Afternoon Tea 3.17.21 - Geishas & Leprechauns

We used to think that Irish people had special access to Leprechauns. They don’t, and millions of Irish people coped with all forms of racism and prejudice as immigrants to America over the centuries. Asian Americans are no more magical, and no more deserving of a drop of low-information xenophobic incel asshatery that the country witnessed over the last 24 hours and the past 365 days. It’s Wednesday, March 17th 2021, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, South Asian, and Pacific Islander Americans didn’t invent COVID-19, and this is the Tea.

8 People Killed, 6 Asian Women, at 3 Atlanta-Area Massage Parlors (Time) & There Have Been Nearly 4,000 Incidents Of Anti-Asian Racism In The Last Year (HuffPo) & Georgia’s Asian American Leaders Call for Community-Centered Response After Six Asian Women Are Murdered (Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta) & Young, Proud, and Sung-Lee (Children’s book to fight anti-Asian Racism by Joyce Lee & Emily Ku) All of those terrible words you heard last year did not fall on deaf ears. Stochastic Terrorism is real, and the rhetoric was pointed and obvious.

Ask anyone you know from the Middle East or North Africa how similar this smells to how they were treated after 9/11. How do I know it was white supremacy? Because the murderer was taken alive. I wonder if cop-friendly fast food joints have Dylann Roof specials yet.

How Cuomo’s Team Tried to Tarnish One of His Accusers (NYTimes) This stuff about how they tried to mess with Boylan should be a reminder that it’s power, not party, that makes men think they can get away with this trash. Don’t forget, Cuomo tried to intimidate Ron Kim

World’s Richest Woman Pumps Part of Walmart Fortune Into Bronx City Council Special Election (TheCity) Speaking of corrupt autocrats, does someone want to explain why a Walton is ploughing 800k into a charter school initiative called “New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany?”

The Tactics People Are Using to Get Their Money Out of China (Bloomberg) When figuring out how to hide money from your government becomes a national past time, I’m not exactly sure I should rate any talk of patriotism as unassailable. You may not like the USA, but we have Baseball, not smuggling cash out of the country through casinos in Tijuana.

Flying High: The US Connection to Venezuela’s ‘Narco-Planes’ (Bellingcat) Why have a dozen planes registered to the USA been shot down by the Venezuelan military

Myanmar: Vast Arsenal and notorious troops deployed during nationwide ‘killing spree’ protest crackdown - new research (Amnesty Intl) So, Myanmar military definitely using live fire ammunition on protesters. Just because it’s not a spat between Biden & McConnell, or

Daily Telegraph plans to link journalists' pay with article popularity (The Guardian) & Next big thing…Kardashian Ice Cream? Barstool Pizza? (All Access Newsletter) The problem of tying revenue to attention-based metrics is that you end up with NFTs and Clout Kitchens. No seriously, read that All Access piece, I can’t wait to see Instagram celebrity enhanced Ghost Kitchens.

America’s Drinking Water Is Surprisingly Easy to Poison (ProPublica) Our water supply is so easily fucked with, I’m shocked the Scarecrow hasn’t done it already.

Amazon to expand healthcare service across the US (Yahoo! News) Amazon health care will soon be available to non-Amazon employees. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.

Song of the Tea: This shit makes me so mad, because global collaborations are so amazing. Here’s 17 minutes of a German drum & bass DJ infusing traditional Chinese music made by Taigektou, with some sweet beats. While the German dude should have come up with a better title for his mix than “Beautiful Oriental / Chinese” the partnership is delightful and only possible if you STOP BEING FUCKING RACIST and allow everyone to teach you something new.

我们都背负着自己的因果。他们迟早会遭到报应的。(Pronounciation: Wǒmen dōu bēifùzhe zìjǐ de yīnguǒ. Tāmen chízǎo huì zāo dào bàoyìng de.) Translation (Source - Dear god I hope this is correct, happy to change if it’s wrong!): We are all creatures of our own karma. They will come face to face with their deeds one day.

Yours,