As I continue using Apple Maps in Pittsburgh, I’m seeing more of the blemishes. I’m still seeing a lot of advantages to Apple maps, but the problems probably mean newcomers should stick with Google Maps until they gain some familiarity with the territory.
Pittsburgh
Gentrification
Fig. 1. The old Hazelwood library branch. It has been replaced with a new branch on Second Avenue. Photograph by author, May 1, 2020.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority [URA], the city’s economic development agency, discussed the emerging OwnPGH program on Thursday during its board meeting as a step toward finalizing the effort. The URA and the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh [HACP] would run OwnPGH to help first time homebuyers who make 80% or less of the area median income [AMI]. If approved, OwnPGH would provide grants of up to $50,000 and HACP would add an additional $40,000 in deferred mortgages. . . .
Under the new program, homeowners who purchase a place through OwnPGH will be required, for 30 years, to only sell to other buyers who make 80% of AMI or less.[1]
Eric Jankiewicz, “URA weighs joining Housing Authority to aid new homeowners,” Public Source, September 8, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-affordable-housing-ownpgh-homebuyer-assistance-urban-redevelopment-ura/
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Original: The White House. Derivative work: J. J. Messerly, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
I don’t think I saw a single yard sign or flag supporting Donald Trump today (Friday). It’s quite a shift.
At this point, it very much looks to me like Donald Trump is through, whether he recognizes it or not. Only the most insane still support him.
This does not, by any means, mean we’re done with white Christian nationalism. Trump didn’t create the bigots. He made them feel comfortable displaying their bigotry. They might now feel embarrassment because their hero has been exposed, but they remain bigots. And neither did he create white Christian nationalism or the tendencies of conservatism that have united as white Christian nationalists.
Greg Sargent, “MAGA Republicans are seething with rage because Biden hit his target,” Washington Post, September 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/biden-speech-philadelphia-trump-maga-republicans-democracy/
Eric Tucker, “Trump search inventory released, reveals new details on docs,” Associated Press, September 2, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-6bd103a8e418166b17a34d77e8d9102d
Andrew Kaczynski and Samantha Woodward, “Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lengthy jail sentences for those who he claimed mishandled classified information,” CNN, September 3, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/03/politics/trump-jail-sentences-mishandled-classified-information-kfile/index.html
David Frum, “Biden Laid the Trap. Trump Walked Into It,” Atlantic, September 4, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/trump-pennsylvania-rally-republicans/671344/
Lauren Gambino and David Smith, “Could unexpected Democratic gains foil a midterm Republican victory?” Guardian, September 5, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/04/midterm-democrats-victory-republicans-trump
Charlie Savage, “As Midterms Near, Election Rule Raises Dilemma for Trump Inquiries,” New York Times, September 4, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/us/trump-investigations-midterm-elections.html
Jess Bravin and Aruna Viswanatha, “Judge Grants Donald Trump’s Request for Independent Review of Mar-a-Lago Documents,” Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-partly-grants-donald-trumps-request-for-independent-review-of-mar-a-lago-documents-11662395427
Charlie Savage, “‘Deeply Problematic’: Experts Question Judge’s Intervention in Trump Inquiry,” New York Times, September 5, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/us/trump-special-master-aileen-cannon.html
Eric Tucker, “Judge grants Trump bid for special master in Mar-a-Lago case,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-09-05/judge-grants-trump-bid-for-special-master-in-mar-a-lago-case
Ann E. Marimow and Devlin Barrett, “Judge’s special-master order a test of Trump’s post-White House powers,” Washington Post, September 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-judge-cannon-special-master-order/
J. Oliver Conroy, “Why did a judge grant Trump’s request for a ‘special master’?” Guardian, September 7, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/07/why-did-judge-grant-special-master-trump
Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. seeks to regain access to classified Mar-a-Lago documents,” Washington Post, September 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/08/justice-appeals-trump-documents-special-master/
Alan Feuer et al., “Trump’s Post-Election Fund-Raising Comes Under Scrutiny by Justice Dept.,” New York Times, September 9, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/08/us/politics/trump-save-america-pac-subpoenas.html
Queen Elizabeth
I wasn’t going to say anything about Queen Elizabeth’s death here. There is a weird sentimentality and romanticization of royalty that attached to her but certainly not to her alone and which implicates colonization and the British Empire. And that’s frankly something I want more time to consider.
But ya know, Pittsburgh just had to get in on the act.
Around 6 a.m. Thursday, Uju Anya, a professor in [Carnegie-Mellon University’s] department of modern languages, posted the following message to the 84,000 followers of her personal Twitter account.
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving and raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”[2]
The controversy reached me indirectly and I responded,
1/5 I certainly do not advocate wishing anyone an “excruciating” death, as a professor at @CarnegieMellon seems to have done, unless they have–there are numerous examples of this–personally and willfully been cruel to others.
Firing this professor would be the wrong answer.
2/5 Some on #BlackTwitter have responded to #QueenElizabeth’s death with glee, citing colonial grievances, and it is indeed my understanding that Adolf Hitler took the British Empire as a model.
But many folks saw the Queen as a mostly ceremonial figurehead.
3/5 If we are to wish ill on others, their personal and willful culpability must be established. #QueenElizabeth’s personal and willful culpability, as at least putatively a ceremonial figurehead, has not. This does not sound like justice and #BlackTwitter should heed this.
4/5 But justice also demands that #BlackTwitter’s grievances be aired and that a reckoning for these grievances be taken into account in considering the monarchy’s future, along with questions about the appropriateness of any monarchy in modern society.
5/5 I have complete confidence that that professor at @CarnegieMellon is fully capable of presenting her case. She should do so.
And following an appropriate period of mourning, #Charles should answer, including an explanation for why, if at all, the monarchy should continue.
Remarkably, #BlackTwitter has not jumped all over my case. At least not yet. Perhaps it got lost in the noise.
Jesse Bunch, “Carnegie Mellon University professor’s critical tweet about Queen Elizabeth II goes viral,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 9, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2022/09/08/carnegie-mellon-university-professor-tweet-about-queen-elizabeth-ii-goes-viral-uju-anya/stories/202209080145
- [1]Eric Jankiewicz, “URA weighs joining Housing Authority to aid new homeowners,” Public Source, September 8, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-affordable-housing-ownpgh-homebuyer-assistance-urban-redevelopment-ura/↩
- [2]Jesse Bunch, “Carnegie Mellon University professor’s critical tweet about Queen Elizabeth II goes viral,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 9, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2022/09/08/carnegie-mellon-university-professor-tweet-about-queen-elizabeth-ii-goes-viral-uju-anya/stories/202209080145?cid=pm&source=ams&sourceid=↩