FD Afternoon Tea 9.15.20

Fat bears, cut-rate thermometers, fake news, and invoking a Homeric archetype

September 15, 2020

Facebook whistleblowing, Wall Street whistleblowing, Russian jets, Mediterranean war drums, and fat bears. It is Tuesday, September 15th, 2020, and this is your Afternoon Tea.

Beware Rigged China Fever Cameras (IPVM) I had no idea there was this level of variance in standards existed for these remote temperature check devices.

“I Have Blood on My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation (BuzzfeedNews) If I was Facebook, I would have offered one to two more zeroes on the severance package in exchange for nondisparagement. This information is terrifying.

The Cyprus Center for Land, Open-seas, and Port Security - CYCLOPS (US State Dept) US State Department is partnering with Cyprus, leading to the best acronym in American operation history. For anyone unsure of what’s going on there, WaPo has a nice little discussion of the clusterfuck salad.

Trump ad asks people to support the troops. But it uses a picture of Russian jets. (Politico) Does what it says on the tin. Just imagine how many hours and days of coverage this would get on Fox if the Biden campaign messed up at this level.

Why I Broke Wall Street’s Code of Silence (Institutional Investor) Compelling confession from a veteran analyst. Non-enforcement of our white collar crime laws creates so much more hardship than violent crime these days.

How Algorithms Can Fight Bias Instead of Entrench It (Behavioral Scientist) Deep discussion of algorithms, how bias seeps into them, and what can be done to fight that.

How Oracle Became the Trump Administration’s Favorite Tech Company (Slate) Great review of the friendship between Oracle CEO Ellison and Trump. As I predicted, any deal related to TikTok would not include the algorithm. Oracle could use the enterprise data contract, but they’re not getting their hands on anything juicy.

The Violent Defense of White Male Supremacy (The Atlantic) I’ll just quote the piece:

Trumpism is the latest—or last—chapter in the story of this America. Like its antecedents, Trumpism is the violent defense of white male supremacy. Adherents of Trumpism think they are facing a choice between white male supremacy and “anarchy.” And right now, Trump’s federal agents, Trump-supporting paramilitary domestic terrorists, and Trump-supporting police officers from Kenosha to Austin believe they are fighting against anarchy. Which is to say, they are fighting to maintain white male supremacy. Which is to say, they are defending law and order. Defending their America—where white men can rule and brutalize without consequence.

China’s influence in Europe — by the numbers (Politico.eu) Wonderfully detailed review of China’s capital influence into the Eurozone.

Fat bear is already so big that he has trouble walking (Mashable) Things heating up in the annual #FatBearWeek fandom.

Song of the Tea: Tuesdays are lame, so here’s a splendid James Brown rework.

Relax those shoulders!

Yours,T