An American Prayer | Waiting for a Miracle after a Killing Spree

 I. The First Sunday Following The Killings 

Oh holy and

loving God,

please don't

let this have

happened

II. The Second Sunday Following The Killings 

Understanding and wise God,

Grant that we may, without 

doing anything different, 

be protected from further 

atrocities of the sort we 

now so earnestly grieve.

III.  The Third Sunday Following The Killings 

Almighty and everliving God,

if it be Thy will that we 

ought in all good conscience to change anything

in thought, word, or deed

to prevent the evil or the mad from

misusing these Thy gifts of semi-automatic 

sports rifles bearing

frangible ammunition in

high capacity magazines to

snuff the wick of life from

children and other noncombatants, 

grant us a sign--

clear and convincing--

that we may with one mind and heart agree

to forego a portion of our profits and

endure some diminution at the margins

of our precious personal freedom.

So we do now wait on Thee,

pledging that, should some sign issue 

unmistakably from Thy hand,

we will lay this matter to rest

even as we have so recently

laid to rest the bodies of 

those we grieve this day.

IV. The Fourth Sunday Following The Killings 

Patient and enduring God,

One week has passed in silence 

since we sought a clear word from Thee 

on gun violence.

With that week passed also

400 of your children, 

dead from gunshots 

along American streets and 

within American homes. 

How long Lord? 

How long must 

we wait 

for Thee

to act? 

Read It Yourself . The Pardon of Hunter Biden

The President’s statement to the American people 

Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.

The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.

No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.

__________

 

The Official Text

Executive Grant of Clemency

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.