Dennis Rodman not going to help Brittney Griner's release from Russian prison

Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman had been planning to go to Russia in an effort to free WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner from a Russian prison after being found guilty of drug possession. He told the public last week that he was all set to go there but the U.S. government publicly discouraged his plan. Now he appears to have changed his mind and will not be going to Russia.

Griner has been sentenced to nine years in early August for bringing cannabis oil vape cartridges into Russia in February. On Saturday, Rodman told NBC News that he planned to go there to help Griner.

“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman said Saturday. “I’m trying to go this week.”

However, government officials the State Department immediately indicated they thought Rodman’s plan was garbage and told the former dribbler and shooter of basketballs that if he had gone, he would not be acting in any official capacity for the United States.

“He would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government,” Ned Price, the first openly gay, married to a dude State Department spokesman, told ABC News.

“We believe that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts,” Price added.

Rodman, in the midst of scrutiny over his comments, told ABC News on Monday that he now has no plans to travel to Russia, the network reported.

The State Department also issued a travel advisory to discourage all Americans from visiting Russia.

“Do not travel to Russia due to the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, the singling out of U.S. citizens in Russia by Russian government security officials including for detention, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the Embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19-related restrictions, and terrorism.

“U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart Russia immediately. Exercise increased caution due to wrongful detention,” the advisory outlined.

However, even though the advisory is in place, Rodman does not need special permission from the U.S. to go to Russia. He just would have needed a visa from Moscow. 

* * *

Hey folks, consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Communism, ignorance, The New York Times, and the heebie-jeebies. You also help me. Thanks.

* * *

Rodman has a history of informal diplomacy with international leaders who have a strained relationship with the United States. Over the past 10 years, the former NBA star has had a relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and has visited the country multiple times.

And while he might be strange in so many ways, he would still make a better president than Joe Biden, and unlike Brittney Griner, he never "took a knee" during the national anthem.

Tweet

Friend of Kim Jong Un to go to Russia to advocate for WNBA's Brittney Griner's release

Early Rodman

The friend of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, says he has "permission" to go to Russia to advocate for WNBA player Brittney Griner who was sentenced to nine years in a scummy Russian prison for having cannabis in her possession. That friend of Kim's is none other than the beautiful Dennis Rodman.

“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman told NBC News. “I’m trying to go this week.”

The outlet's report did not specify who Rodman claims gave him “permission” to travel to Russia to lobby for Griner’s release, but it likely wasn't Joe Biden because he needs permission to give permission for something so important.

Rodman claimed that he helped with the release of American Kenneth Bae after speaking with his buddy Kim.

And while no permission is currently needed to travel to Russia, the State Department advises U.S. citizens against going there due to the Ukraine invasion by the Russians and the U.S. Embassy's limited ability to assist Americans should they need help there.

American credit cards and debit cards don't work anymore in Russia.

NBC News tried to reach out to the White House regarding Rodman's plans but they did not respond to media outlets.

If Rodman is successful securing the release of Griner, it isn't known whether she will continue to take a knee during the national anthem, or if she will play basketball in the future.

The State Department has been in negotiations to free Griner, but efforts have seemingly failed so far because no country takes the Biden administration seriously.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport on February 17 after cannabis-infused vape cartridges were found in her luggage. She pled guilty to the drug charges.

* * *

Hey folks, consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Communism, ignorance, The New York Times, and the heebie-jeebies. You also help me. Thanks.

* * *

Following Griner’s sentence, alleged President Joe Biden released a statement condemning the decision. The statement was prepared for him by a staff member whose language skills have not deteriorated to Biden's level and has a basic understanding  of the situation.

Tweet

Alec Baldwin in hot water from "Rust" says FBI

According to the findings of an FBI forensic report, the revolver that was held by actor Alec Baldwin that fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust" could not have fired without pulling the trigger. So Baldwin, who said the gun went off by itself was lying.

Baldwin also told law enforcement at the time that he thought he was handling a gun that was not loaded with live ammunition. What he was never taught, evidently, is that all guns need to be treated as if they were loaded with live ammunition.

The FBI report as per ABC News says the .45 Colt revolver  “could not be made to fire without a pull of the trigger” while in a quarter-cocked position, a half-cocked position, and a fully-cocked position.

So Baldwin may be in bigger trouble than former President Donald Trump, a person Baldwin often spoofed on SNL.

If the hammer on the gun was in the de-cocked position, the firearm could discharge a round by striking the hammer, which is a standard way that a revolver operates.

Late last year in an ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin said that he pulled “the hammer as far back as I could without cocking” it and then he “let go of the hammer” and “bang, the gun goes off.”

Those damn violent guns. What are they going to do about them?

Baldwin said in the interview that “the trigger wasn’t pulled,” “I didn’t pull the trigger,” “I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them,” and “someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”

But he didn't check the gun himself, he did pull the trigger, and he pointed the gun at Hutchins and he shot and killed her due to his failure to ensure the gun wasn't loaded. By the way, you don't put a bullet in a gun, you put a round in a gun. The bullet is the thing on the business end of the round that is shot out of the gun.

The Washington Post published a fact-check article after Baldwin's interview that quoted various firearm experts who expressed skepticism over Baldwin’s claims because they sounded bogus.

Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwie effectively said in a statement earlier this month that nothing was being ruled out in terms of what prosecutors could do.

“Once the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office (‘FJDA’) receives the completed investigation from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office (‘SFSO’), the FJDA will begin the screening process and any necessary follow-up investigation,” she said in a statement. “To date, my office has received portions of the Rust investigation from SFSO but is still awaiting the balance of supplemental reports including, but not limited to, the following: FBI firearm and tool mark analyses, forensic testing on the firearm itself, the forensic download from Suffolk County PD of Mr. Baldwin’s phone, and the pathology report from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.”

“Once SFSO receives those—and any other outstanding items—and completes its supplemental reports, the screening process will begin, and my team and I will make a charging decision,” she continued. “To expedite the FJDA review process, I have added retired Ninth Judicial District Attorney, Andrea Reeb to the team, as a special prosecutor for this case. To remain transparent to the local and national community, the FJDA will proactively disseminate information as it becomes available.”

* * *

Hey folks, consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Communism, ignorance, The New York Times, and the heebie-jeebies. You also help me. Thanks.

* * *

It's obvious Baldwin shot Hutchins, not out of anger or vengeance, but out of sheer ignorance of how to handle a firearm. But he needs to be held accountable for his ignorance and his vile temper. Perhaps he should be traded with the Russians for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. He can entertain the Russian jailers with his Trump impersonations.

Tweet

As Brittney Griner languishes in Russian prison, her anti-National Anthem Comments live on

WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner said the national anthem should not be payed before WNBA games because it somehow offended her. She swore to protest if it was played. “I honestly feel we should not play the National Anthem during our season,” she told AZ Central in 2020. “I think we should take that much of a stand.”

“I don’t mean that in any disrespect to our country,” she said. “My dad was in Vietnam and a law officer for 30 years. I wanted to be a cop before basketball. I do have pride for my country.” Just not in our National Anthem/

“I’m going to protest regardless,” Griner added, long before her arrest. “I’m not going to be out there for the National Anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”

And so she and her teammates took a knee when the Star Spangled Banner was played .

You know what--Griner probably doesn't hate the United States. She's just another mindless sheep with her head up the butt of the sheep in front of her in the herd. And that sheep whose butt is being followed by Griner has her head up the butt of Colin Kaepernick, the premier detractor of the greatest nation on earth.

Griner was sentenced this month to nine and a half years in a Russian prison for possession of cannabis oil. She knew the Russian laws about drugs--it wasn't as if she hadn't been there before.

Her comments about the anthem resurfaced online after sentencing.

Tomi Lahren, a political commentator, mocked Griner: 

On the bright side, B Griner won’t have to endure our National Anthem for 9 whole years! What a win for her!

Sure, it was kind of a cruel thing to say, but you can understand how her previous behavior can anger conservatives and people such as Tomi Lahren who call themselves conservative but are pro-abortion. 

Fellow Phoenix Mercury player Brianna Turner, who also disrespects the American flag and the National Anthem, on August 4, the day Griner was sentenced, defended Griner.

“I would love to individually respond and annihilate every negative viewpoint I receive but that would be a waste of my time,” Turner posted online. “At the end of the day many people lack compassion & critical thinking skills and it’s not my responsibility to teach that. Respectfully, get a life trolls.”

One has to respect Turner's loyalty to her teammate. But it isn't a lack of compassion for Griner that her detractors are showing: it's their respect for the country and how the view Griner's past behavior along with that of Turner's, who, in responding to the anti-Griner messages added in her post,  "I know many Americans lack compassion due to all the chaos … that happens regularly in our country.” She couldn't help but get in a ding to the nation.

Before Griner was sentenced, the 6-foot, 9-inch WNBA star told the court she never meant to break any laws and made an “honest mistake.”

Really? She didn't know the laws of Russia? She simply took it for granted they would allow medical marijuana into their country without checking?

* * *

Hey folks, consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Communism, ignorance, The New York Times, and the heebie-jeebies. You also help me. Thanks.

* * *

On the other hand, nobody deserves to serve nine years in prison for what she did. But on the other hand, why are we thinking about handing over Viktor Bout, a known terrorist in her place along with one other American, former Marine, Paul Whelan, when it's clear that more lives will be endangered, possibly killed, if we hand Bout over.

I hope Griner and Whelan are freed, but I don't think it should be with this deal when one uses "critical thinking," as Brianna Turner says we lack.

Tweet

Brittney Griner suddenly stands for America

Brittney Griner returned to a Russian courtroom Tuesday and her defense team is claiming she uses marijuana to treat pain. She was caught with marijuana vape cartridge with CBD oils in it at a Moscow airport in February and has since been languishing in a Russian prison. She pleaded guilty to the drug possession charge but said she didn't intentionally break Russia's anti-drug laws. She faces up to ten years in prison.

Griner is one of the tallest WNBA basketball players, standing at 6 feet 9 inches tall.

Griner came to the forefront of public attention in 2020, after she voiced her opposition to the playing of the National Anthem before WNBA games. She and many of her teammates also began kneeling while it was played because Colin Kaepernick, a mediocre NFL football player used the same ploy to try boosting his career.

But Griner also has a spotty past. In 2015 the WNBA suspended her and her ex-wife, Glory Johnson, for seven games after the not-so loving couple got into a domestic dispute. They were both later arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

In 2020, Griner faced suspension for an on-court brawl she had gotten into, and during the George Floyd riots, she and her teammates refused to take the floor for a preseason game which was eventually canceled.

She had this to say: "I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season. I think we should take that much of a stand." She also said that she "does not believe that the national anthem should be played at sporting events"

But that was then.

Several days prior to Griner's guilty plea, she wrote to our so-called President Joe Biden (D) begging him to use his apparent power to get her butt out of jail and back home where she is free to kneel for the National Anthem once again and beat up on her wife.

In her letter, she wrote in part, “On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father, who is a Vietnam war veteran. It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.”

Griner’s defense argued she used  medical marijuana to treat pain from injuries like many other professional athletes. But medical marijuana is against Russian law and Griner should have researched that before traveling there, after all, it isn't as if there exists no pain treatment alternatives.

"With the prescription in place, Brittney may have used it for medical but not recreational purposes," her lawyer Maria Blagovolina said in court, as per Reuters.

Another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday the U.S. laws legalizing cannabis in some states have no bearing on what happens in Russia. 

"You understand, if drugs are legalized in the United States — in a number of states — and this is done for a long time, and now the whole country will become drug addicted. This does not mean that all other countries are following the same path," Zakharova said.

* * *

 Consider subscribing to Brain Flushings and please check out the ads on these pages. It costs nothing to subscribe and it's worth every penny. And remember, every time you click on an ad, you help in the fight against Communism, ignorance, The New York Times, and the heebie-jeebies.

* * *

Russian media has speculated that Griner could be exchanged for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is imprisoned in the U.S. Russian authorities have said that no swap could take place until Griner is sentenced.

A Russian court has authorized Griner’s detention until Dec. 20.

Tweet