Saherra 25

January 2025:

Donald Trump pardoned 1500 people who participated in the insurrection of January 6th, including those who violently assaulted and nearly killed police officers.

Donald Trump has declared that trans and non-binary people don’t exist.

Donald Trump is working towards firing everyone in the government who isn’t loyal to him.

Donald Trump has effectively fired everyone who he claims is an “illegal DEI hire” …whatever that means

Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization

Congress are trying to pass the Laken Riley Act to, effectively, round up every immigrant in the country, including LEGAL immigrants

Donald Trump removed caps on prescription drug prices.

Donald Trump wants to withhold federal aid to help combat the LA wildfires and help the thousands of people who have been displaced and lost their homes.

The Department of Justice has put a hold on all civil rights cases.

Donald Trump has cut off aid to Ukraine.

Laken Riley Act has been passed by Congress and is awaiting being signed into law by the President. Here’s the breakdown of the votes: House Senate

Donald Trump purged a dozen inspectors general from the federal government and intends to replace them all with people loyal to him.

Pete Hegseth has been confirmed as Secretary of Defense. Here’s the breakdown of how the Senate voted. Note, it was a 50-50 tie that JD Vance had to break.

Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Colombia after the Colombian government turned away two airplanes carrying migrants. Columbia has retaliated by imposing a 25% tariff of its own on US goods.

Donald Trump has also issued a travel ban for Colombian citizens and revoked visas from Colombian migrants coming to the US.

Donald Trump has now backed off the tariffs and other threats against Colombia. Note for future reference: this comes just hours after Trump made the threat in the first place and he and the Colombian president got into a big fight on social media.

Nearly 1,000 migrants were arrested mostly in Chicago on January 26th by ICE and ICE has been told to meet a quota of 75 migrant arrests every day.

Donald Trump rescinded an anti-discrimination executive order from Lyndon B. Johnson

Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans people from serving in the military and also ordered that people who were discharged for refusing to get mandatory vaccines be reinstated.

Donald Trump has frozen all federal grants to institutions.

After pressure from state governments, activist groups, and the general public, the White House has rolled back some of the freezes on federal funding.

Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) has proposed a change to the 22nd Amendment to allow Donald Trump, specifically, to serve a third term.

Donald Trump is trying to fire all federal employees who don’t want to return to the office (work-from-home saves the federal government millions of taxpayer dollars in overhead). He also sent an email to federal employees saying that if they’re not loyal to him, they’ll be investigated.

Donald Trump has signed the Laken Riley Act into law.

Donald Trump has said he doesn’t think Palestinians should be allowed to return to Gaza but instead should be sent to Egypt and Jordan.

Native Americans have been targeted by ICE raids.

Donald Trump has ordered undocumented immigrants to be sent to Guantanamo Bay

Donald Trump signed an executive order to expand federal funding for school choice programs. [x]

Donald Trump signed an executive order saying that he will deport visa-holding students who protest against Israel. [x]

Donald Trump has blamed DEI for the plane crash that killed 67 people in Washington D. C. [x]

Donald Trump signed an executive order that schools should no longer teach about racism and discrimination. And that schools should only teach history that is “patriotic” [x]

Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna wants to add Donald Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore. [x]

Trump’s Department of Education has called book bans a hoax. [x]

The Department of Justice has barred certain news outlets from receiving information from the Pentagon. [x]

The Trump administration has fired multiple FBI officials who investigated the January 6th insurrection. [x]

February 2025

sorry this took a while.

I was there last month. I felt inadequate cause I was gonna be 4th year and I was so anxious and worried that I will never get an internship before graduation. Fast forward, i landed multiple interviews and got to choose from very good offers.

The first thing I did:

1. Go to your Careers centre if you're in university or college, book a coaching appointment.. The 40 min session I had helped loads. They can check your resume and cover letter then give helpful advice tailored to you.

2. I can share some anyway.. but when you apply to jobs. Read the job description and design your resume and cover letter in a way that shows you meet the job requirements. The job description is your handbook, so you gotta show to the recruiter you are what they're looking for.

3. You don't need to redo your entire resume but be ready to make tweaks here and there for every job you apply to. I'm serious Don't copy paste the exact words, but do mention some buzz words they are looking for and use synonyms. Cover EVERY BULLET POINT in the job posting. Make sure you are EXACTLY who they are looking for. This will get your foot on the door.

4. RATS = Results, Actions, Task, Situation for every bullet point in your resume. Start with the result or achievement, the action you took then the task and what is the situation. E.g. "Increased student grades from C to A by designing lesson plans customised to overcome personal weaknesses" . Another is "Increased monthly revenue by $x,xxx by upselling and outstanding customer service, later being promoted associate of the month". Quantify your achievements. If you don't know, give a realistic number.

5. Do a Cover Letter for the position and job you are applying to. I know it can sound like a chore but once you've made a couple, you can notice that some cover letters you make can be tweaked. Introduction that shows why you are interested in the job briefly and the qualifications you offer. 1 paragraph highlighting an experience that can be directly transferrable to the job you are applying to, 1 paragraph that shows supporting experiences or another strong experience, conclusion that summarises your achievements and why you are the best for the job. For the paragraphs, do the STAR method. Situation, Task, Action, Result.

6. Cold connect on LinkedIn. Look for employees working in the company you applied to and in the position. Reach out to them and say you are hoping to connect for a quick Zoom chat because you're interested. Don't fear rejection. Sure, some might not respond and it's not guaranteed but people are willing to help and there will be people who will respond. Everyone has been unemployed and has done the job search at one point. This does not guarantee you get it of course but if you have good questions ready, it will show you are interested. If you make a good impression, they could also put in a good word (this has happened to me and it works. networking can really open a job for you).

7. Interviews. Practice your pitch. For "Tell Me About Yourself". they are not asking your life story. Tell them your work experiences and your achievements. You are selling yourself. Market yourself why they should choose you. Focus on your employment and skills. Have some answers ready for common interview questions too. Read about the company and know the products. Know the work culture. You are telling them why you are compatible.

8. Navigating Offers. Congratulations if you got the privilege to choose. If this is the case, leverage the offer you have that is solid. Mention it to the second company and ask if they can offer higher or match it. Recruiters expect this. I was intimidated by this but this allowed me to get a good entry salary.

See, research shows that groups of people actually make WORSE decisions than individuals, because psychologically we value group unanimity over critical thinking - we’ll agree to a nonideal plan even if we don’t agree with it for the sake of not being “that one person” who speaks out. So it’s recommended when making decisions in a group to assign a “devil’s advocate”, someone whose job it is to point out flaws in and disagree with any plan - because if even ONE person dissents, that tendency towards conformity goes WAY down, and other people are more likely to point out flaws as well and suggest alternate ideas. (Look up the Asch experiments! Very interesting study on our tendency towards conformity.)

So, the devil’s advocate is intended to discourage groupthink when making decisions.

IT’S NOT LITERALLY SUPPOSED TO BE ADVOCATING FOR THE DEVIL.

I was allowed full access to any books, movies, and internet I wanted fully informed about our family beliefs and practices but I was given no supervision once I reached about 13 because my parents trusted me to stick to the rules or not as I felt and come to them if there was anything that I had questions about.

As long as I said where I was going, who I was with, and when I was going to be back and then phone if anything changed I was allowed to do pretty much as I pleased from 13 onward.

I moved back in with my parents after university and the first conversation we had was my dad telling me that if I felt like they were treating me like a child to please tell them because they had no intention of doing so.

password protected my computer so i had to get permission every time i wanted to use it

put a passcode lock on our pantry so we couldn’t eat without permission

regularly checked our internet browsing history

shut off the internet at regular intervals, including when i needed it for university homework

did monthly checks of our bank statements and would confiscate money if they didn’t approve of our activities

in response, i went behind their backs and opened a new bank account, got a secret job, bought my own groceries, and used the wifi from the school across the street. they didn’t succeed in disciplining me. all they did was force me to distance myself from them.

15 interesting articles to read today: 

2019 Problems That Simply Didn’t Exist in 1989

People Share All The Ways They Actively Fight Depression

Fifty Small Ways That You Can Help Save the Planet

Terrible Social Etiquette Mistakes You’re Probably Making Without Knowing It

Just Two Hours of Nature Time a Week Could Have a Huge Impact on Your Health, Says New Study

NASA Scientists Reveal How They’ll Send People Back to the Moon in 2024

Clever Hacks for Getting Out of Paying Every Kind of Fee

This Viral Thread of the Most Questionable Things People Own Will Have You Gasping

People Reveal the One Thing That Made Them Break up With Their Partners

Women Who Are Childless and Unmarried Are the Happiest People of All According to Expert

What Teen Summer Looked Like in the ’50s and ’60s Compared to Today

Divorce Lawyers Reveal the Most Outrageous Reasons They’ve Seen Couples Split

The Weird Science Behind the Reason so Many Couples Look Alike

The Bible Said the World Was Going to End a Year Ago Today