BLACK GOLD: The Trump administration reached a deal to take control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves, almost as much as all the proven reserves in the US, the world’s biggest oil producer.

  President Trump crowed on his social media that it is “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” He claimed this will happen at no cost to American taxpayers and it “will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity.” 

  Venezuela’s president, Delcy Rodríguez, said in a statement that the deal involved the development of 17 oil fields, more than $100 billion in investments, and projected taxes of $209 billion for Venezuela’s strapped government. 

  While this may benefit Venezuela in the long run, it appears that Trump has made the country into a vassal state since the military capture of the dictator Nicolás Maduro in January. Trump has been open about his desire to take oil from Venezuela. There’s a belief among many American officials that Venezuelan oil was stolen from US companies when the industry was nationalized.

WASHED AWAY: The number of dead in that massive flash flood between Nepal and Tibet has reached 600 while at least 2400 people are listed as missing.

  Authorities are still trying to wrap their minds around the enormity of the disaster. Whole villages, bridges, and other infrastructure were washed away. Several hydropower plants were demolished. Kamal Kishore, the United Nations’ top official for disaster risk reduction said, “The impact on lives, livelihoods, buildings, infrastructure, bridges, hydroelectric projects, power generation is really immense.”

INFINITE SCROLL: 

— Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the New Orleans airport arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, a prominent right-wing agitator and early supporter of President Trump,  saying he had overstayed his visa.  Yiannopoulos is a British citizen and former editor of the right wing Breitbart news.

  The Department of Homeland Security said Yiannopoulos had been issued a final deportation order in July. The Homeland Security Department publicized the arrest, circulating a mug shot and warning other immigrants to “take control of their departure” by self-deporting.

— The Trump administration is considering a land swap that would allow a private developer to build a road within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park in California, the crown jewel of the park system, for access to an exclusive community of cabins.

  The developers say that the project would generate less pollution if residents and customers could enter the park by a shorter connector road through the park that the land swap would make possible.

— President Trump posted a graphic meme of thumbnail portraits rating American presidents with himself at the top as the “greatest” and Joe Biden and Barck Obama in the bottom row as “failures.” In Trump’s second tier were Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Jefferson. and Jackson. 

THE OBIT PAGE: Norway is mourning the death of its popular King Harald V, whose 35-year reign brought modernity and a touch of scandal to the ancient monarchy. He was 89.

  Harold ascended at a time when European countries were getting rid of their monarchies and faced occasional calls for an end to royalty throughout his reign. Unheard of at the time, Harald in 1968 married Sonja Haraldsen, the daughter of a clothing merchant and an undergraduate at the University of Oslo when they met. It took nine years for Harold to convince his father to let him marry her. 

  Then Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the throne, married Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby, a former waitress and single mother.

  Scandal came to the House of Glücksburg when files released by the US Department of Justice linked Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the king’s daughter-in-law, to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

  Crown Prince Haakon succeeds his father to become King Haakon VIII.

THE SPIN RACK: A Massachusetts jury retired for the weekend after two days of deliberations in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, who admits killing her three young children in 2023. Clancy’s defense in the tabloid-covered trial is that  she did it because she was affected by postpartum psychosis following the birth of her 8-month-old. In a much less publicized case of similar circumstances this week, a judge in the Bronx found a mother not guilty by reason of insanity for killing her two children. — Following President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” an internet post says Canada should rename the Lake “The Strait of Our Moose.”  

BELOW THE FOLD: Traditionally you apply to get into college and write a sincere essay to show how bright and thoughtful you are. But now some football players who had a brief outing with a professional team are suing to get back into school for a fifth year of eligibility.

  The NCAA in June passed new eligibility rules allowing athletes to play five seasons within a five-year window. But the NCAA is resisting the return of players who have gone pro.

  Asked his thoughts about NFL players returning to college,  Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said the situation is so strange, “I feel like I took a freakin’ gummy.”

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