White House Dossier's

Hunter Biden indicted on nine new tax charges . . . Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax charges in California as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son intensifies against the backdrop of the 2024 election. The new charges filed Thursday — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection. Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid. Associated Press

Why did it take five years to file these charges? Would they ever have been filed if that judge in Delaware didn't pick apart Hunter's sweetheart deal with DOJ? Are we going to get any charges related to Foreign Agents Registration Act violations? And lets have those emails sent under pseudonyms please. We're just getting started here.

The five most salacious details from the indictment

Biden State Department paid group to counter "misinformation" in the press  . . . NewsGuard bills itself “The Internet Trust Tool” and purports to offer “transparent tools to counter misinformation for readers, brands, and democracies,” which admittedly sounds impressive. But what is the likely outcome when the US government funds this corporation through something called the Global Engagement Center? A lawsuit Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed in federal court Wednesday along with The Daily Wire and The Federalist declares the outcome was the State Department funding technology that could “render disfavored press outlets unprofitable.” Conservative voices, it says, are being suppressed. New York Post

Stefanik takes a star turn after questioning university president on antisemitism . . . Representative Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York, arrived at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on college campuses ready for battle. With the presidents of three prestigious universities to be seated in front of her at the witness table, Ms. Stefanik saw an opportunity to put the academic left on the spot at a moment when antisemitic speech has skyrocketed on college campuses across the country. “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment?” she demanded of Claudine Gay, the new president of Harvard University. “It can be, depending on the context,” Dr. Gay responded. “What’s the context?” Ms. Stefanik shot back. New York Times

Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff gets in on the criticism: "Lack of moral clarity"

California faces $68B deficit . . . California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) faces a $68 billion deficit in 2024, more than double this year’s $32 billion shortfall, the state budget analyst reportedThursday. The shortfall stems from the state's 2022 economic downturn and the accompanying declines in revenue even as California leaders maintained their high levels of spending with a nearly $311 billion budget. Free Beacon

White House wants to make it even easier for illegals to enter . . . As illegal border crossings reach record highs, the Biden administration is considering a novel idea: make it even easier for migrants to enter the country. A senior official familiar with the plan told the Washington Free Beacon that the Department of Homeland Security wants to dispatch Customs and Border Protection agents to areas of Mexico that have seen large influxes of migrants. There, documents obtained by the Free Beacon show, law enforcement would begin the screening process for migrants and expedite their final journey across the southern border. Free Beacon

What's next, hand-written invitations?

US embassy in Baghdad hit by rockets . . . A rocket attack on the sprawling U.S. Embassy in Baghdad caused minor damage but no casualties Friday morning, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. The attack is the first on the embassy located in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Iraq's capital to be confirmed since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. The Green Zone houses Iraqi government buildings and embassies on the west bank of the Tigris River. ABC News

The White House responded forcefully, saying, "No terrorists! Bad boys! Get down!"

Money

Job gains below average in November . . . .The U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday. That number was aided by the end of auto strikes, which resulted in roughly 30,000 jobs added back to payrolls. November marked the second consecutive month job gains have fallen below the average for 2023.

The unemployment rate edged lower to 3.7%, higher than earlier in the year, but still near historic lows. Average hourly earnings advanced roughly 4% from a year earlier. That is above prepandemic rates but marks a slowdown from gains in 2022 and early 2023. Wall Street Journal

WashPost strikes over inflation as paper praises Bidenomics . . . The Washington Post's union cited "record-level inflation" in its decision to strike on Thursday, after the paper argued that the economy under President Joe Biden is strong despite Americans' pessimism. "Washington Post employees have been negotiating with management for 18 months," the Washington Post Guild wrote in its announcement of a 24-hour work stoppage. "We still lack a contract that keeps pace with record-level inflation and guarantees workers a living wage." Free Beacon

International

Putin to run for fifth term as president . . . Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will stand again for a fifth term in office. He announced it at an awards ceremony for participants of the full-scale war he launched against Ukraine in 2022. It comes a day after election officials set 15-17 March 2024 as dates for the presidential election. The re-election of Mr Putin, 71, is seen as inevitable, with opposition almost non-existent and Russian media completely under his control. BBC

Culture

Trader Joe's under fire for "racist" products . . . The popular Monrovia, Calif.-based grocer has once again gone viral over a decades-old product-naming practice that has previously been referred to as “racist.” A youthful TikToker named Kyi (@kyeatdaays) reignited the debate after calling out the free-spirited retailer over the way it chooses names for various packaged foods, based on their imagined country of origin. She used the popular point-of-view method to illustrate her alleged surprise, upon realizing that a frozen sack of Mandarin Orange Chicken — one of the store’s more obsessed over items — was actually branded as “Trader Ming’s.” While preparing the food, she turned to the camera, mouthing the words, “Wait a damn minute.” New York Post

University of Pennsylvania donor withdraws $100M donation over antisemitism testimony . . . A major donor to the University of Pennsylvania is withdrawing a donation worth roughly $100 million as a protest against the college’s handling of antisemitism on campus and the controversial testimony by UPenn's president on the subject.

Ross Stevens, founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management, donated to Penn in 2017, a gift that consisted of partnership units in the firm which are now valued at around $100 million to help the university establish a financial innovation center. Attorneys for Stevens sent the university a letter indicating the school violated Stone Ridge’s limited partnership agreement through its failure to adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment rules. Fox Business

Tucker Carlson preparing to launch new media company . . . Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s new media company has begun building its base of paying subscribers as it moves toward launch, its chief executive told Reuters. “We’ve opened our site for membership pre-sales,” said Neil Patel, co-founder and chief executive of the new venture. “Once we are comfortable that all of the systems are running well, launch and brand release will follow.” Patel said those paying subscribers will have access to members-only content and behind-the-scenes footage. He declined to comment on the pricing. Reuters

Woman tries to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth home . . . woman attempted to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home, arriving with a gas canister and dousing the historic property in fuel Thursday. Video from the brazen attempt shows a woman dressed in all black freely pouring gasoline on the home’s front porch, windows and bushes around 5:45 p.m., WSB-TV reported. Two tourists from Utah viewing the home were able to intervene to stop the suspect, police said. New York Post

China finds a new way to eliminate youth unemployment . . . Back in June, when China’s youth unemployment rate hit a record 21.3%, Western analysts saw it as a sign of a moribund recovery. China’s ministry of statistics responded by announcing it would no longer publish the statistic. Six months on, that move might have had the desired effect. One out of every five young people without a job would typically be considered a crisis. But in the absence of data, the state of China’s youth labor market has become a matter of anecdote and guesswork, which is likely how Beijing wants it. Wall Street Journal