You’ve got to hand it to MAGA media, they’re very good. Fast, you know? Pretty much as quickly as Donny’s bombs fell on Venezuela, cons had been conditioned to answer the question, “How happy are Venezuelans that Maduro is gone?” A lot of them, apparently. Not all of them, I’ve noticed, but a lot of them. No one is interested in defending Maduro. But that’s the wrong question, isn’t it?

Look, if some foreign, sovereign nation decided to swoop into Mar-a-Lardo and bundle up our national nightmare for an unplanned visit to the Hague to stand trial, the vast majority of this nation – hell, the vast majority of the world – would fall out partying and celebrating. Not everyone, of course, but the vast majority of us. Would that make it okay? See, the question conservatives should be asking is, “What right does the United States have to invade a foreign, sovereign nation without provocation?” THAT, is the right question. Oh, and just for the record? None. The proper answer is none.

Oh, I know. It’s easy enough to blow off that question, “What if some foreign, sovereign nation decided to swoop into Mar-a-Lardo and bundle up our national nightmare for an unplanned visit to the Hague to stand trial?” We’re the biggest, meanest country on the block and you know no one could pull that off, so it’s easy to be smug. But that, too, is sidestepping the proper question, which is, ‘What right?’

Donny has no legal authority to take the action he took. He just did it. This is just a sidebar, but many are pointing out that the US is asserting that the US can enforce laws against Presidents of foreign nations, but simultaneously asserting that the US can NOT enforce laws against the US President. That’s just some pretty convoluted thinking, right there. But I digress.

In one action, he has instigated an illegal regime-change, nation-building, forever war – AND set the rest of the world on edge, wondering where his delusions might strike next – and MAGA seems to be all in. That part, I have to admit, blows my mind. 47 ran on “no wars.” MAGA used to throw the “no wars” thing in people’s faces – even as the US was still fighting in Afghanistan. No wars, no wars, no wars. Yeah, yeah.

Now he’s going to sacrifice American soldiers and American taxpayer money so he can illegally steal another country’s natural resources. In retrospect, he DID tell the oil companies that if they gave him lots and lots of money, they could dictate his actions vis-à-vis our government and their corporations. Apparently, they chose “Venezuela” and another oil war was on.

“No, it’s not a war,” many MAGA are saying, “it’s more of a… police action.” Oh, really? Were those police officers that invaded Venezuela? Or were they United States military troops? Wait, haven’t we heard that one before? Oh, yeah, over the war cowardly Cadet Bone Spurs worked so hard to avoid. Vietnam was ‘just a police action,’ too. 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives and countless more were injured and damaged – and that’s only our side.

All of that death and destruction over a “police action.” And now, Donny says he’s going to stay in Venezuela. He’s going to install his preferred government because when has THAT ever gone wrong? Then he’s going to “run” Venezuela – into the ground, if his past is any indicator. He actually said, “We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”

What, like him? He went in to steal their natural resources and funnel the money – ALL of the money – to himself and his rich friends. How well do you suppose that’s going to serve Venezuelans? We really ARE living in the Upside Down…

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I put these two bits together because they reflect my day. The first, an issue of great weight and importance. The second, a low-level time-suck intended to bring pleasure through entertainment. I woke up to the news that 47 had bombed a foreign, sovereign nation. It cast a pall over my day. So I looked forward to a little entertainment in the evening – and got yet another bomb.

But there’s an obvious, huge difference between, “People died” and “My preferred team did not prevail in their sporting competition.” The juxtaposition was jarring. If it seems jarring here, too, well, that was my day…

So, yeah, they looked good – but that was just the uniform. Other than that, it was pretty ugly. Someone should have called the Forty-Niners and told them they had a real football game to play. Clearly, nobody did. The Niners apparently thought it was a scrimmage and didn’t show up. The Seahawks did, though. Kyle Shanahan got all stubborn again. The Seahawks are the very best at shutting down the run. So, Kyle kept trying to force the run. Oh, BOY did that not work. But Kyle kept trying.

I know, McCaffrey only carried the ball eight times, how stubborn is that? Well, considering the Niners only had the ball, like 15 times, that’s pretty stubborn. Yeah, okay, hyperbole alert, but not by much. The Niners only had 9 first downs in the whole game. How many carries is one going to get when one’s whole game is three-and-outs? McCaffrey could NOT move the ball on the ground. The recommended reaction is to throw quick, short passes until the defense softens up a little. Kyle didn’t do that or, at least, he couldn’t make it work.

When there was a hat-tip to the reality that the Niners weren’t going to run on Seattle, Kyle tried to pass from formations with the QB under center. The problem was, Seattle could blast right through our offensive line like it wasn’t even there. So after Purdy took the snap and dropped back, he kept finding Seattle players in the backfield with him. I think Purdy should have taken more snaps from the Pistol or the Shotgun to give him an extra beat. Kyle wasn’t taking my calls, though.

Okay, the truth is, the Niners should have been out of contention somewhere around Week 4 or Week 5. The team has had so many injuries, especially on Defense, it’s a bit of a wonder they were even able to field a team, let alone be playing for first place in the NFC. It WAS a terrible game and a sad portent of what the Niners playoff experience is going to be like this season – but it was an amazing season from a team that shouldn’t have been where they are (were)…