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.
We’re back to the “What is Ed Gainey doing” question as debris falling from the California Avenue Bridge continues to affect neighbors who live and work underneath it in Pittsburgh’s Northside.[1] I have absolutely zero evidence that Gainey is doing the job he was elected to do. Zero. None. Nada. As near as I can tell, it isn’t there and it isn’t there because, as near as I can tell, he isn’t doing it.
Gainey should admit that he just wanted the prestige and the power of the mayor’s office, but not the responsibility, and he should resign. Were it within my power, he would be fired for nonperformance. He can party on his own dime.
Alyssa Raymond, “Debris continues to fall off Pittsburgh bridge despite city installing netting,” WPXI, June 29, 2023, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/debris-continues-fall-off-pittsburgh-bridge-despite-city-installing-netting/JPXVJM4RF5CUNNMPUOE7DGRRPM/
Jack Troy, “New Kensington Bridge to close for 6 weeks starting in July,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 30, 2023, https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/new-kensington-bridge-to-close-for-6-weeks-starting-in-july/
Neoliberalism
Academic repression
Student loans
Fig. 2. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[2] fair use.
Michael Stratford, “Biden admin finalizes student debt ‘safety net’ as repayment looms,” Politico, June 29, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/29/biden-safety-net-student-borrowers-00104131
Jillian Berman, “Supreme Court knocks down Biden’s student-debt forgiveness plan,” MarketWatch, June 30, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/supreme-court-knocks-down-bidens-student-debt-forgiveness-plan-30ba9892
Andrew Restuccia, “Biden to Try Again to Cancel Student Loan Debt,” Wall Street Journal, June 30, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-pressured-to-revive-student-loan-forgiveness-plan-34d0a7be
Work
Fig. 3. The spectre of Death, in the form of a large skeleton, rises with the smoke and flames of the burning Asch Building during the Triangle fire, as people jump and fall to their death. Artist unknown, from International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985) at The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Remember that neoliberals absolutely despise workers. Lame duck Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald demonstrates that he is a neoliberal.
Charlie Wolfson, “Allegheny County Executive Fitzgerald sues to nix pay floor for county workers,” Public Source, June 28, 2023, https://www.publicsource.org/allegheny-county-council-overrides-fitzgerald-veto-minimum-wage/
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 4. “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.
Leigh Ann Caldwell, Josh Dawsey, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, “Trump pressured Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election,” Washington Post, July 1, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/01/trump-2020-election-arizona-governor-doug-ducey/
- [1]Alyssa Raymond, “Debris continues to fall off Pittsburgh bridge despite city installing netting,” WPXI, June 29, 2023, https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/debris-continues-fall-off-pittsburgh-bridge-despite-city-installing-netting/JPXVJM4RF5CUNNMPUOE7DGRRPM/↩
- [2]Richard K. Vedder, “Eliminate or Radically Restructure Federal Student Loans,” James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, September 16, 2020, https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/09/eliminate-or-radically-restructure-federal-student-loans/↩