Afternoon Tea 5.3.21 - Transitional Trial Balloons

The multi-state assault on trans rights has an even more nefarious purpose, flu is basically non-existent, Biden’s foreign policy tango, Modi starts to feel the tiniest of consequences for his actions, feral donkeys as desert lifegivers, and carbon monoxide poisoning was just as bad as you thought it would be in Houston. It’s Monday, May 3rd, 2021, May Day was this weekend, and this is your Tea.

Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history (Texas Tribune) Remember that thought you had about people staying warm in all sorts of worrying ways during “Texas Learns How To Power” a few months back? Yeah, that was as unnecessarily filled with carbon monoxide poisonings as you imagined. Also, haunted houses might just have too much carbon monoxide? 

Pentagon cancels all contracts to build Trump’s border wall (Independent) & Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Has Been Horrendous (Jacobin) & A Shameful Decision on Western Sahara (Eunomia) I will always give credit where credit is due, and halting the ecological and economic disaster that was the Wall is an unqualified good. The Jacobin piece is written by Derek Davison, my go to foreign policy expert, and it’s quite on point. The administration’s unwillingness to walk back Trump’s recognition of Western Sahara signals strongly that illegal annexation will be supported by the USA. Which bodes ominously for Armenia, Palestine, Cyprus, and dozens of other nations where some other nation* just took a bunch of land in the last 30-50 years, and has been taking their sweet time giving it back. (*of course I don’t mean us, we’d set it on fire before we returned US land to its rightful indigenous or minority owners) 

Narendra Modi loses key state election as Covid grips India (Guardian) & Modi IT Ministry: Ordered only ‘fake’ Covid posts blocked, not critical ones (Times of India) & ‘Not our view of freedom of speech’: US on India’s move to take down social media posts on Covid (Scroll.In) The problem with talking about freedom of speech to other countries is that…other countries don’t have constitutionally guaranteed free speech. And even in places that do, platforms are happy to violate the rights of anti-gov’t activists & journalists, especially if those places are growth markets.

Newsmax Issues Retraction And Apology To Dominion Employee Over Election Stories (NPR) This is wholly inadequate. Eric Coomer should sue the absolute pants off of Newsmax in civil court. I really hope the settlement he got was eye-wateringly large. Like, MySpace Tom large.

Elderly Couple Uses Morse Code to Escape Secure Assisted Living Facility (Daily Beast via Tennessean) I can’t even be mad. Good on those two. Hijinks are wonderful and there should be more of them among old people. Keeps the mind sharp.

Concerned father arrested while peacefully testifying against Arkansas trans health care ban (LGBTQ Nation) & Why the Panic Over Trans Kids? (Current Affairs) & The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda (Jewish Currents) If you’re unsure of why anti-trans laws are showing up in state legislatures across the country, this battery of links will explain. The pretext of trans teens not knowing what is best for themselves is from a very, very old playbook. They are attempting to carve out a group of Americans that don’t get equal protection under the law, full stop. here is the best discussion of the necessity of gender-affirming medical care for trans kids, to send to your Fox News-infested relatives. The writing on the wall, in case you need it spelled out for you, from the Jewish Currents article:

What Everyone Gets Wrong About Voting (Businessweek) & Florida Republicans rushed to curb mail voting after Trump’s attacks on the practice. Now some fear it could lower GOP turnout. (Washington Post) One oddly reassuring bit of news is that state level Republicans aren’t super good at 12D chess. Not only do we not even have actual evidence voting by mail helps Democrats, many of the bills pushed by these state Legislatures might end up screwing their own voters more than others.

Feral desert donkeys are digging wells, giving water to parched wildlife (The Conversation) Great job Donkeys! Life finds a way, and sometimes it involves a feral donkey. Just don’t call them “ass holes.” (Editor’s Note: The writer was whipped for this pun.)

‘Love it and leave’: The choices facing Wyoming’s youth (Wyofile) One of the better reads I’ve ever seen on “I have to get the fuck out of here” from one of America’s Get The Fuck Out capitals, Wyoming.

Flu Has Disappeared Worldwide during the COVID Pandemic (Scientific American) So, that thing some public health researchers hoped, might actually be happening. Kinda hard to have flu season when we’re not all sneezing on each other in January on the train. Might mess with flu vaccines in a year or two, but it also might just cross-check flu into the glass for a bit.

Shameful: Women who write about their pain suffer a double shaming: once for getting injured, twice for their act of self exposure (Aeon) Believe women. Stop turning their act of disclosure into the controversy, keep your eye on the most likely old, saggy balls that probably abused more than just her.

To play you out, this good old boy surfing to classic instrumental funk:

Song of the Tea: Kwesi comes out of nowhere with this one. Soothing lyrical work, for when you’re in the process of getting your heart pre-broken. The awareness of “well, this passion is going to suck afterwards” from indie song-writers is getting quite interesting. I’m glad this level of foresight is coming up in the youth.

Wouldn’t say that I’m lonely,I’m good for the night…But if you wanted to hold me, Then that’d be alright…

Yours,