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.
Pittsburgh politicians claim crime deviant behavior is dropping.[2]
But the truth is they don’t fucking know. Federal Bureau of Investigation crime statistics have long been problematic, but now they have new rules for statistical reporting that, apparently, some 90 percent of Pennsylvania white supremacist gangs are not in compliance with. Including, yes, Pittsburgh.[3]
So we don’t actually have statistics on deviant behavior in Pittsburgh. But of course, that doesn’t stop politicians from yammering.[4]
Michael Korsh, “Downtown, South Side remain epicenters of violence, despite Pittsburgh’s crime numbers — and response,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/07/30/crime-statistics-violence-downtown-police/stories/202307280097
South Side
Fig. 2. Jack’s Bar. Photograph by User:Piotrus, December 2007, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Michael Korsh, “Downtown, South Side remain epicenters of violence, despite Pittsburgh’s crime numbers — and response,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/07/30/crime-statistics-violence-downtown-police/stories/202307280097
Imperialism
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 3. “The atomic cloud over Nagasaki 1945.” Photograph from Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Overseas Operations Branch, New York Office, News and Features Bureau, (12/17/1942 – 09/15/1945), by Charles Levy, August 9, 1945, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
If you live with a threat long enough, it becomes “normal,” part of the “background radiation” of everyday life.
I have argued that the logic of Russian statements about Ukraine leads inexorably in the direction of actually using nuclear weapons.[5] I don’t think that former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s threats[6] really change that. The risk is what it was, with Vladimir Putin’s demands still reducing to “give him his fucking empire, including North Atlantic Treaty Organization territory, or he’ll blow up the world.”
With the Wagner mutiny, however, there’s an otherworldly, dissonant aspect to this that seems to me to render an intelligent response impossible.
Andrew Osborn, “Russia’s Medvedev: We’d have to use a nuclear weapon if Ukrainian offensive was a success,” Reuters, July 30, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-medvedev-wed-have-use-nuclear-weapon-if-ukrainian-offensive-was-success-2023-07-30/
Electric vehicles
Fig. 4. “A Toyota bZ4X electric sport utility vehicle: EVs currently on the market are fitted with batteries that use liquid lithium-ion electrolytes.” Photograph by Kiyoshi Ota, n.d., via Financial Times, fair use.
Tesla lies about the range of its models and ignores complaints about it.[7] I think you know that Elon Musk is lying the same way you know that politicians are.
Abigail Weinberg, “Tesla Can’t Even Do the One Thing It’s Supposed to Be Good At,” Mother Jones, July 28, 2023, https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/07/tesla-ev-battery-range/
- [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]Michael Korsh, “Downtown, South Side remain epicenters of violence, despite Pittsburgh’s crime numbers — and response,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/07/30/crime-statistics-violence-downtown-police/stories/202307280097↩
- [3]Michael Korsh, “Downtown, South Side remain epicenters of violence, despite Pittsburgh’s crime numbers — and response,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/07/30/crime-statistics-violence-downtown-police/stories/202307280097↩
- [4]Michael Korsh, “Downtown, South Side remain epicenters of violence, despite Pittsburgh’s crime numbers — and response,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2023/07/30/crime-statistics-violence-downtown-police/stories/202307280097↩
- [5]David Benfell, “Nuclear survival,” Not Housebroken, January 24, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/13/nuclear-survival/↩
- [6]Andrew Osborn, “Russia’s Medvedev: We’d have to use a nuclear weapon if Ukrainian offensive was a success,” Reuters, July 30, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-medvedev-wed-have-use-nuclear-weapon-if-ukrainian-offensive-was-success-2023-07-30/↩
- [7]Abigail Weinberg, “Tesla Can’t Even Do the One Thing It’s Supposed to Be Good At,” Mother Jones, July 28, 2023, https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/07/tesla-ev-battery-range/↩