Hello fellow citizens of the internet! Andrew here. Welcome to today’s edition of web_crawlr.
Happy Friday! Our top stories today are about: A Republican who was caught stealing people’s food pics and passing them off as her own, a Walmart shopper finding someone’s framed family photo in the store, a man getting revenge on Costco by exposing its chocolate chip cookie recipe, and X suspending numerous left-leaning accounts without warning.
After that our Trending team shares with you their pick for the “Main Character of the Week” online.
Since it’s Friday, that means it is time for our weekly news quiz! Just scroll down below to answer the question. If you guess correctly, you might win a “Jingle Blogs” shirt.
See you tomorrow!
— A.W.
⚡ Today’s top stories
📷 POLITICS
‘Grubgate’: Texas congressional candidate caught stealing food pics and passing them off as her own
Mayra Flores, a former Republican congresswoman from Texas, has recently been accused of using food pictures from other people’s social media posts and reposting them without credit.
🖼️ WTF
‘Whose folks is these?’: Shopper finds someone’s framed family photo in Walmart frame aisle
You’d think Walmart was a thrift store, given the family photos this woman found in the picture frame aisle.
🍪 VIRAL
‘Who wants to make cookies?’: Man exposes Costco chocolate chip cookie recipe as revenge for getting membership card revoked
A man with an axe to grind over an alleged past Costco incident is still angry with the big-box store—enough to where he’s revealed what he claims is its coveted cookie recipe.
💻 TECH
X reinstates prominent left-leaning journalists, posters after outcry
At least nine accounts on X belonging to left-leaning journalists and activists were suspended without explanation. Hours later, the accounts were all reinstated.
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👑 Main Character of the Week
By Ramon Ramirez
Managing Editor
Main Character of the Week: Special edition Stanley cups from Target
Main Character of the Week is a weekly column that tells you the most prominent “main character” online (good or bad). It runs on Fridays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
🕸️ Crawling the web
Here is what else is happening across the ‘net.
🌯 If you’re a Chipotle die-hard and have always wondered what it would be like to eat a Crunchwrap Supreme, an item that many Taco Bell customers argue is the best product offered by the chain, then this TikToker and Chipotle employee has got you covered.
📻 This man eavesdropped on retail workers who were talking smack about customers through a walkie-talkie, and people were very interested in what they had to say.
🚓 A woman who allegedly found an Orlando Police Department officer parked in her assigned spot has left a note threatening to get the officer towed if they persist in parking where they shouldn’t.
🐔 A TikToker has the internet all abuzz with her latest culinary adventure: deboning a Costco rotisserie chicken in under a minute.
🎮 In a series of viral clips with over 20 million views, one user captivates audiences with intense, high-energy simulations from the popular cooperative cooking game Overcooked.
💄 This Sephora worker is going viral for her video sharing what working for the store is really like.
🍽️ Although food inflation has slowed, going out to eat feels more expensive than ever. As a result, many have tried to find any method they can for saving money on their favorite meals and snacks.
🏳️🌈 From the Daily Dot archive: How a Sims 2 fan forum became an unwitting safe space for queer creatives.
👋 Before you go
A flight attendant’s story about a first-class passenger asking for service during turbulence is making its rounds on social media.
In a viral video that has amassed over 153,000 views, TikToker Destanie(@destanieaaa) shared her account of the passenger’s demanding behavior.
“Our captain informs us that our flight is going to be turbulent for the first 30 minutes of the flight,” she began in the clip. “So we need to remain seated until it is safe for us to get up.
Despite the safety warning, Destanie said a woman in first class glared at her for remaining seated as instructed.
