February 2022 – Page 3 – Irregular Bullshit

Plague-spreading truck drivers deserve harsher penalties

February 12, 2022benfell

Erie

I’ve refined my decision-making process a bit here.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

I would advocate not only the jail terms and fines that may now be levied against these asshole truck drivers,^[1] but that the penalty should include solitary confinement for the duration of the jail terms and forcible vaccination on the simple grounds that what they are claiming is a “right” to spread potentially lethal disease. This absolutely must not be tolerated and must be absolutely repudiated on no uncertain terms.

What appalls me is that the move by some politicians to begin relaxing pandemic restrictions^[2] will appear to be capitulation to these assholes

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/

Renatta Signorini, “Hospital leaders hopeful as covid cases decline, staffing remains an issue,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 9, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/hospital-leaders-hopeful-as-covid-cases-decline-but-staffing-remains-an-issue/

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Covid: Trucker protests may hit Super Bowl, US security agency says,” February 10, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60338090

Leyland Cecco, “Protesters defy order to clear bridge connecting Canada and US,” Guardian, February 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/protesters-defy-order-to-clear-bridge-connecting-canada-and-us

Amanda Coletta et al., “Police prepare to clear ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters on Ontario border bridge. Tear gas used on Champs-Élysées crowd,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-freedom-convoy/

Miguel Marquez, Jason Hanna, and Kim Berryman, “Canadian police begin attempt to clear protesters blocking Ambassador Bridge to US,” CNN, February 12, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/americas/canada-truckers-protests-covid-saturday/index.html

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure

An accelerated inspection in the wake of the Fern Hollow bridge collapse led to an accelerated closure. Deterioration is being blamed on winter.^[3] Versailles Avenue is navigationally significant in McKeesport for a bunch of reasons, but this bridge is a bit out of the way; I didn’t cross it very often at all. But if you live in the area, I can see where this is gonna suck.

WTAE, “Versailles Avenue Bridge in McKeesport closed following inspection,” February 11, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/mckeesport-versailles-avenue-bridge-closed-inspection/39047296

Ukraine

Talk about laying on the bullshit. And I don’t mean the U.S.:

Russia has pushed back fiercely against the warnings by the Biden administration that Moscow is on the verge of attack, accusing the West of hysteria and spreading disinformation even as Russian forces continue to hold major exercises near Kyiv’s borders.

However, Russia confirmed media reports Saturday that it was pulling its own diplomatic staff from Ukraine, citing “possible provocations by the Kyiv regime and third countries.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the move was in response to other governments’ deciding to draw down their diplomatic corps and urging their citizens to leave.

“We conclude that our American and British colleagues apparently know about some military actions being prepared in Ukraine,” she said, according to a statement by the ministry.^[4]

This feeds the allegation that Russia is planning a false flag attack:^[5]

The U.S. assessment that Putin is likely to launch an attack is based partly on new intelligence that Russia is planning to conduct a false-flag operation to create a pretext for invading Ukraine, according to multiple officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss administration deliberations.

The precise date and nature of the alleged Russian operation was unclear. U.S. officials had earlier accused Russia of planning to stage and film a fake attack by Ukrainian military forces on Russia as a pretext for invasion.^[6]

There is, of course, still no evidence (it’s “classified”) for the allegation^[7] but I just really can’t buy Russia’s “innocent” bullshit. This crisis is of Russia’s making.^[8] End of fucking story.

Steve Hendrix, Amy Cheng, and Missy Ryan, “U.S. orders most embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade soon,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/ukraine-russia-putin-biden-belarus/

^[1]Leyland Cecco, “Protesters defy order to clear bridge connecting Canada and US,” Guardian, February 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/protesters-defy-order-to-clear-bridge-connecting-canada-and-us; Amanda Coletta et al., “Police prepare to clear ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters on Ontario border bridge. Tear gas used on Champs-Élysées crowd,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-freedom-convoy/; Miguel Marquez, Jason Hanna, and Kim Berryman, “Canadian police begin attempt to clear protesters blocking Ambassador Bridge to US,” CNN, February 12, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/americas/canada-truckers-protests-covid-saturday/index.html ↩
^[2]Leyland Cecco, “Protesters defy order to clear bridge connecting Canada and US,” Guardian, February 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/protesters-defy-order-to-clear-bridge-connecting-canada-and-us ↩
^[3]WTAE, “Versailles Avenue Bridge in McKeesport closed following inspection,” February 11, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/mckeesport-versailles-avenue-bridge-closed-inspection/39047296 ↩
^[4]Steve Hendrix, Amy Cheng, and Missy Ryan, “U.S. orders most embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade soon,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/ukraine-russia-putin-biden-belarus/↩
^[5]Steve Hendrix, Amy Cheng, and Missy Ryan, “U.S. orders most embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade soon,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/ukraine-russia-putin-biden-belarus/; Aamer Madhani, Lorne Cook, and Suzan Fraser, “U.S. says new intel shows Russia plotting false-flag attack,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-03/russian-troop-buildup-belarus-raises-fears-ukraine ↩
^[6]Steve Hendrix, Amy Cheng, and Missy Ryan, “U.S. orders most embassy staffers in Kyiv to leave Ukraine amid fears Russia will invade soon,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/ukraine-russia-putin-biden-belarus/↩
^[7]Jon Allsop, “Cutting through the fog of war,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 7, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/psaki_price_isis_russia_media.php ↩
^[8]Anne Applebaum, “The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be,” Atlantic, January 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/ukraine-russia-kyiv-putin-bluff/621145/↩

When attacking accreditation means attacking academic freedom

February 11, 2022benfell

As I looked out my bathroom window this morning, I saw a robin. Yes, unmistakably, a robin. And then another.

I’m feeling a whole lot more skeptical of the claim that robins are a sign of spring than hopeful that spring is arriving.

The snow continued to melt while I was in Erie. There’s still a lot of snow cover, but also a lot of exposed grass here in Pittsburgh.

All that said, I’ve been thinking more about my decision to move to Erie. The arguments for haste:

Potholes and the potential damage to my new car.
Potential savings on rent costs: It appears I can mortgage a place in Erie for a lower monthly payment than rent here or there.
Political polarization is a real problem in Pittsburgh; the hate here and the accompanying road rage compound my post-traumatic stress.

The arguments for caution and delay:

Moving is expensive and I’m still recovering financially from last year when I was off several weeks waiting for the new car and when I moved to my present place.
My present landlord insists on annual leases terminating in April, which is just about the worst possible time of year for me to move. I’m recovering from the winter doldrums that make Uber/Lyft/taxi driving especially financially dreadful at the same time taxes are due.
The second trip exposed the difficulties of Erie in the Uber/Lyft/taxi business and Erie seems to have an endemic problem with residents failing to honor odd-even parking rules so snow plows can get through.^[1] It’s possible this was an especially bad year but when you’re financially precarious, these are the situations you have to plan for.
Uber and Lyft are likely not long for this world.^[2] Given my inability to find alternative employment, which I desperately want,^[3] I’m going to have an even more serious problem if I’m stuck with a mortgage.
What I’m really seeing here is that another move isn’t going to resolve my frustrations which are really about the job hunt. I don’t want to be driving for a living, let alone for Uber or Lyft.^[4] The reason the potholes are urgent, the reason the driving conditions in Erie become a problem is the same: I’m stuck driving for Uber and Lyft. And if those companies do, as I expect, indeed go belly up,^[5] while there will still be demand for the services these companies provide, I completely do not want to get into the headaches of running my own business—including marketing, at which I am absolutely hopelessly inept—in this space on top of the headaches I already have.

All this said, I think an Erie suburb could be a lovely place to live.

Academic freedom

A bill in the Florida legislature would require universities and colleges to change accreditors annually which, given the length of time required to win accreditation would be all but impossible,^[6] and

states that higher education institutions may take legal action against their accreditors if they are “negatively impacted by retaliatory action” from that accreditor. It’s unclear exactly what actions would be considered retaliatory under the bill.^[7]

This is likely a response^[8] to the ruckus over the University of Florida attempting to restrain political science professors from testifying against the state on voting rights. In the ensuing uproar, the university backed down, the professors sued anyway, and a judge was blistering in ruling against the university. I hadn’t actually heard, but cannot be surprised, that the university’s regional accreditor also sent a letter of inquiry regarding the matter to the university, as any accreditor would be required to do.^[9] This very much appears to be a desperate effort to assert political control over universities and academic freedom.

Accreditors routinely audit programs and schools at periodic intervals and in my time in school, I saw such audits a couple times. Even these drag on for years with massive outreach to students and faculty. Accreditation is what permits a university’s students to access federal student aid, especially student loans, which is what nearly all universities actually rely upon to pay skyrocketing tuitions and fees.^[10] So unless Florida intends to actually fund higher education, the bill would effectively make institutions of higher education in the state untenable.

Emma Whitford, “Florida Could Make Switching Accreditors Mandatory,” Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/02/11/florida-bill-would-require-colleges-change-accreditors

^[1]Kevin Flowers, “Owners of buried vehicles face tickets, towing as city of Erie plows ahead to clear snow,” Erie Times-News, February 9, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2022/02/09/city-erie-pa-vehicle-owners-face-tickets-towing-snow-buried-cars/6693992001/; Ethan Kibbe, “Frustration Continues Over Illegal Parking Concerns,” Erie News Now, January 31, 2022, ↩
^[2]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, February 5, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[3]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[4]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[5]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, February 5, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[6]Emma Whitford, “Florida Could Make Switching Accreditors Mandatory,” Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/02/11/florida-bill-would-require-colleges-change-accreditors ↩
^[7]Emma Whitford, “Florida Could Make Switching Accreditors Mandatory,” Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/02/11/florida-bill-would-require-colleges-change-accreditors ↩
^[8]Emma Whitford, “Florida Could Make Switching Accreditors Mandatory,” Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/02/11/florida-bill-would-require-colleges-change-accreditors ↩
^[9]Lindsay Ellis, “After Scathing Criticism, U. of Florida Will Let Professors Testify Against the State,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 5, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/article/after-scathing-criticism-u-of-florida-will-let-professors-testify-against-the-state; Andrew Jeong, “University of Florida bars faculty from testifying in voting rights lawsuit against DeSantis administration,” Washington Post, October 30, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/30/florida-voting-rights-desantis-lawsuit/; Jack Stripling, “Blasting U. of Florida, Judge Says Professors’ Testimony Can’t Be Blocked,” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 21, 2022, https://www.chronicle.com/article/blasting-u-of-florida-judge-says-professors-testimony-cant-be-blocked; Emma Whitford, “Florida Could Make Switching Accreditors Mandatory,” Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/02/11/florida-bill-would-require-colleges-change-accreditors ↩
^[10]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 ↩

So many people looking at shredded documents

February 10, 2022benfell

Erie

So I went up to Erie Wednesday for my final scheduled trip. It’d been a few days since the last snow and the streets were mostly—only mostly—clear. Erie has been having and apparently routinely has trouble getting residents to comply with winter odd-even parking regulations to make room for snow plows to come through,^[1] and clearly, this was still a problem on some streets. A suburban area southwest of Erie, not far from my motel, was in desperate need of further plowing even where I saw no cars parked. And snow is piled high everywhere.^[2] But all in all, the driving was much easier than on my last trip.

One passenger said the snow is exceptional this year.

The roads here are beginning to show some damage from the ravages of winter and I was using my car’s “trail mode” for rough roads much more than on previous trips. But they are still much better than in Pittsburgh where deep potholes have appeared early this year. Keeping this in perspective, in Pittsburgh, I commonly use trail mode and am often wondering when to shut it off.

The money was consistent with what I expect for this time of year and what I’ve been earning in Pittsburgh. February is the absolute worst month in this business and really, this was the point, to see Erie at its worst.

I did see more signs of support for Donald Trump. But still only a few. Such flags and banners remain ubiquitous around Pittsburgh.

It began snowing again Thursday, not enough to affect traction, but toward evening, enough to see a thin layer on many roads. When around 7 pm, I dropped a passenger off at a hotel right by I-79 and right by a Giant Eagle, I called it a night. Giant Eagle grocery stores reliably have restrooms and many—including this one—have Daiya cheese sticks that are a nice boost for a drive home.

Then it was music and radar cruise control—which with automatic lane guidance is the closest my car comes to self-driving—for the ride home.

I think I should make one more trip in March, just to see what the roads are like at the peak of pothole season, but it is already clear to me that I probably would suffer little loss of income and would probably be putting my car at much less risk from pothole damage if I were to move here.

Right now my thinking is that I’m just not financially ready for another move. And if I’m buying a house, this will probably be the house I’ll die in—that’s something to think about long and carefully.

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

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

Matt Zapotosky et al., “National Archives asks Justice Dept. to investigate Trump’s handling of White House records,” Washington Post, February 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/09/trump-archives-justice-department/

Jacqueline Alemany, “House Oversight asks Archives for information about Trump’s handling of White House records,” Washington Post, February 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/10/house-oversight-asks-archives-information-about-trumps-handling-white-house-records/

Gig economy

Bezzle

Laura Forman, “Rideshare Recovery Still Lacks an ETA,” Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/rideshare-recovery-still-lacks-an-eta-11644452051

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

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/

Lee Harris, “Frackers Restrict the Flow and Raise the Price,” American Prospect, February 10, 2022, https://prospect.org/environment/frackers-restrict-the-flow-and-raise-the-price/

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure

Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh City Council divided on creating infrastructure committee in wake of bridge collapse,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 10, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-city-council-divided-on-creating-infrastructure-committee-in-wake-of-bridge-collapse/

Ukraine

Julia Ioffe has an interview with “Andrey Sushentsov, a prominent Russian political scientist, about how Putin views the West—and what the Ukraine crisis is really about.” There’s not much logic in his position. Mostly it reinforces^[3] my view that Vladimir Putin is an idiot.^[4] That is, right up to the end where Ioffe asks about sanctions. Not only, it seems, do they not work, but they in fact are counterproductive.^[5]

Julia Ioffe, “War and Peace: The View from Moscow,” Puck News, February 10, 2022, https://puck.news/war-and-peace-the-view-from-moscow/

^[1]Anna Ashcraft, “City of Erie declares snow emergency,” YourErie.com, February 4, 2022,https://www.yourerie.com/news/breaking-news/city-of-erie-declares-snow-emergency-2/; Kevin Flowers, “Owners of buried vehicles face tickets, towing as city of Erie plows ahead to clear snow,” Erie Times-News, February 9, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2022/02/09/city-erie-pa-vehicle-owners-face-tickets-towing-snow-buried-cars/6693992001/; Ethan Kibbe, “Frustration Continues Over Illegal Parking Concerns,” Erie News Now, January 31, 2022, ↩
^[2]Elspeth Mizner, “Erie Residents Frustrated Over High Snow Mounds in City,” Erie News Now, February 7, 2022, https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/45822804/erie-residents-frustrated-over-high-snow-mounds-in-city ↩
^[3]Julia Ioffe, “War and Peace: The View from Moscow,” Puck News, February 10, 2022, https://puck.news/war-and-peace-the-view-from-moscow/↩
^[4]David Benfell, “Vladimir Putin is a fool,” Not Housebroken, January 25, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/24/vladimir-putin-is-a-fool/↩
^[5]Julia Ioffe, “War and Peace: The View from Moscow,” Puck News, February 10, 2022, https://puck.news/war-and-peace-the-view-from-moscow/↩

The Republican Party should rename itself the Trumpist Party

February 9, 2022benfell

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.

Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

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 ↩

Donald Trump and the Presidential Records Act

February 8, 2022benfell

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

There’s this controversy about Donald Trump’s handling of records—he apparently shreds them routinely as a form of catharsis^[1]—that some on Twitter have thought should be prosecuted:

While the law requires that presidents preserve records related to an administration’s activities, the Archives has very limited enforcement capabilities. The Presidential Records Act operates on the basis of a “gentlemen’s agreement,” as one Archives official phrased it.

Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor and constitutional scholar, along with other legal experts point to the potential for enforcement that could take place via federal records laws. But several said they thought such action would be unlikely.

“There is a high bar for bringing such cases,” said Charles Tiefer, former counsel to the House of Representatives who teaches at the University of Baltimore School of Law.^[2]

While it appears unlikely that Trump will be prosecuted for mishandling records, including those related to the coup attempt,^[3] other investigations proceed and Trump is demonstrating criminal intent:^[4]

Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor who is of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, told the Guardian that Trump “may have shot himself in the foot” with the comments. “Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier,” Aftergut said.^[5]

This would seem to somewhat relieve my concerns^[6] about proving intent in a potential prosecution of Trump for seditious conspiracy based on Jeannie Suk Gersen’s analysis.^[7] Time will tell and my experience with the court system is that it often seems fickle.

Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse

Right-wing dictatorship

Jonathan Lai, “Pa. Supreme Court takes over a redistricting case and will decide the state’s new congressional map,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 2, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-supreme-court-redistricting-case-20220202.html

Kate Huangpu, “Final Pa. legislative maps approved by redistricting panel, but legal challenges likely,” Spotlight PA, February 4, 2022, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/02/pennsylvania-redistricting-legislative-maps-final-vote/

Marc Levy, “GOP’s election inquiry: Courts, conspiracies and more costs,” Associated Press, February 4, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/elections-pennsylvania-voting-donald-trump-presidential-elections-e09c2770b605567fa203404637552a7a

Kate Huangpu, “A Pa. judge just sided with the GOP on a congressional map proposal. Here’s what’s next,&dquo; Spotlight PA, February 7, 2022, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/02/pennsylvania-redistricting-congressional-map-recommendation/

Right-wing militias

Carter Walker, “White supremacist group Patriot Front recruiting in Pa., targeting Lancaster County with propaganda,” Lancaster Online, February 6, 2022, https://lancasteronline.com/news/pennsylvania/white-supremacist-group-patriot-front-recruiting-in-pa-targeting-lancaster-county-with-propaganda/article_64c7dc5e-85de-11ec-8673-f7b96d1c7b58.html

Supply chain (also Work)

Want to understand the supply chain crisis? As The American Prospect has it, trucking has been impaired by worker misclassification leading to high turnover,^[8] railroads by financialization of the economy which emphasized return to investors at the expense of resilience,^[9] ports by consolidation as fewer facilities could accommodate larger ships bringing ever more cargo from east Asia^[10] increasing the demands on workers who face greater risks from having to work faster and who accordingly expect a greater share of the profits that follow,^[11] and shipping by port backlogs as cargo increases from countries with lower labor costs have been facilitated by containerization.^[12]

With so-called “free” trade and deregulation, the U.S. has become heavily dependent on China, “the world’s second-largest economy, and the world leader in manufacturing,” with low labor costs and less environmental regulation, for production of lots of stuff and China has imposed shutdowns and travel restrictions to contain COVID-19, while also facing extreme weather and power shortages, meaning there are bottlenecks even at the source.^[13] To the extent that COVID-19 has been a factor in labor availability,^[14] medical providers also face shortages in supplies and equipment needed to combat the disease.^[15]

Meanwhile, a cost-cutting “efficiency” in the whole optimized “just in time” supply chain approach that corporations have increasingly embraced since World War II, had been the minimization of the need for warehouse space. As that approach breaks down, the need for more of that space than ever before suddenly reappears, even as growing online retailers like Amazon are also increasing their demand for that space, predictably raising rents.^[16] This, by the way, is the same bullshit that has, for years now, led to so many shelves in so many Whole Foods Markets being bare.^[17]

So the pandemic has really been a mere catalyst for problems that have been developing mostly since the Carter administration: Neoliberal policies mean less resilience to disruptions at the same time corporate profits and investor returns have soared, largely at the expense of workers.^[18]

Higher prices were supposed to prevent breadlines by spurring production.^[19] But I can’t find raisins at my local Whole Foods Market; thanks to neoliberal ideology, we now have inflation without the capacity to resolve the supply chain crisis any time soon.

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/

Gabrielle Gurley, “The Warehouse Space Race,” American Prospect, February 8, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/warehouse-space-race/

‘Classified information’

I’ve long been skeptical of ‘classified’ information; an absence of evidence is just that, really no evidence at all, and that’s precisely what we have when it is withheld for any reason. That makes Jon Allsop’s latest particularly relevant. I’m glad this seems finally to be getting some attention as mainstream media coverage of issues involving ‘classified’ evidence has much too often been stenographic. Allsop cites more recent examples,^[20] but I will forever remember David Halberstam’s narrative of Vietnam War coverage, especially the Tonkin Gulf incident that (not really) started it all.^[21]

Jon Allsop, “Cutting through the fog of war,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 7, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/psaki_price_isis_russia_media.php

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure

I don’t quite follow the structural stuff, but it sounds to me like the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in a way it wouldn’t be expected to.^[22] If I am indeed understanding that right, it suggests that inspectors might not have been looking at the right places to catch the impending failure, possibly because they simply didn’t know to look there. It’d be like major earthquakes in California: Architects and engineers learn something new from the damage each time. It’s a helluva way to learn but sorry, there’s just no substitute for actual experience.

WTAE, “Fern Hollow bridge collapse in Pittsburgh: National Transportation Safety Board releases preliminary report,” February 7, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-ntsb-preliminary-report-fern-hollow/39004013

Republican National Convention

At The New Republic, it sure looks like Michael Tomasky (see above, Donald Trump: Coup attempt) shares my view of the Republican Party,^[23] and this would be the bullet that Pittsburgh just dodged when the Republicans took the city out of contention for the 2024 Republican National Convention.^[24]

Snow plowing

It seems an existing order for snow plows has been held up due to—of course—the supply chain problem. A proposal would seek to obtain trucks, some through purchase, some through a lease, from other sources, including some in Erie, that could be made available quickly. Some council members are objecting to the funding mechanism.^[25]

Currently, the city’s goal is to work on primary streets and emergency routes during snowfall. Once the snow stops falling, the city aims to have secondary streets done within 24 hours — though 36 hours is currently a more realistic expectation, [Jake] Pawlak said. Tertiary streets are done last.^[26]

I didn’t cover a lot of Pittsburgh Monday, but yes, there are indeed still uncleared streets in an area of the Knoxville or Beltzhoover neighborhoods (when I’m out on the road, I’m never quite sure where one neighborhood ends and the other begins).

Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to add more plows to address concerns about snow, ice removal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-add-more-plows-to-address-concerns-about-snow-ice-removal/

Ukraine

Joe Biden is full of shit. Germany is not certain to cut off Nord Stream 2 should Russia invade Ukraine.

Germany has stopped short of explicitly promising to halt the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, which would bring Russian gas to energy-hungry European consumers. On Monday, [Olaf] Scholz said only that his country was “absolutely united” with the United States and other NATO allies, “and we will not be taking different steps.” . . .

Germany in particular has appeared out of step with many allies as it holds back from supplying Ukraine with weapons and declines to make explicit promises about the Nord Stream project. The 764-mile pipeline would significantly increase Russian gas supplies to Europe, bringing consumers lower-priced energy.

Scholz, who is facing internal and external criticism over his muted response to the crisis, characterized the buildup around Ukraine as a “serious threat to European security.” . . .

British Deputy Foreign Secretary James Cleverly noted Monday that while the alliance was broadly united in its desire to deter a Russian invasion, there were some differences, which he said were understandable.

“We need to be realistic about the fact that different countries have different levels of exposure to or dependence on Russia economically,” he said. “The whole point of an alliance is you don’t just ignore or gloss over those differences.”^[27]

But “gloss[ing] over those differences” is precisely what Biden is doing^[28] when he expresses confidence that if Russia invades Ukraine, “[w]e will bring an end to [Nord Stream 2]” and claims that “Germany is completely reliable, completely, totally, thoroughly reliable. I have no doubt about Germany at all.”^[29]

Most dangerous for Ukraine is that Vladimir Putin surely knows this and is not even for a second deceived.

Simon Tisdall, “Biden rattles his sabre at Putin … but it’s Xi he really wants to scare,” Guardian, February 6, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/06/biden-rattles-his-sabre-at-putin-but-its-xi-he-really-wants-to-scare

Missy Ryan et al., “Biden vows to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Washington Post, February 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/ukraine-russia-scholz-biden-macron/

^[1]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/; 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/↩
^[2]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/↩
^[3]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/; 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/↩
^[4]Monique Beals, “Georgia prosecutors ask FBI for security help after Trump protest remarks: report,” Hill, January 31, 2022, https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/592044-georgia-prosecutors-ask-fbi-for-security-help-one-day-after-trump; George T. Conway, III, “The Supreme Court’s order against Donald Trump is even worse for him than it appears,” Washington Post, January 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/21/courts-hand-donald-trump-loss-after-loss-after-loss/; Richard Luscombe, “‘The walls are closing in’: Trump reels from week of political setbacks,” Guardian, January 23, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/22/the-walls-are-closing-in-trump-reels-from-week-of-political-setbacks; Olafimihan Oshin, “Trump calls for protests if prosecutors ‘do anything illegal’ in targeting him,” Hill, January 30, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/592009-trump-calls-for-biggest-protest-weve-ever-had-if-prosecutors-do; Ed Pilkington, “‘House of Trump is crumbling’: why ex-president’s legal net is tightening,” Guardian, January 22, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/22/donald-trump-legal-perils; Corinne Ramey, “New York Attorney General Says Evidence Suggests Trump, Company Falsely Valued Assets,” Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-attorney-general-evidence-suggests-trump-and-company-falsely-valued-assets-11642573790; Jennifer Rubin, “A single district attorney in Georgia has the best case against Trump,” Washington Post, January 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/11/single-district-attorney-georgia-has-best-case-against-trump/; David G. Savage, “Supreme Court rejects Trump’s plea to shield White House records from House inquiry,” Los Angeles Times, January 19, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-01-19/supreme-court-turns-down-trumps-plea-to-shield-his-white-house-records-from-house-probe; Felicia Sonmez, Josh Dawsey, and Jonathan O’Connell, “Supreme Court, investigators force Trump and his children on the defensive on multiple fronts,” Washington Post, January 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/21/supreme-court-investigators-force-trump-his-children-defensive-multiple-fronts/; 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; Heather Vogell, “New Legal Filing Reveals Startling Details of Possible Fraud by Trump Organization,” ProPublica, January 21, 2022, https://www.propublica.org/article/new-legal-filing-reveals-startling-details-of-possible-fraud-by-trump-organization; John Wagner, “Georgia prosecutor requests special grand jury in probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn state’s election results,” Washington Post, January 20, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/20/georgia-da-seeks-special-grand-jury-trump/; Amy B. Wang and John Wagner, “Georgia prosecutor granted special grand jury in probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn state’s election results,” Washington Post, January 24, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/24/georgia-prosecutor-granted-special-grand-jury-probe-trumps-efforts-overturn-states-election-results/↩
^[5]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 ↩
^[6]David Benfell, “Reasonable and unreasonable doubt in ‘seditious conspiracy,’” Not Housebroken, January 28, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/23/reasonable-and-unreasonable-doubt-in-seditious-conspiracy/↩
^[7]Jeannie Suk Gersen, “The Case Against the Oath Keepers,” New Yorker, January 21, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-case-against-the-oath-keepers ↩
^[8]Harold Meyerson, “Why Trucking Can’t Deliver the Goods,” American Prospect, February 7, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/why-trucking-cant-deliver-the-goods/↩
^[9]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/↩
^[10]Amir Khafagy, “The Hidden Costs of Containerization,” American Prospect, February 2, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/hidden-costs-of-containerization/; Alexander Sammon, “We Were Warned About the Ports,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/we-were-warned-about-the-ports/↩
^[11]Ella Fanger, “Labor Fight Brews on the Docks,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/labor/labor-fight-brews-on-the-docks/↩
^[12]Amir Khafagy, “The Hidden Costs of Containerization,” American Prospect, February 2, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/hidden-costs-of-containerization/↩
^[13]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/↩
^[14]Katie Bach, “Is ‘long Covid’ worsening the labor shortage?” Brookings, January 11, 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/research/is-long-covid-worsening-the-labor-shortage/; Harriet Torry, “Omicron Wave Drives Surge of Workers Calling In Sick, Working Through Illness,” Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-wave-drives-surge-of-workers-calling-in-sick-working-through-illness-11642933802 ↩
^[15]Esther Eriksson von Allmen, “Medical Emergency,” American Prospect, February 1, 2022, https://prospect.org/health/medical-emergency-supply-chain/↩
^[16]Gabrielle Gurley, “The Warehouse Space Race,” American Prospect, February 8, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/warehouse-space-race/↩
^[17]Hayley Peterson, “‘Entire aisles are empty’: Whole Foods employees reveal why stores are facing a crisis of food shortages,” Business Insider, January 18, 2018, https://www.businessinsider.com/whole-foods-employees-reveal-why-stores-are-facing-a-crisis-of-food-shortages-2018-1 ↩
^[18]Esther Eriksson von Allmen, “Medical Emergency,” American Prospect, February 1, 2022, https://prospect.org/health/medical-emergency-supply-chain/; 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/; 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/; Ella Fanger, “Labor Fight Brews on the Docks,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/labor/labor-fight-brews-on-the-docks/; Gabrielle Gurley, “The Warehouse Space Race,” American Prospect, February 8, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/warehouse-space-race/; Amir Khafagy, “The Hidden Costs of Containerization,” American Prospect, February 2, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/hidden-costs-of-containerization/; 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/; Harold Meyerson, “Why Trucking Can’t Deliver the Goods,” American Prospect, February 7, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/why-trucking-cant-deliver-the-goods/; Alexander Sammon, “We Were Warned About the Ports,” American Prospect, February 3, 2022, https://prospect.org/economy/we-were-warned-about-the-ports/↩
^[19]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/↩
^[20]Jon Allsop, “Cutting through the fog of war,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 7, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/psaki_price_isis_russia_media.php ↩
^[21]David Halberstam, The Powers That Be (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois, 2000).↩
^[22]WTAE, “Fern Hollow bridge collapse in Pittsburgh: National Transportation Safety Board releases preliminary report,” February 7, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-ntsb-preliminary-report-fern-hollow/39004013 ↩
^[23]Michael Tomasky, “The Republican Party Can’t Be Saved,” New Republic, February 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165301/republicans-violence-normal-political-discourse ↩
^[24]Ryan Deto, “Pittsburgh out of running to host 2024 Republican National Convention,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 4, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-out-of-running-to-host-2024-republican-national-convention/↩
^[25]Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to add more plows to address concerns about snow, ice removal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-add-more-plows-to-address-concerns-about-snow-ice-removal/↩
^[26]Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to add more plows to address concerns about snow, ice removal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-add-more-plows-to-address-concerns-about-snow-ice-removal/↩
^[27]Missy Ryan et al., “Biden vows to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Washington Post, February 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/ukraine-russia-scholz-biden-macron/↩
^[28]Missy Ryan et al., “Biden vows to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Washington Post, February 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/ukraine-russia-scholz-biden-macron/↩
^[29]Joe Biden, quoted in Missy Ryan et al., “Biden vows to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Washington Post, February 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/ukraine-russia-scholz-biden-macron/↩

Donald Trump lost the election in 2020, but Trumpists have won the pandemic

February 6, 2022benfell

Jeff Bezos

Andy Kalmowitz, “Here’s The Boat That Won’t Bring Jeff Bezos’s Hair, Or Wife Back,” Jalopnik, February 4, 2022, https://jalopnik.com/here-s-the-boat-that-won-t-bring-jeff-bezos-s-hair-or-1848481600

Reuters, “Historic Dutch bridge to make way for Jeff Bezos’ new superyacht,” Sydney Morning Herald, February 4, 2022, https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/historic-dutch-bridge-to-make-way-for-jeff-bezos-new-superyacht-20220204-p59ts5.html

Elena Gorgan, “Jeff Bezos’ $500M Megayacht Will Be Pelted With Rotten Eggs If He Dismantles Bridge for It,” AutoEvolution, February 6, 2022, https://www.autoevolution.com/news/jeff-bezos-500m-megayacht-will-be-pelted-with-rotten-eggs-if-he-dismantles-bridge-for-it-180904.html

Pittsburgh

While I’ve been complaining about the snow plowing, I’ve been neglecting how spectacular this winter has been. The most recent storm began with rain, which became freezing rain, before it snowed. It was spectacular driving to a car wash this morning with the sun out and a clear blue sky such as is rare in Pittsburgh. At that point the trees were still covered with snow.

As I headed for my first order, the snow had begun to melt, revealing ice covered branches on trees (figure 1).

Fig. 1. Hastily taken photograph by author, February 6, 2022.

But what was truly amazing was to see deciduous forests, all bare in winter, but shimmering with the ice in the sunlight.

Snow plowing

These observations^[1] appear to have been collected yesterday morning, well before I made it out onto the road.

Ross Guidotti, “Road Conditions In Pittsburgh: Morning After 2 Days Of Storms Sees Streets Both Good And Bad,” KDKA-TV, February 5, 2022, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/05/road-conditions-pittsburgh/

Ukraine, China

We still don’t know whether Vladimir Putin intends to invade Ukraine.^[2] And in that context, Simon Tisdall’s opening paragraph may not age well:

If, as seems increasingly probable, Russia decides not to launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine, tub-thumping US and British politicians who have spent weeks scaring the public with loose talk of looming Armageddon will have some explaining to do.^[3]

Tisdall actually is more cautious than this on Ukraine. But much more boldly, he thinks all this is really about China’s threat to invade Taiwan and a nascent alliance between Russia and China.^[4] It’s not the first time this link has been drawn and it would not be the first time that Russia, then the Soviet Union, and China have contemplated an alliance. I’ve never understood the relationship between Russia and China; it’s easy to see the benefits of an alliance between the two but I’ve never understood the rivalries that have always undermined earlier attempts. Accordingly, I won’t hold my breath on this one either.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

Donald Trump lost the election in 2020, but Trumpists have won the pandemic.

I had missed, because it wasn’t generally reported, that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ended its collection of COVID-19 data from hospitals on February 2. Data collection by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will continue via coroners, who are often elected or subject to political influence, and via medical examiners. The HHS effort was considered far more reliable, timely, and comprehensive, but HHS argues that the reporting, which was largely automated through electronic medical records systems, imposed an additional burden on hospitals.^[5] If only Donald Trump had thought of this, he might have managed to be re-elected.

In the Uber driver app, at the end of each ride, there was a question: Was the rider wearing a mask? It was crude because sometimes there were multiple passengers, some of whom might be wearing masks and some might not, and sometimes some weren’t wearing their masks properly. It was a bullshit question meant to signal a concern for drivers’ and riders’ health that wasn’t really there, but it served as yet one more way to threaten drivers when passengers reported, truthfully or otherwise, that drivers weren’t wearing their masks. That question has now been replaced with a similarly crude question about seat belt wearing.

I expect Uber to be performative. Everything it does is performative, meant to appear responsible while bamboozling investors.^[6] I did not expect the same of HHS.

I should not have been surprised. The CDC had already signaled a capitulation to the capitalist god with its guidance on returning to work.^[7] We can now understand that a cabinet-level decision has likely been made to let COVID-19 run its course, no matter how many or what variants appear, no matter how many millions die.

This, of course, is precisely what Trumpists have been demanding all along. And they have won.

Dani Anguiano, “California county on track to be run by militia-aligned group,” Guardian, February 3, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/03/california-county-controlled-by-militia-group

Andre Damon, “End of COVID-19 hospital death reporting is ‘incomprehensible,’ says US health official,” World Socialist Web Site, February 3, 2022, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/03/deat-f03.html

Shawna Mizelle, “US Army to begin discharging soldiers who refuse Covid-19 vaccination,” CNN, February 3, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/politics/military-soldiers-vaccine-mandate-discharge/index.html

Erin McCarthy and Justine McDaniel, “Less than a third of Pa. and N.J. elementary schoolers have been vaccinated against COVID-19, three months since the shot became available,” Philadelphia Inquirer, February 3, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/covid-vaccine-kids-5-11-safety-philadephia-school-mandate-20220203.html

Mathew Ingram to Media Today list, “Of platforms, publishers, and responsibility,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 4, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/of-platforms-publishers-and-responsibility.php

Associated Press, “‘It is an astronomically high number’: US Covid death toll surpasses 900,000,” Guardian, February 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/04/us-covid-death-toll-surpasses-900000

^[1]Ross Guidotti, “Road Conditions In Pittsburgh: Morning After 2 Days Of Storms Sees Streets Both Good And Bad,” KDKA-TV, February 5, 2022, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/02/05/road-conditions-pittsburgh/↩
^[2]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/; Joshua Yaffa, “Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine Is an Open Question in Moscow,” New Yorker, February 3, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/putins-next-move-in-ukraine-is-an-open-question-in-moscow ↩
^[3]Simon Tisdall, “Biden rattles his sabre at Putin … but it’s Xi he really wants to scare,” Guardian, February 6, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/06/biden-rattles-his-sabre-at-putin-but-its-xi-he-really-wants-to-scare ↩
^[4]Simon Tisdall, “Biden rattles his sabre at Putin … but it’s Xi he really wants to scare,” Guardian, February 6, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/06/biden-rattles-his-sabre-at-putin-but-its-xi-he-really-wants-to-scare ↩
^[5]Andre Damon, “End of COVID-19 hospital death reporting is ‘incomprehensible,’ says US health official,” World Socialist Web Site, February 3, 2022, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/03/deat-f03.html ↩
^[6]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, February 5, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[7]David Benfell, “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Doctors need to act like doctors,” Not Housebroken, December 30, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/12/30/centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-doctors-need-to-act-like-doctors/↩

People keep dying

February 5, 2022benfell

Ukraine

For now, efforts to make sense of the likelihood of war are likely to induce whiplash. Depending on the hour, I’m convinced that war is implausible—or I’m certain it’s inevitable. I could almost sympathize with the anonymous source close to the Kremlin who spoke last week to Meduza, an independent news site. “In December, I was convinced that there wouldn’t be a war,” the source said. “Last week, I considered this a likely scenario. This week it’s rather unlikely.” Perhaps the only thing that’s certain is that war would be an outright disaster—not just for Ukraine but for Russia, too—yet, maddeningly, that doesn’t make it impossible.^[1]

Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/

Aamer Madhani, Lorne Cook, and Suzan Fraser, “U.S. says new intel shows Russia plotting false-flag attack,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-03/russian-troop-buildup-belarus-raises-fears-ukraine

Joshua Yaffa, “Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine Is an Open Question in Moscow,” New Yorker, February 3, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/putins-next-move-in-ukraine-is-an-open-question-in-moscow

Work

There is a new blog post entitled, “Shooting rich people into space is more interesting.”

And no, despite Abha Bhattarai’s article,^[2] my phone still ain’t ringing.

Steven Greenhouse, “Amazon chews through the average worker in eight months. They need a union,” Guardian, February 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/04/amazon-chews-through-the-average-worker-in-eight-months-they-need-a-union

Abha Bhattarai, “Despite omicron surge, businesses desperate to find and keep workers,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/05/economy-jobs-omicron-new-normal/

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

There is another new blog post entitled, “Racing to one million dead from COVID-19 in the U.S.”

Pittsburgh

Republican National Convention

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, a Democrat, initially signed a letter of support for bringing the Republican National Convention to Pittsburgh, but backtracked a bit and said his initial support was merely “a matter of procedure.” In a statement, Gainey said he had concerns about the RNC’s potential impact on safety and covid-19 mitigation.^[3]

Ryan Deto, “Pittsburgh out of running to host 2024 Republican National Convention,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 4, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-out-of-running-to-host-2024-republican-national-convention/

Snow plowing

So I hadn’t heard anything about Pittsburgh’s snow plowing since the last storm, which was a bit of a surprise, considering the uproar early in Ed Gainey’s term and that promises of improvement had so far utterly failed to materialize.^[4] I was also concerned about the freezing rain we’d had before the snow.

It took me a while to brush enough snow off my car that it would at least not be blowing snow on everybody else on the road so I could go first to a coin-op car wash to wash off the rest of it, including no small quantity of ice, and then to one of my usual automated car washes to give it a proper treatment. Mostly I wasn’t in Pittsburgh until late in the day. The roads were passable, but still a mess.

Sidney Street in the mostly flat South Side west of the Birmingham Bridge had a layer of white on it from curb to curb as did some of Muriel Street. P. J. McArdle Roadway had not been cleared. The latter is the major route from the South Side to the Liberty Tunnel, the Liberty Bridge, and Mount Washington; I only went to the Liberty Tunnel but saw it had not been cleared further up towards Mount Washington.

We are, I’m guessing back to “it is what it is” mode on the snow plowing in Pittsburgh. My contempt for Pittsburgh Public Works is as close to infinite as my small brain can get.

Facebook

The headline, “Facebook’s faceplant on Wall Street could be just the beginning for some tech stocks,” was bad enough, but it’s the subtitle on a Washington Post article that really got my attention. It said, “End of free money has investors rethinking what’s safe — and what isn’t.”^[5] As I understand it, Uber and Lyft are considered technology companies. I understood Facebook to at least be profitable; the same cannot be said for Uber and Lyft.^[6]

The “end of free money” bit refers to an apparent Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates from rock bottom; Facebook, now named “Meta,” is facing a number of problems^[7] that I really don’t care about. The article does not mention either Uber or Lyft, but if investors start looking more carefully at their heretofore reckless gambles, this cannot be good news for the rideshare companies.^[8]

David J. Lynch and Gerrit De Vynck, “Facebook’s faceplant on Wall Street could be just the beginning for some tech stocks,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/05/facebook-meta-technology-stocks/

Eric Adams

Eric Adams, the allegedly vegan mayor of New York City, eats fish. . . . But for reasons I can’t claim to comprehend, Adams and his office continue to publicly claim that Adams maintains a strict plant-based diet, even when people have now repeatedly seen him eat the fruits of the sea with their own two eyes.^[9]

Lying scum psychopath.
Ryu Spaeth, “Eric Adams Eats Fish,” New York, February 5, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-eats-fish.html

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Not totally sure why this story suggests there are no penalties for destroying White House records. There's this criminal statute, which I recall people urging use of to prosecute both Speaker Pelosi and Hillary Clintonhttps://t.co/YrNkblohcl https://t.co/cexCTVtsG6

— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) February 6, 2022

The article doesn’t exactly say there are no penalties:^[10]

“It is against the law, but the problem is that the Presidential Records Act, as written, does not have any real enforcement mechanism,” said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association. “It’s that sort of thing where there’s a law, but who has the authority to enforce the law, and the existing law is toothless.”^[11]

^[1]Joshua Yaffa, “Putin’s Next Move in Ukraine Is an Open Question in Moscow,” New Yorker, February 3, 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/putins-next-move-in-ukraine-is-an-open-question-in-moscow ↩
^[2]Abha Bhattarai, “Despite omicron surge, businesses desperate to find and keep workers,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/05/economy-jobs-omicron-new-normal/↩
^[3]Ryan Deto, “Pittsburgh out of running to host 2024 Republican National Convention,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 4, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-out-of-running-to-host-2024-republican-national-convention/↩
^[4]Marcie Cipriani, “Maintenance issues with Public Works trucks creates challenges when treating roads,” WTAE, January 25, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-snow-plow-issues-treating-roads/38888584; Rick Earle, “Pittsburgh Public Works launches internal investigation following snow response issues,” WPXI, January 7, 2022, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/pittsburgh-public-works-launches-internal-investigation-following-snow-response-issues/3ZAYYSR5WNCD5H5KE67WJ6SKBU/; Julia Felton, “Plowing continues on snow-covered Pittsburgh streets,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 7, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/plowing-continues-on-snow-covered-pittsburgh-streets/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh officials say snow response will be better ahead of Sunday storm,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 14, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-officials-say-snow-response-will-be-better-ahead-of-sunday-storm/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh officials say they expect to have streets cleared for Tuesday commute,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-officials-say-they-expect-to-have-streets-cleared-for-tuesday-commute/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh officials say 50 trucks still cleaning snow and ice,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 20, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-officials-say-50-trucks-still-cleaning-snow-and-ice/; Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh crews working to clear city streets after Sunday’s snow,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 24, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-crews-working-to-clear-city-streets-after-sundays-snow/; Taylor Spirito, “Pittsburgh residents frustrated after city side streets left unplowed,” WPXI, January 18, 2022, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/pittsburgh-residents-frustrated-after-city-side-streets-left-unplowed/NLUWU6RFFBCKBCYKDEMU7Y3FWQ/; Kylie Walker, “Pittsburgh Public Works releases statement in response to snow removal concerns,” WTAE, January 18, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-public-works-releases-statement-in-response-to-snow-removal-concerns/38803017; Kylie Walker, “City of Pittsburgh updates snow removal process after Monday’s storm,” WTAE, January 25, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-snow-removal-update-after-monday-storm/38883671; WTAE, “Residents in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood frustrated with snow response,” January 24, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/residents-in-pittsburghs-brookline-neighborhood-frustrated-with-snow-response/38876127 ↩
^[5]David J. Lynch and Gerrit De Vynck, “Facebook’s faceplant on Wall Street could be just the beginning for some tech stocks,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/05/facebook-meta-technology-stocks/↩
^[6]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, January 8, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[7]David J. Lynch and Gerrit De Vynck, “Facebook’s faceplant on Wall Street could be just the beginning for some tech stocks,” Washington Post, February 5, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/05/facebook-meta-technology-stocks/↩
^[8]David Benfell, “This is not a business plan,” Not Housebroken, January 8, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/20/this-is-not-a-business-plan/↩
^[9]Ryu Spaeth, “Eric Adams Eats Fish,” New York, February 5, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-eats-fish.html ↩
^[10]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/↩
^[11]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/↩

This distinction between a ‘platform’ and a ‘publisher’ is bullshit. It needs to go away.

February 4, 2022benfell

Pittsburgh

Fig. 1. Photograph by author, February 4, 2022.

Snow plowing

Shortly after I’d decided to stay home Thursday after all, this showed up. The National Weather Service office is in Moon Township, roughly to my northwest. Marshall Township is well to my north at the other end of Allegheny County.

Ice accumulating on trees in Marshall twp, northern allegheny county pic.twitter.com/u2QpK0m4SK

— Ryan C (@RCaTechGuy) February 3, 2022

I don’t get to Marshall all that often, but Moon is just on the back side (it was the front side once upon a time that seemingly no one but me remembers) of the airport. I get to Moon pretty often.

It was quite a storm, severely affecting areas all the way from Texas to the Ohio Valley,^[1] but I spent much of the afternoon and evening noticing that the lines of freezing rain largely remained to the west of Interstate 79, just outside the area I mostly cover.

During a break in the snow Friday, as I was looking out my window, I was wondering if I could go out. Then the snow started again—the rate has only increased since, with fluffier flakes—and started accumulating on the road. If even Upper Saint Clair is having trouble keeping its roads clear, the rest of the Pittsburgh area will be a mess. If I go out, I now think it will be later, to run errands and very little else.

“Snow is a lot easier to plow than ice,”^[2] and of course, it’s precisely the latter that I’m worried about on Pittsburgh’s hills. In Tennessee,

Freezing temperatures meant the ice would remain a problem for days, making driving dangerous, officials said. Robert Knecht, Memphis’ public works director, said Thursday evening that there were 225 downed trees on city streets and crews were working 16-hour shifts to clear them.

“We do foresee, though, that it’s going to take multiple days, given the inclement weather conditions, to clear the public right of way,” Knecht said during an online news conference.^[3]

Infrastructure

Ryan Deto, “12 infrastructure fails in the Pittsburgh region, including Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 3, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/regional/12-infrastructure-fails-in-the-pittsburgh-region-including-fern-hollow-bridge/

Ryan Deto, “Allegheny County has plans to repair all of its poorly rated bridges,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 3, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/allegheny-county-has-plans-to-repair-all-of-its-poorly-rated-bridges/

Erie

I’m continuing to watch the situation in Erie, where a snow emergency has been declared.^[4] The snow on that last trip truly was daunting even if it wouldn’t have been over my father’s head in a photograph I remember.

I think for a number of reasons, I’d be better off there, but whatever is going on with clearing the roads, it seems that people failing to honor odd-even parking rules, thereby blocking snow plows, is a real and ongoing problem.^[5]

If I’m driving for a living, I can’t much care what the excuse is for not clearing the roads. It’s a simple binary: Can I work or can’t I? I do think overall that I’d be better off in Erie, especially if a return of Donald Trump to the presidency or even Republican success in the elections later this year brings Trumpist bad behavior on the roads back out in Pittsburgh.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

I’m finding it interesting that high technology capitalists are seeing being a “platform” rather than a “publisher” as some sort of “get out of jail free” card, excusing them from any responsibility for what they publish:

Media watchers have been quick to point out that Spotify’s platform defense—at least as it pertains to Joe Rogan—is a real stretch. (Even some Spotify employees called it “a dubious assertion” according to the LA Times.) Rogan’s podcast isn’t available through YouTube Music or Amazon Music or any other such service. He has an exclusive contract with Spotify, a relationship the company paid $100 million for. In that sense, Spotify is his publisher. As Elizabeth Spiers, former editor of the New York Observer, pointed out, Spotify’s acquisition of the Joe Rogan Experience is a clear editorial choice the company has made, just as the New York Times or the Washington Post choose whom they give a column to. If a columnist decides to say something wrong or dangerous, responsibility for those statements lies with the paper.^[6]

Ukraine

I think my reading of that (to me) somewhat mysterious Ukrainian government claim that a Russian invasion is not imminent is that, yes, they are attempting to protect their economy,^[7] but also that undermining that economy would solve one of Vladimir Putin’s problems for him.^[8]

The Kremlin’s plans include undermining the situation inside Ukraine, fomenting hysteria and fear among Ukrainians, and the authorities in Kyiv find it increasingly difficult to contain this snowball.^[9]

One of the red herrings I chased in researching my dissertation was a notion, which I was never able to validate, that war, prior to the French Revolution (pro tip: whenever you hear a conservative yammering about the French Revolution, you can be pretty close to certain s/he is a traditionalist conservative), was somehow more “civil,” confined to battlefields, but since has expanded to civilian areas (“total war”) on an understanding, which does seem to be current, that a country’s economic system supports its military. Undermine the economy and you undermine its military.^[10]

Ukraine thus needs to keep domestic confidence high and the propaganda war between Russia and the West^[11] is not helpful. The U.S., at least, is continuing that effort nonetheless.^[12]

The bullshit is deep here, likely in part due to U.S. domestic politics,^[13] and that’s precisely the sort of thing I instinctively disengage from. But it’s almost certainly not all bullshit. And this is a case where the bullshit can actually be important. I gotta tell you, I’m not good at this.

So I was thinking, gee, it’d be awfully good to hear from Julia Ioffe about now:

Personally, I find this feeling of stasis, one that is somehow also chaotic and tense, to be deeply strange and more than a little unnerving, especially when I go on cable news to comment on the situation and, after dramatic music and terrifying graphics, the camera cuts to me and I have to say, “We still don’t know.”^[14]

She points to something I’ve also noticed that the Russians now accuse the West of hysteria:

A month ago, the talk coming from Moscow was all about Putin’s red lines; NATO’s aggressive expansion; Putin’s warning of a “military-technical solution” if his demands weren’t met; and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov backing him up with the threat of “a nightmare scenario of military confrontation” in Europe. Now, however, the emphasis has shifted to NATO’s arming of Ukraine, which, the Russians claim, is deploying more and more troops closer to the occupied regions of the Donbas in an attempt to entrap Russia in a military confrontation they are keen to avoid. ^[15]

And there’s more. Her article is enormously worthwhile. She’s flagging more bullshit than I can shake a stick at.^[16]

Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/

Academia

At one point, I did briefly consider attending the San Francisco Art Institute. The cost was daunting and I doubted I could muster a portfolio that they would find interesting. The sort of photography I do (example, figure 1) is indistinctly mundane by the standards of fine arts.

At the time there were two fine arts universities in San Francisco. Somewhere along the way they merged and Art Institute shuttle vans became ubiquitous as the school had housing scattered all over the city.

The University of San Francisco is a Catholic school—Jesuit—and has its own history of acquisition. When I was a kid living on Laurel Hill, we had a view of Lone Mountain College, which I understood to be a woman’s college; it’s now a campus of USF. As far as I know, both of these schools are highly reputable but I understood the Art Institute to be secular and I do wonder how that will play out.

Emma Whitford, “University of San Francisco Looks to Buy Art Institute,” Inside Higher Ed, February 4, 2022, https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/02/04/university-san-francisco-looks-buy-art-institute

^[1]Kathleen Foody and Jill Bleed, “Storm expected to glaze Pennsylvania, New England in ice,” Associated Press, February 4, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/winter-storm-live-updates-84cd2122a01bcebaedd520dd303e1be3 ↩
^[2]Rick Otto, quoted in Kathleen Foody and Jill Bleed, “Storm expected to glaze Pennsylvania, New England in ice,” Associated Press, February 4, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/winter-storm-live-updates-84cd2122a01bcebaedd520dd303e1be3 ↩
^[3]Kathleen Foody and Jill Bleed, “Storm expected to glaze Pennsylvania, New England in ice,” Associated Press, February 4, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/winter-storm-live-updates-84cd2122a01bcebaedd520dd303e1be3 ↩
^[4]Anna Ashcraft, “City of Erie declares snow emergency,” YourErie.com, February 4, 2022, https://www.yourerie.com/news/breaking-news/city-of-erie-declares-snow-emergency-2/↩
^[5]Erie News Now, “Parked Cars Continue to Block Roadways,” February 3, 2022, https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/45806636/parked-cars-continue-to-block-roadways; Chelsea Swift, “Residents not following parking regulations leaves Erie Streets Department officials frustrated,” Newsbreak, February 3, 2022, https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2505373481754/residents-not-following-parking-regulations-leaves-erie-streets-department-officials-frustrated ↩
^[6]Mathew Ingram, “Of platforms, publishers, and responsibility,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 4, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/of-platforms-publishers-and-responsibility.php ↩
^[7]Yuras Karmanau, “Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent,” Associated Press, January 25, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-diplomacy-europe-baltic-sea-44821c52f54b5e927d86ea28420cb2cf ↩
^[8]Anne Applebaum, “The U.S. Is Naive About Russia. Ukraine Can’t Afford to Be,” Atlantic, January 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/ukraine-russia-kyiv-putin-bluff/621145/↩
^[9]Volodymyr Fesenko, quoted in Yuras Karmanau, “Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent,” Associated Press, January 25, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-diplomacy-europe-baltic-sea-44821c52f54b5e927d86ea28420cb2cf ↩
^[10]Richard M. Weaver, Visions of Order (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 1995).↩
^[11]Jon Allsop, “The information war over Ukraine,” Columbia Journalism Review, January 25, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/ukraine_russia_america_britain_media.php ↩
^[12]Natasha Bertrand and Jeremy Herb, “US intelligence indicates Russia preparing operation to justify invasion of Ukraine,” CNN, January 14, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/politics/us-intelligence-russia-false-flag/index.html; Aamer Madhani, Lorne Cook, and Suzan Fraser, “U.S. says new intel shows Russia plotting false-flag attack,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-02-03/russian-troop-buildup-belarus-raises-fears-ukraine; Paul Sonne, John Hudson, and Shane Harris, “U.K. accuses Russia of scheming to install a pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine,” Washington Post, January 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/uk-accuses-russia-of-scheming-to-install-a-pro-kremlin-government-in-ukraine/2022/01/22/41c0999e-7bde-11ec-b79d-e53ef5e1fbe2_story.html ↩
^[13]David Benfell, “Is the Ukraine story really somehow about U.S. politics?” Not Housebroken, January 23, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/21/is-the-ukraine-story-really-somehow-about-u-s-politics/↩
^[14]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩
^[15]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩
^[16]Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Pickle,” Puck News, February 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-pickle-russia-ukraine/↩

Staying home Thursday after all

February 3, 2022benfell

In the previous issue, I neglected to mention a new blog post entitled, “The uproar over Whoopi Goldberg’s remarks on race misses crucial nuance.”

Pittsburgh

Snow plowing

I just checked Twitter and saw that winter weather restrictions are already up on local freeways. Not going out.

Annexations

Julia Felton, “As Pittsburgh considers studying mergers, neighboring communities say they’re not interested,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 2, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/as-pittsburgh-considers-studying-mergers-neighboring-communities-say-theyre-not-interested/

Infrastructure

Secession movements, COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Civil War

California, Doctors and charlatans

Shasta County includes Redding, which is not that small a city, but assuming a normal California arrangement, it would be the unincorporated areas in the county that would fall under county control.

Time to worry: Politicians are doing their thing about a collapsed bridge

February 2, 2022benfell

Pittsburgh

Snow plowing

Here are the forecasted onset times of freezing rain:

Freezing rain will begin for areas north and west first, and as a result of the cold front stalling, Pittsburgh should see freezing rain begin by 4-6 PM on Thursday, with it beginning by 6-8 PM east of the city. pic.twitter.com/gR0OYNVm3P

— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) February 2, 2022

As of now, it appears I will be working part of Thursday and taking Friday off. Saturday will depend on Pittsburgh’s unlikely progress clearing the roads.

Infrastructure

Ed Blazina et al., “‘A boom, then a monster sound’: 10 hurt after bridge over Pittsburgh’s Frick Park collapses,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-forbes-braddock-avenue-point-breeze-squirrel-hill/stories/202201280075

Emma Folts, “From a burning bridge to a sinking road, 5 times Pittsburgh infrastructure raised worries,” Public Source, January 28, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/from-a-burning-bridge-to-a-sinking-road-5-times-pittsburgh-infrastructure-raised-worries/

Megan Guza, “‘It is outrageous’: Pittsburgh leaders, residents seek answers after poor-rated bridge collapses,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 28, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/it-is-outrageous-pittsburgh-leaders-residents-seek-answers-after-poor-rated-bridge-collapses/

Tony LaRussa, “Over 40 bridges in Alle-Kiski Valley are rated the same as span that collapsed in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 28, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/here-are-the-bridges-in-the-alle-kiski-valley-rated-the-same-as-span-that-collapsed-in-pittsburgh/

Brian C. Rittmeyer, Megan Guza, and Jason Cato, “10 injured in bridge collapse in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 28, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/frick-park-bridge-collapses-natural-gas-smell-in-area/

Charlie Wolfson, “Collapsed Pittsburgh bridge and 175 others rated poor in county drive home need for investment,” Public Source, January 28, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/bridge-collapse-pittsburgh-allegheny-infrastructure-biden/

WTAE, “Gov. Wolf signs proclamation of disaster emergency for Allegheny County following bridge collapse,” January 28, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/bridge-collapse-pittsburgh-gov-wolf-signs-proclamation-of-disaster-emergency/38928541

Julia Felton, “‘It’s a resource problem’: 1 in 8 bridges in Pa. rated in ‘poor’ condition, records show,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 29, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/its-a-resource-problem-1-in-8-bridges-in-pa-rated-in-poor-condition-records-show/

Lauren Lee, “Mayor Gainey signs Disaster Emergency Declaration following Fern Hollow bridge collapse,” WTAE, January 30, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/mayor-gainey-to-sign-disaster-emergency-declaration-following-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/38934884

Mary Ann Thomas, “O’Connor: Rebuilding Forbes Avenue bridge could take 2 years, more than $10M,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 30, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/declarations-of-emergency-expected-to-speed-cleanup-and-reconstruction-of-forbes-avenue-bridge/

Ryan Deto, “Crane pulls Port Authority bus from Frick Park bridge wreckage,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 31, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/public-viewing-area-opens-for-pittsburghs-collapsed-fern-hollow-bridge-as-cleanup-begins/

KDKA-TV, “Pittsburgh Bridge Collapse: PennDOT To Invest $25.3M To Rebuild Fern Hollow Bridge,” January 31, 2022, https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2022/01/31/penndot-investment-rebuild-fern-hollow-bridge/

Julia Felton, “$25.3M in federal funding set aside to replace Pittsburgh’s collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 1, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/25-3m-in-federal-funding-set-aside-to-replace-pittsburghs-collapsed-fern-hollow-bridge/

Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh looks to create infrastructure commission in wake of Fern Hollow Bridge collapse,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 1, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-looks-to-create-infrastructure-commission-in-wake-of-fern-hollow-bridge-collapse/

Work

Anneken Tappe, “A record number of Americans quit their jobs in 2021,” CNN, February 1, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/economy/us-job-openings-quite-december/index.html

COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors and charlatans

Mitchell Willetts, “COVID has killed more Americans in 2022 than the flu has in 3 years, CDC data shows,” Sacramento Bee, February 1, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article257934343.html

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Donald Trump would no doubt approve: Lawyers for Sean McHugh argued that the Congressional session to certify the 2020 election was not an “official proceeding.”^[1] It’s the desperate sort of plea that Trump himself engaged in repeatedly and Philip Bump has a summary of that desperate, rarely if ever coherent attempt to undo the election.^[2] If anyone else pulled these sorts of stunts, Trump’s followers would surely, along with the rest of us, deride the effort as that of a sore loser.

FiveThirtyEight, “Is Trump’s Hold On The GOP Still Strong?” January 26, 2022, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/is-trumps-hold-on-the-gop-still-strong/

Alex Isenstadt, “Trump faces MAGA revolt over endorsement,” Politico, January 27, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/27/trump-maga-revolt-endorsement-00003050

Nick Robins-Early, “Seditious conspiracy is rarely proven. The Oath Keepers trial is a litmus test,” Guardian, January 28, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/28/seditious-conspiracy-charges-trial-oath-keepers-us-court

Tyler Pager, “Trump suggests that if he is reelected, he will pardon Jan. 6 Capitol rioters,” Washington Post, January 29, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/29/trump-jan6-protesters/

Olafimihan Oshin, “Trump calls for protests if prosecutors ‘do anything illegal’ in targeting him,” Hill, January 30, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/592009-trump-calls-for-biggest-protest-weve-ever-had-if-prosecutors-do

Ed Palattella, “Election libel or just free speech?” Erie Times-News, January 30, 2022, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/2022/01/28/free-speech-case-erie-postmaster-project-veritas-james-okeefe-richard-hopkins/6632611001/

Monique Beals, “Georgia prosecutors ask FBI for security help after Trump protest remarks: report,” Hill, January 31, 2022, https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/592044-georgia-prosecutors-ask-fbi-for-security-help-one-day-after-trump

John Wagner, “Trump suggests Pence should have ‘overturned’ the election on Jan. 6,” Washington Post, January 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/31/trump-pence-overturned-election/

Philip Bump, “The sloppy, patchwork, spaghetti-at-the-wall effort to steal the presidency,” Washington Post, February 1, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/01/sloppy-patchwork-spaghetti-at-the-wall-effort-steal-presidency/

Sam Stanton, “Judge refuses to toss charges against Northern California man in Jan. 6 Capitol riot case,” Sacramento Bee, February 2, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article257937508.html

Havana Syndrome

I was not impressed when it was reported that the Central Intelligence Agency had assessed it unlikely that a rival was responsible for the still unexplained “Havana Syndrome,”^[3] because an absence of information on a cause is an absence of information on a cause and not very much more.

And guess what? It turns out that there is a plausible way that a rival might be launching attacks.^[4]

Shane Harris, “External energy source may explain ‘Havana syndrome,’ panel finds, renewing questions about possible foreign attack,” Washington Post, February 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/02/external-energy-source-may-explain-havana-syndrome-panel-finds-renewing-questions-about-possible-foreign-attack/

Right-wing dictatorship

^[1]Sam Stanton, “Judge refuses to toss charges against Northern California man in Jan. 6 Capitol riot case,” Sacramento Bee, February 2, 2022, https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article257937508.html ↩
^[2]Philip Bump, “The sloppy, patchwork, spaghetti-at-the-wall effort to steal the presidency,” Washington Post, February 1, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/01/sloppy-patchwork-spaghetti-at-the-wall-effort-steal-presidency/↩
^[3]Nancy A. Youssef, “Havana Syndrome Unlikely Caused by Russia, Other U.S Foes, CIA Says,” Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/havana-syndrome-unlikely-caused-by-russia-other-u-s-foes-cia-says-11642686583 ↩
^[4]Shane Harris, “External energy source may explain ‘Havana syndrome,’ panel finds, renewing questions about possible foreign attack,” Washington Post, February 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/02/external-energy-source-may-explain-havana-syndrome-panel-finds-renewing-questions-about-possible-foreign-attack/↩