FD Afternoon Tea 11.4.2020 - Who We Are

We can't keep kidding ourselves.

November 04, 2020

People exercised their civic duty (see fantastic real-time map, thanks to Competitive Advantage Research), pot soared, the first victory for a transgender American in the Delaware state legislature, the first victory for a COVID fatality in the North Dakota state legislature, and something stayed those couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. It’s Wednesday, November 4th 2020, and this is the Tea.

USPS data shows thousands of mailed ballots missed Election Day deadlines (Washington Post) That thing we said would happen with the post office, happened with the post office. To the point of disregarding a Federal Judge’s court order. This might not go the way the crooks think, that Judge Sullivan is PISSED and spent today yelling at lawyers.

Biden wins Arizona, Wisconsin and is within 1% of Trump in Michigan (AP) Even with all of the cheating, it might not be enough for 45 to hang on. As the votes continue to be counted and state-level GOP efforts are stymied, the odds of Trump legitimately claiming he was cheated circle the drain.

North Dakota Republican who died of Covid-19 wins seat in state legislature (CNBC) There is nothing so American than a Republican being elected to the state house after dying of the global pandemic their party pretends isn’t real.

Is the ‘California Exodus’ Turning Arizona Blue? (CityLab) A rare case where the answer to a question in the title of an article was Yes. Remote work & COVID-19 pulling people away from cities will keep this trend going.

ICE Medical Misconduct Witness Slated for Deportation is a US Citizen (TheIntercept) The title added “says lawyer” but I’m not going to disrespect a fellow citizen like that. The fact that ICE is trying to deport a US Citizen who is risking their life to document the gynecological nightmare at the ICE Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, should tell you everything you need to know about their campaign of terror against Americans, citizen or otherwise.

Sarah McBride to become first transgender state senator in U.S. history (NBC News) Progress marches on. Let go or be dragged.

Marijuana's 2020 Election Sweep Means Fifteen States Have Legalized (WestWord) Given that MA & NJ have fully legalized, every minute NY pretends that this farce needs to keep going on is just tax money coming out of Cuomo’s budget. Also, word on the minorities still in jail for pot in these states yet? Anyone? Bueller?

America’s Press and the Asymmetric War for Truth (New York Review of Books) This is a must read for everyone who is trying to understand just how different the world of “fake news” is for swaths of this country and how the media must pivot to prevent America from becoming minority ruled permanently. Said better than I ever could:

Faced with these kinds of asymmetries, journalists will have to decide where they stand. But the choice for a program like Meet the Press, a network like NPR, a newsroom like The New York Times’s, or a news service like the AP is not which team to join, the Democrats or the Republicans. (Anyone who puts it that way is trying to snow you.) The choice, rather, is whether to continue with a system of bipartisan representation, in which the two parties get roughly equal voice in the news because they are roughly equal contenders for a majority of votes, or whether to redraw their practices amid the shifting reality of American politics, in which the GOP tries to control the system from a minority position—white nationalism for the base, plutocracy for the donor class—while the Democrats try to bring order to their unruly and slowly expanding majority.

If We Are Going to Recover from Trumpism, We Must Deny Charity to Trump’s Henchmen (New Yorker) Miles Taylor deserves to face charges at the Hague along with everyone associated with the ICE camps. This is as right about Trump’s peanut gallery as it was for Dubya’s motley crew of war criminals. Without punishment, our enemies are emboldened, as Donald (Rumsfeld) once told us.

And also this 30 second quote from James Baldwin, for no reason at all.

Song of the Tea: Instead of music, I am delighted to announce the “Downfall” subtitled meme is already out and it’s fantastic. Good to the last drop.

So close, yet so far.

Yours,T