
West Alabama Wednesday Briefing
Good morning West Alabama. It is Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
Wednesday Morning Observations:
After a tremendous start to his second term as president, Donald J. Trump quickly made his first major mistake, giving a blanket pardon to some 1,500 January 6 rioters (600 of whom were found to have participated in violence). He called them "hostages" instead of what they are, criminals. That could not have made the families of true hostages in the Middle east happy.
His decision apparently caught his own team off guard. Comments in recent days apparently led most to believe he would not pardon anyone who had been violent that day four years ago.
"If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn't be pardoned," now Vice-President JD Vance said a little over a week ago.
Trump's nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi even agreed with a Democratic senator who asked her to condemn the violence of that day.
"I do not agree with violence against any police officer," she said during confirmation hearings.
But Trump has a history of pulling the rug out from under his own staff, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that he pardoned rioters who physically assaulted and injured police officers, damaged and destroyed parts of the historic capital building, threatened to hang the vice president and attempted to halt the certification of the election.
"The overall consensus was that we would see a differentiation between those who committed violent acts and those who did not," Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a progressive not-for-profit group that opposed the pardons told CBS. But Trump let them all go.
Some Republican leaders voiced concern, but most chose to look the other way and tell reporters it is the president's prerogative.
It will now be interesting to see just how much Trump has damaged his support from law enforcement and other first responders. It will so be interesting to see if the move will embolden groups like the Proud Boys.
(Opinions expressed in Morning Briefing are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the ownership, management, staff and sponsors of Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa.)
Weather:
With some spots in West Alabama beginning the day in the single digits, finally we will bump up to above freezing later today. But then we plunge into another hard freeze tonight with clear skies and lows in the teens and 20s.
The warmup will begin in earnest Thursday as daytime highs climb into the mid 40s
Down on the cost where residents are still dealing with 8" of snow, daytime highs will rise above freezing but overnight lows will remain well below until Sunday night.
Read More: Rare Southern Winter Storm Breaks Alabama Snow Record
The Forecast:

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