Diesel hits record $6 a gallon; Trump’s ‘cheat like hell’ pledge closes convention

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For now, here are today's Unbiased Updates. You may not drive a diesel, but you're about to feel this

The fuel that moves almost everything we buy just hit a record $6 a gallon

Plus, President Trump leads a crowd in a pledge to vote and tells them to, quote

cheat like hell if they do. The moment that closed out the GOP midterm convention

And scientists turned to AI for research that could help develop biological weapons

Anthropix says it caught them and cut them off. The stories that matter, clear and credible from across the country to around the world

These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow. For the first time ever, the average price of diesel has topped $6 a gallon

AAA says diesel is now about 63% more expensive than it was a year ago

And that doesn't just hit truckers and farmers or people who like driving trucks

Diesel powers the trucks and trains that move much of what Americans buy

So those higher fuel costs can eventually show up in consumer prices

And there's now another threat to global shipping. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the strategic Red Sea port of Mocha in Yemen

bringing them closer to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That's a critical shipping route on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz

where the war in Iran has already disrupted oil shipments. President Trump has said prices will come down once the U.S. wins the war

And in an interview with Fox News, he was asked whether he had any regrets about the conflict

as higher fuel prices weigh on his approval ratings. If we hadn't done Iran, you would be cruising to midterm victory, 225 gas

Well, you don't know that. Any regrets? No, I think, I don't believe in the word regret

You can always question yourself a little bit. And a few people have asked me that

If I had it to do again, I'd do exactly as I did. I took out their nuclear capability. Supposing we were cruising and all of a sudden Iran has a

nuclear weapon, they would use it. They're crazy. Brent crude the global benchmark topped $108 a

barrel Thursday before pulling back. It was trading above $104 early this morning with U.S

crude around $100. And later this morning, catch this story from Straight Arrow reporter Dan Levin

about why some California gas stations are boasting for diesel at the pump You can read it at SAN or the Straight Arrow app The Republicans first ever midterm convention is wrapped in Dallas after two days of some of

the party's biggest names making their case for GOP candidates in November. If you didn't watch

here's what you missed. Much of the final night focused on American values, with speakers including

Health Secretary RFK Jr. portraying today's Democratic Party as having abandoned them

Vice President J.D. Vance, Thursday night's keynote speaker, picked up that theme after a protester waving a Mexican flag interrupted his address

So what the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag

Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there, I'll buy you the plane ticket

We just discovered the symbol of the far left, an idiot waving a Mexican flag at a protest when he should be waving the flag of the United States of America

But while we wave the American flag and fight for the American dream, we have to remind ourselves tonight

that the good life that is the foundation of this country's promise is not guaranteed

And while the president works every day to build upon that great nation

every single day, the far left is working right now to make sure that your children never see that birthright

President Trump returned to close out the convention, leading the crowd in a pledge to get their friends and family to vote in November

Then in the middle of that pledge, Trump told them to cheat like hell while again accusing Democrats of cheating in elections

Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States

That loves us so much he can't even breathe. That I will go out with my family, my friends

I'll do it anyway. I don't care if I'm registered or not. I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do

There's never been bigger cheaters. I don't care. I am going to go out and I'm going to get my friends, my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd, or we are going to vote before that

Trump then told everyone who took the pledge they'd go to hell if they didn't vote

The convention ended with a balloon drop as opera singer Christopher Macchio performed America the Beautiful While a federal appeals court is keeping the Trump administration new mail ballot rules on hold just weeks before the midterms the rules would require states to use

specific designs and unique barcodes on mail ballots. Election officials would also have to

send the Postal Service information about people voting by mail. Non-compliant ballot mailings would

be sent back to election offices. The Trump administration says the changes are modest

and meant to protect against voter fraud. But states and voting rights groups sued

arguing the Postal Service doesn't have that authority and the changes could disenfranchise

voters. A three-judge panel on the First Circuit refused Thursday to lift a lower court order

blocking the rules. The judges said the administration had not shown the lower court

was wrong to find the rules likely unlawful. And on the administration's argument about fraud

The court wrote, there is no record evidence of past fraud or a likelihood of impending fraud

related to the November 3rd election. The Trump administration has also asked the Supreme Court

to let the rules take effect. The high court hasn't yet ruled on that request. The company

behind one of the world's most powerful AI chatbots says some scientists have been using it for

research that could help develop biological weapons, and Anthropix says it blocked their

accounts. The company released a new report Thursday detailing how people have misused its

clawed AI models. Anthropic identified five cases involving scientists doing work that had the

potential to support biological weapons development. The company doesn't identify the scientists and

says it can't say they intended to cause harm. Legitimate biological research can also produce

information that could be used to make a pathogen more dangerous. Anthropic says it has since

strengthened safeguards in its newer models. The report also details Claude being used for

propaganda and surveillance, including by actors Anthropix says were aligned with governments in

Iran and China. Anthropix says it's disclosing the cases because, quote, as models become

increasingly capable, their risks will increase unless AI developers and society's defenders

act to make them safer. The report comes days after an Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon

quit. Appearing on CNN, he says he's worried about what happens as these systems become more powerful

If you extrapolate into the future the level of capabilities of these AIs

with the same independent volition, they could cause extreme havoc. For example, hacking critical infrastructure, building extinction-level bioweapons. There's a lot of

ways that the AI could actuate itself in the world. Well, today marks 25 years since the September 11th attacks, a day that changed America and the world

On that morning in 2001, 19 Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes

Two were flown into the World Trade Center another in the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers 2 people were killed

The attacks reshaped U.S. national security and led to changes Americans still live with today

George W. Bush was president at the time, and Wednesday night he sat down with Condoleezza Rice, his national security advisor on 9-11

to talk about what he believes the country should still take from that day

We saw this as an ideological conflict. And for people to have no idea what we're talking about

just understand there are people in the world who can't stand America because of our freedoms

And what changed on that day of September the 11th was that those who can't stand what we stand for had the capacity to come and kill

And that's what really changed the whole strategic equation for a president in the country

And but, yeah, my view is, is that freedom is necessary for peace

It is. I said all the time, it's it's not America's gift to the world

Bush also said he worries Americans don't pay attention to the lessons of 9-11

arguing that, quote, what happens overseas matters to our national security at home

And 25 years after the attacks, the man accused of masterminding them still hasn't gone to trial

A military judge has set a June 2028 trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

and three other men accused of helping plot the attack. Well, finally this morning, an intriguing immigration story for you

five baby orangutans have turned up in a place they definitely don't belong

a forest in eastern India. And now authorities want to know how they got there. Forest workers

found the little apes during a routine patrol. Orangutans live naturally only in Borneo and

Sumatra, more than a thousand miles away in Southeast Asia. So officials are investigating

whether the babies were brought into India as part of an international wildlife smuggling operation

One conservation official put it pretty simply, quote, they are not Indian species, so how did they come here

The three males and two females have since been moved to a state zoo for quarantine and medical care

Officials say four appear healthy. For now, they're being fed fruit and milk, while veterinarians keep an eye on them

No noise, no sides, unbiased updates gives you the facts straight. You can watch us anytime at san.com or on our app

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Sign up at san.com slash newsletters. For all of us here at Straight Arrow, I'm Simone Del Rosario

I hope you have a great weekend and we'll see you right back here Monday