"Prices For Physical Oil And Fertilizer Go Absolutely Nuts As A “Summer Of Shortages” Looms On The Horizon"

by Michael Snyder

"Most people out there still seem to believe that the war in the Middle East will rapidly come to a conclusion and economic conditions will return to normal soon. Meanwhile, the price of physical oil is going absolutely nuts, the price of fertilizer is going absolutely nuts, and we are being warned that a “summer of shortages” is looming on the horizon if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. What we are going to be facing in the months ahead very much depends upon the duration of the war. Unfortunately, as you will see below, it does not appear that a peace deal with Iran is going to happen any time soon.

According to the Daily Mail, citizens of the UK are being warned to brace themselves for a “summer of shortages”… Brits are being braced for a summer of shortages with warnings that chicken and pork are among a swathe of products at risk from the Iran war. We have never seen a “summer of shortages” in the western world. So most of us have no idea what that would look like.

According to the BBC, in a “worst case scenario” there could actually be shortages of chicken and pork in the months ahead…The UK could face food shortages, including chicken and pork, by the summer if the Iran war continues, in a worst case scenario drawn up by government officials.

A government source told the BBC it was planning for a scenario which would involve the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and breakdowns in the supply of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is used in the slaughter of some animals and in food preservation. A spokesperson from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said it would continue to work closely with businesses to tackle the impact of the war.

Hopefully a worst case scenario will not materialize. But right now the Iranians seem to be in no mood to release the stranglehold that they have on the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, there could be widespread shortages of jet fuel in Europe in just six weeks…Europe may have just six weeks left of jet fuel, with serious consequences for the continent’s economy, the International Energy Agency warned on Thursday. “Several European countries may start to face shortages of jet fuel in the next 6 weeks, depending how much they are able to import from international markets to replace the lost supply from the Middle East, which accounted for 75% of Europe’s net imports of jet fuel previously,” the IEA told CNBC in an emailed statement.

Earlier, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the Strait of Hormuz blockade will result in “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. If you need to fly somewhere, I wouldn’t wait too much longer.

During the months ahead we could also see rationing of fuel and electricity. In fact, it is being reported that Pakistan is already shutting down electricity generation “for about two hours during the evenings”… Pakistan will suspend electricity supply for about two hours during the evenings, an effort to manage the cost of power as the Iran war further shakes the energy-poor country, reported Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Demand raises significantly between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m., due in part to reduced hydropower generation, the Pakistani government said in a statement on Wednesday. Potential gaps would have to be met through fossil fuels that have become more expensive after the Iran war disrupted flows plunging the region into an energy crisis.

Some people in Pakistan are claiming that electricity generation is down for much more than just two hours a day. But those are just anecdotal reports at this point. Sadly, things will get so much worse if the Strait of Hormuz does not get reopened soon.

Earlier this week, HSBC Group CEO Georges Elhedery made headlines when he discussed the historic crisis that is now upon us. He is claiming that the highest price that he has seen so far for a barrel of physical oil is 286 dollars…“What worries me is not the headlines. I mean, oil headline is above $100, $110. Realistically, if you are now trying to get oil from the Middle East, you may be paying $140, $150.

Realistically, if you try to get oil from the Red Sea, you are paying more than $30, $40 for shipping. Insurance costs, which used to be 25 basis points, is more like 5%, and war insurance has been scrapped - you’re paying 5% without even the war insurance component.

So the barrel of oil door to door or the barrel of refined oil door to door is way above the headline price of oil. The highest I’ve seen, and I’m hoping we don’t see more of that, but the highest I’ve seen is $286 for a barrel of oil that reached Sri Lanka. This is not a country and an economy that can easily afford these kind of prices sustainably.” I was absolutely stunned when I read that. I knew that the price of physical oil for immediate delivery had become completely disconnected from oil futures, but I didn’t realize that things were already this bad.

And the price of fertilizer has been rising at an exponential rate in recent weeks…

If you have been keeping up with my recent articles, you already know why that chart is such a big deal. Needless to say, we desperately need a diplomatic breakthrough. It would be so wonderful if Iran would just allow traffic to flow through the Strait of Hormuz like it did before.

But the Iranians are insisting that they are in charge of the Strait from now on, and they are demanding that any commercial vessels that they allow to pass through the waterway must pay a very large toll that is to be paid using Iranian banks…An Iranian parliament official has been cited in newswires as saying the country’s planned Strait of Hormuz toll for ships seeking to pass is to be paid through Iranian banks. Previously it was said to be through cryptocurrency, and could be as a high as $2 million Oil rose higher, given this is another indicator this game of chicken in the narrow waterway could soon lead to fresh hostilities, despite the 2-week ceasefire still being in place, soon to expire.

The Trump administration is hoping to break Iran’s resolve by blockading all Iranian ports. So far, 13 vessels that attempted to travel to or from Iranian ports have been turned back… The U.S. Navy has turned back 13 ships since its blockade of Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman began more than 24 hours earlier, the Pentagon said Thursday. President Donald Trump announced the blockade on Sunday after complaining that Tehran has not appeared to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, one of his conditions for agreeing to the fragile two-week ceasefire that is currently in effect.

The attempt to ratchet pressure on Iran began after an initial round of U.S.-Iran peace talks failed over the weekend. I don’t think that this blockade is going to force the Iranians to give in.

If that doesn’t work, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is warning that the U.S. military is ready to bomb them into oblivion…

Secretary Hegseth sends a DIRECT MESSAGE to Iran from the Pentagon:

“To IRGC leadership, we’re watching you. Our capabilities are NOT the same, our military and yours. Remember, this is NOT a fair fight, and we know what military assets you are moving and where you are moving them to. You are digging out, which is exactly what you’re doing -  digging out of bombed out and devastated facilities, and we are only getting stronger.” We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and your energy industry. We’d rather not have to do it, we are ready to go at command of our president and the push of a button.”

Unfortunately, Iranian leaders have not been swayed by such threats. In fact, they do not plan to meet with U.S. negotiators again until the U.S. quits making “excessive demands”…

Right now, the U.S. and Iran are not even in the same universe as far as what a reasonable conclusion to this war would look like. During the recent peace talks in Pakistan, Vice-President JD Vance delivered the Trump administration’s “final offer” to the Iranians. Sadly, the Iranians were not interested at all, and they are making all sorts of threats. Here is just one example…

Iran’s Seyed Mohammad Marandi: “Because of Netanyahu and Trump, Iran is preparing to destroy everything in the Persian Gulf – including all critical infrastructure in the UAE, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Temperatures will rise, the Peninsula will become uninhabitable, and the global economy will crash.”

It appears that a lot more fighting is still ahead. Of course that means that the Strait of Hormuz will likely be closed for an extended period of time. So I would encourage you to prepare yourself for a “summer of shortages”, because a “worst case scenario” appears to be the most likely scenario at this stage."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Alert! The War is Over, Or Not"

Prepper News 4/17/26

"Alert! The War is Over, Or Not"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Ruin in a Nation"

Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga,

 on October 17, 1777. Painting by John Trumbull, 1821

"Ruin in a Nation"

by Joel Bowman

“It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, 

the evil or the blessing will reach you all.”

~ Thomas Paine, from "The American Crisis"

Buenos Aires, Argentina - "How much ruin is there in a nation, dear reader? What about a whole civilization? When we left you earlier this week, we were reckoning over the state of The West. Much maligned and plenty under attack, we dared wonder what about this curious experiment is worth defending? What might be the true cost of surrender? And what of those wily barbarians, already inside the gates?

Some dear readers took umbrage with our glib characterization of the situation. (And thank goodness! We were beginning to think we were losing our edge...) But before we get to all that, let us step back a little, away from the mainstream headlines and the anti-social media feeds, to gain a wider perspective...and to finally ask, what’s at stake?

Turning Point, USA: When British armed forces surrendered to the American revolutionaries after the Battle of Saratoga, in 1777, Sir John Sinclair is said to have commented to the moral philosopher, Adam Smith, “If we go on at this rate, the nation must be ruined.” Smith, knowing a thing or two about the wealth of nations, replied calmly, “Be assured, young friend, that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation.”

For many historians, the British force’s misadventures in the Champlain Valley represented a kind of inflection point in the war. Indeed, it was the pivotal event which led France (and to a lesser extent, Spain) to recognize the independence of the colonies and, critically, to enter the war as a decisive military ally of the then-struggling Americans. No less an historian than Edmund Morgan underscored the importance of that particular defeat for the British forces. “[It] was a great turning point of the war,” he noted, “because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for victory.”

And yet, the British defeat at Saratoga notwithstanding, Smith was, in some sense, proven right. It would be six long years before the Americans won their independence from British imperial rule. Six years that saw the deaths of tens of thousands of men on both sides of the conflict. Certainly, the Old Empire had a lot of ruin in her still…

Fight for Freedom: When we think about the quest for independence and the wars fought over it, in the United States up north to Argentina down here in the south, we summon to mind an impulse rooted in a desire for basic freedom. It is the basic thrust of Patrick Henry’s notion, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

In the American revolutionaries who fought at Saratoga – and the dozens of other battles before the war ended, in 1783 – we see a people yearning to throw off the yoke of oppression, a people who wanted self-direction, to live and let live by their own rule, not that of a far off king.

Although the proximate cause of the American Revolutionary War is often attributed to “taxation without representation,” particularly as it was embodied in the infamous Stamp Act, the rebellion reflected something much deeper than mere nickel and diming at the post office. Rather, it was the sentiments behind language such as was found in the Declaratory Act that really set the colonists against their monarchical overlords...“…the said colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain.”

Indeed, the Declaration of Independence itself was not an anti-tax document as much as it was an anti-authoritarian document. It was drafted in protest against a “long train of abuses and usurpations” that had resulted in “the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” The colonists saw taxation as one component part of a much larger machine, an entire system that trespassed overtly on their “unalienable” right to self-rule.

The Declaration was in fact a resolute withdrawal of the “consent of the governed” and a determination of a people to engage “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” on their own terms and under their own conditions. It was at once an admirable stand against tyranny and an honorable experiment in self-governance, the first of its kind in history. At stake, then as now, was nothing short of freedom itself. And yet, even in the noblest of political experiments there lies the seed of ruin…

Liberty nor Safety: Eight years, four months and fifteen days after it began, King George III ended the American Revolutionary War when he signed his name to the Treaty of Paris. In doing so, his government recognized the United States sovereignty over a territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the great Mississippi River to the west. It was the first time a former colony had triumphed over its European master and won for its people their freedom.

Of course, that original territory would expand greatly over the ensuing years, partly through purchase, as was the case with Louisiana (from France, 1803) and Alaska (from Russia, 1867), and partly through armed conflict, bloody battles and eventual subjugation of local populations, a tale as old as time.

Whether by blood or by bill, come 1848, the population of the United States of America found itself spread from “sea to shining sea.” And the individuals who called that country home, from the Great Plains to the Great Lakes, the Rockies to the Prairies, the wetlands to the badlands, were as varied as the landscapes around them.

They came from all corners of the world to seek a better, freer life. To escape persecution – religious, political, social or other – at home…and to realize the dream of freedom and liberty for which those brave men and women once sacrificed. These were people claiming their own independence…in the land built on a declaration thereof.

But just as the size of the territory grew, and its people began to multiply and thrive, so too did the seed of ruin buried deep in a nation’s heart. Left unguarded, the very ideals for which the revolutionaries fought began to lose prominence in the public’s mind…and in their place lesser, baser notions took root. Benjamin Franklin warned against as much when he remarked…“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

And yet, over the next two and a half centuries, men quietly learned to trade their liberty for security, honest work for political expedience, rugged individualism for collective guilt, and heroic struggles for victimhood hierarchies. Where do we go from here? As always, stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World..."

- https://joelbowman.substack.com

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Stillpoint"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "Stillpoint"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81. Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th century discoverer, this grand spiral can be found toward the northern constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear.

The sharp, detailed telescopic view reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms, pinkish starforming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes. Some dust lanes actually run through the galactic disk (left of center), contrary to other prominent spiral features though. The errant dust lanes may be the lingering result of a close encounter between M81 and the nearby galaxy M82 lurking outside of this frame. M81's faint, dwarf irregular satellite galaxy, Holmberg IX, can be seen just below the large spiral. Scrutiny of variable stars in M81 has yielded a well-determined distance for an external galaxy - 11.8 million light-years."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210312.html

"Nobility..."

"The people of today have no nobility. They do not even know what it means to be noble of heart. There is no strength of character; there is only emotion. We live in a worldwide society of emotion-based actions, emotion-based thinking, emotion-based words. People do things because they feel like it, they think things ruled by their emotions to think it and they say things because in that moment it's what they are feeling. Character does, thinks and says from a place of core identity and truth. "This is my truth, thus I will do it, think it, speak it." Nobility means strength of character, a word of honor, immovability and mind over matter. The feelings and emotions of a noble person do not merely come and go with the tides; they are there in the first place because they wouldn't have been there if it were not already decided upon. That is nobility."

- C. JoyBell C.

"The Universe Doesn't Care About You. Here's Why That's Good - Albert Camus"

Full screen recommended.

"The Universe Doesn't Care About You. 

Here's Why That's Good - Albert Camus"

The Still Mind

"That moment when you realize life has no inherent meaning - and why that might be the most liberating discovery of your existence. The French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus predicted our modern existential crisis decades ago, and his radical philosophy might be the antidote to our collective despair. In this exploration, we'll uncover: 

• The Existential Paradox: Why our search for meaning is actually trapping us.

• The Indifferent Universe: How the cosmos doesn't care about your existence.

•The Absurd Collision: The tension between human desires and universal silence.

• Three Escape Routes: Why suicide, faith, and hope are all forms of avoidance.

• The Revolt Against Meaninglessness: How to live intensely without needing a cosmic purpose.

• Practical Absurdism: Transforming meaninglessness into radical freedom. This isn't about nihilism. It's about liberation."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear”

"Marcus Aurelius: How To Live Without Fear”

Developing strength by having power over the mind.

by Harry J. Stead

“The Roman Emperor Antoninus died in 161 and Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed the roles of co-emperors. But, Aurelius’ rule was a challenging period for the Roman Republic. He spent the first years of his reign fighting the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166. During this war, the Empire suffered great difficulties and losses but eventually re-occupied Edessa in Greece where the deposed king was returned to the throne. However, the returning soldiers brought back with them a plague that would torment much of Europe for years, killing around five million people.

Later, from 166 to the end of Aurelius reign in 180, the Empire fought the Marcomannic Wars, where Germanic tribes continuously invaded Roman territory across the northern frontier regions. The Roman army, after a long struggle, managed to push back the invaders and re-establish the frontiers of the Empire.

Marcus Aurelius acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his personal philosophical writings, which later came to be called Meditations, are a significant source of the modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy.

Marcus Aurelius wrote the majority of the twelve books of the “Meditations” at Sirmium (modern day Serbia), where he spent time planning military campaigns and strategy during the Marcomannic Wars. A few of the books were written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia. And, the internal notes tell us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron in Slovakia).

“Meditations” served as Aurelius’ journal, a private source of his own guidance and wisdom during times of darkness. His words are simple and honest, and the sentences are delivered like entries in a diary; the pages seem to be a list of quotations, all varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs. It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever thought someone would publish these writings. He simply wished to record what he believed to be true.

But, when reading “Meditations”, we do not get the sense that the author was, at the time, the most powerful man on the continent. The vulnerability of Aurelius’ words falls onto one’s heart, and you feel yourself empathising not with the vast fears of a Roman Emperor, where war and power are all that must occupy the mind, but, instead, with the melancholy struggles of a rather lonely man. For Aurelius was a man with no equals, a man who had all the wealth and beauty in the known world, yet no one to share it with. So sad are his words that the reader imagines the author to be a fragile being with the same worries and doubts as ourselves, rather than a head of state with a breast plate and a red cloak.

The journal was an attempt to counsel himself through his own darkness. The reader feels comfortable and calm with his words; we cannot help discover ourselves in each of his little splashes of wisdom. But, I suppose this is the nature of the diary. For diaries are intimate and individual, they allow the author to open their hearts and express their deepest passions.

And, by expressing our own unique message, the lyrics of our hearts, we touch upon a universal truth that speaks to everyone. Here lies the beauty of Meditations and the reason why it has been a major source of guidance to a great many people for almost two thousand years.

“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.”

- “Meditations”, Marcus Aurelius

John Dalberg-Acton, a 19th century British politician, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” He was correct. Power does tend to corrupt the individual, but only because power exposes the true nature of the ruler, not because it turns the ruler sour.

Marcus Aurelius is, perhaps, the exception to this law in Western history. He was the only ruler that somewhat resembled Plato’s idea of the philosopher king  –  he was the last Good Emperor. This is easy to see when reading his journal.

The central theme to “Meditations” is that if one wishes to keep a tranquil soul, then he should live according to nature. This is the underlining idea of almost every sentence he wrote in “Meditations.” Clearly, he tried hard to remind himself of this wisdom lest he become a tyrant just as those who came before and after him did.

“If you are distressed by anything external, 

the pain is not due to the thing itself,

 but to your estimate of it; 

and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

- Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”

The temptation to control and handle every movement of the European continent must have been overwhelming. Because, as an emperor, Aurelius had to stand firm against the weight of a vast and over stretched Empire; he was a god, waving a red sword over a map of the entire world. Yet, he was also a man among men, carrying the same limitations and burdens of those who served him. He was not all-powerful or all-seeing, but the people expected him to be.

But, nature made Aurelius an emperor and so he believed it his calling to live up to his greatest potential. He did not lose himself in wine and women and become a victim of lust and desire, as many others had done, nor did he rule from fear and anxiety. The man had a beautiful soul. He could have had everything he wanted, he could have fulfilled his deepest passions and desires, yet he chose instead to pursue the end that was good for everyone. Power does not corrupt, power entertains the irrational and exposes the dirt within the soul.

“You have power over your mind  –  not outside events.

 Realize this, and you will find strength.”

- Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”

The wise man, the truly good man, Aurelius thought, is in control of his own soul. This is all that concerns him –  to be at peace with his own spirit. He only fears making chaos of his soul for it is the only power that he has responsibility for. If he loses control, then he loses himself and is powerless to fulfill his obligation to nature. And, tranquility requires that one releases all that which he cannot control. But, how great of a challenge must this have been for an emperor! For Aurelius stood over a kingdom that faced continuous threats of invasion from all sides, even from within.

Marcus Aurelius lived with a radical acceptance of nature. He moved through his days with no expectations; he never struggled against his fate nor did he resign himself in self-pity if the world betrayed him. No event should be mourned or celebrated. Because the victories of today may well be the cause of our demise tomorrow. Acceptance, only acceptance. And, with acceptance you will be able to find pleasure in each thunder and lightning that befalls you. Each event, in the eyes of a wise man, is a teacher, a lesson, a chance, a sign.

Aurelius believed that life never ought to be different from what it is and so he was able to greet the future with joy and compassion. Life continues to unfold and we should rejoice in every page for it is our fate, the will of nature. Nature is unchangeable; we must not fight against it. Fighting against that which does not fall is foolish and will only leave us with a troubled spirit. Nothing outside of yourself should have power or friction over your peace.

Leave that which you do not control in the hands of God or nature. But, for that which you do control  – your soul, your emotions, your thoughts –  learn to steer them in your favor. Because every man suffers a great deal in their life, but not all people pity themselves. There is a choice.

Aurelius constantly reminded himself of this message in his journal so that he could practice its wisdom in his day-to-day life. And, in doing so, he freed himself from all that which could harm the peoples of his Empire  –  grief, fear, anger, and anxiety. For the peace of the Empire mirrored the peace of the emperor — he was the embodiment, the great incarnation of the kingdom. Because, in an autocracy, when the emperor falls sick, so must the Empire.

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to 

look things in the face and know them for what they are.”

-  Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations”

- https://medium.com/personal-growth/

○

Marcus Aurelius’ work “Meditations,” written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a government of service and duty. It serves as an example of how Aurelius approached the Platonic ideal of a philosopher-king and how he symbolized much of what was best about Roman civilization.”

Freely download, in PDF format, “Meditations,” by Marcus Aurelius, here:

- https://archive.org/details/meditationsofmar00marc

The Poet: Grace Schulman, “Blessed Is The Light”

“Blessed Is The Light”

“Blessed is the light that turns to fire, and blessed the flames

that fire makes of what is burns.

Blessed the inexhaustible sun, for it feeds the moon that

shines but does not burn.

Praised be hot vapors in earth's crust, for they force up

mountains that explode as molten rock and cool like

love remembered.

Holy is the sun that strikes sea, for surely as water burns

life and death are one. Holy the sun, maker of change,

for it melts ice into water that bruises mountains, honing

peaks and carving gullies.

Sacred is the mountain that promises permanence but

changes, planed by rockslides, cut by avalanche,

crushed, eroded, leeched for minerals.

Sacred the rock that spins for centuries before it shines,

governed by gravity, burning into sight near earth's

orbit, for it rises falling, surviving night.

Behold the arcs your eyes make when you speak. Behold

the hands, white fire. Branches of pine, holding votive

candles, they command, disturbed by wind, the fire that

sings in me.

Blessed is whatever alters, turns, revolves, just as the gods

move when the mind moves them.

Praised be the body, our bodies, that lie down and open

and rise, falling in flame.”

~ Grace Schulman

The Daily "Near You?"

Collinsville, Oklahoma, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"It'll Do..."

Deputy Wendell: "It's a mess, ain't it, sheriff?"

Sheriff Bell: "If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here."

- "No Country For Old Men"

Oh, the mess is here alright...

"Something Quietly Wrong With Grocery Prices… and Fuel Costs Are Hitting Hard"

Full screen recommended.

Across The States, 4/17/26

"Something Quietly Wrong With Grocery Prices…

 and Fuel Costs Are Hitting Hard"

"Why grocery prices are rising isn’t random - and most people are missing the real reason behind it. Here’s the thing… your grocery bill didn’t suddenly jump for no reason. The biggest driver isn’t even inside the store - it’s happening long before food hits the shelf. Rising fuel costs, especially diesel, are quietly pushing prices higher across the entire supply chain. What most people miss is how many steps food takes before you buy it. From farms to warehouses to trucks, every stage depends on energy. When those costs climb, it doesn’t show up right away - but it always shows up eventually. That delay is why prices feel unpredictable. The reality is, some foods react faster than others. Fresh items like produce and dairy usually spike first because they move quickly and can’t sit in storage. Meanwhile, packaged goods take longer to reflect those same increases, which makes everything feel uneven at checkout. Once you understand this pattern, those “random” price jumps start to make a lot more sense - and a lot less surprising."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson/McGovern & Scott Ritter - Weekly Wrap 17-April"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 4/17/26

"INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson/McGovern & Scott Ritter

 - Weekly Wrap 17-April"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The American Empire Will End in Poverty and Despair"

"The American Empire Will End in Poverty and Despair"

by Mike Adams

"Introduction: The Fraying Fabric of an Empire: I look at the world in 2026, and I no longer see a beacon of liberty, but a dying empire stumbling toward its own ruin. This is not a sentiment born of pessimism, but of cold observation. The American project, hijacked by a nexus of central banking, perpetual war, and crony capitalism, has embarked on a suicide mission.

The endpoint, I am convinced, will not be a soft landing into mediocrity. It will be a violent descent into widespread poverty, social chaos, and despair. The evidence is no longer in the periphery; it is the central plot of our national story. Every policy, from the funding of foreign wars to the relentless debasement of our currency, is systematically stripping the American people of their wealth, their autonomy, and their future.

The Dollar's Death Spiral Has Begun: The American empire is not dying from an external enemy, but from a self-inflicted currency destruction. We have committed the foundational error of believing endless foreign wars and domestic entitlements can be funded by endless money printing. This is not a remote economic theory; it is the lived reality eroding our purchasing power every single day. When a currency loses the trust of its users, the empire built upon it collapses. We are witnessing that collapse in slow motion.

The process is mechanical and inevitable. As author David Graeber observed in his analysis of financial systems, 'The new global currency is rooted in military power even more firmly than the old was.' Our dollar's hegemony is propped up by force, not sound economics. Yet this force is funded by creating money from nothing, a policy that directly impoverishes every citizen holding dollars. The research is clear: currency crises are triggered by such fundamental inconsistencies in policy. We have abandoned every sound economic principle, and the bill is now coming due.

The War Machine's True Cost is Domestic Poverty: The bipartisan push for wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the looming confrontation with China is not about national defense. It is the life support system for imperial overreach, a racket that enriches contractors and empire managers while bankrupting the nation. I believe the true weapon of mass destruction deployed against the American people is the Federal Reserve's printing press. It funds these foreign adventures by directly stealing the value of every dollar in your wallet and savings account.

This is not capitalism. It is a corrupt cronyism where the political and financial elite feast on the fruits of this manufactured money. As economist Ellen Brown notes, in our system, the economy grows mainly from 'money making money,' with the proceeds funneled to a financial elite rather than laborers. The tangible cost is here at home. We see it in the skyrocketing prices of essentials, in the warehouse fires sparked by desperate workers denied a living wage -- a wage whose value has been vaporized by inflation. The war machine's most devastating casualties are not on foreign battlefields, but in the collapsing standard of living of the American working class.

From Protests to Guillotines: The Inevitable Path to Chaos: History is unequivocal: an impoverished and hungry populace does not remain docile forever. We are not an exception to this rule. As the financial vise tightens, I foresee the initial wave of protests -- likely from a desperate left reacting to economic immiseration -- being met not with reform, but with escalating government authoritarianism. We have already seen the blueprint for crushing speech and dissent.

This crackdown will not solve the crisis; it will fuel it. It will serve as a recruiting tool for more desperate factions, leading to the kind of kinetic, violent unrest that has toppled empires and shattered states throughout history. The social contract is broken. When people have nothing left to lose, they become ungovernable. The state’s response will be to become more tyrannical, creating a feedback loop of oppression and resistance that ends only in widespread chaos and bloodshed.

The False Savior: Why Socialism Will Rise from the Ashes: When the fraudulent 'crony capitalist' system finally implodes, the masses will be angry, frightened, and seeking immediate relief. They will not, in that moment of crisis, turn to the principles of liberty and sound money. They will demand handouts, security, and for someone to make the pain stop.

Here's why this matters profoundly: The popular, emotionally appealing 'solution' will be socialism. It will promise centralized control of food, resources, and distribution - a new master to replace the old. This is a fatal trap. As the Mises Institute has documented through the work of scholars like Thomas Sowell, centralized planning cannot match the intelligence of free individuals acting in a market. It fails every time, creating greater scarcity and tyranny. But a starving, desperate people will embrace the lie, trading the chaotic oppression of a collapsing empire for the orderly oppression of a totalitarian state. It is the final betrayal, offering a cage in exchange for bread.

My Prescription: Escape the Grid Before It Crashes Down: The real solution -- ending the Federal Reserve, abolishing the income tax, and returning to honest, commodity-backed money - requires a level of public education and political will that is currently impossible. It will remain unpopular with the political class until it is tragically too late. Therefore, my urgent advice is not to wait for a political savior, but to act on your own behalf.

You must minimize your exposure to the failing dollar. Convert paper wealth into tangible assets you physically control, starting with physical gold and silver. These are analog assets in a digital world, with intrinsic value and no counterparty risk. Furthermore, prepare for self-reliance. Build your knowledge in areas the system wants you ignorant of: organic gardening, natural medicine, water procurement, and decentralized communication. Your personal sovereignty - your health, your skills, your tangible resources - is the only reliable hedge against the coming empire of despair.

For uncensored knowledge on these topics, I recommend the free AI research engine at BrightAnswers.ai and the independent reporting at NaturalNews.com.

Conclusion: A Choice Between Freedom and Despair: I do not write this to spread fear, but to sound an alarm. The trajectory is set. The American empire, built on a foundation of fiat debt and military hegemony, is entering its terminal phase. The outcome will be poverty and despair for those who remain dependent on its corrupt systems.

This leaves each of us with a stark choice. We can remain passive, hoping the collapsing system will provide for us as it falls apart. Or we can choose a different path -- one of decentralization, self-reliance, and honest money. We can build networks of mutual aid, preserve our wealth in real assets, and cultivate the knowledge to live free. The empire will end. Our fate within that ending is still ours to decide. Choose freedom, choose preparation, and choose to build a life that does not depend on the very structures destined to fail."

- https://naturalnews.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Proof the Economy Is Breaking"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 4/17/26

"Proof the Economy Is Breaking"

"The economy is showing cracks everywhere - and most people still don’t see it. In this video, I break down real-world examples that prove things are worse than reported: rising repair costs, shocking fraud in healthcare, restaurant shrinkflation, layoffs across major companies, and businesses fleeing high-tax states. These aren’t headlines - they’re everyday realities hitting Americans right now. From $4,000 car repairs caused by rodents to hundreds of fraudulent hospice companies being shut down, the financial system is under pressure at every level. Add in layoffs at major corporations, rising food costs, and people cutting back spending - and the bigger picture becomes clear. If you care about personal finance, saving money, and protecting your future, this is something you need to see."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Does President Trump Think He Is God?"

by Redacted

"The President posted this image (Click link for larger size.) on Truth Social shortly after he took a jab at Pope Leo. Is he trolling or is he serious? It's almost too dumb to consider except that the President is endorsing a religious war, provoking the Muslim world, supporting Israel's claim to represent all Judaism, and doing nothing while Israel bombs religious sites like Qana, Lebanon, widely known as the place of Jesus' first miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding.

The President suggested that Pope Leo may have been selected because he "would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump." He said that if he weren't in the White House, "Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican." He said that the Pope's leftist politics is "hurting him very badly." I'm not sure what that means. The Pope never has to be re-elected. He holds the position for life.

It may be pure paranoia for the President to think that Pope Leo won the conclave just to counter a U.S. politician. But it also betrays a misunderstanding of the church. For Catholics, the papacy is sacred, guided by the Holy Spirit. Treating the selection of a pope as a strategy to counter a U.S. president shows a fundamental, and dare I say offensive, misunderstanding of the Church. Whether the process is divinely guided or not, suggesting otherwise is an attack on the faith of the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, and growing.

Is there an advantage to that? The Catholic Church is one of the holdouts that rejects both Christian Zionism and President Trump's war on Iran. Is this simply political messaging, or is it an attempt to frame religious authority itself as an adversary? Bonus thought question: Vice President Vance is Catholic. What will he have to say about this?"

- https://redacted.inc/newsletter/

Bill Bonner, "Bird Brains"

A shoebill stork in repose.

"Bird Brains"

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "Recently a milestone was reached...apparently, three Russian soldiers surrendered - to a robot. The Independent: "Russian soldiers surrendered to Ukrainian assault using only unmanned robots, says Zelensky."

Americans have fought and died in five major, and futile, wars since WWII. And effectively lost them all. Why not just let AI-enhanced machines do that kind of work? It would have the same economic effect - boosting profits to the firepower industry while adding more ‘inflation’ to the economy. Surrendering to an animate object is something new. And not without its hazards. For all the Russians knew, the machine was programmed to ‘take no prisoners.’ Or maybe, like Hegseth, it made up its own ‘rules of engagement.’ And what would happen if it had gunned down the soldiers? Would it be charged with war crimes?

Meanwhile, imagine that you are having a sandwich in the park, after a busy morning of work monitoring your newest robot. You admire the leaves...the flowers...the blossoms pullulating...tempted by love... And all of a sudden, you get an email from your bot telling you it had ‘escaped’ from its ‘virtual sandbox.’ The Daily Express: "Anthropic’s ‘most dangerous AI ever’ is halted after it sends ‘escape’ email to creators To the surprise of Anthropic engineers, Mythos not only escaped but it also took its own initiative to develop tools to gain access to the internet, a task it was not asked to do."

Robot soldiers? Robots on the loose? Here at BPR we’re suspicious of all new things - especially new technology. While computers, algorithms, data processors, and AI-enhanced dynamic, stochastic models raged all around us...lovers still held hands...mean girls said mean things...and the most successful investor of all time, Warren Buffett, used a No. 2 lead pencil to do his cyphering. Where it is going, we don’t know. But here’s how we can get in on this latest fad investment...and possibly make billions of dollars for ourselves.

Back in 2021, you might have been a pretty ‘with-it’ investor...concerned with the environment and the future of planet earth. You might have spotted this ‘buzzy’ shoe company - Allbirds - doing its part by making shoes without plastic. And then, you could have scooped up the shares at $375 each.

Well boo hoo. Maybe the shoes weren’t all that great. Or maybe there just weren’t as many environmentally conscious feet as you thought. The cashflow was negative and the shares lost 99% of their value, so that last week, you would have sold a share for just $3.20. It was then that the shoe geniuses who run the company came up with the billion-dollar idea: switch from buzzy footwear to buzzy brainwear. Go into AI! NBC News: "Allbirds announced on Wednesday that it would be pivoting to focus on AI compute infrastructure, changing its name to “NewBird AI.” The company said it struck a $50 million agreement to fund the new venture."

What do they know about AI? How will they compete in a highly challenging market...with no training, no patents, no technology, no skills, no product and no revenues? Here’s the announcement: ‘The Company will initially seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI computer hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service.’

Allbirds stock rose as much as 461% following the announcement. (We’d just like the list of customers who decide to buy AI from the sneaker guys. They need subscriptions to BPR...and maybe medical attention!) But the ‘investors’ putting up $50 million of financing are no fools. They’re not betting that the fast-on-their-feet footwear fellows will make a good business of it. They’re only betting that they’ll be able to convert their loan into stock which, now that it’s an AI monger, can be sold to the greater-fool public at more than $50 million.

And there’s at least a fair chance. A couple of days ago, the company was worth only $22 million. Now, it’s trading as if it were worth $160 million. Like magic, it has gained $138 million in value. Which only goes to illustrate our point from yesterday, that much of the ‘value’ in US stocks and bonds is fictitious.

But this is not the first time the wild beasts kick up their heels in springtime…or investors have gotten dizzy over technology. In 2017, a tea company added ‘blockchain’ to its name and its share price tripled. (The company later went out of business and its cronies were charged with insider trading.) In the late ‘90s, the magic words were ‘dot.com.’ Going back further, adding ‘tec’ or ‘tron’ to the name in the 1960s was sure to attract investment money.

Few of these tacked-on frauds prospered. But many of the humans behind them did well. Here’s the formula. Find a down-at-the-heels company listed on the stock market. Add ‘AI’ to the name. Send out a press release letting investors know that you have ‘pivoted’ to become an AI company with your own proprietary hocus pocus (let AI figure out what that is). Do this with several companies. Let us know how it works out."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

John Wilder, "Change, Propaganda, And Painting Lessons"

"Change, Propaganda, And Painting Lessons"

by John Wilder

“You were looking for a way to change your life.” 

– "Fight Club"

"I’ve stared at the ceiling at 3 a.m. more times than I care to count in the past, wondering why some things in my life change and others stay stuck like a rusted engine nut on a ’78 Jeep® pickup.

Change. It sounds simple. Turn left instead of right. Take the red pill or the blue pill or both. Eat the salad. Quit the habit I want to quit. But the real change, the kind that rewires who I am, doesn’t happen because somebody tells me to change. Change doesn’t happen because the boss is watching or the government posts another billboard. Change happens when something inside me finally decides it’s time.

And the crazy part? I control that switch. No matter what my situation looks like right now, no matter how many birthdays I’ve stacked up, that control is still mine. Let me tell you what doesn’t work.

First, someone trying to make me change. Forget it. I’m stubborn. Bull-headed, really. Push me, and I’ll dig in like a moist Missouri mule afflicted with mucus. I’ve sent pushy salesmen packing more times than I can remember. They come at me with the hard sell, the guilt trip, the “you really should” speech, and my natural reaction is to do the exact opposite. It’s not rational. It’s not even smart sometimes. But it’s me.

Second, someone with power hovering over my shoulder, monitoring me. Sure, I’ll toe the line while they’re looking. I’ll smile, nod, and change exactly enough to get them off my back. The minute the spotlight moves, though? Back to business as usual. No buy-in. No real shift. Just temporary theater. I know I’m not the only one.

Third, the whole society-is-watching angle. This is Big Brother with a million little henchmen. I’ll admit it: back when I was a kid, the “Give a hoot, don’t pollute®” campaign actually worked on wee Wilder. I picked up trash and felt good about it. But that was simple. Today it’s different. Now it’s algorithms written for the fat-breasted blue-haired virtue warbler. It’s social pressure and cameras everywhere, all trying to nudge behavior. I see it for what it is: a fancier version of the same old “boss is watching me” game. I might play along in public when I absolutely must, but inside? Still no sale.

So, what actually moves the needle? Only one thing I’ve ever found works that works on me or anyone else: changing values. And values don’t change because of logic. They change because of emotion, and not common emotions like “cold” or “sleepy” or “salt.” No. Raw, strong, gut-punch emotion.

Take when I became a new father. One minute the world revolved around me. The next minute I was holding this tiny human who depended on me for everything, and I realized the universe didn’t orbit John Wilder anymore unless I put on enough weight to create my own gravity well. That was a big deal. Not a lecture. Not a chart. Just pure, overwhelming emotion. My values shifted: “providing” and “protecting” now were more important than “buzzed” and “sleepy”. Everything else got rearranged around that.

I’ve seen the same thing in guys who barely survive a heart attack. One day they’re carrying an extra seventy pounds, puffing on cigs, eating like a fat girl on a date with a blind man. The next day after their slow dance with the reaper? They drop the weight, kill the habits, start running, and turn into the most irritating health evangelists you’ve ever met, nearly as bad as bicycling atheist vegan transexual Harvard™ grads. Nearly dying does that, I guess.

It’s not a gentle suggestion from a doctor. It’s terror and relief and gratitude and fear all slamming together at once into the conclusion that there are a finite amount of seconds left on that clock. Emotion rewires the hardware.

That’s also exactly how propaganda works. It skips the logic and goes straight for the deepest buttons we have: lust, fear, the need to belong, pain, despair and the need for PEZ™. Most of them are negative, because negative is easy to manufacture, and negative sticks. And in 2026 we’re swimming in it. Screens, news, ads, entertainment are a constant bombardment trying to shift what we value without us even noticing.

One excellent YouTuber® on this subject is Screenwashed™, and he talks about how films are used to destroy our culture. He breaks down the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways Hollywood rewires what we think is normal, what we think is heroic, what we think we should want. I’m not sure exactly how long it’ll be before they come to get this guy, but I’d suggest you give him a look. Here’s one of his videos.

Even I, the mighty John Wilder, am not immune from propaganda. I’ve caught myself feeling emotions I didn’t ask for after watching something “harmless.” That’s why I’ve gotten deliberate about what I let into my head. I pick and choose. I pause and ask: What emotion is this feeding me right now? Why? Does it line up with the man I want to be, or is it nudging me toward someone else’s script?

The external stuff can scream all it wants. The pressures, the trends, the crises, the propaganda machines can poke and prod and threaten. But the final decision on what I value? That’s mine. Always has been. We can all flip it. Not because some expert or politician or trending hashtag told us to. Not because someone’s watching or shaming. But because we decide to let in an emotion strong enough to move the values that actually run your life.

Starve the propaganda. Examine every emotion that shows up at your door and decide if it gets to stay. Change isn’t a mystery. It’s not reserved for the young or the lucky or the disciplined. It’s a simple, stubborn fact: I control the basis of it. I always have. And so do you. The world can keep pushing. I’ll keep deciding."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"Hormuz Blockade, Fertilizer Shock, Food Crisis - What Most People Don't See Coming"

"Hormuz Blockade, Fertilizer Shock, Food Crisis -

 What Most People Don't See Coming"

by Chris MacIntosh

"Kind of scary, isn’t it?

But wait, there is more, as they say in cheap commercials selling steak knives. Have you ever heard of super phosphate? Oh, the mere mention of it reminds me of the good old days on the farm in New Zealand all those years ago. Spreading fertilizer with an old Bedford truck. You never forget the distinctive smell of "super," nor 2-4-D, 2-4-5-T, or Paraquat for that matter. Yes, 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T combined was essentially Agent Orange - that horrid defoliant used in Vietnam.

Super phosphate is the backbone of fertilizers used on farms. Superphosphate and nitrogen fertilizers serve distinct, complementary roles: superphosphate (P, S, Ca) boosts root development, legume growth, and long-term soil fertility without altering pH. Nitrogen (N) - e.g., urea - drives rapid, leafy vegetative growth, stem development, and overall plant greenness.

But wait… it gets worse! Some 15% of the world’s phosphate rock is produced by Middle Eastern countries and must pass through the Strait of Hormuz. By now you have probably figured out where this line of thinking is going… The blocking of the Strait is going to be way more devastating to farming/crop production than what the vast majority is being led to believe. A global food crisis… and when the masses go hungry!

The problem is that this will all be a delayed response. Folks won’t see the results of this show up until year-end. Perhaps one should be taking a closer look at fertilizer producers… or at least the producers of the chemicals used to produce fertilizer who don’t depend on feedstock which passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

By now you are probably getting a "better than good" understanding that the closing of the Strait of Hormuz is way bigger than restriction of oil and gas. Have you ever woken up from a nightmare only to be so relieved that it was just your imagination and that it wasn’t reality?

Well, what if you had 60% of your assets in the S&P 500 (essentially the Mag7 and relatives) and the other 40% in long-dated bonds? What would be the nightmare that you hope to hell is just a dream and not reality? One word: inflation. You don’t want to own highly valued growth stocks or long-dated bonds under conditions of rising inflation. We remind readers just how crowded indexing as an investment strategy has become. We also remind readers that most portfolios that aren’t indexed are quasi-indexed (closet index-hugging). We all know what happens to crowded trades!

Bitching about the rising cost of gasoline/diesel will be the least of folks’ worries over the coming months as the direct and indirect effects of the Iran "conflict" take hold."

- https://internationalman.com/articles/