Posts by Alex Miller

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Lost at Sea: The OceanGate Disaster

On Sunday, 18 June 2023, the Titan submersible, some 13,000 feet under the waters of the North Atlantic, lost contact with its support vessel on the surface.  The craft was carrying a crew of five, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and four others who had paid $250,000 apiece for a chance to view the wreckage of the Titanic, part of OceanGate’s underwater tourism service.  Last contact came at 9:45 AM local time (11:45 AM UT), and a multi-nation search was instituted after the sub failed to return to the surface at about 3 PM as expected.  With an estimated 96 hours of reserve oxygen, by Thursday the 22nd, the operation became one of recovery rather than rescue, as little hope was offered for survivors.

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Fire & Water: The Mark Batista Drowning Case

On June 9, 2023, 39-year-old Mark Anthony Batista, a New York firefighter and EMT with Brooklyn Engine Company 226, drowned at the Jersey shore while trying to rescue his daughter, who had become trapped in a rip current.  Batista was unsuccessful, losing his own life in the attempt; his daughter was rescued by first responders called to the scene at 8:30 AM, and his body was discovered and retrieved about 10:00.  A 15-year veteran of the FDNY, Batista is survived by his eleven-year-old daughter, his wife and two stepsons.  The tragedy occurred at Sylvania Beach in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ.

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Heart to Heart

On Monday 5 June 2023, I went into a local hospital for a heart ablation.  I’ve had rhythm issues for almost twenty years, originating in a heart defect when I was born, with a hole in a ventricle.  I had open-heart surgery to repair this at age 3, in 1963, when such things were still a novelty.  The surgery was a complete success, I’ve never had an issue with my heart since, but as I aged into my forties, arrhythmias developed, as I understand is common among pediatric heart patients.

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Donald Trump’s 2023 Solar Return: The Year of Living Litigiously

Donald Trump’s 77th year promises to be a ballbreaker, if I may use the vernacular.  The effects of a lifetime of skirting, circumventing or outright flouting the law look to be finally catching up with him.  As the fatal date approaches, Trump was gifted with an early birthday present of a 37-count indictment from the Justice Department, alleging violation of the Espionage Act in his unlawful possession, retention and obstruction in returning several hundred classified documents, kept in bathrooms, closets and storage rooms at his Mar-a-Lago residence.  We already know of at least one trial date in 2024, set for late March when the porn star hush money payoff trial is slated to begin in Manhattan (more on that later); this case will likely come to trial in 2024 as well, and several more may be in the offing.

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Justice Comes for Trump

Well, the US Department of Justice, at any rate; we’ll see how the real thing plays out in time.

Yes, he’s done it again – Donald J. Trump has set another record!  Not content with being the first US President to lose the popular vote in both elections, the first to be twice impeached, the first to incite an insurrection against his own government, the first to be found liable in a sexual assault and defamation case, and the first to be indicted on state criminal charges, The Donald proudly becomes the first former prez to be indicted on federal criminal charges as well.

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desantis rollout

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.

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