VIDEO: Mexican Drug Cartel Modifies Drone, Drops Bombs.

SUPER-SIZE ME: Bidenflation Has Crushed Fast Food Value Meals.

“With fast food chains and restaurants facing higher costs across the board, one thing you’re probably seeing is that deals are not as cheap as they once were,” NBC correspondent Tom Costello said. Restaurants are raising wages to confront labor shortages and “those costs get passed down to all of us. … Especially for restaurants where the margins are already very very thin, they can’t afford to eat those extra costs.”

“As a result, you and I are going to be paying more for that burger,” Costello said.

The Biden administration has faced criticism for the nation’s spike in inflation, with consumer prices climbing 7 percent over the last year, the Labor Department reported this month. A 6 percent rise in restaurant prices has contributed to the country’s economic woes. Little Caesars, for example, raised the price of its famous Hot-N-Ready pizza for the first time in 20 years, from $5 to $5.55. Popeyes has raised the price of its Big Box Deal by $1, and Domino’s Pizza has limited purchases of its $7.99 meal deal to online only.

Previously: “That raise meant nothing”: Inflation’s “unexpected” reality dawns at WaPo.

COMPLY OR DIE, THEY EXPLAINED: Unvaxxed Dad Removed From Heart Transplant List, He’s Not The First.

YES: Afghanistan Taught Putin That Biden ‘Is a Guy Who Can Be Pushed Around.’

“I believe that our response in 2014 was too slow and too incremental. And it’s confirmed by the lessons that I learned, and that I believe others in the national security community learned, to better address Russia’s ongoing aggression… I believe one of the lessons I learned is that it would have been appropriate and necessary to provide Ukraine with what it needed to defend its territory.”

That tough appraisal is from Celeste Wallander, President Biden’s nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. From 2013 to 2017, Wallander served on the National Security Council as special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia and Central Asia.

In other words, not even the people who thought up the Obama-era response to Putin thought it was tough or effective, and no one is willing to argue it amounted to an effective deterrent. The Russian dictator likely already thought Biden was all bark and minimal bite. And then he watched the debacle of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Even worse — or better for an opportunistic thug like Putin — Afghanistan showed that Biden will commit the kind of f***-ups that create the situation where he can be pushed around.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Like a Hobo’s Bad Foot Odor, Pelosi Is Sticking Around. “The real laugher in her statement is that Pelosi thinks that she’s an integral part of the ‘democracy’ that she thinks needs saving. Our Republic is in peril, but people of sound mind know that it’s Nancy and her commie friends who are threatening it.”

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THAT SNOWFALLS WERE A THING OF THE PAST:

WELL, GOOD: NYC Mayor Adams Brings Back Plainclothes Unit That de Blasio Disbanded.

THEY ALSO AREN’T NECESSARY: We’re a Physician and Mathematician and a Data Scientist. N95s Won’t Work for Kids.

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) in the SF Bay Area where we live, announced on Tuesday that it was planning on “transitioning all students and staff” to KN95 respirators. If worn properly, such respirators filter 95 percent of particles the size of those that carry the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The BUSD has proposed this measure as a means to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep schools open. These respirators would be required for the entire school day, including outdoors during gym and recess.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of respirators is vastly overestimated, and there is scant evidence that they stop community transmission. Moreover, NIOSH-approved respirators are tight, uncomfortable, and can impede breathing. OSHA requires both fit testing and a medical evaluation before workers can wear them. We’ve all seen images of health care workers with bruised faces from properly worn respirators.

This is legally-mandated child abuse.

NICK ARAMA: The Real Biden Peeks out From Behind the Mask.

The problem wasn’t just that Biden was being nasty, using a curse word and trying to diminish press who dares question him. It’s also that he doesn’t have the basic judgment left to understand it will be picked up on the mic and come back to bite him. This was the second time in the past week where he attacked a reporter, also striking out at Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich, calling her question about being reactive to Putin a “stupid question.”

Now remember too, this is the guy who claimed he was going to be the anti-Trump, that he was going to be the “unifier.”

The truth is, Biden has always been a nasty piece of work, using his position and authority to belittle anyone who dares question him.

He was never worthy of high office, but our “elites” hoisted him into the highest office regardless.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): The ‘cabal’ that bragged of foisting Joe Biden on us must answer for his failed presidency.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Meet ‘Dr. Tarece’ — And Pray for the Families in Georgia’s Largest School District.

SLOW LEARNERS: “That raise meant nothing”: Inflation’s “unexpected” reality dawns at WaPo.

CRISIS BY DESIGN: Why is the Biden Administration Delaying December’s Border Arrest Numbers?

OBAMA RETREADS RETREAD OBAMA ENERGY POLICIES: Team Biden seeks to stop yet another pipeline even as gas prices rise.

Flashback: Obama Wants $7-$9 Gas Prices and His Secretary of Energy Steven Chu Admitted it.

HMM: Jail Time for J6 Committee Members? Gingrich Says It Could Happen.

BECAUSE DEMOCRATS: One reason why oil prices are soaring.

Let’s look at yet another piece to the rising price puzzle, one our leaders have had more than enough influence over. The public is driving more these days, and that relates to government efforts to counter COVID-19 hardships by essentially printing several large stacks of money and shipping it to consumers. When the money rolled this past March, the public literally rolled out. Having been somewhat housebound and unable to fly, they got in their cars and hit the road. As indicated inside the dashed circle in the chart below, at about the time of the COVID-19 relief payments, there was a more than 50% increase in U.S. miles driven, and much of the increased driving is still taking place. And yes, there was a significant increase in demand for gasoline along with it.

It’s interesting that our leaders in Washington never wish to admit that the steps they’ve taken to soften the blows of COVID-19, which may be desirable and helpful in many respects, still do come at a cost. The trillions of additional dollars in circulation, beyond casting a shadow on government balance sheets, are inflationary.

Why, it’s almost as though Milton Friedman was running the show all along.

VODKAPUNDIT PRESENTS YOUR WEEKLY INSANITY WRAP: Neil Young Tells Spotify to Dump Joe Rogan — or Else! “We get it: You’re taking a principled stand, or so you think, and it isn’t about the money. But you haven’t sounded this whiny since you recorded ‘Helpless’ with CSN&Y.”

Plus:

• Forget the bronies, here come the mermen
• Video: Joe Biden says he’d fire Joe Biden
• Poll shows most Americans are so over celebrity medical spokesmodel Anthony “Doctor” Fauci

So much more at the link, you’d have to be crazy to miss it.

LAWSUIT: Google is hoodwinking users into thinking their location data is safe.

The lawsuit quotes 2014 as the beginning of Google’s lies, though it’s careful to note that the practice could go back further than this date. The choice of 2014 is based on settings introduced that year that ostensibly gave users more control over which data Google kept on them.

But those switches only provide the illusion of data control, these lawsuits allege. Google continues collecting location data — and plenty of other data — even if you technically opt out. This is a pretty well-documented problem, actually; the Associated Press worked with computer scientists a few years ago to confirm Google had kept tracking users even after they’d adjusted their settings.

The lawsuits also push back against the many tricks Google uses to sway users into electing themselves back into the Location History program. Google uses measures like pushy notifications to pressure users into opting in “inadvertently or out of frustration,” the lawsuit says.

Google doesn’t make money selling you devices; they make money selling your data to third parties. So they’ll collect whatever data they can in whatever way they can.

Previously: Hotel Googlefornia. “Behind the scenes, Hill’s specialty VPN blocked her devices from trying to ping Google’s servers more than 15,000 times — in just the first few hours. After a week, it had stopped more than 100,000 attempts to share data with Google. And to repeat, this is after Hill had stopped using any of Google’s apps or services. The company has its tendrils all throughout the internet.”

100 MILLION BROKEN EGGS AND NOT A SINGLE OMELET: Bodies Are Stacking Up as Progressive Politicians Blame Everything but Themselves.

POSTMODERN WARFARE: Hactivists say they hacked Belarus rail system to stop Russian military buildup.

ANOTHER DEVELOPING CRISIS-BY-DESIGN: Cross-Border Trucking Firms Have Mixed Reactions to New Vax Mandate.

VIDEO: “The average American 401(k) retirement account lost more than $7,300.” — ABC on DOW’s record-breaking 1700-point dive.

PJ MEDIA VIP ROUNDUP: Don’t forget that VODKAPUNDIT promo code if you’ve been thinking of joining us.

Matt Margolis: 5 People Biden Must Fire to Reset His Presidency. (Only five?)

Rick Moran: Trump Warns Putin ‘No Normal Relationship’ With Future U.S. President Possible If Russia Invades Ukraine. “Graham says Trump told him that ‘Putin is realizing that Biden’s weak, but he doesn’t realize that Biden won’t be around in 2024.'”

Yours Truly: Ranking the Bond Movies: Part 003 (Neither Shaken Nor Stirred). “This lists aren’t meant to be definitive — how could they be? — but to be a fun look back at an iconic series… and maybe engage in some not-too-heated discussion over my worst picks.”

FAKE NEWS: The New Yorker Lies Again In Hit On Clarence Thomas And Wife That Falsely Claims He Attended A DC Event.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: GOP Dreams of Election Victory Revenge Porn Are a Bit Premature. “I would like nothing better than to see every member of that kangaroo court [Jan 6] committee rounded up and sent to wherever it is the United States would use as a gulag (I nominate Sacramento, CA) and left there to rot for having subjected the country their pathetic diaper-filling tantrum. If it were possible though, there are a few thousand dominoes that have to fall in the sequence before that one gets toppled.”

YES: The Biggest Education Innovation Is Growing Use of School Choice.

Just how much the world has changed came home to me when the tech at my eye doctor’s office asked about my son, who attended a charter school with her daughter when the kids were younger. I mentioned that he was thriving as a homeschooler and had just started a laboratory biology class at the community college. Her daughter was also homeschooled, she told me. The girl was technically enrolled in the public high school now, but that was mostly to gain access to community college courses. Her daughter already had two years of college credits put away.

“Northern Arizona University offered her a free ride for the last two years,” she told me.

This conversation would have been almost unthinkable when I was in school. But the world has morphed dramatically since then, especially when it comes to our attitude towards education.

Teachers who spent the better part of two years refusing to teach opened a lot of eyes.