[guest post by JVW]

We’ve discussed Brittney Griner a few times over the past few months, so rather than go over that story I just want to give you my gut reaction to the news today that she has been swapped for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. officials and for aiding terrorist states.

I’m glad she’s home. Her sentence was grossly unjust considering the fact that other Americans have been arrested in Russia on similar charges and either had the charges dropped in return for immediately leaving the country or else been granted clemency after the perfunctory conviction and sent home. While it was fantastically stupid of her to have brought hash oil into Russia, it was a product that she had been legally using in the United States, and perhaps had been prescribed it by her doctor. I do think, however, that her carelessness and stupidity in putting herself in this position should come with consequences, so I would hope that the State Department will revoke her passport, if possible, and make her permanently ineligible for overseas travel. At the very least, her days representing USA Basketball internationally should be long over, though it remains to be seen if she can even return to the WNBA after this past ten months of trauma.

Exchanging an international arms dealer believed to be behind thousands of deaths in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia for a pothead athlete was a ridiculously lopsided trade, sort of like giving away a lobster dinner for a fish stick. But Brittney Griner has all sorts of intersectionality cred going for her, and three major interest groups vital to Democrats and the Biden Administration’s political fortunes lobbied heavily for the Administration to bring Brittney home, turning her into a cause célèbre among our cultural gatekeepers. Her professional basketball league, the WNBA, adopted her as a living martyr by celebrating her throughout this past season, and her family appeared to have a direct line to the White House to keep Brittney in the public eye.

Ironically enough, this full-court press (to mix in a basketball cliché) seems to have had the effect of greatly reducing the prospects for another American prisoner be included in the swap. As late as August, CNN was reporting that U.S. negotiators were working with their Russian counterparts on a deal that would have added Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen who worked as a security director for an automotive parts maker which did business in Russia and had been imprisoned in Russia since 2018 on charges of spying (Whelan and the U.S. deny the allegations). But it’s not all that difficult to believe that Putin and his henchmen observed the pressure that was being brought to bear on the Biden Administration to rescue the female, black, lesbian basketball player, and they no doubt rightly concluded that she was a valuable enough commodity that they did not have to add Mr. Whelan or Marc Fogel, an American teacher imprisoned since August 2021 on nearly identical charges to Ms. Griner’s, as part of the deal.

In a crazy way, the WNBA, NBA, and all of the civil rights, gay rights, and feminist groups who made Brittney Griner a constant news item probably doomed the short-term chances of getting Mr. Whelan or Mr. Fogel returned to their loved ones. To their credit, the Griner family has spoken out on their sympathy for the Whelan family and vowed to continue to help work for his release, and the Whelan family in return has been very gracious about Brittney Griner being moved to the front of the queue. Curiously enough, not much is heard about Marc Fogel, but that could be because he’s just an ordinary everyday American citizen, not a B-list celebrity drenched in intersectionality or a guy whose life sounds like it might make a great movie starring Tom Cruise. It would be nice if all of those Legions of Woke who pushed for the immediate return of Brittney Griner — spare no cost! deny no demands! — take up for Paul Whelan and Marc Fogel, but somehow I think that the plight of Americans held in Russia is going to take a backseat to our frivolous media going forward. President Biden himself assured us in his press conference today that the Whelan case remains a priority for his Administration, but it would seem that poor Mr. Fogel is the forgotten man, except for maybe by his Congressman.

I’m glad that Brittney Griner is home, but this was a huge diplomatic win for Russia and a quizzical defeat for the U.S. It beggars belief that our negotiators couldn’t have packaged Marc Fogel in with Ms. Griner; no one in Russia likely cared about him or would have passed up the photo opportunity of bringing Viktor Bout home just to keep an American medical marijuana-smoking schoolteacher incarcerated. And now we would appear to be out of high-ranking assets to trade. So great job all around, Brandon. The “professionals” in the Biden Administration better hope that some transgender Latinx pop singer doesn’t get caught in St. Petersburg with an underaged prostitutka or else we’ll probably have to sell out Ukraine to get zir home.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

Let’s go!

First news item

Former Vice-President Mike Pence says ‘thanks but no thanks”:

Pence was speaking to CBS, to promote a new book in which he sets out his version of events on the day supporters of his president, Donald Trump, attacked Congress, some chanting that Pence should be hanged.

Pence previously said he would consider testifying. But to CBS, he said: “Congress has no right to my testimony on separation of powers under the constitution of the United States.

“And I believe it will establish a terrible precedent for the Congress to summon a vice-president of the United States to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House.”

Pence, who is weighing out a run for the presidency in 2024 and can’t afford to lose the support of, well, anyone, added:

But I must say again, the partisan nature of the January 6 committee has been a disappointment to me. It seemed to me in the beginning, there was an opportunity to examine every aspect of what happened on January 6, and to do so more in the spirit of the 9/11 Commission, non-partisan, non-political, and that was an opportunity lost.

January 6 Committee chair Rep. Benny Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney responded to Pence:

“The select committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice-President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book.

“Our investigation has publicly presented the testimony of more than 50 Republican witnesses, including senior members of the Trump White House, the Trump campaign, and the Trump justice department.

“This testimony, subject to criminal penalties for lying to Congress, was not ‘partisan’. It was truthful.”

Second news item

Moms for Liberty, the group in which members had a shameful view of Ruby Bridges Goes To School, pushed conservative candidates in school boards elections across the country:

Moms for Liberty said it has endorsed more than 500 school board candidates across the country this year, 49% of whom have won. The organization’s candidates were highly successful in Florida, but they had mixed results in Arkansas, California, Michigan and other states.

Moms for Liberty celebrated the six candidates’ wins in Berkeley County as an example of flipping a school board in favor of people who “value parental rights.”

School boards are powerful entities. Thankfully, board members are elected by the public, so it remains an avenue in which parents – for better or worse – can make their voices heard if they’re willing to do the hard work of running for a seat.

Third news item

Trump faces criticism over Covid response:

March, 29, 2020, is a day that should live in infamy. The national mitigation plan against Covid-19, “15 days to stop the spread,” was about to expire. In the Rose Garden, President Trump declared that lockdowns would continue for another 30 days. I tweeted: “President Trump just lost the election.”

When Mr. Trump announced his 2024 campaign Tuesday, he didn’t apologize for the lockdowns or even mention them. I supported him in 2016, and during his tenure he did much to dredge the political swamps, but his decision to approve and extend drastic Covid interventions should disqualify him for a second term.

Fourth news item

Not good news about American Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia:

Brittney Griner has begun serving her nine-year sentence for drug possession at a Russian penal colony, her lawyers and agent said Thursday.

Griner was transferred to a penal colony in Mordovia, about 350 kilometers (210 miles) east of Moscow, after a Russian court last month rejected her appeal of her sentence.

According to the report, President Biden is hopeful that President Putin will want to resume talks about a prisoner exchange concerning both Griner and Paul Whelan.

This morning, Axios is reporting that “The Kremlin aims to secure the release of convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in any prisoner swap with the U.S., a senior Russian official told the news agency Interfax on Friday.”

Also, it as been reported that Navalny has been permanently moved to solitary confinement:

Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader jailed after surviving an assassination attempt, said on Thursday that he has been transferred permanently to a solitary confinement cell that would limit his contact with other prisoners and the outside world.

“They’re doing it to keep me quiet,” Mr. Navalny said in posts on his verified Twitter account, adding that staying in the small, cramped cell was typically limited to 15 days as a punishment. The rules also bar “long visits” from relatives, he said.

The order came just four days before his family was expected to come see him, according to a post on Twitter from Team Navalny, the core organizers behind his opposition movement, who have all fled Russia.

…

At least nine years have already been added to his initial two-year sentence, and few expect him to emerge from prison while Mr. Putin is still president.

Fifth news item

Yet again President Biden capitulates and plays politics with human rights abuser:

1.

Biden as a Democratic presidential candidate vowed to make a “pariah” out of Saudi rulers over the 2018 killing of Khashoggi.

“I think it was a flat-out murder,” Biden said in a 2019 CNN town hall, as a candidate. “And I think we should have nailed it as that. I publicly said at the time we should treat it that way and there should be consequences relating to how we deal with those — that power.”

2.

The Biden administration says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s high office should shield him from a lawsuit over his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, making a turnaround from Joe Biden’s passionate campaign trail denunciations of the prince over the brutal slaying.

The administration spoke out in support of a claim of legal immunity from Prince Mohammed — Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, who also recently took the title of prime minister — against a suit brought by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.

Note:

A federal judge in Washington had given the U.S. government until midnight Thursday to express an opinion on the claim by the crown prince’s lawyers that Prince Mohammed’s high official standing renders him legally immune in the case.

The Biden administration also had the option of not stating an opinion either way.

Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancé responds to the news: “Biden himself betrayed his word, betrayed Jamal. History will not forget this wrong decision.”

Sixth news item

A very significant event:

Protesters in Iran have set on fire the ancestral home of the Islamic republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini two months into the anti-regime protest movement,

The house in the city of Khomein in the western Markazi province was shown ablaze late Thursday with crowds of jubilant protesters marching past, according to images posted on social media, verified by AFP.

Khomeini died in 1989…The house was later turned into a museum commemorating Khomeini. It was not immediately clear what damaged it sustained.

…

Images of Khomeini have on occasion been torched or defaced by protesters, in taboo-breaking acts against a figure whose death is still marked each June with a holiday for mourning.

Masih Alinejad lays out key points:

The leaders of democratic countries should recognize this as a revolution, as it is. This is just the beginning of the end. When teenagers are getting killed… but the day after, they take back to the streets… this is called a revolution”

In contrast w. Russia, would add not even one Islamic Republic diplomat has been asked to leave European soil despite its arming of Putin; hostages; human rights abuses; & terror plots. That must change.

Seventh news item

Cut from the same cloth, I would expect nothing less from these two:

1.

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO) declared herself the winner of her congressional race Thursday evening, despite the race heading to an automatic recount. While media outlets, including The Associated Press, have deemed the race far too close to be called, the MAGA-loving firebrand conveyed to her over 1.7 million Twitter followers that she’s the victor, while only being ahead of Democrat opponent Adam Frisch by around 550 votes. “We won! I am so thankful for all of your support, and I am so proud to be your Representative!” Boebert tweeted. “Come January, you can be certain of two things,” she added in an a video with the Capitol building serving as a backdrop. “I will be sworn in for my second term as your congresswoman, and Republicans can finally turn Pelosi’s house back into the People’s House.”

2.

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) declined to concede governor race to Democrat Katie Hobbs Thursday, raising concerns about the election process.

The Associated Press and other outlets projected that Hobbs won the race on Monday. But Lake indicated she is assembling a legal team that is “collecting evidence and data” pertaining to the electoral process.

“Rest assured, I have assembled the best and brightest legal team and we are exploring every avenue to correct the many wrongs that have been done this past week,” Lake said in a video address posted Thursday morning. “I’m doing everything in my power to right these wrongs.”

P.S. Jim Geraghty shows his work: Even if all of the remaining votes were for Kari Lake, Hobbs would still win the election by about 6,000 votes.

P.P.S. Yesterday, Lake’s team confirmed that she was at Mar-a-Lago. Possibly auditioning to be someone’s running mate??

Eighth news item

Only Congress can solve coming border surge:

The progressive collapse of this country’s asylum system over many years, and not the Biden administration’s admittedly murky messaging on migration, is the main cause of today’s accelerating disarray at the border….

Granted, the president and his border policies have contributed to the problem. On taking office, President Biden set about dismantling the Trump administration’s restrictions, including trying to scrap Title 42 expulsions earlier this year. Simultaneously, officials pleaded in vain for migrants not to attempt to enter the country — without any effective strategy to deter them.

In response to Judge Sullivan’s ruling, the Biden administration asked for a five-week grace period to prepare for the anticipated surge of migrants. It has prepared to rush resources to the border, including thousands of beds to hold detainees in tent facilities, and is planning for quicker deportations as a deterrent. Ultimately, though, the fix, and the failure, lie with Congress.

Ninth news item:

pic.twitter.com/9TwnMASS0c

— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) November 18, 2022

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Here we go!

First news item

The real question: How is the massacre of 19 children and two adults in a public school not a legitimate concern to every American, but especially to those whose loved ones were mowed down and now find themselves struggling in a living hell of emotional and mental distress as a result?:

Despite having in-house counsel, the city of Uvalde and its police department are working with a private firm to seal records of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School, records obtained by VICE show. Cynthia Trevino, a private attorney for Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, wrote to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, inquiring about what records the city is required to release. The records the city are trying to seal include body camera footage, photos, 911 calls, emails, text messages, criminal records, and more. The letter says the city doesn’t want to release records due to ongoing litigation, investigations into misconduct by the FBI and others, and the fact that some records could be seen as “highly embarrassing,” “not of legitimate concern to the public,” and potentially could cause “emotional/mental distress.”

Second news item

Trump still considers himself above the law:

President Donald J. Trump continued pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to go along with a plan to unilaterally overturn his election defeat even after he was told it was illegal, according to testimony laid out in extensive detail on Thursday by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

The committee showed how Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign — aided by a little-known conservative lawyer, John Eastman — led his supporters to storm the Capitol, sending Mr. Pence fleeing for his life as rioters demanded his execution.

In the third public hearing this month to lay out its findings, the panel recounted how Mr. Trump’s actions brought the nation to the brink of a constitutional crisis, and raised fresh questions about whether they were also criminal. It played videotaped testimony in which Mr. Pence’s top White House lawyer, Greg Jacob, said Mr. Eastman had admitted in front of Mr. Trump two days before the riot that his plan to have Mr. Pence obstruct the electoral certification violated the law.

Third news item

Stand with Ukraine, stand against a madman:

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that the trajectory of the war in Ukraine is untenable and are quietly discussing whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should temper his hard-line public position that no territory will ever be ceded to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war, according to seven current U.S. officials, former U.S. officials and European officials.

Some officials want Zelenskyy to “dial it back a little bit,” as one of them put it, when it comes to telegraphing his red lines on ending the war. But the issue is fraught given that Biden is adamant about the U.S. not pressuring the Ukrainians to take steps one way or another. His administration’s position has been that any decision about how and on what terms to end the war is for Ukraine to decide.

“We are not pressuring them to make concessions, as some Europeans are. We would never ask them to cede territory,” one U.S. official said. “We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money.”

Putin believes if he kills enough Ukrainian children and destroys enough towns, the West will abandon Ukraine in the name of another false peace, the way they did in 2014. The only way to any real peace is arming Ukraine, not talking to a war criminal.

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) June 17, 2022

Fourth news item

No suprprise here:

The Taliban are officially taking part in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Who else can a terrorist state invite to its economic forum, if not representatives of a terrorist organization? pic.twitter.com/qhiVu64VK7

— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) June 16, 2022

Fifth news item

Alexander Navalny’s lawyer confirms that Navalny has indeed been moved to the high-security colony #3 “Melekhovo”.

Navalny posted this letter on Instagram:

Space travel continues – I moved from ship to ship.

Well, that is, hello to everyone from the strict regime zone.

Yesterday I was transferred to IK-6 “Melekhovo”.

I’m in quarantine so I don’t have much to say. Well, here are just two recent impressions. About cultural life and lawlessness.

About cultural life: I almost moved while I was dragging books into / out of the paddy wagon that I have in my warehouse. And the jailers almost moved while they were copying them. And this despite the fact that, fearing such a situation, a month ago I hardly persuaded the administration to accept 50 books from me in the prison library. Honestly, yesterday for the first time in my life I dragged these bags and thought that a fire made of books is not necessarily something bad.

About lawlessness: an announcement hangs in quarantine with a list of professions that can be obtained here, and the duration of training. So, you can become, like me, a seamstress – this elite of the working class, instantly distinguishing a linen seam from a sewing seam, in 3 months. And imagine, those who have chosen the profession of “bird carcass deboner” also study for 3 months! That is, in this sense, they are equated with us, seamstresses. Well, what, what do you need to study there for 3 months ?! Do they roll these carcasses in rhinestones, or something?

Very outraged.

Well, everything else is ok.

Hello everyone, I hug everyone, eat the bird without breading 😉

The Washington Editorial Board rightfully observes that Putin wants to break and silence Navalny, and that we shouldn’t let them:

During Joseph Stalin’s “Great Terror” of the 1930s, an unexpected knock on the door invoked dread. The arbitrariness of arrests and executions in the middle of the night was frightening. This is why the latest news from Russia about opposition leader Alexei Navalny is so disturbing. He was moved from his prison cell, and no one else was told.

The point of such shadowy maneuvers is to induce fear — of the unknown and of losing touch. As another political prisoner, Post contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, noted recently, the greatest anxiety in prison is to be forgotten. This was certainly what Russian authorities intended when they transferred Mr. Navalny from a penal colony in Pokrov, 74 miles east of Moscow, to a notorious maximum-security facility in Melekhovo, more than twice as far from the capital.

When a lawyer went to see Mr. Navalny at Pokrov on Tuesday, he was told “there is no such convict there.” Mr. Navalny’s lawyers said they did not know his whereabouts. Later, a prison monitoring official said he had been taken to Melekhovo. The Post’s Mary Ilyushina reports media investigations have found systematic abuse of prisoners by guards and other convicts at the facility. Mr. Navalny’s spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, has called it “a monstrous place.”

The treatment of Mr. Navalny shows yet again that Mr. Putin has shifted from soft authoritarianism to totalitarianism. Russia has not been a state governed by the rule of law for a long while, but Mr. Putin is taking it back to dictatorial times.

…

As for Mr. Navalny, it is clear Mr. Putin would like the world to never hear from him again. The Russian president wants to break his most troublesome critic. That makes it even more vital that everyone else speak up for Mr. Navalny, so his voice continues to be heard until the day he walks free.

The Post reminds readers that Brittney Griner, Mr. Kara-Murza, and Paul Whelan all still remain imprisoned in Russia.

Also, one last thought: if you have not yet watched the documentary, Navalny, you absolutely must. It’s gutting as it presents an unvarnished look at the endless dangers the man and his family face in their vocal opposition to Putin. This especially as the diabolical plan by Putin to poison and kill Nalvany with a lethal nerve gas is exposed in incredible detail.

Sixth news item

President Biden still slippin’ and slidin’:

Only 39% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president. A stunning 47% “strongly” disapprove; just 16% “strongly” approve. Academic studies have shown that presidential approval is one of the most reliable predictors of what happens in midterm elections, and a rating this low would traditionally signal significant losses for the president’s party.

…

More than seven in 10, 71%, say the United States is “on the wrong track;” 16% say it’s headed in the right direction. Even most Democrats say the country is on the wrong track, 46%-34%. Three of four independents and nearly every Republican agree.

Seventh news item

In a nutshell:

Fuck around Find out pic.twitter.com/VQ902cnJu1

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) June 17, 2022

Eighth news item

What’s that? Why it matters is a mystery??:

It’s understandable that Democrats would want to constantly revisit January 6 — to invoke it, investigate it, and sacralize it even.

It’s a mystery, at least from a certain level of abstraction, why Republicans would want to have anything to do with that day, or want to fixate on the 2020 election.

The party is on the cusp of a midterm triumph, has enormous openings on the economy and education thanks to Biden administration stumbles and left-wing overreach, is making inroads among Hispanic voters, and has a well-stocked political bench that Democrats worried about 2024 should envy.

Yet the GOP is stuck litigating the past almost entirely because its putative leader in Mar-a-Lago is incapable of admitting error or defeat, and will never stop trying to excuse and explain away his infamous conduct after November 2020.

For the hundedth time, here’s why it still matters:

Donald Trump is still the uncontested leader of the Republican party. His base still clings to the idea the 2020 election was stolen and is nominating election-denying candidates to powerful positions in key swing states. Members of extremist groups that led the charge to the Capitol now have footholds in state and local GOP organizations all over the country. And all the affiliated members of Trump’s elite political, advocacy, and media class remain willing to assist Trump in carrying out his desires.

So don’t settle into the hearings thinking about them as a history lesson. They’re an active threat assessment.

Ninth news item

Finally:

The Senate voted Thursday to pass legislation to deliver comprehensive health care and increased benefits to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan exposed to toxic burn pits.

The PACT Act, also known as the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, will largely expand eligibility for free medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, for thousands of veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals.

Over the last two decades, it is reported that around 3.5 million post-9/11 combat veterans may have been exposed to dangerous chemicals while in the line of duty, according to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

More details:

The military routinely used open burn pits set ablaze with jet fuel to dispose of tires, batteries, medical waste and other materials during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would expand military veterans’ eligibility for medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs by extending coverage for 10 years after discharge instead of the current five years.

The legislation would also presume that certain respiratory illnesses and cancers were related to burn pit exposure, allowing the veterans to obtain disability payments to compensate for their injury without having to prove the illness was a result of their service. Currently, more than 70% of disability claims related to burn pit exposure are denied by the VA due to lack of evidence, scientific data and information from the Defense Department.

The legislation would also benefit many Vietnam War-era veterans by including high blood pressure in the list of conditions presumed to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange. And, it would extend Agent Orange presumptions to veterans who served in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Guam and American Samoa.

MISCELLANEOUS

Have a great weekend.

–Dana

[guest post by JVW]

Let’s try something a bit different here and have a weekend open thread in which the topics set out on the table are not related to politics. Inevitably discussion will turn to politics, being this close to the election and all, but at least we might try our hand at some other interesting items. Here we go:

The World Series
Today begins the 118th World Series. Thanks to changes made to the Major League Baseball schedule at least one game is guaranteed to be played in November, and should the series go the full seven games we’ll have the majority of them played in the eleventh month.

I’m still a bit sore at the Astros for getting away with blatant cheating a few years back, but they beat the yankees so in book that expiates a whole lot of sins. I don’t know what to think about the Phillies — the purest in me resents the idea that the sixth-best team in the National League this regular season is playing for the trophy, but the fan in me loves it. And I know he’s a very divisive player, but right now I really do like Bryce Harper, so help me.

Baseball Literature
The five greatest books ever written about baseball are as follows:
5. Guys, Dolls, and Curveballs: Runyon on Baseball, Jim Reisler, editor
4. Fifty-nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had by Edward Achorn
3. Crazy ’08 by Cait Murphy
2. The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence S. Ritter
1. Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof

College Football
Quite an interesting year. Tennessee has made quite the resurgence under second-year coach Josh Huepel, the former star Oklahoma quarterback. If they can get by a tough but inconsistent Kentucky team tomorrow then next week’s showdown with defending national champions and number one ranked Georgia should be a doozy.

Number two ranked Ohio State gets their toughest test yet this season when they go to Happy Valley to take on number thirteen Penn State. Should Ohio State leave with a W then it’s a near-cinch that they will be undefeated when they host Michigan (currently also undefeated and ranked number four) on November 26.

As for me, I’ll be taking in the Colorado-Arizona State game in Boulder, a tilt between two of the worst programs in Power 5 conferences and two schools which have already fired their head coaches and are playing with interims carrying the clipboards.

NBA Season Begins
Lord help me, but I am tickled pink to see the Lakers start the season 0-4. It’s not so much that I hate the team, but if you live here in Los Angeles you understand the sense of entitlement that Lakers fans exhibit every season. I had season tickets to the Lakers for about 14 years, including all of the five NBA titles won in the Kobe Bryant-Phil Jackson era, and I can attest that the fanbase is absolute insufferable.

Speaking of insufferable basketball — and breaking the rules just a bit by touching on politics — Brittany Griner lost her appeal for her conviction of drug possession in Russia earlier this week. It’s now up to the diplomats to get her out of there, but it will certainly come with a high price.

National Football League
You guys should know better than to expect me to write about that.

Have a tremendous weekend, everyone.

– JVW