Biden's gift among other reasons for Christmas hope

From death row to life, and reasons to hope 2025 might be better than we fear.

President Joe Biden had a busy weekend. First, he signed a bill that funded the government for another few months, meaning he didn’t have to spend his Christmas with a grumbling, unpaid Congressional staff home for the holiday, many of whom couldn’t even go to Starbucks because of striking workers. Then, he planned a Monday announcement to commute the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row prisoners. This, supposedly to spare these criminals’ lives from incoming President Donald Trump, who, it is feared, might accelerate the process of executing them.

USP Terre Haute, home to the federal death row. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There might be a tiny spark of joy in the joyless pods of USP Terre Haute, where race killer Dylann Roof sits waiting his execution—his was not one of the commuted sentences—along with Robert Bowers, who slaughtered 11 Jewish worshippers at Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was also not pardoned, and he remains in isolation at the ADX Florence supermax facility. The rest of the death row inmates have had their sentences reduced to life in prison.

During Trump’s first term, 13 federal prisoners were executed, which were the first since 2003, when federal executions resumed, with a different drug protocol; now a single drug is used instead of the three drug cocktail in the past, some of which, like sodium thiopental, are no longer produced by any drug manufacturer.

Biden’s gift to 37 federal prisoners was not made due to some belief that their crimes were less heinous. “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden’s statement said.

This is the proper and fitting use of the unreviewable presidential pardon power: to show mercy during a time when we should be thinking of the lowest in society. Yes, reader, Jesus died for these prisoners; read Romans 5:8. I am not a softie when it comes to dealing with evil people, and I am happy that the worst offenders will likely face their mortal ends sooner rather than later. But most of the civilized world has eliminated the death penalty. Our better angels would have us do the same.

As 2024 rushes to its conclusion, there is plenty of reason to fear for 2025. We have an incoming president who just threatened to retake the Panama Canal. I could fill a thousand word post on reasons this is ill-advised, stupid, and even impossible for America to do. But I think readers can figure that out ourselves. Fees from use of the canal amount to about 3 percent of Panama’s GDP, more if you include all the support services that surround the canal and its workers. The Panama Canal Authority has invested, including planned projects, nearly $14 billion in improvements. Meanwhile, Donald Trump isn’t known for his fiscal genius (but he attracts some in his orbit because they make bank off him). I’d rather Trump stick to trying to buy Greenland.

Also, there’s war in Ukraine. The war has advanced to a new level, with Ukrainian forces using unmanned ground vehicles to attack Russian units in the Kharkiv region. The use of UGVs supported by other flying drones is troubling. War is a terrible thing, and turning it into a cyber-remote circus seems to make things a bit antiseptic. But Russia has more flesh-and-bones troops to throw at this war. There is a reason for hope, however. Perhaps there will be some end to the war in 2025. Regardless of the cost of losing about 20 percent of its land, Ukraine is suffering great damage to its electrical and production infrastructure by punishing missile attacks from Russia.

I am hopeful that this Ukraine war will end, and not turn into the world’s showcase of technology which will be used in future wars.

Another area for fear is the Middle East. Turkey (officially, Türkiye) has asserted its military dominance over Syria. Turkey is a NATO country, but officially, no friend of Israel. Unofficially, money is the reason Israel and Turkey remain partners in many areas, despite a ban on Israeli imports. It’s unlikely Turkish troops will encounter the IDF, which has established itself on the summit of Mount Hermon, within artillery range of Damascus. The Russians are reportedly making haste to depart Syria, except for their Mediterranean naval base, which they’d like to keep.

There is also hope. In a sign of possible stability and legitimacy for the new Syrian government formed by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terror organization, the Biden administration has lifted a $10 million bounty on Ahmad al-Sharaa, the group’s leader. Al-Sharaa had previously been aligned with al-Qaida, but has now renounced terrorism in favor of governing Syria. With Turkish backing, it’s clear that the region will have to deal with HTS.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. HTS is no friend of Iran, which means Hezbollah will not have a highway for arms. Turkey has a powerful military, and can provide some security as Syria stabilizes. It’s good for Lebanon, good for Jordan, and not terrible for Israel. Israel would like to hold on to Syrian positions in the U.N. mandated buffer zone, especially on Mount Hermon. But we will see how this shakes out. A stable Syria without the tyrant Bashar al-Assad is a reason for hope in 2025.

There may be a cease-fire and hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in the works—finally—in Gaza. Talks are reportedly “90% complete.” This round of negotiations seems to actually have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal attention, which means it could be real versus a head-fake like so many past negotiations. There’s hope that the endless killing might end and Israel can begin rebuilding its shattered economy since October 7th, 2023. The Gazans could finally start rebuilding places fit for humans to live.

What should be clear is that Hamas should not be allowed to build thousands of tunnels under every school, hospital, mosque, and private home. How to stop that will be a problem for the next several decades. But in 2025, there’s hope that the death will end. The era of the Holocaust should have its echoes heeded, but Netanyahu will likely not be able to travel to Poland in January for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, since Poland has announced it would honor the ICC’s arrest warrant.

Maybe if there’s a cease-fire in place, the ICC will lift its warrant, and allow the head of Israel’s government to honor the dead Jews from the last generation to suffer an anti-Semitic genocide.

It would be nice if the fears of 2025, seen from 2024, will become the hope of 2025, a year where death decreases, wars end, and life is celebrated. This would be the best Christmas gift we could receive.

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