Thursday shorts – oil, Bush, and insults

Well, we keep the Strategic Petroleum Reserves up to be able to cushion us from oil shocks, right?

Oh wait – didn’t Joe Biden sell that off trying to rein in high gas pump prices? And then fail to replenish it?

In fact, the reserve still holds 351 million barrels — equivalent to nearly 56 days of total U.S. oil imports last year — though well below the peak of 727 million barrels it held during the Obama administration. That’s on top of 424 million barrels that private companies were storing in the U.S. as of early October.

We’ve discussed this before – the administration wants new crude tested for purity (the old stock weren’t, but we are greener now) and didn’t want to pay market rates. If the SHTF in the Middle East and our buddies in Iran decide to close off the Straits of Hormuz, what do you think crude prices will do then?

Five decades later, the United States is the world’s biggest oil producer, which exports more crude and petroleum products than it imports. Its output is at record highs and is climbing, even as demand has flattened. Politico

What they don’t say is that it’s a zero-sum market and we sell quite a bit of oil to our allies. Trust me, if there’s a crunch, we will see oil shocks and higher prices. I would expect the US oil market to look like the US pharmaceutical market… and we know who pays the highest prices.

Moving to a more cheerful topic: Cori Bush, St. Louis’ Squad member, is back in the news. Formerly, she claimed her now husband was  security consultant and funneled campaign cash to him for security, since she claims to have had multiple assassination attempts on her life and NEEDS private security (while calling for defunding police.)  Interestingly, he does not have a security license.

According to new filings reviewed by Fox News Digital, Bush’s committee paid Merritts $12,500 for “wage expenses” between July and August. Merritts previously gathered money for security services, but the committee switched their characterization in April as they continued to bring headaches for the campaign.

The new cash follows the $30,000 Bush’s campaign paid him before the third quarter. So far this year, Merritts has received $42,500 from the committee. He’s collected $102,500 since he first emerged on its payroll in January 2022.

The payments have subsequently triggered at least two FEC complaints from watchdog groups.

But even more interesting:

The campaign also paid Nathaniel Davis, who has claimed he’s 109 trillion years old and can summon tornadoes, tens of thousands of dollars for security services.  Fox News

Yes indeed, some days do just write themselves.

Here’s a quick view of Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi’s leader.  More than our SecState got when he showed up to meet with him. Want to know what our “allies” think of our administration?

Saudi Arabia’s ruler kept US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, waiting for hours for a meeting, then didn’t show up until the next day, in an astonishing snub to the US’ top diplomat, The Washington Post said. Insider

Not only can I not see this happening under Reagan or Trump, I’m not sure anyone since Carter would have not had a few choice words. Speaks volumes as to the respect the US commands, though, doesn’t it?

Category: Israel, Politics