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TikTok Goes To The Supreme Court

TikTok Goes To The Supreme Court

Your unbiased daily news brief

James Kratch
January 10, 2025

Good Friday morning. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford made a pack to deliver eulogies at each other's funerals, regardless of who died first. So Steven Ford read his dad's posthumous tribute to his friend yesterday at Carter's state funeral. Have a great weekend.

In Today’s Brief

New Mexico: Abortion ruling
Lebanon: New president
Trump: Sentencing today
JCPenney: Mall merger
Football: Big weekend

... and more

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Top Tips

1) High (court) stakes

TikTok’s future is on the line today.

The news: The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in TikTok vs. Garland, a last-gasp effort to delay or overturn a federal law prohibiting the popular social media platform on national security grounds. The ban is scheduled to take effect Jan. 19.
Catch up: President Joe Biden signed a bill last April banning TikTok unless the platform's Chinese parent company divested its U.S. business. The law received bipartisan support in Congress and has been upheld by lower courts. ByteDance has refused to sell, denies any malign activity and argues the law violates the First Amendment.
Interested party: President-elect Donald Trump -- who once called for TikTok's ban but has since embraced the app -- filed an amicus brief urging the high court to delay the law's application, but did not take a position on any issues. He merely told the court he wanted a chance to work on a deal that addresses concerns while maintaining access.
Big picture: The Supreme Court is typically receptive to First Amendment arguments. But it also tends to err on the side of national security. So it is anyone's guess how this may play out. Regardless: A major economic and social institution is at stake.

2) Los Angeles latest

Over 180K people have been evacuated as wildfires continue to rage in southern California.

The impact: Early projections suggest the blazes could be the most destructive in U.S. history with insured losses exceeding $20B. Thousands of structures are believed to have been destroyed. At least six people have died, but officials said there is no way to assess the true death toll. Several fires remained uncontained as of last night as a new one — suspected to be arson — broke out.
Some relief: Strong Santa Ana winds spreading fire relented to an extent yesterday, but there are fears they will pick up again. The Sunset Fire has been contained. That removes the threat to iconic landmarks like the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Schedule change: The NFL announced Monday's playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings in Inglewood will see a site change. The teams will now play at the Arizona Cardinals' stadium near Phoenix.
Political fallout: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pushed back on questions about her leadership and claims of budget cuts for the Los Angeles Fire Department. She was also criticized for being out of the country when the fires began. A lack of water in hydrants has caused widespread condemnation.

3) Ask for exception

Poland's president is working to avoid the risk of an international incident.

Catch up: Jan. 27 is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps used by the Nazis during the Holocaust. There will be special ceremonies at the site located in southern Poland.
At issue: Poland is a member of the International Criminal Court and would technically be required to detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a war crimes warrant if he attends. But Polish President Andrzej Duda has asked the government to ensure Netanyahu will not face arrest if he comes. Duda is in the opposition; Prime Minister Donald Tusk has not weighed in yet.
Big picture: Netanyahu has not yet signaled an interest in attending. The ICC has no mechanism to force a member state to make an arrest. Other European members have said they would not arrest Netanyahu while ICC members have declined to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, also the subject of an outstanding warrant.

Quick Tips

U.S. News

New Mexico's Supreme Court struck down restrictive abortion laws passed on the county and city levels. The state has some of the nation's most relaxed abortion laws and has become a hub for patients from nearby states (More)
A 14-year-old Georgia student was arrested with a gun at a school that saw a fatal shooting last September. Police said the boy did not threaten anyone at Apalachee High School, where two teachers and two students were murdered (More)
A Kentucky federal judge blocked the Biden Administration's new Title IX rule nationwide. The regulation strengthened discrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation; the ruling said it was unconstitutional (More)

World News

Lebanon's parliament elected Gen. Joseph Aoun as the nation's new president, ending a two-year vacancy. He was viewed as the preferred candidate of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia after keeping Lebanese forces out of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict (More)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's disputed inauguration is today. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was briefly detained during a demonstration against the strongman yesterday; opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is believed to be the legitimate president-elect, has said he will return from exile (More)
Rwanda wants direct talks between Democratic Republic of the Congo and the M23 rebels. The violent insurgent group has seized more territory near the Congo-Rwanda border; Rwandan President Paul Kagame said a political solution is needed to end the carnage (More)

Political News

President-elect Trump will be sentenced today in his New York hush money trial. He is not expected to receive any jail time, fines or probation after being convicted on 34 felony counts; the Supreme Court rejected a last-second appeal to block the proceedings (More)
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance resigned from his Ohio Senate seat early this morning. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, will now appoint a replacement to serve until a 2026 special election to close out the term (More)
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman plans to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the coming days. The populist lawmaker will be the first sitting Democrat in the upper chamber to sit down with the president-elect; Washington D.C. Mayor Mariel Bowser previously visited the Florida estate to discuss Inauguration Day

Business & Markets

Major indexes closed mixed yesterday. Several Federal Reserve governors have signaled the central bank is unlikely to make more interest rate cuts in the immediate future (Dow +0.25%, Nasdaq -0.06%, S&P 500 +0.16%).
JCPenney will merge with Sparc Group, which owns retail brands like Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer. The new company will be called Catalyst Brands and led by JCPenney CEO Marc Rosen; mall property owner Simon Property Group is a major financial backer (More)
The proposed Venu Sports streaming platform faces another challenge. Dish and DirecTV asked a federal judge to reconsider Fubo's decision to drop an antitrust lawsuit after merging with Disney's Hulu, which will launch the service with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery (More)

Entertainment & Sports

Notre Dame advanced to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game with an Orange Bowl victory over Penn State. Ohio State and Texas will meet tonight in the Cotton Bowl to determine the other finalist (More | More)
The NFL playoffs begin tomorrow with six games over three days. The two-time reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions have first-round byes in their respective conferences (More)
This year's Academy Awards nominations reveal will be delayed due to the Los Angeles wildfires. The picks will now come out on Jan. 19, two days later than initially scheduled; the voting period has also been extended (More)

Quick Hitters

Fun Stuff: Many of us walk around with useless facts embedded in our heads. And some of them are quite amusing and/or interesting.
Take Note: Does it matter what color your eggs are? Experts say the brown egg's reputation for being healthier is not rooted in fact.
Go Deep: Americans are spending more time alone than ever before. It is changing everything about society, from personalities to politics.
Cool Idea: Try an embroidery journal and stitch an icon to represent each day, rather than keeping a traditional written diary.
Life Hack: ChatGPT is emerging as a tool for making grocery lists. Users are saving money and time by feeding dietary information into the artificial intelligence platform, as well as budget guidelines and the specific stores they frequent.

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How to shop for thrift store jackets and suits.