Winter Solstice at Swan Lake Flat
It is darkest before the dawn. Tomorrow is the winter solstice, the longest night here in the north. Light and day length begin their slow growth this week until the summer solstice in June. Throughout human history the solstice has marked time and been celebrated. This year there's an additional show in the night sky...https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjuncti...
In December, just as Jupiter and Saturn are nearly at their closest, the young moon will sweep past them. From December 16-25, 2020, the 2 will be separated by less than a full-moon diameter, just as the crescent moon is passing close. Jupiter will appear brighter, outshining Saturn by 12 times. Saturn is respectably bright, though, shining as brilliantly as a 1st-magnitude star.
Some say the conjunction of these planets on the solstice marks the beginning of a new Age of Aquarius. Despite the ravages of COVID, the Earth has made another revolution around the sun. Another year comes to an end, and what a long strange trip it has been. I'm more than ready for a new age...
A story inspired by the Christmas truce of 1914, a miraculous occurrence of peace for two days when men laid down their arms, came out of their trenches, and celebrated the holiday together. The aftermath depicted in the film is also part of history. The German, French, and Scottish commanders were severely reprimanded for "fraternization with the enemy." New troops were brought in to replace those who had been tainted by the experience. After all, war depends upon seeing the other side as subhuman.
In a disturbing scene, Palmer, the Anglican priest, is harshly criticized by his bishop, who argues that Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. Later, we see the bishop telling the new recruits that they are in a crusade, a holy war for freedom. Hearing these words and realizing how far this view is from the teachings of Jesus, Palmer takes off his cross, leaves it on a bedpost, and walks away.
The Biden administration resembles the ineffectual German government formed by Franz von Papen in 1932 that sought to recreate the ancien régime, a utopian conservatism that ensured Germany’s drift into fascism. Biden, bereft like von Papen of new ideas and programs, will eventually be forced to employ the brutal tools Biden as a senator was so prominent in creating to maintain social control – wholesale surveillance, a corrupt judicial system, the world’s largest prison system and police that have been transformed into lethal paramilitary units of internal occupation.
Chris Hedges
How do we live and make our way through this morass of propaganda that we once called a culture?
