Truth Social Has Crypto Gambling Now. What Could Go Wrong?
Plus: Fed cuts rates without data, Wall Street cheers. Health insurance prices skyrocket. Is AI really to blame for corporate layoffs? And some wild critters that'll make you laugh.
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Congress remains deadlocked on the government shutdown and, so far, there’s no sign of progress on any effort to keep the SNAP food program funded past Friday. As we reported Monday, this means 42 million Americans will stop receiving the average of $2.84 per meal that keeps them from going hungry.
I made a video about how Washington is using hunger as a political weapon. You can find that here.
There’s plenty we can do to help. I asked this community to share your favorite food banks and nutrition assistance programs so everyone can see a range of places to donate. We put them in a Google Doc that you can find here. It’s unlocked, so if you have a place you’d like to add, go ahead. You’re also welcome to share this list with others and tell them NNN sent you.
In today’s newsletter: the Fed doesn’t have crucial market data, but they cut rates anyway. ACA open enrollment begins and the predictions didn’t miss. CBS News cuts staff as its new owner eyes another big purchase. Crypto gambling comes to Truth Social, because what could go wrong? And some wildlife photos to make you laugh.
Here Are Your Headlines
Cutting Floor: The Federal Reserve announced today it is once again cutting its central interest rate by a quarter point. This is the first time the Fed’s rate-setting committee has set policy without a full month of employment data. That data isn’t being released during the shutdown. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned this “is a really bad move.” “Knowing how much they should cut,” she said, “depends on data.” The decision sent stocks higher — rewarding investors even as the Fed made the move flying blind. Notably, the decision was not unanimous: a recent Trump appointee once again voted for a larger cut, while another official voted to keep rates as they were.
You Can Bet There’s Big Money: Truth Social is launching a crypto-based gambling platform called Truth Predict. The company’s CEO claimed this is “democratizing information” and “turning free speech into actionable foresight.” Sounds great. Also, prediction markets are big money. They allow participants to bet on the outcome of practically any event, from the price of Bitcoin by a certain date, to the winner of an election, to the number of times Elon Musk will post in a week. Users wagered a staggering $3.2 billion on the outcome of the 2024 election through Polymarket, one of the main players, which was valued at $8 billion in early October. Betting on the election proved an effective get out the vote tool in 2024; think about it – once a fraternity brother places a bet that Trump will win, it’s an incentive for him to get his friends to vote Trump. And yes, this would work for candidates of any party – if the other parties got in on this strategy.
Pain Point: Prices for ACA health insurance premiums across the country became public Tuesday, and they’re spiking as Congress remains deadlocked on health subsidies and the government shutdown. Republicans say they’ll consider extending subsidies for a year — but only after Democrats reopen government first. That’s backward: in Washington, you negotiate concessions to get a deal, not after. According to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, prices are increasing by an average of 30% in states where the federal government manages markets (mostly red states) and 17% in state-run markets. Taken together the average price increase is 26%. One retired kidney donor, who paid $439 a month this year, told the New York Times her monthly cost for the exact same plan is set to more than double to over $1,000 next year.
Why Prices Are Rising: One reason insurers are raising prices so much is because they expect many people — especially the younger, healthier, and relatively more cash-strapped — to disenroll when enhanced ACA subsidies expire. They just can’t afford it. Once those subsidies expire, average premiums for tens of millions of people will more than double. In the face of all this the Wall Street Journal editorial board today called on the GOP to refuse to extend ACA subsidies at all.
Millions of Americans are about to see their health insurance premiums spike. Independent outlets are reporting the human impact. Alternet, for example, quotes Senator Mark Kelly warning that “millions of Trump voters are about to get punched in the face.” But those voices are rare: independents make up just 13% of coverage, while over half comes from major media conglomerates like Fox News — which framed it as “both sides are wrong.”
When a handful of corporations own most of the media, they shape what stories get told — and how they’re told.
That’s why I recommend Ground News:
• See who owns the outlets behind every story and compare coverage across the political spectrum.
• Get transparency, not spin — Ground News is fully independent and subscriber-funded.
Ground News is offering the News Not Noise community 40% off their all-access Vantage plan. Go to GroundNews.com/NNN to subscribe.
Jobs-pocalypse Now: Major multinational corporations are slashing tens of thousands of jobs and slowing hiring. They say it’s because of AI. Amazon is cutting 14,000 corporate roles, online education firm Chegg announced a 45% workforce reduction Monday, Nestle is firing 16,000; PwC, JPMorgan, Walmart, Accenture, Lufthansa, Salesforce, Klarna and others have all also cut jobs or slowed hiring at least partly because of AI. Is this the start of the AI job apocalypse? Executives certainly think so. AI company Anthropic’s CEO warned earlier this year AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs. Ford’s CEO says AI will replace half of all white-collar jobs, at all levels. Investors are clearly excited: the stock market closed at a record high Tuesday. Is your work being affected by AI? Let us know in the comments.
Not Convinced: Some experts are, ah, skeptical that AI is really to blame for all these layoffs. A new report from Yale’s Budget Lab concluded the “broader labor market has not experienced a discernible disruption since ChatGPT’s release.” And a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that “layoffs due to AI were uncommon” — albeit expected to increase — and at least partially offset by a significant minority of firms who said they’ve hired more workers due to AI. “So far,” the Budget Lab’s executive director said, “nothing that I’ve seen looks different than typical patterns of companies hiring and firing, particularly at this point in an economic cycle.” Multiple experts have also accused companies of using AI as an “excuse” for mass layoffs. Many companies overhired during the pandemic and now need to adjust. Is AI a convenient cover?
Trillions at Stake: Investors today valued Nvidia, which dominates the market in AI chip making and advanced computing infrastructure, at $5 trillion. It’s the most valuable company — on paper — in history. Nvidia’s CEO recently announced the company will build multiple AI supercomputers for the Energy Department; he’s now in Asia as President Trump prepares for talks with China, that will include a demand President Xi allow sales of Nvidia’s technology in China.
Signing Off: CBS News, which recently came under the ownership of Trump ally David Ellison and management of opinion writer Bari Weiss, began firing workers Wednesday. Dozens of staffers are expected to lose their jobs, part of a mass layoff of about 1,000 positions across Paramount, CBS News’ parent company. Already this week one of the most respected figures at CBS News, anchor and correspondent John Dickerson, announced he would leave at the end of the year. The decision was reportedly his own, though made knowing that significant changes were on the horizon. One senior staffer said Dickerson’s departure will be “a huge, huge loss.” Another told me, “He’s the conscience of the network.”
Tea Leaves: So far new editorial boss Bari Weiss has reportedly asked staffers at 60 Minutes why the country thinks the show is biased, despite CBS News actually being one of the most trusted outlets in the country; there are reports she mulled hiring Fox News host Brett Baier; and she has been trying to identify who keeps leaking all this to the press. Interestingly Weiss, has not shared any CBS News articles to her massive X account since taking over the outlet.
Empire Building: David Ellison is reportedly considering buying Warner Bros Discovery, which owns CNN. Senior Trump officials have warned other potential buyers (and Warner’s board) that “who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration.” The implication is that other, less Trump friendly suitors might not be welcomed by Trump administration regulators. If this sale were to happen, David Ellison and his father Larry would control CBS News and CNN while holding a huge stake in TikTok as well.
Fighting for Food: 25 states (plus DC) sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its unprecedented refusal to continue funding SNAP food benefits come November. They argue the administration is legally obliged to maintain funding, and hope to force USDA to use emergency funds to ensure SNAP’s 42 million participants receive their benefits. New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “Millions of Americans are about to go hungry because the federal government has chosen to withhold food assistance it is legally obligated to provide.” California Attorney General Rob Bonta claimed the administration is “doing this on purpose.… They have the funds. They’re just not using them.” Catch up with our report where we break down just how much is available and who it serves in our Monday newsletter here.
Devastation: Hurricane Melissa slammed Jamaica Tuesday as one of the strongest storms on record. Winds up to 185 miles per hour tore a path of destruction across the island, causing major flooding and leaving 70% without power. The prime minister said the country was a “disaster area.” Despite weakening a little, Melissa then wreaked havoc in Haiti, where at least 25 were killed by flooding, and Cuba, whose president said suffered “significant damage.” The storm is expected to bring up to 10 inches of rain to the Bahamas Wednesday.
Who’s Helping: The State Department announced it is sending multiple emergency teams to help response efforts. It also claimed to have pre-positioned supplies in six warehouses, though did not specify where those were. Historically, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs led hurricane response efforts in the Caribbean. Once the Trump administration dismantled USAID, this work shifted to a State Department office and the Trump administration fired almost all of that office’s staff. A former senior official at USAID says, the people left handling hurricane response are “very buried in bureaucracy and don’t have the partner networks, tools, and resources they would have at USAID.”
Fit For a King: US allies in Asia continue to offer Trump a warm, gilded welcome. South Korea awarded him the country’s highest decoration and a replica of a foot-tall golden crown worn by an ancient ruler. Japan gifted him a golf club used by Shinzo Abe — the former prime minister and friend of Trump who was assassinated over his ties to a controversial, since-disbanded religious organization — and golf bag signed by a Japanese professional golfer. The country’s new, highly conservative prime minister hailed a “golden age” of relations between Japan and the US, praised Trump’s peacemaking efforts, and pledged to increase military spending; Trump offered her “any favors you need,” approved the sale of missiles, and told assembled troops to “go out and buy a Toyota.”
Meanwhile: Radio Free Asia will shutter news operations on Friday, becoming the second federally funded newsroom to be disbanded by the Trump administration, following Voice of America’s closure in October. The two outlets had a combined weekly audience of over 400 million people across roughly 50 languages. Who benefits from this loss? Russia and China, which both pump billions of dollars annually into their own (dis)information networks. Officials from both countries celebrated the closures; an editor at Russia Today said VOA’s closure was “a holiday for me and my colleagues.” One former CIA analyst asked, “Why would the Trump administration want to unilaterally disarm ourselves in the battle over the information space?”
Unregulated Balls: Trump on Tuesday fired all members of the independent agency that would have been responsible for reviewing the construction of his $300 million ballroom. Or whatever it really is. A White House official said Trump is “preparing to appoint a new slate of members … that are more aligned with President Trump’s America First Policies.” Former President Joe Biden also replaced several members of the commission during his term.
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