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Posts Made By: James Lacey

May 26, 2026 07:15 PM Forum: Politics

Reuters: "US Supreme Court under Roberts takes 'wrecking ball' to Voting Rights Act"

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

In addition to the epic economic cocka, the idea that we can "trust & verify" what the Iranians say they might do about their uranium production is another epic hallucinatory pipeline .

Watching Al Jazeera on cable is an eye-opener if you can get past the constant anti-Israeli propaganda. If you saw the Iranian underground tunnel systems where their drones and ballistic missile production occurs on a daily basis, you'd understand where all their oil money is going. This is some next-level engineering that've got down there, and nothing like the sewer suites of tunnels under Gaza or those in the movie "The Great Escape". (Think the Disney monorail underground or "The Jetsons)." My guess is that even Brian, our engineer here, would be impressed. 

Trump's constantly changing positions have now morphed from the Iranian's uranium will be removed and transferred to the USA, to, as of last night, being transferred to a third party-nation to be named later,  OR being somehow destroyed in Iran under the supervision of the atomic energy commission. How realistic is any of that?

It's pretty hilarious how, in the last 24 hours, Trump snatched defeat from what was supposed to be a peace deal, using social media, once again. I can only conclude that, yet again, there was never a peace deal even close to being agreed upon. The peace deal is about as real as his health care plan. You would think that at some point he would realize his diplomats and negotiators are incompetent, but then again, he is the leader of the clown show, so what can you expect?

May 27, 2026 01:51 PM Forum: Politics

Reuters: "US Supreme Court under Roberts takes 'wrecking ball' to Voting Rights Act"

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

Excuse the typo. As if you've never done it. 

Please go crawl back under the rock you've been hiding under. You add nothing to the discussion. except taunts and lies, just like your hero.

When Rich has been absent for weeks, if not months, and then pops in to post one of his ridiculous, biased, closed-minded, and partisan rants laced with taunts and lies, it just makes you realize how desensitized we had all become to his normal posting. I mean, his last post is pretty tame by Rich standards, but still, it certainly makes you realize just how nutso he truly is, since you haven't seen one in a while.

May 28, 2026 01:50 PM Forum: Politics

Reuters: "US Supreme Court under Roberts takes 'wrecking ball' to Voting Rights Act"

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

My guess is that you probably won't hear from him for awhile. He's probably moving to Texas so he can vote for Paxton...

Paxton's win may backfire against Trump, because many believe he is far more vulnerable to Talarico than Cornyn would have been. Primaries are low-turnout elections where only party fanatics, and mostly older people, vote, so Paxton's huge win over Corny is not indicative of what will happen in the general election. Trump's core base of supporters love these firebrand, populist conservatives, and corruption doesn't matter, as long as they see the candidate as someone who will aggressively challenge liberal ideas and go after what they see as progressive agendas that are ruining the country. There is no doubt that Paxton has the Trump-supporter vote and a lot of the rural vote. Still, Texas is becoming more urban and purple by the day, so it will be interesting to see if he is truly competitive in the general election. My instinct is that it will not be a repeat of the Cruz-Beto matchup of 2018, since Texas has become even more competitive than it was then, and Cruz only narrowly won.

May 29, 2026 07:35 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Energy Exxon warns oil inventories will hit dangerously low levels in weeks, forcing prices to shoot higher

Exxon Mobil warned Thursday that oil inventories will fall to record low levels in coming weeks, forcing prices to spike and curbing demand.

“We’re approaching unheard of inventory levels,” said Exxon Senior Vice President Neil Chapman at a conference hosted by Bernstein in New York.

“I mean really, really low levels,” Chapman warned. “You can debate whether that’s going to hit, those really low levels, in two weeks or three weeks. Once you get to that point, then you’ll see price shoot up.”

The price of physical Brent oil cargoes will spike to $150 to $160 per barrel when inventories hit all-time lows in coming weeks, the executive said. “When the price gets to a certain level, demand destruction brings it back into balance,” he said.

May 30, 2026 12:13 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

It's ok, James, the treasury department is gonna print a $250.00 bill with Trump's face on it so we can pay for it!....

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/28/nx-s1-5838002/treasury-department-prepares-250-bill-with-trumps-face-on-it

What an abomination and mockery this will be. Banana Republic confirmed!

Chevron's CEO is now issuing the same warnings as Exxon. And even if the current clown show ever does reach a peace deal with Iran,  restoring the SoH to normal is not like flipping a switch. It takes time to normalize all of the complexities, such as shipping routes, insurance costs, tanker availability, and the inventories themselves. I would say that a very large, substantial jump in gas prices is all but unavoidable now, even though the oil market is acting crazy right now and oil prices are falling. The market has been baking in the expectation that a peace deal would happen before we got to where we are, and all signs now are that it will not happen.

Here are the Weekly Stocks of Distillate Fuel Oil from the EIA



"The buffers and the shock absorbers are being steadily drawn down, and the ability for the market to absorb this imbalance is drastically diminished today versus where we started," he said at a conference.

"Over the next few weeks, we’re likely to see those pressures flow through more directly to physical prices and there’s more upwards pressure that I would expect as we get into June and certainly into July."

Wirth’s comments follow a 10% fall in oil prices over the past week amid optimism that the US and Iran can agree a deal to end the three-month-long conflict that has closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Wirth's comments echo a growing chorus of warnings from other oil executives, including the head of the United Arab Emirates state oil group Adnoc, who cautioned last week that full oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were unlikely to return before next year even if the conflict is resolved.

May 30, 2026 12:29 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

That's my point...

Paxton is no Cruz. Many key differences ensure this is not a Beto-Cruz redux matchup, IMHO. Caution is warranted, of course, and Talarico needs to play his campaign very smartly, but he has a far better chance than Beto did, IMHO.

The takeaway: from the poll you cited, so that it's not lost in the back-and-forth.


The takeaway: Democrat James Talarico leads Ken Paxton 47% to 44% in the U.S. Senate general election, powered by commanding margins with moderates and independents.

Crucially, among Cornyn runoff voters, nearly a third (30%) say that they would vote for Talarico, while 44% would vote for Paxton—23% remain undecided or say that they will not vote. More than half of GOP runoff voters who now plan to support Talarico cite Paxton’s criminality or corruption as their primary reason.

May 30, 2026 04:13 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by David Cotterell

Huh?

New word for me...

Dave

Probably meant "prepubescent," but still, the point is, the GOP is pulling out the usual school bully playbook, and name-calling, and taking all kinds of stuff out of context, and applying selective outrage to Talarico, instead of addressing anything substantive.

May 30, 2026 08:00 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

For further explanation, it's worthwhile to see what state propaganda media, aka Faux news, is doing in regards to disparaging Talarico:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGjMcSaWSnM

Note that Faux, by far, has much greater viewership than any of network/cable news outlets so their messaging reaches more people, 24/7. 

Expect to see the same themes espoused by Jesse Waters in the above video throughout the campaign. Frankly, that's unfortunately the level at which the typical Faux news viewer probably functions on at any given day. Given this propaganda pounding, day in and day out, it's not difficult to understand why Paxton has an excellent chance of prevailing come November...

And I'm going to have to listen to the endless attack-ad commercials to boot! It was bad enough having to see and hear the constant primary political ads. I can only imagine the general election will be a thousand times worse. Barf! I may never turn on local over-the-air TV again.

June 1, 2026 02:37 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by James Lacey
Energy Exxon warns oil inventories will hit dangerously low levels in weeks, forcing prices to shoot higher

Exxon Mobil warned Thursday that oil inventories will fall to record low levels in coming weeks, forcing prices to spike and curbing demand.

“We’re approaching unheard of inventory levels,” said Exxon Senior Vice President Neil Chapman at a conference hosted by Bernstein in New York.

“I mean really, really low levels,” Chapman warned. “You can debate whether that’s going to hit, those really low levels, in two weeks or three weeks. Once you get to that point, then you’ll see price shoot up.”

The price of physical Brent oil cargoes will spike to $150 to $160 per barrel when inventories hit all-time lows in coming weeks, the executive said. “When the price gets to a certain level, demand destruction brings it back into balance,” he said.

Update: Iran stops negotiations with U.S., vows to ‘completely’ block Strait of Hormuz: State media
  • Iranian negotiators will stop exchanging messages with the U.S. through intermediaries in retaliation for ongoing ceasefire violations, Iran’s state-affiliated news outlet Tasnim said.
  • Tehran will also move to fully block the Strait of Hormuz, Tasnim reported.
  • Oil prices leapt more than 5% higher following Tasnim’s report.


Surprise! Just in time for the market opening on Monday! The Peace deal is off! I suppose it will be back on by Friday. I mean, come on, isn't it obvious some of this is just market manipulation? Isn't this like the 12th peace deal now, or something? This thing is clearly unwinnable. Iran has nothing to lose, and Trump has no leverage, yet he can never concede or compromise. It seems pretty clear Trump only knows how to make deals when he all the advantage in negotiations.

June 1, 2026 10:18 PM Forum: Politics

Brace for Higher Gas Prices!

Posted By James Lacey
Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

James, as we know, the deal for an agreement to discuss a deal for an agreement changes from hour to hour, day to day, and whichever way the wind blows. 

That said, it's virtually impossible for the language in an actual agreement negotiated by Trump and his minions to be any more specific than that negotiated by Obama' agreement which stated,  "Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons."  What's Trump team gonna do in addition to that? Add "cross my heart and hope to die" too?  (Not to mention the fact that Iran never did develop a nuke under eight years of the Obama administration or, for that matter, under four years of the Biden administration). But Trump, being Trump, stupidly tore up the agreement during his first term. Now look at the mess everybody's in at this point.

That and the insane colossus cage apparatus being constructed at the WH for next month's GLADIATOR FIGHTS at the capitol is just nuts! I mean when I first saw that on cable TV, I thought it was an AI-generated prank! But, no, that's what we're looking at for the nation's 250th birthday bash...

It's just another one of Trump's vanity projects gone awry, like the ballroom, or his face on the $250 bill, or his name on the Kennedy Center (which has now been denied by the courts). Speaking of the courts, at least they've been clobbering him lately. It seems like every day there is a new story about how the courts have stopped him in his tracks. For example, it looks like the Trump DOJ will have to abandon the Jan. 6th slush fund they wanted to set up to reward rioters and insurrectionists.

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