And there goes another month. Goodbye winter, hello spring. Ending April with a smile, we are back with the Joy Collective, a collection of the cutest, funniest clips we can find on the Internet.
Social media is filled with funny moments and stories. Sometimes we just need to step away from the seriousness and take some time to relax; lighter posts allow us to mentally recharge.
One of North Dakota’s most powerful lawmakers announced his plans to resign Monday after reportedly exchanging texts with a jailed man facing child pornography charges. According to the Associated Press, the Republican senator identified as Ray Holmberg is the state’s longest-serving senator. His career spanned more than 46 years. While his term was expected to end on Nov. 30 and he had no intentions to rerun, he said Monday he would resign effective June 1.
Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is going viral and, unsurprisingly, it’s not for a good reason. A video of O’Reilly exploded online Tuesday. In the video, the 72-year-old right-wing, disgraced host can be seen belittling a JetBlue employee at John F. Kennedy International Airport, all because his flight was delayed.
“What you’re gonna do … it’s three hours late,” O’Reilly is heard saying in the video.
New updates have arisen in connection to an incident in which a man attacked mosque congregants with an ax and bear spray last month in Mississauga, Canada. According to the Canadian Press, Leader of the Dar Al-Tawheed Islamic Centre Imam Ibrahim Hindy said Thursday that the man who attacked mosque-goers on March 19 yelled that he was there to “kill terrorists.
Across the country, attacks against Asian Americans are increasing due to misconceptions associated with COVID-19. In the most recent incident reported, a father was left in a coma after being brutally attacked in Chinatown in Chicago, Illinois, last week. Identified as Jin Yut Lew, the 61-year-old man was visiting his relatives when he reportedly never returned home after.
His children then made a Facebook page to spread the word about their missing father.
After hundreds gathered to protest the shooting of Patrick Lyoya, police officials from Grand Rapids, Michigan, said they would release footage of the incident. Lyoya was fatally shot on April 4, after his vehicle was stopped by Grand Rapids officers for having an unregistered license plate issue, the Associated Press reported. Lyoya leaves behind two small children, a two-year-old and a three-month-old.
Pastor John Raymond, a one-time Survivor contestant and former Republican candidate for the Louisiana House, was arrested last week and charged with three counts of cruelty to juveniles after taping children’s mouths shut for talking too much in class, The Washington Post reported. The incident took place on March 17, but Raymond was not arrested until Thursday after police investigated the issue and he turned himself in.
After more than a year of avoiding jail time related to the murder of a pedestrian, South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg may finally be held accountable for his actions. Calls for his resignation are increasing nationwide as he faces an impeachment inquiry.
Investigations into his actions were opened up to the public by Ravnsborg’s Republican colleague, Gov. Kristi Noem. According to Daily Kos, new evidence in the case was shared in March by a Noem appointee.
Across the country, teachers and school board officials are facing constant threats due to GOP leaders and voters spreading consistent hate. From accusing school officials of taking away the parents’ rights to making fusses over masks in schools, conservatives are causing chaos.
As hate crimes against the country continue to increase, people of East Asian descent are not the only victims. Asians across the country are being attacked without provocation. Most recently, a 70-year-old Sikh man visiting from India was brutally attacked in an incident being investigated as a possible hate crime, officials with the New York City Department and a Sikh-American advocacy group said.
Almost five decades after the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide, abortion rights are at great risk. Across the country, Republican-majority states are introducing bills to ban abortion at a rapid rate. At least 15 GOP-controlled states have introduced bills that ban abortion despite circumstances of incest or rape, with some proposed bans beginning as early as 30 days after conception.
As calls for support and justice for the rising number anti-Asian hate crimes nationwide increase, some people are stepping up and going beyond being bystanders. A father and his son are being called heroes after stopping an Asian woman, 61-year-old Hee Chen, from being robbed outside of their pizzeria in Queens, New York. The two were stabbed as a result and are now recovering at the hospital.
As abortion ban proposals make their way nationwide, some GOP states are taking the opportunity to propose other horrific laws. A bill, HB 233, has been proposed in the Tennessee state legislature that would establish a common-law marriage between “one man” and “one woman,” WKRN reported.
Bill sponsors claim the proposed bill would add a new marriage option for residents.
Donald Trump’s crew just gets messier and messier. In the most recent incident of embarrassing Trump minion moments, former Trump campaign chair in 2016 Paul Manafort was removed from a plane in Miami on Sunday for carrying a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday. Miami-Dade Police Department Detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed to The Associated Press that Manafort had been removed from an Emirates Airline flight to Dubai on Sunday night.
“His U.S.
Just when you think Stacey Abrams can’t get any cooler, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia announced Thursday that she made a cameo in the final minutes of the Season 4 finale of Star Trek: Discovery.
According to The Washington Post, in the episode Abrams can be seen walking off a spaceship with a cape over her shoulders. She is then greeted as “Madam President.
During a keynote session at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, popular singer Lizzo shared her views against Texas’ abortion ban.
“The abortion ban is atrocious,” she said on March 13, according to Rolling Stone. “Mind your business. Stay out of my body.
In an exciting move for education, one state has declared college to be tuition-free for most of its residents. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 140, the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship Act, on Friday. According to CNN, the plan first introduced in 2019 will waive tuition costs for any students attending in-state public schools or tribal colleges, including community colleges.
Social media is filled with funny moments and stories. Sometimes we just need to step away and take some time to relax; such posts allow us to mentally recharge.
As part of a weekly series that aims to make you laugh, Daily Kos will be compiling and sharing viral funny videos from across social media platforms. The news cycle can be a bit much at times. Self-care is needed.
We all need balance, so let’s have some joy where we are able.
After abusing her daughter and lying about her child’s health in order to receive gifts and payments from charities, a Colorado woman has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. The woman, identified as Kelly Turner, was given 16 years on the child abuse count, 10 years for charges of charitable fraud and theft, and three years on charges of theft. Her sentences will run concurrently.
Nationwide, reproductive health and women centers seem to be a main target of hate. Following an incident of arson at a Planned Parenthood building in Tennessee, a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pasadena, California, has made headlines for being targeted at least a dozen times within the last year. The incidents are all suspected to be connected to one man.
The social media platform TikTok continues to prove itself to be more than just a platform for viral dance videos and pranks. It now has one of its oldest users sharing the reality of the Holocaust through her story of surviving it.
A video of a reporter in West Virginia being hit by a car while doing a live report has gone viral on social media, with many talking about the depths reporters go to get the news out. In the video, the journalist, identified as Tori Yorgey, immediately pulls herself up and continues speaking on camera—despite having just been hit by a car.
“Oh my God. I just got by a car, but I’m okay!” Yorgey says as she falls to the ground.
Authorities in New York arrested and charged a man with a hate crime on Jan. 14 in connection to a Jan. 3 incident. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD) officials confirmed that 21-year-old Mohamed Hassanain was arrested for attacking a Sikh taxi driver at JFK International Airport.
In some exciting news to start off your weekend, President Joe Biden announced his latest round of judicial nominees on Wednesday. What’s so exciting about this? Well, the eight nominees Biden chose in his 13th round were not only majority women, but included a Muslim American woman who if confirmed would be the first Muslim American woman to serve as a federal judge.
We are two years into the pandemic, yet some Republicans do not understand the depth of the issue. Across the country, GOP members are not only failing to comply with safety regulations put in place to stop the novel coronavirus but in some cases even lying about test results. In one incident, a Utah lawmaker tested positive and lied about it—not once, but twice.
People of color are making strides not only in politics but in fields all round. At least two Black women have made media moves this week including Symone Sanders, who formerly served as chief spokesperson and senior adviser for Vice President Kamala Harris. Sanders left that position last month and will be joining MSNBC as a weekend host, the network announced Monday.
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread across the country, anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers fail to realize the strain their decisions are having on the health care system. Nationwide, hospitals have been not only forced to cancel surgeries due to COVID-19 hospitalizations but also because they lack an adequate blood supply.
In Illinois especially, donors are desperately needed.
As the rate of the novel coronavirus continues to rise nationwide, crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander (APPI) community follow suit. Multiple reports have indicated hate crimes targeting Asian Americans across the country due to misinformation about how the virus spread. While awareness of these attacks is spreading, the rate at which they are occurring has not decreased.
A news anchor from Missouri has gone viral after sharing a voicemail she received from a viewer in response to a segment in which she mentioned eating dumpling soup to celebrate New Year’s Day. In a video posted to her Twitter and Instagram accounts, Michelle Li of NBC News affiliate KSDK played a call from a viewer who felt Li was being “very Asian.
As big of an institution it is, you’d think the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) would take immediate action against someone who has consistently brought shame on their school. For not the first time, a law professor from UPenn has come under fire for sharing her racist and xenophobic ideology.