ED MORRISSEY: Biden’s economic victory lap keeps getting interrupted by reality, or something.

It’s tough to tell which party is more clueless in this construct. Is it the White House and Joe Biden, who threw a “Mission Accomplished” celebration of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act on the same day as the CPI report that showed inflation still clocking in above 8%?

Or is it Politico, the news organization that wonders why people won’t let Biden have his victory lap while they struggle with five quarters of erosion in real disposable personal income?

Answer: yes.

Heh.

GRINCHY: Biden’s Inflation Takes a Huge Toll on Christmas Shopping.

UNEXPECTED HEADLINES: Pinch Me: CNN Actually Fact Checks Biden Over False Claims.

JOE BIDEN’S NEGOTIATING PARTNERS: Iran vows to crush women-led protests with ‘no leniency’ as unrest enters 10th day. “The number of dead during clashes between protesters and security forces increased to 41 people, including some members of the security forces, according to state TV. However, the real figure is believed to be much higher.”

PRIORITIES: Half of 2023’s Diversity Visas to Be Given to Migrants from Muslim Countries.

HEH: ‘Biggest, Best Gift I’ve Ever Received’: Kari Lake Reacts To Liz Cheney’s Vow To Campaign Against Her.

OUCH: Americans Tell U.S. ‘Health Experts’ Where They Can Shove Their Booster Shots.

Personally, I’m on Day 489 day without a booster and (approximately) Day 981 without COVID.

GOOD LORD: The terrifying flesh-eating drug meant for horses that is now hitting the streets of America. “The drug prolongs the highs felt from heroin, but results in users passing out for hours at a time, while injection points ulcerate and lead to grisly wounds that spread across the body. Some users even report severe sores erupting across their body where they never injected the drug, and many are left disfigured as fingers, arms, feet, legs and toes are forced to be amputated. In Philadelphia – considered to be ground zero for the Xylazine crisis – about one-third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were related to the drug.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Democrats Won’t Be Derailing the Trump Train Anytime Soon. “Their hatred of Trump is pretty much serving as steroids for his popularity. He takes their tears, anguish, and vitriol and uses it to grow stronger.”

I’M EXPECTING AN ASTEROID-NUDGING KABOOM: NASA’s DART Spacecraft Crashes Into Asteroid Dimorphos. “The asteroid Dimorphos, which circles a larger asteroid known as Didymos, poses no threat to Earth. The mission is designed as a test run of planetary defense with the intention of proving that a deep space collision can alter the orbit of a space rock. The carefully arranged death dive will destroy the DART and, if all goes to plan, alter the orbit of Dimorphos around its parent Didymos ever so slightly.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 5 Hidden Costs of Inflation and Some Things You Can Do About It.

EXCELLENT: Elon Musk Says He’s Activating Starlink in Iran After U.S. Eases Restrictions on Tech Companies

The transceiver dishes will have to be smuggled in, but that’s probably not a huge obstacle.

ATHENA THORNE: …or Maybe the Trans Shop Teacher Is the Hero We Need Right Now. “This dude is gaming the system. An anon here yesterday was in this dude’s class. This teacher was almost fired for ‘toxic masculinity’ last year, as well as not embracing woke culture. He’d drop redpills to his class, such as how silly gender neutral bathrooms are. The school board hates him.”

FLORIDA MAN FRIDAY: That Is a Ring Doorbell AND He’s Happy to See You. “On this week’s Florida Man Friday, we have a stolen scooter rage incident, how not to knock on someone’s door, and you don’t even want to know how Michigan Man plays 160 degrees of Kevin Bacon.”

MOBSTERS WITH BETTER SUITS: WEF Mafioso Threatens Climate Annihilation, Demands $2 Trillion as Protection Money.

RUSSIA MOBILIZATION BLUES: Grumpy Old Men, Grumpy Old Tanks, Grumpy Ethnic Minorities.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Why ‘Gutfeld!’ Matters Even More Than Conservatives Think. “It’s clear other networks could have served up their own ‘Gutfeld!’-like show but refused to engage with Red State USA. They left money on the table and continue to do so by failing to clone the ‘Gutfeld!’ model.”

SAY ANYTHING: Newsom’s Abortion Tourism Ad Campaign Quotes Scripture.

OH: Covid-tracking program lacked bare minimum cyber protections. “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) failed to implement basic protections against hackers when it developed a system to track covid-19 data in 2020, according to an internal watchdog report it never made publicly available.”

LINCOLN BROWN: Reason # 190,732,584 Not To Trust the Legacy Media, Including the Associated Press. “The Associated Press covered the incident in which Shannon Brandt ran down 18-year-old Cayler Ellison in North Dakota. But as obedient lapdogs, or maybe because the organization’s reporters and editors are so compromised by propaganda and an inflated sense of self-worth, they omitted something. See if you can spot it.”

POLAND: Potassium iodide tablets went to firefighters. This is in case of an explosion at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

(Via Google Translate.)

IF HIS LAST NAME WAS TRUMP…: Break out the Weapons-Grade Chlorine: Video Shows Hunter Biden Naked on a Waterslide at $4,140-per-night Malibu House.

NOW IS IT A RECESSION? Where Have All The Ships Gone? “As of Sept. 21, 2021, there were 132 cargo ships at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Dozens of container ships were anchored or adrift off the coast. As of Aug 30, 2022, that number has dwindled to only 8 ships waiting off Southern California. The end of goods backing up in ports on the west coast is a sign we are moving on. Danielle DiMartino Booth recently stated, ‘We have never seen the collapse of the magnitude that we are witnessing in imports. That is always a tail-tale sign that you are already looking through the rear-view mirror at recession.'”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: MSM Fact Checkers Are Paste-Eating Idiots, Exhibit A. “In a sane world, the presumption would be that a real fact checker would possess some knowledge that could be applied to his or her craft. We’re talking about 21st-century corruptocrat media, however, so one would be wrong.”

BLUE CITY BLUES: Sex fiend gets ‘sweet’ deal from Manhattan DA Bragg on teen rape charge — then attacks 5 others.