• Police seek suspects in deadly birthday party shooting
  • Lawmakers launch inquires into U.S. boat strike
  • Nov. 29, 2025, 10:07 PM EST / Updated Nov. 30, 2025,…
  • Mark Kelly says troops ‘can tell’ what orders…

Be that!

contact@bethat.ne.com

 

Be That ! Menu   ≡ ╳
  • Home
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Contact Us
  • Politics Politics
☰

Be that!

Violet Affleck gives speech at U.N. on long Covid

admin - Latest News - September 24, 2025
admin
30 views 7 secs 0 Comments



Violet Affleck gives speech at U.N. on long Covid



Source link

TAGS:
PREVIOUS
Bradford the dog's love for piano music goes viral
NEXT
Sept. 24, 2025, 6:20 PM EDTBy Dalila MuataThis week, dozens of Christian creators on TikTok prepared for what they thought would be a biblical Rapture. In Australia, Tilahun Desalegn said he sold his car. Thousands of miles away in Colorado, Melissa Johnston created flowcharts and care packages for those who would be left behind.In Chicago, De’Mico Harden began documenting the signs — pointing out anytime the clock struck 9:23, a date that was among the three-day window when the Rapture was supposed to take place.But by Wednesday afternoon, no such end had come — instead, confusion and disappointment had set in for some believers. Many had been posting videos to TikTok about what people should expect when the Rapture occurs, namely that Jesus will take true believers to heaven as Earth enters an apocalypse.“OK, um, Rapture update, Wednesday, 9/24, sorry to report, I don’t think it actually happened,” TikTok creator AveragePickleballGuy said. “Everybody I know is still here. … A lot of people on my comments have told me that I was duped and didn’t know what I was talking about. I just kind of fell into this, I didn’t have all the facts, so I wanted to issue a public apology to anybody who took me seriously.”The prediction that the Rapture would begin on Sept. 23, during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, appeared to originate with a South African pastor named Joshua Mhlakela, who had shared his theory in an interview with religious YouTube channel Centtwinz TV in June.Pastor Joshua Mhlakela’s Rapture prediction went viral in June.Got Reality? via YouTubeMhlakela doubled down on the theory in a later appearance on the podcast, saying that when the Rapture happens, people will disappear in the blink of an eye and “God’s judgment will leave the world unrecognizable.”As the date neared, his apocalyptic prophecy, which he projected with “100% confidence,” went viral.“For believers, the Rapture represents the ultimate validation,” Landon Schnabel, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell University, said. “Rapture beliefs create powerful in-group/out-group dynamics. Believers develop a sense of special knowledge and moral superiority, while simultaneously feeling persecuted by a world that doesn’t understand them.” The Rapture now joins the ongoing list of doomsday theories that have captivated the masses, such as the 2000 Y2K bug or when the ancient Mayan calendar predicted the apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012.But according to Schnabel, what sets this Armageddon apart from the rest is the explosive reaction from the public. Interest in the word “rapture” increased by 1,000% in the last three days, with a search volume of over 1 million, according to Google Trends. Peak interest in “rapture” in the U.S. hit around midnight on Tuesday, the day Mhlakela had said it would happen. On TikTok, more than 290,000 posts use the #rapture hashtag.The meme-ification of the Rapture across social media also helped thrust the prediction into the mainstream. Many of the videos posted to TikTok are sketches or jokes surrounding the theory. Even Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” poked fun at the theory.“Previous predictions spread through niche religious networks or required mainstream media coverage to go viral,” Schnabel said. “TikTok’s algorithm can take a South African preacher’s prediction and put it in front of millions of young people in hours.” In the last 24 hours, some who gave up after waiting for the Rapture to arrive have called on Mhlakela to apologize for his “fake Rapture prophesy.”Mhlakela could not be reached by NBC News. He is expected to appear on Centtwinz again on Friday for an exclusive interview, the YouTubers said in their Instagram story on Wednesday.Others online wanted TikTokers who pushed Mhlakela’s theory to admit they were wrong.But some believers continue to hold out hope, which Schnabel said is unsurprising. “The public mockery actually strengthens believers’ commitment by confirming their persecution narrative,” he said. “The social bonds created around shared belief are often stronger than the belief itself.”Or, as TikToker Desalegn put it in a video to his followers Wednesday: “At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose but to continue to believe.”Dalila MuataDalila Muata is the newsroom coordinator for NBC News Digital. 
Related Post
November 5, 2025
Nov. 5, 2025, 6:17 AM ESTBy Jay GanglaniHONG KONG — An American teacher and his teenage son have been stung to death while on holiday in Laos.Daniel Owen and his son, Cooper, who lived in neighboring Vietnam, were at an eco-adventure resort near the city of Luang Prabang when they were attacked on Oct. 15. NBC News was unable to confirm what they were stung by.The two Americans were briefly treated at the Phakan Arocavet Clinic in Luang Prabang, director Phanomsay Phakan said Wednesday. “The condition of the father and son was very serious, so they were quickly transferred to a nearby provincial hospital for further treatment,” Phakan said in an email.Phakan told The Times of London that they had been stung more than 100 times and that their bodies were “covered in red spots.”A State Department spokesperson confirmed the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Luang Prabang but declined to comment further “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones.”The U.S. embassies in Vietnam and Laos did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The eco-adventure resort, Green Jungle Park, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson told The Times that the incident was “unprecedented in our experience and, to our understanding, in Luang Prabang as well.” “It was an unforeseeable and extraordinary natural occurrence,” the spokesperson said, adding that the park was reviewing its procedures.Owen was director of QSI International School of Haiphong, one of Vietnam’s largest cities. “Dan dedicated 18 years to QSI, serving in five different schools and touching countless lives with his warmth, leadership, and unwavering commitment to education,” the school said in a Facebook post. “He was deeply loved across our community and will be profoundly missed.”Laos, a country of about 8 million people, is an increasingly popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia.In November 2024, an American citizen was among six tourists who died in Laos, where alcohol tainted with methanol was blamed for poisoning them. Jay GanglaniJay Ganglani is NBC News’s 2025-26 Asia Desk Fellow. Previously he was an NBC News Asia Desk intern and a Hong Kong-based freelance journalist who has contributed to news publications such as CNN, Fortune and the South China Morning Post.Abigail Williams contributed.
November 12, 2025
Nov. 12, 2025, 5:00 AM ESTBy Scott Wong, Ryan Nobles and Lillie BoudreauxWASHINGTON — Democrats shut down the federal government to secure a key demand: extending health care subsidies for millions of Americans.After a more than 40-day standoff, they threw in the towel — with no guarantee from Republicans that they would agree to renew the expiring Obamacare tax credits.Progressive activists and their Democratic allies in Congress, who had wanted the party to fight on longer, decried it as a monumental “cave” to an authoritarian in Donald Trump.But others in the party see a silver lining in the six-week standoff. The eight Senate Democrats who bucked their own leadership and negotiated an end to the longest shutdown in American history said the bipartisan deal protects federal workers who had been laid off during the shutdown — at least temporarily.Kornacki: Trump and Republicans ‘took a hit’ in approval ratings during government shutdown17:05More importantly, they said, the grueling shutdown that is expected to end in the coming days has “crystallized” the battle lines in the next major political fight over health care that is sure to spill into the 2026 midterm election year. It also underscored Trump’s cruelty, Democratic leaders argued, as the White House fought to halt food stamp payments to states during the shutdown.While emotions are raw and finger-pointing rampant in the wake of the deal, the Democratic Party was unified during most of the record 42-day shutdown, demonstrating for the first time it could take on Trump, rev up the progressive base and turn out voters at the polls, as it did in this month’s elections.“I think the Democrats did … some of the best messaging I think we’ve ever had in terms of talking about affordability and talking about health insurance,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who voted against reopening the government. “And I think that was the reason why you saw the results coming in, in New Jersey and Virginia, and that you saw that the polling was going our way.”Small winsAmong the eight Senate Democrats who struck a deal with the White House and Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., four were former governors — pragmatists used to working across the aisle who argue you don’t always get what you want in legislation.The agreement includes a “minibus” of three appropriations bills, which will fund some parts of the government through next fall. The rest of the government will be funded through Jan. 30.The deal includes funding of the food assistance program known as SNAP for the rest of the fiscal year through September 2026, meaning families will be fed and food stamps can’t be used as leverage in any funding fight in the coming months.The group of eight also got some wins for federal workers, who have been under siege since Trump’s inauguration, facing aggressive Department of Government Efficiency cuts and the consolidation of some agencies, like the U.S. Agency for International Development.They got the Trump administration to agree to reinstate federal workers who were laid off during the shutdown through reductions in force, or RIFs. And they secured language barring future mass firings for the duration of the resolution that keeps the government open through January.It’s a win for “federal employees who are not going to be traumatized by RIFs going forward,” said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, the former governor of Virginia, a state home to nearly 150,000 civilian federal workers. “I’ve got some folks who didn’t like the vote, but I’m going to have a whole lot of federal employees who are going back to work and they’re getting their paychecks, and they can live through the holidays without worrying that they’re going to get a bad email at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning that they’re laid off.”“They have been living under a cloud of anxiety since Jan. 20, and we’ve lifted that cloud to some degree,” Kaine added. Crystallizing the health fightThe deal fell far short when it comes to health care. Democrats failed to win an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits that were boosted during the Covid-19 pandemic and are set to expire on Dec. 31. Instead, they secured only a promise from Thune that the Senate will vote on a bill to extend the health subsidies by the end of the second week of December. The House has made no such promise.“Obviously, the Democrats did not hold the line,” said a disappointed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who voted against the funding bill.“Look, I think it was a terrible, terrible vote at a time when we have a broken health care system,” added another progressive, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with Democrats.Drawing out the high-stakes shutdown through October and into the November ACA open enrollment period served two purposes for Democrats, members on both sides of the deal said. It gave them time to educate the public about an issue few in the country were talking about — the expiring subsidies — and came as millions of Americans began feeling the sticker stock firsthand as they received notices of skyrocketing monthly premiums for 2026.“What happened over the last 40 days is we crystallized the fight about health care for the American people and made it clear who’s holding that up,” retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a key negotiator and former governor who has authored a one-year extension of the subsidies, told NBC News.“It’s President Donald Trump, it’s Speaker Johnson and it’s the Republicans who have been unwilling to do anything to address the rising costs of health care,” Shaheen said.#embed-20251002-shutdown-milestones iframe {width: 1px;min-width: 100%}The GOP’s stunning, unsuccessful attempt to repeal Obamacare during Trump’s first term helped propel House Democrats to the majority in the 2018 midterms. Democrats believe it’s a good issue for their party, and one that will again help them take back control of the House next year.Amid this week’s circular Democratic firing squad, party leaders are desperately urging their members to keep the heat on Republicans, particularly vulnerable ones facing tough re-election bids.“It’s critical that we continue to highlight the health care crisis that the Republicans refuse to come to the table to try and solve, and call out by name our Republican colleagues in swing seats refusing to extend health care subsidies on the insurance marketplace,” Rep. Suzan DelBene, the head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm, wrote in a memo to her colleagues.“Please stay disciplined and focused in communicating that the House Republicans best positioned to stand up to President Trump and Republican leadership on behalf of their constituents to end this crisis, have refused,” she said.40-day fightLiberal activists and even mainstream Democratic voters had been clamoring for a fight with Trump as the president ran roughshod over the Democratic opposition and even the GOP-controlled Congress.Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee that oversees government spending, said she’s not happy with how the shutdown saga ended and has even called for new Democratic leadership in the Senate.But she doesn’t consider the past 40 days a “complete failure.”“We didn’t get what we wanted, but it certainly elevated the consequences of the health care crisis, which is about to be made significantly worse,” Escobar, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in an interview. “And it has demonstrated that Republicans are unwilling to solve that and other crises confronting the American people.”“I’m very proud of the unity of purpose we demonstrated,” she continued. “The majority of the American people understood we are fighting for them.”Scott WongScott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News. Ryan NoblesRyan Nobles is chief Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News.Lillie BoudreauxLillie Boudreaux is a desk assistant at NBC News.
November 11, 2025
Nov. 11, 2025, 6:31 AM ESTBy Peter GuoScientists in Australia have identified a new species of native bee with tiny, devil-like horns that have earned it a playfully hellish name – “lucifer.”The species, Megachile lucifer, was discovered by scholars surveying a critically endangered wildflower in Western Australia’s Goldfields in 2019, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research.The highly distinctive, upward-pointing horns on the female bee’s face inspired its name, said Kit Prendergast, lead author of the study and an adjunct research fellow at Curtin University.“When writing up the new species description[,] I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer,” Prendergast said in a statement Tuesday. “The name just fit perfectly.” The species was discovered by scholars surveying a critically endangered wildflower.Kit S. Prendergast; Joshua W. CampbellA DNA test later showed that the species didn’t match any known bees in existing databases, making it the first new member of this group to be described in more than 20 years, researchers said.The horns, each measured at about 0.9 millimeters long, could be used to access flowers, compete for resources, and defend nests, researchers suggested, though their exact functions remain unclear. The species’ male bees lack the horns.The discovery highlighted the need to study native bees, Prendergast said, adding that the new species could be at risk from habitat disturbance and other threatening processes like climate change.“Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realize they’re there,” she said.Australia has around 2,000 native bee species, more than 300 of which are yet to be scientifically named and described, according to CSIRO, an Australian national science agency.The country’s native bees are “understudied and data poor,” leading to a lack of knowledge on the conservation status of “almost all species,” Tobias Smith, a bee researcher at the University of Queensland, told NBC News in an email Tuesday.Australian authorities need “stronger policies” to protect native bees from habitat loss, inappropriate fire regimes, and increased risks from megafires, said Smith, who is not involved in the study.Smith said he encouraged Australians to “get outside and look for some native bees and appreciate them.”Peter GuoPeter Guo is an associate producer based in Hong Kong.
October 17, 2025
What is the Political Significance of the John Bolton Indictment?
Comments are closed.
Scroll To Top
  • Home
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Contact Us
  • Politics
© Copyright 2025 - Be That ! . All Rights Reserved