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‘Lawless’: Legal experts knock Trump’s ‘silly’ TikTok filing to Supreme Court

Donald Trump’s recent legal filing to the Supreme Court regarding a possible ban on the popular TikTok app was largely met with ridicule and bewilderment by legal experts, who doubted the incoming president’s legal basis for his request.

With the court poised to rule on the ban, an attorney for the president-elect submitted a brief on Friday asking the high court to suspend the law’s Jan. 19 deadline until Trump is sworn in so he can attempt to negotiate a compromise.

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Far-right MAGA influencer expands her war to other pro-Trump billionaires

Far-right MAGA activist and failed Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer has spent much of the last week attacking tech billionaire Elon Musk. Now, she has set her sights on another billionaire who helped finance President-elect Donald Trump's election.

Loomer took aim at Marc Andreesen after Vice President-elect J.D. Vance backed him up in his accusation that historian Rick Perlstein, who claimed he had expressed gratitude that rural Americans were being pacified with "video games and OxyContin," was a "communist."

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Dartmouth team withdraws historic union petition fearing Trump administration: report

Dartmouth College's men's basketball team is opting to withdraw its historic union petition ahead of a possible challenge from President-elect Donald Trump's administration, according to a report.

The players voted 13-2 in March to join a union in what was an unprecedented move that threatened to upend the multi-billion-dollar industry of college sports.

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'Democracy or oligarchy': Ex-Labor Secretary lays out stakes of the next four years

Former Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich sounded off on the threat posed to America in the coming four years in a lengthy post to Facebook — and how to keep everything in perspective.

Reich, an outspoken warrior for progressive economic issues, has already warned Trump's tax agenda stands to benefit the ultra-wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

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'Ignore this amicus sophistry': WSJ editorial board in disbelief at Trump's latest antic

President-elect Donald Trump's latest legal briefing is a bridge too far even for the Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board, which called his argument to save TikTok "extraordinary in several ways, none of them good."

Trump — who once signed an executive order four years ago threatening to ban the popular social media app — this month asked the Supreme Court to let him "save" TikTok ahead of a looming nationwide ban set to take effect Jan. 19 if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it to a U.S. company.

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'Chilling': Expert slams Chief Justice John Roberts’ report as 'disingenuous'

Chief Justice John Roberts’ year-end report on Tuesday seemed to be more of a tongue lashing at critics of the high court than a reasoned report, according to a legal analyst who noted the “chilling” effect it can have on the judiciary and country.

Roberts’ annual report included a stern warning to reject “dangerous," "open disregard” for federal court rulings from both sides of the political spectrum. He also warned about the threat of violence and intimidation that judges across the country face, and of officials who defy their rulings.

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US sanctions Russian and Iranian entities for 2024 election interference attempts

Citing “deepfakes” and “targeted disinformation campaigns,” the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Tuesday sanctions against affiliates of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), alleging they “aimed to stoke socio-political tensions and influence the U.S. electorate during the 2024 U.S. election.”

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz may have been the target of one such effort, according to a previous Washington Post report.

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'Take this as a warning': Texas attorney general issues ominous threat to GOP lawmakers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has a message for Republican state legislators: Don’t mess with the Texas speaker’s race – or else.

The far-right attorney general – a staunch ally of President-elect Donald Trump – announced on New Year’s Eve that he would embark on a statewide tour of districts where incumbent Republican state representatives are reportedly working with Democratic lawmakers to elect a speaker who doesn’t have his support.

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IRS employees tossed confidential tax information in the trash: report

Employees at the Internal Revenue Service reportedly mishandled people's confidential tax information, the libertarian site Reason wrote on Tuesday.

"The IRS receives and creates a significant volume of sensitive documents and is responsible for protecting these sensitive documents from receipt to disposal," stated a report by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Standard procedure requires tax officials to "shred, burn, mulch, pulp, or pulverize sensitive documents beyond recognition and reconstruction," noted Reason — but on some occasions these documents were simply thrown away in the trash, potentially compromising that information.

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Chief Justice John Roberts warns of judicial threats — and 'specter of open disregard'

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday issued a stern warning to reject "dangerous" and "open disregard" for federal court rulings from both sides of the political spectrum.

Roberts warned in his year-end report that judges across the country face threats of violence and intimidation, as well as officials defying their rulings.

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Texas Supreme Court dismisses State Bar lawsuit against assistant attorney general

By Jess Huff, The Texas Tribune

"Texas Supreme Court dismisses State Bar lawsuit against assistant attorney general" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

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Musk 'obsessed' with immigration because 'he knows' what's at stake — for him: Ex-GOP guru

Tech billionaire Elon Musk may be so enthusiastic about going to war with President-elect Donald Trump's base on high-skilled immigration because he fears he technically could be stripped of his citizenship under a strict interpretation of Trump's plans for mass deportation, veteran GOP strategist Stuart Stevens told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace this week.

This comes as Musk and his fellow Silicon Valley MAGA supporters pick a fight with Trump's longer-time populist base over the immigration issue, with longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon in particular stirring up anger at Musk. Trump, for his part, has sided with Musk publicly in favor of H1-B visas, but not without some backlash from his base.

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Outgoing governor commutes 15 death sentences on final day in office: report

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued 15 commutations on his final day in office Tuesday, sending those sentenced to die instead to life in prison without parole.

NBC News reported that among the prisoners "was convicted murderer Hasson Bacote, a Black man who had challenged his sentence under the Racial Justice Act of 2009, a groundbreaking state law that allows condemned inmates to seek resentencing if they can show racial bias played a role in their cases."

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