This week, Donald Trump addressed the fears many are having over artificial intelligence by sending out a message: "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!"

Many people's reaction to this was simple: "OK, so it's official then... we're screwed." Plenty of other scathing comments appeared online, with our favorite being: "You didn't know there was a 'b' in the word dumb."

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We're going to begin today with a record-setting number. Today, the nationwide average of the price of diesel fuel hit a new high of $6.05 per gallon. It's the first time in American history that diesel has sold for more than six bucks a gallon, in fact. The price of diesel has risen around 20 cents within the past week, which is going to be felt by everyone. Your car or truck may not run on diesel, but you know what does? Farmers' tractors and all their other farm equipment. And the trucks and trains that transport all the food farmers produce -- as well as just about everything else you buy -- to your local stores and supermarkets.

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The Republican midterm party convention (or "Trump-a-Palooza" as most people are now calling it) has reportedly now gotten underway in Texas. In football terms, this would be seen as a "Hail Mary pass" -- a desperate attempt to regain the lead in a game you are about to lose. Football terms are especially apt, since someone at the White House forgot to check the sports calendar when scheduling this extravaganza, meaning that it will have to compete with the opening two games of the N.F.L. football season (tonight features a rematch of last year's Super Bowl, and tomorrow night features a game that will be played in Australia). But that's not the biggest worry Republicans should be having about their convention's chances to turn back an expected Democratic wave election, because there is one reality that Donald Trump and all the rest of the GOP are just not going to be able to wish away.

The worldwide price of a barrel of oil just topped $100 once again. The average U.S. price of gasoline nationwide now stands at $4.26 (according to GasBddy.com), which is an all-time high for this time of year. The average U.S. price for diesel is now a whopping $5.94 (according to AAA), which is an all-time high, period.

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America just broke a record today, but it's not one to be proud of. The average price of diesel fuel nationwide just hit $5.85 per gallon, which is the highest it has ever been. It beat the previous record of $5.82, which was set in 2022, just after Russia invaded Ukraine. Diesel costs have risen over 50 percent since Donald Trump started his war of choice with Iran. But even though he normally likes bragging about setting records, Trump will probably not be boasting about this one.

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At this point, you have to kind of wonder... is Donald Trump trying to lose the midterms?

That's a rather extraordinary question to ask, of course. After all, what sane president would want to tank his own party's chances of success in the midterm congressional elections? The entire next two years could include plenty of legacy-defining moments for a lame-duck president who cannot run again. Winning the midterms could be the difference between being impeached for a jaw-dropping third time and having a Republican House do Trump's every bidding. It could mean the difference between a Democratic Senate that refuses to confirm anyone Trump nominates for any office and a GOP Senate that cheerfully confirms every quack, flim-flam man, and carnival barker Trump decides is worthy of high office. The difference between muscular oversight of the executive branch and a bunch of spineless toadies who all follow every Trump command to the letter all hangs in the balance.

But Trump just doesn't seem to care.

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Here we go again. Our toddler-in-chief threw another tantrum this week, because he was mad at Canada. Donald Trump was astonished that Canada didn't immediately knuckle under and agree to all his kooky demands, so he went ahead and opened up a whole new trade war with our neighbor to the north. These demands (to show you how inane the negotiations must have been) included trying to force Canada to reject their bilingual nature and get rid of all that French stuff. Canada refused. So Trump announced a new 50 percent tariff on Canadian goods. Canada then announced their own tariffs on American goods. Trump then threw his tantrum, announcing that he had just renamed Lake Ontario, which will now officially and henceforth be known by the U.S. government as "Lake America" (or possibly "Lake Of America," Trump didn't seem too sure). Which (of course) spurred the internet to respond. The site MapQuest helpfully pointed people to a tool they could use to rename the lake to anything they wished, which (of course) led to all sorts of amusing new names for it (Lake Epstein Files? Lake Hormuz? Lake Cheats At Golf? Lake Gulf Of Mexico?). The funniest one (to us, at any rate) came from "Mister Cool" on the site formerly known as Twitter, who posted an image showing: "Lakey McLakeface."

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It's Tuesday, so yet again it is primary day, but this week doesn't have any really exciting races on the Democratic side so I thought it was time to take an overview of how the Senate races are going in all the other states.

At this point, regaining control of the Senate is well within reach for Democrats, but will still require a massive shift towards the party from the electorate. This isn't out of the question, as Donald Trump's polling is still at record lows and he keeps actually going out of his way to remind people why they are so dissatisfied with his economic record. Starting up a new trade war with Canada isn't going to do the Republican Party any good in states like Maine and Michigan, to state the obvious. The war with Iran continues to stagnate, with gasoline prices showing no signs of coming back down to pre-war levels any time soon (indeed, they are still up over a dollar a gallon from when the war started). And Trump doesn't care one whit -- he still says affordability is some sort of Democratic hoax. Voters aren't in the mood for such gaslighting, which is why the wind is at the Democrats' backs.

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Donald Trump has ramped up his war of choice once again, bombing Iran on a nightly basis while Iran launches missiles at U.S. military installations and other targets in the region. Sadly, four more American soldiers lost their lives as a result of all this crossfire. And the war seems to be escalating, as the Houthis in Yemen have now entered the fray by blocking the strait at the southern end of the Red Sea to any Saudi ships. All of this has caused oil prices to spike above $100 per barrel once again, and gas prices here in America to spike to over four bucks a gallon once again.

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There's a political cartoon out there just waiting to be drawn. Picture a coat-check window, with a line of people in front of it. But instead of coats, the sign says "Spinal Check." The person behind the counter is handing the person they're waiting on a full spine, while saying: "Here you go, Senator! Once you get it reinstalled, you'll find it's really liberating to get your spine back!" ...or something along those lines. The people in line would (if the cartoonist was good enough) resemble prominent Republicans who are now increasingly breaking with Donald Trump's agenda, of course.

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Today America memorializes 250 years of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Since America is currently at war once again, the question on my mind is how many of these brave Americans died in stupid wars? And which one was the stupidest?

Perhaps that's too harsh. Maybe the question should be what was America's most pointless war? That question (phrased politely or not) certainly is relevant now, with the current conflict right up there in the running for that ignominious award.

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