Month: December 2022

Surprise! Surprise! Pittsburgh bridges are in sorry shape. Some need repairs nearly immediately.

benfell

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure


Fig. 1. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Julia Felton’s report is much more damning than the headline suggests. Supposedly some of the stuff that’s needed to be done within days has already been done. But what’s been released is non-specific so we can’t be sure that all of it has.[1]

Julia Felton, “Dozens of bridges maintained by Pittsburgh in need of repairs within 6 months, report says,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 21, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/dozens-of-bridges-maintained-by-pittsburgh-in-need-of-repairs-within-6-months-report-says/

Kris B. Mamula, “Pittsburgh’s new Fern Hollow Bridge is engineering marvel, officials say,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 21, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/12/21/pittsburgh-fern-hollow-bridge-engineering-collapse/stories/202212210108

Gilead

Donald Trump

Finances


Fig. 2. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

None of this reporting labels Donald Trump a tax cheat. It all talks about issues requiring investigation, sometimes requiring more Internal Revenue Service resources than the agency, ahem, chose to make available, and a discrepancy between the routinely scheduled audits of Barack Obama and Joe Biden while president and the failure to conduct the same of Trump until a Congressional committee inquired.[2]

We are not supposed to infer from Trump’s earlier refusal to release his tax returns or his resistance to the release of those returns[3] that he has something to hide. Nor can we infer from convictions of the Trump Organization[4] or its accountant[5] that Trump has cheated on his personal taxes.

Finally, we should not speculate on the outcome of a number of investigations that remain in progress or of any lawsuits that have not yet been resolved.[6]

But you know what? I think Trump is a tax cheat.

Dareh Gregorian and Sahil Kapur, “House committee votes to make public Donald Trump’s personal and business tax records,” NBC News, December 20, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-committee-votes-donald-trumps-personal-business-tax-records-rcna62212

Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire, “Trump’s Taxes: Red Flags, Big Losses and a Windfall From His Father,” New York Times, December 21, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-tax-returns-findings.html

Charlie Savage and Alan Rappeport, “I.R.S. Routinely Audited Obama and Biden, Raising Questions Over Delays for Trump,” New York Times, December 21, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-irs-taxes.html

  1. [1]Julia Felton, “Dozens of bridges maintained by Pittsburgh in need of repairs within 6 months, report says,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 21, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/dozens-of-bridges-maintained-by-pittsburgh-in-need-of-repairs-within-6-months-report-says/↩
  2. [2]Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire, “Trump’s Taxes: Red Flags, Big Losses and a Windfall From His Father,” New York Times, December 21, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-tax-returns-findings.html; Dareh Gregorian and Sahil Kapur, “House committee votes to make public Donald Trump’s personal and business tax records,” NBC News, December 20, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-committee-votes-donald-trumps-personal-business-tax-records-rcna62212; Charlie Savage and Alan Rappeport, “I.R.S. Routinely Audited Obama and Biden, Raising Questions Over Delays for Trump,” New York Times, December 21, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/us/politics/trump-irs-taxes.html↩
  3. [3]Robert Barnes, “Supreme Court denies Trump bid to withhold tax returns from Congress,” Washington Post, November 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/22/supreme-court-trump-taxes/; David A. Fahrenthold, Rachael Bade, and John Wagner, “Trump sues in bid to block congressional subpoena of financial records,” Washington Post, April 22, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-sues-in-bid-to-block-congressional-subpoena-of-financial-records/2019/04/22/a98de3d0-6500-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html; Brian Faler, “Treasury misses congressional deadline for turning over Trump’s tax returns,” Politico, April 10, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/10/trump-tax-returns-congress-1342027; Spencer S. Hsu, “Judge denies Trump bid to quash House subpoena for years of financial records,” Washington Post, May 20, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/us-judge-denies-trump-bid-to-quash-house-subpoena-for-years-of-financial-records/2019/05/20/74e45880-7b21-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html; Ann E. Marimow, Spencer S. Hsu, and David A. Fahrenthold, “Appeals court rules against Trump in fight with Congress over president’s accounting firm records,” Washington Post, October 11, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/appeals-court-rules-against-trump-in-fight-with-congress-over-presidents-accounting-firm-records/2019/10/11/42933894-b9ea-11e9-b3b4-2bb69e8c4e39_story.html; Ann E. Marimow, “Congress can seek 8 years of Trump’s tax records, court order indicates,” Washington Post, November 13, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/congress-can-seek-eight-years-of-trumps-tax-records-appeals-court-rules/2019/11/13/b4fc8002-fc07-11e9-8906-ab6b60de9124_story.html; Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed, “House Democrats can get some of Trump’s tax records from accounting firm Mazars USA, judge rules,” CNN, August 11, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/politics/trump-taxes-mazars-house-democrats/index.html; Tierney Sneed, “Trump asks Supreme Court to stop IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House,” CNN, October 31, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/politics/trump-supreme-court-appeal/index.html; Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, “Justice Department Advises Treasury to Release Trump Tax Returns,” Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-says-treasury-must-release-trump-tax-returns-11627667462↩
  4. [4]Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell, “Trump Organization found guilty on all counts of criminal tax fraud,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/trump-organization-fraud-trial-verdict/index.html↩
  5. [5]Sheila McClear and Mark Berman, “Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump executive, pleads guilty to tax fraud,” Washington Post, August 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea/↩
  6. [6]William D. Cohan, “The Trump Lawsuit’s Known Unknowns & New ‘Shittrix’ Drama,” Puck News, September 25, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-lawsuits-known-unknowns-new-shittrix-drama/; Shayna Jacobs and Jonathan O’Connell, “Donald Trump, 3 of his children sued for business fraud by New York AG,” Washington Post, September 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/trump-sued-new-york-letitia-james/; Hugo Lowell, Maya Yang, and Martin Pengelly, “New York attorney general lawsuit accuses Trump of ‘staggering’ fraud,” Guardian, September 21, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/21/trump-new-york-investigation-ivanka-donald-eric; Eugene Robinson, “Letitia James used Trump’s boasts against him. It was devastating,” Washington Post, September 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/21/letitia-james-trump-marketing/; David Smith, “‘He’s done’: how Donald Trump’s legal woes have just gotten a lot worse,” Guardian, September 22, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/21/donald-trump-lawsuit-new-york-investigation↩

Now is the time to push Vladimir Putin’s back to the wall

benfell

Ukraine


Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.

Justin Sherin, writing as Richard M. Nixon, pressing for more aggressive support for Ukraine:

The best case is to catch [Vladimir Putin] on the back foot and hope this destabilizes the Kremlin—either into negotiations or a sudden realization that President Putin will benefit from a long rest at his dacha. I don’t call either likely, but you have to swing when your opponent drops his hands. (We wrote recently about the danger of stasis leading to nuclear war.) If Putin were to be “taken ill,” we can’t assume that a successor would be more realistic. You can study the Kremlin for years, but changes in power come down to wind direction on a bad day.[2]

I hold a lot of admiration for the job Sherin does in portraying Nixon. It’s an extraordinarily canny performance of possibly the last president to have two brain cells to rub together and you don’t have to agree with Nixon—I certainly didn’t—to admire the insight.

This Nixon points, really, to a larger dilemma. Does the West allow Putin to intimidate it into holding one hand behind its back in aiding Ukraine? To capitulate in this way is rarely a winning strategy in military matters: It much more reliably underestimates the enemy. The question, really, is do you face a difficulty now, or do you kick the can down the road, hoping something changes, and, crucially, that that change isn’t for the worse?

What I’ve been hearing pretty consistently is that any kind of regime change at the Kremlin is precisely likely to be for the worse. There is no evidence and no one even attempts to claim that doves on Ukraine are in any way ascendent. It’s thus pretty damn hard to argue against Nixon here.

Shane Harris et al., “No conclusive evidence Russia is behind Nord Stream attack,” Washington Post, December 21, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/21/russia-nord-stream-explosions/

Richard M. Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Briefing,” Patreon, December 21, 2022, https://www.patreon.com/posts/briefing-76209718

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure


Fig. 1. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

A replacement Fern Hollow Bridge might open as soon as tomorrow.[3] It’s simply flat out impossible to reconcile the speed at which this project has been completed with that of innumerable other road projects that are never, ever fucking done.

Kris B. Mamula, “Pittsburgh’s new Fern Hollow Bridge is engineering marvel, officials say,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 21, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/12/21/pittsburgh-fern-hollow-bridge-engineering-collapse/stories/202212210108

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[4] fair use.

This is the Wall Street Journal, not exactly a progressive bastion, on Elon Musk’s search for a Twitter chief executive officer in the wake of another Twitter poll,[5] the results of which called for Musk to step down:[6]

Wanted: Chief executive officer of a flailing tech company who will have no control over that company’s product or distribution. Hours: All. No free lunch. Must be willing to suffer public ridicule and disdain from the company’s owner.

It is not exactly the ad that is going to light up LinkedIn. But it is basically what Elon Musk is searching for in his quest for a new “Chief Twit.” Late Tuesday, Mr. Musk said that he will resign as CEO of the social network he bought barely two months ago “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” He added that he still plans to run Twitter’s software and servers teams.

Elon Musk, in other words, isn’t going anywhere. Finding a capable someone to take over a struggling business he has managed to impair further with a few months of erratic management would be hard enough. But as Mr. Musk himself points out, a new Twitter chief won’t even have control over vital aspects of the business.[7]

This isn’t by any means a buried lede. It’s the first three paragraphs of Laura Forman and Dan Gallagher’s article. As they explain, the story gets worse, but then I’d have to quote the whole damned story. And it’s on the way to describing the by no means insignificant wizardry that Musk’s new lackey would need to accomplish.[8]

With respect to Forman and Gallagher, I believe their approach to fixing Twitter is misguided. It’s more than amply evident that Twitter’s biggest problem right now is Musk himself. Fixing the other problems will require fixing Musk, and this needs to be done first.

Michael Race and Monica Miller, “Elon Musk: Only blue tick users to vote in Twitter polls on policy,” British Broadcasting Corporation, December 20, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64034892

Reuters, “Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once he finds ‘someone foolish’ enough as successor,” December 20, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-says-hell-step-down-twitter-ceo-after-finding-replacement-2022-12-21/

Laura Forman and Dan Gallagher, “Elon Musk Offers Worst Job in Tech,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-offers-worst-job-in-tech-11671648139

  1. [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
  2. [2]Richard M. Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Briefing,” Patreon, December 21, 2022, https://www.patreon.com/posts/briefing-76209718↩
  3. [3]Kris B. Mamula, “Pittsburgh’s new Fern Hollow Bridge is engineering marvel, officials say,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 21, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/12/21/pittsburgh-fern-hollow-bridge-engineering-collapse/stories/202212210108↩
  4. [4]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “About Elon Musk’s Twitter poll and about Twitter polls generally,” Not Housebroken, November 21, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/11/21/about-elon-musks-twitter-poll-and-about-twitter-polls-generally/; Laura Forman and Dan Gallagher, “Elon Musk Offers Worst Job in Tech,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-offers-worst-job-in-tech-11671648139↩
  6. [6]Mike Murphy, “Elon Musk says he’ll quit if poll tells him to, as Twitter bans accounts that promote other social networks,” MarketWatch, December 18, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-bans-accounts-that-promote-other-social-networks-11671389073; Elon Musk, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” Twitter, December 18, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604617643973124097↩
  7. [7]Laura Forman and Dan Gallagher, “Elon Musk Offers Worst Job in Tech,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-offers-worst-job-in-tech-11671648139↩
  8. [8]Laura Forman and Dan Gallagher, “Elon Musk Offers Worst Job in Tech,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-offers-worst-job-in-tech-11671648139↩

Trying (and failing) to imagine that job interview for someone ‘foolish enough to take the job’

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

I’m trying to imagine how the job interview would go for Elon Musk’s replacement as chief executive officer at Twitter:[2]

Chief Twit Fool: Tell me about a time when you were foolish and how this prepares you to be Twitter CEO.

Candidate Fool: I applied for the job?

Michael Race and Monica Miller, “Elon Musk: Only blue tick users to vote in Twitter polls on policy,” British Broadcasting Corporation, December 20, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64034892

Reuters, “Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once he finds ‘someone foolish’ enough as successor,” December 20, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-says-hell-step-down-twitter-ceo-after-finding-replacement-2022-12-21/

Donald Trump

Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The [House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee] voted along party lines to make the [Donald Trump’s tax] returns available and information could be available as soon as Wednesday — the day the House Jan. 6 committee is set to issue its final report on the riot at the U.S. Capitol — which will be the final days of Democratic control of Congress before Republicans take over the House in January.

Later Tuesday, the committee released a 29-page report summarizing its investigation into an [Internal Revenue Service] policy that mandates audits of returns filed by presidents and vice presidents. The committee found that the IRS had largely not followed its own internal requirement, only beginning to examine Trump’s returns after the panel inquired about the process. Just one year of Trump’s returns while in office was selected for the mandatory review, and the audit was not complete by the time he left the White House, according to the report.[3]

Dareh Gregorian and Sahil Kapur, “House committee votes to make public Donald Trump’s personal and business tax records,” NBC News, December 20, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-committee-votes-donald-trumps-personal-business-tax-records-rcna62212

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  2. [2]Reuters, “Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once he finds ‘someone foolish’ enough as successor,” December 20, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-says-hell-step-down-twitter-ceo-after-finding-replacement-2022-12-21/↩
  3. [3]Dareh Gregorian and Sahil Kapur, “House committee votes to make public Donald Trump’s personal and business tax records,” NBC News, December 20, 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-committee-votes-donald-trumps-personal-business-tax-records-rcna62212↩

Sorer-than-sore losers

benfell

It’s still early, but this isn’t looking like much of a news day. What is hitting my radar is mostly stuff that’s in various stages of development. The January 6 committee’s criminal referrals will add pressure, but little else, to the Department of Justice to prosecute,[1] but I’ll still believe there are charges when I see them actually filed. I’m absolutely not holding my breath as Merrick Garland has already demonstrated his negligence.[2]

In Pennsylvania, everything hangs on how the courts rule on who has authority to call special elections and thus when those elections will be held.[3] Today’s reporting shows that the story is only getting weirder.[4] I guess the one lesson we can take from this debacle is a familiar one: Republicans are sorer-than-sore losers.

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Aaron Blake, “7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far,” Washington Post, December 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/19/takeaways-jan-6-committee-report-introduction/

Pennsylvania

2022 election


Fig. 2. John Fetterman as mayor of Braddock, photograph uncredited and undated, via Next Pittsburgh,[5] fair use.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “How a Pennsylvania state Senate race could throw the House into more chaos,” December 20, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/12/19/pa-state-house-majority-democrats-republicans-pennsylvania-senate-special-election/stories/202212190073

  1. [1]Aaron Blake, “7 things we’ve learned from the Jan. 6 committee report so far,” Washington Post, December 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/19/takeaways-jan-6-committee-report-introduction/↩
  2. [2]David Benfell, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time,” Not Housebroken, November 18, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/24/it-is-now-even-more-urgently-orange-jumpsuit-time/↩
  3. [3]Stephen Caruso, “With majority at stake, Pa. House Republicans sue to block Democratic-scheduled special elections,” Spotlight PA, December 10, 2022, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/12/pa-house-majority-special-elections-republican-lawsuit/↩
  4. [4]Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “How a Pennsylvania state Senate race could throw the House into more chaos,” December 20, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/12/19/pa-state-house-majority-democrats-republicans-pennsylvania-senate-special-election/stories/202212190073↩
  5. [5]Kim Lyons, “Braddock Mayor John Fetterman keeps on truckin’ in his quest for the Senate,” Next Pittsburgh, March 11, 2016, https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/the-challengers-braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-keeps-on-truckin/↩

Somewhere, perhaps, a couple drunk psychiatrists are arguing over just when Elon Musk lost it

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. Elon Musk’s bots apparently haven’t weighed in. Screenshot by author taken on December 18, 2022, of Twitter poll by Elon Musk,[1] fair use.

[Elon] Musk has reveled in battling U.S. regulators for years, and the new ban on links [promoting other social networks] appears to be in direct violation of European Union’s new Digital Markets Act, set to largely take effect in May 2023, which will ban “gatekeeper” platforms from preventing consumers from linking to businesses outside their platforms. Penalties include fines of as much as 20% of the company’s annual revenue.[2]

Laura Forman, “Twitter’s Advertising Truth Hurts,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720

Keith Olbermann, “Hey look what they found in the ‘Twitter Files,’” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1601983506070081536

Elon Musk, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888

Charlie Warzel, “Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist,” Atlantic, December 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-far-right-activist/672436/

Joseph Menn, “Elon Musk uses QAnon tactic in criticizing former Twitter safety chief,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-child-porn-qanon/

Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513

Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix, “Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/

Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, “Twitter’s risky plan to save its ads business,” Platformer, December 13, 2022, https://www.platformer.news/p/twitters-risky-plan-to-save-its-ads

Steve Burgess, “Please Advise! Is Elon Musk Really That Vile?” Tyee, December 14, 2022, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/12/14/Please-Advise-Elon-Musk-Really-Vile/

Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-suspends-account-that-tracked-elon-musks-private-jet-11671036887

Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sold More Than $3.5 Billion Worth of Tesla Shares,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sold-more-than-3-5-billion-worth-of-tesla-shares-11671071099

Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/

Drew Harwell, “QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/qanon-musk-revival-twitter/

Paul Farhi, “Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger,” Washington Post, December 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/15/twitter-journalists-suspended-musk/

Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/

Jordan Pearson, “Elon Musk Had His Most Absurd, Disturbing 24 Hours at Twitter Yet,” Vice, December 15, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk5yx/elon-musk-had-his-most-absurd-disturbing-24-hours-at-twitter-yet

Jon Brodkin, “Twitter stiffs software vendor with $8 million left on contract, lawsuit says,” Ars Technica, December 16, 2022, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/twitter-stiffs-software-vendor-with-8-million-left-on-contract-lawsuit-says/

Adam Clark, “Musk’s Twitter Suspends Accounts of Some Journalists and Rival Mastodon,” Barron’s, December 16, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-twitter-suspends-accounts-journalists-mastodon-tesla-51671178816

Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325

Jillian Deutsch and Aggi Cantrill, “Musk Faces European Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists,” Bloomberg, December 16, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/musk-faces-threats-from-european-lawmakers-over-twitter-bans

Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html

Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904

Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison, “Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left,” Washington Post, December 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/

Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz, “Musk blamed a Twitter account for an alleged stalker. Police see no link,” Washington Post, December 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/18/details-of-musk-stalking-incident/

Mike Murphy, “Elon Musk says he’ll quit if poll tells him to, as Twitter bans accounts that promote other social networks,” MarketWatch, December 18, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-bans-accounts-that-promote-other-social-networks-11671389073

Elon Musk, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” Twitter, December 18, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604617643973124097

  1. [1]Elon Musk, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” Twitter, December 18, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604617643973124097↩
  2. [2]Mike Murphy, “Elon Musk says he’ll quit if poll tells him to, as Twitter bans accounts that promote other social networks,” MarketWatch, December 18, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-bans-accounts-that-promote-other-social-networks-11671389073↩

An abortion ban by other means in Pennsylvania?

benfell

In this issue:

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers


Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

There is a new blog post entitled, “Why Uber is not merely a ‘technology platform.’”

Gilead

Abortion


Fig. 2. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

According to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers and lobbyists, there are murmurs within the caucus of plans to use their early advantage to pass at least two amendments to voters in May 2023. The amendments would impose voter ID requirements and make it easier for the legislature to override regulations.

“It just makes sense,” said one House Republican who asked for anonymity to talk about internal discussions. “We have to run them early because Democrats wouldn’t.”

But Republicans’ most prominent — and most controversial — proposed amendment is not in the running for passage. Four GOP sources told Spotlight PA that after November’s electoral backlash, the party will likely not attempt to pass an amendment that would ensure the state constitution doesn’t protect abortion access.

“The folk I run with remember Election Day and think running the [abortion] constitutional amendment would be a really stupid idea,” a skeptical House Republican lawmaker told Spotlight PA. . . .

Still, groups such as Planned Parenthood PA see high stakes in the wonky debate over how to approve new regulations.

In a statement, Signe Espinoza, executive director of the reproductive health organization, said that giving the General Assembly more power in the regulatory process could impact abortion access.

“If this passes, they can and likely will use it to end the regulations that allow clinics to provide abortion care,” Espinoza said. “It may not be explicit as the ‘no right to abortion’ constitutional amendment, but the end result is the same — an erasure of the health care rights we have had for nearly 50 years.”[1]

Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/

Competitive authoritarian regime project


Fig. 3. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

“We know it is a popular thing and most Pennsylvanians would pass a stricter ID law,” [Kadida] Kenner said, “but what most Pennsylvanians don’t realize is they will definitely suppress the vote” — particularly in communities of color.[2]

Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/

Pennsylvania

2022 election


Fig. 4. John Fetterman as mayor of Braddock, photograph uncredited and undated, via Next Pittsburgh,[3] fair use.

Democrats won 102 seats on Election Day — a one-seat advantage in the 203-member chamber. But the death of one Democratic lawmaker and the resignation of two more to take higher offices currently leaves Democrats at 99 members and Republicans at 101.

Both parties have claimed the authority to schedule the special elections to fill those vacant seats. Democrats scheduled them for Feb. 7. Republicans scheduled one for the same day and two more for the May primary.

If Democrats get their way, they will seize the majority in February. If Republicans do, the chamber will likely have an even 100-100 split at some point that month, which would forestall most action from either party until May.

The dispute is now in court.[4]

Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/

  1. [1]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/↩
  2. [2]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/↩
  3. [3]Kim Lyons, “Braddock Mayor John Fetterman keeps on truckin’ in his quest for the Senate,” Next Pittsburgh, March 11, 2016, https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/the-challengers-braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-keeps-on-truckin/↩
  4. [4]Stephen Caruso, “Pa. Republicans fight to prolong House majority and pass far-reaching constitutional amendments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 17, 2022, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-republicans-fight-to-prolong-house-majority-and-pass-far-reaching-constitutional-amendments/↩

Roman-Catholic Church dismisses anti-choice priest. He claims it’s because he’s anti-choice.

benfell

In this issue:

Roman-Catholic Church

Sex


Fig. 1. “Lust, from the ‘Seven Deadly Sins.’” Etching by Léon Davent, circa 1550-1555, via the Metropolitan Museum of Art, fair use.

We don’t have a full story of what happened here, but it appears that the Roman Catholic hierarchy has dismissed a strident anti-choice priest, Frank Pavone, allegedly for blasphemy. The Catholic News Agency report notes that he used profanity. Given all-too-recent history, particularly of U.S. bishops, it seems implausible that it was over his anti-choice views, though he certainly claims as much.[1]

Shannon Mullen and Joe Bukuras, “Vatican dismisses Father Frank Pavone from priesthood,” Catholic News Agency, December 17, 2022, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253106/vatican-dismisses-father-frank-pavone-from-priesthood

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 2. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[2] fair use.

This,[3] in addition to not paying the rent:[4]

A lawsuit says Twitter failed to pay a $1,092,000 invoice in a software contract that doesn’t expire until late 2024, and that the Elon Musk-led company apparently intends to stiff the vendor on another $7 million worth of payments.

Imply Data, Inc. sued Twitter in California Superior Court in San Francisco County, alleging breach of contract. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday (see complaint) and reported by Bloomberg today.

“For over four years, Imply has licensed its proprietary software to Twitter, and Twitter has paid Imply over $10 million,” the lawsuit said. “Twitter has always been very pleased with Imply’s product and its related maintenance and support services, so, in mid-2021, the parties extended the term of their software license and service agreement for an additional three years from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2024.”[5]

Apparently, a decision to welch on debt dates to November.[6] I missed that at the time.

Laura Forman, “Twitter’s Advertising Truth Hurts,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720

Keith Olbermann, “Hey look what they found in the ‘Twitter Files,’” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1601983506070081536

Elon Musk, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888

Charlie Warzel, “Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist,” Atlantic, December 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-far-right-activist/672436/

Joseph Menn, “Elon Musk uses QAnon tactic in criticizing former Twitter safety chief,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-child-porn-qanon/

Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513

Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix, “Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/

Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, “Twitter’s risky plan to save its ads business,” Platformer, December 13, 2022, https://www.platformer.news/p/twitters-risky-plan-to-save-its-ads

Steve Burgess, “Please Advise! Is Elon Musk Really That Vile?” Tyee, December 14, 2022, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/12/14/Please-Advise-Elon-Musk-Really-Vile/

Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-suspends-account-that-tracked-elon-musks-private-jet-11671036887

Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sold More Than $3.5 Billion Worth of Tesla Shares,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sold-more-than-3-5-billion-worth-of-tesla-shares-11671071099

Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/

Drew Harwell, “QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/qanon-musk-revival-twitter/

Paul Farhi, “Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger,” Washington Post, December 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/15/twitter-journalists-suspended-musk/

Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/

Jordan Pearson, “Elon Musk Had His Most Absurd, Disturbing 24 Hours at Twitter Yet,” Vice, December 15, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk5yx/elon-musk-had-his-most-absurd-disturbing-24-hours-at-twitter-yet

Jon Brodkin, “Twitter stiffs software vendor with $8 million left on contract, lawsuit says,” Ars Technica, December 16, 2022, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/twitter-stiffs-software-vendor-with-8-million-left-on-contract-lawsuit-says/

Adam Clark, “Musk’s Twitter Suspends Accounts of Some Journalists and Rival Mastodon,” Barron’s, December 16, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-twitter-suspends-accounts-journalists-mastodon-tesla-51671178816

Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325

Jillian Deutsch and Aggi Cantrill, “Musk Faces European Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists,” Bloomberg, December 16, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/musk-faces-threats-from-european-lawmakers-over-twitter-bans

Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html

Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904

Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison, “Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left,” Washington Post, December 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers


Fig. 3. Screenshot of direct message sent to Uber Support by author, December 15, 2022.

Uber still hasn’t figured out how or if to respond to the message I sent them protesting the hostile work environment they impose on drivers. I was expecting it to disappear into a black hole, but apparently, they think they must respond because I received another notice yesterday saying they’d seen the message and that their “team” was working on it.

This doesn’t signify progress. It’s the same message they sent the first time.

In the meantime, I don’t think I have ever been more terrified as a working driver. The pay cut for drivers I described earlier—I estimate by at least a quarter or a third or sometimes it feels like even more—combines with a seasonal decline in business to reduce my income to nearly nothing.

I’m still busy, even with the hard ten-dollar minimum I’m using to decide whether or not to accept orders. But the numbers really aren’t coming out.

I don’t know what to do. All I’ve wanted for nearly twenty-two years is a real job. The answer to that has been a hard no, even as I returned to school, finished a B.A., an M.A., and a Ph.D.[7] And now I can’t afford to live.

  1. [1]Shannon Mullen and Joe Bukuras, “Vatican dismisses Father Frank Pavone from priesthood,” Catholic News Agency, December 17, 2022, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253106/vatican-dismisses-father-frank-pavone-from-priesthood↩
  2. [2]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  3. [3]Jon Brodkin, “Twitter stiffs software vendor with $8 million left on contract, lawsuit says,” Ars Technica, December 16, 2022, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/twitter-stiffs-software-vendor-with-8-million-left-on-contract-lawsuit-says/↩
  4. [4]Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/↩
  5. [5]Jon Brodkin, “Twitter stiffs software vendor with $8 million left on contract, lawsuit says,” Ars Technica, December 16, 2022, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/12/twitter-stiffs-software-vendor-with-8-million-left-on-contract-lawsuit-says/↩
  6. [6]Mike Isaac and Ryan Mac, “As Elon Musk Cuts Costs at Twitter, Some Bills Are Going Unpaid,” New York Times, November 22, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/technology/elon-musk-twitter-cost-cutting.html↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩

Stephen Zappala runs for re-election as Allegheny County District Attorney on a record of failure

benfell

In this issue:

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Unauthorized violence


Fig. 1. “Ed Gainey poses with CeaseFirePA during the 2020 Women’s March in Downtown Pittsburgh.” Photograph by Megan Gloeckler, undated, via Pittsburgh City Paper,[1] fair use.

Oh yay. The violence in Pittsburgh is now a campaign issue.[2] This, from a guy, Stephen Zappala, who is very much part[3] of the problem; advocates a criminal injustice “solution” that is a known failure;[4] and directs largely against a guy, Ed Gainey, who mostly just needs to fulfill his campaign promises.[5]

It’s fine to talk about listening, Zappala. You talk about listening to business people downtown.[6] But how about listening to people in the neighborhoods where the violence is happening?[7] But I guess that would mean listening to someone besides white Christian nationalists.

Paula Reed Ward, “Zappala criticizes Gainey administration, Pittsburgh police over response to city violence,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 16, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/zappala-criticizes-gainey-administration-pittsburgh-police-over-response-to-city-violence/

Education

Our bottom should look like the middle class right now. You should have safe housing, transportation, and children should have access to quality education. All those things that allow people to thrive, that should be the floor, and we treat them like luxuries. They’re not. They’re fundamental rights.[8]

Eric Jankiewicz, “The new Pittsburgh Scholar House seeks to replace cycle of poverty with ‘virtuous cycle,’” Public Source, December 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-scholar-house-generational-wealth-higher-ed-diamonte-walker/

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[9] fair use.

This is an ugly problem. On the one hand, news organizations feel compelled to remain on Twitter to combat disinformation, which they can only do there, if they are in fact, there.[10]

On the other hand, by remaining on Twitter, they help support an increasingly fascist organization and gain relatively little readership for doing so.[11]

Laura Forman, “Twitter’s Advertising Truth Hurts,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720

Keith Olbermann, “Hey look what they found in the ‘Twitter Files&rsquo,;” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1601983506070081536

Elon Musk, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888

Charlie Warzel, “Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist,” Atlantic, December 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-far-right-activist/672436/

Joseph Menn, “Elon Musk uses QAnon tactic in criticizing former Twitter safety chief,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-child-porn-qanon/

Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513

Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix, “Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/

Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, “Twitter’s risky plan to save its ads business,” Platformer, December 13, 2022, https://www.platformer.news/p/twitters-risky-plan-to-save-its-ads

Steve Burgess, “Please Advise! Is Elon Musk Really That Vile?” Tyee, December 14, 2022, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/12/14/Please-Advise-Elon-Musk-Really-Vile/

Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-suspends-account-that-tracked-elon-musks-private-jet-11671036887

Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sold More Than $3.5 Billion Worth of Tesla Shares,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sold-more-than-3-5-billion-worth-of-tesla-shares-11671071099

Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/

Drew Harwell, “QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/qanon-musk-revival-twitter/

Paul Farhi, “Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger,” Washington Post, December 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/15/twitter-journalists-suspended-musk/

Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/

Jordan Pearson, “Elon Musk Had His Most Absurd, Disturbing 24 Hours at Twitter Yet,” Vice, December 15, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk5yx/elon-musk-had-his-most-absurd-disturbing-24-hours-at-twitter-yet

Adam Clark, “Musk’s Twitter Suspends Accounts of Some Journalists and Rival Mastodon,” Barron’s, December 16, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-twitter-suspends-accounts-journalists-mastodon-tesla-51671178816

Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325

Jillian Deutsch and Aggi Cantrill, “Musk Faces European Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists,” Bloomberg, December 16, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/musk-faces-threats-from-european-lawmakers-over-twitter-bans

Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html

Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904

Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison, “Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left,” Washington Post, December 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/

  1. [1]Charlie Wolfson, “Neighborhood groups try to curb shootings as Pittsburgh’s mayoral campaign puts political focus on gun violence,” Pittsburgh City Paper, October 20, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/neighborhood-groups-try-to-curb-shootings-as-pittsburghs-mayoral-campaign-puts-political-focus-on-gun-violence/Content?oid=20401296↩
  2. [2]Paula Reed Ward, “Zappala criticizes Gainey administration, Pittsburgh police over response to city violence,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 16, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/zappala-criticizes-gainey-administration-pittsburgh-police-over-response-to-city-violence/↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Stephen Zappala’s resignation would be nowhere near enough,” Not Housebroken, January 4, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/06/03/stephen-zappalas-resignation-would-be-nowhere-near-enough/↩
  4. [4]David Benfell, “The question should not be ‘Why Are Police So Bad at Their Jobs,’ but why is the criminal injustice system so bad at its job?” Not Housebroken, June 5, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/06/05/the-question-should-not-be-why-are-police-so-bad-at-their-jobs-but-why-is-the-criminal-injustice-system-so-bad-at-its-job/↩
  5. [5]Tom Avril, “Renovating abandoned houses reduces the rate of gun violence, Penn study finds,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/health/gun-violence-philly-abandoned-houses-penn-study-20221214.html; David Benfell, “To Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey,” Not Housebroken, October 30, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/30/to-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gainey/; David Benfell, “The rent is too damn high. But politicians wonder why violence is increasing,” Not Housebroken, November 23, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/11/23/the-rent-is-too-damn-high-but-politicians-wonder-why-violence-is-increasing/; Ellie Rushing, “Can widespread trauma therapy prevent gun violence? This community leader says yes,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-trauma-therapy-gun-violence-prevention-will-little-personal-development-20221213.html↩
  6. [6]Paula Reed Ward, “Zappala criticizes Gainey administration, Pittsburgh police over response to city violence,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 16, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/zappala-criticizes-gainey-administration-pittsburgh-police-over-response-to-city-violence/↩
  7. [7]Jon Moss, “Allegheny County homicides concentrated in small number of neighborhoods, report says,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 28, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/07/28/allegheny-county-homicides-concentrated-small-number-neighborhoods-report-says-black-men-pittsburgh/stories/202207270111↩
  8. [8]Diamonte Walker, quoted in Eric Jankiewicz, “The new Pittsburgh Scholar House seeks to replace cycle of poverty with ‘virtuous cycle,’” Public Source, December 15, 2022, https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-scholar-house-generational-wealth-higher-ed-diamonte-walker/↩
  9. [9]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  10. [10]Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison, “Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left,” Washington Post, December 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/↩
  11. [11]Jeremy Barr and Sarah Ellison, “Musk unsuspends some reporters on Twitter. But their companies never left,” Washington Post, December 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/17/musk-twitter-journalist-suspension-media-react/↩

Grift for Twitter! Grift for Twitter!

benfell

Gilead

Twitter


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

He (Elon Musk) can’t be serious:

Elon Musk’s team has reached out for potential fresh investment for Twitter Inc. at the same price as the original $44 billion deal, according to one shareholder who said he was contacted about the proposal.[2]

Read that again: “at the same price as the original $44 billion deal”[3] which everyone, Musk included, has said was far too high a price and now that Musk’s sales of Tesla stock,[4] management of Twitter[5] and perceived neglect of Tesla are annihilating valuation of both companies.[6]

I guess it’s the season. After all, Donald Trump raised $4 million pretty damn fast for non-fungible token trading cards.[7] Musk wants in on the action. Though at this point, I’d have to call Trump the better steward of money.

Mr. [Ross] Gerber said he was reviewing the proposal, but had some questions about how Twitter was being run. Those include how long Mr. Musk intended to act as chief executive and any transition plan, he added.[8]

Um, Ross? Yeah, you, Ross Gerber? You have heard of good money after bad? Right?

Laura Forman, “Twitter’s Advertising Truth Hurts,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720

Keith Olbermann, “Hey look what they found in the ‘Twitter Files&rsquo,;” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1601983506070081536

Elon Musk, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888

Charlie Warzel, “Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist,” Atlantic, December 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-far-right-activist/672436/

Joseph Menn, “Elon Musk uses QAnon tactic in criticizing former Twitter safety chief,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-child-porn-qanon/

Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513

Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix, “Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/

Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, “Twitter’s risky plan to save its ads business,” Platformer, December 13, 2022, https://www.platformer.news/p/twitters-risky-plan-to-save-its-ads

Steve Burgess, “Please Advise! Is Elon Musk Really That Vile?” Tyee, December 14, 2022, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/12/14/Please-Advise-Elon-Musk-Really-Vile/

Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-suspends-account-that-tracked-elon-musks-private-jet-11671036887

Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sold More Than $3.5 Billion Worth of Tesla Shares,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sold-more-than-3-5-billion-worth-of-tesla-shares-11671071099

Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/

Drew Harwell, “QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/qanon-musk-revival-twitter/

Paul Farhi, “Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger,” Washington Post, December 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/15/twitter-journalists-suspended-musk/

Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/

Jordan Pearson, “Elon Musk Had His Most Absurd, Disturbing 24 Hours at Twitter Yet,” Vice, December 15, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk5yx/elon-musk-had-his-most-absurd-disturbing-24-hours-at-twitter-yet

Adam Clark, “Musk’s Twitter Suspends Accounts of Some Journalists and Rival Mastodon,” Barron’s, December 16, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-twitter-suspends-accounts-journalists-mastodon-tesla-51671178816

Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325

Jillian Deutsch and Aggi Cantrill, “Musk Faces European Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists,” Bloomberg, December 16, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/musk-faces-threats-from-european-lawmakers-over-twitter-bans

Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html

Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  2. [2]Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325↩
  3. [3]Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325↩
  4. [4]Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/; Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513↩
  5. [5]Jordan Pearson, “Elon Musk Had His Most Absurd, Disturbing 24 Hours at Twitter Yet,” Vice, December 15, 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk5yx/elon-musk-had-his-most-absurd-disturbing-24-hours-at-twitter-yet↩
  6. [6]Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html↩
  7. [7]David French, “How Much Longer Can Trump’s Con Endure?” Atlantic, December 16, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/the-third-rail/639cd3a7b9e06100378d71b9/trump-nft-trading-cards-announcement/↩
  8. [8]Alexa Corse, “Elon Musk Seeks Additional Funds for Twitter,” Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-seeks-additional-funds-for-twitter-11671247325↩

Donald Trump raised $4 million within 24 hours of announcing his latest grift

benfell

In this issue:

Gilead

Competitive authoritarian regime project


Fig. 1. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Clarence Mitchell during signing ceremony of the voting rights act. Yoichi Okamoto, August 6, 1965, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Eric Lutz, “Lawmakers Could Actually Safeguard Against Another January 6 — Will They Do It?” Vanity Fair, December 15, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/democrats-look-to-pass-electoral-count-act-reform

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 2. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

My Mom wrote me, wanting to be sure I was aware of Donald Trump’s latest grift, “trading cards” sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). I wrote back wondering how many fools would actually buy them.

But don’t tell Trump’s most devoted fans. According to a real-time tracker, Trump allegedly made more than $4 million only a day after his announcement.[1]

I get this, by the way, from David French, who self-identifies as a never-Trumper,[2] usually a neoconservative label, but whom I had categorized with traditionalist conservatives in my dissertation.[3] He’s recently started a newsletter at the Atlantic, which I recommend, and certainly not because I’ll very often agree with him, but simply because he’s interesting.

In this particular case, he explains why Trump’s cons continue to hold appeal for so many[4] and the answer is, really, not so very different from that which motivated evangelical Protestants to support a man who doesn’t seem very Christian, even by their warped standards, at all, in that Trump offers hope to evangelical Protestants desperate for hope, who dread the status quo.[5] With the NFT trading card scam, it’s really the same thing: There’s a lot of hate for Joe Biden out there; for these folks, Trump is their hope and their salvation.

Erin Doherty, “Two new polls reveal Trump’s growing DeSantis problem,” Axios, December 14, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/12/14/trump-desantis-polls-republican-primary-2024

John McCormick, “Ron DeSantis Holds Early Lead Over Donald Trump Among GOP Primary Voters, WSJ Poll Shows,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ron-desantis-holds-early-lead-over-donald-trump-among-gop-primary-voters-wsj-poll-shows-11670989311

Eric Lutz, “Lawmakers Could Actually Safeguard Against Another January 6 — Will They Do It?” Vanity Fair, December 15, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/democrats-look-to-pass-electoral-count-act-reform

David French, “How Much Longer Can Trump’s Con Endure?” Atlantic, December 16, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/the-third-rail/639cd3a7b9e06100378d71b9/trump-nft-trading-cards-announcement/

Jamie Gangel and Katelyn Polantz, “January 6 committee expected to announce referral of multiple criminal charges against Trump to DOJ,” CNN, December 16, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/16/politics/january-6-committee-trump-criminal-charges-doj/index.html

Twitter


Fig. 3. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[6] fair use.


I include Gali’s tweet not because I agree that “disruption is accelerating”[7] (he surely means ‘disruption’ as a capitalist libertarian virtue and as something entirely different for those of us on the wrong side of capitalism), but because he makes a worthwhile point about a “clickbait model” of journalism.

Indeed, I’ve had to turn away from the Hill over that very model, breathlessly reporting at length on every inane utterance by Donald Trump, for example. Trump, the black hole sucking the U.S. ever deeper into his self-pity and rage at anyone not entirely in his thrall; Trump, the delusional raging narcissist, formerly in chief, forever a repulsive spectacle. Particularly on the issue of unauthorized migration, but his bigoted wealthy white male supremacism generally, there was only so much I could take.

I am seeing a view among some Mastodon users who are sick of hearing about Twitter. My guess is that at least some of them have been in the “fediverse” for a while and had turned away from mainstream social networks for a variety of reasons, none of which I would criticize: They can claim vindication for doing a virtuous and often technically difficult thing when it wasn’t popular. And to them, I think there is an indignant sense of, “well, what the hell did you expect?” and that this is all old news about something they turned away from and stopped caring about, and moreover, think we should have not cared about to begin with, long ago. In that frame of mind, no doubt, all this is indeed annoying as fuck.

Those of us who had chosen a more pragmatic route, however, have lost an online community. Whatever emerges from this migration to Mastodon, it will not be that community. Some people are giving up social networks entirely. Not all are going to Mastodon (Tribel, Post, and even other centralized networks are all available alternatives).

To us, Twitter’s full-throttle nosedive to doom[8] is the crash of a plane we have parachuted out of. And it is coupled with the self-immolation of Elon Musk, piloting that plane, running on the jet fuel of hubris. How can we possibly not watch?

Laura Forman, “Twitter’s Advertising Truth Hurts,” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-advertising-truth-hurts-11670706720

Keith Olbermann, “Hey look what they found in the ‘Twitter Files&rsquo,;” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/status/1601983506070081536

Elon Musk, “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Twitter, December 11, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1601894132573605888

Charlie Warzel, “Elon Musk Is a Far-Right Activist,” Atlantic, December 11, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/elon-musk-twitter-far-right-activist/672436/

Joseph Menn, “Elon Musk uses QAnon tactic in criticizing former Twitter safety chief,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-child-porn-qanon/

Stephen Wilmot, “Half-Price Tesla Stock Is Still No Bargain,” Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-price-tesla-stock-is-still-no-bargain-11670851513

Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Menn, and Naomi Nix, “Twitter dissolves Trust and Safety Council,” Washington Post, December 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/

Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, “Twitter’s risky plan to save its ads business,” Platformer, December 13, 2022, https://www.platformer.news/p/twitters-risky-plan-to-save-its-ads

Steve Burgess, “Please Advise! Is Elon Musk Really That Vile?” Tyee, December 14, 2022, https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/12/14/Please-Advise-Elon-Musk-Really-Vile/

Joseph De Avila, “Twitter Suspends Account That Tracked Elon Musk’s Private Jet,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-suspends-account-that-tracked-elon-musks-private-jet-11671036887

Rebecca Elliott, “Elon Musk Sold More Than $3.5 Billion Worth of Tesla Shares,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-sold-more-than-3-5-billion-worth-of-tesla-shares-11671071099

Nicholas Gordon, “Twitter is reportedly not paying rent for its offices as Musk warns users to ‘beware of debt,’” Fortune, December 14, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/14/twitter-not-paying-office-rent-elon-musk-cut-costs/

Drew Harwell, “QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter,” Washington Post, December 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/qanon-musk-revival-twitter/

Paul Farhi, “Musk suspends journalists from Twitter, claims ‘assassination’ danger,” Washington Post, December 15, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/15/twitter-journalists-suspended-musk/

Dana Hull and Bloomberg, “Elon Musk just unloaded $3.6 billion in Tesla stock, his 4th huge sale this year,” Fortune, December 15, 2022, https://fortune.com/2022/12/15/elon-musk-unloaded-billion-tesla-stock-fourth-huge-sale-this-year/

Adam Clark, “Musk’s Twitter Suspends Accounts of Some Journalists and Rival Mastodon,” Barron’s, December 16, 2022, https://www.barrons.com/articles/elon-musk-twitter-suspends-accounts-journalists-mastodon-tesla-51671178816

Jillian Deutsch and Aggi Cantrill, “Musk Faces European Anger Over Twitter Ban of Journalists,” Bloomberg, December 16, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-16/musk-faces-threats-from-european-lawmakers-over-twitter-bans

Kevin T. Dugan, “Is Elon Musk Setting Himself Up to Lose Tesla?” New York, December 16, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/why-elon-musks-twitter-affair-could-cots-him-tesla.html

Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904

Pennsylvania

2022 election


Fig. 4. John Fetterman as mayor of Braddock, photograph uncredited and undated, via Next Pittsburgh,[9] fair use.

After taking an early oath of office on Monday, and claiming control of the state House as majority leader, Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, on Thursday called for special elections on primary election day in May in two Allegheny County legislative districts.

Cutler’s announcement was the latest shot in a battle between the House Republican and Democratic caucuses over which party has the authority to call elections for vacant seats that will determine control of the chamber.

House Democrats renewed accusations that Cutler’s motive in claiming authority to set the election dates was to disenfranchise voters, and to ram through Republican initiatives by keeping the Democratic-leaning seats empty as long as possible. . . .

With Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro set to take office next month, House Republicans are unlikely to pass legislation that Shapiro would sign, but they could hold a second vote on a GOP-backed constitutional amendments.

House approval would send the bill back to the Republican-controlled state Senate. Approval there would put the amendment package on track for a vote on primary day.[10]

Bryan Cutler’s move follows a Democratic Party victory[11] that was probably only temporarily eliminated by a death and by two departures for other political offices. Cutler had earlier called for a February 7 special election.[12]

Democrats won 102 House seats in the general election, but Rep. Anthony DeLuca’s, D-Allegheny, death in October, means Democrats have only 101 votes, the same number as Republicans.

After former House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, on Wednesday called for a Feb. 7 special election for the DeLuca’s seat, Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, challenged his authority to do so.

McClinton said that while Democrats agree that calling a special election as soon as possible makes sense, it was her prerogative to do it as majority leader and “acting speaker.”[13]

Democrats won 102 seats in the 203-member body on Nov. 8, which party leaders say gives them control of the chamber. However, three of those seats are vacant as of this week.

One Democratic winner, state Rep. Tony DeLuca (D., Allegheny), died a month before Election Day — too close to Nov. 8 to remove his name from the ballot — while two others won races for Congress and lieutenant governor and formally resigned their state House seats Wednesday.

With DeLuca’s death, Republicans claimed that at minimum, the lower chamber was tied 101-101.

But on Wednesday, McClinton had herself sworn in and claimed the mantle of Majority Leader. Citing a 2004 precedent, she says that makes her the lower chamber’s presiding officer.

McClinton then scheduled the three special elections for February. Speaking to reporters afterward, she and fellow Democratic leaders said that the action was to ensure that the empty seats are filled sooner rather than later.[14]

Those “GOP-backed constitutional amendments?”[15] They’re about requiring voter identification and a denial that the Pennsylvania constitution protects abortion rights.[16] The legal dispute over who has the authority to call for the elections[17] has not been resolved.[18] Nor has, as far as I know, the legal dispute over the way that those proposed constitutional amendments were advanced.[19]

Pennsylvania’s statewide elections agency said in a court filing Friday that it is moving ahead with plans for special elections to fill three state House vacancies in early February unless a court orders otherwise.

The Department of State and acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman submitted a 17-page response to Lancaster County Republican state Rep. Bryan Cutler’s lawsuit seeking to stop the Feb. 7 special elections in Pittsburgh-area districts held most recently by Democrats. . . .

The Department of State’s new filing argues that Cutler failed to also sue his Democratic counterpart as floor leader, Rep. Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia, and that his dispute is with her, not with Chapman or her department. It also claims his effort on Nov. 30 to schedule one of the three vacancies for Feb. 7 was made too early, as the vacancy did not occur until the new two-year legislative session began on Dec. 1.

“To enjoin the special elections to fill vacancies in the House of Representatives would only create harm — wasting resources that have already been deployed to prepare for special elections on (Feb. 7), delaying those elections, and forcing Pennsylvania citizens to go even longer without the benefit of elected representation in their legislature,” wrote lawyers for the department and Chapman, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.[20]

Cutler would likely be making a mistake if he hopes to schedule those constitutional amendments for a vote on the same day as the May primaries. From what I understand, Pennsylvanians mostly favor abortion rights,[21] so while it might gin up white Christian nationalist turnout in support of those amendments and advance white Christian nationalist candidates to the general election, this would be to repeat the error of the midterms,[22] and to ensure turnout for Democrats determined to crush those amendments.

Peter Hall, “House Republicans call for special elections in Democratic strongholds on primary day,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 15, 2022, https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/house-republicans-call-for-special-elections-in-democratic-strongholds-on-primary-day/

Mark Scolforo, “Agency argues against delay in filling 3 Pa. House vacancies,” Associated Press, December 15, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-e0b4bdd5a785c360887c147d4048a7aa

  1. [1]David French, “How Much Longer Can Trump’s Con Endure?” Atlantic, December 16, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/the-third-rail/639cd3a7b9e06100378d71b9/trump-nft-trading-cards-announcement/↩
  2. [2]David French, “How Much Longer Can Trump’s Con Endure?” Atlantic, December 16, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/the-third-rail/639cd3a7b9e06100378d71b9/trump-nft-trading-cards-announcement/↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  4. [4]David French, “How Much Longer Can Trump’s Con Endure?” Atlantic, December 16, 2022, https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/the-third-rail/639cd3a7b9e06100378d71b9/trump-nft-trading-cards-announcement/↩
  5. [5]Elizabeth Bruenig, “In God’s country,” Washington Post, August 14, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/14/evangelicals-view-trump-their-protector-will-they-stand-by-him/; Sarah Jones, “White Evangelicals Made a Deal With the Devil. Now What?” New York, December 6, 2020, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/white-evangelicals-made-a-deal-with-trump-now-what.html; Katherine Stewart and Caroline Fredrickson, “Bill Barr Thinks America Is Going to Hell,” New York Times, December 29, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/29/opinion/william-barr-trump.html; Peter Wehner, “Evangelicals Made a Bad Bargain With Trump,” Atlantic, October 18, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/the-evangelical-movements-bad-bargain/616760/; Julie Zauzmer and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, “After Trump and Moore, some evangelicals are finding their own label too toxic to use,” Washington Post, December 14, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/after-trump-and-moore-some-evangelicals-are-finding-their-own-label-too-toxic-to-use/2017/12/14/b034034c-e020-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html↩
  6. [6]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  7. [7]Gali, “the mainstream media can't stop talking about @twitter drama because it fuels the clickbait model . . .” Twitter, December 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/Gfilche/status/1603644570679803904↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “Elon Musk’s Achilles’ heel,” Not Housebroken, December 15, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/07/10/elon-musks-achilles-heel/↩
  9. [9]Kim Lyons, “Braddock Mayor John Fetterman keeps on truckin’ in his quest for the Senate,” Next Pittsburgh, March 11, 2016, https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/the-challengers-braddock-mayor-john-fetterman-keeps-on-truckin/↩
  10. [10]Peter Hall, “House Republicans call for special elections in Democratic strongholds on primary day,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 15, 2022, https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/house-republicans-call-for-special-elections-in-democratic-strongholds-on-primary-day/↩
  11. [11]Anna Orso, Jonathan Lai, and Max Marin, “Democrats appear to have won a majority of seats in the Pa. House for the first time in 12 years,” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 16, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/democrats-set-to-win-control-of-pa-house-20221116.html↩
  12. [12]Peter Hall, “With no majority in the Pa. House, Democrats and Republicans are fighting over who calls the shots,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 2, 2022, https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/with-no-majority-in-the-pa-house-democrats-and-republicans-are-fighting-over-who-calls-the-shots/↩
  13. [13]Peter Hall, “With no majority in the Pa. House, Democrats and Republicans are fighting over who calls the shots,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 2, 2022, https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/with-no-majority-in-the-pa-house-democrats-and-republicans-are-fighting-over-who-calls-the-shots/↩
  14. [14]Stephen Caruso, “With majority at stake, Pa. House Republicans sue to block Democratic-scheduled special elections,” Spotlight PA, December 10, 2022, https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2022/12/pa-house-majority-special-elections-republican-lawsuit/↩
  15. [15]Peter Hall, “House Republicans call for special elections in Democratic strongholds on primary day,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star, December 15, 2022, https://www.penncapital-star.com/campaigns-elections/house-republicans-call-for-special-elections-in-democratic-strongholds-on-primary-day/↩
  16. [16]Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Legislature approves constitutional amendments to declare residents don’t have the right to an abortion, to require voter ID,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/07/08/pennsylvania-senate-advances-constitutional-amendments-residents-rights-relating-abortion-require-voter-id/stories/202207080102; Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Senate GOP committee advances late-night amendment to restrict abortion, require voter ID,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/07/08/pennsylvania-senate-republicans-advance-constitutional-amendment-to-restrict-abortion-and-call-for-voter-ids-roe-v-wade/stories/202207080073; Rodrigo Torrejón, “What the Pa. constitutional amendment package could mean for abortion and elections,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 8, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/pa-senate-constitutional-amendments-abortion-elections-voting-20220708.html↩
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