The world’s most-visited museum has had a run of bad luck this autumn, with the Louvre in Paris losing some $102 million in royal jewelry after a daring theft in broad daylight in October, and a leaky pipe that flooded an Egyptology reference library in November, damaging hundreds of rare books.
On December 14, 2025, the world was shocked by the news of the brutal stabbing deaths of famed actor/director Robert Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner. Within hours, authorities had arrested the Reiners’ second son, Nick, for the crime. Two days later, he was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of multiple homicides; if found guilty, Nick Reiner could receive the death penalty.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has come under scrutiny for his orders relating to the recent attacks on supposed Venezuelan drug-smuggling ships in the Caribbean, even suffering friendly fire from Republicans. Reportedly, at the first such attack on September 2, 2025, Hegseth gave the order to “Kill them all,” leading to a “double tap,” a second bombardment of the already destroyed vessel, when survivors were seen clinging to the wreckage in the aftermath.
It’s time for another installment of Cosmic Grab Bag, AAA’s catchall collection of smaller stories that were skipped in real time, but deserve honorable celestial mention. In this issue we deal with a royal “first” in religion, a World Series outcome, a royal demotion, and a Supreme Court hearing.
On the evening of 3 November 2025, former US Vice President Richard “Dick” Cheney passed away at his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, of complications related to pneumonia and vascular disease. He was attended by Lynne, his wife of 61 years, their daughters Mary and Liz, and other family members.
Cheney’s career in politics spanned decades, from his early work in the late 1960s as an aide to Donald Rumsfeld, later Defense Secretary, to his stint as Chief-of-Staff for President Gerald Ford; U.S Representative for Wyoming; Defense Secretary for President George H. W. Bush; and Vice President for his son, George W. Bush. He made a brief foray into the private sector as CEO of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company, during the Clinton administration.
On the last weekend of September 2025, two mass shootings unfolded, within 13 hours of each other, on the East Coast and in the Heartland, both allegedly perpetrated by 40-year-old former marines, and both employing unorthodox means to enact their crimes. On Saturday, 27 September, at about 9:30 PM EDT, Nigel Max Edge approached a popular waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina by boat, and fired indiscriminately into the business, killing 3 and wounding 5 more. The following morning at 10:25 AM EDT Thomas Jacob Sanford drove his truck, huge American flags waving, straight into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sanctuary in Grand Blanc, Michigan, leaping from the vehicle to spray the attendees with bullets, and tossing accelerant into the church, then lighting it, causing a massive fire. Four were killed, 10 injured.
