Not Housebroken

Fig. 1. “Adolf Hitler (Nazi Party party leader) Herman Göring, Franz Pfeffer von Salomon [Franz von Pfeffer], etc. at the Nuremberg rally 1929, the Nazi Party Congress held in Nuremberg, Germany on August 1–4. Parading SA members, Nazi salutes, Party flags with nazi swastika, brownshirt uniforms, etc. Public domain according to Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe.” Photograph by Robert Sennecke, August 1929, from Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (National Digital Archives of Poland), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In an article on the global rise of illiberalism,^[1] I’m more skeptical of the second paragraph quoted here than I am the first: Read more →

1. ^[1]Marc Fisher, “Leaders of democracies increasingly echo Putin in authoritarian tilt,” Washington Post, October 16, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/16/authoritarian-world-leaders-putin/↩

Fig. 1. Yard sign for sale on Amazon, fair use.

Robert Steadman has had enough.

A longtime resident of Pittsburgh’s North Side, Steadman has seen too much violence, and hours after three people were killed and another wounded during a shooting Saturday night near Allegheny Commons, Steadman said it is time for action.

“You get tired of it. It’s just too much. The police don’t do … around here,” said Steadman, 55, as he walked with his three young children all under the age of 8.^[1]

It’s a curious thing that all these Thin Blue Line flag-wavers imagine, at least according to their yard signs, their white supremacist gangsters as heroes, risking their lives to “keep us safe.” Read more →

1. ^[1]Rich Cholodofsky, “North Side residents fed up, as 3 people killed, 1 injured in Saturday night shooting,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 16, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/3-people-killed-1-injured-in-pittsburgh-shooting/↩

Fig. 1. Sign on a property along Miller Road, just up from North State Street, on the edge of Clairton, Pennsylvania. Photograph by author, August 8, 2020.

This post will, I fear, be a prime example of crappy writing. It’s more of a data dump, failing to offer an argument for any solution, because I don’t have a solution within the paradigm of our system of social organization.

The housing picture in Pittsburgh is, to put it entirely too mildly, paradoxical. On the one hand, you have developments like Glass House Apartments that command San Francisco-level rents in, really, not that great a neighborhood^[1] and a move to develop vacant office space downtown into housing.^[2] New subdivisions—called “plans” here—with homeowners’ associations are popping up all around the suburbs. Read more →

1. ^[1]GlassHouse Pittsburgh, n.d., https://www.glasshouseapts.com/↩
2. ^[2]Mark Belko, “Quicker conversions of Downtown Pittsburgh offices into apartments moving closer to reality,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 21, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2022/09/20/pittsburgh-planning-commission-zoning-apartments-condos-residential-downtown-partnership-larimer-twg-indianapolis/stories/202209200105↩

See updates through July 20, 2023, at end of post.

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Fig. 1. “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.

Russia has launched a missile attack against several Ukrainian cities, targeting civilians and energy infrastructure, drawing international condemnation. Vladimir Putin claims it is in retaliation for^[1] what the Russians claim was a truck bomb attack, orchestrated by Ukrainian “special services,” that severely damaged the Kerch bridge between Russia and Crimea.^[2] Read more →

1. ^[1]Dan Sabbagh, “Kremlin decision to target Ukraine’s cities was political, not tactical,” Guardian, October 10, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/kremlin-decision-to-target-ukraines-cities-was-political-not-tactical; Pjotr Sauer, “Sergei Surovikin: the ‘General Armageddon’ now in charge of Russia’s war,” Guardian, October 10, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/sergei-surovikin-the-general-armageddon-now-in-charge-of-russias-war; George Styllis, Gareth Davies, and Grace Millimaci, “Deadly strikes are just ‘first episode’ of response to Crimea attack, says Medvedev,” Telegraph, October 10, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/10/10/ukraine-russia-war-latest-putin-nuclear-crimea-bridge-zaporizhzhia/↩
2. ^[2]Peter Beaumont, “Impact of Kerch bridge blast will be felt all the way to the Kremlin,” Guardian, October 8, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/impact-of-kerch-bridge-blast-will-be-felt-all-the-way-to-the-kremlin; Peter Beaumont, “Vladimir Putin calls blast on Crimea-Russia bridge an ‘act of terror,’” Guardian, October 9, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/09/russia-ukraine-war-attack-housing-zaporizhzhia; Adam Schreck and Vasilisa Stepanenko, “Explosion on Crimean bridge damages key Russian supply route; 3 dead,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-10-08/truck-bomb-damages-crimea-bridge-a-key-supply-artery-for-russias-war-effort; Maite Fernández Simon and Paul Sonne, “Putin’s bridge of dreams explodes in flames,” Washington Post, October 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/08/kerch-bridge-crimea-symbolism-putin/; Times of Israel, “Russia says truck bomb caused Crimea bridge explosion, stops short of blaming Kyiv,” October 8, 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-says-truck-blast-caused-crimea-bridge-explosion-stops-short-of-blaming-kyiv/; Yaroslav Trofimov, “Major Explosion Hits the Bridge Between Crimea and Russia, Halting Traffic,” Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-explosion-hits-the-bridge-between-crimea-and-russia-halting-traffic-11665215052↩

Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz is right in one important respect: Many of the problems at Starbucks are larger than Starbucks.^[1] During the pandemic, we as a society became meaner—much meaner. As an Uber driver, I had to put up a sign demanding what should be common sense conduct. Read more →

1. ^[1]Greg Jaffe, “Howard Schultz’s fight to stop a Starbucks barista uprising,” Washington Post, October 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/08/starbucks-union-ceo-howard-schultz/↩

See update for November 26, 2022, at end of post.

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Fig. 1. A black crow, unattributed and undated photograph, via Birdwatching United States of America,^[1] fair use.

The kitchen exhaust fan in my present apartment is kind of an odd contraption, really a hole in the wall with a fan inserted and a door on the outside which does not fully close. The whole thing is controlled with a pull-chain that simultaneously releases the spring-loaded door to open and turns on the fan (figure 2).

Fig. 2. My kitchen exhaust fan, on the wall above the stove. Photograph by author, October 14, 2022.

Because the door does not fully close, birds occasionally come to investigate. This morning, I saw that a small crow, I presume juvenile, with a beak definitely not that of a blackbird,^[2] had actually managed to find its way in. On its second brief visit, as I moved to try to get a photograph, it flew back out the doorway. Read more →

1. ^[1]David A. Swanson, “How To Tell a Crow from A Blackbird?: 5 Key Differences,” Birdwatching United States of America, n.d., https://www.birdwatchingusa.org/crow-vs-blackbird↩
2. ^[2]David A. Swanson, “How To Tell a Crow from A Blackbird?: 5 Key Differences,” Birdwatching United States of America, n.d., https://www.birdwatchingusa.org/crow-vs-blackbird↩

See updates through October 21, 2022, at end of post.

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Fig. 1. “President Ronald Reagan Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Billy Graham in the East Room, 2/23/1983.” Series: Reagan White House Photographs, 1/20/1981 – 1/20/1989, Collection: White House Photographic Collection, 1/20/1981 – 1/20/1989. Unknown Photographer, February 23, 1983, via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Economic systems are social constructions. One might suspect, however, that white Christian nationalists and other illiberals are really just jealous of the fervor that attends their observance. Read more →

Fig. 1. “Dilbert Classics,” by Scott Adams, for September 25, 2022, via GoComics newsletter, fair use.

The obvious interpretation of Scott Adams’ cartoon (figure 1) is that it refers to the ubiquitous terms of service and license agreements that, each and every single one of them, all say we should read them and which we don’t read because life is short and it’s all mumbo-jumbo anyway. The warning, of course, is that we might be agreeing to things, like Dilbert’s unicorn horn (figure 1), we might not intend.

Yawn. You’ve seen this lecture before and so have I. Read more →

See updates through November 10, 2022, at end of post.

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Fig. 1. “[O]riginal caption: ‘Burning at the stake. An illustration from an mid 19th century book,’ scan of woodcut (19th century?), submitted by mullica [pseud.] to Flickr, and thence by Speakfree [pseud.] May 31, 2011, to Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

As Vladimir Putin faces defeat in Ukraine and questions arise about his own longevity in power,^[1] I am thinking that Viktor Orbán in Hungary, who has been friendlier toward Putin than other European countries,^[2] and who has been lionized by white Christian nationalists in the U.S. as offering an example of what the U.S. should become,^[3] must be feeling a bit more isolated. Read more →

1. ^[1]Laurence Peter, “Ukraine war: Russian pop megastar Alla Pugacheva condemns conflict,” British Broadcasting Corporation, September 18, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62948146; Insider, “Municipal deputies in 18 Moscow and St. Petersburg districts demand Putin’s resignation,” September 12, 2022, https://theins.ru/en/news/254943; Julia Ioffe, “Fear and Loathing in Moscow,” Puck News, September 13, 2022, https://puck.news/fear-and-loathing-in-moscow/; Allison Quinn, “Moscow Officials Urge Putin to GTFO: ‘Everything Went Wrong,’” Daily Beast, September 10, 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/moscow-officials-urge-vladimir-putin-to-give-up-power; Steve Rosenberg, “Megastar speaks out,” British Broadcasting Corporation, September 18, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62948146↩
2. ^[2]Drew Hinshaw and Laurence Norman, “Hungary’s Orban Keeps EU Guessing Over Russian Oil Embargo,” Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/hungarys-orban-keeps-eu-guessing-over-russian-oil-embargo-11653053395↩
3. ^[3]Zack Beauchamp, “Ron DeSantis is following a trail blazed by a Hungarian authoritarian,” Vox, April 28, 2022, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/4/28/23037788/ron-desantis-florida-viktor-orban-hungary-right-authoritarian; Zsuzsanna Szelényi, “How Viktor Orbán Built His Illiberal State,” New Republic, April 5, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/165953/viktor-orban-built-illiberal-state; Ishaan Tharoor, “U.S. conservatives yearn for Orban’s Hungary,” Washington Post, August 4, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2021/08/04/american-conservatives-orban-hungary/; Ishaan Tharoor, “The Orbanization of America: The U.S. right walks in Hungary’s path,” Washington Post, May 17, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/17/viktor-orban-american-right-illiberal-orbanization/; Ishaan Tharoor, “The Orbanization of America: Florida shadows Hungary’s war on LGBTQ rights,” Washington Post, May 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/18/cpac-hungary-lgbtq-orban-florida-desantis/; Ishaan Tharoor, “The Orbanization of America: How to capture a democracy,” Washington Post, May 18, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/18/orban-democracy-trump-united-states-elections-hungary/; Ishaan Tharoor, “Orban at CPAC brings the ‘far-right international’ into focus,” Washington Post, August 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/08/04/orban-hungary-far-right-international-cpac-conservative/↩

Fig. 1. “A scholar in his study,” oil on canvas by Rembrandt, 1634, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Surely I have commented in this space that no standardized test measures anything other than a particular form of literacy.^[1] This is very specifically why people of color often challenge such tests as racially biased.

How are they biased? I can’t tell you. I’m white. I don’t see it like a person of color can. But in the tests I’ve taken, I certainly do recall that there were a number of questions that were more open to interpretation than the multiple choice selections, implying that a single correct answer could be chosen from those offered, would suggest. Read more →

1. ^[1]I lack a proper citation for this. I learned it in my final semester at California Institute of Integral Studies, the one I had to withdraw from, due to a financial aid screw-up relating to a failed attempt to change programs. Transformative Studies was the wrong program for me; I was attempting to get into the Social and Cultural Anthropology program. I wound up, much more happily at the now-defunct (or nearly so) Human Science program at Saybrook University.↩