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President Biden was pardoned a lawyer of the judiciary in criminal matters 24 years after release from prison – essence

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Photo – Kemba Smith

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On the last full day of the office, on Sunday, January 19, the president Biden announced that he used his pardon power to pardon Kemba Smith Smith Pradia, who was previously sentenced and sentenced to 24 years of federal prison.

Smith Pradia was a student when she got involved in offensive relations with Peter Hall, a drug seller. Throughout their relationship, she endured abuse and was afraid of her safety. According to Legal Defense Fund, Despite the proven fact that she never sells or uses drugs, Smith Pradia was accused of a conspiracy aimed toward distributing cocaine in 1994. After he witnessed some illegal Hall activities. Later, she was held chargeable for his actions after his murder.

At that point, the strict provisions regarding federal judgments led to the verdict of a 24-year prison without the possibility of conditional release. Smith Pradia, for the first time, a criminal without the use of violence, was also in seven months of pregnancy at the time of her sentence. Her case drew attention to domestic attention and obtained the support of various organizations, including the NACP Legal Defense Fund. This ultimately led to the proven fact that President Bill Clinton granted an executive pardon in 2000 after she had almost seven years of federal prison.

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President Biden was pardoned a lawyer in criminal matters 24 years after being released from prison
Photo: Legal Defense Fund

Smith’s story was was a film entitled “Kemb”, which is offered for watching on Bet+.

This pardon will now be cleaned along with her criminal slate.

“Today I practice the power of pardon to pardon 5 people and commute to the sentences of two people who showed remorse, rehabilitation and redemption,” Biden he said in an official statement. “These recipients of pardon made a significant contribution to the improvement of their communities.”

Since its publication in 2000, Smith Pradia was in favor of raising the awareness of domestic violence, justice in criminal matters and racial equality at the head of her Non -profit foundation. Smith Pradia also tried to win a degree, but was not in a state of sentence because of her conviction.

“One of the things I experienced during my stay at a law school was thinking about my criminal conviction and how I would have to go through a special trial to be admitted to the bar,” Smith Pradia said during a press conference on January 19 by the NAAC Fund for Legal Defense. “This pardon will allow me not to have restrictions in my education.”

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In the years 1986–1991 the number of black women imprisoned on charges related to drugs increased by 828 percent for 1995 report Issued by a convicting project entitled “Young black Americans and justice system in criminal matters: five years later.” According to the report, when Kemb Smith Pradia was convicted, black women were the fastest growing population in this country.

Even today, black women are still trapped at an alarming rate. While they constitute 7.7 percent of the total US population and 15.3 percent of the women’s population, black women accounted for 29 percent of imprisoned women, in accordance with the universal list of 2020.

“History {Smith Pradia} is not unique,” said Janai Nelson, president and director of the Legal Defense Fund during a press conference.

“She is a unique and unique person, but unfortunately her interaction with a criminal legal system is not. There are many women and others without violence of drug criminals who worked under the cloud of criminal conviction, and many of them are still decreasing in prison. ”

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Nelson continues: “The actions of President Biden show us that society, legislators and politicians have a second chance to obtain the right to public security.”

Since her release, Smith Pradia has been open in matters related to the judiciary in criminal matters, domestic violence, strengthening the position of women and racial equality through its non -profit foundation. She says that pardon will allow her to proceed the mission.

“Today I fell to my knees, thanking God for this moment,” says the activist. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude and humiliated with news that President Joe Biden received full pardon. This amazing act of grace not only removes my criminal and restores my rights, but also confirms the belief that our past does not define our future. ”

President Biden awarded a few others on Sunday. Among the pardon was Don Scott, a speaker of Virginia House of Delegates. Convicted for a drug offense in 1994, Scott took eight years in prison before he became an advocate, and in 2019 making history as the first black speaker of the Virginia House.

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Darryl Chambers, a lawyer of stopping violence using weapons from Wilmington in Delaware, also received pardon. After 17 years for a drug crime, Chambers devoted his efforts to research and writing about solutions to violence in his community.

President Biden made a posthumous pardon for Marcus Garvey, a black nationalist leader who was convicted of postal fraud over a hundred years ago – widely considered politically motivated. The president also commuted to the judgments of Robin Peoples and Michelle West, and their judgments will expire on February 18, 2025.

West, for the first time a criminal without violence, who was sentenced to life plus 50 years, plus a 5-yr trial period in 1994 as part of the provisions regarding the drug era. Served 32 years. Now her criminal register shall be removed. “I am delighted and deeply grateful that President Biden lived to my mother’s life sentence,” said West’s daughter, Miquelle West in a statement.

“I was just a little girl when my mother left me to school one morning and never raised me. It was the last time I hugged my mother in front of the prison. I grew up and lived throughout adult life under the cloud of “compulsory life in prison(*24*)

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President Biden’s decision to pardon several people on his last full day of the office reflects some of the wider efforts of his administration, which became the decisive aspect of his presidency.

Until now, Biden has granted more individual pardons and access than any of his last predecessors. Just a few days before Sunday’s announcement, he commuted to the penalty of almost 2,500 people convicted of peaceful drug offenses, and in December he found headers with extensive pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who faced charges related to crimes regarding weapons and taxes. This decision also. He follows the earlier movement of Biden to succeed in a judgment of 37 into 40 people in a federal order of death, transforming sentences into lifetime imprisonment.

Reflecting on his pardon, Smith Pradia said: “I want to extend my deepest gratitude to President Biden and his administration for their involvement in the reform of the judiciary in criminal matters and for convincing in the transformation strength of the second chance.”

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Politics and Current

Conservatives turn on Trump in fury after announced above the law inspired by Napoleon

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This is the best fear of many Niegrumpers-that the republican president will ignore the structure, courts and congress to rework the executive executive, one person of power over the government, proof against supervision, monarchy without royal.

At the weekend, President Donald Trump presented a window for his considering with two posts in social media, which quoted the famous French general Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte called himself an emperor and ruled as authoritarian.

US President Donald Trump arrives to talk during an election event in Palm Beach Convention Center on November 6, 2024 at West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“The one who saves him The country doesn’t violate any law, “wrote Trump on its social media website, social truth and Platform X Elona Muska on Saturday. Musk published it with 14 emoji American flags and the White House account on X also made available Message next to the official photo of the presidential Trump.

On Sunday, he doubled, calling for lawyers and judges to “Twardy” and the protection of the country, when his administration is in the face of a series of court battles regarding his efforts to finish birthday citizenship and search for federal bureaucracy.

Critics rushed to posts, saying that they confirm what they said all the time at the forty seventh president.

Columnist New York Times Jamelle BouieON BlueSky social platform, He called it “The most non -American and anti -constitutional statement that the American president has ever ever spoken.”

Democratic Senator of California Adam Schiff replied Trump on X: “I said like a real dictator.”

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Conservative commentator Bill Kristol went a step further, comparison Quote from 1929 of Adolf Hitler’s declaration, which became the Nazi principle: “Führer’s authority is not limited by law or laws.”

“It sounds better in the original German,” Kristol said.

Conservative author Charles CW Cooke called Posts “Batsh-T nonsense. The presidency is created by the Constitution; Not the other way around. “

Even the former Vice President Mike Pence weighed, Resing the essay that appeared in his 2010 book, Presidency and structure“:” The president who disregards the structure is sort of a rider who hates his horse: he shall be thrown out and the nation with him. President solemnly oaths the behavior, protection and defense of the structure. I oath the ignoring, overlooking, supplementation or re -interpretation. “

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The former chief of staff of Trump Reince Priebus said that those that are deeply disturbed by a quote simply play the hands of the president.

“It’s entertainment for Trump. This dispersion, “Priebus he said On Sunday at ABC News on Sunday, rejecting the quote as a trolling media Trump. “This is what the president does.”

However, the president will not be the just one in his administration that seems to present up liberal democracy.

JD Vance Vice President Posted to X February 9 that “judges cannot control legal executive power”, which is clearly false. But what if Trump decides to disregard court orders? Who will stop him? As a reminder, Trump told journalists last week that he would comply with court rulings.

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“I always follow the courts and then I will have to appeal with it” Trump said.

And on Monday, President Shadow Musk, offended that he broadcast 60 minutes an interview with the Doge critic, he said Employees of the series “They deserve a long prison sentence.”

Musk wrote a dark post on X in response to the tweet “60 minutes” promoting his latest episode.

Liberal activist Angelo Carusone he summarized it well: “Not what Trump wrote, tells you where he is going; This is how his people react to this, who really tells you where he is going. “

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Carusone shared the post of Trump Superfan and the theorist of the Jacek Posobaic conspiracy, who responded to Trump’s quote: “America will be saved. What should be done will be done. “

Laura Loomer, Who Trafficing in similar conspiracies, cheering In Trump’s fantasy: “Thank you, President Trump. We love you. “

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nicwjeliniu

(Tagstotransate) Donald Trump

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Politics and Current

Garlin Gilchrist, the first black LG Michigan, begins a historic campaign for the governor

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“We are at a generational inflection point,” said Gilchrist, a former engineer and technology entrepreneur who left the private sector as a community organizer, and later political assistance before he was utilized by Gretchen Whitmer to turn out to be her partner in 2018.

The 42-year-old claims that his unique lens as a young black man and experience in the technology industry is what Wolverine needs at the moment. Growing up in Detroit, Gilchrist said that his community authorized him to see his “potential”. Reflecting on the historical nature of his candidacy, he shared: “I think that having a black governor would smash this ceiling to understand that everything is possible.”

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He explained: “When I took office here, Tiktok was a music application. Nobody knew what the large language model was in 2018. It is important that we have leadership that could respond to these times. “Gilchrist added:” I think having an engineer in the mid -1940s, who is a two -time entrepreneur who founded and sold two technology companies, is currently the right profile for the leader. ”

IN Video campaign By announcing his campaign on Tuesday, Gilchrist advertised his efforts to create “Michigan” “Michigan”Pure board“Justice program in criminal matters and launch Michigan Innovation Fund To encourage start investments in the state. The husband and father of the three said: “I undertake to construct an economy during which every family has what they should succeed.”

Detroit, Michigan – November 9: (LR) Lieutenant Garlin Gilchrist II and governor Gretchen Whitmer rejoice during the Watch Watch event at the Motorcity Casino hotel on November 9, 2022 at Detroit, Michigan. Governor Whitmer won the race over the Republican claimant Tudor Dixon. (Photo Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Hopephul Governor’s Government says that he wants to withstand the work of Whitmer-Gilchrist administration by way of the foundation location for the development of the Michigan economy, which incorporates diversification of the technology industry. But his pursuit of diversity and his historical profile of the candidate appears as the recent administration of President Donald Trump in Washington, withdrew the diversity, equality and efforts of inclusion. 47. The President of the United States threatened to suspend the dollars of federal governors, schools and personal corporations that don’t reflect the priorities of his administration.

As a son of a father who was a federal contractor for the defense department and a mother who retired at General Motors, Gilchrist said that the arbitrary cuts of Trump’s administration in 1000’s of federal jobs and tariff battles with countries corresponding to Canada, Mexico and China are “deeply personal and offensive.”

“If Musk and Trump were in power during my father’s 34-year career in the federal government, they could destroy my family’s maintenance,” said Gilchrist. He continued: “These tariffs would be catastrophic, not only for our family, but for the entire supply chain and a chain of values ​​that have a huge presence in the state of Michigan.”

Gilchrist said that the recent administration caused “only chaos, confusion and misfortune for natural persons, communities and companies in the state of Michigan, where our large producers and our developing companies are looking for stability and competence.” He added: “I am an engineer; I solve problems – I don’t create them. “

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“She encouraged me to build this foundation and do it in his own way,” said a lieutenant governor, who noticed that he and Whitmer were “different people” and he “accelerates at another time.”

“The world was different in 2018 than here in 2025.” Gilchrist said. “She was encouraging and I appreciate it, and now I’m ready to go and talk to people in Michigan about how I can work with them in the future.”

(Tagstranslate)

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Trump’s war on diversity, justice and integration: understanding the impact of his latest executive orders – essence

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Trump's war on diversity, justice and integration: understanding the impact of his latest executive orders

Photo of Jim Watson/Pool/AFP by Getty Images

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Since the office was taken about three weeks ago, Donald Trump has issued a blot of over 200 executive orders. Among them are two key directives against diversity, justice and inclusion (DEI), which threatens to withdraw a long time of progress in expanding the possibilities for colourful people, women and other historically marginalized groups.

. The first executive ordinance It eliminates, adopted by Dei as part of President Biden, who required from all federal agencies to create plans to “solve uneven barriers for possibilities” and ensure justice in the workplace. Trump’s order ends all Dei, Deia (diversity, justice, inclusion and availability) and environmental justice tasks, in addition to all programs, subsidies or contracts related to its implementation, calling them “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”

. Second executive order It eliminates all DEI orders from previous administrations, including one of President Lyndon Johnson from 1965, who required federal contractors to make sure equal opportunities. With back withdrawal, Trump called Dei “immoral” and “illegal” and painted it as “corrosive, and fatal based on identity The corruption system “, which robbed” hard -working Americans ” – to some extent white men -” possibilities because of their race or sex “.

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President Trump also warned about “negative consequences” For those federal employees who don’t report back to colleagues who refuse to dismantle Dei policy.

While the order is restricted to the federal government, he directs federal agencies to seek out ways, including a possible court dispute, to exert pressure on the private sector to desert his Dei policy. This threatens that it can speed up the corporate anti-dei trend that was already lively. Walmart, who announced an investment in the amount of $ 100 million in the center of racial capital in 2020, announced just a few days after the election of Trump that he would drop the center and wouldn’t use Dei and Latinx conditions in official communication. McDonald’s, Meta and Target also abandoned their initiatives Dei As reported by Axios.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2023, which recognized the affirmative motion in university parties as unconstitutional, the attacks on Dei spread and the term became a right -wing Bogeyman for nearly every little thing that goes flawed in every workplace. For example, only a day after a tragic plane and a collision of a helicopter on the Potomac River, which won 67 lives, Trump blamed unjustly DEI rules regarding the disaster – while the investigation into the accident barely began. The language in the ordinance of President Trump also presents Dei’s policy as a dangerous nature, declaring that “they threaten the safety of American men, women and children across the country by reducing the importance of individual merits, skills, hard work and determination when choosing people for work and services in key sectors of American society.”

It seems that these statements suggest that Dei exists in opposition to perfection and exertions-that ensuring possibilities of non-white people robotically reduces standards. It’s false. Dei requires the same standards for everybody and only employs those that meet the requirements of a given jobpoint repeated Everett Kelly, domestic president Of the 800,000 members of the American Federation of Governmental Workers, “the Federal Government already employs and promotes only on the basis of merits. The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce, which looks like a nation with which it serves, with the lowest gender and racial differences in the country. We should all be proud of it. “

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Blacks are a bigger share in the federal labor force (18.6%) than in the case of civil labor (12.8%),According to Pew Research. It shouldn’t be clear how many individuals will affect the order. Despite this, the federal government is the largest employer in the USA and black individuals who They have the highest As a result, unemployment rates, risk of greater loss of work.

The ambiguity of the orders of President Trump meant that agencies were fighting to follow and erase the black history. For example, the air force recently removed the aviators Tuskegee From their training movies, and this was restored only after public outrage.

The anti-dei trend is an element of a bigger attack on anti-discrimination efforts, attributable to the pursuit of racial progress after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Now that Dei is under fire, the query is-how will we keep these policies alive?

Despite the growing political pressure of an organization corresponding to Apple, Costco and JPmorgan Chase RUnwavering emain In their involvement in diversity, justice and inclusion, refusing to bow to conservative attacks. In addition, most corporations from the Fortune 500 list didn’t abandon their DEI rules.

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. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an impartial group that fights with “government abuse” primarily through lawsuits, prevents President Trump’s claim that Dei or Deia are illegal, saying: “Execution orders are trying to combine these lawful efforts with discrimination, enforcing weapons to intimidate institutions to abandon critical programs.” “However, no court stated that Deia’s efforts illegal by nature, and President Trump could not replace the decades of legal precedent.” ACLU supported and introduced quite a few lawsuits against the withdrawal of Dei during the first term of Trump and I swear I did it.

In the meantime, the Act on Civic Rights continues to be the right of land and discriminating everyone based on a race, sex and other protected features stays illegal.

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