The Patriot Post® · Wednesday: Below the Fold
Economy
- Inflation is stubborn: The October consumer price index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that inflation ticked up last month, rising to 2.6% annually. That’s an increase from September’s 2.4%. The so-called “core” inflation, the measurement of prices of food and energy, remained at 3.3% on the year. On a monthly basis, housing costs rose 0.4% since last month, and food costs increased 0.2%. The price of used vehicles jumped 2.7%, while new vehicles stayed flat. The cost of hotel stays also rose 0.4%, which analysts attribute to the impact of recent hurricanes. The inflationary growth rate target of 2.0% has yet to be met, but the Federal Reserve felt good enough about the economy’s direction that it cut interest rates by a quarter point last week. Donald Trump’s promise to raise tariffs may have a negative impact on inflation, but there’s little doubt that the cumulative ~21% price hike instituted by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will soon slow down.
Security
Trump taps former DNI Ratcliffe to head CIA: Donald Trump is wasting no time in putting his cabinet together, and his national security apparatus is beginning to take shape. Trump announced yesterday that his pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency is former Texas Congressman and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. “From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court,” said Trump in a statement, “John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public.” Trump then delivered this throat punch to John Brennan, James Clapper, Mikey Hayden, Leon Panetta, and the rest of the clowns and dirtbags who’ve been polluting our nation’s “intelligence” services: “When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American People.” When confirmed by the Senate, Ratcliffe will become the first man ever to serve as both DNI and CIA director. Our sense was that Ratcliffe would’ve made a great attorney general, but clearly, Trump thinks he’s most needed for the task of cleaning up our intelligence services.
Laken Riley murder suspect Jose Ibarra chooses trial by judge over jury (Fox News)
Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison (Newsweek)
Russia prepares counteroffensive with 50,000 troops, potentially including North Koreans (ABC News)
Government & Politics
Smith to resign rather than getting canned by Trump: The Democrats’ ill-fated lawfare campaign against Donald Trump was already on life support. Today, its purveyors are reaching for the plug. As The New York Times morosely reports, “Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said. Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within ‘two seconds’ of being sworn in.” Translation: Smith is going to slink away like the dirty and unconstitutionally appointed rat that he is, but he’s going to drop a big stink bomb on his way out the door. Fox News reports that the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee is mindful of a “purge” of records and “is demanding they produce to Congress all documents related to the probes before the end of the month.” Indeed, it’d be a shame if Smith somehow escaped congressional scrutiny.
The Left’s fair-weather filibuster fans: What a difference a shellacking makes. It seems like only yesterday when Seattle-based Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal was pushing to “abolish” what she called the “Jim Crow filibuster.” That timeless bulwark for Senate minority rights has been under near-constant assault from leftists because it frustrates their ability to run roughshod over the adults. The filibuster, of course, requires legislation to attract 60 votes before debate is ended and bills are passed. But come January, that awful filibuster will be the only thing standing between the minority Democrats and the Republican agenda after they flipped the Senate while retaining power in the House. “Am I championing getting rid of the filibuster now when the Senate has the trifecta? No,” said Jayapal. But lest you think Jayapal or any other Democrat has had an awakening about the importance of minority rights in the upper chamber, think again. In the following breath, she said, “But had we had the trifecta [meaning: had Democrats swept the presidency, Senate, and House], I would have been because we have to show that government can deliver.” Oh well. Perhaps we should just be grateful that she didn’t call it the “Jim Eagle filibuster.”
MSNBC hemorrhaging viewers: The Leftmedia outlet MSNBC has seen its viewership numbers crater following the election, with its primetime audience down a whopping 54% since Election Day. Throughout October, MSNBC averaged 1.1 million viewers. However, beginning Wednesday of last week, the news cable station saw its total average audience dwindle to a total of 736,000. Digging deeper into the primetime programs, MSNBC’s litany of leftist hosts saw a plummeting drop off in viewers, with hosts such as Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, Lawrence O'Donnell, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Hayes, and Nicolle Wallace all seeing massive audience drops, especially with the coveted 25-54 demographic. None of this should come as a shock, given how biased and blatantly wrong MSNBC’s coverage of the two campaigns was. Who would want to consume news from an outlet that lies to their face? Meanwhile, Fox News’s numbers are doing great, with the primetime viewership average rising 58% over last year at this time.
Biden-Harris State Dept. holds post-election therapy session: Is there any more glorious sight in Washington than the crestfallen face of a leftist who just lost an election? We can’t think of any because Democrats live for political power. And so, when they’ve had their hopes dashed as resoundingly as they were eight days ago, we’re not surprised to see them seeking therapy. “The Biden-Harris State Department organized an in-house therapy session for employees early Friday following Donald Trump’s election victory,” reports The Washington Free Beacon. “‘Managing stress during change,’ read an internal State Department email sent across the agency that encouraged employees to attend a one-hour session in which they could discuss their feelings about Tuesday’s election results.” On the one hand, we’re happy to see these folks getting the help they need. But on the other hand, it causes us to wonder what kind of snowflakes the Democrats are hiring into our diplomatic corps. Let’s hope that when Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, comes to town, he brings with him some folks with a bit of steel in their spines.
DOJ kept employees in the dark on whistleblower protections: According to a newly released report from the Government Accountability Office, the Justice Department kept from informing FBI employees of new whistleblower protections for government personnel that Congress passed back in 2016. The GAO found that the FBI failed to update employee regulations following the passage of the FBI Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. Furthermore, the report noted that FBI employees are still not being notified of their rights to file with or appeal to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. The reason behind this failure, the GOA found, is that the DOJ has effectively misinterpreted components of the law. The report called on the DOJ to review its FBI employee whistleblower retaliation allegations review process. It recommended the DOJ update its mandatory employee training to ensure that employees know they can seek help from the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.
FEMA worker accused of telling staff to skip hurricane-ravaged Trump homes claims it was common practice (NY Post)
Culture
Biden’s HHS keeps 294 DEI staffers: In a clear effort to make it harder for Donald Trump to root out the leftist cancer of wokeness within the federal government, the Biden administration has retained 294 Health and Human Services employees whose job is to push DEI initiatives. Furthermore, according to OpenTheBooks, 182 of these federal employees are being paid six-figure salaries. But government spending on DEI goes far beyond employing diversity officers. OpenTheBooks found that the DEI agenda has “permeated” HHS: “When it comes to DEI and health equity spending, payroll expenses are a drop in the bucket. Promoting these topics can be lucrative for federal employees looking to expand their agency’s budget and for private scientists hoping to win grants.” DEI is named 829 times in the agency’s 2025 budget. OpenTheBooks head John Hart observes that HHS is being used to push Marxism. “Academia is delivering a boutique and racially charged permission structure that helps bureaucrats feel morally innocent about imposing top-down, command and control policies that can disproportionately harm low-income Americans,” he states. Getting rid of this problem will be tough but necessary.
San Jose State “transgender” volleyball player continues breaking women’s records (Breitbart) | Suspended coach continues to speak out against male on team (Daily Wire)
Judge blocks Louisiana law requiring Ten Commandments in classrooms (Newsweek)
Church of England head Justin Welby resigns over handling of sex abuse scandal (The Hill)
Misc.
Schumer caves, invites McCormick to Senate orientation (Daily Wire)
Trump selects William McGinley for White House general counsel (The Hill)
Freedom Caucus chairman says Speaker Johnson should be challenged to avoid “Soviet-style” election (Washington Examiner)
Catholic woman fired for refusing COVID vaccine wins over $12 million in Michigan court (Fox News)
Witness in Daniel Penny trial lied about his involvement (NY Post)
Humor: 10 terrifying ways Trump could destroy the entire world (Babylon Bee)
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