Afternoon Tea 2.22.2021 - Slippery When Wet

Some days, it's everything you can do to keep warm, dry and on your feet.

February 22, 2021

El Paso stares in horror at the rest of Texas, Jersey legalized it, Cuomo has a pretty sizable enemies list, Amazon is still trying to thwart unionization in Alabama, an Italian ambassador was assassinated during a kidnapping attempt in Congo, and Cy Vance gets the tax records of Velveeta Elvis after all. It's Monday, February 22nd 2021, and this is the Tea.

Supreme Court allows release of Trump tax returns to NY prosecutor (CNN) A one sentence decision with no dissent or opinion: “The application for a stay presented to Justice Breyer and referred to the court is denied.”

El Paso Heeded the Warnings and Avoided a Winter Catastrophe (Texas Monthly) & Texas freeze led to release of tons of air pollutants as refineries shut (Reuters) Ah the great state of Texas, a land of contrasts. El Paso, connected to the Western grid, learned significantly from the 2011 freeze they suffered, and shockingly are doing just fine during this deep freeze. Other places? Gotta belch chemicals into the air because of shut downs!

How the (Jersey) Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts (ProPublica) & Murphy signs N.J. legal weed bills, ending 3-year saga (NJ.com) After years of dragging its feet, NJ has officially jumped ahead in the national High Times Real Estate rankings. Just…don’t fuck with the cops. Even Tony knew not to fuck with the cops.

Emmanuel Macron’s Government Is Mounting a Witch Hunt Against “Islamo-Leftism” in France’s Universities (Jacobin) In an effort to widen his lead against Le Pen, Macron invented a bullshit thing to root out at academic institutions, marrying anti-gov’t leftism and anti-West Islamofascism. How do you say “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” in French?

Luca Attanasio: Italian ambassador killed in Congo during kidnap attempt (Independent) Not sure the last time I remember a kidnapping attempt of a state official at this level. Can’t really say what we’d do if an ambassador was killed on an away mission. A few years back, it was pretty obvious, but now I gotta wonder if QAnon and TrumPartisans would cheer on the death of a “member of the deep state.”

Amazon changed traffic light timing during union drive, county officials say (The Verge) & Amazon Offers $2,000 “Resignation Bonuses” to Bust Union Drive in Alabama (PaydayReport) The story about Amazon demanding the traffic light timing change to prevent picketers from interacting with passersby was first reported last week, but Amazon confirming it shows how confident they are. As does their offering resignation bonuses, both tactics obviously, if not legally anti-unionizing efforts. A rare thing is happening right before our eyes in Alabama, and with a shocking lack of Pinkerton’s.

Edinburgh woman bit off man’s tongue in street brawl before seagull swooped down and ate it (Edinburgh Evening News) After yelling at each other on the street, she kissed him, and bit a 2cm chunk of his tongue off and spit it out. Before he had a chance to retrieve it, a seagull snatched it up. Can’t say I saw this one coming.

Valve's Dota is getting its own Netflix anime series (CNET) If you had told me in 2003 that the start-up mailing DVDs to people would not only be around in 2021, but would be paying for a series about the Warcraft 3 custom mod map I was playing at 2am with friends, first I would put up a weird AIM away message. Then I would ask you to let me hit whatever you were smoking after you were done describing what all those words meant.

Song of the Tea: Daft Punk broke up, so to answer any questions…No, I didn’t expect them to actually put anything new out since the Tron sequel got shelved. Yes, the weather matches how I feel about it. And yes, here is the best mix of theirs in my collection, a 16:44 mix they did for the Ready to Wear Spring 2008 Louis Vuitton Runway Show.

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

Yours,