Bill Grueskin

For many years, gasoline was the only product people could comparison-shop, from multiple retailers, in a matter of minutes without leaving their cars.

And the quality is basically the same no matter where you buy it.

Unsourced BlueSky post: Gallup Poll (3/5/26): Do you approve of $8 gas No: 99% Yes: 1% Do you approve of Donald Trump's $8 gas policy No: 46.6% Yes: 38.9% Unsure: 14.5%

People, this is not a real poll. Stop reacting like it's real.

Wait. The SPR is at 60 percent, even though you were planning a war against Iran for weeks, and oil was relatively cheap during that time?

Iran Conflict Sparks Global Rush For Critical Fertilizers A third of global fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, while gas from the region is crucial to production of nutrients for global agriculture.

If you, or one of your loved ones, are one of those people who likes to eat food, you need to read this story.

Because farmers from Poland to Australia to South Dakota are starting to freak out over the insane spike in fertilizer prices.

Gift link ⤵️

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Nhen Israel and the U.S. launched their @tacks, officials were initially sanguine that it vould play out as previous conflicts had. Several shared memes of Mr. Bean giving the middle finger likening Iranian retaliatory attacks on the Gulf to the bumbling comedic character.

This pretty much sums up where we are rn

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Iran Conflict Sparks Global Rush For Critical Fertilizers A third of global fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, while gas from the region is crucial to production of nutrients for global agriculture.

If you, or one of your loved ones, are one of those people who likes to eat food, you need to read this story.

Because farmers from Poland to Australia to South Dakota are starting to freak out over the insane spike in fertilizer prices.

Gift link ⤵️

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Price of Brent Crude Oil $100 per barrel 90 80 March 3 March 4 March 5 March 6 March 8

“Oil is now around 50 percent more expensive than it was before the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/b...

Thoughts and prayers to parents of toddlers who think their kids will go to sleep at the usual time tonight

Or "$1.99 a liter." bsky.app/profile/brya...

The idea that Fox did this 'inadvertently' stretches the bounds of imagination more than anything Isaac Asimov or Robert Heinlein could have possibly devised

Or "$1.99 a liter." bsky.app/profile/brya...

Well ok then bsky.app/profile/nyti...

Oil Spikes as Producers Cut Output Amid Escalating Iran War Brent futures / WTI futures $140/bbl 120 100 80 60 40 2023 2024 1 2025 1 2026

Mission accomplished.

Oil is now well over $100.

One market is up around 20% today, “after adding a record 36% last week.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Fuzzy memories and hard facts: An SC accuser's claims against Epstein, Trump examined An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein gave FBI agents true accounts of her time growing up in SC. Claims she made about Donald Trump remain unsubstantiated.

The Post & Courier scoured court files, real-estate records, classified ads, local newspaper articles, parole and death records.

Much of it dates to the 1980s.

They also sent a reporter to the West Coast to retrace the victim’s and her mother’s accounts.

www.postandcourier.com/news/epstein...

Fuzzy memories and hard facts: An SC accuser's claims against Epstein, Trump examined An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein gave FBI agents true accounts of her time growing up in SC. Claims she made about Donald Trump remain unsubstantiated.

This is an extraordinary reporting job by 2 Charleston journalists, meticulously fact-checking the Epstein victim who has accused Trump of abusive behavior.

Bottom line: Many details of what she told the FBI check out, though none relate directly to Trump.

www.postandcourier.com/news/epstein...

>> bsky.app/profile/sanh...

Iran Strikes Desalination Plant in Bahrain, Says Gulf Nation By Elvan Kivilcim An Iranian drone attack damaged a water-desalination plant in Bahrain, according to the tiny Gulf state's interior ministry on Sunday, marking the first time the Tehran regime has struck at drinking-water infrastructure in the arid region. "Iranian aggression indiscriminately attacked civilian targets," the Bahraini Interior Ministry said in a post on X.

“Israel depends on desalination plants for 80% of its drinkable water.

“About 90% of Kuwait’s water needs are met by desalination.

“Bahrain, where the drone strike occurred, is almost completely dependent on such plants for its population of 1.6 million.”

www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

The measure won't affect the 2026 election. It could affect boundaries for 2028

Gov. Cox rushes to sign final-hour GOP bid to sink Prop 4 signature removal efforts Gov. Cox signed a bill early Saturday morning targeting Better Boundaries' effort asking Utahns to remove their signature from an initiative that seeks to end Utahs gerrymandering ban.

On the assumption that a prepaid envelope somehow constitutes a bribe, the Utah Legislature passed, in its session's closing hours, a measure designed to help overturn the redistricting rules that will likely net Democrats a congressional seat. www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

It's so clearly untrue, even Hegseth won't go along with it.

What Mohammed bin Salman Fears Most From the Iran War Middle East scholar Bernard Haykel explains Tehran’s retaliation calculus, the risk of regime collapse, and how Saudi Arabia’s crown prince views the conflict.

“This is not a war that has been thought through at all.”

— Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton

This interview is very much worth your time.

(And that’s a gift link ⤵️)

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Was he still wearing that USA hat

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

Memphis Barker Senior Foreign Correspondent, in Washington, DC. Henry Bodkin in northern Israel Published 06 March 2026 9:00pm GMT Related Topics Iran, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Espionage 1359 Add us as preferred source Vladimir Putin Vladimir Putin’s spies began sharing intelligence with Tehran as soon as the conflict broke out, sources claim Credit: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP/File Russia is providing Iran with intelligence to strike American military targets in the Middle East. The information led to “sophisticated” attacks by Iranian missiles and drones against United States’ radar facilities, warships and aircraft. The intelligence also made it possible to target temporary structures that Iran’s satellites could not spot, including a strike on a makeshift operations centre in Kuwait that killed six US soldiers. Moscow began to pass information to the Islamic Republic on the positions of US forces as soon as the war began on Saturday, US officials said. It is the first sign of Russia’s active participation in the expanding conflict. One official told the Washington Post: “It does seem like it’s a fairly comprehensive effort.” Donald Trump’s spokeswoman did not deny the reports. Karoline Leavitt said Russian intelligence “clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them ... we are achieving the military objectives of this operation and that is going to continue.” On Friday, a major training exercise for elite paratroopers in the US was cancelled, prompting speculation that Mr Trump is preparing for boots on the ground in Iran. The 82nd Airborne Division includes a brigade combat team of between 4,000 and 5,000 soldiers specialising in ground combat, which is ready to deploy on 18 hours’ notice. The reports of Russian interference came as Mr Trump said there would be no deal with Iran unless it involved Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”. Mr Trump al…

And the Telegraph story looks like it's basically a rewrite of the Washington Post scoop

h/t @jaspar.bsky.social

www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2026...

If I had a nickel for every time someone got mad at the MSM for not reporting a story that one of them actually broke, I'd have a whole lot of nickels.

Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsk... Why was this story on the front page of the UK's Daily Telegraph — but NOT America's leading newspapers? turday 7 March 2026 The best (and John Hunt worst) towns How I found a in Britain . way to survive Che Daily Celegrapl Putin helps Iran attack the US "Sophisticated raids by drone identified as speculation mounts president will deploy troops on the ground

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hands down the absolute *strangest* “on background” sourcing I have ever seen in the NYT. Completely bonkers stuff www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

In those subsequent interviews, the woman described how Epstein trafficked her to several men, including Trump, in the 1980s. She was interviewed again by the FBI on Aug. 7, 2019, Aug. 20, 2019 and Oct. 16, 2019. In her second interview, she claimed that Epstein either flew or drove her from South Carolina to New York or New Jersey when she was between 13 and 15 years old. "She was introduced to someone with money, money...it was Donald Trump," the FBI report said. She recalled she was in a "very tall building with huge rooms" when she met Trump, whom she said immediately didn't like her because she was a "boy-gir!" - or tomboy. She claimed she was with Epstein and several other people who left her alone in the room with Trump. "Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be," she recalled Trump saying, according to the FBI report. She said he unzipped his pants and forced her head to his penis. She said she immediately bit him and Trump struck her, the report said. She told the FBI agents that she bit him because he "disgusted" her. In her third interview, she told agents she wanted to clarify how Trump reacted to her biting him, explaining that Trump "pulled her hair and punched her on the side of the head."

“A DOJ source told the Miami Herald that agents found her to be credible – and that they would not have interviewed her four times if they thought she was lying.”

— @jkbjournalist.bsky.social on the Epstein victim who accused Trump of assault.

www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Trump also tells Doocy, "I have a lot of respect for you."

And then he adds the reason: "You've always been very nice to me."

Interesting that no one from the administration is denying this report. Sounds like it might well be ... true?

bsky.app/profile/adam...