#they ALSO describe it as Mexican hot chocolate in tea form

[lunapwrites]

Interesting tea this morning.

Conceptually, this is like Mexican hot chocolate, if it was a tea instead.

The heat isn't overpowering; it's kind of like cinnamon (stick, not ground to be clear.) The cacao gives it a bit of a creamier mouthfeel than I was anticipating. I don't normally like cacao teas because they tend to run overly bitter in my personal experience, but this one is nicely balanced. I think the safflower helps smooth it out a bit.

Overall I think this is pleasant, and I'll get a couple of good cups of of this sample, but probably not a flavor I'd go out of my way to purchase on my own.

Now Gold Rush... Y'all, that tea has a wait list for a reason.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Tired of politics (Pew Research Center) Some 55% of adult social media users say they feel ‘worn out’ by how many political posts and discussions they see on social media, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 13-19. This share has risen 18 percentage points since the Center first asked this question in the summer leading up to the 2016 presidential contest and 9 points just in the past year.

Harris seizes historic moment in accepting VP nomination (AP) Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday, cementing her place in history as the first Black woman on a major party ticket and promising she and Joe Biden will rejuvenate a country ravaged by a pandemic and riven by racial and partisan divides.

Portland protesters set fire inside county building as tensions continue to escalate (Washington Post) A crowd of protesters marched to a county building in southeast Portland on Tuesday night, where a handful of people in masks and all-black outfits threw rocks through windows and lit a small fire inside, marking the 83rd night of protests in Portland that have led to millions of dollars in damage to city property, officials said. Several hundred people participated in the peaceful protest before a smaller group broke off, police said, lighting fires in dumpsters in the street to block traffic and slow down police who later tried to clear the scene. Some sprayed anti-police graffiti on the county building and scrawled instructions to “aim here” across the windows on the first floor. A few masked people threw rocks through window panes, and someone tossed a flaming newspaper into the building, according to reports. The weeks of destruction and intense clashes with police following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May have spurred angry backlash from Portland officials and some residents. Tensions have risen in recent weeks following a period of relative calm after federal law enforcement left Portland last month.

Fires, Blackouts, a Heat Wave and a Pandemic: California’s ‘Horrible’ Month (NYT) How many things can go wrong at once? On Wednesday millions of California residents were smothered by smoke-filled skies as dozens of wildfires raged out of control. They braced for triple-digit temperatures, the sixth day of a punishing heat wave that included a recent reading of 130 degrees in Death Valley. They braced for possible power outages because the state’s grid is overloaded, the latest sign of an energy crisis. And they continued to fight a virus that is killing 130 Californians a day. Even for a state accustomed to disaster, August has been a terrible month. Across the state there were 23 major fires reported on Wednesday and more than 300 smaller ones.

Michigan to Pay $600 Million to Victims of Flint Water Crisis (NYT) The state of Michigan is expected to pay about $600 million to victims of the Flint water crisis, according to two people with knowledge of a major settlement that is set to be announced this week. The money would largely be designated for children in Flint who were poisoned by lead-tainted tap water after officials changed the city’s water supply six years ago, setting off a crisis that drew national attention and remains a worry for many residents. In 2014, as a cost-saving measure for a city in deep financial distress, officials in Flint, led by a state-appointed emergency manager, switched the city’s water supply from Lake Huron to the notoriously foul Flint River. Officials failed to add corrosion controls to the tap water, investigations later found, allowing lead and other chemicals to leach from the old, worn pipes into the drinking supply. It did not take long before Flint residents knew there was something terribly wrong with their water. It tasted metallic and often appeared to be green or light brown. Many people began feeling ill and experiencing skin rashes, hair loss and other mysterious symptoms. But when they confronted elected officials and demonstrated outside City Hall, their pleas were dismissed.

Cola crackdown (Washington Post) Spurred by growing evidence that being overweight increases the risk of serious illness with an infection by the novel coronavirus, a number of Mexican states are moving to ban the sale of junk food to children. On Monday, legislators in Tabasco voted to prohibit the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages and highly processed foods to anyone under 18, just 12 days after Oaxaca took similar action. The pandemic has created an explosion of awareness about why Mexicans are so vulnerable to certain diseases, prompting ambitious new bills in at least 10 states and Mexico City. The World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, have issued strong statements supporting the new laws, but pushback has been swift. Speaking at an event in Berriozabal, Chiapas, deputy health minister Hugo López-Gatell, the country’s coronavirus czar, described sugary drinks as “bottled poison.” ANPRAC, the national association of soft drink producers, issued a statement that he was unfairly demonizing the category. The food industry claims that mom-and-pop bodegas and shops that rely heavily on soda sales will be hurt financially by the new laws.

Ex-official says former Mexico president directed corruption (AP) In some of the most explosive accusations in recent Mexican political history, the former head of the state-owned oil company directly accused former President Enrique Peña Nieto and his treasury secretary of directing a scheme of kickbacks and embezzlement directly from the president’s office. Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Petroleos Mexicanos who himself faces corruption charges, alleges Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray used the state-owned Pemex as a conduit to “fulfill promises made during the (2012) campaign,” among other allegations he makes in a leaked 60-page document whose authenticity was confirmed by Mexican authorities Wednesday. “Enrique Peña Nieto and Luis Videgaray Caso created a scheme of corruption in the federal government, in which the common denominator was that all the people who supported in some way the presidential campaign had to be recompensed or repaid,” usually in the form of cushy government contracts, Lozoya wrote. Lozoya also accused Peña Nieto and Videgaray of extortion, fraud and embezzlement. “The president and the afore-mentioned treasury secretary used me to create a criminal conspiracy aimed at enriching themselves, not only by (taking) government funds, but also by extorting money from individuals and companies, fraud and deceit,” he wrote.

Germany welcomes Israeli air force for first joint exercise (AP) Germany has welcomed military aircraft from Israel to its airspace for their first joint combat exercises in German territory, a milestone which both air forces praised Thursday as a sign of the intensive cooperation between the two countries. During the Third Reich, Nazi Germany murdered 6 million European Jews and others in the Holocaust. Relations between Israel and Germany were difficult in the first decades after the end of the war, but have been growing closer together over the years. Nowadays, Germany is one of Israel’s staunchest supporters.

Cocoa ‘Snow’ Falls on Swiss Town After Chocolate Factory Mishap (Food & Wine) Imagine walking outside to a light dusting of cocoa on the hood of your car, as the smell of chocolate lingered in the air. That sounds like the kind of scenario you’d find in the first chapter of an imaginative kids’ book, but it also actually happened in Olten, Switzerland. According to the Associated Press, the Lindt & Spruengli chocolate factory had a slight problem with its ventilation system while it made roasted cocoa nibs, and a combination of HVAC issues and high winds left a light sprinkling of cocoa powder on the surrounding streets. A Lindt & Spruengli representative said that “one car was lightly covered” and it offered to cover the cost of cleaning any affected property. The company also said that the cocoa dust wasn’t in any way harmful, and that the ventilation issue had since been taken care of. The Lindt-dusting wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the “small technical defect” at a chocolate factory in Werl, Germany that caused a literal ton of liquid chocolate to spill into the street. In December 2018, a delivery tank at DreiMeister overflowed, and West Street was coated with a tasty but problematic mess. The chocolate quickly cooled and hardened, which meant that two dozen firefighters had to use shovels and pickaxes to break it up and clear it out of the road.

Russian opposition leader Navalny hospitalized after suspected poisoning (Foreign Policy) The Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is on a ventilator in an intensive care unit in the Siberian city of Omsk. His plane made an emergency landing after he became ill in flight and ambulances met the plane on the runway to take the unconscious Navalny to a local hospital. His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh suspects that his tea had been poisoned prior to the flight. “We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into his tea. That was the only thing he drank this morning. The doctors say that the toxin was absorbed more quickly because of the hot liquid,” she wrote on Twitter.

EU offers support to protesters in Belarus (Foreign Policy) Speaking after an emergency meeting with EU officials on the crisis in Belarus, European Council President Charles Michel told reporters that the EU “stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus” and that “we don’t recognize the results” of the Aug. 9 presidential elections, which returned longtime President Aleksandr Lukashenko to office by a landslide amid widespread accusations of fraud. Feeling the pressure, Lukashenko is digging in his heels. He accused the EU of “fomenting unrest” in the country, and tightened border security to protect against what he claims are foreign agents infiltrating the protests. On Wednesday, he announced a new police operation to crush the demonstrations, though no further crackdown has yet taken place.

Flood victims take to social media as rains cause chaos in India’s Gurugram (Reuters) Heavy rains flooded parts of Gurugram, an Indian city that plays host to some of the world’s biggest tech companies, and residents took to social media to seek help by posting pictures of waterlogged roads and apartments. Gurugram, a satellite of New Delhi, is one of India’s wealthiest cities and has offices of global corporations such as Google, Facebook and Uber. It had been showcased as India’s “Millennium City”, but clogged drains and poor civic amenities cause flooding almost every monsoon season. The weather office on Thursday warned of “very heavy rainfall” over northern parts of India, including New Delhi and neighbouring cities, which could make the Gurugram floods worse. After torrential rains, residents used Twitter to post pictures of floating cars, floodwaters inundating upscale apartment blocks, and large sinkholes on roads that connect the city to New Delhi. TV footage showed miles-long traffic jams, overflowing sewage and three men rowing an inflatable lifeboat.

Hundreds of Police Killings in India (NYT) A father and son were hauled into a small police station in the southern Indian town of Sathankulam in June after arguing with police officers. When friends and family members went to the station, they heard screams emanating from inside, growing louder as night fell. The next afternoon, the two men, Ponraj Jeyaraj, 58, and Beniks Jeyaraj, 31, stumbled outside surrounded by officers, blood dripping down the backs of their legs. They had clearly been tortured in police custody, family members and lawyers in the town said. Father and son died hours apart, from severe internal injuries, a few days later. For decades, India has absorbed case after case of police brutality, torture and extrajudicial killings. Every year, scores of Indians are killed in what activists call “fake encounters,” and many more, activists say, are tortured to death in police custody. Around the world, the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in May unleashed searing examinations of police abuse, racism and injustice—but not in India, where no large grass-roots movement has emerged to take on police brutality. For many Indians, day-to-day crime is the more pressing issue, and they often side with the police, even when there is voluminous evidence that they have abused their power. There is also a fear of speaking against the police. According to a lengthy report by the National Campaign Against Torture, an Indian rights group based in New Delhi, the capital, at least 1,731 people were killed in custody last year.

Jakarta’s move on hold (Reuters) Indonesia’s plan to relocate their capital city from Jakarta to a location in East Kalimantan province of Borneo has been put on hold, with the $33 billion effort—with construction set to start in 2021—being pushed back. The plan entailed civil servants moving in 2024, which has been pushed back as well. The objective is to relieve Jakarta—a critical city of 10 million—of the additional load of supporting the national government, as the city itself is sinking due to groundwater overextraction as well.

China says Taiwan hacking allegations are ‘malicious slander’ (Reuters) China on Thursday branded as “malicious slander” accusations from Taiwan about hacking attacks linked to the Chinese government, further adding to tensions between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan said hacking groups connected to the Chinese government had attacked at least 10 government agencies and some 6,000 email accounts of government officials in an “infiltration” to steal important data. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian poured scorn on the allegation. “The criticisms from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are malicious slander, pure and simple,” Zhao told reporters, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party. “China is a staunch defender of cybersecurity, and is one of the victims of hacking attacks.” The Chinese government routinely denies involvement in hacking and says it punishes those who do it.

Water already dwindling, Egypt’s farmers fear impact of dam (AP) In the winter of 1964, Makhluf Abu Kassem was born in this agricultural community newly created at the far end of Egypt’s Fayoum oasis. His parents were among the village’s first settlers, moving here three years earlier from the Nile Valley to carve out a new life as farmers. The region was fertile, and for four decades they made their living growing corn, cotton and wheat. Now 55, Abu Kassem looks out what’s left of his shriveling farm, surrounded by barren wasteland that was once his neighbors’ farmland—victims of dwindling irrigation in recent years. In the past, he and other villagers irrigated their farms through canals linked to the Nile River, Egypt’s lifeline since ancient times. But years of mismanagement, corruption and increasing population led to the loss of at least 75% of farmland in the village and the surrounding area. Now, Abu Kassem fears that a dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary, could add to the severe water shortages already hitting his village if no deal is struck to ensure a continued flow of water. For Egyptian farmers, the daunting prospect adds a new worry on top of the other causes of mounting water scarcity. Egypt is already spreading its water resources thin. Its booming population, now over 100 million, has one of the lowest per capita shares of water in the world, at around 550 cubic meters per year, compared to a global average of 1,000.