Dale Carnegie (bio here, unrelated to the steel magnate) was a self-improvement guru who’s famous for his 1936 book, How to Win Friends & Influence People. The title is self-explanatory, and the book is still popular (get it here). South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem either didn’t read the[...]
Archive for May, 2024
May 16th, 2024 - 4:04 pm § in Business, Law and Courts
Federal consumer agency survives Supreme Court test
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), brainchild of former law professor Elizabeth Warren, now a U.S. Senator, has survived a crucial legal test in the Supreme Court, which issued a 7-2 decision upholding its funding mechanism on Thursday, May 16, 2024 (read story here). Warren proposed a[...]
Romney asserts Biden should have pardoned Trump
Sen. Mitt Romney (aka Pierre Delecto, pictured at left; for explanation, go here) declared Biden “should have pardoned Donald Trump on all federal criminal charges the moment they were announced,” The Guardian reported (here) on May 15, 2024. This should instantly strike you as anomalous (it did[...]
May 16th, 2024 - 2:28 am § in Politics, Republicans
Washington GOPer calls democracy “bad idea” (video)
This was a speech at the 2024 Washington State Republican Party convention in Spokane. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
May 15th, 2024 - 10:17 pm § in Law and Courts, Misc.
Finders isn’t keepers
If you buy stolen goods, they aren’t yours. This applies even if you didn’t know they were stolen, i.e. you’re what the law terms an “innocent” or “good faith” purchaser. Museums and collectors who buy stolen artworks must return them to the rightful owners.[...]
May 15th, 2024 - 8:01 pm § in Business
Union-busting at REI?
The beatings will stop when morale improves the union organizers leave. Employees bitterly mutter that old joke about morale when heavy-handed management gets on their nerves. When many people think about REI, they think of a laid-back outdoorsy company reminiscent of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinar[...]
May 15th, 2024 - 7:07 pm § in Misc.
GOP legislators vote to ban masks, even for health reasons
North Carolina GOP legislators voted on May 15, 2024, to “ban anyone from wearing masks in public, even for health reasons,” The Hill reported (read story here). Their bill also repeals a law adopted during the pandemic that “allows people to wear masks in public for health and saf[...]
Money can’t buy love or elections
Money can’t buy love, and sometimes not elections, either. Increasingly, Congress is a preserve of the very rich, with more candidates self-funding campaigns (see story here). Retail liquor magnate David Trone is an example of the breed. When Trone ran in Maryland for a House seat in 2016, he spe[...]
May 15th, 2024 - 2:44 am § in Environment
2023 was hot Hot HOT
Scientists use tree rings, ice cores, and coral reefs to reconstruct Earth’s climate history because they act as time capsules. A tree-ring study published in Nature, a scientific journal, on May 14, 2024, concluded 2023 was the warmest year in “at least” 2,000 years (read CNN stor[...]
May 14th, 2024 - 11:24 pm § in Misc.
Seattle police entry pay hits six figures
The Seattle City Council approved a contract with the Seattle police union on May 14, 2024, that bumps starting pay from $83,000 to $103,000, with a raise to $110,000 after six months, the Seattle Times reported (story here). Existing officers will get retroactive raises for 2021-23 as a lump sum pa[...]