April 2026 events - 4/1
Trump Fires US Attorney General Pam Bondi – 4/2/26
Pam Bondi has been removed as US attorney general in the Trump administration.
Trump posted on Truth Social that Bondi "will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector"
Todd Blanche will be acting attorney general, Trump confirmed
Louis CK to Headline Hollywood Bowl for Netflix Festival – 4/2/26
Louis C.K. is set to headline a show at the Hollywood Bowl, as part of Netflix Is A Joke Fest, on May 5, festival organizers announced on Thursday. This is his first major outing with a streaming service since the 2017 New York Times report in which five women accused him of sexual misconduct and CK admitted to the allegations. Later this summer, Netflix will also premiere CK’s new special, Ridiculous, which he directed and executive-produced.
In The New York Times report, five women, including fellow female comedians, accused CK of sexual misconduct – specifically, that he exposed himself and masturbated in front of several women (or asked to do so), and that his agent knew about it. CK later admitted to the allegations – “these stories are true,” he said – and said that, at the time, he believed his behavior was appropriate, because he asked first. “But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question,” he added. “It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”
In the wake of the allegations, Netflix, as well as FX and HBO, severed ties with CK. The distributor of I Love You, Daddy, a film CK wrote, directed and starred in – and which featured a character pretending to masturbate in front of others – also cancelled its premiere. In a note to fans at the time, CK promised to take space to ”listen and learn”.
CK has never sat down with an interviewer (other than supportive fellow male comedians on podcasts) to talk over what happened or done anything to help, elevate or make up for the way he traumatized less well-known women in his orbit, who were still struggling to make their way in comedy after speaking up about his awful actions toward them.
In 2023, the documentary Sorry/Not Sorry – which took its name in part from another post-#MeToo CK special – detailed the fallout for the women who spoke publicly about their experience with CK, many of whom faced further harassment and backlash.
Once his behavior was made public, CK only stepped back from the spotlight for about nine months.
After that, CK toured the US and Europe and sold out large venues such as New York’s Madison Square Garden. In 2022, he was awarded a Grammy for the standup special Sincerely Louis CK. He also released his most recent special, Louis CK at the Dolby, in 2023.
In 2025, he appeared on fellow comedian Theo Von’s popular podcast This Past Weekend, and performed a set at the controversial state-sponsored Riyadh comedy festival in Saudi Arabia – a decision he later defended as “a good opportunity”. His debut novel, Ingraham, was also released last fall.
Hegseth Prevented Dozens of Military Promotions for Black and Female Officers – 4/2/26
NBC News reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has blocked or delay promotions for more than a dozen Black and female senior officers across all four branches of the military.
The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted.
Two officials said that reasons Hegseth has cited for removing officers from promotions are past support for Covid vaccines or mask mandates for troops, if officers were affiliated with DEI programs, potentially being women or members of racial minority groups, or promoted or worked on DEI initiatives.
In recent weeks, Hegseth blocked three Marine officers who were expected to be promoted or appointed to new roles — two women and a Black man — according to five of the U.S. officials familiar with the decision. None of the Marines were the subjects of internal investigations that might raise concerns about moving forward with their promotions, according to two of the officials. Marine Corps leaders recommended their promotions, but Hegseth refused to allow their selections to move forward despite attempts by the corps’ leadership to intervene, the two officials said.
Hegseth has also blocked promotions for a handful of more senior naval officers, the three officials said.
Other officers have been pulled off a list of Air Force promotions at the direction of Hegseth’s office, according to two of the officials familiar with the process.
Some of the naval and Air Force officers whose promotions have been blocked are also women or members of racial minority groups, according to officials.
Hegseth Fires Army Chief of Staff – 4/2/26
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fired army chief of staff General Randy George and two other senior figures, officials said on Friday.
There was little in the way of a public explanation for sacking George, a highly decorated veteran.
George recently asked to meet with Hegseth to discuss Hegseth's blocking of promotions for some Army officers, which seemed to focus on women and Black men, but Hegseth refused to meet or discuss his decisions, according to two additional U.S. officials.
An official also confirmed that General David Hodne, who led the Army’s Transformation and Training Command and Major General William Green Jr., in charge of the Army’s Chaplain Corps, were also removed.
Trump has overseen a purge of top military officers, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, general Charles “CQ” Brown, whom he fired without explanation in February 2025.
Other senior officers dismissed include the heads of the Navy and Coast Guard, the general who headed the National Security Agency, the vice chief of staff of the Air Force, a Navy admiral assigned to NATO, and three top military lawyers.
The chief of staff of the Air Force also announced his retirement without explanation just two years into a four-year term, while the head of US Southern Command retired a year into his tenure.
New Idaho Law Criminalizes Transgender People for Bathroom Use – 4/2/26
On Tuesday, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law a bill that criminalizes transgender people for using bathrooms that align with their gender identity rather than their assigned sex at birth.
The law takes effect July 1.
House Bill 752 allows the government to charge people who “knowingly and willfully” enter bathrooms that do not align with their assigned sex at birth with jail time, making this the most restrictive bathroom bill in the nation. The vote had no issue passing in the Republican supermajority-controlled legislature, with 54 ayes and 15 nays in the House and 28 ayes and 7 nays in the Senate.
The bill applies to government-owned buildings and places of public accommodation, including any business (either publicly or privately owned) or space that is open to the public and offers goods, services, or facilities. These include restaurants (bars, cafes), lodging (hotels, motels, inns), entertainment and recreational spaces (gyms, theaters, sports venues, pools), healthcare and service buildings (hospitals, clinics, professional offices), and transportation-related spaces (including airports and bus stations).
A first offense carries a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison. A second offense, or any additional offense within five years, is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.
NASA Sends Crew to the Moon for the First Time in 54 years – 4/2/26
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft and four astronauts lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. EDT, beginning the Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight to the vicinity of the Moon since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.
The crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot) and Christina Koch (mission specialist), along with Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist) of the Canadian Space Agency.
Wiseman is a naval aviator and test pilot, who took part in Expedition 40/41 onboard the International Space Station in 2014, spending 165 days in space. He also served as chief of the astronaut office before being assigned to this mission.
Glover, another military pilot, flew on the SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft to the ISS for Expedition 64/65 in 2020-21.
Koch is an electrical engineer with experience in remote field stations in Antarctica and has a specialization in designing instruments for extreme environments. She spent 328 days on the ISS in 2019-20, which included a spacewalk with fellow astronaut Jessica Meir.
Hansen is a former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot and a rookie astronaut.
The International Olympic Committee Bans Transgender Women Athletes – 4/2/26
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently announced a policy that affects transgender women athletes, stating that “eligibility for any female category is limited to biological females.”
The new policy was handed down by the IOC Executive Board, stating that it will take effect at the upcoming LA28 Olympic Games (in Los Angeles in 2028).
“As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry in a written statement. “The policy that we have announced is based on science and has been led by medical experts. At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
“Every athlete must be treated with dignity and respect, and athletes will need to be screened only once in their lifetime. There must be clear education around the process and counseling available, alongside expert medical advice.”
There will be a once-in-a-lifetime SRY gene (Sex-determining Region Y) screening test to detect its presence or absence. The IOC considers the presence of the SRY gene to be with us throughout life and “represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development.”
The screening will include a saliva, cheek swab, or blood sample. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene will satisfy the eligibility criteria in the female category.
The Associated Press reported that the White House hailed the IOC’s decision. Last year Trump issued the executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.” He stated that the United States would deny visas to some athletes who would fall under the transgender category, who are trying to compete at the 2028 Olympics. Several months after the order, the U.S. Olympic body updated its guidance, saying it had done so to comply with the White House.
“The IOC aligning their policy with President Trump’s executive order ahead of the 2028 LA Games is common sense and long overdue,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a written statement.
Currently only one transgender athlete has won an Olympic medal. Quinn captured gold with Canada at Tokyo 2020 as part of the Canadian soccer team, making history as the first openly transgender, non-binary person to win an Olympic medal. They appeared in all six of Canada’s matches, starting five of them, including the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final.
Eight Scientists Behind America’s Most Classified Secrets Have Vanished or Died – 4/2/26
Between July 2024 and February 2026, eight scientists, ranging from a senior rocket engineer and a retired Air Force general to laboratory staff and leading researchers, have either vanished without a trace or died in circumstances that range from unexplained to clearly criminal.
On July 4, 2024, NASA-affiliated scientist Frank Maiwald died in Los Angeles at the age of 61. Maiwald spent decades at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on advanced space instrumentation and planetary detection systems, including research aimed at identifying signs of life on worlds like Europa and Enceladus. No cause of death was reported and no autopsy was conducted.
On May 4, 2025, Anthony Chavez, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, disappeared while out walking in New Mexico. Chavez had been associated with one of the United States’ most sensitive research environments, where work often intersects with nuclear science, national security and classified technologies. With no phone or wallet on him and no confirmed sightings since, his case remains unresolved.
On June 22, 202,5 at around 9:10 a.m., Monica Jacinto Reza, a senior aerospace engineer and former Technical Fellow at Aerojet Rocketdyne, vanished while hiking near Mount Waterman in California. Reza was a leading figure in advanced rocket propulsion materials, co-inventing a nickel-based superalloy used in next-generation engines designed to reduce reliance on foreign propulsion systems. On June 26 at approximately 2:20 p.m., Melissa Casias was last seen walking alone along State Road 518 in New Mexico.
Despite an extensive search lasting until June 30, involving helicopters, drones and canine units, no trace of her was ever found.
Casias worked as an administrative professional at Los Alamos National Laboratory, placing her within a high-security scientific ecosystem tied to nuclear and defense research. Her phones had been left behind and wiped clean.
Jason Thomas disappeared on December 12, 2025. Thomas had been serving as assistant director of chemical biology at Novartis, a senior role in pharmaceutical research involving complex biochemical systems. His body was later found dead in a Wakefield lake on March 17, 2026.
On December 15, 2025, Nuno Loureiro, director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center and a globally recognized expert in plasma physics and fusion energy, was shot in his Brookline home and died the following day.
Carl Grillmair, a Caltech astrophysicist known for his work on galactic structures, stellar streams and asteroid tracking, was killed on February 16, 2026, shot dead on his front porch.
On February 27, 2026, retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland vanished without a trace. McCasland had previously commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory and overseen advanced space and defense programs, placing him at the highest levels of US military science and technology. McCasland left his New Mexico home with only a pair of boots and a handgun, and did not take his phone, smart devices or glasses.
All Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Defeated in Georgia as 2026 Session Ends – 4/3/26
Numerous anti-LGBT bills were up for voting through Georgia this legislative cycle, but according to one state civil rights organization, every single one of them failed.
“After a late night at the Capitol to finish out the 2026 legislative session, we could not be more excited to share that WE DID IT!” announced Georgia Equality on Bluesky. “We successfully defeated ALL of the nearly 15 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation!”
“This session, we stopped every bill targeting LGBTQ Georgians, even in spite of underhanded political maneuvers,” said Jeff Graham, the group’s executive director, in a statement on April 3.
The bills included:
- HB 54, which began as a bill on home health care workers, only to be hijacked by Republicans and twisted into an attempted ban on puberty blockers to treat transgender youth.
- The Riley Gaines Act, named for an anti-trans activist whose political career was launched after tying for fifth place in a college swim meet with a trans woman; that failed bill would have forced trans students out of the changing rooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
- SB 74, which could have criminalized librarians who provided LGBTQ books to minors.
Other anti-trans measures that tanked included a forced outing bill for queer students, a drag ban, and a bill to create an exemption for non-affirming parents and caretakers to abuse trans youth.
Trump Jr Strategic Advisor to Companies Betting on the War – 4/4/26
Polymarket is a global cryptocurrency-based prediction market. Launched in 2020, it is a platform where individuals can place bets on future outcomes, including sports matches, economic indicators, weather patterns, awards, political and legislative outcomes, and military conflicts.
The company allows betting on military strikes and ongoing wars and allows individuals with insider information to bet on outcomes. Numerous instances of suspicious trading have been observed on Polymarket, as well as attempts by gamblers to manipulate outcomes and pressure journalists to change reporting.
Donald Trump Jr. is a strategic adviser to and investor in Polymarket, a major crypto-based prediction market, having joined in August 2025 via his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital. He is also an adviser to competitor Kalshi.
Polymarket recently issued an apology for allowing users to place bets on the fate of American pilots aboard the U.S. fighter jet show down over Iran on Friday.
In a since-deleted market, users were able to wager on when the pilots might be rescued, with the majority predicting a Saturday rescue.
CNN Exposes Online “Rape Academy” – 4/4/26
CNN has published a report on internet-enabled abouse of women as the final part of CNN's As Equals series on gender inequality.
It was on a so-called dating website, in a chatroom called “Without Her Knowledge,” that Pelicot connected with other men to instigate the rapes of his then-wife, Gisèle. While drugged unconscious by him, she was raped over 200 times by 70 men, not all of whom could be tracked down by police.
And while the website used by the rapists in the Pelicot case, Coco, was taken offline, other sites are springing up. The Coco founder was charged with operating a platform that allegedly enabled a wide range of serious crimes, including sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, and financial crimes. He has denied the accusations and is awaiting trial.
A monthslong CNN As Equals investigation has uncovered a hidden, online world where the commodification and amplification of sexual violence against women is flourishing.
One porn site, Motherless.com, is home to more than 20,000 videos of so-called “sleep” content uploaded by users, with hundreds of thousands of views.
The website, which had around 62 million visits in February alone and whose core audience is in the United States, describes itself as a “moral free file host where anything legal is hosted forever.”
So-called “sleep” content is categorized using descriptive tags such as #passedout and #eyecheck.
In these videos, men film themselves lifting the closed eyelids of women to show they are sleeping or sedated, with some “eyecheck” videos surpassing 50,000 views. Inside the Motherless “sleep” community – first reported on by German investigative journalists Isabell Beer and Isabel Ströh – members trade advice on how to drug their partners.
One Motherless user claimed to be running a business selling and dispatching “sleeping liquids” to any address in the world. The man, who said he was based in Ceuta, a tiny Spanish exclave on the North African coast, said on his Telegram account that it would cost approximately $175 for a bottle of the liquid that he said was tasteless and odorless. “Your wife won’t feel anything and won’t remember anything,” he said.
Some users advertised livestreams, showing the abuse of drugged women in real time, for $20 per viewer.
Men in these groups operate shielded by the anonymity of the internet. But they also find a sense of community and perverse camaraderie, as they normalize abuse.
Sandrine Josso, a French lawmaker who, after being drugged by a former French senator, has campaigned to raise awareness about drug-facilitated sexual abuse (DFSA), called the groups “schools of violence.”
“I would even call them an online rape academy, where every subject is taught. There are all the ‘subjects’ and ‘disciplines’ needed to become a good rapist or sexual predator,” she said.
Meanwhile, the landscape of drug-facilitated assault is continuing to evolve, with perpetrators pivoting to more "readily available" prescription medicines that act quickly and leave little trace in the body compared to the “date rape” drugs of the past, making it harder for such cases to make their way to trial, US-based sleep specialist Michel Cramer Bornemann told CNN.
It’s difficult to know how widespread drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) is, as reliable data is limited.
Across Europe, most criminal justice systems either lack specific monitoring systems for DFSA or do not include it as a separate category in official crime statistics, meaning there’s no fully comparable Europe‑wide dataset on such assaults.
“This is a topic where reliable, specific data is ‘scarce by design,’” a World Health Organization spokesperson told CNN, adding that there are no accurate estimates of this type of abuse due to how underreported it is.
“Many go unreported because victims feel embarrassment, guilt, or perceived responsibility, or because they have limited memory of the assault,” the spokesperson said.
Low reporting is further compounded by a lack of training for both hospital staff and police in recognizing victims of DFSA, experts say.
During the course of CNN's investigation, the “Zzz” group was taken off the messaging platform Telegram.
Telegram didn't respond directly to CNN's questions about the "Zzz" group, but in a statement to CNN following publication of this report, it said that content that “encourages sexual violence is explicitly forbidden” by its terms of service and is “removed whenever discovered.”
“Moderators empowered with custom AI tools proactively monitor public parts of the app and accept reports in order to ban accounts breaching our terms of service and remove millions of pieces of harmful content each day, including content that calls for sexual violence,” it said.
Motherless has avoided being targeted for the type of content posted on its site due to US safe harbor protections that largely shield platform owners from direct liability for their users’ uploads.
This creates spaces where men like Pelicot can operate behind a veil of anonymity – their abuses too often invisible despite being plotted in plain sight.
Rohypnol, GHB and chloral hydrate are examples of drugs more typically associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault and date rape, US-based sleep specialist Michel Cramer Bornemann told CNN. Rohypnol and GHB fall within the benzodiazepine family, a group of sedative-hypnotic depressants.
As these drugs are highly controlled in the United States, Cramer Bornemann said there has been a pivot towards people using alternative drugs for date-rape purposes. One drug he highlighted is zolpidem, a prescription sedative-hypnotic known for its rapid onset, prescribed to people struggling with insomnia. As zolpidem, commonly known in the United States as Ambien, falls outside the benzodiazepine family, it is often more “readily available” but if misused can be “nefarious,” Cramer Bornemann said.
The side effects of GHB and Rohypnol resemble those of being heavily intoxicated, including weakness, fatigue, slurred speech, loss of motor coordination, and visual impairment, and can begin within 15 to 30 minutes of consumption, according to Stanford University. Urine testing for Rohypnol can detect its presence up to five days after administration, while GHB can stay in the system for up to 12 hours.
Zolpidem stays in the system for a shorter time, usually exiting within seven to eight hours. While active, possible side effects include gait instability, unsteadiness, drowsiness, dizziness, and headaches, according to Cramer Bornemann. He warned that the risks associated with zolpidem are not taken seriously enough despite the fact it carries a black box label – the most serious warning placed on FDA-approved prescription drugs – in the US. All three drugs can trigger memory loss (amnesia), he said.
If you think you have been drugged or spiked, seek help immediately, tell a trusted person and go to the hospital or call emergency services.
Report it to the police as soon as possible, as many date-rape drugs leave the body within the 12- to 72-hour time frame. Avoid drinking alcohol and if possible, keep the suspected substance or spiked drink for testing.
For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on RAINN.org.
Internationally, a worldwide list of directories is provided by UN Women, with national agencies on The Pixel Project.