Afternoon Tea 2.2.2021 - Digging Out

Take breaks when shoveling, helps with the hypertension.

February 02, 2021

You can’t dismantle what you can’t find, Facebook’s internal researchers knew how dangerous insurrectionist groups were, people making Game of Thrones references at Homeland Security, Spinach got a Substack, and members of Congress are demanding their protection money be turned back on. It’s Tuesday, February 2nd 2021, and this is the Tea.

Pause in Corporate PAC Spending Triggers Political Pushback (WSJ) This is my absolute favorite shit in the world. A bunch of corporations decided to stop giving to either both sides, or GOP members who challenged the legitimacy of the election. In response, politicians are threatening that the lack of spend could “undermine corporate interests” and “ultimately jeopardizing their business priorities in Congress.” There it is folks, the grift not just in full daylight, but the full-on “nice con you got going here, would be a shame if something happened to it.”

The Race To Dismantle Trump’s Immigration Policies (New Yorker) There’s a joke in here about known unknowns, and unknown unknowns, but I’m too exhausted from both of these administrations and the evil they’ve wrought to think of it.

Facebook Knew Calls for Violence Plagued ‘Groups,’ Now Plans Overhaul (WSJ) Facebook knew a thing was bad, let it go on anyway, shit went sideways, and Zuck Apologetics is in full effect. This playbook is so well worn, I assume they’re teaching it in MBA programs now.

Inside The Brutal Power Struggle At Homeland Security (The Intercept) Ken Klippenstein consistently does amazing work, and this is no exception. Any time serious policymakers or officials quote GoT or Harry Potter or Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, start looking for the exits. Real life doesn’t play out with plot armor.

How the coronavirus pandemic may be causing support of labor unions to rise (CNBC) Financial writers are slowly but surely, putting two and two together. Maybe they’ll figure out Reddit by the end of the year.

The Great Shopping Mall: The market nationalist logic of Chinese social media (Knight 1st Amendment Institute) This is kind of dense but the best explanation of both how corporations work with authoritarians, and how the digital commons are not public, but corporate spaces. They’re not the public square, they’re the shopping mall:

Take a visit to the malls of Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu or countless other Chinese cities, and they look and operate like the malls of Minnesota, Manila and Mexico. All around the world, shopping malls are designed first and foremost for commerce, but double as a place of quasi-public gathering for parties, families and bored teenagers. Political dissent is not unheard of in malls, but it is rarely welcome. There are no dissidents, no homeless people, no gangs, no solicitors, no electioneering. Public squares they are not, even while they serve a function for the public. So long as you play by the rules of both capital and state, you are welcome. Good luck if you do not.

If You’ve Been Working from Home, Please Wait for Your Vaccine (Scientific American) Seriously. When people ask me when I expect to get the vaccine, I say “Q3 2022.” Not because I don’t want it, but because there are about 225 million Americans who need it much more urgently than I do. If you can wait, don’t be a privileged douche cannon.

Scientists Have Taught Spinach To Send Emails and It Could Warn Us About Climate Change (EuroNews - Full Study Text) Couple of things here, first, PLANTS SENDING EMAIL. Second, the paper title contains my phrase of the day, “plant nanobionics.” Lastly, I love bioregulatory feedback shit like this, my favorite is the eight clams that control access to the water supply in Poznan, Poland. 

Thief facing 8 years in jail for stealing digital knife in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Squeekly) Czech national media reported theft of a digital good worth $1400, and apparently sentencing is much harsher in the Czech Republic because COVID-19? Not sure how that tracks, but as these purchases grow in value, crime & punishment eventually follow.

Debt and shame via Google Play (RestOfWorld) Chinese tech companies are sneaking illegal loan apps into the Indian Google Play store. Imagine fly-by-night payday lenders, but even more shady given Google Play should shut them down.

Song of the Tea: Pussy Riot’s new song, titled Rage, is…a track to open the pit up to. No for real. When parties are possible again, Rage Against The Machine x Pussy Riot x Run The Jewels is going to be the sickest tour. Call it “Against the Dying Light” Tour and hand out Dylan Thomas explainers near the free water.

Anger is powerful fuel, but it doesn’t burn cleanly.

Yours,T