Cross-Examination

• Team Biden blames you for inflation: November saw 263,000 jobs added, maintaining a steady yet moderate rate of growth. The headline unemployment rate stayed the same at 3.7%, even as a number of big tech companies have begun layoffs and hiring freezes. The total employment number still sits at roughly one million below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, with inflation remaining stubbornly high the Federal Reserve is planning another interest rate hike. Speaking of inflation, Joe Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen blamed 40-high inflation on Americans spending too excessively. Yellen asserted that Americans “were in their homes for a year or more” (thanks to Democrats locking down the economy), and “they wanted to buy grills and office furniture, they were working from home, they suddenly started splurging on goods, buying technology,” which she then claim created “bottlenecks” in the supply chain, causing prices to surge. Of course, Americans simply spending their money does not create inflation. Rather, it happens when the government prints and then spends excessive amounts of money, which serves to devalue the currency, creating inflation.

• CNN brings out its dead: On Thursday, CNN CEO Chris Licht has followed through on his earlier statement that the Leftmedia outlet would be soon begin a round of staff layoffs. In an email a day earlier, Licht had alerted employees that some would soon be handed their walking papers. Of the staff released, the most high-profile name was that of political commentator Chris Cillizza, who blamed Donald Trump for the drastic drop in the number of Republicans who trust the mainstream media. It is ironic that Cillizza finds himself on the outs, as Licht has expressed he wants to pull CNN back to the center and focus more on hard news. The Leftmedia outlet that has branded itself as “facts first” and “the most trusted name in news” fails on both counts and an increasing number of Americans clearly aren’t buying those dubious claims. With personalities like Don Lemon and Jake Tapper still working at the outlet, it would appear that Licht is a long way off from bring back any semblance of balanced news coverage to CNN reputation.

• Republicans love earmarks again: Thanks to Joe Biden and the Democrats’ massive spending over the last two years, Americans are struggling with sky-high inflation that shows little indication of coming down anytime soon. Given this reality, one would think that Republicans who have just (barely) gained control of the House after campaigning against Biden’s excessive spending would be eager to put the brakes on more outlays. Unfortunately, those who gain the power of the purse are loathe to close that purse too tightly. Case in point, House Republicans voted 158 to 52 against banning earmarks. One of the biggest sources of government pork, earmarks were banned by Tea Party-led Republicans back in 2011 when they took control of the House. Of course, after Democrats gained control of the House in 2018, the ban was lifted. Evidently, many Republicans never really wanted earmarks eliminated in the first place. One of the 52 Republicans to vote for the ban warned his colleagues, “History is screaming this warning at us: Nations that bankrupt themselves aren’t around very long. Republicans must reclaim the mantle of fiscal integrity and fiscal responsibility. And we should start by renouncing the tawdry, corrupt, and irresponsible practice of congressional earmarks.”

Headlines

• Supreme Court leaves Biden student loan “forgiveness” on hold, agrees to hear case (National Review)

• GOP senators to withhold support for Defense funding until they get vote to end military vax mandate (Just The News)

• Manufacturing activity contracts for first time in two years (Washington Free Beacon)

• Appeals court: Feds can keep all records seized in Mar-a-Lago raid (Legal Insurrection)

• U.S. air marshals plot “mutiny” against Biden plan to leave flights unprotected (Washington Examiner)

• President Biden hosts French President Emmanuel Macron for state dinner (NPR)

• Kanye West says he “likes Hitler” in interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones (Washington Times)

• Kanye West deal to buy Parler is off, by mutual decision (Red State)

• Florida pulls $2 billion from BlackRock in largest anti-ESG divestment (Washington Free Beacon)

• Teenage brains aged faster during the pandemic from stress, anxiety (Fox News)

• Humor: Biden promotes non-binary Brinton to head TSA citing experience stealing women’s luggage (Genesius Times)

For more editors’ choice headlines, click here.