Since Sark decided to provide no context on this statement, I’ll do it.
Franklin won early and turned Penn State around (which he should forever get credit for). He was given plenty of grace through the 2020 and 2021 seasons when he went 11-11 in that two-year span. And then he went on to have three seasons in a row with 10+ wins, but lost to OSU and Michigan each year and still couldn’t get over the hump.
Before Franklin was fired, it was widely agreed upon that drawing SMU and then Boise State in the 2024 CFP would forever be the easiest route to a CFP Semifinal game that there will ever be (people seem to have just kinda forgotten that now). Enter 2025: Franklin had been “pounding the table” for full support and alignment, and he finally got it. He went out and got the highest-paid DC in CFB history and had the opportunity to spend whatever he wanted in the portal.
Franklin himself said the 2025 staff and roster was the most talented group he’s ever assembled, and for most people Penn State was the Natty favorite going into 2025. Franklin went on to coach Penn State into the greatest collapse in College Football history, losing back to back games where his team was favored by more than 20 points. There’s your context for why a coach was fired after making it to the CFP semifinals.
3 weeks ago I argued the US goal in Iran is to seize the global oil spigot. Venezuela in January -> Iran in February.
Neutralize every supply channel outside the dollar system within 90 days. Achieve a compliant successor government and complete energy dominance.
The oil thesis was the obvious layer. However, when you zoom out & view the last four years as a single sequence rather than isolated geopolitical events, the architecture of the grander US plan becomes visible.
1st was Europe, which laid the groundwork.
The Ukraine conflict provided the justification for sanctions that collapsed Russian pipeline gas from 150 billion cubic meters to 40.
Then Nordstream was destroyed, which rewired the entire European energy system permanently. The US went from supplying 28% of Europe's LNG in 2021 to 58% by 2025, exporting a record 111 million MTs, the 1st country in history to break 100 MT.
Europe was transformed from a customer with options into a captive market now purchasing its survival in USD.
2nd was Syria.
The fall of Assad severed the critical node connecting China's Belt & Road Initiative to the Mediterranean.
The trilateral railway linking Iran, Iraq & Syria, designed to bypass Western maritime chokepoints, was completely destroyed.
This isolated Iran geographically & cleared the path for what came next.
3rd was Venezuela.
In January the US effectively took control of the world's largest heavy crude reserves. The US Gulf Coast has the most advanced refining complex on earth, specifically built for heavy sour crude. Phillips 66, Valero & the rest are now positioned to process hundreds of thousands of barrels of Venezuelan crude daily.
The US captured a massive strategic reserve & solidified its position as the dominant exporter of refined petroleum products, an industry worth $110 billion in 2025 alone.
Venezuela & Iran were the two major oil supply channels that existed outside the dollar system. Both produce heavy crude sold primarily to China & evaded US financial supervision. Both now being neutralized within 90 days, which leads us to..
4th is Iran & the Middle East energy shock.
Israel struck Iran's South Pars gas field, the world's largest natural gas reservoir. Iran retaliated against Qatar's Ras Laffan, the single largest LNG facility on earth, responsible for a fifth of global supply. QatarEnergy's own assessment is that 17% of export capacity is gone and recovery will take up to 5 years. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. European gas prices spiked 70%. Asian spot prices doubled.
The only remaining scaled supplier? The United States.
If Iran falls & a successor government is installed that the US controls or influences (the Delcy model described weeks ago) then roughly 40 to 45 million barrels per day of global production out of 103 million is effectively under US control. OPEC becomes irrelevant because the US coalition is now the marginal producer. Now add the gas dimension & it goes beyond oil.
This war is solidifying the petrodollar system as it evolves into a hybrid petro/LNG-dollar. The old system was built on Saudi crude priced in USD. The new system is built on American crude plus American gas from the Gulf Coast, with no alternative supplier of comparable scale. The dependency is deeper because LNG infrastructure requires long term contracts & regasification terminals that lock buyers into supply relationships for decades. Europe & the Pacific allies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.) cannot pivot away as there is nowhere left to pivot to. They're now locked into the US energy system.
The market confirms this. DXY went from 96 to 101. Gold down ~20% from its January all time high. Bitcoin down 20% on the year. Brent above $100. European & Asian institutions are liquidating precious metals and crypto to buy dollars because they need dollars to buy the only remaining scaled energy supply. The world is selling its gold to buy American energy in American currency. The dollar is now being weaponized through energy dependency.
The structural repricing is happening regardless of how the conflict resolves.
But the US grand strategy goes deeper..
Artificial intelligence is a physical industry. It runs on power and chips. Data centers require massive uninterrupted baseload electricity, primarily provided by natural gas. Semiconductor fabrication requires helium & rare earths.
By choking the Strait of Hormuz & crippling Middle Eastern LNG & helium production, the US is systematically degrading China's ability to power its data centers & fabricate semiconductors at scale.
The US is energy self sufficient, especially with newly captured Venezuelan reserves & expanding Gulf Coast capacity running on domestic gas.
On the other hand, China is import dependent & every joule it imports effectively now transits chokepoints the US Navy controls..
Iran was the Belt & Road's overland energy bypass, the corridor that allowed China to mitigate the Malacca Trap. With Iran neutralized that corridor is severed. China faces a world where its compute infrastructure competes for scraps on a depleted global LNG market, while American data centers run at full capacity on domestic energy.
Russia is next in the sequence. A post-war Iran reopening under US influence competes directly with Russia for the same refineries in China & India at lower cost. Iran's production costs are lower. Russia loses its last structural advantage in heavy crude & its economic lifeline. Additionally, under the Iran war cover, Ukraine has been opportunistically destroying Russian energy infrastructure & all signs point towards Russia being at the end of the line. The message from Washington becomes very simple: we dismantled two regimes in three months, your economy is about to get crushed, sign the Ukraine deal.
Then Trump sits down with Xi holding every card. Complete energy dominance. The hybrid petro/LNG-dollar fortified, Iran cleared, Russia cornered, & China facing the Malacca Trap fully closed with no remaining energy bypass.
Israel & the GCC are absorbing the kinetic cost of a conflict whose primary beneficiary, counter to the mainstream narrative, is actually America (First). Qatar offline for 5 years reprices the entire global gas market in favor of US exporters for the remainder of the decade. The Gulf states face years of rebuilding. Europe faces its 2nd energy crisis in four years.
Sure, the average American might face temporary moderate inflation & higher gas prices. But if you are the architect of the US empire & you view the rise of China & Chinese ASI as an existential winner takes all scenario, the collateral damage is acceptable cost.
Whoever controls the energy corridors controls the monetary system. Whoever controls the monetary system & the energy supply simultaneously controls the compute infrastructure that determines which civilization builds ASI first.
The US is seizing all 3.
Here's how ridiculous the Penn State dominance is right now:
Oklahoma State has one of the most dominant second place teams we've seen in a long time, including 8 AA's and 4 finalists, with a projection of 126 points. And yet they are projected to lose by 60 points.
OK State has the top recruiting class of 2026 with Zinkin, Ross, and the Raneys. But where do they go? Who do they displace?
It's not enough to score 60 points, they need to score 60 points more than they guys they replace.
Where we stand now, Jax Forest is projected to score 25 points, the most on his team by a lot. Meanwhile PSU has 3 guys projcted for 25 points (Levi, Mitch, Barr).
And Penn State is losing just one senior.
The dynasty won't last forever, but I'm not sure it's ending just yet.
A little over a month ago, I was talking about the White Guilt film with my friend, Beth Feeley, from Chicago who had seen a rough cut. She told me the themes hit close to home—directly connected to the tragedy that her friend Joe Abraham and his family have been living through since January of 2025. That’s how I first came to know the story of Joe and his daughter Katie.
Like many Americans, I had heard of Operation Midway Blitz, ICE’s push to round up the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago, and what I saw on the news was painted as chaos and cruelty. Protesters filled the streets and politicians like Illinois Governor Pritzker donned bulletproof vests and condemned ICE. At the same time, I saw on social media glimpses of everyday Chicagoans greeting and feeding the ICE officers. Two very different pictures.
What I didn’t know was that the operation was launched in Katie Abraham’s honor, with her father Joe’s full support.
I spoke with Joe for over an hour. He described how, in January 2025, 20-year-old Katie was killed at a Urbana stoplight when Julio Cucul Bol—a previously deported Guatemalan national using a Mexican alias—slammed into her Honda Civic at 80 mph. He was drunk. He fled the scene. Katie died instantly. Her friend the next day. Three other girls were injured.
Joe’s grief is raw, and so is his anger at the “selective compassion” shown by Illinois leaders, especially Governor Pritzker. As Joe put it: “My family does not qualify for any compassion… I think it’s because we’re law-abiding, we’re productive.” Sympathy flows to those who broke the rules, but for Joe’s family—nothing. No call, no visit from the governor, even when they sat ten feet apart at a congressional hearing.
We talked about the social contract as defined by Edmund Burke. Citizens follow the law, pay taxes, raise good kids, and they expect protection in return. Joe did everything right. His own parents immigrated legally and built a productive life in America. Yet our leaders allowed hundreds of thousands in without any vetting, and left families like his exposed.
“Katie got a death sentence without any due process,” Joe said. “We have a life sentence… stuck in a cold dark jail cell ourselves.”
Why do some leaders protect non-citizens over citizens? On the human level, it’s a deep betrayal — like your life, your child’s future, is worth less than a political calculation.
Yet Midway Blitz honored Katie by removing thousands of serious threats from Chicago’s streets. Joe believes she’d approve. “Katie’s looking out for others now,” he said. Indeed, a recent news release revealed the criminal records of many that had been arrested.
After our call, I decided to include a small clip of Joe and Katie into the White Guilt film — it was too late to do a full story that would do justice. I also could not stop thinking about this story and, even though I’m not a podcaster, I thought it would be good to bring this conversation to you. So I asked Joe if he’d be willing to do this and he generously offered his time. The link is below.
So the guy made about $90 million at Penn State. Going 4-21 vs top 10 teams. Private aircraft use for his family. Never had to answer a tough question. Yelled at students who dared criticized him, and refers to Penn State as, "THE LAST PLACE."
Any more questions?
What a roller coaster for Penn State wrestling commit PJ Duke against Yianni Diakomihalis…
Round one: Loses 10-0 in 3.5 minutes
Round two: Down 10-8 before rattling off 9 points and winning 17-10.
Round three: Wins by PIN.
TITLE NUMBER 13 🏆
@pennstateWREST has clinched the 2025 NCAA DI Men’s Wrestling National Championship title, their 12th under Cael Sanderson and 13th overall.
#NCAAWrestling
GeoConfirmed UKR - Misinformation by President Trump.
While we typically refrain from political commentary, President Donald Trump's recent statement regarding the war in Ukraine is so egregious that we feel compelled to respond.
Several claims made by President Trump have already been debunked. We've included responses from Grok AI for each claim, demonstrating that even Grok refutes the misinformation spread by the president.
In this thread, we will provide geolocated footage as a reminder to everyone that Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, marking the beginning of this war.
1)
The United States has not spent $350 billion on this war, nor has it outspent Europe by $200 billion. In fact, European contributions have surpassed those of the US. Moreover, a significant portion of the American military aid (around 90% !) is spend in the US, reinvesting in the US economy.
https://t.co/ixpSYq760j
https://t.co/R43tYKS97a
https://t.co/HcD3e906Ax
https://t.co/KoDBJO691b
(Grok: https://t.co/xvtso8g5ZC)
2)
President Zelensky did not claim that half the American money sent to Ukraine is "missing". He stated that half of the promised funds had not been received, which is a crucial distinction.
https://t.co/KoDBJO691b
https://t.co/UvDRegmS2a
https://t.co/pSQBtQ8k6R
(Grok: https://t.co/TBgyaJQog8)
3)
Ukrainian constitution prohibits elections during wartime, a measure designed to protect the democratic process from foreign interference, particularly given Russia's known capabilities in this area...
https://t.co/g52JHKbxOS
https://t.co/oDp3fUd8mq
https://t.co/nn0RpBGGu6
(Grok: https://t.co/UFR5gGvlmi)
4)
President Zelensky is not a dictator, as evidenced by Ukraine's constitutional framework and his commitment to holding elections once hostilities cease. In contrast, it's worth noting that President Putin consistently wins elections in Russia with implausibly high percentages of votes, with opposition that 'falls out of windows", is poisened or jailed, raising questions about the true nature of Russia's electoral process.
https://t.co/Y7ZqMgz8QO
https://t.co/ROaxPjVHK7
https://t.co/xY73CzziHd
https://t.co/LiPrS6NWNL
https://t.co/RMMPcOwFIM
(Grok: https://t.co/8oYZ22jCDL)
5)
President Zelensky has a approval rate above 50% and not 4%. 4% is Russian disinformation.
https://t.co/QClKP7ATLz
https://t.co/0D2e4ePdJd
https://t.co/b2f6x9F3Fp
https://t.co/oj4y2Nh5mo
(Grok: https://t.co/RGglftewgL)
6)
There was no NATO expansion to the East, as NATO itself cannot expand. Instead, democratic countries independently decide whether they want to become members of the alliance. The process of joining NATO is voluntary and involves multiple steps, including meeting specific requirements and completing a formal application process.
The fact that many of Russia's former neighbors have chosen to seek NATO membership speaks volumes about their perception of Russia and their desire for collective security.
The decision of these nations to pursue NATO membership reflects their sovereign right to determine their own foreign policy and security arrangements. It also indicates a preference for the stability and security guarantees that NATO membership offers, rather than remaining under Russian influence.
Regarding the famous 'promise':
Article 103 of the UN Charter establishes a clear hierarchy in international law. It states that obligations under the UN Charter prevail over obligations under any other international agreement in case of conflict. This supremacy extends beyond just treaties, as it is generally understood to also apply to customary international law.
The hierarchy can be summarized as follows:
1) UN Charter obligations
2) Other treaties and customary international law
3) Non-treaty international texts
4) Political promises or commitments
5) Historical claims
Russia's invasion of Ukraine clearly violates fundamental principles of the UN Charter, including the prohibition on the use of force against the territorial integrity of another state. Any attempts to justify this action based on lower-ranking considerations like political promises or historical claims are legally irrelevant.
https://t.co/Izu3N1dTLv
https://t.co/BCVCGDSM2d
https://t.co/1uXijMIcDt
(Grok: https://t.co/Gh0hvwaeCN and https://t.co/xQ9Hl9zHt0 and https://t.co/xQ9Hl9zHt0)
8)
Who initiated this nearly three-year-long war? RUSSIA.
As a platform that has analyzed over 50,000 frames/videos related to the conflict, we will remind the president ,with geolocated footage, who started this war: RUSSIA.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, despite repeatedly denying any plans for invasion in the preceding days.
https://t.co/bkygHVSYXk
https://t.co/pSQBtQ8k6R
(Grok: https://t.co/Ujmef6lyCF)
---
24 FEB 2022 - Russian tanks crossing the border from Belarus into Ukraine in Senkivka.
52.106063, 31.780644
4Q4J+C7C Sen'kivka, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine
Sources: https://t.co/4VNiYZYDbS
1/11
Monday morning I am investing $20,000 into this Data Center stock.
If you do not know, Amazon, Google, Meta, Tesla, and Apple have invested over 100 BILLION DOLLARS combined into AI and now the Data Center Race has started.
I will tell you right now that 99% of investors will miss out on the next Nvidia like mover. I WILL NOT and my followers will not as well.
I am only sending this stock to the people who LIKE/RETWEET this post.
I will only alert the stocks I personally will invest into myself! That’s the way it works, I do not alert plays if I don’t have skin in the game.
What stock do you think it is?
Did you know? @pennstateWREST has not lost a dual in 1,806 days. They have won 62 straight! Catch the Nittany Lions tonight on @BigTenNetwork at 8 ET when they face Michigan State.