Well. What a 24 hours, a mini-tornado that will become — I have no doubt — a bona fide shit storm of an election process and political donnybrook. My short take on this is, frankly, fascination, since these kinds of moments come very rarely in history.
There are three legs of government — legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative is in lockdown, the executive is being forced to act extra-legally in order to move the nation forward on anything of consequence and now the judicial has come to a screeching halt. We are, from a process point of view, dead in the water. We are, it should be noted, closing in on constitutional emergency. Remember when Ben Franklin told an inquirer that we had established “a republic, if we can keep it?” THIS is how we could loose that grip on the democratic experiment.
Of all the Supremes, Nino Scalia was the superstar on the right. A strict constructionist, he never met a modern issue that could not be stamped into dust by returning to the anachronistic wishes of the founders in 1776. He is — and this is important — the man who turned the common sense reading of the 2nd Amendment as armament qualifications for militia into guns for all citizens. If the right had a hero, Nino was it, the heart and soul of conservative backpedal from all things progressive.
News of Scalia’s passing (of a heart attack) coming in the hours before the South Carolina Pub debate — where Donald Trump all but broke a chair over the melon-head of competitor Ted Cruz while calling most everyone a liar and accusing Jeb!’s big brother of knowing about the lack of WMD in advance of Shock ‘n’ Awe — found the candidates all agreed that no nomination can go forward without surrender to liberal mayhem. That’s because the right has depended on the high court to buoy their ideology — and support the plutocracy — for well over a decade. Even as the Republicans lost the confidence of the nation, they had the court. The thought of losing it is terrifying to them.
And — by the way — listening to Bob Woodward on CNN try to defend the ‘Publican vow to stonewall a liberal nominee in order to ensure a ‘neutral’ pick to replace ‘intellectual giant’ Antonin Scalia is another of those moments when you wonder what happened to the man’s brain cells. He spent WAAAAY too much time in the dark, kissing Dubya’s nether regions, getting that insider scoop that atrophied what was left of his journalistic sensibility (not to mention integrity.) A sad statement on a historical figure diminished by his choices.
The repercussions of an eight-person high court are obvious — lock. We have, essentially, come to check-mate, with four liberals and four conservatives unable to decide a case. Whatever work (it appears to be quite a bit) is left half-done on cases prior to this moment is now lost, never announced and therefore nullified. With fifty-some cases critical to the democratic process coming up, reaching an ideological standoff WITHOUT REPLACEMENT FOR MORE THAN ELEVEN MONTHS seems unthinkable.
But, although Nino’s body was barely cold when Mitch McConnell swore NOT to allow such a vote, senators crossing the line of such right-wing wisdom will pay a price. There are several up for election this time around who are imperiled. I think it’s clear that we can expect very little flex from this Senate determined to run out the clock, despite the best efforts of the Dems to prod them into following constitutional process.
As to the legislative issues, this is going to work out pretty well for many of the cases that had not come to closure on the left, including voting rights and unions, reproductive rights and immigration, etc. in which lower court rulings will hold. This is NOT good news for the case ruling on emissions we talked about, because the case was seeking release from an appeal stopping it from going forward.
Both the written and audio readings for the beautiful 2016 annual edition, Vision Quest, are now immediately available. Order all 12 signs at a great value or choose your individual signs.
As to possible candidates, two judges sitting on the appellate court — bi-partisanly confirmed for that position 97 to 0 — are speculative prospects: Jane Kelly and Sri Srinivasan.
Either is non-controversial, BUT they are Obama picks, supposed ‘lame duck’ picks, and fly in the face of high hopes for a Jeb! or Kasich establishment president in 2017. I doubt that even a right-leaning judicial pick would pass the “black guy” boycott at this point.
Electability is suddenly the word of the hour. Making it plain that the next Prez gets the SCOTUS pick traditionally energizes the base on the right — and it BETTER energize the base on the left as well! We are going to see a lot of harsh rhetoric coming at us from the clown car on the right and, no matter how much like a WWE Wrestling event last night’s SC debate appeared, Trump is STILL twice as popular as the next Pub in the polls; pundits say that if he wins in Carolina, there’s no stopping him. Whatever the public decides to do next, it should be clear that a man who is all brand and no substance standing at the top of the American pyramid is the equivalent of putting a fork in us and calling us done!
Clearly, Bernie’s cause just became harder and Hillary’s hopes to avoid being perceived as shrill are over. She is going to double down on all the reasons he CAN’T be considered a realistic candidate, and it ain’t gonna be pretty. She IS — I will grant — victimized by her sex in that she will be forced to use the Mommy Voice (one I have argued many times deserves, at bare minimum, respect for saving the day for those left behind when the daddy’s lollygagged elsewhere) but we must all admit it grates. It’s like when someone uses your middle name, you snap to. It’s a subliminal discomfort that we’ve been “caught,” somehow; a voice from the shadow side, snapping our leash. Added to her legal challenges and trust issues, it’s a volatile mix of dog whistles calculated to piss a lot of people off.
Here’s where I see Bernie stumbling at the moment – he’s got the information and he’s got the chops, but he waits for the questions to come to him. He’s got to start selling himself as well as his platform. Hillary is good at self-promotion. Even if that’s not his style, he’s going to have to get pro-active or be seen as reactive. This doesn’t align with our ‘leadership’ meme — which we will be hearing a LOT MORE about, with so much at stake — frankly, I expect a good deal more hysteria on all levels before this plays itself out. Long view, though — we’ll be talking about this for a loooooooong time!
There are more firsts to note, of course — we’ll be tracking them for a while, it seems — but enough for now. Try NOT to let this level of angst impact your peace today, my dears. There is purpose under heaven!
That note-from-the-wife Viagra plan (h/t aWord) has been around a while. I like it as a washtub of freezing water over their heads (little or big, you pick). But those who deserve it seem not to understand the problem. Which IS the problem, of course.
Thank you, dearhearts, for the good (health) wishes, I take them to heart and appreciate them — and speaking of heart, Be My Valentines today? You are loved and lovable, all!
Judith’s previous thread also had a comment by her regarding Elizabeth Warren’s expressed opinion about Pres. Obama’s right to nominate someone to replace Scalia, which I think should also be added to this piece. I personally agree with Elizabeth Warren as I assume all Democrats would, and most readers here at PW. I think we can be pretty sure Pres. Obama would wait until after the July conventions and his August 4th birthday passes before publically selecting someone, allowing time for the shock of Scalia’s death to subside.
By shock I’m referring to the exact, and I mean exact, square from transiting Neptune in Pisces to the U.S. Sibly Uranus in Gemini on Saturday. An observer of astrological trends named Bob has chosen a date on which a pick by Obama for a nominee might be approved by the Senate. That date is September 16th, although it would have been the 18th but that’s a Sunday.
There is a lunar eclipse on September 16th, but largely Bob chose it based on a study of the birth charts for Obama, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, the U.S. Sibly, the Supreme Court and a couple of battles related to the Civil War. Bob notes that the lunar eclipse on September 16 has the Sun in Virgo conjunct the U.S. Neptune (within a 2 degree orb) which will be opposite the Pisces eclipsed Moon (which transiting Chiron will conjunct within a 2 degree orb).
Now I’m no Bob, but I can see that Neptune in his various forms is contributing much influence in the present time frame and I would not doubt Bob’s conclusions for one moment. If not dead in the water like Jude says, the government is floundering and, astrologically, it looks to be a loss of Saturn influence.
Transiting Saturn, for about 10 days in January sat on the U.S. Sibly ascendant of 12+ Sagittarius, this following transiting Pluto’s square to U.S. Saturn. During Saturn’s upcoming retrograde he will return – in June – to the U.S. ascendant for about 2 weeks, while also squaring trans. Neptune. After turning direct in August he will return for a 3rd time to the U.S. ascendant for about 11 days in October, during which time he will square the transiting north and south nodes as trans. Chiron opposes U.S. Neptune. His relationship with transiting Neptune will change from the exact square they made last November-December, again in June and again this coming September to an exact sextile in January-February 2019.
This looks to me like 2 years of floundering, during which trans. Saturn will make 3 exact trines to transiting Uranus, you know, the old Aquarius realignment thing. Transiting Jupiter will be going through the paces with Saturn too, as well as the outer planets and it all figures to be a real juggling act regarding U.S. government business (and perhaps corporate America as well).
This leads me to wonder if it wouldn’t be more prudent to have a President whose Sun was in a (very) flexible mutable sign (perhaps a Virgo or Gemini) rather than a fixed sign (such as Scorpio or Aquarius) or goddess forbid, a cardinal sign (like Capricorn for example). The thing is a mutable sun-sign President could juggle things as they come hurling through the air, but I’m not sure the fixed American Public (Aquarian Moon going through changes thanks to Uranus and Saturn) won’t need resuscitation from time to time.
Still, the U.S. Moon has held up so far from her triple transiting conjunction from Neptune, Jupiter and Chiron 5 years ago, a little worse for wear, but resilient and no longer dormant and ready now to answer the call. Like Jude says, “there is purpose under heaven” . If we can just keep the faith in that truth and believe in the unseen guidance we are getting, then 4 years from now we will marvel at this great country that just keeps on keeping on.
be
P.S. if interested in Bob’s theory go to
http://starlightnews.com/wordpress/2016/02/some-brief-musings-on-new-hampshire/#comment-183918
Scroll up to comment by Bob on 2/14/16 at 1:43 PM after you access the link above.
The simultaneous conjunctions to the U.S. Sibly Moon by transiting Neptune, Jupiter and Chiron were 6 years ago, not 5 as I wrote above. Now that I’ve re-visiting these charts I could not help but notice that the 2010 Chiron to Neptune chart happened almost 6 years ago from today’s date, on 2/16/10, 11:55 PM, Washington DC. That particular chart had a conjunction between Jupiter and Venus at 7+ Pisces, where transiting Neptune was all of last December and the 1st half of last month. That conjunction also squares the U.S. progressed Uranus at 7+ Gemini.
Maybe that’s not such a big deal, but add to that the Chiron-Neptune chart’s T-square between Moon in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn, and Saturn in Libra which form a cardinal cross to the U.S. Sibly Venus-Jupiter conjunction in Cancer and you start wondering. Jupiter-Venus conjunction in the Chiron-Neptune 2010 chart, indirectly leading to the Jupiter-Venus conjunction in the U.S. natal chart, a fact noted (by me and now you) on almost the same date 6 years later. . . are these bread crumbs leading to something or just mere coincidence?
Well, the Sun today is at 26+ Aquarius, which is the same degree as the exact Chiron-Neptune conjunction in 2010, which is the same degree as the U.S. Sibly natal Pallas who is one degree from the U.S. Moon, which is only one degree from the Chiron-Neptune chart’s Sun at 28+ Aquarius on 2/16/2010. Scalia’s natal Mercury was at 28+ Aquarius. I can’t seem to ignore stuff like this.
For starters, this Chiron-Neptune chart has Vesta at 29 Leo opposite the Sun-Chiron-Neptune planets which conjunct Scalia’s natal Mercury. It is Scalia’s Mercury that made him notorious; his sarcasm, writing and wit were fodder for news retailers as well as DC conversations. When transiting Saturn in Scorpio stationed direct at 28+ Scorpio last August it made a T-square to this opposition in the Chiron-Neptune conjunction chart.
It also was conjunct Scalia’s natal Ceres at 29+ Scorpio (Obama’s MC is also at 28+ Scorpio!) which squared his natal Mercury in Aquarius. Transiting Jupiter (and Scalia’s Mercury) was at 28 Aquarius (same degree of Sun in Chiron-Neptune chart) when Saturn stationed direct. Saturn stayed at 28+ Scorpio for 2 whole months and finally moved to 29+ Scorpio to conjunct Scalia’s Ceres on September 1, just as trans. Sun in Virgo opposed trans. Neptune in Pisces , both of whom squared U.S. Sibly Uranus in Gemini. Was this when he started having heart problems? Was it about Obama?
Well, I’m not sure about something like that, but little things. . . like Scalia’s Uranus conjunct the Chiron discovery degree at 3+ Taurus opposite his Moon at 3+ Scorpio (and Pallas at 2+ Scorpio retrograde) which form a grand cross with his MC-IC . . they nag at me. There was a full moon at 3+ Taurus last October, a full moon at 3+ Gemini in November, a full moon at 3+ Cancer in December, a full Moon at 3+ Leo in January (which formed a fixed cross with his Moon-Uranus opposition) and there will be a full moon this month at 3+ Virgo and next month at 3+ Libra. What if those 4 full moons before his death each gave a little jolt to his Uranus opposite Moon? That could do some damage I would think. And that connection to Chiron again . . . . . . .
Well it probably doesn’t matter much now. He’s gone and someone will eventually take his place. But I’m left with the notion that Scalia played a chirotic role in the U.S. history. Perhaps he served to make conscious the growing disparate factions in the nation in order to begin a healing process. That alone makes his life purposeful and we should be grateful for his time with us. Barbara Hand Clow in her book Chiron: The Rainbow Bridge Between The Inner And Outer Planets, says “. . we will never know our divinity until we also look at our shadow.”
be
The great American schism is showing, isn’t it! It’s interesting how the different sides of the spectrum process these things: on the left, intelligent discourse leads the way. Here’s John Oliver discussing the “Strom Thurmond Rule” everyone is talking about and calling bullshit (especially on Mitch McConnell’s ENORMOUS hypocrisy.) Oliver is a treasure, and all of his HBO bits are available to watch free.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/john-oliver-pounds-gop-for-invoking-bullsht-rule-to-keep-from-voting-for-scalias-replacement/
On the other side, the dogs began to howl immediately and all the crazies came out to play, as follows with one correction from my original response, the cause of Scalia’s death was announced prior to formal inquiry, it appears (I forgot, this was Texas we’re talking about) as he was “found in bed, bed clothes unrumpled, with a pillow over his head” which seemed — I suppose — a peaceful enough departure to those who witnessed. Specific cause of death has been announced, now, as [none.]
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/conspiracy-kooks-shift-into-overdrive-after-learning-antonin-scalia-was-found-dead-with-a-pillow-over-head/
Alex Jones, conspiratorial entrepreneur and shock jock whose last few credible moments (IMHO) occurred after the Towers fell, joined the buzz from those who are sure Obama ordered a hit, and put out the bat signal to true believers immediately:
“You just get used to this, ‘Scalia found, it’s natural, nothing going on here, he just died naturally,’” Jones stated. “And you’re like, ‘Whoa. Red flag.’ Then you realize, Obama is one vote away from being able to ban guns, open the borders and actually have the court engage in its agenda — and now Scalia dies. I mean, this is hard core.”
Jones went on to suggest that Associate Justice Clarence Thomas — with a voting record nearly identical to Scalia’s — might “die of a heart attack next week.”
“Are they going to kill Clarence Thomas? Maybe they’ll kill Ron Paul. Maybe they’ll kill Donald Trump next. They all had heart attacks,” he continued. “How many more of these are we going to sit here and put up with? Or maybe their airplane blows up. My gut tells me they killed him and all the intellectual evidence lays it out.”
This was expected hysteria but REALLY distasteful, including some of the tweets and graphics here:
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/conspiracy-kooks-shift-into-overdrive-after-learning-antonin-scalia-was-found-dead-with-a-pillow-over-head/
But I doubt if the politico’s on the right will push back on this, it’s a part of the demographic they want energized because it makes so much noise for their cause.
And, be, I find it strange that the announcement now is that Nino died not from a heart attack but simply … died fom “old.” He said he didn’t feel well and then just died. How does that work? It will continue to fuel all this murder nonsense.
Your comments about the various Full Moon hits on his Uranus/Moon makes sense to me — my Uranian health issue at hand is not to sneeze at; it’s a chronic malady that threatened my life as a child and has the ability to do it again when activated, so I take these things seriously. But, if it wasn’t his heart that did him in (so, everybody dies of heart-failure, but … just sayin’) why did old Nino decide to leave the building? This is really very intriguing (if esoteric) stuff!
And — bigger picture, of course — one more time we are looking at our dysfunction because WE MUST if we’re to make any changes that will help us survive into a new century! What does not work about the democratic process as drawn must be brought into line with what WILL work in order to prevent civilization from folding and the species from dying off. We KNEW it would have to happen somehow, and I much prefer a constitutional crisis and whatever chaos occurs thereafter to some kind of phant-o-gasmic Armageddon scenario with zombie overtones.
Antonin Scalia was the sworn enemy of a ‘living constitution,’ a document that was capable of growing into new iterations of rights and privileges as society changed. Think about that! He was the enemy of change, which might as well be seen as the enemy of fresh air and sunlight!
Change is inevitable! In Scalia’s mind, what had been created perfect centuries past must be locked in stone, and he made it his business to tie that stone to the tail of progress. His first love was the defense of a dead document. I heard him described today as a man of rigid principle — I think that sums it up.
And so, we’re left to pick up the mess, suddenly free to TRY anyhow. Courage, my dears! As we decide who we will be when we grow up, this is a worthy first step in opening up our minds.
John Oliver just keeps getting more awesome.
Thanks for all. A bit of the whirl-wind, it is.