Gilead
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.
Mathew Ingram, “Is Twitter dying? And what would that mean for journalism?” Columbia Journalism Review, January 12, 2023, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/twitter_musk_dying_journalism.php
Police White supremacist gangs
Fig. 2. Image credited to Darnella Frazier, made from a video posted to Facebook, of Minneapolis white supremacist gangster Derek Chauvin’s knee on George Floyd’s neck, May 25, 2020, via ABC News,[2] fair use.
Kiley Koscinski, “Pittsburgh Police resume secondary traffic stops despite city ordinance against them,” WESA, January 12, 2023, https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2023-01-12/pittsburgh-police-resume-secondary-traffic-stops-despite-city-ordinance-against-them
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023
Fig. 3. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873
David Morgan and Moira Warburton, “U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy,” Reuters, January 9, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-vote-rules-that-will-constrain-mccarthys-power-2023-01-09/
Julia Ioffe, “Kevin McCarthy’s Permanent Crisis,” Puck News, January 10, 2023, https://puck.news/kevin-mccarthys-permanent-crisis/
Tina Nguyen, “Kevaggedon and the Discontents,” Puck News, January 11, 2023, https://puck.news/kevaggedon-the-discontents/
Tara Palmeri, “Motion to Vacate Roulette,” Puck News, January 12, 2023, https://puck.news/motion-to-vacate-roulette/
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.
Corinne Ramey, “Trump Organization Ordered to Pay About $1.6 Million in Criminal Fines for Tax Fraud,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-organization-to-be-sentenced-friday-in-tax-fraud-case-11673567691
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Infrastructure
Fig. 4. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
WTAE, “Neighbors ‘on edge’ as pieces of debris fall from Pittsburgh bridge,” January 12, 2023, https://www.wtae.com/article/neighbors-on-edge-as-pieces-of-debris-fall-from-pittsburgh-bridge/42474392
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. “Clarkdale Classic Gas Station, Clarkdale, Arizona,” Photograph by Alan Levine, October 28, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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I was shocked when my doctor suggested Tums.
I’ve been having horrible post-nasal drip and the sort of cough that follows from horrible post-nasal drip. The usual remedies weren’t effective, so my doctor suggested that acid reflux might be the cause. And it turns out to be the case.
The stress of my situation, having no apparent way out of Uber driving even as driver pay drops to effectively nothing[3] is now having a direct impact on my health.
Suggestions have been offered but these do not address the abuse I have been enduring from Uber, nor do they make my life even remotely financially sustainable. In addition, there are roads I have been down before, that I think are no longer feasible, and that I am in any case unwilling to endure again. Those are, or were, roads for people who expect to be able to significantly outlive them.
I see lots of talk about how people should seek help rather than contemplate suicide. The assumption that attends such talk is that suicide is purely the result of psychological (individual) problems and generally refuses to acknowledge, let alone address systemic socioeconomic problems.
I’ve have been pleading for help for decades and no one has meaningfully responded. If folks really value my life, they need to come up with a way to make it a life that’s livable. Because I can’t live this one.
- [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]Catherine Thorbecke, “Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes, complaint says,” ABC News, May 29, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/derek-chauvin-knee-george-floyds-neck-minutes-complaint/story?id=70961042↩
- [3]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/; David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, January 3, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩