False Equivalency

“Imagine the Political Spectrum as a Circle”

My wife shared this text message from her friend, Beth./

Imagine the political spectrum as a circle where people’s ideas about how the government should work fit around it.

At the top of the circle is freedom. This is where people like to balance things and believe in letting people make their own choices without too much control. These people are in the middle of the political views, not too left or right.

On the left side, you have people who usually want the government to help everyone more, like Democrats and other groups who want to support fairness and change. The farther you go down, the more extreme their ideas get, like communism, where the government controls everything.

On the right side, you have people who want the government to protect traditions and let people and businesses have more freedom, like Republicans. As you go farther down, their ideas get more extreme, like dictatorship, where one person has all the power.

At the bottom, you find tyranny, which means a government where people lose their freedom, and the leaders have all the control. This happens when ideas on the far left or far right can end up taking away freedom, even though they started with different ideas. People in the middle focus more on keeping freedom and balance.

Original source unknown

Do you see why I titled this post “False Equivalency”?

All roads lead to Rome.

What do you think?

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I’d Never Considered This Before:

Standpoint

It’s a common tactic used by most politicians: pointing out your opponent as being the blame for everything, including hurricanes. Conspiracy theory or not, it’s a standpoint.

Stand and point out your thinking. Hmm.

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Buddy’s New Fall Coat

He’ll blend in everywhere.

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I Have Been Writing on WordPress for Ten Years

That’s One Year Longer Than DJT Has Been Dominating the News Media

As a Canadian who lived in the United Kingdom for 22 years, I was unaware of the man, even though I’d seen his cameo in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”. My original assessment of his 2016 Presidential candidacy was that he was a joke being foisted upon the American public.

Even the astrologers were caught off guard, mainly because his birth time was ‘manufactured’ to mislead them. (Sound familiar?) If you were to ask him directly, I’m sure he would “Deny. Deny. Deny.”

Now, he’s trying with all his might to evade being ‘punished’ for his sins against the country and the Constitution. His whole point of running for office again, after the Republicans lost their chance of stopping him permanently by voting against his two impeachments in the Senate, is to become President and finish the job of making that office immune to prosecution. And he calls Kamala Harris a fascist!?

His time is running out, and his so-called popularity is fading. Even MAGA is becoming old-hat.

His best choice would have been to walk away while he still could, but his overblown ego wouldn’t allow him to do that. Now he’ll pay the price for his hubris, however this story ends. Watch this space.

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“The Love Boat” Crossed with “General Hospital”

Doctor Odyssey (2024)

I suppose we can blame “Below Deck” for this proliferation of shows about life on a cruise ship. The second episode, shown last night, was called “Singles Week”. It seemed an excuse to show wild, out-of-control behaviour by the crew and the guests. The main guest star was Shania Twain.

I have to admit it was nice to see her back on our TV screens, even if it was only for a short time.

My opinion is that this is vacuous television at its very worst: glitz, glamour, sex and melodrama, all rolled up in a much too-sweet confection. If I didn’t like the lead actors, I would never have bothered even looking at any of the episodes. But because it is the lead-in show to “Grey’s Anatomy”, I will probably see more, as the season goes on. You never can tell, it might get better.

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Today, I Found Cassidy Hutchinson’s Birth Details

Enough (paperback edition released today – 2024)

Since the source of the information was somewhat spurious, I will share what the details are, but would advise that you take them with a grain of salt: born December 12, 1996, time unknown.

Of course, the time of her birth is unknown, and normally noon is used when the details are missing. I rectified the timing slightly, to show that Mars in her chart occurs when she was 23 years old.

The resulting T-square connects the Sun/Midheaven, Mars and the Ascendant (and a wide Saturn). That may equate to the wake-up moment that happened on January 6, 2021.

This combined chart shows how the events of that day intersected with her birth chart: note that Neptune was transiting her Ascendant, and the event Moon is inconjunct the same point.

Moon Inconjunct Ascendant (perhaps)

You tend to put your own emotional needs and wants second to whatever you feel has to be done. In other words, you are likely to be more disciplined emotionally than most people your age. But this is not good if you feel your emotional needs are not important. Your needs must be fulfilled as much as anyone else’s, particularly because your feelings are really very powerful within yourself.

Planets in Youth (page 139) by Robert Hand (1977)

Here’s a video from today:

Yay!

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Was This Legal Filing the October Surprise?

Thirty-Three Days Until the US Presidential Election

No, it’s not a surprise: the content was already known, if you’d been paying attention. The timing is the surprise, however, as Judge Tanya Chutkan released Jack Smith’s 160-some pages of legal reasons why Trump cannot consider his actions re: the 2020 election results as covered under the Supreme Court’s immunity judgement.

Hmm.

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And Just When I Thought I Could Relax…

Solar Eclipse in Libra (October 2, 2024)

These eclipses come and go, with frightening regularity, and, after a while, I tend to stop worrying about them. But this one is different, for the whole world and for me, personally.

The clue is the fact that the Sun and the Moon are transiting the South Node, within 2° and this could be a very important change time for humanity. But, for me, personally, that eclipse is within 2 minutes of my natal South Node.

The South Node, also known as Ketu in Vedic astrology, represents our past karma, habits, patterns, attachments, and the lessons we have learned in previous lifetimes. It symbolizes our comfort zone, familiar territory, and the areas of life where we may be holding onto outdated beliefs, behaviors, and attachments that no longer serve our highest good and spiritual growth.

Hermes Astrology on Medium

Oh-oh.

Because my natal South Node is within 1° of my natal Mars, this eclipse has a sinister, accidental flavour.

So, What are the Things I Should Release?

The first thing that comes to mind is my belief that Astrology can ‘prove’ past lives and reincarnation, because Libra is the sign of Relationships. In the combined charts, above, there is an interactive Yod pointing at the transiting Saturn, formed by inconjuncts to my natal positions of Neptune and Pluto.

So the second thing is the knowledge that I haven’t made a very good husband to any of my three wives.

Just sayin’.

Hmm.

In truth, I don’t know what my destiny is. I guess I have to let that go, too: no more expectations!

Freedom…

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The Modern Term is Political Spin

Realpolitik Newspeak

Over time, one wonders how original concepts get changed to more ‘pleasant’ sounding words.

Although [Frank Luntz] would claim otherwise, he’s a spin doctor, a smear professional, and a master at misrepresenting policies to sway public opinion. He is the mastermind reframer behind rebranding the estate tax or inheritance tax as the “death tax”* to dissuade people from voting for it. (The “death tax” sounds far more relatable; after all, everyone dies. But not everyone dies with the more than $13 million that’s shielded from taxation upon death, which is the threshold in 2024.) He recommended that Republicans avoid talking about drilling in the Arctic wildlife preserve and instead call the activity energy exploration. He advised that casino gambling be cast as gaming. And he urged that global warming be recast as climate change, because—as he explained to Terry Gross on NPR’s renowned show Fresh Air—the new label “creates less hysteria.”

Cohen, Brian Tyler. Shameless: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy (p. 86). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

But Americans aren’t the only ones. The Russians do it, too.

I wonder if George Orwell is turning in his grave.

Need I say more?

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Buddy’s Cozy Spot on a Cool Autumn Morning

In my warm housecoat.

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