Monday, March 09, 2026
U.S. Public Doesn't Like Changing The Clock Twice A Year
The charts above are from the YouGov Poll -- done between February 13th and 19th of a nationwide sample of 1,075 adults, with a 4 point margin of error.
Why Does Trump Favor Russia Over Our Traditional Allies?
The following is part of a post by Heather Cox Richardson at Letters From An American:
On Thursday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called attention to another factor in play. In a speech to the Senate, Whitehouse noted that throughout his second term, Trump has advanced policies that help Russia, pausing weapons shipments to Ukraine, easing sanctions on Russia, and pushing a peace deal favorable to Russia. Last summer, he welcomed Putin to American soil, and administration officials have parroted Russian propaganda. Russian state media gloated when Trump “installed Russia apologist Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi upon taking office stopped the anti-kleptocracy work that had targeted Russian oligarchs.
Trump’s new national security policy threw traditional U.S. allies overboard and favored policies that Russian government officials praised as “largely consistent” with their own.
“If Trump were purposefully doing Russia’s bidding,” Whitehouse said, “it is hard to see what he would be doing differently. The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. Russia is a weak, corrupt regime. My old friend Senator John McCain used to say that Russia is a gas station, run by gangsters, with an army. It doesn’t make sense that the President of the United States, who insists—insists—on being dominant in essentially every relationship, is so submissive to one person and that one person is Russia’s dictator, Vladimir Putin.”
Whitehouse suggested that the answer “could…have something to do with Trump’s close friendship with the deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.” He noted that the Epstein files, riddled as they are with references to Trump, are also riddled with references to Russian girls and women, Russian operatives, and Russian president Vladimir Putin. . . .
Whitehouse suggested the possibility that Epstein might have been working with Russian operatives, but emphasized that we don’t know. “Epstein was an inveterate liar and a criminal who often sought to exaggerate his power and influence, and the Epstein files need to be viewed through that lens,” he said. “What we do know is that a significant number of powerful men—our current President, some of his cabinet secretaries, tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and others—were very mixed up with Epstein at different times. And Epstein seems to have been very mixed up with Russia.”
“We also know that there is a cover-up afoot at the Department of Justice,” he continued, where officials are “trying to shield Trump from something in the Epstein files.”
“One of the great forces that Washington runs on is normalcy bias,” he said, but he suggested looking past that bias to note that “we have links with Russia, girls from Russia, money from Russia, people from Russia, deals and transactions with Russia, contacts with people with Russian intelligence, news reports exploring contacts with Russia, and an official investigation from the government of Poland into an Epstein-Russia connection.”
Sunday, March 08, 2026
Trump's War On Iran Will Increase Inflation - And NOT Just On Gas!
The following is part of a post by Joseph Zeballos-Roig at MS NOW:
The economy is now up against its biggest foe yet: a costly war in Iran, a regional power in the Middle East that just happens to sit next to what is arguably the world’s most critical maritime energy chokepoint.
The blows are already coming. The war is costing the U.S. an estimated $1 billion a day, according to two congressional sources with knowledge of the matter. Oil prices are now forecast to go higher, while gas prices have already jumped to $3.32. It’s the highest price it has reached in either of Trump’s two terms. The situation is so in flux that gas prices are poised to climb higher than that after this article is published.
The knock-on effects of increasingly expensive oil will be felt next. Higher costs for oil and gas will spread to the costs of other goods and services, particularly those relying on trucks for transportation. Higher prices for airline tickets aren’t out of the question. Grocery bills and electricity prices will also follow suit if the war drags on.
The war with Iran almost instantly wrecked forecasts for lower oil prices this year, one of the only slices of the U.S. economy that had been getting cheaper for consumers. Analysts had previously expected Brent crude to trade at about $60 per barrel in 2026. Instead, Brent crude rocketed to $93 per barrel as of Friday due to the conflict.
On Wednesday, Goldman Sachs published a worst-case scenario in which $100 per barrel of oil becomes a reality in five weeks. That was based on whether Iran managed to choke off oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway near Iran that accounts for one-fifth of global oil and natural gas shipping. It did, and Goldman quickly updated its forecast for oil prices to cross into dreaded triple-digit territory as soon as next week. . . .
The Strait of Hormuz is associated with oil, but it’s also a vital artery for fertilizer transport. Fertilizer prices were already elevated prior to the Iran conflict, dealing a blow to American farmers coping with dwindling markets and lower crop prices. . . .
Many companies spent the past year reshuffling supply chains to avert Trump’s double-digit tariffs. The war is jolting them anew. The top five largest container shipping firms, including Maersk, suspended their operations in the Persian Gulf.
Instead of traveling through the Suez Canal, the companies are sending their cargo fleets around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of South Africa. The fraught, dangerous environment caused them to add surcharges ranging from $1,500 to $3,500 per container. . . .
If the war in Iran stretches on for months, it will magnify the expected price increases for food, furniture and much more.
Saturday, March 07, 2026
New Fox News Poll Shows Voters Are Very Unhappy With Trump
The chart above is from the Fox News Poll -- done between February 28th and March 2nd of a nationwide sample of 1,004 registered voters, with a 3 point margin of error.
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