Nemesis Archives - Page 14 of 47 - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

January 9th, 2023 at 08:33am by Alex Miller

The Man Who Would Be Speaker: The Kevin McCarthy Debacle

Well, that was fun! The 118^th Congress kicked off with a bang on January 3^rd, and an impressive showing of just how incapable of governing the House GOP majority truly is. Far from running the country, they couldn’t even pick a Speaker! Pardon me while I indulge in a bit of schadenfreude, a marvelously descriptive turn of phrase which in German means “shameful joy,” taking pleasure in the misfortune of another. I really should be mourning the tragic state of politics in America, and I do, truly. But somehow, I can’t help smiling at Kevin McCarthy’s discomfiture.

December 29th, 2022 at 09:22am by Alex Miller

George Santos: Lying to (Get Into) Congress

One standout in the 2023 GOP Congressional Freshman class is Representative-elect George Santos (R-NY), the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican elected to the House. In November 2022 Santos managed to flip a redrawn district in metro New York from Blue to Red, adding to the slender House GOP majority. But he did so under what seem to be increasingly false pretenses, with virtually no part of his life history and resume holding up to public inspection.

December 12th, 2022 at 07:45am by Alex Miller

Home for the Holidays: Brittney Griner’s Harrowing Russian Adventure

WNBA star Brittney Griner’s unexpected release from Russian custody on December 8^th, after almost ten months in detention for a drug trafficking violation, sent waves of relief through family, friends and fandom. Griner had been arrested February 17, 2022 on smuggling charges after customs authorities found vaporizer cartridges containing less than a gram of hash oil in her luggage. Griner had a prescription for medical marijuana use from the state of Arizona, but all forms of the drug are illegal in Russia.

December 9th, 2022 at 08:32am by Alex Miller

Trump’s Dilemma: The White House or the Big House?

Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president facing multiple criminal investigations, chose the week after a disappointing finish for Republicans in the Midterm Elections to announce his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. With criminal indictments against him already issued and more pending, the act may be more a bid for resuming the specious immunity conferred by the office of the presidency, than any true desire to pick up the tattered threads of his political career.

December 1st, 2022 at 08:36am by Alex Miller

Same-Sex Marriage in the US: From Defense to Respect

The US is poised to formally enshrine marriage equality in law, as opposed to allowing the practice via Supreme Court fiat. Same sex marriage, first legalized in Massachusetts in 2003, was validated in all fifty states by the Obergefell v Hodges decision in 2015. But recent events with the overturning of Roe v Wade and its abandonment of federally guaranteed reproductive freedoms have shown just how fragile governance by judicial rulings can be, and advocates have been pushing hard for legal codification of the right to same-sex unions.

November 14th, 2022 at 08:25am by Alex Miller

AAA Profile: King Charles III

On November 14, 2022, Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will celebrate his 74^th birthday, the first as King. Having served the longest apprenticeship in British royal history, Charles had been heir apparent for seventy years before his mother passed away in early September and the Prince of Wales finally came into his inheritance. It had been a long road. Once the world’s most eligible bachelor, Charles became half of the fairytale wedding of the 20^th century, followed by scandal and divorce, and a second, controversial marriage with the love of his life. While kicking his heels for three-quarters of a century, Charles established The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, founded in 1979, which awards money to grant applicants in six categories: heritage and conservation, education, health and wellbeing, social inclusion, environment, and countryside. He is also a noted proponent of efforts to combat climate change and species extinction.