Afternoon Tea 11.18.21 - Meta-game Shifts

Innocence, Rest Stop Existence, Lies & Slander

November 18, 2021

Malcom X’s accused killers were declared innocent, the 1/6 plot continues to thicken, 30 days of inflation isn’t permanent, small dollar donations are getting people elected, Uber tried to use algos to predict bad driving, one in five healthcare workers quit their job in the last year, and a thousand words about Breezewood, PA. It’s Thursday, November 18th 2021, and this is your Tea. Today’s vibe is murky, neo-garage infused German hip hop. So underground it’s not even hit 200 plays yet, so help us change that.

District Attorney Admits: Malcolm X Killers Are Innocent (Daily Beast) & Oklahoma governor commutes Julius Jones’ death sentence (AP) The death penalty, like suicide, is a permanent “solution” to a temporary problem. Especially when the problem turns out to be that innocent people were sentenced to execution by the state.

Texts Show Kimberly Guilfoyle Bragged About Raising Millions for Rally That Fueled Capitol Riot (ProPublica) & New Details Suggest Senior Trump Aides Knew Jan. 6 Rally Could Get Chaotic (ProPublica) Trump Asking Appeals Court To Keep His Attempt To Overthrow Democracy A Secret (HuffPo) We’re never going to know how close we got to full-on fascist insurrection, are we? More info in this (now dated) Rolling Stone exclusive, where protest organizers describe “dozens” of meetings with GOP members of Congress.

A month of inflation does not a crisis make (The Week) & The Fed Has More Options Than 0% Rates or Recession (Bloomberg Opinion) & No, the real inflation rate isn’t 15% (Full Stack Economics) It’s almost as if we’re being lied to that the greatest reduction in child poverty due to the Biden payments, is bad for the “economy.” If someone hits you with the nonsense being peddled by the Twitter CEO or Jordan “meat coma” Peterson, the Full Stack Econ article takedown is more than enough to dismantle them.

How Small-Dollar Public Financing Helped NYC Elect Its Most Diverse City Council Ever (CityLimits) & The Democratic Plot to Stop a Socialist From Becoming Buffalo’s Mayor (New Republic) & Demands grow for Byron Brown's ouster from Democratic National Committee (Buffalo News) A progressive democratic primary winner was dislodged from the mayor’s race by a centrist and the NY Democratic Party establishment. Gotta love that centrists will ally with the right to stop the left, every single time. But, change is coming, as more and more local candidates are winning through small dollar donations & public financing of campaigns every election cycle.

Ohio Pension Fund Sues Facebook Owner Meta (Institutional Investor) & Investors Know They Own Too Much Tech. This Analysis Shows That It’s Worse Than They Think. (Institutional Investor) Institutional wealth funds, state pension funds, and private clients are hugely exposed to the trials & tribulations of US tech companies. One pension fund is done with it.

Uber Patents Reveal Experiments With Predictive Algorithms to Identify Risky Drivers (The Intercept) One of those things that could be used to better the planet if deployed correctly, but will just be manhandled, poorly implemented, and eventually shelved after the requisite outrage.

Why Healthcare Workers Are Quitting In Droves (The Atlantic) The terrible handling of the pandemic by the last administration inflicted PTSD on a generation of healthcare workers, from orderlies all the way up to senior doctors coordinating networks of ICUs. They could have been treated like the heroes they are, but instead we clapped for like 5 minutes, then abused them for 16 months.

The corporate war against child care (Popular Information) Opposition to funding childcare is so utterly perplexing to us. The same boomer assholes who ask why they don’t have grandchildren every year at Thanksgiving, are the ones staunchly opposed to child care support.

Dave Chappelle's "Some Of My Best Friends Are Trans" Story Doesn't Hold Up (Confirm My Choices) We were sympathetic, if frustrated & disappointed with Chapelle after the Closer debacle. After reading this, we’re now in open revolt against him. Lying about the death of a trans person to peddle a shitty comedy special to Republicans is a special form of terrible.

Walking America: Breezewood (Intellectual Int-ing) Breezewood, PA was immortalized by the above picture, so a wonderful person went there to try and understand the image. When the locals (who never heard of it before) stopped laughing at the picture-cum-flashpoint of American culture discourse, they told stories of what it is like to live in the parts of flyover country that America tries hard to forget/ignore:

That we can sit all day fighting about Breezewood, because places like Breezewood exist, is lost on us. That we can comfortably get from our homes in A to our conference in B, without having to see the rest of America, because ugly transportation hubs like Breezwood exists, is also lost on us.

All of that is lost on us because deep down we don’t want to see the rest of America. Don’t want to know how our sausage is made…That is especially sad because there is a lot of pain and suffering that needs to be seen. Not along the one mile strip in the photo, but just outside Breezewood.

In the bar, after everyone stopped laughing about the picture, I heard stories of addiction, death, and joblessness. I heard stories filled with hopes, prayers, and long tales of wrongs and injustices. Stories like I have heard all over America.

Poem of the Tea: Cid Corman passed in 2004, but he reminds us that the cycle continues eternally.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Yours,