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Category: joe biden

  • All the President’s Pardons

    President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son and President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to set free people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, bring back memories of what’s considered the most controversial pardon ever: Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford’s pardon of the former president in 1974 sparked outrage among politicians and the American people. 

    “I had a visceral feeling that the public animosity to Mr. Nixon was so great that there would be a lack of understanding, and the truth is that’s the way it turned out,” Ford said in an interview broadcast for the first time on Reveal. “The public and many leaders, including dear friends, didn’t understand it at the time.”

    This week on Reveal, we look at the politics of pardons and discover that beyond those that make headlines, there is a backlog of thousands of people who’ve waited years—even decades—for presidents to make a decision about their petitions for clemency. 

    This is an update of an episode that originally aired in July 2019. 

    This post was originally published on Reveal.

  • Blinken’s Disturbing Exit Interview

    Biden’s time in office is coming to an end, but not before a parting gift for Israel.

    The State Department recently announced that it would notify Congress about another massive arms deal, this one worth $8 billion. It includes medium-range air-to-air missiles, Hellfire missiles, 500-pound bombs, and more.

    The announcement comes amid a deluge of dire news out of Gaza. Flood. Famine. Extreme cold. Israel killed more than 234 Palestinians during the first 4 days of 2025. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recently published reports saying Israel is committing genocide.

    The post Blinken’s Disturbing Exit Interview appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Biden’s Offshore Drilling ‘Ban’ Won’t Protect Gulf of Mexico

    Democrats in Congress cheered as President Joe Biden moved on January 6 to withdraw 625 million acres federal ocean waters off United States coastlines from consideration for future offshore oil and gas drilling. Democratic lawmakers say the waters are “permanently” protected, although Republicans could use their majority in Congress to force the government to lease underwater drilling rights to the industry.

    However, Biden’s last-minute effort to secure his climate legacy before Donald Trump takes office does nothing to prevent offshore drilling in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, where intense fossil fuel exploitation already causes pollution and oil spills as climate change brings intensifying floods and storms to coastal communities.

    The post Biden’s Offshore Drilling ‘Ban’ Won’t Protect Gulf of Mexico appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Upcoming DNC Election Will Set Democratic Party’s Course on Palestine and More

    The Democratic Party, still reeling from its resounding loss to Donald Trump and the Republicans, will try to set a new course for the party at the Democratic National Committee’s upcoming winter meeting. This will be no small task; the party just endured a chaotic presidential campaign that saw the sitting president opt not to run for reelection after considerable pressure from inside the…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Genocide: The New Normal

    Joe Biden’s parting gift of $8 billion in weapons sales to the apartheid state of Israel acknowledges the gruesome reality of the genocide in Gaza. This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. This is a permanent, endless war designed not to destroy Hamas, or free Israeli hostages, but to eradicate, once and for all, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. It is the final push to create a Greater Israel, which will include not only Gaza and the West Bank, but chunks of Lebanon and Syria. It is the culmination of the Zionist dream. And it will be paid for with rivers of blood — Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian.

    The post Genocide: The New Normal appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • From Genocide Joe To Trump’s Israel First: What’s Next For Palestine?

    As President Biden greenlights another $8 billion in weapons to Israel in his last days in office and Secretary Blinken gives a parting New York Times interview in which he denies that a genocide is taking place in Gaza, many pro-Palestine activists are anxiously counting down the days until “Genocide Joe” and his crew exit the White House. But what will activists have to contend with under the Trump presidency?

    Donald Trump proved his pro-Israel agenda in his first term by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, supporting West Bank settlements, recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and enacting the Abraham Accords to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states, while disregarding the plight of Palestinians.

    The post From Genocide Joe To Trump’s Israel First: What’s Next For Palestine? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Biden Should Go Beyond Commutations for Death Row and Commute Life Sentences Too

    Joe Biden has set a record-breaking number of clemencies and commutations into motion as his presidency comes to an end. On December 12, Biden commuted the sentences of 1,499 people who had committed nonviolent crimes and had “been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the COVID-era CARES Act.” Less than two weeks later, he commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 people…

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  • Sanders Vows to Work to Block Biden’s Proposed $8B Sale of Weapons to Israel

    Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has pledged that he will do everything in his power to block an $8 billion sale of weapons to Israel announced by the Biden administration last week, as Israeli forces are entering the 16th month of their genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. On Friday, the Biden administration notified Congress of the weapons package, which reportedly contains thousands…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Is About to Hand Over a Vast and Unconstitutional DNA Database to Trump

    As Donald Trump’s return to the White House looms, dismantling the most dangerous weapons in the arsenal of executive power should be the Biden administration’s highest priority for its last days. The most obvious of these relate to the president’s war-making powers, particularly authority over nuclear deployment. But there is another apparatus of coercion that will be at Trump’s fingertips…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Joe Biden Blasts Efforts to “Erase the History” of January 6 Capitol Attack

    Outgoing President Joe Biden marked the fourth anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol building by a mob of loyalists to Donald Trump by calling on Americans to stand guard against future attacks on democracy. The Capitol attack took place on January 6, 2021, following weeks of Trump insisting that his loss to Biden in the 2020 presidential race was due to election fraud — a claim that…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Permanently Bans Offshore Drilling Across 625M Acres of Coastal Territory

    Outgoing President Joe Biden on Monday moved to permanently ban offshore oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal territory, protecting swaths of the East Coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, and Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from fossil fuel exploitation just before President-elect Donald Trump is set to retake power. Biden said in a statement that…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Approves Another $8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel as Genocide Continues

    The administration of US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday an arms sale to Israel valued at $8 billion, just ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Biden has repeatedly rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed during the war in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Israel Carried Out 1,400 Strikes in Gaza Last Month — Over 45 a Day on Average

    The Israeli military has announced that it carried out over 1,400 air strikes on Gaza in December alone, amounting to dozens of strikes a day on average on Palestinians also suffering under famine conditions due to Israel’s enduring aid blockade. This is the equivalent of over 45 airstrikes a day, with the attacks carried out by Israeli aircraft like fighter jets and drones…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Awards Cheney With Presidential Citizens Medal Despite Human Rights Record

    President Joe Biden is honoring former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) with one of the nation’s highest honors, the Presidential Citizens Medal. According to past White House statements, the tribute is given to individuals “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.” The award is considered the second-highest civilian tribute the U.S.

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Guantánamo Detainee Held Without Charge for Over Two Decades Is Repatriated

    The Biden administration announced late Monday that it transferred a Tunisian man who was never charged with a crime out of the notorious Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba, a move that came more than a decade after the detainee was approved for release. The man, 59-year-old Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi, had been held at Guantánamo since the day former U.S. President George W.

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden’s Record And What That Means For The Next Administration

    As the Biden presidency comes to a close, Clearing the FOG speaks with author and journalist Kevin Gosztola about his current series on Biden’s legacy. Gosztola reports in The Dissenter on Biden’s failure to fulfill his campaign promises when it comes to government transparency, accountability and press freedom, as well as how these have eroded through successive presidencies this century. Gosztola describes how it has become more difficult to access information about what the government is doing and the abuse of the state secrets privilege to hide crimes being committed by entities such as the CIA. He also discusses what we can expect from the incoming Trump administration.

    The post Biden’s Record And What That Means For The Next Administration appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Seven Lessons From South Africa’s Genocide Convention Case

    On December 29, 2023, South Africa invoked the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

    To some people, this came out of the blue.

    Some are aware there was a concerted effort to that end through the fall of 2023 which involved myself and others.

    Few are aware that the story goes back further.

    And tragically few are aware that there are clear steps that can be taken now to give it force which the US government has insidiously undermined.

    In 2000, Prof. Francis Boyle published the piece “Palestine Should Sue Israel for Genocide before the International Court of Justice.”

    Boyle reiterated such calls periodically, particularly when Israel would decimate Gaza.

    The post Seven Lessons From South Africa’s Genocide Convention Case appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Native Vote Calls On Biden To Remove Medals Given To Calvary Members Of Massacre At Wounded Knee

    In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden, dated just two days before the 134th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre, Four Directions Native Vote called on the president to rescind the Medals of Honor awarded to members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry involved in the massacre.

    The letter, co-authored by Oliver and Barbra Semans, revisits the tragic events of December 29, 1890, when Chief Spotted Elk (also known as Chief Big Foot) and more than 300 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children were brutally killed at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

    The post Native Vote Calls On Biden To Remove Medals Given To Calvary Members Of Massacre At Wounded Knee appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • After Biden’s Grants Of Clemency, Calls To Commute Leonard Peltier Reignite

    Washington, D.C. — Last week, after President Biden made the historic act of commuting the sentences of 1,499 Americans in a single day, efforts to free Leonard Peltier have reignited. On Thursday, Dec. 12 — the day after Biden announced clemency — dozens of U.S. senators and representatives wrote a letter to the President asking for clemency for Leonard Peltier.

    Tribal leaders and organizers have praised the act by federal leaders: “We would like to thank Senator [Brian] Schatz and Representative [Raúl] Grijalva for their solidarity as well as the other senators and congresspeople who signed on to the letter,” said NDN Collective CEO Nick Tilsen to Unicorn Riot.

    The post After Biden’s Grants Of Clemency, Calls To Commute Leonard Peltier Reignite appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Biden Moves to Protect Climate Progress From Trump, But Advocates Want More

    Even before Election Day, environmental groups were suggesting ways that the Biden administration could protect the president’s climate agenda from an incoming president who has vowed to increase fossil fuel production and repeal major climate initiatives. Since then, Biden has taken many of those steps — backing a proposal to curtail public financing for oil and gas projects around the…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Officials Pressured US-Funded Food Monitor to Retract Gaza Famine Warning

    A key international food insecurity monitor retracted a report warning of imminent famine in Israeli-sieged north Gaza after the Biden administration pressured the group to do so, new reporting finds. Earlier this week, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) put out a report warning that deaths due to starvation were reaching the threshold of famine in north Gaza…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • ​​Biden’s National Strategy on Islamophobia Is an Insult to Victims of US Policy

    On December 12, 2024, the Biden administration released its National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. The document is a moral obscenity that should insult the intelligence and dignity of every self-respecting person of conscience in America. The breathtaking hypocrisy of releasing this document while U.S.-funded bombs obliterate Palestinian civilians in Gaza defies…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Commutes The Sentences Of All But Three On Federal Death Row

    President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 people on federal death row, reclassifying sentences of all but three men to life without parole. This follows months of activists calling on Joe Biden to commute all federal death sentences.

    The three remaining on death row were convicted for mass shootings: Robert Bowers who killed 11 Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, Dylann Roof for the 2015 shooting that killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured hundreds.

    The post Biden Commutes The Sentences Of All But Three On Federal Death Row appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • I’ve Spent 26 Christmases in Prison, and Not One Has Been Merry

    The year 2024 is coming to a close, and the celebration of Christmas is here. Posters, billboards, the news media and magazines are all proclaiming, “Merry Christmas!” “Happy Holidays!” and “Season’s Greetings!” Many people are buying gifts for their loved ones; decorating and lighting Christmas trees; putting together prayer affirmations, meals, and other joyful activities to celebrate either…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Biden Commutes 37 Death Penalty Sentences — Critics Call for More

    President Joe Biden has granted commutations to most of the people currently facing a federal death penalty sentence, granting the largest number of single-day death row clemencies in U.S. history. “This historic clemency action builds on the President’s record of criminal justice reform,” a fact sheet from the White House read, adding that Biden “has issued more commutations at this point…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • When Will Pope Francis Finally Excommunicate Fellow Catholic Joe Biden?

    While Catholic U.S. President Joe Biden continues to provide weapons to Israel that have killed over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s military attacks on Gaza constitute genocide and by implication that the Biden administration is a participant in the genocide.

    It would not be the first time the Pope has identified the role of individual Catholics in genocide. In 2017, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for Catholic church’s role in Rwanda genocide acknowledging that some Catholic priests and nuns ‘succumbed to hatred and violence’ by taking part in 1994 killings.

    The post When Will Pope Francis Finally Excommunicate Fellow Catholic Joe Biden? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Palestinian Americans File Lawsuit Against US for “Abandoning” Them in Gaza

    A group of Palestinian Americans is suing the U.S. government for failing to evacuate American citizens and legal residents stranded in Gaza amid Israel’s genocide, saying that the U.S. is violating constitutional protections afforded to all Americans by discriminating against Palestinians and leaving them stranded. The group of nine Palestinian Americans, either themselves stuck in Gaza or…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Know Your Enemy: Trump 2.0 and the Courts

    Matt and Sam talk to the hosts of the 5-4 podcast about how Trump can remake the federal judiciary—and perhaps the broader justice system—during his second term.

    This post was originally published on Dissent Magazine.

  • Casar, 19 Democrats Demand End to “Offensive” Weapons Transfers to Israel

    A group of Democrats led by Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the new head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has sent a letter to the Biden administration urging officials to follow their own policies and stop “offensive” military transfers to Israel amid its genocide in Gaza. In a letter, the lawmakers say that the administration’s failure to adhere to its own 30-day deadline to improve…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • NJ Activists Brace to Fight Trump Immigration Agenda After Setbacks Under Biden

    One month after Donald Trump was reelected president following a campaign where he promised mass deportations, The Guardian published an investigation revealing how outgoing President Joe Biden is laying the groundwork for potential expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. The report shows that during Biden’s final year in office, ICE has been working to extend contracts…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.