Afternoon Tea 5.12.21 - Unabashedly Racist

Liz Cheney got booted, hackers are threatening DC cops with a data release, a NYPD officer managed to earn the title of “Unabashedly Racist,” there’s masked vigilante in Arkansas, and the governor of Connecticut is deploying the National Guard in response to a Nursing Home Worker strike. It’s Wednesday, May 12th 2021, and this is your Tea.

State Asks National Guard to Step In if Nursing Home Workers Strike (NBC CT) Why is the National Guard being called up to enforce employer whims? It’s almost as if the easiest way to make this problem stop is to not treat Nursing Home Workers as expendable, low-value humans like we have for decades. Just maybe, they should not fear for their lives when going to work for a pittance.

The Significance of the Liz Cheney Auto-Da-Fé (Lawyers, Guns & Money) An auto-da-fé is when heretics were burned or otherwise punished by the Spanish & Portuguese Inquisition between the 15th & 19th Centuries. Liz Cheney’s removal for simply stating the election was not stolen, is quite the canary in the coal mine for the Republican Party. As I said after the Capitol Sacking, it’s their party now.

Hackers Say Negotiations with DC Over Stolen Police Data At ‘Dead End,’ Threaten Public Release (DCist) A friend has a theory that America has become a cybersecurity punching bag because every gov’t cybersecurity job requires you have basically never even been in the same room as drugs. So the only people who work in gov’t white hat security are goobers who have never done anything cool in their lives. Which is why they get pwn’d by hackers who are actually capable of thinking outside the box.

Len Sassaman and Satoshi: a Cypherpunk history (Medium) A non-verified oral history where someone lays out their theory as to connections between really important hackers & coders who killed themselves in the crypto community. Kind of in the weeds, but if you’re into crypto, this might be deeply moving for you.

Three NYPD Officers, Including ‘Unabashedly Racist” Cop, Arrested In Bribery Scheme Feds (Gothamist) & ‘Bro I Robbed Everyone’: 3 NYPD Officers Charged in Bribe Scheme (NY Times) Given how racist cops have been in my general direction, I really have to wonder how racist this guy actually is, to be labeled “Unabashedly Racist.”

Is free college a good idea? Increasingly, evidence says yes (Brookings Institute) From those wild hippie pinko commie leftists at the ::checks notes: Brookings Institution. The bipartisan support, in addition to the effectiveness, is so good I have very little to add. The only thing I’d suggest is add trade schools to the 2/4 year college program studies, as we need to get back to a place where not everyone needs a BA to be guaranteed a good life.

Pelosi drug price plan threatened by centrist defections (Politico) Between the Blue Dogs, Manchin & Sinema’s bullshit, and everything else, Democrats in the pockets of large industries will be the death of that party, I swear to God.

Judge dismisses NRA bankruptcy case in blow to gun group (Associated Press) In good news, the NRA can’t hide assets using bankruptcy. A judge called out the bankruptcy as not being filed in good faith, so hopefully, the AG James can go for the jugular and we can finally put that horrid group in the ground.

Local superhero ShadowVision vows to take down the Little Rock slasher (Arkansas Times) Arkansas' version of KickAss, who claims to have stopped a couple of armed robberies, is calling out a “serial stabber” who has been blamed for 4 attacks, 3 deaths and a single aggravated assault. I am both intrigued and horrified.

Why Lagos has become Africa’s most attractive tech hub for investors (RestOfWorld) Plus, it has some of the hottest, most excellent parties on the planet if you’re courageous enough to risk your cab getting robbed at gun-point on the way back to your hotel at 4am.

Song of the Tea: Continuing jarringly good mashup week, a classic from so long ago, people were listening to big beat and trance unironically. Ben Liebrand takes Prodigy and backs up Insomnia, a classic eurodance anthem by Faithless. The track is so old the real breakdown happens 4:10 into a 5:54 song. Enjoy the vintage!

I can't get no sleep.

Yours,