Gas prices are high. Let's sit the election out so the party that blocks pipelines, orders refineries shut down, and wants carbon taxes to price fuel out of reach for most people will win. Oh, wait. Could that backfire? Vote Early. Vote Often. Vote RED.

UK governments are taking down national flags🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 that citizens put up, while pretending everything is okay. A North Somerset Council (UK) spokesperson said they are "proud to fly the Union flag ... however, this pride should be shown in ways that are respectful and safe." If flying your country's flag in your own country is disrespectful or unsafe, isn't the solution is to remove those who object instead of removing the flag?

With a GOP House, Senate, and White House, we had zero Border Patrol releases of migrants for 16 months. Vote Democrat or even stay home, and our President could be forced to admit these foreigners, without screening. Better they contribute to their own countries. Vote early. Vote often. Vote Republican.

Reposting - accidentally deleted. Managing problem relatives is worth talking about: I have few fears and only one superstition. I almost never say my oldest brother’s name. My kids grew up knowing little more than that he existed and that they should call 911, then me, if he ever appeared. They didn’t get the rest until after another brother’s funeral three years ago. They wanted to go. I warned them it would be ugly. Over breakfast I told my daughter to leave her own kids at the hotel and to sit between me and my wife. My oldest asked how much of the caution was just old childhood friction. I said we’d talk after the service. My brother did not disappoint. He recited, from memory, their full names, phone numbers, jobs, addresses, and the appearance of the homes and children of every one of my kids, all in different states. He knew which hotel my daughter was in, no threats, just disquieting. Then his eulogy - soft, never a raised voice or a swear word, still frightening enough that the minister later handed back the honorarium and said he wanted nothing from that service remaining in his church. At lunch my kids asked why I hadn’t warned them with specifics and what he had been like as a child. I have no pleasant memories of him at all. I tried three of the least bad stories. The first began: “For my sixth birthday our parents gave me a kitten. I named her Snowball. She lasted a month.” They stopped me after a few sentences. My wife, who had already heard enough of the stories from my mother, kept naming examples and then catching herself: “Wait, no, not that one either.” My kids understand now why they never knew him or any details. They started referring to him as Uncle Hannibal. He is more than a mindless movie slasher. He is a sharp, experienced sadist who moved from direct harm to mostly getting other people to do bad things to themselves. I am done managing that problem sibling. I will no longer treat his name like a spell.

President Bukele of El Salvador says he is responding militarily to the kidnapping of four of his citizens (aviation technicians supporting medical evacuation), with the US backing El Salvador. I don't like forever wars, but I love narrowly targeted operations to solve problems. Haitian gangs are a problem. Eliminating the threat posed by these horrible people may be the best thing to happen to Haiti in a very long time.

Stephen Hubbard is on his way home after being held in Russia for four years. Welcome home, Stephen!