Afternoon Tea 12.1.21 - Block Theft

The first safe consumption site in America opened yesterday, the NYPD commissioner totally made up the connection between bail reform & gun violence (Editor’s Note: Told You), another mass shooting is being ignored by the media, the youth are kind of done with sportball, and we’ve got our first robots that have a couple drinks & spawn offspring in the back of a Dodge Omni.  It’s Wednesday, December 1st 2021, and this is your Tea. The first box on your Vibe Advent Calendar is a thick, swaggering, DeepTech track from SLUMBERJACK, Twerl, and Josh Pan, “Pain.”

During Questioning In Albany, NYPD Commissioner Shea Backtracks On Bail Reform Law As Big Reason For Gun Violence (CBS2 News) & Tucson Police Fire Officer; Video Shows Fatal Shooting of Shoplifting Suspect in Wheelchair (Newsweek) Lawmakers seek to ban rap music as evidence in criminal cases (Times Union) At some point, we as a society will have to reckon with the fact that we’ve built our society with the allowance that cops, prosecutors, and federal agents are allowed to lie continually & extravagantly, with no fear they’ll be punished. Given the lives they ruin, sometimes on the back of literally nothing more than rap lyrics, we might want to stop allowing that.

World's first living robots can now reproduce, scientists say (CNN) We, for one, welcome our new xenobot overlords. Can’t wait for the gray goo to chew through the East Coast.

Nation’s First Supervised Safe Consumption Facilities Open in New York (New York Times) With 2 overdoses already reversed using Naloxone, and 72 users seen by healthcare professionals in the first 24 hours, this is an unabashed good. No matter how badly the pearl clutchers at the Times want to frame this as a drug den. (Editor’s Note: We don’t usually change titles, but given they're still out here using puritanical language like “narcotics” as if it's 1986, we felt it was necessary.)

Fourth student dies from Michigan high school shooting (AP) Another month, another pre-meditated mass shooter, this one tried to fake being a sheriff to murder more of their fellow classmates. Le sigh.

Analysis: Biden ends abuse-prone overseas military budgets (Roll Call) The War on Terror slush fund, better known as the Overseas Contingency Operations account, has been torched by the Biden administration. This funding category turned into an off-budget laundering mechanism for essentially limitless anti-terrorism spending. Another unabashed good that we’ll take wherever we can get it.

Sweden’s first female prime minister quit after several hours. Less than a week later, she’s back. (Washington Post) Just a wild story about someone trying and failing to quit their job. That it’s the 1st female prime minister of Sweden is just icing on the rotten fish cake.

Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs (Bloomberg) If anyone tells you inflation or rising prices are because of the twelve magic beans they mailed everyone at the peak of the pandemic, you can safely ignore them on all fiscal matters. And in general, as they’re carrying water for people who will make more in a minute then they’ll make between now & Valentine’s Day.

Why Do So Many Young Americans Hate Sports? (InsideHook) Less than 1 in 4 Gen Z Americans care enough about sports to spend on it regularly. That should make baseball and football team owners very, very nervous.

Germany: Burglars knock hole in wall to steal Lego bricks (AP) The global economy is so wild, cat burglars are out here stealing LEGO sets and leaving the boxes behind. This quote specifically makes the whole story: “It wasn’t immediately clear whether the burglars had taken the instruction books.”

How to perform well under pressure: A Guide (Psyche) & The Joy of Hating Stuff for No Good Reason (Gawker) Mental Toughness not only isn’t a thing, it actively amplifies bad coping skills. Instead, look to the principles of acceptance & commitment therapy: mental flexibility, labeling one’s feelings, and separating oneself from their emotional reactions to stress. Easier said than done of course. Sometimes it’s much more conducive to sanity to just hate on that moron tweeting about NFTs, Dr. Oz’s attempt to get elected, and the person who momentarily forgets how to merge onto the NJ Turnpike.

Poem of the Tea: Julia Strelou is fast becoming a daily read & mantra for meditation.

A few weeks until the year slows down for hibernation. You made it.

Yours,