“Never before in our nation’s history have our elections been so threatened by fraud and unconstitutional procedures,” Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, wrote in a Dec. 13, 2020, email. She was right about that, but was talking about Trump and herself, although you&#[...]
Archive for June, 2022
Are meatpackers gouging us?
Prices for eggs, chicken, beef, pork, and fish are rising much faster than inflation (see chart below). Consumer advocates claim meatpackers like Tyson are price-gouging. Biden argues they can do it because of the meatpacking industry’s monopolistic character. Let’s check this out. Sharp[...]
June 9th, 2022 - 2:58 pm § in Science
Extinct tortoise found alive!
The last time anybody saw a live Chelonoidis phantasticus was in 1906. But there she is. The tortoise (photo, left) was found on a little-explored volcanic island in the Galápagos archipelago, which helps explain how she crawled under the radar so long. “Everything we knew about this species sai[...]
June 9th, 2022 - 2:28 pm § in Politics
Nearly all House Republicans vote “no” on red-flag gun law
The House passed a bill today with almost no Republican votes “to nationalize red flag laws, which seek to keep guns away from individuals deemed a threat to themselves and others,” The Hill reported on Thursday, June 9, 2022 (read story here). This one seems like a no-brainer; 19 states[...]
June 8th, 2022 - 11:26 pm § in Misc.
Mountain rescue in the Jetpack age (video)
Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
June 8th, 2022 - 10:34 pm § in Misc.
A brief history of the world’s highest mountain
In the Middle Ages, Teide (12,188 feet), a volcano in the Tenerife Islands, was the world’s highest mountain. The Swiss Alps apparently hadn’t been noticed yet. For several centuries, Chimborazo (20,549 ft.) was the world’s highest mountain, or so people thought. Why wouldn’t[...]
June 8th, 2022 - 4:45 pm § in Law and Courts, Politics
GOP opposed this judicial nominee because she helped free innocent people
Nina Morrison, a lawyer who “spent the last 20 years being the senior litigation counsel at the New York-based Innocence Project, an organization focused on exonerating wrongly convicted people through DNA testing,” was confirmed to a federal judgeship by a 53-46 vote on Wednesday, June [...]
June 7th, 2022 - 10:44 pm § in Economics
How 2022 gas rationing works
There’s only so much oil and refinery capacity. Not enough to go around. So rationing is in effect. Gas is being rationed by the free market, not the government. It goes to those with government-printed rationing coupons that look like this (photo, left). Drivers with the most coupons get the [...]
June 7th, 2022 - 1:37 am § in Politics
Assault rifle age to stay 18
GOP Senate gun bill negotiators refuse to raise age limit on assault rifles. Read story here Related story: A post-Uvalde poll here says 44% of Republicans believe their “freedom” to own guns requires us to accept mass shootings as a part of daily life. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
June 7th, 2022 - 12:32 am § in Foreign Affairs, Russia
Understanding Putin’s Russia (video)
This 39-minute video is very up-to-date (as of June 2022) and explains what drives Putin’s thought process and wars. It’s the work of a Dallas YouTuber named Joseph Pisenti (profile here), who’s also a book author (here). If he has a c.v. (degrees, etc.), beyond describing himself [...]