by By Natalia Contreras, Votebeat and The Texas Tribune
Senate Bill 16 is imperiled after missing a deadline in the House. It was among the most sweeping proof-of-citizenship proposals in the U.S. and would have applied retroactively to all voters.
by By Natalia Contreras, Votebeat and The Texas Tribune
New research from the Brennan Center for Justice suggests that 2021 ID requirements in a recent overhaul of Texas election laws could explain some of the drop in mail voting.
Lawmakers filed dozens of bills that would increase transparency around spending in elections and strengthen penalties for campaign and lobbying violations. None are poised to pass.
“After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening, but fell short of the main objectives when the spacecraft tumbled out of control and broke apart.” – PBS
- - -
We at SpaceX would like to remind the losers who have been gleefully pointing out how often our rockets explode that exploding rockets are a completely normal part of spaceflight.
Look, things explode. It’s just part of nature. Cybertrucks explode, and it’s no big deal. (Really, it’s not a big deal that cybertrucks explode.) So why should we spend so much time harping on how frequently our rockets explode, when we could, instead, focus on how long they haven’t exploded? Many of our rockets that haven’t launched are stored safely, completely unexploded. Yet does anyone congratulate us on the unexploded rockets? Nope.
With every single explosion, we learn and we improve. That’s called science. For example, when one rocket exploded due to a fuel leak, we removed all of the fuel and solved the problem: no more explosions. The rocket also didn’t take off, so we tried replacing the fuel with a much more volatile fuel, but then that rocket exploded. So we learned two lessons—at a cost of merely $6 billion.
We all make mistakes. Even you. You made a mistake by questioning us. Our mistakes happen to spread fiery debris down from the heavens, but that’s just the cost of business. This is really a “no harm, no foul” situation. Sure, there’s a bunch of garbage falling from the sky, but most of it falls in the ocean, and who cares about the ocean? We’re not fish. We’re not whales. We’re not Snorks. We’re people. We live on the land. And sure, the explosions disrupt air travel, but air travel is so easy and unstructured that a little disruption doesn’t hurt it in the least.
We’ve tried to improve our rockets, we really have. Many of our top technicians have been working, day and night, supplying ChatGPT with ever-more-refined queries such as “Could you make the rocket explode less?” and “This is a good start, but can you design a rocket that doesn’t go boom?” and ChatGPT has told us, in no uncertain terms, that it’s impossible. It also gave us several suggestions for “explosive fanfic involving Team Rocket,” which we’ve saved, just in case. (Some of our scientists tried asking Grok the same things, but most of the responses involved tirades against Nelson Mandela.)
Are you guys rocket scientists? No. You’re not. Neither are we. Most of us have degrees in business communication and have been promoted far beyond our abilities due to a complete knowledge vacuum in the upper reaches of management, like a black hole that pulls incompetence up, into darkness. (Black holes are a space thing, which we know a lot about.)
But the beauty of the free market is that we get to try, we get to disrupt, and yes, some of our spacecraft will unintentionally detonate along the way. That’s just how the free market works. “Aren’t you heavily subsidized by the government?” you may ask, and to that I have one simple answer that will shut you up for good—wait, hold on. Oh. Oh no. Damn damn damn.
Okay, I forgot I was supposed to be watching this launch. On the plus side, we’ve achieved our fastest ever launch-to-explosion time (0.01 seconds!), so we’re all going to celebrate by lighting up some cigars and wandering around the fueling area, giving each other high-fives.
NPR and three Colorado public radio stations are suing the Trump administration over the president's executive order seeking to ban the use of federal money for NPR and PBS.
The weekend theft did not impact any of the hospital's patient shuttles, which normally traverse between buildings in the hospital complex Monday through Friday.
HPD no longer requires patrol officers to make at least one traffic stop per shift. In 2024, Black drivers accounted for about 34% of HPD’s traffic stops despite comprising 23% of the city’s population.
1. My office is infested with mice, and no one will do anything
There is an active mouse issue at my work, and I am having trouble finding a way to tell my boss how done I am with this situation.
About eight months ago, our building was taken over by new management. My work space is located in the basement and, with seasons changing, mice have moved in. This was not an issue with the previous bulding management company. They have installed traps, but the problem has gotten worse, not better. At this point there have been mice running across my desk while I am working, right next to my feet, and in sight of clients.
I have escalated this to my boss, who is the end of the line unless I want to escalate to the CEO of an international company. (I am in a weird situation where I should be lower on the ladder, but two layers of middle management were let go and not replaced.) His solution was to keep emailing every instance to the management company in the hopes that the squeaky wheel get the grease.
How do I communicate to him that I am truly at my limit, as it seems what I am currently doing isn’t clear enough? Am I completely off the mark on how much this is bothering me? My coworkers don’t seem to be as bothered.
I work from home one day a week, and there is nothing but office politics that mean I have to work from the office. I have a work laptop and if they insist I continue to work from the office, our company is spread over four floors.
I am not willing to leave the job over this or risk being let go, this job has been great for me up until now.
You’re not off the mark in how bothered you are by this! You have mice running over your desk and by your feet! You are not overreacting; it’s ridiculous that it isn’t being dealt with more effectively.
Can you say this to your boss: “The mice problem is getting worse, not better. They are running around by my feet and over my desk while I’m working, and clients have seen them. At this point, it doesn’t feel tenable to continue working from this desk, at least not until they’ve resolved it. I need to find another space in the building to work from — what’s the fastest way to do that?” In other words, give him a different problem to solve; it’s no longer the mice, it’s helping you find a different desk. Alternately, if there’s an obvious place for you to move, replace that last sentence with, “My plan is to start working from room 102 since it’s been empty for a while and seems to be mouse-free, but I’m of course happy to move back once the mice are gone if you want me to.”
2. My coworker won’t stop contacting me while I’m on maternity leave
The person covering for me while I’m on maternity leave has been contacting me with questions almost weekly and won’t accept my response to connect with literally anyone else who is in a position to answer these questions. I’m at a loss for what to do, and I feel that this has somewhat sullied my maternity leave. I’ve alerted my boss and am waiting to see what (if anything) they’ll do to rectify the situation. I honestly don’t know what to do otherwise. I’m really disappointed as I felt that this job was a pretty supportive and caring community.
Are you on FMLA? If so, what this person is doing is what’s known legally as FMLA interference; it’s illegal, and it can get your company in trouble. (It basically means your employer, which includes your coworkers, needs to respect your leave and not keep pestering you. The law does allow very minor, infrequent questions like “what’s the password to the X file?” but it can’t be a frequent thing.)
If your boss hasn’t handled this in the next few days, contact them again and say, “I think we’re in FMLA interference territory, so I’m formally requesting that the company put a stop to this.”
Meanwhile — and whether or not FMLA isn’t in play — you should message your coworker one final time and say, “I am on leave and not available for any additional questions until (date) so I won’t be able to respond to anything further” and then block her number and her email for the remainder of your leave so you don’t continue to feel harangued. You’re not obligated to engage with her just because she’s contacting you, and you’re well within your rights to simply block her from reaching you, particularly once you’ve told her you won’t be available further and have looped in your boss about what’s going on.
3. What does “wow, okay” convey in an email to your boss?
The other day, I sent an email to my newest manager with a simple question that only needed a brief reply. However, she sent back an extremely long email that took quite a while to read.
I thought we had a pretty good relationship but when I replied “wow, okay” she got upset and stated that I was unprofessional and rude.
Many times your advice includes saying “wow” when talking to people. What do you think that her interpretation of “wow, okay” means? In reality it is used to express surprise, amazement, or admiration but clearly the manager took it the opposite way.
I think it’s Carolyn Hax more than me who has suggested “wow” — but as a response to people saying something inappropriate, which doesn’t sound like your intent. In a quick search of my own responses, I’ve mostly suggesting it in the context of “wow, great job” (and similar) or with a similar Hax-ish implication of “wow, what an inappropriate question/comment.”
If I sent someone someone I managed a lengthy email and they replied “wow, okay,” I’d likely read that as conveying, at a minimum, “something is weird about what you wrote to me” … and likely kind of rude! The exception is if the context made it clear that they meant it in the “amazement/admiration” category — like if my email was telling them they would be in charge of escorting Pedro Pascal around at an upcoming gala or something. But if you say “wow, okay” in response to your boss taking the time to write out lengthy instructions or an explanation or just providing more info than you needed/wanted … yeah, in a lot of contexts that’s going to read as dismissive or rude.
4. Should I ask to be reassigned to a different boss?
I have had ongoing issues with a manager:
1) who screamed at me in public for not working eight-hour days while I was on intermittent FMLA during treatment for cancer,
2) who I did not tell about said cancer because she is known to proselytize to her reports when they are in crisis,
3) who promised me I’d get assistance since last November only to reassign the help we hired to herself.
HR is aware of the issues and have indicated to me that she is struggling and underqualified for the role.
She was promoted when I pioneered a new revenue stream for the company a few years ago, but has been unwilling to get the same credentials I have for the role. I feel like she has been taking it out on me ever since, and I am exhausted by navigating her drama.
Given that we are a small company and I would still have to see her every day, is it even worth considering asking for reassignment to a different manager? (The only likely candidate would be her boss.) Or should I focus on finding a new job? Her attacks are starting to feel extremely personal, especially since she’s recently been weaponizing my requests for guidance to be about my deficiencies rather than how we can work together for an outcome that suits us all.
There’s a huge difference between having someone like this as your boss and just having to see them every day! If being moved to a different manager is a possibility, you absolutely should ask for it — and you might be able to use that FMLA interference or retaliation (point #1 in your list) as leverage to get it, because that’s a legal liability for your employer.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also be looking for another job — maybe you should (it depends on how happy you are with your job and your company otherwise) — but just the fact that you’d still have to see her every day shouldn’t keep you from trying for a different manager.
5. How do I talk about my newly transitioned partner at work?
My partner of 7+ years has recently begun a gender transition and is now going by a different name and pronouns. I work in a pretty small office environment (~15 people) and my coworkers have all met my partner pre-transition and under [deadname] and they will frequently ask after my partner.
So far I have been avoiding telling my coworkers that she’s using a different name / pronouns and answering questions like “oh yeah, they’re doing great.” But I am getting tired of artfully dodging and would love to use her desired name and pronouns.
Additionally, we frequently have work events where people bring their partners (think customer entertainment) and I would like to bring her along without her having to pretend to be someone she isn’t.
What’s a good way to bring this up in a work setting? My coworkers fall pretty evenly along political leanings and reactions will be mixed but likely not downright hostile.
Be matter-of-fact about it, just like you would if she had changed her name for any other reason. “Actually, she’s going by Jane now, and using she/her. She’s doing great — we’re planning a trip to Greece in the fall.”
If you’re bringing her up yourself and not in response to someone asking you about her, you could refer to her as, “Jane — same spouse you’ve heard me talk about before, just going by Jane and she now.”
WASHINGTON D.C. – US President Donald Trump has offered Canada the “fabulous opportunity” to either pay $61 billion to join his military’s proposed Golden Dome defense shield, or to pay just $30.5 billion as a bribe to Trump directly. Trump announced this offer on Truth Social, writing, “I told Canada, which very much wants to […]
The next Apple operating systems will be identified by year,
rather than with a version number, according to people with
knowledge of the matter. That means the current iOS 18 will give
way to “iOS 26,” said the people, who asked not to be identified
because the plan is still private. Other updates will be known as
iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26.
Apple is making the change to bring consistency to its branding
and move away from an approach that can be confusing to customers
and developers. Today’s operating systems — including iOS 18,
watchOS 12, macOS 15 and visionOS 2 — use different numbers
because their initial versions didn’t debut at the same time.
Now that they’re on a consistent annual schedule, this supposed new version-numbering scheme makes a lot of sense. It’ll certainly be helpful to anyone trying to figure out what’s up-to-date or not, and it’ll make writing about older OSes much easier. Presuming Gurman is right, this is going to seem really weird at first, and then very quickly seem very natural.
One of the true oddities of Apple’s OS version numbering is that because they stuck with “10” as the leading digit of MacOS’s version numbering from Mac OS X 10.0 “Cheetah”1 (2001) through MacOS 10.15 “Catalina” (2019), before finally turning the dial to 11 with MacOS 11 “Big Sur” (2020), a casual observer would presume that iOS (currently at 18.5) is older than MacOS (currently at 15.5) when in fact it’s the other way around.
This was like the ultimate in wishbranding. A real cheetah is the fastest land animal on Earth. Mac OS X 10.0 “Cheetah” was the slowest-feeling OS Apple ever released. ↩︎
WASHINGTON—Although the mysterious stranger has been spotted both on Air Force One and at Mar-a-Lago, an administration official confirmed Wednesday that nobody in the White House was sure who the guy praying over President Donald Trump is. “All anyone knows about this dude is that he showed up at a meeting with the Pentagon top brass a few weeks ago to lead a prayer, and he’s been by the president’s side ever since,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity, adding that the man often appears to be in a trance and speaks in tongues while hovering his hands above Trump’s head. “When journalists asked about his identity, the press secretary called them enemies of the state who need to mind their own damn business, but the truth is we don’t have a clue who this man is or if he might be dangerous. No one in the media, the FBI, or even the general public has been able to put a name to the face. The Secret Service has confiscated, like, six snakes from the guy, but he keeps showing up with more and is always handling them in the Oval Office.” At press time, Trump had reportedly appointed the mysterious stranger as the new head of the Federal Reserve.
MEMPHIS, TN—In a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on, the Memphis Science Center confirmed it had opened a new interactive exhibit this week that lets kids figure out how to manage the budget shortfall that, if it is not dealt with, will soon shutter the museum. “Through our ‘Fun With Funding Cuts’ display, children get a chance to resolve the devastating capital shortage that’s going to force us to close by the end of the year,” museum curator Colleen Gannon said while walking through the exhibit, which features a wall of spreadsheets that children can fill in via a 10-by-10-foot calculator built into the floor. “Kids gain hands-on experience with the painful realities of keeping a cultural institution running on a shoestring budget. We’ve got a telephone where they can make fundraising calls and get rejected. Plus, there’s a whole light-up display that walks them through how to apply for federal grants, be denied, reapply, win the grant, and then watch in despair as the administration guts the agency. We hope this gets guests thinking creatively about allocating an ever-shrinking pool of money, and more importantly, we hope someone can solve it for us!” At press time, it was announced that the museum had been purchased by a private equity firm and would be turned into condos.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was “accessorize.”
I am equal parts holy relic and regional pageant tiara. I am crucifix and courtroom bling. I am a sacrament. I am a statement piece.
I am forged of divine gold sourced from the sacred hills of Medjugorje. I was purchased at a Miami-Dade jewelry store that is really a front for a Medicare fraud scheme. As God intended.
I sit just above the sternum, where Christ’s unblemished mercy meets freckled cleavage. I hang, heavily and blessedly, where divinity schmoozes décolletage on the clavicular altar of Florida’s own Evangelical Barbie.
I repel Stephen Miller. I have felt the breath of Bret Baier. I have grazed Ron DeSantis’s nipples during an awkward hug at a prayer breakfast fundraiser. RFK Jr. has used me to draw fault lines in the finest Colombian snow of West Palm. Lindsey Graham clutches me during thunderstorms.
Yeah, though Pam spills Red Bull and vodka on me with alarming frequency, I shall not tarnish. My luster shall endureth the prosecutions of Tesla vandals and the titillating Luigi Mangione. For I am polished in the blood of the Lamb and misted with Bumble and Bumble Spray de Mode Hold Hairspray.
I emit Christ’s transformative love, especially under soft Fox News lighting. I radiate Christ’s redemptive mercy. I reflect the glint of the inferno that is the Department of Justice.
My chain is twisted like scripture in a campaign ad and as delicate as an invertebrate GOP senator’s hydrostatic skeleton. My clasp is more secure than the Mar-a-Lago document vault.
I do not tangle. I dangle like an executive order over a large “law” firm.
I am bigger than Kristi Noem’s little rose gold cross. Also, rose gold!? Ew. 2014 called. It wants its signature precious metal back.
And Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” and Pam said unto He, “Not without three forms of photo ID and documentation.”
She pairs me with off-the-shoulder blouses and unconstitutional executive orders.
I do not judge. Only God judges. I just work with a blazer to draw the eye downward so Pam looks taller.
I once was lost in a tanning bed but now am found, smelling of amazing grace and coconut frosting.
I am Pam’s covenant and her camouflage. She toucheth me mid-interview, and I amplify her piety like a holy satellite dish.
I am bigger than Kayleigh McEnany’s cross. Her cross sayeth, “Ecclesiastes and Etsy.” I sayeth, “A reading from the Gospel according to ”
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” And Pam replied, “Okay, but make it a toll road. For wide is the gate and broad is the shoulder cutout blouse that leadeth unto the donor dinner.”
I am luminous in the flicker of boardroom lights as Pam declared, “Blessed are the shareholders, for theirs is the kingdom of privatized incarceration.”
Karoline Leavitt’s cross? It’s like Pinterest and Proverbs meet Ruth’s Rhinestones. Me? I’m like, “Hold my beer, Beelzebub. I’m about to cast out some demons (and by ‘demons’ I mean a busload of toddler asylum-seekers).”
I am shiny. I am gold. I am shiny gold. I glisten. I sparkle. I shine like heaven’s all-Caucasian air traffic control towers readying me, “Glory One, you are cleared for takeoff.”
And when Pam ascends to heaven (or the Sunday slot on Newsmax), I shall rise with her, gleaming beneath the stage lights.
I am spiritually aerodynamic.
I will be blessed. I will bedazzle. I will be subpoenaed.
“Shy around strangers but will warm up” It will take six months for your friends to even realize you have a cat. They thought your apartment just smelled like that.
“Treat motivated” You’ll never enjoy a bagel in peace again. Cats can have a little cream cheese, it’s fine. Cats can lick cream cheese right off your bagel while you’re taking a bite. Cats can run off with the entire bagel, eat all the cream cheese off it, and hide the soggy remains under your couch for you to find once it molds. Look, cat ownership is all about choosing your battles.
“Independent” Will ignore your existence except for twice a year when he’ll curl up on your lap out of the blue, until you inevitably ruin it by breathing.
“Bonded pair” This one cat is so great you won’t even notice how much the other one sucks.
“Not good with dogs” Met one dog and was not happy about it. We’re not sure, but we think he’s trying to assassinate them. Feels vendetta-based. And doodle-specific.
“Mischievous” Basically, she’s gotten a taste for breaking stuff. Shattering, spilling, toppling, clawing, tangling, shredding, you name it. But sometimes she’ll do this really cute thing where she’ll lick her paw and then use it to clean her ear, so it kind of evens out. Oh, and smashing. She loves smashing things.
“Talkative” Wails like a ghoul every morning from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.
“Tolerates dogs” Will think of your dog as a second-tier pet that you and she own together. (Note: still largely a menace to doodles.)
“Very affectionate” This cat will sit on your laptop during meetings, your lap during meals, and at the end of your bed during sex.
“House-trained” She will always use the litter box, except for hairballs, which she will reserve exclusively for your rug. That’s on you for buying a cream-colored rug.
“Resourceful” This cat knows how to open doors. And cabinets. And the fridge. And windows. And safes. And steel-reinforced concrete cages—oh, god, she’s out again. Code red! She’s loose! Bolt the doors! Double-check your safes! Double-check your lunches in the fridge! She does not respect label etiquette.
“Loves to play” Loves to utilize seemingly lighthearted gameplay to hone her already razor-sharp hunting skills. Her favorite toy is a feather on a string, and her favorite game is pretending to kill it.
“Kitten” This cat is honest to god nineteen years old. You people always pass over the senior cats, so we don’t even feel bad about lying. Her elderly owner passed away, by the way. At the delicate age of ninety-two, no less, which coincidentally is also nineteen in cat years. Anyway, that’s why she’s here. Just thought you should know. She arrived wearing a little knit hat. Yeah.
We’re connecting an EC2 instance to the internet. We have learned a ton, but we still can’t connect to the internet, because we haven’t taken care of…
…security.
Here’s where we are now:
Setting up subnets, route tables etc is not enough. You also need to allow internet connections to pass through security: through your security groups, and through your NACLs. Those are two different things, and operate on different levels:
Security groups operate at the firewall (or EC2 instance) level
NACLs operate at the network (or subnet) level.
Security Groups
By default, your instance's security group is not set up for it to talk to the internet. You will have to explicitly set this up.
To set up a security group to talk to the internet, you need to set up rules. A security group has inbound rules and outbound rules.
Inbound requests are requests coming from outside to your EC2 instance.
Outbound requests are requests going from your EC2 instance to the broader internet.
Let’s look at an outbound rule that says you can connect to the internet. No inbound rules. That means that your servers can hit the internet, but no one from the internet can connect to your server.
Here’s a security group that allows outbound traffic to anywhere:
resource "aws_security_group" "sg" {
name = "terraform"
# We need to explicitly put the security group in this VPC
vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
# Outbound HTTP to anywhere
egress {
from_port = 0
to_port = 0
protocol = "-1"
cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
}
}
We’ll cover the options shortly. For now just know we just defined a security group with a rule using terraform, and that rules.
Here’s another security group example. This one allows inbound traffic to port 80 from anywhere:
resource "aws_security_group" "sg" {
name = "terraform"
# We need to explicitly put the security group in this VPC
vpc_id = aws_vpc.main.id
# Inbound HTTP from anywhere
ingress {
from_port = 80
to_port = 80
protocol = "tcp"
cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]
}
}
You’ll want that one if you’re trying to put a server online.
Lets break down those fields
For the inbound rule above, we're saying that
We allow connections only on port 80
The server is running on port 80
We allow the TCP protocol
We allow connections from any IP.
The outbound rule we had seen above is even more permissive. That rule allows connections from and to any port, using any protocol, from any IP.
Note: On a toy server, you probably want that outbound rule so you can install packages on your EC2 instance. On production servers, people often don't have an outbound rule. This is so if a hacker gains access to the EC2 instance, they can't phone home. Users can still connect to their server because they have an inbound rule.
Useful so you can log on to your box. People often recommend making this more restrictive, so only your IP address is allowed to SSH onto the server.
State your purpose
Going back to that outbound rule example. Now we can hit google.com from our server (an outbound request). But wait: the response from Google would be inbound traffic. And we have no inbound rules!
nuance incoming
Normally that inbound traffic wouldn’t be allowed, but since this is a response to your request, it is allowed. However, if Google wanted to initiate a connection, that would not be allowed.
Sometimes you will hear security groups described as stateful. This is what that means. Stateful means the response to a request is allowed, even if inbound requests aren’t allowed. You don’t need to do anything special to enable this: it’s just how it works.
A couple misc notes
You attach a security group to an instance. An instance can have multiple security groups attached to it, and you can attach a security group to multiple instances, so it's a many-to-many relationship.
Now, before we move on to NACLs, here's a quick debugging tip.
If you try to connect to your server and the connection just hangs for a long time, the issue is probably your security group.
But if it connects but fails instantly, it's because your server is not running.
NACLs
We won't talk too much about Network ACLs, or NACLs, because the good news is, NACLs by default allow you to connect to the internet. You shouldn't need to do anything here.
Most of the time, if you want to make a security change, you will be making it to your security group.
So why use NACLs? It's useful to use a NACL when you want to block a specific IP.
Notice that you can only allow connections using security groups. You can't create a rule that would deny a connection. That plus the fact that we use CIDR blocks to specify IP addresses, means you can't really block a single IP address using security groups. But you can using NACLs. With NACLs, you specify a bunch of rules with a priority level, and rules with a smaller priority level are applied first. You can use this functionality to block specific IPs.
Summary
You don't need to change your NACL.
You do need to change your security group to explicitly allow inbound connections.
You attach your security group to one or more EC2 instances.
If you can't connect to your EC2 instance, and the request just hangs forever, it's probably because of your security group.
Thanks for reading. In the next post, we'll put it all together, and finally talk to the internet!
If you’ve been around a while you might recall that Verizon used to be utterly obnoxious when it came to absolutely everything about using your mobile phone. Once upon a time, the company banned you from even using third-party apps (including basics like GPS), forcing you to use extremely shitty Verizon apps. It also used to be absolutely horrendous when it came to unlocking phones, switching carriers, and using the device of your choice on the Verizon network.
Two things changed all that. One, back in 2008 when the company acquired spectrum that came with requirements that users be allowed to use the devices of their choice. And two, as part of merger conditions affixed to its 2021 acquisition of Tracfone. Thanks to those two events Verizon was dragged, kicking and screaming, into a new era of openness that was of huge benefit to the public.
Verizon being Verizon, they can’t help but lie about it in a petition to the Trump FCC, claiming that they simply must be allowed to unfairly lock down mobile devices, because doing anything else harms competition and helps criminals:
“The Unlocking Rule applies only to particular providers—mainly Verizon—and distorts the marketplace in a critical US industry,” the Verizon petition said. “The rule has resulted in unintended consequences that harm consumers, competition, and Verizon, while propping up international criminal organizations that profit from fraud, including device trafficking of subsidized devices from the United States. These bad actors target and harm American consumers and US carriers like Verizon for their own profit, by diverting unlocked trafficked devices to consumers in foreign countries.”
Historical requirements on this front make it easier for you to bring any device you’d like to the Verizon network (assuming it doesn’t harm network security). Without them, Verizon could revert to only letting you use phones Verizon chooses and sells, jacking up the price for devices. Taking it further, we could easily return to the era where Verizon only lets you use apps approved or sold by Verizon.
These openness requirements are somewhat scattershot across carriers, which is why the Biden FCC had been proposing a uniform rule that would have required that all wireless providers unlock devices within 60 days of purchase.
Not only is that effort dead now thanks to Trump’s election, but Verizon’s pushing to eliminate all such requirements, driving progress violently backward. Verizon’s hoping that such rollbacks can be part of FCC boss Brendan Carr’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” deregulatory bonanza, in which he’s destroying longstanding consumer protection standards under the pretense of government efficiency.
Verizon even name drops Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts in their petition, insisting that longstanding and popular consumer protection standards on wireless devices are “the perfect example of the type of rule that the Commission should eliminate as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s Deregulatory Initiative.”
Trader Joe’s has been expanding across the Houston area lately. Specifically hitting up the suburbs for new locations. Earlier this year, HHR identified two new locations headed to the north of Houston. One headed to the former Kingwood, Randalls, and the other was destined somewhere for the Cypress Masterplanned community of Towne Lake. The details of the Towne Lake location were debated, with residents of the neighborhood questioning whether the address provided on the permits ...
In brief: Scattered to numerous storms will impact the Houston area once more today. Severe risks, while low are not zero. We’ll remain unsettled heading into the late week and weekend but hopefully at a less intense pace than we’ve started the week with. Hotter weather lurks on the horizon.
[UPDATE:We’re pulling the trigger on Stage 1 Flood Alert. See the details at the bottom of the post.]
Today
After things calmed down yesterday, they stayed calm, thankfully. We will not have that luxury today. Storms (non-severe) are already moving across Matagorda County and Wharton County this morning.
Radar at 6:45 AM shows heavy rain and thunderstorms near Matagorda Bay into Wharton County and a couple isolated showers or storms just west of Downtown. (RadarScope)
There are also a couple isolated storms just west of Downtown. Over the next few hours, the activity near Matagorda Bay will slide across Brazoria and Galveston Counties. Some of those storms could be strong to severe with gusty winds. Lightning and heavy rain are a given with these storms as well. Elsewhere, scattered storms will pop across the rest of the area today. While we don’t expect significant severe weather, we cannot rule out isolated severe storms. Gusty winds are the main concern today.
A radar forecast from 7 AM-11 PM today every 2 hours. This is generally how things could play out today. (Pivotal Weather)
It’s possible we see an additional cluster of storms develop with daytime heating out near College Station and the Brazos Valley. Those could swing through in the evening hours. Again, the primary concern would be isolated gusty wind as that happens.
Also keep an eye out for heavy rainfall. These storms are putting down close to 2 inch per hour rainfall rates. This could cause some street flooding to crop up in spots. Nothing too, too serious but just be mindful in typically flood-prone spots. Temperatures will be held back in the 80s today.
Thursday through Sunday
We may venture back to a somewhat less widespread coverage of storm chances here, with more sea breeze driven daily thunderstorms. Those tend to be less intense but can produce locally heavy rainfall. So all days should see the potential for a little street flooding in isolated spots. Many places would end up without much rain. One or two storms could be strong.
That said, we will want to keep tabs on what happens out in western Texas. We’ll be in a northwest flow aloft, as winds 20,000 feet up move from northwest to southeast across Texas. If any sort of complexes of storms can develop out west, they could end up nearby eventually. Models don’t do a great job predicting those features more than 18-36 hours out, so there’s certainly a tinge of uncertainty in the forecast. So with all that in mind, we don’t currently expect widespread storms but we’ll be babysitting the situation through the week.
Temperatures look to top out in the upper-80s on days with rain and low-90s on days without. Morning lows should generally be in the 70s.
Next week
A return to drier, hotter weather seems likely next week. High pressure may try to anchor over the Southeast or Gulf, which would keep Southeast Texas at least at the periphery of hot weather, with temperatures likely starting the week in the low 90s and moving upward from there.
The 6-to-10-day outlook is hot across the Eastern U.S., including southeast Texas. (NOAA CPC)
Mid-90s will probably return at some point. Stay tuned.
Update: Storms this morning are producing localized torrential downpours with rates of 2-4 inches per hour that will cause heavy ponding and some street flooding in spots. As as result, we’re pulling the trigger on a Stage 1 alert on our Flood Scale.
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