Nine months after the military took Maduro and Flores from Caracas, the ledger reads 65 billion barrels, a 35% Pentagon stake, a 21st terror designation in Latin America, and one woman in Brooklyn asking to be let out for her heart.

…(cont) The paperwork came September 1. Democracy Now! put the deal at more than 65 billion barrels, with the Department of Defense holding a 35% stake in a joint company — nine months, it noted, after the American military took President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores out of Caracas in a raid, and two months after The New York Times described Rubio as the de facto viceroy of Venezuela's finances and the distribution of its resources. Viceroy is not a word this desk has had occasion to set in a long while.

That same day Central Command struck what it called IRGC targets near the Strait of Hormuz, the President called the strikes "large and powerful," and Iran's armed forces said they would retaliate. On Wednesday the President asked the public whether the strait — which The Hill notes has no single owner — ought to be renamed TRUMP STRAIT, since it would be "'hotter' than ever before!"

Here is what hot costs. AAA had gasoline above four dollars every day of August, the first time on the books, $4.08 and ninety cents above a year earlier. On Friday, September 4, diesel hit $5.85, past the record set in May 2022. Diesel moves the shit you buy, so it went into your groceries. Labor Day weekend came in at $4.14, a record for the holiday. Mark Zandi put six months of the war at $1,200 for the average household. None of them got a gift notice.

On Sunday, September 6, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told ABC News the United States has "a lot of leverage over Venezuela. We control the sale of oil outside," and that the country is "forced to work" with us. One hour later he denied the administration was stealing Venezuela's oil. On Friday he told Fox News how a 30-minute military operation unlocked the windfall for American buyers. Leverage, forced, unlocked, and a denial, all filed the same week, and not one of them penny-ante.

Also that Friday, Rubio, touring Latin America, announced the designation of Los Tiguerones — the twenty-first group on the administration's regional terror list. And in Brooklyn, Cilia Flores asked to be let out of the Metropolitan Detention Center, citing a heart ailment. On September 3, for the ninth month running, people rallied outside that building. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia shut a key pipeline after attacks. The strait remains the flashpoint.

Preceded in death by the Reserve as a public thing. Survived by 65 billion barrels, a 35% federal stake, twenty-one designations, a proposed name, one woman waiting on a doctor, and you, at the pump, at $4.15.

In lieu of flowers, ask your congressman what the Department of Defense's 35% is worth, and who collects on it, and why it is not showing up in your tank.