Thursday 12th of December 2024

joe's war on drugs but not his son....

IN THE LIGHT OF THE VIEW'S MAD WOMEN DEMANDING THAT JOE BIDEN PARDONS HIS SON FOR HIS DRUG ADDICTION AND/OR WHATEVER, ONE NEEDS TO EXPOSE JOE'S HARD WAR ON DRUGS SINCE 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOK85rgHVOY

The View ERUPTS Over Call for Biden to Pardon His Son

 

In May 2023, the Biden Administration publicly endorsed legislation that would expand the criminalization of substance use by introducing new mandatory minimum sentences associated with fentanyl. The endorsement represents a broader concern that the administration is quickly returning to “tough on crime” style policies that fueled the “War on Drugs” and exacerbated mass incarceration. These concerns are grounded in the president’s historic role as a leading legislative architect of the War on Drugs–having authored nearly every significant federal crime bill in the 1980s and 1990s. President Biden has previously acknowledged that on issues related to drug criminalization, he is “part of the problem that [he has] been trying to solve.” However, his record as president has largely failed to repair the intergenerational, legislative violence inflicted upon Black, brown, and Indigenous communities. As a young, jaded African American man, I write this blog in the earnest hope that President Biden’s commitment to ending racial disparities in our court and prison systems isn’t simply political theater but a true promise to repair the legacy of the War on Drugs for those who look like me.

President Biden’s Drug War Legacy

Understanding the shortcomings of the administration’s drug decriminalization strategies requires understanding the historical context of the War on Drugs and President Biden’s unique role in it. In 1986, then-Senator Joe Biden authored the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986–a critical component of the broader War on Drugs that devastated low-income communities of color through mass criminalization and systemic police violence. The law strengthened carceral disparities between Black and white drug users by mandating a five-year minimum sentence for trafficking five grams of crack cocaine while requiring 500 grams of the chemically equivalent powder cocaine to incur the same conviction. Later in 1994, Sen. Biden spearheaded a deeply controversial crime bill that funded 100,000 new cops and accelerated mass incarceration by increasing federal funding to states that impose harsher sentences.

The Biden Administration’s Drug Decriminalization Strategies

In its first two years, the Biden Administration has confronted this legacy through two notable yet incremental policy reforms that address drug decriminalization—federal pardons for simple marijuana possession and new DOJ prosecutorial guidance to reduce sentencing disparities between crack and powdered cocaine. While welcomed, these reforms fall short of the robust policy reforms necessary to repair the legacy of America’s War on Drugs.

Federal Pardons for Simple Marijuana Possession

Last October, the White House issued mass pardons for select marijuana-related offenses. The text of the pardon highlighted the disproportionate ratesof Black and brown people incarcerated for marijuana-related crimes despite similar rates of substance use. While the pardons have affected over 6,500 individuals—reducing permanent barriers to housing, job placement, and other benefits—notable limitations reduce the impact of pardons. For example, the president’s pardon authority only extends to federal offenses and does not affect the sheer bulk of individuals with state-level marijuana records. Further, the rule only applies to simple possession charges and doesn’t apply to individuals who may have additional charges related to their conviction. Moreover, the ruling fails to protect immigrants who can still be deported for marijuana possession. Also, the pardons don’t apply to people charged after October 6, 2022. As a result of these restrictions, media reports indicate that no one was actually released from prison due to the president’s program. However, the Biden Administration did entreat state governors to commit to developing their own pardon programs. States such as Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, and Illinois have already followed suit, with Oregon going as far as forgiving more than $14 million in unpaid fines and fees, with 47,144 total convictions removed. Some states like Arkansas, Tennessee, and Nebraskahave followed suit in issuing similar marijuana pardons. However, more work is needed to build comprehensive drug decriminalization strategies nationwide.

DOJ Memo on Prosecuting Crack and Powder Cocaine

In December, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memorandum instructing federal prosecutors to forego mandatory minimums in drug caseslacking other aggravating factors such as substantial drug distribution or violent behavior. Notably, the DOJ memo explicitly addresses the crack and powder cocaine dilemma by requiring federal prosecutors to present drug charges in a manner that doesn’t trigger federal mandatory minimum sentences. Prosecutors must also circumvent the cocaine disparity by charging crack cases similar to powder cocaine cases. The guidance includes a range of limitations and challenges. For example, a future administration can change the DOJ’s guidance. Further, the guidance isn’t retroactive, excluding generations of people inordinately imprisoned due to then-Sen. Biden’s 20th-century racist sentencing policies.

The president’s first term has highlighted that the administration lacks the same zeal to repair the harms of the War on Drugs as President Biden displayed in legislating it 40 years ago. It’s not enough to simply incarcerate at more equitable numbers or to pardon drug offenses on such a small scale. The administration must embrace transformative, youth-led, and community-centered visions for drug decriminalization as part of a more considerable effort to repair the impact of 50 years of mass incarceration and criminalization. Rather than return to failed, racist strategies like mandatory minimums, policymakers should embrace reparative justice for the War on Drugs, develop more robust federal and state pardon programs, and support anti-carceralnon-punitive strategies emphasizing harm reduction and community wellness.

https://www.clasp.org/blog/rectifying-past-wrongs-the-biden-administrations-limited-progress-in-drug-decriminalization/

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/35235

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/40358

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/39806

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME YOURSELF.

pardoning his son....

US President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have blasted outgoing President Joe Biden for pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted of illegally purchasing a gun and tax evasion. The sentencing in both cases was scheduled for this month.

Despite saying publicly that he would not interfere in his son’s cases, the president went back on his word and announced the pardon on Sunday evening. He labelled the convictions “a miscarriage of justice,” arguing that Hunter Biden has been “singled out” because of his ties to the president. 

According to the statement from the White House, the pardon applies to all offenses that were or may have been committed between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024. This period covers accusations by Republicans that Hunter Biden acted as “a bagman” on behalf of his father during allegedly illicit business dealings in China and Ukraine. The president and his son have denied these allegations. 

The Republicans, who have long accused the Biden administration of politically motivated prosecutions, condemned the pardon. 

“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in a statement. 

“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people,” he added.

Trump compared the treatment of the president’s son to the prosecution of his own supporters  who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, hoping to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. “Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Many top Republicans in Congress were appalled, with Senator Chuck Grassley saying that he was “shocked” by Biden’s decision. 

“This pardon is Joe Biden’s admission that Hunter is a criminal,” Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. Congressman Andy Biggs wrote that “Joe Biden will go down as one of the most corrupt presidents in American history.”

“This is an outrageous abuse of the rule of law – all to protect the Biden family business of selling access and influence,” Senator Josh Hawley wrote on X.

The Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a statement, saying “Joe Biden’s unprecedented abuse of power has been a stain on the honor of the US presidency.”

 

https://www.rt.com/news/608538-trump-slams-hunter-biden-pardon/

 

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

SEE ALSO: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/39819

 

father's love.....

Russian diplomat criticizes Biden’s move to pardon his son as caricature of democracy

 

Previously, the White House and Joe Biden himself have repeatedly stated that he would not pardon his son

 

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. The pardon US President Joe Biden has signed for his son Hunter Biden is a caricature of democracy, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia.

"A caricature of democracy," she told the newspaper, commenting on Sunday’s decision by the outgoing US president.

Previously, the White House and Biden himself have repeatedly stated that he would not pardon his son, who was found guilty of gun charges and tax evasion charges by federal courts in Delaware and California, respectively.

https://tass.com/politics/1880485

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.