Someone take the pardon button away from Biden before he hurts himself

And for God’s sake, don’t let Trump anywhere near it.

Joe Biden said eventually we’d come around on the pardon he issued for his son, and realize it wasn’t so bad.

And he was right!

Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan, who gained notoriety for wrongfully imprisoning juveniles in the Kids-for-Cash scandal, is one of nearly 1,500 inmates whose sentences President Joe Biden commuted Thursday as his term in office comes to a close.

Conahan, 72, was convicted along with former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 74, of funneling juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks.

Conahan pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges and was sentenced in 2011 to 17½ years in prison. However, he petitioned the courts for a “compassionate release” during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that he was “in grave danger of not only contracting the virus, but of dying from the virus.”

He was released to home confinement in Florida under federal supervision in June 2020.

So this guy isn’t even an old man rotting away in jail. He’s been out for years. But of all the people in America stuck with a disproportionately harsh punishment, Biden chose him.

To get the obvious throat-clearing out of the way, Donald Trump pardoned a whole cattle car of scumbags and borderline traitors the first time around, and he’s promising to pardon the January 6 rioters once he takes office again, so I don’t want to be accused to felony both-sidesism here.

And yet…Trump voters believe the whole system is corrupt and he’s promised to clean it up. Outside of the Sea Org-level cult members, they don’t think Trump is actually going to do it. Deep down, they might even realize he’s in it for himself and his family, and they’re not sure about Eric.

But at least he’s the charismatic, entertaining kind of corrupt as opposed to the dour, schoolmarm kind. If everyone is in it for themselves, I guess you might as well get some bread and circuses out of it. Well, circuses, anyway.

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“Jews Don’t Count” is the title of David Baddiel’s book about antisemitism. I haven’t yet read it, but I feel like this is the kind of thing he’s referring to: