Pandemic
Pennsylvania region
Megan Guza, “Allegheny County health director: ‘I don’t expect the situation to improve soon,’” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 8, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/allegheny-health-director-i-dont-expect-the-situation-to-improve-soon/
Michael Rubinkam, “COVID surge: Pennsylvania hospital chain runs out of beds,” Associated Press, December 8, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-pennsylvania-a14addad0c7c7d67c71ad6f3364dbefa
Megan Guza, “Covid-driven hospital surge ‘not a sustainable situation’ in Western Pa., expert says,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 9, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/regional/covid-driven-hospital-surge-not-a-sustainable-situation-in-western-pa-expert-says/
Sarah Gantz and Stacey Burling, “Pa. hospitals are really busy. They beg you to get your flu and COVID-19 vaccines,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 10, 2021, https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/covid-hospitalizations-pennsylvania-unvaccinated-20211210.html
(Inter)national
Clayton Dalton, “In New Mexico, the Pandemic Rages On,” New Yorker, December 9, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/in-new-mexico-the-pandemic-rages-on
Work
Heather Haddon, “Starbucks Workers at Buffalo-Area Store Vote in Favor of Unionizing,” Wall Street Journal, December 9, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/votes-to-be-counted-in-starbucks-union-drive-11639071187
Donald Trump
It is now my expectation that Donald Trump will win the presidency in 2024. I hope I’m wrong. It’d be better if the Democrats would give me a reason to be wrong:
- Abortion
- Climate crisis
Evictions(rental assistance money seems finally to be being distributed, easing this threat[1])- Gun nuttery
- Health care
- Infrastructure (specifically, the
$3.5sub-$2 trillion reconciliation package, now dubbed Build Back Better) - Minimum wage
- Unemployment
- Voting rights
- White supremacist gangs (police)
But ultimately, I see a hopelessly polarized country that should break up but has no means to do so peacefully or even to admit that it is hopelessly polarized and needs to break up. That leaves a violent breakup—and Donald Trump’s supporters have already shown they’re willing to engage in violence.
Spencer S. Hsu and Ann E. Marimow, “Trump White House records can be released in Jan. 6 probe pending Supreme Court review, appeals court rules,” Washington Post, December 9, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/09/judges-release-trump-jan-6-records/
Daniel Strauss, “It’s Officially Time to Start Worrying About the January 6 Committee,” New Republic, December 9, 2021, https://newrepublic.com/article/164672/january-6-committee-meadows-pence
Abortion
The Texas law banning abortion at six weeks, whose makers attempted to evade legal challenge by putting enforcement in the hands of private citizens, now even more looks doomed[2] but there’s still little reason to doubt and, indeed, I think the subtext of permitting challenges but allowing the Texas law to remain in effect[3] is that the Supreme Court will overturn or at least severely constrain Roe v. Wade in the Mississippi case.[4]
Lyle Denniston, “Mixed, splintered rulings on abortion,” Law News, December 10, 2021, https://lyldenlawnews.com/2021/12/10/mixed-splintered-rulings-on-abortion/
Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin, “Supreme Court Rules Abortion Clinics Can Challenge Texas Law,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-rules-abortion-clinics-can-challenge-texas-abortion-law-11639149404
- [1]Chris Arnold, “Evictions rising even as rental help from Congress reaches millions of people,” National Public Radio, November 11, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/11/11/1053540080/evictions-rising-even-as-rental-help-from-congress-reaches-millions-of-people↩
- [2]Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court seems willing to allow challenge of Texas’s restrictive abortion law,” Washington Post, November 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/texas-abortion-supreme-court/2021/11/01/548c7ea2-3b0c-11ec-bfad-8283439871ec_story.html; Irin Carmon, “The Texas Abortion Ban Could Lose at the Supreme Court,” New York, November 1, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/texas-abortion-ban-could-lose-at-the-supreme-court.html; Lyle Denniston, “Mixed, splintered rulings on abortion,” Law News, December 10, 2021, https://lyldenlawnews.com/2021/12/10/mixed-splintered-rulings-on-abortion/; Jordan Smith, “Texas Admits Its Abortion Law Puts All Rights Up for Grabs,” Intercept, November 2, 2021, https://theintercept.com/2021/11/02/abortion-texas-sb8-supreme-court/↩
- [3]Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court seems willing to allow challenge of Texas’s restrictive abortion law,” Washington Post, November 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/texas-abortion-supreme-court/2021/11/01/548c7ea2-3b0c-11ec-bfad-8283439871ec_story.html; Irin Carmon, “The Texas Abortion Ban Could Lose at the Supreme Court,” New York, November 1, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/texas-abortion-ban-could-lose-at-the-supreme-court.html; Lyle Denniston, “Mixed, splintered rulings on abortion,” Law News, December 10, 2021, https://lyldenlawnews.com/2021/12/10/mixed-splintered-rulings-on-abortion/; Jordan Smith, “Texas Admits Its Abortion Law Puts All Rights Up for Grabs,” Intercept, November 2, 2021, https://theintercept.com/2021/11/02/abortion-texas-sb8-supreme-court/↩
- [4]Irin Carmon, “This Is How Roe Ends,” New York, December 1, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/supreme-court-looks-likely-to-kill-roe-in-mississippi-case.html; Marjorie Cohn, “For the First Time, Supreme Court Is Poised to Retract a Fundamental Right,” Truthout, December 3, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/for-the-first-time-supreme-court-is-poised-to-retract-a-fundamental-right/; Lyle Denniston, “Mixed, splintered rulings on abortion,” Law News, December 10, 2021, https://lyldenlawnews.com/2021/12/10/mixed-splintered-rulings-on-abortion/; Linda Greenhouse, “The Supreme Court Gaslights Its Way to the End of Roe,” New York Times, December 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/opinion/abortion-supreme-court.html; Ruth Marcus, “The Rule of Six: A newly radicalized Supreme Court is poised to reshape the nation,” Washington Post, November 28, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/28/supreme-court-decisions-abortion-guns-religious-freedom-loom/; Ruth Marcus, “The question is not whether ‘Roe v. Wade’ is overturned — but how,” Washington Post, December 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/01/supreme-court-ponders-how-to-overturn-roe/; Amber Phillips, “4 takeaways from the Supreme Court arguments on abortion,” Washington Post, December 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/12/01/takeaways-scotus-mississippi-abortion/; David G. Savage, “Supreme Court justices sound ready to restrict the right to abortion,” Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-12-01/supreme-court-weighs-future-of-abortion-rights-and-roe-vs-wade; Amy Davidson Sorkin, “The Supreme Court Looks Ready to Overturn Roe,” New Yorker, December 2, 2021, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-supreme-court-looks-ready-to-overturn-roe; Paul Waldman, “At the Supreme Court, the bell tolls for Roe v. Wade,” Washington Post, December 1, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/01/bell-tolls-for-roe/; Mary Ziegler, “The End of Roe,” Atlantic, December 1, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/abortion-abortion-oral-argument-supreme-court/620874/↩