Afternoon Tea 10.26.2020 - Umbrage

Pennsylvania gun violence, foster parents trying to unionize, Chinese reality TV skewers America, and Justice ACAB was sworn in under the cover of darkness and shame. It is Tuesday, October 27th 2020, and this is the Tea.

Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett sworn in by Chief Justice Roberts (CNN) After a being confirmed in a hushed, outdoor ceremony, sworn in by Justice Thomas, the true confirmation happened this morning. After earning his thirty pieces of silver, the Bruised Turtle adjourned the Senate until 11/9, thus ensuring there would be no second covid relief bill before the election.

Fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. prompts heated overnight protests in West Philly (The Inquirer) & Pennsylvania teen fatally shot while watching sunset in park with girlfriend (USA Today) 35 min away from each other as the cheesesteak flies, a white kid was shot by a hunter in Levittown watching the sunset and a black kid was shot in Philly who police claim had a knife. Philly protested into the morning in response.

Massachusetts Foster Parents Could Be First To Unionize (CBS Boston) I feel like this is important and I'm not sure how to explain it. But given our inability to frame child rearing and domestic tasks as work, I hope they make headway.

Peak Gas Is Coming to the U.S. Sooner Than Anyone Expected (Bloomberg) Fracking matters because we've been told we'll need natural gas to be the bridge to renewables. That might not be the case.

Remington workers on layoffs (Times Telegram) The oldest gun manufacturer in the country, Remington, fired 585 unionized workers by voicemail, terminating health care during a pandemic at the end of the month. They also don't plan to pay the contractually obligated severance or vacation cash outs.

There’s No Eviction Moratorium on NYC Storage Units. Now the Contents of Hundreds are Being Auctioned Off (TheCity) Even though you can't be evicted, your stuff can. And quite a bit of it is about to be sold.

On China’s ‘Rap for Youth,’ the Medium Is the Message (Sixth Tone) There is a hip hop reality show in China that broadcast a stunning send up of American foreign policy and militarism. Sung by a sextet of Asian softboy archetypes, they rework a 1991 Hong Kong peace anthem into an around the world dunk on the USA. It is truly a sight to behold, and one of the most delightfully subversive pieces of agitprop I've ever seen. Turn on annotations/Closed Captions for the lyrics and enjoy where music reality TV has landed:

Workers and students in Belarus launch anti-Lukashenko strike (The Guardian) Does what it says on the tin. At the end of the year, someone should tabulate all the general strikes in the last few years and see how many worked.

Changing attitudes to data privacy 2020 (Deloitte) vs. Consumer Reports Study Finds Marketplace Demand for Privacy and Security See also this report from Cisco, the world is reconsidering privacy online, but it's anything but unanimous. Some are craving enhanced security while others care less and less.

Scientists discover new organ in the throat (LiveScience, Full Text here) Scientists found an additional set of salivary glands in the throat. In case someone wants to tell you we've learned all the things to know about anatomy.

The Simpleton Manifesto (Persuasion) If an answer seems too simple, it probably is.

Song of the Tea: Don't feel very musical after last night, so I'm just going to leave you with Chris Hayes, who put it better than I ever could…

Let this radicalize you, not lead you to despair. Don't let them have that too.

Yours,T