Cowboy Who?

Here are three updates from past letter-writers.

1. My boss’s wife cheated on him in front of me, and now he’s icing me out at work

I took the part of your advice that involved just being cool and it sort of worked, for a while. I am American but this all happened while I was working at an office in Ireland. They do have a different attitude to drinking there (that stereotype is true) and it’s much, much more common to mix work and booze. They also have a very different approach to clear conflict resolution — in my experience, it is very unusual and rare in Ireland to just address a conflict directly and they find it very American and deeply uncomfortable. If I were to bring that whole thing up to my boss directly, he would likely self-combust before my eyes … so I didn’t. Or rather, felt like I couldn’t. And eventually, it got better.

I started feeling that if someone chooses to drink that excessively with people they give performance reviews, then they need to expect that there might be some wobbles in the professional relationship. And it definitely changed my willingness to drink with people who manage me (or fund our work)! When I think about the whole situation as well, the boss’ wife was falling over drunk, and I see it more through the lens of her being taken advantage of rather than some sort of affair. I wish I had framed it to him that way when we spoke about it. It makes the whole thing uglier. The boss ended up leaving in a spectacular fashion — lawyers were involved — and I haven’t been in touch with him since.

2. Does posting sob stories on LinkedIn hurt your job search?

I wrote to you asking if posting sob stories on LinkedIn hurts your job prospects.

As suspected in the comments, the majority of these colleges are much younger than me (mid-late 20s/ some early 30s) and spent most of their childhood / adolescence years constantly online. While some of my former colleagues eventually found jobs, quite a few have admitted that they felt that posting those sob stories definitely hurt their prospects (especially when one found their posts posted somewhere else mocking them). However, some have dug their heels in the sand saying that “naming and shaming” companies who do not hire or ghost them is the new norm.

As for myself, while I was able to continue to work in my field, the effects of the industry layoffs are really starting to show its effects. I am currently doing the job of 2-3 people, and have been averaging 70 hours a week. I experienced burnout before in this field, and I do not want to compromise my mental and physical health, plus I want to spend more time with my family, which right now I sadly do not get to see often.

I am currently job hunting for positions outside of my field. Luckily, my position has given me a variety of skills that can be transferred to admin roles. I am positive that the skills I learned from reading your blog will help me in my future hunt.

3. My coworker won’t use women’s names

I did end up asking my coworker what was up, after a particularly baffling conversation where he was talking about a manager who had retired before I started working here while comparing her to our highest manager and never using either of their names.

He admitted he had a hard time remembering names on command and just kept things vague, hoping we’d understand through context because constantly pausing to make sure he had the right name would disrupt the flow of the conversation. That’s about what I thought was going on, since he would often use phrases that in our country’s dialect of English refer to a woman whose name you don’t know or can’t remember.

When I asked why he seemed better able to get the men’s names right, he said it’s because there’s so many fewer of them in the office and he supervises most of them, so he’s been able to memorize which guy is which by remembering what job they do, which is harder with the women because our jobs are less clearly defined and he doesn’t interact with our work area as much.

Some people in the comments (which I couldn’t reply to at the time because I didn’t see it, but did read after the fact) seemed to want to assign him some kind of Christian offshoot religion that explained it, but we’re not in the U.S. and those kinds of hyper-specific churches aren’t a thing here. People can be shitty to women at times but it’s the Catholic flavor of shitty.

Since I chatted with him about it, he’s started trying to use women’s names more often, at least when talking to me … which hasn’t really made things less confusing because he keeps calling people by the wrong names at first call. But I caught him mixing up two of the lads who don’t usually work in the same space as him, so at least it’s no longer so targeted?

The post updates: my boss’s wife cheated on him in front of me, sob stories on LinkedIn, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

Workers at the downtown hotel, which is located next to the George R. Brown Convention Center, have recently picketed. They are asking for an hourly wage increase to $23 as part of a new contract.

The county judge is facing two felony counts of money laundering and a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity for accusations that he worked with a staffer to fake racist attacks against his own campaign on social media.

City officials refused to pay money owed to Nerie Construction because of bribery allegations. Mayor John Whitmire says the company should have to “fight” for the money.

A reader writes:

I have been trying to understand something about myself for years. You may not be able to help, but I figure it’s worth a shot.

My last job was an admin assistant role working with the same VP for 10 years. I eventually felt burned out and found a similar job where I’ve been for two years. This job has been a solid 5 out of 10, and I anticipate that dropping significantly in the coming months because of a looming project and issues with management.

The obvious solution is to find a new job, but I just … can’t make myself do it? This also happened several years ago when I decided to start searching. It seemed to take more energy than I could ever hope to have just to look for and apply to jobs. It ended up taking at least a year (maybe even two — it’s hard to remember) to find my current job. I finally managed to apply for two jobs and got the second one.

I’m a high performer with only glowing references, a solid work history, and an agreeable personality. I am also a recovering perfectionist and have my fair share of anxiety, and I’ve been going to therapy for 3.5 years, which has been extremely helpful for functioning in life overall.

I have used your advice on resumes, cover letters, and interviews. It feels like I freeze up during interviews despite my best efforts to prepare (maybe I should try a swig of vodka beforehand — ha!).

I guess my questions are: Why does it feel impossible to look for jobs? Why does reading every job description for which I’m qualified instantly make me lose the will to go on (job-searching, not in life)? Am I the only one who feels this way? Is this a lingering mental-health issue?

In case those questions are un-answerable, my other question is: What are some things I could try to make job-searching feel more like cleaning my house, which I don’t enjoy but manage to do regularly, and less like trying to lift a house with a crowbar?

You are not the only one who feels this way. But it’s also indicative of some kind of problematic thinking.

Part of me hates saying that, because it’s actually quite reasonable to dread the job-search process, which is dehumanizing in countless ways.

But because it’s also something that would be in your best interests to do — since you’re unhappy at work and think you’re about to be even more unhappy, and you seem well-positioned to find a new job, as these things go — the fact that you literally can’t bring yourself to do it does indicate something is going on.

My guess is that it’s some combination of:
* feeling like you won’t get hired, so it’s a waste of time
* feeling like even if you do eventually get hired, it will take a huge amount of work to make that happen (since last time it took at least a year)
* worrying that even if you do find another job, you won’t like it
* feeling like the stakes are unbearably high
* dreading the process itself — you mentioned you freeze up in interviews so I’m guessing it’s the opposite of enjoyable to you
* generalized anxiety latching onto this whole thing because it’s such a good target for the reasons above

A lot of those beliefs don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Yes, it took you a year last time, but you only applied for two jobs during that time. How much faster might it have been if you applied to two a week? Or five a week?

And that means your application-to-offer success rate is 50%. That’s unusually high. That says you have better chances than most people, and most people still find jobs.

You also say you’re a high performer with only glowing references, a solid work history, and an agreeable personality. Those are … pretty much the ideal conditions to search from.

All of which means anxiety is probably playing a much bigger role here than you’re allowing for. Are you actively treating the anxiety? Have you talked to your therapist about anxiety meds? If you haven’t, that’s worth doing — and it’s possible that could be the thing that takes this from “feels like trying to lift a house with a crowbar” to “not fun, but still doable.”

The other thing that helps a lot of people: lower the stakes in your head dramatically. If you’re freezing up in interviews because the stakes seem so high, it can help to go in assuming you’re not going to get the job / the interview is just for practice / they’ve already decided to hire the CEO’s nephew / you’re skeptical about whether you even really want the job and they’d need to prove to you that you do.

But I think you’ve got to tackle the anxiety first, and this will get easier once you do.

The post why does job-searching feel like actual torture? appeared first on Ask a Manager.

In a statement, the House Democratic Caucus said its lawyers had advised returning “to build a strong public legislative record for the upcoming legal battle” against the GOP’s map.

WASHINGTON—In an ambitious new effort targeting undocumented immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security announced this week that it would begin offering a $1,000 stipend to migrants who voluntarily self-destruct. “If you are here illegally, the easiest, most cost-effective way to avoid arrest is by downloading the Customs and Border Patrol app, pressing the red button, and—after the the 10-second countdown—exploding,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who explained that since it costs far more than $1,000 on average for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hunt down and demolish a single migrant, noncitizens who blow themselves up will save American taxpayers billions of dollars. “For those without legal status, self-destruction is fast, discreet, and puts you in control of your own splattering. All we need from eligible illegal aliens is photographic proof of your blood and viscera on the ground, along with your routing number, and we’ll deposit $1,000 directly into your bank account, no questions asked.” At press time, DHS was facing backlash after widespread reports that it had failed to pay the $1,000 promised to any of the migrants who self-detonated.

The post DHS Offers $1,000 Stipend To Migrants Who Voluntarily Self-Destruct appeared first on The Onion.

The post Stephen Miller Tears Up As Son Says First 14 Words appeared first on The Onion.

The cherry tomato-sized meteorite that pierced the roof of a home near Atlanta has been confirmed to be about 4.56 billion years old, making it older than Earth itself. What do you think?

The post Meteorite That Crashed Into Georgia Home Older Than Planet Earth appeared first on The Onion.

President Donald Trump has claimed that crime is “out of control” in the nation’s capital and beyond. The Onion assesses the veracity of the president’s claims. 

Claim: D.C. has endured a record amount of robberies.

Partially true: Some places in Georgetown sell a cup of coffee for $9.

Claim: Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are crime-ridden cesspools.

False: These cities are safe, vibrant cesspools.

Claim: The National Guard is being deployed to crack down on crime.

False: The National Guard is being deployed to give Stephen Miller an erection.

Claim: Just last week, a high-ranking politician was shot in the head at a D.C. theater. 

False: Trump is mixing up last week with April 14, 1865. 

Claim: Violent foreigners traveled to D.C. to savagely beat Americans.

False: The UFC fight on the White House South Lawn isn’t until next year.

Claim: Basically anything.

False: “False” continues to be a very safe assumption to make.

The post Fact-Checking Trump On Crime 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

Main Index

Trump’s first term

JULY 2025

1. – July 1, 2025 – Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades. Trump suggested it could be a model for future lockups as his administration raced to expand the necessary infrastructure for increasing deportations. He said, “Pretty soon, this facility will handle the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.” During the tour, he endorsed having Florida National Guard forces serve as immigration judges. Immigrant advocates criticized the Trump administration’s move. Mark Fleming, the associate director of federal litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said it amounted to an “independent, unaccountable detention system.” Florida Republican Party (RPOF) Chair Evan Powers claimed the project had “immense public support,” and said they had sold thousands of “Alligator Alcatraz”–themed shirts, hats, and gear.
   
   
   President Trump participates in a guided walking tour of Alligator Alcatraz (The White House)
   
   
2. – July 2, 2025 – Pardoned January 6 rioter Jared L. Wise was named as an advisor to counselor Ed Martin, leader of the “Weaponization Working Group” in Trump’s Justice Department. Martin was an outspoken supporter of the January 6 defendants. According to a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, the group’s mission includes investigating “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions” tied to the insurrection. A source familiar with Martin’s thinking told The New York Times that Martin was “thrilled” to have Wise, even suggesting that if “we could genetically design an adviser,” he or she would look like Wise. During the January 6 insurrection, Wise allegedly shouted, “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!” at law enforcement officers.
   
   
3. – July 2, 2025 – Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes pre-election interview with then Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump’s legal team said the settlement was “another win for the American people,” who were holding “the fake news media accountable.” The move by Paramount, according to a statement by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), smacked of favoritism and referenced Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media. First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who represented The New York Times during the Pentagon Papers case, told the FPF that “the agreement of Paramount to pay any settlement amount to Donald Trump based on a broadcast that was both journalistically responsible and fully protected by the First Amendment is an ominous blow to press freedom.”
   
   
4. – July 3, 2025 – Jewish advocacy groups slammed Trump for using the antisemitic term “Shylock” during a speech celebrating the passage of his spending bill. “No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and bar exam for, in some cases, a fine banker, and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people,” Trump said. Later, he told reporters he had “never heard” that the term was considered an offensive stereotype. “Shylock” refers to the villainous Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, condemned Trump’s comments and said in a statement that he had used one of “the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes.” Trump has made cracking down on antisemitism a priority. His administration said it is screening for antisemitic activity when granting immigration benefits, and its fight with Harvard University has centered on allegations that the school tolerated antisemitism.
   
   
5. – July 4, 2025 – After signing the spending and tax bill known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump declared, “I can say very proudly that our country is more proud right now than it has been in many, many years.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the bill, “If you’re for common-sense fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, this bill is for you. If you’re for fairer and lower taxes, bigger paychecks, then this is the bill for you.” Economists have estimated that the bill’s greatest benefits would go to the wealthiest Americans. It would cost the poorest Americans an estimated $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that cuts to Medicaid could leave 11.8 million more people without health insurance by 2034. The budget office also reported the measure would swell the already soaring national debt by at least $3.4 trillion over a decade.
   
   
6. – July 5, 2025 – An email sent by the US Social Security Administration (SSA) claiming Trump’s new spending bill had eliminated taxes on benefits for most recipients was slammed by critics as misleading. The email claimed the new law “includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries” and “it provides an enhanced deduction for taxpayers aged 65 and older.” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said, “The SSA statement implies there is a direct tax cut on Social Security benefits, which there is not.” The legislation provides a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for people aged sixty-five and older and $12,000 for married seniors. Jeff Nesbit, who served as a top SSA official under Republican and Democratic presidents, posted on X, “The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement. The fact that Trump and his minions running SSA have done this is unconscionable.”
   
   
7. – July 7, 2025 – Despite criticizing Democratic administrations over their handling of Hurricane Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires, President Trump sought to defuse blame over his own administration’s handling of the Texas floods, which killed over one hundred people, including many children. “This is a hundred-year catastrophe, and it’s just so horrible to watch,” Trump told reporters at his golf course, while rescue teams in Texas continued to search for the missing. When asked whether the disaster was worsened by his administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service, Trump responded, “What a situation that all is. That was really a Biden setup. That was not our setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either.”
   
   
8. – July 7, 2025 – US measles cases reached their highest total in thirty-three years, according to data published by Johns Hopkins showing at least 1,277 confirmed cases, 155 hospitalizations, and 3 deaths in 2025. According to the CDC, approximately 92 percent of measles cases this year were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The three individuals who died from measles this year, including two otherwise healthy children, were all unvaccinated. Although measles was officially eliminated from the US in 2000, public health experts warned that the country was on track to lose its elimination status. Earlier this year, anti-vaccine activist Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed concerns about measles, spread misinformation about the MMR vaccine’s safety, and recommended bogus treatments. “It’s not unusual,” Kennedy Jr. said of the West Texas measles outbreak, “We have measles outbreaks every year.”
   
   
9. – July 7, 2025 – According to a document written by the Salvadoran government in response to a UN inquiry, the US bears legal responsibility for Venezuelan men who were deported to El Salvador. “The actions of the state of El Salvador have been limited to the implementation of a bilateral cooperation mechanism with another state, through which it has facilitated the use of the Salvadoran prison infrastructure for the custody of persons detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement of that other state,” the document stated. “In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities, by virtue of international agreements signed and in accordance with the principles of sovereignty and international cooperation in criminal matters.” For months, the Trump administration insisted in court filings and hearings that the US had no control over the deported Venezuelans and no authority to return them to the United States.
   
   
10. – July 7, 2025 – On an otherwise quiet Monday morning, heavily armed federal immigration agents and California National Guard troops stormed through MacArthur Park, an area of Los Angeles where many immigrants live. As the agents and troops marched through the park, some on horseback and many wearing masks and helmets, armored vehicles blocked the street; a federal helicopter also flew overhead. The widely criticized show of force came after Trump ordered National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in June to quell protests against immigration raids. “What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege, under armed occupation,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “It’s the way a city looks before a coup.”
    
    
    National Guard and federal agents descend on Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park (AP)
    
    
11. – July 7, 2025 – The Justice Department announced there was no evidence that accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was murdered or kept a client list. “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’” the Justice Department stated in an unsigned memo. “There was no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.” The memo’s conclusions contradicted prior statements made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who for months hyped conspiracy theories and promised to release files related to the case. Back in February, Bondi told Fox News that a client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
    
    
12. – July 7, 2025 – President Trump posted letters on social media informing twelve countries that he planned to impose new tariffs on their exports beginning August 1 unless they reached new trade deals with the United States. By the end of the week, Trump had informed roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that they could face up to 50 percent export tariffs. The impacted trading partners included Mexico, Canada, Japan, and the European Union, which together account for over 50 percent of US imports.
    
    
13. – July 8, 2025 – In a wide-ranging and rancorous Cabinet meeting, Trump criticized the media, Vladimir Putin, and Jerome Powell, among other targets. “It’s hard to have a really successful country if you have a corrupt media,” Trump said, still upset over reporting that questioned the extent of the damage caused by his strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He later fumed at reporters who questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi about the release of a Justice Department memo related to Jeffrey Epstein, and told them he didn’t know who in his administration had ordered a pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” he said. Trump also stated that he liked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a rumored replacement for Federal Reserve chair, better than Jerome Powell, the current chair. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. After running through his laundry list of complaints, the president became fixated on White House decor, speaking excitedly about drapes, silverware, lighting fixtures, ceiling moldings, picture frames, and a grandfather clock.
    
    
14. – July 8, 2025 – The New York Times reported that the Energy Department hired three scientists who rejected the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change: Steven E. Koonin, a physicist who has called climate science “unsettled”; John Christy, an atmospheric scientist who has cast doubt on the relationship between human activity and global warming; and Roy Spencer, a meteorologist who has said that clouds impact global warming more than people do. “What this says is that the administration has no respect for the actual science, which overwhelmingly points in the direction of a growing crisis as we continue to warm the planet through fossil-fuel burning, the consequences of which we’ve seen play out in recent weeks in the form of deadly heat domes and floods here in the US,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, the Trump administration fired hundreds of scientists working on a climate change report, cut funds for global warming research, and removed mentions of climate change from government websites.
    
    
15. – July 9, 2025 – During a lunch in the State Dining Room with leaders from five African nations, President Trump asked Liberian President Joseph Boakai where he had learned to speak English. “Such good English,” Trump said, after hearing Boakai speak. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where? Were you educated? Where?” English is the official language of Liberia.
    
    
    Trump asks Liberian president where he learned English (Indian Times)
    
    
16. – July 9, 2025 – Recently unsealed court documents and testimony revealed that the Trump administration relied on the anonymous pro-Israel groups Canary Mission and Betar to help identify pro-Palestinian academics for possible deportation. According to the records, more than seventy-five of the approximately one hundred pro-Palestinian foreign students and scholars targeted by intelligence analysts were identified by Canary Mission, which has been criticized for doxxing pro-Palestinian activists and accusing them of antisemitism based on little evidence. “Many of the names or even most of the names came from that website,” acknowledged Peter Hatch, assistant director of the Homeland Security Investigations department within ICE.
    
    
17. – July 9, 2025 – In a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President Trump criticized the prosecution of his ally, the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and pledged to implement a 50 percent import tariff against Brazil on August 1. “The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace,” wrote Trump, who has characterized the trial against Bolsonaro as a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro is on trial for attempting to hold on to power after losing his election in 2022, a plight to which Trump can apparently relate, as captured in his social media post from earlier in the week: “Brazil is doing a terrible thing on [sic] their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro… He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE… This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent—Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World!”
    
    
18. – July 9, 2025 – Fox News reported that the FBI had launched criminal investigations into former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey. The investigations followed a referral from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who released a review criticizing the 2017 intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had attempted to intervene in the 2016 US presidential election on Trump’s behalf. In his review, Ratcliffe argued that the intelligence community had rushed the investigation and that Brennan had “risked stifling analytic debate” by “signalling that agency heads had already reached consensus before the ICA was even coordinated.” Trump has long called for investigations into Comey and Brennan and referred to them as “dishonest people.” Comey, who Trump fired over his handling of an inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails, was previously brought in for Secret Service questioning after posting an image of shells spelling out “86 47,” a reference to Trump.
    
    
19. – July 10, 2025 – The Justice Department subpoenaed more than twenty doctors and hospitals for confidential patient information about gender-related treatment for minors. Subpoenas were also sent to drug manufacturers whose products are used in trans-related medical interventions. “Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. The subpoenas are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to ban pediatric gender-affirming health care, such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormones, and surgeries. “This politically motivated effort is a drastic overreach and a backhanded attempt to intimidate providers and institutions serving the transgender youth population,” said Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a pediatric psychiatrist who previously led a gender clinic.
    
    
20. – July 11, 2025 – The New York Times reported that thousands of calls from Texas flood survivors to FEMA went unanswered after hundreds of call center contractors’ contracts expired. On July 5, FEMA answered 99.7 percent of calls to its disaster assistance line. However, after the contracts expired that evening, only 35.8 percent of calls were answered on July 6; that number dropped to 15.9 percent the following day. Due to a new requirement implemented by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that requires her to personally approve expenses over $100,000, the contracts were not renewed until July 10. After facing criticism over her handling of the Texas floods, Noem later went on Meet the Press and denied that the policy requiring her personal approval on contracts larger than $100,000 had left FEMA understaffed. “False reporting, fake news. That report needs to be validified,” she said. “What is really unfortunate is we have a situation where so many individuals are playing politics with what happened in Texas.” Just a few weeks before the Texas floods, President Trump talked about his intention to eliminate FEMA entirely. The Texas floods killed more than 130 people.
    
    
21. – July 12, 2025 – A California farmworker, Jaime Garcia, died after falling thirty feet off a building...

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Today's News:

Get your copy of A City on Mars signed in person in Charlottesville, VA on August 23rd!

DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be built at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of Jacksonville, and is expected to house 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — was up 0.9% last month from June and 3.3% from a year earlier.

LEAWOOD, KS—Staring at the email in bewilderment, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce reportedly received an invoice Thursday for girlfriend Taylor Swift’s appearance on his podcast this week. “Shit, she didn’t mention anything about this,” the 35-year-old New Heights co-host said as he scrutinized the PDF file sent from Swift’s personal email account, which in addition to a “booking fee,” “appearance fee,” and “talent fee,” included line items for the pop star’s travel expenses and meals. “The episode wasn’t even that long. This is crazy. How can she legally charge this much? Can she legally charge this much? Jason [Kelce] just texted me, and he said he got one too. Jesus Christ, and if we don’t pay within 30 days, there’s going to be some kind of compound interest thing. This is going to bankrupt the pod.” At press time, sources confirmed Swift wasn’t returning Kelce’s calls.

The post Travis Kelce Receives Invoice For Girlfriend’s Podcast Appearance appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—Hoping his upcoming meeting in Anchorage with Russian President Vladimir Putin will bring a much-needed change of pace, an exhausted President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that a fun getaway with a murderous dictator is just what he’s been needing. “It’s been a pretty busy year, so it’ll be great to take a little summer trip where I can kick back and relax with a fellow killer,” said Trump, who added that he’s looking forward to enjoying Alaska’s majestic scenery and wildlife alongside another leader with an incalculable quantity of blood on his hands. “We can just be ourselves and have a nice talk, homicidal tyrant to homicidal tyrant. Bukele couldn’t make it because he’s too busy installing himself as dictator for life, but I bet we could get Bibi on the phone. Erdoğan and Orbán too. Oh, and maybe that guy in Cambodia. These are people who get it, you know? We can hang out and shoot the shit about killing with total impunity. It’s a beautiful thing.” Trump ended the press briefing by showing off the matching “Boys Trip 2025” T-shirts made for him and Putin to wear when they meet up.

The post Fun Getaway With Murderous Dictator Just What Exhausted Trump Been Needing appeared first on The Onion.

Hey, could we turn down the Percy Faith?

Governor Greg Abbott’s first special legislative session this year appears headed for an abrupt end after House Democrats fled the state to protest the Texas GOP’s cynical exploitation of the deadly Fourth of July Hill Country floods to enact redistricting that would, at President Donald Trump’s orders, rig the maps to deliver Republicans up to five new congressional seats. Upon adjournment Friday, Abbott said he will immediately call another special session with the same agenda. 

Before decamping to Illinois and other blue states, Democrats argued Abbott’s emergency powers already grant him the ability to unilaterally enact flood relief for the tragedy-stricken Hill Country. In a July 21 letter, House Democrats called on Speaker Dustin Burrows to prioritize flood response before any other business, arguing the GOP is deliberately holding flood relief hostage to Trump’s redistricting plan by putting the maps first on the agenda. Republicans have in turn attacked Democrats for abandoning their posts—and Hill Country flood victims. 

In fact, the Texas GOP has had years to prioritize such critical disaster-response legislation but has instead refused to engage with hundreds of related proposed bills to better prepare for disasters and ensure more resilience to climate change. Such bills are once again going ignored as part of a longer pattern of climate-reactive discussions at the Legislature in which Republicans pull their collective fingers out of their ears only to offer piecemeal relief in the aftermath of deadly disaster. 

Democratic state Representative Ron Reynolds, for instance, refiled a bill—one he’s carried for several years now—in the first special session aimed at creating a Climate Change Impact Assessment Council to study the impacts and cumulative costs of climate change on the state and measures that would mitigate flooding, erosion, drought, and wildfires. Democratic Representatives Erin Zwiener and Mary González likewise filed bills in the 89th regular session directing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Texas State University to undertake similar climate impact studies.

“This effort of some of these bills goes back quite a ways, even back to when Eric Johnson was in the House,” said Public Citizen Texas Director Adrian Shelley, referring to the now-Republican mayor of Dallas who served as a Democrat in the Texas House until 2019. Johnson filed a similar bill as early as 2015 that would have mandated certain state agencies draw up strategic plans every two years to address climate vulnerabilities. 

It’s just one example in a long history of bills planning for extreme weather that have been effectively dead on arrival in the Capitol. “It’s been an open secret in the Legislature for a while that if your bill has the word ‘climate’ in the caption, it’s not getting a hearing,” Shelley said. “That has been true for many sessions.”

The fate of the regular session’s HB 2618, authored by state Representative Rafael Anchía, a Dallas Democrat, underscores Shelley’s point. That bill would have directed several agencies including TCEQ, the Department of Public Safety, the Public Utility Commission, and the Texas A&M Forest Service, among others, to draw up “severe weather” adaptation plans every other year. The word “climate” is absent from the text. Anchía got two Republicans to sign on as joint authors, and the bill passed the House with bipartisan support (though it ultimately died in the Senate).

The word “climate” has also been missing from important disaster-response hearings. The phrase “climate change” did not come up once during the House Investigative Committee on the Panhandle Wildfires hearings near Amarillo last year, nor did it appear in the committee’s final report, which nonetheless noted the especially hot, windy, and dry conditions that fueled the flames that February. 

But things may be starting to change—ever so slightly—this time around. The Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, who is tasked with studying state climate impacts, brought up climate change up during his recent testimony before the Senate and House Select Committees on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding in Kerrville in the context of his work with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to map trends in extreme rainfall and estimate future risks. 

Nielsen-Gammon made several recommendations to the committee, including improving monitoring of air masses arriving from both the Gulf and Mexico, improving coordination among state agencies regarding longer-range forecasts, and partnering with the Texas Division of Emergency Management to develop a real-time weather app. He and other meteorologists from the TWDB hope to form a technical committee to develop the recommendations into legislation for the next regular session.

But other recommendations from the same state agency Nielsen-Gammon is partnering with went ignored—until July 4. TWDB’s first-ever statewide flood plan, adopted in August 2024, outlined at least nine specific legislative proposals, including one to prioritize and expand “funding for implementing flood early warning systems on a regional scale, with emphasis on rural areas.”

That policy recommendation, along with those aimed at maintaining the Flood Infrastructure Fund and improving low-water crossing and dam and levee safety, are largely precautionary and were the product of an intensive outreach process.  

Still, as of now, the primary flood response bills in the special session currently address only one of those recommendations: the installation of early-warning systems. The joint committee is working to hone an interoperability and disaster-response bill that largely resembles House Bill 13 from the regular session—which died in the Senate—that would have created a similar interoperability council to administer a statewide disaster-response plan and grant program for counties to build new warning and communications systems.

Beyond that, at least one other bill filed in the first special looked to be directly modeled on the TWDB’s recommendation to authorize counties to collect drainage fees to fund flood mitigation and regulate land for flood management—an issue that has proved central to the July 4 catastrophe, with Camp Mystic being just one of at least 12 camps built in or near hazardous flood areas in unincorporated areas. 

A number of other climate mitigation and resilience bills—almost entirely authored by Democrats—went ignored in the regular session and surely would suffer a similar fate in any special session, too. Those included bills from state Representative Jon Rosenthal that would have eliminated routine flaring at fracked gas wells and directed the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) to implement weatherization rules for fracked gas facilities. Another measure that would have required state agencies and higher educational institutions to lower energy consumption 5 percent over six years passed the House and died in the Senate.

Other bills took a proactive approach to disaster response, including measures from state Representative Christina Morales, a Houston Democrat, to create an alert system to notify nearby residents of toxic chemical releases from manufacturing facilities. At least four bills were filed with the aim of requiring backup generators at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

While the GOP-dominated Legislature did approve measures to secure the state’s drought-stricken water supply during the regular session, lawmakers simultaneously passed laws that would supercharge climate impacts by delivering another $5 billion to the Texas Energy Fund to support the building of new fracked gas plants and fast-tracking the permitting process for liquefied natural gas terminals. 

Climate justice advocates remain concerned that another bill to bar all political subdivisions from using taxpayer dollars to fund environmental projects—like pollution reduction and clean air programs—reared its head again in the first special session. 

In fact, the only bill ever passed by the Texas Legislature that explicitly references climate change was a 2023 measure aimed at shutting down the adoption of climate policies by municipalities. 

“I wish that we could just focus on what is important to Texans. Nobody asked for redistricting,” Public Citizen’s Shelley said. “One man asked for it.”

The post Texas GOP Says Flood Relief Is Priority. Here’s the Climate Policy They Won’t Pass. appeared first on The Texas Observer.

Dallas will join other cities around the world including Kassel, Dakar, and Chicago, in selling bars of soap by 2025 Nasher Prize Laureate Otobong Nkanga.

On the final weekend of Ms. Nkanga’s exhibition Each Seed a Body at the Nasher Sculpture Center, individual bars of O8 Red Bond and O8 Salt Rock soaps will be available for $25 each, packaged in boxes designed and carrying poetry by the artist. All proceeds will go to Ms. Nkanga’s Carved to Flow Foundation, which supports an organic farm and community space in Nigeria, and a nonprofit art group in Athens, Greece.

During the exhibition, Ms. Nkanga has worked closely with Emlyn Roesler of Austin-based Solid Soaps to produce 2,000 bars of the newly-conceived soaps, made of ingredients sourced from throughout the Americas, including oils, cocoa butter, red clay, and exfoliating materials such as pumice and poppy seeds. The soaps have been delivered freshly made to the Nasher and stacked into open towers as part of Ms. Nkanga’s Carved to Flow installation, turning the gallery into an active site of production and temporary storage space for the project, ongoing since 2017.

A limited number of soap bars will be made available for sale, with the remainder to be donated to local service organizations in Dallas as “an act of reciprocal care embedded in the ethos of Carved to Flow,” according to a press release from the Nasher.

For more information on the Otobong Nkanga: Each Seed a Body exhibition closing Sunday, August 17, visit the Nasher Sculpture Center website. Click here to learn more about Ms. Nkanga’s Carved to Flow Foundation.

The post Otobong Nkanga’s Original Soaps Offered For Sale at the Nasher appeared first on Glasstire.

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. David-Jeremiah: The Fire This Time
The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
August 16 – November 2, 2025

From the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth:

“Through narrative, apotheosis, humor, and personification, David-Jeremiah explores the complexities of humanity’s perpetual cycles: self-reflection, contradiction, and unbecoming. At the core of his practice is a commitment to examining how we rival the very virtues we claim to uphold — often weaponizing them against one another for sport. His approach reimagines engagement with constructs such as transcendence, ritual, agency, and man, rendered through the medium of the Lamborghini. Organized by guest curator Christopher Blay.”

2. Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands
Museum of Texas Tech University (Lubbock)
February 15 – August 17, 2025

From the Museum of Texas Tech University:

“In an age where visual representations are fundamental to communication and lifestyle, icons and symbols are the key to ethical precepts, inspirations, and beliefs; they provide a framework for ideals, emotions, philosophy, and, ultimately, patterns of behavior. The Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands exhibition is an embodiment of the landscape and cultural legacy of the U.S.-Mexico borderland.

Mesoamerican, Spanish, Mexican, and Native American elements are blended with the modern American cultural terrain and its consumer trends. The artistic renditions in this collection provide a regional context by which viewers can reflect upon their roots, bridge connections to their cultural and environmental landscape, and envision their place within a global community.”

3. Marta Chilindrón: Abstract Transitions
Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino (Houston)
June 28 – August 30, 2025

From Sicardi Ayers Bacino:

“Marta Chilindrón was born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1951. In 1969, she settled in New York, where she attended the State University of New York in Old Westbury. She apprenticed with Uruguayan masters of modern art Luis Camnitzer and Julio Alpuy, but quickly forged her own artistic path. Since 1998, Chilindrón has been creating colorful, hinged, collapsible geometric acrylic sculptures that invite the viewer to move, fold, and reconfigure their parts, creating an active experience that goes beyond passive contemplation. Her practice combines manual labor and high-technology tools such as laser cutters, 3D modeling, and robotic manufacturing.”

4. Fabiola Menchelli: ombré
The Contemporary at Blue Star (San Antonio)
July 11 – October 5, 2025

From The Contemporary at Blue Star:

“To create her photographs, Menchelli obstructs all light in the darkroom — even the normal use of a safelight — making the final product a discovery for the artist. Mimicking this process, viewers will enter the darkened gallery space to experience the artworks. The pieces play with definitions of photography and sculpture, with bends and shadows making the paper feel multidimensional. Menchelli describes her practice as one that expands ways of looking through photography and our own interpretation of reality. Viewers will see both intentions come to fruition in this exhibition.

5. Form Works
Women & Their Work (Austin)
July 12 – August 28, 2025

From Women & Their Work:

“Form Works brings together the bold vision and refined craft of 22 Austin-based women artists and artisans. Featuring an expansive range of work — furniture, tableware, lighting, textiles, and beyond — the show celebrates women shaping form, function, and the future of design. The exhibition will feature pieces that challenge convention, honor materiality, and shift traditional perspectives on craftsmanship.”

The post Top Five: August 14, 2025 appeared first on Glasstire.

#Kento #Cye #RoninWarriors

Sweeping and sudden funding changes this year put two revered after-school programs for low-income Texans and a rural teacher training initiative at risk of closure.

The Fourth of July flood bore a striking similarity to the Hill Country flood that killed 10 summer campers in 1987. In the following years, officials took little action to protect against the next storm.

In brief: Summer is by no means over, but based on climatological temperatures we have now crested the peak heating for this year. And there’s no sign of extreme heat any time soon, with highs in the 90s for the foreseeable future and daily rain chances. As Cypress and Klein saw Wednesday, isolated thunderstorms are a possibility as well.

Past the peak

Don’t look now, but fall is on the horizon. We are still about one month away from having any real expectation of a decent cold front, but Houston has passed over the ‘hump’ of summer. The traditionally hottest time of year comes from late July through the first 12 days of August. This is when the average high is 96 degrees. As of today, the average high is 95 degrees. So we are taking baby steps.

I don’t want anyone to be fooled, of course. These are climatological averages, and individual years can bring significant variability. Often times the city of Houston sees some of its hottest daytime temperatures of the year in late August and early September. However, the average temperature is lower due to shortening days and the occasional weak front. All of this is to say that we are getting through summer, y’all. And the good news is that, for now, we don’t have any 100-degree weather in the forecast.

Thursday

What we have in the forecast for today is a decent chance of showers, especially closer to the coast. By now you’re familiar with this pattern. Somewhere in the region this afternoon, or early evening, we’re likely to see a decent cluster of showers and thunderstorms. Most of the area won’t see any rain, or just some light sprinkles. But a few places—yesterday it was Cypress and Klein—might pick up 1 to 2 inches. This is likely to be the setup later today as well, and it’s precisely what I mean when I say we will have scattered showers and isolated downpours.

High temperatures will depend on the extent of shower coverage later this afternoon, but most of us should see highs in the low- to mid-90s, with plenty of humidity of course. Nights have been really warm of late, and I expect most of the city will not drop below 80 degrees tonight. Winds remain light, outside of thunderstorms in which there can be strong gusts.

Friday and Saturday

You may have noticed a ‘tropical blob’ highlighted in the Gulf by the National Hurricane Center. This remains unlikely to develop into a tropical depression or storm, and it has a limited window before moving into Mexico or southern Texas late on Friday. (If there’s a significant change to this outlook, we will update the site immediately. But we don’t expect this to happen).

Regardless of development, this system will inject a little more moisture into our area. This should raise rain chances to 50 or 60 percent on Friday and Saturday in the greater Houston area. Overall accumulations will still be on the order of one-half inch (or less) for most locations. But just know there could be some disruptive showers pulsing through. High temperatures for most of the region will top out in the lower to mid-90s on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday and beyond

By the second half of the weekend some high pressure is going to try and work its way into the area, but I don’t think our daily weather is going to change too much. We are likely to see high temperatures generally in the low- to mid-90s (a few far inland areas may push into the upper 90s) with a smattering of afternoon showers and thunderstorms. It should be fairly typical for mid-August in Houston, and as we’ve discussed before, any time we get ‘boring’ weather during this time of year we’re doing very well.

Atlantic tropics

I’ve already mentioned the Gulf tropical low above: It’s not a major concern for us, or probably anyone. Then there is Tropical Storm Erin, which is on its way to becoming the season’s first hurricane. It is likely to pass north of the Caribbean Sea. It will approach the southeastern United States next week but probably (although not yet certainly) curve before reaching the mainland. Bermuda faces a definite risk next week from Erin. Beyond this there are no imminent threats and the Gulf looks quiet for the next 10 days or so.

NEW YORK—Describing the city recently incorporated by SpaceX workers as ideal for those hoping to settle down and raise their employer’s children, U.S. News & World Report published a new ranking this week that names Starbase, TX as the best city in which to start a family with one’s boss. “Across all metrics, we found there is no place in the country better suited than Starbase for people looking to raise a CEO’s progeny after being impregnated at work,” said a U.S. News spokesperson, explaining that while most cities offered some opportunity for insemination by senior management, none could match Starbase when it came to the supply closets, private boardrooms, and staff parking garages that make child propagation convenient. “Starbase was built from the ground up with an eye toward making subordinates serve as vessels for producing offspring. With its ready access to executive-level semen and its high median under-the-table child support payments, this town is perfect for anyone with a fertile womb and a desire to be sister wives with their coworkers.” Galloway added that even if potential residents were looking for something less permanent, Starbase was still a great place to be felt up by a boss.

The post Starbase Named Best City To Start Family With Boss appeared first on The Onion.

WASHINGTON—In an expression of outrage at the vice president for his perceived ineptitude and lack of principles, JD Vance was reportedly booed Monday by his own reflection in the mirror. “You suck, you morally bankrupt prick! Go fuck yourself!” said Vance’s mirror image, flipping off the vice president and claiming that he was a traitor to his values who should be ashamed of his descent into complete sycophancy. “You don’t represent me! You’re a sniveling little liar and pathetic disgrace—not only to your family and your community, but to the nation and the entire world. You have no redeeming qualities, you’re devoid of integrity, and you deserve to suffer for what you’re doing to this country. You’ll always be the freak virgin everyone hated in high school. Eat shit and die!” At press time, reports confirmed Vance had refused to respond to the criticisms, having instead shattered the mirror. 

The post JD Vance Booed  By Own Reflection  In Mirror appeared first on The Onion.

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The engaged couple recently denounced the heteronormative institution of marriage after learning the average cost of a wedding is $33,000.

The post Jack Harper And Patrick Clarke appeared first on The Onion.

Hey btw feel free to check out our official merch! We’re doing a preorder of the plushies once the restocking has been confirmed!

Books, my tarot cards and other goods!

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