Afternoon Tea 10.20.20 - Dimensia

Food Stamps, Sudanese treasure, payola, a vampire ship, and a failed nation-state walk into a bar.

October 20, 2020

You’re still not working from home, ex-guerrillas in Colombia are being killed, 700,000 Americans can keep their food stamps, and Sudan paid $535 million to be taken off the Do Not Fly List for countries. It’s Tuesday, October 20th 2020, and this is the Tea.

(Editor’s Note: And if you’re going to attack someone for having the dementia, spell check your attack billboards.)

How America gave up on fighting the pandemic and saving the economy (Vox) & How Sean Penn Went to War Against COVID (GQ) Anyone still saying that government shouldn’t be in the business of helping people after 2020 should kindly yeet themselves off the planet.

Federal judge halts Trump's proposed food stamp cutback for 700,000 Americans (NBC News) In surprisingly unqualified good news, a federal judge made her previous injunction against deploying work requirements for food stamps during COVID-19, non-pandemic related/permanent. Because…I don’t know, a 17% increase in the food stamp rolls since May makes it kind of a bad time to cut it?

Trump Plans to Remove Sudan From State Sponsor of Terrorism List (Bloomberg) Largely expected to only happen if Sudan recognized Israel, Trump might have wanted a win while the Sudanese could be biding their time.

UN envoy says many ex-combatants in Colombia being killed (AP) Gangland stuff going on in Colombia. Old wounds leave scars, no matter what the peace agreements say.

Uninspired Attire (The Nib) Pay for The Nib. A picture is worth a thousand words and their pictures are the best.

Pay-for-Play Was Banned From Radio — But Texts Reveal It May Still Be Thriving (Rolling Stone) While I’m glad the expose was done, if you know anyone who thinks payola was ever not a thing, send them my way. I have something in the way of a vintage bridge in a great neighborhood in Brooklyn for them. Perfect for the ‘gram.

The Vampire Ship (The New Republic) Longform, mesmerizing read about a tanker full of heroin, smuggling networks, and how the world really does business.

Travel influencers, meet authoritarian regimes (RestOfWorld) Were you starting to warm up to “influencers” in recent months? Let’s wash that taste out of your mouth.

you're still not working from home (CultureStudy) Anne Helen Peterson reminds us of a thing that’s been true since March. You’re not working from home, you’re surviving a global pandemic without support from your employer or government.

For a CFO, getting that expensive downtown real-estate off the balance sheet is starting to look pretty enticing, especially when you factor in cost of living deceases if and when employees move out of the city. And then there’s the efficiency: no more commutes means more time to answer emails! Some of the biggest companies in the world have decided to make the switch and offer remote work as an option for employees in perpetuity, which, as with almost any business decision, means they think it could be lucrative. And their cost savings will be shouldered by you, the worker. 

24 Cognitive Biases stuffing up your thinking (youbias.is) Great little tool to understand how our minds don’t always work the way we’d hope, especially when we wake up with the dumb.

 Song of the Tea: I implore to not skip this track. Jaymes Young retired and came back with this. If you like it, which I assume you will, here is his Top single “Dark Star,” and his cover of “What Is Love” by Haddaway. Did I stutter?

Keep looking for the light as the days grow short.

Yours,T