That person would have gotten zero media coverage and nobody would give a shit if he was locked in the gulag. He'd still be there. She only got the coverage that she got BECAUSE she's a black lesbian basketball player.
I think this all depends on why Russia wants him, but to me he's dangerous because he did it before and showed zero issues with giving weapons to bad people on a very large scale. It might take time, but if he wants get back into the business I'm sure he can.
If this was Dame and not her, would I want him to get out? Sure. I have a vested interest because I have spent the last 10 years watching Dame and we know a lot about him as a person. I haven't watched much of her. Would I want us to trade a dangerous criminal for him? Probably not.
Come on now... you're not this naive. She's a relatively famous black gay WNBA player. They put her wife on television. They have kept her in the news for almost a year. Do you think anyone regular person would get this kind of attention?
I am not comparing her to an unknown person. My comparison was, if she was a clean cut straight white male athlete, would there even be debate over getting him released? Isn't the release of an American hostage something to celebrate, not condemn?
Actually Paul Whelan is a clean cut straight white ex marine so yes...there is quite a debate about getting him released but only because his celebrity pales in comparison to Brittany's....for whatever reason.....your point has been disproven as she's the one who's gone free and got a deal, not the other guy but you're absolutely right about having cause to celebrate....I just hope it translates to fair treatment for non celebrities jailed for cannabis around the world.
It was a trade. It's not that simple. She wasn't simply released. And no. I don't agree. Give me an example of a clean cut straight white male athlete who, if they were in a similar predicament, would have even gotten this much coverage or been released in the first place?
To me it makes sense for the government to get involved in Paul Whelan's case. Either he's actually a spy, in which case the government has an interest, and responsibility for him being there, or he's not a spy, in which case he's a innocent American being mistreated by a foreign government. Do we exchange prisoners for every American who gets busted for drugs overseas? I haven't done the research but I'm pretty sure the answer is no. barfo
Yep. But now we needed to get Griner out. So that’s the price we pay. I don’t care if he’s out after 13 years or whatever. He did time. Let him go back to Russia. It’s not gonna make Russia any scarier than they are.
I would hope any American would. Hell, we sent an ex president to personally negotiate the release of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea...
I'm confused, are you asking us to speculate on a white athlete that would have gotten this attention to be released? If so, take any high profile white athlete, and it would likely have gotten MORE coverage. Imagine Tom Brady locked up in Russia for 9 years because of a vape pen. You think that's not getting more attention?
So your example of a straight white mail athlete is Tom Brady, arguably the greatest football player of all time and has been a household name for 20+ years. Yup. It would totally be his sexual orientation, race, and gender that would get more more attention and not the fact that he’s Tom Brady. I would wager that most people had never heard of Brittney Griner before this happened. If some low level golfer from the PGA was arrested in Russia do you think anyone would give a rats ass? Cran is basically saying that if Griner was a straight white male athlete nobody would be debating her release. I’m saying that a comparably famous straight white male athlete wouldn’t have stayed in the news for a year and nobody would have cared.
The only reason she was detained was because of she was all the things a bully like Putin wants to attack, tall, black, gay female athlete. Arguing that this is the only reason she was released just plays into his sick games, imho. she was wrongly detained for the publicity it created and to make a little man feel big and we should celebrate this small win, even if there are others that suffer in his hands.
All those Republicans and right wing media blasting President Biden for "only" freeing Griner and not Paul Whelan. Your god emperor Trump had three fucking years to get Whelan out of Russia. What did he do? Oh yeah. Nothing.
She was traded for a dangerous man, who has indirectly caused the deaths of countless people and could very easily cause the deaths of more. It's bitter sweet. Sorry that's not good enough for you.
