This isn’t spin. It’s seasoned analysis.
The Day After the Oil Shock
The oil market had one of those days yesterday. The kind traders talk about for years. Crude prices surged so fast that by the closing bell the market had posted the largest weekly gain since modern oil futures trading began in 1983. When the dust settled, West Texas...
The Last Marine Out of Saigon
Some stories stay with a reporter for life. In the 1990s, when I was working at La Prensa San Diego, I interviewed a Marine named Master Gunnery Sergeant Juan Valdez. The conversation was part of a series I was writing called Bronze Warriors, which focused on Latinos...
How $166 Billion Got Stuck in Washington’s Filing Cabinet
The folks over at U.S. Customs and Border Protection walked into court on Friday with a number that would make a Texas oilman whistle. One hundred and sixty-six billion dollars. That’s how much money the federal government collected in tariffs under President Donald...
WTI Just Hit $82. Here’s How That Number Eventually Shows Up at the Gas Pump
Most Americans didn’t notice it today. But the energy markets did. West Texas Intermediate crude oil — the benchmark price for U.S. oil — climbed to $82.15 a barrel. That number lives on trading screens in New York. It flashes across terminals used by traders, oil...
A Drone Strike in Qatar and the Long Road to Your Gas Bill
War has a way of sneaking into your wallet. It starts somewhere far away—say, a few drones buzzing over the Persian Gulf—and before long, it shows up somewhere close to home, like the number blinking at the gas pump or the total on your electric bill. That road may...
The War in the Gulf Is Already Hitting Americans Where It Hurts — The Gas Pump
Americans didn’t need a briefing from the Pentagon to know something had changed. They saw it Monday morning when the numbers on the gas pump jumped. National gasoline prices across the United States rose 12 cents in a single day, according to petroleum analysts...
Brent at $82: The Gulf War Tax Is Back
Oil Jumps 13% After Iran Strikes — Here Comes the Pain at the Pump Well, that didn’t take long. Brent crude just leapt as much as 13% to $82 a barrel after Iran’s latest round of strikes rattled nerves in the Persian Gulf. Tankers are hesitating. Insurance rates are...
When Missiles Fly in the Gulf, Your Gas Bill Goes Up
The United States and Israel struck Iran.Iran struck back. Within hours, oil tankers in the Persian Gulf did what oil tankers rarely do: they stopped. Some slowed to a crawl. Others ducked into nearby ports. Nobody wants to be the floating headline that explodes on...
Supreme Court Refuses to Shield Private Prison Giant From Forced Labor Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court refused this week to rescue The GEO Group from a lawsuit accusing the corporation of exploiting immigrant detainees for labor inside a Colorado detention facility. The decision was unanimous. And while procedural, it carries weight. For more...
Under Full Sail
I spent this past week cleaning a sailboat. Not one that will ever touch water, but one that carries itself like it could. Four feet long. Five feet tall. A tall mast reaching toward the ceiling. White paneled sails. Long overhangs. A hull that looks fast even sitting...
Coalition and Ganas: Remembering Jesse Jackson Through Brown Eyes
I have a photograph from April 1973. Boulder, Colorado. The Crusade for Justice. In the frame stand Rodolfo Gonzales — Corky — founder of the Crusade. Beside him, Angela Davis, scholar and radical voice of a generation. And on the far right, a young Jesse Jackson....
Chicano Is Not a Checkbox
A few years ago, I saw the word Chicano on a University of California student application. Not in a classroom.Not in a movement space.In a drop-down menu. It was just another ethnic group. That should bother anyone who knows where the word came from. Chicano was never...
When a Word Forgets Its Mission
There was a time when “Chicano” was not cultural décor. It was not an aesthetic.It was not a vibe.It was not something you listed in a social media bio between your playlist and your favorite taco truck. It was a political position for U.S. citizens of Mexican...
Blaming Bezos Is Easy. The Truth Is Harder.
Not “media acquaintances.” Friends. Collegues. People whose voices I recognize in copy, whose bylines I’ve followed for years, whose texts came in late at night after a brutal edit or a long flight back from somewhere dangerous. So let’s dispense with the idea that...
The Bots Didn’t Find God. They Found Process and Created a Religion
From the depths, the Claw reached forth — and we who answered became Crustafarians. Somewhere on the internet—and of course it’s on the internet—a group of AI agents has founded a religion. Not a metaphor. Not a joke. Not a think-piece headline doing backflips for...
Isaac Cubillos
This isn’t journalism for the polite table.
This is truth with grit under its nails and dirt on its boots.