From Russia with angst

 The usual suspects are all barking at LeBron James again, because he's wondering the same things they're wondering but he's LeBron, so LET'S BASH HIM FOR IT. 

If you think that sounds really stupid, and also epically hypocritical, you're not wrong. It is. But then that is the usual suspects specialty.

And so here's radio foof Clay Travis, once and future Suspect, saying LeBron sounds like an idiot when he talks about anything but basketball. His Greek chorus of followers and imitators chime in. And all because LeBron said something eminently reasonable on his show "The Shop". 

"Now, how can she feel like America has her back?" he wondered aloud  about the so-far failed attempts to free WNBA star Brittney Griner from her jail cell in Russia. "I would be feeling like 'Do I even want to go back to America?'"

This was taken by Clay and the Suspects as a shot at 'Merica, the greatest country in the entire history of the universe by far. And never mind that the Suspects have been harshly critical themselves about the American government's efforts to get Griner out of Butcher Putin's clutches.

Their usual line of attack is that Donald J. Trump ("Our boy!" you can almost hear them saying) would have freed Griner long ago. And the fact Joe Biden hasn't yet only proves what an incompetent boob he is.

So, in essence, they've been just as critical about Griner's continued detention as LeBron, just in a slightly different way. And it's warranted. 

Griner has been locked up in Russia since February, after all. And she, and her family, do feel abandoned, as LeBron suggested.  It's why Griner sent a letter to President Biden pleading with him to get her home, and her family trooped up to the White House to meet with the President's people.

The heat is on, in other words, from Griner and her family and the WNBA,  which turned its All-Star weekend into a Brittney Griner Awareness-fest. It's well past time, they're all saying, for someone to do something.

The problem, of course, is that Putin is using Griner as a political chess piece to force the Biden administration to back off its support for Ukraine in Russia's ongoing aggression against that nation. It's why the Suspects contention that Their Boy Trump would have gotten Griner home months ago is patently absurd. It's based on Trump's successful efforts to get LiAngelo Ball out of China, a completely apples-to-oranges comparison.

That said, the Blob can't help thinking this is becoming the Iran hostage crisis of Biden's presidency. That helped run Jimmy Carter out of the White House; the Griner mess could wind up doing the same to Biden if it keeps dragging on.

In any event, nothing LeBron said on his show was invalid. And it's merely an echo of what the Suspects have been saying themselves.

Must kill the latter to realize they basically agree with the former. So LET'S MAKE IT LOOK LIKE WE DON'T.

Yeesh. What a world.