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Johnny Bball wrote:Does half this board realize that the US is in a proxy war with Russia? The fawning over and defending of Russia is just stupid if you are a US citizen.
Johnny Bball wrote:gst8 wrote:Asianiac_24 wrote:What’s stopping Russia from coming up with another BS excuse to prosecute another American?
Being smart enough not to travel there in the first place?
Tell us all about your travels and work overseas.
TheNewEra wrote:Nate505 wrote:Invictus88 wrote:
I don't know if somehow this evolved from prior discussion but this post specifically has absolutely no relevance to the Griner situation.
Paying a fine sucks but if someone were to come to you and throw you into jail for 9 years because you went 12 over I don't think you'd shrug it off.
I think everyone here agrees that Griner was at fault for bringing in the cartridges. However, some are trying to whitewash the exorbitant sentencing with that fact instead of acknowledging the obvious that it's a grossly unfair length for the crime and politically motivated.
If the penalty for speeding were 9 years in prison, people here would riot up and end it. And because of that fact, it would never get to that point.
I don't see many Russians rioting up to get rid of 9 years in prison for a thc filled vape pen. Everyone can make all sorts of excuses for why that's the case, but I'll go with the simple one. Most people there agree with the law, or are at the very least indifferent towards it.
I don’t remember people here throwing up a storm and rioting when the crime bill by Biden/Harris was targeting certain groups for weed possession. Maybe because it wasn’t a celebrity and we didn’t care and maybe the Russians simply don’t care about Griner to give a damn.
Johnny Bball wrote:Does half this board realize that the US is in a proxy war with Russia? The fawning over and defending of Russia is just stupid if you are a US citizen.
Ayt wrote:TheNewEra wrote:Nate505 wrote:If the penalty for speeding were 9 years in prison, people here would riot up and end it. And because of that fact, it would never get to that point.
I don't see many Russians rioting up to get rid of 9 years in prison for a thc filled vape pen. Everyone can make all sorts of excuses for why that's the case, but I'll go with the simple one. Most people there agree with the law, or are at the very least indifferent towards it.
I don’t remember people here throwing up a storm and rioting when the crime bill by Biden/Harris was targeting certain groups for weed possession. Maybe because it wasn’t a celebrity and we didn’t care and maybe the Russians simply don’t care about Griner to give a damn.
What are you talking about? What crime bill?
ocelot17 wrote:Women’s prison is pretty easy compared to men’s prison. You don’t have to worry about getting jumped or stabbed.
She’ll be fine.
Asianiac_24 wrote:Anyone who thinks Griner deserves the 9.5 on top of the 6 months she already served for a couple vape cartridges has an agenda against her, her political stance, or both. This sentence is a damn tragedy, and IMO if the US/Russia wasn’t in a proxy war right now, she would be a free woman right now.
What I don’t agree with is trading a Russian criminal for her. What’s stopping Russia from coming up with another BS excuse to prosecute another American? Are we just going to release all their criminals for them, or do we not care because this said American isn’t a celebrity or public figure?
You really are delusional. Crazy how much you hate the U.S.Sgt Major wrote:Ballerhogger wrote:SkyHookFTW wrote:
google russian war crimes. then comeback to me.
Lol then google history of the US and its crimes both on its soil and overseas all over the world. Russia is not even close to that level of atrocity.
Johnny Bball wrote:gst8 wrote:Asianiac_24 wrote:What’s stopping Russia from coming up with another BS excuse to prosecute another American?
Being smart enough not to travel there in the first place?
taikibansei wrote:CobraCommander wrote:taikibansei wrote:
Do you really think Russia arrested/convicted/sentenced Griner to nine years of hard labor because she allegedly had .702 grams of cannabis oil in her luggage (less than the weight of a pen cap or a stick of gum)? If you do, I have a bridge to sell you...in my native Brooklyn.
Griner is a pawn, being used by a country with a long history of arresting/convicting innocents.
This thread will (justifiably) be locked soon, but I wanted to add that I fault Griner more for agreeing to return to/work in a country which has been historically anti-LGBTQ (including recent laws passed against this population) as well as historically discriminatory against non-white and/or non-Christian races. Not to mention, she returned to Moscow weeks after Biden had announced that war was imminent and that US citizens should leave. (She arrived in Moscow, and was arrested, on February 17...six days before the Ukraine invasion.) How naive could a person possibly be?
I’m with you on her being a pawn- but there isn’t much doubt that she had the weed right? I feel sorry that her punishment is so sever but I wouldn’t act like, as an American, I should tell Russia how to run THEiR country.
Biden should work to get her out and honestly we should stop pretending we are not actually at war with Russia -
Brittany is the least of our worries with Russia- we are funding weapons that are killing Russians (I’m not saying we shouldn’t support the Ukraine) - at some point someone in Russia going to actually point at us for the lives of their soldiers- a proxy war is not really a problem for people not dying. If Russia loses to the Ukraine it’s gonna be “interesting” between the US and Russia post Putin
As I've posted repeatedly, I have plenty of doubts about the bit in bold. Russia has a long history of making up charges, planting/creating "evidence," arresting and then convicting victims (i.e., anybody the government doesn't like or wants to use as leverage) in show trials. Heck, Alexei Navalny was recently poisoned by a military grade nerve agent (only available to the Russian military); then after he recovered (by being smuggled out of Russia to a German hospital receiving treatment for several months), Alexi returned to Russia only to be immediately arrested/convicted for "fraud" (that he apparently did while lying in a German hospital bed trying not to die).
So, yes, I have doubts that she did anything. Putin knew he was going to invade the Ukraine on February 17 (when Griner was arrested) and likely was collecting collateral for possible trades moving forward. (Feel like I'm discussing Danny Ainge....) I question the timing of this arrest. I've also shared in this very thread links that report Griner's lawyer told her she'd be "okay" and get "leniency" if she pled guilty--obviously lies--and how all the documents she's seen/signed were written in Russian.
Given this, who knows what her confession really means? Maybe Griner did it, but maybe she did not--again, I don't think we'll know unless and until she gets out.
What exactly are these far right opinions that have been expressed? I haven't seen any.Salieri wrote:It still amazes me how many extreme far-right opinions are openly shared the moment a thread turns a bit political.
Don't let facts get in the way of his imagination.Ballerhogger wrote:jpengland wrote:I guarantee if this was a white American dude then a lot of those claiming it's her own fault would be singing a different tune.
For what it's worth I think it's fairly likely this stuff was either planted or never existed.
Paul Whelan is still in jail in Russia. Do you see right wing nuts or left wing nuts asking for his release right now by protesting?
Infinite Llamas wrote:So out of curiosity, if this was a random guy caught on a vacation with no luster to his name, what would the sentence be in that situation?
Magic#1 wrote:We have won two playoff games in two years. If we decide to keep this team for the next two years, maybe it will feel like we won a series.
Ayt wrote:TheNewEra wrote:Nate505 wrote:If the penalty for speeding were 9 years in prison, people here would riot up and end it. And because of that fact, it would never get to that point.
I don't see many Russians rioting up to get rid of 9 years in prison for a thc filled vape pen. Everyone can make all sorts of excuses for why that's the case, but I'll go with the simple one. Most people there agree with the law, or are at the very least indifferent towards it.
I don’t remember people here throwing up a storm and rioting when the crime bill by Biden/Harris was targeting certain groups for weed possession. Maybe because it wasn’t a celebrity and we didn’t care and maybe the Russians simply don’t care about Griner to give a damn.
What are you talking about? What crime bill?
John Murdoch wrote:Kirilenko needa step in
Diop wrote:Asianiac_24 wrote:Anyone who thinks Griner deserves the 9.5 on top of the 6 months she already served for a couple vape cartridges has an agenda against her, her political stance, or both. This sentence is a damn tragedy, and IMO if the US/Russia wasn’t in a proxy war right now, she would be a free woman right now.
What I don’t agree with is trading a Russian criminal for her. What’s stopping Russia from coming up with another BS excuse to prosecute another American? Are we just going to release all their criminals for them, or do we not care because this said American isn’t a celebrity or public figure?
Because you’d never see the USA give excessive sentences for minor offences
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/11/23-petty-crimes-prison-life-without-parole/