by Tony Gray
posted 07 August 2022

Poor Brittney Griner, the multi-millionaire basketball player who refuses to appear on the basketball court during the playing of America's national anthem, is facing almost a decade of labor in a Russian penal colony.

Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony after she pleaded guilty to having vape cartridges containing hash oil, which were discovered in her luggage at a Russian airport.

Ms. Griner said she had a prescription for medical marijuana and did not mean to break Russian law by importing drugs into their country. Russia has harsh penalties for drug offenders and officials there insist that is why Griner was detained and tried. U.S. officials including President Joe Biden declare she is a wrongfully detained hostage to politics.

Griner, who earns slightly more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars per year under her WNBA contract, plays for a Russian basketball team in the offseason because she earns $1 million from the Russian team.

She has been criticized in the past for refusing to appear on the basketball court until the national anthem ends. She told a Washington Post reporter in 2020 that professional sports should stop playing "The Star Spangled Banner" completely.

Suggesting systemic racism in the U.S., she said she was taking a stand after Breonna Taylor's death. Other players have joined her boycott of the U.S. national anthem.

Meanwhile, pressure continues to build in the U.S. for President Biden to get Griner back to the U.S. and officials have reportedly tried to entice Russia to swap her and another American imprisoned there for a jailed arms dealer.

The only problem is that Biden has burnt most of the bridges between the U.S. and Russia so he has next to no ammunition left in his arsenal to negotiate with. Russia holds all the cards and the longer they stretch out negotiations, the better the deal they will probably get.

Right now, Biden is offering one jailed Russian arms dealer in exchange for two jailed Americans. Would you make that swap? I wouldn't. That's giving more than you are getting even under ideal circumstances.

As far as I'm concerned, she should serve her sentence and we should stop looking weak by begging for Russia to show mercy and let our pampered millionaire activist basketball player come home.

It's not like she was wrongly imprisoned because she admitted she was guilty. Like the TV detective Baretta was fond of saying: Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Plus, it will give her a chance to reconsider the disrespect she showed her country by boycotting the national anthem. She thought American police treated her badly? I imagine it won't take long in the Russian penal colony before she realizes how much worse it could be.

Serving a hard labor sentence in a Russian prison may serve as a wakeup call for resentful Americans like Griner and other knuckleheads like Colin Kaepernick. Maybe they will rethink their anti-America gestures like kneeling during the national anthem or boycotting it altogether.

America is not perfect but we are still the greatest country in the world. Just ask the millions of illegal aliens who sneak across the Southern border every year if you want to know how good we have it in this country.