Astrology and All That

I listened to the learned wizard DuQuette in a video. He seems good, and I like him. He yammered on about the Qaballah, Tarot, Archangels, and Crowley. I just about dropped out of my chair. He's actually a great speaker, with humor and energy, but I find all that numerology business a hard slog, always have. Pretty bland stuff, numbers and diagrams and tetragrams and pentagrams. I don't know how Ducky could possibly spice it up. I appreciate math, but associating cosmic forces and energies with numbers and geometry seems suspect, like slanted science, ghetto science, a dilution and perversion of science. I just don't get it. I don't like it. Something doesn't seem right.

Maybe Qaballah is too ancient Hebrew for my tastes. I remember that I wrote a long time ago, before I knew what Qaballah was, that I was a spirit of fire, then changed to one of air. Well, per Ducky, per the Qaballah, my astrological sign corresponds to Mutable Fire, which is open to change to another element. Also, one my nyms from long ago coincided with one of the planets in my zodiac. Well, all of that could be coincidence or was it prescience?

I shall continue with his video series because I like watching Adorable Ducky, even if what he is talking about flies over my head. I rather wish Ducky had cast a fireball or two, or changed someone into a frog, or forecast the near future. Now, that is what I call real magic. That is what I want a proper wizard to show me. But he sat there, in his coat and tie, and just seemed a dear old professor, lively and vivacious and huggable.

John McWhorter @ CNN

I really liked McWhorter's piece on Trump and Chicago crime. It may be a good thing for Trump to send the Feds in to Chicago. Stop the gang violence, by martial law if necessary. Ordinary citizens have a right to live their lives without the threat of crime and violence.

I feel the same way McWhorter does about Trump: "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." Trump spouts so many words that a man is bound to agree with some. He is like a shotgun. Yeah, a couple pellets are going to hit the mark.

Trump talks too much, for one thing, and engages his mouth more than his brain. He is not the ideal leader. He is going to make a lot of horrible and costly blunders with that angry mouth and hot head of his. The best that I hope for is that he corrects at least some of the blunders of his predecessors, and that his blunders prove to be correctable by his successor.

Due to Trump, Putin, and Xi, I do not have any hope that humanity will do anything to reverse climate change. Anyone living on the coast anywhere in the world is in for a rude shock, and those in the interior are also in for neat experiments like desertification, violent storms, flooding and violent and hungry refugees from the coast. Trump can be wrong, but ninety-nine per cent of world scientists can't be wrong.

On the other hand, is it right that the U.S. and Europe make all the sacrifices in an effort to reverse global warming, while India, China and Russia pump out maximum carbon emissions? If climate change is really inevitable anyway, and it probably is, given the geopolitical reality, then the U.S. might as well do whatever is expedient, because Russia and China represent evil in our world, and must not be permitted any advantages. Putin and Xi are evil incarnate and will never do anything that is good. If the U.S. committed suicide en masse, resulting in the elimination of all man-made carbon emissions, then China and Russia would continue with business as usual, and colonize our space and replace the lost carbon emissions with their own. Therefore, global warming is truly inevitable. It is impossible that China and Russia should cooperate with the U.S. They prefer global catastrophe and large-scale reduction of the world population to cooperation. Perhaps a reduction in global population is the real solution to global warming. There is not as much need for people nowadays, with automation in so many facets of business. The world could get by quite well with a million, let alone the seven billion currently in existence. This is the sobering reality foreseen by the elite, such as Trump, Putin, and Xi. It is my grim prediction for the future. I do not see a future with populous countries, but a future of war and strife, nuclear exchanges, massive pollution (including radioactive), dictatorships, and overall a long-term reduction in the global population. A "Mad Max" future.

Zero Sympathy for Google, Microsoft

Microsoft and Google appear uncomfortable with Trump's order restricting immigration from the terrorist-producing regions of the world. Seems they feel that their foreign eggheads will be impacted by the order.

My view is, tough titty. They can hire a bright young fellow from Iowa, train him, and keep their workforce 100% American. There is nothing a foreigner can do that an American can't do ten times better. We have a country with 300 million people, a well-educated workforce with a high number of college students, and these tech companies say they can't find enough eggheads? Hogwash!

Personally, I hope that treacherous Microsoft and Google lose a couple billion for depriving Americans of jobs. If they don't employ Americans, they are better off going bankrupt. Executives need to learn that what comes around, goes around. They enjoy the safety and comfort of living in America, yet transfer most of the jobs overseas. Is it a big surprise that American workers are not sympathetic?

Nomi Marks

I dreamt about the above character in Sense8, a great Netflix sci-fi show. I did not associate her with the show and could not place who she was. She was this highly-placed, important woman at a company that I also worked for and was very busy, just like in the show. She may have worked in HR or R&D or been an executive. She seemed nice and helpful to me and gave me water, followed later by grapefruit juice. I can't remember much that is specific to the dream other than a pleasant exchange, not a conversation exactly, but some kind of shared understanding. What we actually said to each other, if anything, is lost. The esoteric writer DuQuette opines that drinking in a dream is like drinking the waters of Lethe, but what is true for him may not be the same for me. The Nomi Marks entity was good, trying to recharge my batteries through these beverages. Offering drinks was a kindness, nothing more.

Through Wikipedia, I learned Nomi Marks is played by Jamie Clayton, a transgender woman. I like Clayton's work in Sense8. She appears interesting and genuine somehow. That is why my mind has incorporated the character in my dreams.

The Feds' Sense of Humor

With Obama departing the White House, Snowden remains "snowed-in" in Russia.

I'm a Stakeholder

If I weren't a stakeholder in the U.S. and in the world, I'd be politically ambivalent, above it all. There is great amusement in the spectacle of Trump and the Republicans. One thing I like is how Trump has played all the Republicans like a violin. He even got his former Republican critics to lavish praise upon him, making them look like lap-dogs while he sits drinking his tea and smiling like a fox, his expression so easy to read. He has exposed many prominent Republicans for what they are. All their talk of principles take a backseat to Power. I could laugh, but then Trump makes mean, petty remarks that reflect poorly upon him--and upon us. The sobering thought arises, oh damn, this is my country we're talking about, and bad things may happen, like war. Trump seems a child in many ways. His ideology is of less concern to me than his temperament. We can certainly endure a conservative Republican administration like Bush, Bush Jr., or Reagan. This has been proven to my satisfaction. Those administrations were costly, adding to our national debt, but at least they kept things together. Will Trump keep things together? What sort of blunders, gaffes, and indiscretions must we expect?

Poor World

The billionaire boys club runs the world: Trump, Xi, and Putin. How those bozos are going to deal with global climate change, I don't know.

Skull Sweat

If something is not thought through ten times ten times, then it is not right.

Not just sometimes, but all the time.

This is the law of Creation and cannot be repealed.

The only reason we have electricity is men burning the midnight oil with sweat pouring down their forehead worrying the details through to completion.

Genius is ninety-nine per cent perspiration and only one per cent inspiration.

L.A. Times and Pot

The Los Angeles Times has been down on pot since time began. Their argument is dope makes people stupid. Well, all right. No one says pot is health food. It impairs the Reasoning mind, same as alcohol. The L.A. Times has zip to say about alcohol, because of the alkies in charge advertisers.

A greedy beer, wine or liquor tycoon fears pot as a competitor, because pot is better for people than alcohol. People might wise up and stop drinking his poison. So he buys a rag like the L.A. Times and tells them what to print in their little editorials and "news" articles.

The L.A. Times not only says marijuana is bad, but they want to lock all the pot smokers up. Hard time for high times! Let us examine this evil logic. Lock the potheads up, and just maybe, they will embrace a new path in life, the demonic. For what sort do we find in prison, but the violent and maladjusted? What better mentors? Pot smoking is but a feeble half-measure, and Blood is the final--and inevitable--product. Convert the passive do-nothings into do-somethings. The something is unspecified. Pesky details. Always and forever, no one wants to get into the details, to the detriment of mankind.

In this world, men take a simple thing that is on balance good, like marijuana, and through wickedness, twist it into something horrible, associated with crime and violence. An intelligent creature of higher moral standards could exist in large numbers on this planet and not have any problem whatsoever with the herb, but use it for its [intended purposes].

Trump is Refreshing

I actually find some of Trump's tweets refreshing, and I hope he is not just full of BS. The American people have been let down so many times. I like when he calls out companies for screwing the American worker by building plants overseas. I like when he calls out U.S. companies for screwing the government, which they do far too often. I wish he would keep focused on that, and especially target waste and corruption in Washington, D.C. If he did those things, then that would forgive an awful lot of bad karma he has generated with his less virtuous remarks. He needs to keep the peace, focus on jobs, and strive to be compassionate to minorities. The Angels will record his good works on the same ledger as his bad, and if he does enough good, then it might just possibly cancel out the bad. But he had better keep busy, night and day, and keep an eye affixed on some of his less than savory associates.

Here is hoping that Trump is really a Heart. A blind hope, at this point in time, but nonetheless. Why does a billionaire want to be President? Does he really, is he really so insanely driven that he wants more money through corruption, or is he, could he be... genuine, in some shape or form? Let us all hope Trump is a Heart, for the sake of the country.

Republicans Say, "Make it Rain!"

The House Republicans decided they need free reign to indulge in an extended four-year orgy of cheating, sexual harassment and stealing, so they gutted the ethics oversight watchdog, which they considered a damned nuisance. Now that crooked Trump is in, let the good times roll! Forty-eight per cent of the electorate can't be wrong. Stealing is in! I expect trillions of dollars to get diverted to corruption on a massive scale never seen before.

It's always amusing when people vote against their own interests. The low-income folks that voted for the Republicans or did not vote at all or sent in a stupid protest vote or voted for the Green Party nitwit need to to learn how to deal with untreated disease. Take some Bufferin to ease your sufferin. There certainly is not going to be any Obamacare to help you in this world. Got cancer? Take Bufferin. Heart disease? Bufferin. Mental illness? Bufferin. Remember to say "Thank you!" to the Republicans for denying you medical care.

The reason the poor won't have medical care is Republicans need to steal all that money to get richer. Instead of being millionaires, they need to become billionaires. The Republicans say, "Make it rain!"