Month: August 2018

Bob Woodward, reckoned the best investigative reporter in the USA, has his take on the Trump presidency out in September in a book called simply ‘Fear.’ He has written books on three past presidents all with their cooperation which was not forthcoming this time round. But he appears to have persuaded insiders to talk in private. One former official said: ‘It’s gonna be killer. Everyone talked with Woodward.’ Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said: “He has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill [their] guts to him…his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn’t be talking about is just extraordinary and may be unique.”

The book title came from a conversation with Trump during the 2016 campaign when he said: ‘Real power means you can get what you want without having to exert violence. Real power is Fear.’

Woodward was born 26 March 1936 6.35pm Geneva, Illinois, the son of a judge, served in the navy and then went into journalism, hitting the bullseye with his expose of Watergate, along with fellow reporter Carl Bernstein, which brought Richard Nixon down. Since then he’s written 18 non-fiction books, 12 of them best-sellers, and has remained at the top of his game being part of the Pulitzer prize winning Washington Post team not just for Watergate but also 9/11. He’s been married three times.

He has a 7^th house Aries Sun and Mercury in late Pisces opposition Neptune on his Ascendant – perhaps why he’s able to get underneath interviewees’ defences to winkle out the truth.  He’s got a courageous and ruthlessly determined Mars in Aquarius in the spotlight 5^th opposition Pluto square Venus in Taurus in the 8^th. His Venus in the 8^th will also give him the ability to plug into people at a deep level. He has a talented Half Grand Sextile off the Mars opposition Pluto, sextile Sun and Saturn (Uranus) in Gemini. With Uranus trine Neptune sextile Pluto. His crusading Sagittarius Moon is in the journalistic 3^rd; with a successful Jupiter in his 10^th. He has a subtly powerful and very influential chart with a leadership North Node in Leo.

His Sun falls in Trump’s secretive 8^th house; with his Mars opposing Trump’s Pluto for a definite clash. And Woodward’s innovative Saturn Uranus falls in Trump’s 10^th, which has the capacity to affect the reputation and status of both for good or for ill.

Their relationship chart has an argumentative and competitive composite Sun Mercury opposition Mars; with the Sun in a power-struggling square to Pluto; a suspicious/paranoid Saturn square Neptune being triggered now; and Uranus hitting both the composite Venus and Moon, so not a chummy friendship.

Trump is continuing his summer of bad-temper and high angst with tr Uranus still in square to his Mercury/Mars and Venus/Pluto up to publication date. Immediately after tr Uranus returns to square his Saturn/Pluto – self-destructive energy, egotistical, violent.

The strain on that man’s heart must be extraordinary from rolling, screeching tantrums. What he ought to do is maintain a discreet silence and let it blow over but on past form when he’s let fly a twitter storm at James Comey and Michael Wolff’s respective books, they shot to the top of the best seller lists.

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Alan Alda, the multi-awarded and much-loved Hawkeye Pierce in Mash has announced he has Parkinson’s Disease. He said he was diagnosed three years ago and has been living a full and energetic life since then. As well as acting and writing during a long career, he has also been involved in programmes about scientific and technological advances.

Born 28 January 1936 5.07 am New York, he had an unsettled childhood following his vaudeville and burlesque-theatre father’s acting career, contracted polio at one point and said his mother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He’s been married over sixty years with three children.

He has a 2nd house Sun in Aquarius (scientific) square a 4th house Uranus (constant upheavals in childhood). His 3^rd house Aries Moon is sextile his Sun and in an out-of-element trine to Pluto and ditto square to Venus. He has spoken of how much he resented/hated his mother’s condition which is reflected in his Moon = Mars/Pluto = Saturn/Pluto.

For all that he’s always given the impression of being amiable and laid back, due to a focal point Jupiter in Sagittarius in his 12^th square a showbiz Neptune opposition Mars Saturn in Pisces. He didn’t have an easy start in life but seems to have risen above it all and made a good life for himself.

The title of his book came from his grief at a pet dog dying so his father had it stuffed which horrified him even more.  His motto – face reality and move on.

Is this the end of the road for the euro? That’s the question asked by one of Germany’s leading economists who serves as an adviser to the government. Hans-Werner Sinn writes: ‘It is hard to see a clear path forward. Some argue for still more debt socialisation and risk sharing at the European level. Others warn that this would push Europe into an even deeper quagmire of financial irresponsibility. …. The euro’s third decade will decide its fate.’ He comments that sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf was right to conclude: “The currency union is a grave error, a quixotic, reckless and misguided goal, that will not unite but break up Europe.”

At present Portugal, Spain and Greece are all governed by radical socialists who have abandoned the “austerity policy”; and Italy intends to increase the country’s debt substantially to pay for tax cuts and a guaranteed-income scheme. All of these four countries’ manufacturing sectors are still way below 2007 levels of competitiveness and their youth unemployment is shockingly high.

The euro was launched as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999 and as a cash currency on 1 January 2002, assuming both 12 am. Both charts indicate a Saturnine period in late 2021/2022. Which doesn’t mean an end of times but it does suggest there will be a harsh dose of reality.

The 1999 chart has a T Square of Mars opposition Saturn square a financial Venus which has been under pressure since 2017 and worsening in 2021 to 2023 as tr Pluto is conjunct the Venus and square Saturn. The Solar Arc Mars squares Uranus in early 2021 for a mighty crash of sorts and high insecurity; and the Solar Arc MC is square Saturn in late 2021/early 2022.

The 2002 chart has a fractious Mutable T Square of Pluto opposition Saturn square Mars, which has been muddling through heavy doses of Neptune since 2015, worsening drastically this year and next as tr Neptune is conjunct the Mars and square Pluto. With the Solar Arc Saturn conjunct the midheaven in early 2022.

Germany’s Target 2 surplus with the European Central Bank is about to tip 1 trillion euros – in Sinn’s words it is “unsecured credit against the euro system, which cannot be called in and which debtor countries pay no interest on.” The prospect of the possibility of it going up in smoke is not surprisingly causing deep unrest in Germany .