According to the American Automobile Association, diesel hit its highest recorded average price today at just above $6.44 per gallon.
uncertain
diesel → accord → gallon
Diesel moves most of the consumer goods in the United States.
asserted
Diesel → move → States
Iran’s news agency reported today that a political advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader said Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu are removed from power.
asserted
Trump → report → power
As the conflict drags on with no coherent U.S. strategy, J.P. Morgan wrote yesterday, “We simply don’t know how to model the endgame.”
asserted
We → drag → endgame
Today Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia has told European refiners that they will not be receiving crude oil next month because of the shutdown of the East-West pipeline.
asserted
they → report → pipeline
John Stoehr of The Editorial Board noted that the economic pain of this moment appears to be turning the media against Trump.
asserted
pain → note → Trump
He called attention to a hard-hitting piece in the Washington Post yesterday by Evan Halper, Rachel Chason, and Joyce Sohyun Lee warning of “huge jumps in the prices of gasoline and diesel…despite the Trump administration’s assurances.”
asserted
He → call → assurances
Trump responded to this shift in coverage this afternoon by announcing he is banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.
asserted
he → respond → House
“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
asserted
Trump → write → America
Trump’s anger at the press was probably fed today by three scoops.
asserted
anger → feed → scoops
Katie Bo Lillis and Zachary Cohen of CNN reported that this spring, the U.S. military set out to intercept a Chinese ship in the Middle East after an intelligence report said it was carrying components for a nuclear weapons program.
asserted
it → report → program
After preparing to board the ship and sending up planes, officials realized that the report had been generated by AI.
asserted
report → prepare → AI
It was, a source told the reporters, “entirely false.”
asserted
source → tell → reporters
But it almost “started a war.”
asserted
it → start → war
Audrey Decker and Mark Satter of Politico reported that a shipment of F-35 fighter jet parts headed from Australia to the U.S. for repairs this summer was diverted to Hong Kong and disappeared, raising the possibility that China could have accessed key components of a highly classified U.S. weapons system.
uncertain
China → report → system
Noah Robertson, Tara Copp, Warren P. Strobel, and Alex Horton of the Washington Post reported today that at least four more U.S. service members have died in the Middle East during the Iran war than the Department of Defense has announced.
asserted
Department → report → Defense
Three military contractors have also died since the combat began.
asserted
combat → die → ?
Trump’s fury at MS NOW might have come from Joe Scarborough, who noted on Morning Joe this morning that the latest Fox News poll showed that people trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle inflation and prices, by 15 points: 55% to 40%.
uncertain
people → come → points
In 2022, the advantage went to Republicans by 49% to 40%.
asserted
advantage → go → %
Scarborough noted that Republicans are beginning to break from Trump.
asserted
Republicans → note → Trump
All of these crises—the price crisis, caused by the oil crisis, caused by the Iran crisis, which has created a military crisis while the country is staggering under a deportation crisis—appear finally to be making some Republicans rethink their support for Trump and his policies.
asserted
Republicans → cause → Trump
On Monday, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal reported that although Republican lawmakers are celebrating Trump’s tariffs in public, they are privately seeking exemptions from tariffs for manufacturers in their own state.
asserted
they → report → state
“Tariffs for thee, exemptions for me,” the board wrote in a piece detailing the efforts of Senator Katie Britt of Alabama to stop tariffs in private while praising them in public.
asserted
board → write → public
The board explained that this lie shows “why blunderbuss trade wars are an economic mistake, along with how tariffs deepen the D.C. swamp.”
asserted
tariffs → explain → swamp
Big companies can push their interests through a senator, it noted, but “who speaks for the little guy being walloped?”
asserted
who → push → guy
In The New Republic, Greg Sargent reported that Trump’s super PAC, called MAGA Inc., has just begun to pour $100 million into the midterms.
asserted
PAC → report → midterms
Sargent notes that they are spending that money in at least 17 districts that Trump won in 2024 by more than five points, including six districts he won by ten points or more.
asserted
he → note → points
“If those are in danger, then a lot of other seats that are considered similarly safe for Republicans must be on the chopping block,” Larry Sabato, the founder of the nonpartisan political analysis and handicapping newsletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball, told Sargent.
asserted
Sabato → consider → Sargent
Social media user Thomas Long suggested that their investments showed that Republicans had written off districts they had won in 2024 by five points or less and are trying to protect those in the 5- to 15-point range.
uncertain
they → suggest → range
Sargent agreed, posting: “Very possible that what I’m reporting here is the beginning of Rs starting to write off the Trump +3, +4, +5 districts and now starting to put money into the Trump +8, +9, +10, +12 districts to save those.”
asserted
reporting → agree → those
In Kansas, prominent Trump ally Kris Kobach, who is running for reelection as the state’s attorney general, said he has no plans to ask Trump for an endorsement before the midterm elections.
asserted
he → run → elections
“I don’t think it’s necessary,” he said.
asserted
he → think → ?
Tim Carpenter of News From the States reports that while Trump carried Kansas by 57.1% of the vote in 2024, an August YouGov/Economist poll showed his job performance rating at –17 in the state.
asserted
poll → report → state
In Florida, Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, a former broadcast journalist and Trump supporter, spoke to the camera in an ad designed to look like she was challenging Trump directly.
asserted
she → speak → Trump
“Mr. President,” she said, “some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far.
asserted
some → say → efforts
In July, fifty percent of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record.”
asserted
that → detain → record
Blaming his advisors rather than Trump, she warned: “Be careful what your advisors are telling you about immigration policy.
asserted
advisors → blame → policy
The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today….
asserted
you → help → 2024
I’m not talking about giving them amnesty,” she said.
asserted
she → talk → amnesty
“I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”
asserted
I → talk → land
…and 44 more, not listed.
The Aporia
