Good morning, Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
A Teacher Confronted Scott Pruitt At a Restaurant & Told Him to Resign
Kristin Mink, a schoolteacher, was at a restaurant when she noticed that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt was sitting only a few tables away from her, and decided to approach him, Buzzfeed News reports.
“I had to say something,” Mink wrote on Facebook. “He’s corrupt, he’s a liar, he’s a climate change denier, and as a public servant, he should not be able to go out in public without hearing from the citizens he’s hurting.”
In the Facebook video posted by Mink showing the encounter, she approached Pruitt with her two-year-old son on her hip, saying, “This is my son. He loves animals, he loves clean air, he loves clean water.” As Pruitt sat and listened, Mink continued: “Meanwhile, you’re slashing strong fuel standards … paying about $50 a night to stay in a DC condo that’s connected to an energy lobbying firm while approving their dirty sands pipeline.”
Mink wrote on Facebook that Pruitt did not respond to her comments and left shortly after.
According to an EPA spokesperson, Pruitt thanked Mink and left because he had to get back to work.
This is not the first time that Trump administration officials have been confronted in public. Just recently, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia to leave the restaurant. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was confronted by protesters upset about the family separation policy at a Mexican restaurant, and left shortly after the demonstration dispersed. White House adviser Stephen Miller was called a fascist while eating at a Mexican restaurant.
Oprah Says Being President Would “Kill” Her
After her moving speech at the Golden Globes that left many wondering if she would run for office, Oprah Winfrey shot down the rumors that she would run for president. In her latest interview with Vogue U.K., Winfrey said she would not be running for president because it would “kill” her.
“In that political structure –- all the non-truths, the bulls–t, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on –- I feel like I could not exist,” Winfrey told the Vogue U.K. “I would not be able to do it. It’s not a clean business.”
But Winfrey, an advocate for women’s rights, did say she will continue to speak her mind about issues we are presently facing.
In her interview, Winfrey said she sees the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements as beacons of hope for future generations.
“People talk about ‘These are such dark times’, but what if we shift the paradigm? Because I see it differently,” Winfrey said. “I see, ‘Isn’t this remarkable that we’re waking up?’ For years, women have endured craziness. This is what’s happening to people. They’re allowing themselves to not just become corroded, but to become hysterical. You’ve got to lean to the happiness.”
Instagram Is Reportedly Testing New Questions Feature for Stories
Instagram has been introducing a ton of new features lately, including IGTV, and now Instagram may let users ask interactive questions via Instagram Stories.
According to Hello Giggles, the app was allowing certain users ask their followers open-ended questions in a Story. It’s slightly different from an emoji slider and poll features because it allows followers to input their own answers.
Mores users have said that they have noticed the option for the feature on their Stories.
Instagram has not yet officially announced the feature, according to Hello Giggles, so we still don’t know if users will be able to answer the questions anonymously. Since users can reply to their friends’ stories via DM, it’s not clear if responses to these questions will be sent via DM.
Hopefully Instagram will announce this new feature soon so we can all learn more about it.
What to look out for…
Happy Fourth of July! In honor of Independence Day, here are nine things you didn’t know about the Fourth of July.