You are here

Tag: The Conversation

Headlines 

Customer demands refund from tattoo shop that employs an ex-felon, gets owned instead.

NewsEditor

The whole point of a legal system is to ensure that individuals who break or abuse the law are punished, allegedly. Of course, the system is flawed, with many innocent people ending up in prison, and many criminals ending up in government—but I digress. This article originally appeared on our partner site someecards and was written by May Wilkerson. Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/customer-demands-refund-from-tattoo-shop-that-employs-an-ex-felon-gets-owned-instead

Read More
Headlines 

The Consumer Electronics Show just banned a sex toy invented by and for women but awarded one made for men.

NewsEditor

via Lora DiCarlo One would think that the forward-thinking minds behind the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas would be well beyond cowing to outdated double standards when it comes to sex. But, unfortunately, they’re not. Lora DiCarlo, a woman-run start-up “determined to change the face of pleasure products” was selected as a CES 2019 Innovation Awards Honoree in the Robotics and Drone product category for the Osé personal massager. According to Lora DiCarlo, CEO and founder Lora Haddock, this revolutionary hands-free sex toy for females uses “new…

Read More
Headlines 

A new study says most men are fine with women running companies but not the government.

NewsEditor

A record number of women may have run for office this year, but we’ve still got a long way to go. A recent survey found that Americans are more in favor of a female CEO than a female head of government. According to the TheReykjavik Index for Leadership, which was conducted by data and consultancy company Kantar in order to measure how people feel about women in leadership, 65 percent of Americans feel “very comfortable with the idea of a female CEO, but only 5 percent feel the same way…

Read More
Headlines 

Abuse tainted this senator’s childhood. No other child will face it on her watch.

NewsEditor, ,

Growing up, Lauren Book recalls that a shroud of secrecy veiled her family. All photos courtesy of L’Oreal Paris and Lauren Book. Her mother lived with a mental illness. Her father, a prominent Florida lobbyist concerned with his public persona, made one thing very clear to her: What happened inside the Book household must stay private by any means necessary. “He said, ‘We don’t talk about things that happen in this house,’” Book told NPR in 2012. “That stuck with me always.” That message, Book says, also made her vulnerable…

Read More
Headlines 

7 wonderful reasons to give to strangers this holiday season.

NewsEditor, ,

The holidays are here in full force, so you’re likely making your gift list and checking it twice. But is anyone on that list someone you don’t know? It might sound like a hare-brained idea (“I already have so many people to give to!” I can hear you saying), and I get it. But it doesn’t take much to make someone’s season brighter, especially if they’re in need. Sometimes a simple scarf, a bag of Hershey’s Kisses, or just a few much-needed toiletries can turn someone’s entire year around. And…

Read More
Headlines 

This 9-yr-old who got a law banning snowball fights dropped is a real American hero.

NewsEditor

Dane Best convinced lawmakers to change a century-old law banning snowball fights—and he’s only 9 years old. Dressed in a sharp pink dress shirt and black bowtie, Dane Best approached the microphone at the Severance, Colorado city council meeting. His goal: To convince the city to overturn a century-old ban on snowball fights. 9yr old Dane Best is lobbying town council to change what he calls an “outdated law” banning snowballs from being thrown in Severance, CO #FOX31 pic.twitter.com/JWTOCxXIVN — Ashley Michels (@ReporterAshley) December 4, 2018 The small town of…

Read More
Headlines 

This inclusive dance company is breaking down disability barriers in stunning ways.

NewsEditor

During a college dance class, Marisa Hamamoto suffered a rare stroke that left her temporarily paralyzed. In 2006, while a senior at Keio University in Japan, Marisa Hamamoto suddenly became paralyzed from the neck down during a contemporary dance class. The next day, she was diagnosed with a spinal cord infarction, a rare form of stroke. Though she regained mobility and was able to leave the hospital after two months, the experience changed her. She dove right back into dance and fell in love with ballroom dancing. But after returning…

Read More
Headlines 

This church has held non-stop services for a month to save a refugee family from deportation.

NewsEditor

Bethel Church in the Netherlands has held non-stop, round-the-clock services since October 28. For more than a month, Bethel Church in The Hague has held church services all day and all night. Hour after hour, pastors take turns leading worship, bringing in choirs and bands, and never allowing a break in the continual services. According to Dutch law, authorities are not allowed to enter a place of worship while services are being held. The ministry of Bethel Church is utilizing that law in the hopes of buying time for an…

Read More
Headlines 

These women were in prison. Thanks to an extraordinary program, they’re now entrepreneurs.

NewsEditor, ,

When she decided she wanted to start her own business, Rebecca ‘Cafe’ Brown was in the unlikeliest place — prison. Posted by Rebecca Brown on Thursday, March 8, 2018 She was partway through a five-year sentence for domestic violence-related charges when she realized that something had to change in her life. Due to a particularly traumatic childhood, Brown found herself in abusive relationships, and those abusive relationships led to incarceration. Though prison wasn’t pleasant, she credits it with helping her come to terms with her history. It’s also where she made…

Read More
Headlines 

The NRA is getting lambasted after telling trauma doctors to ‘stay in their lane.’

NewsEditor

The NRA apparently thinks doctors who treat gunshot wounds shouldn’t have opinions about guns. Looking at the NRA’s Twitter feed after a mass shooting is a fascinating exercise. One might at least expect some “thoughts and prayers” after a gunman walks into a bar and kills 12 people with a gun, but there’s no mention of the Thousand Oaks shooting incident at all. Nada. Zilch. There is, however, a mind-blowing bungle of a tweet from the day before the shooting addressing doctors who advocate for gun control legislation. “Someone should…

Read More
Headlines 

In just one tweet, this reporter scorches every Trump lie about immigrants.

NewsEditor

via Gage Skidmore/Flickr The original sin of the Trump presidency was  in the speech he made announcing his candidacy. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said in front of a crowd of paid supporters. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” While racist dog whistles aren’t new to conservative politicians, Trump had no problem saying the quiet part out loud and 60 million Americans thanked him for it by voting for him to be president. Multiple studies…

Read More
Headlines 

He was a struggling kid. Now he’s a successful career man. Here’s how.

NewsEditor, ,

Daniel Jones never had it easy. Before he was 18, he’d lost his mother and any chance at a stable home life. Then he had to change schools. Jones, who was living with his older brother at the time, was reaching a breaking point. His brother had three children of his own and Jones knew that, family or not, his sibling couldn’t take care of him for long. He also knew he needed to get back into school as quickly as possible. He had two choices: either go to school…

Read More
Headlines 

She once judged people who were on SNAP. Now it’s helping keep her and her family healthy.

NewsEditor, ,

For Kristyn Fayewicz, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was an unexpected lifeline. Three years ago, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a serious disease that causes her body’s immune system to attack itself. After she was diagnosed, work became difficult and then untenable. Fayewicz, who worked at a dog training facility, found that the physical nature of the job made the symptoms worse. At one point, she even lost sight in one eye. It took Fayewicz a year after her diagnosis to apply for SNAP benefits. She knew that…

Read More
Headlines 

Helping the elderly doesn’t have to be hard. Here are 5 ideas you may not have considered.

NewsEditor,

Being a caretaker for an elderly loved one is a full-time job. It’s tough. It’s rewarding. It’s life-changing. So let’s take a second to give it up for all the people who are taking care of their elderly loved ones and friends today. The happiness and love these caregivers bring to the lives of the elderly can’t be overstated. But it’s not just transformative for the senior who’s getting the help that they need — it impacts the caregiver’s lives in a big way as well. Photo by AP X…

Read More
Headlines 

Lady Gaga perfectly calls out the ‘ignorance’ driving Trumps new attack on gender laws.

NewsEditor

Earlier this week, the Trump Administration announced plans to narrowly define gender. The announcement sent shock waves across the country. After so much progress in recent years for transgender and non-binary people, this was an unscientific and insulting setback that seems squarely rooted in scoring cruel, political points rather than in any cohesive policies or principles. Enter Lady Gaga. Still glowing from her breakout performance in “A Star is Born,” the singer/actress has become a reliably admirable voice on social issues. Gaga is a uniter not a divider, but she’s…

Read More