Dozens of judges rejected Wallie Howard killer’s pleas for freedom. Then came Trump
Updated Jan 22, 2021;
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Syracuse, N.Y. – Dozens of judges have rejected Jaime Davidson’s bids for a new trial in the 1990 robbery-turned-murder of an undercover Syracuse police officer.
For 29 years, Davidson tried to convince judges, lawyers, activists, athletes, musicians and even the U.S. Supreme Court of his innocence. The federal Office of the Pardon Attorney turned down his case twice, in 2013 and 2017, records show.
Davidson, of Brooklyn, was found guilty by a jury of leading a drug ring and directing the robbery that ended in undercover officer Wallie Howard’s death. He maintained his innocence. He described himself as a rapper whose associates were fellow artists to defend against conspiracy charges.
Good Tuesday morning!
A number of Senate committees will hold confirmation hearings today for several of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks.
Janet Yellen, Avril Haines and Alejandro Mayorkas will testify in front of Senate committees this morning, while Tony Blinken and Lloyd Austin are scheduled to appear before the Foreign Relations and the Armed Services Committees, respectively, this afternoon. More below.
A report in
Politico indicates that Biden’s transition team is alarmed about the number of Trump appointees “burrowing into career positions throughout the federal government.”
Biden has selected Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary of health. If approved, Levine would be the first openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate.
20 Jan 2021
Far-left Hollywood elitist Rob Reiner has changed his tune about Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whom the filmmaker once accused of “dancing” on the grave of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now Reiner is beseeching the Senate’s leading Republican to convict President Trump, claiming that it will help preserve democracy.
Rob Reiner implored Sen. McConnell in a tweet on Tuesday after the senator said that the president “provoked” a crowd of his supporters into storming the Capitol building earlier this month.
“Mitch McConnell has opened the door wide. He has laid down a marker,” Reiner wrote. “By trying to save the Republican Party from going the way of the Whigs, if he can get 17 Senators to convict, his legacy will be having played a part in preserving Democracy.”
Oregon officials offer praise for Biden inauguration January 20 2021
Gov. Kate Brown, Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and more note historic day.
The peaceful transition of power was a cause for celebration for elected leaders across Oregon on Wednesday, Jan. 20, as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown highlighted the achievement of Vice President Kamala Harris the first woman, as well as the first Black and Asian person to achieve the second-highest position of power in U.S. government. Our government should be reflective of the people it represents, and now Americans across the country will see themselves in the people holding leadership positions, Gov. Brown said in a statement.
Here’s a selection of streaming films to educate, illuminate and spark conversation about MLK, his legacy, the history of the fight for racial justice in the United States and those who continue his work to this day.