I don’t need to tell you things are bad.
During these troubling times, it’s easy to lose hope. Where do we look for guidance?
Sometimes it’s best we look to the heavens.
For instance, we know that we’ll have three major planetary cycles this year, and we’ve already had one.
The first was the Saturn-Pluto synod on January 10, meaning they had a conjunction...which means they look close together in our sky because their orbital paths are now aligned. Interestingly, this was the day the Dow passed 29,000 for the first time.
The second comes on July 31 and the third is November 2, the day before our election.
It’s also something that all three of these celestial events are ending their particular cycles this year, specifically the Jupiter-Eris, Saturn-Eris, and Pluto-Eris cycles. The latter is a 359-year cycle, one that began in 1757...the same year Abel Smith created his Bank of London, ushering in our current global financial system.
I think the financial system as we know it is nearing an end, and I think the planets are telling us this.
Astrologers look at these three cycles and tell us we’re in the beginning phases of a “Societal Reset” which will last the decade, culminating in the “Great Transformation.”
It sure seems like that’s happening.
Here’s a bit that was written about it in 2018:
“These astronomical placements are catalysts for tremendous accomplishment away from the established evolutionary modalities of the past. The extreme acceleration of new progressive, but disruptive technological and cultural developments will be revolutionary and illuminating, but will also have psychological repercussions. Realizations about the ramifications of these disruptive energies will result in a total make-over of human society. This will extend into every facet of human culture and society, and into all areas of technology, sociopolitics and economics… including many current systems of energy production, communication, transportation, travel, healthcare, genetic sciences, robotics and artificial intelligence…
These developments will also disrupt the control of resources and the monetary system itself, if not bring about their obsolescence altogether. Autonomous ownership and decentralized control of resources will make fundamental resources equally available to all people globally. This shift in consciousness and life-style has already begun, and the converging synods of 2020, coming soon, are shaping up to accelerate things even more quickly.”
Bodner’s Boondoggle
Seth Bodner is in a pickle.
UM had just 10,000 students this past spring. That’s over 25% less than they had in 2016.
Seth came on in January 2018, moving back to the state to do so. His wife dragged him here. I’m sure Seth was happy working as a senior executive for the 21st-largest arms dealer in the world, one that sells $3.8 billion worth of weapons each year.
Yep, General Electric. You probably recognize them more from their propaganda...er, news division - NBC.
Anyways, Seth left the world of military drills and military teaching and military arms deals to plunk himself down in the Berkeley of the North, where he can have an impact shaping and molding the minds of tomorrow.
And it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Things were supposed to be turned around by now, two years after he took over.
But they’re not.
In fact, things have gotten worse.
Not only has the number of students fallen off a cliff, but the levels of distrust between faculty and admin has grown to levels not seen in decades.
Seth knows he only has a few options, and all of them bad. One is the continual cuts to liberal arts, which will happen. Another is the increased reliance on out-of-state students. Bodner himself admits that “marketing efforts were focusing on the fact that UM would be ‘wide open’ for fall semester, and that it would likely be more attractive for students from more urban and densely populated states like California and parts of Washington and Oregon.”
Out-of-state applications are up 33% from this time last year, so maybe there’s hope for Seth yet.
But I wouldn’t pin my hopes on it.
This is an election year, and one of the most turbulent we’ll ever see.
Chances are incredibly good that Gianforte will win in 158 days, and when he takes office in January, he’ll clean house.
The heads of Montana’s 14 departments? Those will all be replaced. Many of them are just political appointees that should never have been put in those positions in the first place (Lewis, Hollenbough).
After that, the Board of Regents will be cleaned up. There are 7 board members and one is up in 2020 and another in 2021.
With any luck, some will retire. If we’re lucky, that asshole on our elbow - Clay Christian - will be replaced sooner rather than later.
When that happens we might be able to get rid of military Bodner and get someone with some real academic experience in there.
That’s what students pay for - academics, not assholes in Admin.
Closures
Earlier this month, a poll asked 2,200 small business owners about their situation.
45% of those had applied for PPP funding, but just 13% received any.
I think those numbers were to be expected - that program and its rollout were an unmitigated disaster. Numerous books will be written about it in the coming years and decades.
What’s most troubling to me is that of those 2,200 small businesses that were polled, a whopping 41% of their owners said they were looking for full-time work elsewhere to get by and 47% figure they will close their business for good.
Let’s consider the ramifications.
Small businesses employ just under 60 million people in this country. That means if 47% of those businesses go out of business, then over 28 million people will be out of a job for good.
Where are those people supposed to get new jobs?
I don’t know. The small businesses don’t know. The government doesn’t know.
There’s one thing I do know:
We’re in deep shit.
Construction
The average age of a construction worker is 48.
I’m surprised by that - I thought it’d be younger.
Anyways, the state needs more construction workers and has launched a campaign to try and get younger people interested in those jobs, which could turn into a career.
This might be a good route for many. I'm sure the idea of making tens of thousands of dollars a year without taking out a penny in student loan debt will be quite the draw in a year or two.
I might take it - I’m pretty confident my old service industry small business will never need me again.
Double Standards
Did you see Jon’s new flattop?
Some personal news—thanks to Megan and Jerry at RiverView Barber Shop in Great Falls, the #FlatTop is #BackonTop. pic.twitter.com/TomWYrXs5e
— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) May 28, 2020
He was in D.C. on May 21...just 8 days ago. And now he’s back in Montana, tweeting out images of himself getting a haircut.
It’s clear he violated the state’s 14-day quarantine rule to get that haircut.
But that’s alright - he’s better than us.
The rules we have to follow? Well, they simply don’t apply to Jon.
Jon’s important.
We knew there were double standards for politicians before this crisis, it’s just that they’ve become so glaring now.
Insider trading has always been an issue where politicians will benefit and you won’t. Tax loopholes is another.
Then the virus hit, and we saw politicians telling us we had to stay in our house while they and their families could move around. The Illinois governor and his wife going to Florida is an example, or that government official in England that had the virus and drove all the way across the country with it.
It’s frustrating when that happens, and even more so when it happens close to home.
Like with Jon.
Double standards.
All of us are equal. It’s just that some of us are more equal that others.
Primary Day
4 days from now.
I can’t begin to tell you how unexcited I am.
I know it seems like this is the worst slate of statewide candidates we’ve seen in awhile, but let’s be honest - they’re bad every year.
It’s just that this year - with the virus and the lockdowns - it seems these people are more out-of-touch than usual.
Let’s be honest - how many working Montanans care about this primary?
Not many.
We’ve lost jobs and businesses and might be about to lose our home. You think we care about some well-off, barely-affected-by-this-mess politician?
The worst is when these politicians complain that they can’t get out there and campaign.
People’s lives are being destroyed...and you want me to care about some silly election so you can go to the legislature and...do what exactly?
I don’t care that we have a primary on Tuesday, I don’t care who wins it, and I don’t care much about the election coming up in November.
We’re living in a different world, and the politicians on the ballot this year filed to run in the old world, with old ideas and old problems.
Those days are gone, and soon all the people in this primary will be gone, whether they win or lose.
There’s a reckoning coming, and the old ‘leaders’ simply won’t cut it. I can’t wait to see who’s going to catapult themselves onto the stage in the coming months and years. I think it’ll amaze us, perhaps scare us too.
Riots
It’s intersting how these riots are spreading out of control. I wonder how long it’ll last, how far it’ll spread?
Who would have thought the police station would burn down? And so much for the National Guard - called up 1,000 but only 50 made it. It's clear who has the power in this country - the people. How long will the government allow that?
I think these riots will burn-out pretty quickly. One thing we do know - this country’s sitting on a powder keg.
The sheer amount of anger and frustration and resentment that’s about to boil over is simply unprecedented.
I mean...Minnesota?
Who would have thought it would start in Minnesota of all places?
When this current mess cools down in a few days or a week, it’ll be ready to flare-up again somewhere else.
We’re not talking about the underlying problems that led to this incident. I don’t think it was race so much as anxiety and economic hardship. None of the corporate news outlets will discuss that aspect, as it’ll make us question the whole financial system in this country.
The financial system owns the media.
The powers-that-be don’t want us peeling the layers of that onion, for we might realize how rotten and smelly the center really is.
But talk we must.
People are not breaking into Target and stealing because a black man was killed. They’re using that as an opportunity to take what they feel they're owed. 'Why should I have so little when they have so much?' they think.
Animosity and resentment.
Much of this attitude comes from those that won’t work, and that want handouts. But much of it comes from those that work two jobs and never get ahead. The former are breaking into Target; the latter are watching it on TV. Both are equally angry at a system that lied to them, telling them that ‘if you play by the rules, you’ll get ahead.’
Well, they didn’t get ahead...and they’re pissed.
How long before that all boils over nationwide and we have a revolution, politically and financially?
Heaven knows.