Hope & Gory

A photo is worth a thousand words…

Turns out they did, in fact, renew the general license on Russian oil. This will likely mean billions in new funding for Russia to fuel its war on Ukraine.

What Trump just unfroze for Iran vs. what Obama unfroze

“Somebody shorted the oil markets today by hundreds of millions of dollars exactly 20 minutes before Trump made his announcement that everything was going to be great. And if you see that once, it could be a coincidence. But that’s happened at least three times, if not more, since the war began. That’s a pattern.” “And what that suggests is that there’s rampant corruption and insider self-dealing going on with the president’s up and down predictions of what’s going to happen tomorrow in the negotiations and in the markets. And I’m sure that that’s being investigated. We can’t prove it, but it seems like the corruption that we’re seeing in our government, maybe not the President, but people who are in the know and the markets, is having a priority over the actual negotiations to end the war. And that’s a crazy thing that our system has never seen before.”

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert. com, on the four things it takes to be really successful, and why the most important one isn't what you'd expect: He opens with a clear framework: "It takes four things to be really successful. Talent, you've all got it, as do many more people than you think. Hard work. If you want to be really successful, you're going to have to work hard. Focus. Zone in on what you're good at." On focus, he pushes back against the idea that you need to be exceptional at everything: "Understand, none of us are unfailingly brilliant at everything. So, find the thing that you're good at and zone in on that. And that is what will create your success." But the fourth factor is where his message turns unexpected: "The most important thing is luck. You can do everything right, but it still not work for you. And you need to know that now." This reframes how he wants people to think about setbacks: "Failing does not make you a failure. Do not judge yourself. See it as a way to learn and to give yourself a better opportunity the next time." @MartinSLewis then challenges a common assumption about what success actually delivers: "Success can be stressful. Success is not a synonym for happiness. As you go through your working careers, at sometimes you may want to make a call. Do I continue to push that hard or do I smile at what I've got and enjoy happiness and the other things that life starts to give me?" He closes with a message aimed at those who do make it big: "One or two of you in here will make it really big. If that's you, remember of those four things, the most important one is luck. And that means if you're that super successful one in the room, you have a moral duty to give back."

Putin feels the same way. Funny how that keeps happening.

The guy who just flew to Hungary to get involved in their politics tells the Pope, who is from Chicago, Illinois to stay out of US politics.

Trump has become fully unhinged and we should talk about it.

This guy is utterly delusional… incredible that the charlatan Johnson put such a clown in charge of such an important negotiation. It will take years to undo the damage done.

Q: Will you apologize to Pope Leo? TRUMP: No, because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. I think he's very weak on crime.

Exclusive: Richard Tice’s company broke the law by failing to pay tens of thousands of pounds in tax on dividends that were paid to him and his offshore trust. He received at least £91,000 in excess payments as a result of the failure. thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

The deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, owns a property company - Quidnet REIT. From 2020 to 2022 it paid Tice and his trust £600k in dividends. Quidnet should have paid £120k of tax on those dividends. It didn't. A 🧵 with evidence from the company's own filings:

🚨 NEW: Police are now assessing whether Reform UK broke the law with its free energy bills prize [@SabriSun_Miller]

⛓️Chain of events in the Reform UK competition scandal⛓️‍ <-> Ray and June Dibble are photographed at a Brexit Party rally in 2019 with Nigel Farage, Anne Widdecombe and David Bull. <-> Ray and June nominate local councillor, Lee Moffitt as branch chair for Reform UK, Wigan. <-> Ray and June win Nigel Farage's energy bills competition. <-> Additional info — Farage and Jenrick turn up at Ray and June's house with a cheque for a VERY SPECIFIC amount of £1,758. It's almost as though the entire thing was orchestrated from the beginning. Huge H/T to @linfitlass and @reformexposed for two crucial pieces of the puzzle.

Since it would appear that Reform knew the winners of their energy scam, they have almost certainly committed a criminal offence. I don't suppose anything will happen though.

Not very bright

You won’t believe who has nominated Reform UK’s HMO managing Wigan candidate Lee Moffitt? RAY and JUNE that just won the Nigel Cut My Bills competition. You cannot make it up. #NigelCutTheCrap

🗼WELL I NEVER🗼 Would you believe that Ray and June, who won the Reform UK energy bills prize, go back all the way to the Brexit Party with Farage? Here they are with Farage, Widdecombe and Bull [a truly awful supernatural detective thriller]. What a coincidence [increasingly unlikely] h/t, and thanks to @linfitlass for pointing this out to me. These images are from a Brexit Party rally in Fylde on the 4th May 2019. [credit Getty Images I believe, but Google for me].

It must have been so weird to pretend they’ve never met

Kerry: I was part of the any number of conversations with Netanyahu. Psaki: Pitching the US strike Iran? Kerry: Yes, he wanted us to strike. He came to president Obama. He made a presentation to ask to strike. President Obama refused. President Biden refused. President Bush refused. The only president who has agreed to this, obviously, is President Trump