President Donald Trump last week announced the U.S. is obtaining rights to 65 million barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves. The agreement was made under the auspices of unelected President Delcy Rodriguez, who owes her position to the January U.S. military operation that snatched her predecessor out of the country. It’s the “biggest oil deal in world history,” said Trump in a statement. But critics say the pact is illegal.

‘Almost certainly unconstitutional’
Venezuela is “becoming the 51st state,” said Joseph Zeballos-Roig at MS NOW. Trump’s deal would give him “privileged access” to the country’s oil production and allow the U.S. to replenish its “dwindling stockpiles” of petroleum depleted by the Iran war. The agreement will also “temporarily shore up” Rodriguez’s government thanks to an influx of tax revenues. But it will likely “deepen a disconnect between Venezuelans and hopes for a new government” after the downfall of dictator Nicolás Maduro.

The agreement is “almost certainly unconstitutional” under Venezuelan codes, said Elliott Abrams at The Washington Post. The country’s laws say petroleum resources are the “property of the Republic” and “not transferable” to outside entities. The scheme also relies on a private company led by Alejandro Betancourt, who has been accused of money laundering.

The Venezuela deal has given the U.S. a “strategic victory” over its rivals, said Arturo McFields at The Hill. The country’s oil fields were previously controlled by Russian and Chinese companies, and revenues also flowed to Cuba and Iran. But now, the U.S. is obtaining “energy security” and lower gas prices, while the government in Caracas gets an agreement that “revitalizes its oil industry, creates jobs and fosters prosperity.”

Opting for a ‘shortcut’ 
The deal “smacks of old-school colonialism,” said Liam Denning at Bloomberg. And it’s unlikely to draw major oil companies back to Venezuela. (Chevron, the only outside oil company that remained, said this week it will double its production there.) The “opaque settlement” possibly puts new elections “further out of reach.” 

Rebuilding Venezuela’s oil production and its democracy will be the “work of many years of intense effort,” said Denning. Trump has instead opted for a “shortcut” that relies on “raw U.S. power.”

There are very few American industries that private equity has not leached into. Investors are now setting their sights on the multibillion-dollar youth sports industry, and parents and politicians alike have raised concerns about the future of athletics under this business model.

Why is private equity getting involved?
It began during the Covid-19 pandemic when local leagues “stopped building rinks and fields and stopped maintaining the ones they had,” said Fast Company. “No federal agency exists to coordinate what replaced them.”

Private ventures find youth sports appealing because it offers “pricing power that almost nothing else in consumer spending can match,” said Fast Company. American families “spend more than $40 billion a year on youth sports — nearly twice the NFL’s annual revenue.”

One of the most notable ventures in private equity sports is Black Bear Sports Group, a firm that in “less than a decade grew into the single largest owner-operator of ice rinks in the U.S.,” said USA Today. Black Bear has used this leverage to “steer families into its own costly ecosystem of leagues, tournaments and fees.” 

How are players and families impacted?
Many say the influx of private equity is creating a pay-to-play culture. One New Jersey hockey mom paid $4,600 for her son’s spot on a Black Bear-owned team, said USA Today. Skills and talent level “no longer act as a barrier to entry,” said Intelligencer. 

Investor money has “warped youth sports,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) at The Atlantic. For “most of the past century, youth sports were managed primarily by local park departments, parent-led leagues and nonprofit groups.” Now “profit and individual achievement matter more than teamwork or character building.”

What’s the larger response?
Lawmakers have been “looking at the skyrocketing costs” and “trying to figure out ways to regulate private equity’s role in the industry,” said Cronkite News. Democrats in both chambers of Congress recently introduced the Let Kids Play Act, a bill that would “protect youth sports from so-called vulture investors.” The House Committee on Education and the Workforce also held a bipartisan hearing that “scrutinized the role of private equity in youth sports,” said CNBC, another “potential sign” that Congress may intervene.

A firefighter walks among the debris of a bombed pharmaceutical warehouse following Russian drone attacks this morning on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. One person was injured in the strikes, and warehouses, an administrative building, a local store and several commercial kiosks were damaged, said the Kyiv Post.
Francisco Seco / AP Photo

The proliferation of streaming options complicates the logistics of watching television, but it also means that each month brings a cornucopia of new offerings in virtually any genre. Whether you are looking for a twisty thriller or a comedy, September has you covered.

‘Last Seen’
Apple TV+ hasn’t had quite as much luck with thriller and drama series as it has with sci-fi shows like “Silo” and comedies like “Ted Lasso.” The streamer looks to change that with this Australian entry about an ex-detective whose daughter disappears. The show features a “premise seemingly engineered to sit uncomfortably in any parent's chest,” said Caroline Preece at MovieWeb. (Sept. 9 on Apple TV+)

‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’
Netflix’s series of “Monster” biopics about famous murderers like Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer is possibly the grimmest franchise on television. But creator Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan look to lighten the atmosphere a bit with this bonkers-looking fictionalization of the legendary Fall River, Massachusetts, axe murders (pictured above). “This isn’t your great-great-grandmother’s version of the Victorian-era mystery,” said Savannah Walsh at Vanity Fair, but a thoroughly modern entry with a “darkly comic tilt.” (Sept. 17 on Netflix)

‘Youth’
Fresh off the hit Apple TV+ comedic thriller “Bad Sisters,” Sharon Horgan goes back to her comedy roots with a new series for HBO Max. “Youth” “constantly slips back and forth between comedy and drama” and “lets its characters steep in the weirdness of ordinary life,” said Joy Press at Vanity Fair. (Sept. 20 on HBO Max)