Wall Street Warns About "Perfect Storm" Diesel Crunch:

Diesel Crack Spread Explodes To Record As Wall Street Warns Of Refined-Products "Perfect Storm"

 TYLER DURDEN

Wall Street Warns About "Perfect Storm" Diesel Crunch: 

• Goldman's Daan Struyven Shows Global Diesel Exports Crashing
• Citi's Anthony Yuen Warns: Global Diesel Inventories "Below 5YR Minimum"
• BofA's Francisco Blanch Warns: "Diesel's Perfect Summer Storm" Unfolding 
• Jefferies' Sam Burwell Warns: Hormuz Shock "Manifesting Itself In Cracks, Not Crude" 

Brent crude remains hostage to daily geopolitical developments in the Gulf region more than five months into the conflict, with muted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz (read the latest US-Iran wrap) constraining tanker flows and driving refined-product markets to new, dire extremes as they become the focal point of the energy crisis.

Hormuz traffic has stabilized at about 10 crossings a day, down from 30 to 40 before the latest escalation. Liquids flows are averaging roughly 4 million barrels a day, well below public estimates of 9 million, according to HSBC analysts.

We earlier cited Jefferies analyst Sam Burwell, who warned clients:

"What this all shows is that global oil-market tightness is manifesting itself in cracks, not crude, at least for now. Wide cracks suggest refining runs should remain strong, however, which is positive for crude. 

By lunchtime Thursday, the front-month US diesel crack spread (HOCL1 on the Terminal) had exceeded the $97 levelreached in mid-March, when the US-Iran conflict was just three weeks old, and was closing in on $100. That signals extreme tightness in diesel.

Francisco Blanch, head of commodities at Bank of America, warned clients in a note earlier titled "Diesel's Perfect Summer Storm" that the industrial fuel is "materially disrupted in 3 of 4 major regions" around the world.

As we recently warned (see report: The crude reality of oil markets), supply disruptions are amplifying the squeeze on petroleum markets.

Three of the world's four major refining hubs remain impaired for one reason or another.

First, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and adjacent military activity has reduced Middle East fuel exports, with the recent Houthi strike on Saudi Arabia's Jazan refinery being the latest example.

Second, record Russian refining disruptions following Ukrainian strikes have removed significant volumes from the global diesel pool. 

Third, fearful of potential domestic shortages, China has yet to restart petroleum product exports to the Asia region. As such, Europe has increasingly relied on record US exports to fill the gap.

Yet those flows are drawing down already tight US inventories, the only major hub open for business, creating a global competition for fuel that is pushing diesel cracks back toward record seasonal highs.

Beyond Ukraine drone-striking Russian energy assets, Moscow has decided to ban diesel exports; yet again, more evidence of dwindling global supplies: 

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The Beast System Is Rapidly Approaching

The Surveillance Web: Your Phone, Car And Online Life Are Tracking You

PNW STAFF

There was a time when being followed required someone to actually follow you.

A police officer had to sit outside your house. An investigator had to trail your car. A surveillance team had to photograph where you went and whom you met.

Today, much of that work can potentially be done by machines--and most people carry the tracking devices themselves.

A new roadside surveillance technology offers a glimpse of just how rapidly this world is changing. Leonardo, a major defense and security contractor, is marketing a system called SignalTrace that can detect electronic signals from devices traveling inside vehicles and correlate them with license-plate information.

In other words, the camera may no longer be watching only your car.

It may also be watching the digital devices traveling inside it.

Traditional automatic license-plate readers photograph passing vehicles and record their plates.

SignalTrace takes the concept further.

Leonardo says the system can identify groups of consumer electronic devices that routinely travel together--even when investigators do not know the license plate number. It can detect publicly broadcast signals associated with smartphones, Bluetooth wearables, vehicle electronics and other devices and use that combination to create what the company calls an electronic fingerprint.

Think about what that means.

Your car drives past a sensor every morning carrying your smartphone, smartwatch and wireless earbuds.

Day after day, the same collection of electronic devices appears alongside the same vehicle.

Eventually, the devices themselves become part of the vehicle's identifying signature.

Even if the plate were changed or unavailable, the electronic pattern could potentially remain recognizable.

This technology is being promoted for legitimate law-enforcement purposes. But it also illustrates something far larger.

We are entering an age in which almost everything we carry creates data.

Most Americans probably understand that their smartphone knows where they are.

Far fewer realize how valuable that information can become once it enters the commercial data ecosystem.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, location-data brokers collect information about the movements of hundreds of millions of people, much of it originating from third-party smartphone apps. That information can potentially reveal where people live, work, worship, protest and seek medical care.

The Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly taken action against companies accused of improperly collecting or selling sensitive location information.

In one case involving Gravy Analytics and Venntel, the FTC said location data could reveal visits to places including houses of worship and medical facilities and could even help determine associations between individuals.

Consider the implications.

Twenty years ago, determining who regularly attended a particular church might have required physical surveillance.

Today, location databases can potentially make similar patterns detectable from digital records.

That should concern Christians regardless of which political party currently controls Washington.

The question is not simply whether today's government would misuse such information.

The question is whether the infrastructure exists for tomorrow's government to do so.

Even the vehicle carrying your phone can generate another layer of information.

The Federal Trade Commission finalized an order against General Motors and OnStar in January after alleging that the companies collected precise geolocation and driving-behavior information through connected vehicle services without adequately informing consumers and provided some of that information to third parties.

The FTC has warned more broadly that modern connected vehicles can collect sensitive information including location data.

So consider the growing digital trail.

Your phone can record where you travel.

Roadside cameras can record where your vehicle travels.

Your vehicle itself may generate location and driving information.

Now technology such as SignalTrace can potentially associate the electronic devices inside the vehicle with the vehicle passing the camera.

Each individual system may appear limited.

Combined, they create something far more powerful.

The surveillance trail does not end when you park the car.

Websites, apps and advertising networks routinely use identifiers, cookies and other technologies to understand users and deliver targeted advertising.

Advertising systems can also involve location information.

In March, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that Customs and Border Protection had used commercial advertising-related location data as part of its surveillance capabilities.

This highlights one of the most important aspects of the modern surveillance debate.

Governments do not necessarily need to build every database themselves.

Private companies have already constructed enormous data ecosystems for advertising, analytics, transportation and consumer services.

Government agencies may sometimes be able to purchase or access parts of that commercial ecosystem.

The dividing line between commercial tracking and government surveillance can therefore become surprisingly thin.

The Real Danger Is When The Databases Connect

One camera is not an all-seeing surveillance system.

One smartphone app is not either.

Neither is your car.

Neither is your browser history.

The transformation occurs when different pieces of information can be correlated.

License plate.

Phone identifier.

Vehicle location.

App location history.

Online activity.

Travel patterns.

Known associates.

Taken separately, each data point tells only part of the story.

Combined, they can create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of someone's life.

That is why the most important technological development may not be better cameras.

It may be the growing ability to make different databases talk to one another.

For most of human history, ordinary people enjoyed a degree of anonymity simply because tracking everyone was too difficult and expensive.

Technology is steadily removing that barrier.

We are building a world in which your phone identifies itself, your car records information, cameras recognize your vehicle, apps record movements and your online activity generates still another trail.

The biggest question may no longer be:

Are we being tracked?

Increasingly, the answer is obvious.

The question we should be asking is:

Who gets access to the record--and what happens when someone decides to use it?

Applauding evil:

Applauding Evil:

Bob Unruh

Another Democrat governor has signed into law another pro-abortion scheme.

It happens routinely these days, but that very action is starting to get significant attention because of the content of the actions.

It is Franklin Graham, chief of the worldwide Christian ministry Samaritan's Purse who reacted this week when Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed into law the latest death scheme."This sends a chill up my spine. Smiles and applause while the Democratic Massachusetts governor signs a bill to allow abortions up to birth in her state," he wrote on social media.

"This is murder. It's evil. She calls abortion healthcare for women. The Bible says, 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil' (Isaiah 5:20). This governor and those cheering will one day stand before a Holy God—I don't think they will be cheering then."

Healey claimed she was keeping abortion safe, legal and accessible.

Reports said she "met with applause and smiles as she signed away Massachusetts' gestational limits on abortion, making the deep-blue state the 10th to permit the procedure up to birth.

Healey claimed, "We believe that health care decisions should be made between women and families and their doctors, not politicians. Abortion will remain safe. It will remain legal, and it will remain accessible here in Massachusetts. That's my commitment to you."

The state previously generally prohibited abortion after 24 weeks.

Other states that have joined the radical abortion-anytime agenda include Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.

SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser rejected Healey's ideology.

"It should shock the conscience that tens of thousands of unborn Americans are barbarically dismembered limb by limb and torn apart every single year," she said. "Sadly, that number will only increase with Gov. Healey's approval of the Abortion Up Until Birth Bill. The GOP must abandon the 'leave it to the states' position – a stance that permits egregious late-term abortion laws like this one – and advance national protections for unborn children."

Others on social media noted the events:

"Please tell me you caught this….. You've all seen the viral video of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signing the bill that allows abortion up to birth right? But did you notice this one specific woman's reaction? She's laughing, clapping, and beaming like she just won the lottery. Not somber or conflicted….not even quiet. You cannot convince me that this isn't demonic. A room full of grown women treating the removal of any limit on ending a fully formed, viable baby's life like a party. Watch it again. Focus on her face. This is what they celebrate now.

A Terrible Friend

A Terrible Friend

Jimfletcher

Among the horrors of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists raped Israeli women to death, raped them and murdered them in front of husbands and families, including children.

Such brutality is hard to hear.

But sometimes we should hear it.

For some time, President Trump has said that Turkish dictator Erdogan is his friend. A good guy. A partner.

At the very same time, the strongman is a true friend of Hamas. Of the Muslim Brotherhood (the mothership of Islamic terrorism). He loves any and all killers of Jews. Erdogan is a suit-wearing terrorist, propping up killers and a hateful enemy of Israel. He wants Israel dead and forgotten.

How ironic that he will go the way of all these thugs. Like Nasser, Arafat, Assad…he will “go down to the pit” as Scripture tells us. If he read history, he would tremble in his shoes.

We could speculate why Trump says what he says about Erdogan and Turkey, but it would probably be a waste of time. At a fundamental level—this is hard to write—I think the present American administration does not understand Islam at all. Having paid close attention to all this for years—since Steve Emerson’s warnings in the 90s—I also believe many American politicians and diplomats have allied themselves with Islam. This allegedly is the case with former CIA Director John Brennan, who it is said converted to Islam.

Former Nixon foreign policy advisor Robert Dickson Crane did in 1980. He also advised Reagan’s campaign.

I fear many, many more are taking money from Muslim countries in the Middle East.

Those are terrible, but equally terrible is the clueless “leaders” we have operating now.

According to one report:

“Since 2003, the ties between Hamas and Erdoğan’s Turkey have grown stronger and have been manifested by Turkey’s hosting senior movement figures, political and diplomatic support and economic and humanitarian assistance. Hamas turned Turkey into an important foothold from which it directs attacks on Israeli targets and raises funds to finance terrorist activities.

“In July 2026, it was reported that the Hamas leadership had begun transferring its organizational activity from Qatar to Turkey. That followed the attempted Israeli attack on senior Hamas figures in Doha in September 2025 and pressure on Qatar to expel the movement’s leadership, in addition to the growing tension between the Qatari authorities and Hamas representatives because of the war in Iran.”

In October of last year, four countries emerged as the decision-makers for the Gaza Strip: The U.S., Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar. It is astonishing! Three of those countries are supporters of Islamic terrorism, particularly Hamas.

Why in the world would the current administration jump headlong into “friendships” with those countries? This is an existential threat to the United States.

Erdogan in particular is a snake. His public denunciations of Israel and her prime minister are odious and unacceptable. Still, our President cozies up to him. Why?

And yet…he saw every horrifying frame of the Oct. 7 attacks. He knows Hamas did this. He knows Turkey is in bed with Hamas.

Why, why, why?

More commentary:

“Turkish aid organizations, headed by the Turkish IHH, which led the violent Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010, play a central role in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, particularly in the establishment of educational and healthcare institutions. IHH also launched two international flotillas with dozens of vessels “to break the siege” of the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli Navy prevented them from reaching land.

“In the assessment of the Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute, the transfer of Hamas’ headquarters from Qatar to Turkey, even if only partially, along with their ongoing coordination regarding the negotiations over the ceasefire agreement and the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, underscore the strategic importance the movement attaches to its relations with Erdoğan’s Ankara. The election of Khalil al-Hayya as chairman of the Hamas political bureau is also expected to further strengthen the relations because of his ties with the Turkish leadership. Moreover, the de facto immunity granted by the Turkish government to members of the movement residing in the country enables Hamas to continue exploiting Turkish territory to plan attacks on Israel and possibly on Israeli targets in Europe, as long as the government in Ankara continues to display anti-Israeli and antisemitic positions without interference from the United States, particularly in view of the warm relations between Erdoğan and the American president. Moreover, the involvement of Turkish organizations in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip ensures the Ankara regime a foothold even if and when the Palestinian administrative committee assumes control of Gaza, thereby also ensuring Hamas’ continued influence over civilian activity in the Strip.”

Absolute madness has gripped the world. From an overall perspective, we are deep into the 2 Timothy 3 scenario. From a Middle East perspective, everything is lining up for Israel to be left friendless. It’s happening now. Some countries, like India, are stepping up their arming of the Jewish state. Still, we know this will trickle away. The greatest end-times events will unfold. The world will enter into a terrifying reality, one most did not see coming.

I see a marked erosion of support for Israel in America. That’s how I see it. They have no real friends in America.

Continue to pray for Israel, and Jews everywhere. Those of us that love them will see them triumph, for all time.

We have a front-row seat.

Israel has friends, but only a few.

America’s terrible friends (cough, Turkey) will bare their fangs shortly.

Maranatha!

That Day Shall Not Come Except

That Day Shall Not Come Except

Nathan Jones

Wayne Gaylord

After graduating from Wheaton College, I entered the financial world in Dallas. During my drive back and forth to work, I was intrigued by a radio program called “Christ in Prophecy” hosted by Dr. David Reagan of Lamb & Lion Ministries. I called Dr. Reagan afterwards, and he invited me to have breakfast with him at IHOP. It was a life-changing experience for me, as eventually he invited me to join the Board of Trustees of Lamb & Lion Ministries, where I served for more than 25 years.

I wondered why so many pastors did not preach about prophecy since so much of the Bible is prophetic in nature. One pastor told me he doesn’t preach on prophecy because there are so many theories and viewpoints that it is best to just ignore it. Bad advice! Especially since it is the only book in the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read and absorb it.

With Dr. Reagan as my mentor, I immersed myself in the study of prophecy. In 2017, I wrote the commentary entitled Finally Home, covering every verse in the book of Revelation with the express purpose of making it clearly understandable for the average layperson. By using Dr. Reagan’s literal approach and oft-quoted guideline, “When the plain sense makes sense, don’t look for any other sense or you will wind up with nonsense,” it clears up most of the conflicts and confusion in the book of Revelation.

Why I Believe in the Pre-Trib Rapture

When I began my study of prophecy, one of the first controversies that I encountered was the question, “Does the Rapture precede the Tribulation, or do Christians have to go through this terrible seven-year period in which the Antichrist holds sway over the world?” This controversy seems to never go away and is hotly debated in all theological circles today.

There are many scholarly books which clearly prove that the Church (composed of true believers) will be raptured prior to the Tribulation period. One of the best of such books is The Rapture written by Dr. Tim LaHaye. The timing of the Rapture was on the minds of the early believers in Thessalonica. No doubt, they dwelt on this because of the terrorism, abuses, and executions they were enduring by the Romans.

Some of their believing brethren were proclaiming that the Tribulation was already upon them and they had been left behind at the Rapture.

Paul wanted to assure them that the awful Tribulation had not occurred since the Rapture had not yet happened. Consequently, he wrote the letter, 2 Thessalonians, to set their minds at ease.

In chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, beginning with verse 1, Paul says, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus, and by our gathering together unto Him [a clear picture of the Rapture], that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ [a reference to the Tribulation period] is at hand.”

Scripture continues, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, EXCEPT [capitalization provided by author] there is a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [i.e., the Antichrist] who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he [the Antichrist] as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

So, the Tribulation period cannot begin before two major events occur. Some might say this is a sign for these believers. The Bible indicates that some signs are good, such as was given to the shepherds in Luke 2:12 “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” That is a good sign. But here is a sign that is not so good, Matthew 12:39: “He answered, ‘a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign.’“

Here is the difference. When God tells us to look for a sign, we can trust what He says, but when someone doubts what He says and asks for a sign to verify His assertions, that is when we are on thin ice. Here in 2 Thessalonians, I prefer to call them two events that must take place rather than a sign. The second event is quite clear. We will know who the Antichrist is when he stands in the temple and declares that he, himself, is God.

So, I want to ask you about this first event. Can this be a definite event for which we should look? I think not. There has been a falling away or apostasy in every generation. But here, God is trying to give them a definite event that will come about so that they can clearly be assured that the Tribulation has not come and that they have not been left behind at the Rapture.

So, this first event requires more digging. It uses the Greek word “apostasia” in which the original scriptures were written, and most translators translate this term as “a falling away,” meaning a falling away from the Christian faith.

In English and in almost every other language, there is a first and a secondary meaning of a particular word. For instance, in English, the primary word for “hide” is that you might hide from someone. The secondary meaning for the word “hide” could be referring to the skin or hide of an animal.

Also, consider the word “pen.” It might be referring to a writing instrument, or it could be referring to an enclosure in which to keep an animal. It all depends on the context.

The secondary meaning of “apostasia” is “departure.” Now consider this. In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he explained fully to them about the Rapture of the believers. He even detailed the fact that the dead in Christ would be resurrected first and then the believers living at that time would be resurrected after that.

So, when Paul mentioned the departure, in their minds they knew exactly what he was talking about—the departure would mean leaving this earth to meet the Lord in the air. In other words, The Rapture that he had previously written to them about!

Clearly, Paul is telling them that they are not in the seven-year Tribulation period because two things must happen first: the departure of Christians at the Rapture and the Antichrist must be identified.

So, Paul makes it very clear that the Rapture must precede the Tribulation period. And as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:18: “Comfort one another with these words.”