NY Times: GOP Donors Back Manchin and Sinema as They Reshape Biden’s Agenda

WaPo: Kevin Strickland exonerated after 43 years in one of the longest wrongful-conviction cases

CNN: 'Toxic is spot-on': House members describe roiling animosity among lawmakers

Vox: The ironic spectacle of Kyle Rittenhouse’s interview with Tucker Carlson 

Trending On The Right

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On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that he is renominating Jerome Powell for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve. Biden praised Powell for “decisive” leadership during the COVID crisis, while many thought the president would pick Fed Governor Lael Brainard for the top spot instead. Progressives have been pushing hard for Brainard because they believe she would have put climate change and equitability in focus at the central bank. Many on both sides forget that Congress has explicitly outlined that the Fed's goals should be "maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates." More simply, this is known as the Fed's "dual mandate," the crux of which is to focus on unemployment and inflation. Here's what both sides are saying about Biden's decision to renominate Powell.

Right-leaning commentators aren’t thrilled about the Powell pick. Despite the fact that Powell was nominated by former President Donald Trump, many believe the Fed chair has governed over a wildly erratic central bank that has let inflation get out of control. Despite Powell’s shortcomings, he’s better than Lael Brainard, they say.

"Biden Signs Up for Powell’s Inflation" Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal: "President Biden’s nominations Monday for the leadership at the Federal Reserve are all too much in character for this Administration. By keeping Jerome Powell in the chairmanship, while elevating progressive favorite Lael Brainard to vice chair, Mr. Biden may think he’s deftly straddled the Democratic politics. Instead, he is buying their monetary policy and inflation. ... Neither deserves reappointment on their record of the last four years, as inflation has risen three times above the Fed’s 2% mandate to the highest rate in 30 years. ... In anointing the duo, Mr. Biden will now own future inflation. ... Mr. Biden has concluded that this is a good political gamble, but Republicans can take the opportunity to distance themselves from the failing economic policies on which voters have soured so rapidly."

"Congratulations, Jerome Powell. Inflation must be your top priority now" Stephen Moore, Fox Business: "Powell gets a C+ grade as Fed chairman, but he is far preferable at the helm than the candidate who came in second place, Fed board member Lael Brainard. Powell’s performance at the Fed has been erratic. On the one hand, he gets high marks for presiding over one of the great bull markets in world history. But real growth of the economy and real incomes have grown at a subpar rate because of his herky-jerky monetary policies. ... Worst of all, now the Fed has been way, way behind the curve in stopping the stampede of inflation that is shrinking pay checks for Americans with low or fixed incomes. The inflation rate has tripled from 2 to 6.2% -- and, sorry Mr. Powell, it sure doesn’t look 'transitory' to us. ... So congratulations to Mr. Powell for his appointment to a second term. Now get inflation under control, pronto. You don’t want to go down in history as the Fed chairman who sunk the American economy in a sea of rising prices."

"Biden Renominates Powell: A Win for Central-Bank Independence" Dominic Pino, National Review: "The Fed chief isn’t perfect, but Jerome Powell has consistently demonstrated the most important characteristic for central bankers: independence from elected politicians." Keep reading.

Left-leaning commentators and outlets believe Biden’s decision reasserts his commitment to bipartisanship. This is a good thing for the country and the Democratic Party, they say.

"Biden’s choice for Fed chair is a smart and overdue break with the left of his party" David Ignatius, The Washington Post op-ed: "After a rocky few months in which President Biden sometimes seemed captive of the progressive wing of his own party, he took a solid step back toward the center Monday in renominating Jerome H. Powell as Federal Reserve chair. ... Biden’s tweet announcing his choice had a pragmatic, down-the-middle tone: 'America needs steady, independent, and effective leadership at the Federal Reserve.' ... Powell isn’t perfect. He badly underestimated the inflationary impact of the more than $5 trillion in stimulus spending in 2020 and 2021 to deal with the pandemic. But he has demonstrated the two qualities most essential in a Fed chair: He creatively used the central bank’s powers to maintain liquidity in global financial markets during the first crisis months of COVID-19; and he defied political pressure by President Donald Trump, who had appointed him in 2017, to cut interest rates to help Trump’s electoral prospects. ... Biden’s standing with the public won’t be affected much, one way or another, by who runs the Federal Reserve. But this week he seemed to recover a bit of authority to do what makes sense for the country, regardless of bickering on the left and right."

"Powell may not be the Fed pick progressives want, but he's the one they need" James Pethokoukis, The Week: "Jerome Powell, whom President Biden just nominated for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair, may not be the pick that progressive Democrats want. But he's probably the one they need. ... Progressives might find instinctively distasteful the notion of a Democratic president in the Age of Inequality picking a wealthy, white Republican man for the job, [especially] a former partner at the Carlyle Group, a giant private-equity fund. ... [However,] as it is, the current economic consensus from places like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan is that 2022 will be a year of faster economic growth, falling unemployment, and declining inflation. Basically, everything that should be up will be up, and everything that should be down will be down. That might not be enough to keep Democrats in charge of Congress, but it could prevent a total blowout. ... They should want a Fed chair who minimizes the risk of the central bank screwing that up."

"Biden’s Fed Pick Could Prove His Commitment to Bipartisanship" Sarah Binder and Mark Spindel, The New York Times op-ed: "For Mr. Biden, picking Mr. Powell offers the path of least resistance. The choice would restore a bipartisan norm of central bank governance, help insulate the Fed from partisan attacks, and protect the Fed’s reputation." Keep reading (Paywall).

At the outset of the pandemic, a near-record breaking number of Americans (58%) said they had a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence that Powell would do or recommend the right thing for the economy. This was according to an April 1-14, 2020, Gallup poll that gave Powell the highest reading for a Fed chair since Alan Greenspan's 56% confidence rating in 2005. 

With that said, economic concerns are now hitting a pandemic high. According to a Nov. 1-16, 2021, poll from Gallup, "Twenty-six percent of Americans now cite an economic concern -- such as inflation, unemployment, or the economy in general -- as the top problem." As mentioned, inflation and unemployment are the bedrock of the Fed's dual mandate.

Flag Poll: Do you support or oppose President Biden’s decision to renominate Jerome Powell for a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve? Click here to share your thoughts.

If you're in college, the day before Thanksgiving is all about going out to a local bar with friends from your hometown you haven't seen in a while. November 24 just so happens to be "National Tie One On Day" as well, which seems very fitting. The national day, however, isn't about going out and drinking too much. Rather, "Tie One On Day" celebrates the humble apron, and more broadly, an opportunity to bring joy to the life of someone in need and celebrate the spirit of giving. With that in mind, we're featuring this lightweight unlined apron from Sara Sews, a small textile shop from Georgia. These machine-washable, 100% cotton fabric aprons are perfect for not only today and tomorrow, but the entire holiday season. Click here to tie one on.

CNBC: Apple on Tuesday sued NSO Group, an Israeli firm that sells software to government agencies and law enforcement that enables them to hack iPhones and read the data on them, including messages and other communications.

AP: President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from America’s strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs, in coordination with other major energy-consuming nations, including India, the United Kingdom, and China.

CNN: Dollar Tree will soon be $1.25 tree. The company — one of America's last remaining true dollar stores — said Tuesday it will raise prices from $1 to $1.25 on the majority of its products by the first quarter of 2022. The change is a sign of the pressures low-cost retailers face holding down prices during a period of rising inflation.

Fox: Deceased fugitive Brian Laundrie died of suicide, a forensic anthropologist told Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino on Tuesday.

CNN: A Charlottesville jury found the organizers of the Unite the Right rally violated a Virginia state conspiracy law. The jury awarded the plaintiffs $11 million in punitive damages on the conspiracy claim.

Axios: A federal jury said Tuesday that Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart recklessly distributed pain pills in two Ohio counties and played a hand in the hundreds of overdose deaths that plagued the communities.

The Hill: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol is subpoenaing the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, going directly after the right-wing groups as well as their leaders.

USA Today: Four men known as the Groveland Four have been exonerated of the false charges that they raped a white woman in 1949. 

CBS News: The US has issued a travel advisory for Germany and Denmark due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the two European countries. The European region as a whole has seen a recent rise in infections.

QZ: Nearly a third of hospital-based healthcare workers around the country haven’t been vaccinated against Covid-19, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The analysis looked at data for 3.3 million hospital-based healthcare workers for whom data on vaccination status was available.

NBC News: Malikah Shabazz, one of six daughters of slain civil rights activist Malcolm X, was found dead Monday at her Brooklyn home, police said.

On November 24, 1859, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, was published in England. Above is a photograph of Darwin, taken not long before the book's publication.

Smithsonian Magazine: Eight Secret Societies You Might Not Know

The Atlantic: We Live By a Unit of Time That Doesn’t Make Sense

The Guardian: The sudden, uncomfy fall of the biggest pandemic fashion trend

Today I Learned the most expensive animated movie ever made, Tangled, cost $49,059 per second of animation.