The Panjshir Valley “is a natural fortress … no government – foreign or Afghan – has ever taken and held it by force. Panjshiri leaders have always made it clear … the valley is part of Afghanistan on its own terms.” There’s only one road in or out, and it’s a chokep[...]
Archive for August, 2021
August 18th, 2021 - 10:12 pm § in Law and Courts, Racism
Racist “Karen” ordered to pay BLM protesters
A former ice cream shop owner, who has relocated to another state, has been ordered to pay $500 each to 9 “peaceful” Black Lives Matters protesters he’s accused of harassing under a recently-passed New York “anti-Karen” law (read story here). The man’s actions wer[...]
August 18th, 2021 - 9:55 pm § in Health, Israel/Palestine
Where the push for booster shots is coming from
Israel has high vaccination (78% of population over 12) and infection rates. “More than half are in fully vaccinated people, underscoring the extraordinary transmissibility of the Delta variant and stoking concerns that the benefits of vaccination ebb over time,” Science magazine says (a[...]
August 18th, 2021 - 8:52 pm § in Misc.
Chojnice Nazi massacre
Chojnice, Poland, was the site of multiple Nazi massacres. The town was captured on September 1, 1939, the first day of World War 2, and Germans began murdering locals by the end of the month. In January 1945, with defeat approaching, they executed hundreds of captive Polish resistance fighters in t[...]
August 18th, 2021 - 8:27 pm § in Misc.
The aluminum Stradivarius
Nobody seems able to make a Stradivarius today. They’re non-replicable. Do they make a different sound? Blind studies have suggested expert musicians can’t tell Strads from other well-made violins. But they are well-preserved. All sorts of people have tried to figure out what makes Strad[...]
The infomercial governor
The governor who’s against prevention sells cures. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for opposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor’s company has invested millions of dollars,” Huffington[...]
Help wanted
Given a tight labor market, I’d guess these jobs will go unfilled. Read story here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
Afghan debacle increases risk of war between U.S. and China
A couple days ago I wrote (here), “I’m concerned about a couple of things. One is whether our withdrawal from Afghanistan will be interpreted in Beijing as a lack of resolve and embolden China’s dictator to attack Taiwan.” I wasn’t imagining things. And it didn’t take lon[...]
How to handle booster backlash
“Global health advocates are pushing back on the Biden administration’s anticipated plans to start offering Americans a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine, arguing it will only deepen global inequalities,” The Hill reported on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. “Biden officials are s[...]
August 16th, 2021 - 5:35 pm § in Environment
Water rationing is coming to the Colorado River
Using the Mississippi River as a dividing line, the eastern U.S. is wet, the western U.S. is dry (see map of mean annual precipitation here). The American West is dependent on rivers, fed by mountain snowmelt, and its economy depends heavily on reclamation projects involving the damming of rivers. A[...]