This prisoner exchange is one of the worst decisions made so far by President^* Joe Biden, or (more likely) by his mostly-anonymous handlers in the White House.

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Injecting politics into sports

'Merchant of Death' arms dealer traded for Brittney Griner to run for office in Russia.  Former arms dealer, Viktor Bout, better known as the "Merchant of Death," who was traded for WNBA star Brittney Griner, has been tapped by a so-called far-right political party in Russia to run for office in the regional legislature.  Bout joined Russia's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), formerly known as the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union when he returned from the United States.  The LDP currently holds 23 of the 450 seats in Russia's legislature.  The party is considered to be to the right of Russian President Vladimir Putin's dominant United Russia Party, according to Fox News, and supports Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Barely anyone shows up for Brittney Griner "welcome back" party.  The female WNBA player who bounces basketballs for a living and who was traded for arguably one of the worst terrorists in the world to secure her freedom from a Russian jail, Brittney Griner, is apparently not as popular as the leftist media would have us believe.  According to the Media Research Center, University Baptist Church in Waco, TX., located only miles from Baylor University where Griner attended college, sought to host a welcome back party for Griner after she returned back from Russia.  Now one might think that an icon of the alphabet community who checks off a number of boxes on the woke checklist might draw a bit of a crowd for such a momentous event.  In truth, only about 20 people actually showed up for the event.

'Merchant of Death' swapped for Griner says he wants to join Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Former Russian Army Lt. Col. Viktor Bout, a convicted arms dealer known as the "Merchant of Death," who the U.S. swapped with the Kremlin for WNBA player Brittney Griner, praised Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said he wants to join the fight, according to state media.  When asked by Russian state-sponsored outlet RT about the invasion of Ukraine, Bout said: "I never understood why we didn't do this earlier."  "I fully support the special military operation," Bout said, using Russia's nickname for the invasion of Ukraine.  "If I could share the skills I have, I would readily volunteer."

What next for Viktor Bout?  The controversy over the one-sided prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, with notorious "Merchant of Death" and "Lord of War" Viktor Bout traded for a wokester celebrity basketball player caught with a personal stash of CBD oil, is now dying down.  The remaining question is, what's next?  We can safely assume that Brittney Griner will either return to professional basketball or, more likely, enter the lucrative lecture circuit with book deals and television appearances.  That's a big "who cares"?  But arms-trafficker Viktor Bout is another story.

Mike Pompeo: Griner-Bout swap makes it 'more likely' celebrities will be taken hostage.  Former Secretary of State and currennt Fox News contributor Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the controversial prisoner swap with Russia, in which WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from Russian detention in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, will make it "more likely" for celebrities and other notables to be taken hostage abroad.  Pompeo told "Fox News Sunday" anchor Shannon Bream that the Trump administration — in which he served — was careful not to create incentives for U.S. adversaries when negotiating prisoner exchanges.  "The Trump administration was always very clear," he said.  "We weren't going to trade bad guys for celebrities because it creates the wrong incentives for the bad guys as we go forward.  It's not good for American national security.  It's not good for people who are traveling across the world."

Viktor Bout Mocks U.S. on Russian TV and Shows How Bad the Griner Swap Truly Was.  The reactions to the lopsided Brittney Griner/Viktor Bout swap are still coming in.  Here's Derek Maltz, former DEA Special Operations Director, talking with Fox News, describing the effort they made to put Bout in jail, what a danger he was to the world, and that he was convicted on serious terrorism charges.  He notes that even the Obama administration got how serious this was and Joe Biden was the Vice President at the time, so he had to know what a danger Bout was to the world.  [Video clip]

How Many Innocent People Are Going to Die Because of the Griner Deal?  Viktor Bout — "The Merchant of Death" or "The Lord of War" — is not a very nice man.  He sells arms to groups that kill innocent people.  And according to all accounts, he particularly loves killing Americans.  Just before he was arrested in a brilliant sting operation by the DEA in 2008, Bout told the informants who were just about to rat him out "that he had been fighting the U.S. for about 15 years and that the U.S. is an enemy," and that "He was very eager and anxious to carry out this arms deal to kill Americans."  Way to go, Joe.  Viktor Bout sold arms to just about any enemy of America who had the cash to pay him, including militants in Africa, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban.  And now he's free, and he owes Vladimir Putin and Russia big time.

Biden Calls For 'Assault Rifle Ban After' Freeing Arms Dealer Peddling 30,000 AK-47s.  While leaving multiple white male Americans behind in Russian prisons, Biden undermined national security, freeing the 'Merchant of Death', an arms dealer with reported ties to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, who had been busted trying to sell surface-to-air missiles to Marxist narcoterrorists to kill Americans.  Defense officials are anonymously objecting to the treasonous move that rewards Putin while endangering American lives.

The Crumbling States of America.  In the first 24 hours following the announcement of the release of Brittany Griner, nearly every pundit in the media, cow-towed to the obligatory "don't get me wrong, anytime we get an American back — I'm happy."  So we're supposed to be thrilled that someone who hates us as much as her captors did got released, instead of a marine who served his country with dignity?  Not only that — just hours after calling out gun owners across the country Mr. Biden released a gun-selling ghoulish villain who equally hates America.  My national security sources tell me they believe that said terrorist, Mr. Bout, is already on his way to see action in Ukraine against the interests and resources we have invested in trying to keep Ukraine free. [...] Like the armed forces we humiliated in Afghanistan, we left a Marine behind in Russia.  A man who has been detained for nearly four times as long as Griner was.  Within a single day, Russian news chat programs were discussing our unfathomable decision to take the basketball player and asserted that one of the reasons the Marine was left behind was due to his heterosexuality.  They were saying it out loud!  In the next breath, they praise the ghoul for being a hero and how happy they were to have him home.  Meanwhile, stateside Karin Jean-Pierre gaslights the American media by telling us that it was the basketball player or no one.  This is a flat-out falsehood if the now scrubbed original NBC report was true showing that the administration was given their choice of the two.

The supreme outrage of Biden's idiotic prisoner swap with Putin.  Seeing the public relations fantasy dance through his head and hoping to get a win that would deflect from all his administration's miserable failures, from the economy to the border and more, Biden ordered the release of Viktor Bout, a miserable, death-dealing arms merchant who has left thousands of dead in his wake.  In exchange:  The return of Brittney Griner, a black, lesbian, anti-American, anti-God, anti-family, pot-headed basketball player, who has turned her back on America more than once.  Biden chose this swap rather than using the full weight of the U.S.'s resources to secure the release of Paul Whelan, a Marine veteran and a heterosexual male, who has spent the past four years in a Russian prison on false charges of espionage.  Yes.  The P.R. optics heavily favored Griner over Whelan.

Biden releases international arms dealer and terrorist in exchange for a pothead activist basketball star.  Could you imagine being in a USA jail for pot for the last few years and you see the last couple months unfold on the TV.  Or, imagine being one of the other US citizens locked up in Russia for weed right now and Britney gets freed and you don't.  It's a big club and you ain't in it.

The Editor says...
She is now a guaranteed attendance killer.  Box office poison.  When this alleged "basketball star" gets back to work, you can expect to hear (if the networks don't mute it) non-stop booing and heckling from the crowd, if anyone at all attends her games.

Biden Admin Trades 'Merchant of Death' Russian Terrorist for Brittney Griner.  Several outlets reported early Thursday that WNBA star Brittney Griner — and I use the term "star" loosely — had been released from a Russian prison in exchange for Viktor Bout.  Bout, nicknamed the "Merchant of Death," is a former Soviet military officer who, up until now, was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States for crimes that included plotting to murder Americans, obtaining and transferring anti-aircraft missiles, and providing material support to a terrorist organization, according to CNN.  He was convicted in 2011.

The Editor says...
One party in this transaction is a man who, according to Wikipedia, "was convicted by a jury in a Manhattan federal court of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and providing aid to a terrorist organization."  The other party in this exchange is a practically unknown black female whose only skill is playing basketball, who thought it would be okay to smuggle drugs into Russia.  She is an anti-American troublemaker who, according to Wikipedia, once "called for the WNBA to stop playing the United States national anthem before the games."  If that is an acceptable swap to the Biden administration, it says a lot about Biden's puppeteers and the Democratic Party in general.

Joe Biden: Brittney Griner an 'Incomparable Athlete,' Who 'Represents the Best of America'.  President Joe Biden on Thursday celebrated the news that his administration had successfully secured the release of WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia.  "Brittney is an incomparable athlete," Biden said, noting she was a two-time Olympic Gold medalist for the United States.  Griner was arrested in February at a Moscow airport by Russian officials for possession of cannabis vape cartridges.

The Editor says...
Even if it were true that Ms. Griner "is an incomparable athlete," and it isn't, is a minor athlete of as much value to this country as a mercenary arms dealer is to Russia?  [#2] Very few "incomparable athletes" are alive today, and she's not one of them.

The prisoner swap of the century, for all the wrong reasons.  The incompetent Biden administration decided to show how "benevolent" it is by proposing a trade deal with Russia, an adversary of the United States.  You would think this deal would unimpeachably benefit our nation.  However, nothing that the Biden administration has done has been salutary for the United States.  In this given "trade," Joe Biden offered Russia one of its most effective arms dealers, Viktor Bout.  For those not aware, Viktor Bout was imprisoned by the United States in 2011 on the grounds that he was threatening American lives.  One would imagine that the United States would be getting an asset, too.  Perhaps a Marine held hostage by Russia?  So whom did the United States get in return?  Well, we got a WNBA player by the name of Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned several months ago on drug charges.  Griner has been vocal about her disdain for the United States.  In fact, during several of her inferior games, Griner infamously decided not to stand for the playing of the National Anthem.  The anthem is something everyone should stand for; it represents the sacrifices that thousands have endured in order for us to be free.  Personally, I was content with Griner being in Russia.  After all, she hates our country.

The Editor says...
Why did she go to Russia anyway?

It Sure Looks Like Biden Is Lying About the Brittney Griner Prisoner Swap.  On Thursday, news broke that WNBA player Brittney Griner was being released from a Russian labor camp and flown back to the United States.  According to an announcement by the White House, Griner had been swapped for a notorious arms dealer named Viktor Bout, also known as the "merchant of death."  Quickly, the backslapping began, with Joe Biden taking full credit for the deal, but it didn't take long before questions began to emerge.  Former US Marine Paul Whelan has been held on false charges in Russia for nearly four years.  Why wasn't he prioritized in the deal?  Then there is teacher Mark Fogel, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for possessing medical marijuana (very similar to Griner's charge).  The White House won't even acknowledge his plight, having not designated him as being wrongfully detained.  As the Biden administration told it, though, Whelan was never on the table.  Instead, the Russians insisted that the trade had to be for Griner or no one.  Yet, astute observers noted how little sense that makes.

Sorry, Brittney Griner Isn't Worth an International Terrorist.  [Scroll down] No, Joe, Brittney Griner wasn't unjustly detained; she broke Russian criminal statutes.  She admitted it, Joe.  Griner is an admitted criminal.  Griner pled guilty in the hope of getting a reduced sentence.  Griner should still be in a Russian jail cell.  According to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre aka: The worst press security in history, the only deal that the Administration could make was exchanging a low-life, high value convicted arms-dealing terrorist for an admitted criminal.  She was exchanged because she checked the boxes.  She's gay.  She's black.  And she refused to stand for the national anthem, saying:  "I personally don't think it belongs in sports. ... Black people didn't have rights at that point," Griner said of the creation of the Star-Spangled Banner.  "It's hard disrespecting [sic] a song that didn't even represent all Americans when it was first made."  But once Griner got caught with drugs and charged with a crime (that she admitted to), she pleaded with America to bring her home.  And Biden rolled.  Giving up a terrorist for an admitted criminal and complainer, and leaving a Marine behind, is shameful.

The Brittney Griner Trade Just Got Much Worse, With a Saudi Angle.  On Thursday morning, news broke that Brittney Griner was headed home.  The embattled WNBA star who once asked her league to stop playing the national anthem had been imprisoned for months in Russia, after being caught with hash oil.  A blockbuster trade was made to secure her release.  Or at least, it was a blockbuster for one side.  Russia received notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.  The United States got Griner and no one else.  But while the deal was lopsided, it was arguably necessary.  The Biden administration swears that imprisoned former US Marine Paul Whelen wasn't being offered by Russia, and anytime you are dealing with a dictatorial state, getting fleeced seems to be the name of the game.  We saw that during the Obama years when the former president released five hardcore terrorists to secure the release of Bowe Bergdahl, who had deserted his unit and gotten captured.  In the case of the Biden administration, though, it doesn't appear they are being totally honest about what transpired.

Ex-Kremlin Aide Celebrates Big Victory For Russia After Biden Gets Played By Putin.  Former Putin aide Sergei Markov wrote a blistering series of Telegram messages on Thursday celebrating how Putin "outplayed" Biden in the prisoner swap that brought Brittney Griner back to the US in exchange for Viktor Bout, who government officials have called "one of the most dangerous men on the face of the earth".  "Putin outplayed Biden," Markov wrote on Telegram.  "We got back our spy, it seems, and gave away a normal girl," he continued.  Markov continued his series of posts with a chilling message, saying that nobody should be "hopeful" that this is a step forward in relations between Russia and the US.  He further claimed that a motivating factor for Biden saving Griner was so he wouldn't be blamed if she ended up dying in prison.

The Editor says...
I predict she will soon retire from basketball and get a job as a incompetent weekend sports commentator, or a do-nothing Biden political appointee, whose opinion must not be questioned.

Trump Calls Joe Biden's Prisoner Swap for Brittney Griner a 'Stupid and Unpatriotic Embarrassment'.  Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden's Brittney Griner prisoner swap as "stupid" and "unpatriotic embarrassment."  Issuing the statement on Truth Social, Trump said the swap was a bad deal because Biden traded an ex-WNBA basketball star for notorious Russian arms dealers Viktor Bout, "one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the world."  Trump said the trade was especially grievous because Griner has been "openly" hateful towards her own nation.

White House on the offense after prisoner swap for Brittney Griner.  The White House had to have known the kind of response the Brittney Griner prisoner swap with Viktor Bout, a.k.a. the Merchant of Death would bring.  That is likely why reports say that the decision was a difficult one for Joe Biden.  I guarantee Biden knew the kind of criticism he was in for with this deal. [...] Whether or not we agree with her political activism or personal behavior, as Americans we bring our people home from being detained overseas.  Brittney violated Russian drug laws but who really thinks that a nine year prison sentence was appropriate?  That was Mad Vlad Putin poking his finger in Joe Biden's eye.  She is a WNBA star and a black lesbian.  My goodness, she checks off a lot of boxes in Democrat politics.  She was a valuable asset for the Russians.  So, they got a world famous arms dealer with American blood on his hands in exchange.  Putin scored big.

White House Swaps Arms Dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA Player Brittany Griner — MbS Was Intermediary.  Brittany Griner (32) was held in Russian prison after a conviction for drug possession.  Viktor Bout (55) was held in American prison after a conviction for illegal arms sales, supporting terrorists and money laundering.  In a prisoner exchange that took place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Abu Dhabi airport, WNBA player Brittany Griner and Russian dealer Viktor Bout walked past each other on the tarmac.  Note: Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) negotiated the deal.  Yesterday, in federal court the U.S. dropped a lawsuit against MbS for the Khoshoggi killing.  The case was dismissed.  The timing is transparent.  The Biden administration gets a popular transvestite hero of the LGBTQ+ community, while Vladimir Putin gets a Russian born global arms dealer nicknamed "the merchant of death."

Meet the 'Merchant of Death' Freed by the Biden Administration.  After months of negotiation, the Biden administration on Thursday freed convicted notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia on drug charges.  Bout had been serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. In April 2012, he was found guilty of conspiring to kill Americans and U.S. officials, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization. [...] Bout was arrested and extradited from Thailand in 2008 in a sting operation conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.  DEA agents secured a meeting with Bout by posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a U.S. designated terrorist group, interested in buying tens of millions of dollars of arms.

Flashback to July, 2022:
Trump: Brittney Griner prisoner swap for 'Merchant of Death' doesn't 'seem like a very good trade'.  Former President Donald Trump suggested that the proposed prisoner swap between Russia and the United States that would return jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for a Russian arms dealer "doesn't seem like a very good trade."  "She knew you don't go in there loaded up with drugs, and she admitted it," Trump told the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.  "I assume she admitted it without too much force because it is what it is, and it certainly doesn't seem like a very good trade, does it?  He's absolutely one of the worst in the world, and he's gonna be given his freedom because a potentially spoiled person goes into Russia loaded up with drugs."  Trump was referring to reports that the United States is attempting to secure the release of Griner, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout who is known as the "Merchant of Death" due to his weapons sales that fueled deadly conflicts around the world.