Are we keeping Griner beyond this year, or is this for a compensatory pick later on?

33 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

So why give him a victory and allow him to appear strong?

Because not everyone has an ego as fragile as yours. 
 

Seriously though, getting one wrongly convicted American back was better than getting none. The fight to get Whalen home isn’t over. 

22 minutes ago, Tnt4philly said:

Because not everyone has an ego as fragile as yours. 
 

Seriously though, getting one wrongly convicted American back was better than getting none. The fight to get Whalen home isn’t over. 

So if The Merchant of Death nets us a sports player in a league no one cares about what is the cost of a former Marine who was convicted of espionage? 

10 hours ago, Tnt4philly said:

Not really.
 

If you strip away all the emotion, we traded an American citizen for a Russian citizen. 

And if we apply even a little critical thinking, we traded an international arms dealer who supplies our sworn enemies for… some idiot who had weed in Russia.

Conclusion for every sane person: this was a bad deal.

 

27 minutes ago, Tnt4philly said:

Because not everyone has an ego as fragile as yours. 
 

Seriously though, getting one wrongly convicted American back was better than getting none. The fight to get Whalen home isn’t over. 

She wasn’t "wrongly convicted.”

She was rightly convicted. She literally broke the law. It’s not like she was innocent of the charges. 

13 minutes ago, 20dawk4life said:

So if The Merchant of Death nets us a sports player in a league no one cares about what is the cost of a former Marine who was convicted of espionage? 

No one hates women's sports more than women.

28 minutes ago, TEW said:

And if we apply even a little critical thinking, we traded an international arms dealer who supplies our sworn enemies for… some idiot who had weed in Russia.

Conclusion for every sane person: this was a bad deal.

 

Whelan "broke” the law too. 
 

What would have made it a good deal?

Just now, Tnt4philly said:

What would have made it a good deal?

Giving up less

Just now, 20dawk4life said:

Giving up less

So leaving both Americans behind would be better than bring back the one? 

3 minutes ago, Tnt4philly said:

So leaving both Americans behind would be better than bring back the one? 

If it means not giving up a terrorist? Yes. Don’t know why that needs to be explained. 
 

you see they gave us someone that has no real affect on anyone’s life outside of her personal family. The guy we gave up is responsible, directly or indirectly, for thousands of deaths. Maybe we had just a tad of leverage here. 🤷‍♂️ 

Just now, 20dawk4life said:

If it means not giving up a terrorist? Yes. Don’t know why that needs to be explained. 
 

you see they gave us someone that has no real affect on anyone’s life outside of her personal family. The guy we gave up is responsible, directly or indirectly, for thousands of deaths. Maybe we had just a tad of leverage here. 🤷‍♂️ 

Except if you read anything beyond the headlines, we didn’t have more leverage. It came down to one or nothing and they chose the one. The negotiations to get the dishonored marine home isn’t over either. 

2 minutes ago, Tnt4philly said:

Except if you read anything beyond the headlines, we didn’t have more leverage. It came down to one or nothing and they chose the one. The negotiations to get the dishonored marine home isn’t over either. 

Not getting the Marine isn’t even that problem. It’s giving up a terrorist for Brittany Griner. That’s not a good trade. Yes I’d rather she sits in jail for a crime she committed than give up a Fing TERRORIST. 

Just now, 20dawk4life said:

Not getting the Marine isn’t even that problem. It’s giving up a terrorist for Brittany Griner. That’s not a good trade. Yes I’d rather she sits in jail for a crime she committed than give up a Fing TERRORIST. 

Dishonored marine. 
 

You keep saying terrorist like it is supposed to scare me or something. It doesn’t. 

5 hours ago, Tnt4philly said:

Had she not been a public figure, chances are the Russians probably don’t target her in the first place. 

 

5 hours ago, vikas83 said:

Most likely. And I agree that she was an idiot for carrying cannabis in Russia and putting herself in that position. It can simultaneously be true both that she was wrong and we should have brought her home. 

 

I don't really know what to think, but I will say this: She's a monumental idiot, and although it's possible that her status played a role in her treatment, I can't be so sure that she wouldn't have been railroaded had she been one of us, either. You better be under the assumption that while traveliing as an American in any hostile state, they will take any opportunity to totally f***k you.

Are there any Russians imprisoned in the US who aren’t going to be considerably worse people than Brittany Griner? Especially ones whose release that Putin and his cronies would consider valuable?

Do we have the Russian version of Mister Rogers holed up in Guantanamo? 

 

If Brittany Griner is "a role model to millions" where are they?

I can tell you where they aren't.

Sitting in the stands of WNBA games. 

Celebrities and athletes take note.

You are now proven bargaining chips for foreign countries and possibly cartels. 

1 hour ago, Tnt4philly said:

Dishonored marine. 
 

You keep saying terrorist like it is supposed to scare me or something. It doesn’t. 

They scared you into wearing a bandana to protect you from a virus. 🤔

Biden's "Art of the Deal".

29 minutes ago, lynched1 said:

They scared you into wearing a bandana to protect you from a virus. 🤔

Actually, when I wore a mask it was more to prevent me from spreading it to others. I wore it out of common courtesy, not fear. I return shopping carts too.  

 

 

3 minutes ago, lynched1 said:

Biden's "Art of the Deal".

He brought home one American citizen and is still working on the dishonored marine that Trump failed to bring home. 

1 hour ago, Tnt4philly said:

He brought home one American citizen and is still working on the dishonored marine that Trump failed to bring home. 

He traded a pot head for the "Merchant of Death". 

He made the trade for 2024. That's all. The fact that she's and anti America American was considered a plus.

Glad to see someone is not in a Russian prison but as a trade it ****s. 

As a side note. She was not wrongly convicted as you previously stated. She broke their laws.

 

If Trump did this deal the Left would be outraged and the right would be saying he is a hero but rational people that are able to think for themselves and don't belong to the left or right cult would say this is bad deal but it still is a win for the administration because no one is going to care about the other person left behind, out of sight out of mind while she goes on talk shows.

7 hours ago, Tnt4philly said:

Dishonored marine. 
 

You keep saying terrorist like it is supposed to scare me or something. It doesn’t. 

I keep saying terrorist because that’s what he is and she isn’t worth giving up a terrorist for. 
 

You can keep saying dishonored marine all you want but he’s still more valuable than she is. 
 

Also not getting the Marine back isn’t what makes this a bad trade. Trading a terrorist for a wnba player who committed a crime in another country because she’s a moron makes this a bad trade. 
 

But I get it, you can’t criticize Biden for anything for some weird reason. 
 

Take emotion out of it and this is a sheet trade. We had the leverage and blew it. We had a high valuable Russian asset and traded it for something of little value to the US. 

He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1994.^[7] He took military leave from Kelly Services to serve with the Marine Corps Reserve from 2003 to 2008, including service in Iraq. He held the rank of staff sergeant with Marine Air Control Group 38 working as an administrative clerk and administrative chief, and he was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.^[8] After a court-martial conviction in January 2008 on multiple counts "related to larceny", he was sentenced to 60 days restriction, reduction to pay grade E-4, and a bad conduct discharge.^[9][10] The specific charges against him included "attempted larceny, three specifications of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, wrongfully using another’s social security number, and ten specifications of making and uttering checks without having sufficient funds in his account for payment."