News Vérité

I first learned of this last night on a NewsNation telecast, followed today by an article in the Wall Street Journal, so I’m not sure who broke it first. Anyway, people are enriching themselves with investments and gambles made just prior to announcements by President Trump. One example — a big one: Two minutes before Trump announced he was working on a peace deal with Iran, some $700 million in oil futures changed hands, following days and weeks of inactivity. Bottom line: someone or someones (plural) earned a fortune in making investments based on a Trump decision 120 seconds prior to his actual announcement on March 23. Something similar happened on April 9 only minutes before Trump’s 1 p.m. announcement of a 90-day pause in “Liberation Day” tariffs. This one is a bit trickier to explain, but more than one person made short calls on a fund tracking the S&P stock index, which would pay off if the index rose — which it did following the president’s announcement. One hour before Trump ordered the invasion of Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro, someone made a $34,000 bet that the dictator wouldn’t remain in power past the end of January. The bettor

The most interesting thing I saw on TV today — a day filled with lawsuits won against social media giants — was a robot accompanying First Lady Melania Trump to welcome participants to Day Two of the “Fostering the Future Together” conference at the White House. A humanoid robot, which entered the conference side by side with the First Lady, welcomed the guests in 11 languages. The robot moved about and walked effortlessly, and even left the stage by itself, unescorted. The robot, developed by the firm Figure AI, said at the onset of the event: “I am grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education.” Melania Trump is hosting a gathering of 45 world leaders — mostly her female counterparts — along with tech company representatives, with the goal, in her words, of expanding “access to education and technology and equipping the next generation with the skills they need to succeed.” The First Lady herself even envisioned a future in which children are taught by AI-powered humanoid robots. She mused: “Imagine a humanoid educator named Plato…. Plato will provide a personalized experience, adaptive to the needs of each student. Plato is always

The Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank that prints and distributes money while making investments to earn dollars, is reporting a loss of $18.7 billion for 2025. The Fed simply uses an accounting trick to wipe away deficits by putting its losses into something called deferred assets. Deferred assets — Fed debts, in other words — now total $243.5 billion. Deferred assets are a category of debts that are deferred until the Fed makes profits again and can pay the debt down.. The loss in 2025 actually pales in comparison to previous years.  The Fed had losses of $77.6 billion in 2024 and $114.5 billion in 2023. Note how losses are higher in years when interest rates, set by the Fed, are higher. President Trump may indeed have a point when he keeps arguing for much lower interest rates, but Trump-hating Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will have nothing of doing what Sir Donald wants.