I paid $2.30 per gallon for the cheapest gas today, near Santa Barbara, CA. The bastards are trying to squeeze a last few arterial spurts of blood out of us before the end of tourist season. I can’t seem to locate my copy of Dante, but I seem to remember a couple of lines about

a twisted ring of blueblack

by lakes of gasoline

— Level eight, the Malebolge; the fraudulent, malicious, panderers, grafters.