Afternoon Tea 4.27.2021 - Fell Off The Boat

Coast Guard vessels in the Gulf (Persian, not Texan), Biden weighs Maduro, Irony remains useful for Nazis, houses are expensive, people with money are foaming at the mouth about tax rates from 2016, two DC cops went 2 Fast 2 Furious, and stuff is falling off boats y’all. It’s Tuesday, April 27th 2021, and this is the Tea.

Shipping Containers Fall Overboard at Fastest Rate in Seven Years (Bloomberg) Larger boats stacking taller stuff, driving faster, with more headassery & rush after the Suez rubbernecking and global covid economic build back. 3,000 shipping containers have just fallen the fuck off the ship in the last year, over 1,000 since January. If you don’t get something your ordered, it might’ve fallen off the boat?

Iranian Ships Swarmed U.S. Coast Guard Vessels in Persian Gulf, Navy Says (Wall Street Journal) Hey, quick question. Why are there Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf?

US weighs policy on Venezuela as Maduro signals flexibility (Associated Press) That thing I hoped would happen yesterday? Might have a shot. Biden looks to have avenues to negotiate with the Venezuelan government, as a clear departure from Trump. So, we will see if they can do this. Not sure where it goes, and Venezuelan food aid is very different than integration into the capitalist-pig-dog economy. Only time and good faith will push more world aid to the Venezuelan people.

How Extremists Weaponize Irony To Spread Hate (NPR) & Hiding in plain sight: how the 'alt-right' is weaponizing irony to spread fascism (Guardian - 2017) Occasionally a news service the size of NPR realizes that apathy, irony, “just jokes,” devil’s advocacy (not an order of toast, avocado, some form of deviled egg spread on top), and disingenuous bullshit can actually cause harm in the public discourse. The Guardian article from 2017 illustrates the concept best. It’s also why I don’t care if you’re being a nazi ironically, apathetically, for the lolz, or whatever. Still a Nazi.

The Most Important Number of the Week Is $329,100 (Bloomberg Opinion) The median price of a home in the USA is now enough that boomers really need to shut up about home ownership. Two minutes into this Alex Edelman bit, he launches into, I believe the most prescient and relevant commentary on this there is. Instead of talking more, I’ll let him.

Biden Seeks $80 Billion to Beef Up I.R.S. Audits of High-Earners (NY Times) & Rich Americans Face Biden Tax Hike With Anger, Denial and Grief (Bloomberg Wealth) If these tax changes benefit you negatively, your wealth probably grew significantly over the last year. So do us all a favor, pipe down about pre-2017 tax levels and capital gains taxes that maybe keep you from over-casino’ing the market, yah? (Editor’s Note: Of course the Bloomberg Wealth Whining had to follow the Bloomberg “Shit Is Expensive.” It’s all about presenting both sides.) 

Facebook Stopped Employees From Reading An Internal Report About Its Role In The Insurrection. You Can Read It Here. (BuzzFeed.News) Given how much of BuzzFeedNews’ traffic is devoted to dunking on Facebook, and how bad the company is at controlling leaks, they’d really stop doing stuff like this.

More Americans Are Leaving Cities, But Don’t Call It An Urban Exodus (CityLab) Hype is nice, but just to remind everyone, more Manhattan people moved to Brooklyn than Florida.

Indonesia: Papua intelligence chief killed in rebel attack (AJZ) A regional intel chief was ambushed and killed in the Papua region of Indonesia, possibly by separatists. Given the abuses of the ethnic Melanesian population by Indonesian security, this clash between tribes and modern security will get worse.

2 DC police cars were totaled after officers drag raced each other and crashed. All 4 cops were hospitalized. (Insider) What in the Fast & Furious Fuck is this? Just throw the whole damn police force away and start over. Yes, I know they’re different than Capitol Police, have those done a press conference about their big day yet? No? They can go too.

Song of the Tea: I fully expect many of you won’t like this cover. But the kids are talented, and they are working hard to surpass all of us, even our greatest. We should support that as hard as we can.

Drink water, relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw, take a moment to rest.

Yours,