Let’s say you woke up to the news that the United States now will “run” Venezuela, in President Donald Trump’s words, at least for the time being, and you thought: “Huh. Maybe I should brush up on our beef with Venezuela.” Your Weekend Reader is here to help.

Here is a useful timeline from our friends at The New York Times, dating to 2020, when the Trump administration first indicted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on charges that he led a violent drug cartel. And here is a quick overview, from The Associated Press, about the questions the United States must answer in the wake of the operation — which Trump characterized as taking place in “dark” conditions, which is to say, the night.

If you’re wondering why Trump would invade Venezuela to topple its president (who, it must be noted here, is no angel) just a month or two after pardoning Juan Orlando Hernández — who ran a narcotrafficking empire while president of Honduras — well, that just means you’re expecting some measure of coherency from U.S. foreign policy, as Idrees Kahloon notes in The Atlantic.

Also in The Atlantic, David Frum makes interesting points about how the operation will play among both Trump’s allies and his foes — and worries that the foes are at a disadvantage because they still believe in things like the rule of law and the importance of “facts.” But as David Byrne and Talking Heads noted long ago, “Facts don’t do what I want them to do. Facts just twist the truth around.” (I didn’t link to a live version of this song, “Crosseyed and Painless,” from “Stop Making Sense,” because the sound on the YouTube clip I saw was off. But if that gives you an excuse to once again watch “Stop Making Sense” — still the greatest concert film ever made — that wouldn’t be a bad way to spend a weekend.)

But I digress. Aside from our effort to turn Venezuela into the 51st state (you’ll just have to wait your turns, Canada and Greenland), there’s plenty of other news to consider as 2026 gets off to a roaring start.

You might have noticed that Lee Enterprises — which publishes the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald (two nameplates, but these days essentially the same paper) has a new leader: Florida billionaire David Hoffmann has entered into a $50 million purchase agreement and will become the chairman of Lee, the third-largest newspaper chain in the country. Hoffman told the Times last year that his goal in pursuing Lee was to preserve community news — including high school sports coverage. That’s worthwhile talk, but it remains to be seen if Hoffmann backs it up by putting journalists back into Lee newsrooms. And while it’s true that the results of billionaire ownership of newspapers have been decidedly mixed, it’s hard to imagine that Hoffmann could do much worse than Lee in managing its newsrooms.

Nicholas Kristof has a new column in the Times about the impact of Trump budget cuts to health care in the United States. Perhaps you can guess the prognosis: It’s grim.

The Corvallis-to-the-Sea Trail — an effort to create a 60-mile-long path from, well, Corvallis to the Pacific Ocean — has hit a new snag: A new landowner along the trail has posted “No Trespassing” signs on his property, blocking a key part of the trail about 5 miles inland from its Ona Beach terminus. Dana Tims, who wrote this story for the Lincoln Chronicle, tracked down the new landowner, a fellow named Charles P. Wilson, who was pretty clear about his desire not to see those pesky hikers on his land: “Tree-huggers are a pain in the ass to me and it’s something we just didn’t want,” he told Tims. Wilson went on to identify which national politician he supports. You won’t be surprised. I noticed the story first in Brad Fuqua’s Philomath News, which I heartily endorse.

Do you have resolutions to improve your health and wellness in 2026? Of course you do. Experts say the best way to make sure you follow through on your resolutions is to keep them simple. Sarah Lorge Butler, one of my colleagues at Lookout Eugene-Springfield, checked in with a University of Oregon expert for additional resolution advice. Of course, the simplest way to handle resolutions is to not make any in the first place. Are you going to eat those fries?

A new deep-sea search for the remains of Malaysia Flight 370, which disappeared into the Indian Ocean more than a decade ago, began this week. Searchers hope that new technology will allow them to finally solve one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. But my money is on the theory outlined by writer William Langewiesche in this Atlantic story from 2019, which is one of the most gripping — and terrifying — stories you’ll ever read.

If you weren’t out gazing at the full moon at about 2 a.m. Saturday, you likely missed the fullest moment for the so-called “wolf moon,” the first full moon of the year. (It will still appear mostly full through the weekend, if you can catch a glimpse of it through the cloud cover.) But here comes spoilsport Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic, wondering if we in the media spend too much time hyping lunar events or other astrological wonders. Well, maybe — but I suspect that this world would be just a little better if more of us spent more time gawking at the stars.

That’s it for this edition. If you need to catch me, I’ll be looking to the sky. Are those U.S, military helicopters?