Posts by Alex Miller

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Texas Drowning Sparks Outrage

The plight of Central American immigrants was spotlighted again the week of June 23rd, 2019, as horrific conditions for some 300 migrant children at a Texas detention camp were exposed, followed by the intense, heart-wrenching images of a young father and his 23-month-old daughter, both drowned while attempting to swim the Rio Grande, their bodies still clinging to one another.

 

The week before, a team of lawyers and doctors visiting the Border Control facility in Clint, Texas, reported appalling conditions for the children detained there, separated from family members, including untreated outbreaks of flu and lice. Inadequate sanitation was a major issue, with children going without showers for weeks, a lack of soap and toothbrushes, living in soiled or filthy garments, toddlers without diapers, cared for by older children. Following the public outcry, the administration moved the children from the facility temporarily on Monday, but was forced to return more than 100 a few days later, citing lack of space elsewhere.

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Summer of ’69, Part I: The Stonewall Riots

The summer of 1969 was long, hot and volatile, still reverberating with the cosmic gong that was the Uranus/Pluto conjunction of four years previously. In this fiftieth anniversary summer, AAA will be taking a look back at some of the blockbuster events from that period, some of which were obviously momentous at the time, like the Moon Landing, and others which initially seemed to be predominantly personal tragedies, like the drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne or the Manson Family murders, but which have reverberated for decades.

 

The summer had barely begun when one of its most consequential events occurred, involving some of what society viewed as its least consequential members. In the wee hours of June 28th, 1969, a group of fed-to-the-teeth drag queens challenged a police raid on a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, essentially inaugurating what became the Gay Rights movement.

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Michael Jackson: Ten Years Later

AAA honors the tenth anniversary of the passing of the “King of Pop” with this reprint of his biography, originally published in the August 2009 Daykeeper Journal. Minor additions and corrections have been made, including an analysis of the recent release of “Leaving Neverland“, a documentary chronicling Jackson’s alleged sexual abuse of children.

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Donald Trump’s 2019 Solar Return: Jupiter to the Rescue

In last year’s Solar Return, I opined that 2018 was the critical time – if he made it through that solar year, Donald Trump would likely finish his term in office, and could possibly be re-elected. Despite the Mueller Report’s scathing details of impropriety and actions which would be judged criminal coming from anyone not shielded by the office of the presidency, Trump has hung on. Impeachment in the House may still be on the table, but with a GOP majority in the Senate which refuses to budge on its support for the 45th president, conviction and removal from office is unlikely.

 

Reflecting that earthly reality, the skies seem to have parted somewhat for Trump, and the 2019 Solar Return puts a more favorable light on his prospects going forward. Believe me, I evince no pleasure in reporting this, but an old friend which has sustained The Donald since birth is once again stepping into the breach, fortifying the Lucky Schmuck with its substantial staying power and grace.

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Mueller Speaks

At precisely 11 AM EDT on May 29th, 2019, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally spoke publically about his investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election, Russian contacts with the Trump Campaign, and Donald Trump’s efforts to hamper that investigation, more than two years after it began. It was Mueller’s first public statement on the matter, and it fell into the body politic with a resounding boom.

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Cruel Britannia: Theresa May’s PMexit

On May 24th, 2019, UK PM Theresa May made a tearful departure from the political scene, as she announced her resignation in the wake of the collapse of the disastrous Brexit negotiations to withdraw Britain from the EU. The move was not unexpected, as May had intimated as much, should the third vote on a dissolution proposal fail in Parliament, which it did in late March. At that time the European Union gave Britain a further seven months to craft a deal suitable to all parties, but having failed at each successive attempt over the prior three years, May felt new leadership was required to resolve the impasse.

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