Silly and serious closer looks on gas prices, a driving update

I closed Stats for the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Flashback Friday by telling my readers, "Stay tuned for another retrospective, which will also be a driving update, just like last year." Today's topic is the rising price of gas because of the war with Iran. I begin the silly in "silly and serious" by sharing Trump’s Gas Prices Cold Open - SNL.

President Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) address the rising cost of gas in the United States.

Still works, two weeks later. So does Trump Voter Rips Him Over Soaring Gas Prices, MAGA Says High Prices Are a “Sacrifice”: A Closer Look from Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Seth takes a closer look at oil and gas prices continuing to soar amid the war in Iran, while Donald Trump and MAGA now insist that paying higher prices is a patriotic duty.

I'm glad one of Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump's voters has figured out what he is. It only took ten years.

Now for a serious update from NewsNation, Market tumbles as gas prices continue to climb | Morning in America, uploaded just this morning.

Wall Street is reacting to the war in the Middle East after stocks tumbled Friday to close at their lowest level in over seven months. The Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq have all seen continued declines since the start of "Operation Epic Fury" one month ago. NewsNation’s Alicia Nieves shows “Morning in America with Hena Doba” how the market shifts are driving sticker shock at the gas pump.

Welcome to energy prices as examples of "Everything is connected to everything else" and "There is no free lunch."

That's the big picture. I begin my personal update by sharing that my wife suggested I fill up Pearl the Prius the morning after the initial attack and I did; I've seen this movie before and I knew what was coming. I was only surprised that people weren't panic buying and that prices hadn't risen - yet. I was able to drive on that tank for the past four weeks. I was not looking forward to filling up, but did so anyway after attending the nearest No Kings demonstration today and felt lucky to pay just less than 4.00/gallon. How are gas prices where you are?

Follow over the jump for the rest of my personal driving update and the three most read driving update posts during the 2025-2026 blogging year.

Russia issues arrest warrant for Lindsey Graham after banning 500 Americans from entering country

I found a shinier object than the debt ceiling deal, Russia issues arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham | NewsNation Now.

Russia’s Interior Ministry has issued an arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, after he praised U.S. military aid to Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent.” The South Carolina senator said Monday "it brings me immense joy" to know that his support for Ukraine “has drawn the ire of Putin’s regime.”

I have the same reaction to this news that I had to my ex-wife after she threatened to throw me out 30 years ago: "I can understand you throwing me out after doing the wrong thing. I don't understand you wanting to throw me out for doing the right thing." Russia is threatening to arrest Senator Graham after he did the right thing, so Russia in general and Vladimir Putin in particular can go fly a kite.

That's not to say that Graham may not be arrested in the future. One of the Trump investigations you should actually care about is Donald Trump's other 'perfect call' to the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, which resulted in Graham and others being subpoenaed followed by a grand jury report. Graham may yet face charges for that. If so, I support it, as he would have been caught doing the wrong thing.

This comes after Russia adds Trump's political enemies to sanctions list, as MSNBC reported last week.

Russia has banned hundreds of U.S. citizens, including former President Obama, Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow and Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from entering its territory. The Morning Joe panel discusses.

I used that for the preview image, the subject line, and the description, which connected to what I wrote about Graham and Raffensberger. Joe Scarborough blustered a bit much to be very informative. For that, I'm turning to Joy Reid and her guest, who said ‘Putin is a sending signal to MAGA base’: Fmr. CIA director on Putin's sanctions, including Maddow.

Vladimir Putin has signaled support for Donald Trump with new sanctions targeting Trump’s critics. Putin’s likely subsequent influence on the MAGA base is analyzed by former CIA director John Brennan who tells Joy Reid, "I find it hard to believe in this day and age, particularly after the bloody assault and plundering of Ukraine, that any American would look favorably upon Vladimir Putin[.]”

All of this confirms what I wrote seven years ago: Trump and Putin have a bad bromance. I have something more complementary to say to Graham and the 500+ Americans on Russia's sanction list: Congratulations, you have the right enemies.