Afternoon Tea 9.13.21 - Satanic-Tinged

Eco-defenders are getting murdered, our blade missile is seeing action, conservative spies are pretending to be democratic activists, the right is paying for memes, and a Spanish bishop risks it all for devilish love. It is Monday, September 13th 2021, and this is your Tea. Today’s vibe is new hotness from Heimanu & Hex Cougar, NuRave waves that evoke space laser symphonies. It might be a bit much for those seeking peace today, but if you woke up and chose violence, there’s a fire inside.

Murders of environment and land defenders hit record high (The Guardian) While Antifa & Black Bloc are continually crucified, globally, environmental activists and indigenous land defenders are getting killed so often you’d think mercenaries get a free car after turning in a full punch-card of death.

The Telltale Traces of the US Military’s New ‘Bladed’ Missile (Bellingcat) Remember that missile we told you about that popped blades instead of exploding? It’s in use! Bellingcat has the evidence that it’s already seeing action.

They Seemed Like Democratic Activists. They Were Secretly Conservative Spies. (New York Times) If you can’t win, cheat.

Trump Insiders Are Quietly Paying Teen Memers For Posts (HuffPo) We’ve been told that the Right is learning how to meme for years now. It looks as if that might not be 100% the whole story here.

9/11 and the Saudi Connection (The Intercept) & How 9/11 created the surveillance state (UnHerd) & How the War on Terror Gave Us Trump (Rolling Stone) While we loathe to produce armchair commentary on this event, this trio of reads hits enough of the related topics to the War on Terror, the digital panopticon, and things we would have never sanctioned in the summer of 2001. But, here we are, now take off your shoes before you go through the RapiScan.

9/11 Narratives Like My Own Are Usually Silenced (McSweeney’s) McSweeney’s says it better than we ever could.

The Era of 9/11 Is Over (The Atlantic - April 2020) Re-posting this as the smartest commentary we’ve encountered in this post-terrorism Era of the Pandemic.

Congress’s Latest Giveaway to Weapons Makers (Prospect) As Congress kicks millions off unemployment, they’re sneaking a thing in to give defense contractors what essentially amounts to pandemic unemployment insurance. The mind reels at the grift.

Data Drop: Out-of-State Money in the NYC Mayoral Race (CityLimits) Did you guess that the cop-friendly elect & his GOP junior varsity rival got a metric butt-ton of money from outside of the five boroughs? We’d say come up and get your prize, but we assume the NYPD would make your life hell if you outed yourself.

Spanish bishop resigns to pursue relationship with "satanic-tinged erotic fiction" author (AV Club) Why even try to summarize this with anything other than, follow your heart padre. No matter where it leads.

Poem of the Tea: By Mary Oliver. Less is more.

Yours,