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Weather: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 96. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 8pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 78.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
The three-member East Flagler Mosquito Control District Board meets at 10 a.m. at District Headquarters, 210 Airport Executive Drive, Palm Coast. Agendas are available here. District staff, commissioners and email addresses are here. The meetings are open to the public.
Community Preparedness Workshop: A monthly preparedness workshop open to the public that provides general preparedness information, practical tips, and strategies to keep households safe and ready for emergencies. 11 a.m. at Flagler County Emergency Operations Center, 1769 E Moody Blvd, Bldg 3, Bunnell. Anyone interested in learning how to prepare for disasters is encouraged to attend. For more information and to register, visit www.FlaglerCounty.gov/emergency and click on “Community Training,” or call 386-313-4200.
The Flagler County Commission meets at 5 p.m. at the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Boulevard, Building 2, Bunnell. Access meeting agendas and materials here. The five county commissioners and their email addresses are listed here.
Nar-Anon Family Groups offers hope and help for families and friends of addicts through a 12-step program, 6 p.m. at St. Mark by the Sea Lutheran Church, 303 Palm Coast Pkwy NE, Palm Coast, Fellowship Hall Entrance. See the website, www.nar-anon.org, or call (800) 477-6291. Find virtual meetings here.
| The Latest Jail Bookings |
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| j-260821 |
| Source: Flagler County Sheriff's Office. Note: the Sheriff's Office redacts or censors the names of migrants arrested under authority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The federal agency requires the redactions, according to the Sheriff's Office. |
Geminizing: Rumi Darius Ferdowsi, an Iranian George Carlin of the underground, performs fugitively in locations known only to fans in the know, though lately he’s been appearing within sneering distance of the Strait of Hormuz. I asked Gemini to transcribe one of his latest routines:
Thank you. Turn that spotlight down, you’re going to get us all martyred. We’re in a basement in Bandar Abbas, smelling like diesel and fear, and you’ve got me lit up like a drone target.
Let’s talk about the Strait of Hormuz. Have you noticed how the government treats the Strait of Hormuz like a magical tollbooth? Every time some cleric gets a stomachache in Tehran, they threaten to close the Strait. “Oh no, the Ayatollah dropped his toast jam-side down! Block the oil!” It’s their answer to everything. Inflation? Close the Strait. Water shortage? Close the Strait. You got a parking ticket? Close the damn Strait! I’ve lived here 45 years, and let me tell you, if closing a body of water solved anything, we’d have paved over the Caspian Sea by now.
And what’s with the morality police? They disbanded them, they brought them back, they renamed them, they put them in vans. It’s like a terrible franchise that won’t die. You know who the real morality police are? Iranian mothers. You don’t need a guy with a beard and a baton to make you feel bad. Just have your mother look at your shoes when you walk in. “You’re wearing those to the revolution? Your cousin Ali overthrew a dictator in a nice pair of loafers.”
We live in a country where dancing is illegal, but driving a Peugeot 206 with three missing lug nuts on the Tehran-Karaj highway at 140 kilometers an hour is just considered a Tuesday. We have priorities, folks. You can’t sway your hips to a pop song, but you can definitely flirt with the angel of death in the passing lane.
Let’s look at the sanctions. We’ve been under sanctions so long, they feel like family. We’ve got generations who think an iPhone is something you have to smuggle inside a hollowed-out watermelon. The Americans say, “We are sanctioning your leadership.” Bullshit. The leadership is eating fine sturgeon caviar and flying to Geneva. Who’s getting sanctioned? Me! I had to trade two rugs and a kidney just to get a decent carburetor for my cousin’s Kia Pride. And it wasn’t even my kidney. I have a 7-year-old nephew who already knows how to bypass a government firewall before he knows his multiplication tables.
You look at these politicians, on both sides, everywhere. They’re all part of the same club, and we ain’t in it. In Washington, they’re sitting around in suits figuring out how to bomb us politely. In Tehran, they’re sitting around in robes figuring out how to steal the reconstruction money before the bombs even drop. And what do we get? We get to sit in basements next to the Strait of Hormuz, hoping the generator doesn’t quit before the punchline. (Laughter, scattered applause)
Have you noticed how religion is just an excuse for terrible zoning? They build a mosque on every corner, but you can’t find a clean public toilet from here to Tabriz. God is great, but God doesn’t have to pee after three cups of black tea. I think we need a new theology. Let’s worship infrastructure. Praise be to the pothole repairman. Blessed is the guy who finally fixes the Wi-Fi.
People ask me, “Rumi, aren’t you afraid they’ll catch you?” Catch me doing what? Pointing out the obvious? That’s the real crime here. We don’t punish people for lying; we punish them for noticing the lies. You can steal 10 billion tomans from the national bank and get a promotion. You point out that the emperor has no clothes, and suddenly you’re an enemy of God. I got news for you, if God needs protection from a stand-up comedian in a basement, he’s got bigger problems than my act. (A siren wails faintly in the distance.)
Ah, the soundtrack of my youth. That’s my cue, folks. Take care of each other, tip your smuggler, and for the love of reason, don’t buy the cheap bootleg vodka from the guy in the alley, it tastes like brake fluid. Goodnight!
https://youtu.be/B5xGPU1QWok?si=J3IYx0eK1TM1ml1H
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Heart of Darkness echoes everywhere today. Take the American war novels about Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. They are often considered critical of war, hence you might think of them as dangerous to the institution of war. But most of them deal with the suffering of the American soldiers, the Marines who were forced to massacre a village, the pilots who dropped barrel bombs and came home suffering from PTSD. If anything, this is helpful to the cannibalistic war machine. Such war novels make us feel bad and at the same time allow us to see ourselves as the good guys. We are not all terrible, for we suffer, too. In one of the most gorgeous passages at the end of Heart of Darkness, Conrad describes at length the suffering of a mass murderer’s widow, though he glossed over that of the murderer’s victims. Conrad did not create the original mold for this kind of writing—from Homer to Shakespeare to Kipling, everyone has done it—but he became the standard because he was so good. We invade your countries, destroy your economies, demolish your infrastructures, murder hundreds of thousands of your citizens, and a decade or so later we write beautifully restrained novels about how killing you made us cry.
–From Rabih Alameddine’s “Comforting Myths,” Harper’s, June 2018.
Laurel says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/trump-orders-pentagon-scale-back-213710682.html
Trump tells yet another ally to pound sand while bragging about his relationship with North Korea’s communist leader.
“North Korea has a communist state under a totalitarian dictatorship. The government is characterized by a one-party system led by the Korean Workers’ Party, with significant restrictions on political rights and civil liberties.”
– Search Assist, Michigan State University, Freedom House
North Korea helps Russia in war against Ukraine:
“Yes, North Korea supports Russia in the war against Ukraine by providing military supplies, including artillery and missiles, and has deployed between 14,000 to 15,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces.”
– Search Assist, Council on Foreign Relations, Defense News
Now explain to the rest of us, Republicans, why this is okay with you. Why do you back this man for another second?
Laurel says
George Carlin was hilarious, and so seriously right on at the same time. I miss him!
Pogo says
Notes from the intifada
…send today for an autographed copy.
Oh, the rest of the world is proceeding to hell too — on schedule:
As Florida’s primary nears, Trump hints at using ’emergency’ powers for the general election
https://www.jcbruce.com/p/as-floridas-primary-nears-trump-hints
And so it goes.
EC: File
Skibum says
No worries… the mega brainiacs (or is it maga brainiacs?) at the top of the military chain of command are worried not about the depletion of missiles and other mission critical munitions and supplies. Worried not about the documented lack of food to feed our navy that is on extended deployments in the Middle East. Worried not about the exhaustion, tension and stress of sailors that is causing more and more of them to literally jump ship into shark infested ocean waters so they can be medically evacuated and sent home. Worried not about all of the very negative information about the current situation on the USS Lincoln and possibly other navy ships as well, from family members back home who are being updated on the hellish conditions first hand by those on board who are experiencing it.
The smirking convicted felon pedo president stands in front of the cameras over the weekend and dismissively states that the extended, nine month plus deployment of that aircraft carrier without normal port calls or down time for it’s sailors “is not nearly long enough!” Wow, how callous!
But not to worry… the drunkard SecDef can just order more syringes on the next helo drop onto the deck of the Lincoln so all of the ship’s crew can be injected with additional testosterone. You know… making them “more manly” so they can quit their whining, belly aching and constant complaining.
That will do the trick, huh?
Skibum says
OMG, now the convicted felon in the WH is threatening to bomb Oman? A U.S. ally country where we have many of our military forces stationed? WTF! Can we please have the 25thj Amendment already?!?!
Ray W. says
According to the news outlet named RBC Ukraine, a now-22-year-old self-taught Ukrainian who emigrated to the U.S. in 2022, co-created a drone company, Thermopylae Aerospace, in June 2025.
This past June, an interceptor drone produced by his company successfully participated in an “end-to-end” drone exercise during “Game of Drones 26-2”, an event regularly staged at Edwards Air Force Base. His company’s interceptor drone is designed to engage and intercept “Group 2” aerial objects, a class of attack drone that includes Shahed-sized drones.
The interceptor drone, a foldable quadcopter, relies on thermal optics for guidance, has a 20-minute operating range, and can reach speeds of up to 350 kph. It is designed to return to base, where possible, should its operation not result in an interception, suggesting that the drone can operate as a “loitering” asset awaiting identification of targets.
The drone’s launch platform can be affixed to maritime assets (drone boats?), ground platforms (pickup trucks?), and unmanned aircraft.
The stated purpose of the drone is to provide to the military an additional interceptor option at a much lower cost when compared to the cost of rocket-powered interceptors currently used in defending against incoming aerial threats.
Make of this what you will.
Joe D says
Hopefully they won’t have the production problem of the current PATRIOT MISSLE system that are on 5 year back order currently.
President Trump has demanded that the munitions companies “step up production,” of the replacement Patriot missiles.
My concern is that when BOEING pushed their manufacturing crews to increase production, corners were cut, and inspectors were being lied to. There were also the reports that “rejected” parts were being used in some cases, if the specific parts needed were not available, so the production line would not be delayed. We all know how THOSE practices turned out.
I’m not sure I want to PUSH production speed up with highly technical missiles and have potential CORNERS CUT when you are delivering a product designed to EXPLODE!
Ray W. says
According to reporting by a reporter with The Cool Down, Florida’s Department of Transportation recently entered into an exclusive “master lease” agreement with D3Energy to permit the company to develop floating photovoltaic systems on all appropriately-sized FDOT-managed storm retention ponds located near highways. At full build out, the multiple solar energy systems will produce approximately one gigawatt of energy, enough to power more than 200,000 homes.
Make of this what you will.
Sherry says
TRUMP DEFEATED BY A WOMAN!
Each and every woman and “evolved” man should read this again and again! Keep beating the drum for the JUSTICE deserved by the Epstein victims!
This from wonderful Joyce Vance:
It was a real Roy Cohn move.
Cohn was the lawyer who gave Trump the advice he continues to adhere to. Cohn, who was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s lawyer during the “red scare” communist blacklist era of the 1950s, told Trump, in the context of a 1973 DOJ investigation into his racially discriminatory practices as a landlord, “You might be guilty; it doesn’t matter. Go after the Justice Department. Don’t ever admit guilt.’”
The Trumps discriminated against Black applicants for their rental properties. Some of their employees had even confessed. But under Cohn’s tutelage, Trump pushed back, refused to settle, and filed a countersuit, delaying judgment against his company for a couple of extra years. “Just deny everything and fight,” Cohn told him. He did. He still does.
It took the persistence and the patience of E. Jean Carroll to show the world that a loser is just a loser.
In her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal, Carroll discussed publicly, for the first time, that Trump sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room years earlier. Trump, of course, denied it, saying she wasn’t his type—despite her uncanny resemblance to his second wife, Marla Maples (Trump even confused Carroll with Maples when he was shown a photo during a deposition). Carroll sued for defamation, not once, but twice when Trump repeated the defamation on national television. As we all know, juries found in Carroll’s favor, not once, but twice, returning a $5 million verdict that the Supreme Court let stand today and an $83.3 million dollar verdict that is still on appeal.
If you feel like you’ve got déjà vu right now—didn’t you already tell us this Joyce?—you’re right. The Supreme Court just told Trump no for the second time in the $5 million case. Once was not enough for him. After the verdict was affirmed on appeal by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Trump asked the Supreme Court to reverse it. The Court rejected his appeal in June. I wrote about that here.
Then, Trump took another step, permitted by Supreme Court rules, asking them to reconsider telling him no. These motions never end well for litigants. The Court hasn’t granted one and changed its decision since the 1950s, although it did change the wording in the judgment in one case during the 1960s. Trump wasn’t going to win here, and he knew it. But in true Roy Cohn fashion, he blustered on, trying to keep the money out of E. Jean’s hands for as long as possible. Unfortunately for him, that didn’t work out. He had already paid the money into a court fund, and the trial judge ordered the clerk to pay it out to Carroll, whose lawyer represented that they would invest it until the Court told Trump no again.
The Court has done that, and it’s really over now. The money is hers. Far more important to Carroll, undoubtedly, is that the jury’s verdict, finding that Trump sexually assaulted her and then defamed her by calling her a liar, is affirmed. For all time. A jury in a civil case found Trump assaulted Carroll, even if our society wasn’t advanced enough at the time it happened for her to feel like she could press criminal charges without destroying her livelihood as a writer and her future security.
It’s ironic, that bit. At trial, Trump’s lawyers, including the current Attorney General of the United States, Todd Blanche, said she shouldn’t be believed because she didn’t come forward for so long. He said that even though she told two friends, who testified, about it when it happened. Carroll lost her long-time job as an advice columnist at Elle Magazine after the book came out. Her contract was cut short and she was fired. They said it wasn’t about Trump, but none of us are naive anymore. We remember catch and kill.
Carroll’s tweet, upon being fired was epic.
Women in this country and other parts of the world come forward at great personal expense to make allegations about rich and powerful men. E. Jean Carroll understands that just about as well as anyone, and she decided to stick the landing, no matter how much public derision and name-calling she had to endure from the President of the United States and his bully corner.
Carroll’s other case, the one where the jury awarded her $83 million because Trump defamed her again the evening after the jury returned the $5 million verdict, is still pending at the Supreme Court. He’s arguing a variant of presidential immunity. The Court could either reject the case out of hand like it did here, or agree to hear it and schedule it for briefing next term.
But Carroll’s story doesn’t end with her lawsuits. She has a larger legacy.
Jeffrey Epstein’s victims and survivors are still with us. Waiting. Watching. Some of them, like Virginia Giuffre, who is now deceased, came forward publicly. Others told some of their story to law enforcement. Still others, afraid for themselves and their families, are holding off, at least for now, until they see what happens. That’s not because they aren’t telling the truth. That’s not because they don’t have more truths to tell about powerful men. As Carroll’s experience demonstrates, it’s because we still seem to live in a world where nothing good happens to women who come forward.
We say we believe the women. But we still don’t, at least, not everyone does. Donald Trump and his ilk still believe in some version of Roy Cohn’s advice. Deny. Lie. Delay. Bully. Sometimes it works. Sometimes, victimized women are damaged further and revictimized.
Remind anyone who tries to diminish victims who don’t come forward of this. It’s not easy thing to come forward right after you’ve been traumatized by the commission of a sexual crime against you. It’s more difficult when the perpetrators are powerful, threatening figures. Remind anyone who criticizes victims that even though Congress took the extraordinary step of passing a law that requires the Justice Department—Donald Trump’s Justice Department—to turn over the Epstein Files, that hasn’t happened. Todd Blanche is still protecting the rich and powerful in Epstein’s orbit, and although we don’t know for certain whether or how complicit he is in the abuse of girls and women, that includes Donald Trump. Is it any wonder women don’t come forward when they see others’ courageous testimony being pushed aside?
I hope Carroll inspires a generation of women who have been victimized to come forward. I hope she inspires Congress and state legislatures to pass needed laws, empowers law enforcement leaders and communities to abandon outmoded attitudes that question and blame victims, and helps us all move forward. That would be a fitting legacy for her courage.
But for now, it’s enough that Donald Trump has lost and has nowhere else to go. Just imagine him in that position. It’s all because an 82-year-old woman who Trump said wasn’t “his type” and tried to marginalize decided she’d had enough and decided to fight back.
Thank you, E. Jean Carroll, for being the hero we all need right now. Don’t give up.
One reason I keep writing Civil Discourse every day is because powerful people count on us getting tired. They count on the story changing, our attention moving elsewhere, and yesterday’s outrage being forgotten. I don’t intend to forget. Paid subscribers make it possible for me to keep following these stories, reading the filings, and connecting what happens today with what came before. If you value that work and can afford a paid subscription, thank you for supporting it—and for making it possible for Civil Discourse to remain available to everyone. My respect goes to everyone who is paying attention, keeping up, and working for accountability and democracy.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Skibum says
Thanks for sharing this, Sherry. I’ll raise my glass to E. Jean Carroll, and I will hope and pray that her perseverance continues until the day she receives all of the money she is due in her defamation case against the convicted felon sex abuser in the WH.
And I’ll raise my glass to all of the other strong willed women who stand up to this little man, whether they are the many TRUMP-EPSTEIN victims, opposing political candidates, the many patriotic women who currently serve in this nation’s military forces or are military veterans, or the professional women journalists who dare to ask the questions Americans want answered, only to have this little man disparage and belittle them in public, to their faces, for the supposed horrible offense of simply doing their jobs. Cheers!
Don’t back down!
Sherry says
Thank you and Right On Skibum!
We need more “educated and evolved” men to speak truth to power, and to stand up for women,and the “freedoms” created by our constitution!! We must get back to the principals of “equality, justice and liberty” for “ALL”! NO ONE should be above the law!!!
Laurel says
My Republican husband, from a Republican family, shakes his head and often says “Yet, they STILL voted for him! What happened to my Party?”
What he doesn’t completely realize is that he is a confident, intelligent man who would never, ever support such a person. He has never required “retribution.” He has had no need for a bully leader…a “daddy” as some have called Trump. He has respect for women and never badmouths them. Though he has taken financial care of us, and has done a wonderful job, he never did it through greed, nor cheating, nor lying. He stepped on no one.
His party has left him.
I believe there are others, strong, confident people who feel the same way, and I’m counting on them to show up in November and reset their party away from this greed, nastiness and cheating, this maga mentality. It can be done.
Please consider what is really important to us, which is not culture wars. It’s not genders. It’s not WOKE. It’s not a one way religion. It’s about coming back together for a cause: The UNITED States of America. It’s about the American dream. It’s about balance. It’s about all of us, not just a few.
Ray W. says
Aura Aero, the France-based electric airplane company that recently considered building its American manufacturing effort at Flagler County’s airport, just announced its partnership with Safran, a French helicopter engine manufacturer, in order to integrate Safran’s existing gas-powered turbogenerators into its planned eight electric engine-powered, 19-passenger airframe, in order for the turbogenerators to generate electricity whenever needed to charge the plane’s batteries during flights of up to 900 nautical miles.
In other news, Aura Aero recently acquired the assets of VoltAero, a French hybrid aircraft competitor, with plans for it to absorb VoltAero’s engineering team into its own and to utilize VoltAero’s existing 25,000 sq.ft. manufacturing plant. Other acquired VoltAero assets include multiple patents, a working hybrid twin-electric engine-powered passenger aircraft, and management expertise.
In even more other news, Aura Aero announced the results of a new round of fundraising and subsidies totaling $400 million, including $170 million from the State of Florida and Space Florida that comes to fruition in January 2027.
In sum, the new $400 million sum matches the $400 million in funding that the company had previously raised. The company has 700 pre-orders for its 19-passenger commercial hybrid aircraft which is expected to enter the pre-certification testing phase in 2027.
Among several projects, Aura Aero already manufactures a single-engined e-training plane and it is developing a hybrid military drone with characteristics comparable to the Reaper.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Imagine one possible future of a host of quiet electric-powered non-polluting pilot training planes that don’t use gasoline doing “touch and goes” at the Flagler airport!
The world is rapidly changing. Not fast enough for some. Too fast for others.
Let’s face facts. The great question of the age has long been: Of what value energy independence?
Chemists have long known the quantity of chemical energy stored in an ordinary gallon of “regular” gasoline. The effort has always been how best to convert that quantity of chemical energy into usable power. Right now, after more than a century of constant incremental development, the most efficient racing engines convert south of 50% of that chemical energy into usable power. But once the gallon of chemical energy is converted into usable power, it is gone; the gallon of gasoline has to be replaced at an ever-changing cost.
Chemists have long known the quantity of chemical energy contained in ton of certain types of coal. The effort has always been how best to convert that quantity of chemical energy into usable power. Right now, after some 250 years of constant incremental development, the most efficient coal-fired power plant convert some 48% of that chemical energy into usable electricity. But once the ton of coal is converted into usable electricity, it is gone; the ton of coal has to be replaced at an ever-changing cost.
Chemists have long known the quantity of energy contained in a cubic foot of natural gas. The effort has always been how best to convert that quantity of chemical energy into usable power. Right now, after decades of constant incremental development, combined cycle gas-turbine power plants can convert some 66% of that chemical energy into usable electricity. But once that cubic foot of natural gas is converted into usable electricity, it is gone; the cubic foot of natural gas must be replaced at an ever-changing cost.
But chemists do not yet know the theoretical limits of the quantity of electrical energy that can be stored in a standardized unit of battery weight. This is so because thousands of different battery chemistries have yet to be fully developed. But chemists do know that modern rechargeable batteries can already store in sum far more chemical energy per kilogram than any form of fossil fuel can store. New sodium-ion chromium-oxide batteries reliably operate at temperatures as low as minus 40-degrees C and can be recharged over 10,000 times before significant degradation sets in. Working graphene aluminum-ion batteries, while expensive right now, can recharge 100,000 times before significant degradation sets in. Both battery chemistries use common ingredients that can be completely recycled with very little pollution.
These are a few of the reasons why electric commercial aircraft are receiving private funding and government subsidies. The future of air transportation presents today as one of innovation and ingenuity. Is it reasonable to argue that it is a future based on the availability of ever less costly and ever more reliable forms of usable energy?
Skibum says
Wow, I think this is great news! I had no idea that some of the latest technology for future electric powered aircraft would be including hybrid fuel options that allow the electric motors to recharge during flight, the same way that the gasoline engine in my hybrid Lexus sedan recharges the electric fuel cell battery while I drive.
This has the potential to be a huge breakthrough.
Ray W. says
Benzinga reports that Cummins, a company that I connect with diesel engine manufacturing, just landed its largest-ever order for delivery of a stationary battery energy storage system (BESS). I did not know that Cummins had even created either a battery assembly or a battery manufacturing plant.
According to the reporter, Cummins began delivery of its line of BESS “solutions” in May 2025, utilizing a liquid-cooled lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery chemistry. Per the story, Cummins’ stationary BESS solutions, depending on application, can reduce demand on congested transmission lines.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
What does it say when a company that built a reputation for building quality diesel products decides to expand into battery manufacturing?
I am not saying that Cummins will succeed in its effort, though I want it too. I am arguing that such plans do not happen overnight. Opening a delivery option in May 2025 suggests that Cummins acted years before that event. I don’t know how many years, but it had to have been more than a few years.
Ray W. says
Jefferies Financial Group recently published conclusions reached by study of China’s response to Iran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.
Among the conclusions was that Chinese national demand for products refined from crude oil has dropped imports of crude oil by 1.4 million barrels per day. And, the analysts concluded that for a variety of structural economic reasons, the demand destruction will prove to be permanent, not temporary, meaning that the lost demand will not come back even if prices for the refined products return to pre-war levels.
One of the structural economic changes is a sudden acceleration in sales of what the Chinese call NEV’s, or new electric vehicles.
According to the EIA, China’s overall consumption of crude oil is no longer steadily rising; it
has almost certainly plateaued.
According Windward, a maritime industry journal, 13 commercial vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz, eight inbound and five outbound. Two tankers entered the Persian Gulf and one tanker exited. Thirteen commercial vessels is approximately one-tenth the normal pre-war daily average.
Make of this what you will.