Not Many Words of Mine, but some From a Young Anyjazz

Recent goings on in the USA, and actions by the President of same leave me with no words fit to print on a family-style blog. My best wish would be for the President to be removed by some means or other (25th amendment to the Constitution?) It appears that is not likely to happen. Yes, there's an election coming in November, when We The People could remove Donald Trump from office, but as things are going it would not surprise me at all if that election were to be postponed - or cancelled.

Sigh.

I found, among my notes, this piece written long ago by my husband, known online as anyjazz (he's now aged 83). It illustrates his early experience of the wretched racial hatred which, as we have recently sadly seen, lives on still among some groups, in some areas of the USA.

Here's his piece:

Breakfast with Joe Williams

Back in the late [19]fifties, my old friend “Z” [Zee] and I took our girlfriends to see Count Basie. I didn’t own a car but “Z” borrowed his dad’s new Cadillac for the evening and we were in top style. I think we impressed our girlfriends.


It was a dance/concert sort of event. Basie’s big band had a couple of current hits right in the middle of the era of Bill Haley and the comets, Richie Valens, Elvis Presley and Fabian sensations. Basie’s band had charted well with a lovely recording of “April in Paris” which would earn them a Grammy. Joe Williams, Basie’s vocalist at the time, had a hit with “Every Day I Have the Blues.” So, an evening with Count Basie was a big deal. Really. A really memorable three or four hours.


The first number was “All Of Me” designed to make everybody pay attention. Anyone who has heard the Basie arrangement of the number will know what I mean.


When Joe Williams sang his first number he looked uncomfortable. He looked frightened to me. Maybe it was just me. Well it was the first time I had ever been to a concert where there were uniformed police wandering around in the crowd.


After the concert, we stood around on stage chatting with the band members as they packed up. “Z” handed his bottle of W L Weller to trombonist Al Grey for inspection. Al looked at the dregs and then at “Z” for approval. “Z” said “Aw, kill it. It’s not enough to haul home anyway.”


Basie and Freddie Greene had left in a limo and the rest of the band members were loading onto the band bus. Somehow, Al Grey and Joe Newman got left behind and we gave them a ride downtown to the Lassen Hotel in the Caddy.


Later we all crowded into the Lassen Hotel diner for breakfast. It was about two in the morning.

We all found stools at the counter. I sat between Joe Williams and Joe Newman. Now, it might be necessary for a reminder here; this was in Kansas in the late fifties. The diner staff was not too comfortable with serving several black musicians, famous or not.


Joe Williams ordered two eggs over easy. In a few minutes, the waitress came with his plate. The eggs were raw. He looked at the plate and then at the waitress.


“He can’t eat those, they’re raw!” I blurted without thinking. The waitress nodded and took the plate back. (I think she agreed.) She returned with a fresh plate, cooked right. Joe looked at me and said “Thank you.”


It was years later that I figured out what had happened. It was not my first lesson in bigotry but somehow that night I think I learned a bit of just how awful it was. I was sitting there between two fabulous black musicians and I was in star struck. Others in the same room were not impressed, in fact they were disgusted. If my famous black friend had complained, he would simply have been refused service and ejected.


Later that morning, we bid the tired musicians goodnight and safe journeys and we headed for home.

What to Write About?

Time to write something - but what to write about? Nothing has changed much since my last update, in relation to medical matters. I have found, after brief experimenting, that medical marijuana tincture - a drop under the tongue, does help to increase my appetite and decrease any feelings of nausea - side effect of my two anti-cancer medications. That's a worthwhile finding - I'd like to put back some of the weight I've lost. No more vaping the MM though, until the current findings about vaping in general are clarified as to whether nicotine or THC (part of marijuana) are involved - could even be both, I suppose. Pain-when-walking remains my main bugbear. Pain relief from my pain medication is good for a short time only, once it has kicked in. Sometimes I think the relief is improving, but not consistently, the following day can bring it back seemingly worse than ever at times. The radiation oncologist said, in regard to this, that bones are not consistent. It's something to watch and note. Perhaps the improvements will, as time goes by, last longer and longer - this is what the oncologist suspects, and I can but hope!

News on a wider scale continues, for me, to revolve around the UK's pantomime known as Brexit, and the USA's pantomime known as President Donald Trump.

Brexit news and the current doings of Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson (aka Donald Trump lite), become more unbelievable by the day - even by the hour this week. I didn't believe anything could possibly make Donald Trump appear to be more presidential - but this week's doings in the UK did it for me! It took a lot though. On President Trump, there's a long-running thread at Quora asking:

https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-best-Donald-Trump-joke-you-have-heard

I read through most of the thread but found most of the jokes a tad lame. Maybe my sense of humour has been lost along with my weight! This joke was the only one that managed to raise as much as a chuckle:

Trump is doing a meet-and-greet at a crowded venue and his security detail is being extra watchful. One of them is a new guy and he’s extra jumpy.

Suddenly, a gunman bursts from the crowd, aiming his weapon at the President. Pandemonium ensues. The rookie bodyguard screams “Mickey Mouse!!!” at the top of his voice and this startles the would be assassin to the point that his aim is off and the shot goes over Trump’s head.

Some bodyguards wrestle the assailant to the ground, while others hustle the President to safety. Disaster averted.

Later, during debriefing, the head of the security detail congratulates the rookie. Without his quick thinking, he tells him, the President might very well be dead.

“But I’m puzzled” he said. “Why on earth would you yell 'Mickey Mouse'?”

“I’m new”, explained the rookie, sheepishly. “I panicked. I meant to yell 'Donald! Duck!!'”

Has America "fallen out of love with itself"?

"Has America fallen out of love with itself? In the 60's I think we all loved America and its cars and its landscapes and its dance and its music. Has this ended for good?"

The above question, posed at Quora, proposes an interesting concept. I wasn't in the USA in the 1960s. From my home in the UK I had no knowledge of how the people of the USA were feeling, in general, at that time.

Perhaps, if the USA has "fallen out of love with itself", that is part of the process of a new country struggling to grow up. I suspect that there's still a long way to go before full maturity sets in for the USA. Even when maturity is reached, sometimes a country can begin to slide back into a period of decline and incompetence - take, for instance, the current Brexit debacle in the UK.

Here are snips from three answers with differing points of view on the Quora question, though these do not fully answer whether the USA has really "fallen out of love with itself". Has it? Perhaps more eyes have been opened courtesy of the internet. People now have access to much more information than they had in the 1960s. Wool can still be pulled over eyes, manipulation and propaganda still take place - for sure - but there's more opportunity for critical thinking and in depth research than there ever was in decades past.



Part of answer by Robert Martin Pollack

Yes it has. What you witnessed in the 60’s was one last outburst of creativity fueled by people who grew up in the twilight era of the republic. It was an era where people could still connect with each other and it was safe to interact with others. Hitchhiking was relatively safe and it was even possible for girls to hitch rides without being molested or raped. One could go to concerts and hear great music and see light shows for a reasonable amount that was affordable to just about anyone. This was still a wealthy country and people had disposable income so there were large numbers of places that had live music and where you could dance. Since then everything has become very atomized. All the places where people used to go to enjoy themselves and relax have been driven out of business. The few that remain are so expensive they are beyond the reach of the average person who now just barely has enough money to survive. If you ever take public transportation, everyone has the same bristly attitude - don’t you dare try and talk to me.

Ross Driedger answered:

Wait, what?! Are you kidding me? There were protests against the war in Vietnam, one of those led to the shooting deaths of four students by the Ohio National Guard (Kent State shootings). Woodstock was decried as immoral by many social conservatives (all that rock music, nudity and free love — Damned Hippies!). Racism was systemic, overt and rampant, even more than it is today.
People were terrified that the Soviet Union could, at any moment, launch a nuclear strike against the USA.

And Evelyn Elwell Uyemura wrote:

Maybe your memory is a bit hazy.
In the 1960s there were riots in many major American cities, Civil Rights and anti-war demonstrations on a regular basis, and an entire “counter-culture” that rejected all the values and trappings of American life.

(And much of the most popular music was British, not American!)

Step Right Up .......

Insightful and fun (?) piece by Paul Street at Counterpunch:

Step Right Up to the Quadrennial Extravaganza!


A few examples from a much longer list of spectacular events listed in the full piece:

Malevolent Narcissists and Wall Street Sell-Outs Masquerading as Champions of the Middle and Working Classes!

Elitism Masquerading as Populism!

Dazzling Issue-Avoidance!

Step Right Up! Watch the Biggest Issue of Our or Any Time – the Climate Crisis – Get Amazingly Avoided!

Savage Class Inequalities – a New Gilded Age – Papered Over!

Subtle Neo-McCarthyite Machinations Performed by Vacuous Cable News Automatons!

Amazing Death-Defying Destructions of Democracy, or What’s Left of it!

Peek Behind the Curtain to View the Faces of the Terrifying Un-Elected and Interrelated Dictatorships of Money and Empire!

Remarkable Feats of Nauseating Racism, Sexism, Classism and Ecocide!

Ride Through the Astounding Tunnel of Identity!

Watch Democratic Socialists Get Eaten Alive!

Watch Live Sex Acts Between Financial Institutions and National Party Committees!

Calculate the Candidates’ and Media Operatives’ Carbon Footprints as they Fly Constantly Around the Nation!

Kiss the Species Goodbye at the Extinction Gallery!

Saturday and Sundry Thoughts: Another 2020 Candidate: Beto O'Rourke.

Beto O’Rourke Is Running For President

Another candidate to add to my growing list of hopefuls, for brief investigation into astrological chances of success in 2020.

All I'm doing in these posts, astrologically, (others in this series are linked at the end of last weekend's post) is searching for any astrological indication of major change in the lives of candidates, change which could indicate ascent to the presidency, or to a more important position in government. Transits of the outer planets, Jupiter to Pluto are those to watch, in comparison to the candidate's own natal planets.

Significant transits between now and November 2020
Uranus will traverse the last few degrees of Aries and up to 8 degrees of Taurus
Neptune: between 14 and 20 degrees of Pisces
Pluto: between 20 and 24 degrees of Capricorn
Saturn: between 11 and 27 Capricorn
Jupiter: between 11 Sagittarius and 22 Capricorn

Born on September 26, 1972 in El Paso, Texas. Time of birth is unknown, chart below is set for noon, so Moon position not exactly as shown and ascendant not as shown.

My eye is drawn first to North Node of the Moon - currently Pluto is transiting the area of Capricorn close to that degree. This indicates, for the chart-holder, a time of feeling passionately or compulsively driven towards a path that feels right for him. What could be more appropriate for a guy who has just announced his candidacy for the presidency of the USA? More interesting still, a Yod (Finger of Fate) formation with its apex at North Node, from two planets linked in sextile: Venus and Saturn. Venus, his natal Libra Sun's ruler and Saturn planet of legal matters and public status, drawing down upon life path choices.

None of that indicates success in 2020...but there's more. In early November 2020 Jupiter will transit O'Rourke's North Node - Jupiter "the lucky planet". While that still is not sufficient to indicate success, without other indications elsewhere in the chart (which I don't see right now), it does signify that whatever the result, and whether O'Rourke was the Democrat's nominee or not, he will have made a good impression on the public, and on his peers. His name will not easily be forgotten. Vice Presidential material? I wonder!

Saturday and Sundry Thoughts on 2 More Would-be Presidents : Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper.

Two more hats flew into the ring recently: those of Jay Inslee and John Hickenlooper. I'm not sure whether either is a well-known name outside of their own communities.

Jay Inslee politician, author, and attorney serving as the 23rd Governor of Washington State, and a member of the Democratic Party. Before being elected governor, Inslee served in the United States House of Representatives and the Washington House of Representatives. His priority: dealing with global warming. (Do I hear an "About time!" from any stray reader?)
(Wikipedia)


From The Atlantic

If there is a new Democratic president come 2021, he or she will get pulled in all sorts of policy directions. Inslee says he has one priority: global warming. It’s not theoretical, or a cause just for tree huggers anymore. Putting off dealing with it for a year or two or kicking it to some new bipartisan commission won’t work, he says. He plans to focus on the threat that climate change poses to the environment and national security—the mega-storms and fires causing millions in damages, the weather changes that will cause mass migrations, the droughts that will devastate farmers in America and around the world.

Even more so, he wants to talk about the risk to American opportunity. “We have two existential threats right now: one is to our natural systems, and one is to our economic systems,” he said.

Born on February 9, 1951 in Seattle, Washington. Chart is set for noon as tome of birth is unknown. Moon and ascendat positions will not be as shown.

All I'm doing in these posts (others in this series are linked at the end of this post) is searching for any astrological indication of major change in the lives of candidates, change which could indicate ascent to the presidency, or to a more important position in government. Transits of the outer planets, Jupiter to Pluto are those to watch, in comparison to the candidate's own natal planets.


Significant transits between now and November 2020
Uranus will traverse the last few degrees of Aries and up to 8 degrees of Taurus
Neptune: between 14 and 20 degrees of Pisces
Pluto: between 20 and 24 degrees of Capricorn
Saturn: between 11 and 27 Capricorn
Jupiter: between 11 Sagittarius and 22 Capricorn


Governor Inslee does have Neptune transiting his Pisces stellium of Venus/Jupiter/Mars currently, by 2020 Neptune will have moved on past those planets, but still within range of being significant. I'm not sure that Neptune is quite as powerful in indicating major change of this type as Uranus, Saturn or Pluto. The conjunction to his Pisces stellium could relate to his decision to become a candidate. Saturn will reach his Aquarius Sun by 2022 - maybe indicating a second run for the 2024 election - and a more successful one?

John Hickenlooper politician and businessman who served as the 42nd Governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

From New York Times

He jumped into the race on Monday as a long shot with limited name recognition. But he has a biography and a résumé that warrant attention. He didn’t enter politics until his early 50s, after a hugely successful career in beer — in brew pubs, to be exact. And he talks, persuasively, about what a customer-service business like that taught him about courting people rather than confronting them, about pacifying instead of inflaming.

As the mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011 and then the governor of Colorado from 2011 until the start of this year, when he left office because of term limits, he was known for swearing off negative political ads, for gravitating away from divisive issues and toward whatever common ground he could find, and for a style with substantial measures of goofiness and geekiness but barely a pinch of truculence. That said, he marshaled toughness and persistence........... to build a light rail system in Denver, expand Medicaid in Colorado, enact gun control and tug the state from recession to boom times that were the envy of other governors.

Born on 7 February 1952 in Narbeth,PA. Chart set for 12 noon as time of birth unknown. Moon position and ascendant will not be as shown.

Saturn will be visiting John Hickenlooper's natal Sun - but not until early 2022 - so in similar vein to Jay Inslee, he could be more likely to make a stronger, or more successful impression as a candidate in the election in 2024, after getting himself more widely known during the current run.

I like these two candidates, possibly more than any others I've investigated, so far - other than Bernie Sanders of course! I suspect what their charts are telling me is also a fairly rational outcome too. Neither candidate is currently a household name, but they both will become much better known during this run, up to 2020, and likely to be more successful in the 2024 election.


Other posts in this 2020 series:

http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/01/saturday-sundry-thoughts-would-be.html
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/02/saturday-sundry-observations-another.html
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/02/two-more-would-be-presidents-of-usa.html
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/02/saturday-and-sundry-thoughts-bernie.html

Saturday and Sundry Thoughts: Bernie Sanders' Astrology & 2020

The entry of Senator Bernie Sanders into the 2020 presidential race is, by now, old news. He announced his intention to run early in the week. To match the pattern I've followed for other hopefuls, hats already in the ring, I'll peruse Bernie's natal chart for any clear signs of change of status, due in late 2020. For now, I'm limiting these 2020 posts to that process.

Anyone who read this blog in 2015-2016 might remember that I was a firm Bernie Sanders supporter then. That has not changed. Bernie, for me, is "the real deal", has been since 2008 when he first came to my notice - a politician with focus always on what can, and should, be done to benefit "We the People".

There'll be more to write on the whys and wherefores of the campaign proper with its cast-list of hopefuls during coming months, for now all I'll add to my investigation of Bernie's chart is to quote closing paragraphs of an article by Benjamin Studebaker:
Why Bernie Sanders Matters More Than People Think

Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist building on the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. He understands that inequality is the core structural factor in economic crisis and that growth in real wages and incomes is required for robust, sustainable economic growth. He recognises that the Democratic Party must fundamentally change to tackle this problem. He has been an independent and kept himself separate from the party machine because he recognises how corrupt and lethargic it has become over the years. He’s running not just to change the country, but to change the Democratic Party into the kind of party that can deliver for poor and working Americans.

All the rest is noise. This is not about just this election, or just the next four years. This is about whether the Democratic Party is going to care about inequality for the next decade. We are making a historic decision between two distinct ideological paradigms, not a choice between flavors of popcorn. This is important. Choose carefully.

ASTROLOGY

It is unfortunate that there is no reliable time of birth available for Senator Sanders. Astro.com has some rectifications noted, but do not rate them as reliable. One has Scorpio rising, with a birth time 27 minutes after mid-day; the other rectification, based on Bernie's history, has Gemini rising. The chart below is set for noon, so Moon position, as shown, will not be accurate, though Moon would be in Aries, whatever the true time of his birth. Rising sign has to remain a mystery, absent further information.


A reminder of the transits of outer planets in the time span under investigation:

Between now and early November 2020
Uranus will traverse the last few degrees of Aries and up to 8 degrees of Taurus
Neptune: between 14 and 20 degrees of Pisces
Pluto: between 20 and 24 degrees of Capricorn
Saturn: between 11 and 27 Capricorn
Jupiter: between 11 Sagittarius and 22 Capricorn

Born on September 8, 1941, Brooklyn, New York City.

Right now transiting Jupiter is opposing the Senator's natal Jupiter, it'll be criss-crossing the same general area and back again in exact conjunction this summer. Here's an astrologer's interpretation of this aspect:
https://astrologyking.com/jupiter-opposite-jupiter-transit/. It certainly reflects the record-breaking huge (Jupiter) first-day fundraising haul Bernie achieved!


Transiting Neptune will exactly oppose Bernie's natal Sun several times in coming months and during part of 2020. I'd interpret that as a warning to the Senator to be careful in whom he places trust - something of which I feel sure he is well aware, and will have chosen his new group of assistants with that in mind. Still, though, there will be be members of the Democratic establishment and corporate media ranged against him, as well as President Trump and the Republicans.

Transiting Mars will be conjunct Bernie's natal Moon (exact dates depending on exact degree of Moon) and natal Mars, while also opposing natal Venus in weeks surrounding the election in 2020. This isn't a sign of success, but an indication of significant energy or dynamism being present at that time; it could also be related to non-election issues.

I have to say that I don't see, in the information available, any stand-out indication that Bernie Sanders' status in the public eye will change, or that his run will end in success, whether in the primaries or, if nominated, in the General election.

The lack of time of birth is particularly frustrating in this case!

Much as it pains me to write it, if I had to bet on any of the people investigated so far, relying only on my astrology, bets would still have to go to Elizabeth Warren or to Cory Booker (if his time of birth can be established as being accurate). But we do need Bernie's voice to remain in the mix - loud and clear!

Other posts in this 2020 series:

http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/01/saturday-sundry-thoughts-would-be.html
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/02/saturday-sundry-observations-another.html
http://twilightstarsong.blogspot.com/2019/02/two-more-would-be-presidents-of-usa.html

Two More Would-be Presidents of the USA

Another in the series of posts looking for astrological indications of change or success for would-be presidents of the USA - those who have declared their candidacy already. Two other posts in this series are HERE and HERE.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, lawyer and politician, serving as the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Minnesota's affiliate of the Democratic Party. She is running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Klobuchar



Born on May 25, 1960 (age 58 years), Plymouth, MN. No time of birth available. chart set for 12 noon, so rising sign and degree, and exact Moon position will not be not as shown.

Born on September 16, 1974 (age 44 years), San Antonio, TX. Astrodatabank has time of birth as 2.40 AM ("from memory") with an "A" rating - considered reliable.

Julian Castro is also running for the Democratic nomination. He served as the 16th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017, the youngest member of the Obama Cabinet. Castro served as the mayor of his native San Antonio, Texas from 2009 until he joined Obama's cabinet in 2014. He was mentioned as a possible running mate for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Castro

For this exercise all I am doing is taking a brief look at natal charts, not to interpret personalities, but to discover whether any significant transits of outer planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) will coincide with personal planets between now and November 2020. Such a finding would indicate change of some kind in the chart owner's life, and in this case could be an indication of, if not the presidency, then a move into a more significant position in government.

Between now and early November 2020
Uranus will traverse the last few degrees of Aries and up to 8 degrees of Taurus
Neptune: between 14 and 20 degrees of Pisces
Pluto: between 20 and 24 degrees of Capricorn
Saturn: between 11 and 27 Capricorn
Jupiter: between 11 Sagittarius and 22 Capricorn

There's a link between the two charts - Saturn at 17 degrees of Capricorn in Senator Klobuchar's case and in Castro's chart Saturn is at 17 Cancer - directly opposite Klobuchar's Saturn.

Amy Klobuchar is experiencing what astrologers call a "Saturn Return" - her second. Saturn takes around 29 years to return to the same position in our solar system as it was at time of birth, so we experience Saturn Returns roughly every 29 years, in our late 20s, late 50s and, if we make it that far, our 80s. A Saturn Return is a kind of marker often defining the end of one stage of life and beginning of another - in late 20s it marks a move into adulthood proper, with its responsibilities and challenges. In late 50s it marks a move into middle-age and sometimes a possible change of direction in one's employment, profession or public standing.

Amy Klobuchar is experiencing her second Saturn Return now, and Saturn will to-and-fro over her natal Saturn during most of 2019, but by election time, late in 2020 Saturn will have moved on, well away from her natal Saturn. Whether this early intention to bid for the presidency is Klobuchar's 2nd Saturn Return marker, we shall see. It could, eventually, lead to a change in her professional life. Jupiter (planet of expansion - and luck) will conjoin her natal Saturn at some points in 2020, an indication of a helpful atmosphere coming and going as the planet moves from direct to retrograde.

Julian Castro's natal Saturn is at the opposite point in the Saturn cycle to Amy Klobuchar's. At this point in the Saturn cycle, halfway between the move to full adulthood in late 20s, and to middle-age in late 50s, a person could well be considering and assessing how far they have come, and whether they are moving in the best direction for them - or could do better. Perhaps this is what Castro is determining with his bid for the presidency; it will give him indications as to whether or not aiming for the presidency is the best, most viable, or ideal new direction for him, depending on public reaction, and reception. As in klobuchar's case, helpful Jupiter will conjoin natal Saturn at a few points in 2020.

CONCLUSION

Senator Klobuchar could well find herself in a new and more important position after 2020. Julian Castro is a little before his time here - but perhaps by his second Saturn Return, what he experiences in this run will be of great assistance during a future presidential election.

From all the candidates I've so far investigated (links at top of post), if I had to put money on someone to win the Dem. nomination, it'd be on either Elizabeth Warren or Cory Booker (if his time of birth is accurate, that is!) Amy Klobuchar, a less well-known name nationally, could perhaps be a VP choice.

"Still they come", though, so more posts will follow as others join the throng. Republican candidates will be under the microscope later too.

Unwelcome Atlantic Cross-overs

I've been away from Britain for long enough now (since October 2004) to feel a little out of touch with goings on there - other than news about flippin' Brexit! What follows isn't Brexit-related, thanks be, but it has some relevance to both sides of the Atlantic - a question from Quora, posed recently. The link leads to a complete thread of answers. I like the lengthy answer provideded by Simon Mark Blackburn, and have extracted a nap selection from Mr Blackburn's contribution.



Which American habits and mannerisms do you wish Britain hadn't adopted?

Parts of an answer by Simon Mark Blackburn, Chartered Architect RIBA

I am not anti - American. Americanisms are fine coming from North Americans. They often sound dynamic, humorous and colourful to my ears.

So much good has come from America. STEM, Medicine, Soul, Funk, Jazz, Chuck Berry, Elvis, the Moon landings and NASA, JFK, guitars, Hollywood's great past and the silver screen giants, generous funding of the Arts, the culture of philanthropy and enlightened self-interest. Don't forget "bring me your huddled masses etc...." And that lot's just for starters.

BUT….

It's a just a pity that us over here are now so culturally diminished that we now mainly absorb America's crass and pretentious characteristics. I’d feel less saddened if we at least adopted some of its better habits.

Sooooo…in no specific order and without further ado….

[These are just a selection extracted by your blogger, for the full list see Simon Mark Blackburn's answer at the link above]


The baseball cap. That ubiquitous symbol of the idiocracy.

"Can I get...?" instead of "I'll have..." or "may I have..." if one is being posh.

A grubby little one bed-roomed flat over a chip shop being described as an apartment! Pretentious estate agents watching too much US telly I think. It's in a piddly little suburban town in middle England, not Greenwich Village or LA!

Black Friday.

Oriented instead of orientated.

Lootenant (somebody renting a toilet) instead of lieutenant (a subaltern).

Snuck instead of sneaked.

Burglarized instead of burgled.

Regular? As opposed to what? Irregular? What does an irregular coffee look like?

And so on.

Narcissism. Self-delusion about one's own importance and attractiveness. This is a real problem amongst our youngsters.

Victimhood. I'm fed up with hearing about LGBQTABCDEF or whatever the latest Venn diagram of gripes that we’re importing from America.

Social inflation. I heard a dinner lady referring to her...profession. Dinner ladies are great. Best people in a school, maybe the World even, but… surgeon is a profession, astronaut is a profession, barrister is a profession. Dinner lady isn’t.

Idiots driving about in cars painted with American flags and or US style plates (either Union or Confederate).

Honestly, does the Brit idiot who suggests we "touch base" realise how ridiculous he sounds?

As a postscript I'm adding contributions from two others - I liked these:

Mish Armo (Teacher at a Primary School 1990 - present) ended a list with:

The following are non-negotiables. If we ever adopt the following, I will stick pins in my eyes as I sail across the North Sea in a blizzard

Gun culture.
Healthcare that isn’t free at the point of need. Long live the NHS.
Saying Happy Holidays.
Telling a stranger our life stories when we aren’t drunk.

Nigel Foster (Much travelled writer) His 4 points:

Facebook. Twitter. Both are crimes against humanity.
Whooping to show appreciation.
Political correctness used as virtue signalling.
Virtue signalling.

Music Monday ~ "...they try to sock it to ya...."

Joe South - I remember him only from a hit song he wrote from the late 1960s, with its interesting and ever-relevant lyrics: The Games People Play. The song's title was taken from a book by Eric Berne, a bestseller on the psychology of human relationships.

There's a full post about Joe South and his natal chart in an old post of mine HERE.

That old song often comes to mind when reading about Theresa May's Brexit fumbles and foibles. Is she playing games, running out the clock, gaming the dissenters to her Withdrawal Agreement until toes are over the cliff edge and that dreaded "crash out" is nigh? Or is she.......?

On this side of the Atlantic, our current president has his own favourite gaming table: Twitter! Also, it's more than likely that games are already being played, prior to the 2020 presidential election, to ensure that anyone daring to voice policies even a smidgen left of establishment Democrat line (which, translated, means conservative) will never bask in the sunlight of media celebrity, but be constantly ignored, criticised or dismissed as "socialists". Socialist, a term which describes nobody currently on the list of candidates, and probably no more than a few dozen individuals in the whole of the USA! The word 'socialist', even though most don't understand its meaning, has gathered the same kind of horror here as 'leper' had in biblical times. ("Unclean, unclean!").

For this Music Monday, I was about to post Joe South's own rendition of his song, when I noticed this exuberant old version of it by Engelbert Humperdinck (now 82), Tom Jones (now 78) and Billy Preston (who, sadly, died in 2006 aged 59). Joe South, the song's writer died in 2012, aged 72.




Oh the games people play now
every night and every day now
never meaning what they say now
and never saying what they mean
while they while away the hours
in their ivory towers
till they're covered up in flowers
in the back of a black limousine

la da la da da da da,
I'm a talkin' about you and me
and the games people play

You know we make one another cry
we break our hearts and we say goodbye
we cross our hearts and we hope to die
that the other was to blame
we need a woman that will give in
so we gaze at our eight by ten
wanderin' 'bout the things
that might have been
and it's a dirty rotten shame

[chorus]

People walkin' up to ya
singing glory haleuajah
and they try to sock it to ya
in the name of the Lord
they're goin' to teach ya how to meditate
read your horoscope and cheat your fate
furthermore to hell with hate
c'mon and get on board

[chorus]

Look around tell me what you see
what's happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity
to remember who I am
cause you've given up your sanity
for your pride and your vanity
you turn your back on humanity
and you don't give a damn da da da......

Saturday & Sundry observations ~ Another Would-be President of the USA: Cory Booker

Yesterday Cory Booker, Junior Democratic Senator, New Jersey, added his name to the growing list of contenders in the presidential election, 2020. I've "had my eye on" Cory Booker for around 10 years, feeling pretty certain that we'd see this happen, sooner or later.






Below are links to my archived posts on Senator Booker:

Drive-by astrology - Cory Booker (2008)

Cory Booker (2013)

Booker, VP? (2016)


He was also mentioned in these posts:

With Bells On (2017)


Another Broken Reed (2017)


Some current thoughts:

At the time those posts were written there was no information available as to Cory Booker's exact time of birth, so charts at these links were calculated for 12 noon, meaning that his true ascendant sign and degree remained unknown. At some point an astrologer, well-known at astrodatabank, Sy Schofield, produced a birth time for Senator Booker - 1.10AM, said at the website to have been provided by Booker himself, from memory. The time is given an "A" rating - so deemed reasonably reliable. Here is Senator booker's natal chart using the time of birth provided at astro.com:

Cory Booker, born in Washington D.C. on 27 April 1969 at 1.10 AM

For me this, in this regard, time of birth makes a huge difference. My cynical side begins to wonder at what point did the Senator come up with this time of birth, and does he have any astrological knowledge himself, or has he taken astrological counsel? Why? Because this particular time of birth gives Senator Booker a rising sign of 1.20 degrees Aquarius. Transiting Saturn will be conjunct this point in November/December 2020 at election time. Saturn is the planet most often connected to law/legal matters, public status, profession. Saturn transiting a person's ascending degree often indicates a change in one or all of those areas.

I wouldn't bet that, in Senator Booker's case, it means the presidency - we need to see the full line-up before making that kind of bet! I would bet, though, that it means at least some change of status in the public's eye. If not the presidency, then an important post in the administration, perhaps.

All of that, of course, depends on the time of birth now available being accurate, and not provided in the hope that it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy! (I must try to control my cynical side!)

Another interesting factor relating to Booker's natal Saturn is the Yod (Finger of Fate)linking natal Saturn by two quincunx (150 degree) aspects to sextiled Neptune and Uranus/Jupiter. This Yod stands irrespective of ascendant placement. As I wrote in one of the posts linked above of this Yod :

Here the point of the arrow hits Saturn - law maker. Astrologers say that the planet at the arrow point indicates a compelling focus on the energies of that planet, driven by the combined energies of the two in sextile, here it's Uranus/Jupiter and Neptune. So this Yod can be translated thus: optimistic dreams of social reform brought into focus via laws and hard work.

That focus is quite a classic Aquarian focus, so finding Aquarius rising is a bit like Cinderella finding the glass slipper to fit!

From my post on 19/20 January I found that Elizabeth Warren also had indication of change coming around election time 2020, I'll add Cory Booker, tentatively, to that and wait to find out who else will throw their hats into the ring.

Saturday & Sundry Thoughts ~Would-be Presidential Ladies: Tulsi Gabbard, Elizabeth Warren & Kirsten Gillibrand

It's early days to be blogging about the USA's presidential election in November 2020, nevertheless I've been interested to read recently of three potential candidates from the Democrats - three ladies who appear to be preparing to throw their hats into the ring, hoping to be part of what's likely to be a crowded platform of candidates. These are: Tulsi Gabbard, who supported my guy, Bernie Sanders strongly in 2016; Elizabeth Warren, who should've supported Bernie in 2016 but didn't; and Kirsten Gillibrand who is an unknown quantity to me, so far. I shall take a quick look at the natal charts of the three ladies, not to interpret their personalities, but to decide, from coming planetary transits, which of them is most likely to experience massive change in the next couple of years.

I suspect that the time is ripe, now, for a female president - perhaps one of these ladies?


Transits of the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, along with Jupiter and Saturn are those I'm looking at in relation to these charts. If any of these planets will be making close contact or aspect to natal planets of one of these ladies, then she'll be the one to watch.

These charts are all set for 12 noon, as no birth times are available, so house positions, rising signs and exact Moon positions will not be accurate as shown.

Between now and early November 2020
Uranus will traverse the last few degrees of Aries and up to 8 degrees of Taurus
Neptune: between 14 and 20 degrees of Pisces
Pluto: between 20 and 24 degrees of Capricorn
Saturn: between 11 and 27 Capricorn
Jupiter: between 11 Sagittarius and 22 Capricorn







Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district since 2013.

Elizabeth Warren, academic and senior United States Senator, Massachusetts, since 2013.

Kirsten Gillibrand, attorney and politician, junior United States Senator from New York since January 2009

CONCLUSION

No doubt at all in my mind - Elizabeth Warren has the best chance of major change happening after November 2020. Look to her natal Jupiter at 0 Aquarius. Saturn, planet which most signifies profession, public position, law, will be exactly conjunct her natal Jupiter by mid-December 2020, just after the election, and will be close enough, on the date of the election, to be considered conjunct. That signifies, at the very least, some big change in her professional public life; if not the presidency, then at least a move to a more significant position in government.

Time isn't yet ripe for Tulsi Gabbard or Kirsten Gillibrand. Ms Gabbard is probably too left-wing, at this time, for main-stream Democrats, and media characters under control of "big money" (all of 'em), who will put her down in any way they can, or alternatively ignore her completely between now and 2020, as they did in respect of Bernie Sanders candidacy in 2015/16. Main stream Democrats will wish to keep their ties to big money sources, and those sources will look on any truly leftist positions, as set out by Bernie Sanders and his followers, including Ms Gabbard, as an anathema to be opposed at every opportunity.

Elizabeth Warren is definitely the most likely of this trio to do well in the election - if she does choose to run, and that is due to much more than her astrology. She did not support Bernie Sanders in 2016, she supported Hillary Clinton - for which I do not forgive her, but that is a fact main-stream Democrats will have noted. Senator Warren knows the way to the presidency much better than I do, of course - or for that matter, better even than Bernie, whose main aims, always, has been to try to improve things for "we the people" in any way he can.

As weeks and months pass, we'll be seeing more presidential hopefuls throwing their hats into the ring - on both sides. I'll repeat this exercise later on, with a different cast of characters.

For the Weekend:"...the American id in its underpants"

I Was A Cable Guy. I Saw The Worst Of America. By Lauren Hough.

A glimpse of the suburban grotesque, featuring Russian mobsters, Fox News rage addicts, a caged man in a sex dungeon, and Dick Cheney.

I heartily recommend reading this, quite long, piece. the writer has an engaging style, it even got past my Attention Deficit Disorder, brought on by too much internet.

When I first read the title I had the job of a cable guy mixed up with a 'lineman's' (as in "Wichita......"). Those guys deserve far more appreciation than they get. It didn't take long to realise that 'cable guy' is a different job, though with its own set of difficulties and dangers.

Tiny snip:

Maybe the next job that day was the guy whose work order said “irate.” It’s not something you want to see on a work order. Not when you’re running late and you still have to pee, because “irate” meant that the next job wasn’t going to be a woman in lingerie; it was going to be a guy who pulled out his penis while I fixed the settings on his television.

I know after that one, I pulled off the side of the road when I saw a horse. Only upside of Great Falls. Not too long ago, Great Falls was mostly small farms and large estates. The McMansions outnumber the farms now. But there are still a few holdouts. I called the horse over to the fence, and he nuzzled my hair. I fed him my apple. Talking to a horse helps when you can’t remember how to breathe.

Shattering Truths about the USA

A few shatteringly uncomfortable truths for those of us in the USA, before we enter Holiday Mood proper (it's not yet December!) A question at Quora the other day:

What's the most widely held misconception about the United States of America that you know to be false?


Ron Wiseman (A Most Viewed Writer in Politics of the United States) answered, quoting a piece by Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Mr Dabashi's article, in full is a sobering read. Mr Wiseman has given me permission to use his answer here. Quotes from Mr Dabashi's piece are highlighted in the blue paragraphs, below.


The full article by Hamid Dabashi is: What if Donald Trump is What America is all about


What's the most widely held misconception about the United States of America that you know to be false?

Perhaps the belief that Donald Trump doesn’t really represent America's values. Perhaps he really does. Administrations from both parties have committed atrocities going all the way back to our American Revolution.

"Trump and Trumpism are as American as mom and apple pie - and an entire racist and xenophobic history of the US is there to verify it. And if the structurally corrupt Democratic Party under the leadership of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are supposed to be the alternative to that truth, then the Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Yemenis brutalized identically under both Republicans and Democrats may have something to say about the matter."

Another relevant quote…

"One quick look at the red-blooded electoral map of the US after the midterm elections shows this, in fact, is certainly not - as liberals love to say - a divided country. It is a solidly and unmistakably racist, sexist, xenophobic and violent country obsessed with domestic gun violence and foreign conquest with a few pockets of wishy-washy liberal resistance here or there.

From Brazil to Saudi Arabia to Israel to the racist, xenophobic, proto-fascist parties in Europe - they all have a solid ally in all the three branches of the US government.

From the earliest stages of the rise of Donald Trump I have argued that contrary to the liberal contingencies of opposition to his brand of blunt and fascistic politics he is "the real deal": American politics stripped to its bare essence, shorn of all its democratic pretensions and neoliberal niceties.

For eight years Barack Obama was the face of the duplicitous politics of shedding public tears for schoolchildren being shot in the US, before retiring to a back room at the White House to send more arms to Israel and Saudi Arabia to slaughter Palestinian and Yemeni children."

America is what we do. What we do is take from the poor to give to the wealthy. What we do is incarcerate the highest percentage of our population than any other country. What we do is throw teargas at women and children who are running from a life of pain and squalor. And what we don’t do, is collectively feel bad enough to fix any of it. That is us.

Beto O'Rourke - Texas let him down in 2018. How about 2020?

Results of Tuesday's midterm elections in the USA turned out less dramatic than hoped for. A "blue wave" didn't exactly inundate Republican politicians throughout the land, but some of 'em did get their feet wet. Democrats took back the House of Representatives, but the Republican majority in the Senate remains, and has even increased some. Two years of virtual gridlock are in our political future, better than two years of the Trump administration being able to easily push through more potentially disastrous policies.

My biggest disappointment on Tuesday evening was learning that, in Texas, Beto O'Rourke (mentioned in this post) didn't beat Ted Cruz to take his Senate seat. O'Rourke is a young, charismatic and dynamic Democrat with some of the same characteristics as my own hero, Bernie Sanders. I'd love to see him as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election. I've looked at his natal chart with that in mind. Astrotheme has his birth data, but no time of birth is known - a 12 noon chart will have to suffice.

Beto O'Rourke, born in El Paso, Texas on 26 September 1972.

Chart below is for 3 November 2020, date of the election, set for noon.

I'm not going to interpret his natal chart in relation to his personality - though with all those planets in Libra he is bound to exude charm and charisma! What I'm looking for is any correlation between his natal planets & points, and the planetary line-up on election day 2020.

Look first to Capricorn!

His North node of the Moon is conjunct Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn! I wrote a post in 2011 titled "The Rhythm of Life is a powerful Beat" - a snip from that:

"I've found, looking back on my life history, that there has been a distinct rhythm. Important turning points have taken place in time with the cycle of the lunar nodes. The Moon's nodes, points where the orbit of the Moon crosses the ecliptic, take around 19 years to complete a full cycle. Significant events have coincided with the Taurus/Scorpio nodal axis returning to its position at my birth, or to its inverse position, and/or with a transiting planet conjoining one of the nodes. Perhaps, in my case, this rhythm is intensified because of my Cancer ascendant, ruled by the Moon; or because Uranus (natal Sun's ruler) is conjunct natal South lunar node. Both my marriages, important career changes, a major operation, and significant love-related first meetings have these connections."

I'm interested to see whether the same kind of rhythmic pattern will apply in Mr O'Rourke's case. I shall look out for any reporting on Beto O'Rourke in coming months and years!

Where is THE LEFT in the USA?

I've been saying for years, to anyone who'll listen, that "there's no proper political Left in the USA". In 2015/6 at election time, Bernie Sanders' campaign proved that there is plenty of support for more left-leaning policies, more pro-working class policies, more support for the ordinary people of this vast country. We all know what happened...don't we? Media in general denied him the space given to ...well just about everyone else involved in that General Election.

Ted Rall has a very good piece up at Counterpunch this weekend, it highlights one major reason why the Left in the USA remains largely hidden, year after year:
The Left Will Never Thrive Without a Well-Funded Left Media Organization

A few snips:

On Sunday, October 23rd “About 1,500 women and allied men marched on the Pentagon on Sunday to demand an end to perpetual war and the funding of education, health care and other social needs instead,” reported Joe Lauria of the progressive website Consortium News.

Mainstream/corporate journalistic outlets memory-holed the event with a total media blackout.

One commenter on Facebook bemoaned national priorities: what does it say that so few attended the Women’s March on the Pentagon? More than 200,000 people crowded the Washington Mall for comedian Jon Stewart’s inane 2010 “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” a piss-take parody of protest, literally and by the definition of its organizers an apolitical march for nothing!

Cindy Sheehan, an activist who made national news by protesting her son’s death in the Iraq War at George W. Bush’s Texas ranch, responded on Facebook that people should show up rather than sit at home criticizing those who did on their computers.

......................Our real problem is that there isn’t a real, bona-fide Left journalism outlet in the United States.

One that’s smart, i.e., well-managed. Not in the derpy leaderless consensus style that destroyed the Occupy movement, but top-down by brilliant Machiavellian can’t-be-bought leftist schemers who know how to motivate and build an organization.

One that’s well-funded. Not by some control-freak billionaire who can petulantly renege on his big promises after he loses interest or gets corrupted, but by generous ongoing crowdsourcing that guarantees editorial independence to an uncompromisingly left-wing team of editors with big budgets to hire kickass investigative reporters, back out-of-the-box journalists, humorists and editorialists. Give me $50 million a year (wonder if the person who won the $1.6 billion MegaMillions lottery is progressive?) and I could build and run an operation that could change the world. It’s not impossible: Bernie Sanders raised $100 million from small donors in one year..........

In the 1960s the corporate mainstream media allowed antiwar, pro-civil rights and other anti-establishment journalists and pundits to disseminate their views on TV (Cronkite criticizing the Vietnam War), on the opinion pages of major newspapers and in bestselling books. And they covered protests.

No more. The Left has been ruthlessly purged.

Not one single opinion writer or staff columnist or cartoonist employed by an American newspaper is a real, bonafide leftist—not a single one even supported Bernie Sanders (whose politics are basically McGovern in 1972 and was supported by half of Democrats) during the 2016 primaries.
Not one single TV or major radio talk show host is a real, bonafide leftist. None supported Bernie.
The same goes for “liberal” outlets like The Atlantic, Salon, Slate, etc.
It’s censorship. It’s systemic. It’s killing the Left.

(Highlighting is mine.)

Do go read the full piece at Counterpunch. But...what can we ordinary people do about this problem? We can spread the word wherever we can, in conversations on social media, blogs, real-life chit chats and debates. Shine a light on the problem - that's what we can do at present, as well as supporting people such as Ted Rall who are able to shine a brighter light, with a much longer beam than our own.

Think Brexit is a Nightmare? It's a walk in the park compared with Battle of Hastings and The Harrying of the North.

Tomorrow, 14 October, in 1066 saw the Battle of Hastings, and Norman Conquest of England. It took place on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, on England's south coast. The forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army and killed King Harold II. The full story of the Norman Conquest, and lead-up to it is told at Wikipedia, HERE.

The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in English history. It largely removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a foreign, French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy, and clerical hierarchy.


Battles didn't end in 1066. What is known as "The Harrying of the North" followed:

The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–70 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Atheling, had encouraged Anglo-Danish rebellions. William paid the Danes to go home, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle, and he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the northern shires, especially the city of York, before installing a Norman aristocracy throughout the region.

[NOTE: One of my ancestors, on my father's mother's side, could well have originated from one such individual, his name does derive from the French - though whether he was an "aristocrat" or just some well-behaved servant elevated to overseeing a parcel of land and its inhabitants in the wild north is another matter!]


Contemporary chronicles vividly record the savagery of the campaign, the huge scale of the destruction and the widespread famine caused by looting, burning and slaughtering. Some present-day scholars have labelled the campaigns as genocide although others doubt whether William could have assembled enough troops to inflict so much damage and have concluded that the records may have been exaggerated or misinterpreted.

Pupils in English schools have the year 1066 engraved on their hearts (or they did in my school days) - it's often one of few dates to be so well remembered. A couple of 20th century humourists, W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman wrote a series under the title 1066 and All That, for the famous British Punch magazine. The series, later developed into a play and a book, is a parody of English history. I have a copy of the book on my shelf, so immediately reached for it when faced with Wikipedia's reminder of the date of the Battle of Hastings.

I'll not go into much detail of the book's content, it truly is an acquired taste, to the uninitiated, those unused to this type of humour, it'd sound just silly. You really had to be there (in England over many years) to "get it". I did notice something worth mentioning here though, with a possible astrological link.

Skipping through the years from 1066 to what's known as the Tudor Age (or Middle Ages), we come to King John, noted in the book as "An Awful King". During his reign, in 1215, came the Magna Carta, which I guess could be likened to the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

1066 and All That parodies the intent of the Magna Carta, which King John was compelled to sign by the Barons (members of the nobility/aristocracy, mainly of French descent).
The Magna Carta, as described in the book, said:

1. That no one was to be put to death, save for some reason - (except the Common People).

2. That everyone should be free - (except the Common People).

3. That everything should be of the same weight and measure throughout the Realm - (except the Common People).

4. That the courts should be stationary, instead of following a very tiresome medieval official known as the King's Person all over the country.

5. That no person should be fined to his utter ruin - (Except the King's Person).

6. That the Barons should not be tried except by a special jury of other Barons who would understand.

Magna Carta was therefore the chief cause of Democracy in England, and thus A Good Thing for everyone (except the Common People).

The Common People in most countries, even nowadays, are still in the category "except for"! And Number 6 sounds eerily familiar too. Things do change, but remain much the same.....as the French are wont to say, but rather more prettily - "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."


An astrological note:
Does anything in astrology link to Magna Carta? Google searches some years ago uncovered something of interest relating to Jupiter/Uranus and Saturn/Uranus cycles, but the link I had has become defunct - as Monty Python would say "It's an ex-link!" Here are the details from that ex-link that I used in a post on this subject some years ago:

Human Rights: The planetary cycles of human rights

In astrology the development of human rights is often associated with Uranus and Aquarius, and the periods of history that coincide with the rise in awareness of human rights and human wrongs are usually linked with the Jupiter-Uranus and Saturn-Uranus cycles. But does this stand up to scrutiny?

This article examines landmark events in human rights in the UK, the USA and France, as well as major political thinkers/philosophers whose work influenced the way human rights were thought about and practiced, and looks for correlations between these and the Jupiter-Uranus and Saturn-Uranus cycles.

Landmark events
These are said to be some of the major landmarks in the development of the current Western thinking on and practice of human rights :

Magna Carta
15th to 19th June 1215
Saturn conjunct Uranus (approaching)


USA - State of Virginia's Declaration of Rights
12th June 1776
Saturn trine Uranus


USA Constitution
4th March 1789
Jupiter conjunct Uranus (the aspect is wide but approaching and growing in strength)

USA Bill of Rights
15th December 1791
Jupiter just past sextile Uranus
Mars on the midpoint of Jupiter/Uranus

Other examples were included too, but I have not kept a note of them.

The astrological observations on Jupiter-Uranus and Saturn-Uranus seem to hold true. Awareness of human rights, and the relationship between the establishment and the people, does seem to correlate with the cycles of these planets. How, or if, the fact that Saturn and Uranus are currently in trine aspect, between early degrees of Taurus and Capricorn (Earth signs), relates to the above remains to be seen. Guess what might soon become a "landmark event", major or minor, regarding human rights, and relationship between the establishment and the people!