Cowboy Who?

Two more organizations—SPARC and Curationist—have decided to sign the Statement on Four Digital Rights for Memory Institutions Online, demonstrating its broad appeal to memory institutions of different stripes.

SPARC and Curationist represent key collaborative institutions from library world and the museum space, respectively. SPARC is an umbrella advocacy group with more than 250 North American research libraries and academic organizations as its members; Curationist, a digital platform helping museums and archives open their collections to each other and to the world. 

Notwithstanding their distinct areas of focus, SPARC and Curationist are dedicated memory institutions, specializing to meet the needs of their patrons, members, and users, but never forgetting their shared goal of preserving culture and providing equal access to knowledge. That is why both are concerned about the effect that outdated laws are having on cultural heritage organizations in the digital age—and why they’ve joined Our Future Memory’s fight to protect memory institutions’ absolutely vital operations, in a media environment where affordable access to trustworthy information is at a premium.

“Curationist is signing this statement because the future of cultural memory depends on the ability of museums, libraries, and archives to operate fully and responsibly in the digital world,” said Executive Director Christian Dawson. “These rights are not abstract ideals. They are the practical foundations that allow institutions to preserve knowledge, provide access, and collaborate across borders. Our work exists to help make these rights real in practice, and we are proud to stand with a global community committed to protecting the past to power the future.”

To be sure, these “practical foundations” should not be controversial. They reflect the historical operations that have made libraries, archives, museums, and other memory institutions such an essential part of our information ecosystem. The Statement calls for legal assurances of memory institutions’ right and ability to:

• Collect digital materials
• Preserve digital collections
• Provide controlled digital access
• Cooperate across institutions

Thanks to SPARC and Curationist, the coalition to protect our future memory just got a bit bigger.

Ready to Join?

Your organization can join the movement and sign the Statement by going to the Our Future Memory website.

Want to learn more?

Register and join our informational webinar this Tuesday, January 27: “Protect Our Future Memory: Join the Call for Library Digital Rights.”

In brief: In today’s post we discuss the ongoing forecast with a winter storm that is due to arrive in Houston about 36 hours from now. With this update we list some things we know, and some we don’t about the forthcoming freeze.

Overview

Good afternoon. We are about a day and a half from freezing temperatures descending into the Houston metro area. Not much has changed with our overall forecast. Area roadways should be fine through Saturday evening, but by early Sunday we have questions and concerns. At this point I’m a little more bullish on ice in the Houston metro area, so I am leaning a little more toward a disruptive event on Sunday and possibly Monday morning, especially for locations north of Interstate 10. But it is far from a done deal.

We also still have questions about how cold temperatures will get on Monday and Tuesday mornings. I would ballpark lows at about 20 degrees in urban Houston (a little cooler for inland sites such as Katy, Tomball, The Woodlands, and Kingwood) and a little warmer for locations closer to the coast, such as League City. But there is the possibility those temperatures are too low. Anyway, on to what we know, and what we don’t.

We know: If you need to make a closure decision now, err on the side of caution

I’m still not sure what Houston’s roads will look like on Sunday morning, later in the day, and on Monday morning. Following precipitation on Sunday morning, which could fall as freezing rain or cold rain, we could be anywhere from “bone dry” to “icy bridges and overpasses” to “widespread ice” by Sunday afternoon. I know this is a huge cop-out, but it’s the truth due to uncertainty about air temperatures on Sunday. Anyway, we’ve already seen decisions by the Houston Independent School District and a handful of other districts to close on Monday. This is understandable, given the uncertainty. If you can’t wait to make a closure decision, that’s prudent. If you can wait, there’s still a chance things will be mostly fine on roads.

We don’t know: What will happen with electricity?

There are two issues with getting electricity into your home. The first of these is generation. This was the killer during the February 2021 winter storm, when large chunks of the Texas power grid were taken offline due to plants shutting down. If you’re like me, you’ve been periodically checking the “supply and demand” projection from ERCOT. Everything looks more of less fine, but there does appear to be a potential supply crunch on Monday morning, around sunrise, when temperatures are at their coldest.

The other issue is distribution, with the main concern in ice accumulating on tree limbs and power lines, causing them to snap. CenterPoint Energy, which is responsible for distribution in the greater Houston area, says they are making all necessary preparations. The bottom line is that I don’t expect to see the extreme and disastrous power losses experienced during the winter storm of 2021. But that’s not to say there won’t be some disruptions in service.

We know: People are panic shopping

I’ve heard from people, and can see from social media, that y’all are raiding grocery stores for all manner of supplies. (Pro tip: Kroger appears to be less crowded than HEB). But you don’t need to stock up forever, friends. Regardless of what happens, roads will very likely be passable on Monday afternoon, and at the very worst Tuesday when we’re back up into the 40s.

We don’t know: How low will temperatures go?

Forecasting low temperatures is difficult during winter events like this. One factor is ice. If there is a lot of it covering areas north of Houston, and within the city itself, than northerly winds moving over this ice will cool down more efficiently. This will lead to colder temperatures (possibly teens) in and around Houston. However it is also plausible that much of the city only drops to about 25 degrees. Our best advice is to prepare for the colder temperatures, and hope for “warmer” conditions.

We know: Thunderstorms are possible on Saturday

A decent line of thunderstorms will pass through Houston on Saturday morning, likely during the mid-morning hours. Thunderstorms will be more likely along and south of Interstate 10 and closer to the coast. These could drop 1 to 2 inches of rain pretty quickly, so keep that in mind as part of your winterization preparations. After these storms pass I expect a lull in rain (for the most part) as temperatures drop into the 40s on Saturday afternoon. A second round of showers will likely spin up early on Sunday and persist into the mid-morning hours.

We don’t know: How airports will be affected

I know, you have flight questions. I wish we had answers. Flying on Saturday should not be problematic, but it’s difficult to say the same about Sunday and possibly Monday morning. Of note, many airlines have issued waivers for change fees for today through Monday.

We know: Space City Weather does not use made up storm names

The Weather Channel, as it has done for more than a decade, has named the impending winter storm “Fern.” These names are not official, and there is no significant evidence they do anything to enhance safety. Also, “Fern” is a pretty dumb name for a storm. So we won’t be using it (just like we have never used “Uri” for the 2021 deep freeze).

Our next update will be posted by 7 am CT on Saturday. I will also be doing an additional Q&A at 11 am tomorrow on our Facebook page. Thanks for your patience as we work through a difficult forecast here.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
For the record, I am copyrighting this lifestyle. Anyone doing it owes me one (1) banjolele.

We spent a lot of time last year calling out how dangerous it was that Elon Musk and his inexperienced 4chan-loving DOGE boys were gaining access to some of the most secure government systems. We also highlighted how it seemed likely that they were violating many laws in the process. One specific point of concern was DOGE’s desire to take control over Social Security data, something that many people warned would be abused for political reasons, in particular to make misleading or false claims about voting records.

For all the people who insisted that this was hyperbolic nonsense, and DOGE was just there to root out “waste, fraud, and abuse,” well… the DOJ last week quietly admitted that the DOGE boys almost certainly violated the Hatch Act and had given social security data to conspiracy theorists claiming Trump won the 2020 election (he did not).

Oh, and this only came out because the DOJ realized it had lied to a court (they claim it was because the Social Security Administration officials had given them bad info, but the net effect is the same) and had to correct the record.

Shapiro’s previously unreported disclosure, dated Friday, came as part of a list of “corrections” to testimony by top SSA officials during last year’s legal battles over DOGE’s access to Social Security data. They revealed that DOGE team members shared data on unapproved “third-party” servers and may have accessed private information that had been ruled off-limits by a court at the time.

Shapiro said the case of the two DOGE team members appeared to undermine a previous assertion by SSA that DOGE’s work was intended to “detect fraud, waste and abuse” in Social Security and modernize the agency’s technology.

From the actual filing in the case:

Also in his March 12 declaration, Mr. Russo attested that, “[t]he overall goal of the work performed by SSA’s DOGE Team is to detect fraud, waste and abuse in SSA programs and to provide recommendations for action to the Acting Commissioner of SSA, the SSA Office of the Inspector General, and the Executive Office of the President.”….

However, SSA determined in its recent review that in March 2025, a political advocacy group contacted two members of SSA’s DOGE Team with a request to analyze state voter rolls that the advocacy group had acquired. The advocacy group’s stated aim was to find evidence of voter fraud and to overturn election results in certain States. In connection with these communications, one of the DOGE team members signed a “Voter Data Agreement,” in his capacity as an SSA employee, with the advocacy group. He sent the executed agreement to the advocacy group on March 24, 2025.

The filing goes on to admit that the declaration from a Social Security administration employee that there were safeguards in place against sharing data, and that everyone had received training in not sharing data, was apparently wrong.

However, SSA has learned that, beginning March 7, 2025, and continuing until March 17 (approximately one week before the TRO was entered), members of SSA’s DOGE Team were using links to share data through the third-party server “Cloudflare.” Cloudflare is not approved for storing SSA data and when used in this manner is outside SSA’s security protocols. SSA did not know, until its recent review, that DOGE Team members were using Cloudflare during this period. Because Cloudflare is a third-party entity, SSA has not been able to determine exactly what data were shared to Cloudflare or whether the data still exist on the server.

Cool cool. No big deal. DOGE boys just put incredibly private data on a third party server and no one knows what data was there or even if it’s still there.

Have I got some waste, fraud, and abuse for you to check out!

Separately, the filing reveals that Elon Musk’s right hand man, Steve Davis—the “fixer” Musk deploys across all his organizations—was copied on an email containing an encrypted file of SSA data. The filing is careful to note that DOGE itself “never had access to SSA systems of record,” but that’s a distinction without much difference when your guy is getting emailed password-protected files derived from those systems. Oh and: SSA still can’t open the file to figure out exactly what was in it.

However, SSA has determined that on March 3, 2025—three weeks prior to entry of the TRO—an SSA DOGE Team member copied Mr. Steve Davis, who was then a senior advisor to Defendant U.S. DOGE Temporary Organization, as well as a DOGE-affiliated employee at the Department of Labor (“DOL”), on an email to Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”). The email attached an encrypted and password-protected file that SSA believes contained SSA data. Despite ongoing efforts by SSA’s Chief Information Office, SSA has been unable to access the file to determine exactly what it contained. From the explanation of the attached file in the email body and based on what SSA had approved to be released to DHS, SSA believes that the encrypted attachment contained PII derived from SSA systems of record, including names and addresses of approximately 1,000 people.

Looks like some more waste, fraud, and abuse right there.

So to recap: the team that stormed in to root out “waste, fraud, and abuse” committed what looks an awful lot like actual fraud and abuse—sharing data on unauthorized servers, misleading courts, cutting deals with election conspiracy groups, and emailing around encrypted files of PII that the agency itself can’t even open anymore. All of it now documented in federal court filings—not that anyone will do anything about it. Accountability is for people who don’t have Elon Musk on speed dial.

WASHINGTON—Checking to see if the prestigious award was real by placing the medal on the glass turntable and hitting the potato button, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. reportedly microwaved the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. “Look, look, I think it’s starting to melt!” said Don Jr., the eldest Trump boy, who pressed his face against the door of the appliance to watch the gold medal slowly rotate as his younger brother begged for his turn to watch. “Bye, bye Abraham Lincoln! We’re going to turn you into slime, and then the Hotel Prize in Appliance [sic] will be ours. Wait, what’s happening?” At press time, sources reported the sobbing Trump boys were telling their father they had no idea how the Nobel Prize got into the fiery microwave.

The post Trump Boys Put Nobel Peace Prize In Microwave appeared first on The Onion.

LOS ANGELES—Saying they wished she would just be honest with them, friends of multiplatinum recording artist Katy Perry expressed skepticism this week about her alleged powerful boyfriend who lives in Canada. “Katy keeps going on and on about this new guy, but every time one of us asks when we’ll get to meet him, she just says he’s a really important person in Canada,” said friend Emily Curry, who noted that she first became suspicious after she asked Perry to see a photo of her new beau and was shown a picture that looked suspiciously like it had been pulled from Google images. “I called her last week, and she tried telling me the connection was bad because she and her boyfriend were out on a yacht. Sure, Katy. I don’t know why she feels the need to lie. This is just like when she came back from vacation and told us she had been singing in outer space.” Curry added that the alleged Canadian boyfriend was almost as far-fetched as Perry’s so-called “movie star” ex, who supposedly lives in England.

The post Katy Perry’s Friends Skeptical Of Alleged Powerful Boyfriend Who Lives In Canada  appeared first on The Onion.

Rapper A$AP Rocky has released Don’t Be Dumb, his first album in eight years. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the artist. 

Genre: Brand collaboration

Famous Relatives: Rihanna’s kids

Biggest Career Risk: Nodding off during Smurfs premiere

Citations From Massachusetts Department Of Fish And Game: Three

Personal Style: Businessman who sprinted through a silk scarf store

Favorite Thing To Do On Phone: Press “1” to confirm Rihanna’s ob-gyn appointment

Recurring Nightmare: Looking down and realizing he showed up to the Met Gala completely naked

Review Of Sweden: Good food, weird locals, three stars

The post Artist Profile: A$AP Rocky appeared first on The Onion.

The trend of “house burping,”  based on the German practice of “lüften” or briefly opening windows to refresh indoor air, has taken off in the U.S., with proponents claiming the practice improves air quality. What do you think?

“Am I the only one milking my apartment?”

Jenna Ainsworth, Corn Shucker

---

“But that lets all the Febreze out.”

Deon McKenna, Shelf Organizer

---

“No need to complicate things. Just move to a fresh house every three days.”

Mark Laury, Aeronautic Sociologist

The post ‘House Burping’ Gains Popularity In U.S. appeared first on The Onion.

#Rowen #RoninWarriors

A reader writes:

The CTO of our company is our CEO’s high school buddy. If you come to him with a problem, he always wants to jump on a call with you to hear the problem and troubleshoot. However, 95% of the time, I don’t need to be on this call. I don’t have any amplifying information other than reporting that something isn’t working. He wants to think out loud and chat. It’s a huge waste of time.

Lately, I’ve been flat out refusing to be on a call with him by saying, “I don’t have any additional information, so a call is not needed.” Instead I will Slack him with the problem and my attempts at resolution (again, all of the information I have). I’m realizing that he doesn’t actually read beyond the first sentence, because he will then ask me questions that I have already answered. I’m guessing now he wants to be on a call because he doesn’t like to read. For reference, my last message to him reporting a bug with our email was only 80 words.

Is there a professional way to say “Please reread my message, all your questions are answered”?

Yes, but whether it’s politically smart to do that depends on how senior he is to you.

If he’s significantly senior to you, then you may just have to deal with the calls. That’s not ideal, and it’s also the political reality of hierarchy in many workplaces; his seniority may mean that his communication preferences take precedence.

That said, to cut down on how often you have to get on the phone with him, you can try saying things like, “I need to jump on a call that’s about to start, but all the info I have is in the message above. Hopefully that’s enough!” Or, “I’m not free for a call right now, but I did put all the details I have in the original message. Once you look it over, if there’s anything specific you need, let me know!”

Realistically, you can’t do that every time or it’ll be obvious you’re just trying not to talk to him, but you can do it some of the time.

You can also try making the messages as short as possible so that his disinclination to read doesn’t have as much room to play out. There’s a tension between doing that while also trying to provide all the info so you don’t have to get on a call with him, but think about whether there are ways you can streamline for someone you know won’t read. (And always, always consider bullet points.) I realize, though, that this is happening with messages that are already short!

If he’s not that senior to you and is closer to a peer, you can also try naming the problem. For example: “I’ve noticed you often suggest jumping on a call with things like X or Y, but I usually don’t have any info beyond what’s in my message and it can be tough to fit impromptu calls into my workflow.”

But much of the time, when a C-suite exec has annoying preferences, you might just need to put up with it and figure that’s what the money is for.

The post can I tell a coworker to read his emails and stop calling me? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go…

1. I left work because no one would let me in

I (19-year-old female) recently ghosted my job at McDonalds because my coworkers would lock me out at 5 in the morning. Why? I’m not completely sure, I’m guessing it was to keep the customers out but again, I’m not completely sure. All I know is that Every. Single. Time. they scheduled me to work at 5am, I would always be locked out the building and it would always take me roughly 10-25 minutes to get in the building without breaking the door down, blowing up the phone, or climbing through the drive-through window. Going to the drive-through didn’t help either because nobody in the building would wear headsets that early in the morning because customers barely come that early. It became so frustrating not only for me, but for my mom too because every morning when she would take me to work at 5 am and see me be locked out, she’d get angry and honk the horn and stay on it until someone came to the window. She would always cuss them out for leaving me out there, and I didn’t want there to be any conflict so I’ve just been walking to work.

I went to my general manager and another manager about it and asked for a shift change. I told them that I don’t want to be opening cashier anymore and that I’ll work night shift or mid shift, anything except morning shift. And they said okay and that “they’ll figure something out” but a whole month later, nothing changed. So went to them for a second time and said that I CANT be opening cashier anymore and they said it’ll take some time. Three whole months went by and I was working mid shift and night shift every other day, but they still had me as opening cashier.

Recently, I was supposed to show up to work 5-11, but I showed up late because of Uber so I didn’t get there until 5:19 and when I tried to open the door, they were still locked like always. So I tried to get my coworker’s attention because her head was poking out the window talking to a customer, but no matter how much I waved or called her name she didn’t hear or see me. I tried calling the store’s phone and nobody answered so I hung up and walked to the other side of the building to try the other door and it was locked (unsurprisingly) so I tried to call a second time. Nobody picked it up, so I hung up, looked across the street to Starbucks, ran over there to get myself a drink, and walked 45 minutes back home. Is it bad that I did this?

Did you ever go back? Or was that you quitting? Either way, it’s justified — you tried to get inside to work, you made multiple efforts to gain access to the building, and you couldn’t so you left. That said, at that point you should have contacted your manager to let them know — as in, “I’ve been outside the building for X minutes and have called and knocked repeatedly but can’t get in so I am going home for the day.”

But I can’t blame you for being fed up that you’d raised this issue repeatedly for months and nothing was done about it. (Caveat: I’m assuming that when you asked to stop working the morning shift, you explained why and asked them to resolve it.)

Were they paying you for all that time you were spending outside the building every day, or did they not pay you until you got inside and could clock yourself in? Because in many states, they would owe you for the time you were outside and couldn’t access the building; you showed up as scheduled and it’s on them that you couldn’t get inside. (Google your state name and the words “reporting time pay.”)

2. My boss wants to knock on our shared wall to get my attention

We’re currently in a temporary office space while our space is being renovated. In the old space, my boss’ office used to be at the end of a row of cubicles (only for our team of five), so she would call out our names (mostly mine) when she wanted our attention. I always hated it because not only did I feel like a dog who had to come when called, but she’d get annoyed if you didn’t answer her for whatever reason (not actually there, have headphones on, didn’t actually hear her). In the temporary space, we’re all spread out so she can’t do this (though she tries) and its been nice, though she’s taken to calling my desk phone instead of just pinging me on Teams.

At the end of the month we’re going to be moving back to the new space, and I’ll be in the office right next to hers. She’s “joked” that she can just knock on the shared wall when she wants my attention. Am I crazy or is this not normal? And how do I stop this before it starts?

Knocking on your shared wall would be obnoxious. Calling out your names is also pretty disruptive, although not outrageous. Being annoyed if you don’t hear her or, you know, aren’t actually there is ridiculous.

If she jokes about knocking on the wall again: “You’re probably joking, but gosh I would really hate that! Can you ping me on Teams?”

If you move into the new space and she does start knocking on your wall: “It really startles me when you knock on the wall and I have an instinctive adrenaline response. Can you ping me on Team instead?”

She’s probably going to keep calling out your name, though, unless you address that directly too. You might be stuck with that part of it, but you could try saying, “Sometimes when you call my name I’m on a call or don’t hear you. Could you message me on Teams so that way I’ll always know you’re looking for me as soon as I’m available?”

Related:
is it rude to call out an employee’s name when I want them to come into my office and they’re nearby?
my boss yells for employees to come to her — over and over

3. How can I refuse to take over managing a problem employee?

After a traumatic firing of an outstanding and beloved department director, our flat-organization department was told we would be reorganized with some hierarchies, to “increase productivity.”

It turns out what they mean is that they want to unload onto me the management of a problem employee, to “assist me” in my projects. I do not manage anyone now, nor do I ever want to (though I know enough not to tell them that I don’t ever want to).

Chris, the employee, is the sweetest, kindest, most cheerful and generous person you will ever meet. The previous director was trying to help them file for disability for a long time, unsuccessfully, for ADHD and a variety of other things. Chris often has nothing to do, because any project they are assigned to simply adds to the project manager’s work, so people try to get out of working with them. Nobody wants to be the one to have to deal with and possibly fire them.

I will not take on the practical, legal, and emotional workload of managing and probably firing Chris. I am willing to quit over it, though I hope I do not have to. What is constructive language I can use that will help me look like a team player while refusing to kill Bambi for them?

“Chris is a lovely person, but I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’m not comfortable being their manager.”

If they press you: “Because of the problems with Chris’s work, managing them effectively would require an enormous amount of time and energy that I can’t take on without significant cuts to the rest of my role — and to be transparent, that would be a significant enough change to my job that it would make it hard for me to stay. I’m currently very happy here so I hope that there’s another solution.”

Also, if they’re not proposing any additional compensation for taking on a management role, that’s absurd … not necessarily something worth pointing out to them because you’re not trying to negotiate a way to make this worthwhile, just trying to say no, but ridiculous nonetheless.

4. Would my old boss be open to me returning now that a medical issue is under control?

I worked in a laboratory for 1.5 years. My performance was spotty as my attendance was poor and I took frequent breaks due to chronic pain. My work always got done, but I was known as the “slow” employee. I had a particularly rough week where everything that could go wrong went wrong, and as a result I was placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP). Following that, I pushed myself and completely turned around and was performing spectacularly. My supervisor was thrilled. Despite this, the company was hit by a massive layoff that cut a quarter of my department only two weeks following the PIP. Needless to say, I lost my job.

That was a year ago. I’ve since gone back to school, been successful in my new position, gotten new certifications that are relevant to the job, and finally discovered the health reason behind why I was sick and in medically described “debilitating pain” all the time. I loved the job, and it was a niche field so there’s no other local location where I could do the same work. After my medical treatment is complete in a year or so, I want to reach out to the company and provide an explanation for the attendance issues, as well as open the door for potential rehire, possibly as a provisional seasonal/part-time employee. So, as a manager, would you consider hearing my case in this situation?

Realistically … it depends. If the main issues while you were working there were how often you missed work and how many breaks you needed, and you’re able to credibly explain that it was directly connected to a health problem that is now under control and that you’ve been working successfully without those issues for a solid chunk of time (probably  six months or longer), and you had otherwise done good work aside from that, I’d be open to it. That’s especially true if it’s a job that’s hard to hire for; if it’s not, I might err on the side of caution and not want to risk it.

But more importantly, while they might say no, it’s not outrageous to ask. I would actually reconnect with your old manager now and just update her about what’s going on, framed as, “I wanted to let you know that I was able to solve the issues I was having with ___ — turns out I have a medical condition that had been causing it, and it’s under control now. I’m working at X doing Y, and things are going really well. I really appreciate you working with me while I was struggling to figure this out, and I hope all is well with you, blah blah, small talk small talk.” Then, in a year when you want to ask about potentially returning, you’ll have already filled her in and will be able to refer back to that.

The post I left work because no one would let me in, refusing to manage a problem employee, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Come on, Crow! I already have four dozen turkey pizzas in the freezer, and you never even went on that band trip to Winnipeg.

I feel so free!

Since his earliest appearances in Giant Days, Dean has lived under the shadow of legal action. So I like to think that as long as he’s been in Sheffield, he’s had a lawyer he calls on. Ideally, one very near to the university, for convenience back in the day. So I put Mr Khan’s office right over Scott’s Pantry, where I used to get my sandwiches back in 1995. It’s still there. The sandwiches, however… long digested.

The post Maverick, charismatic individuals appeared first on Bad Machinery.

In brief: In this afternoon’s post we discuss what we think will happen in Houston and surrounding counties with the forthcoming winter weather, and when it will happen. We also have some advice for people making closure decisions, and an opportunity for you to ask questions later today.

Ask me anything today

We’ve gotten a ton of questions, as you might imagine, about impacts from the freeze, and what it means for getting around Houston and traveling beyond the city this weekend. I’m going to set aside some time, beginning at 4 pm CT today, to answer your questions on Facebook. I’ll create a post and take your questions there. If you don’t use Facebook, don’t worry. We’ll collect some of the best and most-asked questions and repost them here on Space City Weather.

Wait to make closure decisions, if you can

We’ve also heard from business and other entities making decisions about closing on Monday. I fully recognize that everyone has their own timeline, and prefers to give people as much time to make accommodations. All I would really like to say here is that if you can wait to make a decision, it is probably in your best interest to do so. There are scenarios in which the “winter storm” this weekend has relatively modest impacts on the region and our roads. There are also scenarios in which the ice accumulation is enough to shut things down on Sunday and Monday morning. What we’re struggling with as meteorologists is just how crippling the impacts will be. Right now Matt and I are leaning slightly toward “modest” rather than “crippling” impacts, but it us just too early to say for sure. Anyway, if you need to make a decision today, you should err on the side of caution. If you can wait another day or two, you may benefit from better weather information.

Winter storm forecast

The forecast, as we’ve outlined for the last 24 hours, remains more or less on track. So for this afternoon’s post I thought I would do a post about what to expect, and when.

Friday, Friday night, and Saturday

This period should be moderately warm, with increasing rain chances on Friday evening and for much of Saturday. Although the cold front will arrive on Friday, it is going to take a secondary push before the Arctic air really pushes in. So on Friday we can generally expect temperatures in the 60s, with overnight lows in the 50s, and then temperatures in the 50s (perhaps 60s closer to the coast) on Saturday. This means that, when the majority of precipitation falls on Saturday, it’s going to just fall harmlessly as rain. That’s great.

Saturday night and Sunday

That secondary push of colder air will arrive sometime on Saturday night. We think it will arrive late enough such that getting around Harris County should pose no problems through at least 9 pm CT on Saturday. (This deadline may come a little earlier in Montgomery County, where temperatures will be quicker to reach freezing level). After this point we’re not quite sure how cold it will get, and how quickly. Let’s quickly go over two scenarios:

Slower Freeze: There is a world in which air temperatures on Sunday remain in the 33 to 40 degree range in Harris County and other parts of suburban Houston (outside of Montgomery County). At the same time we would see the end of showers on Sunday, and some sunshine during the afternoon to help dry out roads. In this scenario mobility issues on Sunday and Monday morning are mostly ok, although we would definitely have some concerns about bridges and overpasses.

Faster Freeze: In this scenario daytime temperatures drop to freezing during the daytime Sunday in Houston and surrounding areas, and we continue to see precipitation that falls as freezing rain. This accumulates on Sunday afternoon and there is no time for it to melt or evaporate before a hard freeze Sunday night. In this case driving around Houston on Sunday, Sunday night, and Monday is rather hazardous.

So which will happen? We just cannot predict with any confidence right now. Sorry. The European model and some of our emerging high-resolution guidance support the “slower freeze” scenario, but there is plenty of data to support a “faster freeze” scenario as well. Hopefully things will clarify in the next day or so, but no promises there.

Sunday night into Monday

It’s gonna get really cold on Sunday night, with temperatures likely falling to the 20 to 24 degree range in urban Houston, with colder conditions for outlying areas. This meets the criteria for a hard freeze, so all steps should be taken to protect pipes, plants, and pets. We continue to be hopeful that Monday will be sunny and see temperatures in the upper 30s to 40 degrees, which should solve ice issues on roads in Houston. What I’m not sure about is how far north these “above-freezing” temperatures will extend. For example, will ice melt from roads in Conroe or Huntsville on Monday afternoon? I’m not sure.

What about another ‘winter storm’ next week?

Yes, there is some possibility of another Arctic outbreak during the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday period of next week. Everything from snow on down is on the table. At this point it doesn’t look like absolute air temperatures will get as cold as this weekend, but we’ll just have to wait and see. One disaster at a time, y’all!

We’ll have an update this evening with the best questions and answers from our “Ask me Anything” this afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon, Eric spent about an hour answering questions regarding the upcoming freezing weather event on the SCW Facebook page. There were more than 550 comments left, and Eric was able to get to a little more than 40 . You can read the best and most useful below. We’ll plan another one of these before the freeze hits, so stay tuned!

Q. I’m an essential worker in the med center, the hospital told us so far they don’t intend to call in the ride out team to where we have to stay at the hospital saturday-monday but that it could change. do you expect the conditions to get worse in the medical center area of houston or to stay the same?

A. I think that’s a prudent decision by the hospital. At this point I would lump the Medical Center in with “urban Houston,” and whether we see icy roads will depend on air temperatures on Sunday in the city. I wrote about this in our Thursday afternoon update, with the “Slower freeze” and “Faster freeze” scenarios.

Q. What impact will the ice further north of Houston have on statewide power grid? I read your post about centerpoint expecting to have sufficient power, but wasn’t sure if the broad band of icy weather could reduce the available power source again or if we are safe as long as we don’t have ice taking down local lines.

A. We are really beyond my area of expertise here. ERCOT is projecting a power surplus through the event, but certainly there could be issues with icy roads (i.e. getting workers and delivery trucks to these plants). But my sense is that generation will be up to the task with this cold weather. I hope those are not famous last words.

Q. How does the forecast compare to what we expected and what happened during [the 2021 freeze event]?

A. That lasted longer (about four days of very cold air) and its coldest temperatures were 5 to 10 degrees below what we are likely to experience this weekend. In terms of magnitude of cold, it was a more significant event.

Q. Is this weather system expected to be severe and disruptive enough to force Houston Medical Center hospitals to reduce operations? (For those of us with scheduled procedures on Monday.) Thank you!

A. It’s a good question. I cannot see hospitals closing, but out of caution they may cancel non-emergency procedures. It will depend on the likelihood of icy roads (impacting the ability of employees and patients to get to the hospital). We should know in another day or so whether that’s likely to occur in Houston.

Q. My niece is getting off her cruise ship on Saturday around 8:00 am and needs to drive home to Mineral Wells near Fort Worth. Is this a good idea?

A. I don’t think so. I think she’d be fine until she gets about half way to Dallas-Fort Worth from Houston, maybe even a little further. But after that point the risk of freezing rain is going to start going up. And being stuck in that is a potential nightmare.

Q. I need to fly to Hartford, CT or Albany (I have a choice) on Sunday leaving at 2 pm. Would leaving out of Hobby be a better choice than IAH? What are the chances the flights can go from Houston Sunday at 2 p.m.?

A. Hobby is a better choice. As for flights from Hobby it will depend on air temperatures, but I think there is probably a better than 50:50 chance that the airport is operational on Sunday afternoon.

Q. Can you pull the curtain back and tell us what your process is for monitoring these storms, when they seem to change over time? Are you constantly checking or every 2-4 hours for one model, 6-8 for another, etc?

A. There are about a dozen models I’m checking. Some update every hour, others every 6 hours, and a handful every 12 hours. So they’re all over the map. I wake up around 5:00 am and spend a long time preparing for the morning forecast. Then, for sanity’s sake, I’ll take a break for a few hours before looking at all the data coming out by or before noon.

Q. Do you hang your toilet paper roll over or under? Just kidding, maybe. All jokes aside, do you recommend dripping faucets overnights or periodically throughout the day/evening?

A. Over, of course! The notion of dripping faucets is a little bit controversial. We weighed in here, about a year ago.

Q. Are we getting really hard freeze events more frequently? I feel like it’s an annual thing now whereas until 5 years ago I felt like it was every 5 years or so we would see temps as low as upper teens.

A. This is something I want Matt to dig into when we come up for air. In the last five years we have gotten four pretty stout hard freezes and that does not feel normal for Houston, at least over the nearly 30 years I have lived here.

Q. I run a flag football little league with a few hundred kids age 6-14 involved. I am cancelling the games we had scheduled Sunday, but we had many scheduled Saturday until about 3:30 pm. Do you think there’s any way we can play in the weather Saturday, for example, could it be in the high 50s?

A. Sounds like this is an awesome initiative. I think temperatures will be fine on Saturday before 3:30 pm, but it is likely going to be raining, and at this point I believe there is also a chance of thunderstorms. So this probably is not the best environment to have children outside.

Q. What is causing the confusion amongst forecasters? Within my viewing area, many of the news meteorologists are forecasting slightly different outcomes.

A. It’s largely because it is not clear what temperatures will be in Houston on Sunday from about 10 am to 6 pm. This is the period when we could really see ice form on roads, or not. And, at present, the range of temperatures for this time period is roughly 30 to 40 degrees, depending on your choice of model or ensemble. This is why you’ve seen me constantly saying, “We’re not sure yet!”

Q. At the coldest, what do you estimate the low temperature spread will be for Houston proper (N, S, E, W) vs. Katy, The Woodlands, Kingwood, and Galveston? (The “outlying areas” are usually different from town.)

A. For The Woodlands and Katy I would put lows between 18-22 degrees on Monday morning; 19-24 in Houston, and 22-30 right along the coast.

Q. Best timing for covering outdoor plants? Saturday afternoon/evening so they get some rain or better to go ahead and cover them on Friday?

A. I’d think whenever you can get to it. Most plants got a lot of beneficial rain on Wednesday.

Q. What is MSN smoking?

A. I don’t know. It’s difficult for me to see snow falling much south of Dallas and Fort Worth, and certainly not in Houston. There are a lot of great weather apps out there, but at the end of the day it helps to have a human in the loop to ground truth all this data.

Q. Should Katy evacuate??? IYKYK

A. Check the Settings, then the Notifications item in our app to get a definitive answer to this!

Rob Ford was the infamous crack-smoking mayor of Toronto, but he was always crazy, so how did he get elected in the first place? Bobby Broccoli is current working on a 4-part video series on Rob Ford, and he shares what he learned through his research.

Meet Mayor Ford: https://nebula.tv/videos/bobbybroccoli-meet-mayor-ford

Bobby Broccoli: https://nebula.tv/bobbybroccoli

Not Just Bikes: https://nebula.tv/notjustbikes

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. President Donald Trump disinvited Prime Minister Mark Carney from his newly-established “Board of Peace”, comprised of Trump, various war criminals, authoritarian strongmen, and arch supervillains. Days after inviting Carney to join the Board, for a low buy-in of $1 billion, Trump addressed the PM in a post on his Truth Social […]

The post Carney uninvited to join Trump’s ‘Board Of Peace’ alongside Putin, Netanyahu, Lex Luthor, Megatron appeared first on The Beaverton.

WASHINGTON—In a statement calling for more guardrails around ongoing immigration operations, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives publicly condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday for routinely employing fatal use of force without obtaining the proper warrants. “For weeks, Democrats have pushed to require ICE agents to obtain the necessary judicial warrants ahead of any murders they plan to commit,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement on the current Homeland Security funding bill, which would allocate $500 million to developing “common sense” accountability measures for any extrajudicial killings carried out at the behest of the federal government. “It is vital that the Department of Homeland Security uphold the rule of law when indiscriminately gunning down innocent civilians in the street; otherwise, the whole system could fall apart. Rather than doing things by the book, these officers are out there slaughtering everyday Americans without first filing the proper paperwork with the appropriate agencies. Our framework is designed to ensure that ICE conducts itself like every other law enforcement agency in the nation, enacting violence upon our populace with impunity and without consequence.” Jeffries added that he empathized with immigrant communities who live in fear knowing that at any moment they could be killed without administrative due diligence.

The post Democrats Condemn ICE For Murdering Without Proper Warrants appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—Warning that any attempt to spend time inside a personal residence constituted hostile interference with federal operations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Thursday that being in the privacy of one’s own home would now be deemed an obstruction of justice. “When an individual enters their residence, conceals themselves behind a closed door, and attempts to go about their everyday life, they are willfully impeding the important work of law enforcement officers and engaging in domestic terrorism,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, adding that the agency had updated internal guidelines to classify such aggressive forms of noncompliance as standing around in one’s kitchen, asking why agents are there, or harboring loved ones around a dinner table as Class D felonies. “We will not tolerate any walls, floors, or ceilings that keep public servants from performing their official duties. Moving forward, anyone who commits acts of domestic seclusion will be regarded as a criminal and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” McLaughlin went on to encourage families to gather in their driveways for easier arresting and processing.

The post ICE Deems Being In Privacy Of Own Home Obstruction Of Justice appeared first on The Onion.

Second Lady Usha Vance announced she and Vice President JD Vance are expecting their fourth child amid public speculation about the health of their relationship. What do you think?

“Show me a rocky relationship a new baby hasn’t saved.”

Abe Ellis, Garnish Applicator

---

“Have they found out its religion yet?”

Matt LaRoche, Unemployed

---

“He’ll need to turn over any children fathered in office to the national archives.”

Lauren Baxter, Skateboard Craftsman

The post Usha Vance Announces Pregnancy With Fourth Child appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Following a whirlwind week at Davos, and despite backtracking on threats to annex Greenland, US President Donald Trump is still threatening to tariff Champagne to keep people from partying when he dies. “I think about Heaven, about how proud God will be when I go to heaven,” he told a Davos crowd […]

The post Trump threatens tariffs on champagne so nobody can celebrate when he dies appeared first on The Beaverton.

The post Trump To Europe: ‘Getting Greenland Was Mr. Dilbert’s Final Wish’ appeared first on The Onion.

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.

These lists, along with everything McSweeney’s publishes on this site, are offered ad-free and at no charge to our readers. If you are moved to make a donation in any amount or subscribe to our website’s Patreon, please do. This will help support this project and our other work.

ATROCITY KEY

– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice
– Environment
– Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct
– Lies and Misinformation
– Musk Madness
– Policy
– Public Statements and Social Media Posts
– Trump Family Business Dealings
– Trump Staff and Administration
– White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia

November 2025

Main Index

Trump’s first term

DECEMBER 2025

1. – December 1, 2025 – Trump confirmed a phone call with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and delivered an ultimatum for him to relinquish power. The call was thought to have happened on November 21. Trump told reporters, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly, it was a phone call.” Sources told The Miami Herald the US president had sent a “blunt message” to the authoritarian leader and reportedly said, “You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now.” Maduro declined and said during a Caracas rally, “We want peace, but peace with sovereignty, equality, freedom! We do not want a slave’s peace, nor the peace of colonies!” Maduro had been the focus of a four-month pressure campaign in which Trump ordered a massive naval deployment off Venezuela’s northern coast and declared the country’s airspace “closed in its entirety.”
   
   
2. – December 2, 2025 – Trump unleashed a xenophobic tirade against Somali immigrants during a cabinet meeting, calling them “garbage” that he didn’t want in the United States. Even for Trump, the outburst was shocking in its bigotry. “These are people who do nothing but complain,” he said. “When they come from hell and complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country.” Vice President JD Vance banged the table in apparent agreement. Trump’s statements came as his administration started ICE operations targeting Somalis in the Minneapolis–St. Paul region. Trump also renewed his attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who emigrated from Somalia in 1995 as a child. He stated, “Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.” Omar pushed back at Trump on social media, writing, “His obsession with me is creepy. I hope he gets the help he desperately needs.”
   
   
   Trump Says He Doesn’t Want Somali Migrants in the US, Calls People “Garbage” (PBS)
   
   
3. – December 3, 2025 – During a White House event flanked by auto executives, Trump announced a proposal to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The move is the latest by the Trump administration to reverse Biden-era policies that encouraged cleaner-running cars and trucks, including electric vehicles. Trump said the policies “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices, and made the car much worse.” Auto executives applauded the announcement. Ford CEO Jim Farley said the planned rollback was “a win for customers and common sense.” Environmentalists denounced the move. Dan Becker of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the Center for Biological Diversity responded, “In one stroke, Trump is worsening three of our nation’s most vexing problems: the thirst for oil, high gas pump costs, and global warming.”
   
   
4. – December 3, 2025 – The DHS confirmed the beginning of a sweeping immigration crackdown in New Orleans. DHS officials also said that Border Patrol, not ICE, would be running the New Orleans operation, which has been dubbed “Catahoula Crunch.” Senior Border Patrol Agent Greg Bovino was spotted in a Home Depot parking lot in a suburb of the city. According to DHS officials, the operation would focus on “criminal illegal aliens that have been released from jail.” New Orleans resident Rocío Tirado told NBC News that she was delivering groceries and paychecks to families who were too scared to leave their homes. “They’re afraid because everybody’s hiding,” she said. “Some of these people have a work authorization, and they have Social Security.”
   
   
5. – December 4, 2025 – Navy Admiral Frank M. Bradley told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding the attack that killed two survivors on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela. The video that lawmakers viewed showed two shirtless survivors, clinging to the hull. Bradley, commander of the operation, gave an order for a follow-up strike. During the briefings, military officials stated the survivors could be communicating, but the video did not show any radios or satellite phones. Amid preparations for the briefing, multiple US officials told The New York Times that they had been told that one of the survivors had radioed for help, but the people said remarks from Admiral Bradley about communications were purely speculative.
   
   
6. – December 4, 2025 – The Supreme Court ruled that Texas could use a redrawn congressional map that adds as many as five Republican-friendly congressional districts. The order handed Trump a major win in his push to boost Republican seats ahead of the midterms. The 6–3 conservative majority blocked a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race. In its order, the Supreme Court said that a lower court that ruled against the map failed to honor “the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.” In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan objected to the decision, arguing, “We are a higher court than the district court, but we are not a better one when it comes to making such a fact-based decision.”
   
   
7. – December 5, 2025 – Trump was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, which was announced during a World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. “This is your prize—this is your peace prize!” FIFA president Gianni Infantino gushed after Trump took the stage. The trophy was a golden globe resting on five golden hands with “Donald J. Trump” emblazoned in capital gold letters. Infantino added, “There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go.” Trump snatched the medal and hung it around his neck without Infantino doing the honors. The move drew comparisons to how Benito Mussolini used the 1934 World Cup in Italy to promote a resurgent Roman empire.
   
   
   FIFA Gives Its New Peace Prize to Trump: “World Is a Safer Place Now” (AP)
   
   
8. – December 5, 2025 – The Trump administration released the thirty-three-page Trump National Security Strategy. The strategy painted long-standing European allies as “weak” and said they risked the “prospect of civilizational erasure” due to their migration and free speech policies. The strategy starkly reinforced Trump’s “America First” philosophy, which questions decades of strategic relationships and prioritizes US interests. The document also described the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, which was set forth by President James Monroe in 1823. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who sits on House committees overseeing intelligence and the armed forces, called the strategy “catastrophic.” He added, “The world will be a more dangerous place and Americans will be less safe if this plan moves forward.”
   
   
9. – December 6, 2025 – The Trump administration added Trump’s birthday and removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from next year’s calendar of entrance fee–free days for national parks. The calendar also removed National Public Lands Day and the first Sunday of National Wildlife Refuge Week. Additionally, under the new “America-first pricing” policy, non-US residents will be required to pay entrance fees on national park entrance fee–free days. International visitors will be charged an extra $100 on top of the standard entrance fee. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a statement: “These policies ensure that US taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”
   
   
10. – December 7, 2025 – After disbanding the Kennedy Center board earlier in the year and installing himself as chairman, Trump became the first president to host the Kennedy Center Honors. In his address, he insulted a portion of the audience, calling them “miserable, horrible people.” In addition to skipping the event every year during his first term, Trump had also never attended a show at the Kennedy Center, which he criticized as “woke,” before becoming chairman. When he and Melania attended Les Misérables in August, they were booed. Around the same time, Trump also said he was “about 98 percent involved” in selecting this year’s honorees, who included Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor, and Michael Crawford.
    
    
    Moments from the Kennedy Center Honors Hosted by Trump (AP)
    
    
11. – December 8, 2025 – Twelve former FBI agents sued the Bureau after they were fired earlier this year for kneeling during racial justice protests. The Washington, DC, protests took place in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd. A crowd of protestors had backed the agents against the wall of the National Archives building, and the agents claim they kneeled to de-escalate the situation. No misconduct was found when the Justice Department reviewed the incident in 2024. However, new FBI Director Kash Patel began targeting the agents earlier this year and fired them in September, arguing that they had “demonstrated unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of the government.” The lawsuit alleged that the agents’ First and Fifth Amendment rights were violated.
    
    
12. – December 8, 2025 – Trump pledged $12 billion to bail out struggling farmers hurt by the trade war he initiated and falsely claimed that the relief package was only possible because of his tariffs. Earlier this year, China, the largest buyer of American crops, retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by cutting off purchases. In addition, the farmers were further negatively impacted by the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions and high tariffs on foreign goods that they need to run their businesses. “While we need to help farmers who have been hurt by the president’s across-the-board tariffs, ultimately farmers want trade—not aid. The easiest way to give our farmers more certainty would be for the president to end his tariff taxes,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar. According to estimates, the bailout will only cover a third of the farmers’ losses—at best.
    
    
13. – December 8, 2025 – Despite the president’s promises to end America’s drug crisis and his threats against Venezuela, a Washington Post analysis found that Trump had granted clemency to around one hundred people accused of drug-related crimes, including Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, gang leader Larry Hoover, drug kingpin Garnett Gilbert Smith, and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. “There’s no consistency,” said Jeffrey Singer, a drug policy expert at the Cato Institute. “He pardons a drug trafficker but orders the shooting on-site of drug traffickers who are not in this country.” Added Senator Thom Tillis, “It’s confusing to say, on the one hand, we should potentially even consider invading Venezuela for a drug trafficker, and on the other hand let somebody go.”
    
    
14. – December 8, 2025 – Breaking precedent, Trump said he would “be involved” in the competing Netflix and Paramount bids to buy Warner Brothers Discovery. Although presidents are not supposed to interfere with regulators reviewing major corporate deals, Trump had made numerous public comments about Netflix and Paramount, who had each sought favor with the Trump administration, and is entangled with their leaderships. In November, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos visited the White House. A private equity firm founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is an investor in the Paramount deal, and Paramount’s chairman David Ellison is the son of Trump friend Larry Ellison.
    
    
15. – December 8, 2025 – Less than two months after Trump claimed that he helped end a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, Thailand launched airstrikes on its neighbor. Both countries argued they were acting in self-defense and accused the other of instigating the attack and violating the terms of the peace deal. On the same day, the Democratic Republic of Congo also accused Rwanda of violating a US-brokered peace agreement negotiated in June and signed less than a week ago at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. Since taking office, Trump has cast himself as a great peacemaker, openly campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize and misleadingly claiming to have “solved” eight conflicts. “Trump seems to think he can swoop in and resolve a deep, long-running conflict with a couple of phone calls or a minerals deal,” said Daniel B. Shapiro, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. “But conflict-resolving diplomacy usually involves much more sustained engagement.”
    
    
16. – December 8, 2025 – Dr. Mehmet Oz, former TV personality and current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief, lectured federal workers about their eating habits. “You don’t have to try every cookie,” Oz wrote, cautioning his employees to “practice portion control,” “be mindful,” and “don’t double fist.” The recommendations were not the first time Oz has offered unsolicited dietary advice. Earlier this year, he told Medicaid recipients to stop eating cake and complained about snacks in the Fox News green room. Throughout his career, Oz has promoted bogus weight-loss tips and supplements.
    
    
17. – December 9, 2025 – Government filings showed that Stephen Miller sold shares worth $50,000 to $100,000 in the mining company MP Materials one month after the announcement of a lucrative deal between the company and the Trump administration. The company’s stock price rose from $30.03 per share on July 9, the day before the deal was announced, to $76.58 per share on August 14, the day Miller sold his shares, eventually peaking at $99 per share on October 14. Ethics experts questioned the timing of the sale and said that Miller, who had known since November 2024 that he would be working in the White House, should have divested from potential conflicts of interest much sooner. “It shouldn’t have taken that long,” said Hui Chen, who has served as a government ethics advisor and corporate compliance officer.
    
    
18. – December 9, 2025 – At a rally-style speech in Pennsylvania, Trump railed against immigrants, mocked affordability, lied about the economy, and attacked the Fed. The speech also included racist and false statements about Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somalian-born Muslim. “Ilhan Omar, whatever the hell her name is. With her little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but bitch. She’s always complaining,” said Trump. “We ought to get her the hell out! She married her brother… Therefore, she’s here illegally!” Trump also referenced “remigration,” a euphemistic term for deporting immigrants used by European white nationalists, and confirmed a previously denied story that he had called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries.” Calling affordability a “hoax,” Trump said, “You know, you can give up certain products. You can give up pencils. That’s under the China policy. You know, every child can get thirty-seven pencils. They only need one or two, you know. They don’t need that many.”
    
    
19. – December 10, 2025 – A Belarusian woman extradited to the US to face smuggling, fraud, and money-laundering charges was subsequently detained for being in the country illegally. Federal prosecutors had spent over a year on the extradition of Yana Leonova, who may now be deported before her trial. US Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui described the situation as “Kafkaesque.” “Indeed, it is both preposterous and offensive for the government to bring someone into the United States against their will and then turn around and seek ICE detention because that person is here ‘illegally.’ The government needs to decide what its priorities are: ginning up deportation stats or prosecuting alleged criminals.”
    
    
20. – December 10, 2025 – As part of an escalating campaign to weaken Nicolás Maduro, the US government seized a Venezuelan oil tanker. When questioned by reporters, Trump said the US would keep the oil, though it was not clear whether this was legal, and declined to say who owned the tanker. “Other things are happening,” he added. Officials have not said what will happen to the ship. Venezuela called the seizure “barefaced robbery and an act of international piracy.” Although the Trump administration has claimed its campaign against Maduro is aimed at preventing cartels from sending drugs to the US, many current and former Washington officials believed the administration’s true intent was regime change, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top aides had been pushing for months.
    
    
21. – December 10, 2025 – Applications opened for the Trump administration’s expedited “gold card” visas, which require a $15,000 processing fee and cost $1 million to purchase upon approval, and expedited “corporate gold card” visas, which allow businesses to sponsor employees by paying the same $15,000 processing fee and $2 million per each approved employee. Alongside the applications, the Trump administration also previewed a $5 million “platinum card,” which will allow foreign nationals to live in the US for up to 270 days per year without paying taxes on income earned abroad. The visas have been heavily criticized for offering the wealthy an expedited process even as the administration has cracked down on immigration, carrying out mass deportations and pausing immigration applications from asylum seekers and individuals from mostly African and Middle Eastern countries, subject to the president’s travel ban.
    
    
22. – December 11, 2025 – The State Department ordered its employees to switch from the more accessible Calibri font to the more formal and traditional Times New Roman. “Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Although switching from Calibri was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI, it was nonetheless cosmetic. Switching to Calibri...

Well now ... what do ya think about that? #CowboyWho