🚨 A Laughing Matter – June 30 2026

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00 a.m. ET.

Lead: Gaslighting the Gas Market

Photo credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI)

President Trump is demanding that gas companies lower prices immediately. The problem is that gas prices aren’t set by presidential decree. They are driven primarily by global crude oil prices, refining capacity, inventories, taxes, and competition.

This is reminiscent of President Biden blaming grocery stores and retailers for inflation. When prices are politically inconvenient, the temptation is always to blame the companies at the end of the supply chain.

Oil prices have fallen sharply over the past week, nearly erasing the “war premium” that followed the U.S.-Iran conflict. But that drop appears to be driven more by market sentiment than by a meaningful improvement in supply. Commodity strategists warned Monday that traders may be pricing in an overly optimistic outlook while underestimating the remaining supply risks.

During the conflict, the United States authorized the release of 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help stabilize markets. Even after the ceasefire, the SPR remains at its lowest level since 1983, and combined U.S. strategic and commercial inventories have fallen substantially. In other words, the market has largely priced out the geopolitical risk, but much of the emergency oil that helped calm prices has already been consumed.

World leaders are not so sure the crisis is over. President Trump claims that Iran has requested a meeting on Tuesday but Iranian leaders say that they do not intend to meet with any U.S. officials.

“We will not have any negotiation meetings at any level with the American side in the coming days, and the fact that the U.S. representatives are traveling to Qatar has nothing to do with the visit of the Iranian delegation,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Okay then. Can U.S. negotiators just show up and hope to catch the Iranians for an elevator pitch? Can President Trump end this energy crisis because he’s bored of it and demand that it is over by Tweet?

Weapons of Mass Lobbying

Photo credit: AI-generated image (ChatGPT/OpenAI) 

Should a defense contractor get to enrich shareholders with stock buybacks while it’s behind schedule on taxpayer-funded government contracts?

The House will debate exactly that question this week as lawmakers consider an amendment to the annual defense bill that would prohibit certain Pentagon contractors from buying back their own stock if they are failing to meet production and delivery requirements. The idea is simple: if taxpayers are paying you to build missiles, ships, and fighter jets, maybe build the missiles, ships, and fighter jets before rewarding Wall Street.

Enter the lobbyists. America’s weapons makers have deployed their most powerful weapon yet: their lobbyists, sent to kill the bill before it can reach the battlefield. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and major defense industry groups are urging lawmakers to kill the proposal, arguing that it amounts to the federal government dictating how private companies allocate their capital.

But this isn’t some radical new concept. The federal government has long attached conditions to taxpayer money. Banks that accepted TARP bailout funds after the 2008 financial crisis faced restrictions on executive compensation, dividends, and stock buybacks. Utilities and financial institutions are often subject to capital and reserve requirements before they can return money to shareholders. Companies that want federal dollars routinely accept strings attached.

This proposal would simply add another condition for a narrow class of companies: if you’re relying on taxpayer-funded defense contracts, you shouldn’t be enriching shareholders while you’re behind on the weapons, ships, or aircraft those taxpayers already paid for. Under the proposal, contractors would generally be prohibited from buying back stock or paying dividends unless they meet government performance standards or receive a waiver from the Secretary of War.

The coalition behind this proposal are a motley crew. President Trump issued an executive order with this mandate in January and the Senate approved the language a few weeks ago. The current amendment has support from Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Josh Hawley, and Mike Lee.

Congress has a simple choice: side with the taxpayers who paid for the weapons, or the lobbyists paid to protect the profits.

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Redacted Featured Video

Redacted will be live at 4 p.m. Eastern today. Meanwhile, don’t miss this segment with Kris Newby who joins us to discuss the secret history of Lyme disease and biological weapons.

News by the Numbers

Photo credit: Sharp Funeral Homes

225 pounds. That is how much 7 year-old Casper O’Brien weighed when he died. His parents were charged with murder, torture and child abuse in Michigan this week. Authorities say that the boy and his 5 year-old sister were unknown to the state and that the parents called a veterinarian to treat the boy on the morning that he stopped breathing.

$4,333. That is the value of the Bad Bunny tickets that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared on her annual disclosures. They were gifted to her by the singer’s record label for a concert in Puerto Rico.

$200. That is how much it costs per person per night to stay in an old steel tower 34 miles off the coast of North Carolina. This TikTok about it has gone viral with most people saying: “No way!”

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