So little time, so many stories. Once again, AAA plays catch-up with some skipped news over the final weeks of May 2026. Included: a pair of top-level Summit meetings in Beijing; the death of a long-term progressive Congressman, a leading light in the fight for gay rights; and the grand finale of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
So many stories, so little time! In Part Two of this catchall conglomeration, we’re looking at developments in late April, US-based, including a federal reclassification of marijuana, another failed Trump assassination attempt, and a gentle monarchical rebuke.
It’s been a head-spinning few weeks, with rising gas and energy prices, increased inflation, and the war with Iran, but somehow, America’s sweethearts, Donald and Melania Trump, have managed to keep us entertained.
After a fashion. From threatening genocide to profane tweets on the holiest day of the Christian calendar, ramshackle ceasefires and blaspheming memes, and vigorous denials of accusations of wrongdoing that haven’t been made, the Trumps have outdone themselves in this first half of April 2026. What follows is a barebones overview of the high jinks and shenanigans.
On 11 February 2026, US Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, ostensibly to answer questions related to the latest document dump of three million pages from the Epstein Files. Bondi, in an erratic, combative performance, did little but harangue her Democratic questioners with insults culled from a binder of opposition research-type non sequiturs, and try to deflect with claims about the magnificence of the recent Dow performance. When asked if she would apologize for the names of Epstein survivors which weren’t redacted from the files released (while the names of many perpetrators were), she refused to so much as acknowledge the presence of many of these women, who were standing behind her.
Stories frequently cross the digital transom that catch my eye, but don’t necessarily merit a full article on their own. But the celestial correspondences are worthy of notice, so from time to time I compile these unrelated stories into an asteroid omnibus bill, if you will. In this edition, we’ll tackle a challenge to same-sex marriage, a disturbing melding of government with the private sector, a Senate grilling for a Cabinet Secretary, and a record-making Royal visit.
OK, Tesla makes electric vehicles, which don’t run on gasoline, but you get the idea. Once valued in excess of a trillion dollars, Tesla Motors stock has plunged in 2025, shedding some $380 billion in value since January, which, not coincidentally, is when founder Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, began his stint with the second Trump administration, as head of the now notorious DOGE, Department of Government Efficiency. The extra-governmental task force, with no statutory authority beyond the President’s fiat, attempted to trim $2 trillion from the federal budget, but came up a bit short.
