Pardons

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Trump ended his first term by pardoning war criminals.

Biden ended his only term by pardoning a decorated military General.

After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.

Trump pardoned people who lied to cover up his Russian exposure.

Biden pardoned a guy who tried to tell the truth to save millions of lives, while working for Trump.

Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me. The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of these baseless threats, and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family. For these reasons, I acknowledge and appreciate the action that President Biden has taken today on my behalf.

Update: I should have linked the post I did in December, explaining how preemptive pardons aren’t going to work (though I said then, and reiterate now, I think Milley is a special case).

137 replies
    • goatrodeo says:

      This. Peltier’s trial and conviction and now decades long imprisonment is yet one more stain on the integrity of a nation, a nation, we are told, that fashions itself as “great”, or on the cusp of “greatness again”. These stains have left trails of blood spilled in a calico pattern across the entire nation. Leonard Peltier is condemned now to die in prison through Biden’s inaction, and our collective inaction since at least 1977. Yet on Pine Ridge, home to the Catholic missionary, Father Joseph Gill, child molestor extraordinaire, today is just another day, like all the others since at least 1868, filled with the frigid cold of bitter, helpless despair.

      • Twaspawarednot says:

        The history of the U.S. government’s treatment of Native Americans is not evidence of Leonard Peltier’s innocence.

      • Jacquelyn Gavron says:

        Goatrodeo: Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence today.

        [Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME USERNAME and email address each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment as “Jackie Gavron” triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established username first used April 2022. Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if username does not match. /~Rayne]

    • Twaspawarednot says:

      I don’t believe he is innocent. There are misrepresentations of the presented evidence that are used to create his martyrdom. I haven’t read the trial transcripts but the transcripts of the appeal are clear.

      • DrFunguy says:

        Are you aware that evidence deemed inadmissible in other trials was allowed in Peltiers trial ?
        The FBI ballistics expert basically perjured himself.
        I recommend Peter Mathieson’s In the Spirit of Crazyhorse, which includes (if memory serves) excerpts from those transcripts you’re ignoring.

  3. Boycurry says:

    That an institutionalist like Biden would feel the need to do this speaks volumes of where we are now at. It is now time to begin. If we make it through the next four years intact, maybe it’s time to rethink this whole pardon thing.

    • Rayne says:

      No. We need to rethink allowing felons to become president.

      Rethinking the whole pardon thing = constitutional amendment. We can’t even ensure all Americans have the same rights based on the last attempted amendment and you want to aim for changing pardons? *eye roll*

      • Boycurry says:

        What’s to stop Trump from preemptively pardoning all his cronies later this afternoon? Probably only his ADHD. Preemptive pardons should not be allowed. I get why Biden did it but it still doesn’t sit right.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Nothing.

          Reread what Marcy and Rayne have written. Modifying the pardon power requires a constitutional amendment. The political system is broken and the country hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War. Tailored narrow amendments would not survive Congress. An open convention would be a ticket to hell.

      • MsJennyMD says:

        Agree.
        FOTUS, Felon of the United States in the White House and two civil claims – sexual assault and defamation.
        Look at what we are teaching our children. UGH!

        • Rayne says:

          This should be a project encompassing legislatures in all blue states: a uniform state law which spells out disqualification for candidacy based on convictions for state or federal charges.

        • fatvegan000 says:

          In reply to Rayne:

          This seems dangerous.

          Couldn’t an autocratic government – such as the one we are sliding toward – just bring invented federal charges against any Democratic candidate that looks powerful?

          A captured FBI could easily plant evidence or pay someone to lie (ala Smirnov) and get a conviction that disqualifies the Democratic candidate in blue states? Then convert/bribe or plant a loyalist to impersonate a Democrat?

          In the same way the rw media has done to vilify potential Dem POTUS candidates for two decades, a corrupt DOJ could even start way ahead creating the fake crime so there was plenty of time to bring them down before an election.

        • Rayne says:

          Blue states with blue legislatures should be able to figure this out. You’re now immersed in a dangerous presidency which should never have survived getting on the ballot — how should the failings be remedied? Reverse engineer that.

      • RealAlexi says:

        I think people deserve 2nd chances and I also think that if you are a citizen affected by the system you should have the right to peacefully have a say in it via voting. I don’t think that “rights” are something that can be forfeit. Than they’re not “rights”; they’re privileges. I also think felons should be able to run for office and they should be allowed to vote even if they’re incarcerated. I believe with enough truthful information people will make the right choices. If they don’t they’re gonna have to learn the hard way (eg. the next 4 years).

        It’s the lying for fun and profit.

        I also think that if people make money via lying they should be charged with fraud; and when convicted they should be forbidden from making $$ in that fashion for a period of 10 years. The “news” is the most dangerous unregulated product with no safety warnings that commits more damage than perhaps any other industry. This includes the gun industry because of the lying about it that allows them to continue to dispense death machines. This sounds perhaps totalitarian. But a dangerous product is still a dangerous product, and I know of no other way to address it.

        Free speech is still free while lying on an industrial scale for profit should not be.

        • wa_rickf says:

          “..with enough truthful information people will make the right choices.”

          How’d that work out in November 2024? Voters knew that Trump was a convicted felon in May 2024. Voters knew that Trump was all about Project 2025, even though Trump lied and said he wasn’t. Heck, even Steve Bannon gloated the day after the election that the election was “all about Project 2025.” Many white women CHOSE to take other woman’s right to make choices over her own body away knowing that Trump will most likely enact a national abortion ban.

          The reality is that nearly half of our country’s voters are just as broken and damaged as human beings as Trump is. These people gleefully WANT to hurt and inflect pain and misery onto others just to see other people suffer and be upset. .

  4. RealAlexi says:

    I’ve thought a pardon for innocent people would be a bad thing for the same reasons you’ve outlined. I think I might have changed my mind.

    Trump’s targets, no matter the guilt or innocence will get flamed by the Ring Wing press and social media. Biden’s ability to wave a magic wand over them so it’s less painless and less frightening and less destructive is actually a good thing. Trump’s coming into office with an enemies list. These are not normal times. It’s a tough call.

    • Frank Anon says:

      It’s not at all a close call. Norms are gone, the talk of fascism during the election wasn’t hyperbole, and who actually gives a shit what whiny Republicans say about the pardons. Its here, it looks like it’s going to be worse than expected, and to care about Biden getting “flamed” will be forgotten with the first J6er pardoned and the first American to seek and receive political asylum makes no sense anymore. Get prepared to battle with metaphorical shivs and then we’ll come back to Queensbury rules someday. Just not today

      • RealAlexi says:

        Yep. The days of fighting things via righteous indignation, virtue signaling and claiming the moral high ground to the choir are O V E R.

        The fascism is real. The authoritarianism is on full display. The courts are undependable. The systems of checks and balances is overturned. We have inducted an imperialist presidency. The real consequences for real people will be hellish.

      • Krisy Gosney says:

        I think the effort to modify pardons would be better spent driving a thousand shivs into the blob of shite that is Citizens United.

    • Ciel babe says:

      Agree these preemptive pardons are discouraging and seem unhelpful, as laid out in other emptywheel posts.
      Recipients however do sound grateful.
      Wondering if these pardons are truly effective against the harassment, intimidation, conspiracy theory driven wackiness, etc. Is there a pardon that prevents vigilante “check ups” on imaginary pizza parlor basement child trafficking rings? I doubt it.
      Or am I totally off base and preventing frivolous prosecution alone is the urgent goal?

      • GSSH-FullyReduced says:

        Pardons can act like checkpoint inhibitors (e.g. PD-L1) granting future immunity from spurious legal targeting. Or they can cloak tumor cells and allow invasion and metastasis. The former for a true patriot…the latter for a ratfucker.

    • harpie says:

      DUNN [from the screenshot]:

      I am eternally grateful to President Joe Biden, not just for this preemtive pardon, but for his leadership and service to this nation, especially over the last four years. I wish this pardon weren’t necessary, but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all of the other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath, and I will always honor that.

  6. xyxyxyxy says:

    The person who is left vulnerable is Michael Cohen.
    We’ve already seen what Trump did to him and now he’s left vulnerable for a second time for having put Trump on a platter to Congress and the justice system.

    • Ginevra diBenci says:

      Good point. Except that I would call Cohen “the” person, but rather “one person”–because Trump’s list is long.

    • Hoping4better_times says:

      Michael Cohen pled guilty and served time for his federal offenses. If you are referring to trump’s conviction in the New York case (“hush money” and/or election interference), then that case would be under New York state law. IANAL, but I don’t see how Pam Bondi’s DOJ could now charge Cohen with any federal crime. I am more worried about Cassidy Hutchinson, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sarah Matthews who have spoken against trump. They are all young and lack the financial and/or legal resources to defend themselves against a despot out for revenge.

    • Krisy Gosney says:

      I think Cohen probably has a bootie load of receipts on Trump we’ve never even imagined him having.

      • Ginevra diBenci says:

        None of which (the receipts) matter. Trump exists now in the gilded cage fashioned for him by SCOTUS, plus that “Second Amendment that says I can do whatever I want.”

        It was funny the first time he said it. It’s not funny anymore.

  7. Bill Crowder says:

    To me it is time to take Trump seriously. Deadly seriously. I am worried about what this means for 4 years from now. But, I am much more concerned about today.

    • Matt Foley says:

      “I will Make Americans Wealthy Again!”

      https://finance.yahoo.com/m/4401a006-a041-3a2c-afbd-4dabb50a693f/donald-trump-launches-trump.html
      The $TRUMP coin skyrocketed to just above $75 early Sunday but is currently near $51 amid big price swings. The market cap is now $10.1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com. But the fully diluted valuation is roughly $50.6 billion.

      The $TRUMP website says 80% of the meme coin is held by Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital, and a CIC co-owned entity called Fight Fight Fight.

      Separately, the president-elect’s wife, Melania Trump, launched her own $MELANIA meme coin on Sunday afternoon. Though off Sunday’s peak exceeding $13, it’s near $8 with an $7.9 billion valuation.

      Also, DJT Trump Media market cap is $8.6 billion with 53% held by insiders.

      There. Don’t you feel wealthier already?
      /s

      • Bill Crowder says:

        I guess I should have been more specific.

        The discussions here strike me as well within the boundaries of legality. To the Trump people, that is a fool’s game; the boundaries do not apply to them.

        Perhaps getting closer to the boundaries, if not right on top of them, is what has to be the strategy. If there is a cogent legal argument to be made to push those boundaries, then that is what needs be done.

        Yes, I know that the federal courts are stacked against that, at least for the non-Trump people.

  8. Peterr says:

    Is there a link to Biden’s full statement, as well as to the actual pardon document? I’ve been reading media accounts that talk about Biden pardoning Milley, Fauci, and the J6 committee and staffers, but then it also talks about Michael Fanone being happy that he received one of these protective pardons. And of course they never link to the source documents.

    I’m trying to see if this protective pardon also included those like Cassidy Hutchinson who gave testimony to the J6 committee.

  9. Peterr says:

    Here’s the final paragraph of Biden’s statement on the pardons:

    That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.

    I wonder what other public servants who testified before the J6 committee who are not DC or Capitol Police officers think of this. I’m thinking specifically about Cassidy Hutchinson and other low-to-midlevel staffers like her who came forward to testify.

    • Savage Librarian says:

      I’ve been wondering the same. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to locate information on this, to no avail.

  10. Sussex Trafalgar says:

    One of the disadvantages of preemptive pardons is that the legal process of appeals that could potentially reach the SCOTUS, if they decided to ultimately accept such a case or cases, is truncated enough to make it a bit easier for this rendition of SCOTUS to avoid accepting said case or cases.

    For the sake of the country, I would have preferred to see Trump actually attempt to prosecute Milley or Fauci and let the legal process play out, potentially putting a Milley or Fauci appeal decision in the hands of the SCOTUS.

    Trump, however, believes a president has the authority to issue preemptive pardons; consequently, I don’t expect him to legally contest these pardons.

    Sometime in the future, a president who doesn’t believe in preemptive pardons will try to get a SCOTUS to rule against such pardons.

    Trump is a notorious bluffer. He bluffs by talking SMACK and bullying people, hoping the individuals he targets will give up before the legal, financial or political battle or battles begin.

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      Another strategic advantage of letting the charges fly and going to court: Trump would have his shoe in the same boot as when he was on trial in Manhattan all that time: the facts would be on parade and, though he wouldn’t be the defendant (per se) at the time, his perfidy and treacherousness would be very question that is called.

      Biden was operating in grievance mode, and many of these pardons are a product of that, rather than of clear historical perspective and political perspicacity. Good for the Peltier commute, though, and I don’t begrudge those who couldn’t bear the weight of being falsely prosecuted, despite the mountains of exculpatory evidence.

      I will chip in for funding any of these people who, like the GOP staff who testified, are either not afforded pardons for retributive prosecution (note, that type is spelled with a “per” prefix) or who, like Cheney possibly, will refuse the pardons and have that refusal acknowledged in court. I’m pretty sure the legal fee gofundme effort for this kind of persecution defense will be off the charts == and there will be another advantage in these cases:
      There will be no delay and stalling tactics from the persecutees, unlike Felonious Skunk’s go to M.O.; that stark difference alone should be all over the airwaves and slinky cables.

      As it went down, though, Biden’s behavior is going to be used by Trump, and Dems will be swallowing hard.

      • Krisy Gosney says:

        Even if whatever went down in a basket full of puppies and bourbon, Trump would still use it to smear shite all over the place. Hello, that’s just what Trump does.

  11. Terrapin says:

    I am saddened. Does anyone think these so-called “pre-exemptive pardons” will stop Trump from persecuting the people pardoned? He’s a criminal. Criminals have no respect for the law. His minions will conjure up new federal crimes these people supposedly committed, have corrupt state AGs like Ken Paxton charge them with conjured state crimes, or do like Nazis did and simply take them into “protective custody” (screw habeas corpus).

    And all these pardons will do is help FauxNews substantiate false narratives of criminality.

    My advice is these people should go into voluntary exile in countries that won’t honor extradition treaties they might have with the U.S. for clearly political prosecutions and that they should already be across the border by noon Eastern today.

    God save us all.

    • Matt Foley says:

      I look at it this way: You can wear a bulletproof vest and still get shot in the head. But you still wear the vest. Some protection is better than none.

      • ApacheTrout says:

        Agree fully. When you’ve been identified as a target for revenge, you take any protection no matter how imperfect it is.

  12. Peterr says:

    Chip Roy is already gearing up to continue the harassment. From Politico, with emphasis in the original:

    Importantly, those who receive Biden’s clemency will actually be more vulnerable to being compelled to testify to Congress if Republican lawmakers demand depositions. That’s because by removing the potential criminal threat, Biden would also take away their ability to assert Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination that many Trump allies exercised to avoid providing substantive testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.

    “Implication is that they needed the pardons… So, let’s call them all before Congress and demand the truth,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) on X. “If they refuse or lie – let’s test the constitutional ‘reach’ of these pardons with regard to their future actions.”

    • Rayne says:

      There should be crowdfunding for expenses related to these unwarranted attacks on these pardoned individuals. Ridiculous that they should have to pay a cent for anything related to this sustained persecution.

      • BRUCE F COLE says:

        Bingo. Just posted the same thought above, before reading yours. Such a push would also become a new focus itself, and it would probably attract a large residual donor base, producing lots of newsworthy clips and bites, along side legal broadsides.

        Here’s the think, imo: our confrontation with the Felon and his crew has to happen in the legal realm as much as possible. That’s where the facts (which stand against Trump almost universally) have the best chance of becoming more realized across social insulation/isolation mechanisms.

        The downside is speed, which the govt controls in such instances
        – but only on their side of the street, and dispatch of this kind of trial has to be “not slow” on the GOVT’s side. The likely scenario is that they’ll set up several committees in Congress to “investigate.” and Bondi will say: “We can’t intrude on the work of Congress, just as the Special Prosecutor had to wait for the J6 Committee to finish their work,”…and how will they be wrong?

  14. Ginevra diBenci says:

    I understand why most sane people are boycotting this inauguration. I probably should have, but I always want to have all the evidence I can possess.

    Maybe it’s just me. But this sounds 1.) like the usual parade of campaign-speech lies in the first part; and, 2.) the declaration of a full-on tyrant, one who may not have written the words he speaks (they are a condensed version of Project 2025) but whose deteriorating mind nevertheless fully intends them.

    “There are only two genders”–Barron and Ivanka.

      • ernesto1581 says:

        “I was saved by God to make America great again.”
        Great stuff, we get a convict for a president plus a personal savior.

        Although once again, he neglected to place his left hand on the Bible upon which he is supposedly swearing so maybe not so much on the savior part.

    • Matt Foley says:

      I will go out of my way to avoid watching him. For my mental health I must limit my exposure. Just the sound of his voice upsets me. I shoveled snow instead. At least I have something to show for it.

      • Matt___B says:

        On Mary Trump’s YT video show, when she has to show clips of her lying uncle, she has taken to altering the audio so that it sounds like he’s inhaled a helium balloon, so as to lessen the triggering effect of his normal voice. Shoveling snow sounds like a better alternative.

        • neetanddave says:

          i saw a thing on Mastodon saying insert the Benny Hill theme in the background anytime tRump is on screen.

        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          What Peterr said: we could stick our heads in the sand/snow, but isn’t it better (for those who can stand it) to know what we’re up against?

          I never expected to hear an inaugural address in the 21st century invoke Manifest Destiny, and certainly not with a faux-Knute Rockne declaration of intent to reclaim the Panama Canal. Nor did I anticipate a presidential venture into gender theory, based not on biology or…well, gender theory, but on someone else’s idea of the Bible.

          He really does think he’s god–I mean, saved by “our God” to (say it with me) “MAGA!”

  15. OldTulsaDude says:

    How long will it take for Trump to deputize the Proud Boys and others and give them marching orders along the lines of Goering’s, when they shoot it is me shooting.? If not Trump, someone close to him surely knows each step that must be taken to reprise the overthrow of the Weimar Republic.

  16. wetzel-rhymes-with says:

    People may carp about political “optics”. They are worried because everything is propaganda now, and that’s how they see things. What wins is the most effective propaganda. I believe this acknowledges a lack of courage and faith, a lack of moral courage.

    The Supreme Court has held the law can’t touch Trump, but he can touch us, so we have a Dear Leader. Fuck that. This represents a profound social change for Americans with our fine old traditions. our rational equality. The pardons are necessary. It’s the right decision because we are in a lawless state. The pardons are an acknowledgement of this. This is a disgrace for the country.

    The pardons represent Biden’s failure, which is the lawlessness of the country as he is leaving office, laws he vowed to protect and uphold. In lawlessness your condition is being carried along by a lynch-mob. Your inward protests aren’t relevant. Secretly you hope it will be somebody other than you. We are losing our birthright in freedom, we are all victims of fascism, even though fascism doesn’t make victims of most of its citizens. It makes accomplices. We are not martyrs. In fascism the person will disappear behind their face, concerned about “optics”.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      The pardons represent Biden’s acknowledgment of reality, something Trump never does. The obligation to uphold the law and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution passe from one president to the next. Biden has no control over what Trump does to violate his obligations.

      • wetzel-rhymes-with says:

        Yes and in the legendary past, Hrothgar had been a good, wise, and generous king of the Danes. He had built the great hall Heorot. However, Hrothgar ultimately was unable to defeat the monster Grendel’s depredations, and so when Beowulf arrives at Heorot, Hrothgar had lost the status of a great “protector of his people”.

        There is an interesting aspect of the poem, I think, which is a clue to its meaning. Upon arrival, Beowulf is challenged by Hrothgar’s most prominent thane, Unferth ( un + frith, “mar peace”) who is notorious for slaying his own brother. Fratricide is the symbol of breakdown and mimetic rivalry, so Heorot could not withstand Grendel because of its internal crisis and lack of unifying spirit. That is us, and Biden was our leader. In Beowulf, Grendel is responsible for the massacre, Hrothgar and his thanes were responsible to stop him. Biden is gone from the scene, and now it is just us.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Your digression hinges on the premise that Joe Biden — like some romantic version of a Danish thegn or English knigget — was solely responsible for defeating Donald Trump. Unpersuasive.

      • CitizenSane77 says:

        They’ve also said they’d go after everyone. Unreal that they wouldn’t protect the witness who frankly was the most courageous imo.

  19. Zinsky123 says:

    Although I fully understand why Biden did this and I know the intention behind his actions were good. However, this may spell the beginning of the end of the presidential pardons. Trump is going to run to SCOTUS to challenge these preemptive pardons and probably prevail. While it is hard to reckon how SCOTUS will strike them down, it is now very clear that pardons are going to be used on a tit-for-tat basis by outgoing political parties and the overall efficacy of a presidential pardon will have been diminished by several degrees of magnitude.

  20. wa_rickf says:

    MAGAts were calling for trials yesterday over at Fox “News” comments of General Miley, Dr. Fauci, and the J6 Committee. Ol’ Joe did the right thing in THIS instance, in my opinion. Looks like Kash’s Enemy List has dwindled significantly. Oh well.

    What a sh_t show we have in America now that a convicted felon is charged with upholding the Constitution – who by-the-way DID NOT place his hand on the Bible. (pro’lly out of fear of being struck down right then and there by the Big G Himself).

  21. xyxyxyxy says:

    Is Milley still alive?
    By Reuters
    January 20, 2025 2:49 PM EST Updated 42 min ago
    WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The Pentagon on Monday removed the portrait of Mark Milley, the retired Army general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to two Reuters witnesses, in a move that happened within two hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

    • P J Evans says:

      Yes – he’s just being insulted by Donnie and his peeps, like everyone else who didn’t support TFG in all his criming.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Imagine how embarrassed George W. Bush’s propaganda team feel now. They had to lie about the Clintons having removed the “W” from White House keyboards. Here, Trump is displaying his willingness to remove history, in order to appease his fragile ego.

    • harpie says:

      Meanwhile…
      https://bsky.app/profile/natashabertrand.bsky.social/post/3lg6wdrn5m22x
      January 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM

      Nearly an hour after Trump’s inauguration, current and former Pentagon officials say they don’t know who is currently in charge of the Defense Department. It is unclear to them who is serving as Acting Secretary until Pete Hegseth gets confirmed, or whether one has even been appointed.

      That being said, current and former DoD officials also said that the Trump transition had had difficulty identifying someone to serve as acting secretary in the days leading up to the inauguration. Two current senior DoD officials were asked if they would serve as Acting secretary, but both refused.

      January 20, 2025 at 1:46 PM Update: Pentagon officials now being told that Robert G. Salesses, deputy director of the Washington Headquarters Services, will be acting defense secretary until Pete Hegseth is confirmed.

      • Matt___B says:

        The Senate Armed Services committee just voted 14-13 (along party lines – yes Joni voted as expected) to advance Hegseth’s nomination to the full Senate.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Like the corporate world, where insubordination is treated more harshly than it is in the military, Yes Men are wanted. Talent and competence? Meh, and not if it comes at the cost of someone saying, No.

  22. Leonard Grossman says:

    Has anyone seen official documents with complete lists of the individuals pardoned today? The public statement could be open to interpretation?

    I see that Biden’s family was later pardoned that apparently Pelletier received some kind of modified sentence.
    What about the Vindmans . Col. Vindman had expressly requested protection for himself and relatives.

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  26. OldTulsaDude says:

    The first mistake was the failure to hang all the Confederate soldiers who made war against the USA. When you play pat-a-cake with the bull, you get fucked eventually.

    • Greg Hunter says:

      The officers certainly as these men came home to a group of organized women that nurtured lost cause of racism until they could safely re-assert male dominance in 1872 with support of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

      I suggest reading this book as it was a revelation about my experience studying Appomattox Courthouse.

      Caroline E. Janney. Burying the Dead but Not the Past: Ladies’ Memorial Associations and the Lost Cause. (Civil War America.)Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2008. Pp. xiii, 290

      I provided a more fulsome account of my “revelation” here:

      https://emergingcivilwar.com/2018/03/15/a-conversation-with-caroline-janney-part-four/#comment-109356

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Like Trump, Boots DeSantis hasn’t the least notion of the mechanics and processes of govt. They both believe or pretend that, like Pharaoh, they need only think it and it is done. I dearly hope both are made lead engineers for Elmo’s project to be the first man on Mars.

      Will Boots make his pet legislature pay to issue new maps and textbooks with his new name?

  29. wetzel-rhymes-with says:

    All over the internet people are talking about the ‘end of democracy’, and that is not correct. Supposedly, the people voted, and the end of democracy is what they decided. CNN says the pardons of the rioters was “long expected”. This implies the electorate could possibly support an attack on free and fair elections, which is an impossible contradiction. A single national electorate is not empowered even to amend the Constitution, let alone discard it. Our system of government has not changed. We must hold to that. This is not delusional but an act of faith. To believe these degrading spectacles could change our system of government, the disgraceful pardons for the rioters who attacked our House, I believe, is to retreat in our responsibility to defend the Constitution. Our country is in a fascist social state, but our government is based on rational equality, and our Constitution exists. Democracy and the rule of law have to be asserted. We must be stronger than Lincoln defending the Union in this information war. Our democracy is our birthright. We must not let the propaganda of crisis defeat us. One election cannot erase two hundred and fifty years of tradition. Our democracy is existential. It’s who we are as Americans. We have to be firm as iron.

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