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Madonna Rips Trump Administration's 'Absurd' Decision Not To Mark World AIDS Day For First Time Since 1988
In a carousel of images, Madonna shared:
"Today is World AIDS Day. For four decades, this day has been internationally recognized around the world by people from all walks of life, because millions of people's lives have been touched by the HIV crisis."
"People have lost lovers and husbands and wives and girlfriends and boyfriends and mothers and daughters and children to this deadly disease, of which there is still no cure."
Then Madonna explained why the United States didn't join the rest of the world in 2025:
"Donald Trump has announced that World AIDS Day should no longer be acknowledged."
"It's one thing to order federal agents to refrain from commemorating this day, but to ask the general public to pretend it never happened is ridiculous, it's absurd, it's unthinkable."
"I bet he's never watched his best friend die of AIDS, held their hand, and watched the blood drain from their face as they took their last breath at the age of 23."
@madonna/Instagram
Then the pop icon called on people to ignore the bigotry of the Trump administration and remember those who died and those who live with AIDS.
"The list of people that I have known and loved and lost to AIDS is pretty long. I'm sure many of you out there can relate."
"There still isn't a cure for AIDS, and people still die from it. I refuse to acknowledge that these people have died in vain."
"I will continue to honor World AIDS Day, and I hope you will honor it with me."
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Friends and fans appreciated the Queen of Pop's continued support for people with HIV and AIDS while others called out Trump's bigotry.
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The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation also acknowledged Madonna's post.
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Madonna and late Oscar-winning actor Elizabeth Taylor were among the first mainstream stars to speak out about HIV and AIDS, calling for awareness and compassion.
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Taylor and her foundation and Madonna have collectively raised and donated hundreds of millions of dollars for global HIV/AIDS research, treatment, and awareness—a fact not lost on those who also lived through the '80s and those who know their history.
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While AIDS is no longer the epidemic Madonna lived through in the 1980s, people continue to contract HIV and AIDS, mostly through ignorance thanks to cuts in health education or conservative school boards or parents forcing ineffective abstinence only or a complete removal of sex education in schools.
The very Republican red Southern United States has both the highest overall number of annual new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and the highest annual rate—almost 50%—of new diagnoses, despite accounting for only 39% of the U.S. population. The South overall comes last in education, access to sex education, and access to sexual healthcare and prevention in the United States.
"Silence = death" was a mantra in the early struggle for AIDS research, treatment, and education. Ignorance and avoidance over 40 years later are just as deadly.
As the late Elizabeth Taylor stated:
"It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance."
'Franklin The Turtle' Publisher Condemns Pete Hegseth For Turning Beloved Character Into Violent Meme
You can see it below.
@PeteHegseth/X
Hegseth's post followed a Washington Post investigation published last week alleging that in September he directed a U.S. strike unit to eliminate everyone aboard a single vessel. According to the report, after two people were later spotted alive in the wreckage, commanders authorized a follow-up “double tap” strike to ensure their deaths.
In the aftermath of that initial strike, the Trump administration formally informed Congress that the United States was engaged in what it called a “non-international armed conflict” with unnamed “designated terrorist organizations.” Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have accused Hegseth of committing war crimes.
Kids Can Press, once alerted about the meme, denounced Hegseth's appropriation of the beloved children's book character:
“Franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. We strongly condemn any denigrating, violent, or unauthorized use of Franklin’s name or image, which directly contradicts these values.”
You can see the statement below.
Many have praised the publisher for speaking out and have condemned Hegseth's action.
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Hegseth had personally approved the operation by empowering the Special Operations commander in charge, Admiral Frank Bradley, to carry out what she described as “kinetic strikes.”
Leavitt added that Bradley acted within his legal authorities, insisting that the engagement complied with the rules governing such actions and successfully destroyed the vessel while neutralizing what the administration characterized as a threat to the United States.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said that Hegseth had rejected claims that he authorized a follow-up attack on two men who survived the initial strike, quoting him as saying he “did not order the death of those two men.” Trump also attempted to separate himself from the second strike, stating that he would not have supported another attack, even as he described the first as “fine.”
People Reveal The Strangely Specific Things About Someone That Give Off A Bad Vibe
But I have nuanced intuition.
So when I feel off meeting a person, I trust it.
All I have is my gut instinct.
Redditor UniqueEnvironment798 wanted to hear about the times people met a person and knew this meeting may be a mistake, so they asked:
"What’s a strangely specific thing about someone that immediately gives you bad vibes?"
Professionals
"I can't exactly word it, but people who don't have a conversation with you but instead use you as a tool to reflect their ego image."
- intention_clar
"My side of the family. Always talking, no one listening. My husband calls people like this 'Professional Oxygen Thieves.'"
- Remote-Candidate7964
Relax Breath GIF by TRT Giphy
WHY?
"When people take joy in challenging everything you say. I think it’s called a contrarian personality."
- Awkward-Equivalent11
"I just ended a friendship with this type of person.
"Pretty soon, you give up trying to even talk to them, since you are ALWAYS wrong. Always."
"And when somehow proven to be right, then you get the cold shoulder."
"Ending the friendship, when she asked 'Why?' I knew any answer I gave her would argue, so I simply said 'I'm not sure you even like me'. Which was true, but was not the reason I ended this. She just looked at me and replied, Hmmph.' Over and out."
"I feel much better now."
- chairmanbones
JUST SAY IT!
"This is particularly in a professional setting, but when they are unwilling to just say 'I made a mistake,' even though it is clear they did. Just say it. That's it. You earn my respect when you JUST SAY IT."
- matchstick-octopus
"At my last job, my boss told me to get after the receptionists for scheduling someone wrong. He was pissed. I looked at the history to see what happened, and it was the other tech who actually scheduled it. I told the tech, and I wasn’t going to tell the doctor."
"Later at our staff lunch, we were talking about it, and my co-worker said he did it. It was really cool of him."
- dogsandwhiskey
NEVER
"When they are NEVER able to say they were wrong about something. We all make mistakes sometimes."
- arabesuku
"You're so right about this."
"It's taken me till my 30s to realize how scary this trait is in people. But now I spot it fast and immediately distance that person."
"12 years stuck in a relationship with a person who eventually made me believe I was the one who was impossible to deal with and couldn't own my mistakes, and they were infallible, scared me off any interactions with people like that."
"Once I realized what was happening, I started to call it 'living on Planet Tom where nothing is his fault' (Tom was not their name but ykwim)."
- Kath_DayKnight
LOLOL
"Making fun of someone/Putting someone down for how they laugh."
"Laughter is such a genuine and beautiful way to express joy- don’t be a d**k."
- Raidden
"I have a friend who rarely laughs out loud because of this. He always suppresses/silently laughs. It bums me out because I've only heard him genuinely laugh once, and I thought it was a lovely sound. I made sure to tell him he had a great laugh. Hopefully, he lets me hear it again someday. F**king a**holes ruining things."
- outofideasforthis
IYKYK
"Intentionally using inside jokes or references with their friends around others who clearly won’t understand them. Then saying s**t like 'if you know, you know' or not giving any context/explanation. Like, why would you purposely make someone feel excluded and awkward?"
- mardy_go
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The Darkness
"There is a kind of high-energy person whom I can never trust - the kinda youth-pastor energy that feels like a performance. Always excited, always positive, always ready to go."
"I love positive people, but this type of person I've found tends to be masking a lot of dark s**t under that performance."
- Breadonshelf
Sweetie/Darling
"A condescending 'oh honey' or 'oh sweetie, you have no idea' from someone my own age. It feels obviously rude to me, but a lot of people do this as banter, and it’s weird."
- Ok-Echo-
"Got this from a coworker. 'Oh, sweetie, you're too nice. Don't worry, I'm gonna teach you to be an a**hole.'"
"That's when I realized this person thought I was nice because I never learned how to be obnoxious, where in reality, they were looking at the end result of my development arc. I'm not (just) nice because I'm a nice person, but because it's strategically advantageous. Things get done faster, and people want to help you when they like you."
- mister__cow
$
"Buying high-end items and bragging about them. Especially when everyone knows you can't afford them because you owe money to several people in the friendship group."
- magicmom17
"Had one person I worked with who was proudly showing off a brand new tattoo that would have easily cost $500-$700, while also owing some suckers money (I say suckers because everyone knew how bad she was with money, and yet they were still 'lending' her hundreds of dollars for her bills)."
- Bi-Bi-Bi24
Let's Talk
"When they use your name too often in conversations. I don't know why, but something about it feels inauthentic."
- Pinktullip
"You're right on the money there. It's the old saying in sales: 'the most beautiful word in the English language is the customer's own name.' Using someone's name constantly in a conversation is absolutely a tactic people use to try and win others' trust."
- gayjospehquinnFilthy
"People who are overly familiar too soon. Dirty joke, touchy, getting in your personal space."
- writing_mm_romance
Meeting Women
"There's a certain type of person (most often men, but some women) who has this way of interacting with women that shows that no matter how polite he is, he thinks women as a group aren't worth his time unless they're either flattering him or he wants to sleep with them."
- Antique-Respect8746
Bigger
"When larger men (I’m 5”11 F, so like 6”2+ men) who are ‘bigger’ make their whole personality being a fun, cuddly guy, but like having to tell everyone about it? Freaks me out. If you’re a nice guy, you’re a nice guy. You don’t need to tell everyone."
- LongjumpingCourse988
“'You can trust me, I’m a Nice Guy' is a super red flag. Where’s the behavior that consistently corroborates that niceness - if he has to announce it every few minutes, he’s trying to distract and deflect attention from his awfulness."
- Mobile-Play-3972
Trust Me
"I now get bad vibes from any person who is very quick in initial conversations to bring up their church and their beliefs. In the last few years, every person I have dealt with in business and civic settings who was quick to point out they are devoted Christians turned out to be untrustworthy, difficult, and very petty. Also very hypocritical - they expected everyone else to play fair and be kind to them, while they behaved badly and did a lot of backstabbing and lying."
"I've found that those who are truly faithful to Christian or other religious principles show it by living those principles; they don't announce their religiousness as a 'trust me' move."
- Key_Molasses4367
Hey Buddy
"Being overfamiliar. You've just met this person, and already they're throwing 'Good Natured' jibes at you or challenging your statements. We aren't friends, Buddy, and it looks like we won't be."
- Johhnymaddog316
warning go away GIF by Kathryn Dean Giphy
Follow the red flags, people!
When will humans learn before it's too late?
Too much of this is too true.
Don't talk to me like you KNOW me until you KNOW me!
That is one of my go-tos.
If they freak you out?
Trust that feeling!