Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News

Drudge Retort

Menu

Subscriptions

Drudge Retort RSS feed RSS Feed

Links

Recent Comments

Recent comments from all news stories on this site. Users must follow the site's moderation policy. Personal attacks, profanity, abusive conduct and expressions of prejudice are not allowed. If you want to retrieve a comment of yours that was recently deleted, visit your user page and click the Moderation link.

'Who knows if it will survive': Experts question how long Trump's Venezuela oil deal will last
www.politico.com

... Oil company executives and Venezuela experts are looking skeptically at the Trump administration's $100 billion plan to boost Venezuelan oil production, raising questions about whether the deal will yield significant oil any time soon " or ever.

Under the deal the White House announced Monday, the United States would receive a 35 percent stake in oil company North American Blue Energy Partners to drill for oil in Venezuela, the latest instance of the Trump administration taking shares in a private business. As part of the deal, the U.S. would have "preferential access" to 20 percent of the oil the company produces at cost.

The partnership, if successful, would kick-start oil production in Venezuela, something President Donald Trump has wanted since his administration plucked Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro from power in January. Trump and the GOP are promoting increased imports of Venezuelan crude into the United States as a possible balm for the high fuel prices that have plagued voters since the U.S. launched its attacks against Iran in late February.

Oil executives are warning, however, that the fields targeted for production will take years to develop and expressed little confidence that the deal the White House announced with a company few are familiar with would lead to much. ...


[many more concerns expressed in the article ...]


Trump says Venezuelan oil could replenish depleted U.S. stockpiles. Will it?
www.cbsnews.com

... President Trump has framed last week's deal for the U.S. government to take a stake in Venezuela's oil reserves as a boon not just for gas prices, but also for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has dropped to historically low levels.

"One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves," Mr. Trump wrote on social media Sunday, saying "the 'topping out' process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States."

The plan could face hurdles, energy experts say. The oil produced in Venezuela is far heavier than most of the crude in U.S. reserves and would need to be converted. And rebuilding Venezuela's ailing oil industry could take years, requiring oil producers to invest billions while navigating the country's still-uncertain political and legal landscape.

"This project is very unlikely to produce new investment and new production anytime soon," said David Goldwyn, a former federal energy official who serves as president of the consulting firm Goldwyn Global Strategies and chairs the Atlantic Council's energy advisory group. He predicted the U.S. is "at least two years, if not five to seven years at best, away from seeing that production reach the SPR, directly or indirectly." ...


The Erosion of the Army
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigns in protest over Hegseth's management of the Army.
outsidethebeltway.com

... Hegseth seems to have a special animus toward the Army, an institution he claims "spit me out."

He fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, and he has pushed out other senior Army officers; at this point, the Army has no Senate-confirmed chief of staff or secretary. (George's replacement, General Christopher LaNeve, so far does not have the necessary votes to be confirmed.) ...


Good. Americans are too fat anyway.

#3 | Posted by snoofy

It's mind boggling how bad the food is in the US. I've really had my eyes opened over the last five or six weeks on the difference(s) between food in the US and, at least, in Europe.

There is, of course, the obvious stuff like bread is way better tasting and will actually mold within 2-3 days if not consumed because it isn't loaded up with preservatives. Plus it's made with actual real ingredients of flour, water, salt and yeast.

But there's just the overall feel of eating here. Portions are slightly smaller and you feel a content feeling of being full when done. But never that bloated, uncomfortable full that seemed to last for hours. Not even when I eat at home, making standard meals I made all the time when in the US.

Me and my oldest son had a guy's weekend this past Saturday/Sunday and to close it I made us steak dinners Sunday night. About 5-6 oz per steak plus mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Either there's a substantial difference in food quality here or I got Chinese take out steaks - a meal with typical portions that would have made me feel full through bed time left me hungry about an hour before bed.

I always ate a protein-skewed diet to maintain a slight calorie deficit and maintain weight. In the US, it worked for the most part, but I would have periods of gains that resulted in a gradual pace of weight gain over the last several years. The exact same habits here have resulted in me losing about 15 lbs in five weeks.

It pains me to say it, but RFK had the right answer but apparently the wrong math with the food issue. Too bad he's chosen to gut food safety monitoring while diverting most of his attention to the absolute worst topic he could - anti-vaccine bulls*&^ that has already caused disease outbreaks in other countries he's tried it in.

Drudge Retort

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy