Good morning. In today’s edition:

• ⚖️ TikTok ban goes before the Supreme Court
• 🤖 Recapping CES 2025
• 🍞 French toast = not actually French

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.37-minute read (1,162 words).

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“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become reality.”

–Earl Nightingale (1921-1989)

TikTok is hoping for its own version of the Immaculate Reception, after the app’s hail mary legal effort to prevent a looming US ban appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday.

Should they lose the case, TikTok will be forced to either sell its US operations or face a ban starting this Sunday.

How the arguments went down: A majority of Justices appeared to agree with the US government’s argument that TikTok represents a national security threat. US officials claimed China’s government can potentially access and weaponize TikTok’s sensitive user data on Americans, and that Beijing can manipulate TikTok’s content algorithm to sway US public opinion or deepen internal divisions.

• On the flip side, TikTok argued the sale-or-ban law violates the First Amendment by unjustifiably restricting access to speech, and violates the Fifth Amendment by unfairly singling out TikTok.
• The company also denied claims that it sent – or will send – US user data to Beijing, saying the US government’s security concerns are vague and overblown.

What happens next? The Supreme Court could opt to overturn or delay the sale-or-ban law in the coming days, which would allow TikTok to remain accessible in the US beyond this weekend.

But if SCOTUS does let the TikTok ban take effect, US app stores would be required to remove the platform starting January 19. This means Americans who already downloaded TikTok could continue to use it – but they wouldn’t have access to future software updates from ByteDance, eventually making the app buggy and potentially unusable.

• There’s also the question of how the ban will be handled by the incoming presidential administration.
• Trump has indicated he wants to keep TikTok around. But if the ban takes effect as scheduled (one day before he’s sworn in), his options would be limited to refusing to enforce the ban, or pushing Congress to eliminate it via new legislation.

Worth mentioning: Congress’ ban also applies to all of ByteDance’s other apps, including Lemon8 – a TikTok sister app with similar features that’s gained traction among US users in recent weeks.

Looking ahead…SCOTUS’ ruling is expected shortly before or after the January 19 deadline. Many creators are preparing for the worst, urging followers to find them on other platforms like YouTube and Insta.

📊 Flash poll: In general, how would a potential TikTok ban impact your life?

• Positively
• Negatively
• No real impact
• Unsure/other

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Firefighters in Los Angeles are attempting to gain more ground against deadly and destructive wildfires, as the ongoing battle enters a seventh straight day on Monday.

The current situation: The two largest blazes in the area are the Palisades and Eaton fires, which stood at 11% and 27% containment yesterday, respectively, as firefighters received a brief respite from near-hurricane-level winds.

• Progress was quicker for other smaller fires, including the Lidia fire (100% containment), Hurst fire (76%), and Kenneth fire (90%).
• 105,000+ local residents were still under evacuation orders as of yesterday evening.

Damages continue to climb

The official death toll rose to 24 people as of Sunday evening, with at least 16 others currently missing – though both numbers are expected to rise. Overall, the fires have damaged or destroyed 12,000+ homes, businesses, and other buildings, per local authorities.

• The economic losses thus far are projected in the tens of billions, making it very likely the costliest wildfire in modern US history, according to separate reports from AccuWeather, Moody’s, and Aon PLC.
• The costliest fire in US history is the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, at an inflation-adjusted ~$12.5 billion.

👀 Looking ahead…Strong winds are projected to resume blowing in LA this week and worsen the blazes. The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for severe fire conditions in Los Angeles through Wednesday, with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts up to 70 mph.

The 2025 Consumer Electronics Show – a nearly weeklong annual event that attracts 140,000+ hoodie- and- thong sandal- wearing attendees and 4,500+ company exhibitors (including big names like Google, Samsung, Toyota, etc.) – concluded this weekend.

AI was everywhere. From birdbaths to spice dispensers to TVs to wearables to home security systems to grills to handheld gaming consoles (you get the picture), artificial intelligence-driven product announcements abounded.

Nvidia also unveiled new desktop and laptop GPUs, powered by its new Blackwell AI chip (which led to a string of entertainment-related product announcements), while AMD showcased its latest gaming- and- content-creation-focused Ryzen 9 and AI series processors.

There were non-AI products, too. Yukai Engineering revealed a tiny robotic cat that can be mounted to a mug or bowl and will blow air in human-like intervals to help cool off coffee or soup. Japanese company Kirin Holdings demo’d an electronic spoon that makes food taste saltier. And for $1,500, anyone can purchase an iPad bundle that carries out a series of commands on their behalf after death (ex: “nuke browser history”).

👀 Looking ahead…Many of the announced products are years away from market (if they ever make it), but some are available now. Check ‘em out.

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US markets fell last week (S&P: -1.9%; Dow: -1.9%; Nasdaq: -2.3%). | 📈 US treasury yields are on the rise to start 2025.
• 💼 The US economy added 256,000 jobs in December, above both economist's expectations of ~160,000 and the 212,000 seen in November; the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%.
• 🛍️ Nordstrom raised its full-year sales outlook following a stronger-than-expected holiday season.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with “Rate My Friends” from Dyce Games

• 👎 Venu, a sports streaming joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, has been given the Gladiator thumbs-down by the companies for antitrust reasons.
• 🏈 CFB Playoff: Ohio State beat Texas 28-14 on Friday to secure a spot in the national championship; the Buckeyes will face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next Monday for the title. | 🏈 NFL Playoffs: The Texans, Ravens, Bills, Eagles, and Commanders punched their tickets to the next round; the Wild Card round concludes tonight, with the Rams taking on the Vikings.
• 🍿 Den of Thieves 2: Pantera topped the domestic box office with $15.5 million in its opening weekend. | 🔥 Hollywood is on pause due to the LA wildfires.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🐉🌊 A never-before-seen species of ancient sea monster first described in 2021 may be a forgery based on fake fossils, according to a new study.
• ☄️ A mountain-sized asteroid will be visible from Earth this week, in a rare once-in-a-decade event.
• 💪🦺 Weighted vests are making a comeback among some trainers – but do they really work?

MISCELLANEOUS

in partnership with Tuft & Needle

• 🌨️ Several cities across the US South experienced their largest snowstorms in years over the weekend, with record snow accumulation totals in many cases.
• 🇻🇪💰 The US government raised its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $25 million; the move coincided with Maduro’s third-term inauguration following a disputed election.
• ⚖️ President-elect Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge in his New York hush-money trial; the ruling means he won’t face any prison time or other penalties, but keeps the felony convictions on his record. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

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A judge last week threw out a British man’s attempt to sue a town council to retrieve a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoin he says is sitting in a garbage dump. At today’s price, the crypto would be worth ~$750 million.

James Howells, 39, argued that he mistakenly threw out the hard drive in 2013, and wanted to access the site in order to recover the needle-sized drive in the land dump-sized haystack. But a judge rejected the request, saying the landfill authority owns the trash and the case was filed past the six-year statute of limitations.

Howells' plight, while potentially the most publicized (cue: this Silicon Valley scene), isn’t necessarily unique. The value of lost bitcoin – due to forgotten passwords/keys, deaths without passing on info, hardware damage, etc. – equals ~$350 billion, according to Cointelegraph.

☝️ A European and Japanese robotic explorer recently came within 183 miles of Mercury’s surface, capturing some of the most detailed close-up images of the planet’s north pole in history.

🤔 Did You Know? The modern food known as French toast originated in Ancient Rome, and was called "Roman Bread" for centuries by the French themselves.

📰 Worth a Read: Diary of a Dead North Korean Soldier Reveals Grisly Battlefield Tactics.

🖱 Clickbait: How AI is being used to recreate realistic life-after-death experiences

Monday: SpaceX is aiming to launch a seventh test flight of Starship

Tuesday: Ratification Day

Wednesday: Consumer Price Index for December; President Biden’s farewell address

Thursday: Congress continues confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet (the last day of scheduled hearings so far; starts on Tuesday)

Friday: Severance Season 2 debuts on Apple TV+; Mac Miller’s second posthumous album, Balloonerism

On Friday, we covered Meta’s newly announced far-reaching change that involves eliminating its third-party fact-checking program and implementing a “Community Notes” model, similar to X.

❓ Our question to you: In general, do you agree with Meta’s new content moderation strategy?

• 👍 Yes: 31%
• 👎 No: 54%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 15%

Click here to read some of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,598 votes and 263 longform responses.

🎄 Will Ferrell showed up to a Los Angeles Kings game last month dressed as a haggard, cigarette-smoking version of his beloved character, Buddy the Elf. When asked his reasoning why, the actor said: "I like to do weird things like that just to stir it up.”

🌸🌼 Recent research shows that growing strips of native plants on as little as 10% of farmland can reduce soil erosion by up to 95%. Why US farmers are embracing native wildflowers.

🕺🪩 Dancing might lighten the depression suffered by many people with Parkinson’s disease, new research suggests. It's an approach that’s accessible, inexpensive, drug-free – and often a lot of fun.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words.

1. Acr
2. Bront
3. Cardin
4. Civ
5. Dent

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1. Acr = Height (e.g., acrobat)
2. Bront = Thunder (brontosaurus)
3. Cardin = Hinge (cardinal)
4. Civ = Citizen (civilian)
5. Dent = Tooth (dentist, denture)