BG

By all accounts, Brittney Griner is a gentle soul. Quite a feat, considering the challenges being a six-foot nine-inch female who weighs two-hundred five pounds and is openly gay present. (Not to mention that unless your name is Giannis Antetokounmpo or Joel Embiid, she can probably kick your ass to the dark side of the moon in a game of basketball.)

As players in the WNBA often do, she had traveled to Europe to play a second season following her 2021 WNBA Finals appearance with the Phoenix Mercury. It is unknown if she had successfully smuggled cannabis into Russia previously, but this time her attempt was unsuccessful.

I don't pretend to know Russia's drug laws or precisely what is meant by “a small amount” of cannabis, but I'm guessing that even in Vladimir Putin's Russia, this is not the equivalent of a first-degree felony. And yet Griner has been treated nearly like a serial killer.

Detained in February and tried in August, she was sentenced to nine-years in prison. Her legal team filed for an appeal and were denied in October. Now comes word that she has been sent to a penal colony, an extraordinarily harsh punishment in light of her crime.

At first glance, it's hard not to wonder if she is being treated more severely owing to her status as a celebrity. After all, this is Putin-land, where cases like this proceed in whatever fashion will guarantee maximum exposure.

A commonly held belief is that Griner is a political pawn, kept in storage until such a point she can be used as a bargaining chip in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. And if this is the case, does it make sense to let a valuable prisoner languish in such deprived conditions?

This is supposition, of course. For all I know, Putin lost a butt-load on the Mercury in the 2021 WNBA Finals and this is his preferred manner of extracting revenge. But given the dire reality of Putin's twisted autocracy, the probability remains that this woman has become a pawn in his latest political drama.

All that is left is for the U.S. and Russia to determine her worth before the inevitable negotiations begin.

Another chapter in the book of human cruelty.

Inflation

Two-thirds of the U.S. population is under fifty years-old. Which means that the inflation currently gripping the country is something they have never experienced. Never felt. Never lived through.

For them, it is an especially unnerving thing. At least until Tuesday, when they can vote Democrats out of office. With Democrats gone, inflation will disappear and the economy will magically repair itself.

Right?

As someone who came of age in the inflation-happy seventies and early-eighties, I can and will laugh at them.

Contrary to their politically-motivated feelings, our parties rarely have much to do with inflation. In 2022, the pandemic, the ensuing lockdowns, supply and labor shortages and overwhelming consumer demand have a bit more to do with inflation than whatever Democrat(s) you choose to blame.

Take gasoline. I don't know the person who hasn't carped about fuel prices. But climb into your car and hit the road. Is the amount of traffic not markedly higher than in any of the past five years? I, myself, routinely sit through multiple traffic light cycles where I never did before.

If Americans can't afford gas, we are doing one hell of a job at hiding it.

Fact: inflation is the byproduct of a market where demand outstrips supply. That's why automobile dealerships, despite their often bare lots, are making two to three times the income than they ever have before. That's why the price of gasoline and airline tickets leap like a twenty-four year-old Michael Jordan.

And when the product itself isn't undergoing material or labor shortages, the cost of getting it to market has—as you know—exploded.

So. How do we beat inflation?

I propose a radical idea: consume less.

Don't run to Target for a fresh jar of moisturizer. Don't go to the grocery store for a carton of ice cream or a bag of chips. Consolidate your trips. You'll use less gas, save time and hopefully wean yourself from the illness known as instant gratification.

It is us, you see, who are at the root of inflation. Ask yourself: what are we telling Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum and Royal Dutch Shell when we mindlessly lap up the latest increase they have gifted us with?

We don't care! Price isn't important! Raise it again—we can afford it!

Until supply outstrips demand, companies have no incentive to drop prices. Their purpose is to make as much money as possible, and under current conditions they are doing a fabulous job.

Some have even resorted to price-gouging just because the current climate allows it.

I'll say it again: the more we consume merely because that's how we've always consumed, the more we will pay for our purchases. With the mid-term elections happening tomorrow, it's a great time to ask of ourselves that which polls indicate we most want to ask of our candidates:

Do something about inflation.

We can make it happen. Reigning in our thirst for instant gratification would help.

Kyrie Irving's Entitlement

Dear Kyrie Irving,

Please tell me how you would feel if a prominent white basketball player linked a movie that was hostile to Blacks to his various social media accounts.

My guess is you'd be pounding on Adam Silver's door demanding the player in question be removed from the NBA. You'd be crying to every TV camera in sight about the relentless slandering of Blacks.

Finally, you'd be filling any and all available social media space with accusations that the NBA is a racist enterprise and needs to be held accountable.

But that didn't happen, did it?

You linked a movie damaging to Jews to your accounts and because you are an obnoxiously-paid, high-profile athlete, the rest of us are supposed to either forgive, excuse or (gulp) understand.

Got it. 

That go for Kanye, too?

Sincerely,

La Piazza Gancio