Pardon of Hunter Biden Puts Attention on Other Pardon Requests on Biden’s Desk; Williamsburg Mural; Final U.S. House Results
🚩 21 days until Dec. 25 🎅🏽 Christmas + Hanukkah and 24 days until Kwanzaa
🚩 35 days until the Virginia General Assembly convenes on Jan. 8, 2025
🚩 47 days until Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025
Black Virginia News is giving you vital news and information on the Black community in Virginia. We give you facts others ignore. Thank you to all of our subscribers! Please support unbossed indy news in Virginia. Thank you!
Pardon of Hunter Biden Puts Attention on Other Pardon Requests on Biden’s Desk
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, members of Congress and other are putting pressure on the Biden Administration on pardons in the wake of the Dec. 1 decision to pardon his son. The pardon was one of the broadest and most wide ranging in history. Biden cited political motivations as a reason.
President Biden leaves office in 46 days.
Hours after the news of Hunter Biden’s pardon, several advocates involved in the case of former Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby spoke out. Mosby is appealing three federal convictions that her supporters argue where the result of politically motivated prosecution. Mosby was part of a group of progressive Black women prosecutors in office in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in 2020.
RELATED: The New Jim Crow (2010) by Michelle Alexander
Then-President Donald Trump spoke out against progressive prosecutors during his time in office — and Mosby specifically. Mosby prosecuted members of the Baltimore Police Department after the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who died in police custody. In 2016, Trump said he had a ‘lot of respect’ for the officers involved in Gray’s death, and called Mosby ‘disgraceful’ and said she should ‘prosecute herself.’
But Mosby’s case isn’t the only one that many are pressing Biden to consider. The federal case of Hunter Biden has brought to mind several other cases of questionable prosecutions. Virginia Deja Taylor, who took a plea deal and pleaded guilty after federal prosecutors charged her after her 6-year-old who shot a teacher in Newport News, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in Nov. 2023.
Though there is no known pardon request “on the desk” of the President, many argue the Taylor prosecution on a charge of using marijuana while in possession of a firearm mirrors what Hunter Biden was charged with.
“There are thousands of people who have been wrongfully convicted and sit in federal prisons today. While Hunter Biden was selectively prosecuted, he’s not the only one,” said attorney Ben Crump in a statement on Dec. 2.
On January 13, 2022, Mosby was indicted on perjury related to a COVID-19-related financial hardship request and one-time withdrawals of $40,000 and $50,000 of her own money — an “offense” no one can find a similar prosecution on in Maryland.
"Marilyn Mosby is on house arrest right now with her law license hanging in the balance over purchasing property with her own money. We welcome a conversation with President Biden to discuss ways to use his pardon power to free those 'others' who deserve justice also," Crump continued.
RELATED: Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey (Oct. 2024)
South Carolina Democrat Rep. James Clyburn also urged Biden to “rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges” in a Nov. 20 letter to The White House. Clyburn included an appeal for clemency for “people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers.”
Federal sentencing disparities have long been an issue brought up by members of the Congressional Black Caucus as they have disproportionately impacted Black defendants, as has the American justice system writ large.
The issue of “unjustified sentencing disparities” and punitive policies passed during the “war on drugs” were enacted are issues being brought to the Biden Administration in a way it might not have had he not pardoned his son.
When President Biden served in the U.S. Senate he was a key author of the 1986 crime bill during Reagan’s term. Biden was an even bigger proponent of the 1994 Clinton Crime bill — formally known as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.
The notorious crime legislation, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, allotted $30 billion to state and local law enforcement agencies to hire over 100,000 police officers. What resulted from the Clinton Crime Bill was a massive shift towards mass incarceration in the U.S.
America has led the world in the rate of incarceration for over a quarter of a century at a cost of $80 billion spent annually on corrections. President Biden is expected to pardon more individuals as attorneys, members of Congress and justice reform advocates push hard for action during Biden’s final days in power.
Congressional Black Caucus to Choose New Leadership
Today on Capitol Hill in Washington the Congressional Black Caucus will chose new leadership. After their Wednesday meeting in the U.S. Capitol they will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m and discuss what their opposition strategy will be during Trump’s second term.
Final U.S. House Results
Punchbowl DC: The final count in the U.S. House is 220 Republicans and 115 Democrats BUT…U.S. House Republicans will only have a 217-215 seat majority “when factoring in the resignation of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and the expected departure of Reps. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for Trump administration posts.”
Giving Tuesday: Hampton Links Raising Funds for HBCUs
Giving Tuesday was yesterday — but you can still donate. The Hampton Links are raising funds for an important cause: HBCU Scholarships. The Hampton Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, has made a difference in this community for over 70 years. Donate here.
Your donation is tax deductible, and checks should be made payable to The Links Foundation, Inc. and mail to Post Office Box 143, Hampton, Virginia 23669 or you may donate online at this link (hit the “get tickets” button).
Dept. of Education on Cell Phone Guidelines in Schools
Virginia Mercury: The U.S. Education Department is calling on every state, school and district on Tuesday to adopt policies on cellphone use in schools.
Social psychologist, author and former UVA professor Jonathan Haidt has written and spoken out extensively on the issue of how cell phones and social media have impacted a generation of American kids.
RELATED: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
The department asks schools to have well-thought-out policies on the matter, but does not dictate exactly what those policies should be. An accompanying resource for schools notes the risk social media can pose to students’ mental health.
On Nov. 21, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order on the issue of social media and childhood mental illness. Youngkin is also calling for legislation in the General Assembly that would mandate an age cap of 13 years old to use social media platforms.
“In this digital age, every elementary, middle, and high school should have a clear, consistent, and research-informed policy to guide the use of phones and personal devices in school,” U.S Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement on Dec. 3.
The Department of Education also released a new document providing guidelines for “personal device guidelines” in schools called Planning Together: A Playbook for Student Personal Device Policies.
Williamsburg: Virginia African-American Cultural Center Unveils Mural
New Journal & Guide: The Virginia African-American Cultural Center (VAACC) recently unveiled a new mural by renowned artist Steve Prince in the City of Williamsburg. This is part of VAACC’s statewide effort to raise awareness for Black history in Virginia, via funding from the Virginia Tourism Corporation.
This is VAACC’s third public art mural in Virginia. The first one was in 2022 in Virginia Beach; the second in 2023 in Franklin. Efforts for the newest public art mural were facilitated by The City of Williamsburg Public Art Council over the last six months, connecting VAACC with Broad Street Realty in Midtown Row for the mural at 200 Monticello Ave, Suite A.
RELATED: Murals of Richmond (2018) by Mickael Broth
“We are honored to have artist Steve Prince create this vibrant work of public art that speaks to the rich history of Black people in Williamsburg and our great Hampton Roads region,” said VAACC Founder and Chairman Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond. “The VAACC mission is to collect, preserve, interpret, inform and celebrate Virginia’s African-American history, culture and community and to educate the public about African-American contributions in all areas of endeavor. I believe this artwork does just that.” READ ENTIRE
TONIGHT:
➡️ SUBSCRIBE TO BLACK VIRGINIA NEWS. “One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap.” —Ida Wells. 👨🏽💻 Send your press releases, submissions, tips, pitches, comments and corrections to BlackVirginiaNews@gmail.com.
The GOP and Trump have perfected the art of Orwellian double-think, demanding strict adherence to "rules" they’ve gleefully torched. They insist on accountability for their enemies while excusing or outright celebrating their own rule-breaking. From undermining the justice system to defying constitutional norms, they weaponize laws as tools of convenience—enforcing them selectively to punish dissent while claiming victimhood when held to account. It’s not rule-following they champion; it’s the illusion of it, wielded to mask their own relentless pursuit of unchecked power.
https://open.substack.com/pub/patricemersault/p/an-open-letter-to-president-biden?r=4d7sow&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: YOU DID THE RIGHT THING
Trump turned pardons into tools of corruption, shielding felonious allies and family—while stacking courts to "pre-pardon" his actions. Biden’s pardon counters the GOP’s weaponization of justice.