Month: July 2021

Eight months after the election, the lunatics are still at it

benfell

Student loans

Melissa Korn and Andrea Fuller, “‘Financially Hobbled for Life’: The Elite Master’s Degrees That Don’t Pay Off,” Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/financially-hobbled-for-life-the-elite-masters-degrees-that-dont-pay-off-11625752773

Social Security

Lisa Rein, “Biden fires head of Social Security Administration, a Trump holdover who drew the ire of Democrats,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/andrew-saul-social-security-/2021/07/09/c18a34fa-df99-11eb-a501-0e69b5d012e5_story.html

California

Derek Hawkins, “California once forcibly sterilized people by the thousands. Now the victims may get reparations,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/09/california-once-forcibly-sterilized-people-by-thousands-now-victims-may-get-reparations/

Social conservatism

Michelle Goldberg, “The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It,” New York Times, July 9, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/opinion/religious-right-america.html

Billionaire space race

Joey Roulette, “Space tourism rivalry gets extremely petty ahead of Branson’s spaceflight,” Verge, July 9, 2021, https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/9/22570287/space-tourism-virgin-galactic-branson-blue-origin-bezos

Jasper Jolly and Gwyn Topham, “Richard Branson’s quest: to boldly go where no billionaire has gone before,” Guardian, July 10, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/10/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-flight-billionaire-space-tourism-race-jeff-bezos

Donald Trump

Melanie Zanona, “McCarthy’s management style tested by his conference’s most extreme members,” CNN, July 9, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/09/politics/kevin-mccarthy-conference-management/index.html

Meaghan Ellis, “DOJ sounds alarm over Trump’s insinuations that he’ll be ‘reinstalled’ in August,” Salon, July 10, 2021, https://www.salon.com/2021/07/10/doj-sounds-alarm-over-trumps-insinuations-that-hell-be-reinstalled-in-august_partner/

Department of Education asks Joe Biden to delay return to student loan repayments

benfell

Student loans

There is a new blog post entitled, “That merit should yield at least a decent living.”

Eric Kelderman, “The Plan to Resume Federal Student-Loan Repayments in October Just Hit an Obstacle,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 8, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-plan-to-resume-federal-student-loan-repayments-in-october-just-hit-an-obstacle

Alexis Gravely, “Major Student Loan Servicer Leaving Federal Loan Program,” Inside Higher Ed, July 9, 2021, https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/07/09/major-student-loan-servicer-leaving-federal-loan-program

Michael Stratford, “Education Department urges Biden to extend student loan relief,” Politico, July 9, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/09/student-loan-relief-extension-498942

Afghanistan

Spin this however you like, but Joe Biden is admitting that the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable[1] and rapid Taliban gains across the country in the wake of the U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization withdrawal[2] show that an early comparison to Vietnam[3] was not at all far from the truth.

Cleve R. Wootson, Jr., Dan Lamothe, and John Wagner, “Biden forcefully defends Afghan pullout despite Taliban gains,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-afghanistan-taliban/2021/07/08/3fe9ef50-dfd3-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html

Susannah George, “Taliban’s rapid advance across Afghanistan puts key cities at risk of being overtaken,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/07/afghanistan-taliban-surge/

Social networks

Fred Hiatt, “Legally, Trump’s tech lawsuit is a joke. But it raises a serious question,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/legally-trumps-tech-lawsuit-is-a-joke-but-it-raises-a-serious-question/2021/07/08/33bc2dfa-e010-11eb-9f54-7eee10b5fcd2_story.html

White supremacy

Teo Armus and Joe Heim, “Charlottesville to take down Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson statues Saturday,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/09/robert-e-lee-statue-charlottesville-removal/

Pandemic

Grace Panetta, “GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert calls Biden’s door-to-door vaccinators ‘needle Nazis,’” Yahoo! News, July 8, 2021, https://news.yahoo.com/gop-rep-lauren-boebert-calls-130015902.html

Wilkinsburg

Conor Lamb, a local politician, thinks that more municipalities in Allegheny County should consider merging as Wilkinsburg may yet do into Pittsburgh. He thinks it improves efficiency of services.[4] This, of course, explains perfectly why Wilkinsburg is more effective at plowing its roads in a blizzard than Pittsburgh and how merging the two municipalities is going to improve that situation.

Ryan Deto. “Controller Lamb wants potential Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh merger to spur more talks about municipal consolidation,” Pittsburgh City Paper, July 8, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/controller-lamb-wants-potential-wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-merger-to-spur-more-talks-about-municipal-consolidation/Content?oid=19786764

  1. [1]Cleve R. Wootson, Jr., Dan Lamothe, and John Wagner, “Biden forcefully defends Afghan pullout despite Taliban gains,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-afghanistan-taliban/2021/07/08/3fe9ef50-dfd3-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html↩
  2. [2]Ehsanullah Amiri and Gordon Lubold, “After U.S.’s Bagram Exit, Afghans Face the Taliban Alone,” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-u-s-s-bagram-exit-afghans-face-the-taliban-alone-11625517960; Miriam Berger, “More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers flee into Tajikistan as Taliban extends control, Tajik officials say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/05/afghan-soldiers-flee-tajikistan-taliban/; Kathy Gannon, “After troops exit, safety of US Embassy in Kabul top concern,” Associated Press, July 6, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-kabul-445f33e7bba08c382d9bc5f72bf48047; Kathy Gannon, “US left Afghan airfield at night, didn’t tell new commander,” Associated Press, July 6, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623; Susannah George, “Taliban’s rapid advance across Afghanistan puts key cities at risk of being overtaken,” Washington Post, July 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/07/afghanistan-taliban-surge/; Lara Seligman, “U.S. completes 90 percent of Afghanistan withdrawal,” Politico, July 6, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/06/us-90-percent-afghanistan-withdrawal-498279; Yaroslav Trofimov and Ehsanullah Amiri, “Taliban Find New Revenues as They Seize Afghanistan’s U.S.-Built Border Gateway,” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-find-new-revenues-as-they-seize-afghanistans-u-s-built-border-gateway-11625495521↩
  3. [3]R. W. Apple Jr., “A Military Quagmire Remembered: Afghanistan as Vietnam,” New York Times, October 31, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/31/world/nation-challenged-analysis-military-quagmire-remembered-afghanistan-vietnam.html↩
  4. [4]Ryan Deto. “Controller Lamb wants potential Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh merger to spur more talks about municipal consolidation,” Pittsburgh City Paper, July 8, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/controller-lamb-wants-potential-wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-merger-to-spur-more-talks-about-municipal-consolidation/Content?oid=19786764↩

Yet more doubts on Uber’s potential for profit

benfell

Updates

  1. Originally published, July 8, 2021, at 8:09 pm.

  2. July 8, 2021, 11:29 pm:

    • CNN has a better explanation of what Pfizer and BioNTech are doing in terms of a booster shot. It seems a third shot of their original vaccine may be appropriate within six to twelve months, but they are also developing a booster that’s tailored to recent variants, which they expect to begin trials on in August.[1]

    • Rudy Giuliani had already lost his license to practice law in the state of New York.[2] Now he’s lost it in Washington, D.C.[3]


It appears at long last that my new car should arrive anywhere from the 15th through the 19th. I just received word this evening (July 8).

Voting rights

David Gans, “Selective originalism and selective textualism: How the Roberts court decimated the Voting Rights Act,” SCOTUSblog, July 7, 2021, https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/07/selective-originalism-and-selective-textualism-how-the-roberts-court-decimated-the-voting-rights-act/

Pandemic

Even as the delta variant of COVID-19 zeroes in on states which voted for Donald Trump,[4] here’s Marjorie Taylor Greene comparing vaccine outreach workers to Nazi thugs.[5] It may be tempting to think Trump’s supporters are dying to kill themselves off, but as I’ve previously noted,[6] vaccine refusal invites the novel coronavirus to mutate into new variants, some of which may eventually “break through” vaccines, thereby threatening even the dutifully fully vaccinated.[7] Indeed, despite the efficacy of the vaccines already developed against the delta variant,[8] Pfizer announced that they are developing a booster shot to target that variant.[9]

Ron Kampeas, “In latest Nazi analogy, Marjorie Taylor Greene invokes ‘medical brown shirts’ in decrying vaccination outreach,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 7, 2021, https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/in-latest-nazi-analogy-marjorie-taylor-greene-invokes-medical-brown-shirts-in-decrying-vaccination-outreach

Joel Achenbach, “New study on delta variant reveals importance of receiving both vaccine shots, highlights challenges posed by mutations,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/delta-variant-vaccines/2021/07/08/05b1bc5e-df75-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html

Berkeley Lovelace, Jr., “Pfizer says it is developing a Covid booster shot to target the highly transmissible delta variant,” CNBC, July 8, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/pfizer-says-it-is-developing-a-covid-booster-shot-to-target-the-highly-transmissible-delta-variant.html

Paul Waldman, “Right-wing anti-vaccine hysteria is increasing. We’ll all pay the price,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/08/right-wing-anti-vaccine-hysteria-is-increasing-well-all-pay-price/

Gig economy

Edward Ongweso, Jr., “Uber and Lyft Can’t Find Drivers Because Gig Work Sucks,” Vice, July 8, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvej4/uber-and-lyft-cant-find-drivers-because-gig-work-sucks

Gig economy

Whizy Kim is only the latest[10] to raise doubts about Uber’s (and, really, Lyft’s) path to profitability.[11] As Kim notes, however, the business model depends on treating drivers like shit.[12] What’s apparent is that even that isn’t enough.[13]

Whizy Kim, “Let’s Talk About The Real Reason Ubers Are So Expensive Now,” Refinery29, July 7, 2021, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/07/10553126/why-uber-fares-expensive-profit-millennials

Donald Trump

Zoe Tillman, “Trump’s Social Media Lawsuits Feature A Mashup Of Arguments Courts Have Already Rejected,” Buzzfeed, July 7, 2021, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/trump-twitter-facebook-youtube-lawsuits-rejected-arguments

Amanda Marcotte, “Right-wing Twitter imitations don’t work — and Trump desperately wants back on real social media,” Salon, July 8, 2021, https://www.salon.com/2021/07/08/right-wing-twitter-imitations-dont-work–and-trump-desperately-wants-back-on-real-social-media/

  1. [1]Maggie Fox, “Pfizer sees waning immunity from its Covid-19 vaccine, says developing new booster,” CNN, July 8, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/health/pfizer-waning-immunity-bn/index.html↩
  2. [2]Erica Orden, Veronica Stracqualursi, and Katelyn Polantz, “Rudy Giuliani suspended from practicing law in New York state,” CNN, June 24, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/24/politics/rudy-giuliani-suspended-law/index.html↩
  3. [3]Jaclyn Diaz, “An Appeals Court Has Suspended Rudy Giuliani’s Ability To Practice Law In D.C.,” National Public Radio, July 8, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/07/08/1014047881/an-appeals-court-has-suspended-rudy-giulianis-ability-to-practice-law-in-d-c↩
  4. [4]Philip Bump, “A third of White conservatives refuse to get vaccinated — a refusal shown in polling and the real world,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/third-white-conservatives-refuse-get-vaccine-refusal-shown-both-polling-real-world/; Dhruv Khullar, “One half of America is protected. The other is approaching a perilous moment in the pandemic,” New Yorker, June 23, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/the-delta-variant-is-a-grave-danger-to-the-unvaccinated↩
  5. [5]Ron Kampeas, “In latest Nazi analogy, Marjorie Taylor Greene invokes ‘medical brown shirts’ in decrying vaccination outreach,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 7, 2021, https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/in-latest-nazi-analogy-marjorie-taylor-greene-invokes-medical-brown-shirts-in-decrying-vaccination-outreach↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “No more excuses: Get vaccinated,” Not Housebroken, June 23, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/23/no-more-excuses-get-vaccinated/↩
  7. [7]Joel Achenbach, “New study on delta variant reveals importance of receiving both vaccine shots, highlights challenges posed by mutations,” Washington Post, July 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/delta-variant-vaccines/2021/07/08/05b1bc5e-df75-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html; Maggie Fox, “Unvaccinated people are ‘variant factories,’ infectious diseases expert says,” CNN, July 3, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/03/health/unvaccinated-variant-factories/index.html; Natalie Grover, “New Covid vaccines needed globally within a year, say scientists,” Guardian, March 29, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/new-covid-vaccines-needed-within-year-say-scientists; Melissa Healy, “California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here,’” Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-02-23/california-homegrown-coronavirus-strain-looks-increasingly-transmissible-and-dangerous; German Lopez, “Got the vaccine? Experts say you can relax about your Covid-19 risk now. Really,” Vox, May 11, 2021, https://www.vox.com/22423098/covid-19-vaccine-coronavirus-protection-herd-immunity; Berkeley Lovelace, Jr., “Pfizer says it is developing a Covid booster shot to target the highly transmissible delta variant,” CNBC, July 8, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/pfizer-says-it-is-developing-a-covid-booster-shot-to-target-the-highly-transmissible-delta-variant.html; Apoorva Mandavilli, “Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe,” New York Times, May 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/health/covid-herd-immunity-vaccine.html; Christopher Rowland, Emily Rauhala, and Miriam Berger, “Drug companies defend vaccine monopolies in face of global outcry,” Washington Post, March 20, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/20/covid-vaccine-global-shortages/; Lena H. Sun, “CDC says fully vaccinated Americans can go without masks outdoors, except in crowded settings,” Washington Post, April 27, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/04/27/cdc-guidance-masks-outdoors/; Zeynep Tufekci, “The Fourth Surge Is Upon Us. This Time, It’s Different,” Atlantic, March 30, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/03/fourth-surge-variant-vaccine/618463/↩
  8. [8]Talal Ansari and Jason Douglas, “Delta Covid-19 Variant Likely to Become Dominant in U.S., CDC Director Says,” Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/delta-covid-19-variant-likely-to-become-dominant-in-u-s-cdc-director-says-11624047575; Dhruv Khullar, “One half of America is protected. The other is approaching a perilous moment in the pandemic,” New Yorker, June 23, 2021, ttps://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/the-delta-variant-is-a-grave-danger-to-the-unvaccinated↩
  9. [9]Berkeley Lovelace, Jr., “Pfizer says it is developing a Covid booster shot to target the highly transmissible delta variant,” CNBC, July 8, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/pfizer-says-it-is-developing-a-covid-booster-shot-to-target-the-highly-transmissible-delta-variant.html↩
  10. [10]Whizy Kim, “Let’s Talk About The Real Reason Ubers Are So Expensive Now,” Refinery29, July 7, 2021, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/07/10553126/why-uber-fares-expensive-profit-millennials↩
  11. [11]Rich Alton, “Basic economics means Uber and Lyft can’t rely on driverless cars to become profitable,” MarketWatch, August 12, 2019, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/basic-economics-means-uber-and-lyft-cant-rely-on-driverless-cars-to-become-profitable-2019-08-12; Matthew Beedham, “Uber: Is this the beginning of the end for the ride-hailing Goliath?” Next Web, March 2, 2021, https://thenextweb.com/shift/2021/03/02/uber-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-the-ride-hailing-goliath/; Eliot Brown, “Uber Wants to Be the Uber of Everything—But Can It Make a Profit?” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-wants-to-be-the-uber-of-everything-11556909866; Eliot Brown, “Lyft Raises 2019 Revenue Outlook and Sees Smaller Annual Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 7, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyfts-raises-2019-revenue-outlook-and-sees-smaller-annual-loss-11565208387; Eliot Brown, “Uber Posts Its Largest Quarterly Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 8, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-posts-its-largest-ever-quarterly-loss-11565295373; Megan Rose Dickey, “Uber lays off 435 people across engineering and product teams,” TechCrunch, September 10, 2019, https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/10/uber-lays-off-435-people-across-engineering-and-product-teams/; Richard Durant, “Uber’s Profitability Problem Is Structural,” Seeking Alpha, August 21, 2019, https://seekingalpha.com/article/4287055-ubers-profitability-problem-structural; Ryan Felton, “Uber Is Doomed,” Jalopnik, February 24, 2017, https://jalopnik.com/uber-is-doomed-1792634203; Laura Forman, “Uber, Lyft Face a No-Sharing Economy,” Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-lyft-face-a-no-sharing-economy-11603710180; Edward Helmore, “Will Uber ever make money? Day of reckoning looms for ride-sharing firm,” Guardian, August 4, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/uber-ride-share-lyft-ipo-earnings; Sebastian Herrera and Heather Somerville, “Uber Shares Hit New Low as Post-IPO Lockup Expires,” Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-shares-face-more-pressure-as-post-ipo-lockup-is-set-to-expire-11573041602″; Kirsten Korosec, “Uber in talks to sell ATG self-driving unit to Aurora,” TechCrunch, November 13, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/13/uber-in-talks-to-sell-atg-self-driving-unit-to-aurora/; Timothy B. Lee, “Uber, losing billions, freezes engineering hires,” Ars Technica, August 9, 2019, https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/08/uber-freezes-engineering-hires-amid-mounting-losses/; Megan McArdle, “Uber can’t keep bleeding money, can it? It apparently thinks it can,” Washington Post, November 5, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/uber-cant-keep-bleeding-money-can-it-it-apparently-thinks-it-can/2019/11/05/4aa4fec0-000b-11ea-8501-2a7123a38c58_story.html; Tom McKay, “Surprising No One, Uber Continues to Hemorrhage Cash,” Gizmodo, November 4, 2019, https://gizmodo.com/surprising-no-one-uber-continues-to-hemorrhage-cash-1839625062; Patrick Howell O’Neill, “Just In Time For Its Big IPO, Uber Loses $1 Billion,” Gizmodo, April 26, 2019, https://gizmodo.com/just-in-time-for-its-big-ipo-uber-loses-1-billion-1834331980; Annie Palmer, “Uber falls to all-time low as investors grow more skeptical,” CNBC, August 12, 2019, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/12/uber-stock-falls-to-all-time-low-as-investors-grow-more-skeptical.html;Preetika Rana, “Uber Ridership Fails to Recover as Pandemic Drives Another Big Loss,” Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-ridership-fails-to-recover-as-pandemic-drives-another-big-loss-11596744389; Erik Sherman, “Yesterday, Shareholders Bailed on Uber. Today, Insiders Got Their Chance,” Fortune, November 6, 2019, https://fortune.com/2019/11/06/uber-stock-insiders-growth-profit-lockup-period/; Faiz Siddiqui and Greg Bensinger, “Uber’s first day of trading ended deep in the red over gig-economy fears,” Washington Post, May 10, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/10/uber-ipo/; Heather Somerville, “Uber Shedding About 350 Jobs to Shore Up Business,” Wall Street Journal, October 14, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-shedding-about-350-jobs-to-shore-up-business-11571092680; Heather Somerville, “Uber Booked Another Quarterly Loss as Revenue Climbed,” Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-booked-another-quarterly-loss-as-revenue-climbed-11572901549; Heather Somerville and Mark Maurer, “Uber Cuts More Than 400 Technical Jobs,” Wall Street Journal, September 10, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-cuts-more-than-400-technical-jobs-11568144111; Georgia Wells, “Uber Cites Tight Competition After Posting $1 Billion Loss,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-first-quarter-loss-tops-1-billion-11559246846; Stephen Wilmot, “Uber’s Long Road to Profits,” Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-long-road-to-profits-11566471068; Julia Carrie Wong, “Disgruntled drivers and ‘cultural challenges’: Uber admits to its biggest risk factors,” Guardian, April 12, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/11/uber-ipo-risk-factors; Michael Wursthorn, “Lyft Shares Rally on Hopes Price Increases Will Drive Profit,” Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2019, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lyft-shares-rally-on-hopes-price-increases-will-drive-profits-11566845457↩
  12. [12]Whizy Kim, “Let’s Talk About The Real Reason Ubers Are So Expensive Now,” Refinery29, July 7, 2021, https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/07/10553126/why-uber-fares-expensive-profit-millennials↩
  13. [13]Jessica Bursztynsky, “Uber CEO is ‘not happy’ with how long it’s taking to pick riders up or prices being charged,” CNBC, May 25, 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/25/uber-ceo-is-not-happy-with-driver-supply-pricing.html; Laura Forman, “Uber and Lyft Need a Sharper Turn,” Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-and-lyft-need-a-sharper-turn-11618311794; Michael Hiltzik, “Uber reneges on the ‘flexibility’ it gave drivers to win their support for Prop. 22,” Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-05-28/uber-flexibility-prop-22; Aarian Marshall, “Gig Companies Fear a Worker Shortage, Despite a Recession,” Wired, March 5, 2021, https://www.wired.com/story/gig-companies-fear-worker-shortage-despite-recession/; Mariella Moon, “Uber and Lyft rides are pricier due to a lack of drivers (and the waits are longer, too),” Engadget, June 1, 2021, https://www.engadget.com/uber-lyft-surge-pricing-lack-of-drivers-035835230.html; Edward Ongweso, Jr., “Uber and Lyft Can’t Find Drivers Because Gig Work Sucks,” Vice, July 8, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvej4/uber-and-lyft-cant-find-drivers-because-gig-work-sucks; Rida Qadri and Alexandra Mateescu, “Uber and Lyft: woo drivers with stable pay, not short-term honeypots,” Guardian, June 20, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/20/gig-economy-companies-uber-lyft-drivers-pandemic; Preetika Rana, “Uber, Lyft Sweeten Job Perks Amid Driver Shortage, Lofty Fares,” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-lyft-sweeten-job-perks-amid-driver-shortage-lofty-fares-11625223601; Faiz Siddiqui, “Where have all the Uber drivers gone?” Washington Post, May 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/07/uber-lyft-drivers/; Faiz Siddiqui, “You may be paying more for Uber, but drivers aren’t getting their cut of the fare hike,” Washington Post, June 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/09/uber-lyft-drivers-price-hike/; Alissa Walker, “Why Your Uber Ride Is Suddenly Costing a Fortune,” New York, June 4, 2021, https://www.curbed.com/2021/06/uber-lyft-expensive-new-york-city.html↩

Widespread Nature of Chapel Hill’s Academic Fraud Is Laid Bare

benfell

PDF saved on July 8, 2021.

Eamonn Brennan, “UNC prof not dropping academic scandal,” ESPN, April 24, 2013, https://www.espn.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/83897/unc-prof-not-dropping-academic-scandal

Jack Stripling, “At Chapel Hill, a Scandal That Won’t Die,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 8, 2014, https://www.chronicle.com/article/at-chapel-hill-a-scandal-that-wont-die/

Brad Wolverton, “A Whistle-Blower Spurs Self-Scrutiny in College Sports,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 8, 2014, https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-whistle-blower-spurs-self-scrutiny-in-college-sports/

Jack Stripling, “Widespread Nature of Chapel Hill’s Academic Fraud Is Laid Bare,” Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2014, https://www.chronicle.com/article/widespread-nature-of-chapel-hills-academic-fraud-is-laid-bare/

A false flag tactic in the Capitol coup attempt sought to lay blame on Antifa

benfell

Colonization

Negiel Bigpond and Sam Brownback, “It’s long past time for our country to apologize publicly for what it did to Native people,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/06/native-peoples-an-apology-never-spoken-is-no-apology-all/

Jack Jenkins, “Bishop denounces ‘Doctrine of Discovery,’ used to justify abuse of Indigenous peoples, and suggests Pope Francis do the same,” America: The Jesuit Review, July 6, 2021, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/07/06/bishop-syracuse-doctrine-discovery-indigenous-240986

Abortion

Darius Tahir, “A hidden abortion crew prepares to confront a post-Roe America,” Politico, July 6, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/06/abortion-rights-supreme-court-states-restrictions-497821

Pandemic

It’s not just places like Virginia and Tennessee as referred to in this article.[1] I had nurses in my car telling me stories like this. There is no fury more righteous.

Courtney Ann Jackson, “Mississippi doctors still urging folks to get vaccinated as Delta variant becomes dominant COVID strain,” WLBT, July 5, 2021, https://www.wlbt.com/2021/07/06/mississippi-doctors-still-urging-folks-get-vaccinated-delta-variant-becomes-dominant-covid-strain/

Philip Bump, “A third of White conservatives refuse to get vaccinated — a refusal shown in polling and the real world,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/third-white-conservatives-refuse-get-vaccine-refusal-shown-both-polling-real-world/

Peter Jamison, “Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/

Militia

Fi Duong tried to make the January 6, 2021, coup attempt on the U.S. Capitol a false flag operation, dressing in all black to mimic Antifa.[2]

An undercover officer with the D.C. police first encountered [Fi] Duong at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the government. Duong described himself as an “operator” and later explained that he wore all black to look like an anti-fascist activist, the government alleged in court documents. In video later seen by investigators, Duong is identified in court documents as shouting “We’re coming for you Nancy” and pushing a fellow protester toward the doors on the Senate side of the building.[3]

Duong has moved on to forming his own militia group, disguised as a “Bible Study” group. He advocates violent revolution but would prefer that Appalachia secede from the Union.[4] Presumably that would include Pittsburgh, the “Paris of Appalachia,”[5] as well as some of those places making life hell for intensive care unit nurses.[6]

Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu, “Virginia ‘Bible study’ group was cover for violent militia plans, prosecutors say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-bible-study-group-militia/2021/07/06/e5e6cd26-de82-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html

Student loans

Josh Mitchell and Joshua Jamerson, “Student-Loan Holders Get Piecemeal Relief From Biden Administration,” Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/student-loan-holders-get-piecemeal-relief-from-biden-administration-11625304600

Donald Trump

There are a few people in this world who are more cynical than I am, but today’s winner is Philip Bump, who argues that Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit against social media companies alleging censorship[7] is a fundraising ploy.[8] Well, that and that Trump’s raging narcissism[9] is hungry for attention,[10] especially for his perpetually nurtured grievances.[11] Bump may be more cynical than I am, but first, there’s directly applicable precedent;[12] and second, I think Bump makes a pretty good argument.

The unstated question, of course, is when, if ever, we get to stop litigating the 2020 election as a Pennsylvania state senator pursues a plan to “audit,”[13] a la Arizona,[14] those results.[15] Though Governor Tom Wolf would likely veto the plan, it could well gain traction in the batshit crazy Pennsylvania legislature.[16]

Cameron Joseph, “‘So, So Angry’: Reporters Who Survived the Capitol Riot Are Still Struggling,” Vice, July 6, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avqqn/reporters-survived-capitol-riot-struggling

Associated Press, “State Sen. Doug Mastriano opens Pennsylvania election audit plan,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-state-sen-doug-mastriano-opens-election-audit-plan/

Philip Bump, “Why Trump is taking the unusual step of actually filing a lawsuit he had threatened,” Washington Post, July 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/07/why-trump-is-taking-unusual-step-actually-filing-lawsuit-he-had-threatened/

Jacob Silverman, ”Trump’s Social Media Lawsuit Is Doomed to Fail (and Work Exactly as Planned),” New Republic, July 7, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/162917/trump-lawsuit-facebook-twitter-youtube-speech

Cat Zakrzewski and Rachel Lerman, “Trump files class action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Google and Twitter over ‘censorship’ of conservatives,” Washington Post, July 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/07/trump-lawsuit-social-media/

Joe Biden

William Rivers Pitt, “Mitch McConnell Says Bipartisanship Is ‘Over.’ Believe Him,” Truthout, July 7, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/mitch-mcconnell-says-bipartisanship-is-over-believe-him/

Whiners

Jonathan Chait, “Should Discrimination Against Trump Supporters Be Illegal?” New York, July 7, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/should-discrimination-against-trump-supporters-be-illegal.html

Wilkinsburg

Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition in favor of exploring the idea. And the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation plans to present the petition to an Allegheny county judge. . . .

If a judge approves the petition it would then head to Pittsburgh City Council who would have to approve the annexation proposal. Then it would be reviewed by another judge, and if approved it would be put on the ballot as a referendum in Wilkinsburg.[17]

Joe Arena, “Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh consider merger,” WPXI, July 7, 2021, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-consider-merger/L4V5FRSEMREM5INDCLWYU7A7GE/

  1. [1]Peter Jamison, “Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/↩
  2. [2]Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu, “Virginia ‘Bible study’ group was cover for violent militia plans, prosecutors say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-bible-study-group-militia/2021/07/06/e5e6cd26-de82-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html↩
  3. [3]Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu, “Virginia ‘Bible study’ group was cover for violent militia plans, prosecutors say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-bible-study-group-militia/2021/07/06/e5e6cd26-de82-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html↩
  4. [4]Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu, “Virginia ‘Bible study’ group was cover for violent militia plans, prosecutors say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/capitol-riot-bible-study-group-militia/2021/07/06/e5e6cd26-de82-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html↩
  5. [5]Ed Simon, “To Write a History of Pittsburgh is to Write a History of America,” Literary Hub, April 8, 2021, https://lithub.com/to-write-a-history-of-pittsburgh-is-to-write-a-history-of-america/↩
  6. [6]Peter Jamison, “Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/↩
  7. [7]Jacob Silverman, ”Trump’s Social Media Lawsuit Is Doomed to Fail (and Work Exactly as Planned),” New Republic, July 7, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/162917/trump-lawsuit-facebook-twitter-youtube-speech; Cat Zakrzewski and Rachel Lerman, “Trump files class action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Google and Twitter over ‘censorship’ of conservatives,” Washington Post, July 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/07/07/trump-lawsuit-social-media/↩
  8. [8]Philip Bump, “Why Trump is taking the unusual step of actually filing a lawsuit he had threatened,” Washington Post, July 7, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/07/why-trump-is-taking-unusual-step-actually-filing-lawsuit-he-had-threatened/↩
  9. [9]George Simon, “Understanding and Dealing with Narcissistic Rage,” Counselling Resource, July 24, 2017, https://counsellingresource.com/features/2017/07/24/understanding-narcissistic-rage/↩
  10. [10]Jacob Silverman, ”Trump’s Social Media Lawsuit Is Doomed to Fail (and Work Exactly as Planned),” New Republic, July 7, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/162917/trump-lawsuit-facebook-twitter-youtube-speech↩
  11. [11]James Kimmel, Jr., “What the Science of Addiction Tells Us About Trump,” Politico, December 12, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/12/12/trump-grievance-addiction-444570↩
  12. [12]John Cassidy, “Donald Trump’s Latest Grift May Be His Most Cynical Yet,” New Yorker, December 3, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trumps-latest-grift-may-be-his-most-cynical-yet↩
  13. [13]Associated Press, “State Sen. Doug Mastriano opens Pennsylvania election audit plan,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-state-sen-doug-mastriano-opens-election-audit-plan/↩
  14. [14]Jennifer Morrell, “I watched the GOP’s Arizona election audit. It was worse than you think,” Washington Post, May 19, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/05/19/gop-arizona-election-audit/↩
  15. [15]Associated Press, “State Sen. Doug Mastriano opens Pennsylvania election audit plan,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 7, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-state-sen-doug-mastriano-opens-election-audit-plan/↩
  16. [16]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. election audit a ‘very real possibility,’ top Pa. Senate Republican says after meeting activists,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, June 17, 2021, https://www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/pa-election-audit-a-very-real-possibility-argall-says-after-meeting-activists/↩
  17. [17]Joe Arena, “Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh consider merger,” WPXI, July 7, 2021, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/wilkinsburg-pittsburgh-consider-merger/L4V5FRSEMREM5INDCLWYU7A7GE/↩

Afghanistan looks like a rout

benfell

Pandemic

Republicans are embarrassing neoconservative Max Boot:[1]

The states that have the lowest vaccination rates — Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wyoming — are all Republican redoubts. It’s no coincidence that many red states are also seeing the worst outbreaks of the disease in recent weeks: The average number of daily cases in the past 14 days has surged 145 percent in South Carolina, 137 percent in Nebraska and 121 percent in Arkansas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculates that 99.5 percent of U.S. covid-19 deaths in the past six months were among unvaccinated people.[2]

Alisa Odenheimer and Damian Shepherd, “Pfizer Shot Halts Severe Illness in Israel as Delta Spreads,” Bloomberg, July 5, 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-05/israel-sees-decline-in-pfizer-vaccine-efficacy-rate-ynet-says

Max Boot, “Republicans are preventing America from reaching Biden’s vaccination goal,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/06/republican-antivaxxers-biden-vaccination-goal/

Amazon

Jessa Crispin, “Welcome to dystopia: getting fired from your job as an Amazon worker by an app,” Guardian, July 5, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/05/amazon-worker-fired-app-dystopia

Higher Education

It is clear that the attacks on teaching U.S. history (so-called but not really critical race theory)[3] are part of a larger attack on so-called but also mythical ‘leftist indoctrination’ at colleges and universities[4] that supports discrimination against scholars who speak out.[5]

Sarah Brown, “Race on Campus: The Racial Climate at UNC,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 6, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/race-on-campus/2021-07-06

Lauren Lumpkin and Nick Anderson, “Nikole Hannah-Jones to join Howard faculty after UNC tenure controversy,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/07/06/howard-nikole-hannah-jones-tanehisi-coates/

Afghanistan

Ehsanullah Amiri and Gordon Lubold, “After U.S.’s Bagram Exit, Afghans Face the Taliban Alone,” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-u-s-s-bagram-exit-afghans-face-the-taliban-alone-11625517960

Yaroslav Trofimov and Ehsanullah Amiri, “Taliban Find New Revenues as They Seize Afghanistan’s U.S.-Built Border Gateway,” Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/taliban-find-new-revenues-as-they-seize-afghanistans-u-s-built-border-gateway-11625495521

Miriam Berger, “More than 1,000 Afghan soldiers flee into Tajikistan as Taliban extends control, Tajik officials say,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/05/afghan-soldiers-flee-tajikistan-taliban/

Kathy Gannon, “After troops exit, safety of US Embassy in Kabul top concern,” Associated Press, July 6, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-kabul-445f33e7bba08c382d9bc5f72bf48047

Kathy Gannon, “US left Afghan airfield at night, didn’t tell new commander,” Associated Press, July 6, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623

Lara Seligman, “U.S. completes 90 percent of Afghanistan withdrawal,” Politico, July 6, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/06/us-90-percent-afghanistan-withdrawal-498279

Joe Biden

Rebecca Traister, “Biden’s Big Left Gamble,” New York, July 5, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/biden-big-left-gamble.html

Paul Waldman, “Trump didn’t have to deliver for his party’s base. Biden does,” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, May 2024

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