Afternoon Tea 3.23.21 - Back to Normal

A cop was killed along with 9 other people when a mass shooter opened fire with an Armalite rifle, the 7th mass shooting (defined as four or more hit by gunfire from a single assailant) in 7 days. Corp taxes slashed thanks to the Trump tax cut, WeWork is asking for a billion after they lost three, and the UK is grappling with its own miasma of police brutality. It’s Tuesday, March 23rd 2021, and this is the Tea. (Editor’s Note: All art is Hopper, except for the last one, inspired by him of course.) 

10 People, Including Cop Killed in Colorado Supermarket Shooting (Bloomberg Wire) & Boulder’s assault weapons ban, meant to stop mass shootings, was blocked 10 days before grocery store attack (Washington Post) The Colorado attack is the 7th mass shooting in 7 days in the US (CNN)

For everyone playing the home game:

1. March 16 - Atlanta, GA - Six Asian women, eight total killed.

2. March 17 - Stockton, CA - Five shot in a drive-by, none killed/seriously injured.

3. March 18 - Gresham, OR - Four hospitalized after shooting, none killed.

4. March 20 - Houston, TX - Five shot outside of a club, one injured critically.

5. March 20 - Dallas, TX - Eight shot, one killed by a single brigand.

6. March 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Six shot, one killed at an illegal party of ~150.

7. March 22 - Boulder, CO - 10 people shot and killed, including a cop.

So, there you have it folks. The ban that could have prevented it from happening was blocked by the Colorado State Shooting Association. Would that have blocked all of these shootings? Absolutely not. Does that matter? No. You don’t forgo a solution just because it’s not 100% effective. And if Republicans disagree, they’re welcome to give their vaccine to an essential worker in their district.

Average corporate tax rate plunged by more than half after GOP overhaul (Politico) I need to find a new gif. I can’t just keep posting the same 3 seconds from Casablanca forever.

WeWork tells investors it lost $3.2bn last year as it woos them for SPAC deal (FT) Be so confident you can ask for a billion dollars after losing more than three in the last year, with a smile on your face.

Bristol 'Kill The Bill' protest: 21 officers injured - two seriously - by rioters who 'came for fight with police' (Sky News) & What Actually Happened In Bristol - And How A Narrative Is Built (Anarchist Federation - Hard Left Source) It’s been wild watching the UK media reckon with to police brutality that the US media has essentially carried water for since the Nixon administration. The AFed story is long, but shows how a narrative is developed around who did what and how to frame things. With many parallels to how Steve Bannon, Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro, and other alt right voices help shape the coverage of police brutality here. It’s certainly biased as fuck, but interesting if you want to see how the eggs are cracked.

Police: NYPD officer in hot water shoots at Atlantic Ocean (AP) I had to read this story a few times. Two time-brutalizing cop got arrested Sunday morning after he was reported shooting the ocean. The off-duty cop “was carrying a loaded 9mm Beretta pistol and three loaded 15-round capacity magazines when officers investigating a report of shots fired in Long Beach saw him walking off the beach with three other people around 6:50 a.m. Sunday, police said.” He was also cited for possession of alcohol, a Truly Hard Seltzer, which is banned at Ocean Beach Park. Why couldn’t it have been a White Claw?!

Meghan McCain apologizes for previously backing Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric (LA Times) Jon Oliver is a national treasure and must be protected at all costs.

New Gates Foundation Research Calls For Focus On Childcare For Gender Equitable Covid-19 Recovery (Forbes) Hey! Another thing Meghan also decided to care about when it affected her. Women across the world are spending 30hrs a week on childcare. While their unpaid workload goes up, their male counterparts get to pretend things are “getting back to the office” hunky dory.

The Preteen’s Guide to Getting Rich Off YouTube (Bloomberg) Want a great guide to violating child labor laws and pushing your Gerber Baby into the digital QVC influencer race from the age of 8? Businessweek has you covered.

Loans that hijack your phone are coming to India (RestOfWorld) We can stop thinking that cyberpunk happens in the future y’all. Need a cheap phone? Just make sure it’s not the one that auto-locks if you fall behind on your payments.

Bhad Bhabie Details ‘Abuse’ at Ranch Dr. Phil Sent Her (Vulture) How much does Dr. Phil suck? He made us all sympathetic to the “Catch Me Outside” maelstrom of teen chaos energy. So, just to underscore here, fuck Dr. Phil (and Dr. Oz since we’re here).

Australians share footage of swarms of spiders fleeing into homes to escape rising floodwaters (Independent) If this doesn’t get you to care about climate change, I really don’t know what to say. I would take a flamethrower to my foundations if I saw anything like this in a 10 mile radius of where I slept. No, I’m not screencapping and showing it here, I like when people open my emails.

Song of the Tea: Being a vocalist with the name .diedlonely is intimidatingly bad ass. Especially when you sing in Russian. JÖST brings the wave and that's all you need. Ride it as you finish the day. 

Rest isn’t giving up or wussing out, it’s rest. We can’t always be running hot, we’d never make it.

Yours,