Alex's Asteroid Astrology |

June 1st, 2023 at 08:48am by Alex Miller

DeSantis’ Disastrous Debut

Well, they did what they could. They tried to produce a unique, groundbreaking announcement of a presidential run by scheduling Florida Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis to make his big announcement with Elon Musk on Twitter’s audio platform. The wisdom of that decision aside (I mean, who wants to share the spotlight with a notoriously maverick, highly polarizing eccentric billionaire who won’t even endorse you, in a format where nobody can actually see you?), the DeSantis team had the timing right, in theory. They successfully avoided the Mercury retrograde, eclipse season, Pluto station energy that clouded Joe Biden’s re-lection bid, but the production went seriously sideways regardless.

May 28th, 2023 at 11:11am by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Sprummer

No longer spring, but not quite summer – it’s Sprummer in the garden! Emerging as the last of the spring bulbs are fading, and the first of the summer perennials are starting to bud, Sprummer is that liminal time between seasons, populated florally by a few choice plants with roots in spring and tips in summer.

May 26th, 2023 at 02:36pm by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Tina Turner, Simply at Rest

“Queen of Rock” Tina Turner passed into the celestial firmament on 24 May 2023, to the sorrow of her many fans globally. A literal rags to riches, to rags to riches, American success story, Turner’s music galvanized the 1980s, becoming the soundtrack to our lives, and her personal saga of rejection of a life with an abusive spouse gave hope to millions of women. Already on her way to becoming a music icon by the early ‘60s, Turner’s career slumped after her separation from Ike, but an amazing comeback in the mid-‘80s inspired all performers of a certain age.

May 23rd, 2023 at 09:12am by Alex Miller

Baby India Finds Justice

Almost four years ago, an infant newborn was found abandoned in a wooded area of Forsyth County Georgia, near Cumming, left in a plastic shopping bag. Alerted by cries initially thought to be those of a cat, police were called to the scene when teenager Kayla Ragatz and her sisters investigated the sounds, finding the squalling baby, just hours old, with umbilical cord still attached. Nicknamed “Baby India” for her apparent ethnic heritage, the girl was put into foster care and eventually adopted. Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman promised justice for the foundling, and more than three years later was able to identify the child’s father, based on advanced DNA investigative processes.

May 13th, 2023 at 11:23am by Alex Miller

Justice 2, GOP 0

With national Republican figures, from the highest to the lowest, being indicted, tried and convicted of multiple crimes in both civil and criminal cases, the GOP runs the serious risk of becoming identified as the party of lawlessness as the 2024 elections careen toward us. Two major developments in as many days in early May added fuel to the fire of Republican miscreants, much in the way a spate of stories involving GOP corruption and sexual misconduct led to Democrats reclaiming the House in 2006. On May 9^th, Donald Trump was found liable for sexual assault and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll civil rape suit, and on the following day Trump Mini-Me George Santos, with aspirations to ascend to Liar-in-Chief, was arrested and charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and lying to Congress.

May 7th, 2023 at 08:33am by Alex Miller

Leaves From the Coronation Journal

A number of moments, before and during the coronation of Charles III, deserve special mention and analysis. Here, then, is my personal journal of the events surrounding the occasion, from the sublime to the ridiculous.

May 6th, 2023 at 10:34am by Alex Miller

Vivat Rex! The Coronation of Charles III

The spectacle of a British royal coronation is something we haven’t seen in 70 years, but there’s one on deck for 6 May 2023, when King Charles III finally comes into his long-awaited inheritance. The United Kingdom may be in financial tatters, made worse by Brexit, but nobody does panoply, pomp and circumstance like the Brits, and the coronation at Westminster Abbey in London promises to be a sight to remember.

May 4th, 2023 at 09:09am by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Fractured Spring

Climate change continues apace, and this has been one of the oddest springs in my experience. After a ridiculously warm early winter and the earliest recorded blossoms in my garden, Mother Nature seems to have taken a step back, realized how overextended she was, and called a halt to the whole thing. Weeks of below normal cold punctuated with hot stretches that flirted with the mid-80s created a “two steps forward, one step back” mentality in the garden, with nothing blooming in season, and unique bouquets of cut flowers that would normally never blossom together. Drought vied with torrential downpours, and a late freeze crushed the star magnolia blooms at their peak.

May 2nd, 2023 at 08:33am by Alex Miller

Joe Biden: Finishing the Job

Joe Biden officially threw his hat into the ring for the 2024 US presidential election, announcing his candidacy in an online video that crossed just after 6 AM EDT on 25 April 2023. Hardly shocking news, Biden had been signaling his intention to run for reelection for months. The moment chosen seems to be an auspicious one at the micro astro-level, but its placement in the midst of eclipse season, with a stationary Pluto and a retrograde Mercury, makes it an ill-timed choice over all.

April 28th, 2023 at 08:58am by Alex Miller

The Rise & Fall of Tucker Carlson

On Monday, 24 April 2023, the cable news universe was rocked by the sudden and unexpected announcement that Fox News had parted ways with Tucker Carlson, who had been anchoring the coveted 8 PM weeknight spot for six years with his eponymous “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, the network’s top-rated news/opinion show. The split came barely a week after a record $787.5 million settlement in the defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems, in which Carlson was a scheduled witness, one among several Fox News anchors who promoted the “Big Lie” that Donald Trump had won the 2020 election, but had it stolen from him by rigged Dominion machines. Carlson’s embrace of the stolen election fraud was legendary, as was his attempt to paint the January 6^th insurrection as a peaceful protest or conspiracy from the left.

April 25th, 2023 at 09:22am by Alex Miller

Trump on Trial: At Last!

April 25, 2023 witnesses the opening of the first salvo of courtroom dramas involving former US president Donald J. Trump, although as a civil case, he’s not required to attend in person, and likely won’t do so. The case is brought by journalist and author E. Jean Carroll, who alleges Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. No, the charge isn’t rape – it’s defamation of character, following statements Trump made after Carroll publicly accused him in 2019, when he denied ever meeting her, much less assaulting her, in terms peppered with his patented brand of denigration and misogynistic dismissal.

April 19th, 2023 at 09:30am by Alex Miller

A Tale of Two Thomases

As asteroid Thomas moved toward its retrograde station, a pair of stories erupted into the American consciousness, with yet another mass shooting at a Louisville, Kentucky bank, where five died, including bank VP Thomas “Tommy” Elliot; and allegations of ethics violations in nonreporting of gifts to US Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas emerged. Both stories broke within two weeks of Thomas’ cosmic turnabout on April 20^th at 25 Sagittarius, a period fraught with peril for those terrestrial entities associated with this celestial body, provoking a literal “turning point” in their lives. Sagittarius is the sign ruled by Jupiter, which is associated with both banks and the judiciary, making Thomases involved in these fields even more susceptible to asteroid Thomas’ fallout.

April 7th, 2023 at 11:55am by Alex Miller

Tennessee Turmoil

On 6 April 2023, the lower chamber of the Tennessee State House took an unprecedented step – voting on the expulsion of three members who had violated floor protocols by joining an anti-gun demonstration during a lag in official proceedings. State representatives Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson briefly took a bullhorn to the well of the House to express solidarity and support for hundreds of students and others who had come to protest lax gun laws in the Volunteer State, in the wake of a mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville the week before, that had left six dead, including three nine-year-olds.

April 3rd, 2023 at 09:04am by Alex Miller

March Madness, Asteroid Style

March 2023 was hopping with activity, from US bank closures and mass protests in Israeli streets, to yet another record-setting development in the Donald Trump saga. Pluto dipped its tootsies into Aquarius for the first time in a quarter millennium, and whenever an outer planet makes a major ingress the energy flux is palpable. Aquarius is the Sign of the marketplace, and modern commerce wouldn’t get very far without a healthy banking system; it’s also related to rebellion and protest, as well as the concept of fairness and equal treatment, where not even a former President is above the law.

March 31st, 2023 at 08:04am by Alex Miller

Nashville School Shooting

Another day, another mass shooting in the US. 2023 so far has averaged roughly 1.5 such incidents per day, defined as shootings where four or more persons are killed or injured. We’ve covered many of the more sensational of these at AAA over the years, and all betray the same pattern, of shooter PNAs (Personal-Named Asteroids) in stressful placement, victim PNAs clustered and tied to death indicators, and placenames forming significant aspects.

March 22nd, 2023 at 01:36pm by Alex Miller

RIP Ashes

At 11:24 AM EDT on March 21, 2023, in Nazareth, PA, my dear girl Ashes passed peacefully into eternity. We had been together 15 years, with never a cross word between us, a wonderfully close and affectionate relationship. I brought Ashes in off the West Philly streets in 2007, along with two of her kittens, one of the first beneficiaries of Leo’s Cat Rescue, which I ran with my friend John Mignone for over ten years.

March 14th, 2023 at 08:24am by Alex Miller

The 95th Academy Awards

The 95^th Academy Awards are now history, and it was a night of firsts and record-setting nominations. Angela Bassett was the first actor to be nominated for work in a film from the Marvel Comics franchise (for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), and sixteen of the twenty nominees in the acting awards were up for the accolade for the first time. Michelle Yeoh became the first performer of Asian descent to win Best Actress, Ke Huy Quan became the second to win Best Supporting Actor, after a gap of nearly forty years, and Daniel Kwan won for Best Director (all for “Everything Everywhere All At Once”). Composer and conductor John Williams became the oldest Oscar nominee ever, at age 91, though he failed to take home the gold statuette.

March 9th, 2023 at 08:31am by Alex Miller

The Alex Murdaugh Verdict

On Thursday, 2 March 2023, a South Carolina jury convicted lawyer Alex Murdaugh of the murders of his wife and younger son, after just three hours’ deliberation. The trial which began January 25^th lasted five weeks, and had become a cause celebre, with national news organizations running live coverage during Murdaugh’s testimony and final arguments, then breaking into primetime programming to cover the verdict live. The sentencing came a day later, with Murdaugh receiving two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole.

February 28th, 2023 at 09:56am by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: A (Too) Early Spring

First, let me say that I totally renounce and disown that charlatan rodent weather prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, who on Groundhog Day 2023 predicted six more weeks of winter. He’s often wrong, and I’ve tried to defend him in the past, but he has been so colossally off the mark this year that I can no longer continue with his charade. On the other hand, if by that prediction, he meant “six more weeks of the same,” then he’s been spot on!

February 24th, 2023 at 10:14am by Alex Miller

Ukraine War: First Anniversary

The traditional first anniversary gift is paper, but no peace treaty looms on the horizon between Russia and Ukraine as the war grinds on into its second year. Perhaps the modern version, the gift of a clock, would be more appropriate, to time the conflict’s duration. What many predicted would be a triumphal progress for the Russian army a year ago, with expectations that Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv would fall in a matter of days, has turned into a long, hard slog, mainly serving to illustrate the resilience, spirit and determination of the Ukrainian people, and the relative weakness and ineffectuality of the Russian armed forces.

February 20th, 2023 at 08:25am by Alex Miller

Trump & Justice: Making Progress(ions)

On Sunday, 19 February 2023, transit asteroid Troemper exactly conjoined transit Pluto, symbol of criminality and devastating change or transformation, inaugurating a new cycle for the former president. For this update on Donald Trump’s legal woes, I’ll be focusing on progressions, an astrologic technique I rarely employ. The birth chart is a dynamic thing, continuing to evolve and unfold as we age; secondary progressions are a method of forecasting which equates one day of planetary movement with one year of life. So, if you want to know what things are highlighted and on the move for age 30, for example, you look to a month after birth.

February 16th, 2023 at 09:06am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Nikki Haley

On Valentine’s Day 2023, former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley jumped into the 2024 GOP presidential nominating pool. It remains to be seen whether it was a swan dive or a belly flop. In a three-minute video Haley touted her credentials and philosophy, taking a few sideswipes at Donald Trump, in the shallow end of that pool, by calling for a new generation of leadership, reminding folks that Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of eight recent general elections, and asserting that she’ll stand up to bullies.

February 13th, 2023 at 08:22am by Alex Miller

The Turkish Earthquake

On 6 February 2023 at approximately 4:17 AM local time, the border region between Turkey and Syria was rocked by a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake, estimated to be one of the deadliest of the decade. As of this writing (Feb 12), more than 34,000 are confirmed dead, with much of the debris yet to be excavated for survivors or remains. Known as the Kahramanmaras quake, for the nearest large city, the epicenter is closer to Nurdagi, a smaller town on the outskirts.

February 6th, 2023 at 08:38am by Alex Miller

Catching Up With Old Friends: Alec Baldwin Charged, Donald Trump’s Stormy Weather

They say karma is a bitch, and that may be especially true now, with asteroid Karma in a protracted conjunction with Pluto. Evildoers beware! For two months, from mid-January through mid-March 2023, this powerhouse duo will be out for payback, settling old accounts and teeing up retribution via devastating transformation of circumstances. Karma is the principle of being called to account for prior bad acts, while Pluto counts among the denizens of its bailiwick things like sex and scandal, criminality and resurrection. Two souls currently dealing with the resurrection of past transgressions, and the high probability that the time has come to pay for them, are actor Alec Baldwin and former US president Donald Trump.

January 31st, 2023 at 09:11am by Alex Miller

Death in Memphis: The Tyre Nichols Story

On 7 January 2023, another traffic stop gone horribly wrong claimed the life of Tyre Nichols, when Memphis police pulled over the 29-year-old for “reckless driving.” After an initial confrontation involving pepper spray and a taser, Nichols broke free and fled on foot. When apprehended by five officers, he was beaten so badly that he died three days later. Body cam footage release by Memphis PD after the officers themselves had been arrested on January 26^th and charged with second degree murder, among other offenses, reveals a shocking level of brutality and escalation of a situation that had never placed any officer in danger.

January 23rd, 2023 at 08:59am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: David Crosby

On 18 January 2022, music fans across the globe were saddened to hear of the death of singer/songwriter David Crosby, a leading light of the American music scene in the 1960s and ‘70s. As a founding member of popular groups, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash, David Crosby’s music became the soundtrack of many peoples’ lives during the turbulent period, with such mega-hits as “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” Crosby passed at the age of 81 after a long illness, with cause of death undisclosed as of this writing.

January 19th, 2023 at 09:32am by Alex Miller

Paper Chase: The Biden Documents Fracas

Much has been made by the Right of the discovery of several documents with classified markings in Joe Biden’s possession, dating from his time as Vice President in the Obama administration, ecstatically drawing equivalency with Donald Trump’s ongoing document difficulties. While any breach of security of this nature is a serious matter, the two cases couldn’t be more different.

January 16th, 2023 at 08:24am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr can seem a remote figure, frozen in time with his death in 1968, but had he lived, he would have been 94 on January 15^th, well within range of many current lifespans. King galvanized a movement for civil rights which continues to this day, as more and more minority groups seek inclusivity and equality in America’s quest for a more perfect union. Threats to his legacy abound, but as King himself stated, the arc of the moral universe bends always toward justice. The fifty-fifth anniversary of his assassination will be commemorated April 4^th.

January 9th, 2023 at 08:33am by Alex Miller

The Man Who Would Be Speaker: The Kevin McCarthy Debacle

Well, that was fun! The 118^th Congress kicked off with a bang on January 3^rd, and an impressive showing of just how incapable of governing the House GOP majority truly is. Far from running the country, they couldn’t even pick a Speaker! Pardon me while I indulge in a bit of schadenfreude, a marvelously descriptive turn of phrase which in German means “shameful joy,” taking pleasure in the misfortune of another. I really should be mourning the tragic state of politics in America, and I do, truly. But somehow, I can’t help smiling at Kevin McCarthy’s discomfiture.

January 4th, 2023 at 09:24am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Barbara Walters

On 30 December 2022, media icon Barbara Walters passed away at her home in Manhattan; retired since 2014, her last public appearance had been in 2016. Walters’ journalistic career was studded with an array of impressive “firsts.” The doyenne of television interviewers, Walters made history as the first female co-anchor of a nightly network news broadcast, and the first woman journalist to garner a $1 million salary. She was instrumental in the success of ABC’s premiere news magazine, “20/20”, established its hit daytime current events talk show, “The View”, and in countless interviews and dozens of prime-time specials brought us up close and personal to the movers, shakers, and culture makers of our time. From presidents and potentates to pop stars and prima donnas, if they made headlines, Walters interviewed them, and often her interviews became headlines in themselves.

January 2nd, 2023 at 09:47am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger in Bavaria, Germany, in 1927, passed away on 31 December 2022, age 95, at his monastic apartments in Vatican City where he had been living since his retirement from the papacy almost a decade before. Ratzinger was elected Pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II, whose enforcer of doctrine he was. Uncompromisingly conservative on social and theological issues, Benedict’s tenure in the Vatican was rocked by continued sexual scandals among the priesthood, by financial irregularities, and by breaches of security. Ratzinger’s health was the avowed reason for giving up the Ring of the Fisherman in 2013, and though he lingered for another ten years, he became increasingly feeble and made few public appearances. His health had taken a dramatic downturn in recent weeks, culminating in his passing on New Year’s Eve.

December 31st, 2022 at 08:02am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Pele

December 29, 2022 saw the passing of a man generally acknowledged as the greatest soccer player of all time, Pele. The mononymous sports superstar is the only player ever to compete in three winning FIFA World Cup finals, holds the Guinness World record for most lifetime goals, and was designated Player of the Century by international soccer’s governing body, FIFA. Raised in poverty in the Sao Paulo state of Brazil, too destitute to afford a real ball, Pele learned his sport by playing with a sock stuffed with newspaper and tied off, or a grapefruit. He joined his first professional team at age 15 and was picked up by the Brazil national team a year later.

December 29th, 2022 at 09:22am by Alex Miller

George Santos: Lying to (Get Into) Congress

One standout in the 2023 GOP Congressional Freshman class is Representative-elect George Santos (R-NY), the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican elected to the House. In November 2022 Santos managed to flip a redrawn district in metro New York from Blue to Red, adding to the slender House GOP majority. But he did so under what seem to be increasingly false pretenses, with virtually no part of his life history and resume holding up to public inspection.

December 22nd, 2022 at 09:46am by Alex Miller

Trump’s Noose Tightens

Well, he’s done it again – Trump continues to break records, right and left. He’s now the first former US President to be referred for criminal charges. On Monday, 19 December 2022, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol gave Americans an early Christmas gift, when it voted unanimously to send four criminal referrals for Donald J. Trump to the Justice Department, based on his actions that day and in the preceding months since the 2020 election. The House doesn’t have the power to file charges on its own behalf, but can recommend legal action to the DOJ, known to be deep into its own investigation of the insurrection planned, prompted and encouraged by the disgraced 45^th President.

December 21st, 2022 at 10:25am by Alex Miller

Holiday Flashbacks

Holiday Rush got your knickers in a twist? Kick back with a mug of hot cocoa or mulled cider and enjoy this collection of Yule-themed articles from the AAA archives: everything you always wanted to know about (asteroids) Santa, Rudolf, Carol and Yule, but were afraid to ask!

Explore the astrological origins of the Santa Claus myth (oops! that’ll earn me some coal!), with “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Asteroid!”

And if you thought you had the skinny on Rudolph, think again, with “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Rock Chunk”.

Can’t get that Christmas Carol out of your head? “Here We Come a-Carol-ing” may help you understand why some resonate more than others.

And don’t forget A Visit From Santy Claws: my yuletide classic for feline lovers everywhere!

AAA Wishes You All the Happiest of Holiday Seasons, and a wondrous, joyous 2023!

December 21st, 2022 at 10:07am by Alex Miller

A Simple Yule

[Above, a slender crescent moon hangs like an ornament in a striated, pre-dawn solstice sky.]

Well, I suppose “simple” is in the eye of the beholder. But after the exhaustion that was Halloween for me this year (three weeks to put it up, two weeks to take it down), I felt I needed a rest. Late November to early December is always “hell month” for me, with so much de-decorating, redecorating and seasonal switch-ups going on; it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a break with a streamlined Yule.

December 16th, 2022 at 08:17am by Alex Miller

Eighty Years of White Christmas

The most enduring of Christmas carols just might be Bing Crosby’s 1942 version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, celebrating its eightieth year this holiday season. Even in this day of flash-in-the-pan one-hit-wonders, streaming and digital downloads, Crosby’s classic retains its lofty perch as the world’s best-selling single, with global sales exceeding fifty million. But it’s not just Crosby – add in the sales figures of the hundreds of artists who have covered the tune, and total sales of “White Christmas” double to over 100 million! Perhaps writer/composer Irving Berlin’s post-creation assessment of the tune for his secretary was correct: “I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.”

December 12th, 2022 at 07:45am by Alex Miller

Home for the Holidays: Brittney Griner’s Harrowing Russian Adventure

WNBA star Brittney Griner’s unexpected release from Russian custody on December 8^th, after almost ten months in detention for a drug trafficking violation, sent waves of relief through family, friends and fandom. Griner had been arrested February 17, 2022 on smuggling charges after customs authorities found vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil in her luggage. Griner had a prescription for medical marijuana use from the state of Arizona, but all forms of the drug are illegal in Russia.

December 9th, 2022 at 08:32am by Alex Miller

Trump’s Dilemma: The White House or the Big House?

Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president facing multiple criminal investigations, chose the week after a disappointing finish for Republicans in the Midterm Elections to announce his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. With criminal indictments against him already issued and more pending, the act may be more a bid for resuming the specious immunity conferred by the office of the presidency, than any true desire to pick up the tattered threads of his political career.

December 1st, 2022 at 08:36am by Alex Miller

Same-Sex Marriage in the US: From Defense to Respect

The US is poised to formally enshrine marriage equality in law, as opposed to allowing the practice via Supreme Court fiat. Same sex marriage, first legalized in Massachusetts in 2003, was validated in all fifty states by the Obergefell v Hodges decision in 2015. But recent events with the overturning of Roe v Wade and its abandonment of federally guaranteed reproductive freedoms have shown just how fragile governance by judicial rulings can be, and advocates have been pushing hard for legal codification of the right to same-sex unions.

November 25th, 2022 at 04:07pm by Alex Miller

The Colorado Springs Drag Show Shooting

Just before midnight on Saturday, 19 November 2022, a man clad in body armor with an AR-15-style long rifle entered Club Q, an LGBTQ+ watering hole in a strip mall on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, Colorado, which was hosting a drag show that evening. He began shooting into the crowd, but was tackled two minutes later by two patrons and subdued until police arrived. In those two minutes, he had killed five and wounded 18 others.

November 21st, 2022 at 08:47am by Alex Miller

“Casablanca” Turns 80: Here’s Looking at You, Kid!

When “Casablanca” was released in 1942, no one expected it would stand out among the hundreds of films churned out by Hollywood yearly, let alone achieve the iconic status it has. The film did reasonably well at the box office, but it wasn’t until it won the Academy Award for Best Picture that people began to take it seriously. Over the decades, “Casablanca” has earned an enduring place in movie-lovers’ hearts, with its star-studded leading players, supporting cast of popular ‘40s character actors, memorable dialogue, and iconic theme song, “As Time Goes By.” “Casablanca” regularly makes it to the top of the lists of the most popular movies of all time, and was one of the first films nominated by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. It remains a personal favorite, and I never miss an opportunity to watch.

November 18th, 2022 at 08:07am by Alex Miller

Joe Biden’s 2022 Solar Return

On November 20, 2022, US President Joe Biden turns eighty years old, the oldest person ever to serve in that office. Although he has not made his candidacy official, Biden routinely offers, when asked, that it is his “intention” to run for reelection in 2024, just shy of 82, which would make him 86 when he hands off to the next president in January of 2029. We’ll see.

November 14th, 2022 at 08:25am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: King Charles III

On November 14, 2022, Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will celebrate his 74^th birthday, the first as King. Having served the longest apprenticeship in British royal history, Charles had been heir apparent for seventy years before his mother passed away in early September and the Prince of Wales finally came into his inheritance. It had been a long road. Once the world’s most eligible bachelor, Charles became half of the fairytale wedding of the 20^th century, followed by scandal and divorce, and a second, controversial marriage with the love of his life. While kicking his heels for three-quarters of a century, Charles established The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, founded in 1979, which awards money to grant applicants in six categories: heritage and conservation, education, health and wellbeing, social inclusion, environment, and countryside. He is also a noted proponent of efforts to combat climate change and species extinction.

November 13th, 2022 at 08:46am by Alex Miller

2020 Midterm Election Wrap-up: The Red Trickle

Going into the Midterm Elections on 8 November 2022, it was anyone’s guess what would happen. With a Lunar Eclipse that day which also directly incorporated both Mercury (the vote) and Uranus (shocks and surprises) pretty much any outcome was possible. With a Red Wave predicted to topple Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, inflation at record levels, gas prices rising again, and a president with low approval ratings, the Common Wisdom argued for a Republican resurgence. Historically, the Party which holds the White House tends to lose seats in the House of Representatives during its first Midterm, on average 28. Republicans had only to wrest five seats to gain control of the House, and just one to gain control of the Senate, which seemed like a walk in the park, given precedent.

November 7th, 2022 at 08:42am by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Late Autumn Color

It’s November, and Nature is retreating from her active stance, but even as she presses pause on another season of fruitfulness, there is color and beauty everywhere you turn. The bounty of the harvest is still visible in every roadside farmstand, with bevvies of pumpkins, gourds and squashes in every imaginable hue, from classic oranges and yellows to reds, pinks, greens, whites, greys, even black. Solid, spotted, banded, freckled or striped; warted, grooved, bumpy or smooth, there’s something for every taste, and all still appropriate as seasonal décor, inside or out, through the looming Thanksgiving holiday.

November 2nd, 2022 at 08:25am by Alex Miller

Election 2022: Several Senate Scenarios

While Uranus exactly conjunct the Moon for the Lunar Eclipse on Election Day warns us to expect the unexpected, loss of control of the US House of Representatives does seem likely. Redistricting alone, in the wake of the 2020 census, should grant the Republicans ten more seats, more than enough to change the balance of power in the lower chamber and wrest the Speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi, even if all current Dem incumbents not caught up in that redistricting shift keep their seats.

So it’s in the Senate where the real drama will unfold. Currently split 50/50, Democrats maintain control (assuming they are all acting together, not always the case with consensus refuseniks like Manchin and Sinema in their ranks) due to VP Kamala Harris’ ability to break any ties in the administration’s favor. Earlier this year, the likelihood of Dems holding their fragile majority, perhaps even picking up a seat or two, seemed fairly high. But recent polling suggests Republicans are closing the gap, threatening Dem incumbents in some states, perhaps failing to pick up seats from retiring GOP senators in others. I’ve chosen three contests to profile, the winners of which will likely determine who ultimately controls the US Senate: Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia.

October 28th, 2022 at 12:13pm by Alex Miller

Halloween Ends

Such a tragedy will of course never occur, but the recent feature film of that name might be reflecting my personal reality. Halloween, at least to the extent that I’ve been celebrating it, might well be a thing of the past after this year. The mammoth undertaking of resetting the house and garden for Spooky Season is becoming more difficult every time, and took almost three weeks on this latest round. It’s an “undertaking” I’m not sure I can continue, so in case this year should be the last where I take things to the max, I decided to create a photo record of my efforts on behalf of the ghoulies, ghosties, and things that go bump in the night. Come join me on this “tour de fright.”

October 26th, 2022 at 08:09am by Alex Miller

Art Imitates Astrology: Buffyverse Character Tara Maclay

In a recent AAA post, I honored the 25^th anniversary of the premiere of perhaps my favorite TV series of all time, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and opined at the article’s close about how much I missed seeing the show. Well, the syndication gods have smiled upon me, and just months later, “Buffy” retuned from the celluloid undead to brighten the screen via Comet TV. As faithful readers of this site will remember, October usually brings at least one horror-or-Halloween-related article, but after five years, I was running out of ideas. There didn’t seem the ghost of a chance that I’d find a suitable topic, and then my replay of “Buffy” paid off in a snippet I could sink my teeth into: birth data from the tombstone of a major character.

October 25th, 2022 at 09:09am by Alex Miller

Articles From the Crypt

It’s that time of year again – Spooky Season! Over the years, AAA has amassed a cursed treasure trove of articles about all things Halloween, from themed pieces on witches, vampires, slasher films, horror actors and “Dark Shadows”, to tours of my home, original short stories and poems. In case you missed it, here’s a listing of horrific headlines to chill your blood or scratch that tingle:

HALLOWEEN/HORROR-THEMED ARTICLES:

Witchy Asteroids

Bela Lugosi Profile

“Halloween” Turns 40

Astrology of “Dark Shadows“

Barnabas Collins

Astrology of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

Vampires in Literature

Vampires in Film

MY HAUNTED HOUSE TOURS

Philadelphia Property, 2017

Nazareth Property, 2020

Nazareth Property, 2021

ORIGINAL PROSE & POETRY

A Samhain Tale

Trio of Terror

A Celtic Halloween Story

October 24th, 2022 at 08:17am by Alex Miller

Liz, We Hardly Knew Ye: UK PM Truss Resigns

It’s ironic that Britain’s longest-reigning monarch should be succeeded by its shortest-serving Prime Minister, but that’s just what happened when Liz Truss stepped down from office after only 45 days in power. The fact that they both had the same first name is just icing on the cosmic cake in this bizarre juxtaposition. Truss stepped into the breach in the Conservative Party when embattled PM Boris Johnson resigned in the wake of scandal on July 7, but it took two months to wrap up those loose ends before she was officially appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on September 6. Now, just six weeks later, she’s gone.

October 2nd, 2022 at 02:22pm by Alex Miller

Hurricane Season Heats Up

After a fairly somnolent summer, the Atlantic hurricane season has been working overtime to make up the deficit, with two powerful storms wreaking havoc up and down the east coast of North America in the last week of September. Hurricane Fiona devastated areas of the Canadian Maritimes on the 24^th, while Hurricane Ian pounded central Florida on the 28^th with nightmarish winds and massive flooding, traversed the Sunshine State, then refueled in the Atlantic and turned its sights on the Carolinas.

September 22nd, 2022 at 08:53am by Alex Miller

And So It Begins: Trump Indictment #1

On 21 September 2022, New York State Attorney General Letitia James won the race to be the first to charge Donald Trump with a crime. The former US President faces legal jeopardy on a variety of fronts, and the civil suit brought against Trump, his adult children Don Jr, Eric and Ivanka, and the Trump Organization may be the least harrowing, though, if successful, would devastate his business. A civil suit carries no threat of incarceration, but AG James stated in her press conference announcing the indictment that both state and federal laws were broken, and she will be making criminal referrals to both the US Attorney’s office at the Southern District of New York and the IRS.

September 19th, 2022 at 08:44am by Alex Miller

Requiem for a Queen

Although national mourning and celebration of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s life has been protracted for more than ten days after her passing, the official State Funeral ceremony is slated to begin in Westminster Abbey at 11 AM BST on Monday, 19 September 2022. Much of the passing chart remains in effect, but there are significant changes and additions which reflect the funeral itself.

September 14th, 2022 at 03:52pm by Alex Miller

Garden Glimpses: Summer’s End

It’s been a hot, dry summer, and I’m not sorry to see it go. Total rainfall for July on the property was three quarters of an inch – yeah, you read that right! “Normal” (whatever that means anymore) is about five inches. August was little better, with just an inch and a third by late month. Temps were above average, too – Philadelphia experienced one of the hottest summers on record, with more than thirty days seeing highs of 90+, and the hottest average temperature ever for July and August.

September 9th, 2022 at 02:51pm by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Queen Elizabeth II

She advised 15 Prime Ministers, interacted with 14 American presidents and 7 popes, but the long life and seventy-year reign of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II came to a peaceful close on 8 September 2022, when the 96-year-old sovereign passed away in her sleep at her private estate of Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Most of the United Kingdom’s population – indeed, most of the world – cannot recall a time when Elizabeth was not Queen; her reign spanned the post-World War II era to our post-Modern society, and her life saw massive technological change, from telegraphs to Twitter.

September 2nd, 2022 at 08:34am by Alex Miller

American Agita

No, this article is not about the nation’s acid reflux problem. It’s about the interplay of two Main Belt asteroids and how they affect the mood of the American populace. Asteroid America was in fact named for the US, so it’s no surprise we find it useful in describing events important to the country. Asteroid Agita, while technically named for Agita Tarasova, a relatively obscure science worker and computer programmer at the Astronomical Observatory of the Latvian University, also works both for the medical definition of the term (basically, heartburn), and for its more colloquial usage as general upset, turmoil, agitation and anxiety.

August 17th, 2022 at 08:53am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Liz Cheney

If anyone had told me two decades ago that I would be admiring, let alone praising, someone with the last name of “Cheney”, I’d have said they were nuts. But that’s just the sort of uncomfortable position many progressives find themselves in these days, when contemplating the recent performance of Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY), daughter of the former Vice President, vis-a-vis the actions of Donald Trump and the bastardization of the GOP.

August 15th, 2022 at 08:20am by Alex Miller

Salman Rushdie Attacked

On 12 August 2022 Salman Rushdie, 75, famed author of “The Satanic Verses”, was attacked in public as he was being introduced for a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. Hadi Matar, 24, rushed the stage and flung himself on Rushdie, stabbing him multiple times in the face, neck and abdomen. Airlifted from a nearby ball field to Erie Hospital, Rushdie remains on a ventilator, unable to speak; his agent stated that he may lose an eye and has extensive liver damage, as well as severed nerves in his arm.

August 12th, 2022 at 02:32pm by Alex Miller

And So It Begins: DJT & the FBI

On Monday, 8 August 2022, FBI agents executed a legal search warrant of former US president Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, looking for classified documents still in his possession. When leaving the White House in January 2021, Trump absconded with reams of classified material, in violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, and the National Archives has been trying to get them back ever since. In February, 15 boxes of such papers were returned, but investigators had cause to believe this was not the extent of the purloined trove, and a legal pas-de-deux had been danced between the Justice Department and Trump lawyers for months since, with negotiations and subpoenas having little effect.

August 9th, 2022 at 08:26am by Alex Miller

Fore! The Sad Final Resting Place of Ivana Trump

She was once the toast of Manhattan society, but the recently deceased Ivana Trump, ex-wife of the former president, now rests in her gold-tone casket at a barely marked plot overlooking the first hole at her former husband’s Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Why? The tax break, of course! The Donald (a nickname given to Trump by his erstwhile wife, and which stuck) never saw a write-off he didn’t like, or fail to grasp a grift. In burying Ivana at Bedminster, the property now qualifies as a cemetery, bringing tax relief galore. New Jersey’s tax code exempts all cemetery land from all taxes, rates, and assessments, and includes no minimum on occupancy, so one human remain would suffice (though allegedly plans are in the works to dump the entire family there in due “course”). For now, Ivana’s grave is graced with a simple plaque bearing just her name, and the dates of her birth and death.

August 4th, 2022 at 01:44pm by Alex Miller

Into the Heavens & Under the Sea: The Dual Passing of Nichelle Nichols and Pat Carroll

On Saturday, 30 July 2022, two actresses whose work is embedded in American nostalgia took leave of this life: Nichelle Nichols, 89, who played Lieutenant Uhura on the 1960’s sci-fi series “Star Trek”, reprising the role in several feature films; and Pat Carroll, 95, a staple of television for decades with supporting and guest roles on sitcoms and game shows, most likely known to more modern audiences as the voice of Ursula in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

August 1st, 2022 at 08:16am by Alex Miller

Kentucky Rain Keeps Pouring Down

Torrential rains drenching eastern Kentucky in late July led to massive flooding on July 28, 2022, particularly of isolated rural communities in the poorest areas of Appalachia, where rivers and creeks swelled to overflow their banks by as much as 20 feet, filling the hollows and washing away some homes and businesses, inundating others in feet of standing water. Hardest-hit areas received 8-10 inches of rainfall within 48 hours. As of this writing (July 31) 26 are dead and dozens more still missing, while continued rain forecasts imperil search efforts and threaten to exacerbate an already tragic situation. Among the dead are four young siblings from Montgomery, Kentucky: Maddison, Riley, Nevaeh and Chance Noble, aged 2 to 8, torn from their parent’s arms by the current’s grip as the family’s mobile home was swept away.

June 26th, 2022 at 02:11pm by Alex Miller

Roe Overturned

It didn’t quite make it to fifty, but for almost half a century legal abortion has been the law of the land here in the US. No more.

On June 24, 2022, the gavel fell on Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision guaranteeing reproductive rights, overturned 5-4 by the current US Supreme Court. The test case which led to Roe’s reversal was Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which sought to prevent a Mississippi state law virtually eliminating abortion after 15 weeks from conception. That law was upheld 6-3, but Chief Justice John Roberts joined the progressive minority on the Court when Roe itself became the target of his conservative colleagues.

June 6th, 2022 at 09:08am by Alex Miller

The Depp v Heard Verdict

On 1 June 2022, a Fairfax, Virginia jury found for plaintiff Johnny Depp in a defamation suit brought against his former wife Amber Heard, awarding the actor $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Heard, who had countersued for defamation, was vindicated on one count, and received $2 million in compensation, though no punitive damages were awarded.

May 31st, 2022 at 08:49am by Alex Miller

Salvador Ramos: In the Mind of a Killer

By now we’ve all heard of the tragic events at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last week, on May 24^th, where Salvador Ramos killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers, after shooting his grandmother. Ramos used two AR-15 assault-style weapons on his rampage, which he had purchased within days of his 18^th birthday the week prior. It’s taken far too long for accurate details of the crime to emerge, with conflicting, not to say contradictory, reports about Ramos’ entry to the school, and a mystifying 40-minute delay in active response by law enforcement before terminating the gunman as a threat, exposing an astounding level of incompetence.

May 24th, 2022 at 10:38am by Alex Miller

The 2022 Midterm Elections: Expect the Unexpected

Election Day 2022 promises to be quite a stunner, a supercharged day which is, ultimately, unpredictable. Held November 8, the day features multiple activations of Uranus, the planet of the shocking and unexpected, disruption, turmoil, revolution and change, including a conjunction by the Moon and oppositions from the Sun and Mercury. As well, it’s the day of the Sun/Mercury conjunction, and the Sun/Moon opposition, which just happens to be a total Lunar Eclipse!

May 11th, 2022 at 08:22am by Alex Miller

Rich Strike Strikes It Rich

The 2022 Kentucky Derby came to a startling and unexpected “Wow!” finish, as long shot Rich Strike came from behind in the last furlong to cross the finish line ahead of favorites Epicenter and Zandon. At odds of 80-1, Rich Strike’s victory was the second-greatest upset in Derby history, and paid off handsomely for the few clairvoyants who saw it coming. And it almost didn’t happen; as of 8:45 the previous morning, Rich Strike wasn’t even slated to run, but a last-minute scratch by Ethereal Road opened up a spot with two minutes to spare before the 9 AM deadline for registration.

May 2nd, 2022 at 08:46am by Alex Miller

Of Mice and Mean: DeSantis vs Disney

On April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a mean-spirited, retaliatory Bill meant to punish Disney World for its outspoken opposition to his so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans discussion of same-sex and transgender orientation in primary public schools in the Sunshine State, signed by the governor the month before. The new legislation revokes the Disney World theme park’s special status as a self-governing enclave within Florida, allowing it to function as a municipal or county government, providing its own electrical grid, security, emergency, medical, fire and rescue services, in exchange for special tax status in the state. DeSantis pushed for the law after Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek publicly denounced the anti-gay legislation, and announced a reassessment of Disney’s political contribution policy.

April 11th, 2022 at 07:57am by Alex Miller

RIP Emmett

On April 4, 2022, a dear feline friend, Emmett, passed away. Emmett was the daughter of Embers, my cat Ashes’ sister, and thus her niece and a close relation, part of our extended family. She was fur baby to my longtime friend, former landlord and cat rescue partner John Mignone, and is survived by her sister Maxine. Emmette passed of complications from failing kidneys due to hyperthyroidism.

April 8th, 2022 at 08:15am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Ketanji Brown Jackson

The United States Supreme Court just got a little more diversified, with the history-making confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as its newest Associate Justice, the first black woman to sit on the bench. Jackson was confirmed by the full Senate on Thursday, April 7, with a bipartisan vote of 53-47, and will replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer when the new session convenes in October. A native of Washington DC, Jackson was raised in Florida, is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School (where she edited the “Harvard Law Review”), and previously clerked for the Justice she is replacing.

April 2nd, 2022 at 09:38am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin has dominated Russian politics for almost a quarter century. A former KGB officer, Putin entered politics after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, an event he describes as the greatest tragedy of the Twentieth Century. In 1996 he joined Boris Yeltsin’s administration; appointed as prime minister in 1999, he filled the role of acting president when Yeltsin resigned later that year, being elected to the office in 2000. At the time, Russia had a prohibition on an individual serving more than two consecutive terms as president, so after being reelected in 2004, in 2008 Putin swapped jobs with then prime minister Dmitry Medvedev for a term, only to assume the top spot again in the following election, four years later. That would have entitled him to two more terms, but Putin changed the law to allow himself to run for an additional two terms uninterrupted, potentially continuing his occupancy of the presidency indefinitely.

March 26th, 2022 at 09:30am by Alex Miller

Virginia Reels: The Ginni Thomas Text Controversy

On March 24, 2022, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reported on text messages sent in November 2020 from Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to Mark Meadows, former President Trump’s then Chief of Staff, exhorting him to do anything necessary to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in office. Sent days to weeks after the loss, Thomas deluged Meadows with false information, conspiracy theories, and strategies for reversing the apparent defeat.

March 1st, 2022 at 08:17am by Alex Miller

Ukraine: Eight Stations of the Cross of War

On Thursday, 24 February 2022, at approximately 5 AM local time, Vladimir Putin’s Russian Army invaded Ukraine, accelerating a process of intimidation and aggression that had begun eight years before with the illegal occupation and annexation of Crimea, and had continued with support for separatist movements in Ukraine’s easternmost sectors, bordering Russia, specifically portions of the oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the Donbass region. Since the beginning of the year, a series of planetary stations had reflected the inexorable march to war, eight cosmic turning points which built upon each other like tumblers in a lock, eventually unleashing the conflict.

February 4th, 2022 at 08:46am by Alex Miller

The USA Pluto Return: You Ain’t Seen Nuthin’ Yet

In 2022 the United States is undergoing a profound and deeply transformative period in its development, namely the return of Pluto to its natal degree. Pluto’s orbit is roughly 248 years, so this is a cosmic event that no human has ever experienced, but it can occur for longer-lived entities such as nation-states. The historical record for what transpires at these times is mixed at best, and subject also to such interruptions and mutations as major political reorganization. (Is it really valid, for example, to continue using a chart for the Norman Conquest of England for today’s United Kingdom, a different political entity entirely, albeit with a titular head-of-state whose ancestry dates back to those days?) As well, when such charts are used, we may see recurrent themes under successive Pluto Returns for the same country, but not necessarily among all countries.

January 31st, 2022 at 09:09am by Alex Miller

B is for Bridge, C is for Cat: A Biden Astro-Primer

Don’t you ever wonder how this all works? I know I do. After 15+ years of intense engagement with asteroids, I’m no closer to an answer, but sometimes I like to revel in how even the most mundane of mundane events can be reflected in the stars. On January 28^th, two Biden-related stories made the news – a bridge in Pittsburgh, PA collapsed just hours before a presidential visit touting the need for repair of crumbling infrastructure; and the White House acquired a new furry occupant, a grey tabby cat with jade-green eyes named Willow.

January 22nd, 2022 at 09:23am by Alex Miller

The Russia-Ukraine Crisis

Tensions continue to increase on the border between Ukraine and Russia, where more than 100,000 Russian troops have recently been stationed, in what appears to be a build-up to an invasion. Russia began a piecemeal takeover of its neighbor in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea, followed by further border incursions into adjoining Ukrainian enclaves dominated by its military and local separatist groups wanting to reunite the two nations, as they were under Soviet hegemony. Reports that families of Russian diplomatic staffers in Ukraine were evacuated in early January heightened the sense of impending crisis.

February 5th, 2021 at 10:41am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Marjorie Taylor Greene

Not since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2019 has a freshman congressperson made such a stunning impact in the House of Representatives as Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), quickly emerging as an avatar for the extremist fringe of her Party. Greene latched onto the Trumpist base with all the furor of a Sarah-Palin-inspired “pit bull in lipstick”, hawking every conspiracy theory to come within range while endorsing the lynching of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Not surprisingly, Donald Trump strongly supported her candidacy, calling her “a future Republican star.” Since his departure from the Oval Office, he and Greene have exchanged phone calls frequently, with the newly minted Representative planning a visit to Mar-a-Lago soon, to kiss the ring: “Great news is, he supports me 100%, and I’ve always supported him,” tweeted Greene.

January 15th, 2021 at 08:47am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: The Biden Administration

By Constitutional fiat, all US administrations begin at 12 Noon on the January 20^th following a general election, regardless of when the oath of office is actually sworn. This provides a celestial continuity from decade to decade, with all administrations having an early Aquarius Sun conjunct a late Capricorn MC, and a mid-Taurus Ascendant (unless begun by the death or resignation of the previous office holder). But within that rigid framework, the permutations are virtually endless, especially when asteroids are considered.

January 7th, 2021 at 02:21pm by Alex Miller

Chaos in the Capitol: the Epiphany Coup

On Wednesday, January 6^th, 2021, the Feast of the Epiphany, Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to prevent Congress’ counting and certification of Joe Biden’s election victory, preparatory to his inauguration two weeks later. Doors were forced, windows broken, as insurrectionists fresh from a Trump rally mere blocks away which featured an in-person address from the President took control from Capitol Police and security, who offered minimal resistance to the crowd, estimated in the tens of thousands. The Senate and House were evacuated, put on lockdown, as legislators cowered in safe spaces or barricaded themselves in their offices to avoid the mob.

April 25th, 2019 at 02:47pm by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Joe Biden

On Thursday 25 April 2019 former Vice President Joe Biden entered the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Biden’s Macbeth routine, “letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’,” was wearing thin, and at his announcement Biden joined an already crowded field of some twenty rivals who dove into the political (cess)pool ahead of him. Before officially becoming a candidate, Biden’s name recognition kept him at the top of most polls; now that he’s an actual contender, that may change. Fast.

January 31st, 2019 at 09:35am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Kamala Harris

On Sunday, 27 January 2019, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign in her home town of Oakland, California, before a crowd estimated at some 20,000. Harris is the former Attorney General of California, elected to the US Senate in 2016. As a mixed race child of a Jamaican father and a Tamil Indian mother, Harris is the first potentially viable candidate who is a woman of color to run for president. Her candidacy will electrify liberals and promote progressive goals, such as universal pre-K, debt-free college, and Medicare for all, and a long career in law enforcement may help to remove the “soft on crime” sting that many conservatives will attempt to apply.

November 26th, 2018 at 01:33pm by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: Nancy Pelosi, The Once and Future Speaker

When the 116^th Congress convenes on January 3^rd, 2019, it’s likely to have a most remarkable woman at its head. If chosen Speaker by the incoming Democratic majority in US the House of Representatives, it won’t be Nancy Pelosi’s first crack at wielding the gavel. The California-based Representative made history in 2007 when she became the first female Speaker of the House, a post she held until the 2010 electoral rout against the Affordable Care Act, spearheaded by the Tea Party, tossed Democrats out of power for 8 years. But progressives and Pelosi are back, and 2018’s Blue Wave has once again turned the tide in DC.

March 23rd, 2017 at 05:03pm by Alex Miller

Hekate 100

Hekate Hekate was a Greek goddess associated with the wisdom of age, healing, medicinal and herbal knowledge, women’s mysteries, sorcery, witchcraft and necromancy.