I think only people who pose an actual threat belong in jail. Smollett deserves to do community service. Like, a shitload of it. Sending him to jail doesn’t do anyone any good. Not society, not him. 

This.

Why is it condescending? My experience, after years of working in international relations, is that most people don’t know anything about diplomatic relations, consular services, or the Vienna Convention. And why should they? It’s not something you’re going to encounter a lot in your life unless it’s part of your job…

Re: your point that everyone thinks they work hard, I’m reminded of my horribly snobby but hilarious grandfather used to say, everyone thinks they’re from a good family and have good taste.

Being good at making money is a skill that has nothing to do with intelligence or knowledge or culture. You can be a total ignoramus but have the skills to sell ice to a polar bear.

Sorry but I think her definition of ‘work’ doesn’t exactly line up with what the rest of us call work.

Yes, I assume that people caught with drugs at an airport are actually traveling with drugs. Because that is case in the vast majority of cases. People do it all the time. Probably because the laws are fucking stupid and don’t make sense in a modern world, and people are careless or forgetful or assume it’s not a big…

The Daily Mail loves the royal family (except for Meaghan Markle, gee wonder why?) so I don’t see them fabricating this, but it’s possible they misquoted him or intentionally made it sound worse. 

Exactly. He’s probably the last person who should ever say that, given his family’s direct involvement in colonialism which contributed to making wars in other parts of the world so common. But he’s not wrong.

Any time Jezebel attempts to write articles like this I’m reminded of just how parochial Americans can be and how they just can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that the world isn’t the US, doesn’t revolve around US cultures and that pretty much everything in this piece is irrelevant to the situation itself.…

Sorry but I would feel the same if she were a straight white dude. If anything I have more sympathy for her because she’s queer and Black and going through this but so far I haven’t heard any claims that the drugs were planted. Consular powers are limited- all the US state department people can do is visit and make…

Not to be cynical but I’m over feel good, virtue-signalling petitions like this one that don’t do shit. It’s the online equivalent of all the white Liberals in DC (which is like 94% Democrat) putting up lawn signs stating their support for science, Black lives, or quoting MLK, Jr.

This.

And if it turns out that’s what happened here, I will gladly revise my position. But so far I haven’t heard or read anything that would indicate that the hash oil cartridges weren’t hers. 

Yeah at the end of the day you can’t make a country extradite someone, or return a citizen that got caught breaking the law. They can try and apply pressure, and I bet maybe they would apply more pressure if Griner were more famous but at the end of the day, legally, the US can’t do anything except apply political…

There wouldn’t be any charges to trump up if she didn’t give them an opportunity to by traveling with illegal substances, so I’m sorry, I still think this is mostly on her. Maybe I see it differently because I travel so often for work and because my family is spread out in different countries, so I’m very aware of…

So how is that going to work exactly? 

I feel for her but I don’t think the situation would be much different if Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine. Anyone traveling by air should know better than to bring illegal substances. Even if you’re traveling in the US domestically from one state where it’s legal to another state where it’s legal, technically because…

I love how it took Kanye losing his shit even more than usual for you guys to talk about Pete Davidson as if he’s at least semi-human

Among other things.