Trump has suddenly limited Ukraine's Starlink capabilities, most likely because Ukraine has been so successful at destroying Russian diesel and diesel refining capability

 Trump is evil.

 

Overall cpi inflation is trending up since Trump was elected, whether you look at the year over year rate increases from a monthly or a quarterly perspective

 Overall monthly cpi inflation in Sep 2026 increased at a rate of 3.71% year over year.

Overall quarterly cpi inflation in 3Q2026 increased at a rate of 3.458% year over year.

Despite the bad uptick in September, 3Q still ticked down.

CNBC has some good summary tables, as usual. In Sep 2026 fuel oil and gasoline price increases were the biggest drivers of the overall cpi rate of 3.71% year over year.

Here’s the inflation breakdown for September 2026 — in one chart

... “Crude oil is moving through the Strait of Hormuz but remains below its pre-war pace. Even after key waterways fully reopen, lost refining capacity and distribution problems may delay lower energy prices until mid-2027,” according to the Wells Fargo Investment Institute analysis. ... The average nationwide price at the pump was $4.33 per gallon on Wednesday, up 45% from $2.98 per gallon on Feb. 27, right before the Iran war began, according to AAA data. ... Average diesel prices were $6.30 per gallon on Wednesday, up about 68% from $3.76 per gallon before the Iran war, according to AAA data. ...

monthly

quarterly

 

Core cpi inflation remains too high in Sep 2026 at 2.5% yoy in 3Q2026 and 2.6% yoy in Sep 2026, but no one can deny that the trend for the rate increases is down since Trump was elected in 2024

Tariffs and war remain the forces blunting what could have otherwise been much better results in the fight against inflation, and those were by choice not by accident.

 

quarterly

monthly

You know only a heap of broken images

 

 

 

Clues Are Everywhere, Society Is Growing Stupider

- James Marriott, Washington Post

 

... Studies have shown declines in IQ over the past two decades, with the sharpest drops among age brackets that use their phones the most.

 

... Entertainment and the arts are undergoing what might be termed a Great Simplification. 

... complexity seems to be rapidly draining out of culture.

The same relentless pressures toward simplification are at work in almost every creative industry.

... lyrics are becoming simpler, more repetitive and less rich in their vocabulary. Another study suggests that melodies are becoming less complex, too.

... Books are getting simpler and easier to read. An Economist analysis of New York Times best-selling books from the 1930s to the 2020s found that “sentences in popular books have contracted by almost a third since the 1930s.” 

... culture risks being transformed into a ... wasteland. ... 

 

 

The last time I updated this chart in July 2025 the very next big boy was the next day, an 8.8 in Russia, so watch out!

 Historic earthquakes strike Atlantic as expert raises fears of seismic 'chain reaction'

Two powerful earthquakes have struck in the Atlantic Ocean, prompting one expert to warn of a possible seismic 'chain reaction' that could affect the US. 

The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected a magnitude 6.9 earthquake along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Africa and South America at 8.23am ET.

A magnitude 6.7 quake struck less than seven hours earlier at 1.44am, just 50 miles north along the same seafloor fault line where the bottom of the ocean is slowly splitting apart.

... Tuesday's earthquakes in the Atlantic were among the strongest to hit the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the last 50 years, with the 6.9 quake registering as the third strongest since 1976. ... 

 

 

France caught four of last month's Renoir paintings thieves, but released them under judicial supervision even though the paintings were worth over $5 million and drug trafficking seems to be involved

 

Two stories out today illustrate the general decline in the ability to think critically, especially about religion

 Back to back today at Real Clear Religion:

The Religious Revival That Never Came

Ryan Burge, Graphs About Religion 

 

Religion and the Decline in Alcohol Use

Frank Newport, Gallup

 

I don't think either story is conclusive about much of anything, and each one in its own way wears blinders. 

 

Unbelievably the first one uses pandemic years 2020-2021 as the end point for its analysis, when Canada forcibly closed down churches all over the country, limited public gatherings to handfuls of people, and citizens generally were afraid to congregate, about which Burge says nothing, and for which he fails to control. 

 

Nor does he mention the hysteria against the churches in Canada which developed in May 2021 over long past and unsubstantiated general mistreatment of indigenous tribes, which describes a present social environment where open church affiliation might be perceived as a liability by people who otherwise might have an inclination to affiliate but no longer do.

 

Apropos of which, neither does Burge mention that arson attacks against churches in Canada doubled in 2021 to 90 from 31-45 per year on average in the prior decade, and that attacks continue near these high levels through at least 2024. 

 

Canada is recently very openly HOSTILE to religion. Do you think that might have something to do with your stupid facts?

 

The second story is typical Gallup. It never mentions that the decline in drinking is a dramatic phenomenon amongst Gen Z and Millennials, who also happen to spearhead the decline of religion and the popularity of weed. With which of these is the decline in drinking to be associated? Gallup wants you to think its the religion angle, when I say it is not even simply a phenomenon of drug replacement or of youth, but of youth generally expressing their rebellion against their parents, who still drink and go to church, the hypocrites. Can't you just feel the sneer?

 

BOOMER HATE is real.

 

"Or, maybe they just don't have the money to go to the bar."

 

-- Martin Luther probably 

OK, let the Protestants do it since Catholics don't have the thumos

 

Military Archbishop Says Catholic Soldiers Shouldn't Serve On Firing Squad

AP

 

The annual Reformation Day present from Rome came early this year. 

 

Just a reminder that Catholics had 1776 years to found an America, never did, and never will.

 

 

Just a reminder that 1 in 6 Americans will cast a vote in three weeks under the influence of antidepressants prescribed by a doctor

 

This is what I mean about the GOP defending the president no matter what

We're Not at War With Russia, Oil Deal Puts U.S. First

Mollie Hemingway, FOX News

 

Russia is at war with people seeking freedom and alliance with the free world, and Mollie couldn't care less.

 

Russia will earn up to $4 billion in hard currency in the deal, which it desperately needs and with which it will continue to oppress Ukraine. 

 

The U.S. consumed about 3 million barrels of diesel a day in 2025 for transportation purposes. Russia's diesel is not even two weeks of supply.

 

It will make next to no difference. We don't need it. 

 

It's not a deal. It's a troll. 

 

 

 

Real Clear Politics' predictions for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate three weeks out from Election 2026

Democrats should be doing much better than this given the outrageous transgressions of Trump and his party.

It's an index of the crazy candidates Democrats have offered as the alternative, who aren't exactly galvanizing support.

The two main political parties are mental.

 

Senate: 46D,46R,8TU: Dem +3, Odds | House: 226D,189R,20TU: Dem +21, Odds

Joos Joos Joos! It's all Abdul ever talks about. There's 129,225 Joos in Michigan, what about the rest of us?

Joos know what happens when you open the door to Hamas.

 

Meanwhile Democrats are outraged that Trump would execute a guy in a wheelchair

 

Trump repeatedly promised he'd cut our energy bills in half, but electricity is up over 11% since he was elected

 

Once a week I splurge (!) on a grilled hamburger, and the price is up 23% since Trump was elected

 Yeah I use charcoal, and light it with gasoline, too.

 

 

Everyday starts with a cup of coffee, which is up 35% since Trump was elected

It's a BFD with me.

 

Gasoline is up 44% since early March

 

Diesel fuel is up 59% since early March

 

America has a strong dollar trending stronger in 2026 to date

The impact on the gold price has been negligible, down 3.22% year to date.

 

The trend for the price of WTI for the seven months since early March is basically flat between $94 and $96

Seven months of sound and fury, signifying nothing.