Random Monday Morning Thoughts

This story even made its way to the Drudge Report.

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• Today's the day. Moment of silence, please. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Big breaking news: A highly unusual act just happened in response to a highly dangerous man and his movement. It is only shocking in that it had to be done in the United States.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Those not on the pardon list who I am very concerned about: 
  • Jack Smith
  • Alvin Bragg
  • Letitia James
  • Judge Juan Merchan
  • Fani Willis
• Trump was in church moments ago this morning. 
  
  
  
• In the back, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook (partially obscured), and Jeff Bezos were sitting together. And that's the CEO of Google behind Zuckerberg.
  
  
  
• As you've heard, the Inauguration will be moved inside the Capitol today presumably due to the weather. Thoughts and prayers to the folks who put up all those chairs and then had to take them all down again again.
  
  
  
• TikTok summary:
• What happened:
• Last year Congress, with Democrats and Republicans agreeing, passed a law to ban TikTok because it is owned by the Chinese and the U.S. fears data collection.
• The Supreme Court upheld the law on Friday. 
• TikTok, in a political stunt, went "dark" on Saturday earlier than yesterday's deadline to divest.
• Then Trump, who has no power to do so, says he will suspend the law for 90 days. His reason? He likes TikTok because he believes it helped him get elected. 
  
• Underreported side note: He thinks the U.S. government, which he will now control, should own 50% of the company. 
  
  
  
• TikTok goes live again yesterday, and the CEO will be by Trump's side at the inauguration today. 
  
• Observations:
• Trump just saying he won't enforce a duly enacted law should send shock waves through everyone, but it won't.  But this is just the beginning. He will do whatever he wants and there is no one in place to stop him this time.
• The government owning 50% of TikTok and taking it by force? Hey, what's it called when the government nationalizes a company and "seizes the means of production"? 
• Flashback from five years ago:
  
  
  
• Trump started the worst kind of grift over the weekend. And then his grifter wife followed suit.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Trump has an odd pre-inaugural rally yesterday at the basketball arena in D.C.
  
  
  
• Afterwards, he had the Village People on stage. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But the only person he invited on stage with him during the speech was . . . you guessed it. 
  
  
  
• There was some good news in the Israel/Hamas saga yesterday as the first part of the prison exchange went off without a hitch: