WNBA star Brittney Griner released from Russian custody in a high-profile prisoner swap between the

[mountaineer]

More truth in that 2 1/2 minute clip than an entire year of MSM bullshit.

They assume Whelan was a spy - who knows whether he really was - but they respect him for that. They respect people who serve their country. That does not include Griner ... or Biden.

[LMAO]

The Russians mock Joe Biden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs.” Or, as former sports reporter John Steigerwald tweeted, "When an NFL team has a first overall pick in the draft it doesn’t trade it for a punter. That’s what The Big Guy did yesterday."

https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618

What happen to the “I’ll stand up to Putin” claim?

[BellyAche]

Off topic maybe but:

Griner earned $227,000 during her latest season with the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, the maximum salary allowed in women’s professional basketball in the US. As such, many players have decided to look overseas to augment their salary.

The Daily Mail reported in October this year (2022) that Griner accumulated around $1.5 million playing in Russia, which was six times her WNBA salary with the Phoenix Mercury. Back in 2014, the pro also played in China for three months for a remuneration of $600,000.

I think she'll stick with the $227,000 for a while, which seems to me a nice salary! Granted not NBA standards but....

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Off topic maybe but:

Griner earned $227,000 during her latest season with the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, the maximum salary allowed in women’s professional basketball in the US. As such, many players have decided to look overseas to augment their salary.

The Daily Mail reported in October this year (2022) that Griner accumulated around $1.5 million playing in Russia, which was six times her WNBA salary with the Phoenix Mercury. Back in 2014, the pro also played in China for three months for a remuneration of $600,000.

I think she'll stick with the $227,000 for a while, which seems to me a nice salary! Granted not NBA standards but....

Why is there a maximum allowed salary though?

[BellyAche]

Why is there a maximum allowed salary though?

As we dive into the salaries of WNBA players, however, the difference is stark. In 2020, the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement bumped the maximum salary for the highest-paid players from $117,500 to $215,000.

Agreement: https://wnbpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WNBA-WNBPA-CBA-2020-2027.pdf

[catfish1957]

As we dive into the salaries of WNBA players, however, the difference is stark. In 2020, the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement bumped the maximum salary for the highest-paid players from $117,500 to $215,000.

Agreement: https://wnbpa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WNBA-WNBPA-CBA-2020-2027.pdf

No one watches WNBA garbage.  How do they subsidize this farce.

[Hoodat]

As we dive into the salaries of WNBA players, however, the difference is stark. In 2020, the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement bumped the maximum salary for the highest-paid players from $117,500 to $215,000.

Maybe she could slide a few Gs to the Whelan family who are without their primary bread winner.

[Hoodat]

No one watches WNBA garbage.  How do they subsidize this farce.

[LMAO]

"Reporter: "Mr. President, what do you say to the bipartisan criticism of the Griner swap?   Biden ignores."  (Video)

https://mobile.twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1600937560788078592

Lol

Doesn’t even have the balls to defend his decision. Typical.

[verga]

The Russians mock Joe Biden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs.” Or, as former sports reporter John Steigerwald tweeted, "When an NFL team has a first overall pick in the draft it doesn’t trade it for a punter. That’s what The Big Guy did yesterday."

https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618

Trust me, it's not the only thing they mock him for.

[verga]

Off topic maybe but:

Griner earned $227,000 during her latest season with the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA, the maximum salary allowed in women’s professional basketball in the US. As such, many players have decided to look overseas to augment their salary.

The Daily Mail reported in October this year (2022) that Griner accumulated around $1.5 million playing in Russia, which was six times her WNBA salary with the Phoenix Mercury. Back in 2014, the pro also played in China for three months for a remuneration of $600,000.

I think she'll stick with the $227,000 for a while, which seems to me a nice salary! Granted not NBA standards but....

My niece played overseas B-Ball for 4 years. after her knees went she was able to take a year off to heal and find a good position.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Jack Posobiec
@JackPosobiec

I wonder what's going to happen with all those arms the US is flooding Eastern Europe with



12:15 PM · Dec 9, 2022

[Right_in_Virginia]

"Biden's DISASTER prisoner swap leaving behind brave Marine in Russia makes Tucker RAGE against Regime in most important RANT'  (Video)

https://mobile.twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1601285385988210689

[Right_in_Virginia]

Catturd ™
@catturd2

When I read they traded the merchant of death for Brittney Griner - I was like - great they sent Dr. Fauci to Russia.

1:51 PM · Dec 9, 2022

[Hoodat]

The Russians mock Joe Biden for leaving behind a “hero, a decorated Marine” for “a black lesbian hooked on drugs.”

https://twitter.com/breeadail/status/1601159933273071618

The Russians certainly know how to rub our faces in it.  This isn't propaganda.  This is truth.

[Wingnut]

How long before Brit plays the Race/victum card for not getting out sooner?

[txradioguy]

No one watches WNBA garbage.  How do they subsidize this farce.

IIRC their big brother the NBA subsidizes the league.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

IIRC their big brother the NBA subsidizes the league.

Actually last I heard nobody watched them either.

[jmyrlefuller]

Why is there a maximum allowed salary though?

Because without it, the WNBA couldn't afford to do business.

[catfish1957]

Because without it, the WNBA couldn't afford to do business.

And then OTOH, you have this insanity....   

$1.9B. (with a billion) spent alone in the just the past 2 weeks on Free Agents in MLB.

[Kamaji]

Kremlin said it would only release Brittney Griner AND the Marine vet if US helped free hitman who slaughtered Chechen separatist

New details are emerging about the high-stakes negotiations that brought the release of American basketball star Brittney Griner but left former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan languishing in prison – including Russia's demand to liberate an assassin serving a life sentence for carrying out a daylight slaying in Berlin.

The Biden administration had been trying to negotiate for the release of both Griner and Whelan for months. But as the U.S. tried to secure their freedom and even dangled convicted 'Merchant of Death' arms trafficker Viktor Bout, Moscow added its own demand.

Russia wanted the release of Vadim Krasikov, a former FSB colonel who was convicted of gunning down a Georgia-born Chechen separatist in broad daylight in a central Berlin park in June 2019, as the price for freeing both Americans, the New York Times reported.

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11522111/How-Russia-demanded-release-cold-blooded-KGB-assassin-Whelan-Griner.html

[Hoodat]

Russia wanted the release of Vadim Krasikov, a former FSB colonel who was convicted of gunning down a Georgia-born Chechen separatist in broad daylight in a central Berlin park in June 2019, as the price for freeing both Americans, the New York Times reported.

This contradicts the statements coming from the White House where they said they were never offered any deal to free Whelan.

Joe Biden is a lying POS.

[Free Vulcan]

The Story of Two Videos and a Curious Edit in the Griner/Bout Exchange

...Fast forward to the second video — the exchange of Bout and Griner. Tass, Russian state media, took video of the event. You can see Griner in the red jacket and Bout is the guy holding the manila envelope. People noticed something strange in the video.

Bout is hugged by someone in the group transferring Griner, then he shakes the hand of another person. You see Griner turning toward Bout, and Bout nodding toward Griner. Then, right at that point, there’s an edit, to the rest of the video of them walking away from each other. That raises the question of what was edited out. Some speculated that the edit was Griner shaking Bout’s hand, because of the turn/movement by Griner in that direction.

It does seem curious that something was cut right at that point...

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/12/09/the-story-of-two-videos-and-a-curious-edit-in-the-griner-bout-exchange-n671446

[txradioguy]

What happen to the “I’ll stand up to Putin” claim?

That disappeared to the same place where his pledge to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” went.

[mountaineer]

The hectic final chapter to WNBA star Brittney Griner's time in Russia
Dec 8, 2022
    T.J. Quinn ESPN Staff Writer

The invitation Cherelle Griner received to the White House on Thursday morning was to meet with national security adviser Jake Sullivan. This wasn't her first trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but it was the first time officials didn't work to lower her expectations before she got there.

When she arrived, she was taken to the Oval Office and greeted not by Sullivan, but by his boss, President Joe Biden. The deal is happening, he told her. A minute later he got a phone call and they heard the news together: Brittney Griner was back in U.S. custody.

The call was patched through to Griner, who was standing on a tarmac in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, wearing a knit cap over her recently shorn hair. President Biden spoke first.

"It's Joe Biden," he said, according to a White House official. "Welcome -- welcome home."

Cherelle Griner was then led to a private dining room where she could speak with her wife -- a free woman for the first time in 294 days -- without Russian officials listening in. And sometime in the very early hours Friday, she was expected to greet her wife after she landed in San Antonio. ...

Her Russian lawyer said she cut her hair because it was so cold in Russia that when she washed the long dreadlocks, her head got too cold.