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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Whenever pundits try to form an all-inclusive storyline for what is currently happening in the world of politics, they usually are forced to ignore situations that cut against the grain. It's inconvenient while trying to explain "the voters are feeling X right now" when you stumble upon an individual contest where the voters are doing exactly the opposite thing. As Al Gore might say, sometimes you have to deal with inconvenient truths.

I certainly don't exclude myself from that statement -- at times, I've been just as guilty as other pundits of buying into a sweeping storyline that attempts to take the pulse of the American voter while brushing off data that directly contradicts such a storyline. Which is why it is worth pointing out that today's Democratic primary race in Massachusetts seems to be one of those "doesn't quite fit the conventional wisdom" types of races.

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So doubtlessly you've heard the story -- which has gotten heavy coverage in the political press all week long, of course -- of the very progressive Democrat who not only won the primary for an open Senate seat but also impressively outperformed polling expectations, right? It was a huge story -- because it will mean there will now be three progressives on November Senate ballots in three swing states. Progressives scored a big win, which has given rise to much discussion among the pundits over whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the Democratic Party, because it is such a risky strategy right now (with control of the Senate hanging in the balance).

What's that? You didn't hear about all of this?

Well, that's because the mainstream media decided a different primary race was worth all their ink and airwave time instead. They obsessed over a progressive who very narrowly lost a primary in a governor's race (which is just not as important, to national politics, as the Senate races), because they could barely contain their relief and glee over seeing a progressive lose (even though the polls said she would win).

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I will warn everyone up front today that I am veering off from politics to comment on something entirely unrelated. While there are multiple primary elections happening today, and I will be watching the returns come in tonight, I think my column from last Tuesday will still serve as adequate commentary on the races everyone will be talking about (one way or another) come tomorrow morning. Instead, today I am going to focus on a pet peeve of mine when it comes to mainstream media science reporting. In particular, earthquake reporting.

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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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We start today with some good news, for a change. The first is time-sensitive, so check it out now -- a livestream of workers removing Donald Trump's name from the outside wall of what will once again be known as simply The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts. As of this writing, the scaffolding has been set up, but nobody's on top of it and Trump's name still appears. By judicial order, Trump's name must be removed today, so take a look, maybe you'll get to see them prying letters off the building! They've already removed the odious new name from their website, but removing it from the building will be more satisfying to see.

The second piece of good news is more momentous. Are you sitting down? For once, Donald Trump apparently was not lying about a deal to end his Iran war of choice being finalized. No, really! CNN recently tallied it up and found that, previous to the last few days, Trump had lied about it a whopping 38 times, so it is definitely shocking that this time around the blind pig actually found an acorn!

We supposed we shouldn't be so snarky about something as serious as the end of a war, but after 38 times, we had to express our amazement (and frustration) somehow.

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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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