Thursday, March 23, 2017

#23 TBrady #12 Super Bowl 51 Jersey Returns Home, All is Good in the World Again

The return of Tom Brady's stolen Super Bowl 51 jersey today is a gentle reminder to us all of the great country that we live in.  When it was first reported stolen shortly in the aftermath of the Patriot's stunning come-from-behind, greatest-victory-every-achieved, most-memorable-sporting-event-of-the-century, Super Bowl win, it case a pale over this spectacular event.

But that was then, and this is now.   The jersey has been returned to its rightful owner and the world is back in balance. We can all sleep better tonight.  If Norman Rockwell were alive today, he would be working on a portrait right now, of the FBI men showing up at the front door of Tom & Giselle's house in Brookline, with jersey in hand, that big #12 blazoned across the canvas, with all of their kids cheering gleefully in the forefront, almost like it was Christmas morning.  The Brady's lost puppy has been found.  We can all go inside for hot cocoa and cookies.  Lets call Wally and the Beaver and maybe they can come over and play.

This is how it should always be. This is our country.  This is Americana.

Unfortunately the return of the TB12 jersey today does not correlate to a return to sanity in our political system.  Au contraire, insanity prevails and it grows bigger with each passing day.  I have been working all day, so I haven't really had a chance to catch up on the news, but amidst all the back of forth of the ongoing politics to repeal and replace Obamacare, the most stunning revelation of the day was the fact that Congressman Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which had been tasked to investigate possible ties with certain individuals in the Trump campaign and Russian hackers, revealed information to President Trump and the Press BEFORE sharing it with members of his own committee.   For those of you who don't know how these things work, just know, this approach does not win friends and influence enemies.

As reported by CNN  

"Nunes, a member of the Trump's transition team executive committee, set off a stunning new political controversy Wednesday when he headed to the White House to personally brief President Donald Trump on the revelations. Despite being advised against doing so, sources said Nunes met with Republican members of the Intelligence Committee before his news conference, but did not share information with the Democrats on the committee."

I have to say that I don't believe Trump is guilt of colluding with Russians during the election.  I really don't.  While he has done very little to impress me since his stunning victory back in November, I still don't think he would be that stupid.  Now, time may prove me wrong on this point, but for the moment, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But Nunes, what is Nunes doing?  He is head of committee where he at least wants to maintain an appearance of independance, even if he is already in the bag for his boss.  He wants to complete the investigation as quickly and efficiently and move on.  He shouldn't want to become part of the problem.  His boss has a bad enough credibility problem all by himself and he doesn't need to pile on. But he does!  And so now he his apologized to his Democratic counterparts on his committee, but the cat is out of the bag.  Now Democrats will be pushing for a new select committee or a special prosecutor, neither of which Trump or Nunes wants

Even Republican Senator John McCain said this morning on NBC's Today Show that Nunes’ action "was unprecedented. I have not seen anything like it, and it’s very disturbing. Intelligence committees and armed services committees always work in a bipartisan fashion, and I’m sorry to see what’s happened over there”.

McCain has supported the concept of the select committee to manage the investigation,  but up until now,  Republican congressional leaders argued that the House and Senate intelligence panels were capable of handling the investigation.   I think that point has now officially gone by the wayside.

So it is and so it shall be.  Insanity reigns on capital hill.  It seems hard to believe and I do worry that Trump's ongoing incompetence is contagious and those closest to him are breathing in his germs and getting sicker and equally incompetent by the day.

That's a portrait Norman Rockwell would no doubt refuse to paint. 

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