‘Crumbling infrastructure’ no mere metaphor
A portion of a state highway in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania collapsed, and damaged two apartment buildings housing 8 people. Only by the grace of God (or luck, if you prefer) was nobody hurt. CBS Pittsburgh reports:
Two apartment buildings were destroyed when part of Route 30 collapsed in East Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“By the grace of God, I thank the Lord Jesus Christ that we got out in time because the way that building looked today, we would have been dead,” said Andrea Knox.
A screen grab of KDKA TV’s aerial view of the highway shows that it seems to have simply collapsed.
Evidently, further collapse is anticipated:
Crews have been clearing away debris all Saturday evening. Nearby, a white home sits and there’s only a matter of time before it could go too.
There is information about the poor residents forced from their homes, but nary a word in the article about the causes of the collapse. Let’s not mince words: we are well into third world territory here. How can this collapse be anything but evidence of criminal negligence? How can a local news report not even mention causes, or at least print that Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials refused comment on the causes, pending an investigation?
Get used to thinking of our beloved homeland as a third world country. This was not an act of nature.
Our military aircraft are falling from the skies in training exercises, and our highways are crumbling. Xi Jin-ping watches and wonders when the paper tiger of American power will be most vulnerable, and Americans wonder of that bridge ahead is really safe to cross.
We are in more trouble than we want to admit. While our public attention is focused on microaggressions and transgenders, we have neglected the fundamentals of a complex technological society.