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Well, the film was bludgeoned by critics. Charles Solomon of The Los Angeles Times wrote “The sugary cuteness of the Little Ponies masks a corporate greed as cold and sharp as a razor blade.” Nina Darnton of The New York Times was equally vicious, claiming “Their world is so saccharine sweet, so made of plastic that when the witch wants to wipe it out, it may be hard for some adults not to sympathize....

You might be tempted to try your hand at meal replacement shakes, the Paleo diet, even an extra day of hitting the kettlebells. If you go down that path, you’re putting your energy in the wrong place. The way to lose weight faster isn’t to develop a long-term commitment to quinoa or to form a five-day-a-week jogging habit, either. Rapid weight-loss banks on only two variables: Less calories in and more calories out....

Nassau, N.Y. is the worst offender, with its rate of unvaccinated kids at a staggering 14.2 percent, well above the national refusal rate of just 3.3 percent. New York law requires vaccination but allows for medical and religious exemptions. And in Nassau County, there’s a large Orthodox Jewish population, who are notoriously anti-vaccine for religious reasons. Three other New York cities (Poughkeepsie, New York City, and Buffalo) also made it into the top 10....

There aren’t any trailers yet for the next phase of Marvel movies and Disney+ TV series, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a bunch of crazy information about them floating around. Loki will be a show about time travel. WandaVision is somehow going to be a show about 1950s domestic life. Natalie Portman is going to be the new Thor. Tony Stark might come back from the dead. You get it....

Yes, the Obamas, a couple many people (of a certain political persuasion) have long seen as #marriagegoals, both danced at the inaugural ball and sat in front of a therapist. Why? Because the Obamas’ apparent love for each other was never what made them exceptional — their ability to work at their marriage did. That’s how it goes. Still, the therapy narrative is not the story we hear from most public figures....

Michigan lawmakers are working on a bipartisan proposal that would “increase access to child-care services for hardworking families, while providing additional tools to strengthen and sustain the child-care industry as a whole,” according to a press release. The bill also has the support of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who said “every family in Michigan deserves to have access to safe, affordable, quality child care” in a speech delivered at Troy Babes, a daycare center in the Detroit suburb of Troy that unfortunately isn’t called Babes in Troyland....

The backlash to the Pence media tour was swift. Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro pointed out that the situation at the border is in part a product of the Trump administration slashing aid to Central America and refusing to observe norms around the asylum process. Senator Ed Markey called the detention facilities a national disgrace. But the most trenchant critique of Pence’s strategic naivete are the statements of fact about the treatment of children....

“Our research has looked at how decreasing homophobia has led to a transformation in how young men interact with each other,” study author Mark McCormack, a professor of sociology at University of Roehampton, told Fatherly. Homophobia polices how men express emotional and physical intimacy with other men, research shows, and behaviors that could be interpreted as sexual, including kissing, have been particularly shamed. But in recent years there has been an increase in heterosexual men kissing each other, platonically....

Partisanship didn’t seem to be a factor in these findings, and education level didn’t have a dramatic impact. Instead, the response reveals widespread sentiments held across the country. It also means that a large number of adults feel that the American dream is more attainable by focusing away from material wealth as a measure of success. Overall, 36 percent say their family has achieved the American dream, while another 46 percent say they’re “on their way” to achieving it....

I started working out regularly about two years ago. In the beginning, I’d take my phone into the gym with me. I’d start getting calls while on the floor. My mind would start wandering off and I’d check emails, texts — all that stuff. At some point, I realized I was just “on” all day until I went to bed. I began to wonder where I could get time just to clear my head....

In the video above, Singer and Lawrence Fung, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist specializing in autism and director of the Stanford Neurodiversity Project, speak with moderator Micaela Birmingham about neurodiversity in all its forms. In this installment of Scary Mommy’s Live.Work.Thrive. series, created in partnership with Fatherly, they discuss why neurodiversity is important to embrace at home, school, and in workplaces, how to navigate atypical behaviors in public, and how to advocate for more resources for your neurodivergent child in school....

Unlike the 2016 Ghostbusters, the new 2021 movie (directed by Jason Reitman) is a directed sequel to the two classic Busters films. In theory, this movie takes place in the present day, but in a time when the events of the ’80s movies are a distant memory. Back when we thought this movie was going to come out in 2020, a trailer showed a new squad of teens picking up the Ghostbuster gear, including the classic Ecto-1....

“My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: What more is there to wait for? What more do you need to see?” Biden said. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us, so please, do the right thing,” he said in a speech from the White House. Biden’s order doesn’t go as far as that of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which just mandated vaccines for students 12 and older....

“The Committee’s investigation of the Trump Administration’s child separations has revealed harm inflicted on children beyond what was previously known, has refuted the Administration’s justification for this cruel policy, and has confirmed the ongoing trauma inflicted by these separations,” the report’s conclusion states. “The Administration executed a deliberate policy to take thousands of babies, infants, toddlers, and children away from their parents and transfer them to government custody, in some cases in deplorable conditions....

In other words, experts have just confirmed that trickle-down economics doesn’t really work. For individuals who support large tax breaks for the ultra-rich, one of their main arguments is typically the notion that cutting taxes for the uber-wealthy will have a “trickle-down” effect that would help society at large, since these cuts would supposedly allow the wealthiest folks to perhaps invest more in the economy or donate to charitable causes, according to Business Insider....

Actually, it’s a much more low-key piece of news than that — but it is still very significant. and it’s about White House website visitors finally being able to fill out online forms that include gender-neutral pronouns and titles in the drop down menu. The change reflects President Joe Biden’s support of the LGBTQIA+ community, beginning with an updated contact form that lets people include their pronouns that extend beyond the boilerplate “she/her” and “he/him....

Now to that list add SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon has pulled two episodes – one not-yet aired and the other from 2003 — of the comedic kids’ show over issues they feel are no laughing matter. The newer episode, “Kwarantined Crab” apparently “centers on a virus storyline, so we have decided to not air it due to sensitivities surrounding the global, real-world pandemic,” Nickelodeon told Deadline in a statement, following speculation on IGN....

I should say here, right at the top, that I love this shoe. I want a pair. The design is simple and sleek. The materials are cool. And I should say, also, that I am a fan of Tom Sachs. As an artist he is a generational talent with a superb sense of humor. His first two shoes with Nike–the Mars Yard and the Mars Yard 2.0–were the two coolest sneakers ever released....

While it sounds terrifying, a severe geomagnetic storm that’s coming for the northernmost reaches of the contiguous United States could provide a rare treat for the people who live there: a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, usually only viewable from the Northernmost parts of the planet. The Space Weather Prediction Center has issued geomagnetic storm watches for the next three evenings: a minor watch (G1) tonight, a strong watch (G2) tomorrow, and a moderate watch (G3) on Friday....