USPS worker put on leave for criticizing winter storm response
Plus: Zohran Mamdani's jackets spark a wave of fashion discourse.
Greetings!
Here are the latest trending internet culture stories today:
An Ohio mail carrier says he was suspended without pay after publicly criticizing the U.S. Postal Service’s handling of the recent major winter storm.
Everybody’s talking about Zohran Mamdani’s custom jackets (on the internet, at least), and even the hot takes are mostly flattering.
American TikTokers have co-opted a German term and turned it into a “house burping” trend.
See you in the next one,
— W.J.
⚡️ Today in Internet Culture
“Why isn’t there a plan?”: USPS carrier said he was punished for calling out dangerous snowstorm conditions
Jason Thompson, who works out of the Fairfield Post Office near Cincinnati, went viral on Facebook after describing what he called unsafe and disorganized working conditions during Winter Storm Fern. This includes being required to report in person despite buried vehicles and no mail to deliver.
Hours later, Thompson says USPS officials warned him to delete the post before placing him on emergency suspension.
Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral jackets have people talking: “And they called Eric Adams a fashionista”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has recently been turning heads with his fit, especially those custom embroidered jackets from Carhartt.
The progressive mayor’s fans are hyping his new style hard, while critics found something not to like about it. Either way, his fashion statement caught nearly as much attention as the blizzard.
People in the U.S. have taken a German habit and Americanized it into “house burping”
The American-style rebrand to “house burp” sparked backlash among people who use the German word “lüften” to describe the practice. Others, put off by the use of “burping,” expressed confusion about the need to turn an action as simple as opening a window into a trend.
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🕸️ Crawling the Web
🕹️ Nintendo just released the first look at Yoshi in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and gamers approve
🪩 Dancing With the Stars champ complains that Delta staff kept shushing her kid on a 13-hour flight
🏎️ NASCAR’s apolitical meme subreddit just accidentally outed its leftist side with an anti-ICE meme
⁉️ Conspiracy theorists think a “Leviathan” is waking up…and the snow is part of the cover-up
🎟️ Harry Styles concert tickets are already reselling for $10K and fans are soooo mad
🎸 Neil Young goes scorched earth on Amazon—and gifts Greenland his music
📲 What is UpScrolled? The app going viral as creators lose trust in TikTok
🔥 Hot on the Dot
This was the most-read story on the Daily Dot yesterday:
➤ “The eyes...”: Drag queen’s “Erika Qwerk” parody of Erika Kirk draws cheers, outrage, and discourse
Solid round up of the internet culture stuff today. The USPS suspension is pretty wild considering how much of the point of social media nowadays is calling out workplace issues. I remmeber seeing a few similar situations in other industries where speaking up publicly got people disciplined even when the concerns were legit about safety.