likely to get divorced.
So much for the idea that "Diamonds are a girl's best friends." Thanks a lot, Marilyn!
The researchers determined that "marriage duration is inversely associated with spending on the engagement ring and wedding ceremony."
For example, couples that spent between $2000-4000 on an engagement ring were about 1.3 times more likely to divorce than couples who spent in the $500-2000 range. For wedding ceremonies, $20,000 was the big cut off — any more than that was correlated with a 1.6 times increase in divorce likelihood. Remember that this study was conducted in 2014. In 2025, the average cost of a wedding is a whopping $31,281. Clearly, an updated survey is needed.
Conversely, the research found that "relatively low spending on the wedding is positively associated with duration among male and female respondents."
Those cheap courthouse weddings that cost almost nothing? Very often, they foreshadow a long-lasting marriage!
The researchers also found that the number of people who attend the wedding matters, too. The questionnaire revealed that “high wedding attendance and having a honeymoon (regardless of how much it cost) are generally positively associated with marriage duration."
The researchers haven’t studied why people who splurge on weddings and rings have a greater chance of having to hire divorce lawyers, but they have a few theories.
A romantic wedding day kiss. Giphy
“It could be that the type of couples who have a … (cheap wedding) are the type that are a perfect match for each other,” Mialon told CNN. “Or it could be that having an inexpensive wedding relieves young couples of financial burdens that may strain their marriage,” he added.
Francis-Tan believes that people who have weddings with a large number of attendees are more successful because they have a lot of support.
“This could be evidence of a community effect, i.e., having more support from friends and family may help the couple to get through the challenges of marriage,” Francis-Tan said. “Or this could be that the type of couples who have a lot of friends and family are also the type that tend not to divorce as much.”
(Interestingly, common sense would indicate that a high guest count naturally drives up the cost of the wedding — so it really comes down to how much you're splurging on food and decor.)
Could it also be that people who put a big emphasis on a flashy wedding and jewelry tend to bit a bit more materialistic? It makes sense that couples that are really into keeping up appearances may not have their priorities straight when it comes to building a loving relationship.
Gwen Stefani throws a bouquet in a music video. Giphy
Of course, there are many, many factors that go into a long, happy, and successful marriage. And don't forget that not all marriages that last are happy. Spending big on a fancy engagement ring or splurging for the chocolate fountain at the wedding don't spell doom for couples that communicate and work on their relationship. Like anything in life, there are no guarantees either way.
To finish things off with another pop music analogy, “If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it,” (just make sure it’s an inexpensive one, in front of a lot of people, in your backyard).
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
