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Venezuela's President Says US Energy Deal Will Last 25 Years

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez said on Saturday that an energy agreement with the U.S. would remain in force for 25 years, target an increase in crude output to 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and preserve the country's sovereignty over its natural resources.

Rodriguez ‌hailed the accord in a late-night address as a "historic" deal that would help revive ​the economy and boost government revenue, saying it would help shape the country's future.

“This 25-year bilateral project envisages the development of 17 strategic oilfields with a production target of more ⁠than 1.5 million barrels per day," Rodriguez said on state broadcaster VTV.

 

"That figure relates solely to the bilateral ​agreement between Venezuela and the United States."

Rodriguez added that the agreement's target of 1.5 million bpd was only ⁠an initial goal and that the broader plan also included the development of eight greenfield oil blocks as part of a wider expansion of the country's energy sector.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans for the U.S. to take partial control of Venezuela's vast ‌oil reserves, betting that American companies can help revive the South American nation's battered energy industry while ​providing a new source ‌of crude to help lower U.S. fuel prices.

Trump provided few details on the agreement, saying only that the U.S. had secured majority control of more ‌than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's proven oil reserves through a partnership with private business.

Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves, but it produces only about 1.25 million bpd - far below its potential - after years ⁠of underinvestment, mismanagement and sanctions.

Rodriguez said the agreement could ‌generate about $209 billion in revenue for the ⁠Venezuelan state, based on a benchmark oil price of $65 per barrel, though she acknowledged crude prices could fluctuate. She said roughly $19 from each barrel ⁠produced ⁠and sold under the arrangement would flow directly to Venezuela, providing a significant boost to government revenue.

She said that the country retained “ownership of and sovereignty” over its ‌natural resources, “while leveraging capital, technology and operational expertise to support the recovery of a strategic industry that has been severely affected by sanctions."

Earlier on Saturday, dozens of pro-government groups gathered in downtown Caracas to protest against the U.S. presence in Venezuela.

Rodriguez ‌welcomed the ​agreement following Trump's announcement, saying it would ‌bolster economic growth and increase government revenue.

Venezuelan officials are preparing to sign agreements next week granting new oil exploration and production rights to several companies, including U.S. firms.

Two sources close to the ​negotiations said on Friday that Chevron was among the companies expected to finalize talks to transition its Venezuelan joint ventures into the country's new energy framework.

 

Mayor Mamdani Hits a Serious Snag on His Plans for NYC's Socialist Utopia

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been insisting since his election that government can provide everything to everyone in the Big Apple for free - no strings attached. One of those wished-for signature programs is universal childcare.

Along the way, Hizzoner got a major assist from children's entertainer and YouTuber Ms. Rachel in pushing this government takeover. 

And at our sister site Townhall, Amy Curtis writes Saturday on the radical left activist edu-tainer managing to guess wrong once again to stay in line with the prevailing woke message on race.

My colleague Kyle Becker previously wrote about the bad news for Mamdani on the childcare program, after some of his other announced socialist pipe dream projects like free buses, government grocery stores, and unbelievably, even government-subsidized babysitters at city parks show they are less than viable:

But there's more bad news for The Zohran. Another pie-in-the-sky project is running into trouble already, and it cuts to the core of one of Mamdani's campaign promises: universal childcare.

New Yorkers pining for a cost-effective way to fund Nannies-for-All are going to be grossly disappointed. 

The New York Post says the cost overrun would be billions higher than the mayor promised.

How can this be, readers? Well, reportedly, they ran into trouble - a $3 billion shortfall - caused by what was budgeted to pay the teachers AKA government nannies.

Now Mamdani's plan seems to have hit an even more serious snag, according to a story published Saturday by The New York Times, on the verge of its scheduled start date:

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Funding issues and late payments are threatening the rollout of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free child care system for 2-year-olds, two weeks before the program is scheduled to begin, day care providers said.

Many early childhood centers have yet to receive funding to buy classroom furniture and basic supplies like pencils and paper, or to pay newly hired teachers and assistants. Without the money, several providers have warned parents that the centers will not open when school starts on Sept. 10.

And all the city can do is draw on more taxpayer dollars for loans, when it can manage to get that right:

Because of the delays, city officials had encouraged providers to apply for interest-free bridge loans from the city — not just for 2-K programs but also for 3-K and pre-K programs. But many of those who have applied for the loans say that money has not arrived either, forcing them to take out high-interest personal loans, borrow from relatives and drain their personal savings.

One of the daycare owners in the Bronx, Nurita Love said it's a logistical nightmare, and the city is not prepared: “Yes, they have a 2-K program, but they didn’t set up the infrastructure to make it work," she said.

The monthly expenses at Ms. Love’s centers exceed $320,000, she said. Without city funds, Ms. Love said, she decided to take out a personal loan and a reverse mortgage on her house to pay her employees, utilities and insurance.

 And what does Mamdani's office have to say, to quell the operators' fears over this? 

Spokeswoman Jenna Lyle said in a statement, “These delays are unacceptable, and we are going to fix them. The Mamdani administration is working around the clock to ensure child care providers have the funding they need by the first day of school.”

What a disaster.

Such a shame to see this happening, isn't it? Another promise of government largesse blowing up in Zohran Mamdani's face - and it's unlikely to be the last time these inflated socialist promises will fall flat for the Democrats. 

 

New: Rogers' Perfect Final Smackdown to El-Sayed Football Exchange

Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has not been having a good time on social media. 

I don't know who he has behind his X account, whether it's just him, but he has a tendency to post and say things that don't help him at all. He's already gotten himself in trouble with prior comments. Then, too, he also had other writing attacking football. That's a problematic thing to do in a state like Michigan that loves football. 

His opponent, Republican Mike Rogers, leveled him with a good ad, saying no, football wasn't racist or whatever El-Sayed called it, and no, men shouldn't be playing in women's sports. 

Now El-Sayed came back like a 12-year-old boy who thinks he has to one-up an opponent. How juvenile is this? 

"Hey @MikeRogersForMI - clearly your teammates didn’t vote you captain," he said. "If they did, you would have said it in the ad. Probably had that beta energy back then, too. I *was* captain. Football. Wrestling. Lacrosse."

It's funny; he tries to hit at Rogers as a beta. But if you're a 41-year-old man calling another man a "beta," maybe you need to look in the mirror. Most men in normal life off the internet do not use that term. 

"Thanks for repping my school, tho," El-Sayed added as a snarky aside, 

If he's that desperate to talk about how he was a captain in high school, then he just may be the beta he's talking about. Why does he always seem like he's desperate to present himself as tough? That makes him sound insecure. It's like the conscious decision someone made to try to dress in the black T-shirts and jeans to seem tougher. 

Plus, hadn't El-Sayed attacked football for its toxic masculinity? So why is he now trying to brag about being a captain in such an evil sport? Sure sounds like he's trying to push an "I'm tougher" masculinity contest. He doesn't make a lot of sense. 

Meanwhile, Rogers, who served in the U.S. Army and was a former FBI special agent who investigated organized crime cases, doesn't need to act tough. Rogers was also a former member of Congress. El-Sayed is so desperate to find something to smear him with that he picked the silliest tactic ever, given Rogers' background. 

Mike Rogers had the perfect response to El-Sayed's silliness. 

"Nothing screams 'alpha' quite like a 41-year-old desperately reminding everyone he was popular in high school. Looks like someone peaked in high school," Rogers replied. 

Oof, now that's a burn. But it's so funny when a guy who's 41 is so locked into whatever he did in high school as a sign of his worth or security.  

Not exactly someone you'd want for a Senate seat, even without the crazy far-left policies. 

 

Hey, Guess Where Hamas Has Been Storing Its Weapons — but It Couldn't Happen Here, Right?

Imagine for a moment that you are a terrorist, and you had a large number of rockets, guns, rifles, ammo, explosive devices, and grenades on hand, and more coming in all the time. Where would you store it all? Hamas recently came up with an answer to this question that would confuse and distress its leftist American supporters who have swallowed all the nonsense the establishment media propaganda outlets have inundated us with over the last quarter-century, about how Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance, and Muslims only resort to violence when they’re fighting back against oppression.

That’s right: the jihadis stored all their military hardware in a mosque.

This has happened many, many times before. The Greek paper Neos Kosmos reported in March 2017 that “police seized guns and ammunition from a mosque in Xanthi,” about an hour and a half from the Turkish border. And a report from Nigeria’s Premium Times in July 2014 states that soldiers “carried out an early morning raid at Aba Central Mosque and the residence of some Muslims in the town and arrested the Chief Imam of the mosque, Idris Bashir; his deputy, Mohammed Hassan; and eleven others over suspicion of stockpiling guns and planning to manufacture bombs.”

Yeah, I know: who among us doesn’t have a local parish priest or pastor who has been arrested for stockpiling weapons in the church basement? But wait, there’s more. In February 2014, according to Hiiraan Online, “Kenyan police have recovered a trove of documents and other evidence from Mombasa's Masjid Mussa,” that is, Moses Mosque. “Items recovered include an AK-47 rifle, machetes and other iron implements, jihadist flags, stun guns, hundreds of textbooks, maps, registers, pictures, information on alleged spies and ‘Muslim traitors,’ and terrorist training manuals.” Back in 2007, a Muslim cleric in Pakistan even boasted openly that his mosque was fully armed.

 

It’s still going on. On Tuesday, Israel National News reported that “the IDF and Shin Bet on Monday struck and destroyed five Hamas weapon storage facilities and a Hamas launch site in several strikes across the Gaza Strip.” Hamas used these facilities to store “rockets, weapons, explosive devices, grenades, ammunition, and additional military equipment to advance terror attacks against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip.” And to no one’s surprise except the legions of the terminally blinkered in the West, “these storage facilities were established inside mosques and alongside humanitarian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.”

Hamas used mosques and humanitarian facilities to store its weaponry because it is determined to turn every defeat into a victory. If the IDF discovers and destroys the rockets and guns and bombs it has stored in a mosque, it can turn the setback around by pointing to the allegedly heartless IDF’s wanton destruction of a place of worship. The establishment media can be counted upon to act, as it always does, as Hamas’ propaganda arm, and not only do condemnations rain down upon the Israelis, but the EU and the UN rain down billions of dollars in “humanitarian aid” upon the Palestinians, enabling Hamas to more than make for the lost weaponry.

The IDF explained: “This is another example of Hamas’ systematic exploitation of the civilian population and infrastructure, including mosques and humanitarian infrastructure, in violation of international law.” Countering the media’s relentless demonization of Israel, it also pointed out that “before all the strikes, advance warnings were issued to the population in order to mitigate harm to civilians.”

Related: An Islamic Scholar Just Said That Muslims Shouldn’t Live in Non-Muslim Countries. Unless…

Could mosques ever be used to store weapons in the United States? Inconceivable, right? I mean, Islam may not be a religion of peace anywhere else, but it is a religion of peace here, isn’t it? Well, a captured internal document of the Muslim Brotherhood, setting out its strategy for the United States, says that “Islamic centers” are to serve not just as places for prayer, but places that “prepare us and supply our battalions.”

Supply our battalions?

The implications of this are enormous, but risk being obscured under accusations of “Islamophobia.” Nevertheless, American authorities should pay careful attention to the IDF’s latest discovery. It is only reasonable to expect that at least some of the adherents of a religion that exhorts believers to “kill them wherever you find them” (Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, 4:91, cf. 9:5) will think that they should carry out that exhortation literally.

 

The Washington Post Can't Be That Dumb, Right?

The Washington Post, in a baffling attempt to disparage the mass deportation agenda put forth by President Donald Trump, published data revealing that more than 60 percent of illegal aliens detained by ICE had criminal records other than being illegally present in the United States.

The Post’s story revealed that, since taking office for his second term, the Trump administration has arrested over 500,000 individuals illegally present in the United States. Of those 500,000, more than 300,000 had either pending charges or a criminal record.

The Post also seemed oblivious to the fact that maintaining an illegal presence in the United States is…illegal, as pointed out by Bill Melugin of Fox News and ICE themselves.

 

Crossing the border illegally is a federal crime via 8 USC 1325. 5 year statute of limitation for first time offense.

Overstaying a visa is a civil offense.

Being unlawfully present in the U.S. is a civil offense.

But none of these semantics matter, because any of the above… https://t.co/NWNXRQ9Ok5

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) August 29, 2026

The Post was rightfully dragged for its idiotic post.

ICE ‘targets’ people who are in the United States illegally. Immigration authorities of all countries do this. The subtext of articles like this is that it’s somehow ok to cross the border illegally or to overstay a visa. It’s not. This shouldn’t be controversial. https://t.co/kvVThxxvcD

— FischerKing (@FischerKing64) August 29, 2026

We voted for deporting all illegal aliens, not just those who committed additional crimes. https://t.co/1KwcgzkMiZ

— Bo French (@bofrench) August 29, 2026

 

Under Trump’s leadership, the United States has made massive strides in reforming both illegal and legal immigration, helping the country achieve net-negative migration status for the first time in half a century.

 

2 Democrats and 2 Republicans advance to general election after Alaska all-party gubernatorial primary

Four of 17 candidates will advance to the November general election to replace Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited, following the state’s crowded all-party primary.

As of Saturday, with 99% of the votes counted, the Associated Press called the election for the top two contenders: former Alaska state Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a Democrat who had about 38,960 votes, or 22.5%, and former Alaska state Senator Tom Begich, a Democrat who won about 34,150 votes, or 20.8% of the vote.

Businesswoman Bernadette Wilson, with 10%, and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, with 8.1%, both Republicans, were also called as nominees after the election on August 18^th.

Former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, former Republican state Senator Click Bishop, former Alaska revenue commissioner Adam Crum, former Republican state Senator Shelley Hughes, former Alaska Governor Bill Walker, podiatrist Matt A. Heilala, former Republican Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries, former Republican state Senator Lesil McGuire, businessman Michael Loren Gilbert, former teacher James W. Parkin, welder Destry J. Payne Sr. and commercial fisherman Hank Kroll were also in the running.

Both of the Democrat frontrunners prioritize lowering energy costs, supporting education, creating accessible healthcare and reducing housing costs.

For energy, Kreiss-Tomkins supports all energy sources, including natural gas, and plans to “support the development of an economically viable Alaskan natural gas pipeline.” Begich would create a state Department of Energy and expand loans and grants for efficiency upgrades.

Both promise to increase school funding. Kreiss-Tomkins supports Medicaid expansion, whereas Begich plans to expand DenaliCare and “help people caught between Medicaid and unaffordable private plans.” They also both plan to build more homes to address housing costs.

 

Wilson’s top issues, per her campaign website, are education and a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). She argues Alaska’s education system is failing students with low rankings in reading and math because it uses a one-size-fits-all model and employs an expensive Base Student Allocation (BSA). She suggests innovative solutions such as educational savings accounts and learn-everywhere models. She touts the PFD as a way to make Alaska residents “shareholders” of the state’s natural resources and the wealth they generate without a welfare program.

Bronson also supports reforming Alaska’s Permanent Fund by limiting politicians from making withdrawals that put its future earnings at risk. For the education issue, he also proposes a “10/10 Plan,” meaning Alaska will rank in the top 10 states for 4th- and 8th-grade reading and math within 10 years. He would accomplish this by keeping class instruction centered on core academics (reading, writing, math, science and history, maintaining transparency with parents, maintaining clear performance expectations for school staff and improving teachers’ pay.

Stephen A. Smith Fires Back: Is the Left Silencing Dissent?

Stephen A. Smith has been publicly rebuked by parts of the left this month after the National Association of Black Journalists handed him a “Thumbs Down” award for what they called disparaging remarks about Black women — a move that Smith blasted as a political and personal hit job and refused to accept in silence. His reaction was raw and unapologetic, and it exposed a familiar pattern: when a prominent voice refuses to march in lockstep, the enclosure closes in fast.

Beyond the award, Smith himself says leading Democrats and prominent left-wing figures have been ducking invitations to appear on his program, leaving him to question whether the party still tolerates debate or simply punishes critics. If true, that speaks to a party more interested in controlling narratives than engaging with skeptical Americans, especially those who speak plainly to working-class concerns.

Rather than retreating to safe spaces, Smith answered the attacks by sitting down on conservative platforms and taking on the left head-on, most notably by appearing on Sean Hannity’s show to push back against the cancel culture crowd. That move infuriated his critics and delighted conservatives who long for honest debate free from the sanctimony of party gatekeepers.

Make no mistake: this isn’t merely about one TV personality’s ego. It is about a political class that increasingly uses social punishment to silence anyone who deviates from orthodoxy, then pretends there was never any debate to begin with. Smith’s “Thumbs Down” episode is emblematic of how institutions now prefer theatrical condemnations over genuine accountability or conversation.

Stephen A. has never fit neatly into partisan boxes — he’s criticized Democrats, praised some Republican figures, and even drawn the ire of national political personalities, including President Trump — but that independence is precisely what drives the left to try to define and exile him. Conservatives should applaud a public figure who refuses to be cowed by a monoculture that punishes independence and rewards conformity.

Hardworking Americans deserve commentators who will confront uncomfortable truths instead of kneeling to the Washington consensus and media commissars. If Democrats want to win back trust, they should stop purging dissent and start answering tough questions on camera — otherwise they’ll only push more voices like Stephen A. into the open arms of those who still believe in free speech and common-sense patriotism.

 

Jelly Roll's Late-Night Mockery: A Betrayal of His Loyal Fans

Watching Jelly Roll guest-host Jimmy Kimmel Live! and use the stage to sneer at millions of Americans felt like a betrayal, not a performance. TheWrap and ABC footage show the country-turned-rapper leaning into repeated jabs at President Trump during his monologue, a surprise to fans who know him as a straight-talking performer. That kind of theatrical leftward turn on national TV wasn’t accidental — it was calculated and it exposed how quickly entertainers trade authenticity for applause in Hollywood.

Jelly Roll's a Taylor Swift Want A Be?

 

The backlash was immediate and deserved: longtime supporters who once crossed political lines to reward his music feel slapped in the face. Conservative and MAGA audiences flooded social platforms and conservative outlets with outrage after he mocked the president and shrugged off those loyal fans, proving that fame can make you forget where you came from. This isn’t about silencing artists — it’s about holding them accountable when they publicly abandon the people who lifted them up.

Reports even say Jelly Roll went so far as to taunt his own base, with some outlets detailing profanity-laced attacks and daring Trump supporters to stop listening to his music. That kind of contempt for your audience is the same attitude we see from every hypocritical celebrity who lectures Americans on values they don’t live by. When a performer effectively tells hardworking patriots to “get lost,” you don’t call it courage — you call it contempt dressed up as bravado.

To his credit, Jelly Roll later defended his remarks as “speaking his truth” and blamed writers and the late-night ecosystem for shaping narratives, but the footage shows him smiling and leaning into the material. The ABC segments and follow-up interviews make clear he wasn’t dragged into this — he embraced it and then attempted damage control when predictable conservative blowback arrived. When entertainers pivot suddenly from “apolitical” to performative political posturing, explainable apologies are never enough.

Jimmy Kimmel and late-night TV executives bear responsibility too; the network staged and amplified this moment by handing the desk to a man who knew exactly what buttons to press. Fox News and other outlets noted how Kimmel’s platform turned a country star into a political court jester for Hollywood’s benefit, a pattern we’ve watched for years as the entertainment industry weaponizes celebrity. If audiences still reward that behavior with ratings and record sales, we shouldn’t be surprised when artists keep selling out for acceptance in the elite echo chamber.

Hardworking Americans don’t owe celebrities blind loyalty, but they do deserve decency and respect from the public figures who profit from their devotion. Conservative fans should consider their options — vote with their wallets and their attention, and refuse to bankroll phony patriotism or performative virtue-signaling. Real patriotism comes from loyalty to country and community, not from applauding every celebrity who stages a Hollywood break with their own fanbase.

If Jelly Roll wants to preach to the choir in late-night studios, that’s his right, but don’t expect us to forget the cheap shots and the sneer at ordinary Americans. We built this country on common-sense values and mutual respect, not on celebrity tantrums and calculated betrayals meant to curry favor with an elite few. Hold performers to the same standards they demand of others, and remind them that fame is a privilege — not a free pass to spit on the people who put them on the stage.

 

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