DL Open Thread: Monday, December 23, 2024

Biden Commutes Sentences Of Death Row Inmates:

President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, sparing the lives of 37 men just a month before Donald J. Trump will return to the Oval Office with a promise to restart federal executions.

Those affected by Mr. Biden’s action, all of whom were convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of facing execution. Only three men, who each carried out notorious mass killings, will remain on federal death row.

The president campaigned in 2020 on ending the federal death penalty. Although proposed legislation to that effect failed to advance in Congress during his administration, Mr. Biden directed the Justice Department to issue a moratorium on federal executions. Thirteen prisoners on federal death row were put to death during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Don’t worry, MAGAts–there will be plenty of targets to satisfy Trump’s blood lust come January.

Missing Texas US Rep Found!   Dealing with dementia at a senior living facility:

After nearly five months without casting a vote, the case of absentee congresswoman Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) appears to have been solved.

In an investigation published on Friday, The Dallas Express revealed that it had found that the outgoing legislator was living at an assisted living home in Fort Worth, Texas.

Looking into the congressional roll call, the outlet found that the former mayor of Fort Worth’s last vote in Washington, D.C., was on July 24.

Trump’s Housing Pick Another Fox Guarding Henhouse.  As in sounds as if he’s related to Clarence Thomas:

As Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner may soon oversee the nation’s efforts to build affordable apartments, protect poor tenants and aid the homeless. As a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, Turner voted against those very initiatives.

Turner supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance. He opposed a bill to expand affordable rental housing. He voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against two bills that called merely to study homelessness among young people and veterans.

Behind those votes lay a deep-seated skepticism about the value of government efforts to alleviate poverty, a skepticism that Turner has voiced again and again. He has called welfare “dangerous, harmful” and “one of the most destructive things for the family.” When one interviewer said receiving government assistance was keeping recipients in “bondage” of “a worse form to find oneself in than slavery,” Turner agreed.

Such views would seemingly place Turner at odds with the core work of HUD, a sprawling federal agency that serves as a backstop against homelessness for millions of the nation’s poor, elderly and disabled. With an annual discretionary budget of $72 billion, the department provides rental assistance to 2 million families, oversees the country’s 800,000 public housing units, fights housing discrimination and segregation and provides support to the nation’s 650,000 homeless. If Turner’s record indicates how he will direct the agency’s agenda, it is those clinging to the bottom of the housing market who have the most to lose, researchers and advocates said.

BTW, I am absolutely convinced that Trump and his moneyed allies are gonna sue the shit out of ProPublica any day now.  They are the current gold standard when it comes to investigative reporting.  Feel free to donate right here.  Year-end and tax-deductible.

Hey, man, that’s all I could come up with.

What do you want to talk about?