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President Trump won't address climate change, so Beyoncé will

Beyoncé's been giving back to her hometown of Houston as it digs out from under the disaster that was Hurricane Harvey.

After Harvey left Houston a flooded mess, the singer teamed up with some local organizations to help bring attention to the disaster relief efforts and making a few on-the-ground appearances herself. Disaster relief is nothing new for Beyoncé — in 2005, she set up the Survivor Foundation to help victims of Hurricane Katrina — so it didn't come as a huge surprise that she took such a hands-on approach when Houston needed her.

It was during the Hand in Hand charity telethon, however, that Beyoncé addressed an underlying issue that many in our own government aren't willing to tackle: climate change.

More than $44 million for disaster relief was raised during the Hand in Hand telethon, but it was Beyoncé's powerful statement that made headlines the morning after.

Stating the obvious — that natural disasters don't care about the color your skin is, the religion you practice, or how much money you've got in your checking account — Beyoncé segued into a message about the long-term effects of climate change. Citing a number of recent disasters, which, mind you, aren't in themselves proof of climate change but are what we can look forward to if we don't take swift action, she called on viewers to "come together in a collective effort to raise our voices, to help our communities, to lift our spirits, and heal" before it's too late.

GIFs from Beyoncé/YouTube.

Make no mistake about it: Climate change has been and will continue to disparately harm poor communities and people of color.

Anyone can be hit by a natural disaster, but poorer countries and poorer parts of the U.S. are less equipped to be able to effectively prepare for or recover from tragedy. Many people can't afford to just pack up their belongings and move out of harm's way or rebuild homes destroyed by storm winds and debris. Fights against racism, climate change, and income inequality are inextricably linked; it's why a number of groupshave taken an intersectional approach on so many of these topics.

Climate change is very real. In December, more than 800 climate scientists signed a letter urging then-President-elect Trump to address the climate crisis just waiting to happen. Since then, Trump has appointed a climate denier to head the Environmental Protection agency, pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, and rolled back dozens of common sense regulations meant to protect our fragile planet.

If scientists can't get through to deniers, maybe Beyoncé can. We're entering an all-hands-on-deck kind of era when it comes to fighting climate change, so let's get in formation.

Watch Beyoncé's powerful message from the Hand in Hand benefit below.

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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Education

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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