LOCKED - Solid piece on B Griner
- Thread starter Irondawg
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Yeah. Those Apple News links suck. Is there a solid alternative link that goes to the same article (possible if it’s a wire service)?
No kidding. I get that what she did wasn't that serious here. But you'd have to be a 17ing idiot to try to smuggle any kind of drugs into Russia. That said, we have to try to get her home. But we can't give them anything substantial or we're just inviting them to kidnap more Americans and hold them hostage.
Why do we have to get her home? Serious question. How many Americans are locked up abroad for minor drug charges or other minor charges? What kind of precedent are we setting if we trade an international arms dealer for a pot head just because we all know her name? It's a lose, lose for Biden. If he trades the terrorist for her he alienates every law abiding citizen and every family or friend of someone locked up abroad. If he doesn't trade he alienates the woke crowd.
I agree that it shouldn’t be serious here but don’t we have Americans in prison here in America under marijuana charges?
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I'm surprised with all the new sanctions that the West hasn't agreed to cut off the pipeline of players to the Russian professional leagues.
I don’t think we have any Americans serving a 9-year sentence for simple possession….unless there were aggravating circumstances like it being a parole or probation violation.
We need to add a check box for "are you good at basketball" to any request to the US state department for international imprisonment help.***
I’ve tried to get my outrage level up over Griner, but I just can’t. The classification of “wrongfully detained” is silly to me. If we can get her out of prison by making some minor concessions, then I’m all for it. But trading murderers and arms dealers for her? I can’t get behind that. It actually makes Americans abroad less safe.
If I were ever locked up in say, Saudi Arabia, for engaging the services of a prostitute, or locked up in the Philippines for sneaking drugs in, and it was undisputed that I actually did what they accused me of doing, I would hope your guys’ reaction would be something like, “11thEagleFan was a good dude. It was nice knowing him.” I certainly wouldn’t expect the federal government to swap terrorists for my release.
If I were ever locked up in say, Saudi Arabia, for engaging the services of a prostitute, or locked up in the Philippines for sneaking drugs in, and it was undisputed that I actually did what they accused me of doing, I would hope your guys’ reaction would be something like, “11thEagleFan was a good dude. It was nice knowing him.” I certainly wouldn’t expect the federal government to swap terrorists for my release.
Abroad? there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of people in prisons in American for minor offenses related to a NOW LEGAL drug
Sorry, didn’t realize it was the Apple news link.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...group-britney-griner-belongs-now/10260562002/
Hopefully this one works
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...group-britney-griner-belongs-now/10260562002/
Hopefully this one works
I agree with Hot Take #1. Her sentencing was above the average for the crime and WAY above the average for such a little amount. She's being used a political weapon here.
On Hot Take #2, it's not quite that simple. WNBA players, even the top WNBA players like Griner, don't make enough to create any sort of retirement nest egg, so they kind of have to play overseas during their best playing years to maximize their earnings and Russia has long been a spot where they could go and make significantly more money(2-3X) than in the US. To my knowledge, this is the first time something like this has happened to a WNBA player in the 20ish years they've been playing in Russia. There was a 30 For 30 podcast episode called the Spy Who Signed Me with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi talking about how they were lured over there in the first place and the difference in treatment.
That being said, if the Ukraine invasion didn't kill the line of players going into Russia, this detainment probably did, so yeah, ultimately I think you're probably right going forward.
It would seem that we could release those that are in only for possession of MJ. It would be interesting to know the number.
I'm thinking this incident will take care of that. I can't imagine anybody going back there to risk being a political bargaining chip for a corrupt power mad regime.
So you got me interested in that question horshack. My understanding is this is federal inmates and doesn’t break down the level of drug charges but wow at that %
https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp
https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp
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I’m guessing you didn’t read the article
1) Griner’s WNBA salary is $227k. Not up to par with NBA players, granted, but definitely not a salary that would make it impossible to build a retirement nest egg
2) Griner has $1M in endorsement deals from Nike
3) Griner has been making millions from playing in China and Russia dating back to 2013
She has made plenty to not have to “need” to play in Russia any longer at this juncture
1) Griner’s WNBA salary is $227k. Not up to par with NBA players, granted, but definitely not a salary that would make it impossible to build a retirement nest egg
2) Griner has $1M in endorsement deals from Nike
3) Griner has been making millions from playing in China and Russia dating back to 2013
She has made plenty to not have to “need” to play in Russia any longer at this juncture
I believe many of the states where it is legalized are releasing people and expunging those crimes from their records. Some states like Pennsylvania are offering automatic expedited pardons to those that seek them for non-violent marijuana convictions. I saw John Fetterman pushing for people to seek these a couple of weeks ago.
The problem is (I don't think, but I'm not a lawyer) those with any sort of federal charge won't be able to get that since marijuana is still technically illegal under federal law. That being said, I'm not sure how many people are even charged at the federal level for marijuana possession.
Speaking of the WNBA, when she is back in the US, they should suspend her for violating the WNBA illegal substance policy. Her lawyer stated she has had a medical marijuana card for two years, but it’s a banned substance in the WNBA regardless of medical use or state legality. If she was arrested in Texas for marijuana possession it would require punishment. Can’t let her off just because we hate Russia.
*Edited to add that the WNBA has officially stated that they will not punish her for the use and possession of the banned substance. Curious to see if the Olympic committee will also let her skate.
*Edited to add that the WNBA has officially stated that they will not punish her for the use and possession of the banned substance. Curious to see if the Olympic committee will also let her skate.
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Your federal prisoners will almost all be drug trafficking. Your state prisons will have some people in for drug possession if they have enough to meet the intent to distribute amount, which doesn't mean they were actually involved in dealing. That said, there is virtually nobody imprisoned just for drug possession. Even if it says they are in their for drug possession, they most likely pled down to that, a parole/probation violation, or at worst, a third strike.
Lol, no sir. Although I have been to Saudi Arabia before. I don’t tell this story very much because it sounds like internet message board ********, but it’s 100% true, so take it for what you will. I once witnessed a public execution. Let me tell you, that changes you. Definitely shifts your perspective on differences between countries regarding the rule of law.
"The United States leads the world in total number of people incarcerated, with more than 2 million prisoners nationwide (per data released in October 2021 by World Prison Brief). This number is equivalent to roughly 25% of the world's total prison population and leads to an incarceration rate of 629 people per 100,000—the highest rate in the world. The prison populations in each U.S. state vary from one to the next, with the highest rates in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Overall, the incarceration rate in the U.S. has skyrocketed in the past decade—the prison population was a mere 200,000 in 1972, less than a tenth of today's total. However, the current rate is the lowest it has been in 20 years."
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
One Hot Take #2, I get that WNBA players had been playing in Russia for 20 years. But with the invasion of Ukraine looming (they invaded a week later) and the State Dept. Class 4 warning not to travel to Russia being issued 3 weeks earlier, just traveling to Russia even without smuggling pot wasn't a smart decision.
Makes sense. I'm pretty ignorant in the specifics, but per my other post, we have a broken prison system as our incarceration rates lead the world. Something is broken somewhere.
Not sure if there are any federal laws/regulations against it, but it seems like it would be easy enough to get money to the Dep't of State to essentially quietly offer a bribe to release her. Would be her (or maybe Nike and/or the WNBA's money) so maybe won't encourage other kidnappings. Doesn't put any private citizen at risk of bribery prosecution in russia. Would have to figure out how to pay them without violating sanctions; presumably there is some sort of exemption that can be granted?
But yea, while it's lose/lose for Biden, it's small loss/big loss. If he doesn't get her, it's easy enough for him to actually honestly point out that she is being held by a tyrannical regime and the US doesn't start wars to free private prisoners. They are pretty clearly doing everything for her that was done for the kid locked up in Korea and basically beaten to death. It's a risk when you go into these countries without the rule of law. Bigger and dumber risk for the kid to go to North Korea in the first place, but he at least presumably didn't break any laws. I'm sure she took those cartridges into the country many times before and just didn't realize what an incredibly stupid risk that was.
But it's a big loss for Biden (and future US citizens abroad) if he actually encourages future imprisonment/targeting of US citizens.
Something's broken, but I'm not sure what it is. We do incarcerate a lot of people, but we also have a lot of crime, particularly violent crime, for a developed country. And while we arguably went overboard with strict sentencing, we had a crime epidemic and a lot of overly lenient judges and the truth in sentencing laws did prevent a lot of crime.
If you look at criminal justice reform, there doesn't appear to be nearly as much low hanging fruit as advertised. To meaningfully reduce our incarceration rate, we are going to be letting violent felons out and some of them will commit more violent crimes and we will have a higher crime rate than we otherwise would. Which is fine in theory. We could lower the crime rate substantially by handing out lifetime sentences for any violent crime, but we rightfully aren't willing to make that tradeoff. But it's still a hard sell politically to tell people we're going to purposefully allow the violent crime rate to go up because we want to be more forgiving of people that committed violent crimes previously and in the future.
Tyson Carter got the heck outta there
https://basketnews.com/news-167015-jordan-loyd-and-tyson-carter-to-leave-for-the-usa.html
https://basketnews.com/news-167015-jordan-loyd-and-tyson-carter-to-leave-for-the-usa.html
Agree. I'm certain there isn't a "sound bite" answer for it and assuming that applying another country's rules in the US would be effective is not really an answer either as culture plays a huge role in how successful certain governance policies work.
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