Alex's Asteroid Astrology |

October 30th, 2023 at 01:30pm by Alex Miller

House Diary: Lost Autumn

Fall 2023 has been a fairly dismal one for me, with total knee replacement surgery impairing my movements and limiting my decorating capability. A month housebound in recovery isn’t conducive to getting out to see the sights, smell the aromas, taste the cider or pick the pumpkins of a Pennsylvania autumn in the foothills of the Poconos, and a Halloween shorn of all but the most recently-acquired decorations is certainly a huge step down from the norm at this time of year. I haven’t even been able to carve a jack-o-lantern, for the first time in … well, forever.

October 28th, 2023 at 10:36am by Alex Miller

Mayhem in Maine: The Lewiston Mass Shooting

On Wednesday, 25 October 2023, the peace of a Down East autumn evening was shattered by gunfire which took the lives of at least 18, wounding 13 more. At this early date (October 26), names of the victims have not been released, and police are engaged in a statewide manhunt for the suspect, 40-year-old Robert Card, missing after separate attacks on a bowling alley and a restaurant bar. Card, who has been dealing with mental illness, has a military background and worked as a firearms instructor; his car was found abandoned in nearby Lisbon, but there is no trace of the suspect. [Author’s note: Robert Card was found dead, an apparent suicide, late on Friday the 27^th.]

October 21st, 2023 at 11:35am by Alex Miller

Crossing Jordan: The House Speaker Debacle

If the implications of the situation weren’t so dire, and the dysfunction of the Republican House caucus so manifest for the world to behold, I’d love to have the popcorn concession for what’s playing out now on Capitol Hill. It’s certainly must-see political theater, as Republicans continue to set records for ineptitude and incompetence, becoming the poster children for inability to govern, even themselves, let alone the country.

October 18th, 2023 at 01:54pm by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Dianne Feinstein

US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) passed away peacefully at her Washington DC home on 29 September 2023, bringing an end to an era. Her health had been in decline for some time, but the death itself was sudden and unexpected. At 90, with some thirty years in the Senate, Feinstein had become a Washington institution, initially elected in 1992 as California’s first female Senator, and first female Jewish Senator in the US. Reelected five times, in recent months ill health had kept her absent from Judiciary Committee meetings for long periods, imperiling the Democrats’ fragile majority and delaying numerous judicial appointments. In February 2023 she announced she would not run for reelection when her term expired in 2024.

October 14th, 2023 at 11:00am by Alex Miller

Out With the Old (Knee), In With the New

On 26 September 2023, I underwent total knee replacement surgery for my right knee. Both joints have been bone-on-bone for years, and while I have not experienced much pain from the situation, it has severely restricted my mobility. This, in turn, had negatively impacted my weight and overall health, as someone who always used walking as a means of weight loss and control.

I’ve been told repeatedly from anyone with a mouth that I will be so very happy with this decision, once the dust clears on my recuperative period. Let’s just say that at this point, I remain in the “I’ll believe that when I see it!” camp.

October 11th, 2023 at 09:31am by Alex Miller

McCarthy Ousted as Speaker

After a grueling nine months as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, attempting to herd the mangy strays of the GOP caucus, on September 3, 2023, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) lost the job he had coveted all his adult life, as a motion to vacate passed by 216-210, booting him from the Speakership. Eight MAGA Republican radicals joined Democrats to remove McCarthy from his lofty perch, the first time ever that a sitting Speaker has been fired.