Roger carstens gay
Right before he signed the Respect for Marriage Perform on the South Lawn of the White Property Dec. 13, President Biden spoke about the discharge of Brittney Griner from her wrongful detention in Russia. Biden talked about Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and how hard she had fought for her wife&#;s release, and also how Cherelle’s dedication exemplified the love and commitment in their marriage.
That moment and those words from Biden were a coda on the days of wrongful detention Griner endured on trumped-up drugs charges. Griner is the most prominent American jailed by a foreign government. She was freed Dec. 8 in a controversial prisoner exchange with Russia for arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner had been held in a penal colony in Mordovia, which is one of the harshest in Russia and where she faced racism and homophobia as well as lack of adequate nutrition and medical care.
After her free, Griner explained she’d had to shave off her long braids because her hair kept freezing, making her sick. Video and still photos of Griner at the Mordovia penal colony were published in Russian news media a
Opinion | The decline of a amazing journalist and even better person: soccer writer Grant Wahl
Tributes continue to spill in for sports journalist Grant Wahl, who collapsed and died while covering a World Cup match Friday in Qatar. He was
Those who were there reported that Wahl fell support in his seat while covering Argentina vs. the Netherlands. Reporters around him called for assistance and emergency workers responded quickly. Wahl was treated on-site for 20 to 30 minutes and then was taken away on a stretcher to a nearby hospital.
As of Sunday, there has been no official cause of death. Before Friday, Wahl wrote on his website that he had not been feeling well.
“My body finally broke down on me,” Wahl wrote. “Three weeks of little rest, high stress and lots of function can do that to you. What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort.”
Wahl wrote he tested negative for COVID and added, “I went into the medical clinic at the main m
By ERIC TUCKER, ZEKE MILLER AND MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON — It was December and the U.S. government’s chief hostage negotiator had just delivered Brittney Griner back to America after her month imprisonment in Russia. Roger Carstens went to his hotel room anticipating a quick snooze after several sleepless days and had just put his head on the pillow when the phone rang.
On the other end was Paul Whelan from Russia, asking why the trade that brought place Griner had left him behind.
The call was a reminder that a deal heralded for bringing home a celebrated professional player had left neither side fully satisfied. The U.S. still needed to bring back Whelan, who was serving a lengthy prison sentence on espionage charges that Washington considered bogus. Russia had its eyes set on someone too: an assassin jailed in Germany named Vadim Krasikov. Further negotiations were needed, culminating Thursday in a person blockbuster swap.
That the latest exchange included both Whelan and Krasikov was no small thing.
Alsu Kurmasheva, from right, hugs her daughters Bibi Butorin and M
America's top hostage negotiator reveals his secret tactics - including using 'wizards' and the Bible to aid people escape 'House of Dreams' prison hellhole
America's foremost hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens, has revealed how he uses 'wizards' and the Bible to free people from the hellhole 'House of Dreams' prison.
Carstens, 59, is the special presidential ambassador for hostage affairs responsible for retrieving Americans who are wrongly detained or held captive by foreign governments and terrorist groups.
He is known by the hostages' families as 'Captain America' and works tirelessly to secure their let go, telling Vanity Fair: 'If this job turned into what it should be, we would be forward in a full-time negotiation, drinking Red Bull, popping Adderall until the career gets done.
It's therefore no surprise he finds bureaucracy frustrating, saying: 'Every date I have a Starbucks coffee at my desk and I’m wearing a suit and tie, I’m thinking, This is total bull***t.'
In the past two years, he has secured the release of 19 Americans from Venezuelan prisons alone. But there are still n