TikTok introduces new features to support parents and encourage healthier relationships with digital and social media for teens
TikTok, one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, is taking new steps to enhance safety and promote digital well-being among teens. With growing concerns about screen time, online interactions, and content exposure, TikTok has introduced a range of features designed to help parents guide their teens’ online experiences more effectively. These updates build on the platform’s existing safety measures, aiming to create a healthier and more balanced digital environment.
Family Pairing
One of the key updates comes in the form of enhanced Family Pairing features, which allow parents to connect their TikTok accounts with their teen’s to manage various safety settings. The latest addition enables parents to schedule “Time Away” periods, restricting their teen’s access to the app at designated times. This could be during school hours, bedtime, or family meals, giving parents greater flexibility in shaping their child’s screen time habits.
Additionally, parents now have increased visibility into their teen’s interactions on the platform. They can monitor their teen’s follower list, see who their teen is following, and review blocked accounts. This feature is designed to encourage more open conversations between parents and teens about online safety and digital boundaries.
Encouraging healthier screen habits
Recognizing the impact of prolonged screen time, TikTok has introduced a default daily screen time limit of 60 minutes for users under 18. While teens can extend their screen time beyond this limit, they must enter a passcode to continue using the app. For younger users under 16, parents have the ability to set stricter limits to ensure their child isn’t spending excessive time on the platform.
To further encourage a more balanced use of the app, TikTok has introduced a “wind down” feature. This initiative is particularly aimed at users under 16 and activates automatically if a teen remains active on the app after 10 PM. Instead of endless scrolling, the feed will display calming music and gentle reminders that it may be time to log off and prepare for sleep.
Expanding educational and positive content
In addition to screen time management, TikTok is expanding its STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) feed, which has now reached over 100 countries. This dedicated content stream aims to provide teens with engaging educational material. Parents who previously disabled this feature can re-enable it, ensuring their teen has access to informative and inspiring content.
Improved content moderation and reporting features
TikTok is also working to make content moderation more collaborative by allowing teens to notify a parent or trusted adult when they report content that may violate the platform’s guidelines. This upcoming feature seeks to involve parents more directly in their teen’s digital safety and encourage conversations about online behavior and appropriate content.
Why these updates matter
These changes come in response to increasing global conversations about the effects of social media on young users. Studies have shown that excessive screen time and exposure to unfiltered content can negatively impact mental health, sleep quality, and self-esteem.
By giving parents more control and insights into their teens’ online activity, TikTok aims to bridge the gap between safety and digital independence. These new features are a step forward in ensuring that social media remains a positive space for creativity, learning, and social interaction while minimizing potential risks.
TikTok’s commitment to safety and digital well-being suggests that more updates may be on the horizon. As the platform continues to evolve, the focus remains on balancing entertainment with responsible usage, empowering both teens and parents to navigate the digital world safely and mindfully.
Labour Senator Laura Harmon welcomes new Bill in Britain
Senator Laura Harmon has welcomed the introduction of legislation today in the House of Commons to support thousands of former residents of Irish Mother and Baby Homes and County Homes living in Britain who are set to lose their benefits if they accept compensation from the Irish Government for time spent in these institutions.
This legislation is being introduced in the House of Commons today by Liam Conlon, MP for Beckenham and Penge, who is chair of the UK Labour Party’s Irish Society.
The Bill, named after Philomena Lee, a Mother and Baby Home survivor and ‘Philomena’s Law’ calls for any redress payments made to British residents under the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme to be ring-fenced so it won’t affect their eligibility for means-tested benefits or financial support for social care.
In Britain, it is estimated that take up of the scheme is as low as 5%, as many eligible survivors worry that accepting payments could ultimately land them in a worse financial situation overall.
Senator Harmon said:
‘‘I welcome this Bill and ‘Philomena’s Law’ will deliver justice to thousands of Mother and Baby Homes survivors living in Britain. Take up of the scheme is as low as 5% in Britain because many eligible survivors worry they will end up worse financially if they accept payments – this needs to change. No amount of money can rectify the wrongs that were inflicted on survivors but access to this scheme should be uncomplicated for all survivors.
Senator Harmon added: ‘I don’t believe the scheme itself goes far enough and that survivors who have spent any amount of time in a Mother and Baby Home should be eligible for financial compensation. Currently, a mother who was there for at least one night can claim compensation under this scheme but a child had to be there for at least 180 days. Any child who spent a day in a Mother and Baby Home should be eligible to apply.’’
Abhishek Bachchan’s upcoming film, Be Happy, is expected to be a heartfelt narrative that highlights the emotional bond between a father and daughter. In a recent conversation with Fever FM, Abhishek reflected on the role of fathers in a child’s life. He acknowledged that men often struggle with expressing their emotions, calling it a huge flaw, and emphasized that while fathers can never take the place of a mother, their role still deserves recognition.
Abhishek Bachchan reflected on how fathers are often overlooked in everyday discussions, emphasizing that their struggles and emotions tend to go unnoticed.
He pointed out that men generally struggle with expressing their feelings, which he sees as a significant flaw. Instead, they silently shoulder responsibilities and pressures without voicing their challenges.
Bachchan further stated that while a father can never take the place of a mother, it is important to acknowledge their efforts. He described women as the “superior race” but added that this should not diminish the role of fathers. He noted that, although their contributions may not compare to those of mothers, it is still worth recognizing that they do their best.
While discussing the changing dynamics of the parent-child relationship, the I Want To Talk actor shared his perspective, pressing that while parents should be friendly with their children, they cannot take on the role of a friend.
The Guru actor explained that a parent’s primary responsibility is to protect and guide their child while maintaining a level of approachability that allows the child to trust in them. He further stated that parents should be the first people their children think of reaching out to in any situation.
Be Happy brings Abhishek Bachchan back together with child actor Inayat Verma, with whom he previously shared the screen in the 2020 comedy-drama Ludo. The film also stars Nora Fatehi, Nassar, Johnny Lever, and Harleen Sethi and is scheduled for its digital premiere on Prime Video on March 14.
Produced under Remo D’Souza Entertainment Pvt Ltd and backed by Lizelle Remo D’Souza, the movie promises an emotional story that explores the strength and love within a family as they navigate the challenges of loss.
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The video was posted online before being deleted.
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Social Media
An American woman has sparked outrage and calls for her deportation after grabbing a baby wombat away from its mother.
Influencer Sam Jones, who claims to be a ‘wildlife biologist and environmental scientist’ posted video of her taking the animal and running across a road holding it, while its mother gives chase.
The video was later deleted. In the clip a man can be heard saying “look at the mother, it’s chasing after her.”
“I caught a baby wombat!” Jones says in the video, as the baby makes distressed noises.
“OK mama’s right there and she is p***ed, let’s let him go,” she adds, before walking across the road to release the babThe video was reportedly captioned: “My dream of holding a wombat has been realised! Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush.”
She said under the video: “the baby and mum were safely united.”
Her actions have been roundly condemned.
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Social Media
The clip has been deleted and Jones as made both her social media accounts private.
A wildlife rescue organisation told Australian news outlet News.com.au that such an act would be illegal.
Vets also condemned her actions saying the young animal would require its mother’s protection “at all times.”
Vet Dr Tania Bishop told News.com.au: “When she’s running, it’s not supported underneath, and wombats are incredibly solid, especially in their back end, so there’s every chance she could have fractured the upper humerus, or the top of the arms, or caused damage to the shoulders,” she said.
Her actions also put the mother in danger, the vet said.
“Every Aussie knows. You see baby wildlife with its family you leave it alone. They aren’t toys for your amusement,” one person said online.
Another person added: That poor wombat. Australia needs to do more to kick these morons out.”
Parents and carers have been warned about giving their children slushies as new research points to major health risks.
A study on slush ice drinks found that those containing glycerol could induce glycerol intoxication.
In a study entitled ‘Glycerol intoxication syndrome in young children, following the consumption of slush ice drinks’, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, 21 children were reviewed.
The objective of the research was to describe a series of children who became acutely unwell shortly after consuming a slush ice drink.
Little ones may suffer headaches and sickness, particularly when slushies are consumed in excess
GETTY IMAGES
These 21 children were presented to centres across the UK and Ireland from 2009 through 2024.
Experts found that an enormous 93 per cent became unwell within 60 minutes of consuming a slush ice drink.
The children ranged from two years old to six years and months, meaning a median age of three years and six months. None had any relevant past medical history
The majority (95 per cent) subsequently avoided slush ice drinks and did not experience a reoccurrence.
In a warning to parents and carers, the research concluded: “Consumption of slush ice drinks containing glycerol may cause a clinical syndrome of glycerol intoxication in young children.
“Clinicians and parents should be alert to the phenomenon and public health bodies should ensure clear messaging regarding the fact that younger children, especially those under eight years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol.”
In its guidance on food additives, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) shared some essential information about glycerol.
The FSA stated: “Slush ice drinks can contain the ingredient glycerol as a substitute for sugar, at a level required to create the ‘slush’ effect.
The FSA recommends that children aged four and under should not consume these drinks
GETTY IMAGES
“At this level, we recommend that children aged four years and under should not consume these drinks.
“This is due to their potential to cause side effects such as headaches and sickness, particularly when consumed in excess.”
For more information on glycerol and the guidelines for businesses that produce slush drinks, Britons can consult the FSA’s Approved additives and E numbers page.
The FSA has also published industry guidance on glycerol in slush-ice drinks.
A PREGNANCY test is always a nerve wracking moment.
But for Kristi Schmidt seeing two lines would change everything. She was about to discover if she was pregnant at 52 – with her own grandchild.
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Kristi Schmidt was pregnant with her daughter Heidi Lampros’ daughterCredit: Supplied
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The pair welcomed Ekko in March 2022Credit: Supplied
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The mum and daughter had always been closeCredit: Supplied
“I looked over at my daughter Heidi, then 28, who was gripping my hand as the seconds ticked by,” Kristi says.
“Was I about to make her a mum at last?”
The Californian mum and daughter had always been close.
“Heidi was always such an upbeat, positive girl,” Kristi says.
“And from the time she was a teenager, talked about being a mum one day.”
With two easy pregnancies at 22 and 24, Kristi had no reason to suspect that Heidi would struggle to conceive when the time came.
“I conceived so quickly and loved being pregnant,” Kristi says.
“I didn’t suffer from any of the usual side effects and had easy deliveries.
“It really felt like my body was made to be pregnant.”
When Heidi Lampros married fiancé John in 2015, they wanted to grow their family right away.
A surrogate carried my baby while I had a kidney transplant
“We were both so excited,” Heidi remembers.
“I love children and couldn’t wait to have one of our own.
“For years we tried, and as time passed my excitement turned to sadness and worry.
“Mum tried to reassure me, but all around me, friends were having babies. When would it be our turn?”
Then finally in 2020 it happened and the couple fell pregnant.
Heidi says: “I felt so excited walking into our first pregnancy scan. I had no idea what we were about to hear.”
The scan revealed that Heidi had uterine didelphys, meaning that she’d been born with two wombs.
“Then I heard that I was pregnant with twins, and one baby was growing in each uterus,” she says.
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When Heidi struggled to conceive her mum was happy to step in as a surrogateCredit: Supplied
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Heidi and her husband John are endlessly thankful for Kristi’s selfless actCredit: Supplied
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Kristi says that people wrongly thought that John had fathered her childCredit: Supplied
“It’s incredibly rare and only happens to one-in-three-million people.”
Tragically, their joy didn’t last.
At ten weeks a scan found that one of the babies didn’t have a heartbeat. Heidi and John were heartbroken.
“Then at 24 weeks, we learned that we were also losing our son,” she recalls.
“I was devastated, and because I was so far along, I needed to deliver him, a little boy we called Malakai.”
There was more awful news to come.
“My doctor said that I would be able to get pregnant again, but that I shouldn’t try. It would simply be too dangerous,” Heidi says.
“I was grief stricken and lost. All my dreams of building a family seemed to be shattered.’
Kristi could only watch her daughter’s anguish.
“I felt so helpless,” she says.
“As her mum, it was my job to help take away her pain, but it felt like there was nothing I could do.
“Then two months later Heidi called, her voice happier than it had been in so long. She’d discussed it with her doctor, she said, and IVF and surrogacy would be the next best step.”
As soon as she heard those words, Kristi made a decision.
“I knew immediately that I was going to be her surrogate,” she says.
“Heidi needed someone to take care of the embryo that she and John would create. Who better to do it than the baby’s own grandma?
“I didn’t say anything to Heidi at first. I wanted to sit with it for a few days and see if I might change my mind. In fact it only made me more determined that it was what I wanted to do.”
“I was speechless when mum told me about her plan,” says Heidi. “She was 52 and I knew from my own experience that pregnancy is unpredictable.
“I did feel a surge of hope at the idea. I’d read about a mother carrying a baby for her daughter.
“But I loved mum so much and would never put her in danger.”
Kristi pointed out how fit and healthy she was.
“As a retired teacher I had the time to really take care of myself,” Kristi says.
“And surely it was better for me to carry their baby than a stranger?”
“She was so sure,” adds Heidi. “And I knew she had the energy of someone twenty years younger.”
After speaking to John, who agreed that it was a good plan, the two of them went to see a fertility doctor.
I did have some people comment that by being pregnant, I was taking that experience away from Heidi
Kristi Schmidt
“I still hadn’t told my husband Ray,” Kristi says. “There didn’t seem much point until we knew it was possible.
“I was thrilled to hear that the doctor was open to the idea, so long as I passed all the medical checks.”
Kristi’s reproductive system, heart, lungs, hormones and blood pressure were all checked. She got the green light to start.
The grandmother says: “Ray didn’t hesitate when he heard about my offer to Heidi, just smiled and said, ‘Let’s go!’”
The first step was to create the embryos.
For ten days Kristi drove the 30 minutes to Heidi’s house to give her the hormone injections she needed to start her IVF cycle.
“Six months later, when our five embryos were safely in the clinic freezer, it was my turn to hold the needle,” laughs Heidi.
“Twice a day for ten days I needed a progesterone injection in my bottom, to prepare my uterus,” says Kristi
With her body ready, it was time for the embryo transfer.
“I didn’t look at the screen,” Kristi remembers. “My eyes were firmly on Heidi’s hopeful, excited face.
“I silently promised her that she’d have this baby in her arms in nine months’ time.
“As we left, the doctor gave her an envelope. Heidi opened it, showed me the card that said.
‘Hi Mummy, I’m a little girl’ and we both dissolved into tears.’”
Nine days later they stood together and saw the pregnancy test turn positive.
WHAT IS SURROGACY?
Surrogacy is the name given for a type of pregnancy where a woman carries and gives birth to another person’s baby.
The surrogate mother is then expected to give up the baby at birth, so it can be raised by the couple who originally wanted the baby.
Surrogacy is often an option for those unable to have children themselves, or for male same sex couples.
Traditional surrogacy: When the surrogate uses her own egg fertilised with the intended father’s sperm.
Gestational surrogacy: The surrogate carries the intended parent’s genetic child conceived through IVF, for which specialist doctors are needed.
Kristi says: “Heidi grabbed her phone to call John, and I called Ray. ‘I’m having a baby at 52!’ I said, laughing through the joyful tears.”
After 28 years, Kristi was amazed at how normal her pregnancy felt.
“Everything just flooded back,” she admits.
“If I was tired or had morning sickness I could sleep. In fact, it was easier than it had been with Heidi and her brother.”
There were some challenges as her bump grew, and it became clear that she was pregnant at 52.
“The counsellor at the fertility clinic had warned us that not everyone would be totally supportive of what we were doing,” says Kristi.
“I did have some people comment that by being pregnant, I was taking that experience away from Heidi.
“Others thought that by being their surrogate, I was somehow having a baby with John.
“I’d just smile and reply, ‘I had nothing to do with conceiving this baby. I’m just a safe place for my grandchild to grow.’
“As for Ray, he loved cheerfully announcing to strangers, ‘This is my wife, she’s pregnant and it’s not mine.’ Then, when he saw the confusion on their faces, he’d continue: ‘She’s carrying our grandbaby.’”
Heidi admits that she did struggle with anxiety.
“Mum would update me constantly and I was there for every scan and appointment,” she says.
“But after the trauma of losing my twins, I knew things don’t always go to plan.
“I desperately wanted mum and the baby to be safe and I couldn’t quite let myself believe that this was real.
“Finally at our baby shower I believed, for the first time, that I was going to have a child of my own. All because of my incredible mum.”
For Kristi, there was never a question that this baby she was carrying was hers.
“I never felt like a mum-in-waiting,” she says.
The three of us spend so much time together, it’s so joyful to be her ‘Gigi’
Kristi Schmidt
“I loved the baby growing inside me, but I was just a loving babysitter, a grandma-in-waiting.”
In a planned caesarean in March 2022, with Heidi by her side, Ekko Joy was born.
“My incredible 6lb 4oz granddaughter was handed directly to Heidi, just as we’d planned, and I was overwhelmed with happiness,” Kristi says.
“Cuddling her close I felt like I was coming to life,” says Heidi.
“After all the heartbreak, grief and anxiety, she was here at last. I’d never felt love like it.
“And she was only there, safe in my arms, because of what mum had done for me. I knew that I’d never be able to thank her enough for bringing me my daughter.”
Ekko was kept in the NICU because of a heart murmur and an issue with her bowel. But Kristi, who expressed milk for Ekko, was able to go home after three days.
“When I held Ekko for the first time the following week, I felt like I’d known her forever,” Kristi says.
“We were all in tears. I was the happiest grandma in the world.”
Ekko is now a happy, boisterous three-year-old, and her bond with Kristi is stronger than ever.
“The three of us spend so much time together,” says Kristi. “It’s so joyful to be her ‘Gigi’.
“I don’t need any thanks for what I did. It was an honour to help heal Heidi’s heart and make her a mum at last.”
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Heidi had talked about one day becoming a mum since she was in her teensCredit: Supplied
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Kristi says that she, Heidi and Ekko have so much fun togetherCredit: Supplied
Japanese police have arrested several men over the alleged sexual assault of their underaged daughters and sharing videos of their abuse online, according to reports.
Police have so far refused to confirm the arrests.
The Kyodo News agency, NHK television and other outlets say police in the Aichi prefecture, a region in central Japan, took several men aged in their 30s, 40s and 50s into custody.
They are accused of repeatedly raping their daughters or stepdaughters, aged six to 14, filming the scenes of the assaults and sharing the videos on social media.
They are also accused of child prostitution and child pornography, the reports said.
Messages and footage of their attacks were allegedly exchanged in a group chat.
The group was uncovered after one of the men was arrested in November on suspicion of raping a child.
Police investigated the data on his mobile phone, which led to the arrest of the other men, according to reports.
Japanese police have arrested several men over the alleged sexual assault of their under-aged daughters and sharing videos of their abuse online, according to reports
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Paedophile sex ring of fathers who ‘raped their daughters’ is busted in Japan: Police arrest group of men who ‘filmed themselves abusing their own children aged 6-14 and shared footage online’
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You sit in a cubicle. You stand behind a cash register. You press your knees into the ground, straining to fix a burst pipe. It is a Thursday at 11 a.m., and you are at work. Are you free?
As the New Yorker noted, Anderson’s idea hits on a “striking American contradiction.” Private Government shows how, “on the one hand, we are a freedom-obsessed society, wary of government intrusion into our private lives; on the other, we allow ourselves to be tyrannized by our bosses, who enjoy broad powers of micromanagement and coercion.”
Since Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, two CEOs, took the reins of the United States government, I have been thinking a lot about Anderson’s theory of bosses as dictators.
Musk and Trump have framed a series of blatantly anti-democratic and disruptive executive branch actions as the efficient maneuverings of “high-IQ” businessmen. The president has signed a series of executive orders that are likely illegal, as he stretches the law in the name of his “mandate.” Musk and his legion of engineers have been dismantling the government under the righteous banner of fighting “fraud.” If the violent January 6 riot was a seditionist insurrection, how should one describe the 2025 version of a MAGA takeover?
The moves by DOGE, Musk, and Trump—running roughshod over norms and republican democracy—seem more familiar to me than armed revolt. It’s downsizing; it’s layoffs; it’s control by one annoying guy who for some reason is richer than you and is convinced that “working the weekend is a superpower.” It’s government run like a business. (Specifically a start-up.) The president not as democratic leader within a system of checks and balances, but as an imperious CEO with the power to do what’s needed. It’s dictator as boss, and boss as dictator.
I think when you consider that businesses are run by dictators—that a firm is not a democracy—it makes sense why a series of rich guys at the top of the capitalist world think government can be run without following any laws. I called up Anderson to discuss all this. We talked about DOGE, Musk, capitalism, and much else.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
How do you think understanding your boss as a dictator helps us make sense of what’s happening right now in the Trump administration?
Once we grasp that the default constitution of the capitalist workplace is a dictatorship—that the business class feels that it’s infinitely superior to government workers; that they think they could clean things up and make things way more efficient by running government as a “business”—we realize what they’re essentially saying is: We gotta run government like a dictatorship, a place where the boss rules.
That’s the picture. And so, they think these bosses can ignore all the regulations and constraints on the internal operation of the agencies; they can fire people at will without cause; they can just go through smashing and disrupting stuff—and, somehow, innovation will come out of it.
It’s this Ayn Rand-ian element of glorifying the megalomaniacal CEO. Musk can say: Let me do my thing, because I am the brilliant, disruptive innovator who’s going to transform everything. But I can only do that if I can fire people en masse and destroy all industries—so that I can emerge as the hero.
Rand’s idea of freedom was that the smart people, like John Galt in Atlas Shrugged, were screwed by rules and restrictions on the talented. And so we need to free people like him and other brilliant CEOs to do whatever they want. The key is not empathy but empowering the right people.And whatever happens to other people, so be it.
Exactly, because Rand thinks those other people don’t matter—deep down.
That’s why under capitalism now there’s a selection effect. It is the megalomaniacs—the narcissists—who rise to the top, given the incentive structure of the system. But, you know, these narcissists…they’re very thin-skinned. In their inner psychic lives they feel wounded every time somebody doesn’t worship them.
Which sounds a lot like anyone’s annoying boss—powerful and thin-skinned.It also helps me understand why so many on the right are obsessed with IQ. It can’t be that bosses got lucky. It has to be that they are naturally destined to rule.
Musk is a classic example of this. He has had genuine entrepreneurial success. I’ll grant him that. But he thinks that it’s because he has general intelligence. IQ is actually only measuring like a tiny part of intelligence. Musk is a total idiot when it comes to public policy. He believes any kind of crap that some idiot posts on X. He has no sense of reality outside of his business. He just goes smashing through, thinking that he’s a great innovator; in fact, he’s wrecking everything.
The capitalist firm, as it is set up right now, rewards that kind of person.
Right, and it rewards the kind of people who think that the rest of us are nobodies and it doesn’t matter what happens to us.
Right now, there’s the abstract boss behavior: I am the ruler, god of government, I don’t have to follow the rules for executive orders. And also the literal ways in which they’re acting like a boss: Elon Musk telling employees to send me an email of five things you did this week or you will be fired. How do you connect those two things?
The history of all right-wing parties is their base is business owners—small, medium, and large. And thecapitalist firm is a dictatorship, that’s its constitution. The boss, whatever he says, goes.
Most American workers who are not unionized have false ideas about their entitlement to a job. Most American workers are not aware that the default status of employment is at will. You can be fired at any time, for any reason (except for like a handful of anti-discrimination rules).
That power changes how bosses think. They don’t think they have to follow rules. They can do what they want to you.
Then you look wider. What are the objectives of so many policies over the last 50 years of neoliberalism? It’s plutocracy: To make capitalists rule, not just within the firm. That’s happening now. They get to be the bosses of everything.
That makes me think of the radicalization of the supposedly“normal” Silicon Valley types. I listened to a podcast with Marc Andreessen. He’s among many rich tech people who talked about being radicalized to vote for Trump. And he didn’t say it started with President Joe Biden’s attack on tech or Black Lives Matter protests. He said: I was radicalized around 2012 by all the annoying “kids” working for me. His experience as a boss is a big part of what moved him further right.
That’s exactly right. The problem that the tech bros got into is that in order to attract talented engineers for their start-ups they had to give them a lot of power within the firm. You attract a lot of talent if the workers feel like they’re empowered and they’re being listened to and treated with respect.
But then that turned in the 2010s. At some point, the tech bros become billionaires. Then, they feel miffed. The money goes to their heads! They feel like they’re Superman. Why aren’t people respecting them? And this is where respect means following orders, keeping your silence—it’s not your place to talk back to them, because look at how much richer they are than you. And they started getting pissed off.
That merges with the ideology of the tech world, where there is a cult of the founder. And it can turn into dictatorial ideology. Now, we have nutcases like Curtis Yarvin whispering about the benefits of monarchism.
Now it’s not just rulers of their company. They think they ought to be rulers of the world.
The philosophy changes as it appeals to what they need.Monarchism becomes appealing when you’ve been a monarch in a company.
Another point here is that often the tech bros have been cast as libertarian-right. They just want freedom. But, no, what they want is freedom for themselves. They want impunity for themselves to do whatever they like. That is to be free of government regulation, but also to be free of criticism.
They always billed themselves as libertarians, but in reality there’s always been a symbiotic relationship between libertarianism and authoritarianism within the capitalist firm. And once you’re a billionaire, you have a much bigger footprint than just your firm. You can affect whole states just by threatening to leave, like Amazon.
When you talk about Amazon like that, it reminds me of what you mentioned earlier, when you talked about the goal of neoliberalism. That term can be confusing. But really—and I think I am getting this right from Quinn Slobodian’s book—it’s that many people in the 20th century and during decolonization wanted money and capital to float freely above the constraints of a specific country. This gave businesspeople supreme power, and it gave companies power to act like nation-states themselves.
You’re totally right about that. It was in the 70s, somebody wrote a book called The Sovereign State of ITT. ITT was this big, sprawling, global company of its day. And basically it said: Look, this is not, you know, just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill corporation. It really is acting like a sovereign state. That’s what we have today in spades, with these much bigger, more powerful companies than ITT ever was.
What do you think being in charge of one of those companies, like Musk and Trump have been, makes you think of democracy?
Well, what good is it? I mean, that’s what they think.
That was there for a long time in Silicon Valley culture: disruption. What was disruption? I’m going to walk in there and start breaking a lot of laws and establish my business model. And that’s essentially how Uber got launched—ignore, just completely disregard, laws.
The thing is, many people want this. They want to see government “run the government like a business.”
Like a dictatorship, is what they’re saying.
There is a grain of truth in some of this: private for-profit corporations make decisions much quicker than the bureaucracies of democratic states do. Absolutely, that’s true. And so what happens is, when you have an encounter between what are these very successful corporate types and a civil servant, they just look at the civil servant and they think: These guys are idiots; I can run circles around them. To a certain extent, it’s due to the fact that there’s been a systematic repression and defunding for a lot decades of government, too.
I was actually thinking more about the obsession with Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. Which is to say that so often it seems totally fine to many people not to have a democracy as long as the streets are clean.It’s popular.
But also, we also have to factor in the fact that people don’t know what the government does for the middle class—it’s enormous, but it’s hidden. It’s buried in the tax code, like the mortgage interest deduction, the fact that you don’t pay income taxes on employer-covered health care, these enormous tax advantages, the tax deferral of your pension plan. It’s there for the better-off middle class.
That’s the neoliberalism part: It was about both freeing markets and the government working through markets—so we hid the government’s work.
I mean, what’s interesting about DOGE is it will take a while for the American people to realize that this random, nihilistic destruction—just for the gleeful destruction of it all—actually comes back to bite. Because people are unaware of how much they depend on government services. Still, now you’re starting to see people show up at town halls yelling. Veterans can’t book an appointment at a Veterans Affairs hospital. They serve their country, and now they’re getting screwed over. They’re getting pissed, not to mention that almost a third of civil servants are veterans.
Another example: you can look at it both from the employment perspective and the consumer perspective. The National Park Service has been gutted, so now people who would spend their vacation camping out at Yellowstone, maybe they can’t get a reservation because the systems have broken down.
When Grogu first appeared in The Mandalorian, fan’s not knowing his name called him simply Baby Yoda.
It made sense, as we saw very few characters from this species. Grogu’s parentage has been kept under wraps, and Star Wars fans aren’t sure if they should ever be revealed.
The Mandalorian hasn’t answered many questions on Grogu’s parents, yet
In a Reddit thread titled, “Should they look for Grogu’s parents in season four?” fans discussed the potential of this storyline.
As it was left in Season three, Din Djarin has adopted Grogu, and is now the little guy’s dad.
The top reply from No-Knee9457 puts it simply, “No. Din is his parent.”
Do we really need to know who Grogu’s parents are? JayMmhkay doesn’t think so, saying, “He’s already living with his daddy.”
Superkometa says, “Din already had the whole quest with finding Grogu’s people. Also introducing a new character(s) from Yoda’s species would be risky, they were supposed to be mysterious.”
That last point, on the mystery, is important. Back when George Lucas created Star Wars, he intended for Yoda’s species to be the biggest secret in the universe.
He stated several times, in interviews, that this would be the one secret he would always keep.
Even if we learn who his parents are, we won’t likely gain much knowledge beyond that.
“Bummer though, I would’ve loved to learn where Grogu came from,” comments Anywh00zles.
Another Redditor sums up all of these points, commenting, “I think it’s better to keep the Yoda spices a secret. Besides his dad right there.”
However, one fan wants to find out a lot more. Why? They explain, “Well, for Grogu’s sake. His species lives a long time more than humans. I don’t want Grogu to be all alone when his human loved ones eventually pass.”
Perhaps we’ll learn more, maybe we won’t, either way, we’ll be seeing more of Grogu over the coming years.
Liyana Svenningsen’s mum had to start styling her hair when she was only four months old.
Midwives were stunned the baby had a full head of hair.(Image: SWNS)
A Scots baby born with a thick head of hair has left people convinced that her natural locks are a wig.
Hadjer Harizi, 25, gave birth to her daughter Liyana Svenningsen in August last year at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
According to Hadjer, midwives at the hospital were stunned when her newborn came into the world sporting a full head of hair.
Now seven months old, the baby’s hair has grown so long that Hadjer says people-stunned by her daughter’s luscious hair-regularly stop them in the street.
Hadjer, a stay-at-home mum in Glasgow, said: “People always stop us in the street or at the shops to ask about her hair.
“Someone once asked if it was a wig and when I jokingly said yes, they fully believed me!”
Hadjer Harizi with her daughter.(Image: SWNS)
Hadjer wasn’t entirely surprised with Liyana’s full head of hair since she was herself born with lots of hair.
Hadjer said: “I wasn’t really surprised because both my husband and I had a lot of hair when we were born too.”
“The midwives at the hospital would come to my room and say ‘We’re here to see the baby born with full head of hair’.
“They were quite shocked to see Liyana’s hair.”
Liyana’s hair is growing so fast that by the time she was four months old, Hadjer had to start styling it to keep it out of her face.
Liyana’s hair has become her signature look, and her mum takes special care of it with special shampoos and a hairdryer.
Liyana Svenningsen’s mum had to start styling her hair at four months.(Image: SWNS)
She said: “I wash her hair every three days because it becomes greasy. We use a scanning app to check for any harsh chemicals in shampoos and conditioner.
“And we never let her hair air-dry. She actually loves using the Dyson hairdryer!
“I absolutely love styling her hair every day and I’m not going to cut them until she decides to when she’s older”
