Fig. 1. Photograph by author, April 4, 2024.
I came home tonight (April 4) to find this (figure 1). I’ve seen a robin hanging about and all I can say is it took some real determination to build this nest. I don’t know what you call that thing that connects the light to the wall, but it’s small and round, not a favorable platform. I had seen from nesting material that had fallen on the floor that someone was trying to build a nest there and I had judged this impossible.
The location is obviously attractive: It’s a sheltered location that will be extraordinarily difficult for predators to reach. The big problem is that I come and go from time to time. I guess I’m gonna find out how this goes.
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 2. 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,[1] fair use.
It’s still all words and it’s really not clear that this is anything more. But the words Joe Biden uses with Binyamin Netanyahu are becoming more threatening.[2]
Hours after the call [between Joe Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu], Israel announced that it would increase the amount of aid going into Gaza “to prevent a humanitarian crisis,” according to Netanyahu’s office. The U.S. welcomed the announcement.
Israel agreed to allow use of Ashdod port in southern Israel for delivery of assistance for Gaza and to open the Erez border crossing, which has been closed since the Oct. 7 attacks, as a new route for aid to reach north Gaza. Israel will also allow a significant increase in deliveries from Jordan into Gaza, the U.S. said.
“These steps…must now be fully and rapidly implemented,” White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.[3]
We’ll see about that. What I’m finding interesting is that Netanyahu appears to be climbing down. There’ll be a price for that and guess who the scapegoats are? The drone pilots who launched the attack, of course: “The Israeli military said it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three.”[4]
Maegan Vazquez, “Michigan lawmaker says Gaza should be approached ‘like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,’” Washington Post, March 31, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/30/michigan-lawmaker-gaza-hiroshima/
Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef, “U.S. and Israel’s ‘Unprecedented’ Intelligence Sharing Draws Criticism,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-and-israels-unprecedented-intelligence-sharing-draws-criticism-a85979b4
William Booth and Lorenzo Tugnoli, “Inside the ruins of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital,” Washington Post, April 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/01/gaza-al-shifa-hospital-israel/
Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/
Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry
Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/
Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html
Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793
Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/
Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/
Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Fig. 3. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.
I haven’t been very much affected by the weather. I’ve been driving for DoorDash recently and in a zone that’s mostly high and . . . well, still pretty fucking wet, but certainly not underwater. I did cross a bridge over Chartiers Creek, which meanders from Washington, Pennsylvania, to the Ohio River there along the Pittsburgh-McKees Rocks boundary, however, and noticed that an adjacent parking area was partly underwater.
One thing I am adamant about is not moving into a flood plain. A whole bunch of folks now have some clean-up and repairs to do.[5] I don’t. And that’s why.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Large swaths of the Pittsburgh region remain under water as scope of Western Pa. flooding comes into focus,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/pittsburgh-flooding-updates/stories/202404040056
Joe Napsha, “Too familiar: Residents near creeks, streams begin flood cleanup,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 4, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/too-familiar-residents-near-creeks-streams-begin-flood-cleanup/
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Photos: Pittsburgh region flooded after days of heavy rain,” April 4, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/weather-news/2024/04/04/photos-pittsburgh-region-flood-heavy-rain/stories/202404040074
Joe Napsha, “Westmoreland flood damage may not be bad enough for disaster declaration,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 5, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/westmoreland-flood-damage-may-not-be-bad-enough-for-disaster-declaration/
Neoliberalism
Academic repression
Student loans
Fig. 4. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[6] fair use.
The proposed regulation is expected to outline several categories that would qualify borrowers for debt relief, including financial hardship, the people said. For example, borrowers with high debt loads and low incomes could see their loan balances reduced or eliminated under the plan. It could also outline a path to relief for borrowers who have carried their debt for decades; who now owe more than their initial loan amount because interest has piled up; or who are eligible for relief through other federal programs, but haven’t applied.[7]
This would certainly cover me, but of course, it will be tied up in the courts for who knows how long.[8]
David Dayen, “Congress Poised to Prevent One Form of Student Debt Relief,” American Prospect, April 5, 2024, https://prospect.org/education/2024-04-05-congress-prevent-student-debt-relief-flight-faa/
Andrew Restuccia, “Biden to Make Second Attempt at Large-Scale Student Loan Forgiveness,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-to-make-second-attempt-at-large-scale-student-loan-forgiveness-ef1da5fe
Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 5. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,[9] fair use.
Hafiz Rashid, “Another One Bites the Dust: Trump 2020 Lawyer Officially Disbarred,” New Republic, April 2, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180365/eastman-trump-2020-lawyer-disbarred
Heather Cox Richardson, “April 2, 2024,” Letters from an American, April 3, 2024, https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-2-2024
Sarah Fortinsky, “Ty Cobb says 11th Circuit may remove judge from Trump documents case,” Hill, April 3, 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/4573686-ty-cobb-says-11th-circuit-may-remove-judge-from-trump-documents-case/
Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, “Judge Cannon shoots down Trump’s presidential records act claim,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/04/cannon-trump-jack-smith-presidential-records-act/
Hafiz Rashid, “Yet Another One of Trump’s 2020 Attorneys Could Be Disbarred,” New Republic, April 4, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180473/another-trump-attorneys-jeffrey-clark-disbarred
Human Science
Inquiry
Quantitative
Artificial intelligence idiocy
Fig. 1. Image credited to David Blaikie from Hampshire, UK, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Henry Mance, “AI keeps going wrong. What if it can’t be fixed?” Financial Times, April 6, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/648228e7-11eb-4e1a-b0d5-e65a638e6135
- [1]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/↩
- [2]Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/; Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793↩
- [3]Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793↩
- [4]Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4↩
- [5]Joe Napsha, “Too familiar: Residents near creeks, streams begin flood cleanup,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 4, 2024, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/too-familiar-residents-near-creeks-streams-begin-flood-cleanup/↩
- [6]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/↩
- [7]Andrew Restuccia, “Biden to Make Second Attempt at Large-Scale Student Loan Forgiveness,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-to-make-second-attempt-at-large-scale-student-loan-forgiveness-ef1da5fe↩
- [8]Andrew Restuccia, “Biden to Make Second Attempt at Large-Scale Student Loan Forgiveness,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/biden-to-make-second-attempt-at-large-scale-student-loan-forgiveness-ef1da5fe↩
- [9]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↩