Posts by Alex Miller

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House Diary: Flip Your Lid for Yule!

Hello, my name is Alex, and I’m a tchotchkaholic. 

I’ve been collecting seasonal décor for thirty years, since becoming involved in paganism.  It was a way of celebrating the turning wheel of the year, though ironically, not with natural elements.  I incorporate those as well, of course, but it’s expensive and ultimately wasteful, and sometimes there are supply issues.  Much more satisfying to have it all at your fingertips upon a whim, under my control, says my Scorpio Ascendant, stowed and boxed or binned with Virgo Moon precision and attention to detail.  True, the ofttimes lazy Leo Sun balks at the effort, but does enjoy the applause when I do it up big.

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Georgy, We Hardly Knew Ye: George Santos Booted from Congress

In the “It’s about time!” category, Washington watchers were pleased to note the ouster from Congress of Representative George Santos (R-NY) on December 1st, removed from office less than a year after his swearing in.  The noted, notorious fabulist and fraudster was finally ejected by a resounding margin of 311-114, after a House Ethics Committee report revealed numerous, egregious, staggering lapses of judgment, ethics and morals, as well as probable infractions of the law and campaign finance rules. 

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Aster-Obits: Henry Kissinger & Sandra Day O’Connor

Two conservative icons recently passed within days of each other, as November rolled over to December 2023.  On November 29th, Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, propelled from academia into international prominence by Richard Nixon, instrumental in ending the Vietnam War and reestablishing diplomatic relations with Communist China, died at the age of 100.  Two days later, on December 1st, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Reagan appointee and the first woman to sit on the US Supreme Court, passed at age 93.  While neither would recognize today’s Republican Party, so focused on grievance and retribution instead of policy, and both have serious blots on their legacies, each reminds us that there were once two viable political philosophies vying for control of the country, in a comparatively congenial and collegial atmosphere.

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Happy Birthday, Old Joe!

Now, before you get your knickers in a twist, Old Joe is the name of an asteroid, not just an agist slam on Joe Biden, whose 81st birthday occurs Monday, 20 November 2023.  With vast numbers of Americans, even Democratic supporters, leery about Biden’s ability to continue four more years in the notoriously high-pressure job due to his age, the point seems an increasingly apt celestial moniker to represent the 46th President of the United States.

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Capitol Hill Fireworks

It may be long past Fourth of July, but GOP lawmakers treated the public to a variety of fireworks displays on November 15th, 2023, as tempers flared in both legislative houses.  In the hallowed halls of Congress, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) allegedly elbowed fellow Republican Tim Burchett (R-TN), one of eight GOP members who voted for his ouster last month, while passing in the corridor.  On the Senate floor, a hearing threatened to dissolve into fisticuffs when Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) challenged witness Sean O’Brien, Teamsters President, to take it outside, with a mano a mano bareknuckle brawl.  Meanwhile, back in the House of Representatives, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) verbally sparred with committee member Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), who accused Comer of eerily similar financial transactions with his brother, compared with actions between President Biden and his own brother, which Comer characterizes as corrupt.

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AAA Profile: MAGA Mike (AKA Speaker Johnson)

Only today’s GOP could take a bad situation and make it worse.  After weeks of wrangling following the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with multiple abortive attempts to install at least four nominees, the Republican caucus unanimously chose Mike Johnson (R-LA) as their new Speaker on October 25th.  Johnson is a MAGA diehard, one of the architects of the attempt to override the 2020 election results; his elevation is a clear signal that the Party has no desire to reform its ways, and is intent more on obstructionism and culture war posing than true governance. 

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