The Biden Presidency Thread

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 11:30 am

It all started with that goddamn turkey.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:30 pm

I think Joe's legacy is secured, and will only shine greater in comparison to the tariff turd.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:39 pm

Jaymann wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:30 pm I think Joe's legacy is secured, and will only shine greater in comparison to the tariff turd.

I'm more skeptical. It depends just how bad the Trump years get, but I think he'll mainly be remembered for failing to secure the government or to otherwise prevent Trump's return to power.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:59 pm

How do you compete with Musk going all in on Trump with dark money and Twitter/X? If anything, we’re going to find out over time how corrupt Trump was in the election due to his desperation to avoid prosecution.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 3:01 pm

Hella. The answer is hella.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Thu Dec 12, 2024 5:58 pm

Zarathud wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 2:59 pm How do you compete with Musk going all in on Trump with dark money and Twitter/X? If anything, we’re going to find out over time how corrupt Trump was in the election due to his desperation to avoid prosecution.

I'm sure lots of books will be written about it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 2:25 am

Sadly, I think part of his legacy will end up being him held up as an example of the issues with gerontocracy. It doesn't matter if it's deserved or not - it's the impression a lot of people ended up with.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 4:25 am

Not sure I understand this one. Is it just because he's old and already on home release?

https://www.wgal.com/article/former-luz ... d/63177355

A former Luzerne County judge was one of the roughly 1,500 people who had their sentences commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden. Michael Conahan, 72, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for sending juveniles to for-profit prisons for millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 13, 2024 10:21 am

It's not like he's at risk to reoffend.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 10:50 am

Biden has commuted the sentences of all but 3 federal death row inmates. Two of the three remaining look like to be, at the very least, white nationalist adjacent (one shot up a black church, the other a synagogue), so they've got a 50/50 chance that Trump will straight up pardon them. The other one is the Boston Marathon bomber, so I'd guess he's for the rack, then drawing-and-quartering or whatever is the most theatrically cruel method of execution that Trump can conjure up.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 11:50 am

Alefroth wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 4:25 am Not sure I understand this one. Is it just because he's old and already on home release?

https://www.wgal.com/article/former-luz ... d/63177355

A former Luzerne County judge was one of the roughly 1,500 people who had their sentences commuted Thursday by President Joe Biden. Michael Conahan, 72, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for sending juveniles to for-profit prisons for millions of dollars in kickbacks.

I don't like this one.

This guy abused the power of the judiciary to absolutely ruin young lives for personal profit. His crimes combine corruption, racism, callous cruelty, and betrayal of public trust. The damage he did is incalculable.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 12:47 pm

He wasn't individually selected. It was a blanket pardon of every convict who had been given home detention because of COVID-19. I guess that Biden assumed that whatever mechanism found them sufficiently safe for home detention was enough.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Dec 23, 2024 7:35 pm

Biden commutes sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, the White House said Monday.

The move reduces the sentence for all but three of the 40 inmates on federal death row. Biden said that the commutations are "consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions," with the exception of terrorism and hate-motivated mass killings.

The three people on the federal execution list who were not on Biden's commutation list are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing; Robert Bowers, who was convicted of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue antisemitic attack; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black churchgoers in a racially motivated shooting in South Carolina.

According to the White House fact sheet about the move, the recipients of the commutations will have their sentences "reclassified from execution to life without the possibility of parole."

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:52 pm

I heard he also made the Bald Eagle the official bird for the USA. Which was weird news to my ear, as I thought I learned as a child that B.Franklin wanted it to be the Turkey but that instead we made it the Bald Eagle. Guess we didn't.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 2:57 pm

We should have gone with the turkey.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:16 pm

Would it have prevented them from holding office?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:16 pm

I'm not so sure anymore. A dumpster chicken is more or less rather accurate for our country right now.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:24 pm

Dumpster chicken? That's no way to talk about the noble Freedom Vulture!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Dec 28, 2024 3:41 pm

The more I think about it, the more I think the bald eagle is a better symbol after all. A turkey is ugly and dumb, but solid and reliable. A bald eagle is a relatively filthy, opportunistic scavenger who love to eat dumped garbage and carrion - but it sure looks nice on the outside.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 17, 2025 2:10 pm

Joe Biden commutes sentences of nearly 2,500 non-violent drug offenders

Joe Biden, who leaves office next week, announced on Friday he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offences, saying he had now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any predecessor.

The US president said in a statement that those benefiting from Friday’s action were “serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy and practice”.

The move provides clemency relief to individuals who were sentenced based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, and outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes, according to the statement issued by the White House.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Jan 17, 2025 2:15 pm

Of course, that "current law, policy and practice" is likely to change dramatically in a few days.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 17, 2025 2:20 pm

Stare decisis may be dead, but at least we still have ...

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:16 am

Probably belongs here, but I also put it in the Trump II thread.

Biden preemptively pardons Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 365d&ei=16

Which gives me deep chills....

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:21 am

Pardons are just words on paper that only matter in a country ruled by laws. If Trump wants to go after them, he'll go after them.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:23 am

Max Peck wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:21 am Pardons are just words on paper that only matter in a country ruled by laws. If Trump wants to go after them, he'll go after them.

Yep, and if they were pardoned - they clearly did something wrong. You don't pardon a bunch of innocent people, right?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:44 am

I cannot believe I'm living in a timeline where Dr. Fauci needed a pardon.

waitingtoconnect · Post by **waitingtoconnect** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:12 am

Don’t blame me I voted for Kodos

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:52 am

waitingtoconnect wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:12 am Don’t blame me I voted for Kodos

Which was, in effect, a vote for Trump.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:53 am

Unagi wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:23 am
Max Peck wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:21 am Pardons are just words on paper that only matter in a country ruled by laws. If Trump wants to go after them, he'll go after them.
Yep, and if they were pardoned - they clearly did something wrong. You don't pardon a bunch of innocent people, right?

This rhetoric from Trump Jr is exactly why Biden issued preemptive pardons.

He doesn’t have to accept the pardon. If he did nothing wrong be a man and turn it down… But you know he won’t because everyone knows he’s guilty of so much.

MTG is bleating on Twitter about the pardons, too, which is ironic since she begged for one from Trump after 1/6.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:55 am

pr0ner wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:53 am
This rhetoric from Trump Jr is exactly why Biden issued preemptive pardons.

Yeah, I'm certainly not saying he shouldn't have done it - I'm saying that it will be used to color them as "obviously" guilty by Trump. (as you just showed)

And, to be fair the rhetoric you posted came after the pardon, so isn't the reason "why" Biden did it (that would break the rules for chronology and cause/effect) - it's just what I was saying - It's Trump&Co using it to further color in the idea that there was a crime. I mean, we all know why he pardoned them and it's because Trump will go after them and they shouldn't.

I'm not saying anything very profound here.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:03 am

pr0ner wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:53 am
MTG is bleating on Twitter about the pardons, too, which is ironic since she begged for one from Trump after 1/6.

Lol.

Have I ever mentioned the GOP has no sense of irony?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:38 am

I expect we will soon hear the legal argument that if a president can issue a pardon, a president can also revoke a pardon.

That's ridiculous and uprrecedented, you say? Yep, I say. And so we will see ir.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:51 pm

Biden just commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier.

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:54 pm

Biden also pardoned a lot of the rest of his family on the way out.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:59 pm

Honestly, as much as I dislike Hunter (the guy's kind of a scumbag), I think Joe had no choice. Trump and his worshippers in Washington WILL go after anyone even remotely related to him as retaliation for actually trying to do something about Trump's numerous crimes.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 1:55 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:51 pm Biden just commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier.

Better late than never--barely.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 2:44 pm

pr0ner wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:54 pm Biden also pardoned a lot of the rest of his family on the way out.

I understand Hunter, but - given the future ahead of us: I think doing this for so many people in his family is going to set a bad precedent.

"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," Biden said.

...and Trump said 4 years later.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 2:46 pm

Unagi wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:55 am
pr0ner wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:53 am
This rhetoric from Trump Jr is exactly why Biden issued preemptive pardons.

Yeah, I'm certainly not saying he shouldn't have done it - I'm saying that it will be used to color them as "obviously" guilty by Trump. (as you just showed)

Like they weren't already doing that?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 2:49 pm

Unagi wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 2:44 pm
pr0ner wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:54 pm Biden also pardoned a lot of the rest of his family on the way out.
I understand Hunter, but - given the future ahead of us: I think doing this for so many people in his family is going to set a bad precedent.

"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," Biden said.

...and Trump said 4 years later.

Oh noes! Not a bad precedent.

Precedent is dead and allowing innocent people to be harmed because of precedent is dereliction of duty.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:44 pm

Alefroth wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 2:49 pm
Oh noes! Not a bad precedent.

Precedent is dead

Lol. Peoples' views of reality have a long way to go to catch up with current reality. It'll be unprecedented!