Marnie Screams into the Void
95: Coming Home
August 1st, 2024, 95 days left, coming home. I would like to start this post with a disclaimer. I am going to do the best I can with the pronunciation of some of these names. I did some Googling, got some conflicting information, so bear with me and I apologize if it's a mess. The largest international prisoner exchange since the Cold War, that's a pretty big deal. Four people released back to the United States. Welcome home, Evan Garshkovich, 32, journalist, imprisoned since March 2023, Paul Whelan, 54, executive and former Marine imprisoned since 2018. Alsu Karmashiva, 47 radio editor in prison since 2023. Vladimir Karamurza, 42, journalist, imprisoned since 2022. 12 people ranging in age from 19 to 71 are released to Germany. The crimes committed by the prisoners released from Russia include extremism, criticism, spreading fake news, anti-war protest. The prisoners are returning to Russia. Key words include assassin, insider trading, cyber attacks, smuggling ammo, espionage, posing as a journalist. In Russia, you are arrested for being a journalist. Eight Americans are still held in Russia. Mark Fogel, Robert Romanov Woodland, Gordon Black, Robert Gilman, David Barnes, Eugene Spector, Michael Travis Leek, and Cassania Carolina, a 33-year-old former ballerina and Los Angeles resident whose boyfriend bought her a ticket to Russia to visit her grandparents. While there, she was arrested and currently faces a 20-year sentence. Her crime? Donating $51.80 to a charity that provides medical equipment to Ukrainian first responders. Let that sink in while you ponder the Americans who whine that no one should say anything they perceive as critical of their religious views, that books with actual history or queer characters should be banned, that drag queens should be silenced or better yet invisible, that offering one's pronouns destroys freedom. Remember that when you hear about Project 2025 and how this agenda wants to ban pornography, which they will define for us as Putin defines what is criticism of Mother Russia. [BLANK_AUDIO]