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The Coronavirus has now crept from my left nostril into my brain, where it is annihilating good judgment and exterminating all resolve, including, say, deciding whether to go upstairs to pee, or just stay where I am and hope my jeans and socks are absorbent enough to avoid damaging the floor. I have no will to do my job competently; I didn’t even have the energy to replace Substack’s placeholder headline with one of my own, or to find a decent illustration.

But some things within a person are not so easily extinguished. They linger, like a lover’s kiss or a fart in cockpit. In my case, it is malice, which brings me to today’s edition of . . .

This weekend, on Donald Trump ‘s orders, the U.S. military invaded Venezuela, killed 40 people, many of them civilians, captured the country’s shitbag president, Nicolas Maduro, frog-marched him blindfolded into waiting transportation, which trundled him to New York City, where he is being housed in a Brooklyn prison alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs, Luigi Mangione, and the drug dealer who shot Jam Master Jay in the head. Trump did this not because Maduro was a despot (Trump goes all smoochie for despots) and not because Maduro was exporting drugs that are killing lots of Americans (he was not) but because Trump wants Venezuela’s oil. Trump actually said this out loud. Give the man credit: He may be as thick as a cinderblock but he is often as helpfully transparent as a Pyrex measuring cup.

Oh, and Trump further announced that for the immediate future, The United States will be “running” Venezuela, though he supplied no detailed plan; apparently, there is none.

The next day, in an interview, Trump ominously doubled down on his intent to “annex” Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. He declined to rule out force.

This all seems a bedeviling situation, hard to parse. Maduro is an illegitimate, deeply corrupt sack of pus. His regime tortures and murders its critics. His mismanagement and greed have ruined the country’s economy. Hey, he not only tried to steal an election, this guy actually succeeded.

But, ah… can we do this? Should we do this? Is it legal? Is it moral? Will there be an occupation? Will it cost American lives? Will it be a money-suck? Will it create a terrible template for (other) despots to follow? Appropriately, the smart part of our populace — whatever their remaining numbers may be — turned to responsible sources for help in making sense of it.

Here is what The New York Times said in an editorial, which they got out shortly after the news of the airstrike. (They benefitted from a courtesy heads-up, off-the-record warning about the operation from The White House, giving them time to collect their thoughts and solidify their position.) If you haven’t time, you don’t need to read it; I will summarize it fairly.)

This was their headline:

Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise

This is the gist of their editorial. I summarized, except for direct quotes:

Maduro is a horror. But that is beside the point.

Our country’s regime-change meddling, our benighted efforts at nation-building, have been almost uniformly disastrous in the last century. But most have been in accordance with the rule of law, if sometimes thinly.

This was a war crime. The only legal way Trump could have pulled this off with a semblance of legality was by getting approval from Congress, which would have been doubtful — many Congressional Republicans are opposed to his adventurism, so instead he Just Did It.

The Times called it “latter-day imperialism,” which they said “represents a dangerous and illegal approach to America’s place in the world. By proceeding without any semblance of international legitimacy, valid legal authority or domestic endorsement, Mr. Trump risks providing justification for authoritarians in China, Russia and elsewhere who want to dominate their own neighbors.” And the collateral damage done to innocents in an undeclared and illegal war, the editorial said, is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, the blueprint that defines and distinguishes acceptable acts of war from criminal atrocities.

In short, the Times concludes, the airstrike and kidnapping was illegal, immoral, tactically stupid and breathtakingly arrogant:. “Mr. Trump has not even a fig leaf of legal authority for his attacks on Venezuela.”

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Now let’s hear from The Washington Post, which was also given a courtesy heads-up to the operation to collect their thoughts and solidify their position. If you haven’t time to read it, I will summarize it fairly:

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Justice in Venezuela

The story begins exactly this way:

“Millions of people around the world, most of all in Venezuela, are celebrating the downfall of the dictator Nicolás Maduro. President Donald Trump’s decision to capture him on Saturday was one of the boldest moves a president has made in years, and the operation was an unquestionable tactical success. The next step is ensuring that this triumph sets Venezuela up for stability and prosperity rather than more of the same, or worse.”

Next:

“What happened in Caracas was a clear reminder that America’s military, intelligence and cyber capabilities are second to none.”

(By comparison, here is a recent statement of Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary: “The United States Military is the best and most lethal fighting force in the world. and we have capabilities that no other country possesses.”)

Now here comes much of the rest of the Post editorial:

“This is a major victory for American interests. Just hours before, supportive Chinese officials held a chummy meeting with Maduro, who had also been propped up by Russia, Cuba and Iran. No doubt millions of Venezuelans will remember who backed their oppressor and who effected his removal. But the end of Maduro will be a failure if it doesn’t also corrode the influence of American adversaries in this hemisphere.”

Then this appeared in the middle of the online editorial:

And then: “Maduro’s removal sends an important message to tin-pot dictators in Latin America and the world: Trump follows through. President Joe Biden offered sanctions relief to Venezuela, and Maduro responded to that show of weakness by stealing an election.”

“Trump had telegraphed for months that Maduro could not remain in power, yet Venezuela’s illegitimate leader clung on. What are Iranian leaders thinking now as they consider how to respond to widespread anti-government protests? Are the communists in Cuba sleeping well after Secretary of State Marco Rubio put them on notice Saturday?”

I’d tack on my additional question: “Also, will the Danes in Greenland be sleeping well?”

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Okay, that’s it for the day. I’m really sick. Also, from Covid.

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Today’s Gene Pool Gene Poll:

Trump extorts countries for their wealth. I beg readers for theirs. Who you gonna go with?