Alex's Asteroid Astrology - Alex Miller

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

johnson sworn

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. 

Continue reading

fall7

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.

Continue reading

lewiston cover

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 27th.]

Continue reading

jordan cover

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.

Continue reading

feinstein cover

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.

Continue reading

knee1 cover

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.

Continue reading