Afternoon Tea 4.22.21 - Taxation With Representation

Now get Puerto Rico so we don't have a prime number.

April 22, 2021

The House passed the bill for DC statehood, India’s COVID-19 problems take the global center stage, you can trick your Tesla into thinking someone is driving it, the replacements for the Indigo kids archetypes your friends who brunch always talk about are here. It’s Thursday, April 22nd 2021, and this is the Tea.

House passes bill that would grant DC statehood (CNN) Hopefully Mitch Palpatine can’t fuck this up and we can get some representation to go along with the taxation that all my awesome DC readers have to cope with. And if the Republicans grouse or get super racist about it, let’s bring in Puerto Rico & American Samoa!

Investigation suppressed by Trump administration reveals obstacles into hurricane aid for Puerto Rico (Washington Post) Remember Time #4732891 Trump went maxi-racist, blaming Puerto Rican governance for what happened after Hurricane Irma & Maria? Did you think it was because Trump maliciously botched that shit on purpose? We were both right.

Chinese envoy was staying at bombed hotel in Pakistan, but not present when hit (Reuters) Hey Pakistan, I’m no Lyndon Johnson elder-statesman here, but I can’t really recommend car bombing the hotel that the Chinese ambassador to your country happens to be staying at. The Chinese don’t take kindly to imprecise verbiage, so I can’t really recommend assassinating their diplomats.

Even Record Death Toll May Hide Extent of India’s Covid Crisis (Bloomberg) I view what’s going on in India right now, with Modi keeping no-mask policies, and open air festivals for Hindu nationals, as what would have happened here if Trump was re-elected. And it makes my eyes burn with sadness.

Signal's CEO Just Hacked the Cops' Favorite Phone Cracking Tool and Became a Legend (Gizmodo) As I told everyone who asked my opinion, Signal >> Telegram >> Everything else. This is just one of the amazing reasons why. Though the lolworthy HEY YOUR FRIEND FROM YOUR 3RD CELL PHONE JUST GOT SIGNAL push notification is an amazing own goal by the Signal marketing team.

America's incredibly successful pilot of universal health care (The Week) Ha ha! Gotcha! Everyone who got their vaccine recently just had an amazing, positive, complication-free experience with non-private healthcare. And I bet a few of them even liked it. This paragraph is spectacular:

Indeed, in some ways the vaccine rollout has gone beyond Medicare-for-all toward Britain's National Health Service, where the providers are also owned by the government. The FEMA sites across the country are run directly by the government, and as noted above, the quality of care is top-notch. I see no reason why the mass vaccine clinics should not be transitioned into permanent facilities, perhaps doing regular immunization drives or basic urgent care.

Teslas Can Be ‘Tricked’ to Run Without Driver, Consumer Reports Says (Bloomberg) I like how these reports say the car “missed lack of operator” like the “car” has any general intelligence and this isn’t just referring to a visual learning and weight sensor on the steering wheel that was apparently stupid enough to fool with a small weighted chain.

How Robinhood Made Trading Easy - and Maybe Even Too Hard to Resist (Bloomberg Wealth) This is educational both because of Bloomberg’s allergy to labeling some of these things as bad, but also how it feels as if rich people seem to think they’re some how immune to marketing. As if they don’t get sold the goofiest fucking shit by savvy people. Dark Patterns and Behavioral Design are real and here to stay.

Why “Decriminalizing” Weed Isn’t Good Enough (Slate) With all the news, and Texas starting to decrim itself, are we going to have a Federal conversation about this or is Kamala just hoping we all get distracted until the primaries so she can pretend she’ll fight for it?

Five Kids From The Future (Forbes) The discussions of neurodiverse, solar punk and existential children is oddly compelling, while wildly alien.

Song of the Tea: Got some loudly positive feedback on Feverkin yesterday, so you’re getting more! This track with Vacant should be listened to when you can relax and when there’s some bass at your disposal. Very deep UK ambient meshed with chill electric guitar.

So close. You’re almost there. The rest will be so sweet.

Yours,