The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a law Friday requiring Chinese internet company ByteDance either to sell TikTok or for the social media platform to be effectively banned in America. The three-judge panel’s ruling paves the way for the law to take effect on Jan. 19, 2025. ByteDance is TikTok’s parent company. It’s headquartered in Beijing and subject to Chinese law, which requires companies to make data available to the Chinese Communist Party.  The three judges on the appellate court panel unanimously rejected TikTok’s argument that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment rights of users of the app. “In this case, a foreign government threatens to distort free speech on an important medium of communication. Using its hybrid commercial strategy, the [People’s Republic of China (PRC)] has positioned itself to manipulate public discourse on TikTok in order to serve its own ends,” the ruling held. “The PRC’s ability to do so is at odds with free speech fundamentals. Indeed, the First Amendment precludes a domestic government from exercising comparable control over a social media company in the United States.” TikTok might be popular among America’s youth, but a majority of voters view it as a threat to the United States. An even higher percentage favor a federal ban on the social media platform, according to a 2023 poll from RMG Research, a polling firm led by Scott Rasmussen. TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, The Associated Press reported, although it’s unclear whether the high court would take up the case. The post Appeals Court Upholds Pending Law Requiring Chinese Company to Sell TikTok or Face Ban in US appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. President-Elect Donald Trump has declared the appointment of David Sacks, a leading figure in technology and former COO of PayPal in the early days, to the influential position of White House Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cryptocurrency Czar. This decision follows Trump’s choice of Paul Atkins, a fervent supporter of cryptocurrencies, to helm the SEC, suggesting a significant pivot towards pro-tech and crypto stances in policymaking. As cryptocurrencies have struggled under rigorous SEC rules, this sector anticipates a resurgence. These regulations have stymied American trading and deterred major corporations from engaging with cryptocurrencies. With a post-election surge in optimism, sectors such as AI, healthcare, automotive, and technology have shown increased interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technologies. Trump has strategically chosen Sacks for his deep-rooted experience in both entrepreneurship and investment, having co-founded Yammer and invested in notable companies and more recently became a board member of free speech video platform Rumble. In his role as the AI and Cryptocurrency Czar, Sacks is tasked with spearheading policies that position the US as a frontrunner in these crucial tech sectors, focusing on fostering innovation while safeguarding free speech from what Trump has criticized as “Big Tech bias and censorship.” One of Sacks’ first responsibilities will be to develop a consistent and transparent regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies, a change that has been highly anticipated by the industry grappling with ambiguous regulations. Trump noted that this effort is crucial for the growth and global competitiveness of the US cryptocurrency market. Moreover, Sacks will lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, guiding the nation’s strategy on AI and other advanced technologies. Sacks has been one of the tech sector’s most fervent supporters of free speech, lamenting how PayPal lost its way in recent years. Sacks voiced his concerns about the company diverging from its mission to democratize financial services, criticizing its partnership with NGOs like the SPLC and the ADL for expanding the definition of “hate speech” to include socially conservative groups. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Trump Taps Pro-Free Speech and Rumble Board Member David Sacks to Lead AI and Crypto Push appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Jury Deadlocked in the Daniel Penny Trial

The people we’ve entrusted to protect our children have once again placed them in harm's way. At least four videos recently discovered by law enforcement show 45-year-old Antwone Washington, a Las Vegas public school football coach, raping a teenage student. One video reveals him urinating on the girl, as another shows her gagged and unconscious while he’s penetrating her.  "The child–who's under 16–is being urinated on. She appears to be in a passed out state, gagged and bound, with Mr. Washington penetrating her.." - Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney pic.twitter.com/a0DQzXeXRj — Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) December 5, 2024 Washington was arrested on Tuesday and is now being charged with kidnapping a minor, abusing his authority to contact a minor for sex, four counts of child pornography, and three counts of statutory sexual seduction by a person over the age of 21, according to court documents reported by KLAS-TV. Aside from being the head football coach at Valley High School, Washington was also a campus security monitor. He admitted to law enforcement that he had a sexual relationship with the student when she was under 16, contacting the child during school hours to “take her out to his vehicle for sex,” reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The defendant is 45-year-old Antwone Washington. He was the head football coach at Valley High School. One of the videos was taken inside his office in the boys' locker room at the school. pic.twitter.com/SMSa60WBgO — Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) December 5, 2024 Coach Creepy confessed to having a polygamous relationship with his wife and three other girlfriends. He has a fetish where he pretends they’re “in his home” and is their “daddy,” according to William Rowles, the chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, Nevada where the case was moved.  Antwone Washington has a wife and kids, according to the arrest report. He told police "he has a polygamous relationship with three girlfriends and likes to play 'dad.'" pic.twitter.com/0S9ZjcAut2 — Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist (@DeAngelisCorey) December 5, 2024 But he just wanted to be their “mentor!” the foul coach reportedly insisted. Las Vegas Metro police claim Washington also admitted to bringing the underage student to one of his girlfriend’s apartments to have sex with her. But she wasn’t the only girl preyed upon by the coach. Washington added in his confession that he took inappropriate photos of other students, including a girl in a thong.  While Washington's bail is currently set to $100,000, Rowles pushed for it to be raised to $500,000, arguing the molester is a “flight risk.” Because as we know, whatever happens in Vegas does NOT stay in Vegas. 

With the heavy and repeated use of the word “but,” Friday’s CBS Mornings and CBS Mornings Plus sought to emphasize with, normalize, and explain away the disgusting and widespread celebrations of the far-left on social media celebrating the murder of the UnitedHealthCare’s CEO and wondered if this assassination would lead to “something good” like socialized medicine. CBS also never attached a party label to those scoffing at the need to feel sympathy for Brian Thompson’s children, wife, and loved ones as far-left, progressive, or even liberal.  In addition to not even calling this behavior extreme, CBS didn’t cite the role the dangerously unstable and former guest Taylor Lorenz has played in fomenting these claims. Even NBC’s Ken Dilanian called her out. CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King teased a segment on “why so many people online are saying they hate their insurance company” after implicitly connecting the murder with a reversal by Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield about anesthesia coverage. King later seemed shock as she began the segment, claiming “some of us have been really surprised by the action —  the reaction, rather, online,” describing said reactions as voicing “very deep frustration with the health insurance industry.” This 'CBS Mornings' segment touting those celebrating the murder of the United HealthCare CEO is insane. Nowhere do they mention these are leftists doing this, so no ideological ID. They insist this is wrong, but spend most of the time justifying their "anger" pic.twitter.com/5ciYiS0CgM — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 6, 2024 After five different TikTok users showing approval with the murder, King merely said the last celebrator spoke “for a lot of people there, this really isn’t about this tragedy” but really health care costs. She then brought in CBS News contributor Dr. Celine Gounder to explain “why so many people are so very angry” and started with the declaration that “we can all agree that the system is broken..but it seems that people are having hard times separating the broken system from the person.” “The fact that so many people are gleeful is the word, that this has happened to this man, just sort of stuns me. How did we get here,” King asked. Gounder laid down a brief marker that “vigilante justice is not okay” and “[w]e do have a country of law and order where there are systems to address these issues.” After an unfortunate mix-up of Al Sharpton and Jimmy McMillan, she conceded “we’ve gotten to a point where health care is so inaccessible and unaffordable, people are justified in their frustrations about the system.” Gounder and featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers then spent the next few minutes making the case for European-style socialized medicine and also touting both ObamaCare and Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (click “expand”): GOUNDER: [U]nder President Obama, there was the Affordable Care Act which helped to expand health insurance, so you had Medicaid, you had the marketplace, then you also have subsidies to make it more affordable to purchase plans on the marketplace. Those are made even more generous during the pandemic and then those more generous subsidies were extended under the Inflation Reduction Act under President Biden, but we also have other challenges in terms of why are health care costs rising. So you know, you have efforts to extend coverage and — and make more people have health care be available, but prices are going up. DUTHIERS: So this is — we’re the only country in the developed world that has this struggle, that has this challenge of people seeing the cost of health care getting — rising and insurance premiums also rising. There’s a recent KFF poll that found a quarter of U.S. adults say they’ve skipped or postponed getting the care they need simply because of the cost, so what needs to change? GOUNDER: Well, we have a very different health care system from other countries. We have a very — piecemeal health care system with our coverage, with the way it’s delivered. Many other countries have what we call socialized medicine. By the way, Medicare is socialized medicine. KING: Yeah. GOUNDER: And even that socialized medicine is the most expensive in terms of health care for the elderly in the world. There are a lot of different proposals that have been made. So again, going back to the Inflation Reduction Act, negotiating down the price of drugs, giving Medicare the authority to do that. We’ve already seen one round of price negotiations. The incoming administration wants to eliminate the Inflation Reduction Act, at least many of the provisions of that, so whether that will continue we don’t know. We’ve seen a lot of mergers andacquisitions in the health care industry, which means less competition. The Biden administration has been trying to pursue antitrust suits to block some of these. The Trump administration, the prior administration, tried to make drug prices — or — excuse me, health care pricing more transparent. That was another way of trying to make things better.  A few minutes alter, King made the odious claim that perhaps “something good could come out of this tragedy” with “insurance companies” deciding “we can and we need to do better.” She predictably made that suggestion with the lame qualifier that she “hate[s]” to say that.” In the show’s third hour, Duthiers framed the situation as the “murder...touched a nerve” by giving Americans an outlet “to say how upset they are with their health insurance.”     Co-host Adriana Diaz said “we still don't know why the United HealthCare CEO, Brian Thompson was murdered,” but what we have seen is “surpris[ing]” “reactions on social media” that have “saddened us.” “Yes, some of it has been mean and thoughtless, some of it seems to be born out of a very real bitterness toward the overall health insurance industry,” she added as she made the pivot from denunciation to validation of the ghoulishness of those “speaking their stories” about struggles with the health care industry. With Diaz and Duthiers providing a similar setup, Gounder resurfaced to pull on a thread Duthiers started about the difference between medical accessibility, advancements, costs, and quality of care (click “expand”): DUTHIERS:. So, Celine, healthcare has arguably become more accessible in this country. The leaps and bounds we have made in medical care for people in this country has grown exponentially over the last couple of years and yet it is more expensive, and people can't afford it. People are delaying getting treatment for some of the things that are sometimes life-threatening, because they can't afford it. What is going on? GOUNDER: I think sometimes in this country we confuse having the highest technical advancements, biomedical advancements, having that level of care with having good healthcare for everybody and so, we may be making giant leaps and bounds in terms of the science. The research, that is very different from people actually having access to the benefits of that. There are a number of things driving costs. I’m not going to be able to list any of them now, but many will be familiar to many people. One is the increasing cost of prescription drugs and there are specific drugs that are really driving one. This one group of them has been in the news a lot lately, the GLP-1 weight loss drugs and we’re talking about — DIAZ: The Ozempics and — GOUNDER: — the Ozempics, Zepbound, Mounjaro, etc., but those are not the only ones. These are specialty drugs that drive a lot of the prescription drug spending. You also have mergers and acquisitions with healthcare systems, so you have decreased competition, that drives prices up, you have staffing shortages where, just to get nurses to work in a health facility, health systems are having to pay more and more. And then, because our system is so fragmented, so complicated, the administrative cost that we have in this country are far higher than what you see with other healthcare systems in other countries. DIAZ: And we have all been there, you know, the phone with the insurance company trying to get coverage. I mean, it’s — it’s something that touches everyone — DUTHIERS: That’s right. DIAZ: — and 70 percent of folks, according to KFF who filed claims under the ACA, which is supposed to provide more access, they were denied.  Later, Duthiers concluded with, yes, another plea for socialized medicine as the former lamented it’s “terrible” and “horrible” those “so angry” about healthcare are “almost gleeful” about the murder yet wondered if people aren’t noticing the role of “money in campaign financing” and “lobbying” that’s thwarted supposed “changes.” To see the relevant transcripts from December 6, click here (for CBS Mornings) and here (for CBS Mornings Plus). 

The host of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast laughed at a report about the price the Harris campaign paid for a set for their infamous interview. 'Oh my God, it was gorgeous! But like, it wasn't that nice.' Alex Cooper made the comments during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times about the election. Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on Cooper's popular podcast but was later ridiculed when the reported price tag for building an interview set was revealed. "It's hilarious," Cooper said. "My studio that is gorgeous in Los Angeles doesn’t even cost six figures, so I don’t know how cardboard walls could cost six figures," she laughed. Sorkin asked her if she believed that the campaign paid that much for the set. "Absolutely not!" she shouted. "With love to them! Oh my God, it was gorgeous! But like, it wasn't that nice." The audience laughed at her comment, and she responded by elaborating. "It wasn't like gorgeous marble! Like no, that was not six figures!" she added. Harris was mocked by some when she agreed to be interviewed on the podcast about sex and dating in New York. The campaign faced even more ridicule for the reported price tag of a set after the devastating election losses. While Harris failed to persuade voters on Cooper's relationship podcast, the Trump campaign has been widely praised for the strategy to seek male voters through President-elect Donald Trump's appearances on podcast shows like "The Joe Rogan Experience." The voter gender gap explains much of Republicans' success in the election. Cooper's podcast gained popularity at Barstool Sports before she signed a deal with Spotify reportedly worth $60 million. She has since signed on with SiriusXM for a reported $120 million. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Amazon owner and newspaper boss Jeff Bezos said he is willing to work with President-elect Donald Trump to reduce the country's regulation and drive growth.Speaking at the New York Times' DealBook Summit, Bezos was asked about the decision of his Washington Post newspaper not to endorse a presidential candidate.Bezos cited that there was a time when the outlet didn't endorse any candidates and that he wished he had made the decision to omit endorsements two years earlier rather than before the 2024 election.'You can't do the wrong thing because of bad P.R.'"We just decided [an endorsement] wasn't going to help, it wasn't going to influence the election one way or the other." "The pluses of doing this were very small," he added, speaking to host Andrew Ross Sorkin on stage.When asked whether he thought he would see backlash from Trump for not endorsing him, Bezos said he wasn't worried about that. The Amazon owner then pivoted and said he's actually "very optimistic" in regard to Trump's second term."He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help him do that, I'm gonna help him, because we do have too much regulation," Bezos explained."All of our economic problems, the deficit, the national debt ... these are real problems and real long-term problems, and the way you get out of them is by outgrowing them. You're going to solve the problem of the national debt by making it a smaller percentage of the GDP."Bezos said, "We need a growth orientation in this country ... a growth mindset."Talking about Trump's temperament, Bezos described the Republican as "calmer than the first time" he was in the White House and "more settled."Several parts of Bezos' interview were spent pushing back on host Sorkin, who seemed insistent that the Post's move to avoid a presidential endorsement could be viewed as a mistake."You can't do the wrong thing because of bad P.R.," Bezos replied, saying he felt no one's mind would have changed and said, "is that what the Washington Post thinks? Well then I'll do that."Bezos also responded to remarks by former Washington Post editor Marty Baron, who called the lack of endorsement “cowardice, with democracy as its casualty."The 60-year-old Bezos said the decision was "far from cowardly" because he knew he "did the right thing."When asked about Elon Musk, Bezos declined to be cynical about the SpaceX owner's role in the Trump administration. He commented he didn't think Musk would misuse any of his power from the new Department of Government Efficiency."I've had a lot of success in life by not being cynical," he said on the matter.Finally, Bezos admitted that traditional media has been battling a "significant loss of trust" in recent years, and he needed to fight to regain that trust.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Like clockwork, every time Trump taps another person for his administration, the media releases a long list of allegations attached to that nominee in an attempt to discredit him from the position he's been nominated for. The smear campaign against Matt Gaetz was enough for him to withdraw his name. And now DOD nominee Pete Hegseth is having his name drug through the mud relentlessly. “Pete Hegseth is a disruptor, and because he's a disruptor and threatens to disrupt the military industrial complex itself, Pete has come under horrendous attack,” says Liz Wheeler, noting that these attacks are not related to “the policies that he wants to implement at the Department of Defense,” nor are they related to “his political positions.” These are “character assassinations and reputation smears,” says Liz. The media has even gone as far as involving Hegseth’s own mother in its mission to besmirch his name. Recently, the New York Times published a hit piece featuring an email Pete received from his mother, Penelope, in which she condemned his promiscuity. “This was years ago during a nasty divorce that Pete was going through, and his mother sent him an email telling him to stop sleeping around. She said, ‘You're being nasty to women, and I'm not proud of that kind of behavior in my son,”’ Liz recounts, adding that Hegseth’s mother has since had to do damage control in an effort to clear her son’s name. How the news outlet got its hands on this correspondence is suspicious in and of itself. But beyond that, the fact of the matter is, Pete Hegseth’s romantic past, however immoral it might be, does not impact his ability to do the job. “I don't agree with Pete sleeping around. I think a lot of people probably don't,” says Liz. “Will that impact his ability to do his job at the Department of Defense? Absolutely not.” Perhaps the media knows, however, that past promiscuity isn’t sufficient to sully his name because now it’s developed a new attack angle. “The newest line of attack against Pete Hegseth is that he would come to work at Fox drunk,” says Liz, calling the allegation an “elementary character assassination,” especially considering it’s based on “10 anonymous sources,” who “refused to go on the record” with their accusations. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stated that the allegations against Pete Hegseth are “very disturbing” and that Senate confirmation is “going to be difficult.” “Do you think Lindsey Graham is actually disturbed by these allegations, or is Lindsey Graham disturbed by the fact that Pete Hegseth thinks that we should end the wars that Lindsey Graham profits off of?” asks Liz. “Lindsey Graham never met a war he didn’t like.” However, there’s been a third attack on Pete Hegseth. “There's been a report that President Trump is considering dropping Pete Hegseth and replacing him with Ron DeSantis,” says Liz. However, when CEO and co-founder of the Federalist Sean Davis spoke with sources from the Trump transition team about these rumors, he was told that the entire story is “absolute nonsense.” “There's a report (call it a rumor if you want) that these kinds of stories are being planted by RINO senators” — “neocons,” like Joni Ernst, who “wants to be the Secretary of Defense herself,” says Liz. “I have a message today for the despicable, lying sycophants who are throwing these fake hatchets at Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel, too: You have no idea the sleeping giant that you have awakened when you weaponized government to target us. ... If you think that we're going to roll over, just let you torpedo Trump's nominees with unsubstantiated, anonymous fake news and slimy character assassinations, you're utterly delusional. We were born for this fight,” says Liz. To hear more of her commentary, watch the episode above. Want more from Liz Wheeler?To enjoy more of Liz’s based commentary, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration has reportedly devised a workaround to deport illegal aliens whose home countries are unwilling to take them back.Trump's administration is currently compiling a list of countries for deporting illegal aliens should their countries of origin decline to accept deportation flights from the United States, according to a Thursday report from NBC News.'President Trump was given a mandate by the American people.'Multiple nations, including Venezuela, China, and Cuba, have previously refused to repatriate their citizens who have illegally fled to the U.S. Sources with knowledge of the incoming administration's strategy informed NBC News that illegal aliens could potentially be sent to other countries for deportation.Countries on the list reportedly include Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Panama, and Grenada, with the possibility of more being added.A source told the news outlet that the incoming administration has already contacted government officials from the countries listed to negotiate arrangements for deportation flights.NBC News noted that it remains unclear whether the deported immigrants would be granted legal authorization to reside and work in the countries to which they are sent.Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump's administration, told NBC News, "President Trump was given a mandate by the American people to stop the invasion of illegal immigrants, secure the border, and deport dangerous criminals and terrorists that make our communities less safe. He will deliver."A spokesperson for the government of Panama told the media outlet, "The Panamanian government does not respond to assumptions and rumors. We cannot speculate in this regard. We prefer to engage with the new U.S. administration once it takes office."Mexico's president and the Bahamas' prime minister told the outlet that they do not want to accept illegal aliens. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated, "Obviously, we are in solidarity with everyone, but our principal function is to receive Mexicans. And we hope to have an agreement with the Trump administration in case there are these deportations so that they can also send people who come from other countries to their countries of origin."Philip Davis, a spokesperson for the Bahamas' prime minister's office, told NBC News that the administration presented the idea but that the Bahamas "firmly rejected it.""The Bahamas simply does not have the resources to accommodate such a request. The prime minister ... remain[s] focused on addressing the concerns of the Bahamian people. Since the prime minister's rejection of this proposal, there has been no further engagement or discussions with the Trump transition team or any other entity regarding this matter. The government of the Bahamas remains committed in its position," the spokesperson said.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York formally announced her bid to lead her party on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in the 119th Congress on Friday. Ocasio-Cortez is now set to run against Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia to replace the committee's current ranking member, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Raskin is stepping down from the role and is instead vying for the top spot on the House Judiciary Committee in the upcoming Congress, replacing Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York. "This is not a position I seek lightly," Ocasio-Cortez said in a letter to her colleagues. "The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump's second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one." 'I know firsthand how the Majority uses their chaos to confuse, disorient, and distract the public's attention away from their disastrous agenda.'"Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee's strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life," Ocasio-Cortez continued.Ocasio-Cortez made it clear that much of her work on the committee would be dedicated to curbing the agenda of the incoming Trump administration. "In the 119th Congress, Oversight Committee Democrats will face an important task: we must balance our focus on the incoming president's corrosive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for America's working class," Ocasio-Cortez said in the letter. "I know firsthand how the Majority uses their chaos to confuse, disorient, and distract the public's attention away from their disastrous agenda," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "We cannot and will not allow that to happen. I will lead by example by always keeping the lives of everyday Americans at the center of our work." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!