It was a very busy week in politics and we've got a lot to get to, but let's start out on a happy note for once, shall we? NASA's Artemis II mission is on its way to circle the moon, the first time humans have done so in over 50 years. So check out some awesome photos the astronauts took of Earth, including one that shows some Northern Lights (at the very edge of image). Out of this world! Something America can be proud of (during a time when that is rare indeed)....

Speaking of things quickly rocketing upward, this week the average national price of a gallon of gasoline blew through the "four bucks a gallon" milestone and hit $4.10 today. To which we can only say: "Ouch!"

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Last year on this date, Donald Trump wanted to proclaim his "Liberation Day" tariffs to the world. Saner heads prevailed at the White House, and Trump was talked into postponing his announcement for a day. This year, those saner heads obviously weren't available, so Trump is going to address the nation today (of all days) on the state of his war of choice with Iran, with gas prices heading north of $4.00 a gallon. How could anyone live almost 80 years in America without realizing the cultural significance of this date on the calendar? It's a mystery, that's for sure.

Personally, I think it'd be amusing if Trump took to the airwaves tonight and boldly announced he was resigning the office of the presidency at midnight tonight. Then just before the clock struck twelve, he could put out a statement on social media saying: "April Fool's! Gotcha!"

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California voters were supposed to see a gubernatorial debate this evening (well... early evening -- for some reason it was scheduled to run at 5:00 P.M., when most people aren't even home from work yet, but whatever...), but it has now been cancelled. The University of Southern California announced this morning that it was cancelling the debate due to criticism over who would have been allowed on stage and who would have been excluded.

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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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As every day of Trump's War progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that Trump and his entire administration are completely clueless about what they are doing. Which (it will come as no surprise to learn) they truly have no one to blame for but themselves. Six months ago, as NOTUS reports, "the Department of State fired its oil and gas experts... the administration laid off staff who would have been responsible for gaming out possible scenarios if the Strait of Hormuz was closed."

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It has been interesting (to me, at least) to hear how both the media and politicians are speaking about the price of gas these days. The mainstream media seems to be somewhat downplaying the continuing rise in the price at the pump, but (to be fair) this could be because of the editorial process taking so much time that by the time the story runs, the price has risen even further. Politicians, of course, have their own biases -- Republicans want to downplay the rise as much as they can get away with, while Democrats want to make it sound as alarmist as possible. But even Democrats aren't really using the right scale.

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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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Donald Trump just got the biggest smackdown of his second term from the Supreme Court today, as they ruled -- 6 to 3, even! -- that Trump does not have the authority he assumed he had to slap any tariff he felt like, on any country he felt like, for any reason he felt like.

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The history of organized national presidential/political polling may have begun way back in President Andrew Jackson's time. That's pretty amazing when you think about it, considering the glacial pace of long-range communications in that horse-and-buggy era (the 1820s and 1830s). There were no telephone polls because there were no telephones. Even the telegraph network in this country was still in the future. Railroads hadn't conquered the continent yet. Most news went as fast as either a horse could run or a boat could float. In fact, the major waterways of the era were the equivalent of the Interstate highway system -- they were the funnels through which most travellers (and most news) flowed. And this was the dawn of a golden age of boat travel, because of the rise of steam-powered riverboats.

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