Afternoon Tea 6.3.21 - Insistent Consistency

Cuomo continuing to be Cuomo, Climate Reclamation is a thing, so is Kettling, a veteran’s mic was cut while he discussed African American contributions to Memorial Day, and he NFL revealed it would stop doing something so bad, ESPN didn’t cover it. It’s Thursday, June 3rd 2021, and this is your Tea.

NFL pledges to halt ‘race-norming,’ review Black claims (Associated Press) Race norming is a statistical practice that resulted in judgements that black football players were worthy of less financial compensation for neurological injuries because their IQs were lower to begin with. And yes, that felt as disgusting to write as it did for you to read.

Veteran's mic cut when he speaks of Black people's role in Memorial Day creation (Akron Beacon Journal) It always seems like the only real damage being done to people who are canceled or censored for things they didn’t do, are people on the left. This was particularly egregious, but not totally unexpected. Also reminds very strongly of Forrest Gump?

Cuomo refuses to release records related to his 'American Crisis' book (Times Union) Cuomo continuing to run the Trump playbook. Given how much time is left on the clock, he might get away with it. Gotta love that we’re all just mostly fine with this loud grift.

Five Things Dems Must Do Now to Save Democracy From the GOP (Daily Beast) It’s a good list, but I assume we’ll do approximately zero things on it, so I won’t even waste time summarizing it here. The short summary? The toxic masculinity epitaph: “Grow a pair.”

This Louisiana neighborhood is retreating in the face of climate change (Grist) Not only are we going to seriously expand buying property that’s unlivable because of climate change, we better start documenting where people who are forced to move go.

Ambushed By the Cops: When Police Deliberately Trap Peaceful Protesters (The Intercept & SITU) & Veteran Virginia journalist on new race-based traffic stop statistics: “Do you believe us now?” (NC Policy Watch) & Jails, Sheriffs, and Carceral Policymaking (Vanderbilt Law School) I don’t know how many more ways to say this, or flavors of evidence to present. Protest & traffic stop commentary from police are invalid on face, and should not be seen as objective.

Trump deplatforms himself (Platformer) I’ve been on Substack since 2019, Trump’s blog lasted 29 days, or 3 Scaramucci’s. For the best look at how the alt right bloviating sphere doesn’t play by the same rules, here’s Judd Legum’s comprehensive review of Daily Wire and tactics that would get you or I insta-banned from FB.

China Suspends Ultramarathons After Death of 21 Runners (NY Times) Wearables provided clues to the families of the dead that the Chinese emergency response teams might not have moved fast enough to save these people. I’m not entirely sure I’d run long distances in a country with air quality that can only be described as distressing.

For the First Time in Millennia, Tasmanian Devils Have Given Birth in Australia (Gizmodo) I didn’t find out that my college acting teacher did the voice acting work for the Bounty Hunter Bull Gator until quite recently. Also, “COME TO TAZ-MANIA COME TO TAZ-MANIA.” 

The American-Dream-as-a-Service (The Pull Request) When I transitioned from academia to tech, I would have paid through the nose for this kind of finishing school. So many things freshly non-scarcity minds didn’t know how to do, and they desperately need to be taught. This is one of the best things I’ve read around the post-union/Above vs Below the API economy I’ve ever seen.

Song of the Tea: Aelian reworks one of the scintillating classic dubstep tracks from one of the upheaval period of the early 2010s.

Tell the people you love that you love them. Hold hands, listen to music, take in the arts. Walk in the light with them for as long as you can. Before you know it, those were the times you’ll always remember.

Yours, always.