House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) issued a rare joint statement Friday urging Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear “without delay” for a hearing Monday to discuss the weekend’s assassination attempt of former President Trump. The statement from the top Republican and Democrat on the panel signals that congressional scrutiny of the Secret Service director is bipartisan,...

Five more House Democrats joined the growing number of congressional lawmakers who have called on President Biden to drop out of the 2024 election on Friday.  In a joint statement, Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Marc Veasey, D-Texas, Chuy Garcia, D-Illinois and Marc Pocan, D-Wisc., urged Biden to "pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders."  The fifth House Democrat, Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, separately urged Biden to drop out in an op-ed for the Chicago...

X, the social media platform owned by Trump megadonor Elon Musk, is promoting Trump campaign-curated content to all U.S. users, regardless of whether they have opted out of Trump-related content. On the platform formerly known as Twitter, banner ads for the Trump campaign donning the #Trump2024 tag appear for all U.S. users, even those who’ve blocked words, topics, and hashtags related to the candidate or his campaign or muted the advertiser.

Windows computers around the world are being hit by the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) thanks to an outage caused by services provided by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The issue has impacted everyone from banks to airlines, with flights grounded, grocery carts abandoned, and productivity even lower than usual for a Friday. Fortunately, CrowdStrike has since announced at 2:30 a.m. ET that it has identified the update causing the issue and rolled it...

A faulty software update issued by security giant CrowdStrike has resulted in a massive overnight outage that’s affected Windows computers around the world, disrupting businesses, airports, train stations, banks, broadcasters and the healthcare sector. CrowdStrike said the outage was not caused by a cyberattack, but was the result of a “defect” in a software update for its flagship security product, Falcon Sensor. The defect caused any Windows computers that Falcon is installed on...

Former President Donald Trump referenced his “right to try” experimental treatment legislation during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, signaling that expanding access to novel treatments for terminal patients may be a key proposal if he were to win reelection. “‘Right to try’ is a big deal,” Trump said during his acceptance speech. “They were trying to get that for 52 years.”

A “Trump2024” banner labeled “Promoted by Team Trump” sat atop the What’s Happening summary on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, during the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention on Thursday. While the #Trump2024 hashtag temporarily showed the American flag, and clicking it caused an animated “hashfetti” effect with flags raining down, it was the icon attached to the number one trending #MAGA topic that caught our eyes.

Over the past few years, book bans have been happening in public libraries and schools across America. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, over 3,300 books were banned in 182 school districts in 37 states.Most books that have been banned deal with LGBTQ and racial themes. According to a report from PEN America, Florida has been the most aggressive state regarding book bans, accounting for about 40% of those taken off the shelves. On November 5, Collier County, Florida, announced that it was banning 300 books from its school libraries out of an effort to comply with state law HB 1069, which says books that depict or describe “sexual content” can be challenged for removal.Among the books banned by the school district was “Shopgirl,” a novella by author Steve Martin published in 2000. Martin is also the star of the hit Hulu show, “Only Murders in the Building,” featuring Martin Short and Selena Gomez.Upon hearing about his book being banned, Martin responded with his iconic wit on Instagram, saying, “So proud to have my book Shopgirl banned in Collier County, Florida! Now, people who want to read it will have to buy a copy!" See on Instagram “Shopgirl” is a story about a young woman who works in a luxury department store and has an affair with a wealthy older man. It was made into a movie in 2005 starring Claire Danes and Martin. It’s believed the book was banned for its mild sexual content. On Amazon, the book is recommended for readers ages 13 and up. This article originally appeared on 11.11.23

Gyms are communal spaces where people can come to improve their health, fitness and/or overall well-being. However, it’s no secret that many gyms have also become a production studio of sorts where influencers can set up a tripod to demonstrate the most cutting-edge squatting technique or where the average Joe can take that obligatory gym selfie to prove that the workout did, in fact, happen. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of these activities. However, they have sparked a new kind of behavior in gymgoers where they feign extreme frustration if folks walk from one machine to the next or grab a piece of equipment and, heaven forbid, enter the frame. Take for instance a video shared to Reddit by u/ASTATINE_628, where we first see several cuts of a young woman at the gym, seemingly perturbed that people are continuously walking through her frame in her video.The clip then cuts to a guy who breaks down what’s wrong with this scenario in a very clear and concise way.“This sense of entitlement has gotten out of hand,” he said, noting that “for you to get upset because there’s people simply in your video going about their workout, not bothering you, minding their own business, is ridiculous.” To act like she owns the gym. by u/ASTATINE_628 in therewasanattempt He certainly has a point. Of course, when personal space is actually being infringed upon, like when someone is facing harassment, that’s a different story. But in this case, as the man stated, there is no wrongdoing by simply existing. The man then summed it all up with a short and sweet reminder about common decency. Or maybe not-so-common, since we’re needing reminders.“Unless your name is on that gym, your filming is never a priority over other people. They pay the same gym membership that you do. If you can’t film responsibly, if you can’t respect other people in a shared space, you don’t belong filming at all,” he said.Really, this behavior stems from something larger than modern-day gym culture. We film ourselves a lot these days, and often in public. This has undoubtedly caused a shift in how we view personal boundaries in the outside world, with both positive and negative effects.On the one hand, it can be fun and self-esteem-boosting to treat your life as one big video diary. On the other hand, we bring strangers unwillingly into our orbit, treating them as punching bags, entertainment, or, in the case of the miffed gymgoers, nuisances. We vainly stop treating other people like fellow humans sharing life on this crazy blue planet. No video seems worth forgetting that. Even for those who have never set foot into a gym, and never will, this is a poignant reminder to not lose our humanity as our relationship with social media grows. It’s perfectly fine to tap into “main character energy.” Let's just keep in mind that really, we’re all part of the same story. This article originally appeared on 3.28.23