I saw more political commentary on TV during the last few days than I'd seen during the past 6 months, partly due to the hotel's numerous TVs forever broadcasting Fox or CNN throughout the hotel: in the breakfast room, on the walls outside the elevators on each floor. I must've been feeling masochistic because I actually watched a bit of MSNBC one evening, on the TV in our room, when waiting for something else to begin. Missing Netflix is an unfortunate side effect of taking a trip away from home!
Those darn talking heads are so irritating! Back home on Saturday, after Netflixing we caught the later part of SNL. I was happy to see some of their skit writers must have been feeling the same - suffering from talking-headitis. Watch the skit HERE.
A level-headed article by Luigi Zingalesnov in the New York Times on 18 November:
The Right Way to Resist Trump is one of the few reasonably sane pieces on our political situation I've seen so far. A snip from the early paragraphs:
Five years ago, I warned about the risk of a Donald J. Trump presidency. Most people laughed. They thought it inconceivable.
I was not particularly prescient; I come from Italy, and I had already seen this movie, starring Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Italian government as prime minister for a total of nine years between 1994 and 2011. I knew how it could unfold.
Now that Mr. Trump has been elected president, the Berlusconi parallel could offer an important lesson in how to avoid transforming a razor-thin victory into a two-decade affair. If you think presidential term limits and Mr. Trump’s age could save the country from that fate, think again. His tenure could easily turn into a Trump dynasty.
Mr. Berlusconi was able to govern Italy for as long as he did mostly thanks to the incompetence of his opposition. It was so rabidly obsessed with his personality that any substantive political debate disappeared; it focused only on personal attacks, the effect of which was to increase Mr. Berlusconi’s popularity. His secret was an ability to set off a Pavlovian reaction among his leftist opponents, which engendered instantaneous sympathy in most moderate voters. Mr. Trump is no different.
We saw this dynamic during the presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton was so focused on explaining how bad Mr. Trump was that she too often didn’t promote her own ideas, to make the positive case for voting for her. The news media was so intent on ridiculing Mr. Trump’s behavior that it ended up providing him with free advertising.
Unfortunately, the dynamic has not ended with the election. Shortly after Mr. Trump gave his acceptance speech, protests sprang up all over America. What are these people protesting against? Whether we like it or not, Mr. Trump won legitimately. Denying that only feeds the perception that there are “legitimate” candidates and “illegitimate” ones, and a small elite decides which is which. If that’s true, elections are just a beauty contest among candidates blessed by the Guardian Council of clerics, just like in Iran..............
It's Music Monday - almost forgot! Something else we watched on TV in the hotel, on PBS - Friday, was Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs. I like Alan Cumming - I would wouldn't I, his birthday is the same day as mine, but his was many years later, of course. He's not a great vocalist by any means, but does know well, using his impressive acting abilities, how to present a song - that is very, very important. Here are YouTube clips of a couple of the numbers Alan sang in the show:
The Ladies Who Lunch
And in calmer mode - before he took his jacket off: Somewhere Only We Know
Paris, TX!!! Way back in my twenties, about once every year or two, I would drive from KS to Houston to visit a friend. I always drove the fast route, taking I35, which took me by Paris, TX, but not into the city. Had mechanical problems with the vehicle on one of my trips and had no choice but to have an overnighter right in the heart of the berg. Desolate and basic is my recollection...LOL. Definitely not a travel destination, but each to their own...half the journey is getting there, as is said. The "Eiffel Tower" in your photograph wasn't part of the landscape at that time:
ReplyDelete"Following a tradition of American cities named "Paris", a 65-foot (20 m) replica of the Eiffel Tower was constructed in 1993. In 1998, presumably as a response to the 1993 construction of a 70-foot (21 m) tower in Paris, Tennessee, the city placed a giant red cowboy hat atop the tower."
https://www.mapquest.com/us/tx/paris-282039951
I've read in a number of commentaries the comparison of Silvio Berlusconi to our very own twin bro-dude. Sigh. Mr Zingalesnov queries "why the protests?", since the election was "fair". Sure, it was straight-up "fair", but don't look under the doormat or question those small details, which will be tremendous fodder in the history books. I don't think the election, itself, is being questioned, unless one investigates Republican gerrymandering and voter repression. Like Berlusconi, the big question is how such a foul and unethical ass could even be considered as a candidate, yet actually win the election. Have stranger things happened?
Astrologer Jessica Adams provides an ominous prediction:
"One final comment on the American horoscope. We had our October surprise – when the FBI and Wikileaks rounded on Hillary Clinton. We are now in store for a December shock. So many of you have asked me about this. Will Trump be impeached? Will he resign? Will his helicopter crash? Will the Electoral College turn against him? The whole point of the December shock to come, in the final week of December, is that it’s a shock. But like all shocks that arrive with Uranus in the America chart, it will change the nation. America will face a constitutional crisis in December 2016 and January 2017 that results in a transformation of her voting system in 2019 and 2020, ahead of the next election. The national horoscope shows that very clearly."
https://www.jessicaadams.com/2016/11/18/the-us-horoscope-2016-through-2017/
mike ~ Though Paris Tx will have changed a lot since your overnight there years ago, it's still not a tourist destination of any stripe, but just another mid-size Texas town. Our original plan was to head deeper into East Texas, but enthusiasm didn't survive. We did visit a pretty small town about half an hour away from Paris, Sulphur Springs. It has one of those "ginger-bread" fairy tale looking court houses in the town square, magnolia tree-lined main street. Guys with cherry-pickers had put Christmas decor coloured shiny balls all over each tree down both sides of the street. That must have been a job and a half - I enjoyed visualising a couple of burly dudes doing it...lol! Trouble with Sulphur Springs, though, is that it's too small for the volume of cars. Town quare and streets choked up with parked vehicles. Pity!
ReplyDeleteRe fairness or otherwise of the election - both sides manipulated it, don't forget that! One would think that Clinton was something akin to Mother Teresa to read some rubbish out there now. The whole caboodle was an absolute disgrace, we're stuck with the result we have because Clinton was Clinton.
Oh dear - another ominous prediction, also known as click-bait. We shall see.
mike ~ Have now read Jessica Adams' article. She is obviously a staunch Clintonite.
ReplyDeleteShe's probably an excellent and skilled astrologer, but personal preferences tend to blur things, do they not? She's seeing what she wants to see - we all do it. She's the first astrologer I've seen saying that Trump's birth data is suspect. I'm not aiming to defend Donald Trump, at all, I'm trying to point out that objectivity in astrology is hard, especially in circumstances such as these, and I suspect Ms Adams has lost hers in this loaded atmosphere. It's very apparent in her words and in her responses to comments, also interesting.
Clinton won the popular vote - but mostly from California's input, and New York's, they are not the entire United States - even if they like to think they are, or think they should be.
What would be good right now - a bit of calm, a bit of level-headedness. Bernie displays this more than most, in saying that he's ready and willing to assist Trump in his declared efforts to reduce inequality, but will strongly oppose him regarding any show of bigotry or racism.
And I'd say that your words indicate that you are anti-Clinton...LOL! It's very difficult for anyone to be objective right now, whether for, against, or neutral to Trump and-or Clinton...and that includes both of us. Everyone has their assessment, conclusion, and expression of such. There's an amazing amount of trolling in the comment sections of essays on the liberal websites that I wouldn't anticipate the pro-Trump and anti-Clinton people to bother reading. I don't venture over to the dark side, alt-right websites, so don't know how the comments shake-out on those.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Trump's time of birth, either...think I mentioned it a while back. I find it difficult to believe he's 29*58' Leo (I don't care if that's conjunct Regulus), as that essentially puts Virgo on the Asc and in the bulk of his first house. It takes about two hours to pass through one sign on the Asc, or about four minutes per degree of sign. Does he seem Virgoan to me? No! His birth certificate has been challenged a number of times, as Jessica Adams states. I don't remember the anecdotal source, but there's an indication he was born an hour earlier, placing his Asc in mid-Leo. Now, mid-Leo does seem appropriate to me. Mars would be conjunct Asc in first house, Pluto conjunct Asc in twelfth house. That hour-earlier would put his MC closer to Sun-Uranus, too, and MC in Gemini.
I further agree with Jessica Adams that his house positions don't jive with "expectations", though planetary aspects do provide insight. Assuming that he was born an hour earlier, his Moon is only off by half a degree, probably sitting on his S Node.
mike (again) ~ You're darn right I'm anti-Clinton, but then I don't set myself up as a professional astrologer and charge for my wares. There's the difference!
ReplyDeleteI suspect that there'd be some way, using astrology's fullest tool box, along with one's own preferences, engraved deeply into one's brain, and either Democratic or Republican media screeching on, and on in both ears, to find things that chime with whatever one would like them to chime with. That, in my opinion, is astrology's Achilles' heel. As you've said, we're all susceptible to it, but we admit it - do Ms Adams and her peers though?
I don't have an opinion about Trump's BC, whether Regulus conjoins his ascendant or not, I do see him as having Leo rising, and I do see him as having characteristics of a leader. I said so from the first time I saw him in the first Republican debate - adding that it would not necessarily be "a good leader" but a leader nonetheless. I still think the same. How could one argue that? He is a shrewd, crafty, occasionally dirty leader who tapped into a need and into a vacuum left by money-grubbin' Democrats led by the Clintons.
Yes, I am anti-Clinton by golly!!
mike ~
ReplyDelete;-) On a friendlier note....how are you feeling healthwise? Did doc help any?
No, doctor's second opinion provided minimal additional information. She semi-chastised me for not following the gastroenterologist's assessment and plan for ulcers, then acquiesced that my symptoms didn't seem to match gastro's A&P and perhaps my gall bladder self-diagnosis has merit, but with the caveat that she's a GP and not a gastroenterologist. She said my aberrant laboratory results indicated an infection, severe dehydration, and severe inflammation of some sort. She advised me to visit the ER next time. And I paid a $34 copay for that. She offered a referral to another gastroenterologist, but added that Medicare may not pay for more testing, so I declined.
ReplyDeleteI had another attack a week ago, but didn't leave me incapacitated like the one on September 7th. I've heard so many stories of people going to the ER for this type of problem, but not receiving a valid diagnosis until several ER visits later. My mother had her gall bladder removed under critical conditions, because she'd gone to the ER several times and they would send her home with a diagnosis of flu.
Thanks for inquiring. If I don't comment for a while, I'm either in the hospital or dead...LOL.
Hope things turn to the better for you soon Mike.
ReplyDeleteLocating Kaine's chart to the White House and placing the Aug 21, 2017 solar eclipse around it produces a very active chart with eclipse Pluto on his MC, eclipse Uranus on his ASC, and eclipse Jupiter square the MC and eclipse Pluto. He has natal Jupiter on the DESC in longitude.
Just remembered Kaine’s natal Mars is there too. It is at 287°51. Does he blow up in a massive explosion?
http://imgur.com/X0vvOy6
From the work I have done with the Trump chart I think the time given is correct or nearly so.
Trump's natal MC is at 51°48'. It is squared by his natal Mars-Pluto midpoint at 141°54' (51°48' + 90° = 141°48'). Saturn/Neptune midpoint also rises at 51°20'. Were it not for his particular MC these points would probably have less expression by him. Their strong placement makes a good case for a bi-polar personality (Mars/Pluto for manic episodes, Saturn/Neptune for depressive)..
He has a natal paran wherein when natal Sun is on the ascendant natal Moon is on the descendant and natal Mars is on the IC.
For birth place: Sun rises at 330°27', Moon sets at 328°48', Mars is on the IC at 329°26'.
http://imgur.com/a/0WsE7
Thanks, Bob!
ReplyDeleteTwo new words (to me) for these peculiar times:
ReplyDelete"Kakistocracy is a term meaning a state or country run by the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous citizens.
... In May 2016, academic and blogger Amro Ali argued that kakistocracy was a word that needed to be revived, the word had long fallen out of circulation and there was a pressing case to rehabilitate it as 'stupidity in governance needs to be treated as a political problem, and kakistocracy can best capture this problem.' After a thorough analysis of the word, the author concluded that 'either kakistocracy gets used and thoroughly examined or a Trump presidency will force us to do so.'"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy
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"The origins of kakistocracy are actually pretty neat. The term was first used around 1829 and was coined as an opposite to "aristocracy". It comes from the Greek "kakistos" or "worst", which is the superlative form of "kakos" or "bad". Switch the "k" to a "c" and you have the root of modern words like "cacophony".
But here's where it gets even more fun. "Kakos" is closely related to "Caco" or "defecate". As we saw above, it's essentially the same phonetic sounds and has similar modern words derived from it.
Today, you'll find this in the Greek "Kakke" "human excrement", Latin "cacare", Irish "caccaim", Serbo-Croatian "kakati", Armenian "k'akor", Old English "cac-hus" or "latrine", Dutch "kak", German "Kacke", and the school-yard favorite "caca".
So in this trying time, remember the word "kakistocracy".
Quite literally, government by the shittiest."
http://jury.me/blog/2016/11/19/kakistocracy
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"Khakistocracy (from khaki and kakistocracy) is a portmanteau word used to refer to the military rule of a country often in collusion with the elite and business classes. This is primarily done to garner support and to perpetuate the military regime. This has been observed in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Portugal, Thailand, Iraq, and North Korea.
Khakistocracy refers to khakis, the tan-green camouflage colour used in most modern army uniforms. It may have originated as an ironic pun from kakistocracy, which means government by a nation's worst or least-qualified citizens."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khakistocracy
mike ~ I'm glad you've at least seen another doc - but not that it wasn't of much help.
ReplyDeleteNext time, do, please at least consider going to ER - they might be able to reduce the pain you experience - that alone would be worth the visit. I hope that, maybe, your own system might be very slowly dealing with whatever is amiss, as long as attacks keep getting less severe, that is.
Seems as though we're heading into a real kakistocracy then - thanks for the new word to add to my vocabulary!
Bob ~ Hi and thank you for the additional astro detail. Why would Kaine be in the White House though?
ReplyDeleteSomething big for the country may happen then but I do not think it will be Kaine gaining the presidency. Just wishful thinking by a tired mind grasping at straws.
ReplyDeleteMy brain must have short circuited from overwork and shortened sleep since the election. There is a chain of command to replace the president and it would have to go through Pence and Paul Ryan and the Republican party before it got to him.
Bob ~ I think we're all prone to the odd short-circuit these days! Next year promises to be a rocky ride for many, even discounting various astrological signals. :-)
ReplyDelete