The next time a Target employee enthusiastically asks whether you need help finding something, don’t be flattered. It might be homework. The retail giant is testing a new employee grading system that could evaluate workers on everything from reliability and teamwork to something much harder to measure: whether they’re friendly enough while helping you find toothpaste. In other words, your local Target employee may soon be getting a performance review because they didn’t look excited enough to tell you where the paper towels are. According to reports, managers will assess workers on customer interactions, including how consistently they greet shoppers, make eye contact, offer assistance, and generally project the kind of cheerful energy usually associated with Disney cast members and golden retrievers. The effort is part of a larger push by Target to improve the in-store shopping experience as the company tries to reverse sluggish sales and lure customers back into stores. Target CEO Michael Fiddelke has made customer experience a major priority, arguing that a better shopping experience starts with friendlier employees. That’s where things get interesting. Because most shoppers probably agree that customer service has gotten worse over the years. We’ve all experienced it. The cashier who acts offended that you interrupted their conversation. The employee who disappears the second you need help. The customer service desk that somehow has nobody working at it despite there being six people waiting in line. There is a reason people still talk about Chick-fil-A employees like they’re members of some elite hospitality unit. People appreciate good service. The question is whether you can force it. Target’s new approach builds on the company’s existing “10-4” rule, which encourages workers to acknowledge customers within 10 feet and offer assistance when shoppers come within four feet. The company has already trained more than 300,000 employees through a new guest experience program and says stores receiving additional staffing support have reported higher customer satisfaction scores. But critics immediately spotted a potential problem. Nobody likes being graded on vibes. Especially not retail workers who are already dealing with long shifts, staffing shortages, difficult customers, and the occasional person trying to return a Christmas tree in March. The idea that an employee’s performance score could depend in part on whether management thinks they smiled enough has sparked predictable backlash online. Some worry that friendliness is becoming another impossible-to-measure corporate metric. Others are asking an obvious question. If a store is understaffed, shelves are empty, and checkout lines stretch halfway to electronics, is a bigger smile really the solution? Retail analyst Neil Saunders raised a similar concern, warning that Target needs to make sure any grading system is transparent and fair. He also noted that friendliness alone won’t fix inventory issues, staffing problems, or long waits. Most customers don’t walk out of Target furious because nobody smiled at them. They walk out furious because they spent 20 minutes looking for an employee who could unlock a cabinet containing a $12 bottle of shampoo. Still, Target appears convinced that better customer interactions can help separate physical stores from online shopping. After all, Amazon can deliver paper towels. Amazon cannot pretend to be excited that you’re buying decorative pumpkins in July. At least not yet. The bigger question is whether Target employees are about to become retail workers or aspiring theater kids. Because if your annual review depends on enthusiasm, some people may soon find themselves performing for an audience of one: the mom looking for the Hearth & Hand section.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** “The American Book of Fables” is unlike anything else in print — or at least, that has been published in the last 200 years. At nearly 400 pages, it’s a tome modeled after much leaner texts, one being “The New England Primer,” an 18th-century textbook with lessons, prayers, and hymns. The book also reflects “The Columbian Orator,” a 19th-century textbook for older readers that influenced both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. It’s an audacious attempt, and author Matthew Mehan isn’t shy about it. “I really am keen to make sure people understand that this is not a children’s book,” he tells The Daily Wire. “This is a family heirloom.” The book draws on the Western and American literary traditions with nursery rhymes, fables, and primary texts from the Declaration of Independence to the Bible. These sections are divided up for “littles,” “middles,” and “bigs.” When I read excerpts to my four-year-old, he was entranced by the illustrations. Painter John Folley’s detailed, vibrant artwork is scattered throughout, with gorgeous, two-page spreads showing off buffalo, armadillos, and the fruited plains. Mehan says he’s always been interested in poetry with a civic and humanistic dimension, art that helps people live well. “That attracted me to the fable tradition, which is a very important tradition for self-governing peoples,” he says.  Fables, of course, offer the reader memorable stories with simple takeaways. They are usually vague and fairly universal, meaning they could take place anytime, anywhere. “The American Book of Fables” changes that.  The boy who cried wolf could take place anywhere boys and wolves are found, but Mehan places the story “on Roanoke Island, near the Outer Banks, west of Nag’s Head and South of Kittyhawk, North Carolina.” The boy is hired by the Bodie family (a real family), and there’s a real red wolf preserve nearby. “The fable tradition is very general and universalistic, and Americans like generalities and universal principles,” Mehan says. “But we also like science and detail, and we have a federal system where we really love our local people and places.” He credits Homer for the inspiration to add such detail, “carefully and humanely and lovingly naming all of the places and people.” The epic poet took the effort to name dying soldiers on the battlefield.  “I think that is a part of teaching people how to be human and love well the things that are in their care and are part of their community,” Mehan says.  In Mehan’s version of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” which he calls “greatly adapted from Aesop,” the boy’s “cries” come from shooting off rockets, which Mehan says is an homage to more American staples: Cape Canaveral, the space race, and Kitty Hawk. Sophia Institute Press Fables make for easy, entertaining lessons because they’re full of archetypes. There’s “the irascible badger,” “the languid panda,” “the tyrannical lion,” and “the busy beaver.” Mehan’s beaver is named Nikola, and, yes, that is a Tesla reference. Mehan says he’s meant to represent a passion for technology that wonders whether something can be done and doesn’t stop to determine whether it should. Returning to the theme of self-government, Mehan suggests that such a passion, which is good in moderation, must be governed properly.  The book is rich with allusions to great authors and classic works, as well as its own analogies. One recurring story is that of Humanatee, a “gentle, fat creature” who learns lessons as he traverses the country. One purpose is to challenge the reader to think about the meaning of human nature; if the principles and rights laid out in the Declaration are real, then “you better have a really strong and robust handle on what human nature is,” Mehan says. The Ciceronian conception that Mehan has in mind “has everything to do with self-government and liberty, and treating people right in a way that is just, and fair, and preserves the social bonds.” This idea is important. “One of the themes of the book is to reintroduce a lot of the really wonderful moral teachings of Cicero, which were profoundly ingrained in our society until the 20th century slowly leached them out mostly by omission,” Mehan adds. But another theme centers on what it means to be distinctly American, living amid the amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties. “The country isn’t just our principles, the country is human nature engaged in a particular history, a particular experience, a particular landscape,” he says. “So an engagement of humanity with all the various animals and regions of the country, was, I thought, a nice expression of the American experience.”

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** I grew up a “child on the margins,” a child of addicts and therefore a child of chaos. I had what I considered to be a normal life: school, dance, parents arguing, checking pulses, and praying the lights turned on. My parents loved me greatly, but their love was limited to what they knew. My parents’ addiction existed long before I did; it was no surprise that it stayed as I grew up. I learned to be the responsible one of the family. When I was 14, we lost my dad to his addiction, and the last thread of our chaotic lives began to unravel. My mom and I became unprovided for and unprotected. We were helpless and homeless for three months. We begged, borrowed, and stole to get by. We wore every valuable possession we had left and stayed on guard. While we were homeless, my mom found friends more dangerous than the last few, and while she was in jail again, they turned on me and assaulted me. My dad’s death brought new extremes to my life that had only existed in nightmares. When my mom was released from jail, we had a “new start.” I registered at a different school. But the cycle continued, and my mom went to jail again. This time it was different. The teachers, police officers, and caseworkers actually noticed me. They noticed not only that I was alone, but they also noticed me: my personality, preferences, and emotions. They wanted to know more and help me. As I began to trust them, I shared my trauma and memories with them and then with Harmony House Children’s Advocacy Center. This led to being placed in foster care. In April 2020, I was placed with my foster family. With a simple hour-long drive and a duffel bag in the doorway, I was introduced to lively, fun, healthy, and joyful chaos, the type of chaos caused by happy children rather than unhappy adults. The family had two loving parents, five biological children, and one other foster child. They all stood and stared as they watched “the new kid,” eyes full of curiosity and compassion. After much food, play, “trauma dumping,” and hibernation, just 12 days later, at age 15, I found out I was pregnant. At this new place, I was separated from everything and everyone I knew, good and bad. I wondered how attached to this new life I could become. Even with every uncertainty, I became a mom in an instant. I thought, “It can’t be harder than raising my own mother.” Though I was fearful, I knew that as a mother to my own child, I was responsible for him. Fearing the family’s reaction and judgment, I trembled and waited. I feared being kicked out and abandoned again. My foster mother noticed my anxiety. Instead of judging, putting me down, or kicking me out, she gently explained, “We will keep and love you and your baby if you’d like to stay. We are glad to raise you and your baby.” Thankful to have such reassurance, I set off with her for my first ultrasound on May 1. That afternoon, my excitement disappeared when we went to my old house to get a few of my things for the baby and found my mother, who had overdosed. In one year of my life, I became fatherless, homeless, assaulted, a foster child, a mom, and an orphan. Somehow, I dared to hope just one more time that this would be my last “new start.” I’ve learned you can be bitter or get better. I chose to settle into my new life and learn. As I watched my foster family interact, I realized they did not live their everyday lives in fear, guilt, and shame. I wanted that life of love for my child and wondered how I could make it my son’s reality too. Later, God showed me the best way to have that life for him was to learn how to live it myself. I learned that my second mom and dad had their own problems and their own pasts, but they chose to live life together and to show love every day. I learned to hope, and my son became my inspiration. Hope became the reason I could choose life for not only my son, but for myself too. Every mom has a story before motherhood with mixed feelings surrounding it. What matters is what we choose to do despite our baggage. My life today is beyond what I ever hoped for in my wonders or my worries. Daily, it is full of joyful chaos and full of love, structure, and consistency. Part of my daily life is YoungLives, a teen mom support group. We still meet several times a month, where I am reminded I am far from alone. I’ve been with YoungLives for five years now, and as I have grown into adulthood and welcomed a couple more children, I have become an example of what a little hope and resources can do. Today, I am a friend and aid to other teenage mothers. As we sit around the supper table or play games, I get to listen to their joys and troubles, whether mundane or extreme. And because of the life I have lived, I can even relate to them. As they share, they may not realize that until I say something to the effect of, “I remember those times.” Many girls have responded with anger or disgust, but once I explain a bit about my story, they quickly realize that I was and still am one of them, just further down the line. It is one of my greatest joys that when people look at me today, they do not see the pain and hurt of my past. Instead, they can see the love of a mother and friend. Today it is my choice and honor to get to share what a little hope can do. *** Angel Rassi is a Christian wife and stay-at-home mother of two children — with another on the way. She works with teen mothers and their families through Ohio Valley YoungLives. 

Graham Platner, whose Senate campaign has been marred with scandal from the outset, maintains an active account on a platform notorious for enabling sexual predators. The Maine Democrat, who is seeking to unseat incumbent senator Susan Collins, is a registered user on Kik, a Daily Wire review found. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation deems the anonymous messaging app a “predator’s paradise,” thanks to a number of features that allow underage users to join the app and communicate with adults. Platner’s Kik account bears the username “phustle0331,” which is strikingly similar to his Instagram handle, Phustle0331, as well as the username for a Reddit account where he infamously mocked American soldiers as “fat and lazy” and endorsed fascist beliefs. The profile picture on the Kik account — which, though inactive, is not deactivated — features an image of a shirtless man with a towel wrapped around his waist. The image shows a man with tattoos that match Platner’s — including the Chinese character for “love” on his chest, a tattoo on his arm, and a tattoo on his shoulder. On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner’s wife, wife Amy Gertner, flagged for campaign staff a year ago that her husband had exchanged sexually explicit text messages with multiple women. Platner’s campaign has been dogged by revelations of the candidate’s sexually explicit statements, including a 2017 social media post in which Platner said he had to “jerk off every time I sit in a portash*tter.” In another post, Platner described graffiti of a penis as “beautiful,” “engorged and veiny,” and moving “towards its penetrative glory.” Screenshot of Platner’s active Kik profile Platner’s Kik profile was created on June 26, 2016. The Democrat was almost 32-years-old when he joined the app, on which an estimated 70% of users are between the ages of 13 and 24. Though the app recently required users to be 18 or older to join, for most of its history it welcomed users 13 and older. Despite those guidelines, the app still does not require official age verification. A Forbes investigation found that Kik had a “huge child exploitation problem,” while the BBC found that the app was at the center of over 1,100 child sexual abuse cases in the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2018. But even among consenting adult users, Kik is no ordinary messenger. The platform has been described as “the app with the most severe sexual content.” Kik offers sexually explicit live chats with women, and is often found at the center of “sexploitation” cases, wherein predators coax someone to send nude photos, and then use the images for blackmail, the New York Times reported in 2016. That report — released four months before Platner created his Kik account — chronicles a litany of heinous acts perpetrated by predators on the app, including a man who used the app to distribute child pornography, several who sent and solicited sexually explicit messages from minors, and one instance where a man attempted to kidnap a 14-year-old girl. Kik was also where 13-year-old Nicole Madison Lowell chatted with two Virginia Tech students who kidnapped and killed her. In June 2025, a Maine man was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in jail for producing videos of children being raped and distributing the videos in a Kik chatroom that existed solely for that purpose. Platner, a leftist who describes himself as an “oyster farmer” has been plagued by more than just allegations of sexual impropriety. The Democrat was infamously revealed early in his campaign to have a Nazi tattoo on his chest, and in recent days refused to apologize to a Purple Heart recipient whom Platner called a “dumb motherf*cker” who “didn’t deserve to live.” Platner currently leads Collins by nearly 8 points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

Just weeks after the Daily Wire’s investigation into Medicaid fraud in Ohio, the Trump administration arrived at the epicenter of the scandal in Columbus to start shutting the fraudsters down. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, personally traveled to Columbus, and rattled off findings from our investigation into abuse of the “home health care” program, which accounts for billions of dollars in Medicaid spending. From outside of a company that was caught defrauding the government through home health, Dr. Oz said his team confirmed the Daily Wire report about a cluster of hundreds of home health companies in seven office buildings on one street in Columbus. “We also identify 288 Medicaid registered home health aid companies operating out of just seven office buildings along one nearby road,” Dr. Oz said. “Some of these buildings are nearly vacant. Home health care and personal care services have become the subject of nearly all of the recent fraud prosecutions in Ohio.” Fraudsters have been treating Medicaid like a piggy bank, but it ends now. Ohio is showing what happens when data meets accountability. We followed the money and caught the crooks. And we’re not done yet. See you again soon, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/Z1FMxI3gQl — DrOzCMS (@DrOzCMS) May 30, 2026 The seven buildings containing 288 companies that billed a quarter-billion dollars worth of Medicaid payments were identified by The Daily Wire after Dr. Oz’s agency released data on Medicaid expenditures. READ MORE: Inside Ohio’s Home Health Empire: 7 Buildings, 288 Medicaid Companies, $250 Million Those buildings are all owned by a New Jersey-based landlord, Cordoba, and illustrate just how much of the economy in Columbus has been replaced with Medicaid businesses. Even Cordoba expressed concern with the findings. “The questions you’re raising about how Ohio’s Medicaid dollars are being used and abused are certainly legitimate ones,” a spokesman for the real estate company said. “After your reporting surfaced, Cordoba proactively contacted the Ohio Auditor of State and offered its full cooperation with any investigation.” As was noted by Dr. Oz, the suspicious Medicaid businesses are clustered in a neighborhood that is home to one of the country’s largest Somali immigrant communities. “I’m in Columbus, Ohio, it’s home to the second largest Somali population in the entire United States, after Minneapolis,” Dr. Oz said. “Franklin County, where we are now, by itself accounts more than a third of the billion and a half dollars spent on home health care in Ohio. That is three times more than what would be expected.” “Now process that statistic: the corruption is so widespread here that over a third of the entire state’s home health care budget goes to this county, which is three times more than you expect,” Dr. Oz said. The Daily Wire’s series, Medicaid Millions, is still in progress, yet numerous top government officials have already taken action. Part 5 of the series is set to drop next week. Dr. Oz pledged that this is just the beginning of the crackdown on fraud. “If we do this the right way, people will stop using Medicaid as a piggy bank,” he said. “Vice President [JD] Vance, who’s from Ohio, wants the White House Anti-Fraud Task Force coming after fraudsters everywhere with everything we have.” On Wednesday, a new congressional task force created by the House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on Ohio home health care fraud, where I will testify on what I found in Ohio.