Mike’s Blog Round-up

Today, President Joe Biden announced that he will commute the sentences of almost 1,500 Americans for non-violent offenses—the most ever granted in one day. Those affected by the commutations are people released to in-home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, whom some Republicans have pushed to send back to prison. Biden also announced that he would pardon 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes including drug offenses.   As I previously reported, there has been pressure on Joe Biden to use his clemency power more broadly in the final months of his term—which intensified after he pardoned his son, Hunter.

Just what America needed, an election-denying conspiracy theorist to be at the helm of the international broadcaster for the United States. We'll see what, if anything, the organization that actually oversees the hiring and firings at Voice of America has to say about that. The International Broadcasting Advisory Board was set up to be completely independent after Trump rescinded in his first term "a provision that prohibited U.

President-elect Donald Trump reacted Thursday morning to being named TIME’s 2024 Person of the Year and championed the potential for America’s economic growth in his second term. Trump said that coming into office in January he is better prepared in understanding how to staff his administration and utilize his power. “’Now we have experience we didn’t have,” he said. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: TIME 2024 Person of the Year: Donald Trump “TIME Magazine, getting this honor for the second time, I think I like it better this time,” Trump said at the New York Stock Exchange before ringing the opening bell alongside TIME CEO Jessica Sibley and others.

Fox News co-host Emily Campagno was furious over the hashtag #FreeLuigi showing up on social media so she came up with a fascist solution, spy on everyone and punish them. Mangione's alleged actions have spooked Trump's billionaire counselors. Free speech is dead! The accused murderer of the CEO United healthcare, Luigi Mangione has seen a dramatic rise in his online presence after his arrest.

In his 2023 book, Government Gangsters, which claims a supposed Deep State has been plotting against Donald Trump for years, Kash Patel, whom Trump has tapped to replace Chris Wray as FBI director, recounts his three-year stint as a mid-level attorney at the Justice Department. For him, this gig was apparently a radical learning experience.

Why does ‘Diversity, Inclusion, Equity’ fester in academia?