From a Google Image Search - CNET
From a Google Image Search - Inc. Magazine - Getty Images
I want to apologize. I have done nothing but go on and on about Trump and the Republicans as if nothing else going on in the world matters. I find I can't help myself because what Trump and the Republicans have in store for America will be a human rights nightmare and will affect how America is perceived around the globe. It will affect what the world's nations will be able to accomplish. All nations do better when the most developed nations do better.
Turning inward to isolationism, facing backward politically, identifying groups of humans as "others" when we are all the same species, denying climate changes, and clinging to fossil fuels in a world economy based not on gold or silver, but on oil and gas, is a sad way for a brave nation to face the future. Changes are frightening, but they seem like they cannot be avoided. We will keep trying to live more sustainably on the planet. We will all be overrun by migrants, or we might find that we will have to migrate at some time in the not-so-distant future. We can war and destroy our cities for dark reasons; we can isolate and arm our borders. We can accept that climate changes will force us to either accept migrants or to watch the terrible plight of humans trying to survive.
We can let Republicans convince us that there is a "deep state" blocking them from governing or accept that they are the obstructionists. We can fight to stay on track to make our society serve workers and to convince employers that happy workers will improve profits, or we can worry about a racist abstraction like "wokeness". We can leave NATO again and disappoint (and eventually anger) our allies. We can stiff the UN and buddy up to "strong men." However, where will the discrimination against "others" end? What if anyone who wasn't worth at least one million were considered to possess "otherness?" We can use the heat pumps and solar panels we have while we innovate new ways to power the planet or we can cling to oil and gas (and coal) and tell ourselves that the changes we are seeing could not possibly be caused by humans, even 8 billion of them.
I don't know what stars control the happenings on Earth, but whatever Earth's astrological chart looks like all the planets seem to be in some other planet's house. Two wars are two too many. And the two wars we have seem likely to multiply. We all wonder what will happen in Gaza where there is not enough food and water. Will we have to watch humans starve because no aid can get in? Can Israel come up with another way to defang Hamas? What on Earth is driving so many people to leave Venezuela and why is regime change starting to look appealing once again, perhaps for better reasons than money and profits this time? Can we stop the ice from melting, clean the oceans, husband the remaining wildlife back from extinction, find a new fuel for jets and ships, and keep innovating more efficient alternative energy devices while most of Earth is still habitable? Why did we fall short of reaching the moon so far in 2024? Why did Donald Trump just win the Iowa Caucus?
In China, where they sometimes use the Lunar calendar, it's the year of the Dragon. Our nation’s birthday, July 4, 1776, was the year of the Fire Monkey. The monkey and the dragon are very compatible so if you put any faith in the moon or the stars there might be some help from the universe this year.
Donald Trump, however, was born on June 14, 1946, in the year of the dog. The dog is not at all compatible with the dragon.
Joe Biden's birthday is November 26, 1942, in the year of the horse. The internet tells me that the horse and dragon work very well together; they complement each other. The universe has spoken. Joe Biden is in tune with the stars. It may be as good a way as any to pick a leader. Under my sincere attempts to save our democracy and our planet perhaps I am, after all, just a silly girl and I am offering you entertainment to make up for my being obsessed with Donald Trump and the Republicans to the exclusion of global events. I will continue to be obsessed until after all the court cases and the outcome of the 2024 election. It does not mean that I am not both weighed down and lifted-up by the news of the world.