Gee, why didn't Trump have his hero Putin release Whelan when he had the chance? Guess he had other things on his mind and just forgot.
{shrug} Hating America is not a crime. Not standing for the National Anthem is not a crime. Being a Lesbian or being a Transexual is not a crime. Griner is allowed/permitted to do all those things here in the US, and if you have a problem with any of those things, that's on you, not her. She is just a pawn in a much larger game. As for the dishonorably discharged Marine, he is a disgrace to all of those who honorably served.
A bad conduct discharge is NOT a dishonorable discharge albeit is an “other than honorable” discharge. I do not condone writing bad checks and other forms of theft but that said, a soldier can get a bad conduct discharge by getting into a civilian bar fight and will not generally hamper one’s ability to get civilian employment where security is in question.
I think the point that needs to be driven home is that no hostage that Russia was holding was worth trading for an enemy arms dealer. The 7 years he had left might have been enough time to get a change in administration and get our country secure. The USA has never been as unsecured as it is now! Biden claims he wants "assault" and military-style weapons banned from the USA. What about the rest of the world and all the military weapons that will now pour across the border thank to this international arms dealer? Biden by releasing this criminal shows he is in fact buddies with Putin and is using Putin to try and erase his debt to Ukraine. He sets up the smoke screen of sending aid to Ukraine appearing to help them, but he no doubt is disappointed that Ukraine is still standing. Now he releases a RUSSIAN arms dealer and some folks can't see he did this to appease Putin. I think Griner was purposely sent knowing she would be held hostage giving Biden the chance to help his buddy Putin without looking like he was stabbing Ukraine in the back. If Biden thought Putin was as evil as he says, then why not take him out with a drone? Why allow him to murder all those innocents in Ukraine and now give him a valved arms dealer, known as The Merchant of Death? What happened here is very dangerous just like leaving all that billion-dollar high-tech military equipment in Afghanistan. Dying in enemy hands is bad enough without them killing us with our own weapons. All of you that think this trade was a good deal, go help get a killer released from jail and then give them a gun and leave your doors unlocked. Maybe give him your daily itinerary while you are at it. Maybe blueprints for your house.
Sad that you would see this guy as "one of America's finest". He is an insult to those who honorable served. Uh highly trained to write bad checks and other forms of petty larceny. Not sure why you admire him so very much. That's "a distinction without a difference"...
It seems like Whelan's father and brother are having a public argument on the news networks. The father says the administration is not doing enough, and the brother says they're doing everything they can, and more than the previous one. I bet Thanksgiving dinner was fun at the Whelan household.
It seems that you sure like to write in red letters. I gave the facts……..you gave opinions!! The distinction between a bad conduct and a dishonorable are QUITE different and if you’d bother to look them up, you might have moment of learning instead of merely throwing out opinions. Again, militarily speaking, soldier can uphold his oath of service and serve completely honorably, and still go out on a bad conduct. One drink too many, disrespecting an officer, bar fight, bad checks….any misdemeanor qualifies for a bad conduct.
The facts shouldn't be in question. From what I can see, it is the opinions that are being hotly debated here, and an opinion is an opinion whether it's in red or black letters.
Wow - I guess I stuck a nerve. "One of America's finest" fact or opinion? "highly trained United States Marine" fact or opinion? And any difference between "bad conduct" and "dishonorable" are meaningless in this context. We all know you are the final expert on all things military, but your worship of the disgraced former marine is pathetic. That horse is dead, quit beating it.
No, I don't see any evidence of worship in this discussion, thus far. An opinion that one person might be more worthy of freedom than another isn't worship.
Okay, it is the opinion of the poster that there is no difference between a bad conduct discharge and a dishonorable. In this context, the Marine was a Staff Sergeant who obviously served honorably in war (Iraqi Freedom) or he wouldn’t have gained that rank. Now, as I stated earlier, I do not like thieves and what he did was wrong and he deserved the bad conduct discharge but to put that conduct on the same level as those getting a dishonorable discharge is outrageous.