David Barber

This is not the best part of the firing, but it’s in the Top 10.

20-some years ago I stopped reading the Wall Street journal because I didn't want to support a paper with such abhorrent views. I switched to the economist, a decision I do not regret. Now the Washington Post has a similarly biased op-ed section, and I will be moving on.

A 6-month chart of the price of oil, showing a spike in the last week.

Fun times!

Labour urged to listen to progressive voters or face ‘political earthquake’ in London Exclusive: Senior party figures share data suggesting Green surge could put Labour in fourth place in capital in May

I never believe predictions that suggest something I want will happen when it comes to politics, but this does feel like a real possibility.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

President Monroe in a portrait from the national portrait gallery. A man in a dark jacket and buff vest with white frilly collar and an aqualine nose.

We've got this guy writing our foreign policy again

I'm not suggesting there's an easy answer. I'm just suggesting that it feels like they've been trying the same answer for a very long time without it working.

Does Israel have a more coherent foreign policy than simply making everyone around them suffer forever? Do they honestly believe that eventually if they make people suffer enough they will, what? Suddenly stop hating Israel? Or is all of it just a failure of internal Israeli politics to eject Bibi?

Middle East crisis live: Israeli military tells hundreds of thousands to flee Beirut Evacuation order issued for all of the southern suburbs with up to 700,000 people thought to be affected

For those of you who still think Israel is the good guy
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Florence ICE detainee dead after untreated tooth infection, official says An ICE detainee, who had been at a Florence detention center for four months, died Monday following an untreated tooth infection.

An ICE detainee in Arizona has died of a TOOTH INFECTION after it went untreated for weeks, a local official says. He was a Haitian asylum seeker imprisoned in Florence, Arizona. @emilybregel.bsky.social reports.
tucson.com/news/local/b...

And if we weren't before, we will be soon!

Map of the 4th district, southwestern and Western Arkansas

It might not be the most gerrymandered district in the state, but it's certainly in the running. The closet you get, the more questions you have. #arpx

Restoring order at the border speaks to Labour values. Without that, we won’t be able to do anything else at all | Shabana Mahmood Our approach, unlike that of the Greens and Reform, is in step with the British people. They don’t want extremes – they want a system that is managed and fair, says home secretary Shabana Mahmood

I honestly have very few people I'm more disappointed in than this person right here, Shabana Mahmood. She literally uses the phrase 'take back control' in this op-ed.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Trump is…taking a little bit of a break from invading certain parts of the mainland United States so he can focus for a while on bombing and going to war with Iran.”
MAGA: Hey, what about our war with Minnesota and people of color?

May the 4th Be With You! May the 4th Be With You! |

Hey everybody, my friend Rus is running for congress here in Arkansas' 4th district. He won his primary last night and could really use your help refilling the coffers to defeat his Republican opponent in the fall. Can you help
goodchange.app/version-live...

U.S. burns through precision munitions, air defense interceptors in Iran The U.S. campaign in Iran has already expended hundreds of high-cost air defense missiles and thousands of other munitions just days into the conflict.

Many of you won't remember the pushback the Bush White House made against cost estimates in Iraq (that were eventually found to be too low, rather than too high). I expect we're going to play that game again.
wapo.st/3N1dVr2

Chart showing an increase in likelihood of committing a crime after a cancer diagnosis, rising over the next 10 years.

Researchers in Denmark have found a 'Breaking Bad' effect - people with a cancer diagnosis are more likely to commit crimes after their diagnosis.

Starmer vows to avoid ‘mistakes of Iraq’ that have haunted Labour for decades Prime minister does not believe US has a plan beyond ‘shock and awe’ stage, as some MPs dread what lies ahead

Paraphrased from
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Keir Starmer assured MPs that the UK would operate on a “lawful basis” and with a “viable thought-through plan”

The implication: he does not think the initial US and Israeli strikes against Iran were either legal or considered. “This government does not believe in regime change from the skies"

Over 100 children dead. It's exactly the targets you'd expect from the war crime duo of Israel and Trump

Refugee status to be temporary as Shabana Mahmood rips up rules on UK asylum Home secretary announces 30-month protection limit, with refugees required to leave if their home countries are later judged safe

I swear to goodness what is WRONG with this labour government?!
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Folks who know will be unsurprised to learn that Tom Cotton is on the Sunday news shows crowing about how Trump is bringing peace and prosperity to Iran, in defiance of all rational understanding of what's actually about to happen. #arpx

Trump vies for Bush’s crown for worst foreign policy decision in history The US president upended half a century of US foreign policy in an eight-minute video with another attempt at Middle Eastern regime change

Winning!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Inside the cutthroat competition for the best baguette in Paris The Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française, Paris’s most revered bread competition, saw dozens of bakers competing for the title of best baguette.

The tastiest competition on earth
wapo.st/46rKYLB

Vegetarians have ‘substantially lower risk’ of five types of cancer Study shows lower risk for multiple myeloma as well as pancreatic, prostate, breast and kidney cancers

This correlates nicely with what we know about processed meat
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Only a matter of time before Paramount digitally erases Indiana Jones from all of his movies & has the Nazis have an Ewoks-style party after opening The Ark.

Chart from The Economist showing that Arkansas and other Southern States have the highest road deaths in America

Just another thing we ought to address (but won't)

"Seeming...less like the House speaker than a house elf, Mike Johnson sat perched over Mr Trump’s left shoulder, grinning eagerly at his faintest witticism; the president has learned that Mr Johnson will serve as his loyal whip rather than the leader of a coequal branch of government."
The Economist

Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more A handful of companies monopolise the web, with unprecedented access to our data. But there are many more ethical – and often distinctively European – alternatives

Good information here for escaping the tech giants
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is a Nazi move. Stripping people of rights, invalidating their IDs, setting them up for criminalization and imprisonment.

If you don't support trans rights, you support fascism.

Facial recognition error prompts police to arrest Asian man for burglary 100 miles away Exclusive: Alvi Choudhury claiming damages against Thames Valley police after biased technology confused him with man looking ‘10 years younger’

So long as there are not serious consequences for misuse of this type of technology, it will continue to be misused. We cannot deploy it anywhere until this issue is resolved.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...