February 2023 – Page 2 – Irregular Bullshit

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.

I thought this was something that doesn’t happen, that the risk to a U.S. president would be considered too great:

The reporters traveling with [Joe Biden] were allowed to send a pool report to other journalists only after his arrival [in Kyiv] and were not permitted to further describe how he traveled to Kyiv while he was still in the country. An American official, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that after a trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv as other American officials have in recent months because flying into a war zone is unsafe. He was to leave on a similar train trip and then, after crossing the border, head to Warsaw.^[2]

Though Western surface-to-air missile systems have bolstered Ukraine’s defensives, the visit marked the rare occasion when a U.S. president has traveled to a conflict zone where the U.S. or its allies did not have control over the airspace. The White House would not go into specifics but said that “basic communication with the Russians occurred to ensure deconfliction” shortly before [Joe] Biden’s visit in an effort to avoid any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.^[3]

Mr. [Joe] Biden’s visit to Kyiv recalled the secret missions flown by Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump to Iraq and Afghanistan during the height of the wars in those countries. But bringing a president into Ukraine without the sort of American troop presence that was on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, much less control of the airspace, presented a security challenge of a vastly different magnitude. American warplanes were spotted flying over Poland near the border, but officials said they did not enter Ukrainian airspace.^[4]

[Joe] Biden also got a short firsthand taste of the terror that Ukrainians have lived with for close to a year, as air raids sirens howled over the capital just as he and Zelenskyy were exiting the gold-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral, which they visited together. Looking solemn, they continued unperturbed as they laid a wreath and held a moment of silence at the Wall of Remembrance honoring Ukrainian soldiers killed since 2014.^[5]

The alarm on Monday morning was triggered by a Russian MIG fighter jet taking off in Belarus, which borders Ukraine to the north. A missile from a MIG fired from Belarus can hit a target in Kyiv in under 20 minutes.^[6]

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

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

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

^[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]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 ↩
^[3]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 ↩
^[4]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 ↩
^[5]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 ↩
^[6]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 ↩

Making it worse for Ukraine

February 19, 2023benfell

Ukraine

But business executives and state officials say [Vladimir] Putin’s own position at the top could prove precarious as doubts over his tactics grow among the elite. For many of them, Putin’s gambit has unwound 30 years of progress made since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin’s vision of Russia horrifies many oligarchs and state officials, who confide that the war has been a catastrophic error that has failed in every goal. But they remain paralyzed, fearful and publicly silent.^[2]

Be careful what you wish for: The only name I’m even hearing as a potential successor to Vladimir Putin is Yevgeny Prigozhin.^[3] And as opponents of the war desert Russia, they leave behind a Russia more unified in support of the war by default.^[4]

I certainly agree it is necessary to depose Vladimir Putin to end his war on Ukraine.^[5] But now we must ask, how can this be accomplished such that it doesn’t make matters worse?

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

^[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]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/↩
^[3]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions; Julia Ioffe, “‘Putin’s Chef’: The Man Behind Russia’s Shadow Army,” Puck, December 13, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-chef-the-man-behind-russias-shadow-army/; 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 ↩
^[4]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/↩
^[5]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/↩

An asphalt additive could solve a lot of Pittsburgh’s road problems. So you know nothing will come of it.

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023benfell

Infrastructure

Ben Coxworth, “Asphalt additive could continuously keep roads ice-free,” New Atlas, February 17, 2023, https://newatlas.com/materials/asphalt-salt-additive-ice-roads/

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.

Y’all know I deeply distrust what’s going on with Pittsburgh roadwork.

Perhaps the most eye-opening example was work done on Pennsylvania Route 51 between the U.S. Route 19 (leading to Banksville Road and Interstate 376) ramp and Pittsburgh’s West End. This was a major project. They dug up and replaced the road bed. It’s huge. For a length of highway, this is a massive amount of concrete, which then gets topped with asphalt.

In the inbound direction (toward West End), this took several months. I wasn’t really keeping track, but it was probably seven or eight months. So when they got to doing the outbound direction (toward Route 19), I expected the work to take a similar length of time. After all, conditions seem unlikely to be substantially different from one side of the road to the other. (The project did not seem to involve much retaining wall work.)

But no, they finished the outbound direction in a mere two months. That discrepancy is, for me, dissonance. And that dissonance appears in project after project, roadwork that drags on interminably, as if the workers are convinced that this job is the last job they’ll ever get and so they’re milking it for every penny. Even when they appear to have finished a project, they’re back at it within a month. It never ends.

And there’s no shortage of work to be done. In Pittsburgh, they were only able to allocate money for 39 miles of street repairs in 2022.^[1] I can’t help but wonder how much more could be done if the roadwork was taken seriously, the jobs were treated as things to actually be accomplished rather than as “make work” projects, and the money used more efficiently.

It’s completely ludicrous to me that road workers and contractors should be milking these contracts for every last damned penny, taking anything like as long to complete as they do. I’m sorry, it just doesn’t take that long to do this shit. It doesn’t. It can’t.

So when I see news of an additive for asphalt that would eliminate the need to salt roads in Pittsburgh, eliminate the freezing that widens cracks into potholes, and eliminate the rust damage to cars from salt,^[2] you can absolutely know that I am absolutely convinced that this innovation will not be coming to Pittsburgh. It won’t.

And we won’t even hear a peep about it from local officials. They’ll be singing la-de-dah with their fingers in their ears, “Can’t hear anything!”

Michael DiVittorio, “Traffic crossover to occur along southbound Interstate 79 through November,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 17, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/traffic-crossover-to-occur-along-southbound-interstate-79-for-a-penndot-project-starting-saturday-through-november/

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers

Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

The companies are lying scum and mainstream media are generally not investigating their claims but instead resorting to “he said, she said” coverage:

Uber and Lyft both denied the accusation that upfront pay is designed to offer the lowest fare to drivers. Both companies also said that driver earnings are high at around $35 per hour of engaged time. Note that engaged time means the time a driver is driving to pick up or drop off a passenger and doesn’t include the time spent driving around and waiting for a gig. Many drivers say this means engaged time is not reflective of a true hourly wage.^[3]

I have rarely if ever seen anything like $35 per hour driving for Lyft or Uber, whether on “engaged time” or not. By the definition of “engaged” as including pick up and drop off time, I am “engaged” by far most of the time I’m out there. I can only surmise that the $35 includes the apparent 60 percent-plus discrepancy between what they charge passengers (according to passengers) and what they pay me. And the amounts the companies claim to pay are in any case misleading as they fail to account for the considerable operating costs that drivers bear.

Meanwhile, the companies have cut driver pay so far—I think by 40 percent—that they have eviscerated what little margin there was and Pittsburgh drivers launched a two-day strike.^[4]

That strike seems to have had no effect as Uber seems to have cut pay even further to match what I saw with Lyft while seeking to exploit a $1200 guarantee for 50 rides (Lyft still hasn’t made good on their promise and owes me something like $650).

Fig. 2. Graph of estimated daily average net income (in blue, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance) by month since January 2022, against estimated daily operating costs (in red, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance), what the federal minimum wage would be for a six-and-a-half hour day had it kept pace with productivity^[5] (in green), the (outdated^[6]) federal poverty line^[7] (in light orange), and the Pennsylvania minimum wage^[8] (in orange), created by author, February 10, 2023, revamped February 18, updated daily.

Driving for these companies is not something I do voluntarily. I do it only because I have been unable to find a real job, which I define as conforming to Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), in 22 years.^[9] In addition to paying so abysmally that I have no means to survive, these companies are abusive. I am seeing no alternative to suicide because this simply cannot continue.^[10]

Rebecca Bellan, “Lyft is charging riders wait time fees — but drivers aren’t reaping the rewards,” TechCrunch, February 17, 2023, https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/17/lyft-is-charging-riders-wait-time-fees-but-drivers-arent-reaping-the-rewards/

Levi Sumagaysay, “Uber, Lyft, DoorDash trade group asks for delay of worker-classification rule after Marty Walsh resignation,” MarketWatch, February 17, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/uber-lyft-doordash-trade-group-asks-for-delay-of-worker-classification-rule-after-marty-walsh-resignation-a96b124a

^[1]Julia Felton, “Pittsburgh plans to repave 39 miles of streets; work starts Monday,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 15, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-to-begin-street-paving-monday-plans-to-repave-39-miles-of-streets/↩
^[2]Ben Coxworth, “Asphalt additive could continuously keep roads ice-free,” New Atlas, February 17, 2023, https://newatlas.com/materials/asphalt-salt-additive-ice-roads/↩
^[3]Rebecca Bellan, “Lyft is charging riders wait time fees — but drivers aren’t reaping the rewards,” TechCrunch, February 17, 2023, https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/17/lyft-is-charging-riders-wait-time-fees-but-drivers-arent-reaping-the-rewards/↩
^[4]Marcie Cipriani, “Local rideshare drivers stop accepting rides for 48 hours to protest work conditions,” WTAE, February 10, 2023, https://www.wtae.com/article/pittsburgh-rideshare-drivers-lyft-uber-work-conditions/42830261; Liz Kilmer, “Uber, Lyft drivers announce strike across Pittsburgh region,” WPXI, February 10, 2023, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/uber-lyft-drivers-announce-strike-across-pittsburgh-region/T7SE5T7GHJB7VOD4LG3J4VF34A/↩
^[5]Dean Baker, “Correction: The $23 an Hour Minimum Wage,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, March 16, 2022, https://cepr.net/the-26-an-hour-minimum-wage/↩
^[6]Areeba Haider and Justin Schweitzer, “The Poverty Line Matters, But It Isn’t Capturing Everyone It Should,” Center for American Progress, March 5, 2020, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/poverty-line-matters-isnt-capturing-everyone/↩
^[7]U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Federal poverty level (FPL),” n.d., https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/↩
^[8]U.S. Department of Labor, “State Minimum Wage Laws,” January 1, 2023, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state ↩
^[9]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[10]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩

Dominion turns up some dirt on Fox News

February 17, 2023February 17, 2023benfell

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.

Because of the protections offered by the First Amendment, there’s a high bar for suing a media organization for defamation. Established in the Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan, the complainant must prove that the media organization was reckless in spreading false information. In a blockbuster legal filing made public on Thursday, lawyers for Dominion present wide-ranging evidence that Fox executives and on-air personalities should have known or, at times, explicitly knew that claims being made about the voting-machine company were false — but pressed forward in making them anyway.^[1]

I have to admit, I wasn’t holding out a lot of hope for Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against Fox News. But it looks like they’ve dug up some dirt. Fox has responded, but not substantively.^[2]

Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers

Fig. 2. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

I lost money again today. I don’t think people are taking this seriously because the only answer they have is to keep driving for Uber. Even when it’s for nothing or even less than nothing. No. That ends at the end of this month. One way or another.

Fig. 3. Graph of estimated daily average net income (in blue, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance) by month since January 2022, what the federal minimum wage would be for a six-and-a-half hour day had it kept pace with productivity^[3] (in orange), and the federal poverty line^[4] (in red), created by author, February 10, 2023, updated daily.

People who want me to go on living need to find a way to make my life a life worth living.^[5] Because I’ve exhausted every possibility I can come up with.^[6] Being poor isn’t worth it. Being abused isn’t worth it. Being insulted isn’t worth it. And this is all three.^[7]

^[1]Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/↩
^[2]Philip Bump, “A cascade of mistakes and falsehoods leaves Fox on the brink,” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/17/fox-dominion-mistake/↩
^[3]Dean Baker, “Correction: The $23 an Hour Minimum Wage,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, March 16, 2022, https://cepr.net/the-26-an-hour-minimum-wage/↩
^[4]U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Federal poverty level (FPL),” n.d., https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/↩
^[5]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩
^[6]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[7]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩

The irresistible force and the immovable object in Ukraine

February 17, 2023benfell

Ukraine

In part following up on Fiona Hill and Angela Stent’s analysis a couple days ago,^[2] Ishaan Tharoor argues that Russia is suffering serious losses in Ukraine and that Vladimir Putin’s ambitions are beyond his reach. At the same time, however, there is skepticism first, that Ukraine can fully push Russia off Ukrainian territory^[3] as Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argues “it would require essentially the collapse of the Russian military;”^[4] and second, about the willingness of voters in the West to continue supporting Ukraine against an expected (but yet to materialize) economic recession.^[5] Putin has, according to Hill and Stent, indeed been counting on the latter support to falter,^[6] although he was also believed to be expecting it to falter with energy prices over the winter—and it hasn’t.^[7]

While an argument is certainly made about Russian (and Putin’s) “iron will,”^[8] that “will” has so far only fed a meat grinder^[9] and a collapse of the Russian military could be on the horizon: Tharoor quotes Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council saying that “[i]f current casualty rates are any indication, the [expected Russian spring offensive] could result in unprecedented loss of life and spark a complete collapse in morale among Russia’s already demoralized mobilized troops.”^[10]

I can’t tell you how all this plays—the trope of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object comes to mind. All I can do is to observe that a mistake made from the beginning has been to underestimate Ukraine.

Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions

Dick Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Putin’s Strengths,” Patreon, February 16, 2023, https://www.patreon.com/posts/putins-strengths-78789256

Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/

^[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]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[3]Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/↩
^[4]Mark A. Milley, quoted in Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/↩
^[5]Dick Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Putin’s Strengths,” Patreon, February 16, 2023, https://www.patreon.com/posts/putins-strengths-78789256; Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/↩
^[6]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[7]Julia Ioffe, “The Putin Super Power Myth,” Puck, January 24, 2023, https://puck.news/the-putin-super-power-myth/; Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s Plot Against America,” Puck, January 31, 2023, https://puck.news/putins-plot-against-america/↩
^[8]Dick Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Putin’s Strengths,” Patreon, February 16, 2023, https://www.patreon.com/posts/putins-strengths-78789256 ↩
^[9]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions; Dick Nixon [Justin Sherin], “Putin’s Strengths,” Patreon, February 16, 2023, https://www.patreon.com/posts/putins-strengths-78789256; Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/↩
^[10]Peter Dickinson, quoted in Ishaan Tharoor, “A year after invasion, has Russia already lost?” Washington Post, February 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/02/17/russia-strategy-one-year-lost/↩

Bernie Sanders shames Moderna into keeping COVID-19 vaccine free

February 16, 2023benfell

COVID-19 Pandemic

Fig. 1. Photograph by author, November 8, 2022.

[Bernie] Sanders [who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions] was planning to grill [Moderna Chief Executive Stéphane] Bancel to highlight what he called the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. The [Moderna] COVID vaccine was developed in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health using taxpayer money.^[1]

Ciara Linnane, “Moderna’s COVID vaccine will remain free for all Americans in coup for Bernie Sanders,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/modernas-covid-vaccine-will-remain-free-for-all-americans-in-coup-for-bernie-sanders-703abbff

Self-driving cars

Fig. 2. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The recall affects 362,758 Tesla vehicles and includes certain Model S and Model X (2016-23), Model 3 (2013-23), and Model Y (2020-23) vehicles. To be delivered by over-the-air-software, the fix is intended to repair code that can cause FSD-equipped Teslas to run yellow lights, disobey speed limits and travel straight ahead from turn-only lanes. Recalled models make up about 10% of the 3.6 million vehicles that Tesla has sold to date globally.

The company has been under fire for years from critics who say using the software is a risk to public safety. YouTube is rife with videos showing FSD-equipped cars crossing double yellow lines head-on into oncoming traffic, mistaking railroad tracks for roadways, aiming cars into pedestrians in crosswalks, and more.

One critic even spent $600,000 on a Super Bowl commercial that ran in regional markets to show FSD Teslas running over child-size dummies. . . .

The only public response from Tesla was a tweet from Chief Executive Elon Musk who said the word “recall” is “anachronistic and just flat wrong!”^[2]

Russ Mitchell and Daniel Miller, “Tesla recalling 362,758 cars with Full Self-Driving mode due to crash risk,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-02-16/tesla-recall-cars-full-self-driving-beta-crash-risk

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers

Fig. 3. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

Fig. 4. Graph of estimated daily average net income (in blue, using Internal Revenue Service mileage allowance) by month since January 2022, what the federal minimum wage would be for a six-and-a-half hour day had it kept pace with productivity^[3] (in orange), and the federal poverty line^[4] (in red), created by author, February 10, 2023, updated daily.

If the only escape from the absolute hell of being stuck as an Uber driver is death,^[5] then the sooner the better. I would prefer it to be otherwise, but that I have a plan for that escape is the one thing, the only thing, getting me through this time, because the one thing I absolutely cannot excuse is that I cannot get a real job as defined in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights:

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:

(a) Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with:

(i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work;

(ii) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant;

(b) Safe and healthy working conditions;

(c) Equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his employment to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of seniority and competence;

(d ) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays^[6]

This is a right recognized by nearly every country in the world. How the U.S. reached a conclusion that it is in any way unreasonable^[7] is beyond me and, frankly, not my concern. Human rights are universal:

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.^[8]

And the U.S. Constitution includes these rights through language in the Bill of Rights on unenumerated rights.^[9] I am not being unreasonable. I have suffered much, much, much too long.

^[1]Ciara Linnane, “Moderna’s COVID vaccine will remain free for all Americans in coup for Bernie Sanders,” MarketWatch, February 16, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/modernas-covid-vaccine-will-remain-free-for-all-americans-in-coup-for-bernie-sanders-703abbff ↩
^[2]Russ Mitchell and Daniel Miller, “Tesla recalling 362,758 cars with Full Self-Driving mode due to crash risk,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-02-16/tesla-recall-cars-full-self-driving-beta-crash-risk ↩
^[3]Dean Baker, “Correction: The $23 an Hour Minimum Wage,” Center for Economic Policy and Research, March 16, 2022, https://cepr.net/the-26-an-hour-minimum-wage/↩
^[4]U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Federal poverty level (FPL),” n.d., https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-fpl/↩
^[5]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩
^[6]International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, December 16, 1966, United Nations, General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI), https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rights ↩
^[7]United Nations, “Status of Ratification Interactive Dashboard,” n.d., https://indicators.ohchr.org ↩
^[8]United Nations, “Human Rights,” n.d., https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights ↩
^[9]U.S. Const. amend. IX.↩

The trust that’s not there to be had on Ukraine

February 16, 2023February 16, 2023benfell

Ukraine

In one oft-heard narrative, the Russia’s war on Ukraine is bound for a years-long bloody stalemate. Vladimir Putin’s approach itself remains fundamentally unchanged, believing he can exploit divisions in the west to undermine support for Ukraine and that Russia can, even if at high cost, prevail. Fiona Hill and Angela Stent further argue that Russia’s notions of spheres of influence and empire are themselves unchanged even from the Soviet Union’s. The one thing that does seem different is Putin’s seeming immunity to internal challenge, which is to say we can’t much hope for a change of leadership:^[2]

The war has revealed the full extent of [Vladimir] Putin’s personalized political system. After what is now 23 years at the helm of the Russian state, there are no obvious checks on his power. Institutions beyond the Kremlin count for little. “I would never have imagined that I would miss the Politburo,” said Rene Nyberg, the former Finnish ambassador to Moscow. “There is no political organization in Russia that has the power to hold the president and commander in chief accountable.” Diplomats, policymakers, and analysts are stuck in a doom loop—an endless back-and-forth argument among themselves—to figure out what Putin wants and how the West can shape his behavior.^[3]

And of course the most, if at all likely replacement for Putin, namely Evgeny Prigozhin, would hardly be an improvement.^[4] But that’s not the only thing that hasn’t changed:

The tepid political response and the limited application of sanctions after that first Russian invasion [seizing and annexing Crimea] convinced Moscow that its actions were not, in fact, a serious breach of post–World War II international norms. It made the Kremlin believe it could likely go further in taking Ukrainian territory. Western debates about the need to weaken Russia, the importance of overthrowing Putin to achieve peace, whether democracies should line up against autocracies, and whether other countries must choose sides have muddied what should be a clear message: Russia has violated the territorial integrity of an independent state that has been recognized by the entire international community, including Moscow, for more than 30 years. Russia has also violated the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law. If it were to succeed in this invasion, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states, be they in the West or the global South, will be imperiled.

Yet the Western debate about the war has shifted little in a year. U.S. and European views still tend to be defined by how individual commentators see the United States and its global role rather than by Russian actions. Antiwar perspectives often reflect cynicism about the United States’ motivation and deep skepticism about Ukraine’s sovereign rights rather than a clear understanding or objective assessment of Russian actions toward Ukraine and what Putin wants in the neighboring region.^[5]

Of course, we could say this about Hill and Stent’s article. It breaks little if any new ground; it rather summarizes what many (including me) have been saying from the outset. Hill and Stent point to ways western messaging could be improved, suggesting more broadly (as I have^[6]) that Putin’s ambitions are not limited to Ukraine. But if we also acknowledge that he cares little what anyone in the west thinks of him,^[7] then it is likely as well that gains to be won from improved public relations will be limited. Indeed the international illiberal and U.S. white Christian nationalist and ‘tankie’^[8] support for Ukraine includes a disdain for anything the west or western media says, often even on matters unrelated to Putin’s ambitions.^[9]

It’s something I’ve said before a few times, that if you want to be trusted, you have to be worthy of that trust. The western elite, corrupted by money and power, have not been worthy. Now, it is with Ukraine as it was with COVID-19, that there is too little trust to be had.

Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions

Gilead

Right-wing militias

Police White supremacist gangs

Fig. 1. Photograph by Lorie Shaull, April 1, 2021, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Keri Blakinger, “L.A. County sheriff creates new office to ‘eradicate all deputy gangs,’” Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-15/sheriff-creates-new-office-to-eradicate-all-deputy-gangs

^[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]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[3]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[4]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions; Julia Ioffe, “‘Putin’s Chef’: The Man Behind Russia’s Shadow Army,” Puck, December 13, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-chef-the-man-behind-russias-shadow-army/↩
^[5]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[6]David Benfell, “Where does Vladimir Putin stop?” Not Housebroken, November 16, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/04/where-does-vladimir-putin-stop/↩
^[7]Fiona Hill and Angela Stent, “The Kremlin’s Grand Delusions,” Foreign Affairs, February 15, 2023, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/kremlins-grand-delusions ↩
^[8]Roane Carey, “Don’t Be a Tankie: How the Left Should Respond to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” Intercept, March 1, 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/03/01/ukraine-russia-leftists-tankie/↩
^[9]David Benfell, “Information, information cynicism, disinformation, and misinformation,” Not Housebroken, November 26, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/11/26/information-information-cynicism-disinformation-and-misinformation/↩

Dead horses beaten nonetheless

February 15, 2023February 15, 2023benfell

It’s all a bit like my job hunt. I keep trying. As if doing the same thing over and over again will yield a different result.^[1]

And so it is with Twitter and self-driving cars. Other folks doing the flogging, though.

Also, they can afford to lose. I really, really, really, really can’t.^[2]

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,^[3] fair use.

Matt Binder, “Twitter is making even less from Twitter Blue than previously known,” Mashable, February 14, 2023, https://mashable.com/article/twitter-blue-subscriptions-lower

Self-driving cars

Fig. 1. Photograph by Mark Doliner, August 1, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Kris B. Mamula, “Amazon, Toyota hang onto stakes in Pittsburgh-based driverless vehicle startup Aurora,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 15, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/tech-news/2023/02/15/amazon-toyota-self-driving-vehicle-startup-aurora-innovation/stories/202302140087

^[1]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/↩
^[2]David Benfell, “A life worth living,” Not Housebroken, February 14, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/27/a-life-worth-living/↩
^[3]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/↩

The end is nigh

February 14, 2023February 14, 2023benfell

So-called ‘ridesharing’

Drivers

Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.

I have already explained that with the abuse I endure as an Uber driver and with Uber pay cuts—I have no explanation for Engadget’s claim that median driver pay has gone up, even if not enough to match rising fares,^[1] because in Pittsburgh, it has gone down,^[2] I believe by about 40 percent, and a comparison between what passengers say they are paying and the amounts I am being paid are consistently in the 60 percent-plus range—I am no longer in a tenable situation.^[3] Now, in all the years I have been driving people around, first as an airport shuttle driver, then as a taxi driver, now as an Uber and Lyft driver, I have never had a Valentine’s Day as bad as the one I have just had. Never.

At the end of this month, I need to inform my landlord as to whether I will be renewing my lease for another year. In order to answer that question intelligently, my life needs to make some kind of sense.

That means, one way or another, the poverty, the abuse, the torment, the insult I have endured will end.

Because one thing that’s a whole lot more insane than ending it is continuing to endure it.

Jon Fingas, “Uber and Lyft driver pay isn’t keeping up with soaring fares, study says,” Engadget, February 14, 2023, April 2024