Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on Monday lashed out at protests against pandemic restrictions over the weekend in Ottawa, chastising demonstrators for desecrating war memorials, wielding Nazi symbols and stealing food from the homeless. The protest was a culmination of a group of Canadian truckers and their supporters who drove from Western Canada to Ottawa to challenge government vaccine mandates.

Speaking from self-isolation after he and two of his children tested positive for COVID, Mr. Trudeau said he understood the frustrations of Canadians, exasperated by a pandemic that has taken a heavy toll. But he criticized the protesters for flying “racist flags,” hurling abuse at small business owners, spreading disinformation and, in one case, going to a homeless shelter in downtown Ottawa and demanding food.

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This banning of the graphic novel, "Maus," was evocative of Nazi book burning of the 1930s. That episode was likewise executed in the supposed interest of students, by the German Student Union, whereby repressive elements of German society and government utilized teens as useful stooges to carry out their campaign of repression. They acted, they said, to rid their nation of un-German literature. 

Closer to home, the Wentzville School District has decided to ban Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye." Most book banning in America is based upon the specious principle that children are not psychologically ready for the topics of violence, sex (in particular, homosexuality), racism, critical race theory and more. If that is the case, why then do some of these censors likewise seek to ban the same books from the public libraries? Perhaps they feel that some issues — most notably racism — should never be addressed.

People might think that these proscriptive philosophies could never happen here. But it is today, right now. School boards, library functionaries and the American people at large must not tolerate this systematic prohibition of our basic right to read and learn.

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Donald J. Trump said on Saturday that if elected to a new term as president, he would consider pardoning those prosecuted for attacking the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 last year. He also called on his supporters to mount large protests in Atlanta and New York if prosecutors in those cities, who are investigating him and his businesses, took action against him.

The promise to consider pardons is the furthest Mr. Trump has gone in expressing support for the Jan. 6 defendants.

“If I run and I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” he said, addressing a crowd at a fairground in Conroe, outside Houston, that appeared to number in the tens of thousands. “We will treat them fairly,” he repeated. “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.”

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President Biden said Friday that he will move US troops to NATO allies in Eastern Europe in the "near term," marking a new phase in the US response to Russia's escalation on the Ukrainian border, which US officials fear could soon lead to an invasion.

"I will be moving US troops to Eastern Europe in NATO countries in the near term," Biden told reporters when asked about a timeline for moving the troops, adding that he did not have any updates on the situation in Ukraine.

As many as 8,500 US troops had been placed on heightened alert earlier this week to prepare to deploy to Eastern Europe -- including units with "medical support, aviation support, logistical support" and "combat formation," according to a Pentagon spokesman.

Biden's comments come hours after the top US military general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, warned a Russian invasion of Ukrain would be "horrific" for the country and would result in "significant" casualties as he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to choose a diplomatic path instead.

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Do you appreciate the police?

Officer Jason Rivera, who was fatally shot while responding to a 911 call one week ago, was remembered at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as a sea of officers gathered outside to salute one of their own.

Dominique Luzuriaga, the wife of Officer Jason Rivera, criticized the new Manhattan district attorney while delivering a tearful eulogy for her husband, telling an audience of police officers, “we’re not safe anymore.”

“I know you were tired of these laws,” Ms. Luzuriaga said, addressing her husband as she spoke. “Especially the ones from the new D.A. — I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now.”

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Fox News host Dan Bongino has been permanently banned from YouTube. “We terminated Dan Bongino’s channels for circumventing our Terms of Service by posting a video while there was an active strike and suspension associated with the account," they said.

Bongino was originally suspended earlier in January for a video in which he claimed that masks do not help prevent the spread of Covid. In a clip posted to his secondary YouTube channel earlier this month, he referred to masks as “useless” for preventing the spread of the virus.

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The Castro Valley school board unanimously approved a contract Wednesday night with a controversial consortium of ethnic studies teachers who have expressed strong opposition to Israel and to pro-Israel Jewish organizations.

Jewish organizations lobbied mightily to remove mention of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement from the statewide model curriculum approved last March, and to add a discussion of antisemitism and Jews. While those efforts were successful, use of the model to meet the mandate is only encouraged, not required.

Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared former President Donald Trump the winner of states that he lost, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN on Tuesday. "We've received those referrals. Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can't say anything more on ongoing investigations," Monaco said in an exclusive interview. The fake certificates falsely declaring Trump's victory were sent to the National Archives by Trump's allies in mid-December 2020. They have attracted public scrutiny amid the House's January 6 investigation into the pressure campaign that sought to reverse Trump's electoral defeat.

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On Wednesday, the Biden administration canceled a pair of mineral leases that date back to the 1960s, concluding that the Trump administration skirted legal obligations when it renewed the leases in 2019.

Twin Metals Minnesota, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chilean mining firm Antofagasta, has, for years, been trying to mine at the doorstep of the 1.09 million-acre Boundary Waters — the most visited wilderness area in the country.

Ann Marie Bledsoe Downes, the Interior Department’s principal deputy solicitor, wrote that the Trump administration had “improperly” renewed the leases and violated department regulations by “customizing lease terms specifically for Twin Metals.”

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a frequent critic of President Joe Biden, said on Tuesday that he is seeing "encouraging" signs from the administration about its approach to deterring further Russian aggression towards Ukraine.

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Justice Stephen Breyer, the Supreme Court’s oldest member and one of its three remaining liberals, will retire, giving President Joe Biden his first opportunity to fill a seat on the nation’s highest court.

With Democrats controlling both the White House and a narrow majority in the Senate, this retirement is the party’s first real chance to fill a Supreme Court seat in more than a decade.

A former administrative law professor, Breyer often tempered his liberalism with the kind of technocratic cost-benefit analysis that is common within that field. He was the Court’s staunchest defender of the right of legislative majorities to legislate, believing that judges should be very reluctant to strike down laws under debatable readings of the Constitution — though this broad trust of legislatures did not stop him from rejecting laws that sought to infringe on abortion rights, or from becoming the Court’s most outspoken opponent of the death penalty.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday that she is running for reelection, citing the “crucial” need to defend American democracy through legislation on voting rights and other issues.

Pelosi, 81, has served in Congress since 1987.

“While we have made progress, much more needs to be done to improve people’s lives,” Pelosi said in a video posted to her Twitter feed. “Our democracy is at risk because of assaults on the truth, the assault on the U.S. Capitol, and the state-by-state assault on voting rights. This election is crucial. Nothing less is at stake than our democracy.”

She added: “But as we say, we don’t agonize, we organize. And that is why I am running for reelection to Congress and respectfully seek your support. I would be greatly honored by it and grateful for it.”

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