PrintKamala Harris cries crocodile tears for Griner's Russian prison sentence
A few days ago, a Russian court has sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drug charges.
The double Olympic winner admitted possession of cannabis oil. But Griner also said she had been prescribed the oil to help relieve pain related to her chronic injuries and had accidentally packed them in her luggage.
The court near Moscow convicted Griner of smuggling and possessing narcotics. The prosecution had sought a nine-and-a-half-year prison term.
Reading the verdict, the presiding judge said she had taken into account the fact that Griner had been detained for a substantial amount of time.
Griner’s defense team said they would appeal the verdict.
Griner was detained early this February at an airport near Moscow when the vape cartridges containing cannabis oil were discovered in her luggage.
Griner had traveled to Russia to play club basketball during the U.S. off-season.
Griner’s case has become subject to high-profile diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
The U.S. and Russia have even discussed the possibility of a potential prisoner swap that could involve the basketball player and Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout who is imprisoned in the U.S. for plotting to kill Americans.
Responding to the sentencing, Joe Biden called the sentencing "unacceptable."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "Russia, and any country engaging in wrongful detention, represents a threat to the safety of everyone traveling, working, and living abroad."
Vice President Kamala Harris took to Twitter to condemn Griner’s conviction, too.
With today’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She should be released immediately. @POTUS and I, and our entire Administration, are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who miss each of them dearly.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) August 4, 2022
Some on social media noted the dual standards in Harris’s utterances and her past actions.
The 9-year sentence that Griner was given is almost identical to most of the criminal sentences that Kamala Harris sought, and won, as prosecutor, for people for similar offenses
Brittney Griner got 9 years for drug possession in Russia... which sounds like most of the criminal sentences Kamala Harris got people for the same thing when she was Attorney General of California.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) August 4, 2022
Former Democrat congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard also slammed Harris for her hypocrisy in defending Brittney Griner but not standing up for Americans locked up at home for marijuana violations – including those who were prosecuted by Harris, who was the former California attorney general.
Gabbard also questioned the Biden administration's vice president.
"Where is your outrage for your fellow Americans who are sitting in prison today here in the United States of America for minor marijuana violations," Gabbard said. "How come you are not fighting as hard for them to be returned home and reunited with their families as you are for Brittney Griner."
A bit about Harris’s record:
Harris served as San Francisco’s district attorney and as California’s attorney general, overseeing thousands of marijuana-related prosecutions, and had been an outspoken critic of pot legalization, as the Daily Mail first reported.
The San Jose Mercury News reported in 2019 that Harris oversaw more than 1,900 marijuana convictions – which included a few dozen people who were put in prison – when she was San Francisco's top prosecutor between 2004-2010.
An investigation by the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Harris as California’s attorney general had locked up around 1,970 individuals for marijuana offenses.
Harris was also a staunch opponent of California’s marijuana legalization ballot initiative, which ultimately passed in 2016.
However, in 2018, Harris had a change of heart, she not only supported the legalization of cannabis, but also endorsed a bill that would have removed cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act.
Perhaps Harris was merely swaying in the direction of the wind, i.e., she sensed a change of attitude among the Democrats.
During an interview in February 2019 with The Breakfast Club, a morning radio show about Black culture, Harris said she smoked marijuana when she was in college.
College-going Harris was fortunate to not be arrested for consumption or possession. College-going Harris was also extremely lucky to not be sentenced by an attorney general or district attorney such as adult Harris.
Beyond marijuana, the Democrats have displayed themselves to be hypocrites of the highest order.
They demand a ban on guns and even want to confiscate guns of law-abiding citizens. However, they are always surrounded by armed body guards during public events. Their offices and personal properties are protected by armed guards.
They oppose border walls but have imposed walls around their properties. Following the January 6 protests, they demanded that makeshift barricades be erected around the Capitol Hill building.
They are proponents of the 'defund the police,' nonsense, but demand protection from law enforcement after the January 6 protests and on other occasions.
They are advocates for open borders and claim everyone entering the U.S. must be welcomed irrespective of the legality of their immigration status. However, when the migrants end up at their doorstep, their attitude changes.
They demand sacrifices from regular people to combat climate change while they travel by private jets that emit metric tons of carbon.
Harris's stand on marijuana is just another instance of Democrat dual standards.
True believers, while faulted for being wrong, at least receive some respect for practicing what they preach.
With the Democrats and their relentless hypocrisy, it is hard to tell what they really stand for or what they actually believe in.
Perhaps they merely say and act based on the orders of the Washington Democrat establishment which itself is controlled by lobbyists and big donors.
The Democrats are like the protagonist in American Psycho: you may see them talk, virtue signal, smile, shake hands and behave like human beings, but dig deeper, and there is an endless dark void with no real convictions.
