Politics

45, 47

Yesterday was inauguration day, and some big promises were made.

Today marks the second inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, which will take place inside for the first time since Ronald Reagan in 1985.

Trump announced the move indoors on Friday, citing the dangerously cold temperatures projected for today in Washington D.C. during the nation’s 60th Inaugural Ceremonies. 

“I have order the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capital Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of the very cold weather,” Trump explained on social media. “We will open Capital One Arena on Monday for LIVE viewing of this Historic event, and to host the Presidential Parade. I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my swearing in.”

Unfortunately, this affects thousands of people who would have been outside for the event but now can not fit in the Rotunda. 

“The vast majority of ticketed guests will not be able to attend the ceremonies in person,” the Presidential Inaugural Committee said in a notice sent to ticket holders on Friday. They urged would-be spectators to watch at “indoor venues of their choice,” adding that it’s “designating certain places to watch and will provide additional information.”

Those with tickets for the Presidential Platform and members of Congress will be the only ones able to attend in person. So it’ll be a different looking ceremony later today. 

When Reagan was sworn in indoors, it was seven degrees with a windchill of -25. The parade was canceled. Today it’s expected to be in the low 20s, which is around 20 degrees below normal. Winds of 10-20 MPH, with gusts up to 30 MPH, are also expected - leading to a wind chill of 10 degrees, making it the coldest Inauguration Day since 1985.

President William Henry Harrison is widely believed to have caught a cold during his 1841 inaugural ceremony, during which he gave a two-hour speech without wearing a coat or hat. Harrison then contracted pneumonia and died just one month after his inauguration. 

The event is expected to begin at Noon EST. Carrie Underwood, Lee Greenwood, opera singer Christopher Macchio and the Village People were all scheduled to perform.

From The Hill:

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Business

TikTok, Gone and Back Again

After a brief hiatus, TikTok is back up and running, for now.

TikTok officially went dark this weekend, hours before the federal law banning the social media app from the United States took effect. U.S. users could no longer access videos on the platform, as a message would read, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”

Right now being the key phrase. “We are fortunate the President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution. Please stay tuned!,” TikTok’s message also warned.

President-elect Trump had previously asked for a delay in enacting the ban, until he got back into office and could find a workaround. Instead, the ban was put into place the day before his second inauguration.

TikTok’s sister app, Lemon8, also stopped working on Sunday and showed U.S. users a message saying that it “isn’t available right now.” Both apps are owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet giant. CapCut, a popular video-editing app, is also owned by ByteDance, and was also unavailable in the U.S. on Sunday. 

Apple acknowledged that it had removed TikTok and those other ByteDance apps from its app store, as had Google. The law has a provision to penalize app store operators (like Apple and Google) from distributing TiKTok. Those companies could face penalties as high as $5,000 per user who can access the app.

This is a big change, as it’s the first app used by tens of millions of Americans to be blocked seemingly overnight. 

ByteDance will now hope that Trump will ride into the White House as their knight in shining armor to save the day. The other solution is to sell the U.S. portion of the app to someone else, such as Elon Musk or Mr. Beast. That would also resurrect TikTok in the U.S.

Around the Water Cooler:

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U.S. News

L.A. Wildfires Still Burning

While fires are being contained, they’re still a major problem out west. 

It’s terrifying to believe that the LA wildfires are continuing on. What’s even worse, is the belief that things could get even worse this week.

Strong, damaging Santa Ana winds are expected to bring extreme wildfire danger to Southern California the next few days, as the area remains dangerously starved of rain. So far, the wildfires have led to at least 27 deaths and have destroyed thousands of homes. 

On top of the fires, have now come land and mudslides, as well. Due to all of the water being used to try and combat these flames, which has softened off the soil and has contributed to a second set of problems. Some homes that made it through the fires (so far), have been damaged by the landslides instead. 

The largest of the fires, the Palisades fire, is still only 43% contained. It has burned over 24,000 acres, however it’s growth HAS slowed down. The Eaton fire is now 73% contained, but has burned through 14,000 acres so far (near Pasadena). Three other smaller fires are still burning (a total of 900 acres), but have all been 100% contained.

The people of California will remain in our thoughts.

What’s New:

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Sports

NFL Playoffs in Full Swing

The Divisional Round left us with plenty of action.

On paper, the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs is probably the best weekend of football of the year. You’re scheduled to get two good big games on Saturday and then again on Sunday (not to mention tonight’s college football national championship game).

The highlight of the weekend was the Washington Commanders, led by a rookie QB, upsetting the #1 Detroit Lions in their building. The Commanders became just the 4th team since 2000 to win in the Wild Card round as an underdog and then again in the Divisional Round as an underdog of more than seven points. Now, they’re just one win away from the Super Bowl. No rookie QB has ever made it to a Super Bowl before - Jayden Daniels could become the first.

Drowned out by the games was the announcement from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about the NFL’s plan for an 18-game schedule. This is nothing shocking, football fans have always assumed this would happen, but now the league’s commissioner is saying it out loud, as he did on Bloomberg TV on Friday.

He called the “logical next step,” explaining the NFL would remove another preseason game, sticking with the 20 game total schedule (2 preseason games and 18 regular season games).

When you can see someone’s actions, you don’t need to listen to their words. So while the NFL can preach player safety to avoid any further lawsuits, expanding the schedule, making players play on increasingly short weeks, playing in other countries on non-football fields, are all things that fly in the face of player safety. And a preseason game does not equal the same as a regular season game.

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World News

We Have a Cease-Fire

Coincidence with Trump taking office, you decide.

After 15 months of war, we have finally reached a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire went into effect yesterday at 8:30 AM local time (1:30 AM ET), leading to the release of dozens of hostages held by the militants in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by israel.

The deal was approved just after midnight local time on Saturday and will see the first hostages released since the start of the war. The United States, Qatar and Egypt all served as mediators to help make this deal a reality. 

The war first began with a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, killing nearly 1,200 people and leaving another 250 captive.

Meanwhile, according to local health officials, Israel’s attacks killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, with women and children making up more than half of that number.

With the ceasefire in place, 33 Israeli hostages are set to be released from Gaza, including two Israeli Americans. Meanwhile, 737 Palestinian prisoners and 1,167 Palestinians who were arrested in Gaza since the start of the war will be released, as well. 

Still, at least 120 people in Gaza had been killed since the deal was announced on Wednesday (and before it was officially approved), as Palestinian officials claim that Israel had intensified its airstrikes ahead of the ceasefire. In fact, it was the Israeli government that delayed the approval following hours of deliberation. 

Humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders said that while the ceasefire is a relief, it is “more than 465 days and 46,000 lives too late.”

“The Israeli government, Hamas, and world leaders have tragically failed the people of Gaza, by not agreeing and imposing a sustained ceasefire sooner,” the organization wrote in a statement. “The relief that this ceasefire brings is far from enough for people to rebuild their lives, reclaim their dignity and to mourn for those killed and all that’s been lost.

Terrorism in Iran

Two Iranian Supreme Court judges were shot dead Saturday in what is being called a terrorist attack. 

The two judges, Mohammad Moghiseh (68 years old) and Ali Razini (71 years old), both dealt with sensitive cases and Moghiseh was known to handle death penalty cases for activists. A third judge was also shot, but survived. 

The shooting occurred at the supreme court building. The assassin’s identity remains unknown at this time, but he did kill himself after completing the murders. His motive isn’t entirely clear yet, but he was not involved in any cases before the supreme court.

According to reports, the gunman entered into a room where the judges were after infiltrating the building. 

Around the World:

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