Government & Politics

• Americans approve of Trump’s win and cabinet picks: With 10 more nominations over the weekend, Donald Trump rounded out what can reasonably be called the most ideologically diverse cabinet ever. Among the weekend picks were an openly gay hedge fund billionaire and former George Soros adviser, Scott Bessent, for treasury secretary. Markets are at record highs this morning. In addition, Trump nominated pro-labor Hispanic former Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-Deremer for labor secretary; Project 2025 architect Russ Vought for Office of Management and Budget director, a post he held during the previous Trump administration; and former Trump domestic policy director Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary. According to a new CBS News poll, a majority of Americans are happy that Trump won the election, and 59% say they approve of the way he’s handling the transition. As a caveat, though, around a third of respondents admit to not knowing too much about all these cabinet picks, which makes sense. In short, Trump is enjoying a pre-inauguration honeymoon.

• About that Hegseth sexual assault charge: Pete Hegseth is Donald Trump’s unconventional nominee for defense secretary and a lightning rod. We suspect Trump isn’t too pleased that Hegseth didn’t reveal up front the details of a 2017 police report from Monterey, California, in which police investigated a woman’s accusation against Hegseth of sexual assault. That accusation is almost certainly rubbish, as the details of the police report reveal. This appears to have been a consensual sexual encounter in Hegseth’s hotel room between a recently divorced Hegseth and a married woman whose husband was staying with her in their own room at the same Hyatt hotel. How do we know? The woman’s four-day delay in reporting the incident is itself somewhat curious, but the real evidence, as National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar notes, is that Hegseth’s account of the excuse that he and the woman concocted — that she fell asleep on the couch in a fellow conference attendee’s room — matched perfectly the account of what the woman’s husband said she’d told him. It’s a sad and ugly incident, and although Hegseth served our country nobly and bravely in uniform, he’d better be ready to answer some tough questions during his confirmation hearings if he sticks it out until then.

Economy

• Thanksgiving dinners will cost less this year: Over the past three years, Americans have endured steadily rising food prices thanks to cumulative inflation increasing by over 20%. With the inflation rate finally cooling down, there’s good news this year: The cost of Thanksgiving dinner will not be as pricy as last year. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people will cost an average of $58.08, or $5.80 per person, which amounts to a 5% decrease from last year. In 2023, the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner was $61.17, also down from the previous year, when the annual feast hit a record high of $64.05. The average cost of a 16-pound turkey is down 6% from last year, coming in at $25.67. The primary reason for the price drop is due to a drop in demand for the traditional feast bird. Still, the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is significantly more than it was pre-pandemic. The average cost today is 19% more than it was in 2019. Despite the cost, there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

• COP29 income redistribution: Over the weekend, COP29, the UN climate change conference, closed its two-week confab in Baku, Azerbaijan. Representatives from almost 200 countries attended the conference. Once again, the event focused on blaming the largest first-world nations. Given this backdrop, wealthy first-world nations agreed to pay developing countries some $300 billion annually by the year 2035 in an effort to get these developing countries to move away from fossil fuels. That result didn’t sit well with a number of developing world nations, which complained the amount wasn’t enough. Furthermore, there was the recognition that with Donald Trump’s election victory, the U.S. would not be pushing the climate alarmist/anti-fossil fuel narrative for at least the next four years.

• Half of U.S. at risk for blackouts during extreme cold this winter (Just the News)

Culture

• Bible curriculum in Texas schools: By a narrow 8-7 vote, the Texas Board of Education passed a new curriculum guideline that will allow the state’s public schools to teach Bible-infused lessons in elementary schools. This new curriculum is not a requirement, but local public schools have permission to include it if they so choose. Furthermore, schools are incentivized to adopt the new curriculum, as they will receive $60 per student in funding for doing so. Predictably, opponents argue that a Bible curriculum violates the separation of church and state. However, as the director of Notre Dame Law School’s Program on Church, State & Society, Rick Garnett, points out, “As part of understanding the Civil Rights movement or the Great Awakening, or, you know, perhaps international relations after 9/11, you’re allowed to teach people about religious texts. These are texts that exist in the world, and they’re influential, and you don’t have to erase them.” The distinction is teaching a history of biblical views and their historical impact on the country versus proselytizing.

• Monstrous baby harvesting by Planned Parenthood: The story is both gruesome and monstrous, but we can’t say we’re surprised. As a new report from the Center for Medical Progress reveals, the abortionists at Planned Parenthood have been providing “viable nonanomalous” babies, who were up to 23 weeks old and who were killed in “elective abortions,” to the University of California San Diego for experimental purposes. As The Federalist reports, “According to the records reported by CMP, researchers unveiled plans in their submission to ‘collect tissues from fetuses ranging from 4 to 23 weeks gestational age from subjects undergoing elective surgical pregnancy termination at Planned Parenthood in San Diego.’ The researchers further noted that patients with ‘viable nonanomalous … fetuses’ would partake in the analysis.” Of course, modern medical care routinely treats premature babies who are less than 23 weeks old, and with remarkably good results. But that apparently is of little consequence to the subhuman creatures who are running this baby-harvesting operation.

• Oregon poised to force health insurers to cover trans genital surgeries for children — or risk losing their licenses (Washington Free Beacon)

• Bill Maher calls out Neil deGrasse Tyson’s unscientific views: In a recent episode of his HBO show “Real Time,” host Bill Maher criticized Democrats for their embrace of radical “transgender” ideology that is alienating them from regular Americans. In making his case, Maher highlighted a recent article from the now-former chief editor of Scientific American, Laura Helmuth, who ridiculously asserted that “inequity” between male and female athletes was not because of natural biological differences. Maher noted to his guest, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, that Helmuth’s opinion was not based on science and that it was nuts, which was one reason Democrats lost the election. However, to Maher’s surprise, deGrasse Tyson did not accept that her opinion wasn’t based on scientific reality. Maher responded by saying, “Well, I’m gonna file you under part of the problem.”

• Dennis Prager needs our prayers: If you’re among the millions who’ve tuned in to Dennis Prager’s popular daily talk show, you likely already know that the 76-year-old thinker, author, and PragerU founder suffered a very serious injury from a recent fall. Details are still unclear, but this much we know for certain: Mr. Prager could use our prayers. As an initial statement reads: “On Tuesday morning [November 12], PragerU founder and our dear friend, Dennis Prager, suffered a serious back injury following a fall. He’s resting in a local Los Angeles hospital as doctors assess treatment options. We will keep you informed of his condition. In the meantime, Dennis welcomes the healing power of your prayers.” More recently, Salem Radio Network noted that Prager is contending with “a lot of swelling and inflammation around his neck and upper spine” and that “progress has been slow, but steady.” As substitute host Carl Jackson lamented, “This will be a longer process than any of us wish.” Indeed, it will. Dr. Carol Swain, a friend of Prager’s, shared that he is now also suffering from pneumonia.

• Georgia University to ban DEI across the board, teach the Constitution, commit to neutrality (Center Square)

• NFL and Congress discussing return of the Washington Redskins logo (OutKick)

Misc.

• Matt Gaetz says he will not return to Congress next year (USA Today)

• Judge postpones Trump’s sentencing in Manhattan hush-money case — and weighs tossing case entirely (NY Post)

• Trudeau sides Canada with terrorists and their enablers (Washington Examiner)

• 750,000 sign petition calling for general election in Britain as Labour Party support fades (Breitbart)

• Elon Musk muses about buying MSNBC (Vanity Fair) | Humor: Musk announces plan to buy MSNBC and turn it into a news network (Babylon Bee)

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