Afternoon Tea 7.20.21 - Underwater Wine Vaults

Fox News has a vaccine passport, the Frito-Lay strike is no joke, quantifying the costs of tobacco smoking globally, for-profit masters degrees are kind of a giant scam, and the economic consequences of anti-vaxx forces, quantified by a Wealth Management firm off Bryant Park. It’s Tuesday July 20th 2021, and this is your Tea.

Fox has quietly implemented its own version of a vaccine passport while its top personalities attack them (CNN Business) To be able to work without a mask or socially distancing at Fox News, you have to get vaccinated. Once you get one, you get a Fox News “Clear” vaccine pass. So, for everyone keeping score, the talking heads yelling that you don’t need to be vaccinated, are not only all vaccinated, they require a valid vaccine pass to walk around without a mask in the building or get within 6 feet of someone else. Also, wait, why is CNN starting a streaming service? 

The Economic Risks from Anti-Vaxxers (The Big Picture) The Wealth Management industry isn’t exactly full of bed wetters over masking and all of that. But this case, laid out by Barry Ritholtz, is pretty unassailable.

I'm a Frito-Lay Factory Worker. I Work 12-Hour Days, 7 Days a Week (Motherboard) Looks like I’m going to need to get used to Dipsy Doodles in my chili for a bit longer. Don’t cross the picket line y’all. These working conditions are atrocious.

The Paradox of Trumpist Patriotism (The Bulwark) & What Tucker Carlson’s Attack on America’s Top General Reveals about What Conservatives Really Believe (Peter Beinart) It’s pretty wild that we now have no “answer” for 70ish million Americans who claim they love the country more than anyone ever, yet hate…basically every other person in the nation that isn’t in their tribe.

Smoking: How large of a global problem is it? (Our World in Data) When you look at the big picture, the info is staggering. Tobacco smoking lowers your life expectancy by 10 years, and has caused an estimated 200 million deaths in the last 30 years alone. Tobacco kills more in a day (23,836 deaths per day) than terrorism kills in a year (21,000 avg annually). This means even if we only continue to smoke at what the West believes to be historic lows, 1 billion humans will die from smoking tobacco by 2100.

A Libyan Revenant (New Lines) Come for the stunning story about a militia commander in Libya getting his Count of Monte Cristo on. Stay for the Tarik Ibn Ziyad Brigade, a wildly powerful local militia named for our writer’s namesake. To understand why, this article includes the speech he’s known for across the Arab world.

A bank at every corner store: agency banking is transforming Nigerian business (RestOfWorld) Every post office in America should be a public bank. Every single one of them should provide the banking & cash services anyone who makes up to ~$75k would ever need. If that’s repellant to you, how about banking at every gas station, bodega, deli, 7-11, Wawa, or Royal Farms?

Master’s Degrees Are the Second Biggest Scam in Higher Education (Slate) At the time, you couldn’t convince me of this if you tried. My MA was entirely irrelevant to most of my work history, and not just because I switched sectors. We need to treat the explosion in adult masters & non-degree granting certificate programs with extreme skepticism.

"Great resignation" wave coming for companies (Axios) 25-40% of workers are thinking of quitting right now. If you haven’t noticed it already, take a look around your real/virtual workplace. If the smartest, most talented people have started to make their way to the exits, make a note. As Ed Zitron says, it’s not that people don’t want to work, if you underpay and abuse them, it’s that they don’t want to work for you!

Chardonnay-Under-the-Sea Goes a Bit Too Far Even in Wine Country (Bloomberg) Under da Sea! Darling it’s better, Chard when it’s wetter, take it from me! Up on the vines, they work all day, out in the sun they dry away. While we devotin’full time to floatin,Under the sea!

Song of the Tea: It’s ok to pull back to core defenses when the situation gets tough. Just make sure you bring enough firepower and rations into the walls to survive the siege. Heimanu has your back with the some Hardwave-flavored heavy artillery.

I've been down the darkest roadsDidn't think I could get outNow I just walk on throughThe ghosts are all aroundHere and I can't be movedI never look backAnd they start creeping inBut I'm leaving them in the past 

Yours,