Bean

@LeahRemini Congratulations! What a huge step and what great success! You did the hard work and it paid off. Be so very proud of yourself. We are all rooting for you!

I graduated!!! I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a concentration in Psychology, summa cum laude! Five years ago, I started this journey with an eighth-grade education, and even that was from a Scientology school, where critical thinking was discouraged and the quality of instruction was subpar, to say the least. I did not get here alone. Thank you to @NYUSPS and @DeanKamath. Thank you to everyone who supported me, encouraged me, and believed in me, especially on the days I was not sure I could do this. And there were plenty of those days. To my therapist, who told me not to give up when I was told I likely would not be accepted into a prestigious program. To my tutor, without whom I likely would have given up at the harder points along the way. To all those here who have sent me loving messages on social media. And to everyone else who has cheered me on in person through the ups and the downs of it, it means more than I can put into words. It got me over this finish line of being a student again and graduating. That goal once seemed impossible. To those who have asked me, “Why this? Why now?” I pursued higher education to reclaim a piece of myself. When you come out of a high-control group like Scientology, or even a high-control family, there are parts of you that were never allowed to fully develop. Those parts include your curiosity and your ability and right to question. Education was discouraged because knowledge creates confidence in your ability to trust your own mind and navigate the world. That leads to true independence, and that would never be allowed. I wanted that back. But more than that, I needed to understand. I needed to understand how my mother could have us join Scientology when I was just eight years old, and how my family and I could be part of something like this and stay in it for so long. I needed to understand how these systems work, how they influence people, and how they take hold. Without education, access to real information, and support, people can fall into systems that work against their best interests. Some assume that because they are educated, even highly educated, they would never fall for something like this. But it turns out that is not necessarily true. What many of us are impacted by, but never quite understand, is how high-control groups operate. Many still do not understand how misinformation spreads, and how tribalism and radicalization shape what we think, what we believe, and who and what we trust. Without that awareness, none of us are immune. Today, we are seeing how these forces can influence good people and distort reality. History has shown us that this is not new; it just comes in a different form now. Social media connects us in ways we never imagined, but it also creates echo chambers that reinforce beliefs and justify behavior without question. Real critical thinking is hard when we are fed so much by algorithms designed to appeal to us. In learning and achieving this milestone in my own life, it has helped me take a good, hard look at my own beliefs and ideologies. This journey was about healing for me, but also about figuring out how to help others in whatever way I can in the future. So what is in my future? I am considering continuing my education and possibly pursuing a master’s degree, with the goal of contributing to advocacy and policies that protect people, not systems. For now, I am taking this moment in. I am proud of myself. And I am grateful. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

Not only that, but you don’t give the same stats or information as are given to the men. This feels unjust and just sexist.

@PWBATour I really wish you’d give the women the same camera angles that the mens bowling gets. It’s insane I can’t watch replays of the tour without staring at their back. I just tried watching some of the 2026 games and whoa. What a shame.

Calling abortion “murder” while staying silent about children being raped and trafficked is a choice.

@piersixtysix just had the absolute worst experience at the front desk after spending thousands of dollars over the course of the last 48 hours, including the fact that I’ve extended my stay until Sunday. Very disappointed in the management & guest service staff. Never again.

Ghostbusters (1984) works on a very specific wavelength. A group of comedians at their peak. The humor, attitude, and timing feel completely tied to that moment in culture and can’t be replicated.

Hey so this seems like something more people should be talking about 🤔 🗳️ npr.org/2025/10/23/nx-…

Pay close attention if you are using the USPS.

Stanley Kubrick highlighted the potential dangers of AI long before it became a reality.

No American can afford to ignore this, because today it’s this woman but tomorrow it could be you “I am still very angry. I am numb right now. UnitedHealthcare denied my heart surgery that was scheduled for Friday. Of course they wait until the last minute to do it. There's no way to get an appeal through before then.” “This is messing with my life. It's messing with my livelihood. This is a heart surgery. This is not an elective procedure. This is not something I want to have done, but I need to have it done because it’s already causing major problems. I can't work right now, and it's getting worse. It's not getting any better. — I'm out of loss. I'm very numb and I'm very angry. For profit health insurance is the worst thing ever.” This could be any of us if we don’t get drastic reform of our health insurance industry

Happy 69th birthday to the iconic Sheryl Lee Ralph.

some people want nice cars and designer bags, I just want my cat to live forever

Today we remember the Massacre at Wounded Knee, December 29th, 1890.

In all my years living up here in Buffalo, I don't think I've ever seen it this bad along the Lakeshore. We've had three hours of 80+ mph gusts here and with the temperature dropping, very heavy freezing spray is accumulating on all of the trees. Lots of damage.

50 years sober today. Wonderful message from a wonderful man. 👏

To Sarah and her family .. everyone thinking about you , talking about you remembering you will be tribute to you for Eternity ..

You cannot convince me that I don’t deserve the moon and the stars.

Lovvvved this show

It’s official: Hurricane #Melissa has breached the record for strongest wind gust ever observed in a tropical cyclone worldwide. The 252mph gust as measured by dropsonde beats that of Megi 2010’s 248. news.ucar.edu/133047/record-…

@CrazyVibes_1 Oh my angel, this is magical. You tell your Tia from Miami who those boys are and I’ll have them handled in a heartbeat. Please keep creating because the world NEEDS more magic like this. You are awesome. You matter. And you deserve to be here. Can’t wait to see the next one!

My 15-year-old son hasn't left his room in three months. Not since the boys at school shoved his crochet project into a trash can and filmed it, posted it with "What kind of guy does this?" while everyone laughed. I'd find him at 2 AM, surrounded by patterns he'd saved from online, yarn everywhere, eyes red from crying. "This is all I'm good at," he'd whisper. His little shop online became his only safe place while kids his age destroyed him daily for doing something they called "girly." Then last week, he emerged from his room holding this gnome outfit. "For the baby," he said, voice barely audible. His first complete costume for his 10-month-old sister. Every single stitch perfect. The pointed red hat, that fluffy white beard, those striped legs with tiny boots. When the baby giggled and reached for his face, my son smiled. First real smile in months. "Do you think it's... stupid?" he asked, waiting for me to confirm what those boys said. Stupid? My broken boy had turned months of torture into something magical. I posted these photos in his online shop while he wasn't looking. Orders came flooding in within hours. "This is professional work!" "Does he do custom orders?" "Tell your son he's incredibly talented!" He's reading every comment now, crying. Happy tears this time. Talking about maybe going back to school. Maybe finding other kids who create things. Maybe those boys were just scared of someone different. To anyone who thinks a teenage boy hiding with yarn is wasting his life, sometimes he's saving it. One stitch at a time. Please tell him what you think. He needs to hear it from more than just his mom.