Editor’s Picks: Big Sugar Daddy, War for Oil, Hunger Games, Patel and his Honey (Pot), more

As the holidays approach, news has not slowed to its typically languid pace. Here’s a look at some of the most interesting stories I came across this week.

Tucked deep inside a farm-related bill that is moving through the Florida Legislature are provisions that would make it easier for Big Sugar to file defamation lawsuits against environmental groups, news outlets, and others who criticize the companies over issues like Everglades restoration and pollution.

I wrote a column recently explaining that war posturing toward Venezuela had nothing to do with “narco-terrorism” or a “drug caliphate,” just oil and regime change. After White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles admitted as much in an interview published by Vanity Fair this week, Trump leaned into that line, claiming Venezuela must pay for seized US oil assets while calling for a “blockade,” and land repatriations. “We’re not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn’t be going through,” Trump told reporters. “You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it.”

White House something or another Stephen Miller still tried to connect the dots.

“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller posted on social media Wednesday. “Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These pillaged assets were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, mercenaries and drugs.”

Speaking of Stephen Miller, his wife, Katie, has a podcast. And in one of the most surreal moments of Trump 2.0, FBI Director Kash Patel and his much younger girlfriend appeared for an interview, which was just embarrassing on all levels. It was the latest misstep by Patel, who’s reportedly referred to as the “Make a Wish Director” by senior agents. If you think I’m just hating, check out this take by a conservative Special Forces combat veteran.

For another laugh, check out Patel’s cool custom challenge coin below. Challenge coins are given by military brass, and sometimes retired officers bring the practice to follow-on professions, and they typically look like this. Patel has never worn the uniform, unless you count that female agent's raid jacket that was lent to him when he threw a tantrum and refused to deplane for a press conference until he had one. His number two, Dan Bongino, announced he would step down in January so that he can return to being a podcaster. Perhaps Patel should consider the same.

The Patriot Games, a National Mall state fair, a White House UFC fight, and "the largest fireworks display in the world" are among the Trump administration's plans to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary next year. The Patriot Games will borrow a line from the Hunger Games in calling "one young man and one young woman from each state and territory." From a PR perspective, announcing a Hunger Games-themed event the same week we learned that unemployment is now as high as it’s been since peak COVID might be more tone-deaf than the Gatsby Party Trump threw during the government shutdown, when SNAP benefits were delayed, and food banks were decimated.

Mitch Maley's first novel, A Long Road Home, was recently released in its third edition. You can find that and his other books here.