The term "shell shock" was initially used to describe what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (P.T.S.D.). It was created in World War I, to describe how the soldiers engaged in trench warfare felt from being continually bombarded by artillery fire and the sometimes long-lasting mental effects such an experience caused in them. Later, "shell-shocked" morphed into a more hyperbolic use, describing more generically being severely (and negatively) surprised by something. This week, it gained a new and ironically-literal meaning, as the Department of Justice charged James Comey with threatening to assassinate the president because he took a photo of some seashells he saw while walking on the beach. The shells were arranged to spell out "86 47" and what was truly shocking about the whole thing was not the implied message (which most sane people would translate as: "Get rid of the 47th president, Donald Trump") but instead the jaw-dropping ridiculousness of someone being criminally charged over posting a photo of seashells. It wasn't just James Comey who was shell-shocked at that, since it is such a blatant abuse of power and will no doubt get laughed out of court (hopefully sooner rather than later).

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The national average of the price of a gallon of gasoline now stands at $4.05. It broke through the $4-a-gallon barrier today after spending roughly a week hovering just below it. This isn't really a major change for consumers (it is only the difference of a few pennies), but it is a big psychological barrier that has now been breached. The only time gas prices have been higher in the past decade was at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (when not only gas prices spiked but the inflation rate skyrocketed as well). Then, the average U.S. price of gas rose to $5.00 per gallon before falling back again.

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Maybe we need a new word for the way Donald Trump seems to be running the country: "chaocracy." Rule by chaos. The "Madman Theory" writ large. Nobody has any clue what's going to happen next, from Trump himself all the way down to average Americans and the rest of the world.

Of course, this has always been Donald Trump's modus operandi to some extent, but it is much more apparent now that we're in what seems to be a prolonged war. Trump is now attempting a feint in this war, but nobody's really sure what is the feint and what will become reality in the next few weeks. Trump himself probably doesn't know, at this point.

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Donald Trump seems to be determined to break as many campaign promises as he possibly can, in the shortest period of time possible. Conveniently (for Democrats), he is doing all of this right at the start of the midterm campaign season, as the first states conduct their primaries. This seems like a rather spectacular way to commit political suicide, but then again Trump is a master at avoiding consequences, so who really knows how it will all play out?

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In assessing how Donald Trump's war of choice is proceeding, we turn once again to the metric most Americans are using as their chief measurement: the average nationwide price of a gallon of gasoline now stands at $3.91. That is up $1.16 from the mid-January lowpoint of this year, and it is up 97 cents from the day before the bombing started. It is also only nine cents away from the psychological "four bucks a gallon" milestone (which the media is likely to prominently feature, when we do hit it). And currently, there is absolutely no end in sight to the high prices -- which still have yet to peak.

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After two weeks of war with Iran, gas prices in America have now reached a national average of $3.65 per gallon. That is 71 cents higher than they were before Donald Trump started this war, and 90 cents higher than the average was in mid-January. And prices continue to climb -- oil is now trading worldwide at over $100 per barrel.

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In 1981, President Ronald Reagan famously expressed his anger at his own budget director by metaphorically "taking him out to the woodshed." This week, you might say that Donald Trump took Kristi Noem "out to the gravel pit."

Sorry, but we just couldn't resist. Trump was finally forced to fire one of the members of his cabinet, and it just couldn't have happened to a nicer person. Which is also pure snark, of course, because Noem was one of the most odious members of Team Trump by far (which is saying a lot). She even got yelled at this week by a fellow Republican for the heartlessness of the story she included in the book she wrote about herself, where she took the family dog out to the gravel pit and shot him dead. For good measure, she also shot a goat. Because of "leadership," or something.

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America is at war again. This time, just like the last time (Venezuela), the war has seemingly been launched completely on a whim from the Oval Office. Little or no effort was made by Donald Trump (or anyone in his administration) to explain to the American public the reasons for launching a war right now, the objectives of this war, or any expectations whatsoever about how it will be fought, how long it will be fought, and what is supposed to come afterwards. Perhaps Trump has just completely given up on his fervent wish for a Nobel Peace Prize? It's hard to figure -- just like pretty much everything about this war.

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It was a big week in American politics, with Donald Trump giving his first official State Of The Union speech of his second term to Congress, but we felt even this was overshadowed by Trump seemingly slouching towards a new war with Iran. America going to war used to be a very big deal to the public, but on Trump's watch it seems to be just another item within the firehose of distractions he continually creates.

That sounds cynical, but it's not even the most cynical take on things. Hardcore cynics point out that Trump seems to launch his military attacks whenever the Epstein files begin to get some traction in the news again. We're not sure if we totally buy into that thinking, but it is worth considering, seeing how Trump does almost everything for the stupidest of reasons.

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I was inspired to write that headline as I was reading a review of Donald Trump's State Of The Union speech in the New York Times. A group of their political commentators were asked about various aspects of the speech, and under the subject heading of: "What Else Mattered," Binyamin Appelbaum responded:

When Roman emperors ran out of ideas, they promised bread and circuses. Trump's speech was full of circuses, including a lengthy celebration of the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team. But he's no Roman emperor: He made a point of reminding the American people that his administration is providing a lot less food to the poor (having "lifted" 2.4 million people off food stamps).

[Just to give credit where it is due....]

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