@aeppel.bsky.social

BREAKING: A newly-released OGE Form 278-T discloses that President Trump filed 3,642 trades involving stocks of public companies between January 1st and March 31st. Our team has sorted and analyzed the thousands of transactions. Transactions include hundreds of stocks and ETFs such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Broadcom, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Goldman Sachs, AMD, Airbnb, Palantir, Netflix, Costco, Walmart, JP Morgan, DoorDash, and others. Individual purchases of Nvidia, Microsoft, Broadcom, Amazon, Apple, and others ranged from $1 million to $5 million in disclosed value. Individual purchases of AMD, Goldman Sachs, Alphabet, Airbnb, DoorDash, Micron, Stryker, and others ranged from $500,000 to $1 million in disclosed value. President Trump also reported hundreds of stock sales ranging from $15,000 to up to $25 million. Should we produce a detailed breakdown of President Trump’s stock purchases and sales? More details to come.

Prairie Dogs of Indiana would make a great band name.

NEW RECORDS today: Michigan, all-time high, diesel, $6.09/gal Indiana, all-time high, diesel, $6.12/gal Wisconsin, all-time high, diesel, $5.87/gal Illinois, all-time high, diesel, $6.11/gal

If the Strait doesn't re-open soon, I believe we could see the national average price of gasoline reaching $5/gal as early as sometime in June.

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a maternal health event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 11, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

More than two months into a conflict that began February 28 with a U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign, some 66% of poll respondents - including one in three Republicans and almost all Democrats - said Trump has not "clearly explained the goals of U.S. military involvement in Iran."

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Two out of three Americans think President Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war with Iran, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.

A man with no working truck convinced Wall Street he had built the next Tesla. His company hit $30 BILLION. All he did was push it down a hill with no engine. > Trevor Milton founded Nikola in 2014, named after the same inventor as Tesla. > The goal was to build hydrogen powered trucks that would make diesel obsolete. He had no trucks. > In 2018 he released a promotional video called Nikola One In Motion. It showed a sleek semi truck accelerating smoothly down an open highway. Investors went wild. > What nobody knew was that the truck had no engine, no fuel cell, and no propulsion system of any kind. > Milton's team towed it to the top of a hill, tilted the camera to hide the slope, and let it roll. > He spent the next four years doing the same thing with words. On podcasts, television and social media. > Investors were told Nikola could produce its own hydrogen. It could not. They were told the trucks were ready for production. They were not. They were told orders were flooding in. They weren't. > In June 2020 Nikola went public. Within days the company was worth $30 BILLION, more than Ford. > Milton's personal stake hit $7.3 BILLION overnight. > A $32.5 MILLION ranch in Utah followed. A record for the state at the time. > In September 2020 Hindenburg Research published a report calling Nikola "an intricate fraud" built on "an ocean of lies." Milton resigned within ten days. > A federal jury convicted him of securities fraud and wire fraud in 2022. Sentenced to four years in prison the following year. > He never went. He was free on $100 MILLION bail pending appeal. > He and his wife donated $3.2 MILLION to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. > In March 2025 Trump gave him a full pardon. The pardon erased $168 MILLION in restitution to defrauded shareholders. > Nikola filed for bankruptcy the following month, leaving thousands of investors with nothing. The company never had a product. The only thing that was real was the $30 BILLION valuation, the $7 BILLION that landed in his pocket and the pardon that made sure none of it had to be returned.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - Major U.S. airlines spent just over $5 billion on jet fuel in March, up 56% and $1.8 billion over February costs, the U.S. Transportation Department said.

The Pentagon says it has spend $25 billion on the war in Iran so far.

Israeli soldiers vandalized the home of a Christian family in the village of Debel, southern Lebanon, after using it as a military base. Debel is the same village where Israeli soldiers smashed a statue of Jesus Christ.

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Energy prices are expected to surge by 24% in 2026 to their highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, if the most acute disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East end in May, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

@RWhelanWSJ Based in Denver.

This looks so fun

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's approval rating held at the lowest of his term in recent days as many Americans questioned his temperament amid the Iran war and a feud with Pope Leo, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

"So far, so good." Tariff refund system launches as thousands of companies file claims reuters.com/business/tarif…

Reuters is reporting that Iran is broadcasting this VHF message: "Attention all ships, ​regarding the failure ⁠of the U.S. government to fulfil its commitment in the negotiation, Iran declares the Strait of Hormuz completely ​closed again. No vessel of any type or nationality ​is allowed ⁠to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.”

(Reuters) - Significant differences between Iran and the United States remain to reach a deal aimed at ending the war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, adding that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is "conditional on U.S. adherence to the terms of ceasefire". The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "no agreement has been reached on the details of the nuclear issues," and serious negotiations are required to overcome differences. He said Tehran hoped that a preliminary agreement could be reached in the coming days with mediator Pakistan’s efforts, with the possibility of extending the ceasefire to "create space for more talks on lifting sanctions on Iran and securing compensation for war damages". "In exchange, Iran will provide assurances to the international community about the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme," he said, adding that any other "narrative about the ongoing talks is a misrepresentation of the situation".

Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week because of a barbed-wire fence villagers say was put up by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use reut.rs/42ebfua

that's a pretty fat cigar.