America’s democracy is a delicate balance. In theory, the Supreme Court acts as a check on the two elected branches, so neither gets out of control. But what if the Court allies itself with one of those branches against the other, or gets out of control itself? Labels are squirrely, and often [...]
Archive for October 26th, 2020
October 26th, 2020 - 7:41 pm § in Politics
Minnesota shuts down company’s scheme to post private armed guards at polls
What were they thinking? Faced with lawsuits and state enforcement actions, a Tennessee company that planned to recruit special forces veterans to work as armed “guards” at Minnesota polling places in violation of election laws has scrapped the scheme. The company, Atlas Aegis, agreed on[...]
October 26th, 2020 - 7:10 pm § in China, Foreign Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard to patrol South China Sea fisheries
The U.S. has decided to gamble on sending lightly armed coast guard vessels to the South China Sea to counter China’s increasingly aggressive “illegal and unregulated” fishing and harassment of foreign fishing vessels. (Read story here.) In July 2020, Defense Secretary Mark Esper a[...]
Why some people like Loren Culp
This article contains news and liberal commentary. Loren Culp, who is the entire police force of Republic, Washington, a remote mining town, is running for governor. He won’t be elected. But folks in his neck of the woods love him to death, and even sell Loren Culp souvenirs including hats and[...]
October 26th, 2020 - 2:46 pm § in Law and Courts
“All lives splatter”
This article contains news and liberal commentary Summer Taylor, 24, was killed on July 4, 2020, while on a closed freeway with other protesters in downtown Seattle by a driver who entered the freeway by driving the wrong way on an exit ramp, maneuvered around barriers, and then drove through the cr[...]
October 26th, 2020 - 12:51 pm § in Law and Courts
CRIME: Money doesn’t grow on trees, so they steal the trees
‘Twas the night before harvest, they came on ATVs under a harvest moon, and stripped the grapes off the vines. Probably to make wine in a bathtub. Read story here. It’s hardly a unique crime; it’s happened before (e.g., here), and it has become a frequent problem in France’s [...]
October 26th, 2020 - 11:56 am § in Politics
Who votes, who doesn’t (chart)
Age, education, and income are the most significant factors. Click on chart to enlarge. Story here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lightning
Ash clouds from volcanic eruptions contain a lot of static electricity that produces lightning. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
October 26th, 2020 - 11:40 am § in Politics
Trump supporter rampages through Biden neighborhood in stolen bulldozer
James Blight, 26, claims he was drunk and doesn’t remember stealing a bulldozer from a construction site and rampaging through a neighborhood tearing up Biden yard signs in Haines City, Florida, on Saturday, October 24, 2020. A neighbor isn’t buying it. “He claimed he was drunk, bu[...]