News Vérité

Not sure if Trump is calling today’s announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah his ninth — or umpteenth — peace deal, but I look upon this agreement as representing maybe a 72-hour window. Or, perhaps restraint will last only until “dawn’s early light” before we see “the rockets’ red glare” again. In other words, I’m fairly skeptical that either Bibi Netanyahu or the Hezbollah hierarchy really wants to end a conflict that stretches back two or three decades. I’m not a gambling man, though I’ve been known to bet on the nags, but this deal looks like a sure winner for a gambling man, or woman, on Kalshi or Polymarket, the so-called prediction gambling sites. I’m not sure anyone can negotiate with Hezbollah, but the president claims to have done so through “highly placed Representatives.” The Lebanese government — you know, those folks that Hezbollah never listens to — has confirmed the deal. On Truth Social, the Trumpster announced of the two warring parties: “Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.” He also wrote that Israel will not send troops into Beirut, the Lebanese capital. In related news, Trump said that peace negotiations with

Good ol’ Vlad, too good to die. He has every intention of strangling the Russian people — and more world citizens if he gets his way — for all eternity. He is seeking immortality, and just this past week told China’s Xi Jinping that immortality is possible through organ transplants. Gee, you think he had someone in mind when he mentioned the onset of immortality science? The Wall Street Journal reports that the Russian Premier is funding (through OPM — other people’s money — of course) what he calls “New Health Preservation Technologies,” a $26 billion longevity initiative. The WSJ article says this consists of two components: “bioprinting, or 3D-printing living tissue, and xenotransplantation, or growing human organs inside mini-pigs, a porcine breed deemed genetically compatible to humans.” Welcome to Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump is seeking a different type of immortality, but I’m sure he’d be happy to share in Putin’s version as well. Not only did the 47th U.S. President name a drug website after himself — TrumpRx.gov — but he is now eyeing the printing of a $250 bill with his image on it to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Problem is, the law governing

Everyone is hopeful that Iran will agree to some sort of peace deal that, initially at least, opens the Strait of Hormuz and gets the world’s oil and fertilizer flowing again. Ever the optimist, President Trump keeps saying how much Iranian leaders (whom he also says he cannot identify) desperately want a deal. Unfortunately, for Trump and the peace-seeking world, the IRGC is in no hurry to strike a bargain. Unlike Sir Donald, the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who hold sway over all things Iranian, face no elections in November — or for that matter, at any time in the next umpteen years. They’re more than happy to play a waiting game. This leaves the president in a nice pickle. If he doesn’t strike a deal soon, the GOP is toast in the midterms. If he returns to bombing Iran, the GOP is also going to be toast come November. The only bright side for Trump, who claims not to be worried about the midterms, is that, no matter what he does, GOP House hopes for retaining a majority basically have zip, nada, zilch, zero chance of success. So, why not just finish the job —

Recall 1938, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain conceded the Sudetenland to Adolph Hitler so the world could have “peace for our time.” World War II commenced a year later. As it turns out, Neville Trump, er, President Donald Trump, is now working on “peace for our time” in the Middle East, ending a three-month war with Iran. Not everyone is happy. To former Trump 45 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the deal Sir Donald is working on smacks of the deal Barack Obama worked out 12 years earlier, to wit, pay Iranian thugs to delay nuclear arms development until the current White House incumbent is long gone. Writes Pompeo on social media: “The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world…. Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region. Overdue. Let’s go.” The problem is, that course of action will lead to huge defeats for Republicans in upcoming elections, probably through 2028 and maybe beyond. Trump is smart enough to know that