Oh, what a week

As a former newsman, I guess I shouldn't be surprised when a single eventful week can be so chocked full of news.

Like what happened this past week.

On Tuesday, Georgia rejoined the World of Common Sense by re-electing incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock to a full six-year term in the US Senate, knocking out Republican opponent Herschel Walker, a former collegiate and professional football star who was, no doubt, one of the most unqualified candidates for United States high political office in perhaps forever. It was astounding to hear him give serious speeches about werewolves and vampires and all that good American air going to China. Sheesh.

Warnock's victory also gave the Democrats a 51-49 edge in the Senate. That's critical. It means President Joe Biden can get a number of things accomplished without GOP obstruction, like appointing ambassadors, cabinet heads and federal judges. It also gives Democrats full – and not shared – control of Senate committees and sub-committees. 

It also means that when the Republican controlled House of Representatives begins its threatened investigations of the Biden administration amidst calls for Biden's impeachment (as well as some cabinet heads), it's likely to be an exercise in futility because the Senate simply will vote against impeachment. There will be no sense of real governance in the GOP House, only retribution.

More of Senate control in a moment.

On Thursday night, we learned that WNBA basketball star Brittany Griner was finally released from a Russian prison after 10 months of wrongful imprisonment for what most of the world considers a minor offense: medicinal cannabis oil for her vape pen.

What should have been cause for celebration that an American citizen was released from Russian detention quickly turned into a political football (or basketball, if you will). Griner was released under the terms of a prisoner swap with the Russians welcoming back notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is sometimes known as "The Merchant of Death."

The extreme right went nuts. How dare Biden give up an arms dealer for a basketball player? What kind of unequal deal was that?

Bout was scheduled for release in 2029, while Griner would serve her sentence until 2031. So if Bout was going to be released anyway, why not take advantage of his current capital to release a wrongly imprisoned American? It's not like Bout isn't the only Merchant of Death walking around the globe.

Meanwhile, another American, Paul Whelan, has been in a Russian prison for four years, accused of being a spy. And he's a former Marine, dammit. When did we leave Marines behind?

First off, even after months of negotiations for both Americans, the Russians made the offer either Griner, or neither of them. Not much of a choice, really.

But some people were appalled. In comparing Griner to Whelan (why are people comparing the two? They're both Americans), Griner appeared to be the ungrateful un-American pariah. She was critical of the United States. She often would kneel for the National Anthem at her games. Meanwhile, Whelan was a Marine, dammit. Impeach Biden.

What Griner is is Black, female and gay. Her stance on the National Anthem is similar to Colin Kaepernick's, a Black man who also suffered from the wrath of the extremists for his stance, which was in reality intended to spotlight the racial social injustices that still linger under the surface in this country, despite the 13th and 14th amendments and other civil rights legislation.

Meanwhile – and this hasn't been played up much – Whelan was court martialed and received a "bad conduct discharge" from the Marines in 2008 for bouncing checks and the attempted theft of $10,000 while serving in Iraq. He was also demoted from sergeant to corporal. All of this while wearing the uniform of a Marine. Sounds pretty disgraceful to me. (See here).

But, you know. He's not gay. He's not female. And he's white. And he probably stands for the National Anthem.

And I hope like hell he's released from Russia as soon as possible, as we would hope for any wrongfully imprisoned American.

Anyway, on Friday, the Democratic 51-49 edge in the Senate appeared to be in danger when Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to register as an Independent.

But it's likely Sinema will caucus with the Democrats just like Independents Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, which will maintain the Democrats' control over the Senate and keep American government moving forward. Sinema will caucus with the Democrats because she doesn't want to jeopardize losing her committee seats, so nothing really changes.

Unless she's lying.

So, man, what a week it was.

Now all we have to look forward to is criminal referrals, subpoenas, pointless investigations, hypocrisy and obstruction.

What a country.