National Archives - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

May 21st, 2025 at 02:45pm by Alex Miller

The Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case

By now, most Americans have heard of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran who was illegally deported from the United States on March 15, 2025, in what the Trump administration initially admitted was “an administrative error.” He was imprisoned without trial in the Salvadoran maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), despite never having been charged with nor convicted of a crime in either country, under an agreement to imprison U.S. deportees there, in exchange for payment. The administration quickly withdrew its mea culpa, defending Abrego Garcia’s deportation, and publicly accusing him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The accusation was based on a bail determination made during a 2019 immigration court proceeding, contested by Abrego Garcia.

April 17th, 2025 at 09:06am by Alex Miller

Arson at PA Governor’s Residence

In the wee hours of Sunday, 13 April 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were awakened by state troopers pounding on the door of the official Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg, PA. An intruder had been spotted scaling the iron security fence surrounding the property, smashing a window with a small sledgehammer to gain entry, and starting a fire. The south wing of the residence was badly damaged, but fortunately the governor, his wife, four children, and several houseguests who had been celebrating the Passover seder there a few hours earlier, escaped without injury.

March 19th, 2025 at 10:07am by Alex Miller

SCOTUS Smackdown: Roberts Rebukes Trump

On 18 March 2025, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court John Roberts made a rare statement on the politics of the day, when he waded into a controversy over the deportation of hundreds of undocumented Venezuelan immigrants who had been characterized by the Trump administration as violent, dangerous gang members. The men were apprehended and removed from the country without due process, with no proof of guilt beyond the government’s say-so, then flown to a prison in El Salvador, which was paid to house them indefinitely.

January 24th, 2025 at 02:41pm by Alex Miller

Pardonpalooza

Monday, 20 January 2025 must have seen some sort of record for presidential pardons. That morning, as among his last official acts, outgoing President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to a spate of family members, former government officials, the entire staff of the January 6^th Committee, and Capitol Police officers who had given testimony in that investigation. I was unable to obtain the exact number, but it must have been in the hundreds, a prophylactic measure to ensure against future prosecution or harassment for people who had committed no crimes, but were likely to be targeted by the incoming administration for their political stance or connection to Biden.

January 6th, 2025 at 10:22am by Alex Miller

Trump 2.0: Crazy Like a Fox

Donald J. Trump’s second administration, taking power at noon on 20 January 2025 (by constitutional fiat, whenever the oath itself is taken), is likely to be a replay of the first term, only more so. In 2017 when he first assumed office, Trump was a newbie novice to the Washington scene; he appointed persons with experience and relative competence to help him run the government, individuals who had a respect for its institutions and norms, who served as guardrails on Trump’s wilder, wackier impulses.

December 30th, 2024 at 09:26am by Alex Miller

2024’s Skipped Stories: Lost in Transmission

Inevitably, it happens. Stories, small and large, are encountered, researched and prepped, and then something – a “bigger” event or a life circumstance – intervenes, and the story never sees the light of day. Until now. Join AAA for a wrap-up of some of those missed stories, as we close out the old year and ring in the new!