The Merchant of Death for Griner Trade is Questionable, but Not The Story

The Biden Administration's decision to  swap Russian arms dealer known as the 'Merchant of Death'  for WNBA star Brittney Griner has unified the country like none other:  everyone has an opinion

The New York Times published an Open Letter to Welcome Brittney Grimes, while the rest of the mainstream media focuses on Btittney's wife

Predictably, conservatives are not happy. Griner catapulted to national  prominence not only for her heroics on the court, but off the court.  In 2020, Phoenix Mercury and WNBA star Brittney Griner told The Arizona Republic that she didn't think the national anthem should be played before WNBA games and she said that she would not be on the floor if it was. After being found guilty and convicted of drug possession and smuggling by a judge in Russia. Social media had a field day mocking her AntiAmerican stance. 

Conservatives dislike that an AntiAmerican celebrity was swapped for the Merchant of Death, while former Marine, Paul Whelan, set up by Russian Intelligence, He was convicted by Russia in 2020 of spying and was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison colony was left behind.  

Tom Pasquarello, the DEA agent who put Viktor Bout in prison blasted Brittney Griner swap:  “I’m kind of in disbelief that someone with the potential to orchestrate arms deals that can kill Americans anywhere in the world would be traded for a prisoner,” Tom Pasquarello told Yahoo! Sports

Responding to criticism launched by conservatives, they resorted to what CNN refers to as Cynical Strategies - AKA LIDDD: Lie, Ignore, Deflect, Deny, Denigrate. But implicitly or explicitly vilifying a discharged Marine to defend the indefensible #MerchantOfDeath-for-celebrity  trade is a disingenuous false equivalency. Some  have characterized Whelan as a convicted felon and  questioned his patriotism:  Bob Fertik, democrats.com president calls Elon Musk and GOP traitors for instance - and just like that the patriotism of 50% of Americans is questioned:  The P-Word is now used more often than the R-word, and like any other buzzword, it's meaningless and it's the intellectually lazy way out.

But while the trade is at  least questionable, that should not be the story but the gross misapplication of the Blackstone Ratio;  Remind me again which prominent progressive  has been held to account for the voting irregularities, Russia Hoax, Ukraine Hoax, corruption or any other trespass? Destroying  email server? Withholding   PC evidence?  Why?  Because as Nancy Prlosi loves to say Absolutely No One Is Above The Law

But the  #Jan6th Political Prisoners are  being treated to a Siberia-style incarceration while your average terrorist gets Club-Med treatment courtesy of Guantanamo

Now Saudi Mohammed Bin Salman gets immunity:  The Biden administration determined that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, should be granted immunity in a case brought against him by the fiancée of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the administration has said was murdered at the prince's direction.