Posts by Alex Miller

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Here We Come a-Carol-ing

It’s that most wonderful time of the year! Well, it’s the loudest, anyway. Christian, Muslim, Jew or Pagan, it’s virtually impossible to avoid Christmas Carols in America during any given December. Classic yuletide tunes drift from every store’s PA system; street corner musicians put their jazzy spin on holiday favorites; radio stations devote all their programming hours to seasonal music; church, school and community choirs belt out a litany of sacred and secular harmonies; TV ads for everything from cars to candies are scored to jolly jingles. It’s the interminable symphonic backdrop of the Christmas Crush, that frenzied, hectic, crazy-making post-Thanksgiving mad dash to pick the presents, wrap them, string the lights, deck the halls, trim the tree, bake the cookies, buy the festive foods and (e)mail the festive cards.

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2018 Holiday Asteroids

You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen, but do you recall that there are asteroids named Rudolf, Santa and Yule? Though none of these were designated for the holiday they have come to represent, they function very well as markers of its importance in the lives of those who have made Christmas a central focus of their biographies.

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Aster-Obit: George H. W. Bush

On Thursday, 30 November 2018, George H. W. Bush died at his home in Houston, Texas, at age 94. The 41st president of the United States, Bush was the son of a Senator, the father of the 43rd US president and of a former governor of Florida. Bush served two terms as Vice President for Ronald Reagan before succeeding to the office for a single term, losing the presidency to Bill Clinton in 1992. The subsequent friendship which grew between the two men (Bush and his wife Barbara often referred to Clinton as another son) was a beautiful example of a nonpartisan spirit that seems quaint and antiquated in today’s cruder, rough-and-tumble political atmosphere.

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AAA Profile: Nancy Pelosi, The Once and Future Speaker

When the 116th Congress convenes on January 3rd, 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.

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Troemper Squared Mars: Campaign Fights, Political Plights & Veteran Slights

If you thought things could only get better in the Trump administration, that we’d reached the nadir, think again. An ongoing, protracted square from asteroid Troemper, our celestial referent for the President, to angry, quarrelsome Mars seems to be eliciting even worse behaviors than we’ve already become accustomed to.

 

Mars’ recent slowdown to its station in late August is the culprit here, allowing the normally slower-moving Troemper to catch it up and perform a pernicious, petty, provocative pas de deux as summer stretched into autumn. Coming to within ten degrees of each other as of August 20th, the two have been resonant within five degrees since September 1st, a state of affairs which endures through the end of November (they continue within ten degrees until the Winter Solstice on December 21).

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Sessions Sacked

On Wednesday, November 7th, 2018, while the Midterm Election votes were still being counted, Donald Trump saw the fulfillment of a years-long dream: the forced resignation of Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. (And don’t think the timing on that isn’t significant; Trump wanted something controversial to distract from the Democratic victory the day before, and Sessions fit the bill perfectly.)

 

Yes, Sessions was the first sitting US Senator to openly endorse Trump’s Presidential campaign in 2016; yes, he was Trump’s handpicked choice for the post he now leaves; yes, he was perhaps the most effective of Trump’s Cabinet officials in enacting the administration’s ultra-conservative agenda.

 

But Sessions’ fatal flaw was a teeny modicum of ethical behavior, when he recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. This he was required to do, having been a major campaign surrogate for Trump, and he only did it after lying to Congress during his AG confirmation hearings about his own interactions with Russian agents.

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