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Black America Web
3 days ago
- Politics
- Black America Web
President Donald Trump TACO Memes Gain Traction Online
President Donald Trump has a penchant for using nicknames and hurling insults at folks, especially those who aren't politically aligned with him or his administration. TACO, an acronym that stands for 'Trump Always Chickens Out,' is gaining traction online, and as a result, TACO is getting the meme treatment across social media. TACO, coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armsrong, made its way to the ears of President Trump during a press event on Wednesday (May 28). A reporter asked Trump about the acronym, sparking a furious reply from the president, who demanded that he never get asked about the acronym again. Because of Trump's visible distaste for the acronym, savvy social media users and those who oppose President Trump seized upon the opportunity to dig in their heels with jokes, commentary, and memes as mentioned above. In an interview with CBC Radio's As It Happens , Armstrong was asked if it were a dream that the acronym got floated during the midweek press event at the White House. From CBC: It's not the dream, it's the nightmare. The thing about Trump chickening out is that it's good. Trump's tariff policies are very bad and destructive, right? When I talk about TACO and Trump chickening out, I'm like, 'There's this good thing happening where he doesn't follow through on these bad ideas.' I don't think this is gonna happen, but I have this slight worry that now he knows the phrase, and it's banging around in his head, he'll stop chickening out, which is exactly the outcome I don't want. As it stands, TACO is growing legs, especially on social media apps like X and Blue Sky. We've got some of those memes listed below. — Photo: The Washington Post / Getty President Donald Trump TACO Memes Gain Traction Online was originally published on #TACO — 🐾🏴☠️🐾🏴☠️ (@Tish573) May 28, 2025 TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO — Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) May 28, 2025 #TACO — KDJ (@Antirugpulls) May 28, 2025 #taco — Vincent Artman (@geogvma) May 28, 2025 Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
The dispute between the Trump administration and Harvard University, explained
After six months of work, Shreya Mishra Reddy has a few more weeks and one last learning module standing between her and the credential she's been chasing for more than half her life: Harvard graduate. The last unit of her executive leadership program at Harvard University resumes on Wednesday. After that, Reddy's booked to fly to Cambridge, Mass., in July to finish her certificate in person and graduate from one of the most prestigious universities in the world — a dream she and her family have shared for well over half her life. It's also a dream she says has cost her at least $90,000 US. Last week, Reddy was in the middle of a work meeting at home when she saw a notification pop up on her phone: The Trump administration had banned Harvard University from accepting international students like herself. She studies on an optional practical training visa, which has allowed her to work after finishing her undergrad at Duke University. But that visa expires in January, and though the ban has been temporarily blocked, she said the news made her nervous about boarding her flight this summer. "It was completely confusing and devastating to read something like that," Reddy, 33, told CBC's As It Happens in an interview from Toronto, where her husband lives. "If we're not allowed to be back on campus, we're not allowed to graduate ... it takes away so much," added Reddy, who grew up in India. "Studying at Harvard was not really about a degree. It was so much more." Reddy is one of thousands of international students at Harvard University who say they're in confused, anxious limbo as they watch a legal battle unfold between their school and the Trump administration. Here's a recap of the conflict. Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem asked Harvard for a trove of private student data last month, including every international student's course work and information on any student visa holder's disciplinary and legal history. Noem later expanded her request to include any video footage of international students who had been involved in illegal, dangerous or protest activity over the past five years — whether it be on or off Harvard's campus. After a few weeks of back-and-forth, Harvard declined part of the request. The Trump administration retaliated by revoking Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which meant the university no longer had the ability to enrol international students. The decision could force more than one-quarter of the school's enrolment to change schools or leave the United States. The government also stripped the university of its authority to sponsor F and J visas for international students and scholars for the 2025-26 academic year. An F-1 visa is a visa for foreign nationals use to enter the United States and attend an accredited university like Harvard. A J-1 visa is for people taking "approved educational and cultural exchange programs." Trump has already frozen several billion dollars in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, leading the university to sue to restore the funding. The administration has accused the school of not doing enough to curb antisemitism following pro-Palestinian protests that have emerged in the past two years. Harvard sued the administration last Friday. The claim argued the government violated the university's First Amendment rights to control its own governance and the "ideology" of its students and staff. "With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission," read the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. "Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard." WATCH | Harvard takes Trump administration to court: A judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration's move later Friday. Judge Allison D. Burroughs found Harvard has shown the ban would cause the university "immediate and irreparable" harm. That temporary restraining order is still in effect. Another hearing is scheduled in Boston for Thursday morning to determine whether that order should be extended, according to the university. Since Friday's temporary order stopped the administration's ban, Harvard can keep enrolling international students and scholars as the legal case works its way through the courts. Harvard's F-1 and J-1 visa programs were restored, according to the university, so students and scholars can move ahead with their schoolwork "without interruption." Students who are already in Boston with their visas will not have their status revoked or termination, so the school said they do not need to leave the country or change schools immediately. WATCH | Canadian Harvard student describes the international student turmoil: The situation is more tenuous for students who don't yet have visas or who found themselves outside the United States when the administration's ban came down. On its website, Harvard said inbound students should be prepared with documentation and a plan to check in with friends and family members throughout their journey, so someone can call Harvard's International Office on their behalf if they don't check in on time. "We are advised that some of our traveling international students and scholars have been re-admitted to the country without issue, but we also believe that each person needs to assess their own risks and make the choice that is best for them, given their personal circumstances," the university's website reads. Reddy said she's hoping more information will come up before her flight. "Right now, it's all up in the air. I'm hoping a resolution is reached soon, but in the meantime, I'm not sure what's going to happen."
CBC
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Can Canada's warning to Israel make any difference for Gaza?
The leaders of Canada, Britain and France issued a joint statement threatening action against Israel if it does not stop its renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. Louise Blais, the former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, talks to As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal about why this statement is coming so late in the conflict, and whether it can make a difference for the people of Gaza.
CBC
05-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Scientists discover 18th-century Austrian mummy was embalmed through the rectum
Scientists have figured out how the body of an 18th-century Austrian vicar has remained so well-preserved for nearly 300 years — and it's unlike anything they've seen before. Kept in a church crypt in a remote Austrian village, he's long been known as the "air-dried chaplain." But according to a recent CT scan he was, in fact, dried from the inside out. "We got a look into the inside of the body, and there we found that the abdominal and pelvic cavities were almost completely stuffed with some mysterious material," Andreas Nerlich, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich pathologist who led the research, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. A partial autopsy revealed the stuffing is a mix of wood chips, twigs, dried plants and fabrics, which would have soaked up all the bodily fluids and moisture that normally cause decay. But, unlike in other cases of intentional mummification, there were no visible incisions anywhere on the man's body. "The only way for this insertion was the anal canal, which they had used for all the stuffing of this material inside the body," Nerlich said. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, describe a previously unheard-of embalming technique. A newly discovered embalming technique Scientists found traces of zinc chloride in the rectal stuffing, which Nerlich says would have had a drying effect, while also killing bacteria that emerges in the decaying process. There was no internal damage to his upper body cavities, suggesting the material was inserted from below. The study concludes the embalmer most likely had to cut through the upper rectum or colon. Andrew Nelson, chair of the department of anthropology at Western University in London, Ont., called it "extremely interesting." "Somebody knew what they were doing," said Nelson, who was not involved in the research. Nelson says some ancient Egyptian and Peruvian mummification practices involved "eviscerating" the anus — cutting it open to remove organs and entrails. But he's never seen anything quite like this. "It certainly highlights the sort of thing that every time you do a CT scan of a mummy, you never know what you're going to find," he said. Who was he? The man in question is believed to be Austrian vicar Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, an aristocratic monk who died from infectious disease in 1746 at the age of 37. His body has long rested at St. Thomas am Blasenstein, a church north of the Danube River in Austria. A few years after his death, rumours began swirling about his remarkably intact body, Nerlich said. According to CNN, the mysterious preservation drew pilgrims to the village who believed the remains might bestow healing properties. The new study confirms a lot of local knowledge about the man. Radiocarbon dating shows he died between 1734 and 1780, likely 30 to 50 years, as expected. An analysis of his bone, skin and teeth reveal a diet rich in grain and meat, in keeping with the food supply of a local parish vicar. His skeleton showed no signs of stress, which would be typical of the relatively comfortable life of a man of the cloth. How did he die? In the year 2000, a pharmacologist from the University of Vienna scanned the vicar's body with a portable X-ray machine and found a small round object nestled in his lower bowel, leading to speculation he'd swallowed a poisonous capsule. The truth turned out to be much more mundane. The item is, in fact, "a little glass pearl" commonly used to embroider fabrics. "It must have been coming to the body just by chance during this stuffing," Nerlich said. The study concludes the vicar most likely died from complications from tuberculosis, as his body showed several signs of the disease. Why was he embalmed that way? Just because the unusual embalming technique has never been documented before doesn't mean it was rare, says Nerlich. He suspects it has been a method of preserving bodies in the short term when moving them from one place to another. In this case, the vicar's remains may have been prepared for transport to his original monasteryin Waldhausen im Strudengau, but ended up remaining in the village crypt for unknown reasons. Nerlich says a number of stars had to align for him and his team to make this discovery. Had the man been buried rather than left in a dry Alpine crypt, he likely would have decayed. What's more, his team only performed these tests because the church needed some upkeep, and they were able to borrow the body for study during renovations. Canadian bioarchaeologist Heather Gill-Frerking says the study is an example of how modern technology is "vital to unravelling ancient mysteries." But she says she wishes the researchers had not opened up the body to examine what they found in their scans. "This particular project revealed some valuable information, but I am not a proponent of the invasive, destructive autopsy approach to the analysis of mummies," she told CBC in an email. Nelson says it's always important, when studying mummies, to centre their humanity. "It's kind of titillating to think of, you know, stuffing things up his rectum. But something that's always important to recognize is that these are people," he said.
Hamilton Spectator
03-05-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
‘Nobody can ever replace Trey'
It's hard to imagine how the Downtown Eastside will function without the steady force for good that was Trey (Ashtrey) Helten. What's not hard to see is how deeply he was loved — by the community he served, his partner and their son, his dog Zelda, his former employer Sarah Blyth at the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS), his good friend Smokey D, and by the many, many people he helped in the latter part of his short life of 42 years. When Helten failed to show up to a training at OPS on the morning of Tuesday, April 22, Blyth and a colleague went to his Strathcona home and found him unresponsive. At the time of this writing, the cause of death is unknown. Since his passing, an outpouring of love and remembrance has flooded social media and the Downtown Eastside streets he served with such integrity. Murals have begun to appear in his honour, and there is a growing movement to name one of the neighbourhood laneways — Ashtrey Alley. Helten was publicly up front that his early years were characterized by addiction; he didn't mind being called an addict, he once said on Garth Mullins' Crackdown podcast. In his recovery, he built relationships with hundreds of people and, as manager of the OPS, saved the lives of hundreds more. Blyth, who is the organization's executive director, has given many interviews since Helten's passing. For CBC Radio's Early Edition and As It Happens, Blyth recalls Helten's fierce dedication to the people he was helping. Over and above his tireless work at OPS, he was willing to drive people to appointments, detox and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. He took people to lunch or for coffee at the Ovaltine Cafe. He was passionate about doing everything he could in aid of a person's safety, recovery and comfort. In an interview with Megaphone, Blyth once said: 'I can't find words to describe what a unique person Trey is.' Helten began working at OPS in 2018. Megaphone featured Helten on the cover in September 2023, along with his dog, Zelda. Zelda — part pit bull, mastiff and king corso — like Helten could expertly detect drug overdoses. As with many extraordinary pets in the Downtown Eastside, Zelda reflected qualities of her human: intuition, compassion, intelligence and love. In the CBC As It Happens interview, Blyth acknowledged that Helten sometimes tried too hard, to the detriment of his own self-care. At one point, he relapsed into his addiction and needed to step away from his job as manager of OPS. But as his partner, Amanda Jane Rose — who is expecting Helten's second child — said on Facebook, 'Trey NEVER gave up on his recovery.' 'Trey believed that recovery was always possible. It doesn't matter if it takes you one try or one hundred. Keep coming back, keep coming back, keep coming back.' Before Christmas, Helten gave a naloxone training session to photojournalist Amy Romer, who then worked with him to write a 'Naloxone 101' for Megaphone magazine, published just last month in the April issue — in time for the nine-year anniversary of the toxic drug overdose crisis being declared a B.C. public health emergency. Helten's dedication never stopped. 'Nobody can ever replace Trey,' said Rose. 'Not in this community, not in the hearts of so many people and certainly not in my life. He was the most unique, wonderful person in the world. To me, he was perfect.' Trey Helten tributes: A tribute to Helten can be found in the latest episode of the Crackdown podcast. There will be an all day memorial in Helen's honour on Saturday, May 10 in the parking lot of the now-demolished Balmoral Hotel (100-block East Hastings Street), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Artist Smokey D has created a memorial piece near OPS.
