#congress avenue

[travelella]

Texas Capitol, Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, USA

Mitchell Kmetz

[martyharrison]

[eopederson]

Snowy February, Pennsylvania Avenue SE Looking toward the Library of Congress Jefferson Building, Washington, DC, 1983.

As the winter of 2022-23 draws to an end, it has been the warmest winter on record in the Washington, DC area. There was no significant snowfall, and no accumulation, so this scene from the 1980s was not repeated.

[mike-jacque-c-the-world]

07/14/24 - Austin, TX - SUNSET OVER LADY BIRD LAKE - It’s 8:30 PM and we still haven’t seen the famous summer evening bat emergence at the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake. Maybe they’re waiting until dark. We can’t as our toddler granddaughter is making it very clear that we need to go home now. Oh well, at least we got to see this beautiful cityscape over the water at sunset. We’ll take it.

[mapsoffun]

One of the more unusual things to check out in Austin is the Congress Avenue Bridge. Per Atlas Obsucra, it’s home to a colony of about 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats, and from late spring through early fall (May to November), you can watch them come out at dusk in a huge swarm as they start to look for food. I wasn’t there in time for that, but right by the bridge is a nice little platform where you can get a good look at the bridge, and while you can’t see the bats, you can definitely hear them. It’s a little bit creepy but incredibly interesting, and I’ve been told that Arlo Grey is a great restaurant to get a good view of the bats while maintaining a good amount of distance. Unfortunately the restaurant wasn’t open during our stay, or I would have definitely encouraged us all to meet up there to check it out for ourselves.

[wilwheaton]

It’s urgent to understand that Trump is not selecting his cabinet as much as he is creating his own reality, and daring our broken institutions like Congress, the Democratic Party and the mainstream media to point out these picks are buck naked as they parade criminally down Fifth Avenue on horseback. The reality-based community — from Maureen Dowd to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to America’s fireside von Hindenburg in President Joe Biden — are all treating the incoming Trump like another president, when he is busy turning his unreality into our new reality, and ruling as a dictator.

The real reason Trump picked a sex fiend, dog killer, and anti-vaxxer for his cabinet

[dontforgetukraine]

Today we were at ICRC office in Washington DC. Keep calling your members of Congress and make plans to vote. Join us tomorrow back at 17th NW and Pennsylvania Avenue by Eisenhower Executive office building from 5-6pm. —Ukraine Rally DC

[gottalottarocks]

Are you an American? Frustrated by the political process? Do you feel like you have no voice in our government? Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of public comments. 

This is where federal agencies propose new regulations asking for public feedback:

Regulations.gov

Here's a step by step on how to navigate this:

Look through the proposals on the explore tab and filter by "Proposed Rule". These are the regulations that have been proposed, but not finalized. 

If you click on these, they are pretty dense, text heavy explanations of the proposed rule changes. I definitely do a lot of googling when trying to understand what I'm reading. Also there are a lot of different topics here and I definitely don't comment on everything.

This is how you make a public comment. For example, for this proposed rule:

Start a new document and write the subject and docket number. Your comment NEEDS to have the docket number for them to count it most of the time, and the correct subject some of the time.

^^ this is ambiguous, but add the docket ID and subject just to be safe, it should look like this:

Ref: Docket ID No. NSD 104

Provisions Pertaining to Preventing Access to Americans' Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and U.S. Government-Related Data by Countries of Concern

Then address to the person at the very very end of the page. 

Scroll all the way to the end:

^^this is the person you address to. 

Then introduce yourself. If you have experience related to the proposed rule, talk about that. For rules related to the environment and public health I say that I'm a geologist with a master's degree and I work in environmental remediation. Otherwise, I just say I'm a concerned citizen. 

Then I say hey I agree/ disagree with this proposed rule and here's why. Oftentimes there will be lists that the federal agency is asking for specific feedback on.

Commenting on these will have a lot of impact. 

Here's an example comment I forgot to post for a rule regarding methane emissions in the oil and gas industry:

Administrator Michael Regan The United States Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460

Ref: Docket ID No. __ Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems Dear Administrator Regan, My name is __ and I am writing to you as a geologist and graduate of ___.  I currently work in ____. Thank you for your interest in reducing methane pollution, which I believe to be one of the most important aspects in reducing the harm caused by the climate crisis. Within the short term, methane is a much more powerful force of global warming than carbon dioxide. It breaks down faster than carbon dioxide— but it traps significantly more heat that should be bouncing back into space. When scientists talk about taking our foot off the gas pedal in regards to the climate crisis, methane is at the forefront of our minds. Natural gas is often proposed as a solution to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions (since it produces less carbon dioxide than coal plants), but these methane leaks are a serious threat to public health. Not only is methane hazardous, it’s ability to cause short-term superheating is contributing to the rapid increase in wildfires within the U.S. and globally, further degrading air quality. Last summer in NYC skies were orange, caused by ash from Canadian wildfires. As someone who sets up air monitoring equipment every day to ensure the surrounding community is not impacted from the disposal of hazardous waste, I have a unique opportunity to see on a day-to-day basis how air quality is degrading. I strongly support the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed waste emissions charge. For EPA’s implementation of the fee to fulfill Congress’s goals, the final regulation must continue to include key requirements including: ·       Regulatory compliance exemptions must only become available after final standards and plans are in effect in all states and that these plans are at least as strong as the EPA's 202 methane emissions proposal. Operators filing for exemption must also demonstrate full compliance across their facilities; ·       Strong and clear criteria must remain in place for operators seeking an exemption based on unreasonable permitting delays; ·       When operators seek an exemption for plugged wells, they must clearly demonstrate that their wells have been properly plugged and are no longer polluting; ·       Transparent calculations and methodologies to accurately determine an owner or operator’s net emissions; and ·       Strong verification protocols so that fee obligations accurately reflect reported emissions and that exemptions are only available once the conditions Congress set forth are met. I urge the EPA to quickly finalize this proposal with limited flaring, strengthened emissions standards for storage tanks, and a pathway for enhanced community monitoring. Thank you, ___________

And then paste your comment in or upload a document and submit! You will be asked to provide your name and address. Also the FCC will only take comments on their website, but the proposed rule will be posted on the federal regulations website I put above and they should have a link to the FCC website within that post. 

[manessha545]

Confitería del Molino, Buenos Aires, Argentina: The Confitería del Molino is an historical Art Nouveau style confitería in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in front of the Palace of the National Congress and the Congressional Plaza, on the intersection of Callao and Rivadavia avenues in the barrio of Balvanera. Wikipedia

[baambastic]

Blüdhaven

1310 Parkthorne Avenue

7:20 AM

“In more recent news, the Office of Foreign Asset Controls, a branch of the Department of the Treasury, has administered a total embargo on trade with the island nation of Santa Prisca. To comply with this action, Congress has issued a total recall to retailers on all products produced by companies based in the island nation, including the Zesti Cola Company.”

Dick shot up from the couch, nearly knocking over his can of Zesti in the process. “TIM!” he shouted. “Come over here! You gotta see this!”

“Too loud, Dick, jeez,” Tim responded, walking into the den with a bowl of cereal and a yawn. “What’s up?”

Rather than answering, Dick gestured to the still-ongoing news broadcast.

“As most of our viewers are likely aware, Zesti Cola, the namesake of the company, has been at the forefront of the soft drinks industry in the States since the late 19th century, rivaled only in popularity by Soder Cola. While Zesti Cola’s popularity has declined in recent years, the new embargo on trade with Santa Prisca will likely only accelerate that decline. Current CEO Nicodemus Branchwater was unavailable for comment.”

Dick looked back at Tim, whose face was painted with dazed horror. Dick grabbed the cereal bowl out of the kid’s hands before he could drop it.

Eventually, Tim managed to tear his eyes away from the silver-screened harbinger of doom to meet Dick’s gaze. “We have to do something about this, right?” Tim intoned, more of a plea than a question.

Dick nodded seriously. “Did you bring your suit?”

Tim quirked his lip in a slight frown. “Left it at home. Didn’t think I’d need it for the couple days I’m here.”

Dick waved off Tim’s concern. “That’s fine. We were gonna need to stop by the Cave for a ride anyway. Let me grab my costume and we can get going.” Dick ruffled the kid’s hair on the way past to his bedroom.

The way Tim’s face lit up at the gesture could have powered Blüdhaven for a year.

[trb752]

Fountain Motel, 1930s, Central Avenue, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, USA

Photo credit: John Margolies/Library of Congress

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil women march against bill tightening abortion ban

Thousands of women protested on Saturday against a bill advancing in Brazil's conservative Congress that would equate abortions after 22 weeks of pregnancy to homicide and establish sentences of six to 20 years in prison.

The demonstrators marched along Sao Paulo's main Paulista Avenue carrying banners rejecting the proposal, which they call the most repressive approach to women's reproductive rights in decades.

People of all ages, including many retirees and children, filled the streets chanting, "A child is not a mother, a rapist is not a father."

Abortion is allowed in Brazil only in cases of rape, fetal deformation or when the mother's life is in danger. If the bill backed by evangelical lawmakers becomes law, abortions by rape victims would be considered homicide after 22 weeks gestation.

Continue reading.

[corporationsarepeople]

“It’s urgent to understand that Trump is not selecting his cabinet as much as he is creating his own reality, and daring our broken institutions like Congress, the Democratic Party, and the mainstream media to point out that these picks are buck naked as they parade criminally down Fifth Avenue on horseback. The reality-based community — from Maureen Dowd to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to America’s fireside von Hindenburg in President Joe Biden — are all treating the incoming Trump like another president when he is busy turning his unreality into our new reality and ruling as a dictator.”

Hell of a great piece by Will Bunch.

[archivaltrigger]

“Because the US government was not acting on mass shootings, we directly attacked a trait Americans are most known for: their pride in their country. Change the Ref created the Shamecards, a postcard collection designed to demand gun law reform from Congress. Subverting the traditional greeting cards that depict each city’s landmarks, ours show what cities are becoming known for.”

shamecards.org

There is 54 cards total representing:

Annapolis — Maryland: Capital Gazette Shooting

Atlanta — Georgia: Day Trading Firm Shootings

Benton — Kentucky: Marshall County High School Shooting

Bethel — Alaska: Regional High School Shooting

Binghamton — New York: Binghamton Shooting

Blacksburg — Virginia: Virginia Tech Massacre

Camden – New Jersey: Walk of Death Massacre

Charleston — South Carolina: Charleston Church Shooting

Charlotte — North Carolina: 2019 University Shooting

Cheyenne — Wyoming: Senior Home Shooting

Chicago — Illinois: Medical Center Shooting

Clovis — New Mexico: Clovis Library Shooting

Columbine — Colorado: Columbine

Dayton — Ohio: Dayton Shooting

Edmond — Oklahoma: Post Office Shooting

El Paso — Texas: El Paso Shooting

Ennis — Montana: Madison County Shooting

Essex Junction — Vermont: Essex Elementary School Shooting

Geneva — Alabama: Geneva County Massacre.

Grand Forks — North Dakota: Grand Forks Shooting

Hesston — Kansas: Hesston Shooting

Honolulu — Hawaii: First Hawaiian Mass Shooting

Huntington — West Virginia: New Year's Eve Shooting

Indianapolis — Indiana: Hamilton Avenue Murders

Iowa City — Iowa: University Shooting

Jonesboro — Arkansas: Middle School Massacre

Kalamazoo — Michigan: Kalamazoo Shooting

Lafayette — Louisana: Lafayette Shooting

Las Vegas — Nevada: Las Vegas Strip Shooting

Madison — Maine: Madison Rampage

Meridian — Mississippi: Meridian Company Shooting

Moscow — Idaho: Moscow Rampage

Nashville — Tennessee: Nashville Waffle House shooting

Newtown — Connecticut: Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

Omaha — Nebraska: Westroads Mall shooting

Orlando — Florida: Pulse Nightclub Shooting

Parkland — Florida: Parkland School Shooting

Pelham — New Hampshire: Wedding Shooting

Pittsburgh — Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting

Prices Corner — Delaware: Delaware Shooting

Red Lake — Minnesota: Indian Reservation Shooting

Roseburg — Oregon: Umpqua Community Collage Shooting

Salt Lake City — Utah: Salt Lake City Mall Shooting

San Diego — California: San Ysidro Massacre

Santa Fe — Texas: Santa Fe School Shooting

Schofield — Wisconsin: Marathon County Shooting

Seattle — Washington: Capitol Hill Massacre

Sisseton — South Dakota: Sisseton Massacre

St. Louis — Missouri: Power Plant Shooting

Sutherland Springs — Texas: Sutherland Springs Church Shooting

Tucson — Arizona: Tocson Shooting

Wakefield — Massachusetts: Tech Company Massacre

Washington — D.C.: Navy Yard Shooting

Westerly — Rhode Island: Assisted-Living Complex Rampage

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I've had a few people tell me that they think JD Vance will be president within the year, but I don't buy that. There are a lot of avenues for Donald Trump to leave office, and not a single one of them seems plausible to me.

He's probably not going to die of natural causes. He's about four years younger than Joe Biden, meaning he's basically the same age today as Biden was back in 2021; the fact that Joe Biden is still alive, and the fact that Trump's mom lived to be 88 and his dad lived to be 93, mean it's very likely Trump will still be alive well into the 2030s (if he matches Jimmy Carter, he'll make it to 2046... God help us all...)

He probably won't be assassinated. After the attempt in July, he's sure to get the highest level of secret security any human being has ever had. Nobody will be able to get close to him. (I'm still convinced the attempt was a false flag; he had a squib of fake blood behind his ear, the "shooter" was a patsy, and the secret service shot some random schmuck in the crowd to make it look real; but that's just a theory, a Conspiracy Theory™, thanks for watching!)

He will never be impeached because he owns the House and Senate; every single member who voted against him in 2021 is either gone or has announced plans to leave very soon. Mitt Romney was safe in Utah, but he chose to retire rather than face a primary challenge from a diehard Trump supporter. No Republican in Congress will ever defy Trump again, not when he's the one who appointed the majority of the Supreme Court (methinks Thomas and Alito may resign soon so they doesn't end up pulling a Ginsburg by dying with a future Democrat in office; if not them, Roberts will almost certainly be blackmailed/bribed to retire like Kennedy in 2018).

JD Vance and the cabinet will probably never invoke the 25th amendment to remove him. Trump is not a smart man, but he has the world's strongest self-preservation instinct. I concede that he's easy enough to manipulate because he surrounds himself with opportunistic yes men who know how to butter him up and betray him when it becomes convenient (look at the staff turnover from his first term, all the sycophants who turned around and wrote tell-all books which nobody has ever bothered to read), but I think he has enough true loyalists in his pocket to warn him of any potential schemes behind the scenes. I don't think a majority of his cabinet picks would ally themselves against him because they'd be politically crucified. The rest of the party would back him 100%; Donald Trump IS the Republican Party, so no faction within it can get rid of him, and the mouth-breathers who voted for him would riot if they tried.

I don't think there exists a single scenario in any universe across any possible multiverse in the totality of creation in which Donald Trump would choose to resign from office under his own free will. None. That will NEVER happen. He is a narcissist who relishes in having complete control over his party; he is their face, their voice, their avatar. He is not the kind of person who would willingly step out of the limelight and pass the torch to someone else. Even when he's out of office in 2029 he'll still be president vicariously through whichever successor the Democrats fail to defeat. He's never going to disappear; Ronald Reagan disappeared because he had Alzheimer's and was embarrassed of being seen in public as he deteriorated, but Trump has no shame and none of his family members care enough about him to keep him at home when his mind is gone, they'll parade his catatonic husk around until he dies, and even then he'll have enough instinct left in him to smile and give thumbs up for the camera.

JD Vance will almost certainly get Trump's endorsement in 2028 and effectively run unopposed the same way Trump did in 2024 (nominal opposition that never stood a snowball's chance in hell; Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley were NEVER going to get the nomination over Trump), but I don't think he's going to become president before then. Trump won't let him.

[1264doghouse]

Summer girl at stoop on 61st Street between 1st and 3rd Avenues, New York, New York, 1938 in a photograph by Walker Evans for the Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress.