After the 2020 election, a cabal of rural northern Michigan election deniers persuaded several county clerks to hand over voting equipment, which they broke into hoping to prove the election was “stolen” from Trump. They obtained 5 machines from 5 counties (Barry, Genesee, Missaukee, Ros[...]
Archive for September, 2022
September 9th, 2022 - 12:01 am § in Law and Courts, Politics
Michigan election deniers’ voting machine thefts go to special prosecutor
September 8th, 2022 - 10:18 pm § in Donald Trump, Politics
Donald Trump, King of America
The Queen is dead. God save the Queen. Now Charles is king. Trump, trying to grab the spotlight as always, predicted (who cares?) that “King Charles III, who I have gotten to know well, will be a great and wonderful king.” (See story here.) That remains to be seen; the first King Charles[...]
U.S. life expectancy is dropping
Most Americans assume longevity is increasing, but lately it’s gone into reverse. From 2019 to 2021, average U.S. life expectancy dropped from 79 years to 76 years (see story here). Losing over a million Americans to Covid-19 obviously skewed the statistics. But U.S. life expectancy was alread[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 5:23 pm § in Misc.
Road to Rongbuk (video)
In October 2019 a group of 11 motorcyclists drove to Tibet’s Rongbuk Monastery. This video has spectacular views of distant high mountains, including Everest, which from the Tibetan Plateau probably is similar to viewing Mt. Rainier from the Puget Sound lowlands; both mountains rise roughly 13[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 2:09 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Rongbuk Monastery
Built in 1902 in Tibet at 16,434′ elevation, and destroyed during China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), it was rebuilt in the 1980s and is an active monastery again. This site figures prominently in prewar Everest climbing history. Formerly a 5-week overland trek from India, today it&[...]
September 8th, 2022 - 2:02 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lunag Ri
This 22,621-foot mountain in the Everest region wasn’t climbed until 2018, after failed attempts in 2015 and 2016. In the foreground is 19,050-foot high Nangpa La (pass), a traditional pilgrimage and trade foot route through the Himalayas between Nepal and Tibet. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
September 7th, 2022 - 11:02 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lingtren
This chisel-shaped 22,142-foot peak overlooks the Khumbu icefall and Western Cwn on Everest, and was climbed from Tibet by Eric Shipton and Dan Bryant of the 1935 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition. Based on the Himalayan Database, nobody has bothered since then. Return to The-Ave.US Ho[...]
Is Trump a housefly?
Biden paid a visit to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on September 1, 2022, but not as a tourist; using the birthplace of America’s freedom as a prop, he ripped into Trump’s MAGA movement as a threat to democracy (find my commentary here). David Frum, a political commentator and f[...]
Who’s the real moron?
Then there’s the sad, sad case of Richard Michetti, a Pennsylvania construction worker who texted his girlfriend from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, calling her a “moron” for not believing Trump’s election lies. He was sentenced on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, to 9 months in federal pris[...]
September 6th, 2022 - 10:12 pm § in Donald Trump, Law and Courts
Judge removes Capitol rioter from elective office
Couy Griffin (photo below) was an elected county commissioner in New Mexico until he was kicked out by a state judge. That happened on Tuesday, September 6, 2022 (read story here). Griffin is a crank, an election denier, and founder of Cowboys for Trump. A judge can’t remove an elected officia[...]