Housekeeping
The Pixel 4 XL has not arrived. I tried calling FedEx to find out what had happened, but in truth, I got very little information beyond that which tracking had offered. That “trailer,” presumably as in a tractor pulling that trailer, that supposedly holds my Pixel 4 XL, had not yet arrived in Pittsburgh.
I knew already that the package had not been checked in to Pittsburgh. So the only news here was that it was being brought here by a tractor-trailer. I was not expecting a mule train. Or maybe some poor schmuck on a bicycle.
It supposedly left Grove City, Ohio, at 1:21 this morning. It’s a three or four hour drive to Pittsburgh. So it has not come directly to Pittsburgh. Which seems more than a little strange.
I’m hoping it will arrive tomorrow, at which point the anticipated communication disruption may yet occur.
Pennsylvania
Today may be a poor example, but lots of things are shutting down all over the country, including in Pittsburgh, and people are definitely hearing about “social distancing” and “self-quarantining.” Business, which I discussed this morning, seemed like it was back to winter.
Governor Tom Wolfe has ordered all schools in Pennsylvania to close for at least ten days. Many are closing for longer.[1] I think it’s going to take longer than this for the pandemic to crest.
Fig. 1. Map of political polarization in Pennsylvania as of March 2020 by the Penn Capital-Star, fair use. I live in Allegheny County, which appears not merely red (as in a red-blue divide), but maroon, signifying a strong Republican advantage.[2]
Don’t focus too much on that eye-popping Allegheny County number. I imagine that, much like Philly last fall, a periodic update of the voter rolls is responsible for that shift.
Still the Southwest remains a rising red sea for the GOP. Ancestral Democratic counties such Beaver, Fayette and Greene counties continue to bleed away support. Lawrence County will likely be a Republican county by my next update and at this pace Cambria County won’t be too far behind.[3]
As I drive around, mostly in Allegheny County, I see a few yard signs for Bernie Sanders. I see none at all for Joe Biden. I see a lot of yard signs, flags, and bumper stickers for Donald Trump. So that “eye-popping Allegheny County number” may be closer to the truth than Nick Field realizes.
Nick Field, “Voter Registration Update: Pa.’s blue and red divide deepens as April primary approaches,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, March 11, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/voter-registration-update-pa-s-blue-and-red-divide-deepens-as-april-primary-approaches-analysis/
Megan Guza And Joanne Klimovich Harrop, “Gov. Tom Wolf orders all Pa. schools shut down for 10 days,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 13, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/western-pa-schools-begin-closing-for-2-weeks-over-coronavirus-fears/
Eric Heyl, “First Western PA Coronavirus Case Confirmed,” Patch, March 13, 2020, https://patch.com/pennsylvania/baldwin-whitehall/s/h1rnv/first-western-pa-coronavirus-case-confirmed
- [1]Megan Guza And Joanne Klimovich Harrop, “Gov. Tom Wolf orders all Pa. schools shut down for 10 days,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, March 13, 2020, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/western-pa-schools-begin-closing-for-2-weeks-over-coronavirus-fears/↩
- [2]Nick Field, “Voter Registration Update: Pa.’s blue and red divide deepens as April primary approaches,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, March 11, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/voter-registration-update-pa-s-blue-and-red-divide-deepens-as-april-primary-approaches-analysis/↩
- [3]Nick Field, “Voter Registration Update: Pa.’s blue and red divide deepens as April primary approaches,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, March 11, 2020, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/voter-registration-update-pa-s-blue-and-red-divide-deepens-as-april-primary-approaches-analysis/↩