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Heroes

Cops drag kneeling officer to his feet. A visceral reminder of what good police are up against.

Cops drag kneeling officer to his feet. A visceral reminder of what good police are up against.

A TikTok video showing a police officer attempting to kneel with protesters has gone viral—but not for his kneeling. The video shows an officer in Washington, D.C. kneeling in front of a group of protesters—and then immediately being lifted to his feet by fellow officers.

He knelt again, and was again immediately lifted up by the arms and pulled away. After he walked back to the protesters, an officer came up behind him and spoke something in his ear. (Anyone read lips? It's too noisy to hear what he said.)




@makenshimami Pigs force 2 coworkers back on their feet when they tried to kneel in solidarity w us in DC. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN! ##blm##georgefloyd##blacklivesmatter
♬ original sound - makenshimami

The TikTok post refers to two officers who knelt, and a video posted to Twitter of the same event shows a second officer kneeling at first. According to the Twitter post, the two kneeling officers were black. It appears the officers preventing the kneeling are white.

We've seen police officers of all races kneeling and walking with protesters this week, while at the same time seeing police responding to peaceful protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. Some don't trust the shows of solidarity, especially when they are followed up by militarized responses. Some feel that sincere cops who agree with the protests aren't doing enough to make that clear with their actions.

This video footage is a visceral reminder of what good cops are up against when they go against the "blue code." Part of these protests has to do with bad cops not being held accountable by their colleagues. Too many cops will cover for one another when they break the law or violate human decency—yet these officers won't allow their colleagues to show solidarity with protesters and diffuse the situation by expressing their agreement with the cause. It's striking.

These protests are about this kind of "police vs. the community" vibe that's created when policing is done with violence and brutality. When a community doesn't feel protected by the people who are supposed to be protectors of the community, something is wrong.

This is about far more than just arresting the officers complicit in George Floyd's death. Individual cases of justice are important, but ongoing, systemic injustice needs to be addressed. Accountability. Reform. Better screening and training. Prioritizing deescalation and listening to what communities really want. Getting rid of racist policies and ousting racist police officers.

Too little has been done for too long. We need police like these two officers—who understanding the heart of the issue and are courageous enough to go against the status quo—to push leadership into making real, lasting change. Otherwise we're going to keep on ending up right where we are.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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The Tonight Show/ Youtube

Jennifer Aniston appearing on "The Tonight show"

Let’s face it, platonic relationships between men and women rarely get the same amount of attention as romantic ones, to the point where we debate whether or not they can actually exist in the first place.

That’s what makes a clip of Jennifer Aniston gushing about her decades-long friendship with Adam Sandler so cool to watch. There’s no Harry-Met-Sally-ing here, just one pal talking about another pal.

Aniston sat down with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film “Murder Mystery 2,” starring both Aniston and Sandler, but the conversation quickly veered into several anecdotes about “The Sand Man,” including how the two first met at a deli in their 20s.

As with any healthy friendship, there’s plenty of ragging on each other.

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Ring doorbell video captures what it's like to be the default parent.

Kids, man. I'm not sure of the scientific way audacity is distributed, but kids have a lot of it and somehow make it cute. That audacity overload is especially interesting when you're the default parent—you know, the parent kids go to for literally everything as if there's not another fully capable adult in the house. Chances are if your children haven't sought you out while you were taking a shower so you could open up a pack of fruit snacks, then you're not the default parental unit.

One parent captured exactly what it's like to be the default parent and shared it to TikTok, where the video has over 4 million views. Toniann Marchese went on a quick grocery run and *gasp* did not inform her children. Don't you fret, they're modern kids who know how to use modern means to get much-needed answers when mom is nowhere to be found. They went outside and rang the doorbell.

Back when we were children, this would've done nothing but make the dogs bark, but for Marchese's kids, who are 3 and 6 years old, it's as good as a phone call.

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A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

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Former teacher shares the funny 'secret code' she used when talking to parents

“Your son is going to make a great lawyer" is code for: "Your kid won’t stop arguing with me."

Miss Smith shares the "secret code" teachers use in emails to parents.

There are many things that teachers think but cannot say aloud. Teachers have to have a certain sense of decorum and often have strict rules about the things they can or can’t say about children, especially to their parents.

Plus, it’s a teacher’s job to educate, not judge. So, they find ways to kindly say what’s on their minds without having to resort to name-calling or talking disparagingly of a student.

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It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.


A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


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