-Tucker Carlson emailing the one and only Hunter Biden in 2014
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The November jobs report is out, which means it’s time for another round of Seemingly Disappointing Economic News That Will Eventually Get Quietly Corrected When Nobody’s Paying Attention!
- Let’s start with what appears to be a setback: The economy added an estimated 210,000 jobs in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—which would represent a strong number in a fully recovered labor market, but a slowdown in growth for the pandemic recovery, even before Omicron anxieties took hold. Economists had predicted a gain of 535,000 jobs, and at face value, the discrepancy paints a picture of an uncertain economy still hampered by the pandemic, supply chain issues, and rising inflation.
- Those problems are of course very real (and who knows what exciting new challenges Omicron might have in store), but the overall picture almost certainly isn’t as bad as it looks. For one thing, we can expect that November jobs number to get revised upwards, probably dramatically. The U.S. has already added 976,000 more jobs in 2021 than initially reported, the largest net upward revision over the course of a year.
- For another thing, all other signs in the report point to a job market that’s humming right along on the right track. The unemployment rate fell from 4.6 percent to 4.2 percent, a major drop in a single month. That wasn’t driven by people dropping out of the workforce: The number of folks working went up by 1.1 million, according to a parallel survey of households, and the number of adults who were neither employed nor looking for work fell by 473,000.
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And while supply chain issues and high prices persist, there’s been more progress there, too.
- Over in the Fox News propaganda bubble, President Biden is at fault for a devastating Santa shortage, presumably because all of the guys dressed like Santa are trapped on a container ship idling off the coast of Los Angeles. (A real segment, highlighted by the RNC!) Here in reality, manufacturers continued to increase their output in November for the 18th straight month, signaling that supply chain backlogs are starting to ease. Republicans want the economy to suck so people take jobs wearing Santa costumes instead of manufacturing cool American goods, pass it on.
- There’s also strong reason to believe that relief from high gas prices is on the way. Over the last month, Biden announced a plan to release 50 million barrels of oil from the national reserve, Omicron spooked financial markets, and OPEC+ agreed to boost its own output. Not all of those developments are terrific, but they’ve brought oil prices down by more than 20 percent since late October. Lower prices at the gas pump should follow by the end of the year.
Each “disappointing” Labor Department report brings a flurry of bleak coverage that drags down the national vibe and President Biden’s poll numbers, but it’s clear to anyone paying attention that they have more to do with the way the government estimates growth than with the state of the economy. Anyone just glancing at headlines, unfortunately, continues to be misled.
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Catch up on all new episodes of X-Ray Vision with host Jason Concepcion! This month Jason and his co-hosts will be breaking down the latest film and television releases including Spiderman: No Way Home. You can now catch new episodes of X-Ray Vision every Friday. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
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Prosecutors in Oakland County, MI, charged the parents of the Michigan high school shooter with involuntary manslaughter on Friday, upon which they immediately went missing, triggering a manhunt. The 15-year-old shooter, Ethan Crumbley, carried out the massacre with a gun that his father had bought him on Black Friday. The day before the shooting, after a teacher reported seeing Crumbley searching for ammunition online, his mother texted him, “LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.” Just hours before he opened fire and killed at least four students, his parents were brought in for a meeting about a violent drawing he had made with the words “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me,” and declined to pull him out of school, or check whether he had brought his gun with him. The parents’ attorneys have issued a statement insisting that they weren’t fleeing law enforcement, and will return to be charged. Meanwhile, more than 100 schools in Michigan were forced to close on Friday due to a flood of copycat threats.
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- The Senate successfully passed a stopgap government-funding bill and averted a shutdown, after all 48 present Republicans first voted in favor of a (failed) amendment to block President Biden’s workplace vaccine rules.
- A preliminary study in South Africa found that Omicron is much more likely to cause reinfection than other variants, but there’s no data yet on how well it might evade vaccine-induced immunity.
- The Navy’s water system in Hawaii has been contaminated with petroleum, leaving thousands of families without water as lawmakers demand answers.
- Facebook has profited off of ads promoting anti-vax messages, comparing the vaccine rollout to Nazi Germany, and pushing political violence over the last few years.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) wants to reestablish a defunct civilian military force that he would control, unless anyone has any objections to a big dumb idiot with fascistic impulses forming his own personal militia?
- A former KKK leader is running for local office as a Republican in Georgia, using a slogan borrowed from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told colleagues that Senate Republicans won’t release a legislative agenda ahead of the midterms, preferring to stick to inspiring political messaging like “Donald Trump is our truth” and “Democrats bad” and “we all hate Democrats, don’t we folks?”
- Intelligence officials have still found no evidence pointing to who or what is behind “Havana syndrome.”
- A plumber found wads of cash and checks behind a loose toilet at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Texas, which any financial planner will tell you is a perfectly valid, above-board method of saving known as Toilet Bucks.
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Missouri’s health department conducted an analysis finding that mask mandates saved lives and prevented infections in the state’s biggest cities, but never made the report public, for some very scientific and non-political, non-murderous reason. The study was conducted in early November at the request of Gov. Mike Parson’s (R-MO) office, presumably as Parson sought data to back up his opinion that local mask mandates are, quote, “WRONG.” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has sued St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City, and Jackson County to block enforcement of their mandates. Instead, the analysis showed that those four jurisdictions averaged 15.8 cases per day for every 100,000 residents, compared to 21.7 cases per day in unmasked communities. Rather than admitting error and encouraging masking to save lives, Parson’s office shoved those findings in a drawer.
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Tell the Biden Administration to Cancel Student Debt
The cost of higher education has grown exponentially in our country, placing it out of reach for most students and families unless they agree to take on huge amounts of debt. Over 44 million Americans carry more than $1.7 trillion of student debt. This crushing burden is preventing millions from buying homes, starting businesses, saving for retirement, or even starting families: And that reality falls heaviest on communities of color – particularly Black people and especially Black women – as a direct result of systemic racism.
That's why we’re urging the Biden Administration to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt per borrower by the end of 2021 – and we need as many people with us as possible. Add your name to our petition to join us in action today.
Centuries of structural inequities and racism have created large barriers in access to education for Black communities. For instance, Black families have far less generational wealth to draw on to pay for college than white families – and as a result, are more likely to take on student loans and struggle with repayment, which is exacerbated by job discrimination and pay disparities. Two decades after taking out student loans, the median Black borrower still owes 95 percent of debt, whereas the median white borrower has paid off 94 percent of debt.
But canceling student debt can help close the racial wealth gap by over 20 percent – securing financial stability and economic mobility for Black, Latinx, and other people of color who are disproportionately burdened by loans, while addressing the debt crisis for millions.
It’s a common-sense solution and there is no reason to wait: Sign our petition telling the Biden administration to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt per eligible borrower now.
Thanks for taking action,
The ACLU Team
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The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are effective for most cancer patients, according to a new study.
Another new study added to the growing pile of evidence that the Moderna and Pfizer boosters dramatically raise antibody levels.
The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board has voted against approving a permit to extend the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which carries fracked fuel, into North Carolina.
Conservationists flew 30 white rhinos from South Africa to Rwanda in an effort to protect them from poaching and grow the population.
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