Elon Musk said what many of us have been thinking. He's quoted at "Elon Musk gives scalding take on Biden’s push to free Brittney Griner" (NY Post).
In other Brittney Griner news at the NY Post:
• "Vice President Kamala Harris was accused of hypocrisy after she decried Brittney Griner’s conviction by Russia on cannabis smuggling charges — despite Harris prosecuting thousands of similar marijuana possession cases in her earlier career as a prosecutor."
• "'I’m hopeful. We’re working hard,” said Biden... 'He’s the president. He has to feel hopeful, right? This is something that is important to him,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday, urging viewers not to 'read into' Biden’s remark."
• "The Russians singled out this American because she’s famous, black, lesbian and exercises her free speech rights to speak out against police brutality, etc. — and as Putin loves to play the traditional conservative to appeal to Russians and many in the West, that made her a great hostage as he jousts with the West in support of his savage war of conquest in Ukraine."
• "[T]he overwhelmingly gray and artificially lit prison ... [has] towering gray walls topped with barbed wire and... [a] sewing factory.... A large, rusting statue of Lenin sits in a snow-filled courtyard.... Each morning inmates wake up, and eat a basic meal in her cell...They are then permitted to walk around the courtyard. They then spend the rest of the day either reading books or watching Russian television."
• "'I’m hopeful. We’re working hard,” said Biden... 'He’s the president. He has to feel hopeful, right? This is something that is important to him,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday, urging viewers not to 'read into' Biden’s remark."
• "The Russians singled out this American because she’s famous, black, lesbian and exercises her free speech rights to speak out against police brutality, etc. — and as Putin loves to play the traditional conservative to appeal to Russians and many in the West, that made her a great hostage as he jousts with the West in support of his savage war of conquest in Ukraine."
• "[T]he overwhelmingly gray and artificially lit prison ... [has] towering gray walls topped with barbed wire and... [a] sewing factory.... A large, rusting statue of Lenin sits in a snow-filled courtyard.... Each morning inmates wake up, and eat a basic meal in her cell...They are then permitted to walk around the courtyard. They then spend the rest of the day either reading books or watching Russian television."
Posts
98 comments:
Is Paul Whelan still a prisoner in Russia? Not lesbian, etc., never mentioned by the Bidenistas.
My God, the Russians have left up statues of great statesmen? Bastards! How can we negotiate with them?
Griner has garnered more attention than the WNBA.
Not just this year. The entire history of the WNBA.
I don’t think it is Russia singling out Griner for her identity and giving her special treatment. It isn’t Putin saying she is important.
serious question
other than the fact, that griner is an anti american lesbian celebrity ..
Is there ANY reason that the US government should be concerned?
(and Please don't give me that crap about "she's an american citizen".. we don't do anything for other american citizens in foreign jails; as this post point out, we don't do anything for american citizens in AMERICAN jails)
So, seriously; Why her?
Other than big money democrats LOVING antiamerican lesbian celebrities; is there anything else?
Seems like there should be more.
She'll be outta there by December. In the meantime, how many protestors from J6 are still in solitary?
In reference to Putin singling her out because she is black, a more sophisticated leader would actually coddle her because she is black. He would amplify her stated public grievances against the US. Basically use her as a Tokyo Rose to continue the leftist efforts to create hatred for the US in the black community.
I see this situation as a perfect example of the idiocy that our society has become today. There are no heroes to this story and the media is desperately trying to find one. Maybe a team of black, lesbian martial artists will sneak into the prison to rescue her? Just like Entebbe. The movie will write itself. Just imagine the casting and music.
Those mean Russians. They have "penal colonies" you know. Not jails. PENAL COLONIES.
Says the guy who leads the only country in the free world that specifically legalizes and authorizes slavery in its prisons via the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Check your links.
If Putin was smart, he'd offer to release Griner if Biden releases all the J6 political prisoners.
Sadly, Putin is not smart.
I agree 100%. I am all for legalizing all substances for adults.
She is being held for political reasons and Putin is winning in that political battle so far. We will see if this administration thinks one privileged person is worth all the political capital of acknowledging that if you capture a famous political ally of the Administration you can hold them hostage and get what you want.
Each morning inmates wake up, and eat a basic meal in her cell...They are then permitted to walk around the courtyard. They then spend the rest of the day either reading books or watching Russian television.
When do they get their sewing done?
This Griner story cries out for additional context. If a Russian national were caught doing the exact same thing, would that person be prosecuted, convicted, and actually sent to prison for a lengthy term? I don't know the answer to this question. The general commentary around the story seems to ASSUME that Griner has been singled out, but let's hear the facts.
As for the point about Americans doing time in U.S. jails for possession, prosecutors often plead down more serious crimes (distribution and other, non-drug offenses) to simple possession. Therefore, it's often only technically true that people are in jail for a non-violent drug offense. In many instances, they're in jail for a lot of stuff in addition to possession, some or all of which may have also violated their terms of parole or probation.
Don't worry Brittney, it's a penal colony, not a penile colony.
I was watching bridge of spies, about the abel exchange, he ran a long time sleeper network in the states, and when powers was shot down he was offered for trade along with an american student frederick pryor,
They can’t do that to our pledges! Only we can do that to our pledges!!!
I'd also be curious to know if the state department, the WNBA, and/or whatever agency represents Griner made any effort prior to the trip to inform her about Russian drug laws. In particular, if the government feels compelled to make cases like hers a top diplomatic priority, wouldn't an ounce of prevention have been warranted?
"people should not be in jail for non-violent drug crimes."
So we should also prohibit any plea bargaining that might result in lowering sentences for people charged with violent drug crimes?
Exactly how many people are "in jail for non-violent drug crimes"?
Is drug trafficking a "non-violent drug crime"?
During the Cold War prisoner swaps could take decades. I’m guessing the idea was that it took that long to game out what advantage over the exchange one side could claim over the other. When both sides came to the exhausted conclusion that nobody would care, the exchange was allowed to proceed.
Then again… if the Kardashian’s/Golf leaderboard effect tells us anything…. somebody must be caring about the stuff everybody says they don’t care about.
unlike abel, polkovnik bout, is still an active player, although ali antar, may have eclipsed him
I care about Griner twice as much as I care about the Kardashians.
I think when White left Antifa terrorists commit arson and other similar offenses - they should be kept behind bars.
how about a swap?
Set the pot people free and incarcerate the antifa arsonists.
We knew Harris, who had prosecuted pot smokers, was a hypocrite when she said during her campaign that she was a pot smoker in college. This is just more of icing on the cake. There's a possibility that she wasn't a marijuana user in college but was just trying to win over the radio audience (since she also said that in those days she was listening to performers who hadn't recorded anything yet), but that doesn't reflect well on her either.
Does anybody really believe that Biden is personally working hard to get Griner freed? He may have a hard time remembering her name from one day to the next.
"If Putin was smart, he'd offer to release Griner if Biden releases all the J6 political prisoners."
Or if Biden will pardon Edward Snowden and welcome him home.
Putin has an opportunity to do something striking that will delight/fuck with the American public.
9-1/2 years for smuggling hashish oil into Russia.
10 years (recommended federal sentence) for smuggling hashish oil into the US
Who are the baddies?
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Bob Boyd said... "Check your links."
Thanks. That was weird. The NY Post corrupted every one of those links. I did them in the normal way, but my cutting and pasting of the URLs resulted in only a # for each one of them.
The pages were all hinky to read too, with popup ads and very slow loading.
Bottom line. The extensive media coverage of the Basketball star stay at the 'friendly concentration camp' could end up delaying her return to her beloved motherland.
"Don't worry Brittney, it's a penal colony, not a penile colony."
Thanks for reminding me to get to the Hunter Biden story I've got a tab open on.
"[T]he overwhelmingly gray and artificially lit prison ... [has] towering gray walls topped with barbed wire and...
Etc.
Doesn't that describe most US prisons?
How is is different from the conditions of the J6 paraders/trespassers?
It might even be better. Doesn't sound worse.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Smells like propaganda
the fact that biden foolishly declared regime change, against putin, probably makes him less disposed to do anything, now colonel bout, was actually nabbed in a phony sting operation, involving fake colombian rebels,
Charles said...
I agree 100%. I am all for legalizing all substances for adults.
Fentanyl?
Plutonium?
I'm betting there's a line in there somewhere
we're still pretending that putin is the frail one, rather than this chimp circus of ever more absurd apparatchiks, from biden down to pelosi,
"Hinky"? Isn't that a Chicago expression?
Charles said...
She is being held for political reasons
So are you saying she did not bring hashish oil to Russia? She freely admits it, why won't you?
Are you saying this is not the normal Russian sentence for this offense?
Are you saying this is not the normal US sentence for this offence?
Note: not speaking about what should be. I agree with you about legalization. Speaking of what is.
John LGBTQBNY Henry
I have nothing against adults smoking or vaping pot. However, how stupid can Griner be by traveling internationally with obviously illegal substances in her suitcases?
Let her rot in jail for a year just to learn a lesson.
She was caught a month or so before the Ukraine invasion. She is halfway to the end of the proposed sentence.
Of course, we can always send Kammy to negotiate with Putin on freeing her.
""Hinky"? Isn't that a Chicago expression?"
The Grammarist says:
"Hinky is an American word which means questionable, unreliable, suspect. Hinky, an adjective, refers to something which is not quite right, something causing concern. Related words are hinkier and hinkiest. The origin of hinky is obscure, some believe that hinky evolved from the Black English slang word hincty which was popular in the 1920s. Hincty describes someone who is snobbish, putting on airs. Others believe hinky comes from gangster lingo of the 1920s and 1930s to describe jumpy behavior. Also, an obsolete definition of the verb hink is to falter or limp, which may have morphed into meaning suspicious behavior."
https://grammarist.com/interesting-words/hinky/
my woke nephew (just graduated from NYU), explained to me;
That All and Any substance should be TOTALLY Legal to buy and sell.
I asked him what he thought about people selling pot candies that were "enhanced" with fentanyl?
He further explained, that ALL products would be HEAVILY regulated; with contents clearly listed, and that if someone tried to adulterate a product, they would go to jail.
There would Also be use taxes on these products, to pay for the regulations.
I then asked him; "well, what if someone was trying to sell bootleg (non-taxed) products?"
And he Again, further explained that THOSE people would ALSO go to jail.
I asked about the buyers of these bootleg products.. You'll probably guess his answer.
GO TO JAIL
Most people i've met, that say that they want to 'legalize all products' don't quite mean it
My sympathy lies with those imprisoned because of Jan 6.
Ann Althouse said...
Bob Boyd said... "Check your links."
Thanks. That was weird. The NY Post corrupted every one of those links. I did them in the normal way, but my cutting and pasting of the URLs resulted in only a # for each one of them.
The pages were all hinky to read too, with popup ads and very slow loading.
Kinda sucks for publications that have to support themselves rather than just print off the stuff some billionaire wants you to think.
Hinky
i first heard this word on Adam-12. It was Pete Malloy's favorite word
Althouse wrote: Or if Biden will pardon Edward Snowden and welcome him home.
Ed Snowden would be a fool to ever step foot back in this country or to trust that whatever "pardon" he'd be given would be honored once he got back here. Because it wouldn't. He'd never see the sun again. I mean, he was on the inside. He watched how corrupt the US Deep State is. Surely he knows this.
But yeah, Putin could put Biden in a bad spot with no outs and also reveal that Biden is not really all that interested in Griner as a human being, but only as a small blind in the international poker game. Would that Putin was familiar with game theory - which he's clearly not.
For a guy with his resources, he's awfully thin on strategic advisers worth their salt.
Kind of silver lining it here, but Griner will probably get to put the star on the prison Christmas tree every year...so there's that.
She was caught a month or so before the Ukraine invasion. She is halfway to the end of the proposed sentence.
She's been there for 4 1/2 years already? And Biden is still president? I don't like this timeline at all.
Ann Althouse said...
[""Hinky"? Isn't that a Chicago expression?"]
"The Grammarist says:
"Hinky is an American word which means questionable, unreliable, suspect. Hinky, an adjective, refers to something which is not quite right, something causing concern. Related words are hinkier and hinkiest. The origin of hinky is obscure, some believe that hinky evolved from the Black English slang word hincty which was popular in the 1920s. Hincty describes someone who is snobbish, putting on airs. Others believe hinky comes from gangster lingo of the 1920s and 1930s to describe jumpy behavior. Also, an obsolete definition of the verb hink is to falter or limp, which may have morphed into meaning suspicious behavior."
https://grammarist.com/interesting-words/hinky/"
I first heard 'hinky' after moving to Madison in the early Nineties. Never heard of it in CA where I grew up.
Are we sure this isn’t a publicity stunt by the WNBA?
How ridiculous, this obsession with Griner. How many people in Russia even know or heard of her? Why do you think Putin (or anybody in Russia) gives a rat's **s about her? Who do you think you are?
Jeez, Brittany, did you even watch an episode of Locked Up Broad?
Putin is trying to take another country by just enough force for them to capitulate but not enough to lose what precious little support he may still have with his own troops. What will it look like to his base if Putin starts playing Trump. War is the most serious business and Putin
slightly off topic.. slightly..
I was listening to a sports show on the radio the other day, and the sport-dudes were discussing how the NFL were in the process of loosening the drug testing guidelines to be less strict surrounding marijuana usage.
I have no opinion but here in CO - there is a push by the Polis mega-corporate recreational drug titans to legalize magic mushrooms.
OK.
Then I started to think about all the NFL players getting high on pot and mushrooms before a game and how thoroughly entertaining that might be to watch.
"Joe Joe Simms is heading towards the end-zone... wait - he just doubled over in laughter and he is demanding a snack!"
"Exactly how many people are "in jail for non-violent drug crimes"?"
According to my friend who is a prosecutor in a large city in NJ, almost none. Virtually all in prison are repeat offenders who have pled down from class 2 or higher felonies.
I highly doubt our prisons are full of people for simple possession as a 1st offense with no priors.
Here in the USA our political prisoners are imprisoned in the Garland Archipelago.
In Colorado - you can steel up to 2 cars without penalty.
Reading books or watching Russian TV? That’s cruel and unusual punishment!
Why is the Biden regime working hard toget her released at all? After all this is what Griner wanted: she like a good authoritarian leftist hates the US and now she gets to live in with the justice system that she believes is so much better than ours. We shouldn't be trying to take away her chance to bask in her chosen paradise of soviet national socialism.
Nobody serves time in jail or prison merely for using substances. They are recidivists, or they plead down, and/or are so unable to function that they are a danger to themselves or others. Often driving. Often breaking the privilege of early release. Often violent assaults. Often records of dozens or hundreds of other crimes.
We have always had drug court hearings and diversion sentences, if not designated drug courts -- rural areas can't afford parallel systems, but the judges are perfectly capable of doing drugs court activities. Many if not most first offenders are juveniles, so you can't see those records, so you assume these people you cite have no priors. Liberals think they just invented drug court and diversion. That's a lie, or ignorance. Ditto the myth that pot is good for pain, as Griner claims. Real double-blind research shows a tiny set of diseases and symptoms for which pot derivatives are better than legal drugs, with fewer side effects: Crohn's, MS, Myasthenia Gravis, and Epilepsy, the latter using non-THC derivatives only. Even nausea medication is better than pot now. Using THC pot can make some Epilepsy worse. Still, I hope Garner and all other nonviolent Americans are released back to us.
There is no easy way and often no way at all to investigate someone's complete criminal record, and pleadings are more difficult. The statistics pro-drug activists use are incomplete and inaccurate.
I hope our government ceases all selectivity/celebrity/affirmative action and identity differentiation in all its capacities. Only then will we get back to the business of justice and can have real conversations using facts. Gilbar's privileged nephew is exhibit #1 of a real quandary for the loud drug legalizers: in every state that has legalized pot and other drugs, the well-off can buy their drug toys legally, but rates of illegal sales, sales to minors, violent trafficking, drug emergency room visits, and drugs related auto accidents are higher than prior to legalization. Even the NYT admits it. So the rich kids play while the poor neighborhoods pay. Put that in your edible and chew it.
there are other connections of note,
https://thecritic.co.uk/Gangsters-by-the-Gulf/
"As for the point about Americans doing time in U.S. jails for possession, prosecutors often plead down more serious crimes (distribution and other, non-drug offenses) to simple possession. Therefore, it's often only technically true that people are in jail for a non-violent drug offense. In many instances, they're in jail for a lot of stuff in addition to possession, some or all of which may have also violated their terms of parole or probation."
Put more bluntly, prosecutors often pile on as many ancillary charges as they can to ensure the defendant, if convicted on all or several of the charges, can expect decades in prison. They do this to terrorize the defendant into taking a plea for a lower sentence. Thus, the prosecutors get a "win" without having to actually prove the defendant's guilt on all those charges to a jury.
Blogger Gahrie said...
My sympathy lies with those imprisoned because of Jan 6.
Mine, too. 7 foot tall women who hate the country and run around in their underwear are not a high priority for me.
ConradBibby, Sebastian, Jersey Fled,
If the prosecutors have actual evidence that these folks committed the more serious crimes, why aren't they prosecuting them for them???
Robert Cook references prosecutorial pile-on of charges. Like General Flynn.
And has anyone mentioned Maria Butina? The young Russian who was essentially convicted of hanging around DC and talking to the NRA?
Right there in the heart of Freedomandjustice Land.
I first encountered 'hinky' right here on Althouse. Now I use it often.
What happened to my profile picture, I wonder quietly to myself.
Weird. Now it's back.
"According to my friend who is a prosecutor in a large city in NJ, almost none. Virtually all in prison are repeat offenders who have pled down from class 2 or higher felonies."
But are these offenders guilty of violent crimes?
I don't trust the word of most prosecutors, who are always and ever primarily concerned with getting convictions, racking up career points and moving up their career ladders. Even when prisoners who have been incarcerated for years are exonerated with subsequent reexamination of their cases, the evidence, the trials, etc., most prosecutors will oppose releasing those prisoners and will assert their "confidence" in the legitimacy of the convictions. They're just trying to cover their institutional asses and, in so doing, they invalidate the legitimacy of our justice system. Even Antonin Scalia commented that proof of a prisoner's innocence does not necessarily mean he should be exonerated.
“There is no basis, tradition, or even in contemporary practice for finding that in the Constitution the right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after a conviction.”
"The Supreme Court, Scalia pointed out, had sent the trial judge on a 'fool’s errand' because it has 'never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is "actually innocent." ' It was pointless to find Davis innocent because innocence, by itself, was not a legal basis to overturn the conviction."
It's not about justice, it's about keeping the system and processes inviolate.
Scalia was just another dick.
gilbar said...
Charles said...
I agree 100%. I am all for legalizing all substances for adults.
Fentanyl?
Plutonium?
I'm betting there's a line in there somewhere
8/7/22, 8:33 AM
You know that fentanyl is already legal in America, right?
Assuming an internal, external, and mutual consistency, we can conclude that the Russians do not subscribe to an ethical religion and are less politically congruent ("=") than their critics.
That said, Griner did not travel without State's consent... a la consent given to sex implies consent to a child conceived, where both the mother and father are responsible for their choice(s).
My sympathy lies with those imprisoned because of Jan 6.
An invitation extended, a riot ("disorder") forced, at least two unarmed women aborted in prone positions (i.e. cold-blooded murder), civil rights/due process denied, and a select committee to hold warlock trials for crimes committed ex post facto. Surely, an enlightened legal standard of evicting people... persons received then deemed unwanted.
Musk wants to decriminalize all narcotics, cocaine, MJ, heroin, fent, etc. because he's a rich guy who can take drugs without any REAL negative consequences. Even if he get "hooked" he can always spend some $$$ and go to "Betty Ford" or whatever and get cured.
Hundreds of thousands of other Americans aren't so luck. easy access to drugs has (or will) ruin their lives. Unlike Musk, they don't have $200 Billion. Nor do they have his high intelligence and access to great medical care. So, they up OD'ing. Or becoming so addicted they lose their jobs and their houses. Or even worse.
And we're not even talking about the people who think a decriminalized drug is "Safe" and don't know the correct dosage or just have a negative reaction to these currently illegal drugs. They end up in the ER.
Funny, how hard it is get ER facts and stats on the number of people who OD, or have a negative reaction, to MJ and other drugs. We do get massive amounts of data on the Demon Tobbacco. Which of course, takes 20-30 years to kill you. If it ever does.
The USA is turing into a loonie bin. No wonder Putin and the Chimcoms view us with contempt. Hysterically concerned over some bigot using the "wrong pronoun" while homeless drug addicts die in streets.
Fun fact, she plays for a Russian team. Not like a first time tourist traveler
Brittney Griner's Russian team — owned by a Putin-aligned oligarch — is a hot spot for WNBA superstars
https://www.insider.com/brittney-griner-wnba-stars-team-owned-russian-oligarch-superstar-treatment-2022-3
Real Americans have a core philosophy of leave no one behind. You people are sick with pootie poot syndrome.
My sympathy lies with those imprisoned because of Jan 6.
An invitation extended, a rug summarily pulled, a riot ("disorder") forced, at least two unarmed women aborted in prone positions (i.e. cold-blooded murder), civil rights/due process denied, and a select committee to hold warlock trials for crimes committed ex post facto. Surely, an enlightened legal standard of evicting people... persons received then deemed unwanted.
I missed a step in the political progression.
"Real Americans have a core philosophy of leave no one behind."
Pay attention, Howard. She left us to frolic and gambol for rubles in Putin's country. Good riddance.
Howard has admitted to many LSD trips. That should be sufficient to explain the incoherence of most of his comments. That and his work around toxic chemicals.
Surprised celebrities have missed publicity opportunity by offering to exchange themselves for Btittany.
'Don't worry Brittney, it's a penal colony, not a penile colony.'
Hey, you stole my joke! : )
'Real Americans have a core philosophy of leave no one behind. You people are sick with pootie poot syndrome.'
You seem to be really broken up about this.
If you were sincere you'd offer to trade places with her...I know it's traditional women's prison but I'm guessing nobody there would notice the difference.
Then we could not care about you like we don't care about her.
But you won't, just as you won't go to Ukraine and fight for Zelensky against the evil Putin...
You're a shill and a fraud, among other things...
As for the point about Americans doing time in U.S. jails for possession, prosecutors often plead down more serious crimes (distribution and other, non-drug offenses) to simple possession. Therefore, it's often only technically true that people are in jail for a non-violent drug offense. In many instances, they're in jail for a lot of stuff in addition to possession, some or all of which may have also violated their terms of parole or probation.
So the context is our justice system is corrupt and lets violent offenders out of jail early to avoid the cost of prosecution.
Howard said...
Real Americans have a core philosophy of leave no one behind. You people are sick with pootie poot syndrome.
Howard cheered when Biden left thousands of Americans in Afghanistan.
Howard is just a complete and total piece of shit.
You have to be really stupid and able to completely ignore your obvious hypocrisy to support Joe Biden.
Thank you Howard for your work here. People wouldn't know how disgusting and ridiculous the average Biden supporter is without you here.
Thank you Howard for your work here. People wouldn't know how disgusting and ridiculous the average Biden supporter is without you here.
I'll second that one. Howard shows us how the lefties think and rationalize.
yes many of the operation dynamo rescues, are still stuck in third countries a year later, and yet some 50 taliban and al queda have been let into the country,
Lloyd W. Robertson said...
"A large, rusting statue of Lenin sits in a snow-filled courtyard"
My God, the Russians have left up statues of great statesmen? Bastards! How can we negotiate with them?
Thank you for identifying yourself as a complete fucking loon
Howard said...
Real Americans have a core philosophy of leave no one behind. You people are sick with pootie poot syndrome.
Grainer hates "real Americans", and has established that she isn't one.
Because real Americans stand as a sign of respect when the National Anthem is played.
As an actual "Real American", I have a core philosophy of "I support other Real Americans."
I dont' give a shit about the America hating "Americans".
So I'd like to get Paul Whelan out of Russian jail. But I'm eager to leave the American hater there.
"The Russians singled out this American because she’s famous, black, lesbian and exercises her free speech rights to speak out against police brutality, etc"
Um, no
She spoke out against American "police brutality".
By her choice of traveling to Russia to play sports for Russian teams, she was speaking out in favor of Russia.
Just like Phil Mickelson is "speaking out in favor of Saudi Arabia" when he accepts, what $100 million to go play in their league?
I am amused that Mickelson is getting worlds of grief for doing that, but none of these "Russia bashers" are appealing the same rules to BG.
So, Howard, if Mickelson is arrested for violating Saudi drug laws, are you going to scream and shout that "Biden must rescue him!"?
Oh, but he's a heterosexual white male, not a lesbian black female, so he doesn't matter.
Right?
GFY
Or, you know, point us to where you were demanding that Biden get Paul Whelan out of Russian prisons after he was arrested.
@ gilbar at 8:44 AM
re: Woke nephew
I, too have a woke nephew who had his head filled with woke non-sense in college (midwest colleges, not NYU). Trying to discuss topics like this topic on drugs, the economy, or politics is for me the same as talking to a wall when discussing with my nephew. God, I love the kid, but he is wrong on just about everything in the real world that we disagree on.
As for your nephew - his arguments fall flat on their proverbial face, again because of the real world. In California, the legal growers and merchants of marijuana are being undermined by the black market sales by the Mexican drug cartels. Does your nephew understand that the cartels DON’T PAY TAXES ON THE DRUGS THEY SELL? Does he know that the cartels monitor growers of legal weed in Cali and swoop in at harvest time and just take the product to again sell on the black market without paying the government taxes, leaving the legal growers without product to sell to cover their growing expenses? That the cartels don’t follow the government rules and regulations on weed selling? I bet his NYU professors never told him about those realities, just the “theories” he gave you as a retort. Oh, and don’t forget the woke Soros backed and non-Soros backed DA’s who let these illegal smugglers and providers of the drugs off the hook without prosecuting, most likely because they skipped town after being arrested and then released without bail and the perps scatter to the winds. All of his arguments are based on the theory of what the drug laws say, not the reality of what is actually happening.
Kay asked...
You know that fentanyl is already legal in America, right?
with a prescription? Sure i had some last year (at the hospital)
Morphine's legal too..
What's your point? You think gas stations should sell both, next to the porno mags?
She's not "famous," and I really doubt this is part of some Putin war on LGBTQ+. Putin doesn't like America, but nothing would be different if Brittney were straight.
Late addition. Musk, once again, nails the point.
I disagree with the New York Post's editorial board. If Griner was white, heterosexual, and apolitical, the Russians would have detained her just the same in this situation. As I have said before, most likely if she had been caught 5 years ago, it would have been a fine and deportation, assuming someone didn't take a bribe to forget the whole thing. With the Ukraine War not going nearly as well as hoped and the economy being squeezed by sanctions, it is in Putin's best interest to have some political pawns, preferably American ones.
I'm not fan of Griner, either as an athlete or an activist, but we do not let Americans rot in foreign countries for obviously politically motivated charges.
I posted a reminder earlier that must have been eaten by Blogger. (I could accuse Prof of viewpoint censorship like Spazzatuna used to do . . . oops.)
Let us recall Maria Butina, imprisoned in the citadel of freedom and justice (DC) for hanging around at receptions, and talking to the NRA.
gilbar said...
Kay asked...
You know that fentanyl is already legal in America, right?
with a prescription? Sure i had some last year (at the hospital)
Morphine's legal too..
What's your point? You think gas stations should sell both, next to the porno mags?
8/7/22, 2:13 PM
My point was that your hypothetical made no sense because fentanyl is already legal. Unless you’re suggesting it should be banned outright.
>>"Hinky"? Isn't that a Chicago expression?
Perhaps thinking of Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink Kenna?
"Chicago ain't ready for reform"
Perhaps takes on a different meaning these days.
--gpm
OK, let's try to figure this one out. I think it's conceded that she went to Russia voluntarily, for her own monetary benefit. She admitted that she violated Russian law by bringing illegal drugs into that country; she says it was an oversight, but I doubt that the US would buy that excuse either. She admitted the crime and has been sentenced to 9 years; that seems pretty severe to me, but I don't know how the US would punish a similar crime -- wouldn't a plea bargain require the prosecution to agree to a lesser sentence?
I don't have any reason to want my country to bend over backwards to save this convict from the consequences of her actions. Still, she's an American, and our government should try to help Americans in trouble in foreign lands.
My guess is that as long as the US supports Ukraine Russia isn't going to do any favors for a US drug criminal. If that's tough for Ms. Griner, she could console herself that she isn't being tageted by Russian missiles, as the Ukrainians are.
People that Kamala put there. (whilst she spent her campaigning time bailing out violent rioters that burned down cities)
Name one U.S. prisoner who is incarcerated solely for marijuana possession.
"I don't know how the US would punish a similar crime --"
About the same, according to another commenter up above.
"...wouldn't a plea bargain require the prosecution to agree to a lesser sentence?"
You've got it backwards. The prosecution typically charges the defendant with numerous charges, and they pressure the defendant to take a plea to a lesser (or to fewer) charges in exchange for a lesser sentence. The prosecution offers the lesser sentence and the defendant is required to plead guilty to at least one of the charges...to get the lesser sentence. It is a tool of the prosecution to get an easy conviction without them having to prove the defendant's guilt in court. Many innocent people will take such pleas, as the are terrified of spending decades in prison rather than just years, especially if they don't have the means to pay for good lawyers.
"I, too have a woke nephew who had his head filled with woke non-sense in college (midwest colleges, not NYU). Trying to discuss topics like this topic on drugs, the economy, or politics is for me the same as talking to a wall when discussing with my nephew. God, I love the kid, but he is wrong on just about everything in the real world that we disagree on."
Well...you disagree with your nephew, but that in itself does not mean he is "wrong on just about about everything...."
Robert Cook said...
I don't trust the word of most prosecutors, who are always and ever primarily concerned with getting convictions
So...you're mad at them for doing their jobs? Well, OK, then.
"'I don't trust the word of most prosecutors, who are always and ever primarily concerned with getting convictions'
"So...you're mad at them for doing their jobs? Well, OK, then."
When their focus is "getting a conviction" at the cost of doing justice, yes. The two are not automatically synonymous.
"'I don't trust the word of most prosecutors, who are always and ever primarily concerned with getting convictions'
Well, the ethical requirement of prosecutors is to only even try to get a conviction if:
1: They are personally convinced that the accused is actually guilty
2: They believe the evidence is such that an honest jury would convict
Now, are they a large number of unethical prosecutors? Sadly, yes there are.
But there are still many who are ethical
All legal systems of sophistication use the Prosecutorial Pile-on, because it works.
Just ask General Flynn. Good call, Robert.
That doesn't mean that no one is ever charged and convicted fair-and-square, but every case is different, particularly celebrity cases.
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