TRUMP & VENEZUELAN OIL. First, Venezuela's problem was drug trafficking. Now, the problem is oil & the theft of U.S. assets. Thus, Trump has added his pressure campaign against Maduro, attacking the regime's main source of income: oil exports. (Atl.) Trump said that the U.S. would also seek compensation for American assets that the Venezuelan government has seized, an apparent reference to past bouts of oil-industry nationalization by Caracas. (Atl.)

TRUMP'S MEGA-POLICE FORCE. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents are terrifying people. Although the DHS argues that “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago targets “criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans”. (Econ) One after another, protesters said that officers had pointed guns at them & tear-gassed residential streets. Immigration agents are doing three things at once, & it can be tricky to disentangle them. (Econ)

THE TECH ELITE & THE POLITICAL ZEITGEIST. Recently a group of American tech billionaires stood in single file to have their photos taken at the Resolute desk with Trump. He gave them a pen and a coin. (Econ) Trump entertained the tech billionaires with classic rock from his iPad. Then he hosted them at a dinner at the White House, where they boasted of the giant sums their firms planned to invest in U.S. (Econ)

XI & HIS OLDS FRIENDS. China's Pres. Xi Jinping convened his Russian & North Korean counterparts in Beijing for the first time on Tuesday, a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe's worst war in 80 years.(Reuters) XI, PUTIN & KIM are set to take centre stage at a massive military parade on Wednesday, where the CHINESE PRESIDENT WILL FLAUNT HIS VISION FOR A NEW GLOBAL ORDER AS TRUMP'S "AMERICA FIRST" POLICIES STRAIN WESTERN ALLIANCES.(Reuters)

JEFFREY EPSTEIN'SE 50TH BIRTHDAY, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. One of them was Trump. Maxwell collected letters from Trump & dozens of Epstein’s other associates for a 2003 birthday album, according to documents reviewed by The WSJ. Pages from the leather-bound album—assembled before Epstein was first arrested in 2006—are among the documents examined by Justice Department officials who investigated Epstein and Maxwell years ago, according to people who have reviewed the pages. (WSJ)