Here we go again. Washington’s back on its favorite rollercoaster ride: the government shutdown drama. The clock’s ticking, and once more the people’s business is held hostage by politicians who think brinksmanship is a governing philosophy. Same old story—except this time, the backdrop feels darker. A brand-new CNN poll shows Democrats with just 28% favorability, the lowest score in over 30 years of polling. That’s not just bad. That’s basement-level. The script is familiar. Congress hasn’t managed to pass the twelve appropriations bills that actually fund the government. Instead, they’ve been papering over the problem with temporary band-aids called continuing resolutions. The last one passed back in December with big bipartisan votes—366-34 in the House and 85-11 in the Senate—but that only delayed the showdown until now. The bill is due, and nobody wants to pay it. Who Stands to Gain In Washington, chaos is never evenly distributed. Somebody always comes out ahead. Right now, Donald Trump holds the biggest advantage. Love him or hate him, you have to admit: nobody dominates the narrative like Trump. A shutdown gives him the chance to stand in front of the cameras and say, “See? I told you this place is broken. Only I can fix it.” That kind of message resonates when Congress can’t even keep the lights on. House Republicans are also playing their cards carefully. They’ve put forward a plan to hike defense spending and boost funding for veterans’ healthcare—programs almost everyone supports—while trimming non-defense spending below 2024 levels. It lets them wave the fiscal responsibility flag without taking heat for cutting the stuff voters actually care about. And here’s the ironic part: even federal contractors often come out okay. Sure, they deal with delays and headaches, but when the dust settles, government has to play catch-up, and catch-up work tends to pay premium rates. The shutdown pain often turns into shutdown profit. Who Takes It on the Chin

We’ve all wrestled with it: Why the hell am I here? What’s the point of all this? Well, I'm happy to tell you that you’re not alone. That little voice hits everyone at some point. You could be killing it in business, relationships, whatever, and still feel like you’re floating around on this spinning rock with no GPS. Here we are, flying 67,000 miles per hour around a sun we don’t even notice, stuck in this loop between birth and death, and somehow expected to just “figure it out.” Well, here’s the truth... I don’t have the answer. Nobody does. Not the philosophers, not the gurus, not the guys with bestselling books and podcasts who talk about “finding your why.” They've been guessing since the beginning of time. But here’s what I do know—and yeah, it comes from a damn cowboy movie. There’s a scene in City Slickers where this grizzled old cowboy, Curly, tells a bunch of clueless city guys the secret to life. They lean in, dying to hear it. And he holds up one finger and says: "It’s one thing." That’s it. One thing. The meaning of life? It’s personal. You find that one thing that gives you direction. That anchors you. That makes the chaos make sense. For me? It’s faith. No, not blind religion—I’m talking about the rock-solid belief that there’s a Higher Power looking out for me, even when I’ve been too stubborn, arrogant, or broken to look out for myself. Trust me, I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum. I’ve lived the highs most people dream about, and I’ve crawled through the kind of lows that’ll break your soul. But through all of it? That one thing—that inner compass, kept me upright. Even when I stumbled. Even when I didn’t understand the plan. Especially when I didn’t understand the plan. Has that faith been tested? Constantly. Shaken? Absolutely. But it’s still there. It’s still mine. So, here’s the deal: Your search for meaning isn’t about finding some cosmic truth that fits everyone. It’s about finding what fits you. Your “one thing.” It could be love. It could be service. It could be music, your kids, your mission, or your connection to something bigger.

If you’re paying attention, you already know: the energy market, especially oil, is sitting on a knife’s edge right now. Supply’s up. Demand? Lukewarm at best. And yet, everyone with a clue knows the long-term play here isn’t down. It’s tight, it’s volatile, but make no mistake... the pressure is building. Right now, oil’s bouncing around the $65 to $75 range. That’s your short-term trading zone. Why? Because OPEC+ is letting more barrels flow, U.S. production’s still holding steady, and refineries are churning into summer travel season. But demand out of Europe and Asia is soft. China’s dragging, Japan’s flat, and even the Eurozone looks more like it’s treading water than expanding. Translation: no breakout yet—but no collapse either. Short-Term: All Eyes on the Headlines In the short run, oil’s direction isn’t just driven by fundamentals—it’s driven by headlines. One headline about a tanker attack in the Strait of Hormuz? Prices could spike $10 in a day. One rate cut from the Fed? Oil rallies. One more disappointing Chinese GDP print? Oil pulls back. It’s a news-driven market right now. Choppy. Whippy. That doesn’t scare me—it excites me. Why? Because volatility means opportunity if you know how to play it. But the smart money isn’t just chasing the day-to-day candles. It’s watching what’s forming under the surface. Mid to Long-Term: The Setup Is Bullish Here’s what the talking heads won’t tell you: supply is starting to flatten out. U.S. producers aren’t ramping like they used to. Rig counts are dropping. Capital expenditure is drying up. Companies got burned in 2020, and they’re not rushing to flood the market again. OPEC+? They’re playing defense. They want to keep prices firm, not friendly. Meanwhile, the world still runs on oil. Planes don’t fly on hope. Cargo ships don’t move with good intentions. And even the greenest economies still need fossil fuels to build and transport their “clean” energy infrastructure. The energy transition is real, but slow. And oil is still the backbone of global commerce.

Bitcoin. It's been around for over a decade, and yet some people are still afraid to call this a real investment. But let me tell you something—it’s stood the test of time. We’ve seen the surges, the pullbacks, the consolidations, and then more surges. And if there's anything I've learned from my decades on Wall Street, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck—guess what? Yeah. It’s the real deal. Bitcoin is a real asset class. Period! This Market Has Matured—Big Time Gone are the days of crypto being the Wild West. We’ve got real regulation now. Laws like the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act have set the stage. Spot Bitcoin ETFs are flowing. Wall Street’s not sitting on the sidelines anymore—it’s buying in. BlackRock. Fidelity. Deutsche Bank. These are the titans, and they’re all calling Bitcoin a long-term hold. You don’t get that kind of institutional validation unless you’ve earned it. And Then There’s Trump Say what you want, but Donald Trump has turned into crypto’s biggest ally. He’s cleaned house at the SEC, installed pro-crypto leadership, and even created a U.S. Bitcoin Reserve. Not only that—he’s opened the door for Bitcoin to enter retirement plans. That alone could pump in $174 billion in long-term capital. That’s not a maybe—that’s math. The Smart Money Is Already In Bitcoin ETFs pulled in over $5.5 billion in one month. Companies are putting BTC on their balance sheets. The game has changed. Bitcoin’s not a fringe asset anymore—it’s part of the core playbook for anyone serious about building wealth. So, What’s the Play? Is Bitcoin volatile? Sure. But so is the stock market, and no one questions whether the S&P 500 is real. The difference is—Bitcoin still has room to run. And with strong legal backing, institutional demand, and a crypto-friendly administration behind it, we’re just getting started.