venequela's oil, or is it ours? no way to know right now;

 

 Il Magnifico – as Trump likes to think of himself – is either lying to himself or to us. Or both. The oil that’s in Venezuela isn’t going to be in the SPR for a long time – months, if not years – because it’s not like there’s a spigot that can be just turned on. The oil has to be gotten out of the ground first. Then it’s got to be shipped – by tanker – to the U.S. The oil may begin to dribble our way over the next couple of years or so. Fall is just a month or so from now. The “gift from Venezuela” – as Il Magnifico (who is no Lorenzo de Medici) – puts it is a “gift” in the same way that a “contribution” to Social Security isn’t extortion. It’s also a “gift” that is largely imaginary – and will be, for some time to come, if it ever comes at all.........more............