We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
Mencken’s Forgotten Wisdom on War
by Jim Bovard | Jun 25, 2025
As a stampede of weasels just sought to con America into supporting another Mideast war, it is time remember America’s most underrated critic of bellicose folly. H.L. Mencken is famous for his smackdowns of politicians and ridicule of government and of much of American culture. But he also offered sage advice for citizens judging officialdom itching for carnage.
On May 9, 1939, The Baltimore Sun published Mencken’s essay on “The Art of Selling War.” This piece, included in the Second Mencken Chrestomathy published in 1995, deserves a far higher position in the Mencken and antiwar pantheon.
In words that are painfully relevant for today’s news, Mencken warned, “The fact that all the polls run heavily against American participation in the threatening European war is not to be taken seriously.” Mencken continued:
“Wars are not made by common folks, scratching for livings in the heat of the day, they are made by demagogues infesting palaces…The very unpopularity of war makes people ready to believe, when they suddenly confront it, that it has been thrust upon them…because their own demagogues have been pretending, all the while, to be trying to prevent it.”
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/menckens-forgotten-wisdom-on-war/
🇺🇸🛢 US oil inventory model excluding SPR fair value showed ~$95/bbl WTI last week.
This week’s commercial oil inventory draw excluding propane/propylene is 8-9million bbls.
It would put fair value at $98-$99.
By the end of July, another 65-70 million bbls will be gone.
🔗 HFI Research
❄️🌊 Mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the Atlantic suggests the AMOC is weakening
A patch of ocean south-east of Greenland is the only place on Earth that is cooling, and it could be a sign that the warm water "conveyor belt" in the Atlantic is slowing down
Over the past 150 years, Earth’s entire surface has been warming, except for one patch of the north Atlantic. Located south-east of Greenland, this area has cooled by as much as 1°C and is known as the “warming hole” or the “cold blob”.
Scientists have been split over why this cold blob exists, but the latest evidence backs up the idea that it is caused by a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the system of currents that transports warmth from the tropics to Europe.
The AMOC carries warm, salty water from the Gulf of Mexico towards the north Atlantic, where it cools and sinks, flowing back south along the ocean floor. Scientists are concerned that the surge of freshwater from Greenland’s ...
🇮🇷🇮🇷❌🇮🇱🇺🇸🌞- Summary of today's events in Israel, Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq:
➡️ Earlier today, Israel struck an apartment building in Dahieh, southern Beirut, despite Iranian threats of retaliation on northern Israel if they carried out such attacks. At least 2 people were killed.
➡️ In response, Iran carried out their threat and attacked northern Israel with at least 26 ballistic missiles and multiple drones. At least 2 impacts were confirmed near Tiberias and southwest Haifa, along with 3 impacts allegedly of debris in other areas of northern Israel.
➡️ Missiles were launched from Kermanshah (5), Tabriz (3), Urmia (2), Isfahan (7), Kashan (3), Qom (3), and Andimeshk (3), all towards northern Israel.
➡️ After the attack, Israeli officials are pushing for a response; Donald Trump and Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke on the phone, where according to Israeli media, Netanyahu "Kind of agreed" not to retaliate.
➡️ A U.S. Army MQ-1C "Gray Eagle" ...
