News Vérité

The Ukraine resistance against Russian aggression enters year five today, and the people and soldiers of Ukraine are owed one huge salute for an amazing job in keeping a superpower at bay. In fact, in the past 24 hours, Ukraine has reclaimed 150 square miles of territory Russia had previously overtaken. And so, the war goes on despite Candidate Donald Trump’s repeated pledge that he could end the war in 24 hours. Of course, that was always prefaced by “the war wouldn’t have started under me,” a proposition that may or may not be true, given how Putin is now walking all over President Trump Trump’s 24-hour pledge quickly descended into a peace proposal that basically handed everything Russia wanted on a platter. Ukraine, of course, didn’t cotton well to that initial plan, and territorial concessions continue to weigh on any peace deal Ukraine will agree to. Let’s see what, if anything, Trump will mention about Europe’s longest conflict since World War II, deadliest too, in his State of the Union address tonight. He will, without a doubt, tout eight peace deals he says he’s reached, but some of those have re-flared up after he announced them, while his Gaza

President Trump has hit a new low in approval ratings nationwide at 38 percent*, down from 48 percent when he began his second term. The dramatic slide reflects his loss among voting groups he attracted in 2024: young voters, Hispanics, and independents, or what we call swing voters. His dramatic slide also reflects voters’ economic woes, especially when it comes to paying for the essentials of living, including food, rent/mortgage, insurance, energy, and just about every product that doesn’t come from China. Unfortunately, Trump and team — spoiled brats all — don’t get it. They don’t shop at the supermarket weekly. They live off lavish bank accounts or get overpaid in government jobs and don’t have to suffer like the rest of us. No doubt, Trump in his State of the Union tomorrow night will emphasize just how hunky dory everything is — for the Trumps and cronies, anyway. He’ll talk about the U.S. being “the hottest nation on earth,” gas prices that are tumbling (maybe the only thing that costs less these days), the numerous peace deals he’s achieved (cough, cough), the price of eggs going down, etc., etc. And he’ll even try to say that inflation is gone

It was worse than even I envisioned. I figured the Supreme Court vote overriding President Trump’s willy-nilly tariff authority would be 6-4, with Amy Coney Barrett being the swing vote. Alas, it was a decisive 6-3 majority that did in the Trumpster’s view of economics, which can be summed up as: “Do unto your neighbor as they would do unto you – but worse.” So much for Trump’s comic-book idea that tariffs could replace the income tax. Trump had relied on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) to sling tariffs at nations that didn’t respect him enough, but SCOTUS would have none of it. “Had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. The majority opinion was silent on whether the administration would have to refund tariffs it had collected under Trump’s “Independence Day” restructuring of global trade with the U.S. It was this silence that drove Justice Brett Kavanaugh to dissent, saying the decision would result in a “mess” and cause “significant consequences for the U.S. Treasury.” Joining Kavanaugh in dissent were Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Before this ruling, the Supreme Court