The Wall Street Journal ran a couple of pieces on this, one by Matthew Futterman and Andrew Beaton (Behind the NFL’s Frantic Scramble to Hit Back at Trump) and the other an op-ed by Jason Riley.

The former centered on the purported disarray among the NFL’s management, players, players union, owners, and coaches as they tried to figure out how to ride the tiger they’d turned loose with their “protests.”  The latter was a sort of coming-of-age piece wherein Riley went from national anthem sitter to a national anthem stander.

My two thoughts are closely related to each other.  This is my view of the Futterman and Beaton piece:

….players—many of whom say they are deeply offended by the president’s statements….

That’s OK–many of us are deeply offended by players’ attacks on our flag and national anthem.

Goodell had released a statement that Trump had shown “an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL…failure to understand the overwhelming force for good [we] represent in our communities.”

Where is the good in the NFL’s divisive attacks on our national symbols? Where is the NFL’s respect for these?

These Precious Ones claim to protest inequities against minorities. This is nonsense. Were they interested in protesting inequities against minorities, they’d do that instead of attacking our flag and anthem. Were they interested in working against those inequities, they’d go into communities and work the problems rather than kneeling on the safety of the sidelines saying, “There’s a problem. Someone else fix it.”

This is what Riley’s piece generated in my pea brain:

The players have said they are protesting the unjust treatment of blacks by law enforcement….

This is nonsense. If the players wanted to protest unjust treatment, they would protest unjust treatment. Instead, they’re attacking our flag and our national anthem, and they’re insulting Gold Star families and veterans who fought, many of whom were maimed or killed in those fights, for these guys’ right to protest.

The stereotype of “dumb jock” was ugly 50 years ago, and it’s no prettier today. These players know full well what they’re doing; perpetuating that stereotype by pretending they don’t is as ugly as the stereotype.

Even Howard Kurtz seems to be catching on, as he wrote for Fox News.

Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation leaks are continuing apace.

Suddenly, there are a whole lot of leaks about Paul Manafort.

Could this, just possibly, be the special counsel’s way of putting pressure on President Trump’s former campaign chairman?

And

[T]he detailed nature of the leaks is also troubling. As a onetime Justice Department reporter, I can tell you that such leaks in a criminal investigation are rare, as well as illegal.

Here are two of the latest Mueller team leaks (leaks Mueller continues to allow, if not encourage, as demonstrated by his choosing to do nothing about stopping them):

The [New York] Times discloses that when federal agents conducted an early-morning raid at Manafort’s Virginia home in July, they picked the lock. As for details, the story says the agents not only took documents and copied computer files, “they even photographed the expensive suits in his closet.”

Who knows such detail other than Mueller’s agents conducting the raid (assuming we can accept that the NYT isn’t making up such entertaining items)?  Certainly not Manafort; had he been there he surely would have opened the door for the agents.

And

CNN reported that federal investigators wiretapped Manafort both before and after the election.

Certainly, Manafort or anyone associated with him would not have known about the taps and so could not have leaked this item.  Their knowledge would have defeated the purpose of the tap.

And another leak, this one unmentioned by Kurtz:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office has interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The only people familiar with the investigation would be Rosenstein and his team and Mueller and his team.  Rosenstein and his associates have no interest in leaking this interview; indeed, Rosenstein and his associates plainly know better than to leak, both from a legal perspective and a political one as members of the Trump administration.  Only Mueller has an interest in leaking this interview.

It’s time for Mueller and his team to be fired for cause and an honest cop put in charge of the special investigation, together with an honest team of investigators.  And yes, at this late date, an honest investigation needs to occur—promptly, efficiently, and speedily—in order quickly and without further delay or stall either to vindicate Manafort, Trump, the Trump campaign, et al., or to produce legitimate and serious charges.

And Mueller and each member of his team need to be investigated regarding the felonious nature of these leaks.