Lake America on Google Maps.
Iran, US Resume Attacks – The US military struck two Iranian rocket launchers it said were about to fire sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, according to an email to NPR. Iran retaliated with strikes on US forces in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, marking the first major attack between the US and Iran in more than a month, according to Morning Edition.
The US strike on Iran’s Larak Island killed military personnel and civilians, according to the report.
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One Week Only! – The House is back in town, through Thursday allowing enough time, they hope, to vote on a spending bill the Senate passed before the August break to keep the federal government open past September 30 and the midterms, to December 11 (Politico). Both chambers return September 14 to the 30th before recessing for all of October to the November 3 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Trump campaigns … President Trump travels to Texas Thursday to inject more campaign money into the Republican Party’s “massive” midterms war chest, CQ Roll Call reports, and to stump for Senate nominee Ken Paxton, the ethics-challenged state attorney general who defeated incumbent John Cornyn in the midterms. Polls show Paxton in a “tight race” with Democratic hopeful and state Rep. James Talarico, though there’s not much confidence left in modern polling results, especially for midterm primaries and the election.
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Trump Touts Deal for Venezuelan Oil – The US has a deal with Venezuela to take majority control of its oil reserves though a partnership with a so-far unnamed private company, the State Department said through a US official. Two people familiar with the partnership told The New York Times that the firm is affiliated with Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López.
The US would have control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, Trump Truth Socialed Friday, almost equal to all the proven reserves in the US.
While Trump promises the deal thus will lower gas prices at the pump for American consumers, it will take at least a couple of years to see any progress in reviving Venezuela’s broken down oil extraction business.
Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said the agreement would involve developing 17 oil fields and have a “significant impact on our nation’s revival.”
Chevron and Haliburton are in … Chevron and other US companies are near deals to invest billions of dollars into Venezuela’s oil fields, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing “people familiar with the matter.” Haliburton also is in talks to bring equipment systems to oil producers in the country.
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – The national average for a gallon of unleaded is down 0.91` cents Monday to $4.0807, AAA reports, or $1.2645 costlier than on February 27. Diesel dropped 1.03 cents to $5.6002 per gallon, $1.8483 costlier than in late February.
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On the Lake Front – It is now “Lake America” for Americans, at least, in place of “Lake Ontario,” on Google Maps. This from President Trump’s name change last week in the midst of a contentious trade war with Canada in which the Trump administration is imposing 50% tariffs on such goods as lumber, concrete and hockey sticks.
By Saturday, Google had changed the name of the Great Lake from “Ontario” to “America” for those in America using the map via mobile and desktop, as updated by the US Geographic Names Information System, while it remained Lake Ontario for the rest of the world.
Ontario’s feisty Premier Doug Ford told ABC This Week Sunday that Trump’s change, echoing his “Gulf of America” dictum last year, is like something out of Saturday Night Live.
“No one’s going to call it Lake of America,” Ford said. “It’s been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It’s going to continue being Lake Ontario. It’s just so disappointing.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa