Pittsburgh snow
I was in Pittsburgh a lot more today, but barely into Carrick. Initially, I was astonished by how many streets had not been cleared just about everywhere I went. The trucks must have been out, however, because it was looking better by nightfall. I never saw even one truck.
It was the usual story though: Everywhere else I went, even poor Wilkinsburg, whose snow plowing would done by Pittsburgh if the latter annexes the former,[1] had basically if not perfectly clear roads. It’s just Pittsburgh with its excuses that can’t manage to do its fucking job.
In any event, I am home for the night and by the time I venture out again, I’m guessing PennDOT will have any issues with freezing rain forecast for tonight in areas north of and not including Allegheny County[2] ironed out.
Infrastructure
At some point, the country needs to know, really, who is the president? Is it Joe Biden? Or is it Joe Manchin?[3] Is it Kyrsten Sinema? If it is Biden, then he needs to impress that fact upon Manchin. Because there is always a way to get a grip on a man’s short and curlies. That is, if Biden wants to.
At some point, if you’re going to claim you’re acting on principle, as on any of the numerous issues that Manchin and Sinema have become obstacles on and refused to negotiate in good faith on, then it becomes a matter of principle, that no, they do not get to hold up the nation’s business, and yes, they must negotiate seriously. They do not get to play the bullshit games they’ve been playing.
And you make that point even if it costs you the Senate, because that’s how you show the country and the world you mean business, that you’ve got balls.
Jeff Stein, “Manchin’s $1.8 trillion spending offer appears no longer to be on the table,” Washington Post, January 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/01/08/manchin-white-house-talks/
Roman Catholic Church
Regarding Pope Francis’ comments on those who choose to remain child-free and choose to have companion animals, Sergio Peçanha makes precisely the point I would have:
Something you said recently concerned me. You criticized people who don’t have children. You said that people who have pets instead of children are selfish and that pet-parenting “takes some of our humanity away.”
Coming from the leader of a church that forbids priests and nuns from getting married and having children, this doesn’t seem like something you fully thought through.[4]
If Francis means what he says, he should renounce the chastity vow, not merely for himself but for everyone in the Church hierarchy, from priests on up. And he should marry. Because clearly, procreation is more important than kindness.
Sergio Peçanha, “Pope Francis, your comments on choosing pets over children don’t add up,” Washington Post, January 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/07/pope-francis-pets-make-us-better-people-even-if-we-dont-have-children/
- [1]David Benfell, “Wilkinsburg voters should insist on a better argument than ‘trickle-down’ for a merger into Pittsburgh,” Not Housebroken, January 6, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/06/wilkinsburg-voters-should-insist-on-a-better-argument-than-trickle-down-for-a-merger-into-pittsburgh/↩
- [2]Megan Tomasic and Paul Guggenheimer, “Ice, slick conditions forecast for region’s northern counties; Allegheny, Westmoreland likely to evade worst,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/another-potential-winter-storm-headed-our-way/↩
- [3]Jasmine Wright, “Kamala Harris lets Charlamagne tha God know who the real President is,” CNN, December 18, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/politics/harris-charlamagne-tha-god-interview-defends-biden/index.html↩
- [4]Sergio Peçanha, “Pope Francis, your comments on choosing pets over children don’t add up,” Washington Post, January 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/07/pope-francis-pets-make-us-better-people-even-if-we-dont-have-children/↩