Biden did what ??!!!? (New thread)

[swordfish]

So the US traded a convicted Russian arms dealer that supplied terrorist organizations (sworn enemies of the US) like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Rwanda with Russian weapons that were used to kill American soldiers as well as civilians, who when told by buyers his weapons would be used to kill American pilots, he replied "we have the same enemy" for a person who would not stand for America's national anthem and was proud of that point.  Meanwhile a former us serviceman remains in a Russian prison.  

Anyone else feel like the US (Biden) got the short end of that Russian (Putin) deal?  SMH

SF wonders if she got her vape pen back......

[swordfish]

SMH - knowing that sometime in the future, there will be time where a terrorist attack kills a bunch of people and this guy will somehow be involved......

https://nypost.com/2022/12/08/russian-ex-spy-maria-butina-mocks-brittney-griner-swap/

Maria Butina, the gun-loving, Russian ex-spy-turned-politician, couldn’t contain her glee Thursday over the White House deal to swap notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for WNBA star Brittney Griner.

“The fact that Russia pushed through the exchange of Bout, whom America fundamentally did not want to give away for many years, right now means that, like in The Godfather, we ‘made them an offer that cannot be refused,'” Butina opined on the Telegram messaging app Thursday.

“This is a position of strength, comrades,” she added.

[Bobref]

How would you feel if the exchange had been for the imprisoned Marine, instead of a black, lesbian basketball player?

[Impartial_Observer]

Both are political prisoners being used for propaganda. How many people are in US jails and prisons for low level weed infractions. 
The “black lesbian basketball player” made a conscious decision to break another country’s laws. 
This whole debacle is a direct consequence of 30 years of a miserable failure of foreign policy. When politicians are more worried about their own self interests, this is where it leads. Look at some of the key races this past election cycle. A man recovering from a stroke with little cognitive skills is now a US Senator. Florida sent an Uber driver to the house who can’t get an apartment in DC because of his poor credit. He can’t run his own affairs but the voters in his district felt like he could handle the affairs of the state. We got what we deserved, and we’re getting it good and hard. 

[Muda69]

The Whelan family was rather gracious about the entire thing:  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/family-paul-whelan-american-imprisoned-russia-says-warned-brittney-gri-rcna60732

Quote

...

David Whelan said gaining the release of Griner, who was detained in February at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage, was the "right decision" rather than "waiting for one that wasn't going to happen."

"It is so important to me that it is clear that we do not begrudge Ms. Griner her freedom," David Whelan said. "As I have often remarked, Brittney's and Paul's cases were never really intertwined. It has always been a strong possibility that one might be freed without the other."

A senior U.S. official said the U.S. government had sought to have both Griner and Whelan released as part of a swap with the Kremlin, which wanted the return of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who has served 11 years of a 25-year sentence in the U.S. But the official said that Russia has treated Whelan differently because he is accused of spying and that the Kremlin ultimately gave the White House the choice of Griner or no one after different options were proposed.

The official said that Whelan's sister was informed Wednesday about the process to release Griner, a player for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, and that another senior U.S. official was able to speak with Whelan from prison Thursday and inform him about the outcome of the negotiations.

Whelan's Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, also said that the deal was an exchange of "one to one" and that choosing Griner, 32, appeared "more humane" because she is a woman and an Olympic champion, while Whelan was in the military and it is "easier for him to be in custody."

....

 

[swordfish]

3 hours ago, Bobref said:

How would you feel if the exchange had been for the imprisoned Marine, instead of a black, lesbian basketball player?

Admittedly - Less frustrated. 

Let's call it like I see it - A retired serviceman versus a WNBA star.  (Reminder - SF was brought up to be colorblind, and as of late to ignore sexual orientation) Both were wrongly imprisoned.  SF's choice would have been the retired serviceman.

Edited December 9, 2022 by swordfish

[swordfish]

[Irishman]

5 hours ago, swordfish said:

Admittedly - Less frustrated. 

Let's call it like I see it - A retired serviceman versus a WNBA star.  (Reminder - SF was brought up to be colorblind, and as of late to ignore sexual orientation) Both were wrongly imprisoned.  SF's choice would have been the retired serviceman.

Had you heard of the Marine prior to today? I admit I had not heard of him before now. There are a LOT of people who never did. Were any of us aware he was punitively discharged (one step away from dishonorable)? For larceny? Again, I was not. What we have also learned is that he was taken into custody in 2018. I will add the Whelan family has made it clear the previous administration did nothing to try to gain his release, and added that the current administration maintained regular contact with the family with updates on efforts. 

Ever heard of Trevor Reed? He was also taken into custody by Russian authorities in 2019. He was also released in August of 2022 through the efforts of the current administration. 

So how about we cut the righteous indignation BS and not tread down the path of the usual angles in stories like this one. 

IO is spot on in the only real point to be made beyond 1 more American citizen being freed from Russian prison, is that there are way too many people in American prisons charged with similar crimes; and unlike Griner in Russia, never had a trial, but accepted some asinine plea deal from an overly aggressive DA trying to score political points for being "tough on crime". 

[swordfish]

On 12/9/2022 at 6:09 PM, Irishman said:

Had you heard of the Marine prior to today? I admit I had not heard of him before now. There are a LOT of people who never did. Were any of us aware he was punitively discharged (one step away from dishonorable)? For larceny? Again, I was not. What we have also learned is that he was taken into custody in 2018. I will add the Whelan family has made it clear the previous administration did nothing to try to gain his release, and added that the current administration maintained regular contact with the family with updates on efforts. 

Ever heard of Trevor Reed? He was also taken into custody by Russian authorities in 2019. He was also released in August of 2022 through the efforts of the current administration. 

So how about we cut the righteous indignation BS and not tread down the path of the usual angles in stories like this one. 

IO is spot on in the only real point to be made beyond 1 more American citizen being freed from Russian prison, is that there are way too many people in American prisons charged with similar crimes; and unlike Griner in Russia, never had a trial, but accepted some asinine plea deal from an overly aggressive DA trying to score political points for being "tough on crime". 

Answer to the first question - Yes, and yes, I was aware of the history of the man's bad conduct discharge.  I also fully understood the reasoning behind the former President's decision to turn a cold shoulder to Russia over prisoner exchanges to get the "Merchant of Death" back to the former USSR.  They wanted him back bad for some reason.  Either way, this guy in an exchange for a former service man AND a WNBA star would have had my vote.  An all or nothing negotiation since we (the current US administration) are clearly hoping Russia is able to re-take Ukraine (somehow) so the powers that be (US and Russia) can secure all the evidence Zelinsky has on them (but no one wants to talk about)......

Again, (IMHO) there was a reason Vlad halted further aggression in Ukraine after Trump's election for 4 years having just took over Crimea in 2014 under Obama, waiting until Biden was elected with (somehow) the most votes EVER for an American President......There is also a reason Zelinsky is still alive.....Additionally (IMHO) there is a reason we somehow traded a pretty bad man (that as I said earlier in this thread - we will be reading sometime in the future how this guy had a connection with the deaths of a whole lot of innocent people somewhere) and that Russia has been trying to get back for quite a while for a wrongfully detained (for about 10 months) top women's basketball player who is assuradly going to get the absolute most press coverage for the President.  

(IMHO) it's much deeper than just a prisoner for a prisoner, it's a mediocre Checkers player competing against a champion Chess player on a multi-level chess board.....

You want to talk about wrongfully imprisoned individuals in the US (that we would probably agree on) - start a different thread.

There is my righteous indignation BS for you.......

[Muda69]

20 minutes ago, swordfish said:

 An all or nothing negotiation since we (the current US administration) are clearly hoping Russia is able to re-take Ukraine (somehow) so the powers that be (US and Russia) can secure all the evidence Zelinsky has on them (but no one wants to talk about)......

 

Please elaborate on this evidence Mr. Zelinsky supposedly has on Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden

. 

[swordfish]

1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

Please elaborate on this evidence Mr. Zelinsky supposedly has on Mr. Putin and Mr. Biden

. 

Ukraine corruption?  Only they know is my point.  For some reason, Zelinsky, elected in 2019 - is still alive. 

(IMHO) If Putin really felt he and the other parties (from the US and Russia) involved could get away with it free and clear without repercussions, Kyiv would be levelled, Zelinsky dead and Ukraine back under Russian control by now.......I believe Zelinsky has the goods, Putin and the US knows this and knows it will become widely know if something happens to Zelinsky.  

Remember Biden's billion dollar Quid-Pro-Quo when he was the Vice President?  Yeah, probably nothing, but could be something......

[swordfish]

https://nypost.com/2023/01/11/penn-biden-center-is-dark-money-nightmare-patronage-mill/

The Ivy League think tank where lawyers found classified materials linked to the Obama White House is a patronage mill for the Biden administration, raising suspicions among critics that its establishment attracted tens of millions in donations from anonymous Chinese donors.

The Department of Justice is probing how “a small number” of classified documents from President Biden’s years as vice president ended up at the Washington, DC, think tank that bears his name, the White House confirmed Monday. A second batch of papers was found at an additional location, it was reported Wednesday.

The University of Pennsylvania received more than $30 million from Chinese donors shortly after the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which functioned as an office for Joe Biden before he was elected president, was announced in 2017, according to public records.

“The Penn Biden Center is a dark-money, revolving-door nightmare where foreign competitors like China donated millions of dollars to the university so that they could have access to future high-ranking officials,” said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project at the Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center.

The University of Pennsylvania raked in a total of $54.6 million from 2014 through June 2019 in donations from China, including $23.1 million in anonymous gifts starting in 2016, according to public records.

Most of the anonymous donations came after the university officially announced in February 2017 that it would create the academic center named for Biden, whose term as vice president under Barack Obama had just ended. In addition to leading the think tank, Biden was named a professor at the school.

The Ivy League institution received $15.8 million in anonymous Chinese gifts in 2017 and one $14.5 million donation in May 2018, three months after the center opened, records show.

“The Penn Biden Center has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity,” said a spokesman for the University of Pennsylvania. “In fact, the University has never solicited any gifts for the Center. Since its inception in 2017 there have been three unsolicited gifts (from two donors) which combined total $1,100. Both donors are Americans. One hundred percent of the budget for the Penn Biden Center comes from university funds.” 

The center does not list any of its fellows or administrators on its website, and does not have separate financial filings. It operates under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania with a mission of engaging “fellow citizens in shaping this world, while ensuring the gains of global engagement are widely shared,” according to its website.

Meanwhile, former fellows and administrators of the Penn Biden Center now have key positions in the Biden administration.

Michael Carpenter, the former managing director of the Penn Biden Center, was named the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, based in Vienna, in 2021. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also briefly served as director of the think tank before joining the Biden administration in January 2021. Before that, Blinken was a policy adviser for Biden’s 2020 campaign.

Juan Sebastian Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the center from April 2018 to September 2020, is special assistant to the president and the national security director for the Western Hemisphere at the White House, according to his LinkedIn page.

The sensitive material at the center was discovered by Biden’s personal lawyers on Nov. 2, 2022, while they “were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space,” according to a statement from Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president.

Sauber said Biden used the Washington, DC, office space from “mid-2017 until the start of the 2020 campaign” in April 2019.

After Biden was elected president in 2020, the center said it would operate “completely independent of the Biden administration.”

 

Yeah - I'm pretty sure the former Vice President surely wasn't keeping classified documents there.  I mean he was the VP, not POTUS, so he really didn't have the clearance anyway, right?  I meant the generous Chinese would have given millions of dollars to the university anyhow......Yeah, nothing to see here.....But - TRUMP - What's he doing?!!!!

[temptation]

Did you hear he has a Corvette he keeps locked up?

[swordfish]

Lest we forget - None of this "classified document discovery" would be occurring right now had Biden kept the "Executive Privilege" in place that was afforded to every former POTUS prior to Trump.  

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-us-supreme-court-congress-capitol-siege-13803c23a094992233df3b6880d2808b

Risky move: Biden undercuts WH executive privilege shield

Biden’s decision not to block the information sought by Congress challenges a tested norm — one in which presidents enjoy the secrecy of records of their own terms in office, both mundane and highly sensitive, for a period of at least five years, and often far longer. That means Biden and future presidents, as well as Trump.

While not spelled out in the Constitution, executive privilege has developed to protect a president’s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect his confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/23/newly-revealed-memos-undercut-white-house-claims-b/

A newly revealed letter shows that President Biden authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to reject any executive privilege claims that former President Donald Trump might use to stop the Justice Department from accessing classified documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

A letter posted late Monday on the website of conservative journalist John Solomon — one of the few people authorized by Mr. Trump to review National Archives records — revealed that Mr. Biden ordered the National Archives to share all materials it had requested from Mr. Trump to be shared with the Justice Department and the FBI.

SF is pretty sure former POTUS(s) Obama and Bush are meticulously combing their files right now to avoid any potential conflict because of this dust-up (maybe).