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Watch: Jon Stewart Battles Fox News’ War On Christmas

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Jon Stewart slams Fox News’ outrage at the Tulsa “Christmas Parade of Lights” changing its name to “Holiday Parade Of Lights.” And other goodness.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas
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MAGA Congressman Vows Loyalty: ‘If Trump Says Jump 3 Feet High We Jump 3 Feet High’

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Bragging about his total fealty to Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) made clear he and and the House Republican Conference are in complete lockstep with the President-elect and will do anything to support their leader.

“There’s no question, he’s the leader of our party,” Congressman Nehls told reporters after the President-elect visited with House Republicans Wednesday before heading to the White House for a photo-op with President Joe Biden.

“So now he’s got a mission statement—his mission, and his goals and objectives, whatever that is, we need to embrace it,” Nehls said, before holding up his finger and adding, “All of it. Every. Single. Word.”

READ MORE: MAGA Loses ‘First War’: Rick Scott Rejected by Senate GOP, Thune Elected Leader

“If Donald Trump says ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head,’ we all jump three feet high and scratch our heads,” vowed Nehls, a former sheriff who was accused of stolen valor last year.

Also last year, Congressman Nehls, who appears to be the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. bragged about House Republicans’ true motivation to impeach President Joe Biden: “Trump 2024, baby!” he told a reporter.

A few short months later, at the State of the Union, Congressman Nehls wore a t-shirt with Donald Trump’s booking mug shot and the words, “Never Surrender.”

See the photos and video above or at this link.

READ MORE: Musk and Ramaswamy Heading New ‘DOGE’ Prompts Legal and Ethical Concerns: Experts

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MAGA Loses ‘First War’: Rick Scott Rejected by Senate GOP, Thune Elected Leader

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Senate Republicans in a secret ballot election behind closed doors on Wednesday rebuffed President-elect Donald Trump’s hopes to install a Majority Leader who would allow him to usurp Senate power and freely make recess appointments without the constitutional requirements of advice and consent. Republicans immediately rejected far-right MAGA Senator Rick Scott of Florida on the first ballot, and rejected U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas on the second, choosing U.S. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the current Senate Minority Whip and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s second in command, to lead the Republican conference.

Thune, seen as the least-extreme of the three candidates, will become Majority Leader in January. And while he did agree that recess appointments could be “on the table,” Thune has a history of not blindly bowing down to Trump.

“Rick Scott wants to help Trump sidestep the body to install extremists in the Cabinet,” Rolling Stone reported, suggesting that Thune is not a “MAGA fixer, greasing the skids to ram controversial appointees and legislation through the Senate.”

READ MORE: Musk and Ramaswamy Heading New ‘DOGE’ Prompts Legal and Ethical Concerns: Experts

Also suggesting the U.S. Senate might serve at least as a deterrent to me of Trump’s far-right and extremist tendencies, Rolling Stone noted:

“Following last week’s election, Republicans will have a small majority in the Senate, likely 53-47. Two of those votes are Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who are perceived as moderates and could potentially withhold consent on extreme nominees. Another vote is a wild card: whomever Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine chooses to replace Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. DeWine recently clashed with Vance and Trump over their racist lies about Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio, and may not send a MAGA rubber stamp to Washington.”

Axios founder Jim VandeHei also agreed this was a repudiation of Trump’s MAGA machine:

MAGA media waged its first war – and lost badly. Scott eliminated on first ballot. John Thune wins Senate Republican leader race. He’s the closest thing to an establishment figure left in DC power.”

It is the end of the nearly two-decade long McConnell era. McConnell opted to hold the election for his replacement early, angering President-elect Trump.

Trump on Sunday had issued a threatening statement, signaling his desire to effectively co-opt the upper chamber of a co-equal branch of the federal government”

READ MORE: Trump Victory Was ‘Slim’ and Not the ‘Historic Mandate’ Republicans Claim, Analysis Shows

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!”

Politico’s Kyle Cheney posted Thune’s statements on his votes after each of the Trump Senate impeachment trials. Thune made clear he opposed Trump’s actions.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports Thune’s “politics are much more in the mainstream of GOP orthodoxy,” and notes he “called on Trump to drop out” of the 2016 presidential are after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.

Thune had endorsed U.S. Senator Tim Scott for the presidency over Trump.

Watch CNN ‘s report below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘No Excuse’: Dems Have Just Weeks to Get Dozens of Biden’s Judicial Nominees Confirmed

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Musk and Ramaswamy Heading New ‘DOGE’ Prompts Legal and Ethical Concerns: Experts

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President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that he will create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and named billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk and biotech and financial entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as its co-directors. Experts are raising legal and ethical concerns across various issues.

One ethics expert says both Musk and Ramaswamy will have to divest from their extensive financial assets to avoid a federal conflict of interest law.

Professor of Law Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer under Republican President George W. Bush, issued a warning just hours after Trump’s announcement.

“This is a federal office subject to the financial conflict of interest statute, 18 U.S.C. Section 208. They will both have to divest conflicting financial interests or risk violating a criminal statute,” Painter wrote.

READ MORE: Trump Victory Was ‘Slim’ and Not the ‘Historic Mandate’ Republicans Claim, Analysis Shows

He offered some examples: “Elon Musk must divest X or recuse from government matters affecting social media platforms; he must divest Tesla or recuse from government matters affecting the auto industry, electric batteries, etc.”

Attorney Tristan Snell, the former New York prosecutor who helped secure a $25 million settlement against Trump University, agreed:

“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will have to divest their business holdings if they want to join the Trump administration, to avoid violating conflict-of-interest laws. So if Elon takes a job, could he be forced to sell his stock in Tesla? Or could he be forced to sell Twitter?”

Professor Painter also pointed to a CNN report highlighting potential conflicts.

“The announcement of Ramaswamy and particularly Musk, who leads companies with existing, lucrative government contracts, raises immediate questions about potential conflicts of interest,” CNN reported. “It is not immediately clear how the department – which Trump said would ‘provide advice and guidance from outside of Government’ – would operate, and whether a Congress even fully controlled by Republicans would have the appetite to approve such a massive overhaul of government spending and operations.”

CNN also noted that last year Ramaswamy, “who had promised on the campaign trail to eliminate the FBI, the Department of Education and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would lay off thousands of federal workers in the process – released a white paper outlining a legal framework he said would allow the president to eliminate federal agencies of his choice.”

The Daily Beast suggested there could be ways to circumvent the requirements of federal law.

“Trump could … appoint the duo under the Federal Advisory Committees Act, which allows the government to set up groups to provide ‘expert advice, ideas, and diverse opinions to the Federal Government.'”

“This would potentially allow Musk and Ramaswamy to remain advisers instead of federal employees—meaning they would not necessarily be legally required to disclose conflicts of interest like employees of agencies such as the Department of Justice or the Defense Department.”

Other critics are raising additional concerns.

READ MORE: ‘No Excuse’: Dems Have Just Weeks to Get Dozens of Biden’s Judicial Nominees Confirmed

Some have suggested that in general, only Congress, not the President, can create new federal agencies.

The Daily Beast reports, “government agencies can only be created by an act of Congress.”

It appears Trump’s new agency, based on his announcement, may operate out of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It is unclear how funding would work.

And while DOGE would suggest where to cut or eliminate funding, generally only Congress can determine how and how much federal funds are spent. It is generally unlawful for the President to decide to not spend funds Congress allocates.

Others are mocking the choice of the new agency’s name.

Attorney and creator of the SHERO political and legal newsletter, Amee Vanderpool, points out that DOGE is “an acronym that is frat boy shout out to cryptocurrency,” and notes that “an official agency cannot be created without Congress.”

NOTUS political investigations reporter Jose Pagliery adds, “Wait, the Elon/Vivek department will be called DOGE? They’re memefying the government. The actual government.”

Those concerns are accurate, as CNBC explains:

Dogecoin “shot higher on Tuesday night, extending its postelection surge after President-elect Donald Trump formally announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, which he referred to as ‘DOGE’ in his statement.

The Daily Beast added that “DOGE” is “a reference to a decade-old meme that was later turned into a cryptocurrency beloved by Musk.”

Musk himself appears to have come up with the idea of a Department of Government Efficiency, in August:

And reinforced it again in September:

He appears to already be thinking about marketing ideas:

Musk also highlighted what he says he sees as “a leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars. This will be both extremely tragic and extremely entertaining.” He also told a social media user that the “entertainment value will be epic.”

Professor of Law, political commentator, and former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman offered this summation: “Oh man, talk about strange bedfellows.”

See the social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘What Illegal Corruption Looks Like’: Trump Blasted for ‘Already Breaking the Law’

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