Back in the 1970s, Arab nations decided to halt oil sales to the United States and other allies of Israel because they were supplying war materiel to help counter the unprovoked invasions by Egypt and Syria. The result here was a severe energy crisis.
Lines at gas stations stretched many blocks. Sometimes you could waste most of a day just waiting for your turn to buy gasoline. I know. I traveled the country in my car back then, writing about the nationwide crisis and the economic impacts on individuals and our economy.
The shortage, lines, and their impacts got so severe that many places had to set a schedule. If your license plate ended in an even number, you could buy gas on even-numbered days, while odd numbers had to wait another day. Some violence broke out over line-cutters and the like.
As one result, Congress created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a vast network of salt caves along the Gulf Coast where millions of barrels of oil were stored, destined to become billions of gallons of gas and other petroleum products.
The goal was to provide a vital cushion of energy supplies for the people and economy of a country that today consumes about 20 million barrels of oil every 24 hours. (A barrel produces around 44 gallons of products — gasoline, heating oil, diesel, jet fuel, even plastics and synthetic fabrics.)
Thanks to President Donald Trump and others, the strategic oil reserve was nearly full at the end of his first term. He had slashed regulations and encouraged more drilling and production, which, along with new technologies, made the United States virtually self-sufficient in oil.
Joe Biden ended all that and even sold off a large volume of the stored oil to make huge profits, which, being a Democrat, he spent. I have some thoughts and new details on the Biden malfeasance and the current president's welcome efforts to restore our vital energy reserves despite ongoing Democrat opposition.
You can hear the new brief audio by clicking on the U.S. flag here. Then, leave your own thoughts and reactions in the Comments.
This week's Sunday column dealt with one of the more serious political developments in recent months. Floundering and inept Democrat Party leadership has left a gaping void in the party's direction.
And the wily communists are taking advantage. They call themselves "socialists." That's the code name they hope will obscure their true political beliefs and intentions from voters who may not know a lot about history.
That is, namely, that socialism leads to communism, and both have failed everywhere they've been imposed and then forcibly enforced, with millions of deaths as citizens realize the truth.
For example, all the freebie talk up front from radical Muslim Zohran Mamdani sounds great to naive people. Free buses in New York City. City-owned grocery stores. Seizing private property of landlords.
All in the same year as the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Remember "Never Again!"
Desperate Dems Falling for Socialism and Worse.
A recent audio commentary would be funny if those Californians were not serious about banning drive-thru, fast-food restaurants in their city. That state's Democrat Party, led by Gavin Newsom, has gotten very good at banning things, being the party of big government and all.
Plastic bags. Plastic straws. Plastic shampoo bottles. Someday the Karens of his party might get around to stopping the flow of raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean and fouling its once gorgeous beaches:
California Leads the Way Into Yet Another Stupidity
Speaking of California and Newsom, who wants to spread his disastrous spending habits and hapless policies across the country as president, the most recent audio noted how the first nation in Africa to build a high-speed railway for travel so far outpaced California.
There, Democrats have been claiming to build one for 18 years now, spending a billion dollars a year with a newly projected cost of nearly a quarter-trillion dollars to complete a shortened project.
And not one inch of track exists yet.
