Intergalactic Planetary Planetary Intergalactic

http://childpsychiatryassociates.com/treatment-team/ronald-hilliard/ Now that Mars is old hat, this week’s FactSlap column comes with a Venus twist:

  • Venus is often called Earth’s twin because it is the closest planet in size to Earth. Scientists estimate the diameter of Venus at about 7,520 miles, making it approximately 400 miles smaller in diameter than Earth.
  • Venus travels around the sun in a nearly circular orbit, with its average distance from the sun varying only slightly throughout the orbit. It takes the planet approximately 225 Earth days to travel completely around the sun, compared to Earth’s 365 days.
  • With its faster orbit around the sun, Venus overtakes Earth every 584 Earth days, changing from an evening star (visible after sunset) to a morning star (visible before sunrise), and then vice versa.
  • Venus is one of only two planets that rotates on its axis clockwise from east to west. The only other planet to do so is Uranus.
  • Because Venus rotates very slowly on its axis (taking 243 days to make a complete rotation), a day on Venus is longer than its year.
  • Venus is constantly covered by thick clouds of sulfuric acid, through which no visible light can penetrate. For this reason, astronomers have been unable to view the planet’s features through optical telescopes. Most of the knowledge about Venus’ surface has been gained through radar images acquired from U.S. and Soviet space probes.
  • When seen from Earth, Venus is brighter than any other planet or any star in the sky. At certain times of the year, it is the first planet or star visible in the western sky at night—and at other times, it is the last planet or star visible in the morning.
  • Approximately 65% of Venus’ surface is covered in flat, smooth plains, and the remaining 35% is made up of six mountainous regions. The mountain range Maxwell, which is about seven miles high and 540 miles long, is the highest feature on the planet.
  • Venus has far fewer impact craters (created when a planet and an asteroid collide) on its surface than Mercury, Mars, and Earth’s moon, leading geologists to believe that the current surface of the planet is less than one billion years old.
  • The atmosphere of Venus is heavier than the atmosphere of any other planet. It is made up primarily of carbon dioxide and exerts an estimated 1,323 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure on the planet, roughly 90 times more pressure than Earth’s atmosphere

The Silence of the Sheep

(From The Bulwark)

Liz Cheney’s tenure as an official member of House Leadership ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Cheney came to the Hill looking for a fight and her opponents simply scattered.

Last night as she strode into the House chamber to deliver a speech, setting the parameters about the meaning of her ouster, all but one of her fellow Republicans—who insist that former President Trump remain leader of the GOP—scurried out of the chamber. They couldn’t even bear to hear the words she would speak.

If they’d stayed, they wouldn’t have had much of an answer. They would have to explain their willingness to participate in the 2020 election lies that led to the January 6 insurrection, a plain fact many of them freely admitted weeks ago.

As Cheney said: “This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans. Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence, while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”

When the time came to hold the vote on Wednesday morning, there were no speeches from the members looking to remove her. Only Cheney spoke. And she faced her fate wearing a replica pin of the George Washington battle flag given to her by her mother. The symbolism was clear.

As she brandished that flag, in the end, Cheney’s Republican colleagues couldn’t muster the courage to hold a roll call vote to get rid of her. No one was willing to put their names on the record against her.

There wasn’t even a secret ballot. Because while a secret ballot would protect individual Republicans from accountability, it still would have recorded an actual tally—the number of Republicans who voted to out her. Instead, Cheney’s leadership was terminated in the most cowardly manner possible: a voice vote.

This way there is no paper trail. No speeches recorded in the record. No video, even, of Republicans in the chamber reacting to Cheney’s Tuesday night speech. Republicans can say that both everyone and no one was against her. It’s as if the entire episode never happened.

The silence of Cheney’s opposition says it all. They can run for now, but they can’t hide from this fight forever. They asked for it.