There was an earthquake last night here in San Francisco. It felt like the Earth was shuddering from the violence occurring on the other side of the globe. It was the eve of the Blood Moon. Full Moons like this are said to bring to light to that which has been lying dormant. The light […]

Until the end of the year, Pluto is back in Capricorn, the sign of skulls and spines. Like a drunk staggering up to the bar for one more round, the dark god is retrograding back to the degree of the US Pluto Return, the transit that’s melting the country’s bones. What’s happening to Uncle Sam […]

Where I live, in San Francisco, the sky is roaring with war planes. Fleet Week is upon us. Every year, tourists come into town to watch the magnificent men in their lethal flying machines. An air force tradition from the days when American superpowerdom was undisputed, the show seems to recall a simpler time, when […]

So they finally got their way. The dogged little cadre of religious fascists who vowed fifty years ago to re-outlaw abortion played the long game, and finally scored. (1)  They were the tortoise and everybody else was the hare. These guys know full well that the American public is overwhelmingly in favor of legal abortion. […]

In the world’s most enduring stories, moral certainty is the secret sauce. We take comfort in a nice, clear dividing line between Right & Wrong. David vs. Goliath, white hats vs. black hats, Ivan Drago vs. Rocky Balboa. And the God-vs.-Satan story, which has kept Big Religion afloat for millennia. It’s especially gratifying to root […]

As the new year began, a lot of people were watching a movie about the annihilation of Earth. “Don’t Look Up” is a wake-up call movie, that’s clear. What isn’t so clear is how wake-up-able its audience is. Life as parody It must be galling to make satirical art in a society where every headline […]

Every generation has its traumas. My parents had World War II. My peers and I had Viet Nam and Watergate. Our children — the generation now in charge  — arrived when wars had gone digital and stateless. Their worldview was framed by 9/11. Foreign-policy-wise, those two burning skyscrapers set the template for the American epoch […]

  Joe Biden found himself unable, for whatever reasons, to keep up the tradition of kicking the bloody can down the road to some future president. Under the Full Moon of August, he struggled to explain the origins of the occupation of Afghanistan (it’s being called a “war,” but that doesn’t seem the mot juste […]

Feeling a tad used up?  Working too hard, and too thanklessly? You may be one of the waitresses or teachers who are making economists so nervous right now, by deciding to not return to your pre-pandemic job. Or a worker in any industry who has come to realize the extent of your emotional drain. Over […]

Are we ready to plunge back in? Covid is surging in Asia and South America, but in the USA people are champing at the bit to venture forth, lose our house flab and get our muscles back. Will this include our mental and moral muscles? We’ll need them, given our state of disunion. From astrology’s […]