Most Americans first heard of Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky when Trump tried to blackmail him for dirt on Biden. Based on what we now know about Russia and Trump, and Putin’s designs on Ukraine, that may have been just an excuse to block the military aid Congress wanted to send to Ukraine.[...]
Archive for September, 2022
September 29th, 2022 - 12:01 am § in Science
Why doesn’t Seattle get hurricanes?
Because we have too many Democrats here, and hurricanes prefer Republicans. Hee hee, just kidding. Actually, because the Pacific Ocean is too cold, and West Coast winds blow in the wrong direction. Hurricanes are an equatorial belt phenomenon, not least because they get their energy from warm water,[...]
September 28th, 2022 - 9:49 pm § in Misc.
Is Muztagh Tower steep as it looks?
Vittorio Sella’s famous 1909 photograph of the 23,871′ Karakoram peak (left photo below) made jaws drop. But is it actually as steep as it looks? Wikipedia says (here), “Nearly fifty years after Sella’s photo was taken, in 1956, his photograph inspired two expeditions to race[...]
September 28th, 2022 - 9:15 pm § in Misc.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Karakoram
For jagged soaring peaks, no other place is like it. Center, Baintha Brakk (“the Ogre”), 23,901′. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
September 28th, 2022 - 12:12 am § in Politics
Look who’s buying guns now
Gun proliferation in America started with white male conservatives. The GOP and gun lobby have been very successful at removing restrictions on guns. Brandishing guns is even becoming a form of political speech. But guess what, the Second Amendment either applies to everybody or nobody; and now libe[...]
September 27th, 2022 - 9:27 pm § in Law and Courts, Republicans
Rioter who assaulted Officer Fanone gets 7 years in prison
Michael Fanone is the D.C. police officer who was “dragged by a mob down the Capitol steps, beaten with pipes, stunned with a Taser and threatened with his own gun” (per Wikipedia, here) during the Jan. 6 insurrection. He never fully recovered and is no longer in police work. Kyle Young[...]
September 27th, 2022 - 5:41 pm § in Economics
A cynic’s view of falling home and stock prices
After the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve flooded the financial system with money to create a “wealth effect.” Your house isn’t worth more, but if it has a higher dollar value (because dollars are worth less), you’ll feel richer and spend more. That’s the theory behind “w[...]
September 27th, 2022 - 2:28 am § in Russia
Will Putin suffer the tsar’s fate?
Tsar Nicholas II, the guy who was shot in a shabby cellar along with his entire family, was warned by his advisers not to assume personal command of the Russian army. If he did, they said, and the war was lost, he would be blamed. Well, we know how that turned out (watch video here). […][...]
September 27th, 2022 - 1:19 am § in Politics, Republicans
If the GOP wins the House, this is their plan
Would you vote for this? I won’t. Read story and details here. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
September 26th, 2022 - 6:56 pm § in Russia
A day we almost didn’t survive
The Soviet Union’s ICBM detection system was clunky with large gaps in radar coverage. We knew it, and they knew it. That made the Soviets jumpy, and the Cold War more dangerous. The faults of their system very nearly triggered an accidental nuclear war on Monday, September 26, 1983. A single [...]