Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump on Monday after reportedly butting heads with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for months.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Driscoll is expected to leave the Pentagon in the coming days, potentially ending the tenure of a key player in Trump’s military overhaul at a time when the United States is already juggling a war with Iran.
Driscoll wasn’t exactly a background player in Trump’s Pentagon.
The Army veteran has helped carry out the administration’s push to put readiness and lethality back at the center of the military. He was also trusted with an assignment that had little to do with his official Army job when Trump sent him into the Russia-Ukraine diplomatic fight last year.
Then there’s Vice President JD Vance.
Driscoll and the vice president go way back. They were classmates at Yale Law School and remain close friends, a relationship that reportedly became another source of tension between Driscoll and Hegseth.
His resignation lands at a particularly busy moment for Hegseth’s Pentagon. The United States is six months into the Iran war, and American forces came under Iranian missile fire over the weekend after the U.S. struck Iranian launchers near the Strait of Hormuz.
Driscoll’s potential departure would also be the latest change at the top of the Army. Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George earlier this year. George had worked closely with Driscoll.
The White House, meanwhile, made clear there’s no bad blood on its end.
“Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
Kelly credited Driscoll with providing leadership during major military operations, restoring the Army’s focus on “readiness and lethality,” and helping with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump Pays Respects To Four US Army Members Killed In Iran War

Trump’s Army Secretary Makes Surprise Move After Reported Hegseth Clash

dan driscoll

jd vance

pentagon

pete hegseth

politics

There are a lot of conservative companies that love to talk about family. Have children. Have more children. Motherhood matters. Family comes first. Children are a blessing, not a burden.
I agree with all of it. But after working for one of the biggest conservative news organizations in the country, I learned there can be a pretty enormous difference between preaching those values and actually practicing them.
I know this because, before I had children, I was part of the problem. Then I became a mom. Suddenly, I understood what it felt like to worry that your child might make a noise during a Zoom call. I knew the panic of trying to work while also being a mother, terrified that someone might decide the two couldn&#8217;t coexist.
At my former workplace, working mothers were talked about in a negative light if their children appeared on Zoom or if they were caught working from a laptop at the playground while their kids played during the summer. Imagine that for a second. A mother isn&#8217;t skipping work. She&#8217;s literally sitting at the playground doing her job, laptop open, while simultaneously making sure her children have a summer. That was a problem.
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1164555 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" /></div>
One former colleague was frequently working from her laptop while caring for her children. She was pushed out. There may have been fine print and official explanations surrounding her departure, but I was told by very senior people involved that her inability to secure childcare was at the heart of the problem. So much for practicing what you preach.
Then there was maternity leave. When I had my first child, she suffered several health issues during her first three months of life. I was a brand-new mother trying to navigate doctors, sleepless nights, and the overwhelming realization that this tiny human depended entirely on me. And I was contacted about work. Numerous times. On maternity leave. Instead of being allowed to focus entirely on my newborn, I had work stress hanging over me too.
Fast-forward to today, and I&#8217;m writing this with my baby sitting on my lap. I now work at The Daily Wire, and I&#8217;ve never felt more empowered to be a working mother. If I need to step away to feed my baby, nobody interrogates me. If I need to take my kids somewhere or give them some one-on-one time, I can do it. I&#8217;m not made to feel guilty about it. In fact, it&#8217;s encouraged.
And here&#8217;s something that might surprise people: One of my biggest advocates for putting motherhood first isn&#8217;t another mother.
It&#8217;s my direct report. A father. Imagine that. A man who can celebrate the work I do while also celebrating the fact that I&#8217;m a mom. He doesn&#8217;t treat motherhood as an inconvenience he has to work around. He reminds me that it&#8217;s more important than anything happening on a homepage that day.
I&#8217;ve been told numerous times that nothing I do at work will ever be more important than being a mother. And here&#8217;s the funny thing: That mentality doesn&#8217;t make me want to work less. It makes me want to work harder.
I realized that one morning at 2 a.m. I woke up to feed my baby and, like any exhausted mom, planned to get him back to sleep right after, and hopefully get myself back to sleep too. Then I looked at my phone. Senator Lindsey Graham had tragically and unexpectedly died. Suddenly, there was major breaking news to cover. So when the baby finished eating, I didn&#8217;t go back to sleep. I grabbed my laptop and got to work. And strangely enough, I felt blessed.
There I was in the middle of the night, exhausted, with my baby next to me, and I got to be the person awake to cover one of the biggest stories of the day while most Americans were still sleeping. I wasn&#8217;t annoyed that I had to work. I wasn&#8217;t frustrated that I was awake. I felt lucky that being a mom was the reason I happened to be awake when my team needed someone.
Nobody told me to cover breaking news at 2 a.m. I wasn&#8217;t scared of what would happen if I didn&#8217;t. I did it because I wanted to. And that difference means everything.
My colleagues have been a blessing from God, too. I&#8217;m surrounded by mothers whose children are older than mine, women who have already survived the sleepless nights and toddler meltdowns I&#8217;m living through right now. They check in on me. They remind me I&#8217;m not alone. And they make sure I know that when motherhood feels overwhelming, I have women around me who have been there and are ready to listen.
Recently, I had an absolutely brutal night with both of my kids. I woke up exhausted and defeated and happened to see a tweet about postpartum struggles from a coworker. She hadn&#8217;t written it for me. She probably had no idea I needed it. But I did. Her words pulled me up that morning more than she&#8217;ll ever know. I sent her a message to thank her for being so real and told her that what she&#8217;d written was exactly what I needed to get out of bed and keep going that day.
&#8220;If you ever need a mom to chat with give me a call!!&#8221; she told me.
Now that her children are older, she can look back and see what can be nearly impossible to see when you&#8217;re in the trenches with little kids. The sacrifices were worth it. Sometimes that&#8217;s exactly what another mom needs to hear.
And maybe the biggest difference between my two workplaces can be summed up by something as simple as a child wandering into the camera. At my old job, I would panic if my four-year-old made a sound during a Zoom call. I would find myself getting angry with her for being a completely normal four-year-old because I was scared of how my managers would react and did react if it happened. 
Think about how backwards that is.
At The Daily Wire, when my colleague Tim Rice had one of his young children climb onto his lap during a live appearance on &#8220;Wired In,&#8221; nobody freaked out. Host Cabot Phillips celebrated it.
&#8220;We practice what we preach,&#8221; Cabot said. &#8220;At the Daily Wire we love children.&#8221; He called children &#8220;a gift&#8221; and &#8220;a blessing from God.&#8221;
That moment stuck with me. A toddler climbed onto Dad&#8217;s lap while Dad was working, and everyone kept going. Nobody shooed the child away. Nobody acted embarrassed. Nobody treated being a parent like some unprofessional secret that needed to be hidden from the audience. That&#8217;s what being pro-family actually looks like.
Being a working mother shouldn&#8217;t require pretending that you stop being a mother between 9 and 5. Children make noise. Babies need to be fed. School closes. Babysitters cancel. Kids wander into Zoom calls. That&#8217;s life.
A company can put &#8220;family values&#8221; in a mission statement. It can publish a thousand articles about the importance of motherhood. But you learn what an organization actually believes when a baby cries during a meeting.
For years, I thought being a great employee meant making sure nobody could see that I was also a mom. Now I work somewhere that has taught me the exact opposite. I don&#8217;t have to choose. Being given the freedom to put my children first has made me more dedicated to my career than I&#8217;ve ever been.
The Daily Wire gave me my family life back. And in doing so, it made me enjoy working again. Every day I wake up thankful that I get to be part of this mission without sacrificing the most important mission I&#8217;ll ever have: being a mom.
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

D6CCF4C6-01A7-457F-943F-F5D19877AF50

The Choice Working Mothers Should Never Have To Make

family values

lifestyle

motherhood

the daily wire

working mother

workplace culture

That six-digit code you race to copy before it expires could eventually be a thing of the past.
A new technology rolling out across America’s three biggest wireless carriers could allow banks to verify customers without sending them a text message at all.
Glide.id launched a public beta of <a href="https://www.glide.id/blog/magicalauth-beta-launches-on-ios-and-android-across-all-three-major-u-s-carriers">MagicalAuth</a> this month across AT&amp;T, T-Mobile, and Verizon on both iPhones and Android devices. The technology is meant to replace the familiar security codes Americans receive when logging into bank accounts and other sensitive services.
Instead of sending a temporary number that customers have to type in themselves, MagicalAuth uses a cryptographic key tied to the SIM or eSIM already inside a phone. According to Glide, that allows the carrier network to help confirm the correct device is being used without sending the customer a code.
That also means there’s no six-digit number sitting in a text message waiting to be stolen.
Scammers have found plenty of ways to get their hands on those codes. Some pose as bank employees and simply ask victims to read the number back to them. Others use fake login pages or SIM-swap schemes to gain access to a victim’s phone number.
There’s plenty of money at stake.
Americans reported $15.9 billion in fraud losses in 2025, according to the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/03/ftc-testifies-joint-economic-committee-agencys-efforts-combat-fraud">Federal Trade Commission</a>. Imposter scams topped the list of reported fraud and accounted for more than $3.5 billion in losses.
Glide says its system also checks for recent SIM changes, which could help flag a potential SIM-swap attack before a newly activated SIM is used to access an account.
But don’t delete your text messages just yet.
The technology may be available across the three major carriers, but individual banks and other companies still have to adopt it. Glide says it is currently wrapping up initial pilots with major financial institutions and fintech companies.
It also won’t stop every scam. A fraudster could still impersonate a bank employee or convince someone to transfer money voluntarily.
But when it comes to stealing that little six-digit number from your phone, scammers could eventually have one less trick to work with.

Over the shoulder shot of woman holding her phone on an escalator

Rushing To Grab That Six-Digit Login Code Could Soon Be History

cybersecurity

federal trade commission

sim swap fraud

technology

two factor authentication

“Oh, bother.”
The voice behind one of the most lovable gloomy characters in childhood is gone.
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1166817 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/p_winniethepooh_19638_8181e2f7-384x576.jpeg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/p_winniethepooh_19638_8181e2f7-384x576.jpeg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/p_winniethepooh_19638_8181e2f7-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/p_winniethepooh_19638_8181e2f7.jpeg 540w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></div>
Peter Cullen, the legendary voice actor who brought Eeyore to life in “Winnie the Pooh” and gave Optimus Prime his unmistakable commanding voice in “Transformers,” died Wednesday at his Los Angeles home.
He was 85.
<div id="attachment_1166811" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1166811" class="wp-image-1166811 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-1258472234-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images</div>
Cullen’s family said he died peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.
You might not have known Cullen’s name growing up. But you definitely knew that voice.
Cullen started voicing Eeyore on “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” in 1988, turning the perpetually pessimistic, droopy-eared donkey into a character generations of kids knew instantly.
“Hello. Thanks for noticing me,” Eeyore would say in that unmistakably low, defeated voice.
Cullen once recalled that he could get an immediate reaction from children simply by slipping into the Eeyore voice.
But Eeyore was just one part of Cullen’s massive career.
Long before the “Transformers” movies became billion-dollar blockbusters, Cullen was Optimus Prime.
<div id="attachment_1166807" style="width: 906px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1166807" class="wp-image-1166807 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-896x576.jpg" alt="" width="896" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-896x576.jpg 896w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-300x193.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-768x494.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-1536x988.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-456407014-2048x1317.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 896px) 100vw, 896px" />FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images</div>
He first voiced the leader of the Autobots in the 1980s animated series and returned to the role decades later when the franchise hit the big screen.
And there was a reason Optimus sounded the way he did.
Cullen said he modeled the character after his older brother Larry, a decorated U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam. Cullen remembered his brother coming home quieter and stronger, and he drew on that when he was asked to audition for a hero who happened to be a truck.
Cullen’s voice was everywhere. He worked on “Chip ’n Dale Rescue Rangers,” “Voltron,” and “Knight Rider.” He even created those creepy clicking sounds coming from the alien creature in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Predator.”
His family asked fans to honor his life by serving their communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty.
Cullen leaves behind four children and decades of characters that aren’t going anywhere.
And for everyone who grew up with that gloomy gray donkey in the Hundred Acre Wood, there’s really only one thing left to say: Thanks for letting us notice you, Eeyore.

eeyore

The Voice Behind A Beloved Disney Character Has Died

arts

optimus prime

peter cullen

transformers

voice acting

winnie the pooh

The WNBA has a rule saying only women can play. What it doesn&#8217;t have, at least publicly, is an explanation of what exactly makes someone a woman.
Enter Enes Kanter Freedom.
The former NBA player is putting that question to the test after ESPN reported that multiple sources around the league said he and fellow former NBA player Royce White are not eligible to play in the WNBA.
There&#8217;s a reason two former NBA players suddenly want into the women&#8217;s league.
Both men have declared themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft. The move is meant to force the league to confront a question that has been hanging over it for weeks.
Who qualifies as a woman under WNBA rules?
Article XIII, Section 1(a) of the WNBA&#8217;s collective bargaining agreement states: &#8220;Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.&#8221;
That&#8217;s it.
<div id="attachment_1164645" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1164645" class="wp-image-1164645 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2291740286.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Michael Reaves/Getty Images</div>
The agreement does not go on to define the word &#8220;woman,&#8221; and the WNBA does not have a publicly available policy governing the eligibility of transgender or intersex athletes, according to ESPN.
So when Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Freedom Monday night on whether he is actually a transgender woman, Freedom turned the question back to the league&#8217;s rules.
&#8220;Listen Section 13 right Uh Article 13 Section 1 says if you identify as a woman then you&#8217;re allowed to play,&#8221; Freedom said.
Ingraham asked whether that meant he was identifying as a woman.
&#8220;I identify as a woman, sure, yes,&#8221; Freedom responded.
Freedom&#8217;s description goes further than what the CBA actually says. The agreement does not state that simply identifying as a woman makes someone eligible. It says only that players who are women may play, without publicly explaining how the league determines who meets that requirement.
And that&#8217;s the loophole Freedom is trying to expose.
&#8220;But right now if you identify as a woman you&#8217;re allowed to play and I am identifying as a woman and I am I should be allowed to play it,&#8221; Freedom told Ingraham.
The WNBA didn&#8217;t find itself answering questions about transgender athletes because of Freedom, however.
That started with Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
Cunningham set off a national debate earlier this summer when she spoke out against men competing against women and girls.
&#8220;I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I&#8217;m like, I never once said that,&#8221; Cunningham told ESPN. &#8220;I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn&#8217;t have to go against biological men.&#8221;
Cunningham later described her position as &#8220;common sense.&#8221; Her comments turned what had largely been a broader political debate into a very real WNBA headache.
Protests and counterprotests began following the Fever on the road. Other players weighed in. The league was suddenly facing questions about who should be allowed to compete in women&#8217;s basketball.
There was just one problem. There wasn&#8217;t actually a transgender player attempting to enter the WNBA.
Freedom and White decided to change that.
Freedom played 11 seasons in the NBA, while White was a first-round NBA Draft pick in 2012. Both men declared themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, transforming a largely hypothetical debate into a direct challenge to the league&#8217;s eligibility language.
Freedom then took the fight courtside.
He attended Sunday&#8217;s Indiana Fever game against the Chicago Sky wearing a black shirt that read, &#8220;WOMAN noun. adult human female.&#8221;
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;"><iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 400px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/TMTKtXKteHDCxQz6oBaKDMrd7URWmpe7?metadata-video-content-type=short&amp;metadata-video-id=73efe821-ca0e-4417-80dc-647423e38ce1&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Break%20it%20up%2C%20ladies!%20%F0%9F%8E%80&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fshorts%2Ffc30d436-4bbc-4233-97e7-a3986300c3df.png&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
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During a timeout late in the third quarter, Sky guard Natasha Cloud confronted Freedom, and Freedom took several steps toward the court before security intervened and escorted him from Wintrust Arena.
&#8220;I just got kicked out of a @WNBA game for supporting WOMEN!&#8221; Freedom wrote afterward. &#8220;Let that sink in, AMERICA!&#8221;
A day later, ESPN reported that sources around the league said Freedom and White would not be eligible to play.
ESPN also reported that there are currently no cases requiring the WNBA to make an eligibility determination and that the league plans to continue researching and reviewing the issue. No known transgender woman has played in the WNBA.
That leaves Freedom with essentially the same question he started with: if the WNBA says he isn&#8217;t eligible, what exactly is the rule that makes him ineligible?
Freedom said he&#8217;ll follow it if the league spells it out.
&#8220;If they ever come out and say &#8216;Okay we are changing the rules,&#8217; I respect their decision,&#8221; Freedom told Ingraham. &#8220;I will, you know, follow the rules.&#8221;
For now, the league&#8217;s written rule remains remarkably simple: only women can play in the WNBA.
Freedom&#8217;s challenge is just as simple.
Define one.

Enes Kanter Freedom Responds After WNBA Says He’s Not A Woman

enes kanter freedom

royce white

sophie cunningham

sports

transgender athletes in sports

wnba

Mark Ruffalo’s fight with Paramount may be new. His fight with Israel definitely is not.
The “Avengers” star spent the weekend denying accusations that he invoked “antisemitic tropes,” but a trail of Ruffalo’s own posts shows his criticism of Israel stretches back more than a decade.
The latest fight started after Paramount accused Ruffalo of invoking “antisemitic tropes” while he attacked the company’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ruffalo had shared a video of former Oracle CEO Safra Catz discussing technology the company made available to Israel following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Ruffalo went after Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose son David runs Paramount, and warned that the technology could eventually be “used on you.”
“Look how she revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle,” Ruffalo wrote.
Paramount wasn’t having it.
“We are, as always, troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,” the company said.
Paramount also called Ruffalo’s use of words like “genocide” and “apartheid” in connection with the corporate fight “a bridge too far.”
Ruffalo pushed back, calling the accusation that he is antisemitic “appalling and fundamentally dishonest.”
“Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people,” Ruffalo said.
But Ruffalo’s posts about Israel go back years.
In 2014, he questioned accusations that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.
“Do you honestly think these people, these fellow human beings, would use their own children as shields?” Ruffalo wrote to another user. “Use your heart.”
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&nbsp;
Days later, Ruffalo shared an article claiming Hamas had not kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers.
“Wow. It Turns Out Hamas Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All,” the headline Ruffalo shared read.
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163861 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-1024x300.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-1024x300.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-300x88.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359-768x225.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085744.359.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
And when criticism started flying over his Gaza posts, Ruffalo had an answer for that, too.
“Empathizing w/ Gaza does NOT make me anti-Semitic, nor pro-Hamas or anti-Israel,” Ruffalo wrote. “It makes me human.”
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163867 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-1024x341.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-300x100.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366-768x256.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T085911.366.jpg 1053w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
Fast forward to 2021 when Ruffalo was calling for sanctions against Israel and comparing the country to apartheid-era South Africa.
“Sanctions on South Africa helped free its black people,” Ruffalo wrote before calling for sanctions on Israel to “free Palestinians.” 
He repeated the comparison days later while posting about Palestinian deaths in Gaza.
&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
Then Ruffalo walked it back.
Later that month, the actor apologized for posts suggesting Israel was committing “genocide.”
“I have reflected &amp; wanted to apologize for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide,’” Ruffalo wrote.
He called the characterization “not accurate,” “inflammatory,” and “disrespectful.” Ruffalo also acknowledged something else about the rhetoric.
“It’s being used to justify antisemitism here &amp; abroad,” he wrote.
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163885 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-1024x341.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-1024x341.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-300x100.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415-768x256.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090440.415.jpg 1053w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
&nbsp;
The apology, though, didn’t stop Ruffalo from continuing to weigh in on Israel. In November 2023, Ruffalo went after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Netanyahu discussed civilian casualties in Gaza.
“They aren’t ‘collateral damage’ either,” Ruffalo wrote, referring to Palestinians. “They are human beings who happen to have been born there and live there and most of those human beings are stuck there.”
&nbsp;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1163895 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="351" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491.jpg 604w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Untitled-design-2026-08-24T090705.491-300x174.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></div>
Ruffalo has continued criticizing Israel and its handling of the war in Gaza in the years since. Now, the word he publicly apologized for using in 2021 has made another appearance.
Five years after Ruffalo called his “genocide” characterization inflammatory and acknowledged that it was being used to justify antisemitism, he is using the word again. Only this time, Paramount is accusing him of invoking “antisemitic tropes.”

GettyImages-2258704146

Mark Ruffalo Denies He’s Antisemitic. His Own Posts Tell A Different Story.

antisemitism

hamas

israel

larry ellison

mark ruffalo

paramount

Apparently leaving your house costs $100 now.
Go to the grocery store? $100. Fill up the car and grab a few things on the way home? There goes another $100. Try to buy an actual house? Maybe don&#8217;t look at Zillow unless you&#8217;re emotionally prepared.
Americans don&#8217;t need another politician to tell them things are expensive. They have receipts.
But a new report from the Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise at Advancing American Freedom (AAF) says there are ways to make life cheaper and, shockingly, none of them involve another trillion-dollar government spending package.
The report, “<a href="https://advancingamericanfreedom.com/memos/10-ways-to-improve-affordability-now">10 Ways to Improve Affordability Now</a>,” calls affordability the “#1 issue facing the American people” and has a pretty simple solution: Get government out of the way.
“The Left’s solution is redistribution — taking money from some to subsidize others,” the report says. “AAF’s solution is unleashing Americans by removing legal barriers to prosperity at every level of the economy.”
Translation: Stop trying to spend your way out of problems government helped create.
First up? Energy.
AAF wants America drilling by expanding oil and gas access, guaranteeing recurring federal lease sales offshore and in Alaska, and fighting state-level fracking bans.
Then there&#8217;s housing.
If you&#8217;ve looked at home prices lately and wondered whether your starter home is supposed to come with a starter trust fund, AAF has an idea: Build more of them.
The group wants to cut zoning red tape, make it easier to get certain projects approved, and tie federal housing aid to states actually doing something about restrictive zoning.
More houses. More supply. Hopefully, lower prices.
The report also wants Washington to stop making life harder for franchise owners and small businesses and make it easier for companies to invest in new factories and development.
And then there&#8217;s AI.
States are already fighting over massive new data centers and the energy needed to power them. AAF&#8217;s answer isn&#8217;t another government program. It&#8217;s fewer roadblocks. The group wants states to reject data-center moratoriums and loosen up energy markets so America can actually power the AI boom.
Not every recommendation is going to get automatic applause from conservatives though.
You know, tariffs.
AAF wants Congress to take that power back from the president, arguing that requiring lawmakers to approve tariffs would give businesses and consumers more predictable prices.
And then there&#8217;s Social Security.
The report warns that if Washington keeps kicking the can down the road, Americans could eventually be looking at an extra 5% payroll tax or a 22% benefit cut for every retiree.
AAF says start fixing it now instead of waiting until there are no good options left.
The group also wants to close a welfare loophole it says could save more than $100 billion through 2035, keep the government from capping credit card interest rates, and get rid of regulations that push Americans toward electric vehicles they may not even want.
Taken together, the 10 recommendations amount to a very different approach to the affordability problem than simply spending more money to offset higher costs.
AAF&#8217;s argument is that Washington can make life more affordable by removing government barriers that it says are helping drive up costs in the first place.

Little piggy banks on ascending stacks of coins

10 Ways To Fix America’s Out-Of-Control Cost Of Living

cost of living

energy policy

housing affordability

social security

tariff

A possible third term (calm down, libs, it was just a joke), Nicki Minaj twerking, and the biggest collection of Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers all under one roof.
The White House promised President Trump would deliver a speech that was both &#8220;unifying yet vicious&#8221; at the rescheduled White House Correspondents&#8217; Dinner. He did exactly that.
Three months after the original dinner was scrapped when yet another assassination attempt on Trump&#8217;s life unfolded outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, the annual black-tie affair finally returned Friday night.
This time, it was a very different scene.
WATCH:
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The Secret Service dramatically tightened security, putting guests through airport-style magnetometer screenings before they entered the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump International Hotel.
&#8220;It’s great to be back at a place that I know very well because I built it,&#8221; Trump joked as he took the stage.
The president immediately gave the room a taste of what was coming.
&#8220;But just like my presidency the second time is always better,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;It&#8217;s always better. And the third time will be better yet. I&#8217;m only kidding.&#8221;
Trump then turned to the terrifying reason the original dinner was cut short, calling the attempted attack &#8220;an assault on our democracy itself&#8221; and praising the law enforcement officers who rushed toward the danger.
But he still found a way to get a laugh out of the chaos.
&#8220;After hearing the gunshots many people yelled &#8216;Get down get down,&#8217; which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,&#8221; Trump jokes. &#8220;Do you believe it? Get down. She&#8217;s the only one that really understood what that meant.&#8221;
From there, nearly everyone was fair game.
Trump declared it &#8220;the largest group of Trump Derangement Syndrome people ever put together at one time.&#8221;
He then turned his attention to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., trolling him about his roadkill controversies.
&#8220;I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy who&#8217;s right here personally ran over the cow in his car,&#8221; Trump joked about the beef tenderloin served for dinner. &#8220;And he cut it up and he brought it here for you to eat tonight so it&#8217;s very fresh.&#8221;
He was not done.
&#8220;Bobby also suggested an appetizer featuring his favorite cut of male raccoon roadkill,&#8221; Trump added. &#8220;But we drew the line at that.&#8221;
Trump also took swings at Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Adam Schiff, Rosie O&#8217;Donnell, Jake Tapper, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and plenty of others.
Springsteen&#8217;s recent jabs at Trump earned him one of the harsher roasts of the night.
&#8220;What about Bruce Springsteen? What the hell happened to that guy? He looks like hell,&#8221; Trump said before joking that his tour had been renamed &#8220;Bored in the USA.&#8221;
The president even announced another run for the White House, at least for a few seconds.
&#8220;I&#8217;m pleased to announce my intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;I will be doing that.&#8221;
He quickly made clear he was joking, though not before adding, &#8220;I won 3 times now, I&#8217;m gonna do it again.&#8221;
The jokes got the laughs, but Trump also made sure the audience left with the message he actually wanted them to hear.
He called the current moment &#8220;the golden age of America&#8221; and touted new investment, manufacturing, military recruitment, and falling crime in Washington, D.C.
Despite years of fighting with many of the reporters in the room, Trump ended on a surprisingly friendly note.
&#8220;Sometimes I don&#8217;t feel you treat me fair,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Maybe you do I don&#8217;t know I don&#8217;t feel that but sometimes you treat me very fairly.&#8221;
&#8220;I have a lot of respect for your profession,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;Your profession&#8217;s amazing and I just wanna thank you for having me and it&#8217;s been fun.&#8221;
Then came the familiar promise.
&#8220;We have made America great again and it&#8217;s gonna get a lot greater.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-WHCA

Nicki Minaj. Roadkill. Trump Held Nothing Back At The WHCD

President Trump

WHCD

White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially secured a spot in November&#8217;s runoff election, while reality television star Spencer Pratt and far-Left Councilmember Nithya Raman continued battling for the second slot.
With roughly 63% of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning, Bass led the field with 34.8% support, according to Associated Press results. Pratt was running second with 30.4%, while Raman trailed in third at 22.3%.
The Associated Press projected Bass would advance to the runoff. As of Wednesday morning, however, the race between Pratt and Raman had not yet been called.
&nbsp;

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&nbsp;
Pratt, however, was already talking like the runoff matchup had been set: Spencer Pratt versus Karen Bass.
&#8220;She knows it&#8217;s on. I hope she&#8217;s ready,&#8221; Pratt said Tuesday night when asked about a potential runoff against the incumbent mayor. &#8220;I literally could not be more excited.&#8221;
A few months ago, Pratt was viewed as a long-shot candidate. Now he appears within striking distance of becoming Bass&#8217; challenger in November.
&#8220;I was going to be happy if I wasn&#8217;t moving forward, but now I feel very confident,&#8221; he said.
The reality television star turned political outsider has built his campaign around voter frustration with homelessness, crime, and Bass&#8217; handling of the wildfire disaster that destroyed thousands of homes. Pratt lost both his own home and his childhood home in the fire.
And while election officials were still counting ballots, Pratt was already talking about what comes next.
&#8220;We have five months to put the best team the city could ever dream of,&#8221; he said.
Pratt argued that voters have rallied behind his campaign because they are tired of politicians and want someone willing to tell them the truth.
&#8220;At the end of the day, what&#8217;s been resonating is that people just want the truth and they want to know somebody&#8217;s heart,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I try to be as true to my authentic self and I just believe a lot of Los Angeles is so excited to hear from a non-politician.&#8221;
Pratt said voters are looking for a fighter.
&#8220;They want somebody to speak the truth for their communities and fight for them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They want a fighter that&#8217;s going to step up when the city fails them or their elected leaders fail them and I&#8217;m ready to be that person for Los Angeles.&#8221;
He also couldn&#8217;t resist taking a shot at Raman, who spent much of the campaign fighting him for second place.
&#8220;The communist already lost,&#8221; Pratt said.
Thousands of ballots remain uncounted, and election officials will continue processing votes in the coming days.
If the current results hold, Los Angeles could be headed toward one of the most unexpected mayoral runoffs in recent memory: Karen Bass versus Spencer Pratt.
Pratt made it clear he&#8217;s ready for that possibility.
&#8220;We can do debates every Friday if she&#8217;d like,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As many debates as Mayor Bass would like.&#8221;

karen_spencer_nithya

One Candidate Advances In Heated L.A. Mayor’s Race — Second Spot Still Up For Grabs

california

Election

karen bass

los angeles

spencer pratt

This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
The moment you get pregnant, it&#8217;s as if your family, your friends, and even complete strangers are issued a license to offer unsolicited opinions about your body, your eating habits, your birth plan, and occasionally your entire future.
As I write this, I&#8217;m less than a month away from giving birth to our son — or, as I prefer to call it, serving him with his official eviction notice. I&#8217;ve always been jealous of those women who say they love being pregnant. That is not me.
What I do love, though, is motherhood. It&#8217;s been by far the best chapter of my life. I&#8217;m obsessed with being a mom, and it&#8217;s made me a better person in more ways than I can count. If having children didn&#8217;t require pregnancy, I&#8217;d probably have 20 of them. It&#8217;s the cooking process that&#8217;s a horror show for me.
From the moment I get pregnant, my body seems to launch a full-scale rebellion. I swell up. Think of Violet Beauregarde from &#8220;Willy Wonka.&#8221; That&#8217;s me. I spend nine months counting down the days until I can comfortably tie my own shoes again.
Part of the reason pregnancy is such a sensitive subject for me is that my first experience was emotionally and physically traumatic. Around the 20-week mark, my husband and I were told our daughter was measuring small and might not be getting enough nutrition. Thankfully, she arrived perfectly healthy. She&#8217;s still petite and still not a big eater, which turns out is just who she is.
As difficult as that pregnancy was mentally and physically, it paled in comparison to the fear. For half my pregnancy, I lived with the possibility that something might be wrong with my baby, and there was nothing I could do except wait. Everything hurt, but the uncertainty hurt the most.
By the time it was over, I was convinced I never wanted to do it again. Thankfully, God had other plans. And my daughter can&#8217;t wait to have a built-in best friend.
What I wasn&#8217;t prepared for the second time around was how many people would treat my pregnancy like a public discussion forum. So before you approach a pregnant woman with an observation, a prediction, a warning, or a &#8220;helpful&#8221; piece of advice, allow me to offer a few examples of what not to say.
1. &#8220;Are you going to breastfeed?&#8221;
I have never understood why complete strangers feel entitled to ask pregnant women about their future feeding plans. Imagine walking up to someone and asking detailed questions about their breasts. Weird, right? Yet somehow, the moment a woman gets pregnant, all social norms go out the window and everyone suddenly becomes a lactation consultant.
The truth is that breastfeeding can be an incredibly personal and emotional topic. Some women breastfeed for years. Some can&#8217;t breastfeed despite desperately wanting to. Some choose not to. Some supplement with formula. And some spend weeks crying in the middle of the night feeling like a failure because breastfeeding isn&#8217;t going the way they hoped.
Before my daughter was born, I thought breastfeeding would come naturally. It didn&#8217;t. Because she was so small, she was losing weight, and I wasn&#8217;t producing enough milk to keep up with her needs. I ended up supplementing with formula during a nationwide formula shortage. (Living through that is a story for another day.)
Like so many parts of motherhood, feeding your baby comes with a learning curve, frustration, guilt, and plenty of moments when you wonder if you&#8217;re doing enough. A pregnant woman doesn&#8217;t owe anyone an explanation for how she plans to feed her baby. If she wants to talk about it, she will. If not, trust me, there are plenty of other topics to discuss.
2. &#8220;Sleep while you can.&#8221; 
 
This one always makes me laugh because by the third trimester, sleep is already a distant memory. I haven&#8217;t slept well in months. Between the constant trips to the bathroom, the inability to get comfortable, the back pain, and a tiny human using my ribs as a jungle gym at 2 a.m., I can assure you that I&#8217;m not exactly banking extra sleep hours before the baby arrives.
Whenever someone tells me to &#8220;sleep while you can,&#8221; I&#8217;m always tempted to ask if they have any suggestions on how, exactly, I&#8217;m supposed to accomplish that.
The truth is that newborn exhaustion is real. I know I&#8217;ll probably feel like I&#8217;ve been hit with a serious case of jet lag for a while. But at least when the baby arrives, I&#8217;ll finally get to meet the tiny roommate who&#8217;s been keeping me awake all night. And somehow that makes it feel worth it.
3. &#8220;You&#8217;ve gained a lot of weight!&#8221;
I&#8217;m on the shorter side and usually weigh around 100 pounds. So when I go from 100 pounds to nearly 200 pounds during pregnancy, my appearance changes. Dramatically.
One day, while I was eight months pregnant, I was on FaceTime with a close family member. We weren&#8217;t discussing pregnancy, weight gain, or anything remotely related to my appearance when she suddenly stopped and pointed out the obvious.
&#8220;You don&#8217;t even look like yourself,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Your face is huge — you have a double chin — you&#8217;re usually a stick. I just don&#8217;t get it.&#8221;
Then came the follow-up.
&#8220;Maybe you&#8217;re just holding the camera too close to your face.&#8221;
Sadly, I wasn&#8217;t. If anything, the camera was farther away than normal because I was trying to fit my entire face into the frame.
As if that wasn&#8217;t enough, a few months earlier my husband committed his own pregnancy-related offense.
Before I tell this story, I need to defend him: My husband is one of the kindest people I know. He&#8217;s also the type of person who occasionally sticks his foot in his mouth.
During this pregnancy, I started a new remote job. A few months in, my boss wanted the new employees to get together for a team bonding trip. For most people, this probably sounds fun. For me, it was my worst nightmare.
I love clothes. I love dressing up. And suddenly I had nothing professional that fit me. I was already feeling uncomfortable in my own skin, and now I was about to meet all of my coworkers for the first time while six months pregnant and feeling approximately the size of a small parade float.
For days, it was all I talked about. I worried about what I was going to wear. I worried about how I looked. I worried about making a first impression while feeling physically miserable. At one point, I realized the only clothes I could fit into were my husband&#8217;s. I told him I was going to have to raid his closet because baby boy had made me too big to fit into any of my own clothes.
Trying to be helpful, he reminded me that I wasn&#8217;t just gaining weight because I was growing a human.
&#8220;I think the strawberry milkshakes from McDonald&#8217;s are playing a role too,&#8221; he said.
Now, to be fair, I had developed a slight addiction to McDonald&#8217;s strawberry milkshakes. So he wasn&#8217;t wrong.
But there are moments in life when being correct is not the goal. This was one of those moments.
To his credit, my husband spends the other 99% of his time making me feel beautiful, especially when I feel my worst. He simply learned the hard way that when a pregnant woman is venting about her appearance, she is not looking for a detailed breakdown of her eating habits.
And that&#8217;s really the point of both stories. If a pregnant woman has gained weight, trust me, she knows.
4.&#8221;Just wait&#8230;&#8221; 
If you&#8217;ve ever been pregnant, you know exactly what I&#8217;m talking about. No matter what you&#8217;re experiencing, someone always has a &#8220;just wait&#8221; ready to go.
Tired?
&#8220;Just wait until the baby gets here.&#8221;
Feeling overwhelmed?
&#8220;Just wait until they&#8217;re crawling.&#8221;
Then it&#8217;s walking.
Then it&#8217;s potty training.
Then it&#8217;s school.
Then it&#8217;s teenagers.
Then, somehow, it&#8217;s grandchildren.
It&#8217;s as if pregnancy and motherhood are one giant game of people trying to convince you that your current stage isn&#8217;t actually difficult because something harder is always coming.
The problem is that these comments almost always come from a good place. Most people aren&#8217;t trying to be negative. They&#8217;re trying to relate. They&#8217;re trying to share their own experiences.
But when you&#8217;re pregnant, especially for the first time, it can feel like nobody is allowing you to enjoy the stage you&#8217;re in.
Not every moment of pregnancy is magical. Trust me, I&#8217;ve spent enough time swollen, uncomfortable, and unable to tie my shoes to know that. But not every moment has to be overshadowed by what&#8217;s coming next, either.
Instead of saying &#8220;just wait,&#8221; try saying, &#8220;You&#8217;re going to love being a mom.&#8221;
After all the swelling, anxiety, weight gain, sleepless nights, the comments on this list, that&#8217;s the part that matters most. Honestly, I can&#8217;t wait. Every minute with my daughter has somehow been better than the last. The lack of sleep, the endless messes, the tantrums, the worries — it&#8217;s all been worth every second.
5. &#8220;Because she&#8217;s fat.&#8221; 
 
This one is by far my favorite because it came from my innocent daughter, who was three years old at the time and therefore legally exempt from having a filter. As every parent knows, toddlers have a unique gift for saying exactly what they&#8217;re thinking with zero regard for timing, context, or social consequences.
It was the week of Valentine&#8217;s Day, and I was driving around town (probably headed to McDonald&#8217;s for a strawberry milkshake, if we&#8217;re being honest) while happily working my way through the Valentine&#8217;s Day candy my husband had bought me.
My younger sister called, and because the phone was connected to the car, the conversation was on speaker.
&#8220;It sounds like you&#8217;re eating,&#8221; she said.
&#8220;I am,&#8221; I replied. &#8220;I&#8217;m eating the Valentine&#8217;s Day candy Hunter got me.&#8221;
Without missing a beat, a tiny voice chimed in from the backseat.
&#8220;Because she&#8217;s fat!&#8221;
Silence.
Now, in fairness to Rayne, watching her mom transform into a swollen, waddling version of herself over the course of several months was probably a little confusing. Thankfully, my sister jumped in immediately.
&#8220;Rayne! She&#8217;s pregnant! Tell your mom she&#8217;s beautiful.&#8221;
There was a brief pause. Then came the response I&#8217;ll never forget.
&#8220;Mom, you&#8217;re beautiful — and fat.&#8221;
Honestly, I don&#8217;t know whether to laugh or cry every time I think about it.
Of course, it turned into a teachable moment about how we don&#8217;t ever use the word &#8220;fat.&#8221; But it was so innocent. She wasn&#8217;t trying to hurt my feelings. She was simply making an observation in the brutally honest way only a three-year-old can.
And that&#8217;s why it remains one of my favorite pregnancy stories and one of my favorite examples of what not to say to a pregnant woman.
So if someone you know is pregnant, here&#8217;s my advice: Tell her she looks beautiful, ask how she&#8217;s feeling, and then immediately stop talking. It&#8217;s a strategy that&#8217;s worked surprisingly well for my husband ever since he survived the Great McDonald&#8217;s Strawberry Milkshake Incident of 2026.

what not to say to pregnant women

Five Things You Should Never Say To A Pregnant Woman

Pregnancy

upstream

The next time a Target employee enthusiastically asks whether you need help finding something, don&#8217;t be flattered. It might be homework.
The retail giant is testing a new employee grading system that could evaluate workers on everything from reliability and teamwork to something much harder to measure: whether they&#8217;re friendly enough while helping you find toothpaste.
In other words, your local Target employee may soon be getting a performance review because they didn&#8217;t look excited enough to tell you where the paper towels are.
According to reports, managers will assess workers on customer interactions, including how consistently they greet shoppers, make eye contact, offer assistance, and generally project the kind of cheerful energy usually associated with Disney cast members and golden retrievers.
The effort is part of a larger push by Target to improve the in-store shopping experience as the company tries to reverse sluggish sales and lure customers back into stores.
Target CEO Michael Fiddelke has made customer experience a major priority, arguing that a better shopping experience starts with friendlier employees.
That&#8217;s where things get interesting.
Because most shoppers probably agree that customer service has gotten worse over the years.
We&#8217;ve all experienced it. The cashier who acts offended that you interrupted their conversation. The employee who disappears the second you need help. The customer service desk that somehow has nobody working at it despite there being six people waiting in line.
There is a reason people still talk about Chick-fil-A employees like they&#8217;re members of some elite hospitality unit.
People appreciate good service.
The question is whether you can force it.
Target&#8217;s new approach builds on the company&#8217;s existing &#8220;10-4&#8221; rule, which encourages workers to acknowledge customers within 10 feet and offer assistance when shoppers come within four feet.
The company has already trained more than 300,000 employees through a new guest experience program and says stores receiving additional staffing support have reported higher customer satisfaction scores.
But critics immediately spotted a potential problem. Nobody likes being graded on vibes. Especially not retail workers who are already dealing with long shifts, staffing shortages, difficult customers, and the occasional person trying to return a Christmas tree in March.
The idea that an employee&#8217;s performance score could depend in part on whether management thinks they smiled enough has sparked predictable backlash online.
Some worry that friendliness is becoming another impossible-to-measure corporate metric.
Others are asking an obvious question. If a store is understaffed, shelves are empty, and checkout lines stretch halfway to electronics, is a bigger smile really the solution?
Retail analyst Neil Saunders raised a similar concern, warning that Target needs to make sure any grading system is transparent and fair. He also noted that friendliness alone won&#8217;t fix inventory issues, staffing problems, or long waits.
Most customers don&#8217;t walk out of Target furious because nobody smiled at them. They walk out furious because they spent 20 minutes looking for an employee who could unlock a cabinet containing a $12 bottle of shampoo.
Still, Target appears convinced that better customer interactions can help separate physical stores from online shopping.
After all, Amazon can deliver paper towels. Amazon cannot pretend to be excited that you&#8217;re buying decorative pumpkins in July.
At least not yet.
The bigger question is whether Target employees are about to become retail workers or aspiring theater kids.
Because if your annual review depends on enthusiasm, some people may soon find themselves performing for an audience of one: the mom looking for the Hearth &amp; Hand section.

Why Your Next Trip To Target May Be A Test

Retail

target

Who&#8217;s the boss here?
If Jill Biden&#8217;s new memoir is to be believed, Kamala Harris wasn&#8217;t exactly interested in waiting for Joe Biden to figure that out.
A newly released excerpt from the former first lady&#8217;s upcoming book, &#8220;View from the East Wing,&#8221; reveals what Jill Biden says happened behind closed doors on the day former President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign. And let&#8217;s just say she doesn&#8217;t make Harris look particularly patient.
According to Jill Biden, Harris was shocked when the former president informed her on July 21, 2024, that he was dropping out of the race.
“Oh my God, Joe. Are you sure?” Harris reportedly asked.
Reasonable question.
What came next is what has people talking.
According to the memoir, Biden suggested waiting until the following morning before formally endorsing Harris as his replacement. Harris allegedly had other ideas.
“I want it sooner,” she reportedly replied.
Biden then told Harris he would call her back after he had time to sort things out.
That still wasn&#8217;t fast enough.
“Could you do it soon? Say, in 20 minutes?” Harris allegedly pressed.
At that point, according to Jill Biden, she walked out of the room.
The story is already fueling fresh speculation about the relationship between Harris and the Biden family, which was never exactly warm and fuzzy to begin with.
Long before Harris became vice president, she made headlines during the 2019 Democratic primary by attacking Biden over his past positions on school busing. The exchange became one of the defining moments of the campaign and reportedly left a lasting impression on the Biden family.
Jill Biden certainly didn&#8217;t forget it.
After the debate, she publicly defended her husband and later reportedly questioned why Harris needed to be chosen as his running mate in the first place.
Now, nearly two years after Democrats were forced into a historic last-minute candidate swap, Jill Biden is offering her version of how the handoff unfolded.
And her version reads less like a smooth transition and more like a vice president who saw an opening and wanted the paperwork signed immediately.
The timing of the memoir is also noteworthy.
Jill Biden has spent the past week defending another controversial claim from the book tour, saying she believed her husband might have been suffering a stroke during his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
That explanation generated immediate backlash because neither Jill Biden nor anyone else appeared to treat the moment like a medical emergency. Instead, Biden continued campaigning, attended public events, and even appeared at a rally afterward while Democrats insisted he had merely suffered through a bad debate night.
Now Jill Biden is reopening another chapter of the 2024 campaign collapse.
This one comes with a simple question.
When Joe Biden&#8217;s presidency was ending, was Kamala Harris waiting for permission?
Or was she already asking how quickly she could take over?

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Jordan Schroeder