Besides blaming Biden for the rise in gasoline prices (which is false), right wing media is now howling about how the US has increased its imports of Russian oil in recent years.  We have indeed increased our imports of Russian oil, but most of it is actually not crude oil, but unfinished component products for making gasoline and diesel.  Why?  Interesting you should ask – imports of Russian oil and products increased when Venezuelan crude and products were banned by a US president.  Biden, you ask?  Nope – TFG.  In 2019.  At the time strongman Nicolas Maduro had seized the presidency of Venezuela after the election, and TFG’s handlers saw an opportunity to connect Democrats with “leftists” in Venezuela, attracting votes from a growing population of Venezuelans in Florida, and banned imports of the country’s crude and products.  All that accomplished was drive Maduro into the arms of Putin, AND forced US refiners to increase Russian imports to replace the lost Venezuelan product and keep supply of motor fuels flowing into US markets.

Since the war in Ukraine started, the Noise Machine has been howling about how Biden is responsible for rising prices and “increasing dependence” on Russian crude, which is all bullshit.  Even at it’s peak, Russian product has only made up about 4% to 8% of total imports into the US, and only about 2% of US consumption.  This is all a tempest in a teapot trying to blame the Biden administration for the price and demand crunches that exist through no direct actions of Biden, or any other president, for that matter.

The global energy markets are made up of millions of players in every energy consuming state.  The US government does not control US production which is controlled by private companies navigating shifting sands of economies, investors, and consumers.  Today, the Washington Post published a really good explainer of how gasoline prices are determined and worth the time of anyone not familiar with how the oil and gas industry actually works.

It hit me a little when I was sitting in mass. We do the usual things because I suppose the usual things give us some comfort. Of course, the faithful hopes it does more. We said rosaries for Ukraine and we ultimately hope it has some positive impact. So, it isn’t the prayer themselves but what we say before the prayer.

The priest told us we were praying for all of the world leaders to come up with a peaceful solution in Ukraine. He’s a really great guy (the priest). I know he means well and I imagine most churches are saying something similar. Yet, that sentiment hit me. We are operating in this situation as if a global community needs to come together to come up with a collective solution to a problem where multiple people are involved in the causes.

There is one man. Ukraine didn’t do this to themselves. Volodymyr Zelenskyy didn’t do anything to anger or provoke the Russians. The European community, international community, NATO, or the United States didn’t do anything specifically to invite Russia to invade Ukraine. This was a decision by one man, so any praying needs to be done for the victims, but also for that one man.

This is usually where conservatives point fingers at liberals and liberals point fingers at conservatives. If only you would have done this or said this then none of this would have happened. It’s a trap. Vladimir Putin is a bully. Like most bullies, you either stand up to him or you don’t. There is little rhyme or reason to their behavior, so it’s more about you reacting to him than him reacting to you.

This is one of those scenarios where the former guy’s behavior comes under question. He seemed way to eager to be Putin’s friend. He seemed way to eager to go along with him at all of their various summits (particularly at Helsinki). So, the obvious thought was that he was indebted to Russia in some way. There were some shady business deals that seemed to indicate that.

Yet, that line of thinking is probably trying too hard. The former guy’s pathology is easier to grasp than that. He likes all strong men because he wants to be a strong man. So, he may have gotten help putting him in office, but it might not be anything other than Putin feeling he was better for them than Hillary Clinton.

On the flip side you have the other side wondering if Biden is too old. Maybe he isn’t tough enough to show the resolve necessary to steer the world through this situation. Maybe a strong man would be the best thing to help combat a strong man. Except, we aren’t exactly sure whether the former guy is anything other than a paper tiger. He acts tough though and I guess that’s enough for some.

Again, this is simple. This isn’t about the world developing a complex strategy to deal with all of the players so they can come to an equitable solution. This is about one man flying off the handle. It is about the world simply putting that man back into a box or six feet under in a box. Everything else is simply a distraction.

When we went to the D Day Museum in New Orleans, we noticed an entire room dedicated to the propaganda of the time period. There was one particular pamphlet that told us how to tell the difference between our “Japanese enemies and our Chinese friends.” One could easily imagine the government printing out the same pamphlet five years after World War II ended and simply switching the two.

Two things characterize the propaganda of the past. When we are separated from it for several decades it becomes so much easier to see the outrageous nature of it. How could anyone have put any stock in any of it? Of course, we have to acknowledge how effective it was at the same time. Propaganda plays on our fears and our prejudices. That is the unfortunate second thing that characterizes the propaganda.

Maria Baritromo is just the latest to get clipped for trying her hand at propaganda. We can go any number of directions in this deal, but the hilarious point here is the use of the colloquial “people are saying.” In this case she used the journalistic equivalent of “people are telling me.” Sure. It was a trick that her former leader tried throughout his presidency.

One wonders what happens to anyone when they are subjected to a barrage of crap like that. Maybe Baritromo is a prime example. Maybe someone who’s claim to fame was a dress she wore to the Al Smith dinner in 2016 couldn’t be expected to keep an air of objectivity. Perhaps that’s just a cheap shot on my account. The folks at Fox have never been anywhere close to objective. She wouldn’t be the first or the last “journalist” to be sold based on sex appeal and not actual intelligence.

It’s also one of those things that makes you wonder what the toll is on all of us when propaganda gets tossed around. The good folks on Twitter refer to it as getting ratioed. For those that don’t frequent Twitter, the term “ratioed” refers to when someone’s tweet attracts trolls and detractors in full force. Sometimes it is deserved, but it makes you wonder what the effect is on average ordinary folks.

Well, the average person can’t help but get sucked into all of it. One cannot watch something like Fox Business without having an extreme visceral reaction. Either you find yourself agreeing with the nonsense or you find yourself getting more angry at the nonsense. It creates a two-tiered con on the public. The base level con is that we believe Baritromo when she reports that “people are saying.”

The second level of the con is to get you riled up at the ridiculousness of it. It is here that we probably should mind the Yoda lesson of how anger and fear lead to the dark side. It creates separation where there was not separation before. It throws a wedge in between ordinary folks. It creates the “how could you think that…” dynamic.

From there, it is easy enough to separate people into their separate information silos. You can almost picture folks at Fox and MSNBC meeting together for a power lunch and toast to each other’s efforts. It serves both of them and their profits. You just wonder which one is covering the bill today.

Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court cemented in vigilante law by affirming that SB8, which our radical rightwing government rammed through during the last legislative session and permits anyone to sue any person they accuse of getting, giving, or assisting in any abortion anywhere in Texas.  The law exposes ALL Texans to vigilante action with zero protection of the personal rights of anyone deemed to be involved in a medical procedure that is constitutionally protected.

The notion that his law passes any legal test is outrageous on the face, yet the radicalism that has taken over the courts has driven them to look the other way while lawlessness of a tiny group of partisans wreak havoc to everyone else’s lives.  The Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court now say that they have no role in protecting the individual rights of Americans including privacy, equal protection, or voting.

I say, OK, let’s play.  If vigilanteism is now the rule of law in Texas, let’s go after:

1. Fox News, OANN, and Newmax – allow anyone to sue anyone else they accuse of watching those channels.
2. Carrying firearms – allow anyone to sue anyone else they accuse of carrying a firearm.
3. Loud  Pickup Trucks – anyone can now sue others who they believe are driving a truck that’s too loud.
4. Voting – let’s sue anyone who can’t prove they voted in all elections.
5. Donuts – let’s sue people who eat donuts because it’s not healthy.
6. Churches – let’s sue people who darken the doors of churches we don’t like.  Plaintiff’s choice as to which church they don’t like.
7. Snow shovel brims on cowboy hats and goofy square-toed boots – let’s sue anyone wearing those because they’re morons.
8. Flags on pickups – $10,000 per flag, $50,000 if the word “Trump” appears on any flag.
9. Toby Keith songs – because I’m sick of them
10. Dancing with the Stars – $10,000 per episode because you’re an idiot to watch and it causes brain damage.
11. Any piece of clothing that has a MAGA logo – because…you know why.

You get the point.  The courts are now nothing more than observers to single party rule and fascist laws that permit spying on fellow citizens and accusing them of whatever the plaintiffs don’t like.  Let’s turn it around on them.

Texas is lost.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes the extension of the free school lunch program.

Those damn kids, living in the lap of luxury, don’t even have a job.  I mean, how do they think we’re going to recoup all the money Trump spent on his golf courses and his resort? We all have to sacrifice and they can throw a newspaper route to pay for their lunches, I guess.

Seriously, I think the reason Mitch opposes feeding hungry little children is because he’s dead set on everybody knowing he’s a damn sumbitch.

Now we package politicians with product identity symbols. I guess the first one I noticed was Obama’s logo. Then the silly red MAGA hat. It’s like we have to logo everything now, including wars.

Even NPR doesn’t know what it means.  The letter Z does not appear in the Cyrillic alphabet, so that makes it more a symbol than a letter.

Thelma has a theory that it has something to do with movie Zombie Apocalypse. I’d like to be to disprove that but I can’t. Junior thinks it’s an N tumped over to confuse us, the N being Nazi. I’m not sure how they spell it in Russia.

But no matter how hard Putin tries, nobody will ever make any money selling one of these with his picture on it.

This is totally off topic, but y’all there is something seriously wrong with William Barr. First, he hides very damaging information about Donald Trump’s mental health until he can write a book and makes some money off it. Then he goes on Fox News and says …

Barr tonight: “He was livid and shaking, showed a lot of temper and yelling .. He started talking about he won the election, the machines are rigged and he was going to be there another term. This showed a detachment from reality that was stunning to me.” pic.twitter.com/X8TNjrEgDx

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 9, 2022

Next up – Trump calls Barr mentally unstable, a liar, and lazy.

So, Barr goes on the Today show a day later and says …

Oh Dude, you’d give that guy the nuclear codes? Whoa, Skippy, now you’re so far out there that even Goggle can find you.