• Inflation, interest, and everyone’s retirement: The economy, which has yet to get hot under Bidenomics, is cooling. The rate of inflation continues to stubbornly remain above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, ticking up to 2.7% in November. The Fed is now estimating that inflation won’t hit the 2% target until 2026. Despite this, the Fed moved forward on Wednesday with an interest rate cut, the third this year, dropping it to between 4.25% and 4.5%. The job market has also cooled, but consumer confidence has remained high, with sales rising 0.7%, slightly above the forecasted 0.6%. Furthermore, October’s sales numbers were revised to 0.5% from 0.4%. “The U.S. economy has been remarkable,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell optimistically stated. “If you look around the world, there is a lot of slow growth and continuous struggle with inflation. So I feel very good about where the economy is.” That said, the markets have been sliding, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a 10-day losing streak, the longest since the 1970s. That is not good for the retirement accounts of millions of Americans.

• SCOTUS to rule on TikTok ban: On the one hand, it’s undeniably Communist Chinese spyware. On the other hand, it’s a hugely popular platform among young Americans. Place a dollop of First Amendment protection on top, and you get a sense of our nation’s current TikTok tug-of-war. Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that it’ll hear TikTok’s last-ditch challenge to a law that could ban the social media app in the U.S. The company claims the ban violates the First Amendment. Even Donald Trump, who launched his political career with tough talk on China, is conflicted: “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he said Tuesday. The High Court will hear arguments on January 10, and barring a ruling that the law is unconstitutional, the ban would begin on January 19, the day before Trump takes office. If the president-elect wants to save TikTok in the U.S., he’ll likely need to engineer a divestiture deal between the app’s parent company, ByteDance, and any number of potential American buyers.

• A secret Senate border deal? Beware Republican senators bearing border-related legislation. That’s the clear message the American people sent to Washington when they resoundingly returned Donald Trump to office. We mention this as Axios is reporting that a “small, bipartisan group of senators have been quietly sketching out a possible new border deal for early 2025.” Our porous southern border and the illegal immigration it invites is Trump’s foremost priority, and Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin’s involvement in the group indicates that this will be a much tougher Republican negotiating team than the appeasement-minded one headed by his Oklahoma colleague, James Lankford, earlier this year. The product of that negotiation was a deal so bad that Republicans ran away from it en masse as soon as its contents became clear. Mullin described the discussions this time around as “very” serious and its details “very secret.” As for the Senate’s 60-vote procedural hurdle, Axios reports that the plan of top Senate Republicans is to “move quickly on a border package, using the budget reconciliation process” to get around a potential Democrat filibuster.

• Appeals judge boots Fani Willis from Trump’s Georgia case: On the lawfare front, a Georgia appeals court judge this morning disqualified Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her team from prosecuting Donald Trump in the Left’s RICO-infused election interference case against him. The decision is based on the much-publicized misconduct of Willis, who nonetheless refused to remove herself from the case. As the court’s ruling stated: “Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s denial of the appellants’ motion to disqualify DA Willis and her office. As we conclude that the elected district attorney is wholly disqualified from this case, ‘the assistant district attorneys — whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them — have no authority to proceed.’” What happens next with the case is unclear, but Trump has a suggestion: “The case has to be thrown out because it was started corruptly by an incompetent prosecutor. … Therefore, the case is entirely dead. Everybody should receive an apology, including those wonderful patriots who have been caught up in this for years.”

• Trump threatens to fire work-from-home federal employees: Last week, we called attention to the Six Percenters — the tiny total of federal employees who, according to a report by Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst, show up to work in the office full-time. Good on them, but what about the other 94% who either split in-office time with telework or telework full-time? As it turns out, they may soon have a decision to make. As Just the News reports, “Donald Trump blasted federal ‘work from home’ policies Monday, calling them ‘ridiculous’ and stirring up pushback from federal employee unions. ‘If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,’ [said] Trump.” How he’d carry out such a massive house cleaning is unclear, but Trump isn’t the only one who’s fed up with work-from-homers. “AT&T will require its employees to report full-time to their offices five days a week … starting in January,” reports The Washington Times, adding that the telecom giant joins “Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Tesla and other companies in ending the hybrid and remote work schedules installed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

• Teamsters strike against Amazon: This morning, workers went on strike at various Amazon locations nationwide. Following Amazon’s rejection of a bargaining request, the Brotherhood of Teamsters warned last week that “thousands of Amazon workers who organized with the Teamsters" would engage in the "largest strike against Amazon in American history.” Indeed, 10,000 workers are participating, potentially negatively impacting package delivery just days before Christmas. “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” argued Teamster head Sean O'Brien, who added that Amazon “ignored” the Teamsters’ “clear deadline.” Amazon spokesman Kelly Nantel disputed that characterization: “For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers.’ They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative.” Worse, she added, “The Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal.” She pointed out that Amazon has increased its starting wage for workers by 20% and also noted that the base salary was increased in September to $22 an hour.

• Rand Paul blocks drone control bill: Amidst all the recent drone hysteria in New Jersey, Senate Democrats pushed a bill granting state and local authorities greater power to regulate drones. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued the law was needed because the federal government is limited in its ability to respond to all these drones on its own. “The most logical thing to do is say let the localities have the authority,” Schumer stated. However, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul rejected that excuse, noting that the federal government has repeatedly insisted that the drones don’t pose a threat; therefore, why would state and local authorities need to be empowered to do something? Paul blocked the bill, arguing, “This is not just about security. It’s about unchecked government overreach. It’s about capitalizing on fear." Paul further contended that this bill is an excuse for an opportunistic power grab unless an actual problem is clearly identified that would justify granting more regulatory power to state and local authorities.

• House to release Gaetz report: The House Ethics Committee voted to release its investigative report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. He resigned his seat after being nominated by Donald Trump for attorney general but subsequently withdrew after reports that the Ethics Committee was about to publicly release its years-long investigation into allegations of his having sex with a minor and illicit drug use. Following his withdrawal, the committee hit pause on releasing the report. Democrats on the committee immediately cried foul, with Susan Wild accusing Chairman Michael Guest of having "betrayed the process.” Now that the committee has agreed to release the report, that means at least one Republican has sided with the Democrats. Gaetz responded, “I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me. Then, the very ‘witnesses’ DOJ deemed not-credible were assembled by House Ethics to repeat their claims absent any cross-examination or challenge from me or my attorneys. I’ve had no chance to ever confront any accusers. I’ve never been charged. I’ve never been sued.” Gaetz also asserted that he “NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.”

Headlines

• Senate passes $895 billion defense bill (The Hill)

• Tulsi Gabbard’s chances of getting confirmed in jeopardy (Newsweek)

• George Stephanopoulos signs new deal with ABC News amid Trump lawsuit turmoil (Los Angeles Times) | Stephanopoulos “apoplectic, humiliated” over defamation suit settlement (NY Post) | Was repeatedly warned not to use word “rape” by producer but said it anyway (NY Post)

• Biden-Harris admin green-lights electric vehicle mandate for a dozen states (Washington Free Beacon)

• Biden posts his worst approval rating yet (Not the Bee)

• Supreme Court to hear case over Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding (Roll Call)

• Montana Supreme Court backs youth plaintiffs in groundbreaking climate trial (MPR)

• U.S. life expectancy rose significantly last year, hitting highest level since pandemic (NBC News)

• “Black Widow,” who murdered three ex-lovers, freed in Biden’s clemency spree (Washington Free Beacon)

• 20-year-old Carlsbad man accused of coordinating attack with Madison school shooter (CBS 8)

• Manhattan man pleads guilty to helping establish secret Chinese police station in NYC (AP)

• Chinese military adds hundreds of missiles to arsenal (Washington Times)

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