DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: Will the Supreme Court support free speech, will the left try to block Trump’s inauguration, and does Congress really deserve a raise?

I want to begin my column this week with an issue I’ve been watching ever since it was a big deal for many people over the last few years. 

It has now been swept under the rug this time around. Swept under the rug in that maybe one out of 10 people I ask are aware TikTok is set to be banned in the United States on January 19.

I know many people scoff at TikTok and mention “China owns it,” which is not actually true, but I will explain that in a moment.

My point on mentioning the ban is two-fold. 

First, in the United States we should not have any social media source banned whether we like it or not.

It’s unconstitutional – remember free speech? 

If news sources spitting falsities are such a concern, we might want to look at mainstream media too. 

The word propaganda comes to mind, and I’m wondering what makes mainstream media’s propaganda different than what people are saying about other social media outlets allegedly doing the same thing.

As for the owners of TikTok, Politifact broke it down months ago stating “that 60% of its parent company ByteDance Ltd. is owned by global investors, 20% by its co-founders and 20% by employees, including thousands of Americans.” 

The same information is on TikTok’s website.

The Chinese government took a 1% ownership stake, known as a “golden share,” at one of ByteDance’s China-based subsidiaries.

TikTok said since 2022, its U.S. user data has been stored only in the U.S. and controlled by a U.S.-led security team. 

TikTok says the Chinese government cannot compel access to that data (www.politifact.com/factchecks/2024/mar/15/brian-kilmeade/who-owns-tiktok-despite-what-brian-kilmeade-says-i).

I was particularly watching President-Elect Donald Trump’s action on this ban because in the recent past he would have been all over the ban saying no, no, no. 

When I saw him talking about it a few weeks ago, he was less vocal than usual and really did not say yes or no regarding what he planned to do. 

Come on guys, a ban on free speech – no matter the side of the aisle you’re on – is not a good thing. Free speech should be a bipartisan issue. 

Trump did make a move however, asking the United States Supreme Court to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban filing an amicus brief (friend of the court brief) with the United States Supreme Court. 

He’s asked the court to pause the Jan. 19 ban date to allow Trump and his administration the time to negotiate a resolution regarding the ban. It has been said he does have a substantial interest in this issue since he has in the past pledged to save TikTok (www.scmp.com/news/us/society-culture/article/3292556/tiktok-filing-us-supreme-court-seeks-law-requiring-its-sale-declared-unconstitutional).

The Supreme Court is set to review the arguments regarding the ban on Jan. 10, 2025. 

One might also remember too it was Trump in 2020 who issued the executive order to ban TikTok, but that ban was not put into place.

In regard to presidential executive orders, Biden in his last 30 days has signed a number into law including 50 bills on Christmas Eve (www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-signs-50-bills-into-law-on-christmas-eve). 

These were as diverse as a Christmas Eve holiday for Federal Employees to Joe Joe granting clemency to 37 of the 40 federal inmates facing death sentences who will now serve life sentences with no chance of parole.

Congress did manage to pass H.R. 10545, the American Relief Act of 2025 on Saturday, Dec, 21 before the holidays.

This will provide “Fiscal year 2025 appropriations to Federal agencies through March 14, 2025, for continuing projects and activities of the Federal Government; provides disaster relief appropriations and economic assistance to farmers; extends the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018; and extends several expiring authorities.”

“This is an important piece of legislation,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said.

“It funds the government until March 2025, and that was a big priority for us. It was an America First piece of legislation.

“In January we’ll make a seat change in Washington. President Trump will return to DC and to the White House, and we’ll have Republican control of the Senate and the House. 

“Things are going to be quite different around here. This was a necessary step to bridge the gap and put us in that moment where we can put our fingerprints on the spending for 2025.”

Johnson said the bill also took care of those who needed assistance and mentioned the country’s record hurricane season,  mentioning Hurricanes Helene and Milton’s damage and saying this bill will allow the Federal Government to assist.

He also mentioned taking care of the farmers and their ability now to get loans.

And speaking of Johnson, while there has been a lot of talk of his not being named Speaker of the House again, MSN said, “House Speaker Mike Johnson’s betting odds of clinching the speakership again are just shy of 75 percent on prediction market as lawmakers remain divided on backing him” (msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mike-johnson-s-odds-of-being-house-speaker-as-republicans-stay-divided/ar-AA1wBxDo?ocid=BingNewsSerp).  

All about the politics. Meanwhile, how about term limits for that seat too, just behind term limits for the entire Congress and Senate bunch in office.

And finally, The Hill has reported Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now. 

Highly doubtful lawmakers will do anything of the sort (thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification). It states this little block is based on the Constitution providing, “an oath-breaking insurrectionist is ineligible to be president.” 

This is the plain wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution: 

“No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. 

“This disability can be removed by a two-thirds vote in each House.”

If we remember, some of the states tried to use this to take Trump off the ballot in November – and it didn’t work then either.

After some research in which I remembered this past spring (turned out it was in February), House Republicans revealed a resolution declaring Trump did not engage in insurrection (thehill.com/homenews/house/4451345-gaetz-stefanik-offer-resolution-declaring-trump-did-not-engage-in-insurrection).

For my part reading what the J6 committee came up with and the missing footage that was never aired, versus those who swear on their mother’s life it was an insurrection.

It comes down to the mainstream media and the footage they were allowed to show the masses, the testimonies, and the line being drawn in the sand between Republicans and the Democrats. 

No one will ever agree because the lines that have been drawn are too full of ego and discord, and I believe it will always be an argument neither side will win.

I also believe that whether you like Trump or not and whether you liked Biden or not – he served his four years, Trump will now be serving his four years. 

Time alone will tell the story of the history of the United States during the difficult times in our story. 

We’ve had our ups and we’ve had our downs. COVID reminded us we need to pay more attention to the facts and not the lies being pushed or fueled by the greed of lobbyists, pharmaceutical companies, the Military Industrial Complex, or any other agenda that does not serve the people but the bank accounts of those in power. 

And finally, with that in mind, does Congress really need another raise? 

Apparently they think they do: www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/3264024/lawmakers-include-congressional-pay-raises-spending-bill.

NOT while the American people are still hurting. 

Don’t we all think it’s really about time the American people were finally served by a government we’ve employed – and that we can remove if they don’t understand the assignment. 

Rita Cook is a freelance writer for The Ellis County Press. She can be reached at rcook13@earthlink.net.