Good morning, it's Saturday, Sept. 5. U.S. diesel hit an all-time record of $5.85 per gallon — and the price is baked into nearly everything you buy.

Also in today's issue: Mail voting shielded through Election Day, Missouri's map fight hits SCOTUS, Jobs up but real wages down, Tax exemptions as a DEI weapon, Court gives GOP an ad-rate edge.

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You probably saw the number before you opened this email. $5.85 per gallon — that's the new all-time record for U.S. diesel, according to AAA. A year ago it was $3.70. In California, it's already averaging $7.70.

Here's why that matters even if you've never pumped diesel in your life. Diesel fuels 76% of the trucks that carry freight in this country. It runs virtually all rail transport. It powers the tractors and harvesters that pull food out of the ground. When diesel spikes, the cost of nearly everything you touch follows — groceries, delivery fees, online-order surcharges, building materials. Produce and meat, which need constant restocking, are feeling the squeeze first. If your grocery bill has been creeping up over the past few months, this is a big part of why.

Gasoline is up too — the national average hit $4.15 per gallon, up 39% from $2.98 before the Iran war began six months ago. And here's the detail that ties it together: the August jobs report, released Friday, showed average wages grew just 3.1% over the past year. July's inflation rate was 3.4%. That gap means real wages are falling. Workers are technically earning more, but their money buys less each month. A bigger paycheck that can't keep up with prices isn't a raise — it's a slow pay cut.

The direct cause isn't hard to find. The six-month war with Iran has knocked a major oil producer off the global market. Before the conflict, Iran was pumping roughly 3.2 million barrels a day. Much of that supply is now gone, and other producing countries haven't filled the gap. Global oil markets are tight, and American families are absorbing the cost at every cash register — not just the pump.

The political fallout is already landing. AP-NORC polling this summer found that two-thirds of American adults disapprove of the president's handling of the economy. That number crosses party lines in ways that should worry the White House two months before the midterms. Voters don't parse global supply chains. They see the price at the pump and the price on the receipt, and they hold whoever's in charge accountable. That's how it works in every presidency, and this one is no different.

What makes this moment harder to manage is the calendar. Midterm elections are sixty days away. Congress is on recess. And the war driving the spike shows no sign of ending. The administration has tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve twice since March, but each release brought only short-lived relief — a few weeks of lower prices before the market absorbed the extra barrels and climbed again.

The question now is whether prices plateau or keep climbing. Energy analysts say a ceasefire could bring costs down within weeks. Without one, diesel could top $6 nationally — and push past $8 in California — by Election Day. That's the math every voter will carry to the ballot box. And no campaign ad in the world outweighs what you paid to fill up yesterday.

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Mail voting protected through Election Day. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Friday blocking USPS mail-voting restrictions through November 3 — upgrading an earlier temporary order. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote that voter disenfranchisement is "practically inevitable" if the rules take effect, and that the record contains no evidence of fraudulent mail voting. Roughly 46 million Americans used mail ballots in the last midterm. The Trump administration is expected to appeal. Hours before the ruling, North Carolina became the first state to send out 2026 absentee ballots.

Missouri's map fight reaches the Supreme Court. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed an emergency appeal late Friday after the state Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Republican-drawn congressional map. The 2025 map split Kansas City across three districts — a design aimed at flipping a Democratic-held seat. Without Supreme Court action, the old 2022 map governs November's election. Missouri has roughly 4.3 million registered voters, and the outcome could shift the U.S. House balance by one seat. The court ordered challengers to respond by midday Monday.

Jobs surged in August — the economy added 162,000 positions, triple what forecasters expected, with unemployment steady at 4.1%. June and July were also revised upward by a combined 55,000 jobs. But average hourly earnings grew just 3.1% year-over-year, the slowest pace in over five years and below July's 3.4% inflation rate. Restaurants and bars led with 59,000 new hires, while the information sector lost 23,000 jobs — a decline partly tied to AI displacing workers in data processing and publishing. The strong hiring paired with weak wage growth raised market bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike.

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Tax exemptions targeted over diversity programs. The Treasury Department proposed a rule that would strip tax-exempt status from private schools and colleges that maintain race-based programs in admissions, scholarships, or facilities. About 18,000 institutions would be affected, with the rule taking effect after May 2027. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it targets schools that renamed DEI programs rather than ending them. Higher education leaders called it an attack on access for working-class students. Losing tax-exempt status would make donations non-deductible — potentially cutting financial aid budgets at affected schools.

Party committees win discounted TV ad rates. The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that political party committees can buy broadcast ads at the same low rates offered to individual candidates, blocking a lower court decision that had restricted the practice. Only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Republican committees hold significantly more cash on hand than Democratic committees heading into the midterms, even though Democratic candidates generally outraise Republican candidates individually. The ruling takes effect immediately for the fall campaign, stretching the GOP's institutional cash advantage across competitive races.

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The all-time record U.S. average price for a gallon of diesel, up from $3.70 a year ago. Diesel powers the trucks that stock grocery shelves, the trains that haul freight, and the equipment that harvests crops. When this number moves, every price follows.

P.S. Are gas prices enough reason to end the Iran war? Hit Reply — one word is enough.