Afternoon Tea 12.17.2020 - Cocaine Ghost Boat

TikTok tangos with freedom and rights, Amazon warehouse workers attempt to unionize, Macron got that ‘rona, and A boat with 649kg of cocaine washed up on an island with 400 people. It’s Thursday, December 17th 2020, and this is the Tea.

Ghost boat laden with cocaine washes up on the Marshall Islands (The Guardian) The police saying that they recovered 649kg of cocaine? Sounds like the officers who found the boat found 675, and the shift chief was informed of a boat with 650. Also “Cocaine Ghost Boat is definitely my Soundcloud rapper name now.

We don’t know who is spending millions to help Georgia Republicans (Popular Information) & Unreported Body Bag Investments by Loeffler and Purdue Exposed in Viral New TV Ad (Hill Reporter) A month ago, you asked me why I was a bit more optimistic about the GOP having to defend two run-off seats after the election. My reasoning was that once the nation was able to focus its attention on these two state level races, the filth that would be uncovered would do the job for the DNC. Judd Legum continues to do damn good work on this beat, while MeidasTouch went slime:

To be clear, this ad frames investments in DuPont as investing in Tyveck & Tychem, who make insulation suits and coroner tags. It’s a slime job that takes advantage of people not knowing that a. Dupont & Tyveck aren’t the same companies, b. that they didn’t invest in a “body bag company,” they invested in a chemical conglomerate, and c. people don’t care because DuPont was gross at a bunch of points in the last 100 years. So I expect it to be reasonably effective.

TikTok is Banning MLMs and Other “Content that Aims to Deceive People for Financial Gain” (BuzzfeedNews) & OnlyFans Creators and Sex Workers Are Getting ‘Purged’ from TikTok (Rolling Stone) While TikTok had no problem riding the coattails of sex workers and body & sex-positive influencers when it was building market share. And I have to wonder if “content that aims to deceive people for financial gain” includes stock tips and DraftKings posts?

European Leaders Isolating After Macron Tests Positive for COVID-19 (Bloomberg) Who knows, maybe all of these world leaders getting sick from a pandemic will lead to a more equal and healthy society? What? Why are you laughing at me?

How China’s online microlenders reached a tipping point in world’s biggest mobile internet market (SCMP) Microlending hasn’t just been the realm of Kiva in a while, but AI has allowed China’s lending markets to evolve in this space very quickly.

Right-Wing Embrace of Conspiracy Is ‘Mass Radicalization,’ Experts Warn (NPR) When even the XanaxWave DJs over at NPR and WNYC are concerned about radicalization of those insurrectionist assholes, maybe start listening to people who have been talking about it for years.

The Arab Uprisings Never Ended (Foreign Affairs) On the 10th anniversary of the events that unfolded into the Arab Spring, we’re reminded that the region’s convulsions, the people demanding democracy & representation, never really stopped.

The Best and Worst Places to Be in the Coronavirus Era (Bloomberg) #18. It’s almost as if it’s a test of our mathematical aptitude or who has lost journalistic freedom this year.

Amazon Alabama Workers Get Chance For First-in-US Union (Bloomberg) Federal regulators protected an organizing drive from Amazon. Watch this space.

Texas Accuses Google and Facebook of an Illegal Conspiracy (Wired) This antitrust case is both far more interesting and likely to rule against the companies. The reason why, detailed in this Wired article is simple: the emails and documentation show that the collusion accusation is a violation per se, which means they don’t need to prove it was a monopoly or people were harmed. This is already a violation of law, just by nature of existing.

Small Business of the Tea: Iron Creatrix is the genderless CHAINMAIL accessory line made by an old friend in the community who constantly challenged me, forcing me to expand my understanding of what events were to women, trans youth, and people of color, and what they could be. Trying to re-ignite the idea of rave, bringing people together after the pandemic & general ostracism of the 2010s, chainmail accessories, and body-positive forward looking feminism. Chainmail & Feminism y’all. What else do I even need to say? And yes, the Creatrix does custom orders.

Song of the Tea: Christmas by the Deftones, remains one of those classic sounds. Rage around the house before you deck the halls of your coworkers.

Peeling out, all dayYou would think they would give theirWheels, just a small break.

Yours,T