I am no longer forecasting that Joe Biden will win in November. It’s now a toss-up and I’m not holding my breath for clarification:
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[1] fair use.
Hannah Rabinowitz, Katelyn Polantz, and Devan Cole, “Federal appeals court lets Trump gag order stand in federal January 6 case,” CNN, January 23, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/23/politics/gag-order-trump-appeals-court-en-banc/index.html
Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon
Hush money
Fig. 2. Cartoon by Jesse Duquette, undated, via “Minneapple23” [pseud.] on Imgur, April 1, 2023, fair use.
Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, “Judge Absolutely Kneecaps Trump’s Testimony in E. Jean Carroll Trial,” New Republic, January 25, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/178444/judge-kaplan-kneecaps-trump-testimony-e-jean-carroll-trial
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[2] fair use.
In a video posted online Dec. 12 and verified by The Washington Post, Israeli soldiers can be heard shouting and clapping as a school in northern Gaza is blown up.[3]
I will tell you flat out: I do not care the least bit that the Israeli Defense Force claims the school was used by Hamas.[4]
Blowing up museums, libraries, schools, and hospitals is a categorical wrong that cannot be justified under any circumstances. Joe Biden materially supports this even if his rhetoric criticizes a portion of it. These are war crimes, Biden is a war criminal, and Israel must pay a very high price for its crimes.
Whether you embrace a two-state solution or a one-state solution,[5] the “Jewish state” delegitimizes itself with the genocide it perpetrates on Palestinians. It can no longer exist. But here’s Netanyahu, desperately seeking to prolong the war as he blasts an intermediary in negotiations with Hamas:
You don’t hear me thanking Qatar. Have you noticed? I don’t thank Qatar. Why? Because for me, Qatar is essentially no different from the UN, it is essentially no different from the Red Cross and in a way it is even . . . more problematic.[6]
Henry Foy, “EU seeks ‘consequences’ for Israel over opposition to Palestinian statehood,” Financial Times, January 21, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/6b39f7cf-f6d6-4344-b1e8-a505616423ef
Owen Jones, “The west’s complete contempt for the lives of Palestinians will not be forgotten,” Guardian, January 21, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/21/palestinian-lives-gaza-politics-media
Summer Said, “U.S., Arab Allies Push Hostage-Release Plan Aimed at Ending Israel-Hamas War,” Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-pushes-hostage-release-plan-aimed-at-ending-gaza-war-d48b27e1
Ishaan Tharoor, “What Netanyahu sees from the river to the sea,” Washington Post, January 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/22/netanyahu-biden-two-state-solution-palestine-river-to-sea/
Times of Israel, “Most believe Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making mainly motivated by personal interest,” January 22, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-gives-national-unity-commanding-lead-over-likud-with-a-center-bloc-of-69-mks/
Shira Rubin, Steve Hendrix, and Lior Soroka, “As some Israeli troops leave Gaza, a long-term strategy remains elusive,” Washington Post, January 23, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/23/israel-military-gaza-strategy-hamas/
Matthew Bell, “Israel says ‘no’ to a 2-state solution,” World, January 24, 2024, https://theworld.org/stories/2024-01-24/israel-says-no-2-state-solution
Loveday Morris, Sarah Cahlan, and Jonathan Baran, “What to know about Israel’s controversial ‘buffer zone’ in Gaza,” Washington Post, January 24, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/24/israel-buffer-zone-gaza-war/
John Hudson and Claire Parker, “Biden to deploy CIA director to help broker major Gaza deal,” Washington Post, January 25, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/25/william-burns-cia-gaza-israel-hostages/
Neri Zilber and Andrew England, “Qatar rebukes ‘irresponsible’ Netanyahu over apparent criticism of Gulf state,” Financial Times, January 25, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/410de5d0-08b1-4be8-9260-4ddb87751ecc
Doomsday Clock
Fig. 4. “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.
Ninety seconds is still much too far off for me. We did not deserve and certainly do not appreciate such a beautiful planet, this planet certainly didn’t deserve us, and we do not deserve each other. My sorrow is for all the other species, the species who have nothing to do with human greed, arrogance, and stupidity, we’re taking with us.
And if you think all this is somehow “God’s plan,” to hell with you and him.
Oliver Holmes, “Wars and climate crisis keep Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight,” Guardian, January 23, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/23/wars-and-climate-crisis-see-doomsday-clock-stay-at-90-seconds-to-midnight
John Mecklin, “A moment of historic danger: It is still 90 seconds to midnight,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 23, 2024, https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Infrastructure
Fig. 5. Post-collapse scene at the Fern Hollow Bridge, photograph by National Transportation Safety Board, January 29, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Two days after the snow, I finally made it into the areas I watch for snowplowing. It was clear. It looks, though I would have preferred to check sooner, like Ed Gainey did indeed fix the snowplowing mess after all.
Jonathan D. Salant, “New federal funding aims to drain I-376’s ‘bathtub,’ rehab 10 bridges, improve busway and highways,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 25, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/01/25/joe-biden-infrastructure-parkway-east-2024-presidential-election/stories/202401240121
- [1]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon↩
- [2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [3]Loveday Morris, Sarah Cahlan, and Jonathan Baran, “What to know about Israel’s controversial ‘buffer zone’ in Gaza,” Washington Post, January 24, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/24/israel-buffer-zone-gaza-war/↩
- [4]Loveday Morris, Sarah Cahlan, and Jonathan Baran, “What to know about Israel’s controversial ‘buffer zone’ in Gaza,” Washington Post, January 24, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/24/israel-buffer-zone-gaza-war/↩
- [5]Matthew Bell, “Israel says ‘no’ to a 2-state solution,” World, January 24, 2024, https://theworld.org/stories/2024-01-24/israel-says-no-2-state-solution; Ishaan Tharoor, “What Netanyahu sees from the river to the sea,” Washington Post, January 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/22/netanyahu-biden-two-state-solution-palestine-river-to-sea/↩
- [6]Binyamin Netanyahu, quoted in Neri Zilber and Andrew England, “Qatar rebukes ‘irresponsible’ Netanyahu over apparent criticism of Gulf state,” Financial Times, January 25, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/410de5d0-08b1-4be8-9260-4ddb87751ecc↩