Afternoon Tea 3.9.2021 - Psychedelic Reparative Justice

Nevada having a Queens-like revolt, Manhattan landlords taking apartments off the market instead of dropping the rent, Biden admin is mansplaining the world hard already, Israel, Cyprus & Greece agreed on something not related to olives, and tell your QAnon friends to stop swinging at the guy behind the counter at Arby’s. It’s Tuesday, March 9th 2021, and this is the Tea.

Entire Staff of Nevada Democratic Party Quits After Democratic Socialist Slate Won Every Seat (The Intercept) I had no idea Harry Reid became the leader of a Queens-Crowley machine in Nevada. I’m so happy they all quit, this allows the youths to get into paying, organizing, and managing jobs. This little tantrum could change the arc of the Nevada Democratic Party for a generation.

Manhattan Landlords Take Apartments Off Market During Rental Slump (WSJ) “Warehousing of Vacant Apartments” is one of those phrases that makes me think of the Bastille Saint-Antoine prison for some reason.

American Exceptionalism as Magical Thinking (Peter Beinart) & Business as Usual With Saudi Arabia Is Good for Business (American Prospect) Back-scratching, realpolitik, and the distance from Velveeta Elvis ensures that it was premature to expect Biden had any intention of seriously sanctioning MBS. The language surrounding Palestinians and the ICC was similarly expected and depressing.

Uptick in crimes against Mexican politicians points toward violent midterm election (Reuters) & Cola Wars in Mexico (InTheseTimes - 2006) Cola was used in certain rituals, so soda companies pushed their brand of sugar water as actually superior for the religious betterment of their community. The effects of USA treating Mexico as a Banana Republic 9 Layer Cake, can be seen in the wild gang violence that continues to hamper the country’s electoral progress. If you run for office in Mexico, especially at the local level, you are the bravest person I’ve ever heard of.

Israel, Cyprus, and Greece agree to link power grids via subsea cable (Ekathimerini) Given how much Greek, Cypriot, and Jewish people argue, them managing to agree to link their power grids before FUCKING TEXAS, is a unique triumph I’m pretty shocked to be reporting.

Two-thirds of tropical rainforest destroyed or degraded globally, NGO says (Reuters) & How Mexico’s Vast Tree-Planting Program Ended Up Encouraging Deforestation (Bloomberg Green) When Wells Fargo rewarded employees for new accounts, employees invented a bunch of fake accounts. Mexico rewarded planting trees, which resulted in deforestation & replanting. Incentives matter y’all.

The Sad Implosion of Google’s Ethical AI (New Republic) This story finally broke out of the niche of SEO, Google Search, and diverse tech. But it is wild. Don’t hire a bunch of people, to do research if you’re just going to bin the research.

The Outlaw Chemists Who Deserve a Cut of the Psychedelic Gold Rush (New Republic) In the last 50 years, if you produced psychedelics at scale, you were treated as a threat to the nation on par with al Qaeda or any external threat. The ones out of jail get to watch others generate patents and IPOs associated with these chemicals. PLUR y’all, emphasis on Unity for this bit.

Remembering Allan McDonald: He Refused To Approve Challenger Launch, Exposed Cover-Up (NPR) On Saturday, the man who tried to stop the Challenger Launch from happening, stood up to stop it, then literally stood up in a closed Congressional hearing, from the actual cheap seats. Courage, integrity, effort.

Please stop trying to fight fast food employees (The Takeout) Why is this needed? Why do people need to be informed that it’s inappropriate to strike employees of Taco Fucking Bell?

Song of the Tea: Instead of a single song, this whole thread is amazing. So many songs that I only recognized when I started playing classical music because of Bugs Bunny & Looney Tunes.

It was 61 degrees, high of 68 on Thursday? When do the fires start in Cali this year?

Yours,