I’m heading out to get the car detailed and then up to Erie. This is the last planned trip. I’m still psychically reeling from the amount of snow I saw and the difficulty driving on the last trip and the truth is I’m even more desperate than ever to get out of driving for Uber, but it has to be for a real job: It’s amply clear that employers with shit jobs won’t hire me anyway and such jobs can only worsen my situation.
Pennsylvania mines
Joe Napsha, “Pa. mine cleanup funding seen as game-changer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 8, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/pa-mine-cleanup-funding-seen-as-game-changer/
Supply chain
David Dayen and Rakeen Mabud, “How We Broke the Supply Chain,” American Prospect, January 31, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/how-we-broke-the-supply-chain-intro/
Esther Eriksson von Allmen, “Medical Emergency,” American Prospect, February 1, 2022, https://prospect.org/health/medical-emergency-supply-chain/
Robert Kuttner, “China: Epicenter of the Supply Chain Crisis,” American Prospect, February 1, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/china-epicenter-of-the-supply-chain-crisis/
Amir Khafagy, “The Hidden Costs of Containerization,” American Prospect, February 2, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/hidden-costs-of-containerization/
Ella Fanger, “Labor Fight Brews on the Docks,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/labor/labor-fight-brews-on-the-docks/
Alexander Sammon, “We Were Warned About the Ports,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/we-were-warned-about-the-ports/
Matthew Jinoo Buck, “How America’s Supply Chains Got Railroaded,” American Prospect, February 4, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/how-americas-supply-chains-got-railroaded/
Harold Meyerson, “Why Trucking Can’t Deliver the Goods,” American Prospect, February 7, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/why-trucking-cant-deliver-the-goods/
Jarod Facundo, “Not Even a Superhero Could Fix Global Supply Chains,” American Prospect, February 8, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/not-even-a-superhero-could-fix-global-supply-chains/
Gabrielle Gurley, “The Warehouse Space Race,” American Prospect, February 8, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/warehouse-space-race/
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Mitch McConnell continues to gaslight America. He waited until the writing was on the wall before saying any of this. He's positioning himself, not doing anything heroic.
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) February 9, 2022
I understand that Michael de Adder is referring to Mitch McConnell’s criticism of the Republican National Committee for censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger[1] and he probably has a point, but he doesn’t elaborate, so I’m not quite sure what he’s thinking. From what I can see, the Republican Party should simply rename itself the Trumpist Party.
Some accuse the likes of Cheney, Kinzinger, and those who support them of being out of touch with the Republican grassroots. And on this extremely narrow point, they are right,[2] whether I or any of them or anybody else likes it or not.
Justification for assuming the worst of McConnell is hardly wanting, but given that assumption, what’s the play? How does McConnell win from crossing Donald Trump and Trumpists? If there’s some tipping point where support for Trump turns into backlash among Republicans, I would have thought it would have been passed long ago. I’m not sure this tipping point exists. McConnell is either convinced that it does or is actually speaking from principle. Time will tell which it is—I sure can’t.
Ashley Parker et al., “‘He never stopped ripping things up’: Inside Trump’s relentless document destruction habits,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/05/trump-ripping-documents/
Jacqueline Alemany et al., “National Archives had to retrieve Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, February 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/
Peter Stone, “Trump’s incendiary Texas speech may have deepened his legal troubles, experts say,” Guardian February 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/07/donald-trump-incendiary-speech-texas-legal-troubles-experts
Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse
Josh Dawsey and Felicia Sonmez, “‘Legitimate political discourse’: Three words about Jan. 6 spark rift among Republicans,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/08/gop-legitimate-political-discourse/
Jonathan Weisman and Annie Karni, “McConnell Denounces R.N.C. Censure of Jan. 6 Panel Members,” New York Times, February 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/republicans-censure-mcconnell.html
COVID-19 Pandemic
Doctors and charlatans
Laura J. Nelson, “Online pastors, form letters: The cottage industry helping workers avoid vaccine mandates,” Los Angeles Times, February 6, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-06/requests-religious-exemptions-covid-19-vaccine-letters
Anthony Faiola, “Canada’s Trumpian trucker protests show the global radicalization of anti-vaxxers,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/08/trucker-freedom-convoy-radicalization-global/
Climate crisis
University of California, Berkeley, “Avoiding Climate Catastrophe: Global Elimination of Meat Production Could Save the Planet,” SciTechDaily, February 1, 2022, https://scitechdaily.com/avoiding-climate-catastrophe-global-elimination-of-meat-production-could-save-the-planet/
Ukraine
David L. Stern, “The Ukrainian language is having a moment. To Putin’s ears, it’s a shot against Russian speakers,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/08/ukraine-russia-language-putin/
Pittsburgh
Snow plowing
Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh to add 12 snowplows to city fleet for rest of winter,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 8, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-to-add-12-snow-plows-to-city-fleet-for-rest-of-winter/
- [1]Josh Dawsey and Felicia Sonmez, “‘Legitimate political discourse’: Three words about Jan. 6 spark rift among Republicans,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/08/gop-legitimate-political-discourse/; Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse; Jonathan Weisman and Annie Karni, “McConnell Denounces R.N.C. Censure of Jan. 6 Panel Members,” New York Times, February 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/republicans-censure-mcconnell.html↩
- [2]Rachel Bade and Zack Stanton, “4 startling polls you should read about Jan. 6,” Politico, January 2, 2022, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/01/02/4-startling-polls-you-should-read-about-jan-6-495559; Josh Dawsey and Felicia Sonmez, “‘Legitimate political discourse’: Three words about Jan. 6 spark rift among Republicans,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/08/gop-legitimate-political-discourse/; Ashley Parker, Amy Gardner and Josh Dawsey, “How Republicans became the party of Trump’s election lie after Jan. 6,” Washington Post, January 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-jan-6-election-lie/2022/01/05/82f4cad4-6cb6-11ec-974b-d1c6de8b26b0_story.html; Greg Sargent, “As the MAGA-land crackup gets worse, a few voices plead for sanity,” Washington Post, August 20, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/20/maga-land-crackup-gets-worse-few-voices-plead-sanity/; David Siders, “‘It’s almost like insanity’: GOP base continues to lash out over Trump’s defeat,” Politico, April 20, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/20/trump-georgia-gop-election-fraud-483193; Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse; Jonathan Weisman and Annie Karni, “McConnell Denounces R.N.C. Censure of Jan. 6 Panel Members,” New York Times, February 8, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/us/politics/republicans-censure-mcconnell.html↩