Tag archive: Damocles

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Michael Atkinson Fired

Late on April 3, 2020 US President Donald Trump did a little spring cleaning, throwing out some trash he’d been wanting to get rid of for some time. The offending object was Justice Department Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, the man whose judicious handling of the Ukraine whistleblower report eventually led to the President’s impeachment. Trump made no bones about his reason for relieving Atkinson of his position, citing the decision to pass the complaint on to Congress as the grounds for removal. With The Donald, everything is either confession or projection.

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Coronavirus Pandemic Worsens

Now affecting every corner of the globe except Antarctica, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic threatens to destabilize governments and sow economic chaos for months, even years to come. Across the planet, cities, provinces, even entire countries are on lockdown, with businesses shuttered and citizens told to “shelter in place”, ultimately restricted to house arrest except for essential errands for food, medicine, gas and assistance to dependent family members. A death toll count is pointless; even at the speed of internet publication, such figures are immediately outdated, but as of March 18th, global casualties approach 10,000. Millions are likely to follow.

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Super Tuesday Post Mortem

At long last, some sanity! Joe Biden’s virtual sweep of the Super Tuesday primary contests on March 3rd was stunning to behold, coming from so far behind, and left most political pundits scratching their heads in wonder, scrambling for an explanation. But not here at AAA – we foresaw the likelihood of a Biden nomination last November, when that startling “victory stellium” appeared on the Ascendant of his Solar Return, portending a successful year. We’re not exactly tripping over Accurate Prediction Trophies here, so you’ll forgive me if I crow a bit, like Maurice the rooster.

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Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Manhole Mishap

On October 15, 2019 at 3:15 AM EDT, a crew of Verizon workers raised a heavy iron manhole cover in the Columbus Circle section of Manhattan, to be assaulted by a putrid smell. Investigation into the vault below found the badly decomposed body of a man, partially consumed by rats, who had clearly been dead for some time. The mystery of how the corpse got under the 300 pound manhole cover, which normally takes two people to lift it, was resolved by examination of surveillance footage of the area.

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Aster-Obit: Kirk Douglas

On February 5th, 2020, Academy Award nominee Kirk Douglas died at the age of 103. He was a film icon in the ‘50s and ‘60s, with starring roles in such notable films as “Champion” (1949), “Young Man with a Horn” (1950), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952), “Lust for Life” (1956) and “Spartacus” (1960). Nominated as Best Actor three times, Douglas never snagged that top accolade, but was given an honorary Oscar in 1996 for “50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community.” Not merely an on-screen presence, Douglas also wrote and produced, and founded a Hollywood dynasty, including his son, actor/producer Michael.

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The Coronavirus Outbreak

On January 7, 2020, the Chinese government announced that it had isolated the cause of a new strain of flu-like contagion, which it named the novel (“new”) coronavirus.   Part of a large class of viruses which include the common cold, MERS and SARS, the new disease had already claimed at least one life, in late December 2019, before it was identified. To date at least 259 people have succumbed to the virus, which has now spread to more than a dozen countries, with upwards of 12,000 known to be infected. Over 60 million people have been put on lock-down in China, and international researchers are racing to develop a vaccine before the contagion becomes a worldwide pandemic. The US government announced that as of February 2nd, all foreign nationals who had visited China in the past 14 days would be barred from entering the country, and all Americans returning from China would be placed in quarantine.

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