August 2021 – Page 2 – Irregular Bullshit

Martin Pengelly, “‘Short and not especially sweet’: Lindsey Graham called Biden over Trump support,” Guardian, August 16, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/16/lindsey-graham-joe-biden-hunter-call-trump-support

Pandemic

Sharon LaFraniere, “U.S. to Advise Boosters for Most Americans 8 Months After Vaccination,” New York Times, August 16, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/16/us/vaccination-booster-shots.html

Afghanistan

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Joel Pett, July 23, 2021, via GoComics, fair use.

Susannah George, “Afghanistan’s military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions,” Washington Post, August 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-military-collapse-taliban/

Susannah George and Bryan Pietsch, “Taliban enters Kabul, leaving Afghan government on brink of collapse,” Washington Post, August 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-embassy-jalalabad/

Susannah George et al., “Afghan government collapses as Taliban sweeps in, U.S. sends more troops to aid chaotic withdrawal,” Washington Post, August 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-embassy-jalalabad/

Christina Goldbaum and Najim Rahim, “A Week Into Taliban Rule, One City’s Glimpse of What the Future May Hold,” New York Times, August 15, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/15/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-kunduz.html

Ahmad Seir, Rahim Faiez, and Jon Gambrell, “Taliban seize Jalalabad, cut off Afghan capital from east,” Washington Post, August 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/taliban-seize-jalalabad-cut-off-afghan-capital-from-east/2021/08/14/131e00aa-fd75-11eb-911c-524bc8b68f17_story.html

Ahmad Seir et al., “Taliban fighters enter Kabul, await a ‘peaceful transfer’ of power,” Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-08-15/taliban-fighters-enter-kabul-then-pledge-not-to-take-afghan-capital-by-force

Times of Israel, “Afghan government set to hand over power to Taliban in stunning collapse,” August 15, 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/afghan-government-expected-to-hand-over-power-to-taliban-in-stunning-collapse/

Yaroslav Trofimov, “Afghanistan’s Taliban Seize Jalalabad as Panic Grips Kabul,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-seize-jalalabad-as-panic-grips-kabul-11629005282

Yaroslav Trofimov, Dion Nissenbaum, and Margherita Stancati, “‘Saigon on Steroids’: The Desperate Rush to Flee Afghanistan,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/saigon-on-steroids-the-desperate-rush-to-flee-afghanistan-11629071999

Charlie Faulkner and Ben Farmer, “Desperate Afghans plunge to deaths from departing US planes as Kabul airport overrun,” Telegraph, August 16, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/16/kabul-airport-chaos-thousands-overrun-tarmac-desperate-bid-escape/

Anne Gearan, “Biden blames others for swift collapse in Afghanistan, defends his decision to withdraw troops,” Washington Post, August 16, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-afghanistan-speech/2021/08/16/1bdff5e6-feaf-11eb-ba7e-2cf966e88e93_story.html

Guardian, “‘There are no women in the streets’ – the day life changed in Kabul,” August 16, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/there-are-no-women-kabul-street-stayed-home-fear-beaten-taliban-fighters

Heather Cox Richardson, “August 16, 2021,” Letters from an American, August 16, 2021, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-16-2021

Gig economy

Laura Forman, “Ride-Hailing Companies Get Some Drivers’ Ed,” Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ride-hailing-companies-get-some-drivers-ed-11629200461

Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban are falling off of airplanes taking off from Kabul airport

August 16, 2021benfell

Student loans

Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, “Fixing the Student-Debt Crisis Isn’t Enough,” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 16, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/article/fixing-the-student-debt-crisis-isnt-enough

Afghanistan

Gig economy

Trading Places Research, “Uber And Lyft: The Limits Of The Amazon Model,” Seeking Alpha, August 15, 2021, https://seekingalpha.com/article/4449578-uber-and-lyft-the-limits-of-the-amazon-model

Allegheny County

Nick Matoney, “CDC: Several counties in Western Pa. now at high level of community transmission of COVID-19,” WTAE, August 16, 2021, https://www.wtae.com/article/cdc-several-counties-in-western-pa-now-at-high-level-of-community-transmission-of-covid-19/37314444

Lost

August 15, 2021benfell

Afghanistan

There is a new blog post entitled, “Why do ‘they’ hate us?”

Karen DeYoung et al., “Biden authorizes additional troops to Kabul as Taliban closes in on capital,” Washington Post, August 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/14/afghanistan-taliban-advance-humanitarian/

Greg Jaffe, “From hubris to humiliation: America’s warrior class contends with the abject failure of its Afghanistan project,” Washington Post, August 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-hubris-afghanistan-humiliation/2021/08/14/47fb025a-fc67-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html

Susannah George et al., “Afghan president flees country after Taliban enters Kabul, a sign the government has collapsed,” Washington Post, August 15, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/15/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-embassy-jalalabad/

‘Ridiculous’ humidity

August 14, 2021benfell

Pittsburgh

Just look at the graphic.

Enjoy the comfortable weekend! ☀️ Get your full @KDKA forecast online at https://t.co/cMkp5pWO2Q ⬅️

— Mary Ours (@MaryOursWX) August 14, 2021

And no, I am not especially concerned by the forecast that it’s going to be “extremely humid” or “muggy” over the next week. There’s a category labeled “ridiculous” that I assume includes those times when even 70 degrees feels warm.

Sorry if I think science should do this more often.

Pandemic, Pennsylvania

Stop. Just stop. This isn’t 2020. It’s damn near 2022. We’re nearing two years of living in this hellscape, and if people who are eligible and able to get the vaccine haven’t been moved by the more than three million people worldwide (636,369 and counting in the U.S. alone) killed by the virus — no amount of pleases and thank-yous are going to persuade them to side with science, common sense, and decency.^[1]

Marley Parish, “Penn State won’t mandate COVID-19 vaccines, prompting questions about priorities,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, August 13, 2021, https://www.penncapital-star.com/education/penn-state-wont-mandate-covid-19-vaccines-prompting-questions-about-priorities/

Brad Reed, “Georgia county shuts down all of its schools for two weeks after mass COVID-19 outbreak,” Raw Story, August 13, 2021, https://www.rawstory.com/georgia-schools/

Times of Israel, “Israel becomes first country in world to give COVID boosters to over-50s,” August 13, 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-offer-covid-boosters-to-over-50s/

Helen Ubiñas, “Stop begging the COVID bullies. We can’t ‘nice’ people into doing the right thing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/covid-masks-mandates-vaccines-philadelphia-mayor-kenney-helen-ubinas-20210813.html

Aya Elamroussi, “‘This is starting to look really ominous in the South,’ expert says, as US is among nations with highest rate of new Covid-19 cases,” CNN, August 14, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/14/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

Meagan Flynn, “Get the vaccine or get fired? In Shenandoah Valley, some nurses choose termination,” Washington Post, August 14, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vaccine-mandate-nurses-virginia-covid/2021/08/13/493c906a-fad3-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html

Michael Savage, “New Covid variants ‘will set us back a year’, experts warn UK government,” Guardian, August 14, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/new-covid-variants-will-set-us-back-a-year-experts-warn-uk-government

Wes Venteicher, “California unions for firefighters, blue collar workers challenge Newsom’s vaccine rules,” Sacramento Bee, August 14, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article253460384.html

Work

There is a new blog post entitled, “The wages are injury enough; the insult in some ways even worse.”

Matt Petras, “In the continuing pandemic, businesses need workers, but are jobs meeting the needs of residents?” Public Source, August 12, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-workforce-covid-unemployment-hiring-worker-shortage/

Afghanistan

Jon Lee Anderson, “The Return of the Taliban,” New Yorker, August 13, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-return-of-the-taliban

Susannah George et al., “Mass Afghan government surrenders as Taliban fighters overrun three key cities in sweeping territorial gains,” Washington Post, August 13, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/13/afghanistan-taliban-advance/

Melissa Mahtani et al., “US to send troops to help evacuate personnel in Afghanistan, as Kandahar becomes latest city to fall,” CNN, August 13, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/webview/politics/live-news/afghanistan-taliban-us-troops-08-12-21/h_75f8d8c2a81923885b9a0fe6d7e00f7a

Roland Oliphant, “Will the Taliban take over Afghanistan? Here’s what we know so far,” Telegraph, August 13, 2021, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/13/will-taliban-take-afghanistan-know-far/

^[1]Helen Ubiñas, “Stop begging the COVID bullies. We can’t ‘nice’ people into doing the right thing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 13, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/covid-masks-mandates-vaccines-philadelphia-mayor-kenney-helen-ubinas-20210813.html ↩

A third dose is a ‘great service’

August 13, 2021benfell

Pandemic

The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on booster shots until at least the end of September in order to address inequalities in global dose distribution.

But Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said Israel is doing the world a “great service” by administering the third doses and sharing their results.^[1]

I guess what’s mysterious to me is any imagination that the shortcomings in worldwide vaccine distribution, that prompt the World Health Organization to oppose booster shots now,^[2] would be overcome by September. Unused doses have to be discarded when they expire and I’m not persuaded that there’s any way to redistribute those doses to the world before they do expire.

Brianna Abbott, “Covid-19 Rise, Vaccine Hesitancy Frustrate Doctors in Hospitals Saturated by the Delta Variant,” Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-rise-vaccine-hesitancy-frustrate-doctors-in-hospitals-saturated-by-the-delta-variant-11628760602

Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court won’t block Indiana University vaccine mandate as Justice Barrett rejects student plea,” Washington Post, August 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-covid-vaccine-mandate-indiana/2021/08/12/a2dcc2d2-fbac-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html

Natasha Lindstrom, “Out-of-state covid hot spots ‘desperate’ to transfer patients to Western Pa. hospitals,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 12, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/health-now/out-of-state-covid-hot-spots-desperate-to-transfer-patients-to-western-pa-hospitals/

Evictions

There is a new blog post entitled, “To be an international human rights rogue and to spread the contagion.”

Brent Kendall, “Eviction Moratorium Left in Place by Judge Despite Legal Doubts,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judge-leaves-new-eviction-moratorium-in-place-11628870224

Afghanistan

There is another new blog post entitled, “Consider a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.”

Deutschewelle, “Afghanistan: Taliban take control of Herat in major victory for militants,” August 12, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-take-control-of-herat-in-major-victory-for-militants/a-58836723

Stephen Losey et al., “More US Troops Heading into Afghanistan as Taliban Conquest Approaches Tipping Point,” Military.com, August 12, 2021, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/08/12/more-us-troops-heading-afghanistan-taliban-conquest-approaches-tipping-point.html

Ishaan Tharoor, “Afghanistan’s rapid collapse is part of a long, slow U.S. defeat,” Washington Post, August 12, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/12/afghanistan-taliban-biden-moment/

That power outage last night lasted four hours, long enough for me to contemplate taking my perishables to my new apartment. Even if that apartment was also affected by the power outage, there’s an emergency generator that will keep the refrigerator running.

^[1]Times of Israel, “Israel becomes first country in world to give COVID boosters to over-50s,” August 13, 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-becomes-first-country-in-world-to-offer-covid-boosters-to-over-50s/↩
^[2]Helen Branswell, “WHO director-general slams notion of Covid-19 vaccine booster doses given global health needs,” Stat, July 12, 2021, https://www.statnews.com/2021/07/12/who-director-general-slams-notion-of-covid-19-vaccine-booster-doses-given-global-health-needs/↩

Afghanistan is falling, falling, falling

August 12, 2021benfell

Donald Trump

Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, “House Democrats can get some of Trump’s tax records from accounting firm Mazars USA, judge rules,” CNN, August 11, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/trump-taxes-mazars-house-democrats/index.html

Infrastructure

Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav, “Senate Democrats approve $3.5 trillion budget resolution in key step toward passing major economic package without GOP votes,” CNN, August 11, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/senate-approves-budget-resolution/index.html

Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle, “House Dem moderates lay out battle lines as Pelosi stands firm,” Politico, August 11, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/11/house-democrats-moderates-infrastructure-spending-503917

Ryan Lizza et al., “A warning sign for Democrats on climate policy,” Politico, August 11, 2021, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/08/11/a-warning-sign-for-democrats-on-climate-policy-493936

Kristina Peterson and Lindsay Wise, “Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Budget Framework Exposes Party Tensions,” Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-3-5-trillion-budget-framework-exposes-party-tensions-11628704569

Uber

Cory Doctorow, “End of the line for Uber,” Pluralistic, August 10, 2021, https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/10/unter/#bezzle-no-more

Afghanistan

It appears that eleven provincial capitals have now fallen to the Taliban. Kandahar may be about to fall along with a twelfth provincial capital.

German General Egon Ramms, former commander of the NATO joint forces in Afghanistan, told DW he was astonished at the failure of the Afghan army in defending against the Taliban.^[1]

“We have trained the Afghan army and the Americans in particular have equipped them quite well,” said Ramms. “There must be something wrong with the leadership of the Afghan national army.”

“I expected that they would be able to fight against the Taliban and that they at least would have a good possibility to oppose them in a way that they could not move forward that quickly.”^[2]

The lease on my new apartment is now signed. It’s another stormy night and the power has just failed at my apartment. And I’m just too damned tired to even think about how I’m going to move.

^[1]Deutschewelle, “Afghanistan: Taliban take control of Herat in major victory for militants,” August 12, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-take-control-of-herat-in-major-victory-for-militants/a-58836723 ↩
^[2]Deutschewelle, “Afghanistan: Taliban take control of Herat in major victory for militants,” August 12, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-take-control-of-herat-in-major-victory-for-militants/a-58836723 ↩

Not boring weather

August 11, 2021benfell

Brazil

Ishaan Tharoor, “Brazil’s Bolsonaro follows the Trump playbook,” Washington Post, August 11, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2021/08/11/bolsonaro-trump-playbook/

Afghanistan

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from the Afghan capital Kabul, said the fall of Pul-e-Khumri was a “significant development”.

“Significantly, this brings the fighting a lot closer to Kabul itself, and that is a concern for the government.”

The Taliban have captured eight out of 34 provincial capitals in the country in less than a week.

A senior EU official told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday that Taliban forces now control 65 percent of Afghan territory, are threatening to take 11 provincial capitals, and are trying to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north.^[1]

At least when it was South Vietnam falling, I could say with some confidence that the North had some support from the people, that the collapse would likely be an improvement. Though an end to otherwise endless and pointless war is desperately needed, I am not so sure that is the case in Afghanistan.

Akhtar Mohammad Makoii and Luke Harding, “Taliban capture sixth provincial capital in northern Afghanistan,” Guardian, August 9, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/09/taliban-capture-aibak-sixth-provincial-capital-northern-afghanistan

Al Jazeera, “Taliban seizes eighth Afghan provincial capital in five days,” August 10, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/10/taliban-seizes-farah-seventh-provincial-afghan-capital-in-five-days

Dan Lamothe et al., “U.S. officials warn collapse of Afghan capital could come sooner than expected,” Washington Post, August 10, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/08/10/afghanistan-intelligence-assessment/

Reuters, “Taliban flashpoints in Afghanistan,” August 10, 2021, https://graphics.reuters.com/AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT/FLASHPOINTS/lbpgnrazjvq/index.html

Tameem Akhgar and John Gambrell, “Taliban complete northeast Afghan blitz as more cities fall,” Associated Press, August 11, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-taliban-e2c0e7b46c03cebb4fdddca309e005e8

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Afghanistan war: Biden says he does not regret troop withdrawal,” August 11, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58167408

Infrastructure

The question now seems to be what can get past a veto from either Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema or both.^[2] One thing that looks like it won’t? Any move against fossil fuels,^[3] This, even after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most recent report.^[4] ’cause ya know, Manchin’s money^[5] is infinitely more important than any future at all for the kids.

Alex Shephard, “Biden Gets His Bipartisan Victory. Now the Hard Part,” New Republic, August 10, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/163228/senate-passes-infrastructure-bill-reconciliation-next

Pittsburgh

It appears the trouble started in a bar next door.^[6] Meanwhile, Brillobox, which featured a dynamite fake bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, and which closed during the pandemic, has now said it will reopen.^[7]

Ryan Deto, “Popular Bloomfield bar Brillobox plans to reopen in fall 2021,” Pittsburgh City Paper, August 10, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/popular-bloomfield-bar-brillobox-plans-to-reopen-in-fall-2021/Content?oid=19988847

Megan Guza, “Man charged in arson damage to D’s Six Pax & Dogz in Swissvale,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 10, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/man-charged-in-arson-damage-to-ds-six-pax-dogz-in-swissvale/

Hal B. Klein, “The 12 Best Vegan and Vegetarian Eateries in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh, August 10, 2021, https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/the-12-best-vegan-and-vegetarian-eateries-in-pittsburgh/

Pennsylvania

Pandemic

Justine McDaniel et al., “As cases rise, so do new rules: Philly adds a mask mandate, Pa. to require vaccination or tests for some workers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 10, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/news/covid-pa-vaccine-mandate-mask-philly-20210810.html

Evictions

Ryan Deto, “Allegheny County extended its local eviction moratorium, and data shows it’s necessary,” Pittsburgh City Paper, August 11, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/allegheny-county-extended-its-local-eviction-moratorium-and-data-shows-its-necessary/Content?oid=19990418

Student loans

Charles Lane, “We need to solve the graduate-student loan fiasco with reform, not implement temporary solutions,” Washington Post, August 10, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/10/we-need-solve-graduate-student-loan-fiasco-with-reform-not-implement-temporary-solutions/

The lease signing on my new apartment has been delayed until Thursday evening. My new landlord has repeatedly emphasized to me that I can start moving in as soon as the lease is signed, even though it won’t take effect until September 1st, and he turns over the key. I’m thinking about the logistics now.

I had a passenger today who pronounced me a “Pittsburgher” for my complaints about the plowing in the winter and about the potholes. Perhaps, but probably you have to be a Californian to find the weather in California boring.

The weather certainly wasn’t boring as I drove home tonight. I had already decided to defer buying gas, because messing with flammable liquids just doesn’t seem like a sensible thing to do when electricity is flying all over the place, when as I approached the intersection of Brownsville Road on Route 51, I saw a lightning strike real close. I didn’t see quite where it hit, but it had to be in Whitehall nearby, perhaps on the country club grounds because I heard the thunder instantly.

I involuntarily hit my brake; the cop next to me paused longer than I did—I suspect he was trying to figure out where the strike was. The traffic signal at the intersection went out, flashing red in all directions. This was now a four-way stop with two lanes in each direction, working about as well as you might expect, which is to say, not at all. The cop turned on his lights and pulled into the Verizon Wireless store parking lot. I suspect he had the soggy task of directing traffic.

In my own defense against the charge of now being a “Pittsburgher,” I saw the unplowed roads in the Carrick neighborhood of Pittsburgh last winter and there just ain’t no two ways about it: Those folks have a legitimate beef. And it’s awfully striking that one only has to cross the city limits into suburbs to find plowed roads. I lose days of work in the winter to this situation because I just don’t dare go out when there’s going to be ice on the roads because the city just isn’t doing its job.

And Pittsburgh’s potholes took out my last car. While its replacement is truly a wonderful car and I’m glad to have it, I can’t say I’m wild about having to make a payment that’s on the order of rent monthly on a car that I can only reasonably hope will be more resilient.

That said, there’s a redwood tree near Point Arena, California, slated to receive my ashes and those of my dear cat, Admiral Janeway. In the end, I’ll return.

^[1]Al Jazeera, “Taliban seizes eighth Afghan provincial capital in five days,” August 10, 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/10/taliban-seizes-farah-seventh-provincial-afghan-capital-in-five-days ↩
^[2]Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav, “Senate Democrats approve $3.5 trillion budget resolution in key step toward passing major economic package without GOP votes,” CNN, August 11, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/senate-approves-budget-resolution/index.html ↩
^[3]Ryan Lizza et al., “A warning sign for Democrats on climate policy,” Politico, August 11, 2021, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/08/11/a-warning-sign-for-democrats-on-climate-policy-493936 ↩
^[4]Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis,” August 7, 2021, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/↩
^[5]Geoff Dembicki, “Joe Manchin Makes $500K a Year From One of the Dirtiest Coal Plants in West Virginia,” Vice, July 28, 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3x8bw/joe-manchin-senator-millions-coal-grant-town-west-virginia; David Moore, “Manchin Bailed Out a Power Plant That Helps His Family Profit From Coal Waste,” Truthout, August 7, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/manchin-bailed-out-a-power-plant-that-helps-his-family-profit-from-coal-waste/↩
^[6]Megan Guza, “Man charged in arson damage to D’s Six Pax & Dogz in Swissvale,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 10, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/man-charged-in-arson-damage-to-ds-six-pax-dogz-in-swissvale/↩
^[7]Ryan Deto, “Popular Bloomfield bar Brillobox plans to reopen in fall 2021,” Pittsburgh City Paper, August 10, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/popular-bloomfield-bar-brillobox-plans-to-reopen-in-fall-2021/Content?oid=19988847 ↩

Employers are still whining

August 10, 2021benfell

Work

Imagine living with the knowledge that no employer would hire you even if you were the last person on earth. That’s the knowledge I live with every day as I head out to drive for Uber or Lyft, even as this utterly wastes whatever talent I may possess, even as I despise doing it,^[1] even as I know these companies cannot survive in the long term.^[2] Now imagine what I think^[3] of employers whining that they can’t find workers.^[4] And for the record, no, those unemployment benefits that were enhanced during the pandemic and are now being cut back had very little to do with this bullshit “labor shortage.”^[5]

Bryan Mena, “Unfilled Job Openings Outnumber Unemployed Americans Seeking Work,” Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/unfilled-job-openings-outnumber-unemployed-americans-seeking-work-11628531130

Pennsylvania

Rich Lord, “Develop PGH Bulletins: Umbrella group for North Side development to shift direction, change director,” Public Source, August 9, 2021, https://www.publicsource.org/developpghbulletins-pittsburgh-allegheny-county/?mc_eid=f2cfbf15a2&mc_cid=5b4b4cba8e

Donald Trump

Josh Gerstein, “Judge suggests feds are too lenient toward Jan. 6 defendants,” Politico, August 9, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/judge-feds-lenient-jan-6-503052

Pittsburgh

In the San Francisco Bay Area, I could often be pretty fussy about restaurants because so many are vegan. Not so in Pittsburgh where my all time favorite is run by a Jewish family whose patriarch (as a chef, he’s a genius, but the other stuff is just way too much for me) subscribes to anti-Semitic white supremacist propaganda, another just really isn’t that good, and the others have restrictive hours or out of the way locations that just generally don’t work for me.

So I wind up going to a number of places that also serve animal flesh. One of the places that was relatively conveniently located was D’s Six Pax & Dogz, which has a hummus hoagie that most who know me would not expect me to even touch but is mysteriously really, really good, and even more bizarrely is probably even really, really good for me. So the other night, I stopped by expecting to get one, only to find the place closed, with signs attributing fire damage. Pittsburgh has a lot of really old buildings and there are a lot of reasons they can catch fire. Disappointed, I turned around, went back to my car, and drove home.

I wasn’t expecting the cause of the fire to be arson.^[6]

Lori Houy, “Police: Fire that damaged popular Swissvale hot dog shop intentionally set,” WPXI, August 9, 2021, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/police-fire-that-damaged-popular-swissvale-hot-dog-shop-intentionally-set/CZSDKNGJTBHJZOPDWUFZW7BACE/

Infrastructure

So I get to be really surprised. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) passed the Senate. But I don’t think the reconciliation package has a snowball’s chance in hell and BIF might not get through the House of Representatives without it.^[7]

I’m in a bit of a mood to celebrate. The lease isn’t yet signed—this should happen Wednesday evening—but I found a new apartment. I’ll be backing off from the social conflict that surrounds my present apartment in an area that doesn’t constantly remind me of my own poverty.

^[1]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[2]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, July 8, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[3]David Benfell, “Factory farmed humans,” Not Housebroken, May 17, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/05/17/factory-farmed-humans/; David Benfell, “About that alleged ‘labor shortage,’” Not Housebroken, June 10, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/05/09/about-that-alleged-labor-shortage/↩
^[4]Bryan Mena, “Unfilled Job Openings Outnumber Unemployed Americans Seeking Work,” Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/unfilled-job-openings-outnumber-unemployed-americans-seeking-work-11628531130 ↩
^[5]Fiona Greig et al., “When unemployment insurance benefits are rolled back: Impacts on job finding and the recipients of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program,” J.P. Morgan Chase and Company Institute, July 2021, https://www.jpmorganchase.com/content/dam/jpmc/jpmorgan-chase-and-co/institute/pdf/when-unemployment-insurance-benefits-are-rolled-back-research-brief.pdf ↩
^[6]Lori Houy, “Police: Fire that damaged popular Swissvale hot dog shop intentionally set,” WPXI, August 9, 2021, https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/police-fire-that-damaged-popular-swissvale-hot-dog-shop-intentionally-set/CZSDKNGJTBHJZOPDWUFZW7BACE/↩
^[7]Alex Shephard, “Biden Gets His Bipartisan Victory. Now the Hard Part,” New Republic, August 10, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/163228/senate-passes-infrastructure-bill-reconciliation-next ↩

Ever more the rout in Afghanistan

August 9, 2021benfell

Afghanistan

Susannah George, “Pace of Taliban advance quickens as militants overrun three major cities in a single day,” Washington Post, August 8, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/08/taliban-kunduz/

Pandemic

Edward Helmore, “Rightwing radio host and anti-vaxxer dies of Covid,” Guardian, August 8, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/08/rightwing-radio-host-dick-farrel-anti-vaxxer-dies-covid

Barbara Starr, Kaitlan Collins, and Zachary Cohen, “Pentagon moves to mandate Covid-19 vaccine for active duty military members,” CNN, August 9, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/politics/defense-department-vaccine-mandate/index.html

Wes Venteicher, “California correctional officers union to fight new COVID-19 vaccine mandate, memo says,” Sacramento Bee, August 9, 2021, https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article253378123.html

Evictions

Josh Gerstein and Katy O’Donnell, “Judge mulls blocking Biden’s new eviction ban,” Politico, August 9, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/judge-district-court-eviction-moratorium-biden-502828

Pittsburgh

I can’t say my suspicions are allayed:

Thanks for reaching out. CitiParks has been the informal brand identity of the Department of Parks & Recreation for over 40 years. The exact origin is unclear.

— CitiParks – Pittsburgh Parks & Recreation (@Citiparks) August 10, 2021

If indeed Pittsburgh’s Department of Parks and Recreation has been using this “informal brand identity” for 40 years, there should be artifacts verifying its use.
Forty years is not prehistory. There really should be an actual explanation for who would think this coincident-with-a-major-financial-services-player misspelling would be in any way desirable or why and why folks in this department would continue to consider this desirable.
Short of making a project of this, I’m not sure how to rapidly confirm the first use of the “Citi” mark by Citibank and/or Citicorp. My guess is that it dates back about 40 years.

To me, it stinks to high hell.

A pundit who mistakes pundits for experts and attributes certainty to science

August 8, 2021benfell

Pandemic

Josh Glancy mistakes pundits for ‘experts’ and seizes upon a few errors made by pundits, politicians, and yes, some actual experts to slam them for ‘arrogance’ and ‘being wrong’^[1] when all anyone can do is work from the best information available at the time. In this, Glancy is himself both arrogant and wrong: Actual science is never 100 percent certain of anything.

Associated Press, “U.S. now averaging 100,000 new coronavirus infections a day,” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-08-06/u-s-now-averaging-100-000-new-coronavirus-infections-a-day

Annie Linskey, “Biden officials weigh using regulatory powers to spur vaccine mandates,” Washington Post, August 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-regulate-vaccine-mandates/2021/08/06/aa9bf73c-f6e2-11eb-9068-bf463c8c74de_story.html

Andrew Nikiforuk, “Alberta Joins Team ‘Just Give Up,’” Tyee, August 6, 2021, https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/08/06/Alberta-Joins-Team-Just-Give-Up/

Todd Zywicki, “Why I’m Suing Over My Employer’s Vaccine Mandate,” Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccine-mandate-natural-immunity-lawsuit-covid-19-coronavirus-11628281507

Rowena Mason and Jessica Elgot, “JCVI ‘largely opposed’ to Covid vaccination for children under 16,” Guardian, August 7, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/07/jcvi-largely-opposed-to-covid-vaccination-for-children-under-16

Luke Money and Faith E. Pinho, “Wary of ‘breakthrough’ infections, some vaccinated people eye another shot. Is it needed?” Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-07/with-breakthrough-infections-some-vaccinated-people-look-for-more-protection-are-boosters-needed

Josh Glancy, “Calling Covid experts arrogant and wrong doesn’t make you a nutjob,” Times, August 8, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/calling-covid-experts-arrogant-and-wrong-doesnt-make-you-a-nutjob-6jnfsx3d0

Joe Manchin

David Moore, “Manchin Bailed Out a Power Plant That Helps His Family Profit From Coal Waste,” Truthout, August 7, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/manchin-bailed-out-a-power-plant-that-helps-his-family-profit-from-coal-waste/

Pittsburgh

Fig. 1. Photograph by author, May 5, 2020.

I’ve driven past the old synagogue (figure 1) countless times. It’s one of a number of houses of worship around Pittsburgh that have been abandoned. Only this one, it turns out, has not. It will be converted into housing and a community space.^[2]

Megan Guza, “Former Pittsburgh synagogue to become apartments, urban farm in $18.5M project,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/former-pittsburgh-synagogue-to-become-apartments-urban-farm-in-18-5m-project/

^[1]Josh Glancy, “Calling Covid experts arrogant and wrong doesn’t make you a nutjob,” Times, August 8, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/calling-covid-experts-arrogant-and-wrong-doesnt-make-you-a-nutjob-6jnfsx3d0 ↩
^[2]Megan Guza, “Former Pittsburgh synagogue to become apartments, urban farm in $18.5M project,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 6, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/former-pittsburgh-synagogue-to-become-apartments-urban-farm-in-18-5m-project/↩