Brittney Griner in jail

[The United Penguin Commonwealth]

There have probably been at least a hundred cases like this, yet this is the one everyone cares about because she's somewhat famous. Typical.

[Zerotaxia]

If I were in charge, I would scrap all controls on drugs, alcohol, and guns, and abolish police. Only contract law is legitimate in my opinion; everything else is a pretext for the ruling elite to shake down and railroad the lower classes. Such includes the bullshit 'offenses' of drug possession and drinking in public.

#mybodymychoice

[Infected Mushroom]

She was supposed to obey the law in Russia because she went to Russia. She did not. Now she should understand that Russia is out of the USA’s jurisdiction.

[Cavalara]

If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

When traveling to another country, you have to obey their laws. Being American doesn't give you a free pass.

In a country where 99% of trials end in convictions, one has to doubt the validity of the accusations.

US conviction rate is 99.6

[Risottia]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/sports/basketball/biden-cherelle-griner-brittney-griner-russia.html

Nice paywall.

What says the group?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/basketball/61956192

Meh. Seems like she didn't realise that any mistake - like bringing a substance that is legal in your own country to a country where it is illegal - can be exploited to the maximum extent by authoritarian regimes for their own ends.
She used to be perfectly fine with getting money from an authoritarian regime since 2014, now she gets to taste the other side of it.

[Risottia]

If I were in charge, I would scrap all controls on drugs, alcohol, and guns, and abolish police. Only contract law is legitimate in my opinion; everything else is a pretext for the ruling elite to shake down and railroad the lower classes. Such includes the bullshit 'offenses' of drug possession and drinking in public.

#mybodymychoice

So, let's go back to rule by the strongest and richest. Ffs.

[American Legionaries]

If I were in charge, I would scrap all controls on drugs, alcohol, and guns, and abolish police. Only contract law is legitimate in my opinion; everything else is a pretext for the ruling elite to shake down and railroad the lower classes. Such includes the bullshit 'offenses' of drug possession and drinking in public.

#mybodymychoice

So, let's go back to rule by the strongest and richest. Ffs.

But that's what we have now...

[Page]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/06/sports/basketball/biden-cherelle-griner-brittney-griner-russia.html

I have two thoughts on this.

First, in all the reporting I have seen the one thing conspicuous by its absence has been any statements that she was not in possession of the drugs in question. If she is innocent, why does no one say so; if she is guilty why shouldn't she be prosecuted?

Second, she has been held in jail for about 4 months awaiting trial, which began on Friday. If that is 'wrongfully detained' then why is Mr. Biden and the press not even more concerned with those who are detained in places like Rikers for years before seeing a trial?

The fact that she is a sports star does not and should not grant her any special treatment.

What says the group?

Who gives a fuck if she's guilty or not? Do you think the Russians care? She's a piece on the chessboard for them, and for Biden too. And you can hate the players and still want compassion for the pawns. The Russians haven't accused her of being a drug dealer so at worst she's guilty of personal possession which shouldn't be a crime anywhere.

The people detained in Rikers should be released too. Pre-trial detention should exclusively apply to those who pose a physical danger to others' safety, no one else.

The US government and the Russian government need to just do one of their prisoner swap things like they've done before, then each government can declare victory and Britney Griner can get on with her life.

[Risottia]

So, let's go back to rule by the strongest and richest. Ffs.

But that's what we have now...

Not entirely.

[Risottia]

Pre-trial detention should exclusively apply to those who pose a physical danger to others' safety, no one else.

No, also for those likely to escape, tamper with the evidence, or repeat the crime.

[Page]

So, let's go back to rule by the strongest and richest. Ffs.

Back to?

[Page]

Pre-trial detention should exclusively apply to those who pose a physical danger to others' safety, no one else.

No, also for those likely to escape, tamper with the evidence, or repeat the crime.

It would be a lesser evil for a shoplifter to get away with shoplifting a hundred times more than to be raped in jail or die of a completely treatable illness. Or even if one was to think that every criminal should be locked up forever and have no rights, the jails should still be emptied on the basis of the statistical certainty that there are always going to be innocent people in jail.

Every time a story breaks of a sicko who had girls chained up in his basement, we're all rightfully outraged at the enormity of the crime, but we're supposed to accept the system doing the same thing to probably a 100,000 men and women or more nationwide every day, all because we can't imagine anything worse than Bobby Fell-Off-The-Back-Of-The-Truck fleeing the state before his trial.

[Thepeopl]

Yea man. You can’t say shit about the US. MAGA MAGA MAGA.

Seriously man; you are making it sound like she was running heroin.

Cannibis is illegal in Russia. When traveling to another country, you have to obey their laws. Being an American or a famous athlete is not a pass to do illegal stuff. If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

In Russia, if you possess less than 6 gram of cannabis or less than 2 grams of hash you'll be fined OR face 15 DAYS jail time.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 16983.html

Care to explain why Mrs Griner, who possessed 0.7 grams of cannabis oil, And is American AND is lesbian, has been imprisoned for 5 months ( 40 times the normal amount)?

[World Anarchic Union]

I do think that there shouldn’t be different standards on how someone is treated because they’re well-known or from a powerful country, she was certainly however caught in the crossfire of the hostile relations between the two countries.

I find it interesting in the thread however how vindictive many are, just because she disagreed with how great and exceptional America is, that’s an interesting approach on how to treat any kind of dissidents. And also how some are so smugly proclaiming that “prison time in Russia will show her”, like America doesn’t also have some of the worst and most inhumane prisons and prison conditions around.

[Bendicion]

-SNIP-

This comment was jewel. Griner is more or less another "famous" American getting the pass from her own bad actions. Heck, thats the world for you, specifically the american world.

[Kerwa]

I’d heard about this but wasn’t aware that she had rubbished the US until now. It does not change my opinion that If she was indeed bringing contraband into Russia then it’s her own fault and she should accept that this is what happens.

I understand that it seems harsh by our standards, but people need to drop the imperialist attitude that everywhere belongs to the West/EU/US and our rules apply everywhere to everyone at all time. Different places do things differently and that is their right. Don’t like it, don’t go.

And it’s not like our own countries aren’t full of unequal enforcement bullshit either.

[Ifreann]

If the Russians arrested every American athlete who’d ever brought drugs into the country half the hockey players in North America would probably be rotting in gulags rn

Seeing as how hockey is huge in Russia, and basketball is not, your point fails to hold water....

Griner made more money playing for UMMC Yekaterinburg than she did in the WNBA.

[Risottia]

It would be a lesser evil for a shoplifter to get away with shoplifting a hundred times more than to be raped in jail or die of a completely treatable illness.

That's why in civilised places we have guards in prisons and grant healthcare to everyone. The world isn't America.

[The North Polish Union]

The country with a history of not prosecuting those who consume several liters of spirits and drive a tank to Parliament will also imprison you for a decade if you have a THC-free derivative of cannabis.

Meanwhile across the pond walking around the Congress building completely sober (and without any tank) gets a special commission but possession of the THC-free oil is permitted.

Pick your poison

[Green Nape]

The fact that she is a sports star does not and should not grant her any special treatment.

It will.
Just having enough money to pay for a non legal aid defence lawyer is enough to get you out of being held in shithole jail on remand and losing months and months of your life. Much less being famous enough that random people might actually care you got arrested.
I know because my country has a similar Anglo-Saxon legal system I've seen people get shafted by.

[Green Nape]

The country with a history of not prosecuting those who consume several liters of spirits and drive a tank to Parliament will also imprison you for a decade if you have a THC-free derivative of cannabis.

Meanwhile across the pond walking around the Congress building completely sober (and without any tank) gets a special commission but possession of the THC-free oil is permitted.

Pick your poison

Yeah prohibiting cannabis is stupid, Scythians smoked cannabis out of golden bongs before riding to battle, ganja is a drug for aryans just as much as booze, wine or spirits is.
Plus the average alcoholics sucks about as much as weedheads do, I doubt weed can destroy the fabric of society that much when public schools are already full of FAS babies.
And as with alcohol, prohibition doesn't even work.

[Ifreann]

Every time this dude posts I hear dogs start barking.

[Krasny-Volny]

If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

When traveling to another country, you have to obey their laws. Being American doesn't give you a free pass.

This. While I understand Brittney might've genuinely thought of CBD oil as nothing illegal, she ought to have educated herself on foreign laws before traveling abroad. I'm saying this as a frequent traveler myself. If Brittney's tournament had been in Singapore or Malaysia, they might've given her far shorter shrift than the Russians.

She's fortunate that she's such a high profile individual, in that her government and thousands of her countrymen are invested in her case and she's likelier to incur preferential consideration from the Russian authorities.

[Ifreann]

If you can't do the time, then don't do the crime.

When traveling to another country, you have to obey their laws. Being American doesn't give you a free pass.

This. While I understand Brittney might've genuinely thought of CBD oil as nothing illegal, she ought to have educated herself on foreign laws before traveling abroad. I'm saying this as a frequent traveler myself. If Brittney's tournament had been in Singapore or Malaysia, they might've given her far shorter shrift than the Russians.

She's fortunate that she's such a high profile individual, in that her government and thousands of her countrymen are invested in her case and she's likelier to incur preferential consideration from the Russian authorities.

She's been playing for a Russian basketball team for years, I imagine she is broadly familiar with the laws in Russia, including which laws one can usually get away with breaking if one is willing to hand over a wad of rubles.

[Krasny-Volny]

This. While I understand Brittney might've genuinely thought of CBD oil as nothing illegal, she ought to have educated herself on foreign laws before traveling abroad. I'm saying this as a frequent traveler myself. If Brittney's tournament had been in Singapore or Malaysia, they might've given her far shorter shrift than the Russians.

She's fortunate that she's such a high profile individual, in that her government and thousands of her countrymen are invested in her case and she's likelier to incur preferential consideration from the Russian authorities.

She's been playing for a Russian basketball team for years, I imagine she is broadly familiar with the laws in Russia, including which laws one can usually get away with breaking if one is willing to hand over a wad of rubles.

Makes her case even more inexcusable.

"I can usually bribe my way out of this" is never a valid excuse. And it should be the last resort, not the first.