Showing posts with label pardon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pardon. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2026
Sunday, May 04, 2025
White House Web Page Discloses The True Origins of SARS-Covid-19
April 28, 2025 NewsHound
The White House.gov website just published:
THE ORIGIN
“The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally. All indications are that Anthony Fauci lied about the origins of the virus, and about his gain of function activities that helped create COVID-19.
1. The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.
2. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.
3. Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels.
4. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.
5. By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.
Obstructions
HHS OBSTRUCTION:
The Biden Administration’s HHS engaged in a multi-year campaign of delay, confusion, and non-responsiveness in an attempt to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation and hide evidence that could incriminate or embarrass senior public health officials. It appears that HHS even intentionally under-resourced its component that responds to legislative oversight requests.
ECOHEALTH OBSTRUCTION:
EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation by providing publicly available information, instructing his staff to reduce the scope and pace of productions, and doctoring documents before releasing them to the public. Further, Dr. Daszak provided false statements to Congress.
DR. DAVID MORENS:
Dr. Fauci’s Senior Advisor, Dr. David Morens, deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation, likely lied to Congress on multiple occasions, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, and shared nonpublic information about NIH grant processes with EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak.
NEW YORK OBSTRUCTION:
New York’s Executive Chamber — led presently by Governor Kathy Hochul — redacted documents, offered numerous illegitimate privilege claims, and withheld thousands of documents without an apparent legal basis to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into former Governor Cuomo’s pandemic-era failures.
This is the corrupt federal government that certain Seventh-day Adventist church administrators supported during COVID-19, loudly trumpeting that they could find no reason to oppose these unconstitutional mandates. Have any of them apologized for their complicity? Not that we are aware of.
The White House.gov website just published:
THE ORIGIN
“The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally. All indications are that Anthony Fauci lied about the origins of the virus, and about his gain of function activities that helped create COVID-19.
1. The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.
2. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.
3. Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels.
4. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.
5. By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.
Obstructions
HHS OBSTRUCTION:
The Biden Administration’s HHS engaged in a multi-year campaign of delay, confusion, and non-responsiveness in an attempt to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation and hide evidence that could incriminate or embarrass senior public health officials. It appears that HHS even intentionally under-resourced its component that responds to legislative oversight requests.
ECOHEALTH OBSTRUCTION:
EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation by providing publicly available information, instructing his staff to reduce the scope and pace of productions, and doctoring documents before releasing them to the public. Further, Dr. Daszak provided false statements to Congress.
DR. DAVID MORENS:
Dr. Fauci’s Senior Advisor, Dr. David Morens, deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation, likely lied to Congress on multiple occasions, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, and shared nonpublic information about NIH grant processes with EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak.
NEW YORK OBSTRUCTION:
New York’s Executive Chamber — led presently by Governor Kathy Hochul — redacted documents, offered numerous illegitimate privilege claims, and withheld thousands of documents without an apparent legal basis to obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into former Governor Cuomo’s pandemic-era failures.
This is the corrupt federal government that certain Seventh-day Adventist church administrators supported during COVID-19, loudly trumpeting that they could find no reason to oppose these unconstitutional mandates. Have any of them apologized for their complicity? Not that we are aware of.
Observations
WhiteHouse.gov
****
“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 22:23).
- Under Fauci’s direction, Facebook and Twitter aggressively deleted social media posts that discussed Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine as early treatment protocols for COVID-19. Some of my own posts were among those deleted and ‘banned’ by Facebook. To his credit, the owner of Facebook has acknowledged his role in unjust censorship during COVID-19, albeit expressing only minimal regret.
- Ivermectin was was aggressively opposed as an early treatment measure because governments, the FDA and WHO, and pharmaceutical companies wanted to push people towards the COVID-19 vaccine as the only preventative measure for the temporary disease (no, the experimental ‘vaccine’ did not prevent individuals from getting COVID-19). Interestingly, the US Food and Drug Administration just settled a lawsuit over some of its over-the-top hostile messaging about ivermectin, including what may have been one of its more well-known pandemic-era social media campaigns.
- In August 2021, to discourage people from using ivermectin to prevent or treat Covid-19, the FDA tweeted “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y’all. Stop It.” and posted a similar message on Instagram. The tweet got nearly 106,000 likes.
- The lawsuit was filed in June 2022 by Drs. Rober Apter, Mary Talley Bowden and Paul Marik against the FDA, the US Department of Health and Human Services and their leaders. It claimed that the agencies were interfering with their ability to practice medicine by overstepping their authority and violating the Administrative Procedure Act. The lawsuit says the doctors “have been pressured, unable to prescribe medication, and threatened with or subjected to professional discipline.” And, in some cases doctors who prescribed Ivermectin lost their positions in hospitals and medical schools for doing so.
- The FDA has since removed their derogatory tweets about Ivermectin. Four weeks ago, the FDA settled the lawsuit against them out of court.
- Mr. Fauci was unconditionally pardoned by Joe Biden for any crimes that he may have committed during the COVID-19 debacle. It begs the question, what are these people trying to conceal?
WhiteHouse.gov
****
“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 22:23).
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Trump, Fauci, Pardons & Pandemics - Christian J Pinto
Christian J Pinto Trump, Fauci, Pardons & Pandemics
Darkness Exposed
Chris discusses the incredible changes being made by the new Trump administration, as the president issues a series of executive orders, along with pardons for the pro life protestors and J-6 prisoners. Also discussed is the preemptive pardon Joe Biden issued for Dr. Fauci before he left office. Was it one Jesuit to another? We also review what happened with the coronavirus pandemic and consider what direction pandemics may be headed in the future. Will globalists attempt another lock down of society?
Monday, January 20, 2025
Biden pardons his family in final minutes in office
Key Points
- President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for several family members, citing concerns that they will be targeted by “baseless and politically motivated investigations.”
- The White House announced the pardons just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump entered the Capitol rotunda to be sworn in as the next commander in chief.
- Biden pardoned his brother, James Biden; James’ wife, Sara Jones Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens; Owens’ husband, John Owens; and his other brother, Francis Biden.
James Biden and Valerie Biden Owens arrive at the federal court for Hunter Biden’s trial on criminal gun charges, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., June 10, 2024.
Hannah Beier | Reuters
Published Mon, Jan 20 202511:43 AM EST
Updated An Hour Ago
President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons for three of his siblings and two of their spouses, citing concerns that they will be targeted by “baseless and politically motivated investigations.”
The White House announced the pardons just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump entered the Capitol Rotunda to be sworn in as the next commander in chief.
Earlier Monday, Biden preemptively pardoned a number of other figures — including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley and members of Congress who investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — on similar grounds.
Biden’s final batch of pardons included his brother, James Biden; James’ wife, Sara Jones Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens; Owens’ husband, John Owens; and his other brother, Francis Biden.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a press release.
He also pardoned Gerald Lundergan, the former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, and former South Carolina Councilman Ernest Cromartie. The departing president also commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975.
Biden in early December issued a pardon for his son Hunter Biden, reversing his prior insistence that would not do so.
Hunter was convicted last year in a federal criminal gun trial, and he had pleaded guilty to charges in a separate federal case related to tax crimes.
James Biden was interviewed last year by the House Oversight and Judiciary committees as part of their impeachment probe of President Biden.
In Monday’s press release, Biden said, “My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” he said.
“But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”
“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” Biden said.
Friday, January 03, 2025
Pardoning Fauci Would Be Disservice to Him and Americans
Robert Moffit | RealClearWire
Dec 29, 2024
It seems President Biden won’t stop at letting his convicted son Hunter off the hook. The White House staff is reportedly pondering an unprecedented, pre-emptive set of presidential pardons for numerous officials who haven’t been formally charged or convicted of federal crimes but may be liable for indictment or conviction under the incoming Trump administration.
Prominent on that list is Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).
Why Fauci? Team Biden is mum. But the most likely rationale is a possible perjury charge: Fauci testified under oath in congressional inquiries. At issue: Fauci’s responses to the crucial question of whether American taxpayers’ dollars were used to fund viral “gain-of-function” experiments – research designed to enhance transmissibility or virulence of a pathogen – in a Chinese laboratory.
That issue just resurfaced in a meticulous 520-page report issued by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. “Dr. Fauci’s testimony was, at a minimum, misleading,” congressional investigators concluded. “As established, at the time of Dr. Fauci’s testimony senior NIH (National Institute of Health) officials and the NIH website defined gain of function research as a ‘type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers a new or enhanced activity to that agent.’ Further witness testimony and a plain reading of Eco Health’s research conducted at the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology) using U.S. taxpayers’ dollars confirm it facilitated an experiment that conveyed new or enhanced activity to a pathogen—thus, satisfying the definition of gain of function research.”
Dec 29, 2024
It seems President Biden won’t stop at letting his convicted son Hunter off the hook. The White House staff is reportedly pondering an unprecedented, pre-emptive set of presidential pardons for numerous officials who haven’t been formally charged or convicted of federal crimes but may be liable for indictment or conviction under the incoming Trump administration.
Prominent on that list is Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).
Why Fauci? Team Biden is mum. But the most likely rationale is a possible perjury charge: Fauci testified under oath in congressional inquiries. At issue: Fauci’s responses to the crucial question of whether American taxpayers’ dollars were used to fund viral “gain-of-function” experiments – research designed to enhance transmissibility or virulence of a pathogen – in a Chinese laboratory.
That issue just resurfaced in a meticulous 520-page report issued by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. “Dr. Fauci’s testimony was, at a minimum, misleading,” congressional investigators concluded. “As established, at the time of Dr. Fauci’s testimony senior NIH (National Institute of Health) officials and the NIH website defined gain of function research as a ‘type of research that modifies a biological agent so that it confers a new or enhanced activity to that agent.’ Further witness testimony and a plain reading of Eco Health’s research conducted at the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology) using U.S. taxpayers’ dollars confirm it facilitated an experiment that conveyed new or enhanced activity to a pathogen—thus, satisfying the definition of gain of function research.”
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Biden Commutes Sentences of Cartel Leaders & Drug Traffickers in Record-Breaking Clemency Grant
Frank Bergman
Outgoing President Joe Biden has issued a record-breaking clemency grant that benefits fraudsters, drug traffickers, cartel leaders, and crack dealers, court records show.
The lame-duck president’s list of convicted criminals includes nearly 1,500 individuals who will have their sentences commuted.
On Thursday, Biden announced he would commute sentences for individuals “who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
However, the list of commutations released by the White House includes several high-profile and dangerous criminals.
One individual, Francesk Shkambi, was initially sentenced in July 2014 to 27 years in prison.
According to court records, Shkambi was convicted for leading a criminal organization to “smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Albania.”
“Shkambi also negotiated with a foreign source to traffic cocaine from Mexico to Europe,” the records show.
“The jury found Shkambi responsible for trafficking 85 kilograms of cocaine, 4 kilograms of heroin, approximately 122 pounds of marijuana, and 4,000 pills of Ecstasy.”
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Shkambi was later set to be released in 2029.
Jose Valdez also had his sentence commuted by Biden.
Valdez “coordinated the distribution of large quantities of cocaine and marijuana for a drug-trafficking organization based in El Paso, Texas, from March of 2015 through July of 2016,” court records reveal.
He also “recruited numerous individuals to deliver narcotics to cities throughout the United States.”
According to the BOP, Valdez’s scheduled release date was previously set for November 2026.
Biden also commuted Daniel Monsanto Lopez’s sentence.
Lopez’s request for release to home confinement was denied by a court in 2020.
The court noted Lopez is “the organizer and leader of a sophisticated, years-long narcotics smuggling and distribution conspiracy that trafficked at least 20 kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to the Bronx.”
“While Mr. Monsanto Lopez’s motion is long on statistics — he emphasizes in support of his motion that COVID-19 has more strongly impacted Hispanic males such as himself — it is short on specifics, and he has failed to demonstrate extraordinary and compelling reasons for his release,” the court held.
According to the BOP, Lopez’s release date was set for December 25, 2024.
David Morrow also had his sentence commuted by Biden.
Morrow was convicted of “conspiracy to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine” and for “maintaining a residence for the purpose of distributing crack cocaine.”
His expected release date was set for November 2031, according to the BOP.
December 13, 2024 - 3:12 pm
Outgoing President Joe Biden has issued a record-breaking clemency grant that benefits fraudsters, drug traffickers, cartel leaders, and crack dealers, court records show.
The lame-duck president’s list of convicted criminals includes nearly 1,500 individuals who will have their sentences commuted.
On Thursday, Biden announced he would commute sentences for individuals “who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
However, the list of commutations released by the White House includes several high-profile and dangerous criminals.
One individual, Francesk Shkambi, was initially sentenced in July 2014 to 27 years in prison.
According to court records, Shkambi was convicted for leading a criminal organization to “smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Albania.”
“Shkambi also negotiated with a foreign source to traffic cocaine from Mexico to Europe,” the records show.
“The jury found Shkambi responsible for trafficking 85 kilograms of cocaine, 4 kilograms of heroin, approximately 122 pounds of marijuana, and 4,000 pills of Ecstasy.”
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Shkambi was later set to be released in 2029.
Jose Valdez also had his sentence commuted by Biden.
Valdez “coordinated the distribution of large quantities of cocaine and marijuana for a drug-trafficking organization based in El Paso, Texas, from March of 2015 through July of 2016,” court records reveal.
He also “recruited numerous individuals to deliver narcotics to cities throughout the United States.”
According to the BOP, Valdez’s scheduled release date was previously set for November 2026.
Biden also commuted Daniel Monsanto Lopez’s sentence.
Lopez’s request for release to home confinement was denied by a court in 2020.
The court noted Lopez is “the organizer and leader of a sophisticated, years-long narcotics smuggling and distribution conspiracy that trafficked at least 20 kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to the Bronx.”
“While Mr. Monsanto Lopez’s motion is long on statistics — he emphasizes in support of his motion that COVID-19 has more strongly impacted Hispanic males such as himself — it is short on specifics, and he has failed to demonstrate extraordinary and compelling reasons for his release,” the court held.
According to the BOP, Lopez’s release date was set for December 25, 2024.
David Morrow also had his sentence commuted by Biden.
Morrow was convicted of “conspiracy to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine” and for “maintaining a residence for the purpose of distributing crack cocaine.”
His expected release date was set for November 2031, according to the BOP.
Two of the “most notorious fraudsters” in the Chicago area — former Dixon, Illinois Comptroller Rita Crundwell and former Sentinel Management Group, Inc. CEO Eric Bloom — also made Biden’s list. according to the Chicago Tribune.
Crundwell, who was sentenced in 2013 to nearly 20 years in prison, stole $53.7 million from Dixon over the course of a decade.
Many called Crundwell’s operation the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history.
Bloom was convicted for defrauding “hundreds of victims” of over $665 million.
Biden’s Thursday announcement stated:
“Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans – the most ever in a single day – who have shown successful rehabilitation and a strong commitment to making their communities safer.
“The President is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
Crundwell, who was sentenced in 2013 to nearly 20 years in prison, stole $53.7 million from Dixon over the course of a decade.
Many called Crundwell’s operation the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history.
Bloom was convicted for defrauding “hundreds of victims” of over $665 million.
Biden’s Thursday announcement stated:
“Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans – the most ever in a single day – who have shown successful rehabilitation and a strong commitment to making their communities safer.
“The President is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
White House
CLEMENCY RECIPIENT LIST
Sunday, December 01, 2024
Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to
ZEKE MILLER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and COLLEEN LONG
Sun, December 1, 2024 at 7:37 PM EST
\\FILE - President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden walk in downtown Nantucket Mass., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Joe Biden speaks on the South Lawn of the White House during a ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day with survivors, their families and advocates, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden's legacy. Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump's first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing.
In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”
In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” alleging that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was set to depart later Sunday on what may be his last foreign trip as president before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.
Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.
The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.
The sweeping pardon covers not just those offenses, but also any other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024."
Biden is hardly the first president to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.
In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Trump this week announced plans to nominate the elder Kushner to be the U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.
Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.
A spokesperson for special counsel David Weiss, who brought the cases, did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.
___
Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Nantucket, Massachusetts contributed to this report.
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Biden pardons 6 convicted of murder, drug, alcohol crimes
Story by By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press • Yesterday 12:50 PM
The Associated Press
Biden pardons 6 convicted of murder, drug, alcohol crimes
KINGSHILL, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — President Joe Biden has pardoned six people who have served out sentences after convictions on a murder charge and drug- and alcohol-related crimes, including an 80-year-old woman convicted of killing her abusive husband about a half-century ago and a man who pleaded guilty to using a telephone for a cocaine transaction in the 1970s.
President Joe Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. Biden and his family are traveling to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, to celebrate New Year. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)© Provided by The Associated Press
The pardons, announced Friday, mean the criminal record of the crimes is now purged. They come a few months after the Democratic president pardoned thousands of people convicted of “simple possession" of marijuana under federal law. He also pardoned three people earlier this year and has commuted the sentences of 75 others.
Biden's stance on low-level crimes, particularly low-level drug possession, and how those crimes can impact families and communities for decades to come has evolved over his 50 years in public service. In the 1990s, he supported crime legislation that increased arrest and incarceration rates for drug crimes, particularly for Black and Latino people. Biden has said people are right to question his stance on the bill, but he also has encouraged them to look at what he's doing now on crime.
The pardons were announced while the president was spending time with his family on St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The White House said those pardoned are people who went on to serve their communities. It said the pardons reflect Biden’s view people deserve a second chance.
Those granted pardons are:
— Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, 80, of Columbus, Ohio. At age 33, Ibn-Tamas was convicted of killing her husband. She testified that her husband beat her, verbally abused her and threatened her. She told jurors that she shot him moments after he had assaulted her, while she was pregnant. The judge refused to allow expert testimony on battered woman syndrome, a psychological condition that can develop among victims of domestic violence. Ibn-Tamas got one to five years of incarceration with credit for time served. Her appeal was among the first by someone with battered woman syndrome, and her case has been studied by academics.
— Charles Byrnes-Jackson, 77, of Swansea, South Carolina. Byrnes-Jackson pleaded guilty to possession and sale of spirits without tax stamps when he was 18, and it involved a single illegal whiskey transaction. He tried to enlist in the Marines but was rejected because of the conviction.
— John Dix Nock III, 72, of St. Augustine, Florida. Nock pleaded guilty to using his property as a grow-house for marijuana 27 years ago. He didn't cultivate the plants, but he got six months of community confinement. He now operates a general contracting business.
— Gary Parks Davis, 66, of Yuma, Arizona. When Davis was 22, he admitted using a telephone for a cocaine transaction. He served a six-month sentence on nights and weekends in a county jail and completed probation in 1981. After the offense, the White House says, Davis earned a college degree and worked steadily, including owning a landscaping business and managing construction projects. He has volunteered at his children’s high school and in his community.
— Edward Lincoln De Coito III, 50, of Dublin, California. De Coito pleaded guilty at age 23 to being involved in a marijuana trafficking conspiracy. He was released from prison in December 2000 after serving nearly two years. Before the offense, De Coito had served honorably in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves and had received numerous awards.
— Vincente Ray Flores, 37, of Winters, California. As a 19-year-old, Flores consumed ecstasy and alcohol while serving in the Air Force, later pleading guilty at a special court-martial. He was sentenced to four months of confinement, loss of $2,800 in pay and a reduction in rank. Flores participated in a six-month rehab program that gives select enlisted offenders a chance to return to duty after therapy and education. His reduction in rank was amended, and he remains on active duty, earning medals and other awards for his service.
___
Long reported from Washington.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Pope frees jailed Spanish priest in Vatileaks case
Catholic Church
|
Left, Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on April 27, 2016. Photo courtesy of Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi; right, Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda is shown in a YouTube video.
Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda was sentenced in August for stealing and passing Vatican documents to two Italian journalists in the so-called Vatileaks 2 case.
In a brief statement released late Tuesday (Dec. 20), the Vatican said:
“Considering that the Rev. Vallejo Balda has already served more than half of the sentence, the Holy Father Francis has given him the benefit of conditional release. … It is a measure of clemency which allows him to regain freedom. The penalty is not resolved, but he can enjoy the benefit of parole.”
Vallejo Balda was to be released from prison Tuesday and have no further employment in the Holy See. He will return to his home diocese in Spain.
Since his arrest in 2015, the monsignor has been in custody in a Vatican jail, though he later transferred to another Vatican property.
The first Vatileaks trial led to the conviction, and then pardon, of Paolo Gabriele, the former butler of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI found guilty of leaking private documents that exposed fierce infighting and political intrigue inside the Vatican.
Vallejo Balda and co-defendant Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui — members of the Vatican’s now-defunct financial commission — were both found guilty in the Vatileaks 2 trial.
Chaouqui got a suspended term of 10 months. Their aide Nicola Maio was acquitted, while the Vatican court said it did not have jurisdiction over the two journalists named in the case, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who were both cleared.
(Josephine McKenna is RNS’ Vatican correspondent)
Source
Saturday, July 11, 2015
In Bolivia, Pope Francis Apologizes for Church’s ‘Grave Sins’
AMERICAS
By JIM YARDLEY and WILLIAM NEUMAN
JULY 9, 2015
Pope Francis celebrated mass in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Thursday during his tour of South America. By Reuters on Publish DateJuly 9, 2015. Photo by Martin Alipaz/European Pressphoto Agency.
Watch in Times Video »
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis offered a direct apology on Thursday for the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the oppression of Latin America during the colonial era, even as he called for a global social movement to shatter a “new colonialism” that has fostered inequality, materialism and the exploitation of the poor.
Speaking to a hall filled with social activists, farmers, garbage workers and Bolivian indigenous people, Francis offered the most ambitious, and biting, address of his South American tour.
He repeated familiar themes in sharply critiquing the global economic order and warning of environmental catastrophe — but also added a twist with his apology.
“Some may rightly say, ‘When the pope speaks of colonialism, he overlooks certain actions of the church,’ ” Francis said. “I say this to you with regret: Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God.”
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis offered a direct apology on Thursday for the complicity of the Roman Catholic Church in the oppression of Latin America during the colonial era, even as he called for a global social movement to shatter a “new colonialism” that has fostered inequality, materialism and the exploitation of the poor.
Speaking to a hall filled with social activists, farmers, garbage workers and Bolivian indigenous people, Francis offered the most ambitious, and biting, address of his South American tour.
He repeated familiar themes in sharply critiquing the global economic order and warning of environmental catastrophe — but also added a twist with his apology.
“Some may rightly say, ‘When the pope speaks of colonialism, he overlooks certain actions of the church,’ ” Francis said. “I say this to you with regret: Many grave sins were committed against the native people of America in the name of God.”
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He added: “I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offense of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.”
Pope Francis met Thursday with President Evo Morales of Bolivia and apologized for the church's "sins" during Latin America's colonial era.
Credit David Mercado/Reuters
Francis, an Argentine, is the first Latin American pope, and his apology comes as he is trying to position the church as a refuge and advocate for the poor and dispossessed of his native continent.
During his visit to Ecuador, and now Bolivia, Francis has made broad calls for Latin American unity — on Thursday mentioning “Patria Grande,” the historic ambition to make the continent a unified world force — even as he has sidestepped some local controversies.
Bolivia suffered stark exploitation during Spanish rule, as silver deposits helped finance the Spanish empire, bankroll European colonialism elsewhere and also fill the treasury of the Vatican. Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, is a longtime leftist critic of the church, yet on Thursday he spoke before the pope and praised him.
Francis’ criticism of multinational corporations and global capitalism has already brought him criticism and suspicions among some who question the leftist tint of his ideas.
Francis spoke in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Thursday at the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements, a congress of global activists. CreditAlessandro Bianchi/Reuters
Mr. Morales, a fierce critic of American corporate influence, wore a white shirt and a dark jacket bearing a picture of the Communist revolutionary Che Guevara on the left breast.
“For the first time, I feel like I have a pope: Pope Francis,” Mr. Morales said.
Francis has filled four consecutive days with appearances, but other than an environmental critique offered in Ecuador, the pope had hewed mostly to theological topics or broad themes like family, service and mission.
His appearance on Thursday night was at the Second World Meeting of Popular Movements, a congress of global activists working to mobilize and help the poor. Some people wore Che Guevara T-shirts while some indigenous women wore traditional black bowlers.
Francis drew cheers when he called on the activists and others to change the social order: “I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organize and carry out creative alternatives, through your daily efforts to ensure the three Ls — labor, lodging, land.”
Francis repeated his condemnation of an economic system rooted in pursuit of money and profits, but in an aside he criticized “certain free-trade treaties” and “austerity, which always tightens the belt of workers and the poor” — a likely reference to Greece.
“Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money,” he said. “Let us say no to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service. That economy kills. That economy excludes. That economy destroys Mother Earth.”
But if Francis again called for change, he also offered no detailed prescription.
8 Ways Pope Francis Is Changing the Direction of the Catholic Church
Francis has differed significantly from his predecessors with his outspoken style and his approach to leading the church. Here is a look at some of his comments on poverty, church reform, climate change and divorce.
“Don’t expect a recipe from this pope,” he said. “Neither the pope nor the church have a monopoly on the interpretation of social reality or the proposal of solution to contemporary issues. I dare say no recipe exists.”
In Latin America, Francis’ apology will likely draw the most attention, though he told the audience that Pope John Paul II had already apologized.
In 2000, John Paul made a blanket apology from the Vatican, asking forgiveness from Jews, ethnic populations on different continents and other groups. Francis’ apology was specific and made on Bolivian soil.
Yet Francis’s agenda for the trip includes bolstering the church, and he noted that many priests and laity had acted with courage on behalf of Latin America and said Catholicism was integral to the continent’s identity.
On the Road With the Pope
Our Vatican correspondent, Jim Yardley, is traveling with Pope Francis as he visits Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. Follow along as he chronicles the trip.
My Travels With Pope Francis
“An identity which here, as in other countries, some powers are committed to erasing, at times because our faith is revolutionary, because our faith challenges the tyranny of Mammon,” he said.
Inside the conference hall, Francis’ words resonated. Isabel Olivo, 64, an Uruguayan dairy farmer, praised the speech.
“Now what is needed is that what he said goes onto the agenda of all the politicians and the movements, that it goes on their work agenda and doesn’t get buried on their desks,” she said.
And Alfredo Marco, 48, a taxi driver and representative of neighborhood councils in Santa Cruz, praised the pope as speaking the “same language as President Evo, the same words.”
“There are two popes, Pope Francis and Pope Evo,” he said.
At the end of the speech, Francis made his familiar request that people pray for him, but mindful that this was a more secular crowd, he added that if people could not pray for him that “you think well of me and that you send me good energy.”
A version of this article appears in print on July 10, 2015, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: In Bolivia, Pope Apologizes for Church’s ‘Grave Sins’.
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Friday, July 10, 2015
10 Pope Quotes on Social Justice, Climate Change, Colonialism
Published 10 July 2015 (3 hours 55 minutes ago)
During his tour of South America the pope has emphasized his message of social inclusion, peace and justice Pope Francis addressed social movements from around the world on Thursday during his visit to Bolivia. Below we look at some of the highlights.
On Social Justice
- "The rights of the planet, and the right to shelter and work, for all our brother sisters are sacred rights worth fighting for"
- “Its not enough to let some (wealth) trickle down, when the poor shake that cup it never trickles down by itself,”
- “There should be no family without a home, no farmer with land, no workers without rights, no people without sovereignty, no person without dignity, no child without childhood, no youth without possibilities, no elderly without venerable old age.”
- "You, the lowly, the exploited, the poor and underprivileged, can do, and are doing, a lot. I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, through your ability to organize and carry out creative alternatives, through your daily efforts to ensure the three "l's" (labor, lodging, land)."
On Colonialism
- “The new colonialism is taking on diverse forms. At times it is the anonymous power of money, of money-lending corporations, of free trade agreements and the imposition of austerity measures that tighten the belts of the workers and the poor...”
- “No power has has the right to strip poor countries of their sovereignty... When they do it we see new forms of colonialism that seriously affect the possibilities of peace and justice....”
- “The people of the world want to control their own destiny and want to march peacefully towards justice... They do not want to be lectured and they don't want interference from the stronger who subordinate the weaker…”
- "I say this to you with regret: many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of god.
- "I humbly ask forgiveness, not only for the offenses of the church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America."
On Climate Change
- "Time, my brothers and sisters, seems to be running out; we are not yet tearing one another apart, but we are tearing apart our common home. Today, the scientific community realizes what the poor have long told us: harm, perhaps irreversible harm, is being done to the ecosystem. The earth, entire peoples and individual persons are being brutally punished. And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called "the dung of the devil."
Source
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Presidential Turkey Pardon Double the Fun
November 24, 2011 10:15 AM EST
Not just one but two turkeys can breathe easier this Thanksgiving thanks to the official presidential turkey pardon. While other turkeys are busy fearing for their lives (or, more likely, already gracing ovens and tables across the country), Liberty and Peace can go on to live their lives in peace and luxury.
According to the LA Times, the presidential turkey pardon tradition dates back to at least 1989 when President George H.W. Bush (the father, not the son) excused a live turkey from being eaten. Others claim the tradition is even older, dating back to 1963 when John F. Kennedy unofficially pardoned a turkey.
It's heartwarming to think that on a day of carnage, at least two animals are revered as the majestic creatures they are. One can't help but feel sad for the thousands, if not millions of other turkeys that gave their lives for the holiday table.
President Obama was accompanied by his daughters Malia and Sasha for the official event. The president joked that this was another action that didn't need congressional approval - a reference to recent events he took to try jump-starting the economy. "We can't wait to pardon these turkeys!" are the enthusiastic words the president uttered, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Liberty and Peace were chosen from a flock of turkeys raised by high school students in Montana. Reuters notes that only Liberty was trained for the day's events by the students to prepare them for the noise and commotion caused by the press. In addition to de-sensitivity training for loud noises and flash bulbs, the turkeys underwent more training for the big day. "They also received the most important part of their media training, which involves learning how to gobble without really saying anything," joked the president.
The news of Liberty and Peace's pardons are bittersweet. On one hand, two birds were humanized and given a reprieve from death. On the other, plenty more birds (and pigs and countless other animals) die in preparation for the holidays. Not every animal has the luxury of being treated well - not every turkey is raised on a rural farm and cared for by attentive high school students. Many turkeys bred and raised for holiday feasts are subject to inadequate housing, cruel practices and less than quick deaths.
The lucky recipients of the presidential turkey pardon will go on to live out the rest of their days at Mount Vernon, the historic home of George Washington. It's not clear what the lap of luxury looks like for turkeys, but one can presume it involves premium food and the freedom from cruel and inhumane conditions that many factory-farmed turkeys are subject to.
Still another concern is that these two turkeys could have possibly gone to needy families. According to Reuters, the First Family visited a food bank for thanksgiving. President Obama is quoted as saying they brought two "unnamed turkeys who weren't so lucky" with them. Really? Just two turkeys?
P.S.
Obama named the 'pardoned' turkeys Liberty and Peace. Wow? Liberty and Peace are pardoned?
Why weren't they named Hope and Change?
Didn't President Clinton pardon Tragedy and Hope?
And, didn't President W. Bush pardon Scooter Libby?
Just wondering?
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Need of Spiritual Discernment
On the Steamer “Alameda,” on the Broad Ocean,
November 17, 1891.
Redemption is a part of the divine nature. It is the prerogative of God to have to reconstruct, not to destroy. The Son of God was given to die before the foundation of the world. The existence of sin is unexplainable; therefore, not a soul knows what God is until he sees himself in the light reflected from the cross of Calvary, and detests himself as a sinner, in the bitterness of his soul. When his soul cries out in great need for a sin-pardoning Saviour, then God is revealed as gracious, full of comparison and forgiveness and love, longsuffering and patience. Individually, as church-members, we are, if faithful, servants of Jesus Christ, laborers together with God. When one is bruised by the enemy, and wounded, and commits error, as faithful and true to the Master, as workers together with God, we must take up the missionary work next to us, we must work to heal, not to ruin and to destroy. The hope we have in Christ is because we are sinners. We have a right to claim a Saviour. Then when there are those in any of our institutions associated together, who err, let not men act the part of denouncing, condemning, and destroying, as though they were faultless.
It is the work of the Christian to mend, to restore, to heal. This healing process saves many a soul, and hides a multitude of sins. God is love. God is, in himself, in his essence, love. He makes the very best of what appears an injury, and gives Satan no occasion for triumph by making the worst appear, and exposing our weakness to our enemies. The world must not be introduced into the church, and married to the church, forming a bond of unity. Through this means the church will become indeed corrupt, and, as stated in Revelation, “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Through association with the world, our institutions will become unsubstantial, unreliable; because these worldly elements, introduced and placed in positions of trust, are looked up to, as teachers to be respected, in their educating, directing, and official position, and they are sure to be worked upon by the spirit and power of darkness; so that the demarkation becomes not distinguished between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not. The parable is given by Jesus Christ in regard to the field in which it was supposed had been sown pure wheat, but the entrusted ones look upon the field with disappointment, and inquire, “Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” The Master of the vineyard answered, “An enemy hath done this.”
Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 6, p. 3,4.
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Tuesday, August 04, 2009
North Korea pardons US reporters
State media said Bill Clinton and Kim Jong-il had wide-ranging talks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8183437.stm
North Korea pardons US reporters
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has issued a special pardon to two detained US journalists, the country's state news agency reports.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been found guilty of entering illegally in March.
The news comes hours after former US President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to Pyongyang on what was described as a private mission.
Mr Clinton is the highest-profile American to visit since ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000.
Mr Clinton had landed in Pyongyang in an unmarked plane and was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials.
KCNA said that Mr Clinton met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, although the White House denied its report that Mr Clinton had conveyed a message from US President Barack Obama.
US JOURNALISTS PARDONED
17 March: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling seized by North Korean border guards while reporting for California-based Current TV
8 June: Sentenced to 12 years in jail for "hostile acts" and illegal entry into North Korea
16 June: North Korea says journalists have "admitted and accepted" their guilt
10 July: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeals for an amnesty for the two
4 August: Former US President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang and North Korea later announces the journalists will be pardoned
Will visit change Pyongyang?
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally across the Chinese border in March and were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour.
They were arrested by North Korean guards while filming a video about refugees for California-based internet broadcaster Current TV.
The White House has pressed for their release, and Mr Clinton's wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked last month that they be granted amnesty.
Analysts say that Kim Jong-il is eager to improve relations with Washington as he prepares to name a successor.
President Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke a year ago and also has chronic diabetes and heart disease. Analysts say his third son is being lined up to succeed him.
Nuclear tension
Mr Clinton's visit comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pyongyang on North Korea's nuclear programme.
North Korea dropped out of six-party talks after the UN censured along-range missile test in April. The parties include Russia, China, Japan, the US and both Koreas.
An underground nuclear test and further missile tests followed, provoking new UN Security Council sanctions.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8184583.stm
.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8183437.stm
North Korea pardons US reporters
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has issued a special pardon to two detained US journalists, the country's state news agency reports.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been found guilty of entering illegally in March.
The news comes hours after former US President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to Pyongyang on what was described as a private mission.
Mr Clinton is the highest-profile American to visit since ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 2000.
Mr Clinton had landed in Pyongyang in an unmarked plane and was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials.
KCNA said that Mr Clinton met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, although the White House denied its report that Mr Clinton had conveyed a message from US President Barack Obama.
US JOURNALISTS PARDONED
17 March: Euna Lee, left, and Laura Ling seized by North Korean border guards while reporting for California-based Current TV
8 June: Sentenced to 12 years in jail for "hostile acts" and illegal entry into North Korea
16 June: North Korea says journalists have "admitted and accepted" their guilt
10 July: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeals for an amnesty for the two
4 August: Former US President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang and North Korea later announces the journalists will be pardoned
Will visit change Pyongyang?
Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally across the Chinese border in March and were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour.
They were arrested by North Korean guards while filming a video about refugees for California-based internet broadcaster Current TV.
The White House has pressed for their release, and Mr Clinton's wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked last month that they be granted amnesty.
Analysts say that Kim Jong-il is eager to improve relations with Washington as he prepares to name a successor.
President Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke a year ago and also has chronic diabetes and heart disease. Analysts say his third son is being lined up to succeed him.
Nuclear tension
Mr Clinton's visit comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pyongyang on North Korea's nuclear programme.
North Korea dropped out of six-party talks after the UN censured along-range missile test in April. The parties include Russia, China, Japan, the US and both Koreas.
An underground nuclear test and further missile tests followed, provoking new UN Security Council sanctions.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8184583.stm
.
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