Dark Days Ahead: Why Gas Prices Keep Climbing

The precursor to today's soaring gas prices actually began with the 1973 Oil Embargo, though isolated strains and rising demand appeared as early as 1972.

The reasons why were a dwindling domestic capacity, the Arab Oil Embargo, and shifting market dynamics that caused the price of a barrel of oil to quadruple by 1974.

 A major factor in the price of gas today also involves the volatile Middle East with an illegal war on Iran. The U.S. has seen prices surge to a nationwide $4.33 per gallon. And it's only going to get worse according to energy experts.

Lawmakers today are paying the price for not resolving the first energy crisis's biggest challenge; while the U.S. produces a massive amount of oil, it yields mainly "light" crude. 

The problem is most American refineries are structurally built to process "heavy" crude imported from regions like Latin America and Canada.

Exporting the USA's own crude and relying on foreign markets for its refined fuel needs has been a losing proposition that lawmakers have been loath to address.

Fact; the U.S. hasn't built a major new refinery since the 1970s. Existing facilities are running near full capacity (around 98%), and recent refinery closures on the West Coast have constrained supplies even further.

American pump prices are directly locked to international benchmarks. When international supply drops, it forces domestic prices to immediately climb as we experience the effect of the Trump/Epstein war.

The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the world's largest emergency supply of crude oil. Instead of using traditional tanks, the federal government stores this oil deep underground in 60 massive, artificially carved salt caverns located across four heavily guarded sites along the Gulf of Texas and Louisiana.

But there's a problem. The SPR is at its lowest level in over 44 years, holding about 285 million barrels of crude oil as of September 2026. The stockpile is currently at about 40% of its total capacity of 714 million barrels.

Then we have a demented president who boasts about America's huge oil reserves and how we don't have to worry about gas prices. In his fantasy world Trump claims gas prices will go down "shortly" despite evidence that things are only going to get worse if they continue to follow the course they're on.

As it Stands, I think were rapidly approaching a point where bicycles and horse drawn vehicles will become our primary modes of transportation. Just kidding. Sort of. 

Red Lights Flashing: Diesel Shortage is Shocking American Consumers

Going forward he shall be known as Diesel Don for driving the price of US diesel to historic highs. 

Trump has thrust America into another crisis as the national average for diesel prices have surged to record highs of $6.29 to $6.40 per gallon.

The surge is driven by geopolitical supply shocks, thanks to the Trump/Epstein war in Iran. As a result, there's been a tightening of global distillate inventories. Energy experts are warning that those costs are likely to climb in the days ahead amid festering geopolitical conflicts overseas.

Warning bells are ringing for all Americans who better be prepared to recognize that inflation is likely to get turbocharged by these high prices. Simply put, everything that moves around the country and all crops are dependent on spending money on diesel fuel.

Signs that we are already in a crisis mode - like in the Midwest which is getting particularly hard hit after an ExxonMobile refinery outside of Chicago had to halt production for several hours following a power outage - are occurring daily.

In response to the historic diesel hikes independent truck drivers and owner-operators are threatening a nationwide strike as early as next week. Small fleets and owner-operators are facing immediate threat of bankruptcy. Red lights are flashing in our vital transportation sector.

Truckers are frustrated by the lack of government intervention. 

The fact of the matter is commercial trucking is the backbone of the domestic supply chain. If there's any prolonged work stoppage or on-going mass exodus of drivers could quickly lead to:

* Severe, immediate food shortages at grocery stores.

* Inabilities to deliver perishable produce and essential medical supplies to hospitals and schools.

* Drastic retail price increases passed straight on to the consumers on everyday goods like clothing, electronics, and building materials. 

As it Stands, lack of diesel supplies arrives at the same time as the price of gasoline is skyrocketing. I'll discus the gas shortage in my next post.

Time to Say Goodbye? It May Be Up To AI

"In the year 5555

Your arms hangin' limp at your sides

Your legs got nothin' to do

Some machine's doing that for you..."

- Zager & Evans

The first American science fiction story about a future doomsday was written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1839. It was titled, "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion." The story takes place in the afterlife, where two disembodied souls - Eiros and Charmion - discuss the recent destruction of earth.

Here we are in the 21st century talking about an artificial intelligence-driven apocalypse in our time. Scenarios include AI manufacturing deadly viruses, attacking infrastructure, or accelerating global wars.

Last week the tech world brought up one big question: "Could AI kill us all?" According to Jacob Coxon a former AI researcher, who previously worked at Open AI, "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

Coxon warned lawmakers that the rapidly developing technology could pose catastrophic risks to humanity in the coming years. His post on Twitter got over 170 million views. People are worried.

Evan Hubinger, who leads Anthropic's alignment stress-testing team, backed Coxon, saying he personally believes there is greater than-10% chance AI could kill humans in that timeframe.

There's a sharp divide among AI experts on what to expect with the expanding use of AI. Some people fear a loss of control with systems more capable than humans. 

Others say AI could cause grave harm through cyberattacks, biological weapons, and disinformation - but that extinction is not a credible near-term outcome.

If frontier labs truly believe there is a substantial extinction risk, they should stop until Congress can enforce a broader halt until it can be shown to be controllable. There's one problem however; Trump believes there will be "more good than bad" from the technology. Bottom line, Trump believes AI is another money-making venture, and he wants to cash in on it.

"There's a sick conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers and the only one that is happy about it is China," Trump claimed in an interview yesterday.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that lawmakers need to take urgent action on the growing threat of AI. Lawmakers from both chambers have returned to Washington this week for the final legislative push before the November midterm elections.

In normal times I think that lawmakers on both sides would agree to slow AI progress down until everyone agrees it's safe. But these are not normal times. We have a convicted felon and sexual abuser who has turned the presidency into a money-making machine.

As it Stands, it's important to know we face a real threat without legislation to control AI and the massive Data Centers that feeds it information 24-hours a day. Time is running out.

Putin Gets Payoff: Trump Tears Apart Institutions and Transparency Rules on Money Laundering

Vladimir Putin is smiling today. His longtime investment in Trump is paying off with dividends. 

Trump took steps to make it very difficult to prosecute money laundering, a crime he's repeatedly committed with his billionaire real estate buddies much of his life.

Why did Capital One Bank close more than 300 Trump Organization accounts back in 2021? The bank said it was because their internal fraud department had flagged illegal money-laundering activities.

Interesting. But on whose behalf? Trump or Russia? Or both? Let's take a look at some factual background for the answer.

One thing was clear in the Mueller Report and public reporting; Putin spent millions and did his best via social media and hacking the DNC to get Trump elected in 2016. It's more than likely that Putin tried to help get Trump elected in 2020 and 2024.

Now this happens...

Trump's billionaire crony Scott Bessent this week came up with a new rule that will make it more difficult to investigate and prosecute money laundering. 

Bessent ended any transparency by directing the Treasury to delete all the beneficial-ownership information they currently hold on U.S. persons (like Trump and his brats) that could be used to prove past money laundering crimes. 

No wonder Putin is smiling. Trump made it easier for him, or any other foreign oligarch, to use shell companies to buy American politicians. What a coup!

It's common knowledge that money laundering is how drug money, bribes, stolen government money, tax evasion proceeds, or money belonging to a sanctioned oligarch can be pushed through corporations, trusts, real estate, banks, casinos, and multiple other transactions.

A recent report from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project titled "U.S. Real Estate is No 1 Destination for Laundering Dirty Money." In it they say, "we have the weakest regulatory framework to counter real estate money laundering" among all of the G7 nations."

Trump and Bessent made sure they and their accomplices in crime will be harder to catch with this slimy move.

It's a fact that Trump has been up to his eyeballs in money laundering for most of his business career. When he blew his inheritance, he turned to Russian oligarchs to prop him up after multiple bankruptcies via these very kinds of real estate transactions that the Treasury will no longer be looking at.

It's going to be easier than ever before for bad foreign actors to influence our elections with the midterms only 50 days away. 

More bad news.

Thanks to Trump refusing to appoint a needed member, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) doesn't have the quorum it needs to conduct its own enforcement of rules against foreigners jumping into our elections. Call it a hunch, but I doubt Trump will ever appoint someone - especially with the midterms around the corner.

Sadly, we know foreign billionaires (Musk, etc.) and dictators have a vested interest in how our system works; if they didn't, they wouldn't be throwing literally billions of dollars into Trump family operations, from Trump's crypto to Jared's Saudi backed Investment fund.

As it Stands, this latest move is another threat to the integrity of the midterms as GOP candidates will get the benefit of more foreign money that's now become easier than ever before to dole out.