• Delayed jobs numbers: Jobs figures for November, which were delayed due to continued repercussions from the long Schumer Shutdown, came in higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 45,000, with 64,000 added. The unemployment rate also unexpectedly rose to 4.6%, the highest it’s been since 2021. The healthcare sector was responsible for most of the job growth, with 46,000 added last month. The construction industry also contributed with 28,000 jobs. Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing saw a net job loss of 18,000, with hospitality and leisure also losing 12,000 jobs. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, “The strong jobs report shows how President Trump is fixing the damage caused by Joe Biden and creating a strong, America First economy in record time. Workers’ wages are rising, prices are falling, trillions of dollars in investments are pouring into our country, and the American economy is primed to boom in 2026.”

• Wiles interviews with Vanity Fair: It should come as no surprise to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or anyone else who knows how one-sided the media is that Vanity Fair would not cover her or the White House fairly. “The article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,” Wiles wrote Tuesday in response to an excerpt of the piece published in The New York Times. “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story.” This begs the question: What did Wiles expect would happen? Vanity Fair’s story is written by Chris Whipple, who claims to have interviewed Wiles “amid each moment of crisis” throughout Trump’s second administration. This “hit piece” certainly won’t slow him down.

• Trump designates Venezuela a terrorist org: On Tuesday night, Donald Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that he had designated the Venezuelan regime a “FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.” He also ordered “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” entering or exiting the country. Trump’s given reason is the “theft” of American assets in Venezuela, referencing Hugo Chavez’s nationalization of the oil industry in 2007. Trump demanded the return of those assets “IMMEDIATELY.” It is unclear whether Nicolás Maduro could save his own position by complying with such a demand; the U.S. has previously placed a $50 million price on his head as the head of a narco-terrorist organization. Some hope that the pressure on Maduro’s regime will cause some of Venezuela’s own security elite to oust him, sparing the need for direct U.S. intervention.

• No probable cause for Trump raid: In August 2022, a former American president had his home raided by law enforcement, who proceeded to execute a search warrant that apparently included searching the former first lady’s wardrobe. It was the first and only time such a thing had been done in 250 years of American history. New evidence made public by Sen. Chuck Grassley reveals that the FBI did not believe it had probable cause for a search warrant. Furthermore, the Washington Field Office thought that the documents in question would be more quickly secured by cooperating with Trump’s lawyers than by “the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause” for a raid. In the end, the Mar-a-Lago raid was a political stunt that ultimately boosted Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency, but many Americans may rightly ask: Will there be justice for this brazen misuse of authority?

• Australia cops botched Bondi Beach response: As two Muslim men perpetrated an anti-Jew terrorist attack against a crowd celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, Australia, law enforcement responding to the attack behaved more like the Keystone Cops than trained officers. The attack continued for over 20 minutes while officers, several of them female cops, were witnessed cowering and running around in disarray. Indeed, if it weren’t for the actions of brave civilians, particularly two Muslim men who snuck up and disarmed each of the attackers, the bloodshed would have been greater. In fact, a confused cop even shot one of these heroes after he disarmed one of the terrorists. Meanwhile, Australia’s leaders promise more firearms restrictions in response, which is ironic given the feckless response of the police to stop the attack.

• Updates to Trump’s travel bans: More countries came under a full travel ban on Tuesday: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. Travelers with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank of Israel, were also banned. Many nations were added to a partial restriction list, including Antigua and Barbuda, Nigeria, and Tonga. In his Tuesday announcement, President Trump stressed the need for the U.S. to “exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance,” a concept that was completely absent during the Biden years. Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville said of Trump’s move, “This is what being America first looks like,” while Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib called it “racist cruelty.”

• ICE raids on Somalis, just not Omar’s son: Rep. Ilhan Omar recently told news media that her son was pulled over by ICE and forced to produce his passport to prove he was not an illegal alien. Later, she added an important detail: her son was speeding when he was pulled over. However, as it turns out, ICE has no record of such an incident, especially since it does not typically conduct traffic stops. Well, Ilhan’s lies aside, ICE is ramping up its efforts to catch Somali illegal immigrants with new deployments in Kansas and Ohio. This latest effort comes after 100 agents in Minneapolis arrested more than 400 Somalis who already had deportation orders. Somali criminals in the U.S. continue to be a priority for the administration in the wake of the massive Minnesota fraud scheme that funneled money to the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shabaab.

• EU dumps 2035 ban on gas-powered vehicles: There was an intriguing development in Brussels yesterday, where the European Union Commission pulled the reins on its tailpipe emissions rule that would have banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Furthermore, the more lenient rule regarding vehicle CO₂ emissions does not establish a new date for the requirement of 100% emissions-free vehicles, meaning new combustion-powered vehicles will be allowed to be sold indefinitely. This decision shows that the EU is responding to economic reality on the ground. It also shows that the EU is really concerned about China’s efforts to flood the global market with cheaper EVs, undercutting and threatening Europe’s auto industry.

• CDC officially changes vax schedule: CDC Director Jim O'Neill announced Tuesday that the agency would fully accept the recommendation made earlier this month by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to no longer recommend the hepatitis B vaccine for infants born to mothers who are confirmed negative for the disease. Instead, it will promote “individual-based decision-making,” the CDC said in a press release. The CDC is recommending that instead of vaccinating the newborn for an AIDS-related disease in the first hours of life, babies born to mothers with a confirmed negative test don’t have to be immunized until two months of age. This doesn’t appear to be much of a change or a win. It seems pretty common sense that if your lifestyle doesn’t put you at risk for AIDS, then there’s no need for the baby to have to be vaccinated.

• DOJ sues U.S. Virgin Islands PD alleging 2A violation: The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department, alleging that the VIPD has continued to enforce firearm regulations that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon explained, “The newly-established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to bring the Virgin Islands Police Department back into legal compliance by ensuring that applicants receive timely decisions without unconstitutional obstruction.” VIPD requires firearms to be licensed and owners to obtain permits. The permitting process requires applicants to allow VIPD to inspect their homes and to have bolt-down gun safes. The DOJ argues the VIPD’s permit regulation violates residents’ Second and Fourth Amendment rights.

Headlines

• FBI takes person into custody in Louisiana with ties to terror group behind thwarted bombing plot (WDSU)

• House investigates SPLC’s profiting, partisanship in attack on conservative groups (Daily Signal)

• Newsom denies creating “shadow CDC” with new hires who clashed with RFK (Washington Examiner)

• Two additional Heritage Foundation board members leave amid Carlson-Fuentes fallout (The Hill)

• Ukraine hits Russian sub in first underwater drone attack (Newsmax)

• Satire: Groundbreaking new study finds Islamophobia may be partially caused by Muslims killing people all the time (Babylon Bee)

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