Good morning, Wake Up Right fam! This morning, TIME Magazine announced its 2024 Person of the Year is President-elect Donald J. Trump. They’re about to sell a lot of magazines…

• 📊 Just 22% of U.S. approves of Hunter Biden's pardon

• 👱‍♀️ Taylor Swift's ‘Eras’ tour will pass $2 billion in sales

• ❤️‍🩹 US health care costs rose 143% over 25 years

• 📺️ Trump appoints Kari Lake to lead Voice of America broadcaster

^{Sources: AP, Billboard, Epoch Times, Axios}

Inflation is clawing back

Inflation ticked back up for a second straight month, highlighting how, throughout his entire four-year term, Joe Biden was unable to get rising costs under control.

The details: The Consumer Price Index rose 2.7% in November compared to the same time 12 months ago — up from 2.4% in September and 2.6% in October. The products and services most impacted were:

• 🔋 Electricity: +2.1%

• 🏢 Rent: +4.4%

• 🏠️ Mortgage: +4.9%

• 🚘️ Car insurance: 12.7%

• 🚽 Water utilities: +5.7%

• ✈️ Airfare: +4.7%

• 🥩 Beef: +5%

• 🥚 Eggs: +37.5%

• 🧈 Butter: +3.6%

• 🥛 Milk: +2.2%

• 🍺 Beer: +4%

• 📬️ Postage: + 10.6%

Why is inflation going back up? In September, the Federal Reserve prematurely claimed victory over inflation and lowered interest rates by 0.5%. It lowered them again last month by 0.25%. The lower cost of borrowing caused a rise in the demand for goods and services, which caused prices to go up again.

Back up: Inflation under Joe Biden has not reached the Federal Reserve’s target of 2% or lower since February 2021, one month into his term. When Trump left office in January 2021, inflation was at 1.4%.

Zoom out: Overall, prices have risen by more than 20% during Biden’s time in office.

Big picture: Inflation will only subside when our government stops spending money we don’t have. In 2024, Biden spent $1.8 trillion more than we took in — the third-highest deficit on record. President-elect Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency can be the antidote to this economic death spiral if lawmakers get on board.

Admitting failure: Outgoing Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, said: "I am sorry we haven't made more progress. I believe the deficit needs to be brought down."

[Source: BLS]

Democrat fundraising tool allowed illicit foreign donations

ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising giant, has revealed it only recently began rejecting donations made with foreign-bought gift cards, which may have allowed China and Russia to funnel money to Democrats.

ActBlue is a fundraising platform supporting Democratic candidates and progressive causes.

The details: Rep. Bryan Steil, who heads the House committee that oversees election integrity, subpoenaed documents from ActBlue that revealed it wasn't until September 9 [just weeks before the election] that the platforms began to “automatically reject donations that use foreign prepaid/gift cards” coming from high-risk/sanctioned countries.

Zoom out: The revelations are part of Steil’s investigation into whether U.S. adversaries like China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela may have funneled money to their preferred candidates during the 2024 election cycle.

Back up: Earlier this year, investigative reporter James O'Keefe revealed that large donations were being made to Democrats through ActBlue and attributed to low-income Americans who denied making those payments.

Record-breaking donations: Steil points out that before the illicit payments were shut down, “ActBlue still accepted these concerning payment methods in July, a period when Democrats raised a record number of campaign money.”

What does ActBlue say? They deny wrongdoing but say it is cooperating with investigations.

What happens next? Speaker Mike Johnson responded to the report on X, writing: "ActBlue was accepting foreign gift cards until September. This is ILLEGAL… Our work here is just getting started."

[Source: Just the News]

💉 The Biden HHS extended liability protections for COVID-19 vaccine makers like Pfizer through 2029. Read more.

✅ Christopher Wray, the Director of the FBI, will resign by the end of next month to make way for Trump's nominee, Kash Patel. Read more.

💸 The House approved the annual defense bill, which appropriates almost $900 billion and includes taxpayer-funded trans procedures. Read more.

🩻 Mitch McConnell fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon, the latest in a series of public medical incidents. Read more.

🚸 The NY Times admitted Biden allowed an "immigration surge" that has been "the largest in U.S. history... including the peak years of Ellis Island traffic." Read more.

⛳️ Golf superstar Phil Mickelson praised Daniel Penny on X, saying, "If a deranged individual threatens to kill you, let’s hope there’s a Daniel Penny around." Read more.

🎪 New York City is shutting down its massive illegal alien shelter at Floyd Bennett Field in January. Read more.

✅ Alex Jones will remain in control of InfoWars for the time being after a federal judge blocked its sale to the satirical news site The Onion. Read more.

💬 Sen. Ted Cruz is urging Daniel Penny to sue Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg "for malicious prosecution and hold this rogue Soros prosecutor accountable." Read more.

⚧️ The U.K. indefinitely banned the use of puberty-blocking drugs for minors after recommendations from experts that warned of an “unacceptable safety risk.” Read more.

🇨🇳 President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month. Read more.

🛸 Congressman Jeff Van Drew claims the drones over New Jersey originate from a "mothership" off the East Coast sent by Iran. Read more. The Pentagon denied this yesterday.

🎥 Jill Biden seems to mock Kamala Harris’ "joy" campaign mantra. Watch.

🎥 Syrians burn the tomb of dictator Bashar al-Assad's father. Watch.

🎥 Google features a transgender dude in their new Christmas shopping ad. Watch.

🎥 Syrian Islamists march through a Christmas Market in Germany shouting "Allahu Akbar." Watch. 

🎥 A small plane made an emergency landing on a Texas highway, splitting in half and injuring several people. Read more.

🎥 Heartbreaking. Mother shares how an AI chatbot caused his suicide. Watch.

🎥 LOL, low-IQ Rep. Jasmine Crockett says the quiet part out loud and doesn't realize it. Watch.

🎥 The effeminate Governor of Canada, Justin Trudeau, lectures Americans for not electing a woman. Watch.

🎥 Eric Trump reveals a rendering of the newest Trump Tower that will be built in Saudi Arabia. Watch.

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