Happy (belated) Valentine's Day. Always odd to celebrate it with the FBI

The London Breed/Mohammed Nuru story looks sketchy. But could it get worse?

At this point most everyone seems to have reached a conclusion in the saga of San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Mohammed Nuru. Regarding the loan of $5,600 last year from then-Department of Public Works Director Nuru to Breed, I’d say the most common description is “fishy.”

But this has the potential to get worse. To go from embarrassing to awful. This is, after all, an FBI investigation.

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Let’s begin with what we know. Or think we know.

On Valentine’s Day Breed released a statement that (a.) confirmed a romantic relationship with Nuru “two decades ago,” and (b.) reported that last year she’d accepted $5,600-worth of car repair and rental car payments from him. And she hasn’t paid him back.

And yes, we see your hand up there in the back. We all have questions.

First, as Joe Eskanazi and others have pointed out, Breed can certainly date anyone she wants. There are those who think the pair was together more recently than 20 years ago, but it was no big deal either way — until the shocking arrest of Nuru last month.

Then Breed issued her statement, which had people wondering why a mayor making over $300,000 a year needs a loan to repair an old clunker. She also says Nuru arranged for a rental car. She’s the mayor. Wouldn’t the staff do that?

And, of course, inquiring minds want to know why the mayor, whose job comes with a car and driver, wants an 18-year-old car. Or needs to have it repaired?

But then we get back to those three little letters — FBI — and you start to wonder if this could become more serious.

Reading the FBI report on Nuru is like reading the crime sheet of a mid-level mobster. He and partner Nick Bovis were involved in an almost comically diverse list of shady investments — from portable bathroom trailers to a restaurant at the airport. In every case Bovis says Nuru is a guy to make it happen.

“He’s never failed me,” Bovis says on an FBI recording, “Like when he said he’s gonna do something, he did it.”

And then there is Nuru’s vacation home in the Mendocino National Forest. It has been “extensively remodeled,” according to the report. The reporting agent drolly points out that although the location is “three and a half hours one way” from San Francisco, a contractor with city contracts is having his men drive up to work on Nuru’s getaway.

“I believe these contractors are working on Nuru’s vacation home for free or at a subsidized rate so they can continue to obtain contracts with the City and DPW,” special agent James Folger wrote in his report.

But the real red flag is what the report calls “a large multimillion-dollar mixed use project in San Francisco.” Funded by a Chinese billionaire, the project needed to be nudged along in City Hall. Nuru talks on the transcript of how the investor is “hooking us up,” with a trip to China, luxury hotel stays and a $2,000 bottle of wine.

In short, what emerges is a fixer, working the margins, skirting ethics and trading favors. And the result? Nuru is facing up to 25 years in prison.

And here’s the scary part. The FBI has made it clear they weren’t trying to get Nuru. They were after bigger fish. If so, this may not be over. And you’d also think that Nuru and Bovis are going to trade at least some information for some leniency.

You just have to hope there’s not another shoe to drop in City Hall. Which reminds us of the timing of the statement by the Mayor’s office revealing Nuru’s payment. It happened on the first day of a three-day weekend so it landed as quietly as possible.

And it is a reminder that when Breed learned of Nuru’s car repair helpfulness last year, she didn’t immediately say, “Oh crap, that’s a gift from someone I supervise and is probably against the law. I’d better clear that up pronto.”

Instead, she said nothing, until now — just after her car repair buddy has been arrested by the FBI.

All of which reminds us of what Bovis says in the report about their failure to get a restaurant in the airport. He was sure, he says, getting late Mayor Ed Lee behind the project would make it a slam dunk.

“I don’t know what happened,” Bovis says. “I thought the mayor was the best I could do, but obviously it wasn’t. See, the problem in San Francisco, the politics are just crooked. And they can go sideways. They even undermine the people in charge.”

You said a mouthful there Nick.

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Andrew Wiggins can definitely play: Now, does he want to?

Here is this week’s sports column, from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. I write once a week on sports in the Bay Area, appearing on Sunday. This week I opined about the new Warriors acquisition in the D’Angelo Russell trade.

In a way the Warriors did us a huge favor with the trade for Andrew Wiggins. Well, two favors in my view. I could not watch D’Angelo Russell pound the ball and take off-balance shots any longer. And worse, to have to admit — OK, he’s getting 20 points a night. But I still hate his game.

And second, getting Wiggins is a whole NBA parable in a single package. Wiggins has been a career under-performer ever since he was the first pick in the 2014 draft. It isn’t just that he seems disinterested in playing defense. He’s just seems disinterested period.

He has to see this as a good opportunity for himself. Certainly it is the largest stage on which he’s ever appeared. And, for all our praise of Steve Kerr (well deserved) let’s see what he can do with a physically gifted but emotionally checked-out player.

And yes, Wiggins played well in the first three games wearing a Warrior uniform. But he’s done this before, turned on the effort for a while and then lapsed back into mopey body language and bad shots.

And finally, we will see how the team be with Wiggins at small forward. He might just fit.

So at the every least, the Warriors have given us something to watch to the end of the season. When you’re the worst team in professional basketball, that’s something.

Review: A Very Stable Genius Oh Donald, I wish I could quit you

I keep buying and reading the books about the Donald Trump presidency. I really should stop. It just winds me up. An intervention wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.

The most recent is "A Very Stable Genius" which has the advantage of being written by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, two Pulitzer Prize winners from the Washington Post. It is worth reading, even if you’ve already heard the bombshell bits on the news. (Trump didn’t appear to know what happened at Pearl Harbor.)

At the end the authors get bogged down in the Mueller report, the whys and wherefores, which is a reminder of how that whole enterprise kind of collapsed into legalese and hair-splitting.

Most of the earlier scenes rely on anonymous sources, although it isn’t hard to imagine who is speaking. When then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson heroically stands up to Trump when the president disses the troops, you’d have to think Tillerson had a little something to do with crafting that scene.

Somebody also made sure Tillerson’s comment about Trump being “a fucking idiot” was retold. Rex isn’t backing away from that quote.

The anonymous crowd clearly deeply dislikes Trump. Every story is told to make him look as dim-witted, impulsive and clueless as possible. Trump has a real knack for turning staff against him.

At this point, after all these books, there’s no reason to doubt the picture of Trump in the White House. Over and over we hear the same unpleasant traits. He’s mean, he lacks empathy and he bullies his staff. Sometimes he trolls liberals with his Tweets and sometimes he has no idea why he horrified and angered so many people.

But more than anything, the personality trait that emerges again and again is “rage.” Trump is “furious,” he’s “shouting,” he’s “lashing out.”

He sounds like the angriest man in America. And I finally realized if I didn’t quit letting him trigger me, I was going to be that guy too.

Thanks for reading. Comments, suggestions and compliments are welcome. Criticism, not so much. I’m at cwnevius@gmail.com. Or @cwnevius