Every election brings forth numbers and results that at best seem a bit weird. And this election was no different. And the numbers are not just vote counts although such an item is a significant part of this review.
The first item for this review is gas prices. And, of course, gas prices are dependent on the price of oil. Early in the Iran war, oil deliveries were impacted and that caused a spike in the price of oil with a resultant spike in gas prices. Predictions were $200/barrel. That never happened or even came close. The top price was a little over $110/barrel. This resulted in an average gas price in America that hit $4.56/gallon in early May.
Then prices began to recede as it became obvious that the US controlled the Straits of Hormuz. Iran’s Air Force and Navy were gone. Most of the mobile missile launcher sites were defunct. Oil once again moved through the Straits.
Towards the end of June there was an increase. Was this because of the Iran war? The answer is an unequivocal No. It was because of the attacks on Russian oil refineries. That stabilized once the world realized that Russia was more resilient than people thought.
Then in mid-September prices rose again. What was the cause? There was no change in the Ukraine war. Despite Iran’s blustering, the situation in the Straits continued to allow most of the pre-war volume to pass through the Straits or through pipelines. The media tried to drive home the story that it was all about the Iran war. Simple logic shows a different story.
Interestingly enough the sudden rise coincided with the beginning of early voting in this year’s elections in America. Yes, believe it or not, some states permit early voting more than 40 days before Election Day. And the sudden drop at the end of this graph comes as the elections were ending. Weird!
I am certain that the financial centers in London had nothing to do with this (sarc).
Arizona, the hotbed of election integrity…Not!
An unidentified Maricopa County adjudicator (where else!) alleged that ballots marked for Andy Biggs, the Republican candidate for governor, were resolved against Biggs during review. When a ballot contained votes for both Biggs and Hobbs, instead of being discarded as is the usual case for overvotes, many were adjudicated for Hobbs. Over votes were 54% of the more than 150,000 ballots sent for adjudication. Weird how it is always the Republicans on the short end of these escapades.
Charleston County, SC…Charles Glover. A true election miracle! Charles’ financial disclosures showed he spent zero dollars ($0). He did almost no campaigning, and his campaign platform consisted only of saying that he’d work out his policies once he’s in office. Charles beat the incumbent Republican council chairman 11,837 to 11,358. Weird!
North Carolina House district NC-14…LaKesha Womack… LaKesha has never held office. She only raised about $56K against Tim Moore’s $1.9M. Moore is a well-known Republican in North Carolina. For her part, LaKesha is one of North Carolina’s most prominent unknowns. Oh! I almost forgot: She is also currently fighting a pending felony charge, with her next court date coming up on November 10th.
Texas…Two numbers that don’t pass the smell test: Gina Hinojosa just got 5.23 million votes for governor. That’s more than any gubernatorial candidate in modern Texas history — higher than Abbott’s 4.66M peak in 2018 and 1.68M more than Beto got in 2022.
James Talarico got 5.45 million for Senate. That’s only about 940k short of Trump’s entire 2024 presidential total in Texas… in a midterm. Republican raw votes stayed flat. Democratic votes exploded. Midterm turnout somehow produced presidential-level Democratic numbers.
Weird!
We can see fake vultures already circling the “election fraud” issue. It’s happening right on schedule. Wild claims are fluttering around social media like flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. The only thing we know to be true is that it is too soon to be sure about anything.
Skepticism is healthy and well justified. But let’s not make the rumor gambit easy for the color revolutionaries. Six days after an election is not nearly sufficient to crawl out on any branches, not while those feisty coup plotters are ready to declare this administration illegitimate.
Be patient. Hold fire. There’s no hurry. Let’s see what happens.