Good evening, and welcome to Raw America. I’m British Chris.
Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide note has been hidden from the public for the better part of a decade. Trump’s unnecessary war with Iran is pushing gas prices toward five dollars a gallon. That same war, by the way, is even more unpopular than Vietnam. And European airlines are warning they could collapse by September. Let’s get to it.
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Epstein Suicide Note Withheld from Public for 7 Years
For nearly seven years, a handwritten note purportedly left by Jeffrey Epstein has been sitting sealed inside a federal courthouse in White Plains, New York.
Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer serving four life sentences for a quadruple homicide, says he found the note tucked inside a graphic novel in July 2019. That was right after Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell with a strip of cloth around his neck.
Tartaglione recalls the note said investigators had looked into Epstein for months and “found nothing.” The message reportedly ended with something like: “What do you want me to do, bust out crying? Time to say goodbye.”
Tartaglione gave the note to his lawyers. They had it authenticated by handwriting experts. And then a federal judge sealed it as part of the legal mess surrounding Tartaglione’s own case.
Here’s what’s remarkable. The note wasn’t mentioned in any of the official investigations into Epstein’s death. Not anywhere in the millions of pages the Justice Department has released.
The New York Times has now petitioned the judge to unseal it. The DOJ says it hasn’t even seen the note. A cryptic two-page chronology buried in the Epstein document dump traces the note’s journey through the legal system but raises more questions than it answers.
Oil Prices Hit New High as U.S. and Iran Dig In
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, meaning the main transit route for 20 percent of the world’s oil is effectively shut down by Iranian drones and mines.
Trump said Wednesday he’s prepared to keep the blockade on Iranian ports until Tehran “cries uncle.” Iran, meanwhile, is saying it won’t negotiate on its nuclear program until the war ends.
Oil hit $126 a barrel this week. That’s a price not seen since Russia invaded Ukraine. The national average for gas in the U.S. is now over $4.30 a gallon.
Iran says it’s been here before. Decades of sanctions have, in their words, given them a “PhD in sanctions evasion.” Their military says the country isn’t collapsing, their food supplies are stable, and they say they now have “new cards” to play.
The first round of talks broke down without a deal. Trump has since dismissed Iran’s offer to negotiate a strait reopening separately from nuclear issues. Iran’s hardliners are now reportedly pushing back against any compromise on enrichment.
Analysts are describing it as a test of wills with no off-ramp in sight. The rest of the world is suffering the economic blowback.
Trump’s War in Iran Is Even More Unpopular Than Vietnam
Trump promised on election night that he wasn’t going to start any wars. But since returning to office, the Trump administration has carried out military strikes in seven countries: Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, and Venezuela.
And the war with Iran, which began February 28th, has become the most unpopular American military conflict since the Korean War in 1950.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released April 28th shows 61 percent of Americans disapprove of the strikes on Iran. That’s up from 43 percent at the start of the war. It’s worse than Vietnam. It’s worse than Iraq. It’s worse than Afghanistan.
Trump’s overall approval rating has dropped to 34 percent, the lowest of his current term. Just 22 percent of Americans approve of how he’s handling the cost of living.
The financial toll is staggering. The Trump administration spent $11.3 billion in the first six days alone, with estimates suggesting roughly a billion dollars a day continuing through the April 8th ceasefire. Put in context, the 20-year Afghanistan war averaged about $300 million a day.
Since February 28th, more than 3,300 Iranians have been killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes. Thirteen American service members have died in combat. More than 200 have been wounded.
Airlines May Shut Down This Year Due to Trump’s War
The ripple effects of the Iran conflict are now threatening to ground European aviation.
The CEO of Wizz Air, one of Europe’s largest budget carriers, warned this week that airlines with weak balance sheets could start going bust as early as September.
Europe normally imports about 500,000 barrels of jet fuel a day from the Gulf. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, that supply chain is broken. Airlines are scrambling to source fuel from the U.S., Nigeria, and Asia, but they’re now competing in a global bidding war that’s driving prices through the roof.
Lufthansa has already canceled roughly 20,000 flights to conserve fuel. Air France-KLM is raising fares and adjusting schedules.
The Wizz Air CEO says the summer season is masking the damage because demand is high enough to absorb costs. But September and February are historically when airlines go under. And he’s warning that a flood of capacity cuts could hit in the fall.
In a worst-case scenario, Wizz Air itself could be forced to cut 30 percent of its flights.
Demand for summer travel to Turkey, Egypt, and Cyprus is actually rebounding, he noted. But travel to the Middle East? His words: “It’s dead. No one is going.”
Meanwhile, Brent crude spiked again Wednesday after reports that Trump is being briefed on new military options for potential escalation in Iran. The market is pricing in the very real possibility this gets worse before it gets better.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris, with Raw America. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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