Filling in for Moon Griffon: Show Notes, 11/23/22
Three hours of fun on the radio.
I’m filling in from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. today on the Moon Griffon Show. My show, the Joe Cunningham Show, airs 3-4 p.m. every weekday on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL. The daily show notes offer you a look into the topics of the day and the links to the top stories and my own writings on the state of politics in Louisiana and around the country. Follow me on Twitter at @JoePCunningham and Like the Joe Cunningham Show on Facebook. You can also subscribe to the Joe Cunningham Show podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or Amazon.
Programming Note: I will be filling in for Moon Griffon from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. tomorrow (9-11 is statewide, 11-12 is local to Lafayette). Please join me as we talk about state and national issues.
Happy Thanksgiving
We Stopped Talking About Inflation, But…
Across the country, families are starting to gather for the Thanksgiving holiday. But the cost of Thanksgiving has shot up this year, and families across the country - particularly larger middle- and lower-income families - are feeling the crunch, according to National Review.
Inflation rose steadily in the months after President Biden took office, with the Consumer Price Index peaking at a 9.1 percent year-over-year increase in June, a new 40-year-high. While inflation has eased slightly since then — CPI was up 7.7 percent annually in October — inflationary pressures continue to squeeze American families. Republicans have slammed the Biden administration for exacerbating the problem by pouring trillions in new government spending on an overheated economy that was emerging from the Covid pandemic when Biden was elected.
Two years after Biden took the oath, the American Farm Bureau found that a twelve-item “classic Thanksgiving feast for ten” – including turkey, pumpkin pie, stuffing, cranberries, milk, and veggies – will cost $64.05 on average. That’s 20 percent higher than last year’s price, $53.31, and up nearly 37 percent over 2020, when the same items cost $46.90, according to the Farm Bureau. The bureau, which has been tracking Thanksgiving prices for 37 years, calculates its Thanksgiving prices based on surveys from more than 200 volunteer shoppers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
National Review sent reporters to New York, Florida, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., to compare Thanksgiving meal prices and found that the prices in several places were much higher than American Farm Bureau reported.
Disney Doubling-Down on Woke?
Brandon Morse, my colleague at RedState, will be joining me to talk about the sudden CEO change at Disney. Does getting rid of Bob Chapek and going back to Bob Iger have anything to do with the culture wars or is it strictly business?
The GOP’s Grift Game
I spent a lot of time on my own show talking about it, and I could probably spend days going on about the grift in the GOP and why the party simply can’t be successful with the current people and consultants in charge. But this is absolutely outrageous and needs to be addressed in as many places as possible.
Not only is 98 percent of all money donated in the name of electing Herschel Walker going instead to the NRSC, but the remaining 2 percent is split between Walker and Rick Scott. Steve Daines cannot take over the NRSC soon enough. It’s just appalling.
The Scams Aren’t Just Political
I need you to read this from The Daily Advertiser, as it points to a larger societal problem we’re seeing.
Louisiana residents lost more than $43 million to online scams last year, almost double what was lost in 2020.
A report from Social Catfish, an online dating investigation service, using reports from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the Federal Trade Commission, found nationally people lost $6.9 billion to online scams in 2021.
In Louisiana, 4,428 people reported losing $43 million to scams in 2021, with the average person losing more than $9,000, according to the report. That's nearly double what was lost in 2020, which was $27 million.
We live in a world where making a quick buck at the expense of literally everyone around us isn’t new, but technology has made it far more profitable because it’s much easier to get away with.
“Nowhere Near 218”
Kevin McCarthy’s bid for Speaker of the House may be in trouble. There are now a handful of Republicans who are running for the job, which threatens to destabilize the small GOP majority in the House. Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus are vocally opposing him and other Republicans are jumping into the race. This will be a big issue for the GOP as it’s their first real test after coming back into power in the House.
Surprisingly Little Gun Control Talk Lately
Despite major shootings in Colorado Springs and Virginia, including a shooting at Walmart last night, the left is not shouting about gun control as much as they were. Instead, the focus is shifting to “right-wing rhetoric.”
This is odd, because the left is absolutely silent when it comes to Elizabeth Warren and other progressives verbally attacking pro-life pregnancy centers, subsequently leading to dozens being vandalized and a good deal of those were firebombed. What gives?
Headlines of the Day
Longtime D.C. turkey giveaway ends early amid high demand, tensions (Washington Post)
Insane Narrative Shift Occurs After Bombshell Revelation Q-Club Shooter Is ‘Non-Binary’ (RedState)
A Crippling Railroad Strike Is Looming, Just in Time for the Holidays (RedState)
The Curious Case of Midterm Independent Voters (National Review)
It Appears The Throw-In That Led To Gareth Bale's Penalty Should Have Been Given To The United States (Barstool)
Victims say New Orleans justice system failed them, allowing violent teen to re-offend (Fox8Live)
Tweet of the Day
Will your colleague also announce wether he will run for governor as well?!