Alright….I’m back.
Sorry it’s been so long, but if you’ve seen how much I’ve had to read and write over the last six months, you’d understand why I haven’t been able to bring myself to write recreationally. These old eyes can still count the whiskers on a deer’s chin from 100 yards away….but reading and computer work require glasses now and after a few hours of it, I’m just spent.
BUT….enough whining. Nobody likes a whiner.
Or, do they?
Everyone’s up in arms about Brittney Griner getting to come home and Paul Whelan being left to rot in a Russian prison. The media is full of people bitching, social media is overwhelmingly full of people bitching and I’m wondering if anyone has taken the time to research the reasons why the decision was made to allow one to be traded but not the other.
Personally…I wouldn’t have given Viktor Bout up for anyone. But that’s just me, and I’ve got my reasons.
Truth be told…I’d never heard of Paul Whelan until recently. He’s been jailed in Russia for four years, and I’m just now figuring out who this guy is. Griner on the other hand…she was all over the news from the minute she got locked up. All the mainstream media venues, ALL the sports venues and every talk show on the planet was whining about her being arrested and detained. We had play by play of every day of her trial and conviction….and yet I’d never heard of Paul Whelan.
The squeaky wheel gets oiled first…especially in politics. Griner is “high profile”. There will be excellent press coverage of her being released and she’ll be a hot shot on the talk show circuit for the next six months. Tell you what….take a shot of your favorite libation every time she publicly thanks the Biden administration and see how long you can go without your liver quitting on you.
Yeah…I get it. The liberal sites have barely mentioned his name, although President Biden did mention him at the podium today. All day today I’ve seen pictures of Whelan in Marine Corps Dress Blues beside pictures of Griner kneeling for the National Anthem on the conservative media sites. He’s the hero and she’s anti-American….that’s the apparent conservative narrative.
BUT…there may be more to it. I’ve been doing a little digging into the background on Paul Whelan. They keep touting him as a U.S. Marine. He was…you can’t take that away from him. What I will mention is that multiple sources note that the Pentagon released his military records after he was taken into custody and he was discharged from the Corps under other than honorable conditions for multiple accounts of stealing from his fellow Marines and writing a lot of worthless checks. He was convicted via Court Martial, restricted for 60 days, busted from E-6 to E-4 and awarded a Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD). For those of you who don’t know, the Military Justice System doesn’t work like legal system at your local county courthouse. If he got busted, restricted and removed from service…the evidence was there to justify it…he was guilty.
Okay…so we can write that off to a lapse in judgement…Everyone screws up, right? Some screw-ups are just bigger than others. He served his time…he deserves to move on with his life.
But then you find multiple other sources that note he claimed to previously work as a police officer at two different locations…one of which has no record of employment on him and the other who says he was a part time, administrative temp.
So…he steals from his fellow Marines AND he lies on his resume.
But WAIT….there’s more….
His civilian career path for the last 20 years has been in IT and cyber-security. He’s visited Russia a dozen times in that span for work and recreation. He was flagged entering Russia in 2018 with four different passports and $80K in cash in his possession.
Aright, So…Lets add it all up…He’s in Russia for a buddy’s wedding. He’s in his mid-50’s with no wife or children. He has no “Plus-One” for the event in tow with him. He’s got $80,000 in cash and passports from four different countries in his possession. He’s made multiple trips to Russia and works in IT and Cyber-Security. He’s got a military background and he’s a proven liar and thief. Hell….I don’t have a drop of Russian blood in me and I’m convinced he was playing some sort of spy game.
Don’t read that wrong…I don’t think he was an American Operative. If he’s kiting checks, stealing from his brothers and lying on his resumes, he couldn’t have hit the wickets for a security clearance from the U.S. government…not to mention that BCD hanging over his head. I think he was either working on his own or working for a country other than the U.S.
But this all kind of makes you wonder. With all the “alleged” ties we hear about between U.S politicians and Russia…with Whelan being popped at the height of the TRUMP/Russia collusion hearings and the Steele dossier/FBI/Hillary Clinton fiasco….with him convicted and sentenced in an election year that saw Hunter Biden’s laptop buried by the media and social media…with all those incidents seemingly revolving around Russia…I have to wonder why the media seemed to bury this guy too.
Another thing that bothers me is the release of the military records. I don’t understand why the Pentagon would do that. Maybe that’s a common practice, but if you’re going to be investing American tax-payer dollars to try to get this guy back, why would you release information to make the public question his character? That’s a rabbit hole I’ll travel down on another occasion.
Brittney Griner was detained in February of this year and not a week has gone by that I haven’t seen a newscast about her. I’ve seen her picture so often I could pick her out of a line-up. Paul Whelan was first detained in December of 2018…he’s been in Russian custody for four years and I had to research him to figure out who the hell he was.
Why wasn’t this guy’s wheel squeaking as loudly as Brittney Griner’s? Who’s greasing the wheels to make sure this guy doesn’t come home anytime soon?
It’ll be interesting to see if he’s still in the news cycle ten days from now.