6 April 2024

Saturday notes on disquieting events

Preface and note to readers. I’ve been offline the last couple weeks because of a freak injury. A hangnail on my right middle finger became infected, requiring an 0200 visit the emergency room, where the abscess was drained in a safe but unpleasant little surgery. The finger is healing nicely, but for almost two weeks, because of pain and awkward bandages, I was unable to type efficiently. Now I can type almost normally.

Montana’s Republican representatives in Congress say “Tough luck, Zelensky, but you’re on your own.” See Peter Fox’s 3 April 2024 commentary in the Daily Montanan. Ukraine is in big trouble. It’s running out of soldiers (18–25-year-olds still can’t be drafted), and ammunition, but the U.S. House refuses to vote on President Biden’s request for ≈ $60 billion to buy Ukraine artillery shells, battlefield rockets, and air defense weaponry. Meanwhile, reports the NY Times, Russian forces are gaining ground in Ukraine, and much Ukrainian infrastructure — especially critical utilities such as electrical powerplants are being destroyed or damaged by bombs, missiles, and drones that Ukraine is having trouble intercepting because it’s short on supplies for its air defense systems.

Sen. Jon Tester has Ukraine’s back. But our three Republican blessing in Congress seem to regard Ukraine’s back as something to be stabbed.

Crackpot Republicans seem determined to throw a monkey wrench into President Biden’s efforts to make replacing the Francis Scott Key Bridge a top national priority. The issue? Money. Biden says the federal government should pay the whole tab, and is asking Congress for a clean bill to that effect. But the Freedom Caucus wants the ship owners to pay, a process that could take years and still not cover the cost of a new bridge.

As a matter of economics, the faster the replacement bridge is built and open, the quicker Baltimore’s economy recovers. The shorter the design and construction, the lower the true cost of the project and the sooner the profits from the reopened port roll in. Therefore, Congress should pass a clean bridge funding bill now, get the new bridge built, and go after the Dali’s owners later.

Biden’s involvement already is paying dividends. Two shallow channels are open, a deeper channel will be open by 30 April, and the main channel should be cleared and open to all traffic by the end of May. That timetable would not be possible without the active involvement of the nation’s head honcho.