Top of the Fold

• Job openings near record high but that trend may not last: The Bureau of Labor Statistics report for December found that the number of job openings remained near record levels with 10.9 million unfilled. Likewise, the percentage of workers quitting their jobs hovered near record levels at 2.9%, slightly down from November’s 3%. Meanwhile, January jobs numbers might come in with an unexpected whiplash. Citing payroll company ADP, CNBC says, “Private payrolls fell by 301,000 for the month, well below the Dow Jones estimate for growth of 200,000.” Naturally, the Omicron variant wave has been blamed for the downturn. Furthermore, some believe the economy is near “full employment,” which seems awfully strange given the fact that four million fewer people are employed today than prior to COVID.

• BLM terminates all fundraising: Following the Washington Examiner’s investigative reporting into Black Lives Matter’s opaque financial activities, California’s Justice Department threatened to investigate the “charity” if it didn’t immediately stop fundraising. The Examiner discovered “that BLM has had no known leader in charge of its $60 million bankroll since its co-founder resigned in May,” and that the organization failed to report information regarding its finances in 2020 — a year in which it raised tens of millions in donations. Washington State likewise issued an immediate “cease fundraising” order. But it’s not just California and Washington; the Marxist organization is also out of compliance in seven other states, lending more credence to the charge that its leaders are little other than a race hucksters grifting off manipulated grievances. BLM has announced it has ceased all fundraising.

• Biden admin was asleep at the wheel on Afghanistan: Newly uncovered documents reveal that the Biden administration was woefully unprepared for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Axios obtained leaked notes from the White House Situation Room dated August 14, 2021, that depict a troubling scene of senior administration officials discussing the basic elements of developing an exit strategy just one day before the Taliban overran Kabul. Former NATO advisor Mark Jacobson observed, “That so much planning, prioritizing and addressing of key questions had not been completed, even as Kabul was about to fall, underscores the absence of adequate interagency planning.”

• Biden nearing “worst president ever” territory: Joe Biden may want to avoid glancing at the latest polling data, as not only has his approval rating continued to crater, but his disapproval numbers keep climbing. As Rasmussen put it, “Most voters think President Joe Biden is one of the worst ever to hold the office, and rank him below his two immediate predecessors in the White House.” Even Donald Trump, who was demonized as a “racist” and “bigot” and received little other than nonstop negative press and fake news from the mainstream media, didn’t reach numbers even close to this bad. A whopping 54% of Americans now rate Biden as the worst president in American history. Gallup observed: “Collectively, satisfaction at the start of 2022 in a variety of areas is about as bad as it’s been in two decades of Gallup measurement.” Every step Biden takes seems to only push him deeper into negative territory. Somewhere, Jimmy Carter is smiling.

More From Your Patriot Post Team

• Douglas Andrews: Big Tech Cancels the Freedom Convoys — Both the Canadian convoy and its American counterpart are feeling the wrath of the Big Tech censors.

• Nate Jackson: The Problematic Political Promiscuity of the Press — CNN chief Jeff Zucker resigned over an affair with a colleague, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

• Lewis Morris: The Real Problem With Hugh Hefner — A new documentary reveals that the smut peddler also committed serious crimes against women.

• Emmy Griffin: Stopping Traffickers and Their Accomplices Act of 2022 — This new bill will hold abortion providers accountable to report suspected human trafficking victims.

• Thomas Gallatin: Dems’ Big Impeachment Lie Exposed — The Obama administration praised the anti-corruption work of Ukraine’s top prosecutor months before Biden insisted he be fired.

• Douglas Andrews: It’s One Biden Border Scandal After Another — A nation unwilling to enforce its borders is a nation in decline.

• In Brief: 10 COVID-19 ‘Truths’ That Weren’t True — The media, health officials, and Big Tech have been quick to condemn “misinformation” or conspiracy theories.

• Reader Comments — A few thought-provoking comments about specific articles.

Odds & Ends

• ISIS leader killed in U.S. Special Operations raid in Syria (Fox News)

• Over a million flee as Afghanistan’s economy collapses (New York Times)

• Biden, ahead of NYC visit, rolls out strategy to “stop” flow of guns (Fox News)

• Army begins immediate discharge of unvaxxed soldiers (Daily Wire)

• “Tucker Carlson Tonight” is the most-watched cable news show among Democrats in key age group (Daily Wire)

• Facebook is shrinking: Its total user base declined for the first time, putting more pressure on its big metaverse bet (Recode)

• The labor shortage crisis is getting so bad that Domino’s is literally paying customers to pick up their own food rather than get it delivered (Not the Bee)

• NRA revenues cut in half since 2018, legal spending spiked in 2021 (The Reload)

• Another unhinged professor has been exposed as a pedophilia apologist (The Federalist)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: How to stop driving inflation and start fighting it (Daily Signal)

• Satire: U.S. bobsled team renames its sled “Biden” because nothing has taken America downhill faster (Genesius Times)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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