Does Jeff Bezos have a sense of irony? Democracy Dies in Darkness proudly proclaims the Washington Post masthead as he takes a machete to the staff, culling hundreds of journalists, axing half its foreign bureau (including the war reporter in Ukraine). It has been described as “the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation”.
Since Bezos with his $260 billion wealth would not notice the cost of keeping the WP afloat even in these straitened times, fingers are being pointed at his “sickening” efforts to curry favour with Donald Trump because of “external economic interests” such as Amazon and his space technology company Blue Origin. Bezos earned Trump’s rancour in his first term due to the Post’s output leading to the loss of an Amazon $10bn government computing contract. In 2024 Bezos pulled the Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris which led to almost 250,000 subscribers deserting the paper.
The Washington Post, 6 December 1877, with a Sagittarius Sun, Mercury and maybe Moon, has a potential for widescale communication, an interest in the global world, how society works and culture. Mercury square Mars and trine Uranus will give added punch to its views; Uranus square Pluto an inclination to upset the status quo and push forward with reforms.
Tr Uranus at the moment is heading to square the final degree WP Uranus with this week’s solar eclipse in opposition to the WP Uranus as well, for another turbulent staging post in the WP’s long history. Tr Pluto will square the Neptune from late this March onwards through 2027 as well for confusion and more losses.
Bezos was never a good fit with the WP with his Saturn Venus conjunct the Aquarius North Node and his Neptune square hinting at uncertainty and distrust; with his Pluto (Uranus) in a road-blocked opposition to the WP Saturn.
His relationship chart with the WP is being severely rattled unsurprisingly at the moment with tr Uranus square the composite Mars and moving to square the composite Saturn and Uranus through this year with the Aquarius eclipse also conjunct the composite Mars ; at the same time as tr Neptune Saturn is square the composite Sun Mercury. He’ll either sell or run it into the ground completely.
Bezos’ relationship with Trump is moving into a new unsettled phase at the moment with tr Uranus square their composite Pluto with the Aquarius solar eclipse in opposition to the Pluto as well – a test of alpha’s power battle? Where it runs into real trouble is by 2027 with tr Neptune conjunct the composite Sun and opposition Mercury and tr Pluto square the composite Saturn.
One bleakly fun suggestion is that the ex-wives of Bezos and Bill Gates team up to support journalism.
The rich and powerful have always had a malign influence throughout millenia but is it just me that thinks in recent decades the rise of the money men has had a significantly damaging effect on culture and society in the west. The old newspaper barons were black hearted souls many of them but they had a smidgeon of respect for the purpose of the papers they owned. Ditto Hollywood. The old moguls actually liked films. Publishing. Even vets for heaven’s sake. The hedge funds move in and it turns into a rip-off industry. Mind you the US health industry is no better.
The post Washington Post & Bezos – dimming the light first appeared on Astroinform with Marjorie Orr – Star4cast.
