Horse races
It’s more than a little dismaying to see the campaign literature I get in my mailbox. I guess I realize that expecting them to do even the slightest bit of constituent research is far too much to ask. But if you’re going to address something to me, you should be addressing my concerns.
First, it’s not like I don’t know something about conservatism.[1] I would never ever vote for a Republican. Let alone a racist authoritarian populist rapist. Or a conservative under the guise of a Democrat.
Second, I would never ever vote for a neoliberal. Let alone a racist neoliberal rapist.
Third, I’m vegan, and even more than that, a vegetarian ecofeminist.[2] So why are you telling me about how you’re a great sportsman and an advocate for gun nuttery and hunting?
My god.
Aliquippa
I don’t get out to Beaver County a whole lot. I hadn’t even been there since I was a kid before the lockdown. Since the lockdown, I’m covering a broader territory. I don’t do any of this on purpose: I just go where the calls take me.
One day I picked up a passenger in Aliquippa. This passenger told me that the Aliquippa police department had been accused of corruption and essentially confined to barracks, with the Pennsylvania State Police taking over policing in the city.
So I was puzzled when more recently, I saw Aliquippa police cruisers on the streets. I also saw state troopers.
The story appears tangled. It looks like Aliquippa cops were at least running a gambling operation. The assistant police chief started investigating, indeed was even in contact with the local district attorney and the state attorney general about the matter, and then got busted for “allegedly sending sexually explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl.”[3]
I suppose that’s one way to try to shut down a corruption investigation. Another is to shoot a local teacher who is cooperating with the investigation.[4] It seems she was shot by “somebody who was comfortable with a gun … somebody that … did not waiver, did not have emotion involved in this.”[5] Uh huh. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only considering these mother fuckers guilty until proven innocent.
I don’t know if they were ever actually taken off the streets. That simply doesn’t appear in anything I’ve found.
- [1]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
- [2]Greta Gaard, “Vegetarian Ecofeminism: A Review Essay,” Frontiers 23, no. 3 (2002): 117-146.↩
- [3]Amy Marcinkiewicz, “Channel 11 uncovers new details about alleged corruption in Aliquippa Police Department,” WPXI, May 10, 2019, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/channel-11-uncovers-new-details-about-alleged-corruption-in-aliquippa-police-department/948295649/↩
- [4]Erin Moriarty, “Rachael DelTondo Murder: Did a Secret Lead to the Killing of the Aliquippa, Pa., teacher?” CBS News, September 7, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rachael-deltondo-murder-did-a-secret-lead-to-the-killing-of-aliquippa-pennsylvania-teacher/↩
- [5]Michael Santicola, quoted in Erin Moriarty, “Rachael DelTondo Murder: Did a Secret Lead to the Killing of the Aliquippa, Pa., teacher?” CBS News, September 7, 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rachael-deltondo-murder-did-a-secret-lead-to-the-killing-of-aliquippa-pennsylvania-teacher/↩