They Say the Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree

Posted on April 21, 2024 by cdsmiller17
Image courtesy of Susan Miller

Chants with his father, Trouper.

It was their first meeting in 17 months. According to Susan, Chants was speechless. I can believe that.

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She was the Prototype of the Women I Married

Posted on April 20, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Yesterday, I got the urge to look up a woman who was a friend to a gawky youth in the early 1960’s. She would have been only four years my senior, but in those days she was a grownup, while I was just a teenager. In fact, she, and her future husband, used to drive up and down the roads in and around Dalston as entertainment on weekend nights, just like “American Graffiti”. A couple of times, they let me go along for the ride.

To my dismay, I discovered that she had died at the end of December in 2018. Unconsciously, I knew this to be true because every time we passed their home on the way to Barrie from Midland on Hwy 93, I felt that she wasn’t living there anymore. But reading her obituary yesterday hit me straight in the heart. Over the years, I’d wondered how she was doing, especially after her husband died a decade or so ago. I was aware that she was a grandmother, and I knew her grandchildren kept her busy. (How did I know that? I’d rung her once on the telephone during one of my visits back to Ontario when I lived in the UK.) Out of respect for her family situation, I never contacted her again.

Thanks for being my friend, Eleanor. You will live on in my memory, now.

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She’s Had the Measure of the Man for Decades

Posted on April 19, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Confidence Man (2022)

The subtitle says it all: the making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America. Honestly, how has it come to this?

I’ve only just started to read this book, and already there are a couple of quotes I want to share with you.

The first one relates to Donald Trump’s tactics:

There is the counterattack, there is the quick lie, there is the shift of blame, there is the distraction or misdirection, there is the outburst of rage, there is the performative anger, there is the designed-just-for-headlines action or claim, there is the indecisiveness masked by a compensatory lunge, there is the backbiting about one adviser with another adviser, creating a wedge between them. The challenge is figuring out at any given moment which trick he is using.

Haberman, Maggie. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (p. 10). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The second one relates to his attributes:

Among his most consistent attributes are a desire to grind down his opponents; his refusal to be shamed, or to voluntarily step away from the fight; his projection that things will somehow always work out in his favor; and his refusal to accept the way life in business or politics has traditionally been conducted. These qualities have been his edge, as is wearing on his sleeve that which other people strive to keep hidden.

Haberman, Maggie. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (p. 11). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

It’s not as if we didn’t know these things; it’s just startling to see them enumerated in print.

How Did He Become the Way He Is Now?

Maggie Haberman tells little stories from Trump’s youth that show trends in his actions and thinking:

The family settled into life in a house that Fred had built on Midland Parkway in Jamaica Estates. An older Donald Trump would describe the area as an “oasis” from the “rough” areas throughout Queens. The children were coddled in ways that others on the street were not. Servants tended to the home, with a chauffeur at the ready; neighbors recalled Donald being driven along his paper delivery route when the weather was poor. Two cars sat in the driveway, both with vanity plates bearing Fred Trump’s initials.

Haberman, Maggie. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (p. 24). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

And this one, which says a lot about how he’s managed to get other people to pay for his wealth:

Trump left only scattered impressions on classmates. One recalled Trump somehow managing to avoid paying the Triborough Bridge’s twenty-five-cent toll and leaving it to a friend with considerably less economic means to pay each time.

Haberman, Maggie. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (p. 27). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

His mouth has had a downturned tendency since he was a wee tucker. And his forehead has always been high. Fortunately, he wasn’t introduced to bronzer until much later in life. To him, it was always about…

But now he’s just a caricature of himself.

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It Takes a Village of Women to School an Errant Boy

Posted on April 18, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Scoop (2024)

I’ve referenced this Netflix show previously as a backdrop to the actual interview that took place for a Newsnight presentation in November 2019. The actors are superb in their portrayal of the individuals involved. In one case a great deal of padding and makeup achieved a perfectly acceptable facsimile of Prince Andrew, but for the most part, hair and makeup was all that the rest of them needed.

Even the opening song, “Don’t Rain on My Parade” by Barbara McNair, gives the overall tone to the story, and just to make sure that you don’t forget it, Sam McAlister’s ringtone is the opening bars to the same song. This film is a retelling of the BBC Two interview with Prince Andrew by Emily Maitlis but entirely from Sam’s point-of-view, since she was instrumental on getting the interview to take place.

Pretty good imitation of the real thing, eh?

History is an interesting process: when a dramatization of historical events takes place within five years of their happening, people living during the time can verify if the retelling is accurate. It feels true, here.

I didn’t know what motivated Emily to undertake this interview of a lifetime: she felt that Monica Lewinsky got a raw deal in her relationship with Bill Clinton. Even though Monika was 21 at the time, the unequal treatment by the press made this #metoo moment unfair. Clinton recovered, Monika did not.

Just a reminder: scoop is what you do when you pick up dog poop from the street. Just sayin’.

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He was the Genius Behind the Beach Boys’ Music

Posted on April 17, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Brian Wilson (June 20, 1942)

Rosanna and I were discussing people with mental health issues, and she wanted to know if there were any consistent astrological patterns that would help us to understand what was going on. We shared a few names, but nothing showed up significantly enough to warrant a post on this site.

Then, as I was driving back from a doctor’s appointment this morning, “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips came on the radio. Of course, Brian Wilson!

Okay, I wasn’t expecting it to be so clear cut, but the cluster of planets around his Taurus Ascendant was exactly what I was looking for. Notice that there are no inconjuncts, but the Mars/Pluto conjunction, in opposition to the Midheaven, may be the cause of his mental health issues.

You have a very strong will, although you may express it in subtle ways. If you don’t get your way, you may lose your temper, but when you see that that will get you nowhere, you change your tactics. The greatest problem with this aspect is that you may decide that getting your own way is the most important thing in life and that the only way to get it is by controlling others. But in that case people are likely to gang up on you and try to stop you at every turn, which will make you feel very frustrated and even further from attaining your objectives.

Planets in Youth (page 237) by Robert Hand (1977)

Maybe, the Saturn/Uranus conjunction with his Ascendant could be his rebellious attitude toward his father.

Wilson, along with his siblings, suffered psychological and sporadic physical maltreatment from their father. His 2016 memoir characterizes his father as “violent” and “cruel”; however, it also suggests that certain narratives about the mistreatment had been overstated or unfounded.

Wikipedia

We never know how it is for another person until we walk a mile in his moccasins. At any rate, he even had a song written about him.

Hmm.

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She Never Seems to Smile, Ever

Posted on April 16, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Maggie Haberman (October 30, 1973)

The photographic evidence refutes this claim: just Google “Maggie Haberman smiling” to see the truth. But lately, she seems to be deadly serious when she reports on CNN about anything to do with Trump.

Maggie Lindsy Haberman (born October 30, 1973) is an American journalist, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, and a political analyst for CNN. She previously worked as a political reporter for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and Politico. She wrote about Donald Trump for those publications and rose to prominence covering his campaign, presidency, and post-presidency for the Times. In 2022, she published the best-selling book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

Wikipedia

I suspect she doesn’t smile because everything about the 45th president is serious business.

Because her birth time is unknown, I have randomized the timing. What struck me immediately is how similar the energies are to Prince Andrew’s interviewer‘s birth chart, at least on the surface. But what caught my eye was the Yod, pointing at Saturn, with inconjuncts to Jupiter and Neptune. This is a person who will expose secrets in order to speak truth to power.

I won’t delineate the aspects, as the chart may be inaccurate in some respects. And also out of respect for her journalistic endeavours.

Frankly, I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes if Trump regains the White House.

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I Always Wondered When…

Posted on April 15, 2024 by cdsmiller17

ABBA Started (November 1, 1970)

This post was triggered by an Australian TV program from three years ago:

An attempt at combining their talents occurred in April 1970 when the two couples went on holiday together to the island of Cyprus. What started as singing for fun on the beach ended up as an improvised live performance in front of the United Nations soldiers stationed on the island. Andersson and Ulvaeus were at this time recording their first album together, Lycka, which was to be released in September 1970. Fältskog and Lyngstad added backing vocals on several tracks during June, and the idea of their working together saw them launch a stage act, “Festfolket” (which translates from Swedish to “Party People” and in pronunciation also “engaged couples”), on 1 November 1970 in Gothenburg.

Wikipedia

So, it looks like this would be the correct chart for their humble beginnings:

So now we know why they became such a big phenomenon, the world over: Mars inconjunct Midheaven!

This aspect can mean that you have mixed feelings about all authority figures, including your parents. You may feel that you have to violate the rules laid down by your parents in order to get you way.

Planets in Youth (page 245) by Robert Hand (1977)

There you have it: they were just doing what came naturally for rebellious youths!

Over fifty years later, they’re still going strong.

Long may they run.

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Is It Just Me or Was This All for Show?

Posted on April 15, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Iran Bombards Israel with Missiles and Drones

Sabre-rattling, again, or just retaliation for the Iran Embassy bombing in Damascus? Sure, it looked spectacular, but what does it mean for both the Israelis and the Iranians?

They look like fireworks displays: celebrating Eid al-Fitr, perhaps?

And, as usual, the main stream media jumped on this to promote another WWIII prediction. It will also be useful to the Democrats in Congress to persuade the Republicans to vote for US military aid to Israel (and Ukraine, while they’re at it). After all, who wants a world-wide war?

Evidently, the defence dome was 99% effective in stopping the barrage. That meant (if the truth be told) that three missiles got through. What damage did they do? We got no photos of that destruction, did we?

So, I repeat: was this all for show?

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It’s a Classic Case of the Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Posted on April 14, 2024 by cdsmiller17

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Remember that what you see in others is actually what you unconsciously understand about yourself.

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The Journalist that Brought Down a Prince

Posted on April 14, 2024 by cdsmiller17

Emily Maitlis (September 6, 1970)

Doesn’t she resemble Gillian Anderson, who plays her in the Netflix film “Scoop”? I watched a 50-minute interview that she attended that explained what was going on with her, during that time period.

Here’s a portion of that interview:

No one has attempted her birth chart. (Would it surprise you to learn that she was born in Hamilton, Ontario?)

The timing is entirely randomized. Notice that there are no inconjuncts. That South Node conjunct Mars @ 2° Virgo tells me that she was a warrior in a past life. The stellium of planets/lights in Virgo (in the 11th and 12th Houses) gives a truth seeking feeling to her chart. Saturn in opposition is halfway between the Moon and Neptune. When Emily mentions in the longer video that she was nothing but a conduit for women who wanted to know why Andrew did what he did, the Moon/Venus placement in opposition to Saturn becomes her ‘speaking truth to power.’

I was going to compare her birth chart to the ‘Prince Andrew at the BBC’ one, but thought better of it. Why? Because it wasn’t her destiny. She was just doing her job to the best of her ability.

And some end the career trajectory of a British Royal.

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