Solunars by Aldebaran Sidereal Academy

Tomorrow, February 4, Saturn enters Sagittarius. With issues of judicial nominations, immigration, diplomacy, international trade, class division and polarization, political empowerment of religious fundamentalism, and international relations right before us - among other Sagittarius themes - this should be interesting (if not entirely pleasant) to watch. - I'm not pleased that the four outermost planets will now be in ideological constellations, nor that the one to break out first will be Uranus... but that's another story for later in the year.

Here are a couple of hundred years of its transit. My first impression (which might be too hasty) is that there is a lot of accelerated militarism during several of these periods, although it does miss our largest, deadliest wars. I also notice that, although it covers the 1929 crash and the worst years of the Great Depression, it otherwise misses nearly all the serious economic downturns of our history.

Jan 17 1811 - Jul 2 1811
Oct 15 1811 - Jan 16 1814
Dec 1 1840 - Mar 1 1843
Jul 14 1843 - Nov 29 1843
Jan 9 1870 - Jul 21 1870
Oct 1 1870 - Jan 7 1873
Mar 12 1899 - Apr 22 1899
Nov 24 1899 - Feb 19 1902
Aug 2 1902 - Nov 17 1902
Jan 1 1929 - Jan 1 1932
Feb 19 1958 - May 19 1958
Nov 15 1958 - Feb 9 1961
Aug 23 1961 - Nov 1 1961
Dec 24 1987 - Apr 4 1990
Jun 4 1990 - Dec 22 1990
Feb 4 2017 - Jun 8 2017
Nov 4 2017 - Jan 31 2020

For comparison, here is what Garth Allen wrote on Saturn in Sagittarius in his forecast for 1959:

...Saturn confines its meanderings solely to the constellation of Sagittarius, and all that this segment of the zodiac has come to be connected with symbolically will feel the limiting, low moral tone of the planet of restriction. Sagittarius rules long-distance transportation, for example, so it is inevitable that there should be less travel, resort-hopping and vacationing abroad this year. Nominal religion with all its traditional trappings is intimately under the aegis of [Sagittarius], too. Hence, in our own country the church-building boom of recent years will become a financial boomerang in months to come.

Denominations everywhere will be facing mortgage problems, and collection platters will tattle on the recession's true dimensions in people's lives. When Saturn is momentarily barraged by discordant aspects... incidents of sacrilege, spoilage of sacred relics, and holy-place vandalism born of bigotry will be commonly reported. Oddly enough, if Sagittarius literally affects trends in religious thought, a resurgence of fundamentalism will be marked, and throughout the theological world will be heard a renewal of emphasis on such Saturnian themes as celibacy, poverty vows and self-sufficiency. 1959 looks to be a year of disfavor for advocates of canons of religious thought now come to be slurringly referred to as the social gospel. Woe, then, from the church board to the preacher who brazenly holds that the sermon on the mount must be remembered in the voting booth - which is just what this snowballing make-him-stick-to-platitudes sentiment translates itself into on the community level.

Other Saturn-in-Sagittarius motifs center around the constellation's relationship to the pyramid-step structure of society, and to judicial functions. Sagittarius is the zodiac's sponsor of social caste, the heavenly embossed ruler of the idea of peerage and entitlement, Old-World style. Saturn's passage...therefore implies that the balance of social affluence changes hands, no doubt to the newly-rich management class that is becoming the high society of our time...

As far as Saturn impinges on the continuing history of jurisprudence, it looks like this transit will shore up a movement in this country to impose some kind of curbs on high-court authority. Saturn had not moved further than one degree into Sagittarius in the spring of 1958 when the Cuban government issued a decree ordering the automatic arrest of any judge at any court level whose judgements in any way might be disadvantageous to the regime - a virtually unheard-of measure even for a Latin American dictatorship to spell out. But such is the judiciary-restricting nature of this influence. Nothing so extreme as this could possibly develop in a republic like ours, but the vibration is bound to assert itself noticeably throughout the current cycle.

With the current U.S. administration suspending visas (especially from countries with significant Muslim populations, but probably to expand to Asian and Hispanic), I think restrictions not only in immigration but in simple migration and wandering is likely to mark the next couple of years. This is contrary to what we would have otherwise thought, because recent court cases in this country are, by themselves, likely to give greater liberty to the airlines and their ability to bring prices down (long story)... but now, who knows!

I took a look at the chart for Saturn's ingress into Sagittarius. This is a one-time example, but it's so interesting I thought I'd share it. This isn't sufficient to substantiate that such charts have any value at all (it may all be coincidence), but I found it interesting.

Sagittarian themes are popping all over the news this morning, with the most important one (the one taking up the most media "real estate") being Pres. Trump's battle with federal courts over his immigration ban that got blocked yesterday. The themes of immigration, air travel, and the courts is sufficient to bring Sagittarius to mind. Among other things, he is now complaining that the courts are second-guessing the judgement of the president in his national security agenda. (Yeah, in our system of check and balances, one thing the courts are supposed to do is "second guess," i.e., provide an independent point of view, on executive and congressional actions.)

Saturn entered Sagittarius February 4, 2017, 10:22:36 PM EST. For Washington, four planets are foreground. One is disruptive and confrontational. The other three interact with themes of courts, civil liberties, and ... air travel! Here are longitudes of planets and angles, plus PV longitudes and one RA orb for the WP.

20°25' Virgo Ascendant
22°38' Gemini Midheaven
23°08' Sagittarius Pluto (0°43' PV)
25°41' Virgo Eastpoint
26°11' Pisces Uranus (5°24' PV) (0°41' from WP)
28°10' Virgo Jupiter (7°02' PV)
1°43' Capricorn Mercury (9°32' PV)

Pluto on IC (partile) and a foreground Mercury-Jupiter-Uranus T-square. Additionally, Mars is barely foreground, being 9°20' below Descendant.

I found this... interesting. A test of whether we should take it seriously as an ingress is whether its angles and, in particular, its 4°13' Taurus Moon are sensitive to transits. The Mercury-Jupiter-Uranus progresses to the angles February 12-16.

I will try to filter the history books to find some common themes from the past. I have history summaries (in storage) that I like better than the Wikipedia annual itemizations, but that's what I have to work with at the moment.

Jan 17 1811 - Jul 2 1811
Oct 15 1811 - Jan 16 1814

In 1811...
Nov 7 - Gen. William Henry Harrison wins Battle of Tippecanoe against Tecumseh
Dec 16 - New Madrid earthquake in the Mississippi Valley reverse the river course for a while. Other earthquakes occur over the next two months along the same fault, with magnitudes as large as 8.

In 1812...
Obviously the War of 1812 is a big deal for this year...
Mar 26 - Boston Gazette political cartoon coins the germ Gerrymander.
Apr 4 - Pres. Madison enacts a 90-day embargo on trade with the UK.
Apr 20 - Vice President George Clinton dies.
Apr 30 - Louisiana is admitted as the 18th state.
Jun 1 - Pres. Madison asks Congress for a declaration of war on Great Britain.
Jun 18 - War of 1912 begins.
Jul 12 - Americans invade Canada.
Aug 5 - Tecumseh's forces ambush 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, forcing a retreat
Aug 15 - Battle of Fort Dearborn - Potawatomi warriors overrun this U.S. fort in Illinois Territory
Aug 16 - Fort Detroit surrendered to the British army without a fight
Aug 19 - USS Constitution vs. HMS Guerriere - The Constitution wins, off Nova Scotia.
Oct 9 - Two British warships defeated (Detroit and Caledonia).
Oct 13 - Battle of Queenston Heights. U.S. forces defeated British invaders from Canada.
Nov 5 - Pres. Madison wins reelection.
Dec 29 - USS Constitution defeats the British Java off Brazil.

In 1813...
February - War of 1812 continues. Fort Meigs was constructed in Ohio beginning in February.
Mar 29 - Mexican War of Independence Battle of Rosillo Creek. Mexicans defeated the Spanish Royalist Arm.
Apr 27 - Battle of York. US troops raid and destroy the Upper Canada capital of York (aka Toronto).
May 1-9 - First Siege of Fort Meigs. The fort holds. (They fail again in July,)
May 27 - American forces capture Fort George in Canada.
Jun 6 - Battle of Stone Creek. British forces defeat an American force three times its size.
July 5 - British begin three weeks of assaults on three NY forts.
Aug 30 - Creek War, Fort Mims Massacre. Creeks kill hundreds of settles in Fort Mims, Alabama.
Sep 12 - Battle of Lake Erie. American naval squadron defeats a British squadron, capturing six ships.
Oct 6 - Battle of Thames. Gen William Henry Harrison defeats the British. Tecumseh is killed in battle.
Oct 26 - Battle of Chateauguay. Americans lose.
Nov 11 - Battle of Crysler's Farm. Americans lose.
Nov 16 - British blockage Long Island Sound, so only New England ports are open to shipping.
Dec 17 - Trade embargo against New England merchants that have been supplying the British
Dec 18-19 - British invade the U.S. and capture Fort Niagara.
Dec 30 - British soldiers burn Buffalo, NY.

Dec 1 1840 - Mar 1 1843
Jul 14 1843 - Nov 29 1843

In 1841...
William Henry Harrison becomes president, doesn't last long.
It is the era of Edgar Allen Poe and P.T. Barnum on the rise.
Apr 4 - Pres. Harrison dies, John Tyler succeeds him. - the first time such a thing had ever occurred.
Aug 16 - Pres. Tyler vetoes a bill establishing the Second Bank of the U.S., triggering the most violent demonstrations on White House grounds in all U.S. history

In 1842...
March - Commonwealth v. Hunt, SCOTUS affirms labor unions and strikes are legal
Mar 5 - Mexican troops invade Texas briefly.
Aug 4 - Armed Occupation Act signed, allowing armed occupation and settlement of unsettled parts of Florida.
Aug 9 - US-Canada border east of the Rockies is established.

In 1843...
Numerous important Edgar Allen Poe stories emerged.
July 12 - Joseph Smith proclaims a revelation recommending polygamy, making it part of the Mormon canon.
Aug 23 - Mexico's president announces that U.S. annexing Texas would be treated as an act of war.
Oct 13 - B'nai B'rith founded (the oldest Jewish services organization)

Jan 9 1870 - Jul 21 1870
Oct 1 1870 - Jan 7 1873

In 1870...
Jan 10 - Standard Oil incorporated
Jan 26 - Virginia is readmitted to the Union
Jan 27 - First college sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) founded at my alma mater, DePauw University.
Feb 3 - 15th Amendment ratified, confirming voting rights regardless of race
Feb 12 - Women gain suffrage in Utah
Feb 23 - Mississippi is readmitted to the union, military control ends
Feb 26 - NYC the first pneumatic subway opens
Mar 30 - Texas is readmitted to the Union
Jun 22 - Congress creates the Department of Justice
Jul 15 - Georgia is readmitted to the Union (the last former Confederate state readmitted)

In 1871...
Mar 22 - North Carolina removes its governor, the first time this happened by impeachment
Apr 20 - Pres. Grant signed the Ku Klux Klan act, providing suspension of habeas corpus to combat the KKK.
May 4 - The first Major League Baseball game.
Jun 10 - 109 U.S. Marines attack Han River forts in Korea
September - Whaling Disaster of 1871, 1,219 abandon 33 whaling ships caught in the ice pack off the northern coast of Alaska
Oct 8 - On the same day, the Great Chicago Fire, the worst-of-the-lot Peshtigo Fire, and two large fires in Michigan broke out - all wrapped around Lake Michigan
Nov 5 - Wickenburg massacre - 6 men travelling by stagecoach murdered by Yavapai Indians in Arizona Territory
'Nov 17 - National Rifle Association chartered

In 1872...
Mar 1 - Yellowstone National Park is established, the first national park in the world
Mar 6 - George Westinghouse patents air brakes for trains
Mar 26 - Lone Pine earthquake (magnitude 74 to 7.9), 27 killed.
May 22 - Pres. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers
November - Pres. Grant wins reelection
Nov 9 - Great Boston Fire of 1872 (2 days)
Wyoming diamond hoax through much of the year until exposed in November

Mar 12 1899 - Apr 22 1899
Nov 24 1899 - Feb 19 1902
Aug 2 1902 - Nov 17 1902

In 1899...
Dec 2 - Battle of Tirad Pass, called "The Filipino Thermopyle," occurs in the Philippine-American War.

In 1900...
Jan 2 - John Hay announces Open Door Policy to promote trade with China
Jan 2 - First electric bus runs in NYC
Jan 5 - Case of Earth's magnetism is discovered at Johns Hopkins U.
Jan 8 - Pres. McKinley places Alaska under military rule
Jan 14 - Senate accepts the Anglo-German Treaty of 1899, wherein England renounced its claims to the Samoan Islands
Jan 17 - Brigham Roberts is refused his seat in the House of Representatives because of his polygamy
Jan 29 - Baseball's American League is founded (8 teams originally)
Mar 5 - U.S. cruisers are sent to Central America to protect U.S. interests in a dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica
Mar 15 - Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the U.S. on the gold standard
Mar 24 - The start of the NYC subways with an underground Rapid Transit Railroad to link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Apr 30 - Hawaii becomes an official US territory
May 1 - Scofield Mine disaster in Utah kills at least 200 people
Jun 30 - Hoboken Docks Fire (a wharf fire) spreads to two passenger ships, kills 326 people
Sep 8 - Galveston Hurricane, still the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history
September - various key battles in the Philippine-American War
Nov 6 - Pres. McKinley wins reelection over William Jennings Bryan

In 1901...
Jan 5 - Typhoid fever outbreak in Seattle (one of two outbreaks during the year)
Jan 10 - The first Texas oil gusher
Feb 25 - U.S. Steel incorporated by JP Morgan
May 3 - The Great Fire of 1901 begins I Jacksonville
May 17 - U.S. stock market crashes for the first time
Jun 12 - Cuba becomes a U.S. protectorate
Jun 22 to July 31 - Worst U.S. heat wave until the 1930s, affected most areas east of 100 W, killed over 9,500 people
Sep 5 - The forerunner of Minor League Baseball is formed.
Sep 6 - Pres. McKinley is shot in Buffalo and dies 8 days later; Roosevelt becomes president
Dec 3 - Pres. Roosevelt asks Congress to curb the power of trusts within reasonable limits

In 1902...
Jan 1 - First college football game (the Rose Bowl) is held in Pasadena.
Feb 18 - Pres. Roosevelt prosecutes the Northern Securities Co. for violating the Sherman Act.
Sep 19 - Shiloh Baptist Church disaster - 119 people killed in a stampede
Oct 21 - Five-month United Mine Workers strike ends

Jan 1 1929 - Jan 1 1932

In 1929,,,
Herbert Hoover assumes the presidency in March. Most of this entire three-year period, beginning in October, marks the Great Depression. Prohibition is still on the books, and the Roaring '20s remain in swing.
Feb 14 - St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago
Feb 26 - Grand Teton National Park established by Congress
Mar 2 - World's longest bridge opens, the San Francisco Bay Toll bridge
May 13 - National Crime Syndicate founded in Atlantic City
May 16 - First Academy Awards. Winner: Wings.
May 17 - Al Capone arrested for carrying concealed weapons
Jun 27 - First public demonstration of color television.
Aug 31 - Finalized agreement of German reparations for WW I finalized ("The Young Plan"), setting the figure at $26.350 billion (to be paid over 58.5 years). That's $370 billion in 2017 dollars.
Sep 3 - DJI peaked at 381.17... it would not return there for over 25 years.
Oct 24-28 - Wall Street Crash of 1929 wipes out over $30 billion from the NYSE
Nov 15 -Ambassador Bridge opens connecting Detroit to Windsor, ON.
Nov 29 - First flight over South Pole
Dec 3 - Pres. Hoover announces the Great Depression.

In 1930...
Jan 6 - First licensing agreement of a literary character (by A.A. Milne regarding Winnie the Pooh)
Feb 18 - From studies of observatory photographs, Clyde Tombaugh confirms the existence of Pluto.
Mar 8 - First frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye go on sale.
Mar 31 - Motion Pictures Production Code instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion, and violence in movies. It lasts until 1970.
Apr 6 - Hostess Twinkies invented
Apr 21 - Ohio Penitentiary Fire
May 15 - First airline stewardess, Ellen Church, on an Oakland to Chicago flight
May 20 - Chrysler Building completed in NYC, first constructed structure over 1,000 feet
Jun 17 - Pres. Hoover signs Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
Jul 4 - Nation of Islam founded in Detroit
Sep 8 - Scotch Tape introduced
Dec 2 - Pres. Hoover asks for $150 million public works program to generate jobs and stimulate the economy.

In 1931...
Jan 2 - Cyclotron invented
Mar 3 - The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as U.S. national anthem
Mar 17 - Nevada legalizes gambling
Apr 15 - The Castellemmarese War ends (a NYC gang war) shifting control of the American Mafia. The new head is killed 6 months later, leading to the establishment of the Five Families.
May 1 - Empire State Building completed, supplanting Chrysler Building as the tallest
July - Emerson Iron Lung perfected (just in time for the polio epidemic)
Jul 26 - International Bible Students Assoc. adopts the name Jehovah's Witnesses.
Oct 17 - Al Capone sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion.
Oct 24 - George Washington Bridge is dedicated, and then opens the nex tday.

Feb 19 1958 - May 19 1958
Nov 15 1958 - Feb 9 1961
Aug 23 1961 - Nov 1 1961

In 1958...
Feb 28 - Prestonburg, KY bus disaster, the predecessor of the other Kentucky bus disaster 30 years later that tied it for worst 2-vehicle accidents in U.S. history. 27 die.
Mar 6 - USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the Navy without a battleship for the first time since 1896.
Mar 11 - A US bomber accidentally dropped an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, SC (oops!). The igniting explosives destroyed a house and injured some folks, but no nuclear fission occurred.
Mar 24 - Elvis Presley (a Sagittarian btw) entered the army.
Mar 26 - Oscar winner: The Bridge on the River Kwai
April - Detroit unemployment reached 20%, showing the peak of the 1958 recession.
May 12 - U.S. and Canada sign North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement.
Dec 9 - Right-wing John Birch Society is founded

In 1959...
Jan 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th state
Jan 7 - U.S. recognized new Castro government in Cuba
Feb 3 - "The Day the Music Died." Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper die in a plane crash in Iowa
Mar 18 - Pres. Eisenhower signs bill allowing Hawaii statehood
Apr 6 - Oscar winner: Gigi
Apr 9 - NASA announces the Mercury Seven, the 7 military pilots to be our first astronauts
Apr 25 - St. Lawrence Seaway officially opens to shipping
Jun 9 - USS George Washington is launched, first submarine to carry ballistic missiles
Jul 15 - Steel strike (labor strike of US steel industry)
Aug 21 - Hawaii admitted as 50th state
Oct 2 - The Twilight Zone premieres
Dec 1 - Landmark Antarctic Treaty (12 countries including US & USSR) set Antarctica aside as a scientific preserve, banning military activity). This can be considered the first arms control treaty of the Cold War.

In 1960...
John Kennedy nd Richard Nixon win their parties' respective nominations. Kennedy beats Nixon in the November election.
Feb 1 - Greensboro, NC sit-ins of four black students at a segregated lunch counter. This starts a series of other nonviolent protests and is pivotal in the emerging civil rights movement. (6 months later, they got served at the same counter.)
Feb 29 - First Playboy Club opens, in Chicago.
Mar 6 - Announced that 3,500 U.S. soldiers would be sent to Vietnam.
Mar 22 - First patent for a laser issued.
Apr 1 - US launches its first weather satellite (part of an ongoing satellite launch program during these years)
Apr 4 - Oscar winner: Ben Hur
May 1 - U-2 crisis: Soviet missile shoots down a U-2 spy plane, captures Gary Powers. He is tried and sentenced to prison in August.
May 6 - Pres. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960
May 9 - The first oral contraceptive is approved by the FDA
May 10 - Nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of Earth.
Jul 1- Soviet Union shoots down, captures, and imprisons two US pilots
Jul 11 - Harper Lee releases To Kill a Mockingbird
Aug 6 - Castro nationalizes American and foreign-owned properties in Cuba, in response to a US embargo.
Sep 1 - Disgruntled railroad workers halt Pennsylvania Railroad operations for two days, the first shutdown in the company's history
Oct 14 - Sen. Kennedy proposes the Peace Corps.
Dec 2 - Pres. Eisenhower authorizes funds for relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who have begun to arrive in Florida at the rate of 1,000/week.
Dec 5 - [iBoynton v. Virginia,[/i] SCOTUS declares segregation on public transit illegal
Dec 12 - SCOTUS confirms that Louisiana's segregation laws are unconstitutional
Dec 13 - Two navy officers set a world altitude record
Dec 16 - 1960 New York air disaster two planes collide over Staten Island killing 128 people on the two planes and 6 people on the ground.
Dec 1 9 - USS Constellation in Brooklyn Naval Yard, under construction, caught fire killing 50 and injuring 150 [charts should substantially overlap for Staten Island event]

In 1961...
John Kennedy becomes president, much is involved in the Cold War and the space race.
Jan 3 - Pres. Eisenhower announces U.S. has severed diplomatic relations with Cuba
Jan 17 - Pres. Eisenhower's farewell address famously warns against the encroachment of the military-industrial complex.
Jan 24 - A B-52 with two nuclear bombs aboard crashes near Goldsboro, NC
Feb 1 - US launches its first Minuteman I ICBM.
Oct 27 - Standoff between USSR and USA tanks in Berlin increases Cold War tensions.

Dec 24 1987 - Apr 4 1990
Jun 4 1990 - Dec 22 1990

In 1987...
Dec 29 - Prozac debuted in the U.S.

In 1988...
Ongoing attention to the Iran-Contra scandal & contentious issues around Nicaragua overall. Indictments, hearings, etc. of North, Poindexter, and others.
George Bush became the Republican candidate and then beat George Dukakis to win the presidency.
Jan 1 - Dell Computers launched.
Jan 1 - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America formed, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S.
Feb 12 - Anthony Kennedy was appointed to the Supreme Court
Feb 24 - In Hustler vs. Falwell, Supreme Court sided with Hustler, overturning a defamation award for Falwell from a lower court.
Marc 16 - First RepublicBank in Texas fails, 2nd largest FDIC assisted bank failure to date
April unemployment rate is the lowest in 14 years.
Apr 4 - Arizona governor convicted in an impeachment trial, removed from office
Apr 11 - Oscar winner: The Last Emperor
May 4 - PEPCON disaster, major explosion at a solid rocket fuel plant, damages a 10-mile radius that includes the Las Vegas airport
May 14 - Drunk driver vs. school bus collision in Carrolton, KY kills 27, tying worst two-vehicle disaster ever (from 30 years earlier... was Saturn in Sag?)
May 16 - Surgeon General Coop says addictive qualities of nicotine resemble those of heroine and cocaine
Jun 1 - Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banned them for U.S. and U.S.S.R.
Jun 29 - Morrison v. Olson, SCOTUS upholds law allowing special prosecutors to investigate suspected crimes by executive branch officials.
Jul 3 - USS Vincennes shoots down commercial flight Iran Air 655, killing all 290 on board.
Jul 14 - Volkswagen closes its Westmorelad Assembly Plant 10 years after it became the first factory in U.S. built by a non-U.S. automaker
Aug 6-7 - Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in NYC, protests from late night to early morning fighting police over a new curfew.
Aug 17 - Pakistani president and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan killed in a plane crash
Sep 29 - Space shuttle flights resume for first time since Challenger disaster in January 1986
Oct 27 - Pres. Reagan decides to tear down the U.S. embassy in Russia to get rid of Soviet listening devices built into its walls
November unemploynent rate 5.3% is lowest in 14 1/2 years
Nov 2 - MIT launches the Morris Worm, the first computer worm distributed by the Internet
Nov 18 - Pres. Reagan signs bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers
Nov 22 - The first prototype stealth bomber is revealed
Nov 30 - RJR Nabisco purchased in the largest leveraged buyout deal of all time ($25+ billion)
Dec 21 -Lockerbie bombing destroys Pan Am Flight 103 and part of Lockerbie, Scotland

In 1989...
George H.W. Bush assumed the presidency.
Jan 1 - Canada-U,S, Free Trade Agreement came into effect
Jan 10 - A large Chicago bank settled a government lawsuit affecting back pay to women and minorities, the largest such settlement from a single employer
Jan 16 - Riots in Miami begin (3 days) after a Hispanic cop kills a speeding black motorcyclist.
Jan 17 - Stockton Massacre - 5 children killed, 30 people wounded
Feb 7 - LA City Council bans sale or possession of semiautomatic weapons
Feb 11 - First female consecrated bishop of Episcopal Church in U.S.
Feb 14 - First GPS satellite sent into orbit
Feb 23 - Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously rejects Bush's nomination for Secretary of Defense; whole Senate later rejected him as well
March unemployment rate 5.0 is lowest in 15 years.
Mar 1 - U.S. ratifies Berne Convention (an international copyright treaty) - this is a big deal Sagittarian event IMHO, affecting publications etc.
Mar 4 - Time, Inc. / Warner Communications merger announced
Mar 4 - Eastern Air Lines workers walk off the job to protest pay cuts; the airline files for bankruptcy five days later
Mar 14 - Collapse of Hydro-Quebec power grid due to geomagnetic storm, cutting off power to 6 million people for 9 hours. U.S> & Sweden also affected due to the extreme storm. Auroras seen as far south as Texas.
Various food warnings, including toxic apples & ban on cyanide-touched Chilean grapes.
Mar 14 - Pres. Bush bans import of certain assault weapons.
Mar 23 - Cold fusion power success announced from U. of Utah
Mar 24 - Exxon Valdez disaster
Mar 39 - Oscar winner: Rain Man
Apr 9 - 300,000 marched on Washington in support of legal abortion
Apr 14 - S&L: crisis - Lincoln Savings & Loan Assoc. seized by U.S. government. Successful criminal prosecutions follow. This larger incident wiped out many people's savings and cost taxpayers $200 billion in bailouts.
Apr 17 - House Speaker Jim Wright charged with misreporting income evasively.
May 4 - Oliver North convicted on three counts related to Iran-Contra
May 15-25 - LA teachers strike, results in their getting more admin control & 24% pay increase
May 26 - House Majority Whip Tony Coelho resigns after an investigation into his finances
May 31 - House Speaker Jim Wright resigns.
Jun 23-24 - Three shipping accidents within 12 hours spill oil in Rhode Island, Delaware, and Texas
Jun 24 - Perry v. Lynaugh, SCOTUS says states can execute murders as young as 16 and the mentally retarded.
Jul 3 - Webster v. Reproductive Health Svcs SCOTUS gives states new authority to restrict abortions
Jul 26 - First prosecution for releasing a computer virus under the 1986 Computer Fraud & Abuse Act
Aug 6 - Financial Institutions Reform., Recovery & Enforcement Act of 1989 passes. Gives $166 billion bailout after the S&L catastrophe, overhauls regulations.
Aug 7 - FedEx buys Flying Tiger Line
Aug 10 - Pres. Bush nominates Colin Powell as Joint Chiefs chairman, the first black to hold that position.
Aug 23 - Italian vs. Black racial tensions in Brooklyn after a shooting.
Aug 27 - McDonnell Douglas launched a TV satellite into space, first time a privately owned rocket had orbited a payload (we'll certainly see much more of this in the next two years)
Lots of baseball related news over the summer, including the Pete Rose scandal; perhaps there is a trend in sports-related developments overall?
Sep 5 - Pres. Bush announces War on Drugs in televised speech
Sep 21 -Hurricane Hugo makes landfall in South Carolina
Sep 29 - Largest narcotics seizure in history occurs in Los Angeles
Oct 5 - Televangelist Jim Bakker convicted of fraud and conspiracy, later sentenced to 45 years in prison and a half-million dollar fine
Oct 12 - Flag Protection Act passed, president lets it become law without his signature
Oct 13 - "Friday the 13th Mini-Crash," a smaller and brief market crisis after the junk bond market collapsed
Oct 17 - Loma Prieta earthquake
Oct 18 - Galileo probe to Jupiter launched. (A Venus probe was launched earlier in the year.)
Oct 20 - Senate convicted federal judge Alcee Hastings of perjury and conspiracy to obtain a bribe, and removed him from office. The same day, NYC federal jury convicted REp. Robert Garcia of extortion and conspiracy.
Nov 3 - Senate convicts federal judge Walter Nixon of lying under oath to a federal grand jury, and removes him.
Nov 8 - Minimum wage increase passed. from $3.35 to $4.25
Nov 9 - Berlin Wall was brought down
Nov 15-16 - Tornado outbreak in eastern U.S.
Nov 16 - House strengthens the Ethics in government At of 1978, Senate follows the next day.
Nov 16 - Six priests and others are murdered by U.S. trained Salvadoran soldiers
Nov 22 - Congress repeals the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988.
Dec 2 - 1988 Solar Maximum Mission research satellite crashes back to Earth
Dec 3 - U.S. / U.S.S.R. conjoint announcement that Cold War may be coming to an end
Dec 12 - Hotel magnate Leona Helmsley is sentenced to prison and a fine for tax evasion
Dec 20 - Operation Just Cause is launched to try to overthrow Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega

In 1990...
I've noticed a pattern of many labor protests over wages in 1989-90. I'm not clear whether this is more than usual, or rather typical.
January - more convictions and general action around Iran-Contra
Jan 3 - U.S. invasion of Panama, deposed Noriega
Jan 10 - Time-Warner merger completed
Jan 18 - DC mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
South of Los Angeles, the McMartin preschool trial completed - this Satanism-nd-child-abuse-saturated trial was gigantic, and remains the longest criminal trial in U.S. history. (Everybody got off.)
Mar 18 - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft in Boston, largest art theft in U.S. history
Mar 25 - Happy Land Social Club fire
Mar 26 - Oscar winner: Driving Miss Daisy
Jun 9 - Mega Borg oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Jun 26 - Pres. Bush accepts need for tax hikes despite his campaign promises otherwise
July - Official start of the "early 1990s recession"
Jul 2 - Imelda Marcos acquitted on racketeering and fraud charges
Jul 20 - Oliver North convictions overturned. Same day, Justice William Brennan resigns from SCOTUS.
Jul 25 - Senate reprimands Sen. David Durenberger for improper financial dealings, orders payment of restitution. Same day, House reprimands Rep. Barney Frank for "conduct stemming from his relationship with ale prostitute."
July 28-31 - Power lost to 40,000 homes in Chicago after a fire at a power plant.
Aug 2 - Iraq invades Kuwait.
Aug 2 - Rep. Floyd Flake and his wife indicted on 17 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion
Aug 6 - UN Security Counsel orders a global trade embargo against Iraq
Aug 10 - Magellan lands on Venus
Aug 28 - Plainfield Tornado (F5) strikes several Illinois towns, killing 29 (strongest tornado ever to strike the Chicago Metropolitan area)
Sep 9 - Ellis Island reopens as an immigration museum, after 6 years of renovations
Sep 11 - Pres. Bush, in televised speech, threatens use of force against Iraq if they don't pull out of Kuwait
Sep 12 - Both (divided) German states and the Four Powers sign a critical treaty paving the way for the reunification of Germany
Sep 14 - First gene therapy on a human patient begins
Sep 29 - Washington National Cathedral is completed after 83 years of construction!
October - Various obscenity trials in the news, involving albums of 2 Live Crew )twp troals) and a Cincinnati art museum
Oct 2 - Senate confirms David Souter to the Supreme Court, he takes his seat a week later
Oct 6-8 - Temporary suspension of nonessential U.S. government services when Congress fails to pass a budget on time
Oct 22 - Pres. Bush vetoes a civil rights bill that would have strengthened protections against job discrimination. He spoke out against the idea of quotas.
Oct 27 - Congress passed the Clean Air Act of 1990.
Nov 29 - UN Security Council authorizes military intervention in Iraq if necessary. (Actions on this would only occur after Saturn left Sagittarius.)
December unemployment rate leaps to 6.3%
Dec 11 - John Gotti is arrested.

Saturn retrogrades back into Scorpio tomorrow, and finishes out her term in Mars' constellation from now to the first week of November.

This should be an interesting opportunity to watch changes of cycle again. Strangely, Trump's travel ban is heading back to the Supreme Court, though I would expect the loud Saturn in Sagittarius themes of suppression regarding long-distance travel, immigration, internationalism, and the courts in general to recede between now and November.

Saturn initially entered Sagittarius the first week of February, and leaves it temporarily tomorrow at 3:09 PM Eastern Time.

Well, Trump's travel ban is one obvious "restraint on travelling and immigration/free movement of people". We might see some restraints on higher education as well during this transit of Saturn through Sagi. Let's see what happens with religion as well - people might be turning even more and more away from religion.

LOL, I should have guessed... I wonder if this holds up across history...?

What shoots up in prices due to shortages or restrictions with Saturn in Sagittarius?

Imports! - Trump just slapped new tariffs on various categories of imported goods.

The Evangelicals swallowing hard and supporting Trump. Religion and Saturn in Sagittarius.

I just noticed another Saturn in Sagittarius trend: Parents are afraid to send their children to school.

This, of course, is a phrase we have been hearing in this country in the aftermath of the Florida school shootings. Then, this morning, I read the same phrase about Nigeria, where Boko-Haram just abducted another hundred or so school girls for, er, um, job training. Understandably, Nigerian parents are not terrified about sending their daughters to school.

Saturn in Sagittarius is there from several different angles.

Today's news has a perfect, classic Saturn in Sagittarius consequence - exactly in terms with the "supply and demand drives prices from shortages" theme I think shows most often.

As CNN summarized:

If you plan to fly to your dream getaway this summer, be prepared to shell out more cash. Fuel prices are on the rise, which is putting a hurt on airlines' profits. So, of course, they're passing that on to all of us in the form of higher ticket prices. The airlines -- like Delta, which said its fuel prices are up 50% from last year -- have already started to tell Wall Street that passengers should prep for higher ticket prices. Customer demand is way up this year, thanks to the strong economy, but the airlines haven't added more seats, so that's also contributing to higher prices.

Probably too obvious, but, could Saturn in Sagittarius mean fear-mongering through/by religion?

Using religion to instil fear isn't something new, but usually, when Malaysians express their opinions as to why they're opposed to homosexuality, they say it's not allowed in their religion, etc. or at worst, they just say something very bigoted.

Recently, I notice there are many people being (seemingly?) genuinely fearful that Malaysia may end up like Sodom and Gomorrah if the country accepts LGBT rights. The recent Indonesian earthquake is helping bigots to fuel the fear-mongering even further. Sigh...

Sure, fear through religion or, more broadly, suppression and repression through religion. (Didn't I say that earlier? If not, then it was, as you say, a very obvious meaning that should be mentioned in this thread.)

Jim Eshelman wrote: Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:17 am (Didn't I say that earlier? If not, then it was, as you say, a very obvious meaning that should be mentioned in this thread.)

Whoops, yes you did:

Jim Eshelman wrote: Wed May 10, 2017 10:29 pm With issues of...political empowerment of religious fundamentalism...

_________________________________________________________

With issues of judicial nominations...

Ooh, this one is big hit for Malaysia. There were issues for appointing the new Attorney General and Chief Justice for the new government, Tommy Thomas and Richard Malanjum respectively — some people didn't like them being non-Muslim.

It's over!

Jim Eshelman wrote: Wed May 10, 2017 10:30 pm With the current U.S. administration suspending visas (especially from countries with significant Muslim populations, but probably to expand to Asian and Hispanic), I think restrictions not only in immigration but in simple migration and wandering is likely to mark the next couple of years. This is contrary to what we would have otherwise thought, because recent court cases in this country are, by themselves, likely to give greater liberty to the airlines and their ability to bring prices down (long story)... but now, who knows!

Italics mine.
Got that right.