COVID-19 Pandemic
Fig. 1. Photograph by author, November 8, 2022.
Consider COVID-19 an intensely exacerbating factor.
One of my stories in Pittsburgh was that I was seriously impressed with the health care here. My experience as a Medicaid patient here has been far superior to what I encountered in California under their equivalent program, MediCal. It led me to think—I no longer think this—my aging mother would be better off here.
But over the last couple years, I’ve started hearing from nurses among my passengers, vaguely speaking of conditions they believe endanger patients. First, I thought, maybe, only maybe, a malcontent, then I remembered the abuse health care workers were particularly subject to—some tell me they have stopped wearing scrubs in public—in a white Christian nationalist backlash during the pandemic,[1] with swamped emergency rooms, hospitals at or beyond capacity, and people being denied care for lack of capacity. I noticed billboards desperately seeking nurses and students for nursing programs (no, it’s not so easy to get in, I’m told) and remembered the warnings I’d heard about burnout and staffing shortages as workers had contemplated changing careers. But it seems that’s only part of the story.
Another part of the story, and I’m hearing this, too, from my passengers, is that management sucks.[2] It isn’t just the various rehabilitation and convalescent hospitals that, all over the country, are much too often shady operations. It’s main line hospitals as well. I hear mostly about University of Pittsburgh Medical Center facilities probably mostly because they’re the biggest around Pittsburgh, but I hear about Allegheny Health Network hospitals as well, and my landlord had a terrifying experience when his wife had to go in to Saint Clair Hospital. They’re all understaffed and the remaining workers are having to put in ludicrously long shifts.
“Heroes work here.” Some such signs still remain around these places. Some even refer to “superheroes.” Healthcare worker treatment should match the rhetoric.
Jennifer Miller, “Why are nurses quitting? Ask the nurse no hospital will hire,” Washington Post, February 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/02/21/katie-duke-instagram-nursing-pandemic/
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.
It appears that one reason Pittsburgh isn’t getting the money it needs for bridge maintenance may be that Mayor Ed Gainey doesn’t show up for meetings, a ten-minute walk from his office that he could also attend virtually, of the committee that allocates the money. He isn’t even sending other officials to appear in his place.[3] I gotta tell you: I had far higher hopes for this man than this but, in effect, he’s proving no better than his predecessor, Bill Peduto.
Hallie Lauer, “Mayor Ed Gainey is on a committee that can fund Pittsburgh bridges. But he rarely shows up,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 22, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2023/02/22/charles-anderson-pittsburgh-bridge-funding-ed-gainey/stories/202302220015
Vegans
Some older folks need to catch up. Of course, the question is whether they will:
The student union voted yesterday to “initiate talks” with central catering services about removing all animal products from its cafes and canteens, creating a “sustainable and 100 per cent plant-based” menu.
The decision came after lobbying from Cambridge’s Plant Based Universities campaign, which is supported by Animal Rebellion, an offshoot of activist group Extinction Rebellion.
The group’s motion, which calls for the change in response to “climate and biodiversity crises”, was backed by 72 per cent of non-abstaining student representatives who voted.
However, the student union’s decision does not guarantee that Cambridge’s catering services will go fully vegan, as the power to change food policies lies with the university.
The vote also does not directly apply to the university’s 31 colleges, although the campaign said that it provided “an extremely strong mandate for colleges to begin transitioning to 100 per cent plant-based menus”.
It comes after Stirling University became the first in the UK to commit to transitioning to 100 per cent plant-based food in November.[4]
And it’d be nice if a few other countries would catch up.
Telegraph, “Cambridge University students vote for vegan-only menu,” February 21, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/21/cambridge-university-students-vote-vegan-only-menu/
Gilead
Abortion
Fig. 1. 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.
Caroline Kitchener et al., “Abortion is now banned or under threat in these states,” Washington Post, February 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/24/abortion-state-laws-criminalization-roe/
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,[5] fair use.
Emigration is one factor in a ‘purification’ of Russia, in which departing dissidents leave supporters of Vladimir Putin’s war even more dominant in Russian society.[6] But dissent is being repressed as well.[7]
Meanwhile, Putin is playing to the ‘tankies’ with his decision to withdraw from the last nuclear arms treaty with the U.S.:
Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who was a Russian specialist at the White House National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, told the Guardian that Putin was “playing to the rifts in the United States”. The strategy was to increase political discord in an attempt to embolden calls for an end to US support for Ukraine.
“It’s playing to all those people who want Ukraine to surrender and capitulate to avoid a massive nuclear exchange and world war three, a kind of nuclear armageddon,” she said.[8]
He’s losing the war in every other way. But he still has a chance to manipulate public opinion, both at home and abroad,[9] and it’s really his last shot.[10]
Robyn Dixon and Catherine Belton, “Putin, czar with no empire, needs military victory for his own survival,” Washington Post, February 19, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/20/putin-czar-with-no-empire-needs-military-victory-his-own-survival/
Maria Katamadze, “Can Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin challenge Putin?” Deutschewelle, February 19, 2023, https://www.dw.com/en/can-wagner-head-yevgeny-prigozhin-challenge-putin/a-64744266
Anton Troianovski and Valerie Hopkins, “One Year Into War, Putin Is Crafting the Russia He Craves,” New York Times, February 19, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-putin.html
Anne Applebaum, “Biden Went to Kyiv Because There’s No Going Back,” Atlantic, February 20, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/biden-trip-ukraine-kyiv/673134/
Missy Ryan et al., “Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine ahead of Russian invasion anniversary,” Washington Post, February 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/20/president-biden-kyiv-ukraine-visit-war/
Marc Santora, Peter Baker, and Michael D. Shear, “Biden Visits Kyiv, Ukraine’s Embattled Capital, as Air-Raid Siren Sounds,” New York Times, February 20, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/us/politics/biden-ukraine-visit.html
Ishaan Tharoor, “Biden in Kyiv and Warsaw is a reminder of who really leads Europe,” Washington Post, February 20, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/20/biden-leader-europe-kyiv-trip/
Evan Vucci et al., “Biden in Ukraine ahead of war anniversary: ‘Kyiv stands,’” Associated Press, February 20, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-biden-f00af220669457d5ba07127c7e57a27b
Ann M. Simmons, “Putin Suspends Nuclear-Arms Treaty Between Russia, U.S.,” Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/putin-suspends-new-start-nuclear-arms-treaty-with-u-s-6498b44
Evan Vucci, John Leicester, and Zeke Miller, “How do you sneak a US president into a warzone without anyone noticing?” Associated Press, February 21, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-kyiv-politics-74c9de636c489393c86ad115e5cbcb48
Ed Pilkington and J Oliver Conroy, “Putin aiming to divide US public opinion with nuclear treaty pullout, experts say,” Guardian, FEbruary 22, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/22/putin-biden-us-nuclear-new-start-treaty-russia-ukraine
- [1]Shira Hanau, “Marjorie Taylor Greene blames ‘vaccine Nazis’ for ‘ruining our country’ months after Holocaust museum apology,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 3, 2021, https://www.jta.org/2021/11/03/united-states/marjorie-taylor-greene-blames-vaccine-nazis-for-ruining-our-country-months-after-holocaust-museum-apology; Peter Jamison, “Their neighbors called covid-19 a hoax. Can these ICU nurses forgive them?” Washington Post, July 6, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/06/appalachian-covid-deniers-nurses-virginia/; Ron Kampeas, “In latest Nazi analogy, Marjorie Taylor Greene invokes ‘medical brown shirts’ in decrying vaccination outreach,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 7, 2021, https://www.jta.org/quick-reads/in-latest-nazi-analogy-marjorie-taylor-greene-invokes-medical-brown-shirts-in-decrying-vaccination-outreach; Oliver Laughland and Jessica Glenza, “Inside a Tennessee hospital grappling with Delta and vaccine hesitancy,” Guardian, July 24, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/24/tennessee-coronavirus-covid-delta-variant-cases-vaccines; Tawnya Panizzi, Renatta Signorini, and Natasha Lindstrom, “‘You can’t fix it with facts’: Doctors share patients’ excuses for covid vaccine refusal,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 17, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/regional/you-cant-fix-it-with-facts-doctors-share-patients-excuses-for-covid-vaccine-refusal/↩
- [2]Jennifer Miller, “Why are nurses quitting? Ask the nurse no hospital will hire,” Washington Post, February 21, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/02/21/katie-duke-instagram-nursing-pandemic/↩
- [3]Hallie Lauer, “Mayor Ed Gainey is on a committee that can fund Pittsburgh bridges. But he rarely shows up,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 22, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2023/02/22/charles-anderson-pittsburgh-bridge-funding-ed-gainey/stories/202302220015↩
- [4]Telegraph, “Cambridge University students vote for vegan-only menu,” February 21, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/21/cambridge-university-students-vote-vegan-only-menu/↩
- [5]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↩
- [6]Francesca Ebel and Mary Ilyushina, “Russians abandon wartime Russia in historic exodus,” Washington Post, February 13, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/13/russia-diaspora-war-ukraine/; Anton Troianovski and Valerie Hopkins, “One Year Into War, Putin Is Crafting the Russia He Craves,” New York Times, February 19, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-putin.html↩
- [7]Anton Troianovski and Valerie Hopkins, “One Year Into War, Putin Is Crafting the Russia He Craves,” New York Times, February 19, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-putin.html↩
- [8]Ed Pilkington and J Oliver Conroy, “Putin aiming to divide US public opinion with nuclear treaty pullout, experts say,” Guardian, FEbruary 22, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/22/putin-biden-us-nuclear-new-start-treaty-russia-ukraine↩
- [9]David Benfell, “If Vladimir Putin doesn’t make sense, he doesn’t make sense, and he cannot last,” Not Housebroken, February 19, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/10/if-vladimir-putin-doesnt-make-sense-he-doesnt-make-sense-and-he-cannot-last/↩
- [10]Robyn Dixon and Catherine Belton, “Putin, czar with no empire, needs military victory for his own survival,” Washington Post, February 19, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/20/putin-czar-with-no-empire-needs-military-victory-his-own-survival/↩