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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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gas prices are over 4 dollars, there's an upcoming 8% surcharge on shipping, and airlines are increasing their prices with some even slowly shutting down routes.

The irony is that this is what the "reduce dependency on fossil fuels/get rid of oil" crowd want, and we see now what it means in action. Not a tidy "everything now runs on wind and solar power" but "you can't get goods in, you can't get a flight to where you want to go" and advice like that from my government to do chores at night when running electrically powered items like washing machines, and walking to work instead of driving.

In the US, we didn't so much reduce dependence on fossil fuels as we did reduce (but not eliminate) dependence on Middle Eastern fossil fuels. That's why gas is only $4.15 near me in New Jersey, and there's no serious worry about domestic supplies.

If Europe had actually reduced dependence on fossil fuels, they wouldn't be being hit so hard. But they didn't, not nearly to the extent they often claim to have.