New Years Eve has never been a great celebration for me. For many years I have not even stayed up to watch midnight in New York City. My lack of party enthusiasm does not mean I am not glad to have another year. When you get to be my age, I am always happy to have another birthday and new year.
I pray the typical desire for world peace. I pray for the health of loved ones, for economic and housing security and the vision and inspiration to do what I can to help those in need.
Mercy
President Biden performed three acts of clemency in the last few weeks. He pardoned his son. He commuted sentences for close to 1500 people and pardoned a few others. He commuted sentences for all but three death row prisoners in federal prisons.
A reader challenged me to write about the latter. I will address all three.
Hunter Biden Pardoned. First, he pardoned his son. My sons will attest to the fact that I believe people should be held accountable for the actions. I would have been unlikely to have pardoned my sons unless I believed they were being treated unfairly. Having said that, I acknowledge that thankfully I have no experience with the pain of being the parent of an addict.
Clemency. Second, in the largest single day of presidential clemency in history Biden commuted hundreds of sentences and pardoned 39 non-violent offenders. I was unfamiliar with the details of the action. I naively assumed it was the usual end of term presidential action with political favoritism as shown by many other presidents. I read some objections to particular cases.
I dug deeper. When I read the details of the decision, it made more sense to me. The hundreds were all people who for various reasons had been given home confinement to help prisons during COVID. All of them had been reunited with family and reintegrated into society. Commutation is not a pardon. They will have to meet certain requirements.
The pardons were all for non-violent offenders. Most were for marijuana related convictions or for homosexual activity under old laws. The offenders would not have had the same charges or sentencings under current laws.
I am sure I could find a mistake or two with such a large number but I think the intent and overall result is acceptable if you support reconciliation, rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders. If you support revenge as justice the intent is not acceptable.
Death Row Commutations. The third action was the commutation of the death sentence to life without parole for all but three federal prisoners on death row. None of the offenders received a pardon. His actions were objectionable to those who support the death penalty. His actions had objections from a few opponents of the death penalty because he did not commute the sentences of the other three people. His work earned the praise of most people who oppose the death penalty.
Clearly, where a person stands on the death penalty determines what is thought about his actions.
Biden campaigned on a pledge to remove the death penalty for federal offenders. A proposal to fulfill that promise failed in Congress.
Biden put a moratorium on executions during his presidency. He was consistent with his pledge.
He is a Roman Catholic and received a personal call from the Pope during which the Pope expressed his opposition to the death penalty.
The campaign pledge, the moratorium, and the position of his faith are consistent with his commutation of death row inmates.
I repeat whether you support or are offended his commutations your view of the death penalty is the key idea.
Both the death penalty and life without parole are serious punishments and both permanently remove the person from society. Therefore, I am not overly concerned about his decision. I would have been very concerned if he had pardoned the offenders or even commuted the sentence to lighter than life without parole.
Mercy. My thinking about the death penalty has some nuances.
I do not believe the death penalty is the deterrent as many believe. When I investigated, I found no credible evidence to support the concept. If a reader knows of evidence I welcome reading it.
The strongest argument for the death penalty for me is the economic one. The cost of keeping people alive until they die is much more than the cost of an execution.
Arguments against the death penalty are typically faith centered. The definition of clemency is mercy. One of the Beatitudes is — Blessed are Those Who Show Mercy. The statement cannot be overlooked or ignored. The words are among Christ’s first teaching.
I looked but could not find a statement that blessed are those who kill killers. That may sound sarcastic but I do not mean it that way. I take seriously the words I find and the words I do not find in the Bible
The language seems straight forward to me. To show mercy is a blessed event. In President Biden’s third decision, he showed mercy without releasing the offenders into society. I think that decision is reasonable.
This and That
Japanese Ingenuity. A good friend sent me a series of very interesting pictures of Japanese culture. The Japanese ingenuity is clearly demonstrated in several pictures. One of the ingenious ideas was to have a small hand-washing basin on top of the commode. The plumbing was such that people could wash their hands with clean water. The dirty water then drained into the commode and provided the water for the next flushing. A brilliant idea for a country with a large population and limited resources!
Fluoride. With Robert Kennedy’s claims about eliminating Fluoride from drinking water, I wanted to educate myself. The following article is a very balanced readable statement about the science of Fluoride. The results are nuanced. A single-minded person on either side of the argument will have difficulty accepting the subtilties. I highly recommend the reading. If you cannot get access to this site, Google Fluoride research. As you know, I favor research over personal opinion.
https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/AMaUOk9hEVdLZ3Kuow15OFvmUWs
Good News
Impressive kindness
Waitress Comforts Overwhelmed Mom, Ends Up Receiving Heartwarming Surprise From Locals
Stranger Saves Christmas For Mom After Her Gifts Were Stolen
Incredible act by the Heisman winner
Travis Hunter Takes Zero NIL Money, Pays It Forward to Teammates – Athlon Sports
Again, Happy New Year
Peace,
Jerry
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