Afternoon Tea 3.8.2021 - Caveat Imperium

Has anyone checked up on Lich Prince Andrew since the interview?

March 08, 2021

Biden’s stimmy was passed by the Senate, the fire against Cuomo rises, Texas letting its people get ripped off, the NFL comes to Amazon, Irish mass had gangsta rap in it by accident, and men need to keep their hands to themselves. Oh, hooo boy that interview. Gotta be 100% behind Harry on this, after years as an Apache pilot in Afghanistan, I can’t imagine he has any tolerance for the racist ass press that also got his mom killed. It’s Monday, March 8th 2021, it is International Women's Day and this is the Tea.

The Senate passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill - what’s next (CNBC) & The path to a recovery for all (Stay-At-Home Macro) we didn't get the minimum wage hike because millionaires. Not only is Larry Summers wrong, the macro article makes the case that at the moment, bigger the better. As someone whose life was forever changed by them not going big after the 2008 economic crash, Congress could go even bigger:

Now is the time for action. Now is not the time for inflation fears. The need is to do more is immense, and policymakers must deploy every tool they have. It is appropriate to consider the risks of overheating and the risks of suffering. It is not appropriate to downplay the suffering. The evidence and the research clearly show that the risks of doing too little are ones on which we should base policy. The hawks are peddling outdated thinking. When the world changes, we must change, especially when our decisions affect millions of people. It’s time to listen to Americans and help them back on their feet quickly. It’s time to build an economy that works for everyone.

More Former Aides Accuse Gov. Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment (Gothamist) & Broken bolts: A whistleblower exposed structural flaws on the Mario Cuomo Bridge (Times Union) & Andrew Cuomo Should Resign (Scientific American) Unsafely rushing the bridge to parry Cynthia Nixon’s primary run against him is just another example of how Cuomo used the Trump era to hide his own foibles. That cover didn’t fool Scientific American though, who have joined the calls, not because of harassment but that little thing with the thousands of needless deaths.

How Can We Make Men Stop Touching Us (All in Her Head) For International Women’s Day, this isn’t hard. I don’t care how good she looks, I don’t care if she laughed at your joke. Don’t touch women in the workplace unless expressly requested/consented to. Seriously. Especially seriously if you’re in a position of power. Go swipe right on Tinder, get your rocks off on your own time.

Texas Won’t Reduce $16 billion in Electricity Charges From Winter Storm (NPR - WNYC) I feel like 100% of Texans should take this to court and get a Texas judge that might be up for re-election, to specifically sign off on this debt. Also ask Cruz, Cornyn and Abbott about this every day until they leave office, as they’re such loud fans of the free market.

NFL’s TV Negotiations Turn Into New Front in Streaming Wars (Bloomberg) & Amazon in Talks to Carry Many NFL Games Exclusively on Prime Video (WSJ) The thing I’ve been prattling about for years is actually happening. Sports were the last thing that streaming didn’t have that cable did. Given how easy it is to watch the NFL without cable compared to the other big sports (try watching an out of region playoff NBA game without ESPN), them taking the steps first makes total sense. Brace for impact.

Meghan says she sought help from the palace for suicidal thoughts, but was rebuffed. (New York Times) Harry comes back from being a chopper pilot in Afghanistan, starts hanging out with this cool girl and the UK media goes after his lady so hard he leaves the country. If the press said that my child didn’t deserve safety depending on how dark it came out, I’d be gone so fast there would be a Looney Tunes era smoke outline of my wife and I. And I’m no prince.

Don’t shoot the dogs: The growing epidemic of cops shooting family dogs (Overton County News) 25 dogs are killed by police every day, once every 98 minutes in the USA. And the cops are remotely asked to answer for this. Remind all your friends who think BLM should be polite but Michael Vick should have gotten the death penalty.

The fight against descent-based slavery in Mali (Africa Is a Country) & Betting big with Zimbabwe’s foreign currency traders (RestOfWorld) Anti-slavery activists are still getting murdered in Mali, with over 3000 people conceptually classified as slaves who have fled from Mali. Far to the Southeast in Africa, Zimbabwe’s forex trading systems are some truly wild west markets.

Why did Jack Dorsey buy Jay-Z’s failed music service? (Recode) & Here is the article you can send to people when they say “But the environmental issues with CryptoArt will be solved soon, right?” (Everest Pipkin - Medium) I have no idea why Square bought Tidal, if they can turn the music talent attached to the service (Bey, Deadmau5, Daft Punk, etc) into NFTs, that’s infinite money just on hype right there. However, NFTs suffer from the same structural issues as BTC and all coins. The power needs to transact make this market as non-climate friendly as coal, and it might not be fixable. Everest Pipkin’s work is critical here.

And lest you think we are dealing in long-term abstractions- this devastation has tangible, externalized cost; a recent study out of the University of New Mexico estimated that in 2018 every $1 of Bitcoin value was responsible for $0.49 in health and climate damages in the US, costs that are borne by those who will, for the most part, never see any return from cryptocurrency mining whatsoever.

Rap music accidentally played during mass in Donegal church (Independent - Ireland) Young Prophet, a track by Black the Ripper, showed up on the video stream of mass at Kincasslagh Parish Co Donegal. A good time was had by all, as the track isn't stupendous but its not half bad.

Song of the Tea: A liquid dnb remix of Youth by Daughter. What’s not to like?

We’re not out of the woods yet. Don’t get cocky kid.

Yours,