You might be stupid, but I bet you aren’t as unforgivably stupid as the city of Pittsburgh (corrected)

benfell

Correction, January 29, 2024: The Philadelphia Inquirer issued a correction to the news alert announcing its abortion story. The earlier indication had been that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled that abortion is a right protected under the state constitution. Instead, it has drawn the issue into a case over whether Medicaid should pay for an abortion and sent it back to the lower court.[1] Since I was modifying this issue, I went ahead and added a story under Ukraine and Hungary.[2]

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh


Fig. 1. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.

My father would have been 89 years old today. And in two days, I will begin looking for a new apartment in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Why are the two connected? I am glad I moved to Pittsburgh. It was a vignette on a little over two years of my childhood that has helped me to understand the larger pattern of my life, that has helped me to understand that I really never had a chance, that this society rejected me from the start and has been relentlessly cruel to me ever since.

The abuse by my father blends into the relentless teasing and bullying I endured from classmates. That abuse blends into the difficulty I have long had—really far longer than the last 23 years since I got laid off in the dot-com crash—with the job market. It blends into my isolation, my poverty.

My father was cruel but by no means uniquely so in my life. There are plenty of excuses I’m sure, but ageism cannot account for difficulties I was having even almost forty years ago when I bounced out of high technology and landed hard on my ass the first time (out of three). That I am white and male, therefore excluded from this “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) bullshit, cannot explain how I faced this difficulty long before the people who came up with it had been born. But it remains hard to imagine that something systemic isn’t going on. I am convinced that if human resources departments were properly held to account, I’d have the evidence I need to sue their companies out of existence.

I will be looking for a place in Fermented-Honey-ville, er, um, that’d be Meadville or at about that distance from Erie. Meadville is along I-79, offering easy access back to Pittsburgh, roughly 92 miles away, or north to Erie, roughly 42 miles away. I expect this to get me away from the horribly aggressive driving and appalling roads in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has also been attracting high technology workers who don’t solve any real problems but certainly drive up rents—this at the same time Uber has been cutting my pay (an estimated 40 percent in 2022, more since).

Pittsburgh is a place of hate for me. I’m glad I came. It’s time to leave.

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.

The Fern Hollow Bridge was an exception[3] only in that it actually collapsed.[4] Pittsburgh is a city that flatly does not take care of business[5] and then wonders[6] why bad shit happens.

For me, it’s in the category of too stupid to live. They claim they haven’t the “resources” (money) to keep up on maintenance.[7] But that only gets back to the point I’ve been making that if you can’t afford to take care of your infrastructure, then you have to scale it back to what you can afford. To do anything less is reckless: As we saw with Fern Hollow, people get hurt.

That means a lot of streets close. It means a lot of bridges close. It probably means some tunnels close. And it absolutely means you don’t use one-shot money to fix what you can’t afford to maintain otherwise.

Neena Hagen and Hallie Lauer, “Pittsburgh’s run-down bridges face yearslong backlog of repairs, tens of millions in maintenance,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-repairs-fern-hollow-collapse/stories/202401280090

Imperialism

Russia

Ukraine


Fig. 2. “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,[8] fair use.

The Financial Times is claiming an exclusive,[9] though Politico had a similar report two days earlier.[10] It looks like the Financial Times report does represent progress from the Politico report, in thatPolitico had reported a threat to deprive Hungary of voting rights:[11] but the Financial Times is reporting a threat to cut off all funding altogether, which would presumably have dire effects on Hungary’s economy.[12]

Several capitals have considered whether it is feasible to use Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union, which would allow Brussels to strip Budapest of its voting rights or, one diplomat said, block disbursement of money. But others have rebuffed the notion given that it requires unanimous support and many countries are reluctant to deploy such a serious sanction.[13]

I do think Hungary should be deprived of its vote. I don’t know how you even argue with the analysis that Viktor Orbán has been abusing Hungary’s position in the European Union,[14] really to evade EU sanctions for his illiberal agenda. The new plan thus rather precisely targets Orbán’s vulnerability.

Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f

Marton Dunai and Henry Foy, “Hungary vows to defy EU ‘blackmail’ over Ukraine funding,” Financial Times, January 29, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/b3913ca8-09d9-470b-adf5-82c20078c9f0

United States and United Kingdom

Iran

I have finally pulled together an Iran page.

Tony Diver and Abbie Cheeseman, “Joe Biden blames Iran for deaths of US troops in drone strike,” Telegraph, January 29, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/01/28/us-troops-killed-drone-attack-jordan/

Yemen


Fig. 3. Satellite photograph by Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Tony Diver and Abbie Cheeseman, “Joe Biden blames Iran for deaths of US troops in drone strike,” Telegraph, January 29, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2024/01/28/us-troops-killed-drone-attack-jordan/

Illiberalism

Hungary

Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f

Marton Dunai and Henry Foy, “Hungary vows to defy EU ‘blackmail’ over Ukraine funding,” Financial Times, January 29, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/b3913ca8-09d9-470b-adf5-82c20078c9f0

Gilead

Abortion, reproductive freedom and health


Fig. 4. 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.

Jeremy Roebuck, Sarah Gantz, and Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Supreme Court sets up a showdown over whether abortion is a right protected by the state constitution,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 29, 2024, https://www.inquirer.com/health/abortion-laws-pennsylvania-state-constitution-20240129.html

  1. [1]Jeremy Roebuck, Sarah Gantz, and Gillian McGoldrick, “Pa. Supreme Court sets up a showdown over whether abortion is a right protected by the state constitution,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 29, 2024, https://www.inquirer.com/health/abortion-laws-pennsylvania-state-constitution-20240129.html↩
  2. [2]Marton Dunai and Henry Foy, “Hungary vows to defy EU ‘blackmail’ over Ukraine funding,” Financial Times, January 29, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/b3913ca8-09d9-470b-adf5-82c20078c9f0↩
  3. [3]Neena Hagen and Hallie Lauer, “Pittsburgh’s run-down bridges face yearslong backlog of repairs, tens of millions in maintenance,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-repairs-fern-hollow-collapse/stories/202401280090↩
  4. [4]Ed Blazina et al., “‘A boom, then a monster sound’: 10 hurt after bridge over Pittsburgh’s Frick Park collapses,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2022/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-collapse-forbes-braddock-avenue-point-breeze-squirrel-hill/stories/202201280075↩
  5. [5]Neena Hagen and Hallie Lauer, “Pittsburgh’s run-down bridges face yearslong backlog of repairs, tens of millions in maintenance,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-repairs-fern-hollow-collapse/stories/202401280090↩
  6. [6]Hallie Lauer, “Pittsburgh taps WSP Global to evaluate all 150 city-owned bridges,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 5, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/07/05/pittsburgh-bridge-inspections-plan-mayor-ed-gainey-city-council-fern-hollow-swindell-wsp-global-infrastructure/stories/202207050063↩
  7. [7]Neena Hagen and Hallie Lauer, “Pittsburgh’s run-down bridges face yearslong backlog of repairs, tens of millions in maintenance,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 28, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2024/01/28/pittsburgh-bridge-repairs-fern-hollow-collapse/stories/202401280090↩
  8. [8]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↩
  9. [9]Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f↩
  10. [10]Barbara Moens et al., “EU threatens to silence Hungary if it blocks Ukrainian funds,” Politico, January 26, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-threatens-silence-hungary-orban-if-blocks-ukrainian-aid-funds-article-7/↩
  11. [11]Barbara Moens et al., “EU threatens to silence Hungary if it blocks Ukrainian funds,” Politico, January 26, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-threatens-silence-hungary-orban-if-blocks-ukrainian-aid-funds-article-7/↩
  12. [12]Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f↩
  13. [13]Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f↩
  14. [14]Henry Foy, Andy Bounds, and Marton Dunai, “Brussels threatens to hit Hungary’s economy if Viktor Orbán vetoes Ukraine aid,” Financial Times, January 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/9dabcd4b-9c64-4124-9f9c-b0c898c84c8f; Barbara Moens et al., “EU threatens to silence Hungary if it blocks Ukrainian funds,” Politico, January 26, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-threatens-silence-hungary-orban-if-blocks-ukrainian-aid-funds-article-7/↩

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