By Sunday 
🇺🇸 The Week That Shook Washington
It’s been a dizzying few days in the United States — the kind that make you wonder if anyone’s actually steering the ship. The federal government shutdown has stretched into its fourth week, halting paychecks, closing public programs, and leaving thousands of federal employees in limbo. Meanwhile, the political chessboard in D.C. has grown even more tangled, with Senate Republicans huddling at the White House to back Donald Trump’s “no-compromise” stance on budget negotiations.
This standoff isn’t just a headline. It’s hitting real people — from park rangers locked out of their posts to parents scrambling after childcare programs shut down. The mood? Frustrated, tense, uncertain.
🌍 Trade Deals, Tariffs, and Tensions
On the global front, Trump made waves by inking an $8.5 billion rare-earths deal with Australia. The move is designed to lessen U.S. dependence on China for critical minerals used in smartphones, electric cars, and defense tech.
At the same time, Washington picked a new fight — this time with Colombia — as Trump slapped new tariffs and accused President Gustavo Petro of being a “drug leader.” It’s the kind of rhetoric that rattles even close allies and adds fuel to an already volatile geopolitical landscape.
☁️ Tech Trouble Adds to the Chaos
As if politics weren’t messy enough, Amazon Web Services (AWS) went down this week, breaking half the internet in the process. From Snapchat to banking apps, millions of users suddenly found themselves locked out or lagging.
The outage exposed a truth we all know but rarely admit — our digital lives depend on just a handful of companies, and when one goes dark, the ripple effects are massive.
⚖️ The Bigger Picture
Taken together, these stories reveal a U.S. caught in a tug-of-war between political paralysis, global ambition, and technological vulnerability. Each crisis bleeds into the next, shaping a moment that feels both historic and exhausting.
It’s a reminder that America’s biggest challenge right now might not be any one issue — but how all of them collide at once.