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Trump pardons roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack

(NBC News) President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was issuing roughly 1,500 pardons and commuting the sentences of six of his supporters in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when thousands of them stormed the building amid his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him. He made the remarks after returning to the White House Monday evening.

Proud Boys Leader, Serving 22 Years For Organizing Jan 6, Released From Prison After Trump Issues Sweeping Pardons

(Mediaite) Imprisoned former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was processed for release on Monday after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning 1,500 people and commuting six sentences in relation to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Tarrio has been serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Manchester in Kentucky. As of reporting, it is not clear whether Tarrio received a pardon or a commutation, however the former Proud Boys leader was not among the names listed for commutation in Trump’s executive order.

Trump Withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization

(NY Times) President Trump moved quickly on Monday to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, a move that public health experts say will undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic. The move was not unexpected. Mr. Trump has been railing against the W.H.O. since 2020, when he attacked the agency over its approach to the coronavirus pandemic and threatened to withhold United States funding from it. Leaving the W.H.O. would mean, among other things, that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have no access to the global data that the agency provides.

Tuesday carTOONS

Trump reclassifies thousands of federal employees, making them easier to fire

(The Guardian) Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order reclassifying thousands of federal employees as political hires, making them easier to fire if deemed insufficiently loyal to the new president and his aims. One of a promised flurry of measures signed on Trump’s first day back in power, the order effectively reinstates “Schedule F”, which sought to allow for the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal workers. Schedule F changed civil service rules to allow for a broad swath of career federal employees to be fired without civil service protection, reclassifying their jobs as political appointments.

There Is No Limit on Trump's Ego

(New Yorker) “The reality that Trump doesn’t recognize any such restraints was made most evident by his reluctance to bow before the supreme authority of God Almighty, as he stood open-eyed during the invocations of the deity to bless his puny human efforts. Indeed, he seemed to regard God as a peer or perhaps as an aide in his confident assertion that the Lord of Hosts had saved him from assassination out of divine concern for his holy role in restoring American Greatness.”

Listless, Uninspired and Robotic: Trump's Vision of a "Golden Age of America" Rings Hollow

(Salon) If you were looking for a theme for the new Trump presidency, he gave us one: “A new golden age of America,” which for me, anyway, invoked images of the Trump Tower lobby’s mix of knick-knacks and 80’s “luxury” writ large. It’s all he can do, really — sell an alleged idea like real estate. It’s the biggest, it’s the tallest, it’s got more floors, it’s the most expensive, it’s got more gold leaf, and as we know from Donald Trump’s past, a likelihood of bankruptcy, therefore, looms.

Nadler condemns 'what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute' from Musk

(The Hill) Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) was among those who sharply criticized billionaire Elon Musk on Monday for making “what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute” during an event celebrating the inauguration of President Trump. “I never imagined we would see the day when what appears to be a Heil Hitler salute would be made behind the Presidential seal,” Nadler wrote in a post on X, responding to a video of Musk’s speech at the Capital One Arena in Washington after Trump was sworn into office.

Everyone Who Was Supposed To Protect You From This Failed Miserably

(Rolling Stone) No matter how venal or fascistic Trump is, he was never the sole author of this violent tragicomedy that we’ve endured for a decade, and will continue to endure for years. One morally vacant aristocrat could not have accomplished today on his own. This is all happening because everyone — every one — who was supposed to protect the American people from this failed in the most miserable, unforgivable ways. It was a catastrophic top-to-bottom failure that many millions of people at home and abroad will be living with, now and long after Trump is no longer leader of a nominally free world.

Trump blocks 1,600 Afghans approved for entry into US

(Reuters) Nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled under President Donald Trump's order suspending U.S. refugee programs, a U.S. official and a leading refugee resettlement advocate said on Monday. The group includes unaccompanied minors awaiting reunification with their families in the U.S. as well as Afghans at risk of Taliban retribution because they fought for the former U.S.-backed Afghan government.