LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? It’s not every day that an ink-stained wretch gets to publish something by his son, but I just enjoyed that privilege. It’s “my” latest PJ Media column but in fact was written by my amazing son, Marcus Tapscott, making the case for elite universities sitting on $810 billion cumulative endowments help pay off student loans instead of taxpayers.

HYPOCRISY, THY NAME IS …: Chuck Ross of the Washington Free Beacon did some digging in USASpending.gov and found more than half a million tax dollars going to MENAACTION, a Virginia-based non-profit that specializes in training Jordanian journalists in recognizing “disinformation,” especially when it allegedly concerns Israel.

“It’s a topic that MENAACTION’s founders know all about. Cofounder Chris Aboukhaled pushed Hamas’s claim that Israel bombed Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza. The rocket that struck the hospital was actually fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group in Gaza.

“MENAACTION’s other cofounder, Mohammed Abu Dalhoum, who also suggested that Israel was behind the bombing, claimed Israel’s military response to Hamas ‘isn’t self-defense’ and accused Israel of ‘genocide.’ Experts agree that Israel’s targeted retaliatory strikes against Hamas do not constitute genocide,” Ross reports.

Surprised? Well, actually we should not be, considering that the rabidly anti-Semitic Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was appointed by Biden to his administration’s “national strategy to counter anti-Semitic.” Maybe CAIR is just there to help the other council members recognize anti-Semitism when they see it.

CBP AGENTS PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR HELP: Nine supervisory front-line Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents told House Homeland Security Committee investigators the flood of illegal immigrants that reached record levels this week began when Biden took office. My exclusive for The Epoch Times.

TRUMP WINS TOM FRIEDMAN’S VOTE: Well, if the New York Times columnist meant what he said on “Meet the Press” a while back in expressing his wish that for just one day America could be like China. Issues & Insights caught it.

OF EVS AND EDSELS: Instapunditeers of a certain age will recall former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s second biggest failure, the Edsel, which came during his pre-DOD days at Ford. The Edsel, according to the market data of the day, had everything consumers wanted and was sure to be a huge success. Instead, it was a total flop.

Now comes the Electric Vehicle (EV) of President Joe Biden’s Green New Deal. For the first time in the many years of my life, I look at EVs and see a marketing disaster in the making that will far exceed McNamara’s Edsel bust. Issues & Insights explains why.

Yes, there is Tesla, but as I&I notes: “For a while, EV sales were brisk. But the bottom has fallen out now that most of the wealthy, early-adaptor, virtue-signaling homeowners have bought theirs. The rest of the car-buying public is more concerned with mundane things such as affordability, range, and not having to worry about the car spontaneously blowing up.”

Speaking of blowing up, McNamara’s biggest bust was the concept of “Flexible Response” — aka “Graduated Escalation” — the sure-fire, guaranteed-to-work strategy he sold to JFK and LBJ as the way to win the Vietnam War.

EMAILS SHOW OBAMA OFFICIALS SHOCKED BY BIDEN’S ‘AUDIBLE:’ An internal State Department email thread reviewed by The Epoch Times reveals officials there and in the White House National Security Council (NSC) were taken by surprise when they learned that then-Vice-President Joe Biden had told Ukraine its receipt of $1 billion in U.S. backed loans was dependent on them firing Special Prosecutor Victor Shokin.

That’s important because it adds to the steadily mounting evidence of the senior Biden using public office to benefit his family’s business interests managed by his son, Hunter. Even Biden’s briefing materials for the Ukraine visit instructed him to sign the loan agreement with no mention of firing Shokin, but he did it anyway.

It just happened that Biden family members were in business together with certain corrupt Ukrainian officials being investigated by Shokin. Those same corrupt officials three days before Biden arrived in Ukraine begged Hunter Biden to do something about Shokin. And why not, since the Biden businesses were getting millions of dollars from those same corrupt officials? In other words, “Bidenomics” equals influence peddling?

MICROSOFT’S SECRET DEAL WITH CCP MEDIA EXPOSED: Washington Free Beacon’s Joseph Simonson obtained documents on Microsoft’s previously un-reported agreement with multiple Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled media outlets. This is bad news for the digital giant because there are multiple Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress who will see nothing good in this deal.

ANTISEMITISM AT ROOT IS GOD HATE: That’s the contention of Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), in a conversation with former Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) filling in for Tony Perkins, chief of the Family Research Council (FRC). The Washington Stand’s Joshua Arnold has details and a link.

UPDATE: For some reason I have yet to figure out, I mis-identified former Rep. Hice as representing a North Carolina district instead of a Georgia district. In fact, Hice represented Georgians, not North Cackalackeyians.

IS ‘LOVE IS LOVE’ TRUE? Remember Boy George and his oft-repeated claim that “all love is good love”? I don’t recall if he was ever asked if loving to murder Jews or loving to throw gays off tall buildings is good love.

But that’s just the beginning of the myths and misrepresentations underlying the “love is love” argument of the Woke, according to the latest “What Would You Say” video from the Colson Center on HillFaith.

WHY ARE SO MANY DEMS LEAVING CONGRESS? There are twice as many Democrats as Republicans opting not to seek re-election to Congress in 2024. As I report this morning for The Epoch Times, there are reasons for the imbalance, it’s not accidental.

NOTICE WHAT IS NOT SAID: The Hill is widely read on Capitol Hill and often provides solid reporting on who is up and who is down in Congress. But check out this piece today that reports Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) must find a way to compromise with his holds on nearly 400 military promotions or face “getting rolled by GOP” colleagues. Note that nowhere in the story is there any suggestion that anybody other than Tuberville faces the necessity of compromising.

What about the Pentagon, which is paying for female service members’ abortion travel expenses — a violation of long-standing federal law against using tax dollars to support abortion? Why isn’t anybody pressuring President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to sit down and negotiate a compromise with Tuberville?

SO NOW THEY WANT THEM BACK: Sarah Holliday of The Washington Stand has everything you need to know about how and why the Pentagon suddenly wants those thousands of service members who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine to return.

Class-action lawsuits are in the offing, and, while I am generally not enthusiastic about trial lawyers (perennially among the most generous donors to Democrats) and class-action litigation, it would not break my heart if these succeed quickly and spectacularly.

ABOUT THOSE ANCIENT CULTURES’  ‘THIRD GENDER:’ Ever heard of the “Muxe” or the “Sal-Zikrum”? Those are examples from ancient cultures that today’s transgender ideologues like to cite as proof of an alleged third gender that renders irrelevant the “gender binary” of male and female.

But as is detailed in the latest “What Would You Say” video from the Colson Center on HillFaith, there is more — and less — to the story than the transgender fanatics claim. If you have a high school or college kid in your household, they really need to see this one.

I know, I know; this shouldn’t have to be said, but, given the depressing state of affairs of American public and higher education these days, it must if the next generation is to have any surviving connection to reality.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL INSTAPUNDITEERS: A day for thanksgiving for all the blessings that have flowed into each of our lives.

MORE J6 REVELATIONS: When Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) opted to make public all 40,000 hours of January 6 Capitol videos, he empowered hundreds of reviewers unencumbered by Trump Derangement Syndrome. The result is likely to be disastrous for a lot of powerful people in Congress and thereabouts.

Consider this new report from Just the News, which found video of a Metropolitan District of Columbia police officer explaining “we go undercover as Antifa.” One of the most significant lingering questions about January 6 is how many undercover local and federal law enforcement officials were encouraging the crowd. More to come, so stay tuned.

TWO GOOD NEWS STORIES MSM IGNORED: Ben Johnson at The Washington Stand points to two positive news stories on the right-to-life issue in North Carolina and Wyoming, both of which were utterly ignored by the Mainstream Media.

SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE SAID BUT IT DOES: Believe it or not, the Social Justice Gospel is attracting adherents among evangelicals. That’s why they need reminding that Christians should support limited government (and show backbone in doing so). It’s an important installment in The Stream’s Foundations Series on HillFaith.

UNIPARTY STRIKES BACK AGAINST TUBERVILLE: When the Senate returns next week, one of the first items on the agenda is likely to be S. Res. 444, authored by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) ostensibly to enable consideration of groups of military nominations, thus negating the holds placed on them by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to protest the Pentagon paying abortion travel expenses.

But the backstory to this saga is the damage that will be done to the Founders’ vision of a cautious, deliberative Senate capable of checking assaults on individual liberty and common sense by temporary House majorities. Read all about it in my latest Premium Report for The Epoch Times.

ABOUT THAT CCP BIOLAB IN CALIFORNIA: The more is revealed about that biolap being run in a “unoccupied” warehouse in Reedley, California, the more startling it becomes that this thing was unknown to the feds. Consider these facts compiled by Leslie Eastman on Legal Insurrection:

• The illegal biolab was run by a PRC citizen who is a wanted fugitive from Canada with a $330 million Canadian dollar judgment against him for stealing American intellectual property.
• This PRC citizen was a top official at a PRC-state-controlled company and had links to military-civil fusion entities.
• The illegal biolab received millions of dollars in unexplained payments from PRC banks while running the illegal biolab.
• The illegal biolab contained thousands of samples of labeled, unlabeled, and encoded potential pathogens, including HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and Covid.
• The illegal biolab also contained a freezer labeled “Ebola,” which contained unlabeled, sealed silver bags consistent with how the lab stored high risk biological materials. Ebola is a Select Agent with a lethality rate between 25-90%.
• The biolab contained nearly a thousand transgenic mice, genetically engineered to mimic the human immune system. Lab workers said that the mice were designed “to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.”
• After local officials who discovered the lab sought help from the CDC and others, the CDC refused to test any of the samples.

Consider that this biolab would still be operating had not a local government code enforcer not been curious about a hose sticking out of the warehouse. Which prompts a question: When is somebody at CDC, the FBI and the DOJ going to be fired for all of this?

IRS COMING FOR YOUR CRYPTO: The Cato Institute’s Nicholas Anthony is warning that an obscure 2022 report from the Department of Justice makes the case for the IRS confiscating crypto-currency with or without a judge’s consent. Let’s see now, isn’t there an amendment or something in that thing, you know, the Constitution that would bar such confiscation?

REMEMBER THE ‘RED DIAPER BABIES’? Dr. Sy Garte was born to parents who were members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), so it was no surprise that he grew up to be an atheist.

As it happened, he also had a great passion for science and an intellectual openness to the unexpected. Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ was just about the last thing Garte expected, but it happened and he explains how and why on HillFaith this morning.

CAR GUYS DON’T DIG EVS: Remember the GTO? How about the Plymouth 383 Road Runner? Don’t forget Chevy’s SS396, the Olds 442, Ford 390 or Dodge Super Bee, either. Car guys (like me and a lot of other Instapunditeers) of a certain age absolutely love’em. But, as The Epoch Times reports, they don’t love Electric Vehicles (EVs). I mean they really, really don’t. No points and plugs to change. No timing to set. No fun.

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: What two words would you choose to characterize the Biden administration? Reckless endangerment are the two selected by Issues & Insights and here’s why:

“Interest payments are through the roof. Real wages continue to fall. And a record number of illegals crossed the border. That’s just the domestic news. As of this writing, Americans are being held hostage by Iran-supported Hamas terrorists who killed nearly two dozen other Americans when they invaded Israel.

“Our military forces face increasing Iranian-sponsored attacks in Iraq and Syria. While President Joe Biden lets Iran off the sanctions hook for another four months. The worry isn’t just whether Biden – the architect of these disasters – will be voted out of office next year. It’s whether the U.S. can survive until then.”

That’s exactly what I worry about.

GUESS WHO FUNDS THOSE DNC PROTESTORS: It’s George Soros, according to the Washington Free Beacon’s Chuck Ross.

NEXT SUPREME COURT TERM: It could be a very difficult one for supporters of the Administrative State, according to The Epoch Times’ Supreme Court reporter Matthew Vadum. He says two cases that will be argued in January 2024 are especially important.

“The two most-watched cases, Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce (court file 22-1219) and Loper Bright Enterprises Inc. v. Raimondo (court file 22-451), will be heard back-to-back on Jan. 17.

“In Relentless and Loper Bright, the court may narrow the application of the so-called Chevron deference doctrine that the Supreme Court articulated in the 1984 landmark ruling, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

“In Chevron, the court held that while courts ‘must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress,’ where courts find ‘Congress has not directly addressed the precise question at issue’ and ‘the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute.’

“In other words, Chevron stands for the proposition that when the meaning of a statute is unclear, an executive agency’s interpretation of a statute it administers is entitled to deference unless Congress has said otherwise.”

Well maybe not much longer.