John Refior

You mean it’s looking for ways to make it go up even more?

🇺🇸 A 40-year record, shattered in one week

US oil prices leapt 36% — the largest weekly rise on records stretching to 1983. Brent crude hit $92.69 a barrel 🛢️

The Middle East war is sending shockwaves through commodity markets

FT www.ft.com/content/d3e2...

Excellent NYT video analysis finds that the bombing of scores of schoolchildren in Iran came amid other US strikes in the vicinity:

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/w...

January 28, 2026: Trump hangs photo of himself with Putin in the White House
www.trumpisarussianasset.info/timeline/mor...

Remember when everybody saw Trump share classified information with Russia?

Wonder how many times he's done that without us knowing about it.

Oh so *now* it's the Defense Department

Even more troubling would be that they might have bombed Iran with the goal of raising fossil fuel prices. There has been policy consistency from the Trump administration in that it has repeatedly tried to increase oil demand and make oil/gas prices go up.

Bessent: "We may unsanction other Russian oil"

So let me get this straight ...

1. US bombs Iran
2. Oil price goes up a bit, benefitting Russia's petrostate
3. Russia gives Iran targeting info
4. Oil price shoots WAY up
5. US unsanctions Russian oil

We know oil investors/owners/executives are a very (the most?) significant part of the Trump coalition. The US is the world's biggest fossil fuel producer, and the biggest LNG exporter. Was wiping out competition and raising prices one of the main goals?

I agree.

Similarly we're told Trump's destabilization of the US and the world is by accident. He "blundered" into it.

But you don't do all the things he's done unless you *want* to destabilize the world.

WATCH: Barack Obama's full eulogy at Rev. Jesse Jackson's memorial in Chicago YouTube video by PBS NewsHour

Barack Obama's full eulogy at Rev. Jesse Jackson's memorial in Chicago

Obama: "We are living in a time where it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law ... but this man - Rev. Jesse Jackson - inspires us to take a harder path ... bc if we don't step up, nobody else will"

If only someone could have predicted this...

Sharpton: "We're still here! We've come this far by faith. It was against the law to read and write! It was against the law to marry, but we've come this far by faith. I don't care what they do in Washington, I care what we do in the community. We've beat people bigger than Trump!"

Sharpton: "The problem is not Trump. The problem is us. What happened to us?"

September 2008: Don Jr. says Russians make up a disproportionate amount of the Trump firm's assets.

"He blundered the world into a destabilizing mess"

I agree with most of it, but destabilization is a theme. You don't invade US cities, tariff on/off, attack NATO, appoint RFK Jr., etc. unless you want to destabilize the world. I think he works for Russia, which wants the world unstable.

Live - Trump demands Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ as Khamenei bunker destroyed Ali-Asghar Hejazi, the deputy chief of staff of the office of Iran's Supreme Leader, has been targeted in an Israeli airstrike in Tehran, according to Israeli defense sources cited by The Times of Isr...

THE LATEST NEWS AT THIS HOUR:

RUSSIA SHARES INTEL ON US WITH IRAN: Russia is providing Iran with intelligence that could help target U.S. forces in the Middle East, according to The Washington Post.

"LaFayette grew up in Tampa & recalled trying to board a trolley with his grandmother when he was 7 years old. Black passengers had to pay at the front, then walk to the back to climb on. But the conductor began to pull away before they could board, & his grandmother fell. He was too little to help"

"The many dangers LaFayette faced included an assassination attempt on the same night Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi, in what the FBI said was a conspiracy to kill civil rights workers. LaFayette was beaten outside his home before his assailant pointed a gun at him."

What a great cartoon

Authoritarian’s best friend…

The Bygone Era of Supreme Court Support for Voting Rights Sixty years after upholding the Voting Rights Act, the Court has dismantled most of it.

Tomorrow marks the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It also marks the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court first upholding the Voting Rights Act.

We have gotten so, so far away from a Court that cares about democracy.

New from me at @brennancenter.org:

Most people were horrified that she murdered her 14 month old dog. Apparently WaPo thought it was funny.

This is so embarrassing.

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://help.ft.com/faq/gifting-and-sharing-an-article/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://www.ft.com/content/09fa5c20-2c8f-4f41-9d91-c78476eaac20 Iran hits Amazon data centres in jolt to Gulf AI drive First known military strike on a US hyperscaler rattles regional ambitions to build multibillion-dollar cloud facilities © FT montage/Reuters/AFP via Getty Images Iran hits Amazon data centres in jolt to Gulf AI drive on x (opens in a new window) Iran hits Amazon data centres in jolt to Gulf AI drive on facebook (opens in a new window) Iran hits Amazon data centres in jolt to Gulf AI drive on linkedin (opens in a new window) Share Save current progress 2% Rafe Rosner-Uddin in San Francisco, Tim Bradshaw in London and Sam Learner in New York Published5 HOURS AGO 81 Print this page The rapid expansion of American-owned data centres in the Middle East has opened up a new front for Iran’s retaliation against the US, complicating Gulf ambitions to build multibillion-dollar AI facilities in the region. Drone strikes on Amazon Web Services facilities this week in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain highlight the vulnerability of cloud facilities — prominent symbols of US tech power in the region and hard to defend against air attack. Fars News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Thursday that Iran targeted Amazon and Microsoft facilities in recent drone strikes. Experts say Amazon’s facilities were likely targeted by Iran. Microsoft said it had not experienced any outages in the region. The strikes mark what is believed to be the world’s first military attack against the US “hyper…

I double checked. This is not being reported at WaPo.

www.ft.com/content/09fa...

‘They all want to kill each other’: conservative media in open warfare over Iran Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin are all trading blows over US involvement – while Sean Hannity says he’s staying out of it The stars of the conservative media movement have been duking it out – in extremely personal terms – over Donald Trump’s decision to enter the United States into a conflict with Iran. While it can be hard to cleanly group the warring factions, much of the fighting has centered on disagreements about whether the US is too deferential to Israeli interests. Those arguing that position most prominently include former Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, while conservative media personalities like Mark Levin (a current Fox News host) and Ben Shapiro have strongly supported both the American intervention in Iran and collaboration with Israel. Continue reading...

‘They all want to kill each other’: conservative media in open warfare over Iran

With today’s further increase, oil prices have now climbed some 20% this week.
#economy #energy #oil #markets

Bernard LaFayette, Selma voting rights organizer, has died Voting rights organizer Bernard LaFayette has died. LaFayette's son says his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85.

Bernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died.