BREAKING: US has traded Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout (Merchant of Death) for Brittney Griner

[lfromnj]

This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.

[lfromnj]

Russia only has leverage because we gave them it over a convicted domestic abuser who ignored a clear travel warning to make an easy million.

[lfromnj]

Everyone spent the last year demanding that Biden free Brittney Griner and literally demanding he make this exact deal once the media started reporting it as a possibility.

Now that he's actually done it, there's nothing to be gained from continuing to pretend to care about Brittney Griner.  So all the Biden haters have switched overnight to talking about what a lopsided deal it is and how horrible it is that Biden set free the notorious Viktor Bout (a guy you'd never heard of before all this).

Meanwhile all the Do-Something-ers will do what they always do -- completely memory-hole this entire incident now that Biden has actually achieved success, and simply move on to the next "crisis" that offers proof of Biden's ineptitude.

What? I never demanded for a second that Biden make this trade. This is the most r****** trade I’ve ever seen in my life.

Yeah I dont remember a single right winger calling for free Griner.

[lfromnj]

Everyone spent the last year demanding that Biden free Brittney Griner and literally demanding he make this exact deal once the media started reporting it as a possibility.

Now that he's actually done it, there's nothing to be gained from continuing to pretend to care about Brittney Griner.  So all the Biden haters have switched overnight to talking about what a lopsided deal it is and how horrible it is that Biden set free the notorious Viktor Bout (a guy you'd never heard of before all this).

Meanwhile all the Do-Something-ers will do what they always do -- completely memory-hole this entire incident now that Biden has actually achieved success, and simply move on to the next "crisis" that offers proof of Biden's ineptitude.

What? I never demanded for a second that Biden make this trade. This is the most retarded trade I’ve ever seen in my life.

Yeah I dont remember a single right winger calling for free Griner.

OTOH I do see a bunch of right wingers calling for Whelan to be freed instead who definitely did not deserve it unless he actually was a spy with a cover story.

[lfromnj]

Do Russians actually watch women's basketball or is it money laundering of some sort?

[lfromnj]

Do Russians actually watch women's basketball or is it money laundering of some sort?

Americans don't watch women's basketball yet it exists.

Yeah but why is Griner getting paid so much in Russia anyway ? 

[lfromnj]

Ah yes it's great that we freed the literal Merchant Of Death to get an athlete back. I don't care that this is a terrible trade. Luuuuv her identity categories, slaaaay qween!

For the record, I'd oppose this even if it was both Whelan and Griner. Viktor Bout should not be freed under any circumstance.

Bout is being freed anyway in a decade . If Whelan was somehow an intelligence asset I think its a fair trade but overall Whelans public background makes him more of a dipsh**t than Griner so yeah he doesn't deserve it either .

[lfromnj]

Maybe this is a bad time to bring this up, because Griner personally was clearly a victim of horrific injustice at the hands of the Russina government.

But I’m a little surprised that all these professional athletes playing in Russia have never come under more criticism for their participation in sportswashinging, essentially enriching themselves by promoting the interests of Putin’s oligarchs.  

Griner herself was paid by a Russian mining billionaire who was blacklisted as part of the sanctions put on Putin supporters following the Ukraine invasion. I would think that someone who presents herself as socially conscious as Griner does would never want to be associated with this sort of thing, even if it does make her a lot of money.

Exactly. She was making 200k a year here to begin with and excluded any endorsements from companies like Nike. She didn't need to go overseas to play for a Russian team but she chose to and American has to pick up the bill. Even worse is now she's going to get rewarded by stupid book deals or other media stuff.

[lfromnj]

I wish I had the energy to be disgusted by all of the intimation about how Griner is somehow worth less as a human being than others, but unfortunately it no longer surprises me.

I actually agree with this. Whelan or whatever his name whataboutism is crazy. It doesn't matter what American was in Russia; none of them were worth making this trade for. Your safety cannot be guaranteed if you go into a dumphole country like Russia. They will find a way to imprison you and use you as bargaining chips.

In defense of Whelan who i dislike more than Griner he was arrested in 2018. Griner winter went a week before the invasion and when the US upgraded the travel advisory . Still overall hes worse than Griner unless he actually is an intelligence asset.

[lfromnj]

https://twitter.com/gop4senate2022/status/1601065265164275712?cxt=HHwWgMCqhYeYkL...