内容摘要：During the singular Hajj pilgrimage performed by the Prophet Muhammad after a year of anticipation and longing to fulfil this rite, the Prophet found Aisha despondent. He lovingly inquired if she was menstruating and comforted her by affirming, “This is a matter decreed for the daughters of Adam.”

During the singular Hajj pilgrimage performed by the Prophet Muhammad after a year of anticipation and longing to fulfil this rite, the Prophet found Aisha despondent. He lovingly inquired if she was menstruating and comforted her by affirming, “This is a matter decreed for the daughters of Adam.”

Which brings us to the latest case, that of Larry Hoover, the notorious founder of the Chicago Gangster Disciples, convicted of ordering the murder of a rival, along with a laundry list of other offences. Prosecutors did not even bother to bring many cases to trial. Indeed, at a hearing last year, a judge asked one of Hoover’s lawyers: “How many other murders is he responsible for?”Trump commuted his federal sentence, which is unlikely to achieve much more than to transfer him to the less pleasant Illinois prison, where he must serve 200 years on a state murder conviction. What does this achieve, and what was the president’s motive for doing it?

One particularly odd element of these pardons is that CBS News reports that many of the beneficiaries had not even made a formal application. Trump just reached out and acted on his own. In some instances, he seems to have been relying on what he saw on television. He has said he is considering clemency for those convicted in the 2020 conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow the state government. “I did watch the trial,” he said. “It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job…”Even if it is currently sometimes corrupt, or simply arbitrary, I would not abolish the president’s prerogative of mercy. I am in favour of considering second chances in all cases, for as a society we are much too punitive. But if citizens are to maintain any sense of respect for the judicial system, there should be a degree of consistency.Indeed, due process means that there is a process, and it should be followed. I filed a compelling 76,000 word clemency petition in the case of

before Christmas, which Biden dismissed on January 20 without addressing any of the grounds – her innocence, the CIA’s abduction of his children, the fact that she had been tortured in US custody, and the sexual abuse she faces in prison today.Then, this week, my octogenarian former death row client, Clarence Smith, passed away in federal prison. He had been denied compassionate release even though he was terminally ill, was again patently innocent and had proved himself to be a model prisoner: He had, in his forty-one years in the penitentiary, only been given one disciplinary punishment, for the heinous offence of making his prison bed before being told to do so.

Let us therefore keep an eye on how the president’s immense power is used (or abused), and perhaps consider imposing some rules of transparency upon him.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.To cover this deficit, the government borrows more money. To ensure that borrowing is subject to legislative approval, the US Congress sets a limit to how much the government can borrow to fund existing obligations like Social Security, healthcare and defence. This limit is known as the debt ceiling.

Once the ceiling is reached, the government cannot borrow more unless Congress raises or suspends the limit. Since 1960, Congress has raised, suspended or changed the terms of the debt ceiling 78 times, allowing the US to borrow more money.The federal deficit under different presidents

The federal deficit is how much more money the government spends than it brings in during a single year. A federal surplus would mean the US is bringing in more money than it is spending.The deficit grew sharply during Trump’s first term, especially in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government spent heavily while tax revenues dropped due to job losses. That year, the deficit reached nearly 15 percent of the entire economy (GDP).