Dear Delaware,

This morning the war put three more commercial ships on the board in the Strait of Hormuz. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations warnings, numbered 144-26, 145-26, and 146-26, were issued today for incidents on Tuesday. As those warnings are being reported, a crude-oil tanker was hit on the port side, an inbound tanker was hit, and an LNG tanker was hit. Each one was struck by an unknown projectile. The warnings, as reported, say the sources were verified, authorities are investigating, and ships should transit with caution.

I will not name a shooter. UKMTO did not. Al Jazeera’s live coverage this morning leads with a maritime agency reporting at least three commercial vessels hit, and with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps saying the military conflict in the strait continues daily. That is a claim about the war going on. It is not an identification of who fired these three shots. Agence France-Presse, carried by CBS around 5:44 this morning, plus bne IntelliNews and Anadolu, are in the same cluster. None of that is a license to invent a culprit.

This is the same war as the Cape Dao, UKMTO Warning 142-26, which is already published. It is not a new frame. It is another cluster. I am not going to run a figure of 19 vessels. I am not going to lead with a false-flag theory. I am not going to pretend a diplomatic counterproposal is the news. The news is three ships and an unnamed projectile.

AAA’s Delaware average this morning is $4.3343 for regular and $6.4338 for diesel. The diesel record is still $6.4483, set on September 28. A few cents off the peak is not the war easing. Early Wednesday, Brent was around $103 to $104. I am not going to draw a spike that the tape does not show and pin it on these three hulls. The bill is already at the pump. A commute in Delaware is priced by a strait most of us will never see.

I spent years as a travel ICU nurse. I know what it looks like when the injury arrives before the name of the cause. We do not get to skip the name, and we do not get to invent one. Congress keeps funding a war that bills the diesel and will not say, in public, who fired.

This campaign is people-funded. No Super PAC. Ever.

The Delaware Department of Elections lists me as a Qualified write-in candidate. My name is not printed on the ballot. If you are not registered yet, the deadline is Saturday, October 10. On November 3, thirty-four days from this letter, write TRAVIS JACK STEVENS for U.S. Senate.

With gratitude and determination,

Travis Jack Stevens
Write-in candidate for U.S. Senate · Delaware
travisjackstevens.com