Government & Politics

• House scrambles to do a deal, avoid a shutdown: It’s “lather-rinse-repeat” in Washington, where House Republicans are at this hour attempting to pull together a temporary budget deal that would fend off a looming government shutdown. If an agreement isn’t reached, the shutdown will take place at midnight tonight. You won’t feel it, of course, but it’ll happen. As for the continuing resolution, as it’s called, we can point to progress of a sort: The original 1,547-page abomination was trimmed down yesterday to a Trump-approved 116 pages, but even that bill failed to pass the House last night. Word this morning was that a temporary deal had been reached — one that keeps the government funded while punting on raising the debt ceiling until after the holidays — and that a vote would take place at 10 a.m. ET. But no dice. Democrats, of course, want a shutdown because it allows them to claim that Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans can’t govern. And, to a point, they’re right. Budgeting is one of the fundamental duties of Congress, and the Mike Johnson-led House can’t seem to herd the Republican cats as well as iron-fisted Nancy Pelosi led her goose-stepping Democrats.

• Biden transfers another $4.5B in student loans to taxpayers: It pays to be a government worker in more ways than one. Joe Biden just trotted out the latest entry in his massive debt transfer scheme by moving some $4.8 billion in student loan debt from 54,900 public workers onto the backs of taxpayers. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona touted the action by stating, “Four years ago, the Biden-Harris Administration made a pledge to America’s teachers, service members, nurses, first responders, and other public servants that we would fix the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, and I’m proud to say that we delivered.” This latest action brings Biden’s total student debt transfer to almost $180 billion from nearly five million borrowers. With such actions, is it any wonder the U.S. government is in debt up to its eyeballs?

• Will Harris take book-deal cash and burn Biden? What is Kamala Harris’s future? While many Democrat political pundits have insisted that her future political prospects are bright, the truth is that she’s a two-time loser, with both her 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns going down in flames. That said, her future financial outlook is not so dim. Indeed, some top publishers have reportedly offered her a $20 million advance for a tell-all book on Joe Biden’s presidency. As an executive at one of New York’s top leftist publishers stated, “More than anyone in the Biden White House, Kamala … knows all the secrets, knows where all the skeletons are buried.” Another literary agent based in Washington echoed similar sentiments, saying, “Kamala needs to forget all the campaign bulls**t that was spewed on her side, and honestly tell everything about the true nature of her relationship with Biden, and what role, if any, she played in forcing him to drop out of the race.” Of course, if Harris agreed to publish a behind-the-scenes tell-all book, it might be a bridge-burning decision that spells the end of her political career. If she takes such a deal, we will know that she’s decided to be unburdened by what has been.

• SHOCKER: Networks’ Trump transition coverage is 96% negative: Even left-leaning polls have consistently showed a majority of Americans approve of the way Donald Trump is preparing for his transition to the White House, but you wouldn’t know it if you’re one of the hundreds of consumers of network news in recent weeks. “The coverage by broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC has been almost uniformly negative,” reports NewsBusters. “In addition to a whopping 96 percent negative tilt across their flagship evening newscasts, these networks also appear to have paid the most attention to cabinet nominees who appeared to have the highest chances of sinking.” The study covers ABC, CBS, and NBC’s evening newscasts from December 1-14. As for the apparently inverse relationship between what they’re reporting and what the American people are feeling, it’s hard not to draw a conclusion about the increasing irrelevance of network news.

• CNN finishes year with smallest audience in network’s history (Washington Examiner)

• Planned Parenthood funding at SCOTUS: On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up Kerr v. Edwards, a case that promises significant ramifications for Planned Parenthood and government funding. The case deals with South Carolina’s efforts to prevent Planned Parenthood facilities in the state from receiving any Medicaid funding. The question the justices will consider is whether Medicaid allows beneficiaries to choose care at the qualified provider of their choice, irrespective of any state law. Back in 2018, South Carolina excluded abortion providers from receiving any Medicaid funding. Planned Parenthood sued, claiming it fits within Medicaid’s designation of “any qualified provider.” If SCOTUS were to side with Planned Parenthood, then it would effectively force states with abortion restrictions to allow government funding of abortions.

• Republicans target FACE Act: Few laws have been used to target ideological opponents in a more one-sided manner than the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Passed in 1994, the law has been used primarily as a legal apparatus to go after pro-life advocates who protest outside of abortion facilities. During the Biden administration, the use of the FACE Act has been one of the more obvious examples of the weaponization of government against Americans. Biden’s Justice Department used the FACE Act a total of 24 times against 55 defendants — and against pro-life activists in every instance. Furthermore, as Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) notes, “To this day, the FACE Act has never been used in defense of the church since it was passed. And when the DOJ does prosecute pro-abortion activists, the vigor with which they pursued and penalized these individuals pales in comparison to the penalties faced by pro-life advocates.” This is why Roy recently introduced HR 5577, a measure to repeal the FACE Act. It’s time for Congress to repeal this abusive law that’s a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

Security

• Border arrests hit four-year low as 7.6 million illegals roam free: We just knew the Biden administration could do it with a little effort. Sure enough, as the Washington Examiner reports, “The number of immigrants arrested after attempting to enter the United States from Mexico has dropped to the lowest levels in more than 50 months, part of a continued decline since the White House took decisive action to deter illegal migration in June.” Alas, this was too little, too late to save the open-borders Biden-Harris administration. How much damage, you ask? One metric would be the 7.6 million illegals that the Biden-Harris administration caught and then released into the U.S. over the years and is now failing to track. As The Washington Times reports, “The latest numbers … show a department struggling to monitor them all, much less make new arrests inside the country.” For comparison, that ICE figure was just 3.3 million before Biden came into office. As it turns out, border enforcement works, and elections have very real consequences.

• Texas moves to stop border wall auction (Newsweek)

• The hysterical drone hysterics: In an update to his analysis regarding the drone controversy in New Jersey, our Mark Alexander notes: “On December 19, in an effort to squelch the media-driven drone hysteria — and look like they are doing something in response — the Federal Aviation Administration issued a 30-day ban on drone flights over parts of urban and suburban New Jersey. Regarding the 22 TFRs (Temporary Flight Restrictions), the FAA NOTAM asserted that the "government may use deadly force against” any airborne aircraft “if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat.” (That is always the case.) It warned that pilots who fail to abide by these restrictions can be “intercepted, detained, and interviewed by the law enforcement/security personnel.” (That is always the case.) For the drone-operating agitators who violate this ban, it will be a test of just what the FAA and other agencies can do to track, identify, and prosecute those who violate the ban. Moreover, in a joint statement by DHS, FBI, FAA, and DOD, the agencies are asking “Congress to enact counter-UAS legislation when it reconvenes that would extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge.” In other words, these agencies are asserting they lack this authority now to track all Unmanned Aircraft Systems, so politicians should stop demanding answers they can’t provide.“

• Iranian resistance warns regime is developing detonators for nuclear weapons (Just the News)

• North Korea could send more troops to Ukraine after 100 of its soldiers die on battlefield (The Telegraph)

Culture

• Retail crime up 93% from 2019: The economy and the border were issues No. 1 and 1a on November 5, but concern over crime wasn’t far behind. And for good reason, as it turns out. We’ve all seen the images of masked thugs brazenly rampaging through retail stores and stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down. These incidents reportedly contributed to a near-doubling of retail theft compared to pre-pandemic days. As The Washington Times reports, "The National Retail Federation and nonprofit Loss Prevention Research Council said this week that retailers participating in a survey reported a 93% spike in the average number of annual shoplifting incidents from 2019 to 2023 and a 90% surge in related dollar losses over the same period.” Imagine that — when you subsidize crime, you get more of it. “Retailers are working hard to provide a safe and secure shopping environment,” read a joint letter from two trade groups that introduced the grim report. “However, this is not a problem that retailers alone can solve.”

• Ohio legislature passes Parents Bill of Rights (Just the News)

• Idaho State Board of Education bans DEI across public universities (National Review)

• Nissan becomes latest car company to walk back DEI practices (Fox Business)

• Age verification law prompts PornHub to flee Florida (Washington Stand)

• Male sex offender pretends to be 15-year-old girl to gain access to high school (Daily Wire)

• Sam’s Club removes abortion pill from online pharmacy (Washington Stand)

Misc.

• U.S. economy grows at 3.1% pace in third quarter, an upgrade from previous estimate (AP)

• Ex-top aide to Eric Adams charged in corruption case (Daily Wire)

• NASA astronauts stuck in space hit with another delay before return home (Newsweek)

For the Executive Summary archive, click here.