Damocles Archives - Alex's Asteroid Astrology

April 22nd, 2025 at 10:18am by Alex Miller

Aster-Obit: Pope Francis

At 7:35 AM CEST on Monday, 21 April 2025, Pope Francis passed away, apparently from a stroke, in his apartment at the St Martha House in Vatican City. The notoriously down-to-earth pontiff eschewed the luxurious papal penthouse in the Apostolic Palace, preferring the humbler surroundings of the Vatican’s adjacent guest house. Francis had recently battled bilateral pneumonia and other respiratory complaints during a weeks-long hospital stay, but returned to the Vatican a month ago, where he resumed some of his papal duties. On the day before his death, Francis went out to greet the Easter Sunday crowds in St Peter’s Square, also meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, so, although he was still in ill health, his passing just hours later was unexpected.

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.

February 24th, 2025 at 10:23am by Alex Miller

Trump’s First Thirty Days: Schlock & Awe

Donald J. Trump’s particular genius for creating chaos and mayhem was on full display in the first month after his second inauguration on 20 January 2025. A flurry of executive orders mandating everything from the end of birthright citizenship (a constitutionally enshrined right which requires an amendment ratified by three-fourths of the states to alter) to the quixotic renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America” (and would you like Freedom Fries with that?) was just the beginning. Most of the heavy lifting of dismantling the federal government was consigned to Elon Musk and his fabricated Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who has proceeded to reflexively fire or eliminate thousands of workers with civil service protections and close entire agencies without congressional authority. Freezes on funding, hiring, and dispensing approved funds have rounded out DOGE’s resume.

January 19th, 2025 at 03:23pm by Alex Miller

Justin Trudeau Resigns

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada since 2015, resigned his office on 6 January 2025, after months of speculation regarding the fractious state of Canada’s government. Trudeau was preceded out the door by deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned suddenly in December 2024, sparking a political crisis. Trudeau announced that he would resign as both the prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, and advised Canada’s Governor General to prorogue parliament until March 24, while the Party holds a leadership contest. Trudeau will remain in office until a new leader is chosen, after which he will formally resign as prime minister.

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!

December 23rd, 2024 at 07:57am by Alex Miller

Death at Abundant Life

On Monday, 16 December 2024, shooting suspect Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, 15, discharged a 9mm handgun in a study hall at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, killing two and wounding six others, before turning the gun on herself. The incident, sadly, is hardly isolated, but it is unusual. The vast number of mass shootings are perpetrated by males, using assault-style rifles; women constitute only 5% of mass shooters, and with both victims also female, this becomes an “all-female” cast of characters.