Early on the morning of Saturday, August 10th, 2019, billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, New York, in an apparent suicide attempt. Paramedics were called and lifesaving measures were begun, but Epstein was pronounced dead about an hour later at a local hospital.
Dayton and El Paso join the entries in “Baby’s First Pop-Up Book of Slaughter”, along with “A is for Aurora, C is for Columbine, O is for Orlando, P is for Parkland, S is for Sandy Hook, and V is for Vegas,” among others. Two mass shootings within hours rocked the nation on the weekend of August 3rd and 4th, 2019, as 32 people lost their lives in senseless violence, with dozens more wounded. At least one of the shootings was politically and racially motivated, with the killer avowing his desire to kill “as many Mexicans as possible.”
At 12:05 PM BST on July 23rd, 2019, in London, England, it was announced that former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had been elected Leader of the Conservative Party, currently in power in Britain. Although the formality of outgoing PM Theresa May’s resignation to the Queen, and Her Majesty’s formal invitation to Johnson to form a government, will not occur until the following day, the vote effectively makes Boris Johnson the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
A former journalist, Member of Parliament, Mayor of London and Foreign Secretary, the blonde, mop-headed Johnson has often been compared to Donald Trump, predominantly for their trademark bluster and the incendiary nature of their statements, as well as a similarly anti-immigrant, isolationist, transactional political opportunist bent. A leader in the pro-Brexit movement, Johnson has vowed to fully sever ties with the European Union by the current October 31st deadline, come what may.
In mid-July of 1969, as all eyes were riveted skyward on the Apollo 11 mission to land a man on the moon, a rather more tawdry drama was playing out here on planet Earth. Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, brother of slain American president John F. Kennedy and slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, became embroiled in a personal tragedy that would ultimately set the seal on the demise of his family’s aspirations to become a political dynasty.
On the night of July 18-19, 1969, under circumstances still not fully understood to this day, Kennedy was involved in a fatal crash of his car off the Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha’s Vineyard, which took the life of 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne.
On Saturday, July 6th, 2019, as he was returning from Europe, billionaire investor and repeat child molester Jeffrey Epstein was again arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors. Epstein’s prior arrest on similar charges in 2005 had led to a controversial non-prosecution agreement with federal attorneys in Florida, resulting in a light 13-month jail sentence, for which he received a twelve-hour work-release six days a week. After his arrest at Teterboro Airport investigators found a cache of thousands of photos of nude young girls on CDs in his home.
Epstein is accused of trafficking dozens, perhaps hundreds, of underage girls, some as young as 14, who were paid initially for massage, then sex acts, and used to recruit others. The alleged crimes were committed both at Epstein’s Pam Beach, Florida estate and his Manhattan home. In 2008 Epstein pled guilty to lesser state prostitution charges after secret meetings with then US Attorney Alexander Acosta, currently serving as Donald Trump’s Secretary of Labor.
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.
