Here is an extract from Phillips P. Obrien on hus Substack, April 22, 2026
However, something pretty horrible is unfolding in front of us. The US government is being used as a tool to corruptly enrich certain people, to a tune of billions of $’s. And that means US service personnel and Iranian civilians (the people who are suffering the most in this war) are being sacrificed so that others who have enriched themselves through their loss can enrich themselves further.
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Also, the blockade/negotiations dance continues with the same basic problem that we have seen since early March. Trump wants out, desperately needs a “deal” that he can say is better than the JCPOA, but the Iranian government is under less pressure to give him that. As such, escalation remains on the table. Finally, the oil markets are rather optimistic, worth noting.
The Most Corrupt War In US History
On April 17, a $760 million bet on falling oil prices was placed minutes before Iran’s foreign minister publicly announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be open to commercial vessels. The announcement triggered an immediate market reaction, with crude oil prices falling as much as 11 percent within minutes. The trader who put the massive bet made a huge financial windfall in just moments.
This was no accident it was almost certainly corruption. Indeed it was just the latest of series of obviously corrupt trades, using inside information that could only have come from the top of the US Government, to make illegal benefits on major market shifts that the “investor” knew were only minutes away. It fits a pattern of trade which has caused hundreds of millions of $’s (at least) of gains for those with the inside information—and losses for many honest investors.
And earlier, who else do you think benefited from massive UAE, Saudi and Qatari investment? Well that would be the President’s son in law, Jared Kushner, who is slated to be one of the two leading negotiators with the Iranians—if the next round of talks take place (see below). In this case we seem to be talking about at least $4 billion being handed over to Kushner to invest through his Affinity Partners investment fund. Again some details are:
Six months after Kushner left his role as a senior White House adviser in 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) committed $2 billion to Affinity Partners.
When you boil it down, the policies of the USA do not seem to be being developed or run by those who care about the USA at all, but instead policies seem to be vehicles to openly (and secretly) enrich those with close Trump ties
Blatant corruption, thanks to the blessing of the rigged Supreme Court:
February 2, 2026
How Trump Became the Biggest Crook in the History of Democracy
The penny-ante bribes of his first term have given way to billions in graft.
After SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling, Trump wields it broadly in push for powerThe broader impact of the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on presidential immunity is coming i…Show more
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court’s monumental 2024 decision granting President Donald Trump sweeping immunity from prosecution, the ruling’s broader impact on American government is beginning to come into focus as Trump and his lawyers repeatedly invoke the case in an effort to get the justices to endorse expansive presidential power.
“That’s not a coincidence, it’s a strategy,” said James Sample, a constitutional scholar at Hofstra Law and ABC News legal contributor. “They’re not just invoking a precedent, they’re building an architecture.”
An ABC News review of the unprecedented 29 Trump emergency applications to the Supreme Court in his second term found that nearly a third directly cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion in the immunity case, Trump v. U.S.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attends President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the Capitol, Feb. 24, 2026.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Trump attorneys reference portions of the court’s immunity decision at least 21 times to argue for “unrestricted” presidential power to fire executive branch employees; unreviewable control over “matters related to terrorism, trade and immigration;” and absolute authority as commander-in-chief to deploy troops to aid domestic law enforcement.
The Constitution “creates an ‘energetic, independent executive,’ not a subservient executive,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote the court, quoting Roberts, in a September request to allow Trump to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
“These aren’t random citations,” Sample said. “The White House Counsel’s Office has read that opinion very carefully, and they are using it methodically.”
The court is still crafting a decision in the Cook case but has generally embraced the administration’s broad view of presidential authority to remove federal employees and supervise agencies.
Since January 2025, however, the justices have not referenced Trump v. U.S. to justify any of its decisions in favor of the Trump administration, leading some court analysts to question why the conservative majority has avoided explicitly invoking its own precedent.
“We just don’t know yet what this case means, and it will be up to a future Supreme Court to define it,” said Sarah Isgur, SCOTUSblog editor and ABC News legal contributor.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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