Governor Greg Abbott is, once again, using the border to test the bounds of his authority. Last month, Abbott designated Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization with roots in a Venezuelan prison, as a foreign terrorist organization.
Normally, the U.S. State Department designates all Foreign Terrorist Organizations, using criteria established under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. But it’s not Abbott’s first time straying beyond the norms of his state government leadership role. In September 2022, he declared Mexican drug cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations. Other than Abbott, no governor appears to have taken such radical steps, experts say.
Jason Blazakis, a former director of the State Department’s Counterterrorism Finance and Designations Office told the Texas Observer that Abbott’s move might introduce confusion abroad. “It makes it convoluted for our partners who might be watching what’s happening in the United States, and they might conflate an action taken by the State of Texas as a mandate by the federal government when it’s not,” Blazakis said.
After Abbott unilaterally declared “Mexican Drug Cartels,” including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations in 2022 via an executive order, Texas Republicans created a legal basis for him to do so again.
In 2023, state Senator Brian Birdwell introduced Senate Bill 1900, which created a state definition for a foreign terrorist organization under the Texas Penal Code. The bill passed and took effect last fall, making Texas what appears to be the only state with its own legal definition for a foreign terrorist organization, according to interviews with experts and a review of state statutes. Now, under Texas law, a foreign terrorist organization is defined as “three or more persons operating as an organization at least partially outside the United States who engage in criminal activity and threaten the security of this state or its residents, including but not limited to a drug cartel.”
Republicans outside Texas have tried to follow suit. In 2023, Republican legislators in Arizona introduced a bill that would have declared Mexican drug cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations. (The state’s Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed it.) Meanwhile, Republican U.S. Senators John Kennedy of Louisiana and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina began efforts in 2023 to change federal law to require the state department to recognize several Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas.
The Republican bid to achieve a foreign terrorist organization designation for Mexican drug cartels is not new. Since the 2010s, some conservatives have proposed various measures to increase militarization, including labeling drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and even declaring war on the groups by advocating for drone strikes or even by sending troops to Mexico.
Texas’ definition of a foreign terrorist organization is far broader than the State Department’s. The federal government makes the designation based on legal criteria in the Immigration Nationality Act: The group must be foreign-based, engage in terrorist activity or political violence like bombings and assassinations, and pose a risk to U.S. national security interests. The designation process is rigorous, requiring a hefty amount of paperwork and citations to back up every assertion. Writing up the designation’s administrative record is an “exhaustive process” akin to writing a dissertation, and it can take months to complete, Blazakis said.It is unclear what process exists for the Texas designation. Abbott’s office did not answer questions sent via email.
The State Department’s designation of a group as a foreign terrorist organization allows the federal government to freeze assets and to prosecute people who provide funding or material support. Almost all the same consequences apply if the U.S. Department of the Treasury designates the group as a transnational criminal organization, Blazakis said. Tren de Aragua was classified as a transnational criminal organization in July.
As a governor, Abbott lacks the authority to designate such groups as terrorist organizations, according to Vanda Felbab-Brown, director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors at the Brookings Institution. Nor does Abbott have the resources or authority to conduct transnational or national investigations of organized crime. The Texas Office of the Governor’s Public Safety Office announced a $5,000 award for information leading to the identification or arrest of Tren de Aragua members. In July, the federal government announced offers of up to $12 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of several of the group’s leaders.
Abbott’s move to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization is “merely theatrics,” Blazakis said.
Tren de Aragua’s activities also don’t fit most definitions of terrorism, Blazakis said. Normally, the groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations engage in violence with a unifying ideological purpose—like Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. But that isn’t Tren de Aragua’s goal. To generate profits, the gang has engaged in illegal mining, kidnapping, human trafficking, extortion, and the trafficking of illicit drugs in several countries, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. They have a “particular focus on human smuggling and other illicit acts that target desperate migrants,” according to the agency.
Tren de Aragua members are generally motivated by money, not a political ideology, according to Mike LaSusa,deputy director of content at InSight Crime, a think tank and newsroom that has researched and reported on the group in multiple countries for several years. Most of Tren de Aragua’s criminal activities in the United States are lower-hanging fruit, LaSusa said, like robbery, extorting individuals, or actions that don’t require a sophisticated criminal infrastructure.
“If anything, they’re just operating at a very small scale,” LaSusa said, but police officials are still wrapping their heads around the level of threat to public safety the group poses and are “walking the fine line between not raising undue alarm about the gang but also showing people that they’re taking it seriously.”
InSight Crime reported in April 2024 that the gang “appears to have no substantial US presence and looks unlikely to establish one” after contacting more than a dozen national, state, and local law enforcement agencies—none of which reported significant Tren de Aragua activity.
Texas’ latest move is part of a broader Republican campaign to get the federal government to designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Some have even called for military action. “You see Republican politicians calling constantly for [the] U.S. bombing the cartels or even having U.S. special operations forces act against the cartels—something that the Mexican government is deeply opposed to,” said Felbab-Brown, the Brookings Institution director.
Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an author and professor at George Mason University who specializes in U.S.-Mexico relations and organized crime, said a federal foreign terrorist organization designation for Mexican drug cartels would have negative consequences for diplomatic relations between the two countries. Designating a Latin American gang as a foreign terrorist organization is part of a playbook to demonize asylum-seekers, Correa-Cabrera said, which pushes the “idea that migrants are not only taking the jobs but also coming with these groups … that perpetrate really bad things.”
Trying to connect immigration with national security and public safety issues is part of the Republicans’ election strategy, she said.
“The utilization of the politics of fear has been a very important electoral tool for Republicans during these past few years,” she said. “Why is this happening now, with the election very close? And why [is] the governor of Texas … reinforcing the politics of fear? They have been doing this every year.”
Texas elections law says state prison inmates who are appealing their convictions are eligible to register. Many lawyers and voting rights advocates were unaware of the rule.
Board member Todd LeCompte, his wife, his campaign treasurer and the wife of trustee Lucas Scanlon accounted for 52 of the 58 book reconsideration requests submitted during the 2022-23 school year, according to records obtained from the Houston-area district.
Tropical development potential is increasing in the Gulf again, as moisture Sunday-Monday may precede an organized system next week.
It’s too soon to say exactly what may occur, but model agreement in something has increased rather significantly since yesterday.
Interests in Florida should prepare for heavy rain and flooding in the I-4 corridor and on the coast, and may need to begin to prepare for an eventual tropical system next week. Stay tuned this weekend.
Kirk is near or just past peak intensity now and Leslie is on the increase out in the open Atlantic, no threat to land.
Something may emerge from the Gulf sloppiness
We continue to watch with curiosity how exactly the Gulf situation will unfold. What we know for sure: A multi-day rain event is coming for the Florida Peninsula. What we don’t know? Just about everything else. Modeling seems to actually be reinvigorating the potential for some sort of formal development of this system in the Gulf. If we look at satellite today, we can at least see the early underpinnings of it, courtesy of the remnants of Pacific Tropical Depression 11.
A rather robust area of thunderstorms now sits in the Bay of Campeche, courtesy of Pacific TD 11’s remnants. Gradual organization of this system seems increasingly likely over the weekend. (Weathernerds.org)
The system sits just off the coast of Mexico in the Bay of Campeche. Almost all operational models now show at least some organization of this system by Sunday afternoon just northwest of the Yucatan. As it moves east northeast, it continues to develop on most modeling as well. We actually have a majority of Euro ensemble members showing some development by early Tuesday morning.
European ensemble members show likely slow development by Monday night or Tuesday morning in the western Gulf before things get swept east toward Florida. (Weathernerds.org)
Beyond this point, modeling seems to diverge. Some kill it off as just a rainstorm. Others keep it going and developing as a higher end tropical storm into Florida. I think there’s still plenty of uncertainty, but if we were close to writing this off yesterday, we need to take the concept of tropical development seriously today.
Aside from that, the potential for heavy rain and flooding both ahead of and with any tropical development is legitimate in the Florida Peninsula, primarily near or south of I-4. One wave should arrive Sunday into Monday, and then the next would arrive later Tuesday into Wednesday depending on how this evolves. Each wave will bring the potential for heavy rain, with a gradually increasing flood potential for Florida.
An increasing risk of flooding will build next week in Florida with or without tropical development in the Gulf. (NWS Miami)
Rain totals are still around 4 to 8 inches on average, especially on the coast and along the I-4 corridor, but some other inland locations will also have potential for heavy rain and flooding too. This will be a situation to follow closely this weekend in case of any sudden change in development chances.
Kirk flirts with Cat 5, Leslie ramping up
Hurricane Kirk blew up last night into a category 4 storm, and at times some of the remote sensing data we use to estimate intensity of storms that far from land indicated it was on the precipice of category 5 intensity. It still looks textbook today, again no threat to land thankfully.
Hurricane Kirk is straight outta the textbooks. (Colorado State CIRA)
Kirk has maximum sustained winds of 140 mph, and a slow weakening trend should begin this weekend. By next week, Kirk will be a distant memory.
Meanwhile, to Kirk’s southeast, Leslie is taking on some strength of its own. Now a 65 mph tropical storm, Leslie is expected to become a hurricane this weekend, possibly close to a major hurricane. It has a few more hurdles than Kirk had, including Kirk itself. But I suspect it’ll be a healthy storm soon.
Leslie is a much smaller storm southeast of Kirk, but it too is expected to chug out to sea as a hurricane next week. (Weathernerds.org)
Beyond these two storms and a potential one in the Gulf, we have nothing else to really speculate on right now.
Earth will have a secondary “mini moon” for two months when an asteroid roughly the size of a school bus will become temporarily trapped in orbit by our planet’s gravitational pull. What do you think?
In brief: Houston will continue a string of hot days, but the nighttimes should become a bit more pleasant as well. A cool front on Monday will take care of that for us. Rain chances this weekend are mainly at the coast and mainly just scattered, and no real rain is expected next week. We have no tropical concerns in Texas.
There have only been two somewhat similar times that Houston has been through such a persistently lengthy stretch of hot weather so late in the season: 1904 and 2007. The 1904 stretch ended around October 12th, whereas the 2007 stretch ended on October 4th. So when can we get past this faux fall situation? Maybe soon? Maybe. But honestly, looking at the NWS forecast below, this string of upper 80s or hotter during the day may have another week left in it.
Temperatures as forecast by the NWS over the next week look very hot for October during the day; less warm at night though. (Weather Bell)
The good news in all this is that the nighttimes are running out of punch, and we should see lows in the 60s behind an expected cold front on Monday night or Tuesday. That front will also protect us from any tropical riff-raff in the Gulf of Mexico.
Today and Saturday
We already have a bunch of showers offshore this morning. We may see some of those work their way ashore through the day today. I have to be honest though: Consider yourself lucky if you see any rain.
Total rainfall over the next week will be ample over the Gulf of Mexico but much less over land. (Pivotal Weather)
Tomorrow should play out similarly, though I think the coverage of showers will be just a wee bit higher. Still, for the many fun weekend events we have happening in the Houston area this weekend from the Dash tonight to Southern Smoke to the Komen Race for the Cure, our forecast is that other than perhaps a passing shower or two, conditions look fine. Just stay hydrated, as it will be warm and somewhat humid this weekend.
Sunday
Rain chances will begin to slip slide away on Sunday. Texans tailgating will be a bit muggy but other than maybe a passing shower, it should be fine. We’ll be back into the 90s for highs.
Monday and Tuesday and beyond
We will get one push of drier air late Sunday, followed by another, stronger push of dry air Monday night or Tuesday morning with an actual cold front. This is really going to take a bite out of humidity levels, and it will feel extremely comfortable by the time we get to Tuesday. Even with hot afternoons, it will be a decent stretch of warm days and cooler nights for mid to late next week. But again, no real rain chances.
Tropics
We’ve been covering the tropics extensively over at The Eyewall, and we will continue to do so through the weekend.
While there is a 40% chance of tropical development in the Gulf, it is not a concern for Texas. (NOAA NHC)
There will be a sloppy situation evolving in the Gulf of Mexico over the upcoming week where tropical development is possible to some extent. But because of our push of dry air to start next week, everything will get pushed east of us toward Florida. If you’re planning a trip to Florida, just keep tuned into the forecasts and maybe prepare for rain through Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Then hopefully things quiet down.
ASHEVILLE, NC—Saying he wished there was more he could do to help as he pointed out a clause that showed he didn’t have to, a representative from an insurance company explained to local residents Stan and Loretta Coleman on Thursday that their policy was voided the moment their house got wet. “Unfortunately, the coverage you paid for doesn’t extend to any situation where there is water in, on, or around your home,” said Pat Treacy, a claims adjuster at Countrywide Mutual Insurance who informed the Colemans that their policy had actually been voided the moment they first filled their bathtub or ran water from their sinks. “It’s industry standard, I’m afraid. Houses just aren’t meant to get wet. No insurance company anywhere would take on that kind of liability. If it’s possible to prove the house remained dry during the storm, and it just sort of fell down on its own, then maybe a case could be made for approving your claim.” Treacy went on to wish the Coleman family well and said he would keep an eye out for them on GoFundMe.
Organizers from Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve were forced to delay their annual Fat Bear Week competition after a female contestant known as Bear 402 was killed by a fellow brown bear during a fight. What do you think?
“Some bears aren’t cut out for the competitiveness of pageant life.”
SAN DIEGO—Appearing excited by a change of pace around the lab, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, reportedly laughed and cheered Friday as one of their perfectly preserved Neanderthal specimens regained consciousness and ran around shrieking after it was defrosted. “Releasing him from his cryochamber every so often is important to prevent loss of muscle mass, but the main reason we do it is just to watch him flail around and go absolutely nuts in a world he’s unfamiliar with,” said Professor Garret White, head of the cryogenics lab, who ducked as the Neanderthal flung a beaker, a liquid nitrogen tank, and an electron microscope across the room. “If we’re having a rough week, we may let him out two or even three times just to see the look on his face when he wakes up in the 21st century and has this instant existential breakdown. Our anthropological data suggests he was a feared pack leader around 40,000 years ago, so it’s particularly entertaining to see him get frustrated when the lab’s other Neanderthals, who are still frozen, don’t obey his commands to flay us alive.” White added that when it was time to refreeze the angry Neanderthal, researchers simply handed him a tablet computer and let TikTok’s algorithm lull him into total complacency.
Insiders from Donald Trump’s campaign report that the former president is once again preparing to challenge election results in the event of a loss. Here are some of the strategies the candidate and his team are considering deploying.
Use the immunity idol he earned during the debates: The tiki-shaped totem gives Trump one chance to save himself from elimination.
Strap a bomb to J.D. Vance’s chest and take the Senate hostage: Legally impermissible, but not among the worst things that Vance would jump at the chance to do.
Pout: The former president is already reportedly practicing a pout so piercing it could sway some electors to his side.
Fake a hamstring pull: This election doesn’t count if it happened while he was injured.
Move into White House and claim squatter’s rights: Worth a shot.
Put on a ton of weight: If Kamala Harris sees he’s stress-eating, she might feel bad and give him the job.
Jan. 7 rally: With a different date, no one will ever see it coming.
Kura Revolving Sushi Bar opens its doors this Saturday (Oct. 5th) on Rockville Pike, taking over half of the former Chuy’s space at Federal Plaza. The dining experience here is both automated and interactive: The dishes spin around on conveyer belts, the drinks are delivered by roving robots, and kitschy prizes are dispensed each time your party consumes 15 plates of sushi. This is the first Maryland location for Kura, opening just a week after the debut of next-door neighbor Torchy’s Tacos.
Tropical development in the Gulf remains possible but not entirely likely over the next 5 days or so.
Regardless, the combination of a couple disturbances and the remnants of Pacific TD 11 will combine to produce significant moisture tracking toward the Florida Peninsula.
Heavy rain and some flooding are possible there, especially at the coast and south of I-4 next week.
Hurricane Kirk is nearing category 4 intensity in the open Atlantic, no threat to land.
Tropical Storm Leslie will slowly organize and may track a bit farther south and west than Kirk but most likely not threaten land.
Gulf development risks slowly backsliding, but heavy rain chances in Florida increasing
We are down to a 30 percent chance of tropical development in the Gulf today, as we continue to watch for disorganized thunderstorms in the area over the next few days. I still think this area will have a chance to develop next week, and many models show development of low pressure into something akin to a depression by early next week.
Very disorganized and patchy thunderstorms in the northwest Caribbean and western Gulf of Mexico will continue for a few more days before advancing east toward the Florida Peninsula. (Weathernerds.org)
Today, there’s nothing at all today. We have a cluster of storms south of Cuba and another one in the Bay of Campeche and western Gulf of Mexico. No imminent development is likely from this. Wind shear looks to be a bit much right now, and that may be the biggest limiting factor in any development out of this area. I would say odds of a named storm are quite low from all this, but odds of an invest or depression are moderate still.
What this will do, however, is deliver rain to the Florida Peninsula. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday look quite wet. Atmospheric moisture is going to load up over Florida, with precipitable water values (or how much available moisture there is) up around the 90th percentile for early October, or around 175 percent of normal. Between the two disturbances noted above, the remnants of Tropical Depression 11 in the Pacific will enter the fray as well.
Precipitable water, or how much moisture is available in the atmosphere will be up around 175 percent of normal early next week in Florida. (Weather Bell)
This translates to a lot of moisture available for heavy rainfall. Not everywhere in Florida will get dumped on. But there will be heavy rain around and if you have vacation plans, all I can say is to keep tabs on the forecast early next week and consider some indoor activities. Current rain totals look to be on the order of 4 to 8 inches through next week, with the highest amounts on the immediate coast and south of I-4. North of there through Jacksonville or Gainesville looks to be a bit less impacted.
The heaviest rains look to be on the immediate coast and south of I-4 next week in Florida, where 4 to 8 inches of rain may fall. (Pivotal Weather)
We’ll keep tabs on this for potential flooding. At this point, we remain fairly unconcerned with any other tropical impacts, other than rip currents which are always a consideration with a disturbance in the Gulf.
Atlantic racking up cyclone intensity
Meanwhile, the open Atlantic is bustling with Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Storm Leslie. Neither storm is a threat to land.
Kirk is a major, category 3 hurricane, heading for cat 4 intensity, while Leslie is expected to trail Kirk as a hurricane of its own. (Tomer Burg)
Kirk is about as classic looking as it gets, albeit with a relatively large eye.
Hurricane Kirk has maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, making it a strong category 3 hurricane, likely headed to mid-end cat 4 intensity. (Tropical Tidbits)
Hurricane Kirk should peak in intensity tomorrow before slowly weakening as it goes north and northeast out to sea. Modeling is in decent agreement that this will avoid the Azores on its way out right now.
Leslie is a little sloppier right now, but it too should intensify into a hurricane eventually this weekend. It will trail Kirk a little farther to the south and west. There is a very, very, very slight chance that Leslie could gain enough longitude to perhaps deliver some fringe impacts to the islands at some point, but that’s unlikely and a long way off. We’ll keep an eye on things.
The good news is that once Kirk and Leslie exit and the Gulf system is out of the picture later next week, I don’t quite know what would be next. There are no model signals of any real strong sort that point to the next system to watch. So perhaps we get a little break. Could it be the final break and the season is over? Maybe, maybe not. But with such warm water still out there, a November storm somewhere would be unsurprising this year.
Thank you so much for publishing an answer to my question! I appreciated your advice, Alison, and the advice shared by the commentariat. It was validating to see that others agreed Lulu is, well, delulu. I do have a small update to share!
I ended up just ignoring Lulu’s emails. I haven’t heard anything else from her. But – a coworker told me they’d contacted Lulu about a system she still had access to. It was an external tool that my coworker needed to take ownership of, which required Lulu to remove herself from the account. She did, but only after being rude AF and unhelpful to my coworker, ignoring them for weeks instead of just performing one simple action.
I did “soft launch” the issue of stolen IP with my boss (the one who coddled Lulu) by asking if Lulu was working for a direct competitor. She is not, but my boss did ask why I wanted to know, so I told them. They did not really react, but that is in line with the “Lulu can do no wrong” behavior I witnessed for many years, so I was not surprised.
In the comments, people were incredulous that meetings would be moved at Lulu’s insistence…believe me, I agree with you! It’s very difficult to explain the chokehold Lulu had on management. It’s the most dysfunctional and frustrating vocational experience I’ve ever had. Imagine someone claiming they need information to do their job, only they are not really doing that part of their job, but when anyone offers to HELP with that part of the job, they throw a tantrum…it was exhausting, but the only person who was ever in the right was Lulu. We all just did what we could to avoid the blow-ups.
Lastly: I don’t work there anymore! I realized that while problem children like Lulu were gone, the systemic issues and gaslighting that allowed her to be a problem for so long were not going away anytime soon. A recruiter contacted me with a great opportunity, and I jumped at it. This all happened right around the time my question was published, so I didn’t get to interact with the comments much. However, I read every single one of them and took all the information as a lesson learned should I ever encounter another delulu Lulu!
The question of whether my inability to comply with the new hybrid standards would result in me being officially let go, or if I’d have to resign, never came to a head. HR called me to let me know I was being laid off, but instead of invoking the remote work policy (which I was prepared to challenge), they instead cited the fact that they’d recently (~2 months ago) hired an additional person in my department and the business couldn’t keep both of us.
I can’t help but think this was a very obvious attempt to avoid me pushing back on the new policies that conflicted with the terms of my hiring, as this new person’s job and mine did not overlap at all (e.g. I’m a graphic designer and she is a copywriter).
I will also perhaps uncharitably, but truthfully, say that this person—let’s call her Susan—is very bad at her job. For the first publication she contributed to, Susan submitted an article that was so poorly written that I took it to our shared boss and told her it was unpublishable. While writing/editing was not currently within the scope of my responsibilities at work, the article was so incoherent I felt I couldn’t in good conscience not say something—especially as we were an educational institution and I felt it reflected really badly on us! My boss agreed and re-wrote the article herself. It wasn’t a matter of grammatical errors or anything like that; it was a very clear lack of understanding of how to communicate in the written word.
A month after I was laid off, my boss, true to her word, contracted me to do another publication, and here’s the catch: in addition to doing the design work (my job), she also wanted to hire me to write the copy as well (Susan’s job). I quoted double my freelance rate for the additional work, and they agreed.
So, for those keeping track, here’s where it stands: they laid me off because they allegedly “couldn’t afford” to keep on both me and Susan, and now they’re paying me a much higher rate than they were paying before, to do both my job and Susan’s job, while also still paying Susan. Make it make sense!
Thanks for publishing my letter and confirming that I was definitely overthinking this! (Thanks also to Manic Pixie HR Girl for their comment advice too.)
I gave my resignation to our Chief HR Officer, who managed all of the comms across their C-suite level — including telling my brand new manager. (Fun fact! When I wrote in, I didn’t have a manager, but in the interim they hired someone who actually ended up starting the exact same day I gave my notice.)
I haven’t left yet, but your site continues to offer a wealth of resources as I close out my notice period. Thanks again, Alison!
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
I’m off for a few days, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2019.
A reader writes:
I work in a small office (about 20 people at this branch of our company) and we have two individual restrooms (as opposed to stalls) in our central hallway. There is certainly a smell situation because the hallway leads to all major sections of the office, but in general, people try to control this with air fresheners, PooPourri products, etc. Sometimes a book of matches is left there, which seems to help the most.
In the last few months, however, a coworker has begun to — from what we can best understand — light clumps of toilet paper on fire, throw the burning toilet paper into the toilet, and flush. Ashes often skitter down the hallway, like smoky tumbleweeds. The whole office begins to smell like a poop barbeque. This has begun happening at least twice a week, often more.
Now, I thought people understood that matches work to mask odor because of the sulfur released, not because of the fire. Clearly, this individual does not realize this. We all know who it is, because he’s one of the few smokers (i.e., carries around a lighter) and also has been seen walking away as the ashes go flying.
I have asked my boss (not this person’s direct boss) to speak to him, but he deflects and says we don’t actually have proof, and nothing wrong has technically happened yet. This person’s actual boss is the least confrontational person in our company, so I know he won’t do anything either. My boss said, “We’d have to email the whole company and ask them to stop lighting toilet paper on fire,” and I said, “That’s fine! It’s dangerous and disgusting! Explain the science of matches to them!” but my boss keeps deflecting.
Do I need to just let this go, or should I continue pushing my boss to do something? I’m seriously worried this person is going to accidentally set our building on fire from the bathroom out.
I am picturing your coworker striding out of the bathroom with smoke and ashes billowing around him as strobe lights flash and Metallica plays.
It is magnificent.
But only because I do not smell the poop barbecue.
I don’t see any reason you can’t just say something to this guy directly the next time you see him emerging from the bathroom in a cloud of ash. Like, it’s totally reasonable that you might comment on that! In some ways, it’s actually weirder not to say anything when you see that.
You could say, “Holy crap, did you light something on fire in there?” or “Whoa, are you okay? What’s with all this smoke and ash?” … followed by, after whatever weird response he gives you, “You’re not actually lighting anything on fire in there, are you? That would be dangerous. The matches aren’t intended to start fires, they’re just supposed to be lit and immediately blown out.”
Your boss’s reluctance to address this in any way is weird. You don’t need “proof” to say to someone, “Hey, are you setting toilet paper on fire in the bathroom? Please don’t do that if so; it’s dangerous.” (And this wouldn’t be based on just a hunch; you have seen the ashes.)
In many offices, if you hadn’t already talked to your boss about this and explicitly been told that he doesn’t want something sent to the staff email list, you could have just sent that message yourself (assuming your office is small enough that it wouldn’t have been bizarre for it to come from you rather than an official facilities spokesperson or so forth). But now that your boss has vetoed it, that’s more complicated.
Really, though, if no one around you is willing to take this on, you can just say something to the guy yourself.
CANTON, MA—Shining a light on the unsettling realities behind the foods we eat, a disturbing video shot by undercover activists and posted on YouTube Thursday reportedly shows workers at a Dunkin’ hatchery disposing of male donuts in an industrial grinder. “When a donut hatches at one of Dunkin’s production facilities, a professional donut sexer quickly separates the males from the females by squeezing out the donut’s filling and checking its out-turned anal vent for rudimentary male sex sprinkles,” said Boston-based pastry welfare advocate Addie Tapper, explaining that because male donuts are too chewy for human consumption, they’re discarded into the whirring blades of a machine that—as the activists’ footage shows—instantly shreds the hatchlings into lifeless, doughy pulp. “Dunkin’ claims the process is painless and humane, but this video clearly shows a cruller missing the chute and dying a slow, agonizing death on the ground. While it’s heartening to watch these activists secretly transport a handful of male donuts to a baked goods sanctuary in rural Vermont, millions more are dying barbaric deaths every day, all to satisfy America’s insatiable demand for pastry.” The video follows a government report last month that found stress among Coolattas living in filthy, cramped conditions causes the frozen beverages to brutally slurp one another to death.
VALDOSTA, GA—Urging first responders to act quickly after he spotted the placard amongst the wreckage, a heartbroken Donald Trump clutched a limp campaign lawn sign Thursday that had been washed away by Hurricane Helene. “Please, hurry, we don’t have much time,” a visibly panicked Trump said during his visit to a storm-ravaged Georgia town, sobbing after he dropped to his knees, dug through a pile of flood debris, and uncovered a tattered piece of cardboard emblazoned with the words “TRUMP VANCE 2024.” “Stay with me, little buddy. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to fix you up as good as new and put you right back in your family’s front yard where you belong. Then we’ll win this election together. You’ll see!” At press time, sources confirmed Trump had been evacuated by Secret Service and placed under suicide watch after saying he could not allow the sign to die alone and that he would see it in heaven.
In our virtual Library Leaders Forum, you’ll hear from Internet Archive staff about our emerging library services and updates on existing efforts, including from our partners. How do libraries empower research in the 21st century? Join in our discussion!
TORONTO – In the midst of a preseason that has lasted approximately 6 months, hockey fans are excited to watch the few players on their team healthy enough to play when the regular season begins. “Oh man, I can’t wait to watch David Reinbacher and Patrick Laine suit up for my Habs,” said Canadiens fan […]
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