News Vérité

The Fake News, as Donald Trump likes to call media that don’t curry favor with him, are speculating that the Iran war has severely depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles, and that the U.S. has now abandoned its second offensive for that very reason. The White House insists the stoppage is due to the renewal of regional peace talks. The bombing lull comes after a Friday meeting between Trump and advisers, including Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine. According to the New York Times (probably number-one on Trump’s fake parade), Trump shelved plans for a major military escalation against Iran after being warned about dwindling inventory of Patriot interceptor missiles and other air defense munitions.  According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by the time of the April ceasefire in Iran, the U.S. had already expended at least half of its THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defenses] ballistic missile interceptors, nearly half of its Patriot air defense interceptors, and around 30 percent of its Tomahawk land-attack missiles. CSIS warns that, even before Iran hostilities, the U.S. lacked the supplies needed for a war with China. Now, the nation is moving ever closer to what

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Donald Trump has governed with a distinctive duality. One face is that of the emperor: decisive, unapologetic in the exercise of American power, willing to smash through norms, international law, and bureaucratic inertia to deliver results that supporters hail as transformative. The other is the dunce: overconfident, prone to misjudging complexity, and capable of turning bold strokes into prolonged headaches through miscalculation or excess. From early 2025 through mid-2026, this tension has defined his second term—nowhere more vividly than in foreign military adventures, domestic immigration enforcement, and tariffs. The Emperor’s Triumph in Venezuela In the emperor mode, Trump has shown a capacity for bold, high-stakes action that achieves tangible wins. The clearest example came on January 3, 2026, with the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. After months of pressure, including strikes on alleged drug-related targets and a military buildup, U.S. special operations forces—drawing on Delta Force, the 160th SOAR, and other elite units—conducted a rapid operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Trump announced the United States would “run” the country pending a transition, focusing on oil infrastructure, disrupting narco-trafficking networks, and sidelining the Maduro regime. The

As I write this, the man is still speaking and embarrassing himself and the office of the Presidency during what is supposed to be a joyous and jovial affair, the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The event was originally scheduled to take place in April, but a suspected assassin brought that affair to an abrupt close. Tonight’s repeat effort probably should’ve been shut down before President Trump got on the stage. He only made two humorous comments before I had to turn C-SPAN off. One was about his getting elected for a third time, and the other was about Bobby Kennedy’s running over the cow that was eaten for dinner (a reference to a previous collision Kennedy had while driving). When Trump started talking about having Chris Christie and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker fight on the White House lawn over a cupcake. I tuned out. I came back a few minutes later to see if he’d lightened up, and he was deriding CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for winning an honor during the dinner, basically claiming she made up the award-winning story. He also — once again — demeaned her for never smiling, even though she just flashed the biggest smile imaginable

Major League Baseball (MLB) just had two days of its annual All-Star festivities a week ago, and now the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) is taking a couple of days to do the same. Question: Who other than the players and the media covering them needs this? Answer: I have no idea. The games are usually not at all compelling, and the wraparound events, such as the home-run contest in the MLB and a three-point derby in the WNBA, are as much a product of chance as of talent. The NFL’s Pro Bowl, supposedly an all-star event, is so meaningless that it is routinely opted out of by players. Players chosen to all-star rosters do benefit, as they can argue for more almighty bucks when it comes to contract time. The media can hype the events, plus get all-expenses-paid trips to the host cities to cover the happenings and conduct a zillion interviews. The WNBA regular-season games themselves have become so interesting that it’s a shame to take a break. I didn’t watch one minute of the MLB version, and I won’t be watching a minute of the WNBA charade. Call me an All-Star Scrooge when it comes to these