TLC's 90 Day Fiancé is a xenophobic train wreck that Americans can't stop watching
“I just don’t understand how you’re 48 and you still don’t have anything,” Annie, a 25-year-old bride-to-be from Thailand, tells her would-be fiancé. She’s one half of a couple on the TLC reality series, 90 Day Fiancé in which Americans quickly —…
By Lakin Starling

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I'm Black, not black. The rest of the world needs to catch on.
By George M. Johnson
This past August, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones issued her long-awaited 1619 project through the New York Times. In the book, Hannah-Jones outlines America’s capitalistic beginnings in detail, calling out the heinous acts of Transatlantic Slave…
This climate change activist group is using theater as a form of protest
By Tebany Yune
This week, climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion descended upon New York City with protests that combined vivid imagery with disruption to call for government action against climate change. On Monday, members of the group focused on…
'Mental illness is not a felony': Why mental health crises should not involve police
By Patrisse Cullors
As another World Mental Health Day passes, I think of all the Montes of the world — Black men like my brother who deserve care, dignity, and healing, but who instead face harm, neglect, and criminalization. Last week, I spent a grueling and…
Bernie's back — thanks to a little help from his friends
By Ezra Marcus
Bernie Sanders wants you to know he's not going anywhere, thank you very much. The Vermont senator has bounced back from a grim few weeks of sliding polls and a serious health scare, thanks to a solid appearance at Tuesday's Democratic debate and…
The fourth Democratic debate showed 2020 is about one thing: dreams vs. doability
By Andra Belknap
Tuesday evening was jam-packed with televised sporting events. But as a veteran of national political campaigns, just one national competition was on my radar: the Democratic debate in Ohio, the fourth of this election cycle. So, if you missed three…
This organization wants to take the stigma out of periods
By Opheli Garcia Lawler
For people who get their period, the experience can sometimes feel like a chronic illness. Every month or so, a body that menstruates not only cramps and aches for days on end, but it also bleeds. This is all fairly common knowledge, but based on…
This app claims to use DNA to predict your sexuality. Here's why that's dangerous
By AJ Dellinger
Earlier this year, a groundbreaking study that looked at the genetic makeup of more than 500,000 people determined there is no singular "gay gene" that serves as a reliable predictor of a person's sexuality. Instead, there are a series of genetic…
For some reason, the debate ended with 12 Democrats talking about Ellen DeGeneres
By Kara Weisenstein
One of the challenges of hosting a debate with 12 candidates is that it takes about a century to get through a single question. And a lot of people watching last night’s Democratic debate were not impressed that CNN and the New York Times chose to…
Scientists want to make a 3D scan of the Earth before we totally ruin it
By Tebany Yune
Humans are just scratching the surface of understanding the Earth better, but our time with the planet as we know it is growing shorter. Climate change is altering the Earth's landscape at a rate faster than some people have predicted. And there are…
The stark reality of why more Black children are attempting suicide
By George M. Johnson
I remember the first time a friend of mine died by suicide. I was living in Washington, D.C. when I got the phone call from our mutual friend, Preston. The friend we’d just lost was a young Black man brimming with potential. He had a smile that lit…
Being president hasn't stopped Trump from cheating on his taxes
By Ezra Marcus
We already knew that President Trump cheats on his taxes. The New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation last year that showed that the so-called “self-made billionaire” had in fact used a complex series of tax dodges to inherit…
The internet can’t get over the new “chonky” Pikachu
By Brittany Vincent
Pokémon Sword and Shield will welcome a series of new "Gigantamax" Pokémon when it debuts on Nintendo Switch this November, and the news is causing a bit of a stir in the Pokémon community. Starting November 15, fans can head into battle with other…
TLC's 90 Day Fiancé is a xenophobic train wreck that Americans can't stop watching
By Lakin Starling
“I just don’t understand how you’re 48 and you still don’t have anything,” Annie, a 25-year-old bride-to-be from Thailand, tells her would-be fiancé. She’s one half of a couple on the TLC reality series, 90 Day Fiancé in which Americans quickly —…
How fake reply emails took over our inboxes
By Kalina Newman
If you’ve ever ordered something online, donated a dollar to a political campaign, or signed up for a recurring newsletter, you know your inbox is going to be flooded with follow-up emails. A lot of them — and they’ll do anything to get your…
Climate change is coming for your wine, too
By Tracey Anne Duncan
No part of our lives — including that glass of red wine that we sedate ourselves with at the end of a long day’s news cycle — remains immune to the effects of global warming. Yes, hurricanes and tornadoes are a bit more pressing when it comes to…
How Pharrell and other artists are re-evaluating their past work through a more inclusive lens
By Kara Weisenstein
GQ published a thoughtful interview with Pharrell Williams on Monday as the cover story of its “New Masculinity” issue. The 46-year-old rapper-singer-producer was candid about his personal growth in an era of shifting gender politics. Most notably,…
The U.S. abandoning the Kurds isn't surprising. We've done it for decades
By Ezra Marcus
Last week, President Trump announced that he was pulling U.S. troops from northern Syria, paving the way for Turkey to invade Kurdish territories there. Immediately, Turkish troops moved in, bombing Kurdish positions with jets and artillery.…
Mexican cartel members kill 13 police in grisly reminder of the country's ongoing drug wars
By Kimberly Alters
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán might be fully locked away in America's highest-security prison, but that hardly means Mexico's drug wars are over. On Monday, members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel attacked roughly 40 police officers in western…
All the new phones and home devices Google announced today
By Tebany Yune
It seems like hosting yearly events to make hardware announcements are the hip thing to do among tech giants and Google is no exception. Today marked the annual 'Made by Google' event, and the company took to the stage in New York to reveal its…
This outdated law forced me to break up with my therapist
By Dana Gerber
My very first memories are stained with anxiety. As a child, I would cry for days when my mother went on business trips, and struggled to foster friendships with other kids. As I became older, my anxiety evolved into an obsession with getting…
Colleges are now using personal data like browsing history to rank applicants
By AJ Dellinger
If you're in the process of applying for college, be warned that it isn't just your grades and extracurricular activities that are being reviewed by schools. According to a report from the Washington Post, at least 44 public and private universities…
A guide to Netflix's bizarre lineup of holiday films
By Opheli Garcia Lawler
It’s mid-October, so it’s time to start thinking about the upcoming holiday season. So, before we've even settled on a Halloween costume, Netflix previewed this year's holiday films. In a new trailer that emphasized words like “family,” “old…
How ‘Fortnite’ got millions of people to tune in to a livestream of a black screen
By Brittany Vincent
You can all breathe a sigh of relief now, Fortnite players. The massively popular battle royale game, which was taken offline for around 48 hours over the weekend, is now back up and running, with a newly-revealed facelift for Fortnite Chapter 2.…