Comment on Few signs of 'fiscal cliff' progress as leaders continue posturing

This morning President Joe Biden announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people serving longer prison terms for convictions related to crack cocaine. In doing so, Biden made history and set the record for the most total individual commutations by a president in history at over 4,000. “Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden said in a statement issued by the White House on Friday. This distinction was set by a 1986 law drafted by then-Sen.

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a ban on TikTok to take effect. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a law that would ban the platform unless its Chinese parent-company, ByteDance, sold it. In handing down its ruling, the court rebuffed an effort by the platform, some of its users, numerous free-speech advocates, and President-elect Donald Trump to halt the ban from taking effect. The case pitted Congress’ national security concerns against the free speech rights of TikTok and its users.

In the early days of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, President Joe Biden took some time to congratulate himself on a job well done. For weeks, his administration had been pursuing a “bear hug” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: heaping billions in aid on the US ally and insulating it from international diplomatic pressure.

By MEG KINNARD and ALEX CONNOR, Associated Press As he assumes the presidency for a second time, Donald Trump brings with him a broad expanse of business relationships and financial entanglements — and the possibility that those associations could influence his decision-making in the White House. Trump’s team dismisses such concerns. “President Trump removed himself from his multibillion-dollar real estate empire to run for office and forewent his government salary, becoming the first President to actually lose net worth while serving in the White House,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Friday that he was commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, using his final days in office on a flurry of clemency actions meant to nullify prison terms he deemed too harsh. The recent round of clemency gives Biden the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued.

With incompetence engulfing Los Angeles, will its supporters stay put? Or, will they take refuge in other states?