In the four days since President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term, he’s signed dozens of executive actions targeting birthright citizenship, the TikTok ban, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in government. It’s a tidal wave of information — one online communities have been struggling to digest, …
Read More »Meme Coins Started as a Joke. Trump Thinks They're the Entire Point of Crypto
From his explosive debut on the presidential election trail in 2015, Donald Trump‘s career in national politics was uniquely entwined with internet culture. The trolls of 4Chan and the ascendant alt-right embraced him as a living meme, someone whose ability to offend the mainstream and bulldoze social norms could reshape …
Read More »RedNote Is the U.S.-China Peace Talks We Need
The U.S. TikTok ban, brought on by government concern over the company’s Chinese ownership, has been a messy whirlwind of updates for the app’s users. The company circled through announcements that it will be banned, it might not be banned, the Supreme Court might stop the ban, the Supreme Court …
Read More »What Really Happened With the L.A. Fire Department Budgets?
A white picket fence stands with untouched roses. Six feet away, a home is gone. The decimation caused by the Palisades and Eaton fires is catastrophic and abnormal, and Los Angeles is grieving loss unlike ever before. As several wildfires erupted across the city on Jan. 7, with fierce Santa …
Read More »How Tech Billionaires Screwed Us All
Even to the supremely cynical, it was striking to see the most recognizable billionaire leaders of Silicon Valley seated together at an event ahead of the second inauguration of President Donald Trump on Monday. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Alphabet (Google‘s parent company) Sundar Pichai, …
Read More »These Iconic — and Exclusive — Hollywood Institutions Opened Their Doors to Fire Victims
It’s not every day the average person can waltz into the Magic Castle in the heart of Hollywood. Typically, the exclusive venue hosts invitation-only affairs; in order to enter for an evening of entertainment by top-tier magicians, you have to adhere to a strict formal dress code and either be …
Read More »These Influencers Helped Get Trump Elected. Now They're Ready to Party
It’s Sunday night and Lance Johnston, a 23-year-old content creator, is smiling and posing in front of a giant TikTok logo. Johnston was one of the first political content creators on the app in its early days, and amassed a six-figure following in 2020 by posting conservative commentary. After his …
Read More »I Argued With David Lynch About Meditation. He Was Right
On a summer morning in 2012, I was very pregnant in the back seat of a limo with David Lynch, being chauffered along Mulholland Drive. Lynch was 66 years old at the time. He was handsome and sharply dressed in his uniform: blazer, white shirt, American Spirits in his breast …
Read More »How Los Angeles Sent Nearly 10 Million People a False Fire Alert
On the afternoon of Jan. 9, nearly 10 million people across Los Angeles County received a warning that they were in danger. “NEW: This is an emergency message from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. An EVACUATION WARNING has been issued in your area,” the alert began, going on to …
Read More »Muhammad Ali: Remembering the Greatest of All Time
This story was originally published in the July 1, 2016, issue of Rolling Stone. PEOPLE SCORNED HIM, even reviled him. Some feared him. Even when the young man proved himself to be what he claimed — the fastest, most astonishing boxer we’d ever seen, as well as a black man …
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