Brittney Griner has been released from Russian detention

[liberty]

My impression of professional athletes is they tend to be, at least some of them, arrogant and uninformed. One of the most well-known arrogant is OJ Simpson, who thought he could murder his white wife and get away with it. He was right about getting away with it, but it still was arrogant. Few people believe his acquittal was anything other than racism; after all, there was plenty of evidence that he was guilty. As I said, many or most professional athletes, especially black professional athletes, tend to be arrogant and uninformed. But could anyone be so arrogant and uninformed that they would think that taking anything into Russia that the Russians may not smile on was a good idea? You have to ask yourself just how arrogant or ignorant this woman is.

[BoSoxGal]

Would you ask the same question about the American white male teacher of the children of US diplomats in Russia who is also in a Russian prison for bringing cannabis into Russia?

Your post is a nothing burger. Some people are arrogant asses and some are not, and this applies in all walks of life in my experience - but more commonly exhibited in the male sex of the species.

[Burning Petard]

I have trouble with this one. Why the big effort when the person actually did what she was accused of -- bringing a controlled substance into a foreign country. Russia is not known for its merciful justice system. I think rather it is notorious. Yet she did it anyway. Would we go to such efforts to rescue an American from the cruel justice system in Singapore who spit their chewing gum onto a public sidewalk? In our own airports, do we kindly forgive individuals who 'forget' they have a loaded gun in their carry-on? I guess this is American exceptionalism. All our laws and customs are good, any conflict with practices in other countries means they should adjust, not us.

What she did was just stupid.

snailgate

[MajGenl.Meade]

Relax, snail. They went for the politically correct "please the lefties" target rather than insist on Paul Whelan, victim of what the State Department refers to as a sham trial (for espionage) or Sarah Krivanek, arrested for defending herself from domestic abuse and released from jail but refused permission to leave Russia ever since.

But you know - sports fans, Alphabet People (and their fellow-travelers), they vote in blocs whereas no organized group gives a damn about low-profile citizens. Marc Fogel (medicinal marijuana) wasn't even worth considering - he doesn't play basketball and isn't known for same-sex antics, silly man.

[liberty]

Would you ask the same question about the American white male teacher of the children of US diplomats in Russia who is also in a Russian prison for bringing cannabis into Russia?

That would be an even worse example; you could forgive Grinder for her ignorance, even though it's hard to imagine how someone with reasonable intelligence would not be aware of Russia's justice system's dangers. But a diplomatic staff member that's even harder to understand. US embassy employees don't have diplomatic immunity?

[Long Run]

Happy for Griner that she is released.

Clearly she was moved ahead of others due to her celebrity status and domestic political calculations.

The deal was terrible as in terribly one-sided and handed a huge win to Putin.

Dozens of Americans remain held beyond any reason in a number of countries.

Because the administration gave in to extortion, we can expect more citizens to be at risk.

[Scooter]

Clearly she was moved ahead of others due to her celebrity status and domestic political calculations.

Or, as virtually anyone who actually knows something about how this stuff works has been saying, the deal was for Greiner or no one.

I'm happy to side with Paul Whelan's family, who said that you don't pass up the deal on the table hoping to get the deal that isn't going to come.

The deal was terrible as in terribly one-sided and handed a huge win to Putin.

Having served three fifths of his sentence (which the judge at trial deemed longer than befitted the crime), Bout can now return to Russia where, if he isn't sent to a labour camp himself for allowing himself to get caught, he will probably be tortured to determine if he spilled any secrets while in U.S. captivity. His career as an arms dealer is finished in any case. So you didn't exactly give up much on that score.

Where Putin did win, was in correctly predicting how incensed the U.S. right would be at seeing a black lesbian returned home, under any circumstances. So he managed to turn what should have been a cause for celebration into yet another cause for a shitstorm of performative outrage on the right. And comments like you made here play right into that, so congratulations on making yourself into one of Putin's bitches.

There is one fewer of your fellow citizens in a foreign prison tonight. So take the win and shut the fuck up.

[Joe Guy]

There is one fewer of your fellow citizens in a foreign prison tonight. So take the win and shut the fuck up.

Maybe everyone doesn’t see it as a “win”.

Just a thought…

[Scooter]

It was her or no one. So why would it be better to have one more American in a Russian prison instead of one less?

Oh, right, black lesbian.

[ex-khobar Andy]

My impression of professional athletes is they tend to be, at least some of them, arrogant and uninformed. Exhibit A: Herschel Walker. Can't disagree there. One of the most well-known arrogant is OJ Simpson, who thought he could murder his white wife and get away with it. He was right about getting away with it, but it still was arrogant. Again, no disagreement. Not sure why you think it's necessary to mention that his wife was white. And BTW so too was Ron Goldman. Few people believe his acquittal was anything other than racism; after all, there was plenty of evidence that he was guilty. I think he was probably guilty: I didn't follow all the evidence and it seemed to me that a clever attorney - such as those whom Simpson, uniquely, could afford - could fairly easily poke holes in the police case especially the scientific evidence and the chain of custody and the obvious racism of Mark Fuhrmann. His acquittal could not be based on racism - on the contrary, his acquittal pointed out very clearly that if you have the means, you have a pretty good chance of getting away with it while the bulk of offenders who are often not wealthy, have no chance of getting good representation and often are wrongly convicted. Forensic labs, especially the FBI's own lab which was, of course, not a factor in the Simpson case, have history of siding with the cops and manufacturing evidence and way overstating some of the unproven science they have managed to convince courts is reliable. As I said, many or most professional athletes, especially black professional athletes, tend to be arrogant and uninformed. No quarrel here provided we remove that phrase But could anyone be so arrogant and uninformed that they would think that taking anything into Russia that the Russians may not smile on was a good idea? You have to ask yourself just how arrogant or ignorant this woman is. I am really curious - if you say that Griner was arrogant and ignorant for taking a gram of CBD into Russia what is your opinion of Whelan having $80,000 in cash on him when he was arrested at Domodedovo Airport? And boasting to his friends of his contacts in FSB? I'm not saying he is/was a spy but he seems to have been a bit of a fantasist/dumbshit. And he is neither Black nor an athlete nor (to the best of my knowledge) somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum (except in the sense that we all are).

[liberty]

My impression of professional athletes is they tend to be, at least some of them, arrogant and uninformed. Exhibit A: Herschel Walker. Can't disagree there. One of the most well-known arrogant is OJ Simpson, who thought he could murder his white wife and get away with it. He was right about getting away with it, but it still was arrogant. Again, no disagreement. Not sure why you think it's necessary to mention that his wife was white. .

Why did I say his white wife? I said it for two reasons: if I witnessed a red car running over a black cat, I'm going to say a red car came down the street and ran over a black cat because that would have been what I had seen. And the other reason is I think it was the cause of the murder.

When I was in job Corps back maybe 50 years ago, I found myself in a black-dominated urban society; it was something like 90% black, 7% Hispanic, and about 3% white. It was about 1% white by the time I left. I had never had such close contact with so many black boys before, and it was a cultural shock. They talked about things like fucking their sisters. It was an unlucky boy who didn't have sisters. Even some of the black adult male instructors did it. I found that unbelievable, and something else I found interesting was that black men believed if they ever got a white woman into bed and had sex with her, she would never return to a white man. Now I know that sounds ridiculous on the face of it, but that's what they believed. It seemed to be pretty much universal among black men, at the least inner-city types that I came in contact with. I think the fact OG Simpson's white wife had left him and was not having sex with him, and he suspected she was having sex with a white man, was just too much for his black male ego to stand; in his mind, he had to kill her.

[Scooter]

I'll take "Things that never happened" for $200, Alex.

[MajGenl.Meade]