by Robert Spencer
When “news agencies” are state media.
Need more confirmation that our “news agencies” are actually propaganda arms for the Leftist establishment? Here you go: Old Joe Biden’s handlers have traded Hizballah-linked terrorist arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia for America-hating WNBA player Brittney Griner, which is bad enough in itself, as Bout could end up killing Americans in large numbers. Even worse is the fact that the administration could have brought former Marine Paul Whelan out of Russian prison, but opted for Griner instead. The White House denies that it had this choice, but an initial NBC News report confirmed it. Soon afterward, however, the NBC report was quietly revised to reflect the official line.
There was no doubt that this race- and sex-obsessed administration very much wanted to get Griner out, while not having the same avid interest in Whelan. Karine Jean-Pierre made that abundantly clear Thursday when she said of Griner: “She is an important role model, an inspiration to millions of Americans, particularly the LGBTQI+ Americans, and women of color.” So it was all about Griner being lesbian and black, privileges that Whelan does not enjoy.
Nonetheless, Old Joe himself, who has been lying incessantly for at least sixty years, insisted that no choice was made for Griner over Whelan, as the crafty Russkis didn’t offer one. As Matt Margolis noted Thursday, Biden insisted, his nose growing all the while, that “this was not a choice about which American to bring home. Sadly and for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up.”
The White House added, according to The Blaze, that “the choice became to either bring Brittney home or no one.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the same line, saying: “This was not a choice of which American to bring home. The choice was one or none.” Jean-Pierre, reflecting the agreed-upon talking points of the day, said: “The choice was bring Brittney home or no one. The president will never stop working to secure Paul Whelan’s release.”
Amid all this face-saving, however, NBC News, oddly enough, told the truth, initially reporting that the “Kremlin gave the White House the choice of either Griner or Whelan — or none.” But then, “without issuing an editorial note, NBC News made a stealth change to the article, such that it now reads, ‘The Kremlin ultimately gave the White House the choice of either Griner or no one after different options were proposed.’”
The Blaze asked NBC why it made the stealth edit and, predictably enough, got no response, but NBC did then add a correction, claiming that “an earlier version of this article misstated the choice the Biden administration was given over hostages. It was to swap for Griner or no one, not a choice between Griner or Whelan.”
What was it really? Well, Whelan’s Russian lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, explained that “choosing Griner appeared ‘more humane’ because she is a woman and an Olympic champion, while Whelan was in the military and it is ‘easier for him to be in custody.’” That certainly seemed to imply that the White House had made a choice of Griner over Whelan. Whelan himself also contradicted Jean-Pierre’s claim that “the president will never stop working to secure Paul Whelan’s release,” observing to the contrary that little had been done to get him out: “I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four year anniversary of my arrest is coming up.” He added that he had been “led to believe that things were moving in the right direction, and that the governments were negotiating and that something would happen fairly soon.”
No, the Biden administration had to play identity politics and pander to its base yet again. If Griner had not been black and lesbian, would she be back in the United States that she so despises today? Not likely. Biden’s handlers will move heaven and earth to protect the lives and well-being of people who are members of their preferred groups. But Whelan has the misfortune of being a white man, and as far as I know, heterosexual. Heavens to betsy, he could even be one of those “white supremacists” this administration keeps warning us about, but whom we so seldom see. And so he is going to continue to rot in a Russian prison, while Brittney Griner goes on to kneel for the anthem again at one of her sparsely attended WNBA games. Justice is served.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 26 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest books are The Critical Qur'an and Who Lost Afghanistan?. Follow him on Twitter here, and like him on Facebook here.
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/nbc-report-contradicts-white-house-on-griner-is-quietly-revised/
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